Speaker 1: On the record is presented by launch essay, San Antonio, small business owners.

San Antonio is a fast growing fast moving community with something new happening every day.

And that's why each week we go on the record with the Newsmakers are driving this change.

Then we gather at the reporters round table to talk about the latest news stories with the journalist behind those stories.

Join us now, as we go Speaker 2: Welcome to on the record.

I'm TJ Mays.

If there's one issue that grabs the attention of San Antonio, it's the tree ordinance for years, the city has struggled to heat developers from clearing lots of mature Oak trees that define that San Antonio tree canopy many would say the effort has failed just this week.

A report in the express news showed how developers can easily get around the tree ordinance.

By asking for variances, the report resulted in a change in how city staff and city council will handle variance requests in the future district nine.

Councilman John courage is here.

He represents the North central section of San Antonio.

Welcome Councilman.

Thank you, TJ.

It's a pleasure to be here.

So how should the tree ordinance variance process be handled in your view?

Speaker 1: Well, you know, I think that we have to have the ability to go ahead and manage our tree canopy.

We have, I think very strong tree ordinances in effect.

Uh, we've worked on them over the years to improve them.

Uh, I think they're in a good place where they are now.

Uh, but like any policy, there's probably always a place for there to be some kind of a variance.

And we have it laid out in our tree ordinance that there is an, uh, there is the authority for the head of development services department to grant those kinds of variances.

But I think the concern is now how many variances when Y uh, should it be a little more publicly known when these occur?

Uh, and so one of the things I've asked for is for the head of developmental services to let me know what have been, what has been the history of those variances in my district since I've been on the council, because I think it's important for me to be able to do my best in protecting the canopy, just like I try to protect everything else when it comes to development in our district and around the city.

Speaker 2: So an ordinance that was passed years ago gave the DSD director, Michael Shannon, he'll be on the same show with us.

Um, the unilateral authority to grant these variances without notifying council.

And what you're asking for is for council to be notified perhaps in the future, if these variances are requested.

Yeah.

Speaker 1: Yeah.

I think it's a lot like zoning or other planning and development.

Uh, people in my community have asked me to let them know what's going on, if going to be some kind of a development, if there's going to be certain parts of that development that are outside of the normal bounds.

And I think any kind of real variance from the tree ordinance is the kind of thing that people in our community would like to know about.

It's not to say it would prevent or stop any kind of a development.

But what I've found is when we tell the public what's going to happen, it's a lot easier for them to understand how it works and to be acceptable to it than it is for them to just see something going on, not know why, or have it be known after the fact.

And so that's, that's why I think it's important that we as council members now be informed of any kind of variants like that.

And I think the city manager has really stepped up and said he wants to be notified.

Uh, for example, if there's an elected official or an important member of a board like CPS or saws or something, and they request some kind of a variance, uh, I think that's another interest that the public would probably have in that process.

And the city manager said he wants to know about those things.

And certainly I think the rest of the council would too.

Speaker 2: So that's about avoiding impropriety or the appearance of impropriety parents have it?

Yes, I would say so.

So when there's a big development coming, and I know in district nine, there've been plenty over the years, there are lots of different kinds of obstacles for a developer to go through.

One is the tree ordinance.

Other are zoning processes is your job as a council member to be kind of a good faith, honest broker between the neighborhoods and the development community and city staff, as we navigate all of these kind of minefields that are there, political and legal and otherwise sure.

Speaker 1: There's the responsibility of a council member.

We're kind of like the ombudsman that are representing the interests of the consumers, the constituents we have when things are happening in their neighborhood, in their community that affect their lives.

Speaker 2: So one of your council colleagues, he sits right next to you on the council.

We just learned, he tested positive for COVID.

He's a frequent guest on the show.

He's a friend of.

Do you have anything you want to say to Councilman Clinton?

Perry?

Yeah.

Speaker 1: Yeah.

I, I wrote to him, uh, yesterday when I found out I hope he's doing well.

Uh, we do have a great working relationship.

He shares a lot of the North side, like I do, and shares, I know this interest in protecting the tree canopy and I hope he's going to get well soon.

He's a good city council member, John Speaker 2: Courage, Councilman district nine.

Thank you for joining us.

Speaker 1: Oh my pleasure.

Thank you, TJ.

Speaker 2: We just heard from city Councilman, John courage about the tree ordinance.

Now joining us as director of development services for the city of San Antonio, Michael Shannon.

