1.11.2005
Another short meeting,
folks! I hope these short meetings
continue so that we can begin to focus on campaigns, candidates and the May
election. So, that said, let’s get
started on this week’s meeting.
La Dolce Vita
Before the meeting began,
Wardy announced, “It’s not posted on the agenda, but we have some business to
take care of.” This business involved
giving honorary citizenship certificates to International students from Fort
Bliss. As they received their
certificates and shook hands with Council, Wardy told one of them, “I’m gonna
be in Italy in about five months; I’ll look you up!” Obviously Wardy’s already planned his post-election
vacation. I hope he’s in no hurry to
get back…In fact, I’m hopin’ he won’t have his job as the mayor to come back
to! You go ahead and relax, Joe.
More Mass Transit Suspicions
As I’ve mentioned before,
the Mass Transit Board (MTB) meetings take place every other Tuesday (the Mayor
and Council are the board members).
Council will suspend the regular Council meeting to convene the usually
quick and generally uneventful MTB meetings.
Recently, however, there was
some controversy (generated by moi)
about a large bid that was not awarded to big-time Wardy contributor Albert
Gamboa. Wardy and Cobos did their
darndest to switch points around (you know, with their points switcheroo game)
and, since then, I’ve been watching these meetings more closely.
This week, Robert Cushing
asked that the following bid on the MTB agenda be postponed:
3.
Resolution authorizing the Chairman to sign on behalf of the City, an agreement
for Consultant Services by and between the City Of El Paso and AMEC Earth &
Environmental, Inc., for a project known as the "Sun Metro Diesel
Remediation Project" in an amount not to exceed SEVEN HUNDRED FORTY
THOUSAND DOLLARS AND NO/100 DOLLARS ($740,000.00). (Action 05-03) (Attachment)
Once it was read into the
record, Cushing quickly said, “Mayor, since in the backup we weren’t given any
documentation of how this, uh, company was awarded this contract, all we have
is the contract itself, I request a one-week postponement on this…er…the next
mass transit board meeting so we can review the contract.”
Before Cushing could even
finish his sentence, Paul Escobar gave Cushing’s motion a second.
I know that most folks think
I’m pretty paranoid and a little cynical…and to that, I say…I agree! But based on this Council’s history, and
especially that of Robert Cushing, Anthony Cobos and Joe Wardy, whenever they
call into question a purchasing item, I have to question their intentions. Historically, they’ve pulled specific
purchasing items off the record so they can play the points switcheroo game
(it’s a little like monopoly, wink wink), and the final recipient is usually
one of their campaign contributors. (It
sure would be nice if in this monopoly game that is City Hall politics Wardy
& Co. pulled the Go to Jail card.
However, since this is highly unlikely, we’ll have to do the hard work
and vote the rascals out.)
If I’m wrong about Cowardy’s
questioning of this bid, and they honestly just need to look at how the item
was bid, I’ll be quick to admit my error.
But I remain suspicious, and I’m going to do some digging and get back
to you folks.
The Case of the Missing Minutes
Approved on the consent
agenda was the following item:
2. APPROVAL
OF MINUTES: [Municipal Clerk, Richarda Duffy Momsen, (915) 541-4127]
Approval of Minutes for the Regular City Council
Meetings of April 22 and 29, 2003; May 27, 2003; and January 4, 2005.
Unfortunately, there were no
notes attached for my review…consequently, there are none for your review
either! Here we have another couple of
sets of minutes from the previous administration that are being approved over a
year later. I would’ve enjoyed
reviewing those.
Jimbo’s Meeting…deleted
During the revisions to the
agenda, the following item was deleted:
20. CITY ATTORNEY:
[City Attorney's Office, James A. Martinez, (915) 541-4550] Discussion and action regarding the
following cases and request by Senator Eliot Shapleigh to have the City's
attorneys and/or staff conduct a personal briefing for him regarding the status
of the following cases and the City's plans for same:
Asarco v. TCEQ v. City of El Paso, In the 261st
District Court, Travis County, Texas; Cause No. GN401709
ASARCO Incorporated Air Quality Permit No. 20345;
TCEQ, Docket No. 2004-0049-AIR
No word on what happened
with this or why it was deleted. When I
find out, I’ll share the information with you.
Citizens of Central…Your Library Cometh!
