Meeting Report Feb. 13, 2007
Marfa, we have two serious problems.
1) David Lanman
2) Florencio P Sauceda
I agree with the words of a council member (words supported publicly by at least one other council member), "This mayor is a disgrace to the community." The mayor did not hear those words because he rushed from the Casner Room in a fit of anger near the end of the council meeting leaving one citizen mid-stride to the podium to make one more citizen comment. He adjourned the meeting without motion, second or vote and practically ran from the room before the woman could speak. For the record mayor, this citizen was on her way to the podium to publicly thank Ann Dunlap for sharing candy with council and members of the audience on this eve of Valentine's Day. That's all. No need to panic. Just someone trying to end a horrific city council meeting on a positive note. So the MarfaGov award for Bravery in the Face of Citizen Comments about Valentine's Candy goes to Mayor David Lanman.
It was a tough decision, the runner-up was Florencio P. Sauceda for his Bravery in Avoiding a Simple Question after the meeting. I asked him if he was aware of the mayor's attempt to smear my character by presenting an itemized list of Monte Aker's bills that related to yours truly, Rob Crowley, and his pesky Open Records requests that Flo escalated to the Texas Attorney General instead of complying. To this question, he answered yes. So I asked him if he supported it. He refused to answer. I pushed the question. He said it was irrelevant. I asked again with Council Member Oscar Martinez now taking notice. He started walking to the same escape door that Mayor Lanman used. Oscar told him to answer the question. He refused again. His cell phone buzzed; he took the call, and I turned away in disgust that such a sorry excuse for a man gets a nickel of our money. I will say this in his defense, he is very loyal to those that give him more money than he deserves.
This administrator was granted a nineteen-month contract at the meeting with specific mention to include a $27,000 severance package and an ending date of September 2008. The motion to award the contract was made by appointed Council Member Dan Petrosky (he specifically stated the inclusion of the 5 month severance package) and seconded by appointed Council Member Gloria Rivera. Martinez voted with the two appointees. Leo Salgado and Mary Williams voted against the contract. Happy Valentine's Day big buddy.
As you can tell by now, I am not trying to present a transcript. I have pretty good notes (14 pages), but don't have the stomach to clean them up right now. The mayor argued with me. The mayor argued with Martinez during his council member comments. At one point, the mayor told Martinez, "That's an out and out lie." The gas company pointed out that the mayor illegally signed the Interlocal Agreement in 2005. The meeting was ridiculous. Our mayor is a disgrace. Our administrator is an embarrassment.
We will fix the mayoral problem in May at no cost to taxpayers. We can fix the administrator problem in May also when the term ends for all three council members that supported Flo. Unfortunately, Martinez and Rivera and Petrosky have screwed Marfa out of $27,000 that is guaranteed Flo if the new council decides to fire him. Furthermore, they have given Flo a better leg to stand on when he sues the city. Trust me. He will sue. He is a suer. Thanks for looking out for us Oscar, Gloria and Dan. It is apparent that your valentine is Florencio P. Sauceda and not the taxpayers and voters of Marfa. We won't forget that you have snubbbed the city in favor of the seemingly polite gentleman from the gulf coast.
OK, let me try to present the events of the meeting. I'll try to keep it short. I look forward to Sterry's article. She knows how to pick out the zinger quotes.
The council spent ten to fifteen minutes quietly studying the minutes from the last three meetings. The minutes were not in their packets for them to read ahead of time; they got them at the meeting. Note to mayor and administrator: If you want the meetings to go quicker, get your minutes done on time so that council only needs to look at one meeting not three; then put them in the packet ahead of time. Late homework, minus one letter grade. Another reason for stalling was that the first item of business after reports was Flo's executive session and Petrosky was not at the meeting. He was more than 30 minutes late, showing up just in time for council member's comments. Fortunately for him, the mayor's report went on for almost twenty minutes before he arrived.
Oh how the mayor rambled. He and Flo have been driving around looking at properties that need attention. They are proposing a series of ordinances to tackle these problems. Monte says we have 40 years left on the lease of the MacGuire land for the wastewater treatment plant, not 20 as originally stated. An emergency first responder meeting is coming up for local law enforcement. He thinks it is pretty impressive. He wants to build two bedrooms for EMS. He says material cost will be up to $5000 and he will build them with some volunteers. Question for mayor: Does that bid include the cost of licensed plumbers and electricians or are you going to be the official "handyman"? The mayor wants to auction off some city alleys and other property. Tom Greenwood has done a wonderful job on the pool and will report on the library. How many times is he going to puff up his buddy Tom? He then went on a long rant about the sad state of the MAC building and the youth program and kids. He once again called for starting the budget cycle three months before the election and seven months before the next year. Overcompensating for two total budget failures, are we, mayor? He talked about the gas company (Southwest Texas Municipal Gas Corporation) saying he would not provide reports to council about the meetings (he is on the board) and that council members should read the minutes or go to meetings themselves. He then mentioned "hostilities" from the cities about the gas board and mentioned that the "esteemed" Dr. Rangra would address council later in the meeting. He then threw in the hostile little barb that, "that will be his perspective." He ended with some accusations about "rumors."
