IS IT TRUE December 22, 2104

12/22/2014

IS IT TRUE in nearly every interview with Mayor Winnecke about the death of the downtown hotel project as we know it, Old National Bank CEO Bob Jones is standing with him offering somber support?…we do want to point out that ONB entered into this hotel situation with a good civic intention and remains committed to being a good corporate citizen?…no other Evansville based company large or small stepped forward to attempt to bridge the funding gap between public subsidies and the developer’s comfort level for a purchase price?…the stark reality of what has transpired makes it crystal clear that the market value for the entire project to a private developer is only $37 Million which is less than the construction estimate for the hotel excluding the apartments and the parking garage?…that is remarkably close to the newly appealed assessment for the ONB headquarters?…given the size of the project it is prudent to assume that the value of the ONB headquarters and the hotel/apartment complex is about equal?…as we stated last week, SANITY PREVAILED WHEN THE FREE MARKET DYNAMICS WERE NOT TAINTED BY GOVERNMENT INTERFERENCE?

IS IT TRUE we are mystified that the naming rights for The Centre were not appraised a year ago when this scheme was concocted?…one would think that the first logical action prior to an announcement and a happy dance would have been to commission a professional appraisal of the advertising value of the naming rights for The Centre?…we are 100% sure that ONB would never enter into a funding agreement to finance the purchase a piece of property without an appraisal?…we are also sure that ONB would make the borrower pay for the appraisal?…the enthusiasm of cocktails with the Mayor at the rooftop bar must have blinded the analytic reality of those normally good banking minds?…this is testament to the power of a dream no matter how unattainable that dream may be?…the $400,000 per year naming rights deal right across the street for the larger and busier Ford Center should have guided the thought process on the first agreement but it did not?…there is a strangeness about this valuation debacle that begs for some answers?…the writer knows Bob Jones and knows that he is neither a fool nor a liar?…this is not the kind of thing that elevates one to be the CEO of a public bank and a respected leader across the country?…it makes one suspect that we have not heard the whole story yet and that something other than the lack of 6.5 Million is driving this implosion?

IS IT TRUE the coalition of the clueless (ONB, HCW, & City of Evansville) apparently can’t even agree on how short the ONB naming rights were?…Rick Huffman has been quoted as saying the shortage was $8M while Bob Jones says it is $6.5 M?…Huffman was even quoted as stating the project budget was $78 M when it has been common knowledge for over a year that the budget was $71.3 M?…these gaps and the other clueless claim by Mayor Winnecke that the hotel will create 800 jobs when even the biased Hunden Study only claims a fourth of that, are reasons to conclude that this coalition of the clueless has never possessed the mental horsepower to take on a project of any size?…anyone or any group that cannot add and subtract can surely not manage so much as a little league team?

IS IT TRUE the CCO is a bit disturbed at the confessions of Mayor Winnecke that there have been known funding gaps for 3 months, yet he was putting out a press release every couple of weeks about the looming start of construction?…that was misleading and disingenuous?…telling the truth no matter how bad it may have looked would have been and will always be the right policy?…we have to wonder why anyone with a memory would believe a word that comes from the Winnecke Administration about projects or job creation?…that statement about creating more jobs than the hotel was proposed to have rooms took the cake for either incompetence or dishonesty?…as we have said many times, the nonsense and fluff needs to stop?…it is time to get serious about PLANNING and INFRASTRUCTURE neither of which Evansville will survive without?…the bridge to nowhere and the backhoe sentinel are monuments to failing to think, plan, and implement?

IS IT TRUE we are glad to see that the City of Evansville has received a grant of $600,000 to demolish some blighted houses?…at Tom Barnett’s estimate of $5,000 per house for demolition, this money will get rid of 120 blighted houses that need more work than they will ever be worth?…according to Barnett we now have only 9,880 more blighted homes to go to get rid of all of the abandoned homes in the City?

IS IT TRUE finally, we are disturbed to learn through a very well placed MOLE that HCW never executed a franchise agreement with Hilton?…Rick Huffman told Evansville Living over a year ago that he had this in hand?…it was discovered in March that his claim was not true?…Huffman and the Mayor doubled down on that story in June right before they learned the bids for the hotel were well over budget?…today, there still is no franchise agreement, which in all likelihood means they did not have a loan in place either?…we hope that when, and we do mean when, another opportunity for a hotel comes up that it will be with a company whose priciples will be transparent about project milestones and that they will be throuroghly vetted before the City Council jumps into a $20 Million bed with them?

