{"id":2068,"date":"2019-06-23T10:21:00","date_gmt":"2019-06-23T15:21:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/truthinaddison.com\/?page_id=2068"},"modified":"2019-06-23T10:21:43","modified_gmt":"2019-06-23T15:21:43","slug":"the-bond-committee-and-addisons-positive-future","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/truthinaddison.com\/?page_id=2068","title":{"rendered":"The Bond Committee and Addison\u2019s Positive Future"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Bond Committee and
Addison\u2019s Positive Future
By Susan M. Halpern
Former Addison Councilmember (1992-1999)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s an exciting time\nin Addison, and I was once again fortunate to see it unfold first-hand.  I served on the 2019 Addison Bond Committee,\nas I did in 2012, when a similar bond committee brought a variety of projects\nforward.  The 2019 Bond Committee has\nbeen meeting since early this year, and completed its initial work with the\npresentation of its report to the Council on June 11, 2019.  If the Council adopts the Bond Committee\u2019s\nrecommendations, Addison will hold a bond election later this year, most likely\nin November 2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The bond package the\nCommittee recommended provides Addison with the means to address some\nmuch-needed maintenance on a variety of facilities and roads.  The growth of our town over the past 35-40 years\nhas been remarkable, but it has also added much wear and tear to our\ninfrastructure.  The Committee was strong\nin recognizing the need for Addison to invest in its infrastructure, a view\nechoed and supported by the results of the recent citizens survey.  Beyond facilities and roads, the Committee\nrecommended enhancements to trails and our health club, and included funding\nfor land acquisitions that will, among other things, allow Addison to prompt\nand control development in underutilized areas of town.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The proposals of the\n2019 Bond Committee are not likely to be without cost and, specifically, some\nmodest increase in Addison\u2019s tax rate at some future point.  That isn\u2019t a certainty, as no one can predict\nthe future.  For example, in 2012, we\nanticipated that our bond proposals would result in an increase in the tax\nrate, but economic circumstances changed and, in the end, there was little, if\nany, impact on Addison\u2019s tax rate. Nonetheless, the 2019 Bond Committee considered\nthis issue and ultimately concluded that the projects recommended were\nimportant enough to justify some additional burden on residents, with an eye\ntowards the significant benefits we will enjoy. \nIn my view, for Addison to remain viable as a residential and business\nhome, as well as a tourist destination (think sales tax, a critical part of our\nbudget), we must retain its character and its appearance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All of which presents\nus with an exciting opportunity to fund important projects that will enhance\nthe Addison experience for residents and visitors alike.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our staff took\nsignificant steps to provide accurate estimates for the proposed projects, an\nissue with some complexity.  For one\nthing, the timing of long-term projects is often uncertain and, as previously\nnoted, we can\u2019t predict the future, including ever-changing economic\nclimates.  Sometimes things work out\nbetter than expected, as they did for Addison residents when the economic\nrecovery effectively negated the anticipated tax burden of the 2012 proposals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beyond timing,\nmunicipalities like Addison must decide how detailed cost estimates will be, given\nthat obtaining expert input regarding projects can be expensive.  The alternatives for cost estimates are\nstraightforward in principle.  One option\nis to engineer projects before they have been considered by voters.  Such estimates are expected to be more\nreliable, but if voters reject the proposed projects, the planning is for\nnaught, making the extra expense difficult to justify.  Another option is to estimate costs more\ninformally, waiting to spend money on engineering and expertise until the\nresults of the bond elections are known. \nWhile conservative initially, this method presents estimates that are\nnot as reliable when bond issues are considered.  In 2012, Addison chose the latter method, but\nin 2019 made the decision to employ expertise to assist in developing cost\nestimates for the various projects considered by the 2019 Bond Committee.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

