Carts And Horses

Well over three years have passed since this city (AKA, Hutmacher and his Staff) identified the need for automated CAD-to-CAD integration and rapidly closing in on three years since it was supposed to be operational. It isn't and Hutmacher has gone on to much greener pastures (which includes appointing a ChattComm board member) and has left us holding his bag. Who's the douche now? Given his rather pathetic track record with technology it is not surprising that this project is way over on  time and budget. After all, it does require actual work rather than merely cutting a P.O. for your buddies.

And it has gotten worse. So bad in fact that Staff recommended that Staff be removed from the hot seat and instead Staff would hire a consultant. Heat and kitchen but let's not mix metaphors. This should have been done in the first place or, as former Councilman Ross pointed out, the City could have taken IXP up on their $120,000.00 offer to make this happen. For whatever reason Staff didn't like that. But then, as now, Staff leads the Mayor and Council around by their shoat rings so only now do we have technical help. Because now Staff says so.

This rather recently retained consultant has done many of the things, like requirements analyses and technology assessments, that should have been done before any development plan was penned. It gets better. Though Staff long ago identified the NEED our consultants are now assessing whether or not an automated CAD-to-CAD interface is even feasible:

"Given the recent transition to Kimball for project management, we are still diagnosing the feasibility of project completion."

Perhaps they should investigate the feasibility of project cancellation. We are three years late and the budget and schedule are out of control and Staff still doesn't know if the project is feasible.  How smart is that?

Obama Taps Hutmacher

Beltway Dramedy Central is churning out the juiciest rumour of the Obama not-so-leak-proof administration: Obama will tap our very own City Manager to repair the HealthCare.gov damage.

No shit. Really.

What put Hutmacher on Obama's radar screen was Dunwoody's CAD-to-CAD interface. Not that it works but more importantly that it probably never will. What impressed our Promiser-In-Chief was that Hutmacher has been able to royally bungle a simple operation with only two moving parts and has not only escaped personal accountability but is receiving a raise! And there has been no mention of the Mayor at all. You only need compare this with Sebelius' handling of the HealthCare.gov fuster cluck to understand Obama's keen interest. Folks want her fired and Obama's ratings are in the shitter.

And this epic fail doesn't even account for the fact that the underlying service--Chattcomm--will never deliver on its promise--thus foreshadowing Obamacare. But the harsh political reality is that when you have someone this adept at working the system it doesn't matter if the (other) system works.

Closer to home our local rumour mill has it that Obama himself reached out to Hutmacher as well as to key members of Council and the Mayor to ensure a smooth transition for our boy wonder. It is told that salary has been agreed upon with the only remaining hurdle being the number and value of deals that can be awarded to current and former sweethearts.

Not since Ryan Seacrest left has Dunwoody had something this big to be this proud of.