{"id":234231,"date":"2025-09-17T16:31:23","date_gmt":"2025-09-17T16:31:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/234231\/"},"modified":"2025-09-17T16:31:23","modified_gmt":"2025-09-17T16:31:23","slug":"critics-dig-in-against-san-antonio-mayors-bid-to-change-how-council-members-introduce-new-proposals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/234231\/","title":{"rendered":"Critics dig in against San Antonio mayor\u2019s bid to change how council members introduce new proposals"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"MayorMayor Gina Ortiz Jones argues the current process for putting proposals forward for a council vote is unfair to members who are newly elected. Credit: Courtesy Photo \/ Gina for Mayor<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t expect a letup in the tensions between Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones and some of her colleagues on City Council.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Earlier this month, Jones issued a memo that would throw out all Council Consideration Requests (CCRs) submitted before her tenure began in June. CCRs are the documents members of council must file before a proposal can receive full debate on the dais.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The mayor argues it\u2019s unfair to require council members who weren\u2019t yet elected when the body\u2019s governance committee approved a CCR to come up to full speed on the proposal and make a well-reasoned vote on it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

However, political observers maintain Jones\u2019 controversial policy change is less about looking after new council members than it is shoring up control.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s about power,\u201d longtime San Antonio political consultant Laura Barberena said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Jones declined comment on this article and on criticism of how she\u2019s handled the debate over changing the CCR process.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Last week, a bipartisan coalition of council members, including District 5\u2019s Teri Castillo, District 7\u2019s Marina Alderete Gavito, District 9\u2019s Misty Spears and District 10\u2019s Marc Whyte, filed a formal four-signature memo to hold a vote on Jones\u2019 proposed CCR rule change by Sept. 18.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The formal memo, filed with the city clerk, came after Jones\u2019 office on Sept. 9 issued a memo announcing that all CCRs filed before she took office in mid-June would be sent back to square one.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cFor CCRs that include signatures from former Council members, the sponsor is asked to replace those with current Council members and to confirm in writing that the other Council members continue to support the CCR as written,\u201d the memo states. \u201cThis way ahead best affords the newly elected Council members the opportunity to review and provide feedback on ideas that would directly impact their constituents.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, critics argue Jones\u2019 proposal has several problems.\u00a0<\/p>\n

First and foremost, a majority of council already pushed back against Jones\u2019 proposed CCR changes during a meeting in August. Following that contentious meeting, Jones backed down, stating in a press release that council would \u201crevert to the process outlined\u201d in the existing CCR ordinance. The mayor added that she would reevaluate the issue \u201cafter the new year.\u201d<\/p>\n

Traditionally, CCRs filed by council have carried over between mayoral administrations, according to Barberena \u2014 or that\u2019s at least been the norm for the decade she\u2019s done work related to City Hall.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, council members are their own persons as they come into the office, but you\u2019re also building on the work that the person did before you, whether you share that ideology or not,\u201d the consultant explained.<\/p>\n

Barberena pointed to District 9, where termed-out progressive Councilman John Courge handed over the reins to Spears, a conservative who\u2019s still working to get her predecessor\u2019s proposals up for council discussion despite their differing ideologies.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The other issue with Jones\u2019 proposal is that no new council members have backed her claim that the existing CCR system puts them in a difficult spot.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cNot one council member has ever said that,\u201d Whyte told the Current. \u201cWe\u2019re sort of proving that point by having Misty Spears on our memo.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although Spears is a first-term member of council, she signed onto the four-signature memo to allow CCRs filed by former members to move forward without input from new faces on the dais.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The last time council changed the way CCRs are brought up for public discussion happened during the tenure of Mayor Ron Nirenberg. Members of the body put if forward after some raised concerns he was quietly sidelining their proposals.\u00a0<\/p>\n

That approved ordinance amended the City Charter so that a full council vote is required to change the CCR process, Whyte told the Current.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a valid city ordinance, so it\u2019s city law that sets out the process, and if you want to change it, you have to put it to a vote,\u201d Whyte said. \u201c[Jones] cannot modify the process unilaterally by a memo. If she wants to change the process, she needs to put it to a vote.\u201d<\/p>\n

San Antonio political consultant Kelton Morgan told the Current that Jones\u2019 battle over the CCR process shows her inability to work with others on council and her staff\u2019s lack of understanding of how local government works.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIn politics, there is always the possibility of a reset,\u201d said Morgan, who also served as Nirenberg\u2019s first-term chief of staff. \u201cBut, it\u2019s going to take something \u2014\u00a0at least from my observation, an anathema to her DNA \u2014\u00a0and that is some humility, some apologizing and some taking time to sit down and try to forge actual relationships with members of council.\u201d<\/p>\n

The mayor also would be wise to bone up on San Antonio\u2019s city charter to understand what powers she actually has under a council-manager form of government, Morgan added.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe onus at this point to salvage anything is on the mayor and not anyone else,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Council will vote on whether to change the CCR process or keep it as-is during its Thursday, Sept. 18 meeting.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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