musings

Youngs questions were mostly directed at Sandy pell and Mike Aldredge, who are in charge of golf course operations. It was admitted that the losses may be a little less because when the projections were made gas was over $4 a gallon. Viewing the Comcast video will shed some light on what happened, or DIDNT happen. How telling was it when Youngs asked the City Manager, "Jim, we can do this whatever way you want." They were talking about annexation at the time but really could have been talking about ANYTHING. All the Council is waiting for is Gym to tell them what they need to think and do, and they will do it! Best is not the only actor awaiting direction up there on the dais. Can it be that Youngs has finally caught that dreaded Fiscal Responsibility Disease? Nah, probably not. Gym probably told him to bring this up to divert some attention and take some of the heat off him from this latest pool fiasco. Balance a complete and total lack of fiscal responsibility and oversight at the pool with a smattering at the golf course.

pool audit needed

The Council DID reassure the handful of residents present that, as long as THEY are on the job, the pool will remain open! They do NOT care how much it costs.. US! Garcia says its a quality of life issue, and that our quality of life will fall off a cliff if we only have the pool open during the Summer! Once we start down that slippery slope towards fiscal responsibility, in no time we will somehow become a suburban ghetto, without a soul or identity! Please. It WAS nice to see all the residents out for the Council meeting AND it was also good to hear all the stories about the healing properties and beneficial effects of having a community pool and swimming. Nobody is saying that swimming is NOT great exercise OR that swimming on a team wouldnt be good thing. What we ARE saying is that we are in tough times and cant afford to be subsidizing private businesses while we, the residents, are losing 200k at the pool. Is there ANYBODY who believes we SHOULD be giving away our City resources to private businesses so THEY can profit? On what grounds would they make that claim? There is NO verifiable proof that 15-30 Springs kids are on the M-D Aquatic Club, now or in recent memory! Until there IS verifiable proof that the numbers arent closer to SIX, that number will stand. Is there ANYBODY who believes that 13000+ Springs taxpayers should pay all the 200k costs for those SIX kids to practice year-round? Why would ANYBODY believe that Springs taxpayers should pay thru the nose for kids on a team that is 95% non-residents? Was MDAC in error when they told the Doral City Council that a large majority of their kids are from Doral? and that they use our facilities for free? How could they have made a simple mistake like that? Somebody is NOT telling the truth here. Who could that be?

deja vu all over again?

There was NOBODY asking any questions of substance except Mr Dotson. Garcia said, as usual, that we must keep the pool open year-round NO MATTER what it costs, as usual. He doesnt care HOW much WE pay, as it not like its HIS 200k subsidizing that private business! Again, STILL, no semblance of any sign of fiscal responsibility on ANY of the Councilmen's part, except Dotson. Youngs DID question the golf operation as it is projected that they will lose 190k in this FY. The spoke about holding off on new purchases. Youngs DID say he was a tleast somewhat troubled by the trend of the golf course toward greater losses, as the whole idea of backing the new gym was that they could afford to do it IF the golf course was breaking even, or even had losses under 100k. If the Councils whole concept of paying for the new gym was predicated on the golf course breaking even, that isnt happening. This sounds eerily familiar, as big losses at the CC was the reason why it was given to Mr Santana for a song, to subsidize HIS private business! Can it be that we are heading the same way with the golf course? Is it possible that they will decide that the losses at the golf course are intolerable AGAIN, and give that city resource to a private business to run, at OUR expense? The Council and City DOES have a track record of giving away city facilities and resources that have been horribly mismanaged to private entities for THEIR benefit at the taxpayers expense! Could it be deja vu all over again?

questions unanswered..

