Editor’s Note: The following is a transcript of the conversation I had Sept. 13 with District 4 City Council candidate Tim McHutchion.
Kyle Report (KR): Why are you running?
McHutchion: Because I’ve lived in Kyle for 15 years and I feel the need now to step up and serve my community. I have 30-plus years managerial experience and that’s in leadership and organizational skills. I feel that running a business is no different than running a city. You just have a larger budget. You have larger projects and you have a larger wish-list. I can bring that kind of common sense to the table.
KR: What two or three things would you like to accomplish during your three year term?
McHutchion: I would like to reaffirm to the people of District 4 and of Kyle that their voice is heard. My slogan for my campaign is a new voice for Kyle. That’s not my voice. That’s the voice of the people. I would like to re-establish and actually just let me say continue forth the confidence people have in the leadership of this district. Mr. Wilson (current District 4 council member David Wilson) has been a wonderful person on the council and I would like to carry that forward — that same message that we’re here for you. We’re here to hear what you want. And us, as a representative of the people, bring it to the council so the people feel that "Well, if I don’t say anything, it doesn’t matter." I want folks to feel "Yes, call me. Let me know what your issues are. I will take that to the council and we will see what we can do for you."
KR: Did the council pass anything in the last year you strongly objected to?
McHutchion: I can honestly say right now that I cannot. I think that the current city council we have has been steering this city in the right direction. I have been saying for a long time now that Kyle is in the crossroads of change. We’re having growing pains right now. We’ve grown very quickly in a short amount of time. I can say that after living here 15 years. But how we manage the growth — it’s inevitable that Kyle’s going to keep on growing — but how we manage that growth will determine the future of this city. I want to continue forth with the same momentum the city council’s had. I want to take that torch and carry that same momentum forward and reach those same goals.
KR: There are people in this city, however, who would like to stop that growth. Can you work with them or do you consider this a fringe element that should just be excluded from the discussion?
McHutchion: The city council represents all the districts of our city. We are elected officials to gather for one common purpose — to work for the best ideals for the people of Kyle. So any differences, we should put those aside and work as a team and I firmly believe in that. While I’m running my campaign I have nothing but respect for my opponent. I have actually personally walked up to him and shook his hand and wished hm luck on this campaign because the people will make the ultimate decision on who they want to represent them in our district. So I don’t bring to the table any animosity against any city council member. I would just work with them and if we have differences, we have differences. But at the end of the day we all walk away and feel that we did the best job we could do to serve the people.
KR: It appears the overwhelming percentage of jobs that have been added to Kyle’s economy of late are retail, possibly minimum wage retail. What do you propose to do to try to get higher paying jobs, bigger economic developments into Kyle?
McHutchion: More interaction and communication with our Economic Development Department. That’s number one. Planning and Zoning to make sure that we are actively zoning areas in Kyle that may not really be developed right now but could be prime locations for larger business. Eighty percent of the people who live here commute out of Kyle because we’re a neighborhood community. I would love to see business come in that would generate more jobs. But I also believe in very responsible growth. And what I mean by responsible growth is that I’d like to see larger businesses come in where people could work, live and play in Kyle, but I am very adamant about that business or industry not doing any harm to the land or the people. I’m very adamant about that.
KR: Do you think it might be in Kyle’s best interest to forget regional approaches to attracting new business with groups like the Greater San Marcos Partnership and focus instead on working more closely with our own chamber of commerce?
McHutchion: I think it’s important to have a working relationship with our neighboring cities. That’s important as long as those partnerships are constructive and meet the expectations on both sides of the aisle. But here in Kyle our main concern is to focus on our city’s growth. That should be our number one priority. If partnering with another city would aid us in achieving that goal I’m all for it. But if it does not, then we need to concentrate on ourselves. We are a growing municipality. We’re growing in leaps and bounds. We really have to focus ourselves at home here on what can do to grow our infrastructure better to get more jobs ro people living here in Kyle.
KR: Tax dollars are spent to belong to the Greater San Marcos Partnership. Are we getting a fair return on those dollars being spent and, if not, how would you redirect that money?
McHutchion: I am really not familiar with the San Marcos Partnership. I would like to sit down and study that partnership more to see what it entails.
