watchdog

Friday, January 26, 2007

January 26, 2007

The outrageous pension deals caused by the January 2001 pension resolution allowing elected and appointed officials to retire after 12 years regardless of age is now being compounded by special deals for Gale Jones Carson allowing her to work for the MLGW for a hefty salary of $126,000 and continue to receive her monthly pension check of $2300.

This brings to mind the name of Roland McElrath, the current Director of finance for the City of Memphis. McElrath resigned from the City to take a job at the Memphis School System where he could receive his $32,000 pension check and his $116,000 salary. However he made so many mistakes at the School System that he resigned and returned to the City of Memphis where watchdog was told he could not receive his pension check while getting his City salary. Based on what watchdog was told, we printed this information below back in 2005.

McElrath, who will earn $115,706 annually, was approved 10-3 with Chumney, Scott McCormick and Janet Hooks voting against it. Hooks complained McElrath had not been open with the council during his previous stint.
McElrath began collecting a $33,110-a-year pension when he retired as finance director in March 2001. The pension checks stop with his reappointment.


How can Gale Jones Carson receive her pension check if McElrath cannot? Or possibly he is receiving it and watchdog was told a lie.

Also from another article printed by watchdog in 2005, please note who voted for the January 2001 pension and what was said and by whom at the time of the 2001 vote.

PENSION RESOLUTION FOR ELECTED AND APPOINTED CITY OFFICIALS
This resolution passed in January of 2001 is a multimillion dollar mistake that can be laid directly at the door of the Mayor and the City Council. Tom Marshall was quoted in the Commercial Appeal saying “ The change is designed to attract top-quality candidates for elected and appointed posts”. The Mayor was quoted in the Commercial Appeal saying “ In an effort to be competitive and be able to attract and retain high-caliber personnel, government – like private sector – must increase its benefits plans”. WHAT ACTUALLY HAPPENED?
· Roland McElrath, the finance and administration director, resigned to take a job as the school system’s associate superintendent of business operation at $116,000 per year. He will immediately start receiving $32,000 per year under the January 2001 pension resolution.
· Mark Brown, the City Treasurer, retired under this plan and took a job as Bartlett’s finance director.
· Danny Wray, the city’s comptroller, also retired under this plan and took a job as controller for the Memphis Area Chamber of Commerce.
And on an on. We do not know the final damage yet but it is the millions and millions of dollars just due to the Mayor and the City Council’s mistakes and lies.
WHO VOTED FOR IT. Jones, Mitchell, Hooks, Ford, Holt, Brown, Peete, Lowery, Marshall and Sammons.

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Monday, January 22, 2007

January 23, 2007

THE CHICKENS ARE COMINIG HOME TO ROOST AND GUESS WHO PAYS FOR THE NEST? THE TAXPAYERS AGAIN

Watchdog has been warning our readers for several years that GASB 43 and GASB 45 would have to be implemented soon. The City and the MLGW has been putting this off until after the October 2007 elections this year. No one was listening to watchdog but finally the Commercial Appeal finally printed a story about this financial obligation which is going to cost millions in new tax dollars. Click below to read the story.

http://www.commercialappeal.com/mca/local/article/0,2845,MCA_25340_5295929,00.html

Also shown below is the story that watchdog published in May of 2006 after first warning about this obligation in October of 2005. We should now consider changing our retiree health care benefits for future employees as well as the whole pension system for public employees.

Click here to read the watchdog article published last year about thie huge taxpayer liability that is now coming due

Saturday, January 20, 2007


January 22, 2007


FOR $90,000 YOUR CAN PURCHASE INTEGRITY, HONESTY AND ETHICAL CONDUCT. WHAT A BARGAIN!!!

In the ethical morass that is called the City Government, Councilman Joe Brown has hit a new low. He made the statement the other day that said, in effect, that for the $30,000 salary that he is being paid, he should be allowed to do business with the City and make money but for just $90,000 more ($120,000 salary) he would not need to have a conflict of interest. This $90,000 sounds like the same amount of money that US Representative Jefferson kept frozen in his freezer. Is there something significant about this amount?

If this does not show the need for changes in the City Charter and for these changes to be voted on in the October election of this year, then there is little hope for this City. Again, watchdog calls for the following changes either from the City Council or from the Charter Commission or from both.

