TSM Official Take on City Council Candidates, Fall ’25

This is an off-year election.  Local elections can get decided by twelve votes, or fifteen votes, or even five votes.

Your vote will never make a bigger difference! Go vote!

Full list of polling places and hours here. (Via the League of Women Voters.)

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Here’s the outline:

1. Super Quick Version: my endorsements and charter recommendations
2. Summary table of candidate answers to my survey questions
3. Longer opinions on each candidate
4. Full candidate responses to survey.
5. Full explanation of charter amendments
6. External sources

Let’s dive in!

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The Super Quick Version:

My endorsements for Council:

Place 1:  Chase Norris

Place 2:  Um. Argh. I have reservations about every candidate.
I will probably vote for Saul Gonzales, because of Cape’s Dam.

Charter amendments: there are 12.

All of them besides Prop C:  minor and straightforward. Vote in favor.

Proposition C: Should the Mayor’s term be four years long, instead of two?  
I don’t have a strong opinion.  I will probably vote against this.  Do whatever you want.

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Summary Table of Survey Questions

I emailed all the candidates with these six questions:

1. Property Tax Rate: If you’d been on council last month, and could pick any property tax rate, what number would you have picked?  (Background. )
2. Data Center:  It seems likely that the data center could come back around in the next six months.  Would you vote in favor of it or against it?  (My write-up)
3. Cape’s Dam: Cape’s Dam will definitely come up in the next six months.  Would you vote to remove and rebuild the dam, or just remove it?  (My write-up)
4. Housing Density:  If you were amending the Land Development Code, what is the maximum number of units that you’d allow on a lot in an established neighborhood?
5. Flock Cameras: If Chief Standridge applies for another Flock Cameras grant, would you vote in favor of it? Would you vote to remove existing Flock cameras? (My write-up)
6. Networking: which organizations (nonprofits, businesses, governmental, commissions, etc) in San Marcos have you collaborated with or worked for? 

And here is the summary table of their answers!

If the chart is hard to read, click here.

Full-length questions and everyone’s full answers, below. Keep scrolling.

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My Opinions of Candidates

Place 1

Matthew Mendoza:  First elected in 2022.  He mostly focuses on home-owners in old, established neighborhoods.  Kissing Tree – ie wealthy senior citizens – has endorsed him.   He voted against a responsible budget in September. Also he likes SMPD a lot. We tend to disagree.

Chase Norris: He is running as a progressive challenger to Matthew Mendoza.  He has a lot of experience in city planning and municipal government. Seems to give answers that I mostly agree with.

Place 2

Saul Gonzales:  First elected to Council in 2016.  Voted against a responsible budget in September.  Generally quiet, but sometimes speaks up to ask how much something will cost. Generally votes in a cautious manner.

Barbara Montana-Escobar:  I’m going off vibes here, but here’s my take on Barbara – I think she gets stuff done.  I think she works with everybody, talks to everybody, and is very practical about solving problems. That said, I think she’s much more centrist than I am. Possibly center-right.

Brandon Oles: Very, very conservative.  He has ideas like “dissolve SMCISD and absorb into Hays or New Braunfels.” Does not seem to know San Marcos well.

Josh Paselk:  He is the darling of the business community.  Kissing Tree has endorsed him.   Lots of talk about “balancing the budget”. I am not convinced that he would vote to protect vulnerable community members or the environment and river.

Chris Polanco: Honestly, probably aligns with me better than any other candidate, politically. But he is very new to politics.  He is running as a working class representative who can be a voice for the poor and disabled communities.  He seems like a bright guy, and I encourage him to join a board or commission and keep going.

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Full Survey Questionnaire and Candidate Responses

Here is the full text that I emailed to all candidates:

And here’s everyone’s full answers

Place 1:

Matthew Mendoza

Chase Norris

Place 2

Saul Gonzales

Barbara Montana-Escobar

Brandon Oles

Josh Paselk – Josh did confirm that he received the survey, but he did not submit answers at time of publication

Chris Polanco

If any of those are hard to read, you can find their answers at these links:
Place 1: Matthew Mendoza, Chase Norris
Place 2: Saul Gonzales, Barbara Montana-Escobar, Brandon Oles, Chris Polanco

Charter Amendments

Official language here.

Prop	Topic	My recommendation
A	Fix pronouns in Charter	Yes
B	Public notices online	Yes
C	Two year vs Four year terms for Mayor	No strong opinion. I’ll probably go with two. (ie, I’ll vote against it.)
D	Minimum number of council meetings should be at least 20 per year.	Yes
E	Timely posting of council meeting minutes	Yes
F	Printed copies of ordinances for a modest fee.	Yes
G	Extend petition windows to 90 days	Yes
H	Extend verification window for a petition to 60 days	Yes
I	Review Comprehensive Plan at least every ten years (up from five years).	Yes. (Takes 3 years just to write the plan. They can still review it earlier if someone wants to.)
J	Move things around to more fitting sections in Charter	Yes
K	Use plain language when reasonable	Yes
L	Rename and relocate some policies in the Charter	Yes

Additional Resources

• KZSM interviews with Rob Roark (I’ll add the links as soon as I have them.)
• Community Impact: Place 1 and Place 2
• San Marcos Civics Club candidate questionnaire: Place 1 and Place 2
• Chamber of commerce questionnaire and videos
• San Marcos Daily Record: Brandon Oles, Chase Norris, Christopher Polanco, Josh Paselk, Matthew Mendoza, Barbara Montana-Escobar, Saul Gonzales.

Let me know if I’ve missed anything and I’ll add it in!