The current City Council’s final meeting Thursday was quiet and uneventful. But a night of ceremony and fanfare awaits as San Antonio’s new mayor and six new City Council members prepare for their inauguration on Wednesday, June 21 at the Arneson River Theatre.
After a briefing from the City Clerk Wednesday morning, the current Council will approve the results of the June 10 runoff election.
Later that night, Mayor-elect Ron Nirenberg, who scored a commanding nine-point victory to unseat outgoing Mayor Ivy Taylor in the June 10 runoff election, will join new Council members William “Cruz” Shaw (D2), Greg Brockhouse (D6), Manny Pelaez (D8), John Courage (D9), and Clayton Perry (D10) for a swearing in ceremony at 6:30 p.m. The new Council will arrive on a river barge before taking the stage at the Arneson.
The ceremony is free and open to the public, with Spanish interpretation services available on site. Seating will be on a first-come, first-serve basis. The ceremony will be live streamed on the City’s website and other cable networks. KENS-TV anchor Deborah Knapp will emcee the event and Fr. David Garcia will lead an invocation.
The new Council members will meet for the first time on Thursday, June 22 alongside four incumbents who survived runoff elections this year: Roberto Treviño (D1), Shirley Gonzales (D5), Rebecca Viagran (D3), and Rey Saldaña (D4) will all reprise their roles on the dais.
Whereas Nirenberg thanked Taylor for her years of service in his victory speech, the outgoing mayor has yet to congratulate the former District 8 Councilman on his big win in the runoff. It remains to be seen if that will change.
Other colleagues who lost their seats include Cris Medina (D7), defeated by Ana Sandoval in the May 6 general election, and Alan Warrick (D2), ousted by Shaw in the runoff. Warrick’s loss comes after he was found passed out on a bench outside City Hall following a night of drinking.
District 6 Councilman Ray Lopez reached his term limit on the Council, and outgoing Councilmen Mike Gallagher (D10) and Joe Krier (D9) chose not to seek re-election.
Take a look at election results by precinct below:
The new face of City Council has been called one of the most progressive yet, and there certainly is not much downtime for the new mayor and Council. After a traditional month-long recess in July, they will convene to discuss the fiscal year 2018 budget and may consider several revisions to the City Charter, such as a proposal that calls for elected officials to serve four years in office instead of two and pushing the May municipal election to November.
To read more, check out the Rivard Report‘s 2017 election archive here.
Let’s hope each new city council member are independent and progressive. I have felt the city managers trys to create a clan mentality among the mayor and the city council to reach her goals which sometimes are not in the best interest of the different districts. First on the agenda should be negotiating resources for each individual districts. This is so important before the council gets bogged down with special interest, developers, and lobbyist.
Furthermore each council member should evaluate and research everything that they are told by City staff. They need to understand that City staff themselves are being pushed by special interest, developers, and lobbyist.
Let us not forget that we pay city staff to study how programs will affect our city in the future. How well our city is managed by both the city manager and staff working with the city council is certified by the lowest possible interest rates on bonds for city improvement passed by the public. We pay our council members more than in the past, but they still should rely on our city manager’s best efforts when deciding on changes that will affect our city…. both today and tomorrow.