Vanderburgh County Recent Booking Reports

12/21/2014

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SPONSORED BY DEFENSE ATTORNEY IVAN ARNAEZ.
DON’T GO TO COURT ALONE. CALL IVAN ARNAEZ @ 812-424-6671.

http://www.vanderburghsheriff.com/recent-booking-records.aspx

EPD Activity Report December 21, 2014

12/21/2014

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SPONSORED BY DEFENSE ATTORNEY IVAN ARNAEZ.
DON’T GO TO COURT ALONE. CALL IVAN ARNAEZ @ 812-424-6671.

EPD ACTIVITY REPORT

Fired IDEM employee entitled to unemployment benefits

12/21/2014

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Jennifer Nelson for www.theindianalawyer.com

The Indiana Court of Appeals found a 25-year state employee did not breach a duty reasonably owed to her employer when she failed to meet monthly quotas because she thoroughly reviewed cases instead of quickly approving expenses.

The appeals court ruled Friday that the review board of the Indiana Department of Workforce Development erred when it denied Suzanne E. Essermanâ€™s claim for unemployment benefits after finding she was discharged for just cause. Esserman worked for the Indiana Department of Environmental Management from February 1989 until her employment was terminated in January 2014. When she was fired, she was a senior environmental manager 1 within the Excess Liability Trust Fund section, which reviewed claims submitted by owners and operators who had underground storage tanks that required remediation and cleanup. The ELTF program reimbursed for specific costs incurred in those cleanups.

Beginning in June 2013, IDEM instituted quota requirements for employees. For several months, Esserman did not meet her quota because she performed in-depth reviews of files and found other employees signed off on overcharges. She believed it was important to save the department money, but the department instead fired her for failure to meet work expectations.

Esserman sought unemployment benefits, but a deputy from the DWD, an administrative law judge, and the review board all found that IDEM terminated her for just cause.

â€œWe note that there will always be a balance between efficiency and thoroughness in administering programs such as the ELTF program. Nevertheless, in addition to controlling administrative costs, it is in the interest of Employer to limit improper distributions for cleanup costs by ensuring that claims are processed accurately and that substantial overpayments exhausting limited resources are not authorized by reviewers and quality control reviewers,â€ Judge Elaine Brown wrote in Suzanne E. Esserman v. Review Board of the Indiana Department of Workforce Development, and Indiana Department of Environmental Management, 93A02-1406-EX-441.

The judges also noted that many of the months Esserman didnâ€™t meet her quotas were when she was out on medical leave of absence.

â€œAdditionally, we cannot say that a reasonable employee would understand that attempting to process claims accurately leading to possibly significant savings to the ELTF, and especially considering that the employee would have been held responsible for inaccurate payments of claims or held liable or discharged for knowingly authorizing overpayments, would be considered a violation of a duty reasonably owed to Employer for the purpose of being ineligible for unemployment benefits,â€ Brown continued.

IDEM did not meet its burden of establishing Esserman breached a duty reasonably owed to it. She is entitled to benefits under her claim.

Discover Peru with USIâ€™s Alumni Association

12/21/2014

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The University of Southern Indiana alumni, their families and others are invited to explore some of the worldâ€™s greatest ancient sites next spring in a trip to â€œPeru: Ancient Land of Mysteries.â€ The 10-day trip, offered through the USI Alumni Association, is set for May 16-25, 2015, and offers an optional five-day, four-night Peruvian Amazon post tour extension. Registration is now open to the public.
The expedition includes round-trip air transportation to Lima, Peru, where the group will be immersed in the archeological treasures Peru offers: Machu Picchu, the â€œLost City of the Incas,â€ the historic city center (a UNESCO World Heritage site) and the Sacred Valley of the Incas.

Other highlights include arriving at Machu Picchu via the famed Vistadome train, exploring San Francisco Monastery, visiting Pisac Market, investigating Ollantaytambo Ruins, enjoying an exclusive culinary demonstration at the base of Machu Picchu, relaxing at Lake Titicaca and much more.

The Peru tour, booked through Lifestyle Tours, will depart from Evansville Regional Airport. The trip includes 14 meals: nine breakfasts and five dinners. Rates are: single/$5,549; double/$4,849; triple $4,819.

