Tick-tock, tick-tock sounds the clock! Days go by, and the tick-tock never seems to stop. Meanwhile City of Frisco leadership sits behind closed doors while we watch the clock, just tick-tock! Precious moments fading away and citizens still are not standing up to ask, is everything okay? What happens when time runs out…? Tick-tock they will try to approve a $300-$500 million dollar Performing Arts Center and announce they plan to raise taxes!
Back on June 18th at the Budget and Audit Committee Meeting we learned from the agenda that both the Committee Chair – Councilman Bill Woodard and Committee Members –Councilwomen Angelia Pelham and Laura Rummel were present. They had a discussion regarding the “PRELIMINARY FY 2025 Budget” and our Chief Financial Officer, Derrick Cotton talked about potential revenue generating items. It is the last paragraph where it says Mr. Cotton talks about the “Homestead Exemption” and presented changes in the adjusted taxable values and discussed a possible tax rate change for FY25 that had our attention.
They plan to pick up the discussion this Tuesday August 6th at 3pm at the next Budget and Audit Committee Meeting. Then we noticed Tuesday nights city council meeting Agenda Item 32 calls for a public hearing on the FY 25 budget. In fact, the city memo reads “Consider and act upon adoption of a Resolution calling for a public hearing on the City of Frisco FY 2025 Budget, Frisco Economic Development Corporation FY 2025 Budget, and Frisco Community Development Corporation FY 2025 Budget. (Budget/TA)”
Why does a city call for a public hearing on the potential adoptions of the budget? Well according to Texas Local Government Code, Title 4: Finances, Subtitle A – Municipal Finances, Chapter 102 – Municipal Budget (wow that’s a mouth full) there are several reasons. Section 102.005 specifically states that if they are proposing a budget change it must be available for public inspection.
(b) A proposed budget that will require raising more revenue from property taxes than in the previous yearmust contain a cover page with the following statement in 18-point or larger type: “This budget will raise more total property taxes than last year’s budget by (insert total dollar amount of increase and percentage increase), and of that amount (insert amount computed by multiplying the proposed tax rate by the value of new property added to the roll) is tax revenue to be raised from new property added to the tax roll this year.”
Once they conclude that so called “PUBLIC HEARING” they can adopt a budget according to the law. So based on what they have been discussing, based on the public hearings they have quietly posted, we can guarantee you the city is about to announce a Tax Increase! Right now, those city leaders are just hoping you are not paying attention and all the other political distractions around the country will keep you from recognizing the destructive path they are.
Now you should say, wait a damn minute Mayor Cheney – you just ran a year ago on the fact you have lowered taxes. Let’s not forget John Keating and Angelia making the 2024 rounds campaigning for your vote claiming they lowered taxes and plan to continue lowering taxes, but all the while they knew they were going to propose an out of this world Performing Arts Center and raise taxes.
Didn’t this city council pull out all the stops to get votes to VOTE NO against the Fire Fighters because they claimed it “WOULD INCREASE TAXES” when they already knew they were going to do it anyways? What they were not telling you then is they planned to raise taxes but just for things they want for their own selfish reasons. Who cares what citizens actually need….
In a time when inflation is high and we are facing a presidential election these mice are running around in the clock hoping we don’t pay attention to the TICK-TOCK, TICK-TOCK of the clock. If any one of our council members vote to raise taxes – VOTE THEM OUT! Why are we, one of the flushest cities, according to Cheney talking about revenue generating ways for the city to make money. It is simple, CHENEY-VILLE COSTS A LOT TO BUILD. The old red head wants you to just do as he say’s and not ask questions ASK QUESTIONS!
While we know there are a few who don’t care for Frisco Chronicles (guess who), every day our viewership and website traffic continue to grow. We are getting more emails from fellow whistleblowers tired of the way the City of Frisco staff and leaders continue to operate behind closed doors. Obviously with our popularity growth you can imagine some leaders don’t like the attention and decided to block us from their official and unofficial social media pages so we 1) can not comment, call them out, or ask questions and 2) because they think that it will stop us from finding out what they are doing.
According to the ACLU, one of the core purposes of the First Amendment is to allow people, regardless of their views, to hold the government accountable through expressions. That means if an elected representative has an official Facebook page where they invite comments, they cannot block you from the social media page. In 2019, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the interactive portion of a public official’s Facebook page is a “public forum,” so an official cannot block people from it because of the opinions they hold. However, in recent years the question of blocking or deleting comments has gone back to the Supreme Court for further review.
