Today is a sad day for open government in Sioux Falls. City Clerk Debra Owen was sacked. She was instrumental in letting the sunshine in on city government;
During her time as clerk, the council established an internal audit unit to review city expenditures, posted public documents on the city’s website, including campaign finance reports, and began streaming Web meetings on the city’s Web site. Those meetings also are archived.
I don’t know all of the details, and no one is commenting. But some suspect it has to do with the human resources office and the upcoming EC vote. Whatever, it was back-handed and cowardly.
How well do I know Debra?
Debra has always been my point man (woman) when I needed any public information, she would point me in the right direction. But Debra never stepped over the line. NEVER. She was always professional and tried her best to keep her opinion out of it. She also never told me what I should or should not do, she also NEVER questioned my intentions. There is one thing that Debra understood above everything; We live in a free country, and the best way to keep it free is by letting in the sunshine.
She will be sorely missed, and I wish her the best of luck.
I won’t name the employee, because that is not what is important here. BUT, I will say they are invaluable to city government, and without them most citizens would be virtually in the dark when it comes to council action without their due diligence.
That being said, the rumor is a few councilors and the mayor’s office are at the heart of trying to get this person terminated. In fact they spent almost 3 hours in executive session last night after the council meeting discussing the issue. City attorney Gail Eiesland and HR director Bill O’Toole laid out their case against them. Which doesn’t surprise me, since they both have been questioned on legalities by this certain someone in the past about city business.
Doesn’t Killing the Messenger ever get old?
Special Meeting today at 4pm. Hmmmmm
Where and when? I hope they don’t fire this person, how dumb and power hungry can they be?
Carnegie Hall at 4pm. Agenda on the siouxfalls.org website with the line item saying Personnel Matter.
That is interesting, and disappointing. Well hopefully by posting this, some city officials will know we are watching them.
This mayor and his henchmen have to go instead of the hard working people who don’t repreent the hitler youth. O’toole, Holsen, turbek and Pfeifle can go with them. The misleading information they are peddling to sell the events center are ridiculus. they are preying and so is the polls conducted by KELO to old people with landlines who only watch Stormland.
All fear those that disagree with Heil Huether. You shall to fall victim to his wrath. The best message we can send to this A-hole is to vote no for the events center. If he gets this through, he will run for governor and rubn the whole state in the ground insteat of just one municipality.
I hope the last time I see the bastard cry is when he is defeated in the next election.
Some one needs to stand up to
Trust me, this isn’t the last you have heard about this. I have a feeling this action will show just what kind of person Mike really is.
I have always felt the EC would fail anyway, but this will help seal the deal. I am a bit worried though with Litz as county auditor and Owen gone what kind of voting shananigans will happen. I guess we will wait and see.
And just for the record, I figured out Owen was going to be fired on my own after watching Patrick Lalley talk about it on 100 Eyes and shooting off a few emails to certain people. NOT ONE SINGLE COUNCILOR told me anything. SF City government is so predictable it doesn’t take much to put 2 and 2 together, your executive session bullshit is a joke, do you think people are that naive? Heck, you couldn’t even mention her name before the vote. What a bunch of chickenshit circus ride hoopla.
BTW, Dork, I’m a few vodka tonics into my night, but I think it is time you lay off the PBR’s. I’m just sayin’
There seems to be an epidemic of this stuff going around the area just now not just in SF. Perhaps some folks emboldened by the shenanigans happening in Ohio, Wisconsin Michigan, Arizona, etc.
I know Pathloss has made some pretty ridiculous claims about SF, but one is starting to wonder.
Police Officers kicking the media out of a public building? This borders on Nazi Germany.
The upcoming vote doesn’t really matter. Planning and Public Works are already moving forward as if the events center will be approved.
They’ve already picked out the curtains (seriously).
This whole mess is troubling, especially when one starts to piece together the “rumors” circulating as of now. This much we know for sure. Our mayor, involved for God only knows why, and eight council members met in a secret session. This session to have Owen fired was instigated by councilors Erpenbach and Aguilar. The rest of this very strange story gets murky.
Of the nine people involved in this “secret” session, only three would I feel comfortable sitting at the same table with. Those three are councilors Jamison, Anderson and Brown. I have not always agreed with their decisions, but I none the less respect their views. I cannot say the same for the other six. Mayor Huether, councilors Erpenbach, Aguilar, Rolfing, Entenman, and Karsky. No coincidence these five rubber stampers or the mayor have held their elected positions for less than two years.
Questions and rumors that need to be answered. What involvement does Human Resources play in this dismissal? ? What involvement does the upcoming Events Center vote play in this dismissal? WHY was the mayor involved?
I knew very little of Debra Owen before this morning. I had no idea of her involvement in making city government actually transparent. This much I know now. Debra would make a real difference as mayor of this city.
“Debra would make a real difference as mayor of this city.”
You are not the first one to say this. I heard it from a couple of different people last night.
Steve – Read items #28-29 of this next week’s agenda, you may be on to something.
http://docs.siouxfalls.org/sirepub/mtgviewer.aspx?meetid=1562&doctype=AGENDA
Venture down to City Hall. You’ll think you stumbled across a photo shoot for the catalog “Arenas R Us”.
Why the fuck are we hiring these guys before a EC has been approved? You wonder if this whole city clerk thing is a smoke screen?