Kyle middle school band director arrested for child pornography

 Kyle police arrested 30-year-old Dahlstrom Middle School assistant band director Tyler Townsend today on charges of possessing or promotion of child pornography and intimated that the suspect could have had in his possession “invasive” photographs of Dahlstrom students taken without their knowledge.

According to a Kyle Police Department prepared statement, police had a search warrant for Townsend’s residence that was granted as part of a child pornography investigation.

“Several electronic devices were seized from Townsend’s home during the execution of the warrant,” according to the statement. “After reviewing the devices, Kyle Police found that invasive visual recordings of unknowing students were on Townsend’s cell phone. Police are working to identify the victims of these visual recordings and will notify victims directly.”

A statement from Hays CISD stated: “During the course of the police investigation, law enforcement notified Hays CISD that invasive, but not pornographic, photos of unknowing female students, possibly while in school at Dahlstrom, were discovered on Townsend’s cell phone.”

The district said it placed Townsend on administrative leave back on July 27, the same day it was notified police were looking at Townsend as part of a child pornography investigation. Townsend resigned four days later.

Townsend’s arrest comes almost five years to the day he first came to Dahlstrom.

“Townsend’s duties as assistant band director at Dahlstrom included directing the campus symphonic and jazz bands, and the percussion program,” the district said today in a prepared statement. “When Dahlstrom was a feeder middle school to Hays High School, Townsend sometimes assisted with the Hays High School marching band program. In August 2019, Dahlstrom became a feeder pattern for Johnson High School, but Townsend did not assist with the Johnson High School marching band program after the school opened last school year.”

Townsend was charged with 10 felony counts of possession or promotion of child pornography and 10 felony counts of invasive visual recordings. Each count of the third degree felony carries a possible sentence of two to ten years in state prison and a fine of up to $10,000. If any of the victims are younger than 14, it becomes a second-degree felony with each count carrying a sentence of two to 20 years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

Townsend was booked into the Hays County jail.

“Child pornography is not a victimless crime and we are dedicated to working this case with the utmost diligence and are leaving no stone unturned,” Kyle Police Chief Jeff Barnett said in statement.

Disgraced former police officer joins city council race

Jesse Espinoza, indefinitely suspended from the Kyle Police Department for “insubordination, untruthfulness, violating the city’s Code of Ethics, conduct prejudicial to good order, conduct bringing discredit to the department or profession” and several other offenses, has filed to run against incumbent Tracy Scheel in the District 2 city council election.

Yvonne Flores-Cale, who failed to unseat council member Dex Ellison in last year’s election, has also filed papers to oppose Scheel in the November elections.

Espinoza was indefinitely suspended from the Kyle Police Department on May 15, 2015 on charges he lied to investigators concerning allegations he conspired with Louisiana anesthesiologist Dr. Glen Hurlston to have Kyle Police Chief Jeff Barnett fired. Espinoza appealed the suspension but it was upheld March 2, 2018, by Civil Service hearing examiner Paula Ann Hughes who wrote: “The City has proved by a preponderance of the evidence that Espinoza violated numerous rules, orders, codes and policies of the City of Kyle. There is no mitigating circumstance that causes this to be an exception to proper police procedures and behavior. Having Espinoza reinstated to the department would impact the morale and efficiency of the department in a negative manner.”

In a somewhat ironic touch, Hughes also wrote in her decision: "Espinoza stated he was the third most important person in Kyle and he acted like the rules, procedures and processes did not apply to him. The City Council runs the city, not one policeman."

Now Espinoza is seeking to trade in that role of one policeman for a spot on the city council.

 

Council gives preliminary nod to mixed-use zoning on south Philomena

There is a significant difference between zoning and reality.

The only thing zoning accomplishes is to designate what’s permitted to be located on the property being zoned. It doesn’t actually force anything to be located there. It doesn’t actually mean something will be located there.

Several council members made a big deal — perhaps too big a deal — over the fact that they approved Tuesday the very first piece of land in Kyle to be zoned for a mixed use development. The vote to approve the mixed-use zoning was one-part of a three-part deal involving property near the southern tip Philomena Drive. The mixed-use zoning was applied to what is labeled as “Tract 2" in the photo to the left. In the same vote, Tract 1 was zoned for retail services and Tract 3 was zoned for apartments.

It would be wonderful if a mixed-use project became a reality on Tract 2. Personally, I am a big fan of properly-designed mixed-use developments. I personally witnessed how they economically rejuvenated rundown neighborhoods in Dallas, so when I was on the Planning & Zoning Commission I helped develop mixed-use as a zoning designation for Kyle.

