Webster’s Folly: Mayor abuses both charter, Roberts Rules to ram through ineffective resolution that can’t be enforced

Mayor Todd Webster, acting more and more every day like a petty despot seeking revenge on those who disagree with him and less and less like anyone resembling a leader, abused the Kyle City Charter, the council/manager form of government and Roberts Rules of Order last night to pass a resolution that will accomplish one thing and one thing only: create more lasting animosities among those in municipal government. It will also have the side effect of making him the butt of many jokes inside City Hall.

Webster is upset that council members Diane Hervol and Daphne Tenorio are taking their responsibilities on the council more seriously than the other members and appear to be doing this by, among other things, asking City Manager Scott Sellers a lot of questions about items on the council’s agenda or even general questions about what the city is doing on a variety of topics. Webster wants to deal with council members who only know what he wants them to know and only think the way he thinks, so any independent thought or action is strictly verboten under Webster’s style of rule. To put it simply, he wants to dumb down the council members as much as possible, while Hervol and Tenorio are seeking increase their knowledge about the best way to govern a city like Kyle. So he introduced an illegal resolution designed to force Sellers to deflect many of Hervol’s and Tenorio’s questions to Chief of Staff Jerry Hendrix, who, if Sellers had any intention of adhering to this resolution, would probably have to get the answers from Sellers anyway, delaying the entire response process. But then that’s Webster’s other intention.

Now, if the other three council members present (Shane Arabie was absent from last night’s meeting but he not only fits with this group as well, he takes great pride in belonging to it) had been as inquisitive as Hervol and Tenorio, perhaps, they, too, would have learned Webster’s resolution violated the council/manager form of government. But, sadly, no. They are not about to start thinking on their own, they are content to subsist on the pablum spoon fed to them by Webster.

Here’s why, regardless of Webster’s illegal maneuvering, Sellers will continue to conduct business at City Hall just as he always has. Sellers is not only wise in the ways of government, he’s also ambitious. Sellers knows Webster’s resolution violates the very core of the council/manager form of government. He also hopes Kyle is not going to be the last stop of his professional career and when that day comes when he has the opportunity to move to a more prominent city manager’s position in another municipality, he doesn’t want to be saddled with the reputation of someone who violated the tenets of the council/manager form of government. He has his own career to protect. I’m also betting Sellers is smart enough to know the resolution is impossible to enforce. It has all the impact of the ordinance passed immediately prior to Webster’s folly, an ordinance amending the city’s sign ordinance to allow certain billboards to be converted to variable electronic billboards. Problem is, no one who owns a billboard in Kyle has any desire to convert their signs. The council might just as well passed an ordinance informing the Oakland Raiders they could build a football stadium in Kyle.

If it wasn’t so sad to witness, it would have been laughable watching council members Damon Fogley, David Wilson and Becky Selberra stumble through their reasonings for supporting Webster’s revenge tactics. In their desperate search to find a reason — any reason — to support Webster, they kept arguing that they were actually doing Sellers a favor. (Which brings to mind the old adage, "With friends like those, who needs enemies?") I can’t speak for Wilson or Selberra, but I think Fogley’s ramblings, just like all the mistakes he made during his election campaign (incorrect financial reports, claiming he had a PAC that didn’t exist and accepting illegal campaign contributions), spring forth not from any intentions to deliberately attempt anything illegal, but simply from the fact he just doesn’t know the right way to conduct himself in this arena. He is like someone trying to play bridge without knowing any of the rules of the game. I know in legal terms ignorance of the law is not a defense, but I’m willing to give Fogley the benefit of the doubt. In this case, I simply believe he really doesn’t know enough about the council/manager form of government to realize Webster’s resolution was a gross violation and thus unenforceable. But it should give citizens some concern to realize that our City Council is comprised of Diane Hervol, Daphne Tenorio and four dummies controlled by a puppeteer. How else do you explain that they believe a section of the charter titled "Prohibitions" grants them "Permission"?

