https://www.cityofkyle.gov/city-hall/mayor-and-council/

Kyle City Councilwoman Claudia Zapata, District 3 At-Large, Kyle, TX (2026)

06/13/2026

I have been struggling with how or when to make this post, but as we head into the next few meetings to discuss reprioritization of projects, possible cuts or delays to projects, and staff reductions that will ultimately impact capacity — I want to be as honest as possible about what’s happening behind the scenes.

I take my role as your councilmember very seriously. I always seek to understand decisions well enough to explain them to you. That is what oversight, transparency, and accountability means.

But over the past several weeks, the ability of some councilmembers to simply ask questions has been met with a troubling pattern of resistance and downright refusal by our Interim City Manager/Finance Director.

Staff started being terminated in mid-May and the reasoning provided was that these positions performed redundant functions and were necessary to cut due to our budget shortfall.

I immediately requested a meeting to understand the methodology and approach being used to (1) identify redundant functions and (2) make determinations based on those redundancies on which positions are terminated. Because these cuts have real impacts on beloved projects and events that matter to you.

For example, Parks and Recreation (at this time) will be the most affected department. When you cut the people leading the department and grant prospecting, you cut the programs because the remaining staff cannot absorb the work of those who are gone on top of their own responsibilities; it becomes a capacity issue.

For that meeting, I specifically asked that our Assistant City Managers, our HR Director, and our City Attorney be present, because I wanted this to be transparent and appropriate in every way. We were also joined by our Deputy and Assistant Finance Directors.

I started the meeting by restating my purpose for it: help me understand the process and methodology being used to determine which positions are redundant so I may communicate this to our residents.

The Interim City Manager/Finance Director’s first move was to direct me to the City Charter and attempt to lecture me on the roles and responsibilities of council despite the fact that I had made no demand and given no direction. I asserted that I have every right to inquire about budget processes.

He responded, “I don’t have to tell you that.”

I asked if he was refusing to tell me, and his response was, “No, if you want a formal answer: it’s that I am at the top of the org chart, and everyone else reports to me. So if you want me to give you a formal answer, I’ll respond with an email with the org chart with me at the top and all 470 employees because I’m looking at all of them. You can ask me during a council meeting, too, and I’ll say the same thing. When you all appointed me as Interim City Manager, I said I was going to solve the $14 million deficit and that’s what I’m doing but I do not have to tell you how exactly.”

I pushed back a few more times but was met with resistance.

The meeting took all but 13 minutes.

I am not the only one being stonewalled. Another councilmember asked for a written plan explaining how we intend to solve our projected shortfall. They were told they would have to file an agenda item, get a second councilmember’s support, and hold a public vote just for there to be a plan written and documented.

If our voices as sitting councilmembers are not enough to get a straight answer, then I need yours.

I am asking every resident of Kyle to demand that the way we address this budget shortfall happen in public, in the open, and with full transparency. You have every right to know what is happening, how it is happening, why it is happening, and when it is happening. This is your money. You are the ones who will feel it when projects are cut, when programs end, and when staff are let go.

Here are some opportunities to speak out:
We have a Capital Improvement Plan budget meeting tomorrow June 13 at 10AM at City Hall;
Council meeting Tuesday, June 16 at 7pm at City Hall;
Council meeting Saturday, June 27 at 10am at City Hall.

You can also send emails to [email protected]

I need you to show up and ask the questions I am being told I am not entitled to have answered.

06/04/2026

Last night, Kyle City Council voted to move forward with a forensic audit of our city’s finances. I voted no.

Our Finance Director, Perwez Moheet, was recently appointed to serve as our Interim City Manager. He has overseen every dollar moving through this city since 2010. Below are screenshots of an email directly from our Interim City Manager/Finance Director of 16 years laying out how we got to a budget shortfall and why it’s not a surprise.

I hope you take the time to read that email and this message as it will provide clarity around a situation that has become convoluted and confusing.

I am not here to argue whether the shortfall exists, but rather to explain how it came to be.

🔘First, let’s talk about the budget shortfall and how we got here

Every city operates on a budget, a plan for how much money is expected to come in and how much will be spent. Cities rely on financial forecasting to project revenues and plan spending accordingly. When those revenue projections miss significantly, a shortfall develops. That is what happened in Kyle: revenues since 2023 have come in lower than what was forecasted, while spending continued at the same pace.

