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State Representative Candidate Steven L. Smith announces Opposition to Further Taxpayer Funding of Indianapolis Arenas

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By Steven Lowell Smith

The latest budget approved by the Indiana General Assembly cut $297M from education. The same budget authorized the diversion of sales and income taxes of $8M/yr from the Indiana state general fund to the financially troubled Marion County Capital Improvement Board (CIB). This diversion is for the next 30 years. The CIB is the government entity that runs Lucas Oil Stadium, Conseco Fieldhouse, and the Indianapolis Convention Center. Additionally the CIB received a $27M interest free loan to tide over its financial shortages. My opponent, incumbent State Representative from the 78th District Suzanne Crouch (R) was the only representative from Southwest Indiana to vote for this budget.

Furthermore, this summer the Mayor of Indianapolis, Greg Ballard (R), approved a deal where the Indianapolis Pacers will no longer pay the $15M/yr in operating costs towards the management of Conseco Fieldhouse and they were given a $30M interest free loan to be forgiven at $10m/yr depending on whether the Pacers continue to stay in Indianapolis for the next three years. A review of the CIB’s 2009 financial statements shows that the CIB managed to turn their finances around and recorded operating income of approximately $10M. Now the CIB is facing a $25M negative swing to the downside.

The campaign rhetoric by the Republican candidates has been all about promoting smaller government and less spending yet we see our Governor Mitch Daniels (R), and the republican Mayor of Indianapolis deeply involved in the management of the CIB and authorizing taxpayer subsidies of these stadiums. Who are the indirect beneficiaries of these taxpayer subsidies? The billionaire owners of the Colts and the Pacers are the beneficiaries of this government largesse. Supporters of these policies have asserted that Professional Sports franchises bring in millions of dollars in tourism and entertainment while keeping Indianapolis in the on-deck circle to become a major American city. We can debate the amount of Hoosier pride that Professional Sports franchises bring to the state all day; however numerous studies show that Professional Sports are of dubious value to economic development and job creation.

In the course of my campaign I have knocked on thousands of doors and attended dozens of candidates meetings.

I have listened to laid off and displaced workers from Whirlpool and other Southwest Indiana businesses who have been waiting for months to begin their retraining classes so they can acquire a new skill in hopes of landing a new job that is less likely to be outsourced.

I have had many discussions with teachers right here in SW Indiana and across the state about the how damaging the cuts to education have been and continue to be.

I have heard tearful heart wrenching testimony from parents of children with developmental disabilities. Some of these parents are working two jobs to keep the bills paid while waiting day after day for the much needed news that they have been approved for a Medicaid waiver, yet our Governor continues to maintain that his budget cuts have not hurt ordinary Hoosiers.

I have heard about how Vanderburgh County has been a net tax giver to the statehouse for years, receiving fewer dollars from the state than we pay in taxes to the state.

I have learned recently that Indiana’s already high poverty rate is higher than the national average and that SW Indiana where District 78 is located is one of Indiana’s poverty pockets.

I have heard about Indiana’s looming pension fund crises. I have had elected officials tell me about our Unemployment Compensation Fund being several billion dollars in debt to the Federal Government. I have had business and community leaders tell me about the final leg of I-69 still being on the back burner of funding compared to road projects in the rest of the state.

Barring a dramatic upturn in Indiana’s economy and with the federal stimulus dollars running out, the upcoming state budget will present enormous challenges. To help alleviate some of the state’s budget problems I have put forward my ideas to help increase economic development and create jobs, including cost savings recommendations like a statewide smoking ban that would improve the health and welfare of thousands of restaurant, bar and casino employees and save the state millions of dollars in health insurance costs.
So what has any of this have to do with Southwestern Indiana and my campaign for the statehouse against incumbent Representative Crouch? Well, given the CIB’s shaky finances it is highly likely that the CIB will come to the legislature this fall hat in hand asking for more money. I have already pledge to vote no to any further taxpayer subsidies to the CIB.

With all the needs of Hoosier families, the need for infrastructure improvements, and all the other vital needs across the state, the state legislature needs to ask Mr. Irsay, the owner of the Colts and the Simon family, the owner of the Pacers to make a business decision about the financial viability of their franchises without taxpayer subsidies.

Southwestern Indiana needs a champion and defender in the statehouse who will fight for funding our needs, not giving priority to the needs of the Professional Sports Franchises in Indianapolis. I hope District #78 voters will review the positions of each candidate and give my campaign serious consideration.

