Author: citybaseblog

Cataracts & Health Tidbits

.Reading time 5 minutes.

Cataracts. It’s another 90 minutes before I have to show up for cataract surgery. One eye today and the other next Wednesday. I’m looking forward to getting it done. This is one of those things where thinking about it is probably worse than the event. It’s hell getting old.

Hand Rails. We had a hand rail installed in our shower this week. Linda and I don’t fall very often, but it happens often enough to be concerned. I’m not sure why we didn’t do this a long time ago. I am realizing that it’s more than just a safety thing. Without needing it for breaking a fall, the fact I know it is there reduces the risk of needing it at all. I notice I slightly touch the rail with my arm while showering. Comfort. Confidence. We are in the second class of Baby Boomers, so I highly recommend considering safety aids. Worth every penny. Cheaper than fixing a broken hip!

Hearing Aids. Okay, I’ve put it off long enough. They are a 2016 have-to. I’ve needed them for years. When I am in a group of people or in a loud restaurant like we were last night, I hear only noise. That is why I rarely attend receptions and things with people talking. Even with hearing aids, I will probably still prefer one-on-one conversations. But it’s now a necessity. Well, unless I can go throughout the rest of my life wearing my headphones and listening to Springsteen. Quit dreaming, Lewis.

Heart Stress Test. Way too long since the last one, but I finally went to a new cardiologist yesterday to start the process. But then I had to wait and wait. Most of my docs are not like that any longer. After 45 minutes I got to the first step with the nurse. After the preliminary stuff, including an EKG, the doc was supposed to be next. I asked how long? First it was going to be a short wait. Then after another 45 more minutes I put on my clothes and left. All they had to do at the beginning was to say the doctor is running way behind and give me a choice to wait or reschedule. I won’t be going back.

The Dentist. I don’t dread the dental chair like most people do. Yes, it is mostly due to the nice gas I get when the dental work is serious. However, I am still reeling from the cost of three implants and crowns a few years back. No excuse to take care of business now. But I’ve managed to put it off long enough that I’m sure the next visit will reveal needs that will take care of at least one dentist child’s college education.

Household. I’m up to snuff in this category. In the last 3-4 years we’ve gotten a new roof, gutters, both HVACs replaced and upgraded and a outside lighting system that is both great for security as well as appearance. Coming up: a HD camera security system. After that: a high-end generator that could run the house for days. I’m expecting a future with more than just brownouts. Too many things could put us in the dark. And Linda’s tolerance for being without an air conditioning is somewhere between 5 and 10 minutes.

Vacations. Our cruise a couple of weeks ago was our ninth. Linda got an infection in her legs by the time we started and basically kept us in the room for the entire trip with a few exceptions. That cruise may be our last – at least for a while. I can’t afford to get her in the middle of the ocean and away from docs and hospitals with her compromised immune system. We are talking about a driving trip to places we’ve never been right here in the USA. I need to see those California redwoods before Restland.

Blog Responses. I’ve got several blogs and responses to blogs in my head. I’m getting up between 4 and 5 am ready to go most mornings. My goal is to get them written and out before my workday starts. The McKinney ISD and Addison blogs generated mostly supportive comments but a few criticisms I will address. Never enough time. Thanks for your interest. LFM.

 

 

McKinney ISD is Intellectually Dishonest

.Reading time 12 minutes.

Introduction.

“We don’t legally have to do that.” Gee, I hate that response. There are reasons we have laws that make us do something. Usually these reasons include an abuse of power, a lack of transparency or flat out deceitfulness. Oh, and worse of all, when we take choices away from the taxpayer or voter. There are many examples. A daily blog for each one would fill most of my calendar year. But let’s talk about one.

For many years, cities and counties were allowed to choose how the ballot was fashioned for a bond election. Let’s think this through. If I were a city council or staff member and had some controversial items I wanted to see passed, what could I do? The logical and most honest way to be fair with the taxpayers is to separate the choices on the ballot. Almost never are bond ballot items given the same weight. Streets and Drainage are often top priorities. And for a good reason. They are used by everybody daily and create a hardship when they fall into disrepair.

But how about a library? I would give it a high priority, but would you? A new city hall? We might be split more evenly on that one, although I personally would push hard for the important image of the building that houses the seat of government and the public forum. Many would disagree and be perfectly happy in an ugly two story bank building that you can stand in front of and possibly miss. If we went down the list, there would be certain items that we might really bicker over. Something big and expensive used infrequently might be tough to get passed.

So, would a city place 4-8 separate items on the ballot and let the voter choose? Or would the city council lump the controversial items with sure-thing items and put the voters in an All-or-None situation?

Ballot Bundling used to be legally possible for cities to do in Texas. But then laws got changed to force a city to allow the voters to see the choices, make the choices and for the city to live with the outcome. So, Streets & Drainage are separated from Parks & Recreation. And even Parks & Recreation might be split so the voter can decide. A Natatorium would surely be separated.

When you think about it, while now a law, most citizens and city officials they elect would think of it as the insult of the grandest order if they were placed in an All-or-None situation. In other words, abuse came first, then a law, and now it would be considered an egregious act to force a voter into a corner and demand a ransom.

Now Comes McKinney ISD.

MISD is days away from calling a $200+ million bond election. It contains an expensive $50+ million football stadium. The remainder has to do with classrooms and other facilities that, on the surface, sound logical and needed. If anyone has been preaching to take care of aging infrastructure longer than I have, please step forward.

Silly ole me made the assumption the football stadium would be a separate ballot item.

Then a colleague told me that MISD was going to bundle the stadium with the core infrastructure items. I quickly corrected them that it would be illegal for a ballot to be designed that way. I was then told school districts could get away Ballot Bundling. As I am prone to do, I checked with some professionals and got put in my place. ISDs can do this – legally – and MISD plans to do so in just a couple of days.

Intellectual Dishonesty.

I am stunned! While anticipating that the bastions in search of truth, our educational institutions, are going to pop the “it’s legal” over the net, I’m ready for slam it back. This is the egregious abuse of power and deceitfulness and voter extortion that got the cities in trouble years back. How is it that ISDs can get away with this nonsense? Better lobbyist?