KR: Do you believe city government should give tax incentives for businesses to locate here and, if so, how far would you be willing to go on those incentives?
McHutchion: That is a very good question. All I can say at this point is that I welcome big business to come into Kyle. But one thing that I don’t want to happen in Kyle is for a small business to go under and then the owners there have to go to work for the big business. I feel that big business is big business. They can afford to do feasibility studies out of pocket much easier than a small business can. I’m a big advocate of small business. I believe it brings a brand to your city. I really do. And I think it also attracts tourists because of the uniqueness of it. Most big businesses that come into any city are going to look for incentives. They’re going to gauge where they place that business based on what kind of tax abatements they may be given. Employee incentives. Things of that nature. But I believe myself that those incentives need to be scrutinized and to make sure that it’s not, at the end of the day, affecting our taxing base where we get our money from. This city’s growing and we have infrastructure issues. We have issues in this city that go beyond that $36 million bond with the streets that we’re upgrading right now. Downtown is a perfect example of infrastructure. We need new water lines, sewage lines downtown under the streets. We need some infrastructure repairs for downtown. So I guess what in a nutshell I’m saying is that I would be very frugal with those incentives and I would make sure that we’re not, for lack of a better term, cutting off our nose to spite our face.
KR: Do you believe Kyle must become stronger aesthetically and, if so, what do you propose to accomplish that?
McHutchion: I have mentioned this a couple of times. I’m very much in for infrastructure, for streets, road repair, parks, community areas because I think it will attract families to come to our town. Downtown is my biggest issue right now. I’ve told several people this. I have a dream that one day I would like to see Kyle pretty much from Center Street, where it is, ending at Burleson, that entire small section there turn into a tourist area with specialty shops, arts and crafts, family-oriented businesses. It would attract families into Kyle. Then they would not only see our beautiful downtown, they would start driving around. They would see our beautiful community areas, our parks and they would think "what a wonderful place to live." I believe that, yes, the further beautification of our city is going to bring more families in, which, of course, will call for us to provide more services to them. But I’m all for that kind of growth. All for it.
KR: Do you believe Kyle must become stronger culturally and, if so, what do you propose to accomplish that? Do you think Kyle suffers from the fact it doesn't have something like a community theater, an art gallery or the like, or do you think Kyle is still too provincial to support such activities?
McHutchion: Kyle is in a stage of growing pains right now. From the time the city charter was formed in 1972 until now — with the explosive growth happening basically happening in 2001, 2002, it just exploded — so I think to some of the people that live here it’s been a little bit of a shock to them. The old-timers who have been here for many, many years, since 1972 or 1982. It’s a shock, the expansion. But I think that as the city grows that naturally what you just mentioned — community theaters, art expositions, even the construction down the road of a community center where things like this could be done — I think that will be inevitable. I really do think so. And I think it will be because the people want it. As our city grows, we will become more culturally diversified and that just goes without saying, by the number of families that move in and the race they are. That’s going to diversify our culture. And as we get bigger and diversify that culture more those items will probably come on the table.
KR: Many cities, including many cities smaller than Kyle, have within city government a department bearing the same of Office of Cultural Affairs, or something very similar. Do you think Kyle needs to look at something like that?
McHutchion: Yes, especially if we’re growing. We’re going to want to address the cultural needs of that diverse population in our city. So absolutely I do.
KR: What rules or procedures, if any, does the council have in place that you would like to change?
McHutchion: It’s funny you should ask that question because I do have one. Once in office one thing I would like to propose is the amount of time that we have on the city council meetings. Being a manager for over 30 years, my concern is that when you have a city council meeting that lasts until midnight, one or in some cases 2 a.m. in the morning — we hold our city council meetings in the evening, of course, because most people on the council they work or they own a business. I do not feel that anyone, no matter what your education level, how smart you are, at 12 midnight and you’ve already been working a full day and it’s already midnight and you have an issue you need to vote on, I just don’t think you can effectively do it after that kind of exhaustion. In fact, if anything, it makes you more susceptible to suggestion. So that’s one of the things I would like to change. I would like to see a city council meeting last from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m.
KR: How do you accomplish that?
