City water sales !

Quote of the day: "All the flushing of toilets"

Our friendly daily today includes what has got to be at least a candidate for the quote of the day.

Blasita Lopez, director of the Laredo Convention and Visitors Bureau, said UISD officials met with various city departments and the Texas Department of Transportation to make sure things ran smoothly.

She said the aim of the city was to make sure people visiting Laredo would feel welcome.

Traffic signage and coordination was only part of the plan.

“One department we almost overlooked was the city utilities department, but director Tomas Rodriguez stepped forward and said they would make sure there would be enough water pressure for all the flushing of toilets,” Lopez said.
 

Ordinance meant to crack down on little guy, not Oil & Gas

City of Laredo Utilities Director Tomas "Tommy the Tank" Rodriguez told the Laredo Morning Times that the real reason for the city's ordinance prohibiting the re-selling of water obtained from the city is to essentially crack down on the little guy, not so much on the fracking companies.

An article appearing today on the Laredo Morning Times is full of reasons why an investigation should have been launched into possible violations of this ordinance by area fracking and fracking-related companies and begs the question:  What is the city waiting for?

Another strange revelation about one particular company has a contract to buy water from the city, but instead claims to be using its trucks to simply transport water to the oil and gas industry. The question(s) here : Then why do they have a contract to purchase water IF they are only transporting it?  Who then is buying the water their transporting? Is it the oil and gass companies these guys are delivering the water to?  Do those companies have contracts to purchase water? If not, then is anybody paying for this water??

As always, city of laredo officials love to point out failed comparisons. The article mentions that while the city of Laredo sells its water for $3.50 per thousand gallons, it states that Brownsville and McAllen sell their water for $1.92 and $1.30 per thousand gallons. This implies that the city is being smart and raking in big bucks for their higher-priced water.  However, the comparison fails because neither McAllen nor Brownsville are in the Eagle Ford Shale.  The comparison should therefore be made between Laredo and cities like Cotulla or Carrizo Springs which are in the EFS and therefore, sell their water to the frackers at rates substantially higher than Laredo. 

Anyway, here's another exceprt from the LMT:

Tomas Rodriguez, the city’s utilities director, said in October the city hasn’t launched a formal inquiry.

“The investigation was supposed to be one to determine if somebody was selling to the oil fields,” Rodriguez said.

“It’s hard for us to determine ‘XYZ’ company is actually selling to the drilling companies.”

Rodriguez said any complaints of possible water resale are examined on a case-by-case basis.

The issue may come down to one of semantics. One company, G&F Oilfield Services, which holds a contract to buy water from the city, said it bills oil and gas companies for freight.

“We don’t charge the water, we just provide the haul,” company owner Filberto Lopez said.
Lopez said freight costs range from between $95 to $110 an hour.

 

Charging for freight of water “is not exactly what the ordinance is against,” Rodriguez said.

He said the ordinance is in place to prevent citizens from charging neighbors, family and friends for drinkable water.
Any commercial entity requesting a meter from the city must provide a reason for use of water in its application.
Companies contracted with the city use phrases such as “filling truck of the field” and “oilfield for the rigs” in their contracts.

Mo-Vac, a vacuum company that lists “gas well” as a reason for use of potable water, declined comment.

Jesus Olivares, assistant city manager, said the city has not contacted law enforcement to investigate possible city code violations.

“If (city management) do(es) find somebody that has been misusing privileges when they sign a contract and if they are doing anything that is criminal, the proper authorities will be notified,” Olivares said.

The City of Laredo charges $3.50 per 1,000 gallons of water, or 0.35 cents per gallon, as determined by traveling water meters.

The cities of Brownsville and McAllen charge $1.92 and $1.30, respectively, per 1,000 gallons.
City Manager Carlos Villarreal has indicated he is aware of possible misuse of city contracts.

Webb County Elections Office at fault for ballot mistakes

Our local officials have become experts at putting the blame elsewhere instead of assuming responsibility. A few months ago, when it was reported that Laredo Community College was facing accrediation problems, the fault was placed on a change in the reportng system the college was using. Phrases such as "there was a glitch" or "the process was put into place in a hurry" and thus resulted in erros.  No one took responsiblity for monitoring for such "glitches" or for NOT implementing any process in such a hurry that it turned out to be error-filled.

Now, it's the Webb County Elections administrator's turn.  Instead of taking reponsibilty for the recent ballot mistakes, elections administrator has sought to blame some "invisible man". Notice the explanation he gave to the Laredo Morning Times.

Excerpted from the famous Laredo Morning Times

“We found out one particular block that was supposed to be in District 7 we had in District 5,” Villarreal said Saturday.

He said the particular block’s precinct mistakenly did not reflect summer redistricting changes.

