The season 7 opener of the tv show The Office was an episode entitled Nepotism. What is that? Nepotism is the practice among those with power or influence to favor, show bias, or give preferential treatment to relatives, friends, and close associates. The episode started off with everyone returning from summer to the office to find a new office assistant named Luke. It quickly became clear to those who worked at Dunder Mifflin that Luke liked to goof off, deliberately mess up food and coffee runs, and had a poor attitude that led everyone to quickly not like him. When complaints were made to Michael Scott (the manager) he was quick to defend Luke and soon it was revealed that Luke is Michael’s nephew. He had hired him in hopes that would end the bad relationship he had with his half-sister. After the staff’s concerns were ignored they found packages in Luke’s car that he never mailed and because of it they were losing customers. They went to the CEO of the company Jo Bennett and she called Michael the manager in and quickly told him to deal with the situation. During a team meeting later that day, Luke pulled out a laser pointer and started to annoy people so a frustrated Michael ended up spanking Luke in front of the entire office and Luke quit and ran away crying. Due to his actions of assaulting a coworker, Michael was sent by HR to six hours of counseling. After watching the episode, it is clear why Nepotism has no place in a work environment for everyone’s benefit.
If you really want to know what’s going on in the City of Frisco, be sure to tune in to the Consent Agenda for each City Council meeting. Consent Agenda items are considered routine in nature and are considered non-controversial and can be acted upon in one motion. I am curious who determines what is “routine in nature” and “non-controversial” before it is approved to go on the consent agenda?
On June 20, 2023, my wife and I noticed Item 22 on the Consent Agenda for the city council meeting. It read, “Consider and act upon adoption of an Ordinance approving the revised Nepotism policy and the revised Employee Code of Conduct policy. Nepotism? We thought it was such a random and odd change that left us with questions. Why is the city wanting to revise the Nepotism policy? How often does the city’s HR department go to the council to ask them to revise the Employee Code of Conduct Policy?
As you know the city’s Code of Conduct policy has been a hot topic on FriscoChronicles and our Curious George mentality came out. This policy was originally developed in 2006 so why now in 2023 are we suddenly changing it? We started with doing a meeting search for the word Nepotism and what we discovered was the city had already set the stage and made some changes to the Nepotism Ordinance at the city council meeting in April 2023. Item 24 of the consent agenda asked to revise the Nepotism policy to remove the 3rd Degree of consanguinity (blood). They argued it could cause them to lose the opportunity to hire some dedicated employees. The revision ordinance 19-11-91 can be found in the City of Frisco Personnel Policies.
So why did they change it again two months later in June 2023? In a memo from Lauren Safranek, Director of Human Resources to the city council, she asked them to consider a revision to modify the employment relationship of a Department Director with other employees. In the past a Department Director could not have an immediate relationship with someone else in another department. Now, with the June revision, it allows for a Department Director to have someone by blood, marriage, cohabitants, or roommate to work in the city as long as they are not in the same department. They also took the step to add to the list of blood, marriage, cohabitants, and roommates. In Section 3: Definitions the city added and defined the terms Identified Employee and Director. Further down in the policy under General Provisions/Violations, Section A: Supervision, they added No City employee shall be employed in a department in which the Director is related within the prohibited level of consanguinity and/or affinity, a cohabitant, roommate (“Identified Employee”) as specified above. Why now? Why all of the sudden is the city changing the policy 2x in a year, not even 2 months apart when it comes to Nepotism?
After talking to my wife, we thought the only reason to change the policy is if you wanted to promote someone to Director, want to hire someone, or have hired someone that violates the Nepotism policy. The first question we asked ourselves, who are the most recent new hires announced by the city in the last year? The second question we asked ourselves, who has left the city and did they leave because Nepotism was an issue? Wes Pierson was named our new City Manager, and he has since hired two new Assistant City Managers Rob Millar and E.A. Hoppe. We looked at all three and could not find any issues of Nepotism in our research.
The biggest loss for the city this year was Jason Cooley who served as Frisco’s Chief Innovation Officer. He accepted a position with The City of Allen, but we don’t think he left due to Nepotism as we could not find anyone he would potentially be related to working in the city. Cooley was the primary person who taught employees about Frisco’s Core Values. Frisco has a set of core values? Yes, they are Integrity, Outstanding Customer Service, Fiscal Responsibility, Operational Excellence and Our Employees. Ironically, they lead with, “Integrity is honesty, trustworthiness, ethical behavior and always doing the right thing. Integrity matters because we are entrusted with building and maintaining our community. Integrity is the foundation of all other core values.” Hmmm….
Next, we came across an article in Government Technology from July 19, 2023, talking about how the Chief Information Officer in Dallas County was leaving to go lead IT operations in Frisco, Texas. It stated Melissa Kraft made the announcement via her own recent social media post. The article stated that the Frisco FY23 budget included funding for a server and wireless refresh, disaster recovery expenses, switch and network replacements and a Police Department firewall refresh. It also planned to add a data governance program, according to budget documents. Kraft is so new she is not even listed yet in the online city directory, but she is listed on the FY24 Annual Draft Budget. Interestingly in our research we learned that Cory Kraft works as a Sergeant in the City of Frisco Criminal Investigations Unit. Could they be related? Both Melissa and Cory live at the same address, and we believe they are husband and wife which would prevent her from being hired under the Nepotism policy. Has Sergeant Kraft stepped down? Not according to the city’s online directory. Now it is starting to make sense why they made the June 2023 change to the Nepotism policy. Hiring Melissa Kraft would have violated the policy because she would have been a director. So, the city changed the rules to hire her, the pieces are starting to come together.
Now, one would have to wonder what Susan B. Olson, who is currently the Assistant Director of Information Technology, felt about this announcement. Olson has over 20 plus years of employment with the city and sources tell us she applied for the position. Sources also told us they believe she was not considered for the new Chief IT Director because of a “relationship” as defined in the city’s Nepotism policy and Employee Code of Conduct. Did the city of Frisco use the old Nepotism policy to push Susan Olson out and then change it to allow this new hire? If the information we have is correct, and I were Susan Olson I would be furious.
