County hears from tea party

A crowd of around 50 people made it through the rain to attend the Ector County commissioners’ second public hearing on the proposed fiscal year 2010-2011 budget.

Many came to the event wearing shirts representing groups like the Odessa Tea Party and West Texas Patriots, calling for the county to cut spending further. But it was one speaker who discussed recently ousted public works director Fred Crawford who would cause the most stir.

Chet Bales, a former county commissioner candidate himself, said the county opened itself up for a lawsuit when commissioners voted 3-2 to eliminate Crawford’s position from the upcoming budget, which goes into effect Oct. 1.

“We fired somebody a couple years ago, and it cost the county a lot of money,” said Bales, who said he doesn’t know Crawford. “I’m afraid that’s what’s going to happen here. I think we’re opening ourselves up to a big, big lawsuit.”

Bales was referring to a lawsuit in which Donna Thomas Jordan was awarded $64,000 in back and future pay in 2008 after a jury determined her civil rights were violated. District Clerk Janis Morgan had fired her in 2005, three years after Morgan defeated Jordan in a district clerk election.

When asked after the meeting if she agreed with Bales’ assessment of the possibility of a lawsuit, Redford said, “plain and simple, yes, I do feel that,” pointing to the Jordan case as precedent.

“I don’t know what the motivation is behind the move, but there’s public speculation that it’s political,” said Redford, who voted against eliminating the public works position. “And if it is, we are exposed.”

Despite the controversy, the audience avoided any outbursts or even clapping for remarks members agreed with.

Some criticized the county’s plan to change its longevity pay eligibility from 25 to 10 years.

“Especially since you have the step pay increase, why do you need to change it to 10 years?” said Elizabeth Wooldridge, Odessa Tea Party president.

While former Odessa City Councilman Javier Joven praised commissioners for making some cuts to the budget, he said there’s more to be done. On Monday, they eliminated $720,000 from the proposed 2010-2011 budget, but also had to spend $565,000 on additional health insurance.

“You are the one entity right now that has been responsive to the taxpayers,” Joven told commissioners.

Some praised commissioners for eliminating the public works director position, which paid $61,654.57 annually.

“I don’t know the person personally,” said Tea Party member Dawn Tucker, referring to Crawford. “I don’t know what he looks like. I wouldn’t know him if he walked in the room, but I know the position was created two years ago, and we went a long time without it.”

But others said commissioners made a mistake letting Crawford go.

Winston Kenworthy, chairman of the Ector County Airport Advisory Board, said Crawford has been important in dealing with representatives from the Texas Department of Transportation, construction companies and others as part of airport upgrades.

“Fred has been the point man on this from years back,” Kenworthy said. “He has been effective, and he has been, without a doubt, the best person to lead this project.”

David Boutin took commissioners to task for dismissing Crawford in a public meeting with no notice.

“I think blindsiding one of your senior managers was not the correct way to conduct business,” he said.

After the meeting, Commissioner Greg Simmons, who crafted the cuts at Monday’s meeting, including the elimination of the public works director, said he wished he could have discussed the possible move with Crawford before the meeting, but that could have gone wrong if other commissioners hadn’t approved the move.

“The problem is that’s the way the county government has to operate, everything has to be done in open meetings,” Simmons said.

He also said commissioners must work to make sure airport improvements stay on track.

“We are going to have extra focus on that,” he said. “We can’t let it fall behind just because the guy who’s heading it is going to be out of the picture.”

Simmons said the leaders of the departments currently under Crawford would be able to handle reporting directly to commissioners.

“We’ve got 10 departments (now) that report directly to us,” he said. “They haven’t had any problems over the years. The four or five departments that report directly to him, I feel they can do just as well.”

Others in the county defended Crawford, whose job was put in jeopardy after commissioners voted Monday to eliminate his position from the 2010-2011 budget.

“He is just a very hard-working and loyal person,” County Attorney Cindy Weir-Nutter said in an e-mail to the Odessa American.

Weir-Nutter said an official from another area government entity told her they’d once tried to hire Crawford, but he was too loyal to the county to leave his position.

Weir-Nutter said that with commissioners' offices at the county annex building, located at 1010 East Eighth St., they are separate from many of the departments they oversee.

“The frustrating, and frankly dangerous, position we are in right now is that the county is ‘managed’ by people who are elected to represent their own sections of the county, and may not have the education, training and/or experience to manage a large government entity,” she wrote in the e-mail.

Weir-Nutter also took aim on commissioners' spending decisions, in which she said they always ask the question, “will this cost money?”

“My educational background is in business management, and the problem with that reasoning is that there comes a point of diminishing returns,” she said. “I have seen decisions made where positions are not funded that would pay for themselves, sometimes many times over, and some which would literally bring in hundreds of thousands of dollars and are commonly utilized by other counties.”

She said the county has had to pass on grants and other funding because of a lack of personnel. And capital projects and repairs are often “put off” leaving “significant problems and mounting bills for future generations.”

“This information is not shared with the public because, it seems, the main concern is for them to think that everything is being run effectively and there is never a need for additional funds, even though the county is growing and the buildings, equipment and other structures continue to deteriorate,” she wrote.

Weir-Nutter said that residents understand the need for additional support and funding once they are given background.

“I just think it is difficult for some to share that information and go that route,” she said.

The directors of several departments who now report to Crawford will report directly to commissioners if the public works director position is left out of the final budget Sept. 13. While many of them didn’t want to discuss the situation this week, cemetery director Martha Fierro did praise the work Crawford has done.

“I love Mr. Crawford,” she said. “I’m going to miss him a lot. In the time that I’ve worked with Mr. Crawford, he’s been a great leader.”

Efforts to reach Crawford, who didn’t attend Thursday’s hearing, were unsuccessful.

Simmons said he was impressed by the turnout at the event.

“It’s definitely the longest financial hearing we’ve ever had,” he said. “Whether it’s the Tea Party getting the word out or whatever. It is good to see the public getting more involved. Too many times we see elected officials forget that we work for them.”

While Simmons said he didn’t have any additional specific cuts planned before commissioners take a final vote on the budget Sept. 13, he would give it another look this weekend.

Currently, the county has a proposed property tax rate of 35.6372 cents per $100 valuation. That is above the effective rate of 34.298 cents, which keeps revenue the same as the current fiscal year.

Redford said she doesn’t know what changes might still be ahead for the budget.

“This year has been a very unique process for us, so I’m not really sure what we’re going to see,” she said.