Villarreal could not confirm, specifically, which addresses were affected.

A District 7 resident called the elections office Friday after she received what she believed was the wrong ballot. Officials confirmed the mistake.

In the first sentence, Villarreal does come close to admitting fault when he says "We had", however by the following line, the active voice "we had" quickly becomes the passive, (no fault)
"the particular block's precinct mistakenly did not reflect.....changes".  Aha, so it was the block precinct's fault for "not reflecting those changes".

Nice job Mr. Villarreal, a better, more accurate way would have been to say: " We failed to show the summer redistricting changes for that particular precinct block".

But rest assured, all ballot irregularities have now been corrected. Why? Because the Webb County Elections department says so. Whew!


In

Elections Mishaps: If it weren't so bad, it'd be funny

The Webb County Elections office is once again making the news for all the wrong reasons. The integrity of this elecion is already in doubt.  It would be a good thing if we could get the Texas Secreatry of State come down here and straighten out the whole mess. 

This is part of what makes Laredo look bad: dubious ethics and shenanigans abound throughout our local governments. Be it the school districts, the city or the county, there's a thread of incompetence that's only getting worse. Oh well, que esperas ?

From today's LMT

Some voters received and cast ballots for races outside their districts, Webb County Elections Administrator Oscar Villarreal told media in an email Friday afternoon.

It is unclear which races, districts or polling places were affected.

Villarreal did not return phone calls as of late Friday.

He wrote in the email that the elections office had received “many calls from voters stating that they belonged in a different school district or council member district than what appeared on their ballot.

“On most of these, there were no issues,” he wrote in the email.

“The voter was just unaware that their school or council member district had changed after redistricting.

“But on others, there were issues that were discovered that had to be corrected and unfortunately, it was also discovered that some of these voters had, in fact, received and voted a ballot with the wrong district.”

Silverado Martinez, local attorney and Webb County Democratic Party chair, said although he was not privy to the legal ramifications of the issues, it is likely voters could not cast their ballots again.

Going, going GONE! Sold to the highest bidder!

Among the top contributors mentioned in today's Laredo Morning Times article on campaign financing of our local elections are: local construction companies, engineering firms, property management groups and engergy companies.

What are the odds that these donors will be fully expecting something in return?

So, what else is new? Cha-ching!


From Today's LMT

City Council incumbents have a serious edge fund-wise against their opponents in the upcoming November election.

At $27,150, District 4 incumbent Juan Narvaez received the most contributions by a considerable margin as compared to other candidates.

Many of his donors are local construction, property management and energy companies.

Narvaez previously served on the Planning and Zoning Commission, and operated a housing manufacturing company prior to his involvement with the city.

“I’m a man that’s been in business long enough have known a lot of people that believe in me,” Narvaez said.

“There’s no hidden agenda behind my contributions.”

His opponent, retired educator Armando Cisneros, was waived from filing expense reports on the condition he would not spend more than $500 on his campaign, City Secretary Gustavo Guevara Jr. said.

“I’m not big on spending my time putting up signs and raising funds,” Cisneros said.

“It’s more like grassroots. I’d say not even grassroots, more like seed roots.”
Meanwhile, the two other City Council incumbents, Cindy Liendo Espinoza and Jorge Vera, have received $10,850 and $16,250, respectively, in campaign contributions.

Jose Luis Maldonado, who had reported no political expenditures, said he reused old signs from his run last year for City Council District 7.

Maldonado said he only recently began spending campaign donations after the Oct. 9 filing deadline.

He said the $1,500 he’s received will go toward payment for an upcoming radio ad.

Meanwhile, Pat Campos and Roque Vela, vying for the upcoming vacancy for District 5, have received $17,750 and $21,280, respectively.

At $35,213, Vela has far exceeded any of the other City Council candidates in political expenditures and has outspent Campos by almost $20,000.

You can read the entire article at : http://lmtonline.com/articles/2012/10/21/news/doc5083993e9da5b430100507.txt

Highest compliment: "It's doesn't seem like you're in Laredo"

It's a pretty common compliment nowadays. If you happen upon a very attractive spot secluded somewhere in or around the Gateway City, people usually express their amazement by stating simply "It's like you're not in Laredo" or something to that effect.

Just this morning, that exact sentiment was conveyed this morning on KLNT 1490's morning news show with Richard Noriega.  During a clip featured on the show, we hear some golfer who just played the new Max A. Mandel course expressed the "You don't think you're in Laredo" line.

The fact that statements like these are used as compliments draws on the assumption that the prevailing opinion is that Laredo is not that nice of a place at all. Therefore, by saying that something
is not "like Laredo" (bad/negative) means that it's therefore, something good/ positive.

As far as the golf course goes, what doy you expect for $6.6 Million?