A conversation with city council candidate Marco Pizana

Editor’s Note: The following is s transcript of a conversation I had Oct. 2 with District 1 City Council candidate Marco Pizana.

Kyle Report (KR): Why are you running.

Pizana: The main reason I am running is because I have a big interest in the city. I have not only been a part of the city for the past two years, going on three years. I came in 2015. I came here from the Rio Grande Valley. The main reason I came up here is because I became a teacher at Hays High School. It was a good position and I loved it and I’m still working not only as a teacher but I am also working as an internship coordinator for the district. I feel like I have been a positive role model for my students and a lot of them have told me "What are you going to do on your future?" I feel like it’s my civic duty to move forward and assist not only my city but to assist the people especially in all the neighborhoods that are in this area, especially the east side, the west side, everywhere in general. You have people that need to pretty much have a voice. I feel that the voices that are going on right now are not being heard.

KR: What do you think those voices are saying that the city is not hearing?

Pizana: One of the biggest issues that I’ve been hearing during my block walking is our wastewater and our drainage. Just yesterday, I was in Steeplechase and I was walking that area and one of the people there was saying that the drainage right next to his house is lowering his bathroom because it’s so close to the drainage area. It’s dirt. It’s not paved. He said he brought it to the attention of the city and the city sent engineers out who told him there was no issue. But he’s pretty much told me there is an issue that’s possibly happening if we have another flood that it’s eventually going to start eroding.

KR: Does he have a competing engineering opinion?

Pizana: I didn’t get too into detail because I was block walking. But he did give me that concern and I said I would look into it. One of the biggest things is that the drainage areas that are in that area are not mowed and I asked him "Does the HOA take care of it? Does the city take care of it? Who takes care of it?" "Well, I’ve been taking care of it the last two years." And he goes "As far as an HOA, we don’t have an HOA." So he said he’s brought it up to the mayor. Actually I think the mayor lives two houses away from him. And pretty much he’s just told him that they’re going to try to look into it. So it’s small issues like that but some of the small issues become big issues. And we have another one where I was walking downtown and one of the biggest issues downtown is the infrastructure there is very outdated. There’s some things that need to be done to it. I’m fairly new. I’m still learning as I go along. But my biggest thing is — and I tell ‘em — is that the only way I can learn is if you tell me what the problems are so we can come together as a consensus, as a council, and try to figure out how we can solve these issues.

KR: What two or three things would you like to accomplish during your two year term and do you think you will be hampered by a two-year instead of the normal three-year term?

Pizana: As far as the two-year term, one of the biggest things — and I’ve said this as I’ve been going block walking — is community outreach. Having the community come together and being able to be part of the city and be part of the council and having groups from each neighborhood come together and have just a board of each neighborhood. And I think that’s one of the lacking issues that we have. We don’t have full representation from each community. We have districts, yes, but I wish we could have that community that most cities do have. I come from a city where we saw that. When I was in Edinburg, you had a community that was happening over there. I was originally raised in Los Fresnos and there’s unity within that city. It’s grown massive now. It’s not as big as Kyle, but you still have that unity. I feel that being able to accomplish that in two years. I think one of the things is that people come to the city council meetings when it starts hurting their pocket. And that’s unfortunate. When issues have already happened and they want to voice their opinion. I really think people need to come out and voice their opinion when the issues are starting to be heard.

KR: Do you think the problem lies in the people failing to come to the city council or the city council failing to reach out to the people?

Pizana: The city council is made up of different backgrounds. Some of them have full-time jobs. I feel that every city council member there has the obligation to talk to their constituents, to understand the issues in their districts. I want to say it’s not unfortunate, but it’s fortunate for me that I will be at-large and if I get into city council I’ll have to be in every district, I’ll have to go to every part of the communities here in Kyle and talk to people and that’s what I’m doing right now in my block walking. So, coming back to your question, I feel it’s both the city and the council’s responsibility to let known of the issues that are going on. What’s going on in the city of Kyle, being able to interact with the citizens and some citizens that don’t have any kind of means of getting on-line, having a phone, don’t have means to get a newspaper, there has to be some kind of form or fashion to get out there to those people.

KR: Did the council pass anything in the last year you strongly objected to?

