Help stop the lawsuit

July 15, 2013

Tomorrow’s (July 15, 2013) city council agenda has this item on it:

Discussion and action on the status of the Texas Attorney General’s opinion on the release of personal emails that pertain to official city business by various members of city council and staff and the cost to date, on hiring outside legal counsel acquired by the city to challenge the AG’s opinion.  [Representative Emma Acosta, (915) 541-4515]

Members of the public requested the emails through the Texas public information act.  The city resisted and asked the attorney general for permission to conceal them.  The attorney general ruled that they must be released according to the law.  The old city council then voted to spend our taxpayer money to sue the attorney general.

The city suit will fail.  This is a stalling tactic to keep us from knowing the truth about what those people did to us.  To add insult to injury, the old city council used our taxpayer money to try to deny us what we are legally allowed.

The city representative that put this on the agenda has done a good thing.  The new council should vote Tuesday to stop the lawsuit and release the documents per the attorney general’s ruling.

This issue is very important.  Holding up the release of these emails is keeping the public from knowing what has been happening and what might be happening now.

Contact your city representative today.  In particular let the mayor know what you think.

You can leave a comment on the mayor’s city web site here http://home.elpasotexas.gov/mayor/feedback.php or you can email him at mayor@elpasotexas.gov

The city representative deserves our encouragement.  The comment link for her at the city is http://home.elpasotexas.gov/city-representatives/district-3/contact-district-3.php you can email her at district3@elpasotexas.gov

You do not have to leave your name or any other information with either one.

Here we have a chance to make a difference.

We deserve better

Brutus

Leave a Comment » | City government, Open Government, State Government | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

Has anything changed?

July 14, 2013

The headline article in the Wednesday, May 22, 2013 edition of the El Paso Times was about school district spending per student.

The El Paso Independent School District (EPISD) is the largest school district in the area.  The Texas Education Agency (TEA) recently stripped the district’s elected board of trustees of their power and appointed a board of managers  to run the district.  We are told that this action was mostly the result of a horrible cheating scandal (by the employees, not the students) and the trustees not taking action and  being transparent in their dealings.  The new board has been tasked with rebuilding public confidence.

The Times talked with local school districts about the spending per student issue.  What did EPISD have to say?  “Officials at the EPISD were not available to comment” according to the Times article.  So much for transparency.

The Times was able to talk with the president of the newly appointed board of managers.  He was, until the latest election, a Texas state representative.  While in office he voted to cut $5.4 billion from the state education budget.  The Times chose not to mention that.  So much for transparency.

The $5.4 billion dollar cut may have been the right thing to do.  EPISD wastes money like a drunken sailor.  They have people on their central office staff that hinder teaching instead of helping it.  Ask any classroom teacher, but be prepared for an ear full.

One of the members of the new board of managers was appointed by the TEA as the conservator of the school district in August of 2012.  She had the power to overrule the board of trustees.  Have we seen any new action as a result of her position?  What is the district doing differently since she has been in control?  So much for action.  So much for transparency.

Now it appears that the City of El Paso wants to kick the EPISD central offices off the airport property that the district leases.  We are being told that it will cost $40 million to build new facilities.  If they are telling us that it will be $40 million what will the number really be?

We have a TEA appointed board of managers.  So be it.  They need to get to work and fix the district.  They need to tell us what they are doing.  They need to fix public confidence.  They need to work with the city to avoid spending $40 million when what money they do have should be spent on educating the children.

Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty

Cato

2 Comments | City government, El Paso Independent School District, El Paso Times, State Government, Uncategorized | Permalink
Posted by Cato

Independence every day

July 4, 2013

… That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their  just powers from the consent of the governed.  That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends it is the Right of the People to alter or abolish it …

Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty

Cato

2 Comments | City government, County Government, Federal Government, State Government | Permalink
Posted by Cato

Cover up

July 2, 2013

It’s hard for me to believe that city staff would do what they have done.

I’ve been writing about a proposed ordinance that would change some city council procedures.  When the item was posted on the agenda the posting indicated that passing the ordinance would repeal a prior ordinance.  Unfortunately city staff listed the wrong ordinance number to be repealed.

I watched the video of the city council meeting and missed the part where council approved the ordinance introduction.  I waited for the next agenda to be posted and saw that included in the agenda was an item to approve the minutes of the meeting in question.  That new agenda did not have the required backup material (the minutes to be passed) attached even though it should have.

This morning I see that someone has finally attached the minutes to today’s agenda.  Reading the minutes I see that the ordinance number to be repealed was changed to the right one.  How did that happen?  It is against the law in the state of Texas to tamper with a government record.

I went back to re-watch the video of the original introduction.  I saw that he item was passed without reading and without correcting the number.  Normally the city clerk reads the introduction.  Curious.

What happened?

If the agenda was changed after posting but  before the council meeting, the Texas Open Meetings Act has been violated.

If the agenda was not changed until after the council meeting, then the newly posted agenda has been tampered with — a violation of Texas law.  The minutes would then also be false.  Falsifying a public document is also against the law in Texas.

We still have the fact that the backup material posted on June 27, 2013 for the public comment session still refers to the wrong ordinance to be repealed.  So even today they have a fatally flawed ordinance in spite of their efforts to falsify the public record.

This is serious business.

We have the right to be informed in advance about what council is considering.  We have the right to have accurate records about what they have done.  We are not talking about simple clerical errors here.

I guess now that the cover up will not only continue but will probably get more involved.

The records will show who did what and when.  More than one person must have been involved.

We deserve better

Brutus

5 Comments | City government, Open Government, State Government | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

Roll call

June 27, 2013

Now that we have the TEA imposed board of managers in charge of the EPISD, let’s take a look at the people who compose the board.

We have a lady that was appointed by the TEA to be the EPISD monitor.  We know little about her other than she is a career educator that seems to have made a difference wherever she was.  Other than the fact that she is not an El Pasoan that was elected by El Pasoans I think her appointment was a good one.

We have a former Texas state representative from El Paso who voted to cut $5.4 billion in funding out of Texas public education.  Actually I respect his vote, evidently one made on principle.  For my part I would prefer that the state not get involved in funding education.  Lower the taxes and fees that they take out of a community and let the local residents decide what their education system should look like.  I certainly don’t think that the feral government should be involved.  Of course I doubt that many would support my view on this.

The man who is most responsible for El Paso having one of the best water usage rates and capacities in the desert is on the appointed board.  He is a well known, well respected force in the water community.  He also operated as a tyrant with a “my way or the highway” approach to government.  He evidently saw no problem with his government organization buying major construction equipment from one of his board members.  Yes it was done legally, but that did not make it right.

The chief financial officer of the city, who is also on the The El Paso Firemen and Policeman’s Pension Fund board has also been appointed.  It seems that with both of those organizations the public has had difficulty getting to the truth of their respective finances.  Beyond that we will have the incredible conflict of interest between her duties to the city and to the school district.  I know nothing of her intentions here but do feel that other people without her conflicts should have been chosen.  How will she find time to do her many jobs?

The head of the Region 19 (it used to be Region XIX but during their period of existence public education declined to the point where they changed the name so that the public might understand it) head start program has also been assigned.  I hope she does well.  The matter of her conflict of interest in serving two separate institutions that frequently interact is another disappointment.

We know that government officials do not relinquish power easily.  How long will they stay when we have elected a new school board?  Your prediction is probably the same as mine.  State law gives them two years.  I know of nothing that would keep the TEA from appointing another board after that.

We deserve better

Brutus

3 Comments | City government, El Paso Independent School District, Federal Government, State Government | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

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