Bartlett Blog Letters To The Editor

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

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Tuesday, January 5, 2010































Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Sent: Monday, October 12, 2009 6:34 PM
Subject: CITY OF BARTLETT BUDJET HEARINGS
by Carol Grant

The City Council held a meeting regarding the 2009-2010 budget and tax rate September 28, 2009 . Everyone can see the video of that meeting on-line at "http://bartletttexas.blogspot.com/". If you do not have a computer at home or at work you may go the Library and log on.

On this website you can watch 3 video's regarding budget & tax rates thus comparing the year 2000 to 2009. Comparing will show LITTLE HAS CHANGED.

The attitude of the Council has NOT changed and the two (2) 'head dogs' are still in charge. What does that tell you? Is the City better off today than nine (9) years ago? It seems apparent to me that neither the Mayor nor the Mayor Pro Tem has learned anything in these nine (9) years regarding "How to competently run the City". The biggest difference in these comparisons is WE ARE IN MORE DEBT NOW. This spend it now and worry about it later attitude is costing us so much more than money!

Do you remember what Mayor White said a couple years ago about borrowing huge sums of money? I do. He said, "What do we care. We'll never live long enough to pay for it; so, let our grandchildren worry about it."

Mayor White made the statement that he forgot to "bring a copy of the proposed budget to City Hall." Where was this document? That is a City of Bartlett official document that is supposed to BE IN THE CITY OFFICE at CITY HALL. Perhaps the reason the "Offices are in such dis-aray" is because THE MAYOR takes documents out side of the jurisdiction, then forgets where he put what???

The most consistent answer any citizen received from Mayor White was, "I don't know."

The meeting held October 8, 2009 was a good example of "I don't know."

Councilwoman Rodriguez made a motion to NOT HIRE a person to fill a position that is: Not in the budget, Has not been advertised, Does not have a job description, Was not openly discussed with ALL councilpersons and was not properly addressed on the posted agenda. The Mayor allowed about thirty (30) seconds before declaring the motion dead for lack of a second, then called for another motion. There was no discussion. Councilman Mason made the motion to hire Mattie Ingram as Administrative Assistant effective October 12, 2009, Councilwoman Groves seconded the motion and it passed 3 to 1 with Rodriguez voting Nay. (Councilman Johnson was absent) Does this sound like a contrived decision to you?(psst, Ms. Ingram used to work for Mason and Lindemann). Councilwoman Rodriguez made several legitimate points in her motion and it was not given ANY consideration by the other officials. WHY? What is their agenda? Do you doubt their agenda will benefit or improve governing of City business? -- Remember the CFO has terminal "I don't know" syndrome.

We were told there would be SEVERAL workshops and hearings on the budget for fiscal 2009/2010 during the month of October, 2009. That SEVERAL "changes" would be forthcoming to improve the accuracy of the adopted budget. Keep in mind that there were NO budget ammendments made during the fiscal year 2008/2009. Because there was no official budget made for this next year, Bell County posted a new tax rate for Bartlett and someone(?) within the City of Bartlett chose the rollback rate to go into effect October 1, 2009.

You can expect your utility rates to INCREASE to make up any shortfall to cover the budget. This administration only knows how to raise utility rates....the proof of that is the fact that none of the officials worked on preparing a balanced budget for the new fiscal year....because "I don't know" doesn't know how. "I don't know" states that the last official audit was in 2005. Has anyone seen this audit? Is the partial audit presented by Preston Singleton what "I don't know" is referring to? How can a new budget be prepared without a full and complete, up to date audit of the books of the City of Bartlett? How can we know how much money is truly available and how much money has been spent and on what was it spent? No amendments to the budget in the 2008/2009 period is another huge stumbling block for the citizens.

I am angry and grossly disappointed with this adminstration. Their lack of concern for our city is very disheartening. How do you feel about being left in the dark? How safe do you feel when you need a drink of water? Are you sure when you flush the toilet that it will go down the drain? Are you confident that a low flying aircraft won't fly into the water tower because the warning light has not functioned in months? Are you aware that TCEQ is conducting an investigation regarding the safety of our potable water for the third (3) year in a row? How many times do you want to pay thousands of dollars in fines for the same negligence? What will you do if our water supply is shut down? BOIL WATER notices may become permanent. Does that worry you?

It is more than time to start paying attention, Folks!

Sincerely,
Carol Grant
Concerned Citizen of Bartlett

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

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