“READERS FORUM” FOR NOVEMBER 16, 2016

1. Noticed in the C & P that the City Council paid only $1 mil of the nearly $7 mil medical bills owed by robbing the unemployment, liability, and Local Income tax funds. What the C&P did not investigate was the amount of other payables due associated with the General Fund. My sources indicate that this number is over $7 mil and growing. Apparently, Russ Lloyd will classify vendor’s invoices as essential and non-essential. Of course the essentials will be paid in 30 days but the non-essentials are not paid until 5 months or more. And when any vendor complains about the lack of payment, they are threaten with removal from the vendor’s list.

   Russ asking permission to move the one million from the previously mentioned funds is amazing considering that he illegally moved $12,500,000 from the Riverboat Fund to the General fund without obtaining permission.

   As of October 31st, the hospitalization fund was negative by over $7 mil compared to one year earlier it was positive by over $2 mil, a deficiency of nearly $10 million in that fund. The General Fund after adjusting for the illegal transfer of $12,500,000 shows a deficiency of $10 mil but does not reflect the increase in the payables.

   So, we have deficiencies in two major funds, the General and Hospitalization that totals over $20,000,000 for the fiscal year ending October 31, 2016. The increase in our property taxes due to the partial elimination of our Homestead Credit is a pimple of a buffalo’s butt amounting to $500,000.

   My fellow Evansville citizens, it is perfectly clear that our City is in financial crisis. This article should have been in the C&P instead of the less than half reporting that we have come to expect out of this rag of a newspaper. Our former Councilman Friend who apparently has years of financial experience repeatedly warned this administration about their financial carelessness but as we all may recall one year ago, Councilman McGinn stated on the open floor of the Council that Friend was a political hack and was deceiving the people. for political gain. By the way, do not expect to see this in the C&P as well.

   Unfortunately, those who refuse to study history are doomed to repeat it. After eight years of our flamboyant Russ Lloyd, Sr and his financial carelessness/recklessness, the than newly elected Mayor Vandiveer was forced to furlough 360 City employees and even went to the extreme of turning off one half of the City’s street lights!!! THE FOUR HORSEMEN HAVE ALREADY SADDLED UP..

2. The C&P can sure put a great face on when necessary. Old Jack Pate, years of dedication to our great newspaper is so-called retiring when he has three children of which one is in college and one other nearly college bound. We all know that people in the newspaper business become wealthy. Who knows, maybe Jack was a lottery winner or received his inheritance but here is one thing we know, i.e. circulation is significantly down. In the past five years the CP has had three owners ..the electronic element, i.e.the web, had not be successful and insiders indicate that as their market continues to grow older due to the lack of Millennials who obtain their news electronically, the CP will develop into a three day a week news outlet printed in Louisville, KY and distributed locally.

   Don’t be surprised that the new year will see our editor either joining old Jack on the golf course or has performed such a suburb job that the Peter Principle will be evident and he will be Cincinnati bound. (Home of the owner of the CP) We can only hope. If Donald Trump can be elected, all things are possible!!!

   • Their expertise in putting a good face on a dismissal or ‘retirement to be with family…’ comes from practice. First they got rid of everybody down there who could write, they honed their façade skills on them. They are now apparently practicing plastering obnoxious ads over an article while you’re reading it — a surefire way to get more subscribers. Keep at it CP, practice makes perfect.

     The CP should go out of business. It is an embarrassment to the community.

     • When you’re right, you’re right. And, you’re right right now.

       • Thank you, disaffected.

   • Liquored Up,

     Gannett Company, HQ is Maclean, VA.

     Cincinnati ? That was two owners ago !

     • Dear Lime ..thanks for the info ..So, be prepared for this editor’s exit to Maclean, VA

   • I have to wonder if Jack Pate’s replacement will also pay $10,000. a year to be a member of the Evansville Regional Business Committee, or if the ERBC comps the membership fee for the Courier&Press for services rendered during the year.

     • EVANSVILLE REGIONAL BUSINESS COMMITTEE 2014 (MEMBERSHIP)

