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SAN MARCOS CITY COUNCIL
The election isn’t over yet as one position on the San Marcos City Council is currently in the early voting phase of a runoff election. The candidates for San Marcos City Council Place 5 are Roland Saucedo and Lorenzo Gonzalez.
The Primrose Advocacy Council recently held a candidates forum at the Texas State University LBJ Student Center to allow Gonzalez and Saucedo to make their platforms known to the public.
The topic turned to law enforcement and Saucedo said he would like to increase sensitivity training and bolster mental health services.
“Working with the homeless, I had encountered several occasions where I had clients that had mental health issues that were falling on the borderline of maybe committing a criminal act. And unfortunately, not only the city of San Marcos but in Hays County, we have the most minimal mental health services,” Saucedo said, adding that the San Marcos Police Department does have a mental health team, but he’d like to see it improve.
“I don’t feel that they have enough training to deal with mental health situations. So these are the things that, if I was elected … I will be bringing forward in regard to our police department and the concerns that the citizens have.”
Gonzalez brought up the Houston Chronicle article that deemed Hays County Jail one of the most dangerous in Texas and said he doesn’t feel that people should be incarcerated there that have committed petty offenses. He also pointed to training and said it is the quality, not the quantity, that should be increased.
“I think we need to invest in training, but actual in person training with qualified subject matter experts to train our officers in cultural diversity, sensitivity, mental health, things like that,” Gonzalez said. “Also changing policies to expand things like sign and release for non violent offenses. Officers have the option to file charges at large. So if there’s a non violent offense, it is … financially feasible to not take an officer off the streets for an extended period of time to process an arrest when they can be cited. And if, ultimately, after an investigation, it is determined the person should be arrested, the charges could be filed at large. Even a misdemeanor has a oneyear statute of limitations. So essentially, any crime in the state of Texas can be filed at a later date, if that is the determination that needs to happen.”
The candidates were asked about the city of San Marcos’ relationship with Texas State University and how that could be improved. Gonzalez said that the university is buying developments, which removes them from the city’s tax roll.
“I honestly don’t know how we can stop that, but we definitely need to look into doing whatever it is we can as a municipality because it’s detrimental to the city. The city is funded by taxes. The more property the university absorbs and takes off the tax roll, the less there is for the city to be able to tax,” Gonzalez said. “I don’t know what that resolution is, but I’m committed to actively working to try to find that resolution.”
Saucedo said he agreed with many of the points made by Gonzalez. He added that he has seen an improvement in the relationship between locals and students, particularly with positive university programs like Bobcat Build — where students help to fix local homes.
“I think that more open dialog and communication between the university and the council and city staff might help to open those doors to be able to work in a more positive and successful future for the citizens of San Marcos as well as to benefit the students of the university,” Saucedo said. “The university has been here for a very long time and is an integral part of our community in regard to the students eating locally, shopping and spending their funds [in San Marcos].”
The candidates were asked what initiatives and improvements they would like to see in the city council. Saucedo said he would like to see the council agenda come out sooner.
“One thing that I did like that has come up — but is fairly difficult to control because it’s controlled by the Secretary of State Office — is the [earlier] release of the agenda to be able to give citizens adequate time to be prepared,” Saucedo said. “[The current rate of agenda release] doesn’t really give you time as a private citizen to be able to research and review and see how that agenda item is going to impact and affect the community at present and in the future.”
Gonzalez said he would like to see an increase in council availability and transparency.
“One of the tenants of my campaign has been transparency and availability of our government officials,” Gonzalez said. “I think the onus is on the city to let the community know what’s being heard and give … the citizens not only proper notice but an abundance of notice of the business happening before the city.”
One can cast their vote currently from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. today, from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday and from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m on Dec. 9 and 10 at the Hays County Elections Office, 120 Stagecoach Trail in San Marcos. Election Day voting will occur from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Dec. 14.
