IS IT TRUE May 2, 2013
IS IT TRUE it has now been 17 months since former Mayor of Evansville Jonathan Weinzapfel did an end run around the taxpayers of Evansville by signing an agreement with Johnson Controls to replace all of the water meters (good and bad) in Evansville and to install fiber optics sufficient to read the new meters without any traditional meter readers?…this fiber optic network was touted as having the capacity to raise Evansville from among the 5 worst served cities in the country for high speed internet up to the first quartile WITHOUT COMPETING WITH THE COMMERCIAL SERVICES THAT EARNED US ANOTHER CELLAR DWELLER RANKING?…we hate to be the bearer of bad news but that particular combination is just not possible?…that during the month of December 2011 when then Mayor Elect Winnecke was preparing to take office the City County Observer designated this Johnson Controls deal as one of a half dozen ALBATROSSES that Weinzapfel had hung around the enthusiastic incoming Mayor Winnecke’s neck?…Mayor Elect Winnecke never once tried to correct our version of his unwanted albatross?
IS IT TRUE that the Mainstream Media is now calling the Johnson Controls deal “Mayor Winnecke’s $53 Million Water Modernization Planâ€?…last summer when the meat of the Weinzapfel scheme was being analyzed it was quickly determined that the fiber was not going to do what our leaders told us and that most of our water meters are not in need of replacement?…at that time some strong supporters of the Winnecke Campaign openly discussed with us that Mayor Winnecke would be relieved if the Indiana Utilities Regulatory Commission (IURC) turned down the project?…Mayor Winnecke supposedly got his wish when the IURC kyboshed this project for the very reasons that private analysts had predicted?…it seemed as though that albatross had been lifted from the neck of Mayor Winnecke by the astute IURC?
IS IT TRUE that rather than let that bad dog (the Johnson Controls deal) go Mayor Winnecke and his staff jumped into action to alter the deal and resubmit it to the IURC for approval?…we were all flabbergasted that a Mayor who was supposedly relieved to be shed of this BAD DOG had done a 180 degree flip flop and begun to embrace and nurture this BAD DOG?…it is Mayor Winnecke’s BAD DOG now as is memorialized in the new name “Mayor Winnecke’s $53 Million Water Modernization Planâ€?…he had his chance to dispose of this particular albatross and chose to carry on with former Mayor Weinzapfel’s bidding instead?
IS IT TRUE Mayor Winnecke loves his BAD DOG so much that he is having the City Attorney advise the City Council that if they do not vote to fund this BAD DOG with borrowed money that Johnson Controls will arrange for other financing and the deal will be done anyway?…the City Council was also advised that Evansville would become the target of a lawsuit if they do not vote yes on borrowing taxpayer dollars to give Winnecke’s BAD DOG eternal life?…the demeanor of the City Council is one of “not so fast†this is allot of money and we may not really need it when it comes to “Mayor Winnecke’s $53 Million Water Modernization Planâ€?…it will be interesting to see if these members of the City Council who were mugging for the camera hoping to be seen as conservative stewards of taxpayer dollar are really skeptics or if they are also BAD DOGS howling at the moon for attention before rolling over and casting a vote for their master?
IS IT TRUE during the last 3 days Mayor Winnecke has been rushing like the March Hare to get the so called “in the pocket†City Council to borrow nearly $100 Million for this BAD DOG and for the now $70 Million downtown hotel project?…the third albatross that the Weinzapfel Administration was of course the McCurdy which was announced something like 1,825 days ago along with the $42 Million 4-Star Marriot Hotel that would be built with private funds if only the then City Council would borrow $127 Million to build a downtown ARENA?…what really seems to be true is that there is nothing the Mayor Weinzapfel ever wanted that Mayor Winnecke is not in love with?…all three of the albatrosses that Mayor Weinzapfel dealt under the table to Mayor Winnecke are now treasured and nurtured as though they have always been his own?
IS IT TRUE that it is understandable that Mayor Winnecke wants to rush these albatrosses through the funding votes before the audits of the Ford Center and its IT solution are released and before the determination by the EPA of the city proposal to kick the Combined Sewer Overflow project down the road by another 20 years?…if as expected the two audits expose embarrasment and waste and the EPA says no to extending the mandate no rational human being would vote to subsidize a hotel or to replace water meters on an aging set of pipes?…it is irresponsible and inappropriate to even vote on either of these projects until the outcome of the audits and the EPA ruling are made public.
I believe that Winnecke should be RECALLED if he gets a loan from Johnson Controls to do this $ 53 Million taxpayer holdup (such action following the City Council voting down the needed Bonds).