I raised my hand to comment because "Citizen comment is invited, on any posted agenda item." The mayor refused my request and stated that the Mayor's report (agenda item number four) is not an agenda item and that the agenda starts on agenda item number seven. God help us. I asked council to appeal that decision. They did with Oscar Martinez throwing in one of the better lines of the evening saying that citizens should be free to comment on any item they want including "the Pledge of Allegiance." That would be agenda item number two, mayor. I simply asked the mayor to read the existing ordinances which should give them the power already to take care of nuisance properties without passing more ordinances.
On to council member comments. Leo Salgado had a few choice comments. He was upset by the mayor's quotes in the paper. He took the mayor to task for not taking any blame for not passing the budget or raising taxes last year on the last day of the fiscal year. He said it was not ready at the time and, "I don't think council would have approved it on any day of the year. It looks like you were trying to cram it down our throats." Accurate observation in my opinion. Then he asked why he has still not received a copy of the budget. That's right folks. Council passed the budget two and a half months late. That was two months ago. Sauceda still has not produced the official copy of the budget. Of course it took him TEN MONTHS last year. Flo defended himself saying it was in the packet in the form of the "budgeted" column in the expenditures report and then he went on to blame those pesky software problems that he always uses when he fails to give council a proper financial report. That and "staff is working on it."
No comments from Rivera, Petrosky (who just arrived that moment) nor Williams. Martinez had lots to say. Seven points. I'd like to present the whole thing. It was good. Maybe another time if there is popular demand. He complained about the "poor housekeeping" by the administrator in not getting the minutes to council ahead of time and the poor management of city staff. He wondered why the issue of Dan Petrosky selling weapons to the city while serving on council was revived by the Sentinel. Then he also took the mayor to task for blaming everybody else for the failure to pass the budget. Oscar took responsibility (again) along with the rest of council and administration and mayor for failing the citizens by not getting the job done on time. He reminded the mayor that council rejected the landfill grant because citizens "objected to the process" and "you do not listen to citizens" and "you failed to show council that the landfill was in the best interest of the community." Then he tossed in this zinger, "You took this personally and now you wish to smear council." Then he started in on how the mayor created a hostile situation early on with Flo and how the mayor called Flo "repulsive" and refused to work with him. Remember the good old days when Dave and I agreed on something. Actually, that is not true. I supported Flo then and gave him the benefit of the doubt. Fool me once...
This recollection of the old days caused an outburst from the mayor where he accused the council member of lying. Martinez replied that he "does not lie" and that he has a recording of the conversation. Ouch. Tempers flared. Oscar spoke against vacation sales again. He set the mayor straight for falsely claiming that he and Flo rescued the pool grant from "oblivion." He chided the mayor for trying to dismantle BoA and P&Z and put his friends in charge. He questioned the mayor's "professional credentials" for approving permits. He questioned the mayor's motives for his recent interest in non-complying property in town after doing nothing for almost two years. He reminded the mayor that it is not the job of the city to take care of youth and that the break-in at the school library had nothing to do with the MAC building. Speaking directly to the mayor, Oscar said, "I say again, get real!"
Lanman responded by saying, "You sound like a miniblog Oscar. You misrepresent information. You set a bad tone for the meeting. We'll go on." He paused and said, "Oscar, you should run for mayor." The audience applauds, and Oscar says, "hey, now there's an idea!"
Sauceda gave his administrator's report with lots of officious information on a house bill by Pete Gallego on water issues in West Texas, a meeting between public officials and Congressman Rodriguez, the 2010 census, life guard certification, the resignation of the Nutrition Center director, the compost area and the recycling grant, and a possible grant for alternate power source for a city water well.
We are one hour into a four hour meeting and have not made it to the first business item. Ugh.
OK, I need to be briefer or I'll never get to sleep here people.
Executive session: Leo spoke about tabling the matter and questioned the rush at this time. Mary Williams seconded thinking that Leo made a motion. The mayor asked for comments, did not pause even a millisecond, called for a vote and got two ayes (Mary and Leo) before Leo could complain loudly that he was not done speaking and had not even made a motion yet! He continued that three council members and the mayor are up for re-election, questioned the rush, said it was wrong to give him a contract before the new council comes in, and asked why it was being shoved down their throats. Then he made his motion and Mary seconded. Oscar said they had no idea what the future council would want. He questioned why they should wait if they could act now. More discussion back and forth. Lanman stated that three of them wanted executive session and they should adjourn. Florencio requested a closed meeting in executive session. The mayor was reminded that they could not adjourn until a vote was taken on the Leo's motion. Not surprising, it failed 2 to 3. Lanman adjourned to executive session without a motion or vote. They were gone almost an hour. Leo refused to go into executive session and stayed to visit with the public about his dissatisfaction with the process. They came back after 8PM. Petrosky made a fast motion to award a contract with "same salary, same severance." Gloria seconded. Then in a bizarre loss of mind, the mayor asked, "Do I hear a motion." He was informed he had a motion and second. He asked for comments. Oscar made a long speech where he blamed all of Flo's failures on the hostile environment from the mayor. (which lasted from May through August 2005 for the record) and hostilities from citizens. (moi?) He said Flo's performance did not match his salary. He said his "peak efficiency" was not sufficient. He said Flo needed an opportunity to prove himself. He said we "should not change horses midstream. One never knows what the horse is going to do in midstream." Lanman called for a vote. The vote went down 3-2 as expected with Martinez voting to keep Sauceda after saying he was not worth his salary and that others were to blame for Flo's failures. Rrrrright.