Our Interim City Manager/Finance Director confirmed in writing that the accounting methodology used to calculate this has never changed. That means the numbers did not look different because anyone changed how they were calculated. They looked different because the revenues that were forecasted simply did not materialize.

The $14 million dollar shortfall is what happens when a fast-growing city’s expenditures outpace its revenue growth. It is a real budget management issue that demands serious policy solutions and a reprioritizing of the budget. Your concerns with how we solve for this shortfall are valid and heard. But the reason we got here is not fraud, embezzlement, theft, or misappropriation of funds.

Here are the documented responses and timeline (truncated; for full explanation see the email in the photos) as outlined in the email from our Interim City Manager/Finance Director:
▪️The City's Financial Services Department has regularly reported the decline in revenues to the former City Manager during the monthly briefings, and on a quarterly basis since FY 2023-24. The former City Manager had also shared this information with the City Council through the Weekly Reports.
▪️This situation was indeed shown to Council in the quarterly Financial Status Reports (FSRs) for 4th quarter ending September 30, 2024, quarterly FSRs posted during Fiscal Year 2024-25, during the audit report presentation on March 24, 2026, email sent to City Council by the former City Manager on April 20, 2026, and April 21, 2026, and then again by the Interim City Manager on May 16, 2026.
▪️ The 5-year Financial Forecast including the current year estimates (CYEs) for all sources and uses of funds, is prepared in April after the mid-fiscal year is complete. This allows for a more accurate current year estimate which becomes the basis or the starting point for the 5-year financial forecast.
▪️The budget variance is prepared by the Financial Services Department and is now made available on the webpage, a Financial Status Report (FSR) on a monthly that shows the budget versus actuals for all sources of funds (revenues) and uses of funds (expenditures).
▪️In addition, a monthly Financial Target Analysis Report is also available on the City's webpage. This report provides an analysis-based comparison of year-to-date actual revenues and expenditures against targets derived from the approved annual budget.

One thing worth noting: the same email that documents all of the above also contains a line suggesting the former City Manager may not have discussed this information directly with Council members. But the rest of the email lists over a dozen ways this information was communicated to Council: weekly reports, quarterly presentations, direct emails, public website updates, and a five-hour meeting.

How we got here isn’t a mystery, it is well documented and explained. Anyone telling you this shortfall is unexplained or the result of fraud is not giving you the objective facts.

🔘What a forensic audit actually is, not to be confused with a regular occurring independent third party financial audit (which the City completes every year)

A forensic audit is a specialized criminal investigation conducted specifically to uncover evidence of fraud, embezzlement, corruption, or misappropriation of funds, evidence that can be presented and used in a court of law.

The Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE) describes forensic accounting as the use of accounting, auditing, and investigative skills to examine financial information and develop evidence suitable for legal proceedings.

Our independent auditor (a firm with no stake in this city’s politics) examined our funds, our accounts, and internal controls and found zero instances of noncompliance, issuing the highest possible audit opinion. Independent auditors are also legally required to report fraud when they find it. They found nothing. Furthermore, there is an ongoing independent third party audit into our payroll currently being performed.

Our Interim City Manager/Finance Director is a licensed Certified Public Accountant bound by the Texas State Board of Public Accountancy’s rules, which require him to report crimes involving fraud within 30 days of becoming aware of them. Last night, I asked him directly: in your sixteen years as Finance Director, did you ever file such a report? He said no. I asked whether he would have filed a report if he had become aware of or seen anything resembling fraud. He said yes. I asked whether in sixteen years he had ever seen or suspected fraud. He said no.

Yet, Mayor Flores-Cale, Councilmember Goza, and Councilmember Medina are packaging a documented, explainable revenue shortfall as a reason to suggest criminal wrongdoing, deliberately framing it in a way designed to inflame residents and justify an investigation they have wanted to conduct for years.

