ADVICE TO CITY COUNCIL: When There Is No Right Thing, Do The Smartest Thing Possible

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When There Is No Right Thing, Do The Smartest Thing Possible
 
Monday night the Evansville City Council let emotion drive a financial decision that should have been driven by information, analysis and good judgment. This council just released a significant sum of taxpayers money (around $500,000) to Echo Housing that is still mired in an investigation about illegal benefit from taxpayer dollars by a former Executive Director and possibly others. As much as the plight of the less fortunate can pull on one’s heartstrings, it is well informed cognitive decision making that the City Council is supposed to deliver and this time they failed to do that.  Several months ago the City Council did the right thing by delaying the release of funds until an agreed upon set of conditions were met.  While one condition was met the rest of the list has not been addressed adequately to justify the release of these funds. No conditions whatsoever were placed on the funds that were released.
City Councils across the United States whether they realize it or not are the Chief Fiduciaries for the taxpayers who have entrusted them with the responsibility of local governance.  Evansville, Indiana is no exception to this rule.  Serving as the Fiduciary Governing body for Evansville requires that decisions are made in the most favorable way to optimize the benefit for the constituents of the City of Evansville. Being an effective Fiduciary is a serious obligation and it takes a deep understanding of many situations.  Being a Fiduciary in situations where there is really no right answer requires going through a process of investigation that eventually leads to the Smartest Decision Possible.  Sometimes this takes time and acting prior to having all of the forthcoming information is neither Smart nor Responsible.  Unfortunately, the Evansville City Council voted 7–2 to release a significant amount of money (around $500,000 dollars) to Echo Housing that is still the subject of a criminal investigation.  No matter what cases may have been made on behalf of the children, the veterans, the elderly and the poor, this decision came from seven bleeding hearts and two heads.  Two of our elected officials thought this through and voted no.  The other seven kept the tradition of voting emotion instead of intelligence alive in River City.
The background story of Echo Housing is about as ugly as it gets.  The immediate past Director is under investigation for allegedly using some of the funds to pay personal expenses.  The investigation of the actions that surround that including the possibility that others may have received illegal benefits from the coffers of Echo Housing has not yet been made public. Until this information is made public, releasing around $500,000 dollars of taxpayer dollars to this organization is not the smart thing to do.  While we understand the humanitarian cases made as they always seem to be by accenting the plight of children, widows, homeless veterans, the poor and the elderly, such appeals should not overrule the Fiduciary Responsibility of elected groups.
The time is long past for the Evansville City Council to get serious about governance and to cease making decisions based on emotions and politics. Smart cities do not circumvent their own agreements to appease emotional appeals. Smart cities do not choose fun and games over substance. This release of funds against the interest of the taxpayers is just the latest shenanigan pulled by the Evansville City Council. It is not unusual and it was not unexpected.  This was business as usual and the real question is when will the people of Evansville draw a line in the sand and demand that this nonsense cease?
Here is a good suggestion to appease the emotional appeal.  The City-County Observer calls upon the seven bleeding heart members of the City Council to personally loan Echo Housing an amount equal to the funds released. These loans should be secured by any future payments that are legitimately released after all investigations and Forensic Audit have been completed and released to the media.
We commend At-Large City Councilman and Finance Chairman Jonathan Weaver and 5th Ward City Councilman Justin Elpers for making the right Fiduciary decision on behalf of the citizens of Evansville by voting “NO” to release around $500,000 of taxpayers dollars to ECHO Housing Corp at this time!

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4 COMMENTS

  3. MS-13 Member Came to US With Caravan

    “As President Trump and Secretary Nielsen warned, over the last few weeks we have identified over 600 known criminals and gang members in the caravan,” the Department of Homeland Security told Fox News in a statement. “We are now predictably seeing members of the caravan – which includes criminals – show up at the border and claim asylum. These threats are only going to increase in light of illegitimate judicial injunctions and loopholes created by Congress.”

    https://townhall.com/tipsheet/leahbarkoukis/2018/11/29/ms13-member-came-to-us-with-caravan-n2536694

    • Oh FFS, the person in this story

      – VOLUNTARILY admitted to CBP when they interviewed him
      – Specifically told CBP agents he left Honduras and traveled with the caravan for SAFETY reasons
      – Children are being FORCED into gang membership
      – If Cheetolini allowed the LEGAL methods of asylum to work, this would NOT be an issue

      https://jesuits.org/Assets/Publications/File/Report_UnwillingParticipants_v4.pdf

      PS – Hey, “Wes Cider,” no complaining about Pro-Trump articles?

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