At the council meeting this last week a gentleman stood up during public comments and complained because a plan that was submitted to the Beautification committee was rejected (for this purpose it doesn't matter why), and when he tried to get records from the committee meeting he was informed that we have no such records in our city for any of our committees.
While that's not exactly right, GADC, the Zoning Board, and a couple of others keep and maintain records, it is so that most have no reporting to the city what so ever.
So straight from the Open Meetings Handbook 2012, page 12 -
D. Committees and Subcommittees of Governmental Bodies
Generally, meetings of less than a quorum of a governmental body are not subject to the Act.70 However, when a governmental body appoints a committee that includes less than a quorum of the parent body and grants it authority to supervise or control public business or public policy, the committee may itself be a “governmental body” subject to the Act.71
Our committees definitely fall into the 'less than a quorum' since I've never seen our council members appointed to these committees. But they most definitely ARE given permission and authority to supervise and control public business and public policy.
In September I wrote about the need for our committees to report to the council on a regular basis. read here
I'm being told that there are committees meeting without proper notification to ALL members of the committees, that there are some that are basically committee in name only and that the 'elite few' just do whatever they want on these committees. When I spoke to Bob Burchard about some of his actions in the city and upsetting people by those doing things (things often related to committees he's on), and he told me "I didn't do it it wouldn't get done!"
Really?
So that means that you can circumvent all the policy, procedures and laws that were set out to make sure that the public has say in our city and for a COMMITTEE (defined as - a group of persons elected or appointed to perform some service or function, as to investigate, report on, or act upon a particular matter). That the few don't dictate to the many. It's also that the council knows what's going on! The sad part is he's not alone in his attitude about committee work.
I've said it before and I'll say it again, our committees all work for the city council (who in turn works for the best interest of the people of Gonzales). They don't get free reign, and they have a obligation to keep the council and the citizens of this town informed as to where they spend any money and what policies they are dictating. As a courtesy to the council they also owe them a "what we're working on" so that the council can direct any actions that might be duplicated (or in some cases triplicated) or in contrary to the direction the council is trying to move our city.
I think our city needs to immediately inform all committees to insure they are following by certain rules, and while some of them are not laws, they are still courteous and transparent ways to operate -
1) All meetings times and places are posted on the city websites for all committees
2) A quorum must be present at all committee meetings for any votes of action to be taken
3) Minutes for all meetings must be posted with the city secretary within 3 business days following the next committee meeting (to give time to approve the minutes before posting - so most minute, just like our council minutes would be a month behind).
4) All committees must make a public report at least quarterly to the city council with general details of project status (what's been completed, and what are we working on) for the councils knowledge and direction.
Some of the committees have done an excellent job. But honestly I believe some of our committees have taken on a life of their own that were never intended. We as a public have a right to know what's going on in our committees. We have a right to be at any meeting of any committee. We have a right to have a say, even if we're not on the committee, just as we do with our elected officials. But the way it's set up right now, our citizens and our city council have no way of knowing what's going on in those committee meetings.
God Bless
Dennis Nesser
Showing posts with label Gonzales City Coucnil. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Gonzales City Coucnil. Show all posts
Sunday, February 12, 2012
Monday, December 12, 2011
$575,000
I saw a comment on my last post about the $575,000 that the city spent at the last city council meeting. Yes, they voted for $575,000, but in reality $400,000 of that was budgeted money that GEDC had put for the expansion at Victoria College. The additional $175,000 was unbudgeted.
Now it is my understanding that out of the old Quality parking lot/buildings, the college only gets the first building, nothing more. I don't know if it's on a perpetual lease, or we've given it to them or what, but I know they have full use of the building.
If I understand correctly the additional lots are hoping to be sold by the city to recoup some of their money and who knows, maybe even make a penny or two on that money. I guess that the cities GEDC or GADC could try to use it as dangling carrot to some new business that wanted to start up in town too, though I've not heard anything mentioned along those lines from anyone in the city.
Now we've spent $100,000s on items I don't understand. Things that are totally unnecessary (like the weather station at the airport) and things that are just wasteful (like approving the 5 minute video for $20,000+ - that did eventually go away, but not without serious issues being brought to light first). But there are things that I do believe we need to spend some money on.
Should they have been budgeted first? Yes, but in this case it was totally unforeseen, and we have to make allowances for these, much like the fire departments extra expenditures.
But as I was starting to say, there are something that we need in this town. And I'd like to say that Victoria College is just for our kids, so that they would have a chance, so they could have a career, so that we as a community would stop living at the lowest of standards, and be able to give our kids a better chance. But what I'm finding out is it's not just for our kids. I know a lot of 30+ year old people attending VC trying to better themselves. Right now most of them are in the medical fields, but there are others doing other things over there too, taking vocational classes, so they aren't making minimum wages.
When families in this community start lifting themselves up off the minimum wage job scale, the entire community benefits! Victoria College is the best hope 90% of our community has to EVER lift themselves above that level. It's an affordable way for local kids out of high school have to get their feet wet in the real world of studies, and not be paying $1500/hr for school. But more importantly VC offers vocational studies that our high schools should be providing, so that people can study to be a nurse, a welder, a truck driver, and a mechanic. If you have one of these skills you will ALWAYS have a job! It may not be the job you want, but you will always have a job. That's not something a majority of our youth or even older can say in Gonzales.
