Board Of Public Works Approves Criminal, One-Sided Agreement With Covanta, Refuses To Allow Public Testimony

Either someone had a gun held to their head or intentionally entered into a one-sided contract with reckless abandon arising out of corrupt dealings. That's the only explanation you can provide for the contract presented by the administration of Mayor Greg Ballard to the Indianapolis Board of Public Works today for public approval that locks the City into a 14-year, recycling agreement worth more than $112 million to a New Jersey-based waste management company, Covanta. You can take it the bank that nobody was holding a gun to Mayor Ballard's head when he approved an agreement that would cost taxpayers $4 million a year in liquidated damages to break when it becomes abundantly clear to Ballard's successor just how badly this agreement screws the general public. The mayoral controlled board rubber-stamped the agreement today. Only one member voted against the approval of the contract, Gregory Garrett, an appointee of the Democratic-controlled council. Other members had no other choice than to support the agreement because their personal financial interests dictate that they cast votes in support of whatever the Ballard administration sticks in front of them for approval. Nobody who can exercise independent judgment is ever appointed to any of these boards; only people beholden to the Pay-To-Play corrupt system upon which every significant government decision is made by this mayor. Because the administration structured the long-term agreement as an amendment to an existing contract as opposed to a new contract, the administration is taking the view that the City-County Council has no say in approving the one-sided agreement. Bend over and take it up the butt one more time for the most corrupt mayor in all of the United States.

Someone asked for a listing of the board members. Ballard's director of the Public Works Department, Lori Miser, chairs the board. Other members include: Robert Parrin, Laura Sniadecki, Dennis Rosebrough, John Charleston, Gregory Garrett and  Neil Bloede. I believe you will find that almost all of the board members are either government employees or owners/employees of companies that do business with the government. Two of the members weren't present for the vote. The video hasn't been uploaded to Indy.gov yet so I'm not sure who the absent board members were.