Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout(P2) Streets Presentation (2)🏛🏛 " 5 / @- " Purpose WHAT WAS THE PLAN ADOPTED? -To bring about transparency. -to eliminate politics. -to allow council members to better respond to citizens within the district. -Allow for money to be appropriated with respect to the CITY, as opposed to politics and the good ole boy system. -Allow for better accountability and monitoring. What is the adopted PLAN? -The district council members select streets along with the staff’s recommendations. -Each street is provided with an estimated cost-plus contingency. -Streets are selected for remediation or reconstruction. -The number of streets is selected based on the amount of money allocated to each district, based on the percentage established. -The percentage was established by obtaining the total linear feet of street needing to be repaired in EACH district, compared to the total for the city. -The council approves the final list. -The funding is then appropriated into the upcoming year’s budget. -Once the streets and funding of each street are approved by the council, no changes should be made WITHOUT the council’s approval. MISAPPROPRIATION OF FUNDS Definition: the unauthorized or improper use of someone else’s money or assets often for personal gain or benefit. This can occur in various contexts such as: 1.Embezzlement: a person entrusted with managing funds(i.e., an accountant or treasurer) uses them for personal gain. 2.Financial Mismanagement: FUNDS ARE USED FOR PURPOSES OTHER THAN THEIR INTENDED USE. 3.Theft: Direct theft of funds from an organization, business, or individual. HOW TO DETERMINE IF FUNDS ARE MISAPPROPRIATED 1.One must KNOW what the INTENDED use of the funds is. 2.What is written or available describing how the funds SHOULD be used. •The adopted BUDGET •Resolutions •Purpose listed in Certificates of Obligations •Ordinances •State of Texas Local Government Code 3. Quick References: •March 17, 2018: Video of council meeting, presentation of streets program. •Resolution 20-008: Describing how money will be allocated. (approved) •Texas Local Government Code: Chapter 102 sec102.003(a). •Chapter 2, sec. 2-31(e) of the City Charter. EXAMPLES 1.Redbird $678,349.66: Water utilities and Drainage projects. 2.Woodworth Blvd: $7 Million for streetscape 3.Salaries for contract employees: Paying salaries for employee that was hire because of a city vacancy.(Engineer) The Woodworth Boulevard Project I have been chosen to speak on behalf of the citizens present, on Zoom, and those who wanted to be here but could not attend, for various reasons. We are here today to request that the council consider rescinding the resolution approving 14.2 million dollars for the Woodworth Blvd; however, we are opposed to using STREET funds for the beautification and landscaping of the project. Funds obtained through the sale of bonds, solely for the construction/reconstruction of streets and related items, should not be used for beautification projects. Our request is based on the following information we have obtained: 1. Three of the four council members voting to approve the resolution did not listen to the district council members’ reasons for opposing it. The district council members, opposing it, understood the resolution would be to take money from their districts, preventing them from being able to fix MORE streets. They voted in our best interest. We also voted for mayor and at-large members. Did you vote in our best interest? 2. Non-District council members talked about beautification of the city and doing two things at one time as justification for using the streets fund for this project. The authorization for the sale of bonds states, “SOLELY for reconstruction/construction of streets and related items.” Do you really believe you can tell us that beautification and landscaping are related to the reconstruction/construction of streets? We are here today to tell you that you cannot. 3. It’s been said that Woodworth Blvd. has been nominated as the gateway to downtown. Who, when, and where was this action approved? Where is the transparency? 4. You are using approximately 30% of the $50 million allocated for streets throughout the city to beautify a 12-block boulevard, and you expect us to believe it’s in our best interest? Have you driven around our city? We do believe it’s in the best interest of the council members who support it and anyone supporting it. 5. We understand we need to beautify the city. However, it should be done with a plan. Money should be allocated for that purpose in your budget. Taking money allocated for streets is NOT the way to accomplish it. We elected you all to represent the citizens, not yourselves. If you feel our request is NOT what most of the citizens want, then we ask that you hold a public meeting or place the item on the ballot and let us vote on it. Your failure to address this matter at your next meeting leaves us no choice but to believe our request was not important enough for you to revisit this issue. It will allow us the opportunity to ensure the individuals who sat in those seats