SAN ANTONIO – A former councilman, a business professor, and a retired AT&T worker have made the short-list to replace District 10 Councilman Clayton Perry on the San Antonio City Council.
With the option to pick up to three candidates to interview Thursday, the remaining 10 members of the San Antonio City Council unanimously chose Mike Gallagher, Pauline Rubio and Joe Garcia from a field of 17 applicants. Other applicants included a former state representative, a mediator, a bicycle advocate, and a dishwasher in a bakery.
After 15 of the applicants addressed council members during a Wednesday afternoon meeting, the council held a discussion behind closed doors before unanimously choosing Gallagher, Rubio, and Garcia for the short list, all three of whom have government experience of some kind.
The three applicants will be interviewed at a Thursday morning city council meeting after which council members are expected to choose a temporary replacement.
Mike Gallagher was the D10 councilman from Jan. 2014 – Jun. 2017 (KSAT)
Gallagher is a retired U.S. Air Force officer who held the seat between Jan. 2014 and Jun. 2017. He was, coincidentally, originally appointed to fill the vacant seat, but then ran successfully for a full term.
He’s currently the president of both the Northern Hills Homeowners Association and the Northeast Neighborhood Alliance.
“We got a lot done, and I think that you have as well, and I hope we can continue that process,” he told council members Wednesday.
Joe Garcia is a retired, longtime AT&T employee who served on the VIA Board and the Victoria City Council (KSAT)
Garcia is a retired, longtime employee of AT&T and member of the Communication Workers of America. He is also a former Shearer Hills/Ridgeview Neighborhood Association president.
He served on the VIA Metropolitan Transit Board of Trustees in 2004 and was a city council member in Victoria from 1995 to 1999.
“I do not intend to change anything. I’m doing this as my serving you and the mayor and my great city,” Garcia said.
Pauline Rubio is a Palo Alto College professor (KSAT)
Rubio is a Palo Alto College adjunct professor of business principles, business strategic management, and entrepreneur finances. She also worked for the San Antonio Chamber of Commerce from Oct. 2014 to May 2016 and for the San Antonio Hispanic Chamber of Commerce for a few months in 2016.
She is also former Democratic Party precinct chair and worked in 2010 as a district representative and executive assistant for former U.S. Rep. Ciro Rodriguez.
“I believe this is a unique opportunity for this city council to connect the district with the benefit of leadership from a person who identifies with other demographics than the one usually held in this office,” Rubio told council members.
All three have said they do not want to pursue a full-term in the seat.
If the remaining 10 council members approve the replacement by at least eight votes, the appointee will be sworn in immediately. If the replacement receives six or seven votes, they will be sworn in on Dec. 12.
Perry took a leave of absence starting Nov. 14, which he called a “sabbatical,” in the wake of his self-confessed involvement in a Nov. 6 hit-and-run crash. He has only been charged so far with failure to stop and provide information, a class B misdemeanor, though San Antonio Police have said they plan to file a DWI charge for prosecutors to review.
WATCH: San Antonio police footage of officer’s encounter with Councilman Clayton Perry
The North Side councilman has not resigned his seat and could return at any point during the roughly six months left in his term. The temporary replacement will serve either until Perry returns or until his term ends in early June 2023.
Originally, 18 people submitted applications to replace Perry, but one later dropped out.
FULL LIST OF APPLICANTS
You can see the applications of the three short-listed candidates by clicking on their name.
Editor’s note: A previous version of this story indicated that SAPD had filed a DWI charge against Councilman Perry. However, a spokeswoman for District Attorney Joe Gonzales said Dec. 1 that the office had not yet received the case. We regret the error.