Where does a school district’s money come from? School funding is largely in the hands of states. The primary job of the state finance system should be to account for differences between the districts in the cost of providing the right educational quality level, and then to distribute the funds. About 30 years ago the Texas Supreme Court ordered the Texas Legislature to fix the state’s unequal school funding system. The fix by lawmakers is often called the “Robin Hood” recapture plan. In 2023, three school districts voted to stop paying the recapture money to the state and two of those districts are here in North Texas. Carroll ISD and Keller ISD led the way and if other districts followed it would force the legislature to look at more options. If you received one of the recent postcards, they sure look misleading!
So, what is the funding system? According to a 2019 Texas Tribune article, “Texas guarantees every school district a certain amount of funding for each student. State lawmakers determine the base number per student, which is currently $5,140. Many educators argue that the state should regularly increase that base number, at least with inflation, to get all schools the money they need. But the amount has not changed in four years.” What many Texans don’t realize is that Texas consistently ranks in the bottom 10 to 12 states for education spending per student. According to an article by Texas Standard, Texas hasn’t increased school funding since 2019. It goes on to say to keep up with inflation over the last four years, state lawmakers would need to add almost $1200 per student. Two North Texas districts, Carroll ISD and Keller ISD, led the way and if other districts followed it would force the legislature to look at more options.
Remember when we were told if we approved the Texas Lotto, it would support education, where is all the money from the profits of these scratch-offs and power ball drawings? The truth is only 7% of the funding by the state for the state’s public school system comes from the Texas Lotto. However, the Texas Lottery is a better wordsmith to perfume the pig. The Texas Lotto website reads, “The Texas Lottery Supports Texas Education. Since 1997, the Texas Lottery has contributed $33.9 billion to the Foundation School Fund, which supports public education in Texas.”
While funding is an important part of the discussion so are the spending habits of some of these districts. How did our school district choose to spend their money? Are the funds being distributed properly? Are they spending based on a well-thought-out budget? We decided to investigate the spending habits via the Frisco ISD Check Registers on the district’s website. The district has 4 funds: The General Fund, Child Nutrition, Debt Service, and Capital Projects. We started with the General Fund!
$$ Legal Services: In 2024, Frisco ISD paid Abernathy Law $40,851.93, in 2023 they paid $85,913.58. We are curious, would it be a conflict of interest if the same law firm represented both the city and the School District? Was the legal advice received around these “Public-Private Partnerships” that are sold to residents as success ventures.
$$ Legal Services: In 2024, Frisco ISD paid Walsh Gallegos Kyle another law firm $411,336.57 and in 2023, $353,028.02. Why does the district have two different law firms? What kind of legal services is the district needing?
$$ Amazon: In 2024, the district spent $2,271,090.30 on “MISC SUPPLIES.” That is slightly higher than the 2023 spend, which was $2,047,880. That is a lot of Amazon!
$$ Dallas Physician Medical Services for Children: In 2022, the district opened a medical clinic to provide FISD employees with free access to health and wellness. As we know nothing is free! In 2024 the district paid DPMSC $470,000 dollars, and in 2023 the district spent $472,000 dollars. We are curious why they would partner with a medical service for children – when it is supposed to be for adult employees.
$$ Blue Star Frisco EV: In 2024, $457,915.28 for “Rentals”, in 2023 the district paid 359,028 dollars. When the public-private partnership was announced for The Frisco Star residents were led to believe this was a good deal for the school district as they would have use of the facilities. The city website reads “It houses Frisco ISD events such as football games, soccer games, marching band competitions, commencement exercises, and other similar events.” Everyone failed to mention how much the district would pay for it each year on top of what the district paid for in the original agreement.
$$ City of Frisco (Contracted Services): In 2024, the district paid the city $2,361,742.00 and back in 2023, they paid $2,135,134.56 dollars. What contracted services cost that much?
$$ City of Frisco/Park (FISD Debt Payment): In 2024, the district paid $4,511,073.80 and back in 2023 they paid $5,678,818.38. What is the district getting back from that?
