The Lampasas Economic Dunces Club “Incentive Guidelines and Principles” [page 7] is a gift that keeps giving. A never-ending list of bad ideas and tax money giveaways. I already covered the “affordable housing” nonsense…now we get to the land giveaways:
“The LEDC currently owns more than 165 acres of real property for development by primary employers. The first preference for the LEDC is to sell property AT OR BELOW MARKET VALUE to qualified applicants.”
Wait….what? Here I thought the LEDC has been ‘developing’ this land for the last 7 years and $1.5 million dollars. This says they want to let the ‘primary employers’ develop it! Which is it? Why is Pope Eckermann hoovering up $100,000 to ‘develop’ the park as we speak if you want the ‘primary employer’ to develop it?
But even more confusing is this: if your first preference is to just SELL the property (at BELOW market value, no less) then why were you previously projecting ‘business’ park revenue of $250,000 per year?
“The LEDC’s new debt service payment will be about $150,000 a year, Mrs. Masonheimer said. The economic development corporation projects annual revenue of about $250,000, which will leave approximately $100,000 for operating costs after making loan payments.”
I just assumed that $250,000 per year in revenue was to come from renting or leasing the land you already wasted $2.5 million dollars on buying and ‘developing‘. NOW you say your first preference is to SELL the land? AT BELOW MARKET price?? LOL. How do you make revenue on an asset you already sold on the cheap? I’d love to know.
Maybe they think they’ll face rape the new employer on electricity prices to make up for all their other screw-ups (like the City currently does to its residents)? That will never happen. A private business is so much smarter than the LEDC, and the LEDC will be SO desperate to get SOMEONE in there to prove the project was a good idea that they will CAVE to the inevitable demands by the employer for a cut-rate electricity deal. I guarantee it.
We’ll dig deeper into the “Incentive Guidelines” in upcoming posts.
What is in there should alarm all fiscally responsible, hard-working taxpayers. The “gimme free shit” crowd and the trailer trash with five kids they can’t afford will love it, however.
A long list follows this, and when you get to “E” you see “Affordable housing”.
Say WHAT??? What exactly does ‘affordable housing’ have to do with economic development? Nothing. It is simply a handout. It sounds like something that moron Nancy Pelosi would say: “food stamps are GOOD for the economy because then the people can go spend it and stimulate the economy” (yes, she said this once).
That would be like taking all the money from the HEB cash registers and handing it out to bums in the parking lot so they can go shop inside at HEB. Idiot socialists/libs only look at ONE side of the ledger, ignoring that that same money is stolen from someone else.
“We need more affordable housing” is liberal/socialist talk for “take money from people who earned it and hand it to people who didn’t”. It’s really as simple as that.
The funny thing is that Deorald Finney and his Stone Valley housing development are selling houses now in the $200,000 range. Seeing as how there are plenty of houses on Zillow in the $120,000 to $140,000 range, I would say Mr Finney’s new houses are on the expensive side – and thus NOT affordable. Yet the City essentially handed him $70,000 in tax dollars for his new development.
The City of Lampasas and The Seven Goldfish voted to WAIVE electrical hookup fees for ALL 69 of Deorald’s planned houses. That is over $70,000 in foregone revenue for the City – all so Finney could make an extra 1% on each house.
Tell me this: if Finney had a house listed in Stone Valley and said “you can buy this house for $200,000 with NO electricity OR you can pay $201,150 for the house WITH electricity, how many people would say ‘go ahead and give me the electricity’? All of them – they would GLADLY pay an extra measly $1,150. NOBODY would balk at that extra pocket change to have power in the house. It represents far less than 1% of the price. Therefore, this $70,000 handout to a rich developer was a complete waste and did ZERO for the City coffers, ZERO for ‘development’ and ZERO for ‘affordable housing’.
The very term “affordable housing” is complete nonsense. It’s like a “livable wage”. It cannot be defined as it differs for each individual, therefore success cannot be measured, and therefore the socialist/lib (or LEDC) can always have a job redistributing the wealth as the ‘problem’ can never be solved.
