Utility Bill Problems
Utility bills were mailed out today. Due to a technical problem with the handheld devices used to record your meter readings the usage is an estimate based on historical water use for that account. It seems that the readings were either lost or unreadable. The city considered sending out water bills for just the minimum usage amount and then reflecting two months usage on next month's bill. They decided against this because it might be worse to give people a small bill this month and then a larger bill next month. If your bill does not look right, you might want to compare your meter reading with what it says on the bill. I am sure the city will make corrections if there are serious differences.
Another sign of the poor administration at city hall came when the clerks wanted to mail the bills today. The city pays the $300 postage bill with a check, and that requires two signatures. Right now only Sauceda and Lanman can sign checks and both were out of town today (Sauceda is ill at home ten hours away). Normally the Mayor ProTem can sign checks as well. Mayor ProTem Lorina Chavez resigned from council more than two months ago and Lanman has not picked a new one. I imagine he does not like his choices as they all seem too independent for him. Apparently the city clerk is not allowed to sign checks either. Faced with delaying maybe $50,000 worth of billing, a city employee volunteered to loan the city $300 to buy stamps to send out utility bills. I guess if I collected my salary from the city, I would also loan them the money to mail the bills to make sure my paycheck didn't bounce!
This is unacceptable administration. We must have more than two people approved to sign checks or the city gets shut down in cases like this. Both the mayor and administrator share the blame for this incompetent management of the city as they both contributed to the lack of available signers.
Another sign of the poor administration at city hall came when the clerks wanted to mail the bills today. The city pays the $300 postage bill with a check, and that requires two signatures. Right now only Sauceda and Lanman can sign checks and both were out of town today (Sauceda is ill at home ten hours away). Normally the Mayor ProTem can sign checks as well. Mayor ProTem Lorina Chavez resigned from council more than two months ago and Lanman has not picked a new one. I imagine he does not like his choices as they all seem too independent for him. Apparently the city clerk is not allowed to sign checks either. Faced with delaying maybe $50,000 worth of billing, a city employee volunteered to loan the city $300 to buy stamps to send out utility bills. I guess if I collected my salary from the city, I would also loan them the money to mail the bills to make sure my paycheck didn't bounce!
This is unacceptable administration. We must have more than two people approved to sign checks or the city gets shut down in cases like this. Both the mayor and administrator share the blame for this incompetent management of the city as they both contributed to the lack of available signers.
posted by RobC at 3:23 PM
22 Comments:
Inside info. The city girls had to work this weekend to get this done. Way I heard it, Flo told them to bill the minimum and left town. They worked til 11 on Friday night and all day Sat. and some Sunday. I just called them to tell them thanks for being there for us.
this is not an unusual occurrence. earlier this year, when it came time to sign employee paychecks, only one of the two were in town and available. the bank had to be called to see if an exception could be made this once. it was, and everyone got paid. about a month ago, same thing happened. one had left town already and another was on his way out when it was brought to his attention that checks needed to be signed so staff could be paid. the whole payroll ended up being rushed through and again, only one signature was used, and employees were paid. (there is more to this story, however i won't go into that now) the point is that this kind of stuff is SOP for this administration. they fail to look ahead, plan ahead, make sure that things are taken care of that need it before they are off on another adventure or "sick day".
Thanks to the city staff who worked through the weekend to cover D. Lanman and Flo-man.
More importantly, what's this about Lanman picking his own pro tem? usually it's traditionally the council member who received the most votes or the council decides. this is not a unilateral decision for Lanman. Oscar ought to make a motion to appoint Leo as pro tem.
This may be heresy to some, but it is difficult to gauge how bad or mediocre Flo-man really is. He spends most of his time (read our time) managing Lanman and his outlandish, sometimes otherwordly ideas. Please consider a poll evaluating this mayor.
thanks as always. this blog is very helpful.
Well, Flo's doctor has ordered him to stay in bed all week so I bet he won't get any budget work done. Or agenda.
Do you suppose that Flo is consulting with divine Devine's doctor???!!!
Thanks Mike. I stand corrected. According to Texas Local Government Code 22.037(b):
"At each new governing body’s first meeting or as soon as practicable, the governing body shall elect one alderman to serve as president pro tempore for a term of one year."
In the past, the Mayor has picked a ProTem and the council has voted on it. But it says clearly in the law that the council and not the mayor selects the ProTem. The council has been negligent in their duties and has ignored (broken?) state law.
Who is responsible for knowing the law and advising the council? Our absentee city attorney in Austin. Who is responsible for dealing with our attorney and advising council of legal issues? Our absentee city administrator who lives in Corpus Christi.
Flo has failed to keep Council informed of pressing legal matters. Why? He is either ignorant or in cahoots with the Mayor or both. Lorina Chavez was chosen by Lanman to be ProTem. They worked closely on city matters until she got fed up with his style and he told her to "buzz away." In my opinion, the mayor has not been able to identify a friendly councilmember to back him up so he has left the position vacant.
The ProTem has signing authority on the checkbook. So this malfeasance causes us problems today.
I agree with Mike Farley. The relationship between Lanman and Flo-man is quite convoluted, even symbiotic, according to some. At the city council meeting of 12 November, Dave rather emotionaly stated to council that if they fired Flo it would be like cutting off his (Dave's)"right arm." Please, Rob, let's do an evaluation of Lanman too. We unfortunately have a two-headed ____________ running our city.