While looking at the Police Department directory we noticed Animal Services was listed. My wife and I were surprised that in a city of 200k+ people it would fall under Frisco PD as we thought it would have been its own department. We noticed from the directory that the Animal Services Supervisor was Steven Lerner who has served the city for 16 years. The positions of Supervisor and Director have two very different pay scales and one would think Steve Lerner would want to be a Director for the pay increase, as long as it didn’t violate the policy. We searched the directory and found a Shelby Lerner who is a Sr. Environmental Health Inspector and the two share a home address. According to the Nepotism policy, Steve Lerner could not have been the Director of Animal Services (if it was its own department) while his wife worked for the city. That means Shelby Lerner would have to step down, or should we say, “retire” as that is the Frisco way.
We connected the dots to the change of the June 2023 Nepotism policy, and we could have stopped here. Something was nagging at me and this time it wasn’t my wife. It was the lingering question, why did they make a change to the Nepotism policy in April 2023? What was happening in April to warrant a change then to the 3rd Degree Relationship that they removed? That is when the alarms went off in my head that the city was going through the hiring process for a new Fire Chief and the acting Interim Chief was Lee Glover. We decided to look into Glover’s relationships and we learned through research that he is the nephew to Glenda Sue Hess, who is the sister of Alvin Lee Glover, Sr., his father. Glenda has two sons, Jason and James Darren Ponder. James has a son by the name Jarred “Daniel” Ponder who works in the city’s planning department. That means he is Lee Glover’s, second cousin.
We initially wondered why the city would choose Glover as the new Fire Chief after a recent association survey where he received an overwhelming vote of no confidence by the fire fighters. How was Glover promoted to Fire Chief when he has a second cousin that works for the city? Oh, that’s right, back on April 4, 2023, the city quietly eliminated the 3rd Degree relations of employees in the Nepotism policy via the Consent Agenda. The Nepotism policy should have disqualified Lee Glover and eliminated him from the “candidate pool” and in our opinion should have applied to him from the start of the search, just like it had for so many other city employees. But wait, there is more, should Glover have been named Interim Chief back in September 2022 while his relative was “pondering” in the city planner’s office? As Interim Chief he was running the department which is a clear violation of the Nepotism rules. I would even bet, with Lee Glover’s long history, we could find a few more “relatives, cohabitants, and roommates”.
Where there is smoke there is fire and in our research we found that Keith Siebert a Captain with the Frisco FD is the brother of Paul Siebert. Paul Siebert joined Frisco FD in 1991 and retired in 2017 and now works in Prosper FD. He applied in 2013 for the Frisco Fire Chief position which was later given to Mark Piland. Paul Siebert was more than qualified for the position but was eliminated from the running due to the Nepotism policy. We were told he could have given any candidate at that time a run for their money had he not been disqualified.
It really is some shady shXt if you ask me. A city insider confirmed our suspicions, telling us that there have been multiple other city employees disqualified or denied the opportunity to pursue director level positions within the city of Frisco because of this same policy. You know, the one that has been in place since 2006 and was used time and time again to control the candidate pool for years.
Remember Lauren Safranek told the city council in the original April memo that the reason they wanted to remove the 3rd Degree is they potentially could lose great candidates and future dedicated employees. Clearly the rules were changed for Melissa Kraft and Lee Glover. It also leaves us wondering did Lee Glover disclose his relationship or did city management and human resources already know this information? Either way they casually tried to sweep this nugget under the rug first in April and two months later in June, thinking no one would piece it together. How does the city determine who it will and will not bend the rules for? Is this more of the Frisco Way? The most important question we have for Ms. High Horse Safranek is don’t you think since 2006 we have lost many internal candidates who already were amazing employees due to this policy? Why didn’t you want to change it then? Why now?
In 1952, one of the most popular shows on tv was I Love Lucy and one of the best episodes was Vitameatavegamin. Lucy meets with the director of the commercial and he explains that Vitameatavegamin is a health tonic and gives her the lines to learn. What none of them knew was the health tonic was 23% alcohol. During the first practice set, Lucy reads her lines and then takes a spoon full of the health tonic and begins to make funny faces because it tasted so bad. Take after take Lucy got a little more drunk, and by the time it was over Ricky had to take her off the stage. The episode is a perfect example of truth in advertising.
Mirror, Mirror, on the wall, it’s time to spill the secrets once and for all! If you live in Frisco then you hear city leaders reflecting on how Money Magazine voted Frisco the #1 Best Place to Live in America. The truth is Frisco is a great city to live in, but it has not been ranked #1 since 2018 which is 5 years ago. In fact, in the 2021/22 Money Magazine, The City of Frisco was ranked #19 for the Best Places to Live. That means in 5 years we fell 18 spots so why do they continue to talk about a ranking from 2018? Shouldn’t we be asking ourselves; how did we drop 18 spots? Is this truthful advertising?
The City of Frisco puts together a series of video messages called Progress In Motion to talk about the change and growth happening in our town. The series is truly one the city’s greatest forms of advertising. These videos are so professional, and they cover an array of different topics. Wes Pierson recently stated in a July 2023 article in Frisco Enterprise that there is a powerful message behind the idea of “Progress In Motion.” For Frisco’s city manager, the city tagline inspires a focus on the concept of “growth” rather than “change. Sometimes when people talk about change, there can be a negative connotation related to change, but if you talk about progress, it really emphasizes, in my opinion, a focus on growth,” he said.
Even our own Mayor puts out a series of videos on his Cheney for Frisco Mayor YouTube page. When we saw his campaign video this year announcing his re-election we were impressed because it was truly a professional video with amazing footage. Then my wife said, “I could swear I have seen this footage before” and I replied, yeah probably in another video he has done running for office. She was adamant that was not it and night after night as we sat watching tv she played on her iPad until I heard, “See, I told you I have seen this footage before,” and with a big grin on her face, she played me one of the city’s Progress in Motion videos. Then she played a portion of Cheney’s campaign video and sure as shady shit it was a match. We decided to do a little research to see how much of his election video matched up with the Progress in Motion videos put out by the city. We decided to do a little research to see how much of his election video matched up to the Progress in Motion videos put out by the city.
In Cheney’s election video at the 24 second mark you see the drone footage coming into the Cowboy Star which is from the NFLs HBO’s Hard Knocks: The Dallas Cowboys at the 07-second mark. Did he get approval from HBO, NFL and Jerry Jones to use that footage? Would any of them give him authorization to use that for a political campaign ad? Should we consider this and endorsement?
