A conversation with mayoral candidate Travis Mitchell

Editor’s Note: The following is a transcription of a Q&A session I conducted on two separate occasions with mayoral candidate Travis Mitchell.

Kyle Report (KR); Why are you running for mayor?

Mitchell: Honestly, there are a dozen reasons. But the three that rise to the surface have to do with leadership, direction, and vision. Mayor (Todd) Webster and council members (Becky) Selbera and (David) Wilson are all stepping down this year. Together they have 34 years of experience leading the city of Kyle. With that kind of knowledge leaving the dais, we need a leader who can hit the ground running and help new council members get their bearing. As we all know, Kyle is exploding with growth — both residential and commercial — and there are complicated and important negotiations taking place every day that will impact how our city develops in the coming years. We need a mayor who knows where we stand in these discussions, and how every item is connected to a bigger picture. We need a mayor with the business and political experience necessary to make sure our city negotiates from a place of strength and with the citizen’s best interest at heart. As to direction, I'm running for mayor to ensure that we don't take any steps backwards as a city. Kyle has been playing the long-game for several years now. Our city manager, Scott Sellers, is positioning us to finally shed the stigma that we are simply a bedroom community far enough south of Austin to have cheap housing developments within a commutable drive but not close enough to attract job producing commercial developments. Mr. Sellers says he wants Kyle to become a "destination city," and I agree. But I have started using a word I like more. If Kyle could only be known for one thing, I would want us to be known as a "strong" city — strong financially, economically, aesthetically, and culturally. And vision, of course, piggybacks from direction. Most people see government as, at best, a necessary evil. But I believe I have been called to fight against that notion. I believe Kyle's best days are ahead. And I want to pursue every avenue available to make that vision a reality.

KR: : Allow me to return for a moment to what you said about Kyle being known as a strong city. First to address its economic strength. In the three years I have lived here, it appears the overwhelming percentage of jobs that have been added to our economy are retail, possibly minimum wage retail. What do you propose to do to try to get higher paying jobs, bigger economic developments into Kyle?

Mitchell: Well, I might respectfully point out our burgeoning medical district as evidence of high-wage jobs coming to Kyle in a category other than retail. The suite of businesses opening around Seton and in Plum Creek are most welcome, and I am hopeful to see those job opportunities expand. I would also point to the highly publicized vote by Hays CISD exempting freeport goods from inventory tax in our city. That vote — which I spent months lobbying to help pass — has the potential to be a game changer for Kyle because, for the first time, we are on a level playing field with San Marcos and other areas all over Central Texas. I might add that Kyle is actively working to recruit several specific job-producing companies. Because these opportunities are confidential, I cannot reveal much. But I have high hopes that we will see some new and exciting companies in our area in the coming months.

KR: What proposals do you have in mind to make Kyle "aesthetically" stronger?

Mitchell: Well, to be clear, I am almost exclusively talking about controlling the architectural style of residential developments that come to Kyle. And I don't just mean brick vs. stucco or something like that. Kyle needs to have a clear sense of where development should happen, how dense that development should be given the location, how the streets are formatted within those developments, whether green spaces and parks are required, whether front-facing garages are the only options, and so on. We need an exhaustive vision for how development should occur, because without it, home builders will do what they want — what makes the most money and without regard to sustainability and livability.

KR: What ideas to you have to make Kyle culturally stronger?

Mitchell: I could answer that question 1,000 different ways. Cultural strength, to me, means that our residents have a sense of place. They have pride in their town because of how it is configured, and whether or not they do "life" here. And we can impact that through how we lead. Do we have the willingness to institute policies that force developers to build neighborhoods around the family instead of the car? Do we have the willingness to listen to what our citizens want and provide services and events that give them a sense of place? I want to be that person. I want to fight that fight.

KR: Do you think Kyle suffers from the fact it doesn't have something like a community theater, an art gallery or the like, or do you think Kyle is still too provincial to support such activities?

Mitchell: Perhaps. But the question we should ask ourselves is, "Why don't we have those types of venues?" And the answer is that Kyle is a young town with young demographics. We are mostly working class families with dual incomes and commutes and children. What little time we have is devoted to those kids. To me, that's not a bad thing. We need to help our families by creating spaces for them to spend time together and job opportunities for them to no longer commute. Kill the commute, create access to family activities, and our culture will naturally strengthen.

KR: I want to return to your comment about building neighborhoods. Kyle is lacking in any well defined self-contained neighborhoods, meaning being compact, walkable, diverse and connected. Do you think this needs to be corrected and, if so, what do you have in mind to affect those changes?

Mitchell: I have read Charles Marohn’s book, Strong Towns, and agree with much of what he writes. I'm always looking to vote and advocate for his ideas when they come across the dais. That said, I'm not sure if the ship hasn't sailed on Marohn's suburban utopia. The best we can do for Kyle is implement pieces of his philosophy into our development guides. We can search for developers who share in that vision and incentivize them to invest in our community. And, when possible, we can deny those developers who seek to pave over any sense of "self-containing" and go instead with listless, sprawling subdivisions.

KR: What rules or procedures, if any, has Mayor Webster instituted that you would like to change?

Mitchell: That's a question I haven't considered. I'm not sure if most of the council policies pre-date him or not. I have little interest in bringing back the surfeit of sub-committees that Mayor Webster eliminated. And I played a role in changing the method of interviewing for appointments. I would like to see the agendas posted 48 hours earlier than they are currently.

KR: Your record on the council indicates you have consistently been a person intent in injecting new life and energy into Kyle's downtown area. Is this an accurate observation and, if so, what do you hope to accomplish as mayor to make that happen?

Mitchell: I've learned many lessons since being elected to council. One of them is that our downtown could be incredible, but it will never reach its potential until the people who live there want to see the change. Right now revitalization happens over their dead body. We are seeing some new projects (like the Howry building and The Railhouse), but our square is 40 percent residential. 40 percent! Some of that property is owned by the Kyle Fire Department. We have tried for months now to barter for that property and help catalyze commercial development, but thus far have come up empty. I'll keep trying.

KR: Would you support an addition to the budget that would pay for the cost of a council member to be able to host, at least, one budget town hall meeting during the month of August and perhaps as many as two others during the course of a fiscal year?

Mitchell: Such an event is not stymied from a lack of funds, but from a lack of will. Assuming the request was modest, I would support it, sure.

KR: Do you plan on (1) putting a hard three-minute cap that will be rigidly and uniformly enforced on speakers during citizen comment periods and public hearings; and/or (2) adding a second citizens comment period near the end of council meetings — perhaps immediately prior to executive session — for the benefit of those who, for whatever reason, could not make it to City Hall early enough to speak at the first one or who might wish to speak on something that transpired during the meeting, providing a rule was in place prohibiting a person from speaking at both citizen comments periods?

Mitchell: Neither. I believe in a soft three minutes that gives some leeway to commenters who are not intentionally abusing the privilege. I would draw a firmer line if there is some issue that has a lot of people registering to speak. But our typical way of allowing citizens to comment is, to me, appropriate.

KR: Do you perceive city council meetings are too lengthy and, if so, would you favor restricting the two regularly scheduled monthly meetings to action items only with a third meeting scheduled for presentations, proclamations and other ceremonial events?

Mitchell: That would be a subject best discussed openly if the newly seated council wishes to discuss. Personally, I'm good with how we're doing things.

KR: Last year, the council raised the height limitations on buildings located in areas zoned RS ro 150 feet. Would you advocate for and/or support these same heights on buildings in the proposed new Mixed Use and Office/Institutional zoning categories?

Mitchell: I would recommend removing the height limitation entirely.

KR: Q: In all zoning categories?

Mitchell: Yes. Limiting vertical development, to me, is nonsensical.

KR: I'm guessing that also answers my next question but just to be sure: Does that mean you also favor lifting the height restrictions on multi-family that would allow for high rise apartment/condominium developments in Kyle?

Mitchell: You bet

KR: What are your thoughts on contracting for municipal auditing services similar to the way the city contracts for its city attorney?