For those of you who live in
Central El Paso:
4A. That the Mayor be authorized to sign an Agreement
for Architectural Services by and between the CITY OF EL PASO and ALVIDREZ
ARCHITECTURE, INC., for a project known as "Memorial Park Branch
Library", in an amount not to exceed THIRTY-SIX THOUSAND FOUR HUNDRED AND
NO/100 DOLLARS ($36,400.00). Funding
source - 4200408/PBE04L10229167/508016 (District 2) (Attachment) [Engineering
Department, Irene Ramirez, (915) 541-4431]
This is one of the 2000
Quality of Life Bond projects that is finally getting underway (five years
later). This was also the same project
that Representative Cushing made a fuss about because the scope of the work was
going to exceed what was originally in the bond projects. Thankfully, the City-operated bookstore and
coffee shop are still a part of this project and will be a nice addition to
that part of town.
A Police Foundation?
I found the following to be
an interesting item. I don’t know much
about it, but it passed on the consent agenda:
4F. That the Mayor be authorized to sign a Management
Agreement between the City of El Paso and the El Paso Police Foundation
defining their respective rights and responsibilities with respect to the
Police Department. (Attachment) [Police
Department, Assistant Chief Paul Cross, (915) 564-7310]
The agenda attachment states
that, “Council approved the formation of a Police Foundation on July 13, 2004
and provided the members six months to incorporate and enter into the
management agreement in question.”
There is mention of this foundation being a non-profit that can solicit
donations for the Police Department. I
need to mull this over…don’t know if ordinary citizens contributing money to
the police department is a good thing or not.
When Incompetence = Efficiency*
*This spurious
definition of “incompetence” was found in the 2004 edition of “Barbie’s Fun
Words Dictionary”—for more information, consult the El Paso City Attorney
Representative Paul Escobar
(who seems to have recently become a big supporter of Lisa Elizondo’s office
and has been rushing to her office’s defense whenever it has been questioned),
said that he had been asked to move the following item up:
7.
Appointment of Jennifer Farleo Callan as Assistant City Attorney
effective January 18, 2005. (Attachment) [City Attorney's
Office, Lisa A. Elizondo, (915) 541-4550]
Yet another assistant City
Attorney has fled City Hall under Lisa Elizondo’s “leadership,” so Lisa E. has
to replace that individual. Gee…how
many attorneys have quit now (including those she herself hired)?
Representative John Cook
said he wanted this taken off the consent agenda because he wanted a separate
vote; Escobar quickly moved to approve.
Anthony Cobos asked Cook why he wanted a separate vote, and Cook said
that he still (like so many of us) has concerns about Assistant City Attorney salaries.
Our $143,000-a-year City
Attorney Lisa Elizondo responded that the new Assistant City Attorney will be
paid $83,000. Sitting behind Elizondo
was “El Superstar,” the $165,000-a-year Assistant City Attorney, a/k/a Jimbo
with the jumbo salary. Hey…wait a
minute! ”El Superstar”…I like that! In fact, I can see it now…Jimbo with the
jumbo salary, a/k/a “El Superstar” in his new starring role in Lucha
Libre! Can’t you see him in one of
those Mexican wrestler suits…wearing a black body-tank suit and a green
mask. I love it!
Elizondo told Council that
“the replacement was making $91,000.” (She meant to say that “the one who is
being replaced,” not the “the replacement”.)
“So, we’re saving money?”
asked Cobos. Elizondo said they
are. Au contraire, mon frère! While this new Assistant City Attorney will
be making less than the old Assistant City Attorney, that office has more
inflated salaries in other positions than ever before (in fact, when you add
the salaries of the top three attorneys in that office – Elizondo, Martinez and
Cullen-Garney – their salaries alone are costing taxpayers nearly half a
million dollars a year! What a great
gig.)
Lobbing a friendly softball
question at her, Paul Escobar then asked, “You’ve also cut down on staff
attorneys, is that right?”
Responding, Elizondo
bragged: “By a significant number. We’ve reduced the office from 27 down to
currently 17 if you approve this appointment.”
An alert (and reliable)
reader informed me that Lisa Elizondo wasn’t being honest with that claim. In the days preceding the rule of Lisa E.
there were not 27 attorneys…there were only 20 on staff. But, hey, what’s seven lawyers among
friends?
Escobar then asked Elizondo
if she was generating the same amount of hours. She said that she now has her attorneys keeping track of their
time and added, “We will produce three times as many documents as 2003.” Well, that is one measure of efficiency, Ms.
