{"id":216214,"date":"2025-09-10T18:55:10","date_gmt":"2025-09-10T18:55:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/216214\/"},"modified":"2025-09-10T18:55:10","modified_gmt":"2025-09-10T18:55:10","slug":"taxpayers-paying-10k-a-month-for-san-antonio-mayor-jones-outside-pr-help-records-show","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/216214\/","title":{"rendered":"Taxpayers paying $10K a month for San Antonio Mayor Jones\u2019 outside PR help, records show"},"content":{"rendered":"

SAN ANTONIO<\/strong> \u2013 An outside media consultant brought on board by San Antonio Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones in late August is costing taxpayers $10,000 a month, internal city records obtained by KSAT Investigates show. <\/p>\n

The contract between Washington, D.C.-based Frontwood Strategies and the city was finalized last month.<\/p>\n

In the $30,000 proposal for strategic communications support, a representative of the public relations firm wrote that it would help the mayor get ahead of any future stories and allow for an easy transition once she identifies a communications director.<\/p>\n

\u201cSince your inauguration in June, reporters have had the space to shape the narrative around your office and your work,\u201d the proposal states.<\/p>\n

The agreement is tentatively scheduled to run through the end of October, according to an Aug. 25 memo requesting the funding.<\/p>\n

The contract itself, however, has an end date of Nov. 30, 2026, records show.<\/p>\n

Jones on Wednesday defended the contract, telling KSAT in a written statement that the agreement is to bridge the gap until a dedicated communications person is in place.<\/p>\n

KSAT Investigates<\/p>\n

Hard-hitting journalism from the KSAT Investigates team delivered straight to your inbox.<\/p>\n

Jones replaced her chief of staff less than three weeks<\/a> into her term. An assistant to the mayor who handled media inquiries the last week of July, Gary Cooper, left her office and moved into a different role in city communications.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne helluva week, though!\u201d Cooper wrote on LinkedIn Aug. 1, before replying to a comment, \u201cNot a good fit is what I was told.\u201d<\/p>\n

Austin-based communications specialist embedded in mayor\u2019s office<\/p>\n

Philippa Martinez-Berrier, an Austin-based vice president of Frontwood Strategies, emailed multiple KSAT reporters on Aug. 27 stating she was a San Antonio native who would be supporting the mayor\u2019s communications on a short-term basis.<\/p>\n

The recommended \u201c3-month-engagement\u201d proposed by Frontwood Strategies includes sharing morning media news, a daily call to define a daily communications strategy and engaging reporters on the mayor\u2019s behalf.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs you face mounting pressure from the press, we recommend engaging media as soon as possible by responding to press inquiries when appropriate,\u201d the proposal states.<\/p>\n

Among the proposal\u2019s \u201cimmediate next steps\u201d was issuing a Project Marvel status update, booking a \u201cfriendly interview on a local morning show\u201d for the mayor to lay out her vision for the city, and explaining the mayor\u2019s role in the budget process.<\/p>\n

The formal contract also stipulates that the media consultant be reimbursed for travel expenses, but that total compensation cannot exceed $30,000 \u201cwithout prior approval and agreement of all parties.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jones, through her outside media consultant, told KSAT via email Wednesday: \u201cOur city employees have existing portfolios of work, and similar to previous mayors, I\u2019m in the process of getting dedicated communications support for my office. I have brought on Philippa Martinez-Berrier, a San Antonio native working with Frontwood Strategies, to help bridge the gap and ensure our constituents are informed of our work in the interim.\u201d <\/p>\n

Read more reporting on the KSAT Investigates page<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2025 by KSAT – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN ANTONIO \u2013 An outside media consultant brought on board by San Antonio Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones in…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":216215,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5133],"tags":[5229,118121,7452,31872,7202,7203,358,3187,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-216214","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-antonio","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-frontwood-strategies","10":"tag-gina-ortiz-jones","11":"tag-ksat-investigates","12":"tag-san-antonio","13":"tag-sanantonio","14":"tag-texas","15":"tag-tx","16":"tag-united-states","17":"tag-united-states-of-america","18":"tag-unitedstates","19":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","20":"tag-us","21":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115181527102013735","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/216214","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=216214"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/216214\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/216215"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=216214"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=216214"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=216214"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}