Hays County: When they get it right ...

 Last month, I wrote a story about how Hays County officials totally botched its Covid vaccine distribution with a plan that made receiving the vaccine akin to winning the lottery. I had no idea these folks could do a 180 this quickly. But they did. Not only did they come up with a different plan, but they came up with one that was not only efficient in its concept, but also in its application.

So, in all fairness, I need to take back all those nasty things I wrote back on Jan. 30.

I must also admit I’m writing this seconds after returning from receiving the first of my two Pfizer vaccine doses. And, my heavens, was it smooth.

It began with a registration web page that was just that — a site on which a person could actually register to be in the que for a dose, not a place where you battled not only the odds for 30 minutes or less against thousands of others people scrambling for a few slots that were available on one particular day. If you can imagine a game of musical chairs in which there are 500 players and three chairs — that was what the first sign-up site was like.

So I registered and, low and behold, I received an email Friday, just couple of days after registering, notifying me I had an appointment to get my first of the two required shots at 5 p.m. today at the First Baptist Church in Wimberley.

Expecting the worse, I left nothing to chance. I left home at 3:30 p.m. for what is supposed to be the 25-minute drive to Wimberley — heaven forbid I should get a flat tire or something on the way there, be forced to abandon the car, at least temporarily, and hitchhike my way there. And, if I had to wait for any length of time, I brought along the book I’m currently reading, my iPod and some earbuds.

I received a healthy jolt of reassurance the moment I pulled into the church’s well-marked parking lot. I was greeted at the first checkpoint by none other than Mike Rubsam, the legendary former chair of Kyle’s Planning & Zoning Commission (among other distinctions), and I just know in my soul of souls that anything Rubsam is involved with should be a well-oiled machine. And I was not disappointed.

There was one minor hiccup. The person checking folks in at the entrance of the church, a nice-enough fellow armed with a tablet containing, I assumed, a list of all those with appointments on this particular day, said my name wasn’t on the list. I pulled out my phone and showed him the email I had received informing me of my appointment. He summoned another worker, another nice-enough young lady, who asked me to step inside to a desk. She took my Covid Consent Form, pulled up her appointment list on her laptop and immediately told me “I don’t know what he was thinking, but here you are.” She directed me into the church where I stood in a line containing all of three persons. And when I got to the head of that line, which seemed like it took, at most, 30 seconds, I was directed to table No. 7 where sat the person with the vaccine destined to find a home in my left arm. This person had a sense of humor I cherished (“Just relax, I’m about to place a GPS tracking device in your arm.”), she gave me the shot which seemed less than a simple pin-prick, and then I was escorted to one of the pews in the church where I was told to wait for 15 minutes to make sure there were no after-effects. And to make it even easier — right in front of me was this huge digital display of a clock to use to count off those 15 minutes. The people involved in this operation thought of everything to make this as simple, as painless, as easy as possible for the vaccine recipients.

In all, I was back home, preparing my dog’s evening meal, by 5 p.m. As for me, I’m having crow for dinner. 

A shout-out to everyone involved in this effort. Hays County — this time you did good, you did it right, and this someone nestled back in his office somewhere in Kyle is tipping his hat. I owe you this after what I wrote about you guys a little more than a week ago.

Hey Hays County! It’s so much easier to be competent!

Hays County’s Friday Covid-19 vaccine registration was a blatant — one could easily argue criminally negligent — display of bureaucratic ineptitude. It was so badly botched that I had to wonder whether Hays County officials sat around in a room somewhere the week before and discussed ways to make it as incompetent as possible before settling on the plan they unleashed at noon Friday.

I know. I know. I’m supposed to concentrating here on Kyle’s municipal government, but the City is complicit in this negligence because it actually promoted it on its own Facebook site.

