Tag: S2M2 Inc

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.

Hiring Scumbags To Beg For Government Money Always Pays Off In Lampasas

“Greasy” Chris Harrison pulled it off! After turning down a request from PRIVATE developer S2M2 Inc for free money back in May, City Council changed their tune and decided to hand S2M2 Inc “a maximum of $150,000 for the company’s actual costs of surveying, engineering and building a rainwater detention pond in the subdivision,” now that “Greasy” Chris (former City Council member) was the one doing the asking this time for his new employer S2M2 Inc.

But that’s not all: “the city will pay to extend electric service to each of Brodie Estates’ platted residential lots. The development agreement lists an estimated city cost of $24,500” – which sounds a LOT like the sweet deal Deorald Finney got for HIS subdivision earlier this year at a cost of around $72,000 for HIS 67 houses.

These “free” electrical hookups (paid for by YOU) run roughly $1100 per house. God forbid the developer pay this and pass it along to the actual homeowner who will benefit! It might cut into his profits! When he sells a $150,000 house, he might only make $24,000 profit instead of $25,000 profit! We cannot have that!

Here’s how I think it went down (this is my opinion – not fact): S2M2 Inc bought this land, figured they could put N number of houses on it, build those houses for $X and sell them for X+$25,000 or whatever the markup is for developers….so they made a deal with the land seller and got all ready to break ground. All well and good – maybe they make a $25,000 profit on 22 houses and pocket $550,000 after all is said and done.

But THEN, they cleared some brush out and cleaned up the land a bit and realized the drainage sucked and they would have to WASTE three of their precious lots building a detention pond! That would take the profit of THREE houses out of their pockets. Let’s say it was $25,000 each (again, I am not a developer, I am pulling number from my ass that sound like realistic ballpark figures). Taking a $75,000 hit for your own screw-up is what private businesses do all the time. But developers are special private businesses (just ask Greasy Chris). They can go to the morons at the City and explain to them how this detention pond is actually in the best interest of the CITY…and not of S2M2 Inc, who is merely trying to help them out.

[Moron politicians and City bureaucrats fall victim to this faulty ‘logic’ all the time. They extend all sorts of “free” shit in the name of “growth” and “expanding the tax base” and it NEVER works out. They do not understand this or care because (1) 90% of them have never run a business (2) they are severely math challenged and (3) it’s not their money they are giving away….it’s YOURS]

It’s the same kind of idiocy that leads towns to spend $100,000 on Christmas lights and say “people will come and visit and we’ll make it all back on sales tax revenue” – which is absolute unmitigated nonsense if you are familiar with third-grade math…which most of these bozos are not.

So – back to our story. A regular, honest, stand-up private business owner would eat the $75,000 and chalk it up to experience. But these scumbags figure, “hey! Let’s go ask the City to ‘cost share’ this with us…we might get $150,000 out of this to make up for our huge blunder!” – after all, the worst they can say is ‘no’, and we’re right back where we started. There is zero downside to begging, in other words.

So, ask the City is what they did. The City said “NO” back in May, as the Dispatch article reported….which was the proper thing to do. But these scumbags took it a step further. They didn’t give up! They then sent in FORMER CITY COUNCIL MEMBER Greasy Chris Harrison to ask AGAIN.

Lo and behold! Mayor Talbert then decided that “City officials need to think again about a detention pond“…because Misti “Drunken Sailor” Talbert apparently equates spending lots of money with being an effective Mayor, from what I’ve seen over the last two years.

Oh…and Chris Harrison owns a dirt works company as well. Lol. You really can’t make this stuff up. Will The Seven Goldfish look into who S2M2 Inc hires to do the dirt work? Will The Seven Goldfish ask to see how much it ACTUALLY cost instead of just accepting the $150,000 figure? Of course not. It ain’t their money.

“Greasy” Chris Harrison: Then and Now – A Study in Hypocrisy.

Amazing what you can find in the archives. Like this little nugget from the Lampasas Dispatch Record (archives April 10th, 2015 – page 11). The Dispatch was interviewing then-candidate Chris Harrison as he ran for City Council a second time (he resigned with a year left in his term the first time around):

“The council candidate said he opposes tax abatements and other financial incentives to prospective businesses. He also said he was against city officials’ economic-development trips to California and a subsequent incentive agreement for a company that moved from California to Lampasas. “To me, it’s not the government’s place to fund private business,” Harrison said.

