Back in 2018 and 2019 as the costs for the Old City Hall ‘renovation’ were piling up towards a million and a half dollars (while also experiencing almost a year of delays), city Manager Finley “Spinley” deGraffenreid often appeared in the local newspaper to let us all know that the building was TOTALLY worth it.
He said on more than one occasion that it was “for the community” and a “hub” for “civic activities”. He made sure to imply we were NOT wasting $1.5 million just so City council and a few City employees could meet for six hours a month – that would be ridiculous, right?
Here is Finley’s quote from the Dispatch:
The new City Hall and Council chambers would “allow more public participation in council meetings [and] also will provide a place for various community groups to meet. City Manager Finley deGraffenried said the City Council’s vision is to have a facility that encourages public participation and “that could be seen as a hub” for a variety of meetings, civic activities and community groups.
Fast forward to today – and they are holding yet ANOTHER “community meeting” in the old school cafeteria instead of the $1.5 million dollar vanity project. From today’s Radiogram:
“There will be a Combination Lampasas City Council/Town Hall meeting Monday eveningat the Old Middle School Cafeteria. The meeting, which will begin at 5:30pm, will include public input on topics including impacts from the freezing weather and rolling black outs. This will be a combination meeting of City Council and the Town Hall Meeting. This is open to the public, and is at the Old Middle School Cafeteria building at 103 N. Western St.”
First of all, the “public input on rolling blackouts” is completely idiotic. Guess what? It sucked and we all hated it. But it is over now. End of story. All this does is allow a bunch of whiny pussies like Bruce Haywood to stand up and yammer about his frozen pipes for 15 minutes. Then the next clown will say the same thing. Multiply that by 20 people and you have a recipe for a complete circle jerk waste of time.
Secondly, this upcoming City council meeting will ALSO concern the $120,000 “Comprehensive Plan” that was recently finished. This is a far-reaching document that could very well influence almost every facet of this town going forward: roads, land use, buildings, etc. It is EXACTLY the kind of important issue that should be discussed INSIDE COUNCIL CHAMBERS where there is $96,000 worth of A/V equipment to record and preserve the debate and decisions of council members.
One of COUNCIL’S OWN EXCUSES for wasting $1.5 million was to get a “bigger space so we can have more citizen participation”! Monica Wright even went out and spent $12,780 on 100 stackable chairs! So, was that all just a joke?
It appears that it was. The $1.5 million renovation was clearly just for the Seven Goldfish and a few big wigs at City Hall – not for you dirty peasants who paid for the damn thing!