Whoa, Baby! Now you have my full attention. But as I get into this deal, I get more alarmed. Most of the people in McKinney ISD had not heard of these plans for a football stadium until June 2015 when a huge sign appeared in a field at a prominent location just off the Sam Rayburn Tollway. It’s prime commercial property to me, but that’s another issue. In McKinney we have two zoning designations: 1) Residential and 2) Commercial About To Be Rezoned to Residential.

There were several news stories at the time, most of them quoting school officials saying the football stadium conversation was just getting started.

So I go to the property rolls and learn that there are three large parcels of land that make up the stadium site. Two were bought in September 2011 and one in 2015. Sounds to me that the conversation started some time ago. Then I find a high-level sketch of the site and a rough cost estimate by an architectural firm working for the ISD. They may be working on other things, but they have been paid $2.3 million with the first payments on August 22, 2014. By the time the sign had been planted in the field, MISD had spent $1.277 million on them. Okay, this is getting a little more irritating to me.

No Tax Rate Increase???

But there is a bigger issue here. I am hearing that the stadium can be built without raising the property taxes. Now this is both heartbreaking and maddening at the same time. I was part of the group who voted for a 13-cent tax rate increase in 2013. The proposition passed but my little circle of friends thought I was crazy. However, I did my own number crunching back then (of course I did!).

Fortunately, I wrote an email to a colleague back at that time explaining my logic. In the email I also indicated that, according to my analysis, the MISD was asking for 3-4 cents more than they needed. I was actually okay with that. In my mind, a huge increase means you better not come back to the taxpayer for quite some time.

I also gave weight to my decision when I watched the video of the school superintendent at that time talking about how the MISD had taken so many steps to cut here and there before having to ask for the voters to fill the gap left by the mean ole state legislators.

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Dang! We have made a quick recovery. Three years after needing 13-cents, MISD can miraculously build a $50+ football stadium without raising taxes. Somehow I don’t hear the ISD explaining the converse: if we don’t build a new football stadium, we can cut the taxes by …

So what do we have now? Apparently a $50+ million stadium that to my knowledge was presented at the outset as a Cadillac model. Did the MISD board get a chance to see Chevy alternative? And not only do we get sold the Cadillac, but it may be bundled with the HVAC to keep our “keeds” warm or cool or to keep the roof from leaking on their heads. Take it or leave it!

Is The MISD Board on Planet Earth?

I tried to go online to see what I could learn about the MISD Board meetings. I can find agendas, but no minutes although the button says there are minutes. I tried to watch a video of a meeting. I can only find two video and neither of them had the audio working. I tried to look at check registers, and they are in PDF format and listed in an order that must have come from a random number generator.

Does the Board ask questions or rubber stamp everything? Do any of them have any kind of business sense? I would like to know if any of them have even looked at the budget and audited financial statements? Or the check registers?

As an aside, nobody seems to have taught the MISD B0ard and Administration about timing and perception. Allen ISD’s football stadium has nothing to do with this MISD decision. Or does it? The entire world gasped at the cost of the Allen ISD stadium ($60 million for 18,000 seats) as well as the problems they had. The construction company fixed the problem, we read, and the AISD was not out more money.

However, the construction company is McKinney-based and has built almost every school building in McKinney over the years. Their school buildings seem to enjoy a great reputation. MISD has paid them $138,938,096 since FY 2008, the largest cash outflow other than personnel costs and wire transfers for bond payments. And that doesn’t mean they are even going to bid on this proposed stadium nor does it mean MISD would select them. However, add a perception issue to everything else, and you just have to ask yourself what is the MISD Board thinking?

Oh my, I get the sense that the MISD is another entity that labels themselves as transparent. If you are smart enough to dig through their information and ask a lot of questions. And I mean a ton of questions! LFM

I Smell Fraud in Addison … In the Fraud Audit

.Reading time 5 minutes.

Maybe the Dallas Morning News got it wrong. They must think there’s a hot story here. The story came out March 11 with the headline: “Addison officials, former city manager debate credibility of report on town’s finances.” The same story in print this morning on the front page of the Metro section is headlined “Audit: Millions couldn’t be traced.”

Several things bother me about this story. A forensic auditor was paid $125,000 and did not investigate any fraud. And  did not find any fraud, apparently. I don’t know the billing rate, but it would take 625 hours at $200 to get to $125,000. That’s about 1/3 of a work year for a full-time person. But not just any person. This is a supposedly skilled, experienced, certified professional. How could you spend that many hours and not find any fraud, but whatever was found is purposed to be poor internal controls.

To me, poor internal controls says something might or could happen. Money that can’t be traced is a giant step beyond declaring less than ideal internal controls. One is left to believe something did happen. Did it or didn’t it? You don’t fool around with masquerading facts as suppositions.

If $millions couldn’t be traced, what was the level of effort to trace said $millions? My grandchildren could probably figure out that 95+% of all municipal spending is tied to payroll and benefits payments, debt service payments, construction contracts, professional contracts, insurance, utilities and a handful of other big-ticket items. There are thousands of small items like office supplies and travel that make up the remaining 5% or so. This story, if accurate, simply does not make sense to me.

If this is a professional auditor, then there should be a list of specific findings that have been reviewed by staff in order for them to respond. Did that happen? Are those in the report? Oh wait, not only the money paid for this report, but the enormous weight given to the report by the council and press led me to believe that surely said report would be posted on the  Town’s Web site. It’s not there. Or well hidden. I can find a silly, shallow newsletter by the Mayor that ends with “All is well in Addison.”

It is kind of humorous that the Mayor seems to be wanting to put the toothpaste back into the tube on this audit that he initiated from his comments to the newspaper. Not so fast, Mayor. The audit you commissioned that didn’t seem to find anything concrete has impugned two city managers and about that many finance directors. Not to mention a professional accounting firm that must have completely missed all of those squishy things alluded to by the forensic auditor. As they say in the courtroom, where I am guessing you may be heading eventually, you opened this door. I don’t own any of the Addison bonds, but somebody may be damaged here, too, Mr. Mayor.

