A conversation with city council candidate Dex Ellison

EDITOR’S NOTE: What follows is the transcript of a conversation I had Oct. 9 with City Council District 1 candidate Dex Ellison.

Kyle Report (KR): Why are you running?

Ellison: So, as you’re familiar with and I’m sure that others are familiar with, but I’ll give a little background. I’ve lived in this city for seven years now. I wanted to get involved with this city. I’m a single man with no kids, but I still care about my community. And a former council member — give her credit — Diane Hervol, I met her at a chamber of commerce gala and I did not know who she was and I talked to her about my desire to get more involved in the community and she encouraged me to go to city council meetings. And I showed up at city council meetings and there she was on the dias. So I just started attending meetings. I’m a little bit of a government nerd and I found it interesting. So then I learned about the Kyle Leadership Academy, which I went through and finally got my certificate last fall. Then I went through the Kyle Citizens Police Academy Alumni Association which I completed in 2014 and have been a part of the academy and I have been a part of this alumni association since then. And both of those really opened my eyes up to keeping more people involved in local government and being involved in our community in many different areas. But it really got me excited about using my time to do that. So going through the college academy I learned about a few different things that operate our local government and one of those was planning and zoning. I started to learn about the importance of that. But through the various things I learned in 2015 in that three person race for District 6 — didn’t know what I was doing, very naive — I had the idea in my mind that I wanted to be a representative and that I wanted to put represent back in representative. And so I just knocked on everyone’s door. Didn’t matter who it was — if you were sitting out on your porch I would talk to you. And I spent hours and days in that three months. And I estimated that I knocked on between 600 and 700 doors in District 6. How many of those were voters or even registered voters? I have no idea. Probably very few. So I received about 21 percent of the vote in that race. I focused on the issues. I focused on the conversations that I had with people and just ran on that. But after doing that, I did not win that race, but I believe Mayor Webster and the council recognized my desire to work for my community and my efforts and my value for having done all that block walking and talking to people in the community and appointed me to planning & zoning. Planning & zoning is one of the best things that could have happened to me. It truly was a blessing. I have learned that there’s a lot I didn’t know. It was probably, in many ways, I can say that it was probably best that I didn’t get elected to the city council at that time. And, while if I did I would have worked hard to learn and to understand, but planning & zoning was truly the best thing for me. And so my first year (P&Z) chairman (Mike) Rubsum chaired our planning & zoning and I learned a lot under him — a very intelligent man and I have a lot of respect for Mr. Rubsum and what he has done for community, for planning & zoning. I also know him through the alumni association. But I learned a great deal. I made some mistakes. I learned through those mistakes and errors in my first year on planning & zoning. But at the end of the day one of my mentors told me "When you go after something that’s good that you really want in life you don’t lose. You either win or you learn." And so I learned for those next two years. I was very humbled in my second year to be elected as chairman by my fellow commissioners and served in that capacity this past year and I was very proud of what we accomplished together. No one man or woman can do anything alone. And our achievements on planning & zoning have included the revisions of the comprehensive plan — I know it probably took a little too long for that, probably close to two years to get that really passed out, but either way I’m really happy with the product that we came up with. We also addressed impact fees. That was important because when new development comes in, we want to make sure that new development is mostly, if not all, paying for itself in terms of stress on utilities and things like that. And so we have some of the highest impact fees in the county and the surrounding areas, but I still think the growth is going to happen, those developers are still going to come even with all the city impact fees. But they’re paying their fair share and that burden is not going to be on the citizenry. Another thing we did was the residential style guide which I am very excited about. And basically we, more or less, raised the bar on the types of homes and developments we want to see here in Kyle, promoted connectivity in our neighborhoods and I’m very excited about what’s going to happen as a result of that residential style guide and the type of homes and development we’re going to start to see here. That is my hope. And, finally, towards the end of my term here in the fall we created a new zoning category, the office/institutional zoning category which I think was imperative. We have plenty of agriculture, we have plenty of residential zoning, we have plenty of retail service zoning, but we didn’t have employment zoning to really encourage developers and companies to come to Kyle. I think that’s imperative. The majority of Kyle’s working force works outside of the Kyle area. I for a log time worked here, but now I manage the location for my company in Lakeway so I am very familiar now with two years of doing that — that commute — and what that kinda does. I thought long and hard about moving up there, when I did get promoted, But at the end of the day I’m too committed to this community. I have so many friends and relationships that I’ve built in this community over the last seven years that I’ve been here. I love being involved, whether it’s with my Kyle Invaders youth football organization which I have been a part of the last five years, the alumni association — I love being a part of that. I think the chamber of commerce here in Kyle is one of the best I’ve ever been a part of in my professional career. I’ve been in the Austin Chamber. I’ve been in the Lake Travis Chamber and have visited other chambers of commerce. I think that Kyle’s is second to none. I really enjoy it. And also various other things in the community. I decided I still wanted to be here and just deal with the commute and I’m glad I did. I’m running again because I care about my community. I sometimes tell people when I knock on doors that I’m not a married man, I don’t have kids, but I consider the community my family and I want to continue to work for my family. And, who knows, maybe one day that’s in the cards for me and I would love to raise my family here in Kyle. And I want to do what I can now to help build a community, help build a city that I would be proud to raise my family in. So that’s more or less the reason that I’m running. I filed on the 23^rd of August and I’ve been block walking since the 24^th of August and I’ve enjoyed the conversations. And it’s exhausting. I’m not gonna lie to you, it’s exhausting and it’s time-consuming but at the end of the day I’m learning. And I’m having great conversations and I’m learning more about what the constituency of Kyle wants and once again I go back to putting "represent" back in "representative." At the end of the day, I might have some visions and views for the city but it’s really about us as a whole. And as I said earlier no one woman or one man can solve all problems. We have to work together and we have to be smart and, like I said, planning & zoning was a blessing because I really understand the importance of planning properly for a city that’s experiencing the growth that we’re having.

