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 journalists behind those stories.

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

I'm TJ maze.

SAPD is under fire from community activists about how some officers are handled when they are accused of wrongdoing.

In some cases, the officer's past actions aren't used as evidence.

And in other cases, no action can be taken against the officer.

If the police chief wasn't notified within a certain amount of time.

Now the city and the police union are headed back to the negotiating table, trying to find middle ground in the collective bargaining process that will help keep our community safe.

Maria, via Gomez is deputy city manager and oversees SAPD.

And the negotiations Maria you'll be front and center in these negotiations.

What are the city's priorities?

Speaker 1: Thank you amaze for inviting me to this meeting.

Um, but you know, we have been very clear with the community and also with the association, discipline is our top priority for those negotiations.

This is what the community wants.

This is what the city manager wants.

And I also think this is something fair to our police officers Speaker 2: Part, the collective bargaining process happens every five or so years.

I think you were budget director during the last round of negotiations.

And most of the controversy then was financial.

Do we expect most of the discussion to be about these disciplinary issues?

This time around Speaker 1: We do, as I mentioned, discipline is our top priority.

We had talked about discipline and prior negotiations, uh, to your point, healthcare was the priority for the last contract, but we are very focused on discipline for this round.

When Speaker 2: Will the negotiations start?

Speaker 1: So we have our first meeting with the association on, uh, February the 12th.

Uh, typically the first meeting we do ground rules, introduce our teams and set dates for negotiation.

So that'll be the first meeting.

And then from there, we will have, uh, additional dates to get into the meat of the conversation and to lay out our priorities, uh, to, to each of the parties.

Speaker 2: These collective bargaining negotiations are happening during an election year.

I know every year is an election year, but this one is two.

And there's been this citizen led petition drive to change the collective bargaining negotiation process.

Can you describe what the petition drive is and what it would do?

Speaker 1: Sure.

So, so there's a group that has submitted as signatures to the city clerk's office to repeal chapter one 74, which is chapter one 74 of the state code, uh, gives the, to our police officers to collectively bargain.

So that was approved by the voters back in 1974.

Uh, and it can be repeal if it's put on the ballot and subject to a vote.

So if that was to be passed by the voters, then our officers officers would lose the right to collectively bargain.

Speaker 2: I see.

So if this has passed, they'd lose their right to collectively bargain and their disciplinary procedure would be governed by state law.

Is that correct?

Speaker 1: That is correct.

There's another chapter of the state code, which is chapter one 43, the governance as civil service, uh, for our police officers and firefighters as well in that, um, gives us parameters in terms of, um, employment, uh, discipline, uh, promotions, uh, terminations.

So what will be under chapter one 43, if chapter one 74, which is a collective bargaining agreement was to go away.

Speaker 2: So the collective bargaining negotiations and the petition drive are happening at the same time, they're separate issues, but they're related.

And I know that there's kind of a time crunch because if this petition drug gets on the ballot, then that would really affect the collective bargaining negotiations.

Do you sort of have at the city a timeline as to how this all adds up?

It feels like we're playing three-dimensional chess is we're trying to figure out what's going on.

I know you are a prepared woman all the time you're prepared for any eventuality, is that correct?

Speaker 1: Uh, the Sydney team is prepare, you know, we, um, we'll be bargaining in good faith, um, under our current legal parameters.

So our focus is on, uh, collectively bargaining with the union.

We understand that this petition, uh, maybe happening at the same time that we're doing negotiation, uh, the city clerk will be, um, uh, providing an update to the council, uh, in the next few weeks, as far as the, the actual certification of those signatures.

And then next steps in the process will continue depending on that certification.

But our focus for the city team is to work with the association and bargain in good faith with the goal of having a new collective bargaining agreement.

Speaker 2: I know the last collective bargaining agreement took quite a bit of time to come to an agreement.

Do we expect this one to be a little shorter time table for negotiations?

Speaker 1: You know, it's hard to tell, um, uh, you you've seen this before.

Sometimes it takes a few months.

Sometimes it takes a years like it happened on the last negotiations that we had.

Uh, but nonetheless, uh, we, we hope to have a good conversation with the association.

