City Manager Scott Sellers formally unveiled today his $84.9 billion budget recommendation for the upcoming fiscal year — a proposal he described as "fantastic" — that contains (as far as I can see) nothing that could be called frivolous, maintains the current property tax rate but does seek a wastewater service rate increase and concentrates on providing the funds necessary to guarantee the city’s water supply, to expand its wastewater capabilities and accelerate street reconstruction and maintenance.
"Kudos to the staff," Mayor Pro Tem Shane Arabie said at the conclusion of Sellers’ presentation. "What was accomplished through this budget, the amount that we can accomplish because of this budget, brings us to another level of sophistication that we’ve reached as an entity and the high level of service that we are providing."
After thanking all the staff members who worked on the budget, and comparing the budget favorably to earlier budget projections for the upcoming year, Sellers said "We have brought forward a budget that is fantastic."
"There’s no better time to live in the city of Kyle than right now," the city manager said. "The quality of life is extremely high, the ability to fund quality-of-life initiatives is there and we are looking to the future in a way we’ve never been able to do in years past. To maintain the level of service that we are in this budget is truly exceptional."
According to my (albeit, unofficial) calculations, $44,137,063 — 51.99 percent of the total budget — will go towards street maintenance, the city’s water supply and wastewater upgrades in the form of new hires, equipment purchases and capital improvements. These unofficial calculations were, admittedly at a glance, seconded by the city manager just prior to his formal presentation to the council.
In that presentation, Sellers said the highlights of his budget recommendation were:
- $84.9 million total proposed budget for all city funds;
- $45.4 million in planned spending on capital (long-term) improvements in FY 2019;
- $7 million dedicated to accelerate Stagecoach Road reconstruction project;
- $19 million for the wastewater treatment plant expansion project construction;
- $1.3 million for new equipment and vehicles;
- $778,000 for 16 new full-time positions — eight in Public Works, three each in Police and Parks and one each in utility billing and information technology;
- $441,511 for technology improvements;
- A $324,201 increase for employee benefits to cover rising health insurance costs as well as merit and longevity pay increases;
- No change in the property tax, water service or storm drainage rates although, according to Sellers presentation, the current property tax rate of $.5416 per $100 of assessed valuation exceeds the rollback rate by just under a penny, .96 of a cent;
- A 10 percent overall increase in the wastewater service rate that will translate into a 3.5 percent increase — around $3.54 per month — in the average household utility bill; and
- A 3.95 percent increase in the solid waste rates to pay for the annual increases included in the city’s contract with TDS
Of the almost $1.24 million earmarked for new equipment, the bulk of it — $994,500 of it or 80.2 percent — will be going to Public Works for such items as two dump trucks, an asphalt zipper, a street sweeper, a broom roller, a tub grinder, two concrete mixers, a trench shoring box and litter abatement equipment. The total also includes $110,000 for a new radio system.
Although the tax rate remains at 54.16 cents, property owners will face higher tax bills because of an 5.47 percent increase in property valuations this year. One piece of good news for residential homeowners is that it appears Kyle’s economic development efforts are producing dividends as the residential share of the total property tax bill fell from 74.36 percent last year to 70.95 percent this year. Although Finance Director Perwez Moheet said immediately following the budget presentation this reduction was not that big a deal, both Arabie and council member Damon Fogley welcomed the change and did say the 3.4 percent drop in the residential share of the total property tax bill was "of major significance."
The city will enter the new fiscal year with a debt of $80.5 million as compared to $85.6 million at the same time last year, according to the city manager’s presentation. However, the city manager cautioned, that figure does not include the $9.5 million in new debt planned for the wastewater treatment plant expansion or the "debt issued and/or planned by ARWA (Alliance Regional Water Authority) for the city’s share of capital expenditures," namely the pipeline required to bring water from the Carrizo Springs Aquifer to Kyle.
Cox Enterprises announced earlier this month it was selling the Austin American-Statesman to New York publishing company GateHouse Media. A story about the sale that appeared in the Statesman included a paragraph that read: "GateHouse has been criticized for cutting staff at the papers it acquires, often to a point that media analysts have said it can be a detriment to the communities served by its newspapers." Given that assertion, should the employees at the Statesman have veto power over that sale? Should the newspapers’ subscribers have the ability to stop it seems it since it would be in their best interests to do so?
