Lumbreras reflects on first year, future

Last July, the city of San Marcos selected Bert Lumbreras as its new city manager. And though it’s still about six weeks until his first anniversary on the job — he began working for the city last Aug. 15 — the city has already made significant progress toward goals that he hoped to accomplish his first year.

“I think we’ve got a lot of initiatives started,” he said.

One of Lumbreras’ first priorities was creating affordable housing.

“When I talk to people about affordable or workforce housing, people have their own definitions,” he said.

Workforce housing is not subsidized housing, he said; it is a housing supply that would be affordable for members of the local workforce whose income does not exceed $120,000 for a family of four.

“For example, you might have a couple of schoolteachers and a couple of kids,” he said, or a city employee and a bank teller.

The city has formed a workforce housing committee, Lumbreras said, which is looking at demographics and factors like family types, income levels and potential housing products that would be more affordable, such as homes on smaller lots.

“We know that 40 percent of the cost of building a home comes from the real estate part of it,” he said.

The city is also looking at acquiring properties to use for workforce housing, such as currently available land and possibly properties subject to tax foreclosures by the county and school district.

“That’s going to be one of our first strategies,” he said, adding that the news that Habitat for Humanity is focusing on San Marcos is a boon for the city’s workforce housing initiative.

Lumbreras also pointed out progress made toward several of the city council’s goals. The pursuit of public transit is under way, he said, as the city makes efforts to work with CARTS and the Texas State University bus system to make what he calls a “seamless transit system.”

The city and the university are working together, he said, to figure out how to create “a system that meets the needs of not only students but also our residents.”

“I’m pretty excited about that because I think it’s going to be very beneficial,” he said.

Stormwater management is another area where Lumbreras has seen progress made.

“A lot of great work has happened there,” he said, noting that the city has Community Development Block Grant-Disaster Relief projects in the design phase. “That’s a huge step.”

Lumbreras also noted that the Department of Housing and Urban Development saw fit to give San Marcos extra funds after the initial disaster relief allotment.

“I think HUD has recognized that we, first of all, have a tremendous need, but also are very responsive.”

Work on the city’s bond projects has also reached a milestone with the recent awarding of a contract for a project manager.

“I think that’s going to be key,” Lumbreras said, to making sure the city gets the projects done in a reasonable time frame for a reasonable price.

On top of that, council finally passed Code SMTX, the city’s new land development code, after years of work.

“Council did a great job,” Lumbreras said. “We’re growing and need to make sure we get with our neighborhoods and have the kind of growth our neighborhoods are compatible with.”

Council also passed a parking management and mobility plan that includes ways to address parking issues downtown.

“I think that’s pretty huge,” he said. “We got support from the downtown business association.”

Other changes that have occurred, or that are coming soon, are within the city government itself. For instance, the city council now holds work sessions on Tuesdays to receive presentations and ask questions about complex issues that will eventually show up on council agendas.

“I think council has appreciated those work sessions,” Lumbreras said. “I think they’ve been extremely beneficial.”

Lumbreras also said that he had promised the city council to look at reorganizing city staff as needed before his first anniversary on the job. He said he plans to instill a new employee culture and a new core set of values to “define our personality as an organization.”

“I personally have met with every single employee,” he said.

As for operations, Lumbreras said that code enforcement and permitting are two things he will be focusing on soon.

Lumbreras noted the many advantages that San Marcos has as a community.

“I’ve always said that overall, San Marcos is a tremendous community — the culture, the history, the vibrancy, the quality people,” he said.

The ties the city has with San Marcos CISD, Hays County and Texas State are all “tremendous connections that are invaluable.”

“I get up every day pumped about what we’re going to do,” he said.