I attended the City Council meeting Tuesday evening when they voted to issue a $9 million certificate of obligation (bond) to build a sports complex we don't need. There has been a lot of controversy over the deal, where the city will buy a 125 acre tract south of Holdsworth Dr. from what appears to be a for profit company, Cailloux Foundation Properties, LLC, a Texas limited liability company, and have Cailloux build athletic fields, bleachers, restrooms, etc. Total cost: $9 Million. It is impossible to tell from the contract how much is for the land, and how much for the construction. The city will not get competitive bids on the construction, or an independent appraisal on the land, as required by Local Govt. Code. It is a flagrant disregard for the law.
As reported by the Kerrville Daily Times, after I restated my concerns at Tuesday’s council meeting, Jack Pratt, mayor and imaginary Vietnam vet/Green Beret, responded, “We respect your opinion, but we’ve had four other lawyers who say the opposite.”
Mike Hayes also said Tuesday he is confident the contract of sale is legal.
“To suggest that I would put a contract in place or draft a contract because I’m on the second floor of City Hall is an insult to my ability, my training and my ethics, and I resent that,” Hayes said.
Well, that is exactly what Mr. Hayes has done. I have obtained documents from the city which include this jewel, an email he wrote to Ben Modisett at Cailloux:
"Because municipal funds are involved, my analysis so far indicates we need some form of public bidding via ch. 252, Local Govt Code...."
What is it with Kerrville? The citizens claim to be conservative, Republican, God fearing people, but they allow the community to be led and represented by a fraud who claims he was a Special Forces (Green Beret) soldier who did four or five tours in Vietnam, when he was a personnel clerk, and the closest he got to the action was an air-conditioned office in Saigon - for six weeks!
This is the kind of corruption that is commonplace in some of the border counties in South Texas. It's shocking that it happens here, with such an educated electorate.
My friends from other cities and states ask me what in the hell is wrong with Kerrville.
As reported by the Kerrville Daily Times, after I restated my concerns at Tuesday’s council meeting, Jack Pratt, mayor and imaginary Vietnam vet/Green Beret, responded, “We respect your opinion, but we’ve had four other lawyers who say the opposite.”
Mike Hayes also said Tuesday he is confident the contract of sale is legal.
“To suggest that I would put a contract in place or draft a contract because I’m on the second floor of City Hall is an insult to my ability, my training and my ethics, and I resent that,” Hayes said.
Well, that is exactly what Mr. Hayes has done. I have obtained documents from the city which include this jewel, an email he wrote to Ben Modisett at Cailloux:
"Because municipal funds are involved, my analysis so far indicates we need some form of public bidding via ch. 252, Local Govt Code...."
What is it with Kerrville? The citizens claim to be conservative, Republican, God fearing people, but they allow the community to be led and represented by a fraud who claims he was a Special Forces (Green Beret) soldier who did four or five tours in Vietnam, when he was a personnel clerk, and the closest he got to the action was an air-conditioned office in Saigon - for six weeks!
This is the kind of corruption that is commonplace in some of the border counties in South Texas. It's shocking that it happens here, with such an educated electorate.
My friends from other cities and states ask me what in the hell is wrong with Kerrville.