Update from the Office of the Mayor
6/16/2023
Update from the Office of the Mayor
We made a lot of great progress at this week’s Council meeting. We cut spending, increased revenues without raising taxes, cut regulations, better secured our public funds, kicked off the long needed infrastructure rehabilitation project, and more.
Some of these steps may seem small, but they were all in the right direction.
FINANCIAL SECURITY: First and most important, a few days ago I was surprised that the City lacked protection with its main bank account. The City currently has a two-signer requirement for all City checks and other transfer payments. Currently the authorized signers are me, the Mayor Pro Tem and one other member of the City Council. Just days after being added to the official signer card for our bank accounts, I logged into my own personal account at the same bank. To my surprise I had full access to ALL our city’s money and could have transferred funds with the click of a button. I came to find out the list of people who still had online access included three individuals who have not had any connection to our city government for years which was an oversight of the bank. With further digging, I found that anyone on our signer card (myself and two Council members included), could go into the bank and withdraw every dollar in the city accounts and walk out the door with no questions asked, which could be very harmful for the city. Of course, once this was pointed out to them, our city staff got on top of it. Part of plugging this gap in our security included passing a resolution to ensure we have dual signers for every type of banking transaction, not just for checks.
I found this after just a few days on the job, and I don’t have any real background in this and while we have no evidence currently of any unauthorized transactions, currently or in the past, we’ve never had a forensic audit of our books, so nobody has ever officially looked into such things. So, to better ensure that the public can trust our city with their tax dollars, I have proposed, and Council has moved towards establishing a Financial Security and Transparency Committee, made up of qualified expert volunteers, to thoroughly review our practices and make sure it’s all done right. The purpose of this committee is to follow best practices and transparency, review city records and help establish guidance to staff and council.
Due to the urgency of this, I am calling a special meeting of the Council prior to our next scheduled budget meeting, on June 27, to formally ratify this committee.
CITY HALL: For years folks have called for us to move City Hall off the Square. We have outgrown our buildings (city office and Byars Building) there. Many feel we should use that space to make the Square more appealing, and to generate tax and rental income.
Two blocks away, our old Fire Station has been sitting empty for years – deteriorating and not being adequately maintained. Looking into it, I found it’s quite large and structurally sound -- it just needs a makeover. So, working with our City Administrator who had the same idea, we’ve put together a plan to move city offices and court/council chambers there, and then rent the buildings on the Square to select tenants who will best serve our community.
With the funds generated by renting those buildings, preliminary research shows we can more than pay for the renovations at the firehouse and the move and generate an ongoing source of revenue for the city.
Beyond gaining revenue, citizens would benefit from better goods and services on the Square, city offices that are still conveniently located and walkable, an attractive makeover of what has become an eyesore, larger city offices and meeting space, plus up to 30 parking spaces just a block off the Square.
The council voted unanimously to research this further. No final decision has been made to do this. We would love to hear citizen feedback. Do you like this idea?
INFRASTRUCTURE: Our excellent, volunteer infrastructure committee (CIAMAC) has finally received the feedback they’ve long been waiting for from city leadership and are starting to map out a detailed plan to fully replace our decayed infrastructure (water lines, sewer lines and roads).
I told the head of that committee that we’re ready to roll, and asked what the next step will be. He said that we need to identify a representative stretch of road that we can start with, and then jump in and get it done. This will not only get the ball rolling on the project, but also give us the actual, hands-on information we need to map out the rest of this 20-year project.
Working with them and city staff and advisors, we identified that stretch, and Council voted unanimously to pull the trigger . We’re still quite a way away from “breaking ground” – lots to figure out, including securing grants and bonds to pay for it – but we’ve finally kicked it off. No more kicking that can down the road. Infrastructure repair is finally happening.
BUDGET: We had our first Budget Meeting, where city staff presented their requests for next year. While our staff did an excellent job, and followed our usual methodology, I was not content with the process that was in place, because we skipped big picture conversation and jumped straight to line items. Metaphorically speaking, we only talked about the trees without first considering the forest.
The proposed budget called for an 8% tax increase. I have told our staff that I am vehemently opposed to this. We simply must live within our means, same as our citizens. Let’s first ensure we’re doing the right things, as efficiently as possible, and in the right balance, before we take more of our citizens’ hard-earned money.
The protocol the city has used for setting budgets till now is simply to base this year’s budget on what we spent last year and add a bit more. In other words: More of the same. If things were going great here, that’d be just fine. But folks, our city has been running deficits, spending enormously on some things while spending zero on things like road repairs (until this year), and allowing our infrastructure to deteriorate. We’re not in good shape in my opinion. And here’s a truth I’ve learned: More of the same will only get you more of the same. Blanco deserves better and this council will work on these issues together.
We simply must step back and look at the big picture and make some tough decisions. We need to bring city services into balance, and not keep dumping money on some things, neglecting others, and just hoping for the best.
Let me give you an example. Why are the roads so bad in town? Presently the city budget for fixing potholes is effectively zero. The mentality seems to be to hope money falls from a tree (like the recent COVID funds) to maybe fix some potholes. Past (and some current) city leaders have argued, “why fix the roads if we have to tear them up to fix the pipes?” Why? For one, we have to drive on them. And two, the infrastructure replacement plan runs for at least 20 years. That means, under this mindset, there are roads that won’t be patched for 20 more years. This is unconscionable. (Long before then, even the new roads we build will need repairs.) Our outsourced utility company is not the answer. We must budget for ongoing, effective road repair - most likely a small maintenance team with proper equipment. And we must do this first by bringing our overall department-by-department budgets into balance and driving efficiency, and not just keep rushing to run deficits and raise taxes.
To start this necessary conversation, I’ve instructed staff to re-work the budget process this year. Next meeting we’ll start by discussing the big picture – looking at proportions we spend by department and category (which staff has included this year), compared to best practices from comparable towns.
OTHER THINGS:
- We voted to direct the City Administrator to consult with our City Attorney and report to the Council on cost savings in our legal budget.
- We voted to allow our Finance Director to invest our city cash accounts on an ongoing basis to generate greater interest income for the city.
- We cut regulations by simplifying our council meeting rules for prayer and public involvement, to allow great freedom of speech and community engagement.
- We started the ball rolling on finally repairing the Town Creek (pecan bottom) retaining wall, and possibly improving our park there in the process.
MORE UPDATES COMING SOON:
- Water plant: I’ve dug into the Water Plant situation – which is long delayed and way over budget -- and have already saved us money on that. I feel confident we’re finally getting it on the right path for completion. I am working on an overview and will post when it is complete.
- Water supply: Our city’s water supply is vulnerable. Even if the water plant were online, the river is too low for us to take water out of it. Canyon Lake is dropping, and the long pipeline is fragile. We MUST find a better, sustainable source of water. I have been making progress towards this and hope to have something to announce soon.
- Alternate Route: I had a great meeting with TXDOT officials, and we’re making huge strides to getting on track with the Alternate Route project. I have learned some encouraging information and will post an update soon. We’ll be aiming to host our next community forum later this summer. Stay tuned!
COFFEE WITH THE MAYOR: We’ve had some great conversations the past several weeks at Coffee with the Mayor – 8:30-10 a.m. every Thursday (for now) at The Fairview – with a special guest each week. Next week (June 22), my guest will be Mayor Pro-Tem Rodney Thrailkill. Come join us!