Approved Minutes — original pdf

Approved Minutes

Technology Commission http://www.austintexas.gov/cttc REGULAR MEETING MINUTES Wednesday –September 10th, 2025 – 6:30PM City Hall– Boards and Commissions Room – Room 1101 301 W 2nd St., Austin, TX 78701 Please go to http://www.austintexas.gov/cityclerk/boards_commissions/meetings/10_1.htm for backup materials associated with this agenda. All ATXN (City Channel 6) programming is cablecast on Spectrum, Grande Communications, and Google Fiber on their cable channel 6, on AT&T U-Verse Channel 99 and webcast online. Over 20 meetings per month, including this commission meeting, are available on demand online, typically within a found at: http://www.austintexas.gov/page/atxn-video-archive. the cablecast. Schedules and video can be few hours of The Technology Commission convened in a REGULAR meeting on Wednesday, September 10th, 2025, at 301 W 2nd St, Austin, Texas. Current Commission Members Keith Pena-Villa ‐ Mayor Kirk Watson Brian AM Williams ‐ Council Member Natasha Harper‐Madison, District 1 Steven Apodaca – Council Member Vanessa Fuentes, District 2 Carina Alderete ‐ Council Member José Velasquez, District 3 Suzanne Heritage ‐ Council Member José “Chito” Vela, District 4 Thomas Rice‐ Council Member Ryan Alter, District 5 Rachel Frock‐ Council Member Krista Laine, District 6 Benjamin Combee ‐ Council Member Mike Seigel, District 7 Nicholas Eastwood ‐ Council Member Paige Ellis, District 8 Ibiye Anga – Council Member Zohaib “Zo” Qadri, District 9 Milena Pribic ‐ Council Member Marc Duchen, District 10 Board Members/Commissioners in Attendance in person: Steven Apodaca, Chair Milena Pribic Benjamin Combee Nick Eastwood Board Members/Commissioners in Attendance Remotely: 1 Suzanne Heritage Carina Alderete, Vice-Chair Brian AM Williams Thomas Rice Board Members/Commissioners Not in Attendance: Keith Pena-Villa Rachel Frock Ibiye Anga CALL TO ORDER Chair Apodaca called the Community Technology and Telecommunications Meeting to order at 6:37 p.m. PUBLIC COMMUNICATION: GENERAL The first ten speakers who register to speak no later than noon on the day before the meeting will be allowed a three-minute allotment to address their concerns regarding items not posted on the agenda. There were no members of the public that signed up to speak. APPROVAL OF MINUTES 1. Approve the minutes of the Technology Commission regular meeting on August 13th, 2025. Motion to approve the meeting minutes was made by Commissioner Eastwood and seconded by Commissioner Combee. The minutes were approved on a vote of 6-0-1. DISCUSSION ITEMS 2. Hold a public hearing to solicit feedback from the public and community stakeholders regarding the usefulness and relevance of the Technology Commission stated purposes and duties and its success in fulfilling those purpose and duties. A representative from EFF Austin and two former Technology Commissioners signed up to speak and offer feedback on the impact of the Technology Commission. The full discussion can be viewed at this link: https://austintx.new.swagit.com/videos/355125 DISSCUSION AND ACTION ITEMS 2 3. Further discussion and updates to approved responses for the evaluation of the recommendations made and other actions taken by the Technology Commission throughout the year and how these reflected or achieved the commission’s directives, identify any overlaps in the role and work of the commission with other boards or commissions, identify policies or City needs that no current board or commission appears to address, evaluate the level of members’ and the community’s engagement, and identify potential bylaw amendments to improve or address any of the foregoing. The Chair summarized the comments and responses to the clerk’s questions that were approved at the last technology commission meeting. For the question regarding the number of recommendation’s approved, the Chair expanded the time period listed in the response to include this month’s meeting since the approval of another recommendation was approved prior to discussing this item. To the question requesting information on community involvement, the two former commissioners and Kevin Welch from EFF Austin were added as speakers in support of maintaining this commission. 4. Approval of the artificial intelligence working group’s recommendation for establishing community input and technology commission review for sensitive technology contracts Commissioner Williams gave a summary of the background and context for which the recommendation was established for. This recommendation was created in hopes of involving the community more in decisions revolving around artificial intelligence. The recommendation was created in response to the amount of surveillance in Austin. Data is being collected through artificial intelligence programs for the purposes of law enforcement, but there are several concerns with this data collection like data sharing, selling, and privacy. Public park surveillance and automated license plate reader technologies are specifically called out in this summary. Commissioner Pribic mentioned that the broad scope of this recommendation is great as to not limit the commissions involvement in AI decisions. Pribic also brought up how it would be wise to include some best practices