TERM LIMITS- Prevent elected officials from getting the tenure that gives them the position to sell their influence to developers and other buyers of political influence exhibited by Tennessee Waltz and Main Street Sweep.
NO SALE OF MLGW WITHOUT VOTER APPROVAL- Because MLGW is piling up cash at the ratepayers expense, politicians want to get their hands on the cash. As of December 31, 2005, MLGW had $167 million in unrestricted cash, up from $111 million in one year. The law says that any surplus remaining after establishment of proper reserves, shall be devoted solely to the reduction of rates.
THIGHTEN ETHICS RULES- No election official should be able to serve if he benefits from any contract involving City taxpayer money even if he recuses himself from voting on that particular contract or issue.
PENSION REFORM- the January 2001 pension change has cost millions of dollars to date and will go on costing millions more as these elected and appointed officials retire. Since hardly any of the taxpaying public has a defined benefit pension plan anymore, a defined contribution plan should be instituted in the future for all newly hired public employees.
OPEN RECORDS- Only by putting all important contract bids, purchase orders, personnel salaries and benefits on the internet and by making open records access easier, can we keep the sunshine on government practices which politicians like to conceal. The current no bid purchase orders given under the ACS contract shield is an example of gross abuse and lack of transparency in bidding and awarding contracts.
APPOINTEES- There are over 400 appointees whereas the charter, according to Sara Hall’s reading, only allows about 110. This needs to be defined and limited to much less. The January 2001 pension resolution allowing elected and appointed officials to collect pensions and health benefits after only 12 years regardless of age has already cost millions and has the potential to cost $60 million if all of the current eligible elected and appointed people retire under that provision.
RESTRICT ELECTED OFFICIALS FROM VOTING MEMBERSHIP ON CITY AND COUNTY BOARDS AND COMMISSIONS- This is where the influence peddling starts and needs to be stopped.
CONTRACTING AUTHORITY- Prohibit the Mayor, any Mayor, from signing any contract unless it has been approved and funded by the City Council.
A charter section like the Shelby County charter section which allow citizen generated referendums like the voters used in 1994 to set term limits on County Commissioners.
An open records charter amendment requiring election commission reports of donations and expenditures to be submitted electronically in spreadsheet format so that they can be entered into a unified database and published for notification and verification of information.

Tuesday, January 16, 2007

January 16, 2007

QUESTIONS ABOUT MARSHALL AND THE SCHOOL SYSTEM

With all the articles about ethics and Tom Marshall and his contracts with the Memphis City Schools, I researched my files and found two contracts involving Tom Marshall. One is for the controversial consulting services and the other is for the controversial (at the time) nutrition center. While these contracts are certainly unethical, in my opinion, they are not technically illegal. There are three interesting questions.

Did Mr. Marshall give up only his consulting services contract or did he give up all architectural contracts?

I have shown below several pages from the extensive MGT study done on the Memphis City Schools. These pages show $55 million dollars in construction cost overruns for 13 schools and $25 million in renovation cost overruns for 17 schools. Were Marshall’s firms involved in any or all of these projects?

The MGT report recommended a 15% reduction in the space standards for high schools and a 10% reduction in space standards for middle schools. The report showed that elementary space standards were 14% higher than the average by other states, middle school space was 55% higher and high schools were 100% higher. The reply from school system personnel was that “we are not interested in “cookie cutter” type school designs. Was Mr. Marshall involved in this excessive school space decision?

This is a callous remark from a system with a huge budget which is mainly responsible for our out of control City and County debt.

Click here to see the controversial nutrition center contract.

Click here to see the consulting contract between EFS and the school system.

Click here to see the MGT report on school construction and renovation cost overruns.

Wednesday, January 10, 2007

January 11, 2007

IS THIS MONEY WELL SPENT OR IS IT MERELY PROVIDING JOBS FOR FRIENDS OF THE MAYOR?

Watchdog investigated one of the many founts of money that has been paid to various minority groups in the City of Memphis with names like the following.

• A More Perfect Way $10,000 FY 2005
• B.O.L.D. $10,000 FY 2005
• Coalition of 100 Black Women -0- FY 2005 but $5000 in 2004
• Kappa Alpha Psi Mphs Alumni $20,000 FY 2005
• One Hundred Black Men $10,000 FY 2005

The above group came from the 2005 City budget from the Grants and Agencies page for a total of $1,618,875.

