10.5.04
Shifting staff, the case of
the open meetings violation, new courses at UTEP and ignoring community
concerns about ASARCO…Tuesday was just another day in Wardyland.
Postponements
Postponed for one week by
Vivian Rojas were the minutes of the last two meetings in September:
2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES: [Municipal Clerk, Richarda
Duffy Momsen, (915) 541-4127] Approval
of Minutes for the Regular City Council Meetings of September 21 and 28, 2004.
(Attachment) Minutes for
Regular City Council Meeting 09/21/04
(Attachment) Minutes for Regular
City Council Meeting 09/28/04
Just as it’s always
inevitable that Viv will postpone minutes, it’s become inevitable for Cobos to
postpone the following bid for his cronies.
Jabba was first to postpone it, but the last few times it was Cobos:
14A. Bid No.: 2004-226 Washing of Heavy Duty Equipment (Rebid)
Award to: A &
E Truck & Car Wash
El Paso, TX
Item
(s): All
Amount: $150,000.00
(estimated yearly)
Department: Fleet
Services
Funds available:
37370510-45202-503125
Funding source: Fleet
Services-Inventory Sales
-Equipment Outside Repairs
Total award:
$450,000.00 (estimated)
District (s): All
The
Fleet Services Department and Purchasing Departments
recommend award as indicated, on the basis of Best Value
Procurement.
This is a thirty-six (36) month contract with the option
to
extend the term of the contract one additional year.
[Purchasing, Ray Heredia, (915) 541-4316]
Family Matters
Don’t forget that David
Escobar, big-time Wardy cheerleader and partner in cronyism and behind the
scenes manipulation with Luther Jones, has a dog in this fight: A member of his family has put in for this
bid. Because it wasn’t awarded to this
family member, Escobar put up a fight, and it has yet to be awarded and in fact
has been in limbo ever since. We’ll
have to keep an eye on the final award, folks, whenever that day comes.
Joyce Takes Matthis
Joyce Wilson, our new City
Manager, has decided to move the Communications guy Wardy hired to the City Manager’s Office (Mark Matthis
managed Communications for the Greater El Paso Chamber of Commerce before being
“let go” by the Chamber).
8. STAFFING
TABLE CHANGES: City Manager
Delete
1.00 Contract
Professional C
Add
1.00 Contract
Professional C
(Attachment) [City Manager,
Joyce A. Wilson, (915) 541-4844]
I’m assuming that this job,
which is simply shifting from one department (Mayor’s Office) to another (City
Manager’s Office), won’t be opened up to anyone else anytime soon and that
Matthis will retain the position.
I hope that if this job is
ever advertised and opened up, one of the requirements for the position is that
the Public Information Officer be fluent in Spanish. Matthis, who is supposed to be the communications arm of the City,
is not fluent in Spanish, and that’s unfortunate, especially when our City
Manager doesn’t speak it either. (I
know, I know, many of you out there will be complaining about my desire that
our government officials speak Spanish…sorry, folks, but we’ll have to agree to
disagree on this one…we’re on the U.S.-Mexico border and in my humble opinion
it is indeed important to have bilingual information officers.)
I’m sure that Wardy will now
brag about having reduced his staff (although it was more of a shift than
anything else).
Truly, however, this shift
is a good thing. The Public Information
Office should be run out of the City Manager’s Office and not the Mayor’s
Office. The other benefit of this move
is that it will increase the size of Wilson’s nearly-non-existent staff. While Wardy has now been officially reduced
to the role he’s always played unofficially—ribbon cutter and facilitator for
Jones/Escobar/Jobe/Bowling, Wardy insisted on retaining the same number of
staff members. At the same time, the
person who now runs the 22nd largest city in the United States (http://www.demographia.com/db-uscity98.htm), Joyce
Wilson, only got one assistant. And the
assistant she got is Blanca Gonzalez, Jim Martinez’s former secretary (and
David Escobar’s former paralegal) -- the woman who works those brutal
hours—10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.
