Brittany Kelley
KYLE — The Kyle City Council April 21 meeting was filled with firsts, as the Public Art and Library master plans were approved. Additionally, council approved an interim city manager.
Prior to the regular meeting and following executive session, council member Michael Tobias motioned to approve director of Finance Perwez Moheet as the interim city manager, following the resignation of Bryan Langley, in a 6-1 vote, with council member Lauralee Harris dissenting.
“He has served the city of Kyle since 2010 as our city’s Finance director and with more than four decades of public service, he brings steady leadership, deep institutional knowledge and a calm presence that has earned the respect and trust of staff and everyone who has had the opportunity to work with him. Simply put, he is someone people believe in and that matters in moments like this. As we head into budget season and continue the important work before us, I am confident he will help guide our city with clarity and purpose,” said Mayor Yvonne Flores-Cale on social media after the meeting.
Beginning in regular session, park planning and project manager Will Atkinson stated that this is the first time the city has had a Public Art Master Plan. In collaboration with the community, council, Arts and Cultural Board and the Parks and Recreation Board, “the plan establishes a foundational framework to guide how public art is planned, funding opportunities and how art integrates into our public spaces over time, supporting placemaking, cultural identity and long-term community value,” Atkinson explained.
After introducing the item, he invited Todd Bressi, public art consultant for Kyle, who reviewed the recommendations of the plan for council as the “final step of the process, which began last May.”
He shared that the purpose of a public art plan is to create a vision and goals for the city, identify opportunities and issues and outline implementation approaches. Because of this, Bressi clarified that it will not have a list of specific projects or funding.
Continuing on, he noted that there was immense support for public art from community members that filled out surveys, with less than a third expressing concerns about fiscal responsibility and divisive art.
“The goals are a bit more of focus statements about what are the specific things the city will try to accomplish and these are really driven by other city policies and by the feedback we got from the public. These include: making sure that public art really is expressive of what Kyle is and who Kyle is and what it’s all about [and] focusing on things that enhance residents' quality of life in places where people go in a community, like parks and recreational facilities,” said the consultant.
Potential locations include city-owned facilities, such as the library or parks, destination areas, VYBE Trails and more. Additionally, ideas involving community participation on small pieces, such as utility boxes, and temporary exhibitions with poetry, art and history were mentioned.
He stated that each of the art pieces don’t have to necessarily be a decorative element, as they could be functional. For example, there could be a garden or a splash area for children that is decorated with mosaic.
Other opportunities include murals, statues, art as bridge elements and more, all of which could lead to a future where “every visitor to Kyle encounters public art and remembers it as what makes Kyle a unique place for them to come and visit,” said Bressi.
As far as funding, the consultant stated that there could be donations of artwork, requiring artwork in development agreements, public art incentives through tax increment reinvestment zones, partnerships and more.
Ultimately, Bressi recommended focusing on the aforementioned art ideas and for council to encourage community proposals and incentivize art in private development, while creating an identity for the city.
“Even though there are hard decisions and challenges, public art can be a binding force. It can ground the city in its past, present and future. It can connect people across generations and across neighborhoods. It can reflect the best of Kyle’s traditions, its desire for connections and forward thinking,” concluded Bressi.
Flores-Cale praised the ability for council to choose locations for the art throughout the city, rather than the decisions being predetermined in the plan, adding that this is a “big step forward” for the city. Tobias shared the same sentiment, stating that he was in full support of the item.
The Public Art Master Plan was approved 7-0.
Next steps include preparing the Public Art Annual Work Plan and budget requests for fiscal year 2026-27, as well as developing plans for future projects.
Council also voted 6-0 to approve the first official Library Master Plan.
The plan began in November 2024 when the city contracted 720 Design as the master plan consultant. According to the presentation by director of library services Leslie Scott, the plan is “shaped by the voices, needs and aspirations of the Kyle community … [it] focuses on understanding how people use the library today and how it must evolve to serve a rapidly growing and changing community in the years ahead.”
The item has previously been presented to council, with options to enhance the library through onsite expansion, multiple branches or a new facility. Additionally, it was noted that staff had already been working on improvements through separating active and quiet zones, reconfiguring the circulation desk, collection reorganization and more.
“Our next step options could be to explore costs associated with book vending, book lockers or expand our mobile library opportunities. We could proceed with the Kyle Public Library landscape master planning for an outdoor community space [science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics] garden [for $26,730] … or proceed with the Kyle Public Library Master Plan phase two programming and concept design, which is really bond preparation, at $88,800,” said Scott.
She noted that the reasoning for including the landscaping plan was because community members were very interested in it when shown in surveys.
Flores-Cale shared a concern over the lack of preparation for slow growth, as the plan mentions 200,000 residents, but not for the in between of 75,000 or 150,000.
“We’re planning for this really far future and if we want to do these things, upgrades to the library, I’d like to see something that’s more attainable closer to [present] time,” said the mayor.
Scott stated that, currently, the city is exponentially behind on its library size, as it’s only fit to serve approximately 40,000 people. Despite this, she noted that there are options that could add onto the present facility.
Both Flores-Cale and council member Claudia Zapata voiced that they would like to see more equity within the plan, such as commitment to eastern accessibility.
“I hear a lot of good things and I think we’re on the right track. This master plan sets us on the right path because I think, first and foremost, we have to get on a path,” said Zapata.