However one that watchdog found interesting that is not in the above list is the Mid-South Minority Business Council (MMBC). This group is headed by Mr. Luke Yancy III and has refused to open their records claiming that they are not subject to the open records law even though they receive substantial public money. Their main jobs appear to be instructing minority firms how to gain minority based contracts and certification of minority status, without which they have very little chance to gain minority based business. The importance of this certification is seen in an example of the minority no bid contracts given under the City’s subcontract with ACS. Through various open records requests watchdog has documented the following sources of income for MMBC.

• MLGW $285,990.93 1995 to 2006
• TVA $975,885.00 1993 to 2006
• MSCAA $189,400.00 1999 to 2006
• City of Memphis $279,125.00 1993 to 2006
• MATA To this date, they have not responded to our open records request
• Total to date $1,730,400.93

They may be other public sources of funds of which we are not aware. We did examine their public 990 tax form (Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax) and they showed a net worth of $623,000 dollars in cash and investments. Their 2005 form is not available yet on the internet. We list below a spreadsheet showing the purposes of just the MLGW money listed above. This and the TVA amount contributed should warm your heart as you pay your utility bills this winter.

Click here to see how your MLGW utility money was spent on MMBC donations.

Click here to see the 2004 990 tax report of the MMBC showing a net worth of $623,000 in cash.

Tuesday, January 09, 2007

January 9, 2007

THE CHARTER COMMISSION FIDDLES WHILE ROME BURNS

Watchdog visited the most recent Charter Commission meeting to see what was going on and to monitor the progress of the group. The meeting was held on the 4th floor of City Hall and it did not give me any great hope for this group which is charged with making proposed changes in the City Charter for the voters to approve or not to approve.

The main thing on the agenda was the scheduling of public meetings in March and April to let the public have a say in what they want to see in charter changes. However most of the meeting was taken up by a presentation from Sara Hall, the City Attorney, and Allan Wade, the attorney for the City Council. The presentation of this duo for no change or minimum change was astounding. They basically said that the Charter had served very well and while it might need a little change around the edges, that the Charter Commission should be very wary of any real changes. Naturally, as they represent the City Council and the City Administration, they do not want changes that affect their power.

To watchdog, it is amazing that with a four alarm ethics fire going on in the City, these two basically called for no real change. Also they put forth the opinion that any proposed changes to the charter could not be voted on until November 2008. They claim that the MTAS (Municipal Technical Advisory Service) gave the opinion that charter changes can only be made on even numbered years. Watchdog does not believe this and has asked for an opinion from the Attorney General. There is a lot of precedent that such elections can be had whenever all the voters that are eligible to vote, can vote which is true for the October 2007 election when the City Council and the Mayor are up for reelection.

Of course the reason for this opinion is obvious. The Administration and the City Council do not want important changes to the City Charter to be on the same ballot when they are running for reelection. They would then have to either endorse the proposed changes or say they are not needed. If you wait until after the election, then you can be sure that there will be no real changes proposed by the charter commission.

Watchdog has called for the following changes.