It’s laughable that Wardy
refuses to cede at least one more staff member to Wilson; he still retains two
highly-paid executive assistants (whose combined salary is nearly
$150,000). Back in 2003, when his
“dream team” (more like a bad, recurring dream team) was interviewed by El Paso Inc., Wardy stated that they
were supposed to function as liaisons between him and the City Departments (http://www.elpasoinc.com/Archive/03_09_21/CoverStory.html). Now that we have a City Manager, she is the
liaison between the Mayor and Council and the City departments. His high-priced assistants, who follow him
around to those ribbon cuttings, luncheons and conventions, could probably
better serve the woman who is now running the City. There is absolutely no justification for Wardy to keep a staff of
this size. Which is precisely why he
will keep it. We are, after all, in
Wadyland.
CSI: El Paso…starring Robert Cushing!
First, CBS created the
popular drama CSI (Crime Scene Investigation).
Then there was the spin-off, CSI: Miami. And then there was a spin-off of the spin-off, CSI: NY. Our resident investigator and
legal-eagle-in-his-own-mind, Robert Cushing, must have been inspired by these
CBS dramas and for today’s meeting created a spin-off of the spin-off’s
spin-off (would that be like being off-off-off-off-off Broadway?), CSI: El
Paso!
His first case involves the
mystery of the missing moolah. Check
out his detective-like defense in his agenda item:
19B. Discussion and action on conducting an
independent forensic audit of all finances of the City of El Paso, including
but not limited to fund balances by department, fund balances for completed
projects, disposition of any and all finances resultant to the software
conversion from FAMIS to People Soft, outstanding debt instruments, grant
monies, federal and state leverage funds, TXDOT indebtedness, etc.
This audit is essential since actions and conduct of
financial reporting individuals of the City of El Paso have resulted in a loss
of public confidence in the City of El Paso, and also, with the change in
government, as mandated by the voters, the new City Manager should have
confidence in the financial affairs of the City of El Paso. [Representative Robert A. Cushing, Jr.,
(915) 541-4416]
Ooooh! An “independent forensic audit!” All you mystery buffs out there will love
this! I can see it now. Enrollment in accounting courses at UTEP
will soon soar and the El Paso Times
will cite Robert Cushing’s intrepid investigations into the city’s finances as
the cause. And then, inspired by
Cushing’s forensic investigation, UTEP will combine their criminal justice,
business and English literature majors and endow the Robert Cushing chair in
pompous deconstructive non-interpretive criminal forensic accounting.
Back to the meeting and
Robert Cushing’s obsessions. Robert
Cushing has made no mystery of his dislike for Chief Financial Officer Bill
Chapman and has gone to great lengths over the last few weeks to establish his
lack of confidence in him. But I
suspect the real driving force behind the request for an audit is Theresa
Caballero, who has publicly vilified Chapman for years and to whom Cushing
seems to be pandering, at least on this issue.
The Case of the Open Meetings Violation
A few weeks ago, in fact,
during a recess at the 8.24.2004 meeting while the microphones were still on,
Cushing could be heard plotting about his forensic agenda item with his cohorts
Cobos and Lozano.
To
quote…well…myself…again…here’s what happened:
Cushing changed the
subject and could be heard saying “All I can tell you is we have the votes to
do what Teresa Caballero said and have an internal audit…even if it costs
$100,000.” [What’s a mere $100 k among friends? Do you get the impression that
they actually think it’s their money?] Cobos responded, “Let’s do it.” Suddenly
horrified that his comments may have been picked up and broadcast by the
microphones, he thumped one and asked, “Are these off?” No, Mr. Cobos, they
were not.
Cobos’s
palpable fear stemmed, in part, from his realization that their secret plans
were broadcast to the audience in chambers and that their conversation had
likely violated the open meetings act.
(Of course, I might be giving Cobos too much credit here—this would
imply a sensitivity to ethics and the law that I don’t think Cobos has or is capable
of.)
Back again to this week’s meeting.