Do I wish there was a better way to come up with the $175,000? You bet. I wish one of our local businesses (or several of them) would of created an endowment for that purpose. But considering the options of building a new building (which was bid out at FAR more than the $575,000), or not have these classes, I think our council and GEDC did a great job - not something I say all the time.
I know originally they wanted over a $1,000,000 for that lot, they negotiated it down to 1/2. I know that it will clean up an eye sore on highway 90a. I know those who come out of that class will be ready to go to work making decent money. Win, win win.
I also know that we have a potential to win even more if the additional lots are sold to businesses that could produce additional jobs and value to our community.
Was it perfect? Nope. But it was a great expenditure of $175,000 from our council, and the $400,000 from GEDC.
God Bless,
Dennis Nesser
Now it is my understanding that out of the old Quality parking lot/buildings, the college only gets the first building, nothing more. I don't know if it's on a perpetual lease, or we've given it to them or what, but I know they have full use of the building.
If I understand correctly the additional lots are hoping to be sold by the city to recoup some of their money and who knows, maybe even make a penny or two on that money. I guess that the cities GEDC or GADC could try to use it as dangling carrot to some new business that wanted to start up in town too, though I've not heard anything mentioned along those lines from anyone in the city.
Now we've spent $100,000s on items I don't understand. Things that are totally unnecessary (like the weather station at the airport) and things that are just wasteful (like approving the 5 minute video for $20,000+ - that did eventually go away, but not without serious issues being brought to light first). But there are things that I do believe we need to spend some money on.
Should they have been budgeted first? Yes, but in this case it was totally unforeseen, and we have to make allowances for these, much like the fire departments extra expenditures.
But as I was starting to say, there are something that we need in this town. And I'd like to say that Victoria College is just for our kids, so that they would have a chance, so they could have a career, so that we as a community would stop living at the lowest of standards, and be able to give our kids a better chance. But what I'm finding out is it's not just for our kids. I know a lot of 30+ year old people attending VC trying to better themselves. Right now most of them are in the medical fields, but there are others doing other things over there too, taking vocational classes, so they aren't making minimum wages.
When families in this community start lifting themselves up off the minimum wage job scale, the entire community benefits! Victoria College is the best hope 90% of our community has to EVER lift themselves above that level. It's an affordable way for local kids out of high school have to get their feet wet in the real world of studies, and not be paying $1500/hr for school. But more importantly VC offers vocational studies that our high schools should be providing, so that people can study to be a nurse, a welder, a truck driver, and a mechanic. If you have one of these skills you will ALWAYS have a job! It may not be the job you want, but you will always have a job. That's not something a majority of our youth or even older can say in Gonzales.
Do I wish there was a better way to come up with the $175,000? You bet. I wish one of our local businesses (or several of them) would of created an endowment for that purpose. But considering the options of building a new building (which was bid out at FAR more than the $575,000), or not have these classes, I think our council and GEDC did a great job - not something I say all the time.
I know originally they wanted over a $1,000,000 for that lot, they negotiated it down to 1/2. I know that it will clean up an eye sore on highway 90a. I know those who come out of that class will be ready to go to work making decent money. Win, win win.
I also know that we have a potential to win even more if the additional lots are sold to businesses that could produce additional jobs and value to our community.
Was it perfect? Nope. But it was a great expenditure of $175,000 from our council, and the $400,000 from GEDC.
God Bless,
Dennis Nesser
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
It a freaking blog!
I'm not sure why city council member and mayor have this 'only the holy few' can even run for office, and after all that's not me right?
I hear from several people that have opinions on EVERY agenda item that comes up. They need to run for mayor or council. I hear from people that have out of the box ideas for this city (you know like we actually should be bringing business TO Gonzales, not chasing them away), they should run for mayor or council. There are people that have some fiscal knowledge that this city could desperately use right now. They should be running for office. And while the 'total package' would be nice, I'm not sure who in Gonzales would have all those attributes.
If you've never run for office it's not a problem. There is no requirement to have been dog catcher before you run for mayor. Come by, I don't care who you are, I'd spend an evening with you and talk to you about running for an office and the basics of it. What you'll have to have, what you should do, what you can expect.
On a side note I don't know what's happened that some have had issues posting comments. I posted a fix to it on the previous blogs comments. I will put them at the bottom of this too. I have not blocked anyone from posting a comment on this blog.
God Bless,
Dennis Nesser
Fix to not being able to post a comment:
Tools - Internet Options
Click on the "Privacy" tab.
Set the Privacy slider to "Medium".
Hit the "Advanced" button, and examine the "Advanced Privacy Settings".
Check “Override automatic cookie handling”
Click both "First party Cookies" and "Third party Cookies" should be set to "Accept"
Friday, September 9, 2011
Committees in Gonzales
I saw something happen at Tuesdays meeting that I've never seen before. I saw the Beautification Committee give a report on their actions and some of the things they are planning.
Now I'm going to be honest with you until the budgeting process this year I didn't even know we had a Beautification Committee. As a matter of fact, I found out we had a list of committees that I learned about during the budgeting process. It was a bit mind boggling to me, because in my entire time going to city council meetings the only time I've ever heard from any committee was when they needed to appoint additional people to their committees.
So I'm a bit perplexed. In every other situation, and according to Roberts Rules of Order (one of our governing documents), committees are to regularly report back to the council. Why? So that the managing body (read city council) is informed and knows what is going on.
