The Jeff Gahan Money Machine, Part 16: Last week's minutes from the Board of Public Works and Safety reveal big donors daintily lapping their gravy.

Previously: The Jeff Gahan Money Machine, Part 15: Beam, Longest and Neff -- they're why Jeff Gahan is HERE and awash in cash, 16,500 times over.

Some people canoodle, but during the coming weeks we'll be plucking highlights from eight years of the Committee to Elect Gahan's CFA-4 campaign finance reports. Strap in, folks -- and don't forget those air(head) sickness bags.

After a while, it makes your head spin. You see those donor dollars multiplying up there on Jeff Gahan's campaign finance tote board, then you spin the Wheel of Random Meeting Minutes and see the fats cats eagerly queuing for their treats.

To illustrate this, let's look at the minutes from the March 12 meeting of the Board of Public Works and Safety -- but first, this wonderfully revealing moment as the bored prepare to approve the HWC Beautifies IKEA-ly work currently underway on Market Street between State and Pearl.

Somehow awakened against all odds, board gatekeeper Warren Nash actually asks a good question of city engineer Larry Summers.

Mr. Nash asked if the properties on the south side

(of the street) have been notified.

Mr. Summers stated they will still have access.

You'll notice Summers did not answer the question -- but of course Nash didn't follow up. Who's he think he is, a News and Tribune editor?

This Mr. Oakes works for AllTerrain, which won the Market Street project with a bid far below what had been expected ... so far that David Barksdale envisioned trees outside the project area being felled so they wouldn't block the view of the Fork in the Road, but seeing it was easier just to remove the public art installation without bothering to inform the artist who designed it ...

Stephen Triplett (owner) and AllTerrain Paving have shoveled a whopping $10,750 to Gahan since 2015. Meanwhile, with an emergency situation on Old Vincennes Road, normal procedures are circumvented for the sake of speed (for the repairs, not lead-footed drivers).

Jeff Eastridge (CCE) has donated $5,500 to Gahan's coffers, and various arms of Jacobi, Toombs & Lanz have poured some $33,225 of sugar on Dear Leader since 2011, contributing all eight years.

The beak wetting intensifies on Mt. Tabor Road.

United Consulting (including owners and employees) has accounted for $15,650. However we've saved the best for last.

I've yet to devote an episode of this series to the sheer numbing ubiquity of Clark Dietz, which serves as an unofficial department of city government.

Wanna know a secret? Clark Dietz sits atop Jeff Gahan's campaign finance suction magnet with $34,400 in donations since 2011, including his two largest bursts ever, $7,500 in 2017 and 2018. Still, Clark Dietz is only a whisker ahead of Jacobi, Toombs & Lanz ($33,225) and a combined grouping of John Neace companies and allies ($32,250).

That's still a cool $100,000 between only three power brokers. Think about this, and #FireGahan2019

Hold on ... 2-way streets from State to West 5th? Whatever it is, don't expect it in an election year.

Rebuttals are welcome and will be published unaltered -- so don't forget spellcheck. If you have supplementary information to offer about any of this, please let us know and we'll update the page. The preceding was gleaned entirely from public records, with the addresses of "individuals" removed.

Next: The Jeff Gahan Money Machine, Part 17: Denton-Floyd feels M(ighty) Fine -- and the resulting Reisz Krispies Treats never tasted better to Mayor Gahan.

The Jeff Gahan Money Machine, Part 13: United Consulting Engineers rocks Deaf Gahan like a hurricane.

Previously: The Jeff Gahan Money Machine, Part 12: Madam I'm Adam, or the way HMB's Dickey brokers power and channels his party's beak wetting.

Some people go to the zoo, but during the coming weeks we'll be plucking highlights from eight years of the Committee to Elect Gahan's CFA-4 campaign finance reports. Strap in, folks -- and don't forget those air(head) sickness bags.

This article from The Times of Northwest Indiana can be regarded as a primer on how no-bid consultation contracts work, whether at the county, city or streetside pup tent level. Interestingly, the writer Dolan is a New Albany native.

Lake County Spending | A Times Investigation: Lake County spends at least $16.9 million on consultants over 10 years, by Bill Dolan and Marc Chase (September 28, 2010)

To some, advice from a parent or other trusted elder can be golden. In Lake County government, advice is literally gold -- millions of dollars' worth.

Officials bought at least $16.9 million in expertise from consultants, engineers, lawyers and other specialists during the past decade, a Times computer-assisted review of Lake County government spending records shows.

Critics of county government spending often look to the money paid to consultants as an area where spending cuts could be made. But officials throughout the county say they often could not make informed decisions or take action without the guidance of paid experts.

Taxpayer dollars migrate to consultants, and some of these dollars pass back to politicians who've served as enablers. Just imagine what the News and Tribune might be doing if Bill and Susan gave a damn about their journalistic mandate.

Of the three oft-paid consultants leading off the Times article, two of them (American Structurepoint and United Consulting Engineers) are of relevance to Jeff Gahan's Money Machine. The third, MS Consultants, is not -- but there's always time to hop aboard the gravy train, right?

Locally American Structurepoint provided design services on the $8 million "state of the art" River Run Water Park. I inadvertently omitted American Structurepoint from the previous installment about the Waterpark and will correct the mistake shortly.

The Jeff Gahan Money Machine, Part 4: The Estopinol Group and Cripe Architects are just two facets of River Run Waterpark's fertilizing effect.

(18 March update) But wait: It seems that American Structurepoint shares an Indianapolis address with a PAC called DPBG PAC ($3,750 in three installments).

REVISED

American Structurepoint   250
Gregory L Henneke              1,900 (2 donor years)
Kenton M Moore                  500
DPBG Political Action Committee 3,750
Total: $6,400

United Consulting points to the company's most glowing New Albany project: New Albany Raw Wastewater Lift Station and Truck Dump Station, a $1.6 million project.

United Consulting Engineers 1,500

William E. Hall 8,750 (4 donor years)

Brian Keith Bryant 3,750 (3 donor years)

Jennifer Grawcock 150

Christopher Pope 1,500

Total: $15,650

This sum might be good for a place in the All-Time Jeff Gahan Money Machine Career Donor List. Obviously United Consulting is very good at what it does, although I'm in no position to judge how effectively the company executes its projects.

#FireGahan2019

Rebuttals are welcome and will be published unaltered -- so don't forget spellcheck. If you have supplementary information to offer about any of this, please let us know and we'll update the page. The preceding was gleaned entirely from public records, with the addresses of "individuals" removed.

Next: The Jeff Gahan Money Machine, Part 14: Kentucky-based GRW Engineers and the subtle art of the $200 out-of-state handshake.