Many of you may have received a postcard from this group entitled, “Does your representative support a robust Duncanville?” along with their voting chart.
Here are some of the issues listed on their chart.
1. “Logistics Hub”
This was actually a vote to pay $10,000 in taxpayer money to join the International Inland Port of Dallas Coalition. The actual recipient of the $10,000 was road lobbying company Dean International. I voted against this because Councilmember Grady Smithey’s wife works for Dean International and I saw this as just another way to funnel taxpayer money to a well-connected insider.
2. “Traffic Grant”
This grant was a so-called STEP grant from the state to fund overtime for police officers to write traffic tickets. In order to satisfy the requirements of the grant, Duncanville Police would have to meet certain “goals” for the number of tickets written. I am against ticket quotas of any kind.
3. “Employee Recognition”
This was actually a vote of support for City Manager Kent Cagle and Community and Economic Development Director Earle Jones. Every year before the City Manager’s contract is renewed with a raise, the Council passes a resolution praising the “outstanding job” he has done. The rest of Duncanville’s employees are included along with Earle Jones, who is not an employee but an independent contractor. Voting for a blanket performance appraisal for all employees was a transparent attempt to justify raising the salary of the City Manager (whose total compensation is now about $218,000 per year) and to justify the high salary ($100,000) of a person who is not an employee.
Their website claims my vote against this blanket performance appraisal shows I do not support city employees. Really? When David Green, Dorothy Burton, Ken Weaver, Scott Cannon, and Grady Smithey wanted to reduce benefits for current employees and cost of living benefits for retired ones, I repeatedly spoke against making such changes. I have also supported pay equality for fire employees and police employees.
Last summer, Code Enforcement employees issued over a hundred warning notices and citations to persons in Councilman Scott Cannon’s neighborhood. The notices and citations were for grass of any length growing in sidewalk cracks. Code Enforcement allegedly acted on the direct orders of Cannon and City Manager Kent Cagle. The story drew a lot of media coverage and many citizens came to a City Council meeting to complain. Cagle denied any involvement in the situation and shamelessly blamed Code Enforcement personnel for everything. “I know we‘ve trained our Code Enforcement personnel better than that,” Cagle said, as the head of Code Enforcement sat tight-lipped in the front row.
Later, when the Council voted overwhelmingly to renew Cagle’s contract (with a 3% raise), I mentioned Cagle’s scapegoating of Code Enforcement employees as one reason I would not vote to renew it.
4. Economic Development Director
Earle Jones, the Director of the Duncanville Community and Economic Development Corporation (the 4B Board), is paid $100,000 of taxpayer money by the City of Duncanville as an “independent contractor.” He is also given a free office at City Hall (right next to the City Manager’s office), free secretary, free computer, etc; his total compensation is at least $140,000. His position carries with it virtually no accountability -- Jones is only required to give an “oral report” to the 4B Board once a month, and sometimes those reports are rather brief (Actual oral report from a meeting last fall: “I don‘t have anything to report.”)
Jones may be a bright guy, but I have serious concerns about his job performance. We need to do all we can to enhance our local business community, and he is not sufficiently engaged in that. Furthermore, Jones is a big supporter of the Main Street Vision Development Plan, and most of the businesses along Main Street are very much opposed to that. In addition, many of the projects credited to Jones, such as the Hilton Hotel, Pappadeaux, and the Star Center, were either started before he became Director of the 4B Board or would have moved here anyway because of the companies’ own research and marketing plans.
Earle Jones has sponsored many questionable deals, including the purchase of an acre of land from a church for $350,000 of taxpayer money when the land was appraised at only $39,000, and the Madison Deal, in which a member of the 4B Board was given $209,000 in taxpayer money to build a housing development that was never built. I voted against renewing Earle Jones's contract, and will continue to do so.
Earle Jones’s son is married to Mayor David Green’s daughter. Every year, except the last when he was out of the country, Green has voted to renew Earle Jones’s contract. Their relationship should not exclude Jones from working for the City, but Green’s insistence on involving himself in the vote is a conflict of interest and taints the whole process.
5. “Super Freeport”
Contrary to what “Pro-Dunc” says, this was a vote FOR a tax, a special tax on business inventories. I voted against it because many surrounding communities do not charge this tax and for Duncanville to do so puts us at a competitive disadvantage. Furthermore, taxing inventories puts an unfair burden on businesses, and the tax is just passed on to consumers.
6. “Main Street Vision”
The Main Street Vision Development Plan calls for spending between $3,000,000 and $7,000,000 of taxpayer money on street changes along Main Street. These changes include re-routing Santa Fe Trail and reducing northbound Main Street from two regular traffic lanes to one regular lane and one “slip” or parking lane.
Furthermore, the Vision will require businesses to pay for expensive upgrades for the purpose of “design uniformity.” In addition, many businesses will eventually be forced to close because of zoning changes that are part of the Plan.
Supporters of the Vision also refuse to say if they will reduce the size of the War Memorial or move it to some out-of-the way location.
Most people don’t realize that the goal of the Main Street Vision is to turn the center of Duncanville into an urban area; plans call for buildings as tall as six stories up and down Main Street. The Main Street Vision Development Plan is an enormous waste of taxpayer money, will have a terrible effect on local businesses, will degrade our quality of life, and will destroy the suburban character of our downtown.
7. “Main Street Design”
This was a vote to give $884,000 in taxpayer money to a consulting company for surveying and engineering work as part of the Main Street Vision Development Plan. Much more expensive construction contracts will follow after the surveying and engineering are completed.
