IS IT TRUE October 10, 2012
IS IT TRUE that Evansville and especially the City of Evansville and it surrogate organizations have a long standing reputation for moving rapidly and deliberately to find a SCAPEGOAT when something goes wrong where powerful elected people are in the chain of malfeasance?…that the unfortunate person or people who are fitted for the SCAPEGOAT horns are not usually deserving of that status?…the City of Evansville and its surrogates have run off or neutralized enough talented people to have really made some good things happen in the name of protecting the powerful, the arrogant, and the ambitious?…this practice of SCAPEGOATING people hit its zenith during the second term of former mayor Jonathan Weinzapfel?…the mood of the outspoken people of Evansville right now seems to be a kindred spirit of former leaders who have made SCAPEGOATING at art form?…that the utter melt down of the financial accounting system to the point that the City of Evansville could not balance its books for 21 months and the cover-up that accompanied it probably are good reasons to find out how and who are responsible and to bring a consequence down upon the appropriate people?…just because the mob is saying “fire Jenny†or “fire Russ†does not make that the right thing to do?
IS IT TRUE that before Evansville decides to hold a modern day Salem Witch Trial with the pre-determined verdict of firing a City Controller or two there needs to be some period of reflection and further investigation?…that it is true that Jenny Collins was the Controller when AuditGATE began and that Russ Lloyd Jr. is now the Controller?…that both of them seem to be in the process of being fitted for SCAPEGOAT horns as many good soldiers or people in positions where something went wrong were before?…we all learned during the Monday night meeting of the City Council that each of them has spent roughly $50,000 on consultants trying to make a new financial program (MUNIS) look, feel, and operate like the old dilapidated one it replaced?…before these two people who in all likelihood did not have the authority to spend this money alone or conceal the failures alone are SCAPEGOATED, there needs to be some serious investigation of the role played by their bosses and peers?…the City Controller reports directly to the Mayor of Evansville whomever that happens to be?…that certainly in Ms. Collins case and most likely in Mr. Lloyd’s case their bosses knew, their hired gun consultants knew, and Matt Arvay the former CIO knew all about the events that lead to AuditGATE?…when it comes to SCAPEGOATING Evansville should be fair and practice equal opportunity?…that SCAPEGOATING one or two people when it was really a TEAM that did this would be a miscarriage of justice?…it may even lead to a lawsuit and a settlement just like the SCAPEGOATING of the former Executive Director of the Convention and Visitors Bureau did?…there are other instances too but that one made headlines?
IS IT TRUE that one of the things that was learned at the City Council meeting was that professionals come and go at both the City of Evansville and its consulting firms too fast for comfort?…part of that reason are non-competitive compensation plans?…that any SCAPEGOAT will have to be replaced and that the act of SCAPEGOATING will make headlines?…that someday the HR director for the City of Evansville will be trying to fill a Controllers position and the attraction conversation will go something like “the last two City Controllers were fired for cause (some made up bull crap) and we are pleased to offer you the same position at half the salary that our peer cities typically pay. When can you startâ€?…that any candidate that would go into a situation like this would have to be desperate or crazy?…that justice should be done and if anyone took it all upon themselves to do this and hide this that termination is probably in order?…that prior to taking such a step a full investigation needs to be carried out so that the City of Evansville does not find itself looking for another SCAPEGOAT in a different position six months from now?
IS IT TRUE that the bosses of Ms. Collins and Mr. Lloyd have worked together before to attempt to take away the Homestead Tax Credit in a secret meeting and cover-up the tracks?…that if the past is prologue the place to start the investigation is with Mayors Weinzapfel and Winnecke and work down from there?…the City Council who was once again blindsided may also want to get statements from the SCAPEGOATS of the past?…that there are many chickens that may come back to roost if that Pandora’s Box is opened?
The biggest revelation on Monday night is the fact that they spent over $1 million on a new financial system to “modernize” their financial processes but they spent tons of time and money to dumb it down to look like the 25+ year old system. What was the point of buying it then? Not running parallel and trying to make the new system resemble the old one. Looks like Ms. Collins was sleeping in her accounting information systems class
Within the City Of Evansville government “scapegoating” is necessary, it keeps the skeletons buried, without someone inside with first hand knowledge who is ready to end their career working for the city and testify under oath it will never end.
There is so much collusion that goes on between the political parties, department heads, even the secretaries it’s almost boggles the mind that a city can be so corrupt and someone not have a moment of clarity and spill their guts, but the players are taken care of through appointments, raises, jobs for friends and family, no accountability for mistakes and every scrap of dirt sweep under the rugs.
