Latest / Brian Thomas / Citizen Watchdog - Todd Zinser

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Citizen Watchdog - Todd Zinser · Brian Thomas

0:01
Speaker 1: It's seven six I think about ker CD Talk station.
0:04
Speaker 1: Got a full hour sitting in studio with the man himself,
0:07
Speaker 1: Todd Zenser. He is Citizen Watchdog, that's the name of
0:11
Speaker 1: his podcast, where he is always looking over the finances,
0:14
Speaker 1: mostly of the City of Cincinnati. He was former Inspector
0:16
Speaker 1: General for the United States of America and he's got
0:18
Speaker 1: a hobby in his retirement, that is being the inspector
0:20
Speaker 1: General for the City of Cincinnati. Since apparently welcome Todd Zenzer,
0:24
Speaker 1: we don't have someone who is a disinterested sort of
0:28
Speaker 1: like Fox in the Henhouse type is what we apparently
0:30
Speaker 1: have in the City of Cincinnati. There's no independent, disinterested,
0:33
Speaker 1: unbiased inspector general for the finances of the City of Cincinnati.
0:37
Speaker 2: That's right. The only thing the city relies on is
0:40
Speaker 2: that they have their financial statement audit every year and
0:44
Speaker 2: that is overseen by the state auditor. But other than that,
0:48
Speaker 2: if they want an independent view of this issue or
0:51
Speaker 2: that issue, there's nothing there but.
0:53
Speaker 1: The estate auditor wouldn't, for example, track down whatever non
0:57
Speaker 1: governmental organization got city taxpayer dollars to see if they
1:00
Speaker 1: actually performed the function that they were being paid to do.
1:02
Speaker 2: That's exactly right.
1:04
Speaker 1: So the money could go out the door and result
1:06
Speaker 1: in absolutely nothing, or it could accomplish the goals. We
1:09
Speaker 1: just have no way of knowing. That's right, all right.
1:11
Speaker 2: The only thing the auditor or the outside audit does
1:14
Speaker 2: is make sure that the books are properly represented by
1:18
Speaker 2: their financial statement.
1:20
Speaker 1: So two and two is four exactly, that's it. Yeah,
1:23
Speaker 1: we didn't question or look into who the money is
1:26
Speaker 1: going to, to what purpose or just like the money
1:29
Speaker 1: went out and it's accounted for.
1:30
Speaker 2: That's right. We are going to provide some input to
1:35
Speaker 2: the outside auditor about all of these not discrepancies, but
1:39
Speaker 2: all these practices of the city that really aren't wise,
1:45
Speaker 2: that really need to be examined in terms of whether
1:48
Speaker 2: or not the city has proper internal controls and things
1:51
Speaker 2: like that. We're going to write them a letter, and
1:53
Speaker 2: we're going to write I've already written a letter to
1:56
Speaker 2: the financial advisors on their debt capacity, but we're we're
2:00
Speaker 2: going to start using these outside organizations to try to
2:04
Speaker 2: make sure the city is properly addressing their finances.
2:08
Speaker 1: I will strongly encourage those letters to be written. I
2:10
Speaker 1: just am sitting here with this sort of yeah, right,
2:13
Speaker 1: like Hans Blick writing a letter to the Iranians that
2:16
Speaker 1: enriched uranium or something. Yeah, that worked, anyway, toddsz Inser,
2:20
Speaker 1: We at least have you there pointing out all these
2:23
Speaker 1: errors and what I would potentially argue some really, I
2:26
Speaker 1: would say shenanigans and so far as who's getting money
2:28
Speaker 1: and what that money is going to, I think most
2:30
Speaker 1: notably to get campaign workers out to get people re
2:34
Speaker 1: elected or in the case of the mayor, maybe get
2:36
Speaker 1: the mayor elected, that kind of thing. Anyway, my subjective
2:38
Speaker 1: opinion on that. Let us start with the Farmer Music Center. Okay, Now,
2:45
Speaker 1: Symphony Orchestra right is in charge of the new Music
2:50
Speaker 1: Center formerly Sunlight Pool. That's where this is going, correct,
2:54
Speaker 1: an outdoor music venue. We had Riverbend right River Ben
2:58
Speaker 1: still see pavilion that's still there, and so we needed
3:01
Speaker 1: another one. So that's just let me get through that,
3:05
Speaker 1: because I just want to do we have a lot
3:06
Speaker 1: of music venues, right, yes, but we need another one
3:09
Speaker 1: says the city is a symphonaty or a symphony or
3:12
Speaker 1: symphony orchestra. I'm having struggles today, Todd. They put together
3:16
Speaker 1: the package, they worked a math on it, They decided
3:18
Speaker 1: what it was going to cost. Did they ever at
3:20
Speaker 1: any point in time come to the city since saying say,
3:23
Speaker 1: we need you to throw some money at this project
3:27
Speaker 1: to get it finished or get it accomplished.
3:29
Speaker 2: Well, they've done that recently.
3:31
Speaker 1: No, yeah, recently, but I mean this was in the
3:32
Speaker 1: development stage and it brown ground broke and everything, right,
3:36
Speaker 1: and then lo and behold, after all of that, the
3:39
Speaker 1: city decides they're going to put five million dollars towards
3:41
Speaker 1: the project, claiming that the project was going to generate
3:46
Speaker 1: revenue that would make the five million dollars expenditure worth it.