As
soon as the item was read into the record, Cushing began his pompous
run-on…er…statement and said
I am aware that under
state law we are required to conduct an audit on a yearly basis…it’s also my
understanding that we have for quite a few years been using a firm to handle
our audit. What I’d like to see happen
at this time resultant to many of the actions that have occurred in the past
year is that we expand the scope of that audit to include some things which go
beyond the scope of the audit and possibly even look at utilizing a different
company to do that audit, and there, in some of the backup we received on other
issues that seems that there may be a conflict between the accounting practices
that are being used and whether they conform to the GASB [Government Accounting
Standards Board and GASB is pronounced “gasbee”] 14 Procedures, which are
required, and I would like, really, to have consideration given to this, and I
know I talked to the City Manager about it and I think we found some degree of
agreement in some areas of this and, uh, Ms. Wilson, do you have any comment on
this?
Our
new City Manager, Joyce Wilson, said, “Certainly, I don’t have any objection to
expanding the scope of the independent audit this year…it’s really important
that we all have confidence in the information we’re being provided…at this
point, I’m not sure that it’s necessary to retain a different firm from our
independent auditor, KPMG.”
Wardy,
who hadn’t yet made clear if he was supportive of this measure, said, “I think
it would be appropriate for the existing scope and expanded scope be brought
back to Council…and what the expanded services would cost…that’s gonna run into
significant dollars.”
Significant
dollars, indeed! Cushing, Cobos and
Lozano (known affectionately by many as the three stooges), during their open
meetings act violation a few weeks ago, admitted (rather off-handedly) that it
would cost us taxpayers a mere $100,000.
The Great
GASB
Cushing,
who might have felt the need to continue to justify his very expensive request,
then launched into another soliloquy:
One of the troubling
aspects in going back and looking at this, a lot of our audits are done based
on accrual accounting, which basically shows what you have, what goes in, what
is already there established as a quantity which is accepted and what’s left at
the end and I think that we need to move beyond that to find out what exactly
we do have here within the City, and uh, I’d be more than happy to take no
action on this and work with the City Manager’s Office and come forward…in two
weeks…one week.
Wardy
asked for two weeks.
Representative Cook,
referring to Cushing’s comment about the “troubling” accounting, said, “I
could’ve sworn that last year we received an award for conforming with GASB 14,
national recognition for being in conformance with that, so I don’t know where
that comment is actually coming from that we’re not conforming with it.”
Those pesky details! Mr. Cook, I must say that things like awards
and national recognition will not stand in the way of Cushing’s mission: To see that CFO Bill Chapman goes away (via
early retirement, firing, or maybe…a secret confidentiality agreement?).
Cushing had been put on the
spot by Cook. He now had to justify his
accusation and he looked even more unimpressive than Dubya (if such a thing is
humanly possible) trying to convince us that the Duelfer report supports the
rationale for the Iraq war. Cushing
stumbled through his justification by saying, “There are some issues concerning
reporting of, uh, items which there seems to be conflict between, uh, our legal
counsel and, uh, some of the reporting requirements that have been established
new under GASB 14, and, uh, that was where my concern was.”
Cook
asked for a memo outlining these, uh, “concerns.”
Wardy, who had been won over
by Cushing’s brilliant, uh, deconstructive defense then called this audit “a
very prudent exercise.”
Council took no action, but
the City Manager will be, uh, bringing back the information in two weeks.
Detective Cushing’s Opposition to
Progress
The following item was taken
off the consent agenda by Representative Cushing:
16C.
BT2005-031 BUILDING AND PLANNING SERVICES
Building and Planning Services proposes to establish appropriations for the Memorial Park
Library Renovation. Funding source is
Texas State Library grant. (District 2)
(Attachment)
Increase $59,808.29 to 31255001/P50155227679/508027 Construction
Increase $59,808.29 to 31255001/P50155227679/407002 Est Rev
Cushing, putting on his
forensic accountant/detective/pompous deconstructionist hat, graciously took
the time to stop his stretching (the horrific stretching…the kind that says,
“this is my belly…observe and enjoy…”) to comment on this item. He called this budget transfer to augment
funding for improvements to the Memorial Park Library, which is in his
district, “above and beyond what the voters approved.” Horrors!
Cushing claimed that he had unanswered questions about where the money
is coming from and complained that “the amount that would have been required to
do the project of this size has now diminished by 66%.”
Gee…isn’t
that a good thing?!?
