District 10 Councilman Marc Whyte and San Antonio Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones clashed at a Wednesday assembly over a $10,000-a-month contract the mayor entered to supervise communications for her workplace.
“The mayor has employed an out of doors group for $10,000 a month to do communications—,” Whyte stated over the microphone on the council assembly.
“You’ll be able to ask me, it’s my contract,” Jones lower him off.
The tense alternate started after Whyte introduced up a KSAT-TV story about Jones’ determination to rent Washington, D.C.-based Frontwood Methods within the wake of her former communications director, Gary Cooper, being reassigned with out rationalization after lower than per week on the job.
As a part of the contract, San Antonio native Phillipa Martinez-Berrier, who presently lives in Austin, is in command of the mayor’s communications.
“That is comms help that’s being supplied commensurate to the identical stage of pay that earlier mayors have had,” Jones advised council. “So, identical stage of help, identical stage of funding, and it’s a bridge till we are able to carry somebody full-time on.”
Jones is appropriate when she stated the price of the contract, which runs by way of November 2026, is according to previous mayors’ spending on communications workers.
Former Mayor Ron Nirenberg’s longtime communications director, Bruce Davidson, for instance, made $137,000 a 12 months, metropolis information present.
Even so, Whyte took subject with metropolis cash being spent with a agency exterior of San Antonio slightly than hiring native.
A Frontwood Methods doc obtained by the Present exhibits the agency beneficial Jones step up her direct involvement with native media to enhance her picture. The consultancy beneficial she ebook a “pleasant interview on a neighborhood morning present,” subject Venture Marvel standing updates and higher clarify her function within the funds course of.
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This text seems in Sep 3-17, 2025.
