The San Marcos City Council met for their regular biweekly meeting Aug. 4 after a one-month hiatus to discuss the city’s response to COVID-19 as well as various resolutions and land ordinances.
The meeting began with a COVID-19 status update, after which the council voted to approve a program to decrease sewer surcharge fees for businesses that have reduced their water usage since COVID-19 emergency effects went into place.
The council approved the adoption of the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Action Plan for 2020-2021, which allocates $722,904 of CDBG entitlement funds to a number of projects. The breakdown of these funds is as follows:

• $23,656 to Habitat for Humanity’s Housing Counseling project.
• $60,000 to CASA’s Advocacy Services for Abused and Neglected Children project.
• $100,000 to Southside Community Center’s Home Rehabilitation project.
• $43,248 to City Community Initiatives’ Priority Repair project.
• $84,000 to City Community Initiatives’ Homebuyers Assistance project.
• $268,000 to Centro Cultural Hispano de San Marcos’ Making Centro More Accessible and Energy Efficient through Renovation project.
• $144,000 for program administration.

The council also approved two amendments to the CDBG Action Plan for 2019-2020. The first reallocates $125,000 from the Paul Pena Park Project to a new program for Substandard Home Demolition.
The second awards $153,530 to Hays County to improve or increase COVID-19 testing in San Marcos. The funds will be used to purchase additional test kits, hire more staff and cover the costs of lab testing and maintaining testing sites.
The council approved an Interlocal Agreement with the San Marcos Consolidated Independent School District to place more police officers in SMCISD schools as school resource officers.
A resolution to increase the amount of a contract with Axon Enterprises Inc. by $180,002.001 was postponed after Councilmember Maxfield Baker brought up concerns about Axon’s business practices and privacy policy. Relating to the Police Video Upgrade Project, the change in service would pay for additional equipment and annual software maintenance, hosting and plan fees.
The council approved a partnership with the U.S. Department of the Army Corps of Engineers for the San Marcos River Section 206 Aquatic Ecosystem Restoration Project. The council also approved $79,817.16 in contracts to fund the renovation of the San Marcos Public Library.
Additionally, the council passed several land ordinances, including the annexation into the city of approximately 10.1073 acres of land generally located at South Old Bastrop Highway and Rattler Road and, in a related motion, the rezoning of the same land from a Future Development District to a Character District.
Approximately 83.291 acres of land generally located at 2519 Redwood Road was annexed into the city and rezoned from a Future Development District to a Single Family District in a related motion.
The San Marcos City Council meets on the first and third Tuesday of each month at 6 p.m. over Zoom; the meeting can be viewed on its website.  The agenda can be accessed through the Agenda Center on the City of San Marcos website.