Mayor Ron Nirenberg has decided to lift the three-month suspension of Councilman Marc Whyte, who was arrested for driving while intoxicated. Whyte will now be able to resume his work on various City Council committees.
Mayor Ron Nirenberg is letting Councilman Marc Whyte return to his City Council committee assignments, ending a three-month suspension that followed Whyte’s arrest on a charge of driving while intoxicated.
In a memo sent Friday to the city’s 10 council members, Nirenberg didn’t say why he decided to let Whyte resume his work on the Public Safety, Audit and Economic and Workforce Development committees. In January, Nirenberg said Whyte was suspended “until further notice or until more details of the incident are known.' 'I removed Councilmember Whyte from Committee work to demonstrate that we take drinking and driving seriously,' Nirenberg said in a statement to the Express-News. “Councilmember Whyte’s case is working its way through the courts, and I appreciate that he has since been transparent and committed to reconciling his behavior with what we should expect from a member of the Council going forward.' Whyte, who represents District 10 on the Northeast Side, said he plans to attend Tuesday's Public Safety Committee meeting in City Hall. The punishment restricted Whyte's ability to shape city policy, which usually winds through City Council committees before going to the full council for approval. 'While my work for District 10 in promoting public safety, economic prosperity and government transparency never stopped, I’m happy that my formal duties as a member of the public safety, economic development and audit committees have now resumed,' he said in a text message. 'I’ll continue to work tirelessly for District 10 and the City of San Antonio to make sure we are the best city we can be.” In January, City Council censured him for his actions the night of Dec. 29, a symbolic reprimand. The resolution, which passed 10-0, states that Whyte’s actions and pending DWI charge have “negatively impacted his and the City Council’s ability to conduct its business.” In his comments to council ahead of the vote, Whyte characterized his censure as a broader statement against drinking and driving, downplaying his own DWI arrest. Whyte's predecessor in District 10, Clayton Perry, also was stripped of committee assignments after he drunkenly drove his Jeep Rubicon into a Honda Civic and fled the scene in November 2022. But Nirenberg opted to never reinstate Perry in the final six months that he served on City Council. Perry, a three-term incumbent, decided in February last year not to run for re-election. He was handed one-year of probation in April as part of a plea deal. He was also ordered to pay $500 and perform 24 hours of community service. Former District 1 Councilman Mario Bravo was stripped of his assignments for less than three months in 2022 after an verbal outburst involving then-Councilwoman Ana Sandoval. When he returned to his committee work, Bravo was placed on committees separate from Sandoval, who was his former romantic partner. READ MORE: Officer: Council Member Marc Whyte asked to speak to police chief after DWI arrest Whyte's case In late February, the Texas Department of Public Safety reported that Whyte's blood alcohol concentration was 0.089 grams of alcohol per 100 milliliters of blood. DWI is defined in the Texas Penal Code as driving with a BAC of 0.08 or higher. It’s a Class B misdemeanor, punishable by up to 180 days in jail. DPS suspended Whyte’s license after his arrest. He appealed to the state Office of Administrative Hearings, but presiding Administrative Law Judge Melissa Ricard ruled last month that DPS could suspend Whyte’s license for 180 days. A six-month suspension is the standard for someone who, like Whyte, refused to take a breath test or have their blood drawn voluntarily for a blood alcohol analysis. Whyte, 43, was issued an occupational license, so he is able to continue driving to council-related activities. Devin McCroy, an officer with the San Antonio Police Department’s DWI unit, pulled over the Northeast Side council member just after 11 p.m. on Dec. 29. In a police affidavit, the officer said he’d observed Whyte speeding and changing lanes without signaling on a Northeast Loop 410 frontage road near San Antonio International Airport. McCroy said in a recent hearing on the status of Whyte's driver's license that Whyte asked to speak with the city's police chief the night of his arrest. Whyte said he didn't recall making that request. The suspension is an administrative action separate from the criminal DWI charge Whyte is facing. Whyte is slated to make his first court appearance in that case May 14.
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