Thanks for being here, Mike.

Great to be here.

Thank you.

The process before on the tree ordinance waivers, that kind of got everybody stirred up recently.

Well, there was an article and they asked about, um, our tree code and, and variances to the tree code.

Uh, and, uh, over the past couple of years, uh, there have been a 200, a little over 200 variances to the code.

Uh, now variances are not waivers.

They're not exception.

Uh, they're a part of the code, uh, when a project has a hardship and, uh, we work with, uh, the, the applicant and we find a way, uh, to, if we don't meet the letter of the code, we meet the intent and spirit of it through additional plantings and mitigation.

So, uh, but, but the, the, the important piece to remember is, you know, in two years, 200 variances, we issued over 10,000 permits.

So it's, again, it's a very small number of projects that don't follow the letter of the code, uh, that have some sort of unique hardship.

We have a lot of different terrain here in San Antonio.

So again, um, it's been reported accurately about the 200 variances, but, but it's a real small portion of what we do.

So before you had the unilateral authority, given your position to grant these variances, and what are the changes in the process that are going to occur now, um, and the recent week or so.

Okay.

Uh, sure.

Um, so again, the process dictated in our code says if there's a hardship, um, that an applicant, uh, if they can't meet the exact letter of the code, uh, they can apply administratively to my office, uh, the city arborist, and I, we can review that we have a team of licensed arborist and team members.

Uh, we verify this is actually a hardship, and if we believe there's a, there's a true hardship and a way to mitigate and meet the spirit of the code, we can approve that.

Now, some of them, uh, would have to go to planning commission.

So I don't have the approval authority there.

Uh, but again, there ha we have to verify that hardship, the, the, the process will not change.

So there really is no change in the process.

However, uh, based on the recent, uh, article and information out, uh, the city manager has asked us, I think, rightfully so, uh, to report out monthly and track those, uh, just to be more transparent, right?

Uh, people are really care about our tree ordinance and development.

So I think it's a good, a monthly report.

We'll report out, uh, the small number of variances that come out.

W we'll we'll have a discussion with the city manager's office about, uh, what those hardships are that we're seeing.

And we'll just track it moving forward to see what, if anything needs to be modified.

But right now, again, I will just be reporting that out monthly to our city manager's office.

Uh, again, just to increase our transparency and documentation Kind of input to city council have on this process.

Well, right now, I mean, city council sets policy, so they adopt the tree code.

So the last, uh, the last real big revision to the tree code was in 2010.

Uh, but ever since we've had a tree code here in San Antonio in 19, 1997 was the first city council has adopted the code.

And in that code, there is this variance process.

So if on those small number of projects, there's a various, that that process is spelled out.

As I just mentioned it now, uh, city council, we will, uh, we'll share with them any of this information, uh, right now, though they do not, uh, they're not part of the approval prophet process, uh, of that.

Um, I think there was some comments about trying to make it like the zoning change process.

Well, that's a completely different process.

Uh, state laws are different for zoning and, and certainly treat preservation, but, but again, um, city council sets the policy by adopting the code.

And then we as a city staff or the city manager's office apply that code and verify compliance with it or not.

I'm hearing you say that you have state laws that you have to comply with for planning, zoning tree ordinances.

Then you have city council directed policy.

Then you have a process internally to seek variances when maybe the letter of that city council policy, it can't be met, but there's a hardship.

And that, that is all kind of a transparent process.

And then the steps you're taking are to make it more transparent.

Am I stating that correctly?

Absolutely.

So all of our variances right now, uh, you know, we created a process over a decade ago to track all these variances as they come in.

They're documented they're part of our records.

They're part of public records, et cetera.

Um, but what we're going to do is proactively, uh, produce a report and go over that with our city manager.

Uh, just so that again, um, you know, this is a important item, our tree preservation and how it's balancing, uh, good construction and the need for development and housing in our, in our community, our ever-growing, uh, San Antonio.

Um, so I think we're just going to add that level and additional level of transparency because it's, it's good that everybody is, you know, a little bit excited about this.

They care about our environment, but they also care about our development process as well.

And so I think it's good to share that, uh, more proactively than just giving it when we requested it.

All right, Mike Shannon, thank you so much for joining us.

Good to see you, man, take care.

Thanks.

The pandemic is a public health crisis, but there's also a mental health crisis associated with it.

Jessica Knutson is CEO of the clarity child guidance center, and she joins us.

