Why are you running?
I’ve always had a passion for my community. When I was doing my projects I didn’t focus on state government or federal government, I focused on city issues. I did a big project on underfunded ESDs (Emergency Service Districts) in Travis County. I found out from first-hand observation that all the fire departments up there have been struggling. Public safety is part of my background. I consider myself a subject matter expert when it comes to public safety organizations — police, fire, EMS. If you look at my history of public service, it’s been in public safety. I was in the military. I was an EMS paramedic for nine years in Austin. Even when I was a kid I got the citizenship award over and over again. And so I see it as my calling — public service. I found myself watching city council meetings on Saturday nights. I read the local papers. I read the Statesman. I watch the news. I’m a news junkie. So that’s my passion and I figured what better opportunity than to be a city council member because there might be an opportunity to make a difference.
Do you think there is a public safety problem in Kyle?
I think Kyle with our population growth in the city we’re going to need to adjust our fire service. We’re eventually going to need to have a municipal fire department. And that’s what I want to push. I want to have a plan to have a municipal fire department in the next five years. Whether or not that includes EMS, we’ll have to explore that option. But the current model is unsustainable, financially unsustainable. We’re understaffed. The city’s been doing a good job of chipping in, but that’s not the city’s job to fund an ESD. In my project I explored a lot of different options — financial options such as grant funding, consolidation of services, cooperative purchasing among ESDs. There are a lot of solutions that are sort of short term — that will put a band-aid on it. But want to work with Chief Taylor to push for new legislation which would actually raise the ad valorem tax from 10 cents to 40 cents, only with voter approval. Chief Taylor actually used my project with his research paper to try to push this legislation through. Pflugerville is going through the same thing right now. I think our police department is under-funded. We’re training officers just to find out they’re leaving to go to other departments that pay better. I think you get what you pay for. So what I want to do — not just in public safety but in all city departments — I think every employee from the bottom all the way to the top is important. Do some services need to be contracted out? Yes. But wastewater, I don’t think that needs to be contracted out. I think we do a better job on that internally. TDS (Texas Disposal Systems, solid waste disposal company) is probably something that needs to be contracted out. I think our deal with TDS is OK. We contract our EMS services out. So I think we need to do a better job at having better city services to serve the citizens better and to attract more businesses to Kyle.
That’s interesting, because there are moves in some cities to go in exactly the opposite direction, to privatize more city services.
So you look at Austin. Austin contracts hardly anything out. In some areas they contract out solid waste. Police, fire, EMS are all internal. Great benefits, Great salaries. They’re competitive. You’ll see people coming from all over the state — all over the country, as a matter of fact — to go to work for their police department, to go work for their fire department. Their parks are great. Their parks are integrated with the environment. That’s why a lot of companies are coming to Austin. Do I want Kyle to be like Austin? I think Austin has a very bureaucratic process when it comes to permits. Zoning is a huge issue up there. That’s why a lot of companies are looking at surrounding areas to land their businesses because of the overly-bureaucratic permit process. So I don’t want to be exactly like Austin, but I think Austin is doing a lot of good things that we can replicate.
What would you do differently than the individual who currently occupies to seat you want to be elected to?
One of the things that kind of frustrated me was the wrecker ordinance. I was on the Public Safety Committee and I actually drafted that ordinance myself. We hashed that out for about a year, a year and a half. We had our reasons to write it the way we did. The chief blessed off on it. Everyone was onboard with it, even the wrecker companies that showed up, the ones from Kyle and the ones from surrounding areas. And then things were changed at the last minute. Was I talked to about that? No, I was not. If you want to change something as a council member, you have the right to do that. But as a respect and a courtesy to committee members that hashed that out, I would have appreciated it if I was approached about the reasons that we changed the language that we created in my contract. Do we need committees? I think we need boards. We need public input. I think it’s important, but at the same time I think you need good leadership amongst the committees. You need to have a very clear, thought-out appointment process also. You’ll have some committees that have chairs where they’re not leadership driven. And you’ll have some meetings where you barely have a quorum. And sometimes committee members don’t bring much to the table. So if you have a solid committee and you have strong leadership I don’t see a problem with having committees. But if you have committees that are over-stepping their boundaries, their rationale really doesn’t make sense or their leadership is weak, then why do you have committees?