$$ Hilltop Holdings (Yearly Investment): In 2024, the district paid Hilltop Holdings $63,301 and in 2023 it was $81,017.98. What is the yearly investment for?
$$ GCS Trails of Frisco (Contracted Services): Par for the course the city is paying for the use of the facilities for GOLF! In 2024, the district paid $61,555.85 and then in 2023 they paid $54,893.94. I thought the whole point of the PGA partnership was to have “USE OF THE FACILITIES” so why are we paying to rent facilities.
$$ Population & Survey (Demographics Survey): The most interesting expense was the 2024 payment for $115,700 for a survey. Then we noticed in 2023 they paid $113,450.00 for another survey. Why? For What? We plan to file a PIR for the information.
The district’s website reads “OUR MISSION is to know every student by name and need.” At Frisco Whistleblower our mission is to understand how the district spends its money and the need to ask us for more Bonds = More Taxes! There were many more payments in the 2024 and 2023 General Fund Report that some may question. While we wanted to highlight a few, we are still left with the question of what the point of the Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone (TIRZ). If all we are doing is paying out on them then how are they beneficial? What are we getting back from these TIRZ if we now have to go and ask residents for another $1 Billion dollars? Next up we will look at the 22/23/24 Capital Fund spending. Until then, you can review the Financial Reports on the district’s website. Lastly, look over the check registers as you might find some interesting things like we did.
Frisco ISD has proposed a new 2024 Bond Vatre which the district and the so called “Vote For Frisco ISD PAC” are pushing hard for. They want us to vote on four (4) propositions that they claim will fund important projects. What is a VATRE? A VATRE is triggered when a board adopts a tax rate that exceeds the district’s voter-approval tax rate (VATR). The VATR is determined for each district by a statutory formula and is the highest tax rate a board can adopt without holding an election. A district’s adopted tax rate has two components: its debt service rate or its interest and sinking (I&S) rate, and its maintenance and operations (M&O) rate.
While a bond election authorizes the issuance of bonds to generate funds for a district’s buildings and infrastructure and to be repaid from I&S revenue, a VATRE approves an increase in the district’s M&O tax rate, which can only be used for items related to programs and people, such as teacher salaries and stipends, training programs, educational programs, and other student activities, such as extracurricular programs. Confused yet?
The school district and the Vote For PAC are selling it to you on the basis that the priority has shifted from building new schools to maintaining the district’s existing facilities. A key piece of the proposed bond is refreshing aging schools and the supposedly includes a refresh for 20 Frisco ISD campuses that are 25 years old. The VATER portion according to the district’s website is needed to increase teacher pay and be more competitive. The district claims this will affect every campus, but they promised similar things in the 2018 bond, and we question if the money was used as they promised. Now they are back, asking us to trust them again but remember they DO NOT HAVE TO USE IT FOR THE REASONS THEY ARE ASKING FOR NOW. That means you can vote for it and then they can change how they or what they use the money for just like they did in 2018.
Getting the information out to the public about the upcoming propositions is not cheap. In fact, principals and the district are trying every avenue possible to get the information out, from using the PTA’s to hold informational sessions to ADVERTISING! Community Impact is one of the largest community papers for Frisco and for a long time we have thought they are in bed with Frisco political powers. We have never seen them write a hard-hitting story or an investigative story, instead most of the articles are “watered down” informational pieces. We have always had one burning question when it comes to Community Impact, how much does it cost to advertise during campaign season. I mean we know Jeff Cheney can afford it because he always owns the back cover for his business – but at what cost?
We started looking into these questions awhile back and set what we had found to the side until we saw a post on social media asking, “How much did Frisco ISD pay for the four-color glossy sticky notes located front and center in the recent Community Impact?” The paper has several different avenues of advertising such as an insert, sticky notes, direct mail postcards, online presence, and in-paper display ads. If our research is right, we can tell you!
We were sent a copy of their Frisco Elections Advertising PDF and according to the document, Community Impact goes out to 85,264 mailboxes in Frisco and their online presence in Frisco hits about 10,176 daily subscribers. Not bad coverage for a city with voter apathy! You can also bet they are working their inside connections in the Desis community as they alone can decide this vote.
