lets make a deal

Lets make a deal: the karaoke people will admit that last fridays karaoke wasnt bad at all IF the contractors will admit that they were cheerleading for the gym project because they were looking forward to lining their pockets with the 300%, 400% and more profits at the taxpayers expense. Deal?

annexation issues

There are some excellent points being made here about annexation. The DERM map is a good idea as it would allow us to visualize the extent of the pollution. Looking at ALL the issues involved SHOULD be the right and responsibility of the Council but after their dismal and disappointing lack of DUE DILIGENCE in the new gym project it looks like the CITIZENS will have to do it! The Mayor and Council have already demonstrated that if DUE DILIGENCE is in possible conflict with their own personal agendas then it WONT be done. As our representatives they are supposed to represent ALL of us, not just a dozen or score of local contractors who stand to profit handsomely at the rest of us taxpayers expense! In the theoretical process of representing ALL of us taxpayers they are supposed to look at ALL the possible alternatives to find the best one for US. That process is called DUE DILIGENCE and it is their right and responsibility to make sure it is done in EVERY case. The Council failed miserably to do DUE DILIGENCE in the case of the new gym and there is NO reason to believe they will do any differently with the annexation issue! They should be ashamed and embarrassed, but they arent because their own personal agendas were realized and that is obviously MUCH more important than doing the right thing for US.

insanity

I agree with those who are enraged when our hard-earned tax dollars are wasted. To see that you need look no further than our City officials and ANY of the projects they have attempted in the past three years plus! The School Board is laying off teachers, cutting 300 million from their budget, the state is tightening ITS belt and WE are taking on SEVERAL MILLION dollars of debt!!! How does THAT make ANY sense? Our property tax revenues are going to drop significantly for the next couple years at least, the City manager is warning of four-day City work weeks and possible tax and fee increases, even THEY KNOW WE ARE IN A RECESSION, and yet they go merrily on their way like its 1999. Thats CRAZY! EARTH to City officials: We CANT AFFORD to indulge your personal agendas anymore!! Sober up! Up your dose of Haldol, whatever it takes to bring you back into the REAL, recessionary world that the rest of us hard-working taxpayers have to live in. To believe that City officials can ontinue to dump TRUCKLOADS of our tax dollars down the drain and it will NEVER end, is a distortion of reality, a delusion, ans simply NOT TRUE. Haldol is good for delusions and other disconnections from reality. taking on significantly more debt and payments when the City and its residents are struggling to get by as it is, is SHEER INSANITY and the very definition of fiscal irresponsibility. They simply have NO common sense, or they just dont care. Your choice.

dont know Jack

Apparently Jack and his junior high school buddies have too much time on their hands. Expanding our tax base to include more businesses would be a good thing, IF the negatives dont outweigh the positives. ALL possibilities have to be scrutinized carefully, not just SOME of them, like the gym project, so as to give the appearance of, at least, that DUE DILIGENCE is REALLY being done! This is another project that will impact the citizens of this town, and their kids, for DECADES. Lets REALLY do DUE DILIGENCE this time! What a concept! to actually DO what City officials are SUPPOSED to do! It would be a welcomed change! after the new gym fiasco, however, I have SERIOUS doubts it will ever happen. Mayor Bain and his merry band of jesters will lead us FORWARD alright, right over the cliff.

devious gym ?

I am at a loss to explain how the City Manager came to the conclusion that it would be CHEAPER to borrow the money for the gym that to float a bond. Is there ANYTHING cheaper than a municipal bond? Not that I know of. It seems much more like an attempt to subvert the City charter and get around its intent. Perhaps there is a logical answer to this. If so, I would be happy to hear it. Until then, its just another devious trick to stifle the voice of the taxpaying residents.