October Political Cartoons

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College Completion Rates, Manufacturing and Logistics Success Go Hand-in-Hand

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If asked to identify one statistic that predicts future economic success, it’s hard to ignore the percentage of young people with college degrees. Education drives innovation, productivity and higher wages.

That’s why it’s such a concern that the United States has slipped to 12th among developed countries in our percentage of 25 to 34-year-olds with an associate degree or higher. A few weeks ago, President Obama called for the United States to return to the top of the rankings by 2020 – a daunting goal that will require a 20% increase in college graduates over the next decade.

In Indiana, the climb is even steeper – we’re well below the national average in the educational attainment of young adults; just one of three young Hoosiers goes on to complete a college degree. We’ll need to almost double that to be competitive with countries like Korea, Canada and Japan.

This educational deficit puts our future at risk. Our capacity for technological and scientific innovation is the biggest competitive advantage that the United States has left in the global economy. As more highly-educated workers (the Baby Boomers) begin retiring, we confront a younger workforce ill-equipped to innovate. To be blunt, you can’t sustain a knowledge-based economy without knowledgeable workers.

In Indiana, the impact of a less-educated workforce will threaten the very foundation of our economy, manufacturing and logistics.

In June, Deloitte Consulting and the U.S. Council on Competitiveness released the annual Global Manufacturing Competitiveness Index for 2010. The study (based on a survey of 400+ manufacturing CEOs worldwide) ranked access to educated workers capable of supporting innovation as by far the biggest determinant of success, ahead of factors like the cost of labor and materials, energy costs, and tax/regulatory climates.

Not surprisingly, the same study shows the United States slipping to fourth place in its manufacturing index rankings. The third place country, Korea, finished far ahead of the U.S. in its percentage of younger workers with college credentials. The top two finishers, China and India, have vastly expanded their pool of educated workers in recent years (the number of Chinese college graduates entering the job market each year has grown more than 600% from 1999 to 2009).

It’s clear that improving college completion rates is essential to maintaining our domestic manufacturing base. In Indiana, the erosion of this base would also jeopardize the logistics industry that gets manufactured goods into the hands of customers across the country and around the world. And as global supply chains become more complex and ‘just in time’ inventories the norm, the logistics sector faces its own skilled worker shortages.

Many of President Obama’s proposals to boost higher education focuses on affordability, aiming to increase Pell Grants and expand tuition tax credits. But while the cost of college is a key issue, we face other hurdles in Indiana specific to manufacturing and logistics: Too many young Hoosiers aren’t aware of the high-tech jobs available, and there’s a lack of educational programs that deliver the specific skills that employers are looking for.

These challenges make up a large part of Conexus Indiana’s mission: We’re working to promote manufacturing and logistics careers through our ‘Dream It. Do It.’ campaign. At the same time, we’ve used industry input to create a very specific, multi-layered skills template that details what manufacturers and logistics companies are looking for in new employees. The Indiana Department of Education and Commission for Higher Education have both embraced this template, and we’re working with our educational partners to create ‘industry-approved’ programs that can steer students into the most in-demand job openings.

But clearly this issue is bigger than any one organization, school or government agency. We need focus and coordinated action among policymakers, employers, educators and opinion leaders to push Indiana up the rankings in college completion rates and preserve our manufacturing and logistics edge. The same kind of attention is needed at the federal level to build a world-class workforce.

The only certainty is that a lack of action will cause us to fall even further behind in educational attainment and economic competitiveness. We must act now, before today’s challenge turns into tomorrow’s crisis.

Andre B. Lacy is Chairman of LDI Ltd., a holding company that focuses on value-added distribution businesses. He is an emeritus member of the Central Indiana Corporate Partnership, and chairs the Workforce Development Task Force for Conexus Indiana’s Logistics Council.

A Profile of Nick Hermann Candidate for Vanderburgh County Prosecutor

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When Nick Hermann’s family gets together, with very few exceptions there is no one in the room that has chosen to pursue a life anywhere but Evansville, Indiana. Hermann’s Candy Store was among the first businesses established in the City of Evansville and is still a fond subject of Nick Hermann. Mr. Hermann lights up when asked about Evansville and openly shares his experiences as a student, a football player and wrestler at Memorial High School.

