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IS IT TRUE June 11, 2012

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The Mole #??

IS IT TRUE June 11, 2012

IS IT TRUE on this coming Tuesday at 1:30 PM there will be a meeting of the Evansville Utilities Board? …that past and present Utilities Board meetings are held in the extremely small conference room located in the Water and Sewer Department office area?…that holding the Utilities Board meeting during this the above time and location keeps the public from attending meetings of this important board?…if the Utilities Board meetings were held in room 301 across from the Mayor’s office the $50 to $80 million dollar Johnson Control project would have allowed the public to feel welcomed to attend their meetings so they could add their input on this project?

IS IT TRUE that the City County Observer spent some time on Google doing some research on the successes and failures of Municipal WIFI services similar to the Johnson Controls project that the Weinzapfel Administration rushed through during the last month in office?…that there are not a lot of reports out there on such things when one excludes reports written by Johnson Controls and reports that are of a financial nature that were written and published prior to installation?…that there is one study that the CCO posted previously regarding a Johnson Controls project in Cumberland, MD that on the surface sounded superb until we realized that it was a projection and not a performance based report?…that the most cited reporting on the first 10 pages of Google references is the failure in Hollywood, FL?…there are plenty of announcements of cities that are planning to do WIFI but most of those result in poor outdoor signals?…that the systems do seem to be capable of checking the water meters fairly well where fiber is fully in place and new meters are installed?…that in the first 10 pages of Google reports when using the search terms “municipal WIFI” or “Johnson Controls+Smart City” that there are exactly ZERO reports of success that are written by a third party?

IS IT TRUE that Evansville City Councilman John Friend, CPA took a bold step last week by challenging the projections for savings that was made to the City of Evansville back during the early stages when the project was under consideration?…in Councilman Friend’s letter of challenge he exposed the fact that the total savings over 20 years for a $57 Million (plus interest) project is only projected to be $87,000?…that will only amount to an average savings of 4 CENTS PER PERSON PER YEAR if it even plays out the way it was bought to be?…Councilman Friend also challenged several methods chosen to do the savings calculations and made a projection of his own that the losses will be over $1 Million?…that was arrived at without challenging any of the assumptions used like the rate increases and higher water and sewer charges assessed to the people of Evansville?

IS IT TRUE that the CCO encourages private vetting efforts and Councilman Friend to leave no stone unturned in getting to the bottom of these numbers which are being called out by many people as not necessarily reflecting a reality of high probability?…we hope to see a hearing in Evansville much like the hearing that the IURC held regarding the Vectren dense pack project?…that both of these projects are projected to save people money but designed to benefit the entities that are doing them?…that is why the City of Evansville should come under the same level of scrutiny that Vectren is now under for cost neutral project?…it is only fair that these projects are VETTED in a rigorous manner?…we do believe that Vectren knows how to add a column of numbers correctly but have no recent evidence in the VETTING department to believe that the City of Evansville can even get 1 + 1 to equal 2?

WC Handy Blues and Barbeque Festival June 13-16

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The W.C. Handy Blues & Barbecue Festival has become one of the largest free music festivals in the nation, drawing attendants from just about every state and many countries. The festival is a celebration of the life and legacy of Henderson resident and “Father of the Blues”, William Christopher Handy. According to legend, the Alabama born composer and his band were traveling home from the postponed Chicago World’s Fair in 1892 when they ran out of money in St. Louis. Work was scarce there, so Handy left the rest of the band and headed to Evansville, Indiana.

In need of funds, Handy worked on a street paving crew and joined a local band that performed throughout the region. While the group played at a Henderson barbecue, he met Elizabeth Price, who soon became his wife.

The festival books some of the hottest national and local blues talent each year. The opening day of the festival is highlighted by the “Taste of Henderson Barbecue” where you can enjoy barbecue of all varieties sold by local teams and listen to great live music in Henderson’s Central Park. Live music at the scenic Audubon Mill Park on the Henderson Riverfront continues every night from Wednesday evening to Saturday night. There are a host of other events throughout the week as well, including a Mardi Gras-style Street Strut, Handy Lunch Breaks at local eateries, lectures, dance classes, and much more.