Now compare Cheney’s election video to the Progress in Motion – Public Safety Training Center video. On Cheney’s election video at the 1:17 mark you see footage of the fireman from the back in a training which is an exact match to the PIM at the 1:39 video mark. Then at the 1:18 mark on Cheney’s election video you see footage of a burning car which matches the 1:09 video mark in the PIM video. Then at the 1:22 mark on the election video you see a Frisco Police Car which matches the footage at the 1:22 video mark in the PIM. Lastly, at the 1:24 mark on Cheney’s election video you see footage of the FD training center which matches the 1:28 video mark on the PIM video.
On Cheney’s election video at the 1:43 mark he talks about The Rail District and the future of outdoor entertainment. Interestingly the renderings were produced by Kimley Horn and are on the city’s site and labeled with the Frisco logo. The renderings are show in an article on Frisco Enterprise and they note the renderings which match Cheneys election video were the courtesy of The City of Frisco.
On Cheney’s election video at the 2:16 mark he shows the ground-breaking of the Dr. Pepper Keurig office complex with Jerry Jones which is an exact match to the start of the city’s PIM – Keurig Dr Pepper Groundbreaking video.
On Cheney’s election video at the 2:23 mark he shows the ribbon cutting of Texas Health which is an exact match to the PIM – Texas Health Hospital Frisco video.
Cheney was even bold enough to use ESPN or PGA footage of Tiger Woods in his election video at the 2:25 mark. We found a few city videos and it appears as if the PGA may have given the city some footage to use for advertising videos. The question is did they give Cheney permission to use footage in a political campaign video? Did he have permission to use the professional golfer and their likeness in his video? Did he have permission from ESPN or the PGA to use this footage in a political campaign video? Do ESPN or the PGA endorse Mayor Cheney? Is Tigers appearance an endorsement? At the 2:30 mark he uses Universal’s Theme Park rendering given to the city for press releases. So, did he have NBC Universal’s permission to use their rendering in a political campaign video? Does that mean NBC Universal endorsed the mayor? Lastly at the 2:50 mark in his election video he shows aerial views of the new PGA which look very similar to the PIM PGA videos.
You are probably wondering, why is this important? Well, in 2021 a local resident filed an ethics complaint against the mayor for using his city email to solicit feedback from department heads which he later used in a personal Facebook post to endorse and support Angelia Pelham for council. In the complaint she cited it was a violation per the Code of Conduct Section 7. According to Section 7: Public Property and Resources it states a city official shall not use, request, or permit the use of city facilities, personnel, equipment and supplies for private purposes (including political purposes). Now his fellow council members voted against moving forward with the ethics complaint in 2001 but in our own opinion it was clear as day he violated it then. SO, DID HE VIOLATE THE CODE OF CONDUCT WITH HIS ELECTION VIDEO?
We are estimating about 75% of the election video is made from city footage. Are political candidates allowed to use city footage paid for by taxpayers? Does the city not have any copyright rules? Is it fair for anyone to use city footage? If so, then I could make a video and use some of the footage that includes Cheney speaking? Can a realtor in Frisco make videos using city footage to advertise their business? What about small businesses, can they use city footage to make social media commercials for their business? Can a local realtor use local renderings from P&Z documents to advertise their business and talk about new things coming to Frisco? Were all the candidates aware they could use city footage to make political campaign videos? If they were allowed to use the video footage was it disclosed to them or was that something the Mayor knew as an “inside tip” that he used for his advantage. A video of this nature could and probably does cost thousands of dollars if he had to film all this footage himself. Filming is not cheap or inexpensive. So, did the mayor pay the city for the use of the footage? Is this another example of Jeff Cheney taking Mayoral Privilege for his personal use and benefit?
We are thinking that someone needs to look in the mirror and decide if he is the FAIRest of them all.
What is Privilege? Privilege is a right or immunity granted as a benefit, advantage, or favor. In America, many believe privilege is often associated with wealth, opportunity, and powerful connections. However, in today’s America, privilege has been skewed or bent to be associated with race and racial injustice. For a foreigner who came to America and went through the process to become a citizen, I can tell you many foreigners look at privilege very differently. Most of those who have struggled to come here will tell you applying for citizenship was not easy, not cheap, and not quick. If you ask most immigrants they will tell you if you were born here in America (regardless of race/color, religion, or sexuality) you were born with an innate privilege that most Americans cannot comprehend and see right in front of their eyes. Growing up my dad always said, “If you rascals would have been lucky enough to be born in America, then inherently you would have had more freedoms, privileges, and opportunity than any other country in the entire world. It is the reason people die trying to come here.”
If you remember in Anatomy of a Friendship we talked about how Mayor Cheney announced he was going to take Mayors Privilege to make some comments at the December 4, 2018 special meeting to authorize and execute the proposed Master Development Agreement for the PGA Frisco. I have always wondered since that meeting what other “Privilege” does Cheney take using his position as Mayor for the City of Frisco. Powerful people have powerful privileges or at least opportunities to call in “favors.”
Well one citizen who walks the Cottonwood Creek trail every morning noticed several years ago that the area belonging to the city behind the mayor’s new Shaddock custom home was getting a little “spruced up” and was curious about it. After reviewing a copy of the citizens PIR submitted to us from 2021, we noticed it started with a response from Mayor Jeff Cheney. We will come back to a little later after we talk about the timeline of emails that escalated our interest.
May 24, 2019 (11:28am): First email, Jeff Cheney from his business email (Cheney Group) sent a note to Shannon Keleher with the city parks department stating they decided to build on a Shaddock lot, but they were not in love with the proximity of the trail and all the eyeballs in their backyard and he points out his lot is one of the few that intrude on this amazing park. He asked Shannon to look and see if more screening in this area makes sense as he does not think park users want to be staring at the mayor in his backyard. He continues it’s a unique situation and won’t happen in the future with the new policy but hopes there is something that can be planned now for the benefit of all. Cheney continues he plans to put some personal money and time into this park because they love it so much but would like to meet Shannon out there and get his blessing first. Lastly he notes that Shannon had mentioned the ponds might be combined and would love an update and how he would like to see a walking trail that completed the loop around the water. He ended it with his signed business signature from the Cheney Group.
Question: How many citizens can directly email the Director of Parks and Recreation asking for consideration on an issue they believe is concerning or that affects their home?
Question: At the time Cheney picked this lot, was the walking trail in question already there? Yes. Therefore, he knew before every buying or building there that his home would back up in close proximity to the trail so why is he complaining about it? Can any Frisco resident whose homes back up to the same type of walking trails and ponds get the same post consideration for privacy screening provided by the city?