Over the last year or so I've heard several times that "our councilmen never come to our meetings". It's not their job! Their job is to have the reports of committees come to them. Committees are created to hash out issues, to create solutions to problems that the city council doesn't have time themselves to do. It does not relinquish final authority/responsibility by creating committees. It's still all falls back on the city council.
I want to quote from Roberts Rules of Order - "Generally the term committee implies that, within the area of its assigned responsibilities, the committee has less authority to act independently for the society (or other constituting power (read city council here)) than a board is usually understood to have. Thus, if the committee is to do more than report its empowered to act for the society only on specific instructions; or, if it is given standing powers, its actions may be more closely subject to review than a board's, or it may be required to report more fully." (9th Edition, Robert's Rules of Order Newly Revised)
So in all the years of going to council I have to ask myself, "Where the heck is the reporting to the council?" Why do these committees expect the councilmen to come to them, when it's their obligations to report back to the council?
This last Tuesday Mr. Burchard did a great job of reporting to the council. He gave a listing of what is in the works, what are on the "we'd like to do" list, and even some long term planning. The council has now been informed as to what the Beautification Committee is up to.
I would love to hear from all these other committees too. Wouldn't they want the council to know that 1) they really are working on things for the City of Gonzales 2) that the direction they are taking is one that the council is wanting to go in so that their work doesn't get yanked after a lot of sweat and blood has been put into it.
Last I have is that while there is probably (though I'm not 100% certain) that most of these committees do not have to have the 3 day written notification of agendas and such that some do (like the council, GEDC, Zoning), it sure would be nice if they posted on the city website that a meeting is planned so that if someone wanted to present an idea to that committee it was available to them. I'm certain our city secretary could post in the agendas and announcements section of our website any upcoming meetings in a heart beat. I wouldn't have a clue how to present something to most of the committees, because I don't know who they are or when/where they meet.
Right now most people in Gonzales don't even know 1/2 the committees we have (btw, ALL committees are to be appointed by the city council per our city charter), much less their function or who is involved. I personally think it's time to give the recognition to the hard workers, their works, and to come together at our central governing body, our city council, to make sure we are all working together in a single direction, after all it's their job.
God Bless,
Dennis Nesser
Now I'm going to be honest with you until the budgeting process this year I didn't even know we had a Beautification Committee. As a matter of fact, I found out we had a list of committees that I learned about during the budgeting process. It was a bit mind boggling to me, because in my entire time going to city council meetings the only time I've ever heard from any committee was when they needed to appoint additional people to their committees.
So I'm a bit perplexed. In every other situation, and according to Roberts Rules of Order (one of our governing documents), committees are to regularly report back to the council. Why? So that the managing body (read city council) is informed and knows what is going on.
Over the last year or so I've heard several times that "our councilmen never come to our meetings". It's not their job! Their job is to have the reports of committees come to them. Committees are created to hash out issues, to create solutions to problems that the city council doesn't have time themselves to do. It does not relinquish final authority/responsibility by creating committees. It's still all falls back on the city council.
I want to quote from Roberts Rules of Order - "Generally the term committee implies that, within the area of its assigned responsibilities, the committee has less authority to act independently for the society (or other constituting power (read city council here)) than a board is usually understood to have. Thus, if the committee is to do more than report its empowered to act for the society only on specific instructions; or, if it is given standing powers, its actions may be more closely subject to review than a board's, or it may be required to report more fully." (9th Edition, Robert's Rules of Order Newly Revised)
So in all the years of going to council I have to ask myself, "Where the heck is the reporting to the council?" Why do these committees expect the councilmen to come to them, when it's their obligations to report back to the council?
This last Tuesday Mr. Burchard did a great job of reporting to the council. He gave a listing of what is in the works, what are on the "we'd like to do" list, and even some long term planning. The council has now been informed as to what the Beautification Committee is up to.
I would love to hear from all these other committees too. Wouldn't they want the council to know that 1) they really are working on things for the City of Gonzales 2) that the direction they are taking is one that the council is wanting to go in so that their work doesn't get yanked after a lot of sweat and blood has been put into it.
Last I have is that while there is probably (though I'm not 100% certain) that most of these committees do not have to have the 3 day written notification of agendas and such that some do (like the council, GEDC, Zoning), it sure would be nice if they posted on the city website that a meeting is planned so that if someone wanted to present an idea to that committee it was available to them. I'm certain our city secretary could post in the agendas and announcements section of our website any upcoming meetings in a heart beat. I wouldn't have a clue how to present something to most of the committees, because I don't know who they are or when/where they meet.
Right now most people in Gonzales don't even know 1/2 the committees we have (btw, ALL committees are to be appointed by the city council per our city charter), much less their function or who is involved. I personally think it's time to give the recognition to the hard workers, their works, and to come together at our central governing body, our city council, to make sure we are all working together in a single direction, after all it's their job.
God Bless,
Dennis Nesser
Thursday, September 8, 2011
Response on My Actions for the Proposed Veterans Memoral
For those who missed the city council meeting last Tuesday, there was an item about the proposed Veterans Memorial. After some heated debate the council had a motion on the table to "get together with all the organizations to town, and come back to us when everyone is in agreement". The motion was seconded and prior to the vote I stood up to comment.
This was the 2nd time that Mr. Mercer came up on this issue. He followed the directions that the council gave him last time, and expressed that he could not proceed until he knew where the proposed monument would be placed, as the next step is a costly step that requires exact land shaping to finish. So the a plan drawn up for the 1200 St. Lawrence wouldn't work a block over.
