Tag: boondoggle

Delana Toups Three Year Anniversary Of Being Wrong About Business Park

Three years ago today, then-candidate for City council Delana Toups made the following horribly inaccurate statement to The Lampasas Dispatch hoping to justify the millions wasted on this corpse repository ‘business park’ which still sits as an empty weed patch today:

“Ms. Toups said she wants to continue to provide infrastructure to develop the business park — which she said [her opponent ‘Greasy’ Chris] 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

On the ‘verge’? As in Detroit Lions are on the ‘verge’ of winning the Superbowl? Or I am on the ‘verge’ of having ripped, six-pack abs and becoming fluent in Icelandic? That kind of ‘verge’?

I’m not sure that phrase means what she thinks it means. Here is the definition.

My only question: since you were all so wrong about this 3-5 years ago, what makes you think continuing to spend millions will ever be correct? I’m willing to bet another three years will pass and we will STILL be ‘on the verge’ of large corporations entering the ‘business park’.

LEDC Operating In Complete Secrecy

Where to start with the utter lack of transparency on the part of the Lampasas Economic Dunces Club? Let’s look at their track record so far this year. Remember, this is a group that handles HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS of dollars annually and has wasted millions on a ‘business park’ boondoggle that has gone nowhere.

LEDC is supposed to meet once a month – on the third Wednesday. Meetings are supposed to be open to the public and minutes are supposed to be TAKEN AND POSTED so the taxpayers (the ones FINANCING these idiots) have a clue what is going on. Here is a list of the minutes for far for the year 2020:

Impressive! Here we are on April 19th – and FOUR meetings should be archived. Instead we have ONE from three months ago. How did this happen?

The February meeting DID take place, but apparently the minutes are off limits. I specifically asked the City secretary for a copy of those minutes and was told “the minutes of the February 19 [meeting] were not on the agenda, so the minutes were not considered and the reason they are not on the website“

So the minutes for the FEBRUARY 19th MEETING will not be posted until May 20th. Lovely.

They didn’t bother having a meeting in March. That is also typical. They usually skip one meeting a year, at the very least.

The April 15th meeting was (as always) held in the $1.5 million Jack Calvert Fishbowl Vanity Project. That is the SAME place City council holds their meetings and live-streams to the citizens. It was not open to the public, but the LEDC couldn’t be bothered to use the $96,000 A/V system there to stream or at LEAST record audio like City council does. Instead, these dummies decided the citizens would have to go through the arduous process of registering to view the meeting on Zoom – a very well-known piece of junk that only a dunce would sign up for.

Incredible: the City ALREADY PAID FOR a $96,000 A/V system to record audio and video of meetings….but the LEDC can’t be bothered with that. Instead they want the taxpayers to dick around with a third-party, piece of crap teleconferencing site. There is absolutely no reason for this. I asked Finley two months ago during our face-to-face why the LEDC doesn’t use the $96,000 A/V system that is sitting right there in the meeting room. He had no answer. He didn’t know.

I was also told point-blank by the City secretary that “there is no recording” of the April meeting. Lovely again! I sure hope somebody at least took some minutes. Otherwise, they might be in violation of their charter.

So, we have ZERO idea what is going on with the LEDC as they prepare to hand out $3,000 checks to random businesses in town to “help them out” of the Chinese virus mess [page 3 agenda].

Luckily, LEDC will be having a meeting with City council on Monday the 20th (tomorrow) and that WILL be live-streamed and recorded. Nice of somebody to let the taxpayers know what is going on. But if you ask me, having Mandy Walsh and other City employees and bureaucrats in charge of handing out tens of thousands of tax dollars to random businesses is a recipe for disaster.

Also: “The LEDC review committee is the sole and final authority in determining eligibility for funding.“[page 5] LOL. Gotta love it. I’m wondering if there will be PUBLIC RECORDS of WHO gets HOW MUCH money. There better damn well be, or this is just a random and arbitrary slush fund run by City bozos and bureaucrats.

I’m also wondering if handing out $3,000 checks to businesses of THEIR arbitrary choosing is even legal. They claim “authority of the EDC under Sec. 505.103, Texas Local Government Code” [page 5]. So, of course I went and looked that up. Here it is:

“A Type B corporation may spend not more than 10 percent of the corporate revenues for promotional purposes.”