Drum Roll Please…… Sticky Notes cost $0.15 each! If the district did 85,264 sticky notes to the Frisco readers, then the district spent $12,789.60 for one paper. Additionally, inserts are $0.15 each, sticky/insert combo is $0.25/set, and direct mail postcards are $0.26 each. If they decided to use the website ads on communityimpact.com it would cost $300/month per market for 30 days. If they choose to advertise via the morning impact email newsletter that goes out to 10,176 subscribers, it will cost $500 for the top of the newsletter and $450 for the middle of the newsletter.
We have a lot of questions:
Should the district be paying $13k for advertising when there is a Vote For PAC who has organized?
Are they advertising clearly, correctly and honestly? For example, on the districts website it reads “100% of bond funds stay in the district and is not subject to recapture by the state.” Will it really stay “IN THE DISTRICT” such as our schools and facilities, or will any of it (even $1 dollar) go to one of the public-private partnerships they have? You might have heard the City of Frisco approved a $182 million renovation for Toyota Stadium, but did you know Frisco ISD pays part of that bill? The recent headlines don’t alert you that the ISD is paying part of that BIG BILL!
That is right, $77 million of the $182 million comes from the public-private partnership TIRZ for the City of Frisco and Frisco ISD. They just did stadium improvements in 2016 for Toyota Stadium. I thought the point of all these public-private partnerships was to make money not just spending it. They also have a TIRZ / public-private partnership for the PGA Golf Course, Ford Center, Expansion of Dr. Pepper Arena, etc. Read more about it on their website.
While they are claiming 100% of the bonds are staying in the district, they are not telling you the VATRE is subject to recapture. According to Community Impact, “the new tax rate would generate an additional $11.5 million in revenue for the district. In total, the increase would generate $19.5 million in revenue, but $8 million would go to the state in recapture.” But they are not advertising that, are they? FISD voters last approved raising the M&O portion of the tax rate by $0.13 per $100 valuation in 2018.
We are just diving into the ISD stuff but as of right now we are not sold on voting for this bond/vatre. Just a few concerns include, we question if Waldrip the Super Intendent is the right might to lead the district as the last city he was in didn’t want him. We also don’t trust the school board President who has a history of personal financial problems to oversee tax dollars. We also don’t believe Frisco ISD is being smart, transparent or effective with the money they have now and we are unsure if throwing more money in the pot is the best solution. Last but not least our ISD needs to explain if any of this money will ever be used for public-private partnerships because if it will that makes it a no for us!
There is a magical art behind asking for something you want and then getting it! I read an essay many years ago that talked about how culturally it was not always the norm to ask directly for what you want and when we do, we are usually bad at it. People tend to hem and haw and often walk away from asking because we cannot clearly articulate the message. For example, many are uncomfortable asking their boss for a raise or salary bump.
Persuasion tactics are strategies that can help you convince people to see things your way and being good using these tactics is usually an art form. To be good, or to be great you must first know exactly what you want and what you need others to “buy in” to. Second you must ground yourself in why you are doing it and make sure it resonates with you so you can “sell it from the heart.” Third, you must be able to state clearly and with no confusion what you are asking for or trying to sell to the people. It must be direct, clear and specific. Lastly, you must be selective and targeted about who you ask or when you announce it.
In Frisco, one man is very good at Persuasion Tactics and his name is Mayor Jeff Cheney. When he “wants” something in Cheneyville, well he gets it! He is very good at “telling you” what you want versus “asking” residents what they want. For example, he has put together his team and he has been gathering his clan of supporters to push for the Performing Arts Centre. When he hit a no with the public/private partnership with the school district and Hall Group, he didn’t stop. Nope, he just changed course and came back at it again with his little clan in toe. Next thing you know he will get what he wants, residents will bitch, and no one knows the wiser of how we ended up here.
