Mayor Gina Ortiz led a contentious meeting with the rest of City Council on Wednesday afternoon. Courtesy Photo / Gina Ortiz Jones" class="uk-display-block uk-position-relative uk-visible-toggle"> click to enlarge Mayor Gina Ortiz led a contentious meeting with the rest of City Council on Wednesday afternoon. - Courtesy Photo / Gina Ortiz Jones
Courtesy Photo / Gina Ortiz Jones
Mayor Gina Ortiz led a contentious meeting with the rest of City Council on Wednesday afternoon.
The majority of City Council on Wednesday afternoon rejected Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones' proposed changes to how members of the body bring ordinances to the dais for public discussion, marking the second time this month the new mayor has been overwhelmingly rebuked by colleagues.
Indeed, it appeared during the contentious two-hour City Hall meeting that the rift between Jones and the rest of the council is growing wider.
Several times, Jones suggested that District 7 Councilwoman Marina Alderete Gavito had had mislead her about a policy proposal the councilwoman filed. Meanwhile, District 1 Councilwoman Sukh Kaur compared Jones' fraught rapport with the rest of council with the behavior of San Antonio Spurs persona non grata Kawhi Leonard.
"If you ask anybody what they love about the Spurs the most, they're the hardest team to hate," Kaur said. "The reason why is because we're about teamwork. We had a significant leader on the Spurs a few years ago, went off to Toronto and won his chip, but he wasn't a good fit for our team because he wasn't about teamwork. So, I think what our community wants from us is to work together as a team to figure out what our policy-making process is going to be that works for everyone."
Last month, Jones, without notifying the rest of council or seeking feedback, amended how Council Consideration Requests (CCRs) — documents needed to open a wider debate on a policy proposal — are brought before the dais. Jones' proposed changes made the process significantly harder while also giving unprecedented power to unelected city staff, including City Manager Erik Walsh and City Attorney Andy Segovia.
In response, a bipartisan coalition of council members, including District 5's Teri Castillo, District 7's Alderete Gavito and District 10's Marc Whyte, filed a formal, three-signature memo demanding a meeting be held to discuss Jones' action.
During Wednesday's meeting, Whyte — who's managed to build a coalition behind closed doors against Jones' proposed "strategic pause" on Project Marvel discussions — again took control of the room. He argued the mayor's proposed CCR change is illegal and violates the City Charter.
"Watch how the system plays out for six months, be a part of it before you want to make a change to a system that you've never been a part of, see how it works, and then perhaps you can make the recommendations, because it's worked pretty well," Whyte said.
Whyte also lambasted Jones' proposal to scrap CCRs filed by council members no longer on the dais and her proposal to force standing council members to resubmit CCRs filed before she took office.
One example of a CCR filed before Jones' arrival was District 8 Councilman Manny Pelaez's request to discuss renaming San Antonio International airport after former Spurs coach Gregg Popovich. Several former council members no longer serving on council also signed on to the request.
"Are there new council members here that will feel disrespected if we have to continue working on a CCR that began with the previous council?" Whyte said. "I haven't heard that from any of the council members. So, if that is an issue for the new council, I haven't heard it."
Jones' other proposed changes presented Wednesday would require that both Walsh and Segovia sign off on new CCRs and that council members submitting the requests provide a statement outlining how their proposal would improve city services.
Jones said the change is necessary because Alderete Gavito filed a recent CCR but failed to notify Walsh — a step in the process even required under the existing rules.
"Councilwoman Alderete Gavito submitted the first CCR, and it says, 'I have notified the city manager,'" Jones said.
"I asked the city manager if he had seen it, and he hadn't been notified."
Council worked together and voted to adopt the current CCR filing format in 2024. That framework states that Walsh must be notified, but it doesn't specify that the notification come through a formal written process.
Text messages, emails, phone calls or comments in passing are all acceptable, Whyte said.
Under Jones' proposal, Walsh would have one business day to sign off, either physically or electronically, on each CCR.
"It asks Erik within 24 hours to initial [the CCR] so we can all have confidence that the thing you have said is true on paper is in fact on paper," Jones said. "We don't have time to be guessing if somebody is lying."
During the meeting, Walsh said he's "indifferent" towards Jones' proposal.
"You all decide how you want to do it," he said.
The majority of council told Jones the CCR request format voted on by council under former Mayor Ron Nirenberg remains sufficient and needs no change.
Council took no action on the matter during the meeting and no vote on it had been scheduled as of press time.
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