Elizondo. But legal departments are
about a lot more than generating paper, or didn’t you know that?
And by the way, folks, some of
the documents Lisa has her attorneys produce are memos to help her understand
legal issues so she can answer basic questions on Council. I suspect that previous City Attorneys, who
actually knew the law, didn’t need nearly as many memos explaining basic legal
issues. Nevertheless, Lisa will
undoubtedly continue to brag about those proliferating documents; I believe
many of them represent nothing more than embarrassing examples of her
incompetence.
“So you are three times more
efficient with less attorneys?” asked the ever solicitous Escobar.
“That is correct,” she
said.
Folks, to quote the mayor,
this is “baloney.” This City Attorney
has paid hundreds of thousands of dollars in fees to her buddy, Carl Green (a
private, outside attorney at a high-priced law firm in town), who had to take
over the City’s litigation because, as Elizondo openly admitted at a City
Council meeting, her office had neither the competence nor the experience to
handle the 40 cases she turned over to him.
Elizondo again bragged that
she was having her attorneys document how much time they spend on their cases,
something akin to keeping a list of “billable” hours in the private sector.
“Ms. Elizondo…I don’t know
about being a lawyer [a shocking admission from lawyer-in-his-own-mind Robert
Cushing], but when you talk about billable hours, is that an accepted business
practice with attorneys that they at least show billable hours so you can know
what they’re doing and not doing or as you say, documents and everything?”
asked Cushing.
“Right,” she responded,
explaining that it helps her know what the attorneys are spending their time on
and it helps her track grant funds.
Cushing asked, “And prior to
you coming into office, this had not been done even though it’s pretty much
accepted legal practice from a business standpoint?”
“Right,” she said.
Serving Multiple Masters?
No, Bob, I do not believe it
is “accepted legal practice” for government attorneys to maintain diaries of
their billable hours, since they typically don’t submit bills to anyone—but I
would be interested to know from any of you government lawyers out there if it
is. I wonder if the real reason
Elizondo has them keep track of their hours is because she allows her lawyers
to maintain a practice outside of their responsibilities at City Hall. That’s right, folks. Lisa E. is allowing our assistant city
attorneys to work for other clients. (I
guess their salaries just aren’t high enough.)
I sure hope they’re not working for those private clients during normal
working hours. This merits further
investigation. Of course, since we
don’t have a real newspaper in town, I won’t hold my breath.
Anyway, when the vote was
taken, the only person to oppose Elizondo was Cook, as he has consistently done
for some time now.
Lozano’s Loopy Listing
I was waiting for the
following item to gain a better understanding of Representative Alexandro
Lozano’s bizarre logic. At the same
time, however, the prospect of entering into Mr. Lozano’s thinking process made
me shudder with fear and trembling:
18B. Discussion and action regarding the City's
follow-up on the continued illegal dumping and lack of maintenance on the
properties located at 7204 1/2, 7208, 7210, 7212, 7214, 7216, 7218, 7220, 7222,
7224, 7226, and 7228 North Loop as previously presented to Council; and to
direct the City Manager to remedy these properties immediately by notifying the
owner to correct the violations that present a fire and safety hazard within
thirty days, or will be repaired or demolished by the City of El Paso, through
the appropriate City departments and application of all appropriate ordinances
that all citizens of the City of El Paso are required to adhere to. [Representative Jose Alexandro Lozano, (915)
541-4515]
My friends, Lozano has
(appropriately) been complaining about the deplorable condition of and safety
issues relating to these properties for some time now. But when the time came for Council to take
action on these properties and to condemn a building on them, Lozano
(inappropriately) rushed to the defense of the property owner, Jose Escobar
(who’s related to David Escobar, troika member), asking for a postponement of
the demolition order by the City.
“And as you can see, uh,”
began Lozano, “it’s been since day one of my entering this office I made a note
of these properties and yet they seem to stay as they are and continue to grow
on their debris and their trash, so at one point we’re gonna have to stop
this.”
To use one of Wardy’s pet
clichés, I’m confused by this exercise.
“I was hoping we could order
the owner to put a bar, uh, a gate, uh, a fence and clean up,” Lozano added.
The department showed
photographs of property that was littered with weeds and construction debris
and that also contained a dilapidated structure (the one the City wanted
condemned). Alan Schubert, Director of
Building, Permits and Inspections, gave a chronology of events related to this
property, beginning in December 2003, and noted all the enforcement work that
had been done to date.
