Three of four city council candidates, including one incumbent, engaged in a forum today sponsored by the Kyle Chamber of Commerce that was mostly devoid of any news value with the exception of that aforementioned incumbent, Tracy Scheel, saying the city is on the verge of announcing two new significant businesses locating here and all three more or less endorsing the ballot referendum to fund a new police headquarters building.
One of the candidates originally scheduled to appear, Yvonne Flores-Cale, who is challenging Scheel for the District 2 seat, was forced to cancel because of a death in the family, according to chamber CEO Julie Snyder, who superbly moderated today’s forum.
“I wish we could make announcements, but we can’t yet due to non-disclosure agreements,” Scheel said during the forum. “Yet we have two companies coming in and I cannot wait for that announcement.” She said the principle reason why the unnamed businesses decided to locate in Kyle was because the city had already arranged for the construction of shell buildings to house these and other concerns, freeing the businesses from having to construct their own physical locations.
Scheel said that because she was a sitting council member she could speak neither for or against the ballot proposition to fund the proposed new police headquarters, but then, like others on the council, proceeded to “inform” voters why such a building is necessary. The other two candidates appearing at the forum, Tim McHutchion and Ashlee Bradshaw, competing against each other for the open District 4 seat, both supported the ballot proposition, with McHutchion being the more supportive of the two.
“As much as I’m going to bless seeing a more affordable option on the table on the November ballot,” Bradshaw said, “the community voted on the stand-alone site, which was the $37 million, and I will say that I fully support the mental health program and all of the benefits that I believe it will bring to the residents here in Kyle, Texas … (The Police Department) much deserve a larger building — a better option, a more suitable option.”
McHutchion said “It is our duty to ensure the safety of our public by having this new public safety center.”
Scheel said she generally opposed incentives for businesses to locate here, but she danced around the question of what she would do to encourage start-ups that don’t require those types of incentives, instead saying the proposed “Uptown” development would be a great location for a start-up. To be fair, neither of the two other candidates successfully answered the question about “encouraging” start-ups, instead falling back on answers concerning permitting and office space requirements that might streamline such a process for all businesses wishing to locate here, but would do absolutely nothing to specifically encourage start-ups.
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