Mitchell: That's a broad question. Or perhaps I'm unclear that such a comprehensive auditing service exists. I am looking forward to receiving a copy of of the KPD audit. Other than the CAFR, it will be my first real interaction with such a document. So I suppose I'll need to weigh in on your question after I see if our KPD audit proves helpful.

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?

Mitchell: This year’s budget was a landmark for the city. To me, it represented a turning point because we addressed key issues while trimming $10,000,0000 and reducing the tax rate by about 5 percent. That said, the budget can never be 100 percent to a person’s liking. There are just far too many variables for everyone to agree on every single line. For example, I advocated to prioritize the burying of our power lines downtown. We already paid for sleeving the lines when we installed the streetscapes. But we have not finished the job. I see that as wasted money in the ground until we bury the lines. I also was less than thrilled for the skate park. While it’s a fine idea, I would have preferred to move that project back a few years. And I was concerned about the sales tax projections because last year, even though we ended with a budget surplus, we overestimated the sales tax revenue. I would have liked to see those projections reflect a stronger commitment to be underestimated.

KR: How do you feel about budgeting for outcomes?

Mitchell: I am a numbers guy. One of my favorite things to do with our budget is analyze the data, and the Kyle budget makes that exceptionally easy. What I mean is, the budget itself doesn’t have an opinion. It just lays out the dollars and cents. It’s my job to interpret what the budget says about Kyle. For example, I recently asked myself this question: What is the city’s outstanding debt as a percentage of total taxable assessed value? Our budget makes answering that question as simple as finding the line items and dividing. I can then ask the same question of the Buda budget and the San Marcos budget to arrive at a comparative baseline. Then I get to ponder what those numbers mean and draw conclusions that shape how I vote and for what projects I advocate. Budgeting for outcomes is conceptually challenging to someone like me, because it seeks to answer questions for me, which I don’t particularly like. That said, I don’t feel strongly about it. If there was interest from our finance department I would happily study the process more. But as of now, I very much enjoy wading into the budget and putting my mind to work searching for answers.

KR: What, if any, structural changes would you propose for the city staff?

Mitchell: I believe our staff is structured appropriately and do not have any desire to recommend a structural change. The more important question for council will be determining the proper staffing levels across all departments. For example, the recent council-initiated police audit calls for additions and subtractions in staffing across several departments. The council will need to seriously consider these recommendations in the next budget cycle.

KR: How would you evaluate the performance of the person you hope to replace as mayor?

Mitchell: Mayor Webster is one of a kind. I have gotten to know him well in the last two years and have watched him navigate through dozens of highly complicated situations related to the city. He has consistently created opportunities for the council to pursue items that matter to them, and he has afforded me complete freedom to express my own thoughts from the dais, including disagreement with no fear of reprisal. The thing I appreciate most about Mayor Webster is that he does not have a public ego. He does not seek praise, and he does not kowtow to political pressure for the sake of votes or admiration. He just methodically goes about the city’s business. And he knows how to get things done, which as a business owner, I admire. That said, Mayor Webster has admitted on numerous occasions that he wishes he had more energy to focus on community engagement. I understand his desire. I think, as hard as it may be, a mayor must consistently put himself out there and foster a healthy environment for citizen feedback and interaction. I believe I have demonstrated that I am capable and willing to improve on his administration in that way.

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

Mitchell: Most of our parking trouble relates to downtown, around our schools, and within the interior streets of some of our denser subdivisions like Plum Creek. Downtown parking can be challenging when a festival is ongoing or when traffic prevents cars from easily parking due to the slanted nature of the spaces on Center Street. I have participated in multiple meetings where we brainstormed solutions. Most of the discussion centers around major downtown revitalization. We are exploring one-ways, additional streetscape infrastructure, possibly off-lining Miller street along the southern portion of the square, and more. But most of the conversation is just that — conversation. We’ll need much more public input and an identified funding source before taking any steps. Our schools are also growing and that creates parking concerns in the neighborhoods. Lehman High is a zoo when school lets out. This causes students to park all along the streets of Steeplechase and Southlake Ranch so they can "beat the traffic." We have explored multiple solutions to that problem as a council, but thus far no action has been taken. The conversation is not over. In some of our neighborhoods the streets are narrow and street-side parking prevents two-way traffic. It also creates a problem for ambulances and, more importantly, fire trucks. Fire trucks need a 12-feet minimum clearance to park in a street with stabilizers. To address this problem, council recently adopted the latest International Fire Code and added language to force new developments to account for a minimum of 20-feet unencumbered clearance. That means if streets are too narrow they must be one-sided parking or even no-parking. We also have considered turning certain streets in Kyle to one-sided parking. But that full discussion hasn’t happened yet and we’ll need to carefully consider the effects one street at a time before taking any action.

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

Mitchell: I haven’t explored the document much from the perspective of finding items to change. It’s a pretty solid document. I can say I am open to having a conversation about how our districts are drawn and how the council terms are structured.

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

Mitchell: I have very strong opinions on this subject, but am not able to speak about it because the council is dealing with a long and winding lawsuit related to Mr. Espinoza. What I can say is I am thankful for our police department and the leadership we have in place. Chief (jeff) Barnett and Captain (Pedro) Hernandez are highly vested in our core values and are steadily improving the culture and quality of our officers. KPD is stronger than it has ever been.

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

Mitchell: Revamping the city sign ordinance is like asking for a root canal. That said, I think we’re due. I probably get more questions related to interpreting the sign ordinance than any other ordinance in the city codex. I have studied the ordinance in detail and even proposed modifying the ordinance a few months back. However, the more we considered the ordinance, the more it became clear that a major overhaul was needed — not just a Band-Aid. A few examples. Did you know in Kyle it is illegal to install a feather flag in front of your business? But take that same flag, put it on the hood of your vehicle, and voila, it’s legal. Another example is banners. Currently the ordinance says banners must only be installed on the façade of your building and can only remain for 30 days. But that rule is not enforced and therefore businesses all over Kyle have banners installed in all kinds of ways and leave them there for months. The real question we must ask ourselves is: What do we think about signs? Do we believe they are important advertising tools for our business community and should therefore craft legislation that is business-friendly? Or do we believe signs are only for designation purposes, are mostly eyesores, and should therefore craft strict rules to limit the presence of signage. It’s no secret where I land. I believe signage is vital for businesses, especially small businesses. I would propose we find ways to loosen our sign ordinance without overdoing it. And I would recommend that we simplify the rules so that we can strictly enforce what is written. Ultimately, we need to structure the rules so that they are consistent and fair to all types of signs and all types of businesses. The sign ordinance, as I see it, appears prejudiced against some signs while over-allowing or under enforcing the regulation of other signs. That needs to change.

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

Mitchell: For the last 20 or so years, suburban developments have focused on making the automobile the centerpiece of mobility. Walkability and bike-ability were cast aside to make room for bigger garages and driveways. Today, in most Kyle subdivisions, if you want to grocery shop or get dinner, what do you do? You load up in your car and drive there. I believe subdivisions should create a more robust sense of place. What I mean is, developers should build subdivisions with neighborhood retail components in their interior and design small park-type spaces within walking distance of every home. After all, the best way to meet your neighbors is to have gathering places within walking distance. From there, I would also advocate for keeping development as close as possible to our urban core and regional nodes. The further away from town, the less density we should have (which is why I routinely vote against measures for developers to increase density in the ETJ). And we should focus on implementing the strategies in our Parks Masterplan that call for increased trails and connectivity between subdivisions and the surrounding area. To accomplish these things, the council will have to muster some courage because most developers don’t like building this way.

KR: Do you think holding city council elections every year contributes to voter fatigue?

Mitchell: Perhaps. But voting happens every year regardless of the city elections. It’s also our constitutional right to vote and I have learned over the years to cherish every opportunity to cast a ballot. We recently moved the city election to November to coincide with the state and federal election. That might help with fatigue, but then again, the school board still holds its election in May so we didn’t really change much in that regard. I think my bigger concern is not voter fatigue, but rather our city council is annually engaged in what some endearingly refer to as "the silly season" — which is the time between when a candidate files for office and the election. When at least two seats on the council are up for election every year, it puts political pressure on multiple members of council, especially in our single-member districts which routinely draw only a couple hundred votes in the election. Such pressure can have negative effects on how the council performs as a unit in terms of governing the city responsibly and predictably. I would prefer we consider holding elections less frequently not because of voter fatigue, but because the process might create a less politicized environment on the dais.

