You know the kudos and comments below might actually mean something if all the facts were correct. I've held my tongue long enough.
You are giving this "Mayor" the kudos for a very nice swimming pool. This "Mayor" had ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with the grant money obtained to do the work she is now having the privilege to administer. That grant, and all the hard work that goes along with it, was filled out and completed by a previous administration. She is just reaping the benefits of it actually being administered while she's in office. I don't even get on this message board anymore but knowing someone is out there giving credit for some damn hard work I did along with Lisa Mitchell and a follow-up grant writer, let's at least get the facts straight.
The fact you want to set her on a pedestal for undeserved work along with those other two Aldermen that served before me, give it a rest or get the story right. You also want to give her credit for patching roads. Let's not forget those patches are now needed because road work was not properly overseen by an administration prior to mine even though knowledgeable people provided the information that should have made the City hold the payment until it was corrected.
You get on here acting just as ugly as you accused the people who took the time to show up at the Council Meeting. I too was there which is RARE and even though I limited my comments to agenda items, I would not have gotten on here and said one thing had you given your opinion at the microphone like others did even if it didn't agree with my thoughts.
It's time for some new blood in Bayou Vista to take charge and do it right. Criticizing a newer Alderman for his comments to a Mayor who showed total disrespect to a member of the Council is frankly disgusting. She didn't act like a boss, a boss knows how to lead and she failed at that completely during a disaster SHE declared. But the fact you get on here with kudos to someone for something that isn't deserved or others worked hard at, that's not acceptable.
You want to criticize a large group of citizens because they have a different opinion than you and clapped because they agreed. I give them credit for even showing up to a meeting, that's the point in having a meeting and citizens comments so you hear how citizens feel. You could have gotten up to the microphone like everyone else but as soon as anyone disagrees with the "Paula Show", oh heaven forbid anyone should say anything. Here comes the wagon to circle the mess of crap that was made.
My days of serving are over, so are most of yours apparently, but if you are going to get on here and give credit make sure you have the story right. I too was prepared but the Emergency Management Director (Mayor) has a job to do when she declares a disaster and she didn't. I don't care whether you and the other two former Alderman like to accept that fact but when you forget the debacles of the past when the current Mayor was a City Secretary and the City was under investigation for misappropriated funds, then you are sure to make them again in the future.
Vote how you want, support who you want but get the story right!
I don't know what went on before, but I do know that Mayor Eschelman and Vaun Henry worked very hard to the pool grant approved. It was in very poor shape and now it's like new. Thanks to everyone who helped, including to Nick Rosenberg for his advice. Thanks Paula and Vaun.
There is more to the story: There are volumes of paperwork on this grant. I see your name nowhere. Perhaps you found the grant and the council approved going forward. Thank You if you promoted it. Then someone allowed a grant writer to run up a bill of almost $15,000 for her work to get the grant approved. This, I surveyed, should only have been 1/3 of what was charged. Then the program sat for almost the entire time of the Mayor Wortham two years. Texas Parks and Wildlife Department requests for quarterly updates and progress information were ignored. Mayor Eshelman saw the need to revive the grant and go forward on the re-plastering of the pool and other needed repairs. Learning the software was the first task. Next was fulfilling the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department’s tasks. Only two of the ten had seen attention. We worked through the tasks getting green check marks meaning complete versus the many red “x” meaning a need for completion. Requests such as getting an appraisal, developing a scope of work , working with a state certified handicap specialist, getting a survey, getting and posting signs, writing, getting legal advice, posting, and awarding the work. Thereafter our Mayor ProTem Andy McCloskey worked daily with the contractors to fruition of the beautification of our community area. Thank You Andy!! Through Mayor Eshelman we were able to complete the grant getting reimbursed more dollars than were initially agreed upon. Had she not picked up the ball and completed the grant, the time would have lapsed. Given that failure to complete would have affected any opportunity for future TPWD grants.
My, my, my. “The current mayor was a City Secretary and the City was under investigation for misappropriated funds” you say. Guilt by association? I believe D.A. Roady would tell you that she cooperated fully and was never charged with anything. Sad!! Mayor Eshelman is incredibly honest.
Of course there's more to the story, there always is with you and Ms. Eshelman.......As usual, you only tell the part of the story you want to be heard. I really don't give a crap anymore about all of your lies, or your "connections" in BV or anyone elses. Honest? What a joke!
You don't see my name on the grant because I wrote the grant with Lisa Mitchell (the then City Secretary) please feel free to call her and verify. When Texas Parks and Wildlife called and told us they had added an item that made it so BV no longer qualified which was out of our hands, they asked us to reapply the next year.
In the meantime the grant writer was hired by Council and I resigned, which you no doubt know because you and your cronies played quite a part in that. When the time came for the grant the next year, the new grant writer and a member of then City Council called to ask if they minded if they used my grant information from the year before and just changed out the necessary dated material. Since I've tried to help this city repeatedly, I agreed and gave them my information. So just because YOU don't see my name on it, doesn't mean I didn't write it. Once again YOUR LIES & you have no idea what you're talking about. The grant was for $140,000 for which the city would have never seen a cent had I not written and applied for the grant to begin with.
What happened after I left with how much a grant writer was paid or how the grant was handled has nothing to do with me. So don't EVER accuse me of lying again because you and Ms. Eshelman have a lot of crap to hide like falsifying police chief's signatures on documents (it was an accident BS), using city equipment to assist an outside vendor to file a complaint against a sitting Alderman or the over $20,000 the City had to pay Ms. Eshelman when she retired as City Secretary for unused PTO that no one could account for but her and the list goes on. Executive Sessions only hide so much.
You want to go down this road Vaun of patting yourself on the back. Why don't you expand on how you chose to sign off on the docs for the roads because you failed to file the necessary FEMA paperwork 30 days before the final due date of payment and then had no recourse when payment day came and instead left the city with roads that are a disaster.
My moral compass is damn straight, how is yours? Do you want to deny she was part of the investigation into misappropriated funds? That would be a lie too. Yes, I'm sure she did cooperate. I would too if I knew the DA was on my tail and it was my signature on some of the checks. But of course, you don't want the newbies to know about that and are hoping all of those that were here will just let it be forgotten.
It's time to get off your wagon and wake up from your dream. Ms. Eshelman was a disgrace during this disaster, you no longer run this city and people are tired of you and another previous Alderman acting like you're the only ones who know anything or do anything.
You don't have to worry about replying and defending her any more. I won't be back on this message board. I've stayed completely out of City business since I resigned (unlike you) until someone started giving kudos to the Mayor for things the City wouldn't even have if I hadn't written the grant for the City to get the money to begin with.
So please continue to pat yourself on the back, you are a shining example of what's wrong with BV.
Re: Well, Well, Well
Posted by Tami on 8/3/2024, 10:22 pm, in reply to "Well, Well, Well "
Oh, before I disappear, how could I possibly forget your other big accomplishment. Please don't forget to pat yourself on the back and explain how flood maps were sent to the City addressed to YOU and then Building Inspector Harold Backe that were going to significantly destroy the ability for many people to obtain flood insurance but you failed to recognize the significance of the warning and they were filed away in the City file cabinet. Until in a fluke I was made aware of them and the Flood Committee was formed, came in and took over and bailed you out and kept the wolves at bay for over 8 years.
Vaun, please enjoy your time assisting Mayor Eshelman. I had no doubt you would be the one to post as soon as I said ANYTHING. I'd say more about your constant reply to MY posts over the years but I think everyone has seen it and gets the drift.