I have asked for a copy of this seemingly forensic nebulo-audit in an Open Records Request. I can’t wait to read it. It better be filled with facts and findings that somebody can address. My ORR also includes a request to see the agreement and scope of work between the forensic auditor and the Town. I’m curious just exactly how this scope of work got set and how the need was described by the council. I would also like to know if the Town interviewed other forensic auditors or even had some kind of an RFP/RFQ to determine if the best choice was made.

Surely this was not a sole source or friend of the Council, I wonder? My ORR also includes Campaign Reports to make sure the forensic auditor hasn’t helped out with contributions to the Council.

This smells like a witch hunt. The headline makes for good theater as does the council forum here. But I wonder if the forensic audit should rather have been on the Council itself. I don’t live in Addison, but this stinks. If there was something done wrong intentionally or fraudulently, nail them. However, the entire municipal family is damaged if this is politically motivated as it seems to be. LFM

 

 

 

Bruce Springsteen Conducts a Leadership Workshop

.Reading time 6 minutes.

Written August 11, 2015
Updated March 13, 2016

Not many people would attempt to turn Bruce Springsteen into a leadership lesson. If any of my readers out there DON’T know what a fan I am of Bruce Springsteen, then I’ve failed in my communications over the past two decades. I listen to Bruce almost every day and have since the mid-1980s. I was slow to learn about Bruce. He is just a couple of years younger than I am and had already been playing for 10 years before I heard his music. In fact, he has been playing since a teenager. There is no doubt that I will have many blogs about Rock ‘n Roll in general and particularly Bruce and a few others. I can’t sing, and I can’t play. But I love to listen to music, especially with my headphones.

To test a blogging widget, you can see on http://www.citybaseblog.net that there is a countdown to his April 5, 2016 concert at the American Airlines Center in Dallas. I have only been to two other Springsteen concerts. They are legendary. The last one I attended in Houston, he played for three hours straight and only stopped because he would be fined $1,000 per minute after 10:00 p.m. He actually stopped right on the minute as the band left him to play acoustically for another half-hour with the decibels below the allowed level after 10:00 p.m.

He had rather play in Europe where he has been known to play 4-hours, 15 minutes to several hundred thousand fans and then come back the next night to do it again. In this last two-year tour, I think he played almost 200 separate songs. His catalogue is that big, and they say he has hundreds in the book never made public. In fact, many of his newly released songs were written years ago, pulled out, amped up and released. My wife Linda has been instructed to bury me in one of my Springsteen shirts. On my behalf, would you please hold her to it? The decision will be out of my control.

Bruce and the core E-Street Band have played together for many years. Still, he does not tell the band the songs or the order until just as the show starts. And his members say the list doesn’t matter much, because he almost always changes mid-stream. He is also prone to decide in the moment to play a different version of the intended song. He will do this on his own sometimes, like taking to the piano to play Independence Day as a solo in a hauntingly beautiful rendition of the song telling his dad he is leaving home as a teenager. But, as this link below will show you, he often throws in an unplanned song suggested by a fan to the band. This is where the leadership example comes in. I invite you to watch this video not just to pump up your day, but to literally count the number of leadership traits you can observe and learn.

There is risk involved as you will see. There is a spontaneity that doesn’t give anybody time to posture or second guess. The band is watching and waiting while preparing for an experience. They have probably played You Never Can Tell before, but this Chuck Berry classic is about to become a live product that they hear as they make it.

Note the showcasing of the band members, especially the horn section. They have not been with the E-Street Band very long compared to the core members. The young Jake Clemons on the saxophone is the nephew of the great Clarence Clemons who died from a stroke in 2012 after playing with the E Street Band since the beginning. There is no consulting about their readiness. Yet he pulls, not pushes.

Most of all, note that Springsteen and everybody else is simply having fun. It’s contagious. When I last saw Bruce and the band in Houston a couple of years ago, I especially watched them closely in the third hour. They never tired. In fact, a new energy drifted into the third hour as they clearly were just flat out having fun, feeding off each other. Like in this video, he often cranks up the band and then just rides with the momentum.

And finally, listen to his very last sentence at the fade out. It sums up teamwork. It is the embodiment of entrepreneurial ingenuity. It is the trophy for possessing the creative spirit and having a leader pull it out of a group of highly focused people. Use his last sentence to evaluate your own leadership skill set. LFM

Thinking About My Bro

.Reading time 8 minutes.

This was the eulogy I gave at my brother’s funeral December 19, 2015:

Bob

James Robert (Bob) McLain

James Robert McLain. The James is from our Uncle Jimmy. The Robert is from our Uncle Bob – Our Dad’s two brothers. And no, not once to my knowledge was he ever referred to as Jim Bob.

He was born on January 8, 1952, the day Elvis Presley turned 17. He passed away on December 14, 2015. We know these things because Bob’s birth and death certificates say so. And because family members were there to witness both events.

Humor. Bob would have appreciated these tidbits of information being highlighted at his funeral. If we could hear him right now, he would be ready to follow with at least three corny jokes – in his head. But only one he would have gotten out.

You see, BEFORE Bob told a single word of a joke he would start laughing. By the time he was 15 seconds into the joke, he would be wheezing at his own humor, as red in the face like an apple.

His jokes were best when he had a table or a knee to slap as he attempted to tell it. He added rhythm to his jokes in a sense.

I don’t remember a single joke out of the thousands in his repertoire. But I remember everybody in the room wheezing by the time he got through one. We know this because we all heard him and laughed with him.

You never had to guess what was in Bob’s head. That’s because he was unfiltered. Whatever he was thinking was seconds away from rolling out of his mouth. Bob was usually not politically correct. But that was part of his charm.

If you weren’t laughing with him, you sat there – (sometimes in fear, sometimes in awe) – of what he was about to say. We knew this about Bob by being in his presence.

