San Marcos City Council Place 5 Candidates Attend First Debate Hosted By Four Rivers Association Of Realtors

“As far as the fires, I think they could have been prevented. I really believe so. We have no excuses to why those tragedies happened,” Dr. Marquez said.

By, Terra Rivers, Managing Editor

On Tuesday, September 25, the Four Rivers Association of Realtors partnered with the San Marcos Area Chamber of Commerce to host the first debate for candidates for San Marcos City Council at the activity center in San Marcos.

Ten individuals filed to run in the November 2018 Election; residents will vote for the Mayor and City Council places 4, 5 and 6.

Hays County Candidates were in attendance to give opening remarks before the debate began. However, two candidates were unable to attend: Omar Baca, Candidate for County Commissioner Precinct Four, and County Commissioner, Mark Jones.

In order to allow all City Council candidates to speak, Hays County candidates did not answer any questions during the debate.

City council candidates were asked 3 questions and given 90 seconds to respond. Place 5 candidate Mark Gleason did not attend the event due to a prior commitment with Planning and Zoning Commission.

Currently, Place 5 is held by Councilmember Scott Gregson, who announced he would not seek re-election.

City Council Place 5

• Rick Henderson
• Mark Gleason
• Jocabed Marquez

The Four Rivers Association of REALTORS® is a 501(c)6 non-profit membership organization established in 1960.  Its current configuration includes a merger that represents members from the former New Braunfels/Canyon Lake Association of REALTORS®, Seguin Board of REALTORS®, and San Marcos Area Board of REALTORS®.

The event was held from 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM. The annual debate allows members to meet the candidates for the upcoming November election.

Below are the questions and answers given to candidates of City Council Place 5.  

Place 4 Candidate Rick Henderson

Over the next several years, there’s gonna be plenty of opportunities for small business growth around where we’ve had residential developments, and I believe it is the responsibility of the city government, the responsibility of planning and zoning, and the responsibility of the council to not create barriers to small business growth and small business models that have gone through the processes, through planning, through planning and zoning and then find their way to council and find them nitpicked or added costly additions to a perfectly good business model.

Place 4 Candidate Dr. Marquez

So, I’ve spoken to several business owners in the downtown area and all of them tell me the same thing, which is businesses are closing in an alarming rate for the past two years. There’s been 24 businesses that have closed, and to me that’s very telling of what’s happening in the small business world.

Of course, I am not a business owner, but I have a stake in small businesses because there a lot of small businesses that are being bought out by larger businesses from Austin and from out of state and even from out of the country. So that is concerning to me as a citizen.

So we don’t have enough resources for small business owners. There’s often a lack of communication between our city council and business owners, especially for women business owners and minority business owners.

Place 4 Candidate Dr. Marquez

So, there is currently a task force to address affordability. Affordable housing and taskforce… There’s a taskforce to address workforce housing, which means that the three largest employers in San Marcos, which are Amazon, Texas State University, the Central Texas Medical Center, San Marcos CISD.

So, those are three major or four major employers. So workforce housing will be responsive to those workers that are here that come to our community but unfortunately who cannot afford to buy a home. And I’ve been in this community for six years and for five of those years, I could not afford to buy a home.

Simply because even though I have a masters degree, my husband has a masters degree, we simply can’t afford to buy a home in this town because of the rising costs. So the taskforce just recently met early in September to address these two issues. Workforce housing, which again will service all those that are employed by the four largest employers in San Marcos.

And affordable housing, which caters to those individuals that makes anywhere from 30,000 to 50,000 a year and again who cannot afford a $200,000 home here in San Marcos, which is the median average cost of a home. So they are not able to afford that, and that is what the task for was created to address those issues.

Place 4 Candidate Rick Henderson

I agree with the council’s recent proposal of setting aside economic development funds for workforce housing, and the workforce commission and the efforts they’re going to do.

But I think if you’re going to have a larger strategic vision, and you’re going to look at the future of San Marcos over the next generation is that alternatives need to be market-based, and we need to create avenues by which we can use undeveloped land within the city limits, and we can encourage developers, local home builders to build within the city limits which already has the appropriate infrastructure for lower cost homes.

Perhaps we could create incentives in such a way as to make the lots from the workforce housing development money lower priced for local home builders to use.

Brain storm with local builders and other state holders and make it a very local issue. But I’m very much a market-based oriented person, in that the laws of the of supply and demand are usually met by the community, by business owners, real estate developers and real estate agents who understand the market very well.

Place 4 Candidate Rick Henderson

What if I said, like what they all said? The only thing I would add is because of the fire my biggest concern on rental registration is, and I pretty much agree with Shane, this becomes a responsibility and the government needs to not be that involved in it.

Short terms rentals, I like short term rental registration. That way for police and fire protection you’ll know who is in rental units from one moment to the next.

The biggest issue that I have is that so many students will sublet not contractually, but you can stay at my apartment because I’m going to renew my lease next fall. So these are the sort of registration issues that I worry about, and I think the…of that should be on the landlord and the property management company.

Place 4 Candidate Dr. Marquez

First and foremost, I think we have to be responsive to the 72 percent of the population that rents, and I was one of those for five years. I rented because I couldn’t afford a home. I rented an apartment, and it was really difficult to get out of that lease because some stipulation kept me for five years there.

I mean I had to notify my landlord six months is advance that I had to vacate, and you don’t know what’s going to happen six months in advance, especially when you’re a student. You don’t know what’s gonna happen.

You don’t know if you’re gonna get a job. You don’t know what’s gonna happen, but I think we have to be responsive because the most vulnerable members of a population often are the renters.

Those we cannot afford a home. Those who don’t have the capital to afford their own homes, so I think that sometimes we are not responsive to the needs of people of low socioeconomic status, and I myself was that, was there. So I completely understand.

As far as the fires, I think they could have been prevented. I really believe so. We have no excuses to why those tragedies happened. I think we need to hold people accountable for their actions.