First of all, how is this ‘promotional purposes’? It’s a giveaway, plain and simple. Secondly, if I am not mistaken, the LEDC skims about $300,000 in sales tax revenue per year for their little slush fund – so that would mean a max payout of $30,000 for this little program….or ten whole businesses.

Wonder how they will pick those ten lucky recipients out of hundreds. Will people who were nice to Mandy get first dibs? Maybe someone on the LEDC has a brother-in-law and HE will get first dibs. Who knows. All the more reason to drop this idea and simply disband the entire silly LEDC and let people KEEP WHAT THEY EARN themselves instead of begging City bureaucrats for some crumbs back.

TJ Monroe Five Year Anniversary Of Being Wrong About Business Park

Another jog down memory lane….five years ago today in the Lampasas Dispatch. As a reminder, the corpse repository ‘business park’ still sits there an empty weed patch and TJ STILL sits on City council making poor decisions:

“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

It has, in fact, attracted ZERO employers…good OR bad. The bill for that boondoggle is in the millions of dollars. It still looks like a useless weed patch and is nowhere NEAR ready.

These are the same people that think their judgement is so sound, they can ‘help’ local businesses during the Chinese virus scare. Ummmm….ok, sure.

Climate Change And Recycling Dummies Never Talk About The Other Side Of The Ledger

Ruh roh. Don’t show this news to recycling zealot Janet-Yoder-Kraeff-Crozier-Thunberg. She just may blow a gasket!

The giant turbines on those “clean, free energy” windmills actually can’t be recycled and have to be buried in a landfill. LOL. You can’t make this stuff up.

People like Janet (a locust here from Ohio by way of Austin) never talk about THIS side of the “clean energy” ledger. They tout recycling or electric cars or wind turbines as an ‘obvious’ move that creates jobs, saves the planet, saves money, blah, blah, blah.

They IGNORE the massive amounts of smelting energy and and iron that go INTO creating these turbines. They IGNORE that these things are BURIED in landfills after their useful life. They ignore that the magnets used in these windmills create horrific pollution. They IGNORE that electric cars use massive batteries that require strip mining of lithium and cobalt and need to be disposed of eventually. They IGNORE that the energy coming out of your garage outlet to power your electric car is likely powered by fossil fuels. They IGNORE the massive costs of collecting, sorting, transporting, and cleaning their garbage to recycle it.

Unfortunately, these are REAL costs. But faux enviro-dummies don’t care about that. They care about virtue signaling. Much like the ethanol boondoggle, when a TRUE accounting of COSTS and benefits is made, almost all of these activities make zero sense.

These REAL costs should not be thrust upon Lampasas citizens with a ridiculous curbside pickup recycling program. If Janet-Yoder-Kraeff-Crozier-Thunberg wants to THINK she’s saving the planet and it’s SO important to her, then go ahead and learn when our recycling center is open and cart your old jars 1.3 miles to deposit them. If you’re too lazy to do even that much, then perhaps you should quietly slink off into the sunset.

City Council needs to let this asinine idea die a quick death – not bring it to a town hall meeting where OTHER enviro-dummies might clamor for it.

P.S.

Fishbowl Unveiled At Open Bowl Ceremony

So the City showed off their new digs earlier this week….ALL the upper-echelon (look it up, Monica) Lampassholes were there. Well, actually it was mostly City employees, City politicians and the piles of people who have made a mint off of City contracts. Even Pope Eckermann was there to bless the proceedings. As was JNW bunglers Architects. I assume there were some people there from ASJ and RKJ Construction companies but I don’t have any clue what they look like. Maybe they were the guys over in the corner laughing and lighting their cigars with $100 bills.

Finley did his best Toby Flenderson impersonation as he narrated, bloviated and pontificated on the hardships he faced in torching $1.5 million tax dollars. It was no small feat, according to him:

The building is very nice inside. Then again, for $1.5 million, it had better be. Wish I could say the same for the audio system. Granted, I was in the back of the room, but won’t that be the case all the time when 200 people pack the council room every two weeks to stay informed?

TJ Monroe either needs a new $250 microphone or needs to learn how to lean forward into it. Misti was barley intelligible but that may have had to do with a hoarse voice and her attempt to tear up during her speech to show the overwhelming emotion of throwing $1.5 million down a rat hole. I’m not sure which.