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

Mitchell: Hiring Scott Sellers was the best decision the council has made in the last three years. I say that unequivocally and without hesitation. I could give a dozen examples in the last year where Mr. Sellers has successfully negotiated a smart deal on the city’s behalf. But it doesn’t end there. Mr. Sellers is the kind of leader I hope my kids aspire to emulate. His creation of and commitment to Kyle’s core values is in keeping with the best practices of any manager. The results speak for themselves. The city staff overwhelmingly enjoys working at Kyle and more so they perform at a high level. Additionally, I find Scott to be among the most honest and ethical people I have ever met. He is a hard worker. He is capable of quickly absorbing dense amounts of information. He does not get angry or react emotionally. In fact, one of the reasons I decided to run for mayor was to ensure Scott remains our leader in Kyle for years to come.

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

Mitchell: If Kyle issues a GO bond in the next three years, it should be for a new police station. Our police facilities are not adequate for the size of our city. The old Wells Fargo bank was not designed as a police station. We need a facility that can be properly hardened and that has space for the department to operate efficiently. That said, just because we are steadily improving our debt position doesn’t mean we should jump to borrow. San Marcos and Buda, even with the passage of their 2017 bonds, are still less leveraged than Kyle.

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

Mitchell: I have a few general rules I follow when it comes to business incentives. First, I seek to prioritize businesses that might not otherwise locate in Kyle but for the incentive. What I mean is, I’m looking for companies with options. Wal-mart, for example, does not count. They want to come to Kyle because they are selling retail items locally. But a company who is simply looking to locate somewhere in the region? If they create jobs and will heavily invest in real property, I want to compete to get them here. Second, I’m looking for companies who bring high-wage career jobs. Those types of businesses have multiplier effects on our local economy and on our tax base. Employees at those businesses have discretionary income, they live in higher-end homes, and they are likely to live in the community, which means their incomes will circulate through our local economy many times over. And third, I’m looking for companies who, if they locate in Kyle, will catalyze additional commercial developments around them. Seton is a great example. By incentivizing Seton to locate in Kyle, we helped spawn a medical district that is the jewel of Hays County. And we created the opportunity for the city to confidently develop Kyle Parkway which led to several hundred million dollars in commercial developments.

KR: And now for the "de rigueur" final question — anything else you want to add?

Mitchell: I am looking forward to campaigning for mayor of Kyle. I plan to work twice as hard as I did when I ran for council, and I will take as much help and support as I can get along the way. I believe in the future of Kyle and want to be there as we take the next step forward.

Council to meet in special session Nov. 4

The City Council last night scheduled a special meeting for 9 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 4, to conduct a public hearing on the creation of a Public Improvement District (PID) in connection with a development planned for property immediately west of the railroad tracks, between Opal and Roland Lanes, that, if recent history is any indication, will attract a number of persons who will talk about everything but the subject of the public hearing.

As regular readers are well ware, I am no friend of Kyle’s PID policy, but I have absolutely no problem with this proposal. Let me see if I can explain why. First, let me tell you why I oppose, generally speaking, Kyle’s way of handling these funding mechanisms. As already noted in the first paragraph, the "I" in "PID" stands for "Improvement." Kyle, however, employs PIDs, for the most part, to help finance developments, not improvements. The way a PID is created is quite simple. The owners of the majority of the properties wishing to have a PID for a specific project must formally approve its creation, knowing that by approving it they are pledging to pay for the bonds sold to finance the project as well as the interest on the bonds. Usually they are committing to pay these costs in monthly installments over the life of the PID. However, when it’s used to finance a new development, there is usually just one, perhaps two, owners/stakeholders who agree that a PID should be created, but it’s repaid, not by those original owners/stakeholders, but by all the individuals who purchase homes in the development and had absolutely no voice in the creation of the PID. That’s why I have claimed Kyle’s PID policy amounts to taxation without representation.

But this PID is different — markedly different. First, and most important in my mind, is the fact that the most of the money derived from this PID will be used for improvements, not development. Specifically, it will be spent on widening and improving Roland and Opal lanes from the entrances to the development across the railroad tracks. It will also be used to improve drainage in the immediate neighborhood of the development. But even more important than that, the PID will be used to finance the installation of quiet railroad crossings on Roland and Opal Lanes. Those installations, combined with the city-financed quiet crossings at Center and South streets, will eliminate the need for trains to sound those irritatingly loud horns anywhere in the city of Kyle, thus drastically improving the quality of life here. I hope readers noticed I many times I used a form of the word "improve" in this paragraph.

Here’s the second reason I can support this PID. Because of changes to Kyle’s PID policy instituted by council member Travis Mitchell (who joined the council after the original PID policy was adopted) anyone purchasing a home in this development must be made aware, before that purchase, that they are also committing to pay an additional $120 a month — in addition to their mortgage payment, in addition to any homeowners association fees, in addition to their property taxes — as a PID assessment. If that home buyer agrees to that, then that, to me, is tantamount to voting for the creation of the PID in the first place.

Now, why do I say that this planned public hearing "if recent history is any indication, will attract a number of persons who will talk about everything but the subject of the public hearing." It’s because, within the last eight days, two different city panels, the Planning & Zoning Commission and the City Council, had items relating to this development on their respective agendas that attracted individuals who came to talk on a subject that had nothing to do with what was on those agendas. So I don’t see why this Saturday’s meeting should deviate from that norm. On Oct. 10, the Planning & Zoning Commission’s agenda included an item for the commissioners to consider a preliminary plan for the development and to possibly suggest changes to that plan that didn’t violate the Development Agreement already in place for the development but possibly aligned it more closely with the recently approved Design Guide. A number of speakers, most of those living near the planned the development, came to the meeting wanting the commissioners to stop the development, a subject that was not up for discussion. During last night’s city council meeting that contained an item to consider accepting the PID application and petition (by the majority of stakeholders, which, in this case, was one) to create the PID, most of these same individuals who showed up at P&Z the week before came to the council to voice their complaints, not about the PID, but by the proposed density of the project and the fact that it will include (horror of horrors!!!) a multi-family component. Again, not the subject of the agenda item.

So I’m predicting (although I really do hope I am wrong about this) many of these same folks will find the willpower to get to City Hall early on the first Saturday in November to complain some more. Here, however, is why I hope I am wrong. How can anyone in their right mind oppose road improvements, drainage improvements right outside their homes that they don’t have to finance through their own tax dollars? How can they oppose making their community eminently more peaceful by eliminating trains blaring their horns right outside their doors that they don’t have to pay for out of their tax dollars either? But I’m predicting they will. I could even foresee one city council member arguing against it. But their only arguments have to be off the subject, because arguing on the subject simply doesn’t make any sense. At least, as far as I can see. All those coming to speak against the likely agenda item on Nov. 4, regardless of the words that come out of their mouths, will be those still arguing not to locate the development there and refusing to accept the reality of the situation which is, frankly, that ship has sailed, that subject has been off the table for quite some time now. Sisyphus lives in Kyle.

Perhaps as many as three members of the council thought last night’s meeting might be their final one as a member of the council and, in somewhat of an ironic twist, the Nov. 4 meeting adds one more to their list. But Mayor Todd Webster believes it isn’t an added burden.

"My goal in these last few city council meetings is to complete all those projects we started," he told me "That’s why there have been what might be viewed as a large number of items on these recent agendas. "This next meeting will complete those projects.".

The following also happened during last night’s council meeting.

