One only has to go back to the days of the proposed golf course on the SOCCRA landfill site. Many of the other local officials serving on the SOCCRA board had a great disdain for the City of Troy and the BS being pushed by the Troy representatives. It wasn’t until the Troy representatives that were management personnel were replaced with city council members did the other local representatives begin to change their minds and actions. Troy had one of the largest voting rights on that board (votes were weighed not one for one) and the previous representatives used that to ram rod their positions on issues through to the chagrin of the smaller communities.

But getting back to the TRASHT aka TRUST group. One example of the trash they constantly put out is that certain members of city council that were recently elected are not representing all residents of Troy, specifically, they are not representing their TRASHT aka TRUST views on the Transit Center. DDAAAHHH. Where in the world have they been all their lives. Elected officials represent those that elect them. They say that because we have a non partisan ballot that those who are elected have to represent all of us. They do represent all of Troy as far as what community they represent but that is where the ALL ends. A non partisan ballot only means that there will be no party recognition associated with the name. You still will elect someone who you want to represent you. And that is the point, you elect those that you want to represent you. If you don’t vote for someone that is elected, don’t expect them to represent you, after all, you didn’t vote for them. It is a bunch of bull being put out by the TRASHT aka TRUST group that elected representatives are supposed to represent everyone, or in the TRASHT aka TRUST groups case, their positions and not my position. Oh by the way, I am a registered Troy Voter who is not being represented by the likes of Councilman Campbell, Councilman Slater or Mayor Pro Tem McGinnis. You don’t see me complaining that they don’t represent my interests.

When Councilman Flemming changed his vote, did he represent me, NO. I have yet to see any documentation supporting the need for a transit center at that location. Why haven’t I seen such documentation? It doesn’t exist. To use the TRASHT aka TRUST supporters analogy, “If you build it, they will come”. I guess they forgot the correction that was made in the movie itself, as they said “If you build it, He will come”. Yes folks, He. Just the one. Not the many insinuated by the TRASHT aka TRUST supporters. Even the documentation that was produced to support the Transit Center only showed a miniscule increase in ridership by 133, a doubling of the ridership to 257 per day by the year 2027. Wooooo Weeeee. I wonder if they plan on doubling the number of trains running, since no doubt this doubling is occurring elsewhere.

Enough for now. More to come later. However, let me leave with this. I didn’t support the TRASHT aka TRUST candidates because I didn’t want to elect individuals that have shown a propensity to vote on resolutions that violated State Law. I didn’t want to elect individuals that when given documentation proving that city management was providing false information that they would just ignore it. I wanted people that would hold management accountable and not intentionally violate State Law. I have been disappointed in the past and only time will tell if that will occur again. You might be interested in my other blog that discusses the Liars and Lawbreakers governing and managing our fair city.

liarsandlawbreakers.wordpress.com

Check it out and give me a buzz if you have any documented cases that might be added.

Boy, can you believe those TRUST members and supporters. The BS is still flowing from their mouths. You saw the management rubber stamping TRUST members get up and speak about how wonderful things are again. All the wishy washy compliments to staff and those council members that voted their way. All of a sudden the city council is representing all Troy Residents. Get this. As far as TRUST is concerned if you vote their way you represent all of Troy [which is a bunch of BS] and if you vote against them you are NOT representing all the residents of Troy. Wake up. Can you really TRUST people with that point of view?

Oh by the way. Now that there is a Hard Cap on this project. Will the MDOT contract be amended by city management and get city councils approval to reflect this new cap? They should do it as soon as possible unless of course the hard cap isn’t really that hard.

Hopefully one member of city council will read this late email and obtain verbal answers to these questions and later get a written response [within 72 hours] that would confirm the verbal response concerning the revisited and probably reauthorizing the Transit Center project.

1) Has city management or city council received in writing a legally binding confirmation that the project end date, to qualify for payment of incurred expenses with the authorized funding, would be extended at least 30 preferably 60 days or more by the granting authorities?

2) Has city management or city council received in writing a legally binding confirmation that the modified Transit Center Project would still qualify for and need not be resubmitted for the funding currently authorized and whether if the amount is to be reduced by what amount from the granting authorities?

3) Has city management or city council prepared a legally binding contract to be signed by any of the bidders for the project that states that the total project costs for any and all expenses related to this project shall not exceed in total $6,300,000 and should the total exceed this amount, each successful bidder would receive a pro-rated share of this 6.3 million based on the per centage that their contract is of the total contract amounts as complete compensation for their contracts.

4) Has city management or city council prepared a legal binding statement that defines all the aspects to be contracted out for this project that are to be covered by the 6.3 million and what aspects would not be bound by the 6.3 million hard cap. For any aspect that would be exempted, provide a written response as to why that aspect should not be considered part of 6.3 million dollar Transit Center Project. Essentially, is the 6.3 million a truly hard cap or is it a hard cap for a portion of the total project. If there are exceptions, what is the total hard cap on these exceptions?

