San Antonio Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones hires Ball for communications team
san antonio mayor Gina Ortiz Jones hired realtor MarkAnthony Ball to join her communications team, and Ball said his work will focus on how the mayor’s office communicates with residents, partners, and the broader public. He revealed the move Monday on LinkedIn, adding that he sees the role as a convergence of what he has been building toward.
Ball is a U.S. Army veteran with 10,000 followers on Instagram and nearly 5,000 on TikTok. His LinkedIn post did not spell out prior local government or corporate communications experience, leaving the hire rooted in public-facing work rather than a resume built around City Hall.
Jones office staffing changes
The hiring comes after Jones’ office lost the mayor’s chief of staff and deputy chief of staff within a week of one another last month. Before those departures, seven aides had already left positions in her office since she was elected last summer. Ball’s addition gives Jones another voice as she tries to steady how the office speaks to residents and council colleagues.
The timing is notable because Jones has also faced public criticism tied to a dispute with District 7 Councilwoman Marina Alderete Gavito. Jones accused Gavito’s chief of staff of leaking information about the mayor’s security detail to the press, and the attorney for Gavito’s chief of staff called that action character assassination. Gavito called on the mayor to stop manufacturing conflicts that serve no public purpose.
Gina Ortiz Jones and Ball
Jones has also been under scrutiny for a separate episode involving Game 6 of the NBA Western Conference Finals. Cameras captured her attending after interim chief of staff Andrew Fuentes said she had declined an offer for free Spurs tickets, and the mayor’s office has not disclosed how she obtained the tickets.
Ball’s arrival gives Jones a communications aide with a sizable social media audience, but it does not answer the larger operational question now facing her office: whether a new hire can repair trust while departures, disputes, and council fights continue. Jones still faces the task of winning council support for a San Antonio Water System rate hike, and Ball’s role will be tested in how the office presents that case to residents and elected colleagues.