In the end Tommy Schrig withdrew his original motion, and remotioned to grant the Memorial the corner by the cannon on St. Lawrence.
Today I received the following comment on another section of my blog -
Anonymous said...
Dennis Quote - "We (our city) has to get back to basics! If we don't need it right now we can't afford it."
Don't get me wrong, I'm all for recognizing the Veteran's and the sacrifices they have made for us and our country, but why now? Who is going to pay for that and where is the money coming from? When we are so much in debt why are we approving to spend more money right now? And why you Dennis of all people were fighting for them to make a decision? You are the one constantly complaining about the spending and the budget. Also you are the one who stated previously that there needs to be more tabling of items on the city council agenda rather than making a quick un-informed decision thus costing more money. Why you of all people pushed the council to make a decision when they were going to table the motion?
In my opinion, you are going against several things that you have already stated you stand for. Why should we believe anything you have to say? It seems that you are only interested in your own agenda and if its beneficial to you to do so or try to make a name for yourself.
So I'd like to respond -
I will be writing more about the proposed Veterans Memorial at a later time, but you are right to ask, and I will explain.
First this Monument is NOT being built with ANY tax dollars. It's a private venture. I would NOT have supported it had it been in any way funded by the City of Gonzales. This is #1 in my books, and is the only way it should have been considered. If the VFW, AL and IOOF can not raise the funds to build this monument they have NO right to ask the city for ANY money (see my comment quoted above).
Second I saw a standoff happening. One side saying they couldn't move forward until they knew where they would would be allowed to put a monument, and the other saying they didn't want to approve the place till they pleased EVERYONE in the city and had final plans. Basically killing any possibility of a Veterans Memorial ever happening. Mr. Mercer had already said they could not proceed without knowing what plot of land the proposed monument would be built on. Part of the planning is making it work with the plot of land it's going on.
I had no intentions of speaking either way on the memorial until I felt like we got to this stalemate. Remember this motion had already been tabled once, and Mr. Mercer and his group did exactly what the city council asked of them. They met with the other concerned parties, and from everyone who I've spoken to at the meeting they left with the belief they had come to a agreement. It wasn't till the following day that there were more ruffles in the waters (this coming from our councilmen).
And what exactly did I ask for? I asked for the council to tell Mr. Mercer that yes he could plan to have that plot of land to start planning, or tell him no he couldn't. Either way it was movement. I also told the council that if they did approve it they needed to caveat it several ways that did not happen in the final motion. That if they told him no they needed to point him in the right directions to get their approval.
Since I'm on this topic I'm going to point out that once again our previous city manager Mr. Huseman is the center of this issue. He went, unauthorized, and requested something of the Beautification Committee (or at least members of it), and never EVER let anyone who did have that authority know anything about his plans. So in the mean time a great group of guys and gals have worked diligently to do as they were asked only to have the rug yanked out from under them. So when I mentioned lack of communications before, here we go paying the price for those actions, the very actions that got Mr. Huseman fired. I do hope that the council puts on the agenda the proposed trees, and get a plan for them too.
The only negative comments I've heard about the proposed memorial and this location, is that it conflicted with the historical trees that were also claiming that spot. Again, the council was unaware of this proposed plan, as it was NEVER brought to any council meeting, so they never approved it. It wasn't brought to their attention prior to the memorial proposal. Not one of the council members knew about any usage for the 1200 block prior to this incident.
And for the record, when Mr. Mercer approached Mr. Huseman 3 1/2 years ago, Mr. Huseman didn't say anything about that plot of land being used for anything else. No one but Mr. Huseman knows if which incident came first, and honestly at this point both groups have expended enough time and energy to be upset.
So no matter what someone was going to have their feelings hurt. There was no way to 'win' this without getting someone upset, without putting out some hard working citizen that is trying to do something to make our town better. NONE! When those times come it takes the city council to make a decision. It SUCKS but it's what they get paid for. Several of the council members even admitted to me after the meeting that they were hoping the someone else would be the bad guy for a change, but all of them I spoke with said ultimately they had no doubt that the selected location would have been approved for the proposed Veterans Memorial.
So I still stand by my stance that our council should NOT be spending money. I was actually proud of them Tuesday 1) for not spending 1 dime 2) When the opportunity was brought to them to spend some money at JB Wells (another topic I will be bringing back up soon) they passed with the comment that we need to budget for some of this next year. *standing and clapping*
So the reader is misinformed or is making presumptions about the memorial and my actions. They are presuming this is costing you and I as 'joe taxpayer' money. It's not.
They are assuming that the city cares where that money comes from, but since we're not paying for it, we don't.
They are assuming the council was uninformed, and I can honestly say the council knew everything they ever were going to know. Even the council members will tell you that.
Why force a decision? Because the 1) in this case they did the right thing by tabling the item the first time, but there was NO reason for them to table it a second time (not that an item can't be tabled 2, 3, 4, 100 times if necessary), the end results were going to be the same, and the only difference is that the bad blood was going to boil for longer 2) I felt "A" decision was in order, and I clearly gave them the option to discuss other locations for this monument (the whole conversation is taped for the record). Had they come back to table the motion to find a second location, I would of been in favor of that, 3) the motion made by Mr. Schrig, and the unrealistic demands place in that motion to table were insane, and absolutely unobtainable for Superman himself.
