business park boondoggle – The Original Lampasshole

Eco-Flex and Mike Cour – Bonus Part IV

Hopefully, you are all caught up on our little saga through the first three parts. We ended Part III with CEO Alan Champagne threatening to take his ball and go home. Then Mike Cour popped up in my email (finally!) and he was none too happy!

Emails below – Lampasshole in blue. Mike Cour in red:

(9/3/20) You are talking negatively about a group of people that are trying to improve on a community not rip it off. I would be more then happy to meet you in person right this minute and answer any questions you have. We are already operating so you don’t have your facts straight. So before you head down a path of trying to tear a great thing down and saying things you should not, I highly recommend you take me up on my offer to meet with me. I think you will like what I have to say and agree with everything we are trying to accomplish.

I responded the same day – miffed about the “don’t have your facts straight” since I had done a ton of homework on this AND emailed Mike HIMSELF and gotten no response:

No need to “meet right this minute” – I emailed you three days ago with questions and got no response. The LEDC has also not been helpful at all.

Talking negatively? I asked a bunch of questions about a company that is appearing in front of the LEDC – the LEDC is funded by tax dollars – a hell of a lot of them. Therefore, it’s not AT ALL out of line for taxpaying citizens to be concerned about how those tax dollars might be spent. Wouldn’t you agree?

I used Buffalo NY as an example of a city that was duped and ripped off by Elon Musk and his “green” pie in the sky. I never made that accusation about you. I stated only that my interest in you was due to seeing OTHER cities ripped off. He asked what my interest was and I told him.

When I see press releases splattered all over the Internet about a June 2nd ground breaking and I know for a FACT that is complete nonsense, then I think it behooves me to ask some questions about exactly what the hell is going on and who is fabricating the nonsense.

I have asked Finley AND the LEDC what exactly the “presentation” was by Mike Cour and Eco-Strong and have gotten no answers. They say there are no arrangements with you. I emailed you directly and got no answers. Hopefully, you can understand why that would make my antennae go up with suspicion. I have watched this local government piss away MILLIONS with nothing to show for it. My concern is that not happen once again.

I am a huge believer that 99% of the time when the government gets involved in handing out incentives, they end up getting screwed. When governments throw money at “economic development” they end up spending 10x more than the private sector would have had they left it alone in the first place.

I would love to see the presentation you made to LEDC – including what you are asking from the LEDC and what you are promising in return. Feel free to email me all pertinent documents pertaining to land costs, land rental, jobs promises, tax breaks, any other favors the LEDC is doing, etc. I’d be more than happy to look at them.

One simple question I STILL have is this: who agreed to any June 2nd ground breaking and who sent out that information all over the Internet? Where was this supposed ground breaking going to take place? Did the LEDC also know about this June 2nd ground breaking? Because if they did, they have been completely silent about it.

Thanks for any info

Mike responded – and things get REALLY interesting here. Mike mentions another location. I wonder if the LEDC knew about that while they were trying to move mountains to appease Mr Cour?? Very odd. Email below from September 4th:

This project has been over a year of effort to see if there was a demand for the product.

During the last year, we had 6 very large prospective clients that gave us verbal agreements to do business with us. This got us extremely excited and we started the process of finding a manufacturing plant site.

During the process of finding a location, we found many sites that might work for us to build on. My property was one of the options but unfortunately does not give us enough space to operate the current business and this new business.

We did locate land where we could build “near Lampasas” and after meeting with the builder we decided to get started on the project. We issued a press release with a date because we had discussed with the landowner and builder and everything seemed to be in order. Unfortunately, COVID-19 became too much for us and our prospects to break ground, so unfortunately plans have changed.

We have not received any funding from anyone, and we intend for this to be a private effort. (The city of Lampasas has not given us anything or allocated to give us anything. We have spoken to them about different lots in the city that would work for what we are looking to do.)

We have located land in several sites located outside of the city area and in other counties. Until the Covid-19 issue remedies itself, we will continue to look for land to build our plant on. We hope it is in or near Lampasas as my home is there. I genuinely love this city and area. I am hoping to bring jobs and more prosperity to the area.

I appreciate your concern and questions. So much so, I believe you to be someone that we should collaborate with as you have great passion and interest in the community. My name is Mike Cour. I am your neighbor in the Lampasas area and I would very much like to learn more about your thoughts on this Endeavor. Let me know if you would like to meet?

Either way, it has been good to hear from you, it has opened our minds to people’s concerns and that is particularly important to us.

Sincerely, Mike Cour

Seems nice and reasonable except for some of these new details – like they were dealing with another land owner at the exact same time the LEDC was telling City council that Mike Cour wanted to be THEIR tenant. I responded thus:

(9/4/20) Mike, I want to believe this, but there are STILL problems with the timeline and facts:

1) The press release WAS issued in May (NOT Feb as Mr Champagne contends). COVID was in full swing and a lock down had already come and gone (month of April). Ewan Scott of Tyre and Rubber told me DIRECTLY that the press release was issued in May and they published May 12th. Covid didn’t suddenly appear in the few days after the May 12th press release and before the June 2nd “ground breaking” date. So it is hard to see how it took you by surprise. Covid was a full-on panic back in mid-March and the press release was sent out almost two months later.

