Here is how it all began…(this document will be edited and updated as I comb through the minutes – last update 4/27)
The Lampasas Economic Development Corp (LEDC) used to be known as Lampasas 4B, Inc (it was changed in December of 2001). Lampasas 4B, Inc was incorporated July 13th, 1998. Jack Calvert was mayor and signed the resolution approving the articles of incorporation. Michael Talbot (City Manager at the time) was also present as was Jim Wallace.
Talbot? Now hold on a second while we jump into the Talbot situation:
Talbot…Talbot…where have I heard that name before? Oh right. Current councilman Bob Goodart threw him under the bus in an email to me in November 2020 when I asked Bob’s opinion on the Business Pork. In that email, Goodart told me the following:
“The business park has been a colossal waste of money to this point. The citizens of Lampasas voted to not buy the property, but then the City Manager, Mike Talbot managed to purchase the property through the Lampasas Economic Development Corporation, which is funded by the City of Lampasas.”
No major business wants to build here because we are too far from the interstate, we don’t have a rail head, we don’t have the workforce to sustain it and we don’t have the things that are attractive to those businesses, such as hotels and restaurants and housing. It is my opinion it should be sold to recoup some of the money or at the very least, stop throwing money into it, until there is a firm commitment from a major business to come there.
Well – old Bob lied to me because just this year he enthusiastically voted to “throw another $2.7 million into it”, including allowing Misti Talbert to raid City funds to the tune of $971,000.
Talbot? Talbert? Funny that these two idiots have almost the same name.
But back to our story…
Lampasas 4B, Inc articles of incorporation were then filed with the Secretary of State on September 9, 1998.
For the next three years, it appears they did very little. Then in 2001, they decided to get serious about wasting some big money.
The 4B Inc board hired a company called Angelou Economic Advisory, Inc for $25,000 to draw up an “Economic Master Plan”. Sound familiar? The City paid $120,000 a couple years ago for something similar – the Comprehensive Plan. I’ll bet you a signed dollar than nobody who okayed the Comprehensive Plan had any idea that the City ALREADY went through this back in 2001 and it was a waste of money then, too.
Angelou pushed hard for an industrial park: (6/4/01 minutes) “the development of an industrial park should be a priority“. Craig Benton (4B board member) was also a huge proponent of this idea. In fact, Benton was hoping they would waste money on 200 acres originally!
Angelou ALSO pointed out some obvious problems that I have mentioned myself and which have not changed in 20 years. Namely, that the educational levels of the local labor force are not up to snuff for the types of jobs you need to bring in.
City manager Mike Talbot was a HUGE cheerleader of this park as well. Remember – Talbot was a CITY EMPLOYEE and not an elected official. He was also Executive Director of 4B, Inc. This was a HUGE mistake, in my opinion. This setup gave an inordinate amount of power to a guy who didn’t answer to the voters.
[The more I read about this Talbot guy, the more I am convinced he was a complete shithead. Which may explain why he has had problems in Bastrop as THEIR City manager and finally retired again. He is now sitting pretty collecting a fat pension while Lampasas chokes on a $7 million disaster. Talbot bailed on Lampasas in May of 2006 and left them holding a big bag of shit while he scurried back to Bastrop to grab a paycheck there].
Talbot can be seen in the minutes pushing REPEATEDLY for the 4B Board of directors to shit or get off the pot and do SOMETHING/ANYTHING to change direction and get things moving.
5/12/01 minutes: “Talbot expressed concern of how much longer are we going to continue on the same path. Maybe we need to bite the bullet and do something”
I can safely say Talbot is to blame more than anyone else for steering Lampasas down this disastrous Business Park path. Craig Benton is a very close second. Angelou Economics also pounded the table for a “business park” after the LEDC morons hired them for $25,000.
The most ridiculous part of all of this is that Talbot went out to look at other “industrial parks” in Round Rock, Georgetown, Temple and Killeen. Notice anything about those cities? They have MASSIVE populations compared to Lampasas. From Day One, this moron was biting off WAY more than he could chew – and the LEDC board let him get away with it, no questions asked. These clowns had NO business trying to emulate a big city. None.
Here is the very first notice they posted for their “proposed economic development project”:
The first thing you may notice is that they were going to issue this bond for the purchase, planning, development and construction of a business/industrial park.
Let that sink in for a moment: the original bond was supposed to pay for ALL OF IT. The land, the utilities, the contracted services – everything.
