Thunderpalooza, Kyle Klips, plus other sordid tales from Kyle’s not-too-distant past and how it all relates to the upcoming runoff election

 The musical The Music Man by Meredith Wilson tells the story of a con man by the name of Harold Hill who travels from town to town in the American Midwest of the early 1900s promising to form boys’ marching bands in each burg and then skipping town after collecting cash for band instruments and uniforms from the naïve townsfolk. 

A little less than a century after Harold Hill conned local townsfolk, Kyle was visited by its own Henry Hill. This time the person used the name Rocky DeMarco, and instead of promising to sell band uniforms and instruments, DeMarco came to town on Sept. 5, 2006, and said he represented a non-profit foundation called Human Spirit and that foundation wanted to stage a concert at the old Central Texas Speedway in Kyle to benefit under privileged children and the Breast Cancer Association. The event was going to be called Thunderpalooza (because the race track was also known as Thunderhill Raceway), it was to be held Nov. 4 of that year and it would star no less than the Beach Boys. This DeMarco fellow came before the Kyle City Council on that September evening and said all he needed to make this a reality was $40,000 from the city’s Hotel Occupancy Tax Fund. The money was not for him, he said, but it was needed to secure the Beach Boys.

At least two council members smelled a rat. One of those two, Todd Webster, would later go on to become mayor of Kyle. According to the minutes for that meeting, “Council Member Webster expressed concern that we have known about this for the last five meetings and have not had people ask us for money before now.” The other council member who questioned the deal was Linda Tenorio, who is currently seeking the job of mayor and will face incumbent Travis Mitchell in a runoff election Dec. 8. Those same minutes state “Council Member Tenorio stated she does not want to fund this request “ and “does not feel we have enough businesses in Kyle that Kyle would see a great benefit.” The minutes also suggest then City Manager Tom Mattis (who, in fact, was Kyle’s very first city manager), also expressed some concern and, according to the minutes, recommended the council should only agree to fork over the money after the concert took place.

DeMarco, however, told the council advertisements for the concert were already appearing and, according to the minutes, “feels it (Thunderpalooza) will be a great social economic impact to the community.” The minutes also suggest then council member David Salazar was Thunderpalooza’s biggest booster on the council. “Council Member Salazar stated they are expecting 20,000 visitors to this area which will be very good for businesses in our area,” according to the minutes and “Council Member Salazar moved to support the event in the amount of $40,000.00.” The motion was seconded by council member Dan Ekakiadis and approved 4-3 with council member Mike Moore joining Webster and Tenorio in opposition.

“A majority of the council just got really excited about being backstage with the Beach Boys and people like that,” one former city official told me. “And that Hotel Tax money was so restricted you almost had to try to find ways to spend it, so that was part of it.”

Whether this was actually a con job is open to question. Another former city official I talked to in researching this story told me he still has a framed ticket from Thunderpalooza and even today the Beach Boys’ tour schedule for 2006 does, in fact, show a scheduled concert at the Thunderhill Raceway in Kyle for Nov. 4, the day after they performed at Riverwind Casino in Norman, Okla.

However, another person I talked to for this story called Thunderpalooza “a total con job” and yet another said the city learned much later DeMarco and the Beach Boys “never had any connection whatsoever.” Another called it “a boondoggle mess.”

Needless to say, the concert never happened. That Beach Boys tour schedule referenced earlier says “Sorry, there are no songs in this setlist” for that concert, although the show in Oklahoma the night before indicates the band performed a 34-song set that kicked off with “Do It Again,” ended with “Surfin’ U.S.A.,” and included not only all the recognized Beach Boys hits, but covers of songs made famous by other artists such as “Duke of Earl,” “Come Go With Me,” “Why Do Fools Fall in Love” and “Do You Wanna Dance.”

And four days after the “Thunderpalooza-that-never-was,” the council met again and after coming out of an executive session, in the words of the minutes of that meeting, reconvened “to direct the city attorney and/or city manager as appropriate in the city council's discretion regarding litigation or other action against Human Spirit, Inc. to recover hotel/motel tax funds.” The council then voted 6-1 to try to get that $40,000 back. Funny thing about that vote, however. The one person who voted against trying to recover those funds was Tenorio.

“That’s simply another example of how she had such a negative view on things,” a former city official said. “Yes, she was against supporting an event like that but in the end she also didn’t want the city to recover the money just so she could say ‘See, I told you so.’ She would rather be out the money so she could forever point to everybody else. If we had gotten the money back, then it might have had a positive ending to the story. That was just indicative of how petty and negative she could be.”

I embarked on this research because I think the public knows from the record of the last three years — for better and for worse —  what kind of mayor Travis Mitchell would continue to be. Tenorio, however, is not currently on the public stage. So, I reasoned, the only way we might learn about what kind of mayor she might be would be to examine her record when she was on the council between 2004 and 2007. So I plowed through the minutes of all the meetings during her tenure on the council. But those minutes only detail the “who,” “what” and “when,” not the “how” or the “why.” To learn the answers to those questions I spoke with close to a dozen former city officials, both elected and staff members, who agreed to talk with me about Tenorio on the condition of anonymity.

