Wow! Folks running our City are seriously worried about their elected spots with strong candidates challenging The Squad.
The Squad (Mayor Javier Joven and Councilmembers Denise Swanner and Mark Matta) must be really concerned about holding on to their seats if they have to stoop so low as to insist on such silliness as non-disclosure agreements (NDA) for two of their challengers just to tour the City’s water treatment plant.
The Odessa American submitted a recent request for such NDA’s and GUESS WHAT? There weren’t any others. Yep, Stoker, who is challenging Swanner, and Hendrick, who is challenging Joven, are the first ones asked to sign an NDA. We also asked for the visitor logs and there have been plenty of visitors to the facility who didn’t have to sign an NDA.
Guess none of those other folks are running for City office.
Seriously? This is a public facility that is owned by the citizens of Odessa.
This year’s election nonsense is not really all that surprising. Stoker posted on Facebook about the tour and complimented the folks who work there. He also advocated for raising salaries for those who work there and believes that may help attract more staff.
In his post Stoker said he asked the staff what was confidential about the facility and “it was relayed that nothing was really but perhaps they wouldn’t want pictures of the chemical storage or main pumps posted. Understandable but why was I the first one (ever?) asked to sign one.”
He ended with this: “I have at least one guess, and election interference is illegal.”
We agree. Hendrick said he didn’t mind signing an NDA as long as everyone who tours is required to sign. We suspect the form didn’t even exist prior to Hendrick and Stoker asking to tour. Hendrick questioned the motives behind the NDA, as well.
I think we all know the motive.
The Squad will do anything to hold on to power. The Squad’s Matta also faces challenger Eddie Mitchell in the November election.
The Squad continues to try to mislead Odessans about our water woes. They want you to believe they have done everything in their power to stop the water outages and boil water notices and to treat things like the recent sewage smell from some local taps.
Stoker also posted some information we absolutely agree with and know to be true about when the water plant rebuild started about three and half years ago. That is when Joven, Swanner and Matta first voted against using the ALREADY APPROVED funds to repair the plant. They wanted to take the matter to voters. Swanner and Matta later switched their vote when a petition to take the matter to voters failed.
The big push to repair our water system did NOT start as it should have in 2022, when we went without water for several days following a valve failure.
Don’t forget, we have previously reported how they budgeted money for the last four years that they didn’t even spend for water upgrades and new valves. They didn’t even spend the money they had!
Now we are supposed to believe their campaign nonsense about how they are all about infrastructure!
Don’t believe them.
But back to Stoker. He made some really good points about our water.
Stoker: “Imagine how much further along we’d be without their (The Squad’s) shenanigans. Let’s not forget they were against it (system upgrades) before they were forced to be for it. There is a lot of blame to go around, and it starts before this council. It’s a shame the hot potato even landed in their hands to begin with. It NEVER should have gotten kicked this far down the road, but an emergency is an emergency, and they should have acted with haste and decisiveness, but they chose politics over the people.”
We could not agree more.
Swanner did hop onto Stoker’s Facebook page (she seems to do that a lot) to say “I voted no the first time, giving constituents an opportunity to weigh in. An overwhelming number of them I spoke to take action (sic). At that point I voted yes to move forward issuing debt to repair the water treatment plant. ASAP.”
We are not buying Swanner’s explanation.
She voted “no” the first time because she was a candidate attached to the now out-of-power Kris and Tisha Crow, who had all candidates they supported pledge to never issue debt without asking voters first.
Also, don’t forget this Squad has voted the last four years to raise your water, sewer and trash rates. Sure they did that phony and staged “let’s give seniors and the disabled” a break and not raise their rates this year. What about all the other years they raised them?
Oh, and a clever reader sent us a screenshot from the last election four years ago. Then candidate Joven responded to a news story about the city council raising water rates with this gem:
“…we can’t tax our way out of debt picking our wallets as households continue to struggle…”
Wow. Then he and the other Squad members pick your pockets each year and expect you to be grateful for their “leadership.”
These last few months have been busy, busy for The Squad. Where were they before that?
Where was the urgency in repairing our infrastructure? Where?
Now they are on the ropes and are stooping to a new low.
Stoker may be on to something. Sounds like interference to us, too.
