Drive it home today!
Congratulations to our city administrator for writing a successfully funded grant for a code inspection officer. The city was awarded more than $30,000 for the salary and vehicle for a code inspection person. This was a TCEQ grant and was written to improve enforcement of city laws concerning rundown properties in town.
Three bids were received and two retracted leaving Mountain Motors in Alpine the only bidder. The city agreed to purchase the Crown Victoria with low miles for $17,500. Of course, city council must approve these expenses. Before council had a chance to meet, the car had been delivered and was in service with the police department. In fact, it had even been used for an out of town trip by a city employee.
How did this happen? According to the administrator, Mountain Motors did not have room on their lot and the car had to go immediately! So it was delivered to the city and put in service immediately.
Hello? Isn't this the oldest trick in the used car sales book? Have I gotta deal for you! But, you gotta take delivery today.
So the city starts to use a vehicle that it has not purchased and which is not covered under the city's insurance (but possibly insured by the used car dealer). What if council decided not to purchase the vehicle? Does this take away council's ability to say no? It certainly takes away any negotiating strength for a better price.
This issue was raised at the July 27 council meeting. Funniest thing you ever saw. Nobody had any idea who authorized the vehicle to be put in service. With the mayor and administrator denying knowledge, they seemed to point the finger at the chief of police who was not there to reply. Where does the buck stop? The administrator administrates. There is no excuse for this lapse of judgement. As stated at the meeting by a citizen, "This is no way to run a railroad." We'll see who gets to drive the car when the inspector is hired.
Three bids were received and two retracted leaving Mountain Motors in Alpine the only bidder. The city agreed to purchase the Crown Victoria with low miles for $17,500. Of course, city council must approve these expenses. Before council had a chance to meet, the car had been delivered and was in service with the police department. In fact, it had even been used for an out of town trip by a city employee.
How did this happen? According to the administrator, Mountain Motors did not have room on their lot and the car had to go immediately! So it was delivered to the city and put in service immediately.
Hello? Isn't this the oldest trick in the used car sales book? Have I gotta deal for you! But, you gotta take delivery today.
So the city starts to use a vehicle that it has not purchased and which is not covered under the city's insurance (but possibly insured by the used car dealer). What if council decided not to purchase the vehicle? Does this take away council's ability to say no? It certainly takes away any negotiating strength for a better price. This issue was raised at the July 27 council meeting. Funniest thing you ever saw. Nobody had any idea who authorized the vehicle to be put in service. With the mayor and administrator denying knowledge, they seemed to point the finger at the chief of police who was not there to reply. Where does the buck stop? The administrator administrates. There is no excuse for this lapse of judgement. As stated at the meeting by a citizen, "This is no way to run a railroad." We'll see who gets to drive the car when the inspector is hired.
posted by RobC at 5:26 PM
1 Comments:
$30,000. grant is a drop in the bucket for the $1500. a month raise given to the administrator to be a grant writer and that is the only grant he has been able to obtain with the help of some other people.
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