• TERM LIMITS- Prevent elected officials from getting the tenure that gives them the position to sell their influence to developers and other buyers of political influence exhibited by Tennessee Waltz and Main Street Sweep.
• NO SALE OF MLGW WITHOUT VOTER APPROVAL- Because MLGW is piling up cash at the ratepayers expense, politicians want to get their hands on the cash. As of December 31, 2005, MLGW had $167 million in unrestricted cash, up from $111 million in one year. The law says that any surplus remaining after establishment of proper reserves, shall be devoted solely to the reduction of rates.
• THIGHTEN ETHICS RULES- No election official should be able to serve if he benefits from any contract involving City taxpayer money even if he recuses himself from voting on that particular contract or issue.
• PENSION REFORM- the January 2001 pension change has cost millions of dollars to date and will go on costing millions more as these elected and appointed officials retire. Since hardly any of the taxpaying public has a defined benefit pension plan anymore, a defined contribution plan should be instituted in the future for all newly hired public employees.
• OPEN RECORDS- Only by putting all important contract bids, purchase orders, personnel salaries and benefits on the internet and by making open records access easier, can we keep the sunshine on government practices which politicians like to conceal. The current no bid purchase orders given under the ACS contract shield is an example of gross abuse and lack of transparency in bidding and awarding contracts.
• APPOINTEES- There are over 400 appointees whereas the charter, according to Sara Hall’s reading, only allows about 110. This needs to be defined and limited to much less. The January 2001 pension resolution allowing elected and appointed officials to collect pensions and health benefits after only 12 years regardless of age has already cost millions and has the potential to cost $60 million if all of the current eligible elected and appointed people retire under that provision.
• RESTRICT ELECTED OFFICIALS FROM VOTING MEMBERSHIP ON CITY AND COUNTY BOARDS AND COMMISSIONS- This is where the influence peddling starts and needs to be stopped.
• CONTRACTING AUTHORITY- Prohibit the Mayor, any Mayor, from signing any contract unless it has been approved and funded by the City Council.
• A charter section like the Shelby County charter section which allow citizen generated referendums like the voters used in 1994 to set term limits on County Commissioners.
• An open records charter amendment requiring election commission reports of donations and expenditures to be submitted electronically in spreadsheet format so that they can be entered into a unified database and published for notification and verification of information.

Friday, January 05, 2007


January 5, 2007

Mike Ritz Learns To Dance

Watchdog has become involved in a major effort to put all campaign contributions in a huge data base so that anyone could find out who contributed to local elected officials (e.g. City Council, County Commission, Mayors, etc), how much they contributed and when they contributed. This data base would let you know the lawyers, developers, contractors, architects, politicians and others who contribute. Also we want to list the expenditures by the candidates and some of these are quite interesting and some are questionable.

Commissioner Mike Ritz before the August election promised in an advertisement the following.

• Create a “blue ribbon” ethics panel to study improvements to campaign finance reporting and to provide reports by internet access.

Watchdog wrote to Mr. Ritz and asked him to provide this information in an electronic form as stated in his ad.

I chair the ethics ad hoc committee and we are moving in that direction. If I gave my info to the election commission today on e format, they could not do anything with it. I appreciate your attention. -Mike

He is dancing again. It is true that the election commission could not do anything with it (or better said, would not do anything with it) but we asked for the information to be put on votinginmemphis.com which we are doing. If he wants to lead, let him do so by example. The public needs to understand that to put this information in a data base, we have to buy the reports from the election commission and then enter the information in the data base. It is a labor intensive process and since Mr. Ritz and others have it in electronic format, why could they not provide it in that format?

All of this type information is available for statewide candidates on a State of Tennessee website (tennesseeanytime.org) and you do not have to sign any form or leave your name to get the information. However, local candidates do not have to provide this information in electronic form although it is obvious that in most cases they keep track of the information in electronic format. Another interesting fact is that when anyone goes down to the Shelby County Election Commission and asks to see copies of reports on contributions and expenses, the election commission makes that person sign a form to show who is asking for the information and that form says at the bottom “PLEASE NOTE: A COPY OF THIS NOTICE WILL BE SENT TO THE PERSON WHOSE CAMPAIGN FINANCIALL DISCLOSURE FILES WERE INSPECTED OR COPIES.”

This is a form of intimidation and watchdog wonders if this is prescribed by law or if it is just a policy of the local Shelby County Election Commission. Watchdog will find out and report.

In any event, we are reporting on Mr. Ritz and his contributors and his expenses which will eventually be put into the data base.

Click here to see Mike Ritz's contributors and expenditures and to see what it costs to become a Shelby County Commissioner

Click here to see the form that you have to sign before they will let you look at election forms and before you have to pay 25 cents per page to copy

Monday, January 01, 2007

THE CHAIRMAN OF THE CITY COUNCIL CALLS FOR THE RESTORATION OF THE VIRTUE OF HIS COHORTS

January 2, 2007

In the glare of the corruption at the Memphis City Council, watchdog was amused at the proclamation in the Commercial Appeal by the incoming Council Chairman of the City Council, Tom Marshall, calling for “More need for ethics.” This is like the madam at the local bordello praying for the restoration of the virtue of her employees.

