Alter grills mayor on commission appointee

City Council’s approval of Mayor Steve Adler’s appointment of Yvette Flores to the Planning Commission last week became a rather testy conversation when Council Member Alison Alter asked Adler whether Flores was his own personal appointment to the commission. The commission has 13 voting members, and there are only 11 members on Council. As mayor, Adler has three appointments. Besides Flores, Adler has appointed Angela De Hoyos Hart and James Shieh. “Is this your personal appointment of the 11th member, or is it the appointment of the 12th or 13th member?” Alter asked. Adler told her that Flores was replacing Stephen Oliver, who recently resigned. When Alter pressed him on whether Flores, who has served on the Zoning and Platting Commission the past three years, was his personal appointee, Adler told her he did not have an answer to that question. Alter concluded that they would have to have a longer conversation about appointments when the appointment of the 12th and 13th members comes up. Although that conversation took place before 11 a.m. on Thursday, Council did not get around to approving the appointment list until 11 p.m. Flores is a strategic research analyst in the Strategic Planning Division of the Texas Department of Transportation. She has a background in transportation planning and a master’s degree in community and regional planning from the University of Texas at Austin. Oliver was one of the architects named when attorney Fred Lewis accused the city of having too many development-related Planning Commission members. In addition, Lewis and several others sent a letter to the district attorney last year urging that office to take action on the matter. However, the district attorney handles criminal matters, but usually not civil complaints, and the matter was referred to the Texas Attorney General’s Office.