2) The construction and building trade seems to be the ONLY ONE that was NOT affected much by Covid. They are throwing up houses and commercial buildings all over the place in Lampasas. There have been newspaper articles about it. Deorald Finney has been erecting houses every single day at Stone Valley through this entire “pandemic”. A local resident who is opening “Cherry On Top” ice cream parlor told me they are delayed opening because their contractors are “super busy with all the building going on”. There is a new commercial building over by Wal-Mart that will house a Golden Chick and they have worked on it NON STOP since the beginning of this year. Covid has not stopped ANY of that construction all over town.

So I have a very hard time swallowing the “covid” excuse.

3) You say you located land and had a builder….and that this was NOT the LEDC land. So WHERE exactly was the land? Who owned it?

The LEDC has been claiming you as their only “prospective client” for quite a while now. They are likely pinning their grant application hopes on YOU being in the wings and ready to build. So, it doesn’t make sense to me that in April and May, Mandy Walsh and the LEDC were touting you as their prospect while at the VERY SAME TIME you were actually making plans to build on a different piece of land somewhere else on June 2nd.

So either the LEDC is fabricating a story out of whole cloth about YOU being their prospect or you aren’t being truthful with me.

I’d still like to see the materials you presented to the LEDC back in Sept of 2019 and also this past spring. There must have been pages of information or you wouldn’t have shown up there. LEDC does not record their meetings and all it says is “presentation by Mike Cour” – and no other information. They also switched the meeting time from the usual 5:30pm to noon for the meeting you presented at….and most of us work during the day. I was unable to attend.

I have not accused you of taking a single dime of public money. It would be my preference that a single dime of public money is never used. That includes giving land away at far below market prices. If this is a viable project, then there’s no reason it can’t be done on land other than the ‘business park’ land. I’ve lived here almost 9 years now and if there is one thing I see a lot of around the area, it’s WIDE OPEN land. I can’t believe that LAND is the restricting factor in your project.

I look forward to seeing all the information you actually presented to LEDC last September and also this past spring. Thanks.

I guess Mike didn’t like seeing his entire story dismantled logical brick by logical brick. His next email was his last:

I understand what you are saying. We understand COVID was in full swing, but we were optimistic about the orders still coming through. We know that construction did not seem to slow but for whatever the reason our orders from these major companies got put on pause after our announcement. One of the company’s was in the oil and gas industry. They thought every week for a while that their travel ban would be lifted so they could come see our product. I think you will agree that there is uncertainty in that industry so that is still on pause and that was a multimillion dollar transaction. The others that were on pause are now moving forward and things are starting to happen again. One of our options and probably our best option is building in the Business Park whether we buy it at full value, they give it to us or somewhere in between has not been determined. I have verbally committed to doing what is best for Eco-Strong and the City of Lampasas if we chose to put our facility here. Those are the facts and with that being said.

I will not be sending you any documents.

I’ve offered to discuss this with you and it doesn’t seem to be working for you.

Our goal is to help the environment and operate a thriving, profitable business that provides opportunity for all that come into contact with it.

I am sorry if this has been confusing to you.

If you wish to meet then the offer still stands, otherwise, I have nothing else to say.

Wow. Now he’s mentioning the LEDC possibly “giving us” the land. How nice! A little bit of info accidentally slipped out there, buddy!

I made my final response:

That is fine. I have all the information I need to write my exposé on my blog. I will be using all the facts I have gathered and will be sure to mention your refusal to show any of the documents that you ALREADY supposedly showed at LEDC meetings twice.

Considering you did not answer the question about the other land, I have to assume that was all made up?

[note: he never responded to this]

Which thus means you were tied in all along with the LEDC and not some other mystery land owner. That also means that somehow only YOUR side knew about this June 2nd ground breaking and it was never discussed with the LEDC – because they have never made mention of any such thing.

Something stinks here. Just to let you know, I’ll be attempting to uncover every rock with this thing. I don’t just disappear when I think the local government is about to hose the taxpayer…so I’ll be around for a while making waves.

Thanks for your attempt at an explanation, even if a lot of it was contradictory and doesn’t fit facts from the other players in this little drama. Have a lovely holiday weekend.

From these emails, we learn a few things about Mike Cour: He apparently makes “multimillion dollar transactions” with verbal agreements? His 199 acres he owns himself wasn’t suitable to build on but the 165 acre ‘business’ park is?

Here is another weird nugget: According to their website, Eco-Flex operates a 35,000 square foot facility and employs 50 people there.

So if your other giant 35,000 square foot facility only employs 50 people, how is your proposed 10,000 square foot plant here in Lampasas going to employ “up to 200 people”? Or is that just some more pie in the sky bullshit, Mike?

Eco-Flex Can’t Get Their Stories Straight – PART III

Here we are at Part III. We see what happens when poorly crafted stories unravel into a pile on the floor. We also see that you CAN become a CEO and not know how to write a coherent sentence.

Once Mary Sikora of Scrap Tire News gave me a contact at Eco-Flex named Alan Champagne, I emailed HIM hoping to find out why he was sending out false press releases. Perhaps the LEDC and City council will take the time to read all this so they can see who they are dealing with here.

Actual emails below. Lampasshole in blue. Champagne in red:

(9/3/20) Good morning Alan!

I was reading this article with great interest. I live in Lampasas and there has most certainly NOT been any ground broken on any tire recycling plant – not back in May and certainly not now in September, four months later. This information is patently false. Where did you actually get this “information” you sent out in a press release? Who submitted this press release?