Just to remind you, Tom Marshall is an architect. Here is a reprint of a watchdog article from last year.

Recently during our open records request to the Memphis City School System, we obtained a copy of the O.T. Marshall contract for the Central Nutrition Center dated December 12, 2000. It was for $630,500. We also obtained an agreement dated July 23, 2003 for E.F.S. (Educational Facilities Solutions, A Joint Venture with Tom Marshall as a managing partner) for Construction Consultant Services for $600,000. Additionally we obtained a payment print out for EFS starting in 2003 to 2005 for $2,729320.45. Also another one for Self Tucker Architects (Jimmy Tucker is also a managing partner of E.F.S.) starting back in 1998 to 2003 for $563,984.08 and yet another for O. T. Marshall starting in 1998 to 2003 for $1,903,797.98.

The city council provides more than $80 million funding for city schools. Whether a council member (Tom Marshall) recuses himself or not, we do not believe that anybody would think it is not a conflict of interest for a council member to be doing business at any level, much less these huge amounts, with any "customer" that is so dependent upon the council's actions. Even upon voting recusal, such a member can have great influence on other members. Marshall is the senior member of the council (19 years), and, as such, is bound to have great influence on other members. If Councilman Joe Brown's janitorial firm had the cleaning contract with city schools, but recused himself from school votes, we'd think that stinks. Where's the difference. Does this pass the smell test?

If Mr. Marshall is really interested in ethics reform, the solution is very simple. Get the City Council to pass the following changes to the City Charter and let the voters in October of this year say yes or no to the changes during the reelection of a Mayor and a City Council. These changes can be done in three ways. 1) By the City Council, 2) By the Charter Commission and 3) By the State Legislature. By far the simplest way is by the City Council. Put up or shut up.

Here are the proposed changes that would really make a difference.

• A charter amendment requiring resignation of an elected official if they are under indictment.
• An open records charter amendment requiring election commission reports of donations and expenditures to be submitted electronically in spreadsheet format so that they can be entered into a unified database and published for notification and verification of information.
• TERM LIMITS- Prevent elected officials from getting the tenure that gives them the position to sell their influence to developers and other buyers of political influence exhibited by Tennessee Waltz and Main Street Sweep.
• NO SALE OF MLGW WITHOUT VOTER APPROVAL- Because MLGW is piling up cash at the ratepayers expense, politicians want to get their hands on the cash. As of December 31, 2005, MLGW had $167 million in unrestricted cash, up from $111 million in one year. The law says that any surplus remaining after establishment of proper reserves, shall be devoted solely to the reduction of rates.
• TIGHTEN ETHICS RULES- No election official should be able to serve if he benefits from any contract involving City taxpayer money even if he recuses himself from voting on that particular contract or issue.
• PENSION REFORM- the January 2001 pension change has cost millions of dollars to date and will go on costing millions more as these elected and appointed officials retire. Since hardly any of the taxpaying public has a defined benefit pension plan anymore, a defined contribution plan should be instituted in the future for all newly hired public employees.
• OPEN RECORDS- Only by putting all important contract bids and award decisions, purchase orders, personnel salaries and benefits on the internet and by making open records access easier, can we keep the sunshine on government practices which politicians like to conceal. The current no bid purchase orders given under the ACS contract shield is an example of gross abuse and lack of transparency in bidding and awarding contracts.
• APPOINTEES- There were over 400 appointees whereas the charter, according to Sara Hall’s reading, only allows about 110. This needs to be defined and limited to much less. The January 2001 pension resolution allowing elected and appointed officials to collect pensions and health benefits after only 12 years regardless of age has already cost millions and has the potential to cost $60 million if all of the current eligible elected and appointed people retire under that provision.
• RESTRICT ELECTED OFFICIALS FROM VOTING MEMBERSHIP ON CITY AND COUNTY BOARDS AND COMMISSIONS- This is where the influence peddling starts and needs to be stopped.
• CONTRACTING AUTHORITY- Prohibit the Mayor, any Mayor, from signing any contract unless it has been approved and funded by the City Council.

This can be done and passed if only the City Council or the Charter Commission or the Tennessee Legislature has the courage and resolve to propose it for the voters. It must be proposed and voted on at the October 2007 election or it will not be done. Once they get reelected, memories fade fast.