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Regarding Mayor Sullivan's request for Cape Coral City Manager Terry Stewart's resignation...
In April 08 we nattered on CEO lip service... as GM’s Rick Wagoner blamed multi billion dollar losses on the locusts…
"I'm deeply disappointed with our Q1 results. The precipitous decline in housing market conditions and unprecedented changes in consumer behavior.."
Wagoner's excuses were just as lame as the rest of Wall Streets "best and brightest" whose hubris and greed have brought us to this point.
One could also blame Bush for not working hard enough at his job and hiring badly.
In July 08 we put GM on Death Watch and noted Wagoner's track record…
Since CEO Rick Wagoner took over GM in 2000, the shares have fallen 87% and are at a 54 year low; GM has cut its U.S. salaried workforce to 32,000 from 44,000.
GM has not posted a profit in the last 3 years while losing $51 billion;market share is at a low not seen since 1925; GM has not suspended a divident since 1922.
In August 08, with regard to American auto industry management we asked… Where were their heads?
Over the last several years, Wagoner, Mulally, Nardelli et al. have yet to retool and build a new generation of fuel-efficient vehicles for North America.
Now they collectively panhandle for a low interest handout to "remain competitive".
Nature should be allowed to take its course and these dinosaurs who have their collective heads buried in the sand, should go the way of the dodo... extinct.
In November 08 we lamented on crybaby capitalism, taking accountability; unjustified bailouts; and overpaid CEO’s...
Overpaid and overrated executive management the likes of Rick Wagoner at GM and Richard Syron at Freddie Mac.
Rich Wagoner has run the world's largest automaker into the ground for the past 8 years, presiding over $73 billion in losses beginning in 2005.
He has proven beyond a shadow of a doubt, that he and his team are clueless blue blood imbeciles.
Isn't it about time this pack of mismanaging idiots were shown the gallows, er, I mean the door?
And regarding potential bailouts of automotive and financial sectors we asked: Does this fantasy world of yours have amusement rides too?
As it turns out, many E ticket rides were to be had by all, indeed.
In November 08 Wagoner painted a grim picture, if GM were not to receive a bailout, we called for a clean sweep.
GM CEO Wagoner commented on a GM BK: "the economy would suffer a catastrophic collapse"
We natter, the only catastrophe is that Wagoner is still employed, no bailout without a complete exec mgmt sweep, including directors...
and voting control of the board... I wouldn't hire this pack of executive ass clowns to wash my car, let alone build me one.
In October 08 we nattered about Ricky boy’s Golden Parachute…
Instead of planning and building a smarter mouse trap; brainchild CEO Rick Wagoner,
wants to trim $15 billion to stay afloat, and so he can collect a bigger bonus.
We have a request for Ricky boy, set an example for all the derelict whores on the hill, bankers & CEO's; man up and do the honorable thing,
take out an insurance policy naming the employees as beneficiary; then commit Hari-kari or jump out a 30th story window.
Now thats the kind of golden parachute we need...
In March 09, Seator Chuck Grassley must have been reading us and echoed our sentiments with regard to AIG…
Senator Chuck Grassley said that AIG executives should follow the Japanese method and...
“come before the American people and take that deep bow and say I’m sorry. And then either do one of two things, resign or go commit suicide.”
The Nattering One muses... profilgate spending, overpaid CEO's, bailouts, golden parachutes, greed and hubris... sound familiar?
Today's breed of executive or CEO, they collect their heady paycheck repleat with bonus and stock options, at the expense of the rank & file and stockholders.
And much like our elected officials, they then move on to bleed out the next victim.
These are not men of honor, for in Japan, when asked to resign, you do the honorable thing, resign.
Men of honor, take ownership for what transpired under their watch, and if necessary, they man up and move on.
This isn't a question of "just cause" on the City's or council or Mayor's part.
If you want cause, look at the track record, look at the spending, the price, and who benefitted...
Then wonder if The Cape will be able to make its future debt obligations and will the Cape's resident tax payers be able to come up with the necessary money?
Food for thought... Regardless of circumstance or cause, would you stay at a party where you were being 86'ed?
There's an old saying: If you can't get along, git along.
We are going to toll the doctrine of fradulent concealment and sprinkle it with a hint of conflict of interest...
Looks like MWH are in big trouble over in Los Osos, CA. and could well be headed for the same reception in Cape Coral, FLA. very soon indeed.