KR: You said three things that I want to follow up on. The first is getting citizens more involved. How do you plan to do that?

Ellison: I think it’s a two-way street. Both parts have to come together. I always think there’s more that we can do as representatives of the city — elected or appointed and the city as a whole, the city staff — there’s really more that we can do to get folks involved and be as transparent as possible and inform them of these important decisions that are happening; i.e., the comprehensive plan. I think that’s one of the most important things citizens can be a part of. In my block walking that I have done, in the neighborhoods that I have gone throughout this city — first of all, every neighborhood seems to be its own city, they have their own concerns and their own desires that they’d like to see in the city. But I’ve talked to each one of them that I’ve talked about the comprehensive plan. I think that when we have major changes or are looking at plans — it’s all about planning for me now — and we have those things, we need to, even if it’s an investment of some kind and perhaps we can put out a survey to figure out what would be the best way to reach people. It’s no secret. It came at me the last time I ran. I have an apartment, but there’s no shame in that. I love this city. I’ve been here seven years. And anyone can look at me objectively and say I’m invested in this city. There was a survey that was sent out. It didn’t get out to people in apartments. I think the people in apartments are just as interested in their city as anybody else. But we need to look at ways of getting the word out because not everybody is going to visit our city web site, unfortunately. And they’ve done a great job. I was really pleased with the hiring of Kim (Communications Director Kim Hilsenbeck) and what she’s been doing as far as the newsletter and things like that. I enjoy reading those and I encourage others to go to that. I can’t tell you how many people I’ve talked to who have no idea about that. And there’s a lot of information on that — a lot of good information. But, as far as specific ideas, there’s a ton of little things. I would like to see if we could work with the realtors in the area. If I know one, I probably know 200 in this city. We could work with them and when they’re selling a home we give them a packet that they can give to new residents, new homeowners that can provide them with when voting begins, when important meetings are happening — parks and rec, city council meetings, things like that. The logistics of it, we can talk about it and work that out. Other specific ideas, I think signage for one. People commute around this city all the time. If we can work with development and small businesses or any kind of business around the city to really help spread the word. But, at the same time, I said that was a two-way street. I think there’s a lot of apathy in this city and there’s a lot of folks that I’ve talked to who feel that their vote doesn’t matter or that nothing is going to change regardless if they go to a city council meeting and voice their concerns. I’m sorry — I just don’t think that’s true. I think we have a lot of folks that listen, whether they’re appointed or elected officials. They really want to see people have opportunities and want to hear the opinions of those around the city. We have some folks who have been here for decades and they’re a little disgruntled about some things that are happening. But nothing changes without that most powerful tool and that’s voting.