With all respect Mr. Martinez, you do not serve Marfa well by blaming other's for Flo's failures. He's a big boy now. He should be able to do his job in a politically charged situation. That's why he works in city politics. Under his watch, we have blown the budget adoption, the actual budget, and the tax hike. Twice. We know what this tired and dumb horse can do. I'd rather ditch the horse mid-stream and swim than trust him to know which way the current was flowing and which way to go to reach shore. This horse has already shown us what he can do. It is well past time to change horses. I don't care where we are.
Roy Ferguson made a proposal from his client about a property on the highway and Philadelphia that needs to be cleaned up. There are many tricky issues around ownership of the property, city-ordered cleanup, liens, suing to regain title, and repaying the city for cleanup. I did not follow it too closely, but he seemed to make a reasonable compromise offer that will achieve the objective of cleaning the lot, compensating the city for half the cost, and saving a lot of attorney fees by working out a compromise instead of facing a lawsuit. Gloria motions to accept, Dan seconds, all vote on favor.
On to the agenda about selling back vacation time. Flo referenced an opinion from Monte saying everything was kosher. I'll cover this another time. Dave approves Flo's bonuses. Flo signs Monte's checks. What did we expect Monte to say? Martinez re-iterated his opposition and the importance of vacations. He complained that the mayor and administrator denied council the opportunity to act on the matter by wording the agenda to deny action. Gloria agreed. The mayor stated some nonsense about dealing with it in the future. I asked Lanman to clarify why he approved it if he opposes vacation sales. (e.g. I was for it before I was against it.) His answer was sheer nonsense. I couldn't even write it down because my fingers refused. Basically, he approved it because he thinks it is allowed therefore he must approve it even if he is against it. This guy is just nuts.
On to the excessive force agenda item. This ordinance is required before you can receive grant money. It was required before the pool grant. Better late than never... Give that guy another contract.
Signatory responsibility for USDA grants. Martinez is still the official signer from when he was mayor. With three months left in the mayor's term, they voted to change that to Lanman. They are just going to need to change it again in May, probably back to Martinez.
Permit Review Advisory Committee: Council passed this with a couple of changes to make sure that members are residents and voters and taxpayers. Lanman was in a foul mood from the start probably because he learned that his plan to appoint his "professional" friends that night had been thwarted. For good reason. More on this later. Suffice to say that Marfa is better off without the Mayor's dirty hands all over this business. BoA approved a permit variance Monday night. The front office issued the permit without charging a fee. They could not calculate the fee because the mayor lost the application. Sauceda suggested delaying this commmittee until the full Permit Ordinance passes. This will be sometime after hell freezes over and he knows it. The best administrator that the mayor can buy with our money...
Tom Grant on the library. He is doing CAD on the existing structure now and reading up on the subject. Work must be done in two years. The clock started in July 2006. We are drawing the current library now, not even the addition... Looking for more funding...
Next up were two gas company agenda items: Ratify the second Interlocal Agreement (IA) and then a presentation from Dr. Rangra. Leo asked to reverse the order of the two. Thankfully. I'll cover Dr. Rangra's talk later. Here is the punch line, David Lanman and the mayor of Alpine signed the second IA in September 2005 even though the gas board never approved it. The $126,000 we got in October 2005 was not ever authorized. Sauceda kept referencing Shaw Skinner's audit that said it had been adopted by the gas board. I swear that Dr. Rangra and Melvin had to tell thick Sauceda six times that Shaw Skinner was simply mistaken. Again and again and again he kept going back to Shaw Skinners audit. People in the audience even were embarassed by his obsession on Shaw Skinner. He was hoping to ratify the second IA that the gas board never approved in hopes to get more money from the gas company. Dr. Rangra kept telling him that the gas company was non-profit. Again and again and again... 36 minutes of this stuff. In the end, council motioned and voted to postpone action on this. If the past is any indication, Lanman will just sign it as if council had approved it. His is a magical world full of possibilities untethered by reality.
Surplus vehicles: We have several old vehicles in various sad shapes that the city wants to surplus and sell by sealed bid. Approved by vote.
Expenditures report: Minor discussion. Motion to approve. Comments? Me. I asked about the smear campaign regarding the partial itemization of the attorney fees. Lanman and I exchanged harsh words. He tried to deny being behind the plot. It was ugly. I turned it around and explained the history of Sauceda wasting $1150 of city money by elevating two open records requests to the Attorney General's office in Austin. Outrageous. I will cover this story later. Florencio is the worst kind of administrator. Sauceda's $27,000 severance package will be the best money this city has ever spent.
87 days until the election and the end of Lanman's reign of errors, favoritism, fiscal disaster, power grabs and rudeness.
Take back Marfa.
P.S. This has been the hardest blog I have written. Lanman does not see the writing on the wall. He could end his disastrous term on a positive note by taking it easy and going out with his dignity intact. He is determined to go out in a ball of fire and take the city with him. He is not well. I am sorry to be so negative. The situation is serious. We have a madman at the helm. His back against the wall. Call the animal control officer. We may not be changing horses right now, but we have a desperate and injured animal loose in city hall. Keep your eyes open and do not turn your back.