Fraudulent Concealment defined:
"Deliberate hiding, non-disclosure, or suppression of a material fact or circumstance (which one is legally or morally bound to reveal) with intent to deceive or defraud in a contractual arrangement. See also suppression of evidence."
From Sewer Watch... and Calhoun's Cannons and from Los Oso's Lisa Schicker.
In June 28, 2004 Response to CCC, MWH and the 2004 LOCSD deliberately hid over $5 million (at least!) in amenity and O&M costs in their cost estimates -- which they were legally AND morally bound to reveal -- with the intent to deceive the California Coastal Commission into approving the Tri-W project, and it worked!
In Exhibit 3-C, where low-balled numbers for the mid-town Tri-W sewer plant benefited that "project," the dog park is estimated at "$60,000," however, just a few months later, in their "value engineering" report, MWH, and the Los Osos CSD, estimated that exact same dog park at "$690,000," more than a factor (factor!) of 11 from their previous estimate.
Better yet, how about this one which should be filed under Conflict of Interest by a public official...
"Considering the fact that Bruce Gibson was elected with the help of Montgomery, Watson, Harza's money, via his Parks Commissioner, and now the engineering firm stands to make tens of millions of dollars off of his decisions, via his Parks Commissioner's former employee, Paavo Ogren...
Gibson, at the very least, needs to immediately recuse himself from ALL SLO County discussions involving the Los Osos wastewater project, or, more appropriately, immediately resign."
The Nattering One muses... Does any of this sound vaguely familiar? Something that the manager at risk and city officials should be readily aware of and if they aren't... oh well...
here we go in tolling the doctrine...
"it would be manifest injustice for this Court to conclude, as a matter of law, that ‘reasonable diligence’ includes an obligation to sift through a proxy statement, on the one hand...
and a year’s worth of press clippings and other filings, on the other, in order to establish a pattern concealed by those whose duty is to guard the interests of the investor.”
Where a fiduciary relationship exists between the parties, “it is unnecessary to prove diligence in discovering the fraud.”
Where there is a fiduciary relationship and a corresponding fiduciary duty, a fiduciary can be liable for fraudulent misrepresentation by silence...
even in the absence of fraudulent statements or intentional concealment.
John Sullivan on Financial Services Director Mark Mason: Mr. Mason put on quite a show Monday night.
He sounded like a “slick carney hustler” while he cut through the adjusted budget components smooth as silk. This was most defiantly a command performance.
He really “suckered” the new council and I think that performance would have been worth paying admission to see.
It was a real show. I could almost hear the crowd in the background and could barely hear, “Come One Come All”in the distance.
John Sullivan on City Manager Terry Stewart & Financial Services Director Mark Mason: My congratulations go out to Mr. Stewart and Mr. Mason...
since they apparently have managed to render the Cape Coral Comprehensive Annual Financial Report completely useless.
There must be some kind of accounting award for this or maybe we can start The CPA Hall of Fame (Shame). We could install Mr. Mason as the first member.
John Sullivan on Public Works Director Chuck Pavlos & MWH Project Manager Larry Laws: There is a rumor floating around which may have some serious implications...
and that is that Mr. Pavlos and Mr. Larry Laws the MWH Project Manager in Cape Coral were friends or associates before Mr. Pavlos came to Cape Coral.
The City of Cape Coral has 36 or 38 ongoing projects with MWH.
And when you look at the facts we are paying 2 to 5 times more than residents in nearby communities for essentially the same utility services.
Why did we have three audits and wind up with essentially the same outcome including possible bid-rigging?
Why did the city not ask for the Attorney Generals' opinion concerning violations of state statutes?
Why is there an F.B.I. and Department Of Justice Investigation going on?
As it turns out, the rumor is true; they (Pavlos & Laws) did serve in the Navy together.
The Nattering One muses... Alrighty then, we certainly know where Mayor Sullivan stands on the trinity, as he doesn't mince words and we respect that.
Na Na Na Na hey hey, good bye or 1st down & 2 to Go?... Yesterday, newly elected Councilman Chulakes-Leetz said...
"If Mr. Stewart is the honorable man I believe he is, it will be his due diligence to provide and offer his resignation."
Today, Mr. Stewart confirmed he is a finalist for a job near Myrtle Beach, SC; and Paco from Capevine confirms; Terry told his staff that he may be a short timer.