Tom Maguire, Building
Inspector, explained that Council had an opportunity to condemn the property on
November 9, 2004, “At that time, Mr. Lozano, you requested that it be postponed
for three weeks,” noted Maguire, adding, “It came back on November 30th
after nothing had been done and it was condemned by order of Council in order
to be demolished within 30 days. The
building has been demolished, but the property hasn’t been cleaned up yet.”
Maguire, then speaking
directly to Lozano said, “I don’t understand why the department is being
faulted for not taking action when we were ready to go after eleven months, and
you requested it be postponed for three weeks.
I don’t think that’s a fair position to put us in.”
You’re right, Mr. Maguire,
it ain’t fair; it ain’t logical either.
But then, don’t forget with whom you’re dealing.
Lozano responded, “No, no,
I’m not blaming any department, I’m just saying that you know, what are we
gonna do about it. Uh, the composition
[sic] made by Mr. Schubert, thank you, that information I wasn’t aware. I was not being told that you’ve been after
this, and if you’d uh got in my office and said, you know, ‘I’m on it, we’re on
it,’ this is what we’ve done I would’ve been all right. On the house, I talked to the owner and he
was gonna do something about it and I said, ‘Do something and we’ll work it
out,’ but I guess he didn’t and then that’s why I postpone it.”
Does that make any sense to
any of you? If it does, you many want
to consult a mental health expert.
“We don’t seem to fix the
problem,” complained Lozano. (We’ll
have a golden opportunity to solve the larger problem – an incompetent
municipal administration -- come this May, Mr. Lozano.)
“Well, Mr. Lozano,”
responded Maguire, “all I can say is I tried to fix the problem, and once I was
ready to take action, it was postponed.”
“Then can we do a
condemnation here?” asked Lozano.
“It’s been done,” said
Maguire.
“Let the City clean and
we’ll just put a lien against it,” ordered Lozano.
“We’re doing that,” said
Joyce Wilson, our City Manager. As
usual, everybody is twelve steps ahead of the hapless Lozano. District 3 residents, please tell me you’ve
had enough of this guy!
“Then I’m happy,” said
Lozano. Wardy, acting like the
happy-go-lucky facilitator he is in this dysfunctional family said, “Mr.
Lozano, when you’re happy, I’m happy.”
Sigh.
Folks, can this get any more
absurd?
Cleaning Up After Emma
The following (long) item
was taken off the consent agenda by Lisa Turner:
4J. That the Solid Waste Management Department be
authorized to terminate for Notice the separate Recycling Agreements between
the City of El Paso and:
1.
Alameda Thrift Pharmacy dated September 24, 2002 pursuant to the
provisions and requirements of Section 10, Termination Clause. The termination shall be effective as of
December 27, 2004. (District 3) (Attachment) [Solid Waste
Management, Ellen A. Smyth, (915) 621-6719]
2.
Asset Real Estates Services, LLC dated August 12, 2003 pursuant to the
provisions and requirements of Section 10, Termination Clause. The termination shall be effective as of
December 27, 2004. (District 7)(Attachment) [Solid Waste
Management, Ellen A. Smyth, (915) 621-6719]
3. Choicepoint Precision
Marketing dated March 23, 2004 pursuant to the provisions and requirements of
Section 10, Termination Clause. The
termination shall be effective as of December 27, 2004. (District 8) (Attachment) [Solid Waste
Management, Ellen A. Smyth, (915) 621-6719]
4. Ysleta Independent School District for
Desert View Middle School dated August 12, 2003 pursuant to the provisions and
requirements of Section 10, Termination Clause. The termination shall be effective as of December 27, 2004. (District 6) (Attachment) [Solid Waste
Management, Ellen A. Smyth, (915) 621-6719]
5. Highlands Regional
Rehabilitation Hospital dated February 25, 2003 pursuant to the provisions and
requirements of Section 10, Termination Clause. The termination shall be effective as of December 27, 2004. (District 7) (Attachment) [Solid Waste
Management, Ellen A. Smyth, (915) 621-6719]
6. International Copy Machine
Center dated March 17, 1998 pursuant to the provisions and requirements of
Section 10, Termination Clause. The
termination shall be effective as of December 27, 2004. (District 5) (Attachment) [Solid Waste
Management, Ellen A. Smyth, (915) 621-6719]
7. JTS Car Wash dated October
14, 2003 pursuant to the provisions and requirements of Section 10, Termination
Clause. The termination shall be effective as of December 27, 2004. (District
3) (Attachment) [Solid Waste
Management, Ellen A. Smyth, (915) 621-6719]
8. KRONE, Inc. dated March 19,
2002 pursuant to the provisions and requirements of Section 10, Termination
Clause. The termination shall be
effective as of December 27, 2004.