Why me? Because no one else was saying what needed to be said. Kind of like only 1 person in the entire town of Gonzales has spoken up at the public hearings for the property tax increase, that person was me. Not 1 other soul spoke up one way or the other. So the apathy shown there was also what was happening at this point in my opinion, and I heard about hurt feelings (and they had the right to be), I heard about needs, I heard whining, but I didn't hear anyone stepping up to get an honest resolution. So at absolutely the last moment I spoke up.
I also held no guns to any councilmen heads to get them to change any vote or motion, and trust me the council has shot me down previously and I'm certain will do it again in the future. If they truly felt the motion to table was correct after everything was said, they would of tabled it, regardless of what I said.
I'm hoping that this explanation will show that I've held true to my writings here at 90asign.com. As for 'making a name for myself', I'm afraid my name is made in Gonzales. For good or bad, it is. I gained nothing for speaking up, I lost nothing. I made some happy, I pissed some off. It's what comes with my name and my opinions.
As for my own agenda...if you're talking about keeping moving Gonzales into the 21st century....if you're talking about being fiscally responsible with taxpayers money....if you're talking about expecting accountability of our city employees and their usage of city money....if you're talking about exposing abuses within our city, then you're 100% right. If you're talking about Dennis Nesser received anything then let me assure you I received no money, no offer for any position, no 50 cent off coupon for a cup of coffee, not even a beer by Mr. Mercer himself. So you'd be wrong if you were heading down that line.
Whomever wrote this has obviously read enough of my writings to know what I believe in, and if they are truly honest with themselves after reading this they will know I'm right. It obviously this was something personal with the writer, and as I said, there is a whole group of people that got the short end of the stick on this deal, and have a right to take it personal. The problem was, SOMEONE was going to get that short end, there was no way around it. They are not the bad guys, quite the opposite. They are the people who put their heart and soul in their work (again as many of us do) that got wronged through no fault of their own. I truly hope when it's said and done that they too will get what is rightly due to them. That the council will work with them on their proposal so their hard work is not a waste of time just as they've done with Mr. Mercer on the Veterans Memorial.
God Bless,
Dennis Nesser
Other topics I hope to write about soon -
JB Wells and the state of affairs
Committee and their obligations
What the Veterans Memorial is about
So come back soon and see what I've written.
This was the 2nd time that Mr. Mercer came up on this issue. He followed the directions that the council gave him last time, and expressed that he could not proceed until he knew where the proposed monument would be placed, as the next step is a costly step that requires exact land shaping to finish. So the a plan drawn up for the 1200 St. Lawrence wouldn't work a block over.
In the end Tommy Schrig withdrew his original motion, and remotioned to grant the Memorial the corner by the cannon on St. Lawrence.
Today I received the following comment on another section of my blog -
Anonymous said...
Dennis Quote - "We (our city) has to get back to basics! If we don't need it right now we can't afford it."
Don't get me wrong, I'm all for recognizing the Veteran's and the sacrifices they have made for us and our country, but why now? Who is going to pay for that and where is the money coming from? When we are so much in debt why are we approving to spend more money right now? And why you Dennis of all people were fighting for them to make a decision? You are the one constantly complaining about the spending and the budget. Also you are the one who stated previously that there needs to be more tabling of items on the city council agenda rather than making a quick un-informed decision thus costing more money. Why you of all people pushed the council to make a decision when they were going to table the motion?
In my opinion, you are going against several things that you have already stated you stand for. Why should we believe anything you have to say? It seems that you are only interested in your own agenda and if its beneficial to you to do so or try to make a name for yourself.
So I'd like to respond -
I will be writing more about the proposed Veterans Memorial at a later time, but you are right to ask, and I will explain.
First this Monument is NOT being built with ANY tax dollars. It's a private venture. I would NOT have supported it had it been in any way funded by the City of Gonzales. This is #1 in my books, and is the only way it should have been considered. If the VFW, AL and IOOF can not raise the funds to build this monument they have NO right to ask the city for ANY money (see my comment quoted above).
Second I saw a standoff happening. One side saying they couldn't move forward until they knew where they would would be allowed to put a monument, and the other saying they didn't want to approve the place till they pleased EVERYONE in the city and had final plans. Basically killing any possibility of a Veterans Memorial ever happening. Mr. Mercer had already said they could not proceed without knowing what plot of land the proposed monument would be built on. Part of the planning is making it work with the plot of land it's going on.
I had no intentions of speaking either way on the memorial until I felt like we got to this stalemate. Remember this motion had already been tabled once, and Mr. Mercer and his group did exactly what the city council asked of them. They met with the other concerned parties, and from everyone who I've spoken to at the meeting they left with the belief they had come to a agreement. It wasn't till the following day that there were more ruffles in the waters (this coming from our councilmen).
And what exactly did I ask for? I asked for the council to tell Mr. Mercer that yes he could plan to have that plot of land to start planning, or tell him no he couldn't. Either way it was movement. I also told the council that if they did approve it they needed to caveat it several ways that did not happen in the final motion. That if they told him no they needed to point him in the right directions to get their approval.
Since I'm on this topic I'm going to point out that once again our previous city manager Mr. Huseman is the center of this issue. He went, unauthorized, and requested something of the Beautification Committee (or at least members of it), and never EVER let anyone who did have that authority know anything about his plans. So in the mean time a great group of guys and gals have worked diligently to do as they were asked only to have the rug yanked out from under them. So when I mentioned lack of communications before, here we go paying the price for those actions, the very actions that got Mr. Huseman fired. I do hope that the council puts on the agenda the proposed trees, and get a plan for them too.