Goodness. There are many words to describe Bob, and perhaps I gave you a glimpse, but I’m sure those of you who knew him have a pocketful of endearments for Bob. The one that dominates my thoughts right now was his GOODNESS. You can precede the entire vast inventory of Bob’s traits with “He was a good ______________.” Person, Son, Brother, Husband, Dad, Granddad, Uncle, Co-Worker … the list is endless.

But all can be wrapped in genuine, golden GOODNESS. To the core. Without reservation. He was the real deal. We knew that by being blessed by Bob.

Bob was the hardest working person I’ve ever known. Our Dad passed down the trait to us. Thank God for Blue Collar upbringings. Bob worked for me several years, most of the 1980s.

All I had to do is point to the work and step out of his way. Quickly. He picked up a set of skills largely on his own and by cook-booking my work. And then he turned it into something better, adding his own brand.

When he was a young teenager, I once visited him at a hamburger stand where he was working. He could talk, laugh and flip hamburgers with his hands moving faster than I could keep up with. The scene remains a Kodak moment in my mind.

He was a fantastic utility rate analyst and consultant. But the fact is – he loved work for the great value that comes with fulfilling, hard work of any type. Many of us knew that by bearing witness to his productivity.

Bob was a Christian. And more than in name, he had a true relationship with Christ. Knowing this eases the pain. It’s a huge factor in our acceptance of losing him!

You didn’t have to guess about Bob’s faith. He felt it. He showed it. He shared it.
It would be impossible for me to count the number of times he told me that he was praying for Linda and me. We felt Bob’s love.

There are wonderful analogies that help understand or at least accept the mysteries of death and beyond. For example, the Chaplain in the hospital said we walked Bob to the bridge, and then Jesus and the Angels walked him to the other side. I buy that.

Others I like (and now am stealing) include about Bob being in a quiet boat on a calm lake slowly drifting to the other side to be received into his heavenly home. I’ll take that one, too.

But the fascination I have is with the actual moment of his entry into Heaven. I wish Bob could tell me about it right now.

Was it like the peripheral views of the camera in the opening scene of Gone with the Wind going from the outside and swooping through the huge doors of the mansion and into the room full of music and dance?

Were there 10,000 Angels singing at that moment and even now? Oh, how wonderful! Did the sounds wash over you, Bob?

What is it like to be in the presence of Jesus, to hear His voice, to touch His hand? What does the Voice of God sound like to the ear?

Was there a warmth, an indescribable embrace? Did you fall on your knees in awe? After all these years of grasping and savoring the reality of a Savior, Bob, what did the Lord’s arms feel like?

We don’t know exactly yet, … but Bob does. Bob is there with full knowledge, complete benefits, totally absorbing the ultimate experience! We will miss him here, but it is hard to be totally sad knowing he’s There. Praise God for Bob!

Lest you think these thoughts were formed just to eulogize Bob, his son Jason found a love-poem I wrote Bob 25 years ago on his birthday recording about 80% of these thoughts and observations. Like I said, Bob was the real deal. And he knew it.

Big Brother. It dawned on me last night that for Bob’s 64 years I have been the big brother of sorts. Ahead of him in school, driving, college, marriage, parenting and career. But on December 14, 2015, Bob became MY big brother. I find solace in that thought. And that is how I will think of him until we meet again. LFM

On Pensions & Promises

.Reading time 13 minutes.

Introduction.

Today is when I make a lot of people mad. My preference would be just the opposite. I treasure my municipal family. I am also a taxpayer, as are we all. But mostly I’m a realist – or at least I try to be. In the end, however, I simply respect arithmetic.

From 1973 to 1980, I was an employee of local government, almost five years in the City of Garland and two years at Dallas County. While in Garland, I was part of the Texas Municipal Retirement System (TMRS). The last thing on my mind at that time was retirement. We received a printout each year of our projected retirement pay under TMRS. All I remember is how large the numbers were. To be honest, I didn’t believe them.

It would be years before I would be fully aware of the story behind those numbers. The Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) imposed on governments the obligation to disclosure unfunded liabilities. GASB was formed in that era due to the great embarrassment when the bankruptcy of New York City got largely blamed on the accounting profession.

In recent years here in Texas, Bob Scott, ACM/CFO of the City of Carrollton dug into what everybody considered to be the most conservative and most secure pension fund of them all, TMRS. Bob found a number of things that did not make sense. He inquired, then challenged and before long he was the voice of truth in the eyes of his peers, the finance directors in Texas. However, he stepped on some toes. His city manager, Leonard Martin, was getting some calls from his peer level and some HR directors wanting Bob to keep his mouth shut. If you know Leonard and Bob, you know full well that was not going to happen.

Before long the executive director of TMRS was gone. And so were the actuaries that had been advising for a half-century.

The Arithmetic.

The concept behind the complicated actuarial math is not too hard to understand. Contribute money into a pot that can be invested in things that earn money. And then subtract the payouts to retirees based on the health of the fund. Lastly, stay whole. By that I mean stay up with the current value of those payouts.

Each city in TMRS has their own plan, and plans vary widely. So, let’s tinker with the City of Fiscal Bliss, my imaginary city I’ve used since I taught MPA classes at SMU back in the 1970s. None of the cities started out this way, but let’s assume that the Contribution side was the employee only. The payout wouldn’t be too impressive but, hey, any annuity at a decent earnings rate rolls up into a nice sum of money given several years of dollars contributed.

Now, let’s add a contribution from the city. Let’s start with a 1:1 match, then 1.5:1 match and round out with a 2:1 match. Whoa! Look at that payout. Put the payout on steroids by assuming the future investment rate of return is 5%, 7%, 9%. Hey, it will NEVER be less than 5%, so why not build a minimum guaranteed earnings rate into the plan? Wait, we can do better than that by adding a feature that says the payout will be automatically adjusted for big portion of CPI. And the payout will be until you die. Or your spouse dies.

Lastly, let’s take the retirement age and conditions down. Instead of being eligible after 25 years of service, let’s make that 20 years. No, let’s make vesting at 15 years, then 10 years! Let’s do better than that. Let’s be a little more generous on how we count the years with credit given for other kinds of service.

