Newly elected north side Councilman John Courage is proposing a measure that would allow the City Clerk to confirm the legal residency of City Council candidates, News Radio 1200 WOAI reports.
Members of City Council are supposed to reside in the district they represent, and are supposed to have had their primary residence in the district for a certain amount of time. But currently, the City has no authority to investigate that.
Courage's proposal would allow the City Clerk to examine utility bills to verify a candidate's legal residence.
"San Antonians deserve the extra assurance that our municipal candidates are held to the highest standards," he said.
Currently, the only way a candidate's residency can be verified is if another candidate independently filed a civil lawsuit and challenges that residency in court. That is costly, time consuming, and frequently, with appeals, is not resolved before Election Day.
Courage's Ninth District was bedeviled with candidates with questionable residency in this spring's election, including one candidate who allegedly didn't even live in the City of San Antonio.