The only negative comments I've heard about the proposed memorial and this location, is that it conflicted with the historical trees that were also claiming that spot. Again, the council was unaware of this proposed plan, as it was NEVER brought to any council meeting, so they never approved it. It wasn't brought to their attention prior to the memorial proposal. Not one of the council members knew about any usage for the 1200 block prior to this incident.
And for the record, when Mr. Mercer approached Mr. Huseman 3 1/2 years ago, Mr. Huseman didn't say anything about that plot of land being used for anything else. No one but Mr. Huseman knows if which incident came first, and honestly at this point both groups have expended enough time and energy to be upset.
So no matter what someone was going to have their feelings hurt. There was no way to 'win' this without getting someone upset, without putting out some hard working citizen that is trying to do something to make our town better. NONE! When those times come it takes the city council to make a decision. It SUCKS but it's what they get paid for. Several of the council members even admitted to me after the meeting that they were hoping the someone else would be the bad guy for a change, but all of them I spoke with said ultimately they had no doubt that the selected location would have been approved for the proposed Veterans Memorial.
So I still stand by my stance that our council should NOT be spending money. I was actually proud of them Tuesday 1) for not spending 1 dime 2) When the opportunity was brought to them to spend some money at JB Wells (another topic I will be bringing back up soon) they passed with the comment that we need to budget for some of this next year. *standing and clapping*
So the reader is misinformed or is making presumptions about the memorial and my actions. They are presuming this is costing you and I as 'joe taxpayer' money. It's not.
They are assuming that the city cares where that money comes from, but since we're not paying for it, we don't.
They are assuming the council was uninformed, and I can honestly say the council knew everything they ever were going to know. Even the council members will tell you that.
Why force a decision? Because the 1) in this case they did the right thing by tabling the item the first time, but there was NO reason for them to table it a second time (not that an item can't be tabled 2, 3, 4, 100 times if necessary), the end results were going to be the same, and the only difference is that the bad blood was going to boil for longer 2) I felt "A" decision was in order, and I clearly gave them the option to discuss other locations for this monument (the whole conversation is taped for the record). Had they come back to table the motion to find a second location, I would of been in favor of that, 3) the motion made by Mr. Schrig, and the unrealistic demands place in that motion to table were insane, and absolutely unobtainable for Superman himself.
Why me? Because no one else was saying what needed to be said. Kind of like only 1 person in the entire town of Gonzales has spoken up at the public hearings for the property tax increase, that person was me. Not 1 other soul spoke up one way or the other. So the apathy shown there was also what was happening at this point in my opinion, and I heard about hurt feelings (and they had the right to be), I heard about needs, I heard whining, but I didn't hear anyone stepping up to get an honest resolution. So at absolutely the last moment I spoke up.
I also held no guns to any councilmen heads to get them to change any vote or motion, and trust me the council has shot me down previously and I'm certain will do it again in the future. If they truly felt the motion to table was correct after everything was said, they would of tabled it, regardless of what I said.
I'm hoping that this explanation will show that I've held true to my writings here at 90asign.com. As for 'making a name for myself', I'm afraid my name is made in Gonzales. For good or bad, it is. I gained nothing for speaking up, I lost nothing. I made some happy, I pissed some off. It's what comes with my name and my opinions.
As for my own agenda...if you're talking about keeping moving Gonzales into the 21st century....if you're talking about being fiscally responsible with taxpayers money....if you're talking about expecting accountability of our city employees and their usage of city money....if you're talking about exposing abuses within our city, then you're 100% right. If you're talking about Dennis Nesser received anything then let me assure you I received no money, no offer for any position, no 50 cent off coupon for a cup of coffee, not even a beer by Mr. Mercer himself. So you'd be wrong if you were heading down that line.
Whomever wrote this has obviously read enough of my writings to know what I believe in, and if they are truly honest with themselves after reading this they will know I'm right. It obviously this was something personal with the writer, and as I said, there is a whole group of people that got the short end of the stick on this deal, and have a right to take it personal. The problem was, SOMEONE was going to get that short end, there was no way around it. They are not the bad guys, quite the opposite. They are the people who put their heart and soul in their work (again as many of us do) that got wronged through no fault of their own. I truly hope when it's said and done that they too will get what is rightly due to them. That the council will work with them on their proposal so their hard work is not a waste of time just as they've done with Mr. Mercer on the Veterans Memorial.
God Bless,
Dennis Nesser
Other topics I hope to write about soon -
JB Wells and the state of affairs
Committee and their obligations
What the Veterans Memorial is about
So come back soon and see what I've written.
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Beginning to Think
Ok, so the quote of the night from last nights council meeting was "So after everything happening out at JB Wells we started thinking." To protect the guilty I'm going to leave the names out. But honestly I had to do everything I could to keep from rolling out of my chair. My councilman shot me the "please quit laughing before I start laughing too" look. I was just grateful the speaker was facing away from me and couldn't see me.
So I'm assuming we're finally starting to think about JB Wells and how we operate it. That the hundreds of thousands of dollars we've pissed away weren't enough to get the attention of those in our city offices, it took police and firing of individuals to finally get people thinking.
I hope in the mean time all the other department heads are 'thinking' too. That they realize that this is no longer an open checkbook town with a bottomless pit of being able to get anything they want. I know that some departments have struggled over the years more than others, but even those have gotten 'luxuries' compared to our surrounding cities.
