Another Agenda, Another $Million Loan
Two agendas have been posted. One is for the Board of Adjustments meeting on Monday night. The other is for the regular City Council meeting on Tuesday night. This will be the last meeting of this long and difficult year for the council.
The agenda includes AEP rate hikes, some cryptic water grant presentation, another episode in the Louis Gregg saga complaining about large animals owned by children in a rural ranching 4-H town, a city sewer line on private property, selecting a Mayor ProTem, selecting an Auditor, creating an EMS/Fire Tax District, support for the Border Patrol in Marfa, new rules from the mayor to keep citizens out of his city hall, a FOUR MILLION DOLLAR LOAN APPLICATION from Lanman, appointing Parkhill, Smith and Cooper for an unspecified project, approving Sauceda's evaluation forms (when are they going to stop talking about it and start doing it?), approving the budget for this year that is well underway, canceling the meeting at the end of December and approving accounts payable.
Wow, another big meeting. Of course, the budget is a big item on its own that they have been dragging their feet on since July of this year. Pretty soon they will need to start on the 07-08 budget! Readers might note the mayor protem appointment. This issue was raised on the blog just this week and is now finally being addressed by council. I think that gives you an indication of the impact of a forum like this where citizens participate and voice their opinions. Keep it up y'all, it's making a difference.
We will not be selecting an auditor until the 11th week in the new year when we are required to finish the audit in 17 weeks. How can they expect an accurate and complete audit of last year's mess? Oh right, Flo doesn't actually want one.
The mayor is investigating an EMS/Fire district. This is an issue that Carl Robinson has been suggesting for two years. It's good that they are looking into it. It is ridiculous to fund EMS through voluntary contributions without telling the people that it is voluntary. Almost one hundred out of 1100 accounts have stopped paying this fee so we are headed to an emergency situation because of the mistrust caused by the city's deceptive practices.
As I predicted before the last meeting about wastewater, fasten your seatbelts because the $1.265M loan for a $1.7M project was just a warm-up for the main event and here it is already: A loan application for $3,957,019 by the mayor. At the last meeting, Davey and Flo kept trying to stop any discussion of this loan when talking about the $1.7M project because they did not want to overload or distract council. Instead of presenting a comprehensive plan that would allow the council to make long range plans, they spoon-feed council only the information that they want to share.
And again there is NO PUBLIC HEARING about the loan. They simply put it on a packed agenda for approval without any explanations or hearings. I thought that they might have learned something last time. I was wrong. They never learn. I can already hear Lanman telling the audience that they cannot ask questions because of the full agenda. When is council going to step up to the plate and tell the Mayor that this is not how things are done. It is respectful to schedule a public hearing to share information, answer questions and gain the support of citizens before you ask to borrow four million dollars in their name. He never learns. We always pay.
By the way, is it just me or does it seem like they prefer to load up the meeting on the first Tuesday? By waiting until Friday to publish the agenda, it does not get coverage in the weekly Sentinel so the public has little notice of the agenda. For big items like this, Sauceda owes the citizens advanced notice. Surely we deserve more than three days notice for a $4M loan!
The agenda includes AEP rate hikes, some cryptic water grant presentation, another episode in the Louis Gregg saga complaining about large animals owned by children in a rural ranching 4-H town, a city sewer line on private property, selecting a Mayor ProTem, selecting an Auditor, creating an EMS/Fire Tax District, support for the Border Patrol in Marfa, new rules from the mayor to keep citizens out of his city hall, a FOUR MILLION DOLLAR LOAN APPLICATION from Lanman, appointing Parkhill, Smith and Cooper for an unspecified project, approving Sauceda's evaluation forms (when are they going to stop talking about it and start doing it?), approving the budget for this year that is well underway, canceling the meeting at the end of December and approving accounts payable.
