8.31.2004
Holy hemorrhoids, batman! I do believe that the seven-hour meeting held this week qualifies my hiney and me for workman’s compensation. Oops. I forgot. No one hired me to do this every week.
Well…maybe instead Wardy will award me one of those cushy “confidentiality agreements” he and Jim Martinez are handing out like candy using our taxpayer dollars.
Nah. Probably not. I’d better just get started because seven hour meetings make for seven hour notes.
And Who Would’ve Thought…It Figures?
As soon as the meeting began, I couldn’t help but notice that this week’s Alanis Morisette “Isn’t it Ironic” award should go to our very good friend, Joe Wardy. During the Mayor’s proclamations, Mayor Joe “let them have layoffs and no salary increases” Wardy recognized the nameless, faceless employees:
2. Organized Labor Week
If that ain’t irony, I don’t know what is. The beautiful part of the proclamation was that organized labor never showed up. Can you blame them?
Minute Minutia
Yes, yes, my same complaint…again.
3. APPROVAL OF MINUTES: [Municipal Clerk, Richarda Duffy Momsen, (915) 541-4127] Approval of Minutes for Regular City Council Meeting of August 24, 2004, and Special City Council Meeting of August 18, 2004 (Budget Wrap-Up).
(Attachment) - Special City Council Meeting of August 18, 2004 (
Attachment) - Regular City Council Meeting of August 24, 2004
Reader, I know you’ve heard me complain about the minutes for City Council meetings before, so I won’t bore you with my complaints again. However, I must say that I got a good laugh at how the City documented Anita Blair’s comments from last week. Here’s what they said she said:
“Ms. Anita Blair, citizen, spoke on privatizing the City Attorney’s Office, politics, the City of El Paso budget and other issues.”
Ah, yes, those “other issues.” As a reminder, dear reader, those “other issues” just happened to include rampant cronyism! Reminds me of one of my favorite stories about Boss Tweed. It seems ol’ Boss Tweed (you know, of Tammany Hall fame) had a little budget account/slush fund totaling $40,000 or so. (Back in the Gilded Age, that was a lot of money—I can almost remember it.) The ledger stated that the account was for “Broomsticks, etc.” At least he had a sense of humor. Anyway, back to the saga of our very own Tammany Hall.
Same Old Song and Dance
This week there were more musical chairs for the staff at City Hall. I do believe that Wardy & Co. are trying to get in as many of their last-minute changes as possible before Joyce Wilson, our new City Manager, takes over on October 1st.
Last week I mentioned the fact that Terry Villanueva, the dedicated District 5 secretary, would effectively be laid off by Wardy & Co. because of her courage and willingness to speak out against the cushy perks enjoyed by the executive staff on the 10th floor (you know, nothing major, just a perk like getting paid for full-time work while only coming into the office from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. like Jim Martinez’s secretary, Blanca Gonzalez does):
6. STAFFING TABLE CHANGE: Mayor & Council
Delete 1.00 Administrative Assistant GS 23 (Attachment) [Mayor & Council, Jim Martinez, (915) 541-4015]
Ms. Villanueva has been put out of her job because of Power’s resignation. While this should only be a temporary issue, Wardy wanted to delete her job and replace her with a contract employee later. This item was approved on the consent agenda. Later in the meeting, though, John Cook deleted the change in the fiscal year 2005 budget later. I’m still trying to figure out which change counts.
I don’t know if the following is a new position, or if someone got canned…er… laid off…er...reassigned before Mr. Connor was appointed at $112,000 per year:
7. Appointment of Patrick (Rick) Connor as City Engineer, effective September 7, 2004. (Attachment) [Mayor, Joe Wardy, (915) 541-4015]
Mr. Connor’s salary is actually interesting to me. I was recently looking over Joe Wardy’s old campaign mail-outs (I never throw anything out, folks), and in one of them, then-candidate Wardy expressed outrage that the former mayor hired an economic development director at $116,000 per year. Interesting about-face, ain’t it? Not only are most of his high-ranking employees making well over $100,000 a year, but he’s broken civil service and charter rules along the way.
But then if I had a penny for every time Wardy broke one of his campaign promises or committed an act of utter hypocrisy, I’d be on a beautiful island with a margarita in my hand. Oh well.
Finally, the following appointment was also made on the consent agenda:
8. Appointment of Robert Salinas as Community and Human Development Director, effective August 31, 2004. (Attachment) [Mayor, Joe Wardy, (915) 541-4015]
Mr. Salinas may very well be a capable person; I cannot speak to his qualifications. However, word around City Hall is that Debbie Hamlyn (former Director of Community Development before Wardy gave her a big promotion to Deputy CAO for Quality of Life) had promised Ms. Nathalie Price the job if only she would help while the vacancy was filled. Prise agreed and has been interim director for the last several months.
Ms. Prise, however, did not get the job; I have no way of knowing if Hamlyn reneged on her promise or if Wardy made up his own mind. As soon as Prise found out, she put in for retirement. Yet another experienced, valuable City employee exiting the Wardy revolving door.
And speaking of valuable exiting City employees, the following is an email that was recently circulated around City Hall:
-----Original Message-----
From: Martinez, Jim A.
Sent: Friday, September 03, 2004 12:16 PM
To: [various recipients]
Cc: [various recipients]
Subject:
alejandrina drew has resigned her position as director of the arts and culture department. i anticipate her last day with the city will be september 10th.
Alejandrina Drew, the talented director of the Arts & Culture Department (that tiny department at City Hall that brings us wonderful events like Music Under the Stars, Alfresco! Fridays, and more), has handed in her resignation. How many talented City staff members have we lost under Wardy’s regime? Gee…I guess I must have lost count.