Webster’s abuses of Roberts Rules of Order have been documented previously and are glaring at every single council meeting. But this time it crossed over into the absurd. Webster allowed the council to, in violation of Roberts, debate the pros and cons of a motion for 23 minutes without a motion being placed on the item and then when a motion finally did arrive on the scene, from Fogley (again out of ignorance, not deviousness) it was to ask for a roll call vote on a motion that had never been made. I know I’m dating myself here, but try to picture Harpo Marx presiding over a meeting of The Three Stooges and you may get somewhat of an inkling of what it’s like to watch the Kyle City Council in action. I was relieved only by the fact that the entire matter was completely inconsequential.

In other matters last night:

• The council heard presentations from Julie Snyder, CEO of the Kyle Chamber of Commerce, and Adriana Cruz, president of the Greater San Marcos Partnership. Snyder told the council how much she is doing for Kyle with less money from Kyle taxpayers and Cruz told the council how little she is doing for Kyle with additional money from Kyle taxpayers. See anything wrong with that picture? First of all, if Kyle is to participate in the latter organization, that organization needs to change its name to rid it of the "San Marcos" identification. Anything called the Greater San Marcos Partnership is going to have a built-in San Marcos bias and the truth is, most of the "big trophies on the wall," the partnership can take credit for have all gone to San Marcos. Later this month the partnership is sponsoring a small business forum. Bet you can guess which city is hosting the forum. Not only that, Cruz had the unmitigated gall to say she hopes she can convert Kyle into "the Arlington of Central Texas." My lord! Anyone who has spent any time at all in North Central Texas knows the last place you want to aspire to be is Arlington, a city that has burdened its taxpayers to pay for two pro sports stadiums, has decaying infrastructure, major teen gang and drug problems, a lot of infamously high-crime strip clubs, and narrow potholed-ridden streets. OK, there’s Six Flags. I’ll give you that. But these days Six Flags in Arlington is known more for the patrons it has killed than for its entertainment value. And Six Flags doesn’t contribute that much to the local economy because those that visit there find food and lodgings in either Dallas or Fort Worth (which is also true of those attending events in the sports stadiums). If you’re picking a city between Dallas and Fort Worth, at least go with Irving which, in its Las Colinas neighborhood, is the home of major corporations (Exxon’s world headquarters are located there), a PGA golf tournament (the Byron Nelson) and one of the most prestigious hotels in the state (the Omni Mandalay). But, no, the Greater San Marcos Partnership’s goals are not nearly that lofty for Kyle — they want to transform us into Arlington. Ugh! I say "Kyle: Get out of the partnership while the getting is good, enact a 4B economic development program and do more to help our own Chamber of Commerce."
• No one showed up to speak either for or against a plan to annex a little less than 136 acres of land located west of Old Stagecoach Road, adjoining the southernmost part of Hometown Kyle during a public hearing on the annexation. However, Tim P. Miller, who told the council he was the "one certified organic farmer in your town," spoke out against it strongly during the citizen comment section of the agenda meeting, claiming all the additional traffic on Old Stagecoach Road will "pollute me out of business." Miller also expressed concerns about tree mitigation in the area to be annexed as well as the environmental impact of constructing "600 homes" in an area he said is the habitat for some endangered species. The public hearing was the first of two state-mandated such hearings on the subject and they will be followed by two readings of the annexation ordinance. Planning Director Howard J. Koontz said the entire annexation process should be completed by October. The next public hearing, however, will technically be an illegal public hearing and I’m willing to bet there’s not a single person on the city council who knows why.
• The council voted unanimously to rezone a half-acre of land on North Old Highway 81, immediately south of where it splits off from the I-35 frontage road, from single family residential to retail service district zoning because the property’s owner, Ypolita Cruz Saucedo, who currently resides in Lockhart, can sell the property at a higher price with that revised zoning and because, frankly, it is perfectly consistent with the surrounding area. The current resident of a house on that property spoke against the rezoning but her stated reasons for opposing it had to do with flooding prevalent in the area, which, of course, is totally unrelated to its zoning.