City Council Chambers

December 28, 2012

I missed it.

In Meet me in the stacks I wrote about how city council plans to conduct its meetings in our main library once city hall is torn down.  The inconvenience to the public and the inefficiency imposed on city staff were part of my concern.

I also warned that their representation that the library had the electronic equipment necessary to conduct and broadcast the meetings might be false.

Then in The Lying Two Step  it became apparent that “The Main branch equipment is not adequate for hosting public gatherings, conferences, presentations and events” according to a request for proposals issued by the city dated December 11, 2013.  It appears that the city needs to buy equipment to facilitate the meetings.

Now I see on slide 10 of this November 6, 2012 city presentation (slide title “Total Costs”)  that the city plans to spend $800,000 to build council chambers in the El Paso Times building.  According to the slide the chambers will be “funded separately”, whatever that means.  I suspect that you and I will pay for it, and that does not make it very separate to me.

Let’s break this down into steps:

  • Tear down the existing facilities
  • Temporarily occupy space at the library and buy new electronic equipment
  • Spend $800,000 to build new council chambers in the El Paso Times building

Don’t forget that the city is already talking about building yet another new city hall after all of this round of moving is done and they have had a chance to catch their breath.

In the mean time I will add this amount to the running total.  It was at $63.9 million (out of a promised $33 million) last time I added it up.

We deserve better.

Leave a Comment » | City government, El Paso Times, Purchasing | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

Change the retirement age

December 27, 2012

The Social Security Act was passed in 1935.

The first benefits were paid out in 1937 to people aged 65 and older.

In order to be 65 years old in 1937 you had to have been born around 1872.

Now let’s look at how long you might have lived if you were born in 1872.  Looking at only people who made it to the age of 20 (infant mortality was much higher back then) by 1892, those people lived an average of 40 more years.  That meant that most people died at 60 years old — before the age of 65 and thus never drew from Social Security.

A person who just turned 20 today cannot draw full retirement until the age of 67.  That 20 year old will live an average of 60  more years (according to the Social Security web site), thus potentially drawing Social Security up to the age of 80, or on average drawing on the system for 13 years.

Remember when Social Security was first enacted most people died five years before they were eligible for payments.  Now the average person will draw payments for 13 years.

To me if we are going to have Social Security we should change the retirement age for younger people to reflect their longer life expectancy.

We deserve better

2 Comments | Federal Government | Permalink
Posted by jcurrey

What happens when you actually bid something

December 26, 2012

You might recall an earlier article There They Go Again where I wrote about the city spending 543 thousand dollars just last year for a foam roof for city hall.

The article pointed out that the project was not bid (they used a buy board), that 4 percent of the money went to the Harris County Department of Education as their cut, and that it seemed like a lot of money for that kind of roof, especially for a building that is about to be demolished.

My understanding is that the roof of city hall is about 27 thousand square feet.

Well is looks like it really was a lot of money.  The November 13, 2012 city council agenda has an item requesting permission to award solicitation number 2012-271 to apply a rolled urethane coating to the municipal service center on Lafayette drive.  This was evidently a real bid.  You can read the details here.

The winning bidder (who is local) bid $197,888 to handle 42,700 square feet of roofing.  That is $4.64 per square foot vs. $20.11 per foot for the city hall project.  I don’t much about roofing.  My assumption is that the city would want a better, longer lasting roof for the municipal service center since they have not announced plans to demolish the center.  In fact the bid required a 15 year warranty.

Maybe a foam roof on a 10 story building that will be demolished within 2 years costs more than a rolled urethane roof with a 15 year warranty on the municipal service center.  Maybe it even costs more than 4 times as much.

Wait.  The company that got the no-bid city hall project also bid on this project.  Their bid was 11 percent higher.

Why didn’t the winning company here get to bid on the city hall project?  Maybe the city does not like the quality of their work and just had to take the low bid this time.

Wait again.  The winning company’s past performance with the city (the one with the low bid) was evaluated by the city with 17.09 points (out of 20 possible) compared to the city hall company that got 16.7 points.  The city likes this low bidder better than the company that did the work at city hall.

So what happened?  The city evidently does know how to manage a bid.

Why was city hall such a special deal?  The city had specifications written by an architectural firm.  A bid should have been pretty straight forward.  Instead the city awarded the business to a company without bidding and that company paid 4 percent of it’s fee to an out of town school district.

There is something rotten about this deal.

We deserve better.

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

This Week in El Paso

December 23, 2012

This being the Holiday season, its a time to be thankful. I’m darned thankful that Brutus doesn’t know who I am or where I live. This week, he’s been unmerciful to the local Pols and anyone who gets in his way. The Mayor, the City Manager, the EPISD Board of Trustees, the newly appointed EPISD Managers etc, all of whom were buzzed this week. (I think I have them all).

Well, talk about a tirade. Let see, the Mayor has some intellectual problems or is deceptive or both; School board trustees can’t be trusted; the appointed Managers couldn’t manage a little league Baseball team; then there is the City Manager who wins all prizes; insults her employers by questioning their mental competence in writing; plays reps against each other and against Mayor to get her way: calls the people who pay her salary “Crazies” etc., etc for which the Mayor gives her a slap on her hands,(what would Ortega do? Kiss,Kiss?) All this in one week. On the good side, he did leave me alone.

The City Gov. will have a long, long week end which will result in two benefits; that is two days they can count as non-working days for delaying many Freedom of Information requests for more emails and their real feelings and intents; and the Canceling of the City Council Meating (yes, I spelled it right, just think about the material they produce for Brutus).

We appreciate your comments. As voters and Citizens of El Paso, this is your blog. As the Famous Blogger often says “You deserve better”.

Leave a Comment » | Uncategorized | Permalink
Posted by M.T. Cicero

If I only knew something about money I might do a better job

December 22, 2012

I don’t know whether this article is about people who do not know the meaning of words they use or if it is about people who use words to mislead.

I listened to the city’s recording of the November 27, 2012 meeting of city council because I wanted to hear the discussion about the effort to save the stacks at Asarco.

At two hours and ten minutes into the recording I heard our mayor display his ignorance of basic money matters.  Or maybe he was trying to mislead us.  You can see it here (at 2 hours and 10 minutes).

Council was discussing the issue of insurance to cover potential lawsuits relating to the past operation of the smelter.  The trustee in charge of the process indicated that he had estimated the premiums to cover the potential liability would cost about $4 million.

The mayor interrupted the conversation and pointed out that if the city was to acquire the property the city would be self insured and therefor would not have to pay the $4 million premium.

Let’s talk about insurance.  The insurance company charges it’s premiums based on a gamble.  For $4 million dollars they are taking a bet that any legal costs will be less than the amount they charge.  After all, they are in business to make a profit.  They might get lucky and not pay anything out, or they  may lose and pay more than $4 million.  More likely they would pay out a portion of the $4 million.

The mayor is correct in that if the city is self insured it will not pay a premium for an insurance policy.  It will however pay out any amounts that the legal process dictates they pay.  In other words, if they lose in court or make a settlement the city will have to pay out real money (with our taxpayer dollars).

To imply that there will be no cost because the city is self insured either shows ignorance of the way insurance works or a deliberate effort to mislead us.

Making matters worse, two members of council seemed to have taken the mayor’s statement at face value and did not challenge him or attempt to educate him.

Are they ignorant or are they trying to deceive us?  Or are they both?

The price of liberty is eternal vigilance

Leave a Comment » | City government | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

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