District 2 City Councilman Jalen McKee-Rodriguez airs his concerns about the demolition of the Soap Factory Apartments during Council’s A Session on Wednesday. Credit: Adam Doe

San Antonio’s Ethics Review Board on Tuesday unanimously agreed to sanction District 2 Councilman Jalen McKee-Rodriguez over his attempt last fall to block the construction of a big-rig dealership opposed by nearby residents.

Although the vote by the six of 10 board members who attended Tuesday’s meeting means McKee-Rodriguez will receive a letter of admonishment and a referral to ethics training, it has no effect on his standing as a council member.

The board’s decision stems from an Oct. 17 council meeting during which McKee-Rodriguez tried to convince colleagues on the dais to annex part of a Northeast San Antonio property and change the zoning for commercial use.

The owners of the land, Doggett Freightliner, maintain that McKee-Rodriguez led the company on. They alleged he agreed to zone the land for either an 18-wheeler dealership or a semi-truck parking lot on several occasions prior to the October council meeting, according to the ethics complaint.

McKee-Rodriguez didn’t inform Doggett Freightliner of his intent to change the zoning of the property until the morning of the vote, according to the board’s findings. That meant that company was unable to pull its application, according to the board.

The ethics complaint alleged that McKee-Rodriguez’s political maneuvering during the Oct. 17 meeting was a bid to block the construction of the dealership because nearby residents didn’t want it.

A formal ethics complaint was filed Oct. 28 by San Antonio resident Oscar A. Zepeda. Zependa, who had no direct involvement in the plans for the land, is a personal friend and political donor of District 8 Councilman and mayoral candidate Manny Pelaez, as previously reported by the San Antonio Report.

McKee-Rodriguez and Pelaez have frequently butted heads during council meetings.

Nadeen Abou-Hossa — a commercial litigation attorney hired by the city to look into the the ethics complaint — along with a panel of three Ethics Review Board members, found that McKee-Rodriguez’s actions had “impeded on the private interests of a third party” by prioritizing resident concerns while not being transparent with Doggett Freightliner.

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This article appears in Jan 22 – Feb 4, 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,...