May 28, 2019 (10:09AM) Shannon Keleher responds to Hi Mayor, hope you had a great weekend. Thank you for sending this, I understand your concerns and will get with our staff to see what “options” are available. It is such an amazing park, and the new policies will help moving forward. He will ask Holly (assistant) to set up a meeting for them in the next month for them to also discuss the ponds and ways Cheney might be able to help.
October 5, 2019 (3:13PM) Mayor Cheney from his personal business email account for the Cheney Group sends an email to Shannon again and points out that he cc’d Josh Sandler owner of Gold Medal Pools who has purchased two lots on the same street down from Cheney. He notes Josh has access to landscapers and trees through his business and they have been talking about improvements to the public space behind their homes that the park can benefit from. Cheney asks who would be the best person for them to talk to about being a part of the process as well as discussing perhaps additional items at their own personal expense?
Question: Since when did the City of Frisco start considering or allowing citizens to spend their own personal money to spruce up city areas that back up to their homes? Cheney said this consideration was to benefit all, but was it really just for the benefit of Cheney and Sandler’s privacy? I am curious how the city handles and responds to regular citizens who want to be a part of the process of development directly behind their homes?
October 5, 2019 (4:34PM) Shannon responds that met with the CIP team (all landscape architects) who design all the parks and trails. They came up with some ideas of things that could be placed there. Shannon asks to set up a meeting with Cheney and one of the CIP team leaders, and of course Josh Sandler (the neighbor) is welcome to come too.
Question: Would the same opportunity, time and cost be given to any citizen who just emailed the Director of Parks and Rec about their concern of looky-loos? What if a citizen had concern about the view of a park or trail from their home, would they be told how to follow a process to go about asking the city for change? Lastly, how much did Parks and Rec spend in on the landscape architects to come up with “ideas of things” that could be placed there?
Now the Mayor wrote a response to the PIR where he notes 3 streets in the neighborhood back up to Cottonwood Creek. He wrote that the city planted trees at all 3 locations with no preferential treatment to his home. He notes the existing trail does not meet our current distance requirements for trails behind homes. When he was evaluating how to solve that issue he reached out to city staff to see if they could install screening on the city side at his expense. He said city staff told him there were already plans which Cheney shared with his neighbors. Cheney notes the owner of the 2 lots next to him (we are assuming at the time that was Mr. Sandler) asked for the city to delete the plans behind his home which the city accommodated. He notes the last home provided feedback to staff as well and made additional requests, was that Councilman Jon Keatings home? He was unsure if the staff would have met with other Shaddock residents.
Question: Cheney noted the neighbor (Sandler who ultimately sold his lots) asked for nothing be done behind his house and the city accommodated the request. So were the citizens who live on this street provided a menu board of services that could be provided to order off what each lot wanted? Maybe it is just those with privilege “the handpicked” who get to say what they want and do not want behind their houses?
Question: Cheney pointed out that the existing trail does not meet current distance requirements. As a real estate mastermind, he knows that means the existing trail is grandfathered and it does not have to be updated to new standards or policies the city may have adopted. So why then did the city accommodate these specific requests? Was it because who requested it? Does it set a precedent so that any resident in the city who has a trail that does not meet current standards can now ask the city to update it at their expense and give them the same “courtesy” that Mayor Cheney received?
Question: Did the mayor buy his specific lot because it was the best one in the development that had privacy on two sides, expansive greenbelt views of nature and waterways knowing the trail was there? Yes, he did! Cottonwood Creek Greenbelt spans 77 acres through Shaddock Creek and Heather Creek Estates and it is one of the city’s most beautiful spaces. In April of 2017, the Star Local Media published an article where Shaddock said, “envisioned an area where kids could play, explore nature in a somewhat wild setting like he experienced as a boy growing up.” Honestly it sounds fabulous to me!
Question: Why did the mayor even feel the need to write a response to what seems like such a trivial PIR at first glance? It is the fact that he took the time to respond that made my wife and I say, hmm something is a rye! It is clear he knows it looks bad, like he used his position or privilege to ask for special treatment which is why he made it sound like it was no big deal.
Of all the questions we have, we go back to what if a citizen had concern about the view of a park or trail from their home, would they know what to do or be told how to follow a process to go about asking the city for change? Well on June 20th, residents from Starwood came before the council during Citizens Input to talk about Starwood Park and how it has deteriorated and is unsafe. They note the picture of the park on the city website looks nothing like how the park actually appears. The city website notes it is a 2-acre park that was completed in 1996. They want to know why the city has not done anything to maintain the park and to keep it up. The residents noted it is listed on the city website as a city park and it connects to all the other Frisco city parks. One resident made record of the fact that originally Blue Star (Jerry Jones) owned the land, and they transferred it to SHBT, LLC in Denton, Texas. Wait if the city does not own it, then why is it listed as a city park on the city website?
Mayor Cheney was out of town so acting Mayor Keating noted they are not supposed to interact, but he was going to take mayoral liberty to respond, and Bill Woodard also noted he had a comment. Bill went first and noted he received their email, he did reach out to Henry (Hill?) but did not have a chance to go over their concerns in detail with Henry at this point. He then noted that they are not supposed to interact during citizens input (but he continues) and that he will circle back with them after he talks Henry about the legal challenges they are facing there. What? Legal Challenges?
We have community parks that have legal challenges. Apparently there is an issue of who owns the land. Then Brian Livingston steps up noted he received a text and had made some inquiries too, and then asked Ben Brezina to get back with all the council on the issue. Then one of the residents responded it is a city park, it’s on the city website and SHBT, LLC should pay to keep it up and if they don’t the city should. She then said she was told since the land belonged to Jerry Jones and good luck getting him to pay, as well as the city does not want to bother good ole Jerry since he brings so much money to the city regarding the upkeep of this little darn park. Then stand in mayor Keating made a few comments and thanked them for coming.
Again, we go back to what has been our burning question of all, if a citizen had concern about the view of a park or trail from their home, would they be told how to follow a process to go about asking the city for change? Someone should tell them to just email Shannon the Director or Parks and Rec. Not one person on the council told them to contact Shannon so that he could investigate and come up with some ideas. The red carpet is not being laid out for Starwood residents like it was for Mayor Cheney. In a city with so much money, if we are not making the owners of the land maintain it then I agree with the residents we should make the city take care of it. Legal Challenges have never stopped the City of Frisco before!