The talk of a Performing Arts Centre is not new, but what is new is we are curious “How much has this cost taxpayers?” The city has spent $1.6+ million on the current Theatre Projects assessment or feasibility study, but how many others have we done in the past? What were the costs to taxpayers in the previous studies? Why are we doing so many studies? When it comes to wanting studies and assessments what is the magic number of how many we will do before we say enough is enough? We did some research, and this is what we found:
Feb 17, 2015: Under the consent agenda for the city council meeting item 17 reads, “Consider and act upon approval of publishing a RFQ for the development and implementation of a study to examine the feasibility of a performing/theatre arts facility within the corporate limits of the City of Frisco.” We looked high and low and could not determine how much any of this cost. We could not even find the RFQ they approved to publish.
2015: Frisco Association of the Arts commissioned a “Facility Programming Report” by Page Southerland Page. According to the minutes for the Citizens Bond Committee on 01/26/2015, Tammy Meinershagen provided an update that a feasibility group has been identified to conduct a study for the PAC in Frisco. She went on to say it would take about six (6) months to complete the study and has an estimated cost of $200,000 dollars.
2018: The City of Frisco commissioned a “Needs Assessment” by Webb Management Services and Parkhill Smith & Cooper (PSC). According to a Community Impact article, the study showed there 14 performing arts groups that have 667 days of demand for performance facilities in Frisco. According to the study, the majority of this demand—466 days—calls for a facility with 225 to 500 seats while 177 days of demand calls for a facility of 1,001 to 1,750 seats. At the June 2018 Council Summer Work session, PSC Associate Michael Howard presented the findings and told the council there is not enough capacity in Frisco right now. At that time Cheney told Community Impact that “it was council’s preference to use available bond funds to build a 300- to 500-seat facility to meet the current demand of community arts groups with the hope of working with a private partner to build a larger performing arts center.” Of course, Cheney always changes his tune later! The CI article goes on to say the Councils “Performing Arts Committee is in the middle of a feasibility study to determine the size and needs of a potential PAC.” HOW MUCH DID IT COST – We don’t know! We can’t find anywhere in an agenda search where this shows up from 2017 to 2019.
August 2020: Frisco ISD commissioned a “Programming Report” by Schuler Shook. We can’t determine how much this one cost our ISD Taxpayers either. We have sent a PIR asking for that information.
October 2020: The City of Frisco and Frisco ISD commissioned a “Feasibility Report” by Garfield Public Private and Schuler Shook. Well Shocker – we cannot find anywhere what this one cost taxpayers either!
September 2021: Frisco Arts Foundation commissioned a “Market & Feasibility Study” by Theatre Projects Consultants, Inc. We cannot find out how much this one cost either. However, we are guessing since each year the city “FUNDS” the FAA through Hotel/Motel Fund somehow Taxpayers still paid for it.
May 2022: City of Frisco, Frisco ISD, and Hall Group commissioned a “Space Analysis Narrative by Corgan + Studio Gang. In February of 2022 the city council authorized an agreement for services in the amount of $175,000 dollars. Remember in late June of 2021, the city and Frisco ISD entered a public-private partnership with developer Craig Hall to construct a $67 million performing arts center. The city has agreed to contribute $14 million in voter-approved bond money, while Frisco ISD will contribute $43 million from the 2018 bond package, and Hall will contribute $10 million. Remember this is the one that “FELL APART” and truly if the city had wanted a PAC would have been the best option for everyone involved but we have learned from city insiders that “to many chiefs got involved” which caused the band to break up.
July 2022: Hall Group commissioned and performed a “Proposal and Outline” and we could not find out what the cost of this study was.
January 2023: The City of Frisco commissioned and executed an agreement with Theatre Projects Consultants, Inc., for consulting services related to a performing arts venue in the amount of $99,300 which was to be paid for by Bond Funds
September 2023: The City of Frisco commissioned part two of the agreement with Theatre Projects Consultants, Inc., in the amount of $1,415,500 dollars. Recently in 2024 after some CLARITY they Upp’d that amount to $1.6 million as we told you in our last article.