We (our city) has to get back to basics! If we don't need it right now we can't afford it. And as I tell my teenagers, there are HUGE differences between what we want and what we need. I would love to have a water system pumping 10x the water we have with great water pressure throughout town and lots to spare, with roads paved of gold and no potholes or dips that rip out the underside of my car, with roads like Ft. Wahl passable, with stoplights in sync, and great parks with walking trails, and St. George street finished, and our canoe trail finished, and and and and and....but some of these things are not needed right now (though some of them are).
Earlier this year, our city council sat down for weeks on end, working with the interim city manager and all of the department heads coming up with a budget of things that were necessary to run our town for this year. Necessary being the key word. Since that time we've added about $500,000 (that's right a half a MILLION dollars in expenditures) to that budget, with a 6 - 15 million project additional in that. All this with a budget that was already 1.5 million in the hole. That alone was a tough amount to swallow.
So why are we continuing to spend? Why are we adding non-budgeted items every meeting to our burden? The item that was in question last night was honestly a partially budgeted item. The city if finally purchasing some software that will track payments for the RVs, our city cemetery, and other elements of our city that have been run out of a shoe box in the past. Of the $31,000 that they approved, $25,000 was budgeted. It was the additional modules to run the RV slots and cemetery an a couple of other $$$ management pieces that make up the $6,000 not budgeted. And honestly we've needed something there, but why didn't we budget for this 2 years ago, hell 5 years ago when we put in JB Wells?
I'm hoping that our city listens to what was said and follows through, and honestly 'begins to think' about how we're operating all aspects of our city right now.
God Bless,
Dennis Nesser
So I'm assuming we're finally starting to think about JB Wells and how we operate it. That the hundreds of thousands of dollars we've pissed away weren't enough to get the attention of those in our city offices, it took police and firing of individuals to finally get people thinking.
I hope in the mean time all the other department heads are 'thinking' too. That they realize that this is no longer an open checkbook town with a bottomless pit of being able to get anything they want. I know that some departments have struggled over the years more than others, but even those have gotten 'luxuries' compared to our surrounding cities.
We (our city) has to get back to basics! If we don't need it right now we can't afford it. And as I tell my teenagers, there are HUGE differences between what we want and what we need. I would love to have a water system pumping 10x the water we have with great water pressure throughout town and lots to spare, with roads paved of gold and no potholes or dips that rip out the underside of my car, with roads like Ft. Wahl passable, with stoplights in sync, and great parks with walking trails, and St. George street finished, and our canoe trail finished, and and and and and....but some of these things are not needed right now (though some of them are).
Earlier this year, our city council sat down for weeks on end, working with the interim city manager and all of the department heads coming up with a budget of things that were necessary to run our town for this year. Necessary being the key word. Since that time we've added about $500,000 (that's right a half a MILLION dollars in expenditures) to that budget, with a 6 - 15 million project additional in that. All this with a budget that was already 1.5 million in the hole. That alone was a tough amount to swallow.
So why are we continuing to spend? Why are we adding non-budgeted items every meeting to our burden? The item that was in question last night was honestly a partially budgeted item. The city if finally purchasing some software that will track payments for the RVs, our city cemetery, and other elements of our city that have been run out of a shoe box in the past. Of the $31,000 that they approved, $25,000 was budgeted. It was the additional modules to run the RV slots and cemetery an a couple of other $$$ management pieces that make up the $6,000 not budgeted. And honestly we've needed something there, but why didn't we budget for this 2 years ago, hell 5 years ago when we put in JB Wells?
I'm hoping that our city listens to what was said and follows through, and honestly 'begins to think' about how we're operating all aspects of our city right now.
God Bless,
Dennis Nesser
Monday, August 29, 2011
Property Taxes
Ok, tomorrow (Tuesday night at 530) we have a public hearing on raising the property taxes in Gonzales. There will be a second hearing at the regularly scheduled council meeting September 6th.
Now I want to make this clear, I don't want to misrepresent the situation at hand. At the last council meeting Councilman Logan made the motion to keep the rate of our taxes the same as they were last year. Per state law though this is actually an increase because of the increase in property values, and as such they must have these public hearings and vote on it as an increase in our tax rates. It is not because they have increased the percentage of taxation on the value of our homes.
In order to keep the amount of taxation the same, the council must (and still could) vote to have the effective tax rate put in place where the percentage would go down, but our individual taxes would be about the same.
So here we go, and I actually have 2 trains of thought here, one of them probably not as popular as the other one.
First to keep the tax rate the same will increase taxes by $21,000 for the city of Gonzales. To quote our Interim City Manager, "This won't even buy a new vehicle for the city". Now he was trying to say how little this was, and I'm going to tell you for all it's worth it's not even enough to purchase a new vehicle, so way are we wasting our time and money going through all this effort?
Additionally, and more importantly, if we wanted $21,000 all we would of had to do is cancel any one of the council meetings over the last 6 months. In that time they have added to our already 1.5 million dollar deficit at the rate of about $100,000 a meeting. We've added to the airport (don't you use it?), we've paid study after study after study and consultant after consultant that in my personal opinion could have waited till we till we have recuperated from the debacle of our previous management. Even on tomorrows agenda there are what appear to be unbudgeted items.
