City council discussed an updated list of proposed 2027-2032 bond projects on Thursday. They’ll be under the guidance of three newly appointed bond chairpersons.
The proposed $442 million bond is about half the size of the 2022 bond, the result of a tough economy. It comes with a smaller list of public infrastructure and improvement projects — but no tax increase.
Three bond-related propositions, tweaked slightly since the last council briefing on Oct. 29, will be put to voters in May. The next step in the process, the public review, gets underway Nov. 16
In the months to follow, the bond chairpersons are tasked with shaping the list of projects to present to the council on Jan. 21 then seeing that the bond is something the community will support.
Put forth by Councilwomen Sukh Kaur (D1) and Phyllis Viagran (D3), the tri-chairpersons approved by the council are Kevin Dinnin, FirstDay Foundation president and CEO; OCI Group co-founder Anita Fernandez; and Sandi Wolff, Hallmark University vice president of Community Engagement and Advancement.
“I think we’ve arrived at three great people who are going to make sure that the bond gets all the attention it deserves from the community,” said Marc Whyte, (D10). They are “going to lead the effort in a way that is going to be really nice to see, and it’ll be something that the community can rally around.”
They could have their work cut out for them.
While a Pre-K 4 SA reauthorization passed Tuesday, bond propositions and accompanying tax increases from four local school districts on the midterm ballot failed.
The fifth district, Schertz-Cibolo-Universal City ISD, saw its proposition pass narrowly in with voters in Guadalupe and Bexar counties.
Before the chairpersons were approved by the council, the mayor, who had previously advanced her own set of names, attempted to introduce a discussion on the ethics of selecting people who may have a financial interest in proposed bond projects.
“Because the bond demand is so small, we do want to make sure we have a successful bond, and I think that requires folks having trust in the process and as much transparency around projects that are proposed, reviewed, selected, and etc.,” Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones said, adding she heard OCI, a social purpose consulting firm, is working with the Spurs.
City Attorney Andy Segovia said his office is unaware of any conflicts of interest that would disqualify the proposed tri-chairpersons. A Spurs spokeswoman confirmed the organization is no longer under contract with OCI since completing a series of public engagement meetings earlier this year.
“Like in every other situation, including council members, those come up on a case-by-case basis,” Segovia said. “So we’ve instructed them that if they do feel or if we see that there’s potential conflicts, obviously we’ll help them navigate through that.
Ortiz Jones asked if those conflicts could be disclosed during the meeting, a question that prompted all other council members present to vote down further discussion.
The nominated chairpersons were approved with every council member in agreement, and the mayor casting the single vote against the tri-chairs ordinance.
The outcome comes after a previous failed attempt by the mayor to separate $35 million in Project Marvel-related infrastructure projects from the 2027 bond into another bond, giving voters the opportunity to decide on each.
Alongside the 2027 municipal bond is a separate stormwater revenue bond — with $208 million in drainage and flood control projects citywide — that does not require voter approval.
The stormwater bond will raise the average residential customer’s stormwater fee to $4.94 a month. The fee increase will be considered by the council in January.