Read More…

UE’s Concrete Canoe Team Heads to Nationals

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This Sunday, 17 UE civil engineering majors hit the road to Reno, Nevada, where they will compete in the 25th Annual American Society of Civil Engineers National Concrete Canoe Competition. The competition will take place June 14-16 at the University of Nevada, Reno.

The competition provides civil engineering students with a practical, hands-on application of the principles they learn in the classroom, along with leadership and project management skills.

The 22 teams that qualified for this year’s National Concrete Canoe Competition, representing some of the top engineering schools in the United States and Canada, will be judged on the design, construction, innovative features, and racing ability of each concrete canoe. UE’s purple and gray canoe, “Tempest,” measures 20 feet long and weighs 250 pounds.

UE earned a bid to nationals by placing second in the Concrete Canoe competition at the ASCE Great Lakes Student Conference, held April 19-21 at Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois. Out of 14 Concrete Canoe teams, UE finished second behind the University of Wisconsin-Madison, narrowly edging out perennial powerhouse the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign to advance to nationals.

Last year, UE hosted the National Concrete Canoe Competition and was the smallest school ever invited to do so. This year marks the third time in the past four years that UE has qualified for nationals.

“I couldn’t be more proud of our students’ continuing success in the Concrete Canoe competition,” said Mark Valenzuela, UE associate professor of civil engineering and the team’s faculty advisor. “This year’s team has logged over a thousand person hours designing and building their canoe, ‘Tempest,’ and it was a thrill to watch them outperform some of the nation’s top engineering schools at regionals. They certainly earned the chance to showcase their work on a national level this summer.”

For more information on the 25th annual ASCE National Concrete Canoe Competition, please visit www.asce.org/concretecanoe.

Municipal WIFI Report from New York City turns into Debacle

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New York City CTO resigns over public safety wireless network debacle

The NYC Wireless Network (NYCWiN) launched in 2008, more than four years after the RFP was issued, and many had high hopes for the network, which was to be dedicated to one use: public safety. The users of the network were to be the NY Police Department and the NY Fire Department. We wrote about it on MuniWireless in Big Doings in the Big Apple (2008):

“NYCWiN initially will cover about 70 percent of the city’s 322-square-mile expanse, according to CIO Paul Cosgrave, who last week gave a detailed project update to several committees of the New York City Council. Cosgrave told the City Council that the service area will be expanded to 95 percent coverage by the summer, with full coverage by year’s end.”

The project’s rollout was headed by lead contractor Northrop Grumman Corp., utilizing UTMS-based infrastructure from IP Wireless, a subsidiary of NextWave Wireless. The initial 5-year contract was valued at an extraordinary $500 million, with nearly all of it coming from the city itself; part of the initial public safety rollout was funded with $20 million from the Department of Homeland Security. According to the New York Times, the network is “underused and outdated”.

When NYC issued the RFP in 2004 many people told me in private that the project would be a terrible waste of money and that the only beneficiaries would be the systems integrator (Northrop) and the equipment provider (Motorola). Indeed, a commenter to our 2008 article seemed to possess a crystal ball when he wrote on MuniWireless:

“Northrop Grumman is walking on egg shells. The launch is behind schedule and the good old boys from VA have taken over the mgmt of the project. Of the 400 sites that Northrop was supposed to launch only 120 may be lit. There are constant problems with IP wireless equipment and there is low morale w/i NGC. HEADS WILL ROLL. The folks @ DoITT are misrepresenting the truth.”

What was needed was not a dedicated public safety wireless network but a wireless network that could have been used for multiple purposes by all city departments, with excess capacity being leased out to private firms, non-profits and community groups that would provide wireless access to NYC residents and businesses.