McHutchion: Work with the city manager to look at the agenda items, see how we can prioritize those agenda items and if something can be carried forward until the next city council meeting as an agenda item, that’s the way I would approach it right now.
KR: Returning to the subject of downtown, do you believe the city council needs to adapt a well-defined strategy for its downtown area and, if so, what should that strategy be?
McHutchion: Yes, I do. I love this city. We need to start in a prioritization mode. It’s like anything else. By putting together a wish list of projects that needs to be done — streets, plumbing repairs beneath the streets, getting together with owners of properties for infrastructure upgrades. Additional businesses coming into downtown would need to conform with the architecture of the old buildings. Buda has done this. And it’s worked out well for them. And I think it would work out very well for us. Downtown, to me, is the biggest gem in the rough that we have in Kyle. When I first moved here 15 years ago I drove by accident into Kyle. And when I saw it, the first thing that hit my mind was baseball, apple pie and Chevrolet. I loved it. In fact, to be quite honest with you, I thought I was looking at a Norman Rockwell picture — it was so cute and so quaint. Gruene has been very successful with this. Also, to step back even further and look at a bigger municipality, San Antonio. When the military pulled out in the ‘80s, San Antonio was looking at a death sentence for all those dollars that were going to be lost. But their mayor turned around, partnered with a very wealthy person at that time and converted downtown, made it look beautiful with brick streets. Fixed up the Majestic building. Fixed up the Robert E. Lee and started making downtown look beautiful. Now it’s a tourist attraction. The same path can be followed by Kyle, the same path, Of course, not on a scale of San Antonio, but on the scale that we have here in Kyle. This could take years, but the end result would be we would have what I call an Old Town downtown Kyle that would be friendly for families. I would love to see market days every weekend and it would give us a boost of tourism that would be incredible for our city.
KR: How do you feel about residential development in downtown?
McHutchion: I am very happy Burleson Road is getting the upgrade it’s going to be receiving from that bond passed in 2015. They’re in sore need of the new street. Curbs. Sidewalks. To beautify, offsetting downtown. I think that’s extremely important. So I’m all for the infrastructure growth of the neighborhoods around downtown.
KR: But getting back to my original question, do you see the need for any kind of concentration of residential development downtown?
McHutchion: No, I do not. I can’t see where any kind of residential can go in. I feel that we have enough apartments already. I don’t want to have an apartment-explosive growth here in Kyle. So it just depends on that residential. Are we talking about townhomes? Are we talking about apartments? Are we talking about someone buying an older house in one of those neighborhoods to refurbish it?
KR: As is widely predicted, Kyle is going to keep on growing and it won’t be long when all the land available for subdivisions has been developed as subdivisions. When that happens – and it can happen, according to many forecasters — within the next 50 years. Kyle has two choices: (1) It can put a padlock on the door and refuse to let anyone else in or (2) it can begin to grow vertically. Which is the best option and, if it’s vertical growth, shouldn’t that be concentrated in the city’s core areas?
McHutchion: Once again, my vision for downtown is as a tourist attraction. I think that, as Kyle grows, we would probably have other areas of the city that would be close to downtown that might be prime candidates for that type of housing. But I would just not want to see any type of large eight, nine story structure go up near downtown that’s all for residents. I think aesthetically it would take away from what we are trying to achieve with downtown.
KR: Last year, the council raised the height limitations on buildings located in areas zoned RS to 150 feet. Would you advocate for and/or support these same heights on buildings in the proposed new Mixed Use and Office/Institutional zoning categories?
McHutchion: Sure I would. I would definitely support that. If it’s going to be for bringing business in, office spaces, residential. But I would tend to think if it was a 15-story structure it might be more along the lines of office space, possibly even retail space and I’m all for that because the retail is encouraging business and it’s encouraging business on the office side too. So it would encourage business to be in Kyle and for people to live, work, play in Kyle.
KR: What are your feelings about removing the height restrictions on multi-family to allow for high rise apartment/condominium developments in Kyle?
McHutchion: That would have to depend on the growth of Kyle and the restrictions that would be placed on the availability of land and zoning at that point.