In March 2024, the issue again was before the U.S. Supreme Court that ruled public officials who post about topics relating to their work on their personal social media accounts are acting on behalf of the government, and therefore can be held liable for violating the First Amendment when they block their critics, only when they have the power to speak on behalf of the state and are actually exercising that power. The key is in bold lettering “when they have the power to speak on behalf of the state (or city). Jeff Cheney can block us from his personal page or business page claiming that he is not speaking on behalf of the city, and it is his personal comments. If you ask us, he uses both his personal and business page to post at the mayor which is clear from just two recent posts in 2024.
On an official page it becomes a very slippery slope. Can he block us from his official Mayor Jeff Cheney page – we would argue no because he is clearly using that to speak from his position as Mayor on behalf of the city. The city has not told the council to shut their OFFICIAL PAGES down because they have no authority to speak on behalf of the city and communicate city information. So technically by them allowing them to have official pages they are in essence approving each one of them as a spokesman for the city.
We decided to file a PIR this year on May 11th that reads, “Copy of the list of “BLOCKED USERS” which can be found under Settings & Privacy, then “Blocking” related to the city council’s official “Social Media” pages or personal pages used for political purposes or posts: Any pages in which they communicate any official city business or city news. For Example: Brian Livingston For Frisco, Official FB Page for Angelia Pelham, Frisco City Council Place 3, and her page Angelia Pelham Official Page for Mayor Jeff Cheney Official FB Page and personal page Jeff Cheney, Bill Woodard serves in Place 4 on the Frisco City Council Tammy Meinershagen Official FB Page, John Keating For Frisco Official Page and John Keating personal page Laura Rummel, Frisco City Council Place 5 and personal page Laura Rummell.
The city then waited until May 24th to send us a message asking for “CLARIFICATION” of our request. They always wait out the 10 days to respond to delay PIRs. On May 30th we wrote back and attached a clarification letter that reads: Per your letter “requesting” clarification we hope this helps: 1. Platform: Facebook 2. Accounts: Any FACEBOOK account that a current City Council Member or Mayor has where they post topics related to their work (on city council or for the city) that are effectively communicating or acting on behalf of city government as that one would assume the information presented is being done so by a representative for the council. For example, Mayor Jeff Cheney, Angelia Pelham, John Keating for Frisco, Laura Rummell, Bill Woodard, Brian Livingston and Tammy Meinershagen. Then we provided instructions on how to find the “blocked list” of users on their pages so they would not have to search for it.
Well as you can imagine our CITY and CITY LEADERS who claim to listen to their constituents, be transparent, and work on our behalf and not their own selfish interests turned over the blocked list for each of their pages with no issue! JUST KIDDING! Of course they didn’t turn them over. Instead, we got the following note back from the City Secretary that reads, “Following a request for clarification, the scope of the request was narrowed to Facebook platform only. The City of Frisco has reviewed your request and has determined that the information you are seeking does not fall within the definition of public information as defined by the Public Information Act. As a result, there are NO DOCUMENTS responsive to your request.”
To be fair we didn’t expect they would turn over anything from their personal Facebook pages, but we were hopeful they would be transparent and turn over the blocked list from the official pages of council members. Ask yourself, why would City Council leaders block any constituent or resident they represent? Why would they block Frisco Chronicles? Why would they block anyone who spends money in Frisco which is tax revenue for them? Direct from the horse’s mouth “Jeff Cheney” we heard over the last two elections “we listen to our residents, and we are totally transparent” yet he has blocked numerous people from his official mayoral page. In fact, he has blocked almost everyone who disagrees with him or calls him out. Residents should be asking if you are really working hard for us, then WHY WOULD YOU BLOCK ANYONE? They block those who disagree or want to speak out against something like the upcoming Performing Arts Center that they plan to shove down our throats for $500 million dollars. They don’t want you to see those who disagree or argue that what they are doing is wrong. If that does not concern you, it should!
We believe it is very humorous that city leaders have blocked Frisco Chronicles aka Whistleblower because in their private comments to other city leaders and citizens, they say Frisco Chronicles is no big deal, they are not worried about us, we are not important, no one is reading and following along with our reports. Truth is they are scared to death, and they are questioning every day who they can trust. Newsflash folks … people in the inner circle are singing like canary’s. Have something to say reach out to us by email FriscoWhistleBlower@protonmail.com – we protect all sources and never reveal identities.
Our team members have filed a complaint with the Texas Attorney General in regard to the City of Frisco and Public Information Requests. The city has been notified and we will see how things roll out in the coming weeks.
Time after time we send requests to a city who likes to claim they are TRANSPARENT when really, they are using every avenue to withhold information from the public. We are hopeful the Texas AG will see that the City of Frisco is using their office to weaponize and withhold public information.
