Who really cares about the parks?

You think there's drama now in Copperas Cove?

Take a trip 10 years back to 2007-2008 and there was even more fodder than now for the popcorn machines when nearly all the council was booted out and the city was without a "functioning government" for a time.

The community's inner core was in a tizzy, lines were drawn, sides were taken.

But, if you step back to look at the big picture, it's not like it was the end of the world.

The current Copperas Cove city manager, "She who shall not be named" was on board and as far as the rest of the city knew, trash was picked up, the water worked when you turned the faucet, the toilets flushed, the court system worked, police patrolled, library stayed open. No biggie. Only difference was, anything she needed approval for, well, she couldn't do without a council in place, not until after an election. (Tizzy continued to ensue.) But city ops, still opped.

In spite of the political turmoil and ruckus, life continued as usual for the majority of the residents.

Didn't mean nobody cared about the drama. Who am I kidding? Of course, we didn't care!

Nobody starts caring until their water bill gets screwed up, for whatever reason.

Generally, the majority of people really don't care about issues unless it affects them directly.

People care about what they can see. If they don't see it, they don't care.

There's been more chit-chat online about the tearing down of Jack in the Box in Copperas Cove than the city's park system improvements. Which might be the best-kept secret in Copperas Cove for two years runnin'.

It is a sad, sad fact of life.

So why do people on the inside track of the city get so upset? That is a rhetorical question for another time.

Parks Town Hall on Wednesday at 5:30. You can watch it live on Facebook.
Get yer popcorn poppin'. I will. Use real butter. Life's too short for the fake stuff.

The (Good Old) Boys Are Back In Town!!

Now that I have the lyrics to that song stuck in your head, an update. (Do me two favors. If you like this blog, find it interesting or infuriating or both, subscribe and share with a friend.)

But first, I suck as a blogger. Supposed to post regularly to get a following, but anyhoo...here we are.

I had no idea how prophetic my Tides A Changin' post would be. Forget tide, a tsunami crashed through good ole CC at the last council meeting, after which the good old boys Yancey, Manning, Marc Payne (newest member of the club), and Chuck Youngs probably popped a bottle or two of bubbly.

Andrea Gardner did the City of Copperas Cove a humongous favor by giving her notice, because my next curmudegonly prediction was for the FAB4 or Good Old Boys Club to look for a way to kick her out and fire her.

Which would have cost a chunk of money as per her contract which was approved back before even Chuckie was on the council the first time.

Amazing how rumors spread faster than hot butter on a skillet, that the severance package was tacked onto Andrea's contract in 2016. Nope, that we-have-to-pay-you-at-least-300-grand clause has been on there a long time.

Speaking of contracts, Andrea had her fans among one of the Fab4. Yancey sang her praises at her October 2016 evaluation. Did you know city managers get evaluated twice a year by the council and she has specific goals and milestones she must meet-which are set by the council? Yeppers, y'all.

Something must have happened to change Dapper Dan's mind (nice tie). Oh, wait - his mind wasn't changed. That was just his true colors showing up.

I'm really surprised, though, that a bank man, an expert like Yancey, would vote to accept the resignation of a city manager who during her time here boosted the city's bond rating and now our financial situation is so good that it'll start hurting our credit if we don't start financing a few things.

Just putting it out there. How good of a banker is he, if he doesn't recognize good management when he sees it? Good, I said. Not perfect. She is not known for her warm 'n fuzzy approach.

I'd rather a tough but fair manager than warm 'n fuzzy who doesn't know how to make the hard decisions.

Well, the Good Old Boys are back in town. I don't know what to discuss next, so I'll leave a few more predictions, to occur in no particular order:

1. The council will give the chamber of commerce an engraved invitation to get hotel occupancy tax funds so the chamber can afford its payroll better this time around.

2. EDC will be back the way it was. Whoever the city ends up hiring will be fired by the council/EDC board (sorry, chap, or ma'am, whoever you will be) and then Marc "Car Salesman" Farmer will be back at the helm because he's just so awesome and has a rolodex.

3. If you're not the chamber of commerce and want hotel funds for an event that would bring tourism to the city, you're SOOL (**** out of luck) because you're not the Good Old Boys' sacred cow, Rabbit Fest, and the chamber.

4. The Copperas Cove council will flip off the KTMPO, give them their money back for The Narrows Sidewalks, and forget the sidewalks on Constitution which are part of that project that would have given walkers in the apartments safer access to Walmart. Because, well, it's an Andrea project and she sucks, so...

5. Andrea projects are subject to being torpedoed, because, well, Andrea.

6. Andrea, I will gladly buy you a smoothie at Healthy Hub and hang out for a bit. Clearly the writing is on the wall and you were smart enough to know what to do -- your contract would be up in three years, you're clearly coming in to a combative council during key projects going forward, your kids are raised, there's nothing tying you here. Good luck!

Tide is about to turn in Cove

The tide’s a-turning on the Copperas Cove city council. At the first council meeting for 2018, all members were there, David Morris, James Pierce, Dan Yancey, Jay Manning, Kirby Lack, and Chuck Youngs. Chuck is the new guy. Another post about him another day, because he’s whining and crying about the chamber of commerce being destroyed.

Anyhoo, if you follow the local grapevine, changes have been brewing for a couple of years now. Changes which first flared when councilman Marty Smith left in a huff because of how the city manager treated her. She spewed out her rage on Facebook.  

The “city” of Copperas Cove took over everything, the Copperas Cove Economic Development Corporation and tourism. (Poor EDC, poor chamber…waaaaa, nobody can't do nothing because of that mean old city manager!) 

Some folks ain't happy the EDC employees are under the city manager. Nobody seems to see all the money that was saved with the change. Check the EDC spending numbers from year to year; they don’t lie. 

You get a numbers person (Andrea Gardner) in charge, what do you expect? No warm ‘n fuzzy, “let’s give everybody money and don’t ask any questions because their feelings will get hurt.” Waa, poor EDC, poor chamber. 

It was doom ‘n gloom when the EDC’s fans got their knickers in a twist when the council LAST year voted (UN-unanimously) to let the voters decide on the EDC funding reduction of 1/8-cent. They wanted to keep their money pot. Funny, they’d rather the voters NOT make that decision. Then out of the other side of their mouths they say it’s the citizens’ money. So, which is it? 

Anyhoo, the then EDC president Bradi (DEWALD i.e., home builder and first family) Diaz said if the EDC's funding was cut that “economic development will CEASE.” Almost heard the dramatic organ music when she told the council that back in summer 2016.

(Holy moly, wouldja look at that!! The EDC has a crap-ton of money, more than a year later. Check it out. They started THIS fiscal year on October 1 with $3.9 million in fund balance, a whopping $700K more than the year before. The only reason economic development ceased is because of a reactive, passive board and a new director who wouldn't listen to his superior and ask for help. Hey and if you have a website nobody goes to, nobody will notice you. Another post, another day about that.

But of course, Dewalds are developers, as are MANNINGS, and YANCEY was the former head of the EDC, so, watch for the tide to change, Copperas Cove. Because of who they are, they must know better than us pee-ons. Hey, Cove, you put them in there. So get ready for more of the same-old , same-old.

My prediction – the council will vote to remove the EDC employees from the city’s employee lists, as soon as possible after Marc Payne is sworn in on January 16. 

Because, you know, EDC and all that. Yancey and Manning and company would rather rubber-stamp EDC board decisions like the council has done in past years.

Stay tuned. Curmudgeon out.