1) David Lanman
2) Florencio P Sauceda
I agree with the words of a council member (words supported publicly by at least one other council member), "This mayor is a disgrace to the community." The mayor did not hear those words because he rushed from the Casner Room in a fit of anger near the end of the council meeting leaving one citizen mid-stride to the podium to make one more citizen comment. He adjourned the meeting without motion, second or vote and practically ran from the room before the woman could speak. For the record mayor, this citizen was on her way to the podium to publicly thank Ann Dunlap for sharing candy with council and members of the audience on this eve of Valentine's Day. That's all. No need to panic. Just someone trying to end a horrific city council meeting on a positive note. So the MarfaGov award for Bravery in the Face of Citizen Comments about Valentine's Candy goes to Mayor David Lanman.
It was a tough decision, the runner-up was Florencio P. Sauceda for his Bravery in Avoiding a Simple Question after the meeting. I asked him if he was aware of the mayor's attempt to smear my character by presenting an itemized list of Monte Aker's bills that related to yours truly, Rob Crowley, and his pesky Open Records requests that Flo escalated to the Texas Attorney General instead of complying. To this question, he answered yes. So I asked him if he supported it. He refused to answer. I pushed the question. He said it was irrelevant. I asked again with Council Member Oscar Martinez now taking notice. He started walking to the same escape door that Mayor Lanman used. Oscar told him to answer the question. He refused again. His cell phone buzzed; he took the call, and I turned away in disgust that such a sorry excuse for a man gets a nickel of our money. I will say this in his defense, he is very loyal to those that give him more money than he deserves.
This administrator was granted a nineteen-month contract at the meeting with specific mention to include a $27,000 severance package and an ending date of September 2008. The motion to award the contract was made by appointed Council Member Dan Petrosky (he specifically stated the inclusion of the 5 month severance package) and seconded by appointed Council Member Gloria Rivera. Martinez voted with the two appointees. Leo Salgado and Mary Williams voted against the contract. Happy Valentine's Day big buddy.
As you can tell by now, I am not trying to present a transcript. I have pretty good notes (14 pages), but don't have the stomach to clean them up right now. The mayor argued with me. The mayor argued with Martinez during his council member comments. At one point, the mayor told Martinez, "That's an out and out lie." The gas company pointed out that the mayor illegally signed the Interlocal Agreement in 2005. The meeting was ridiculous. Our mayor is a disgrace. Our administrator is an embarrassment.
We will fix the mayoral problem in May at no cost to taxpayers. We can fix the administrator problem in May also when the term ends for all three council members that supported Flo. Unfortunately, Martinez and Rivera and Petrosky have screwed Marfa out of $27,000 that is guaranteed Flo if the new council decides to fire him. Furthermore, they have given Flo a better leg to stand on when he sues the city. Trust me. He will sue. He is a suer. Thanks for looking out for us Oscar, Gloria and Dan. It is apparent that your valentine is Florencio P. Sauceda and not the taxpayers and voters of Marfa. We won't forget that you have snubbbed the city in favor of the seemingly polite gentleman from the gulf coast.
OK, let me try to present the events of the meeting. I'll try to keep it short. I look forward to Sterry's article. She knows how to pick out the zinger quotes.
The council spent ten to fifteen minutes quietly studying the minutes from the last three meetings. The minutes were not in their packets for them to read ahead of time; they got them at the meeting. Note to mayor and administrator: If you want the meetings to go quicker, get your minutes done on time so that council only needs to look at one meeting not three; then put them in the packet ahead of time. Late homework, minus one letter grade. Another reason for stalling was that the first item of business after reports was Flo's executive session and Petrosky was not at the meeting. He was more than 30 minutes late, showing up just in time for council member's comments. Fortunately for him, the mayor's report went on for almost twenty minutes before he arrived.
Oh how the mayor rambled. He and Flo have been driving around looking at properties that need attention. They are proposing a series of ordinances to tackle these problems. Monte says we have 40 years left on the lease of the MacGuire land for the wastewater treatment plant, not 20 as originally stated. An emergency first responder meeting is coming up for local law enforcement. He thinks it is pretty impressive. He wants to build two bedrooms for EMS. He says material cost will be up to $5000 and he will build them with some volunteers. Question for mayor: Does that bid include the cost of licensed plumbers and electricians or are you going to be the official "handyman"? The mayor wants to auction off some city alleys and other property. Tom Greenwood has done a wonderful job on the pool and will report on the library. How many times is he going to puff up his buddy Tom? He then went on a long rant about the sad state of the MAC building and the youth program and kids. He once again called for starting the budget cycle three months before the election and seven months before the next year. Overcompensating for two total budget failures, are we, mayor? He talked about the gas company (Southwest Texas Municipal Gas Corporation) saying he would not provide reports to council about the meetings (he is on the board) and that council members should read the minutes or go to meetings themselves. He then mentioned "hostilities" from the cities about the gas board and mentioned that the "esteemed" Dr. Rangra would address council later in the meeting. He then threw in the hostile little barb that, "that will be his perspective." He ended with some accusations about "rumors."
I raised my hand to comment because "Citizen comment is invited, on any posted agenda item." The mayor refused my request and stated that the Mayor's report (agenda item number four) is not an agenda item and that the agenda starts on agenda item number seven. God help us. I asked council to appeal that decision. They did with Oscar Martinez throwing in one of the better lines of the evening saying that citizens should be free to comment on any item they want including "the Pledge of Allegiance." That would be agenda item number two, mayor. I simply asked the mayor to read the existing ordinances which should give them the power already to take care of nuisance properties without passing more ordinances.
