Meza Gonzalez was pulled over on Interstate 10 the night of July 24, when an SAPD officer took her into custody on suspicion of driving while intoxicated.
SAN ANTONIO — San Antonio City Council next week will decide whether to reprimand District 8 Councilwoman Ivalis Meza Gonzalez after she was arrested on a DWI charge in July.
In a memo sent to council offices and other top leaders Friday, Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones said that “in light of new information,” she was placing a censure vote on the Sept. 11 agenda. She also said she was suspending Meza Gonzalez from her committee assignments “until further notice or until more details of the incident are known.”
It’s unclear what the new the information the mayor referred to consists of. Meza Gonzalez’s office did not immediately return a request for comment.
The first-term council representative was taken into custody the night of July 24 when a San Antonio police officer saw her car driving at a slower speed on Interstate 10 and drifting in and out of the shoulder, according to an arrest warrant. A traffic stop was initiated, as well as various sobriety tests.
The officer asked Gonzalez if she had been drinking, which she denied, according to the warrant. She told the officer she was coming from the Centre Club downtown. The officer noted the councilwoman’s “watery, glossy eyes” and reported a “moderate odor” as she spoke.
During a walk-and-turn test, records state, Meza Gonzalez took 22 steps on the return steps instead of the nine as requested. The officer then asked if she thought she took nine steps, to which she replied, “Yes.”
She was then taken into custody on suspicion of driving while drunk—the third such arrest of a City Council member in the last three years.
In a statement issued Aug. 6, Meza Gonzalez stopped short of admitting culpability amid the ongoing case but said she was taking responsibility for her actions.
“I know we’re held to a higher standard, and my actions failed to meet that,” Meza Gonzalez said in a statement after her arrest. “I deeply regret the disappointment this has caused my constituents, my colleagues, and my family. As this matter moves forward, I’ll take full responsibility, and I will not stop working to make sure my constituents are well represented.”
A censure is a symbolic vote acting as a formal statement of disapproval. Former Councilman Clayton Perry was censured after police said he was involved in a November 2022 hit-and-run crash while driving home from a bar. He eventually pleaded no contest to his DWI charges and received deferred adjudication.
Marc Whyte, the current councilman for District 10, saw the same punishment in 2024 after authorities said he was driving drunk on the north side and taken into custody. He took a plea deal last November in which he agreed to taking DWI classes and complete community service.
Meza Gonzalez won her election to the District 8 seat in June, taking over for Manny Pelaez in representing a slice of northwest San Antonio.