New positions leave more questions than answers

I have more questions than answers after Tuesday night’s Gonzales city council meeting. The City approved the hiring of two new employees. Different towns classify different jobs different ways. I don’t know if “director” is a manager. I do know the budgeted pay. The salary for tourism is $50,000. Public works is in the mid-$60,000 range (Based upon the salary in 2009 when the city thought different about public works directors and abolished the position, per a council member I couldn’t see from the lobby. It was an overflow crowd.)

Before you let the despair of that first paragraph sink in, I admit I’ve no problem with either of these experiments. Nothing can be done about it now and two new employees will be hired. Be as gracious and welcoming as you are with everyone else – no more. No less (you’re pretty accurate with the measure). We can try this. Now that we know, we can measure it. Everyone who voted for the recommendation did so with the pre-condition that this would be scored. We would measure results.

This is where the complicated becomes simple and I love the fact I paid attention in civics class. We can be involved with the scoring. The best assurance came from City Manager Sean Lally, who said reviews would be based upon measured performance. Let’s help. I promise you the City doesn’t mind if you own a business, home or are a customer for the day. They lack measurements. These two hires are calculated guesses that were made by professionals who know what they want. But like anything, doing the art and selling the art is an altogether different thing. We are the buyers. Here are the measurements I’m going to use in one year. Six months is too short and not fair. It takes at least two months to become aware of the quickest way to Walmart from City Hall. After a year, though, we’ll measure this stuff:

Regarding tourism: Has the “visitor” tax increased? If it did, why? Currently, the classified advertising for help in the oil fields is double last year. It’s an economic indicator. When I arrived here, nothing was going on. Somebody’s going to potentially look good if the occupancy of hotels includes visitors who are working all day. Granted, you have to take the tax, but that’s not tourism. That’s a boom.

Can we monitor “real” tourism, year over year? This is a two-year contract and I’m assuming the first year is going to look stellar compared to last. I drive by the motels every day. Late last week, I met a certified engineer. He’s putting in the well just south of town. He’s booking lots of rooms. It’s cool. But it’s not tourism. It’s six months. Maybe longer. It’s that. Undefinable and a hard way to run a city.

Why did we give up budgeted-advertising dollars for the tourism director position?

This seems counter-intuitive. It’s like selling your car for gas money. In the end, we’ll know if it truly was.

The Public Works Director is tougher to question. I think the first thing I want to know is if he can operate a grader or a backhoe?

He may need to do that. But this position is seriously needed. I promise. We need more eyes like this on our infrastructure. City managers run the business. PWDs run the crews. And if they are good at it, your street gets fixed. Gonzales is a very old town. This is not a job I’d want. Which leads to…

Why would I want this job?

But where I’m most curious is the point I left. I need to write this. Resolution 2017-43 sought to authorize the City Manager To enter an agreement to buy 2000 smart water meters for (1 billion). My question:

If we’re hiring a public works director to do that, shouldn’t we wait?