Rumor Central: There is another twist being floated about on the Pavlos-Laws Navy link...
While stationed at Penascola in the Navy... they both served together under the same CO... Steve Daignault, former Cape Coral Public Works Director & City Manager.
The other variant on this rumor is they worked together in Hawaii... Aloha! Paco from Capevine has another twist...
If any of this can be substantiated, with regard to fiduciary responsibilities...
Happy Guy Fawkes Day... More to come.
Mayor Elect Sullivan on privatization:
this is telling us that we need to take control of the utilities away from the city and bring in a non- profit entity to run them.
In fact, I would rather see someone like Al Capone running the utilities rather than the city of Cape Coral.
We have been paying too much for utility line installations. Someone at the city level must take control of these projects as they have become unaffordable the way they are being delivered.
Either that or the utilities must be privatized. We cannot afford to let the city run the utilities any longer.
If our administration can’t deliver the same services at the same price as other communities in Florida by taking these projects in-house and/or by getting rid of manager at risk...
then the utilities need to be privatized in order to curb the financial destruction brought on by these projects as they exist today.
If the city refuses to take these projects in-house, then there is only one other alternative and that is to privatize the utilities.
We are paying a premium for the construction because we use the manager at risk methodology.
I suspect we are paying a premium of around 37% to make it more convenient for some of our utilities' employees.
There is one other alternative; that would be to sell the utilities and pay down the debt and privatize it. It would be regulated and we would have experts running it.
We don't appear to be able to run this ourselves without the prospect of huge rate increases each year.
We need to get the utilities out of the hands of the city because it is too expensive and will only make it unaffordable to stay in Cape Coral.
Two words pop into my mind, gross incompetence. This administration is not capable of running the sewer and water utilities.
The Nattering One muses... we concur with the Mayor elect...
the current administration is not capable of running the city, much less the sewer and water utilities.
Don't blame the worker bees... Its not the utilities employees or the supervisors and managers where the rubber meets the road that are the problem.
CCC does not need any outsourcing or privatization. Utilities need the mayor elect to clear the deck, so they can get their jobs done without any interference.
Privatization to "for profit" would be a disaster of epic proportion. For profit, means FOR PROFIT, as in we hire the cheapest labor...
and defer maintenance on new equipment, till the system is run into the ground. Thus dropping service levels to the bare minimum, while raising rates to the maximum.
Better check the records, utilities employees never asked for a manager at risk. It was someone else who convinced the council on that one.
Keep it in the house... Baton Rouge, which was ranked No. 6 in the top 40 cities to weather this depression by the Brookings Institute...
"grew jobs every month until August 2009 and in August it only lost nine-tenths of a percent, compared to 5.1% nationally,"
said Lauren C. Scott, professor emeritus of economics at LSU.
Scott said $5.1 billion of construction projects have been announced or are under construction in the Baton Rouge metro...
including a new plant for French chemical company SNF and the expansion of an ExxonMobil chemical plant.
Most of the projects are infrastructure buildout being done by local government.
Again, Mayor Sullivan, no privatization, no outsourcing of utility management or jobs, get the UEP on track by taking the project in house...
and expanding services down the main buisness corridors. Thereby, letting local business defer the costs to cut a path to the residents.
More to come.
On paying a billing rate of $238.51 per hour to at risk contractors such as MWH:
Can’t you think of a better way to spend that kind of money? Just give it a little thought and I’m sure you can come up with a better solution...
such as paying 10 city employees at the rate of 23.81 per hour rather than paying an exorbitant rate to keep someone else working.
On building a durable local economy: The mayor says we need to put people to work.
Well we can start by giving city business to local firms. There are big bucks in utility projects.
The mayor should think about what that kind of money would do for our local economy and our local job market.
Instead he would rather give our money to someone else to help our utility department sit on its collective behinds and have someone else from out of town do their jobs.
We hire many out of town and out of state companies to do our work. We don’t even have our utility bills printed in Cape Coral.
As far as job creation is concerned most of the workers are foreign workers laying the lines. You might have an American supervising 6 or 8 foreign workers.
These people send the money out of the country to support their families elsewhere.
In fact we don’t even know if these workers are legal nor do we know if the American running the heavy equipment are even residents of Cape Coral.
There was talk of creating 500 jobs with the N–1 thru N–8 project.
