In a broadside against Kyle City Manager Tom Mattis, the Kyle City Council voted 5-2 Wednesday night to kick him off the council dais. It was one of new Mayor Lucy Johnson’s first acts to motion for Mattis to move, and two new councilmembers joined Johnson and two holdovers to make it happen.

The Motley Menagerie, once a happening tea room on Center Street in Kyle, is back at its former location. City leaders joined the Kyle Area Chamber of Commerce at the ribbon cutting.

Hays County Commissioners have formed a veterans task force to evaluate the needs of county veterans and determine what additional services to provide. The main feature in the county’s present service menu for veterans is a bus taking them to a Veterans Administration (VA) hospital in San Antonio twice a week. Members of the task force say veterans have other needs, too.

Tense negotiations between Kyle’s city staff and the city’s police officers for a meet and confer agreement spilled into the city council chamber last week. Kyle city councilmembers wound up approving a two-percent raise for police outside of the meet and confer process, though with reservations.

The Kyle City Council moved forward this week on building a new library, though with some discussion as to whether the proposed 20,000-square-foot facility will be large enough to meet the city’s needs.

Once upon a time, Kyle city officials and the city’s feedback from residents stoked dreams of a $20 million recreation center. But the times have changed, and the city struggles to decide if it wants to go through with such a much-anticipated amenity now that the city is $73 million in debt and more than half of the city’s 42.4-cent tax rate goes to debt service.

The city council in Kyle voted last month to annex nearly six square miles to its city limits in a final reading on the matter last month. However, the city did not bring in one area, known on the annexation map as Area 13, located west of downtown. The area includes The Winfield Inn, which has been vociferous in its opposition to being brought into the city.

Another room full of citizens concerned about a major round of annexations presented itself to the Kyle City Council last week in a second public hearing on the matter.

Facing $73 million in debt already, Kyle Councilmembers decided last week to slow down on a $20 million recreation center project. Kyle officials were hoping to put the proposal on the May 2010 ballot.

Kyle City Councilmembers agreed to a small budget trim this week that would reduce contingency funds for emergency medical services, but they still face an ad valorem rate hike of more than ten cents.