All of which brings us\nto the unfortunate issue of some recent communications to the Council from\nAddison\u2019s toxic ex-mayor. I have written much about this misguided\nex-politician\u2019s long history of playing the \u201cblame game,\u201d always looking to\ncast aspersions on others, but never accepting responsibility for\nanything.  I\u2019ve often observed that the\nbuck never stopped with the ex-mayor. \nHis current \u201cblame game\u201d concerns the 2012 bond process, during which he\nled Addison\u2019s Council to use estimates, i.e., to not pay for more detailed,\nexpert-driven engineering of projects until the voters spoke to the issues. The\nex-mayor now claims that the 2012 Midway Road reconstruction estimates were\ninadequate so, as is his practice, he is casting about looking for people to\nblame, all while ignoring his own role as the leader of the entire 2012 bond process.  Apparently, he and the negatives and\nnaysayers are rattling about regarding the anticipated bond election.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Their negative efforts\nare no surprise, nor is their choice to focus on the 2012 bond election.  They\u2019ve been beating this drum for\nyears.  Regarding Midway Road, they\nrefuse to acknowledge that that the economic recovery brought higher\nconstruction and material costs, or that the scope of the current project is\nmore extensive than the project considered in 2012.  But then, the facts really don\u2019t matter to\nthese folks.  The toxic ex-mayor has even\nmade the ridiculous suggestion that each member of Council is required to \u201cindependently\nsubstantiate\u201d the estimates prepared for the various projects the Committee has\nrecommended.  Beyond shaking my head at\nthe absurdity of this inappropriate demand for micro-management, which is clearly\nnot the province of this or any other Council, I couldn\u2019t help but wonder about\nwhat \u201cindependent substantiation\u201d occurred when the ex-mayor led the Council to\nrecommend the 2012 estimates he now claims were flawed.  The contradiction of his attacks is mind\nnumbing.  More to the point, this hypocrisy\nand negativity adds nothing to discourse regarding Addison\u2019s future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here are my thoughts on\nthese communications, on which we were inexplicably copied.  If the ex-mayor did nothing else during his\nmisguided tenure, he amply demonstrated that playing the \u201cblame game\u201d is\ndestructive and divisive.  Addison voters\nhave recognized this and that\u2019s enabled all of us to simply move on.  The result is that Addison is headed down a\npositive, productive path towards a bright future that gets brighter all the\ntime.  And if the ex-mayor and his cadre\nof negatives and naysayers can\u2019t play a positive role in Addison\u2019s future, then\nthey need to move on as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In any event, Addison took\na different approach this year, hiring professionals to prepare project\nestimates. Let\u2019s take the street projects as an example. Addison hired the\nJacobs Engineering Group, which compiled project data from Town staff.  This included current project plans,\nas-builts, GIS and survey information, utility plans and drainage reports.\nJacobs then developed existing and typical cross sections that included the\nTown\u2019s design standards and specifications from Addison\u2019s Master Transportation\nPlan.  Next, Jacobs developed planning\nlevel cost estimates for each of the proposed projects using bid tabulations\nfrom other recent city and county construction projects, as well as similar\nTxDOT projects.  Jacobs then applied an\nescalation factor based on construction industry data to estimate costs, and\nthen added costs associated with administrative, engineering, legal and\nconstruction support activities as a percentage of the total construction costs.  Each project cost estimate included\nimprovements to paving, drainage, water and wastewater lines, traffic signals,\nlighting, landscaping, streetscape, Right-of-Way acquisition, and other soft\ncosts.  Finally, Jacobs added a 20%\ncontingency to the cost of each project, ensuring that the estimate provided\nwas conservative.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These and other methodologies\nwere designed to give Addison the best chance of ensuring accuracy regarding\nproject estimates.  Of course, no\nestimate will be perfect, for all the reasons discussed herein.  But, given all the work and expertise applied\nto the current proposals, I believe Addison\u2019s staff has provided solid\ninformation relating to the projects recommended forward by the Bond Committee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Serving on these two\nBond Committees was an honor and a privilege. \nBoth in 2012 and in 2019, I learned a great deal and had the opportunity\nto interact with staff and many other Addison residents.  Given the different configuration of the 2019\nBond Committee, this year in particular provided the opportunity to engage in\nsome robust debates and discussions.  I\u2019m\ngrateful for these opportunities, and proud to endorse the recommendations we\nforwarded to Council on June 11th<\/sup>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Addison continues to\nmove forward in a positive, productive direction.  The Addison Way is truly back, and I\u2019m\nhopeful that our momentum will include a successful election relating to what are\nclearly very important bond propositions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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