Where has all the improvement money gone?
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Posted by Jack Mitchell
on Feb 6 2012. Filed under Guest Commentary, Opinion.
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Back in 2003/4 there were budget shortfalls of $200,000 – $500,000 and a new $6 million plant was to be built. Sound familiar?
Several Ione workers were laid off and more had their hours cut by 50%.
JTS came along and gave Ione almost $6 million in pre-paid sewer fees.
All of the workers were hired back and given increases, still do, and we are talking $100k positions.
Do you really need to waste the grand juries time figuring this out?
Who says that Wall Street has a monopoly on making money disappear? You go, small town America!
Need to sell some land to pay for getting the CDO of the backs of Ione citizens. Councils past and present do not have a understanding of infrastructure and how it relates to city budgets and law, hence the over use of consultants/lawyers. 2000-2007 councils did NOTHING to fix the problems to remedy the CDO when funds were good. Councils 2007-present couldn’t see a declining economy fast enough, tried to get a big project on board to bail out their incompetency and now Ionians are in quicksand. Citizens in Ione need a city council comprised of those with some sort of understanding of how construction and maintenance work in a municipal evironment and how it relates to state requirements, law and budgets…..In ’02 approx. when the city recieved the CDO….it should have been fixed and wasn’t…..the old guard is no better than the latest regimes……old guard did NOTHING to fix…….more recent councils…OVERSPENT and SHUFFLED funds robbing peter to pay paul……
I have worked in wastewater management for the past 20 years. I have worked with the city of ione on many joint projects and have seen copies of their CDO’s from the state. If the city would have submitted what was requested in a timely manner and worked with the regional board they would not be in the mess they are in. I have worked with the regional board on many occassion’s. If you show that you are trying to meet the requirements, show reasonable timeframe’s and be HONEST in your response, the board may work with you not against you. Quit spending money on consultants without proper contract language. Contract should specify what the consultant is responsible for, what the city is responsible for, quote mandatory timeframes on reporting requirements. Any modifications to the contract will require an approved amendment before proceeding with any work. Common Sense Business Practices.
Seems like the last city manager and all her consultants had a good time with the money. Now there are consultants who claim they need more money to hire more consultants to tell them (the consultants) what needs to be done. Those are your boondoggles not the average employee but the vultures who consult for huge dollars to recommend doing things that benefit the companies they work for.