(District 6) (Attachment) [Solid Waste
Management, Ellen A. Smyth, (915) 621-6719]
9. La Posada Home, Inc. dated
June 15, 2004 pursuant to the provisions and requirements of Section 10,
Termination Clause. The termination shall be effective as of December 27,
2004. (District 8) (Attachment) [Solid Waste
Management, Ellen A. Smyth, (915) 621-6719]
10. Ysleta Independent School District
for Lancaster Elementary School dated August 12, 2003 pursuant to the
provisions and requirements of Section 10, Termination Clause. The termination shall be effective as of
December 27, 2004. (District 6) (Attachment)[Solid Waste
Management, Ellen A. Smyth, (915) 621-6719]
11. Rio Grande/Rio Bravo Basin Coalition (Coalicion
de Cuenca del Rio Bravo/Rio Grande) dated November 20, 2001 pursuant to the
provisions and requirements of Section 10, Termination Clause. The
termination shall be effective as of December 27, 2004. (District 8) (Attachment) [Solid Waste
Management, Ellen A. Smyth, (915) 621-6719]
12. Rudolph Honda, Inc. dated
November 20, 2001 pursuant to the provisions and requirements of Section 10,
Termination Clause. The termination shall be effective as of December 27,
2004. (District 1) (Attachment) [Solid Waste
Management, Ellen A. Smyth, (915) 621-6719]
13. Stewart Title of El Paso
dated July 16, 2002 pursuant to the provisions and requirements of Section 10,
Termination Clause. The termination shall be effective as of December 27, 2004.
(District 4) (Attachment) [Solid Waste
Management, Ellen A. Smyth, (915) 621-6719]
14. Thomas Manor Elementary
School dated September 30, 2003 pursuant to the provisions and requirements of
Section 10, Termination Clause. The
termination shall be effective as of December 27, 2004. (District 7) (Attachment) [Solid Waste
Management, Ellen A. Smyth, (915) 621-6719]
15. Anaya-Guerrero Investments
Corp. d/b/a Tony Roma's Restaurant dated August 20, 2002 pursuant to the
provisions and requirements of Section 10, Termination Clause. The termination shall be effective as of
December 27, 2004. (District 8) (Attachment) [Solid Waste Management,
Ellen A. Smyth, (915) 621-6719]
Turner asked for some more
information and Ellen Smyth, Director of Solid Waste Management, explained that
she discovered all these terminations in a file (which apparently have to be
approved by Council), and added, “None of these have ever been brought back
before you…we just needed to clean up our files. They should’ve been coming before you as they occurred for the
last two years, but apparently you haven’t seen one of these in over two
years.”
The previous director, Emma
Acosta, apparently hadn’t been bringing these before Council when she was
running the department.
Cushing, in an obvious
attempt to shore up Lisa Eizondo while taking a swipe at Emma Acosta, asked,
“Ellen, would it be fair to say that kinda like the problem we had in the legal
department that this was a bookkeeping issue that shoulda been kept up with in
previous times?” While I agree that Ms.
Acosta’s stewardship of Solid Waste left much to be desired, trying to justify
the carnage that Lisa Elizondo has wrought in the City Attorney’s Office by
comparing that office to Solid Waste isn’t just offensive, it’s laughable. More of Cushing’s pathetic humor, I guess.
“That’s correct,” Smyth
said, “There’s a lot of those in Solid Waste.”
From what I’ve heard, Smyth
is doing a good job cleaning up the Solid Waste Department. For you folks who live in District 7, Emma
Acosta has announced she will be running for city rep. One can only hope that a better candidate
emerges than either her or the incumbent; otherwise, what a depressing choice
voters in that district will face.
The motion to approve the
items passed unanimously.
