Back in May of 2012 word broke that the Texas Transportation Commission had 90 million dollars to spend on a street car system somewhere in Texas.
In the May 15, 2012 meeting of El Paso’s city council, a $1.25 million consulting contract was approved to prepare plans for a trolley system in El Paso. Four months later on September 11, 2012 that amount grew to almost $4.7 million, just like many city projects that we get incremented into.
At 3 hours and 44 minutes into the May 15 session the video will show that a former city representative wanted to ask questions. Her first was to question if the funding was guaranteed if the council spent the money on the study. She looked toward the city manager and asked the question. Someone in that general area answered affirmatively, if the city spent the money on the consulting contract the state money was guaranteed.
Now we know that to be incorrect. El Paso may or may not get the money. The state does not have the money allocated. A different Texas city may get the money.
Our study is done, the guaranteed money is not there. It might come in future years. Our study is valid for “more than two years”.
Slow down
City council needs to slow down before spending our money. Slow down, not stop. We have seen too many examples of city staff rushing us into wasted spending in the last few years. Council needs to get the facts before voting to spend money. They then need to hold people accountable when it turns out that they were not told the truth.
We deserve better
Brutus
elpasospeak 
This post is one of the reasons this site is so important. It sets out in measured steps the history of an event or condition. It states the need for change. It states the need accountability. It acknowledges that need for progress, but also acknowledges the necessity of prudence with the public purse. The tone throughout is civil and thoughtful. Participating in public discourse in this venue lacks the appeal of seeing oneself on television, but it does offer the opportunity for clarity and reflection lacking in the commentary of city council and commissioners court.
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Well said Max!
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No one on the Council bothered to ask to see the State’s guarantee in writing? According to the link below, one City presentation even showed the project as “scheduled to start construction” in early 2014.
Click to access 03211301%20COEP%202013%20Capital%20Plan%20Update.pdf
In a May 13, 2012 article El Paso’s own Ted Houghton, the then chairperson of Texas Transportation Commission, told EL PASO INC that he could not speak in detail about the project and the possibility of State funding until the environmental study [was] completed.
“Hopefully, the environmental assessment will come out well then we can talk about the funding opportunities at TxDOT,” Houghton says.
Note that he said “we can “TALK ABOUT” the funding opportunities.” So, clearly there was no guarantee. Yet, Council and voted two days later and and they and City Management perpetuated their misrepresentation of the facts (which is putting it politely).
As you noted, in September of that same year, Council was asked to approve a motion enabling Joyce Wilson to increase the total consulting fees paid to the URS Corporation for this project to nearly $4.7 million. See the link below.
Click to access 09-11-12%20Agenda.pdf
Either none of these folks ever talked to Houghton or read the EL PASO INC story…or they knew all along that the public was being misled. It appears that a bunch of folks were highly motivated to approve this expenditure of millions of dollars. Do the math on how many taxpayers are required just to pay for that one study.
Maybe it’s time to investigate URS Corporation and its ties to individuals in City government. Has anyone even seen what we got for all this money? What was the total amount actually paid to URS? It’s interesting how things get quiet when projects don’t materialize the way they were presented and marketed to the public.
Follow the money…
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Over 4 million dollars for a study? Ridiculous! Outrageous! And the project doesn’t go through. We should get details on how this money was spent and why they came back to city council and requested more after the first million. Cook complained about the “bad advice” he got that resulted in his huge legal debt. Whoever gave this terrible advice should be held accountable and fired for their lack of fiscal responsibility. Whoever said “two heads are better than one?” In this case, 8 or 9 or 10 heads don’t even come close!!! And why did they ever listen to the 1?
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What government agency enforces accountability from council members? Isn’t this FRAUD?
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