San Marcos incumbents win re-election

Place 6 Councilman Shane Scott also won his re-election bid, garnering 5,434 votes, or 59.3 percent, to defeat challenger Greg Frank, who received 3,733 votes, or 40.7 percent.

In the nonbinding proposition asking whether the city should acquire the riverfront property known locally as Cape's Camp and Thompson's Islands, 76 percent (8,227 voters) cast ballots in favor, while 24.5 percent (2,671) opposed the measure.

Updated: 9:03 p.m. CST

With 12 of 19 precincts reporting, San Marcos Mayor Daniel Guerrero and fellow incumbents Ryan Thomason maintained cushy leads over their challengers in the Nov. 6 election.

San Marcos voters also were overwhelmingly supportive of the proposal to create a large new riverfront park on the east side of I-35, according to unofficial election returns with 47 percent of votes counted.

More than three in four voters said they want the city to acquire a 70-acre tract known locally as Cape's Camp and Thompson's Islands, while 24.8 percent of early voters opposed the nonbonding resolution.

Guerrero, angling for a second term, continued to dominate his challenger, Thom Prentice, by a margin of 83.5 percent to 16.5 percent, or 6,556 votes to 1,292 votes.

Thomason, the Place 5 councilman, held an 80.6 percent to 19.4 percent advantage over write-in candidate Melissa Derrick.

Scott, the Place 5 incumbent, led Greg Frank with 58.6 percent of the vote, compared to Frank's 41.4 percent.

While San Marcos voters said they want the city to acquire the new parkland, they were less receptive to a couple of proposals weighing how to acquire the land.

Nearly 52 percent of voters said the city should not use its power of eminent domain to obtain the riverfront land, compared to more than 48 percent who supported the nonbonding proposition.

Only 35.3 percent of votes counted as of 9 p.m. indicated the city should raise property taxes to acquire the land, compare to 64.7 percent who said the city should raise taxes.

Posted: 7:25 p.m. CST

Early voters strongly supported the City of San Marcos' efforts to create a large new riverfront park on the east side of I-35, according to unofficial election returns.

Mayor Daniel Guerrero and his fellow incumbents on the City Council, Ryan Thomason and Shane Scott, also cruised to big leads among early voters. Hays County election officials released the early results at about 7:10 p.m. but were still tabulating the results from Election Day.

Nearly three in four early voters said they want the city to purchase a 70-acre tract known locally as Cape's Camp and Thompson's Islands, while 25 percent of early voters opposed the nonbonding resolution.

The acquisition would link the city's extensive riverfront parks system on the west side of I-35 with the much smaller 5-acre Stokes Park on the east side. It would also prevent a developer from building a 300-unit apartment complex on the property. With early voters supporting the measure by a 5,012–1,682 margin, supporters say the election results send a clear message to City Council to act to preserve the undeveloped land.

"We can't force them to do it, but we're hoping they'll listen. People feel strongly about completing the San Marcos river parks," said Dianne Wassenich, executive director of the San Marcos River Foundation. "In general, our community really does understand the connection between water quality and buffers around the rivers, so they understand it would be wise to make this a park."

At the top of the San Marcos portion of the election ballot, Guerrero received 84.1 percent of the early vote compared with 15.9 percent for challenger Thom Prentice. Guerrero received 4,035 early votes to Prentice's 965.

Thomason, the Place 5 councilman, earned 80.7 percent of the early vote, with write-in challenger Melissa Derrick receiving 19.3 percent.

Scott, the Place 6 councilman, garnered 58.3 percent of the early vote, compared with challenger Greg Frank's 41.8 percent.