I have very serious concerns about the annual maintenance amounts since they do not include saving an annual amount to repair and replace capital equipment and capital structures that will eventually breakdown and need to be repaired and or replaced. I would highly recommend that before you go forward that all maintenance costs that would or could occur in the next 30 years be addressed and how will they be budgeted for today so that an annual amount is set aside to cover them when they do occur, just like the Fire Department sets aside an amount each year to purchase a new fire truck when one of the current ones needs to be replaced in the future.

There was talk that another entity would take over responsibility to run and maintain the Transit Center. I would recommend that since management has previously stated that the maintenance costs would be covered by the rental and user fees that the city would charge those outside entities to use this center that they enter into a 30 year lease agreement with this outside entity and that they would receive those “fees” and in return pay for all maintenance costs of the Transit Center similar to the tennis bubble situation. Hopefully someone reads this but since it is late no one probably will.

1) As city manager Szerlag reiterated at the 01-09-2012 city council meeting, the drop dead date to meet the Federal completion guidelines was last December 19, 2011. If city council wants to proceed, it behooves them to get an OK in writing from the granting authorities whether they would extend the completion deadline to qualify the receipt of all the stimulus grant money. I am sure all of the communities that would exceed their deadlines would like to see the Federal Government grant the City of Troy that extension. Will those that want to proceed get that permission in writing concerning the stimulus grant money or will they hang the City out to dry to satisfy the TRUST and Troy Chamber of Commerce special interest groups.

2) When changing the scope of the work was discussed last year, it became evident that if the changes were significant they would have to get reauthorization from the granting entities since what they approved would be altered and might not qualify for the stimulus money. The scope of the new project would qualify as significant changes based on what was discussed last year as significant changes. Will those wanting to go forward get in writing that the new project scope still qualifies for the money or will they hang out the city to dry hoping it will.

3) The new HARD cap proposed was just under 6.3 million dollars for the project. If this is truly a HARD cap then the city must contact the granting agencies and have them put in writing that only this amount is what they should now commit to Troy. The amount previously approved above this amount should be reappropriated back. Given the fact that point 2 above has occurred, the granting agencies may reevaluate the amount to a figure that might in total be less than $6.3 million. Who will cover that reduction? Not the City of Troy. Does the new Hard Cap include the architectural contract that was to be approved? Let the resolution state that ALL expenses related to the Transit Center be limited to the 6.3 million dollars. Any dollars above that amount needs to be borne by those undertaking the project or by the city council members that approve the project. Have that in a legal binding contract signed by all project participants including the city council members that vote to go forward with the project. No city money should be expended on this project from this day forward. After all, isn’t that what all the Transit Center backers have been saying for the past 6 months.

4) The annual maintenance costs presented by city management do not include all maintenance costs that will be incurred. How many times has management proudly stated that money has been set aside each year to make a replacement capital purchase. As an example, when a new fire truck is purchased, the money is there in the budget since each year the fire departments budget included funds for that future purchase. Let’s face it. Furnaces and air conditioning units fail eventually [remember what it cost to replace the heating system in city hall]. Roofs need to be repaired or replaced. What about the building itself, the floors, windows, doors, etc. They will need repair or replacement eventually. Who will pay. Councilman Slater stated that even the annual maintenance costs would be borne by someone other than the city. Let’s have the city attorney draw up a 30 year lease that would require this entity to cover all maintenance costs, including capital repairs and eventual replacement.

If this will truly cost the city nothing, let’s get it in legally binding contracts. Let’s have the city council members who vote to go forward sign those agreements with the stipulation that all their assets they own will be used as collateral should additional funding be needed. Now wouldn’t that be something.

Since it is in the city councils Code of Ethics not to be swayed by special interest groups, I would like to be able to via a FOIA request look at the correspondence received from the Troy Chamber of Commerce, the Troy Community Coalition, the TRUST group, the Troy Citizens United and other special interest groups that other members of city council received and not just from Mayor Daniels. I wonder what those emails to McGinnis, Campbell, and Slater said. Maybe they would be so kind and provide the Troy Residents access to those emails. After all, isn’t that what TRUST was recommending concerning Transparency and what is in the best interest of the city.

What do you say members of city council. Provide copies of ALL your emails from members of TRUST and the Troy Chamber of Commerce. All of them, not just those that are innocent. Maybe TRUST and the Troy Chamber of Commerce would provide copies of the emails they sent to all members of city council. I doubt it, that would be doing the Right thing and that goes against their grain.

Stay tuned. What is good for the goose is good for the gander.

City Council Members, Mayor and staff

I was reading the Troy Times article “Group FOIAs mayor’s emails in wake of transit center issue”. The item that popped out to me was the fact that she had used her personal email for a short time and the TRUST group wanted copies of those emails. So I said to myself, what about other members of council that use personal emails to conduct city business. I checked the web site and saw that Mayor Pro Tem McGinness uses a personal email for being contacted. Councilman Slater also uses a personal email and he mentioned that hundreds of people contacted him concerning the Transit Center. Their was a third and final councilman, Councilman Henderson that has a personal email listed for contact.

