The Journal Gazette, 600 W. Main St., Fort Wayne IN

The city will pay the non-profit brainchild of former Mayor Graham Richard nearly $300,000 over three years to help train staff to provide more efficient government.

Fort Wayne signed a three-year contract Dec. 27 to be a founding member of the High Performance Government Network Corp. The contract has the city paying the non-profit $95,000 last year, this year and in 2009.

The organization was formed in late 2007, according to President Ryan Chasey, who formerly was on the city’s Board of Public Works and was a city employee. He said Fort Wayne joined the Indiana Association of Cities and Towns, the Indiana Chamber of Commerce and the Indiana University School of Public and Environmental Affairs as founding members.

Although many in the group worked for Richard, including his scheduler Joy Hudson, Chasey said Richard is not an employee of the group and is not compensated for supporting it.

“He is not involved in day-to-day operations,” Chasey said. “He has been an enthusiastic supporter of the network.”

Richard wrote a letter to then-Mayor-elect Tom Henry on Dec. 20, touting the group.

“As I prepare to leave office at the end of the year, I am committed to building a High Performance Government Network for elected officials,” he wrote. “Members of the HPG Network who apply these tools could see savings equal to 5 percent of their base budget within 24-48 months.”

Controller Pat Roller signed the contract with the group in December. Chasey said the first $95,000 wasn’t for services but went toward being a founding member of the group, which is displayed on its Web site: www.hpgnetwork.com.

Rebecca Karcher, public information director for Henry, said the group was the “brainchild” of the former mayor, but the city has not hired Richard to work for it. She said the city is happy with the training it is receiving from the organization.

Some Republicans on the City Council, however, had concerns about the contract and the fact they didn’t hear about it. City law requires all contracts $100,000 or greater to be brought before the council for approval.

Councilman Tom Smith, R-1st, said while the city didn’t break the rule, he wondered why the council wasn’t informed about joining the group especially when Henry has gone out of his way to announce most changes. Smith also questioned the value in the training, especially in a time when the city’s budget is strained.

“We better be getting a hell of a lot for our money,” he said.

Karcher said a human resource position was eliminated to help finance the contract. The contract calls for the group to provide services to develop ways to use data to improve government efficiency.

Councilman Mitch Harper, R-4th, said he heard some city employees did not find the training useful, and he said a copy of Richard’s book “Performance is the Best Politics” was included as part of a training session. Chasey said proceeds from the book go to the non-profit and not to Richard.

blanka@jg.net