Thomaides to run for San Marcos mayor as Guerrero declines re-election bid

Veteran San Marcos City Council Member John Thomaides announced a second bid for San Marcos mayor this week, a day after incumbent Daniel Guerrero said he would not seek a fourth term.

Thomaides, a small-business owner first elected to San Marcos City Council in 2003, narrowly lost a mayoral bid in 2010 to Guerrero, who was subsequently re-elected in 2012 and 2014 by wide margins against minor opposition. Thomaides rejoined the council in 2011 and has grown precipitously in influence in recent years as his allies incrementally gained majority control of the body.

“I am fully ready to assume the role of mayor on day one. I will bring a fresh perspective while maintaining a steady hand in leading our city forward as mayor. The mayor must be a consensus builder, facilitator, a confident leader on tough issues and an articulate spokesman to best communicate our city’s message to not only our citizens but also the outside world,” Thomaides said in a written statement.

Majority control of San Marcos City Council will be in play in the Nov. 4 municipal election, with four of seven seats on the ballot: the mayoralty and three seats currently held by Thomaides, Lisa Prewitt and Jude Prather. Filing begins July 23.

Full text of Thomaides’ announcement statement:

Today I officially announced my candidacy for mayor of San Marcos. Below is part of my vision for making San Marcos an even better place to live.

San Marcos City Councilman John Thomaides, elected Mayor Pro-Tem by his colleagues five times, has formally announced his candidacy for Mayor in the upcoming fall 2016 elections. Thomaides has been a champion for quality and sustainable growth in our community, as well as a steadfast defender of our unique environment and neighborhood integrity.

Thomaides moved to San Marcos in 1993 to launch his business which has operated profitably for the past 23 years. John has utilized this same practical business experience and fiscal discipline while guiding the operations of our city, our budget and our debt throughout his service on City Council.
John’s top priorities include:

1) Continuing to manage the explosive growth in our community: “San Marcos is a highly desirable place. We need to make certain growth benefits the entire community for the long term. I will champion this good growth while opposing bad proposals that result in short term gains for a select few at the expense of the rest of us.”

2) Continuing to pursue a better quality of life and place: “We need to support crucial investments in public safety, mobility, city-wide beautification and promoting stable single-family neighborhoods. During my service on City Council, I have continuously supported investment in transportation solutions and providing our police and firefighters sufficient funding to ensure we have a safe place to live. I am on the record as voting against rent-by-the-bedroom apartments in and near our established single family neighborhoods and for protecting our river through common sense approaches to development.”

3) Pursuing economic prosperity for all of our citizens: “I helped lead the successful effort to establish a $15 per hour family living wage plus health insurance for companies seeking taxpayer funded incentives in San Marcos and along with my colleagues help, added 1500 quality jobs in our city over the past 3 years.”

4) Guiding the on-going flood recovery process: “As a council we need to help restore the lives of those impacted and ensure we don’t increase our flooding problems in the future through our development codes. We went to Washington, D. C. and secured $25 million in federal assistance for those affected by these two catastrophic events in 2015. I am committed to fixing the chronic flooding problems that devastate our citizens on a regular basis. The hard decisions of how best to accomplish flood recovery and resiliency will be guided by the next mayor and city council.”

“The position of Mayor of any city is special. I’ve had the unique opportunity to serve this community on City Council and I am fully ready to assume the role of Mayor on day one. I will bring a fresh perspective while maintaining a steady hand in leading our city forward as Mayor. The Mayor must be a consensus builder, facilitator, a confident leader on tough issues and an articulate spokesman to best communicate our city’s message to not only our citizens but also the outside world,” Thomaides said.

 

This story comes to the Austin Monitor via the San Marcos Mercury, where it was originally published.

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