KR: I will agree with you that the citizens of Kyle lack information about what’s going on in their city and I place most of the blame for that squarely on the shoulders of the city council members — the direct link between the citizens and their city government. I am absolutely astounded, for example, that in the three budget cycles I have witnessed, I have yet to see a council member host a budget townhall meeting, whereas, where I lived previously, 50 different such meetings were held in the month of August alone. The only evidence I have seen of some kind of semi-organized townhall-type meeting was former council member Samantha Lemense’s Saturday morning coffees with constituents. Don’t you think individual council members need to follow Ms. Lemense’s example and take on more responsibility for keeping their constituents aware of what’s going on in city government?

Ellison: I absolutely agree with that. These are the conversations we need to have. The first and third Tuesday may not be the most convenient time for everyone. People may have more exciting things to do. But that’s fine, That’s great. Perhaps a weekend, a Saturday morning, or something like that. I agree with you — there’s more we can do, especially at budget time and that’s certainly one of the most important times of the year in city government. I love that idea. I’ve been block walking these past couple of months and I love talking to people. I love getting out there and hearing what people have to say. I don’t have all the answers, but the answers come from conversations and dialogue in townhall things like that. You never know what ideas might be brought about from those conversations. There could be things those seven sitting on the dias could miss that someone sitting at their home maybe has a week full of things — taking their kids to practices, other things they have going on, work life, just various different things — but there’s a lot of intelligent people who really contribute to where the city can go. And I’m just afraid we’re not tapping into that. And I think a townhall would be a great way to do that.

KR: You also said in your last campaign you went door-to-door discussing the issues. What do you see as the issues in this campaign?

Ellison: Obviously, the growth in the city is one of the biggest issues. There are some that I talked to that say "Dex, if you can stop this growth, then I’ll vote for you." I want to listen to everybody and I don’t take lightly anything anyone wants to say. When I ran in 2015 I probably talked to a lot to folks who were not voters, may have been registered but didn’t vote, possibly weren’t even registered. But I’ve had a lot of great conversations this time around, too. And I’ve heard that same thing once or twice in the last couple of months — not quite as much as the last time. That’s one of our key things and I already said that one of the greatest things that happened to me was planning & zoning — really understanding the importance of planning. The growth is happening whether we want it to or not. It’s how we plan appropriately for that growth. So one of the key things that we need to look into is infrastructure. We passed that road bond in 2013 and it took a couple of years for that go get off the ground and I commend the council that did that and really got that ball rolling. But you need to get on top of those things immediately, especially if it’s something the voters approved. Those roads in 2013 are not going to be the same price as 2015, 2017, 2019 and whatever down the road. When we get that approval we need to be active in getting on top of those things, especially when it comes to infrastructure. We want that infrastructure in place and prepared for that growth. Like I said, the growth is going to happen. We had a candidate information session a couple of weeks back and Scott (City Manager Scott Sellers) gave us a really conservative estimate for that growth. And I think they were truly conservative. Hays County is one of the fastest growing in the nation and the city of Kyle is a big part of that. People are moving here from Austin, from San Antonio, from outside the state and we need to be prepared with that infrastructure in place — whether that’s roads, bridges, water, wastewater, everything that goes into our infrastructure. We need to have that in place because even areas near us, i.e., Austin, that didn’t want growth to happen and tried to push it away for many decades and the growth still happened, the population still boomed. Now they find themselves behind the eight ball, if you will, trying to put that infrastructure in place after the development has already occurred. We don’t want to find ourselves in that position. It’s all about smart planning for our city with this growth that is happening and I think that is one of the key issues. Some of the other issues, once again, like I said, lot of my understanding is really from talking to people. I’ve been in a few different neighborhoods now — Amberwood, Plum Creek, Hometown, Post Oak, Waterleaf, Kensington Trails, Steeplechase and others — and at times they seem like they’re different cities within themselves and they all have their different concerns. And they’re valid concerns. It’s a much different perspective I have running for an at large seat, which I’m doing now, than for a district seat. We need to look at these concerns. Some folks have concerns that are not even city related. Sometimes they’re county or even school related, But just because they’re not directly under the jurisdiction of the city, that does not mean we don’t have to be cognizant of them because we can work with these other government bodies, whether it’s the county or the school district or Buda or San Marcos, Austin, east of west of us and come up with comprehensive solutions. Sometimes that working together, whether it’s in the city or outside the city, you can come up with some of the best resolutions with that comprehensive planning and understanding of the bigger picture of things rather than the small pockets of things.