Since Mayor Pro Tem McGinnis is so keen on the Code of Ethics I am sure that she would be more than willing to make a motion requiring all council members that have received emails in their personal email accounts concerning City of Troy issues on any matter that copies of those emails be provided to the city clerk. I am sure that Councilman Slater would second that motion. The resolution should apply to all emails received in personal email accounts by all members of city council [even when you have a city email account] when those emails deal with City of Troy issues.

Hopefully they have made copies of those emails but if they haven’t, maybe they can contact their email providers and see if they can obtain any backup’s that were made of their personal emails back to the time they were elected. Even if you don’t want to make it a requirement going forward, at least discuss the issue so that the Troy residents and Troy businesses can see why you would be against doing it. Hopefully the TRUST group would demand that you do such a thing. I believe the three members that have their fullest backing are Mayor Pro Tem McGinnis, Councilman Campbell and Councilman Slater. I am sure one of the four remaining council members would join you in voting for such a resolution.

Please send me a response as to your position on this issue so that I can let others know.

Respectfully,

Victor Lenivov

In the Troy Times article, the following was attributed to TRUST spokesperson Ellen Hodorek “TRUST continues to believe the best interests of Troy are served by transparency in government; in that spirit, we enacted our rights under the Freedom of Information Act.” If that were the case, why didn’t they request Mayor Pro Tem McGinnis’s private emails or Councilman Slater’s private emails. If they are really non partisan and were truly interested in the best interests of Troy, they would have requested all emails from all private email accounts from all the council members, especially those from McGinnis, Slater and Henderson who don’t have city email accounts. But TRUST has never been interested in what’s best for Troy but what is best for their version of Troy. They LIE on their web site when they say they are non partisan. They attack certain individual council members and cry when those they support are attacked. So let’s see if TRUST will back and support having ALL emails dealing with city of Troy issues from all council members private email accounts. I doubt they will but would be happy if they did.

So, in 1969, as a 17 year old kid speaking before my High School Graduating Class, I gave a speech which reading today still applies. We are no longer in Vietnam fighting but we are still fighting in Afghanistan. Instead of End the War in Vietnam rallies we have Occupy Wall Street rallies. If you think about it, times have not really changed.

Go ahead and read what a 17 year old kid said in 1969 and tell me if it still doesn’t apply. 

If she wants to add to the Code of Ethics that city council members signed. How about adding a clause that says “Any council member that submits or votes for a Resolution that violates State Law after being made aware of the potential violation shall be censured by the city council unless a written legal opinion by the city attorney states that the resolution does not in any form violate state law”.

And why limit the code of ethics to city council? Lets require all city management personnel to be bound by a similar code of ethics. Included would be a clause that states “If a city employee knowingly provides false information to city council or city staff, such action shall result in a one week suspension without pay. A second violation will result in termination for cause”.

Now why do I mention these items. Because a few months back, 5 members of city council ignored the documentation provided showing that they were about to pass a resolution approving a budget for the TBRA which was in violation of the state statute governing Brownfield authorities. 2 of them are still on city council: McGinnis and Slater. Aren’t these the two along with newbie councilman Campbell voicing the most venom for the Mayors recent transgressions. By the way Jim, how did you vote on the TBRA 2011-2012 budget at your TBRA meeting? Probably for it since you only showed up for the meetings when management needed your vote for their positions.

If your wondering what I’m talking about, I created a new web page on my web site called “Liars & Lawbreakers”. Are we being governed by Liars and Lawbreakers? Go to this link and you can read what I’m talking about: http://lenivov.com/LiarsandLawbreakers.aspx

If you agree or disagree, drop me a line.

It’s time to put the entire city’s interest ahead of petty politics. We see the petty politics with the TRUST coalition aka “Management Rubber stampers” and their false statements and total disregard to the REAL facts and complete acceptance of the documented false ones put forth by management [good example is when was the TBRA Revolving Loan Fund created. Management states after June 30, 2006 even after I gave them a copy of the city council minutes proving it was in 2001 and I was a member of the TBRA when the Revolving Loan Fund was created. John Szerlag was the city manager then and he still stands by his memo of it being created after 6-30-2006.]

On the opposite side are the Republican Tea Party supported candidates who will put their personal political agenda ahead of the interests of what will be best for the city as a whole.

Even though our city’s election are to be nonpartisan, we have seen full well that our elections are partisan. You have Democrats saying they are Republican in order to get elected [a good indicator of their character]. You have Republicans pushing their “Family” values aka Pro Life position while saying they support individual rights [now that's a contradiction].

It’s time to govern our city to provide the services needed by the residents. Unfortunately all politics are local and that is what we are getting. Amin has a tough road to haul. He deserves your support and please vote for him. I fully support him. As to the other positions to be filled, pick your political preference, do you want Rubber Stampers or do you want the Tea Party. I will have to decide on which would be the lesser of two evils. As most of you know, I hate Rubber Stampers. I want the governing body to hold management accountable and provide oversight. Rubber Stampers don’t do that.