Now, why would anybody agree to all of those pension features?

First, many of those increases in benefits were vouched for by actuaries in financial models nobody but they understood.

Second, in tough times when a city can’t give pay raises, there are efforts to give something else – something that doesn’t reveal its full impact for years later. Even things like giving all employees an extra day off seem like it doesn’t cost much. However, taking the City of Dallas as an example, one extra day off is the equivalent of the loss of productive for 52 full-time employees! In this case, some benefits were motivated by trying to substitute for other compensation that wouldn’t fly politically.

A third reason involves faulty assumptions. When you promise a 5% investment earnings minimum when a bank CD yields more than that level, it sounds good. But what if the best and safest investment instruments earn virtually zero like they have for several years now? You might be tempted to invest in riskier things that could yield 10-15%. But they could lose by that same magnitude. Maybe even 100%! Also, what happens when you start to slow in population and city employment growth while the number of retirees continues to grow?

Where Are The Risky Pension Funds?

There are 8 State Plans in Texas with an Unfunded Liability of $47.9 billion covering 2.13 million employees or about $22,488 per employee. TMRS is at $20,636 per employee and has a high funded ratio of 85.79%. Also, they have a very good (short) Amortization Period of 17.10 years. The state, county and teachers retirement systems are also relatively under control. These aren’t likely to collapse.

The story is quite different with the 85 Local Plans. You can regularly read negative news stories about the biggest ones in this group. The Unfunded Liability for the Dallas Police & Fire Pension Plan is $213,712 per member and is only 63.80% funded. The Amortization Period is … get this … Infinite. I’ll let you review the spreadsheet recap on your own.

Red Flag. Red Flag. Red Flag.

Out of the 85 Local Plans, there are 12 called Title 109 Plans. They were created under a different state legislation than the other 73 Local Plans. Why is this important to know? Yesterday, the State Attorney General revealed a request for a formal opinion from the Chair of the Texas House of Representatives Committee on Ways and Means.

March 8, 2016

Dear General Paxton,

I am writing to request your formal opinion on a question related to those municipal retirement systems of which some or all of their pension plans have been put into state statute.

As of 2015, Texas has thirteen local retirement systems specifically enabled by state statute, with their provisions located in Article 6243, Vernon’s Civil Statutes (also known as Title 109). Local retirement systems established in Title 109 have “their contribution rates, benefit levels and the composition of their board of trustees set in state statute,” according to the Texas Pension Review Board.

Rising pension and healthcare costs, unpredictable revenues, aging infrastructure, high debt load, and increasing costs for the delivery of city services threaten municipalities’ ability to balance budgets and maintain strong credit ratings. When these challenges put municipalities at risk for defaulting, does the oversight role played by title State Legislature in these specific municipal retirement systems cause the State to assume some or all of the liability? Should one of these specific municipal retirement systems fail to meet its obligation, is the State responsible for ensuring that agreed upon payments are made?

With respect to the size of these pension systems and their impact on city budgets, and the role played by the State Legislature in their creation and maintenance, it is imperative that the Legislature have a clear understanding of the consequences of decisions made in regards to these municipal retirement systems.

Thank you in advance for your consideration of this matter. Please contact me if you need any additional information regarding this request.

Best regards,
Representative Jim Murphy

I could only find 12 of the 12 plans or funds mentioned in the letter to the AG. They are:

Austin Employees’ Retirement System
Austin Fire Fighters Relief & Retirement Fund
Austin Police Retirement System
Dallas Police & Fire Pension System
El Paso Firemen’s Pension Fund
El Paso Police Pension Fund
Fort Worth Employees’ Retirement Fund
Galveston Employees’ Retirement Plan for Police
Houston Firefighters’ Relief & Retirement Fund
Houston Municipal Employees Pension System
Houston Police Officers Pension System
San Antonio Fire & Police Pension Fund

What does this sound like to you? Good luck with cities trying to tell the state these bad boys are their fault. Or maybe it is the state hearing about what is coming and wanting to go ahead and knock out this legal path before the next legislative session.

In Closing.

One of the things I thought I would never see and hear in my career is the decision for a state or local government to declare bankruptcy. Now it is happening all over the country. In my mind, the last state that could possibly declare bankruptcy or to break a promise on a pension is Texas. Now here is what blows me away. We’ve got this Texas Swagger ad nauseam about how robust things are at the same time we FINALLY have some signs like this letter that somebody is trying to figure out how to get out of their financial problems. The City of Dallas recently lost the cherished AAA bond rating. Why? The pension funds. The CFO has lost her job (moved over to another position) and she isn’t even directly responsible for the pension funds.

The reality is that promises were made based on faulty arithmetic. And when confronted with correct math, those in charge of solving the problem are beneficiaries of the numbers that don’t work.

Ah, but the can has been kicked down the road for decades and has finally hit a wall. LFM

The Strong Know How to Surrender

.Reading time 9 minutes.

We have been taught to never surrender
And there are places where that makes sense.
But relationships you desire to engender
Require you to calculate the expense.

For to grasp two sides is a decision
One bravely intentionally makes.
The easy path is senseless collision
That at best leads to futile stalemates.

Surrendering steps must be inspected
And the forum carefully designed.
To yield means all sides are by choice respected
With pledges for sincere dialogue enshrined.

To surrender is a strength smeared as weakness;
The insult for efforts to go below the surface.
Yet to trade peacemaking clarity for obliqueness,
Leaders must calibrate a new compass.

The loose verse is intended to encapsulate a proposition. Please allow me to expand for I know of few messages more important than this one.

Already you may have your teeth clinched if you are thinking of military battle training or even the high school coach still screaming in your head. You see, that is part of the problem I’m addressing. It is instilled in us to never surrender. Otherwise, how would we ever get out of college much less win a football game? My blue-collar family background taught me that I will make it in life for a couple of reasons. I will do whatever it takes to provide for my family (yep, I’ve cleaned restrooms in my past), and I will also outwork 95 out of 100 people.

