First the good news about the city’s sales tax receipts for the first month of this new fiscal year: They were above projections giving the General Fund a surplus of $7,028.19 as the city kick starts FY 2016-17. Not only that, they exceeded last year’s October receipts by a comfortable $67,517.31
Now the bad news: In that first month of the last fiscal year, which turned out to be somewhat of a disastrous one in terms of sales tax receipts-against-forecasts, the receipts were a comfortable 15.92 percent above what was forecast, even though those forecasts turned out to be on the, shall we say, optimistic side. This year’s October receipts, on the other hand, are only 1.45 percent above what our municipal financial gurus expected the city to collect.
In other words, to date this year, the city is $7,028.19 in the black while this time last year it was $67,517.31 on the plus side but finished the year more than a quarter of a million dollars — $281,897.11, to be exact — in the red.
So although this October’s numbers are reason to be pleased, they are in no way something to crow about. And, it must be admitted, as last year proved so dramatically, one month does not a year make. But, in the deep, dark recesses of my gut, I don’t feel all that good about this.
The Kyle Report
Monday, October 17, 2016
Saturday, October 15, 2016
Typically boring presentations dominate upcoming council session
There are certain things governmental entities do very well and then there are other things at which they are absolutely terrible at. At the top of that latter category is presentations. Suffering from insomnia? If you can find a governmental entity laboriously fostering on an imprisoned audience some form of presentation, get there as quickly as you can. I guarantee you will be asleep in minutes. It’s worse that being strapped in a chair and force fed Kenny G music for six hours.
What makes presentations by governmental bodies so excruciatingly painful to sit through are the slides used to accompany the presentation. I’m going to be focusing here on a couple of presentations that will be made by Hays County Tuesday evening to the Kyle City Council, but I am not singling out just Hays County for this criticism Kyle city government itself goes out of its way to make bad presentations. Every single governmental entity I have ever been involved with anywhere in the world does it. I spent almost a quarter of a century traveling around the world teaching various government, business, sports, etc. leaders how to manage a crisis, how to handle media interviews and how to make an effective presentation and, to be honest, I was never much of a fan of visual aids for a presentation. I mean, why go to all the trouble to work on an effective presentation only to tell your audience, in effect, "Don’t pay any attention to me. Just watch what’s up there on the screen."?
But, if the presenter was absolutely adamant about using visual aides and it could be determined that such slides would actually drive the speaker’s point across to the audience, I wholeheartedly approved of using visual aides, but only if they met two criteria. First, they must be visual. Second, they must be an aide.
Governmental bodies completely ignore those criteria. Instead, their slides consist of a lot of words, some printed in such small type that no one beyond the first or second row of the audience can read them. These are not aides — they are the actual presentation script printed out, or at least an outline of that presentation.
There are too many reasons why this is a wrong-headed approach to count, but chiefly among them is this: If you are going to make a presentation, doesn’t it make sense that you want the audience to listen to what you have to say? When you offer slides containing a lot of words, audience members are not listening; they are reading the words. And while you’re talking about the words at the top of the slide, they are reading the words at the bottom of the slide and asking themselves "I wonder what he’s going to say about that?" Or. "I wonder what that means?" The speaker is just wasting his breath.
Here’s a solution: For those insisting they must put all the information they are going to say on slides, simply offer the slides to your audience ahead of time. In fact, anyone who wants to can read two such horrible presentations before the council session because they are attached to the council’s agenda which can be found here. Read them yourselves. But the City Council should be told ahead of time to read them as well and then instead of forcing everyone to sit through your boring presentations, just be prepared to answer any questions council members might have from what they’ve read.
But here’s an even better idea. Let’s examine, to take an easy example, the very first slide following the title card of the presentation on the Hays County Road Bonds. The slide is titled "Projects: Precinct 1" and then it lists four projects: "CR 266 Corridor Improvements," "Dacy Lane Widening," FM110@SH123 Intersection Improvements" and "FM 621 Safety Improvements" and then under each listing is the budget for that particular item. Why not, instead of those words, have slides that contain (1) a map visualization to give the audience an idea of exactly where in the county this project is and (2) perhaps photos of the current state of those roads and an artist rendering of what it would be like when the project is completed? Now you have the audience’s attention. Now you have the audience listening to what you’re saying at the time you’re saying it. I know, that takes a little more work, a little more effort, and governmental entities like to take the easy way out, but the purpose of a presentation should not be just to inform its audience, but also to convince, to sell. In this case, you want the audience leaving the room convinced this is a worthwhile project that deserves widespread support and you should take every step necessary to make sure that’s exactly how they feel when they leave City Hall.
Now, the real bad news here is that the Council and everyone else who attends Tuesday’s meeting not only has to deal with this boring presentation, but four others including two more thrillers from Hays County officials. Here is just one of the eye-popping slides from one of those presentations, one involving "9-1-1 and Public Safety Dispatching Services for Police, Fire & EMS in Hays County."
See what I mean?
The other presentations the council and those brave enough to attend Tuesday’s session in person must waste valuable time sitting through involve ABA basketball, FM 2770 Stormwater and ESD No. 9. Among the other items council members must consider, providing they are still awake following these presentations, include:
What makes presentations by governmental bodies so excruciatingly painful to sit through are the slides used to accompany the presentation. I’m going to be focusing here on a couple of presentations that will be made by Hays County Tuesday evening to the Kyle City Council, but I am not singling out just Hays County for this criticism Kyle city government itself goes out of its way to make bad presentations. Every single governmental entity I have ever been involved with anywhere in the world does it. I spent almost a quarter of a century traveling around the world teaching various government, business, sports, etc. leaders how to manage a crisis, how to handle media interviews and how to make an effective presentation and, to be honest, I was never much of a fan of visual aids for a presentation. I mean, why go to all the trouble to work on an effective presentation only to tell your audience, in effect, "Don’t pay any attention to me. Just watch what’s up there on the screen."?
But, if the presenter was absolutely adamant about using visual aides and it could be determined that such slides would actually drive the speaker’s point across to the audience, I wholeheartedly approved of using visual aides, but only if they met two criteria. First, they must be visual. Second, they must be an aide.
Governmental bodies completely ignore those criteria. Instead, their slides consist of a lot of words, some printed in such small type that no one beyond the first or second row of the audience can read them. These are not aides — they are the actual presentation script printed out, or at least an outline of that presentation.
