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October 21, 2007
The
Nimby News mourning the loss of the Sentinel gig.
Tension in Alpine
By
Jack D. McNamara
The Alpine City Council met Tuesday, October 2 in an
atmosphere of considerable tension.
The city was served the same day, before the 6 p.m. meeting, with a
“Notice of Protest” from local attorney G. Kirk Meade, representing
Paragon LLC, according to Meade’s letter, obtained from the city with a
Texas Public Information Act (TPIA) request. Paragon is headed by Joey
DeHart, a well-connected but troubled local contractor.
The issue was the prospective award on the October 2 agenda of the
remainder of the city’s huge $4 million-plus contract for completion of
the repair of the city’s water distribution system.
The contract was awarded to Key Enterprises Inc. of Odessa who
submitted a bid of $3,789,821.55.
Three other bids were submitted. The next lowest bid was $3,963,021.00
by Paragon. Key’s bid included a $7000 mathematical error which was
waived as not “material” on the recommendation of Alpine’s engineers at
Naismith Engineering of Austin.
And there lies the tale.
All the bids were the result of a failed earlier bid solicitation
opened July 27. The only bidder on the first round was Key Enterprises
and their bid was about $1 million higher than that awarded on the
second round of bids. The second round elicited four bids which were
opened September 19.
Immediately after the bids were opened Alpine’s Ward 5 representative
Diana R. Asgeirsson initiated a lobbying campaign for the Alpine
bidder, Joey DeHart of Paragon, LLC. An email obtained under the Texas
Public Information Act (TPIA) records that Asgeirsson wrote to Naismith
engineer Jose Rodriguez on September 20 to question the Key Enterprise
bid. She said she wrote as a “taxpayer, concerned citizen, and a city
council member” and she closed the email as “City Councilor Ward 5.”
Mrs. Asgeirsson argued for selection of Paragon on the basis of local
employment and the economic effect of the $3.7 million contract.
“Having
experience in the construction industry in this area through my
accounting business I know change orders could be a problem and raise
this low bid. I have had calls from my constiuents [sic] and they have
expressed concern over someone not local getting this bid. I know you
will do what is in the best interest of the City of Alpine. Please let
me know if I can help you in anyway [sic].
Sincerely,
Diana
Asgeirsson
City
Councilor Ward 5”
Mrs. Asgeirsson’s office is joined directly to an office whose front
sign says “Paragon” in a small mall on West Highway 90 south of the
Triangle. She has filed a form with the city stating she does
bookkeeping for Paragon, LLC.
Jose Rodriguez of Naismith Engineering emailed back on September 20.
Rodriguez wrote, “as the city’s engineer for this very important
project, I must follow all Local, State, and Federal Laws and
Regulations, including the State’s Competitive Budding Statutes …”
At the Alpine City Council meeting on October 2, City Attorney Rod
Ponton led an agenda discussion on “bidding process per state and
charter requirement.” The item was placed on the agenda by Mayor Mickey
Clouse. He (Ponton) had in hand several references from the Texas Water
Development Board, the city’s engineer and state law. Mayor Clouse
apparently believed the council could set aside state bid laws using
the city’s charter authority. Ponton told her that state law prevails.
Avinash Rangra raised publicly the communication from attorney Kirk
Meade and elicited further comments from Naismith’s Tom Brown.
Mayor Clouse opened the discussion to the audience saying she “had her
doubts” regarding the process.
Pete Smyke went to the podium and had the last words of the discussion
by referring to the fact that for five years Alpine residents in the
southeast had lived with water pressures below state standards. “Let’s
get it done,” said Smyke.
The next agenda item was the vote to accept a bid and the four council
members present, including Asgeirsson, voted unanimously to accept the
low bid from Key Construction of Odessa.
Tom Brown then reviewed what the $3.7 million does.
•
Repairs the backbone of the city’s water system.
•
Lays new 12” water lines.
•
Upgrades the remote sensor control system.
•
Establishes a water tank in Country Club Estates.
•
Replaces 1” and 2” lines throughout
•
Establishes a 12” line in east Alpine suitable for growth in the next
30 years.
•
Provides for as much as a 50% increase in population growth.
•
Repairs leaks and meters throughout the city.
•
Connects the 1 million gallon tank and the 500,000 gallon tank on
Alpine Hill.
The city thus completes another benchmark in the long five-year
struggle to provide satisfactory water pressure to its Southside rate
payers.
Twenty
Years
As we write about the City of Alpine’s water battles we note for the
record that we have now been doing this for 20 years here.
We returned to my home town with only one main objective — to build an
adobe house. In 1987 we were well along in that process when we began
to hear disturbing rumors. The sheriff of the adjoining Presidio
County, a native son of Marathon in Brewster County, a drug dealer?
We began to ask questions. By late 1987 we began formulating Texas Open
Records Act (TORA) requests and federal Freedom of Information Act
(FOIA) requests. In January 1988 we published the first Nimby News.
Four years later the sheriff was busted by a small task force of
federal law enforcement officers and a small contingent of Texas DPS
(Narcotics) officers. More than one ton of 94% pure Columbian cocaine
was found in his horse trailer parked at the Marfa roping arena. DEA
agents later estimated the sheriff and his partner Robert Chambers of
Brewster County (also a Marathon boy) had smuggled 10 tons of cocaine
and 10 tons of marijuana through here between 1985 and 1991.
The failures of federal, state and local law enforcement to stop drugs,
illegal immigration and even terrorists is a continuing story. Here on
the Last Frontier this story is fundamental to our lives. It is
fundamental because the failure is politicized and transported directly
into every aspect of living. For example, hundreds of defendants are
processed through the federal criminal justice system here annually.
The people who do that work here are more numerous than the U.S.
Cavalry was in the Apache Wars or the National Guard in the 1910-1919
Mexican “Troubles.”
But at the risk of appearing overly omphaloskeptic (it means
navel-staring) we started writing today pondering our recent amicable
separation from the Big Bend Sentinel. (No restraining orders were
necessary.)
We started the Nimby News largely because neither the local newspapers
nor the regional newspapers were publishing the news of corrupt law
enforcement here. You could walk into any honky-tonk in the area and
before the second beer either the guy on the right or the guy on the
left would tell you about a crooked cop. The crookedness was usually
drugs and there was a lot of it.
No such news sullied our newspapers even though dead bodies were
dropping all around.
So we started the Nimby News to try to do what others should have been
doing if they were even remotely familiar with the historic rights,
privileges and DUTIES of the American press. As soon as we started
writing publicly we began to hear from honest, concerned cops, lawyers,
and judges. Some of their tips could be confirmed, some couldn’t.
(Robert and Rosario Halpern had not yet returned to the Big Bend nor
had they bought the Sentinel when we started the Nimby News.)
Several of those journalists here then tried to do the job. But for
reasons peculiar to the social ways of the Last Frontier, they were
unable to get the facts into print.
We did print it.
But the years are passing …
For the time being keep the threats coming to the usual address — we
will be here. •
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