SAN ANTONIO — San Antonio City Council will decide Thursday if it wants to consider adopting a code of conduct.
The conversation comes after three recent censures of City Council members, including former councilmen Mario Bravo and Clayton Perry. Most recently, District 10 representative Marc Whyte was censured after he was arrested in December on suspicion of DWI.
"I've heard from members of the community, unfortunately, that right now the City Council looks like a student council," said Dr. Adriana Rocha Garcia, who represents District 4.
Rocha Garcia has been pushing for a code of conduct for city leaders since 2017.
"This is an ordinance that is not only symbolic, but also outlines processes to be fair with one another in case something happens," she said.
The four-page draft emphasizes foster safe and productive work environments; forbids City Council members from engaging in personal attacks, verbal abuse or threats; requires them to disclose romantic relationships with city employees that began before their tenure; and codifies using Robert's Rules of Order during meetings.
It also outlines potential disciplinary measures, creating a structure for how complaints would be handled upon their filing and requiring that they be reviewed by the city attorney within 10 business days. The council body would then "be brief on the matter to determine what, if any, action is appropriate if a violation has occurred."
Whyte explained that, should the initiative be approved, this would mark the first time that "censuring" would go into city code.
"There's nothing in the city charter or in any city ordinance that I know about that talks about censuring," Whyte said. "But I know that since this mayor has been in office, it's been something that he has done in the past. That's how it all came to be earlier this month."
The proposal, he argues, doesn't exactly apply to his December arrest.
"This code of conduct that we're voting on tomorrow deals with council interactions with each other and staff interactions. It doesn't deal with what council members do outside of their work," Whyte said. "They're on council. And so, the fact that it's coming up tomorrow, you know, really just is what it is."
To read the full draft of the proposal, click HERE.