On the record is brought to you by Steve and Adele Dufilho San Antonio is a fast growing, fast moving city with something new happening every day.

That's why each week we go on the record with Randy Beamer and the newsmakers who are driving this change.

Then we gather at the Reporters Roundtable to talk about the latest news stories with the journalist behind those stories.

Joining us now as we go on the Record with Randy Beamer.

Hi, everybody, and thank you for joining us for this edition of On the Record this Week.

I'm Randy Beamer, and we are starting with a new public safety action plan, trying to cut down on the violence and repeat offender violence across San Antonio and their county.

The city and county just announced this last week.

Joining us to explain all about it is the Bear County judge, Peter Sakai Thank you very much for coming in.

Well, happy New Year, Randy.

Happy New Year.

And just about a year since you've had the job officially, and this is one of the toughest things that you had to go through at least publicity wise.

Last fall, there was a spate of police shootings, meaning police officers shot.

Six officers shot in the space of about two weeks and five different shootings, all by people who had criminal records, one who was out on parole, one out on bail.

A lot of criticism of why these people were out.

And that was the genesis, I understand, of this whole thing.

Yeah, you're right, Brandy, that it hit in the fall of 2023.

And obviously the media covered it and it brought those repeat offender and the violent offenders to the surface, so to speak, as to the danger to the community.

So as the media brought this issue to the forefront, we saw the conversations start between obviously the chief of police and the district attorney's office and getting into a blame game, pointing fingers at each other.

And so what came out of this situation was that the mayor called me.

I called the mayor.

We sat and sat down and talked.

And I've used the word historic.

Maybe that's a little bit of an exaggeration, but this was an opportunity for the city and the county to come together.

And so what I'm really proud about, the public safety plan that just came out this past Friday is the fact it's a culmination of hard work.

Now, let me say this real clearly for the public.

Everybody involved work hard every day to keep this community safe.

What we found out through this public safety plan and the stakeholder meetings that we had is that the stakeholders, mainly the city and the county, didn't necessarily communicate and they didn't necessarily collaborate and coordinate.

And so what this plan does is put everybody in the room to say, we have a responsibility to work together.

And the bottom line is communicate, share that information.

There's you know, what people don't realize is that in regards to criminals, there's not a city criminal or a county criminal.

And so that's why sit in counties have to come together when it comes to the policy.

Now, specifically, the police chief criticized the D.A.

for not prosecuting some of these, for not keeping them in jail.

Also, the D.A.

then said, well, we can only do what we can do.

So how do you move beyond those criticisms when they say we're up against the wall on both sides?

Well, how do they address that in this action plan?

Obviously, I use my 26 years experience as a district court judge, although I wasn't working on the criminal side.

I was a former assistant D.A.. And so I was very familiar with how the criminal justice system work.

It's complex, it's complicated.

And you have the the statutory the restrictions by law that are imposed on the system.

And what we saw was that we could work in the existing system.

And so we put a plan together that increased the communication between law enforcement and the district attorney's office, district attorney's office to the court system, to the systems that helped supervise.

And we found that there were a lot of gaps, flaws, weaknesses.

And what we've done is basically tightened things up so that we are doing a better job in protecting our community and keeping some of those repeat offenders in jail or going out and looking for them when there there is an arrest warrant issued.

All the above.

A re-arrest.

Everything you've said we're doing.

We got the sheriff and the city, the chief of police, the San Antonio Police Department, working together to look for the repeat offenders.

And where were the gaps in terms of between the county and the city police, the sheriff's office, police in terms of I understand there was one in terms of simply sharing evidence, sharing evidence technology.

We had we did a major purchase.

The county did, in order to give the district attorney's office an upgrade on software, the technology necessary so that information could go back and forth between the police department and the district attorney's office.

What we saw was people were still relying very much on a paper system, which was the system I work with 30 years ago already.

And to some extent that's the way things were still running.

And so we upgraded technology.

What we also said is we need better connection in regards to law enforcement and the magistrate court.

