IS IT TRUE June 5, 2013

IS IT TRUE Evansville Mayor Lloyd Winnecke recently met with City Council President Connie Robinson to brief her on the Administration’s work to make final changes to the Johnson Controls contract?…the Mayor and the City had to respond to new knowledge brought to light private sector businesses who came forward with various Network Communications options in lieu of the City building and owning a Fiber Optic Ring Network?…Mayor Winnecke seeking to better understand these options and gain an unbiased perspective convened a group of local CIOs to discuss these alternative solutions?…solutions that would meet the Utility’s needs for the Automated Meter Reading Infrastructure were identified and discussed plus the CIO’s suggested the Administration consider other options in the future to meet the City’s Network Communication needs?…by seeking the council of the private sector it is possible that Mayor Winnecke will be deciding to change part of the course defined by former Mayor Weinzapfel in his last minute spending spree and forget about the redundancy of a City Owned Fiber Optic Ring Network.

IS IT TRUE the Mole Nation tells the CCO that Johnson Controls has agreed to remove the fiber optic ring network from the Weinzapfel contract?…removing this unnecessary hardware will save the taxpayers of Evansville about $6.4M from the Weinzapfel contract on top of the other things removed that saved $4 Million after the IURC shot it down as not providing enough margin?…the fiber optic network will be replaced with a private sector solution, which will create significantly greater savings that the public option was alleged to have saved?…it is the intent of the Winnecke Administration to announce these supposedly final changes this week and seek approval of a revised bond resolution by the Utility Board on June 11th and file a bond ordinance with City Council for 1st reading on June 24th?… at the July 8th meeting, Winnecke and friends will present and answer questions on the final contract and bond ordinance?…true to form the Winnecke Administration is planning to arrange meetings with Council members on an individual basis to answer questions and twist some arms?…we really wish these discussions would be held in a public forum so the people of this town do not get yet another closed door deal shoved down their throats?

IS IT TRUE it is somewhat encouraging to see that some level of due diligence is working down at the Civic Center?…this due diligence is being led by Budget Chairman Councilman John Friend with his opposition and questioning of what former Mayor Weinzapfel tried to deal from the bottom of the deck on his way out of office?…this unnecessary contract has now shrunk by $10.5 Million which is a step in the right direction?…it is still appropriate to question the need to replace all of those water meters that are attached to aging and dilapidated pipes?…it would be more prudent to replace 5% of the meters per year along with 5% of the rotten old pipes per year for the next 20 years along with the sewer repairs so at least in 20 years we can say that Evansville has a functional and maintainable water and sewer system for the first time ever?…there is still some more carving to do on this contract and we are counting on our City Council to do their job and keep Mayor Winnecke’s feet to the fire before selling any bonds or cutting any checks?…we have hope that this project that started out as a boondoggle of cronyism may just work out well for the people of Evansville if and only if the financial diligence is maintained?

IS IT TRUE that Mole #33 tells us that GAGE will be adding a seat on its board of directors for a member of the Evansville City Council?…the Mayor of Evansville has always been on this board with the executive committee formed of 3 elected officials, 3 private business people, and one member from USI?…this addition to the GAGE board tips the balance of power to politicians?…this is not a trivial issue?…we are betting that Councilman John Friend may just end up with this appointment?…we wonder if Councilman Friend would have gone along with former Mayor and GAGE Board Chairman Weinzapfel’s scheme to pay former DMD Director Tom Barnett a supplement to his salary through a phantom contract with GAGE?…financial due diligence can help any organization that is dependent on the taxpayers to survive?

IS IT TRUE that USI is raising its tuition by $551 (9%) at a time that salaries are frozen and jobs for graduates are hard to find?…given the state of the economy and the difficulty that graduates are having finding any employment at all much less a job that can support college loans, we find this move to be self serving and usury?…the trustees of USI will be voting on this June 11th and the CCO encourages them to hold the line on tuition until an increase in the value of a diploma can justify the tuition increase?…a time when the value of a formal education is being questioned is no time to raise the price on a USI degree which is not well recognized outside of a few counties anyway?

IS IT TRUE June 4, 2013

IS IT TRUE it seems as though the urban surveillance vehicles that the Evansville Police Department purchased to keep an eye on crime are doing their job quite well?…these former armored cash delivery vehicles were the subject of some joking during the campaign that was for the most part well intentioned?…for those with a thick skin the caricature of then candidate Winnecke riding a tank should have been seen as the cartoon that it was meant to be?…the naysayers on the effectiveness of placing these vehicles in high crime areas as a deterrent should eat their words now as the very presence of these urban assault vehicles have established a record for keeping crime to near zero in their immediate vicinity?…at $10 each plus $10,000 to rig them up to do surveillance this have been a bargain and we should be ordering about a hundred more of them?…the real test would be in placing many of these things block by block to see if crime is really stopped or just moved a block or two away?…thus far they are working but crime is not statistically much different so the crimes are just being moved?…this purchase was a good decision made by Mayor Winnecke and Police Chief Billy Bolin?

IS IT TRUE that there has been an absolute mess of uncertainty and incompetence in the administration of the ISTEP tests this year?…it has been such a carnival of errors that school corporations across the state are seizing on the opportunity to preemptively dispute the results of the tests?…we bet that if the results show improvement that the school administrators will cease their dispute and embrace the results?…if they show static or falling results of course the school administrators will keep up the drum beat to ignore the test results due to incompetence?…if there is one thing that can be learned from this fiasco it is that to manage the ISTEP one must pass the ISTEP?

IS IT TRUE that this week has brought a relatively rare phenomena to Evansville in the number of dead bodies that have been discovered in homes?…no one at the CCO can remember the last time a dead body was simply discovered and this week there were 3 found?…there does not seem to be foul play involved so maybe this is just the beginning of a trend in a world that is increasingly disconnected on a day to day basis?

IS IT TRUE that turning to our nation the scandal of selective enforcement continues to get worse over at the Internal Revenue Service (IRS)?…reports are starting to surface that state the “low level” rouge employees who were set up to take the blame are not only angry but they are starting to sing?…the recently fired Director of the IRS has already been exposed for flat out lying to Congress, another high ranking IRS official (Lois Lerner) asserted innocence and then took the fifth, and it is now obvious this selective scrutiny was widespread and systematic?…some of the “low level” scapegoats are now flipping and telling reporters that the orders to harass conservatives groups and particularly financial supporters of Republican candidates CAME FROM WASHINGTON DC?…no one has pointed the finger at President Obama yet and maybe he really knew nothing about it but he did create the atmosphere that promoted going after enemies with wise little quips?…in public speeches President Obama did indeed joke about using the IRS to badger his enemies and even advocated jokingly to take a gun to a knife fight?…this is all funny until his starry eyed underlings start to take him seriously and selectively enforce rules and regulations?

IS IT TRUE that the banana republic nature of what has happened at the IRS is a serious threat to our nation’s ability to maintain the public trust?…the same goes on the violation of the 1st amendment rights of what are now multiple reporters from big news organizations?…in any sane organization public or private heads would roll over this comedy of arrogance?…sanity can no longer be expected from our federal government?