Hail to the chief

On Tuesday night, Copperas Cove will have a mayor again.

On Saturday, mayor elect Bradi Dewald Diaz rode in the Rabbit Fest parade.

See here?

So what’s with Mayor Elect / Chamber of Commerce logo?

Is she mayor elect of the chamber of commerce or of the City of Copperas Cove?

Just askin’. Why not have Mayor Elect Bradi Diaz? Why Mayor Elect Chamber of Commerce??????

Why????

The Chamber of Commerce is a dues-paying members-only club. There’s nothing wrong with having a chamber of commerce, but should a private organization have that much pull in a city?

Not that a mayor has a vote, but a mayor has pull and gives steering and guidance.

Lines will begin to be blurred again.

Perhaps she ought to resign her position on the Copperas Cove Chamber of Commerce board…

Hey, chamber members, did any of you vote her onto the board last year????

Just askin’.

Will rubber-stamping of budgets and decision making go back five years or more, to “how things used to be”?

I remind the dear readers that the “ruckus” of the past few years wasn’t without some truth in it.

None of the powers-that-be – the Copperas Cove Chamber of Commerce, nor the Copperas Cove Economic Development Corporation – appreciated being questioned.

Now, Curmudgeon understands that some of what was said didn’t have the best tone. But one must look to the best interests of the city and its citizens.

Councilman Mark Peterson was one of the first to start questioning the spending of hotel occupancy tax funds – questioning America’s Drug Free Productions which held the Heart of Texas Bowl in our City for well more than a decade.

That questioning of expenditures then segued into subsequent councilmen asking similar questions – George Duncan and Matthew Russell, in particular, who were backed by both former councilmen David Morris and James Pierce Jr  – asking questions of the Copperas Cove Chamber of Commerce and the Copperas Cove Economic Development Corporation.

It was around that time, also, that our current mayor-elect (who at the time was the chair of the EDC board appointed by the council) who said she was “done” with volunteering for the city because she’d been called a “thief” etc. We won’t rip that open again, but she objected to the questioning. Or, perhaps it was the way the EDC was questioned.

SHOULDN’T the city council QUESTION the EDC – and any other city entity which spends taxpayer funds? In the case of the EDC, sales tax dollars? 

Not dredging up old wounds, but those of us who FORGET history are bound to repeat it. Here we go again...

 

Former Chamber of Commerce president Betty Price was questioned – or the chamber, rather – of how it was spending the hotel occupancy tax funds. It got to the point that Price quit the position and it took a new president who got an audit done as customary and was able to give the council an accounting of how they spent those funds on “tourism activities” – more than $100,000 annually.

SHOULDN’T the council question the chamber of commerce for how it will spend those funds? Or any group, for that matter?

REMEMBER, dear readers, neither the Chamber of Commerce NOR the Copperas Cove Economic Development Corporation are EQUALS to the city government. They do not have a seat at the table as an equal. A "valued partner", perhaps? But they are not equals.

(From an old post, and bears repeating:

 

Please remember, dear readers, in the grand scheme of things, the Copperas Cove Economic Development Corporation and the Copperas Cove Chamber of Commerce are NOT EQUALS at the table with the City of Copperas Cove.

The CCEDC is a voter-approved organization which is funded by SALES TAX DOLLARS and seeks economic development opportunities for the City of Copperas Cove and an EDC, in some way, shape or form, has been singing the same song for more than 20 years with nearly ZERO primary jobs to show for it!!! The voters approved 3/8-cent of sales tax dollars to go to the EDC. It is a valuable commodity but only when operated correctly. 

But the CCEDC is NOT equal to the city. Its board members are citizens appointed by the city council.  

The Copperas Cove Chamber of Commerce is a “nonprofit” organization that is made up of PAYING BUSINESS MEMBERS. The Chamber does NOT represent ALL businesses in Copperas Cove only those who PAY THEIR DUES. It is a members-only club which is as only as effective as its programs, which for YEARS had been so caught up in races and in bicycling and worshipping the all-holy-rabbit-fest that it lost sight of the BUSINESS COMMUNITY. 

Breaking ties with getting hotel occupancy tax funding was the BEST THING that could have happened to the chamber to get it back on track)

Back to Tuesday night's upcoming meeting: 

In the latest hearing for the city budget amendment to give funds for the chamber – after the deadline of course, making them YET AGAIN an exception for the rule, the chamber’s request for funding included $1,260 for the “registration of convention delegates.”

So, dear city council, what the heck does that mean and what is that money being used for?

Nobody’s asked them, have they?

**crickets crickets crickets**

If not, why not?

Who the heck stayed in the hotels this long for Rabbit Fest last year?

All the vendors? I call bs

Don’t be afraid to ask questions, council! (And not questions about flying cars, pleeeeeez)

Duncan and Russell were part of the crew who said yes to FATHOM – a painful, ill advised decision that will affect us for 12 more years.

I would hope that ALL the council members, both past and present, have learned the sore, sore lessons of the past few years.

DON’T STOP QUESTIONING.

HAVE PUBLIC DISCUSSIONS.

Speaking of public discussions, WILL SOMEONE PLEASE AT LEAST LET US KNOW WHY WE HAVE NO CANDIDATES FOR CITY MANAGER?

When was that agreement with the headhunter group approved? November? And here it is, almost summertime?

What are we waiting for?

The municipal government/city manager field is not a huge pool, y’all?

Who are you waiting for?

The council has an executive session on the agenda for Tuesday night.

Let’s see if they remember how to say something, anything, after that meeting.

Give us something to go on.

Or, is Dapper Dan negotiating behind the scenes like he did with the interim city manager, cherry-picking and trying to get his own candidate of choice on board?

Don't forget this
https://copperascovecurmudgeon.blogspot.com/2018/04/this-is-serious.html

Filing opens in July, y’all, for council! 

Has anyone counted the number of questions I've asked in this post?

I've been told by one commentor previously that my posts don't have legitimacy.

Well, then, how about someone else step up to ask these questions?

If the questions, themselves, are valid?

Curmudgeon believes they are...

Peace, love and bunnies, y'all.

Hail to the chief.