It’s as idiotic as me whining that there are “no affordable Corvettes over at Hoffpauir Chevy” or “there are no affordable private jets around here”. You don’t have a RIGHT to ANY of that stuff.
To the libs and commiesand SJW morons: you are NOT entitled to a house/apartment. You are NOT even entitled to an “affordable” house/apartment. If you cannot afford the housing that is in your area, either (1) move to a more affordable area (2) lower your expectations (3) work more hours and/or increase your value as an employee or (4) get a roommate or two…or three. PERIOD.
(Oh, and maybe stop having 4, 5 or 6 kids you cannot afford – since they will likely grow up to be the next generation of parasites asking for the same handouts)
Pretty sure we already have Section 8 housing around town…and those tenants always treat their “free” stuff so well, don’t they? We need Mandy Walsh and the Economic Dunce Club handing out MORE ‘free’ housing like we need colostomy bags on our hips.
If Mandy Walsh or any of the other LEDC geniuses are SO concerned about ‘affordable housing’, I suggest they open their own wallets, buy a house currently on the free market, and go ahead and rent it out at a very low rate. Maybe jam a white trash welfare family with five kids in there. Maybe even let them live there for free! See how that works out for you.
No? Well, if it’s not a good idea with your own money, it ain’t a good idea with mine. Go pound sand.
Eliminate the LEDC. Stop meddling in the free market. Let workers keep what they earn instead of stealing it to hand to someone else.
Less than 6 years ago, the Lampasas Economic Dunces Club (LEDC) made projections of costs all the way out to the 2019/2020 year (which happens to be NOW). As is ALWAYS the case, they were completely wrong. Just like they were wrong in 2014 and 2015 about an imminent influx into the corpse repository ‘business’ park.
The point of this exercise is to ONCE AGAIN prove you cannot believe ANY of the asinine promises of the LEDC OR the City government. EVERYTHING ends up costing far more and producing far less benefit than promised. That is the very nature of government – be it federal, state or even little ol’ Lampassy.
Now, see a photo of the APPROVED recent budgets – the REALITY 5.5 years later (page 152):
Let’s look at more proof that government and (quasi-governmental groups of economic illiterates) ALWAYS grows faster and spends more than projected.
SALARY: projected $47,530 ACTUAL $71,448 (plus $28,462 in benefits – page 82) 110% higher
PHONE: projected $720 ACTUAL $1,176 (63% higher)
TRAVEL/TRAINING: projected $5,000 ACTUAL $7,500 (50% higher)
ENGINEERING: projected $5,000 ACTUAL $10,000 (100% higher)
PROMOTION/ADVERT: projected $5,000 ACTUAL $7,500 (50% higher)
BUSINESS EXPENSE: projected $1,000 ACTUAL $5,000 (400% higher)
PROFESSIONAL SERVICES: projected $9,000 ACTUAL $7,000 – this may look good as it is $2,000 LOWER than projected. However, if you look at the 2017/2018 year ACTUAL, it was $39,393 versus $9,000 projected!!! OVER FOUR TIMES HIGHER.
The category of “professional services” (which I covered HERE) probably enrages me the most. It is a category which should not exist. Was it legal expense? Engineering? Advertising? No – because those are listed separately. So what ‘professional service’ cost $39,393 yet cannot be listed specifically and requires this vague horseshit catch-all term? Those types of vague categories where tens of thousands go POOF always stink to high heaven.
Perhaps you think I’m unfair to immediately suspect graft? Lest you have forgotten: Their tax filings SPECIFICALLY ask “Does the organization have any ‘conflict of interest’ policy?” – and the LEDC answers NO every year [Part VI section B, 12a].