We weren't getting that information that repeat offenders coming in, perhaps on minor offenses were being processed.

They were being looked upon as a low level minor offender.

Does a police officer need to come in, as I understand to be they would have had to come in more on to the magistrate judge to give them that evidence or they weren't coming to the magistrate and the magistrates were not getting the information.

So all they saw was perhaps a record that perhaps they weren't picking up all the prior offenses, including the violent offenses, perhaps the offender, minor offender had been to prison for a violent offense.

So does a police officer have to come in now and take his time as well, Where that's those are the processes we're working on.

We have highlighted the issues there, and we're expecting that law enforcement, magistrate, district attorney, and that information ultimately gets to the court system that judges, district court judges or county court of law judges that will set the bail bond and not reduce bonds, not let people out on a personal recognition, their signature or.

And we also tight are wanting to tighten up on the ankle monitors, electronic monitoring.

And I understand that's a progress.

That's a work in progress.

Over the next three months, you're going to be working.

How big a problem is that?

Well, the media's highlighted that some of these offenders and many offenders are cutting their monitors off.

They're destroying county property, and we weren't holding them accountable.

One is there was a significant delay.

And look, issuing warrants, there were significant delay of whether people were actually looking for these high risk offenders and where these offenders being held accountable for the destroying the property that that was given to them in order for them to stay pending their case.

So that'll change.

In the next, you'll have more people involved.

And we just have to know that and just type things up.

Randy People communicating.

So if an ankle monitor is cut off, that's under our what we call our pretrial services.

That's actually a county department.

So we're actually overseeing that and telling our county department type things up.

What's that monitored is cut off and it's a high level offender, a risk offender that let's get the warrant out immediately.

Let the judge know that this is a person who needs to be brought back about the number of prosecutors.

I know that's been an issue.

How does that happen?

Where are we in getting more?

Well, we actually last year we were able to give the district attorney's office additional positions.

One of the big things he asked of the county commissioners in the budget process was increasing salaries so that the turnover that he was losing a lot of good people.

And we we saw that.

And so we really adjusted the pay for the prosecutors in the district attorney's office.

What was the toughest part of all this getting?

Because, you know, personalities were a part of this as well.

Are they still.

Well, personalities are personalities, Randy.

We are what we are.

But I think what we learned in this and I think this is what I considered the significance of the public safety plan is we recognized that we had a problem.

We recognized that we had to we couldn't do it ourselves.

And we recognized that what we need to do is come together.

And that is what I think is really significant, is that we put our personalities aside.

I think you're seeing a lot better communication between the stakeholders, especially between the law enforcement and the attorney's office.

And we hope that will contain you as we work together, this public safety plan.

It was just a start, a start of a conversation, the start of a plan.

Now we're looking to execute the plan, get the process locked down so that this community is a safer place.

Is this the biggest problem you've had in your first year in office, The biggest challenge or what is?

No, I mean, there are many challenges, but yeah, this was significant because of the effect on community.

People are getting hurt, people are getting killed, People demanding that we live in a safe environment and a safe community.

And so that was one of the campaign promises I made, was that I would focus in on public safety.

And that was one of the things I'm really proud that I believe I have fulfilled.

All right.

Well, thank you very much, County Judge Peter Sykes.

I appreciate you coming in and explaining all this and hope to have you back, explaining just how well it has worked.

I'll be looking forward to coming back, Randi.

All right.

Thank you very much.

County Judge Peter Sakai And this week, we are talking economic development.

Some companies that are coming to San Antonio, some companies we hope maybe will be coming to San Antonio.

How many jobs?

What kinds of jobs?

To tell us all about in that push as well.

Is Sarah Carabias Rush Who is the chief development officer of Greater SE ATX?

Thank you very much for coming in.

Of course, we had you on about two years ago when you were first new to this job and you talked about what you'd hoped would happen then.

Before we get to exactly what has happened, people might wonder, okay, we've had on the Chamber of Commerce greater, greater Chamber of Commerce.

