Thursday, April 30, 2015

Council Member Calls On Ballard To Immediately Suspend Shady $32 Million Electric Car Lease Agreement

City-County Councilor Frank Mascari (D) sent the following letter to Mayor Greg Ballard calling on him to suspend the $32 million, 7-year electric car lease agreement his administration illegally entered into with Vision Fleet:

Mayor Greg Ballard
City of Indianapolis
200 E. Washington St., Suite 2500
Indianapolis, IN 46204

Dear Mayor Ballard:

I write you today in my capacity as City-County Councilor for District 20 to request that you immediately suspend all negotiations and contract execution procedures with Vision Fleet Capital, LLC. The procurement process for the Master Fleet Agreement (Agreement) with this firm has violated Indiana Code § 5-22 and Indianapolis Marion County General Ordinance §§ 202-204 and 202-205.

The Master Fleet Agreement is a lease-purchase agreement for equipment – namely “energy saving vehicles” as identified in the Agreement. Any analysis that concludes otherwise is misleading and should be ignored. The Agreement is not merely a contract for “fleet management services” as the Agreement’s recitals suggest. The Agreement results in the city acquiring title to vehicles following the City’s payment of numerous “Rental” payments over time. Under any honest understanding, this constitutes a lease-purchase of vehicles.

The Department of Public Works is not authorized to unilaterally and without any authorized competitive process enter into a lease-purchase agreement for these vehicles. Such equipment must be procured by the “purchasing agent” of the City in accordance with competitive bidding practices outlined in Ind. Code §§ 5-22-7, 5-22-9, or other authorizing purchasing statute. G.O. Sec. 202-204 establishes the “Purchasing Division” of the Office of Finance and Management as the purchasing agency for the city and county.

Because the Purchasing Division was not involved in this procurement and the procurement did not involve any competitive process under Indiana law, the resulting Agreement is not lawful, voidable, and should be abandoned immediately.

If you are unwilling to immediately cease negotiations and abandon the Agreement under the current procurement process, I will be forced to explore legal and procedural options to force your compliance. If you have further questions or concerns please call me at (317) 327-4242.

Sincerely,

Frank Mascari
District 20
Indianapolis-Marion County Council
200 East Washington Street T-241
Indianapolis, Indiana 46204

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

What a public humiliation.

Ballard's administration and everyone associated with it has just been loudly exposed as a failure and a place for liars and thieves to work.

What a horrible way to leave office. Immediately after the primary, Ballard becomes irrelevant and merely a pro-tempore holder of someone else's chair.

What an embarrassment. What a stain on anyone who ever worked for Ballard. They can never be trusted in Indianapolis, again.

Anonymous said...

The Star is still debating whether this is newsworthy. It's easier to reprint DPW's press releases than prepare an original story.

Anonymous said...

The Star's motto:

"We don't print it until we can spin it."

The Indianapolis Star is not a newspaper.

What a failure of a journalism education to work there. Nobody can ever take you seriously.

Anonymous said...

Thank you Mr. Mascari for doing the right thing!

As was the Regional Operations Center document shredding & redactions, so too is the information on this NO-BID contract redacted to the point of presenting a prima facie belief that it is in violation of law & ordinance.

Furthermore, electric cars are a waste of TAX money! They have a shorter vehicle life due to their battery packs, and no resale value. The battery packs must be replaced about every 7 years and it is cost-prohibitive to replace them. Furthermore Chevrolet predicts a 100k mile vehicle use. Current cars have exceeded (though not recommended) 200,000 miles!!!

Anonymous said...

7 years? Check your data. If you do a full slow charge with the battery only half empty, you can maybe squeeze in 5 years. Some cars will hit 7 years.

If you do a quick charge or let the battery get near empty, you're looking at 3-5 years, and replacement batteries are expensive.

TopGear did an episode on electric cars. Worth watching.

Anonymous said...

For all our ignorant corrupt mayor says, or what any "sustainability" schmuck believes for that matter, when you get down to plugging in these "electric" vehicles for a recharge, they are coal-fueled cars.

Gary R. Welsh said...

No, they're made from that electricity Ballard is making us purchase from the cronies to whom the airport authority awarded the solar farm project that costs us about 8 times the cost of electricity generated from those coal-fired power plants.

Anonymous said...

Anon 1:04 here. Damn, you are right again, Gary, right again. I hadn't taken that into account.

Is there any more corrupt low life bastard in Marion County than Greg Ballard?

Anonymous said...

Just hang in there citizens of Indianapolis. All of this will get fixed with a democrat mayor and a democrat controlled city-county council in 2016. If all goes well we'll get John Gregg for a governor as well! Happy days are here again!

Anonymous said...

Anon 8:57 has me ROTFLMAO. Things will get "better" with a Democrat mayor and a Democrat controlled City Council?!? Seriously??? Are you kidding me???
Not on your life, my friend... not at all.

We have Democrats on the Council who were aching to throw more Marion County taxpayers' hard earned dollars at pimp Oesterle and coroporate welfare queen Hicks who were saved the political embarrassment only with the Ponzi scam's latest implosion. We have Democrat Councilor's exposed taking money from corporatist digital bill board company execs who excuse themselves from bribery by whining that political campaigns cost money, we have Council emocrats who are involved in the scam that is ROC and are doing all they can to block investigation just as the "R's" are doing, we have a Democrat mayoral candidate whose law firm is paid huge bucks promoting the sour deal and proved financial boondogle known as the criminal justice center.. ad nauseam.

Things will get better? For the crooked corporatists, attorneys, and bond bankers chomping at the bit for some of that no-bid business which keeps them deep in filthy lucre things will get better. For overtaxed, underemployed, highly educated stuck-in-Marion County but unable to move out like Matt Tully... not so fortunate for people like this resident. Not at all.

Anonymous said...

I agree with Anon -12:35am, all you will get with the Democrats are a different set of crooks and nitwits.

Anonymous said...

Anon 8:57 must have just had breakfast at 500 Liquors' Richard's Wild Irish Rose Buffet! Remember: Bart Lies! Council Wars? Locking the public in 90+ degree weather out of the City-County Building during a hearing they were here to attend?

Please, just go to YouTube and look at the series of "A Minute With Monroe Gray" videos to recall what happens when Democrats are in control!!!

Anonymous said...

Monroe Gray is an expert on NO-BID CONTRACTS, just ask him about the one his company received for an airport job!!! (wink)