Councilwoman Misty Spears talks ICE lawsuit, voting against SAWS rate hike | ENside Politics

So I wanted to start with, uh, City Council's vote last week to increase, uh, the San Antonio Water System's-

Mm-hmm

... uh, rates.

And I just wanna read just a quick thing from a statement you put out after the vote.

You, you were one of three council members who voted against it.

Yeah.

Uh, you said, "I believe this process has been mishandled from the beginning." What do you mean by that? Ju- just take us back to the, to the origin of this rate increase and tell us how it got mishandled by SAWS.

Um, I think when you're about to ask anyone for anything, you put your best foot forward.

You come fully prepared, ready to answer questions, anticipating things that might get asked.

Um, I expect transparency.

What have you done to be- to validate the, the reasoning behind needing something from me? Anything.

Mm-hmm.

Um, and that didn't happen.

It came forward with honest...

I, I don't do anything based off of just slide decks, so I need to see data and, um, an explanation.

How am I gonna explain this to my constituents? Help me understand why this is necessary, and that just isn't how it was presented.

It was more of, "We need this, so we just need you to do this."

So when did SAWS first come to City Council f- for, for a rate increase this year?

You mean as a body?

Yeah.

Um, they came in June, I believe-

Mm-hmm

...

when they first asked.

There had been some discussions prior to that.

So I wanted to start with, uh, City Council's vote last week to increase, uh, the San Antonio Water System's-

Mm-hmm

... uh, rates.

And I just wanna read just a quick thing from a statement you put out after the vote.

You, you were one of three council members who voted against it.

Yeah.

Uh, you said, "I believe this process has been mishandled from the beginning." What do you mean by that? Ju- just take us back to the, to the origin of this rate increase and tell us how it got mishandled by SAWS.

Um, I think when you're about to ask anyone for anything, you put your best foot forward.

You come fully prepared, ready to answer questions, anticipating things that might get asked.

Um, I expect transparency.

What have you done to be- to validate the, the reasoning behind needing something from me? Anything.

Mm-hmm.

Um, and that didn't happen.

It came forward with honest...

I, I don't do anything based off of just slide decks, so I need to see data and, um, an explanation.

How am I gonna explain this to my constituents? Help me understand why this is necessary, and that just isn't how it was presented.

It was more of, "We need this, so we just need you to do this."

So when did SAWS first come to City Council f- for, for a rate increase this year?

You mean as a body?

Yeah.

Um, they came in June, I believe-

Mm-hmm

...

when they first asked.

There had been some discussions prior to that.