IS IT TRUE Part 2 June 7, 2012
IS IT TRUE that Earthcare Energy has continued to perform as they are contractually required to do so with respect to the $200,000 loan that was approved without City Council knowledge (except for Connie Robinson who was on the loan committee) just before the self-congratulatory press conference at Park 41?…that in the two previous months Earthcare saw fit to pay $8,000 per month to retire some of the loan principle but the May installment was interest only in the amount of $381 as required for 24 months?…at this point it is safe to assume that Earthcare Energy can continue to make interest only payments for the next 21 months to keep this account current?…there is another little tidbit with respect to this loan that only requires that the principle be repaid when revenue is produced by Earthcare Energy from the Power Purchase Agreement that was used as collateral for the loan?…it is safe to assume that this number given the current state of confusion will be ZERO for the foreseeable future?…that it is even possible that if the loan agreement is sufficiently terrible as other documents have been that Earthcare may be able to keep making interest only payments in perpetuity (forever) and never have to pay back the City of Evansville?…that the City County Observer calls for the release of this loan agreement so the people of Evansville can see just how well their money is being managed?
IS IT TRUE that many among us are starting to put Earthcare Energy behind us as just another dumb butt attack by City of Evansville governance and may even be breathing a sigh of relief that this one was only a small mistake in terms of dollars and the big picture?…the deal made by Mayor Weinzapfel with Johnson Controls during his last days in power is an $80 Million deal that carries more risk, less accountability, and an ill-defined benefit?…as is becoming an Evansville tradition THIS DEAL WAS NOT VETTED EITHER?…there are private VETTORS much in the same spirit as City Councilwoman Stephanie Riley was on the Earthcare deal who are exposing many questionable claims in the nearly 300 page Johnson Controls deal?…that before selling a single bond or writing a single check this Johnson Controls deal needs to be professionally VETTED by someone of competence who is not beholding to the City or stands to benefit from Johnson Controls?…that VETTING this proposal will probably cost much less than the $105,000 that Hunden Strategic Partners has billed the City of Evansville regarding a downtown Convention Hotel that is thus far only VAPOR?
IS IT TRUE City Councilman John Friend, CPA has been advocating for a VETTING fund for over a year now and it is time for him to start demanding that VETTING efforts be funded and done before bringing any resolution forward to fund any capital project at all?…Councilman Friend’s squawking did not stop the ERC from getting a hotel deal through the City Council on 3 different occasions and did not stop the City Council from voting 5 – 4 to make a $4.8 Million loan to Earthcare Energy?…that it seems as though the elected representatives of the City of Evansville from the Mayor’s office to the Council, to the appointed boards and surrogates do not have the sense to VET nor the willingness to pay for VETTING with the sole exception of the hotel that was only VETTED when the CCO and the public exposed it for being delusional?…it is time to start taking the spending of taxpayer dollars seriously and the people who have acted cavalier or obstructive to VETTING efforts need to get busy and support good stewardship of public money?
“…it is time to start taking the spending of taxpayer dollars seriously and the people who have acted cavalier or obstructive to VETTING efforts need to get busy and support good stewardship of public money?”
You know what…. This is all that is really required of any good office holder. Unfortunately, they only take it seriously in the sense that they SERIOUSLY want to throw more of our money around in the hopes that something sticks to the wall. “Cavalier” is a great word to describe them. The words “heedless” and “negligent” also spring to mind.
You don’t have to be that informed or even intelligent to be the Mayor of a City like Evansville, you just have to be deliberate, careful and willing to listen to all available solutions for a problem before leaping forward like a 2-year-old after a shiny new toy.
Now I get it. Evansville has Bass Brains running the town. A two-year-old and a bass respond the same way to shiny things and they both end up in trouble for it.
This is what they want to export to the whole county as “being the form of government that will best suit OUR future needs”.
I would not want to take bets, either way, whether this will pass in a referendum, because the vast majority of voters still, at this late date, do not understand what is going on.
There will be a last minute advertizing blitz, bankrolled by the Chamber, to sell this to the electorate. That much you can count on.
There should be a public debate a week on this referendum item, with people on both sides of the issue speaking to its merits, or lack thereof.
Where is that lighthouse when you need it?
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The solution to this problem is simple: Hold a referendum on the future of the City of Evansville: A majority “yes” vote demands that the mayor and city council of Evansville run the city charter through a shredder, Fed Ex it to the Secretary of State in Indy, and disbands the City of Evansville. Forever. I have been advocating this action ever since Wienie-Zapple proposed the arena.
No City of Evansville, no Johnson Controls contract, no Earthcare contract, No Problem!
When the details of the Johnson Control/Evansville deal become known, you will find this deal stinks to high heaven. Titzer, President Evansville Water and Sewer Utility in 2011, and Bodkin, the City Attorney on the deal, buckled under pressure from Mayor Weinzapfel to do the deal right before Mayor Weinzapfel left office in 2011. They contractually committed the City to a $50/$80 million plus deal that has hung the Winnecke Administration out to dry. Bad man! Bad.
BillyB, do you have the names of the members of the Water and Sewer Utility and how they voted on this? Even Al Lindsey would have figured out this was a really bad idea.
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