• Of the 20 agenda items the council voted on, 19 of them passed unanimously. However, those unanimous votes were 6-0 because council member Daphne Tenorio, who obviously was suffering from something health related, said at the beginning of the citizens comment period she had just been released from a hospital only hours before the meeting began and was "in a great deal of pain." She asked to be excused from the remainder of the meeting, a request the rest of the council readily agreed to. However, before she left, she said she would have opposed two items related to improvements and changes in the Cool Springs subdivision (although one of those items was the only one on the agenda that received a dissenting vote), all the proposed zoning changes and "the Plum Creek business parks." She was not clear on which of two items involving development in Plum Creek she was referring to, but I’m going to naturally assume it was the one to approve a plat for two commercial lots and not the one involving an agreement with the Plum Creek Development Partners, Ltd., that will save the city close to $10 million.
• It is also worth noting that one of the rezoning items — to allow for RV zoning — was denied by a unanimous vote so her opposition to that proposed change would have made the final tally 7-0 instead of 6-0.
• The city formally accepted the Police Department Audit and I learned the Operations Review Committee will meet at 1 p.m. Monday to decided which one of the audit’s recommendations should be implemented. "We are very excited about the opportunity to discuss and implement the recommendations they brought forward," Police Chief Jeff Barnett told me after the council meeting adjourned at 11:59 p.m. "Because I truly believe all the recommendations can improve our operations, we’re excited about any all of them that will come out of that committee."
• City Manager Scott Sellers made a special presentation to "allow the council to reflect on three great years" and "what we have accomplished together" in that time, before reading from a lengthy and impressive list of those accomplishments. Sellers concluded by telling the council members the city staff had willingly bought into "four core values that truly guide us in all that we do. And those core values spell the word "Kyle" — Knowledge, Yes Attitude, Leading Edge, Employee Accountability. We live by our core values. They are hung in our departments. We wear ‘Team Kyle" wristbands. It is something we live and we’re happy to live it. It has shaped the way our citizens feel about living in our city — they are proud to live in the city of Kyle. All of our new employees quickly learn about our fantastic culture here and that culture is set from the (city council) dias. We couldn’t be happier for the progress we have made or the direction we have received for the tasks and the great projects we have been able to carry through together under your guidance and leadership. And I want to thank your for that. And I want to thank the staff that’s worked tirelessly to bring all that about over the last three years."
• After the vote to deny the RV zoning on Dacy Lane, council member Shane Arabie sharply criticized certain comments made during the public hearing on the item. "Every time we’ve had something come in front of us that somebody didn’t like it was always the sex offender talk or it increased the crime rate. And that’s with every piece of property somebody didn’t like next to them. It’s not about ‘I don’t like it in my back yard," because that doesn’t give you the right to say what can go there. They own that property. Not you. You didn’t buy the property. They bought it. Just like you bought your home and you can decide what to do with it." After mentioning he currently resides in an RV Park, along with a close friend "who makes six figures a year," Arabie told the audience ‘So every time you say there’s a sex offender living there, look at me, because I’m the person that going’s to be living in these upscale, nice RV parks. So remember, when you put that picture out there, you’re talking about me and my friend that works in the physics department whose making the part that works in almost every piece of electronics you hold in your hand — people who I guarantee are among the top 1 percent educated on this planet. So just be mindful of who you’re talking about when you talk about this,"
• After the council heard a presentation that the city can save as much as 75 percent on vehicle maintenance costs and 25 percent on fuel costs, the council voted to implement a one-year pilot program to turn over the city’s acquisition and maintenance of its non-heavy vehicle fleet to Enterprise.
• The council also authorized the purchase of five gateway signs and at least 16 wayfinding directional signs.

Council OKs multi-use development on once-contentious property

In what city council member Travis Mitchell called "a home run for the city," the council unanimously approved a tax incentive agreement with a developer last night that paves the way for what is being called the Kyle Gateway, a retail development that will include an anchor store of at least 50,000 square feet, a hotel, additional retail outlets and "non-drive-through restaurants" to be located on 47.74 acres that many feared two years ago would become a massive truck stop.

According to the agreement, Kyle Gateway, located on the northwest corner of I35 and Yarrington Road, will include a 50,000-square-foot "department/grocery store anchor" that must open for business by the end of 2025. It will also be the site of "a national flag chain hotel having a minimum of 81 rooms" and "additional retail and non-residential facilities (i.e., office space) having an aggregate square footage totaling approximately 300,000 square feet." The agreement also specifies "front pad sites will be reserved for sales tax generating retail and non-drive through restaurants." The developer is required to have enough of these retail outlets open and in operation by the beginning of 2025 to be able to employ at least 100 full-time equivalent employees.

Except for the aforementioned deadlines, there is no construction timetable for the project although Economic Development Director Diana Blank Torres said she expects work to begin on the project "almost immediately." Mayor Todd Webster wasn’t so sure, however. He said he wouldn’t be surprised if PGI Investment, the company Kyle entered into this agreement with, flips the property.

"This is what we’ve been saying all along with go on this property," Webster said, "We have now simply put sone numbers around it. It’s about $5,2 million in roads, wastewater and water."

The agreement calls for the developer to initially bear that $5.2 million cost. However, it would be reimbursed to PGI over the next 10 years by the city rebating 50 percent of the city sales taxes generated by the outlets on the property., with the option of extending that another five years if the $5.2 million is not completely reimbursed. The initial 10-ear period begins Jan. 1, 2020.

"The folks that we’re dealing with build convenience stores and truck stops," Webster said. "What took so long is we’re working this thing out with people who don’t have experience doing large scale developments. The agreement is transferable if the city approves. I don’t know what their plans are, but I suspect it could be something that could be flipped to somebody that has experience in developing that kind of real estate. That would be my expectation."

The $5.2 million would cover the costs of a 3,500-linear-foot spine and cross road from Yarrington to Post Road, a traffic signal, a 2,400-linear-foot eight-inch water line, a 400-linear-foot 12-inch water line, 10 fire hydrants, a 2,300-linear-foot 12-inch wastewater line and 10 manholes.

‘They’re gonna have a lot of work ahead of them as far as infrastructure down there," Torres said, "because it’s a big dip down."

"I thought I would have this thing done in three months and it took two years," Webster said.

When PGI first announced its plans to locate a truck stop on the property in 2015, citizens, the overwhelming majority of which lived on the south side of Yarrington in San Marcos, overflowed City Council Chambers Jan. 26, 2016 during a Planning & Zoning Commission hearing to consider a change in the zoning that would allow for the truck stop. Although the commission voted 5-2 against, the vote was deemed illegal because many of the commissioners said expressly they were voting against the truck stop instead of deciding a zoning issue. As a result, it appeared the truck stop idea would move forward. The announcement of the illegality of the P&Z vote resulted in former San Marcos Mayor Daniel Guerrero threatening retaliation in the form of a condemnation resolution against Kyle if the truck stop wasn’t halted. Webster responded by saying he had tried to meet with Guerrero a number of times to resolve the issue, "and I each time I got blown off." Webster added defiantly "People of action don’t write resolutions."

That exchange led almost immediately to Guerrero seeking an audience with Webster to resolve the issue which ended with the announcement of a development that was, for all practical purposes, identical to the one provided in the agreement approved last night except that San Marcos is no longer providing previously agreed-to wastewater services. San Marcos has since claimed wastewater could not flow via gravity from the site to its wastewater treatment facilities.

"We will collect 100 percent of the property taxes from this substantial development," Mitchell said, "and 50 percent of the sales tax from that development for 10 years. That other 50 percent would go to rebate them for the construction of this public infrastructure that the city would otherwise have to pay. So it’s a very, very good project."

Mitchell, joined by council member Becky Selbera, then thanked Mayor Webster and others who Mitchell claimed worked tirelessly to get the deal done. "We had a situation where there was a land use proposed that wasn’t very desirable and we are absolutely turning the corner on that into a project that we can all be really proud of. Absolutely, from a financial standpoint, a home run for the city."

