Council to consider manager’s contract, confusing animal ordinance

It’s illegal to kill a rattlesnake in Kyle.

I know. I know. I, too, have seen the accounts of Kyle residents discovering a rattlesnake or some other member of the Crotalinae family in their yard or even on their front porch and finding some way for the creature to meet its demise. But still…

What used to be Section 5-77 (b) of Kyle’s Code of Ordinances — but will become Section 5-77 (d) if the City Council approves Agenda item 24 of its Tuesday night agenda — reads: "It shall be unlawful for any person to hunt, shoot, intentionally injure or kill any wild bird, animal, mammal or reptile within the corporate limits of the city." Pretty dang clear. It’s illegal to kill a rattlesnake in Kyle.

I have no idea what the penalty would be for such a heinous crime. In fact, I seriously doubt this section of the ordinance will ever be enforced. I seriously doubt this section of this ordnance can be enforced. My advice: If you call animal services to remove a dead rattlesnake from your property and the city official who shows up asks any questions about the bullet in the snake’s head, simply feign complete innocence. Just say, for all you know, the snake died of natural causes. I’m betting you’ll get a pass.

I also think the same thing is true if I wander over to Lowe’s or Home Depot and purchase a live trap to capture and dispose of some marsupial that invaded my home (which, in fact, has happened to me in the past), even though the council is scheduled to vote on language in this ordinance that will now state: "It shall be unlawful for any person, other than animal control officers, to set, trigger, activate or otherwise use, or cause to be set, triggered, activated or used, any steel-jawed, leg hold trap, or any other trapping device, including live traps unless it is loaned to the person by the animal control division, for the capture of any animal." (I’m wondering if Lowe’s or Home Depot can sue the city charging "restraint of trade." I’m wondering if the city will try to force Lowe’s or Home Depot to quit selling "illegal" merchandise to Kyle residents?)

The section does go on to say "This subsection is not intended to prohibit the prudent use of traps on one’s own property to control rodents." But does the City follow scientific classifications to determine what is and what is not a rodent? Or is it going to make up its own rules. A possum is not a rodent. Neither is a skunk. Is the City insisting that instead of handling a skunk or possum invasion simply and quickly, a citizen of Kyle must go through the red tape of borrowing one from the City? A new addition to this ordinance, Section 5-77 [c] would read: "Live traps may be loaned to citizens within the city limits by the animal control division for no more than 14 days. The citizen shall sign a trap agreement prior to the loaning of a live trap. If the trap is damaged, lost, or stolen while in the citizen’s possession, the citizen shall pay the city a fee of $50." And what’s with this "may be loaned" business? Does that also mean it "may not"? If you ask for a live traps too many times are you going to be labeled a "Serial Animal Trapper" and be placed in some database.

This is simply another example of the City trying to legislate where legislation is not needed.

However, I’m guessing I’m the only person in these parts scratching my head over these proposed changes to the city’s Animal Protection ordinances. The most talked-about item on this Tuesday’s agenda most likely will be the one to extend City Manager Scott Sellers’s employment contract. And, unfortunately, I’m afraid the City Council and many municipal staff members will be forced to endure the embarrassingly painful ordeal of having to sit patiently through the whining of a certain few who will speak against this proposal. This opposition falls into two groups: 1. Those who want to get rid of Scott Sellers, and 2. The usual gang of idiots.

I’m willing to listen to those in Group 1 if they can make a logical, factual and convincing argument for firing the city manager. I don’t think they can. I’ve been closely associated with, worked for or alongside close to a dozen city managers. Most them could be accurately described as tyrants. An argument could be made — I could even support that argument in certain cases — that a city manager must be tyrannical at times to manage effectively. I could even argue tyranny is not a character flaw as long as you retain the respect for those who work for you.

However, I defy anyone to find a trace of tyranny in Sellers’s character. From the evidence I’ve seen talking to and just hanging around city employees, Sellers has not only earned their respect but these employees genuinely like having him as their boss.

Early estimates set the cost of bringing the city’s wastewater facilities up to speed at $19 million. By my (albeit, unofficial) tally, Sellers has managed to finance around $11 million of that cost without spending one single cent of taxpayer moneys. That $11 million savings to the city’s taxpayers, alone, is enough for the city to want to retain Sellers’s expertise and service.

There’s also the fact that this year he proposed a budget that called for a one-cent reduction in the property tax rate. That’s one more cent than the Hays CISD, rated a failure not only by the Texas Education Agency, but national watchdogs as well, reduced its rate. Incidentally, cities also get letter grades. They are graded by bonding agencies such as Standard & Poor’s and unlike the Ds and Fs received by our local schools, the City of Kyle has received the grade of AA- by S&P. "I can assure you with confidence that the bond rating of the City of Kyle does reflect, in my opinion, the rating agency's assessment of the City's economy, financial strength and liquidity, key financial trends, financial management policies and practices, budgetary performance, ad valorem tax and debt capacity; experience, stability and continuity of its key financial officers, and the strength of its management team," Perwez A. Moheet, the city’s finance director, told me earlier this week. Why would anyone in their right mind risk that rating by getting rid of the leader of that strong management team?

