IS IT TRUE September 21, 2012
IS IT TRUE that Americans lacking a high school diploma found disturbingly sharp drops in life expectancy for Caucasians since 1990?…that white women without a high school diploma have seen their life expectancy drop by five years while white males have seen a three year decline?…potential reasons cited among the contributors to this startling statistic are higher smoking rates, a dramatic increase in obesity, and a failure to maintain good health?…that the same University of Illinois, Chicago study found a steady increase in life expectancy among the uneducated members of other races?…that the stark reality of this study is that IGNORANCE KILLS?…every location in the United States does offer free public education through high school so this can’t be blamed on the high cost of high school?…if this is not a wake-up call to families across America we do not know what is?
IS IT TRUE that three Evansville City Council members were spotted having lunch with a high ranking IT consultant of the firm that is on call to handle the IT needs of the City of Evansville?…we hope at least one of the topics of the conversation is the Million Dollar software that has been reported to not be up and running yet?…while the failure to have this software up and running is of concern such projects do typically take longer than expected to integrate and most eventually work as even the most inept government purchasing agents insist on buying something that has been proven as opposed to being a guinea pig on the people’s dime?…the real decision that is mystifying is why an old clunker system that was still doing the job was not continued in parallel until the new shiny one was proven to be working for a period of at least 3 months?…the three members of the City Council whom we certainly hope were seeking to solve this problem as opposed to spinning a story were Jonathan Weaver, Dr. Dan Adams, and John Friend, CPA who is chairman of the budget committee and has expressed displeasure with the running of the City of Evansville IT department for about as long as the books have not been reconciled?
IS IT TRUE there is no Council Chamber large enough to accommodate a 15 member governing board in Vanderburgh County?…if consolidation passes there will be an immediate need for a remodeling job somewhere in the Civic Center to establish such a place?…we could not find any place in the cost analysis of consolidation that discloses the costs associated with facilities needs to function as a consolidated government as spelled out by Becky Kasha and her consolidation committee?…such a section should have been included?…it is very probable that expanding the Council Chamber to accommodate a council of 15 members is rumored to be in the Million Dollar range?…if this rumor has the same credibility of the widely promoted first Roberts Stadium demolition bid we can expect a 5 Million price tag for this remodeling job?…this is just one more example of a failure to disclose material information by the consolidation committee?…the identified savings from consolidation’s first year or two and maybe even up to five years will be eaten up by adding 6 chairs to the room?
IS IT TRUE that listed in the 2013 City Budget it looks like a new position shall be funded?…that the new position is called Chief Information Officer (CIO) with a budgeted salary of exactly of $81,000?…also listed in the 2013 City Budget is the General Manager of the Water Department who was paid a salary of $94,102 in 2012?…the proposed salary for this position in 2013 shall be a whopping $103,000?…we wonder why one thinks this person needs a $9,000 increase for 2013?…that the position of Accountant for the Water Department shall be paid a whopping $85,000 for 2013? …that this position was funded at $83,000 in 2012?…that this position pays as much as the City Controller earns each year?
“IS IT TRUE there is no Council Chamber large enough to accommodate a 15 member governing board in Vanderburgh County?”
I’d be willing to bet that the idea of just where the common council would meet was never even thought of or planed for, but I do have a solution…how about we save the $1M – $5M and just have them do as the students do when they visit and sit between each other, they can easily share a computer screen and microphone, you know what they say a little hardship or adversity in life makes you stronger as a human being. 🙂
JMHO
“…we could not find any place in the cost analysis of consolidation that discloses the costs associated with facilities needs to function as a consolidated government as spelled out by Becky Kasha and her consolidation committee?…such a section should have been included?…”
I’m no fan of Becky Kasha, but let’s be fair. The original plan of reorganization that came out of committee proposed only a 11-member common council (8 districts and 3 at-large). It was the joint committee of City Council and County Commissioners who upped the council membership to 15.
The current City Council/County Commissioners hearing room seats the 13-member Area Plan Commission, and would’ve accommodated the 11-member common council proposed by the original reorganization plan. So, seems to me it’s the City Council and the County Commissioners who should pay the remodling fees out of their budget lines should the referendum pass.
A 15 member governing board would fit in Roberts Stadium, and we same the $2 million to raze the Stadium and the 1-5 million to build a new facility for the 15 member governing board. However, consolidation will fail by a 60-40 margin, so this is all moot.
Haha! Brilliant.
Well-well-well looks like County Commissioner Steve Melcher was correct after all concerning a need for a new million dollar plus Common Council Chambers if consolidation vote passes. He also he has seen plans that was drawen up in 2009 concerning this proposed expanison.
He told friends of mine that the plans for the new Chambers shall be located in the old Vanderburgh County jail area located on the third floor of the Civic Center.
Once again it looks like the Director of the Vanderburgh County Building Authority, Dave Rector is hidding important information from taxpayers.
