As the Kyle Depot continues to deteriorate, an architecture firm has pulled out of the renovation project, citing lack of direction from the city. (Photo by Sean Kimmons)

by SEAN KIMMONS

Austin-based Antenora Architects, which has headed renovation designs for Kyle’s historic train depot for the past five years, recently threw in the towel amidst a feud between two city groups.

The feud, between train depot board members and city officials, has sidelined the project for years, draining funds along the way.

“The main reason we withdrew is that we felt we didn’t have the confidence of the train depot board,” said Michael Antenora of Antenora Architects.

Last week, the Kyle City Council voted to scrap Antenora’s third proposal and directed city staff to search for a new architect. The city already paid at least $15,000 for Antenora’s services in the past year, and will likely dish out similar funds to the next consultant. The amount doesn’t include work before 2009, a figure that city officials could not round up by deadline.

“My opinion is to start the whole process over again,” Interim City Manager James Earp told the council. “Ultimately the council is going to have to decide between primarily a renovation project and a historic preservation project.”

Mayor Lucy Johnson, whose mother heads the train depot board, agreed to start over since the board was concerned about the depot’s layout.

“The designs that we have now are not in agreement with the train depot board,” she said.

Whatever happens, the city must expedite the process so it won’t lose a $25,000 grant it received from the Lower Colorado River Authority to go toward depot repairs.

In December, the council approved a resolution to spend no more than $250,000 to renovate the depot and fix any city code violations. In the plans, the depot would serve as a visitor center and office space for city employees.

However, the train depot board didn’t want city offices to impede the full restoration of the building, a more expensive endeavor since restoration falls under stricter codes.

Kate Johnson, the board’s director, spoke to the council last week in support of preserving the depot, the only one left standing in Hays County.

“The Kyle Train Depot is the gateway to our community,” she said. “It will continue to serve as an entrance to our city, and first impressions are very important.”

She said her board recently discovered that the depot had a segregated waiting room for African-Americans and hopes to preserve the area, which was slated to be bathrooms in Antenora’s designs.

“Preserving this space will provide us the opportunity to inform visitors about our past,” she said.

Incorporating city offices inside the depot, such as the Chamber of Commerce and economic development teams, was envisioned by former city manager Tom Mattis, who stepped down after the council approved his resignation in April.

Antenora said that being associated with Mattis may have given his company an unfair reputation.

“I think the change in city leadership may have caused it,” Antenora said. “Some people thought that we were in support of Mattis. But it was the city attorney that recommended us, not Mattis.”

He added that his company was asked to tackle the depot project after it helped design the new city hall.

Uncertainty about what the city wants to do with the depot also influenced the company’s decision to opt out, he said.

“They all need to decide what they truly want to do,” Antenora said. “We were just struck in the middle.”

Antenora said his company would still like to finish the project, but not until the city has a clearer direction.

“The reality is that, given the circumstances, we were just not the right fit for this project; and that the city and depot board would not be able to find that right ‘fit,’ unless we withdrew,” he said. “This may offer them the chance to step back, reassess, and do just that.”

MATTIS

by BRAD ROLLINS

Former Kyle City Manager Tom Mattis is seeking to become the top administrator just down the interstate in the city of San Marcos, where the city manager was fired last month.

Mattis, who is credited with guiding Kyle through eight years of unprecedented residential and commercial growth but got crossways with a new mayor and city council, resigned under pressure in April. The San Marcos City Council terminated former manager Rick Menchaca’s employment in June.

“I am uniquely positioned at this particular point in time (maybe more so than any other candidate) to offer San Marcos a rare package as its new city manager – combining a strong familiarity with the city and solid professional background with a fresh perspective new to the operation,” Mattis wrote San Marcos council members in a July 20 letter obtained by the Hays Free Press.

He continued, “My track record of success as the city manager in Kyle over the last eight years is very evident and obvious to both government officials and citizens. There would be no mystery or lack of familiarity as to my past achievements or management style.”

Forgoing a costly and time-consuming search and application process for a new city manager would allow Mattis to “hit the ground running,” he wrote, and make use of his existing network of business and political leaders in the region. An executive search would take at least six to eight months and he expects to be employed by then, Mattis wrote.

