Restoring public trust

July 27, 2015

The city sent out an email the other day.  It is quite remarkable in what it tells us about the prior regime.

From the email:

“The City of El Paso is once again reaffirming its commitment to restoring public trust by being transparent and making changes to address concerns raised by City Council last summer when they hired City Manager Tommy Gonzalez.

When Gonzalez arrived council asked him to assess certain areas and develop solutions, if necessary, to address their concerns related to the City’s:

  • Fund Balance
  • Revenue projections
  • Ballpark subsidies
  • Capital improvement projects

“Council was justified in having concerns in all these areas.  We continue to find deficiencies in operational issues and organizational processes and procedures.”  Gonzalez said.  “An audit requested by council in the fall of 2014 has allowed us to identify and address issues with the fund balance.  Revenue projection concerns were taken care of through our new budget process, which is now tied to the City’s strategic plan.  Our Chief Financial Officer successfully resolved ballpark subsidy issues.  Where we are continuing to face challenges is with our capital improvement projects.”

The email goes on to say that they have essentially fixed the first three but are still working on the issues related to the capital improvement projects.

They acknowledge that public trust has been destroyed.  They are telling us that the prior administration left Mr. Gonzalez with a real mess.

They are telling us that they don’t have their arms around the capital improvement projects and that more bad news is coming.

We deserve better

Brutus

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

Forced confessions

July 26, 2015

Texas house bill number 1378 has been signed by the governor and is scheduled to take effect January 1, 2016.

The bill requires local governments to be much more open about their debt.  The governments will be required to disclose their total debts but also each individual one.  From the law:

(D)  the combined principal and interest required to pay all outstanding debt obligations on time and in full;

(E)  the combined principal and interest required to pay each outstanding debt obligation on time and in full;

Unfortunately:

 The requirements to compile and report information under Section 140.008, Local Government Code, as added by this Act, apply only to a fiscal year ending on or after the effective date of this Act.  That puts us into 2017 or 2018.

The local governments could voluntarily publish the information before the end of their next fiscal year but I doubt any of us expect them to.

We’ll be on the lookout.

We deserve better

Brutus

1 Comment | City government, County Government, El Paso Independent School District | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

Waiting game

July 25, 2015

The list of things that El Paso ranks number one on continues to grow.

Recently we learned that the wait times for certain types of patients at our VA facilities are the longest in the VA system–that’s nationwide.

In typical fashion our elected representatives and paid managers put some of the blame on us not having a permanent director.  We know the story–“we can’t solve the problem now because …”.

Evidently it is okay for the interim director to not get the problem solved.  We need to wait for a permanent director.

Does an interim manager have no power?  If so, why have one?

We deserve better

Brutus

11 Comments | Federal Government | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

Sold out again

July 24, 2015

It looks like we have lost another battle.

The Ad Hoc Charter Advisory Committee seems to be ready to recommend pay raises for city representatives and the mayor.  That is simply a smoke screen.

What they are not recommending is that we consider returning to two year terms for city council members or that we consider returning to the strong mayor form of government.

We should have known that the cards were stacked when the former city manager was appointed to the committee.

City council does not have to follow the committee’s recommendations.  Council decides what proposed changes to the city charter are put to the public vote.  I’m not holding my breath on this one.

We deserve better

Brutus

3 Comments | City government | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

Voting with their feet

July 23, 2015

A reader sent in this link the other day: These Are the Top 20 Cities Americans Are Ditching.

It surprised even me to see that El Paso was ranked number one.  That’s right, of the 100 most populous cities in the United States El Paso lost the largest percentage of its residents in the 2013-2014 time period.

The article explains:

 El Paso, Texas, the city that residents fled from at the fastest pace, also saw a surprisingly small number of foreigners settling in given how close it is to Mexico.

“A lot of young, reasonably educated people are having a hard time finding work there,” Stoll said. “They’re not staying in town after they graduate,” leaving for the faster-growing economies of neighboring metro areas like Dallas and Austin, he said.

Business Friendly.  It’s all Good.

Baloney!

We deserve better

Brutus

12 Comments | City government | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

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