None of them were complimentary.

“She never read an agenda the entire time she was on the city council,” a former colleague said. “She never once came prepared to discuss an item. Literally, just zero. No preparation, no effort at all.”

“Without any explanation or comment, would vote against every item on the agenda,” another one told me. “That’s what she did while I was there. She voted against Seton, she voted against H-E-B, she voted against 1626, she voted against all the things that happened during that time.”

The record doesn’t specifically support this particular argument. In the overwhelming majority of council votes recorded during those three years, the minutes state “All vote aye, motion passes.” The minutes also indicate H-E-B, or the “Marketplace Project,” as it was called, was already underway by the time Tenorio joined the council and, periodically, City Manager Mattis would update the council on its progress. And the first time the minutes reflect the possibility of Seton coming to Kyle was when Mattis briefed council on the subject during Tenorio’s final council meeting in 2007 at a time when she was a lame duck.

However, news about Seton Hospital’s plan to locate a facility in Kyle had received wide publicity before that.

“She did oppose the Seton-Hays deal we put together,” one source said. “After we gave Seton a big incentive deal I remember a story in the (Austin American) Statesman that said developers could recover $20 million in the deal with Kyle, which was true, but the only way they could gain that $20 million was if the school and the city made $200 million off the deal. So, sure, we made that kind of deal back then. We made a similar deal with RSI, which was the first big employer/manufacturer to come to town.”

“In my opinion, I think it was a case of weird petty jealousy based on if she wasn’t getting a deal like that  no one else should,” one former official told me. “She was against every economic development deal we tried to make simply because of the financial incentives. On one occasion, I told her ‘You build a 200-bed hospital here and we’ll give you the same deal, too.’ She just didn’t have the mentality to grasp those kinds of things.”

“She thought every thing the city staff told her was a lie,” said another. 

Yet another predicted her election would have a devastating effect on the city’s staff. “Half of them would probably leave immediately and then she would then get rid of the other half,” she said.

Kyle Klips apparently was a vehicle designed to get rid of some city officials, both staff and elected, although there is nothing to indicate Tenorio had anything directly to do with the publication. Her connection was somewhat tangential, but there all the same.

Kyle Klips was purportedly presented as a precursor to The Kyle Report, a publication focusing exclusively on city government. Unlike The Kyle Report, however, Kyle Klips existed both on-line and as a printed publication. The first two editions of Kyle Klips appeared, according to a judgment rendered by the Texas Ethics Commission (TEC), “on or before April 25, 2006.” In all, six editions of Kyle Klips were published, the last one being an undated edition that came out only a month after those first two. I have found it impossible to find a copy of Kyle Klips. I doubt if anyone saved a hard copy of it and the publication’s on-line domain address, “www.kylenewsletteroftruth.com, no longer exists. The contents of the publication, however, left no doubt the publication had a particular agenda. According to the TEC, the very first edition contained an article that said “Vote NO! for a 5 council member vote to fire/hire the City Manager” and “These are just some examples of how the City Manager, Mayor and City Council are failing to do the job they were elected to do. It is clearly time for all of us to take an [sic] part in letting these officials know that they must clean house now!” The second edition said “It is incomprehensible that the elected officials are so insensitive to the problems of the citizens. This problem is in District 6, Todd Webster’s district” and later “Vote NO, in the upcoming referendum on the City Charter Amendment! Vote NO FOR CHANGING THE CITY CHARTER TO REQUIRE 5 VOTES BY THE CITY COUNCIL TO HIRE OR FIRE THE CITY MANAGER.”

According to the minutes of  the May 2, 2006, Kyle City Council meeting, then Mayor Miguel Gonzalez opened the citizens comments period by saying “It appears we have a secretive group in Kyle that is using deceitful propaganda to promote their own agenda, they are hiding behind anonymous fliers to divide the community and if this group was really interested in helping the citizens of Kyle, they would step out of hiding and work with Council. Mayor Gonzalez stated as a Council we work together to promote policies to help our citizens stating I strive to get input from community, all our meetings are in the open, all our agendas are posted and if an issue is brought forward, it is pretty simple, we talk about it and we vote. Therefore I encourage this secretive group, if they really want to work for the city, they need to step forward and talk to council stating we can't allow a small group to tear the city apart. Council Member Ekakiadis stated he agreed with the Mayor 100% stating I can't believe someone would bring up something like that and be like a cockroach and hide in the dark stating I don't know if it is legal or illegal. Council is trying to work together and this doesn't help our city. Mayor Gonzalez opened citizen comment period at 7:07 pm and called for comments from any citizen. Lila Knight stated she was very glad to hear the mayor as well as other council members address this problem. Ms. Knight stated it was disturbing that citizens find trash on their doorsteps when it's the city's job to collect trash encouraging council to study our own ethics ordinance regarding this matter. Ms. Knight applauded council member Webster for all his has done in his position … she was proud that he was her council member thanking him for all his done.”

At its next meeting, on May 16, the council decided to act. It passed a resolution “Authorizing and directing the city attorney to investigate Kyle Klips and its associated website to determine if it violates election law, to investigate any other apparent violations of law coming to his attention during such investigation, and to determine the parties responsible for any such violations; to report his findings to the city council, to report violations; if any, to appropriate enforcement authorities.” Tenorio voted against this resolution.

