Councilwoman Missy Mosby Mosby’s email to John Friend
>>> Missy Mosby 09/03/13 5:23 AM >>>
John,
This is the first I am hearing of this and am concerned for not all Council Members are being included in these discussions. If this is what you need to allow us to vote on September 9th, then let’s move forward.
What’s your availability on Thursday to meet?
Hope you have a great day!
Missy Mosby
FC Tucker Emge Realtors
Councilman Friend’s Response
Missy,
I have been working on this for well over a month. Requests have been given numerous times. This has been my due diligence efforts together with Dr. Adams, assisted at times with Connie (Robinson). Oh, by the way, your comment in the public about the only thing I have NOT received is tax returns, is outright BS…I have spoken with Stan Wheeler, remember our rep on the ERC (Evansville Redevelopment Commission) asking if this information was given or obtained by the ERC, and, of course, his answer was NO. So, as it always seems, this City appears to have habits of not vetting, evidenced by Browning, Woodruff, Earthcare, and to some degree Kunkle. Regardless of what this Mayor is proclaiming, the TIF will be stretched to near capacity with this deal. [I refer you to the budget]. As I recall, this same thing happened with Earthcare, remember the thing you voted for without proper information and when I asked this Mayor to hold for only two weeks, his reply “will it really matter” is what I received. So, I told him my answer, no information, no vote, simple.
This project is extremely important to this community and it is very expensive. We have gone from $8 million, 220 rooms and NO DEBT to 253 rooms with $44 million in debt obligation [my grandchildren for 25 years will be paying as a result of our decision] of additional debt, [FYI – The total debt of this City in 2000 was 135 million and now is $380 million before we vote on the largest utility hike in it’s history] no not 37.5, they forgot to tell the public about the Interest During Construction, bond council costs, underwriting, those sort of things, just an oversight I am sure.
So, if there is a delay on the vote, don’t get on my backside. They have had this demand for some time, and as it always seems, this council is blamed. My question is when are we going to start receiving from this administration, what by LAW we are entitled to receive, without having a million strings attached, remember the term DELIBERATIVE which seems to pop up from time to time. So, in conclusion, you have your way of due diligence and I have mine and if I don’t receive the data, well, where is the fire??
The Board of Directors of The Evansville Local Public Improvement Bond Bank will meet to conduct such business as may properly come before it on
September 5, 2013 at 1:00 p.m. in Room 307 of the Civic Center Complex,  One N.W. Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard, Evansville, Indiana.
For further information, contact Russell G. Lloyd Jr., City Controller,    Room 300, Civic Center Complex, One N.W. Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard, Evansville, Indiana 47708-1833; Telephone: (812) 436-4919.
In a series of emails regarding the release of the data requested by City Councilman John Friend by the Office of Mayor, the City County Observer has learned that the Mayor’s office and the Evansville Department of Metropolitan Development are satisfied with the due diligence that has been done already and are eager to move ahead with approval of the $37.5 Million grant to HCW?
Councilman Friend however has called for a more comprehensive vetting procedure and has formally asked the Mayor’s office for a “grant application” package more typical of firms that conduct real world due diligence. The Office of the Mayor with the awareness that a super majority (6 or 7) of the Evansville City Council agree with Councilman Friend that real due diligence needs to be completed prior to a vote is not only cooperating with Councilman Friend’s request but is encouraging HCW to cooperate as well.
Council members Jonathan Weaver and Missy Mosby have gone on record all along that they will support the deal as it is and as it has been vetted to date echoing the sentiments of the Office of the Mayor. Councilman Weaver rather than favoring the additional vetting fired off a couple of contentious emails questioning the decision to hire Crowe Horwath to assist in the vetting process accusing Councilman Friend and City Council President Connie Robinson doing a behind closed doors deal to make that choice.