Here’s the (financial) bottom line of this deal: The City Council is proposing to pay Sellers a paltry $251 a year more than the average of the salaries of the city managers of Buda, Cedar Park, Georgetown, Leander, New Braunfels, Round Rock, Scherz, Seguin, and San Marcos, and having been directly involved with the workings of city managers for more years than most of those in Group 2 have been alive, I can assure everyone else that Scott Sellers’s worth to the City and citizens of Kyle is far greater than $251 a year above average.

Other items of interest on Tuesday’s agenda include:

• Item 18 seeks to rezone a narrow four-acre strip of land at 1381 Goforth from Agriculture to Warehouse. The Planning Commission voted earlier this week to recommend retail services zoning. But the question remains: Was the commission’s action legal? Even the City’s supporting arguments on this item are not conclusive. "In truth, the applicant can still move forward with his proposed land use under the terms of RS," according to these documents. The problem is that it is illegal to decide zoning questions based on land use, but only on whether the proposed zoning fits the location. And since the land that sits on the western border of this parcel is zoned construction/manufacturing, it is impossible to view warehouse zoning as incompatible. However, the documents also states "The applicant is aware of the (Planning) Commission’s recommendation and does not object to the parcel having RS assigned." So there’s that.
• In 1908, a gentleman by the name of Albert Rockwell, who was the founder and general manager of a company located in Bristol, Conn., known as the New Departure Manufacturing Co., traveled to Europe for the sole purpose of evaluating the taxi systems on that continent. By the end of the following year, Rockwell had a fleet of orange-yellow colored taxicabs plying the streets of Manhattan. In March of 1910, the board of directors of the New Departure Manufacturing Co. assumed operating control of Rockwell’s taxis and on April 4, 1912, they officially incorporated their operation as the Yellow Taxicab Co. I bring all this up to illustrate that even the giants of an industry had to start somewhere. And Tuesday, the Kyle City Council could launch the start of a brand new cab company, On Tyme Taxi and Courier Service, by granting the San-Marcos based company a franchise to operate its cabs in Kyle. (In return, the taxi company agrees to "pay to the City, to the attention of the City’s director of finance, 3.5 percent of the total amount billed to and collected from riders or customers for the taxi service fees and any other income derived from the operation of the taxi service within the city limits, which said remittance shall be made monthly on or before the 10th day of each calendar month.") The company will operate three vehicles, a 2015 Hyundai Sonata, a 2012 Jeep Wrangler Sahara Unlimited and a 2006 Chrysler PT Cruiser. It will charge $15 for trips within Kyle, $20 for trips to Buda, $25 for trips to San Marcos north of Highway 80 and $35 for trips south (including the outlet mall), $60 to the Austin airport, $130 to the San Antonio airport, and $55 to Austin’s 6^th Street. I don’t know if that means you will have to negotiate a price to have the cab company take you to see a home UT football game.
• Another in the series of periodic updates provided City Engineer Leon Barba on the road bond projects, information that also can be found here.
• A presentation from Stormwater Director Kathy Roecker on the Hays County Hazard Mitigation Plan, "a "document that outlines actions that can be taken to reduce or eliminate long-term risk to people and their property from hazards," A draft of that document is not expected to be completed until the spring, according to Roecker, but I believe what she will be pushing for is citizen "input regarding local community hazards," which citizens can provide by participating in a survey that can be found here.
• The second reading of an ordinance that will finally allow the owners of property located near downtown to apply for R-1-3 zoning. The agenda states R-1-A zoning will be sought, but that’s because there’s no such zoning in Kyle as R-1-3 until the council passes Item 8 on Tuesday’s Consent Agenda. These measures are opposed by a number of nearby residents who will find any reason, none that have been made so far which are legitimate, to oppose change in their neighborhood.
• A measure to donate a 1988 GMC armored truck to the Pearsall Independent School District Police Department, which, according to a letter from Pearsall ISD Police Chief Crisanto Marquez, "will be an extra tool used for the protection of officers and citizens in a crisis situation. The vehicle will be a great asset to our rural community, because of our limited resources." Last November, the Frio County town experienced a hostage situation that ended rather unusually and two months earlier the local police department stopped two illegal gambling organizations by seizing 46 8-liner machines and at least $5,300 in cash," So there’s that
• A request to dispose of 17 sets of bulletproof vests labeled by the Kyle PD as "past their expiration date." According to a police memo "There are companies that will collect the body armor and dispose of it preventing it from being accessible to any criminal element." So there’s that, as well.
• An agreement to give reduced amounts of the city’s Hotel Occupancy Taxes to the Chamber of Commerce during the current and following two fiscal years: $85,000 this year, $61,000 next fiscal year, and $37,000 the year after that.
• A proposal to award Halff & Associates the contract to devise a Stormwater Master Plan (described by Barba as "a comprehensive plan to address critical drainage problems and an effective tool to manage future development") for the city. At present, there is no cost listed with this item , although I’m sure Halff will not be performing this out of the goodness of their hearts.
• The expenditure of up to $100,000 for drainage improvements to an existing culvert on FM 2770 just north of Hellman. This is a TxDOT-maintained road and that agency has projected the total cost of upgrading the culvert from a 10-year design frequency to at least a 25-year design frequency to be in the neighborhood of $450,000. According to the City’s documents, "The City would only provide up to a maximum of $100,000.00 and the remainder of the cost to design and construct the proposed drainage improvements would be borne by TxDOT and the Plum Creek Development."
• An executive session during which council members will discuss as many as five economic development projects and receive an update on the Jesse Espinoza appeal process.