One former City Council member has recently blogged to the effect that the recent external review of accusations against City Manager/Police Chief Yost Zakhary was arranged to benefit Mike O'Bric by his "friends on the Council". Wrong. Check the record: the Council was unanimous in their vote for the external review, and it certainly wasn't to benefit or appease Mike O'Bric. The Council realized that whether or not any of the allegations were true (a) a large segment of Woodway residents had apparently lost trust in their City government as evidenced by the May election results, in which every incumbent that ran was voted out; and (b) to those mistrustful of City governance, no internal review would suffice to restore confidence. The internal review had made it evident to the Council that the allegations were at least mostly unfounded, but the entire Council recognized that any self-investigation would be easily dismissed by a significant fraction of the public. Only an entirely independent review would be convincing to many. Yes, the cost was significant. But what price do you put on trust in your government? As I recall, in the end the entire Council seemed to agree that the money was well spent, given the circumstances.
Does Mike O'Bric have "friends on the Council"? Wrong again. I was elected to serve all of the citizens of Woodway, and I have tried hard to do so honestly and to the best of my ability. And I think the same applies to all of the new guys on the Council. It is true that Mike O'Bric contributed to some of the challenger's campaigns. In my case, he covered the cost of my mailings, which totaled somewhere around $400 or about 20% of the cost of my campaign (all public record). But even on a professor's salary, $400 isn't much, and my loyalty isn't for sale anyway. Since joining the Council, I have had virtually no contact with Mike O'Bric, and I think that's true of the other new guys too. Personally, I feel misled by his confident assertions of corruption that turned out to be false.
Do I support the "O'Bric agenda"? I don't know what that "agenda" is, but I doubt it. I did campaign partly on separating the positions of City Manager and Police Chief, a stance Mike agreed with, but that's where any "agenda" ends. I still think (as do others, Barney Knight for example) that it is poor policy to combine the positions, since such a concentration of authority "invites abuse" (to quote from my campaign website). Suspicions and allegations prosper more easily under those conditions, as I think the May elections attest. But I have come to realize that Yost Zakhary is doing a remarkably good job of City Manager/Police Chief. There appears to have been no abuse of the combined position. To make this arrangement work requires both skill and honesty, which I think Woodway has in Yost Zakhary.
To RH: Try not to find evil intentions where they don’t exist, to assume the worst about people when you don't really know them. Mike O’Bric fell into that trap. To some extent I did too during my campaign and for a while after. But don’t you and I both know better now?
Thursday, September 9, 2010
The agenda for the September 13th meeting
The agenda for the upcoming (Sept. 13) City Council meeting has been posted here. Notable items include:
(a) discussion of the youth curfew ordinance, and possible "abolishment, continuation or modification" of it.
(b) an interlocal cooperation agreement with the City of Waco for the reconstruction of Ritchie Road.
(c) a time for visitors to speak.
(d) discussion and consider action on Resolution R-10-12, affirming the City Council’s support of Yost Zakhary as City Manager/Public Safety Director, and affirming the City Council’s support of Mr. Zakhary as 4th Vice President of the International Association of Chief’s of Police.
(e) discussion on need to review the City Charter.
(f) discussion on August 24th letter from Mike O’Bric and the City’s response.
(g) an Executive Session, apparently to discuss the annual evaluation of the City Manager/ Director of Public Safety.
(a) discussion of the youth curfew ordinance, and possible "abolishment, continuation or modification" of it.
(b) an interlocal cooperation agreement with the City of Waco for the reconstruction of Ritchie Road.
(c) a time for visitors to speak.
(d) discussion and consider action on Resolution R-10-12, affirming the City Council’s support of Yost Zakhary as City Manager/Public Safety Director, and affirming the City Council’s support of Mr. Zakhary as 4th Vice President of the International Association of Chief’s of Police.
(e) discussion on need to review the City Charter.
(f) discussion on August 24th letter from Mike O’Bric and the City’s response.
