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Mayor Johnny Rodriguez Jr., left, addresses a question from council member Juan M. Lecea Jr., right, during a Balcones Heights City Council meeting on Monday evening, March 24, 2025.<\/p>\n
Sam Owens\/San Antonio Express-News<\/p>\n
Mayor Johnny Rodriguez Jr. applauds the pinning of two new police officers during a city council meeting at Balcones Heights City Hall on Monday evening, March 24, 2025.<\/p>\n
Sam Owens\/San Antonio Express-News<\/p>\n
In Balcones Heights, it\u2019s Mayor Johnny Rodriguez\u00a0Jr. against the city government he was elected to lead.<\/p>\n
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Rodriguez portrays himself as a good-government reformer and an underdog. But many others inside city hall see him as an intolerant blusterer and an out-of-control micromanager.<\/p>\n
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In March, the City Council hired a law firm to investigate a slew of workplace complaints against Rodriguez, which accused him of bullying, threatening and demeaning city employees. They also voted 3-1 to bar Rodriguez from parts of Balcones Height\u2019s administrative offices and restricted his contact with city employees while the investigation played out.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Austin-based law firm released a report in June that detailed some of the mayor\u2019s heated interactions with city employees since he was elected in 2024. Rodriguez allegedly used the\u00a0N-word \u201cnumerous times\u201d during a meeting with city staffers, said he was disgusted by the \u201clifestyle\u201d of an employee he believed was LGBTQ+ and called city workers \u201crats\u201d in a voicemail, according to the\u00a035-page report<\/a>.<\/p>\n More broadly, the report portrays Rodriguez as creating a culture of fear inside city government. He allegedly publicly berated employees and threatened to fire those who spoke out against him\u00a0\u2014 even though under Balcones Heights’ system of government the mayor can\u2019t dismiss municipal workers or department heads.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Mayor has created a culture that it is his way, or you will not be here anymore, making everyone fear for their position,\u201d the report states.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n But the turmoil, which has been building for months, didn\u2019t derail Rodriguez\u2019s bid for reelection. No one ran against him in the May city election, and he returned to office with 54 votes.\u00a0<\/p>\n Balcones Heights is smaller than many San Antonio subdivisions. It\u2019s a city of 3,000 people encompassing 0.7 square miles, a island in San Antonio\u2019s Northwest Side.<\/p>\n ALSO READ: UTSA poll: San Antonians split over Mayor Jones\u2019 job performance<\/a><\/p>\n Its mayor and City Council members don\u2019t draw city salaries\u00a0\u2014 they\u2019re volunteers. And the city administrator is responsible for managing city operations, which are sparse. The police and fire departments have fewer than 30 employees combined.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n While most of Rodriguez\u2019s first term was punctuated by\u00a0clashes with council members and the police department over officers’ collective bargaining rights and the city\u2019s financial woes<\/a>, the past four months have seen the fighting\u00a0intensify, with both sides lawyering up.\u00a0<\/p>\n City employees filed 20 complaints concerning Rodriguez\u2019s conduct between September 2024 and March 2026, court documents show.<\/p>\n After City Council launched the investigation and sought to rein in the mayor, Rodriguez\u00a0\u2014 who works as a private investigator\u00a0\u2014 sued the city in federal court in San Antonio, claiming his colleagues were retaliating against him for trying to investigate how four devices that police use to write and print traffic tickets had gone missing. He named several City Council members and city officials in the lawsuit.<\/p>\n Rodriguez accused the council of using \u201cvoid ordinances, physical lockouts, arrest threats, a communication ban, an unauthorized investigation with an extrajudicial gag order to achieve through raw power what they cannot accomplish through law or democracy.\u201d<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n A federal judge in July denied his request to strike the council\u2019s restrictions on him while the lawsuit plays out.\u00a0<\/p>\n ALSO READ:\u00a0County\u2019s lone Republican commissioner walks out mid-meeting after jail dispute boils over<\/a><\/p>\n But the city lifted them when it released the investigation report last month. Still, Rodriguez said he\u2019s not pulling his lawsuit.<\/p>\n \u201cThis case is not about personality or political disagreement,\u201d he said in a statement. \u201cIt is about a simple question: Can a city council use local ordinances, resolutions, and administrative actions to take away powers the Texas Legislature has given the Mayor? I believe the law says no.