Pizana: I wouldn’t know how to answer that question. Not because I don’t follow along with the city, it’s that I don’t have anything right now. Let me rephrase that. For example, our PEC franchise fee. Right now one of the biggest things that’s happening there, it went up. I pay my electricity just like everybody else, but when you’re starting to get these fees that are coming in, some fees they don’t name them as tax dollars, but they’re just another tax way of bringing up for our citizens.

KR: So who do you think should pay that PEC franchise fee?

Pizana: What I’m trying to get to is that with everything as time goes on inflation happens. That’s understandable. What we bought last year is going to be different when we pay this year. What I’m trying to say is that people should be made aware. Yes, those open meetings were out there.

KR: But my question is, whose responsibility is that? Isn’t the main link between citizens and the municipal government their city council representatives and haven’t those representatives failed miserably to get out into the community and inform their citizens?

Pizana: I wouldn’t say the city council failed miserably. I wouldn’t say they didn’t do their job correctly. I would say the city council has hard decisions they have to make anytime they meet together. They get their agendas and they have to make decisions on whether they’re going to have to pass or not. Ultimately I really feel the city council needs to work together in conjunction with all these decisions they have to make. So to answer your question, I don’t think like they have made the wrong choice.

KR: You were saying, however, the citizens are not adequately informed. Whose fault is that?

Pizana: Like I said, the city council, they are all busy. Everyone has a different lifestyle. They should be working for the prosperity of the city. What I’m trying to say is that the city itself, the government that is they should be informing the citizens as well as the city council members.

KR: So do you disagree with the notion that the proper link between a citizen and city government is the council member?

Pizana: No, I agree with that. It is still the responsibility of the city council to understand and know their district. But sometimes when you have new people come on there, like I said, it’s still the responsibility to know the people.

KR: Returning to the issue of the PEC franchise fees. These fees are basically the rent charged to a utility in return for allowing that utility to use city property to distribute its services. So, given that, who should bear the cost of these fees?

Pizana: Ultimately, when it comes down to it, if PEC is tearing up our roads and doing what they’re doing — because ultimately they have to provide a service — that should be paid by PEC.

KR: So who are the owners of PEC?

A:: I would have to get back to you on that.

KR: PEC is an electrical cooperative — one of the three types of electrical providers you’ll find in Texas — and electrical cooperatives, by definition, are owned by their customers. So if what you’re saying is true — that PEC should be paying this fee — don’t you agree that means the customers should be paying it since they own PEC?

Pizana: It goes back in circles, I guess.

KR: But would you agree that when PEC notified its customers of the increase in their franchise fee, all they were really doing is notifying the owners that the cost of doing business was going up?

Pizana: I would agree to that, yes.

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?

Pizana: First, I would try and talk to our economic development people to see what they’re trying to do to attract these businesses, trying to see what we can have as far as manufacturing plants — anything that we can bring in so that we can have a sustainable living for our citizens because most of our citizens, as you may know, do go into Austin, do go into San Marcos and some of them even go into San Antonio to work. I am one of the few who actually work here and live here and most of my business is here. My biggest thing is to work closely with economic development and try and see what we can acquire that will sustain our citizens. Not only that, but having a manufacturing plant or having some kind of industry that comes into Kyle not only lessens our resources that we will be using as far as water and so on and so forth. So that would be a benefit for the city. Not only that, it kinda starts leveling out our tax rates to be able to lower our tax rates to a certain extent because we have businesses that are going to be able to alleviate that.

KR: Are you familiar with the Design Guide the city recently passed and, if so, what’s your opinion of it?

Pizana: I’m not going to be able to answer that question.

KR: Do you think Kyle suffers from the fact it doesn't have such cultural amenities as a community theater, an art gallery or the like, and if should the city create, like many communities already have, an office of cultural affairs to help spur such activities?

Pizana: I wouldn’t be opposed to the idea. I think we should be able to look — and this is one of the biggest concerns that I have — I think we have a lot of senior citizens here in Kyle that have come from different parts to actually retire here. So being able to utilize resources such as them and some of them are willing to work and don’t even want to get paid. They just want to do something to help our city. Being able to utilize them to even be a liaison of cultural affairs or someone to bring that to the city would be something I would entertain that idea because of the fact that we have just given a responsibility to a citizen to not only be a volunteer but to be someone who could actually do some work or be productive in our city to actually help our city grow. So that’s how I would entertain that idea.

KR: Keeping on the subject of additional city departments, according to the most recent citizen survey conducted by the city, the No. 1 concern was streets. Do you think the city should recognize that fact by creating a separate streets department with a director that reports directly to the city manager instead of that function being a part of the public works department?