As you may or may not remember, some of El Paso’s cultural elite have been demanding that the City just turn over Arts & Culture money (our tax dollars) to their organizations instead of funding great programs like those the rest of us enjoy (http://www.elpasotimes.com/stories/borderland/20040206-77971.shtml). Because Debbie Hamlyn, Deputy CAO for Quality of Life, has a personal interest in seeing this happen (her relatives are part of that same cultural elite), I have no doubt that she will see Drew’s exit as a grand opportunity.
Gasing Up REDCO
There was no backup available online, folks, so I wasn’t sure what exactly Texas Gas wanted from Council with the following item:
23D. Discussion and Action on Statement of Intent of Texas Gas Service Company to Change Rates to implement Gas Reliability Infrastructure Program, Implement an Economic Development Rate Schedule EDR, and Amend Cost of Gas Clause to change hedging provisions, and amend Transportation Schedules to add Balancing Provisions. [Financial and Administrative Services, William Chapman, (915) 541-4011]
It turns out they were asking City Council to approve a nice little incremental increase in our monthly gas bills so they, in turn, could give some funding to REHASH…er…REDCO, the “new” Regional Economic Development Council that’s supposed to do something radically different than the Greater El Paso Chamber (I guess this is despite the fact that it’s being run by the same hapless retreads who’ve boldly marketed El Paso as a mecca for minimum-wage, no-benefits jobs--hence REHASH). It seems the Greater (or more appropriately, the Lesser) Chamber has been struggling under its own financial problems and has not done a very effective job of bringing new, high paying jobs or good companies to El Paso.
Norman Gordon, the City’s outside bond counsel, explained the potential increases by Texas Gas Service that the City would have to evaluate. Texas Gas wants an added “economic development rate,” adding 2/10ths of one cent ($330,000 in total) that would be used exclusively for economic development activities. This economic development rate would translate annually to about $1.08 per year for residential customers; $6.77 for commercial customers; and $24.00 each for the City, the school districts, and the county.
Susan Austin wanted to know if other communities had similar economic development riders and Norman Gordon said no, not to his knowledge. When she asked him what basis or rationale there was for this extra expense, he said “It’s a public policy decision.”
Richard Fleager, the Vice President of Texas Gas Service Company, said that the City of El Paso has been under-funding economic development activities; so has the Greater El Paso Chamber of Commerce, which he says has been funding its efforts at only $400,000 a year. He said that because economic development is “good for this community,” there needs to be a larger investment in REDCO.
As background, you should know that REHASH...er...REDCO, is led by Bob Cook, the former CEO of the Greater El Paso Chamber of Commerce, who seems to be one of Wardy’s biggest fans and a guy who can’t quite bring himself to say anything bad about our mayor, no matter how true the bad thing might be. Case in point: The El Paso Times had a story in the paper Tuesday morning about how all our government entities’ tax increases will negatively affect economic development. While all the experts agreed it would hurt, Wardy was able to count on Bob Cook to put a sunny face on the whole thing (http://www.borderlandnews.com/stories/borderland/20040831-162935.shtml).
(The bad news for Wardy continued when the El Paso Times concluded, along with the experts, that rising taxes were bad for business recruitment (http://www.borderlandnews.com/stories/opinion/ourviews/20040904-164575.shtml)).
Cobos announced that while he was initially “skeptical” about this, he has “come to the realization that this is a good thing for El Paso; $1.08 is an increase, but it’s not too much to where it makes this idea impractical, so I’m supportive.”
A Tax by Any Other Name . . . . Would Still Stink
Lisa Turner informed Council that “This economic development rate is nothing more than a tax. I find it strange that Texas Gas is unwilling to dip into its profits... to invest their own money in economic development; instead they come to us, the users, the taxpayers. I’ve frankly had it to here...there is no more water at the well, it’s dry. Please...say no, no, no.”
Have I ever told you all how much I respect Turner? She is consistently the voice of reason. No, more than that, she and John Cook are virtually the only people who have the courage to tell the emperor he has no clothes. And anyone who follows Council knows that Mr. Wardy sure does a lot of prancing about in the buff. (I’m willing to accept that Wardy prances around in the buff, but folks, the day that Cushing and/or Lozano do it, I’m outta here. Yuck. I think I just gave myself the heebeejeebees with that thought.)
Moving on…Anita Blair told Council that “I don’t understand the cronyism and monkey business that’s going on at the last minute” before the City Manager comes in. She asked that they postpone the item for a month because “I don’t like it, and the public agrees with me 200%.” She continued, adding “Mr. Cobos…says he’s running for [county] judge without my approval,” and stated, “I don’t approve of his judgment on anything.” She said the public is “incensed about the tax increases.”
As soon as Anita Blair started ripping into Jim Martinez, beginning to discuss “all of the victims of Mr. Martinez’s chicanery,” Wardy stopped her.
Ray Gilbert also spoke out against this secret tax and told Council, “It looks to me like a triple whammy to the taxpayers...let’s wake up El Paso!”
Susan Austin, clearly motivated by the speakers, moved to amend the resolution to delete the economic development rider. No one seconded her motion.
Lozano made a motion to retire into executive session on this item. Why on earth he would need confidential legal advice on this item was beyond me. (Norman Gordon very clearly said that it was strictly a “public policy decision,” not a legal one.) As if reading my mind, El Paso Times reporter David Crowder politely asked Council why it would go into executive session if no legal questions had been raised.
Wardy, clearly irritated by the question, said in his best “angry dad” voice, “Mr. Lozano made a request, Mr. Crowder…Council has voted…we will conduct ourselves appropriately so we don’t draw the wrath of the El Paso Times.” OUCH! Wardy is, of course, referring to an article written by Crowder that questioned the use of executive sessions at Council meetings. He’s probably also still stung by articles in the Times on his hefty tax increase that made him look like the clueless boob he is and also the articles about the secret confidentiality agreements he and Martinez had exiting employees sign. Who would’ve thought even a month ago that our mayor would be complaining about his coverage in the El Paso Times. The Times They Are A Changin’?