For those who are not aware, Hays County announced those eligible for a vaccine could sign up for one, either via computer or by calling a special telephone number, beginning at noon Friday. But instead of conducting an orderly registration process, which is what should have happened, they ran it like one of those old radio shows where the announcer says “And the fifth caller will receive the grand prize of …”

However, instead of the grand prize being a dinner for two at the local Italian restaurant, Hays County was dishing out vaccines that could save your life. And that’s not something to play around with.

So, what happened was, 30 minutes after the Hays-County sponsored game of Russian Roulette began, it ended. “So sorry,” the county said. “We have our winners. No more calls please.”

Look. Handling something like this should be oh so easy. You set up a system that’s always open, an on-line site and/or a telephone number to call, where residents can enter their names, physical and e-mail addresses, birth dates, methods to check off any medical conditions they may have, preferences for the weekday and/or time of day they would prefer to receive the vaccine, and other contact information. Once that’s entered, the resident should receive, either by return e-mail or telephone call, the acknowledgment that they are now registered in the county’s database and what their current position is on the wait-list (and also allow these registrants to periodically return to the same on-line database to get updated information on their wait-list positions). Then, as vaccines become available, these persons are scheduled and are notified of their appointment date, time and place. That’s not rocket-science. It’s efficient and it’s orderly.

But it’s more than just efficient and orderly. The pandemic has added an extra layer of stress on the lives of many residents. Additional layers of stress should be avoided, whenever possible. But Hays County’s Friday debacle was overly stressful in too many ways to count. It’s one thing to keep getting a busy signal when you’re trying to be the fifth caller to the radio station, but it’s quite another when your health is at stake. Imagine a group of terrorists trying to break into your house and you only get a busy signal when you call 9-1-1. Hays County’s handling of its vaccine registration was exactly like not being able to access the emergency call center when you need it the most. And that’s what county officials should be ashamed of. And that’s what City officials were complicit with.

And the worst part of it is it would have been so much easier to do it the right way.

Mayor says passage of ESD proposition could lead to lower property taxes in Kyle

Mayor Todd Webster said today the passage Tuesday of the proposition to create an Emergency Service District 9 in Hays County relieves Kyle of EMS costs that have ballooned fourfold in just two years and that future city councils "may have an opportunity to reduce taxes and/or improve services in other departments with the resources that have been freed up."

The mayor also said the high turnout for Buda’s municipal elections justified the actions the city took earlier this year in amending its charter to move council/mayor elections from May to November while also warning the move "does increase the burden on candidates by increasing the amount of effort it will take to get elected."

Mayor Webster’s statements came in response to my seeking the reaction from Kyle’s elected officials on the direct ramifications of Tuesday’s election results in Hays County on residents of Kyle.

Both Webster and council member Travis Mitchell cited the improvements the passage of the second of the two Hays County bond propositions will mean for Dacy Road with the mayor saying that this "North/South thoroughfare on the East side of Kyle will improve mobility, address an insufficient road that is near three schools and create additional opportunity for commercial development."

I asked Kyle’s political leaders specifically what effects the passage of the bond propositions and the ESD had on Kyle residents and whether they thought the 70 percent turnout in Buda’s city council elections Tuesday not only justified Kyle’s decision to move its elections but also silenced, at least somewhat, the fear that too many voters in a bipartisan election would cast a straight-ticket vote and then not bother to vote in the city elections found much further down the ballot.

Here, unedited, are their replies, first from Mayor Webster:

"Regarding the Bond Proposals and ESD 9, I supported both bond proposals and ESD 9 and am pleased that the voters approved them. Proposition 1, which was the more controversial of the two bond proposals is going to benefit the City of Kyle by creating a joint operations center for 9-1-1 dispatching. Kyle's existing 9-1-1 dispatch operations are housed in a building that has inadequate space and is in less than ideal condition. Co-locating dispatch services provides an opportunity for both Hays County and the City of Kyle to more effectively collaborate, improving the quality of service that is being provided. The opportunity to be more efficient and share resources at the new facility should improve public safety and lower costs over time. Eliminating the need for Kyle to build a new facility to house our 9-1-1 dispatch department will also allow Kyle to avoid a future debt issuance that likely would have been needed in the near future.