Pizana: I used to be a city employee with another city and I used to do parking enforcement. My biggest thing was just making sure that our meters were taken care of. I would give tickets out in meters in downtown. They had a streets division. They had a building division. They had a roads division, They had everything you could imagine. I feel that Kyle is not at that level yet that we can sustain another director to just work on that. Do I believe our streets need to be fixed? Yes. Do I feel that the current public works director has a lot on his plate? Yes. Of course. I’m not going to doubt that.. But I really feel we need to focus on seeing the projects that have already been accepted and approved, see where they’re at, see how we can improve on those and fast-track those before we can get another project going. I really feel we need to go back to basics and by doing that is by first understanding what we have on the table before we go in and serve ourselves and get some more on our plate.

KR: What rules or procedures, if any, does the council have in place that you would like to change?

Pizana: None that I know of. Not at the moment.

KR: Do you believe the city council needs to adapt a well-defined strategy for its downtown area and, if so, should the council consider creating a downtown TIF district to manage that strategy?

Pizana: I would agree our downtown needs to be fixed. I am going to have to get back with you on that word "TIF" because I don’t know that word, to my knowledge. But as far as all the cables downtown, all the over-lines that are there, they should all be out by now. I still don’t understand and I want to figure out why do we still have — and this is a word — a caliche road, which is a dirt road, in downtown. If you haven’t seen it, it’s right in front of the city hall. You go in and you turn left and it’s right there. Why do we still have a dirt road in downtown Kyle? Those are the things when I mean back to basics. Trying to figure out why have we faltered. Do we need to fix the stuff that we need to have first before we move on to other agenda items or other big projects because ultimately our main focus is going to be the downtown area and then our surrounding areas? Ultimately, the downtown area has been there for many, many years and it’s like everything — if there’s not enough people in the facility, then you have problems.

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 any other zoning categories and specifically for multi-family taller than three stories?

Pizana: For height restrictions, I neither oppose it and I’m not agreeing with it either. I would have to look at the actual plan itself. But when it comes to high-rises, the city of Kyle is growing. There’s no doubt about that. But as far as having high-rises, before we can actually have some kind of high rises or even families if they can afford to build an extra-story house, that’s there prerogative. But my biggest thing for high rises for businesses , like I said our infrastructure needs to be well managed first. We need to have those ideas first before we can actually have people come in and build a 10-story apartment complex or a 10-story business complex. Now, will I entertain the idea if our infrastructure is correct? Sure. But, at the moment, I don’t feel it’s necessary.

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?

Pizana: I do not oppose auditing services. I just feel we need to be able to, just like everything. I used to work for the Texas Department of Justice and we had internal audits.

KR: Did you have auditors on staff?

Pizana: Yes.

KR: Then do you think Kyle should do something similar?

Pizana: When I go back to internal audits, our internal audits were conducted by our own personnel but from a different department. Pretty much they were auditing another department. No bias whatsoever.

KR: That’s pretty much standard operating procedure. My question is, do you think city government should do something similar?

Pizana: The problem with that is — not a problem, what I’m trying to say is, I would see it as a good idea to have an auditing personnel or people that we have to find out where we’re lacking, where is our money going, are we having problems getting projects completed, where have we faltered and stuff like that. So, yeah, I don’t disagree with the idea, but then again I’m not here to create more burdens for the city. I’m here to fix the ideals that we have right now. I’m not saying there are major problems. I’m just trying to say where are we as a city and how can we get to that next level in five, 10, 15 years from now. Because, ultimately, my kids are going to be here for the next 10, 15 years and so am I. I ain’t going nowhere.

KR: What, if anything, did the city manager include in his current budget that you objected to?

Pizana: Well, there’s one item. I’m not saying I object to it, I just think we needed to put a little more emphasis on it. There’s a lot of areas in the city of Kyle that have sidewalk problems and I know that they’re trying to fix that issue. But they allotted for $50,000 for just for sidewalks which is fine but ultimately $50,000 won’t really help out no more than two communities or maybe one at the most, when you think about it. And I think that’s one of our biggest issues. Our sidewalks are not only safety but for our students. We have students that are walking. And I just found this out yesterday by a transportation employee from the city that Steeplechase and Prairie on the View are going to be walking districts for the elementary school. So buses are no longer going to be going through that area. So if our sidewalks are not evenly fixed and we don’t fix them around the whole city of Kyle, we have issues.