Recently we noticed our Mayor Jeff Cheney took a trip to Las Vegas on taxpayer dollars. Where did he go? Las Vegas for the annual global real estate ICSC Convention which stands for International Council of Shopping Centers’ annual global real estate convention. According to the website, it is the world’s largest gathering of real estate professionals. It is a two- to three-day gathering of dealmakers and industry experts, who are driving innovation and evolution in commercial real estate. The event provides an opportunity for attendees to network, learn about the latest trends in retail real estate, and do business with thousands of exhibitors.
The website states the exhibit hall features over 1,200 exhibitors showcasing their products and services. These exhibitors include retailers, shopping center owners, developers, architects, and other vendors. Another important aspect is the networking opportunities. The event provides attendees with numerous opportunities to connect with other industry professionals, including receptions, parties, and other social events. These events allow attendees to make new contacts, share ideas, and form partnerships that can help them succeed in the retail real estate market.
Many local Frisco residents have questioned if Mayor Cheney uses his position as Mayor to help his personal business The Cheney Group, a real estate firm. Before we assumed the worst, we asked ourselves, why would he go to this convention on taxpayer dollars? What would the value to the city be? According to the expense report we found it says he went with the Frisco Economic Development Corporation.
In an email to Karla Horton, Jeff Cheney who uses his business email to conduct city business submits his receipt with a note that states to please consider the Saturday night stay and the food and beverage expenses to be personal expenses and do not file those for reimbursement. The only items for reimbursement would be the Sunday and Monday hotel room charges which comes to $1140.60.
Just looking at the expense report we have some serious questions. First, we noticed the room was in Jeff Cheney of The Retail Connection in Dallas, Texas. What is The Retail Connection? Then it states his departure date as 5/19/24 and return date as 5/20/24 but there are hotel charges on his ARIA Invoice for 5/18, 5/19, and 5/20. Why is he expensing two nights for a hotel when his report states he left on the 19th and returned on the 20th? Why not expense one night? How did he get to Las Vegas? Where is his expense for airfare?
When he travels to the city, he does have a per diem amount towards food, but he noted in his email to the city that the food expenses should not be submitted to the city as they are personal expenses. Then we noticed a charge that reads “$25 ARIA Refreshment Center charge for $25.00”. On two of the days, he was charged once for that but on 5/19 we see the charge twice. Then we noticed on 5/18 (the personal day) he hung out at the pool because there is a charge at the ARIA Pool Service Bar of $100.53. Then we noticed on he must have hung out at the pool bar on 5/19 the day he was supposed to be at the convention because there is another charge for the Pool Service Bar of $70.73. Plus, he has an additional charge on 5/19 at the ARIA Salt & Ivy Café Food for $95.11.
We are still questioning how the Frisco EDC and Mayor Cheney traveling to Las Vegas for a commercial real estate industry event would benefit the city? The website for the convention mentioned attendees can expect to meet with key decision makers from the shopping center industry, connect and network with over 34,000 attendees and 1,000 exhibitors, view the latest industry products and services that are critical to your business, take part in professional development courses, and educational opportunities for retail real estate professionals. Lastly you get to attend after parties and industry networking events and do a year’s worth of business in just three days.
The Cheney Group has a dedicated agent to the commercial real estate market so the question we continue to have, is the trip beneficial to his personal business because we can’t see what city business he would have there. What do you think?
Do you love Amazon? It is hard to believe that there is one website where you could literally scroll and find anything and everything you want. Half the time, you can find items to buy that you did not even know you need, until low and behold your eyes see it! The dangers of scrolling can hit the pocketbook. We like to look at how the city spends our tax dollars, and it is kind of like Amazon. They spend money like they are shopping on Amazon, adding items to the cart and when they are bored they just look for something that tickles their fancy.
Imagine our surprise when scrolling through the city agendas, we found another interesting item from the July 2nd City Council Meeting related to purchasing authority. Daniel Ford, Director of Administrative Services sent a memo to the Mayor, Members of the Frisco City Council, and cc’d in Wes Pierson – City Manager and E.A. Hoppe – Assistant City Manager asking them to consider a change to the ordinance granting purchasing authority to the City Manager or his/her designee for all budgeted items not exceeding $100,000.
In 2017, the City Council approved a threshold increase from $25,000 to $50,000. Why are they now wanting to change it to $100,000? The memo states the request is being made to streamline the contract approval process, expedite routine non-controversial purchases, and to reduce the administrative burden on staff, while maintaining compliance and transparency.The word transparency made us laugh!
The memo goes on to read that in 2018 the purchasing of items on the consent agenda was 117 for the full year. Now they claim it has gone up to 245 for the full year and this change would reduce the administrative and processing time for putting council items together by almost two weeks. It also states the increase would allow more flexibility and efficiency to handle these agreements. HOW DOES MAINTAINING TRANSPARENCY AND FLEXIBILITY GO TOGETHER?