Pat Adauto, Assistant City
Manager, said the money being transferred to the project (the item listed
above) is a remaining balance in a Texas Libraries grant that the Comptroller
said was available for the Memorial Park project. She added that the 2004 bond project indeed included “general
building rehab for the facility as well as a 2000 square foot bookstore and
coffee shop.” She further explained
that all parties involved were ready to move forward on the project.
Move forward? Well, Representative Cushing certainly
wouldn’t stand for such progress! He’s
a Wardy man, after all!
Cushing complained that this
expansion was not approved by the voters and moved to postpone the item for a
week to “resolve these issues.”
Adauto, giving it one last
college try said, “Again, this is funding that would augment the balance in the
2004 bond program.”
Council voted unanimously to
postpone progress on this project by one week.
Now that’s progressive, right, Mr. Cobos!?
No Action on ASARCO
After a one-hour-long
executive session and consultations with their attorneys, Council reconvened.
The first item they discussed was one of particular interest to me and many,
many other El Pasoans. Please recall that
not too long ago, the community came together in a beautiful display of
democracy in action. I wish I could’ve
been a fly on the wall for the following item:
25A. Asarco v. TCEQ; In the 261st District Court,
Travis County,
Texas; Cause No. GN401709 (551.071).
[City Attorney's Office, Michele Little
Locke, (915) 541-4550]
Cushing was the first person
to speak after the item was read into the record and stated “I don’t think
there’s anything required on that.”
Cobos
was quick to agree.
“Why
is that, may I ask, Mr. Cobos?” asked Lozano.
“The options…the options and
the, uh, information given to us or explained to us doesn’t warrant any action
at this point in time unless you wanted to entertain a motion,” replied Cobos.
“That’s fine as long as we
understand that we’re following the same decision we are as before,” replied
Lozano.
Cobos added, “Counsel is
keeping us updated and at the proper time we will do what we need to do...so no
action required.”
“No
action,” added Cushing.
And on the next item, the
community got the same non-action:
25B. ASARCO Incorporated Air Quality Permit
No. 20345; TCEQ
Docket No. 2004-0049-AIR. (551.071)
[City Attorney's Office,
Michele Little Locke, (915)
541-4550]
“No
action,” Cobos quickly said.
How soon we forget hundreds
of people marching on City Hall to demand that Council take action in the
community fight against the re-opening of ASARCO…I mean, what the heck? They’re just citizens, after all.
And
that, my friends, was that.
****
From Sid’s Mailbag:
Because this week’s meeting
was so short and, fortunately or unfortunately, lacked the drama of other
meetings, I thought I’d add another edition of my new personal favorite…Sid’s
Mailbag!
This email from a District 8
constituent expressed disgust with the “consulting contract” awarded to Jim
Martinez:
Sent: Sunday, October 03,
2004 9:30 PM
To: District#3@elpasotexas.gov; District#1@elpasotexas.gov;
District#2@elpasotexas.gov; District#4@elpasotexas.gov; District#6@elpasotexas.gov;
District#7@elpasotexas.gov; District#8@elpasotexas.gov; mayor@elpasotexas.gov
Subject: Jim Martinez
Mayor and council members--
The events that are taking place in City Hall
regarding the "hiring" if Jim Martinez as a City Attorney and now as
the "transition assistant" to the new City Manager not only leave my
blood boiling, they sicken me to no end. My blood pressure goes up every
time I read about what is going on in this administration. Cronyism is
rampant and the salaries that are being paid to Mayor Wardy's people are
disgusting. As a former City employee, I am disgusted at the fact that
this administration is looking at firing long-time knowledgeable City employees
"budgetary purposes" yet is hiring non-qualified friends of the Mayor
for astronomical salaries (astronomical for civil employees, that is). To
say that you are being efficient and effective is a slap in the face of the
well-informed voter and I, for one, am sick of your rhetoric. I am
following the events of City Council very closely and I just can't stand what
I'm reading from week to week. This administration has done nothing of
any real consequence to create a better El Paso. I have
seen nothing about economic development, maintaining our infrastructure,
building and maintaing our parks, spending our taxes more efficiently
without raising them any further, creating a better police/fire force and just
generally creating a better city to live in for the future of our
children. This is pathetic. All I read about is the hiring of this
administration's friends and the firing of those who oppose this administration
(not to mention the hush money that is paid out by our beloved Jim to keep
fired employees quiet). I give the new City Manager (if she's worth
anything) one year before she calls it quits having to work for you
people. She won't even have decision-making power with this
administration! I know that I will have to do more as a citizen of this
City in the next election than just vote. I will have to campaign my
heart out to see to it that better representatives are elected, especially in
my own District #8. I am truly disgusted and appalled with the hiring
practices in the City Attorney's office and wish to see both Lisa Elizondo and
Jim Martinez replaced by municipal attorneys who know what in the hell they are
doing.