KR: How do you feel about budgeting for outcomes?

Pizana: In budgeting for outcomes you need to be able to have some kind of understanding of what’s going to end up happening. You need to find out the correct amount. I have a budget right now with the school district. When I was a teacher, we got an allotment of $5,000 which is nothing compared to what the city does. That was it. That’s what I budgeted for the whole year for my students. So being able to have that within the city and understanding what you’re going to be able to utilize, being able to articulate every item on that budget sheet and being able to utilize it correctly is necessary. And being able to speak, not only with the rest of the council and coming to a consensus and letting the citizens know "Hey, this is what we have and this is the amount of money we have and this is what we’re trying to do." And I’m for that.

KR: How would you evaluate the performance of the person currently representing District 1?

Pizana: Mr. (Travis) Mitchell has been in place for almost a year now, if I’m not mistaken.

KR: Actually, more than a year since he was elected in June of 2016.

Pizana: So, yes, a little bit over a year. I really can’t say too much because it’s only been so little of a time. He’s pretty much agreed on almost everything that’s come through on agenda policy. He’s disagreed on a couple of things. When it comes down to it, I mean he’s always for everything. I really feel that sometimes you need to come together and think about certain things. But at this point I can’t really pinpoint certain items, but to evaluate him? He’s an individual, just like me. I’m independent. I want to do things and create growth for our city and being able to have sustainable growth. And I feel he’s in the same track, to a certain extent.

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.

Pizana: I don’t have knowledge of that.

KR: Does Kyle have an issue with parking that needs to be addressed and, if so, how would you address it?

Pizana: It’s like everything. Coming from a parking enforcement officer — I used to be one, technically a meter maid, but I enjoyed my job — I used to deal with downtown problems where citizens would park in certain areas where they were not supposed to and it was a neighborhood area and we would give tickets. But before we gave tickets we would always give warnings and explain to the citizens and tell them "Hey, this is what’s going on. This is what needs to be happening and can you correct the issue?" Do we have a parking problem in the neighborhood that I live in? I haven’t seen it. The neighborhoods that I’ve gone to and started walking, I have seen it. Plum Creek is very narrow. But as far as having a parking problem I just feel the citizens needed to be aware that they could possibly get ticketed and if you get ticketed it is the understanding that you need to be aware of city policies.

KR: What about downtown?

Pizana: Downtown has a parking issue when things are going on. When you have city meetings or anything, that’s when the parking happens. Even downtown right now, the bars that are there you have parking issues because people are parking and going to local establishments. But as far as double parking and not becoming argumentative with other people parking in your spots , I haven’t seen that so I don’t foresee it being a big issue.

KR: What changes would you like to see made to the city’s charter?

Pizana: As far as the city charter, I think we need to have a — I know there was a review that happened one year ago, two years ago. But with any living document there always has to be some kind of form or fashion looking at it and seeing what we can implement to go with the times. But, again, would I change anything right now? No. I would have to look at it again.

KR: If it came to a vote on the city council, would you vote to reinstate Jessie Espinoza to the Kyle Police Department?

Pizana: First, I don’t know who Jesse Espinoza is. I think I met him once or twice. I don’t know the issue that has happened with the city. I know that there has been something from what I’ve read in the newspaper and all the information that regular citizens get. But if it came across our table, I would really have to look into the information and find out what the city has done or what’s going on.

KR: What changes would you propose to the city’s sign ordinance?

Pizana: I know there was an issue with the sign ordinance that they had to be a certain height and they can’t be too flashy. I would have to look at the policy to even consider changing it but I would first look it over and talk to the other council members and ask them what’s going on, so on and so forth. But I wouldn’t see it being an issue at the moment.

KR: Give me your assessment of PIDs in general as well as the city’s PID policy specifically?

Pizana: Sometimes it’s a necessary evil, only for the fact that they are able to establish the infrastructure for a certain area. But as far as the policy for PIDs in the city, I’m not too aware of it. But I can tell you that we’re going to a new district with the MUD that’s going on in Plum Creek, so with that said, there are things that are going on there that I feel are a good thing and like everything else it takes care of the infrastructure that’s there for the time being but we will see as time goes by.

KR: In your opinion, does Kyle have a transportation/mobility problem and, if so, what steps would you take to correct it?

