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San Antonio’s multi-million-dollar sports and entertainment district proposed for downtown got the green light on its first two contracts to oversee construction and development of the area.
But that decision came after a series of public disagreements during the meeting between Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones and the rest of the city council that left her on the losing side of multiple 10-1 votes.
Ultimately, the council approved a district study contract that will conduct a cost of services assessment with Maryland-based MuniCap Inc., a consulting and professional services firm. That study will cost about $350,000.
The second contract is for $6 million with Accenture Infrastructure and Capital Projects to be the executive program manager for the district, or in other words, an overseer of all projects taking place in the design and construction phase.
The proposals for those contracts each passed by a vote of 10-1.
Since Jones' election last year, she has made several attempts to slow down the project and ask for more time for its development.
The meeting was derailed for a few minutes before the votes when District 3 Councilwoman Phyllis Viagran made a motion to move an encompassing informational briefing on the sports and entertainment district to June but still take up the two contracts for vote.
Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones disagreed and said she felt the entire presentation was necessary.
“I want to make sure when we're talking about the update to the downtown plan,” she said. “Folks understand what those two items are, how they're related.”
District 2 Councilman Jalen McKee-Rodriguez supported the move to shorten the presentation. “We have a lot of people here who are interested in another item,” he said, referencing the vote on veteran housing vouchers. “And us going through the same slides over and over and over again is a little redundant.”
Even City Manager Erik Walsh showed some confusion at the decision, asking for clarification. It’s typically the norm for council to have a full briefing before a vote takes place.
“Frankly, I'd rather have you guys come tell me that we're giving you too much information than giving you a three-slide presentation. So we'll work on narrowing that down,” Walsh said. "We felt it was natural to give you all an update publicly.”
After about ten minutes of discussion—and at some points those present interrupted and talked over one another — the council sided with Viagran. Ending council debate requires a two-thirds majority. The council voted 10-1 to end discussion with the mayor as the lone no vote.
However, Jones continued to make her case even after the council voted to quell discussion.
“I understand the slide deck might be long, but I think it's important that we share the information. There may be questions about why we would not talk about the overall picture when we're taking action on contracts related to the projects. It's a transparency issue.”
District 10 Councilman Marc Whyte, who is frequently at odds with Jones, said the council had already been briefed on the full project.
“We are all calling for transparency. We're going to have a B session in front of the world where we can talk about all of this. We're just not going to do it today,”
The council voted to move the all-encompassing briefing of the sports and entertainment district to June, in a 10-2 vote with Jones and District 6 Councilman Ric Galvan dissenting.
The dustup is the latest in a series of routine council votes that have placed the city council and mayor at opposite ends.
Last August, the council approved a non-binding termsheet in a narrow 7-4 vote despite multiple requests for a pause on project marvel negotiations from San Antonio Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones.
In November, voters in Bexar County approved Proposition B at 52%. That would provide about $311 million in venue tax money to pay for some of the new Spurs arena.
Now that a portion of the funding is in place, the city is partially responsible for development oversight of the area surrounding what would be the new basketball arena for the San Antonio Spurs. The team is in the playoffs for the first time in nearly a decade.
The $6 million program contract would create an executive program manager arrangement with Accenture. The city’s Chief of Financial and Administrative Services Ben Gorzell said the role of the EPM is to make sure the job finishes on time, on budget, and provides the smallest number of disruptions for San Antonians in and around downtown.
“The EPM really acts as the senior representative writing, providing program level leadership to support the program,” Gorzell said. “They really help us coordinate and manage all the capital activities that are happening across the district, managing all of that work, coordinating all that work, phasing, sequencing, looking at all the interdependencies and helping us manage the program.”
The other contract for the study would focus on costs of services, meaning city services — like what it would take to provide, infrastructure, police, fire, EMS, and park maintenance.
The city council will receive a full sports and entertainment district update in June.