KR: The third thing I wanted to come back to is your reference to the Kyle Chamber of Commerce, Would you favor putting additional municipal resources behind the chamber, whose sole interest is promoting Kyle and promoting the interests of Kyle businesses, at the expense of the resources the city is giving to the Greater San Marcos Partnership, which seems to me to have an obvious San Marcos bias?

Ellison: I’d like to look closer at that — what the Kyle Chamber brings. Not only to the business community, but both directly and indirectly on the non-business community. I’ve talked with business owners and small business owners around the city that don’t live here but are still truly interested in what’s going on. One thing I really love about this chamber is the educational piece of this chamber. They really like to inform their membership. We have a diamond in the rough in that Kyle Chamber and that’s truly an asset. And I agree with every time we’ve renewed that contract every year. I think their work with the economic development committee is imperative, keeping them in charge of the tourism and things like that is important and a smart idea. I wouldn’t say either way as far as to discontinue the San Marcos Partnership. I would want to look closer to really see the benefits of that because I want to be decisive in any decision that I make so at the end of the day I think investment and support with our Kyle Chamber will be a greater benefit.

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?

Ellison: That’s a very vital issue here in Kyle. I think the office/institutional zoning was a great start in that direction. We did not have any type of zoning that really was conducive for keeping people with uses under that zoning from working here in Kyle. There’s the old saying you want people living, working, and playing in your city. Vista Park, that opportunity, really developing our parks and trails and things like that. Obviously the development is coming with homes and things like that. And I think we upgraded that vision with the residential style guide. I think that office/institutional zoning was a step in the right direction, I think another thing we have to do — it goes back to that infrastructure — we need to have those areas of our city that have big plots of land that we could be very attractive to major employers that could employ a lot of people and with higher-skilled, higher-wage, higher-salaried jobs by building that infrastructure in there and making sure that the water and wastewater infrastructure is in place so that when our economic development committee goes out there to find these major employers they can point to all these things that are in place. That would be one key thing. We need to be cognizant of our I35 corridor, the I35 Overlay District and really be judicial about — we took one step forward in the right direction with the comprehensive plan and looking at those nodes. But we have the benefit of being along a major corridor like that. And I’ve heard it said before and I’ve even said it myself, the Austin-San Antonio Corridor can be much like the Dallas-Fort Worth one. We need to realize the assets that we have in this city and that is attractive to employers. I have been very happy with our medical district and the way we’ve promoted that. I think that was a step in the right direction. I think those are higher wage, higher-skilled jobs that can support families. I also think looking to develop executive housing neighborhoods as well because we need places for these higher-skilled, higher-salary paid employees to live here in Kyle, because we don’t want them to live outside of Kyle and work in Kyle. We want them living, working and enjoying their quality of life here in Kyle. Those are a few of the things I think we have been doing and can continue to do and look into to really promote and be attractive to those types of employers.