On to council member comments. Leo Salgado had a few choice comments. He was upset by the mayor's quotes in the paper. He took the mayor to task for not taking any blame for not passing the budget or raising taxes last year on the last day of the fiscal year. He said it was not ready at the time and, "I don't think council would have approved it on any day of the year. It looks like you were trying to cram it down our throats." Accurate observation in my opinion. Then he asked why he has still not received a copy of the budget. That's right folks. Council passed the budget two and a half months late. That was two months ago. Sauceda still has not produced the official copy of the budget. Of course it took him TEN MONTHS last year. Flo defended himself saying it was in the packet in the form of the "budgeted" column in the expenditures report and then he went on to blame those pesky software problems that he always uses when he fails to give council a proper financial report. That and "staff is working on it."
No comments from Rivera, Petrosky (who just arrived that moment) nor Williams. Martinez had lots to say. Seven points. I'd like to present the whole thing. It was good. Maybe another time if there is popular demand. He complained about the "poor housekeeping" by the administrator in not getting the minutes to council ahead of time and the poor management of city staff. He wondered why the issue of Dan Petrosky selling weapons to the city while serving on council was revived by the Sentinel. Then he also took the mayor to task for blaming everybody else for the failure to pass the budget. Oscar took responsibility (again) along with the rest of council and administration and mayor for failing the citizens by not getting the job done on time. He reminded the mayor that council rejected the landfill grant because citizens "objected to the process" and "you do not listen to citizens" and "you failed to show council that the landfill was in the best interest of the community." Then he tossed in this zinger, "You took this personally and now you wish to smear council." Then he started in on how the mayor created a hostile situation early on with Flo and how the mayor called Flo "repulsive" and refused to work with him. Remember the good old days when Dave and I agreed on something. Actually, that is not true. I supported Flo then and gave him the benefit of the doubt. Fool me once...
This recollection of the old days caused an outburst from the mayor where he accused the council member of lying. Martinez replied that he "does not lie" and that he has a recording of the conversation. Ouch. Tempers flared. Oscar spoke against vacation sales again. He set the mayor straight for falsely claiming that he and Flo rescued the pool grant from "oblivion." He chided the mayor for trying to dismantle BoA and P&Z and put his friends in charge. He questioned the mayor's "professional credentials" for approving permits. He questioned the mayor's motives for his recent interest in non-complying property in town after doing nothing for almost two years. He reminded the mayor that it is not the job of the city to take care of youth and that the break-in at the school library had nothing to do with the MAC building. Speaking directly to the mayor, Oscar said, "I say again, get real!"
Lanman responded by saying, "You sound like a miniblog Oscar. You misrepresent information. You set a bad tone for the meeting. We'll go on." He paused and said, "Oscar, you should run for mayor." The audience applauds, and Oscar says, "hey, now there's an idea!"
Sauceda gave his administrator's report with lots of officious information on a house bill by Pete Gallego on water issues in West Texas, a meeting between public officials and Congressman Rodriguez, the 2010 census, life guard certification, the resignation of the Nutrition Center director, the compost area and the recycling grant, and a possible grant for alternate power source for a city water well.
We are one hour into a four hour meeting and have not made it to the first business item. Ugh.
OK, I need to be briefer or I'll never get to sleep here people.
Executive session: Leo spoke about tabling the matter and questioned the rush at this time. Mary Williams seconded thinking that Leo made a motion. The mayor asked for comments, did not pause even a millisecond, called for a vote and got two ayes (Mary and Leo) before Leo could complain loudly that he was not done speaking and had not even made a motion yet! He continued that three council members and the mayor are up for re-election, questioned the rush, said it was wrong to give him a contract before the new council comes in, and asked why it was being shoved down their throats. Then he made his motion and Mary seconded. Oscar said they had no idea what the future council would want. He questioned why they should wait if they could act now. More discussion back and forth. Lanman stated that three of them wanted executive session and they should adjourn. Florencio requested a closed meeting in executive session. The mayor was reminded that they could not adjourn until a vote was taken on the Leo's motion. Not surprising, it failed 2 to 3. Lanman adjourned to executive session without a motion or vote. They were gone almost an hour. Leo refused to go into executive session and stayed to visit with the public about his dissatisfaction with the process. They came back after 8PM. Petrosky made a fast motion to award a contract with "same salary, same severance." Gloria seconded. Then in a bizarre loss of mind, the mayor asked, "Do I hear a motion." He was informed he had a motion and second. He asked for comments. Oscar made a long speech where he blamed all of Flo's failures on the hostile environment from the mayor. (which lasted from May through August 2005 for the record) and hostilities from citizens. (moi?) He said Flo's performance did not match his salary. He said his "peak efficiency" was not sufficient. He said Flo needed an opportunity to prove himself. He said we "should not change horses midstream. One never knows what the horse is going to do in midstream." Lanman called for a vote. The vote went down 3-2 as expected with Martinez voting to keep Sauceda after saying he was not worth his salary and that others were to blame for Flo's failures. Rrrrright.
With all respect Mr. Martinez, you do not serve Marfa well by blaming other's for Flo's failures. He's a big boy now. He should be able to do his job in a politically charged situation. That's why he works in city politics. Under his watch, we have blown the budget adoption, the actual budget, and the tax hike. Twice. We know what this tired and dumb horse can do. I'd rather ditch the horse mid-stream and swim than trust him to know which way the current was flowing and which way to go to reach shore. This horse has already shown us what he can do. It is well past time to change horses. I don't care where we are.
