Brittany Kelley
KYLE — After heated discussion, Kyle City Council voted to direct the city manager to return with options for retaining an independent third-party firm for a forensic audit at its June 2 meeting.
The item — sponsored by council members Melisa Medina and Courtney Goza and Mayor Yvonne Flores-Cale — detailed that the audit would include review of potential fraud, misuse of taxpayer funds, transactions related to credit card expenditures and more.
“I know this was something as a resident that I was in favor of having before I came on council myself. So, tonight we’re bringing this item forward because we do believe it is our responsibility as elected officials to ensure that our taxpayer dollars are being managed appropriately, transparently and in accordance with all applicable policies and laws,” explained Medina. “This agenda item does not presume wrongdoing, nor does it reach any conclusions. Rather, it … provides the council with information regarding the scope, the costs and the timelines.”
She did note that she’s aware that this will cost money admist the revelation that the city is $14 million in debt, but council needs to understand why they are in so much debt, as “this process is to verify that appropriate safeguards are in place, identify any weaknesses that may exist and provide recommendations for improvement.”
Flores-Cale continued with this sentiment, stating that even if the audit came back without concern, it would at least “strengthen public confidence.”
An audit is something residents asked for after the debt was revealed, said Goza. Additionally, she stated that in 2024-25, there were many charges that were unaccounted for by council at the time. When asked to provide explanation, Goza continued, council members chose to not do so: “When you see these things happening, it makes you question what other processes may have been put by the wayside or not followed.”
Questioning the reason for a forensic audit was council member Lauralee Harris. She stated that these types of audits are usually used in a specific crime or misappropriation of funds and she “is not aware of any legal actions that have been filed that necessitate a forensic audit.” She added that requesting this indicates a lack of faith in the Finance director.
Council member Claudia Zapata echoed this statement, sharing that interim city manager and former Finance director Perwez Moheet has been serving the city for 16 years and has never filed a report with the Texas State Board of Public Accountancy regarding suspected fraud or financial misconduct. Zapata stated that the council members presenting this item want “to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars going on a goose hunt that our own Finance director is not even giving credence to,” so she is asking what the trigger to this request is.
“We are $14 million in debt,” replied council member Michael Tobias. “We have a hell of a lot of people we’ve got to answer to. For many years, there has been the rumors, the speculations of under the table contracts, things like that, credit cards that have missing receipts from former council members … I have no problem going back all the way to 2016 all the way to now.”
This decline in revenue — which is what contributed to the $14 million debt — didn’t happen overnight, said Zapata. She stated that she asked staff, “How long has Finance known this information?” The response detailed that the department regularly reported the decline to the former city manager during monthly briefings since FY 2023-24, which was then shared with council in weekly reports.
Zapata continued her argument, stating that Goza and Flores-Cale have spent years accusing the former mayor and council “of committing crimes on social media,” which Medina has “decided to join in on.” They campaigned on these premises, she alleged, adding that they are using “their newly elected position to manufacture evidence of criminal conduct from decisions they simply disagreed with.”
She compared the item to the Trump administration, which uses its “investigative authority, its resources [and] its capacity to expose and punish, to go after the people its political base believes wants punished. This is the DOGE-ing of Kyle.”
Flores-Cale then asked Moheet to describe his history with reporting to the former city manager.
He explained that at first, it was weekly, then his reporting got reorganized to be to the assistant city manager and it became infrequent. Additionally, items that were previously the Finance Department’s responsibility, such as credit card function and utility billing, were transferred into a new department called Administrative Services Department. In September 2025, this department was eliminated and some of the responsibilities came back to Finance, though others were spread out into other departments. All this to say, Flores-Cale asked whether he was able to see every procurement, credit card charge and more, to which Moheet stated, “No. That is impossible for any Finance director.”
She then motioned to approve the item, with a second from Goza. A 5-2 vote passed the item, with Zapata and Harris dissenting.
Council member Marc McKinney noted that he “hopes this is a colossal waste of our limited resources, but I am all in favor of transparency and more importantly, I have a lot of constituents who do feel like this is necessary.”
To listen to the discussion, visit bit.ly/4v0JlyQ. Kyle City Council will meet next at 10 am. Saturday, June 13.