There are too many reasons why this is a wrong-headed approach to count, but chiefly among them is this: If you are going to make a presentation, doesn’t it make sense that you want the audience to listen to what you have to say? When you offer slides containing a lot of words, audience members are not listening; they are reading the words. And while you’re talking about the words at the top of the slide, they are reading the words at the bottom of the slide and asking themselves "I wonder what he’s going to say about that?" Or. "I wonder what that means?" The speaker is just wasting his breath.
Here’s a solution: For those insisting they must put all the information they are going to say on slides, simply offer the slides to your audience ahead of time. In fact, anyone who wants to can read two such horrible presentations before the council session because they are attached to the council’s agenda which can be found here. Read them yourselves. But the City Council should be told ahead of time to read them as well and then instead of forcing everyone to sit through your boring presentations, just be prepared to answer any questions council members might have from what they’ve read.
But here’s an even better idea. Let’s examine, to take an easy example, the very first slide following the title card of the presentation on the Hays County Road Bonds. The slide is titled "Projects: Precinct 1" and then it lists four projects: "CR 266 Corridor Improvements," "Dacy Lane Widening," FM110@SH123 Intersection Improvements" and "FM 621 Safety Improvements" and then under each listing is the budget for that particular item. Why not, instead of those words, have slides that contain (1) a map visualization to give the audience an idea of exactly where in the county this project is and (2) perhaps photos of the current state of those roads and an artist rendering of what it would be like when the project is completed? Now you have the audience’s attention. Now you have the audience listening to what you’re saying at the time you’re saying it. I know, that takes a little more work, a little more effort, and governmental entities like to take the easy way out, but the purpose of a presentation should not be just to inform its audience, but also to convince, to sell. In this case, you want the audience leaving the room convinced this is a worthwhile project that deserves widespread support and you should take every step necessary to make sure that’s exactly how they feel when they leave City Hall.
Now, the real bad news here is that the Council and everyone else who attends Tuesday’s meeting not only has to deal with this boring presentation, but four others including two more thrillers from Hays County officials. Here is just one of the eye-popping slides from one of those presentations, one involving "9-1-1 and Public Safety Dispatching Services for Police, Fire & EMS in Hays County."
The other presentations the council and those brave enough to attend Tuesday’s session in person must waste valuable time sitting through involve ABA basketball, FM 2770 Stormwater and ESD No. 9. Among the other items council members must consider, providing they are still awake following these presentations, include:
- The appointment of Silvia Torres to the Ethics Commission.
- The first of two public hearings involving the voluntary annexation of 51½ acres in the Plum Creek MUD that, except for a radio tower, are vacant now, but on which the owner soon hopes to develop under the guidelines of the MUD’s R-2 zoning which allows for single family residences and duplexes but not apartments.
- The awarding of a contract for lighting enhancements at the Gregg-Clarke Park softball and football fields with Musco Sports Lighting, which has the distinction of recently installing all new lighting at Notre Dame’s football stadium, Ford Field (home of the Detroit Lions) and the University of Maryland’s XFINITY Center, the largest arena in the state and the home court of Terrapins basketball teams.
- The idea of granting, on first reading, a development agreement that will allow the owner of property located on Lehman Road, most of which is in the 100-year-flood plain, to rezone the property from agriculture to retail services so he can use it for purposes reserved for warehouse-zoned properties. It’s questionable item and only narrowly passed the Planning & Zoning Commission this past Tuesday. There’s a public hearing attached to this item.
- The second reading of an amendment to the city’s impervious surfaces ordinances. Although the agenda claims the Planning & Zoning Commission approved the amendment 5-0, that’s not true. P&Z commissioners went out of their way to approve an amendment that declared swimming pools were impervious,, which obviously, they are or they couldn’t contain water. The council, in a gutless appeal to the whims of homeowners, especially those in Hometown Kyle, have since changed the amendment from the one P&Z approved to declare swimming pools are not impervious. Go figure.
- A possibly lengthy executive session to deal with "pending or contemplated litigation" (i.e., someone is threatening to sue the city), acquiring land needed to complete one or more of the road bond projects, "personnel matters" (I have been informed that my suspicions this might have something to do with offering and trying to convince City Manager Scott Sellers to agree to a comparatively long-term contract extension are niothing more than flights of fancy on my part) and "economic development negotiations."
Tuesday, October 11, 2016
Planning & Zoning changes its tune about following codes
Last month, the Planning & Zoning Commission denied a conditional use permit to someone who wanted to build a retail center because plans for one side of the center — a side everyone acknowledged was largely hidden from public view — did not include the type of masonry required for buildings in what is designated as the I-35 Overlay District. They had no choice in the matter, the commissioners essentially said: "The code is what it is and we must follow the code."
Turns out that’s not true. They can defy codes if they feel like it. And tonight they felt like it.
But now the commissioners can argue that how they narrowly voted tonight to defy a code is different because the one a month ago had to do with design esthetics and the one tonight had to do with zoning. But, to reiterate what the commissioners said a month ago, "the code is what it is and we must follow the code." So now the question is, were the commissioners lying when they said that last month or were they lying tonight?
When you cut through all the red tape and developmental maneuvers, here, in a nutshell is what has transpired. Back in May, the owners of five acres of land located at 245 Lehman Road came before the Planning & Zoning Commission because they wanted to rezone that land from agriculture to warehouse. The city staff argued, however, that was not the "highest and best use" for that land and, as a result, that rezoning never happened. Tonight, they came back before the Planning & Zoning Commission to have the land rezoned retail services so that they could use it for warehouse purposes, namely storage facilities. This time, however, they accompanied their request with a "Development Agreement" that, according to three of the commissioners — chairman Mike Rubsam, Dex Ellison and Brad Growt — now made everything hunky dory. The Development Agreement, to them, served as a get-out-of-jail free card which made it perfectly acceptable in their minds to employ a double standard and claim now "The code is not really binding and we don’t have to follow it if we don’t want to."
This is how their thinking went, or at least how they professed on the dais they were thinking: "Sure, these folks want to use it for warehouse purposes now, but we believe that someday they’ll get around to putting some retail service uses on that property as well so that makes everything all right."
(Two commissioners, Allison Wilson and Irene Melendez, missed tonight’s meeting.)
The two who apparently felt applying a double standard was not acceptable were Lori Huey and Timothy Kay. Huey said after the hour-long meeting adjourned she voted against it because "I don’t feel warehouse use is acceptable in that area," noting that a goodly portion of the property is in the 100-year floodplain and that part of the parcel should be devoted to wildlife and park uses. "You don’t want to overlook a park and see warehouses," she said. (Kay, somewhat cryptically, refused to say why he voted against it. "You can write whatever you want to," was all he told me.)