MDAC Director said they only work out at one facility, while website claims five. Somebody isnt telling the truth. Two weeks ago Mr Gorland told Mr Dotson there were no methods in place to determine what the revenues at the pool were, but they were hoping to get some soon. Last Tuesday the City Manager told the resident that he had no idea what the breakdown was regarding the revenues and expenses at the pool. Tonight they had a LOT of numbers available for the past couple months. How did they come up with those numbers? Where were they? Why did they NOT reveal them when asked by the resident and Mr Dotson? Could it be that NEITHER City Manager knew that the numbers were available? That would just be unbelievably incompetent. If they didnt reveal the numbers because they hadnt made them up quite yet, that would be fraud, right? The City Manager said that the MDAC swim team has been charged $200 a month all along, and that, by mutual agreement, it was raised to $500 a month starting this past October. I would be interested to see where the $200 a month is reflected in the pool records of two years ago. In addition, this is a GREAT deal for the swim team at $500 a month to practice because at the jr college three years ago they were paying $1300 a month for four lanes! We give them 8 lanes for three hours a day on average and six days a week, for $500 (a little more than a third of what they were paying for less lanes). It was stated that the participation of Springs kids varies according to the season but they said it ranges from 15-30 kids. Notable by its absence was any verifiable roster for the past three years, like the City Manager said he was going to produce. How did he come to that figure if there are NO rosters available? He said by his count there was only 266 swimmers at the last meeet, while the meet Director and his assistant told the resident the range was 320 to 350! Are the number of swimmers always underestimated by the City Manager? The City Manager admitted there were NO contracts between any of the swim teams that use our pool, and there was NO discussion of any use agreements except the Jazzercisers. Isnt there a record of the City Manager asserting that there WAS contracts? He now says there is a gentlemans agreement with MSSH due to our using Stafford Park- this is not a major bone of contention, or concern, altho they should pay something too. The numbers stated for heating the pool for the past 3 years were $20,958, $22,272, and $17,564, the last number being the most recent. He said Columbus and Reagan have been billed $1500 a season in the past- have they paid those amounts? Where is THAT money reflected? He said the scuba guys use one lane and are charged $15 an hour. Where is THAT money accounted for? Mr Dotson had a bad headcold and asked some pertinent questions, but left a lot of other questions unasked and unanswered. Some examples are given above.

musings

Heard that Mr Giglio worked for Pat Perry in Hialeah! Can anybody confirm that? If so, wonder what she would have to say about that work experience, who was responsible for doing what, and how it worked out? Hmmm.....

pool musings

Resident went to fgcswim website. Info is in different format and requires some additional software to open files, apparently. All of that info would be good to know tonight so that it would at least reflect what IS being claimed for each swim meet. The program is Team Manager. If anyone has it and can open those files and present the information here, it would be very helpful. It also says that format is compatible with Adobe pdf files. After having a pool for FORTY YEARS it is incomprehensible to NOT have accurate revenue controls in place! It is either incredible incompetency OR deliberate skimming of admission fees. Neither is acceptable, and skimming is illegal (fraud? grand theft?). How long ago did the MDAC official make a payment to the pool? Who did he pay? Cash? Check? What was it for? Practice? Meets? Does anybody know how much the check was for? Was it documented in the receipt book? Who would know? Did anybody witness the payment? The receipt book sounds interesting. While they may try to BS Mr Dotson, he has been an accountant for over thirty years, and knows when the numbers dont make sense. It seems that arrogance, secrecy, and intimidation are the hallmarks of this administration, if not corruption. This has gone on too long. Change is needed. NOW. Start with a pool audit by an outside, independent auditor. Then move on to the golf course and the construction projects.

pool ponderings

It appears that a FOI requesting any and all itemized pool revenues from ALL sources for the past three years is indicated. As has been accurately stated before, there will be cash receipts, bank deposit slips, and bank statements to that effect. IF the money was collected, there should be a paper trail. IF it WASNT collected, we are due a rational explanation as to why we are providing free use of our pool and its staff! If there WAS, in fact, a $2 per day per swimmer practice fee paid, and disappeared somehow, THAT will be an interesting explanation too. The sales tax issue should be clarified Monday night, along with all these other issues, right? In addition, it would be good to know what additional expenses we have incurred for the meets in the past three years. If we take in $1000 and spend the same amount for overtime we are in essence, providing the pool for free, again. STILL. An independent pool audit is required to straighten out this, yet another, city fiasco. Audit the entire city- START with the pool.