Marble Falls Mayor John Packer is pushing for more open communication between civic servants and residents, starting with casual conversations. Packer met with a crowd of over 30 attendees, including residents, business owners, city staff, and local officials on Thursday, Oct. 1, for a question and answer session over coffee. 

“It’s important to just be available and be as open and transparent as we can be about what is really going on,” Packer told DailyTrib. “It also gives us a chance to discuss the actual facts about an issue or a project rather than people just speculating why something is the way it is and posting maybe negative things on social media.”

The meet up took place at 9 a.m. on Thursday at Belóved Gallery in downtown Marble Falls.

“We just want to have people actually come and talk to us,” he said. “We’re very open to that.”

Packer fielded questions on a range of subjects, from updates on local developments and the future of city parks, to transportation infrastructure, like the long-awaited improvements to the U.S. 281-RM 1431 intersection, which are slated for the coming year. 

He also addressed the city’s recent budget, which included a rare tax rate increase to help counteract a “perfect storm” of fiscal challenges that converged over the last year. With lagging sales tax, a drop in property values, and a sudden rise in debt service payments, the city crafted a leaner budget based on a modest sales tax outlook for the coming year.

“Well, (we’re) just definitely being more conservative (with this year’s budget),” Packer said. “Sales tax is 65 percent of the revenue of our general fund, so we are being more conservative with that, but also having to cut expenses.”

The mayor said that this “coffee and conversation” meet up was just one effort to establish open communication with residents and that the city would be pursuing more opportunities like this in person and online.  

“We just love Marble Falls and we all want what’s best for Marble Falls,” Packer said. “It’s a great place to live, it’s a great place to raise families. We have a lot of young people coming back to raise families and we love that, and we want to make sure we’re planning things for the future to keep it a great place to live.”

Contact Marble Falls City Council 

• Marble Falls Mayor John Packer- jpacker@marblefallstx.gov
• Place 1 Councilor Mark Mayfield- mmayfield@marblefallstx.gov
• Place 2 Councilor William D. Haddock- dhaddock@marblefallstx.gov
• Place 3 Councilor Dave Rhodes- drhodes@marblefallstx.gov
• Place 4 Councilor George Russel- grussell@marblefallstx.gov
• Place 5 Councilor Richard Westerman- rwesterman@marblefallstx.gov
• Place 6 Councilor/Mayor Pro Tem Craig Magerkurth- cmagerkurth@marblefallstx.gov

dakota@thepicayune.com