As a citizen in the know in Lampasas, I can say with 100% certainty that there was never any “ground breaking” in the wings for Eco-Flex OR for Mike Cour’s Eco-Strong. Could you please inform me as to how this all came to be in your press release? Thanks

Alan Champagne, CEO of Eco-Flex responds:

Hello Our eco-flex is looking at setting up in Lampassas This release was done before Covid went rapid ,we are a Canadian company and the government has shut the boarders so until th boarders open and we are free too travel we have delayed the setup of the factory in Lampassas .
Thank you for your concern

Alan Champagne
President/CEO
alan@eco-flex.com
780 699-5134
www.eco-flex.com

This didn’t make sense to me. I responded back:

(9/3/20) Hi Allen, sorry, but your explanation below doesn’t make a lot of sense to me.

The U.S./Canadian border was closed around March 21st. You sent that press release out in early to mid May – which means you HAD to know it was totally inaccurate.

Covid “went rapid” here in Texas between roughly March 17th and April 30th. We were on total lock down for the entire month of April. Yet, you sent out that press release in May. You had to be 100% informed about any Covid effects at that point.

Furthermore, Mike Cour KNOWS that the Lampasas “business park” is nowhere near ready to be used. He made a presentation to them in September of 2019 – so he knows good and well what the situation is there. Mandy Walsh and the LEDC have stated REPEATEDLY and PUBLICLY that they need another $1.9 million to make the park “ready”. Thus, there is absolutely NO WAY anybody here in Lampasas or with the LEDC would have ever agreed to a June 2nd ground breaking – even back in September of last year LONG before your Covid excuse.

“Looking at setting up in Lampasas” as YOU just said in your email and “breaking ground on June 2nd” as your PRESS RELEASE said are worlds apart. One is vague and the other is quite precise.

I am CCing Mike Cour AND City Manager Finley deGraffenreid on this. By now, I am sure he is aware of my intention to go over all of this “Eco-Strong”/LEDC partnership with a fine toothed comb as a concerned citizen and taxpayer. The list of local governments being ripped off and scammed by “green” pie in the sky is too long and public for me to ignore and let happen to my own little town. Just ask Buffalo, New York about their Tesla dealings.

Finley: I’d love to hear the explanation from the LEDC about how this all went down and if they ever agreed to any “June 2nd ground breaking”. There is ZERO mention of it in ANY public record, minutes or LEDC agendas or packets. Or the local newspaper, for that matter.

Also Allen, no offense intended, but the email you sent me is so riddled with grammar, spelling and punctuation errors, I have a hard time believing it came from the CEO of a major corporation. Again….no offense.

Alan doesn’t like me asking questions and gets huffy:

The press release was issued late February , I dont feel I have to explain myself. With the boarder closure which was supposed to be temporary and now will probably be closed to the end of this year. This is a private company which is not using any government funds or such. We were to set up in a rental building while building the new complex. Plans change , but with letters like this form concerned citizens maybe it is best I set up in Houston or Dallas. I dont feel I owe you any explanation.

Lampasshole responds in kind:

Ah. OK. So you sent out a press release in late Feb and everyone sat on it for about 77 days and THEN published it all around the same time independently of each other. Now I understand! Makes total logical sense.

I’ve already asked Ewan Scott from Tyre and Rubber Recycling and Mary Sikora from Scrap Tire News exactly when they actually got the press release in their hands.

Ewan Scott emailed me this verbatim: ” I would say that it was probably issued within a day or two of the 11th of May”

Also weird that the Scrap Tire website reads “breaks ground on a 25,000-square-foot manufacturing, distribution, and sales center in Lampasas, Texas this month.” and was dated June 2020. Why would it read “THIS month” if it was sent out in February and the fantasy ground breaking was actually in June? A small hole in your story, to be sure.

Furthermore Weibold! Tire Recycling printed that: “This May, Eco-Flex announced it would establish a major manufacturing, distribution, and sales center in Lampasas, Texas to help tackle the problem. The new tire recycling plant is expected to bring up to 200 jobs to the area while supporting the state’s progressive economic growth plans. The construction of the 25,000-square-foot tire recycling plant is expected to begin on June 2, 2020.”

Says right there, you announced it in May. They published on May 14th. Two days after Tyre and Rubber.

As for your “I’ll take my ball and go to Houston or Dallas” attitude, I would suggest steering clear of Houston. You would be competing with Genan tire recycling and THEIR $140 million plant. I think they might squash you like a bug. I bet their CEO writes emails with flawless grammar as well.

Perhaps you could try Austin? I think Mike Cour has an office there or a business address. They are very much into the virtue signaling and money wasting that recycling entails. Although they are already losing about $2 million per year on their regular recycling program. Not sure they would fall for the same trick twice. But you never know!

But when you are pitching them your schtick, be sure not to say things like “I don’t owe you any explanations” if you decide on going the route of begging for public funds or sweetheart deals. Mmmkay?

Best of luck.

Unsurprisingly, that is the last I heard from Alan Champagne. BUT, Mike Cour certainly was paying attention now. Ah hell….guess we need a PART IV!!!

Coming soon….

Eco-Flex False Press Release – Part II

I gave you all the set up in Part I: Eco-Flex sending out false press releases at the exact same time the LEDC and City council were spinning their wheels in mid-May trying to figure out how to proceed on scrounging up ANOTHER $1.9 million dollars in tax money to incinerate on the ‘business’ park.

