Saturday, November 04, 2006

the Sherriff or the auditorium manager can only do what his bosses, politicians, regents and administrators enable him to do

When you work in taxpayer supported job like City Government or Del Mar College or CCISD, the employee, the Sherriff or the auditorium manager can only do what his bosses, politicians, regents and administrators enable him to do. As I understand it the maintenance and service people were not under the control of the Sherriff. At Del Mar College, I was the auditorium manager and supposedly the responsible party. I could beg for repairs and be totally ignored. Physical Facilities was responsible for repairs and maintenance. They would loose the paperwork or get bogged down in the bidding process or couldn’t or wouldn’t purchase the parts. When I was finally given control of my budget, spending the money was incredibly difficult. They were constantly changing the procedures or reinterpreting the procedures so that even with the money in my budget, I could not get things fixed which is why I eventually decided that the safety experts who told the college to shut down the auditorium were right. I came forward and said shut it down and don’t reopen until you’re ready to deal with all the issues. The response was to put me on administrative leave and keep the building open. In the case of the jail the Feds forced the issue. �I don’t know what the Sherriff has to go through to get the building maintained and fixed but, I can imagine. Even as the acknowledged expert on the auditorium when I requested a fix be done in a manner appropriate to the auditorium, I was often overruled by maintenance and their supervisors for the cheap or the simple solution even if it didn’t apply to the auditorium and often came back to haunt us.. I was responsible for the safety of student’s employees and the general public and I had regents like Gabe Rivas calling me a liar because I was embarrassing incompetent and corrupt administrators and regents who had allowed the auditorium to degenerate to such an unsafe and unhealthy condition. They wanted me to applaud them for putting band aids on major safety issues that were too little and too late and I wouldn’t do it. In the end by going public, I forced them to face the fact that the auditorium needed to be renovated. Only by forcing me out of my job they could cut corners and cover up the problems and do a face-lift instead. Makes you wonder what is going on at the jail? The DMC regents want to fool the public, it will look great, but the students and the performing arts community have been short changed and if you have a weak bladder you better be able to hold it because they didn’t add the required amount of rest rooms needed for a full house. That hasn’t stopped the DMC Foundation from producing the Come Home to Del Mar Event and marketing it to an older crowd who need those rest rooms. You think the politicians gave a dam about convicts?

In my particular case for many years on the job I was denied even petty cash. Lucky, I am pretty handy and I could fix many electrical, mechanical and carpentry problems, sometimes with money out of my own pocket. After I was forced to become a public whistleblower, I finally was given control of the budget but first VP Alaniz cut the budget by more than half in retaliation and as punishment. At Del Mar for years they would put money in the auditorium budget to fool the taxpayers, but it was never intended to be spent on the auditorium. The accounting at the DMC was so muddied that funds from the auditorium budget would be siphoned off for other projects and it was impossible for me as an employee, let alone the public to trace them and find out where they had really been spent. They claim the audits show what a good job their doing but the audits aren’t designed to look for the stuff I’m talking about. Getting back to your original question you can do the job as best you can as a public servant or you can rock the boat and blow the whistle. In the end I lost my job and I was forced to retire. What happened to me at Del Mar College isn’t unusual. They just did the same thing to the EEOC officer because she tried to do her job and sometimes doing ones job is not the popular thing to do. There are laws to protect public employees but it is costly and in the end the DMC will use taxpayer money to pay off the EEOC officer for violating her rights. It cost the taxpayers half a year of my salary to put me on administrative leave and that doesn’t include the investment this community had in my professional education that was partly paid for by Del Mar College. One reason I am running for public office is to help other public employees from not having to go through what I went through. I also want to see the students and the taxpayers get a fair deal for their investment. In a sense the Feds blew the whistle on the jail, but can you blame the Sheriff? I think not.

Thursday, November 02, 2006

The County Commissioners Minutes and the Facts About The Mold Remediation. Who is Responsible For the Mold?