Planning & Zoning’s actions do not bring an end to the matter. Tonight’s action was just its recommendation to the City Council which will have the final say.
Incidentally, Dennis Artale, the real estate service provider who wanted to build the retail center on I-35, also returned to the commission tonight and let the members know he was willing to add some paint and brushed concrete to that mostly obscured side of his building and that he also planned to erect a screen around all his outside utilities. The commissioners basically said "Okay. That works for us. Your request for a conditional use permit is now approved."
So those two applicants left City Hall happy tonight.
In other action tonight, the Planning & Zoning Commission:
Learned its planned Nov. 8 meeting was going to be moved up a day, to Monday, Nov. 7, because the day planned for the meeting is election day.
As expected, was forced to table until that Nov. 7 meeting requests for a conditional use permit from BioLife Plasma Services because of inexcusable actions from two members of the Board of Adjustments, which is statutorily required to act on the matter before P&Z can. As reported previously, the Board of Adjustments was unable to take the necessary action because those two members failed to attend the meeting, denying the board a quorum..
Approved a request from St. Antony’s Catholic Church to remove three heritage trees from its property, although Planning Director Howard Koontz said after the meeting the church must replace those trees on a one-to-one ratio, which amounts to approximately 17 to 19 new trees St. Anthony’s will be required to plant somewhere else on its property.
Was told it will have a work session meeting on Oct. 25 and a specially called meeting on Nov. 22, two days before Thanksgiving and the 53rd anniversary of President Kennedy’s assassination.
Turns out that’s not true. They can defy codes if they feel like it. And tonight they felt like it.
But now the commissioners can argue that how they narrowly voted tonight to defy a code is different because the one a month ago had to do with design esthetics and the one tonight had to do with zoning. But, to reiterate what the commissioners said a month ago, "the code is what it is and we must follow the code." So now the question is, were the commissioners lying when they said that last month or were they lying tonight?
When you cut through all the red tape and developmental maneuvers, here, in a nutshell is what has transpired. Back in May, the owners of five acres of land located at 245 Lehman Road came before the Planning & Zoning Commission because they wanted to rezone that land from agriculture to warehouse. The city staff argued, however, that was not the "highest and best use" for that land and, as a result, that rezoning never happened. Tonight, they came back before the Planning & Zoning Commission to have the land rezoned retail services so that they could use it for warehouse purposes, namely storage facilities. This time, however, they accompanied their request with a "Development Agreement" that, according to three of the commissioners — chairman Mike Rubsam, Dex Ellison and Brad Growt — now made everything hunky dory. The Development Agreement, to them, served as a get-out-of-jail free card which made it perfectly acceptable in their minds to employ a double standard and claim now "The code is not really binding and we don’t have to follow it if we don’t want to."
This is how their thinking went, or at least how they professed on the dais they were thinking: "Sure, these folks want to use it for warehouse purposes now, but we believe that someday they’ll get around to putting some retail service uses on that property as well so that makes everything all right."
(Two commissioners, Allison Wilson and Irene Melendez, missed tonight’s meeting.)
The two who apparently felt applying a double standard was not acceptable were Lori Huey and Timothy Kay. Huey said after the hour-long meeting adjourned she voted against it because "I don’t feel warehouse use is acceptable in that area," noting that a goodly portion of the property is in the 100-year floodplain and that part of the parcel should be devoted to wildlife and park uses. "You don’t want to overlook a park and see warehouses," she said. (Kay, somewhat cryptically, refused to say why he voted against it. "You can write whatever you want to," was all he told me.)
Planning & Zoning’s actions do not bring an end to the matter. Tonight’s action was just its recommendation to the City Council which will have the final say.
Incidentally, Dennis Artale, the real estate service provider who wanted to build the retail center on I-35, also returned to the commission tonight and let the members know he was willing to add some paint and brushed concrete to that mostly obscured side of his building and that he also planned to erect a screen around all his outside utilities. The commissioners basically said "Okay. That works for us. Your request for a conditional use permit is now approved."
So those two applicants left City Hall happy tonight.
In other action tonight, the Planning & Zoning Commission:
Learned its planned Nov. 8 meeting was going to be moved up a day, to Monday, Nov. 7, because the day planned for the meeting is election day.
As expected, was forced to table until that Nov. 7 meeting requests for a conditional use permit from BioLife Plasma Services because of inexcusable actions from two members of the Board of Adjustments, which is statutorily required to act on the matter before P&Z can. As reported previously, the Board of Adjustments was unable to take the necessary action because those two members failed to attend the meeting, denying the board a quorum..
Approved a request from St. Antony’s Catholic Church to remove three heritage trees from its property, although Planning Director Howard Koontz said after the meeting the church must replace those trees on a one-to-one ratio, which amounts to approximately 17 to 19 new trees St. Anthony’s will be required to plant somewhere else on its property.
Was told it will have a work session meeting on Oct. 25 and a specially called meeting on Nov. 22, two days before Thanksgiving and the 53rd anniversary of President Kennedy’s assassination.
Saturday, October 8, 2016
Retail zoning sought for warehouse use
The Planning and Zoning Commission is scheduled to consider a request Tuesday to rezone five acres of land on Lehman Road from agriculture to retail services, apparently so that the property owner, Tom Jordan of Wimberley, can locate self-storage warehouses on the property, a use normally reserved for warehouse zoning.
The commissioners also have on their agenda two other requests tabled from their last meeting including one that might have to be delayed again due to the inconsiderate and embarrassing actions of two members of the Board of Adjustments, as well as a request from St. Anthony’s Catholic Church to remove three specimen trees (those with a circumference of 75 feet or greater) from its property to clear space for the construction of an "education building."
Jordan tried unsuccessfully to get his property at 245 Lehman Road, 600 feet northeast of RR 150, rezoned for warehouse uses several months ago, but that request was denied because approximately two-thirds of the property is in a 100-year flood zone (as well as the fact that all the property surrounding this one is zoned for retail services). The city, however, feels that, at present, that remaining one-third of the property closest to Lehman and out of the flood zone could be used for a small retail center and even a self-storage warehouse, but not the larger type of structures warehouse zoning allows.
But since a self-storage facility is not allowed under retail services zoning, this zoning request is being coupled with a proposed zoning ordinance amendment that would need City Council approval to grant Jordan permission to use land zoned for retail services for warehouse-zoned purposes.
Tricky, eh? Sort of makes a mockery out of the entire zoning concept, doesn’t it. The question is, if this request is ultimately approved, what kind of precedent does that set?