🔘The dangerous narrative taking hold and what this is really about

This is political retribution. The documentation is years deep and publicly available in Facebook posts, in comments, and in various Facebook groups. Mayor Flores-Cale and Councilmember Goza have spent years publicly accusing the former Mayor and Council of possible criminal conduct. Councilmember Medina has recently joined those accusations. They campaigned on these beliefs, their base elected them expecting action, and last night they got one step closer to delivering, with your money, during a $14 million shortfall. All the while having discussions about cutting or halting much needed infrastructure projects this community so desperately needs.

From where I stand, it appears that the instruments of government are being used to pursue their political opponents rather than serve the public. Using the language of transparency and accountability as cover for spending public money to go after the people they have wanted to go after all along.

The record shows the previous council made decisions based on the financial information the Finance Department provided, using the same methodology the Finance Department has always used, within the same budget structure they have always certified.

Where problems exist, as much as the evidence I have found states, they are problems of policy: of priorities set, of standards required, of decisions made that some on this Council disagree with. As Council, we have every legitimate tool and right to change policy: new ordinances, new budgets, new direction. We need to have the ability to distinguish between a policy decision and a criminal act; it is a fundamental understanding of how government works.

🔘Moving forward

The people of Kyle are dealing with real and immediate challenges. We will be absorbing the impact of staff reductions over the coming months. We will watch long anticipated and much needed infrastructure projects like roads, sidewalks, and storm drainage slow down or stop completely.

This item will return to council in the coming weeks with proposed firms, scopes, costs, and timelines.

What residents need from this Council is focus, competence, and honest stewardship of limited public resources. If a majority of this council will approve a forensic audit, I will work to ensure that scopes are narrowly defined in order to maintain costs while still getting at the amount of detail needed to satisfy the majority of council.

That is my commitment to you.

05/25/2026

Supporting veterans shouldn’t just be something we say once a year, it should be something we actively do as a community. 🇺🇸

This Memorial Day, I’m proud to sponsor an agenda item with Marc McKinney for Kyle asking the City of Kyle to give veteran-owned and service-disabled veteran-owned businesses stronger consideration in our city procurement process!

Service does not end when someone comes home. Many veterans continue serving their communities by opening businesses, creating jobs, and investing back into the places they call home. 🏠 As Kyle grows and spends taxpayer dollars on major projects, we should be asking how we can better support the veterans who have already given so much.

Honoring veterans means more than words. It means making sure they are supported not only in uniform, but in civilian life as well.

We can honor & remember those who made the greatest sacrifice by caring for those who made it home. ❤️

05/10/2026

Happy Mother’s Day to every kind of momma & every heart that has loved like one! 💛💐

05/05/2026

This weekend I attended a Data Center Townhall hosted by Ground Game Texas, Caldwell/Hays Examiner & Caldwell Data Center Action Team💧 A couple hundred Central Texas residents gathered in Lockhart to listen, learn, and ask the hard questions about data center growth and their impacts on our water, our lives, land, and livestock.

There are still large looming legislative battles. Local governments are limited in the ways we can fight back, but that doesn’t mean we can’t be creative. The harms are long lasting, and we cannot allow ourselves to accept these data centers without fighting back.

Out of the many valuable things that were discussed, I was happy that the topic of ever expanding mass surveillance was brought up. The fact is: the more we continue to purchase, invest in, and allow AI mass surveillance to expand — the more we are supplying the growth of data centers. The processors and storage components needed to run this AI surveillance end up in our backyard.

Your taxpayer dollars pay for AI driven mass surveillance only to then drain our water, impact our land & livestock, and affect our health. When I fight against mass surveillance, I am also protecting our most precious resources.

I learned so much more, and I plan to do what I can to protect Kyle residents.

Thank you to the wonderful lineup of subject matter experts:
Virgina Parker, San Marcos River Foundation
Bobby Levinski, Save Our Springs Alliance
Clayton Tucker, Clayton Tucker for Texas Ag Commissioner
DeeDee Belmares, Public Citizen Texas

05/02/2026

Today I’m proud to endorse Katy Armstrong for Hays CISD School Board-District 2! 🩵 Katy has spent years showing up for our community and fighting for what matters most: our children. She is thoughtful, hardworking, deeply engaged, and understands that strong public schools are the foundation of a strong community.

At a time when public education is under attack, we need leaders who will protect our schools, support our educators, and advocate for every student—especially our most vulnerable. I trust Katy to do exactly that because I’ve seen her in action.

