IS IT TRUE October 2, 2012

1. you give Winneke tooo much credit for his banking skills. his major function was to decide which toaster you got when you opened an account. I don’t believe he did any actual banking

2. It is blantantly obvious that Jonathan Weinzapfel has earned a long sentence in the Indiana State Penitentiary. His dereliction of duty as mayor of Evansville is both shocking and alarming. Only God knows how much he stole from the citizens of the City of Evansville.

3. Read the comments in todays Evansville Courier and Press about this issue.

   It’s obvious that city Councilman John Friend, Councilmen, Coner O’Daniel and Councilwomen, Connie Robinson gets it. Also it’s extremely obvious City Councilmen, Weaver and McGinn don’t.

   • Phase Two (b) (finger pointing & reconciliation)

     Sides are being drawn up, members are being recruited, deflection is in full swing.

     It’s obvious that if a human scapegoat (sacrificial lamb) can not be offered up that members of the city council will suffer the brunt of this fiasco since they have the direct link to the voting booth and are suppose to be looking out for the public they represent, they are the ultimate fallguy (or gals) in the public eyes.

     Today they are watching to see which way the wind blows, gathering troops, preparing a contingency plan should the public turn on them. If the storm blows over or they can find adequate shelter from the potential storm brewing the topic will die a quick death and life goes on……should the tides turn though, a sacrifice will be forthcoming.

     The plan to use the Munis software program as a scapegoat has more holes in it then a colander, if it gets bad enough Ms Collins will have to be sacrificed which could unravel the entire Weinzapfel administration….that will be the sign we all want to see.

     Keep your popcorn handy we are getting ready for the third act.

     As always it is JMHO

     • Jenny did what she was told by Weinzapfel. The City Council sat there like trusting bumps on a log believing whatever Weinzapfel said. One would think they would know better. They didn’t in that was a big failure especially for a financial guy like John Friend. I would be Friend knew the books were not balanced.

       Weinzapfel now has Lloyd Winnecke protecting his sorry butt telling people all is well. Winnecke is either a complete blithering idiot to protect Weinzapfel from this or he is in on something he shouldn’t be. Aiding and abetting a coverup was a crime the last time I heard.

       If Jenny goes down the whole scheme whatever it was will come apart. There are too many things that defy logic for this all to be an innocent mistake.

       • Very true….

         We all know a deal was cut between the Democratic central committee and at the very least Mr Winnecke, I tend to think it went a little deeper and included the Republican central committee but that’s just me…regardless there was a deal cut and for any deal there are terms and conditions.

         We all can probably guess given the history of politics in Evansville that a deal included covering the ass of the past administration as has been done for years by the incoming administration regardless of party affiliation.

         Along with the CYA for the Weinzapfel group we also can see that promises for patronage are being repaid in kind by promotions and raises, normally when a new administration takes over and they are from apposing parties the house is cleaned (department heads) out along with the desks, new faces are appointed so all the old ways are swept away…that wasn’t the case in this election.

         Yeah…some new (old) faces returned but many from the past administration were reassigned and kept on board, a shuffle of the same old deck in a lot of ways. There is a very short list of people (players) who could unravel all of the deals and to be sure they will be protected at all costs by both parties.

         JMHO

4. Question with SMG…did the City pay SMG any incentives for performance for those years and if so how could they without a reconcilation of a profit and loss statement? Did SMG just send an invoice to the City saying incentive and it was paid?

5. When one stops to think that all of these items listed above were right there on the surface to be discovered by anyone who cared to look, it makes you shudder to think of what might be discovered if you were to drill down a little deeper into the data.

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6. SMG is where Princess Jenny worked at until 2006. Jenny didn’t know how to reconcile there and she took that skill over to the Controller’s Office. Pretty Boy John decided to give her a new job during his final days and then the new Mayor bumped her pay up to $81k. 4 days after Audit Gate, she is still the CFO of the Utilities!

   These boobs are blaming the auditors, blaming the software, when the fact is that they can’t recruit good employees. The former Deputy Controller who was a CPA knew that the City was had by the new software and jumped ship the first month after not reconciling. But Councilman Friend is blaming that too.

   • The pay sucks, the future is limited, and the atmosphere that you gotta work in is toxic. Why would a good employee with talent stay?

     I wish the CCO would get that CPA that left to do a guest editorial about this whole mess.