According to the definition found in Kyle’s zoning regulations, land zoned for mixed-use will feature “buildings with activity center retail, service, and other commercial uses on the ground and lower floor(s), and residential units above those nonresidential space(s); as well as encourage development that exhibits the physical design characteristics of pedestrian-oriented, store front-style shopping; and promote the health and well-being of residents by encouraging physical activity and greater social interaction.” I know that’s wonky language, but to get an idea of what that language means look at the picture here of the mixed-use development just south of us on Springtown Way in San Marcos.

But, as far as the Philomena Drive project is concerned, I will wait until a design is in place, a contractor is named and ground is actually broken on it before my excitement mounts to the level that a few council members displayed during Tuesday’s regularly scheduled council meeting.

“I am very excited that we finally have a landowner in Kyle that is looking to adopt MXD (the mixed-use zoning designation),” Mayor Pro Temp Rick Koch said. “It’s pretty awesome.”

One thing I am willing to bet on and that’s an apartment complex will be located on Tract 3 (unless, of course, council members try to pull a switcheroo between the first and second readings of this zoning ordinance and, truth-be-told, a couple of them hinted at just that Tuesday). The reason for that is the people behind this project, according to what David Cancialosi of Permit Partners told the council, are primarily developers of apartment complexes. Not only that, developers get a bigger monetary bang for their investment bucks with apartment complexes than many other types of developments. The developers are selling this idea based on their plans not to have the apartments located right on the I-35 frontage road even though an apartment complex is already located on that frontage road just a few hundred yards north of this proposed development.

Council member Dex Ellison was one of those who wondered why both Tracts 2 and 3 couldn’t be zoned for mixed-use. “The only thing that makes me comfortable with it is the mixed-use and retail services are the ones along the interstate and the multi-family is in the back,” he said. But he added “Would there be any consideration for doing a different zoning (on Tract 3)?”

“We really like to do apartments,” Cancialosi replied. “It’s part of the plan.”

Cancialosi conceded, however, he would “confer with my client” before the final reading of the ordinance in order “to bring back a more concise answer.”

Even though this, as was noted earlier, the first piece of land in Kyle to receive the mixed-use zoning designation, it’s doubtful to be developed as the first mixed-use project in the city. That distinction will probably belong to the Uptown Development on the northwest corner of FM 1626 and Kohlers Crossing.

But that project is under the auspices of a development agreement which makes it a reality. And, as I said at the beginning, there is a significant difference between zoning and reality

Council passes proposed charter changes knowing they probably will be killed in two weeks

The political term for this is “kicking the can.”

In a strictly parliamentary move, the City Council voted Tuesday on first reading to let voters decide on whether they want to allow voter initiatives and police/community collaboration language to be included in the city charter, even though neither of those changes may ever actually get placed on the ballot.

What the council effectively said was “Why kill these items now when we can think about killing them during the next two weeks and then kill them at our next meeting.”

This may sound a lot more Machiavellian than it actually was. And a lot of it came to pass because, quite frankly, the ballot language for the charter changes in question wasn’t in a form that council members felt really comfortable voting on Tuesday evening. They figured the wording on these items will be in much better shape in two weeks so why not just wait until then to give them a lethal injection.

All this came about as a result of the recommendations of the most recently formed Charter Review Commission. The commission recommended a series of changes to the charter and the City Council last Saturday agreed to pass along three of them — items on annexations, voting locations for special elections and the aforementioned police/community involvement change. The first two are small, non-controversial changes that may leave many voters wondering why a change is even needed and the third was supposed to be reworded from what the commission recommended to new wording drafted by council members Dex Ellison, Michael Tobias and Alex Villalobos.

The fourth item — arguably the most interesting one — was the brainchild of Mayor Travis Mitchell who said that between the time he first brought up the idea on Saturday and Tuesday’s council meeting “I have sort of cooled on the entire idea.” His plan was to include language in the charter which would grant the council the authority to call non-binding referendums so that voters could voice their opinion at the ballot box on … well, any subject five council members agreed the voters should be allowed to voice their opinion on. I know that sounds a tad ambiguous, but that was essentially the idea.

Apparently what happened between Saturday and Tuesday was that City Attorney Page Saenz sought feedback from other municipalities who use citizen ballot initiatives and that feedback wasn’t as positive as anticipated.

“I got your email about the various cities you tracked down and they way they deal with these items and it was very helpful,” Mayor Mitchell told Saenz during Tuesday’s council meeting. “I will say that it cooled me off toward the idea of initiatives because the feedback seemed fairly reserved.”