For more information call USI Alumni and Volunteer Services at 812-464-1924 or contact Tracy Wilson or Ken Meyer with Lifestyle Tours at 812-682-4477 or tracylifestyletours@gmail.com. Space is limited.

Rewarding Indianaâ€™s outstanding educators

12/21/2014

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We all remember that one educator who had a profound impact on our lives. Usually, they are the ones who believed in us the most and went the extra mile to make us believe in ourselves. For me, it was the priest superintendent at my high school who went out of his way to give Deaconess Hospital my name when they began asking around town for referrals for their respiratory therapy program. Much to my surprise, I was selected into the program, and the rest is history!

Our years spent in the classroom are some of the most formative years of our lives. Although the ultimate responsibility of raising a child falls upon the parent, we cannot ignore the important role that teachers play in molding our youth to become successful later in life.

With the start of session quickly approaching, on Jan. 6th, you will be hearing a lot about the budget, which impacts nearly every aspect of our state, especially education. Every two years, the Legislature is tasked with creating the stateâ€™s biennial budget, and it is important to understand how the budget impacts our education system.
In 2013, the last time we passed a budget, a total of $30 million was allocated as teacher performance grants. This money was recently awarded to qualifying schools based on a combination of ISTEP+ and End-of-Course Assessment passing rates per pupil as well as graduation rates per pupil. But ultimately, this money goes to the teachers.

For the first time in Indiana history, grants were presented, as a bonus, to teachers rated either effective or highly effective under Indianaâ€™s teacher evaluation system for the 2013-14 academic year. In our community, two school corporations have been awarded grants. South Spencer County School Corporation received $51,019 and Warrick County School Corporation received $460,294.
I am so pleased that the wonderful teachers in our communities are getting the â€œthank youâ€ they deserve, and it is my hope that this is just the beginning. While these grants are a great step in the right direction, our support for teachers will not end here. That is why I am excited to share with you that as part of our education agenda this session, we wish to provide teachers with a tax credit for classroom supplies that they purchase out of their own pockets.

It is extremely important that we support these teachers as they selflessly support our students. Many of them work well past normal school hours to give students extra help with their studies. Often times, they also take their work home with them while taking care and spending time with their family.

With education funding making up over half of our budget, education remains a top priority, but also one that we need input on. Throughout session, House Speaker Brian Bosma will be calling on a group of teachers to offer thoughts and opinions on how best to bring excellence, innovation and creativity to every Hoosier classroom and for every Hoosier student. I, too, welcome input from both teachers and parents and hope that you will reach out to me this session with your thoughtful advice on how to continue to improve Indianaâ€™s education system. I can be reached by phone at 317-232-9833 or by email at h75@iga.in.gov.

Hunden Study on Downtown Hotel

12/20/2014

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For those of you who are interested to comb through it here is the Hunden Study that was originally supposed to cost $40,000 but ended up costing the taxpayers of Evansville $105,000.

Hunden Study

IS IT TRUE Weekend Special Hotel Edition “the Ball Field Money Could Have Saved The Hotel”

12/20/2014

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IS IT TRUE that several years ago during the $20 Million ball fields at Roberts fiasco, the City County Observer opined that a downtown convention hotel should be a higher priority than any ball fields anywhere?…we even suggested that the $20 Million could be used as an investment in a downtown hotel that would clearly fit the requirement for room taxes of “bricks and mortar to help tourism?”…it must be pointed out that if wiser heads had prevailed and that money had been sequestered, Old National Bank’s reality moment on the value of the naming rights for The Centre would not have derailed this project?…the zeal to build something-anything, so long as dirt is flying has removed a viable Plan B for funding a downtown hotel?

IS IT TRUE to see the Director of the Convention and Visitors Bureau all sad eyed on mainstream media talking about the $11 Million a year that is lost by not having a convention hotel is comedic irony?…he is the guy who pulled the trigger on the ball fields project that consumed the dollars that could have filled the $6.5 Million gap in financing that is now ruining the martini crowd’s Christmas?…this is just another example of living for today without a plan in sight and without a care in the world other than the next staged media event?…it really does take insight to have suggested the hotel taxes as a backup funding source for a hotel 4 years ago?…we guess such insight and planning is above the pay grade of the Mayor of Evansville and his build fun and games at all cost minions?