The Court’s ruling indicated Hafer’s firm was paid more than $575,000. Can that be correct?
I don’t think that Ed Hafer still owns any part of the firm Hafer and Associates.
This court decision paints yet another picture of EVSC’s legal counsel, Patrick Shoulders, giving unsound advice to the chool corporation. This is not the first, nor the only, time the courts have had to step in to disallow or reverse something that EVSC had done on Mr. Shoulders advice.
This time however it was clear to all that the advice tendered crossed ethical lines. The competitive bidding of publicly funded capital projects, such as this one should have been, is guaranteed to hold down taxpayer cost and to insure that all qualified bidders have the opportunity to participate in the process, and that is why it is enshrined in state statute.
It is time for local taxpaying citizens to demand that EVSC sever their relationship with Mr. Shoulders and his firm and seek new legal counsel. His unsound advice has cost taxpayers far more in legal fees than should ever have been spent by the school corporation.
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Mr. Shoulders could care less if he wins or loses in court. As in this case and others, he is already pressing to appeal the court’s decision. In 2003 I saw him in court to receive the decision regarding the first Referendum, whip out the appeal which was already typed and ready to be filed immediately. Why, in this case should they appeal, since there is no fine to be paid by the EVSC, other than the winner’s legal fees and court costs? Because his firm stands to make big dollars from the billable hours, even if he loses again and the court costs and legal fees double or triple. He should have been on contingency and only paid if and when he might win.
If brothers Pat and Mike Shoulders could only do business with the private sector, being barred from bidding on tax supported projects or representing government bodies, they would have a hard time making ends meet. I can hear the tax dollars being sucked from our economy when they gleefully speak to the representatives elected to oversee the spending of our money.
Mike Shoulders cut corners at the New North HS and simply copied and pasted the design of his poorly planned “classroom wings” into the design of new Gibson County school and again in the Castle Middle School. Intelligent consideration of the effects of sunlight on the huge expanses of glass, which creates a “greenhouse” climate of overheating and glare, was never made. No one considered the effect on the ability to see materials, concentrate and learn in that environment.
The same is true of the Old National Bank Building, the arena and coming soon, the Glass Cube/planetarium at the Evansville Museum. Vectren loves seeing a VPS/Shoulders design being constructed, both summer and winter.
It is a time for change at the EVSC. There has to be a better and more ethical attorney in Evansville.
The Court’s ruling indicated Hafer’s firm was paid more than $575,000. Can that be correct?
I don’t think that Ed Hafer still owns any part of the firm Hafer and Associates.
This court decision paints yet another picture of EVSC’s legal counsel, Patrick Shoulders, giving unsound advice to the chool corporation. This is not the first, nor the only, time the courts have had to step in to disallow or reverse something that EVSC had done on Mr. Shoulders advice.
This time however it was clear to all that the advice tendered crossed ethical lines. The competitive bidding of publicly funded capital projects, such as this one should have been, is guaranteed to hold down taxpayer cost and to insure that all qualified bidders have the opportunity to participate in the process, and that is why it is enshrined in state statute.
It is time for local taxpaying citizens to demand that EVSC sever their relationship with Mr. Shoulders and his firm and seek new legal counsel. His unsound advice has cost taxpayers far more in legal fees than should ever have been spent by the school corporation.
___
Mr. Shoulders could care less if he wins or loses in court. As in this case and others, he is already pressing to appeal the court’s decision. In 2003 I saw him in court to receive the decision regarding the first Referendum, whip out the appeal which was already typed and ready to be filed immediately. Why, in this case should they appeal, since there is no fine to be paid by the EVSC, other than the winner’s legal fees and court costs? Because his firm stands to make big dollars from the billable hours, even if he loses again and the court costs and legal fees double or triple. He should have been on contingency and only paid if and when he might win.
If brothers Pat and Mike Shoulders could only do business with the private sector, being barred from bidding on tax supported projects or representing government bodies, they would have a hard time making ends meet. I can hear the tax dollars being sucked from our economy when they gleefully speak to the representatives elected to oversee the spending of our money.
Mike Shoulders cut corners at the New North HS and simply copied and pasted the design of his poorly planned “classroom wings” into the design of new Gibson County school and again in the Castle Middle School. Intelligent consideration of the effects of sunlight on the huge expanses of glass, which creates a “greenhouse” climate of overheating and glare, was never made. No one considered the effect on the ability to see materials, concentrate and learn in that environment.
The same is true of the Old National Bank Building, the arena and coming soon, the Glass Cube/planetarium at the Evansville Museum. Vectren loves seeing a VPS/Shoulders design being constructed, both summer and winter.
It is a time for change at the EVSC. There has to be a better and more ethical attorney in Evansville.
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