Jessica King, the City of Austin’s chief communications director, told the Bond Election Advisory Task Force on Jan. 9 that the Communications and Public Information Office (CPIO) will lead a joint communications team to coordinate outreach for the 2026 bond program. King said the office intends to use multiple tools — event tabling, community meetings, surveys, Austin 311, targeted e‑newsletters and Speak Up-style project pages — rather than relying on a single method to gather public feedback.

“This is the slide where you’re gonna hear me talk mainly, and I hope I can just have a conversation,” King said, adding that the team’s goal is to return to the task force in February with an updated community‑engagement plan.

Why it matters: The task force will use community feedback to inform recommendations about bond projects that will later be considered by the City Council. King told members the city’s founding resolution for the task force calls for a minimum of four public town‑hall meetings and requires the team to summarize and deliver community input for the task force’s consideration.

City staff outlined how they will balance outreach (largely one‑way communications) and engagement (two‑way input intended to influence policy). Marion Sanchez, CPIO’s community engagement manager, said the joint team includes engagement staff across departments and that language access and meeting location selection will be central to reaching more Austinites.

“We never recommend relying on one mechanism to engage with the community,” King said. “Our most successful approach is when we can meet people where they are, and especially in their preferred language.”

On tools: Staff described a menu of tactics, each with benefits and tradeoffs. Event tabling and pop‑up outreach are intended to reach people where they already are but can produce briefer comments; staff said they will combine quick touchpoints with follow‑up options. Survey tools — including Likert‑style questions and open‑ended prompts — will be used in parallel. Marion Sanchez said the project team typically fields a single research instrument and then adapts it into shorter tools for tabling and longer surveys for participants with more time.

Alicia Dean, strategic communications manager, said the city aims to preserve data integrity by directing respondents to consistent survey questions rather than relying on native social‑media polls. “We will drive people to the survey tool, but make that content as engaging as possible,” Dean said, adding that staff perform social‑sentiment analysis to monitor broader conversations on social platforms.

Timeline and deliverables: Staff presented a high‑level schedule that targets returning to the task force in February with a finalized outreach plan, launching implementation in March–June and compiling a summary report for the task force by July–September. King said raw community responses will be retained and made available, while the team will deliver a summarized report for the task force and Council.

What the task force must do: King and Sanchez asked members to (1) identify outreach gaps and community contacts, (2) encourage participation through members’ networks, (3) actively listen and flag confusing materials so staff can adjust, and (4) consider community feedback alongside staff recommendations when forming final proposals. Staff also said they will provide a “toolkit” — shareable flyers, social posts and messaging templates — for task force members to distribute.

On survey length and response expectations: Staff said surveys have been left open anywhere from two weeks to 30 days and recommended roughly 30 days as a typical window to maintain momentum while allowing broad participation. Sanchez said the primary measure of survey success is breadth of participation across ZIP codes and demographics, not a single numeric response rate.

Questions from members focused on how staff will reach people who do not use social media, whether translated responses will be accessible to the task force, the feasibility and cost of focus groups, and how to mobilize attendance at the four town halls required by the resolution. King said staff will use targeted outreach, partner lists and the task force’s networks to boost attendance and ensure diverse representation.

Staff asked task force members to send contact names and suggested meeting locations to Samuel Veloz, the committee liaison, and said an updated plan will be presented at the task force’s February meeting.