Wednesday, August 1, 2007

"Here's the New Boss-Same as the Old Boss"

I recently made e-comments to the new Superintendent and to John Anderson, ROISD Board Vice President asking about the format of the ROISD web site. It is in shambles. I've found that the district is revamping its site and a new site is "coming soon". ROISD's Echalk (interactive web content) contract was not renewed but the district is still using the Echalk pages served locally. The district may want to take the references to Echalk down since they are proprietary. Am waiting to see how long EChalk waits to send them a cease and desist letter. Did ROISD think that the vendor would not know? I would think the Echalk folks would have discussed this with Ms. La Puma but as usual, the district won't respond to questions from their patrons other than a bland set of generic platitudes. Mr. Humphries is a former CIO and has been cited as saying he doesn't care for outsourced solutions. That's interesting in its merits considering ROISD (as many other districts) runs on a very lean/very effective budget since Joe Miguel "retired". Outsourcing provides Service Level Agreements and objective economies of scale by not fattening up the internal departments. That's just a difference in philosophy however and really is a sidebar. Just watch the size of the employee base grow...willing to bet a beer it doesn't? Has this question been asked in open board meetings?

I didn't get much response on another issue as well...I asked
"Would you please send me a list of the Bond Oversight Committee members or point me to an electronic copy of those members? Midlothian ISD has posted their committee membership and ROISD should do the same since we passed 95 million for the district." I've seen nothing in the papers, on the ROISD Web Site (like I could anyway...what a piece of work), or through any mailers from the "Yes for our Children" group. Guess they don't have to do anything now they've got the bond package done and put away... :<) They've got our moolah....for the next 30 years!

Hopefully, this is not what the district's communities will see when issues are brought to the highly paid, highly credentialed administrative staff. And...you know we (YOU) actually were dupes for that 95 Million dollar bond. Yeah...I'm still bitter about it and will stay bitter when I get my tax bill from Ellis County Appraisal District too. We all got snookered....and smiled all the way to the polls.

When will the Council get off it's collective butt, ditch the current Economic Development Board and put in people that CAN, WILL and KNOW how to bring business to Red Oak? I'm not talking about more Whataburgers, phantom Wal-Marts but actual "bidness". It's time to move some of the tax burden from homeowners to business or find a group of council members willing and able to make those hard choices. How 'bout it Casey? Ben? Eric? Scott? Andy? You ready to get moving? Summer vacation and the honeymoon's over guys!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Now, now Steve! That is no way for some one who is in Ben's back pocket to act!! Come on, you know we have a new mom and pop Oriental restaurant coming in on Ovilla RD. If you ask the little drones we are booming!!! Heck, we might even get one those boarder pizza joints that take pesos next year!

Then there is the school bond....
This is exactly why people should be tested before they are allowed to vote or procreate! I'm not say anything, I'm just saying.....

APW

Steve Miller said...

Perhaps folks will get it sooner or later. Residential expansion won't fix the 900K current city budget deficit without cuts in staff, tax increases, or cuts in services. I'd like to see ANY plan that doesn't include any of these options. We're paying the price for a myopic view of growth. It's said that we're the fastest growing city in Ellis County. Where do YOU eat, go to the movie, shop (other than Brookshires) or enjoy a cold one?
We elected this council to fix the issues...we've only got a small window (5 years IMHO)to get it done. We need a decent city manager, and professional city staff. We've got a great start with the new HR Director! He's great! Hopefully the new city manager will get this town on the road to economic recovery.

The bond? My arse still hurts from the screw job on that one. Where's the beef folks? Haven't seen ANY plans, nothing published, no timetable, nothing. I've been doing the IT infrastructure construction for THREE new schools. They damn sure didn't cost 95 million bucks, didn't take years to serve kids and represent a commitment to finding the most efficient/economical way of getting the construction done. ROISD just won't do what it takes to justify 95 Million bucks in long term debt.

Steve Miller said...

Yeah...read it and weep. The Red Oak Record's editor put on the line writing that Scott Lindsey had suggested a cut in merit pay and wait for it......you know where this is going.........
AN INCREASE IN TAXES!
Cornelison also wrote that Pfiefer continually stated that the budget was balanced. No wonder that ass-clown was canned. We all knew it, why did it take SO long!

This is same crap again and again...geez this is like "Groundhog Day"

Voters do have long memories...at least this one does. If this doesn't get fixed, it's time to rethink the entire system....vote the rascals out!