Archive for the “Fort Wayne” Category

In an article by Christian Sheckler in the News Sentinel today, Goldner is quoted as follows:

City Councilwoman Karen Goldner, D-2nd, said Howard “screwed up” by failing to get council approval for numerous insurance contracts since he became purchasing director. Earlier this year, city officials learned of a 1992 ordinance, requiring council’s approval of new policies, that had been ignored for years.

“As far as I’m concerned … the insurance policies weren’t handled properly. Typically, when you find one problem, there are other problems,” she said. But she said she didn’t know of other mistakes.

Screwed up? Ahem. Wrong. Liz Brown uncovered this. And, Pat Roller and Valerie Ahr were aware of it, and took no action. Howard had no oversight on the insurance contracts. What a crock of you know what. Pat Roller screwed the pooch on this one and covered it up, then tossed Howard under the bus.

Goldner will apparently say anything to move her agenda forward, which as of now seems to be getting a real job.

Now that Henry has won reelection, yesterday, Deputy Mayor The Princess of Doom, Beth Malloy starting cleaning house, as she said she would.

Yesterday Jim Howard, Fort Wayne’s Director of Purchasing was called to a conference room with Controller Pat Roller, City Attorney Carol Helton, a couple of Police Detectives (for carrying him out) and Human Resources Director Mike Esselburn.   Howard was informed he’s an at-will employee, political appointment, and that the City is taking a new direction. In other words, “you’re fired.”

Jim Howard has served as Fort Wayne’s Director of Purchasing for 8 years, and by all accounts has done a more than effective job.

Some of Howard’s accomplishments include hedging fuel prices for both 2011 and 2012, which is now at 2.80 per gallon, bundled fleet bidding and achieving prices lower than the State of Indiana pricing, and, the City of Indianapolis pricing for 6 consecutive years. Howard also orchestrated the consortium of Fort Wayne Schools, Allen County, Airport Authority to bid out and buy office supplies, salt and uniforms to achieve historically lower pricing. He oversaw all procurement activity associated with the buildup of Citizens Square. Put together a 5 million multiyear fire truck purchase and saved the City close to 2 million dollars. He also created standardized Service Agreements throughout the city where there were none.

In this writer’s opinion, that change in direction means eliminate anyone that is vocal supporter or member of the republican party. They’ve already kicked Ozzie Mitson to the curb, and rid themselves of Ken Nicolet. Maybe Elissa McGauley, who works for John Urbahns, Director of Community Development, and Ken Neumeister who does who knows what, should start polishing their resumes. After all, you cant have any of those pesky republicans working in city hall.

Howard is also an attorney, and graduated from the Regent University School of Law. His LinkedIn profile is here. If you know of any job leads, drop him a message.

Click to enlarge

And yet the Occupy Fort Wayne maggots are squatting there for free.

Via the JG
Al Moll, parks director, said the fees are a way for the department to recoup some of its costs from cleaning after events.

The step was necessary after the department saw reductions to its operating budget for 2012.

“We just can’t offer everything for free anymore,” he said.

The fees are fairly small and Moll said they likely would generate between $10,000 and $20,000 annually. The changes include increasing the wedding fee from $40 for two hours to $50 for two hours, creating a $100 fee to rent open space in a park, and creating fees to use parks for organized runs or walks.

Seriously?

By Jim Sack

One (I) had hoped that the emotions leading up to the election would have subsided a bit by last night, yielding to pensive analysis of the city’s affairs and collaborative steps forward. I was wrong. Again, Councilwoman Liz Brown and city controller Pat Roller found themselves locked in a heated debate over the ways and means surrounding Citizens Square.

Controller Roller came to council last night, invited it seems, to make a report concerning the purchase and on-going renovation of the the house of collective government. It was entitled a “Community-based Solution to Local Government Needs Summary.” She presented a slide show that started with a “Co-Location Timeline,” proceeded to “Guiding Principles ” outlining discussions on space needs and construction, and continued through a “Current Fiscal analysis of Citizens Square.” The presentation ended in a recap of funding for the building which was once priced at $14 million, worked its way to $18 million and is now heading a million higher.

Costs included $7 million for the building,

• $2 million for the bond and interest,
• $200,000 to issue the bond (closing costs),
• $9.6 million in construction costs,
• $200,000 in “delay” costs and another
• $333,000 in “pre-construction costs,” such as heating the building prior to move in.

The current costs total out to $19.5 million and just under $19 million was authorized or scrounged. That leaves an overage of $468,893 in council’s lap. Expect an appropriation request soon. (One former city leader, noted that the over-run was small compared to the size of the project.)