I think these two photos say it all – they encapsulate what a giant failure the LEDC is and how their ridiculous pipe dreams always fail to come to fruition:
From 2004 through 2013, the LEDC incinerated over $250,000 of taxpayer money on ‘professional services’ (later labeled ‘contract services in 2012 and 2013). I stopped listing at 2013 because I have already covered 2014 onwards by a records request previously. That’s where Pope Eckermann really had his snout in deep and I didn’t want to double count. For instance, ‘contract services’ was $138,516 in 2015 – which overlaps with the $168,740 I previously showed him scarfing down.
What are ‘professional services’? Who the hell knows. Nice and vague. The IRS Form 990 gives you a LOT of categories into which you can slot your expenses. But LEDC chose to enter their own. Here is a list I made by compiling them by year:
In 2003, they just used the term “other services” which is even MORE vague. It is a whopping $185,794!!! (or over $250,ooo in today’s dollars). I have to think if a quarter of a MILLION dollar line item popped up in the LEDC today and it said “other services” it would seriously raise some eyebrows. Looks like these idiots got away with murder back then.
I mean, this was BEFORE they bought the corpse repository ‘business’ park! These clowns start up a “non-profit” for “economic development” and then have the balls to spend $230,000 on “legal fees”, “admin and overhead” and “other”? Jesus Christ! These are UNELECTED BOZOS making huge sums disappear ($320,000 in today’s dollars!)
That “admin and overhead” number adds up too! It was $18,000 in 2003 ($25,000 in today’s dollars) then jumped to $24,000 in 2004, 2005 and 2006. Finally, it dropped in half to $12,000 from 2007 up until present day….or another $246,000 vanishing into thin air.
Start adding all these nickels and dimes up and you can see how the LEDC wasted the $4.1 million dollars they have skimmed since 2000.
Well, it’s not entirely wasted. We DO have a 165 acre weed patch with $800k of water/sewer pipes under the dirt. Eckermann is hard at work as we speak spending the latest $100,000 to ‘develop’ this shovel-ready site even more!!
Every IRS filing for the Lampasas Economic Development Corporation has some numbers showing how many hours per week the officers ‘worked’. It looks something like this:
There are two problems with this. First of all, there are ZERO hours listed for “any hours for related organizations below dotted line”. I would think Talbert and Monroe would list their City council minutes below there, since their positions on City council are VERY closely related to the LEDC slush fund.
But even worse is the fact that the hours spent in LEDC meetings (according to their own minutes) do not even REMOTELY match the hours listed on their Form 990 submitted to the IRS.
They have all listed two hours PER WEEK on the IRS form (Millican and Lindeman list 1 hour only) – or 104 hours per YEAR conducting LEDC business.
The problem is, the LEDC minutes contradict this WILDLY. They are off by ORDERS OF MAGNITUDE.
Granted, the IRS filings show the fiscal year numbers (Oct 1 through Sep 30) and the minutes for the LEDC run from Jan 1 through Dec 31….but they both run for 12 months. Even though they do no overlap exactly, they show wildly divergent numbers.
For 2019 (using the LEDC’s own minutes), I show a grand total of 14.75 hours spent in meetings. Yes, you read that correctly. Just over ONE HOUR PER MONTH for an organization sucking down $300,000 of tax dollars per year. Your tax dollars hard at work!
Their IRS filings imply they worked 104 hours per year. Their own minutes indicate they met for 14.75 hours per year.
Now, you might say “well, they only MEET for 14.75 hours per year, but they take a lot of work home on the weekends”. LOL. Sure they do. If you believe that one, I have a Cajun restaurant on Key Avenue to sell you.
We will be doing a DEEP dive on the Lampasas Economic Development Corporation for the next few posts. I have been reviewing ALL of their 501(c)(3) tax filings since inception in 2000. Nearly TWENTY years of shenanigans and obscene money wasting.
Lets start with how much money the LEDC have skimmed off of productive citizens. Their main source of “revenue” is sales tax. Since their formation in the year 2000 through Sept 2018 (the last Form 990 available online) they have skimmed $3,796,974 for this ridiculous slush fund.
Seeing as how the amount of sales tax skimmed has increased every single year for the last 17 years (except 2009), I think it is safe to assume it increased for the 2018/2019 tax year as well. Which means we can safely tack another $300,000 onto that total.
