IS IT TRUE that sanity has finally prevailed in the City of Evansville when it comes to the vetting process for a $37.5 Million economic development project?…the City County Observer broke the story last night that the proposal touted by the Mayor of Evansville as the right proposal to bring a convention hotel to downtown Evansville will be vetted after all?…after 6 townhall meetings where the same parade of union leaders, republican leaders, and the high society folk of Evansville talked down to, cajoled, and even elbowed people in the ribs, the vetting process will be happening after all?…after all of the promotions and confident statements by Mayor Winnecke and others when it came to a straw poll of who would support an unvetted proposal the votes came down with a resounding NO?…the CCO is proud of the members of the City Council who ignored the pleas to throw caution to the wind and vote YES because “we deserve it” crowd danced and sang better than the bearish group of young people who openly opposed this action?…today is a good day in Evansville because for the first time in years it is possible that data that has been properly analyzed will be the basis for a big decision as opposed to the whims of some pseudo dictator occupying the office of the mayor?…this is a day to smile and walk proud, sanity has returned to River City?

IS IT TRUE that not only will the plan be vetted on its own merit but the intention is to look into the backgrounds and financial condition of both HCW and its principles?…one can only look back a short 18 months to a time when such vetting was cast to the wind like chaff from wheat and a whole host of shortcomings were obscured by the need for a headline during the announcement that EarthCare Energy was coming to town like Santa and his reindeer?…we wonder just why elected officials and their appointed people cannot even learn from their own mistakes?…it should have been different this time but it was not?…it makes one wonder how long it will be before something equaling as vexing to a thinking person will happen again?

IS IT TRUE that given the disappointing performance of the Ford Center with respect to the projections shown during its series of dog and pony shows we encourage Crowe Horvath (or whomever ends up with the vetting contract) to examine the projections in the dog and pony shows given by HCW when Branson Landings during its “selling” stage vs. what actually happened once the hotel opened?…there is more to being a successful organization than dog and pony shows and we all need to know what the track record of HCW is for projections vs. results?

IS IT TRUE that one of the allegations that has come to our ears is that the Office of the Mayor used the threat that HCW has said they will walk if they don’t get a deal approved on Monday night?…this is a despicable thing for that office to do and even more despicable for a future partner to threaten?…to be told by anyone the equivalent of “we are the business plan and if you don’t agree to give us $20 Million on our word by Monday we are out of here” is bad business so we will write this off as a negotiating tactic that the Office of the Mayor tried to use to bully some member of the City Council to act foolishly in haste?

IS IT TRUE in spite of all of this disingenuous behavior and astonishingly naive business decisions, we are quite interested to see how the vetting goes?…at this point we do not know whether this is another Earthcare or if it is the real McCoy?…what we do know is that 3 years ago the CCO published an analysis by former GAGE President Joe Wallace that asserted there was a $20 Million gap in the value and the cost of a new hotel?…after much mocking and scoffing by nearly every self proclaimed expert in Evansville the Hunden Study ($105,000) and the negotiations with HCW established that Mr. Wallace was exactly correct?…we also know that it really does take competent due diligence to vet any proposal that involves investing taxpayer dollars and that the leadership of Evansville has been clueless with this skill set?…we do hope things work out and that the people of Evansville are served well by whatever the future brings?…when Hillary Clinton once said “it takes a village” she was not talking about a village idiot?

The City County Observer has learned tonight that members of the Evansville City Council led by Councilman John Friend and the Office of the Mayor have agreed to delay a vote on the downtown convention hotel to allow for sufficient time to vet the project.

The vetting is expected to be done by the firm Crowe Horvath but will not go forward without an open discussion and a vote of the City Council next Monday at the meeting that the Winnecke Administration had hoped would result in an affirmative vote of the council to borrow the money required to provide HCW of Branson, MO with incentives of $37.5 Million to build a downtown convention hotel. $20 Million of that amount is a direct subsidy for the hotel while the balance is to develop a parking garage, a storage facility for Ford Center, and other associated infrastructure.

Despite six meetings in the Wards of the city of Evansville where supporters of the project that included labor union representatives, the convention and visitors bureau, and Mayor Winnecke himself only two members of the city council (Weaver and Mosby) have openly offered support for the project in is present stage of vetting. It has become clear over the last couple of days that holding an up or down vote Monday night would have resulted in a failure so both sides agreed that Councilman Friend was right and that a through vetting process of the project and HCW is in order.

One of the components of the vetting process is expected to be a comparison of the projections vs. the financial reality of what happened with the flagship hotel at Branson Landing during its first 5 years of operation.

this is a developing story