Campaigns end for City Council candidates today

Nov 3 2009 - 12:50am | Chase Birthisel

San Marcos voters will cast ballots today choosing between six City Council candidates and 11 proposed amendments to the Texas Constitution.

The candidates running for Place 5 are Lisa Marie Coppoletta, Shaune Maycock and Ryan Thomason. The candidates running for Place 6 are John Thomaides, Monica Garcia and Anita Fuller.

Coppoletta is an academic adviser for the College of Education at Texas State and arts commissioner for San Marcos. She was active in strongly opposing the previous ‘mandatory micro-chipping of pets’ ordinance. Coppoletta lost last year’s election for City Council Place 4 against Chris Jones.

“I believe I am the most experienced candidate,” Coppoletta said. “As a citizen, I have extensive experience working with elected officials and staff resolving neighborhood issues.”

Coppoletta said her key issue is creating a Hays County Veterans’ Center and protecting small businesses in downtown San Marcos.
Maycock is a small business owner of an aircraft inspection and maintenance facility in San Marcos, as well as an Iraq veteran. He serves as a member of the San Marcos Chamber of Commerce.

Maycock said his main priority is to bring higher-paying jobs to the San Marcos community. Maycock criticized the city officials’ decision to give monetary aid to Target to move from its location in Springtown. He said tax incentives should be reserved for businesses bringing high-paying jobs to San Marcos.

“Businesses like Grifols that are going to pay high salaries,” Maycock said, “those are the companies that deserve our attention.”

Thomason is a co-partner of Wood & Thomason Construction and the vice-chair of the San Marcos planning and zoning commission. He is a San Marcos Area Board of Realtors member. Thomason lost in the 2006 City Council race to Place 6 incumbent John Thomaides.

Thomason said one of his goals is to ensure San Marcos’ economic development team has the tools, direction and people necessary.

“I think a lot of graduating Texas State students want to be somewhere in Central Texas,” Thomason said. “Economic development is something we all need to pay attention to in the 2009 economy.”

Garcia graduated from Texas State in 2008 with an exercise and sports science degree. She is a former U.S. Marine and a Mary Kay Beauty Consultant.

Garcia said she is running for City Council to ensure equal representation in San Marcos government.

“As it is now, certain factions and special interest are what’s most represented,” Garcia said.

Garcia said along with economic development, her priorities are improving the San Marcos school district and ensuring public safety departments are adequacy funded.

Thomaides is owner of Alpha Pure Water, a water treatment equipment company, and is the only incumbent running in the election. He has been elected for Place 6 twice with his first election in 2003. Thomaides serves on the Executive Committee of the Austin-San Antonio Corridor Council.

Thomaides said he is running to continue making progress on issues such as traffic solutions, economic development, downtown development and making San Marcos bicycle and pedestrian friendly.

Thomaides said he wants all city expenses posted online to improve transparency in city government.
“Other cities are moving in that direction,” Thomaides said. “It’s not hard to do.  I want everyone to be able to log on, and see where all the money’s going.”

Anita Fuller, who could not be reached for comment, is a retired San Marcos citizen.

Ballots will be counted tonight, and the winner of both places will be announced. The polls will remain open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Information and polling locations can be found on the City’s Web site.

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