IS IT TRUE that the CCO publicly calls for the Indiana State Board of Accounts (SBOA) to perform an audit on the financial condition of the City of Evansville Water & Sewer Utility Department?…that the rationale for the public to have an audit of the water and sewer funds because commingling them into City funds as reported on page 41 of the audit findings that were published on Friday, the 28th of September states that comingling is not acceptable?…if there was an audit, then where is the report and its findings?…that according to many civic center sources, the funds, like the City, are out of balance with the bank and, even more amazing, the prior controller of the City responsible for the financial debacle, etc is the new Chief Financial Officer (CFO) with quite the raise?…that, unlike the City Controller’s offices, the books and record are still not balanced as of December 31, 2011, and, unlike the City’s version of the menacing new software, they are paralleling which might mean that the old outdated software has been re-installed for comparison purposes and why wasn’t the City’s version handled the same way?

IS IT TRUE that the shiny new Ford Center was completed during 2011, the very year that the City of Evansville lost its ability to count?…that the people of Evansville and the Evansville City Council were repeatedly assured with some pretty involved looking spreadsheets that the checks and balances were in place, the budget was right on schedule, and that the Ford Center Project came in just under budget?…that the CCO wonders just how the City of Evansville was able to verify the cost of the Ford Center at a time when the bank accounts could not be reconciled and the City could not even count?…we wonder if Arena Project Manager John Kish took a look at the accounting system of the City of Evansville and said to heck with it?…maybe Mr. Kish had a $300 commercial version of Microsoft Excel on his laptop to manage the biggest public works project in the history of Evansville because the City of Evansville squandered over a Million Bucks on a program that does not work?…we hope Mr. Kish had his budgets on his personal computer and not on the City of Evansville’s accounting system because if he didn’t the people of Evansville, the Evansville Redevelopment Commission, and the City Council have been told a real pack of lies?…we are quite interested in knowing if the Weinzapfel Administration was fully aware for all of 2011 that the accounting system just didn’t work and that the accounts were not reconciled?…we wonder further if the Weinzapfel Administration was up front and honest with the Winnecke Administration about the non-existent financial accounting system?

IS IT TRUE there have been many shortcomings exposed with the government of the City of Evansville during the last several years?…the shortcomings like the Executive Inn dilemma, the McCurdy debacle, the Homestead Tax Credit deception, needles in the parks, Opus One parties, the Maingate City Council meetings fueled by lobbyist dollars, and cemeteries in shambles are all symptoms of a sick system dominated by incompetence, cronyism, and just outright idiocy or laziness?…this latest exposure that the financial accounting system that cost the people of this place more than $1 Million is a CORE DEFECT in how Evansville is run?…this problem is not carelessness, it is not something to let slide, but it is a fundamental failure by the Weinzapfel Administration?…this is not something that should be let slide?…this is a failure of the highest proportion and it was covered up?…if there are no consequences to be paid by whomever is in the command chain of this failure then the City of Evansville is not redeemable?…the CCO calls upon the Evansville City Council to conduct a public hearing to determine just how and who is responsible for this unmitigated disaster?…for a modern city to be in a position where the only CPA on staff was lost over a noncompetitive salary and to have the new controller reconciling the books by hand is nothing more than acceptance of prehistoric process?…that the people of Evansville should not let this latest deception stand without consequence?…the chickens are home to roost, but it is not yet established that the people of Evansville will have the presence of mind to see them or do anything about it?…as taxpayers this is not acceptable?…as taxpayers for the people in charge now to abdicate their responsibility to find out who did it is also not acceptable?

IS IT TRUE that Evansville survived as a community for nearly 200 years without the services of a Chief Financial Officer specifically dedicated to the Water & Sewer Utility?…in 2011 the Weinzapfel Administration recommended to the Utility Board that a CFO position be created to for the Water & Sewer Utility?…in a meeting of the Utility board in the summer of 2011 the position of CFO of the Water and Sewer Utility was approved by the Utility Board and subsequently included in the 2012 budget?…that it may just be unrelated circumstances but that the 2011 audit of the City of Evansville by the Indiana State Board of Accounts for the first time that any of our contacts can recall will be dealing with a DISCLAIMER OF OPINION associated with the findings?…in lay terms this means that this SBOA’s way of nicely saying that the financial records of the City of Evansville are in such an incomplete state of disarray that they cannot certify the 2011 audit?…this is due to one of the most amateurish mistakes that is even possible to make as the use of the “old” accounting system was ceased before getting the “new” one up and running?…that now the City of Evansville looks like that fool on the commercials that shows up to an IRS audit with a shoe box full of receipts?

IS IT TRUE the expectation is that the SBOA will post the 2011 City of Evansville audit on their website either late today (Friday) or Monday?…that the City County Observer will be checking on this hourly and will post either the audit or a link depending on the size of the file as soon as possible?…after the release of the 2011 City of Evansville audit it is time for the Evansville City Council to hold open public hearings so the taxpayers of Evansville can learn just how such a misguided decision came to be?…the CCO expects a circus of finger pointing from everyone even remotely attached to the MIPS project and the decision to shut down the old system before bringing it up?…in many cases it is not productive to brand a scarlet letter of failure onto anyone and we suspect that this was not a singular decision?…even if it was a singular decision there had to be an atmosphere of failure to oversee in the Weinzapfel Administration for this to have happened?…the bodies of oversight that should have been in place and protecting the taxpayers of Evansville from such a gross and basic error include the 2011 City Controller and staff, the Office of the Mayor, the Water and Sewer Board, and the Evansville City Council?…the collective performance under this group of governing bodies performed at the collective level of NERO FIDDLING WHILE ROME BURNED?…the real questions are what kind of an atmosphere enabled such gross oversight to happen, how did it get this way, and finally were any of the people who were involved covered by the City of Evansville’s Directors and Officers insurance policy that probably covers ERRORS AND OMISSIONS?

IS IT TRUE that this MIPSGATE fiasco has cost the City of Evansville money and may continue to well into the future if our bond rating is downgraded and our interest rates are raised?…such losses if they can be directly attributed to Directors or Officers may be at least partially recoverable by making an insurance claim?…that reproduction of this audit should that become necessary by SBOA mandate has been estimated by a qualified individual to be in the range of $250,000?

IS IT TRUE that Evansville City Councilman John Friend, CPA has been howling like a smashed cat for the City of Evansville to allocate funds to audit the IT Department?…promises have been made and promises have been broken but at this point good oversight of the IT Department is not in place?…it is alleged that customer service software that cost about $1 million, another software system called canapy at about $1.250 million and now, seemingly Munis at $1,030,000 plus the 200k per year on maintenance or so are failing to perform?…that is a total of $3.28 Million plus $200,000 per year that the City of Evansville is paying for but not getting services from?…it is time to get to the bottom of this with a public hearing that exposes the atmosphere and the people who have done this to our taxpayers and let the consequences be just?

IS IT TRUE that all of this is happening in a City that squandered $200,000 on a loan to an un-vetted company, built a $127 Million arena without a referendum *SNEGAL), rushed people out of the McCurdy to see start to decay from neglect, is on the verge of demolishing a building of considerable value, can mow or pick up drug addict needles from parks but wants to build new parks, and is about to learn according to a well placed mole that the Riverboat Money for 2012 will be lower than it has been by nearly $400,000?…that to any competent outside observer the City of Evansville looks like it is certifiably insane in the management of its financial matters and has been for a long long time?