(g) an Executive Session, apparently to discuss the annual evaluation of the City Manager/ Director of Public Safety.
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Funding Arboretum improvements
An important decision on how to fund the proposed Arboretum improvements will be coming up before long. You may recall that plans have been developed to build a second event center so that two activities can go on simultaneously, and with much better facilities. I have seen the plans and have been somewhat involved in the process. I won’t go into the details here, but I can tell you that the design is fantastic, having been highly refined by expert architects and with much involvement of the Arboretum Board, the City Council and others. This project would likely result in at least a tripling of the Arboretum’s income and boost Woodway’s stature in Central Texas. The project will require about $2.5-3 million, about twice what the new City Hall cost (not counting parking and other improvements). But there is one major difference: the Arboretum improvements will be covered strictly by the Hotel Occupancy Tax (HOT) revenues. The City currently has about $500,000 saved toward this, but will need to borrow about $2.5 million.
The question will be whether to have this borrowing authorized by the citizens of Woodway via a bond election, or instead simply have the City Council issue a Certificate of Obligation that requires no citizen approval.
I campaigned on, among other things, greater communication with Woodway residents and tentatively came down on the side of putting this to a bond election (see earlier post here). Former City Council members have expressed opinions both for and against having a bond election (see here). However, unlike most other major City projects, approval or disapproval of this project has no bearing on any other aspect of City services or operation. A negative vote would simply result in bankrolling the excess HOT revenue (i.e., that over and above Arboretum operation), since there is nothing else to spend it on, beyond the recently-discovered need to spend about 14% on tourism promotion.
There are some good reasons to NOT put this to a vote, as follows. Most importantly, the election process is subject to delay because of legal restrictions; for example, the next election could not legally be held until May (fully 8 months away). This delay would prevent the City from taking advantage of the current low interest rates. Also, this would place the bidding process in a less favorable timeframe, competing (for example) with school district projects, making low bids and timely starts less likely. Finally, as one former City Council member has pointed out, citizens generally vote against even very good ideas, perhaps thinking increased taxes or decreased services are at stake.
I’ve gone over the figures with City Manager Yost Zakhary and Finance Officer William Klump, and I think the plan is sound. Even current HOT revenues fully cover the costs involved, and these revenues will almost certainly increase (at least slowly) with the opening of the new Best Western hotel and with the much-increased tourism advertising the City will be doing. In my opinion, this project is something the City needs to do, and better sooner than later.
I’d like to hear what readers of this blog think about these two options, that is, either waiting for a bond election or proceeding without one. You can contact me (on this issue, Woodway residents only please) by email at chuckimgarner@gmail.com or through the “contact us” page on my website (www.woodway-chuck.org). I will share your opinions with my fellow Council members, and it will help inform the Council on this matter.
The question will be whether to have this borrowing authorized by the citizens of Woodway via a bond election, or instead simply have the City Council issue a Certificate of Obligation that requires no citizen approval.
I campaigned on, among other things, greater communication with Woodway residents and tentatively came down on the side of putting this to a bond election (see earlier post here). Former City Council members have expressed opinions both for and against having a bond election (see here). However, unlike most other major City projects, approval or disapproval of this project has no bearing on any other aspect of City services or operation. A negative vote would simply result in bankrolling the excess HOT revenue (i.e., that over and above Arboretum operation), since there is nothing else to spend it on, beyond the recently-discovered need to spend about 14% on tourism promotion.
There are some good reasons to NOT put this to a vote, as follows. Most importantly, the election process is subject to delay because of legal restrictions; for example, the next election could not legally be held until May (fully 8 months away). This delay would prevent the City from taking advantage of the current low interest rates. Also, this would place the bidding process in a less favorable timeframe, competing (for example) with school district projects, making low bids and timely starts less likely. Finally, as one former City Council member has pointed out, citizens generally vote against even very good ideas, perhaps thinking increased taxes or decreased services are at stake.
