Thursday's Agenda
The agenda for the Thursday meeting of City Council has been posted.
The $1.3 million water loan is back on the agenda. It is not clear who requested this, council or Lanman and Sauceda. It is not clear if any new information has been shared with council. The city has not released any more information to the public and has not bothered to hold a public hearing during the last two weeks. I guess they figure that they don't need to inform the public or listen to the public if they are not required to hold a bond election.
Also on the agenda is business on the compost area and Flo's job. The duties, performance standards, and evaluation forms are to be considered. Finally, they will take another stab at the budget two months after the fiscal year started...
I have a one line performance evaluation form for the administrator:
In two years have you ever filed a budget on time, filed a correct copy, filed a copy with the appropriate clerks, or followed the budget set by council?
It is a yes/no question.
The $1.3 million water loan is back on the agenda. It is not clear who requested this, council or Lanman and Sauceda. It is not clear if any new information has been shared with council. The city has not released any more information to the public and has not bothered to hold a public hearing during the last two weeks. I guess they figure that they don't need to inform the public or listen to the public if they are not required to hold a bond election.
Also on the agenda is business on the compost area and Flo's job. The duties, performance standards, and evaluation forms are to be considered. Finally, they will take another stab at the budget two months after the fiscal year started...
I have a one line performance evaluation form for the administrator:
In two years have you ever filed a budget on time, filed a correct copy, filed a copy with the appropriate clerks, or followed the budget set by council?
It is a yes/no question.
posted by RobC at 5:33 PM
27 Comments:
Now we shall see what backbone the City Council has. Can they set standards for the high price administrator and make him earn his pay or pay him for the time he stays on the job??!!! This blog has been very busy since its start but has it made any difference in the decisions in the best interest for the city of Marfa???? We can talk all we want, but if the council don't listen we can just get frustrated and wait till May and find another "tres mujeres to run!!!!! Maybe Oscar will get back to serving as Mayor and really run things his way after all it was his doing in bringing Flo into the picture....
What happened to the Request for Proposals regarding the Auditor? Shouldn't that be on the agenda this go around?
Why rush into anything other than a 1.3 million loan and a lame attempt to get the newest boondoggle, the 63K recycling grant off the ground? Another budgetary deadline in the bar ditch.
No request for a Local Management Audit from the State, nothing regarding P&Z and the map. I hope someone addresses an auditor for last year expenditures, an animal control officer, more EMS persons, status of Police Department staffing, a code enforcement officer... BTW, is there a time limit on the grant for the code enforcement officer? Is there a date/deadline when they have to give the money back?
If that Solid Waste grant was from ORCA, which has the library grant, there is a definite time frame for every aspect and if there is not timely progress, the money is taken away. However, Rio Grande Council of Governments administers the solid waste grants and they pretty much are lenient and overlook stuff. So here we are with a new car, no code enforcement officer, and another grant coming down the pike to be manned by community volunteers.
Several promises directly to me from the City Administrator to put a formal request on the last three council meeting agendas concerning the use of the pool have gone with the wind. A group of approximately 20 people have requested to use the newly remolded swimming pool ($250,000.). The solar heaters are not being properly operated even though several citizens have offered to help out running the equipment and maintaining the pool. Freezing weather is predicted in the next few days, which means the new solar heaters must be either used or drained. The pumps are running 24 hours a day for no reason! Crazy!
Robert Arber
In reading the six comments to the most recent post concerning the upcoming agenda,it is apparent to even the most casual observer that the city is incapable of setting priorities, following through on projects or understanding the word "process."
Therefore, in my humble opinion,they have no business in forcing our city and citizens into debt. "Crazy" is correct.
Several wise people have reminded all of us over and over again that the city can't "borrow itself into solvency." Does Flave just want to borrow money because he can? Right!! "Crazy."
If the city had wanted to be fair and above board with the citizens, los dos hombres (dumb and dumber) could have held a public hearing sometime in the past two weeks to inform the public and hear their concerns. I know that would have been hard to organize with Flo's busy travel schedule, but it would not have been impossible. They could have even scheduled a public hearing for Thursday evening before the meeting.
BUT
They don't care what the citizens think.
They don't want to have the public know that they are being rallied to jump off the cliffs, no different than a group of lemmings.
