By Laura Alanis-Lopez

Pflag Correspondent

Following an executive session and a 5-0 vote, members of the Pflugerville City Council approved terminating the employment contract of Public Works Director David Buesing, a longtime city employee who was previously the city’s police chief and city manager.

“As the new City Manager [Brandon Wade] is about to come in [next month], we realized that it might become an uncomfortable situation for all parties,” said Pflugerville Mayor Jeff Coleman. “As a result, we [council and David Buesing] came to a mutual decision that it was best if David retires early next year.”

With the city of Pflugerville for the last 29 years, Buesing was once the city’s only police officer, followed by the very first police chief for the department. In 2004, he was promoted to city manager after being talked into the position by former City Council members.

After five years as the city manager, a split decision at the May 26 council meeting named Buesing as the new public works director and Assistant City Manager Lauri Gillam as the interim city manager. Effective this past May, city officials and documents cite city growth as the reason for the organizational change.

“As Council members we are entrusted to ensure the city is run in a manner that is consistent with the values and goals of the community. We are stewards of the public’s money and as such make decisions from time to time that we believe are in the best interest of the Citizens of Pflugerville,” said Floyd Akers, city attorney on behalf of council members Darelle White, Starlet Sattler and Victor Gonzales.

Buesing’s employment with the city of Pflugerville will terminate on Jan. 4, 2010. His current and final salary with the city is $123,000. Pursuant to his contract Buesing will receive six months pay, as well as a severance pay equal to another six months pay and will be compensated for unused sick and vacation time totaling $172,748.

There is no word as to how the city plans on filling the director of public works position or if anyone will be temporarily named to the position.

Budget Freeze No Longer In Effect

Less than two months after voting to freeze the 2010 fiscal budget, in response to the Wilbarger Regional Detention and Flood Control Project, council unanimously voted to lift the freeze and allow for normal spending.

“We [the council] froze the budget because we had a project that was going to be more expensive than originally anticipated and wanted to take the time to look back at things and do some research,” said Mayor Coleman.

Originally expected to cost the city around $2.6 million various factors, some still unknown, somehow caused the detention pond project to increase to more than $18 million, raising red flags to finance staff a year ago. Quickly halting the project and freezing all unnecessary spending at the Oct. 13 meeting, council hired H.R. Gray to analyze what caused the project to increase in both cost and scope and verify the costs of six scaled-back alternatives.

A report by H.R. Gray suggests that the change in scope and subsequent increase in costs can be attributed to the development agreements and subsequent direction by the then City Engineer to modify and increase Klotz Associate’s scope of work.

While Klotz Associates presented six alternatives, ranging in cost from $2.3 million to $7.6 million, members of the council hope to have a decision on the alternatives by February of 2010.

Despite some feeling the issue has not been resolved and no product has been delivered, those with the city want to reassure the citizens of Pflugerville about the budget.

“The state of our budget is exceptional,” said Coleman. “Our goal is to protect the citizens’ money, and we are now comfortable with the cost of the project and know that it will not affect us paying our bills.”

Some policy changes recommended by H.R. Gray and already put in place include no more open-ended “multiple task” agreements (like the one the city has with Klotz Associates), obtaining council approval for projects where costs exceed five percent of the original contract, having finance staff attend internal, monthly meetings about the city’s Capital Improvement Projects, as well as providing the council with project updates on a quarterly basis. In addition, minutes will be taken at all meetings with contractors and no meetings will take place at bars or restaurants.

More discussion about policies and procedures to help prevent another situation like the Wilbarger Regional Detention and Flood Control Project from occurring is expected to place early next year.

For more information about the 2010 fiscal budget or any project underway in the city visit their Web site at cityofpflugerville.com.