We did learn a few interesting facts along this deep dive…
According to the Dallas Morning News, “Frisco leaders also launched the HEARTS Project initiative — an acronym for Hall, Education and the Arts — to crowdsource an additional $100 million in donations for auxiliary upgrades. The amenities could include a large video screen facing The Star in Frisco, box suites, a VIP arts club with membership benefits, Frisco summer musicals, and a restaurant or bistro, according to the campaign website, but would not contribute to additional seating.” The 2021 article went on to say that “although city officials have previously said the center could host professional performances, the petition states that the limited seating capacity is too small for consideration by Touring Broadway. Experts recommend between 1,750 and 2,000 seats, according to the petition, which cited Theatre Projects’ market assessment and feasibility study for Frisco.
Next, we found it interesting just a few years ago in 2021 Frisco ISD had committed $43 million from a 2018 bond package and now they are back in 2024 asking voters to VOTE FOR the new 1-billion-dollar bond because they are broken penniless poppers! Just a few years later, they are begging for us to vote in favor of the bonds so the Frisco Kids can have an 11,000,000-tennis center.
We also learned Keating was a huge fan of the arts from a 2018 article in Lifestyle Frisco. He is quoted as saying Deputy Mayor Pro Tem John Keating said, “This is our chance to blow it out of the water, Frisco style!” Remember, Keatings motto in his last re-election we are #1 this, #1 that, #1 here, #1 there! Now he is closing on his house in The Preserve at Fields the #1 most exclusive community in King Cheney’s Frisco.
In closing, the city has buried how much these things cost deep in agendas, under nicknames and code words, hoping that you or I will give up looking. We did but what we can tell you with the most recent study in 2023 plus the other three we are at about $2 million alone in just “STUDIES, ASSESSMENTS, ANALYSIS” done for a Performing Arts Center. That means we are going to keep paying money for these via the bonds, hotel/motel tax fund, or something else until King Cheney gets his Performing Arts Center. You can bet little pretty Princess Tammy will be right next to him the whole way. Trailing behind will be their wingman “John “The Infamous Cheating” Keating.
Diving into all this has taken a lot more time than we expected and unless you understand the arts and all these studies it is a bunch of well-pitched jargon crap to confuse the residents of Frisco. We will continue our deep dive into this because we know the city is about to hit us with a bond. It will be through the City or the secret weapon “THE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT BOARD”. Just wait and see…. the EDC will make the pitch because the city has been called out.
Anytime you travel, you generally pick the destination for a purpose. For example, if you want to clearly see The Northen Lights or Glacier Bay National Park you head to Alaska. If you want to see the Grand Canyon, you head to Arizona. If you have kids who love Disney, you are packing up to go to California or Florida. Each place has is “draw” that brings in visitors and I highly recommend if you are every in Colorado Springs you visit the Garden of the Gods, a national natural landmark.
If you love country music you probably hit up Nashville, Tennessee and drop by Memphis to hit Elvis Graceland while you are at it. If you love politics then Washington D.C. will fill your cup with historical museums, monuments and The White House. When you think of Texas you probably think of LBJ Space Center in Houston, The Riverwalk in San Antonio, The School Book Depository Building where Oswald Shot Kennedy or the Dallas Botanical Gardens in Dallas, and of course the Fort Worth’s “Stockyards!”
My wife is a lover of the ARTS and when she wants to see something of substance you can bet, she is dragging me on the next flight to a city that never sleeps. That means west to Las Vegas or east to New York, New York, and we can all agree neither disappoints. Both cities have amazing nighttime activities including light shows, theaters, concerts, and anything else your heart desires. Last time we went to New York, my wife and I saw 3 Broadway shows on our short holiday and we collected the “Playbills” for each one. What made it one of the best trips ever, was the “whole experience” and not just the building where the show was held. It is not about the whole atmosphere of the city, the food, and the walk along Broadway in a city that never sleeps and that is something you will never find in Texas. When you want to see a Broadway show and have “The Theatre” experience, you will not say “hey babe, book us two tickets to Frisco, Texas!
That is the mindset that Mayor Jeff Cheney and his sidekicks “The Council Amigos” want you to believe is in Frisco’s future which is why they are pushing for this Performing Arts Center. On September 17th the city council tried to sneak into the “Consent Agenda” item 16 which reads, “Consider and act upon authoring the City Manager to finalize and execute the First Amendment to the Agreement with Theatre Projects Consultants, Inc., for consulting services related to a performing arts venue.” What does that mean?
