A College Station city councilmember says her city needs to step in the aftermath of its red light camera saga.

"I think it's time for some accountability," Lyles said Thursday on Brazos Valley This Morning. "When we see things aren't right, step up and do something about it. Step up in strong leadership. Council? That's up to the voters. If the people aren't happy come May, go vote. In council, we need to step up and take a hard look at leadership, not that they're not doing their job, but continually looking at that."

The first term representative holding Place 4 on the council joined the region's only local morning newscast to discuss the drama surrounding the red light camera program, one which voters decided against having in an election currently held up because of litigation.

"We've had some issues with our own community not wanting to trust us," Lyles said. "To me, this is an instance where maybe we have messed up. You know what? Let's just be up front. Let's be honest and say, 'listen, we're not perfect. We're going to do our best, and when we mess up, we're going to correct this.' This is a great opportunity to restore this relationship with our community and move on and show the people that we're there to serve them."

Lyles, in previous interviews, had questioned whether the city had stepped up in the legal hearings surrounding the election's validity. On WTAW a few days earlier, she said she had wondered who City Attorney Harvey Cargill was representing.

"It was quoted as, 'we're going to give a vigorous defense,' and then I'm sitting there (in the courtroom) and I did not see that happen from the city's side," Lyles said. "This was discussed, and our city attorney was in a very conflicted position, and then went on to recommend that we hire outside council, which I think was the right thing to do."

City Manager Glenn Brown had initially told News 3 that the city would not hire outside council, but a day later, that hire was made.

Regardless of that legal issue, the council decided to end the contract with American Traffic Solutions. News 3 reported prior to the termination vote that four councilmembers, including Lyles, would vote to end the ATS contract. Still, Lyles says she was surprised to see all six councilmembers vote in favor of the proposal. Councilman Larry Stewart was not present.

"I knew that we had four that were going to vote to terminate it, but I honestly had no idea that it would be a unanimous vote," Lyles said.

Lyles said that council vote was the right thing to do, as the majority of voters (52 percent) had cast ballots to end the camera program.

Pro-camera citizens filed paperwork questioning whether the vote was on a referendum or a initiative. Because of the city charter's language, that question could decide whether the proper rules were followed in the process that led to the election.