My first step was to email Ewan Scott of Tyre and Rubber Magazine as well as Mary Sikora with Scrap Tire News to find out WHO actually sent them that phony press release and WHEN they got it. Emails copied below.

Lampasshole in blue…responses in red:

(8/31/20) Good morning Mr Scott!

Where did you actually get this “information”? Who submitted this press release? Why has the article not been removed for being entirely factually incorrect? Thanks for any info!

Mr Scott responds:

(9/1/20) Okay, Eco-flex.

This article came from a text only press release – it is, almost verbatim, available on several publication websites. We have not removed it because we were not aware of any issues.

As it was published elsewhere though, we ran the press release.

I would be very grateful if you could give me some more information. Firstly, what is your interest in this “project”? Are you involved in the recycling sector? Or are you a concerned resident?

Could I ask you to send me a photograph of the proposed site and the lack of development? I can then go and ask Eco-Flex questions about the project. In fact, having taken a closer look at Eco-Flex, I can go to Kal Tire for some information.

I will get back to you when I know more.

Regards, Ewan Scott

Lampasshole responds:

Thanks so much! I’m just a citizen of Lampasas who keeps a very close eye on our local government. The Lampasas Economic Development Corporation (LEDC) has been trying to develop 165 acres into a ‘business park’ for over 10 years now and it has been an unmitigated disaster and a waste of millions.

They are trying AGAIN to scam almost a million bucks from the US Government in the form of a “covid grant” claiming our town was ‘economically injured’ by Covid (not true – quite the opposite). Anyhow, Mike Cour and “Eco-Strong” is supposedly going to be their tenant. Mike has made a presentation to the LEDC twice, but that is as far as it has gone. They are still FAR away from any usable ‘business park’. Any talk of a ‘ground breaking’ is laughable and completely false (unless it is in another town, but I would think Mike Cour would be trumpeting that on all his social media sites – he hasn’t)

I have emailed Mike himself over this and he hasn’t responded. He appears to be a one-man operation working out of his home.

My concern is as a citizen and a taxpayer. I’m always suspicious of all this “green new deal” b.s. It’s my personal contention that Cour is trying to make a money grab from the LEDC and thus, the taxpayers of our tiny town of 7,500 people.

There is no ground-breaking. There never was. There isn’t even a viable site at the ‘business park’ yet and won’t be for a while, since they haven’t even submitted the grant application yet. All they have is about $850,000 worth of empty water pipes underground.

SO – I am just trying to establish who handed out that line of b.s. in the press release. It appears it was Eco-Strong/Eco-Flex, as I suspected but I didn’t want to assume anything.

Thanks very much for your quick response!! I have enclosed a photo of current ‘business park’ – as you can see, no activity.

Ewan Scott responds:

(9/1/20) We are making enquiries in Canada and in Lampasas. We have asked Mike Cour for a response.

I can’t say any more than that at the moment as we have not had any responses from any of the parties involved.

I have contacted LEDC for a comment as well.

Regards, Ewan Scott

Lampasshole asks again a couple days later if anyone has responded:

(9/3/20) Good morning Mr Scott! Any luck digging up an answer yet?

Thanks very much.

Ewan Scott responds and inadvertently exposes what I suspected was the truth all along:

Don’t expect any quick responses.

One partner in the Legal, Alberta, operation has referred me to Liberty Tire… Mike Cour is not responding… Neither have I had any response from Lampasas Economic Development. We have altered the title and heading on the May news item.

I don’t hold out getting much of a response on this. To be honest, this is, and I’m sorry to say this, rather typical of many US projects where there is more show than go, to raise funds – then it all goes flat and everyone disappears until they come up with their next big idea. I have lost count of the operations that have come and gone. I only ran this because it was everywhere and it was tied to Eco-Flex, which is an established player.

Excuse my cynicism, but this is what the American Dream seems to bring with it – no offence intended.

Regards, Ewan Scott

WOW!! “More show than go“. In other words – a lot of hype and bullshit in the green energy/recycling/green new deal area. Usually to raise funds and look viable when they are actually far from getting anywhere. Gee. Who woulda thunk it!

Also notice Mike Cour doesn’t bother responding to either of us. Only when I go poking around to even more publications and pointing out Eco-Flex are lying does Mike Cour email me in a panic.

In part III, we will see how Mike Cour, Eco-Flex and a moron named Alan Champagne (supposedly CEO of Eco-Flex) send me emails with various stories trying to explain the lies. Of course, they just get more tangled in their own bullshit. Stay tuned!

Somebody Has Some ‘Splaining To Do Regarding Eco-Strong, Mike Cour and the ‘Business’ Park Money Pit

[There is a LOT of nonsense and lies to sort through in this story. This will be PART I of III]

So it’s time to find out once and for all who is lying through their teeth. Is it the LEDC (Lampasas Economic Development Corp)? Mike Cour of Eco-Strong? Alan Champagne the asshole Canadian CEO? All of the above? With all the evidence I have here (press releases, minutes, emails, etc) I have DEFINITIVE PROOF that somebody is completely full of shit and got caught RED HANDED spewing falsehoods.

Oh my. THAT won’t look good on any federal application for free money, will it?

Let’s start with a brief recap of the LEDC’s ‘business’ park boondoggle and exactly when Mike Cour and Eco-Strong came into the picture.