So what did you think of the city manager’s recent proposal concerning the city’s committee structure?
I wouldn’t abolish all committees. I think some committees need to be merged. Some committees seem to be duplicating things. You could take one committee that was doing the same thing as another one. You could possibly merge two committees. I think we have some strong committees and we have weak committees.
Give me an example of a strong committee.
P&Z.
But there are no plans to get rid of that?
So you’re asking me which ones are weak and need to be abolished?
No. I was asking you to specifically address the city manager’s recent recommendation on committees?
If you could figure out a way where a company doesn’t have to go through all the red tape with the bureaucracy of a committee and you establish certain guidelines and they meet it, they shouldn’t have to go through a committee to get a permit. I think that’s one of the reasons they wanted to abolish some of the committees was because it would take some companies a lengthy period of time to get a permit. I think that’s his rationale for that — to cut the red tape. I know with the wrecker ordinance it took us about a year to pass that and then it had to go through council on top of that, at least two readings. However, at the same time, I think the city council — if you have good leadership on your boards and your committees then you should be able to delegate those tasks out, because you don’t want to have meetings that go on until one o’clock in the morning, two o’clock in the morning because then you become ineffective. So it’s important to delegate but at the same time it’s important to have strong leadership. So I would revamp the whole appointment process because we actually had applications that came through us, we got handed a folder, some of the applications were two, three-years -old. Some of the people might not have even lived in Kyle anymore. And when you look at some of them on paper and then you look at some of them face-to-face, those are two different things. You may look good on paper, but in person you may be different and it may be vice-versa also. So maybe having a structured interview process I think would help – a good face-to-face in front of all the committee members or all the council members whatever that may be. Would I abolish all the committees? No.
What are your views on individual council town hall meetings?
I think they’re great. I think town hall meetings are important. I think that’s where you can get council members on a more personal level, get to know their families, get to know them by their first names. I think that’s important. You’ve got to have that personal relationship, especially for those council members that represent districts. If I’m elected, I know (out-going council member) Samantha (Bellows) has coffee every other Saturday. I would like to continue that. It may not be on Saturday’s because I work weekends, but perhaps during the week at night at Starbucks. On my web page right now, you can go on there and I have a section where I talk about every Wednesday here at Starbucks if anyone wants to come and talk to me about any issues that affect them or how they want to be served better they come and talk to me about that. I know with my HOA, we just had a meeting last weekend and we had a pretty good turnout. I know a lot of people they learn a lot of things when you go to the town hall meetings. You find out things you otherwise wouldn’t learn about — issues that effect the subdivisions within a community, issues of the HOA, legal issues. This Sunday we’re going to have a meeting with council member (Becky) Selberra. The HOA originally went up in front of council to be created because right now we’re pretty much non-existent. We have a pool that’s dilapidated, we have landscaping in the front that needs a lot of work. Some of the other issues we talk about are the road bond projects. A lot of citizens are concerned about how much debt we’re in right now, a hundred million dollars in debt. But at the same time they realize "Yeah we’re in debt right now but do you want to be one of those cities that doesn’t have any debt but doesn’t have any amenities for its citizens?". They don’t have parks, they don’t have good roads, they don’t have decent water. Som e of those cities out in West Texas are like that, the quality of life is poor. I’d rather live in a city where I have a better quality of life. And so we had — I wouldn’t say a debate, but a good discussion in that forum. And we’re probably going to have another one this weekend. And during my block walking I’m finding out a lot of issues that haven’t been brought up in council meetings. So it’s a good venue to learn about some of the other issues people want to talk about.