Yes, the LEDC is now skimming about OVER $300,000 PER YEAR in sales tax revenue to run their little slush fund.
Let’s call it a nice even FOUR POINT ONE MILLION DOLLARS skimmed.
They purchased their ‘Business Park’ land on Oct 1, 2003 according to the records….for $909,835. They carried it on their books at that exact price until it was marked down on their 2013 tax filings to $817,978 (Schedule D Part VI).
Only a group of clowns like this could buy land for $909,835 and have it worth 10% LESS ten years later. Did they think to have it appraised BEFORE they bought it? I’d love to know who sold these chumps the land.
The most disturbing and disgusting part about the $4.1 million being skimmed over the last 19 years is that their controls are nonexistent. Their tax filings SPECIFICALLY ask “Does the organization have any ‘conflict of interest’ policy?” – and the LEDC answers NO every year [Part VI section B, 12a].
That means that officers, directors, trustees and key employees are NOT required to disclose interests that could give rise to conflicts.
They also answered NO to “does the organization have and written document retention and destruction policy”.
Look at the other GOBS of money flushed down the toilet: $24,000 on ‘admin and overhead’, $23,408 on ‘miscellaneous’, $20,900 on ‘other services’, $34,240 on ‘professional services’. WTF???? $146,913 vaporized in the blink of an eye! [$200,000 in today’s dollars]
Then let’s get into the LEGAL fees they have wasted…..they blew over FIFTY-ONE THOUSAND DOLLARS in 2003 and 2004 alone ($69,000 in today’s dollars!). I’m assuming related to the purchase of the land? What else could it be? Who knows but that is an insane amount of legal fees.
[More coming soon as this is a huge amount of work to dig all these out of the archives]
I recently emailed Many Walsh, our very well-paid Lampasas Economic Development Director [$101,285 in salary and benefits – page 82], to ask her a few very basic questions about the Eckermann retirement fund ‘Business Park’. Simple things like the original cost of the land, the terms of the loan are and the appraised value.
Mandy has been on the job for almost three years, if I am not mistaken, so she should definitely know what’s going on over there. Furthermore, the ‘Business Park’ is by FAR their biggest endeavor measured in terms of tax dollars being incinerated. Yeah, she may throw $10,000 to the Lampasas Higher Education people every year, or throw Halff Associates a $120,000 bone to do her job for her…..but the corpse repository ‘Business Park’ is where MILLIONS of dollars go to die.
In short, Mandy Walsh should know ‘Business Park’ stats like the back of her hand. So when she answers my email request with “Thank you for your email. I will forward your email to Christina Marez, City Secretary, who has been designated to handle these requests“, it means one of two things:
Either Mandy Walsh is monumentally incompetent and hasn’t the foggiest notion what the answers to those questions are OR Mandy Walsh is being a deliberate pain in the ass to make my life a little harder. She has to know I WILL get all that info in the end, one way or another.
I’m going to go with “deliberate pain in the ass” on this one. Probably because I have spilled gallons of ink over the last year taking a shit on the entire concept of a Business Park and uncovering embarrassing truths about the (high) costs and (zero) benefits of this debacle.
The only reason to hide all the numbers I requested is because it makes this whole project look even worse than it already is. So touche, Mandy Walsh. You win a small victory. It’ll be a few more weeks before I take yet another public dump on the corpse repository. You can trust that I will not be kind with the waste and incompetence I find in those numbers.
Until then, let’s revisit what Kathy Masonheimer (Walsh’s predecessor) had to say in the Lampasas Dispatch about the corpse repository. Remember, this is from September 2014:
“Of the LEDC’s loan from First State Bank Central Texas, $1.3 million is for the business park utilities. Another $465,000 is for refinancing of the LEDC’s debt on the business park land. The total $1.77 million loan is for 15 years at a fixed interest rate of 3.35 percent. Along with the infrastructure the LEDC will fund, Lampasas has $200,000 in the city’s upcoming fiscal year budget for electrical extensions to the business park.