Two months later, City Attorney Sheila Limon informed the council, according to the minutes of the July 18 meeting, that a Sgt. Luria of the Kyle Police Department had four suspects that were believed to be behind the publication, printing and distribution of Kyle Klips and “On June 19, Sgt. Luria called Sherry Anderson, Maxine Weatherford, Nolan Ward, and the Patlyek's of Cando Designs to request interviews, and all four stated that they had retained lawyers and that Luria would have to speak to the lawyers. No further action has been taken.” Anderson was Tenorio’s appointment to Kyle’s Ethics Commission.

At the council’s next meeting, on Aug. 1, Mayor Gonzalez recommended Anderson be removed from the Ethics Commission and the council voted 6-1 to do just that. Tenorio cast the one dissenting vote. The minutes from that meeting say “Council Member Tenorio stated she does not agree that there is a valid reason for the removal of Ms. Anderson stating she does not get paid, is voluntary and the city has a hard time finding people that are willing to serve in different committees, and do not do background checks on persons appointed to any committee therefore council members can not know of any wrong doing of the person they appoint.” During a public hearing conducted on the mayor’s recommendation, according to the minutes, Knight vehemently disagreed with Tenorio and supported the removal, adding “the council member (Tenorio) who appointed her should be held liable for the appointee's actions.” Knight has since completed a 180-degree pivot and is currently one of Tenorio’s staunchest supporters.

Two years later, in May 2008, the TEC concluded its investigation of Kyle Klips by determining it had violated Texas elections laws. It held only one person responsible, however, fining Maxine Weatherford $100. In its ruling, the TEC said “All of the volumes of Kyle Klips appeared in the form of a pamphlet, circular, flier, or similar form of written communication or appeared on an Internet website. The first two volumes contained express advocacy that opposed a measure in the election. All of the volumes contained express advocacy that either opposed a candidate in an election, supported that candidate’s opponent, or both. Thus, each volume was required to include a political advertising disclosure statement. None of the volumes contained a political advertising disclosure statement until May 8, 2006, or later. The disclosure statement that eventually appeared on the website stated that it was political advertising by ‘Willard Todd.’ The evidence shows that ‘Willard Todd’ bore no responsibility for the political advertising and that the respondent (Weatherford) was solely responsible for the volumes and paid all the costs associated with them.”

Is that true? Did Weatherford act alone in this venture? Many of those I spoke to had their doubts. “I didn’t think Linda Tenorio was directly involved in Kyle Klips,” one told me, “because it would have taken someone smarter than her to have written that document.” Another said she was positive more than one person was involved and recalled  “A few of those ladies were really obsessed with the city manager at the time for some reason.” A third bluntly told me “Sherry had a job with the state in those days. Maxine was fully retired and the consensus was Sherry was really the main one behind it, and really was the one that wrote it, but, in the end, Maxine took the hit so Sherry wouldn’t lose her job.” Another former staff official said they would often receive e-mails from Anderson and then the exact same wording from those e-mails would appear in Kyle Klips.

“The thing with Linda,” another said, “is that she didn’t have any meaningful input into anything. She was suspicious of everything, against everything, suspicious of the staff, thought we would blatantly lie about everything. But she wasn’t a person who brought new proposals or new ideas or alternative ideas to the table. She was just against everything you said.”

A former fellow council member said “she had no allegiances on the council. She literally couldn’t work with anybody.”

The minutes reveal Tenorio was the only member of the council to vote against RSI relocating to Kyle, which she did on three different occasions. She also was the only person to vote against the reconstruction of Kohlers Crossing to a four-lane roadway, which she did on three different occasions; the only person to vote against the creation of a committee to examine the feasibility of a nature trail along Plum Creek; was one of only two persons in April 2006 to oppose a $3,057 annual pay raise for police officers; and was the only vote in September 2006 against a proposed budget that would lower the property tax rate after specifically stating, according to the council’s minutes, that the tax rate should not be lowered, that, instead, it should remain the same. It was at the same Sept. 5, 2006, meeting that the council voted against Tenorio who had sued the city for $40,000 but now said she was willing to accept a payment of $9,788.55. The council said in unison it was not willing to pay her anything. 

“It’s been a while since I saw her,” another person I spoke to said, “but Linda’s such a bad person to her core. It’s just shocking to me that she could possibly draw that many votes for mayor. It’s parallel to the national scene where so many persons are concerned about sending a message they’re willing to vote for anybody.”

Another person, who left Kyle and the state more than a dozen years ago, said “It would be one thing for her to be the mayor of a town of one to two thousand people. But to be the face of a town the size of Kyle, whatever its population is now, you’d think you’d want a real leader and she’s definitely not that. People can change, I guess, but I have been in contact with old friends in Kyle and they seem to be just as shocked as I am.”

And this from someone else who worked with her back then: “When you think of being mayor, you want someone with a bigger, broader vision than their own personal agendas. She wouldn’t be the person I would think of for that role.”