BIG IFS

There are some BIG IFS connected to this annexation issue. I agree that IF the FEC parcel EVER becomes available MS should get it IF its not polluted or IF FEC will remediate the land. IF we can come to some kind of agreement with the other cities. IF the parties responsible for doing the pollution will agree to clean it up, IF they are even in existence now and, or can be found. Aerodex is gone. IF the County will make any kind of effort to make the polluters pay. IF the County ever decides to give up the lands we want. IF we get control over the zoning. Too many IFS for me right now, none of them inconsequential. To move blindly forward without looking seriously at ALL the pros and cons, like was done with the new gym, is another recipe for disaster. The ambitious but blindered is leading the severely visually impaired here down a polluted path, without any controls in place, to a cliff.

prudent, or not

Is it prudent to negotiate from a position of strength on properties that are POLLUTED and will cost MILLIONS to restore? Is it prudent to negotiate for land that we will have NO zoning powers over? And if the chances of ever getting that land are nine against and four in favor, why are we wasting our time and energy discussing it? Lets develop lands we have, like the 36 street corridor, which has NO zoning or pollution concerns.

Is it true that we spent HUNDREDS of THOUSANDS of dollars before on the possibility of annexation? LOTS of expensive attorney hours spent mulling over that possibility and came to the conclusion that years of pollution on those properties with NO Superfund backing and NO cooperation from the current owners is a deal-killer in itself- strike one. Add to it the fact that we are going to have NO zoning powers over that land- strike two. The final point against that happening is that NINE of the 13 County Commissioners dont want to let it go- strike three.

Next!

annexation

Wouldnt it be prudent to look at the pros and cons of the zoning and pollution issues BEFORE dividing up whatever land may become available? If either one of the issues makes annexation not feasible dividing up the land would be a waste of time, no? We need someone who is familiar with the environmental issues to advise us on this from an unbiased, realistic perspective. In addition, we need some clear guidance from the County regarding the control of the zoning problem, and to look at both the positive and negative potentials of this proposal.
Of course, this would entail doing DUE DILIGENCE, something the Council is incapable of, and has refused to do lately. It is the City's right and responsibility to do DUE DILIGENCE before making any MAJOR decision but since they failed us miserably on the new gym issue how could we POSSIBLY expect them to attempt it on this issue? THEY WONT. The message is clear- they know best and will decide FOR us what we want and need, without bothering us with a vote. They will decide which options are important and which ones will be looked at seriously, saving the residents the time and energy to actually look at and discuss ALL THE OPTIONS. Remember, these are the guys who graduated at the TOP of their class at clown school and never met a construction cost they couldnt TRIPLE, at least.

Personally, I dont see the County giving us valuable land and income they could use with THEIR budget cuts and belt-tightening.

penny wise

An article in the Gazette made an interesting point when it noted that the Council, on one hand, refuses to give the City Clerk more thana 1% raise to her 90k salary, citing budget cuts and restraints, while voting to spend 6.4 MILLION for a new gym. How do YOU spell Penny Wise, Pound Foolish? Another case of fiscal irresponsibility. The front page headline states that the City is "moving forward" on the annexation issue without one mention of the POLLUTION issues involved in that proposal. We are moving forward alright, right over the cliff, led by those who refuse to listen and have no vision. Its readily apparent they easily have the whole trifecta covered. Its ironic that this Charge of the Ultra Light Brigade is led by someone who supposedly "listens". Bullfeathers!! He stopped listening to the people a LONG time ago, about the time he sold out to special interests. His Legacy will be one of bankruptcy and pain for the people. Apparently he doesnt care anymore because he has stopped listening, if he really EVER did. Its a sad situation. Mostly sad for the residents who will be stuck with the bills long after this Council has moved on to easier pickings and greener pastures.

do the math

The bathrooms are 558 square feet, each, for a total of 1116 square feet. The documented costs SO FAR are $405,000, with SIGNIFUCANTLY more to come. Do the math and it comes to $363 a square foot SO FAR. And it is MONTHS behind schedule. Without a doubt there WILL BE other costs associated with this project for "forgotten", omitted, or overlooked items AND they will be TRIPLE what anybody else has to pay for those very same services. It bears repeating until a satisfactory answer is found- If they CANT build bathrooms on time and on budget what would make ANY rational person believe that they can build a new communtiy center on time and on budget? The answer is, of course, that THEY CANT, and WONT, and the residents will be stuck with the bills for DECADES. Perhaps, as some say, if the Springs residents allow this to happen without a protest or a fight, they deserve the consequences. Apathy certainly seems to be what the City officials are counting on, even tho a DOZEN TRUCKLOADS of money has disappeared in the past and a HUNDRED truckloads of money will disappear with this new project. Most people object strongly when their pocket is being picked and their money stolen. Why are all the taxpayers NOT objecting NOW? City officials have been revealed and exposed as incompetents and worse on MULTIPLE occasions in multiple ways and on multiple platforms (here, ads, Gazette) and still the no indignant and offended cry from the people is heard! Can it be that they are right- the people are too ignorant and/or apathetic to mount any resistance to the multiple muggings they have received, and WILL CONTINUE to receive? What do YOU say?