NYCWiN is only part of a larger, more ambitious plan called PlanIT to upgrade the city’s IT infrastructure, but delays and cost overruns have made PlanIT a highly controversial issue for the Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s administration and recently may have cost the city’s commissioner of the Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications (DoITT), Carole Post, her job even though Ms. Post arrived at the DoITT many years after the project had commenced.

According to the New York Daily News, the city tried to sell the network back to Northrop Grumman last year, but Northrop turned down the generous offer. The city had been trying sell and leaseback the network because it costs $38 million annually to maintain and few police and fire department employees are actually using it. The biggest users are the Dept. of Transportation (for controlling traffic lights) and the Dept. of Environmental Protection (for wireless monitoring of water meters).

Source: by Esme Vos on APRIL 15, 2012 in CITY & COUNTY WIFI NETWORKS, WIFI NEWS

Councilman Al Lindsey Supports John Friend’s Call to Fully Vet the Johnson Controls Deal

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City Councilman Al Lindsey
To My Constituents and the People of Evansville,

I have been following the Johnson Controls proposal with much interest. As the agreement was entered into without a vote of the Evansville City Council and before my term of service began, I would like to join my fellow Councilman John Friend in his call to study this very closely and confirm that it will be financially in the best interest of the people of Evansville and the 6th Ward that I represent before this is allowed to go forward.

Councilman Friend has my respect as a CPA and as a good steward of taxpayer dollars. If he says this deal needs to be vetted, he can count on my support for his recommendation.

Al Lindsey
Evansville City Councilman, 6th Ward

This letter published by the CCO without edit, bias, or opinnion.

Councilman John Friend, CPA Challenges Testimony before IURC regarding Johnson Controls

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Councilman John Friend, CPA

COMMON COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF EVANSVILLE, IN
CIVIC CENTER, ONE MARTIN LUTHER KING JR BLVD
ROOM 301
EVANSVILLE, IN 47708

June 7, 2012

Umbaugh & Associates,
Certified Public Accountants, LLP
8365 Keystone Crossing
Indianapolis, IN 46240
Attn: Mr. John Seever, CPA

IN RE: Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission
Evansville Water & Sewer Department
Docket Number 44123

Mr. Seever,

In reference to your firm’s testimony per the above matter, as the Finance Chairman for the Common Council of the City of Evansville, I have reviewed the submitted documentation as filed. According to your firm’s expert testimony, as evidenced by your submission, precisely, Exhibit DLB-1, page 7, (Joint Petitioner Case-in_Chief), Mr. Douglas Baldessari, an Expert Witness under the employment of your firm entered testimony whereby his analysis spanned twenty years resulting in savings to the ratepayers of our City equaling $87,492 though out the entire project, not simply each year, but, cumulative. And most amazing, the investment total, including Interest During Construction (IDC) and Allowance for Issuance and Rounding equals approximately $57,000,000 or .15% of the risk capital.

Within the approximate $57,000,000, includes IDC of $4,275,180 plus the allowance for issuance of $1,101,388 totaling $5,376,568. The water portion of the IDC and Allowance per your documents is stated at $1,437,150 and $381,252, respectively. Per your firm’s amortization, page 7 titled Comparison of Guaranteed Savings From JCI (Johnson Control, Inc.) Contract & Estimated Installment Payments, your exhibit starts with the total cost of the project including capitalized interest (IDC) and the allowance for issuance equals $56,690,000 which was previously rounded to $57 million, includes the interest for the two year as capitalized interest amounting to $718,575 per each year, totaling $1,437,150. Now, with the total cost including the IDC & Allowance already included in the amortization, the interest of $1,437,150 would be in error in considering the savings. Thus, instead of the project saving our ratepayers $87,492, in fact, the project will not save but COST them $1,349,658, clearly in violation of the Indiana statutes. This is apparent, and, as the finance chairman of the Council, demands immediate correction to be filed with the IURC. For consistently sake, if the IDC was correctly included, then why not the Allowance? My opinion is supported by several of our CPA colleagues.

