This post has been updated to include a response from Jones.

In her first weeks on the job, San Antonio Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones is laying out plans to “vet” policy proposals before they’re discussed by council committees and limit leaks from closed-door meetings.

So far the ideas haven’t gone over well with council members — many of whom have served on the dais longer than Jones — and weren’t consulted before the policies were unveiled.

Three returning members penned a response Wednesday saying Jones doesn’t have the authority to make such changes unilaterally, and that they plan to ignore her directions until the full council has had a chance to discuss them.

“It’s a dangerous precedent,” said Councilwoman Marina Alderete Gavito (D7). “If we were to have a Republican mayor, it could mean that council members from Democratic districts would be forced to funnel their ideas through a chief of staff who may not align with their constituents’ values.”

Reached by phone Thursday afternoon, Jones said she was surprised by the council members’ reaction to what she considers relatively minor changes.

“If you’re going to propose a major change to a city ordinance … wouldn’t you want the mayor’s chief of staff to know about it, so that they can work with you and make sure that it’s as successful as it can be?” she said.

She also contested the suggestion that she didn’t have legal authority to take the actions without council’s support. 

“These are process changes that are fully within my purview, and I would argue, kind of staff-level things,” she said. “I think this is something that improves the process, and I look forward to working with folks to implement it.”

An ongoing power struggle

Jones, a Democrat, is one of San Antonio’s few mayors to come into the role without having served on the council, and was sworn in just before the council’s annual July recess.

Even before she took over, council members had been pushing to claw back power from the mayor’s office, accusing then-Mayor Ron Nirenberg of stalling their policy proposals and shutting down several members’ requests for a meeting to discuss a cease-fire resolution.

On Monday, those tensions were quickly reignited when Jones issued her three-page memo laying out new parameters for how council members develop their policy proposals, known as Council Consideration Requests (CCRs), and a restructure of the council committees that policies move through.

In the interest of “more informed and efficient” policy making, Jones said she wanted her staff to be included as all CCRs are developed.

She also called for policy proposals to be assessed for budget implications before they’re discussed by a council committee, and for some proposals that don’t require changing city ordinance to be handled through resolutions instead.

“One of the key roles of the mayor’s office is to establish the council committee framework,” Jones wrote. ” … Tied to the effectiveness of the committees is the process by which we manage and vet Council Consideration Requests.”

Council members were quick to argue that CCRs are an important vehicle for elected officials to bring forward issues that constituents want addressed, and that Jones’ plan would give the mayor and city staff too much power to shut down ideas they don’t like.

In their written response to Jones on Wednesday, Alderete Gavito, Teri Castillo (D5), and Marc Whyte (D10) said the mayor’s plans exceed her legal authority — noting that the existing CCR process is codified in city ordinance. 

Alderete Gavito and Whyte are both in their second term on the council, while Castillo is among its most senior members, and a longtime hawk when it comes to separation of powers.

They pointed to the council’s 18-month fight to amend the city’s CCR ordinance under Jones’ predecessor, and said that any new ideas would have to follow the same process.

“If you wish to change the CCR procedures, we request that you go through the proper channels … and bring forth your proposed recommendations to the full council for consideration and a vote,” the members wrote. “At this time, we intend to continue to follow the procedures set forth in the current city CCR ordinance.”

From Jones’ perspective, the City Council still has a long backlog of proposals that members filed before she was mayor — many of which could be addressed more expediently outside of the CCR process.

“When I looked at the CCRs that did not make it through the last administration, I was struck by the number,” Jones said. “I was also struck by the fact that some of these don’t need to be CCRs.”

Jones said she collaborated with city staff on Monday’s memo as a way to minimize bureaucracy and move policy proposals through the system more quickly.

“[Staff] said that if there was a process where you could better suss out when something should come into the [CCR] process, and when it be addressed outside of the process, it would save a lot of time,” Jones said. “These are all modifications that are allowable under the current ordinance, as signed off on by the city attorney.”

Stamping out leaks

In her first weeks on the job, Jones, who served in the top ranks of the U.S. military, has also sought to limit leaks from closed-door meetings about sensitive matters or legal issues.

During the council’s first executive session meeting, Jones asked council members to put their cell phones in a basket, saying such a policy is commonplace at the Pentagon, according to a council member who requested anonymity to speak candidly.

While some members agreed the plan was needed to protect the integrity of such meetings, others were upset, the council member said.

Jones confirmed the new cell phone policy and said it was made in part because city staff had flagged problems during the previous administration with members texting one another during executive sessions, and generally being distracted on their phones. 

“If having cell phones off to the side allows us to better [afford one another respect], and allows for a more fulsome discussion, and provides more decorum to the meeting, then that’s what we’re going to do,” she said. 

Jones also provided a memo she wrote to the council outlining broader changes to the way executive sessions are run, and the way sensitive material would be protected. 

It calls for maintaining “strict confidence” about information discussed in closed-door meetings, as well as distributing presentations, agendas and other documents from executive sessions through a dedicated platform that limits further distribution and access.

“These are all very basic things that I’m surprised were not in place prior,” she said. “I know the level of professionalism and the level of decorum that I’m used to, and that’s what I expect.”