When the law requires the city to mislead its voters

 State law mandates early voting dates. There’s nothing the city can do about it. So, when the city establishes a date for, say, a runoff election, the city must count back the number of state-mandated days from that election date to set the dates for early voting. That’s the reason the city is misleading its voters by announcing a couple of early voting days on which no one can vote. It’s not the city’s fault — state law made the city do it.

Officially, early voting for the Dec. 8 runoff election runs from Nov. 26 through Dec. 4. In reality, early voting for the Dec. 8 runoff elections begins Nov. 28. That’s because, Nov. 26 is Thanksgiving and Nov. 27 is considered part of the Thanksgiving holiday period when many government offices, including City Hall, are going to be closed as well.

So when you read that the early voting begins Nov. 26, please, please!, don’t try to go vote on one of those first two days and then complain that you were not able to cast your ballot.

So, for all those who plan to vote early, here are the actual times, dates, and places for you to do that.

• 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Saturday, Nov. 28
• Noon to 4 p.m., Sunday, Nov. 29
• 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday, Nov. 30 through Thursday, Dec. 3
• 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., Friday, Dec. 4

The voting locations are:

• Kyle City Hall
• Kyle Fire Station No. 2, 150 Bunton Creek Road
• Hays County Precinct 2, 5458 FM 2720

For those who want to apply to vote by mail, applications must be sent to Jennifer Anderson, 722 South Stagecoach Trail, Suite 1012, San Marcos, 78666 so that they are received no later than Friday, Nov. 27.

Company gets nod to prove Kyle residents’ water bills are too low

 The city council voted 5-2 last night to allow a company that wants to replace most of the residential water meters in Kyle to conduct a test that it says will prove residents are not paying enough for the water they use.

The company, Honeywell International, Inc., claims the city is essentially distributing 136 million gallons of free water every year to residents due to faulty water meters.

Public Works Director Harper Wilder pushed back on that notion, however, telling the council that, for the last 15 years, the city has used an independent third party, Johnson Controls, to randomly test 50 water meters each year for accuracy and, each year, those tests have shown the meters are at least 97 percent accurate. And Finance Director Perwez Moheet said in every instance in which a customer complains about an abnormally high water bill, that customer’s meter is also pulled and sent out for an independent test and, in every single one of those instances, the meters have reported to be accurate. Moheet said in those instances, the city sent the meters to a different company, not Johnson Controls, to be tested, but he did not identify the company.

Honeywell claimed, however, that the problem is not with those few customers who are complaining about abnormally high water bills, but with the majority of customers who are not paying for all the water they actually use each month.

It’s worth noting that Honeywell International and Johnson Controls are direct competitors.

It’s also worth noting that the city’s contract with Johnson Controls has expired and the five council members who voted to approve the $29,000 contract with Honeywell (Mayor Travis Mitchell and council member Dex Ellison voted against it) said in essence that the study Honeywell wants to conduct would essentially be this year’s version of the study Johnson Controls has conducted for the last 15 years, just with 15 fewer meters being tested.

Honeywell representatives told the council it would not be conducting the testing, but would simply be selecting the 35 meters to be tested and then sending those meters to an independent testing company. Honeywell, however, balked at the idea that the city should select that independent tester, and council member Robert Rizzo, who sponsored Honeywell’s bid for the contract, defended Honeywell saying many companies have built relationships of trust with outside vendors.

Honeywell said that the accuracy of the meters currently in place in Kyle diminishes drastically after five years of use. It also said some of the most serious inaccuracies were found in multi-family meters. The meters monitoring the water use of commercial customers, according to Honeywell, appear to be fairly accurate and it attributed that to the fact that many of those meters are less than five years old.

Honeywell is hoping its study, the results of which must come back to the council within 90 days, will demonstrate the need to replace the current Automatic Meter Reading (AMR) meters with Automated Meter Infrastructure (AMI) meters that, among other advancements, could detect water leaks within a minute of when they begin. 

City Manager Scott Sellers said the main problem with the AMR meters is that "it's a once a month system. Our biggest issue is when a customer has a leak we don't find out about it for 30 days." He said AMI allows antennas to be placed throughout the city that can immediately detect leaks and report them to the city.

Wilder admitted the newer meters are superior when it comes to detecting leaks, but maintained it’s an open question as to whether they are more accurate in measuring water usage than the current meters.

What the city council hopes to determine is whether the city is losing enough revenue due to under-billing residential customers to pay for the cost of replacing all the residential meters.

Mayoral candidate Abdel endorses Mitchell in runoff

 David Abdel, who finished third in last week’s mayoral election, announced today he is supporting incumbent Travis Mitchell in next month’s runoff, but stopped short of encouraging all those who voted for him to support the mayor’s re-election bid.

Mitchell and former council member Linda Tenorio, who finished first by only 36 votes out of 15,416 cast, will face off in the Dec. 8 runoff. Abdel collected 15.64 percent of the total vote in the four-person race.

“Based the interactions I’ve personally had (or in some instances didn’t have) during this campaign with each of the candidates, I’m more inclined to believe in the leadership and management capabilities of Travis Mitchell,” Abdel said in a statement posted today on a social media site. “Based on the information available from the two candidates throughout the campaign, I’m more inclined to support the plan/vision that Travis Mitchell provides.”