Council went into Executive Session for a grand total of three minutes. The brevity of the session was probably a response to the scrutiny Council’s excessive use of executive sessions has received. (Wardy clearly resents such scrutiny—hence his petulant and sarcastic comment to Crowder. This is why I love a free press!)
When the A-team came out, Lozano announced that “My question in executive, and I was not answered anyway, was that if we postpone it for a week or a month will we lose the agreement with the gas company?” Yeah, I can see why that was a burning legal issue.
He continued, stating “And then of course, the other parties, that we’re trying to wrap up the budget hearings today, and of course, you know, it all depends on how we do the budget hearing. I mean, uh, as you can see, everything has been left at our table, the tax increases, the all these goodies coming at us the bond election. So it appears that just, you know, increase, increase, increase, increase, and then, uh, it’s partly the timing, the timing is not right. That’s what I’m saying.”
Huh?
Cushing asked if it could be postponed. (I wondered what “it” was, the agenda item or the official interpretation of what Lozano just said for the illiteracy-impaired.) Fleager, who said the utility had been negotiating with the City for the last 2.5 months, basically responded no.
Cushing made a motion to approve the resolution, and Paul Escobar seconded the motion. Austin stated that she was not in favor of the economic development rider but, in the end, in classic Austin fashion, voted in favor of the economic development rider. The only no votes were Lozano and Rojas.
Lozano concluded the item by observing, “I agree with the agreements…I just wanted to wait one more week.” That made me feel much better.
Susan “Political Speedbump” Austin Strikes Again!
If you recall, dear reader, this “business friendly” mayor and City Council gave the Kern Place Merchants Association a pretty hard time the last time they asked the City for permission to host an outdoor festival.
In my 8.17.2004 notes, I described just how rude and condescending Wardy in particular was to the representative of the merchants. This group of business people wants to provide great outdoor events for young El Pasoans. They are willing to hire added security and to make the area as safe and quiet as possible; in the process, they also want to make a little bit of profit—they are, after all, business people. Sounds eminently reasonable to me, but what do I know? When they came before Council last time, Wardy and his “business friendly” cohorts nearly treated them like criminals.
This week, the merchants didn’t send a representative; they showed up themselves, and they were there to get City approval for more events. Unlike last time, Council was much more supportive:
18A. Kern Place Merchants Association to use amplification (4 speakers) at the corner of Cincinnati and Mesa (2 speakers will be located East of Cincinnati/Mesa & 2 speakers will be located north of Cincinnati/ Stanton) on September 12, 2004, and October 30, 2004 from 7:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. Approximately 20 persons will take part and 300 spectators are anticipated on September 12, 2004 and 4,500 spectators are anticipated on October 30, 2004. PERMIT NO. 04-081 (District 1) (Attachment) [Kenneth Rico Velasquez]
Despite her best efforts, Susan Austin was unable to create the same political roadblocks to this outdoor event because this time the actual Kern Place merchants and business owners showed up. I suspect this is at least partly why Council had such a change of heart and, unlike last week, supported the item wholeheartedly.
The Court Jester
Sounding a lot like your old friend, Sid, Wardy echoed the same point I made two weeks ago in this column and said, “The danger in this exercise is that we are persecuting one entity…we don’t cause UTEP to go and get a permit. Mrs. Austin, I’m not debating, jesting with you.” I believe Wardy meant to say he wasn’t “jousting” with her. He sure loves the image of himself as a knight. Sorry, Joe, you wouldn’t have made the grade as a knight. However, given your penchant for “jesting,” and the joke you’ve made of city government, I think the role of court jester might be more suited to your talents.
Anyway, I’m so glad Wardy reads my column and takes my advice! (Maybe he was even reading directly from notes! Wouldn’t that be a hoot?) It’s amazing what an about-face Wardy made once the merchants were standing in front of him.
Austin, who just couldn’t let it go, insisted that she didn’t want to raise the 3,000 person capacity. She must have some internal rule that compels her to complicate as much as possible otherwise simple issues.
What’s Your Aura?
When one of the merchants mentioned that their indoor capacity is already (legally) 2,300, Wardy said, “That casts a completely different aura on our decision.”
The Fire Department was asked what the outdoor capacity was for this festival. Chief Whitfield stated that “If we set the capacity at 3,000 it won’t look like anybody’s at the festival…outside, we do not establish a capacity.” The Fire Chief even told Council, “I support the businesses in their desire to raise the number because there’s room for it.”
Cobos, who didn’t say or do a thing in the defense of these merchants two weeks ago, suddenly became their best friend. He asked, “Why are we inflicting additional restraints on these events?”
Good question, Mr. Cobos. Why were you willing to “inflict” these restraints on them the last time?
Austin continued to complain, and at that point, one of those natural occurrences I mentioned last week happened, so I didn’t document all of Austin’s high-pitched, nasal complaints. I just kept rocking silently back and forth in my chair, softly whispering, “please make it stop…please make it stop…please make it stop.”
Thankfully, John Cook cut her off during one of her seemingly interminable monologues and made a motion to allow these folks to hold their party. The item passed unanimously. Yes, folks, despite all of her objections, Austin voted “yes.” Even Alexandro “Why are you stubborn to have it at Cincinnati Street” Lozano voted yes. Go figure.
More and more, it’s becoming clear that all Susan Austin (and Bob Cushing) want is to hear themselves talk. (Susan, Bob, just to let you know, you are both very much alone in this desire.)
Do You Want an Active Mayor or a Ribbon Cutting Mayor?
Dear reader, as you know, the major issue that had to be decided this week was our City’s 2005 fiscal year budget. Council held a special meeting this past Saturday in order to hear from the public and make some decisions.
