In a nutshell
Dozens of residents from San Marcos and surrounding communities filled the council chambers and spoke during the public comment period in support of the proposed ban, including Martindale Mayor Katherine Glaze. Neighboring cities Martindale and New Braunfels both already have bans in place, which Glaze said has been about 95% effective for her city.
"The Martindale Police Department have spent a considerable amount of time enforcing it but mainly educating people about what effect it has on the river, and they've been complying," Glaze said. "I wanted to encourage you to go ahead and try it."
Council Member Jude Prather, alongside the entire dais, showed support and said he'd like for the council to leave behind a legacy of a cleaner, greener future. Council Member Alyssa Garza showed support and provided a recommendation regarding enforcing the ban.
"Mayor Glaze indicated that it's [education and outreach] that is impactful in securing the eventual buy-in of their community ... lean on park ambassadors instead of armed folks at the parks."
Council Member Mark Gleason said that this could be a long process but one that he hopes is wrapped up by the end of the year.
"This is going to take some work, by everyone, on how we're going to implement this; what this is going to look like; [and] what this is going to cost." Gleason said. "I wanted to discuss this in the fall so that it gave staff and the community time to get this put together."
The ban could be implemented as soon as next spring.