\u201d<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n The investigation<\/p>\n On June 22, the council voted to release the report by Lloyd\u00a0Gosselink Rochelle & Townsend, the firm that the city hired at a rate of $350 an hour to investigate workers’ complaints against Rodriguez.<\/p>\n The report details \u201cinappropriate and discriminatory comments\u201d that Rodriguez made\u00a0\u2014 outlined in nine sections with titles that range from \u201cracial slurs\u201d to \u201csexual orientation comments\u201d to \u201cglorified landscaper comment.\u201d<\/p>\n Two employees accused Rodriguez of using the N-word \u201cnumerous times\u201d in a meeting, where the mayor allegedly explained that during his work as a private investigator, he would change \u201chis dialect and tone to be more personable and get more information\u201d when he was working in Black neighborhoods.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n In another meeting, Rodriguez allegedly called an employee a \u201cglorified landscaper,\u201d a comment he said \u201cfelt derogatory.\u201d Another worker said the comment made him \u201cfeel judged because of how he was viewed with his skin,\u201d according to the report.<\/p>\n Investigators also obtained a voicemail where a man they identified as Rodriguez calls some city employees \u201crats.\u201d<\/p>\n ALSO READ:\u00a0San Antonio dealership sued after Mustang buyer dies from carbon monoxide poisoning<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cThe rats are starting to run the ship, man\u00a0\u2014 they\u2019re taking off, which is good. That means we\u2019re making progress,\u201d he said, as quoted in the report. \u201cSo there might be light at the end of the tunnel for you.\u201d<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n It\u2019s unclear to whom he was speaking. The voicemail was meant for a former employee in the communications department, but investigators said Rodriguez appeared to have been talking to someone else, thinking he hung up the phone.<\/p>\n Much of the report centers on a September 2024 encounter between Rodriguez and then-police chief John Jahanara. Video and audio captured the mayor raising his voice, calling Jahanara disrespectful and insubordinate, saying his \u201cdays are numbered\u201d and threatening his job, according to investigators.<\/p>\n Jahanara and five other employees filed complaints to the city about the incident. Nearly two years later, only one of them still works for\u00a0Balcones Heights, according to the report.<\/p>\n Separately, Zach Baldwin, a former fire captain, told investigators that Rodriguez pulled him out of the council chambers before a September meeting when he was planning on speaking on behalf of the fire department. Rodriguez allegedly directed him to \u201cremind his guys that they are at-will employees, and if they say something he doesn\u2019t like, they are at-will.\u201d<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Baldwin told the firefighters at the meeting that Rodriguez had threatened their jobs, and that they should know that before they decided whether to address the council. None chose to speak.<\/p>\n One employee said, \u201cThe Mayor can come across as very charming, but then gets angry and starts accusing people of incompetency when he does not get his way.\u201d Another accused him of \u201cbullying and intimidating people.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cEmployees described the Mayor publicly berating employees and department heads, yelling at staff, making derogatory comments about employees’ competence or value, confronting employees in an aggressive manner, and inserting himself into operational and personnel matters in ways employees perceived as threatening or coercive,\u201d the report said.<\/p>\n The lawyers interviewed 15 people as part of their investigation, which took one month. Rodriguez declined to speak with the investigators.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n SUBSCRIBE:\u00a0For unlimited digital access and a paywall-free experience, purchase a digital subscription<\/a><\/p>\n Rodriguez said he thinks the employees’ complaints were \u201cused to justify restrictions on powers that state law grants to the office of the Mayor.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI fully recognize that my insistence on accountability has not made me popular with everyone at City Hall, but personal disagreements are not legal grounds to strip an elected mayor of statutory authority,\u201d he said.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Rodriguez has urged the city of Balcones Heights to move quickly to slash spending as it grapples with financial distress. In 2021,\u00a0the city made an unorthodox $5.4 million investment in the Wonderland of the Americas mall<\/a>, leaving it with $400,000 in annual debt payments and little revenue from the shopping center in return.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n The city is entering the upcoming budget season $160,000 in the red\u00a0\u2014 a substantial shortfall for a city with a budget of less than $10 million.