Tag: drunken sailor

MORE Politicians Flip-Flop On ‘Free’ Stuff

In light of the recent giveaways to developers, I thought I’d search the Dispatch archives to see if any other politicians besides “Greasy” Chris Harrison have changed their tune on handing out “free” stuff like the electrical hookups recently gifted to Deorald Finney and S2M2 Inc for their developments.

Turns out they have! The original Drunken Sailor herself, Mayor Talbert, was actually AGAINST these types of giveaways back in August of 2014. So was Chuck Williamson! Fancy that!

As usual, they were desperately looking for revenue back in 2014. Those of us in the REAL world know that government has a SPENDING problem…not a revenue problem. But dummy politicians and City bureaucrats always go looking for more money first and never look at their own ledgers for waste.

Anyways, there was a HUGE discussion in the Lampasas Dispatch Record chronicling the debate between City council about how to raise MORE money and balance the budget back then. Here are some choice excerpts [look it up, Monica] from the article along with some commentary by me:

“Another revenue idea the council discussed is charging for items – such as replacement of broken valves, meter boxes and cleanout caps – the city currently provides for free. “We’ve been giving a lot away,” Mayor Pro Tem Chuck Williamson said. – August 4th, 2017 – page 5

[Chuck Williamson is STILL on City council to this day and JUST “gave a lot away” this year to S2M2 Inc and Deorald Finney! What’s the matter Chuck?? You buddies with all these developers too? Or just going senile?]

“Mrs. Talbert said in light of discussions about taxes and utility rates, the council certainly should consider every revenue source that only impacts the person that causes the problem, or creates the cost, before everybody shares that cost.” Ms. Moreno said charges for those types of items likely will not boost total revenue much, but Mrs. Talbert said it still is an important principle” – August 4th, 2017 – page 5

[The person who creates the cost should pay for it?? Kinda like a homeowner or developer paying for their own electrical hookup? Being one of the Seven Goldfish, I doubt Misti remembers saying this but there it is in black and white! She even had “principles” back then! My, how things have changed]

And here is the coup de grace [look it up, Monica] from my new hero Shane Brown. Shane was the DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC WORKS back then, so he probably knows what he is talking about:

“Public Works Director Shane Brown said the city loses money when officials waive fees for utility extensions. Brown said he questions how much the city benefits compared to the value of what it gives away in waivers“. – August 4th, 2017 – page 5

[Amen, Mr Shane Brown! Testify! Could not have said it better myself].

Of course, this was all in 2014 before Misti transformed into an intoxicated seaman. Now it’s all about buying power, love and admiration with other people’s money in the name of “growth”…a fool’s errand. So much for her “principles” she was babbling about back then. She clearly has none.

Questions For Misti Talbert

So here are a few questions for Misti “Spend like a drunken sailor’ Talbert as she starts her second term as mayor:

Did you learn anything from the $1,500,000.00 Old City Hall renovation debacle?  Are you proud that you backed it from the very beginning (“WOW factor!”) and supported it from start til finish?  Or can you finally see it for the colossal waste that it was?

How about the part where Azbell Electronics won a $96,000 contract with no other bids…despite the fact you sat on city council the FIRST time the exact same contract was bid and awarded to Broadcast Works for $34,000? 

Were there ANY repercussions when you found out city employees pulled the wool over your eyes on the Azbell contract? Did anyone get a stern talking to? Fired? Punished at all? I have posted internal city hall emails showing conclusively that Monica tried her best to keep Council in the dark and Gary Cox was very aware Azbell was FAR more expensive than other vendors. Or do you like being treated with such blatant disrespect?

Is it your opinion that the mayor and city council are the boss of Finley, or are you content that it seems to be the other way around?

Are you going to continue handing Eckermann Engineering hundreds of thousands of dollars in no-bid engineering work? 

Are you cool with increasing the salary/benefits of your highest-paid city employees like Finley, Gary and Monica by 5% to 9% every single year? Do you have ANY plans to trim ANY government spending at all? Or is it 7% increases as far as the eye can see?

Do you think it might be a good idea to have at least ONE of your IT employees get qualified in network administration (by Microsoft, Cisco, etc), since they are costing the city hundreds of thousands in salary and benefits annually yet they spend another $30,000 or so per year to hire TSM Consulting to do the network jobs THEY should be capable of doing themselves? Monica Wright has been on the public teat for OVER THIRTEEN YEARS and has exactly ZERO certifications in network administration….which means she has to pay TSM consulting tens of thousands of dollars annually to do such simple tasks as a server migration.

How many more millions does the Lampasas Economic Development Corp (LEDC) have to waste on the “business park” before you second guess your decisions there?  One million?  Two million? 

How many more $8,000 videos promoting Lampasas will the city pay for with zero results?  How many more TML conferences will the city pay for with $1000 worth of hotel rooms, so the LEDC staff can go spin their wheels in more conferences and seminars with no results?  How many more “consulting” contracts will you piss away money on?   HALFF is now getting $120,000 to do the job that LEDC has been wasting $100,000 per year to (not) do.  Do you think that is money well spent?

Not once in all her current self-congratulatory interviews has Misti “Drunken Sailor” Talbert made any mention of being the least bit concerned about the idiotic and wasteful spending of her administration and the administration before her.

One thing is sure – Talbert’s second term will provide me endless fodder and many boneheaded decisions to ridicule.