From P.A Ucci – on the Pensacola City Council vote to pay $50,000 to prepare a special assessment plan to fund fire protection:
“HAVE YOU NO SENSE OF DECENCY REMAINING”? For those of you in city hall who were alive during the Senator McCarthy congressional hearings the words were uttered in despair by the attorney defending military and civilian defendants being badgered with spurious charges by an alcoholic Senator. It was an infamous day in the history of this country.These same words are applied to the highly paid managers in city hall.
No unique personal knowledge is claimed of any applicable state or federal regulations. During budget preparation, (and especially this year), it is irresponsible and a grave travesty for a somnolent Council to approve (unanimously) a $ 50,000 study to consider adding another tax to support the fire department. Does the City expect the study to show that the department is understaffed and overpaid? In recent years, Council approved similar studies for Sanitation and ESP. Is another study planned for the police department? During the same meeting Council approved extending the $ 1.5 million stormwater fee even though not a shred of evidence exists showing that the $ 2.5 million already spent has produced any positive results in terms of reducing the frequency of high coliform in Bayou Texar. The data shows a significant regression rather than an improvement. But when is city policy guided by the data? Council also approved a substantial payment to Black & Veitch for its yearly(?) assessment of ESP. What is the purpose of the study, and what information did it reveal that is not known to dozens of ESP employees?
There is compelling evidence after many years of observation, that it is a policy for our handsomely paid City Manager(s) to hire Consultants to avoid making simple routine decisions that have any aura of arousing the wrath of its citizens. Council continues to allow this open ended spending to metastasize without ever recognizing that bariatric surgery (to cure over-spending) is long overdue. For many years, Council has surrender its’ responsibilities to city employees and to a small “behind the scene” cabal in the non-existent downtown Mafia.
In contrast to the City’s insatiable champagne appetite, the ECUA recently enacted a $ 5.00 monthly sewer improvement fee. And surprise—surprise, the decision was made in-house without a $ 50,000 study. I repeat, Council, “HAVE YOU NO SENSE OF DECENCY REMAINING”? Especially, in this tight