In addition to public safety, what are the trop issues facing Kyle right now?
Our tax base right now, we’re residential heavy, which is an issue. Every dollar of revenue a household generates in ad valorem tax, they spend about $1.13 in resources — roads, water, wastewater, public safety. So because of that we’re in a lot of debt. That’s one of the reasons I attended that meeting today (economic development summit meeting). And I have a meeting with Julie Snyder (Kyle Chamber CEO) next week to talk about what the city’s doing to aggressively try to get companies to come to our city. If we get more commercial companies that try to change from agricultural and residential — if we could get a good, big employer such as CFAN in San Marcos, such as Samsung in Austin — one of those companies, this could be a community where we could live here, work here, play here, where people wouldn’t have to commute to San Antonio, wouldn’t have to commute to Austin. I’m one of those that commutes to Austin — North Austin — every time I go to work. If I want to go to an entertainment district, I have to drive to Austin. The small businesses are good — the little mom and pop businesses — I don’t want to get rid of those but they are not sustainable for what we have right now. So increasing the commercial and industrial tax base. Do I want to have landfill or do I want to have a coal factory? No. I want responsible companies, light manufacturing, clean manufacturing. Why aren’t we going to California, some of the conventions out there and advertising Kyle? We might be doing that, I’m not sure, but I’d be interested in finding out more about that. But I think we need to be aggressively trying to get those companies here, whether that’s through tax incentives, infrastructure deals.
Don’t you think cities have a tendency to give away the store in order to attract relocations?
Take a development like Wal-Mart. The developer where Wal-Mart is getting 33 percent over 10 years. We are in competition with other cities for annexation to try to get companies in also. San Marcos has already butted up against us to the south and the southeast so the only way we can expand is out to the west. We have to be competitive. Now, should we give away the farm? No. But do we need to be competitive? Yes, we do. And part of that is tax incentives. I’m not against tax incentives. Responsible tax incentives for good paying jobs, for jobs where people can promote and people don’t have to commute two hours each way I think is where we need to go. I think because of our location a lot of developers have their eye on Kyle right now but what’s slowing them down is the fact that our infrastructure isn’t developed. Kohlers Crossing is where a lot of our waterlines stop. To the southeast, we’re not fully developed out there.
What are your thoughts on the city manager’s plan to make Kyle a destination city?
I think people need a reason to get off I-35. Right now they don’t have a reason to do that. You have Cabella’s. Buda has Cabella’s. You get a lot of sales tax from Cabella’s. You go to San Marcos, they have the outlet malls. They have the university. Do we need to make it a destination city? I don’t know, but we do need to have something big to give people a reason to get off the freeway in Kyle. The fast-food restaurants, the little businesses, they’re really not cutting it. We need to have something big. What that is, I’m not sure. I know there’s been talks about putting a Costco here. Whether that might be a sports venue. One of the best things that happened to us is Southpark Meadows forced some of the big box stores not to look at Buda any longer because it’s not five miles outside of that radius. So a lot of those companies now are going to be eyeing Kyle and with that arrival is going to come that property tax revenue, sales tax revenue, it’s going to bolster our tax base and that’s exactly what we need. Who that company is going to be, I’m not sure but we need to have something to get people to exit the highway, exit the freeway in Kyle.
What are our thoughts on TIFs and PIDs?
I think they’re good. If you have decent leadership, a decent board, if everyone’s on the same page and you have good direction and everyone understands what the goal is, I think they can be done very well. Some people feel like it adds on to their taxes. However, I think it’s an investment, depending on what you’re trying to get in the long run.
What are your feelings about roundabouts in general and specifically one at Kohlers Crossing and Kyle Parkway?
I’m not opposed to roundabouts. I don’t think they necessarily decrease the number of accidents but they definitely help prevent serious accidents from occurring so that’s a safety issue. I know a lot of the new engineering plans are transitioning to more roundabouts.
