Agenda for Monday 4/30/07
Around 6PM, Friday, just minutes before the 72-hour posting deadline, the agenda for Monday's council meeting was posted. This is a special meeting in more ways than one. Sauceda cancelled the regular Thursday meeting with a lying claim that quorum was not possible. In fact, the only council member unable to attend was Gloria Rivera who appears to have moved to El Paso or is in the process of moving after having sold her Marfa residence. In my Tuesday blog on the subject, I said, "Sauceda's concern that a quorum might not happen is a smoke screen and not a real reason," and "perhaps he is depending on her (Rivera's) support for agenda items that might not have broad support of council. We are left to guess at his motives." Check out the agenda and draw your own conclusion.
It is a full agenda. First up is approval of minutes for FIVE meetings, two recent meetings and THREE meetings from more than SEVEN months ago. Those are the meetings of September 12, 18 and 21, 2006. I commented on Sauceda's irresponsible and sloppy management of the city's official records in my "Sloppy Minutes" blog a week ago. Here's the funny thing, I mentioned the September 12th regular meeting minutes that were never approved but did not realize that the minutes from September 18th and 21st had never been approved either. I need to amend my chart and update the total number of meetings with minutes that were never approved from five to SEVEN. I am not counting the minutes for the last two meetings, I am only counting the missing approvals from April 2005 to September 2006.
Four presentations are scheduled: Property tax collections from Veronica Campbell, Planning & Zoning from Pam Harris, Municipal Court from Judge Pene Ferguson, and the $1.3M sewer loan from Mike Pink of Parkhill, Smith and Cooper. This is a $1.3M loan for a $1.7M project.
On a side note here, I read in the recent Presidio International that Presidio is getting a grant to fund some of their new sewer plant. Mr. Pink told us that Marathon got a grant for their sewer plant. How come Marfa is borrowing a million or two when our neighbors are getting grants? Who's minding the shop? What do those cities have that we don't? Besides concerned, competent, fiscally-responsible administration that is...
Twelve business items are on the agenda. The first item deals with excused absences from BoA meetings by Carl Robinson. When are we going to get the notes from the mothers of Lanman and Rivera for their frequent council absences?
The second is for approval of the Regional Mobility Authority. I believe this is related to RMA taking over ownership of the international bridge at Presidio to charge a toll. I love the use of redundancy and useless acronyms in his wording of "PRESIDIO COUNTY PROPOSED REGIONAL MOBILITY AUTHORITY (RMA)- SUPPORTING THE COUNTY OF PRESIDIO PETITION AND REQUEST TO FORM A REGIONAL MOBILITY AUTHORITY-TEXAS TRANSPORTATION COMMISSION-PRESIDIO COUNTY OFFICIALS." Why say it once when three times is thrice as nice! This year's "Department of Redundancy Department-Departmental Redundancy Award/Recognition" goes to Florencio P. Sauceda. In all seriousness, this is to vote on a one-line resolution written by Rod Ponton. Sauceda needs five lines to describe the agenda item.
Third item up is appointment of Pene Ferguson as municipal judge. The judge serves the same term as the mayor, and the term has not expired yet. The incoming administration has 90 days to appoint a judge. If no action is taken, the judge continues with another two-year term. This is what happened when Lanman took office. I find no record that the judge was appointed by Lanman; Judge Ferguson continued by default. The appearance of this item two weeks before the end of the lame-duck administration follows the recent action by council to give Sauceda a contract after ignoring the topic for a year. It seems the current administration is more interested in appointing the officers for the next administration than they ever were for their own administration.
Fourth up is round four of the Humble/Bonkemeyer (a.k.a. "Bonkemayor" on the agenda) sewer deal. When we last heard from them, they were asking the city to relocate a sewer main they found on some recently purchased property. In addition to asking the city to pay the expense ($15,000) of moving the line, they asked the city for five free water hookups and five free sewer hookups which could cost another $10,000. It appears that they are about to build some houses out there. It's a funny situation. It's possible that an easement was recorded at city hall before the fire. One option from Marfa's attorney was to do nothing. Another option is to simply use eminent domain to secure an easement. If the property did not have any sewer or water nearby, they would need to pay for extending the lines and then the hookups. In this case, taxpayers pay to move the line AND pay for the utility hookups for their development. Now that is one sweet deal. See what meals with the mayor can get you? In case you were confused about this, Sauceda describes it clearly as "CITY SEWER LINE PROPOSED AGREEMENT-CITY OF MARFA PARTICIPATION/COSTS REQUESTED UTILITY SERVICE LATERALS-UTILITY EASEMENT." Do they teach this language in administrator school?