Councilman Weaver has a point that this decision was not made in a public forum and the details of the costs are not known. This being the case and the fact that a super-majority of the City Council support vetting doing this publicly can only lead to a further delay in taking a vote. The first opportunity to have an open discussion on hiring a 3rd party to conduct the vetting is next Monday’s City Council meeting pushing an actual up or down vote on the hotel further into the future.
Below is a list of felony cases that were filed by the Vanderburgh County Prosecutor’s Office on Friday, August 30, 2013.
Mark Garrett                Operating a Motor Vehicle after Forfeiture of License for Life-Class C Felony
Sean King                        Domestic Battery-Class A Misdemeanor
(Enhanced to D Felony Due to Prior Convictions)
Domestic Battery-Class D Felony
Resisting Law Enforcement-Class A Misdemeanor
Garrett Mullen              Theft-Class D Felony
For further information on the cases listed above, or any pending case, please contact Kyle Phernetton at 812.435.5688 or via e-mail at KPhernetton@vanderburghgov.org
Under Indiana law, all criminal defendants are considered to be innocent until proven guilty by a court of law.
Burdette Barbecue, Bands and Brew – Sept. 28 @ 1:00pm
Evansville’s Celebration of Diversity Distinguished Lecture Series featuring Leigh Anne and Sean Tuohy (Blindside movie) – Oct. 1 @ 7:00pmGhost Brothers of Darkland County – Oct. 17 @ 7:30pmAn Evening with Third Day – Oct. 20 @ 7:00pmDisney Live! Three Classic Fairy Tales – Oct. 27 @ 12:00pm & 3:00pmMerle Haggard – Oct. 29 @ 7:30pmCMT On Tour: Hunter Hayes Let’s Be Crazy Tour – Nov. 8 @ 7:00pm
On Friday, October 11, 2013, the Reitz Class of 1960 will gather at Howell Shelter House on Barker Avenue for food, fellowship and fun!!! A very nice catered meal will be served at 5:00 pm. Sodas and water will be provided.
The West Side Nut Club Fall Festival is in full swing on the day of our reunion, and Reitz will be playing Bosse in the bowl at 7:00 pm. Many activities on this day, but be sure to make your way to the reunion.
The shelter house will open at 3:00 pm and stay open until 11:00 pm. We are planning to have Karaoke, so bring your favorite disc or song to sing for us. A PA system will be available for announcements, introductions of classmates, and the reading of our “Deceased†list.
We plan to take casual class photos outside immediately after dinner, so bring your best smiles. It was so nice seeing many new classmates last year.
The following classmates are still on our “Lost†list: Linda Dennis Bush, Ellis Fields, Brenda Frost McNew, James Harralson, Michael Todd, Larry Toole, Barbara Harralson Townsend, Rita Harrington Cardin, and Jerry Callis. If you have information on any of these classmates please call:
Sue Roberts Albin (812) 985-5072 or Don Counts (812) 422-1792
SCHEDULE OF EVENTS
DATE: Friday October 11 2013 PLACE: Howell Shelter House – Barker Avenue
IS IT TRUE City Councilman and Chairman of the Finance Committee John Friend, CPA has released his list of things that need to be made available to properly VET the deal that Mayor Winnecke and the Evansville Redevelopment Commission have made with HCW of Branson, MO to develop a hotel complex in downtown Evansville?…Councilman Friend took it a step further and also issued a protocol for VETTING that includes 20 steps?…it is now up to the Mayor’s office to respond and provide Friend with whatever they have and to gather up the other items in the instance that they do not have what Friend has asked for?…with a 20 step process and some very sophisticated analysis that needs to be done it is all but impossible to do this by the scheduled vote next Monday night?…keeping the information in committee until the VETTING has been completed is Councilman Friend’s prerogative and may actually make the passage of some deal for a hotel a higher probability?…one thing for sure is that if the Mayor’s dog and pony shows had secured 5 “AYE†votes the response to Councilman Friend’s request for information for VETTING would have been met with the same silence it has so far?…this could have started in early August if the Winnecke Administration and HCW would have only cooperated with the justified requests of the Chairman of the City Council’s Finance Committee?…it seems as though there has been contempt for the City Council coming from the Mayor’s office until they finally have accepted that they need to provide this to get closer to what they want?…there are only 2 or 3 members of the City Council locked in to an “AYE†vote based on the dog and pony shows?…it takes 5 to tango?
