How the City Council voted Tuesday night

 Appointments

Item 4: Appointment by council member Ashlee Bradshaw of Amanda McCullough for a position on City of Kyle Ethics Commission.
Approved 7-0

Consent Agenda

Item 7: Approve a two-year service agreement with Governmentjobs.com, Inc., dba Neogov of El Segundo, Calif., in the amount of $20,181.00 for online employee on-boarding solutions to include EForms for document and workflow management software subscription services.
Item 8: Authorize award and execution of a Purchase Order to T-Mobile in an amount not to exceed $38,879.30 for the purchase of 70 mobile phones for the Kyle Police Department. The devices support the joining of T-Mobile’s “Heroes Connected” program which provides 10 years of free service for all First Responders.
Item 9: Approve a payment in the amount of $207,543 to the Hays County registry of the Court for payment of the Special Commissioner’s Award related to acquisition of property from Alexander Family Trust.
Item 10: Approval of contract in the amount of $15,850 to Parallel, a Brand Agency, for PR Services.
Item 11: (Second Reading) An Ordinance granting Acadian Ambulance Service of Texas, LLC, D/B/A Acadian Ambulance Service, a franchise to provide non-emergency and rollover emergency ambulance services within the boundaries of the City of Kyle, Texas; providing an agreement prescribing conditions, terms, and regulations governing the operation of the non-emergency ambulance services; providing penalties for noncompliance with franchise.
Item 12: Approve Howerton Plum Creek - Site Plan (SD-20-0079) 2.976 acres; 1 commercial lot for property located at 4282 S. FM 1626.
Item 13: Approve Silberberg Phase 2 - Site Plan (SD-20-0086) 2.427 acres; 1 commercial lot for property located at 4210 Benner Road.
Item 14: Plum Creek Phase 1, Section 11G Replat of Lot 1B, Block A (SUB-20-0156) 2.139 acres; 2 commercial lots for property located at 4600 FM 1626.
Approved 7-0

Items for Individual Consideration

Item 15: Owners Representative Consultant Services Contract Between the City of Kyle and AG|CM, Inc. in the amount of $32,292.00 monthly for a period of 22 months. 
Approved 7-0

Item 16: Consider and possible action to amend the Brooks Crossing Development Agreement to accept negotiated language regarding a buffer strip between Brooks Crossing and Plum Creek HOA.
Mayor Mitchell motioned to change the negotiated language to prohibit increasing the percentage of two-story homes in Brooks Crossing and this amended language was approved 6-0.

Item 17: (First Reading) An ordinance amending Chapter 53 (Zoning) of the City of Kyle, Texas, for the purpose of  assigning original zoning to approximately 1.4 acres of land from Agriculture ‘AG’ to Retail Service District ‘RS’ for property located at 101 Sunflower Circle, in Hays County, Texas.
Approved 6-1 (Flores-Cale voting no)

Item 18: (First Reading) An ordinance amending Chapter 53 (Zoning) of the City of Kyle, Texas, for the purpose  of assigning original zoning to approximately 5.87 acres of land from Agriculture ‘AG’ to Retail Service District ‘RS’ for property located at 1400 E. RR 150, in Hays County, Texas.
Approved 7-0

Item 19: (First Reading) An ordinance amending Chapter 53 (Zoning) of the City of Kyle, Texas, to rezone approximately 19.5 acres of land from Retail Service District ‘RS’ to Multi-Family Residential-3 ‘R-3-3’ for property located at 5492 Kyle Center Drive, in Hays County, Texas.
A motion to keep the public hearing open and postpone consideration of the item until the next council meeting approved 7-0

Item 20: (First Reading) An ordinance amending Chapter 53 (Zoning) of the City of Kyle, Texas for the purpose of rezoning approximately 57 acres of land from Single Family Residential-2 'R-1-2' (42.3 acres) and Retail Service District 'RS' (15 acres) to Planned Unit District 'PUD' (Single Family Attached 'R-1-A', 54 acres) and (Retail Service District 'RS', 3.3 acres) for property located at 1821 W. RR 150, in Hays County, Texas.
Approved 7-0

Item 21: (Second Reading) An Ordinance of the City of Kyle, Texas annexing 29.792 acres of land, more or less, located in Hays County,  including the abutting streets, roadways, and rights-of-way into the corporate limits of the City, at the request of the property owner; approving a service plan for the annexed area; making findings of fact; providing a severability clause and an effective date; and providing for open meetings and other related matters.
Approved 6-1 (Flores-Cale voting no)

Item 22: Direct staff and possibly a task force to restart the Comprehensive Plan revision process and hiring a firm to assist.
No formal vote taken. Put off consideration until May following initial discussions of the FY2021-22 budget which will take place in April.