3.1 miles

The Mayor has said on several occasions that MS is only 3.1 square miles. Of that he is pretty sure. What is not so clear is whom he City Manager is talking about when he says that others are not telling the truth. For HIM to accuse others is outrageous after all his misrepresentations, omissions, and excuses. IF he had any different facts or explanations to present that make any sense he would have presented them LONG AGO, but he doesnt have any. When confronted with facts he just ignores them, like they dont exist. Ignoring them does NOT make them disappear. Can it be that he is HOPING we will forget the Hundreds of THOUSANDS of dollars that have disappeared on projects on HIS watch? that HE is responsible for? Incredible!

lies

I find it interesting that City officials would claim that others are misrepresenting the facts yet offer NO NUMBERS to back up their case. If they believe, for instance, that we have NOT spent well over 400k on the bathrooms so far OR that they are NOT months behind in the process, let them state their case, their reasoning and their numbers. They have NOT done so so far. If it is their position that they did NOT spend over 315k to construct the CC enclosure at OVER $600 a square foot, let them state their case, reasoning, and numbers for that too. If the bathroom elevations cannot be done in one day by one man for less than 5k (rather than the 38k we paid) let them state their case. If hooking up the sewers cannot be done for $8 a linear foot, show us why not. Give us facts and figures to consider. Until that happens all I hear from city officials is a blanket claim that its all based on untrue statements. While I agree that City officials are good at lies and misrepresentations, until I hear their factual counter-arguments, I believe it all comes down to Inconvenient Truths that they dont want exposed. For THEM to accuse anybody else of lies and misrepresentations is a joke, right?

NO COUNTY FREE LUNCH

I have no real problem with hiring friends or even family IF they are the best qualified candidates available and have the required credentials and experience. I DO have a problem with unqualified individuals padding the payroll. It was interesting in the last Gazette how an article about the Water and Sewer transfer can be misleading. It says the Springs will get TWO huge perks. One, that the County will pay off our current sewer bond debt of 8 Million - that is true, I understand they will pay the debt off BUT fold it into another bond.

It IS NO GIFT from the County. Neither is the reported $9 million in repairs. My figures indicate that there will be 4.8 million in water improvements and 6.86 million in sewer improvements for a total of 11.6 mil. Add in the administrative costs, wireless meters, etc and the total capital improvement costs are 13.249 mil. When you add the 8 million in bonds we already have it comes to 21.249 million, which for 20 years at 3.92 % will total 29 million.

There ARE NO FREE GIFTS from the County in this arrangement. To suggest that there ARE is misleading and shoddy journalism. The immediate repairs will be billed to us as a onetime surcharge over the span of the loan.

The City administration is very cagey in going for the loan for the new gym because, as we know, it circumvents having the residents vote for any new capital project. If they were SO SURE that a new gym was what the majority of residents want, why don't they just let us vote? Can it be that they know that the majority of residents DO NOT want this new gym and, at the very least, want to vote on it? At least FIVE TIMES the residents have signed a petition AGAINST the new gym than we there to support it a couple weeks ago. And these are taxpaying residents, not junior high kids, Pelican Players, contractors, or people who have lived here for a week. A couple hundred votes could make a HUGE difference to some re-election plans next year and , in some cases, could make the difference. The residents WILL remember.

Seniors

There has been a lot of hard feelings and bitterness in the past at the CC about how the residents were treated, especially the Seniors. Most of them are on a fixed income and can afford few sources of entertainment in their sunset years and the CC should be one of them. The Seniors should be honored and respected as most of them are our grandmothers and grandfathers and have lived here for YEARS. Respect your roots! With any luck at all we all will grow old one day and will need a reasonable place to congregate and socialize with our dear longtime friends. The CC should be that place and Mr Santana should have a Seniors rate, at least, or free for those over 65 or 70 or so on Friday nights. That may help to ease the pains and hard feelings from the past.