Pizana: Coming from the cities that I come from, in every big city, transportation is one of the biggest issues. I think we’re getting to the point where we’re a medium-sized city and transportation should be starting to be looked at. And when I say that is, for example, the area that I come from all the cities from Brownsville to McAllen had come together and made a valley transit system where you could ride the bus, say, from San Marcos all the way to Austin, or even further, from New Braunfels all the way to Austin for a low, flat rate. And all the cities participated in that. I feel we could come together with San Marcos, Austin, Buda to find out how we can maybe help and find a way to assist people that can’t get.

KR: How would you propose paying for that?

Pizana: I can’t give you an answer on that but I can tell you there are talks with either CAPCOG, institutions or even a state-granted fund, or federal granted fund to find some way of forming that. I would have to do some research, but those are just ideas I could propose and we can look at it. We need to be able to look out for the people that don’t have vehicles, people that like to bike ride, people that like to just car pool. There are places where they have car pool lanes. I don’t oppose the idea of having some kind of transportation. I know the city has tried to do something in the past and they’ve looked at it, but I wouldn’t be opposed to looking at it again and looking at it in a different light. Like I said, we all come from different backgrounds, so somebody else’s background might be more efficient on researching that or I might be able to research it and find some more information. So technically I’m all for some kind of transportation here in the city. Do we have a problem with it? Yes, I believe so. There are people in assisted living areas and senior citizens from regular households that can’t get around. They can’t drive and they require assistance from other people or they just have to bear with it.

KR: But options do exist here — two different taxi companies and Lyft provide service in Kyle.

Pizana: Yes, there’s always options for everybody, but as options the city should also provide an option. And being able to find ways is always a good thing.

KR: But earlier you were talking about a regional service and now you’re saying it should be the city providing an option. Does Kyle have the residential density and the employment density to make something like that feasible?

Pizana: Having a transportation system now, within the city, is still in its infancy. I say that because, you’re right, we don’t have the employability here in this city. But what I’m trying to convey here is having that transportation system for people who want to go to a different city and that’s what I’m trying to get to. Yes, I would love to have a bus system here in the city of Kyle where it stops at regular stops where every citizen can get on. But being reasonable, you gotta understand that that’s going to be something that has to be looked at and trying to figure how we can be able to bring that slowly.

KR: Do you really think there is a mass here for any kind of mass transportation? Kyle doesn’t even have a Greyhound bus stop here and it would seem if there was a big demand for a Greyhound bus stop here, Greyhound would put a stop here of some kind.

Pizana: It’s like everything. You’ve got to take into consideration what the citizens are asking.

KR: But that’s my question. Is there really enough citizens asking? You mentioned earlier the city had tried something in the past, but, at the most, six different citizens used what was tried in the past. Is it fair for all the citizens of Kyle to subsidize the transportation costs for, at the most, six individuals?

Pizana: Like I said, it’s an idea that needs to be looked at. There’s nothing set it stone. Just like every idea that comes through the agenda, everything that comes through needs to be looked at and needs to be if it’s viable for the city. Now all those people you might say is there enough people that are asking for the services? We don’t know until we ask them. Has that question been asked?

KR: I would say, "yes," because a system was established and no one used it.

Pizana: But did people know about the service? That is the question that I have for the people that needed the service. Did you know that there was a service?

KR: The people who were asking for it and the people who were asking about it definitely knew. And if more people needed to know, don’t individual city council members need to take more responsibility in disseminating that information?

Pizana: I agree that the responsibility the city council has is to be there as a voice for the citizens. That’s an agreeable ideal. I feel that the responsibility that the city council has at the moment is enough for their plate. Now, letting every constituent know about the city issues, now that falls not only on the council members, bur also with the city.

KR: What additional steps would you suggest the city take to disseminate information?

Pizana: There are places where the come together and like for the senior citizens lunch on Tuesdays at the old community center, the old City Hall, being able to tell them there. Some of them don’t actually go to the city meetings. There’s over 47,000 people here and out of the 47,000 people here, there’s about 30,000 that are registered. And how many come out to vote. That’s the issue.

KR: But look at the city’s web site. All the voting information any citizen needs is on there. So again, what more should city staff do?