The constituent received a
response from nearly ever representative except her own, Representative
Cobos. She’s forwarded me all of the
responses. Here’s Lozano’s response:
"Lozano, Jose A."
<LozanoJA@ci.el-paso.tx.us> wrote:
You,
the community of El Paso are the leaders of our community, you call the shots,
you elect us to office and we response to YOU, my motto is "to protect and
defend your interest", my job is not about hiring city employees, that is
the mayors' or NOW the city Manager's call, if Mr. Martinez
or Mrs Elizondo do not do a good job, she will fine new persons and I will
support her, I was against paying Mr. Martinez the $3,000. a week to assist our
new manager, we have 4 assistant city manager! and yes, I do not agree
with you on the high salaries many city employees get.
Here’s Vivian Rojas’
response:
Thank you for your e-mail regarding the concerns
of this administration. Not all council members are in the same boat or do
we all rubberstamp the selection of Mr. Jim Martinez. I for one, did not
vote for Mr. Jim Martinez to be interviewed and therefore, considered as a top
City Manager candidate finalist. I also, did not vote for the approval to
hire Mr. Martinez as a city attorney at the $165,000.00 salary per year.
Also, regarding this latest contract in which Mr. Martinez was hired for a
salary of $2, 900+ to assist Ms. Joyce Wilson during her transitional period as
the new City Manger, there were only three votes against this contract:
Rep. Cook, Rep. Lozano and myself. The majority of the votes were in
favor of the contract. Therefore, I commend you for expressing your
concerns to the Mayor, City Council and your respective city representative
Representative Cobos. Your vigilence and your opinion are greatly
appreciated.
Sincerely,
Vivian
Rojas
City Council Representative - District
#7
phone (915) 541-4108
fax (915) 541-4134
District#7@elpasotexas.gov
And finally, here’s Wardy’s
response and her exchange with him:
Wardy, Joe"
<WardyJ@elpasotexas.gov> wrote:
Your opinion as a citizen of El Paso is very
welcome. However your distortion of the facts and misunderstanding of the facts
is surely the cause of your tone.The citizens of El Paso deserve the best value
for their tax dollars. The changes made in city government were very necessary
to achieve organizational improvements.
Joe Wardy
----
Date: Mon, 4 Oct 2004 17:16:09 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: RE: Jim Martinez
To: "Wardy, Joe"
Mayor--
Thanks for taking the time to respond. It
would be wonderful if the citizens of El Paso were truly getting the
best value for our tax dollars. Unfortunately, all I see is
organizational disfunction. Please reconsider Lisa Elizondo's and Jim
Martinez' positions with the City. They are an embarrassment to
upright and moral government and provide no value-added services to the
taxpayers. They are not even qualified by municipal standards to do their
jobs! Please do the right thing and help us move forward towards better
city government for ALL, not just the few.
In the Navy
And finally, an astute
reader pointed out that Wardy’s use of the term “shakedown” might not have been
as ominous or “gaffe-like” as my notes made it seem. Here’s what he had to say:
I
enjoy reading your column, but I have to correct you on the red flags raised by
Mayor Wardy's comments on a "shakedown" term. That's a naval
term, referring to when a new ship is first put afloat, it undergoes a
"shakedown" cruise, to work out any kinks in machinery, systems,
etc. So, in fairness to the mayor, that is an entirely innocuous and
completely appropriate use of the phrase.
(Point taken. But pssst…it also means
corruption!)
I’d like to thank all my
readers for their great emails, their support and their commitment to good
government!
Until next week…