I managed to hang my seven goldfish ornaments on the tree in council chambers:

Apparently City workers and leaders have confused themselves with the CEOs of a very profitable Fortune 500 company. They spared no expense in the Executive Suite…or the break room…or the OTHER Executive Suite. Note the massive excess of chairs despite the main room being filled to capacity. Somebody got carried away with the City credit card! Again!

I also rode the Magic $128,400 elevator…and it didn’t trap me. WAY nicer than the other thousands of other elevators I’ve ridden in during my lifetime. But this is for the Fishbowl – which means SPARE NO EXPENSE!

Can’t wait to start going to some meetings next year! It’s a shame Monica never figured out how to work the video streaming component of the $95,000 audio system. That huge camera over the Mayor’s desk looks cool and expensive. A shame not to use it. Gary Cox must be rolling over in his grave.

Quote Of The Year Winner: Misti Talbert

I just have to record this for later reference down the line. In today’s Dispatch, Mayor Misti Talbert made the following observation about wasting over $1,500,000.00 on a vanity project (new City council chambers and building renovation) she championed from start to finish:

“This has been a lot [of money]… but I think it’s been worth it,” Talbert said. “I think if you sit here for just a minute, you’re going to realize this is very worth it.”

I’m sure for The Seven Goldfish, it is very worth it. They get to sit in their fancy chambers surrounded by toys for about 4 hours a month. For the other 6,993 of us suckers citizens, probably not so much.

Although I guess if I sneaked into every single one of the 2,000 houses in Lampasas, stole $750 from every single one of them, didn’t get caught, then sat in my living room “for just a minute” ogling the $1,500,000.00 pile of loot I will get to enjoy at everyone else’s expense, then I would probably say the same thing.

Seven Goldfish Move Into Their New $1,500,000.00 Fishbowl

Huzzah! The $1,500,000.00 Talbert/deGraffenreid Wow-Factor Vanity Project is supposedly finally done, according to today’s Dispatch!! Only a year late and hundreds and hundreds of thousands of dollars over budget!

I’m not sure why they waited until four days AFTER the Oct 28th City council meeting to trumpet this thing in the newspaper. Why not do your big Dispatch puff piece BEFORE the meeting? That way the highly engaged and intelligent electorate can come and gaze upon the majesty of its many big-screen TVs and its $95,000 no-bid A/V system, right?

Maybe it’s just MOSTLY done and not ALL done. Kinda like the ‘shovel-ready’ corpse repository business park. That would also explain why the Dispatch article says that City officials have announced that “a formal open house and dedication ceremony is planned in December” instead of making the same announcement last week. Gives them another month to actually make it ALL done, right?

I think one of the funniest parts of the article is where Spinley deGraffenreid explains to us morons that selling the entire building to Joe Corcoran in 2013 for $75,000 [which is less than $7 per square foot!] and then BUYING BACK THE EXACT SAME BUILDING IN 2015 FOR $229,000 was ACTUALLY a stroke of genius. BAHAHAHAHA. I gotta hand it to Spinley – I have no idea how he keeps a straight face when he makes these outlandish claims.

The explanation for paying over TRIPLE what they sold it for two years earlier? Well, I guess old Joe made some ‘improvements’ to the place – like new windows and a NEW ROOF, according to the Dispatch article.

New roof??? Weird. Because, as I recall, despite the idiots at JNW Architects collecting a check for declaring the building structurally sound [May 2016] and “in good shape”, City council LATER approved almost FIFTY THOUSAND DOLLARS TO RE-ROOF back on September 20th, 2018!

Spinley also loves repeating his fairy tale that the renovation was ‘only’ $1.02 million, because that’s how much they handed over to ASJ Construction. He doesn’t count all the other stuff – like the $154,000 they wasted buying back the building…the $54,000 to JNW Architects to make a bunch of mistakes consult…the no-bid $95,000 AV system…the $60,000 fire suppression system..$12,780 for 100 stackable chairs to hold the throngs of City Council attendees…$8,055 for OTHER Council furnishings…$50,000 contingency….random furnishings….the $128,400 elevator…the $45,000 roof repair that was supposedly already done by Corcoran….. and a WHOLE BUNCH of other stuff.

Only in the mind of a government bozo do those costs not count. The REAL number is WELL OVER $1.5 million, my man.

