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In a late night memo to her San Antonio City Council colleagues on Thursday, Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones withdrew changes to a core policymaking process she introduced last month.
“Given the desire to use the current process as a baseline as we look at ways to improve the process, we will revert to the process outlined in the [Council Consideration Request] Ordinance,” Jones said in the memo.
Councilmembers said two new prerequisites she added to the process councilmembers must follow before filing a policy proposal — getting a signature from the city manager and city attorney on CCRs to acknowledge they'd reviewed them and getting a legal opinion from the city attorney — went beyond her authority and their desires.
They similarly criticized a third prerequisite, later removed, that councilmembers inform the mayor's chief of staff of any new policies.
Three members, District 5 Councilmember Teri Castillo, District 7 Councilmember Marina Alderete Gavito, and District 10 Councilmember Marc Whyte, were so opposed to the changes that they signed a rarely used three-signature memo to force a public meeting on Wednesday to discuss the mayor’s proposals.
City Attorney Andy Segovia said during the meeting that Jones had the legal authority to make the changes, but a majority of councilmembers — even some who said they agreed with, already practiced, or were indifferent to the changes — called for full council consideration of any change to the vehicle they rely on to create new policy.
Councilmembers appeared poised to get the item on the dais to formally vote down Jones’ changes in the near future until her Thursday night memo.
The ordinance regulating CCRs was last amended in 2024 after long-simmering frustrations with how former Mayor Ron Norenberg handled CCRs bubbled to the surface.
Alderete Gavito celebrated Jones’ reversal. “This is a win for transparency and collaboration,” she said. “The CCR process we fought to preserve ensures every Councilmember can bring forward ideas for public discussion. I’m proud we stood firm and that our residents will continue to benefit from a truly open policymaking process.”
Jones’ memo requested that councilmembers identify potential improvements to the CCR process over the next six months so the city council could consider amending the ordinance early next year.
“This is a good opportunity to turn the page and recommit to making decisions together, in the open, as a full Council,” Alderete Gavito said. “When all 11 members are part of the discussion from the start, we deliver better policy and a stronger city.”