In September 2023, the council approved $1,415,500 for a professional agreement with Theatre Projects to include “exploration, development, costing, and preliminary design for the proposed performing arts venue.” Other elements include multiple costing studies, site analysis, comprehensive community engagement, economic impact assessment, design concept facilitation, capital stack/funding study, and refinement of a final business plan.
Fast forward to September 2024, the council has approved another $214,350 taxpayer dollars because “As this study has progressed, there is more clarity for the upcoming Phase Two scope of services, resulting in this requested First Amendment.” Clarity? Who knew “CLARITY” cost so much? What is the CLARITY going to get us?
The First Amendment will address an extension to the Phase One service through October 1, 2024. The added cost for the Phase 1 extension services and related direct expenses is $49,850.
The Phase Two services have been refined with a duration of 10 months anticipated, from October 2024 to the end of July 2025. Key elements include concept design team selection, facility concept design coordination, project management, and partnership program development. The updated Phase Two fee is estimated at $628,000 (inclusive of travel). DID YOU MISS IT…the keyword ESTIMATED….
All these expenses mean the council has to revise the original contract which results in an increase of $214,350 from the original contract. That means the city has spent a total of $1,629,850 in Tax Payer Dollars aka BOND FUNDS.
One of the elements mentioned above talked about “comprehensive community engagement” and we were curious in such an apathetic town like Frisco where we can’t even get people to show up and vote – how did they conduct this COMPREHENSIVE ENGAGEMENT? According to the website they had 2 in-person open house sessions on May 15, an online survey for almost two weeks, and a virtual open house via Zoom on May 29th. We received an email from one of the zoom participants who said there were not more than 10 to 15 people in attendance, which included representatives of Theatre Consultants. That sounds REALLY COMPREHENSIVE for a town of 200,000 plus people who will be footing the bill for this project.
What is even more interesting is we filed a PIR for all of the studies done over the last 10+ years and of course, you would think the city would want to be TRANSPARENT as they plan to bring a request for a bond through the Economic Development Corporation before the citizens but nope – they felt the need to provide some documents and send some to the Attorney General. Yep, they fought us from getting everything we asked for which begs the question, WHAT ARE THEY HIDING FROM US?
Why is any of this important? Remember, Craig Hall has pulled out and is no longer offering to be a private partner or land donor for this project. For such a large project, why won’t the council answer basic questions such as where might the PAC go? How much will it cost taxpayers? Do you plan to try sliding it through the EDC? It is time for Intermission Break so until next time….
Click Here: To visit the landing page for the Frisco Center For The Arts Planning Updated 09/17/24
If you have read George Orwell’s well-known dystopian novel, Nineteen Eight-Four (1984), then you may remember the opening line, “It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.” Have you ever wondered, what does it mean? If you thought it referred to military time, you are incorrect. References to a thirteenth stroke of the clock indicate that some event or discovery calls into questions everything previously believed. In other words, the thirteenth stroke of the clock calls in question not only the credibility of itself but the previous twelve strokes.
For Orwell the key was “clocks” referring to more than one, so we must believe he was referring to all the clocks in the world. It was Orwell subtle way to tell the reader that statements of truth in a fictional society should always be called into question. The proverb puts forth the notion that if just one of someone’s proclamations or statements is wrong, or something in a process is wrong, then the correctness, accuracy and truth of all the previous proclamations, statements and steps in a process need to be called into question.
What does the “Thirteenth Stroke of the Clock” have to do with Frisco Fire Department? In a 13 Stroke attempt the city wants you to believe Glover is just the phenomenal department head who has transitioned all the negative out of the FD and things are just peachy now. In their own attempt at the “Thirteenth Storke of the Clock,” on video in their own words, we have Mayor Jeff Cheney – lying, Butt Hurt Bill Woodard – lying, Angelia Pelham – lying, and Mr. Valor John Cheating Keating – lying!