3:50
Speaker 1: The return on investment is going to be so great
3:53
Speaker 1: that this is this is a wash, or at least
3:55
Speaker 1: we're gonna we're gonna benefit more financially from that than
3:57
Speaker 1: the five million, right, since they were never asked for
4:01
Speaker 1: money at the first place. The music venue was going
4:03
Speaker 1: to be built anyway, Aren't we going to get whatever
4:06
Speaker 1: return on investment is even without the investment?
4:08
Speaker 2: Todd zinser, Yes, we will.
4:09
Speaker 1: Then why do we spend five million dollars? Why do
4:11
Speaker 1: the city spend five million dollars on this?
4:13
Speaker 2: Well, it's eight million dollars, of course, it is, well
4:18
Speaker 2: they haven't actually voted on that yet. They voted on
4:22
Speaker 2: putting it in the budget to be voted on.
4:25
Speaker 1: Which budget comes out this afternoon at some point that's
4:29
Speaker 1: say Friday, going into a three day holiday weekend.
4:31
Speaker 2: That's what I'm talking.
4:32
Speaker 1: There's nothing nefarious about that either.
4:34
Speaker 2: I don't know that anybody's going to be spending their
4:36
Speaker 2: weekend going through the budget and kind of you.
4:39
Speaker 1: I know what you're doing. It's going to be rainy
4:41
Speaker 1: at anyway, Todd, put your feet up, get it beverage,
4:43
Speaker 1: and sit out in the back porch and read the budget.
4:45
Speaker 1: But no, seriously, why, I mean whether or not it's
4:48
Speaker 1: ultimately approved, and let's hope it isn't because it sounds ridiculous.
4:52
Speaker 2: Well, here's the thing is that when they decided to
4:56
Speaker 2: vote to put this in the budget. I filed a
4:59
Speaker 2: rec request to see what analysis, what documents the city
5:04
Speaker 2: council members were looking at before they voted on this.
5:08
Speaker 1: Because the Symphony came to the city and asked I think.
5:12
Speaker 2: They came to individual members of city council. There were
5:16
Speaker 2: four members of city council or five members of city
5:19
Speaker 2: council that push this through. But I don't think they
5:23
Speaker 2: came to the city. I think they came to city
5:27
Speaker 2: council members, and.
5:29
Speaker 1: So then it seemed to come out of nowhere.
5:31
Speaker 2: Yeah, so the only thing that the city council members
5:34
Speaker 2: were working with was an eight page PowerPoint presentation. And
5:41
Speaker 2: my point was that that's not due diligence. No, whether
5:46
Speaker 2: you're for it or not, you're obligated to do your
5:49
Speaker 2: due diligence. And so we'll see what happens. We'll see
5:54
Speaker 2: whether it makes it into the budget or not. But
5:57
Speaker 2: my guess is that it will be in the budget.
5:59
Speaker 1: Well, I think a foundational point needs to be made here.
6:03
Speaker 1: Maybe I should have brought it up the outset. We
6:06
Speaker 1: have a giant hole in the budget, don't we, Yes,
6:10
Speaker 1: how many millions of dollars is that were sort of underwater?
6:13
Speaker 1: If I can phrase it that way.
6:14
Speaker 2: Well, this is a very good subject because the operating
6:19
Speaker 2: budget is in the hole. They say twenty nine point
6:23
Speaker 2: five million. But the way they're going to pay for
6:26
Speaker 2: this eight million dollars it looks like is they're going
6:30
Speaker 2: to take money out of the capital budget. And what
6:34
Speaker 2: I've come to find out is that there's all kinds
6:37
Speaker 2: of spending in the capital budget that isn't necessarily related
6:42
Speaker 2: to assets of the city.
6:47
Speaker 1: There are parameters around what can be funded out of
6:49
Speaker 1: the capital budget.
6:50
Speaker 2: Right, Yes, there's a lot of parameters. But what I've
6:53
Speaker 2: found out is that Ohio law says that these economic
6:58
Speaker 2: development projects lie the Farmer Music Center, you can classify
7:04
Speaker 2: those as capital expenses, which is crazy.
7:07
Speaker 1: To me, but well it is. But it's a project
7:11
Speaker 1: that the city wasn't even really involved with. No, it's
7:15
Speaker 1: not in the city limits.
7:16
Speaker 2: It is in a city.
7:17
Speaker 1: Oh is it? Okay? Well you stand correct.
7:19
Speaker 2: Well, that campus is what they're calling it. Half of
7:22
Speaker 2: it is in the city and the other half River
7:24
Speaker 2: Bends in Anderson Township.
7:25
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's kind of what I thought the whole thing was.
7:27
Speaker 2: So my apologies, riverbend two point zero is going to
7:31
Speaker 2: be in a city.
7:35
Speaker 1: Are we a wash in cash on the capital budget side? No?
7:39
Speaker 2: But what they can do on the capital budget side
7:42
Speaker 2: is they can borrow money to pay for the things
7:45
Speaker 2: that they've got in the capitol budget.
7:47
Speaker 1: So eight million borrowed, meaning debt service has to be
7:50
Speaker 1: paid on that. Like borrowing money to build a street
7:53
Speaker 1: car that no one rides, you got to have the
7:54
Speaker 1: debt service paid on it. Over time.
7:55
Speaker 2: Right, I don't know exactly how they're going to handle
7:58
Speaker 2: the eight million, but I don't think it's going to
8:00
Speaker 2: be in the operating budget. It's going to be in
8:04
Speaker 2: the capital budget.