In a perfect world truth and justice always prevails, in Evansville the dirtier you are (or the more willing you are to sell your soul, look the other way and keep your mouth shut) the greater the reward, I find it hard to understand how these folks sleep like babies every night while we are on the same road that other cities like Detroit have already went down.
JMHO
I am a project engineer for a software developer. It’s common for users of customers who are replacing an old system with a new system to have extreme loyalty to the old system. They naturally are resistant to change and fight the new system tooth and nail. It’s good whenever possible to configure/implement the new system to resemble/function like the old system as long as you don’t dumb down the new system in the process. In my position, I would consider it my responsability to advise the customer’s project leaders and make sure that best practices are maintained at all times. For mission critical applications, the old and new systems must be ran in parallel until the new system is proven to be operationally sound and signed off on by the customer (usually ran in parallel for a quarter or two). If the customer insisted on deviating from my recommendations on either best practices or running in parallel, we would make them sign a waiver to remove our company from liability.
Everyone needs to stop blaming the controller’s. Jenny Collins and Russ Lloyd both have bosses. And totally believe that everyone knew (both mayors) that the books were not being balanced and did nothing. So who’s to blame….??? The bosses who have looked the other way for too long!!! But…could it be that the previous boss was not looking the other way but trying to cover up something?? Maybe that’s why Jenny Collins has such a good job now.
A Mayor rarely falls on his sword or scapegoats legacy politicians.
When Russ Lloyd Jr. was Mayor, he fired his controller Billy Sanders for less than a coverup and costing the city millions in future bond interest rates.
Lloyd Winnecke will not fire Russ Lloyd Jr. because he is politically untouchable. He may move on to some other political apppointment after the dust settles however.
Jenny Collins will be the scapegoat and probably for good reason.
If there turns out to be good reason then Jenny Collins will not be a scapegoat, she will just be the responsible party who failed. I’ll bet you 10 Nobama bucks that Jenny did not do this alone.
I’m not as smart or connected as you but I thought Jenny did a good job of telling who helped her do this. Read her comments when the minutes come available and I think you will see too.
Mayor Winnecke inherited this well known financial fiasco. Why he didn’t request a full audit from day 1 is the real question.
Winnecke is protecting his master Weinzapfel. It is as simple as that.
Lloyd is cleaning up a mess that was made months ago by someone else. Yes, he has poo all over him but you don’t blame the plumber while he is fixing your sewer. You thank him for doing a hard, thankless task for which he is underpaid while knee deep in someone else’s poo.
That’s the way I feel about it too. Lloyd’s responsability was to report the mess to his boss. Assuming hedid that and the Mayor decided to keep hiding the screw up, that’s on the Mayor.
As the prior deputy controller she knew exactly what she was walking in to. Of course she works for a boss. Everyone does. When something unethical comes in front of you do you just do it and throw ethics out the window or do you question it and find another job that probably pays more than your current one? My answer is you question and walk if you have to. Yes, even in this economy. There is only so long you can lose sleep at night before it catches up to you morally. Remember these are the same people that was paying a director out of two different accounts. No way did THAT sneak by! If you pay an invoice out of the wrong account for $50 it gets noticed and denied. Typos used to get sent back. Scapegoat or not what is the ethical thing to do???
There are three things that are absolutely, and without any a doubt, indefensible about what has taken place with the financial ledgers of the City of Evansville.
1. For 12 months, all of 2011, the financial ledgers of the city went unreconciled and Mayor Weinzapfel said nothing about it.
2. When Mayor Winnecke took over, the financial ledgers had not been reconciled for 12 months prior and Mayor Winnecke allowed the ledgers to go another 9 months of his administration in an unreconciled state and he said nothing about it.
3. The Evansville Courier&Press, which calls itself a newspaper, allowed this to go unreported for 21 months, when the publishing of the State Board of Accounts audit findings forced it into the public realm.
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In my book, that makes three people responsible for this contemptible episode: Jonathan Weinzapfel, Lloyd Winnecke, and the Editorial Staff of the Evansville Courier&Press.
All three should have to face up to the consequences of their actions or inaction.
My personal opinion is that the largest factor driving these people to do what they did was a belief on their part that going public with these facts would be detrimental to their efforts to secure a yes vote on the consolidated government referendum on the 6th of November.
I do agree that it would be and by right should be detrimental to their effort. The sad part is that the citizens of Evansville still have no clue about what has happened during the last 21 months. If you do not believe me, ask some of your friends and neighbors about it. The Evansville Courier&Press has been very effective in their deliberate effort to keep a lid on this story until after the election.
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IS IT TRUE that the proposed “last leg” of I-69 will not be finished, that the Indy Star is reporting the path of I-69 from Bloomington to Indy will cost and estimated $1 billion? Is it true I-69 will simply just dump thousands of automobiles and tractor trailers onto IN-37?
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