Editor’s Note: On Tuesday, we reported that the Hays Free Press reached out to Lila Knight regarding comment on several questions on her filing of a recall petition against Becky Selbera. Knight responded to a Hays Free Press Oct. 13 email on Thursday. Knight was upset with the Hays Free Press after she didn’t receive a call for comment on the story.

The Hays Free Press sought comment by replying to a late email Knight had initiated on Oct. 12. The Hays Free Press did not try to contact her via phone. She said she didn’t respond due to her being “extremely busy” with the Planning and Zoning Commission’s meeting over a proposed truck stop in Kyle. She said she “couldn’t drop everything and get back” to the Hays Free Press’ email and that “you never gave me a deadline as to when I should respond to your questions.”

The Hays Free Press erred in its email and did not state a deadline for reply.

“I’m not a candidate for office. And I’m not the one being recalled,” Knight said in an emailed response. Below is our updated story which reflects answers Knight gave to the Hays Free Press. 

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By Moses Leos III

An embattled Kyle council member who’s faced two ethics commission investigations is confronting the possibility of a recall election.

The recall petition, filed by Kyle citizen Lila Knight on Oct. 5, was made against District 2 council member Becky Selbera. 

Knight has 90 days from Oct. 5 to obtain signatures from 15 percent of the 16,339 registered voters in Kyle. 

According to the city, if the signature and ballot requirements are met, and if the election is not part of a general election, a special-called recall election could cost Kyle an extra $4,500 to $5,000. 

The petition against Selbera demands her resignation or removal “for misconduct and abuse of her office.” 

According to the petition, Selbera is the only Kyle council member to be brought before the Ethics Commission on two occasions. The complaint said that Selbera votes on the tax rate and spends taxpayer dollars, but “she has not paid her own property taxes for many years.” 

In an emailed response, Knight said that she hasn’t counted the number of signatures on her petition, and that it was only certified last Monday. 

She affirmed in her email that she is aiming for a special election if she obtains enough signatures. When asked why tax payers should pay for an election, Knight said that the petition is “calling for the resignation OR the removal” of Selbera, and to ask why Selbera “won’t resign to prevent additonal taxpayer expense,” saying she owes back taxes to “Kyle, Hays County and the school district.” 

Knight also said in her email that Selbera voted for a “signficiant” tax rate increase, but that she has “not paid the portion of taxes on the property which she claims as her residence in all of her official filings and on the voter registration list for many years.” 

As to why she didn’t file the petition following Selbera’s Ethics Commission hearings, she said “it just hadn’t reached the ‘tipping point’ yet.” 

Selbera said in an emailed statement that Knight had filed the recall the morning after Selbera gave testimony on a civil service issue. She said in her statement that Knight’s “personal vendetta on me begun when she ran for council and lost against Linda Tenorio.”

Selbera claims that Knight “hates” that the city council “are all working together” to bring business to Kyle. 

She also said that Knight “lied” to citizens that she doesn’t pay her own property taxes, and that she “continues to try and beat me up with the same things over and over.”

“She wants me out of office as I do not allow her to manipulate me nor do I listen to what she has to say, because everything she did say was negative about Kyle,” Selbera said in her statement.

CORRECTION: We incorrectly reported that Selbera said Knight had filed the recall after giving testimony on a civil service issue in an emailed statement. Selbera said in her statement that the recall filed by Knight was done the morning after Selbera had testified on a civil service issue. We apologize for the error.