Here is a summary of just a small bit of the stupidity – the roof:

November 2013: City council decides to sell the building to Joe Corcoran for $75,000 or less that $7 per square foot.

In 2015: City council The Seven Goldfish decide to buy the same building back for $229,000 – apparently forgetting (as goldfish are prone to doing) they just sold it for $75,000. They claim the $154,000 wasted is ok because Joe fixed some windows and put on a new roof. Joe triples his money in less than two years. Your tax dollars at work.

May 23, 2016: JNW Architects said the building “is in good condition”

October 2016: Finley hands JNW another $18,000 for “structural analysis and provide documentation” for the building.

September 2018: Finley comes begging to City council for $45,000 to re-roof the building. Council The Seven Goldfish, forgetting (as goldfish are prone to do) that the building was already deemed awesome and structurally sound, agree to fork over the $45,000 with no questions.

This would all be hilarious if it was happening to Chicago or Austin Copperas Cove…but no. Sadly these morons are running OUR city. How many more millions need to be wasted before people wake up?

Weed Patch Blasts From The Past

Since I was digging through the Dispatch archives anyways, I thought it would be humorous to copy down all of the hilariously inaccurate promises about the weed patch corpse repository Business Park. Here are some good ones:

“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

“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 and working 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

Here is the final side-splitter – September 23, 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. “

BAHAHAHAHA!!! Annual revenue of about $250,000? Good one. Here we are FIVE years later and about $300,000.00 in interest payments (money vaporized)….and still no companies generating that $250,000 in revenue. No “high-paying jobs” in the park. There never will be. It is a pipe dream for morons.

Masonheimer is long gone, of course….and the weed patch sits empty, a black hole for tax dollar tithes to Pope Eckermann and other vultures. I don’t blame Masonheimer. She was given an impossible task by moron politicians. A fool’s errand, if you will. Everything I’ve read in the minutes paint her as a fairly intelligent woman with a good work ethic. She was just set up to fail. The same will happen to Mandy Walsh.

None of these boobs have EVER heard of the Sunk Cost Fallacy. They will keep flushing money down this corpse repository black hole for years and years. Mark my words.

Dissolve the LEDC. Sell the land. Stay they hell out of the “development” business. That is the rational course of action.

Eckermann Engineering: A Snout Deep in the City Tax Trough

When you spend a ridiculous amount of time looking at just about every page of the City Council minutes, budgets and “expenditures over $4,000” category of Council packets (as I do), one thing REALLY stands out: Eckermann Engineering is paid a LOT of money by the City of Lampasas.

How much?

Well, just doing my own peck-and-hunt search through the year 2017, I came up with over $290,000 spread over at least a dozen “small” payments. You see $11,650 here…maybe $8,625 there….then another $11,925 the next month….followed by a fat $22,650 again the following month.

Seems ludicrous. My first thought was that this had to be wrong. After all, wouldn’t it be WAY cheaper to just put an engineer on staff if they need all this “engineering” all the time? After all, a decent engineer can probably be hired for around $65,000 and he would then be at the city’s disposal for any cockamamie and idiotic idea that may need some “engineering” (for instance, a convention center that never should have been entertained as an idea but somehow was).

Where do I come up with that $65,000 number? Well, straight from the website of the company that the City of Lampasas just hired for $120,000 to do yet ANOTHER “study” (pages 110-118) and to plan the future “economic development” of Lampasas….HALFF Associates.

[Wait…we are paying HALFF Associates $120,000 to come up with an economic development plan for Lampasas? Don’t we already have the Lampasas Economic Development Corporation hard at work on this for the last 6 years? Yes….yes we do. So why exactly have we been shelling out $100,000 per year to the LEDC staff to go to workshops, round-tables, seminars, conventions, and committee meetings to come up with “mission statements”, “vision statements” and all the other buzz words that try to justify that $100,000 per year? Good question. But we’ll get to the LEDC later. Back to Eckermann’s snout in the City trough]

So…I figured I had to be wrong about this ludicrous sum paid to Eckermann in 2017. I then requested a copy of all checks paid to Eckermann Engineering from January 1, 2012 through December 31, 2018. Here are the results – and they are shocking (totals are approximate as I rounded down):

  • 2012 $67,000
  • 2013 $200,000
  • 2014 $86,000
  • 2015 $92,000
  • 2016 $84,000
  • 2017 $301,000 (!!!)
  • 2018 $74,000

Grand total over this period is 110 different payments for a total of $924,355.50!!! Or $132,000 per year.