     They (CCO) ought to start that date countdown like they used to with the McCurdy. Is it true it has been 4 days since the lid was blown off the top of AuditGATE and Mayor Winnecke has not done a damn thing about it yet? Is it true he would rather eat a big turd than draw attention to Weinzapfel’s failures?

   • Are city employees required to acknowledge conflicts of interest?

     As controller, Ginny did not audit SMG who she worked for prior to joining the beancounter’s office.

     Guess she figured if she couldn’t reconcil the city’s accounts, why bother with SMG.

     Auditgate brings to light the many conflicts in awarding contracts, hiring practices and the strange bedfellows who run this town.

   • Jenny Collins’ Experience
     CFO
     Evansville Water & Sewer Utility

     Utilities industry

     December 2011 – Present (11 months) Evansville, Indiana Area
     City Controller
     City of Evansville

     Government Agency; 201-500 employees; Government Administration industry

     June 2006 – December 2011 (5 years 7 months)

     Prepare and Manage $200M Budget
     Municipal Bonding
     Prepares Comprehensive Annual Financial Statements
     Oversees all Accounts Payable/Receivable Functions
     Work with several State Agencies such as DLGF, SBOA, and DOR
     Finance Director
     SMG Evansville

     Entertainment industry

     November 2002 – May 2006 (3 years 7 months)

     Prepared/Managed Annual Budgets for Multiple FacilitiesPrepared Monthly Financial Statements for Multiple Facilities
     Settled Entertainment Events with Promoters
     Finance Director
     City of Evansville

     March 2000 – November 2002 (2 years 9 months)

     Assisted in Annual Budget Preparation
     Administered the City’s Fixed Asset Inventory
     Monitored Daily Cash Flow
     Oversaw City’s Departmental Purchases
     Prepared Various State and Federal Tax Returns
     Coordinated all City Telecommunications Needs
     Initiated Cost Savings Plan by Implementing the acceptance of Credit Cards at several City Locations
     Senior Accounting Associate
     GAF Materials Corporation

     Privately Held; 1001-5000 employees; Building Materials industry

     May 1999 – March 2000 (11 months)

     Implemented the Process of Accounts Payable Functions for Multiple Locations.
     Coordinated and Monitored Payroll Functions for Multiple Locations

7. They have done a great job a making the money trail so completely screwed up it can not be followed back to the ex-king and his cronies!! Just vote NO to CONsolidation!!!!!!

8. The sum distillation of the information I have received boils down to the question of whether we are to believe that for the 9 months, January when Winnecke took over until present, the City Controller never mentioned to the City Council Finance Committee Chairman that the City’s financial books had not been reconciled since day one of the Winnecke administration.

   Of course, if you look at year 2011 of the Weinzapfel administration you find the same thing for the entire year. Which begs the question: Wasn’t Jonathan Weinzapfel required by Indiana statute to hand over the city government WITH THE BOOKS RECONCILED!

   This can only lead to people surmising that there is a current, ongoing, effort cover up a mess that at least in part was left over from the last administration. There is some legitimate concern there because of people’s knowledge of how the previous mayor worked behind the scenes to get the current mayor elected even though they were from different political parties. That episode raised everyone’s antennas.

   The coming (Oct. 8th) City Council meeting is going to offer the first opportunity to raise the veil for the public on a situation that has gone on far too long. Only an open and honest dialog at that meeting will produce the results that can start the corrective process that must take place.

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   • “The sum distillation of the information I have received boils down to the question of whether we are to believe that for the 9 months, January when Winnecke took over until present, the City Controller never mentioned to the City Council Finance Committee Chairman that the City’s financial books had not been reconciled since day one of the Winnecke administration.”

     ————————–

     Seems a little far fetched doesn’t it? and then add in the SMG and the entire 2011 for the city of Evansville and it becomes kinda’ surreal, it begs the question “what was Ms Collins doing for the entire year of 2011?” I’m not a CPA nor have I done much accounting in my business (I leave that to a hired accountant) but I would think that the monthly reconciliation of the books for the City of Evansville would take up a lot of the controller’s time, honestly it sounds like drudgery that about the time you finish one month you would have a small break and start the next month (you got to really like dealing with numbers to be a CPA or do any aspect of a CPA’s job)…but I’m just gussin’ 🙂 So what was she doing for 12 months, trying to reconcile? a logical person would think given a whole year at least a month or so could be reconciled by a less talented person than Ms Collins.

