Attendance alert: How often do your elected San Antonio councilmembers really show up?

SAN ANTONIO - The first thing teachers do each day is take attendance. It's the first thing the city council does when they convene too.

You elect your city council members to represent you and make decisions in your best interest, which is why the News 4 I-Team went through their attendance records to find out who is—and is not—showing up.

We discovered that if your leaders were graded on their attendance for certain sessions, some wouldn't be passing.

OUR PROCESS:

After obtaining attendance records for each city council member and the mayor, we translated their percentages into the standard grading scale:

: 97–100% / : 93–96% / 90–92% / : 87–89% / : 83–86% / 80–82% / : 77–79% / : 73–76% / 70–72% / : 67–69% / 65–66% / Below 65% / : 0–59%

We looked at the main sessions councilmembers are expected to attend: A Session, B Session, and Public Comment, from June 2022 through August 2024.

B Session is where is where councilmembers get to see policy presentations and hash out the details of proposals.

All the action, like votes and other important discussions, happen in A Session. Leaders say these are the most important meetings to make.

Public Comment is one of your main opportunities to make your voice heard. Elected leaders show up to listen to what San Antonians have to say about issues they're seeing or any input they have on upcoming decisions. (However... records show this is the session most council members are skipping.)

We also looked at Budget Work Sessions, where councilmembers decide how millions of dollars will be spent in the upcoming fiscal year, and Special Meetings, whichcan be called by the Mayor, City Manager or three members of the City Council. That data runs from August 2022 through August of 2024.

In school, students have excused or unexcused absences, but that's not the case for City Council. We found several examples of council members missing meetings because they were out of town on city business or attending other board/committee meetings they were appointed to. Those still count as zeroes on their attendance records.

Some council members told us the city should move to an unexcused/excused system, or announce it at each meeting if a leader is away serving in another capacity.

Here's how each council member scored:

Mayor Ron Nirenberg:

Mayor Ron Nirenberg attended every A Session and B Session meeting between June 2022 and August 2024.

Public Comment was his lowest-scoring session, at 87%, which still translates to a B+.

Mayor Nirenberg did not respond to our request for comment on his attendance record or the records of the City Council.

District 1: Dr. Sukh Kaur

Councilwoman Kaur was elected to City Council in June of 2023.

Since she was sworn in, she has attended 97% of A Session meetings, only missing one.

"I was an educator, and so it's really important that we make sure we are present and available for all of our constituents," Kaur told us.

Her lowest category was Special Meetings. She missed one meeting in November of 2023, but since Special Meetings aren't frequent, it brought down her overall percentage for that category.

"I think what's most important for constituents is, do they feel like their needs are being taken care of? So regardless of whether or not I'm at a meeting, I think what I want folks to know is, you have access to me all the time. If you need something from our office, please call us," Kaur said.

District 2: Jalen McKee-Rodriguez

You should wonder, is your council member there fighting for you or not? Are they there to cast their vote and to make sure that your voice is heard?

Councilman McKee-Rodriguez has 100% attendance at four of the five main sessions we examined.

"I committed to being a full-time council member and missing as few meetings as possible," McKee-Rodriguez said. "I've held up my end of the of that deal, and I hope that my community sees that and recognizes that every day that I show up to City Hall, I'm going to be fighting for them, and I'm present to do so."

Public Comment was the councilman's lowest score, but his percentage was still higher than some of his colleagues.

"Something I noticed as an area for improvement for everyone would be the public comment, which sometimes conflicts with neighborhood association meetings and whatnot. But overall, I think that's an area where members come specifically to come speak to us, and I wish everybody was a little bit more present for that," McKee-Rodriguez said.

We also asked McKee-Rodriguez about the idea of excused and unexcused absences, since there is often overlap between Public Comment and other meetings.

"Having a distinction between excused and unexcused absences, I think would be fair, and I think it would communicate more than I think the standard just absent/present," McKee-Rodriguez said.

District 3: Phyllis Viagran

Councilwoman Viagran told us she wasn't surprised when she saw her scorecard, especially her Public Comment grade.

"Wednesday night is such an important night to be out in the community, or if you're still working like I am, to try and catch up on on your job," she said.

Viagran agreed that Public Comment is important, but says it might help to change its frequency and spend more time on promoting public hearings.

"We had three public hearings [on Wednesday night]. No one came to speak about those, but public comment, we had about six people come, and it was an issue on houselessness," Viagran said. "They can come to a committee meeting to speak on that, or if they want to gather as a group, we have our free speech area, which I think is much more impactful."

Viagran says missing meetings doesn't necessarily mean missing votes, and that council members still gather information and ask any questions they might have when they need to be absent.

"The District 3 residents are always going to say, 'well, I'd rather have you out in the community than getting a briefing,'" Viagran said. "When it comes to taking a vote, and that's where, for me, it matters."

Viagran was one of the advocates for an excused/unexcused system for absences.

District 4: Dr. Adriana Rocha Garcia

People appoint us to represent them, so we have to be here making the decisions on behalf of the residents that send us to City Hall.

Councilwoman Rocha Garcia serves on several boards and commissions, and she says that plays a big role in why her attendance numbers look the way they do.