Recycling Isn’t Just for Neat Freaks or Forgetful
Beer Drinkers
As a frequent recycler (hey,
fishers love their planet, too!) I was looking forward to the recycling issue
on the following item:
23. CITY
MANAGER: City Manager's report of
current events and issues:
a. Pilot
curbside recycling program and discussion with Council (Attachment)
b. Notice of
upcoming meetings and events to take place in the City
The City Manager explained
that the pilot recycling program was set to begin soon and wanted Smyth to
publicly brief Council. The pilot
program (a three-month survey) will eventually include 5,000 containers to be
delivered in the next eight weeks and will start off with a limited first
deployment. This deployment will take
place on Monday January 17th, will consist of 1,000 containers, and
will be limited to a cushy upper valley neighborhood.
Residents of that upper
valley neighborhood will fill the recycle bins (which are identical to our
current grey garbage bins, but will have blue lids instead of grey) and put the
recycling out to be collected on the same day as their garbage. Residents won’t have to separate the
recycling into different bags; they just place all their 1 and 2 plastics,
newspaper, junk mail, cardboard, and aluminum in the large container.
Smyth explained that glass
will not be part of the accepted recycling materials because it would be too
expensive; Wardy asked her to look into it anyway because he’s “sick of pickin’
up beer bottles by my house and other bottles.”
Well, if Mr. Joe would just
dispose of those beer bottles properly in the first place after he was done
with them, he’d be okay. I guess some
people get kinda forgetful after they’ve had a six-pack or two (not that your
fisher-columnist buddy would know anything about that!).
Smyth warned that if
City-wide curb-side recycling is implemented, “it will cost some amount of
money,” but she said the City could increase other rates in order to cover the
additional costs.
Mr. Loopy…er…Lozano
complained about Smyth picking the “cleanest, prettiest, most expensive”
neighborhood in town and said she wouldn’t get the best representation of
whether or not recycling would work in El Paso because the rest of the city
isn’t as “neat.” Hey, Alexandro, we
slobs in the rest of the city like to recycle too you know.
City Manager Joyce Wilson
reminded Lozano that this was just one neighborhood that would be included in
the pilot program.
Cobos thanked Smyth, saying
that Solid Waste was “in shambles” until she took over and told the media that
this should be the story of the day. No
problem, Mr. Cobos, especially since the media evidently isn’t interested in
any other stories (you know, like your corruption, the bid rigging, the crisis
in the City Attorney’s office, etc.).
But I agree, and believe
that this is indeed a great first step.
I wholeheartedly support curbside recycling because it’s good for the
community and helps save expensive landfill space. And because Smyth eliminated so many neighborhood recycling sites
(which angered this columnist, who has had to drive around searching for one),
this would be a great way to get it done conveniently.
John Cook, who said he had
asked legal to look into whether or not the City could give consumers a
discount for participating in the program (but said he didn’t get a “really
good answer” from legal), said he thought crediting folks instead of charging
them would provide the greatest incentive for recycling.
Elizondo, bristling at the
charge that she hadn’t responded effectively to Cook’s inquiry, said, “I do
think that you asked my office to look at that. I do think that it was our opinion that you could proceed with a
credit. I think we issued a written
opinion [no doubt adding nicely to that one-third increase in “documents produced”—kinda
reminds me of when McDonald’s used to tout the “billions and billions served”]
but I will double check when we get out of this meeting and forward that to you
for your convenience.”
Someone’s
getting sensitive! It’s very
interesting, folks, seeing the mutual, intense dislike between our City
Attorney and John Cook. The added bonus
for this columnist is that every flare-up breaks up the monotony of Council.
ASARCO Again
Council went into executive
session at 10:45 and came out of a little after noon. When they did, Richarda Mosen, Municipal Clerk, informed Council
that there was a member of the public signed up to speak on the ASARCO
executive session items:
24A. ASARCO Particulate Reduction Contract
Enforcement. (551.071) [City Attorney's Office, James A. Martinez, (915)
541-4550]
Wardy announced that there
would be no action on item 24A.
Rick Provencio asked to
speak on those items and said he wanted more information. He wanted to know if that item covered
community service ASARCO was supposed to perform for the City.
Wardy said it did not and
that the issues discussed dealt “with our counsel that will represent El Paso
on the contested case hearing.”
Provencio said that discussion involved item 24C, but he wanted to know
what item 24A was about.
Jimbo a/k/a Jabba a/k/a “El
Superstar” Martinez said the agenda item did not have to do with community
service and was posted as a “prophylactic measure.” He added, “It relates to a particulate reduction contract…the
paving contract.”
Provencio asked if this
contract was based on a 1999 consent decree, and Wardy said it was. “They are in arrears on their part of that
so we brought it to their attention and we’re trying to get a better deal,” Wardy
said. Buy ‘em by the gross, that’s what
I always say.