8:05
Speaker 1: They have.
8:05
Speaker 2: They have money in the capitol budget. I'm not sure
8:08
Speaker 2: exactly how much that they have some flexibility with flush fund.
8:13
Speaker 1: I don't call it that.
8:16
Speaker 2: I wouldn't call it that now.
8:17
Speaker 1: No, Okay, well, you know, going back to legally define
8:20
Speaker 1: terms and characterizations.
8:23
Speaker 2: But the capital budget does encumber or obligate the city
8:30
Speaker 2: to pay these moneys. Right now, the city has got
8:34
Speaker 2: a one point six billion dollar debt. They're they're in
8:38
Speaker 2: debt over a billion dollars, and so that plays into
8:44
Speaker 2: their credit rating with Moodies and whatnot. Oh and so
8:49
Speaker 2: they're supposed to be having another briefing from their financial
8:52
Speaker 2: advisors to tell them exactly how much room they have
8:57
Speaker 2: to borrow before they start impacting their credit rating.
9:00
Speaker 1: Oh, we'll put a little more flesh on the bones
9:03
Speaker 1: of that brief. Top. We've got that to go over.
9:05
Speaker 1: We have COVID money to talk about. We've got the
9:07
Speaker 1: rail Railroad board he's been working with and following up
9:11
Speaker 1: on Convention Center district money. There are so many things
9:14
Speaker 1: that Todd Zenzer can go over in this hour. We'll
9:16
Speaker 1: see if we can't pack them all in. Don't go away.
9:19
Speaker 1: It's seven fifteen right now. If you have kerc DE
9:21
Speaker 1: talk station, get in touch with chimney care, fireplace and stuff.
9:23
Speaker 1: You need to do that. If you have a chimney
9:24
Speaker 1: in a fireplace. If you've seen the talk station seven twenty.
9:29
Speaker 1: If you have KERCD talk station, Brian Thomas with Citizen
9:31
Speaker 1: Watchdog Todd Zenzer podcast Citizen Watchdog, find it where you
9:35
Speaker 1: get your podcast. Joe Strekker produces that one because well
9:38
Speaker 1: it's the best out there. Joeztrekker the best. Todd Zenser
9:40
Speaker 1: is the best. Former Attorney General for the United States
9:42
Speaker 1: of America. Diving through some of the details, pivoting away
9:45
Speaker 1: from the Farmer Music Center, which has me baffled. City
9:49
Speaker 1: of since SNAI is facing a bit of a challenge
9:51
Speaker 1: along the lines of the Sinceni Public Schools. I read
9:54
Speaker 1: the artic about Since public schools having to make a
9:56
Speaker 1: bunch of cuts, and I thought it particularly comical that
9:59
Speaker 1: they were complained. The board was because they have to
10:01
Speaker 1: eliminate some positions positions that were created with and because
10:06
Speaker 1: of COVID nineteen money. Now you got COVID nineteen. The
10:09
Speaker 1: bill passed. The money flows out into the world. But
10:11
Speaker 1: by its definition, if you look at it, it's a
10:14
Speaker 1: finite amount of money. It is not going to continue
10:17
Speaker 1: into the future.
10:18
Speaker 2: That's right.
10:18
Speaker 1: Like a special project. If you retain for one, you
10:21
Speaker 1: retain for the finite period of the special project, knowing
10:24
Speaker 1: full well when you take that job, you're gonna have
10:25
Speaker 1: to find another one after the project's done. Well, apparently
10:28
Speaker 1: they don't look at it that way. We have that
10:31
Speaker 1: situation going on with the City of Cincinnatian in terms
10:32
Speaker 1: of COVID money too. Let my listeners know the disturbing
10:35
Speaker 1: fact you just told me off, Mike.
10:37
Speaker 2: Well, Cincinnati received almost three hundred million dollars through the
10:44
Speaker 2: COVID program called the State and Local Fiscal Recovery Fund,
10:49
Speaker 2: and it was that that money, that three hundred million,
10:52
Speaker 2: was based on a formula that the government used, and
10:55
Speaker 2: that formula was very generous to Cincinnati. And the people
11:01
Speaker 2: think that that money was intended to keep the lights on,
11:04
Speaker 2: to keep the government's lights on.
11:05
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, it's the bill of good we were sold right, it.
11:08
Speaker 2: Did a lot more than that. About half of that
11:10
Speaker 2: three hundred million, the city could argue kept the lights on,
11:15
Speaker 2: but the other half the other one hundred and fifty million.
11:18
Speaker 2: According to a report that the city filed with the
11:21
Speaker 2: federal government, the Treasury Department, they were able to create
11:25
Speaker 2: sixty new programs or contracts helping to implement those programs,
11:32
Speaker 2: sixty sixty.
11:34
Speaker 1: With COVID money. That's right, the finite COVID money that
11:38
Speaker 1: came in, that's right. So what did the city think
11:40
Speaker 1: it was going to do when the COVID money wasn't
11:42
Speaker 1: there anymore?
11:43
Speaker 2: Todd Zinzer, Well, I think that's where we're at right now.
11:48
Speaker 2: I think that's why this budget is pretty important because
11:51
Speaker 2: it is the first budget since they've cut off the
11:54
Speaker 2: COVID money.