KR: You referenced the recent city survey which revealed the primary issue among citizens was the city’s streets. With that in mind, do you think the city should create a separate streets department with a director reporting to the city manager’s office or keep streets as a subsidiary of the public works department?

Ellison: It is such an important issue. There were a lot of things that went into that candidate information session. Most of that, I’d say, I already knew about from my time on planning & zoning and just being involved. But I thought it was good, I thought it was a good idea by Scott Sellers and staff to do that. I wish it would have happened when I ran in 2015 and I guarantee you I would have learned a lot. Bur we have some very committed staff that have been here for a number of years. And I just loved the little acronym they had in how they really hold themselves to a higher standard. Those are things I want to hear, not only just as a candidate or an appointed official but just as a resident of Kyle. With that being said, I want to make sure that we have the right focus and the right level of expertise working on the important issues for the residents of Kyle, Obviously, as you pointed out, the streets are a major, major issue for residents of Kyle. It’s about quality of life. I’m very pleased with the roads that we have completed through that road bond — it’s night and day. That’s important. Sometimes we take those things for granted — streets and highways and byways and bridges and things like that — but that’s a huge, important issue. I’m speaking from experience — I spend a lot of time on roads and streets and in my car. Kyle Crossing behind EVO needs more than just some TLC. And there’s a lot of other streets in Kyle that need that attention, I think Wilder (public works director Harper Wilder) and public works are doing a great job and things like that and I don’t want to take anything from them. But that doesn’t sound like a bad idea — to have someone specifically dedicated and instructed to just focus on our streets here in Kyle. I know there’s still some frustration from folks when I got out and talk about the streets particularly. Whether it’s potholes, cracks or various other things. If we had a department and a director that specifically oversaw streets and byways here in Kyle, I think that would go a long way toward lessening the burden of our public works and what they’re doing but also as an optics thing because it would also make progress beyond the optics of just showing the public "Here is a response to what you gave us. You’re concerned about the streets. You want them repaired. You want a better quality of life when it comes to that. Let’s put someone that is directly focused on that particular issue." The more I’m talking about that, the more I’m thinking about it, the more I’m loving this idea. Obviously, we would have to consider that in the budget and things like that, but in the grand scheme of things, I’m liking this idea.

KR: How would you evaluate the cultural landscape of Kyle? We don’t have a have something like a community theater, an art gallery, symphonies in the park or the like. Do you think the city should take a role in promoting or encouraging — even partially funding such activities through something like an office of cultural affairs — or do you think Kyle is still too provincial to support them?

Ellison: I’m a fan of the arts. I love museums, community theater, other things like that. I like the small-town feel and that’s kind of the reason I came into Kyle, but I know it’s not going to always be like that. It’s still a friendly kind of atmosphere. I think I mentioned this the last time I ran in our interview the show Cheers, which was a little bit before my time, but it was that place where everybody knows your name. I love that about Kyle and there are still a lot of parts of Kyle that are like that. As far as that goes, I spend a lot of time in Austin just to enjoy those types of things, going to theaters, going to the things they have in Zilker Park and various things like that. Therefore, I’m spending my time and my dollars in those communities rather than here in Kyle. And I would love to have trails and parks and art and different things right here in Kyle that I can go into my own backyard and spend my money here in Kyle. I’ve talked to a number of different people and I plan to continue on talking to people up to Nov. 7 and even beyond that. And they’ve expressed that desire as well. A lot of folks do the same thing that I do. We go to our surrounding cities and get that entertainment. I would absolutely love to see those things here in Kyle.

KR: Then my question is does municipal government have a role in, at least, attracting them and perhaps even helping them to sustain here?

Ellison: Absolutely. I think there’s always a chance for government to have a role in the attraction of different types of whether it is business or whatever it may be. They can play a role in that and it may just be going out and pitching for that type of development. So, yes, there are things that we can do and I would love to see progress made towards that.

KR: Do you believe the city council needs to adapt a more well-defined strategy for its downtown area and perhaps by even going to so far as to create a downtown TIF district to manage, finance and facilitate that strategy?

