We hope that today’s “IS IT TRUE” will provoke honest and open dialogue concerning issues that we, as responsible citizens of this community, need to address in a rational and responsible way?

IS IT TRUE the City Council Finance Chairman Jonathan Weaver just posted on Facebook as of February 29, 2019, the City’s General Fund has a deficit of more than $10 million dollars?

IS IT TRUE yesterday the Evansville Courier and Press reported that the State Board Of Accounts supplemental compliance report stated the City had three “overdrawn cash balances” in the golf course ($885,877), hospitalization debt ($3.1 million) and sports non-reverting ($212,313) accounts ending on Dec. 31, 2017? …the state’s 2017 audit report for the City of Evansville — released in November 2018 — contained remarks about the city’s “overdrawn cash balances?” …that the Evansville Courier and Press also reported that similar findings appeared on at least five reports prior to 2017?  …the Courier and Press also reported that City Council members unanimously voted to shift funding in various accounts and eliminate positions through attrition to address the administration’s “Corrective Action Plan”?

IS IT TRUE  City-County Observer has been telling our readers for years that the City Of Evansville is having major cash flow problems?  ….it looks like the tax and spends habits have finally caught up with the Winnecke Administration? …we are pleased that the City Council is finally addressing this issue and starting to look for ways of correcting them?  …with future budgetary planning and sound cash flow management the City Of Evansville could stop this type of problems from ever happing again?  …please don’t expect this to happen anytime soon?

IS IT TRUE if a CEO of a major for-profit Corporation and was handed down a similar audit that was recently given to the City of Evansville by the State Boards Of Accounts we guarantee that the Controller of his Corporation would be quickly looking for another job

IS IT TRUE yesterday we pointed out that the minutes of the Evansville Redevelopment Commission had not been posted for nearly a year?  …that by mid-afternoon a whole year’s worth of minutes complete with copies of the resolutions magically appeared on the ERC section of the website?…included were the minutes from 12/18/2018 where the ERC explicitly authorized putting the old CVS building that supposedly has over $1.5 million dollars of improvement on the market in an “offering sheet”?  …there was a single bid in response to the offering and it appears to have come from a relative of the man who sold the property to the City of Evansville for $525,000 in 2014?…the offer is for only $178,000 which reflects the value of the rent stream?

IS IT TRUE what is mystifying is why the ERC minutes were not posted in a timely manner for all to see as much business of public interest has transpired over the course of the last year? …we are quite pleased that someone felt compelled to promptly post these minutes yesterday afternoon in order to correct this oversight?..we guess only a Freedom of Information Act request may deliver the real truth?

IS IT TRUE whoever corrected this obvious oversight may have caused an additional issue when they posted an updated version of minutes?  …they posted a couple of the ERC agendas with a hotlink to video and then a corrected some with the agenda with no link to the video?

IS IT TRUE we told that an individual who has been following the transaction concerning the CVS building located at 800 North Main Street, Evansville, Ind. is going to file a “Freedom Of Information Request” with the officials at Evansville Redevelopment Commission?  …we are told that she is going to request copies of the minutes, the 2 recent appraisals based on a long term tenant referenced at the December 2018. ERC meeting?   …we are also told that shall be asking for a copy of the current lease for 800 North Main  Street and the one (1) bid package to purchase this property?

IS IT TRUE yesterday Joe Wallace posted a comment in the CCO that we felt worth repeating in this section?  …Mr. Wallace said; “What is the cash flow value of $1,600 per month”?. “First, annualize it and it becomes $19,200.”  “You multiply by roughly 10 in Evansville to yield a value of $192,000.”  “The sole investor is offering roughly what the cash flow value of the property is”. “The fact that someone or the City of Evansville paid way more than that is irrelevant.”

IS IT TRUE that federal Office of the Inspector General has completed an audit of the City of Evansville’s Housing Authority and the findings are nothing to brag about?…to be frank the findings point the finger of incompetence at the City of Evansville Housing Authority?…the subject that was audited was the refurbishment of 559 units in the public projects known as Buckner Tower, Caldwell Homes, Kennedy Tower, Schnute Apartments, and White Oak Manor?…the findings of the audit include a conclusion that The Authority Did Not Ensure That Converted Units Complied With HUD’s Housing Quality Standards, The Authority Did Not Obtain the Services of a HUD-Approved Contractor, The Authority Did Not Apply Correct Contract Rents for Its RAD-Converted Units, and The Authority Lacked a Sufficient Understanding of HUD’s Requirements and an Adequate Quality Control Process?… the audit report went on to conclude that “the weaknesses described above occurred because the Authority lacked a sufficient understanding of HUD’s requirements for housing quality standards and conflicts of interest. It also lacked an adequate quality control process. As a result, the Authority could not support the eligibility of more than $1 million in housing assistance payments to the entities and more than $10,000 in program funds paid to a contractor for housing quality standards inspection services. Further, the application of incorrect rents led to the underpayment of housing assistance payments to the entities, so these funds were not available for the administration of the Authority’s Project-Based Voucher program?”

Todays“Readers Poll” question is: Do you feel that it made any business sense for the Evansville DMD to originally spend $535,000 to purchase the vacant CVS building on North Main Street for a public parking lot?

Please go to our link of our media partner Channel 44 News located in the upper right-hand corner of the City-County Observer so you can get the up-to-date news, weather, and sports. We are pleased to provide obituaries from several area funeral homes at no costs.

Over the next several weeks we shall be adding additional obituaries from other local funeral homes.  Please scroll down the paper and you shall see a listing of them.

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FOOTNOTE:  Any comments posted in this column do not represent the views or opinions of the City-County Observer or our advertisers.