I bought it on sale, so I saved money

April 15, 2016

The city is planning to issue $20 million of revenue refunding bonds relating to the ball park.

Step one was to meet as the Downtown Development Corporation:

downtowndevelopmentapril112016

Five minutes later they planned to meet as city council:

citycouncilapril112016

Then they considered:

citycouncilapril112016item8

You and I would probably think that they did this to save us some money because of lower interest rates.

Unfortunately, according to the resolution the refinancing will end up costing us money.  From the resolution:

…notwithstanding the fact that the aggregate amount of payments to be made under the Series 2016 Bonds will exceed the aggregate amount of payments that would have been made under the terms of the Series 2013 Tax Exempt Bonds which are being refunded; the maximum amount of such excess shall not exceed the amount specified in Section 5 hereof;

And then from section 5:

(c) the aggregate amount of payments to be made on the Series 2016 Bonds shall not
exceed the aggregate amount of payments that would have been made on the refunded Series 2013 Tax
Exempt Bonds had the refunding not occurred by more than $13,285,000, net of any issuer contribution;

You can read the resolution here.  Don’t be surprised if the city takes this link down once people start looking at it.

The mayor, the city manager, and the city’s chief financial officer are each individually empowered to sell the bonds.

We deserve better

Brutus

3 Comments | Ball park, City government | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

False promises

April 14, 2016

I don’t know if anyone could make this stuff up.

The City of El Paso Downtown Development Corporation (aka city council in sheep’s clothing) met on March 17, 2015.

According to the minutes published last week one thing that happened was:

“Motion made by Board Director Romero, seconded by Board Director Niland, and unanimously carried to HOLD meetings bi-annually, twice a year.”

They have not done that, or if they have they have not published any public agendas or minutes.

In fact they next met April 11 of 2016.  An agenda item for that meeting was the approval of the March 17, 2015 minutes.

Bi-annually

Bi-annually evidently means talking out of two sides of their mouths.

We deserve better

Brutus

7 Comments | Ball park, City government | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

Being unappreciated

April 13, 2016

Maybe I’ve been insensitive.

Our former city manager responded via letter to the mayor’s inquiry.  In it she wrote:

“I basically sacrificed my career for the ballpark project because I bore the brunt of the intense political fallout associated with it.”

Good grief!

Her statement shows numerous flaws in her character and thinking.

Let’s start with these:

If there was intense political fallout it was because the public did not approve of what she did.

Her career is not over.  She has a nice cushy job paid for with the public dime.

She has shown no remorse over what she did to us, in fact she has been openly defiant of attempts to find out what happened.

She claims to have sacrificed her career over an unnecessary expenditure when our city wants for many necessities.

We are told that she is paid $142,000 per year in her new job and receives another $60,000 per year as a city retiree.  She might also be receiving social security retirement benefits.

Meriam-Webster define sacrifice this way:  “the act of giving up something that you want to keep especially in order to get or do something else or to help someone”.  I guess most of us would agree with her when explained this way.

We deserve better

Brutus

7 Comments | Ball park, City government | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

Sunland Park eastbound exit

April 12, 2016

Unfortunately we have yet another traffic hazard now because of the various construction projects.

The I-10 exit lanes eastbound at Sunland Park have been reduced to one lane.

The result is that traffic stopped at the signal at Sunland Park and the exit ramp now frequently backs into the right hand lane of I-10.

Then traffic on the freeway flows into a line of stopped vehicles.  Brakes are slammed on.

If you are approaching the Sunland Park exit of I-10 heading east find a way to get into the left lanes.

We deserve better

Brutus

 

1 Comment | State Government | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

Dodging the question again

April 11, 2016

Why did it take a full month for our former city manager to come up with her statement that the delay in the sale of the ball park bonds that cost us $27 million was her decision?

Not responsive

And why is it that when she finally did respond to the city’s request that she did not answer the questions that were asked?

From her letter:

“I understand that City Council has asked that I explain and elaborate on the events leading to the delay in the issuance of the ballpark bonds and identify the council members involved in the decision.  Mayor Leeser has specifically asked me to name the several council members who raised concerns about the timing of this activity [the bond sale] in relation to the upcoming election, specifically because of the ongoing controversy regarding the project.”

She then goes on to write about several aspects of the project but never names the council members.

This person is still a public employee at an agency where our mayor and county judge sit as board members.  The fact that she is still employed tells us a lot about the truth.

We deserve better

Brutus

13 Comments | Ball park, City government, County Government | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

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