2004: LEDC buys 152 acres on south 183 – $909,835 value on tax filings. I am not going off into the weeds, but I believe it was smaller to start and more land was added later. Makes no difference in our story.

2004 through 2013: land sits as unused weed patch but money is wasted on it CONSTANTLY as vultures feast on taxpayer’s asses [See: Business Park is Huge Piece of Pork]

2012: land appraised by Herbst Real Estate. Now valued at $817,978 or down 10% in value.

2014/2015: LEDC and City council convince themselves that if they just spend ANOTHER million, the business park will see “high paying jobs” come rolling in. LEDC and City spend over a million bucks for pipes in the ground and wires for electricity. I have covered this ad nauseam. Park is now “shovel ready” according to all involved. Money is spent to promote ‘business park’.

2015 through 2019: ZERO companies move into the ‘shovel ready’ ‘business park’ despite all the promises from politicians and City employees – many of whom are STILL sitting in those positions.

September 2019: Eco-Strong is incorporated in Texas (yes, it was just formed).

September 18, 2019: LEDC minutes show “presentation by Mike Cour of Eco-Strong. That’s it. ZERO details. This is the first appearance of Mike Cour.

February 19, 2020: Mike Cour and Eco-Strong are never mentioned again in LEDC minutes OR City council minutes until Feb 19th. The LEDC agenda shows Mike Cour to make another presentation [page 1, item III]. The minutes [page 1, item III] show ‘Mike Cour not present‘. Boy…he must REALLY be serious since he bailed at the last second and couldn’t be bothered to show up, eh?

March 18, 2020 LEDC meeting – cancelled due to COVID.

April 15,2020 LEDC meeting – ALL that is discussed is how to throw $100,000 in free money to any local business asking for it. ZERO mention of any Eco-Strong or Mike Cour items.

Here is where it all gets interesting. Mike Cour/Eco-Strong/Eco-Flex start sending out press releases that are outright lies.

May 15, 2020: I find ridiculous bullshit “press releases” that Mike Cour and Eco-Strong/Eco-Flex are about to break ground on June 2nd on a manufacturing plant IN LAMPASAS. This is a lie. Who made it up? Why? We’ll get to that in Part II. Press release was sent out around May 10th, according to Ewan Scott of Tyre and Rubber Recycling Magazine.

May 20, 2020: Mike Cour FINALLY appears before LEDC a second time – EIGHT MONTHS after the initial ‘presentation’. LEDC changes meeting time to NOON instead of the usual 5:30pm. This prevents prying eyes from learning anything about Mike Cour.

At this meeting, Mike Cour says “would like to begin manufacturing in August 2020” [see LEDC minutes page 2, item V at bottom]. This is bizarre because Eco-Flex has ALREADY sent out press releases 10 days earlier babbling that they “will break ground on June 2nd“.

It is ALSO bizarre because according to EVERYTHING the LEDC and City council have been discussing, there is NO WAY the ‘business’ park will be ready in three months (August 2020). They are talking more like 8 to 10 months – which REALLY means more like 1.5 years if history is any guide.

[Gee – here we are now.. WELL past the month of August…and NOTHING has happened. As usual. Better revise those bullshit timelines again!]

Mike also presents to the LEDC that he is interested in a “10,000 square foot manufacturing plant” but his press releases say 25,000 square feet. Which is it, Mike? HUGE difference. Also, your current business (Equicare) sits on a piece of land that is BIGGER than the entire Lampasas Business Park (199 acres versus 165 acres, roughly). So I’m wondering why you don’t just go ahead and build your killer plant on YOUR OWN property! Why get the LEDC involved?

Wait, don’t tell me….you want some free shit, maybe?

May 26, 2020: Joint City/LEDC meeting. City and LEDC lament that property is NOT ‘ready’ [video archive at 7:30 mark – “we have the land but it’s not ready to go into”]. Weird, since they have been touting “SHOVEL READY” for almost FIVE YEARS now. Councilman Mike White refers to the current state of the two million dollar project as a “goat pasture” [9:40 mark in video]

A portly fellow at the table on right side of video (no idea who he is) speaks of a ‘current prospect’ but never names names [10:35 mark]. This ‘current prospect’ is “ready to pull this trigger on their side if we’re able to help them on our side“

[Help them on our side? Sounds like “hand them a lotta free shit” to me. But I digress]

The portly fellow then goes on at the 11:34 mark: “from what I understand, if we are able to commit, I think it would fit their [Eco-Strong’s] timeline”

Ummm…what?? Ex-squeeze me? Mike Cour already claimed he’s breaking ground SEVEN DAYS from this meeting! LOL. THEN, he said August 2020 during his second presentation. NEITHER of those “fits your timeline” of 8 to 10 months, buddy.

Somebody is lying like a rug here.

I finally emailed Finley and asked point blank what all the secrecy was about. Was the prospect Mike Cour and Eco-Strong? Finley confirms that YES, it is Mike Cour and Eco-Strong they are referring to as their ONE and ONLY prospect for their business park.

In other words, the LEDC and City of Lampasas are ready to squander $1.9 MILLION DOLLARS to have this park be “ready” for Mike Cour and his ‘business’. The SAME Mike Cour who is telling the world in press releases something ENTIRELY DIFFERENT. The same Mike Cour who already sits on a piece of property bigger than the LEDC business park land….and all for a measly 10,000 square foot building?

