Brittany Kelley
KYLE — After nearly a decade of service, city of Kyle Mayor Travis Mitchell announced his resignation July 15, effective in November — one year before the end of his term.
“When I first joined the city council in June of 2016 — and then stepped into the role of mayor the following November — I knew the job would be difficult, but also meaningful,” began Mitchell.
He shared that he never planned to run for a second term, let alone a third, but that each time the decision came around, he felt as though his role wasn’t done.
In 2020, toward the end of his first term, Mitchell stated that city council really began working collaboratively and putting forth effort to important and impactful projects within Kyle, so if he left, he “would be letting the city down and not accomplishing what [he] set out to accomplish.”
Later that year, he was elected mayor for the second time and fully intended for it to be his last, but when the former city manager was fired halfway through his term, Mitchell didn’t feel right leaving: “The staff was just not in a good spot and so, I spent the majority of my second term just trying to keep the city afloat. We had already cultivated a bunch of projects that were going [on], so the actual city was still moving forward, but for it to get on strong footing, we needed to find the right city manager and that city manager needed time to implement his vision organizationally.”
Current city manager Bryan Langley was hired approximately six months before the election in 2023, said Mitchell, and the only opportunity to give Langley the chance he deserved was to run for a third and final term. This, and the push for road bonds to continue their progress, were the primary reasons for entering the race, he said.
Mitchell stated that Langley has fostered an environment of high morale for both staff and council members, sharing that “it’s never been better,” which is a huge point of pride for the mayor. Noting the position that the city is presently in, Mitchell felt that now was the time to walk away and “create space for the next generation of leadership to rise and help write the city’s next chapter.”
Furthermore, the mayor realized that a lot of the reasons he had for staying were not focused on the city, but rather, legacy: “I realized that it’s not about the city, [it’s] about me … Then, it just became clear, like ‘What is the right choice?’ And the right choice is [that] I should resign in November.”
The mayor’s resignation had to be announced in July, he said, in order for the council to have adequate time to call for a special election in November for his seat. Though he took into consideration the present state of the city, Mitchell emphasized that, ultimately, his decision was more personal.
Near the start of his first term, Mitchell enrolled in a Master of Business Administration degree program from The University of Texas at Austin and since then, has been working toward earning his degree, but the pressure from his role as mayor and how all-consuming it was, prevented his completion. Now that he is taking time for himself, he hopes to graduate in the fall.
Additionally, he also began thinking about the future of his three children: “I have enough money to pay for my living expenses, [my wife] and I together, but it’s expensive. We have three kids. I don’t have enough money to pay off my student debt, much less get ready to pay for their college or help them with their school, which is five years away … So, I realized that the opportunity cost, it was going to cost me a lot to stay mayor one last year.”
When reflecting on his time as mayor, it is not without regrets. Mitchell said that, looking back, his biggest regrets are all in his first year as a council member and his first year as mayor, when he had ideological views that were based on feelings, rather than a “deep understanding of the complexity of the situation.”
In spite of this, there are still several projects he is proud of, including:
• Transforming the police department into a “regional leader” by upgrading its facilities, increasing pay and cultivating a positive culture.
• Making major park upgrades and creating new parks for the community.
• Investing in roadways.
• Expanding and upgrading “nearly every department.”
• Launching Kyle 3-1-1.
“And through it all, we remained one of the most affordable places to live in the Austin region — even as we grew into one of its most dynamic up-and-coming cities,” Mitchell said.
In the newfound time he has after resigning, he hopes to enter the business industry, as he once was prior to his election. Mitchell shared that throughout the years, he has received numerous opportunities to work with companies, but put them off since he felt as though he would never feel comfortable working separately with a business, while also being mayor.
“When you leave office, it’s like falling off a cliff,” he explained. “The longer you do it, the more the community brands you. The more your identity becomes your position, which is not good for anyone. Your identity shouldn’t be your position. It should be who you are … I’m trying to get behind this idea of: I’m going to have an identity and I’ll become very irrelevant to most people when I walk off and just embrace the future.”
Following his resignation in November, he joked that he is looking forward to the first meeting that he is not required to attend because “I have no stake or say in the matters at hand. There’s a certain relief that’s there … I’m excited to be able to let that go and have my things that I care about dramatically reduced to my wife, my children, our family, our finances and the work that I’m doing for companies or whatever that work ends up being.”
Despite his political role ending, Mitchell shared he is excited to look beyond Kyle and determine how he can still make an impact in his community locally and, now, regionally.
As for the future of Kyle, the mayor has some concerns about how the next mayor will carry on the work that is currently in progress.
“You have to understand that the city has been marching in the same direction — with ups and downs and tons of setbacks — but we’ve been going in the same direction since 2014,” he explained. “It’s 12 years of constant vision in the city. My fear is that, with everything that’s happening and however much some people want to paint me to be the villain who doesn’t give them the power they want, they’re going to take [the power], they’re going to come in and they’re going to just try to gut the place. That’s my fear.”
Regardless of this fear, Mitchell is hopeful that the next generation of leaders in the city will never think, “What would Travis do?” but rather acknowledge the strides and find ways to build and improve upon what has been done.
“Find where our flaws were, find the mistakes that we made and make them better,” he emphasized.
To the next mayor, Mitchell has some advice. He stated that the role of his successor should be to lift up and celebrate the staff and, above all, protect them and the city manager from the public: “When things go well, give credit to others. When things go bad, take the blame.”
He also warned against serving special interests and trying to please everyone.
“[Don’t] let the desire to be loved be your primary motivation. If you have a desire for impact to be successful, you’ve got to take some slings and arrows along the way,” he warned. “There’s a deep satisfaction that comes from having that North Star of wanting to make an impact and it will give you armor against people who wish to harm you … It is tempting to compromise your morality and your beliefs and what you know is right in order to appease that group, so that you can stay in power. But when you do that once, then you will find that that is what you spend all of your time doing, is appeasing special interests.”
In conclusion, Mitchell stated, “I’m proud of the town we’ve built together. I’m proud of how far we’ve come. And I’ll be proud to leave this office believing — without hesitation — that Kyle’s best days are still ahead.”
In the coming days, Kyle City Council will call for a special election to be on the Nov. 4 ballot to elect the next mayor for a one-year term, in addition to the general election for the District 1 and District 3 seats, currently held by Bear Heiser and Miguel Zuniga, respectively. According to the city’s website, there will also be a special election for a vacancy in the District 2 seat, which is currently held by Robert Rizo.
More information about the 2025 election can be found at bit.ly/3TUSqYZ.