If you had better things to do than attend the 4.5 hour Saturday public hearing, not to worry, because you’re not alone. The mayor, you know…the main guy…the guy elected to run the city…yeah, him…he, too, was simply too busy to sit through a boring session of residents voicing their concerns about, arguably, the most important thing the mayor does—developing the city’s budget.
Wardy was wooed away from his fiscal responsibilities to this community by something much more important: A ride in a convertible at the Fiesta de las Flores parade. That’s right, folks…while more responsible members on Council (like John Cook, who was the only person in his family to miss an important wedding in order to sit in on a budget hearing) sat through the entire thing, Wardy waved to a small crowd that gathered in downtown El Paso just to see that moronic grin of his.
What a guy.
According to the El Paso Times, Lisa Turner was one of those good folks who waited through that Saturday meeting to speak (http://www.borderlandnews.com/stories/borderland/20040829-162169.shtml). At Saturday’s meeting, Turner asked that Council stop funding cell phones (a $750,000 contract), not fund the plum $165,000 position being created in the City Attorney’s office specifically for the soon to be unemployed Jim Martinez, and cut funding to the Hispanic Chamber and Project Arriba. As an aside, I must say that Turner would make an outstanding City Representative because she’s not just at Council to criticize; she frequently offers productive and valid solutions.
I Can’t Stand the Pain
The grand finale to the whole ordeal finally came at Tuesday’s meeting, where City Council was set to make the final touches on the 2005 budget:
23A. Public Hearing on the Proposed Budget for the City of El Paso for the Fiscal Year 2004-2005. (Attachment) [Financial and Administrative Services, William A. Chapman, and Office of Management and Budget, David Almonte, (915) 541-4011]
Dear reader, this was a long one…if only I had had an aspirin or a shot of whiskey (or a gun to point to my head) before I had to listen to all this money talk. I’ve tried mitigating the pain for you, so this section is as short as I could get it.
The first question—before there was any discussion on the details—came from Representative John Cook, who wanted to know which proposed budget would be evaluated at this meeting.
I don’t blame him for asking. It seems that Wardy & Co., either through inefficiency or by design, did not prepare a final document in time for a proper review by Council. In fact, Council received the latest revisions (on this fourth budget proposal) at 7:30 the morning of the meeting. That meant that Council only had an hour and a half to go over a multi-million dollar budget. Call me a crazed conspiracy theorist, but I strongly suspect that was Wardy’s point.
Adding insult to injury, Wardy and his staff hadn’t even bothered “red-lining” the budget to clearly show Council what revisions had been made, despite Cook’s having specifically requested this. And the public? Well, it’s clear after Wardy’s absence at Saturday’s meeting that we don’t have a role in this whole deal. The changes were not available online for our review. I mean, really, why should the folks who are paying the bill get to see the budget? What an absurd notion!
While staff looked around for the latest budget proposal among the numerous amended copies, Wardy, who was no more interested in listening to public comment at this meeting than he was on Saturday asked why they needed to take more public input. “Didn’t we beat this to death?” In Wardyspeak, this meant: “Haven’t I been beaten to death? I’ve had enough! It’s not fair! I can’t stand the pain!”
Wardy warned that Council would only allow the speakers 10 minutes.
Ray Gilbert started by saying, “I’m sorry you weren’t here Saturday morning, Mayor.” And noting the various proposals floating around, he asked, “When do you make your decisions?” He pointed out some concerns in the latest budget proposal, primarily the amount of interest paid on commercial paper.
Unlike the rest of us watching the debate and frustrated by the lack of access to the latest budget, Head WRS (Wardy Rubber Stamper), Anthony Cobos thought the constant changes were just great!
Cook responded by saying that while flexibility is normally a good thing, the fact that there were four revisions out there floating in Wardyland made it difficult to figure out “which shell the pea is under.” Well, I’d like to add that when you’re a member of the public and are not allowed to see either the shell or the pea, the game gets darned near impossible to play.
Gilbert continued and even went as far as to not-so-subtly accuse the City’s Chief Financial Officer of committing crimes. Wardy, who is always quick to cut off discussion when one of his executive staff members gets attacked, never stood up for Chapman or made Gilbert follow the same rules regarding courtesy that he makes others follow. (Remember, Wardy was quick to shut off Anita Blair when she began attacking Acting CAO Jim Martinez.) And no, Wardy never took responsibility for his own budget.
Cushing said, “I hate to seem redundant [Uh, Bob, that’s your middle name], but I’d like to ask Mr. Gilbert a question. Mr. Gilbert, I value your opinions. You alluded to the fact that we’re doing something that if not improper, it’s illegal.” (I like to think that most illegal things are improper.)
According to the Truth in Taxation Act, Gilbert said, the law requires that any interest earned on the debt levy has to go into the surplus, and Gilbert said he didn’t see that $900,000 where it belongs. He kept demanding to know where it was.
The Grand Illusion
When Cushing has to get legal advice from Ray Gilbert – not Lisa Elizondo – that tells you the money we’re spending on our $150,000 City Attorney is, well, not well spent. Can someone please remind me why we’re paying this woman $6,000 of our hard-earned taxes every two weeks? By the way, Elizondo never spoke up to either support Gilbert’s legal advice or to dispute it. She just sat staring at her laptop. (As I watched her, I wondered what her highest score on solitaire was.) How ‘bout we begin cutting the budget with her? Just a thought.
Gilbert congratulated Wardy for his “good work” thus far and even encouraged him to try to get Governor Rick Perry to come to El Paso to congratulate them for cutting their budget so much.
Well, Mr. Gilbert, I wouldn’t call an inability to understand your own budget “good work,” and I wouldn’t say being clueless about the fact that you’re raising taxes is something to be congratulated for. I’d call it embarrassing and pretty darned humiliating.
