Councilman Roberto Treviño on Thursday added another layer to the on-going push to strengthen ethics rules in San Antonio.

Treviño is calling for greater independence for the city’s ethics compliance auditor and for its Ethics Review Board.

His council-consideration request comes in the same week that colleagues Ron Nirenberg and Rey Saldaña filed a CCR seeking an ordinance that would remove the council’s power to waive the city ethics code for council members.

Treviño’s CCR seeks voter-approved amendments to the city charter that would change how the ethics compliance auditor is hired and how the Ethics Review Board is appointed.

Ethics at City Hall have become a front-burner issue since an 8-2 council vote earlier this month that absolved Mayor Ivy Taylor from potential complaints over 15-month-long ethics violations.

As mayor, Taylor is responsible for appointing commissioners to the board of the San Antonio Housing Authority, which administers Section 8 housing vouchers that were paid to her and husband Rodney.

Her conflicts were resolved Nov. 1, 2015 when SAHA transferred the vouchers to the Housing Authority of Bexar County.

But the waiver, seen as unnecessary by some, has since caused a significant stir.

Though Treviño was one of the eight who voted in favor of Taylor’s ethics waiver, he said Thursday on Texas Public Radio’s “The Source” that his vote “doesn’t mean that I don’t take issue with the process.” He said that he and his City Hall staffers have been discussing strengthening ethics for a year. Now was the right time to bring forward his suggestions, he said.

He wants to charge the Ethics Review Board, or ERB, with sole discretion of hiring the city’s ethics compliance auditor, who is currently nominated by the board and then appointed by the city auditor — who is hired by the City Council. As it stands now, the council appoints members of the ERB.

But Treviño wants to take that power away from the council and give it to “respected institutions” in the community. His CCR says that Atlanta and Tallahassee, Florida, follows that format, having their ethics commissioners appointed by universities, chambers of commerce, bar associations, the League of Women Voters and others.

Treviño, who signed onto Nirenberg and Saldaña’s CCR earlier this week, found support for his proposal from the pair, along with Taylor and Mike Gallagher.

Nirenberg said that because of the two CCRs, the council will have to have a robust discussion about strengthening ethics regulations for San Antonio officials. They need to craft something to pass along to the charter review commission, which is wholly appointed by the mayor. Gallagher is the only council member to sit on the commission, which has several vacancies.

According to Taylor’s office, she sought input from her 10 council colleagues on potential appointees to the commission. But when asked Thursday, both Nirenberg and Saldaña said they weren’t asked for recommendations and only saw a final list of potential candidates.

Ultimately, the Charter Review Commission will likely craft recommendations for the council, which would ask voters to approve amendments in the May 2017 election.

jbaugh@express-news.net

Twitter: @jbaugh