They have a new precedent, uh, they, any DS officer and we had some, um, preliminary conversations.

So we look forward to being at the table and negotiating that contract.

Speaker 2: Ray, I know you're very busy woman.

We really appreciate you taking the time to come visit with us.

Speaker 1: Thank you so much.

Appreciate it.

Speaker 2: commissioner Tommy Calbert represents precinct four and the bear County commissioner's court a lot going on at bear County commissioner.

Thanks for joining us today, honored to be back.

So a big conversation we've been having is about the rodeo.

There are a lot of concerns about safety with the Corona virus and these mass events.

Uh, there was a boxing match at the Alamodome recently that kind of drew some fire.

And we're thinking about how we can protect attendees at the rodeo.

Uh, what steps are you thinking that the County should take to address that We're looking at a rapid test system, uh, 15 minute antigen tests, um, and looking at the fact that people could potentially stay in their cars and be swapped.

I think the key is what kind of a mini army could we put together so that it wouldn't, uh, delay people's entrance.

And so we're looking in the magnitude of, you know, 500 to a thousand, uh, volunteers or folks who are trained, whether they're a university health system, personnel, or EMT, retired nurses and doctors, things of that nature or medical students or nursing students that could be brought to bear for the swabs.

Uh, and then of course, I think one of the key elements to making these things move is the machinery, that process, uh, processes the tests and making sure that it has a large capacity, uh, but you can also have folks test a day before, uh, or two days before and their tests would be good for five days.

Um, and they'd have to test if they're coming back for the, say a week, you have the thousand volunteers that help the rodeo, uh, get a test from community labs that day or two before, and they will be cleared for a week or, or whatever.

Uh, medical advisement is given about the timeframe.

Um, we know it probably, uh, couldn't test every day, uh, for entrance into the rodeo, but, um, because, uh, as we've been told that season ticket holders of about 3,800 folks, um, that they would perhaps get some sort of risk ban, uh, which would, or our card of some sort, which would say they tested on this day and this test is good for this week.

Um, and should they come back for a following week?

They would, uh, test again.

Uh, and I, you know, I don't know if we're going to be able to make it happen, but, um, you know, I know people personally who tested positive from the Canelo fight, we have to do a better job.

Um, the protocols just weren't enough, uh, that were there at Metro health.

And I think there's also a tremendous backlash, um, from a lot of the restaurant community, uh, who feels so restricted by the fact that they are under, uh, restrictions.

Um, and, you know, if we just kind of use common sense, you know, you and I are meeting via zoom and part for our health, the commissioner's court and the city council are meeting online.

Um, I'm sure that the rodeo committees of 30 or 40 people don't meet in person.

So, you know, we have to use common sense about the fact that amplifying the number of people, uh, from a 40 person committee to, uh, grow by a thousand times, um, greatly increases the risk to the public.

Um, and the healthcare cost, uh, long-term could be very grave to a lot of people and families.

So you're describing a comprehensive testing system.

What is the cost of a system like that?

And who's going to pay for it.

So the commissioner's court has always been willing to pay for it.

You know, what's really interesting is we, we allocated $800,000 at the request of the at and T center and the spurs for a, um, remote food handling, uh, product, which I told the court that I didn't believe we would be able to use when the NBA began to resume.

And sure enough, I was right.

We haven't been able to use it because there's no fans in the stands.

Um, so I don't really see cost as an issue.

It may be somewhere around a $500,000, but this is infrastructure that on a County on facility, if we're going to give, and I didn't give the waiver, those, those are not my purview that is under the emergency order.

As you know, the County judge and the mayor have a restriction on 10 folks being able to gather.

And so those kinds of waivers have to be given, um, by, uh, the County judge.

So, but, you know, th the, the County needs to have a standards and infrastructure when our facilities are being utilized.

And that's what I think the court is trying to work to put together.

Um, now that this, um, has been dealt to us, so we would take that burden, but you can look at it as healthcare infrastructure because there probably will be a source three, um, in the future.

And when you look at countries like Taiwan, um, which learned, you know, being a neighbor of China, that they needed to have a really robust epidemiological and public health infrastructure, um, and handle things in a rapid way and really crack down on contact, trace in testing.

