Amberwood Neighborhood Meeting Minutes

January 21, 2010 (Wednesday)

Chapa Middle School, 6:30 PM – 8:00 PM

Minutes of the Meeting

Attendees: Amberwood Residents (about 40)

Amberwood HOA Board Members-(Tom Witt, James Havis and Mike Rubsam)

Guest Speakers: Steve Wright and Justin Gregory from Texas Disposal System,James Havis from the Blue Ribbon Committee, Mayoral candidates Michelle Lopez and Lucy Johnson, District 6 candidates Russ Heubner and Rhonda Cox, and At- Large District 5 candidates Mike Fulton, Johnny Simmang and Jaime Sanchez

Introduction:

President Tom Witt called the meeting to order just shortly after 6:30PM .

  • Refreshment Committee

We have switched to a “light snack” format. Chipolte donated bottled water, chips , salsa and guacamole.

If you would like to assist with the snacks please contact Scotty Montgomery at or (512) 698-7604 or Tom Witt at (512) 295-4651.

  • Meeting Facility Update

We now have access to restroomsat Chapa. They are down the hallway across from the library.

  • Meeting Format for Tonight

Because of the number of speakers tonight, the usual format will be altered slightly. Each race will be given 20 minutes for candidates to speak. Then, after they have all spoken, there will be a questions and answer session. Please try to limit yourself to only one question per person so that everybody may get a chance to ask.

  • Recycling Update

Steve Wright, Director of Operations and Justin Gregory from TDS.. Steve passed out a sheet showing the statistics thus far for our pilot program. In September we diverted 19% of the trash from landfill to recycling. In October, 23%. November was also 23%. It dropped off during the holidays to 18%. The program is successful but we could do better. Please remember to put out your green waste/compost. This includes not only lawn clipping but also items such as paper towels and paper shredding.

  • Q: How long is the pilot program for?
  • A: The pilot program is scheduled to run for a total of 6 to 9 months.
  • Q: What percentage of trash diversion would be necessary for this be considered a successful operation?
  • A: Final adoption is up to the City of Kyle but we are shooting for 50%.
  • Q: If the pilot program becomes permanent, what sort of rate increases can we expect?
  • A:The rate increase would most likely be around $3.50 a month.
  • Q: When will the next tour of the facility be?
  • A: Justin Gregory is currently setting that up with Ray Bryant. Anyone wishing to go on the tour should e-mail Ray .
  • Q: A concern was raised that the last tour was scheduled too early in the morning for some people to attend.
  • A: Due to the length of the tour, the early start timed seemed necessary. However, this will be looked into.
  • Monarch Update

James Havis and the Blue Ribbon committee are meeting this Friday. There is huge discrepancy with cutoff notices. They are apparently in many cases being printed out 5 days before the due date of the bill. This resulted in approximately 300 people (whom it can be verified had already paid and the checks cleared the bank) having their water service abruptly discontinued. This will be addressed at Friday’s meeting. Customer service had gotten better but it seems to have completely gone off the deep end at the moment.

  • Mayoral Candidate Michelle Lopez

Michelle is a long-time resident of Kyle, Mayor Pro-Tem and has served on the Kyle City Council for a number of years. Her main concerns are the quality of natural resources, resolving issues with Monarch, road safety and keeping the taxes reasonable so that we can preserve the affordability of Kyle. For more information on this candidate, please see

  • Mayoral Candidate Lucy Johnson

Lucy is also a long-time resident of Kyle and serves on the City Council. Her main concerns are preserving the quality of our natural resources, resolving issues with Monarch, road safety, developing a Master Transportation Plan, easing commuter congestion, debt reduction and placing a greater emphasis on fiscal responsibility. She would like to implement zero-based budgeting and encourage finding alternate funding for projects other than bonds and tax dollars. For more information on this candidate please see

  • District 6 Candidate Russ Heubner

Russ, a banker by trade, has lived in Kyle for many years. He is a member of several local chamber of commerce and serves on the Strategic Finance and Development Committee. His main topics of concern include fiscal responsibility, debt control, developing long-term plans for the City, resolving issues with Monarch and creating high-level professional jobs. He would like to see a 5-year moratorium on tax increases. For more information on this candidate please see

  • District 6 Candidate Rhonda Cox

Rhonda, assistant director in the University of Texas sports division, has lived in Kyle for a number of years and served on several committees. Her main topics of concern are preserving the quality of life, developing the Transportation Master Plan and encouraging developers to foot their share of the bill.

