Email suggests San Antonio mayor's staff gave contradictory advice on animal-welfare proposal

San Antonio Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones is doubling down on her position on the city’s proposed anti-pet dumping ordinance. Credit: Courtesy / Gina for Mayor

City Council’s battle over a proposed anti-pet dumping ordinance has taken a new turn after emails obtained by the Current appear to contradict Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones’ statement about why she scrapped the item from Thursday’s agenda.

In a statement late Wednesday, Jones said city staff pulled the item from the agenda because the “expired” Council Consideration Request (CCR) hadn’t been reviewed by council’s Governance Committee before its addition to the docket.

To get proposed ordinances before the entire council for debate, members must first file CCR documents to show they have enough support to discuss the matter.

“Item 11 was pulled from the City Council agenda [Wednesday] evening by City staff, as the expired CCR had not been reviewed by the Governance Committee,” Jones’ office said in an emailed statement. “As has been communicated, expired CCRs from the previous council must be resubmitted, and the Governance Committee will decide on how to move forward once received.”

The CCR in question had already passed and had been approved by the Governance Committee, although that took place before Jones took office on June 18.

Jones’ written statement explaining why the item was taken off the agenda appears to contradict emailed assurances given to council members by her chief of staff, Jenise Carroll.

Last week, in an email exchange with Carroll obtained by the Current, a staffer for District 1 Councilwoman Sukh Kaur asked if CCRs that had already passed through the Governance Committee and moved to ordinance would be acceptable to add to council’s agenda.

“Some of these CCRs listed have already been completed and moved to ordinance — confirming that we’re only looking at the onces (sic) that haven’t gone to a committee?” the staffer wrote to Carroll.

“If the CCR is approved [by the Governance committee], then no action is required,” Carroll replied in the online exchange.

Two City Hall insiders who asked not be named told the Current that they took Carroll’s remark to mean that CCRs approved by the Governance Committee before Jones took office were still safe. Especially since the committee was only formed late last month and has only met a handful of times.

Further, under San Antonio’s charter, there appears to be no such thing as an “expired” CCR, long-time political consultant Laura Barberena told the Current.

“I’ve been deep in this space for the last 10 years, and I don’t ever recall there ever being a time when the CCRs didn’t carry over [from past administrations],” Barberena said.

The item that Jones scrapped this week was an ordinance backed by Animal Care Services that would fine people who abandon dogs and cats on the streets up to $2,000 for a first offense.

In a statement supplied to the Current on Friday, Jones doubled down on her decision to scrapped Thursday’s planned vote on the proposal. She said those on the dais didn’t have enough time to read the five-page ordinance filed with the City Clerk on Aug. 21.

“I appreciate the council members’ advocacy for this legislation, but it is still important to remember that we are a new council and there are several members who did not have an opportunity to review the ordinance,” Jones said. “Following the CCR process, all items must be reviewed by the new governance committee and this ordinance did not go through the new committee. These council members are skipping an important step in the legislative process. I believe that our new council has the responsibility to review proposals that did not complete the legislative process in the previous session.”

District 10 Councilman Marc Whyte told the Current Thursday that the ordinance would have passed unanimously if Jones hadn’t removed it from the agenda.

In response to Jones’ unilateral decision to scrap the proposed pet-dumping ordinance, Whyte, District 5 Councilwoman Teri Castillo and District 7 Councilwoman Alderete Gavito filed a three-signature memo Friday to force the item to be added to the agenda for council’s Sept. 11 meeting.

“Despite the Mayor’s attempt to obstruct our legislative process, this policy will move forward,” the trio — which includes both conservative and progressive council members — wrote in the memo. “Animal abandonment threatens both residents and animals, and the City should act promptly to adopt this critical protection.”

Jones’ controversial action on Thursday comes after she tried to pass a new policy earlier this summer that would have scrapped all CCRs filed before she took office. That motion was rebuked by a majority of council, who argued that it would set back progress on new ordinances by months as they refiled paperwork and dealt with City Hall bureaucracy.

City Hall insiders and political observers speculate that Jones removed the item from Thursday’s agenda item because it built on an earlier CCR filed by Alderete Gavito, with whom the mayor has publicly tussled over whether they mayor has the ability to unilaterally change city rules about CCRs.

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Email suggests San Antonio mayor’s staff gave contradictory advice on animal-welfare proposal

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