They don't want the citizens to be aware that they are committing our town to a debt that many can ill-afford.
Right on to Robert Arber! Once again, citizens have to take care of flo's job. Getting the EMS variance, for example. Word has it that the new recycling project is to be staffed by...you guessed it....volunteers. Here's the pool (and Robert Arber is definitely right about it's bad condition) that we just finished and the most discussion that has ever been held is over raising the prices. Just like on Chinati weekend, two council meetings were devoted to haggling over whether to let Chinati use the folding chairs, but flo never made a move to block the streets and went off to Corpus and left Robert Silva and Rob Crowley holding the bag.
Many times at city meetings, agenda items have been "put off until we have a full council." That was one of the excuses used to delay the building permit ordinance, the appointment of a replacement for Dan Petrosky,consideration of Flo's evaluation/contract, as well as countless other decisions.
Those words are not being mentioned this time, however. Ren and Stimpy plan to drag our citizens into debt with maybe only three council members present!
What! Why this time are they unwilling to "wait for a full council?" ( Glo is flowing on the seas of Asia and who knows where Miss Homecoming Queen is at present.) Those two charmers we have in city admin can just TASTE the loan money--can just FEEL it flowing through their fingers. They will stop at nothing to place our citizens in debt for the next 20 to 30 years.
The only way to stop them is to call Oscar, Mary and Leo and express ourselves.
At the last meeting the city council stood up to this ill-planned notion, but this time citizens need to speak up and ask our council members to stand firm one more time against these greedy two and their cast of characters--Parkhill, Smith and Cooper, Mr. Skiles,the bond attorneys, etc.
To anon 9:50, give the money back? Remember the pool grant when Flo, the grant administrator, discovered an extra $9,500 at his and Lanman's suggestion, the council voted to "give" it to the architect, Tom Greenwood, since in the words of a councilmember, "you don't ever give money back to the state."
Speaking of Tom Greenwood, I understand he got the Library grant as the architect. The Library Board is ever vigilant to keep Ren and Stimpy from dropping the ball.
So we spent all that money on the pool and there are still problems? Why am I surprised? This was a much smaller amount of money and a much smaller project to accomplish that a 1.3 mil sewer loan. If the morom twins at city hall can't handle the small things well, how can we hope for an improved sewer?
Re the pool, doesn't All Star I&E that did the construction have a warranty? Does Flo know? If Flo knew and we did have a warranty, would he be able to fill out any necessary paperwork and like, put a stamp on it and mail it to them? Da ya think Flo, as one of his "administrative" duties, might make a phone call or two? Or arrange for repairs? Or put Robert Arber on the agenda so he could take care of all of the above????
The bottom line is Flo can't take care of the big stuff and he can't take care of the small stuff.
Speaking of the Library grant, we are two months behind ORCA's very strict schedule because the signed contract from July sat on Lanman's desk until it was unearthed in October, no doubt by a query from ORCA as to where it was.
Grantzapoppin! The Mayor's solid waste landfill was near death after the public hearing at the AMVETS, but at that meeting, the only positive input was to try recycling first. Lo and behold, the solid waste landfill was resussitated by another grant getting a recycling program started! The Mayor and Flo, without council knowledge, put the Lanman Legacy Landfill project BACK on the agenda in a futile attempt to get money from EPA and BECC for a feasibility study. Those two items suffered the coup de grace, one by lack of a motion, the other roundly voted down. DNR!
So now we have a recycling program to deal with, when it was Flo's original intent to the Solid Waste Advisory Council to do a tire disposal program.
Re the pool -- the pumps are running 24 hours a day, no one can use the pool, it isn't drained which i'm assuming could ruin the system if it freezes -- all this is costing the city, yet department heads are told "cut your budgets" and "budget freeze" while apparently there is money to burn at the pool and on .32 cents a minute phone calls. "If you can't find something in your budget to cut, I may be forced to find it" !
hi anons and non-anons. wow, lot's of good comments when i look away for a little while. i'm glad people are using this forum as a way to communicate about city activity. we seem to have so many problems right now. perhaps i will do a full post on them. my hope is that we can turn our awareness of the city's problems and our desire for a functional government into progressive actions through our elected officials. the government is simply an instrument of the citizens. we can make a difference by expressing our opinions to council members and offering to help out where we can.
