UPDATE II: You will have to watch the open discussion of the Sioux Falls city council today during the INFORMATIONAL meeting. They were all in agreement (Kiley & Rolfing were absent) that there needs to be a presentation about the settlement from the administration. Council Co-chair Erickson said that she already had one in the works. Councilor Starr requested to see the consultant’s report about the stability of the siding. He also requested that a forensic audit be done on the EC’s construction costs. Stehly talked about moving forward that all the RFP’s need to be shared with the council, even if that was in executive session. She felt the city was moving in the wrong direction by keeping RFPs secret from the public and legislative branch.
Mayor Huether was on Greg Belfrage this morning telling more lies (ARTICLE) (PODCAST) to cover up his already mountain of lies from the siding settlement. He takes the opportunity to rip the messengers to pieces, the Argus is liars, Bruce is a liar (doesn’t use his name), etc. etc. The same old typical game Mike plays when he gets caught lying, “Everyone else is lying besides me.”
UPDATE: City Councilors Pat Starr & Theresa Stehly are going to be on Belfrage, Wednesday at 8 AM.
He even tries to ignore the elephant in the room by doing this ‘Shut Up and Listen’ show a day after the settlement is revealed. He doesn’t realize this is about the ‘LIE’ not about the siding or the Events Center itself. The lie about the settlement has absolutely NOTHING to do with the 9 sold out Garth shows. It is about an elected official LYING to the public, doesn’t matter if this was about siding on a building or misappropriated funds for a snow plow. It is about the LIE.
Oh, but it gets better. Watch this city council informational meeting from July 22, 2014 (FF 25:30);
Notice that they promised to hire a private forensic consultant that got ‘highly recomended’ to them and is ‘independent’ from all the parties involved. In fact, that couldn’t be further from the truth, the consultant is an ex-employee of Mortenson, and probably recommended by Mortenson. Ironically, it doesn’t matter, because everything that was promised in this meeting was a LIE. No report was ever made public, in fact the council never even got to see it. We are not even sure if it was finished. No mockups were ever made, and ultimately the siding was never fixed or replaced. It all got swept under the rug to receive a secret settlement of about $444K.
Graphic from meeting.
Stormland-TV asked the city attorney some questions about the matter;
KELOLAND News reached out to the mayor to get some answers. His office directed us to the City Attorney’s office. You can read the responses below.
1)Â Â Â Â Â How much money did the city actually clear in the PREMIER settlement once the bills were all paid?
“The city received $1 million. That amount consisted of cash, forgiveness of debt, and a transfer of contingency dollars contained within the Mortenson contract (established for the benefit of Mortenson and within the Mortenson contract price) back to the City, which in turn resulted in a reduction of the Guaranteed Maximum Price set forth in Mortenson’s contract.  Note that if the City had demanded replacement of the wall system, Mortenson would have had the right to expend the first $514,996 out of its construction manager’s contingency fund that was within its Guaranteed Maximum Price. Pursuant to this Settlement Agreement, that amount was released back to the City, and the city’s total financial obligation to Mortenson as set forth in the guaranteed maximum price was reduced by $514,996,” Karen Leonard, Deputy City Attorney said.
“The city paid out no “new money†pursuant to the Settlement Agreement. The City previously withheld certain funds that were due and owing to Dalsin for the Premier Center and Convention Center projects pending resolution of the Metal Wall Panel Issues, and release of liens placed on those projects by Dalsin. With the resolution of this dispute, the city released those funds that were due and owing to Dalsin pursuant to its contracts on those two projects. The amounts paid out were actually less than the amounts claimed to be due and owing by Dalsin for those projects.”
2)Â Â Â Â Â Why did the city not want to disclose the details of the settlement?
“There are times, during settlement negotiations, where a settlement can only be achieved through a confidentiality provision,” Leonard said.
3)Â Â Â Â Â Will the siding ever get fixed?
“The exterior metal siding is functionally and structurally sound with no need of replacement. The exterior metal siding is doing what it was designed to do, act as the weather barrier. The water-tight materials are installed behind the siding. Its appearance, while questioned, is not inconsistent with the features of other commercial buildings across the U.S. The 20-year finish warranty on the siding remains in effect,” Leonard said.
4)Â Â Â Â Â If the city actually cleared any money from the settlement, where will that be spent?
“As of August 31, 2017, the cash balance in the Events Center Construction Fund was $2,918,799. This amount includes funds that remain from bond proceeds, interest earnings, other project contributions and cash received as part of the settlement. Once deposited into the Events Center Construction Fund, the dollars that originated from these various sources are not individually tracked. All dollars in the Events Center Construction Fund are considered project funds and are fungible. Since September of 2015, many expenditures have been made from the Events Center Construction Fund on improvements to the Events Center.  Some of the improvements have been completed, some are in progress and others are just getting underway. Some of the larger ticket items include the addition of a cooler and expanded storage space on the concourse level, kitchen expansion and improvements, security system improvements, parking lot lighting improvements, and the addition of more premium seating,” Leonard said.
“The 2018 City Budget adopted last week by the City Council provides for any unspent dollars remaining in the Events Center Construction Fund upon project close-out to be transferred to the City’s Sales Tax Fund to be used for the ensuing debt service payment on the Events Center sales tax bonds.”
Yet the mayor doesn’t think he has ‘mis-led’ anyone. What a loser.
In the words of Richard Nixon, Huether could try the “I am not a crook” approach instead of babbling nonsense about irrelevant subjects.
Would Huether get the idea if the council meeting audience holds hands and takes a knee during the national anthem? Probably not. What’s corruption and collusion got to do with tennis?