Would you be surprised to learn that Agenda Item #30 passed and was APPROVED 6 – 0. The new ORDINANCE 2024-07-32 basically allows the city to spend more with less oversight. How is that transparent? Who determines what is a ROUTINE AND NON-CONTROVERSIAL purchase? Oh yeah, the city determines that that! If one of the council members knocked on your door and said I need 100,000, don’t ask questions, just trust me, would you? The staff is asking to reduce the administrative burden they face so they want to be paid the same but have their workload made easier or do less work.
Does anyone besides us see an issue with this Ordinance? Interesting how they threw it on the agenda before the Summer Vacation break, don’t you think? Why does the city always claim they are taking steps to be more TRANSPARENT, yet they send almost every single PIR to the Attorney General and hide information from the public? If you think this is a bad change then you should email your city council and city manager. Now they claim in this memo they want to spend more with less oversight to be more transparent.
We have told you before you can learn a lot about what the city is trying to do by reviewing city council meeting agendas. We noticed the Frisco City Council approved a master agreement on July 2nd with a company called FW Development LLC. The master agreement provides up to $94.5 million in “PERFORMANCE-BASED INCENTIVES” to the developer of the $660 million mixed-use development known as Fields West. The goal is to ensure the developer adheres to its intended construction timeline and scheduled opening date.
Who is FW Development, LLC or Fields West? Well, it was created by The Karahan Co. which is owned by Fehmi Karahan. According to sources we spoke to inside the city, they believe the project will help achieve the council’s directive to activate North Frisco. The Dallas Business Journal made mention of it, along with that the project is expected to bring in $400 million annually in new sales and purchases for Frisco.
We went back to watch the meeting and we learned that Mayor Jeff Cheney recused himself from the vote. We are guessing he did this because of this known relationship between The Cheney Group and the residential part of Fields (aka The Preserve). However, his little marionettes knew what to do and approved it in a 6-0 vote. After watching the vote, we are curious why John Keating participated in the vote. Remember, he recently recused himself from a Fields vote due a to “conflict” because he was going to be closing soon on a lot in The Preserve.
In the discussion of the project, Keating talked about how he remembers years ago going on a walkthrough of Legacy West with Fehmi Karahan. He remembers the attention to detail in the development from the park benches, to how the bricks were laid in the crosswalk, and how it is lit up at night so it’s safe 24/7.
We are guessing that John Keating does not remember Christina Morris, or better yet could care less to remember her because it is not about his Cowboy Fit Club. Morris went missing in August 2014 from the Legacy West parking garage. In March of 2018, it was announced that remains found in a wooded area of Anna, Texas had been identified as Morris. In March of 2022, there was a shooting of a restaurant at The Shops of Legacy? Safe is relative Mr. Keating!
Keating also noted this was a flagship project that will be great for the surrounding residential neighborhoods to enjoy. Wait, you mean Resident Keating who is about to close on his lot in The Preserve at Fields? Yeah, this is the exact reason WHY YOU SHOULD HAVE RECUSED YOURSELF ALSO!
The next question, what does a developer have to do to earn $94.5 million in “PERFORMANCE-BASED INCENTIVES?” According to the memo on the city council agenda the performance requirements require the developer to construct by a certain date, a minimum of:
350,000 square feet of upscale retail and restaurant space
320,000 square feet of Class A office space; and
1,100 multifamily residential dwelling units (not incentivized)
Where does these $94.5 million dollars come from, the city purse or personal savings account? First, the Separated Materials Sales Tax Grant will provide up to $7 million in City, Frisco Economic Development Corporation, and Frisco Community Development Corporation sales tax revenues generated by project construction material and service purchases. Secondly, the Frisco EDC Qualified Infrastructure Grant will fund up to 50 percent of the cost to construct a planned water feature (not to exceed $2.5 million in incentive value) and up to 50 percent of the cost to construct internal streets built to city standards (not to exceed $10 million in incentive value). Lastly the TIRZ #7 Funding will finance the construction of 3 public parking structures accommodating a minimum of 2,430 public parking spaces to serve the development. This debt service will be funded by TIRZ #7 property tax revenue generated by the Fields West development and supplementary sales tax revenue generated by the Fields West development.
It just leaves us wondering, how do we have all this money? Where is all this money coming from? It is like the city has a SUGAR DADDY funding it! With that said we were told during the recent election that if Proposition A & B passed it would bankrupt the city – so how is it we have money for one thing but not another? Oh wait, Cheney can’t make money or build his stature or status up on our first responders.
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