I'm sure that confuses some people.

Northside Chamber of Commerce, Greater ATX.

Exactly.

What is that?

Before we move on?

Yeah, absolutely.

So greater as ATX.

I think one of the most important parts of that is regional economic partnership.

That part gets left out of our name sometimes.

So we are the Regional Economic Development Agency charged with marketing the San Antonio eight County MSA to the world to try to draw corporate investment and job creation here.

So you don't, you know, support businesses like a like a chamber, but recruit businesses.

The what?

We recruit businesses and we support local businesses that are trying to expand and particular through workforce development efforts and our service development efforts in other areas.

But primarily we are focused on economic development driven initiatives and what has happened since the last time we met.

Well, it's been a fantastic two years coming in to this organization and to this incredible community.

For me, I had the opportunity to take a look at how we were operating within economic development within this community.

And we have taken a a different lens in how we operate and approach economic development recruitment efforts in particular.

And I call it proactive economic development.

Yes, we're going to get phone calls from very important consultants that we maintain relationships around the world that are working an active deal.

We want those calls.

We're going to get leads from folks within the community.

We want those calls.

More important is to be out in front of companies before they are ready to make a decision.

And you contacted, I guess, something like 1300 companies around the world just in the past year that were these cold call saying, hey, would you like to come to San Antonio or how does that work?

That is absolutely correct.

So what we do is we're focused on a key set of target industries, life sciences, cybersecurity and technology, financial services, advanced manufacturing and select headquarter recruitment opportunities and so what we do is we go through a pretty robust process of evaluating those industries, understanding the strengths within the San Antonio region and looking for those opportunities for companies that would fit in to that the economy and to the ecosystem.

What kind of response have you gotten?

We've had a very positive response.

In fact, we've seen many of those people tell us to go fly a kite.

Right.

They're not interested in leaving and leaving California or going elsewhere.

But many of those companies have been interested in having a conversation.

We actually started to see conversions from that initial conversation point to active projects moving into our pipeline much more quickly than we anticipated.

And so I think we converted.

Of those 1300, I hate to give a number, but I think it was about 50 last year that converted into active projects.

And what kind of job numbers?

Company numbers.

Worker numbers all across the board.

So within those industry segments, advanced manufacturing, for example, you'll see significant job numbers and projects.

So we have some projects that are anywhere from, let's say 200 to 250 employees that are looking at the region, upwards of as many as 3000 potential employees depending on the project and the scope and scale and industry timelines and announcements and things like that.

And we've seen already some announcements of what you worked on and what's in the pipeline.

How many more are going to see this year?

That's right.

That's right.

So with those 1300 companies we've added to our pipeline this past year, our additional focus this year is to add an additional 400 companies to that pipeline because we know some are going to fall off, right.

Some are going to say thanks, but no thanks.

We need to keep the market the message out in front of the right companies over and over.

So as we think about how we work this year, our goal is to nurture those relationships that we've begun and begin to move them along in the pipeline.

So this past year and and I'm actually thinking about the past three year numbers, I think we're looking at about 12,000 new jobs that have been announced.

Biggest announcement for us was JCB, which is bringing in about 1500 new jobs.

What are the segments of industries that are doing best?

What are you bringing in most right now?

You talk about what you target.

About 60% of our pipeline is in advanced manufacturing.

We're also seeing tremendous strides and cybersecurity interest.

That is a huge industry affecting every government agency, every business, every individual consumer.

And so companies are trying to address help address those issues and solve how.

But in the U.S., you mentioned California.

You know, we talk about people moving from California and elsewhere into San Antonio, but that say compared to the rest of the world, how much is the U.S. and how much is California East Coast or wherever?

Yeah, So interestingly, because of this phenomena of of of reinvesting in the United States and because of all of the federal dollars that have been put into the economy around electric vehicles and kind of green clean tech for the economy here we are seeing more international projects today than domestic projects.

And so that is a trend that, you know, three or four years ago wouldn't have been the case.