Roy Ferguson made a proposal from his client about a property on the highway and Philadelphia that needs to be cleaned up. There are many tricky issues around ownership of the property, city-ordered cleanup, liens, suing to regain title, and repaying the city for cleanup. I did not follow it too closely, but he seemed to make a reasonable compromise offer that will achieve the objective of cleaning the lot, compensating the city for half the cost, and saving a lot of attorney fees by working out a compromise instead of facing a lawsuit. Gloria motions to accept, Dan seconds, all vote on favor.
On to the agenda about selling back vacation time. Flo referenced an opinion from Monte saying everything was kosher. I'll cover this another time. Dave approves Flo's bonuses. Flo signs Monte's checks. What did we expect Monte to say? Martinez re-iterated his opposition and the importance of vacations. He complained that the mayor and administrator denied council the opportunity to act on the matter by wording the agenda to deny action. Gloria agreed. The mayor stated some nonsense about dealing with it in the future. I asked Lanman to clarify why he approved it if he opposes vacation sales. (e.g. I was for it before I was against it.) His answer was sheer nonsense. I couldn't even write it down because my fingers refused. Basically, he approved it because he thinks it is allowed therefore he must approve it even if he is against it. This guy is just nuts.
On to the excessive force agenda item. This ordinance is required before you can receive grant money. It was required before the pool grant. Better late than never... Give that guy another contract.
Signatory responsibility for USDA grants. Martinez is still the official signer from when he was mayor. With three months left in the mayor's term, they voted to change that to Lanman. They are just going to need to change it again in May, probably back to Martinez.
Permit Review Advisory Committee: Council passed this with a couple of changes to make sure that members are residents and voters and taxpayers. Lanman was in a foul mood from the start probably because he learned that his plan to appoint his "professional" friends that night had been thwarted. For good reason. More on this later. Suffice to say that Marfa is better off without the Mayor's dirty hands all over this business. BoA approved a permit variance Monday night. The front office issued the permit without charging a fee. They could not calculate the fee because the mayor lost the application. Sauceda suggested delaying this commmittee until the full Permit Ordinance passes. This will be sometime after hell freezes over and he knows it. The best administrator that the mayor can buy with our money...
Tom Grant on the library. He is doing CAD on the existing structure now and reading up on the subject. Work must be done in two years. The clock started in July 2006. We are drawing the current library now, not even the addition... Looking for more funding...
Next up were two gas company agenda items: Ratify the second Interlocal Agreement (IA) and then a presentation from Dr. Rangra. Leo asked to reverse the order of the two. Thankfully. I'll cover Dr. Rangra's talk later. Here is the punch line, David Lanman and the mayor of Alpine signed the second IA in September 2005 even though the gas board never approved it. The $126,000 we got in October 2005 was not ever authorized. Sauceda kept referencing Shaw Skinner's audit that said it had been adopted by the gas board. I swear that Dr. Rangra and Melvin had to tell thick Sauceda six times that Shaw Skinner was simply mistaken. Again and again and again he kept going back to Shaw Skinners audit. People in the audience even were embarassed by his obsession on Shaw Skinner. He was hoping to ratify the second IA that the gas board never approved in hopes to get more money from the gas company. Dr. Rangra kept telling him that the gas company was non-profit. Again and again and again... 36 minutes of this stuff. In the end, council motioned and voted to postpone action on this. If the past is any indication, Lanman will just sign it as if council had approved it. His is a magical world full of possibilities untethered by reality.
Surplus vehicles: We have several old vehicles in various sad shapes that the city wants to surplus and sell by sealed bid. Approved by vote.
Expenditures report: Minor discussion. Motion to approve. Comments? Me. I asked about the smear campaign regarding the partial itemization of the attorney fees. Lanman and I exchanged harsh words. He tried to deny being behind the plot. It was ugly. I turned it around and explained the history of Sauceda wasting $1150 of city money by elevating two open records requests to the Attorney General's office in Austin. Outrageous. I will cover this story later. Florencio is the worst kind of administrator. Sauceda's $27,000 severance package will be the best money this city has ever spent.
87 days until the election and the end of Lanman's reign of errors, favoritism, fiscal disaster, power grabs and rudeness.
Take back Marfa.
P.S. This has been the hardest blog I have written. Lanman does not see the writing on the wall. He could end his disastrous term on a positive note by taking it easy and going out with his dignity intact. He is determined to go out in a ball of fire and take the city with him. He is not well. I am sorry to be so negative. The situation is serious. We have a madman at the helm. His back against the wall. Call the animal control officer. We may not be changing horses right now, but we have a desperate and injured animal loose in city hall. Keep your eyes open and do not turn your back.
posted by RobC at 10:47 PM
25 Comments:
Good job, Rob. Don't know how you manage to sit through these things.
Myself, my blood pressure is at stroke level right now.
Here's one of my many bones to pick. I heard from a birdie who was there that the matter of the minutes has become such a shameful blight on this stellar administration that Oscar told Flo to get Corina Brijalba to do the minutes, that she doesn't have enough to do.