LOL. Makes total sense!

To recap:

Mike Cour and/or Eco-Flex/Eco-Strong sends out a false press release around May 10th that they will be breaking ground on a tire plant in Lampasas on June 2nd…

THEN Mike Cour gets up in front of the LEDC a week later and says they want to start manufacturing in August 2020…

THEN this portly fellow at the joint LEDC/City meeting sits there and says that the time lines mesh. Sorry but 7 days isn’t the same as three months which also isn’t the same as 8 to 10 months. Finley also says “we are VERY very early in this process [18:33 mark]” YET Eco-Flex has ALREADY been spewing out press releases that ground breaking is imminent.

Lies, lies and more lies. And ALL of this before the grant application has even been submitted!!

Finley scrambled with some bullshit [11:50 mark] about how they can maybe make a ‘temporary’ spot in the park for Mike Cour to get going. Really? If that’s true, then why spend the $1.9 million at all?

I’m guessing the LEDC and the City REALLY need to show the Feds they have a “legit” prospect for their grant application and they’ll spin as many yarns and stretch as many truths as they have to in order to do it.

So of course….I went digging to trap these morons in their own lies. Parts II and III will cover all the emails between myself, Mike Cour, Eco-Flex, the moron CEO Alan Champagne and Ewan Scott, publisher of Tyre and Rubber Recycling Magazine

Mike Cour, LEDC ‘Business Park’, Eco-Strong, Mr. Champagne, British Tyre & Rubber Recycling – I Have Stumbled Into Crazy Stuff!

I’ve suspected all along that there was something stinky about the LEDC relationship with Mike Cour and Eco-Strong/Eco-Flex. I’ve done a deep dive that took me from a British Tire publication to an arrogant CEO in Canada named “Mr Champagne” who writes like a third grader to a local businessman who can’t keep his stories straight…to a million-dollar ‘business park’ grant that may hinge on all of this crazy stuff somehow being true and holding together.

Hint: it’s all bullshit smoke and mirrors….and YOU might be paying for it!

Stay tuned for the wild twists and turns of the Lampasas Economic Development Corporation’s latest attempts to salvage their ‘business park’ debacle.

Wading Through Mandy Walsh’s Hip-Deep Horse Shit – PART II

We already covered the first part of the Dispatch article. Let’s continue….

I think I pretty well already destroyed the ‘economic injury’ claim in the first red box highlighted above. There WAS NO ‘ECONOMIC INJURY’ to Lampasas. Quite the opposite. You can re-read the entire argument HERE.

Notice how by calling this a ‘disaster’ Mandy and the LEDC (and City council) are able to grab a MUCH HIGHER chunk of money they don’t deserve. They can steal 80% of the funding instead of just 50%.

I’m not going to argue that the ‘business park’ isn’t a disaster. It totally is. But it is a disaster 17 years in the making – NOT a disaster because of Covid-19. The LEDC, Mandy Walsh and every single member of City council are acting like scum bag liberals by “never letting a crisis go to waste”.

Every community has been impacted by Covid19? Probably true. Have they all been NEGATIVELY impacted and should be handed almost $1 million to waste on a project that is a 17-year-old, multi-million dollar failure ALREADY? No – that is a lie. Lampasas has come out ahead in all this so far, as I have shown repeatedly. The City is ALREADY getting free stuff to cover all their expenses for things like Plexiglas at City Hall, etc. That is a SEPARATE GRANT – so we are ALREADY getting money for that stuff.

‘She hopes the application will be completed in a month or two‘? That’s funny. BEFORE, it was going to be done by July 31st. I have very little doubt in my mind that it’s already been completed. So WHY would Mandy and the LEDC wait one minute longer than necessary to try and grab free stuff? I have my suspicions but I don’t want to lead them down any paths they haven’t thought to take themselves. I’ll reveal that thought after the grant is actually submitted.

“Walsh said the park would accommodate local businesses’ expansion, as well as attract new businesses to Lampasas. We have businesses here that are ready to grow, they’re ready to add more employees and expand their business,” she said. “If we had space for them, we would see a lot of our current businesses thrive.”

This is just a colossal pile of nonsense. As if the poor, dumb business owners in our town just HAVE TO HAVE Mandy and the LEDC hold their hand and gift them some land so they can expand. They are just BURSTING AT THE SEAMS but are too stupid to realize they can go out and buy land on their own from a private citizen who is selling. Only Mandy Walsh and her clip board can save the day! The same Mandy Walsh who has never run a business in her life.

OK. If you say so.

I’m wondering how Wal-Mart ever got built in our town without Mandy and the LEDC to hand them free stuff. Or Putter & Gutters. Or Bill’s Burgers. Or that building that Lotus Spa now occupies. How they hell did they even START in business without the geniuses at the LEDC to guide them and hand them “City” land?

I ask AGAIN: WHAT ARE THE NAMES OF THESE BUSINESSES that are so “ready to grow” and “add more employees”? Once again -MANDY NEVER NAMES A SINGLE BUSINESS. She can’t. If she did, it would be too easy for me to go digging and asking questions and her bullshit narrative would collapse.

Part III coming up…..

City Flush With Cash – Will Still Beg For Federal Money To Fund ‘Business Park’

Everything is coming up roses for the City of Lampasas! Between saving roughly $80,000 by not opening a public pool, people being forced to stay home due to Wuhan Flu and run up City electric bills, and the idiots in Washington DC handing out trillions of dollars, the City is sitting on a nice surplus!

