First Opton for Making Money at the Taxpayer's Expense-Revisited Yet Again

More On The First Option Agreement Question...




I'm assuming this Anon posting is from Joey Dauben...."Steve, check with former Councilman Danny Douthit on that "agreement." I do recall, if my memory serves me correctly, actually seeing copies of that when I used to write for The Ellis County Press." I will, after keeping my ears open after the bloodletting last night.

Apparently(and please correct me if I'm wrong)this "agreement" was done between the Economic Development Council and Ben Little while Todd was Mayor. It was supposedly for a finite number of years and was a renewable option by vote of the Council. The option was not renewed and as usual, a threat of a suit ensued. The "agreement" such as it was is not in effect today, although it is common knowledge that folks benefited from this agreement with several developments including a strip center on Ovilla Road.

I think the issue isn't the agreement itself. You can't fire a Council for being stupid(but you can fire a complete City Management staff for being unpopular in Red Oak right?). The issue revolves around the "smell test" again. This agreement purposely benefited Todd Little's father while Todd was mayor. This is another notch in the "it's legal but doesn't feel right category". One can't be "almost pregnant" right?

No one begrudges anyone for making money. People DO question others for using political office and political influence to make money. Sure it's legal, done all the time and par for the course in Red Oak.

Several Questions remain however,

Is it right? Uh...you make the call.

Does it smell? Possibly if one is looking for some excrement in how local government is run.

Does it make Red Oak look like a "local-yokel/bubba takes care of their own" type of town. Most definitely.

Perhaps this type of process will either go away or more probably get swept under the rug. I'm hoping it will go away...I'm a a realist/pragmatist however; and will retain my more cynical opinion for now.