11:55
Speaker 1: Oh boy, you know what, Todd, I'm as happy as
11:58
Speaker 1: I can be that you're here today. But helling this
12:00
Speaker 1: conversation would be if you could go through the budget
12:02
Speaker 1: to see what happened with those sixty organizations. Do you
12:05
Speaker 1: think they will be prioritized over I don't know, maybe
12:09
Speaker 1: long standing challenges and needs the City of Cincinnati has
12:11
Speaker 1: overlooked now for decades.
12:13
Speaker 2: Well that's the whole issue with the way the city
12:16
Speaker 2: is funding all of these programs with the outside organizations,
12:22
Speaker 2: and you know, it's it's going to be difficult for
12:26
Speaker 2: them now to say, well, we don't have we don't
12:28
Speaker 2: have the money to those outside organizations. And it's really
12:34
Speaker 2: it's really surprising how much money they give out to
12:37
Speaker 2: these community groups.
12:39
Speaker 1: Right, and this is a growing phenomenon. I mean, if
12:42
Speaker 1: you roll back how many how many years decades you
12:44
Speaker 1: have to go back when the idea of throwing heap
12:47
Speaker 1: loads of money to any random engo that comes in,
12:50
Speaker 1: whether it comes in with their handout. I mean, it's
12:52
Speaker 1: I just read this article. I called it a jump
12:54
Speaker 1: the shark moment. At in Seattle. For example, the LGBTQ
13:00
Speaker 1: community is claiming that they're in Seattle. They were flooded
13:02
Speaker 1: with tens of thousands of displaced transgender people who fled
13:07
Speaker 1: the evil Red States because of genocide against the transgender community,
13:12
Speaker 1: and apparently they all landed in Seattle, so they are
13:14
Speaker 1: in need of housing. What else do they are they
13:17
Speaker 1: asking for? Relocation, stabilization, money is I don't know what
13:21
Speaker 1: housing navigation is, but legal support, transportation, just money to
13:26
Speaker 1: the NGOs. They're going to help just the transgender community.
13:29
Speaker 1: This is the kind of thing that's going on in
13:30
Speaker 1: Cincinnati basically.
13:31
Speaker 2: Right right, they what they do. In fact, you know,
13:34
Speaker 2: I have family in Seattle, so I keep track of
13:36
Speaker 2: what's going on there.
13:37
Speaker 1: You saw that one too.
13:38
Speaker 2: And it's very Seattle's experiences are very similar to Cincinnati's.
13:43
Speaker 2: But Seattle is a little bigger city. But what happens
13:46
Speaker 2: is they by putting these programs in place, the way
13:49
Speaker 2: Cincinnati has is that the city becomes a magnet for
13:54
Speaker 2: people who need these social services, right you know, whether
13:58
Speaker 2: they're from Kentucky or Indiana or or Michigan. But we've
14:01
Speaker 2: actually had representatives of the CPD in our community Council
14:06
Speaker 2: meeting that said, yes, the West Side in particular right
14:09
Speaker 2: now are a magnet for these for these kind of
14:12
Speaker 2: social programs. And it's a you know, it just snowballs.
14:17
Speaker 1: Shocking literally, no one. Yeah, you put a bird feeder up,
14:20
Speaker 1: the birds show up the bird feeder. That's correct, That's
14:23
Speaker 1: what's going on. That's the crazies out in the world
14:26
Speaker 1: that have their hand in the cookie jar taxpayer dollars
14:28
Speaker 1: realized that Cincinnati is an easy mark.
14:31
Speaker 2: Well, I actually have used that term before we have Yes,
14:34
Speaker 2: I have.
14:35
Speaker 1: Great minds, think a lot Todds in. We will continue
14:37
Speaker 1: with citizen watch Dog Former Inspector General for the United
14:39
Speaker 1: States of America todzins there after these brief words words
14:42
Speaker 1: beginning with a shout out the Colin Electric Andrew Cullen
14:45
Speaker 1: in the amazing team of License Station seven twenty nine.
14:49
Speaker 1: On a Friday, and a happy one for you. You
14:52
Speaker 1: head on into Memorial Day weekend, remembering those who paid
14:55
Speaker 1: the ultimate sacrifice. Looking at Todds ends or across he's
14:57
Speaker 1: paying the ultimate sacrifice, Diving through the books at the
14:59
Speaker 1: city is and coming up with some you know, painful conclusions,
15:03
Speaker 1: conclusions everybody needs to know about. Like, for example, let's
15:05
Speaker 1: stay with this NGO money, the COVID money that flowed
15:08
Speaker 1: into the City of Cincinnati three hundred million dollars you
15:11
Speaker 1: mentioned sixty the programs were funded with that temporary infusion.
15:17
Speaker 1: So the city has since or the Cincinnati School Board
15:20
Speaker 1: acknowledged that when they hired new people with COVID money,
15:24
Speaker 1: those people are not are going to lose their situation
15:26
Speaker 1: because they got a budget hole. So they did the
15:30
Speaker 1: right thing. That may it suck to be that person
15:32
Speaker 1: who lost their job. But practically speaking, that's the only
15:35
Speaker 1: thing it could happen.
15:36
Speaker 2: That's right.
15:37
Speaker 1: Now, What is your what do you anticipate with regard
15:39
Speaker 1: to these sixty outside entities who were funded by COVID.
15:43
Speaker 1: You said it was going to be a difficult thing
15:45
Speaker 1: for the city, But how difficult is it to say sorry,
15:49
Speaker 1: sucks to be you there? I just did it for him.
