Voters registered in the city of San Antonio have the option to approve or oppose six city charter amendments during the general election in November.
The Mesquite spoke with J.D. Salinas, a co-chair for Renew S.A. and vice president of AT&T government affairs to learn more about Props A-F. Renew S.A. is an organization that supports the passage of each proposition.
Prop A
Proposition A amends the Ethics Review Board (ERB) in the City Charter, this will add a new definition of conflict of interest, clarify and enhance ethical conduct. With its approval it will set the expectation that all city officials and employees will uphold ethical conduct and won’t allow their actions to lead to personal gain or disadvantageous effect on city interest.
Q: Why is it important for voters to approve this proposition?
A: Proposition A is an ethics proposition that defines the definition of conflict of interest. The city Charter has not been amended since 2018, Article 13 of the city charter amends that. Right now there is not an ethics review board, there have been some issues in the last couple of years about city council men and women having some issues or questionable actions.This review board would take, accept or decline complaints that have been resolved by any entity other than the ethics review board. If a district attorney is looking into an issue, why not just follow the recommendation of the professionals? Why have some other body look into it? And it strengthens the ability of the board to act independently in assessing ethic complaints.
Q: What is the Ethics Review Board and what is its primary purpose?
A: The primary purpose of the Ethics review board is to take complaints that have been filed, they can accept, research or decline them. That’s the proper action of this review board.
Q: What prompted this proposition to be brought up?
A: All these propositions were community driven, they were a task force that went through the community to get these proportions through city council, workshops and make sure they’re vetted before the taxpayers and the voters.
Q: What type of duties under the Ethics Review Board require the funding being requested in the proposition?
A: An ethics review board would have the proper resources like a full time staff, and the ability to ask for more information. For example, should we look at having some subpoena powers for this ethics review board whose appointed? Should they have the ability to look at files that are closed in court cases? I’m not saying that’s exactly what they should do, it’s a new idea that’s new for the city of San Antonio. It needs to be independent and arms length away from within the city hall.
Q: How much funding will the Ethics Review Board need for proposition A? Where can voters access that information?
A: Regarding the review board, there is no additional funding needed for the Ethics Review Board, it is a 0 fiscal incremental request.
Q: Will there be a governing body that will oversee this ethics review board or will it all be in house?
A: The idea is to have appointed taxpayers to volunteer, they’d be staffed with independent resources to make sure they have the proper ability to look into complaints.
Prop B
If approved, Proposition B would amend the City Charter to revise and update outdated and complicated language for more clear and concise language and include the use of gender neutral terms.
Q: Explain what this proposition means, in your own words.
A: Proposition B is to clean up archaic language that’s in the charter amendment that needs to be embedded and cleaned up. It would make it up to date and make sure that it’s more, in a cleaner type of charter. It’s to clean up [the] amendment to make sure to bring it up to date in 2024.
Q:What changes would occur if Proposition B is approved?
A: Most of them are to make it just understandable and efficient for city operations without introducing any major languages. For example, it aligns the charter with paralegal standards. When those bills are passed and signed or not signed by the governor, those types of languages affect [the] local government, so this amendment would clean up all the past legislative issues and make sure to bring it up to date. There’s also some examples like gender neutral pronouns replacing the language for example promoting inclusivity. Removing archaic terms like “herein,” “here and after,” “streamlike communications,” it needs to be outdated; it’s a charter that’s been around for a while. The terminology needs to be updated.
Q: Has it been updated before?
A: It was last updated in 2018.
Q: If proposition B is approved, how long until it goes into effect?
A: I think most of the propositions take effect in January.
Q: What’s something you would say to a voter who is against or on the fence about the proposition?
A: I would tell and explain to them that they need to do more research and also find out and educate themselves [about] the proposition. There are some examples that are not friendly of language. The number one is gender neutral pronouns need to be replaced, need to be respectful of people’s thoughts and feelings. I would tell them it’d be a clean-up bill, a clean up amendment to making sure to bring it up to date to standards of today.