In closing, it is clear the mayor received special treatment. You have residents all over the city who back up to the trails, greenbelt and waterways that don’t meet current standards and we did not give them all the option to have the city update their areas. Did residents along Beacon Hill Dr and Midnight Moon Drive who back up to walking trails and waterways get the same opportunity? If you have ever walked there then you would know from the walking trails you can see straight into every backyard, heck if the blinds were open you could probably see them changing into the nude.
Did residents in Phillips Creek Ranch who just built million-dollar homes, then learn a Walmart was coming in get the same opportunity to have one-on-one service from Parks about the very open views behind their homes that back up to very busy walking trails and waterways?
The one reason he didn’t like his lot is probably because of the concern regarding neighbors or trail walkers seeing him hosting underage drinking parties at his home for kids. It is a clear case of abuse of power, privilege, and using his position on council AGAIN for his personal advantage.
It is good to be back from our month long sabbatical otherwise known as a holiday in my country and we have been eager to check the tip line for some new Shade. While visiting my country last month, I got to take part in the Gentleman’s Club (it is not what you think). It is a monthly tradition where the village gentleman holds a club night, enjoys some bottles of vino on the terrace, and tell wild tales. Meanwhile, the women go inside to also enjoy the vino and a couple hands of cards. We began to share jolly chatter when Paulo looked at me and said, “since you live in Texas, tell me about LAJITAS?” I politely asked if that was the name of a cocktail and he said “no, it is the name of a small famous town in far west Texas that feels like it sits on the edge of the world.” Shocked, I said tell me more as laughter abound from the men on the terrace. Paulo said, “Clay Henry is a delinquent politician full of tricks who ran for mayor of Lajitas. He was known for consuming up to 40 beers a day and he had a penchant for headbutting constituents without any warning. He was Lajitas most “FAMOUS CITIZEN” and he was the only mayor in the US with hooves.” All of looked at Paulo not sure if we should laugh or think he lost his mind, when he blurted out yep, Clay Henry was a goat! We all began to google and of course there are many stories and/or legends around Lajitas and Clay Henry. So many that it is hard to know what is true or false. One story goes that Clay Henry was killed by his son Clay Henry Jr. for being a ladies’ man and his love rival. Another story said in in 1992 when the Goat Mayor died he was stuffed chugging a beer and mounted in the general store for all the visitors to see. The craziest story of all is the one where Clay Henry was castrated by a local name Bob Hargrove after he became jealous of Henry drinking the last beer in town on a Sunday. According to the ABC News report the goat was found lying in the streets with his testicles cut off. With that all the men stood up and it was time to call it a night. The fun stops when it comes a goat losing his testis’s. I said goodbye to all my local friends and their wives then stumbled just down the steps to my room where my wife was already in bed reading a book. I said, “DAMN HUN, be glad we live in Frisco, Texas and not Lajitas with a testicleless goat!” My wife looked at me with the usual disappointment and like I was an idiot and said turn off the lights.
You are probably wondering why the hell did I tell you this story. Well, because I was thinking we probably didn’t miss anything while we were gone and yet we missed everything! We quickly learned that the City of Frisco hired a new, but old, yet still unwanted Fire Chief named Lee Glover, who has a 90+ percent no confidence vote from the Frisco Fire Fighters. Then we learned the Frisco Fire Fighters have started a petition to become a civil service organization and to have collective bargaining. The cherry on top was a Frisco PD Resource Officer, Kendal Augustus was fired then arrested and charged with sexual assault of a child, indecency with a child and sexual performance of a child and yet his bond was only set at $55,000? Jackie from the TV Series, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel said it best, “Life is a basically an all-you-can-eat shit show!”
Jackie is right that life is basically a shit show and sometimes it can also be the gift that keeps on giving. After unpacking I went to water my roses and my neighbor was outside, so he walked over and said I have something to show you. He pulled out his phone and said, yesterday we were on the lake, and you won’t believe the photos we captured. I quickly realized it was photos of Mayor Cheney and his wife Dana on their boat. He pointed out Zach Cheney, the mayor’s oldest son (still under 21), who was doing shots off the back of the boat with some friends while the Cheney’s watched from the head of the boat like the kings of the world!
Obviously, the Cheney’s didn’t learn anything after hosting the viral keg party at their house for Zach’s graduation in May 2021 in which their son later posted to his snap chat account. Now they will quickly deny this happened, but boat registrations do not lie! In Texas, every watercraft must be registered just like a car and that is the number you see on the side of the boat. In this case the pictures show a black Bennington 25 ft Pontoon with the registration of TX 5306 KL. To look up the current ownership of a boat is simple, and a matter of public record at the State of Texas Open Data Portal. When we ran the registration it shows the original registration date of 09/07/2022 and is due for renewal on 09/30/2024. The owner is listed as Thomas J Cheney Jr. and it is registered to his home in Frisco. We won’t give out his address, but you can look it up just clicking on the Open Data Portal link yourself.
Just because it is okay for a Mayoral Goat to get drunk does not mean the same rules apply to humans. What are the laws in Texas when it comes to minors drinking? Drinking when you’re under 21 or providing alcohol to a minor comes with consequences. If a minor attempts to buy, possesses or drink alcoholic beverages, or if a minor is intoxicated in public or misrepresents their age to buy alcohol they could be in trouble. They could face a $500 fine, attend a boring alcohol awareness class, do up to 40 hours of community service and could potentially lose their driver’s license up to 180 days.
On the other hand, adults who give minors alcohol could also face stiff penalties. Making alcoholic beverages available to a minor is a class A misdemeanor, punishable by a fine up to $4,000, confinement in jail for up to a year or both. Your driver´s license would also be automatically suspended for 180 days when they are convicted. Texas also has a “Zero Tolerance Law” which states, it is illegal for a person under 21 to operate a motor vehicle or watercraft in a public place while having any detectable amount of alcohol in their system.
Most interesting is that in Texas, a person may purchase an alcoholic beverage for or give an alcoholic beverage to a minor if he is the minor’s adult parent, guardian, or spouse and they must be visibly present when the minor possesses or consumes the alcoholic beverage. However, Texas Social Host Laws state it is illegal for a parent to provide alcohol to other minors who are not their children, and they could be responsible should that minor cause injury to themselves or cause property damage.
Rick Riordan, The Last Olympian once said, “patterns repeat themselves in history.” If that is true then one could say intentions are often hidden inside patterns of behavior and a good indicator of patterns is TIME! In this case history is repeating itself and just as publicly as it did last time. After watching the video which includes photos from the lake and Zach Cheney’s own open Instagram page it leaves us with a few questions.