15:51
Speaker 1: You know you're no, you're not getting more money this
15:52
Speaker 1: year because we don't have it. We're thirty million dollars
15:54
Speaker 1: in the hole.
15:55
Speaker 2: Well, the city Council has put put themselves in a
16:00
Speaker 2: position where they fund so many of these outside groups
16:03
Speaker 2: and that's where they get their their support from. That
16:06
Speaker 2: becomes their base and so to say no to some
16:09
Speaker 2: of these groups puts a lot of pressure on them
16:12
Speaker 2: and that's why. So what Well, that's how I feel, Brian.
16:16
Speaker 2: But if you're a politician sitting up there, you're going
16:20
Speaker 2: to want to help your constituents.
16:22
Speaker 1: Well, walk me through this here. Being a council member,
16:26
Speaker 1: isn't it considered a part time job, whether or not
16:30
Speaker 1: they is.
16:31
Speaker 2: That's what I can and that's what I've been told you.
16:33
Speaker 1: That's a salary with since a council person.
16:35
Speaker 2: I think they get like sixty five sixty.
16:37
Speaker 1: Five thousand dollars a year. Yeah, and they need I
16:41
Speaker 1: mean for that job. They're willing to sacrifice their integrity
16:44
Speaker 1: and put the City of Cincinnati in financial peril, so
16:47
Speaker 1: they continue to fund organizations that we're only bought with
16:50
Speaker 1: a temporary infusion of cash. Well that's what that's the
16:53
Speaker 1: logic that they're walking through on this.
16:55
Speaker 2: They think they're doing a good thing, Brian, by spending
16:58
Speaker 2: money on all of these all these programs.
17:00
Speaker 1: But the problem is, and you mentioned it before, we're
17:03
Speaker 1: going to bring it up again, you suspect that that's
17:08
Speaker 1: exactly what these NGOs are doing. They're politicking, they're campaigning.
17:11
Speaker 1: They're increasing the numbers of voters that will continue to
17:13
Speaker 1: keep any given council person in their role or the mayor.
17:16
Speaker 2: Right, you know, one person's NGO is another person's community
17:20
Speaker 2: community organizer.
17:21
Speaker 1: But we and they, we, you and I They council
17:25
Speaker 1: does not know what happened with the money when it
17:28
Speaker 1: went out the door. I mean, because there's no accountability.
17:30
Speaker 1: There's no inspector general looking to see if whatever goals
17:33
Speaker 1: were accomplished actually got accomplished. Right.
17:36
Speaker 2: There may be a piece of paper that they that
17:38
Speaker 2: the NGO files at the with the city at the
17:41
Speaker 2: end of the year saying what they did, but nobody
17:43
Speaker 2: goes out and audits them.
17:45
Speaker 1: That's a wolf of guard in the henhouse and himself.
17:46
Speaker 1: We're going to give ourselves our own report card.
17:48
Speaker 2: Yeahh And that that capacity just doesn't exist with the city.
17:54
Speaker 2: That there's an internal auditor who does about six audits
17:56
Speaker 2: a year, but that's you know, that's about all they have.
18:01
Speaker 1: Well, and that audit really consists of only the two
18:04
Speaker 1: and two is four kind of audit? Did they accomplish
18:06
Speaker 1: the goal audit? Right?
18:08
Speaker 2: It's an They classify their audits as internal control audits.
18:12
Speaker 2: So for example, on this police evidence room report that
18:19
Speaker 2: they talked about on.
18:19
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, real, you explained the police evidence report because
18:23
Speaker 1: this is a good illustration.
18:24
Speaker 2: Yeah, So the auditor went out and identified the police
18:28
Speaker 2: evidence room is a worthy audit target. So they open
18:33
Speaker 2: an audit, but it's an internal audit. So they just
18:35
Speaker 2: go through and say, Okay, your rules say that you
18:40
Speaker 2: need to do this, that and the other thing. You're
18:43
Speaker 2: not doing this that and the other thing. And there's
18:45
Speaker 2: two issues in particular that the media focused on. One
18:49
Speaker 2: was the mislabeling of evidence, and the other was the
18:53
Speaker 2: lack of inventory by the Court Property unit, which I
18:59
Speaker 2: guess civilian. I was surprised to hear that that unit
19:02
Speaker 2: is civilian. They handle all the evidence.
19:05
Speaker 1: Like drugs, well in firearms and whatever else the police
19:08
Speaker 1: pick up in the court exactly.
19:09
Speaker 2: So for example, in that case, they weren't doing a
19:12
Speaker 2: proper inventory and they weren't doing background checks of the
19:16
Speaker 2: people that work in the court property unit.
19:19
Speaker 1: So the audit revealed a lack of paperwork. Did they
19:22
Speaker 1: do anything else?
19:24
Speaker 2: That's right. What they don't do is okay, we have
19:26
Speaker 2: a problem mislabeling evidence. What bad thing happened because of that?
19:32
Speaker 2: Did any bad thing happen because of that? And the
19:35
Speaker 2: same with the lack of inventory, Did we find what
19:39
Speaker 2: problems that created for the CPD? They don't take that
19:43
Speaker 2: next audit step. So for me, I would have it.
19:47
Speaker 2: I would have an internal inspector in the police department
19:50
Speaker 2: to go through and do these kind of internal control checks,
19:53
Speaker 2: and when they identify a bigger issue like misilabeling evidence,
19:58
Speaker 2: then the internal auditor should come in and examine that
20:01
Speaker 2: particular issue. But that's not how it works.
