City facilities closing to prevent coronavirus spread

The City of San Marcos will close its public facilities for two weeks following the Christmas holiday to prevent the spread of COVID-19, the city announced Tuesday. 

The city’s public facilities will be closed from Monday, Dec. 28 to Tuesday, Jan. 12 to keep COVID-19 cases low among city staff and the community. 

“As the COVID-19 public health emergency continues to impact San Marcos, the city is remaining vigilant in our efforts to keep our citizens and staff safe and healthy,” City Manager Bert Lumbreras said in a statement. “Throughout this year, positive cases have been at their highest following every holiday since COVID arrived, and we’ve seen this same trend after Thanksgiving and as we move into Christmas.”

The city will close the following buildings for the two-week period following the Christmas holiday: city Hall complex, the activity center, the animal shelter, Municipal Court, the public library, the Grant Harris Building, the San Marcos Tourist Information Center, the Discovery Center, and utility billing counters at the Municipal Building and the San Marcos Electric Utility office

City parks and green spaces, however, will remain open to the public. The city is encouraging patrons to practice social distancing and wear a mask when around others not in their households when visiting its parks and green spaces. 

Although the facilities will be closed, city staff will be available to help residents by phone and email during normal work hours. Emergency animal services are available by calling the San Marcos Police Department’s non-emergency line at 512-753-2108. 

Curbside service at the public library will continue from Monday-Saturday, 10 a.m.-6 p.m. and on Sunday from 1 p.m.-6 p.m. Patrons can place items on hold through the library catalog at www.sanmarcostx.gov/library, by email at smpl@sanmarcostx.gov or by calling 512-393-8200. The library’s lobby and computer lab services will close to the public beginning on Saturday. The city said the public may access wi-fi service from the library parking lot. 

The city said customers needing assistance with utility questions or payment arrangements may email utility_billing@sanmarcostx.gov, call 512-393-8383 or visit https://connect.sanmarcostx.gov/. Customers can visit the utility drive-thrus at the Municipal Building — 630 E. Hopkins — or the San Marcos Electric Utility office — 1040 State Highway 123 — 9 a.m.-4 p.m., Monday through Friday. 

“We’re in this together and we thank our community for their continued efforts to be safe throughout the holidays and to keep our case count and hospitalizations as low as possible,” Lumbreras said. “We’ll also be ready to welcome everyone back to our facilities on January 12.”