State of Stafford City Council contentious, says Mayor

Leonard Scarcella, who first won the office of mayor of Stafford 46 years ago, at his Jan. 25 state of the city address reminded citizens of the numerous accomplishments that have all helped their city grow and prosper. They are the creation of Stafford Municipal School District; zero property tax for all businesses and residents in the city; zoning, and the Freeport Tax Exemption that attracts foreign and domestic manufacturing companies to Stafford.



The mayor was also a strong presence in bringing a Houston Community College campus to Stafford by convincing Texas lawmakers to allow the city to build the Scarcella Science and Technology Center, then sell it to the college through a lease/purchase agreement, which didn’t cost taxpayers a nickel, and provided HCC with its first owned facility.



Scarcella was also instrumental in collaborating with the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) and Union Pacific (UP) railroad to get two underpasses built to relieve vehicle bottlenecks. The building of the two underpasses involved getting UP to agree to move a small area of their railroad tracks.



The mayor also got a performing arts theatre/convention center built in the city. It was the first in east Fort Bend County, is now in its 12th year and has had four million visitors.



With all those achievements that have helped grow Stafford from 5,000 citizens to the current population of nearly 20,000, Scarcella launched into the here and now and said his address would not be “fun or entertaining.”



After having had the most difficult year of his long mayoral tenure, he said his message would be “factual and accurate in describing one of the most contentious of the nearly 61 years this city has been incorporated.”



He went on to say the discord in city council over the past 12 months was political and personal and pleased some and offended others. “Having been at this as long as I have, I’ve seen the good, the bad and the ugly and know the difference. Regardless, this is how I experienced it and believe it should be presented to our citizens.”



Scarcella said the city’s police and fire departments have “solid strengths” but added that last year council “pushed through a highly dubious proposal authorizing architectural plans of $226,000” for major additions to the city’s Fire Station No 2. The additions were priced at $2.3 million but that turned out to be 30 percent under the construction bid of $3 million.



Council advocates pushed hiring a “specialist architect” who claimed the job could be done somewhere between $1.6 million and $1.8 million. In the end council approved moving forward with the project and left it to Scarcella to recommend how best to fund it.



As for the three drainage projects proposed for Missouri City Estates, section four of Vaccaro Manor and all of the Sugar Creek subdivision, the mayor told his audience that council members and residents who strongly support the projects and advocate their importance and merit “seem, at best uncomfortable at putting it on the ballot as propositions and letting” citizens vote on it.



He went on to say that in “all other cities in Texas, substantive capital projects are financed by bonds approved by voters. Even more confounding is council’s willingness to commit general funds available for police and fire and other personnel salaries and equipment,” for a minimal number of property owners and “oppose allowing voters the right to make the decision.”



Another thing he finds “equally confounding” is the unwillingness to consider using Stafford Economic Development Corp. (SEDC) money for the drainage projects while homeowners in those areas are “literally extolling, and even passionately proclaiming their economic value to the entire city.”



The mayor then went on to note that three “highly qualified and most intelligent” members of a three-member team in the public works department “all left the city under less than desirable circumstances.” He said $13 million will start the initial stages of the FM 1092 corridor improvements and is one of the most important projects the city has. The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) will partner with Stafford and is anticipated to contribute more than $11 million to the project.



Scarcella then went on to note that the city’s administration has a new city secretary, Tomika Lewis, and assistant city secretary and SEDC secretary, Nici Browe. Lewis, he said, replaces “the long tenured, extremely dedicated Bonnie Baiamonte, who retired last year and many felt was the face of city hall.”



The mayor also gave kudos to Marian Roche, whom he said was “one of the most talented and conscientious administrative assistants” the city has had. She was assisant city secretary and SEDC secretary and also retired last year.



Scarcella introduced another prominent newcomer to the city’s administration -- Patti Worfe, SEDC’s first executive director, who was enticed to take the job by “the alluring incentive of the zero property tax.” He said she has an “aggressive perspective and sterling ability to relate to the business community and bring it closer to the city.”



Another city staffer who recently resigned also received praise from the mayor. She is the former Finance Director Karen Austin, who was with the city for 14 years and whom Scarcella said was “widely applauded for her department’s outstanding accomplishments in the areas of budgeting, accounting, health and general insurance and human resources.”



Scarcella made it clear that Austin was run off by two council members in particular who reversed that and later tried to make amends by giving her an 18 percent raise of about $18,000 when other city employees got a 2 percent raise.



“Many (employees) became furious,” Scarcella told his state of the city audience, “at what they considered as this discriminatory action. Irrespective, the damage was done.” Two months later Austin resigned and the mayor said, “Another of our most capable staff leaders is lost!”



Next up was the mayor’s annual budget, which he said received “a blatant and concerted effort to undermine” even before he had an opportunity to fully present it. He said Councilman A. J. Honore “submitted the first of several resolutions proposing to materially alter it, claiming it was not a ‘balanced budget’.” The city’s attorney, Art Pertile, corrected Honore on that by saying it “was indeed a balanced budget.”



Honore submitted “more flawed resolutions, each attacking and …amending the budget and each got a four vote majority in lock step with his proposals. A budget bearing many of the fiscally irresponsible measures recommended in those flawed resolutions were included and adopted by council on Sept. 29.



“Most alarming is they left the city’s cash resources in a most vulnerable condition,” said the mayor who reminded his audience that he had developed the past 49 budgets of the city as well as the first two for SMSD. “This is the worst and most fiscally irresponsible budget ever adopted by this city.”



With that said the mayor ended his message with an upbeat outlook. He said the green light the new president gave to oil and gas production, is good news for Stafford since much of its economy is built around oilfield valve manufacturing companies. Those companies are a major source of the city’s revenues and any resurgence in oil and gas “will provide financial activates that will substantially bolster our city.



“We cannot produce enough to out run irresponsible spending. Nevertheless, with the promising economic situation and the responsible use of our resources, Stafford can not only maintain its zero property tax, but can have an exceedingly prosperous year in 2017,” he concluded.