Projects like these were never meant to be an efficient way to put our residents to work and get the biggest bang for the buck.
The Nattering One muses... Again we concur with the Mayor elect...
we would much rather have 10 city employees working for one hour, than one manager at risk employee.
When CCC cannot perform the task at hand, we should use local subs with expertise, with CCC personnel managing the tasks.
However, we do take exception because the utility department doesn't sit on its collective behinds.
Utilities doesn't want anyone in town (private) or out of town (manager at risk) doing their jobs.
Send the at risk manager packing and lets get this done from inside the house.
We will hire local's at prevailing wages, creating durable economic jobs which will create service sector jobs, and keep the money in the Cape.
Bring it on Mayor Sullivan, CCC utilities are ready and waiting, when you are. More to come in Part III.
Remember, tomorrow, November 5th is Guy Fawkes day.
John Sullivan on KBR, MWH & Halliburton: One of our council members attempts to create the illusion that MWH was initially hired.
It is common knowledge that KBR was hired but was not capable of making the bond so MWH and a number of KBR employees came on board to run our utilities projects, in Cape Coral including the project manager (Larry Laws).
We have a city council and staff which refuses to have third party consultants do an analysis of a $100 million utility project when we all know the price is over-blown.
We have something called Construction Manager at Risk. What is construction manager at risk? I define it as Highway Robbery.
This is a do it yourself method to install water and sewer lines and upgrade plants.
If you are willing to pay the price, then anyone can run a project using this methodology.
We use manager at risk even for building fire houses and the cost is twice that of a fire house in Charlotte County.
The incentive for the manager is to charge the highest possible price?
John Sullivan on City Engineering & Project Management: We have an engineering department that is supposed to be running projects of this nature.
They should be doing the design and building the system. They should be putting the jobs up for bid and selecting the subcontractors and inspecting the work.
We are paying people on the engineering staff that will not take the bull by the horns and get the job done in the most cost-effective manner.
If the engineers on staff do not have the qualifications or skills to run these projects then, why are they working for the city?
The city staff refuses to look for alternative ways to deliver the utilities.
It has been stated that our engineers have in excess of 100 years of experience yet we continue down the same path that we were on 25 years ago.
We have supervisors and engineers making in excess of $100,000 a year and yet they refuse to take the responsibility of running the projects themselves.
We have a highly paid staff and city manager. They created this mess it should up to them to fix it.
If they can't clean up their own mess then it's about time we get someone who can.
Why do we not get skilled people who can run these projects and cut the profit margin to the bare bone...
rather than making the people at MWH and KBR wealthy on the backs of the taxpayers?
The Nattering One muses... We concur. We don't need any outsiders or outsourcing, we can do it in house.
Now what is Mayor Elect Sullivan going to do about it? The MWH contract ends this January.
Are you going to bring in another MWH? or CDM? in the form of CH2MHill? Really, this is just trading the devil you know, for the devil you don't.
We Natter loudly and clearly... CCC need to hire the necessary road crew labor and an additional project manager experienced in infrastructure buildout...
to run these jobs inhouse; save the taxpayer 66% on their money; and provide much needed local jobs where the money stays in the Cape.
Mayor Sullivan, just talk to the guys in the trenches or where the rubber meets the road.
More from the Minutemen web site...
Larry Barton on the last administrations answer to the Kessler audit:
The Price Waterhouse Coopers -one of the Big-four- audit of the City-MWH contract did NOT establish this “legitimacy or validity,” but only that they...
“did not find anything materially wrong,” and that “[t]he city and MWH performed as their contracts required and that the labor billing rates were competitive.”
The MWH bought-and-paid-for audit (opinion) by PWC is not and should not be the ultimate qualifying authority.
Remember that Arthur Anderson, once the #1 accounting firm that sacrificed its integrity, went down with Enron, their well-paying client.
William P. Deile:
On City Manager Terry Stewart: It appears as if Mr. Stewart is an adherent of the Josef Goebbles theory of journalism...
if you keep repeating your story long enough people will begin to believe it.
On City Project Management: Mr. Stewart argues that the reason the city outsources project management is because management of the utility project is “terribly difficult”...
yet further on he extols the competency of those on city staff who “have a combined 100 years of engineering and management experience with projects of various sizes and complexities.
On UEP costs: The city staff’s steadfast refusal to consider anything but a central gravity fed system is one reason.