Ellison: I think we want to keep our options on the table. I think that promoting our downtown area is important. I love our downtown area now. I love the potential it has and what it can be. But that’s that feel I get of Kyle. Up on 1626 we have all the other things you find more or less in many other cities, but obviously our downtown area is precious. We want to be very judicial about the planning we do for that, and, yes, I’m all about comprehensive planning and really being aware and cognizant of that long-term "what’s going to happen." We can’t be small-minded and think in just short bits. We have to thing long-term. Of course, some things are more short-term, but when you think about the impact that makes on longer-term — I’m a younger person getting up there now in years — but I have had conversations with younger people and I think KAYAC, for example, is a wonderful group of young people. The things that they’re doing are showing us what their perspectives and thoughts are, what they want to see in the city. If we want those kids, not only in KAYAC, but all throughout our school district, within our city, to be proud and appreciative of what our city is doing and the planning that they’re doing. If they go off to school and get their education, I want them to think long and hard "Maybe I should come back to Kyle and bring what I’ve learned out of secondary education and beyond back to Kyle because I’m seeing what Kyle’s doing and promoting and the type of city it’s becoming and I want to be a part of that." And that’s a beautiful thing if we can get those kids to want to come back and be a part of that. I think things like that would clearly show that we’re making moves in the right direction. But, anytime you have that development in a particular area, you want to be cognizant of who’s paying for it. I think that’s absolutely a tool and an asset the city can employ. I think it would be one that I would strongly consider.

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?

Ellison: That’s a good idea. I think independent audits are necessary. They can provide an objective view of what we’re doing here in the city. When things are proposed and we need an audit and it’s stated it needs to be done in this amount of time, we need to be responsible to the constituency. I really have no objections to that idea. I think that could be beneficial to the city. If we need to spend some money now in order to save us a whole lot more money down the line, I think that’s the financially prudent thing to do.

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 of your term and, if so, what should those bonds be used for?

Ellison: I think we have to be aware of where we are. One of the things I’ve heard in my block walking — and I always refer to that because that is one of the best assets I have as far as education — a lot of people are concerned about the debt. You hear the numbers and it’s "Oh, my goodness." But there’s a few things you have to think about. One, there’s the size of the debt and obviously we need to get that down and we have been doing that — the debt has been going down. Our bond rating has increased the last five years. So we’re being financially prudent and we’re really making some good decisions for paying down on that debt. Our bond rating is increasing and I think it will continue to increase. On the record, once again I want to say I’m a big fan of Perwez (Finance Director Perwez Moheet) and what he’s doing in our finance department. I want to consider all options on the table during these next two years, but I think we want to be careful and judicial about when we do that and really plan that in a financially stable way — that we’re not putting too much on our plate to handle. One thing with the debt I’ll say, too, it’s not so much the size of the debt, but your ability to pay off that debt. If we’re paying down on that debt and our bond ratings are increasing, we’re looking more attractive to lenders and things like that. I get it and I get the concerns about the debt, but you have to incur some debt if you’re going to make improvements. And when you want the debt is when you’re making those improvements, whether it’s the infrastructure like the roads and different things like that. You don’t want the debt when it’s operational. And I think we’re in a good place right now. We’re moving in the right direction. And so I just want to make sure if I’m elected to the city council that would be what I would focus on.

KR: GO bonds, by law, can’t be used for operational expenses.

Ellison: Absolutely. I think we’re going to decrease that debt, become more attractive to lenders, our bond rating is going to go up, I have no doubt — it could conceivably go up in the next two years. 2014 I think was the last time it was increased, But these are all really financially smart things that we’re doing and we’re making good decisions obviously.

KR: What, if anything, did the city manager include in his current budget that you objected to? What was omitted that you want included for the next fiscal year?

Ellison: It’s hard to disapprove of anything when the tax rate goes down. To be able to pay down on the debt and do the things we’re doing and have a tax rate decrease, I didn’t know that was possible. That just goes to show, back to my comments before about the financially responsible things that we’re doing here in Kyle. As far as one thing I would say I disagree with in the budget? I can’t say there is. I really can’t. We could perhaps nitpick, but wracking my brain right now I was very pleased with the current budget.

