It was recently brought to my attention that some members of the community (and various KASZ members in particular) have accused the Old Town Kyle Advocates of being a political organization. A quick perusal of OTKA’s meeting minutes since its inception several years ago will reflect the groups’ determined lack of political affiliation and staunch dedication to our sole purpose of supporting downtown above all other issues. Our dogged recrimination of our city manager was tethered directly to his unwillingness to work with us as an organization to keep the original Kyle library in the original town of Kyle. That fight being won, his position as city manager was of little consequence to OTKA and we moved on to other issues which have had nothing to do with politics on any level.
Unfortunately, though, as a longtime OTKA office holder, it has been insinuated that the opinions I personally express through my column in the Hays Free Press represent the Advocates in some way. Regardless of the fact that this idea is actually laughable given the politically and socially diverse make up of our membership, I have resigned my position as co-secretary/treasurer of OTKA so that our group can move forward unencumbered by such asinine claims.
Although I have informed each member personally, I am choosing to state my decision to resign from office publicly in an attempt to afford these community members an opportunity to gain some introspection on why exactly, the candidates they professed to support failed unequivocally at the polls during the last two local elections. Replacing 4 out of 6 city council members, the mayor and the city manager reflected a city-wide frustration. It had nothing to do with the Old Town Kyle Advocates. And you would know this if you would have taken the time to attend any of our meetings. Sounds more like sour grapes to me.
Brenda Stewart
Downtown Kyle