As many young people do, Mr. Hermann left Evansville to pursue a college education at Ball State University where he majored in Chemistry and was president of the chemistry club. His work in the family’s interest as a poll worker from the time he could walk attracted him to develop friendships with many political science majors while at BSU. During a stint as an intern at the Ely Lilly Corporation, where he served as a process chemist working on a project to develop anti-cancer treatments Mr. Hermann became interested in the legal aspects of intellectual property. In particular, he recognized the knowledge gap between chemists and patent attorneys. His technical background and his interest in law lead him to set his career as a Chemist aside in favor the law school at Indiana University.

Mr. Hermann’s law career began in the office of the Marion County Prosecutor where he was on staff in an office and was involved in trying up to 3 cases per week. Many of the cases involved direct courtroom prosecution and others involved creating a position of strength from which effective and appropriate justice was negotiated. According to Hermann, that position of strength only can be established through preparation, sufficient knowledge to predict the outcome of a pending trial, and a good faith approach to managing each individual case. It was that on the job experience that has provided Mr. Hermann with one of the innovations that he intends to implement in the Vanderburgh County Prosecutor’s Office.

When offered an opportunity to use that experience back in Evansville on the staff of the Vanderburgh County Prosecutor, Mr. Hermann could not resist the call of home. It was an opportunity in the Prosecutor’s office that brought Nick back to the place that 7 generations of Hermann’s have lived out their lives. Mr. Hermann’s goal is for his next step to be into the office of the Vanderburgh County Prosecutor.

As a former football player, Nick Hermann sees the role of the Prosecutor much as the role of the quarterback. A championship team requires good communication and the trust of the other members of the team. In the Prosecutor’s case that team is made up of law enforcement, the attorneys and staff of the Prosecutor, and the Coroner. Calling the right plays to allocate the resources to deal with the some 2,500 felonies per year that are committed in Vanderburgh County is the job of the Prosecutor. Historically there are about 25 cases per year that are ultimately determined by a jury. The remaining felony arrests are either the subject of plea bargains or are dismissed.

Mr. Hermann recognized in his time in the Marion County Prosecutors office that cases were directly assigned to attorneys as opposed to a relay race approach. One of the innovations that he is enthusiastic about is to implement the direct assignment approach in Vanderburgh County. It is his belief that the efficiency of prosecution will be greatly enhanced by that approach strengthening the position from which to negotiate when plea bargains are appropriate and shortening the time that people waiting for trial have to spend in the Vanderburgh County Jail. The swift justice of a streamlined process will save money and move favorably toward providing relief to jail overcrowding.

Nick Hermann is a self described person who likes to solve problems that have multiple possible outcomes. He is also passionate about volunteering in organizations that serve children and fundamentally believes that the purpose of the criminal justice system is to keep crime from happening. As a frequent volunteer in the Juvenile Drug Court, his efforts are spent trying to keep future crimes from happening with positive interventions. Interventions are designed to disrupt a person’s ability to follow a bad life path. Disruption of lives headed in the wrong direction and in lives that are on a path of destruction in a way to correct such behavior while protecting the people of Vanderburgh County is the next step that Nick Hermann wants very much to take.

Paid for by Hermann for Prosecutor, Mike Robinson, Treasurer

IS IT TRUE: October 24, 2010

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Sunday October 24, 2010

IS IT TRUE that candidate for County Commissioner Marsha Abell has publically stated that she is not in favor of spending $18 Million on 8 little league ballfields on the Robert’s Stadium site?…..that President of the Vanderburgh County Commissioners Troy Tornatta has not taken a definitive stand on whether or not he supports the $18 Million ball fields proposal?…..that after a full day the City County Observer’s poll on the ball fields the vote is running 6 to 1 AGAINST SPENDING $18 Million on these ball fields?

IS IT TRUE that County Commissioner Troy Tornatta may not be opposed to the County contributing funds to the new downtown hotel project?…. that Mr. Tornatta’s County Commissioner opponent, Marsha Abell is adamantly opposed to the County contributing any funds associated with a new downtown hotel?…. that Ms. Abell wants the City to bear all of the costs associated with tearing down the walkway between the Centre and the Executive Inn and pay for the replacement of the sky bridge from the Centre to a new hotel?….that President Tornatta has not put a stake in the ground on his position with respect to whether or not the county should pay for the bridges and other connecting infrastructure?…..that Ms. Abell has stated that if she is elected County Commissioner that she will serve her full four year term?….that President Tornatta has not made a public declaration to serve out his full four year elected term as County Commissioner?….that the City County Observer invites President Tornatta to respond in writing with regard to his positions on how to pay for the Executive Inn replacement, the infrastructure associated with the connection of the Centre and a future hotel, and on his intentions to serve or not serve out his full four year term if he retains his seat on the Vanderburgh County Commissioners?