How old are the young adults in the boat chugging shots like Clay Henry the Goat?
If they are under 21, then who purchased the alcohol for their consumption?
If the Mayor purchased the alcohol and provided it to his son that is fine, but if he provided it to his son’s friends (who are underage) that is ILLEGAL!
When the pontoon docked back at the marina – who drove the car or cars home?
Lastly, Mr. Cheney is not a secretary for the city he is the Mayor! The BUCK STOPS WITH HIM! He should be leading by example. How do you say this is okay, then say how important the Shattered Dreams program is at the high schools to stop underage drinking. As for Zach Cheney you would think his parents would have sat him down in 2021 and said “Son, you are an extension of us meaning what you do reflects on us and so you can not publish photos of you on social media platforms partying and drinking when you are clearly underage. Surely they told him to lock down his accounts so only his friends can see his debauchery. No, his Instagram clearly shows him drinking on bid day in 2022 when he was 19, as well as other times. It also shows him at AT&T Stadium tailgating – how did they get home after? It appears the Mayor and his wife were also attending the game and the Mayor clearly had on his City of Frisco Polo. Truthfully, old grouches like us are lucky – we did not have social media to get us in trouble. It is called common sense, if you are going to drink underage (most young adults do) and you are from a notable family then don’t post about it on an open social feed, and don’t take your kid out in the open to a cove on the Lake known for a good time!
As a young adult, I loved watching game shows. The mid-1950s were a period of rapid growth in popularity for quiz shows. I remember watching Jack Barry, on-air host from 1947-1958 and 1960 – 1980 who produced and appeared on “High Low Quiz,” “Juvenile Jury,” and “Tic Tac Dough.” Then, there was Dennis James who is credited with hosting television’s first network game show in 1946 called “Cash and Carry.” One of the most popular of all times was, “The Dating Game” with Jim Lange. Rodney Alcala, a contestant on the show in 1978 is often referred to as “The Dating Game Serial Killer” because when he applied to be a contestant he had already committed at least four murders and decades later authorities discovered he was a prolific serial killer, but, I digress.
The best game show in my opinion is “Family Feud,” which started in 1976 and was hosted by Richard Dawson. He was the host known as the Kissing Casanova for his signature kiss on the cheek and lips to all his female contestants. The show would be hosted over the years by Ray Combs, Louie Anderson, Richard Karn (Home Improvement), John O’Hurley (Seinfeld), and Steve Harvey. My wife and I tune in every day to hear Steve Harvey say, “We asked a 100 people” and “The survey says!” Game shows give the audience the chance to live out our fantasies thinking, “Well, if someone must win, it could be me!”
Who uses surveys? And, what is the survey’s purpose? A better question might be “Who doesn’t use surveys?” It is common for companies to do employee surveys to measure staff engagement or companies may reach out to customers after a purchase to measure satisfaction. The overall purpose of a survey is to get feedback and ideas to understand areas of improvement. We were a little surprised and intrigued when we heard rumors in the last few weeks that the Local 3732 Executive Board of the FFA had done a survey of the firefighters in response to a new chief and in regard to some of the Mayor’s recent statements.
Let’s look at the questions in regard to the Mayor’s Statement Survey:
Question: Do you want Interim Fire Chief Glover to be the next Fire Chief of the Frisco Fire Department? The survey says 92.5% said NO, they do not want Interim Chief Glover to be the new Fire Chief, which is alarming considering he is currently running the Department. Have the firefighter’s lost confidence in Glover?
Question: Do you believe Interim Fire Chief Glover has improved/rebuilt morale and regained trust of the Department? The survey says 91.4% of the Association said, NO Glover has not improved morale or rebuilt trust. Interestingly, this directly contradicts what Mayor Cheney said at the Star Patriot Debate where he adamantly said Glover has increased morale and is starting to regain trust. When the Mayor answered with such confidence, did he knowingly lie? Was it an attempt to mislead the public to win the election? Just listen to him in his own words…
Now, let’s look at the Fire Chief Questionnaire in regard to the future hiring process of the fire chief position.
Question: Do you believe the organization has any qualified candidates to assume the task set forth by the City Manager’s office? The survey says 89.4% said NO that the organization does not have any qualified candidates as of now to assume the task. That is pretty telling that Frisco firefighters don’t agree with the Mayor’s view.
Question: Would you like the next chief to be an external hire or internal hire? The survey says, YES, 93.8% would like an external hire which is mind-blowing because it shows they have no confidence in current interim Chief Glover.
Question: Do you believe the finalist list should be composed of National Candidates? The survey says 91.7% responded, YES it should have national candidates. So, if it were a “national” search, why did they need to be Texas Certified? Oh no, nothing to see here.
Question: Do you believe the finalists should have experience as a chief in a department of equal or larger size and city population density? The survey says, 86.1% said YES they should have the current experience equal to Frisco’s department.
Question: Do you believe the department is appropriately preparing for the future or heading back to the past practices? The survey said 91.5%, YES, that they are heading back to the past practices. Are they referring to Mack Borchardt, the previous Fire Chief, who works now in the City Manager’s office as a special assistant?
Question: Do you believe the Department is appropriately staffed? The survey says 95.2% responded NO it is not adequately staffed. As a resident, that scares the shady shit right out of me that its own department feels that way.
Question: Do you believe there should be a stakeholders’ group of FF consisting of all ranks involved in the hiring process? The survey said 96.6% responded YES, they want to have a say in picking their next leader.
After seeing the survey, we too had some questions and decided to do some research.
Frisco’s Fire Chief was Mack Borchardt who started as a volunteer firefighter in 1973. Then, in 1982, he became the Administrator and Chief of Volunteers until 1987 when he became the City’s very first Fire Chief. Oddly, in September of 2011, the City announced he would retire and then assume new duties as a Fire Programs Consultant and Special Assistant to then City Manager George Purefoy.
Why would a fire chief take a new role out of the blue? Multiple off the record sources tell us that Borchardt was caught in some compromising situations which could have been a factor, or it could have been his staff and the association just didn’t like him either.
In the fall of 2011, a Climate Survey was done in the Frisco FD to identify growing concerns of firefighters and officers. It notes, “…there is a lack of trust, respect, and dignity between officers and firefighters. The culture… is very negative and one of intimidation, retaliation, and fear.” The examiner notes that in the conversations with the Chief and Officers they lead her to believe there is some truth to the claims. The report also notes there is considerable animosity regarding Chief Borchardt and that many in the department felt the entire senior staff along with the Chief needed to be replaced because they were all trained in Borchardt’s style. The most telling part of the report was that many firefighters believe the then Chief Borchardt was trying to run the growing department like it only had 20 employees, and instead of hiring those best suited for the job, he hired his friends.