As one example, she and Councilwoman Viagran in 2023 with Visit SA. Those dates counted as absences for both of them.

"I'm a board member of Visit San Antonio, which our council members appointed me to. I'm also on the board for the BCAD, the Bexar Appraisal District. We had a really tough job last year in that we had to hire a Chief Appraiser, so we had to add some additional meeting times. And so those, unfortunately, counted as absences. I also represent the city on [Alamo Council of Governments], for instance, I represent them on the San Antonio Education Partnership..." Rocha Garcia said.

The councilwoman says her team works weeks in advance on scheduling to ensure she can be at as many council events as possible, but if her absence means another board or committee won't reach a quorum, they must make decisions about which meeting she should attend. She says she notifies the mayor about these overlaps when they occur.

Right after our interview, Rocha Garcia told us she found out that two of her upcoming committee meetings had been rescheduled for the exact same day and time.

She says her student-athletes have excused and unexcused absences for predetermined games they need to attend, and the situation for councilmembers is similar with board and committee meetings.

"I do think there should be a system of saying, this councilmember was out because they were out working on behalf of the city here or there," she said.

Rocha Garcia says the balance of Public Comment can be challenging for obligations with neighborhoods or community events, but says she often asks these groups to keep Public Comment in mind when they're scheduling.

District 5: Teri Castillo

I think it's really important that we see that our representatives are showing up for us.

Councilwoman Castillo was the only leader with all A's. She says that's a big accomplishment.

"I think that's evident in the amount of funding and progress that we've been able to bring to District 5 residents," Castillo said.

Castillo feels the current system for absences is working well without excused/unexcused notations.

She also highlighted the challenges of attending Public Comment sessions. No leader had perfect attendance, but Castillo came closest at 97%.

Because she was an advocate before becoming a council member, she says she recognizes the importance of those meetings and getting to hear from people who want to see changes in their community.

District 6: Melissa Cabello Havrda

Councilwoman Melissa Cabello Havrda was unavailable for an interview about her attendance record, but sent the I-Team a statement.

The great thing about a report card is that it shows where you can improve. I take my role seriously, and I see areas where I can do better. It's all part of staying committed to doing the best for our community.

Havrda earned A+ scores in every category except for Public Comment.

In the timeframe we examined, she only missed one A Session and B Session meeting.

She didn't miss any Special Meetings or Budget Work Sessions.

District 7: Marina Alderete Gavito

Councilwoman Marina Alderete Gavito was unavailable for an interview on her attendance record.

Here is her statement on her Public Comment score:

My team and I are close to reaching the milestone of attending 400 neighborhood association meetings since I was elected in the summer of 2023. Public Comment is scheduled for Wednesdays at 5 PM, which often overlaps with those meetings and District 7 events.

That's consistent with what other council members said about the Public Comment scheduling as well.

She missed two A Session meetings and one B Session meeting in the timeframe we examined.

District 8: Manny Pelaez

Councilman Manny Pelaez was unavailable for an interview about his attendance record, but he sent the following statement:

Your numbers are inaccurate. I serve on many boards as the City's representative and your report fails to account for board meetings, town hall meetings, HOA meetings, industry group meetings, legislative advocacy meetings in Austin and Washington, Texas Municipal League meetings, and many others. Additionally, I chair the Economic and Workforce Development Committee and the Intergovernmental Relations Committee. Those roles often require me to travel out of town on official city business — more so than any other member of council. All of these off-site meetings often force me to choose whether I get my briefings from city staff in one-on-one meetings instead of at full council meetings. If you don't see me at a council meeting it is because I have already received my briefings and asked the necessary questions to inform my policy decisions.

This highlights several of the same points other councilmembers made in interviews with the I-Team.

Many leaders serve on other boards and commissions and must consider where they spend their limited time.

Like Councilwoman Viagran, Pelaez says he still does all of the necessary preparation for votes if he has to be absent from meetings.

Pelaez says the I-Team's numbers are inaccurate, however, they reflect the fact that council members are given either a 1 or a 0 for their attendance. There is not currently a way to denote if members are tending to other city business or representing the council somewhere else. We also only looked at the five major council sessions, not committee or board meetings.

District 9: John Courage

I think being there is about the most important thing we can do

Councilman Courage says it's important to show up to meetings, not just for your constituents, but for the whole city.

"I've always said, a councilman for one district is more than just a councilman for that district. You're truly a council person for the whole city, because every decision we make downtown at City Hall, one way or another, affects more than your district. It affects the entire city," Courage said.

He says being present at council meetings, in person, is paramount so you can read the body language of colleagues and sense the tone of the room.

Like other leaders, he says if he ever has to miss a meeting while out on city business, he tries to listen in and study all the materials in advance so he can continue to be prepared.

He says, it's just like school:

"If kids aren't there, they're not gonna learn. And if councilmembers aren't there, they're not gonna learn."

District 10: Marc Whyte

Councilman Marc Whyte was unavailable for a statement about his attendance records.

He missed one A Session and B Session meeting in the timeframe we examined.

Whyte attended 24 public comment sessions and missed eight.