IS IT TRUE that the City County Observer will publish President Tornatta’s position statement on these three issues in full and without editing?

Incumbent Candidate for Vanderburgh County Prosecutor

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Stan Levco
Stan Levco, a frequent competitor in local running races knows the value of perseverance and planning. His health and his resolve to make the best decisions possible in every competitive situation that his life presents him with has been formed and validated in his out of uniform pastime of distance running. Endurance athletic training is perhaps the best training for a professional career that requires planning, discipline, allocation of resources, and the conviction to finish.

Stan took on the challenge of learning the art of constructive language at the University of Massachusetts and later as a student of law at Indiana University. After his graduation from Indiana University and admission to the Indiana Bar in 1972, Mr. Levco began his legal career as Chief Deputy Prosecutor in Posey County. After serving as a Judge for four years Stan accepted a position in the Vanderburgh County Prosecutors office that he eventually rose to lead in 1991 as the elected Prosecutor. He has presided over this office for the past 20 years through five City Administrations.

Through prosperity and recession Stan Levco has been the man in charge of the full resources of the office of the Vanderburgh County Prosecutor. As Prosecutor, Mr. Levco has tried approximately 200 cases before a jury of Hoosier citizens. These trials have virtually all been felonies, including over 20 murder trials. He has also served as Special Prosecutor in Posey, Gibson, Warrick, Clark, Sullivan, Knox, Daviess, Lawrence, Pike, Vigo, and Monroe County.

Perhaps the most important qualities in a Prosecutor are the qualities of prudence and optimal allocation of the precious legal resources that are available to deploy to trials that provide the most protection possible to the citizens of Vanderburgh County. These management qualities are only learned from experience. A Prosecutor’s most important decisions are those decisions that allocate the prosecutorial resources made available to protect the public to highest extent possible.

Maturity and sound management judgments are necessary to make the decisions required to protect both the adults and the children of Vanderburgh County from violent and habitual criminals. Sometimes the most prudent decision that a prosecutor can make is to accept a plea bargain and other times it is in the public’s best interest to pursue a jury trial. It is up to the elected Prosecutor to make these decisions.

Stan is also a multitalented individual with talents that have been exposed as both a columnist for the Evansville Courier and as a professional musician.

Stan Levco is a man of maturity and experience fully willing and capable to lead the Vanderburgh County Prosecutor’s office through the legal challenges that come with an economic recession. He is an avowed protector of the people of Evansville and Vanderburgh County and is enthusiastically poised to continue his excellent record of a man of convictions both on and off of the job.

Paid for by Levco for Prosecutor Committee, Dan Tuley, Treasurer

$18 Million Ball Field Proposal

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Roberts Stadium Baseball Fields
What does it take to Attract 100,000 Visitors?
What do Ball Fields Cost in the Real World?

SECOND ARTICLE IN A SERIES OF TWO

By: Joe J. Wallace, Hadannah Business Solutions
Special to the City County Observer and Assisted by CCO Staff

I like many others who have been following the saga of the Robert’s Stadium Ball Fields Project now known as “The Park”, left last week’s meeting with many questions regarding the financial projections that were presented. In particular, my curiosity lies around the assumptions of just where the figure of 100,000 out of town visitors came from and just how many tournaments are needed to attract a crowd like that and how much do they spend when they are here. The other research that I have been conducting is with respect to the basic cost to build baseball fields and sports complexes. Please enjoy my findings; they do shine some light on the potential of The Park.

Testing the Attendance Numbers:

Two people questioned the assumption that we can draw 100,000 people at the meeting the other night. Mr. Dunn stated that Owensboro draws about 40,000 people per year. He did not state why we can get 100,000 as opposed to 40,000 over there. That is roughly the population ratio so maybe it was scaled from population. Maybe that is the source of the figure.

The Park is proposed to have 8 ball fields. Owensboro has 13 fields in 3 separate sports parks. They held 25 tournaments this year starting in March and running into November. That 40,000/25 really supports the 1,500 people per tournament number that was thrown out on Wednesday. That number of 1,500 people per tournament is consistent with results that I have found online for Myrtle Beach, SC, Bloomington, IN, Cass County, IN, and Beaumont, Texas.