“There would be a quick and seamless transition to my administration given my knowledge of the community and city operations in general, as I am very familiar with many staff members and local government officials…. Basically, San Marcos has nothing to lose and everything to gain in at least considering me for the city manager position at this time. This is a unique point in time and opportunity for both the city and I – and it would seem obvious that there should be some meaningful conversation about the possibilities of this scenario before we both move on to something else,” he wrote.

In the months since his departure from Kyle, Mattis has periodically surfaced as an applicant for various government executive positions.

In May, he was named in news reports as an applicant for the chief administrative position in Lake County, Fla., a county of about a quarter-million people near Orlando. That entity has not yet named someone to the position. Earlier this month, the city of Harlingen, a municipality with an estimated 2009 population of 74,950, named Mattis one of eight finalists for its city manager position.

McFALL

by SEAN KIMMONS

A Kyle policeman lost his badge after he failed to detain alleged pedophile Dustin McFall, who drove away with a 14-year-old runaway after a February traffic stop.

Officer Karl Cranek, who appealed his indefinite suspension, now finds his career in the hands of a hearing examiner, who will determine if his termination was fair during an upcoming arbitration hearing in mid-August.

Cranek responded to a burglary/criminal mischief call at McFall’s home on the 100 block of Teasley Road. McFall’s wife, who had kicked her husband out of their home, called the police when she said she discovered him having improper sexual contact with a boy inside the residence.

While approaching the home, Cranek pulled over McFall’s vehicle but failed to question the 33-year-old and the boy on reports of child sexual abuse and allowed both to depart together, a department memorandum stated.

While on the scene, the dispatcher told Cranek that McFall’s wife had caught him inside “having sex with some boy who is under eighteen,” the police memo said.

Cranek asked the dispatcher, “Ok, what does she want us to do? To just make sure it was him in the house? He’s leaving anyway.” The dispatcher then advised Cranek that McFall and the boy were in a sexual relationship. Cranek responded, “Ok, well I can’t prove any of that” and the call was disconnected, the memo stated.

After releasing the two individuals, Cranek contacted McFall’s wife and the boy’s parents. The boy was later reported as a runaway in Bastrop County, the memo stated.

McFall vanished with the boy and was later detained by the Hidalgo County Sheriff’s Office upon re-entering the U.S. from Mexico. On April 6, McFall was booked into the Hays County Jail on two felony counts of indecency with a child by sexual contact, according to police records.

An arrest affidavit says that McFall met the teenage boy on Craigslist, where the victim told McFall that he was 15 years old. The boy told police that he performed oral sex on McFall two separate times at the suspect’s home.

McFall’s arraignment was waived this month, with his pre-trial motions slated to begin Aug. 3 at the 22nd District Court in San Marcos.

The internal investigation determined Cranek’s actions to be “gross misconduct.”

Kyle Mayor Lucy Johnson will host a Town Hall Meeting regarding the municipal budget from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. Aug. 4 at City Hall.

Coinciding with the start of her sixth month in office, Johnson’s meeting is being billed as “Budget Talk,” an opportunity for residents to “voice their concerns over property taxes, city debt and the availability of city services,” according to a press release.

“Since my first meeting as mayor on March 3, council chambers have been filled with residents eager to get involved and have their voices heard. I am eager to encourage this process to continue, and I look forward to hearing the public’s concerns about our upcoming budget,” Johnson said.

The proposed fiscal year 2010-2011 budget will be posted on the city’s website soon, Johnson said.

Movers and shakers in Kyle are getting ready to boogie down this weekend in honor of National Dance Day.

This Saturday, students of Shock Dance Center in Kyle will teach and videotape a routine choreographed by Tabitha and Napoleon D’umo of the Fox TV show “So You Think You Can Dance.” A portion of the Kyle video could be selected to air on the show.

The group will meet by the pool area at the Plum Creek Community Center at 9 a.m. Saturday to rehearse and tape the routine, said Shock Dance Center owner Kristina Weinman.

