Last May, the LEDC told City council they needed ANOTHER$1.974 millionto REALLY finish the job they started back in 2004 (and claimed to have completed in 2015).
The cost totals for “Phase I” (which is actually Phase II) can be seen on pages 14 and 15 linked HERE – and here are the snapshots:
Remember: that $1.974 million total is WITH a 10% contingency ALREADY BUILT IN.
The water/wastewater total is $577,607 and that is also WITH a 10% contingency already built in.
(Don’t forget that the Toups administration ALREADY wasted$678,000for “water/wastewater” with Qro Mex back in 2015/2016):
Of course, that “Phase I” estimate above was from February 5th, 2020 (as you can see from the top of the page). I said repeatedly a few months later when the LEDC came to council for money (the $1.5 million loan from Bancorp) that there was NO WAY that amount was still valid considering the inflation that the Brandon Administration has unleashed.
Fast forward a mere nine months, and LEDC President Misti Talbert decided they need a LOT more cash and goes begging to her FORMER chums on City council in what is a CLEAR conflict of interest. TJ Monroe (current mayor) ALSO sits on the LEDC board – in another massive conflict of interest. TJ Monroe is, in essence, asking herself to approve the grabbing of $971,000 in City money.
Unsurprisingly, TJ Monroe the mayor voted to hand TJ Monroe’s LEDC board the cash:
Misti first buttered up her FORMER COUNCIL BUDDIES with a lame joke about spending Valentine’s Day with them. She further buttered them up by telling them she understands what it’s like to “sit on the other side of that desk” and make these decisions. This is known as “conflict of interest” in most places. Not unlike a piece of shit former Congressman lobbying his former colleagues for millions of dollars for his new company.
Then she drops the hammer. Costs have increased DRAMATICALLY. Why? Well, why not?? This is what Misti does: incinerate massive amounts of tax dollars. It is her calling. She got bored doing it as mayor – so she is now doing it for the LEDC.
The water/wastewater is no longer the $577,607 they assured council they needed 9 months earlier. It is now $971,000– a 68% increase in 270 days:
But that’s not all! They want to add another road in there – the “alternate” plan which adds $610,887. This brings the NEW total up to$2,747,544.50:
So they need another million bucks or so. Don’t worry! Misti has a plan! It had “come to her attention” that the Federal government tossed $1.9 million dollars into Finley’s lap from the American Recovery Act Fund a few months ago!
Finley assured me that the City didn’t even ask for it. He said “in my 25+ years of doing this, I have never seen anything even close to this in amount OR LATITUDE” (emphasis mine).
That “or latitude” part means you could stretch definitions to use it for just about anything. Some of the uses are (again, quoting DIRECTLY from the City manager):
“A wide range of projects including City water and wastewater, drainage, broadband and even rain water collection. As you can imagine, we always have a use for infrastructure funds; for maintenance, capital projects, upgrades etc. We do not anticipate returning any of the funds for non-use.”
Yes, I imagine there are a TON of uses for free money from the Feds – we certainly have need for all of that stuff for the City. Especially broadband, if I recall all the talk for the last 8 years.
But you can forget about all of that now, Citizen of Lampasas, because Misti Talbert and the LEDC just grabbed $971,000 of that money right out from under your noses and will instead be wasting it over at the ‘business’ park in return for phantom pie-in-the-sky jobs (maybe) someday.
Those dollars will go there to die a meaningless death, as have countless millions of dollars before them.
Thanks LEDC and City council! Job well done!