Here is a link to the page that shows what facilities Owensboro has. They claim to have been named one of the 50 top sports towns in the country.

http://www.visitowensboro.com/sports/…

What does it take to Attract 100,000 People?

The answer is 66 tournaments per year. Can that be done with 8 ball fields? It seems like a stretch given that Owensboro has 13 fields and attracts 25 tournaments and Cass County has 6 fields and attracts 18 tournaments. To achieve 66 tournaments would mean two tournaments per weekend for every available date during the playing season.

If the weather was cooperative, and 100% of the available dates were booked The Park will have the capacity to draw 100,000 people but we all know that some weekends rain, some dates just won’t work and that all tournaments are not filled to capacity with teams. I expect having studied Owensboro and the other locations that we can expect 40,000 just like they draw over there when the fields have been marketed and are recognized as a good place to play. That will take a few years.
Scaling with population really does not make sense. Let’s take Robert’s Stadium as an example. It has 12,000 seats. If you place it in Tokyo or Henderson it still only has 12,000 seats. The Park’s capacity is limited by the fact that it has 8 fields and only 35 or so potential weekends per year, not by the fact that Evansville has twice as many people as Owensboro.

How Much Will Our Visitors Spend?

This is one metric where Mr. Dunn and the ECVB have done their homework. The number of $100 per visitor is frequently mentioned in both projections and in results data. It also passes the common sense test when one constructs a weekend baseball budget. The more interesting statistic is in the difference in spending for week long national tournaments and in weekend regional tournaments. The metric most often used in relevant publications is the $ per team per day spent. Regional tournaments report economic impact of spending of about $1,500 per team day vs. $4,000 per team day for national tournaments. Evansville would be well served to seek out tournaments like the 7 day, 100 team tournament in Beaumont, TX that brought in spending of $2,380,000. A single tournament like that would put $57,000 into the coffers of the ECVB and would generate sales taxes of $166,600.

I did notice that many of the week long tournaments seem to be held in locations that are “vacation destinations”. That would account for the difference in spending. If there is a trip to Disneyworld, the beach, or other recreational activities a vacation Mecca offers at the end of the game, per diem spending numbers will be driven higher. Evansville will be challenged to beat out an Orlando or a Myrtle Beach for tournaments that are essentially vacations for the family with a softball tournament penciled into the schedule.

Youth Sports is Hard Work: Is Evansville Ready?

Tournaments like these are expensive and labor intensive to run needing umpires for every game, groundskeepers, concession stand workers, onsite emergency medical personnel, and a host of other support people. The business of youth sports is not easy and it can’t be done with all volunteers. Any business that is projected to bring in multiple millions of revenue on an annual basis will require year round management. The good news is that if this goes forward on any scale or location, the ECVB will be creating some jobs locally to support the out of town guests coming to play ball.

When the groundskeeper from USI spoke at the meeting and discussed how he had a crew of 6 working 18 hour days just to keep the grounds in order during the recent NCAA Regional, there were lots of “deer in the headlights” looks among the people in the room. Running this operation at even half capacity will be a major undertaking and will require additional dedicated staff at the ECVB. That needs to be recognized and included in all future budgets. The Park will not run itself.

Is $18 Million a Price Worth Paying?

As members of the Evansville Parks and Recreation Department and many other have stated “$18 million is a lot of money for 8 ball fields”. I went about the business of trying to learn just what ball fields are going for these days and searched first for a recognized developer of sports facilities. I registered on the website of HK Sports Fields where I was able to find a budget for a basic baseball field. Notice the price is only $250,000 per field. They have links to complexes on the website including a 3-Plex with nice amenities that had a budget of $1.5M, a 24-field multisport facility in Mauston, WI that costs $20 Million, and a 24-Plex in Chula Vista, CA that was $40 Million.

I have not found even one case where ball fields in similar complexes to The Park have exceeded $2 Million per ball field. Parks done in a first class manner are routinely substantially under $1M per ball field in the Midwest. Even the complex in the very expensive area Chula Vista, CA was under $2 Million per field.