     Again it’s JMHO

     • I’m wondering if Russ Lloyd could manually reconcile all of 2011 manually, why couldn’t Ms. Collins have done the same thing every month?

       • Russ knows how and Jenny doesn’t. It is as simple as that. He is also willing to work his ass off to protect his boss who in turn is willing to say anything to keep JW out of jail.

   • http://www.courierpress.com/news/2010/oct/06/board-accounts-audit-questions-evansvilles-budget/

     “Routinely overdrawn funds could be an indicator of serious financial problems which should be investigated by the governmental unit,” the board of accounts wrote.

     • The City Council should formally request that Jonathan Weinzapfel, Jenny Collins, and Russ Lloyd Jr. be in attendance for questions at the Council meeting next Monday.

       • LOL….my money sez that will never happen, Russ Lloyd and Jenny Collins maybe because the council has a little power over current employees, but The King! never happen.

         But….it is what should be done, at least Ms Collins since she was directly involved in the 2011 failures for her department to reconcile the city’s books, only makes sense to get it straight from the horses mouth (metaphorically speaking of course).

         JMHO

         • Word in the Civic Center today is that Rumplebeancounter and Princess Jenny are both complaining about the State Board auditors. That they didn’t give them enough time. If they reconciled monthly, as required by State statute, then the State Board should have been able to audit in February. Why are they whining in October about not getting enough time?

           According to the Audit report, the financial report should have been completed and should have been accurate as of February 28th. They should be grateful that they at least looked at their crap and their cooking of the books. What kind of moron enters payables and receivables into cash basis records? Yet another Accounting 101 lesson that Princess Jenny missed

         • Evansville’s dirty audit is now available for the world to see:

           http://www.in.gov/sboa/resources/reports/audit/Default.aspx

           The rest of the rating agencies will be calling soon questioning the inability of Rumplebeancounter and Princess Jenny to reconcile the books for 21 months through September and quite probably continuing through the end of the year.

           Wonder what kind of open-ended contracts the city and water department have with Harding Shymanski and Umbach?

           How many hundreds and thousands of dollars are being spent reconciling the books, supplementing staff and costing the taxpayers their hard earned money.

           Once the city’s bond ratings are lowered, all hell will break loose.

           I would advise these sorry beancounters to leave before they are terminated.

       • Water and Sewer Dept. audits are here:

         http://www.in.gov/sboa/resources/reports/audit/results.aspx?summary=1&orderby=0&orderbyorder=0&page=2

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         • It’s the same audit! If the press would take time to actually read the audit report, they would notice that the Utility funds are included and that’s where some of the problems were found. They should also realize that the Utilities received a disclaimer too. So much for Princess Jenny “saving the Utilities”

         • OVERDRAWN CASH BALANCES (City, Water Utility, and Wastewater Utility)
           The cash balance of the General Fund, Purchasing Internal Service Fund, Information Technology
           Services Fund, Miscellaneous Grant Fund, Sports Non-Reverting Fund, Home Admin Investment Trust Fund,
           Community Dev Block Grant Fund, Old Post Office Fund, Emergency Shelter Grant Fund, General Obligation
           Bond 2006 Fund, Park District Bond Refunding 2010 Fund, Redevelopment Bond Retirement Fund, Workers
           Compensation Fund, Evansville Civil City Payroll Fund, Accounts Receivable Clearing Fund, Electronic Tax
           Payments Fund, SRFWW – Evansville 09 Fund, SRFWW Evansville 0610 Fund, Sewage 2010B-1
           Construction Fund, Water Utility-Operating Fund, and Water Utility – Consumer Meter Deposit Fund were
           overdrawn in 2011.
           The cash balance of any fund may not be reduced below zero. Routinely overdrawn funds could be
           an indicator of serious financial problems which should be investigated by the governmental unit. (Accounting
           and Uniform Compliance Guidelines Manual for Cities and Towns, Chapter 7)

       • Rev, agreed but Lloyd, Jr was brought in to try to unravel the mess left behind by the former administration. Not on him. Four years ago the alarm bells went off and the Democrat controlled City snoozed. Winnecke needs to wake up and do something other than silly exercise videos.