"Proposition 2 will rebuild and expand parts of Dacy Lane to the north into Buda. Creating a North/South thoroughfare on the east side of Kyle will improve mobility, address an insufficient road that is near three schools and create additional opportunity for commercial development. Additionally, proposition 2 included partial funding for an important effort that Kyle has been spearheading to relocate the Union Pacific Rail Road siding that is the cause of FM 150/Center Street being blocked by stopped trains. While far from a sure thing, a successful effort to move the siding elsewhere on the track would improve emergency response times, reduce traffic backups and eliminate a situation that frustrates a large number of Kyle residents on a daily basis.

"The creation of ESD 9 will allow us to retain stable and high quality ambulance service in the city. Because of skyrocketing costs, the city's budget for EMS has grown from approximately $350,000 two years ago to an anticipated $1.4 million next year. If ESD 9 had not passed, the city would have had no choice but to look at other options for EMS, including contracting with commercial ambulance services. With the creation of the ESD, an expense that was increasingly driving the city's tax rate will no longer be carried in the city's budget. Future city leaders will not be faced with prospect of having to raise taxes to cover EMS service and may have an opportunity to reduce taxes and/or improve services in other departments with the resources that have been freed up.

"Regarding the November Election and turnout, the decision to move elections to November was motivated by a desire to improve turnout in city elections. My understanding is that the number of voters casting ballots in city elections in Buda has steadily increased once they moved to November. There are valid concerns about straight ticket voters not being able to cast ballots in non-partisan elections such as municipal elections. Our turnout in municipal elections has been so low that something needed to be done to increase participation. I believe that we will see increasing turnout and less under voting resulting from straight tickets ballots and that it will improve over time. Moving elections to November does increase the burden on candidates by increasing the amount of effort it will take to get elected. Candidates will have to communicate with more voters and through multiple means to get elected. In doing so, when a candidate does get elected, they will have a more thorough sense of the community and its expectations. Bringing that perspective into the city's decision-making will only serve to improve how we prioritize resources and plan for the future."

Here’s what council member Mitchell had to say:

"Leading up to the elections, several people asked my opinion of the bonds and ESD 9. I’ll tell you what I told them. I am grateful for the work that will be accomplished through their passage, and I simultaneously worry about the county’s growing debts. This is a classic risk/reward scenario where the risk is debt and the reward is better infrastructure for the future.

I voted for the bonds and the new ESD. I am grateful they passed because the City of Kyle will get several benefits. The Dacy Lane expansion will come alongside Kyle’s 2013 road bonds and further improve East Kyle roads. The UP railroad siding relocation will remove a 30-year burr from the saddle of our downtown. ESD 9 will ensure that those who need EMS service are getting it and paying for it through a dedicated and appropriate means.

"That said, I did not stump for the bonds or publically support them because I respect those who are concerned about our county debt. With the passage of Prop 1 and 2, Hays County will carry the highest debt per capita in Texas. We are also the fastest growing county in Texas, so the debt is not unreasonable or unjustified. It’s just risky. Of course, not investing in our infrastructure while simultaneously growing can be seen as impetuous. Whatever your perspective, the people needed to decide for themselves and I’m grateful for their optimistic view of the future.

As to moving Kyle elections to November, I view it simply as follows: the higher percentage of voters, the better chance for democracy. Also, the fewer elections in a calendar year, the less likelihood of voter fatigue. There is some risk of partisan politicking, but a straight ticket ballot will undervote city elections. Thus, to vote for a council candidate you will have to do it the old fashioned way — by selecting that person’s name.

"And let’s be honest. If a council candidate wants to play the partisan card, he or she may do so in May just as easily as November."

