Keeping The Pressure On

KEEPING THE PRESSURE ON

The little distraction about CSU’s wasted funds on water tours is laughable compared to the real waste CSU can be credited with. By now the infamous Neumann puzzle is even more confusing to someone who has just been invited to hear about “Dave Neumann's new Education Foundation.” Really?

Perhaps not everyone is puzzled by the timing of such a presentation; perhaps it makes sense to those of us who pay utility bills every month. It makes almost as much sense as the “Sponsorship Program” of CSU.

The first paragraph is right on the mark, and serves as a disclaimer of sorts: “The most critical contribution we make to the community is to provide safe, reliable competitively priced energy and water services. To help achieve the lowest rates for our customers, we have a very limited sponsorship program.”

What “very limited” as opposed to none at all? Think about it for a moment: whose money is being dispersed as “sponsorship”? It’s us, the citizens and consumers of Colorado Springs, who have paid for supposedly the “lowest rates”. But wait, these rates include enough “fat” so that sponsorship is possible. This makes no sense.

Let us pay less, and with the extra money we save, we will sponsor whatever programs we want. Instead, CSU collects extra fees to be able to disburse them as it wishes and buy “goodwill” not on our behalf, but on its own behalf—oh, that lovely CSU generously sponsored my kids’ event. Really?

As CSU’s website boasts: “Our sponsorship program supports local community projects and nonprofit events. Projects or events that are eligible for corporate sponsorship are finite in nature, located and serve citizens within our service territory or locations significantly impacted by our operations. Because of budget constraints, only events or organizations that have a strong alignment with Springs Utilities business priorities will be considered for financial sponsorship…”

It’s almost as if CSU claimed to help local dealerships because it’s buying new cars for its managers every year or new expensive trucks every six months. Let us waste your money in order to improve the local economy. Incidentally, CSU repeatedly refuses to provide a list of vehicles it owns, year, model, and assignment. It’s possible to legally force the issue, but it, too, would be wasteful.

Looking over the 2011 budget report, one cannot find how much “sponsorship” costs CSU, that is, us. It could be millions, for all we know. But CEO Forte has fortified his castle so that no information is available; even his board remains in the dark most of the time, or simple votes yes.

We may want to go back a year and recall the Memorial saga, one we all suffered through with raised eyebrows at some point, and raised voices at others. Should we go through the same ordeal again? Have we learned nothing from that experience?

Certain city officials were so supportive of CEO McEvoy that they deemed all critics as unpatriotic if not outright dumb. Certain claims by the CEO were discovered later to be unfounded, perhaps deliberately so. Will this scenario repeat itself with CSU and its CEO?

What’s upsetting some people right now is that Steve Schuck has convened a fact-finding group to ask some simple, if fundamental questions. Why not thank him? Why not have multiple groups convene to ask questions?

Wake up, Colorado Springs! It’s not too late to avert another potential disaster. We should be grateful that citizens in this town are taking the initiative; apparently the Chair of CSU’s board is asleep at the wheel, and the rest of the board is confused and scared. This is the same board that almost fumbled the Memorial deal. Should we trust such leadership?

Politicians cling to their positions out of convenience and pride: they like to be addressed “the honorable,” even when they don’t deserve to be honored at all. They think they “deserve” their seat at the table because they were elected to that seat. But they forget what responsibility they have to the city and its future. Theirs should be the long view, the bird’s view from high above, warning us of dangers to come.

Theirs shouldn’t be the view from within that circles the wagons against critics; nor should it be a defensive posture. At the end of the day, they should welcome criticism and implement changes. They should invite experts and recuse themselves—it takes a lot more than voter support to oversee a $1.2 billion entity.

Once again, let’s invite the CSU board and its CEO to resign; let us secure a better future for the city than any of them can honestly promise.

[This piece was submitted to the Colorado Springs Business Journal on September 24, 2012 as my weekly column. On September 27, 2012 I was informed the column was terminated.]