And you know what we do with surpluses, right? Dream up a million ways to squander it, that’s what!

Sales tax collections were up TWENTY-SIX PERCENT for the month of May compared to May of 2019. That’s an extra $50k or so in the City’s pockets just right there. How is that possible?? Well, the federal government handed just about everyone $1200…PLUS another $500 for each kid…PLUS all the people being paid and extra $600 in unemployment to sit home and watch TV. Add all that up, and there was likely an injection of about $4 million into the local economy. People were SO close to starvation and destitution that they went right out and spent it on tattoos, new dogs, iPhones and other unnecessary shit.

Presto – the City gets an extra $50k in sales tax receipts!

Yeah, yeah, yeah, it is another $3 trillion piled on the federal debt, but who cares about that?? Right Bruce? Just print up another few trillion and give everyone a free lunch! Yay! Just remember that when your grocery bill goes up 30% next year. Of course, the SMART people know how printing trillions in paper currency always ends. But I digress.

The City immediatley made some “accelerated purchases” – some sweet 2020 trucks. A City drowning in cash doesn’t bother looking for deals on 2017 models! Hell no! Every City employee is already scheming about how to get “their share” of the windfall, no doubt.

So riddle me this: if the City is sitting on a huge pile of unexpected cash, why are they going to go beg the Federal government for close to a million dollars to fund their ~~corpse repository~~ ‘business park’??

You remember the ‘business park’, right?

Could it be that everyone on City council, the LEDC and City Hall actually DOES know that the ‘business park’ is a giant piece of dogshit and colossal waste of money? Methinks that might be the case.

After all, if pissing away over $4 million on the corpse repository is SUCH a fantastic idea and SUCH a good use of tax dollars, the City would be falling all over themselves to fund it with “their” money.

But they aren’t.

They’d rather go hat-in-hand to taxpayers all over the United States with their bullshit story about “covid” and steal a pile of cash from hardworking truck drivers in Oklahoma and waitresses in Mighigan, right?

Disgusting. What a bunch of welfare queens.

It’s Deja Vu All Over Again

Lest you think the grand proclamations and the multi-million-dollar money grabs for the ~~corpse repository~~ ‘business park’ are a new thing and you are actually BELIEVING them, let me take you back exactly SIX YEARS to the day:

“Economic development officials have said utilities for the business park are essential to make the 165-acre area attractive to companies.” – July 22, 2014

That was when the LEDC and City council (with many of the SAME PEOPLE that hold those positions today) said we needed over ONE MILLION DOLLARS to bring water, sewer and electricity to the ‘business park’.

They got their huge chunk of money and put their pipes and wires into the park – then fed us some more b.s. about how awesome jobs were about to come pouring in! Let’s look at some failed predictions:

“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

“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

“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

The final side-splitter from 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 SIX YEARS LATER and about $350,000.00 in interest payments GONE (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.

Not only were they 100% wrong six years ago, NOW THEY WANT ANOTHER TWO MILLION DOLLARS!! Mandy Walsh and the Lampasas Economic Dunces Club are going to now go begging, hat in hand, to the FEDERAL GOVERNMENT. They are taking advantage of (abusing, if you ask me) the new CARES act – which is SUPPOSED to be for Covid-related disasters.

Absolutely disgusting. Nothing but parasites looting other taxpayers in the US to pay for their failed ‘business park’ boondoggle. Every member of the LEDC AND City council AND Mandy Walsh are now officially welfare queens.

We Tracked the Last Time the Government Bailed Out the Economy ...

The Goldfish Swim Tonight – Live Commentary – 5:30pm

“A weem a way a weem a way, a weem away a weem a way

In the Fishbowl, the pricey Fishbowl, the Goldfish swim tonight”

Topics of discussion (my predictions):

We’re spending another $2 million on the idiotic ~~corpse-repository~~ ‘business park’. Screw you.
We’re closing the pools this summer. Screw you.
We’re giving Finley $140,000 a year. Screw you.

Also guys, I’m still waiting on that list of businesses you handed out $100,000 in tax dollars to! Tell JC Brown to stop racking up the billable hours and cough it up already. There’s no way around it.

MEETING NOTES

5:30pm: Six of us masochists waiting on the Internet to watch…..

Finley now talking about the ~~corpse repository~~ ‘business park”. He is informing council that the BP is not as shovel-ready as we were led to believe. Mandy now about to run through the nearly TWO MILLION MORE DOLLARS they want to piss down this rat hole. The bank will likely only lend around $900k. Leaving approximately one million short.

According to Mandy, there is plenty of demand for the business park [LOL!!], but it’s not ready for them to move in…even though they said it was “shovel ready” almost FIVE YEARS AGO. Three years ago, then-candidate Delana Toups said “businesses were on the verge of moving into the ~~corpse repository~~ business park“….which was clearly a complete lie.

5:40pm: Now the LEDC is begging council for $500,000 to “develop” the property further. You know – the shovel-ready property. Who are these prospects???? They have NEVER named a single prospect by name.

Mike White admitting the thing is a “goat patch” and his preference is to sell the entire thing. I love it. EXACTLY RIGHT.

Somebody else now claiming there is a “prospect” willing to pull the trigger on moving in….a supposed “proven business”. OK – WHO IS IT???? Morons! Really guys – if you expect to be taken seriously, then name the damn prospect already.