National Dance Day, which will be recognized though an act of Congress, aims to promote health and self-esteem through the art form of dance.

The event is for everyone young and old, whether or not they have a dance background, Weinman noted.

“Dance brings together all different kinds of people,” Weinman said. “They want to promote health and wellness and share dance with everybody.”

A Kyle husband and wife charged with assaulting their Hispanic neighbors were acquitted last week by a jury at the 22nd District Court in San Marcos.

The decision has sparked contention with the local branch of the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), which called the assault a hate crime. LULAC officials say they plan to look at different avenues to fight what they call an unfair trial.

“LULAC is not satisfied with the outcome of the trial,” District 2 Director Mario Gonzalez said on Tuesday. “We feel it has been very discriminatory.”

Steve and Melanie Jones, who were found not guilty, cannot be retried for the alleged assaults since the trial ended in an acquittal. Instead, Gonzalez says that LULAC will seek advice from its lawyers and perhaps get the federal government to investigate the civil rights claim.

On Sept. 14, 2008, a verbal dispute erupted between the Joneses and Martin Moreno and his wife, Heliodora, after the Moreno’s dog strayed away and defecated onto their neighbor’s yard on Convent Drive in Kyle.

The Jones couple, accompanied by two other men, confronted the Morenos on their property. Martin Moreno claimed that the three men pushed him to the ground, and that Steve Jones punched him in his right eye at least twice, according to the arrest affidavit.

Heliodora Moreno then tried to stop the attack by hitting Steve Jones in the head, when Melanie Jones threw her to the ground and struck her at least two times, the affidavit says.

The Joneses and the other two men, Chris Baird and Parker Krantz, denied that they assaulted the Morenos and reported that when they confronted the Morenos the incident escalated to a physical altercation, the affidavit states.

The Morenos were transported to Central Texas Medical Center for their injuries. Martin Moreno received five stitches over his right eye while his wife had several contusions, the affidavit says.

In the trial, defense attorney Tom Garner argued that the altercation was mutual and Steve Jones even took the stand to testify that he pushed but did not strike Martin Moreno, according to news reports.

Chris Baird and Parker Krantz have yet to be tried in the assault case.

The Hays County District Attorney’s Office prosecuted the case but declined to comment.

“The defendant has been acquitted and I think that speaks for itself,” Hays County District Attorney Sherri Tibbe said.

The City of Kyle revealed a modest tax hike in its proposed fiscal year 2010-2011 city budget Tuesday night.

Interim City Manager James Earp said that Kyle residents could see a three-cent increase in their property tax rates, pushing the tax rate from 42 cents to 45 cents per $100 property evaluated.

The proposed budget totalled more than $56 million, with $10.6 million coming from general fund expenditures and $33.7 million from capital project fund expenditures, among other expenses.

Almost $2 million was cut from the requested general fund expenditures, Earp said.

He also said that the budget has an emphasis on the understaffed Kyle Police Department as well as city economic development and training. The budget includes at least 14 new city job positions, with one-third of those jobs expanding the police force.

“This is just the first brush at it,” Earp said of the budget. “It will become more formalized.”

Last year, the city unveiled a budget with a 12-cent property tax increase, catapulting the tax rate to 49 cents per $100 property evaluated.

For the past year, councilmembers were able to shave this year’s budget to drop the tax rate to its current standing of 42 cents, a five-cent jump from the previous year.

On Tuesday, Earp said that Kyle is projected to see an increase of about $1.3 million in next year’s revenue compared to this year’s expected gains. City revenue is compiled from taxes and other sources of income.

If next year’s sales tax revenue exceeds projections, Earp suggested the council give city employees a one-percent pay raise, which was cut from this year’s budget. The total pay raise is estimated at $45,000.

In the coming months, councilmembers will scrutinize the budget to find cost-cutting measures before final adoption by October 1. The public will get their chance for input at a public hearing slated for August 17 at 6:30 p.m. at Kyle City Hall.

Budget documents will be available online on the city’s Web site at www.cityofkyle.com.

