March 10, 2006

Enough            
By Jack D. McNamara

Enough.

The Alpine Avalanche here in Greater Alpine has so miserably failed to competently report Alpine news that we are going to begin this as an almost-daily report of our fair city.

The straw which was “enough” was last Tuesday’s city council meeting. The council met for three hours before going into executive session and handled an awesome 28 agenda items.

Departing Utility Director Terry Sykes reported that “lost” water was down to 18% — phenomenal if true. He also predicted a staggering drought this year.

Interim City Attorney Rod Ponton gave another report that the city has no idea who is connected to our water system. This of course is a subject of constant reporting, which fortunately is never resolved.

WHY DOESN’T SOMEONE AUDIT THE DAMN METERS?

The Mayor, true to her record of an inability to remember anything which is not to her advantage, again misrepresented legal opinions concerning her role in the city charter as regards voting (this required us to step up and correct her, which we will continue to do).

Avinash Rangra proposed a thank you letter to the Brewster County Commissioners Court for offering $10,000 to the ALPINE (meaning we pay for it, NOT the county) “Volunteer” Fire Department’s effort to buy another used ladder truck.

There was a postponement of two Bob Brewer items, one concerning the airport mess and another regarding annexations. But not without a discussion in which the public was tipped off that the council is looking to annex the Gray Addition, the Loop area and the east side industrial area.

Angie Bermudez was appointed to the Parks board to represent Ward 1.

Three agenda items were combined to discuss and repair where possible the disastrous ORCA grant. Mayor Clouse, former City Manager Karen Philippi and former “assistant to the city manager” Debra Cutting may have so fouled this project that the city will be cut off from state money.

The new city staff has been two weeks trying (and failing) to find the records of the grant. To make a long story short, the previous administrators spent state money they shouldn’t have before they were authorized. They may also have submitted incorrect data to the state.

This screw-up exposes us to only a $288,000 loss.

Anna Monclova tried again to get a policy and procedures manual constructed.

We’re purchasing a pump for the sewer lift station on the Stucke property on the east side. We’re selling a pump which serviced the Daugherty water well in Sunny Glen.

The city’s Naismith engineers were missioned to determine if a proposed east side property, the “KAT” addition,” would satisfactorily meld with the city’s sewer system. Developer Joey DeHart assured us there would be no cost to the city for anything other than engineering.

There was a lengthy discussion of yet another grant deal, the “Texas Capital Fund,” for east side sewers. This is wrapped up in what may have been an unauthorized expenditure of $3500 by former City Manager Philippi. Interim City Manager Garcia was instructed to see if the beneficiaries of such a deal might be willing to pay part of the freight?

Anna Monclova said why don’t we take care of what our Alpine citizens need first — “We can’t take care of what we have in the city limits.”

The council will rent a post office mailbox exclusively for bid and résumé security.

The council and Naismith engineer Tom Brown discussed at some length the $4 million-plus water distribution project. Murphy Street will be repaved if they must dig it up for two new 12” water lines. They need 20 easements. Someone will activate the surveyor who has been waiting for a year to go.

We will ADVERTISE FOR PHASE I CONSTRUCTION BIDS IN EARLY MAY.

After an executive session the council added one more interviewee for the city manager job, a Country Club Estates resident. They also selected a committee for narrowing the field for the city attorney job. Only one Alpine attorney applied — Interim City Attorney Rod Ponton — and there were no Marfa applicants. •