Saenz also said more changes were needed in the police/community ballot language.

Mitchell said it might be better if the council approved all four potential changes Tuesday on first reading so that they could be looked at more carefully on second reading during a special meeting the council has scheduled for Aug. 17.

“I’m thinking we won’t recommend all four during the second reading,” Mitchell said. “But if we take them out now, they will be completely lost to us. I know the police provision is due for revision and possible elimination, along with the ballot initiative, so it would be my preference to send the whole thing forward for second reading so on the 17th we can decide what we want to put on and what we want to take off.”

An argument for more council briefings from city department heads

During yesterday’s debate on whether additional money should be diverted to the Economic Development Department’s advertising budget, city council member Alex Villalobos asked department director Diana Torres why she needed the additional funds. She told him that back in February, her department had concocted the grandiose outreach plan that loosely revolved around the department’s 15th anniversary and was designed to reach those decision makers involved in business locations. “I wish I had known about that earlier,” Villalobos replied and I immediately realized “He’s absolutely correct. He should have known about that. And what’s more, we, the tax-paying citizens of Kyle should have known about it as well.”

Allow me to backtrack a bit. I’m a big fan of Kyle City Manager Scott Sellers. During my (thankfully) long (and some may say “notorious”) professional career, I’ve worked alongside, consulted, advised between three and four dozen city managers around this country. I’ve been up close and personal with the good, the bad and the ugly of city managers — from the excellent to the utterly incompetent — and, you’re going to have to trust me when I say this, but Sellers is one of the best I’ve ever seen.

But one thing Sellers could really improve on is keeping the council — and in the process, the taxpaying residents of Kyle — better informed on what’s going on within the various city government offices and departments. The most-often asked question I hear from citizens revolves around the central idea of “How are the folks at City Hall spending our tax money?” There’s an easy, efficient way Sellers can satisfactorily answer that question and that is to regularly schedule formal departmental briefings for the city council.

Which brings me back to the “I wish I had known about that earlier” comment from council member Villalobos. Back in February, when Torres conceived her outreach plan, Sellers should have prepared her to make a formal presentation to the council — and hence to the rest of us great unwashed — to announce this project, and, incidentally, lay the groundwork for the next budget discussions.

In fact, Sellers should schedule at least one formal council presentation per month by a department head, either during the first or second council meeting of each month. In the almost six years I have been following this council, the only department head I see regularly briefing council is City Engineer Leon Barba, who will briefly describe the latest reasons for delays in the road bond projects. And every once in a while, Assistant City Manager James Earp will talk about a pending development agreement, but that’s only because council action is needed on the subject. No one conducts public briefings to the council during the regularly scheduled council meetings just for the sake of keeping council members, along with those of us who supply the funds that keep them in business, informed — up-to-date — on what’s going on inside City Hall.

Following yesterday’s discussion of the upcoming budget, the council weighed in on proposed changes to the city’s charter. During those conversations, Mayor Travis Mitchell expressed his desire to somehow, some way, change the charter language in such a way as to promote a higher percentage of Kyle’s registered voters to actually cast ballots during city elections. Council member Robert Rizo mentioned the fact that just a few hours earlier the council had voted to add two more employees to the Communications Department and perhaps those folks could get the word out. At that moment, alarm bells should have sounded in the office of the city manager and in the head of Samantha Armbruster, the city’s director of communications: “We need to get to work immediately to develop a crackerjack measurable get-out-the-vote communications plan.” And once that plan is developed, but before it is launched, Sellers should schedule Armbruster to announce the plan during a formal council briefing, a  complete dog-and-pony show with slides and any other audio/visual material that would aid in selling the concept. Give council members the opportunity to ask questions about the plan, offer advice, to become a part of the project and, perhaps even more importantly, give Kyle residents a preview of what’s in store.

This is just one example of a possible subject for a monthly formal council meeting from a city department head. I trust the inventive minds of Sellers, Earp and others to think of others. Charge the individual department heads with the responsibility for developing subjects on which the council and the rest of the us, should be briefed and then prepare those briefings.

One bit of cautionary advice: prior to these department heads delivering these briefs to council, they should conduct a dress rehearsal to a small group to top city administration officials consisting of, say, Sellers, Earp, and Jerry Hendrix (listed as the city’s chief of staff, but the upcoming budget completely defunds the office of chief of staff and I have no clue what that means for Hendrix or the higher-echelon of the city’s administration). They could possibly anticipate the questions council members might pose about the plan during the presentation and then develop the best responses to those questions. But even more important, they could spot holes, weaknesses in the presentation and make recommendations for improvements before it goes to council.