Assuming that council does not read this blog (or even read at all)what say you to having Rob draw up a list of citizen grievances and a chronological narrative of events leading to this missive signed by any and all citizens who agree, then sending it to The State Atty Gen'l's Office, with copies to the District Atty, the mayor and each council member. A demand for an audit, an internal investigation and proposed removal (and/or prosecution) of any wrongdoing should be a part of it. Even if this seems to be premature, each of us should be talking this up with a view to ultimate action. One option is to demand of council members that all except essential actions, be tabled until the May '07 elections can afford the citizens of this community a voice in who will run it.
I think you are on the right track, but I think there is a simpler approach. I am hesitant to run this up to the state level. That simply creates a bunker mentality at the city. We have enough of that already. I do think we need a list of grievances. It is hard to keep a balanced perspective after so many blunders at city hall. They keep lowering the bar for expectations. One forgets what a functional government looks like. I started a list of current problems and even that got discouraging! To go back almost two years is almost overwhelming...
I think we need to have faith in the system. Lanman got elected because a majority thought he was a nice and sincere and smart guy. He had not lived here long enough for us to really get to know him. We did not have enough information to know how he would react when he got his hands on some municipal power. It has not been pretty, but the system will correct itself in May. Until then, council and citizens are doing a fair job of keeping him in check.
City council members are all long-term locals that want the best for Marfa. It would be beneficial for them to review the big picture. We often get lost in the details of single issues. A look at the bigger issue would reveal problems of a larger nature.
At the top level of city government there is only one full-time paid person, Administrator Sauceda. Council and Mayor are all unpaid volunteers. One person is paid by the city to keep the city running smoothly. One person reports to council and is paid to administer their policies and keep them informed. This is the job that is not getting done. This is the problem that will not be directly fixed by an election. It can be fixed indirectly however. If council continues to ignore the problems with the administrator's poor performance and if enough citizens get frustrated with council's inaction, the election may result in enough changes to council to allow this problem to be fixed with a new council.
May '07 will be an important part of getting the city back on track. Do not give up hope that council will take action before then. They are beginning to understand that the problem we face cannot be fixed in two council meetings a month. We need a good city administrator or the city will continue to suffer.
I do agree that we should table significant decisions until city hall demonstrates some basic competence on the mundane city issues. We have no business borrowing a million dollars when we cannot adopt a budget or hire an auditor.
My suggestion is that we create a list of current problems that council should address. We should also create a list of past blunders so that we can learn from these mistakes--maybe they should start working on the 07-08 budget today!
Lanman has proven his loyalty to Sauceda and his animosity towards council. Council has finally realized that those two are trying to steal the policy role from them. We need to work with council fix things. We can do this in several ways. First, we can communicate our opinions to them so that they represent the interest of citizens. Second, we can continue our research to help inform council and citizens about the issues since Lanman and Sauceda are trying to hide things. Third, we can encourage them to start looking for a new administrator that will work for council and take care of business as needed.
Would someone please post email address of our city council members. thanks
Robert Arber
I know Mary Williams and Oscar have email addresses, Lupe too for what that is worth. I just don't have them. Leo doesn't have email.
If you start a list, please consider putting a bridge or something east part of the city that abuts Hwy 90 to the south, during high water events. Seems that with the pressing matters of the pools solar system, recycling grant, landfill grant, water and wastewater grants, library grant, ect, have pushed the issue of Marfa's island not to the back burner, but totally off the stove.
Re Aparejo Street and Alamito Creek flooding, thanks to sage advice from Judge Agan to Fric and Frac, there is a city movement afoot to get culverts from the Border Patrol and county will contribute caliche. There was funding available from Homeland Security grants for city flooding but our dandy duo never bothered to look into it.
Anon 5:15. Quote from Flo? "If you can't find something in your budget to cut, I may have to." He can't even find the budget!
Having spoken with an expert, I can tell you that Flo and David have been repeatedly told they need a qualified pool administrator, especially with the solar panels. They are unloading it on the two Roberts, who are not trained to handle that equipment.
Thanks, Flo and David for possibly ruining the project that Curtis Schrader got for the city. No thanks to Flo or Dave here.
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