Provencio asked if they’re
trying to get a better deal for the City or for ASARCO?
Wardy, who was irritated by
the question asked, “Well, what do you think?”
“Well, I wonder; that’s why
I have to ask,” responded Provencio.
“What do you wonder then,”
asked Wardy, looking like he was on the verge of an angry breakdown.
“Well, that you’re not gonna
reduce their…” said Provencio, but was interrupted by Wardy, who asked, “Why
would we do something stupid like that?” How much time do you have for a complete response to that question
there Mr. Joe?
“Well,” responded Provencio,
“Just to get something out of them.”
“It’s not gonna happen,”
said Wardy. “That’s why we ask
questions,” said Provencio. “Well,
good,” said Wardy. Council took no
action on the item.
El Superstar Goes to Austin
There were still two other
ASARCO related executive session items to discuss. This was the next item:
24B. Asarco v. TCEQ v. City of El Paso, In the 261st
District Court, Travis County, Texas; Cause No. GN401709. (551.071) [City Attorney's Office, James A.
Martinez, (915) 541-4550]
Cushing explained to Mr.
Provencio that this item relates to “the ongoing court case where ASARCO has
sued the TCEQ…questioning their power…to force a contested case
hearing…basically we have very qualified attorneys who are representing us in
this areas…no additional action needed” to allow the contested hearing to go
forward. That’s right, Bob. In Austin we have El Superstar. (Do you think he wears the cape and mask in
the courtroom? That would be
cool.) To be honest, I can’t imagine
why ASARCO hasn’t just folded in fear.
Cook added, “What we’re
doing is we just needed to post this on the agenda so we could have a
briefing…so the opposition doesn’t find out what we’re talking about.”
Then came the next item:
24C. ASARCO Incorporated Air Quality Permit No.
20345; TCEQ, Docket No. 2004-0049-AIR.
(551.071) [City Attorney's
Office, James A. Martinez, (915) 541-4550]
“So, if I may assume, you
guys are talking about what you’re going to say when that comes up,” asked
Provencio. Wardy said they gave their
legal counsel instructions.
Cobos made a motion to
“authorize the city’s lawyers to proceed in the case of ASARCO Incorporated Air
Quality Permit as recommended by the city’s lawyers.”
The motion was seconded by
Cushing.
Provencio wanted to know if
the City was hiring outside counsel, and Wardy said that Erich Birch, who was
seated, was representing the City.
Provencio asked if there
were any conflicts of interest; Wardy said that Birch has no conflicts of
interest and has given the City excellent legal advice.
Cook said that their legal
department asked Shapleigh for a list of other attorneys and Wardy said that
Shapleigh could also volunteer to represent the City since he had been “so
eloquent in his opposition to the way we’re doing it.” Cook also said that Shapleigh had not
responded.
Provencio wanted to know how
much time had been spent on the hearing and Elizondo said that she would go
back and check, but that the hours were kept primarily by Birch and then she
looked behind to Martinez, I mean El
Superstar, then Elizondo simply shrugged.
Provencio asked if Birch had
represented anyone other than the industry, and Wardy said he had represented a
number of different clients and called him competent. Provencio also wanted to know if there was any truth to the rumor
that Birch had a conflict of interest in the district court case that Martinez
would have to handle (Cobos sarcastically asked if Provencio had heard that
rumor “at a rally last Saturday”).
El Superstar explained,
“Conflicts come up for lawyers occasionally.
Mr. Birch does not have a conflict in representing the City. After visiting with him…we chose to engage him
to represent the City in the air permit action but not to engage him to
represent the City in the district court case in Austin.”
Martinez didn’t explain why
Birch wasn’t hired to represent the City in both matters.
Wardy, who quickly becomes
irritated when confronted by any questions from the public, said, “It amazes me
sometimes in our community…in this one there’s not degrees of how much somebody
cares…it’s not a contest to see who cares more about the city…I assure you that
we will mount a strong case.” Encore une
fois, au contraire! There are indeed
degrees of how much people care about the city, Mr. Mayor. I would say your degree is exceedingly
small—approaching absolute zero—especially compared to your love of your big
campaign contributors and the Greater Chamber.