The bottom line here is that The Park can be first class, it can attract tournaments and the out of town visitors that come with them, and it can be done for substantially less than $18 Million either at the Robert’s Stadium site or elsewhere. Evansville does not have to max out its credit card to do this. A little bit of innovation like integrating Robert’s Stadium into The Park and a commitment not to squander all of our future opportunities is all that it will take enter the youth sports business and to have some credit limit left over for future worthy projects to better Evansville for all of its citizens. This is a baseball town, as a group we like the game. It is also a town that is frugal for many reasons. Evansville may be frugal by nature, but decades of below average economic performance, the great recession, and the escalating departure of basic industries have created a microcosm of survival. People in survival economies are quite reluctant to invest $18M in recreational facilities for outsiders. Evansville will support youth sports but the financial reality is that Evansville is not Chula Vista, CA and has no appetite for $2 Million baseball fields. If there is ever a time to hold something back for the future that time is now. Fortunately, it seems as though we can do both if we just have the restraint to think this through.

References:

Economic Impact of Youth Sports
http://www.thefreelibrary.com/THE+ECONOMIC+IMPACT+OF+SPORTS+TOURNAMENTS+AND+EVENTS-a057770097Cass County, Indiana 6 fields, 18 tournaments, 500 teams, 21,000 visitors
http://pharostribune.com/localsports/x434660818/Softball-tourneys-offer-boost-to-local-economy?keyword=topstory
Mauston, Wisconsin 24 fields $20M
http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/article_1926fe82-fd84-11de-9880-001cc4c002e0.htmlPinnacle Dream Sports, Berks Co. PA, Multi-Sport and Training Complex
http://www.pinnacledsc.com/

HK Sports Fields EXAMPLE BUDGET 350 ft Center Field Baseball Field

A. Layout Work _$1,000
B. Mass Site Grading, if required $10,000-12,000
a. Strip Topsoil
b. Relocate/Add Fill
c. Re-spread/Machine Grade Topsoil
C. Fence Construction $40,000
a. Bull Pen Areas
b. Gates
D. Irrigation – Entire Field………$25,000-30,000
E. Infield Construction………$40,000-45,000
a. Import/Grade Topsoil for Proper Slope
b. Sod Infield Interior and Foul Area Dugout to Dugout
c. Baseball Mix and Top Dressing Material to all Skinned Areas
d. Construct Mound and Home Plate
e. Base Anchors and Bases
f. Warning Track and Walk-up Lanes
F. Outfield Construction………..$40,000-50,000
a. Import/Grade Topsoil for Proper Slope
b. Sod Outfield Area
c. Construct Outfield Warning Track
G. Dugouts – Concrete Block……… $30,000-40,000
H. Supply and Install Scoreboard………$10,000-12,000
I. Supply and Install Bleachers………$12,000-15,000

TOTAL BUDGET AMOUNT: $155,000.00 to $245,000.00

Cartoons for Your Enjoyment

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City Proposes Creation of Voluntary Rental Dwelling Registry

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE COTACT: Katy Nimnicht
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Office of Mayor Jonathan Weinzapfel
(812) 436-4962
knimnicht@evansvillegov.org

Ben Miller, C.B.O.
Building Commissioner
(812) 436-7868
bmiller@evansvillegov.org

(EVANSVILLE, IN) – October 21, 2010 – Mayor Jonathan Weinzapfel, in partnership with City-County Building Commissioner Ben Miller, Department of Metropolitan Development (DMD) Executive Director Tom Barnett, and area landlords and property owners and managers, today announced a proposal for the creation of a voluntary rental dwelling registry.
The proposed voluntary rental registry, the first of its kind in Indiana, is intended to enhance
compliance with and consistent enforcement of the City’s Property Maintenance Code (PMC)
and improve communication between City officials and rental property operators, resulting in
quicker resolution of PMC violations and ultimately improving the quality of rental housing
stock in the City of Evansville.

City officials have been working closely with the Property Owners and Managers Association of
Evansville (POMA), Southwest Indiana Builders Association (SIBA) and other industry
representatives over the past several months to develop this proposal that will benefit all parties:

The City, property owners/managers, tenants, and City taxpayers. “Though it represents a dramatic shift in the way rental dwellings are inspected and maintained, this is a very common-sense proposal. Among other things, City officials will be able to spend more time in the field and less time doing paperwork; operators of compliant properties will be able to perform maintenance on their properties more quickly and often for less money; and operators of non-compliant properties will pay for the cost of enforcement of violations on their properties,” said Mayor Weinzapfel.

