Hello everyone! Council is back from summer vacation and gearing up for their first meeting on Tuesday. [Edit: First meeting is actually tomorrow, on Monday.] In the meantime, this is an organizational timeline post of Fall 23-Spring 24. So a little dull? Next week we’ll be back to normal.
Some notes:
1. As far as I can tell, Council hasn’t posted meeting minutes in two years, since May 2022. What’s up with that?!
2. Election season is ramping up! There are three positions up for election:
Mayor: Jane Hughson is the current mayor, running for re-election for her fourth term. She’s got one candidate running against her so far, a guy named Bill Miller. I don’t know anything about him yet, except that I’m pretty sure he’s not the barbecue restaurant Bill Miller.)
Seat 5: Mark Gleason has decided not to run again. So this is an open seat. So far, Griffen Spell has filed to run.
Seat 6: Jude Prather has also decided not to run again! Another open seat. Maraya Dunn has filed to run.
The last day for candidates to register is Monday, August 19th, so there’s plenty of time for anyone mulling it over. I’ll be covering the debates and other election-related shenanigans here.
One last thing: never forget that San Marcos city council elections are problematic! We structure things in an especially crappy way.
…
Onto the yearly recap!
August 2023
- CBDG money is awarded out.
- City curfew officially killed dead, by state regulations
- New zoning: “Business Park”
- Contaminants from old dry cleaners on S. Guadalupe Street
- Interlocal Transit agreement with Texas State to share busses
September 2023
- Tax rate and budget debate, part 1
- Full implementation of Trap/Neuter/Release for cats (ending the five day hold)
- Tax rate debate and final vote on the budget
- The gutted version of VisionSMTX comes up for a the first reading
- San Marcos sells Edwards Aquifer water to Kyle
- Updates to the Land Development Code; Matthew Mendoza reopens the fight to limit housing to two unrelated people.
- SPMD body cams
- First mention of a can ban.
October 2023
- Airport zonings to prevent tall buildings around flightpaths
- Land Development Code updates: keeping occupancy restrictions at 3 people instead of 2 barely squeaks by.
- For: Shane Scott, Alyssa Garza, Jude Prather, Mark Gleason
- Against: Jane Hughson, Matthew Mendoza, Saul Gonzales
- Lindsay Street Apartments floated for the first time.
- First mention of CM Allen parks debate
- Biden Bus lawsuit settled
- First vote on VisionSMTX++
- Downtown area plan heats up with the CM Allen district debate – should we expand the parks towards downtown?
- Candidate debates summary
November 2023
- Little retirement village out on 123 and Wonderworld
- VisionSMTX++ gets postponed. (Still has not come up for a final vote.)
- Downtown Plan: controversial CM Allen part gets carved off, noncotroversial part is passed.
- Police get BolaWraps
- Program to give vacant buildings a facelift
- Workshop on tourism and overuse of the river
- Purgatory Creek Flood Control project
- Reduction of LIHTC housing requirements from 25% to 15%
- Compensation study for city staff
December 2023
- Human Services Advisory Board (HSAB) money is allocated to out to local nonprofits
- Can Ban discussion
- Flood mitigation projects
- Human Services Advisory Board (HSAB) funding policy
January 2024
- Gateway signs
- Decision to have a community feedback survey for VisionSMTX++
- Hammering out details of the can ban
- parking fees updated
- Updating short-term rental rules
- My cheatsheet for the VisionSMTX++ survey
February 2024
- New gas station near the high school
- First vote on can ban in river parks
- PDDs are being brought back
- Dunbar/Heritage area plans get split into separate plans
- LIHTC project in Blanco Gardens
- First vote on Buccee’s
- Final vote on the can ban
March 2024
- Final vote on Buccee’s
- P&Z partially approves Lindsey Street apartments
- Annexing Quail Creek
- Fake-low income housing by the high school
- Lindsey street apartments get major conversation, but no votes
- Discussion on new Short Term Rental regulations
April 2024
- Citizen comments on resolution for Gaza ceasefire starts ramping up
- Five hours of discussion on Lindsay Street Apartments, and some of the votes
- New drought stages are proposed
- New short-term rental regulations approved
- New drought stages approved
- Another 3 hours of Lindsay Street Apartment discussions, and eventual approval
May 2024
- Extensive citizen comments on killing of Malachi Williams and Gaza ceasefire resolution
- Selling water to Kyle again, until ARWA water comes online
- Speed cushions in Blanco Gardens
- Larger region for scooter rentals
- Two more LIHTC projects
- Chapter 380 agreement for Project Snapdragon
- Clean up after May 9th storm
- Our budget is not doing well
June 2024
- Large number of speakers on Malachi Williams and the ceasefire resolution again
- CBDG grants, first reading
July 2024
- Citizen comment focuses on Malachi Williams, including a response from the city manager
- One more LIHTC project
- SMART/Axis is coming back around, somewhat
- Council has discussion on whether there are too many LIHTC projects now.
- Presentation on the path forward for a new city hall building
The San Marxist 
Hello!
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I did not realize replying to your email made a comment…Anyway, the meeting is Monday, August 5th, tomorrow. Not Tuesday.
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Oh thanks! I didn’t realize the meeting was tomorrow – I’ll update my post and social media. Thanks for filling me in!
(Also I didn’t realize that replying to the auto-emails automatically created a comment! that’s wordpress doing its own thing.)
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