SAN ANTONIO – San Antonio City Council passed a motion to censure District 8 Councilwoman Ivalis Meza Gonzalez after her arrest on suspicion of driving while intoxicated (DWI) in July.
Eight council members voted in favor of the motion. Teri Castillo (D5) abstained and Meza Gonzalez recused herself from the vote. Councilwoman Phyllis Viagran (D3) was not present at the meeting.
The vote happened Thursday afternoon, a few hours after the start of the council’s regularly scheduled meeting.
After the vote, Gonzalez said, “I respect the vote that my colleagues took,” reiterating a statement she released prior to the special meeting through her spokesperson to KSAT.
Her statement ahead of the special meeting said, “As my legal case moves forward, I will continue to accept responsibility every step of the way. To the residents of District 8, my focus as your councilmember remains on serving you, making sure your best interests are represented with a strong voice, and I will not back down from that duty.”
Castillo released a statement for her vote where she said, in part, “It is the duty of the District 8 residents and the public to hold their elected officials accountable.”
“This is not an attempt to defend drunk driving, nor does it condone this behavior. Rather, it is confidence that the justice system will hold Councilmember Meza Gonzalez accountable,” the statement read, in part.
Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones said that her vote, which was in favor of the motion, was her statement.
Last week, Jones called for a censure vote by City Council, citing “new information” regarding Meza Gonzalez.
On Sept. 10, the Bexar County District Attorney’s Office refiled Meza Gonzalez’s DWI charge showing that her blood alcohol content was at least .15 or more, which is nearly double the legal limit in Texas.
It is unclear whether the new information Jones cited before Thursday was about Meza Gonzalez’s blood alcohol level.
On Friday, Jones told council members that the freshman councilwoman would be suspended from her committee assignments “until further notice or until more details of the incident are known.”
Initially, City Manager Erik Walsh had said that the council would not consider the censure at the Sept. 11 meeting.
In an email obtained by KSAT, Walsh told Jones and council members on Sept. 5 that, “I have the strong sense the Council is not ready to consider this item.”
“Consequently, I will not be adding the requested item to the September 11, 2025 City Council A session agenda,” he wrote in the email.
Background
San Antonio police pulled over Meza Gonzalez just after 11 p.m. on July 24 along Interstate 10 westbound near Hildebrand Avenue. After a series of sobriety tests, she was later arrested on suspicion of driving while intoxicated (DWI). Meza Gonzalez bonded out of the Bexar County Adult Detention Center on July 25.
Two weeks after her arrest, on Aug. 8, SAPD released body camera video of Meza Gonzalez’s arrest.
In the video, the first-term council member was seen driving slowly and drifted from one lane to another. The footage also showed Meza Gonzalez telling a responding officer at least eight times that she did not have anything to drink that night.
Meza Gonzalez won the June 7 runoff for the District 8 seat against Paula McGee with 57% of the vote.
On Sept. 10, the Bexar County District Attorney’s Office refiled Gonzalez’s DWI charge indicating that her blood alcohol content (BAC) was at least .15 or more, which is nearly double the legal limit.
According to Bexar County court records, Meza Gonzalez is expected to be in court regarding her DWI case on Oct. 2.
Other council members who faced possible censure
Meza Gonzalez is not the first to face a public rebuke from the rest of the council.
Councilman Marc Whyte (D10) was censured by his council colleagues shortly after his December 2024 arrest on suspicion of DWI.
In November 2022, the city council gave his predecessor, Clayton Perry, a vote of “no confidence” after a drunken hit and run.
Just a few days before that, they did the same for then-District 1 Councilman Mario Bravo, who had had an angry confrontation in council chambers with his former girlfriend and fellow council member, Ana Sandoval, the then-District 7 councilwoman.
Censures and votes of no confidence are largely symbolic and do not affect a council member’s ability to vote or take part in council discussion. The City Council does not have the power to remove another member — barring certain criminal convictions.
However, former Mayor Ron Nirenberg also removed Whyte, Perry and Bravo from their committee assignments, which is where council members have more access to shaping policy.
Meza Gonzalez had been appointed to the council’s Audit, Economic Workforce and Development and Community Health committees.
A draft of the censure can be read below.
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