“The candidate said he learned from a grant program the City Council offered briefly in 2011. Under the program, which Harrison initially supported but later voted to repeal, small businesses that opened in Lampasas after a specified date were eligible for a grant of $5,000 from the city. Harrison said council members had good intentions but learned quickly there were problems with offering taxpayer money to businesses. “

Wow. Harrison sounds reasonable and intelligent here. He is 100% correct on those points. However, here we are about 4.5 years later and Harrison is singing a completely different tune.

NOW, Harrison has been hired by S2M2 Inc. – a local PRIVATE business. He recently went in front of city council to beg for $125,000 in “cost sharing” to pay for half of a detention pond his employer (a PRIVATE developer) needs. I guess if you are going to steal, then steal big, right Chris? You had a real problem with handing out $5,000 grants to small businesses (rightfully so) back in April of 2015 when you were running for Council but $125,000 to your new employer S2M2 Inc is just fine and dandy! Perhaps it should be Chris “The Hypocrite” Harrison instead of “Greasy” Chris.

It’s also VERY greasy that Council shot down the idea in May, but since FORMER COUNCIL MEMBER Harrison showed up to plead the case, now Misti Talbert says “city officials need to think again about a detention pond.” (Lampasas Dispatch 8-30-19 – page A4 – paragraph 12).

BONUS SCUMBAGGERY: The Dispatch archives also mention that Harrison owns a dirt contracting company he started in 2002. I wonder who will get the big, fat $250,000 contract for BUILDING this detention pond? Is that the deal, Chris? You go beg to your former Council chums for a $125,000 check to S2M2 Inc and then Steven McDonald (owner of S2M2) hands you the dirt contract? Sure looks that way from where I’m standing.

What an absolutely disgusting display of hypocrisy and wasteful spending all wrapped up in a big pile of dog shit. Will The Seven Goldfish look into this? I highly doubt it.

Former City Council Member “Greasy” Chris Harrison Goes Begging To City Council for $125,000 of Free Money for His New Employer S2M2 Inc.

The name “Chris Harrison” should ring a bell with longtime readers. He is not only the ex-city-council dummy who motioned to spend $126,000 (originally $119,000) on an elevator for the Old City Hall debacle (page 6) when there was a perfectly good $96,000 bid on the table….he is also the bozo who, as a then-current member of the Lampasas Riding Club AND City Council, pushed council to spend six-figure sums on lights and steel panels (page 7) for the “riding arena” over at the 580 Sports Complex (even though there are ALREADY existing arenas close to Lampasas). Naturally, they had MUCH bigger and more expensive plans (page 1 and 2).

[As more evidence of the insanity back in those days, then-mayor Toups and then-mayor-pro-tem Misti “Drunken Sailor” Talbert were ACTUALLY entertaining the notion of spending $2.5 million for a RODEO FACILITY (page 2 and 3). They thought it was a dandy idea and would pay for itself. THESE are the people in charge?? Truly boggles the mind.]

Suffice it to say that “Greasy” Chris has a history of proposing horrible and expensive ideas that seem to serve “Greasy” Chris himself. The fact he is popping up asking for money from his former Council buddies makes a lot of alarms go off.

Back to the present day: according to the latest Dispatch, Chris Harrison now “represents” a company called S2M2 Incorporated….and they want some free stuff: namely $125,000 from the city in “cost sharing” for a detention pond in a new subdivision.

(For those of you who don’t get it, “cost sharing” is the new bullshit term for developers who want the city to hand them large sums of your tax dollars).

This bad idea ALREADY was shot down last May, but apparently whoever pulls the strings at S2M2 decided to hire Harrison to try and sweet talk his former council buddies into forking over $125,000 – Harrison supposedly then directly contacted Misti “Drunken Sailor” Talbert and made his case again. Misti, who has never met a spending idea she didn’t agree with, now thinks this is just fine and dandy.

I dug into S2M2 Inc online and found very little: an address here in town at 202 Riverview Drive, Suite #2 and some taxpayer numbers and a charter date of September 28, 2017. Here is a photo of the front of this “corporation” (it is actually the storefront of the nice lady who does his books for him):

I had one of my private investigators dig some more and apparently the only name associated with this ‘company’ is a guy named Steven McDonald. I assume that’s where the S&M comes from. Get it?? S&M?? S2M2??

Well, this looks pretty damned greasy, if you ask me….hence the moniker “Greasy” Chris Harrison. How long has Harrison ‘worked’ for S2M2? Who the hell is Steven McDonald and why is he so keen to steal $125,000 from the taxpayers? Does he own property over there? Why does Steven McDonald list ONLY his accountant’s address in his corporate charter – which is extremely strange, in my book.

Perhaps City Council can look into those very questions instead of just handing over a chunk of money to every developer with a pulse (*cough* Deorald Finney *cough*).