Lastly, it notes the department is understaffed for the growing population (ding, ding, ding). At the time 76.3% of the respondents indicated they would leave the department if they could.
While we have no concrete evidence, multiple sources said Borchardt was pushed out. George Purefoy stood up for him and said, if he goes then I go, so instead Borchardt was moved into a new job at city hall working for George himself. After reading the report, it begs the question was Chief Borchardt removed “not retired” because of his personal behavior and management style that had torn apart the Department?
Did then City Manager George Purefoy save his friend with a cushy job right next to him at city hall? It is important to note that the current Interim Chief and candidate Lee Glover steadily advanced through the ranks of management in the fire department under the leadership of Mack Borchardt; so, based on the report, it might be plausible to assume Glover still has Borchardt’s management style and that is why the new survey shows no confidence in him. Either way, Borchardt and Glover are what some would call “thick as thieves.”
In 2013, the city hired Mark Piland as the new Chief of Frisco Fire Department. According to many of the sources we talked to, YES, change did start to happen, but it didn’t help that Piland was met by resistance from then Manager George Purefoy who conveniently had Mack Borchardt, the previous fire chief, in his ear. Think about it, if you are an old fire chief of 20+ years, would you want to see what you built in the Department change right in front of your eyes?
Tension began early on from what sources tell us, making it very difficult for Piland to make significant changes. Borchardt worked the ear of his longtime friend and boss George Purefoy for years, straining the relationship from the onset with Piland and Purefoy. We are guessing Piland realized early on he was facing a losing battle going up against the old fire chief in the City Manager’s ear day-after-day during his entire tenure. One has to wonder, is this why Piland thought he might better serve the City as Manager? One also wonders if the new City Manager Wes Pierson was really chosen because he would fall right in line?
As a side note, I had some of these suspicions months ago when I filed a PIR asking for Borchardt’s recent contract renewal by Purefoy that was signed just before retiring, which, NO, we still have not received.
Now, it’s 2023 and Glover, who has been the Interim Chief, is a candidate for Chief of the fire department. You can bet he wants that position badly, and his mentor and friend in the city manager’s office, Mack Borchardt would not mind seeing him in the position either. If that wasn’t enough, we asked around, and multiple officers told us shocking things regarding Glover that left us flabbergasted. YES, flabbergasted!
Obviously, out of fear of losing their jobs, I can understand why they would not want to go on the record. With that said, multiple firefighters spoke off the record. They have witnessed the Interim Frisco Fire Chief belligerently drunk multiple times in public and threatened them if they ever spoke up about it. The same firefighters confirmed he was recently seen in the street at a FD Conference, again belligerently drunk, peeing on a tree in the median during the middle of the day. Witnesses also say he drank heavily at lunchtime during some of these conferences. So now, the current survey makes total sense. All of these factors, history, and more, contribute to the survey results. We were told he has a known history of maliciously undermining all ranks of FD leadership for his own personal gain.
Based on what we were told, someone at city hall might want to ask the following interview questions of Interim Chief Lee Glover:
Is it true you have a history of being belligerently drunk at FD training conferences and FD apparatus purchasing meetings?
Do you have a DUI on your record from August of 1985? Were you sentenced to 2 years’ probation? Is the city aware of this?
Did you urinate on a tree in the middle of the street at an FDIC conference in Indianapolis? And is it true, you threatened FD staff if they spoke of the incidents and suggest they would “regret it?”
Is it true you have a history of using your rank to cause people in your department to fear losing their job should they go against you?
If we told you there was a tape of you making racially inappropriate statements how would you respond? Do you have a history of making racially inappropriate statements?
If the City had the guts to sit down with the staff today face to face for an honest conversation, would your current staff say all these incidents were true?
Lastly, does the Public Lewdness charge from 1992 and the indecent exposure charge in 2000 belong to you or your father?
From the City’s recent meet and greet, we now know the candidate shortlist is Rob Bergersen, Richard Davis, Lee Glover, Kenneth Johnson, and Marc Pate. None of them have held the position of Chief. But, we learned of a few names that were removed, and we are interested in asking, why since they seem to have much more experience? Take Paul Henley, who is the Fire Chief in Flower Mound and President of the Texas Fire Chiefs Association–why was he taken off the list? Chief Lasky in Lewisville, a 40-year veteran and has served as a Fire Chief for the last 12 years–why was he taken off the list? Hello? With the stellar background of on some of these candidates, one should wonder why they were removed from the list. “Survey Says…“
Growing up in the countryside on a working vineyard was fun, but my parents had one rule which was always to be home before dark and never go into the fields at night. As a kid I remember my mom coming into my room each night to tuck me into bed and she would open the windows to let the cool air flow through the house since we didn’t have air conditioning. The winery fields at night were a desolate and eerie place. The vines, which during the day were lush with grapes, now hung like sinister fingers in the darkness. The only sound was the rustling of leaves and the occasional hoot of an owl in the distance. The moon cast an otherworldly glow over everything, illuminating twisted shadows that seemed to dance around my little feet at the end of the bed.
One day my brothers and I were playing hide and seek, and I decided to hide out in the fields because they would never find me. It felt like I was sitting there forever waiting for them and the boredom must have set it because I fell asleep. When I woke up it was dark and immediately I was terrified and my heart was pounding in my chest. I had to get home so I stumbled through rows and rows of vines, desperately searching for a way out but I couldn’t shake the feeling that I was being watched. Suddenly, a pair of yellow glowing eyes appeared in the darkness, followed by a low growl. I froze in terror as a massive black dog stepped out from the vines, baring its teeth menacingly. I turned to run but found myself face to face with a group of shadowy figures with twisted limbs. They hissed and snarled, inching closer and closer until I could feel their hot breath on my skin. I screamed for help, but no one came and I quickly realized I was alone with these terrifying creatures. As the night grew darker and colder, my fear intensified, my small frame shivering with every step. The wind howled through the barren branches of the trees that surrounded me as if they were calling out to me in a haunting voice. With every rustling sound I heard I walked a little bit faster and that’s when I tripped over a stray root and fell face-first onto the dirt. When I looked up again, I found myself staring into two glowing red eyes that seemed to be getting closer by the second. I quickly realized it was not the scary vine creatures, but my dad and I started screaming Daddy, daddy. Next thing I knew he swept me up off the ground and carried me home. The next day I told my dad I was going to save every penny of my allowance so that one day I could leave the scary creatures behind and move to a new place. His reply was simple, “once you can pay your own way, you can move out son.”
