The San Marcos Consolidated ISD Board of Trustees will consider donating the Old Bonham campus to Centro Cultural Hispano de San Marcos.
The trustees will hold a public hearing Monday regarding the adoption of a resolution which would authorize the donation of the former campus located at 211 Lee Street to Centro, which it currently uses. The donation would include the property legally described as “Dan McKie #2 Addition, Block 3, Lot 1 and Lot 8, San Marcos, Hays County, Texas, with improvements consisting of a 12,795 square foot building.”
Following the public hearing, the board will convene in closed session for legal consultation and consideration regarding the proposed donation.
The board previously approved a motion to hold a public hearing regarding the donation during February’s regular meeting.
Trustee Kathy Hansen, who was the lone no-vote in February, brought up concerns that SMCISD wasn’t budgetarily ready to donate the property to Centro.
“I won’t vote because I don’t consider us budgetarily ready to give away an asset, especially when we’re going into the budget process over $6 million in the red,” Hansen said. “And we haven’t done anything else to the budget process, so I don’t see how we can approve even starting the process. I think we’re getting people’s hopes up without full information being provided to everybody.”
Board President Clementine Cantu said she would like the issue to be resolved, stating that she knows Centro couldn’t pay the district for the building.
“I feel that every time the topic having anything to do with El Centro, it brings the community out,” Cantu said. “I don’t think there’s anyone here that is opposed to Centro Cultural. I think that we’re all supportive of its role in our community and I would love for that issue to be resolved. I mean, they don’t have the funds to pay us for the property. I know I’ve heard big numbers when they talk about the value of the property. I’ve heard up to $3 million or something to that effect.”
But Cantu did say she was concerned that the district is beginning its budget process with a deficit.
“On one hand, we’re guardians of the taxpayers money,” Cantu added. “On the other hand, we want to cooperate with our community as much as we can because y’all do provide good services there and people have really enjoyed the availability of that center. But, we have to weigh, even if it’s valued at $3 million, that is a big amount to give away.”
The motion to have a public hearing to discuss the donation of the old Bonham Campus was approved by four yes votes, one no vote and an abstention from Trustee Margie Villalpando who is a founding member of Centro.
Following Monday’s closed session discussion, the trustees will reconvene in open session and take any necessary action.
In other business, the board will hold a discussion and take possible action regarding COVID-19 data and mitigating protocols.
During January’s regular meeting, the SMCISD Board of Trustees approved the continuation of its mask mandate, which would stretch until the beginning of spring break on Friday, March 11. The approved motion makes the mask mandate fall into the discretion of Superintendent Michael Cardona when the current time span ends.
The board voted to continue the mask mandate during a rise in COVID-19 cases, spurred by the Omicron variant. Coronavirus cases in Hays County have recently seen a rapid decline with 5,226 active cases on Feb. 9 to 886 on March 4. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Hays County has a low community spread level as of Friday.
The trustees will also hold a discussion and take possible action regarding the safety of Redwood/ Guadalupe County SMCISD families.
In an additional closed session discussion, the board will receive consultation with legal counsel regarding TEA review of Goodnight and Miller Middle Schools.
Monday’s board meeting takes place at San Marcos High School — 2601 Rattler Road — inside the Criminal Justice Classroom, beginning at 6 p.m. A live stream of Monday’s meeting is available at https://www.smcisd.net/Page/320.
