The Evansville City Council took an unprecedented step in voting to provide a $4.8 Million loan to a start up company from Houston, TX to manufacture a gas pressure step down device that they have a license for in the old Whirlpool Building. The City will also be covering two years rent for Earthcare.

The hotly contested vote was taken after a vote to forcefully extract the bill from the Finance Committee whose chairman Councilman John Friend was opposed to going forward due to the fact that many of the questions asked regarding the financial plan had not been answered and because no real world technical testing was presented.

Ken Haney of Earthcare testified before the council that he had orders from all over the world coming in and that they are on the cusp of getting a multi-billion deal in New York. No details of any orders were submitted. Mr. Haney also testified that Earthcare had been turned down for loans at 6 or 7 banks but provided no documentation with respect to why.

Councilman Conor O’Daniel voted to support the loan after giving every indication that he was against doing so and asking many articulate questions for which no answers were offered.

Other Council members voting for the loan package were President Connie Robinson, Councilwoman Missy Mosby, Councilman Johnathan Weaver, and Councilman H. Dan Adams who has an MBA from Washington University.

Council members Dan McGinn, Stephanie Brinkerhoff-Riley, John Friend, and Al Lindsey all voted against the loan. And so begins the saga of the City of Evansville’s foray into the world of investment banking. The $4.8 Million loan has no collateral associated with it.

Excerpt from Evansville City Council Meeting in 2004:

MISCELLANEOUS BUSINESS

Vice President Watts: Is there anything under Miscellaneous Business? Councilman Melcher.

Councilman Melcher: Last week, about Tuesday or so, I was getting two or three phone calls about Roundy’s and I guess it came out in the paper Friday, I guess this is something I’ve talked about over and over and over when we get tax abatements that we’ve never had anything on there where if they would get out before the tax abatement is over that they owe the citizens of our community something. I don’t know what we can do. I’m going to try to look into that a little more now because this is the third company that has done this to us. You remember we had Hudson Valley Trees and I thought we had Shelf Staple Foods or something that did the same thing. Well Roundy’s is leaving and we feel we did everything we could to keep them which I think worked. I can’t project what their sales and that, so I asked DMD if they would get me, because I couldn’t remember the year, but they got a ten-year tax abatement and they are in their sixth year. So as you know the way a ten-year tax abatement goes, they only pay roughly 10 percent the first year and 23 percent the second year, so they have gotten by real well now and maybe where they are going they are getting a better deal and they’re going to get another tax abatement. We’re going to have a lot of workers out of work, and I just think it’s something that we need to be constantly looking at. We’re all for economic development. We want to help. I’m glad we’ve got the point system, but even when we have a deal of tax abatement or tax phase-in as we call it now, is so everybody works out. We get a business, we get people working, and we’re all investing back into the community, and we’re willing to give up a little bit because we know that down the road we’re going to get more out of it. So it’s kind of like a marriage and now we’re getting divorced I guess and moving on. They also got airport development zone credits with the State, and I don’t know how the State is going to handle that. It seems like they took all the incentives because you know the first five or six years is where the bulk of it is and now they’re leaving. And I think that is kind of a shame of them doing that and maybe they had to financially. I can’t speak for that, but there ought to be something built in somewhere in our tax phase-in if something like this happens. I even talked about one time that they put a bond up or something during this tax phase-in and it goes down every year for a certain time. I just wanted to get that on the record tonight that we’re for economic development but we need because this might be happening more and more since outsourcing seems to be the way the Federal Government wants to take it, so I think that’s something we need to look at and I just wanted to get it on the record this evening. Thank you.

Councilman Kniese: Steve, I think it would be interesting to find out how many companies over the “x” number of years have received tax phase-in and how many have left and how many are still here. I think that would be interesting to see what kind of success ratio would be associated with that program.

Councilman Melcher: That’s not a bad idea. The one thing I think we did with Shelf Staple Foods, we even loaned them some money. I really think we had a hard time getting it back, but I think we did. But it’s really tough when you are in business I know.

Councilman Kiefer: Mr. President. John, I have a question in regards to what Steve is saying. I think he makes a very valid point. Is there, can we legally, uh could we do something by ordinance that said that either they would post a bond to cover that diminishes as time passes or maybe we could even place, like in this case, they’re selling their property, maybe we have a lien on to the property if something like that.

Councilman Melcher: I don’t think there is anything you can do now.

Councilman Kiefer: I mean, I don’t think now, but I’m saying in the future could, would we have the ability to do that or is that something that has to go through the State Legislature?

Counsel Hamilton: It’s completely spelled out by the State Acts so I think it would have to be amended at that level. I could look into that….

Councilman Kiefer: Well, that would be worth checking into, because I think he’s made a very valid point on that.

Counsel Hamilton: The State spells out the requirements and gives you parameters that you have to live in between. But I’ll look at it.

Councilman Kiefer: Okay. Madam Clerk, were you able to contact anybody about doing a presentation on the efficiency study to the City Council?

Clerk Matlock: I’ll make a note to myself.

Schedule of Events

· Explore local history with the Daughters of the American Revolution
· Vote for your favorite cake in the “200th Birthday Cake Challenge” (Cakes by: The Donut Bank, A Pinch of Sugar, and Daily’s Bakery)
·Performance by Magician Don Baggett (11 a.m.)
· Sing “Happy Birthday Evansville” with the Duke Boys
· Blow-out the candles with the Honorable Mayor Lloyd Winnecke (1:30 p.m.)

Doors open at 9 a.m. Regular Admission Rates Apply.
www.cmoekids.org

Students and employees and their families, and families from the community, are invited to attend the 2012 SpringFest at the University of Southern Indiana from 9 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. on Friday, April 13 and from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Saturday, April 14.