The Personal Level

That no-surrender mindset may work just fine until it affects critical relationships. The divorce rate in our communities speaks for itself, and we all know it mostly boils down to communication issues. Yes, the specific topics are God, money, intimacy, children and even in-laws. But it is the lack of communication that is the central issue. And if we go a level below that barrier we will usually find that the very core issue is the inability to surrender.

And so how is this battle of the wills created and sustained? I am guessing that it is mostly passed down from the parents to the child, and most of us are both. We have an acquaintance with two teenage sons. In the last eight years there has been a constant battle with nobody willing to give in. Grades are not worth much if you sacrifice a relationship. The result is that the oldest son joined the Army as soon as he got out of high school.

Sadly, the exact same thing is happening between the parents and the youngest son. If ever there was a roadmap for relationship disasters, this is it. And the replication confirms that the parents have no concept of the key aspect of relationships, and that is knowing how to balance being firm with an effort to enjoy the merits of finding a middle ground.

Organizations

I have always found it interesting that many times the higher up you look in an organization, the more personable and relaxed the interaction might be with the person at or near the top. Why is that? Could it be the more senior executive has learned about relationships? At a junior level, there are often egos and the competitive pressures to excel. Again, balance comes into play here. But climbing the ladder to reach a lofty position doesn’t mean you can keep it. Woe to the wicked, Sancho, if you cross a junior executive a little too anxious to conquer the world with no regard to relationships. And, equally, how interesting when there is a failure by that same junior due to immaturity, haste, plus the encounter with peers and even underlings who will help you fail.

We can all recount the stories of relationships between department heads. Interestingly, I have found that many city managers are clueless since department heads all put on a good face in the staff meeting or when talking one-on-one with the executive. But the wasted time is senseless when spent on making yourself look good, and someone else look bad, only understood by the unpublished underground org chart. How can it be that so many people can rise through the ranks through their technical excellence only to be newbies again when they reach a supervisory or managerial level? How can we miss the most vital ingredient in relationship management – learning how to surrender without the actions and words being construed as a weakness rather than a strength?

Politics

And then we move to the elected body where instead of one executive there is a group that must make decisions. Worse, and I think this is the most wrong-headed anointment of all, they have committed to fight for their territory with an abused excuse that it is out of duty and honor.

Whoa! So we have moved to the ugliest of motives for making decisions that affect the future of our communities. I’m here to win! I was elected to fight for my district. My method, sanctioned by my voters (all few hundred of them) is to take no prisoners. The adrenaline rush of power numbs the senses for building trusting relationships. So we form a few coalitions to get the needed minimum votes and take charge of the politics.

Questions & Considerations

Are we to live forever in an environment of stalemates and that be the best we can do? Is that all there is? Not for me, life is too short.

How can we move to an environment where the art of professional and personal surrendering is viewed as a strength? Somehow we have to set a standard to replace the argument that to win is everything at all costs and with no concern for relationships? Who taught us that mindset? How can we raise the bar and give key managers and leaders permission to operate on an adult-to-adult level? How can we teach that it is partly a skill to be learned and partly a decision you have to make to transform building better relationships into a top priority?

Is it possible that communication, trust and respect be made the hallmarks of an organization? Would it make a difference if we were to put the topic of successful surrendering in front of our organizations? Is this a skill that can be taught? Is this a potential cultural amendment to our corporate constitution? By that I mean genuine change that resets the organizational GPS for future decades.

I think it is possible, but it would take some leadership. LFM

Originally written and sent to the McKinney City Council August 31, 2014. Updated March 10, 2016.

Rumors, Facts & Standard Setters

.Reading time 9 minutes.

Introduction

I get a lot of people telling me things here in McKinney. A few would not earn a high credibility award. But most would. However, even the most credible tip has to be treated as a rumor until I can get the facts. Most facts should be discoverable if accurate and complete minutes are taken in meetings of the City Council, Planning & Zoning and the two primary Money Boards – McKinney Economic Development Corporation (MEDC) and McKinney Community Development Corporation (MCDC).

If the meetings are videotaped, those recordings help considerably. Even a complete transcript of a meeting is missing something if you can’t see the body language and hear the tone of voice. I once wrote my city council that a particular item they were discussing the night before was revealing. The words coming out of their mouths did not match the expressions on their faces. They were tiptoeing around a subject matter and were trying too hard to say one thing without meaning another. Plus, they were being recorded, which has its good and bad aspects.

Once in an email I called out a particular council member known for his support of a particular developer. He was lazily sitting there assuming a vote for the developer was going his way. Then there were some deep questions and some tones that indicated uncertainty of the merit of the rezoning request by one, then two, then three council members. All of a sudden he sat up straight, scooted closer to the microphone and tried to formulate his thoughts to steer the discussion back for the developer. An exact transcript would have missed the comical body language.

The Weight Given To Rumors

There are times when different weights should be given to rumors. I often hear a “rumor” (my initial classification) from two or more credible sources, often over a period of a few months. Their comments seem independent, and I don’t suspect they are repeating each other’s or a third party’s rumor. I am likely to give a lot of weight to this kind of information even though I need more verification before calling it a fact.

An example is a “rumor” I heard from at least three credible people that the City’s responses to Open Records Requests (ORR) were being filtered by someone. That’s pretty serious and even gets into the realm of tampering with official government documents to my way of thinking. The weight I was giving to that “rumor” jumped 10x when I made one ORR asking for a document I heard existed. It was about an inappropriate urging from an MEDC Board Member to consider selling a piece of property to one of his bank clients. My ORR included a date range. I received about 300 pages of email copies, but the ORR response did not have what I was looking to find. So I asked again if the City was sure about their search. Then I got another 90 pages of emails. Still not there. Finally, I asked my source for the specific date and subject line and amended my ORR. Surprise! I got it. So then I asked the City for the query code for all three searches. I could not see where the first search query did not find the document.

To this day, I want to think the City was honest in its efforts even though they fell on their sword saying they could not explain the missed search. But do you see how one can start giving weight to “rumors” from multiple, credible people when you place a rumor in the context of an actual personal experience?