Wow, another big meeting. Of course, the budget is a big item on its own that they have been dragging their feet on since July of this year. Pretty soon they will need to start on the 07-08 budget! Readers might note the mayor protem appointment. This issue was raised on the blog just this week and is now finally being addressed by council. I think that gives you an indication of the impact of a forum like this where citizens participate and voice their opinions. Keep it up y'all, it's making a difference.
We will not be selecting an auditor until the 11th week in the new year when we are required to finish the audit in 17 weeks. How can they expect an accurate and complete audit of last year's mess? Oh right, Flo doesn't actually want one.
The mayor is investigating an EMS/Fire district. This is an issue that Carl Robinson has been suggesting for two years. It's good that they are looking into it. It is ridiculous to fund EMS through voluntary contributions without telling the people that it is voluntary. Almost one hundred out of 1100 accounts have stopped paying this fee so we are headed to an emergency situation because of the mistrust caused by the city's deceptive practices.
As I predicted before the last meeting about wastewater, fasten your seatbelts because the $1.265M loan for a $1.7M project was just a warm-up for the main event and here it is already: A loan application for $3,957,019 by the mayor. At the last meeting, Davey and Flo kept trying to stop any discussion of this loan when talking about the $1.7M project because they did not want to overload or distract council. Instead of presenting a comprehensive plan that would allow the council to make long range plans, they spoon-feed council only the information that they want to share.
And again there is NO PUBLIC HEARING about the loan. They simply put it on a packed agenda for approval without any explanations or hearings. I thought that they might have learned something last time. I was wrong. They never learn. I can already hear Lanman telling the audience that they cannot ask questions because of the full agenda. When is council going to step up to the plate and tell the Mayor that this is not how things are done. It is respectful to schedule a public hearing to share information, answer questions and gain the support of citizens before you ask to borrow four million dollars in their name. He never learns. We always pay.
By the way, is it just me or does it seem like they prefer to load up the meeting on the first Tuesday? By waiting until Friday to publish the agenda, it does not get coverage in the weekly Sentinel so the public has little notice of the agenda. For big items like this, Sauceda owes the citizens advanced notice. Surely we deserve more than three days notice for a $4M loan!
posted by RobC at 11:37 AM
16 Comments:
I don't see Evaluation of Flo on the agenda why is it so hard to get that item on the agenda and Ms Gregg can get her issue on over and over again??? It is so frustrating that this saga continues on and nobody can stop them!!! King David wants to leave a legacy for his 2 year term, but time is running short.His term will be the worse in the history of the city. Please council do something right and just for the Ciyt of Marfa.
Let me see if I understand some things, using information from this blog. The city collects somewhere between $170,000 and $300,000 in property taxes (58 cents per $100, 24 cents to debt, 34 cents to operating costs). Plus half a percent sales tax for parks, plus a quarter percent sales tax for streets, both of which were supposed to be for improvements, not operations. The water dept produces a profit of $250,000 a year, but needs safety equipment and a pump. The city will not be getting any money from the Gas Co in the foreseeable future. The city owns the golf course, pays a salary for a manager, receives no revenue from it. The city had been collecting $5 a month per water account for the Fire Dept and EMS, $66,000 a year, and recently increased EMS portion, now intending to collect $33,000 for the Fire Dept (which needs a new fire truck) and $66,000 for EMS (which needs a new ambulance), going into the General Fund. EMS also collects for its services, and has raised their rates.
The city spends about $700,000 a year for salaries, and needs to raise salaries for the utility dept, police and EMS. They have grant money in the bank for something (a car?) to do with a sorely needed code enforcement officer, but no one is in the position. The Animal Control Officer wants to retire, but the city cannot find a replacement. The Senior Nutrition Center Director is now doing two jobs.
There seems to be a problem with city employee’s position descriptions, and it seems that against policy employees can cash in their vacation time. There is no set procedure to approving a building permit, the city collects next to nothing for the building permits, and Council will not move forward to address the situation. The volunteers (Finance Comm, Permit Study, P&Z, BOA) trying to help the city are ignored.
