Remarks by Gina Ortiz Jones
215 remarks on the record, newest first · Page 3 of 9
- Play at 3:01:32
“One second. Council Member Spears or Council Member White, would you like to entertain that? Would you like to answer that just so folks know as they're providing feedback?”
City Council · Sep 17, 2026
- Play at 3:03:37
“Eric to have an understanding of what adding additional officers to a substation does in terms of on M.”
City Council · Sep 17, 2026
- Play at 3:03:56
“Certainly not the electricity bill, but other things. Yeah, thanks for clarifying that.”
City Council · Sep 17, 2026
- Play at 3:04:36
“Well, so we're voting on the amendment right now. Yeah, this one. Correct. So in order for us to vote on it, unless folks don't need the information to vote on it. Okay. I think folks are ready to vote. Go ahead. Councilwoman.”
City Council · Sep 17, 2026
- Play at 3:05:05
“Okay, so then to be very, hold on. Councilwoman, so we're voting on the amendment then, which is 10 patrol officers. Okay. Can you please restate it, Councilwoman? Thank you.”
City Council · Sep 17, 2026
- Play at 3:06:33
“Second I'm gonna wait till the city manager and the attorney are finished and then we'll vote That's normal, right? Yeah Okay Andy over to you, please”
City Council · Sep 17, 2026
- Play at 3:07:05
“This is the amendment reading the amendment as Councilwoman Spears has laid out.”
City Council · Sep 17, 2026
- Play at 3:07:22
“Okay. So you have nothing to add to that. Eric said you were going to read something.”
City Council · Sep 17, 2026
- Play at 3:07:29
“Thank you. Appreciate it. Okay. So there's a motion in a second on the amendment as read by councilman Spears, please vote. Okay. The motion fails. So now we're back to the main motion. Okay. Yes, on the second round, Council Member White.”
City Council · Sep 17, 2026
- Play at 3:12:20
“There's a is there a second okay, there's a motion and a second to the continue items five through ten As described be session next week followed by a vote next week Discussion on that amendment or the the motion to continue Okay, councilman Spears go ahead”
City Council · Sep 17, 2026
- Play at 3:14:44
“what the impact that this will have on our our taxpayers so thank you eric in case informs anyone else's um comments though would you could you speak to a little bit about what that means because we understand the deadline is the 27th of september yeah i mean the the 27th is the following sunday so the special meeting would be on the 25th um then you're talking about a B session the day before so as long as it's done before the but by the Charter requirement of September 27th and just a reminder even if if that fails then you would have that amount of time I'm sure you're already doing some…”
City Council · Sep 17, 2026
- Play at 3:17:33
“I think Councilman Mark White, though, had it correct in that many folks yesterday were uncomfortable with it based on not understanding what it would look like. And while we have spent several weeks working on this, I don't think everybody assumed that we would do a property tax increase. And so now, there is an actual interest in understanding how to avoid it and it's only 1.6 percent and continuing the item and helping people understand that so we can all explain it to folks I think that's fair so there's a motion in a second to continue the item call to question we were already there yeah…”
City Council · Sep 17, 2026
- Play at 3:19:14
“okay there's a motion and a second as read what is the is that I just heard a whisper is that in perpetuity what is the time frame is that forever is that a permanent thing Eric is that how we should understand that yes ma'am okay so if they're in theory if there are different council members in the future and they want to bring those positions back they would have to To do that via the budget as well in the same way that they've doing them bring them back if they wanted to add staff back to their if another district 9 person or another district 10 person in the future wanted to add Personnel…”
City Council · Sep 17, 2026
- Play at 3:20:22
“Okay. Yeah. Thank you, Andy, for that clarification. Council Member Villagran?”
City Council · Sep 17, 2026
- Play at 3:22:56
“Hold on, hold on. Please direct the questions to the chair. Hold on, please.”
City Council · Sep 17, 2026
- Play at 3:23:05
“So I'm the chair and that's the decorum here is that you direct those to the chair. Councilman White, please answer her question.”
City Council · Sep 17, 2026
- Play at 3:24:44
“Okay, great. Thanks. Councilman Munguia, please.”
City Council · Sep 17, 2026
- Play at 3:27:35
“Okay. There's a motion and a second on the amendment as read. Councilwoman Mesa-Gonzalez, please.”
City Council · Sep 17, 2026
- Play at 3:32:37
“Does anyone else like to sign up on the second round on the main motion? Okay. Thank you to the city staff that worked so hard to get us to this moment, a very difficult budget discussion. I firmly believe a budget should reflect our values, should reflect an approach that best meets the needs of our people and minimize the economic burden on our neighbors during this time. I don't believe the budget before us does that. For months, I have worked to find additional sources of revenue from community contributions to reviewing buckets of money that have previously received very little scrutiny…”
City Council · Sep 17, 2026
- Play at 3:38:25
“That's what I just mentioned to her, yes. Okay, thank you. Okay, please vote. My screen's frozen. The motion carries. Now that the balance of the budget has been approved, we will take up funding included in the proposed budget for which council members wish to recuse. The next item is funding for Guardian House, and Council Member Munguia will be recusing. Is there a motion to approve the funding for Guardian House?”
City Council · Sep 17, 2026
- Play at 3:39:29
“It is moved and seconded to approve the funding in the budget for Guardian House. Please vote. Okay, the motion carries. Madam Clerk, please read the caption for item six.”
City Council · Sep 17, 2026
- Play at 3:40:27
“Council Member Villagran is recognized to make a motion.”
City Council · Sep 17, 2026
- Play at 3:40:34
“It is moved and seconded to approve item six. Please vote. Okay, the motion carries. Madam Clerk, please read item seven.”
City Council · Sep 17, 2026
- Play at 3:41:32
“Okay. $100. Yep. Okay. There's a motion and a second. Please vote.”
City Council · Sep 17, 2026
- Play at 3:42:07
“Okay. So on item seven, we will do a voice vote.”
City Council · Sep 17, 2026