Perception.

I will be talking a lot about the importance of perception in my blogs. In many professions, we learn as students and then into practice that perception is given the same weight as fact. In public service, perception may even be greater than reality. I will be so bold as to say it doesn’t matter if you are fair and independent if you are not perceived as being so. What do we do about this dilemma? Mainly, we go out of your way to be both fair and independent AND to be perceived as fair and independent.

I mention this now even though my topic is about rumors and facts. These topics are intertwined with related subjects such as perception, ethics, transparency, intellectual honesty and a host of other words that define us as individual and organizations.

Tolerance & Passive Approval

You might be asking yourself why I haven’t taken my concerns to city officials. I have. I have met with the Mayor and Interim City Manager on numerous occasions to discuss many of these topics about which I am writing. I did not like the responses. Many of the responses were excuses for the bad behavior of others. Some were that procedures are now in place to prevent something from happening again. Those are appreciated. Some responses were agreements that things need changed or that they were being addressed privately. I hope so.

But I wonder. The McKinney culture is to be tolerant. At least until faced with a complaint. Some tolerance is expected and necessary. Yet tolerance often ends up setting a low standard. It is always easy to reach a low bar. Tolerance and even non-confrontational demeanor often translate into passive approval. Over time, nobody even knows they are doing something questionable.

The Need for Standard Setters

We are a few short months away from getting a new city manager in McKinney. We are about a year away from getting a new mayor and more new council members. We need some new standard setters. We need leaders who will call out bad behavior and communicate a lack of tolerance for anything less than the highest ethical standards. If leaders lead and set standards, then a code of conduct or a code of ethics in written form is unnecessary. It should exude from the leaders. It should be in their DNA.

It starts with the Mayor. We need a mayor who will not place being friends with everybody ahead of being a leader. I have told both the Mayor and Interim City Manager that I am offended that I’ve got to be the one to spend my time digging into rumors to prove they are facts already known – or should already be known by them. We have some smart people here in McKinney, citizens and those on the Council, Boards and Commissions. I simply don’t understand why they aren’t motivated to change the culture, to raise the standards AND to confront the issues that allow true transparency to thrive? LFM

Dear City Council: Please Move McKinney Money Board Meetings to the Council Chambers & Video Tape Them

.Reading time 8 minutes.

Sent August 20, 2015
Updated March 8, 2016

Dear City Council Members:

I think you made a terrific move Tuesday night (August 18) by changing the McKinney Economic Development Corporation and McKinney Community Development Corporation (MEDC/MCDC) by-laws to place more oversight and control under the City Manager. You are heading in the right direction, and I am very appreciative of this action.

There are some other moves that I request the council to consider in view of your stated commitment to open government and transparency.

The first is to require all MEDC and MCDC meetings to be held in council chambers. The creation and design of the council chambers to convey openness is not by accident. It would convey a willingness for citizens to better understand and question where $20 million is spent each and every year. Even for people not attending the MEDC/MCDC meetings, a trip to pay their utility bill would allow them to see the business of McKinney being conducted and easily step in to listen to the content. It is no secret that being in a separate building, a bank/business building, is less inviting than being inside the seat of government owned by the citizens of McKinney. Please consider moving the MEDC/MCDC meetings to council chambers as soon as possible. Surely you appreciate the distinction of being in city hall versus a bank building several miles away. Or is the location away from city hall by design?

Related, I would ask that have the MEDC/MCDC meetings held in council chambers to be video and audio recorded. The cost should be minimal since the camera and recording system is in place. And anybody giving away $20 million annually can surely afford the incremental cost. This would allow everybody, including the council members themselves, to review a recording of a meeting they could not attend. I place the recording of the MEDC/MCDC meetings on the same level of importance as moving those meetings to the council chambers. Put bluntly, the standards of recording and proper minutes set for the City Council and P&Z Commission are not applied to these two Money Boards.

Again, related, all council meetings, MEDC meetings and MCDC meetings (as well as P&Z and others) are required by the Open Meetings Act to publicly announce a final action, decision, or vote on a matter deliberated in a closed meeting. I’m not an attorney but part of the TML workshop on this subject covers the requirement to explain how councils and boards arrived at a decision – irrespective of a topic in open session or closed session.

An Example: Servergy – The Company Connected to Ken Paxton Investigation

But let’s talk about practical steps that coincide with your pledges to open government and transparency.

I often find it very difficult to understand how the council and boards arrive at their decisions. The original Servergy contract might have been properly done in a closed session when the project was being considered. However, once decided, what was the rationale for the award? That should be a public explanation. Further, are the progress reports on approved projects done in public session or closed session? What would be the justification for a closed session unless you were considering a lawsuit? When Servergy applied for a second $50,000 extension, the decision was made in executive session. Why? When the votes were taken, there is no record of the rationale. In fact, there is no record of any discussion that I can find.

When the council is presented a zoning case by the staff with a staff recommendation, a motion to go with the staff recommendation may not need any additional discussion. The capable staff has provided the background and reasoning. However, if there is no discussion, a motion is made and the vote is 5-2 or 2-5 (for instance), there is an implied obligation (forget the legal obligation) to explain to the public how the body deliberated (a critical missing element) and arrived at the decision. To do otherwise would suggest the body read each others’ minds or met secretly (including a walking quorum) to be in a position to properly vote.

You, Council, Need to Set the Standard

Therefore, I would request that the council do a good job and set the standard for all boards to document their decisions and votes. A good deliberation (facts, findings, conclusions) recorded with votes is the quintessence of open government.

I would like to point out one other sign of a lack of transparency. There is an agenda item on the special meeting called for next Monday night (August 24) when you are to consider appointments to boards and commissions. But as I understand it, the names can come in as late as Monday at noon. And the meeting does not provide for comments on the candidates. Nor is there sufficient time anyway. Why would you claim transparency and then have it so nobody even sees the candidates nor can they make comments before the decision has been made? That’s flat weird!