Purchase AND CONSTRUCTION of a business/industrial park, INCLUDING THE INFRASTRUCTURE NECESSARY, and for the promotion or development of new or expanded enterprises.
They even slapped a 1/4 cent sales tax on everyone to pay for it – a tax that remains in effect to this very day 21 years later.
Around this exact same time, there was still some trepidation by a some on City council about going through with all this. According to the minutes (9/4/01):
“Jack Calvert, mayor and citizen, noted that he was skittish about the cost of property. He does not know how we protect ourselves from overpricing”
Others didn’t bother to think twice:
“Glynda Carpenter, Councilwoman and citizen, noted that we definitely need an industrial/business park, because not having one held us back”
[Part of me wonders where morons like Carpenter and Talbot are right now. I’d bet they don’t even live here anymore. Probably in another city, fucking things up there, too].
MONEY WASTING AND WHEEL SPINNING FOR THREE YEARS
They blew a LOT of money on questionable crap in these years (2001, 2002, 2003). Names like The Hogan Corporation, Dr Ray Perryman, Bexar Group and Berkley Enterprises show up in the minutes. Like Angelou, they appear to be serial con men selling big dreams and lots of bullshit to a very gullible group of people. They definitely paid Ray Perryman but the minutes never say how much.
In 2001, they spent $83,000 on “other contractual services”. In 2002 it was $70,973 on “economic development” – no other explanation. In 2003 they blew $185,000 on “other services”!
This has all the appearances of a slush fund run by morons. It looks worse than a college kid with his parents’ credit card for the first time. A LOT of money was flushed down the toilet and there was ZERO accountability.
They were getting nowhere – just spending a lot of money with nothing to show for it. They decided to bring that idiot Angelou BACK to town. The cost was $750 a pop to have him show up and answer questions. In October of 2002, Angelou was STILL demanding they “build a business complex and then go to Austin to try and get businesses interested…”
Angelou stated: “there is still time [to build the park] because of the [poor] economy. It will still take around two years by the time the property is bought“.
After reading a few hundred pages of minutes and the ramblings of Angelou, it is clear he was WAY off on all his predictions. The LEDC paid this con man $25,000 for a “Master Plan” and help, and all he did was put them on a path to the ruin we see now: 19 years later, over $7 million wasted, and zero tenants or legit prospects.
LAND IS FINALLY PURCHASED
But they finally got around to buying some land in chunks here and there in 2004.
The Board of Directors convened a “special meeting” on April 26th, 2004 and voted 5-0 to authorize a $1,100,000.00 bond issuance. Those five people were Paul Wilborn (President), Neal Leavell (Secretary/Treasurer), John Cole (Director), Judith Hetherly (Director) and Debbie Fuller (Director).
[Two members were absent and did not vote (Craig Benton and Steve Hudson)].
They got the $1,100,000.00 at 7% interest!!
Then the land-buying spree commenced:
In April of 2004, they bought 63.639 acres from Jimmie D and Gayle L Meyers for $379,500 ($5,963 per acre):
In May of 2004, they bought 45.02 acres from the Dana Lynn Davis Trust for $270,000 ($5,997 per acre)
Then in August of that year, they bought another 43.29 acres from Leonard Everett Spivey for $260,400 ($6,015 per acre):
That adds up to about 152 acres for $909,900.
We can check this by looking at the 2004 non-profit filing for the LEDC – and there we DO see them carrying “land, buildings and equipment basis” on their books for $909,835 – a mere $65 off my calculations.
I know the land is currently referred to as a “165-acre tract”, so those other 13 acres must have been picked up along the line somewhere for zero dollars (unlikely, in my opinion) or else the “165-acre tract” is wrong and it’s only 152 acres. I can find no record of it.
Nevertheless, the land was appraised by Herbst Real Estate in 2012 and was said to be worth $817,978.
This represent a loss of 10% on their “investment” over the first 8 years…and ZERO utilities or infrastructure had been taken care of yet…DESPITE the promises that the original $1.1 million would cover all of those expenses!
In other words, over those first 8 years they were paying 7% interest for the privilege of owning land that was depreciating at 1.25% per year. They paid $616,000 in interest payments and lost almost $100k on the land value. So they were roughly $700,000 in the hole in the first 8 years.
That is called being underwater BIG time. That is a worse deal than the worst scumbag used car salesman would give you on a jalopy at usurious rates.
Also remember: they borrowed $1.1 million and spend $909,900 – leaving them $190,000 in reserves. I believe they did this to look better for the bond rating agency. There was some discussion in the minutes about it.
More to come soon….