That pesky “fajita” business is back

Remember when the City Council tried to change the name of Rebel Road to Fajita Drive? Remember the reasoning behind it? The fajita was invented here, the council argued, and, by gum, the city should celebrate, should honor, should enshrine that glorious distinction, that fact that separates Kyle from all the other cities on this planet. C’mon, folks, that’s bigger than all the pies in the Pie Capital of Texas.

It might be an understatement to say that not everyone in town was supportive of that notion.

But that lack of support for the road renaming is not stopping the council from trying to rebrand Kyle as “the birthplace of the fajita.” OK, it might not be as big a deal as “the birthplace of the blues,” and, truth be told, it might not even be an accurate designation for Kyle, since evidence indicates the fajita was conceived and originally concocted somewhere else. Kyle appears to only be the place where a fajita was sold commercially for the very first time. But that distinction is not about to rein in the ambitions of our city leaders.

To wit: tucked neatly in tomorrow night’s City Council agenda — in the Consent Agenda where it might not be noticed too readily — is Item 10: “Approval of contract in the amount of $15,850 to Parallel, A Brand Agency, for PR Services.” That “PR Services,” for those few not knowledgeable about the lingo, stands for public relations work. And Parallel is a San Antonio-based public relations firm the city apparently has hired “to develop a strategic plan and creative ideas to reposition the City of Kyle as the ‘Birthplace of the Fajita’.” And this $15,850 to Parallel appears to be the second of two payments to the firm.

But that’s not all. The goals also include establishing and launching “the inaugural ‘Fajita Festival’ to take place May 8 and become an annual event” as well as creating “a temporary historical exhibit to showcase the history of the fajita.” I haven’t a clue as to why the exhibit is going to be “temporary” and not permanent. Perhaps it has something to do with the edible nature of the fajita itself.

One more thing: If you have a spare moment, check out Parallel’s web page. It’s really, really red. And not much else.

Kyle’s economy considerably stronger than rest of state

 Directly contradicting national and statewide economic indicators in the midst of a global pandemic, Kyle’s economy seems to be stronger than ever.

Mayor Travis Mitchell said today he attributes this fact in large part to Kyle’s proximity to Austin as well as the city’s solid economic foundation and the unprecedented growth in the city’s business sector. Be that as it may, the numbers don’t lie.

While the latest statewide sales tax figures show a revenue decline of 6.3 percent over the same period last year, Kyle’s receipts actually reflect an astounding 19.58 percent increase during that same time.

The state’s economic woes, according to Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar, can be traced to the under-performing oil and gas sectors because, Hegar said, “well drilling and well completion remain depressed.” But Hegar also added “Receipts from the information sector were also notably down due to the federal ban on sales taxation of internet access service.”

At the same time, the comptroller said, retail trade was the only sector to show any kind of growth. “Increased collections from retail trade reflected continued heightened spending for home improvements in response to the pandemic,” Hegar noted.

Kyle obviously benefits from the fact that its economy is based in large part on retail trade and not on oil, gas or “the information sector.”

Sales tax is the largest source of state funding for the state budget, accounting for 59 percent of all tax collections. In Kyle, however, sales tax revenues account for only 27 percent of collections, according to the FY 2020-21 budget, compared to 30 percent that comes from property taxes.

The Federal Reserve Bank is reporting the nation’s economy is beginning to show signs of improving but “not enough to offset earlier losses, including the 5 percent decline in real GDP at an annual rate in the first quarter, signaling the onset of the 2020 recession.”

Lack of vision still neuters P&Z

 A Planning and Zoning Commission has two distinct functions. One is planning. The second is zoning. Kyle’s Planning and Zoning Commission does an OK job with the zoning function, for the most part. But when it comes to the planning part, the commissioners have blinders on. It’s not only the current group of commissioners who are totally lacking in vision, it seems to come with the territory. In my six-plus-year history with Kyle’s P&Z, it’s been evident that it’s members have only been concerned with the here and now and are incapable of having a vision for the city’s future.

This first became readily apparent more than four years ago when it came time for the mid-term update of the city’s Comprehensive Plan. City Manager Scott Sellers decided he would not waste taxpayer funds to hire outside consultants to draft a proposed revision, but tasked the Planning and Zoning Commission with the responsibility. The city council went along with Sellers’ idea.

