SAN ANTONIO – Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones and a city committee flipped on a no-action recommendation from staff to track heat-related deaths in San Antonio, approving the policy for a future Community Health committee meeting.
The Governance Committee met on Wednesday to consider a slew of Council Consideration Requests (CCR), including the heat death tracking measure.
What does the CCR request?
District 2 Councilman Jalen McKee-Rodriguez and District 5’s Teri Castillo jointly filed the CCR on April 16, which requested the following items:
- Explore best practices for tracking heat-related deaths in the city, collaborating with the Bexar County Medical Examiner’s Office, city and county public safety departments, and local hospitals
- Create a tracker for heat-related deaths
- Create and implement an Urban Heat Island (UHI) Mitigation and Adaptation Plan
Castillo said the CCR was filed in conjunction with the Southwest Workers Union (SWU) and community members working with those experiencing homelessness.
SWU sent a letter to the Governance Committee ahead of the Wednesday meeting, urging them to approve the CCR…