And so we know that the efforts to recruit companies within these clean tech industries because of the size of our market, the scale of the market, the stability of the U.S. economy, all of that is driving international companies.

So those companies you think would need more workers from San Antonio instead of California company moving in with its own people?

Absolutely.

They would relocate some.

That's correct.

Well, it'll be interesting to see come back before two years and talk about all the businesses that have already opened since you've come back.

And good luck with all that.

Thank you very much.

Thank you, sir.

Sarah Carabias Rush, chief development officer of greater SATX.

Thanks.

Thank you.

On Reporters roundtable this week, we're talking about Marc White, the San Antonio city councilman who was arrested for DWI at the end of last year, December 29th.

Joining us were a woman who's been covering this, Megan Rodriguez, who is the city hall reporter for the San Antonio Express-News.

Thank you very much for coming in.

Thank you for having me.

Now, first of all, you were right at the tail end of when Clayton Perry, a former councilman, also from District ten, was arrested the year before.

But there are some big differences in this case.

Tell us about that.

Yeah, absolutely.

So in the case of Councilman Clayton Perry, he was arrested for drunkenly crashing into a Honda Civic and then fleeing the scene.

It's a bit different than Councilman Mark White, who was arrested for driving while intoxicated, allegedly on December 29th, 2023, almost a year exactly from when Councilman Perry had his situation, from talking to councilmembers.

The fact that there is not a hit and run is actually a big part of kind of why they're reacting a little bit differently.

They feel like that it was a bit more elevated, a bit more egregious right off the bat with Councilman Clayton Perry.

Also, the flow of information is a little bit different right now.

So with Councilman Clayton Perry, the situation, it was a lot more egregious.

But with council body cam footage right away, that was pretty nice.

I don't say damning, but he was in his backyard and clearly having trouble.

He did.

Yes.

And yes.

And that's what my next point.

So that was released within about four days.

We are more than a week out from Councilman Mark White's.

And as of this morning, Wednesday morning, we really have not seen what his interaction with Councilman Mark White's interaction was like with the police.

And so we have council members who are just saying we don't know yet and we want to kind of see more evidence that being either the body cam footage or the results of his blood alcohol concentration test, which we won't know for a couple of weeks now to set up where where he was, what he was doing.

He drove home a fellow city council member during that evening.

What supposedly happened, according to the police report that night?

Yes.

So the police report actually doesn't mention the other councilmember or anything like that.

So Councilman Mark White, when he was pulled over, initially said I had a beer, then kind of elaborates a little bit more throughout talking with the police officer, eventually says that he had three beers, wine, but that he was sober is something that he says.

So he says that he had a beer at El Mirasol.

Then another one at Myron's Steakhouse right next door, and then a third at Thirsty Horse Saloon.

What we find out later through kind of some interviews with Councilmember Mark White and Councilwoman Melissa Camejo, however, is that he drove Councilwoman Melissa Cavallo hovered at home.

She got back home between nine and 9:30 p.m.. That was before he went to the Thirsty Horse Saloon.

He had been on a flight from Australia actually earlier that day.

He got back to Santa Ana to Houston, drove to San Antonio, then was meeting up with friends who also have a Harvard.

I was a part of the group and they all met up at the El Mirasol, then went across over just walking distance over to the steak house.

And then the group was deciding, okay, let's go ahead and go to Thirsty Horse Saloon.

Well, most people, Harvard, who had Uber there, decided at the last minute, you know, I don't want to go.

I'm not feeling well.

I have allergies.

I want to go home and Mark White ends up driving her home.

So that was after he had maybe, I guess, according to story, two beers and then went back and had another one Thursday.

That's according to the affidavit.

Counsel, I do want to be very clear.

Councilman Carbajal harbored a would not say kind of what she saw him eat or drink or anything like that.

She just didn't feel like she had enough information to really say.

And I guess the reason we're getting into such detail on this is partly because of Clayton Perry and partly because of how the city council members will react after Clayton Perry.