In other action last night:

• The council heard assistant city manager James Earp refute all the claims made by the 11 persons, seven of whom spoke longer than the three minutes allotted to them, trying to prevent a bridge over the Blanco River from being a part of the city’s Transportation Master Plan, and then voted unanimously to incorporate the bridge and four other changes to the plan.
• Voted unanimously to add Office/Institutional to the city’s list of zoning categories .It is expected another new category that will allow for mixed-used developments, will appear on the council’s agenda next month.
• Voted unanimously to nominate Community Impact publisher Rick Koch as a member of the 2018-19 Hays Central Appraisal District board of trustees. Interestingly, the council had not settled on a nominee when the item came up on the agenda, but readily agreed Koch would be the perfect choice after council member Shane Arabie pointed Koch out in the City Hall foyer.
• The council unanimously voted to reappoint three the persons mentioned in this story to the Planning & Zoning Commission as well as the three cited in that same story to the Economic Development & Tourism Board.
• The council reaffirmed the correctness of the minutes of its Aug. 1 meeting before approving them and three other sets of minutes. Council member Daphne Tenorio questioned the validity of the Aug. 1 minutes because it recorded one vote was 6-0, yet all seven council members were present. It turned out the 6-0 vote was correct because Tenorio herself had abstained from voting on that item and that abstention wasn’t duly recorded because Tenorio failed to complete and submit the required abstention forms. Tenorio did not attend last night’s meeting and thus perhaps saved herself from some embarrassment on this matter.

City maintains bills accurately reflect water usage

While acknowledging the water bills customer received this month may be higher than usual for a couple of reasons it maintains are legitimate, City Finance Director Perwez Moheet carefully and methodically outlined the city’s procedure for measuring and billing for residential water usage during Tuesday night’s city council meeting and concluded residents are invoiced accurately for the water they use.

Moheet said the latest bills customers received on Sept. 15 accounted for water usage between July 6 and Aug. 8, 33 days.

"We normally have 29 to 30 days" in a billing cycle, he told the council. "This one happens to have 33 days. This is the longest billing cycle in our fiscal year. Of those 33 days, 27 days were with 97-plus degrees with no precipitation. That’s 82 percent of the days in the total billing cycle. This included 10 days of 100-plus degree temperatures with two of those days being 106 degrees."

Moheet said residents who use automatic sprinkler systems to irrigate their lawns in the summer can use 16,000 to 20,000 gallons of water a month "very fast." Other typical causes for higher than normal water use, he said, include leaks in internal plumbing such as toilet flaps that have caught, are hung or have shrunk over time; faulty shower heads; faulty faucets; leaking faucets outdoors and indoors; leaking connections to clothes/dish washers; replacement of water heaters; swimming pool repairs; outdoor manual sprinklers that are inadvertently left on too long; and children playing with running water hoses.

"On automatic sprinkler systems, most people set them up to where they come on between midnight and 6 a.m.," Moheet said. "If you have a broken sprinkler head most people don’t see it until they get their bill. Just one broken sprinkler head can spew 200 gallons in one cycle. And if you have a number of those, it adds up pretty quickly.

"If a customer losers power, their irrigation control system reverts to the factory setting which is every day," he said. "So if the customer doesn’t catch that and update it, they will be using more water."

Moheet said during the August billing cycle, the average amount of water used per customer was 8,186 gallons. That compared to 7,424 gallons for the same month in 2016, which was a wetter year.

He also mentioned that Kyle, like many other municipalities, has a tiered water rate structure "that is designed to encourage water conservation." The first 4,000 gallons are billed at $4.40 per thousand gallons, the second 4,000 is $5.50, the third is $6.61, the fourth is $7.69, the fifth is $8.80 with a final increment for those who use 50,000 gallons or more in a month and they are charged $13.20 per 1,000 gallons.

After the meeting I posed a hypothetical to Moheet on a customer whose water usage for one month was 10,000 gallons. Specifically I asked whether he was billed (a) at the $4.40 rate for the first 4,000 gallons, the $5.50 rate for the second 4,000 and the $6.61 rate for the final 2,000 or (b) was the customer billed at the $6.61 rate for all 10,000. His answer was option (a).

"This customer’s water bill will total $86.05," Moheet said today. He said that total comes from adding $33.23, which is what he called the "minimum water charge," $17.60 for the first 4,000 gallons, $22 for the second 4,000 and $13.22 for the final 2,000. He said the customer’s water bill would be itemized to show the separate $33.23 for the minimum charge and a separate line item of $52.82 for the water usage charge.

"In this billing cycle we had 9,331 water meters that we read," Moheet told the council Tuesday night. "It’s electronic meter reading. The water meter has a device on top of it that sends an electronic signal to our meter reader that drives by neighborhoods and picks up signals. So there is no human touch of the meter reading in the process," a process, Moheet maintained, that eliminated the possibility of human error in meter readings. He said approximately 5,000 of the meters are west of I-35 and the remaining 4,300 are on the east side.

Moheet said the first thing that happens when the city receives those readings "is to catch those meter reads that show up as some anomaly." These could be zero reads or bad signals. He said meter technicians go to those locations to determine why meter readings were not recorded. "They then physically read the meters," Moheet said. "They actually open the meter box and they have the hand held device that they scan. They make sure the meter is not broken." Moheet said 90 percent of the times those faulty readings are the result of ant mounds, even rattlesnakes in the meter boxes or irrigation water that has flooded the meter boxes. "Se we clean all that out," he said. Moheet said of the 9,331 meters read last month, only 111 had to be re-read manually.

"So that’s the first cut," he said.

After that, the billing system searches for high and low, he said. Every month the system looks at a customer’s three-month average for the same three months in the prior year. "If it’s two and a half times less than or two and half times more than your last average it will spit it out for additional review," he said.

In all, he said, the system has 10 different such categories that it tests for.

"During non-summer months, we typically have about 800 accounts that we have to review based on these parameters," the finance director said. "For this billing cycle that we are talking about, we had 1,327. That’s because most of these were high-usage customers." Specifically, he reported, 679 were for high usage, 189 for low consumption, 233 for zero consumption and the rest for other miscellaneous reasons.

"Each one of those was looked at," he stressed. "It normally takes us three days to run these inspections and checks. It took us five days to run these. Every single one of them had a reason that their bill was approved."

Although Mayor Pro Tem Damon Fogley said he understood the city manager telling him the last audit of the city’s water billing system was in 2009, Moheet said the truth is the city is has been audited annually since 2004 by a company called Johnson Controls. Last year’s audit, he said, revealed a meter accuracy rate of 99.9 percent.

"Our meters are in good shape," he said. "We are above what the rating associations say is acceptable."

He said the meters that are pulled are sent to a certified laboratory with no connection to either the city of Kyle or Johnson Controls "and those results are then shared with us."

Moheet concluded by posing a question: "If the billing system or the meter equipment system had some gremlin in it, why does it only show up in the high usage months and then it normalizes? If there was a system error, then that anomaly would show every month."

Council member Travis Mitchell asked Moheet whether the billing could be adjusted so that a 32-day interval fell during periods of low water usage instead of during the summer months and Moheet said he would investigate whether the billing software could be reprogrammed to make that adjustment.

In a related item Tuesday, the council approved the expenditure of $374,579 for something that wasn’t clearly explained on the agenda but turns out is a system that unifies all the city’s computer-based accounting technologies into one system.

In other action citizens should be aware of, the council passed on final reading an ordinance that adds using a wireless device to "engage in a call" while operating a motor vehicle or bicycle in Kyle to the texting prohibitions already enacted by the state.

The council also approved zoning changes that would allow for an auto body shop to relocate from South Front Street to the corner of Rebel Road and Porter Street and for a medical facility to be built on the Dacy Loop.

Webster calls budget proposal “a landmark for the city”; Mitchell, Sellers explain beautification plan

Council member Shane Arabie made an excellent point after tonight’s City Council meeting adjourned. He measured the level of excellence of the city manager’s proposed budget by the number of people who came to the public hearing to talk about it. Two. Only two people spoke during tonight’s public meeting and one of them was incredibly misinformed about the contents of the budget (she erroneously thought the "Beautification Plan" was part of it) and the other admitted she didn’t have a clue about how to read the budget. The fact that the second person is an announced candidate for mayor should set off some alarms, but there you have it. Of course, that might not be as strange as a sitting council member being absolutely clueless about the funding sources of a projected spending item.

