SAN ANTONIO — Something is giving District 4 Councilman Rey Saldaña an “uneasy feeling” in his stomach.

It's the same thing that's upsetting Communities Organized for Public Service/Metro Alliance, a church-based advocacy group.

The problem is a “blackout period” in which the city prohibits lobbying for social-services programs. Beginning this year, no one is allowed to squeeze city staff or council members for money for several months before the September budget adoption, including the nonprofits that use the funds to provide job training and other programs.

The city started enforcing a “no-contact period” after council members complained about disruptive lobbying by some of the nonprofits, known as delegate agencies, according to Assistant City Manager Gloria Hurtado.

“The council members asked us, 'Is there anything we can do about delegate agencies that show up and take over (public) meetings?'” Hurtado told me. “What happened was, those who yelled the loudest would get the attention.”

In practice, however, the policy is giving dyspepsia to some of the same council members.

In an Aug. 26 letter to Mayor Ivy Taylor, members of COPS/Metro Alliance explained the problem.

“We learned that this policy was recommended in response to council members expressing frustration over 'too many people calling to discuss the budget,'” they wrote. “It is hard to imagine that we have such an overwhelmingly engaged citizenry! And it is deeply troubling to learn that council members are asking for policies to keep their constituencies from bothering them.”

Enter Saldaña's stomach.

“That strikes me at my core,” he said. “I'll certainly acknowledge an uneasy feeling in my stomach there. We need to be available. It's true.”

In March, after pooling money from grants and its general fund, the city issued a request for proposals. The blackout period began then, mirroring a prohibition the city already enforces for for-profit corporations, contractors and their lobbyists.

So far, 75 nonprofits have applied for the available funds, which total about $20.4 million, less than one percent of the city's $2.3 billion budget.

“It's an overwhelming amount of time spent trying to learn about every delegate agency,” said District 5 Councilwoman Shirley Gonzales.

Does the blackout make it more difficult to learn about the nonprofits' needs?

“My short answer would be, 'Yes,'” she said. “I think that the concern (of COPS/Metro) is genuine.”

Was Gonzales among those who complained about the lobbying?

“I certainly was not, but other council members did,” she said. “I feel like it was (District 8 Councilman) Ron Nirenberg who complained it was too much lobbying ... But you should probably ask him.”

I asked Nirenberg.

“It wasn't only me,” he said. “I think we went around the room at a B session to talk about improving the process.”

The blackout is meant to “level the playing field,” Nirenberg said; some agencies have more lobbying resources than others.

The city's elected officials, however, are supposed to serve as a conduit between the community and city staff.

COPS/Metro made this point in its letter to Taylor: “Whether to invest — and how much — in supporting the homeless community, the arts, after-school programs and job training, to name a few, are political decisions that require input from the community.”

Now, council members who swallowed the new policy are suffering from indigestion.

District 9 Councilman Joe Krier told San Antonio Express-News staff writer Josh Baugh that he “would support reconsidering the current policy.”

Nirenberg agreed.

“I think Joe is right,” he said. “I'm open to new ideas on that.”

Saldaña suggested reducing the blackout period or carving out more time for agencies to make their cases. This year, the nonprofits were allowed only a couple of minutes to make presentations during a public hearing.

“I would agree that that's not enough time to get fully informed,” Saldaña said.

bchasnoff@express-news.net