What are you hearing from parents about behavioral changes with their kids?

Speaker 1: So we're seeing a real increase in anxiety with our kids.

And, and I think we've kind of called it the perfect storm of anxiety because we've had kids that have had some anxiety issues because they've been at home and they've been removed from their peer group, which is such a huge part developmentally for our kids.

But then we're also seeing some new onset of social anxiety from kids that have been removed from school and are now going back is a combination of that fear of that social interaction again, but also fear of exposure to the virus.

Speaker 2: Are there issues where they're in abusive households or parents are using drugs?

I know drug overdoses and relapses are way up.

Are you seeing that in your patient population?

Speaker 1: Our and our, our fear is that we don't even know the tip of the iceberg on that because, you know, schools are the primary source.

We find out those types of things.

They're the ones that notice that a child has bruises, that there might be a potentially dangerous situation at home.

And especially with the remote learning, we don't have that access anymore.

So I think there's an underlying additional pandemic of that, of, of just untapped issues that we don't know about.

Speaker 2: Yeah.

Parents, grandparents, aunts, and uncles who are watching, who be a little concerned about their kid under what circumstances should they really reach out for him?

Speaker 1: So I think be observant to any change, but if a child ever makes a statement of wanting to harm themselves, always take that seriously.

Even if you're not sure if it's just a joke or that they don't mean it, even if it's something subtle, like I wish I didn't wake up tomorrow or, uh, you'd be better off if I wasn't here always seek help immediately in those situations, right?

Speaker 2: There are several services they can use.

There's a center for healthcare services, mobile hotline.

They can call there's clarity child guidance center.

There are several other services.

Um, black lives matter, 2020 election economic crisis pandemic.

What is your view as a professional about the long-term ripple effects of what we're seeing right now?

Speaker 1: You know, we have really focused in the last 10 months on a very simple statement of being kind, because that has really been lost in a lot of the collective conversation that we've had the last year.

Uh, our kids are looking to us to see how we navigate those and how we navigate disagreements and, and how we treat even the political disagreements.

Uh, and there's been a lot of bad behavior on the adult side.

So our, our kids are mimicking that they, they look to us as a role model, uh, to how to carry ourselves.

Speaker 2: I have the fortunate experience of being on the board of clarity.

It's been a really great treat for me.

Um, I'm become aware of the COVID protocols you've put in place.

And I know parents may be concerned about sending their children to treatment facilities because of the Corona virus.

Are you taking all appropriate measures to prevent the spread of the coronavirus in your facility?

Speaker 1: Uh, the patients are mass, uh, when they're there in our congregate care setting, the staff are masked and we're face shields.

Uh, we have a lot of other, uh, safety protocols that are in place to keep everyone as safe as possible.

Speaker 2: The COVID does not discriminate.

I understand the clarity employee who is really good with the children, very young passed recently from the coronavirus.

Can you discuss that?

Speaker 1: We did a 32 year old, uh, young man, Rick Pardot, who was with us for about five years, uh, did pass away a few weeks ago from COVID.

Um, we're, we're still keeping his family and our thoughts, uh, his brother remains in the ICU.

Um, so that, that family has had a really tough COVID experience.

And so we're, we're just keeping them in our thoughts and hope that his brother does pull through, Speaker 2: Especially skilled with dealing with the kids.

He was, Speaker 1: He, uh, always had a smile and a hug and, and really did have a gift with the kids.

Speaker 2: So on February 5th, which is this coming up Friday in this studio, we're doing clarity con what is clarity con and anybody who's interested, what could they expect to learn through Cara clarity con Speaker 1: Under normal circumstances?

Clarity con is a large two-day conference.

That's focused on children's mental health.

Uh, we had to pivot a little bit with the pandemic.

So now we're doing a series of four, uh, distance learning, uh, recordings for clarity con and, uh, the third in the series.

This is coming Friday.

Uh, it's a combination of lectures and educational series.

We've got a guest speaker this Friday, uh, Kate Fagan, who wrote a book, a book, what made Maddy run, which is about, uh, kind of the, the pressure on those over-achieving sports, uh, responsibilities for, uh, she was a track and cross country really superstar, uh, who ended up taking her own life.

Speaker 2: Well, I know as a parent of a three-year-old, I'm interested in the clarity con lectures, I'm sure if some of our viewers will be thank you so much for taking the time to join us.

Speaker 1: Thank you so much for having me.