I must add, however, that according to the information that accompanies the request, this is not the first time the city has pulled such a maneuver, so a precedent might already be in place. "The city has in the past entered into development agreements that specifically enable listed uses on parcels of land for specific purposes, as enabled in the agreement text," according to the documents the city’s staff filed with the owner’s request. "Staff has included an addendum to this zoning request consistent with this procedure which would permit Mr. Jordan to operate ‘warehouse and off-site storage’ and ‘general warehouse and storage’ as they are presented in the city’s zoning ordinance."
There is a public hearing attached to the agenda item in the off chance a citizen might have anything to say on the subject.
The two measures tabled during P&Z’s meeting Sept. 13 are for variances requested by a proposed plasma donation center and a conditional use permit for property on northbound I-35 frontage road between RR 150 and Kyle Parkway.
The commissioners said at its meeting last month it did not want to act on the request for a conditional use permit from BioLIfe Plasma Services until the Board of Adjustments could rule this past Tuesday on BioLife’s request for more parking spaces on its lot than present zoning ordinances permit. That Tuesday meeting never took place, however, because two members of the five-member board inexplicably failed to appear, denying the board a quorum. The fact that those two individuals, Terri Thompson and Paul Terry, are still members of the board is inexcusable, but they are the two most senior members so I’m guessing the theory around here is "seniority endows special privileges." Of course it could also be attributed to a lack of courage to take the necessary disciplinary action. Whatever. What made the actions of Thompson and Terry especially grievous is the fact that an engineer wasted a 2,500-mile round trip between Wisconsin and Kyle to appear on BioLife’s behalf at this past Tuesday’s meeting. Talk about a black eye for the city.
Whatever. This time BioLife is requesting a variance from the landscape ordinance because the presence of underground utilities on the proposed site as well as the existence of retaining wall borders would prohibit the planting of the number of trees required by the ordinance. But according to the documents accompanying this request, it, too, cannot be considered by Planning & Zoning until the layabouts on the Board of Adjustments can find the time in their schedule to get together to approve the parking increases.
Frankly, I wouldn’t blame BioLife one bit if it simply packed its bags and decided to locate its facility in Buda, San Marcos or even Seguin —, a city with a more welcoming attitude for professional business prospects such as this — and let Kyle simply be the home of low-end, minimum-wage-paying, fast-food franchises.
This is a moment when we can see if City Manager Scott Sellers can perform some behind-the-scenes miracles and put this Humpty-Dumpty back together again.
The second request, delayed from that same Sept. 13 meeting, is for a proposed 9,000-square-foot, multi-tenant retail center at 21511 I-35. Planning and Zoning pushed this one down the path because only three sides of the building contained the type of masonry the city requires. The owner, Dennis Artale, argued since all traffic would be traveling north anyway, that side wouldn’t be that visible. He also said the north side was partially obscured by a line of trees. But the commissioners said those arguments didn’t pass muster because the code requires four-sided masonry and the code is the code is the code and that’s that. So now Artale is back with another request, one, that according to the city staff’s analysis, "minimally meets the standards for the I-35 Overlay design requirements." I guess we’ll find out Tuesday if "minimally" is good enough for the commissioners. Artale, who told the commissioners this, his first, experience building in Kyle "hasn’t been a good one," also said he hoped to also locate a restaurant in his proposed Windmill Center and possibly even a hotel on property bordering the center to the south.
In a letter to Planning Director Howard J. Koontz, Fayez Kazi, an engineer with Civilitude Engineers and Planners, wrote that the three heritage trees need to be removed from the St. Anthony’s Catholic Church property because they are "in close proximity and/or are within the proposed footprint of the new education building." Under terms of the landscape ordinance, the removal of three heritage trees would require the planting of trees somewhere else on the property that are, in the words of the city’s staff, "circumference-for-circumference (a ratio of one-for-one)" of the speciment trees "regardless of the location of the specimen tree (even if the tree is within the building footprint)." In this case, according to the staff’s analysis, 19 trees, each with a circumference of at least four inches, "are need for replacing the specimen trees."
It seems, however, the church will ask the commissioners to waive this requirement as well, claiming there’s no place on the grounds to plant those trees. "While there seems to be ‘open’ areas north of the large parking lot," Kazi’s letter to Koontz says, "those are slated for future expansion."
On the aerial photograph of the property, however, it does seem there is sufficient room between the main church structure and Burleson Road to locate the required number of replacement trees.
Only time will tell if the commissioners plan to completely disregard both the city’s zoning and landscape ordinances, sets of rules fashioned by the Planning & Zoning Commission itself, in the same meeting, the agenda of which can be found here.
The commissioners also have on their agenda two other requests tabled from their last meeting including one that might have to be delayed again due to the inconsiderate and embarrassing actions of two members of the Board of Adjustments, as well as a request from St. Anthony’s Catholic Church to remove three specimen trees (those with a circumference of 75 feet or greater) from its property to clear space for the construction of an "education building."
Jordan tried unsuccessfully to get his property at 245 Lehman Road, 600 feet northeast of RR 150, rezoned for warehouse uses several months ago, but that request was denied because approximately two-thirds of the property is in a 100-year flood zone (as well as the fact that all the property surrounding this one is zoned for retail services). The city, however, feels that, at present, that remaining one-third of the property closest to Lehman and out of the flood zone could be used for a small retail center and even a self-storage warehouse, but not the larger type of structures warehouse zoning allows.
But since a self-storage facility is not allowed under retail services zoning, this zoning request is being coupled with a proposed zoning ordinance amendment that would need City Council approval to grant Jordan permission to use land zoned for retail services for warehouse-zoned purposes.
Tricky, eh? Sort of makes a mockery out of the entire zoning concept, doesn’t it. The question is, if this request is ultimately approved, what kind of precedent does that set?
I must add, however, that according to the information that accompanies the request, this is not the first time the city has pulled such a maneuver, so a precedent might already be in place. "The city has in the past entered into development agreements that specifically enable listed uses on parcels of land for specific purposes, as enabled in the agreement text," according to the documents the city’s staff filed with the owner’s request. "Staff has included an addendum to this zoning request consistent with this procedure which would permit Mr. Jordan to operate ‘warehouse and off-site storage’ and ‘general warehouse and storage’ as they are presented in the city’s zoning ordinance."
There is a public hearing attached to the agenda item in the off chance a citizen might have anything to say on the subject.
The two measures tabled during P&Z’s meeting Sept. 13 are for variances requested by a proposed plasma donation center and a conditional use permit for property on northbound I-35 frontage road between RR 150 and Kyle Parkway.