Prop C
If passed, Proposition C would give City Council the power to assign the city manager’s pay and term length, removing the pay cap and eight-year term limit that was put in place by voters in 2018. Currently the city manager’s salary is capped at ten times the lowest paid city employee.
Q: Why is it important for voters to approve this proposition?
A: San Antonio is the only major city in Texas that has a restriction of how long you can stay as a city manager and also restricts the ability of the city council and mayor and how much to pay that city manager. It’s not an elected position—it’s a vetted, hired, CEO type position. It is important to have continuous leadership in the seventh largest city in the United States.
Q: Have other cities implemented similar propositions? How did that look?
A: To answer your question directly, there are no restrictions like this in major Texas cities. San Antonio is unique in having these limitations. When you ask how other cities handle this, they don’t. It’s a professional role that requires reconsideration. It will be challenging to attract top talent from other cities, or even locally, if candidates are limited to seven or eight years and face salary caps, especially when other cities are offering significantly higher pay.
Q: If the proposition passes, what criteria would the City Council likely use to determine salary adjustments and tenure extensions for the city manager?
A: Likely, they would look to past methods, using data from the Texas Municipal League, which provides average salaries for municipal professionals across the U.S. The San Antonio City Council and mayor would then compare salaries and operations in cities with similar populations. San Antonio has over 15,000 employees and a billion-dollar budget, so it’s essential to look at comparable cities nationwide to ensure competitive pay for city managers. Regarding tenure, the city would likely review averages in comparable cities to establish competitive term lengths.
Prop D
If passed, Proposition D would remove some limits for city employees’ involvement in politics after working hours and away from city resources. City employees would have less regulations in how they can participate in politics outside of the office. Advanced city leaders would still be under higher restrictions on their political involvement.
Q: Why is it important for voters to approve this proposition?
A: I think that the city of San Antonio is probably the only major city, at least in Texas, where you’re restricted as an employee or as a citizen to have the ability to do whatever you want on weekends. So if you’re not working on weekends, when you work for the city of San Antonio, they’re saying you cannot participate in your democracy to go stand in the polls on your own time for any city employee, any city council or mayor. So this amendment would increase the civic engagement by protecting the right of the city employee to engage in political activities on their own time, ensuring a fair work environment and preventing punishment for employees. And it prevents public conventions to ensure that those senior positions remain impartial. I think it’s important that we allow municipal employees to have a voice.
Q: How would the amount of political activity and promotion among the employees be regulated?
A: I think the best thing you can do is again to make sure and they have their right to participate in the city election, but on our personal time. I think that’s the way to restrict it. But other than that, they should not be restricted on how they should participate.
Q: Do you think Proposition D could run the risk of city employees touting their political identity in the workplace?
A: I don’t think so because again this only talks about the ability for you to participate and the right to. It also protects them from political retribution so it actually protects an employee. And so this kind of defines those issues to make sure everybody has that right to come back to work after election day and have a safe place to work. And so they are protected under this amendment.
Prop E
If this amendment passes, it will adjust city council members’ wages to align with the median income for a four-person household, as determined by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
“I think it’s fair to have a median income,” Salinas said. “And so as that goes up or down, so does the city council pay.”
If approved, it would set the city council members’ wage at $70,000 and the mayor’s at $87,000.
The proposition would be in effect if the rise in pay for the average household increases. The pay of the City council would balance out the pay increase for the average household.
Salinas thought its effect on Bexar county residents would be minimal.
“I think the taxpayers will not see a significant change,” said Salinas. “So I think that as the city grows, so does the income grow.”
The last change to income took place in 2015 and is not set to change much anytime soon.
Proposition E also allows a council member to reject payment. Salinas said this allows council members who may have other sources of income or are retired, the option to work with the city council as a service without financial benefit.
Prop F
According to the City of San Antonio’s website, Proposition F proposes changes to term limits for city council members and mayors, shifting from two-year terms to four-year terms. This would also result in a two full-term limit, shifting down from a four full-term limit, to maintain the eight-year term limit.
“The reason it’s [approving Proposition F] important is to provide stability in leadership,” said Salinas. “It allows the official more time to implement their ideas and complete long-term projects and policies without frequent turnover.”