As we become adults there are so many things we must be responsible for, and one is our finances. My dad always told me 50% of my allowance should go to my needs, then 30% to my wants, and 20% should go to Mr. Piggy (that was my bank). I have practiced that my whole life because finances are one of our biggest responsibilities in our personal life as well as in our professional life. As business owners, we must be smart, responsible, and always on top of the P&L because we are the only ones responsible for the result. We must make sure our business is sustainable even during those difficult times. Real Estate is a good example of the ups and downs and how the market can change instantly from a seller to a buyer’s market or how interest rates can change buyers’ habits. Agents must be prepared for those slow times, or they could see themselves in a financial crisis because as our next-door neighbor says you only make money when you sell a house. We would think being fiscally responsible would be a requirement for most management positions, school board positions, or even city council positions because you are overseeing large budgets. That is why we were kind of shocked about The Hot Mess with Dynette Davis when we learned she had financial issues. Let’s just say there were circumstances that could explain it and we gave her a pass; does it make it okay for her to then lie to a direct question asked of her for a news article? The same questions are asked of every candidate running for the same type of position and they all have to tell the truth. Truth and financial responsibility have a direct correlation to your character. As the weeks have passed it made me curious (here we go again), how fiscally responsible the others are who sit on the ISD Board or City Council.
We started with a simple Google search of each council member’s name and the word bankruptcy. Imagine our surprise when we found an article in the Orlando Sentinel back on April 1, 1996, that says “Dono W. Pelham and Angelia E. Pelham, also known as Just for You Cosmetics and the Make Up, in Orlando filed for Chapter 7 listing Assets: $1,245 and Debts: $343,466. The Major creditors were Community First Bank, Jacksonville, $140,000; Eric Stern, Carrollton, Texas, $35,000; Schroder Center Management Inc., Dallas, $35,000. The creditors meeting was held that year on April 24.”
We then looked at her candidate interviews – was she honest about it? Well according to the Dallas Morning News Voter Guide she was asked, “Have you ever been involved in any civil lawsuits or declared personal or professional bankruptcy? If so, please explain.” Her response was “No lawsuits. One business filing almost 30 years ago in the early 90s for a small cosmetics retail business with 2 locations that I owned when I was in my mid-twenties in Florida. Did not have the financial capital to maintain inventory in both locations. Incredible learning experience as a young entrepreneur.” The answer to the question is yes she was honest that she had a business filing. Dono and Angelia filed Chapter 7 on 03/26/96 and it was discharged on 2/27/97 – related case number 6:96-bk-01808-ABB in Florida Middle Bankruptcy Court
In the DMN Voter Guide, she was asked, “What is an example of how you led a team or group toward achieving an important goal?” Pelham noted she had 30 years of experience as an executive with companies such as Walt Disney World Company, PepsiCo, Frito-Lay, Main Event Entertainment, and Cinemark. She claims to have been responsible for setting strategic plans and fully executing them, evaluating executive compensation plans, led massive downsizing and right sizing; led countless large-scale change initiatives; supported business acquisitions, and managed multi-million-dollar budgets all through effective leadership of others. At the time she filed for Chapter 7 (1996), Angelia Pelham’s resume also states she was the Director of Human Resources for Walt Disney World in Orlando from 1989-1998. That means she has a full-time demanding job while trying to operate her own business. It begs the questions did she have a good understanding of her own business and the debt she was accumulating? Why did she open a second location if the first location was not fluid? She called it a small business but $343,466 in debts for a small business is questionable and we are pretty sure her creditors left holding the bag would agree it was not “small.”
She noted at the time it was an incredible learning experience for her, so we assume as she moved forward in life she paid more attention to her money! Why did Griffin Park Residential Association file a lien against her property in November 2006 for $2,088.90, October 2011 for $956.80, June 2013 for $1335.65, then again in July of 2020 for $1233.70. Then Wells Fargo Bank filed against Dono Pelham in 2014/15 for what looks like a $10,375 civil judgement. Also in July of 2016, Carlos Avendando, owner of Dallas Green Landscape, filed an affidavit of mechanics and materialmen’s lien on the Pelhams home for $4039.00 for unpaid work. The County of Denton sent a Notice of Les Pendens on Feb 13, 2020 to the Pelham’s letting them know a lawsuit had been filed listing the cause of action for the foreclosure of the property due to unpaid tax lien (delinquent property taxes). It appears in February of 2022, The County of Denton released the Lis Pendens against the property so they must have taken care of it.
Is Angelia the only one? Well, we do know Councilman Livingston also hit some financial issues in 2018 with his food businesses but we could not find bankruptcy records. With more research we found a statement from Livingston that he has posted publicly on social media stating “while his lawyer recommended he file for bankruptcy, he had chosen not to do that and instead he worked with those he owed on a payment plan to pay out the debts and continues to make payments today to back any creditors. Mr. Livingston has a home mortgage in the amount of $294,800 and his home’s annual taxes are around $8500 that they purchased back in 2010. At the time the Livingstons drove a 2007 Chevy Silverado and now drives a used Tahoo which makes sense if you are paying off some large debts.
What did we learn? Angelia and her husband stiffed creditors out of $343,000 dollars and it appears they continue to have issues however they live in fancy neighborhood in a house with an estimated value of $971,422 and annual taxes around $12,000 and they drive a BMW or Lincoln which are some nice cars. The question is can they afford to live the way they are living? It would be easy to do if you didn’t pay bills. Mr. Livingston appears to be taking financial responsibility for his debts, we also confirmed he has paid off a huge IRS lien and his family live on a tight budget.
Back to me, I saved every dollar since I was a kid and today am proud to have no debt. It wasn’t easy and yes there were bumps in the road, but my wife and I have no outstanding debts and have never been sued by creditors let alone our HOA. We know there can be bumps in the road, those unforeseen things like medical bills which can knock a family right out of the comfort zone financially, but you get back up and wipe off your pants and move forward. If financial issues continue to plague you then the problem is you, and your bad choices and decisions. Our point – is that we should hold those who represent our city and boards to higher standards. They are representing us! Our character is defined by the choices we make, our values and our ethics. As Dave Ramsey says, “act your wage!”
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