IS IT TRUE MAY 9, 2017

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IS IT TRUE that a  well known local pastor and 2nd Ward resident Steve Ary asked members of the Evansville City Council a couple financial questions during last night’s council meeting?  … City Council President Missy Mosby refused to answer pastor Ary’s pointed questions concerning the utilities costs and payments issues at the Ford Center?  …Missy Mosby announced that he will receive an answer to his questions vie mail from legal counsel in the near future?
IS IT TRUE that pastor Ary is also the editor/publisher of the monthly Vanderburgh Independent Press (The VIP)? …this monthly publication has a strong conservative and religious bent?  … that At-Large City Councilwoman Michelle Mercer (R) stated that his being the editor of a monthly newspapers is the reason why City Council should refused to be transparent in answering his questions concerning utilities costs and payments of the Ford Center?
IS IT TRUE we are surprised to learn that a citizen of Evansville 2nd ward and the editor/publisher of a monthly conservative and religious bent publications seemly have no rights when it came to his receiveing answers from City Council to questions regarding city business? …we strongly believe that Council members Missy Mosby (D) and Michelle Mercer (R) has a responsibility to be totally transparent concerning the finances of this city regardless of who is asking the questions or how they feel about person asking them? …just in case you need to know that the other 6 remaining Council members just in silence watching all this go down?
IS IT TRUE its important to point out that pastor and newspaper publisher Steve Ary has been a tax-paying resident of Evansville nearly his entire life? … that he and his family lives in Missy Mosby’s 2nd Ward? …that Pastor Ary inquiry on how our city tax dollars are spent on the Ford Center could had been handled by either by City Controller Russ Lloyd Jr, Council Finance Chairman Dan McGinn (R), accounting expert Councilwoman Anne Harris-CPA (R), DMD Executive Director-Kelley Cources because they were at the meeting?
IS IT TRUE we are amazed that pastor Ary was singled-out by select members of the Evansville City Council because he is an editor and publisher of a local monthly newspaper? .. Its obvious that pastor and editor/publisher Steve Ary was being discriminated against by two (2) members of the Evansville City Council because of his employment?  …that someone should tell Council members Missy Mosby and Michelle Mercer that there are Federal and State laws that protect people from being discriminated because of their line of work?
IS IT TRUE its been alleged by Pastor Ary that City Council attorney,  Josh Claybourne, advised  him if he does not “announce himself as being with the media” when he at the podium, that he can ask question the Council as a constituent of the 2nd Ward, and therefore he can receive the answers to his questions? …that after taking Claybourne’s advise, pastor Steve did not announced himself as a member of  the media, but rather, as pastor and citizen of  the 2nd Ward?  …that Councilwoman Mosby still refused to answer his questions about governmental issues?  …we wonder who came up with the policy that members of the media can’t ask any questions concerning city business at any official city council meeting?
 IS IT TRUE that we were given the actual questions pastor Steve Ary asked City Council during last nights meeting? …that you can read those questions below?
 1. How much are the annual utility bills for gas, electric, and water at the Ford Center?
 2. Who pays for the Ford Center utility bills? Is it the City, VenuWorks, or is it both?  If it is both, what is that cost ratio?
3. Did the Evansville Redevelopment Commission write any checks to cover either full or part of the Ford Center utilities bills?
4) Recently the ERC approved a contract between VenuWorks and the ERC.  Does this contract make the city taxpayers responsible for all the debts incurred by the Evansville Thunderbolts Hockey team during the 2016-17 season?
IS IT TRUE that the people of this city deserve answers to paster Steve Ary’s questions,?  … we feel that any members of the local media should be treated with equality, and not as a second class citizen?  …we hope that pastor Ary and newspapers editor /publisher sues members of city council because they discriminated against because of his line of work?
TODAYS “Readers Poll” question is: Do you feel that any member of the media should be allowed to ask any questions concerning city business during any official city council meeting

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21 COMMENTS

  1. if city council should be required to answer questions shouldnt donald trump you want them to answer the questions and answer them now trump wont is there a double standard here no matter they are coming its what hunnert plus days and mortally wounded comeys coming they are coming they are coming they are coming

    • ♬…tin soldiers & Nixon coming, …♪
      ~~~
      Mercer and Old Yeller ran on the Winnecke ticket, same signage, same mindset. If we were a racetrack it’d be a $2.00 ticket on the ground, hardly worth picking up to cash. Butterfly McGinn announced, pre-election, that he’d be voting for whatever Winnecke brought (oh Lordy, did ‘Fly know about the penguins…), and has proceeded to do so. Honesty at its worst. The council gets its opacity from the head tap dancer who gets it from people much smarter than him.

      Although distasteful, the clowncil gets its wariness of the press from other people and their own need to put a fake face on their spending and disregard for the people of Evansville, but they sure do seem to revel in it.

      I hope Steve Ary is the mystery primary challenger for the 2nd Ward seat.

    • How do you compare the electric bills of a public building with Donald Trump’s tax returns as a private citizen. You are comparing apples to antelopes dude. They are not the same.