We pay taxes to the Hospital District, but the hospital is not providing a clinic. The new for-profit hospital wants to give some money to the new clinic to fulfill their obligation. What proportion of our tax money will be given to the new clinic? Five percent? Fifty percent? Is council even looking at this? Although this may be County business it still affects the city. The new clinic is asking the city for money. But I don’t believe that the city health insurance carrier, Blue Cross Blue Shield even recognizes the new clinic as a provider.
There seems to be problems accounting for travel advances and vouchers, credit card and telephone charges. There is no inventory of city property.
Council is looking at a $1.265M loan for the sewer for an estimated $1.7M job, with the stated pay back $5 a month per water account and hoping for a $400,000 grant that hasn’t been applied for yet to make up the difference. They will also be looking at a $4M loan for the water system ($15 to $20 a month per water acct). They intend to raise the water rates, and also intend to raise the property tax rate next year. Alpine’s trash rates went up, Marfa’s will too. Apparently the electric companies are going to raise their rates. How much will each household monthly expenses increase after all of this?
Last years spending has not been audited, and no one has any hope that it can be straightened out. A new budget is about to be adopted showing $250,000 in revenue that is not expected to be collected. A request to the State for a Local Management Audit is not on the agenda. Does Council really believe they don’t need any help?
Wow, what a sobering summary of ths situation. I'm impressed by your broad overview. Looking at detail as I have for a few months, it has been difficult to see the bigger picture. Thanks for putting together such a succinct picture.
It is not pretty:
-- Finances are a mess.
-- Planning does not exist.
-- Employees are treated poorly.
-- Unethical behavior is rampant at the top.
-- Council is ineffective.
-- Citizens are pushed out of the way.
I believe that this situation cannot be repaired by the people that created it. Something can be done about Sauceda right now, but he has his protectors who ignore his incompetence for unknown reasons. The mayor and two council positions will open in May, though we may have two council resignations before then.
Our mayor moved to Marfa only a couple of years before running for mayor. Our administrator lives ten hours away. One councilmember lives in Austin now but returns once every two months. Another councilmember has sold her house with plans to leave the state and is off on a weeks-long cruise.
Council lets the mayor and administrator mismanage the city while they ignore the big issues, obsess over the little ones, and let Sauceda and Lanman control things and control council.
You cannot pass a budget if you don't have one to pass. For the last two years we have not had a budget and the spending continues. Council might as well give Flo & David a blank check and not even have meetings.
Why pass a budget if it is abused? It is illegal to spend money not in the budget. Sauceda bought a $17,500 car without council approval and put it in service before paying for it. It was charged to capital outlay in the police budget. That line item was budgeted at $3,850 and Flo charged $20,961 against it. In the administration budget, $12,914 was budgeted for professional services and Sauceda/Lanman spent $34,631. The entire administration budget (Sauceda's department) went over budget by $47,860 last year.
Sauceda authorized Lanman's security blanket door without budgetary funding and charged it to Administration capital outlay (if I remember correctly). That line item was budgeted at $1,000 and Sauceda spent $7,222.
Then you have the fiasco with filing last year's budget. Council approved the budget three weeks late with a vote contingent on some verbal changes to some line items. Sauceda did not produce a written copy of the passed budget until ten months later! But he made the changes with whiteout and a typewriter and while he was doing that, he made ten unauthorized budget changes on his own along with some 26 (or 46?) math errors.
Our budget is worthless because neither council nor mayor nor administrator respect it (nor our tax dollars that fund it). Illegal changes are made to it. It is ignored. Unbudgeted funds are spent illegally. It is not filed with the appropriate clerks as required by law. I think there is a chance to have Sauceda arrested for all the budget laws he has broken!
Can Sauceda be arrested for the infractions? That would be great nothing else works. An elected official can request state comptroller office for an audit. Then maybe Texas Rangers can come and investigate. Then sue council members individaully and as a unit for not doing their jobs.!!!! Then we can restore the City of Marfa.
