Sometimes it’s difficult to know where to start. So many lies. So many distortions. So much ugliness.
Guess we’ll just dig in and try to get to the bottom of the pile of manure.
On Jan. 31, Jamie Tisdale on the Odessa Accountability Facebook page posted a list of 32 “accomplishments” completed by the folks Ector County Republican Chairwoman Tisha Crow helped put on the City Council.
She said she doesn’t mind “reporting the facts” and called the list “indisputable.”
Listed at No. 28: “Successfully won all lawsuits filed against the city. None currently pending.”
We guess Tisdale doesn’t know the difference between winning and settling. The Odessa American reported just four months ago that the City of Odessa paid out nearly $465,000 to settle three lawsuits, all involving traffic collisions.
One of the lawsuits involved the death of three teenagers and cost the city half a million dollars.
Worse yet, former Assistant City Manager Aaron Smith’s whistleblower lawsuit against the city is still alive and well in Ector County District Court. Tisdale may have forgotten him, but we’re sure you haven’t.
He’s the guy who claims he was fired because he had the audacity to ask various law enforcement agencies to investigate whether Mayor Javier Joven violated the Texas Open Meetings Act when the council fired City Manager Michael Marrero and City Attorney Natasha Brooks in December 2022. He also asked them to investigate the legality of Joven signing a contract with T2 Professional Consulting Services without first presenting it to the full City Council for consideration.
A quick online check of Ector District Court records also shows at least three other pending lawsuits against the City.
Indisputable?
No. 23 on the list: Appointed responsible board members to the Odessa Development Corporation who said “No” to giving Nacero $2 million for promised incentives because they did not comply with contractual agreement.
Um. According to a May 24, 2023, letter from Nacero’s Wesley Burnett, they didn’t even ask for their second incentive payment because they knew they weren’t going to meet their obligations. (They met 98% their first year and were given their $2 million.)
“We would like to make sure the city and ODC do not expend time or funds in performing an audit of the last year, this would be a waste of time and dollars that could be allotted to other areas,” Burnett wrote. “We continue to work hard and are striving to attain the goals for the third year of the agreement.”
Again, indisputable? Facts?
Making No. 3 on Tisdale’s list was “overhauling the court after more than a million dollars worth of citations were written off.” Now we don’t know how many citations have been written off or even the amount of those citations. What we do know, however, is that former court director Kimberly Jozwiak told us STATE LAW dictates specific cases may be deemed uncollectible by the court after 15 years.
They weren’t indiscriminately closed without authority and, in fact, outside auditors told city officials it was detrimental for cities to carry so much uncollectible debt on their books, Jozwiak told us.
No. 7 on the list: “Restructured all city departments and set them on zero-based budgets making them more efficient and cutting wasteful spending.”
We guess Tisdale didn’t take a gander at the FY23-24 budget for the city. The general fund expenditures for this year are nearly $14 million higher than last year.
We actually reported in August how much each department’s budget had increased. Precious few departments had their budgets cut.
We’re really befuddled by No. 32 on Tisdale’s list: “Deposited to the bank several million dollars that was in the city’s safe when they terminated former city manager, Michael Marrero.”
Wouldn’t you think that if that was truly the case, there’d be some mention of it during all of the American Rescue Plan Act discussions held recently? “Hey, guess what Citizens of Odessa? We just found millions of dollars and we’re going to spend it to fix A, B and C roads and X, Y and Z at the wastewater plant! We can spend some ARPA money here instead. Isn’t that great news?”
We haven’t heard anything of the kind.
Moreover, when we filed a Texas Public Information Act request for any memos, emails, texts or documents about this huge discovery, we didn’t receive a single item in response. Nada. Zip. Zilch. We don’t believe there were millions found.
No. 6: “Pulled the plug on $10 million worth of frivolous pet projects.” OK. What projects? Really. Haven’t heard anything of that kind during council meetings.
We also find it curious that these fake news sites are consistently praising Joven and council members Denise Swanner and Mark Matta for getting back to the basics, for focusing on infrastructure, infrastructure, infrastructure while crucifying past councils for “neglecting your roads, sewer, water and basic city maintenance for decades.”
But let’s take a look at some of the numbers the City of Odessa provided us following a Texas Public Information Act request. The 2020 budget for the water treatment plant was $5.4 million compared to $4.9 million this year. The 2020 budget for the wastewater treatment plant was $5.7 million. This year’s budget? $4.6 million.
We don’t know about you, but we’re not seeing a tremendous amount of difference between the City Council of old and today’s council.
The repairs and equipment budgets tell a different story, especially when it comes to the wastewater treatment plant.
The repairs and equipment budget for the water treatment plant jumped from $146,427 to $306,950 between 2020 and 2024, but what’s even more eye opening is what has happened with the wastewater treatment plant.
