IS IT TRUE? May 10, 2011
IS IT TRUE that last night’s meeting of the Evansville City Council took an unexpected turn when Evansville Arena project manager John Kish stood at the lectern and basically talked down to the City Council and particularly to Councilmen John Friend and Dan McGinn?…that the posture, the carefully chosen words, and the demeanor all projected a “how dare you question me†attitude?…that when all was said and done that last night’s Friend-Quisition is a perfect example of the NEED for transparency and timely disclosure in public works projects?
IS IT TRUE that the long awaited contract between the Evansville Redevelopment Commission and Hunt Construction magically appeared at about 4 PM yesterday afternoon?…that this contract was dated October 16, 2009 and should have been released to the public and made easily accessible by posting it in a “CONTRACTS†page on the Evansville Arena website?…that even though it is a 97 page monstrosity that all of the discrepancies asked about by Councilman Friend were answered?…that John Kish then admonished the City Council not to always believe what they read in the papers and particularly in the 10/20/2009 article in the Evansville Courier and Press reference by Councilman Friend in his letter to Mr. Kish?…that the maximum allowable under the contract is $7,172,000 including fees, reimbursable expenses, and a performance bonus?…that maximum amount is exactly what Mr. Kish has in his most recent budget for Hunt Construction?
IS IT TRUE that a similar situation explained away the questions that Councilman Friend had asked about the deal between the Evansville Redevelopment Commission and Populous?…that Mr. Kish said that his 10% benchmark quoted in the Courier was just a guideline and not a real number?…that Populous is “doing other things†and the cost will actually be $11.3 Million instead of the $9.5 Million?…that when provided with the actual contracts in a timely manner that Evansville people, media, moles, and concerned citizens are fully capable of reading the documents and adding the numbers?…that if Mr. Kish had been TRANSPARENT and that a clearinghouse for contracts was available in a timely manner that these two BIG TICKET apparent discrepancies would have never been brought up last night?…that if Mr. Kish would have followed the Obama Administration’s stimulus example of timely disclosure through a dedicated website that he would not have been called before the Friend-Quisition last night?
IS IT TRUE that Mr. Kish responded to the question that originated from the City County Observer regarding cell phone service in the Arena?…that Mr. Kish said that the City of Louisville did not have to pay for the $2M oversight at YUM Center and that the City of Evansville will not have to pay for the cellular solution in the Arena?…that Kish said all of this will be private money?…that we will not forget what was said regarding this FREE SOLUTION?
IS IT TRUE the Mr. Kish addressed the hotel situation asserting that the NOT YET RELEASED contract between Woodruff Hospitality LLC and the ERC remains the governing document of the much needed Convention Hotel?…that two milestones are coming up in the next 7 weeks with regard to financial performance?…that another media source quoted Mr. Kish as stating that the agreement can be extended if Woodruff Hospitality has not secured financing by those deadlines?…that Councilman Friend asked about “vetting†of Woodruff Hospitality and about the posting of bonds?…that Mr. Kish’s trite response was “what kind of bonds?†and then to look rapidly back and forth from Councilmen Friend and McGinn sending the message of “are you two happy now?â€?…that there were no bonds of any type required but that a “SERIES OF ESCROWS†are part of the NOT YET RELEASED contract?…that whatever “vetting” has been done is not working and that some effective way of qualifying the Hotel Developer needs to be established?…that if Hunt Construction had not qualified and vetted material suppliers and the Arena could not be completed because vetting was not done that heads would be rolling?…that Councilman Friend needs to be granted the authority to vet the general partners of Woodruff Hospitality and to see the list of limited partners along with the amounts of their investments?…that he offered to sign a non-disclosure agreement to be allowed to do so?
IS IT TRUE that Mr. Kish and the City Administration would be well served to spend some of their “other†budget on a MINISTER OF TRANSPARENCY to avoid future Friend-Quisition types of situations?…that being open and honest and supplying signed public documents is EXPECTED for large capital projects and that thus far the Evansville Arena project has not lived up to that expectation?