Abdel said his decision was also based on what he called a “kind of back room handshake deal” among others involved in the election designed to undermine Mitchell’s candidacy that “rubbed me the wrong way.”

“Right after the campaign I was reached out to, along with the other candidates (not Mitchell) and were asked if we would like to coalesce our efforts to make sure Travis Mitchell didn’t win,” Abdel said. “I rejected the offer respectfully because that kind of back room handshake deal seemed counter to the idea of transparency and fairness I believe our political climate is missing. I don’t believe in hanging up on a candidates, or partnering to take someone out. I believe each candidate should voice their information and allow and free and fair electorate to make educated decisions. It rubbed me the wrong way.”

Along those same lines, Abdel said his decision to endorse Mitchell is “my opinion … one solitary opinion” and encouraged the 2,411 persons who voted for him in last week’s General Election to vote their conscience in next month’s runoff.

“I’m not encouraging anyone to vote based on my opinion,” he said. “I don’t think it’s my place to say ‘my supporters should…’ in regard to their upcoming vote. I’ll continue, as I have all along, to encourage each individual person to look at the options, do their research and vote their conscience.”

City decides it’s not worth it to fight climate change, adopts anti-environment policy

Full disclosure No. 1: I’m an avid environmentalist. I firmly believe in the science that proves climate change is the single most existential threat to our planet, our very existence. I actively as well as financially support such organizations as the Sierra Club, the National Audubon Society, the World Wildlife Fund, Greenpeace, the National Wildlife Federation, the Natural Resources Defense Council, Green America, the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, the Rainforest Action Network, the Environmental Defense Fund and, of course, the National Geographic Society. In short, I’m a “tree-hugger” and proud of it.

Some of the most precious moments of my life have been spent in our country’s national parks, celebrating their wonder, their very existence. And I have had the opportunity to spend time in every single one of them at least once. My two very special places of refuge are the Grand Canyon and Monument Valley (admittedly not a national park, but a national treasure just the same).

That’s why I am ashamed to learn that the city I now call home doesn’t agree with me. It appears city policy is now “Becoming a ‘Green City’ is not worth the investment,” even though facts demonstrate going green can save taxpayers money, can drastically reduce overall city expenditures.

If you haven’t already heard about it, let me introduce you to a program called Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, or LEED, a product of the U.S. Green Building Council. USGBC’s vision is “that buildings and communities will regenerate and sustain the health and vitality of all life within a generation. Our mission is to transform the way buildings and communities are designed, built and operated, enabling an environmentally and socially responsible, healthy, and prosperous environment that improves the quality of life.”

Unfortunately, in my opinion, it is readily apparent that the city of Kyle has adopted a policy doesn’t want a “environmentally and socially responsible, healthy, and prosperous environment that improves the quality of life” for its citizens. Why? It appears they don’t think it’s worth the investment.

This near-sighted vision is not new to me. I hear many people say words like “The planet is not going to turn into an uninhabitable cinder block in my lifetime, so why should I care.” That, to me, is the same argument as “That kid ain’t going to support me in my old age so why should I invest my hard earned money in the brat’s college education.” My response? “YOU are not the subject of this conversation. The subject of this conversation is the future of that child that you helped to bring into this world.”

But, then, that’s a constantly repeating thought process I see in everyone involved in city planning, whether they be elected or staff. When they talk about the future, they look no further than, say, five years into the future; some, perhaps, 10. But no one, absolutely no one, looks beyond two generations into the future. And that’s why Kyle has adapted an environmentally unfriendly policy towards new construction or really anything involving the environment.

If it wasn’t so depressing, listening to city council members, past and present, talk about recycling would almost be laughable in its stupidity. They talk about it as if it were a commodity — about the possible ROI in selling recycled materials and the markets for these goods. Recycling is not about dollars, but about achieving the much desired goal of zero waste. But Kyle doesn’t care about achieving that goal. That’s why, for example, even with all the apartment complexes sprouting up all over the city, there is no recycling programs for Kyle residents living in multi-family complexes. Or, for Kyle businesses, for that matter.

The result is that all those recyclables are now going, with the rest of the trash, to the landfill. And, as the name implies, landfills eventually reach their capacity– they fill up. And, when that happens, a new landfill must be created somewhere else. And this “somewhere else” has to be many, many miles from any honest, G-d fearing, tax-paying U.S. citizen because, really, would you want a landfill anywhere near your home? And that means getting that trash from your home to that landfill involves traveling many, many more miles than before which means spending a lot more dollars on those transportation costs and that means … by now, you see where this is going … much higher utility bills. Not investing today costs taxpayers tomorrow.

This lack of a multi-family and a commercial recycling program proves what I said earlier: Kyle is only committed to keeping up appearances, but not to long-term environmental sustainability. The only alternative is even more horrible to contemplate: That there are, in fact, those in the city that think ahead in the long-term but are systematically ignored into silence or until they take their talents/abilities to the Sierra Club or the National Geographic Society.