Does anyone have any information on the procedure for a recall referendum ?
Can’t wait to see what the City Council does. Just hope they stick to their guns and don’t roll over!!
I’m counting on Al Lindsey to lead the opposition to this colossal waste of taxpayer money.
He’ll put up the biggest show of it, but will cave in the end. My guess is Adams, Friend and Lindsey will be vocal against it, but will end up voting for it.
Mr. Lindsey has been doing a very good job on council and he’s not in the pocket of the Mayor or his handlers. He’ll do the obvious right thing and oppose this financial fiasco. Mr. Lindsey has far exceeded my expectations.
I think the Republicans that thought the R behind Winnecke’s name meant anything are having buyer’s remorse. Party affiliation has nothing to do with anything in a small town. Rick Davis was the clear choice and you sheep screwed the pooch.
That Davis kid never had a chance. He wasn’t beholden to anybody but the good old average regular person – and that’s what scared the hell out of the rich elite in this town. They told lie after lie about that boy. They told union people he was anti-union. Blacks he was racist. Christians he was atheist. I couldn’t believe people actually believed that stuff – but they did and he got beat and now the city is the worse for it. But the kid still kept his chin up through it all so I’ve got mad respect for Davis. Does anybody know what he’s doing now? I’ve haven’t seen or heard anything about that?
RIck is a financial councelor at Edward Jones. We lost a heck of a public servant in him.
Sounds to me like the city could use a financial advisor. All we have now is a banker mayor, several good for nothing attorneys on city council and two realtors on council who’d mess up a 2 car funeral. The city missed the boat big time on Davis!!! A banker as mayor. Maybe I should have said “wannabe banker.” He bought pens, frisbees and coffee mugs with 5/3 logos on ’em for a living. And we wonder why this town is MISERABLE.
Couldn’t agree more.
I agree. That’s why, in spite of being a Republican, I voted for Davis. He would have been a far better Mayor than this current jackass.
Watch how fast they all roll over now… The Council is useless as tits on a boar.
Brad , I couldn’t agree with you more on either post … But your stooping to their level with your choice of words ( if I had kids I’d rather they not read minor bad language either ) but yes I agree about Mr Davis , he would have been a big + for evansville
You’re talking to a born and raised Kentucky hick who just happens, through no particular merit of the public school system, to be able to communicate via the art of language. You’re lucky I didn’t revert to full blown cussing and challenges of pistols at high noon for everyone on the Council and the Mayor’s office. 😉
I agree my language was inappropriate. It didn’t go far enough on either count.
Why is anyone surprised? The moles tell me that this Johnson Control water meter scheme was hatched by the likes of the Weinzapfel/Arvey/Rolley team, in the back room, cigar smoke filled political room, suctioned by the then President of the Utility Board, none other than Mr. Steve Titzer, CEO of Harding Shymanski, CPA firm. IS IT TRUE, in the last year of his tenure, his firm was paid over $77,000 for services performed for the Utility. If this statement is true, would the term for this kind of activity be considered Self-Dealing?
Would it be reasonable to conclude that the latest Johnson Control contract was contrived by Ziemer/Schaefer/Winnecke/Weinzapfel?
I’ve been accused of having a drink or two, generally later in the evening, but, after reading today’s CCO IS IT TRUE, I’m now into my second fifth of Scotch.
How in the hell does a Mayor formulate a contract that usurps the elected City Council’s constitutional budgetary authority? Hell, we should just do away with the City Council and let the dictatorial Mayor, Steve Scheafer, and Ted Ziemer run the City, of course, let not leave the first lady of Evansville, [Christmas Carol] out of this mix.
Kudos to the Evansville Council Members, Connor O’Daniel, Stephanie Riley, Dan McGinn and John Friend for their hard questions directed at the Johnson Control gang and their supporters. It would be a grave mistake for the Council to be a political hostage concerning the Johnson Control Winnecke/Weinzapfel contract!!!
Liquored,
Easy there, Pilgrim, keep it to just two Fifths in a 24 hour period.
Read the last paragraph of IS IT TRUE (which is the ‘Update’). Does this mean the Admin. will do some horse trading–i.e., ” Council , if you bury the Ford Audit and the IT Study, we’ll drop the Johnson Controls deal, but then you’ve got to approve the Hotel !” ?
Wow!
Anarchy, from the “TOP” down,…
….leave it to Evansville to continue to be a city of Firsts.
This takes the Cake, and should forment REVOLT!
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