It is my request that you publicly make available all of the names being considered by the time of the meeting, take any other suggestions for candidates at the meeting the council may suggest, and then close the opportunity for any names to be suggested. THEN do not make a decision until your next meeting so the public can see the list and make comments to you. How could you possibly argue with taking this public disclosure step before appointing even these two boards controlling $20 million per year?

My last request is that you require all candidates for boards and commissions, as well as the sitting boards and commissions, file Financial Disclosure Reports. Surely I don’t have to explain the reason for my request.

Thank you for considering these items.

Lewis F. McLain, Jr.

BTW, It’s March 8, 2016, and I cannot find where you have considered my request to live out your campaign pledges. MEDC/MCDC will be the topic of several of my blogs since I don’t see sufficient scrutiny of $20 million per year you apply to other parts of the budget.

Lifelong Learning

.Reading time 10 minutes.

Welcome to my blog site at http://www.citybaseblog.net. It is still a work in progress. I will be tweaking the site for some time since I’m still learning about features. However, I am settled on the general design and colors for the time being. The photo carousel is something I’m just playing with in an effort to add something that might give some visuals to make us think. Maybe even amuse us.

Introduction

I have a great interest in lifelong learning. There are several reasons for my fascination. I was born in August exactly two years after the bomb was dropped on Hiroshima from the Enola Gay. That early August birth meant an unfortunate thing happened to me regarding education. I started to school three weeks after I turned six-years-old with no kindergarten back then. For my entire life (well at least into my 20s or 30s), I have sensed I was always a year behind. Being a lazy student didn’t help. I got out of high school ill-equipped for college. And I proved it that first semester.

Actually, I did not start studying seriously until I got out of college. My accounting degree afforded me some wonderful technical skills for which I will forever be grateful, although the course work was hard for me. My passion was actually cost accounting and budgeting that caught my imagination. However, college had things reversed for me. The first two years of liberal arts should have been at the end for me. I managed to get out of college without being able to write a decent memo. And I proved it my first year or two in the workplace.

Then I got in the groove of things, forcing myself to write something semi-intelligent every day. It was also the first few years out of college before I really started acquiring an interest in history, economics and literature. Regarding writing and finding a voice, that came exactly when the microcomputer and word processing arrived on the scene. As it turns out, I was horrible writing on a yellow pad. If someone had asked me to name the most valuable course in college, I would have answered that it was actually in high school: Typing 101, way before Keyboarding amped up the skill. Then thinking was the surprise benefit of writing.

I’m still a year behind or at least that is the way my psyche works. And I’m in a hurry to learn. I love numbers, I love pictures, and I love words. Fortunately the number of opportunities to continue an education are endless. I want to tell you about a recent tool I discovered.

Lynda.com

I must confess that classroom training is not my best learning environment. While not bad, there are too many distractions, usually the students in the classroom either ahead or behind me. My attention span has never been excellent and may be getting worse. But that’s my fault, not so much the classroom. I do need the visuals, and I do need the voice for emphasis. But I also need the pause. I digest information at differing paces.

I have found the perfect tool for me is on Lynda.com. Even though I’m prepared to pitch hard, I am not compensated in any way. Here is what I found. There are over 3,000 videos on a huge library of topics found at this site. Unlike the well-meaning homemade and untested YouTube videos of poor audio and video quality I have tried, these are high definition videos. They are from a few minutes to several hours in length. However, the videos are broken down into segments of about 5 minutes each on the average.

For me, the price of education and skill-building training is reasonable if I can have it handy any time I want to have a spoonful or a full meal of it. That means it must be on my iPhone or iPad. Due to my eyesight (cataract surgery coming up in two weeks!), I prefer the ability to set the lighting and font size to my liking. Therefore, I elected to take the more expensive (but still cheap) option of being able to download many hours of videos on my iPad, so I could get an orientation into blog site and Photoshop tools while on our cruise last week.

I logged about 20 hours in my technical education last week. Twenty delightful hours. With my headphones on to minimize distractions and while my wife was reading, I immersed myself in several high quality videos from Lynda.com. One course was over five hours long. The time flew by, and my attention span was at the highest ever. Irrespective of the subject matter, these videos are lessons on how to teach, present technical information and how to stay at the right level of details. There are skillfully placed reviews and natural pause points to digest before continuing on. And, of course, it was easy to rewind and replay any segment I wanted.

Keeping The Mind Sharp

I have a friend from junior high days, Steve, who lives in Houston. We text and email back and forth on a regular basis. Often several times each day. We discuss a wide range of topics. Steve is much more of a historian than I am. My technical skill set is perhaps stronger, but we seem to complement each other and can carry on a conversation for long periods of time. All full of humor, too.

Since we are both in our late sixties, we revisit the topic of keeping our minds active on a regular basis. It is clear that staying interested in a variety of topics is critical. But the requirement to push ourselves to learn and to think has never been more important. We live in such a bizarre world that making sense of it gets more complex each day. So, reaching the top of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is partly to expand ourselves, but so is the appreciation and experience of each level of that hierarchy. Embedded in the experience is the reality that the mind is very likely to wear out before the body does. And that is where, I think, lifelong learning comes into play.

It’s about stretching, pushing, getting out a comfort zone (and that includes my beloved recliner and big screen TV) and taking on a big challenge to grow our minds.

Conclusion & My Pitch

I think for some people that could mean considering unlocking the mysteries of local government and deciding to consider getting involved. Wait! That’s too easy. Let me say it this way. It would mean learning about governance and equipping yourself to be the best, smartest, wisest, fairest and most highly motivated public servant walking the earth. It goes way beyond being a political animal. That is cheap public service. It’s not about plotting to make yourself look good or an opponent to look bad.

It is about marrying the ability to visualize a future with the technical knowledge and skills to oversee policy that make the best future happen. It’s not about getting elected and then learning how local government works. It’s just the opposite.

We need some lifelong learners who will see the value of having a professional staff working with a council that has the skill set to be professional in demeanor and in contribution.  And there is no reason why the citizen base itself can’t be helped along with lifelong learning of local government since it is all about serving them. That’s a big part of my motivation to blog and start a conversation with you. LFM