The current plight of Toys ‘R’ Us is fairly well known, but for those who haven’t heard the company announced last week it was closing all 800 of its U.S. stores, throwing 30,000 individuals out of work. Do those 30,000 have the right to keep their jobs even if it means local taxpayers will have to foot the bill to keep these stores open? After all, it wasn’t their fault the company was run into the ground. Why should they be the ones to suffer?
I think most of us can empathize with those newspaper employees and even sympathize with those losing their jobs at the toy store. But, at some point, I think most will agree with the notion that while we don’t like these kind of changes, that we wish they didn’t happen, they often do happen. There are those who refute the theory of evolution, but the world is evolving all around us. You might not like Facebook — you may have even solemnly pledged to yourself that you will never allow Facebook to appear on your computer — but that doesn’t alter the fact that it is out there and that it has changed the way we communicate in revolutionary ways. Time will tell if it might have even altered the outcome of a presidential election.
That’s why, I must admit, I was taken quite by surprise Tuesday evening when Mayor Pro Tem Shane Arabie cited chatter he has witnessed on Facebook as an argument for essentially stopping development in downtown Kyle — for essentially giving the employees veto power over major corporate decisions. Arabie said those who live in downtown Kyle don’t want to see their environment change, that they want to keep it single family residential on big lots, and by God, the city and the rest of the world should bow to their wishes.
I hear what he’s saying. The fact that people don’t want things to change in their lives was extremely profitable for me when I had my own communications consulting company. If you’re an avid sports fan, I could probably shock you with first-hand accounts of well known professional athletes who became freaked out when their teams brought in new coaches or new managers. Change — a divorce, a new job (or the other side of that coin: being laid off), a transfer to a new community in a different state, a new child in the family — any change at all can be frightening, it can be nerve-rattling, it can be unsettling. You not only wish it wouldn’t happen, you may even go to some lengths to try and prevent it. I’m a huge music fan — been so all my life — and to this very day I sorely miss the old mom-and-pop record stores where I could to into a booth to listen to a record before deciding whether I wanted to purchase it. I began life in the era of the 78 rpm record and ultimately found myself lost in a world of digital streaming and had there been a social media platform available for me to yell, scream, stomp my feet and make a huge public outcry about it, I undoubtedly would have. And I bet I could have had a number of others on my side. And if I had been successful in stopping this trend, I would have prevented the majority of today’s so-call millennial population from enjoying something they find special. Is that fair? Is it right for us old fogeys to deny our grandchildren, our great-grandchildren a future they very well might find enjoyable, beneficial, probably even preferable — just because we don’t want things to change?
Frankly, I was shocked that Arabie thought so.
"I think we need to take a second look at what the downtown needs to be," he said during Tuesday evening’s city council meeting. "If the whole downtown doesn’t want to be something different than single family homes then it’s our duty to make sure the citizens that live in that area are at least somewhat cohesive with their surroundings."
Arabie said he has gathered from the comments he has seen on Facebook that residents don’t want density in the downtown area "so maybe we need to re-evaluate our processes on downtown."
Here’s the problem with that argument. Let’s say I own a nice sized chunk of property in downtown Kyle (I don’t, but let’s play a game of pretend here). I’m getting along in years (that part is true), my heirs have no desire for the property and I realize I can sell it for far more than I ever imagined. The person who wants to buy my property wants to build two homes on the lot where I just had one. Or let’s say, the property is even more sizeable – it’s, let’s say for the sake of argument, around 17 acres and the buyer who wants to offer me what feels like the keys to Fort Knox for this land wants to put a subdivision in there. Arabie’s "second look" could prevent that — could prevent me from selling an asset I desperately want to liquidate and also prohibit the new owner for doing with his own property what he desires. Sorry, but I can’t go down that path and I don’t think Kyle should want to either. I also think it could be impossible legally.
And the reason I was so shocked to hear otherwise from Arabie is because he has a history as being the council member who has always been about infrastructure and how development provides for and pays for the infrastructure upgrades the city needs and its citizens want.
This was more of a shock for me than hearing other council members who know absolutely nothing about Smart Growth as a planning tool talk about "the tenets of Smart Growth." Of course, they were speaking to others who, just like them, have never seen the writings or attended the seminars of Charles Marohn or Andres Duany or former Maryland Gov. Parris Glendening (I’ll bet most of the council have no clue who these people are) so they figured they could get away with mouthing untruths about what Smart Growth is all about. But I expect it from them. Their past history has built a solid foundation of ignorance on this subject.