  • District 5 (at large) Candidate Mike Fulton

Mike, an IT Specialist, also volunteers for the Fire Department and the VFW. He is on the Community Relations Advisory Committee and is president of his HOA. His main topics of concern are giving back to the community and encouraging voter participation. For more information on this candidate please see

  • District 5 (at large) Johnny Simmang

Johnny, a retired Postal Worker, former member of the military police and a disabled vet, lists his main topics of concern as improving the community and resolving issues with the roads. He also champions the police department and want to preserve the separation of resident from commercial areas. For more information on this candidate please email

  • District 5 (at large) Jaime Sanchez
  • Jaime, an engineer, is a life-long member of Kyle. His main topics of concern are debt reduction, brining new businesses to Kyle (through the implementation of needed infrastructure and transportation upgrades), fiscal responsibility and keeping control over taxes. He would like to take a look at all the current projects and possibly re-prioritize some of them
  • Questions and Answers Session with the Candidates
  • Q: Michelle was asked about her specific plans for the City.
  • A: She wants to look at the tax structure. The max percentage of debt needs to be set. We do need caps. We need debt management. She also encourages more interaction between the Council members through the use of workshops. Also, there should be a greater emphasis on accessibility to the citizens and more technology such as streaming media and text chat so that the citizens need not be physically present.

Q: Jaime was asked to weigh in on Monarch.

A: He pledges to fight for better customer service and ensure that rates don’t go up.

Q: Jaime was asked what our biggest infrastructure issues are and what he thought about the possibility of the City buying out Monarch..

A:The price tag has been set around $30 million. That is where we should head.

Q: Lucy was asked who is responsible for street lights on the roads? This seems to be a safety concern, especially on Windy Hill. There isn’t even the painted striping. Why isn’t this being taken seriously?

A: For County roads PEC is responsible. For City roads, the City is responsible. This should be addressed to the City council or the specific district councilmember.

Q:Rhonda was asked if she agreed that Monarch’s water situation is crippling growth because we can’t get business without the water.

A: She agreed and further stressed we can’t do industrial /production development because we do not have the infrastructure. We need to partner with other entities and look for creative funding.

Q:Russ was asked to weigh in on the proverbial “elephant in the room”, Monarch. Lots of time and energy and lots of fighting have been done yet the battles seems to only ½ won and the problem is not going away. We have already lost viable jobs because of this.

 At first he was thinking maybe we need a special tax district but that would be too expensive for the water. We just have to continue to hammer away and work with James. We need to be vigilant. By example, folks on City of Kyle water typically have a bill that is $30-$40 a month. It is not uncommon for residents of Amberwood to receive a bill for $200.We need to move Amberwood to City water. But the economic and fiscal truth of it is it will take a long time to do that and will be quite expensive. We need long-term planning. Not just complaints.

Q: Lucy was asked to comment on the possibility of the City of Kyle buying up Monarch. At one point in time it was discussed as a possibility but what is that status of that now?

A:We have been so focused on negotiate because we know we don’t have the funds. We do need to start looking into the details of this.

  • Focus on Monarch
  • Michelle suggests that because Monarch is such a hot topic, each of the candidates should weigh in on that.

Mike- Spoke with city staff about this. Amberwood’s water needs should be acquired by the City of Kyle. Even with a surcharge to cover the acquisition our bills would most likely be far less than the $200 some people are currently facing. The cost of annexation would need to be a reasonable price. “The squeaky wheel does get the grease.”. He encourages to get us to go speak to City council about this frequently.

