Monday, June 27, 2011

New Mayor

Mesquite is scheduled to get its new mayor and council on Tuesday night.
It should be an evening of celebration, particularly for the voters of Mesquite who demanded more transparency and openness from the city.
Almost like a nostalgic farewell, the Consent Agenda shows, once again, why the outgoing mayor and council were shown the door.
Why is an item about pay cuts to management on the Consent Agenda instead of the regular agenda where it could get a good airing?
Ditto for an item which will hire an attorney to defend the city against a lawsuit filed by one of the city's unions. For starters, why isn't our City Attorney handling this? It's precisely the kind of lawsuit a city attorney should be prepared to handle. But more importantly, why is this being effectively swept under the rug as a Consent Agenda item? Again, it's an important issue which needs to be discussed in front of the citizens.
Of course, what would a Mesquite City Council meeting be without an agenda item to pay more money to another consultant?
After renewing with the Robcyn consulting group at the last council meeting, without any pretense at putting such a contract out for bid, this time the council is set to extend a contract with another completely unnecessary consultant, the Furman Group.
The city has whacked longtime employees, but continues to pay big bucks to out-of-town consultants for work that some of our current staff could do.
It's a fitting swan song for a council which has wasted millions of dollars on consultants. And sadly, no surprise.
Good luck to the new mayor and council.

3 comments:

  1. Looks like the Queen wanting to have the last laugh by putting through something on the consent agenda without any citizen input...Good luck to the new mayor and counsil..It is ashamed you are saddled with her shannigans.

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  2. Morris, keep up with the articles on your site. Hopefully it will gain a following as I believe MLN will not provide what the citizens need. Had you run for mayor I believe you were electable and you had credibility, regardless of the negative comments from limited people upon your exit. Continued good luck and stay with it. - Zee

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  3. Morris,

    I disagree with you on the value of consultants. The Furman Group has, and continues to do good work for the city. The extension of the land deal west of the city is a good thing. It keeps the door open for the future. Now is not a good time to think about moving the airport, but why should we close the door and be sorry in the future. Go west young man go west. That is the only way we can go.

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