tony jeter dot com

This post is in response to a comment I received on a previous post.

The City does have access to extremely bright people in the construction, and any other, business.  We get this experience from staff professionals, board appointees, paid consultants and interested citizens.  Take for instance the recent irrigation changes that the City made in response to mandates from the State.  The City received input from various stakeholders including TABA.  In my opinion the feedback we got from TABA was of significant benefit to the discussion and resulted in a better ordinance.  This is how the process should work. I agree that a construction professional on the Council can be a benefit because of their knowledge.  However, this is no different to having any type of professional on the Council.  I am certain that my business experience has been of benefit to the City in numerous instances. That being said I do not believe my, nor anybody else’s, experience is essential to being a good Councilman. I don’t, for one second, believe we need elected experts. I believe we desperately need elected, impartial, unbiased, independent, non-conflicted representatives.

The article below got me wondering when the Feds and all of the States are going to start taxing Internet sales en masse.  There is no telling how much Temple has lost in the way of sale tax leakage due to Internet sales.  Sales taxes make up 29% of the City revenues. Significant leakage could hinder our ablity to maintain levels of service without offsetting property tax increases. I often ponder the inequities of a government sponsored tax scheme that gives online reatilers a significant advantage over local business that have to collect sales tax. On the other side of the coin, I understand the huge logistical issues associated with collecting sales taxes for 50 states and the Feds. Oh well, this is an issue that we will have to leave up to our infinitely wise elected representatives in Austin and DC to solve.

Amazon.com has now added Rhode Island to its blacklist of affiliates in response to its proposed budget changes to enforce a tax on Internet sales, which includes commissions on their affiliate program by content providers based in Rhode Island. The first state to be blacklisted was North Carolina, for the same reason. If you go to a Rhode Island-based or North Carolina-based website that advertises Amazon.com goods as an affiliate, that website will no longer have the goods available because otherwise Amazon.com would be forced to pay sales tax to the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations or the State of North Carolina. The state’s rationale is, if someone clicks to buy a good from Amazon.com via a site based in Rhode Island, it’s equivalent to buying a good from a brick and mortar chain store located in Rhode Island.

Three upset constituents gave me a piece of their mind today. One guy was mad because he could not build a 21′ tall metal boat shed in his backyard and the other two folks were upset about the water crisis in West Temple.  This is the first call I have received about the residential metal buildings ordinance.  I have a feeling I will be getting more calls about about the water issue.

The City of Temple’s water situation as of July 1st, 3 pm is as follows:
Stage 5 water restrictions remain in place for the 835 Zone, which is the area west of FM 317, south of AirportRoad and north of the Leon River.  Water demand in the 835 Zone has decreased and the water tanks and pumps are operational and experiencing no issues at this time.
The City has acquired a mobile water pump (MWP). The MWP is now on-site and City crews will be working this afternoon and thru the night to connect the MWP to the City Water system.  Once connected, the MWP and City water line will be cleaned, disinfected and tested prior to bringing the MWP into service.  It will take between 24-48 hours to make the physical connections and an additional 24-48 hours to perform cleaning, disinfecting, and testing of the line.  Based on these calculations, the City anticipates additional water for the 835 Zone will be available late this week or early Monday.
Amedia conference is scheduled for Thursday, July 2nd at 3 pm. in City Council Chambers to provide an update.

Below is a note I got this morning from the City Manager.

Some Background:
The area (known in our system as the ‘835 Zone’) depends on a the FM 2305 Booster Pump Station  and Pepper Creek Tank (located just west of the intersection of FM 2271 and FM 2305) for water.  They are the only pump station and water tank for the entire 835 Zone and we have no back up or redundancy for the 835 Zone.

There are approximately 2,200 City of Temple customers in the 835 Zone.  In addition, we provide water to approximately 5,000 Morgan’s Point customers from the 835 Zone.   All total, about 7,200 customers.

A map showing the 835 Zone and the locations of the FM 2305 Booster Pump Station and the Pepper Creek Water Tank is attached.   The map also indicates the approximate number of customers in some of the subdivisions located in the 835 Zone.

Last Friday:
June 26th…  between 2 and 4 am we experienced a malfunction at the FM 2305 Booster Pump Station that caused the pump to throttle back and pump less water than it is capable of pumping.  This event, coupled with high demand that followed during the day, caused us to issue a Stage 5 water restriction for an area west of FM 317.

After the malfunction was discovered and repaired, Public Works Water Treatment and Distribution personnel began monitoring the Pump Station and the Tank for recovery times.  The pumps at the Booster Station were fully operational and pushing as much water as they were designed to push to the Tank, approximately 3,000 gallons per minute.  We watched throughout the morning as the pumps struggled to refill the Tank ahead of the demand.

At approximately noon on Friday it became apparent that demand would outpace the pumps ability to refill the Tank.

In addition, Morgan’s Point two water storage tanks, which are also fed off of the FM 2305 Booster Pump Station, had not recovered either.