The commissioners said at its meeting last month it did not want to act on the request for a conditional use permit from BioLIfe Plasma Services until the Board of Adjustments could rule this past Tuesday on BioLife’s request for more parking spaces on its lot than present zoning ordinances permit. That Tuesday meeting never took place, however, because two members of the five-member board inexplicably failed to appear, denying the board a quorum. The fact that those two individuals, Terri Thompson and Paul Terry, are still members of the board is inexcusable, but they are the two most senior members so I’m guessing the theory around here is "seniority endows special privileges." Of course it could also be attributed to a lack of courage to take the necessary disciplinary action. Whatever. What made the actions of Thompson and Terry especially grievous is the fact that an engineer wasted a 2,500-mile round trip between Wisconsin and Kyle to appear on BioLife’s behalf at this past Tuesday’s meeting. Talk about a black eye for the city.
Whatever. This time BioLife is requesting a variance from the landscape ordinance because the presence of underground utilities on the proposed site as well as the existence of retaining wall borders would prohibit the planting of the number of trees required by the ordinance. But according to the documents accompanying this request, it, too, cannot be considered by Planning & Zoning until the layabouts on the Board of Adjustments can find the time in their schedule to get together to approve the parking increases.
Frankly, I wouldn’t blame BioLife one bit if it simply packed its bags and decided to locate its facility in Buda, San Marcos or even Seguin —, a city with a more welcoming attitude for professional business prospects such as this — and let Kyle simply be the home of low-end, minimum-wage-paying, fast-food franchises.
This is a moment when we can see if City Manager Scott Sellers can perform some behind-the-scenes miracles and put this Humpty-Dumpty back together again.
The second request, delayed from that same Sept. 13 meeting, is for a proposed 9,000-square-foot, multi-tenant retail center at 21511 I-35. Planning and Zoning pushed this one down the path because only three sides of the building contained the type of masonry the city requires. The owner, Dennis Artale, argued since all traffic would be traveling north anyway, that side wouldn’t be that visible. He also said the north side was partially obscured by a line of trees. But the commissioners said those arguments didn’t pass muster because the code requires four-sided masonry and the code is the code is the code and that’s that. So now Artale is back with another request, one, that according to the city staff’s analysis, "minimally meets the standards for the I-35 Overlay design requirements." I guess we’ll find out Tuesday if "minimally" is good enough for the commissioners. Artale, who told the commissioners this, his first, experience building in Kyle "hasn’t been a good one," also said he hoped to also locate a restaurant in his proposed Windmill Center and possibly even a hotel on property bordering the center to the south.
In a letter to Planning Director Howard J. Koontz, Fayez Kazi, an engineer with Civilitude Engineers and Planners, wrote that the three heritage trees need to be removed from the St. Anthony’s Catholic Church property because they are "in close proximity and/or are within the proposed footprint of the new education building." Under terms of the landscape ordinance, the removal of three heritage trees would require the planting of trees somewhere else on the property that are, in the words of the city’s staff, "circumference-for-circumference (a ratio of one-for-one)" of the speciment trees "regardless of the location of the specimen tree (even if the tree is within the building footprint)." In this case, according to the staff’s analysis, 19 trees, each with a circumference of at least four inches, "are need for replacing the specimen trees."
It seems, however, the church will ask the commissioners to waive this requirement as well, claiming there’s no place on the grounds to plant those trees. "While there seems to be ‘open’ areas north of the large parking lot," Kazi’s letter to Koontz says, "those are slated for future expansion."
On the aerial photograph of the property, however, it does seem there is sufficient room between the main church structure and Burleson Road to locate the required number of replacement trees.
Only time will tell if the commissioners plan to completely disregard both the city’s zoning and landscape ordinances, sets of rules fashioned by the Planning & Zoning Commission itself, in the same meeting, the agenda of which can be found here.
Thursday, October 6, 2016
New meet/confer agreement grants hefty pay raises, requires operational audit of KPD
A first-year Kyle Police lieutenant started receiving a 27.33 percent pay increase beginning this week under terms of the new meet and confer agreement approved by the City Council last Friday and made public Wednesday. A sergeant who has been on the force for five years gets a 24.17 percent hike.
However, a rookie police officer only gets 8.25 percent more under this meet and confer agreement than that same officer would have received under the Civil Service Step Plan initiated in 2014. A fifth-year officer gets a 15.29 percent hike.
The new agreement also calls for an outside professional consultant to conduct a comprehensive review "all aspects of the police department operations" at some unspecified point during the next three years. The goal of the audit, according to the agreement, is "the betterment of the agency."
The salaries of those in the higher ranks don’t fare quite as well, percentage-wise, under the new agreement. While that sergeant in his fifth year gets a 24.17 percent bump, a fifth-year lieutenant’s salary is increased 15.41 percent under the agreement and a fifth-year captain sees 7.65 percent more on his or her pay check.
One of the goals on both sides of the meet-and-confer negotiations was to make Kyle police officer salaries "more competitive" with those in nearby communities. As it turns out, the agreement agreed to last week make Kyle officers’ salaries more attractive than those in San Marcos. The annual salary for a first year officer in Kyle is $1,500 more than it is in San Marcos ($48,000 to $46,500). And if I understand this document correctly, figuring in "longevity pay," the amount a seventh-year sergeant could make in San Marcos is $78,752 compared to $81,111 in Kyle.
The new agreement gives, for the first time, credit for military service in the police hiring process, specifically to "an applicant with a passing score of 70 or better who has served a minimum of two years of active military service with an honorable discharge from the United States armed forces."
There is no change in vacations — three weeks a year — from the previous agreement.
The new agreement also contains a section calling for what is essentially a $20,000 operations audit of the Police Department at an unspecified date during the next three years:
"During the term of this agreement a police department operational review will be conducted," according to Section 9.01 of the just agreed-upon contract. "A consultant will be selected by an Operational Review Committee. The committee will consist of five members: Two members of the Kyle Police Association, one of which cannot be a member of the KPA executive board; one member of the Police Department Command Staff, selected by the chief of police; one member of the local civil service commission agreed upon by KPA and the civil service director; and one member of the city administration, selected by the city manager. The city agrees to pay up to $20,000 for the operational review.
"The consultant will review all aspects of the police department operations. The consultant will have the opportunity to interview each member of the department and any city staff selected by the consultant. The content of those interviews will be private. Any specific information gathered from those interviews will be presented anonymously.
"The recommendations made by the consultant will be reviewed by the Operational Review Committee to decide which will be implemented. Any recommendation having a financial impact that will require a budget amendment … will require city council approval. Both the city and the (Kyle Police) Association enter into this agreement with the intent to support this process for the betterment of the agency."