       1. RICHARD F DAUCH
       DIRECTOR

       2. GLEN DUNKERSON
       DIRECTOR

       3. ROBERT KOCH II
       DIRECTOR

       4. JACK PATE
       DIRECTOR

       5. JOHN SCHROEDER
       DIRECTOR

       6. MICHAEL WALSH
       DIRECTOR

       7. JEFF JOBE
       DIRECTOR

       8. LINDA WHITE
       DIRECTOR

       9. DANIEL HERMANN
       DIRECTOR

       10. NORM BAFUNNO III
       DIRECTOR

       11. CARL CHAPMAN
       DIRECTOR

       12. JOHN PATRICK ENGELBRECHT
       DIRECTOR

       13. MARK SCHROEDER
       DIRECTOR

       14. DR. JONATHAN RICH
       DIRECTOR

       15. CHRIS TRAYLOR
       DIRECTOR

       16. BARRY COX
       DIRECTOR

       17. DWIGHT HAMILTON
       DIRECTOR

       18. KIETH JEWELL
       DIRECTOR

       19. DENNY QUINN
       DIRECTOR

       20. EDMUND HAFER JR
       PRESIDENT & SECRETARY

       21. ANDREW GOEBEL
       VICE PRESIDENT & TREASURER

       22. ROBERT JONES
       CHAIRMAN

       23. RONALD D ROMAIN
       VICE CHAIRMAN

     • Press

       Do you also know who is the Executive Director of this not-for-profit and non-political organization? Any idea what the Executive Director is being paid?

       Finally, do you have any idea of the mission of this group?

       • To your latter question: In my opinion it seems to be to keep the City of Evansville broke, and to a large extent, keep Evansville’s taxpayers the same way through projects of dubious worth that they run through the Evansville Redevelopment Commission. Corporate welfare through “public-private” projects, while the city’s infrastructure falls apart around them. Lord only knows how much was looted from water revenue funds all the years it was comingled with the general fund revenue. Now water customers are facing increases in their monthly bills are going to last for generations. But my, don’t we have some shiny new buildings that the taxpayers must subsidize with injections of cash every year in order to keep them from going under? Yes, it is business as usual around here and if you don’t like the math, just talk to the city controller, he will tell you not to worry, it all adds up.

3. NO, the Zoning Board should not approve the new bar/restaurant on Franklin. I know one of the neighbors, and the parking issue is still very real. Why have zoning/parking laws if they are not evenly enforced !

   K.C. needs to look at a new location, and get back to his larger vision, not this pared down version which is still being shoehorned into a crowded area.

   • What I don’t understand is the logic and uniform enforcement of parking regulations in the city. In the Haynie Corner area, businesses were allowed to open without any parking to support their businesses. (I am happy about the development in the area.) The city even built a new parking lot in the area to support the businesses.

     Then on N. Main St., the city buys several properties for the purpose of providing parking lots to support the development of new businesses to addition to the existing businesses.

     But then on W. Franklin St., where the businesses are self-grown without any city support, we have a proposed business unable to invest over a$1 million into a project.

     I’m not very smart, but what am I missing here???

     • Mark Head, great observation. Never forget the City wants everything “down town” and that area of Franklin Street is on the “West Side” of Pigeon Creek.

   • Anna

     Your view of this is beyond narrow minded and selfish. Because you know of ONE neighbor that MIGHT be affected, you want to destroy the entire proposal

     How asinine

     • The main antagonist in this dispute is the guy who owns Pistons. Same guy that owns Evansville’s “premier gentlemen’s club”, the former Scores. Real piece of work. His name is English. He’s only interested in eliminating competition and increasing his bottom line. He’s not interested in improving this community.

       • Exactly, it’s not downtown and he’s using his own money, this must stop. First thing you know some jerk will build a hotel using his own money.

4. I see President Obama is going to lecture Greece about nationalism. Perhaps he has forgotten how Stalin and Hitler tried to “unite” Europe with a big group hug.
   I’ve no doubt our new president-elect will embarrass us in the future, but I doubt he will make it a focal point of his administration like President Obama has with his World Apology Tours.

   • Hopefully Obama will stay in Greece

5. Sources indicate that the State Board of Accounts had their exit conference with some of the lap dog council members present. As such, before year’s end, the audited report should be available to the public. Be on the lookout for a supplemental report not part of the main report. Within that supplement, you will find discloses that Winnecke failed to fund the hospitalization fund with the proper amounts in order to manipulate the General Fund. You should also discover within the supplemental report, that Russ Lloyd, Jr. still has difficulty in performing bank reconciliations and if the SBOA was doing their job further reprimand should have been directed to the City Council, i.e. the Finance Chairman (Councilman O’Daniel) for not inquiring (oversight) during the year that those bank reconciliations were properly performed. In addition, the supplemental report will disclose that the Winnecke Administration improperly transferred funds from the Riverboat to the General Fund. This is the illegal transfer of the $12,500,000 which occurred the day after the last meeting of the City Council for 2015. In addition, you will find references of more “Lack of Internal Control” though out the supplement. Like the previous year’s report, the State Board of Accounts disclosed the proper balance in the General Fund after adjusting for the Winnecke Administration’s manipulations. The question this year will be will the SBOA disclose that after this year’s manipulations, the General Fund beginning balance is actually NEGATIVE by over $10 million???? Finally, unfortunately, like the previously year, the supplemental report fails to disclose that 10 out of the 12 months, the General Fund was upside down contrary to state law.