A second reason is the refusal to do value engineering and the stacking of management fee upon management fee to insulate the city from responsibility.
A third reason, cited in multiple audits lies in the details of the contractual arrangements and yet another may be found the methodology used to apportion costs.
The Nattering One muses... Again, revisit the Kessler audit. Much that was obfuscated, omitted and gerrymandered will be revealed.
This city should not be outsourcing anything. No more at risk managers, we take ownership and pull the necessary O&E (omissions & errors) & liability insurance.
We hire the necessary talent to manage and perform the tasks. Its as simple as that.
No one is this town has wanted to step up and take ownership and assume the responsibility.
The low lying fruit was left to be scooped up by the manager at risk and their profiteering cronies. How could we value engineer anything?
The "meddling" personnel where the rubber meets the road were kept out of the loop by the manager at risk and their designated lackeys?
We can value engineer the bio solids building and the UEP project, and create additional durable economic jobs for Cape residents.
This can all be done in house at a minimal cost to the taxpayer, as it should have been from the start.
We now have the chance Mayor Sullivan, don't drop the ball and succumb to arrogance and greed.
Mayor Elect Sullivan is a founder and member of The Minutemen.
Some noteworthy observations from the Minutemen web site:
The current administration: No Response to Public Input, Promotes Special Interests, Unaffordable Assessments, Taxation Without Representation.
Our mayor and our city council keep taking until we have nothing left. We have no voice here in Cape Coral (Florida), just as the colonists had no voice.
The people here go before the council and speak. The mayor and council just ignore the people as if we don’t exist.
The administration’s arsenal consists of unaffordable assessments and taxes. Like the English, the administration has a contingent of foreign troops.
The English had Hessian Soldiers. Today our mayor and council have special interest groups.
The administration has builders, large land owners construction companies like MWH and speculators.
The city manager and all his flunkies must get out of town and never look back.
What real choices do the public have when they are abandoned or even exploited by their representatives?
The first thing on our agenda must be to stop the utility expansion projects.
The projects are being used to extort money from the residents and therefore the water and waste water utilities must be taken out of the hands of a city that cannot be trusted.
We need to start a water and waste-water authority or it must be converted to a non-profit entity or a Co-op.
The Nattering One muses... Strong words indeed, and perhaps a rush to judgement...
We agree, taxation without representation has been the MO of government for many years...
Anyone who thinks this is a democracy, or government is by the people and for the people, is naive and mistaken.
Our Republic is based upon goverment by the rich and for the corporations.
The first thing on the agenda should be what Jason did for the Argonauts...
cut the many heads of the hydra off and slay it. Then revisit the Kessler audit to root out the rest of the suspects...
As we have stated before in these pages...
the UEP can be completed by in house city staff at one third of the manager at risk cost estimates.
At the plant level, the in house staff are competent, knowledgable and capable of managing the Capes utilities.
With the hydra's many heads out of the way, this will become readily apparent to Mayor Sullivan and the Minutemen.
Apparently the man on the street was an accurate reflection of voter sentiment.
Sullivan was elected in a landslide, as predicted. Interestingly enough, only 18% of all registered voters cast a vote.
The final tally rounded: 11.5K to 6.5K or 64% to 36%. That's right 18K voters decided for an estimated population of 125K.
With the election of Mayor Sullivan and District 4:Chulakes-Leetz, add District 2: Brandt and District 3:Deile for a tally of 4 council votes.
Opposing them will be 3 votes: District 1:McClain, District 6:McGrail, District 7:Donnell
Leaving the wild card or swing vote: District 5:Grill
Now that the man on the street's will has been imposed... we have a piece of advice for the victors... walk softly, carry a big stick and...
do not become victims of the same malady that struck down those who went before you, arrogance.
Regarding tomorrow's City of Cape Coral elections... whether your Democrat, Republican, Liberal, Conservative, Independent, etc...
Get out and vote! If you don't, you get the government you deserve.
Predictions? If the man on the street is any indication... when asked how they were planning on voting...
two comments, one from a stranger, one from a neighbor...
The neighbor: "Well, I will tell you this, I'm not voting for the guys already in there..."
The stranger: "Voting for the incumbents would be like placing a loaded gun to your head, and pulling the trigger."
Alrighty then, sounds like these two are voting for change, any change, but at what cost, if any?
TBD (to be determined) Tuesday night. More to come.
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