They took him off some committees and, you know, he didn't win reelection.

He was going to run and then he didn't.

What do you think's going to happen this week?

I know it's still up in the air and they're still deciding they haven't really met because of New Year's.

Yes.

So to be clear, I also the city council is kind of limited in what it can do.

They have the authority to vote a council member out if they are convicted of a felony or a misdemeanor.

That is like has more perpetrated or some kind of vile act.

But I mean, that's up for debate on what that could kind of be.

Probably not something like a DWI necessarily.

But the and they didn't do that in court and I should or in the case of I believe it's Mario Bravo before that who it was a whole different situation with him.

Correct.

And so I just want to throw that out there.

That is like something that is written to City Charter, but nothing else is really written into City Charter.

There's nothing that says how you do a censure or no votes of no confidence or calls for resignation, though in the case of, like you mentioned, Councilman Mario Bravo, and in the case of Councilman Clayton Perry, they did have some of those formal resolution or sorry, formal reprimands, even though they really don't have a lot of bite to them.

But city council can do those.

But the mayor actually has the authority to then strip somebody of committee.

So that's kind of separate.

But the council members really haven't said what they want to do.

Like you noted, they haven't met since before the holiday season.

And so a lot of them are, I think, are wanting to kind of meet up and talk.

Also, they want more information is what we're hearing from a lot of folks, saying that they want to know more about the blood alcohol concentration test results and which aren't in footage.

Exactly.

Not in yet either one of those as of this morning.

And so I think that there's potential for some more conversation now because they're supposed to be meeting in some closed door sessions today and tomorrow.

And council members are under the impression that the Councilman Mark White situation will be a topic of discussion.

But what could come of that, we really don't know.

And another difference between, say, this one and the Clayton Perry thing is right a right away Mark White came out and addressed this.

What is what is he had to say since the arrest about about it?

Yes.

So the day following his arrest when he was released, he started issuing statements saying basically that he, for one, did not feel intoxicated and that he's never gotten behind the wheel when he's felt intoxicated, but also apologizing to the community, saying that nobody should get behind the wheel, even if they've had one drink.

But I think for a lot of people, that kind of doesn't mean a whole lot unless they actually know kind of a little bit more.

See some video of what he was acting like, see the actual results of the test.

And so what do you expect?

I know you can't you don't have a crystal ball, but knowing some of the council members as you do and how they reacted earlier, it's a whole different situation.

You think it's going to be much less of a story or.

Well, I mean, I think everyone on council is kind of coming at this from a little bit of a different perspective.

But all kind of boil it down to there's no answer right this moment.

So, for example, Councilman Manny Playas and Councilman Mickey Rodriguez, Jaylin McKay Rodriguez have both mentioned that they're really not sure what they think about vote of no confidence censures for Jalen McKinney Rodriguez's case.

He just feels like they're kind of ceremony or symbolic moment things.

And why are we doing this?

As far as councilman Manny players kind of a little bit of a different perspective.

He thinks that since the city charter doesn't outline how we're supposed to be doing these things, why should we do them?

I will note both of those people had voted for formal reprimands for Councilman Mario Bravo and Clayton Perry.

And so it is a bit of a shift in their kind of take.

On the other hand, there are councilmembers who do seem to want to take some kind of action, but they're not sure what.

So Councilwoman Adriana Roca Garcia has long been pushing for a code of conduct, and that would kind of include what to do in scenarios when a councilman acts poorly.

And so she kind of sees this as a chance to kind of reignite that.

So in other words, you're going to be busy as a city hall reporter, as well as a kind of a police reporter for a while on this.

We appreciate it.

Thanks very much.

And come back to explain other city hall issues down the road.

Megan Rodriguez, City hall reporter for the San Antonio Express-News.

Thanks.

Thank you for having me.

And thank you for joining us for this edition of On the Record.

You can see the show again or any previous shows.

You also can download the podcast at KLRN.org I'm Randy Beamer and we'll see you next time on the record is brought to you by Steve and Adele.

Dufilho