understand our needs and hear our voices. Streets are OUR priority, and we are tired of hearing excuses about why there has not been more progress in that area. We will not allow ANY money to be moved from the streets fund to do anything other than reconstruct or construct streets. We hope that the council will hear our concern and understand that we are asking for your support, but we are sure we are going to have REPRESENTATION for our cost of TAXATION. In closing, Secretary, can you tell how many people were signed into Zoom? Woodworth Blvd. Street Project This project has lacked transparency, which is a violation of the Texas Open Meetings Act, violated city code ordinances Chapter 2, secs 31(e), and Texas Local Government Code, Chapter 102, secs. 102.02/102.03. This project violates the Texas Open Meetings Act because of its lack of transparency for the following reasons: 1. This project was approved to be a reconstruction/construction of Woodworth Blvd. The cost was approved for 3 million dollars for engineering design and construction. (Resolution #21-542 dated 20 Dec. 2021.) It was then decided that 3 million dollars was NOT enough to do the project based on drawings presented to council representing how the project will look. After a review of all council meetings, resolutions, and discussions, before this presentation, there was no discussion or motions to change the project to include streetscape or beautification. (who changed it and when?) 2. This project has been referred to as a Gateway to downtown. There is again, NO resolution or discussion whereas council adopted this naming or approved this designation. (who made the decision?) 3. It's obvious that discussions about this project took place in closed session. This item does not meet the requirements for a closed session. This project violates city ordinance Chapter 2, sec. 31(e) of the code of Ordinances for the following reasons: 1. This project was NOT included in the 2023-2024 fiscal year budget, when it was approved. Therefore, the funding request should have been accompanied by a budget amendment at the same meeting. It did not have a budget amendment. 2. Resolutions 21-542, Resolution 22-284, Resolution 23-149, and Resolution 23539 had NO budget amendments at the respective meetings when they were approved. 3. Council was informed by me and the finance director that the item should NOT be on the agenda because it did NOT have a budget amendment on the agenda. The city attorney said, “My office did NOT sign off on that item.” Hearing the information presented at the council, four members who supported the project decided to vote to adopt the resolution, knowing it violated the ordinance. The Project violates the Texas Local Government Code, Chapter 102, sections 102.002/102.003 for the following reasons: Section 102.002 states, “the budget officer shall prepare each year a municipal budget to cover the proposed expenditures of the municipal government for the succeeding year. Since this project was NOT included in the budget, it should have been accompanied by a budget amendment. Section 102.003 states, “the budget MUST show as DEFINITELY as possible EACH of the projects for which expenditures are set up in the budget and an ESTIMATED amount of money carried in the budget for each project.” Since Woodworth Blvd. was NOT a listed project in the budget, there should NOT be ANY money available for the project. It’s obvious the people who supported this project are willing to violate ordinances, laws, and NOT be transparent, which has resulted in this city NOT following the Generally Accepted Accounting Principles for which ALL government agencies must follow. Possible Actions to be Taken 1.Conduct a Forensic Audit to determine whether funds have been misappropriated. 2.Ensure staff and council understand the proper way to change policies, procedures, codes, and ordinances. 3.Conduct a public hearing to discuss the Adopted Streets Plan. It should address the plan, consider amending it, and allow citizens to provide input before making a final decision. 4.Provide a means to ensure citizens can check the progress, stats, funding, and list of streets needing to be fixed. Conclusion 1.This plan was implemented and executed with no problem. 2.Three current council members voted for the adoption of the plan. 3.Over the last five years, the streets program has been run in the manner it was run before the adoption of the current adopted plan. Yet there has not been any amendment to the adopted plan. 4.There has been no transparency of the streets selected or the funding. 5.Streets are too high a priority in our city for the council to allow staff to make decisions on which streets need to be repaired and funded. Every time this happens, politics have surfaced. If that is the case, why are council members ELECTED? 6.Council members are elected to represent the citizens and manage their tax dollars. You CANNOT do it if you don’t KNOW what is right. Accepting every request from the manager and staff, without having done your research, is equivalent to buying a car from a car salesman: “TRUST HIM.”