IS IT TRUE that it is now abundantly clear that the expenses created by the Arena project that are outside of the four walls of the Arena will not be paid for or accounted for as part of the Arena project?…that we are heading for an end game where the Arena as Mr. Kish insists will be on budget but that an accumulation of unbudgeted items that are into the people of Evansville’s pocket because of the Arena will have to magically be paid for by some other budget?…that this reminds us of a teenager who buys a $3,000 car then rigs it out with a $3,000 stereo only to continue to claim that his car only cost $3,000?…that the right hand knows exactly what the left hand is doing because the right hand shoved these responsibilities into the left hand?…that the poor left hand is facing what is called “UNFUNDED MANDATES†in government circles?
Bravo to the writer of this article–well done ! I watched the proceedings on WNIN-Ch. 9. There were a few additional transgressions by Mr. Kish that I observed:
1) He stated that Hunt will get their $ 500,000 “incentive” despite the hard costs going over $ 95 Million. The rationale: you can’t count the $ 7 MM fee of Hunt against the $ 95 Million in determining their bonus !!
2) Councilman Friend asked to get a copy of a $ 100,000 insurance study prepared by ONB. I believe the premiums were $ 425,000 (per Kish). That’s a lot of coin, and as Friend correctly pointed out the carriers will give you quotes for free. Kish just blew him off. Hope Friend keeps pushing for this. I’ll bet it will be $ 10,000 per page for 10 pages of BS.
3) That was a handy explanation of the Populous deal. Show us the Contract ! Also, explain to us how most deals are 10% architect fee; yet this one will be 13 % ?
4) Love the idea re: minister of transparency. I also hope Mayor Davis sponsors an ordinance which will give the City Council subpoena power and direct oversight of any “major” public project. The notion of a Mayor hand picking a board (ERC) which is supposed to be the gatekeeper just doesn’t work. “Checks and Balances”–read about it and embrace it;
5) At the end of the day, no one is in charge of this project, and no one is accountable for the largest public works project in over 50 years.
I was unable to attend or watch last night’s meeting. I will be sure to catch the re-run.
Sounds like Councilman Friend had some excellent questions. Perhaps there are some perfectly good explanations/answers to Councilman Friends questions but we’ll never know if they weren’t asked in the first place.
Transparency anyone?
Don’t feel bad apparently several members of the council were unable to attend also
The real problem with the hotel deal will arise when the city has to pony up more than the 8 million plus tax abatement.
The point is we all know the arena costs much more than advertised by the city. It will all come out in the open eventually.
My question is, where has Mr. Friend been for the last year? Why is he just now asking all of these “important” questions? If the City Council felt Mr. Kish was not being “transparent” enough all along, why wait until the project is nearly complete to start complaining? Why haven’t they been asking for all of the documents at each of the meetings Mr. Kish attended? If this is a City project, why hasn’t the City been keeping track of all the money? Mr. Kish doesn’t write the checks, the City does. Easy to deflect responsibility and make someone else a scapegoat to cover up your own inefficiency Mr. Friend.
Is it True that I had a discussion with the editor of this paper and Russ Lloyd before the arena project started concerning the cost? In that discussion I told them, the project was going to be a lot more than the 95 to 98 million. With my construction background I was betting the final figure would be 125 to 130 million or more. I suspected there was cost that we were not being told about, and more would be revealed later.
Either in Mayor Weinzapfel’s pocket or under Mayor Weinzapfel’s thumb is where Mr. Friend has been during his term up until the last week. The question is just how assertive Mr. Friend was to the Mayor about ferreting out whether these hotel developers would be able to deliver or not. Hizoner da Mayor really seems to have been effective at keeping people’s mouths shut even when it was the wrong thing to do. There is nothing like a Mayor who brings out the worst in people to run a city into the ground. It is a shame that more of the city council did not stand up to Weinzapfel more than they did.
Kudos to Mr. Friend for questioning the shady financial practices concerning the arena and hotel. Thanks to the CCO for reporting this very important issue. There is no telling what will be exposed after Rick Davis or Lloyd Winnecke take office.
Davis maybe. Whinecke is nothing more than Weiniezapfel reincarnated as an elephant.
Is there absolutely any evidence that Davis will be the public’s hero that you seem to be convinced of?
I continue to be amazed at how a guy like Andrew Smith stood up to the Weinzapfel regime, and most of the Democrats in the area labeled him a one trick pony.
Yet all the sudden Davis stands up (with his printing record) against Weinzapfel and he’s lauded as the second coming?
When is it your boy Davis spills the beans and shows us what else he can do? The printers are already changed out!
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