<\/p>\n Brandon J. Grable, Rodriguez\u2019s attorney, said the mayor would not \u201crespond point by point to a redacted report,\u201d but he \u201cdisputes this report\u2019s characterizations.\u201d<\/p>\n Not the entire council was convinced by the law firm\u2019s findings. Councilwoman Molly Weaver called the findings \u201chearsay.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThere was no proof of anything that went wrong. It was just assumptions. It was just somebody venting about the mayor,\u201d Weaver said during the June 22 council meeting. \u201cI\u2019m sorry to say this. He has done nothing bad, other than maybe he doesn\u2019t approach the people like, ‘Would you please do this?’ He tells them, ‘I need to get it done.’\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n ‘Not my first rodeo’<\/p>\n Most people driving through Balcones Heights wouldn\u2019t notice that they\u2019re entering a city with its own government and police department. On one side of Fredericksburg Road is the Wonderland of the Americas mall and a massive Target. The other side has a Jim\u2019s Restaurant,\u00a0Luby\u2019s, city hall and a neighborhood of modest homes.<\/p>\n Balcones Heights was established as\u00a0a city because residents wanted control of the area\u2019s zoning laws in the 1940s, so they voted to incorporate before San Antonio could gobble up the community\u00a0through annexation. Other suburban cities in Bexar County, such as Olmos Park and Alamo Heights, took the same step for the same reason.\u00a0<\/p>\n Rodriguez first served as mayor from 2001 to 2004. He was elected again in 2024 by a just one vote.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n He publicly butted heads with the police department last year when he put a measure on the ballot to strip the police union of its right to negotiate an employment contract with the city. The measure lost by 21 votes.\u00a0<\/p>\n Rodriguez lashed out against City Council members when they voted to restrict his powers during the investigation.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is not my first rodeo,\u201d Rodriguez said during the March meeting. \u201cAnd this is not the first time I\u2019ve had aggression and all the ugly things.\u201d<\/p>\n When Rodriguez served as mayor in the early 2000s, Balcones Heights’ police chief wanted the Texas Rangers to investigate grievances against Rodriguez that involved \u201cgeneral impropriety to infliction of emotional stress on city employees that was so severe several employees took anxiety medication,\u201d the San Antonio Express-News reported at the time.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n The Rangers declined to look into it, noting that the grievances weren\u2019t allegations of a crime. Rodriguez struck a similar tone back then.<\/p>\n BREAKING NEWS:\u00a0News travels fast. Keep up with breaking email alerts<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cThis proves all along what I\u2019ve said, that these are actions of a personal vendetta (against the mayor) and have nothing to do with city business,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Going to court<\/p>\n Much of the drama\u00a0\u2014 and the lawsuit that followed\u00a0\u2014 came from the restrictions the council imposed in Rodriguez during the investigation.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n He was limited to public areas of the Balcones Heights Justice Center; his parking lot key fob was deactivated; he could only work from the mayor\u2019s office at Wonderland of the Americas; and he had to leave the Justice Center no later than 30 minutes after City Council meetings. The resolution also barred him from communicating directly \u00a0\u2014 by email, phone or face-to-face \u2014 with city staff.<\/p>\n \u201cYou restricted me completely of my entire powers and duties as the mayor of this city in which you are violating the will of the people,\u201d he said in March.<\/p>\n In his federal lawsuit, Rodriguez claimed the complaints against him only started to roll in when he confronted the police chief, Roger Cavazos, about $12,000 worth of devices that police officers use to write traffic tickets that had gone missing. He said the ensuing investigation and restrictions on what he could and couldn\u2019t do as mayor constituted retaliation.<\/p>\n He named in the lawsuit the city of\u00a0Balcones Heights, all five City Council members at the time, the city administrator, the city attorney, the police chief and the assistant police chief. (He later removed Tracy Ebersole and Weaver from the lawsuit, two council members who have often voted with the mayor, as well as the assistant police chief.)<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n In its response, the city argued that investigating a mayor who workers have complained about is routine, and the restrictions were only intended to keep him away from the complainants during the investigation.<\/p>\n