Of course the Council cannot act on this to select a Mayor ProTem unless it is on the agenda. Lanman and Sauceda have not put it on the agenda since Lorina's resignation in September. Council has not been informed by Sauceda that it is their job not the Mayor's. So Council has not even requested it on the agenda. Technically, any councilmember can request it to be on the agenda and then they debate and choose. The mayor can express an opinion but not vote unless there is a tie (courtesy of Lupe or Gloria). The mayor is given no authority to nominate a ProTem, he just gets an opinion. Sauceda failed in his administrative duty to put this on the agenda for the first meeting in October, even before they filled Lorina's position. Again I ask why?
Flo's doctor ordered him to stay in bed all week. Poor man must be deathly ill. In all my illnesses, surgery, child birth ,etc. I have never had a doctor tell me that I needed to stay in bed all week. We should probably all take up a collection and send the poor fella a load of flowers. I sure hope he pulls through.
I think it is pointless to do an evaluation of Lanman. He has five months left on his term. He is Mayor because he got most votes. He is not subject to evaluation like an employee. He is the elected Mayor. It is very difficult to remove an elected official. According to Local Government Code 21.025, the mayor can be removed for the following reasons:
GENERAL GROUNDS FOR REMOVAL. (a) An officer may be removed from office for:
(1) incompetency;
(2) official misconduct; or
(3) intoxication on or off duty caused by drinking an alcoholic beverage.
Incometency is defined in 21.022(2) as:
"Incompetency" means:
(A) gross ignorance of official duties;
(B) gross carelessness in the discharge of official duties; or
(C) inability or unfitness to promptly and properly discharge official duties because of a serious mental or physical defect that did not exist at the time of the officer’s election.
Further on, section 21.031 says that immediate removal for criminal acts:
REMOVAL BY CRIMINAL CONVICTION. (a) The conviction of an officer for any felony or for a misdemean or involving official misconduct operates as an immediate removal from office.
One could argue that the mayor is incompetent because he is budget officer and he failed to see a budget passed for both years of his term. There are other complaints of incompetence (spending $3,000 on an unbudgeted door?). Section 21.026 allows any citizen to petition for removal.
My understanding is that the district attorney and district judge are very unwilling to remove elected officials and prefer to see these things handled through elections.
here is some info that i thought might be useful to someone evaluating our current city administrator. when henry moon was hired as interim administrator, he established regular department head meetings, once a month on first tuesday of the month. he left and sauceda was hired. he approved of the idea and decided to continue them. we are now in december, the 12th month of this calendar year. four out of 12 meetings actually took place. three of those 4 meetings took place as originally planned and the 4th was re-scheduled but eventually happened. six of the 8 which didn't happen were cancelled and not re-scheduled. two were re-scheduled and then those were also cancelled. four of the 8 that never happened were cancelled because Flo wasn't back yet from his long weekend in corpus, this includes the meeting which should have happened this morning.
RobC says "this is unacceptable administration" and there is "incompetent management" of the city. so true, so true.
what happens if lanman is re-elected? it could happen, he does have his supporters, we have all seen it. where i work, i see and hear people all the time singing his praises. i know he says he won't run again but that could change, given the right circumstances. its one thing to believe we only have to suffer through 5 more months, but the thought of 5 months plus another term makes me seriously consider moving away.
A frequent comment by people claiming to have no opinion on a subject is "I don't have a dog in that race." I think my dog could get more votes than Lanman if I could get her in the race!
I think it's time to start looking at local citizens who would consider running for City Council and against Lanman for mayor.
It'd be nice if Rob would consider this. He does research and gathers information and keeps people informed which is not being done right now by the City administration.
Speaking of Divine Devine, she was seen here in Marfa this weekend. Shame she couldn't make it to the Thursday meeting.
Thanks for the compliment folks, but no thanks. I am not available, though I seem to be able to make more meetings than Devine and Rivera. I think it would be nice if we had a "newcomer" and a Marfa native throw their hats into the mayoral ring and see how the city feels now. The problem with Lanman is nobody really knew him that well. Lots of people, myself included, thought he was a nice guy before he ran. He still is a nice guy outside of city hall, but his personality is unsuited for the position of mayor in my humble opinion. He confuses "serve" and "rule" too often and likes to play the game of reward/punish with people he likes/dislikes. He is simply the wrong man for the job.
MIKE FARLEY for city council - go MIKE!!
If I had the authority to sign City checks, would I also have the information available to ensure that there are funds in the account to cover the check? What would happen to me if I signed a City check that bounced?
Given the state of the City finances and the apparent inability of the Administrator to give Council the balance of the City accounts, including outstanding checks, I would not want the authority to sign checks. Perhaps Council Members feel the same.
Just wondering, why couldn't the $300 postage be taken from the petty cash fund?
Heard that City employees did not get their paychecks on payday five times in the last year. Anyone else know anything about this?
two or three times, not five. not that this is acceptable but maybe slightly exaggerated.
thanks for the endorsement. I would reluctantly consider running for council in Marfa (see next paragraph). The first order of business would to be appoint a city charter commission, adopt rules of procedure and move whoever is mayor out of city hall, evaluate and act on the city administrator.
I've done CC for four years and man, it does take a bit out of you. Marfa is interesting b/c it is a blank slate in terms of basic governing charters. It would be a true community service and also fun to put those into place.
sorry Rob if this is construed as a campaign pitch. it's not b/c it's very unlikely that farley would run, much less win, but some candidate could use the above as a blueprint for helping his or her community. some good person out there who wants to help and God knows we need it NOW.
no apologies needed. i would love it if elected officials, candidates, or potential candidates used this forum to discuss ways to make marfa more functional. the goal is to get the job done. left alone, the current administration has floundered. this forum is for citizens to discuss matters and get involved. if municipal officials listen or participate, all the better.
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