The agreement, like the prior meet-and-confer document, is valid for three years although I have heard that the KPA was pressing for a two-year document. However, three and even sometimes four-year meet-and-confer agreements are the norm in most communities.
Examples of the old and new police pay:
However, a rookie police officer only gets 8.25 percent more under this meet and confer agreement than that same officer would have received under the Civil Service Step Plan initiated in 2014. A fifth-year officer gets a 15.29 percent hike.
The new agreement also calls for an outside professional consultant to conduct a comprehensive review "all aspects of the police department operations" at some unspecified point during the next three years. The goal of the audit, according to the agreement, is "the betterment of the agency."
The salaries of those in the higher ranks don’t fare quite as well, percentage-wise, under the new agreement. While that sergeant in his fifth year gets a 24.17 percent bump, a fifth-year lieutenant’s salary is increased 15.41 percent under the agreement and a fifth-year captain sees 7.65 percent more on his or her pay check.
One of the goals on both sides of the meet-and-confer negotiations was to make Kyle police officer salaries "more competitive" with those in nearby communities. As it turns out, the agreement agreed to last week make Kyle officers’ salaries more attractive than those in San Marcos. The annual salary for a first year officer in Kyle is $1,500 more than it is in San Marcos ($48,000 to $46,500). And if I understand this document correctly, figuring in "longevity pay," the amount a seventh-year sergeant could make in San Marcos is $78,752 compared to $81,111 in Kyle.
The new agreement gives, for the first time, credit for military service in the police hiring process, specifically to "an applicant with a passing score of 70 or better who has served a minimum of two years of active military service with an honorable discharge from the United States armed forces."
There is no change in vacations — three weeks a year — from the previous agreement.
The new agreement also contains a section calling for what is essentially a $20,000 operations audit of the Police Department at an unspecified date during the next three years:
"During the term of this agreement a police department operational review will be conducted," according to Section 9.01 of the just agreed-upon contract. "A consultant will be selected by an Operational Review Committee. The committee will consist of five members: Two members of the Kyle Police Association, one of which cannot be a member of the KPA executive board; one member of the Police Department Command Staff, selected by the chief of police; one member of the local civil service commission agreed upon by KPA and the civil service director; and one member of the city administration, selected by the city manager. The city agrees to pay up to $20,000 for the operational review.
"The consultant will review all aspects of the police department operations. The consultant will have the opportunity to interview each member of the department and any city staff selected by the consultant. The content of those interviews will be private. Any specific information gathered from those interviews will be presented anonymously.
"The recommendations made by the consultant will be reviewed by the Operational Review Committee to decide which will be implemented. Any recommendation having a financial impact that will require a budget amendment … will require city council approval. Both the city and the (Kyle Police) Association enter into this agreement with the intent to support this process for the betterment of the agency."
The agreement, like the prior meet-and-confer document, is valid for three years although I have heard that the KPA was pressing for a two-year document. However, three and even sometimes four-year meet-and-confer agreements are the norm in most communities.
Examples of the old and new police pay:
|
Step/Rank
|
Year One
|
Year Five
|
|
Police Officer 2014
|
$44,338
|
$48,941
|
|
Police Officer 2016
|
$48,000
|
$56,424
|
|
Sergeant 2014
|
$59,459
|
$62,175
|
| Sergeant 2016 |
$71,325
|
$77,205
|
|
Lieutenant 2014
|
$65,609
|
$73,843
|
| Lieutenant 2016 |
$83,544
|
$85,223
|
|
Captain 2014
|
$77,911
|
$84,833
|
| Captain 2016 |
$87,779
|
$91,362
|
Monday, October 3, 2016
Kyle commissioners force engineer to waste 2,500-mile round trip
According to Google, the distance from Fond du La, Wisc., to Kyle is 1,268.3 miles. Eric Drazkowski, senior engineer for Excel Engineering, traveled that distance yesterday and will travel it again tomorrow. It turned out to be a wasted 2,500-mile roundtrip. That’s because two members of Kyle’s Board of Adjustments failed, for one reason or another, to travel only a half-dozen miles at most to attend tonight’s board meeting.
Drazkowski left his Wisconsin home office yesterday to come to Kyle to testify tonight at the scheduled Board of Adjustments meeting on behalf of BioLife Plasma Services’ request for a parking variance on property where it plans to locate a Kyle facility at 906 Seton Parkway. He told me while we were waiting for a pair of commissioners who never appeared that he will be returning to Wisconsin tomorrow.
Terri Thompson and Paul Terry, the two most senior members of the Board of Adjustments, failed to appear. That left the board one member short of a quorum. Not only that, neither Planning Director Howard J. Koontz nor assistant Debbie A Guerra said they received any communication from either Thompson or Terry about their intentions not to attend tonight’s meeting. In fact, around 6:45 p.m., 15 minutes after the meeting was scheduled to begin, Koontz asked Guerra to contact Thompson and Terry. She returned from that effort to say she learned that Thompson was "out of town," but that she was unable to make contact with Terry.
What happens next is somewhat unclear, even to Koontz. Next Monday is Columbus Day, a municipal holiday, which would be the next available day to have a meeting in which the Board of Adjustments could act on the variance, which needs to happen before the Planning & Zoning Commission can consider a conditional use permit for BioLife. That permit request is apparently on P&Z’s agenda for its Oct. 11 meeting. Koontz thought about having the meeting prior to P&Z’s session, which, like tonight’s scheduled meeting, begins at 6:30 p.m., but other Board of Adjustment members said traffic concerns could make an earlier start time problematic. So Koontz said he will toy with the idea of having P&Z take an hour recess right after it gavels its 6:30 p.m. meeting into session to allow the Board of Adjustments to convene and act on the variance.
But there’s an unanswered question about that as well and that’s whether advance publishing requirements for the public hearing that accompanies the variance request would prohibit a Tuesday meeting to vote on that request. Koontz did not know off the top of his head if a rescheduled public hearing had the same public notification requirements as an original hearing, although it’s worth noting there was absolutely no one in the council chambers tonight who came to speak at the pubic hearing. So there’s that.
For the record, Excel Engineering is the company that will be handling at least part of the design or construction of the proposed BioLife facility that I must admit I had mistakenly referred to in earlier columns as a "blood bank." I have since learned there are significant differences between a facility that solicits blood and one that takes plasma, as BioLife is designed to do.
