This submit has been up to date to incorporate a response from Jones.
In her first weeks on the job, San Antonio Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones is laying out plans to “vet” coverage proposals earlier than they’re mentioned by council committees and restrict leaks from closed-door conferences.
Thus far the concepts haven’t gone over nicely with council members — lots of whom have served on the dais longer than Jones — and weren’t consulted earlier than the insurance policies have been unveiled.
Three returning members penned a response Wednesday saying Jones doesn’t have the authority to make such modifications unilaterally, and that they plan to disregard her instructions till the complete council has had an opportunity to debate them.
“It’s a harmful precedent,” stated Councilwoman Marina Alderete Gavito (D7). “If we have been to have a Republican mayor, it might imply that council members from Democratic districts can be compelled to funnel their concepts by way of a chief of employees who could not align with their constituents’ values.”
Reached by telephone Thursday afternoon, Jones stated she was stunned by the council members’ response to what she considers comparatively minor modifications.
“For those who’re going to suggest a significant change to a metropolis ordinance … wouldn’t you need the mayor’s chief of employees to learn about it, in order that they will work with you and guarantee that it’s as profitable as it may be?” she stated.
She additionally contested the suggestion that she didn’t have authorized authority to take the actions with out council’s assist.
“These are course of modifications which are totally inside my purview, and I might argue, form of staff-level issues,” she stated. “I believe that is one thing that improves the method, and I stay up for working with people to implement it.”
An ongoing energy wrestle
Jones, a Democrat, is considered one of San Antonio’s few mayors to return into the function with out having served on the council, and was sworn in simply earlier than the council’s annual July recess.
Even earlier than she took over, council members had been pushing to claw again energy from the mayor’s workplace, accusing then-Mayor Ron Nirenberg of stalling their coverage proposals and shutting down a number of members’ requests for a gathering to debate a cease-fire decision.
On Monday, these tensions have been shortly reignited when Jones issued her three-page memo laying out new parameters for the way council members develop their coverage proposals, often known as Council Consideration Requests (CCRs), and a restructure of the council committees that insurance policies transfer by way of.
Within the curiosity of “extra knowledgeable and environment friendly” coverage making, Jones stated she wished her employees to be included as all CCRs are developed.
She additionally known as for coverage proposals to be assessed for finances implications earlier than they’re mentioned by a council committee, and for some proposals that don’t require altering metropolis ordinance to be dealt with by way of resolutions as an alternative.
“One of many key roles of the mayor’s workplace is to ascertain the council committee framework,” Jones wrote. ” … Tied to the effectiveness of the committees is the method by which we handle and vet Council Consideration Requests.”
Council members have been fast to argue that CCRs are an necessary car for elected officers to deliver ahead points that constituents need addressed, and that Jones’ plan would give the mayor and metropolis employees an excessive amount of energy to close down concepts they don’t like.
Of their written response to Jones on Wednesday, Alderete Gavito, Teri Castillo (D5), and Marc Whyte (D10) stated the mayor’s plans exceed her authorized authority — noting that the prevailing CCR course of is codified in metropolis ordinance.
Alderete Gavito and Whyte are each of their second time period on the council, whereas Castillo is amongst its most senior members, and a longtime hawk in the case of separation of powers.
They pointed to the council’s 18-month combat to amend town’s CCR ordinance beneath Jones’ predecessor, and stated that any new concepts must observe the identical course of.
“For those who want to change the CCR procedures, we request that you simply undergo the correct channels … and convey forth your proposed suggestions to the complete council for consideration and a vote,” the members wrote. “Right now, we intend to proceed to observe the procedures set forth within the present metropolis CCR ordinance.”
From Jones’ perspective, the Metropolis Council nonetheless has an extended backlog of proposals that members filed earlier than she was mayor — lots of which could possibly be addressed extra expediently exterior of the CCR course of.
“After I seemed on the CCRs that didn’t make it by way of the final administration, I used to be struck by the quantity,” Jones stated. “I used to be additionally struck by the truth that a few of these don’t have to be CCRs.”
Jones stated she collaborated with metropolis employees on Monday’s memo as a technique to reduce forms and transfer coverage proposals by way of the system extra shortly.
“[Staff] stated that if there was a course of the place you might higher suss out when one thing ought to come into the [CCR] course of, and when it’s addressed exterior of the method, it will save numerous time,” Jones stated. “These are all modifications which are allowable beneath the present ordinance, as signed off on by town legal professional.”
Stamping out leaks
In her first weeks on the job, Jones, who served within the prime ranks of the U.S. navy, has additionally sought to restrict leaks from closed-door conferences about delicate issues or authorized points.
Throughout the council’s first govt session assembly, Jones requested council members to place their cell telephones in a basket, saying such a coverage is commonplace on the Pentagon, in accordance with a council member who requested anonymity to talk candidly.
Whereas some members agreed the plan was wanted to guard the integrity of such conferences, others have been upset, the council member stated.
Jones confirmed the brand new cellular phone coverage and stated it was made partly as a result of metropolis employees had flagged issues in the course of the earlier administration with members texting each other throughout govt periods, and usually being distracted on their telephones.
“If having cell telephones off to the aspect permits us to higher [afford one another respect], and permits for a extra fulsome dialogue, and supplies extra decorum to the assembly, then that’s what we’re going to do,” she stated.
Jones additionally offered a memo she wrote to the council outlining broader modifications to the best way govt periods are run, and the best way delicate materials can be protected.
It requires sustaining “strict confidence” about info mentioned in closed-door conferences, in addition to distributing shows, agendas and different paperwork from govt periods by way of a devoted platform that limits additional distribution and entry.
“These are all very staple items that I’m stunned weren’t in place prior,” she stated. “I do know the extent of professionalism and the extent of decorum that I’m used to, and that’s what I anticipate.”