"In past budget public hearings, I have seen this room jammed with people who wanted to complain about the budget for one reason or another," Arabie said. "And tonight, there were just two. Only two. That’s amazing and illustrates just how good this budget is."

Mayor Todd Webster and council member Travis Mitchell, a candidate for mayor (but, I hasten to add, not the candidate I referred to in the first paragraph) both expressed their pleasure over the budget during the council’s discussion on whether to amend it at all. One of the ways I could easily measure the council’s affirmative reaction to the city’s proposed budget is that, for the first time since I’ve been in Kyle, not a single change to the budget was recommended during this second consideration of the document. Not only that, no amendments were offered at last week’s hearing either.

The current budget will be the fourth Webster has witnessed since becoming mayor and he went through other budget deliberations while serving on the council between 2003 and 2006. He said his frustrations with those earlier budgets stemmed from the fact "There were so many needs, so many things that we had to get done and we were always having to put off things. The revenues weren’t there. The economy hadn’t grown to a point where we could address very important infrastructure issues. To my recollection I don’t remember us doing anything that was comprehensive in terms of quality of life issues and things that people said that they wanted. Even three years ago, I felt we were still behind the curve.

"For the first time with this budget I feel like we’re ahead of the curve. We’ve addressed the infrastructure needs that really must happen. We’re addressing the water, the wastewater and the stormwater issues. We finally have a street maintenance program. We have so many infrastructure projects in the pipeline we had to add two positions just to inspect them all. To be able to do that and still be able to address a handful of the quality of life amenities and things that people have consistently been begging for over the last two decades and at the same time to offer a tax rate reduction I think is really extraordinary — something I never imagined could have happened during my time up here. I recognize this budget for what it is — a landmark budget for the city. It’s evidence to me that we’ve turned the corner."

Council member Daphne Tenorio mistakenly thought the $14,000 projected cost of relocating an electronic sign from City Square Park to the Public Works Building was an actual budget item, but Sellers corrected her and said it was just that — a projection of something that might happen, but, as it turns out, won’t.

The target of the one of the two speakers at tonight’s budget hearing was the city’s so-called Beautification Plan which Mitchell, "just as a point of clarification," pointed out was just a presentation, but also not part of the proposed budget for the upcoming fiscal year.

"The Beautification Plan, as originally approved by council a year ago, basically took certain items from the budget that were beautification related and put them in a plan just from a priority standpoint," City Manager Scott Sellers added. "We took items from that plan and helped prioritize some items in this budget and then went back and looked at other priority projects related to beautification and put them in the plan to help shape future budgets. So at this point it really is just picking and choosing.

"One of the big projects of the Beautification Plan, for example, is Center Street widening — sidewalks, etc.," he continued. "We’ve had that in our CIP for quite a while. That’s $5.5 million. Lehman, Burleson, Marketplace — each of those are technically considered beautification. Sidewalk additions, nice pedestrian-scaled lighting, etc. So it was really just helping the council and the staff establish priorities in the future. It really wasn’t intended to set any sort of budget at all.

"Over the last several years and probably even much longer than that the city has been somewhat criticized for spending too much money on the intangibles, the non-visual improvements, which were extremely important because they were infrastructure-related," Sellers said. "But the quality of life initiatives, the improvements to the parks, the visual improvements to walkability and visibility were not prioritized. What the Beautification Plan was intended to do — and I believe doing a good job of — is highlighting those items we actually are working on that fit into that quality of life category and that we will continue to work on over the years."

Mitchell called Sellers’s beautification presentation "a great plan" and objections to it "much ado about nothing."

"It was literally just putting some projects in front of us and giving us the opportunity to provide some feedback for the future on many projects we have regularly put off because they don’t rise to the level of spending city tax dollars on them at this time," Mitchell said. "But they still are good projects that we want to look at for the future and keep them on the list because if the time ever came when we could identify funding or where the funding made sense for us, we could move forward. So it was a great plan.

"It’s pretty incredible just how far we’ve come," Mitchell said. "We’ve had to do a lot of heavy lifting in the past. Just the fact that we’re even able to start to talk about a Beautification Plan and to start to look at some of these projects while simultaneously having a $10 million lighter budget than last year and a three-cent lighter tax rate on citizens after another 1-cent tax rate the previous year means we’re leading Hays County without question over those two years in taxes related to the citizens while still being able to finally look at projects like beautification.

"I couldn’t be happier, "Mitchell added, "I don’t know how we could do a better job at this point of presenting a budget that meets the needs of the community while simultaneously helping to provide tax relief. I think we often talk about those two items being in tension with each other. This is an incredible budget. It’s allowing us to do the impossible — provide both."

In other matters on the agenda last night:

• As expected, Tenorio pulled consideration of the revised Ethics Ordinance off the consent agenda and then announced her appointee to the Ethics Commission, Teresa Tobias, has resigned from the commission. Tobias is a member of the Hays CISD school board and one of the changes in the ethics ordinance forbid elected officials from serving on the Ethics Commission, although the council agreed to exempt Tobias from this provision until her term expired. Webster said additional changes to the ordinance were made on the advice of the city attorney. One prohibited people from suing the city, which Webster deemed unconstitutional and thus was removed from the proposed ordinance. Webster also said the city attorney agreed that a separate attorney, independent of the city attorney’s position, would provide legal counsel to the commission. The council then voted 6-1, with, as also expected, Tenorio dissenting, to adopt the ordinance.
• After revealing the council had, back in January, made a deal with the devil that permits garages on certain homes to project further than any other part of the front of a home (a concept Mitchell said he objected to then and voted against when offered as an amendment tonight) the council ultimately voted to adopt the so-called Design Guide as well.
• In its last decision of the evening (other than deciding to adjourn, of course) the council voted to indefinitely suspend consideration of an agenda item that would have called for another council position to be included on the Nov. 7 election. The council reasoned consideration was unnecessary because no additional council places were vacated.

Mitchell launches mayoral run

Councilmember Travis Mitchell (left) announced tonight he will campaign to succeed Todd Webster (right) as mayor of Kyle. Webster said Mitchell "has my complete support" and called him "the right person for the job"

The Kyle City Council member with the least seniority, District 1's Travis Mitchell, announced this evening he was running for mayor, saying he wants Kyle " to be known as a ‘strong’ city — strong financially, economically, aesthetically, and culturally."

Mitchell’s announcement means that in addition to those seats being vacated by Mayor Todd Webster and council members Becky Selbera and David Wilson, his District 1 seat will also be opened this year, but whether that seat will be filled in the regular November elections or in a special election shortly after apparently is still in question. Mitchell said he officially filed his candidacy with the city secretary earlier today..

Fittingly, Mitchell launched his campaign for mayor of the self-proclaimed Pie Capital of Texas at a gathering of close to 100 supporters (about 10 percent of whom, admittedly, were below the legal voting age) he hosted this evening at the Texas Pie Company.

"I believe Kyle's best days are ahead," he said, just before the kickoff event. "And I want to pursue every avenue available to make that vision a reality."

Prior his announcement, outgoing Mayor Todd Webster said Mitchell "has my full support. He’s the right person for the job."

It is likely that Mitchell will attract at least one opponent and many observers believe the person most likely to challenge Mitchell is District 6 council member Daphne Tenorio. If she did decide to vacate her seat and seek the office it could mean five of the council’s seven council seats would have new occupants next year. Fortunately, moving the elections from May, when they had been held up to now, to November will give these council members at least eight months, not just three, to examine the city’s budgeting process up close and personally before they are asked to make decisions regarding the next budget cycle. Of course, neither Mitchell nor Tenorio can be classified as budget "newbies," but, then, neither has chaired a budget discussion either, let alone one with so many other freshman office holders.

All of which, leaves Mitchell, at least publically, completely undeterred.

‘I am looking forward to campaigning for mayor of Kyle," he said. "I plan to work twice as hard as I did when I ran for council, and I will take as much help and support as I can get along the way. I believe in the future of Kyle and want to be there as we take the next step forward."