Do you think the city should expend tax funds on things some might consider frivolous such as art in public spaces?
I’m very receptive to what the people want, people’s opinions, One of the things I want to do is look at the results of the city manager’s survey — what do the people want. I know in Austin that’s huge, that’s what they want. Do people in Kyle want that? I’m not sure. That’s something I would ask the public and I would take a hard look at that survey. It’s not all about my opinion. It’s about the people who live here, what they want. So I’m not sure. I would like to look at that survey and talk to the city manager because I think there was a similar question on that survey. In some areas, like the downtown area, the revitalization of the downtown area, the beautification of the area is very important especially to the people who live in Old Town. You have other people who live down there. They’ve lived there for a long time. They don’t want to see the bars coming in even though you have the Desperados and you have the Down South Rail House that are pushing into the downtown area. Certain areas have that appeal and if they don’t want that there then I would listen to what they want. There’s a development being built behind my house — I live in District 2 off of East Highway 150 kind of by Tobias Elementary — there’s a Cool Springs development that’s going to go in there. Initially I was opposed to it. Now that I learned they’re talking to the city about possibly turning this water retention area that belongs to the city into a park and then adding some park area onto the development. I think we need to be doing stuff like that to serve the residents where the developer pitches in some money, the city pitches in some money and you actually have a bigger park with more open space here people can jog. It’s a fitness thing, too. Having really good parks and having really good after-school programs that keeps kids out of trouble. Juvenile delinquency is a huge issue here. W have a lot of property crimes here committed by juveniles. I think if we have a good parks program, if we have a good after-school program then it would help bring that crime level down.
What are your feelings about dedicated hike and bike trails?
Absolutely. The hike and bike trail in Plum Creek isn’t owned by the city, it’s owned by the Plum Creek HOA. And I actually didn’t know that for a while. I love the park. I work in Austin and I find myself spending a lot of time in Austin more than I do in Kyle and going back to my whole live-work-play model, part of the play part isn’t just having an entertainment district or a movie theater. Part of it is having good amenities for people to go to — good parks. Also partnering with non-profits — YMCA, for instance. I think a YMCA can run a pool program better than we can, probably at a better cost. Yes, people would probably have to pay to go to the YMCA, but the city could somehow negotiate a deal for Kyle residents to go to the YMCA and have a membership there. The Kyle Library, for instance. The Kyle Library brings thousands of dollars in revenue into the city that supplements that tax burden for the library. The library cost a million dollars to build — although don’t quote me on that figure — and without the revenues from the library the taxpayers would be paying a lot more money. So part of it is also partnering up with some of the local non-profit organizations that could help us. One of the things I see is people driving to the entertainment districts in Austin and I see that as a safety issue. If people want to go out and drink they’re going to drink. They’re going to drive to Austin, they’re going to drive to San Marcos to drink. If we had those places here they could take a cab to where they’re going or they could have friends that could drive them. But when they’re driving to Austin — I’m not saying everyone’s a drunk driver — but people do drink, especially on the weekends. And if you had local alternatives, I think that’s a safety issue.
What are your thoughts of the current council makeup of three single-member districts and three at-large districts?
I think right now it’s working but I think eventually we’re going to have to add more representatives with the population growth. Austin just transformed to a 10-1 structure. The city council members are full-time paid employees. They also have staffers. I think they’re more productive that way. They get a lot of work done. I think having part-time city council members they can only get so much done in so much time. So I think eventually we might have to transition into something like that — all single-member distracts. At the same time having a more personal connection with your constituents is more effective is more efficient. So I wouldn’t have a problem with that happening eventually.
How do you feel about having council elections every year?