And, finally, this from council member David Wilson:

"I am happy with the Buda election’s 70 percent participation, but we must understand this is a Presidential election year. I expected when I made the motion to move our city elections to November that we would have greater participation. I am happy the voters agreed when they approved the charter amendments. I sincerely believe the voters will not get caught up in partisan issues but will focus on what is best for Kyle as city council positions are non-partisan by charter."

Mountain City votes to continue haggling over “sale” price

Update and correction: I have updated and corrected this item to reflect the fact that Mountain City Mayor Curnutt did not say the $500-per-lot payment from Anthem to Mountain City should be part of the ILA. She did say, as she pointed out in an e-mail to me, that this would be a part of a separate agreement between Mountain City and Anthem Development. I stand corrected on that point.
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A developer wants to place a comparatively high-end subdivision on land that’s part of Mountain City’s Extraterritorial Jurisdiction (ETJ). Problem is the subdivision has no guaranteed source for water. So the City of Kyle stepped in and said it will extend its water and wastewater lines north to the subdivision, sell the residents its water and carry its wastewater south to Kyle’s wastewater treatment plant. It also threw in a few other goodies. In return, Kyle would take control of Mountain City’s ETJ and eventually annex it into Kyle so the property taxes of those in the subdivision can help pay for the infrastructure extensions. To sweeten the deal for Mountain City, Hays County jumped in and said it would pay to build new roads for Mountain City if Mountain City paid for the materials needed to build them. A document was prepared reflecting all this and that document is called an Interlocal Agreement (ILA).

That’s a simplified synopsis of the deal, but it hits the important parts.

The residents of Mountain City, however, don’t like the deal. Not one bit. And, as evidenced by a town hall meeting held a week ago last night, these residents are divided into two camps: One that doesn’t want to give up the ETJ under any conditions and a second that is willing to give it up, but not under the provisions as outlined in the current ILA. It was that second group that showed up last night at Mountain City’s City Council meeting that ended with the council unanimously approving a motion to continue negotiating with Kyle and Hays County for what it feels is a better deal, although neither Mountain City Mayor Tiffany Curnutt nor Mayor Pro Tem Phillip Taylor wanted to express confidence that an agreement will ever be reached.

The residents who attended last night’s council meeting do not view the action Mountain City might take as trading its ETJ. They call it "selling" the land in question and they are after a better sale price. In fact, Mayor Curnutt said she and Taylor met with Kyle City Manager Scott Sellers, Hays County Commissioner Will Conley, Anthem developer Clark Wilson and others for "about an hour" yesterday to discuss with them "If we were going to sell – I think that’s a good term – the ETJ what would make it worth our while."

To that end, she said, an attorney representing Mountain City will, in Mayor Curnutt’s words, "take first stab" at drafting an entirely new ILA which will be presented to Kyle and Hays County officials. She did not refer to this pending new document as a take-it-or-leave-it proposal, however, just the next step in the negotiating process.

Now I’m not an impartial observer in this discussion. Because I am a resident of Kyle, I want what’s best for the city in which I live and my observations on last night’s discussion are going to be filtered through that lens.

For example, I’m going to mention one of the last ideas broached last night first and that is the ILA should state if, for any reason, the subdivision, presently known as Anthem, doesn’t come to fruition, the ETJ would be returned to Mountain City. On the surface, that might sound reasonable, but there’s a chicken-egg question going on here. I will argue that once Kyle begins constructing the water and wastewater lines extensions, the ETJ remains in Kyle’s possession regardless of the fate of Anthem. Besides, the owner of the property says development is going to take place on that land, whether it’s called Anthem or Antler or Antares or Antebellum or Antediluvian or Antepenultimate or even Anticlimax. Something’s going to be constructed on that land and soon and, whatever it is, it will need water. Now, if Anthem becomes a no-go before construction begins, I see no reason Mountain City can’t reclaim its ETJ, although I would hope Kyle leaders become reluctant to enter into any further ILAs over it. Let Mountain City deal with it.