KR: Would you support a plan for the city to contract for municipal auditing services similar to the way the city contracts for its City Attorney?
McHutchion: I would kind of like to study that and see what it could bring to the table for Kyle, What the pros and cons would be. I would like to actually see a proposal for that put in front of me before I could actually give an answer to it.
KR: What is you analysis of the last city budget that was approved?
McHutchion: I was happy with it because it did save citizens three cents on their property taxes. I think it was very proactive of the city. I actually have a copy that Jennifer sent to me and I looked over some of it, but not all of it. And I haven’t had a chance to actually see if there was anything that was spent that was not meant to be. Right now I would really like to have a thorough understanding of what this budget entails in spending before I could give any effective answer to how I feel about its effectiveness.
KR: What was omitted from the budget that you want included for the next fiscal year?
McHutchion: Nothing that I am aware of.
KR: Are you familiar with a municipal budgeting process known as budgeting for outcomes?
McHutchion: No.
KR: What, if any, structural changes would you propose for the city staff?
McHutchion: Once again, on that, I would, once in office, as a business person, I would want to look at our budgets by departments to see what the budget supports in that department, what the projects are for that department and what the wish list is for that department, so that I could assist in prioritizing those needs and addressing them for each department. That means one department might want to do something here or something there, so we’re not being wasteful with the taxpayers’ money we’re going to do this now and we’re going to put this off for next year’s budget.
KR: Give me your analysis of the changes the council made this year to the city’s Comprehensive Plan and what additional changes do you think are necessary.
McHutchion: I’m not familiar with the Comprehensive Plan.
KR: Does Kyle have an issue with parking that needs to be addressed and, if so, how would you address it?
McHutchion: I think that one of the major concerns that I have is downtown. The storefront parking is wonderful. It gives such a quaint view of how our city once was. It actually tells you the kind of traffic we’ve had at one time. But I’m noticing now that it’s a very challenging situation. So how do you fix something like that? Do we address putting in parking lots? And if we put in parking lots, where are they going to go? That deals with the issue of aesthetics. I wouldn’t want to see some big lumbering parking lot right near downtown when we’re trying to get it to look pretty. At the same time I don’t want to impede business owners from having people park right in front of their business. That is, once again, a growing pain that we’re going to have to look at and address. I think ir’s downtown where we mostly have a situation for parking.
KR: There’s an expression among city planners that goes "If pizza was free, there would never be enough pizza." Would you say that might be a valid reason for installing parking meters downtown?
McHutchion: Yes, I do. Parking meters would be good because it would time parking in downtown and not tie up a space all day for someone. I totally agree with that.
KR: What changes would you like to see made to the city’s charter?
McHutchion: One that I know of right now. In 1972, when the city created its charter, the infrastructure in Kyle was very, very little, almost non-existent aside from the town itself and there was hardly any money in the coffers. It was a very little city. So when they said "If you buy a home in Kyle, you’ll have to repair your front sidewalk," it made perfect sense because the city didn’t have money to do it; And I think that worked for 30 years. It worked out just fine for everybody. But in the last 15 years, with the growth that we’ve experienced, the sidewalks in front of people’s homes — and this is what I’ve heard from the people.
KR: But that’s governed by city ordinances, not the city charter.
McHutchion: But it’s an ordinance that was part of the charter, from what I understood.
KR: No. Ordinances and the city charter are two entirely different things.
McHutchion: I would then say I would have to look at the city charter to see if there’s anything in there that’s kind of antiquated that could be changed or upgraded. And what I mean by that, you go back to the Texas Penal Code and it’s against the law to drive your horseless carriage at night without gas lamps.
KR: If it came to a vote on the city council, would you vote to reinstate Jessie Espinoza to the Kyle Police Department?
McHutchion: I would have to say that from the standpoint of the courts and what they have determined as an outcome of it, possibly. However, I think that Officer Espinoza is a perfect example of what I have said before about our police department, which I support and its chief. But I believe that more effective screening processes should be done to make sure that we put the right people in the right jobs on these public services. That’s about the best answer I could give to you on this right now.
KR: What changes would you propose to the city’s sign ordinance?