However, this task completely bewildered and stumped the P&Z commissioners. It was as if city staff had asked them to walk to the moon. They were incapable of carrying out this assignment. Asking them to update the plan for the city’s future was simply beyond their intellectual capacities. Finally, after much back and forth between a city council demanding the planning and zoning commissioners to actually engage in planning the city’s future and a group of P&Z commissioners who claimed they didn’t know how, an exasperated Mayor Todd Webster finally threw up his hands and said, in effect, “Well, at least come up with revisions to the city’s land-use map.” But even this assignment left the commissioners bewitched, bothered and bewildered. It was at that point I decided it was no longer enough to carp about the inadequacies of P&Z from the sidelines, I should try to be more hands on. So I actually volunteered to join the commission and the city council, some of them admittedly reluctantly, voted to add me as a member. My hope was that, as a disciple of the teachings of Charles Marohn Jr., Andres Duany, Jeff Speck and other visionaries of municipal planning, I could bring those ideas to the planning functions of the commission.

I enjoyed some successes, but they were sublimated by the still narrow-band thinking processes employed by the overwhelming majority of commission members. It became exasperating, to cite just one example, to hear commissioners constantly demanding traffic studies while, at the same time, watching them make decisions that only resulted in increasing traffic – commissioners still stuck in the present without a clue about how to look into the future. The future? To them, that was for the next generation to deal with. They couldn’t be bothered with it. And so, exasperated to the point where it was adversely affecting my health, I resigned from the commission and, at the same time, put this journal into hiatus for a couple of years.

For some reason — looking back on it now, I can only describe that reason as masochistic — I watched the P&Z in action again last night. And it was dismaying to see that, after all these years, nothing has changed. The commissioners are still stuck in the here and now. And they are still controlled by their own prejudices and bigotries that have tarnished so many of their decisions in the past. I guess this is a predictable because those who make the most noise in this city are those who are stuck in the city’s past, people who only look in front of them in order to gaze into their rear view mirrors. This became apparent years ago during the debate on a city manager’s residence. Of course the city was also somewhat culpable in that debacle in that they rolled out the idea at an inopportune moment and failed miserably to communicate the vision behind the idea. But then, as last week’s insurrection in Washington proved, facts mean absolutely nothing to a lynch mob.

I mentioned the name of Charles Marohn Jr. earlier. It’s easy to see these folks on P&Z have probably never heard of Marohn, let alone attended one of his lectures or read any of his essays on sustainable community planning. As a result of this complete lack of vision, the city of Kyle is nothing more than a collection of zones, not a cohesive group of sustainable neighborhoods. There is a small glimmer of hope, however. The possibility of one sustainable neighborhood is on the horizon in what is now being referred to as “Uptown,” an area north of Kohlers Crossing and west of FM 1626. It is not a coincidence that P&Z has had absolutely no role in the planning of Uptown. That vision has largely been the brainchild of forward-thinking individuals like Mayor Travis Mitchell, who, in fact, did become a Marohn disciple shortly after he initially joined the city council, and a vision that has been promulgated by like-minded council members.

Last night, P&Z was considering whether to rezone the vacant property immediately south of the Target-Kohl’s commercial development on Marketplace Boulevard. Their considerations were dismaying, disheartening and downright threatening to Kyle’s future sustainability in too many ways to count. The prospective owner of the property wanted to change the property’s zoning from retail uses to multi-family uses with the idea of locating a uniquely urbanized residential complex there — not only a use recommended by the city’s Comprehensive Plan but one that adheres to the vision of what Marohn refers to as “a strong town.” Some of the commissioners — in fact, most of them — objected because, they said, they wanted a mixed-use development there. This was an idiotic argument not only because, as always, it was an argument for the present and not the future, but it also displayed for all the world to see the blinders that result in “P&Z tunnel vision.” In other words, their only concept of a mixed use development is a single building with retail on the ground floor and, predominantly office space, with perhaps a sprinkling of residential on the upper floors. What they failed to see, because of their complete lack of vision, is that this project offered another form of a mixed-use development — a version of retail only steps away, i.e., just across one narrow street, from the residential. They could not envision it as a whole. So, as a result, if P&Z has its way, the property will remain vacant, an albatross on the city’s tax roles, an additional burden on homeowners in the city, because there is no demand to install any form of retail on that property. Which is simply another example of the paradox that is the Kyle Planning & Zoning Commission. These individuals, who, as I said, are not visionaries, but merely a reflection of the biases of the city as a whole, are prejudiced against apartments and apartment dwellers. The rejection of this application was simply another example of that bigotry. They won’t admit to it. Some of them may not even realize it. But their actions prove this is true. Part of this is because no one on the commission is an apartment dweller. For example, during their all-too-brief and non-sensical discussion on this issue, not one commissioner ever uttered the words “density” or "sustainability." But that, of course, would have required some concept of the word “planning” to commissioners who only consider their responsibility to be “zoning.”