IS IT TRUE there is an allegation going around that certain officers of the Dunn Hospitality Group have put the Museum on notice that their charitable donations will cease if the Museum board and staff openly support the granting of $37.5 Million for a new downtown convention hotel?…we have not confirmed that this is true but would like to discuss the relationship between charities and their large donors?…large donors in nearly every case are people or corporations of significant wealth who for their own reasons choose to give money to charities?…charities such as the Museum and many others are dependent on the generosity of private contributions?…Dunn Hospitality has been very clear that it is their well researched belief that subsidizing a competitor will hurt their business which will necessarily lead to the diminishment of their wealth, their profits, and their cash flow?…the boards of directors of Museums and other charities need to realize that when they make the conscious choice to support programs that hurt their large donors that those large donors can be expected to be disappointed and are fully within their rights to withhold future donations?…charities need to get off of their idealistic high horses and avoid biting the hands that feed them?…if the allegations about the Museum and Dunn are indeed true, who could blame Dunn Hospitality for cutting the Museum from their philanthropic budget?
IS IT TRUE that the closest Division 1 NCAA football team to Evansville, the Louisville Cardinals are expected to win all of their games in 2013?…after dismantling the SEC powerhouse Florida Gators in last year’s Sugar Bowl the Cards have been ranked in the top 10 for the first time ever at the beginning of the season?…pundits are saying their schedule is too weak to be considered for the National Championship game and they have a point, but the missing piece that is not widely discussed is that the Louisville strength of schedule is better than either #2 Ohio State or #3 Oregon?…it will be interesting to see how things work out for Louisville if they go 12 – 0 with the pollsters and the computer rankings?…it was November 13, 1948 that the University of Evansville Purple Aces defeated the Louisville Cardinals in a football game by a score of 18 – 6?…the rise of the Cardinals and the disappearance of the Aces from football playing schools is one of the symptoms of the difference in a city with a goal, focus, a plan, and commitment of its citizens when compared to one that does not?…imagine the possibility that if Evansville would have done things more like Louisville that there could have been 56,000 people in the stands last Sunday to watch a 49 – 7 victory over a gridiron foe?
IS IT TRUE that August was the highest traffic month for the CCO for any non election month since we began counting our traffic using Google Analytics?…our traffic is now solidly above a Million per year and the unique visitors from Vanderburgh County are well over 100,000 per year?…this is about 400% higher than when our counting started in October of 2010?
Letter to Brad Devael with Crowe Horwath from John Friend, CPA Chairmen of the City of Evansville Budget Committee
Brad,
City Councilman John Friend
The following is background to my best knowledge and requested procedures. Â Please call me to discuss.
Per our conversation with Ted Ziemer, City Attorney for Evansville, IN, the Common Council of Evansville, IN, in which I’m Finance Chairman, will be deciding whether to go forward with a downtown convention hotel. We have selected HCW Developers, LLC to be the group to make this happen. However, during my discussions and review of the administration’s procedures, it appears that a business plan was not prepared which would have included imperative information. As such, missing in the process are pro forma’s over a five year period of time, income statements, cash flows, balance sheets, presumably, the ramping up period coinciding with our development and management agreement. We did receive an income statement plus add backs for depreciation and interest at the stabilization period, but, do not have any idea when and how they achieve stabilization and lacks assumptions and assertions, except for average daily rate and capacity
HCW, to the best of my knowledge, has twelve motels/hotel. The crown jewel is Branson Landing, located in Branson, MO. This hotel is touted as a full service hotel, with retail shops, and associated condos. It appears that this development came on line in 2005/2006. Apparently, Branson issued TIF bonding in the amount of $18,500,000. Five of the assumed twelve, are level one motels, under the flag of Value Places. These units cater to extended stays, $149 per week customers. They have two Hampton Inns, one each in Scottsdale, AZ and Tucson, AZ, and a Hilton Garden Inn, located in Manhattan, KS. In addition, their website indicates 4,000 rental units, however, during their presentation to Council, they touted 6,000 units. Also, they indicated that the oldest motel/hotel has been in operations for eight years and they had fourteen operations. [concerns about rapid growth, under-capitalization].