The most recent In-Service Meeting notes are no different than the 2011 Climate Report and all of that falls on the city, former city manager George Purefoy, the mayor and council and our newest tool – Wes Pierson. You might think “that can’t be that much more left,” to uncover, but you would be wrong! In 2012 when the city went outside the department to hire (Mark Piland) that was a thorn in Lee Glovers’ side because in his mind he was always the successor to Mack Borchardt. For ten years Glover had to watch a new Fire Chief, who could have cleaned house and fired him – but didn’t do the job he felt he was owed and deserved.
In fact, the In-Service notes state that repeatedly “Glover would talk shit about the department at lunch, would brag about retiring, and not caring about the job,” but now he is the new Fire Chief. The notes also say that some of the firefighters feel that they have seen their former Fire Chief Mark Piland more since he retired than they have Glover, since he took the position as the new Fire Chief. The most damming statement of all in the report, “We have managers and leaders. Leaders we would follow to the end of our career. The Fire Chief (Lee Glover) is NOT a leader!”
During the recent election cycles, the Mayor and City Council members all talked about how they valued our firefighters, as they treated them crap calling them lazy, greedy, and master manipulators / liars. What do you think the result of that election was? Well according to the notes “The PAC (run by Bill Woodard, funded by Cheney’s big developer friends) drug the name of the Frisco FD through the mud, damaging their image and trust with citizens.” It goes on to say the secretly backed by the city PAC, “made poor judgement decisions using social media, and they crossed the line making attacks extremely personal and not about the issues. The city blurred the lines of politics by backdoor financing the political PAC, and the FD has lost complete trust in City Hall and the Council.” Even further manipulation was when the Frisco Chamber of Commerce, who likes to play they are independent, but receives hundreds of thousands of dollars from the city, cut off the voices of the firefighters at their forum has left the FD with a very bad taste and lack of trust. “We don’t trust them, and they don’t trust us!”
When it comes to the City Manager, Wes Pierson the in-service notes said they don’t trust him or his judgement. Goes on to say since taking over in this city he has been dismissive, divisive, flat our ignored them, refuses to meet with them, and has been condescending to members of the FD fracturing a future relationship.
The city wants you to believe they have done everything, given everything, spend ½ the annual budget for public safety and that the firefighters are just lazy! Yet the city is running out of people to blame it on, and we have caught them boldly lying about Glover which means we now have to question everything else they have said in the past. The lies are on tape! Actual video evidence in their own words, LYING to citizens. We fully understand now why the FD has a lack of trust with the FD management, City Manager and Mayor + council.
Staffing is the biggest issue that was brought up over-and-over from the 2011 Climate Report to today. This is the biggest tipping point: 3-person truck or 4-person truck. It makes me wonder why firefighters would be fighting so hard for staffing if it was not a problem. We found a 5-year Strategic Staffing plan in one of the PIR’s that we filed. It was done by Former Chief Mark Piland, and according to a city hall staffer this is what the Fire Chief turns into their boss – the city manager. It stats the following:
FY 2018 Add 7 Positions Total FD Personal: 260
FY 2019 Add 8 Positions
FY 2020 Add 27 Positions
FY 2021 Add 13 Positions
FY 2022 Add 24 Positions Total FD Personal: 332
Full Copy of 5-Year Strategic Plan written by Mark Piland:
Based on that strategic plan – how many do you think we hired? We have filed a PIR asking just that question. We did pull up the FY 2023 Budget which has the Fire Department clearly listed by department area. We wanted to focus on the “Tactical” personnel because when you call 911 that is the group that shows up at your front door. On the “tactical personnel” side it shows they went from 230 in FY 2021 to 239 in FY 2023. Yep 9 people!
The strategic 5-year plan that Cheney talked about in the 2023 election is what city goes by, shows by FY 2023 we should have had 281 “tactical” positions. Now the city council has been telling citizens we are staffed just fine at 239. It really hit home for us when we looked at it visually on the organizational chart. Frisco’s current population is 225,007 people, which makes us the 101 largest cities in the US and growing every day. The actual FY 2023 budget for the FD covers 279 personnel across different areas of the department from administrative, fleet, tactical and more.
