The "Big Mystery" .... it comes in variations. It was the fodder of election rally cries for Professor Chuck Garner, Dr. Paul Scibielski, and Mike O'Bric. Variations yes, but essentially it went like this: What right did the previous city council have to build a "duplicate" city hall, wasting millions of taxpayer dollars? Why did they do it without asking citizens for permission? Why the conspiracy to build a Woodway Taj Mahal? Why are they wasting $100,000s on utilities for this "duplicate" city hall?
Above are copies of the the front page of the Waco Tribune Neighbor Plus Section, dated January 6, 2008. That's right, 2008 -- two and a half years ago. Written by Trib community editor Ken Sury, it details the new city building and its' completion. It details what it is to be used for, what the older building would now become, and what services would stay in the existing Public Safety building. It tells how the project came in under budget, and notes $660,000 of the project cost went to drainage improvements and the new paved parking behind city hall. Anyone who has watched a child's game at the Family Center (prior to Jan 2008) knows what a wonderful improvement this is, not only for parking sake but for nighttime safety due to parking lot lights. This lot also serves as overflow parking for Arboretum events as well. The article spends time detailing upgrades to the family center, which the city took over from a nonprofit committee. Heck, even if you didn't read the article you couldn't miss the pictures. So let's debunk the myth of the "Big Mystery" which is the newest municipal building.
First, the City of Woodway has had a long term building plan in place for years --- as any well run city should have. The plan called for adding another building as our city population grew. Good organizations know it's bad management if you wait too long to solve such a need. That is why cities develop long range plans, why efficiently run cities implement those plans before reaching a crisis point. The plan was to move certain city functions into a new building, leaving other departments in the old building with room to grow. Mission accomplished. But we also recognized a growing need for parking at the recently acquired Family Center. I can't remember the exact number, but roughly 2.5 adults show up to watch each child play in WFC sports. We discovered not only do parents come, but grandparents support their families too. Secondly, the city was prudent in funding this project. Money was set aside. When the project was complete, the city owed----zero. Nothing. The building was paid for with cash. It has never been a financial burden to the citizens, never caused their taxes to be raised one penny. Does the city pay for utilities on this building? Sure, just as Waco or Hewitt will pay when they add infrastructure. Finally, as the Trib article so vividly demonstrates, there was nothing secretive about this project. To the contrary, we wanted everyone to know that Woodway was a well managed, progressive place to live.
So you see, for anyone who cared to know, the new municipal building (now Woodway City Hall) was not and is not a mystery. But if you like to discuss mysteries, here are a couple of interesting ones to kick around:
1. With postings in the city newsletter, discussion at city council meetings, and this full page article in the paper, why didn't anyone come forward to complain until over two years later?
( Remember MOB has been sending his letter of lies for years)2. Why weren't Dr Scibielski and Dr Garner paying attention to all this public information as this project went forward, starting three years ago?
3. If they really thought citizens had been wronged and duly cheated, why didn't Scibielski and Garner run for office when council seats came open in 2009? Heck, why didn't they just come forward as concerned citizens two years ago?
Truth is, no one was meaningfully concerned about the new building until MOB started his assassination campaign against city leaders and Yost Zachary. Since neither Garner nor Scibeilski show evidence of doing homework, offer proof of looking at city records, or served the city on any board that might have given them insight, I will opinion they didn't care until MOB told them to care. MOB surely pledged he would help them get elected if they did their part by promoting his claims. Sadly, they did and he did and truth was lost along the way.
Next Blog - The Deafening Silence.