That’s not including the fat chunks of money the Lampasas Economic Development Corp (LEDC) has thrown at Eckermann to play around in their ridiculous Business Park (aka, the 165 acre weed patch). How much has LEDC thrown at Eckermann? I have those numbers too:

  • 2014 $36,000
  • 2015 $105,000 (!!!)
  • 2016 $24,000

Grand total of 18 payments for $168,740.

I’m also pretty sure City Council just agreed to hand Eckermann $100,000 to “develop the business park” – since the business park has been sitting there as an empty weed patch for over 7 years now. Also pretty sure Eckermann wanted $125,000 to develop it a month earlier, but then gave city council the bargain price of $100,000. Don’t quote me on either of those numbers – I have to go back and re-read the LEDC minutes and the City Council minutes.

This is a “Business Park” that has cost a FORTUNE with nothing to show for it. They spent huge sums of money running electricity and water to this “business park” years ago (close to a MILLION DOLLARS), and it still sits there, a giant weed patch. I will be spilling some ink on the business park boondoggle as soon as I get all my numbers together. The Business Park Boondoggle makes the City Hall “Wow Factor” Boondoggle look like small potatoes.

So, I guess I have several questions for City Hall and City Council:

ONE: Since you get multiple bids on just about everything else (except A/V systems, of course), why is Eckermann handed every single job the city comes up with? I know there are several other engineers around. Why are they not asked to bid some of these jobs? I have it on fairly good authority there are much cheaper alternatives.

TWO: If bidding some of these jobs out doesn’t drastically reduce the costs (I’m almost certain it would) then why not put a city engineer on staff for a salary FAR less than the outrageous sums you hand to Eckermann every year without bids or questions?

THREE: Why are the Eckermann bills to the city not broken down by hourly rate? As far as I can see, it shows stuff like “survey – $7,900” and that’s it. What is their hourly rate? How many hours do these jobs take? This absolutely reeks of huge scams and pork projects. I lived in Chicago for 15 years – I know a nest being feathered when I see it. Apparently City Council and Mayor Talbert don’t.

It isn’t the year 1970 with some engineer hunched over his paper with a slide rule designing the Empire State Building. It’s the year 2019 and these engineers use AutoCAD and other powerful tools. Don’t tell me it takes 100 hours at $150/hour to “engineer” a fricking water line. No way.

Maybe Mayor Talbert has the answers as she seeks her second term?

Mayor Talbert City Hall Vanity Project Delayed Yet Again – Due to Overpriced Elevator

Wow. What a difference a week makes!

Just a 14 days ago, Finley assured City Council that the elevator for the City Hall Boondoggle would “arrive in mid-March” and take a week or two to install.

Not anymore.

NOW, according to Finley and city council packets, “production for elevator equipment has been pushed back two to three weeks”. Seriously?!?!? The arrival time is now “projected for the first or second week of April…and crews will take approximately two to three weeks to install.”

You will recall, back on November 14th, 2016…City Council approved an elevator bid from RKJ Construction for $119,532…and which later ballooned to over $125,000 – despite that fact that Austin Elevator bid $96,600 for the exact same job. Former city council genius Chris Harrison made a motion to accept the inflated elevator cost because “[RKJ] is local”

Let’s all take a moment to thank our stars that Harrison is a FORMER council member now.

Production?? WTF? Are they JUST NOW building an elevator for the Lampasas-Misty-Talbert-Finley-DeGraffenreid-“WOW Factor” $1,500,000 City Hall Boondoggle which has been in the works for years? How is that possible??

So, despite paying an extra $30,000 for an elevator to “keep it local”, and despite the fact it was bid on OVER TWO YEARS AGO, it is STILL not ready! What?? You’re telling me it is being specially constructed as we speak? Last I checked, an elevator is a simple box and was invented a century ago, at the least. What is the hold up? Once again – you can blame former genius Councilman Chris Harrison for this one – he made the motion to piss away an extra $30k for a local elevator – and council rubber-stamped it unanimously…as usual.

Just another delay and cost-overrun for the bloated and ridiculous City Hall “WOW Factor” renovation which is the centerpiece of the Talbert Administration. I’m seriously shocked she is running again after this debacle. I’d go hide my head in the sand, if I were her.