“This year’s SpringFest weekend will be huge,” said Tim Buecher, SpringFest advisor. “There will be fun for the entire family; more carnival rides than ever, great festival food to choose from, and free live music from more than 20 bands and vocalists on both days.”

The carnival-like atmosphere will include bands, rides, food, and festivities for all ages. The main event happens Saturday evening at 7 p.m., when national hit sensations Mike Posner and Karmin take the stage inside the USI PAC Arena. Tickets for the show are $20 for USI students and $30 for the general public and can be purchased now on campus at the USI Bookstore or on their website: http://usibook.usi.edu.

Free outdoor concerts will begin at 1 p.m. each day.

Friday, April 13

1:00-1:45 – Vulpes
2:00-2:45 – Stella
3:00-3:45 – Cleo
4:00-4:45 – 90s Teenage Angst
5:00-5:45 – “USI Idol” competition
6:00-6:45 – Unkle Samm
7:00-7:45 – Willz Da Renegade
8:00-8:45 – The Machinery
9:00-9:45 – Quin
10:00-10:30 – Paranormal Gang
10:45-11:30 – “USI Runway Showcase”

Saturday, April 14

11:00-11:45 – Deja Blu 5
12:00-12:45 – Blast Off!
1:00-1:45 – A Worst Case Scenario
2:00-2:45 – The Scandalmongers
3:00-3:45 – Be My Doppelganger
4:00-4:45 – Julian Spark
5:00-5:45 – A Stockholm Robot
6:00-6:45 – Elle Maze
7:00-7:45 – Angry Nerdz, 2 Face, Nupin

More than 20 carnival rides will be coming to campus for SpringFest. The list includes Scrambler, Loop-O-Plane, Hurricane, Tempest, Merry-Go-Round, Zipper, Construction Zone, Strawberries, Cha/Cha, Granny Bugs, Tilt-A-Whirl, motorcycles, kiddie ferris wheel, kiddie karousel, The Dragon, Tubs of Fun & Hampton Combo, boats, kiddie swings, super slide, The Jungle, Wacky Shack, and Bounce Castle.

Carnival food such as walking tacos and pronto pups will be available along with fish and chicken sandwiches, beverages, ice cream, and more.

Tickets for rides are $2 each or a wrist band will be available for $16 to ride all day. Rides are free for USI students, and children and grandchildren of faculty and staff members. All events take place in Parking Lot C on campus. Parking is free and handicap accessible. More event details can be found on the SpringFest web site:http://www.usi.edu/springfest.

SpringFest and the concert lineup are supported by an SOS Grant from the Student Government Association and coordinated in conjunction with the USIActivities Programming Board.

Source: USI.edu

A team of six civil engineering majors from the University of Evansville won the University’s first-ever victory in the Student Design Presentation Competition at the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Indiana Section meeting in Indianapolis on Wednesday, March 21.

With a presentation of their senior design project, a redesign of the Lincoln Avenue/Outer Lincoln Avenue/Newburgh Road intersection on Evansville’s East Side, UE’s team outperformed civil engineering students from Purdue University, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, and three other Indiana universities.

UE’s team (Zaid Abdulmajeed of Damascus, Syria; Eli Cook of Paoli, Indiana; Brandon Frazier of Clarksville, Indiana; Mick Montcalm of Lincoln, Illinois; Jake Nardulli of Springfield, Illinois; and Ryan Sisk of Ridgway, Illinois) began working with the City of Evansville in August 2011 to analyze traffic data and develop a site plan for the intersection. They surveyed the busy intersection, developed design alternatives, prepared a decision matrix, and created a final design to improve safety and accommodate increased traffic in the area.

Last week, this team was chosen to represent UE in Indianapolis through an internal competition among three senior design project teams. Five UE civil engineering alumni judged the presentations and selected this team to participate in the statewide competition.

The ASCE Student Design Presentation Competition required teams to give a 12-20 minute presentation that addresses solutions to a real-world problem. A panel of three professional engineers from Indianapolis, all of whom earned their degrees outside Indiana, judged each team on its technical merit and communication abilities.

“UE’s team has claimed second place numerous times, but has never won first place outright,” said Brian Swenty, chair of the Department of Mechanical and Civil Engineering. “This student team spent hundreds of manhours on this project, and their success in the competition demonstrates that civil engineering students at the University of Evansville possess both technical knowledge and outstanding communication and presentation skills.”

“Considering that nationally renowned engineering programs such as Purdue and Rose-Hulman participate in the annual Student Design Presentation Competition, expectations are extremely high,” Swenty added, “so I couldn’t be prouder of our students’ performance.”

Source: Evansville.edu

EPD Activity Report March 25, 2012

The Desert Sun, a Gannet Publication that serves California’s Coachella Valley is starting a division that is dedicated to demanding accountability on a local level. The initial expose’ effort of iSun has been to investigate a FOUL SMELLING STENCH in a minority dominated community. Boy does that sound familiar. In the article announcing iSun it is stated that “There is no greater calling in journalism than to demand accountability. When reporters press powerful people and institutions for answers, we all are beneficiaries. Government enacts positive reform, pocketbooks are protected, neighbors stop suffering.”

Please have a look at this link. Maybe Gannet is taking lessons from independent publishers like the City County Observer that serve mostly as unpaid stewards for the public good.

http://www.mydesert.com/article/20120325/OPINION01/203250301/Digging-truth-telling-iSun-investigative-team-s-mission?odyssey=mod|newswell|text|Frontpage|p