   Plainly speaking, if Russ Lloyd, Jr. and Mayor Winnecke worked for a publicly traded entity acting as the CEO and CFO and did what they have been doing with regards to the books and record of our city the Security Exchange Commission (SEC) investigation would probably lead the Justice Department to indict under the Sarbane-Oxley law. Unfortunately, this law does not apply to municipalities thus no law has been violated in regards to Winnecke and Lloyd, Jr. only the ethical suspect comes to mind.

   • @Grateful Dead: how can you make such slanderous statements ? Clearly, after plugging $ 29 Million to balance in 2012 the City has smoothly reconciled, to the penny, each year thereafter !

     If you don’t believe me, just read Russ Lloyd’s comments at the back of each year’s audit. My favorite: “The City disputes the CHARACTERIZATION that the Bank accounts are not reconciled” . . . .boy, that’s rich.

     Also Grateful, you are a bit ambitious on the release date of the report. 2014 report not released until 2/23/16–no way 2015 comes out this year .
     Are you predicting yet another UNQUALIFIED opinion that LW can use to brag about what great financial shape the City is in ?

   • In the 2014 Audit, the SBOA called out Rusty for booking a prepaid 2015 Wastewater payment in lieu of tax to the City of $ 2,428,000; and the fact that the City did not pay the General’s fund portion of hospitalization bill for the 3rd Quarter of 2014 totaling $ 3,767,800. Without these two gymnastics, General Fund in overdraft.

     Those numbers seem like small potatoes compared to the 2015 which Grateful Dead appears to have the dirt on . . .will Russ have the balls to do the Wastewater payment-in-lieu gambit again (probably); and will he find the courage, for the 5th straight year, o claim that the bank recs couldn’t be reconciled due to the “new” computer software (which is likely now obsolete and ready for replacement) ???

6. This is how pathetic it has gotten on the left. Their propaganda outlets are so out of ammo that this is all that is left to them:

   https://youtu.be/v7GEa7r8Vyk

   This is going to be a fun 8 years. Taking bets on when CNN folds like the house of cards it is.

   • MEDIALIFE.COM

     Week ending November 6, 2016

     Top five total-day networks (total viewers): Fox News Channel, Nickelodeon, ESPN, Hallmark Channel, CNN.

     * * * * * * * * * * * * *

     CNN has lower ratings than the Hallmark Channel!!! Well deserved CNN, well deserved.

     • None of Fox News’ “shows” have higher viewership than any of the 3 Network Newscasts.

       • i voted for the winner………………………Mr.Trump Law And Order 2016 and………beyond…………………………………..

       • Thank you for voting for Trump. I am glad that you are one who recognizes that electing our president is a constitutional process not a popularity contest.

7. This wont go over well with the sissies and “buttercups”!
   ………………………………………………………………….

   An Iowa lawmaker is looking to slash funding for public colleges spending money on grief counseling and other kid-glove treatment for students upset over last week’s presidential election results — telling snowflakes everywhere: “Suck it up, buttercup.”

   Since Donald Trump’s upset victory last Tuesday, colleges across the country have brought in therapy dogs, canceled exams and held “cry-ins” on campus.

   But Republican state Rep. Bobby Kaufmann says he will introduce a “suck it up, buttercup” bill in January when the Iowa State Legislature resumes, in a bid to fight back against campus coddling…

   The University of Michigan law school canceled a “Post-Election Self-Care with Food and Play” event this week after inevitable Internet ridicule. The event offered students the chance to work out their Trump anxiety with “stress-busting self-care activities” including coloring, blowing bubbles, sculpting with Play-Doh and “positive card making.”

   But Kaufmann says that’s a waste of money, and can actually hurt students as it doesn’t prepare them for the real world.

   “And in life, when your car breaks down, your kids get sick or you have to take a second job to pay your mortgage, you don’t get to go to a cry zone, you don’t get to pet a pony, you have to deal with it,” he said.
   ………………………………….

   http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2016/11/16/suck-it-up-lawmaker-wants-to-cut-funding-for-schools-coddling-students-over-trump.html

8. Yes, KC is a respected businessman who is trying to beautify an area of Evansville we all celebrate and are proud of. KC is going to bring jobs to our city, and continues to employee many people at his various businesses. This is a man Evansville can trust with putting on a proper establishment and we should all be behind him.

9. Absolutely! Let it happen! KC is a respected business man and he has a fantastic reputation not to mention an excellent vision for successful entrepreneurial ideas. Evansville needs more people like him and we need the type of upscale restaurant he is proposing! Please allow it to happen!

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