San Marcos will once again have a full City Council as the Dec. 11 runoff election determined that Mark Rockeymoore and Joca Marquez will take the Place 4 and Place 5 seats on the dais.

Mark Rockeymoore, a reading comprehension teacher at Del Valle High School, received 1,467 votes, or 62.88 percent of total ballots cast, according to unofficial election results with 19 of 19 precincts reporting. Scott, a local business owner who served on the council from 2010-2015 and ran unsuccessfully for a seat on the council in 2016, received 866 votes, or 37.12 percent. Jane Hughson left the Place 4 seat vacant when she resigned to run for the mayor's seat, which she won on Nov. 6.

Rockeymoore told Community Impact Newspaper that he decided to run for council because he believes San Marcos is at a crossroads.

"It is time, like never before, for the city to come together around certain issues that we hold in common: environment, ethics and neighborhoods," Rockeymoore said. "In a time when external forces are threatening to change the city beyond recognition, the voices of the people who are voiceless need to be heard: the voices of those who have traditionally been underrepresented, the voices of those who have been silenced, the voices of those who have not had a seat at the table and the voices of those who’ve been drowned out by the din of competing interests."

Marquez, a Texas State University lecturer, received 1,472 votes, or 62.88 percent, while Texas State University political science senior lecturer Rick Henderson received 869 votes, or 37.12 percent, according to unofficial election results with 19 of 19 precincts reporting.

Marquez, who has lived in San Marcos for six years, told Community Impact Newspaper she decided to run for San Marcos City Council because she believes the elected body needs to better reflect the diversity of the city's people.

"For decades the ethnic composition of our City Council has in no way mirrored the actual composition of San Marcos," Marquez said.

She said some of her top priorities are environmental stewardship, criminal justice reform, creating a more efficient and sustainable transportation system, supporting local businesses and protecting neighborhoods.

"Current physical infrastructure does not aptly accommodate our steady population growth—in light of that, we need to be mindful of how to best protect our treasured assets: the river, local businesses, arts and culture, the greenbelt, the welfare of our longtime residents as well as our many newcomers," she said. "The constant growth of Texas State University also poses a risk to the natural ecology in San Marcos, in addition to social concerns; the university must do more to heal the rift between the so-called 'town and gown.'"

Correction: this story has been updated to reflect that Mark Rockeymoore is no longer an instructional assistant at San Marcos High School; he is now a reading comprehension teacher at Del Valle High School.