Escobar then piped in. “It’s one thing to battle ASARCO on this
issue, but we’re also banging our heads trying to address these rumors,
innuendos...that’s what makes this doubly hard. We’re all on the same side of this issue: We don’t want ASARCO to open up.” Mr. Escobar, you’re either being naïve or
disingenuous. Not everyone on Council
truly opposes ASARCO’s reopening.
“That’s why people like me
would be for more transparent government,” said Provencio. Don’t hold your breath, Mr. Provencio.
Cushing thanked him for
addressing Council and said he supports transparency in government, but that
these matters involve “privileged” information. He bragged about starting his own rumors on the railroad “pipeline.” “So I think what we as a City, we’re looking
at this very much in a very professional manner…as professionals here.” Professionals? Where?
Lozano reiterated that the
Mayor and Council don’t want ASARCO to reopen.
Yeah, just keep saying that, Alexandro.
He added they had to send a strong message to the commission.
Clearing the Air
An alert reader (thank
heavens for those alert readers!) informed me that my assertions last week
about Erich Birch and Brian McGee (the City’s consultants) were not completely
accurate and asked that I keep the two main ASARCO issues separate for
clarity. There’s: (1) there’s ASARCO’s air permit renewal and
their fight against a public hearing by the Texas Commission for Environmental
Quality –TCEQ- (this issue involves Erich Birch and El Superstar Jimbo/Jabba);
and (2) the issue of lead contamination in neighborhoods and the potential
superfund designation (which involves Brian McGee, whom I mentioned last week).
According to this reader, Brian McGee (a toxicologist, not a lawyer) was hired by the
City at the request of the neighborhood associations. His job was to review and explain EPA's and
TCEQ's superfund science for the City and the neighborhood
associations. He indeed previously
worked for Jobe. A coincidence? I’ll leave that decision for my readers.
Eric Birch, the
attorney the City hired and the individual Jimbo was talking about (www.erichbirch.com) has worked for both industry and
the government. This reader says that
the elevated level (from 500 parts per million to 640 parts per million) came
directly from TCEQ in late July, before Birch was hired. Birch’s involvement is in the air permit
renewal issue.
I’d like to thank my alert
readers for keeping me on my toes!
More “Efficiency?”
And the following item was
the last one voted on and discussed in executive session:
24D. Rolando Parra, Juan Aragon, Enrique Aragon
Romero, Manuel Aragon, Guadalupe Aragon and Josefina Aragon vs. Officer C.
Jones, Officer D. Medina, Officer O'Connor, Officer Mendoza, Officer Mendez,
Officer Corral, K-9(7), Sgt. Gaither and The City of El Paso, Texas; Cause No.
EP-04-CA-0420-DB in the United States District Court for the Western District
of Texas. (551.071) [City Attorney's Office, James A. Martinez, (915) 541-4550]
Cobos made a motion to
authorize the City Attorney to hire outside counsel for this case; the motion
passed unanimously.
And that was that for this
week’s meeting.
Got Homes?
This week, our very
developer-friendly mayor, Joe Wardy, announced during a Public Service Board
meeting that El Paso just doesn’t have enough affordable homes to accommodate
the 3,800 soldiers who will be moving to Fort Bliss in the next three years.
According
to the El Paso Times article, Wardy
stated “he would push for the sale
of 500 to 1,000 more acres of PSB land in the Northeast to meet the demand for
affordable housing” (http://www.borderlandnews.com/stories/borderland/20050113-11440.shtml).
Hmmm. Interesting. Well, folks, take a wild guess as to who builds “affordable
homes” in northeast El Paso? That’s
right! You guys are on your toes! It’s
none other than Bobby Bowling.
This
housing crisis fear mongering sounds suspiciously like Wardy’s shout-out to his
posse (the developers, particularly his string-pullers, the Bowlings) on
election day. During his victory
speech, Wardy declared that El Paso was in a housing crisis: “We're
short 30,000 homes in this community!” (http://www.borderlandnews.com/May2003elex/stories/20030504-109071.shtml).
This is probably but one
item on Wardy’s “Things to do for my cronies in order to get re-elected”
list. We’ll have to wait and see what
other disastrous items trickle out from that list.
Meeting Alert!
And finally, here are two
special City Council meetings that folks should consider attending:
1.20.05 re: City Manager
form of government: http://www.elpasotexas.gov/city_clerk/sccm_011405.asp
1.21.05 re: arroyos
http://www.elpasotexas.gov/city_clerk/sccm.asp
Until next week, my friends.
Comments or questions: shmaven@yahoo.com
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