If you live in District 2 (east Kyle), make a plan to vote for Katy Armstrong!

📍Polls are open until 7 PM today! Polling locations shared below!

04/21/2026

What would you do if Big Brother tech companies decided you were suspicious?

AI predictive policing technology may be coming to the City of Kyle. Peregrine Technologies is being hidden in the grant request at tomorrow’s April 21 meeting.

Founded by a former Palantir executive, predictive policing has no place here.

In this video, I break down the umbrella of mass surveillance and the difference between data collection tools and data fusion/predictive tools AND exactly what Peregrine Technologies actually is and does, including screenshots of the software itself.

The research is consistent: these systems learn from historical data, and historical data reflects historical decisions about who gets policed. Communities that have always faced heavier policing get flagged more often. The algorithm automates bias and gives it the appearance of objectivity. That is how technology feeds the cycle that puts more people, disproportionately people of color and those in lower economic statuses, into the carceral system.

Our east side communities will face over-criminalization when what they need is resources and investment. I can’t stay quiet while this happens.

No more spending on mass surveillance when we still owe over $1 million to just Flock Safety alone for surveillance tech.

Tell City Council to say no to Item 4! Show up to city hall by 6:30pm to sign up for public comment or send an email to [email protected]

04/18/2026

THE CITY OF KYLE IS PAYING $1,425,798 TO TRACK YOU.

AND THEY WANT TO SPEND MORE.

TELL THEM TO SAY NO TO ITEM 4!

ON TUES, APRIL 21, KYLE CITY COUNCIL WILL BE VOTING ON WHETHER TO EXPAND MASS SURVEILLANCE.

I requested our Flock ALPR audit logs from Kyle Police Department from January - March of this year, and here is what I found directly in those audits. These numbers are Kyle specific.

1️⃣ First, WHAT ARE AUTOMATIC LICENSE PLATE READERS (ALPRs)?

An ALPR is a camera mounted on a pole that automatically photographs every vehicle that drives past, 24/7. It records your plate, date, time, location, make, model, color, stickers, dents, markings, and bike racks.

They are clustered near our busiest intersections, and a private company backed by a co-founder of Palantir based in Atlanta, Georgia called Flock Safety owns them.

2️⃣ FLOCK OWNS THE CAMERAS THAT TRACK ME?

YES‼️

In our contract, Flock owns all the equipment, and we pay a subscription for their surveillance software.

$1,425,798 of your tax-payer money is being used to fund this surveillance subscription service.

“Isn’t it grant funded?”

🆘 Grants only cover 80% of initial purchases. They do not cover fees or charges after. To date, grants have only covered $314,792 of the costs.

3️⃣ AM I BEING TRACKED?

YES, REPEATEDLY‼️

On any given day in February, 93,536 unique individual plates were tracked, sometimes meaning entire households. That is nearly one hundred thousand households tracked per day.

Most households get captured multiple times on a typical trip to the grocery store, school, or a doctor’s appointment.

🆘 With 38 ALPRs, Kyle is the most surveilled city per capita in Central Texas

4️⃣ WHAT ABOUT MY DATA?

IT GETS BAD‼️

Flock has a permanent, irrevocable right to use it to train their AI, even after Kyle cancels the contract. Kyle cannot delete it. They can share your data with the federal government based solely on their own judgment, without notifying Kyle first.

🆘 Even worse, Kyle PD’s own policy states that officers are not required to have reasonable suspicion or probable cause before searching for your location.

IS THIS CATCHING CRIMINALS?
002% OF THE TIME ‼️

Over three months, the system flagged 162 alerts out of 7.2 million unique individual scans.

🆘 99.998% of your location data has no purpose.

Kyle’s crime rate before AND after ALPRs has been 50-70% lower than the statewide or national average. The facts don’t support claims that surveillance makes us more safe.

5️⃣ HAS FLOCK BEEN USED TO HUNT DOWN IMMIGRANTS?

YES. 116 TIMES IN JANUARY ‼️

Agencies across the nation have accessed Kyle’s network of cameras to hunt down immigrants. 116 searches were performed in January by 18 agencies across 10 states — most outside of Texas.

