UPDATE: Sioux Falls Municipal Election Candidate(s) announcement next week
l3wis As I understand it from my sources there is going to be some change ups in the mayoral race and city council race. Hope to have more details early next week.
2018
BREAKING: Tooth Fairy authorized Flat Siding installation on Events Center
Okay, it was a little hard getting a hold of the Tooth Fairy, with her busy schedule and all, but she was able to have a short interview with me about her roll in ‘Siding Gate’ and who actually authorized the flat panel installation.
ME: Sorry to interrupt your busy schedule . . .
TF: No problem Detroit, I needed a break anyway. I’m in the middle of editing the Book of Mormon right now, and it’s a stickler.
ME: So tell me how you got involved with authorizing the flat siding on the EC.
TF: See, whenever Mayor Huether needs someone to sign off on something controversial he has a group of us in rotation to pick from, and it was my turn, unfortunately.
ME: A group of you?
TF: Yeah, it’s Me, Santa Clause, The Easter Bunny, Mickey Mouse and of course Mark Cotter.
ME: That explains why Mark signed off on the TIF Mayor Huether’s wife got for an apartment project she invested in.
TF: Exactly!
ME: Why did the Mayor consider the flat panels controversial?
TF: You are kidding me? Right?
ME: Uh, No.
TF: See, he had his panties in a bunch about getting the Premier Center done on time and under budget because SMG had this ‘grand’ idea to book acts before they even had the toilets installed, so to cut corners they decided to ditch pre-curved panels for flat ones, saving the city oodles of time and money. You know, it’s all about the present with Mike, that whole doing important things with the day God gave you.
ME: Didn’t he know this would bite him in the butt eventually?
TF: Of course he did, that’s why he had city attorney Fiddle-Faddle draw up a secret settlement and me sign off on the panels. All in a day’s work, I guess, until the SD Supreme Court had to meddle with it.
ME: Well, thanks for clearing that up. BTW, is there any other projects he had you sign off on we should know about?
TF: Not that I can think of. Santa handled the Administration Building and I think the Easter Bunny was involved with the DT Parking Ramp.
ME: What about the Quit Claim Deed on Spellerberg Park?
TF: Uh . . . gotta go . . . the Mormons are calling.
This is satire. The Tooth Fairy does not exist and is a fictional character. Unfortunately the flat panels do exist and look like crap.
Knobe on Lalley Show: Next mayor may change public input
Rick Knobe was the guest on The Good Ship Lalley Pop show today. During the first segment, Councilor Stehly messaged them on FB saying, “Public Input remains as is.” Knobe had pushed in the pass to have it changed.
Knobe responded that some of the mayoral candidates have considered changing the way we do public input if they win. He says it has become ‘disrespectful’. While I don’t disagree with that to a certain extent, the disrespect is not only coming from the public but from the dias, mainly the mayor. Either way, the 1st Amendment doesn’t stipulate ‘respect’. I also believe respect is earned. I don’t think I have to respect people who show me none.
Also, Public Input needs to remain at the beginning. The public isn’t getting paid to attend these meetings and there is no reason for them to sit through an entire meeting waiting to give their grievances. The mayor, city councilors and city staff are getting paid to attend, they can wait to do business until after public input.
I also think public input should extend to 1st readings and at the informational meetings.
If any mayoral candidate comes out publicly and says they will change public input to make it more difficult for citizens to participate in their government, they will certainly hear about it at the ballot box.
Greasy Palms (Guest Post)
A recent Argus Leader article shed light on the mayors race as it relates to political contributions. The council races are the same, some with lots of money, some not so much. The one’s with money usually win out in the end. It does not always have to be this way. The deep pocket candidates of the mayors race will spend a lot of money on newspaper ads, radio airtime, and television spots. Repeat the same name over and over again to a hurried, busy electorate, and the same special interests get their man/woman in. If you’ve followed the council meetings at all, and draw a parallel between important council votes, and political contributions, you know deep pockets get what they want.
What needs to be different? Print, radio air, and television need to give equal time to all candidates, and all issues some important to all the citizens in these races. This blog does a great job. The Argus has also been good. Same for Patrick Lalley. The others need to improve to give all candidates their due, especially in the runoff elections. Without some form of leveling the playing field, council members like Stehly, Starr, and Neitzert will not exist under the new rules the rubber stampers want in place. We desperately need council members like these three.
HERE is a quick link to see the candidates history of who gave how much to who. Very telling.
Remember, he who greases the palm is whose a$$ to kiss.
Even with a double-dipping attorney and a over a million in salaries, the city of Sioux Falls has to hire outside counsel
As you know, we have been asking for years how much the city spends on outside legal counsel. We have gotten the run-a-round in the past, saying that each department budgets separately for the work. You know, like there isn’t a spreadsheet somewhere on the total expenditures. Must be on the same hard drive as the no-mow list.
We have often wondered why the city uses expensive outside counsel when the city attorney’s office has $1.16 million in salaries (not including benefits) and a double-dipping retired city attorney, Diane Best working part-time for them at $48.57 per hour (collecting her pension while also receiving a part-time wage).
I don’t question the workload, I question the expertise of our city attorney’s office. Why even have several staff attorneys (7 full-time) when we just hire out the difficult stuff? Might as well just have one paralegal that hires the outside counsel.
Like the engineering department, we have speculated a couple of reasons why they use outside consultants.
- Accountability. When something needs to be justified or goes wrong, it’s easy to put it on the backs of independent consultants, for example raising water fees, applying flat siding on a building or recommending a bad location for an indoor pool.
- Tie up your competition. Ask anyone who has tried to sue the city and find out how difficult it is to find a local attorney to take the job. The city keeps dozens of law firms on retainer to make it more difficult for individuals to find an attorney to represent them.
This sucks for several reasons, obviously it costs the taxpayers a lot of money, and it works against our best interest in keeping taxes and fees low.
The next mayor needs to demand the outside counsel and consulting budgets of each department and put it under one umbrella. They also need to clean house in the city attorney’s office and hire competent and confident legal counsel.