More than two months after Councilwoman Ivalis Meza Gonzalez’s DWI arrest, City Council will weigh whether to condemn her actions.
Past council arrests have drawn swift action — including a Sunday meeting to punish Councilman Marc Whyte (D10) days after his 2024 DWI arrest — but new Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones said she would wait to address Meza Gonzalez’s situation until they had “more information.”
Meza Gonzalez has insisted she wasn’t drinking that night, including in police body camera footage released Aug. 8. She had a previous DWI arrest before joining the council to represent District 8, in 2010.
Jones told the council Friday that she was calling the vote “in light of new information,” and that Meza Gonzalez’s committee assignments would be suspended “until further notice or until more details of the incident are known.”
Her office emailed the request Friday afternoon, but after disagreements about the issue in executive session, City Manager Erik Walsh responded that he had “the strong sense the Council is not ready to consider this item,” and declined to put it on the regular council agenda.
Jones pressed forward anyway, requesting a special meeting instead at 1 p.m. on Sept. 11.
Censure votes carry no real consequences, but Councilman Mario Bravo (D1) lost reelection shortly after council issued a vote of no confidence.
Immediately after the arrest, Meza Gonzalez said she would “take full accountability” for her actions.
