Eric Moeller
Before I get into the details, I really have debated all day about getting involved and what I should say and how much.
However since this morning I’ve had several phone calls, several Facebook messenger messages and several text messages all from concerned citizens.
These are people I’ve never met and never talked to before but they started sharing my number and are looking for answers.
Two of them are very elderly and on a fixed income and terrified of losing their homes to any new taxes.
One lady got so upset she was in tears telling me she is hanging on by her fingernails since her husband passed and was terrified of losing the house her and her husband grew old together in over the 35 years they have lived here.
But before I start I want to emphasize what I am posting is my opinion and mine alone.
They put a lot of planning and calculating into how they set this up so they could do it with no hearings, no previous discussions, no town hall meetings, and most importantly, no election on it.
They just need to walk in and say motion to buy the building and have a vote and then say motion for dismissal and leave.
Yes they will allow citizens comments but as they will always remind you,,, they are not going to respond to you at all.
They are just going to sit and stare at you watching their timer waiting to drop the 3 minute hammer and say “next” like it’s a line at the DMV.
But they don’t need your vote anymore for it to pass and they have been doing this very carefully to keep it that way.
They have been working on this in secret behind closed doors by abusing the executive session privilege since February
The executive session privilege allows governmental bodies to have closed door meeting in a VERY limited scope.
This is for things that are very delicate like possible termination of a city employee or discussing a possible settlement to a lawsuit.
Normally the way this would work is they would say in a open meeting “we are looking at buying a building and have one in mind “ then they would go in to executive session to discuss how much to offer or counter offer if there is another buy.
Something like that, a very narrow focus.
But they are supposed to do it on a topic that’s already out in the open but has some delicate parts to figure out.
HOWEVER it’s not intended for them to
Without any prior public discussion …
1. Decide to buy a building.
2. Find one and enter into negotiations with the owners.
3. Research what all would be needed to upgrade the building to be hurricane resistant. Along with drafting blueprints for upgrades and office layouts and discuss those costs in private.
4. Look into how to pay for this building.
5. Reach a deal with the owner of the building
5. And more importantly figure out how to pay for it with a tax rate hike on the backs of the residents of Bayou Vista and doing it in such a ”creative manor” as to not be required to have an open meeting / hearing or more importantly A PUBLIC VOTE.
The Texas attorney general recent released a statement on this very issue and some of the cities who got in trouble were TIKI ISLAND, and Texas city along with a long list of others.
https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/.../attorney-general...
I know for a fact this isn’t a suddenly recent project.
The mayor and several council members have been working on this well before the the may election because the mayor had the building inspector pricing …
-an elevator for that building.
-Looking at its structural condition
- pricing what it would cost to make it hurricane proof to survive a medium hurricane with new windows, shutters, etc.
And the numbers are close to a million dollars to buy this building and make all the needed improvements to use it as a city hall.
That’s not going to be a small tax increase.
And most importantly, ask yourself why they didn’t put any numbers or details on the special called meeting notice.
Normally when you call a meeting for the purpose of a major city purchase you publish all the projected costs and time table.
Why do we not even have any prices or estimates at all.
And also ask why none of them have made any responses to this posting.
I know for a fact this posting has been seen by them and they are talking about how to handle it and what type of response should be made.
So why the silence ?
Attorney General Ken Paxton Sends Letters Prohibiting Over 130 Texas Cities from Illegally Raising Taxes After They Failed to be Transparent With Taxpayers
TEXASATTORNEYGENERAL.GOV
Attorney General Ken Paxton Sends Letters Prohibiting Over 130 Texas Cities from Illegally Raising Taxes After They Failed to be Transparent With Taxpayers
Attorney General Ken Paxton Sends Letters Prohibiting Over 130 Texas Cities from Illegally Raising Taxes After They Failed to be Transparent With Taxpayers
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