and examples from other municipalities in this document. Kevin Welch from EFF Austin gave some thoughts on this recommendation as well. He also recognized the need to highlight best practices that already under way in other cities. He also stated that these recommendations should be in line with state and federal law. Commissioner Combee highlighted the need to include language on data sharing or specifically limiting data sharing/selling. Commissioner Pribic called out that the “Strict Limitations on Data Sharing” covered this topic. Commissioner Williams called out to say that he would like to draw lines on what AI surveillance vendors can and cannot share. And recognized that city officials should have more leniency on these restrictions since they can be held accountable by the public. Commissioner Eastwood warned against establishing too many barriers on data sharing for 3 government officials since it may cause issues with sharing critical information like the wildfire prevention AI software showcased to the commissioner earlier this year. Motion to approve the recommendation 20250910-004 made by Commissioner Heritage and seconded by Commissioner Pribic. The recommendation was approved on a vote of 7-0. WORKING GROUP UPDATES 5. 6. Public Surveillance working group updates regarding further meetings with surveillance stakeholders The chair of this working group was not present to give the group recap. This item was pushed back to the following meeting. Artificial Intelligence Working Group updates surrounding development of recommendation post stakeholder engagement Commissioner Williams discussed how their recommendation came about. He also emphasized that there are further recommendations coming down the line related to other AI concerns. The group will meet again soon to discuss other topics of interest. Commissioner Willaims mentioned that this group is consisted of himself, Chair Apodaca, and Commissioner Pribic. The group also met with Kevin from EFF-Austin and an AI leader from New York. Commissioner Heritage recommended consolidating the public surveillance group with the AI working group since a lot of the work is starting to overlap. Commissioner Williams agreed since both topic areas are hand in hand. Commissioner Pribic invited Commissioner Heritage to the next AI working group meeting or discussing the group’s focuses at the next commission meeting. Commissioner Combee asked if there has been any investigation to generative AI and city uses. The AI working group confirmed that they have discussed it at a broader level. Combee stressed the need to oversee generative AI uses around the city. Commissioner Williams confirmed that there are no current standards set by the city on how to use these tools in the public sector. Chair Apodaca mentioned that the city actually does have a robust generative AI policy. Commissioner Eastwood asked if there was a disclosure policy for when AI is used by the city to which Chair Apodaca mentioned that he would have to circle back once he confirmed if that was included in the city’s policy. Liaison, Jesse Rodriguez, reiterated the working group policies and regulations. Working groups must have a final deliverable but multiple related groups are allowed to exist. 4 7. Planning updates from the Digital Equity Listening Session working group (Suzanne Heritage, District 4, Technology Commission) Chair Apodaca gave the update since the group has yet to meet with the D2 and D3 offices. The group met to have an onboarding discussion, and the town hall is tentatively scheduled for February 7th. The working group will meet with the D2 and D3 offices on September 12th. This group will provide a detailed update at the following meeting. Commissioner Heritage mentioned that this group was conceived due to the bylaw refresh and parallel thinking from the D2 and D# offices. The group will home in on the meeting content and focuses on the 12th. This meeting will help address some of the goals listed in the 2025 workplan. FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS • Grant for Technology Opportunities Program annual action plan • Technology Commission 2025 Calendar Approval • Review of current working groups and consideration of consolidation or modification • Invitation to Internet Service Providers to speak on their low income affordable internet plans ADJOURNMENT The meeting was adjourned at 7:59pm. The City of Austin is committed to compliance with the American with Disabilities Act. Reasonable modifications and equal access to communications will be provided upon request. Meeting locations are planned with wheelchair access. If you require Sign Language Interpreters or alternative formats, please give notice at least 2 days before the meeting date. Please contact Dan Martinez at the Community Technology Divison at (512) 974- 3510, for additional information; TTY users’ route through Relay Texas at 711. For more information on the Community Technology & Telecommunications Commission, please visit their website at http://www.austintexas.gov/cttc or contact Dan Martinez at dan.martinez@austintexas.gov The Minutes were approved at the October 8th, 2025 Meeting on Commissioner Eastwood’s motion and Commissioner Heritage’s second with a final vote of 6-0. 5