Verizon Poles

So after almost a half a million dollars we finally have St. George street finished and ready for public usage.  But like a teenager it has 6 pimples on it.  Seems our city engineer didn't do any due diligence and missed the fact that there were 6 poles not belonging to the City of Gonzales were on the street.  So all the money the city spent moving poles to the rear of the buildings were for not when Verizon told the city they weren't going to be good corporate citizens and either move their poles or their lines.

So the city approached them again, and for a mere $72,000 (estimated...could be a bit more), they would move the poles. 

As much as I hate that these poles are a blemish on an otherwise very inviting street, the council did right by not taking Verizon up on their offer to diminish $72,000 from our coffers.  But that's not the gest of todays blog.  Nope, as bad as all that is, it gets worse!

Now I love GVTC.  And I love that they've spent millions coming to town with fiber.  In my industry that's the Rolls Royce of providers.  But they messed up here.  Knowing good and well that the city wanted those poles moved to the rear of the buildings and out of the public eye for aesthetics, they decided to run their fiber right down the front of St George.  REALLY?

Come on guys!  Here we are trying to make a difference and instead we throw another can of trash in the street?  I thought you wanted to be good corporate citizens. I have to say that's not the way to do it. 

Maybe we can hope that Come and Take It will provide a pickup truck driven by "Bubba" that will play pinball with 6 poles down St. George.  Maybe then the City can get the poles, and their eye-sore lines where they belong on the back of St. George and out of site.

Mind you, we the taxpayers spent good money moving electricity poles and even more money and headaches getting St George looking as nice as it is, hundreds of thousands of dollars, not chump change. So I"m a bit upset at the engineer that told council it would work without checking, Verizon for not moving the poles, but even more that GVTC would run new lines down those poles. UGGGGHHHH!

Dennis

PS - I've taken a break from all blogs over the summer.  I haven't read or written any in months as it was a bit overwhelming and I needed a break.  Think it's time I got back on track though.  So if you've got some food for thought email me and I'll look into it.

Cha-Ching

First Tuesday of the month was last night, so that means that our city council was in session and another chunk of unbudgeted change was approved for spending. No don't get me wrong, there are times we must spend unbudgeted money, and one of them was last night to an extent, but the rest? So here's the run down:

$48,000 in longevity bonuses for city employees. I have a couple of issues with this carte blanche bonus, though have to give Tommy Schrig props for trying to do it correctly.

This bonus is $4 a month for every month an employee has worked for the city up to 25 years. Now that includes Mr. Barnes who has worked for the city for 1 month. Councilman Schrig tried to pass it so that is applied to employees over 10 years. In my public working I've never seen one paid for any employee under 3 years. But not Gonzales. Why are we thanking those for their 'longevity' when they haven't proven any?

Additionally Councilman Hernandez asked about the handful of employees that within the last 2 years have gotten pay raises of over 25% and if they too would get the bonus. Oh yeah they will.

So why didn't the council table this motion till these issues could be sorted out? Had the city manager bring back a revised proposal that would truly benefit those who deserve something, yet not double dip those who have already benefited AND those who haven't earned it yet? I'm at a lose as to why our council is so quick to pass everything that comes before them.

Now the fire department asked for $10,000 in additional funds for unforeseen expenses, primarily due to the additional use they've gotten this year. My ONLY complaint is that we should have in our budget some of this additional repair items. We know that repair cost are never going to be what we thought they'd be. And heads up, for the next couple of years while this drought continues our fire department is going to need more money! Let's get it planned for now. I know it's not one of those expenses anyone wants to pay for, until that fire is at your house, but we've got to, and these firemen have busted their own tails raising money themselves too.

Now in one breath we heard (though I haven't seen the ytd/budgeted finances to confirm) that we have a windfall of cash from increased tax revenues and oil, and then in the next breath heard we would be going out for bonds to pay for the issuance of bonds for the money we need to make things work.

What I didn't hear is anything on the St. George debacle. Why after 2 year 4 months we still don't have finished streets.

I didn't hear one committee update from any boards / committees.

And with the exception of 2 out of 13 items, I heard NO discussion of ANY of the issues brought before council. I heard next item, motion, aye, aye, aye, aye, aye, next item repeat above.

For those interested, the second item discussed was when Mr. Hernandez asked the city manager to work with the failed petition on garage sale issue to come up with a compromise even though the petition didn't hit the 400+ signatures the city is saying were needed. This will come back up in December for modifications to the garage sale ordinance. So if you're interested be there in December to speak your peace.

God Bless