? Plambeck Out At DMD ?

Rumors are circulating pretty hard in neighborhood circles that Maury Plambeck is out as Director of the Department of Metropolitan Development and that Adam Theis, a City contractor for planning, will be named to replace him.  Don't feel sad for Plambeck, though.  The rumor goes on that he will be named head of a new Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) sub-group that will be funded with $100 million from the Rebuild Indy money (profit from the sale of the water and sewer utilities for those playing along at home).  LISC pays enormous salaries, so Plambeck should be fine.

Here's what I've been able to round up on the internet about the organizations involved.

Theis is currently President of Eden Collaborative, aka Eden Land and Design.  Their website lists a couple of local projects that they consulted on - two at Fort Benjamin Harrison, one for the superbowl legacy project at St. Clair Place, and one for 'transit oriented development' planning for the Metropolitan Planning Organization - part of DMD.  While the website seems to be saying they were a client of DMD for the St. Clair Place project, I could not locate the contract in the City's contract database.  I did, however, find two contracts between DMD and Eden Land and Design. 

Contract 7886 was for $29,040, signed in June, 2010, and expected to run between 6 months and one year.  Its purpose was to create a grant application for the Federal Sustainable Communities Planning Grant Program.

Contract 9009 was initially for $250,000, signed in May, 2011, and expected to run through December, 2012.  In May, 2012, this contract was extended to December, 2013, and had its contract limit increased to $450,000.  The purpose of this contract, in part, was to help determine a good location for an IndyGo transit hub and to aid in planning for transit station locations in various parts of Indy.

LISC is a national not for profit organization that, according to its IRS filings, has as its mission to "assist community residents throughout urban and rural areas of the United States to transform distressed neighborhoods into healthy and sustainable communities".  Their 2010 tax filing listed revenues of $101.7 million and expenses of $110.9 million.  They had an increase in assets of $52.1 million for a total of $443.5 million.  They provided grants to a number of Indianapolis organizations in 2010 - by my total $1.3 million.  While almost all recipients were CDCs, there were two exceptions.   The Children's Museum got $45,000 and, my favorite neighborhood organization (oh the irony) Indianapolis Downtown Inc got $43,875.

LISC lists several pages of key personnel who receive over $100,000 in compensation.  Those listed range from a stunning take home of $599,460 for Joseph Hagan, Senior Vice President, to only $443,442 for Michael Rubinger, President.  The lowest salary of the copious number of Vice Presidents was listed at $136,451 for Kenneth Patrick Maher.  I guess Maher needs to step it up.

Although they list Indiana as a State in which they lobby, there is no listing in the City's lobbyist database for LISC.

The City's budget figures show the Rebuild Indy fund with a June 30, 2012, cash balance of $188,732,284 and an expected December 31, 2012, fund balance of $88,006,647 - or $100 million spent in the last half of 2012.

Stay tuned.