Blood is the main bodily fluid and is responsible for transporting important nutrients, oxygen, carbon dioxide and waste products to and away from the cells. Plasma is the yellow liquid component of blood and constitutes about 55 percent of the total blood volume. Donating blood at the typical blood bank takes about eight to 10 minutes and donors must wait about two months between donations. Donating plasma takes around an hour and 15 minutes, but plasma donors can donate once a month, because, unlike blood, the body can easily replenish plasma.
Now if the city could only find a way to replenish a few its board and commission members.
Drazkowski left his Wisconsin home office yesterday to come to Kyle to testify tonight at the scheduled Board of Adjustments meeting on behalf of BioLife Plasma Services’ request for a parking variance on property where it plans to locate a Kyle facility at 906 Seton Parkway. He told me while we were waiting for a pair of commissioners who never appeared that he will be returning to Wisconsin tomorrow.
Terri Thompson and Paul Terry, the two most senior members of the Board of Adjustments, failed to appear. That left the board one member short of a quorum. Not only that, neither Planning Director Howard J. Koontz nor assistant Debbie A Guerra said they received any communication from either Thompson or Terry about their intentions not to attend tonight’s meeting. In fact, around 6:45 p.m., 15 minutes after the meeting was scheduled to begin, Koontz asked Guerra to contact Thompson and Terry. She returned from that effort to say she learned that Thompson was "out of town," but that she was unable to make contact with Terry.
What happens next is somewhat unclear, even to Koontz. Next Monday is Columbus Day, a municipal holiday, which would be the next available day to have a meeting in which the Board of Adjustments could act on the variance, which needs to happen before the Planning & Zoning Commission can consider a conditional use permit for BioLife. That permit request is apparently on P&Z’s agenda for its Oct. 11 meeting. Koontz thought about having the meeting prior to P&Z’s session, which, like tonight’s scheduled meeting, begins at 6:30 p.m., but other Board of Adjustment members said traffic concerns could make an earlier start time problematic. So Koontz said he will toy with the idea of having P&Z take an hour recess right after it gavels its 6:30 p.m. meeting into session to allow the Board of Adjustments to convene and act on the variance.
But there’s an unanswered question about that as well and that’s whether advance publishing requirements for the public hearing that accompanies the variance request would prohibit a Tuesday meeting to vote on that request. Koontz did not know off the top of his head if a rescheduled public hearing had the same public notification requirements as an original hearing, although it’s worth noting there was absolutely no one in the council chambers tonight who came to speak at the pubic hearing. So there’s that.
For the record, Excel Engineering is the company that will be handling at least part of the design or construction of the proposed BioLife facility that I must admit I had mistakenly referred to in earlier columns as a "blood bank." I have since learned there are significant differences between a facility that solicits blood and one that takes plasma, as BioLife is designed to do.
Blood is the main bodily fluid and is responsible for transporting important nutrients, oxygen, carbon dioxide and waste products to and away from the cells. Plasma is the yellow liquid component of blood and constitutes about 55 percent of the total blood volume. Donating blood at the typical blood bank takes about eight to 10 minutes and donors must wait about two months between donations. Donating plasma takes around an hour and 15 minutes, but plasma donors can donate once a month, because, unlike blood, the body can easily replenish plasma.
Now if the city could only find a way to replenish a few its board and commission members.
Saturday, October 1, 2016
Happy New (Fiscal) Year
"Culture is the fountain of our progress and creativity and must be carefully nurtured to grow and develop."
The new year’s greeting incorporated in the above headline has nothing to do with the fact that Rosh Hashanah begins at sundown tomorrow. I’m not inviting anyone to join me in eating apples dipped in honey and celebrating the arrival of year 5777. This has everything to do with the fact that the city entered its new year today and is now operating under the terms of the recently passed budget for Fiscal Year 2016-17. Among other things, it means the salary increases granted to all those city employees kick in today as well as the pay increases given to police officers under terms of the meet-and-confer agreement approved by the City Council yesterday.
It also means it’s time to officially start thinking about next year’s budget. In fact, I’m betting City Manager Scott Sellers and Finance Director Perwez Moheet have already thought about it and have even had a few discussions about it.
This year’s budget includes what amounts to a completely new department, a Stormwater Management Department. The creation of such a department and a means to fund it, which will be instituted next month, was long past due.
I, too, have already been thinking about next year’s budget and I would like to see another department added for FY 2017-18, an Office of Cultural Affairs.
Mention the term "culture" or "arts" in Kyle, and the discussion usually stops at mariachi festivals. (Yes, I’m aware of the culturally enriching programs at the Katharine Anne Porter house, but my sense is those behind those programs, even though the house is within easy walking distance of City Hall, would rather keep their distance from city government.) And far be it for me to disparage mariachi festivals, but there’s more to culture than performances of 18th century musical expressions from Mexico.
Two new hotels are scheduled to open in Kyle during this year and more are on the way. These hotels pay the city a Hotel Occupancy Tax that goes directly into the appropriately named HOT fund. The dollars in this fund, under state laws, can only be spent on narrowly defined items. They "must clearly fit into one of nine statutorily provided categories for expenditure …" And Category No. 4 is "Expenditures that promote the arts."
"Specifically, it allows funding the encouragement, promotion, improvement, and application of the arts including instrumental and vocal music, dance, drama, folk art, creative writing, architecture, design and allied fields, painting, sculpture, photography, graphic and craft arts, motion pictures, radio, television, tape and sound recording, and other arts related to the presentation, performance, execution and exhibition of these major art forms," according to this presentation from the Texas Hotel & Lodging Association to the Texas Municipal League. The one caveat is that the cultural programs receiving these HOT funds must "also directly promote tourism and the hotel and convention industry."
Specifically, it would allow the city to fund such a program as a summer Concerts in the Parks series. Imagine gathering at City Square Park at dusk on a June evening to hear a chamber music quarter play on the gazebo there. Imagine the family spreading the blankets and lawn chairs out at Lake Kyle Park to hear a performance from the Mid-Texas Symphony, the Austin Philharmonic Orchestra or the Starlight Symphony, to name just a few.
My son’s best friend, Peter Seymour, is a member of an innovative chamber music ensemble called Project Trio. Not only do they perform absolutely marvelous concerts (you can see Project Trio's version of Sergio Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf here), they will also go into the area schools and conduct educational programs. It’s web page states "Project Trio is dedicated to galvanizing artistic awareness through performance, education and community engagement. We believe that there is a direct correlation between artistry and scholastic achievement. Creativity encourages critical thinking. By combining classical repertoire with elements of hip-hop and popular music, Project Trio engages today’s younger audience." A performance by a group such as Project Trio combined with an educational presentation to music students at Hays and/or Lehman high schools would truly be an enriching event on a number of levels.
