IS IT TRUE May 15, 2012

22

The Mole #??

IS IT TRUE May 15, 2012

IS IT TRUE at last night’s meeting of the Evansville City Council line number 9 on the agenda was published without any description whatsoever other than Ordinance G-2012-9 to repeal Ordinance F-2012-1?…for those of you who do not recall what F-2012-1 is it is the ordinance that was passed to approve a $4.8 Million loan to Earthcare Energy?…every other item on the agenda of last night’s City Council meeting has some verbal description about what the particular ordinance was pertaining to?…this is just one more big middle finger of sneakiness in the face of the people of Evansville?…this Ordinance should have had a verbal description of what it was like every other Ordinance that has been brought before council this year?…if this is anyone’s idea of transparency that has anything to do with making the agendas then they all need a lesson in the definition of the word?

IS IT TRUE it was overheard at last night’s meeting of the Evansville City Council when all of the cameras were off and the microphones silenced that City Council President Connie Robinson apologized to Councilwoman Stephanie Brinkerhoff Riley for the way the Earthcare Energy deal was handled?…that Council President Robinson actually told Councilwoman Riley that she was right about Earthcare?…that at that moment some would say that an angel got its wings because this sort of behavior is not characteristic of President Robinson who as recently as yesterday was digging her heels in on Earthcare?…that it took a good long time (like 10 weeks) but President Robinson along with Mayor Winnecke finally seem to have had a Eureka moment that most of the town had long ago?…that at least they had their Eureka moments and this can be put behind us from a loan approval perspective?

IS IT TRUE the issue of the threat to bring a lawsuit against the City of Evansville still needs to be mitigated?…Earthcare Energy may not go as quietly as some would hope they would?…these guys came into the chambers of the Evansville City Council with claims of Billion dollar deals in New York and claiming to have been hailed as the next Google?…that Evansville may just be facing legal actions of a Google magnitude in any forthcoming complaint and that legal hoops will have to be jumped through to avoid a large settlement?…that as we all know by now, this could have been avoided with transparency and just a little bit of VETTING?…that we do surely hope that the Evansville City Council puts some VETTING process into place and includes the funds to do it in the budget so we are never again faced with a VETTING fiasco like the three in recent history?

IS IT TRUE the County Commissioners will be meeting tomorrow afternoon starting at 1:00?…that several Moles are telling us that some of the meeting will be taken up with questions regarding the Earthcare Energy deal and the role of Vanderburgh County in financing the insufficient VETTING that led down this primrose path of problems?…that we understand that some members of the Vanderburgh County Commissioners are not at all pleased with the whole timeline of this developing fiasco?…that we encourage our readers to tune in and watch?

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22 COMMENTS

  1. I wondered why Ms. Robinson turned off her microphone near the end of the meeting (watched on TV). So what happened? Sure didn’t see any vote or hear and discussion of the Resolution to Rescind.

  2. Role of Vanderburgh County in financing the insufficient vetting ? Did the County make a loan too ? Surely the ‘Evansville Economic Development Loan Committe’ only takes in the City, and not the County ? Details ???

    • The County Commissioners and the County Council each have a representative on the GAGE executive committee. By virtue of those positions, Vanderburgh County has not only played a role in the Earthcare deal they have provided financial support to the vetting efforts of GAGE and the trip to Nevada.

      • Who are those representatives, and who was in charge of their appointment? What is the presumed liability of the county taxpayer, and why is this just surfacing? Appointed positions are CRAP, the taxpayers are never told of cost till the credit card statement comes when it’s too late.

  3. would the sage and sagacious editor please have his crack staff peruse the top story in today’s local newspaper and kindly tell this befuddled reader exactly what the hell it says? frightened rabbits don’t duck, dodge, and circle as much as that story. judging by the double speak in this article, if you think earth care was a holocaust wait til you get a load of this shell game.

    • Jack: The $75K spent on this Ad Campaig… oops I meant “report” was to add an air of legitimacy to the request for the infusion of huge amounts of taxpayer dollars into this project. (See the third paragraph in the article)

      The article also informs the reader that “the Kunkel Group remains a contender in the project”. Before this city and its council embarrass themselves again, I think they should take a good look current property tax delinquencies.

