SAN ANTONIO — A power struggle at San Antonio City Hall has reignited tensions between Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones and city council members over the process for passing policies.
The conflict centers on council consideration requests (CCRs), which Mayor Jones insists should be scrapped and resubmitted if not brought to council meetings for a vote.
This stance contradicts an agreement reached nearly a month ago, prompting councilmembers Teri Castillo, Marina Alderete Gavito, Misty Spears, and Marc Whyte to submit a memo last week.
They demand that any proposed changes be adopted into an ordinance by the full city council.
“What we’ve done now is filed a memo to just clarify the CCR ordinance, to note that there are no expired CCRs and that nobody can unilaterally change the CCR ordinance,” said Marc Whyte.
He added, “We thought we were past this issue, but it appears that we’re not. Far too much time has been spent on this. We’ve got to get back to the work of the people. We shouldn’t be fighting about process right now.”
Mayor Jones previously stated, “All items must be reviewed by the new governance committee, and this ordinance did not go through the new committee.”
The issue of CCRs is expected to be on the agenda at next week’s council meeting. It remains unclear whether the matter will come to a vote or if previously considered items will need to undergo another governance committee process, as the mayor desires.
The possibility of a compromise between the mayor and the council is still uncertain.