IS IT TRUE June 12, 2013

IS IT TRUE in a move that is seen as a positive move with respect to the Johnson Controls contract the Evansville Sewer and Water Utility voted 5 – 0 yesterday to take the fiber optic network out of the agreement and replace it with the use of existing cellular technology to read water meters?…this latest elimination of hardware that is not necessary saved the people of Evansville $7 Million in debt at a time when every penny counts?…Johnson Controls was during the reign of Mayor Weinzapfel designed to be a $57 Million deal that “paid for itself” in savings?…that particular deal was shot down by the Indiana Utilities Regulatory Commission as being too dependent on blue smoke and mirrors to really pay for itself?…today the deal has been reduced to a maximum of $46 Million and it is widely believed that it will pay for itself in savings?…there are a few more improvements that can be explored before a move to go forward such as “do we really need to replace all of those meters” and “why is Johnson Controls its own oversight entity”?…the City County Observer encourages the Evansville City Council to do what they must to establish 3rd party oversight of the savings before scheduling a vote on the bonds to finance this deal?…they also need to seek assurances that this deal does not jeopardize the potential for favorable financing to be secured to repair our decrepit sewer system, or rusty water pipes, and other legacy of neglect problems facing the City of Evansville?…when 3rd party oversight has been established for the Johnson Controls deal, one more look has been taken at NEEDS vs. WANTS, and future bonding capacity has been reiterated as unchanged, at long last what began as a crock of cronyism MAY just turn out to be a step forward for Evansville?

IS IT TRUE that St. Louis has gotten into such dire straits from an entrepreneurship perspective that a coalition of local public and private leaders are forming a coalition to raise a $100 Million venture fund targeting home grown entrepreneurs for financing?…St. Louis became a big significant city around the turn of the century hosting a World’s Fair and even the Olympic games largely on the success of home grown entrepreneurs like Anheuser Busch, McDonnell Douglas, and Ralston Purina?…St. Louis like many Midwestern river towns has seen its legacy home grown businesses bought up by international conglomerates and has not been able to keep any entrepreneurial buzz alive to replace these local success stories?…St. Louis has spent billions of dollars on public housing, built stadium after stadium, seen a big casino established on the river front, and tried just about every traditional government backed economic development trick in the book without even being able to stop the bleeding away of talent, the rise in crime, and the spread of blight?…one can replace the name of St. Louis with Evansville and the legacy companies with Mead Johnson, Servel, and others but the story is the same?…in all fairness there are probably 50 declining Midwestern towns that meet this description?…given the magnitude of the size of the venture fund ($100 Million) that is being put together in St. Louis it will be interesting to see if Mayor Lloyd Winnecke will ever stop spending on fluff and put together a fund that is appropriate for Evansville?

IS IT TRUE the establishment of a venture fund almost happened through GAGE in 2008 until former Mayor Jonathan Weinzapfel redirected $6 Million of business loan funds to build the Front Door Pride homes that were guaranteed to lose money and reward a very few from day one?…the right number for a city the size of Evansville when it comes to a venture fund is $20 Million to $30 Million?…the decisions on what entrepreneurs get funded should be made by 100% private business people who understand the entrepreneurial process and government should have NO SAY AT ALL IN WHO GETS FUNDED?

IS IT TRUE June 11, 2013

IS IT TRUE last night’s meeting of the Evansville City Council was one for the ages when it came to disrespectful tone and disagreement with professional statements?…there were some things that people do tend to agree on and we shall start our column today on those areas of agreement?…members of council and citizen speakers seem to agree that people who take short cuts through residential neighborhoods and drive 50 miles per hour need to be restrained by speed humps?…at a cost of $2,500 each speed humps if they actually work seem to be the cheapest way to attempt to solve this problem?…robocops on every corner could solve the problem too but with the state of affairs at the federal level of a new discovery of how regular people have been getting spied on robocops would cost allot and send the wrong message to a public that in expressing disgust in a non-partisan manner?…about the only other thing the members of the City Council agreed on last night is that the books of the City of Evansville need to be reconciled and that the Winnecke Administration along with City Controller Russ Lloyd Jr. inherited what has become an unmitigated disaster from the Weinzapfel Administration?…the magnitude and timing of this unmitigated accounting disaster makes one wonder just what else may be hidden when this all shakes out?