      If I ran a certain political party, or an association of local attorneys, I would be embarrassed to have my office located in a building that is delinquent on their property taxes.

      How can you ask taxpayers to pour their funds into a project like this if they perceive that some people are given special treatment when it comes to the collection of those taxes?

      In any event, hold on to your wallet as the numbers coming out of today’s meeting are likely to be astounding and the repayment scheme will be the stuff of fairytales.

      __

  4. To set the record straight, Connie Robinson did not apologize to me last night nor does she owe me an apology. She is a strong leader who is entitled to her opinion. We did not agree on the Earthcare issue, but we are both committed to working together for the citizens of Evansville. I don’t have an issue with Connie or any other member of Council. We’ve been pitted against one another by the media on this issue, but long-term conflict within the Council is not good for the community. We need to argue for what we believe in but still be able to recognize each member’s value and the talent they bring to Council. We come apart sometimes, but we must always find a way to come back together. I may have been right this time, but I’m bound to be wrong at some point in the future. I hope I have the strength and grace to admit it.

    • Thank you Stephanie for your diligent work on this Earthcare deal on the taxpayer’s behalf. Can you propose an ordance to repeal the Johnson Controls water meter deal next? Then maybe you could take on repealing the plans for Bicentennial Park on the grounds that the city cannot maintain the parks that they already have and there are a lot of higher priority things that the city can spend the taxpayer’s money on than another park that will soon be vandalized and run down.

      • My top four priorities right now are ending the lockout at Allied Waste and getting those workers back on the job; passing an ordinance that creates oversight for appointed boards/committees/commissions that are spending City funds; creating a process for vetting economic development proposals; and the Johnson Controls deal. Hopefully, we can deal with the underfunded Parks Department at budget time. People don’t want less parks, they just don’t want to find needles in sandboxes.

        • The Johnson Controls matter is just as bad for the taxpayers as EarthCare was. It is nice to see someone other than Dan McGinn or Dr. Adams working for the taxpayers. Keep up the good work.

        • Thanks for the reply. If you can get these things accomplished, it will go a long way toward making Evansville a better place.

  5. Yea, finally the County Commission Budget hearing begins today.

    Maybe we finally get to find out what the Predident of GAGE is really making. Bet she makes more per year then the Mayor of Evansville!

    The Mayor of Evansville makes a base salary of exactly $97,500 per year. My uneduacted guess is she make a base salary of $104,000 to a $106,000 per year. Of course this doesn’t include benefits

  6. Editor,

    According to SBR, something you reported in today’s IIT is NOT true. You plan on retracting what you said, or do you stand by it?

    • Everything in IIT is posed as a question, but that doesn’t mean that people don’t take everything that is written as fact. Someone must have reported that this happened or the CCO wouldn’t have included it. When a question is verified to not be true, the question should be answered/retracted (or something) somewhere else besides in the comments. There are probably many people who read today’s IIT and will read tomorrow’s that will not read SBR’s comment.

  8. For the record, Council President Connie Robinson did not apologize to Councilwoman Brinkerhoff-Riley. She did approach her after the meeting, she congratulated her on her hard work and admitted that it appeared that Stephanie had been correct in her findings on Earthcare Energy. There was no apology and no need for an apology as there have never been hard feelings between the two. We had two sources use the term “apology” and we now apologize for our inaccuracy.

    Tim Eckels

  9. Thanks CCO Publisher for the written “apology” to your readers.

    Apology is accepted!

    To bad the Courier and Press don’t be similar when they make an honest mistake.

  10. Thanks CCO for standing up and admitting a mistake.

    I agree with Beacon of Hope that the Courier and Press should do similar when thay make an honest mistake.

    I tip my hat to you Mr. Eckels!

  11. i’ve read posts, and watched the news today. now my ears, as well as my eyes, are bleeding. christ. is chicanery in every deal the new norm in our once fair city? tis a question for bigger minds than mine. it is at exactly such times as this that my small brain seeks humor. and humor it shall have. i feel a top 5 list coming on….

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