The Council told Flo at two meetings (one of them the "budget" almost got passed as a 4 sheet presentation) to put together a real budget to vote on. Suddenly he got walking pneumonia and was out all last week so no budget. But it is back on the agenda. I guess Flo's evaluation will be a comedy of errors like this.
And how was Lupe Divine in the hospital for that Thursday meeting when she was seen at the Post Office on Friday and in Alpine at the grocery store on Saturday. Did she get care flighted in???
Whoa! That $3+ million application doesn't say if it is a grant or a loan and it is to the USDA, not the Water Board, where they were looking at a $3+ million loan.
That other water grant is an innovative procedure to use rain water in some way, I think.
I just happened to be looking at the notice for the Public Hearing for the budget posted for September 28. It doesn't say anything about a special meeting the following night. What it says is "Following the public hearing, the City Council will either take action on the proposed budget or vote to postpone the final vote." Flo and David don't even follow their own public notices.
In keeping with the way the Mayor does business, he has not bothered to check with the City of Presidio on whether it would be interested. Per my source, this idea has been looked at before and they aren't interested.
If Lupe Devine was in Marfa on Friday December 1st after Sauceda said she was in the hospital on Thursday night, then we have a serious problem with trust and honesty. So we need to be very careful here and base everything on facts. What we know is that the meeting on November 30th was the third regular meeting in a row that Lupe Devine missed. State law makes this an immediate vacancy unless excused. Sauceda said she had a medical excuse, then when pressed, said she was in the hospital. Now it it possible but unlikely that she was in the hospital Thursday night and Marfa on Friday.
This is a serious situation and we deserve the truth. We need more facts. Do we have a firsthand account from someone seeing her in Marfa?
Ms. Devine, were you in Marfa December 1st after missing your third meeting on the 30th? Nobody wants rumors. Can you just answer the question for us? Can you confirm that your absence on Thursday night was for a medical situation? The people that elected you deserve to know, and rumors are unfair to all.
Quorum problems have plagued council this year. Frequent absences have stressed those that live in Marfa. Marfa needs and deserves a full council that is present and involved in Marfa and available to represent and listen to citizens. It is unfortunate to depend on law and excused absences to hold on to a council seat despite living and working in another city. If you do not plan an immediate return to Marfa, please consider vacating your seat and running again when you return to Marfa full time. This is serious business not to be taken lightly.
Why in the world is Lanman presenting a resolution for council's approval concerning where public meetings are held? What is the hidden agenda THIS time? As far as I know, the entire city hall belongs to the people--us--ALL of us. Why does His Royal Highness care where BoA, Parks and Rec, PaZ, etc. meet? Why does Lanman have to CONTROL the very rooms where these boards convene? Maybe it is because he can't control all the really serious issues in his little kingdom.
Maybe I'm wrong, but the Casner Room item may be the mandated yearly announcement of where the city council meetings will be held and at what time, calendar day, etc. If I am correct, then the wording is, as usual, less than adequate.
Ridiculous! He is obsessed with keeping people out of city hall. This is not about security because that hallway must be open for restrooms during public meetings in Casner. Maybe Dave and Flo consider it their turf for holding their secret meetings. If security is needed they can close and lock office doors. Done!
Little Davey is trying to tell us that city hall belongs to him and Flo. Citizens and official boards must keep out. It's like his little boy fort with a sign saying "NO girlz allowed, this means you, Ann, Jane and Pam!" Grow up Lanman.
DUH! I don't got to any of the committee meetins so I guess they are held...or were held...in the Inner Sanctum.
The meetings ARE held in the city hall conference room. There is a large conference table that is useful for spreading out maps and other documents. Board members sit around a large table and face each other. Visitors sit in chairs along the outer walls of the room. It is informal and welcoming, easy to heat and cool with no harsh glare from the highway. And best of all, it belongs to the citizens of Marfa not the mayor.
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