A member of the public asked that the Mayor cut the cell phone use at the City and Wardy said he would not. “I’m gonna tell you no because I’m gonna tell you that cell phones are a productivity tool” and he said that with cell phones, City employees don’t have to be tied to their desks. At that moment, I felt like Charlie Brown in the animated classic “Merry Christmas, Charlie Brown,” when Lucy has finally identified his phobia. I wanted to scream out, “That’s it!” I’ve just formulated Wardy’s re-election slogan: “Cut people, not cell phones!” I tell ya, this guy Wardy really has his priorities straight.
Once the budget hearing was closed, Council moved on to the next item:
23B. Discussion and action on a Resolution that the Proposed Budget for the City of El Paso, filed by the Mayor with the City Clerk on July 1, 2004, is hereby approved and adopted by the City Council, as amended, as the Annual Budget for the Fiscal Year 2004-2005 for the City of El Paso. (Attachment) [Financial and Administrative Services, William A. Chapman, and Office of Management and Budget, David Almonte, (915) 541-4011]
After the item was read into the record, David Almonte, Director of the Office of Management and Budget, noted the major revisions to the budget:
Cobos asked why the reductions the Mayor had promised to make to his own budget were not listed and, oops, Wardy said they hadn’t been added yet. Thankfully, Cobos pinned Wardy down and asked that Almonte include a $50,000 reduction in the Mayor’s department. Nice try, Wardy. Looking at all the executive staff the mayor is retaining, though, it doesn’t look like that’s enough to cut one of the big salaries in Wardy’s office
(http://www.borderlandnews.com/stories/borderland/20040816-156214.shtml).
In addition to making cuts, Council also padded some areas. Cobos asked that funding to the El Paso Hispanic Chamber of Commerce be increased to $90,000. Austin asked to include $25,000 for Keep El Paso Beautiful. An annoyed Wardy asked what other changes they would be making.
Showdown at the It’s NOT OK! Corral
At that point, Ray Gilbert returned to the podium and pointed out that the City’s amended budget decreased the effective tax rate but still left the tax rate higher, creating a tax increase. Talking out of the other side of his mouth, he congratulated them for “paying attention” to their budget. Right.
Gilbert gave Council very specific advice about the budget: He wanted Wardy to keep the effective tax rate unchanged, reduce the debt levy, and keep the City employees’ 2.5% cost of living increase.
Bill Chapman disagreed with some of the points Gilbert made and stated that in the past, he’s invited Mr. Gilbert to sit down and ask him any questions he has so he can better understand the City’s budget; Gilbert has yet to take Chapman up on that offer, Chapman claimed.
Gilbert, of course, had to respond.
An upset Gilbert came back to the podium and urged Council to take his advice and said, “You have the funds, they’re hidden somewhere!” (Maybe those hidden funds are what Lisa Elizondo’s gonna use to pay Jim Martinez’s huge salary, Mr. Gilbert, and I bet they’re hidden in an account called “broomsticks, etc.”!) He urged Council give the City employees’ a 2.5% cost of living increase that Wardy previously eliminated in order to fund “unnecessary” items.
Wardy told him, “You can’t have it both ways, Mr. Gilbert,” and when Wardy “respectfully” disagreed, an angry Ray Gilbert yelled, “You’re showing the public the irresponsibility of your mouth!” I had to stifle my giggle. Watching Gilbert lay into Wardy was almost too much for me to bear.
Cobos shook his head and remarked that he was disappointed by Gilbert’s remarks.
The Lone Ranger
John Cook, who, unlike Wardy, was focused less on pleasing the personalities and more on the budget, brought the focus back to saving money and jobs. He asked what amount of money it would take to get the rate down to a zero tax increase. David Almonte replied that it would take a little over $3 million in cuts.
Cook also asked what’s left in the fund balance (the City’s savings account, an account the City would draw upon in case of an emergency). Almonte told him that the City needs $30 million to cover one month of operations; Council currently only has only $8 million in savings, which is equal to 10 days of operation.
Dear reader, I’m very concerned about this. We’re using a little over $9 million this year from our savings account in order to balance the budget. Our savings is dwindling down to nothing, and that sure ain’t a good thing.
Cook wanted to go through Schedule B and make some personnel changes in Wardy’s budget.
He announced that first he wanted to kill Wardy’s plan to delete the administrative assistant in District V and replace her with a contract position (Cook wanted to avoid forcing Terry Villanueva, the secretary in that office to be “laid off.”)
When Cook began reading his budget changes into the record, Wardy quickly became irritated and said, “You know, I think…look, let’s get the budget handled,” and called that job deletion a “nuance” that could be dealt with later.
The same guy whose name was on a proclamation for organized labor earlier in the meeting was now calling the firing of an employee a “nuance.” I’m sure Ms. Villanueva will be comforted to know that, In Joe Wardy’s mind, she’s nothing but a “nuance.”
Cook reminded Wardy that if the budget resolution were to be passed, the job would be killed, so the time to kill the plan that kills the job is now. (I was ready to kill someone myself…my poor aching behind!)
An angry Wardy responded, “Okay, let’s cut the debate, just move to delete it then…so we’re not here ‘till 10:00 at night. If you don’t agree with something, let’s make the motion.”
Cook patiently responded, “That’s what I’m doing now.”
Wardy shot back, “Okay, let’s go.”
Poor Wardy. Cook was spoiling his Mr. Grinch act.
The Martinez Factor
Next, under the City Attorney’s Office, Cook wanted to delete the “Trial Supervisor” position that has been mentioned in this column before and that Lisa Elizondo had created specifically for Jim Martinez.
Anthony Cobos, clearly panicked, tried his best to salvage the job for Martinez, asking quickly, “Can we call it something else? Chief Litigator?”
