Venice on the web
A semi-regular column

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- John Patten, 06/13/02, revised 06/17/02 jpatten@veniceflorida.com

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Petra Software: Come Forth!!!!
According to the Gondolier articles in 2001 when all of these shenanigans had first come to light, Randall had defended his actions by stating that he was doing business as Petra Software when he was hired by the city. The Gondolier further reported that Randall claimed he had told then-City Finance Director Bill Kern about his affiliation with Petra at the time of his hiring. Even though there is apparently no record of that conversation, and Kern has since died, that may very well be true. Slapp has stated that he has paperwork indicating that Petra Software was filed as a fictitious name with the county as far back as 1988.

Outside employment by city workers is subject to disclosure and approval by Hunt. [Hunt] said he has never given such approval to Randall.
-- Venice Gondolier Sun, 5/22/01

That said, it appears that Petra Software was a dead company for most of the period of Randall's employment with the city. It certainly doesn't explain why Gardner's name appears on the paperwork filed with the city, while that same paperwork omits any mention of Randall.

Gardner stated that he knew Randall used to do work under the moniker Petra: "He'd fix people's computers and stuff like that, this was back before he had gone to work for the city." According to Gardner, Randall let the business drop when he was hired by the city. Gardner states that the name was resurrected mainly for the web site project. "I watched him fill out the incorporation papers for the State," he stated.

That fictitious name application was received by the State in November of 1999. What is of primary interest is what is not mentioned on the application: the name Jim Gardner. 

Things apparently remained dormant until July 1, 2000. On that date, Randall issued the memo requesting a blanket purchase order for Petra Software, "a new vendor."

On July 13, 2000, Petra issued the first of four bills to the City.

Petra Software had risen from the dead.

Wanted: one pair of hip waders in good condition - will pay top dollar!
Randall gave a rare and peculiar performance before City Council on June 11, 2002. Herb Levine of the local watchdog group Venice Taxpayers League asked what had happened to the original site as developed by Petra. He also inquired as to why the city had paid $1,200 for hosting a web site that was apparently never hosted to begin with. Additionally, Levine demanded to see the original electronic files.

George Hunt then gave a summary to council of Joe Slapp's investigation, stating that the web work provided by Petra was worth about $30,000 to $40,000, and that Randall's involvement in Petra was an "error in judgment." He then proceeded to talk about the IBM / League of Cities web site, and how it was scheduled for launch in mid-July, apparently unaware that the unfinished site is already accessible by the public.

Mayor Calamaras asked Hunt if that, meaning the IBM / League of Cities web site that Hunt had just described, was the same web site that Levine was asking about, and Hunt replied, "Yes."

Through the subsequent misunderstanding on the part of council members, Randall and his assistant Lance Heiss managed to sell the following scenario: that they had bought the web space to test out in real world conditions a web site that has been in development with IBM and the National League of Cities.

Councilwoman Martha Hanneman echoed Levine's question about the $1,200: "If we don't have a web site, why are we paying $1,200 for web hosting?"

"In order to have an actual web work, it must be hosted on a secure server," Randall replied, making one wonder if Randall has any clue as to the difference between a web server and a secure web server.

"We're working on a web page now? So why are we paying hosting?" Hanneman asked, obviously confused.

"It wouldn't work if you didn't," Randall replied, making no attempt to clarify Ms. Hanneman's understanding. It was a deft diversion, stunning in its subtlety. The question had now floated away from the original Petra web site to the IBM / League of Cities web site, making it look to uninformed council members that the two sites were one and the same.

Heiss picked up his cue and dished out more gobbledygook: "When you do beta [i.e., experimental] testing, you have to do it in a live environment."

Tastes great. Less filling.

Deer in the headlights
During subsequent questioning, Randall had one deer-in-the-headlights moment. Caught off guard by one of Hanneman's follow-up questions, he stated that the $1,200 was for hosting from a year ago, "...maybe two years ago." This was glossed over with subsequent contradictory statements that nobody picked up on. However, if you look at the video tape, there's a bit of stuttering and apparent panic on Randall's part in those few seconds.

"So we've been working on this web site for over a year and that is why we needed to pay the $1,200?" Hanneman asked.

To that question, obviously grateful that he had somehow managed to pull it off, Randall replied "Yes."

Randall then proceeded to hype the IBM / League of Cities web site to council members. The result of this is that City Council was led to mistakenly believe, based on statements from Randall and Heiss, and to a certain extent one of Hunt's previous statements, that the two sites being discussed were actually one and the same. Those being questioned work for the city, given the totality of the scenario there was no reason to disbelieve them. Mayor Calamaras, satisfied that there was nothing funny going on, concluded the discussion with the statement, "Mr. Levine, on July 9th, you'll see the unveiling of the new web site."

In all fairness to the six members of council and Mayor Calamaras, they did ask all the right questions. Their statements and conclusions were absolutely correct based upon the information that was being provided to them in open council.

The problem lies with the information that was being provided to them in open council.

Wait -- what just happened?
OK, a little background is in order. IBM and the National League of Cities put together a package that they have been marketing to municipalities, a cut-and-paste template series of web sites on the domain name TotalWebGov.com. The domain name was purchased by IBM in July of 2001 and the site was officially launched shortly thereafter (although they had been beta testing online as early as November of 2000). The sites themselves have limited functionality and cities are lining up in droves to avoid it. In the year that the project has been in operation, IBM has only managed to sign about 60 municipalities nationwide into buying into the project, Venice included.