In further review, at the time of executing the contract on November 28, 2011 by the president of the utility board, it appears that the cost of the Network Infrastructure was a guaranteed maximum price and the minutes clearly indicate that the cost was not yet determined and, subsequently, when those cost were determined, 21 miles of fiber optics was excluded; thus, addition costs driving the cost vs. savings.

In review of your document, page 137, shows non-measured savings of $468,646 as a result of terminating seven positions, but, in fact, those positions will be relocated. Even though, you may consider attrition, your exhibit fails to phase out those positions though out the periods. We will not instantly save those dollars. Considering the margin of .15%, this, in my, opinion would be material.

Further review reveals that your exhibit (DLB-1, page 4) allocates the new meter cost of $21,684,738, 50% to Waterworks and 50% to Sewer. Obviously, the utility does not meter waste? Then, why would $10,842,369 be associated to Sewer, and, even if, somehow, the allocation could be rationalized, why doesn’t 50% of the savings be allocated to Sewer?

Please indicate the time period for the correction of the capital interest issue. Of course, if you desire to discuss the above my office number is 812-473-3388 extension 229 and the email address is jfriend@johnfriendandco.com.

Sincerely,

John E. Friend, CPA, CVA
Finance Chairman
Common Council of Evansville, IN

CC: Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission
Hon Lloyd Winnecke, Mayor of Evansville, IN
Mr. Jeff Hatfield, President of the Utility Board
City Clerk Office for the City of Evansville, IN

Attachments

Source: Anonymous and posted without opinion, edit, or bias by the CCO

Artful Dodger in Oliver: You Gotta Pick a Pocket or Two

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IS IT TRUE June 8, 2012

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The Artful Dodger

IS IT TRUE June 8, 2012

IS IT TRUE there is something the CCO had pointed out yesterday that is one rather well developed talent of the Winnecke Administration and that this talent was attributed to Mayor Winnecke himself?…this talent is the talent to find a way out of difficult situations?…one of Mayor Winnecke’s first acts as Mayor was commission a complete review of the downtown Convention Hotel project that had been turned into a compromised and ill-defined mess by Mayor Weinzapfel and his minions in the Evansville Redevelopment Commission?…the end result of that effort is that today we are back to ground ZERO with none of the baggage that came with it?…the Earthcare Energy deal while a mess made by Mayor Winnecke is another example of what one may refer to as a “creative escape” from a self made albatross?…the McCurdy is now destined for private ownership?…that we do not think that this talent as a Houdini of creative escape is coincidence?…that the CCO does recognize and wants to acknowledge Mayor Winnecke’s adeptness at CHEATING THE HANGMAN when nooses have been slipped around his neck?

T-Shirt from the Artful Dodger Collection
IS IT TRUE there is on very large and rotting albatross that is still hanging around the neck of Mayor Winnecke courtesy of the last hour shenanigans of Mayor Weinzapfel?…that albatross is called the Johnson Controls deal?…that once again Mayor Winnecke is faced with a card dealt to him from the bottom of the deck by Mayor Weinzapfel and he needs to put his best “Artful Dodger” hat on to dance through this $80 Million mine field?…it was not Johnson Controls that did this, it was the previous administration?…the Johnson Controls deal may turn out to be okay but that all private VETTING efforts are pointing to unverifiable savings at a significant enough level to justify having a very deep dive into the details of the deal?…if and we do mean if the details of the deal do not deliver what they have been advertised to deliver then this deal like the others can be terminated for cause without any negative consequence?…that we are cheering for you Mayor Winnecke?…we have faith that your talent at dodging bullets will serve you well if you surround yourself with a good VETTING TEAM and get this done?…the mine field is smaller than it was when you took office and that you are only a few more tiptoes through the exploding tulips that Mayor Weinzapfel left for you away from being able to be your own person?

