LETTERS TO EDITOR: UNITED WATER

LETTERS TO EDITOR: UNITED WATER

January 6, 2005

Letter to the Editor,

It must be nice to sit in the comfort of your living room way up in Amarillo and tell the
Ratepayers of Laredo to cough up more money because suits do not put water in our
homes. I guess Darrell E. Hunter thinks we fell off a turnip truck last week. What is
more amazing is that the gentlemen fares from a city that runs their own utility system,
as Laredo used to do, and has ample water to last through the next century and sells
approximately 70% of their treated wastewater for irrigation purposes. How can a person such as Mr. Hunter ask us to pay more money and for what? To get the service that we already pay for and are not getting? This person cannot possibly be serious about wanting us to pay more money just because United Water feels that they should be getting more. As an example, if Mr. Hunter were to enter into a contract with some one to build his home, would he give the Contractor more money just because he later decides that contractors in other cities charge more? That is exactly what United Water has done.Although they had all of the system’s information prior to entering into a contract, now they are stating that they need more money because other cities don’t experience as many broken pipes. Who cares what happens in other Cities? Who did United Water enter into a contract with? Shouldn’t they have taken this into account before? Another argument is that the booster stations are not being installed properly. This we get for allowing our Council to let Dovalina hire an unqualified buddy of his as Director of Utilities. And why does Dovalina pay over half a million dollars a year for in-house Utility Engineers? And why does Dovalina pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to Consultants to analyze our water system? The claim for more money is not about suits not putting water in our system but a matter of plain greed.

If Mr. Hunter is not familiar with privatization maybe he should convince his City
Government in Amarillo to take United Water to his City and give them millions of
dollars for bad service and then turn around and give them more whenever United Water feels like getting more money without justification. I say that he can take United Water because, from the look of things and all the secret meetings, United Water is on the way out within a very few months and they will leave the system in worst condition and will possibly be rewarded further by our spendthrift Council and their favorite City Manager. Mr. Galo’s millions of dollars in savings has already turned into millions of dollars in loss and that is not counting the potential future loss by the two years of neglect and mismanagement by United Water. Of course we can’t lay all of the blame on United Water because we supposedly had a handsomely paid City Manager that should have done just that, manage.

Respectfully,
Gerardo Garcia

Letter to the Editor,

Well folks here comes the inevitable bomb from our councilmen regarding United Water. What I can’t understand is how Councilman Galo can sit there so calmly and state that United Water is doing a poor job but Larry Dovalina should negotiate a settlement. Wasn’t John Galo the one that fought so adamantly for the contract with United Water? Why the change of heart? Why not just call in the contract if United Water is in violation of the terms of the contract and collect from the Bonding Company, as should be the provision in the contract? Since the Council and Dovalina have been keeping the details on United Water very hush hush, we can only speculate that something is very “rotten in Denver”. Has the compliance team been reporting all of the shortfalls? If so, why hasn’t Dovalina done anything about it? Why did we have to wait until United Water submitted an outrageous claim to take action?

We already have Councilman Valdez publicly denouncing United Water for violations and deficiencies and also making the infamous statement “I told you so”. What the
Councilman fails to understand is that statements such as these do not get him off the
hook. The Ratepayers/Taxpayers of this City entrusted Councilman Valdez with his
compensated position so that he could monitor and preserve all of the City Services
and funds and not to sit back and watch the Citizens take a huge loss at the hands of the greedy company that they entrusted. I guess now we know where Larry Dovalina gets his habit of blanket denial of any responsibility. It must be nice to make in excess of $140,000 and not be responsible or liable for his actions or inactions. I can also state, “I told you so” and have repeatedly warned about the poor service and ongoing violations of the contract but, unlike Galo and Valdez, I can do absolutely nothing about it. The watch dog group VIDA were also correct in the lawsuit to attempt to block this grave injustice, but, why don’t we hear any comments from them?

One can only wonder what United Water holds on the Council and Mayor to be able to
rape the City as they are doing and get away with it. Maybe we will find a conscientiousand honest official that will look into this matter and the truth will come out soon.

GH Garcia


July 19, 2005

Councilman John Galo
1110 Houston St.
Laredo, Texas 78042-0579

Mr. Galo,

I read in today’s Laredo Morning Times where you questioned the Utilities staff on the water pressure problems. I have to confess that I never watch the Council meetings live because I can’t stand the sight of our Mayor with her hypocritical smile beating her own drum and lying to the public as has been documented on television interviews and on newspaper articles. I also will not watch because I will never understand how public officials can hire a City Manager that is clearly unqualified, give him huge undeserved raises at a burden to the taxpayers and then allow him to pass the buck and never take responsibility. Every time he is questioned he will refer the question to staff. Just once, I would like to see him have the courage to accept responsibility. Or is it because he has no earthly idea about what is going on in the City. A competent and dedicated City Manager would be prepared and well informed on all issues of discussion, especially since he has plenty of notice on the subjects of discussion.

Respectfully,

G.H. Garcia

GALO RESPONSE TO NO BOND
 Wed, 9 Mar 2005

Dear Mr. Garcia,
The letter you forwarded causes great concern. From all the information I have received today there was a bond for that amount, but it had expired in Dec. of 2003. I, like you, have requested all documentation regarding UnitedWater (UW) so that I can confirm one-way or the other what has transpired. I now believe that UW has continued to operate without a bond since that date and if that is the case on behalf of the City of Laredo, and myself I do apologize to you for the incorrect information that was provided to you by our city manager. I promise you that I will get to the bottom of this as quickly as possible. I will not be deceived, nor will I allow the citizens of Laredo to be deceived. City staff must be accountable, accurate, and forthcoming to the public and their representatives on council. As far as councils decision to privatize in the first place, I still believe it was a good one. According to Mr. Ramirez's figures, the City has saved $1,380,000.00 per year. I believe it is more like $2,000,000.00 per
year, but Mr. Ramirez is now using a new lower baseline budget developed after the implementation of privatization and still hasn't convinced me of the accuracy of his methods. UW is using City employeesand granted UW techniques may be different, the workers still know their jobs. UW has invested about $680,000.00 in new water meters, over $400,000.00 in computer systems and software to automate the
dept. and about $99,000.00 to meet OSHA safety guidelines. Then there is the electrical surcharge that is still owed and more important the savings the ratepayer receives because of the $15,000.00 threshold that UW must absorb on any repair before the City has to contribute. That's millions of dollars that the
ratepayer did not have to put into the system. I know you have expressed other concerns, but I believe there has been more pluses for the ratepayer than negatives.
You have also express concerns about UW raising rates. That is not possible because only the City council has the authority to raise rates. I think it is important for the ratepayer to understand that there are many necessary major capital improvements that will be made in the near future that are going to require a rate increase because we are going to borrow money. These improvements have been on the 10 year
CIP and it has been the savings from privatization and other cutbacks that has allowed us to delay the vote on any rate increase. Thank you for bringing this letter to my attention. The information you have provided is greatly appreciated.

John Galo
Councilmember
District III