If you look at the 5 Year Strategic plan Piland wrote in 2018 it shows for FY 2023 that we should have 332 personnel across the different areas of our fire department. That is a difference of 53 personnel – most of those positions are on the “tactical side.” Why did the city not meet the Strategic Plan in place? We posted the video of Mayor Cheney in our last blog, and he is talking about how the city has a “strategic plan,” they go by, so why do the numbers not match the plan MAYOR? Now I understand why the firefighters are so passionate about the staffing issues – it makes sense. If staffing was an in issue in 2011 and then per the strategic plan for 2018 – 2023 we are short staffed that means we are WAY BEHIND THE 8 BALL.
Then we remembered, during the election at the Stonebriar Forum, Angelia Pelham said she liked to look at FACTS aka DATA. She said in 5 years 57% of the Fire Department will be eligible for retirement. Hold up, wait a minute! As a resident that should concern you if you care about the welfare of your family. While it is not likely, let’s pretend all 57% of our those eligible in our fire department decided to take retirement in 5 years because they are sick of “The Frisco Way” and if the city does not go along with the current strategic plan (which we have filed a PIR for) for the next 5 years, it could decimate our department.
Let’s look at this another way. It takes about 1 to 2 years to train a Firefighter with class and hands on experience. We also know through PIRs in Frisco and other cities that when it comes to candidate testing for new firefighters – they are not coming to Frisco. They are going to other cities with a more favorable view of the fire department. Let’s assume we were already short-staffed in 2011. Then the city has been short staffing the fire department against the advice of the Fire Chief for the last ten years, plus it fails to follow the current 5-year plan to hire 55 new firefighters, and then you add on 57% of our Fire Department chose to retire in 5 years when they hit eligibility, what does that mean?
It means we will face a catastrophic shortfall of well-trained experienced firefighters. Our tenured firefighters have already been retiring and then going to other departments because they are not done working, they just don’t want to work in FRISCO anymore. The best training comes from experience and the “tenured firefighters” give real life saving mentorship to new firefighters who have yet to go down a 10-to-15-year career. If 57% leave in 5 years when eligible and the city which is already short staffed doesn’t follow the plan or hire more immediately than there will be no tenure in the department and that is a LIFE-OR-DEATH matter to firefighters, citizens and the council’s favorite…tourists.
We reiterate, Mayor Cheney, Angelia Pelham, John Keating, Bill Woodard, and Laura Rummel (Livingston has remained quiet), have all talked about the increase of staffing when we open the new Fire Stations 10 & 11. We wrote in depth about the Fire Department and Bonds in our blogpost 007 and if you have not read it, you should! Voters approved Station 10 in the 2015 bond, and in 2019 they asked Voters to approve Station 11.
Funny thing is they asked voters in 2023 to approve Fire Station 11 AGAIN along with a remodel of Station 4. You paid for STATION 11 – 2 TIMES!
Here is where we need you to buckle your seat belt. According to a leaked email we received, Station 11 has been scraped and put on an indefinite hold with no plan in the next several years to build it. YOUR COUNCIL MEMBERS RUNNING FOR OFFICE LIED TO YOUR FACE WHEN THEY SAID IT WAS IN THE WORKS AND ALREADY PLANNED OUT! Remember every single one of the council members above said we will hire to staff the two new stations but in the 13th Stroke of the Clock there will be No Station 11 = NO HIRING OF FIREFIGHTERS. We filed a PIR Friday for the status of Station 11 and all documents, notes, emails, and plans for it to confirm the email we have so let’s see if they turn it over.
Our city council continues to lie to us, and we continue to take it with a grain of salt. They probably sit in their executive sessions and laugh at how stupid we are because they continue to have the 13th Stroke of the Clock ring out and no one is putting 2 + 2 together. Tick Tock, Tick Tock….
It’s looking like toxic Tammy is going to be defeated along with the go man! Woohoo!
WOW WOW WOW. Truth is out. No more rumors. Nothing illegal. Thank you for sharing and exposing Toxic Tammy. Time…
Cheney is so full of shyt! He can’t be gone fast enough. Vote Burt, Vote Elad! We need to start…
All of this makes so much sense based on how I’ve seen both myself and so many other city employees…
Thank you for enlightening us! It is about time people see the light.