Regardless of the length of his tenure on the council, Mitchell has in that short time conceived of and shepherded through a small business development plan he called "The First Year’s On Us,’ that could have the greatest economic impact of any other idea introduced by a council member in the last three years, at least. Mitchell’s plan allows for a rebate of the first year’s property taxes for a business deciding to locate or relocate in Kyle.

It’s also worth noting that Mitchell has a 100 percent attendance record for all council meetings; at the other end of that scale, Tenorio’s 81 percent is the lowest of any of the current council members.

Mitchell’s decision to run while continuing to occupy his council seat would, as would be the case if Tenorio chose the same path, appear to be, at least to this observer, in direct defiance of Section 3.02 of the city’s charter that states "no candidate for or member of the council shall hold any other elective public office." But Mitchell countered that assertion, saying: "I have been advised by the city attorney, and have referenced multiple Texas Attorney General opinions on the matter. They all agree that I am a ‘de jure’ officer, meaning I automatically vacate my position as the District 1 Council member, but I hold over in my capacity until the November election. This action is consistent with every known precedent I could find, including the exact scenario from when Mayor Lucy Johnson vacated her seat on council to run for mayor of Kyle."

Mitchell said there are many reasons he decided to abandon the council seat he has held for only 14 months, as of this date, to seek the mayor’s position, "but the three that rise to the surface have to do with leadership, direction, and vision. Mayor Webster and council members Selbera and Wilson are all stepping down this year. Together they have 34 years of experience leading the City of Kyle. With that kind of knowledge leaving the dais, we need a leader who can hit the ground running and help new council members get their bearing.

"As we all know, Kyle is exploding with growth — both residential and commercial — and there are complicated and important negotiations taking place every day that will impact how our city develops in the coming years. We need a mayor who knows where we stand in these discussions, and how every item is connected to a bigger picture. We need a mayor with the business and political experience necessary to make sure our city negotiates from a place of strength and with the citizens’ best interest at heart.

"As to direction, I'm running for mayor to ensure that we don't take any steps backwards as a city. Kyle has been playing the long-game for several years now. Our city manager, Scott Sellers, is positioning us to finally shed the stigma that we are simply a bedroom community far enough south of Austin to have cheap housing developments within a commutable drive but not close enough to attract job producing commercial developments. Mr. Sellers says he wants Kyle to become a ‘destination city,’ and I agree. But I have started using a word I like more. If Kyle could only be known for one thing, I would want us to be known as a ‘strong’ city — strong financially, economically, aesthetically, and culturally.

"And vision, of course, piggybacks from direction," Mitchell concluded. "Most people see government as, at best, a necessary evil. But I believe I have been called to fight against that notion. I believe Kyle's best days are ahead. And I want to pursue every avenue available to make that vision a reality."

(EDITOR’S NOTE: This blog will publish a more in-depth Q&A with mayoral candidate Mitchell, hopefully along with similar opportunities for every candidate running for a municipal office this year, once those interviews have been completed. I wait until every candidate who chooses to participate in this exercise does so because I pose basically the same questions to all the candidates.)

I really want one of those T-shirts

First of all, kudos to council member Travis Mitchell for his fantastic Fourth of July fireworks photo that he first posted on Facebook and which dominates the front page of this week’s Hays Free Press. That’s prize-winning, museum-worthy photography and my hat’s off to not only the result, but what he had to do to capture the dramatic photo.

My very first reaction when I extracted the local weekly paper from my mailbox today was "Man, would I love to have a T-shirt with that picture on the front of it. But not just the picture, mind you. I would also want that Hays Free Press headline, ‘Kyle Lights,’ in that same neo-neon lime green/lemon yellow color that the paper superimposed on the photograph."

And the more I thought about it, the more I thought I might not be the only person who would like an artifact like that. As my mind continued to wander, I thought the Free Press could offer the shirt as some kind of incentive for new or renewing subscribers. See, I’m one of those who believes every household should receive and read its hometown newspaper.

But the more I thought about it, the more I liked this idea: Mitchell’s council colleague David Wilson is trying to raise funds for a veterans memorial to be located at the pond in front of the Performing Arts Center. So I’m wondering whether Mitchell, Wilson and the Hays Free Press could find a way to collaborate on a program to print not only T-shirts, but also posters (hoodies? sweatshirts?), of Mitchell’s photograph as shown in this week’s paper with any and all profits going towards the realization of Wilson’s veterans memorial.

I’m open to other ideas for how to use this picture to raise awareness of Kyle and its civic efforts (or any other worthwhile cause someone might want to propose). All I know is that I really want one of those T-shirts, not only for myself (although, to be perfectly honest, I really want one for myself), but also for gift-giving occasions.

It’s just too good to pass up.

What were they thinking at City Hall last year?

Maybe a better question to ask is "What were they drinking?".

This is yet another in my regular monthly installments on how poorly sales tax receipts fared this month against expectations. The raw figure is $53,901.03 meaning the city received that much less than the budget forecast it would receive. On the ledger, that means the city is facing a $214,411.59 budget gap for this fiscal year which city officials constantly try to reassure me is no big deal because it has the reserves and the empty budgeted staff positions that more than compensates for this shortfall.

But those same raw figures still leave me scratching my head. The $568,870.97 the city received for the month of June is a nice 12 percent more than the receipts from the same month last year. Most cities would be ecstatic to experience a 12 percent increase in sales taxes per month. I've heard Buda projects a measly 8 percent month-over-month sales tax increase. For them, a 12 percent hike is manna from heaven, but for us it is not good news.

Here's the kicker, however: the city’s forecast was that Kyle would actually collect $622,722 in sales taxes this month. That’s a whopping 23 percent increase over last year’s number. 23 percent!!!! Are you freaking kidding me?

For the year, the city has collected 10.03 percent more than it did last year, but the forecast was for a 14.58 percent increase in sales tax receipts after nine months of the fiscal year.

Travis Mitchell seems to be the only person on the City Council who’s overly concerned about all of this and during last year’s budget negotiations he tried, unsuccessfully it turned out, to cut Finance Director Perwez Moheet’s sales tax estimates. Look, I respect Moheet. I consider him one of the better municipal finance directors I’ve come across in my 50+-year professional life. But it doesn’t take that much of a financial wizard to realize that with the type of growth Kyle is experiencing, the city’s sales tax numbers will continue increase, but the percentage of that increase will most likely decline year-after year.

I would like to see Mitchell or someone else have the courage this year to hold the city’s feet to the fire and insist on a budget that forecasts, at the most, a 10 percent increase in sales tax receipts — maybe even 9.5 percent — during the upcoming fiscal year. That amount of an increase is still worth celebrating and it will send a signal to those looking to invest in our community that (1) we appear to be fiscally realistic about our financial revenue expectations and (2) there’s nothing funny seeping into the city’s water supply.

IDEA charter school to open here in fall 2018

A spokesperson for IDEA Public Schools announced at last night’s City Council meeting it plans to open a charter school on Goforth Road, just a few hundred yards from I-35, in the fall of 2018 for students in kindergarten and first, second and sixth grades.

However, in conversations I had last night and again today with IDEA Executive Director Lankin Tackett, he insisted I can take the word "plans" out of the above sentence. He told me during both conversations the school will definitely open next year.

He also said students can begin registering to attend the school this fall simply by going to IDEA’s web site.

"It’s part of our mission to serve students who will be the first in their families to graduate from college," Tackett told the council. "Our mission is college for all. We just believe deeply in the possibility and the potential of every child. Regardless of their background, regardless of their ability level, we think they can go to college so that’s what we focus on."

This, of course, is in sharp contrast to what’s currently being offered in terms of college prep in Kyle. Lehman High School’s college readiness score, for example, is 21.9 out of 100, according to research conducted by U.S. News and World Report. The IDEA charter school in Brownsville, on the other hand, has a college readiness score of 90.8 and is ranked the 55^th best high school in the entire country, according to that same research.