Johnny - Wants to put a hold on spending. He equates the Rec Center with fun and considers things like the Police station, Burlison road and library to be larger priorities. He is thinking perhaps the Rec Center can wait. That 20 million for the Rec Center is only 10 million away from buying Monarch. We should consider using that money to buy out Monarch. Either we’re going to buy it or they are going to provide good service at a reasonable price. The current situation can’t continue.

Michelle- In part of our settlement agreement Monarch agreed no increase for 2-3 years. There are ways for us to find the money to buy them out. We should work with corporate entities to share the price. We could sell the water to Buda and actually make some of it back. Buying out Monarch would benefit all of Kyle, not just Amberwood.

Rhonda- Agrees with Russ. We need to be planning for the future. We need to be looking at all the projects. We don’t need to be caught short without having planning we need to be able to develop something if it comes up. We need to prioritize and but plan and look ahead.

Lucy- We need to continue to negotiate with them. Buying out Monarch is a great long-term goal but not realistic to think we can do in the short term. So to have to continue to work with TCEQ and state reps and will continue with watch the price gouging, the cutoffs, and brown water/water quality issues.

Jaime- Buying the water is great thing. We need to build up the commerce section. And the new bridge will help us get new business and thus more money. He would encourage voters who’s top priority if Monarch to vote down on the Rec center use the money towards buying Monarch.

Russ- (had already spoken on this topic. He spoke first.)

  • General Question and Answers
  • Q: James Havis was asked, what is the significance of the black-painted fire hydrants? Who is supposed to ensure the water pressure and paint color are correct?
  • A: They are painted black to show that Monarch does not guarantee they have adequate water pressure. We have no way to hold them accountable. They are not required by law.
  • Q: Rhonda was asked, if she get elected and 18 months from now Monarch will come and ask for a rate hike, is the City still willing to stand behind Amberwood? Last time it cost the city $50 thousand.
  • A: Yes. But, let’s not wait until 18 months. Put it on the economic development plan. We need to start planning. Let’s be proactive, not reactive.
  • Q: Is there some other legal way would could find to take over control of the water without having to spend the money to buy out Monarch? For example could we use “eminentdomain”?
  • A: Johnny responded, we need to a make sure we document all the wrong doings and make sure that we are informing them through the proper channels.
  • A: Mike responded that eminent domain doesn’t apply here. If Monarch have already made an offer, maybe they are signaling a willingness to give up our area and we should try to negotiate the price down.
  • A; Jaime responded that eminentdomain doesn’t apply to mineral/water/resource rights. Also most uses of eminent domain has been recently restricted.
  • Q: Given that the Master transportation plan is still under development, is is alarming that Dacy Lane being widened 4 or 5 lanes then stops at Amberwood. We would like to extend to CR 131. Please weight in.
  • A: Michelle: Yes it should extend.. There needs to be a Phase 2 to Dacy Lane and this CR 131 should be part of Phase 2..
  • A: Johnny support an expansion to CR131 but consideres that part of the Transportation Plan. Anything that makes this community better is good ..
  • A:Mike support it..
  • A:Russ reminds us that everybody has a special project. But we need a Strategic plan to consider all the roads that need attention. Long-term plan will do us a better job of allocating resources and will allow us to build up cash reserves.
  • A: Jaime is not fond of the Rec center. He thinks that money could be better spent and would like to see the transportation projects higher on the list.
  • A: Lucy agrees that ultimately it should come to Amberwood loop. But when we have out master transportation plan complete we will have the traffic studies with the data to back up and establish actual needs.
  • A: Rhonda was on the Transportation Master Plan committee in 2003/2004. Dacy Lane was the big priority then. People who don’t live here on this side and don’t realize the problem .
  • Tom thanked the candidates and the Amberwood residents for their questions and answers and ended the meeting at 8pm.