Rob Hunden: Independent Expert or Crutch for the Administration?
by: Brad Linzy
Posted by CCO without opinion, bias or editing.
According to documents recently obtained from the Mayor’s Office, Rob Hunden of Hunden Strategic Partners (HSP) has billed the Evansville Redevelopment Commission (ERC) over $200,000 in total for this latest hotel deal with developer HCW.
Initially, according to a pro-forma agreement, HSP agreed to provide a draft report, a final report, and a Powerpoint presentation summarizing its findings. This work was to cost not more than $81,000 in total, including $75,000 to be paid in three installments of $25,000 each, and up to $6,000 in expenses related to travel and research. A Purchase Order was issued and approved on March 12, 2012 for the full $81,000 to cover this entire fee.
On June 6, 2012, the final $25,000 installment was paid upon completion of the Hunden Report and by this time $5881.39 had also been paid for agreed upon expenses, bringing the total for the HSP work to $80,881.39.
After June 6, 2012 several more invoices were issued to the ERC by HSP. Services rendered were billed at a rate of $200/hr. and included everything from consulting with the Mayor, ERC, and the Department of Metropolitan Development (DMD) to consulting and advising City Council members.
HSP’s activities also included sending out requests for quotations (RFQ) to developers. While most have assumed these tasks were performed by someone inside the Administration, according to these invoices it appears they were done by HSP. Furthermore, HSP appears to have handled the request for proposal (RFP) phase of the project as well as negotiating the terms of the deal.
In one invoice dated February 14, 2013 HSP billed the ERC almost $20,000 for phone calls related to consulting on “Hotel Negotiation Processâ€.
In another invoice dated May 17, 2013 HSP billed $28,651.25 for “hotel advisory†including continued negotiations with developer HCW and a presentation before the City Council. In the addendum pages accompanying this invoice HSP list all correspondence, much of which refers to “strategy†and “press strategy†with “Steve and Phillipâ€, presumably Steve Schaffer and Phillip Hooper. In three separate correspondences, the issue of 180 rooms vs. 250 room hotels was discussed.
The most recent invoice we’ve obtained is dated July 26, 2013 and includes another $13,500 in billings for phone calls to HCW labeled “negotiations†and correspondences to Administration officials labeled “strategyâ€.
More recently, we’ve seen Rob Hunden send press releases and give statements to the press. He has also crafted a lengthy memo defending this hotel deal and saying if the City Council doesn’t approve it, the next deal will be 100% public. One can only assume these activities will be invoiced at a future date at the same $200/hr. rate as past activities.
Over the course of this deal, Rob Hunden has personally racked up $2,425.52 in hotel lodgings, most of which was spend at Le Merigot, $10,662.69 in transportation costs, $717.56 in meals on taxpayer dime, $1,256.52 in mileage expenses driving to and from Indianapolis, and $801.92 in miscellaneous “office expensesâ€. Is this what one might refer to as an “independent†expert?
So who is Rob Hunden? Is he a hotel expert hired to produce a feasibility study? Or is he a deeply vested participant of this project from inception to execution? The invoice trail points to the latter.