I always thought that's what we had a budget process for, you budget, you work the budget, and unless it's an EMERGENCY then you work towards next years budget to get the new stuff added. I haven't seen anything that was an EMERGENCY at any of the meetings I've attended (which is a vast majority of them). Why bother putting together a budget if we're not going to follow it?
Additionally I keep hearing about all this oil money, and yet our income actual vs budget was down by 3% last time I looked, meaning we're 3% shy of what we were anticipating receiving in funds for the city this year for this time period. In addition to that we were over budget in spending, in no small part to JB Wells excessive over budget spending YTD. So we're not getting as much as we hoped, and we're spending more than we said we would. Surprise!
So to be very clear, I'm in NO WAY SHAPE OR FORM in favor of the proposed tax rate the way it is laid out right now.
Now comes the part I'm sure a few more will not agree with. I'm not all together opposed to a tax increase. I don't think economically it's really the time, but here's what I told one of our council members.
If the council would come up with a real plan for road and infrastructure improvements, and say we have a 5 year plan, I would be ok with a real tax increase as long as they would decrease the taxes at the end of that 5 years.
I've seen it done in San Antonio, and it can work! BUT and I mean BUT that has to be a set in stone, the money from that increase goes to specific projects that we the people have approved, and at the end of the time period the increase has got to drop back down and the city not count on any of that money in the future. Way to often a council will come up with any excuse to keep the taxes up, but that can not happen! This can not become another "vote for the lottery to pay for our schools" slogan either. This has to be very specific what these monies would be raised for and when they were the taxes would go away.
But if those conditions would be met and our infrastructure was the target of the needed money I would be in support.
But I promise you that the $20,000 that our council is dealing with is a waste of the public hearings and nothing more than a game someone is playing. Let your councilman know that you expect him to vote for the "effective rate" in 2 weeks. That there is ABSOLUTELY NO EXCUSE to vote for the rate as it's proposed right now. How about make a trip to one of the 2 city council meetings and speak up for yourself? Tomorrow at 5:30 or next Tuesday at 6.
God Bless,
Dennis Nesser
Now I want to make this clear, I don't want to misrepresent the situation at hand. At the last council meeting Councilman Logan made the motion to keep the rate of our taxes the same as they were last year. Per state law though this is actually an increase because of the increase in property values, and as such they must have these public hearings and vote on it as an increase in our tax rates. It is not because they have increased the percentage of taxation on the value of our homes.
In order to keep the amount of taxation the same, the council must (and still could) vote to have the effective tax rate put in place where the percentage would go down, but our individual taxes would be about the same.
So here we go, and I actually have 2 trains of thought here, one of them probably not as popular as the other one.
First to keep the tax rate the same will increase taxes by $21,000 for the city of Gonzales. To quote our Interim City Manager, "This won't even buy a new vehicle for the city". Now he was trying to say how little this was, and I'm going to tell you for all it's worth it's not even enough to purchase a new vehicle, so way are we wasting our time and money going through all this effort?
Additionally, and more importantly, if we wanted $21,000 all we would of had to do is cancel any one of the council meetings over the last 6 months. In that time they have added to our already 1.5 million dollar deficit at the rate of about $100,000 a meeting. We've added to the airport (don't you use it?), we've paid study after study after study and consultant after consultant that in my personal opinion could have waited till we till we have recuperated from the debacle of our previous management. Even on tomorrows agenda there are what appear to be unbudgeted items.
I always thought that's what we had a budget process for, you budget, you work the budget, and unless it's an EMERGENCY then you work towards next years budget to get the new stuff added. I haven't seen anything that was an EMERGENCY at any of the meetings I've attended (which is a vast majority of them). Why bother putting together a budget if we're not going to follow it?
Additionally I keep hearing about all this oil money, and yet our income actual vs budget was down by 3% last time I looked, meaning we're 3% shy of what we were anticipating receiving in funds for the city this year for this time period. In addition to that we were over budget in spending, in no small part to JB Wells excessive over budget spending YTD. So we're not getting as much as we hoped, and we're spending more than we said we would. Surprise!
So to be very clear, I'm in NO WAY SHAPE OR FORM in favor of the proposed tax rate the way it is laid out right now.
Now comes the part I'm sure a few more will not agree with. I'm not all together opposed to a tax increase. I don't think economically it's really the time, but here's what I told one of our council members.
If the council would come up with a real plan for road and infrastructure improvements, and say we have a 5 year plan, I would be ok with a real tax increase as long as they would decrease the taxes at the end of that 5 years.
I've seen it done in San Antonio, and it can work! BUT and I mean BUT that has to be a set in stone, the money from that increase goes to specific projects that we the people have approved, and at the end of the time period the increase has got to drop back down and the city not count on any of that money in the future. Way to often a council will come up with any excuse to keep the taxes up, but that can not happen! This can not become another "vote for the lottery to pay for our schools" slogan either. This has to be very specific what these monies would be raised for and when they were the taxes would go away.
But if those conditions would be met and our infrastructure was the target of the needed money I would be in support.
But I promise you that the $20,000 that our council is dealing with is a waste of the public hearings and nothing more than a game someone is playing. Let your councilman know that you expect him to vote for the "effective rate" in 2 weeks. That there is ABSOLUTELY NO EXCUSE to vote for the rate as it's proposed right now. How about make a trip to one of the 2 city council meetings and speak up for yourself? Tomorrow at 5:30 or next Tuesday at 6.
God Bless,
Dennis Nesser
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)