Um, these are good investments.

Um, and even if we were to utilize the private sector solutions and, and mobile clinics that are available in the private sector, because of the time, it might take us to get equipment of our own.

That's still a good public investment because you look at studies that are conducted, where professors have analyzed, how many people were impacted from a super spreader event.

How many, how, what does the healthcare bills cause once you have COVID, it's not always just about that time.

It's the long-term rehab that you may have because you don't walk the same because your brain doesn't function the same because you can't breathe the same.

Those are long-term healthcare costs and the County is responsible for health care in our community.

So speaking of healthcare, there's been a talk about mental health, especially with the pandemic and especially in the jail.

The County has been talking about ways to address mental health in the adult detention center.

I know it's been a conversation at a couple of commissioners court meetings.

What is your view about what role a mental health facility or increased mental health services should have in the adult detention center?

And I want to thank you for your additions to this, uh, this, this whole subject matter.

You know, the County owns about 40 acres where lifetime recovery is currently helping folks with abuse.

And we have to think like developers, uh, for the highest and best use of that land.

I believe that that land and maybe other properties that County has, could potentially be utilized for a assisted living facility.

I think this is our Achilles heel.

We have the capacity in terms of counseling.

We can certainly always use more, but we need to be able to stabilize people in assisted living of some sort where they can have their counselors stay on their meds and hopefully be returned to as productive a life that they, uh, that they can be.

So I'm working to try and look at jail diversion, and, uh, just had a meeting at eight 30 this morning about that huge group of folks, um, and how mental health assisted living can be, uh, you know, helping to triage the homeless problem that we see rampant in the streets, as well as just the fact that probably about a third of the jail at any given time as people who are mentally ill. And So one of the issues with mental health and the jail specifically is that it increases the cost of controlling the jail in terms of detention officers, uh, over time for Sheriff's deputies who work in the jail has been an enormous financial burden on the County.

What do you think the County should be doing to reduce that burden?

Well, I, I believe that we need to be working with, uh, clinical organizations, you know, groups like Crosspoint, um, groups like lifetime recovery, um, to expand the housing of these mental health and substance abuse is a mental health issue, um, or opioid addiction, whatever it is.

And we need to be able, cause if you look at the per capita costs, we talked about cost and your question of a clinician provider and housing them there versus the cost of the jail.

Um, it is significantly, significantly less to do that with a clinician.

Um, and I think that you have to remember the impact that COVID is having on our jail guard.

So we have 50 to 75, uh, detention officers currently who are out because of COVID.

So what does that mean?

That means that the, um, hundred and 50 that we have on a shift now, uh, have to take additional overtime burden because 50 to 75 officers, it's not safe for them to come back into the jail.

So, you know, when we talk about one third, uh, let's say the jail population is 4,000 today, somewhere thereabouts, you're talking about 1200 people you would take out and that would alleviate stress on the detention officers and the whole system and financially.

So, um, I don't know why we didn't do this 40, 50 years ago, but I think we're finally moving in a direction where, um, if we can get the right partnerships and funding streams, we can make this a reality, I think, in the next two years.

So we're talking about expanding testing at the rodeo.

We're talking about mental health and proving mental health, reducing costs in the jail.

What are one or two other priorities you're looking at for 2021?

Well, there's no doubt that, um, according to the bare facts, poll homelessness has become the top issue for residents in neighborhoods.

And of course, you know, I've been a big proponent of it on your talking about housing.

Um, I think we missed an opportunity in the November elections to put this issue on the ballot.

I think we need to be working with the city and, um, working together on, uh, a long-term solution, which includes mental health, uh, housing, which includes veteran housing.

You know, just this morning I was on a call with, um, the military and they were talking to us about the fact that the cost of housing in San Antonio is getting too high for the stipends and the revenue that the income that their soldiers make it.

So they're considering that in terms of military planning for future base alignment.

And, uh, we've got to do something about Commissioner caviar.

Thank you so much for joining us.

It sounds like you're very busy.

We appreciate it.

Thank you.

president Joe Biden once said that the COVID 19 does not discriminate, but the impact does CoderDojo Garza is with Y WCA.

She joins us to discuss a recent column.