McHutchion: I understand there’s an ordinance for businesses that you can’t place signage in front of your businesses and I understand that we’re actually working on that — that Mr. Koontz (Comuity Development Director Howard Joontz) was actually working on that right now. Now I really didn’t understand past that there were other issues with signage in the city — other than the neon sign at City Hall.
KR: Give me your assessment of the city’s PID policy and do you think the city should do more with TIFs?
McHutchion: My understanding of Public Improvement Districts is, first of all, they have to be approved by the people who live in that district.
KR: Kyle, however, uses them for development purposes so, in reality, there isn’t anyone "living in the district" at the time they are approved.
McHutchion: To be quite honest with you, I think that would be unfair to the person buying that home because then it would turn out later that they are actually paying for the improvements in the district they live in and they didn’t even know that they had to. And when people buy homes in Kyle I don’t want them to be shocked by things like that. It’s not fair.
KR: So what do you think about using TIFs as a development tool?
McHutchion: I’m not familiar with TIFs.
KR: In your opinion, does Kyle have a transportation problem and, if so, what steps would you take to correct it?
McHutchion: Well, Kyle has no public transportation aside from some taxi services and down the road we may have to look at that.
KR: Putting public transportation aside, does Kyle have any other problems with getting from one place to another?
McHutchion: As the city grows we’re going to see more and more delays in that. It’s going to take you longer to get from one place to another as we grow. I think personally the current city council has done a pretty good job of how we’re laying out the city — its streets, the width of them, traffic flow. I think they’ve done a pretty good job so far. And I think we should just try to carry forward with it.
KR: Does the city need to improve its park network and, if so, how?
McHutchion: I think Kerry’s (Parks Director Kerry Urbanowicz) done a wonderful job with the parks. I think Kyle’s parks have grown phenomenally in the last few years. I think that Parks and Rec does a wonderful job with the same budget that they had last year. I think that as the city grows we will need more areas for public parks. We can have it addressed at that time. But I think that right now we’re fairly adequate with what we have right now.
KR: Do you see a need for additional pocket parks and open spaces and, if so, where should they be located?
McHutchion: When dealing with zoning issues like with new subdivisions coming in, there should be. I live in Plum Creek and Plum Creek has wonderful little pocket parks. So I think for any subdivision being planned, yeah let’s include some pocket parks because, let’s face it, if you mention how hard it is to get around Kyle without a car let’s make it accessible to the people living within the subdivision.
KR: What would you propose to increase citizen participation in municipal government?
McHutchion: By making the people feel who they are. I’ve already mentioned to several folks already I’m applying for a job as a public servant. The people of District 4 and the people of Kyle are the government. And I need to re-instill that to people that I’m talking to — to make them understand "your participation is needed, desperately, because you’re the government. You’re telling us what you want done and if we don’t hear from you then we’re going to assume that everything’s OK, that there is no problem." But that’s what I want is to encourage to call me, talk to me, let me know what’s going on. I want that input from the public and hopefully that would spurt more interest.
KR: Do you think city council elections should be held every year?
McHutchion: It depends for the terms of office. So if they’re held every year because the terms are staggered, we can’t work around that. But I’m not sure how it ever got to a point where the terms overran each other.
KR: Evaluate the current council makeup of three at-large and three single-member districts?
McHutchion: The at-large folks tells me there was not enough participation in those districts that somebody wanted to step up and represent that district. Or, you have someone that says "Well, I want to run for city council. I live in this district but I’ll run at large for this district." As long as the ideals that they have will benefit the district they are running at-large for and the city, I’m comfortable with it. I’m OK with it. As long as their ideals are in line with goals to continue moving forward from where we are right now.
KR: Give me your evaluation of City Manager Scott Sellers’s performance?
McHutchion: I think Scott Sellers is a phenomenal city manager. I really do. I think Scott has brought a lot to this city and will continue to bring a lot to this city. Scott Sellers has vision and I think that his vision so far has proved to be good. He’s working for the best interests of the city. I really think he is. I strongly support him and will always continue to support Scott. I think he’s a fantastic, phenomenal individual.
KR: Now for the requisite final question: Anything else you would like to add?
McHutchion: Only that I share the same fiscal responsibility as David Wilson and I want to carry that forward.
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