“The LEDC’s new debt service payment will be about $150,000 a year, Mrs. Masonheimer said. The economic development corporation projects annual revenue of about $250,000, which will leave approximately $100,000 for operating costs after making loan payments.“
[“Annual revenue of about $250,000” – BAHAHAHAHAHAHA. Makes me laugh every single time I read it]
For those of you on the short bus (and the IT Department) that 3.35% interest for 15 years on $1.77 million totals up to $889,425 in interest payments – tax dollars going directly into the pockets of First State Bank Central Texas. That is $889,425 vaporized, for all intents and purposes.
Oh, and also in 2014: “The [Lampasas City] council also voted to guarantee funds for the LEDC’s loan with First State Bank Central Texas. The bank requested the guarantee in the event the LEDC becomes unable to pay off the loan“.
Translation: if this whole thing blows up and/or land values go to shit, the City of Lampasas will bail out the LEDC. Must be nice to be a bankster! Heads I win ($889,000 in free money) and tails you lose (taxpayer bailout).
I’m considering changing the name of the ‘Business Park’ from ‘Corpse Repository‘ to ‘Eckermann Retirement Fund’. The LEDC has blown WAY over a million dollars on that weed patch with nothing to show for it, but Pope Eckermann seems to have the nicest monthly skim on this thing.
Between 2/21/14 and 6/15/16 Pope Eckermann took a $168,740 bite out the taxpayer’s ass. Or about $6,000 per month. To do what? Great question. Here is a sample of just a few entries – it’s seriously almost on a monthly basis! They almost LITERALLY tithe Pope Eckermann on a schedule, it seems. Monthly rent to sprinkle holy water on the sacred site:
Of course, don’t forget to add the most recent $100,000 tithe to ‘develop’ the supposedly-already-shovel-ready business park and it jumps to $268,740. And you know it won’t stop there. This is a gravy train that all the vultures will ride for YEARS because the City and the LEDC are too stupid or stubborn to admit this thing is a debacle.
Graves, Dougherty, Hearon & Mood grabbed a huge bite of taxpayer ass too. Obviously a law firm, these charges were for legal services pertaining to Kempner Water service for the ‘business park’. Not sure how that applies since there are ZERO businesses there drawing any water from that $834,000 water system they installed. But the law firm billed them and it is filed under ‘business park’ – denoted by all the many yellow highlights added for me by the City accountant, I assume:
All in all, there are 20 entries between 3/16 and 11/17 for a massive $273,000 just in legal fees!!
So we are up to about $540,000 just between those two vultures. Let’s continue.
It cost a small fortune to run water/waste water lines into the ‘business park’. Qro Mex got that contract. At least there is something there to show for it (pipes), even if they still aren’t being used 4.5 years later. Eckermann got a bite of taxpayer ass there as well. We see $32,000 in ‘engineering and surveying’. They also blew about $30,000 clearing brush and trees. But not before $8,000 was spent on a ‘tree survey’ and $14,000 for a topological survey – both compliments of Triple C Surveying:
Not to mention…this is all just for “improvements”! We aren’t even talking about the original COST OF THE LAND YET!
But wait…there’s more!
Techline Construction (electrical extensions) – $62,758
Schneider Engineering (electrical extension engineering) – $24,328.49 [I have to guess Pope Eckermann the Engineer was incensed at this – another hyena gnawing on HIS taxpayers asses]
L A Porter and Canales Dibble (flex base and roads? Not sure as there is not much detail on the book entry) – $22,391.26
Rental for clearing park, engineering/surveying for clearing (you have got to be kidding me) and hauling – $9,530.40
Kleensite LLC (clearing brush…AGAIN) – $6,500
Neon Cloud Productions (promotion video of weed patch) – $3,354.86
Zoom Advertising – logos, magazine ad (LOL!!), art work, banner art, business cards (yes, all for a ‘Business Park’ that does STILL not exist 4.5 years later – $2,190
Herbst Real Estate (appraisal of park in 2012) – $2,000
Sign Designs of Texas (shitty sign currently marking location of weed patch on Highway 183) – $1,545.73
Much like the Old City Hall Vanity Project, we are now looking at over $1,500,000 for this disaster. All for a weed patch.
