Mid-Term Grades on Evansville’s Important Things to get Right in 2011

On a College Scale the City of Evansville Gets a 1.4 on a 4.0 Scale for this Semester: CVB, KEB, and the people of Evansville bail out the Government who would have scored a 0.57 on its own merit

The City County Observer kicked off 2011 with a reader’s choice of what the most important things that the City of Evansville and Vanderburgh County need to get right in 2011. Well we are now halfway through the year and some progress is being made, some things are done, and others are terribly lacking. Here is our assessment of the Mid-Term Grades for the most important issues.

THE TOP TEN and THE GRADES

B: The 2011 City Elections: There were some spirited primaries and some unopposed seats. What we opined would constitute getting it right is for no more partisan voting block control of the City Council and a split party make-up of independent thinkers. After the primaries we actually have the potential for exactly what we hoped for. This grade would be an A if all of the City Council seats were contested. The contest for Mayor likewise appears to be between two capable good people both of which want what is right for Evansville.

F: An Evansville for the next Decade Plan: Nothing has been done and not one our elected officials or candidates for office has mentioned such a plan.

B+ : Civic Beautification: We can thank Ann Ennis of Keep Evansville Beautiful for a great new fountain at Garvin Park and a northern Gateway beautification plan. There have also been several quite visible efforts by candidates for office and particularly Lloyd Winnecke for mobilizing private litter removal programs. NOTE: The City of Evansville’s Parks Department gets a big fat F for the year thus far for utter incompetence for 5 of the six months including not even keeping a log of complaints. There is hope for a D for the year as there have actually been some efforts started to do cleanups.

A+: The Hiring of a new Executive Director for the Evansville Convention and Visitors Bureau: Mission accomplished CVB Board and the plus is for doing the right thing with respect to the rotten circumstances surrounding the departure of Marilee Fowler.

D: CSO Plan for EPA: The total of the disclosed accomplishment is the recent announcement that a judge had approved the consent decree. It is time for some real design work to be budgeted and done so we are not hit with fines again at the end of 2012.

D: The MLK Entertainment Complex: John Kish gets an A for his work in keeping the Arena on budget and on schedule. The City of Evansville and the Evansville Redevelopment Commission get a big fat F for the hotel fiasco. If there were anything lower than an F they would deserve that. Actually 2010 should have resulted in academic probation for that project and this year’s efforts deserve expulsion. There is nothing that could have possibly have been done worse.

D: Mental Health Services Improved: Coroner Annie Groves gets good marks for initiating an awareness campaign. The end result is still a D because the suicide rate is still among the highest if not the highest in the country. This grade would have been an F but Mrs. Grove’s hard work raised it.

D-: Pay Scales: Not a darn thing has been done to make the pay scales of the City of Evansville competitive. The generous D- is because at least Tom Barnett is now paid honestly by the place he works for.

F: Consolidated Government: Every opportunity to craft a plan that demonstrates real efficiency from consolidation has been punted to later. The current plan does not save a dime, offers no tangible benefit to anyone, and relies on trust the government to do things right after passing it. This is no way to run a County.

F: Smoking Ordinance Revisited: The Evansville City Council has not had the courage to bring this up in an election year even though it is now assured to pass if it is comprehensive. Next year it will pass which is why the first metric got a B.