Agreed Upon Procedures:
A. Determine the total number of entities [brother/sister] associated with HCW and their principals.
B. Determine the principals in each entity.
C. Evaluate the debt structure of the entities terms, conditions, covenants and etc.
D. Evaluate the construction budget of the Branson Landing project vs. the Actual, including the timetable, together with the Hilton Garden Inn.
E. Evaluate the performance of the Branson Landing operations from opening day to the present, including the amount, if any, of capital injection during the period and cap-x [debt v equity] Determine additional subsidies by any governmental unit beyond the TIF, together with the Hilton Garden Inn.
F. Review the income tax returns of the principals, emphasis on required sources of income and K-1 activity
G. Review personal financial statements, (purpose to determine depth of free capital) of principals.
H. Review the five year pro forma’s of our project compared to the actuals of Branson Landing to determine a baseline over the first five years. Determine the  assumptions and assertions[pro forma’s needs to be line item detailed].
I. Spread the financial data of all entities in the determination of global EBITDA and the  Debt Coverage ratios.  In this process, emphasis on Branson Landing compared to Industry Standards [RMA comparisons plus others].  Common-size the historical financials in the process. Separate the results of operations, i.e. rental, condo sales, motel/hotel, and retail, if applicable.
J. Determine that the principals and the associated entities have free capital to inject into the Evansville project and adequate reserves to meet the provisions of the city’s agreement relative to over-budget issues.
K. Regards to the above, review documentation relative to performance bonding.
L. Determine the entities structure of ownership, individuals, other LLC’s and the dates of organization.
M. Inquire into any pending or threatening  litigation against any of the entities and principals
N. Review other sources of inquiry, such as Dunn-Brad Streets reports.
O. Â Determine if any surety has encountered claims and defaults involving any of the above entities and principals.
P. Determine the exactness of the total rental units and motel/hotel units and the flags that they fly.
Q.  Determine entity by entity debt/equity ratios and all other pertinent ratios expected in the RMA comparison. Emphasis on Branson Landing.
R. Manhattan, KS – place emphasis on this project – Construction Budget v. Actual – ramping up to stabilization.
S.  Determine the final debt structure of the Evansville project,i.e. recourse v. non-recourse financing. CEO indicated non recourse financing at the conclusion of construction and injection of REIT financing.
T. Determine if any particular entity is considered insolvent [bankruptcy] together with any principal.
Required Data:Â
1. All associated entities’ audited/reviewed financial statements for the past five years. Except for Branson Landing, need from inception to present. [No in-house Financials].
2. All Federal Income Tax filings from those entities and 1040 on the principals over the same period.
3. Loan documentation on the debt structure in the global.
4. Signed Representation Letter from Mr. Richard Huffman, CEO that all information provide is complete and accurate to the best of his knowledge…the Council will leave this to Crowe’s discretion.
5. Current personal financial statements.
6. Five years pro forma’s, income statement, cash flow statements, and balance sheets, together with assumptions and assertions. Detailed by line items.
