Cathy Meek Bio for City Council Website
I was born and raised in Austin, TX and attended McCallum High school. After graduating high school, I worked for the City of Austin’s Planning and Engineering Departments, and eventually became the first Floodplain Administrator of the City’s National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). In 1989, I married my high school sweetheart and relocated to Sugar Land, TX, where my husband and I raised two wonderful children, Max, and Kelcy. While working for H2O Partners, an Austin-based company with long-term hazard mitigation and disaster recovery experience, I continued my education and in 2004 graduated from the University of Houston with a B.S. in Environmental studies. As a Hazard Mitigation specialist, I worked with hundreds of communities developing FEMA Hazard Mitigation plans to identify an area’s natural hazard risk and develop a long-term strategy to protect people and property from disasters. One of these multi-jurisdictional plans was for the lower Colorado River basin and included Bastrop County and Smithville.
Sadly, in 2008 my husband of 22 years passed away after a long illness, and I relocated to the Smithville area. I continued working as a FEMA contractor and was appointed to the LCRA Regional Council representing Smithville. I retired from my 40-plus years career in 2017 and retain industry certifications as a FEMA Hazard Mitigation Specialist and national Certified Floodplain Manager. In 2021 I launched Rocking M Ranch Weddings, Events and Lodging on 15 acres south of Smithville, and began volunteering for the Smithville Chamber of Commerce. In 2022 I joined the Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors and currently Chair the Tourism Committee that has been instrumental in collaborating with the Downtown Business Alliance to expand our marketing efforts, bring more visitors to our community, and stimulate our local economy. Another goal is to improve our downtown streetscape and find creative solutions to fill vacant storefronts on Main Street.
In short, these are all goals towards achieving long-term Economic Development, which is supported by utilizing our existing resources such as the City’s Comprehensive Plan update, which is underway, and the Economic Development Community Resiliency Strategic plan. Both plans are living documents and blueprints for growth. These plans are an opportunity for us, as a community, to extensively examine key issues needed to achieve our vision of maintaining a small-town sense of community while encouraging “smart growth” and continually improved standard of living for the citizens of Smithville.
I am truly honored to serve the citizens of Smithville as a councilmember and will work diligently to advocate for policies aligned with community needs, and contribute to meaningful change as growth in Central Texas moves east of Austin.
