MARFA — Early voting begins today for the Marfa City Council election on May 4 and will end on Tuesday, April 30, with all voting at the Casner Room in City Hall from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. (Although polls will be closed on Sunday, April 28.) Four candidates — including three incumbents — will be vying for three seats. Council members are “at large” and do not serve specific seats, meaning voters will choose their top three candidates out of the four running.
The terms of council members Mark Morrison, Eddie Pallarez and Mark Cash are up in May, and all three have filed for reelection. Marfa resident Tony Georges has also filed for a City Council seat.
Incumbent Pallarez said he has been retired now for four years and has plenty of time to work on city issues, so he wants to continue to help. Infrastructure is his focus, he said. And even though “progress is slow,” he said Marfa does have the money to address some street repairs and other projects that need completion. “We’re continuing to work on our streets, and we’re continuing to work on our water and sewer projects.”
Pallarez also said he’s optimistic about the benefits of Automated Metering Infrastructure (AMI) for water meters, which the city is planning on installing to allow for automatic remote meter reading to eventually save money and ensure accuracy. (The city has a request for proposals out for a vendor to implement the system.) “We don’t have the funds to do all 1,700 meters, but we can get started on it, and if we can do 20% to 25% that’s going to be a good thing,” he said.
Incumbent Morrison, who works in construction and renovation, said he would love to see more people sign up to run for City Council, but he’s ready to serve another term and also work on infrastructure. A conflict with the city’s last engineer not meeting expectations set the city back on street repairs, he said. “He cost us a year’s worth of being able to work … We have our new engineer on board and will be able to do what we should have been able to do last year.”
Morrison noted that he researched how much it would cost to repave all of Marfa’s streets in need of repair, and it would be $30 million, a staggering amount that would require issuing a bond and supporting it with a significant property tax increase, something he said no one he’s talked to wants. Marfa will get a boost from a recent $500,000 state grant awarded to the city for street repairs.
Morrison also serves on the Parks and Recreation Board and said he is looking forward to helping with planned upgrades at Coffield Park. He also said supporting the EMS and 24-hour availability should remain a priority for the city.
Tony Georges, an interior designer who also recently served on the Presidio County Appraisal District Board, said he is running with an interest in promoting affordable housing and to add more competition and discussion to city races. “I hate the idea that elections keep getting canceled because there is no one running,” he said. “I think it’s good for our town and for democracy as a whole to have real elections where people are compared against each other and offering ideas.”
Georges said he has a particular interest in planning and zoning issues, which play into adding more housing stock. The ordinance now doesn’t work for the unique nature of Marfa’s housing, since it was copied from somewhere else long ago, he said. “No one can do anything without getting a variance, which I don’t think is good.”
With so many laws and ordinances subject to the control of state law, and with so few financial resources at the city, “planning and zoning is one area where we can make a difference,” Georges said.
Georges said he and his spouse, City Councilmember Travis Acreman, actually typed out the entire ordinance by hand — including typos so that it would be an exact copy — so that the text would be recognizable for searches. He said the ideal would be to get houses and buildings to conform to the ordinance while also offering the flexibility that supports a variety of housing types.
Georges said he knows some have expressed concern about a married couple serving together on the same council. “Because of the joint experiences we’ve had means we have areas that we agree on, but we are definitely different people … we don’t agree on everything,” he said. Couples and relatives working together in government has been common in Marfa because there’s a natural tendency to get involved together, especially in a small town, he said. “When people are in a relationship and one of them is spending time with the city, the other may follow.”
Councilmember Cash could not be reached for comment about his seeking reelection, but he previously told The Big Bend Sentinel: “I think we have a good group, and I think we are doing the best we can with what we have, therefore I want to keep being a part of that,” he said.