Memory refresher: Flo fired Leo and drove Gracie off. Now Laura does both Gracie's and Leo's jobs. Corina volunteered to do Leo's job parttime since she has bookkeeping experience. She also volunteered to do code enforcement part time (and that grant is still sitting there with Flo and the Mayor driving around cooking up useless ordinances). At one time. Flo had Corina working on the minutes but they refused to pay her for it.
What is wrong with this picture? The Municipal Court Clerk makes $11.00 an hour and check on how many times the municipal court meets. The PD handles all citizen complaints and calls, animal control, code enforcement, requiring a lot of paperwork and phone time on a daily basis. Corina makes $7.25 an hour. Isn't that minimum wage?
There is no bid, the plan does not include the cost of licensed plumbers and electricians, no permits for work to be done to City property, and we all know the Mayor will be the official "handyman". Does the EMS staff approve of the Mayor's plan or like everything else, is it being shoved down their throats? Will this plan end like the glass security door with no lock? The furniture in the EMS station is well worn and falling apart. It is used furniture and was donated by past medics. New furniture and a couple of beds would cost less than $5000 the Mayor is tring to appropriate from the City budget. Or will the $5000 come from the EMS budget? Does the Mayor now think that the General operating fund is so open and loose he can stick $5000 in his pocket?
87 days until the Election!
Re EMS. The Administrator's faithful minion from EMS was there last night called in to support Flo's promises. I say called in because EMS has been bought with this bedroom suite idea. You can count on blind support.
I hear the Idi Amin of Marfa has accused the blog of costing the City of Marfa money. Yeah, for paying Monte Akers money to try to stall providing information that should have been immediately provided with Rob's Open Records requests, which were not sticky issues requiring the Attorney General's opinion. Anybody who reads the booklet provided by the State can determine what can and can't be provided. These bozos had a departmental video presentation mandated by state law as to how to deal with Open Records requests. As I recall, the Mayor didn't attend but he can't read anyway. But Flo should know....FLO DON'T KNOW.
There are 3 problems 1. Lanman 2. Flo 3. Oscar
Oscar speaks thru both sides of his mouth. He chastise Flo than turns around and gives him a nice contract so he can screw the city of Marfa. Now is that acting in the best interest of the Marfa taxpayers?????
Does the phrase "beating a dead horse" come to mind???
I can't get over the feeling, call it a gut feeling, that Petrosky is taking out his vengeance on Marfa for not electing him Mayor over Lanman. The expression on his face when he made the motion to give Flo a new contract with the same terms as the original, including the golden parachute, was full of mischief and glee.
Being appointed he has no constituency, just his personal vendetta to guide him. I don't know what his future plans are, but we should be sure he is forever unelectable in Marfa.
When Lanman decided to run for mayor, we were amicable. I didn't know him well, but I thought he was a decent guy. I still do, outside of city hall. He just does not have the personality for public service. I encouraged him and even gave him advice. As I learned more about him during the campaign, I saw some warning signs.
I ended up voting for Dan Petrosky for mayor. I wish he had won. He would have done a better job in my opinion.
Today, I am speechless. I cannot understand his motivation at all. A month ago, I asked Petrosky to name one accomplishment of Sauceda in two years that was not started by another administrator. The best he can do is that hopeless code enforcement grant. That's the one where Flo bought a car and put it in service before council approved the sale, before the city paid for it, and without getting any other bids. Flo charged a $20,000 car to a line item budgeted at $4,000 (for Petrosky's guns) and never drew down the grant funds. He gave the car to the police chief. All without council approval. Incompetence.
Perhaps you are right that Petrosky did it to take revenge on the city. Hard to say. I'll ask him. He's a public servant. He'll tell me. Right? He would not get my vote again after giving Flo a nineteen month contract with a five-month severance package less than three months before the majority of council faced term expiration. Petrosky was AWOL from council during half of Flo's tenure. He came back with Oscar's support to give Flo a big fat package and Marfan's a slap in the face.
Ouch Dan. Why did you do that?
that was the best P.S. I have ever read! your summations are killer!
just when you think a situation can't become any more outrageous . . . something new comes to light from city hall. what will they do next??
I like to believe that the pressure of the blog has induced Oscar to be publicly critical of both Flo (tiny little slaps) and the Mayor (golpes) but Petrosky doesn't get it. He is still complacently living in that prior time when he was a councilman and he and Oscar were literally above the law. Hence the smirk. Time to take Dan down.
After watching a year of council meetings in which Robert's Rules and any attempt at professional decorum were ignored by the Mayor, meetings that were punctuated by shouting and namecalling, basically inciting a riot each meeting from the mayoral chair, I wrote a letter to the editor after last May's election. Well, the Mayor bought copies of Robert's Rules for each council member and instituted the approach-the-dais comment process. Has this helped? No. We still have the confrontational Mayor with the hair trigger temper.
Speaking of the mayoral temper, I agree with Rob that his behavior is that of a madman. When he tangles with Oscar, that is pretty much mano a mano...my money is on Oscar who carries a wire. And the Mayor has also been abusive and contemptuous of Leo, totally uncalled for. But when he constantly and publicly berates, abusively so, Ann Dunlap because she sticks to her BoA guns until I have seen her get tears in her eyes at council meetings, there is something unsettling there. Witnesses saw the Mayor shouting at Ann in front of the Library and stabbing his finger in her face. He has stormed into Flo's office when Ann was there discussing business and shouted at her, accusing her of a vile conspiracy against him. I'm not talking about one outburst, I'm talking about his storming out, storming in, storming out, storming in. He threatened Keller Doss with arrest for an outburst much milder that his own. This is a three year old child having a tantrum if he doesn't get his way. And witness what I consider an act of official oppression when he has the city staff compile a list of all expenses incurred with the ubiquitous Monte Akers over Rob's requests for information and then just put it out for public dissemination without so much as a by-your-leave. Gutless. Spite, pure spite. And he gaveled Rob's mother down not long ago and refused to let Mary Lou Martinez speak the other night. More spite.
