San Antonio City Council divided over whether to remove city attorney

Five members of San Antonio City Council held a hastily organized press conference Thursday calling for a discussion of whether to remove City Attorney Andy Segovia for giving what they called conflicting and inaccurate legal advice.

The coalition made up of District 2 Councilman Jalen McKee-Rodriguez, District 5's Teri Castillo, District 6's Melissa Cabello Havrda, District 7's Marina Alderete Gavito and District 10 Marc Whyte, alleges that Segovia isn't fit for the job and is bogging down council's attempts to get things done.

"It's time for a change," said Cabello Havrda, who is considering a campaign to become mayor. "I like Andy, he's a nice guy. But this is a professional environment, and I need him to do the work that we're asking him to do."

The group says Segovia has long struggled to give accurate legal advice to council. However, the straw that broke the camel's back came during a meeting Wednesday, when Segovia and Mayor Ron Nirenberg refused to hold an executive session to discuss the city's ongoing negotiations with the firefighters union.

That refusal led McKee-Rodriguez, Castillo, Cabello Havrda, Alderete Gavito and Whyte to file a memo Wednesday demanding an "executive committee meeting" on the matter be held by May 17.

Segovia still refused, citing concerns information could leak out from that meeting, compromising the city's ability to negotiate with the union on a new contract.

"As City Attorney, I have an ethical duty to maintain the confidentiality of our executive sessions," Segovia said in a statement. "Based on information that was relayed to me, I have no confidence that what is said there with respect to the collective bargaining agreement — the city's second largest contract — will remain confidential."

However, in a twist, Nirenberg, in a text message to KSAT, completely contradicted Segovia."If Council wishes to debate the merits of the contract, we should do so publicly," the mayor said.

"It's totally bizarre. It makes no sense," Whyte told the Current at Thursday's press conference.

In response to the contradictory comments, Segovia's five council detractors filed yet another memo Thursday to discuss whether the city attorney is capable of continuing in his position.

"It is our belief that consideration of a change in leadership within the Office of the City Attorney is necessary to ensure that the interests of the council and the residents of San Antonio are adequate represented and protected," the memo states.

The memo cites "significant inconsistencies and a demonstrated lack of transparency" in Segovia's legal opinions as reasons for debating his removal.

During Thursday's presser, Cabello Havrda accused Segovia of repeatedly misinforming council members last year that it was against state law for the city to spay and neuter animals detained by Animal Care Services. That proved to be false, according to the councilwoman, and the policy is now part of a Council Consideration Request introduced this week by Alderete Gavito.

Meanwhile, McKee-Rodriguez accused Segovia of "moving the goalposts" when he tried to hold conversations about what policies the city could implement regarding a cite-and-release policy for minor criminal offenses. Voters last year shot down a criminal justice reform package that would have codified cite and release.

"I'll tell you, we're airing a little bit of dirty laundry here, but it's gotten to that point," Cabello Havrda told reporters.

Following the press conference, District 8 Councilman Manny Pelaez, who recently announced a run for mayor, took to social media to lambaste his colleagues for calling on Segovia to resign. In his remarks, Pelaez even accusing them of breaking council's ethics rules.

"What you saw today really has nothing to do with [Segovia's] performance or his fitness for office," Pelaez said during a nearly two-minute clip posted on X. "It was a lot of political grandstanding and showboating. But it's done at the expense of a good man's reputation, and playing fast and loose with a person's career to score political points — that's really disappointing. It's not leadership."

A message from Councilman Manny Pelaez regarding council colleagues' recent memorandum concerning the City Attorney's competency. pic.twitter.com/nVoezF3kQb

— Councilman Manny Pelaez (@MannyforSA) May 9, 2024

Pelaez added that he believes the five council members decided to go public with their grievances because "they just don't like the advice they've been getting."

Ouch.

Council is set to reconvene for B session at 2 p.m. May 15.

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