The Oakley fountain issue is returning to the Oakley City Council on Tuesday for yet another round of debate as the Council rejected the idea of spending $421,000 on the project during its last meeting.
While this project as a non-issue in the big scheme of things as its RDA money, something to consider is the fact the staff strategically left off the estimated costs for three models presented by the Downtown Subcommittee comprised of Mayor Kevin Romick and Councilwoman Diane Burgis.
According to the staff report, at the date and time of this Report, the budget numbers have not yet been completed. Goodland Landscape Construction, Inc. is expected to have those numbers available for discussion at the Council Meeting.
My question to the staff and Goodland is what have you been doing since the last council meeting? This is not that complex as they are making it out to be. What will change from this morning’s staff report going live until Tuesday?
Can we assume that the Goodland will be working religiously on these figures to have in time for Tuesday’s meeting? They have already had two-weeks to work on this. The reality is this, they likely have the numbers (or rough numbers) ready and they are choosing not to publish it for the public to review and instead are providing these figures verbally for council discussion.
My question to the Downtown Subcommittee is if you are against spending $421,000, what are you willing to invest in a fountain?
In the future, I’d suggest the City of Oakley be a bit more upfront about its construction costs because this is unacceptable, yet somewhat predictable that costs are being hidden.
Here is the full staff report on this agenda item
http://www.ci.oakley.ca.us/UserFiles/file/agenda/2013%20Agendas/April%209%202013/text5_3%20-%20Downtown%20Plaza%20Fountain.pdf
4 comments
Mr. Burkholder,
I agree with you 100%, they should have included the costs. Will you be writing a piece about how Carpaccio’s is getting more money or did you choose to ignore that?
How can you expect the public to comment on the fountains if the cost isn’t included? I mean shouldn’t public input be part of this?
Hey did you see that the squeaky wheel is finally going to see some road repair. It looks like its going to be half a**ed but better than nothing I guess. The city is still banking on the developers building houses out here and fixing the road. Nothing like running a city on a hope and prayer instead of the reality of the economy.
I’ll say it again for you Burk, Oakley is making Antioch look better by the meeting. Until you guys get rid of certain staff and your city manager, nothing will improve.
The city council has some explaining to do! I am offended they are wasting our money
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