San Antonio Express-News (Sunday)
As city grows, should council expand?
Question raised as leaders prepare to redraw districts
San Antonio has grown by more than 100,000 residents over the last decade, leading some to consider whether the City Council should be expanded.
Twenty years ago, city officials were so concerned about keeping up with the growth that then-Mayor Howard Peak worked with former state legislator Robert Puente to pass legislation allowing the city to expand without amending the city charter, which can be done only once every two years. The legislation lets the city increase the size of the council to 14.
Puente, now the chief executive of the San Antonio Water System, said they ultimately decided the growth at the time didn’t warrant an increase in districts.
But over the years, San Antonio, which has 10 council seats, has remained one of the fastest-growing cities in the country — it grew by 8.1 percent over the last decade, mostly on the outer edges. It is ranked the seventh largest city, slightly behind Philadelphia, which has 17 on its council — 10 district representatives and seven atlarge. Dallas, which is slightly smaller than San Antonio and ranked two below, has 14 council members.
San Antonio is preparing to redraw its district boundaries through the redistricting process, and as the city districts are being analyzed, city leaders are asking when the council should be expanded and by how many. Typically, redistricting happens every 10 years, after the U.S. census numbers are released, to ensure each council member represents roughly the same number of people.
The council recently appointed an advisory committee that will be focused on redistricting maps for several months. The committee is expected to make a final recommendation to City Council in summer 2022 on the new boundaries. The first election using the new maps would take place in 2023.
District 9 Councilman John Courage, representing the North Side, pointed out the city would need to go through the lengthy redistricting process twice over the next few years if the council did not expand now.
“(If ) we decide in 2023 to hold an election for 12 districts, and we approve a 12-member council,
then I presume we would go through this whole thing again after that election in 2023 to prepare for 2025?” Courage asked city attorneys.
Though the legislation passed in 2001 would allow the city to add districts, city attorneys emphasized the need to amend the city charter.
The city charter allows for 10 council members — each representing a district — and a mayor. It can only be updated by an election once every two years, and voters just approved changes in May.
At a recent meeting, Iliana Castillo Daily, an assistant city attorney, said she’s been asked several times if the city intends to add districts to the council through the redistricting process. But, she said, it will be several years before the city could possibly add to the council.
“Our charter has to change before that could happen. Then, the voters have to agree that that’s a good idea, which would happen in 2023, and then, in 2025, we’d be able to do it,” Castillo Daily said.
Courage would like to see 12 City Council districts, but he appears to be in the minority on the timeline. He doesn’t think there’s much interest among other council members in moving forward before the city charter has been amended.
“The way it was presented seemed to indicate that there was some doubt by the City Attorney’s Office about whether we could or should expand under the state’s law,” Courage said.
Michael Ariens, law professor at St. Mary’s University, said it seems
the state legislation is a way to get around the city charter and increase the number of districts without voter input.
Ariens spoke generally after reviewing the 2001 state law and said he couldn’t speak specifically on the topic of home rule in Texas or what a city can do to govern itself under its own charter.
Pros and cons
There are pros and cons to choosing a City Council expansion through either option.
For example, if the city moves forward with the charter revision as planned, officials could add as many council districts they think are necessary to accommodate the city’s population growth now and decades into the future.
On the other hand, if the city follows the route laid out by the 2001 law and expands the districts now, it can have only up to 14 districts.
“The charter change would not be bound by this particular law,” Ariens said.
If the city maintains its current number of 10 districts, the ideal size is 143,378 residents each. That’s similar to a midsize city, Ariens said.
“That’s tough to connect with all those folks in your district even if you’re trying really hard to do so,” he said.
“On the other hand, if you go to 20 people on council, as opposed to 10, it can be more difficult to govern,” Ariens said, “simply because
if everyone wants to speak on an issue, you now have twice the amount of time you want to spend on that.”
When asked about the 2001 state law, city spokeswoman Laura Mayes said San Antonio plans to move forward as planned without adding districts.
“The decision of whether to increase the number of council districts is of great significance and will be given the careful consideration it deserves by the City of San Antonio’s Charter Review Commission and, ultimately, the voters,” Mayes wrote in a statement.
There are different possible interpretations of the law, said City Attorney Andrew Segovia, and another reading could be that the city still has an obligation to abide by its charter.
Mayor Ron Nirenberg is open to expanding City Council in the future, but he said the city must be thorough in its process and not move to add districts right now.
“City Council’s size involves the voters’ direct relationship with city government, and San Antonians deserve to be consulted,” Nirenberg wrote in a statement. “I believe voters should make the decision. The city charter is our essential governing guide, and the people should be consulted if we want to make changes.”
Phyllis Viagran, representing District 3 on the South Side, agreed with Nirenberg on letting voters decide the issue, and Councilman Clayton Perry, who represents
growing District 10 on San Antonio’s Northeast Side, doesn’t think the city needs to expand just yet.
“There’s really not an urgent need to add members now,” Perry wrote in a statement.
He said the issue can be addressed through a charter change in the future.
Perry also questioned the value of adding new council members compared with the expense of new city employees and offices.
Diverse representation
Adding more council districts could ensure more quality and equitable representation for residents of a growing city, said Sharon Navarro, professor of political science at the University of Texas at San Antonio.
City Council determines everything from annual budgets to federal COVID-19 relief spending to five-year bond funding and more. A more diverse City Council that reflects its citizens gives residents better access to influence how that money is spent in their district, Navarro said.
“You want the population to feel like they have a legitimate voice,” she said. “If they see someone that looks like them, it’s a matter of having someone representative.”
San Antonio is doing all right with its current diversity on City Council, in terms of reflecting the makeup of the city, Navarro said. City Council is about 50 percent female.
Councilman Jalen McKee-Rodriguez, representing District 2 on the East Side, is keeping tabs on how additional districts might impact what’s traditionally been a Black seat on City Council.
“Right now the historically Black seat is one out of 10,” McKeeRodriguez said. “If we were to add two more districts that did not have a significant Black population, then likely the historically Black seat would be one out of 12 or one out of 11.”
No one is more impacted by redistricting than the residents he represents, McKee-Rodriguez later said.
Whatever route the council takes, he wants to make sure the city can maintain a historically Black City Council seat, and that the Black vote in San Antonio isn’t diluted in a way that would violate the Voting Rights Act.
He also isn’t sure the city’s growth warrants new districts just yet and said it would be fine to stay at 10 districts if the council chooses to do so. He first wants his district residents to weigh in.
Melissa Cabello Havrda, who represents District 6 on the city’s far West Side, didn’t commit to expanding or maintaining the number of council districts but said the discussion was inevitable.
“I’m open to any change that supports the spirit of equal representation,” she said in a statement. “I would first want clarity from the City Attorney regarding effects and consequences of moving ahead now as opposed to waiting for a charter amendment. This is a question that neither I nor, I’m sure, any of my Council colleagues take lightly.”