A meeting of City Administration, Public Works Administration and water personnel, and Morgan’s Point officials was held at 1 pm.  At the conclusion of that meeting, it was determined that water demand was out pacing the pumps ability to refill the tanks.  It was also determined that both cities needed to go to the highest level of water conservation in order to allow the tanks to recover.  A Water Conservation Plan Stage 5 directive was issued from my office.

Saturday & Sunday
June 27th & June 28th…City Administration, Public Works, and Public Safety personnel in both cities monitor the water situation.  With the assistance of Public Safety personnel,  the Stage 5 prohibition on outdoor watering is effective and the tanks recover.

Sunday afternoon at approximately 5 pm I meet with Acting Public Works Director Nicole Torralva and review the pump and tanks status.  It appears that the system is working as it should and the that the tanks have recovered to maximum capacity levels.

At approximately 7 pm I issue a media release lifting Stage 5 and returning to Stage 1 for the 835 Zone.  I ask that residents continue to observe water conservation measures, as demand levels are very high.

Sunday Night and Monday
Evening of June 28th and June 29th…Immediately following the lifting of Stage 5 restrictions, demand levels increased significantly.   All three tanks began dropping at a rate faster than the pumps could handle thru the night and into the next morning.

City Administration and Public Works monitored the situation throughout the day and was hopeful that the tanks would recover during non-peak demand time thru the day in order to be able to provide service during the peak evening hours.

Public Works Administration and field personnel monitored the situation throughout the day.  Administration worked on identifying and developing alternate courses of action for providing water to the tanks.  At approximately 3:45 pm, I met with Public Works Administration and we reviewed the data from the day and discussed options and alternatives.  The data, at this time, indicated the tanks were slowly recovering. It was decided to wait and see if the tanks could recover before the evening demand time.  It was also hoped for that our evening demand time would be lessened by the fact that peak demand appeared to have occurred the previous night following the lifting of Stage 5.

We also discussed an alternate, concurrent possibility and strategy of bringing another water tank (Airport Tank) into play in order to increase our ability to provide more water to the 835 Zone.  After much discussion, I directed Public Works to pursue such strategy and to do so immediately.  (We are not certain that the strategy will work or how long it will take us to implement bringing the Airport Tank into the 835 Zone.  It is possible, under a best case scenario, that we could have the Airport Tank in play by this weekend. )

The meeting concluded at approximately 5 pm with the understandings noted above.

At approximately 9:05 pm I received a call from the Public Works Director advising that the tanks had not recovered and the our tank was getting dangerously low.  He recommended returning to Stage 5 water restrictions for the 835 Zone. I concurred and initiated a call to Public Safety advising of the need to issue the call for a return to Stage 5 of our Water Conservation Plan for the 835 Zone.

News media were notified in time for the 10 pm news and reverse 911 calls, via our ‘First Call’ system, were made between approximately 10:15 pm and 10:45 pm to City of Temple water customers in the 835 Zone advising them of the return to Stage 5 restrictions.

Tuesday morning…
June 30th…as of approximately 6 am this morning, our tanks were slowly recovering.  Sufficient water availability and water pressure exist in the system and fire protection services are not at risk at the moment.

I will be meeting with Public Works officials throughout the day to assess the situation and to continue work on trying to identify an alternate means of providing more water to the 835 Zone.  I am anticipating that we’ll be able to know at least what our timeline is for potentially bringing the Airport Tank into play by the end of the day.  Again, best case scenario for this strategy is late this week or weekend.

Meantime, I see no available course of action for the next 24-48 hours other than prohibiting outdoor water use in the 835 Zone.  It may be that we can allow some outdoor watering, within certain times and days, and still maintain the tanks.  I will try and make that call in the next day or two, assuming our system is capable of handling such demand.

Click here to view a PDF of last week’s building permits.

An interesting read on the Cap and Trade legislation that is heading for the Senate.

I know Temple is a whole lot smaller than San Antonio but should our size be the determining factor in how low we can set our ethics bar?  In my opinion, The bar Temple has set rests very comfortably on the ground. It can’t be set it any lower since our standard of “anything goes as long as it legal” reflects the sentiment of the Council majority.  Today I read over San Antonio’s Ethics Code. While there is a lot that wouldn’t necessarily be applicable for a city our size there is some really good, common sense, stuff in it.   In the spirit of the Cliff Notes I so depended on in High School I am going to give you the sections that I think are relevant to our current lackadaisical conflict of interest attitude.  For conflict of interest you can refer to SECTIONS 2-43 & 2-52.  The sections dealing with their Ethics Review Board are also very interesting.  SECTIONS  2-81, 2-82 & 2-83 would be worth a quick read.  Maybe one day we can have the level of transparency that the Big Boys have.

Our regular Friday packet must weigh five pounds. The bulk of which is related to the Budget. The City Manager has presented the Council with his recommendations and now it’s in the Council’s court.

Making progress…. I just talked to Chet Edward’s office and was informed he would be voting no. This was a pleasant surprise. Our Rep. John Carter is also opposed to this new tax.