That’s the reason the idea of a college prep charter school poses such a threat to council member Daphne Tenorio, a staunch defender of Lehman High School here and whose husband is a member of the Hays CISD board. Tenorio’s hands were tied at last night’s meeting, however, because to oppose the school outright would, in effect, place her in position of advocating for a reduced public educational product for her constituents. So she tried to attack the idea by questioning Mayor Todd’s Webster objectivity and the fact that the public hearing on the bond sale was held in downtown Austin and not Kyle. Neither argument gained any traction: Webster made public all his work as a pro-educational lobbyist in the Texas Legislature Tuesday immediately prior to the IDEA announcement, thus making his objectivity irrelevant to the discussion at hand, and the school’s bond representative explained the reason the meeting was held in Austin was that the majority of the proceeds from the sale of the bonds will be used for projects in Travis County. She told Tenorio a notice of the meeting was published, as required, in the Austin American-Statesman, which forced a frustrated Tenorio to make the startling admission that she never reads the daily newspaper that is the principle in-depth source of legislative, national and international news for persons in this area who wish to be informed on those subjects (and taxpayers should hope their council members would wish to remain informed on them). In the end that left Tenorio sputtering that the fact she chose not to read the publication that was required to carry the notice of the public hearing amounted to "a lack of transparency." Go figure.

Council member Shane Arabie, on the other hand, held a completely different view.

"My son is a product of a charter school education," he told Tackett. "I believe in the charter school system and I advocate for it highly. I’m extremely excited to have this in the area. I’m only saddened that my child won’t be able to participate in it, I welcome you with open arms and I want to thank you for bringing this opportunity to our area."

Tackett said the school has already purchased the land for the school and construction will be completed on the first of what will eventually become two buildings on the campus in time for the start of the 2018-19 school year. He said that building will house approximately 116 students in each of the grades with an eventual total enrollment of around 1,400. A lottery will be held if the total number of applicants exceeds that 116-per-grade figure and Tackett told me today there’s never been an instance in the nearly 17-year history of IDEA schools that a lottery wasn’t required when a new school opened.

Beginning with the 2019-20 school year, a third and seventh grade will be added and two new grades will be added each school year until ultimately the Kyle IDEA school serves pre-kindergarten through 12^th grades. The school will have two principals — on supervising the elementary grades and the other overseeing what Tackett called "the college prep" academy which includes grades 6-12.

Tackett said a second building will be constructed on the campus that will be exclusively for the college prep academy and it should be open by the 2020-21 school year.

In response to a question from council member Becky Selbera, Tackett said IDEA strives to hire teachers from the local area. "We want educators who know the community in which they’re working," he said. "We do a lot of training of our instructional leaders and principals. We have something called the Principals in Residence program where an IDEA principal has gone through a fellowship over a two-year period to get ready."

Not only was no council action required on the matter, there was really no reason for the item to even be on the council’s agenda except for Mayor Todd Webster desire to avoid any questions of impropriety because of his role as an educational advocate at the state government level. The IRS requires the mayor of each municipality directly affected by the proceeds from charter school bond sales sign a letter acknowledging that a public meeting was held to announce the intention to sell said bonds. Webster decided to use the formal setting of a council meeting to make public the fact that he had complied with this IRS regulation.

In addition last night:

• High-tech police equipment. The council decided the question was not whether the city manager should enter into negotiations to purchase new high-tech tools for the Kyle Police Department, but when those negotiations should take place. Police Chief Jeff Barnett wanted the negotiations to begin immediately, claiming the tools the police are currently using too time consuming even in those rare instances when they actually work as they as designed to do. Many city council members questioned whether this discussion is going to be seen as something related to the planned co-location of many police activities with other law-enforcement agencies in Hays County and whether the entire conversation should be postponed until discussions begin on the Fiscal Year 2017-18 budget. The contract would be for the purchase of tasers as well as body cameras and in-car video cameras along with the software needed to label, store and share the videos recorded on those cameras. But whether the negotiations are held now or during the budget discussion, there is really nothing at issue here until the city has a formal contract offer. The devil, as they say, are in the contract details. Here, according to The Motley Fool, is what Axom is trying to pull off: It provides up-front bargains in order to entice municipalities into what eventually become expensive long-term deals the cities can’t get out of. In an article just published Monday, The Motley Fool reported: "On April 5, Axon announced an offer for free body cameras for every police officer in the U.S. Even accounting for the fact that it was effectively an offer for officers who didn't already have an Axon body camera, it still amounts to a promise for a free product for around 1 million officers across the country. Not only will officers who accept this offer get a body camera, they'll also get a year of the unlimited pro licence to store data on Evidence.com, two mounts, a docking station, and access to the Axon online training library. To understand why Axon would offer a free body camera in the first place, we have to look at where the company makes its money. Axon is trying to get customers to buy a subscription to a suite of services that include the Evidence.com evidence management system and a body camera upgrade every two and a half years, and future add-ons like artificial intelligence and improved wireless services. … The beauty of the entire platform is that once a law enforcement agency and prosecutors begin using Axon's products, they'll likely be locked in. Video from body cameras can be used by prosecutors, while new technology allows officers to reduce paperwork by using body camera software. It would not be feasible to switch systems every year, because training costs would be high, so customers would renew their Axon subscriptions year after year." I have queried the city to learn whether it, or the police department, has a formal, written policy on the use of tasers and body cameras, but I don’t expect to receive a reply by the time I publish this article. If and when I do receive a reply, I will publish an update.
• Road bond updates. City Engineer Leon Barba told the council 85 percent of the work has been completed on the Goforth Road bond project and is scheduled to be completed by the end of next month; that a traffic signal "should begin flashing in two weeks or less" at the Goforth/Bunton intersection; "71 percent of the work has been completed" on the Bunton project between I-35 and Lehman and that it should be completely done by the end of September; a 150-foot segment of the Lehman Road Project that extends from the intersection with Bunton has been fast-tracked so that it will be completed by the time school starts Aug. 21; for the rest of the Lehman project, two easements still need to be acquired and utilities can’t be moved until those acquisitions are completed and that construction should begin, hopefully, the last quarter of this year with a 15-month construction schedule; four more parcels still need to be acquired before work can begin on Burleson and that an 18-month construction schedule will commence some time next year.
• Rail House wants its own water tower. Community Development Director Howard Koontz told the council that the new owners of the downtown Rail House restaurant want to install "a reasonably large and not in any way code compliant sign in front of their property." Koontz said the owners deliberately want the sign to be "conspicuous." He added "On the surface, we don’t have any means possible to permit it. It would be a large water tower and would have some writing on it that would basically advertise their property a little bit closer to the main intersection." The surprise in all of this to me was when Koontz revealed "The staff is actually supportive of the idea that they be able to put this sign up for the sake of it being an attraction downtown much like the signage in front of the Pie Company or anything else that can be talked about." Koontz said the only way to allow the sign, however, would be a text amendment "which would allow for staff to enable language to create a conditional use process for wayfinding and other types of landmark signage." Here’s the rub: this agenda item was listed as a presentation with no action scheduled to be taken. Yet Koontz asked the council to approve directing the staff to come up with such an amendment. The Rail House owners apparently want to use available city grant money to fund the project, an idea that did not seem to be well received by the mayor. "If the council agrees to do something like this, it needs to be things that actually contribute to the ROI of the property. In time it generates increased property values and increased property taxes. Things like signs and volleyball courts (which the Rail House also wants to install) I don’t think accomplish that." He also said making a sign exception for the Rail House could alienate other area business owners who would also like to see changes in the types of signs that are allowed. Council member Travis Mitchell said he definitely did not want to see a Cabella’s-type water tower in Kyle similar to the one that looms over Buda.
• Special council meeting scheduled. City Manager Scott Sellers announced a brief special City Council agenda meeting will need to be called for Wednesday, June 28, most likely at 8 a.m., to consider at least two items: An item that was postponed from last night’s agenda to accept the Woodlands Park, Phase 3 subdivision improvements and another involving a multi-family project scheduled for construction in Plum Creek that needed to be delayed months ago because of a required relocation of a wastewater line but must be approved before the end of the month in order for the developer to close financing on the deal.