The next two agenda items are for amending two COG grants, one for recycling and one for code enforcement. I understand Sauceda is working to get a truck and trailer on the recycling grant. He purchased an unmarked police car with radar and radio and hidden lights and siren for code enforcement last year. We all know how important radar is for clocking the speed of those illegal dumps. Instead of drawing grant money to pay for it, he charged it to the police capital outlay budget. That line was budgeted $3,800 for some guns. Sauceda tossed a $20,000 car onto that line item as easy as you would "take a penny, leave a penny" at Town & Country.
Dr. Rangra will be asking for "APPROPRIATE ACTION-RATIFY" gas company "BY-LAW MODIFICATIONS/CHANGES." Look forward to the council taking appropriate action-ratify to modify/change the bylaws. I always enjoy/like presentations/discussions to/from the esteemed/respected visitor/guest from our nearby/neighbor city/community to the east/non-west.
Then we have action to ratify a grant agreement involving the Boys & Girls Club. This is a $21,000 grant covering September 2006 through August 2007. We are seven months into the grant and we are just getting around to ratifying it? This is to cover some expenses the city incurs for the Youth Club, a.k.a. free after school day care. It seems we are $18,000 in the hole because Sauceda could not bother with this in a timely way.
The Appraisal District is asking to retain some excess revenue, or as the agenda says "REQUEST TO RETAIN EXCESS REVENUE CARRY OVER-FISCAL YEAR 2006."
El Paso Community Hospital wants a memorandum of understanding to "HELP PROMOTE DRUG FREE COMMUNITIES, THROUGHOUT REGION 10". If you are outside of Region 10, Sauceda says go for it. Just in case you were wondering who the agreement is with, he calls it "EL PASO COMMUNITY HOSPITAL D/B/A R. THOMASSON GENERAL HOSPITAL." Glad that's clear.
Marfa Housing Authority wants to "WAIVE PAYMENT IN LIEN OF TEXAS (PILOT)" ??? Payment in lieu of taxes? Maybe. Does Sauceda read these things? More agenda gobbledygook. Or maybe Sauceda is placing a lien on the State of Texas for not cutting the grasses in the Marfa Grasslands. Viva La Vista!
Then we have six lines of officialese to request a public hearing for tomato farm wastewater irrigation.
Then, we have my personal highlight of the evening, executive session "FOR THE PURPOSE OF CONSULTATION/ADVISE OF LEGAL COUNSEL-MR. ROBERT CROWLEY-BREACH OF INTERNET SECURITY!" Does anybody remember my eight-month effort to get on the agenda just to make a presentation to council on building permits? Now I know how to get on the agenda! All you need to do is respond to a request for help from the city. Wait, that what I was trying to do the first time. Oh well. I'm working at home one day when Laura Granado calls me to ask if I knew anything about wireless internet access because the Rio Grande COG was holding a meeting in Casner Room the next day and requested internet access. I responded affirmatively and volunteered to come to city hall and check it out for them with my computer. She thanked me for my offer to help. I showed up and checked in with Laura and explained to Tami Foster, Municipal Court Clerk and EMT, what I was doing. I sat outside her office in full sight of her and called AT&T to figure out the problem. AT&T diagnosed the problem and fixed it. I informed both Tami and Laura of the results with the exact changes that AT&T had made. I gave them instructions for how to grant access to COG. I went home thinking I had done a good deed for the city. No good deed goes unpunished. Is Flo upset with me? Was it something I said?
See you Monday night, unless we have another quorum problem. Flo thought he had trouble getting three council members to show up for a regularly scheduled meeting but is confident he can get four for a last-minute special meeting. It's one special meeting alright.
