first round

It is not clear that ANYBODY spoke out against the pool. The pool was acknowledged as a valuable community resource and swimming as an excellent exercise and sport. The question was, and IS, 1) whether the people should be subsidizing a private business that only has 6 Springs residents with a LOT of taxpayers dollars (20 people showed up out of 13,000), 2) whether all the revenues at the pool are accurately accounted for (still in serious doubt), and 3) how many more sweetheart deals can the City Manager make at the expense of the taxpayers? A couple things became obvious- One, the taxpayers are going to have to do a better job of informing and educating the people about the real issues of horrible management, large losses, and highly questionable business practices, if not corruption, that is going on in our City before the election. This means expanding their efforts beyond this blog to the Gazette, the Herald, and other educational and investigative avenues. Second, a grass-roots effort needs to be made to get the word out, and means talking to our friends, neighbors, family members, and fellow church members about the issues, with a conscious effort to not focus on the personalities, no matter how dishonest, disingenuous, misleading, and deceptive they may be. There is an election coming up soon, and the only real impact that needs to be made, and that they will understand, is to bring in new faces, ideas, energies, and sound business practices by honest people who have the residents best interests at heart. THAT will be the real test. This is just the opening squabble. ZERO proof was offered that indicated that there are now, or have been lately, more than 6 Springs kids on MDAC. If city officials were so sure about the figures they quoted they would make those numbers known. The fact that they havent indicates they were less than honest about the numbers and MIGHT cause a prudent person to wonder if they are less-than-honest about a LOT of other things! If they HAD the numbers they quoted in a verifiable roster they would have produced them. They didnt, and they CANT. Its WAY too early to gloat, Gym.

Borgemanns Black Holes

The pool is supposed to be fixed (100k) as a part of the LINK contract, as it was included in the package. I spoke with the LINK representative when it was given to LINK and he confirmed it. Of course there will be MANY change orders and resultant cost overruns attached to that project too, like every other city project associated with the City Manager. WHO are the Rodrigues family? Are they Springs residents? If not, WHY are we NOT charging them to use OUR pool? Even IF they WERE Springs residents, they should be charged the going rate for pool rentals, $165 an hour, no? What about the water polo team? The scuba guys? Do we charge ANY of those guys? If not, why not? Residents pay for it so that nonresidents can use it for THEIR benefit! The Country Club arrangement works at the pool too! How many OTHER sweetheart deals are there?

tax monies disappear AGAIN. STILL.

Is it POSSIBLE that the pool could be closed to residents for three days and a meet be held for the benefit of outside private parties at the expense of the residents (who cant use the pool during that time) and there is NO contract or protection from liability provided? I assume there are usually contracts for these meets, right? It just makes sense. Does anybody think that yet another sweetheart deal could happen WITHOUT the approval of the City Manager? How many of these meets have we hosted and paid for, but not benefitted from, this year? Past years? How long has this giveaway been going on? Its NO WONDER we are losing OVER 300k on the pool this year! More mismanagement, sweetheart deals, and freebies by the City Manager! If the standard fee for County meets is $165 an hour, why arent we charging that? Residents are paying thru the nose for a City facility that only a few can use (and NOT all the time) and getting little or NO benefit from - sounds a LOT like the Country Club. Where does that money go?

how much is enough?

There are three electrical meters at the Country Club. One is for the pro shop and their power expenses; one is definately for Mr. Santana, and the third nobody seems to know who is responsible for, according to the City Manager. It turns out that the third one ALSO pays for Mr. Santana's electrcity AND we have been paying for his power since he took over, over ONE HUNDRED thousand dollars so far, and counting. That was NOT the deal. We are giving him free rent and paying the taxes on the CC-isnt THAT enough? In addition we built a VERY expensive enclosure for him so that he could have full use of 90% the CC for his private business,and we, the public who is paying for all his bills, could have use of the remaining 10%. Now we find out that we are paying for his electricity too ??? Incredible. The City Manager is apprently aware of this and it is happening on his watch and with his approval. ANOTHER sweetheart deal with the taxpayers money!! The City is running a deficit this year and will run a BIG deficit next year. We could use that 100k to pay some bills. Is there ANY place in the contract where it says we are going to pay his electric bill too? If so, we should fire the City Manager AND the City Attorney. If not, we should demand to be repaid the money already spent and pay NO MORE power bills for Mr. Santana. ANOTHER sweetheart deal! How many sweethearts can the taxpayers afford?

sweetheart deals for everyone, except the taxpayers

ANOTHER sweetheart deal at the pool! Santana gets a sweetheart deal, pool guys get a sweetheart deal, VG gets a sweetheart deal by using our facilities for free, contractors CERTAINLY get a sweetheart deal- everybody gets a sweetheart deal at the taxpayers expense! All on the City Managers watch and apparently with his approval. The pigs are feeding at the taxpayers trough! Again! Still!!??
The City Manager HAS to go! We are operating at a deficit and cannot afford to pay for everybody else too. We simply cant afford Gym. We need somebody to look out for and protect the interests of the residents- NOT special interests.

sweetheart deals

It seems that there are SEVERAL people who get sweetheart deals at the Springs residents expense- Santana gets free rent, electricity, and his taxes paid; VG residents get to use our facilities for free; water polo, swim team, and scuba guys use our facilities for free; contractors get at least 300% profit on all of the City's projects, etc etc. EVERYONE gets a GREAT deal EXCEPT the taxpaying residents- we get hosed AGAIN. STILL. Who is responsible is the question. Gym seems responsible for most of the pool stuff, plus the contractors. The rubber-stamp Council certainly deserves considerable responsibilty too.