Gonzales citizen continues to raise concern over expo Center

Posted Tuesday, January 27, 2015 6:20 am

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On Thursday, January 8, 2015, I hand carried a Public Information Request to the Gonzales City Hall for City Secretary, Kristina Vega, which requested: "All" information in any format, relating to the building of an Expo/Conference Center at J. B. Wells Park, approved December 2, 2014 by the Gonzales City Council." I also offered to pay for any costs, such as the time an employee would spend in gathering this information.

Today, January 16, I received the following reply:

"Ms. Leifeste,

Attached is the information you had requested via Public Information Request that was submitted with the City Secretary’s office on January 8, 2015 at 4:10 p.m. The information includes the agenda coversheet that was included in the Council packet for December 2, 2014, a copy of the executed Resolution that was passed and the minutes from the December 2, 2014 Council meeting(item #8). This is the only written information that the City has in its records. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any further questions or concerns. Please respond to ensure receipt of this information. Kristina Vega, City Secretary, City of Gonzales,

kvega@cityofgonzales, Ph. 830-672-2815 ext 1800"

My fellow taxpayers, this means there has been nothing written by our City Council or anyone else in the City of Gonales as to the results of any study to determine what the Expo/Conference Center "should" cost; no study to determine, will whatever the final cost is put a lien on, or completely wipe out our reserves; no commitment from any of the rodeos who presently participate, or might participate, at JBW's Park that they will continue at this site long-term; no study to determine the tax benefits to the City of Gonzales generated by the rodeos; no Pro-forma, and no study to determine how much larger the deficit will grow, or not grow, between Revenues from JBW's Park based on this Expenditure of $3,300,000.

The "Notice" of Intention to issue Tax and Revenue Certificates of Obligation is in today's Cannon Newspaper. It reads in part, that the City proposes to pay for such Certificates "from the levy and collection of ad valorem taxes....and FROM A LIEN ON AND PLEDGE OF 'SURPLUS REVENUES' if any, received by the City from the OWNERSHIP AND OPERATION OF THE CITY'S WATERWORKS AND SEWER SYSTEM.

I have also read that the City plans to pay for such Certificates with the Hotel and Motel Tax and Sales Tax.

But, you can learn all about the financing plan personally because The CITY COUNCIL PLANS TO AUTHORIZE THESE CERTIFICATES OF OBLIGATION TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2015 AT 6PM AT A SPECIAL MEETING AT THE CITY HALL, GONZALES, TX. There will be time to make a Public Comment of 3 minutes duration, but you need to arrive early and sign-up to do this.

AND, YOU NEED TO LET YOUR CITY COUNCILPERSON KNOW EITHER ON FEBRUARY 17 DURING PUBLIC COMMENTS OR BEFOREHAND, IF YOU AS A TAXPAYER ARE 'FOR' OR 'AGAINST' their unanimous vote to build an Expo/Conference Center at JBW's Park, for the people who come to that Park on weekends will be mainly the ones to benefit, because the only thing there other than rodeo-related ones are dirt trails leading to Santa Anna's Mound, so it is mainly non-taxpayers who will use this Expo/Conference Center but it will be the taxpayers of the City of Gonzales in the final analysis, paying for building it and MAINTAINING IT.

Today, the price of oil was down to $46/barrel and Schlumberger announced they began laying off 9,000 employees in December, 2014, the world's largest oil field services company. Somehow, though everyday we read something alarming about what the slump in the price of oil has caused, our City Council remains untouched by the possible ramifications thereof.

So, back to the TX Attorney General for me, just to make sure that the only two documents that have been created by the City of Gonzales related to the Expo/Conference Center to be built at JBW's Park is the Agenda and the Minutes from the December 2, 2014 City Council Meeting. Our Attorney General is going to think that the City of Gonzales isn't very transparent.

Pastor Jo Ann Leifeste, Retired

Gonzales

Gonzales citizen continues to raise concern over expo Center

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