Randy “Speed Bump” Clark now jumping in….I have no idea what his point was.

I almost feel sorry for these saps. They have painted themselves into a corner with this silly-assed ‘business park’ and there is really no way out without spending FURTHER millions on a shaky idea or dumping it and looking stupid.

Finley now using $140,000 terms like “development matrix”.

Now they are discussing mooching off taxpayers by applying for grants (‘free money from other people’) at the state or federal level…or maybe USDA. City saying their best guess is 8 to 10 months to get the shovel-ready park actually ready. Which likely means 18 months, if you convert to Finley time.

Mike White falling victim to the “sunk cost fallacy” – saying they have too much invested to walk away. Admits it is a shitty project on ROI terms.

TJ Monroe totally and enthusiastically in favor of flushing more money down the toilet – huge shocker. This pea-brain sits on City council AND the LEDC. A double whammy of stupidity.

Speed Bump back in there talking about chasing a chicken. Gotta love the old guy!

These bozos are all talking themselves into flushing more money down the toilet. Of course, there is then the question of where all those millions come from. Council is now on record as “we need to shoe this horse or sell it…let’s shoe it and move on”. Wrong call. The next TWO MILLION DOLLARS will not put any lipstick on this pig.

Taking a break now before workshop session. Sixteen people in the Internet peanut gallery now.

Back in session…..Chamber of Commerce representative speaking. Quite frankly, I have no idea why the City pays money to the Chamber of Commerce. Makes zero sense to me. I’ll just let this chick prattle on for a bit.

Police chief now talking about the commercial vehicles being parked on residential streets. This issue bores me a bit – all about permitting. Still waiting for pool discussion.

This is brutal. Parking permitting STILL being discussed 20 minutes later. Crazy how council makes us listen to hours of boring minutiae but when it comes to a three minute discussion of Finley getting a $10,000 raise, they can’t bother us with that and it gets hidden away.

Mike White for banning huge trucks altogether. HERE HERE! Agreed. Let’s get on with it!

6:36pm: FINALLY….moving on to a stop sign Delana Toups wants put somewhere or something. At least she hasn’t brought up the Tree Police idea lately.

6:40pm: Pools about to be discussed. Some chick (Kim?) is at the mic who apparently runs the pools. Didn’t catch her name. They need 32 employees to run the pools and 23 are lifeguards. She only has EIGHT trained guards. She needs to train 12 new lifeguards….now she’s explaining that nobody applied. [see my discussion about WAGES TOO LOW!!!]

[No mention, of course, that if City council hadn’t dicked around two weeks ago and tabled this discussion until today, that she could have been halfway there already. So, there’s that. Good job, Goldfish!]

She is telling us it takes a month to train everyone….school starts August 10th…we’d only have a 5-week pool season…uuuhhh oooh…here comes the bad news….BAM – proposes to close Hanna for the season.

Now she’s claiming closing Hanna is good so they can “do repairs”. Christ lady – what have you been doing the last SIX MONTHS?!?!? Total nonsense.

She proposes Hancock pool open with a ton of ridiculous Covid bullshit attached: Capacity greatly reduced…something about cleaning the bathrooms constantly (we all piss in the pool…forget that one)…nobody without a parent…more blah blah blah about social distancing.

One Goldfish (Toups?) is upset that the pool is only for local residents. What if cousins come in from out of town? [Lol. Too bad!]. Kim shoots that shit down: “this isn’t a normal summer”. HA! Starting to like this Kim chick a bit. Amen – you’re already reducing total City pool capacity by like 75% – outsiders can pound sand, ding dong.

This whole “capacity reduction” is retarded in the extreme. If you’re gonna open, then OPEN. Such nonsense. If Ricky Roy was the mayor, he’d tell the Gov to suck an egg.

Finley “$140,000 salary” deGraffenreid is now discussing the 2020/2021 budget. He’s concerned about sales tax receipts going down into the new year (obviously). He’s sounding like every politician ever: we’ll keep taxes low and give you all you want! I don’t see a point in detailing all this as it’s likely smoke, mirrors and crazy assumptions. I’ll start believing the numbers they come up with in late July. That’s when the REAL numbers come out and we find the IT Department gets a 15% increase or something.

Very last thing he throws out: employee compensation. LOL. Can’t forget that one. Lemme guess: raises for everyone!

Ricky Roy on deck! All City buildings open to the public June 1st. They will practice social distancing and sneeze guards are being installed all over the damn place. RICKY, NOOOOO!!!! This isn’t you, Ricky. YOU KNOW this social distancing is all horseshit.

Five Years Ago Today – City Council Pipe Dreams…

Exactly FIVE YEARS ago today, this appeared in the Lampasas Dispatch from former (thank goodness) council member Wanda Bierschwale referring to the STILL CURRENTLY EMPTY ~~corpse repository~~ ‘business park’ they have wasted millions of dollars on:

“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

Soon, eh? Soon like, hell will freeze over soon? Or pigs will fly soon?

I bring these up to remind the unwashed masses that these clowns have no idea what they are talking about 95% of the time and their grand visions ALWAYS fall flat and cost WAY more than advertised. The same applies today.

Remember that when they babble about ‘developing the economy’ by flushing hundreds of thousands of dollars down the toilet to people like Halff Associates and Pope Eckermann.