7. Copy of executed agreement between HCW and the City of Evansville, IN
8. Original Construction budgets in detail and depreciation schedules of Branson Landing and Hilton Garden Inn.
As we discussed, the Common Council will be the client. Our organization will be conferring with the President of the Council, Ms Connie Robinson, VP Dr. H. Dan Adams, and myself, Finance Chair. In regards to proprietary information, I will be executing a confidentiality agreement with the principals of all direct and indirect entities. Assurances have been given to Mr. Ziemer in this regard. As a practicing CPA/CVA, I every much aware of the extreme sensitivity of this form of information. Without this agreement, this engagement most likely will be hindered in obtaining conclusions about going forward under the current condition. Obviously, our President and VP will not execute the confidentiality agreement and, thus proprietary information will remain with only the Finance Chair.
We need this engagement to be concluded as soon as possible.
Sincerely,
John E. Friend Finance Chairman Common Council of Evansville, IN
I am writing to ask our community to just listen. The city council is a public forum where people come to watch our local legislative body carry out the business of governing our city. It is also a place where local citizens come to voice their concerns about the direction of our city.
On August 26, the Concerned Clergy went before city council so that members of the Evansville City Council could hear some of the citizen’s concerns relative to the Evansville Police Department. It was to allow citizens of Evansville to speak in a public forum about their interaction with the police.
It was an opportunity for the Mayor, Police Chief and city council members and citizens of Evansville to listen to the voices of people who felt like they have no recourse. The first three law abiding individual speakers had filed complaints with EPD Internal Affairs and were told either nothing could be done or were told nothing. The presentations made by others were not asked by the Concerned Clergy to speak but because this was an open forum they were allowed to voice their concerns as well. Most were critical of the treatment received by the police officers. Others called for those in the center city to do more to help themselves. I listened and learned.
It was an opportunity for the Police Chief without denigrating the rank and file to say I hear your concerns and we will continue to strive to do better. It was a time to listen to a group of taxpayers who want an acceptable level of courteous service.
Now here we are calling each other racist and bigots. The truth is that most of the complaints I have received came from white citizens. There is this pattern in this community to call principled people out of their names when you disagree. Listening to people is helpful because it makes us better. It should not make us bitter.
I am a Christian servant in the community. I believe that to make a difference in a community you must serve whenever the opportunity is given. I could pretend that our community is a utopia and not speak truthfully about its problems. The fact is that if we want a better community then you have to work toward that goal. That means sometimes listening to what you may not want to hear.
I was talking to an elderly Christian gentleman years ago and he offered me some constructive criticism that I did not want to hear. Initially it hurt my feelings but I took his advice and it served me well.
There are few people in the community that have been as supportive of the police as I have. I was disheartened by the request made by the FOP, but I listened to their conversation and I made a decision to continue to serve on the Police Merit Commission. The FOP has a right to speak their minds, but is it wrong for those who pay their salaries to not be able to speak as well?
I would encourage our entire community to do what Detective Larry Nelson; president of the FOP encouraged me to do. Mr. Nelson said I should look into the mirror of my soul. I think we all should take his advice.
I did that Mr. Nelson, in 1968 and I accepted Jesus Christ as my Savior. I accepted the call to preach in 1980. It is because of my salvation experience that I have sought to mentor, house, educate, and redevelop the center city while pastoring, and providing support to my family. I looked in the mirror and felt the need to help the poor and to give voice and hope to the disinherited in our city. I looked in the mirror and I saw a need to serve on civic, not-for-profit and corporate boards of directors. Whether I am on the police merit commission or not, I have served and I will continue to serve. This is what I was called by God to do. I would strongly encourage you the FOP to heed the scripture warning in I Chronicles 16:22 and Psalms 105:15.
Finally, if you listen to the created voicemail presented by the FOP, you will hear an invitation to speak from your heart. It is my hope that our community will grow from this present moment. All we have to do is listen and strive to do better. So that someday a Providential voice will commend all of us who have served well. That will be the day when you hear, “Well Done Thy Good and Faithful Servant.â€
Until then, let’s just listen and serve!
Rev, Adrian M. Brooks, Sr. 605 Canal Street Evansville, IN 47713
