And the winner is …

Kyle City Limits

by BRENDA STEWART

It’s amazing how many campaign signs are going up around town. Like colorful spring flowers. Or sore thumbs. Depending on your perspective. Luckily we only have three weeks before the February election. The filing deadline passed last week and it looks like we’re in for an interesting ride. No big surprises at the end of the day. Michelle Lopez has decided to take on Lucy Johnson for the mayor’s seat but did not, for some reason, surrender her council seat in order to run. Lucy did. Ray did. A special election was slated so that their seats would remain consistently filled regardless of the outcome of their elections. For the betterment of Kyle. By law, Michelle didn’t have to resign as council member because her seat comes up for reelection in May. I guess Ray & Lucy have more confidence in the outcome.

Rhonda Cox is taking on Russ Huebner in the District 6 race for the east side. Rhonda has been appointed to the Planning and Zoning Commission and the Library Building Committee. Her voting record indicates that she has consistently walked pretty lockstep with the current mayor and city manager down to the fact that she was staunchly against keeping the downtown library in downtown and seems compelled to drive us deeper into debt by thrusting the rec center on us.

The real party, though, seems to be in District 5. Kyle native Jaime Sanchez, an engineer, has been the contender to take on since the beginning. Mike Fulton, a vol with the KFD and Information Technologist, threw his hat in the ring and cited safety issues as a main concern. Last week Jon Claeton and John Simmang, both local tattoo artists, have decided to give it a go. And, as an odd coincidence, all four of these candidates have children in Kyle Elementary School. Young parents involved in our community. I’m impressed.

So, we’re heading into the final stretch. Early voting begins next week. Even though this has been a whirlwind and optimally we would have had more lead-in time, this election is critical. We’re selecting our mayor and two council members. And we’re walking a fiscal tightrope. We need level-headed visionaries who will listen to us and make the difficult decisions which will benefit us all as a community. See you next Wednesday.

brenda@haysfreepress.com