Elizondo calmly responded, “You can delete that one in its entirety; the nomenclature doesn’t matter. I no longer need the staffing change.” At that moment, she glanced over at Martinez and seemed to give him a knowing smile. I was immediately alarmed. I had suspected Cook would make a move to kill the plum position for Jim Martinez. However, I thought he was in for a fight from Wardy & Co and even from Lisa Elizondo herself. I certainly was not prepared for her willing surrender and sly smile.
Cushing, another WRS (Wardy Rubber Stamper), became concerned and said, “Uh…I wanna know…Ms. Elizondo, I don’t understand what we’re doing here.”
“This change was apparently initiated by OMB,” said Elizondo. “Trying to be helpful, they picked up on my budget hearing, the terminology ‘trial supervisor,’ so they thought we were gonna be changing the title of the position to ‘trial supervisor.’ That is not in fact the way my positions are budgeted; they are all budgeted as Assistant City Attorneys.”
And it was almost as if she were speaking in code to Cushing when she said, slowly, “And so this change has never been necessary.”
“Oh, okay,” replied Cushing, evidently getting the coded message.
Cobos wanted to be clear and said, “Let me ask you a question, then. We’re going to be able to hire a litigator?”
“That’s correct,” a smiling Elizondo replied. Jim Martinez added, “The funding is there.” I kept waiting for the wink.
Reader, anyone thinking that the Martinez appointment is now dead in the water may be sadly mistaken. Something is going on here. Lisa Elizondo is the person who, two meetings ago, publicly talked about hiring a “Chief Litigator” and even said she would soon be making a public announcement about the position. Trying to place her ducks in a row (were they the same Ascarate ducks with herpes, I wondered?), she even began lobbying Council to allow her to hire this “Chief Litigator.” Jim Martinez also talked about this position when he was on the radio last week and admitted he would apply for the job.
It’s possible that Elizondo, Martinez and Wardy are cutting their losses and have realized that it would be political suicide to bring Martinez back to City Hall once the City Manager arrives. However, I cannot help but believe that there is now an alternate plan in place to get Martinez that hefty salary and cushy job despite what we saw at Council. This issue requires exacting scrutiny from those on Council. Oh, I forgot. All but one Council member (Cook) are in the WRS category.
If Council approves hiring Martinez as an Assistant City Attorney at the absurdly inflated salary Elizondo has proposed (or at any salary, for that matter) it will be an outrage.
Cook made the motion to approve the changes he outlined and Austin seconded it. The motion passed unanimously. I wiped my forehead and let out a cautious “whew!”
Cook also moved to delete Wardy’s plan to destroy the Tax Office by moving it to the Comptroller’s Office. The motion passed 6-1, and Cushing was the only no vote. Keep on kissin’ there, Bob. (I think for Christmas, I’ll send good ole Bob some chapstick…he’ll need it by then.)
The final resolution, with all its revisions, was approved unanimously.
My friends, I’d hate to think what would have happened with this budget had Representative Cook not been there to defend the interests of this community and fight Wardy’s large layoffs.
Blame it on the Rain
In case you haven’t heard him, according to Wardy, we’re to blame for his budget confusion. During the opening portion of the budget meeting on Saturday (the only part Wardy bothered to stay for), he announced that “Because of the actions that have been taken in the community, there has been tremendous misunderstanding.” What actions would those be, Mr. Mayor? Wardy seemed to be saying that it is us, the taxpayers, who should bear the burden of blame, and not him, the guy who drew the budget up. But Wardy didn’t stop there. He then went on to announce that because we passed the 2000 Quality of Life bonds, we should thank ourselves for this tax increase. Of course, he didn’t bother to vote at all in that election, so I guess in his mind, he’s off the hook. What a guy. And don’t forget, he’s also blamed the El Paso Central Appraisal District. So everyone but Wardy is to blame for his own budget snafu. The problem is that, with all of Wardy’s pathetic “jesting,” the joke’s gonna be on us.
In the end, the City’s tax increase ended up being 9% instead of the 16.5% that Wardy either unknowingly or surreptitiously was going to impose (http://www.borderlandnews.com/stories/borderland/20040901-163281.shtml). Wardy’s spin on the whole thing included a very positive announcement from his office (http://www.elpasotexas.gov/news/archives/press083104.asp).
I’ve noticed that a recurring theme from Wardy lately is his “I wasn’t aware” stance. It seems that there are a lot of things Wardy is unaware of. He didn’t realize his budget included a tax increase (http://www.borderlandnews.com/stories/borderland/20040823-159427.shtml), he wasn’t aware of how his policy to pay exiting employees hush money got started (http://www.borderlandnews.com/stories/borderland/20040822-159078.shtml), and now he doesn’t even know what the City Manager’s responsibilities will be (http://www.borderlandnews.com/stories/borderland/20040901-163286.shtml).
Poor Wardy. Like his City Attorney, he just doesn’t have a clue. But I must say, dear reader, the two people Wardy chose to lead his administration are perfect symbols. While Elizondo represents the “huh?” factor in Wardy’s administration, Martinez represents the greed and arrogance. At least you can say Wardy was right on target in that department.
And speaking of arrogance, I’d like to offer up exhibit A, which is an interesting exchange between Martinez (who is now referring to himself as “Acting City Manager” and one of his bosses – a City Council representative). I think you’ll be amazed at the depth of arrogance that this guy can reach:
-----Original Message-----
From: Gonzalez, Blanca M.
Sent: Wednesday, September 01, 2004 3:34 PM
To: [Various recipients]
Cc: Cortinas, Delia M.; Martinez, Jim A.; Joyce Wilson
Subject:
As of September 1, 2004, all citizen complaints and requests for service should be submitted to the City Manager's office, where they will then be assigned to the designated department head. Should a complaint be submitted directly to the department head, it will be forwarded to the City Manager's office for proper attention.