Another provision Mountain City wants as part of a revised ILA is that only that part of the ETJ that will be occupied by Anthem would be part of the deal. That would mean, as someone explained it to me last night, that instead of a 10-foot wide swath of land separating the city limits of Mountain City and Kyle, there would be a 50-foot separation, a separation Mountain City said it would like to use for a hike and bike trail. That one sounds rather reasonable to me.

"We may have to incorporate some language to the effect if signs or other structures are built they would have to fall within Kyle’s requirements as well," Curnutt said. "For example they don’t allow the pillar signs. So they don’t want any 70-foot pillar signs. So we would have to mutually agree on whatever signs are placed there."

Then she mentioned something that I had a problem with and that’s the development agreement that currently exists between Anthem and Mountain City.

"If Kyle were to adopt the development agreement as it stands or perhaps make it more stringent – whatever that means – but if they’re going to do that, it has to be outlined," the mayor said. "It may be better for them but we don’t consider it better." For example, she cited, Kyle Mayor Todd Webster "had mentioned all the homes in Plum Creek … are not our standards of masonry. Hardy plank, in our own minds, is not considered masonry. So that was one thing we talked about. Hardy plank is not going to work for us."

She also said the "timing was really weird" on when the property would be annexed. She said, according to the terms of the ILA as it is presently written "Basically, the minute we sign the ILA then the development agreement goes away and Kyle can write whatever it wants. So we want some language that says they are going to adhere to these rules when they write their development agreement. We would like to see a draft of that."

Here’s my problem with all that. No city should be allowed to dictate to another city how it should construct homes or the contents of any development districts or anything else about the way that city operates. You can dictate the rules for your own municipality but I have grave concerns when one municipality thinks it

has the right to dictate the rules for another municipality.

She also said she wanted to see maps of where the water and wastewater lines would be located before she would agree to any ILA..

In addition, she said, she wants "clarification" on Mountain City’s ability to "tie in" to Kyle’s water lines. She said she wondered if that allowed Mountain City residents, on an individual basis, to decide whether they would prefer to pay to have access to Kyle water. "That’s pretty much not the case," she told the council and the audience. "It would be pretty much all or none. We would have a main tie-in and the city of Mountain City would be responsible for paying the City of Kyle whether it’s in-city or out-of-city rates. That’s negotiable. Their out-of-city rates are 130 percent of what they currently charge their city residents, which is high to begin with. But just for clarification, it would be one main tie in. It could be used as an alternate source or for something if we ever decided to stop providing water. That’s not at all in the plans, but the City of Kyle would have the ability if we gave them the authorization to start providing water."

Curnutt said Mountain City would have to address what she referred to as extremely expensive infrastructure improvements before it could connect to Kyle’s water supply and will probably have to make those improvements sometime in the future anyway because of aging. "Our water costs are going to go up regardless," she said. "It’s a very old system."

To help defray the costs of these improvements, Curnutt wants an agreement with Anthem that stipulates Wilson will pay Mountain City $500 for every lot sold in Anthem, which, of course, is strictly between Anthem and Mountain City. 

Mountain City, for some reason known only to it (perhaps it has to do with the possible increase in traffic on its streets), wants all entrances and exits to Anthem be located on RR 150, with another one possibly located on the northeast edge of the project, away from Mountain City, and that there be absolutely no street connection whatsoever between Anthem and Mountain City. According to current plans, there is only one way in or out of the subdivision but, from what I’m hearing, the project is big enough that state law requires at least two, because, if one was blocked for any reason, there would need to be a way for emergency vehicles to access the area. The problem is, however, the area of the project that fronts 150 is relatively small, meaning the two access points would have to be so close to each other to result in major traffic problems along that stretch of 150, particularly when you consider that stretch of highway is scheduled for major renovation, i.e. widening, as part of the area’s transportation plan.

To give you another idea, of how clueless elected officials around here are when it comes to PIDs, Mayor Curnutt said Wilson is, of course, working on a PID to present to the Kyle officials. When someone asked her what a PID was, she replied it was a "Public Infrastructure District." Yipes!

