City Council’s District 2 welcomed its third different representative in 2014 as Alan Warrick II was officially sworn in as the interim council member during a special Council meeting Tuesday afternoon.
The meeting was held to officially confirm the Dec. 9 runoff election results. Just 5.01% of registered voters turned out for the special election that resulted in Warrick’s 59-41% win over incumbent Keith Toney, the first interim council member to hold Taylor’s seat after he was appointed over Warrick and other applicants.
Warrick will serve out the remaining five months of Mayor Ivy Taylor’s two-year term as District 2 council member. Taylor was elected by Council in July to serve out the remaining 300 days of former Mayor Julián Castro’s term after he resigned his office to join the Obama administration as Secretary of Housing and Urban Development.
Both Warrick and Toney are expected to run for a full two-term in the May 9 city elections.
More than a dozen friends, family, and supporters of the 33-year-old District 2 native attended the brief ceremony in Council chambers. This marked the second ceremony appointing an interim Council member in as many weeks. District 1 Councilmember Roberto Treviño was selected and appointed on Friday, Dec. 12.
Warrick thanked his supporters and expressed optimism for his district work in the months ahead. He did, however, make note of at least one agenda item he’d like cleared of the Council’s plate before May – when the mayor’s office and all 10 Council seats will be on the ballot.
“We need to change the tone of the situation with the police and fire (unions),” Warrick said after taking the seat held by Toney since mid-August.
The City and the San Antonio Police Officers Association have been engaged in on-again, off-again collective bargaining talks since March. There are no bargaining dates set for the rest of this year or in January. The City is suing the police union, seeking to end a long-term evergreen clause that keeps all contract terms in place for 10 years, which City attorneys say is unconstitutional and a disincentive to reaching any new agreement. Union negotiators have offered to shorten its duration as part of a new contract, but still want it to remain in effect for at least four years. The City recently reallocated more than $14 million from street improvements and other budgeted projects to pay for rising health care costs for union members in 2015, who do not pay insurance premiums.
Read more: Mayor Taylor on the Police Union, Negotiations and Her Political Future
Taylor welcomed and congratulated Warrick to his new seat between Treviño and District 3 Councilmember Rebecca Viagran.
There is a full list of issues awaiting Council action.
“We’re ready to tackle them all…after Christmas,” Mayor Taylor said, smiling.
*Featured/top image: Alan Warrick is sworn in as the new District 2 Council member. Photo by Iris Dimmick.
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