Community Partnership Committee brings together city, county and school district

One of the San Marcos City Council’s strategic goals began bearing fruit with the first meeting of the Community Partnership Committee. The committee, made up of Hays County Commissioners Debbie Gonzales Ingalsbe and Lon Shell, San Marcos Mayor John Thomaides, San Marcos council member Saul Gonzales and SMCISD trustees Clem Cantu and John McGlothlin, held its first meeting Friday morning at City Hall. San Marcos City Manager Bert Lumbreras led the meeting.

Earlier this year, the council had made a priority of strengthening the city’s relationships with the county and the school district to find areas of common interest and potentially to pool resources to resolve issues that affect all three entities.

“It’s exciting to have this first meeting,” Lumbreras said.

He noted that the city, county and school district already have strong relationships and work well together.

“I think it’s something we all should be proud of,” he said.

“I’m just so thankful that you all are here,” Thomaides told the other members. He said the city codified the importance of community partnerships for the first time, and the committee is an opportunity to strengthen cooperation among the three member entities.

“We’re all in this together,” he added.

Ingalsbe said that she was glad to be a part of the committee and is eager to strengthen the already positive relationships the county has with the city and SMCISD.

She also pointed out that cooperative efforts could help each of the three entities save money.

Shell said that he and Ingalsbe were both born and raised in San Marcos and went to San Marcos schools, so the chance to work in a partnership with the city and the district is an honor.

“It means a lot for us to be included,” he said.

Gonzales said that he had wanted to see something like the Community Partnership Committee come to life, and he has high hopes for the group.

“I’m excited,” he said. “I think good things are going to come out of this.”

The committee discussed the selection of a chair and vice chair and directed staff to make amendments to the proposed bylaws for the committee, but no formal votes were made.

Committee members decided that the city, county and school district will rotate hosting duties for the meetings, and that the representatives from the hosting entity will serve as chair and vice chair for that meeting.