But, when there is that much money involved, that many people with two-cents to add, two competing branches of government and two political parties engaged in on-going hostilities things get confused. It seems someone in the higher reaches of the Henry Administration decided to bring up back debts, purportedly owned by the county to the city, as part of the money negotiations. Inside the city limits are scores of properties owned by the county, taken back as a result of non-payment of taxes. It often falls to the city to mow the vacant lots or around the derelict houses. The county is to reimburse the city for those expenses, but the country, according to the city, is $500,000 behind on payments. So Pat Roller and the Mayor decided to settle accounts once and for all in a process of grand negotiations and accounting. Of course, the Republicans have howled that the mowing bill and other unpaid old bills the city has dug up are not germane to the final accounting concerning Citizens Square. Mrs. Roller and her boss apparently feel that tossing in these “bogies,” as she called them, during negotiations with the county was the time when the city had the most leverage to resolve old accounts.

Mrs. Councilwoman Brown felt otherwise and all but represented county government in her arguments, trying to de-couple the bogies from the negotiations. She has her points: tossing in the extraneous issues certainly muddies the waters and confuses matters. The city, to further leverage their position, also argues that they have no current lease at the old City Country Building and are withholding rent. They are building further leverage with the county. In business such dickering often happens, but in government, when the additional expenses are born by taxpayers, you and I are on the hook for delays and associated expenses.

So, after Mrs. Brown all but called Mrs. Roller a liar, after Mrs. Roller tried to “correct the record” after one of Mrs. Brown’s charges, in rides (finally) the council president, the guy with the gavel, Mitch Harper, humor in hand, to defuse the situation. At first he proposed a beer-summit between city and county leaders to resolve the matter, the mayor facing off with the three country commissioners, with a few city and county council members, to end the bickering. Then, impishly grinning, Mitch suggested, pun fully intended, that the leaders convene to “talk Turkey” in the spirit of the coming holiday. Tee hees and groans washed across the table and gallery. The idea probably further muddies the waters, as did the tedious co-location task force, which Controller Roller blames for some of the cost overruns. Envision putting County Council members Paul Moss and Roy Buskirk in a room with the Commissioners, the Mayor, three city council members, a crowd of citizens, the media and button-wearing supporters will but might bring public pressure to bear to resolve the matter, but is likely to drag it out and give a platform for posturing. One can only guess that the list of back bills unpaid from both sides could paper a wall. We shall see if Mayor Henry and the Commissioners bite on the turkey idea.

There were other bills and resolutions on the agenda. Another “revitalization” tax abatement was moved along that will help a small business on Illinois Road expand in exchange for ten-years of savings. A sewer extension that will cut across the Cherry Hills Golf Course and cost the city half a million in “green fees” was given an accelerated approval so as to get moving before the snows falls and, by doing so, allow restoration of the fairways so no precious tee-times will be lost in the early spring. And, some $800,000 was moved from one part of the budget to the Parks Department to pay for trees.

In general, it was a meeting in contrast to pre-election brawls. At the beginning and end of the night members of council joked, smiled, bantered and seemed restrained in their comments until the matter of bogies hit the table. Mrs. Brown now has nothing to lose, having lost everything already. She attacked Mrs. Roller while most others in the room squirmed, that is until Tom Smith gently interjected his request that the negotiations be kept to the central issue of who pays for what concerning the building. That calmed things enough to allow Mr. Turkey to gobble in with his proposal to march the top gladiators for both sides into a camera-filled room to arrive at a thoughtful solution. Anyone who witnessed the last iteration of that process had better hold on to their wallets and eat a light breakfast.

By Jim Sack

The crowd at the Grand Wayne sang happy birthday to the mayor last night and it was clear he was moved. He had already cracked a few jokes, paid his respects to challenger Paula Hughes and thanked a few dozen figures central to his victory. Behind him were members of his “immediate” family, some 30 to 40 young and old, brothers, sisters, his mom, his nephews and nieces and the adopted Tony “Henry,” as well as the natural Tony.

There are a score of ways to look at the election: vindication, better organization, rejection of the challenger’s message, personal affection for the mayor, and on. In a county controlled by Republicans, in a city where the base registration favors Republicans, in a state controlled by Republicans the City of Fort Wayne chose a Democrat to lead. The Republicans failed to win the moderate middle. Read the rest of this entry »

By Jim Sack

And, the winner was….

…whoever you think it was.

Not being flippant, really, just observing. At last night’s mayoral debate at IPFW all three candidate’s made points, all three offered memorable moments and very few votes were changed. Partisans remained partisans, those on the edge didn’t get much raw meat to win their vote. The debate was a bit of a draw.