It is a full agenda. First up is approval of minutes for FIVE meetings, two recent meetings and THREE meetings from more than SEVEN months ago. Those are the meetings of September 12, 18 and 21, 2006. I commented on Sauceda's irresponsible and sloppy management of the city's official records in my "Sloppy Minutes" blog a week ago. Here's the funny thing, I mentioned the September 12th regular meeting minutes that were never approved but did not realize that the minutes from September 18th and 21st had never been approved either. I need to amend my chart and update the total number of meetings with minutes that were never approved from five to SEVEN. I am not counting the minutes for the last two meetings, I am only counting the missing approvals from April 2005 to September 2006.
Four presentations are scheduled: Property tax collections from Veronica Campbell, Planning & Zoning from Pam Harris, Municipal Court from Judge Pene Ferguson, and the $1.3M sewer loan from Mike Pink of Parkhill, Smith and Cooper. This is a $1.3M loan for a $1.7M project.
On a side note here, I read in the recent Presidio International that Presidio is getting a grant to fund some of their new sewer plant. Mr. Pink told us that Marathon got a grant for their sewer plant. How come Marfa is borrowing a million or two when our neighbors are getting grants? Who's minding the shop? What do those cities have that we don't? Besides concerned, competent, fiscally-responsible administration that is...
Twelve business items are on the agenda. The first item deals with excused absences from BoA meetings by Carl Robinson. When are we going to get the notes from the mothers of Lanman and Rivera for their frequent council absences?
The second is for approval of the Regional Mobility Authority. I believe this is related to RMA taking over ownership of the international bridge at Presidio to charge a toll. I love the use of redundancy and useless acronyms in his wording of "PRESIDIO COUNTY PROPOSED REGIONAL MOBILITY AUTHORITY (RMA)- SUPPORTING THE COUNTY OF PRESIDIO PETITION AND REQUEST TO FORM A REGIONAL MOBILITY AUTHORITY-TEXAS TRANSPORTATION COMMISSION-PRESIDIO COUNTY OFFICIALS." Why say it once when three times is thrice as nice! This year's "Department of Redundancy Department-Departmental Redundancy Award/Recognition" goes to Florencio P. Sauceda. In all seriousness, this is to vote on a one-line resolution written by Rod Ponton. Sauceda needs five lines to describe the agenda item.
Third item up is appointment of Pene Ferguson as municipal judge. The judge serves the same term as the mayor, and the term has not expired yet. The incoming administration has 90 days to appoint a judge. If no action is taken, the judge continues with another two-year term. This is what happened when Lanman took office. I find no record that the judge was appointed by Lanman; Judge Ferguson continued by default. The appearance of this item two weeks before the end of the lame-duck administration follows the recent action by council to give Sauceda a contract after ignoring the topic for a year. It seems the current administration is more interested in appointing the officers for the next administration than they ever were for their own administration.
Fourth up is round four of the Humble/Bonkemeyer (a.k.a. "Bonkemayor" on the agenda) sewer deal. When we last heard from them, they were asking the city to relocate a sewer main they found on some recently purchased property. In addition to asking the city to pay the expense ($15,000) of moving the line, they asked the city for five free water hookups and five free sewer hookups which could cost another $10,000. It appears that they are about to build some houses out there. It's a funny situation. It's possible that an easement was recorded at city hall before the fire. One option from Marfa's attorney was to do nothing. Another option is to simply use eminent domain to secure an easement. If the property did not have any sewer or water nearby, they would need to pay for extending the lines and then the hookups. In this case, taxpayers pay to move the line AND pay for the utility hookups for their development. Now that is one sweet deal. See what meals with the mayor can get you? In case you were confused about this, Sauceda describes it clearly as "CITY SEWER LINE PROPOSED AGREEMENT-CITY OF MARFA PARTICIPATION/COSTS REQUESTED UTILITY SERVICE LATERALS-UTILITY EASEMENT." Do they teach this language in administrator school?
The next two agenda items are for amending two COG grants, one for recycling and one for code enforcement. I understand Sauceda is working to get a truck and trailer on the recycling grant. He purchased an unmarked police car with radar and radio and hidden lights and siren for code enforcement last year. We all know how important radar is for clocking the speed of those illegal dumps. Instead of drawing grant money to pay for it, he charged it to the police capital outlay budget. That line was budgeted $3,800 for some guns. Sauceda tossed a $20,000 car onto that line item as easy as you would "take a penny, leave a penny" at Town & Country.