Pizana: I’m not saying they’re not informing them, I’m just saying there are ways we can inform other people as well. The city is doing the best that it can and I can’t account for any city council member at this moment. I can only account for myself. And when I get on the council I will be able to inform my constituents by first making a mailing list and having either a newsletter that goes out to all my constituents which would be almost the whole city of Kyle. It’s like everything. Social media right now is huge but there are a lot of people that are not on social media. But with social media I tell you, you go to the next person and tell the next person. As long as we can get some kind of communication going that way, that’s another way. Also I feel that I want to bring into is having a text service, because, like I said, there’s a lot of people who are not on social media. When I was at the university, whenever there was an incident that occurred on the university campus, my phone would have a text in it that said "This is the issues that are going on. Be aware. Campus is closed for today." Just having a text service for the citizens to register their phones.

KR: That already exists here.

Pizana: Oh, does it? I haven’t seen that. I’m sorry. I apologize.

KR: It’s reverse 9-1-1.

Pizana: Well, to add on to that, maybe we could make one that’s not emergency and where if you’re willing to sign up for it. There’s a lot of ways.

KR: Which brings up another issue. Would you support the city — or now the regional call center — installing a 3-1-1 capability?

Pizana: If it’s viable to the city and if it’s something we can go by and doing it without adding more tax dollars to it, then I don’t oppose it. The information center that all these people ask is a good idea. Not only because you get information that’s going on but you understand that people can call in and ask certain questions. But consider me the guard dog. I was always the one that was always reading policy and procedures when I used to work for the prison system. And that’s one of the biggest things here is making sure that I start learning the policies and the procedures of the city so I can understand what we can and what we cannot do. Ultimately, with that, as long as you have knowledge, you have power. And that’s the biggest thing I told my students — with knowledge you have power. And that’s what I want to do first is to understand what we can and what we cannot do. Not only that, but to convey that back to the citizens. "This is what we can and cannot do as a city." So, ultimately, that’s my biggest goal is information — giving information back to the citizens.

KR: You referenced poor election turnout. Do you think that might be the result of voter fatigue because city council elections are held every year and, on the other hand, do you think it might have been helped by moving the elections from May to November?

Pizana: Time will tell, I guess you could say, because ultimately there is no actual information as far as any statistics saying that doing it in November is going to make in an increase or decrease it. I think that when change does occur people don’t get the information ahead of time and they’re like "Oh, hell, I missed it." Or, "I’m on it. I’m going to get to vote this time because I couldn’t do it before." As far as fatigue, I can’t say "yes" or "no" on that one because when they get a chance, when there’s an election people will come out and vote — the ones that wanna vote. And I got this just yesterday. I went up to the door and knocked on the door and I asked the individual — and the way I go into my block walk, I go in and tell ‘em "Good morning" or "Good afternoon. Just want to let you know that early voting is about to occur. It starts October 23^rd and it ends on November 11^th." And the door wouldn’t even open and he goes "I don’t vote and I never will vote." And I’m like, "Well, OK, thank you very much for your time." Another person when I was block walking will say "I never vote in city elections." And I go "Why is it you won’t vote in city elections?" "I just don’t. I vote federal or I vote state." And I’m like "Hmmm." And I get to wondering ‘What’s really going on? Why are people not voting?" The next person who answered the door and I give them the same spiel and they said "You know, I’m so glad you came to my door. Out of all the city elections here, you’re the first person that’s come here and knocked on my door." And I’m like "Why would that be?" And he goes "I don’t know. But I always vote, but nobody comes and talks to me and I appreciate that about you." And because of that I think it’s the lack of information. With information, people can do a lot and I think that’s one of our biggest things is just being able to tell people about the information that is going on.

KR: But as regards to that guy who says he only votes in state and federal elections, since those elections are held in November, do you think that might increase participation in the city’s elections?

Pizana: I hope so. I really do.

KR: Because, as you acknowledged, most Kyle residents work somewhere else and spend most of their waking hours outside the city, the lack of voter turnout could be attributed to the fact that they don’t consider Kyle as the place in which they live, only the place in which they spend the night?

Pizana: From my personal experience and my personal opinion, I used to work in Edinburg and I used to live in Los Fresnos and at no time did I ever consider Edinburg to my town whenever I used to work there and live in Los Fresnos. And that was an hour drive back and forth. But are we a bedroom community? I would say we are trying to transition away from that. We want to get people here that are gonna work here, live here and play here, as they say it, but there are some places that pay a little bit more. And people are going to go to where they can sustain themselves and sustain their family. But ultimately, again, if we get the community together, get them to understand things are going on here in Kyle then they’ll start listening, they’ll start understanding.