20:06
Speaker 1: Wow, he knows, sadly enough, even in just this short
20:10
Speaker 1: three segments that you and I have done so far,
20:11
Speaker 1: we haven't even scratched the surface. What's going on once Cincinnati. Wow,
20:16
Speaker 1: elections do have consequences, folks. You might want to factor
20:19
Speaker 1: in somebody else in the mix next time around. In
20:21
Speaker 1: spite of the fact that your taxpayer dollars my city
20:23
Speaker 1: friends have gone to fund campaigns for the people that
20:26
Speaker 1: are well letting you down. The every Day seventh thirty five,
20:29
Speaker 1: Right now more with Todd Zenzer after my words for
20:31
Speaker 1: Fashion Talk Station seventh thirty nine. If you have KRCIT
20:35
Speaker 1: Talk Station Citizen Watchdog, find that podcast where you find
20:39
Speaker 1: your podcast produced by Joe Strecker, who can produce your
20:41
Speaker 1: podcast too, like he does for Todd Zenzer Citizen Watchdog
20:45
Speaker 1: in studio. Before we leave the end, you a thing.
20:47
Speaker 1: I got to ask you a question, Todd Zenzer. Are
20:51
Speaker 1: there a lot of these NGOs getting money for violence programs,
20:55
Speaker 1: violence prevention, community outreach regarding violence gone, whatever.
20:59
Speaker 2: Rights that's new. You got to put youth violence, youth violence,
21:04
Speaker 2: anti violence or something like that in your grant request
21:07
Speaker 2: or your application for a grant if you want to
21:09
Speaker 2: get it funded.
21:09
Speaker 1: These all right, Well, let us try to be objective.
21:16
Speaker 1: There is a violence problem in the city of Cincinnati, Yes, sir,
21:18
Speaker 1: we have neighborhoods that are dangerous. I talked to Corey
21:21
Speaker 1: Bowman about violence the other day. We have people shot
21:22
Speaker 1: all the time. We know certain areas are worse than others.
21:24
Speaker 1: But you know therein lies a challenge. Some communities are
21:27
Speaker 1: plagued with violence, and these programs are supposed to solve
21:31
Speaker 1: that problem. And yet I haven't noticed a statistically statistical improvement.
21:39
Speaker 1: I get a sense there hasn't been a statistical improvement
21:42
Speaker 1: that violence is going down in these various neighborhoods. So
21:46
Speaker 1: what have these energies? Going back to the original question,
21:49
Speaker 1: And we don't know the answer because you pointed out
21:51
Speaker 1: that nobody follows up and finds out what these NGOs
21:53
Speaker 1: are doing. So if the violence problem has not been solved,
21:57
Speaker 1: how long have these ngo has been getting money for
22:00
Speaker 1: violence related programs?
22:01
Speaker 2: Todd censer, Well, probably at least the last three years.
22:04
Speaker 1: Or at least so. But violence has been a problem
22:07
Speaker 1: prior to that.
22:08
Speaker 2: Violence was a problem prior and violence has still been
22:11
Speaker 2: a problem.
22:11
Speaker 1: So Apparently throwing money into the world hasn't accomplished anything,
22:15
Speaker 1: and maybe that's put an exclamation point on your earlier point.
22:18
Speaker 1: Nobody is following up to see if anything's been done.
22:20
Speaker 1: But you don't really necessarily need that follow up because
22:23
Speaker 1: violence has not tapered off. These communities have not been
22:27
Speaker 1: made better by the work of whatever NGO is supposed
22:29
Speaker 1: to be doing. The work ergo, they're not doing anything
22:32
Speaker 1: that's worthwhile.
22:34
Speaker 2: Well, that's the question, because if the city were to
22:38
Speaker 2: if the city were able to say, okay, we gave
22:41
Speaker 2: a fifty thousand dollars to this group, this is what
22:45
Speaker 2: they did with that fifty thousand dollars, and this is
22:48
Speaker 2: how we think it promoted anti violence. So if we
22:53
Speaker 2: had something like that, we'd be in a better position
22:55
Speaker 2: to know whether we're getting anything from our money. But
22:59
Speaker 2: they don't do that.
23:01
Speaker 1: They don't not obligated to do that.
23:03
Speaker 2: Well I don't know. I think you're right, they're not obligated,
23:07
Speaker 2: but they should be.
23:08
Speaker 1: They should be.
23:09
Speaker 2: They should be.
23:10
Speaker 1: It's like the fiduciary obligation. These are taxpayer dollars, These
23:13
Speaker 1: are my constituents earnings taken from them. They demand accountability
23:19
Speaker 1: but they deserve accountability. Even if the I'm not obligated
23:22
Speaker 1: under city statute or law or whatever provision of whatever code,
23:26
Speaker 1: I'm gonna do it anyway because I want to know
23:28
Speaker 1: what's happened with this money. Because you know what, there's
23:30
Speaker 1: eight million hands that are trying to get in the
23:32
Speaker 1: cookie jar, and we got a thirty million dollar hole
23:34
Speaker 1: in our budget. So let's find out if we're getting
23:35
Speaker 1: any ROI on our NGO dollars.
23:38
Speaker 2: Yeah. I just don't think the city council or the
23:40
Speaker 2: city administration have that awareness that people want accountability, don't.
23:46
Speaker 2: I don't think they they appreciate that.