Speaker 2: And now for the reporters round table, Greg Jefferson, business editor and columnist San Antonio express news.

Thanks for being here.

Thanks for having me.

So you had a big story recently about some conflicts of interest or the appearance of some conflict of interest with some public officials and the business they do kind of to help it's actually more The potential of conflict of interest.

So yeah, the, the columns centered on a County commissioner, Justin Rodriguez in precinct two.

So he, uh, in addition to his full-time job as a commissioner, uh, for which he's paid about $131,000 a year with a $9,000 auto allowance, That's a nice car.

That's nice anyway.

And did that, he works part-time for a pretty prestigious law firm called lock ward.

Uh, technically, uh, commissioner Rodriguez works out of their Austin office.

Uh, but of course, nobody really works in an office these days.

So he's putting in about 10 hours a week, mostly remotely.

So he does bond work.

And so for our viewers who may not know every entity, school districts and so on, they have to issue bonds and these law firms help facilitate that.

Yeah.

So, uh, if, if The government entity has taxing authority, they can, they can issue sell bonds, uh, for that they need attorneys to do all of the dry, highly technical legal work.

Uh, that's the basis for these bond issues.

Uh, so you've got, I mean, there are a couple of, uh, you know, there, there are two varieties of bond attorneys.

One is a bond counsel who does all of the heavy lifting for, you know, city councils or County commissions, uh, school boards.

Uh, and then you have those like commissioner Rodriguez.

This is his job.

He works directly with the bond underwriters.

These are the investment bankers that actually put the deals together and go to the, So these bonds are pretty complicated.

They are highly complicated and you need people with subject matter expertise to do, but that creates a situation where you could have a revolving door between public officials and people who are, I mean, you have, I mean, It, it helps to have public officials who are really well versed in public finance.

They, they, especially if they have law degrees, they, they get all the nuances that go into a bond issue.

Uh, but there's also a political side to it too.

Uh, bond work is highly lucrative work.

It's no, there are a number of firms that compete fiercely for this work, you know, with city councils, with school boards, uh, it's, it mostly goes under the public radar.

We just don't pay that much of a pay that much attention to it.

Is that complicated?

Yeah.

The radar is too complicated to follow exactly.

I mean, No, we prefer to think about bonds only when it pertains to our property tax rates, Whether a bond issue is going to lead to higher rates or whether it's going to build us a new school.

Yeah, exactly, exactly.

You know, if it's going to build a new senior center or school Or a library, then we care.

And even at that kind of marginally and, and uh, most people just don't think, uh, too much about what goes into it.

It is a lot of technical stuff.

There's a political side to it, too, That, so I'm going to ask you about that directly, the potential for conflict and sort of what steps are taken to shield a public official from that.

And is there still an appearance of conflict, even if those steps are taken Is, uh, well, let me, let me start with what, uh, what steps you take to avoid conflict.

So it is kind of the wild West.

When it comes to County government in Texas, there are very few, uh, rules or restrictions on what commissioners can do outside of their full-time jobs.

Uh, it's, it is totally within, uh, within the law for County commissioners to have second jobs, even if they pose the potential for a conflict of interest like bond work, for example, uh, totally illegal.

Uh, but you have to, you know, if you're a County commissioner and you're working for, you know, doing bond work for a law firm, if you have a, a vote coming up on a commissioner's court that pertains to your wall firm, uh, then you have to file an affidavit with the, uh, DA's civil section, which is basically County commissioners, uh, general, general counsel, uh, and then not vote on it.

This is a process known as re recusal, uh, in commissioner Rodriguez case, uh, local ward.

They do, uh, a ton of work across Texas, but not so much in San Antonio, at least as far as public finance.

So, uh, you know, he's, he was appointed, uh, to the County commission in her commissioner's court policies, uh, in January of 2019, he hasn't had to recuse himself one time, which means, uh, no issue involving lock hoard has come to the court.

So you're calling them, just brought attention to the fact that there could be an appearance of conflict in other circumstances.

The problem is whenever you, You have to say of the public official, well, what he's doing, uh, outside of his official duties as a County commissioner is totally legal.

That in itself means, you know, your, there is some suspicion That's built into that, and we just want to have systems to pass the smell test.

Exactly.

Yeah.

Total transparency.

Thank you so much for joining us.

We all want transparency in our government.

We appreciate it.

Amen.

Next on the reporters round table, Sanford now, and editor in chief San Antonio, current, thanks for being here.

