District 10 Councilman Marc Whyte speaks during a San Antonio council meeting. Credit: Michael Karlis

District 10 Councilman Marc Whyte and San Antonio Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones clashed at a Wednesday meeting over a $10,000-a-month contract the mayor entered to oversee communications for her office. 

“The mayor has hired an outside group for $10,000 a month to do communications—,” Whyte said over the microphone at the council meeting. 

“You can ask me, it’s my contract,” Jones cut him off. 

The tense exchange began after Whyte brought up a KSAT-TV story about Jones’ decision to hire Washington, D.C.-based Frontwood Strategies in the wake of her former communications director, Gary Cooper, being reassigned without explanation after less than a week on the job. 

As part of the contract, San Antonio native Phillipa Martinez-Berrier, who currently lives in Austin, is in charge of the mayor’s communications. 

“This is comms support that is being provided commensurate to the same level of pay that previous mayors have had,” Jones told council. “So, same level of support, same level of funding, and it’s a bridge until we can bring someone full-time on.”

Jones is correct when she said the cost of the contract, which runs through November 2026, is in line with past mayors’ spending on communications staff. 

Former Mayor Ron Nirenberg’s longtime communications director, Bruce Davidson, for example, made $137,000 a year, city records show. 

Even so, Whyte took issue with city money being spent with a firm outside of San Antonio rather than hiring local.

A Frontwood Strategies document obtained by the Current shows the firm recommended Jones step up her direct involvement with local media to improve her image. The consultancy recommended she book a “friendly interview on a local morning show,” issue Project Marvel status updates and better explain her role in the budget process. 

Sign Up for SA Current newsletters.

Follow us: Apple News | Google News | NewsBreak | Reddit | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter | Or sign up for our RSS Feed

This article appears in Sep 3-17, 2025.

Michael Karlis is a multimedia journalist at the San Antonio Current, whose coverage in print and on social media focuses on local and state politics. He is a graduate of American University in Washington,...