The San Marcos 2018 State Of The City Address

“One of our greatest achievements this past year was the hiring of our permanent city manager, Bert Lumbreras,” Thomaides said.

Local business leaders, educators and elected officials joined the San Marcos Chamber of Commerce on Thursday, March 29, for the second annual State of the City.

The luncheon was held at the San Marcos Conference Center and featured speeches by the Mayor of San Marcos, John Thomaides, and Michael Cardona, the superintendent of San Marcos Consolidated Independent School District.

In his speech, Mayor Thomaides highlighted the city’s “greatest” achievements this year and discussed the five efforts he and his colleagues on the San Marcos City Council were focused on.

“One of our greatest achievements this past year was the hiring of our permanent city manager, Bert Lumbreras,” Thomaides said. “Mr. Lumbreras brings almost 36 years of experience in city management and almost 10 years as an assistant city manager in our northern suburb Austin.”

He went on to talk about “strategic initiatives,” which include expansion of public transit, workforce housing options, expanding community partnerships, improving city facilities and stormwater management.

In the 2010 U.S. Census, the population of San Marcos was 44,894. According to the American Community Survey, in 2015, it was estimated to have grown to 60,050 and, as of July 1, 2016, it was estimated to be to 61,980.

Thomaides said at the current rate of anticipated growth, “We project the population will eclipse 85,000 sometime in the next decade. Hays County is expected to grow by 70 percent to about 310,000 residents during that time.”

In 2016, Hays County’s population was estimated to be 204,470.

According to Thomaides, the council has made increasing the availability of more diverse and affordable housing in San Marcos with workforce housing a priority and has added more than 1,000 single-family homes in local housing developments.

Currently, City Council members are working to increase the city’s inventory of workforce housing by continuing to partner with organizations such as Habitat for Humanity.

The workforce housing initiative includes goals such as raising wages, creating new opportunities and the passage of the city’s new land development code, Code SMTX, and professional partnerships.

In March 2018, the City of San Marcos released the draft of their Transportation Master Plan as part of the city’s second strategic initiative. Council will look to pass the updated plan, “which will guide (San Marcos’s) street and road development for the next 30 years,” later this year.

Thomaides said the initiative would also look to expand bus routes; recently, the city and Texas State University issued a joint proposal on a local car and bike share program for San Marcos.

Thomaides also discussed the bond election passed in May 2017 and the improvements it will allow the city to make to city facilities. He discussed plans to improve the city’s stormwater management with HUD Disaster Funds and the expansion and coordination of community partnerships with local entities like SMCISD and Texas State University.

“Because of our unique attributes and location, San Marcos represents the true heart of the Texas Corridor,” Thomaides said. “We are blessed to have such a vital partner (Texas State University) working with us to make San Marcos a stronger, more economically diverse, community and hometown where people can achieve their dreams, build a business, raise their family and live a full, active lifestyle.”

But along with the city’s goals for the future, Mayor Thomaides acknowledged the community’s loss. In December 2017, the community was met with tragedy when it lost its first officer in the line of duty. Officer Ken Copeland was shot while serving a warrant.

“We have a community that wholeheartedly supports our police, fire and emergency responders,” Thomaides said. “As a community, we suffered a great loss this past year. This year more than ever we acknowledge and respect the sacrifice our first responders make to keep each of us and our families safe.”

In the State of the District address, Cardona recognized the board of trustees, who approved a $2 an hour raise for all non-teachers. Teachers also received a salary and benefit increase; those with a starting salary of $48,500 saw a $1,500 salary increase.

 Cardona discussed the importance of making sure SMCISD’s students were college, career or military ready.

According to the district’s 2016-2017 Texas Academic Performance Report, 74.7 percent of high school 2015-16 graduates were considered college and career ready.

“Education is the stop gap; it is what makes the city better, what makes the region better,” Cardona said. “If we don’t prepare our kids to be ready to do what it is that they want to do, the city will suffer. Everything is affected by what happens in the public-school system.”

Cardona also spoke about the community in San Marcos and the standard response protocol schools did after the school shooting in Parkland, Florida.

“When you come into one of our schools to mess with one of our kids, you don’t mess with just the city; you mess with the county,” said Cardona. “You mess with DPS; you mess with Fire Department. They all come. When we go through training, it’s not just one officer coming in to give us advice; it’s forty.”