IS IT TRUE the choices that Mayor Winnecke is making with respect to the $2.9 Million windfall that is now in the coffers of the City of Evansville are actually very good choices that will help the City do what it is supposed to do for its citizens?…that spending “found” money on sidewalks and safety infrastructure that are both NEEDED due to years of neglect are good choices?…saving the remaining $1.7 Million for future capital expense needs is also wise?…that such practical thrift should be the rule and not the exception across the board?…the CCO hopes to see more practical decisions that the City of Evansville can afford from the Winnecke Administration?…practicality will do away with the spend everything on games and temples to sport mentality of the Weinzapfel Administration?…things like an $8 Million park at Roberts Stadium and the proposed $2 Million Centennial Park albatross that is another holdover from the last administration are just not practical or affordable at this time?…fixing some of the parks that we already have like Garvin Park may be entirely affordable if the powers that be have the courage to maintain what we have as opposed to building new?…that existing parks are a terrible thing to waste?

IS IT TRUE Part 2 June 7, 2012 “The Failure to Vet Continues to Haunt”

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IS IT TRUE Part 2 June 7, 2012

IS IT TRUE that Earthcare Energy has continued to perform as they are contractually required to do so with respect to the $200,000 loan that was approved without City Council knowledge (except for Connie Robinson who was on the loan committee) just before the self-congratulatory press conference at Park 41?…that in the two previous months Earthcare saw fit to pay $8,000 per month to retire some of the loan principle but the May installment was interest only in the amount of $381 as required for 24 months?…at this point it is safe to assume that Earthcare Energy can continue to make interest only payments for the next 21 months to keep this account current?…there is another little tidbit with respect to this loan that only requires that the principle be repaid when revenue is produced by Earthcare Energy from the Power Purchase Agreement that was used as collateral for the loan?…it is safe to assume that this number given the current state of confusion will be ZERO for the foreseeable future?…that it is even possible that if the loan agreement is sufficiently terrible as other documents have been that Earthcare may be able to keep making interest only payments in perpetuity (forever) and never have to pay back the City of Evansville?…that the City County Observer calls for the release of this loan agreement so the people of Evansville can see just how well their money is being managed?

IS IT TRUE that many among us are starting to put Earthcare Energy behind us as just another dumb butt attack by City of Evansville governance and may even be breathing a sigh of relief that this one was only a small mistake in terms of dollars and the big picture?…the deal made by Mayor Weinzapfel with Johnson Controls during his last days in power is an $80 Million deal that carries more risk, less accountability, and an ill-defined benefit?…as is becoming an Evansville tradition THIS DEAL WAS NOT VETTED EITHER?…there are private VETTORS much in the same spirit as City Councilwoman Stephanie Riley was on the Earthcare deal who are exposing many questionable claims in the nearly 300 page Johnson Controls deal?…that before selling a single bond or writing a single check this Johnson Controls deal needs to be professionally VETTED by someone of competence who is not beholding to the City or stands to benefit from Johnson Controls?…that VETTING this proposal will probably cost much less than the $105,000 that Hunden Strategic Partners has billed the City of Evansville regarding a downtown Convention Hotel that is thus far only VAPOR?

IS IT TRUE City Councilman John Friend, CPA has been advocating for a VETTING fund for over a year now and it is time for him to start demanding that VETTING efforts be funded and done before bringing any resolution forward to fund any capital project at all?…Councilman Friend’s squawking did not stop the ERC from getting a hotel deal through the City Council on 3 different occasions and did not stop the City Council from voting 5 – 4 to make a $4.8 Million loan to Earthcare Energy?…that it seems as though the elected representatives of the City of Evansville from the Mayor’s office to the Council, to the appointed boards and surrogates do not have the sense to VET nor the willingness to pay for VETTING with the sole exception of the hotel that was only VETTED when the CCO and the public exposed it for being delusional?…it is time to start taking the spending of taxpayer dollars seriously and the people who have acted cavalier or obstructive to VETTING efforts need to get busy and support good stewardship of public money?

EPD Activity Report: June 7, 2012

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EPD Activity Report June 7, 2012

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