IS IT TRUE an inconvenient truth in this abomination of accounting is that the people of Evansville have paid Umbaugh and Associates $831,789 to work on this cauldron of ineptness since Mayor Winnecke took the baton from former Mayor Weinzapfel and the mess is still not fixed to the satisfaction of the City Council?…it is almost mystifying that there are actually members of the City Council who are either ignorant or arrogant enough to question the value of financial consultant David Garrett who has exposed several legitimate problems for a whopping fee of $9,000?…in light of the difference in $831,789 and $9,000 David Garrett must be either an accounting God or the luckiest accountant on earth to have found tangible problems where others including the Controller’s Office can’t even bring themselves to admit?…by a contentious vote of 7 – 2 the Evansville City Council affirmed its decision to contract David Garrett for oversight of the reconciliation process with a vote of confidence?…the two “nay” votes as they always have been came from the unlearned alliance of Missy Mosby and Jonathan Weaver?…these two members of the Council have taken on the role of “guard dogs” defending the actions of the previous administration like the hounds of hell?…in one exchange last night Councilwoman Mosby asserted that she had asked for information from David Garrett that she had not received?…Garrett’s response was that they had never had a conversation and that was backed up by City Council President Connie Robinson who stopped just short of calling Councilwoman Mosby a liar in Council Chambers?…in an interchange with Budget Chairman John Friend it was painfully obvious that Councilman Weaver does not even know what the term “oversight” means?

IS IT TRUE that there also seems to be $7.5 Million in the wrong place and no one knows how it happened?…Garrett’s assertion has continually been that unless the reason for this confusion is discovered that it will happen again and therefore the City’s books while balanced by an accounting trick referred to as “plugging” the books are not reconciled?…Controller Lloyd is in vehement disagreement with the conclusion of Garrett and asserts that the accounts are reconciled?…in the truest statement of the night David Garrett laid his credibility on the line when he stated that the final judgment on this will come from the State Board of Accountancy in the upcoming audit?…perhaps the Councilmember of the night award should be given to Councilwoman Stephanie Brinkerhoff-Riley who showed the same presence of mind and tenaciousness that she had when she exposed the Earthcare Energy debacle for what it was?…Councilwoman Riley scolded Controller Lloyd for stonewalling on Garrett’s efforts by withholding material information from him?…it was good to see Councilwoman Riley on top of her game and holding people accountable?…she was visibly perturbed when the Controller referred to Garrett as “CRAZY” and glared at Council members Mosby and Weaver when they willfully showed their own ignorance?…the City Council needs to be accountable too and sometimes voters don’t seem to have the sense to do that?…2015 should be an interesting year for some challenges?

IS IT TRUE the rest of the discussion exposed what would probably get everyone who has been party to this unmitigated financial disaster tossed out of accounting school for carelessness and incompetence?…there have been funds comingled, software integrations botched up, a changing of the guard during a period of chaos, false statements, withholding material information, nearly a Million bucks spent on consultants with unsatisfying results, and a City Council that openly questions the competency of the Controller’s office?…this nastiness and incompetence on display is probably not new to the City of Evansville?…it is most likely a legacy that has finally come home to roost as have the dilapidated sewers, uninhabitable homes, failing water pipes, decayed sidewalks, and a park system on the brink of disaster?…Mohammed Ali used to say that “if you kill the head the body will die”?…the braintrust of the government of Evansville has been mortally wounded for decades and is in all likelihood the source of the visible infrastructure problems that are on display for all to see?