First, it was a very polite crowd who dutifully followed, except in one instance, the admonition of host Andy Downs to keep quiet throughout the night. No hooting, no hissing, no applause. The audience, me included, dutifully responded, except for one heartfelt moment. Happily, only one selfish man’s cell phone went off during the debate. Andy was clear on that, too. Read the rest of this entry »

This is from a the dedication event (yesterday) for the Fort Wayne Police and Fire memorial. During the retirement of colors, the Mayor is the only person in the frame (seemingly the only person in the whole crowd) without his hand over his heart.

Remind you of anything?

The Journal Gazette ran an editorial today, entitield, “Clerk’s office no place for on-the-job training.”

The author, Jon Recker stated:

Bonahoom graduated from high school three years ago. He has not successfully completed a college degree. In addition, when he could have been pursuing a college education or being an active member in our community, he took off and traveled on a cruise ship as a DJ.

His property management business is unknown, his self-employed real estate business lists three homes, and he cannot cite the largest budget he has managed.

I need to point out that Jon Recker majored in sculpture at the Northern Illinois University but never finished. So then, off he went off to the Illinois Institute of Technology for product design and dropped out. Now he’s a full-time student in Ivy Tech’s nursing program. On LinkedIn he lists himself as a Philanthropy Professional, whatever the hell that is. In the last 3 years, he’s been fired from two jobs.

I should also point out that Bonahomm is a current IPFW student, and has not dropped out.

In addition, Sandy Kennedy never even stepped foot into a college. Bonahoom on the other hand successfully passed his real estate examine and is licensed in the state of Indiana.

They publish this drivel, yet they would not publish this letter sent in by City Councilman Tom Didier.

Bonahoom best choice for future

Republican Zach Bonahoom is Fort Wayne’s best choice for the future of the City Clerk’s office. Although Sandy Kennedy has served well for 28 years, it is now time to pass the reigns. Having sat on City Council for 8 years, when I compare our Council and Clerk’s use of technology to other cities, it is clear we are ready for fresh ideas. I support Zach Bonahoom for City Clerk because I want what is best for the future of our City. No Excuses.

Tom F Didier

3rd District City Council

In addition to not publishing Didier’s letter, they did not cover Bonahoom’s announcement on the paperless initiative, or his news conference on parking.

Here’s a short-list of people that either never went or dropped out of college.

Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Walt Disney, Harry Truman, Abe Lincoln, Dwayne Wade, Amelia Earhart, Frank Lloyd Wright, Chuck Yeager, Lance Armstrong, Ben Franklin, Richard Branson, John D Rockefeller, Henry Ford, TigerWoods, Ray Kroc, Michael Dell, Mary Kay Ash, Simon Cowell, Debbi Fields, Ty Warner, Rachel Ray, The Wright Brothers, Mark Twain, Andrew Carnegie, Paul Allen,  and Larry Ellison… All successful…Need I mention more?

At today’s mayoral debate, Tom Henry stated, “I make less per capita than the Mayor of Columbia City.” Hmmm…

Fort Wayne Mayor Tom Henry’s salary: $124,665
Columbia City Mayor Jim Fleck’s salary: $54,132

Fleck’s salary is 43.42% of what Henry is paid. Henry receives $70,533 more per year than Fleck.

Okay, we’re going to use median income numbers because those are the least likely to be skewed by pesky little things like income distribution, etc. See below.

2009 median income figures:

• Columbia City Median Household Income: $35,062
• Fort Wayne Median Household Income: $41,038

Columbia City’s median income is only 15% less than Fort Wayne’s per capita.

Okay, call me lazy. Anyone want to do the math for me? The numbers just don’t add up.

Per capita income has several weaknesses as a measurement of prosperity:

• As it is a mean value, it does not reflect income distribution. If the distribution of income within a country is skewed, a small wealthy class can increase per capita income far above that of the majority of the population. In this respect Median income is a more useful measure of prosperity than per capita income, because it is less influenced by the outliers.

• Economic activity that does not result in monetary income, such as services provided within the family, or for barter, are usually not counted. The importance of these services varies widely among different economies.

• Comparisons of per capita income over time need to take into account changes in prices. Without using measures of income adjusted for inflation, they will tend to overstate the effects of economic growth.

By the way, Mayor Daley Chicago transplant Deputy Mayor Beth Malloy’s salary is $120,000.

Karen Goldner authored the buy local ordinance.  If you take out her campaign expenses where money never exchanged hands (in-kind), 97% of her campaign funds were spent in DC.

Click to enlarge