Last month, Councilmember Mark Matta said it appears as though regularly scheduled maintenance was never performed at the plant after hearing a dire report from some consultants.
“Everything that moves is going to have to be replaced so why has it waited 40 fricking years for it to get like this before … I mean we can do it every two years, replace these valves, replace these motors. It’s just mind boggling,” Matta said.
Remember, Joven, Matta and Swanner were sworn into office in January 2021.
According to city records, the repairs and equipment budget for the wastewater treatment plant was just under $1.3 million in 2020. It fell in 2021 to just under $905,000, then to $838,000 in 2022 and back up to $844,000 in 2023.
This year? This year, the repairs and equipment budget for the wastewater treatment plant is $664,050.
So who exactly is to blame for the crumbling wastewater plant?
Note to selves: Ask for street department budgets to see if a similar story can be told.
Now back to Tisdale’s list of accomplishments.
No. 4: Passed a no mask/vaccine mandate.
No. 9: Bringing a sports complex to Odessa.
No. 16: Establishing a free diabetes awareness clinic.
No. 18: Brought back the National Day of Prayer.
No. 19: Made Odessa a Sanctuary City for the Unborn.
While a sports complex may eventually bring money into Odessa through tournaments and ultimately be a very good thing for the area, isn’t it funny how the Joven, Swanner and Matta cabal never miss a chance to take a swipe at the public/private venture that is the Marriott but are all in on this sports complex public/private venture? We like the sports complex idea but must ask — what does it have to do with infrastructure?
Oh, and here’s another thought on the sports complex. In another of her posts, Tisdale complains former city councils spent more than $10 million remodeling the Ector Theatre. So how is the sports complex any different? Aren’t both intended to draw visitors in so they’ll spend money on hotels, food and shops?
And yes, we absolutely agree diabetes is a horrible disease that afflicts too many. And yes, we agree we’re in dire need of a regional behavioral health facility (Tisdale didn’t list the $1 million the city recently gave Medical Center Hospital for that project, but we know from other posts she’s a fan). But aren’t Joven & Co. talking out of both sides of their mouths?
If the city is really in dire straits when it comes to our water, sewers and our roads (and we have no reason to doubt it) why did they just give a combined $1.5 million to the diabetes clinic and mental health facility? Take another look at those repairs and equipment budgets and go back and read our Jan. 13 story on the wastewater treatment plant and tell us what the city’s priorities should be.
And if you agree with the Cabal? Fine. Just don’t go around bragging about the council being hyper-focused on infrastructure and don’t criticize the “Good ole boys” for pet projects. And you can’t say the diabetes clinic isn’t a pet project. Mayor Joven has shared many times he has diabetes.
Perhaps most vexing to us though, are Nos. 4, 18 and 19. Not only do these things have nothing to do with roads, sewers and water, but whatever happened to separation of church and state? Why are we having our city’s legal department spend hours researching and writing mandates, resolutions and ordinances on such items? Don’t they have better things to do? Maybe if they weren’t spending time on these things the city wouldn’t have to spend so much on outside counsel. Remember, we’ve reported the City of Odessa spent $511,265.92 last year on outside counsel — blowing their budget by $411,000.
We’re past COVID, thank goodness. The state is already a sanctuary state for the unborn and people are already going to pray on the first Thursday in May. Or not. Really, we are sick to death of all the “we are more Christian Conservative than everyone else.” Not because we don’t love our brothers and sisters in faith, but because religion has no place in politics. We honestly believe the Crow Cabal has taken a page out of the playbook of some national figures and is using fear to remain in control.
Remember, we once reported about Cabal member Jeff Russell (who is again running for a local GOP party precinct chair slot) sending an email to Joven, Matta and Swanner about a controversial Taylor, TX, Christmas parade. He wrote: “This is unreal but shows, in vivid colors, what we’re fighting for – Christian conservatives must work for control of every level of govt because the crazy, anti-God leftists are striving for control.”
Nowadays, the squad is also fighting against RINOs and what they like to call “trans Republicans.”
Again and again Tisdale is pointing out who is a Christian conservative while shamelessly promoting them on her propaganda Facebook site. She’s also pointing out that some of the opposition haven’t been involved in politics before while at the same time, oddly enough, arguing they’re part of the “good ‘ole boys.”
So, let’s say that’s actually true, they haven’t been involved in politics. Why is that such a horrible thing? Perhaps they were too busy up until now to run. Maybe they were too intimidated until now to run. Maybe they didn’t feel like they had the support they needed until now. Who knows? The point is, we should be applauding them for running now.
Maybe, just maybe, they’ll have some fresh ideas.
And maybe, just maybe, they’ll be honest, ethical and dare we say it? Kind and truthful individuals.
