When Kyle Mayor Todd Webster received a scathing letter this month from the federal government suggesting rampant mismanagement at the city's independent housing authority, he was shocked by the findings -- particularly because he hadn't even known the agency existed.

"I didn't know very much about the Kyle Housing Authority, but what I will tell you is that we have one," Webster told the City Council, to its surprise, at a meeting this month.

The authority, which receives federal funding to manage two apartment complexes offering subsidized rent, is independent of the city. It is supposed to be overseen by a board of commissioners appointed by the mayor.

But it has apparently been operating without any mayoral appointees for an unknown period of time -- possibly since the agency's inception in 1977, Webster said.