The Kyle Planning & Zoning Commission actually had, within its grasp, the opportunity to create a sustainable neighborhood, a community with residences whose inhabitants had a major grocery store, department stores and a variety of dining options within easy walking distance. But sustainability is a formula for a stronger future, and considering the city's future is still obviously beyond the intellectual capacity of the P&Z. So they blew it. All but one. The commission voted 6-1 against this opportunity for a sustainable neighborhood.

There is hope, however, although it will never come from a reclamation of the planning & zoning commission. It appears beyond salvation, at least in my lifetime. There is the possibility this entire decision has been removed, for all the reasons I have just enumerated, from P&Z’s jurisdiction (even though it is, by statute, only a recommendation body, not a statutory one). The city council is increasingly relying on development agreements for projects such as this and there is the distinct possibility that the city and the developer have already entered into a development agreement that will allow this project to move along as envisioned.

At least, someone is looking at the city’s future.

Hays CISD cancels Monday’s in-school, virtual classes

 Hays CISD officials announced this evening that all classes — both in-school and virtual — scheduled for Monday have been canceled due to weather concerns.

“Due to the potential for ice and snow remaining on the roads overnight, Hays CISD schools are canceled and offices are closed for Monday,” the district announced in a prepared statement. “To keep all students on the same schedule, virtual learning is also canceled for Monday in Hays CISD.

“Additionally, with area hospital space severely impacted because of the pandemic, we do not want to risk having additional drivers on roads in the morning when road conditions in parts of our area could be dangerous,” the district’s announcement said.

Council splits over Ethics Commission nominee

 In the overall scheme of things, 13.36 seconds is not that great a period of time. It might not seem like that long an interval. But, think about it this way. Suppose you’re in a classroom where a roll call is being taken — just a roll call to determine who is present and who is absent — and when the teacher calls out one particular name, that person waits 13.36 seconds before responding “here.” Get out a stop watch and time it yourself. In a situation like that, 13.36 seconds seems like an eternity.

In fact, at Tuesday night’s city council meeting, City Secretary Jennifer Horn thought 13.36 seconds was such a long time after she called the name of council member Dex Ellison that she called his name a second time just to make sure he knew it was his time to respond. This 13.36 seconds elapsed during the roll call vote on the nomination of Rebecca Chapa to city’s Ethics Commission, the only vote of nine taken Tuesday that appeared to split the council.

I attempted to learn from Ellison exactly what was going through his mind that those 13.36 seconds, but he seemed reluctant to talk about it, telling me early Wednesday he was tied up at work and then later that he had become sidetracked by the failed insurrection that afternoon at the nation’s capital. He was the only council member who did not respond immediately when his name was called. Council members Yvonne Flores-Cale, Chapa’s sponsor, Michael Tobias and Robert Rizzo immediately voted to approve the nomination after their names were called, just as their colleagues — Mayor Travis Mitchell, Mayor Pro Tem Rick Koch and Ashlee Bradshaw — did when voting not to approve it. Only Ellison hesitated and I thought the readers of this article might be as curious as I about that 13.36 second-hesitation before he ultimately cast what turned out to be the deciding vote to approve. Unfortunately, all we have is what’s on the record from the council’s meeting.

“Rebecca is honest and follows good moral standards,” Flores-Cale said in formally placing her nomination before the council. “Rebecca does an excellent job confronting situations with a cool mind and a soft heart. She is the epitome of what an ethical person should look like.”

Mayor Mitchell said he could not support the nomination in large part because of “her comments that were derogatory toward individual council members.”

“This Ethics Committee, in particular, is supposed to be a group of citizens that do not have that reputation,” Mitchell said, adding that a board member “should not be perceived as someone who is overtly political, but rather someone who could take a dispassionate approach, methodically analyzing all conclusions.”

Council member Tobias said regardless of “whatever has happened with councils in the past, it is time to move forward.”