I’ve gone over the figures with City Manager Yost Zakhary and Finance Officer William Klump, and I think the plan is sound. Even current HOT revenues fully cover the costs involved, and these revenues will almost certainly increase (at least slowly) with the opening of the new Best Western hotel and with the much-increased tourism advertising the City will be doing. In my opinion, this project is something the City needs to do, and better sooner than later.
I’d like to hear what readers of this blog think about these two options, that is, either waiting for a bond election or proceeding without one. You can contact me (on this issue, Woodway residents only please) by email at chuckimgarner@gmail.com or through the “contact us” page on my website (www.woodway-chuck.org). I will share your opinions with my fellow Council members, and it will help inform the Council on this matter.
Monday, September 6, 2010
Where things stand
It has been almost three weeks since the results of Barney Knight's investigation into Mike O'Bric's allegations against Yost Zakhary. That investigation found no substantial basis for the allegations. So where do things stand?
As far as I can tell 4+ months into this, there is no corruption in Woodway City government, and there was no failure on the part of the previous Council to oversee the City's management, including the activities of the City Manager/Police Chief. From what I know of the four Council members that were voted out of office, having spent a little time with two or three of them, they are honest, intelligent and insightful people who served Woodway well. The four new guys are not better than our predecessors, just different in the ways that make all of us unique, and hopefully we'll each play a part in maintaining and improving this special place.
I have also been impressed with Yost Zakhary's performance as City Manager/Police Chief. He clearly has the respect and admiration of his employees. He appears to me to be a skilled manager, both in terms of personnel and City planning. Every anticipated expense is budgeted for, often years in advance. This next year's budget was especially difficult, since there was a significant decrease in the state sales tax revenue. But Mr. Zakhary presented a balanced budget (summary here) such that there will be no loss of City services, no employee layoffs, and no tax rate increases. I know enough to know that Mr. Zakhary is not perfect, but none of us are. I still think it is poor policy to combine the positions of City Manager and Police Chief, but I have to say that Yost Zakhary is doing an admirable job of both.
As far as I can tell 4+ months into this, there is no corruption in Woodway City government, and there was no failure on the part of the previous Council to oversee the City's management, including the activities of the City Manager/Police Chief. From what I know of the four Council members that were voted out of office, having spent a little time with two or three of them, they are honest, intelligent and insightful people who served Woodway well. The four new guys are not better than our predecessors, just different in the ways that make all of us unique, and hopefully we'll each play a part in maintaining and improving this special place.
I have also been impressed with Yost Zakhary's performance as City Manager/Police Chief. He clearly has the respect and admiration of his employees. He appears to me to be a skilled manager, both in terms of personnel and City planning. Every anticipated expense is budgeted for, often years in advance. This next year's budget was especially difficult, since there was a significant decrease in the state sales tax revenue. But Mr. Zakhary presented a balanced budget (summary here) such that there will be no loss of City services, no employee layoffs, and no tax rate increases. I know enough to know that Mr. Zakhary is not perfect, but none of us are. I still think it is poor policy to combine the positions of City Manager and Police Chief, but I have to say that Yost Zakhary is doing an admirable job of both.
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Children's Garden Fair, Oct. 17th
This just in from Megan Salinas of the Woodway Arboretum. There will be a Children's Garden Fair at the Arboretum on Sunday, October 17th, from 2 - 5 pm. Admission is free and there will be fun for the whole family, including live music, a bird walk, a scavenger hunt, rock painting and more! If you have questions, contact the Arboretum at (254) 399-9204 or by email at arboretum@woodway-texas.com.
For those who are interested in supporting the Arboretum with a small addition ($8) to your water bill each month, how to do this is posted here (along with a nice picture of one of the Woodway roadrunners). My wife and I have been doing this since moving to Woodway 8+ years ago.
For those who are interested in supporting the Arboretum with a small addition ($8) to your water bill each month, how to do this is posted here (along with a nice picture of one of the Woodway roadrunners). My wife and I have been doing this since moving to Woodway 8+ years ago.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