Great to be here on Monday.

Governor Abbott gave his state of the state address, which I think flew under the radar.

What were your takeaways from that address?

Yeah, I Speaker 1: Don't think he wanted it to fly under the radar because it was scheduled for 7:00 PM.

It was, you know, uh, broadcast on TV.

Uh, and, and generally that state of the state address has done in front of the legislature during the daytime.

I can't remember another one that's been during prime time.

Uh, and, you know, obviously I think he, he wanted to present a, an image of strength to Texans and, and to sort of, you know, share what he, what his agenda is for the ledge.

Um, and basically it was sort of a retread of a lot of right-wing talking points.

Uh, and I think largely, probably to, to that audience, um, I think a lot of average Texans who were watching the thing were probably wondering, Hey, what's going on with the vaccines what's going on with this pandemic that we've been struggling through for a year.

Um, you know, and instead, you know, he sort of had a lot of platitudes about more vaccinations are coming, but not a lot of detail about how that's happening, how that is being accelerated.

And that came as you know, on the same day that San Antonio basically had to reschedule appointments for several thousand people for their second vaccine, because the state screwed up, uh, you know, and it made a clerical error that meant that the vaccines weren't getting delivered.

Um, you know, the interesting thing is if you look at it, it was basically Abbott doubling down on law and order, right.

Which he, I think, perceives to be a winning issue for the Republican party.

And that was certainly what we saw a lot of people running on in 2020.

Um, you know, again, he was sorta promising to punish punish municipalities that cut police funding and move it over to social programs.

They talked about taking over Speaker 2: Austin PD because of their defund, the police.

So is there any traction on that or is that kind of, yeah.

Speaker 1: And there wouldn't be, I think, I think that's a lot of hot air, frankly.

I think he, I think his rhetoric and what, and what he can actually do are two different things, you know, and the other thing is he brought up bail reform.

And instead of talking about how to keep, you know, indigent people from languishing in jail, which is what most people mean when they talk about bail reform, he was talking about, you know, making sure that these violent people get locked up and they can't get out on bail and kill cops.

Speaker 2: And that's not necessarily inconsistent with what the activists are saying who want bail reform.

So what my understanding is there's this sense that people who are indigent are committing suicide in jail and that's happened here and that maybe they shouldn't have been in jail for 50 days.

And if somebody with resources would have been in jail for 50 days, so it seems like people are talking past each other on the bail reform issue just as they are with other issues.

Speaker 1: I believe you're correct there.

Yeah.

The other one that was very interesting to me with, with Abbott was he, he kept going back to, he, you know, he was do, you know, pushing for these measures in the legislature, uh, this session for, to benefit hardworking Texans.

And one of the most glaring sort of, uh, contradictions, there is one of the things he said he wanted to accelerate was a legislation that would basically shield businesses from liability, uh, in case, you know, their negligence caused workers or customers to come down with COVID-19 and Senator Mitch McConnell was insisting on similar provisions in the national bill.

So it seems like there's a national partisan push to prevent those kinds of loss.

Absolutely.

But, you know, that was a non-starter we Democrats, uh, you know, in Congress, it just wasn't going to be attached to the bill.

Um, and you know, frankly, I think that that's probably a very popular idea with a lot of Abbott's, uh, deep pocketed corporate donors, but I don't think that's something that, uh, that working Texans whose, you know, whose name he evoked are pushing for.

The, the interesting, uh, one that sort of stuck out to me also was a rural broadband.

In addition to sort of these right-wing talking points, cultural war stuff like gun, you know, uh, gun rights and abortion.

He also mentioned rural broadband being a priority for him, which is funny because that's something that they've been working on for almost a year now.

Yeah.

And broadband has become an even more important issue with the pandemic.

Kids were being educated at home.

The digital divide is, is accelerating inequities in our society.

And it seems like that's something that people could wrap their arms around.

Do we think that there's going to be any traction on that?

Well, I mean, that's already underway.

I mean, that, that has been a project of the governor's office that has been something, uh, you know, multiple people in the legislature have talked about.

Uh, and I think we're going to see something there.

Is there going to be any money for urban broadband that I don't know, urban rural divide is always in the Texas legislature, Sanford.

Thanks for joining us.

Good to see you.

And thank you for joining us for another edition of on the record.

As always, you can go to dot org, have you this episode or previous episodes and video or podcast format, we will see you next time.

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