Kyle Firefighters Lt. Ken Briggs (left) and Lt. Scott Wayman ham it up, trying to raise funds for the department’s “Fill the Boot: Fight Muscular Dystrophy” drive. The fundraiser will continue this weekend. (photo by Cyndy Slovak-Barton)

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More photos from this week along with other photos published in the Hays Free Press are available for viewing and purchase here. Look for folder entitled “Week of July 14, 2010.”

Brook Wilson, 2, takes a drink from the fountain at Gregg-Clarke Park in Kyle. City officials say high fluoride levels in local water can damage children’s teeth. (Photo by Jen Biundo)

by JEN BIUNDO

For six months after they moved to the Silverado neighborhood in Kyle, Cara Mosier’s two children, then one and two and a half years old, drank city tap water.

That changed abruptly when the family received the city’s Annual Drinking Water Quality Report, which alerted them to the high levels of fluoride in Kyle’s drinking water supply.

While moderate levels of fluoride have been shown to reduce cavities, too much of the naturally-occurring element can lead to a condition known a fluorosis, which causes unsightly white or brown stains and pitting on children’s teeth. The excess fluoride levels only affect the teeth that are still developing under the gums, and leads to permanent stains on adult teeth.

Children under the age of nine should not drink city tap water, Kyle officials warn city residents in the annual water quality report.

“We had been giving our kids that water for six months,” said Mosier, a former stay-at-home mom, now a web marketing manager. “It was a little disconcerting, especially since it’s not something that’s apparent until their adult teeth come out.”

For decades, Kyle dentists have seen high levels of fluorosis in their patients, thanks to a drinking water well in Gregg-Clarke Park that draws highly-fluoridated water out of the aquifer. Fluoride levels in the city tap water have actually decreased in recent years, as the city has piped in other sources of well and surface water to mix into the total water supply.

Kyle Mayor Lucy Johnson said the city is monitoring the fluoride levels and was glad to see they didn’t increase from the year prior.

“Having more fluoride than normal in this area is actually pretty prevalent,” Johnson said. “You won’t find a lot of cities around central Texas that don’t have high fluoride. With our water source, there’s not too much we can do about it.”

Johnson encouraged parents of young children to follow city guidelines, and noted that parents may want to get the water at their home tested for fluoride.

City officials say the water that comes out of the tap of most homes in Kyle actually has fluoride levels far below the maximums shown in the water quality report. Homes that are closest to the affected well in Gregg-Clarke Park typically have higher fluoride levels, while those that are farther away have more moderate rates.

The water testing showed fluoride levels have decreased slightly in the last two years, likely due to the city connecting its wells.

In the report released in the summer of 2008, fluoride levels ranged from 3.29 – 3.3 parts per million (ppm). This year’s report, released in late June, showed the levels at 2.95 – 3.22 ppm. Levels over 2 ppm trigger the automatic warning from the Environmental Protection Agency that children under the age of nine years old should not drink tap water, while long-term consumption of levels higher than 4 ppm may lead to bone damage.

The city of Buda also has some elevated levels in isolated testing, but not high enough to trigger a fluoride alert. Buda’s most recent report had levels ranging from 0.23 – 1.94 ppm, with an average of 0.95. The city of Austin maintains its levels at 0.53 ppm.

Many families such as the Mosiers give their children alternate drinking water, buying or arranging for delivery of bottled water or installing a reverse osmosis filtration system. But that can lead to different set of dental problems. Most bottled water contains little or no fluoride, and dentists suggest giving fluoride supplements to kids who drink bottled water to help prevent cavities. Families can also have their water tested, and then mix filtered and unfiltered water to achieve the correct proportion of fluoride.

Mosier said she would like to see the city address the excess fluoride problem at the level of the city’s water treatment plants, rather than telling residents they need to spend additional money to purchase drinking water for their young children. They also need to do a better job of alerting residents to the problem, she said.

“I feel like at a minimum, when you open your water account with the city of Kyle, they need to tell you up front,” Mosier said.

Testing the Waters
To get your home tap water tested for fluoride, bring a sample of at least 125 milliliters in a clean container to the Edwards Aquifer Research and Data Center on the Texas State University campus in San Marcos. Cost for the testing is $12. Contact the center at 512-245-2329.