Again, look at the dates carefully, as it is apparently easy to get sucked in by the 'official' bait and switch explanation. Seven folks on the City Council, without having the benefit of knowing the bulk of this info, bought right into the Randall / Heiss slight of hand.

July and August of 2000: Randall / Petra turned in bills for $3,500 for Gardner's web design and $1,200 for hosting. Randall and Gardner have both stated to Venice Florida! dot com that this was to be hosted on ChristianWebHost. Randall / Petra's annual cost for the hosting would be either $107 or $0 depending on how you look at it, as he stated he was hosting it in a folder off of his already-existing petrasoftware.net web site.

July of 2001, a full year later: IBM starts TotalWebGov, and the sites on that domain are cut-and-paste templates, which means whatever design Randall may (or may not) have come up with was a moot point -- the IBM site is highly proprietary and will not accept code from any other web design software. Gardner states he had used Microsoft FrontPage to develop the Petra site for Venice. Venice Florida! dot com has looked at the source code for the existing Petra-designed sites, and all were written with FrontPage 2000. This is, incidentally, the same software package that is used to maintain Venice Florida! dot com.

Now this is crucial: these are NOT the same web sites. Despite the apparent deception of the Randall / Heiss two-step at the City Council meeting on June 11, these are two entirely different sites that are being hawked here: the one Gardner designed for the city under the guise of Petra Software and the later template-driven site provided by IBM. The IBM templates did not yet exist when Randall charged the city $3,500. There is no possible way that the IBM site could be tested on ChristianWebHost's servers or vice versa, not in 2000, not ever.

"Is that [the IBM / League of Cities] the same web site he is [Levine is] talking about?" Mayor Calamaras asked.

"Yes," George Hunt replied. 

"So we've been working on this [IBM / League of Cities] web site for over a year and that is why we needed to pay the $1,200?" Hanneman later asked.

"Yes," Steve Randall replied.

Was the Petra site ever really hosted?
In spite of the fact that back in mid-2000, the city paid $1,200 in advance for one year's worth of hosting on ChristianWebHost's servers for a folder on Randall's petrasoftware.net web site, our searches through Google and Web.Archive indicate that the only thing that was EVER on petrasoftware.net were a maximum of nine pages that advertised Randall's company, Petra Software.

Here's an exhaustive list of the archived pages, graphics, etc. of petrasoftware.net and subfolders as recorded by Web.Archive in 2000 and in 2001. There are numerous duplicates as these are snapshots taken at various times. There is not one page that has anything to do with, or even mentions, Venice.

On these issues, Levine has some very valid points: where is the original web site, the one that the city paid Petra $3,500 for? The City paid for it, it is public record. Was it destroyed or did it just get lost? Worse: did it never exist?

Why did the city pay $1,200 in annual hosting when Randall only paid a total of $107? Why did the city get charged for anything at all for a web site that was, by all indications, never hosted anywhere?

"If anything had come to light that he had attempted to defraud the city, or to steal, that would have been intolerable," Hunt said.
-- Venice Gondolier Sun, 5/26/01

Then there's all that other stuff
As to the rest of the invoiced charges, they are all for services that would appear to fall under the normal day-to-day parameters of Randall's job description and that of his I.T. Department, which includes four other employees besides Randall. In discussions with Venice Florida! dot com, Hunt defended the invoices, stating that Randall's annual salary does not cover overtime(?).

Remember, Hunt had told the Gondolier that Randall / Petra had invoiced the city for "software, program support and training." Look at the charged items again. You see a lot of support charges. Software? Nowhere is there any  indication that any software was actually purchased or sold to the city. There are charges for the installation of some unspecified software, but nothing indicating that Petra actually sold the city any software.

Possible exception: the entry for 2/28/01, a $1,680 charge for "Client Access Express Installation." When asked by Venice Florida! dot com if this was a purchase for Microsoft Access (a program that is part of the Microsoft Office suite), Randall stated no, that that charge was for installation of computer access to the IBM AS-400 mainframe.

Petra still in business?
Despite having let his business license with the county lapse in 2001, Petra is still in business, news that surprised George Hunt when we informed him. According to Hunt, Randall needs permission from the City Manager to run an outside business and Hunt stated to Venice Florida! dot com that he has never given Randall permission to continue with Petra Software. Hunt stated to Venice Florida! dot com that as far as he knew, Petra Software was supposed to be out of business after the invoice affair surfaced.

Surprise, surprise!

As of the original publication date of this story, Petra Software was still hosting and designing web sites, such as Cinemoves. You could even order a Petra developed web site online (archived version of page). Additionally, as recently as January of this year, Randall was getting his site listed with specialty search directories such as Hope For You and BRINT Portal [references to Petra were taken down from these pages shortly after original publication of this story].

We got $40,000 worth of work!!!
Joe Slapp stated that he had all the work that Randall had submitted, including the contents of the missing disc, appraised at around $40,000. "I looked at this as though it was from a possible criminal perspective, and I just didn't see any of this as criminal. We got $40,000 worth of work."

When asked who did the actual appraising and if a copy was available, Slapp stated he had asked around with some people he knew in the computer business.

Curiously, when Jim Gardner, an admitted web design neophyte, was asked how much he thought the web site alone was worth, the same number popped out: "$40,000."

Yet he was only paid $2,000, give or take a couple of hundred, mostly in cash.

So how did Randall, in the apparent bargain of the century, manage to purchase $40,000 worth of work for $2,000, give or take a couple of hundred?

That's a good question, one that nobody at city hall wants to answer.

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John Patten is the head of Web Operations for Creative Pages, and has worked in broadcasting for over 12 years. He can also be incredibly rude at times.