But Arabie is smart, Hell, he is one of the best minds on the entire council, if not the very best. I’ll just leave it at this: In this day and age, how can Arabie be absolutely sure those were real Facebook posts and not something concocted by (speaking of how times change) Cambridge Analytica?
Tuesday evening’s council meeting was relatively brief. To put it all in a convenient nutshell for you: here is the agenda and everything on it was approved.
It is worthy, however, to mention something City Manager Scott Sellers said during his report (Item 10) and that is the volunteers who participated in the "Great River Clean-Up" earlier this month removed a whopping eight tons of trash from the banks and its immediate environs. Eight freaking tons — that’s a lot of junk.
The city took the first steps last night toward instituting major changes in the Burleson Road bond project which will eliminate the I-35 frontage road exit to Burleson Road, replace it by extending Marketplace Road and include the northern tip of Burleson being transformed into a cul-de-sac south of Plum Creek.
Following a two-hour executive session at the end of last night’s City Council meeting, the council voted unanimously to approve the purchase of property that will permit the city to extend Marketplace Road from the Burleson roundabout, where Marketplace currently terminates, to the frontage road, which will serve as the new connection between Burleson and the interstate.
The current Burleson-frontage road intersection, which is essentially a fork in the frontage road, has been the site of a number of traffic accidents, some of which have resulted in fatalities.
The project will be part of the Burleson Road bond project and will actually be accelerated, according to City Manager Scott Sellers, so work on that Marketplace extension will be completed as the reconstruction of Burleson from downtown is underway..
Following the executive session, council member Alex Villalobos made the motion to approve a contract with "the Maddox parties" to purchase the property that will allow the city to extend Burleson from the roundabout.
"This is the purchase of land to construct the extension of Marketplace so that Marketplace will continue, as part of the Burleson project, from the roundabout to the frontage road," Sellers explained after the council’s meeting adjourned. "And, as part of the Burleson project we’re going to cul-de-sac Burleson prior to Plum Creek, so we avoid the low-water crossing and then eliminate the exit onto Burleson from the frontage road. So this is basically new, nicer, safer exit onto Marketplace from the frontage road."
Sellers did not state exactly when work on this phase of the project will begin.
"Once we hear back from CAMPO, we’re going to bid the project and include that little stretch as an add-alternate," the city manager explained. "So it’s not included in the base bid for Burleson, but as soon as we hear back from CAMPO, we’ll bid it.
"If we can, since it’s an add-alternate, we’ll try to get the contractor to do that in an earlier phase of the project," Sellers added. "Originally they were going to phase it downtown and then work their way north. Because it’s an add-alternate, if the phasing works out and the utility relocations have already worked out for it, we can get that done simultaneously with other phases. So we can get that extension built quickly."
In other transportation-related news coming from last night’s council meeting, Sellers outlined plans for a 12-mile east-west foot trail, and perhaps eventually a hike/bike trail, that could stretch from the vicinity of the city’s wastewater treatment plant to the banks of the Blanco River, much of if along the pathway of Plum Creek.
"We understand a city-wide trail system is important to the quality of life of our residents," Sellers told the council in outlining the concept for the project.
Sellers said what pushed the trail project now was the fact that he was contacted by representatives from Hays High School who were seeking ideas for that the city manager called "a very large senior class project to leave as a legacy for the community." He said they came to the agreement that beginning work on a citywide trail would be "a great project, not just this year, but for multiple years to come."
He said the trail-building will formally kick off March 3, in conjunction with a clean-up effort taking place along Plum Creek that same day. While one group of volunteers will be removing litter from the stream and its banks, the group from Hays High School will "take trail segments and clear them to a fashion where they are passable. For the foreseeable future, it will be a primitive nature trail, but it will be cleared four to eight feet, hopefully from the wastewater treatment plant at least through Waterleaf Park. And that’s several miles of trail in just that segment.
"Ultimately, we’re probably looking at 12 miles of trail when the whole segment gets built out," Sellers said. "Our ultimate goal is to have some sort of a paved surface many years from now. But, for now, there’s no reason why the public can’t be out there utilizing, enjoying the trail."