Howard Karsh to corpuschristie., me, Israel
Hide options 11:49 am (11 hours ago)

From: Howard Karsh Mailed-By: stx.rr.com

To: corpuschristiexaminer@yahoogroups.com
Cc: "J. F. Kenedeno" , "Saenz, Israel"
Date: Nov 2, 2006 11:49 AM
Subject: RE: [corpuschristiexaminer] Political Ad


When you work in taxpayer supported job like City Government or Del Mar College or CCISD, the employee, the Sherriff or the auditorium manager can only do what his bosses, politicians, regents and administrators enable him to do. As I understand it the maintenance and service people were not under the control of the Sherriff. At Del Mar College, I was the auditorium manager and supposedly the responsible party. I could beg for repairs and be totally ignored. Physical Facilities was responsible for repairs and maintenance. They would loose the paperwork or get bogged down in the bidding process or couldn’t or wouldn’t purchase the parts. When I was finally given control of my budget, spending the money was incredibly difficult. They were constantly changing the procedures or reinterpreting the procedures so that even with the money in my budget, I could not get things fixed which is why I eventually decided that the safety experts who told the college to shut down the auditorium were right. I came forward and said shut it down and don’t reopen until you’re ready to deal with all the issues. The response was to put me on administrative leave and keep the building open. In the case of the jail the Feds forced the issue. �I don’t know what the Sherriff has to go through to get the building maintained and fixed but, I can imagine. Even as the acknowledged expert on the auditorium when I requested a fix be done in a manner appropriate to the auditorium, I was often overruled by maintenance and their supervisors for the cheap or the simple solution even if it didn’t apply to the auditorium and often came back to haunt us.. I was responsible for the safety of student’s employees and the general public and I had regents like Gabe Rivas calling me a liar because I was embarrassing incompetent and corrupt administrators and regents who had allowed the auditorium to degenerate to such an unsafe and unhealthy condition. They wanted me to applaud them for putting band aids on major safety issues that were too little and too late and I wouldn’t do it. In the end by going public, I forced them to face the fact that the auditorium needed to be renovated. Only by forcing me out of my job they could cut corners and cover up the problems and do a face-lift instead. Makes you wonder what is going on at the jail? The DMC regents want to fool the public, it will look great, but the students and the performing arts community have been short changed and if you have a weak bladder you better be able to hold it because they didn’t add the required amount of rest rooms needed for a full house. That hasn’t stopped the DMC Foundation from producing the Come Home to Del Mar Event and marketing it to an older crowd who need those rest rooms. You think the politicians gave a dam about convicts?

In my particular case for many years on the job I was denied even petty cash. Lucky, I am pretty handy and I could fix many electrical, mechanical and carpentry problems, sometimes with money out of my own pocket. After I was forced to become a public whistleblower, I finally was given control of the budget but first VP Alaniz cut the budget by more than half in retaliation and as punishment. At Del Mar for years they would put money in the auditorium budget to fool the taxpayers, but it was never intended to be spent on the auditorium. The accounting at the DMC was so muddied that funds from the auditorium budget would be siphoned off for other projects and it was impossible for me as an employee, let alone the public to trace them and find out where they had really been spent. They claim the audits show what a good job their doing but the audits aren’t designed to look for the stuff I’m talking about. Getting back to your original question you can do the job as best you can as a public servant or you can rock the boat and blow the whistle. In the end I lost my job and I was forced to retire. What happened to me at Del Mar College isn’t unusual. They just did the same thing to the EEOC officer because she tried to do her job and sometimes doing ones job is not the popular thing to do. There are laws to protect public employees but it is costly and in the end the DMC will use taxpayer money to pay off the EEOC officer for violating her rights. It cost the taxpayers half a year of my salary to put me on administrative leave and that doesn’t include the investment this community had in my professional education that was partly paid for by Del Mar College. One reason I am running for public office is to help other public employees from not having to go through what I went through. I also want to see the students and the taxpayers get a fair deal for their investment. In a sense the Feds blew the whistle on the jail, but can you blame the Sheriff? I think not.




--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

From: corpuschristiexaminer@yahoogroups.com [mailto:corpuschristiexaminer@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Priscilla
Sent: Wednesday, November 01, 2006 10:58 PM
To: corpuschristiexaminer@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [corpuschristiexaminer] Political Ad



There was an negative ad about Larry Olivarez, saying he couldn't
manage the jail properly. He failed to keep maintained causing us to
lose federal funding because we can't have federal prisoners in the
Nueces County Jail. The ad had me convinced not to vote for this
guy. In his defense, someone told me that his bosses (the county
commissioner makes the decisions) are the ones that didn't allow him
to do the job because they didn't back his decisions. I asked that
person to show me something that proves that. Is this true?

Saturday, July 01, 2006

Where is Jimmy? If this were a Positive aspect we all know Jimmy would be in front of the Cameras taking the credit

Take Charge Sherriff Jimmy!