9. INTEGRITY,—continues to be considered a “Dirty Word” by Evansville Politicians.

10. Disclaimer of opinion on an audit are seldom ever seen in private sector companies because the audit firms disengage before issuance…at least with an adverse opinion you know where you stand. To even suggest that a ratings agency will accept excel spread in lieu of an unqualified opinion as the mayor has done is very out of touch. The real question that needs to be asked is if this audit opinion causes the city to be in violation of any affirmative covenants and in default on any of its debt issues. A CAFR report needs to be done each year in addition the SBOA audit. Maybe this is why Henderson KY can afford new firetrucks and squad cars and maintain its parks? Shockingly, Henderson issues award winning CAFR reports. With weak internal controls overcharging and overbilling are of major concern.

    I want to know if anyone on the council knew what was going on..if not the former and current mayor have been lying or the council is lying. Makes me wonder what the real reason is behind the Dems not supporting county treasurer Rick Davis for mayor. Maybe they were concerned what his respone would be?

11. Perhaps someone should ask the County Auditor if they are having similar issues with the software too? I heard that they bought the same thing as the city.

12. Rusty’s handing of the city’s books is similar to how he handled the sewage crisis – it stinks!

    Back by popular demand, “If These Shoes Could Talk”:

    http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/mon-november-17-2003/if-these-shoes-could-talk

13. INDEPENDENT AUDITOR’S REPORT

    TO: THE OFFICIALS OF THE CITY OF EVANSVILLE, VANDERBURGH COUNTY, INDIANA

    We were engaged to audit the accompanying financial statement of the City of Evansville (City), for the year ended December 31, 2011. This financial statement is the responsibility of the City’s management.

    The City did not properly maintain accounting records. New accounting software was implemented in 2011. The new accounting system is not producing accurate fund statements which can be reconciled to the
    bank account. The City’s records do not permit the application of other auditing procedures to ascertain if the financial statement is fairly stated.

    Since the City did not properly maintain accounting records, and we were not able to apply other auditing procedures to satisfy ourselves as to whether the financial statement are fairly stated, the scope of
    our work was not sufficient to enable us to express, and we do not express, an opinion on the financial statement.

    In accordance with Government Auditing Standards, we have also issued a report dated August 20,2012, on our consideration of the City’s internal control over financial reporting and our tests of its compliance with certain provisions of laws, regulations, contracts, grant agreements, and other matters. The purpose of that report is to describe the scope of our testing of internal control over financial reporting and compliance and the results of that testing and not to provide an opinion on the internal control over financial reporting or
    on compliance. That report is an integral part of an audit performed in accordance with Government Auditing Standards and should be considered in assessing the results of our audit.

    Our audit was conducted for the purpose of forming an opinion on the City’s financial statement. The accompanying Schedule of Expenditures of Federal Awards is presented for purposes of additional analysis
    as required by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget Circular A-133, Audits of States, Local Governments, and Non-Profit Organizations, and is not a required part of the financial statement.

    Because of the significance of the matters described in the second paragraph and because federal grant monies were not accurately and separately identified in the financial ledgers, it is inappropriate to and we do not express an opinion on the Schedule of Expenditures of Federal Awards referred to above.

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14. I become more and more intrigued with the information coming out about the SM&G contracts during the Weinzapfel administration and Jenny Collins’ history of employment:

    _____

    June 2006 – December 2011 (5 years 7 months)

    Prepare and Manage $200M Budget
    Municipal Bonding
    Prepares Comprehensive Annual Financial Statements
    Oversees all Accounts Payable/Receivable Functions
    Work with several State Agencies such as DLGF, SBOA, and DOR
    Finance Director
    SMG Evansville

    Entertainment industry

    _____

    IS IT TRUE that on Page 41 of the audit it is noted that the City of Evansville entered into a contract agreement with SMG, effective Jan. 1, 2006, to manage Roberts Stadium, Victory Theater, and Mesker Music Theater?…that the contract required an independent annual audit of SMG?…that on Sept. 5, 2007, an addendum to the contract was added, amending the contract from requiring an “audit” to requiring a “review”?…that the audit results recently released show that as of July 2012, a review of SMG had not been completed by the City of Evansville for the years 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 or 2011?… that the recently released SBOA audit reads: “Without the independent review of SMG’s financial records the accuracy of amounts paid to or received from SMG cannot be verified?”

    _____

    There is ample cause for concern here about what happened during this time period (between 2006 to 2011 inclusive) between the city Executive office and SM&G. Perhaps Jenny Collins would like to give a sworn deposition to the current City Council about here interactions with the city executive during that time period?

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