He wrote in the San Antonio express news about your family's history with the Corona virus and how it shows that there are inequities in how we respond to the pandemic.

So tell us about your column.

Speaker 1: Yes, absolutely.

Thank you for having me, um, you know, in the, in the midst of, uh, conducting a literature review for a demographic academic, uh, article that I was co-authoring, um, I was looking at mortality rates for, um, um, uh, Latinos for blacks, for whites, uh, as a result of the COVID 19 pandemic.

And what became clear was that, you know, what, we already knew that the impact that the pandemic was going to have would be stratified by race and ethnicity, where, you know, um, you know, Latinos were dying, are dying at three times the rate as white.

Um, and so I was doing all this research and in the middle of all that, I, I got the call, my mom and my dad had gotten sick.

My brother, his wife, his children, had gotten sick.

Um, shortly after that, my father-in-law who works at a meat market, um, down in South Texas also got sick.

So I was living what I was reading.

Um, and these, you know, the, the obvious reasons that you would imagine, um, as to why they were at higher risk of becoming infected.

Speaker 2: So we're talking about vaccine distribution right now, and we've seen from some communities that the wider more affluent areas are getting vaccinated at higher rates, even though they're at a lower mortality rate.

Have you found that in your research?

Speaker 1: I think what the most important thing, right?

Because this is, this is a conversation it's been problematic since day one of the rollout, but I think, I think what we need to focus on here is definitely the data and that the data is telling us that communities of color are being affected.

Uh, they're carrying the mortality burden from the COVID-19 pandemic, um, as we continue to, to accelerate, uh, hopefully at some point vaccinations, there has to be, there has to be a focus on vulnerable communities and folks that are working in jobs that expose them, or put them at higher risk of becoming infected.

Speaker 2: So I'm hearing you describe sorts of jobs that people have that make them at a greater risk.

We're talking about race and ethnicity.

We're talking about socioeconomic status, they're all related.

Are there any other reasons you see that, um, different ethnicities have this killing them at higher rates, essentially?

Yeah.

Speaker 1: So the research tells us that it's definitely linked to occupations.

It's also linked to, uh, being a Spanish speaker speakers only.

There's some research there that supports that.

Um, but more than anything really, it is, it is where they're working.

Uh, but it's also that there are, there were existing inequities prior, right?

So Speaker 2: This ex amplified the existing inequities Speaker 1: Access to healthcare access to healthy food.

Um, you know, we also have multi-generational households which tend to, uh, have it in higher percentages and, um, uh, Latino communities.

So all of those factors, uh, lead to this increased risk of infection.

Speaker 2: So we've been discussing ethnic inequities.

You're also working on gender inequities with the YWC.

Yeah.

You just held a briefing on some important matters you're working on.

Can you describe that?

Speaker 1: Yes, absolutely.

For the first time in the history of the YWC affiliates of Texas, we've come together as one, uh, the, it, it is now more than ever important that we push forward issues that affect women in particular women of color, because we have so much data that substantiates what our priority needs to be.

Number one, childcare, uh, number two, economic empowerment and opportunities for women, um, to, uh, to, to move up economic mobility.

That includes wage equity.

It includes getting paid, uh, fairly and equally.

Um, and then third racial justice issues that women barriers that women are facing that have been facing for many, many, uh, uh, years.

And so we are hoping to be able to really draw attention to our policy priorities and the work that we're already have been doing in the case of San Antonio, that's for over a hundred years, Speaker 2: You've been really active in your advocacy about getting more women to run for office.

We need more representation of women in our elected offices.

You ran a really strong race for an office a couple of years ago.

Could we expect to see you on the ballot again in the future?

Speaker 1: I, you know, I, um, I hope so.

I think, you know, right now it's, it's day by day, the work never stops and the work never stopped.

Um, and I think that, that, you know, when you have that passion for serving people, um, it it'll, it, it seeps through in your daily life, in your interactions with your children and the things that you'd tell them.

Um, but you know, I, you know, maybe one day we'll see, Speaker 2: All right, well, stay tuned, corduroy guards.

I thank you for joining us.

Thank you.. And now for the reporters round table, one of the big stories this year is going to be police reform.

There are several angles and several levels.