There also seems to be some disagreement about what Plum Creek plans to do with the land it owns north of Kohler’s Crossing and east of 2770, basically across the street from Mountain City. According to a Plum Creek web site, this area, known as Uptown, will eventually contain "mixed-use multifamily development, restaurants, retail and office uses, the central administration offices of the local school district, a new City of Kyle library, and urban civic space in the form of plazas and an amphitheatre." Taylor, however, swore to the audience last night Uptown is not zoned for multi-family.

That’s the highlights of the discussion on the one item that was on Mountain City’s council agenda last night. Fortunately, I got to hear it when I did because, knowing that Kyle officials don’t believe in open, transparent government as much as Mountain City seems to, I’m willing to bet all mention of Monday’s meeting from Kyle’s point of view will be discussed in executive session.

After the meeting I asked both Curnutt and Taylor whether they were confident that an ILA would ever been signed. "As long as it was agreeable to all parties concerned," Taylor said. I basically repeated my question by asking, on a scale from one to 10, how confident they were a document could be written that "was agreeable to all parties concerned." They both replied, in unison, "I don’t want to go there." That, to me, did not exude a whole lot of confidence on their part a deal would ever get done.

So there’s that.

It’s all about the buffer, ‘bout the buffer, not the water

There’s a rather large subdivision called Anthem planned for an area along RR 150 northwest of Kyle and directly west from Mountain City. It will contain homes ranging from 6,000 to 13,000 square feet. Looking at these plans makes me think Anthem will make Plum Creek seem like a dwarf. The average size of a house in Plum Creek is 2,184 square feet. Anthem is not located within the municipal limits of any city, but is in Mountain City’s extraterritorial jurisdiction (ETJ).

Originally, Anthem planned to get water from Electro Purification, which proposed to pump five million gallons of water per day from an unregulated portion of the Trinity Aquifer. Most of that five million gallons was contracted to a water reseller, Goforth Special Utility District. The city of Buda also contracted to get some of the water from the EP wells.

However, the Texas Legislature passed a bill that would expand the boundaries of the Barton Springs-Edwards Aquifer Conservation District to cover that portion of western Hays County where the EP wells are planned, thus reducing the amount of water EP could pump on a daily basis to a level where it could possibly provide only the amount contracted by the Goforth SUD.

So various entities went to work to solve the problem of how to replace that water EP was supposed to provide to Buda and Anthem. Buda proved not to be a problem, but the plan for Anthem has run into steep opposition from the residents of Mountain City.

Acting as a third-party mediator, Hays County got together with the city leaders of Kyle and Mountain City and negotiated the framework for a deal, called an Interlocal Agreement (ILA), in which, among other things, Kyle would agree to provide water and wastewater services to Anthem. However, those "other things" has the citizenry of Mountain City in an uproar.

According to the deal, Kyle would provide the water and wastewater services only if Mountain City surrendered jurisdiction to the territory where Anthem would be located to Kyle. There are other provisions. One, Hays County would provide the labor to rebuild roads in Mountain City (Mountain City would have to pay for the materials). Kyle would also provide water and wastewater services to a section of Mountain City it wants to convert into a commercial corridor. Such a corridor would provide Mountain City with sales tax revenues. However, at the present, that area is served by wells and septic tanks and thus can’t be developed commercially. In addition, Kyle would "make available water and wastewater master meters to Mountain City, billable at the out-of-city rates as defined in Kyle’s Code of Ordinances, which will allow Mountain City to develop its own water and/or wastewater utilities to service its citizenry." Kyle, of course, would make Anthem part of its ETJ (and perhaps even officially annex the area) and receive the resulting property tax revenues. (Mountain City would not receive property tax revenues from Anthem if it kept the ETJ; those moneys would go to the Municipal Utility District created for the subdivision.)

