Mayor Of San Antonio Jones hires MarkAnthony Ball for communications team
San Antonio mayor Gina Ortiz Jones hired realtor MarkAnthony Ball to join her communications team, adding a social media creator as her office faces staff turnover and public scrutiny. Ball said his role will focus on how the mayor's office communicates with residents, partners and the broader public.
Ball described the job on LinkedIn as one centered on “how the Mayor’s office communicates — with residents, with partners, and with the broader public.” He also wrote, “Stepping into this role feels less like a pivot and more like a convergence of everything I've been building toward.”
Ball's LinkedIn post
Ball is a U.S. Army veteran with 10,000 followers on Instagram and nearly 5,000 followers on TikTok. His LinkedIn post did not mention prior experience in local government or corporate communications.
The hire comes after Jones' office has been wracked by controversies and political dustups in recent weeks. Last month, the mayor's chief of staff and deputy chief of staff resigned within a week of one another, and seven aides had already left positions in Jones' office since she was elected last summer.
Jones' recent controversies
Jones accused District 7 Councilwoman Marina Alderete Gavito's chief of staff of leaking information about the mayor's security detail to the press. The attorney representing Gavito's chief of staff called Jones' attack “character assassination,” and Gavito called on the mayor to stop “manufacturing conflicts that serve no public purpose.”
Last week, cameras captured Jones attending Game 6 of the NBA Western Conference Finals after interim chief of staff Andrew Fuentes said the mayor had declined an offer for free Spurs tickets. Jones' office still had not disclosed how she obtained the tickets.
San Antonio Water System
Jones also faces an uphill battle in convincing council colleagues to support a San Antonio Water System rate hike. Ball's new post puts a communications specialist into an office that is already dealing with personnel losses, a dispute over the mayor's security detail and questions about how Jones handled the playoff tickets.