The other major action at last night’s meeting was, for all practical purposes, no action at all which came perilously close to killing a 17-acre subdivision along South Sledge Street, until one council member jumped in at the last minute to preserve the battle for another day. The developer was seeking R-1-3 zoning for the development which is the most-dense single family detached residential zoning available. Some council members felt that was too dense but a motion to approve a zoning that was slightly less dense failed on a tie vote (Mayor Pro Tem Shane Arabie reported work-related issues prevented him from attending last night’s meeting). However, a motion to approve the requested zoning also failed on a tie vote, which, if the matter had ended there, would have stopped the development dead in its tracks. After the proverbial pregnant pause, council member Tracy Scheel, who had made the original motion for the less-dense zoning and voted against the requested zoning, asked that the item be reconsidered at a future meeting, preferably one in which Arabie could participate.. I believe Arabie, had he been present at this meeting, would have landed on the side of the requested zoning, but he reportedly told the mayor in a telephone conversation that he could go "either way" on the subject. Stay tuned.
The council also approved, without any debate, Villalobos’s latest nominee, Scott Bowman, to the Ethics Commission. After reading Bowman’s impressive resume, I felt a position on the city’s Ethics Commission might even be beneath him and, instead, he should be up for a nomination to an Ethics Hall of Fame, if such an institution even exits. Trust me on this: Bowman’s credentials appear impeccable, to say the least.
The City Council said Tuesday night council member Daphne Tenorio’s record of consistently opposing actions taken by the board of the Alliance Regional Water Authority coupled with what they described as a lack of decorum on her part during council meetings were reasons to remove her from the ARWA board.
"Your dissent, your voting record shows that you should not be a part of this — the single most important board that keeps our city moving forward," Mayor Pro Tem Shane Arabie told Tenorio during the meeting.
"Council member Tenorio proved, through her actions in the past and tonight, that she was not qualified for that position," Mayor Travis Mitchell said following the meeting.
By a vote of 6-1 (with Tenorio, or course, being in the minority) the council first voted to reconsider the decision it made just two weeks ago to install her as one of Kyle’s representatives on the board that oversees the area’s water supply and, second, to replace her on the board with Mitchell.
"I wanted to bring this item back for two reasons," Mitchell told his colleagues. "First, upon additional reflection and consideration, I wanted to make some additional statements and register a different opinion and, second, council member Arabie currently serves on the ARWA board and he wasn’t present at the last meeting. I think his perspective will be very valuable for us to consider as we move forward with making a board appointment from this body."
Tenorio charged that Mitchell was bringing the item back because he has a personal vendetta against her and rather than subject herself to more personal attacks, she said she would rather simply resign.
""This is nothing more than a personal issue between the mayor and myself," she maintained, "and that should have been left at the door. When a person is elected by the council, that decision should stand."
Arabie told Tenorio her "personal attacks are inappropriate. The fact that you like to attack everybody on the dais is unprofessional and the record could show the personal attacks you pushed towards other people is out there and are very easily seen.
"Now, this is the most important board our city has," Arabie continued. "Its purpose is to provide water for our citizens and our growth and our future for the next 50 years. Water is one of the most important resources that we have. The record will show that the dissent that council woman Tenorio has registered time and time again against this board is the reason why she shouldn’t be a part of it. You’re right. Let the record stand. You’re absolutely correct – your dissent, your voting record shows that you should not be a part of this — the single most important board that keeps our city moving forward. The majority of the council does not believe in your view so, you’re correct, you should not be a part of this board. The fact that you essentially resigned before this discussion — not fighting for your seat — shows that you should absolutely not be part of it. Because, when it comes right down to it, the city needs someone who will fight for them. Your resignation attempt proves you will not do that."
"I’m saddened by the incredibly unprofessional display of temper from council member Tenorio tonight," Mitchell said after the council finally adjourned its meeting 45 minutes after midnight this morning. "It was embarrassing for the council, those present and for the city. We have to be better than that as a council and we need to be better."
Several times during the discussion, Tenorio attempted to interrupt the council member speaking, prompting Mitchell to caution her at one point: "Council member Tenorio, you have not been recognized. You may ask to be recognized by holding up your hand."
"I hold my hand up all the time," she said, as she ratcheted up the volume of the conversation several decibels. "I thought this was a different mayor, but apparently it’s the same mayor with a different name.
