January 2015

Minnehaha County Auditor Bob Litz getting a lot of ‘assistance’

personl

AGENDA

Okay, I know that Bob recently had to undergo some very painful surgery, and there are people in his office that are retiring and need replaced, but with a county that already has budget difficulties, doesn’t it seem odd that we are paying Bob $87K a year (to do his job) a new employee $76K a year to help Bob do his job, and a 10% differential to an existing employee to help train the person that will be helping Bob do his job.

Next time the County Commission gets into a debate over replacing a $300 lawnmower, maybe they need to take a look at the auditor’s office employee compensation.

What will the next Mayor’s race look like

Last week I posted about how our current mayor could pull off running a 3rd term. He had two options on the table, he could somehow convince the Charter Revision Commission (which currently has NO members) to introduce it on the ballot, then convince the voters to approve it, OR he could have a fill-in for 4 years then run again after that.

Well the second part sparked quite a few speculators as to who could be that fill-in, or at least, who was asked.

The possible prospects who are serious about running for mayor could be anyone of these folks;

Rick Knobe, Michelle Erpenbach, Dean Karsky, Darrin Smith and possibly even Greg Jamison.

But one name kept popping up last week like the popping sound of a loud piped Harley, Jim Entenman.

I find it odd that Jim would even consider it, first off, the mayor just can’t leave for a month to Mexico in the middle of the winter, well of course GW Bush was always on vacation while president, so maybe he can. Jim also didn’t run for a second term as councilor wanting to get back to transitioning his family business. He’s a busy man, running a mega-motorcycle empire in Sioux Falls is a tough job.

Do I think Jim was asked to run? Sure. Do I think he will run? Not a chance.

UPDATE: The ‘Secret’ Ambulance Service negotiations

UPDATE: Here is the SD Supreme Court case City Attorney Loop-Hole Dave is referencing in the meeting: (DOC:Hanson v MINNEHAHA COUNTY 2014 26859 ).

As far as I am concerned, it doesn’t apply. Commissioner Dick Kelly actually went and toured a facility on his own (whether it was in official capacity or not), the distinction here is that Kelly didn’t tour the facility in a public forum, in other words, the public wasn’t invited on this tour, he acted alone. The packet that Med-Star was trying to give to the city councilors was originally presented during their appeal, which was a very public meeting at Carnegie (even though Dave told the councilors NOT to attend).

Not sure when the city attorney came to his senses, but as I understand it, the packet information was emailed to councilors yesterday.

To say last night’s City Council meeting was a little strange is an understatement. It all gets started with the attorney of Med-Star Ambulance and the owner of the company leaving a ‘packet’ for the councilors to read.

The attorney of Med-Star accuses the city of breaking state law by allowing a monopoly within it’s boundaries. Basically the city’s health director is recommending another ambulance provider for the city, but they have a stipulation in the contract that a competing ambulance service cannot do ‘non-emergency’ transfers within the city. Med-Star’s attorney says that is the sticking point. They also have complaints about the process in which a competitor was chosen, but what is more interesting is what the city attorney is telling councilors about their involvement with the process. Basically the Health Director of the city chose the winner of the contract and will recommend to the city council.

As for the packet, the city attorney is advising councilors they should not read it because according to an October 2014 Supreme Court ruling if the council is making a ‘judicial’ decision on a contract, like ambulance service, they can only be addressed by the competitors in a public meeting or forum.

Councilor Anderson brings up the fact that when councilors wanted to attend the public forum when the selection process was happening the city attorney told them not to. So which is loop-hole Dave? They can only gather information at a public forum that you tell them not to attend?

Councilor Staggers shared his frustration about how they are getting NO information before they have to vote on the resolution, and anytime they ask about it, they are told not to participate. Heck after the meeting, councilor Rolfing reprimanded Staggers for trying to talk to Med-Star’s owner.

I guess the city attorney’s mission is to make sure the city council is as less informed as possible before they vote on the resolution, and he is getting assistance from fellow councilors.

The city clerk though is ‘storing’ the packets until loop-hole Dave figures out what they can do with them.

There was also entertaining public testimony about taking your family Christmas pictures in front of the red dumpsters at Arrowhead Park. I’ll have video on that eventually.