Josh is the city hall reporter for the San Antonio express news, and he joins us to discuss Josh, what is the big story in police reform right now?

What's the big story.

Oh, um, well, you know this, yeah, for the next couple of months, you're going to be hearing about, uh, basically the, uh, the renegotiation of the police unions contract.

Uh, the, the big story there is going to be, uh, basically reforming, uh, the police, uh, you know, you know, disciplinary disciplinary actions for police officers.

Uh, you know, there's, there's been a lot of tension since the, since the summer over these, these, you know, uh, parts of the contract that, you know, that, uh, police activists and, and the police chief himself have said, you know, make it too easy for, uh, you know, bad officers to stay on the force.

Uh, you know, we expect the union, uh, the police officers, you need to fight that.

Um, and you know, on the same, uh, sort of track outside of that, um, you're going to have this effort at the ballot box, uh, to basically strip police of collective bargaining, uh, that, uh, you know, they, uh, organization fix SATD turned in 20,000 signatures, uh, to, uh, get this on the ballot.

Uh, the city clerk still has to certify those.

Uh, but basically what the measure would do is, you know, it would strip police of their, the police union of their collective bargaining rights, uh, with the intent of basically making it so they have no influence over how, uh, their own officers are disciplined.

So right now the San Antonio police officer's association has a right to collectively bargain that happens every five years.

It's always controversial for some reason last time, it was financial this time it's discipline disciplinary.

On the other hand, you have some folks who say the collective bargaining process gets in the way of, uh, disciplinary reform.

So they want to strip collective bargaining rights and have discipline governed by state law.

Is that an accurate summary?

Yes.

And, and at the same time, you also have, you know, the city leaders are, are now lobbying the legislature to see if they can make some changes to state law in the event that they wind up having to be governed under that statute.

So who are the big players in this?

I'm hearing you say the city of San Antonio, I'm hearing you say the San Antonio police officer's association, I'm hearing you say fix SAPD, who are the other stakeholders who are involved with this?

Um, I mean, you're also going to have, you know, city council races are going to be, uh, you know, defined by this to a degree.

Uh, you know, folks are going to have to take a position on, you know, not only just the contract, um, and the disciplinary aspects of the contract, but they're also going to have to, uh, perhaps take a position on the fixed SDPD, uh, reforms.

Uh, we saw, you know, chief McManus over the, um, you know, within the past couple of weeks and come out and say, he's not, he is not against collective bargaining.

Um, you can expect this to, to define the mayor's race to some degree, uh, you know, the mayor's going to have to perhaps take a position either way on the fixed SDPD or the, uh, disciplinary measures.

He said in the past, he's not happy with, uh, you know, the, uh, some of the aspects of this, uh, contract, uh, on the disciplinary front.

Um, but, you know, uh, Greg Brock house is going to be able to use, uh, uh, any sort of, you know, support any, anything he says, uh, anything the mayor says in terms of, you know, taking a stance on police and, and be able to say point back and say you're anti-police.

Yeah.

So we had a really emotional summer around this issue.

The George Floyd, um, killing kind of created this international protest.

We had some of that here.

Uh, mayor Nurnberg had some choice words at the time.

And so the idea is, is that this is going to be overlaying these city council and mayor all races and the petition election.

So can I ask you about the city council and what they're saying have had city council members taken a position on this?

Um, you can expect, you know, some of the North side council members probably to not be, uh, so open to fix us APDs, uh, proposed reforms here, uh, district Councilman Manny polite says, uh, said, uh, a couple of days ago, I think it was last week.

He said that, you know, he was not in favor of, you know, taking away collective bargaining.

He's, uh, you know, he's a labor attorney.

Um, but also, you know, this is tricky territory for any council member.

Um, you know, you're basically caught between, you know, activists, um, who, who are seeking these reforms and you're caught between, you know, just, you know, residents and neighborhood groups who say, you know, don't, they fund my police.

So there's this idea out there.

And there's ICT guys that we need some police reform, but we don't want to defund the police.

Uh, politicians don't often take nuanced stances, but this is obviously a very nuanced issue.

Josh Spector, thank you so much for joining us to discuss it.

Thanks, DJ.

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