Monthly Archives: December 2009

SEWRPC’s $1,000 dinner: who was there, what they ate

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The lucky 17 who ate at taxpayer expense at a SEWRPC-funded University Club dinner this month enjoyed a total of 12 orders of sliced tenderloin at 42 bucks a pop, five orders of cordon bleu at $37 each and 17 truffle cakes at $6 each, according to Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission records.

One of the attendees was County Board Chairman Lee Holloway, who basically terminated his involvement in SEWRPC in June 2008 and hasn’t been a member since May 2009, according to SEWRPC records.

SEWRPC did not pick up the tab for any of the 24 alcoholic beverages that were served that night, SEWRPC Executive Director Ken Yunker said in an email. Total cost to taxpayers? 995.47, according to Yunker.

SEWRPC provided no public notice of the dinner, which was attended by 13 of 21 current commissioners, including Milwaukee County representatives Brian Dranzik, a county official  who was appointed by County Executive Scott Walker, and County Supervisor John Weishan, appointed by Gov. Jim Doyle to succeed Holloway on the commission.

The commissioners who attended, besides Dranzik and Weishan, were Thomas H. Buestrin, William E. Johnson and Gustav W. Wirth, of Ozaukee County; James T. Dwyer and Paul G. Vrakas, of Waukesha County; Adelene Greene and Robert W. Pitts of Kenosha County; Susan Greenfield of Racine County; Richard Hansen of Walworth County; and Daniel S. Schmidt and David L. Stroik of Washington County.

Staffers who attended were Yunker, former Executive Director and current surveyor Kurt Bauer, and Executive Secretary Debra A. D’Amico.

Holloway removed himself from commission activities in June 2008, according to SEWRPC records. Weishan filled in for him at commission meetings until Weishan was formally appointed to the seat in May of this year.

Jim Rowen broke the SEWRPC dinner story and has been following it since. His postings are over at The Political Environment.

Obama and the peace prize

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There is that irony of a war president winning the Nobel Peace Prize.

It is beyond irony — beyond comprehension, really — that the prize was awarded to a man who has decided to overlook the crimes committed by those in government service who sanctioned torture.

President Barack Obama, in giving these felons a pass, said it’s time to look forward, not back.

But everything in the justice system is a look back. Common criminals go to prison for what they have done in the past. That is what it is about.

Drug abusers go to prison.

Obama goes to Sweden to collect his prize.

American torturers go about their business.

SEWRPC’s $1,000 dinner

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Jim Rowen has the scoop on the Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission’s self-indulgent, taxpayer-funded thousand-dollar dinner at the University Club.

Sounds likely that there was a quorum of some SEWRPC committee or task force or perhaps the commission itself at that dinner. Seems to me that it probably should have been noticed as a public meeting under the Open Meetings Law, but I don’t see any notice of a University Club dinner on the SEWRPC web site.

Whoops!

The “within budget” project that keeps costing more

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Department of Public Works officials will be back before the Common Council’s Public Works Committee tomorrow morning to talk about the best way to spend more money on fixing City Hall, which already has cost $76 million to restore.

City officials say that restoration project was completed within budget, but that is true only if you ignore the fact that the total budget was originally expected to be $31.7 million. You could logically consider anything spent over that amount — about $44.3 million — to be cost overruns, but the folks running the program would really rather you didn’t.

And the “done within budget” mantra also is true only if you ignore the fact that the project isn’t actually done — there is still the little, multi-million dollar matter of the problems with the foundation that need to be fixed.

“Significant repair and restoration work is needed to address aging-related deterioration of key exterior elements of City Hall, including wood foundation piles, pile caps, a water recharge system, below grade hollow sidewalk walls, and structural concrete beams and sidewalk,” according to a resolution to be considered by the committee.

 The city budgeted $2.7 million for the project for 2010. That follows budget allocations of $1.2 million in 2008 and $1.8 million this year. Fixing the problem is expected to cost about $15 million, DPW Commissioner Jeff Mantes told the JS in October, but that may be just a guesstimate.

The department is seeking flexibility in hiring designers and contractors for the project, according to a resolution to be considered by the committee, “due to the uncertainty of the scope of work necessary to stabilize the wood pile foundation system.”

Part of the City Hall restoration project came in at more than twice the cost originally anticipated; another part is going to add millions more to the price tag. What part of the definition of “within budget” does that fit?