Blanca M. Gonzalez
Staff Assistant to Jim Martinez, Interim City Manager
City Hall, 10th Floor
915.541.4844/office
915.355.5179/mobile
-----Reply-----
From: Cook, John F.
Sent: Friday, September 03, 2004 10:18 AM
To: [various recipients]
Cc: Cortinas, Delia M.; Martinez, Jim A.; Joyce Wilson
Subject:
RE:
Ms. Gonzalez:
District IV will continue to be accountable to our constituents. We have spent three years developing and refining a computerized system to log, refer, rectify, and follow up on complaints from the 80,000 people I represent. Our system was developed based on my 27 years of experience in dealing with customer complaints while employed by several operating companies of the Bell System. It includes management\reports that assist me in instantly determining where we stand on any complaint or evaluating the responsiveness of various departments to our needs as a district.
Let me emphasize that we do not direct city staff to do anything, but it is extremely important that when people feel it necessary to go to the person they elected to make sure they receive the city services they are paying for that their issues are not funneled into a bottle neck.
In interviewing the real city manager, she had indicated that there would be no way that she could possibly micromanage to the degree that is suggested in your e-mail. It was certainly one of the reasons she received my vote of confidence.
I have instructed my staff to continue to respond to constituent complaints using our sophisticated technology and to copy the office of the City Manager. I have also instructed them to provide you with the copies and the status of the more than 130 open complaints that have been received and not rectified at this time.
Sincerely,
John
City Representative District 4
-----Reply-----
From: Martinez, Jim A.
Sent: Friday, September 03, 2004 11:15 AM
To: Cook, John F.; Gonzalez, Blanca M. [and various recipients];
Cc: Cortinas, Delia M.; Joyce Wilson
Subject:
RE:
we're all accountable to the citizenry, and i am accountable to you. the fundamental change to our form of government will inescapably change how citizen complaints to elected representatives are handled. i would prefer to have your cooperation in implementing these procedural changes, but it is not required.
citizen complaints and requests for service your office receives should be forwarded to the city manager's office. if you decline to do so, departmental staff will simply forward them to me after they receive them. we will, of course, keep you and your designees, imagined, fictitious or otherwise, apprised of the action we take to address them.
-----Reply-----
From: Cook, John F.
Sent: Friday, September 03, 2004 11:29 AM
To: Martinez, Jim A.; Gonzalez, Blanca M.; [and various recipients]
Cc: Cortinas, Delia M.; Joyce Wilson
Subject:
RE:
What kind of system do you have in place? Are you properly staffed to do this or are you proposing to see where the chips fall? An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
[And in a second reply, Cook continued] I almost forgot, I don't appreciate your sarcasm or insolence, even though I have become most accustom to both.
Sincerely,
John
City Representative District 4
-----Reply-----
From: Martinez, Jim A.
Sent: Friday, September 03, 2004 12:01 PM
To: Cook, John F.; Gonzalez, Blanca M.; [and various recipients]
Cc: Cortinas, Delia M.; Joyce Wilson
Subject:
RE:
your frustration notwithstanding, it's not personal.
If Mr. Arrogance gets a job from City Council, even after he rejects their authority in such a way, there should be hell to pay.
Our Own Private Linda Tripp
Once the budget was passed, Council decided to take a short break; unfortunately for this busy-body, they neglected to leave the microphones on this time. However, in a repeat performance from last week, while Wardy was being interviewed by a few television stations, Jim Martinez oh-so-casually slinked to a spot near the podium and, obscured by the shadows, skulked and eavesdropped the whole time.
I loved watching it! There’s no better slinker or skulker than good ole Jim.
I must say, dear reader, there are times that I feel a little bit verklempt about Jim Martinez’s exit (assuming he really is exiting). I sure will miss the Martinez show every week once he’s gone. I know you’re probably falling over in your seat right now, but it was sort of fun watching and documenting the weekly Martinez/Elizondo follies.
I bet if he would have stayed on as CAO, he would have created a trap door to hide beneath so he could fully eavesdrop on the mayor and Council. Or maybe, just maybe, he’ll be tapping the phones so he can stay on top of things for Wardy!
Oh, the Pomposity!
This item was back from last week, but unlike the previous reference to arroyos as “natural occurrences”, this week, they’re “geologically occurring contours”:
25B. Discussion and action on the creation of an Ad Hoc Committee to be charged with investigating and defining geologically occurring contours on and around the Franklin Mountains that could serve as water conveyance and/or runoff channels; to assess and review impact to development within those areas, to review legal authority and planning and engineering data; and to return to the El Paso City Council within 90 days with an appropriate ordinance. (Attachment) [Planning, Research and Development, George Sarmiento, (915) 541- 4193]
Robert Cushing, who like Lozano was smacking his gum (maybe Lozano took it out of his mouth to share it with his good buddy), immediately made a motion to approve this item.
John Cook, who must have been reading my mind, asked, “Is there not any way that we can legitimize the term ‘arroyo’?”
“We’re trying to come up with what these things actually are,” replied an annoyed Cushing. As a reminder, folks, Cushing ain’t from around these parts. He’s from Maryland, not the desert southwest.
“An arroyo by any other name still carries a bunch of water,” said Cook.
Anthony Cobos disagreed, saying, “An arroyo to me is not an arroyo to someone else,” replied Cobos. Oh, so that’s how they get around things…I can hear it now: ethics to me is not ethics to someone else.
“How do you say arroyo in English?” asked Cook.
“Hot air,” responded Cobos. Hot air, indeed. While it’s true that whenever Cushing is around, one will certainly find the natural occurrence of plenty of hot air circulating in the room (near his head, to be exact), that doesn’t really define arroyo.