I guess my question for LEDC and City Hall is this: when you have ALREADY spent a HUGE sum of money to date with surveying, engineering, clearing, hauling, installing electric, installing water, clearing some more, surveying some more, surveying yet again, engineering something or other, legal fees, etc….what the HELL is Eckermann going to do for the NEXT $100,000 he was handed???? Seems to me they have all been eating at the trough pretty heavily the last 7 years and $1.5 million. So NOW you are going to pay the Pope ANOTHER $100,000 to “develop the park”?
Pardon my French, but what the hell have you been doing for the last 7 years and $1.5 million, if not ‘developing’ the park.
We haven’t even TALKED about the huge sums you will have to spend to put real roads/signage/landscaping/lights in and make it look all fancy like your pipe-dream of a rendition you paid good money for!
PIPE DREAM – high tech jobs
REALITY – corpse repository
I leave you with some hilarious quotes from years and years ago showing how wrong the politicians and City clowns have been….over and over and over….
“Ms. Toups said she wants to continue to provide infrastructure to develop the business park — which she said Harrison spoke against publicly. Ms. Toups said through the Lampasas Economic Development Corp.’s hard work, “we are on the verge of seeing large corporations come in [to the business park].” – April 21, 2017
“DeGraffenried said the LEDC was bold in its decisions to purchase the business park property and extend utilities to it. The city manager predicted Lampasas will enjoy many “spin-off benefits” throughout the city because of the utility work. ” – Oct 23, 2015
[By ‘spin-off benefits’, Spinley must mean ‘buying Pope Eckermann a new boat’]
“Recent land clearing and development of a road at the business park, Mrs. Masonheimer added, have made the site more attractive to prospective businesses and U.S. 183 passersby.” – Oct 23, 2015
“Projects like this send a message that the city will provide the infrastructure needed for job growth,” [letter written by crusty, big-spending RINO fossil-dummy Roger Williams, U.S. Congressman] – Oct 23, 2015
“An economic study in 2001, [Neal] Leavell said,concluded a business park was the main item Lampasas needed to attract development.” – Oct 23, 2015
“We look forward to working with you andworking to fill this business park with good jobs,” she said [Carol Faulkenberry, Texas Dept Agriculture] – Oct 23, 2015
“Mrs. Monroe noted the Lampasas Economic Development Corp. is working with the business park south of town on U.S. Highway 183, and she said she hopes the site will attract good employers to Lampasas. [Council member TJ Monroe] – April 14, 2015
“The incumbent said the city acquired the business park property several years ago but has lacked the infrastructure needed at the site. Soon, she said, the business park will be developed enough to be inviting to businesses. [Then-council-member Wanda Bierschwale] – April 10, 2015
“Grayson said he hopes to develop the business park and attract companies to the site.” [Then-mayor Grayson running for re-election] – April 3, 2015
The council also voted to guarantee funds for the LEDC’s loan with First State Bank Central Texas. The bank requested the guarantee in the event the LEDC becomes unable to pay off the loan. The LEDC’s $1.77 million loan from the Lampasas bank includes $1.3 million for the business park utilities. – Oct 17, 2014
“I feel like we’re getting somewhere,” board president Dr. Neal Leavell added. “I think we’ve really accomplished something. It’s taken a lot of patience, but we’re here.” – September 23, 2014
“Advocates of utility extensions have said entities compete vigorously for new jobs and that cities with ready-to-build sites have an advantage as they try to attract new businesses.” – August 8, 2014
“Economic development officials have said utilities for the business park are essential to make the 165-acre area attractive to companies.” – July 22, 2014
The LEDC was “proactive,” deGraffenried said, in acquiring the U.S. 183 property several years ago for a business park. The goal of utility extensions, the city manager said, is to develop the land into a site that can promote economic growth. – June 17, 2014
Wow. How many lies is this now?? I’ve lost count. Someday in the future I’ll have to dedicate a post to all of Spinley’s bullshit over the last year and a half. Today we’ll stick to just the Old City Hall rehab lie.
