Look closely: It’s there.
A seven-figure contract with Milwaukee County to privatize concessions, retail and catering at the Milwaukee County Zoo.
See it?
The contract was inserted into the budget by the Abele administration. Then stripped out wholesale by the county board in its budget deliberations.
But Abele revived it with his “Vanna White veto,” which allows him to create new budget items by deleting and stringing together letters so that they form new words.
Like the contract with Service Systems Associates, an out-of-state firm that provided the “winning” bid on the contract.
I use the term “winning” loosely, since it appears that many local vendors who already do business with the county had no idea the Abele administration issued the RFP and therefore didn't bid on it.
To help you find the contract, I’ve circled the letters that Abele put together to form "The 2015 Budget includes a contract with a private vendor for concessions, catering, and retail services, SSA.
Fortunately, county supervisors found the SSA contract in this mess and unanimously overrode Abele's "veto."
I’ll have more—much more—about Abele’s lack of transparency in next week’s Shepherd. Stay tuned.