Doing everything in its power to preserve and protect our environment, is what drives the USGBC and its LEED certification program, which has created a plan for constructing buildings that use less energy and water than non-certified buildings, avoid waste, save on maintenance costs, improve indoor air quality, offer added comfort to its occupants and create “less environmental burden on their community.” In short, over its life, a LEED certified municipal building will save taxpayers money.

But the City of Kyle doesn’t want to build them? Why? Because the construction cost of such a building is somewhat higher, even though the USGBC has proved over and over again those additional costs are quickly recouped through considerably reduced Operation and Maintenance costs (O&M costs, in the municipal jargon). And it’s those O&M costs that must be paid each year with moneys from the city’s General Fund, that fund that’s replenished annually with your property tax dollars.

Full disclosure No. 2: I voted against the city’s Proposition A, although not for the property tax reasons that were the motivations for just about everyone else’s “no” vote on this item. I voted “no” because I could not get the answer to one simple question: “Is the proposed public safety building going to be LEED certified?” I tried to get an answer. Several times. I’ll specifically mention two of them.

The city hired this PR firm, the Buie Co., to promote the passage of Proposition A. Now, the city will dispute that statement. They will say the firm was hired for “education activities.” But, you see, they have to say that because it’s illegal to use municipal taxpayer funds to promote the passage of a municipal bond program. It’s also illegal for elected municipal officials to use their position to promote the passage of a municipal bond program. But the Buie Co., under the guise of “educational activities,” somehow engaged Kyle City Council members to commit those illegal acts as well. Look, let’s be realistic here. No one hires a PR company for “education activities.” You hire educators for that. You hire PR companies to create opportunities with which to sell a product of some sort, predominantly through the use of free media. In fact, on its web page, Buie brags that “We have seen our proactive approach to community engagement facilitate communications, build common ground and bring together diverse stakeholders to mobilize support. Public relations is all about results. And, we get results.” In this case, Buie mobilized support to pass Proposition A and they got the results they were hired to get.

One of the first thing Buie concocted was this special web page where visitors could go and pose a question about the proposed police headquarters. So, of course, I went on there right away and posed my question: “Is the proposed public safety building going to be LEED certified?” Within 24 hours, I received a non-answer which was a form letter emailed to me which said, in effect, “We have absolutely no idea what you’re talking about, but, hopefully, maybe, someday, we’ll come up with an answer to your question.” They never did. Never heard another word. But, like I said, they weren’t really there to provide answers, to actually “educate.”

One of Buie’s next stunts involved a series of virtual town hall meetings in which they described all the reasons why voters should approve Proposition A and then enlisted a city council member to go even further in promoting the bond proposal’s passage. In the virtual town hall meeting I attended, the unlucky city council member somehow convinced to commit these blatantly illegal acts was Alex Villalobos. Now, this is not meant to be a criticism of Villalobos. I’m convinced he’s probably what in some legal terms is known as “an unwitting accomplice” to the actual criminal activity. Anyway, at the end of his sales pitch, virtual attendees were offered the opportunity to pose questions. So, once again, I posed mine: “Is the proposed public safety building going to be LEED certified?” Seeing Villalobos hem and haw around trying to answer the question when it was obvious he had no idea what the question referred to, or, if he did, he didn’t want to get caught in the middle of an environmental thunderstorm, almost made be feel a little sorry for the guy. But, needless to say, I never got an answer.

And that, in short, is why I voted against Proposition A. I simply can’t support anything that (1) is going to be anti-environment, that (2) is going to facilitate climate change and (3) is, in the long run, going to result in a needless waste of taxpayers’ money. Dallas recently built a new police headquarters. Here is the first paragraph on that city’s web page devoted to that building: “The city of Dallas, Texas is committed to improving the quality of life for its citizens by providing healthier environments through its Green Building initiative. This commitment is exemplified by the Jack Evans Police Headquarters, which achieved a Silver certification under the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED®) program for new construction. The city adopted Silver LEED certification as a standard for all its new facilities in January 2003.”

You see, it is possible. Other cities care enough about their future and the health and well being of its employees and its citizens to take these steps. It’s a shame that Kyle has decided it does not want to be one of them.

I must also admit that I felt a sense of personal betrayal. In one of my earliest interviews with City Manager Scott Sellers he pledged that as long as he held that position the city would never, ever, construct a building that did not seek LEED certification. Now, here we are. Of course, there’s still time. The city can still decide it will try to build an environmentally friendly new police headquarters. And help with that may be on the horizon. During an extended telephone conversation I had with her the day after this past Tuesday’s election, new council member Yvonne Flores-Cale was quite passionate, quite convincing in her pro-environmental beliefs and activities. But then she will only be one of seven votes on the council. 

And then there’s this, perhaps the final turn of the key destined to keep Kyle in environmental purgatory until it’s too late to protect future generations: During Wednesday’s city council meeting, the council voted unanimously to “award a professional services contract to Coleman and Associates for the landscape design of Mary Kyle Hartson Park and 104 S Burleson in an amount not to exceed $93,700.00.” The proposal Coleman and Associates presented the city contained 11 items, the 11th of which was titled “Exclusions.” The sixth listed “exclusion” was “LEED is excluded.”

