Recap of May 8th Council Meeting

Here's a recap and some analysis of the last council meeting.

During open forum Jamey Brooks gave some comparisons of pay scales for our city manager and department heads and how they compare to other cities.

I didn't write down any of the numbers but it apears that for our size city, budget and resources, the salaries are excessive. I believe he said that the Santa Paula City Manager makes $20,000 less.

Brian Sipes discussed the necessity of appraising land that is being paid for by taxpayer's money. The land purchase for the sewer plant property was at least $225,000 per acre, which seems extroardinarily high for undeveloped agricultural land unprotected by a levee.

Ken Creason and Richard Schuck (an engineer experienced in government construction projects) were alarmed at the additional costs for the $750,000 bus stop. Later on the agenda was a contract amendment for more funds to raise the roof of the bus stop, since apparently no one measured the height of the buses before it was designed or built. Even though the cost included paving the parking lot of the Sr. Center, it is still an extravagant amount of money. Public Works Director, Bert Rapp, was mildly chastised for the poor design and cost overruns. Rightly so, but the council members who approved this piece of pork should also accept responsbility. Did anyone check similar designs or do research on what this cost should be?

I was looking for comparable public works projects of this type and one thing I noticed is that most cities provide for an advertising mechanism on the bus stops to generate revenue. I have not spent any time at the bus stop. Have any of you? Does it provide for advertising space?

Between the enormously out of range costs for the sewer plant, the salaries and bus stop costs, there is a pattern of wasteful spending in this city that has to stop.

There were many other issues discussed at the council meeting but this is all I have time for.