CITY ADMINISTRATION & SERVICES
- Jeff Darby
- Feb 2
- 5 min read
A. Nederland has declined for the better part of two decades. City Council has either not given the day-to-day manager with specific goals or oversight, or has turned a deaf ear to citizens who have complained about the state of our city.
B. The deep freeze of February 2021 and the drought of 2023 showed our water system is hanging by a string. The snow and cold in January of this year was the latest. Even in good weather, we have "boil water" notices much more often than in years past. We have over $16,000,000 in the bank, so we have the money.
What was the City Manager's and City Council's answer? Was it to ask for citizen input? No. Was it to bring a plan to the citizens to fix and modernize the water and sewer systems, and ask for citizen approval through a bond election? No. Was it to borrow money at very low interest rates (about 2.12%) from the Texas Water Development Board, a State of Texas agency in existence since 1957? No.
In October 2024, without citizen input or knowledge, the City Manager asked, and the City Council approved, borrowing more than $8,400,000 at interest rates between 3 and 5% and even more, over the next 20 years. This will cost something approaching $20,000,000 before all is said and done.
Team DOJ will always listen to the people. We believe the people of Nederland are smart and wise. If we need to borrow money, we will give you our plans and ask for your trust through a bond election. We would rather borrow money as a last resort, and will strive to pay for improvements through the cash our City has on hand.
C. The City of Nederland has given the same private-sector ambulance company a monopoly to work here for 20 years. Most other cities give them a monopoly to do "transfers" (take elderly or disabled people from home to the hospital and back). In return, they give 911 service for free. The City Council lets them charge our people for 911 service.
There has been a city ordinance since 2004 that says 95% of "Priority One" ambulance calls (lights and sirens) must be done within 7 minutes 59 seconds, and 95% of "Priority Two" ambulance calls (no lights or sirens) must be done within 10 minutes 59 seconds. For every point below 95%, the City of Nederland SHALL FINE the company $2,000 for Priority One, and $1,000 for Priority Two. Team DOJ got the 911 dispatch logs through the Texas Public Information Act since January 2020; these records were not in good order, and they gave a lot of answers like 0 minutes 0 seconds for response (highly unlikely).
The City of Nederland HAS NEVER FINED the ambulance company!
Team DOJ estimates this company owes the people of Nederland A FEW HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS!
DOJ3 is interested in studying what changes need to be made, including whether EMS needs to be within Nederland Fire and Rescue. We have outstanding firefighters and police officers; a Nederland EMS would have outstanding paramedics and EMTs.
D. The City Council has received countless complaints from the people of our City for at least 15 years about the city manager. What did City Council do? Give him raises! He makes more than $200,000 per year, plus benefits.
Since 2022, I have spoken against the illegal contracts City Council has given the city manager for many years. The City Charter is our constitution. The people approved it for the first time in 1955, and have amended it several times since then during elections. Section 5.02 says the city manager is an at-will employee. I am familiar with labor law (I was a Labor Department investigator for 33 years), and know that at-will employees do not have any employment guarantees. Instead, City Council has given the City Manager a contract that says the City will pay him around $225,000 if he voluntarily resigns, and around $700,000 if City Council fires him.
When he announced his resignation in January to be effective later this year, the City Manager will stand to collect around $230,000 to $250,000. His yearly salary is just over $200,000.
City Council voted this January to begin searching for a new City Manager by using a consulting firm near Fort Worth that will cost us around $27,000, and do a search all over Texas. Britton Jones and I (Jeff Ortiz could not attend due to work) asked City Council to call Lamar University; they have an MPA program (Master of Public Administration) and have hundreds of alumni all over Texas, all of whom are familiar with the Golden Triangle. Let's face it, the Golden Triangle and Mid County are unique (we're a mixture of Texas and South Louisiana). We need a City Manager who is familiar with our area and our people. Lamar would have charged us nothing for this search. City Council said they hired this consulting firm because "all the other cities use them".
As a teenager, you probably answered, "Well, everyone else is doing it!" If you grew up around here, you probably heard your parents or teachers say, "If everyone else was jumping off the Rainbow Bridge, would you?" Just because everyone else does, doesn't mean we should, especially if we can get a better candidate at no cost.
I look forward to leading the City Council in hiring the best executives we can, and setting out policies for which they are responsible. As a former union officer with over 25 years of experience at the national, state, and local levels, I will negotiate in good faith with the unions representing our police officers and firefighters and demand fair treatment of all employees by their management.
E. The mayor under Texas law is the chief emergency management officer of the city. While having trained personnel to advise him is necessary, the mayor cannot "delegate" this vital task. The buck truly stops with the mayor in case of natural or man-made disaster. The mayor is the one to contact the Governor of Texas for help.
F. I have over 25 years of executive experience. Uniquely, all of this has been leading and supervising others who volunteered to work with me. Whether in a service organization, fraternal organization, or labor organization, all of those whom I led were volunteers.
I was an Army ROTC cadet at Lamar University in 1984 and 1985. The first thing I learned from the Army was this saying that I will remember for the rest of my life:
"Leadership - At its highest, consists of getting others to work for you when they are under no obligation to do so." I would say that winning dozens of elections as the top person in an organization and leading 40 to 50 volunteer officers and workers for over 25 years are great examples of my leadership abilities.
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