5/17/2007
$2M wasted in Appleton
And $15.6 million wasted by the state. And that’s just the beginning. Let this be a lesson unto all of us.
Thanks to Senator Cowles (R-Green Bay), the Joint Audit Committee will hopefully take a close look at the savings (or lack thereof) allegedly generated by the governor’s Accountability, Consolidation and Efficiency initiative. (What an ironic name…) A May 16 Journal-Sentinel article details how the state (us!) got to where we are now – coming through a labyrinth of tragic mismanagement and gross lack of oversight of a massive computer server consolidation project. Read the article. But be sure you’re sitting down.
This is just for starters:
“The state hired Indianapolis-based Crowe Chizek & Co. to make recommendations on server consolidation and then implement those recommendations. The arrangement "raises the concern that the contractor has an incentive to portray server consolidation as beneficial to the state," legislative auditors wrote in recently released documents.” [emphasis mine]
And then this:
“The state hoped to save the $15.6 million over five years by eliminating up to 20% of its computer servers. But the cost of the project has already erased those savings, according to auditors…."
It all made me think of Appleton’s “co-gen” debacle in 2001. The long and short of it is that Appleton’s Wastewater Utility spent $2M for a system that would supposedly replace high price electricity usage and would also serve as a backup for the rare occasions when WE Energies electricity was interrupted. The $2M white elephant was purchased over the well-substantiated and well-documented protests of Alderperson Charlie Goff and myself.
At the time of the “co-gen’s” shutdown after functioning for only 8 months (!), Goff was quoted by the Post-Crescent (July 2, 2003): “The decision to shut down the facility underscores the fragile nature of this project as I pointed out in 2001 when I looked at a financial analysis and found, in my opinion, it would never make money under any circumstances.”
Well lo and behold, one firm, Dietrich and Associates, did the analysis that recommended the ill-fated generator and designed the project and recommended a generator spec that (again, surprise, surprise) resulted in a sole-source bid. And how about this? Lo and behold, Dietrich and Associates installed a similar system (which produced questionable energy savings) in Glen Ellyn, IL where Appeton’s former Director of Utilities used to work. Way too cozy for comfort – or for accountability.
This is the same Appleton Director of Utilities in charge when monumentally misdirected decisions were made in building the new Water Plant (including a sole source bid for the major filtration system that has been the cause of $millions in overruns. $Millions.). And it’s the same Director of Utilities whom the Mayor wouldn’t fire, who ultimately resigned in anger, who asked to have his job back, found he couldn’t have it and was urged to exit quietly. What a mess.
And then this, from last week’s Utility Committee agenda (p. 4):
“On April 21 the AWWTP experienced a WE Energies power outage where power was lost on both incoming lines. Due to the duration of the outage, both 750 KW CAT engines [the $2 million 'co-gen'] started in order to carry the plant load. The #1 engine’s generator failed to synchronize within the allotted time and therefore did not generate power.l The amount of power generated with one generator was not sufficient to supply the entire plant, and a portion of the plant remained without power…”
Gee whiz. Not only is the “co-gen” not saving us energy costs, it can’t even function as a backup. Let this be a lesson unto us. If we hire a firm to analyze a problem and recommend a result, we best think carefully before asking the same firm to implement said recommendation. Seems to make good sense.
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