Some topics just can’t help but be chewed to the bone, for instance, the current debate over whether or not Austin’s city elections should be held in May or November.

The council decided in a divided 4-3 vote on Sept. 22 to keep elections in May, after a heated discussion about disenfranchisement, enfranchisement and race. But even though the first vote is often the last word in situations like this, technically it requires three votes to finally approve the move – one at Thursday’s regular council meeting and one at a special called meeting on Friday. (There was some effort to have the vote made at Tuesday’s workshop meeting as pointed out by Burnt Orange Report, but it violated the rules of council workshops, and so got bumped to later in the week.)

Looking at Friday’s agenda, the November faction – Mayor Lee Leffingwell, Council Member Mike Martinez and Council Member Chris Riley – are apparently making one last effort to get the date shifted to November before the May date is set in stone.

Do they stand a chance of getting it moved? Who knows. One of the four council members in favor of the May election – Mayor Pro Tem Sheryl Cole, Council Member Bill Spelman, Council Member Laura Morrison and Council Member Kathie Tovo – would have to cross the line. From arguments made at the council meeting two weeks ago and in the media, Cole and Spelman seem the least likely to budge, but it would pretty unusual for anyone to change their vote this late in the process.

Regardless, there should be some healthy debate on both Thursday and Friday, considering the two sides are throwing jabs at each other from two different moral high grounds – the May side stressing the necessity of maintaining the integrity of City Council by not voting to extend their terms six months and change city charter without a public vote, and the November side arguing that the majority of the city is disenfranchised because May elections only draw the very small percentage of Austin voters who live downtown and have the time and energy to be heavily engaged to the polls.

And while that is the topic of interest that is flashing in great big lights over City Council this week, there are a couple other standout reasons to watch Thursday’s regular council meeting as well:

•  Will the great debate over electric vehicles in Austin come to an end on Thursday? Rules and regulations and a pilot program through September 2012 for “low-speed electric vehicles” are on the agenda at City Council. Austin’s Capital Cruisers/Electric Cab of Austin – an electric cab company downtown run by Chris Nielsen – has been waiting anxiously for the City Council to create regulations to allow them to legally operate, and when they continued to operate without a permit, there were arrests. The big question is whether all sides will be happy about this, especially after a recent independent report didn’t give electric cabs much credence. Riley, Martinez and Tovo are behind this motion.
   
• Now that the new parking meter hours are being enforced downtown, Austinites need to keep a close eye on their parking meters to avoid big fines. But City Council is considering the creation of a new program that might make paid parking easier to swallow, if you care about the walkability and bike-ability of the areas around paid parking. The proposed ordinance would allow the city to create “parking benefit districts,” or areas where 51 percent of the profit from paid parking in an area would go back into “improvements that promote walking, cycling, and public transit use within the district.” Riley, Martinez and Morrison are behind this one.

Check out the full agenda for more council business to get you riled up.