SAN MARCOS CITY COUNCIL CANDIDATES
Matthew Mendoza is running for his second term as the San Marcos City Council representative for Place 1. A San Marcos native, San Marcos High School graduate and resident of the Rio Vista neighborhood, his family has been based in the San Marcos area for eight generations.
“I come from a migrant family. I am a first generation non-migrant worker,” he said. “My family would travel back and forth, whether it was going to Ohio, Lubbock or Abilene, to literally pick the crops and get back home.”
Mendoza worked for 19 years in the IT industry, managing an international team for a global company. When he was first elected to the San Marcos City Council in 2022, he was working as a Planning and Zoning Commissioner, a role which he says gave him insight into the inner workings of city government.
MATTHEWMENDOZA
The current city council is one of the most wellrounded San Marcos has had in decades, Mendoza said, working together to promote issues important to both citizens and council members.
“So many years when I was growing up, we had too many groups in the city that were continuously fighting each other. … The people that are in office right wear their compassion on their sleeves. We know how to approach things, we know that working together is how we move forward.”
Another characteristic which differentiates the current council from previous years is their availability and public outreach efforts.
“We are actually out there more, boots on the ground, as grassroots individuals. We knock on doors. We go to forums, we are so much more involved with what the residents need than we have done before,” he said.
Mendoza singles out two projects, which he has championed during his time on the council as representative of his efforts to give voice to underserved San Marcos neighborhoods.
The completion of sidewalk repairs/new sidewalks and capital improvement projects in the Wallace Addition (Barrio Pescado) and Sunset Acres neighborhoods have been postponed for years, but Mendoza said he has been able to bring them to the attention of the current council.
“I’m very proud that I have been a champion to move those forward. And those projects are next on our list,” he said. Mendoza has been a member of the city’s Workforce Housing Committee since 2022.
He has also been a passionate supporter of Austin Community College HVAC classes in San Marcos , an initiative led by Mayor Jane Hughson. Classes started at the City Library and have expanded to a hands-on work area behind City Hall.
In addition to workforce training, Mendoza has focused on local businesses during his time on the council, allocating grants from the Minority Business Stabilization Fund (part the American Rescue Plan Act), distributing funds more than 60 local businesses.
This focus on supporting local San Marcos is part of Mendoza’s priority of maintaining the quality of life in San Marcos, which includes keeping down the cost of living, addressing the concerns of current residents and businesses as new corporations and subdivisions more to this area, and taking care of our natural beauty and resources.
Mendoza pushed hard to get the Single-Use Beverage Container Ban Ordinance passed in 2024. Patrons of parks along the San Marcos River are now only permitted to use only reusable drink containers.
“I’ve seen Rio Vista Park go from a family-friendly park where everybody in the city would come on Sunday afternoon to have a picnic, to one where residents in my neighborhood refused to go on the weekends because it is crowded with out-oftowners who do not respect the land that we have held sacred for generations.
“The leaders we need in office are people that are willing to protect the character that is our beautiful town at the same time realizing that we’re growing,” Mendoza said.