Show us your problem solving skills?

Perfect opportunity to make lemonade!

Marshals: State jail fails

Inspection comes two weeks after inmates are pulled

By Denise Malan Caller-Times
July 1, 2006


The Nueces County Jail failed a surprise state inspection two weeks after U.S. marshals pulled federal prisoners from the jail, the U.S. Marshals Service said Friday.

State inspectors gave Sheriff Rebecca Stutts a timeframe to fix problems and said they understood why federal prisoners were removed, according to marshals.

State inspectors finished the two-day surprise inspection Friday. Stutts said she would not comment on the results until an official report is released.

The Texas Commission on Jail Standards does not release results to the public until county officials receive the report, commission executive director Terry Julian said. He expects to receive the inspectors' report by Wednesday and to send official results to county officials by Thursday.

Inspectors gave a verbal report to Stutts after their inspection.

"There were general observations, but we don't comment because it's not official until it's in writing," Stutts said Friday.

County Commissioner Chuck Cazalas said the state has not decided whether the jail failed.

"We'll have to wait and see what the determination is," he said.

Photos taken June 7 by marshals show moldy showers, peeling paint, clogged toilets, exposed wiring and inmates sleeping on floors. The state inspection this week found similar conditions and an emergency generator that would not work despite requirements to test it monthly, marshals said.

The state conducted the surprise annual inspection about two weeks after the U.S. Marshals' Service pulled 55 federal prisoners from the Nueces County Jail because federal inspections found questionable living conditions. Julian has said the jail was due for an annual inspection because the last one was conducted Aug. 11, 2005.

The state commission can take away certificates for jails to operate if deficiencies are not fixed after an inspection. State law requires jail officials to correct problems in a reasonable amount of time, which must be one year or less as set by the commission.

If standards aren't met then, the state can close a jail, remove inmates from a portion of the jail and order prisoners transferred. As of May, 18 jails were closed in Texas, 26 were non-compliant with standards and 225 met standards, according to state commission records.

State inspectors follow a checklist of about 600 items, ranging from inmate clothing to booking procedures and meals.

"They'll check every cell, every lavatory, every commode," Julian said. "It will be a completely thorough check of the jail."

Julian also said the U.S. marshals' pulling federal prisoners out of the jail did not affect the normal state inspection process.

"We use the same criteria in all the inspections," Julian said. "We did send one extra inspector so it wouldn't take so long because the news media wants to know."

Stutts has said the jail was cleaned after marshals pulled prisoners and that larger maintenance problems, such as plumbing, would take longer to fix. She has asked for a meeting with county commissioners to develop a budget and plan.

Jails are responsible for a maintenance and cleaning plan and for keeping the jail up to standards, and Julian said "clean" can be a subjective term.

"What's clean for one might not be clean for another," he said. "But they need to have a system set up locally and they develop the standard for what clean is."

Some jails use incentives for inmates to keep their cells clean, such as popcorn on Fridays for the cleanest cell, Julian said.

"The labor is there - it's all free," he said of jail maintenance in Texas. "There's no reason for them not to keep the jail clean."

The Nueces County Jail sanitation plan filed with the state in 2000 calls for daily cleaning of jail units. Each unit must contain a cleaning bucket stocked with disinfectant, a sponge, a toilet bowl brush and a scrub brush.

Inmates should clean daily, and corrections officers are responsible for supervising and inspecting the cleanup, according to the plan. A mop and bucket with clean water also should be provided once a day to each unit and stored in ventilated areas when not in use.

Trustees should be assigned to clean holding areas, briefing rooms, the court tunnel, booking area and restrooms.

Stutts said the plan is followed daily at the Nueces County Jail.

"As far as I know it has been," she said.

State inspection reports since 2000 show two deficiencies in the Nueces County Jail that were later cleared, and the jail passed all inspections. In April 2001, state officials found the holding and detoxification cells crowded with 124 inmates, 54 above capacity. A follow-up inspection in July cleared the jail.

In 2004, a July inspection found deficiencies in life safety equipment or drills, but the jail was re-inspected and certified the next month.

The contract between Nueces County and the federal government sets aside 96 of 1,020 beds in the county jail for federal prisoners. The county receives a daily rate of $45 for each prisoner.

Contact Denise Malan at 886-4334

Tuesday, May 02, 2006