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

Ellison: I’ve had a few conversations with Sellers, more when he first came on board than I have recently in the past couple of years. There’s been a lot said about Scott, different things. I think at the end of the day, though, I see why city council hired him. I think he has been an asset to our city. I think that what he’s promoting among city staff in a higher level of commitment and innovation and outside-the-box ways of getting things done. I referenced Vista Park earlier. There have been some things that perhaps people haven’t liked, but at the end of the day, I think the job he has done has been a superb job. I hope he continues to stay here with the city and continues to want to see us through what I consider an exciting time. I really do — where we are in the city of Kyle. That’s honestly one of the reasons, too, I didn’t want to move. This is an exciting time. We’re in the middle of where our city is going to be. We can go in a number of different directions, but the decisions that are being made right now and over the past two years and these upcoming years are exciting to me. For the fact that we can really make some strong decisions that will lead our city in a way that can be prosperous and great for the city of Kyle.

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

Ellison: I would say, as I sit right now, I don’t have one hundred percent all of the information that I feel our current city council has on that and those that have been on city council on the time that all that started so I’m going to say that I would wait and want to hear every side of that story before making my decision.

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

Ellison: In some ways, yes, we do, particularly in the downtown area. As much as I want to make Kyle a city of connectivity and be able to walk, people use their cars — it is what it is. Especially those that are coming outside the city and want to bring people inside to shop and different things and bring their sales tax dollars to the city. So we need to be cognizant of that. I think the area that is most affected by that is the downtown area. There are innovative ways of creating parking in smaller spaces.

KR: How do you feel about parking meters as a possible solution to the downtown parking situation?

Ellison: I know when I go to Austin, which is quite a bit, obviously to do those things I talked about earlier in this interview, they’re all over the place — they’re everywhere. It is a form of revenue and that could help pay for a lot infrastructure in putting that parking in place. It’s an option. It’s definitely an option. And I can say as a consumer I don’t like paying those meters every time, but as a steward of the Kyle citizenry and doing what’s best to make sure we’re being financially prudent it would have to be an option to consider.

KR: Does the city need to improve its park network and, if so, how?

Ellison: I think there’s always room for improvement. I love parks. I love spending time outside. Austin has a wonderful park system. I work out in Lakeway in the Bee Cave area and they have some gorgeous parks out there, I would love to see things like that here in Kyle. I think that Lake Kyle is a step in that right direction. I think we can definitely make some improvements to Gregg-Clarke Park. I’m excited to see what’s going to happen with Vista Park. We need to invest in our park system, our trails. I’ve talked to many people and they have expressed the desire to have more trails and park areas in the city in Kyle, And it’s’ attractive. You look at the Pie in the Sky Festival we had about a month ago. I think the city manager’s estimates were between ten and 12 thousand that went to that festival over those two days. And you had people from all over the state and even outside the state that festival brought in. And that’s going to be their perception of Kyle is that park or wherever we’re having these festivals. I hope we continue to do the Pie in the Sky Festival. I absolutely enjoyed it. I had some pie. I was in the pie eating contest. Can’t quite put it away like I could back when I was in college perhaps. I was beat by a younger guy. But it was still so much fun. And I want to see more things like that. It was such a great program and I give major kudos to the city, particularly the parks department for getting that together. I know (city special events coordinator) Sarah Watson had her hands all in that and Kerry (Urbanowicz) our parks director. Those things are great. I think that’s what promotes our city. Those kinds of things put our city on the map and if we want to be like our neighbors — Austin, San Marcos has some nice parks. I really look at Austin and like I said I work in the Lakeway and Bee Cave area and I pass those parks and they’re beautiful, beautiful parks. I would love to see us continue to improve that park network.

EDITOR’S NOTE: At this juncture — exactly an hour into our conversation — Ellison had to leave because of another scheduled commitment and unfortunately I did not have the time to ask him all the questions I wanted to, many of which I did pose to other candidates running for council positions.