After last month’s bombshell about city council and IT Director Monica Wright wasting $100,000.00 on FOUR 70-inch LCD TV screens and fancy electronic equipment for city council (then refusing to meet with me), I typed up a list of questions I felt the taxpayer had a right to have answered. I submitted these to a city council member on August 7th….and the next day, City Human Resource Director Christina Marez assured me that she “has started work on your request”.
That was a month ago.
I waited two weeks, then gently prodded Christina Marez by email….asking her if the information I requested under the Texas Open Records Act was available yet.
Did Christina Marez answer me? No she did not. She dragged her feet for two weeks then sicced the Lampasas City Attorney on me – one Jo-Christy Brown! Yes, Christina Marez strung me along for two weeks then didn’t have the courtesy to even answer me – much like Monica Wright did. Apparently a LOT of employees at city hall can’t be bothered to lift a finger for the taxpayers.
Jo-Christy Brown informed me that I would need to pay almost $500 to see the answers to my questions! That’s right – the lazy, do-nothing city employees who sit around all day on Facebook, need ANOTHER $15 per hour to put my request together. Funny…when I dropped off the check at 4:15pm on Monday August 27th, half of the offices were already empty…including the office of Christy Marez. Must be nice to be a city employee and just cut out at 4pm on a Monday. Very nice indeed.
So I have paid the exorbitant and ludicrous fee JUST to get to the bottom of this. The fee was paid on August 27th (9 days ago now). We’ll see how long it takes to get my answers.
Here are the questions I submitted:
- How many times has the City of Lampasas contracted Azbell Electronics to do work for the city in the last 3 years? What were the total sums paid to Azbell Electronics for these other jobs and what was the description of the work to be done (include copy of bid sheets)? Were any other bids solicited for those jobs?
2) What is the official job description for IT Director for the city of Lampasas? What education or training is needed to be hired for this position, if any?
3) What education and training has Monica Wright completed in the field of IT?
4) How many hours per week does Monica Wright spend in the office as Director of IT? Is her job description “9am to 5pm Monday – Friday”? How many weeks of paid vacation does she receive every year?
5) How many total full-time employees does the Information Systems Department of Lampasas employ? Does IT Director Monica Wright have any underlings reporting to her as IT Director?
6) Does Monica Wright, or any other employee of the Information Department of Lampasas have a city-provided vehicle, car or truck? If not, why did the city pay $480 for “vehicle maintenance” in the 2015/2016 budget (budget item 505-5420)? Is a government car one of the perks of being IT Director for the City of Lampasas?
7) Are there specific rules banning government employees from using social media (Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, etc) for personal reasons during work hours? If so, what is the punishment for violating those rules?
8) The budget for 2015/2016 and 2016/2017 shows $2,500 allocated for “Training and Travel” (budget item 505-5452). What training/travel has the City of Lampasas paid for for Monica Wright over the last five years? Please include copies of certificates or other proof of training completed and copies of hotel or airfare paid for by the City of Lampasas, if any.
9) The budget shows allocation of $15,000 and use of over $11,000 for “supplies” (budget item 505-5270) – please provide a breakdown description of items and expenditures on each over the last two years. Provide receipts for these items.
10) The budget shows large increases in “office equipment and maintenance” (budget item 505-5425) – please provide a breakdown of equipment purchased and ‘maintenance’ performed for the last two budget years. Provide receipts for these items.
11) The budget shows nearly $10,000 allocated for “other services” (budget item 505-5399) – and this item has grown over 400% in two years (from $2,300 to $9,750). What are these “other services”? Provide a breakdown and cost for each.
12) Employee insurance (budget item 505-5115) was around $11,000 in 2013, $17,000 in 2015 and $28,000 in 2017 – a whopping 250% increase over 4 years and 64% increase over the last two years. What caused this? What is covered by this insurance?
13) Salaries appear to have increased over 7% per year over the last two years in the Information Systems Department. Is this correct? Budget item 505-5000 was $103,000 in 2015/2016 and was $119,000 in 2017/2018.