I wouldn’t be surprised, my friends, if next week, Bob Cushing puts the following items on the agenda:
“Discussion and Action on identifying the nature and context of use of the flour and/or corn, semi-flat, round-like and digestible carbohydrate foodstuff that, when consumed, travels from the mouth area down a tube-like structure to the area directly above the belt, referred to by some as ‘belly’ and by others as the ‘joy pocket.’” (i.e., what’s a tortilla?)
Or maybe it’ll be something like…
“Determination of the significance of the ‘fold-over,’ an indigenous staple food item that can be filled with various meatstuff, vegetables and other unknown green items as such that may or may not cause a burning feeling in the tongue-area and which sometimes will produce unwarranted after-effects in the lower body region.” (i.e., what’s a taco and chile?)
The item passed unanimously.
Budget Redux
Six hours into the meeting and after the budget had been approved, John Cook moved to reconsider item 23B, which was the budget. Vivian Rojas seconded the motion, and the motion passed.
John Cook, who in the past few months has been the only person to stand up against Wardy, seemed to have discovered that the layoffs had been slipped into the budget Council had passed earlier.
“Sorry mayor, I was under the impression that what we did was we had restored the 30 jobs,” said Mr. Cook.
“Absolutely not,” replied the Grinch…er…Wardy. (Why do I keep hearing that tune…”You’re a mean one, Mr. Grinch!”?)
“Quite some time ago I had asked if someone could give me a chart which showed positions that were being eliminated and where people could go to, and that has not ever been provided to me,” Cook continued. “How many of those 30 [employees] have a reasonable chance of being relocated to other positions?” he asked Terry Bond, Director of Human Resources.
Bond said, “We are hoping that all of them will be placed…the number was approximately eleven…We have jobs for everyone,” but, she admitted, they’re not at the same grade or job equivalent.
After asking several more questions, Cook discovered that of those eleven layoffs, only one person will probably not be placed because there is no professional position equivalent to it in the City (it’s the Classification/Compensation Manager in Human Resources).
Cobos, presumably in an effort to thwart Cook’s efforts to save the jobs, announced, “I am in favor of streamlining, even if it means layoffs.”
“I agree that if we have obsolete or no longer needed positions…then let’s eliminate them, but I personally don’t believe the positions we’re eliminating are achieving that goal,” responded Cook.
Cushing piped in and asked,
I was gonna ask, if I understand what you’re saying, Mr. Cook, you’ve gone through the question here, which was information which had already been provided us and now you’ve identified it down to two or three highly compensated positions with really taking those preferentially over all the positions, is that what you’re attempting to achieve here?
“Well, not the way you’ve said it, no,” responded Cook. I loved that response!
Someone should have informed Cushing, a self-named champion for the little guy, that Cook was trying to save jobs. It’s really not that complicated, Bob, although you love to make it sound that way.
Cook made a motion to restore the Classification/Compensation Manager position (a total of $71,887 including benefits) and to take the funding from the $400,000 pot of money set aside for merit increases.
Cook asked Wardy to support his effort to save this job, and again, Wardy responded “absolutely not.”
The only two people who voted to save the job were Cook and Rojas; the motion failed 5-2. Cheers to Cook and Rojas for the effort.
Because Council reconsidered the budget, they had to take a new vote on the budget. This time, there was a different outcome. Cook and Rojas, who presumably couldn’t stomach the lack of concern for employees, both voted no. I’ve been very critical of Vivian Rojas, but this week she gets credit for trying to do the right thing.
Council then voted on the following item, which was on the additions to the agenda, introducing the ordinance levying taxes:
3. Introduction of Ordinance Pursuant to Section 3.9 of the El Paso City Charter: An ordinance levying 2005 taxes.(Attachment) Financial and Administrative Services, William Chapman, (915) 541-4011] PUBLIC HEARING WILL BE HELD ON SEPTEMBER 21, 2004 FOR ITEM 3
Cook was the only “no” vote.
Out the Door
On noting that today’s meeting would be the last day for a strong mayor form of government, Wardy gave one of his classic clichéd and empty statements: “Fundamentally, Council, I want to congratulate you because we’re moving forward in a different direction.” Let me guess…we’re moving to “a new paradigm?” Or are we moving “outside the box?”
Lozano, noting that the Chief Administrative Officer becomes the acting City Manager until Joyce Wilson comes on board on October 1st, congratulated Martinez for being the new Acting City Manager.
Martinez responded, “If you go to my office, there’s no name on the door, there’s no title on the door, and there’s a reason for this.”
That’s right, Mr. Martinez, there is indeed a reason.
The meeting adjourned at 4:10.
Taxes and Such
How did we get here, dear reader, to a place where all our local taxing entities are struggling to balance budgets, are cutting services and raising taxes and where the local property owner is so over-burdened that it’s hard to find the spare change to have fun?
I’ll tell you how in one word: Cowardice.
If Texas, like most other states in the nation, would only institute a state income tax, local property taxes would fall drastically, the system would be more equitable, and the fact that we live in a property poor area wouldn’t have such dangerous consequences for our future.
So far, only one Texan has been traveling the state, expending his political capital, to declare the obvious: We need a state income tax. That’s our own senator. If only our local elected officials and the rest of the community would join the quest, we might in the not too distant future have a more equitable and less harmful tax system.
I hear many of you out there scoffing. Okay, ask people who live in New Mexico if they would trade their system of a modest state income tax and significantly lower property taxes for Texas’s system.
Moreover, I challenge anyone who believes we are better off financially with our current system than we would be with a state income tax to cite research supporting their position. Anyway, I’m getting off my soap box. I’ve got a major pain in my rear end. And I don’t think it’s because I’ve been sitting down for untold hours.
Until next week, dear reader.