I asked assistant city manager James Earp about this and he said “LEED, the actual certification, not just the principles, requires a significant amount of additional record keeping, paperwork, processes and the like that dramatically increase cost … If we want LEED certification the bid would have been dramatically understated.”

That, I guess, makes it official. Kyle’s policy is protecting the environment, protecting the long-term health and well-being of city employees along with the rest of the citizens of Kyle, is just too expensive today even if it means saving money as well as possibly saving lives in the future.

You’ll have to pardon me if I respectfully disagree. 

Council extends utility bill relief program

 The City Council voted Wednesday to extend until Dec. 30 the program that provides financial relief for Kyle residents who have had problems paying their municipal utility bills as a result of the pandemic or are below federal low income thresholds.

The item was part of the council’s consent agenda and that entire agenda was approved unanimously so there was no individual debate or discussion on the proposal from council members.

The program only applies to the utility bills residents receive from the City of Kyle. In order to be eligible for the program, residents must meet these three criteria:

• A residential customer living inside the city limits of Kyle with an active utility account;
• The primary individual under whose name the utility account is registered and established and;
• Experiencing a financial hardship due to loss of job or reduction in income as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, or be at or below the federal income thresholds for low income.

To receive benefits from the program, applicants must be able to provide proof of income or pay reduction (latest pay stub), proof of approved unemployment claim or a letter from an employer confirming business closure, layoff or reduction in pay due to COVID-19.

The program covers all utility bills issued for services between March 1 and Dec. 30 and benefits may be used to pay for all utility services provided by and billed for by the City of Kyle (water, wastewater, solid waste and storm drainage); monthly service charges for utility services; late payment penalties; and service disconnection fees.

Residents can apply for the benefits or learn more about it here.

Swearing-in, runoff dates announced; Scheel gives farewell address

 Ashley Bradshaw and Yvonne Flores-Cale, the city council’s two recently elected members, will be sworn in during the council’s Nov. 17 meeting and the mayoral runoff election between incumbent Travis Mitchell and challenger Linda Tenorio will be held Dec. 8, it was decided Wednesday night.

The Dec. 8 date was chosen because it corresponds with runoffs already scheduled for that date in San Marcos.

In addition to the swearing-in ceremonies at the next council meeting, a special ceremony will be held for the two departing council members, Tracy Scheel and Alex Villalobos.

Scheel bade the council and the public a tearful farewell during last night’s council meeting.

“I want to thank all my fellow council members for being wonderful people to work with for the past three years,” she said. “It has been a joy to serve the City of Kyle and I do appreciate all of you. This is not my end of service for the City of Kyle. I will be here to do anything anybody needs.”

Scheel offered some words of advice for Flores-Cale, the person who defeated her in Tuesday’s election.

“You will be working with a great group of people,” Scheel said. “Please work with them and understand that they just as passionate about the city as you are and want what’s best for the city. Please work with them. That is the best way to make this city a better overall place to live, work and just have fun in.”

She said she hoped the city would “come together” so that it was not a case of “east versus west, not the originals versus in the implants, not downtown versus uptown.”

At-large council member Robert Rizzo, who is a resident of the district Scheel represents and who, somewhat ironically, was disqualified from running against Scheel in 2017, thanked her “for all the work and all the time commitment you gave to our district.”

Scheel never had to run for election before this year. When she first announced her candidacy in 2017, Rizzo filed to run against her. But on the day the candidates convened at Hall City for the ballot placement drawing, the city secretary pulled Rizzo aside and told him he had been disqualified because the residence listed on his voters registration at that time was not within the city limits. Scheel stood there looking somewhat stunned realizing she had become a city council member without having to seek election.

Villalobos, who did not seek re-election this year, told Scheel that the two of them are leaving the city in a better place than it was when they both joined the council three years ago.

“I am just happy I got to work with you in having a small part in what this city is today,” Villalobos said.

Mayor Mitchell told Scheel “It is hard to imagine this council without you. You have been such a strong, steady, caring, passionate, compassionate presence on this council.”

After acknowledging that “I might be out there with you,” Mitchell praised Scheel for “devoting yourself to the City of Kyle, not only for the last three years, but longer, and I anticipate in the future as well. Thank you for your service. Thank you for everything you’ve done for the City of Kyle.”

It was also announced Tuesday’s election will be canvassed next Tuesday.

Bradshaw, Flores-Cale win council seats; Mitchell, Tenorio in mayoral runoff

Yvonne Flores-Cale and Ashlee Bradshaw registered decisive victories today in their campaigns for Districts 2 and 4, respectively, on the Kyle City Council; and incumbent Mayor Travis Mitchell was out polled and forced into a runoff with Linda Tenorio.

Both bond propositions and all of the proposed charter changes were approved with significant majorities.

Flores-Cale scored an impressive upset of incumbent Tracy Scheel, capturing 60.98 percent of the vote. Bradshaw collected 60.94 percent of the vote against Tim McHutchion, who was trying for the second time for the District 4 seat.

“I think both Tim and I had a great race,” Ms. Bradshaw said. “We both had a great campaign. It just came down to community outreach, just putting the word out there, getting my materials out there and doing everything I could do to campaign during these COVID times.”