An operator (which could be a property owner, manager, court-appointed receiver, etc.) that is incompliance with the PMC can voluntarily register their rental property with the Building
Commission or DMD. The operator will pay a $25.00 per dwelling unit registry fee and submit
the name and contact information for the owner and/or local registered agent annually.
Having the direct contact information of the property owner/manager is something both City
officials and operators have long desired. The ability to address an issue directly with an
operator via email or by phone rather than by sending notices through the mail to “ABC, LLC”
will lead to much quicker resolution of PMC violations. Operators on the voluntary registry will also have the option of performing an annual self inspection of property and submitting an affidavit of compliance with the PMC, or paying a $50.00 per unit annual inspection fee. At this time, annual inspections would be performed by DMD inspectors. Operators will be subject to a $50.00 per unit re-inspection fee. As an additional incentive, operators on the voluntary registry will be granted an annual “limited” maintenance license allowing them to self-perform maintenance work requiring a building permit (rather than having to hire a licensed contractor to perform the work), and an annual building permit allowing maintenance work requiring a building permit up to $3,000 per unit per year.

Operators that do not register their rental property must still meet all the requirements of the
current PMC. They will, however, have to continue to hire licensed contractors to perform
maintenance work requiring a building permit and obtain all required building permits and
inspections.

An operator, whether on the voluntary registry or not, that fails to meet the minimum
requirements set forth in the PMC and fails to make efforts to correct cited PMC violations will
be required to register with the Building Commission or DMD and pay an annual fee of $100.00
per dwelling unit. Operators will be subject to a $50.00 per unit re-inspection fee. As with the
voluntary registry, operators on the required registry will submit the name and contact
information for the owner and/or local registered agent for the property. The City will perform
an annual inspection; self-inspection will not be an option. The operator will also be responsible
for administrative costs of enforcement actions. Before the proposed rental registry can be enacted, it must be presented to the Evansville City Council for approval as an amendment to the City’s Property Maintenance Code.

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Gail Riecken – Profile

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Gail Riecken
Gail Riecken is a hometown girl with a career of servant leadership possessing an ingrained need to work with people and for people for the betterment of the community and region that she comes home to everyday.

As a young girl growing up in a household that encouraged volunteerism and public service, Gail Riecken, earned pocket money by babysitting and working as a camp counselor. Her German roots made their way to America like many through the gates of Ellis Island. The strength of Gail’s grandmother was tested early in her American life by having all of her possessions stolen shortly after immigrating and by losing her husband to a mining accident. That strength seems to have manifested itself in Gail who has risen from being a schoolgirl at Evansville’s Bosse High School to become a successful entrepreneur and eventually to the office of Indiana State Representative for District 77.

While other elected officials are hiding from their records Mrs. Riecken is standing proudly on hers. As a professional woman from a family that has seized opportunities, Gail believes that one of government’s highest duties is to assure that everyone has an opportunity to achieve whatever they aspire to. One of her mantras is “it is better to teach people to fish than it is to give them a fish”. She also recognizes that the current economy has created situations where many people are at risk through no fault of their own. This recognition led her to embrace the opportunity to effect legislation to help people to save their homes from foreclosure and to enhance neighborhoods by mitigating abandoned property issues. Another saying of Gail’s is that “when neighborhoods succeed, communities succeed”.

Gail’s community involvement resume is quite comprehensive and includes direct involvement with children’s welfare programs, women’s groups, the arts, family support initiatives, and environmental concerns. This community devotion is reflected in Gail’s legislative actions to reform the administration of Medicaid to increase transparency and accountability while preserving benefits, by advocating for new law for women owned and minority owned businesses (MBE & WBE) and by authoring a bill to add certain rights of child and “endangered adults”.

Finally, Gail has taken a courageous and politically unprecedented stand in challenging the Vectren Corporation’s recent request for a rate increase during a recession. Riecken is emphatic in her assertion that “Vectren’s direction is absolutely not in the best interest of Vectren’s customers”. Evansville recently lost Legacy Plastics to Henderson due in large part to the 100% difference in electrical service rates. Gail’s recognition that both the people of Southwest Indiana and the economic development efforts spent for the betterment of the business community are blunted by the fact that Vectren’s rates are the highest in the State of Indiana and among the highest in the country. As your State Representative, Gail Riecken will continue to strive to create a balance between life and business to enable both to prosper in this place that she has proudly chosen to call home for her entire adult life.

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