Mayor Huether a finalist for the 2018 Golden Padlock Award

He may not win, but I’m guessing there won’t be a press release about this honor on the city’s website;

Sioux Falls Mayor Mike Huether: For going beyond even state law to shroud public business in secrecy. In early 2017, the city council passed an ordinance to require meetings of a city board to be recorded and published on the city website. Huether vetoed the bill and said: “Here’s the way (transparency) works: It protects you one minute. It stabs you in the back the next.” The Argus Leader newspaper filed a lawsuit in 2015 against the city that went all the way to the South Dakota Supreme Court to get a simple contract detailing what the city called a $1 million refund from a settlement over flawed siding installed on a $115 million event center. After the court ruled in the newspaper’s favor in September 2017, the documents showed city officials weren’t telling the truth: The city received less than half of what Huether claimed. After the drowning of a 5-year-old girl in a park in March, the city defended its safety protocols by citing a 2016 audit officials said was conducted on the park. City officials denied the Argus Leader’s request for a copy of the audit, claiming it belonged to the insurance company. When the newspaper contacted the insurance company, reporters confirmed no such audit exists. Huether is term-limited but has indicated he’d seek public office in the future.

Surprised he wasn’t a finalist every year of his administration.

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