These once-every-month council briefings could go a long way to not only satisfy the “I wish I had known about that earlier” concerns of Villalobos and other council members but answer that “How are the folks at City Hall spending our tax money?” question posed in one way or another by residents.

A little knowledge can go a long way.

Council decides to bring four possible charter changes to voters

The City Council decided today to ask voters to consider four possible changes to the city charter — three of which were recommended by the Charter Review Commission — as part of the November General Election. The changes involve annexation policy, polling places, police/community collaboration and voter initiatives.

The council will be presented with the proposed ballot language during its regularly scheduled meeting Tuesday and take the first of possibly two votes at that time on whether to actually put the proposed changes on the ballot.

The voter initiative suggestion is arguably the most interesting item suggested if, for no other reason, it is one that was not recommended by the Charter Review Commission. As proposed by Mayor Travis Mitchell it would allow the council to call elections so that voters can decide on certain issues, in either a binding or a non-binding referendum. As outlined, five council members would have to approve an item before it could be placed before voters.

The annexation and polling place changes are largely procedural and serve mainly to bring the city charter in compliance with state law. The final change would mandate, according to the recommendation of the commission, that the “City of Kyle Police Department shall collaborate with community members to develop policies, strategies, data sharing and deploy resources that aim to reduce crime by improving relationships, increase community engagement, and promote cooperation.” Three council members — Dex Ellison, Alex Villalobos and Michael Tobias — thought that language was too ambiguous and agreed to collaborate on more precise wording they wanted to present to the voters.

Proposed city budget reduces property tax rate, but increases utility rates

City Manager Scott Sellers unveiled a $134.2 million proposed city budget today that recommends a 4 percent reduction in the property tax rate but increases water and wastewater rates by 10 percent.

However, even with the proposed reduction in the property tax rate from $.5416 per $100 valuation to $.5201, the average homeowner will pay about $100 more in property taxes to the city in 2021 than they paid this year because of an average 8.5 percent increase in property valuations. According to the budget figures presented, 20 percent of an individual’s total property tax bill will go the city, while more than twice that amount — 53 percent — will to the Hays Consolidated School District, and 14 percent will go to Hays County. The remaining 13 percent is divided among several smaller taxing authorities.

The water rate increase projects to $7.28-per-month in the average water bill and the wastewater fee hike will mean an average monthly increase of $4.28 in that bill, Sellers told the city council in his presentation of his proposed budget.

The budget is now in the hands of the city council that can juggle any of the funds before it has to be approved on the second reading of the budget ordinance Aug. 25. The council will also have the opportunity to offer additional budget amendments at a meeting scheduled for Aug. 18, during which time they will also vote on first reading of the ordinance.

A slight majority of the total budget — 57 percent — is devoted to capital improvement projects and 30.5 percent of those capital improvement expenditures will be devoted to two items, a proposed Public Safety Center that’s dependent on voter approval in November, and the expansion of the city’s wastewater treatment plant from a capacity of 3 to 4.5 million gallons per day.

(Click here to see the complete budget presentation.)

“The council has made it very clear over the course of the last several years that this (capital improvement projects) is a priority and we have heard that loud and clear,” Sellers said.

Where the individual council members — particularly Mayor Travis Mitchell — seemed to have the most concern was the $1.3 million side aside for the establishment of 25 new positions while, at the same time, no merit increases were proposed for current employees, except for police officers, whose union-negotiated contract guarantees them a 7.3 percent pay increase this year. Mitchell suggested eliminating several new positions that would allow for an overall 2 percent merit pay increase for non-uniformed city employees.

“We’ve reduced economic development’s budget, which I’m always hesitant to do because economic development drives a lot of our future revenues,” Mitchell said. “What I want to know is whether it is appropriate and wise to add some of these (new positions) that arguably could be delayed. Is it appropriate to add this many new positions while not doing merit increases this year? In my mind there are ways we can change these new positions presented here in order to create a margin that we need to allow for the merit increases to back into the budget.”

Several council members said instead of creating new positions in the Parks and Public Works Department, it might be more beneficial to the city to add positions to the Communications Department.

Following a lunch break the council voted to eliminate five of the proposed 25 new positions along with equipment that accompanied those positions and use those savings for two new positions for the Communications Department, adding $10,000 to the Economic Development Department’s advertising budget and a 2 percent merit pay increase for all civilian employees below the level of the department heads.

The presentation of the annual budget, which usually begins around 8 a.m. on the first Saturday of August, was delayed two hours this time around because the council decided to conduct a closed-door executive session to discuss the proposed new Public Safety Center.