"One of the reasons I chose to run for this position was because of the lack of diversity in this organization," Tenorio said. "There is only one woman on the water board. There is only one Hispanic on the water board and there is only one African-American on the water board. Therefore, there is not a majority of diversity of representation of our community. If a new person needs to be nominated, I recommend that the person who is nominated be of a different color and provide some diversity to that board, either it be a different race or it be a different gender."
Which left Tenorio an opening to do just that — nominate someone of a different race and/or gender — but she didn’t. Instead, she tried to interrupt Mitchell again by calling for a vote on the motion even though, according to Roberts Rules of Order, a speaker cannot be interrupted by someone calling the question.
Following the meeting, the mayor said Tenorio’s statements about race and gender disturbed him.
"They really bothered me, deeply," he said. "I am extremely committed to making sure that the city has the best representation regardless of what you look like or what your sex is. That’s just a fact. But, in this case, the qualifications are what win the day. Council member Tenorio proved, through her actions in the past and tonight, that she was not qualified for that position and I believe we made the best decision for the city."
"One of the reasons I wanted to bring this back," Mitchell said during the council meeting, "is because I felt that while a lot of considerations were discussed at the last meeting, that the ultimate decision we have to make is who we feel like is best going to represent this body with a collaborative mind set, who is going to sit on the board and advocate for the water positions so that we can get the most water possible and also who will represent the city’s best long-term interests. In this case, I feel the original consideration we made was not in that best long-term interest."
Tenorio tried to interrupt again, prompting Mitchell to tell her "You may raise your hand if you wish to speak."
Ellison did raise his hand, but Tenorio interrupted and Ellison chose to defer. After Mitchell then recognized Tenorio, she mocked the mayor saying "I’m so glad you shared your qualifications of being here a whole five years and having such a care for our great city over some of us who have dedicated decades of service to this community and to our families and making sure that this city is going the way it needs to go. But I’m some grateful that we have you to lead us because obviously nobody else could do it. So thank you."
Ellison, who was the only council member who wanted Mitchell to be the city’s appointee during the meeting two weeks, said he agreed with the mayor’s statements on qualifications.
"Tonight has proven to me why I did not vote for council member Tenorio for the ARWA board," Ellison said. "We can disagree and that’s fine, but let’s do it respectfully and let’s not interrupt each other and let’s do our best to represent the citizenry of Kyle. We see it throughout all levels of government — things that are really ticking people off with the way government is run — and we don’t have to follow suit with that. Let’s be respectful. Let’s do what’s best for the city. And, in my opinion, what’s best for the city is having the mayor representing us."
After saying Arabie shouldn’t be on the board because he is putting his house on the market in a few months (a claim Arabie said "was news to me"), Tenorio countered by saying, as a newly elected council member, Ellison had not witnessed the personal attacks she has been subjected to during her tenure.
In other action last night, the council:
- Voted 6-1 (Tenorio objecting) to add the provisions contained in the recently enacted Residential Neighborhood Style Guide to the city’s subdivision regulations;
- Voted unanimously to award a $49,895 contract for the first phase of a three-phase dog park to be located in Steeplechase Park and to adopt rules governing appropriate behavior in the park;
- After spending a little more than 40 minutes discussing exactly what the implications of them might be, voted 6-1 to pass on first reading amendments to the city’s ordinances regulating neighborhood fences that Planning Director Howard J. Koontz described as "evolutionary not revolutionary";
- Learned from City Manager Scott Sellers that the probable dates for the council’s two budget retreats this year would be March 24 and July 28; and
- Held an executive session lasting four hours and 10 minutes, most of which was spent interviewing and discussing possible representatives to serve as either city attorney or the legal counsel for the Ethics Commission, Because of the inclement weather, the council offered the candidates the opportunity to appear either during last night’s meeting or in an Executive Session on Feb. 6. All the candidates chose to come to last night’s meeting. That’s not to say the council won’t have a second round of interviews at its next session. (Although the Executive Session’s list of discussion items included "Jesse Espinoza Lawsuit," City Attorney Frank Garza said Espinoza just filed the discrimination lawsuit Friday and the City, possibly because of the Martin Luther King holiday Monday coupled with the inclement weather Tuesday, had yet to be served with the legal papers. Thus, he said, a discussion on the subject did not take place.)
