There you have it!
Now the city wants to have the authority to issue more bonds (without voter approval) to fund the quality of life projects that were approved half of a decade ago.
Call your city representative today. If they are unavailable leave a message.
We deserve better
Brutus
5 Comments | 
City government | 
Permalink
Posted by Brutus
Please, will someone explain to us how the city could answer 123.46 % of the 911 calls that came in within 15 seconds?
Did they answer them twice?
Do they bother to read their own stuff?
We deserve better
Brutus
1 Comment | City government | Permalink
Posted by Brutus
At the Tuesday, July 11, 2017 meeting of city council the city representative from district one spoke about an agenda item that he had placed on the agenda that asked for a council resolution supporting the Paris Climate Accord.
The representative used an extensive slide presentation to support his argument.
Unfortunately the slide presentation was not included with the backup material relating to the item.
City council’s own rules require that these presentations be made available to the city clerk when an item is placed on the agenda. The purpose of the rule is to allow members of the public as well as other city representatives to review the material and prepare comments that they may wish to make about the presentation.
Failure to include the material is one way to stifle opposing views.
We deserve better
Brutus
3 Comments | City government | Permalink
Posted by Brutus
The agenda and backup material for the Tuesday, July 21, 2017 city council meeting were not posted until sometime after 4 PM last Thursday.
The city is closed on Fridays and the city representatives are tied up with legislative review (pre-council) meetings on Mondays.
We have written before about how difficult this makes it for citizens to register their views with their city representatives before council takes action.
Normally the agendas and backup materials are posted at about Noon on the Thursday before a meeting.
Not posting this week’s materials until the end of the day effectively will keep the public from calling to express their views on a major issue. Whether this happened accidentally or was done on purpose the effect is the same–the public was denied it’s right to express their views.
We do know that there is an item on Tuesday’s agenda that many of us have strong feelings about.
As it currently stands, the city’s debt management policy does not allow council to issue certificates of obligation to pay for quality of life projects.
Item 26.1 on Tuesday’s agenda gives council an opportunity to add quality of life projects to the list of things that certificates of obligation can be used for.
We plan to publish another post about this next Monday to remind the readers of what they are trying to do.
Call your city representative.
We deserve better
Brutus
1 Comment | City government | Permalink
Posted by Brutus
An alert reader let us know that EPISD is planning to change school hours next year.
The proposed schedule is:
8:15 a.m. to 3:25 p.m.–elementary schools
7:50 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.–middle schools
8:45 a.m. to 3:55 p.m.–high schools
At this point we don’t know if these changes will require board approval.
We deserve better
Brutus
19 Comments | El Paso Independent School District | Permalink
Posted by Brutus
elpasospeak 
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