Dr. Rangra will be asking for "APPROPRIATE ACTION-RATIFY" gas company "BY-LAW MODIFICATIONS/CHANGES." Look forward to the council taking appropriate action-ratify to modify/change the bylaws. I always enjoy/like presentations/discussions to/from the esteemed/respected visitor/guest from our nearby/neighbor city/community to the east/non-west.
Then we have action to ratify a grant agreement involving the Boys & Girls Club. This is a $21,000 grant covering September 2006 through August 2007. We are seven months into the grant and we are just getting around to ratifying it? This is to cover some expenses the city incurs for the Youth Club, a.k.a. free after school day care. It seems we are $18,000 in the hole because Sauceda could not bother with this in a timely way.
The Appraisal District is asking to retain some excess revenue, or as the agenda says "REQUEST TO RETAIN EXCESS REVENUE CARRY OVER-FISCAL YEAR 2006."
El Paso Community Hospital wants a memorandum of understanding to "HELP PROMOTE DRUG FREE COMMUNITIES, THROUGHOUT REGION 10". If you are outside of Region 10, Sauceda says go for it. Just in case you were wondering who the agreement is with, he calls it "EL PASO COMMUNITY HOSPITAL D/B/A R. THOMASSON GENERAL HOSPITAL." Glad that's clear.
Marfa Housing Authority wants to "WAIVE PAYMENT IN LIEN OF TEXAS (PILOT)" ??? Payment in lieu of taxes? Maybe. Does Sauceda read these things? More agenda gobbledygook. Or maybe Sauceda is placing a lien on the State of Texas for not cutting the grasses in the Marfa Grasslands. Viva La Vista!
Then we have six lines of officialese to request a public hearing for tomato farm wastewater irrigation.
Then, we have my personal highlight of the evening, executive session "FOR THE PURPOSE OF CONSULTATION/ADVISE OF LEGAL COUNSEL-MR. ROBERT CROWLEY-BREACH OF INTERNET SECURITY!" Does anybody remember my eight-month effort to get on the agenda just to make a presentation to council on building permits? Now I know how to get on the agenda! All you need to do is respond to a request for help from the city. Wait, that what I was trying to do the first time. Oh well. I'm working at home one day when Laura Granado calls me to ask if I knew anything about wireless internet access because the Rio Grande COG was holding a meeting in Casner Room the next day and requested internet access. I responded affirmatively and volunteered to come to city hall and check it out for them with my computer. She thanked me for my offer to help. I showed up and checked in with Laura and explained to Tami Foster, Municipal Court Clerk and EMT, what I was doing. I sat outside her office in full sight of her and called AT&T to figure out the problem. AT&T diagnosed the problem and fixed it. I informed both Tami and Laura of the results with the exact changes that AT&T had made. I gave them instructions for how to grant access to COG. I went home thinking I had done a good deed for the city. No good deed goes unpunished. Is Flo upset with me? Was it something I said?
See you Monday night, unless we have another quorum problem. Flo thought he had trouble getting three council members to show up for a regularly scheduled meeting but is confident he can get four for a last-minute special meeting. It's one special meeting alright.
posted by RobC at 4:52 PM
6 Comments:
ROBC
I give you are Star for this post! Humm--- many six Stars !
Dr. A
How many bobbles must this man make before his $12,500 grant administration bonus is taken away from him? That Youth Club Grant is for 2006-2007, to end August 2007! That Resolution should have been approved in August 2006! For the record, the 2007-2008 grant application process has begun and applications are being turned in even as we speak.
Beating more grant dead horses: The code enforcement grant was awarded in Nov. 2005, he bought the car in August 2006, and hired the code enforcement officer in March 2007.
The recycling grant was awarded in NOvember 2006 and he is just now trying to get it off the ground with all this La Vista fanfare.
Where is the audit? What happened to it?
In regard to the security breach, the Border Hotline said Flo said the staff's stories did not jibe with Rob's. This investigation done by the Municipal Judge did not include a conversation with Rob. How do they know his version did not jibe? Municipal government at its finest.
REGIONAL MOBILITY AUTHORITY (RMA)
I thought this was to help establish 'public transportation' from this area to Midland/Odessa & El Paso.
I am not saying that it would not also cover the bridge, or that the bridge is not the subject of this agenda item, but wasn't there a hearing a few months ago about there only being one Greyhound bus a day through this area?
It is 8pm 4-30-2007. What is happening at the City Council meeting?
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