🆘 An officer from Tennessee ran a nationwide search, accessing Kyle’s network, for a “suspicious female filming a traffic stop and making comments about ICE”.

It is your right to film an officer, but apparently you can still be tracked down for it.

🚫 WANT TO PUT A STOP TO IT? 🚫

Show up at Kyle City Hall to provide public comment on Tuesday, April 21. Show up at 6:30 to fill out a form!

OR

Send an email to City Council at [email protected]

Say NO to Item 4

04/16/2026

A few notes before today’s special City Council meeting!

Items #8 & 9 — Code of Conduct (Boards, Commissions, Committees)
My item to create a code of conduct is back on the agenda for reconsideration by Councilmember Courtney Goza. It passed on April 7 (6–0). I did not request for it to be added again; for any votes that are reconsidered, the original agenda item must appear.

I made my position clear at the last meeting:
“Right now, there is no standard for how any appointed representative of the city carries themselves….Dozens of other cities across this state have similar frameworks. This is not a radical idea. It is standard governance practice in cities that take accountability seriously. Kyle does not have it yet and this item seeks to create that.”

It is disheartening that even opening a conversation about potential standards—before any details have been discussed—is being stifled.

This item simply creates space for discussion. Nothing more. Concerns about First Amendment issues are premature as we have not even discussed what these standards would include.

For context, many cities across Texas already have similar standards:
https://townofsunnyvale.org/ethics

Items #5 & 6 — Facilities Master Plan & Public Works Space Needs

Council discussed this on December 16. Here is the full meeting for reference:
https://kyletx.new.swagit.com/videos/364762
(Presentation: 00:47:30 | Discussion: 01:01:56)

At that meeting, I raised telework as a cost-saving strategy (clip below).

During COVID, state agencies shifted thousands of employees to remote work and reduced costs—over $930,000 in lease savings at the Texas Workforce Commission alone. A 2025 Legislative Budget Board survey of 96 agencies found strong positive impacts: lower costs, improved recruitment, higher productivity, and better retention.

Remote work can reduce space needs, but it is not the full solution.

The reality is we need both short-term and long-term solutions. Kyle is one of the fastest-growing cities in the country. That growth requires staff and our staff deserve functional, professional working conditions so they can best serve our residents.

Right now, office spaces designed for one person are being used by four or five. Some staff are sharing a single six-foot desk. Working conditions matter and when staff are supported, service to residents improves.

04/15/2026

We have an important discussion coming up at tomorrow’s Council meeting, and I want your feedback!

Item #4 — Updates to the Unified Development Code

We’re updating and centralizing our citywide development code which governs who, what, when, where, why and how Kyle grows. This is a major step toward shaping how Kyle looks 20+ years from now!

Council discussed this on December 16. Here is the full meeting for reference and I’ve included some clips from my comments below:
https://kyletx.new.swagit.com/videos/364762
(Presentation: 01:47:10 | Discussion: 02:01:11)

In our last discussion, I raised several priorities:
✅ Protecting people already living here by preventing displacement and protecting existing housing stock

✅ Supporting local small businesses and make it easier for new ones to open

✅ Expanding adaptive reuse so existing buildings can evolve without full redevelopment or tear downs

✅ Require continuous, connected sidewalks and stronger pedestrian & biking standards

✅ Ease barriers for food trucks to operate more affordably

✅ Create a clear, visual map showing where sidewalks, crossings, lighting, and pedestrian connectivity are required so expectations are transparent and we can better hold folks accountable

Looking ahead, I also want us to think bigger:
🔎 Stronger standards for water conservation and long-term durability

🔎 Set stronger standards for how buildings are constructed, especially in areas like the east side, where soil conditions require more care

🔎 Zoning that allows small, neighborhood-serving businesses (like a coffee shop you can walk to)

🔎 Required pedestrian and bike connections between neighborhoods and commercial areas

🔎 Safer, more direct access to nearby destinations without needing a car

There’s so much more to this and know that I am thinking about this rigorously; it’s a little hard to fit everything into one post! This is about building a city that is connected, accessible, and works for the people who already live here.

What do you want to see in Kyle’s development code?

Kyle City Councilwoman Claudia Zapata, District 3 At-Large

06/13/2026

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05/25/2026

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