Girding for a new mayor in the coming year, some members of the San Antonio City Council are trying to insulate the city’s major policy initiatives from a shift in administration.
At a special meeting on Wednesday, city staff was asked to prepare plans that would give the council more influence over who serves on boards and commissions overseeing affordable housing, transit and the city-owned utilities, San Antonio Water System and CPS Energy.
While some of those positions are dictated by state law, others have historically been appointed by the mayor.
In particular, roughly half of the members of the city’s Housing Commission and Housing Authority are mayoral appointees, as set by city ordinance.
Council is expected to review the first draft of a plan to give them more influence over those appointments before the end of the year, allowing members to potentially approve the necessary policy changes before a new mayor is sworn in next June.
“I worry that the next mayor is not going to be thoughtful in terms of diversity, in terms of experience [and] background… and we are running out of time before that next mayor is seated,” Councilman Jalen McKee-Rodriguez (D2) said at Wednesday’s meeting. “It may be somebody from this council, it may not, and we have to prepare for all circumstances.”
So far at least 15 candidates have expressed interest in running for mayor. In addition to four sitting council members, the list includes a former appointee of Gov. Greg Abbott, Rolando Pablos, and a conservative former Northside councilman, Clayton Perry.
In a nod to the potential impact board changes could have on the agencies, lawyers for SAWS, CPS Energy and VIA Metropolitan Transit were all in attendance at Wednesday’s meeting.
Mayor Ron Nirenberg, who has expressed his own concerns about the next mayor changing direction on affordable housing and public transit initiatives, has shown little interest in handing over more power to the council members.
The discussion about mayoral appointments was only made possible after council members Teri Castillo (D5), Melissa Cabello Havrda (D6) and Marc Whyte (D10) filed a three-signature memo to force a meeting on the issue, and Nirenberg kicked off the conversation by making his case for keeping the process the same.
“Government processes are always fair game for reexamination to ensure they continue to meet the community’s needs,” Nirenberg said. “But as it relates to our authority to change the way some of these committees are appointed, in many cases, we don’t have that power.”
But many council members disagreed.
Castillo, who started her career as a housing organizer, pointed to the changing dynamics of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development under various presidential administrations as a reason to seek as much policy consistency as possible at the local level.
Under Nirenberg’s tenure, the city has invested heavily in affordable housing, even including money for it in the city’s bond program.
Castillo suggested the council could create a pre-approved list of candidates for various boards and commissions, or institute a process that would allow the council to screen the next mayor’s appointees, to help keep such strategies in motion.
“Housing, transportation are the top issues that residents continue to highlight [in recent budget surveys],” Castillo said. “We have a responsibility to sit with the resumes and ensure that the folks that are being appointed to represent and make these tough decisions are in alignment with the goals that the city of San Antonio has established.”
Cabello Havrda said the council should set “clear public criteria for what we’re looking for in” high-level board and commission members, and consider public forums to include community input.
Councilwoman Marina Alderete Gavito (D7) suggested putting candidates for citywide appointments through an interview process with the full council.
“I do think that we should have more oversight into the nomination process for candidates,” she said. “I think that when we’re hearing directly from residents what’s impacting them, we know the tough questions to ask.”