SAN ANTONIO - It didn't take long for people at home to make their opinions known about San Antonio City Council's vote on the airport contract and Chick-fil-A.
- Chick-fil-A won't be available at San Antonio International Airport
- Removed from list by City Council
- Attorney says City Council has broad discretion in these matters
We had a lot of folks weigh in on our social media pages.
"There's a lot of money at stake. Where there's money there's controversy," said attorney T.J. Mayes, a partner at Phipps Deacon Purnell PLLC.
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We asked Mayes for some insight. As the former chief of staff for Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff and Mayor Ron Nirenberg when he was a councilman, Mayes knows firsthand how these contracts work.
The city has a request for proposal process for procurement.
"There's usually a committee made up of city staff, maybe some others, who will make a determination of who the best bidder is on a particular contract with the city. They will use a scoring metric and they will take that with a recommendation to the City Council and the City Council can vote," Mayes said.
Some procurement issues have become controversial in the past.
"Airport concessions is usually pretty controversial, and we saw an example of that yesterday," he said.
Council has broad discretion as long as the proper process is followed. You'll see it in places like the Alamodome, Hemisfair, and any city property where contracts and vendors are involved.
"There are a couple perspectives on how a council should govern in a situation like this. First is that council should call balls and strikes and not make value judgments about the entities they're doing business with. That's a perfectly valid perspective. Another perspective is that council members are elected representatives and city contracting is a way that they can ensure that our city's values are being upheld, and that's a totally appropriate use of contracting authority," said Mayes.