Another taxpayer friendly idea, is for the 15 member governing board to meet in one of the perfectly fine abandoned EVSC buildings, such as the vacant former EVSC Administration building next to the Civic Center.
Also word at the Civic Center if consolidation vote passes, the Mayor is looking at putting the City and County garages into one location.
Word is that is his planning to build an new facitity to house both garages at one new location. You got it, another multi-million deal that shall costs the Vanderburgh County taxpayers if consolidation passes!
There would be no need to build a single facility to house a combined highway department. What’s wrong with having two garages? A north/west sector and a south/east sector highway department makes perfect sense.
Unfortunately, the reorganization plan does not make perfect sense, and a combined highway department is the least of the defects.
Let me guess. Does Curt John, BJ Watts or Carol McClintock own property that would be convenient for this purpose?
No need to buy it till the week before the site is announced, then multiply the cost by 5, take the profit and move on to the next gig.
Wasn’t the position at the City Water Department was a newly created position at the time the past Mayor left office? Didn’t the past Mayor fund this newly created position at $61,000 level? Didn’t Mayor Winnenke push to have this newly created position to be refunded at the $81,000 level after 3 months? Wasn’t this newly appointed position filled by the past City Controller of Evansville? Was this job advertised?
Finally, if the past City Controller was so good at her job, why is it now being alledged that she didn’t balance the city books of over a year? Can’t wait to see the State Board of Accounts audit next week. I hear that they shall addresss this issue in their audit findings! Also look forward to what the past and present City Controllers have to say about the SBA findings!
If you remember, the past City Controller never corrected a prior SBOA finding and didn’t listen to the professionals about running the old and new system parallel for a year. And why should she? She doesn’t have a CPA or a MBA so that makes her more qualified than the CPA’s and Systems Analysts that gave her advice.
She is not qualified to be making $61 or $81 in the water department. She went to an unaccredited college in Alabama so her accounting degree is worthless. She’s barely qualified to collect your money in the water department. If she is so good, why is Umbaugh constantly visiting the Utilities at hundreds of thousands of dollars a year? Hopefully when the SBOA audit report is released, the Mayor demotes her to Water Clerk.
Word in the Civic Center is that Mayor Winnecke is appealing to the Republican Governor to hold back on the release of the SBOA report.
We know why Winnecke would want to protect Weinzapfel but Governor Daniels has busted on JW every chance he got. Hopefully the Governor will ignore the pleas of Winnecke and let the truth be told on schedule.
Looks like it’s time to call in the United States Inspector General-Fraud Division to interview the past and present Mayors, past and present City Controllers and past and present Utitilies Board members to see if possible political influence peddeling went on!
Most importantly, why are the past and present Mayors taking such good care of the past City Controller? Wonder what she knows on them?
tea anyone
The OIG has no jurisdiction outside of its “federal mandate”. If any federal statutes have been violated by the political subdivision called The City of Evansville, then they could be brought in.
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The biggest mistake that the local media has made over the years is not attending the City of Evansville Utitilies Board meetings.
This board is used for the catch all spending requests of the Mayor for years. The Mayor uses funds for this board accounts to purchase things he doesn’t want the taxpayers and city council to know about! He also uses money from this board account for personal travel.
In fact, a month before the last Mayor went out of office he and select Utitiliy Board members signed a $54 million dollar contract with Johnson Controls without any knowledge of media or City Council members.
It’s time that the CCO to watch the backroom political and financial deals cut at the Water and Sewer department!
On the issue of where to seat the 15 member Council if Consolidation passes… What about the Old Courthouse? Seems to me there is a whole city block of empty space in which they could hold chambers. They could have the whole building practically to themselves!
The Governor was just in Evansville speaking pro-Unification. I wonder if they are planning on holding the SBOA audit report to fix the outcome of the Unification vote. If the public knew about how bad the City’s finances are, then there is no way that the County would want to hand over their finances to them. Fixing outcomes…Sounds like JW is also involved.
Desperate times. Either those involved in the reckless spending that has gotten them here man-up and face the consequences of their actions, or we put of the inevitable for maybe a couple of more years, during which time things will get even worse. Actions have consequences.
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At my last neighborhood association meeting the dimwits who urged us to vote “Yes” were unable to identify and enumerate any efficiencies, redundancies, or any other beneficial outcomes from city-county consolidation. They just told us to vote for it, and they got pretty mad when I told them there was no point in voting for rearranging the desks and chairs in the City-County Building.
One of the most difficult tasks in research is determining whether the results are due to correlation or causation. Dropping out of high school is not necessarily the cause of obesity or any other adverse physical condition. But it is likely that people who make bad decisions can make a habit of it, which is to say they might be more likely to get into automobile accidents that are their fault. There are dozens of bad decisions that might be correlated with smoking, drug abuse, and God knows what else.
The moral of this story is simple: Don’t jump to conclusions.
I like Brad’s idea of moving the council to the Old Courthouse. I absolutely hate the current room they meet in. It’s a bottleneck nightmare.
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