The City of San Antonio will begin accepting applications for a temporary City Council appointment on Feb. 13 — the council’s second opening in three months.
Members of the council voted Thursday to accept the resignation of District 7 Councilwoman Ana Sandoval, who is stepping down at the end of the month to start a new job in the research division at University Health.
“The past five and a half years have been as rewarding as they have been challenging. No job has been as tough or as meaningful to me as this one,” Sandoval said in a tearful goodbye from the dais of her final council meeting Thursday. She gave birth to her daughter, Isadora, in June and told reporters earlier this month that she needed to leave council to make more money.
Council will interview three candidates to fill the remaining three months of Sandoval’s term at its March 2 meeting.
It’s the same process council followed late last year when Councilman Clayton Perry (D10) requested time to seek help while facing charges of driving while intoxicated and leaving the scene of an accident. Perry’s colleagues chose former District 10 Councilman Mike Gallagher for that appointment, which ended when Perry returned to work last week.
On Thursday the council agreed to a similar plan to finish out Sandoval’s term, which ends in June.
The resolution approved Thursday says council won’t consider applicants who plan to run in the May municipal election. As of Thursday two candidates, Marina Alderete Gavito and Dan Rossiter, had filed to run in District 7.
Sandoval has endorsed a candidate to fill her seat temporarily: civil rights activist Rosie Castro, who flagged interest in the role shortly after Sandoval announced plans to step down.
Applications will be accepted through Feb. 24, with the exception of Feb. 17 and 20 due to conflicts with filings for the May 6 municipal elections. Qualified candidates will be given time to deliver brief introductions at City Council’s meeting on March 1. Council will then choose three candidates to interview in its meeting the next day, and their final selection will be sworn in at the same meeting.
Sandoval was part of a class of six new council members elected in 2017, the same year Ron Nirenberg, a former District 8 councilman, was elected mayor.
“The real work of this council will not be felt at the time that we’re in office, and perhaps not even the time we’re alive,” Nirenberg said in his farewell to Sandoval. “… I have no doubt in my mind that Isadora will be proud of your tenure as a city council member in San Antonio.”