“I commend you for all the things you’ve done for the community,” Bradshaw said. “Unfortunately, I haven’t seen you in that capacity. I’ve only seen you with what you’ve presented at the meetings and I would like to see someone with a little less bias on the Ethics Committee — someone who is able to reach an objective conclusion on the situations at hand.”

Ellison, at first, seemed to be leaning against approving the nomination. He said he had numerous conversations with the nominee and her family — “I have been in their home” — but then made references to reaching out to Chapa in an attempt “to build bridges that I felt weren’t wanted.” He added he felt she was an involved citizen and if she was being nominated to serve on any other committee, he would readily approve her. “I think the Ethics Commission is different, when you think about what the Ethics Commission is charged with doing” in that it is involved only in judging the actions of city staff members and elected officials.

Mitchell responded to Ellison by saying he did not believe Chapa could be fair in dealing with an ethics complaint filed against certain city council members or someone on the city’s staff. “I think this council’s job is bring someone forward who we believe has demonstrated that very fair, calm demeanor and has the reputation of being very fair, apolitical generally speaking, and not demonstrating they have an axe to grind, in particular toward individual members of council and/or staff.”

How the City Council voted Tuesday night

 APPOINTMENTS

• Item 5: Appoint council member Yvonne Flores-Cale’s nominee, Rebecca Chapa, for position on City of Kyle Ethics Commission.

Approved 4-3 on roll call vote (Koch, Mitchell, Bradshaw voting no)

• Item 6: Appoint Mayor Travis Mitchell’s nominee, Mike Rubsam, for position on City of Kyle Ethics Commission.

Approved 7-0

• Item 7: Consider appointing Derrick Turley to the Alliance Regional Water Authority Board of Directors to replace Tracy Scheel.

Approved 7-0

CONSENT AGENDA (Items 9-13)

Council member Robert Rizzo pulled all the items from the consent agenda except Items 10 and 11.

• Item 10: Authorize award and execution of a Purchase Order to Santex Truck Centers, Ltd.,  in an amount not to exceed $221,190.00 for the purchase of two (2) International 15 Cubic Yard Tandem Axle Dump Trucks through the HGAC Purchasing Cooperative for street construction in Public Works Department.
• Item 11: Authorize award and execution of a Purchase Order to Santex Truck Centers, Ltd.,  in an amount not to exceed $162,958.00 for the purchase of two (2) International 8 Cubic Yard Single Axle Dump Trucks through the HGAC Purchasing Cooperative for street construction in Public Works Department.

Approved 7-0

ITEMS FOR INDIVIDUAL CONSIDERATION

• Item 9: A Resolution of the City Council of the City of Kyle, Texas accepting the Sunset Hills, Phase Two subdivision improvements; finding and determining that the meeting at which this Resolution is passed was noticed and is open to the Public as required by law.

Approved 7-0 after council member Rizzo learned he had confused this item with Item 14.

• Item 12: Authorize the City Manager to apply for a STEP CMV grant in an amount no greater than $12,000.00 from TXDOT and authorize matching funding from the Police Department’s approved operating budget for FY 2021-2022 in an amount not to exceed $3,500 to fund a STEP Grant Program for one year beginning October 1, 2021 and ending September 30, 2022.

Approved 7-0

• Item 13: Authorize the City Manager to apply for a STEP Comprehensive grant in an amount no greater than $12,000.00 from TXDOT and authorize matching funding from the Police Department’s approved operating budget for FY 2021-2022 in an amount not to exceed $3,500 to fund a STEP Grant Program for one year beginning October 1, 2021 and ending September 30, 2022.

Approved 7-0

• Item 14: (First Reading) An Ordinance of the City of Kyle, Texas annexing 29.792 acres of land, more or less, located in Hays County,  including the abutting streets, roadways, and rights-of-way into the corporate limits of the City, at the request of the property owner; approving a service plan for the annexed area; making findings of fact; providing a severability clause and an effective date; and providing for open meetings and other related matters.

Approved 6-1 (Flores-Cale voting no)

• Item 15: (First Reading) An Ordinance granting Acadian Ambulance Service of Texas, LLC, D/B/A Acadian Ambulance Service, a franchise to provide non-emergency and rollover emergency ambulance services within the boundaries of the City of Kyle, Texas; providing an agreement prescribing conditions, terms, and regulations governing the operation of the non-emergency ambulance services; providing penalties for noncompliance with franchise.

Approved 7-0