KR: Give me your evaluation of City Manager Scott Sellers’s performance?

Pizana: Well, he has brought some things to the city . As far as my personal opinion and when I get into council my biggest thing would be to understand what he has done and what’s going on and the accountability. The city manager, ultimately his job is to manage the city, manage all the departments. So accountability is huge. "What are you doing to hold everybody accountable? Are people laxing on the jobs or are there certain things that are going on." The city council is there as a guide, but it is not there to hire and fire people. That’s the city manager’s job. So my biggest thing is to make sure the city manager understands "Are you doing your job correctly" and for the most part he’s doing what needs to be done. But I feel there are certain things that I would ask questions as far as "Where are our projects at." That’s the biggest thing — where are we at on projects.

KR: Anything specific?

Pizana: Well, first of all, like we mentioned earlier, the lines in downtown. When will that ever be taken care of? I know that got passed a while ago, but I can’t give you the exact date, but I know it’s been passed. So where are we at on that? Is it going to be an outside institute that’s gonna take care of it or is it our own city employees are gonna take care of that? We ought to be able to take care of our own. If we take care of our own, our own will take care of us. And, ultimately, the city is a family. We’re all a family, but with family and as far as just like my dad was — my dad was strict. He was making sure I was doing what I was supposed to be doing. And as far as the city manager, we need to make sure he’s doing what he’s supposed to be doing and make sure the city is running the way it’s supposed to be running. As far as me being on city council, I would just ask questions and that question that I will be asking is for information, knowledge and to find out is everything on track. That’s ultimately the thing — accountability. We want to be sustainable when we get older. We want to be able to sustain the city for the upcoming years. And with that said, we need to be able to hold people accountable.

KR: Do you support the relocation of the train siding that causes a regular blockade on Center Street?

Pizana: Kyle’s a railroad community. It’s always going to be a railroad community. Do I support it being moved? I’ve been stuck in traffic on that road several times. I wouldn’t say "no," but we have to see if it’s viable for the city and be viable for the railroad company because, ultimately, I don’t want the citizens to pay more money for a movement that doesn’t need to occur.

KR: The city is steadily increasing its bond capacity. Do you see the need for a general obligation bond proposal during in the next two years and, if so, what should those bonds be used for?

Pizana: If we need to have another bond and this is just me and the biggest thing in the priority of the city should be the infrastructure — being able to fix the areas first and have a set list of what needs to be occurred first. Instead of jumping around and trying to fix this and this and this, it needs to go in order. And once those things are in order, once those things are finished, we can move on to the next project. But if anything it would just be infrastructure that I would be worried about. Because, ultimately, if we fix our infrastructure we’d be able to be moving and keep growing. Ultimately, you can’t go higher if your base is not complete. I mean that’s just the way it’s supposed to be done.

KR: What kind of tax incentives do you support in order to attract new businesses to Kyle?

Pizana: I think tax incentives should be at the back end of businesses. I say that because we lose a lot of tax dollars at the very beginning, especially when they get here. New businesses they bring, they attract a lot of people. Do I oppose it? Not really. But I wouldn’t incur that we try and do the tax incentives after five years and then have a five-year tax incentive or, depending on what the development is, but ultimately trying have good development plans and we have new business come in because the city is losing a lot of money when it comes to businesses. What, H-E-B has a 15-year incentive, which is not bad. Wal-Mart has a five-year incentive. So it’s a good thing but it’s also kind of a bad thing, but it just comes back to being able to make ourselves sustainable and not to raise our tax dollars when we have businesses that can help our community and help us alleviate some of those taxes.

KR: Anything you want to add?

Pizana: I want to say thank you for giving me the opportunity to talk to you. I’m actually having another interview and probably just like everybody else that’s talk to you, I’m new at this. And just like everybody else I’m taking a leap of faith in trying to do my civic duty to try and help our citizens to help our city. I just implore anybody who reads this to give me a fair shot and give me the chance to prove myself because, ultimately, two years you can do something or you can’t do anything. And I want to see if we can do something within those two years and possibly getting re-elected the following year. But I will say that being an educator, it’s always been my goal as a life-long learner and getting information out to people and understanding people need to learn that information so that they can grow as individuals themselves. And as we grow as individuals we can do a lot of things. I know this city has a lot of potential and we have the potential to grow and be successful. But first, like I said, we have to go back to basics. And I can be that guard dog to get us there.