      The Ford Center was brought and paid for with public money. The utility bills are paid for with tax dollars. That is public information and the public has a right to know the answer. Now if you want to know the utility bills of the White House that is comparable and fair game.

      I know you don’t like it, but Trump’s tax returns are his business just like your tax returns are your business. Harping on this topic puts you right there with the people who were demanding to see President Obama’s birth certificate. You don’t want to be associated with birthers do you?

      • joe you are advocating public officials have the right to exploit their position in office for personal gain talk about distracted joe wallace unbelievable trump is not the end of the world get a grip keep your soul its worth something i wasnt talking about tax returns but boy you are sure insecure with trump on this issue you make the point how wrong you are better than anyone this is not about ford ctr utility bills

        • Are any of the tax returns you are calling for filed during a time that he was a public official? They are not and you know it. I am as curious as anyone but I stand by my statement that untitled he became president, Trump was a private citizen just like you and I. Apples to antelopes.

          • Have another bad day Wallace? Your man Trump having a little more trouble? He needs to stop hiding his tax returns and put them up like every other recent president has done. Even those, as you say without meaning, executed before he was president. Calling people a birther and such is a transparent attack in defense of an indefensible clown president.

            alittlelawyer’s comments were right on the money, damn shame they offended you.

  2. I agree his questions need to be answered and the city council flushed down the re-election drain, but why is he not just identifying himself as a city taxpayer and not adding on non-essential labels? This somewhat rings of theatrics more than citizen involvement.

    • agree a reporter from the c&p during question answer is treated differently than a citizen if he is press then be a reporter cant show up and flip between the two and expect efficient reaction this is the issue not the discrimination and religion angle which is thrown in to this column strictly to be accelerant no bona fides

  3. Councils, around here anyway, have a habit of blocking information from appearing in the minutes of the council meetings if that information might get them into legal trouble, or be embarrassing down the road. It is all about keeping information from reaching a broader audience. On the rare occasions when things have slipped into the minutes, it has been noted that on some of those occasions the minutes were altered, ex post facto, in order to cover their butts. The offer to send the information to Pastor Steve Ary via written correspondence, as opposed to answering the questions then and there, keeps the council within the state statute concerning information requests, while also achieving their goal of limiting the audience for that information. In these situations the attorney writing the response usually tries to dazzle the reader with legalize to the point the reader isn’t sure what the hell the attorney is talking about. This game is older than dirt.

    BTW, did the reporter sitting in the audience for the Evansville Courier&Press have no interest in getting answers to these same questions?

    • C&P reporters have been told to report straight off of the press releases that are given to them. They do not question anything. It’s the reason I refuse to buy that rag.

  4. How difficult can it be to answer a simple question like what were the utility costs associated with Ford Center in 2016, 2015, etc? This is a defined answer that anyone with access to the utility bills can look up in less than an hour. Maybe it needs to be even more basic like “how many kWhr did the meters at Ford Center change in one year”? Same questions for gas and water. If we know the use, we can calculate the costs.

    Failing to get this information quickly means someone is stonewalling. Even a half wit wouldn’t buy a house without a year of utility records. Just file a FOIA. I volunteer to help craft the words so you don’t get some aggregated weasel work back. If the city doesn’t know what that building uses, they are grossly negligent in managing the building.

  5. We have a right to know, whether we are Ned the Wino or Newspeople. And Winky’s Airhead has no right to refuse that information.

  6. Did Jeb of Warrick help Mosby shut down the question from the tax paying 2nd Ward citizen?

  7. Boy, now I am really confused !

    Why would a member of the media get less PUBLIC INFORMATION than a citizen ? That makes no sense, Public Information is just that, available to all regardless of what you do for a living.

    Thank you Steve Ary for taking a stand. Would be very happy if you decided to run for Council in the 2nd.

    Mosby and Mercer: “such nasty women”

  8. Teach your penguins how to play hockey Evansville.

    If that doesn’t draw enough crowd to Make The Ford Center Great Again, nothing will.

    You’re Welcome….

  9. Accountability and transparency is the number one issue to make a city efficient and it looks as if neither one has been addressed by the current administration.

  12. As a citizen he has the right to an answer. Just like I’ve been searching for an answer from where is all the money going from Telemate? Its the service that inmates at the Vanderburgh County Jail uses for friends and family to use to communicate with inmates. They have to pay to talk to them whether its over the phone or this new way of like a messenger. I spoke with Telemate and they said after they take their cut it goes back to the jail. I asked the jail they said the jail gets half and the city gets half. Well what are they doing with that money? It costs a lot to communicate with inmates and I know lots of money is being used to do so. SO WHERE IS IT GOING? Is it going to the building of the new administrative building which is not necessary? Because I know its not going into fixing problems at the jail. One of the cells has black mold in it from the shower in the cell above it leaking down into the bottom one. The inmates have to walk around in this dirty shower water and its producing mold. They arent using the money for this….so what are they using it for?

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