Last night I attended a meeting at the Plum Creek Golf Course building hosted by Mountain City to discuss the proposed ILA. Also present were Kyle Mayor Todd Webster; Hays County Commissioners Will Conley, whose district covers the proposed EP wells, and Mark Jones, whose district incorporates Kyle and Mountain City; and about 40 or so residents of Mountain City, which may not seem like that many but is actually the equivalent of about 1,800 Kyle residents coming to a city council meeting and we all know that’s not likely to happen in the history of this planet. The feeling I got was that all 40 of those residents were against the ILA because they did not, for one reason or another. want to give up the city’s ETJ. Some of those folks didn’t want to give up the ETJ under the terms proposed in the ILA – they felt Mountain City should be able to negotiate "a better deal" – but the most prominent reason given for this recalcitrance was they wanted to maintain the ETJ as a "buffer."

I got to thinking about that following the meeting, even consulting my trusted Webster’s II for a definition of "buffer" other than "a device used for shining or polishing." The definitions that apply are 1. "One that protects by intercepting or moderating adverse pressures or influences" and/or 2. "Something that separates the entities, as a neutral area between two conflicting powers."

I thought about that a lot and the more I thought about it, the more I kicked myself for not asking one of those citizens exactly what they wanted this buffer to protect them from. It certainly can’t be from encroaching development because Anthem is going to be developed adjacent to Mountain City regardless of whose ETJ it is located in. So what is it that these folks felt the need to have Anthem serve as a buffer for them? What did they fear?

I plan on attending Mountain City’s next City Council meeting, which is scheduled for Monday, June 22, to see if I can learn the answers to these questions. I would also like to ask those who say they want "a better deal," exactly what, in their estimation, would provide "a better deal." In fact, I was somewhat surprised no one running the meeting posed that question last night.

But, between now and then, I can let my imagine run wild. Back in the late 1950s, when I was still in my mid-teenage years, my family moved from Houston to Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. And although I was always told things were quite friendly between the United States and Canada, I quickly learned Canadians, in general, hated Americans. I searched for the answer as to why and learned that it stemmed to the post World War II era. A significant portion of Canada’s economy back then (this was before they discovered oil in the tar sands out west) depended on its sale and exporting of wheat. As part of the Marshall and other plans instituted after World War II, America gave away wheat to countries needing it. Canada had a tough time selling its wheat while America was giving it away and, as a result, its economy suffered. Canadians never forgave America for this.

That got me to thinking if there could be a similar type of grudge between Mountain City and Kyle and what the folks really wanted was a buffer that protected them from "those evil Kyle land-grabbers." There was a time when Mountain City was the most vibrant municipality in this part of Texas. It was the principle transportation hub of its day, meaning it was on the primary stagecoach line. All that changed in the 1940s when the railroad came to the area. Mountain City felt the train should run though its town and that a depot should be located there; however, state Senator Fergus Kyle used his political connections to get the tracks laid further east, completely bypassing Mountain City. That, in effect, ended Mountain City’s days as a regional center of commerce. So, I’m wondering, is Mountain City still bitter about that all these years later? I don’t know, but I hope to find out next week.

I did have the opportunity to ask Mayor Pro Tem Diane Hervol, who also attended last night’s meeting, what she thought about it all.

"There’s a lot to be determined," she said. "I think we’re farther apart and perhaps some more negotiations, more discussion is needed between the two cities."

She said she was optimistic some kind of an agreement will be worked out and she was "hopeful" it would involve the ETJ coming under Kyle’s control. "I just need to understand what the terms for those cities will be."

Incidentally, there’s a standing item on tonight’s Kyle City Council agenda to "Consider and take possible action to amend, extend or rescind the ILA with Mountain City and Hays County."

Michael Rubsam, chairman of Kyle’s Planning and Zoning Commission, also attended the meeting and said afterwards "I think the Interlocal Agreement can be in the best interests of the people of Mountain City once they work out the details. I believe there’s quite a few people in there that don’t understand about the MUD." He said he was disappointed that those points weren’t clarified for the Mountain City residents who attended the meeting.