23:49
Speaker 1: Well, you know why, because no one shows up in
23:50
Speaker 1: votes except apparently the contingent that is being pushed to
23:54
Speaker 1: go and vote by these various non governmental organizations who
23:57
Speaker 1: are apparently just nothing but political act.
24:00
Speaker 2: Well a lot of them are, that's for sure.
24:03
Speaker 1: That's a sad state of affairs. How do you continue
24:05
Speaker 1: doing what you're doing when no one ever pays attention
24:09
Speaker 1: answers your questions, You regularly present them in written form,
24:12
Speaker 1: You show up at council meetings, you say your statement,
24:15
Speaker 1: You bring this to their attention. They surf their cell
24:18
Speaker 1: phones while you're talking.
24:20
Speaker 2: Well, I recently did get a response to my email
24:25
Speaker 2: from one member of.
24:25
Speaker 1: City council, which email was the subject matter.
24:28
Speaker 2: It was about the Farmer Music Center and how they're
24:31
Speaker 2: obligated to do due diligence. Mister Cramerdine emailed me back
24:35
Speaker 2: and said.
24:36
Speaker 1: I agree, but he's demonstrated he's been the most open
24:41
Speaker 1: council person to demonstrate a willingness to at least concede
24:45
Speaker 1: your points.
24:45
Speaker 2: Yeah, he's communicated with me on a couple of points.
24:50
Speaker 2: And he's the head of the budget committee, which is
24:51
Speaker 2: the one that I really focus on.
24:53
Speaker 1: Oh, so you have a watchful eye over the budget
24:55
Speaker 1: that comes out today what he actually did or didn't do.
24:58
Speaker 2: Yes, we'll see.
25:00
Speaker 1: Let me get you back on the program that if
25:02
Speaker 1: you've done that at budget analysis, let's pivot over to
25:04
Speaker 1: the railroad money. This was gonna it's going to solve
25:07
Speaker 1: all of our problems. Let's sell the railroad. Bad idea.
25:10
Speaker 1: They didn't listen to us saying it was a bad idea, Todd,
25:12
Speaker 1: So the railroad is sold. Now they got this big
25:14
Speaker 1: pile of money generating interest on the investment. I understand
25:17
Speaker 1: that it's a lot of money, millions of dollars. What's
25:20
Speaker 1: happening with it? Is the board involved in the decision
25:23
Speaker 1: making on any of this?
25:24
Speaker 2: Well, the board. The board met this week on Tuesday,
25:28
Speaker 2: and I attended the meeting, and I raised three issues
25:34
Speaker 2: during my public comment period. First was the railroad board
25:42
Speaker 2: or the trust is growing. I think it's up to
25:45
Speaker 2: one point eight almost one point nine billion. It is growing,
25:49
Speaker 2: of course, but the city is still having problems spending
25:53
Speaker 2: the money in a timely way. But what I complained,
25:57
Speaker 2: I don't know if I complained, but I pointed out
26:00
Speaker 2: to the board that the city issues a memo or
26:05
Speaker 2: a report to the city Council every month on the budget,
26:10
Speaker 2: the status of the budget and the status of their finances.
26:14
Speaker 2: And it's a fifteen page memo generally, and it attaches
26:19
Speaker 2: another one hundred pages of financial information. And through all
26:23
Speaker 2: of that, there's not a single mention of the railway money.
26:27
Speaker 2: There's no reference to the railway money in this report.
26:33
Speaker 2: And so I pointed that out to the board. It's like,
26:36
Speaker 2: it should not be that way, right, And you know,
26:39
Speaker 2: I'm hoping that the board will have some influence over
26:42
Speaker 2: the city and how they do that.
26:44
Speaker 1: Well, it's a revenue source for the City of Cincinnati.
26:46
Speaker 2: Well that's what I mean. It's in there, right, but
26:48
Speaker 2: they don't tell you what numbers are associated with the
26:51
Speaker 2: railway money. It's it's just not in there. And so
26:56
Speaker 2: the thing that the city has been doing in order
26:59
Speaker 2: to spend the railway money uh more timely is that
27:03
Speaker 2: they're they're transferring money that's already been obligated to uh
27:09
Speaker 2: long standing projects, right, that they used other capital funds
27:12
Speaker 2: for they're trans They're they're transferring that money elsewhere, and
27:17
Speaker 2: they're transferring railway money onto those existing projects to try
27:22
Speaker 2: to start using more of the money.
27:24
Speaker 1: Projects that were funded by the capital budget, like the
27:27
Speaker 1: old the old Way, like what you used to do
27:28
Speaker 1: before there was railroad money, right, that project has money
27:31
Speaker 1: allocated from the capital budget to get the project done.
27:34
Speaker 1: Fast forward, we sold the railroad. We have a new
27:36
Speaker 1: capital source. So we're now putting railroad money into something
27:40
Speaker 1: that was in a prior budget and already fully funded. Right.
27:42
Speaker 1: And it's like padding the books some way, isn't it.
27:44
Speaker 2: Well, what it does is that it raises questions about
27:50
Speaker 2: are those funds actually being used on eligible projects? They
27:56
Speaker 2: my my concern that I reported to the exists infrastructure
28:00
Speaker 2: is that when you start shifting this money around, you
28:04
Speaker 2: got to make sure that that railway money goes to
28:06
Speaker 2: eligible projects.