She said the pandemic “really inhibited me from being able to speak to the community face-to-face in a way I had hoped to. But I think I was still effective in getting my message out.”

She said that her first order of business on the council will be “to get started on my main objectives which are focusing on the local economy and doing what we can to increase the community amenities. It looks like Prop B is doing very well so that’s a great place to start.”

(Updated material begins here)

In a statement posted today on Facebook, McHutchion said: “I humbly acknowledge Ashley Bradshaw as a new council person. I look forward to continue to serve you as a Planning And Zoning commissioner. This is a great first step in democracy for our city. I look forward to serving you in my capacity I will always have nothing but love for this city and all of us that have chosen to call it home. Let’s move forward to a brighter future.”

Flores-Cale attributed her victory to “my loyal supporters, for sure. I owe a hundred percent of it to my supporters.”

She said she plans to spend her first months on the council studying exactly how the city works.

“I want to observe as much information as possible,” she said. “I’m not going to go in there guns blazing until I can completely understand how the system works. That’s going to be a challenge for me because I am a very passionate person and I really, truly care about the people of Kyle, especially on the east side. So, for the first three to four months I’m going to observe and learn.”

Scheel said she hasn’t yet thought about what her next steps might be but she plans to “be always available to the city for anything it needs or wants.”

(End of updated material)

Ms. Tenorio collected 37.82 percent of the vote in her challenge to unseat Mayor Mitchell, who finished just 36 votes behind her, or 37.59 percent, at the latest tally. Dave Abdel finished third with 15.64 percent and Peter Parcher was fourth with 8.95 percent of the votes cast.

“I think he did a very good race,” Ms. Tenorio said tonight of Mitchell. “I think we both campaigned very hard.

She said she plans on approaching the Dec. 1 runoff exactly the same way she planned this race. “I will just be working on getting people out to vote,” she said. “Even without a pandemic it’s hard to get people out to vote, but they did come through.”

Mitchell said “While the results were not what we were hoping for, the outcome was not unexpected. This was a race with four candidates who each put in an effort campaigning in a presidential election year when thousands of ballots are cast. A runoff campaign is a completely different animal than running in a general election during the presidential year.”

Mitchell acknowledged far fewer voters would come to the polls to vote in the runoff than voted today.

“Extreme election fatigue is going to be the number one nemesis both for Ms. Tenorio and myself. Not only are the candidates exhausted, but the voters are exhausted and the last thing they want to think about is coming back to the polls two weeks from now to cast another ballot. But the possibility of a runoff is something I’ve been planning for since the day filing closed and I knew I had three candidates in a presidential year. I’ve been preparing for a runoff since the beginning and am ready to kick it into another gear, which is what it is going to take.”

Mitchell complimented Tenorio’s campaign.

“Linda campaigned to win,” Mitchell said. “I am proud of the effort she and her team put in to run the race the way that they did. They did a good job. Linda ran a very clean race. She had a great ground game.”

Mitchell was especially excited about the passage of Proposition B, which will pay for park infrastructure. Mitchell said the passage of that bond proposal along with the overwhelming approval of Hays County’s proposition to fund parks throughout the county could mean a significant financial windfall for Kyle. He said the money Kyle should receive to upgrade the city’s trail system will be more than Kyle has spent on all of its parks combined throughout the city’s history.

‘We’ve never invested heavily in park infrastructure,” he said. “I am so thankful that the voters gave the city the opportunity to build some really great parks and the council will now have the mandate to build some really great parks for our city. I can’t wait. It’s mind-blowing. I’m extremely excited because this is exactly what Kyle needs. We need a better parks system in our city — better trails that serve quality-of-life initiatives — and we got ‘em!”

Mitchell narrowly leads Tenorio, voters approve property tax increase

 Incumbent Mayor Travis Mitchell held a razor slim two-vote lead over Linda Tenorio  in early returns for the Kyle mayor’s race released this evening. Both bond propositions appeared to be cruising toward approval.

Yvonne Flores-Cale and Ashlee Bradshaw had significant leads in the other two city council races.

The early returns in the mayor’s race showed Mitchell with 5,172 votes (37.46 percent) to 5,170 (37.44 percent) for Tenorio. David Abdel (16 percent) and Peter Parcher (9.1 percent) trailed badly and appear out of the contest.

Interestingly, the early returns showed 254 more voters cast ballots in the bond proposition for the new police headquarters than in the parks bond issue. However, both were passing easily with 55.39 percent of voters favoring the police headquaters and 56.07 percent backing the parks.

Flores-Cale collected 60.28 percent of the early votes in her council race and Bradshaw commanded 60.92 percent of the vote.

Partisan races in Hays County showed a startling blue hue (Biden led Trump by over 12 percentage points and Hegar had an almost seven point lead over Cornyn). Two notable exceptions, however, were in races involving two former Kyle City Council members. Alex Villalobos (49.42 percent) narrowly trailed Gary Cutler for sheriff and Daphne Tenorio (49.87 percent) was slightly behind Jenifer O’Kane for tax-assessor collector.