There’s the Hill Country Community Theater outside Marble Falls, the Sam Bass Theater in Round Rock and the Amilyann Theater in Wimberley. Why can’t Kyle form its own community theater group? I’m sure there has to be a handful of theatrically inclined residents in Kyle with greasepaint in their veins or at least on their minds, who would like to find some way to work with city officials to get a community theater program underway and successful here.
What’s wrong with devoting one weekend out of the year to hosting a juried art show at Texas Old Town?
An Office of Cultural Affairs funded by an ever increasing influx of HOT funds could help facilitate all of these activities as well as such events as the Hogwash Festival, should it become an annual event, and the Fourth of July fireworks display. It could be the department that creates the standards that promoters of such events as Veterans Day concerts must meet in order to be eligible for city subsidies. It could then be the office that screens the applications for the money and recommend to the City Council which ones should receive such HOT-funded largesse. It could also be the umbrella under which the so-called city special events coordinator operates. In fact, that coordinator might become the City of Kyle’s very first Director of Cultural Affairs.
Kyle is becoming large enough to begin hosting events that will enrich the cultural fabric of our city, to provide enjoyable and enriching cultural events not only for our own residents, but those of such significance that they attract visitors from outside our community, including those who might even spend a night at one of our local hotels. I encourage you to read this presentation, How the Arts Impact Communities, presented by Princeton University's Center for Arts and Cultural Policy Studies.
Pardon the pun, but this is a HOT topic for next year’s budget and one definitely in need of serious consideration. And it’s never too early to begin thinking about the next fiscal year, even, on this, the first day of the new year.
—World Commission on Culture and Development
The new year’s greeting incorporated in the above headline has nothing to do with the fact that Rosh Hashanah begins at sundown tomorrow. I’m not inviting anyone to join me in eating apples dipped in honey and celebrating the arrival of year 5777. This has everything to do with the fact that the city entered its new year today and is now operating under the terms of the recently passed budget for Fiscal Year 2016-17. Among other things, it means the salary increases granted to all those city employees kick in today as well as the pay increases given to police officers under terms of the meet-and-confer agreement approved by the City Council yesterday.
It also means it’s time to officially start thinking about next year’s budget. In fact, I’m betting City Manager Scott Sellers and Finance Director Perwez Moheet have already thought about it and have even had a few discussions about it.
This year’s budget includes what amounts to a completely new department, a Stormwater Management Department. The creation of such a department and a means to fund it, which will be instituted next month, was long past due.
I, too, have already been thinking about next year’s budget and I would like to see another department added for FY 2017-18, an Office of Cultural Affairs.
Mention the term "culture" or "arts" in Kyle, and the discussion usually stops at mariachi festivals. (Yes, I’m aware of the culturally enriching programs at the Katharine Anne Porter house, but my sense is those behind those programs, even though the house is within easy walking distance of City Hall, would rather keep their distance from city government.) And far be it for me to disparage mariachi festivals, but there’s more to culture than performances of 18th century musical expressions from Mexico.
Two new hotels are scheduled to open in Kyle during this year and more are on the way. These hotels pay the city a Hotel Occupancy Tax that goes directly into the appropriately named HOT fund. The dollars in this fund, under state laws, can only be spent on narrowly defined items. They "must clearly fit into one of nine statutorily provided categories for expenditure …" And Category No. 4 is "Expenditures that promote the arts."
"Specifically, it allows funding the encouragement, promotion, improvement, and application of the arts including instrumental and vocal music, dance, drama, folk art, creative writing, architecture, design and allied fields, painting, sculpture, photography, graphic and craft arts, motion pictures, radio, television, tape and sound recording, and other arts related to the presentation, performance, execution and exhibition of these major art forms," according to this presentation from the Texas Hotel & Lodging Association to the Texas Municipal League. The one caveat is that the cultural programs receiving these HOT funds must "also directly promote tourism and the hotel and convention industry."
Specifically, it would allow the city to fund such a program as a summer Concerts in the Parks series. Imagine gathering at City Square Park at dusk on a June evening to hear a chamber music quarter play on the gazebo there. Imagine the family spreading the blankets and lawn chairs out at Lake Kyle Park to hear a performance from the Mid-Texas Symphony, the Austin Philharmonic Orchestra or the Starlight Symphony, to name just a few.
My son’s best friend, Peter Seymour, is a member of an innovative chamber music ensemble called Project Trio. Not only do they perform absolutely marvelous concerts (you can see Project Trio's version of Sergio Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf here), they will also go into the area schools and conduct educational programs. It’s web page states "Project Trio is dedicated to galvanizing artistic awareness through performance, education and community engagement. We believe that there is a direct correlation between artistry and scholastic achievement. Creativity encourages critical thinking. By combining classical repertoire with elements of hip-hop and popular music, Project Trio engages today’s younger audience." A performance by a group such as Project Trio combined with an educational presentation to music students at Hays and/or Lehman high schools would truly be an enriching event on a number of levels.
There’s the Hill Country Community Theater outside Marble Falls, the Sam Bass Theater in Round Rock and the Amilyann Theater in Wimberley. Why can’t Kyle form its own community theater group? I’m sure there has to be a handful of theatrically inclined residents in Kyle with greasepaint in their veins or at least on their minds, who would like to find some way to work with city officials to get a community theater program underway and successful here.
What’s wrong with devoting one weekend out of the year to hosting a juried art show at Texas Old Town?
An Office of Cultural Affairs funded by an ever increasing influx of HOT funds could help facilitate all of these activities as well as such events as the Hogwash Festival, should it become an annual event, and the Fourth of July fireworks display. It could be the department that creates the standards that promoters of such events as Veterans Day concerts must meet in order to be eligible for city subsidies. It could then be the office that screens the applications for the money and recommend to the City Council which ones should receive such HOT-funded largesse. It could also be the umbrella under which the so-called city special events coordinator operates. In fact, that coordinator might become the City of Kyle’s very first Director of Cultural Affairs.
Kyle is becoming large enough to begin hosting events that will enrich the cultural fabric of our city, to provide enjoyable and enriching cultural events not only for our own residents, but those of such significance that they attract visitors from outside our community, including those who might even spend a night at one of our local hotels. I encourage you to read this presentation, How the Arts Impact Communities, presented by Princeton University's Center for Arts and Cultural Policy Studies.
Pardon the pun, but this is a HOT topic for next year’s budget and one definitely in need of serious consideration. And it’s never too early to begin thinking about the next fiscal year, even, on this, the first day of the new year.
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