Maybe Oscar's remark to him to "get real" might require some professional help.
I've been away awhile. Sounds like that was quite a meeting, and some very important issues to be addressed. But I want the gossip.
The resignation of the Nutrition Center Director. How did Sauceda present this? In his usual manner, The Nutruition Center Director resigned and no comment or discussion from Council? To me this sounds like the program might be in trouble. From memory, I believe that one of the front office staff was pulled from her duties to assist the Nutrution Program when they were short a person about 18 months ago. How is this vacancy being addressed? Why did she resign?
What's this about the trash company strike? Anyone know anything?
To last blogger:
Nutrition Center Director resigned to go to a much better job with the Border Patrol. The job is being advertised. The program itself is not in trouble, the difficulty is that Sauceda is in charge locally. This is a pass through grant from Rio Grande Council of Governments Area Agency on Aging (which is in the capable hands of Corina Lara who used to run the Nutrition Center) and is funded by Texas Dept. of Aging, I believe. Sauceda is in charge of hiring. He must be in charge of repairing vehicles as well. Look how long it took to get one of the Marfa ambulances fixed. Street talk is that Sylvia Zubiate will get the job.
Trash strike was rumored but it must have gotten settled because I saw the Duncun truck making rounds this morning.
Continuing the horse analogy, how about horse's patootie?
To "Speaking of the mayoral temper:"
I'd like to see the Mayor take Jane Wiemers on! Be picking his teeth up like chiclets!
He is a bully!
He is a both a bully and a charmer with the ladies. If he can't manipulate them with charm, he tries to manipulate them by being a bully.
I'm done with his charm! That got my vote. I realized what a terrible mistake I had made when he fell into bed with Sauceda without even a honeymoon and have been openly opposing him and Sauceda ever since. As Rob so aptly puts it, "burn me once..."
Wait, let me get this straight. Oscar thinks Flo's performance will improve once this Mayor goes away and citizens' "hostilities" cease. He says Flo's performance is not commensurate with his pay. And did I see that Oscar supported Flo's working regular hours when the Mayor assured us in the BBS that Flo has his cell phone 7/24? Oscar has again blindly supported Flo and put his faith in this predicted magnificent improvement on his job performance by approving the $65,000 contract in advance. Anybody else ever hear of getting paid for a bad job performance?
The crooks at Enron got paid pretty well for doing a bad job.
"...and a possible grant for alternate power source for a city water well."
Lets hope it's not solar like the pool.
The alternate source grant is a TCDP 2007-2008 grant for the amount of $240,000 with city matching $12,000 to install a new generator and improve water well #5. Flo will act like he wrote this application, he only signed it. It was put together from material from Parkhill Smith engineering.
When these grant applications are on the agenda, is the amount ever mentioned?
Most readers of Rob's blogspot have likely read something I have written - a poem, a story, a letter to the editor and know my norm is to lay my heart and soul on the line. Here I go again. You may note that I don't go to Council meetings anymore and you may know that my service on the Muni Gas Board will end in 3 months. It's too hard on my cardio-vascular system anymore. I have heard direct from folks, I have read Sterry's account in the paper today and I have read Rob's account of how our City Council performed last evening. And I think I can say at least that our city government is a failure. It is not a synergistic body, it is not greater than the sum of its individual parts. And try to keep in mind that I am speaking of results and not about individuals. I in fact am of the position that our government from Marfa to Austin to Washington DC is a failed system. To use the word govern to describe these entities is an oxymoron, a contradiction in terms. What I see and hear and read about our government ranges from bizarre to outrageous. I am embarrassed and feel that all should be too. The Marfa City Council has 2 appointed members who were previously rejected by the voters of our community - one of whom is rumored to be moving to another town and one who also serves on the Chamber of Commerce - the latter which seems to me to be a conflict of interest, and three elected members, the majority of whom, including the two appointees, voted to give our City Administrator a contract well into 2008 when the city elections are only 3 months away. This is an untenable action in my view. And speaking of the Chamber of Commerce, by what authority has this body become a 'broker' of the hotel tax? I ask this question out of ignorance. Is it in keeping with the law and the 'contract' between the city and the Chamber for the Chamber to arbitrarily 'grant' hotel tax monies to local businesses and nonprofit organizations or is this another failure in oversight on the part of city government. Again, my name is Ken Whitley and I know my heart is in the right place.
And speaking of the Chamber of Commerce, by what authority has this body become a 'broker' of the hotel tax?
Hopefully someone else (with more knowledge than I) will show up here. But the way I understand it, the tax, in whole or part, by State Law, may only be spent to promote the area for more tourism. I believe that there are specific reporting requirements to account for the tax monies. Hence 'the contract'. Without a Tourism Bureau, the Chamber is the organization with the structure to accomplish the promotion. Believe that this is the case throughout Texas in small and mid-size communities. Yes?
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