You can’t do anything about when special elections come up. You have to have that election. But right now we have three-year terms established. I think three year terms are great. Elections cost money. One of the reasons the city manager wanted to do away with committees was because of the cost of having staffers keeping tabs on the minutes for every meeting. We need to cut costs everywhere we can and try decreasing our bureaucracy so I’m all for three year terms and having elections every year doesn’t make sense.
Also would you favor having every single council seat up for election once every three years?
Yes, every three years.
Your thoughts on the council-manager form of government?
Council-manager works for Kyle. I know Austin talked about having a strong mayor for a while because of their growth. They have close to 900,000 people. If you have a strong mayor form of government, having a strong mayor gives that mayor much more power. I think right now if you were to have single member districts the council-manager system works because the council members have that power to make decisions for each district. And I think that’s good. A lot of the citizens want — especially if they elect someone — they want that person they elected to have power to make decisions that would best suit them. So I think the council-manager system works for right now. Maybe five years down the road we might have to re-evaluate it, but right now with our size, with 35,000 people, the council-manager form of government is meant for populations less than a million.
Are there any changes you would like to see made to the city charter?
I looked at the charter a couple of weeks ago, There wasn’t anything that really stood out that I would change. I think holding some of the public officials more accountable for certain things, making sure they’re of top-notch quality, moral quality. But there isn’t anything I would change, really.
Do you think the city should invest in mass transit and, if so, what specifically should they invest in?
With the increase in density we’re eventually going to have to partner with Capital Metro. We looked at Lone Star rail and the cost was going to be way too expensive. It was going to be $100 million project. Do we need a Lone Stair Rail right now? For the cost, no. I think eventually we need to be looking at a solid transportation plan. Once we transition from people commuting to San Antonio, people commuting to Austin, we get more employers here, then I think we’re going to need to look at how we’re going to fund a good transportation program whether that be partnering with Capital Metro— you know giving them a half penny sales tax for a good transportation plan — that might be an option. I think the plan needs to be in the works, especially with the increase in density in our area. Can we afford it right now? I don’t think we can. Once we get an increase in population, more employers here, then yes, we’d be able to afford it.
At first glance, most of the business in Kyle seems to be retail. What can be done to attract more salaried jobs to the city?
We have catered to those people at the bachelor degree level jobs. Our housing market here in Kyle is middle-classed focus so when people break that middle class barrier, they move out, they go out to Wimberly, they buy land, they live in a bigger house. I think Kyle’s in the process of getting some development, houses that are over the $300,000 range. So I think we need to focus on getting more of those housing subdivisions that are worth more so that when people transition from bachelor degree level income to master’s degree level they would stay here in the community.
The city manager usually unveils his proposed budget in early August. The city council votes on its passage toward the end of September. If elected, what steps would you take so that between the unveiling and the passage of the budget, more citizens had input into what that budget contains?
Social media is huge right now and if you look at our city web site, yeah we are transparent to a certain degree. But being a highly transparent city is all about getting that information out there through all avenues – Twitter, Facebook, having a really developed web page. At the same time, streaming video and audio of the council meetings. Right now if I go on there the last council meeting had about 10 hits. I don’t think that’s because people don’t want to be informed. I think it’s because of the quality of the video. You have to watch banner ads, you have to watch a 30-second clip before the actual video starts. You can’t really hear it that well. If you’re hard of hearing, you’re not going to hear it at all. I would work to upgrade that software, redeveloping that whole web site. We have some committee members that have their personal e-mail addresses on there and I think that’s unprofessional. We need to have bios up. So putting out the budget information through the city’s web site. Even having an app with push notifications. I know right now you can actually contact the Kyle Police Department through an app but it doesn’t even have a way to attach a photo. So if you want to report a lost dog you have to write out a description. So I would like to find ways to keep up with some of the more advanced technologies. Say if you want to get alerts for the budget or a certain committee you could check a certain box and that would give you touch notification and then you could actually write down some of your input for council members to read, something that goes back and forth so the communications is two-way. You definitely have to be more transparent with what we do through social media and the web site.
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