SAN ANTONIO – Councilmembers Marina Alderete Gavito, Marc Whyte, and Teri Castillo are opposing a memo from Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones that outlines new procedures requiring all Council Consideration Requests, or CCRs, to be submitted as drafts to City Manager Erik Walsh and City Attorney Andy Segovia.
“Essentially, what I believe her suggested recommendations are doing, perhaps unintentionally, is granting non-elected city staff authority over the council, council members, CCRs, and our Council Consideration Request,” said Alderete Gavito.
Right now, all the council members need to do is inform the City Manager’s Office. Alderete Gavito mentions that she has great respect for the city manager, but local political analyst Collin Strother states that the role has traditionally supported the mayor for many years.
“You know, we have a solid working relationship. I do believe there will be moments when we will disagree,” said Alderete Gavito.
The latest memo also requests that the staff members of council members meet with the mayor’s team prior to initiating a new policy process.
“And that creates a risky example, you know, where we find ourselves collaborating with a mayor’s chief of staff, once more, an unelected role, which might block some of the proposals from council districts from ever being realized,” said Alderete Gavito.
“The mayor has suggested modifications that we think would delay the procedure and remove the council’s capacity to present these policy remedies,” stated Whyte.
The memo states that this new process aims to “ensure a more knowledgeable and effective execution of policy,” with the manager identifying which city actions or programs would be affected by a new policy and the attorney checking its legality. Alderete Gavito mentions that she occasionally had to confront them before, such as when she introduced a policy regarding loose and dangerous dogs.
“I simply refused to accept ‘no’ as a response, and my team and I dug in, finding alternative methods to accomplish this and resolve the issue, because it was crucial for the residents. You see, we’re witnessing residents being attacked and killed by dogs. I wasn’t going to accept ‘no’ as an answer,” said Alderete Gavito.
At least one member of the city council backs this modification. Phyllis Viagran states that they are happy to witness the CCR procedure made more efficient.
What comes next? Councilmembers Alderete Gavito, Whyte, and Castillo have requested Jones to arrange a special council meeting by August 15th to address and cast a vote on the mayor’s suggested modifications.
We contacted the mayor’s office to inquire if she would do that, but we did not receive a response.