I have maintained all along the true cost was well over $1,500,000.00
Well, we now know I was right yet again. Note the amount listed in official City documents posted this weekend [page 34]:
It’s that big number on the top: $1,463,577. Which is pretty damn close to $1.5 million. Does that number include the $128,400 for the elevator that Spinley always loves to add on separately for some weird reason? Who knows. But we can probably assume they didn’t count stuff likepaying $229,000 for the exact same building they sold for $75,000 two years earlier.
Same goes for the $12,780 they spent on a ridiculously large amount of stacking chairs that will never be used.
Bureaucratic knuckleheads like Finley and Monica might not count that as “real” money, but I do. It’s ALL part of this boondoggle.
Add it all up and you can easily make a case for more like $1.6 million wasted on that vanity project. A very far cry from Finley’s oft-repeated lie of $1.02 million.
For 14 years now, Monica Can’t-Wright has been polishing a seat in the IT department for the City of Lampasas. First as a basic drone and then later, she was (incredibly) elevated to “IT Director”. I suspect she was made “Director” and someone else hired as her underling because they needed someone who actually knew how to turn on a computer but didn’t have the heart to fire her. It’s the only explanation that makes sense to me.
Yet for 14 years, she has not earned ONE SINGLE certification in the area of network administration that would usually be considered a MUST for her job.
Take the City of Copperas Cove, for example. They recently posted a “help wanted” ad looking for a new Director of Information Systems. According to the ad, “applicants must currently hold AT LEAST ONE of the following computer certifications: A+, Network+, Microsoft Certified Professional (MCP) or equivalent; or be able to obtain at least one of these certifications within 6 months of employment in the position“.
Most of you don’t know what those mean. Here is a summary of each:
A+ – certification represents entry-level competency as a computer technician and is a vendor neutral certification that covers various technologies and operating systems. By 2014, over one million people worldwide had earned A+ certification. Expires in 3 years. Certification prior to January 1, 2011, is considered good-for-life (GFL) and does not expire.
Network + – is a CompTIA computer networking certification that includes computer network concepts, installation and configuration, media and topologies,management, and security [emphasis mine]
MCP – The Microsoft Certified Professional or MCP Program is the certification program from Microsoft that enables IT Professionals and Developers to validate their technical expertise through rigorous, industry-proven, and industry-recognized exams.
Monica, the supposed HEAD of the IT Department, possesses none of these. Not one.
These all seem extremely basic. WAY easier than the types of certifications someone in her position should have after 14 years. Private sector network people (the kind who EARN their pay) go much further with certifications like their CCENT or CCNA or CCNP. Neither Monica nor her underling Kristy Acevedo possess any of those three. Shocking, I know.
[I have spoken with a FORMER City of Lampasas Network administrator who worked under Monica before Acevedo was hired. HE possessed some of these certifications. He also eventually quit because (as he made clear to me in person) “Monica has no F*@&#^ing idea what the hell she is doing” (this is a paraphrase by me)]
The REALLY sad part is that the City of Lampasas would very likely FULLY PAY for these certifications as beginning continuing education for Monica so that she could actually learn to do her job, rather than farming out tens of thousands of dollars to TSM Consulting, Watchgaurd, and others. The only reason I can come up with as to why this hasn’t happened in FOURTEEN YEARS is that Monica isn’t capable of passing them.
Nope. They not only didn’t ask any questions, they stonewalled me from asking any myself with City attorney Jo-Christy Brown. So there has STILL (5 months later) never been an explanation as to how it all went down.
Finley “Elmo” deGraffenreid will continue to make The Seven Goldfish dance to his tune in 2020, I’m guessing!