28:07
Speaker 1: Existing infrastructure, which one of those projects would have been,
28:10
Speaker 1: so that frees up money in the capital budget that
28:13
Speaker 1: was really allocated for the prior infrastructure project and can
28:16
Speaker 1: free that money up for something that isn't existing infrastructure exactly. Geez,
28:20
Speaker 1: Louise Todd sensor this I'm calling foul right now. Man
28:24
Speaker 1: seven forty seven fifty five kc DE talk station, don't
28:27
Speaker 1: go away. We're not done. We could talk for hours
28:30
Speaker 1: with this man. Memorial Day weekend, and a salute to
28:33
Speaker 1: you and everyone else at the Sinsint Police Department for
28:35
Speaker 1: the work you do each and every day. So check
28:37
Speaker 1: it out. If you have kcy dot com, you'll remain anonymous.
28:39
Speaker 1: If your tip leads to an arrest, you be eligible
28:40
Speaker 1: for a cash reward. So anyhow, back to todd sends
28:43
Speaker 1: or citizen watch talk. I'm just still reeling from that
28:46
Speaker 1: revelation about shifting money around for previously funded program or
28:49
Speaker 1: previously funded infrastructure, and then, cause you know damn well
28:54
Speaker 1: that the problem the City of Cincinnati has is that
28:58
Speaker 1: the railroad money is limited interesting infrastructure.
29:02
Speaker 2: That's right.
29:02
Speaker 1: They've been reeling and struggling with that problem for a
29:04
Speaker 1: long time. I guess, how is it moving aside from that? Weird?
29:08
Speaker 1: Probably I won't say the word criminal, but whatever, How
29:13
Speaker 1: is it that they're having trouble spending? Are we not
29:17
Speaker 1: laden with projects? I'd say for roads, for example? How
29:20
Speaker 1: many miles of roads have they ignored and not kept
29:23
Speaker 1: up on for the last thirty years or so.
29:27
Speaker 2: Well, they had somebody from the city's Department of Public
29:29
Speaker 2: Services at the board meeting for the trust and they
29:35
Speaker 2: tried to describe the system that they have for getting
29:39
Speaker 2: projects funded. And it's like a five or five stage process,
29:46
Speaker 2: and it requires all these projects require the city Council
29:49
Speaker 2: to approve them, and that delays things.
29:51
Speaker 1: But well, that's kind of an oversight function that I
29:54
Speaker 1: suppose is in place to make sure that nothing shady
29:57
Speaker 1: is going on, right.
29:59
Speaker 2: Yes, And in spite of that, I lost my train
30:04
Speaker 2: of thought.
30:05
Speaker 1: I bet the.
30:08
Speaker 2: Process that they used that they use to fund these
30:12
Speaker 2: things is convoluted to begin with. And then what was interesting,
30:16
Speaker 2: at least from my perspective, is that the person briefing
30:20
Speaker 2: was from the Department of Public Services, and every department
30:25
Speaker 2: has some kind of sensey on track, some kind of
30:27
Speaker 2: railway money projects going on. This person was from the
30:30
Speaker 2: Department of Public Services and he said that we've also
30:34
Speaker 2: taken over this responsibility for the Department of Health because
30:40
Speaker 2: they don't have enough people to help them spend this money.
30:43
Speaker 2: So the Department of Public Services has taken out on
30:47
Speaker 2: and that's what goes on throughout the whole city government.
30:50
Speaker 1: Do we need an NGO to fund to help them,
30:53
Speaker 1: but let them manage the railroad money work. Huh.
30:57
Speaker 2: You know, Brian, I don't think that's that far fetched.
31:00
Speaker 1: I know, I know, I know. That's not an idea
31:05
Speaker 1: they didn't think about already either, Todd, real quick, how
31:07
Speaker 1: about the board going back to your point about the
31:09
Speaker 1: city apparently moving previously funded capital budget projects and then
31:14
Speaker 1: shifting it to a railroad money funded project. Does the
31:18
Speaker 1: Board have any say about that? I mean, can they
31:20
Speaker 1: like veto it and say, well, well, whoa, that is
31:22
Speaker 1: not the intent of this money. It's for a future
31:24
Speaker 1: infrastructure projects.
31:26
Speaker 2: Well, I've been advocating that the board needs to exercise
31:30
Speaker 2: some oversight about how the money is spent.
31:33
Speaker 1: Yeah, could they unilaterally take that role or would they
31:36
Speaker 1: need some suit I.
31:37
Speaker 2: Think their fiduciary responsibility includes that. But they don't agree
31:41
Speaker 2: with me, and so.
31:42
Speaker 1: First they don't the work.
31:44
Speaker 2: Yeah, they're not really interested in getting into the into
31:47
Speaker 2: the city's business like.
31:48
Speaker 1: That because it'd bring about accountability.
31:52
Speaker 2: Well, I don't know.
31:56
Speaker 1: Tom's gonna let you draw your own conclusion. Todd Zinzer, Wow,
32:01
Speaker 1: what an eye opening hour. I appreciate. Even though I
32:04
Speaker 1: don't live in the city of Cincinnati, whatever goes on
32:06
Speaker 1: the City of Cincinnati impacts the entire Tri state region
32:09
Speaker 1: on some level. They're thirty million dollars in the hole
32:12
Speaker 1: and we've got major Shenanigans declarations. How I'm gonna boil
32:15
Speaker 1: down this hour. Todd zens Er Citizen Watchdog, follow his podcast.
32:19
Speaker 1: Find him on Facebook under Yes Citizen Watchdog