March 2024

Did the City of Sioux Falls Finance Director call a city councilor a S.O.B. after getting eviscerated about closed government?

l3wis March 12, 2024 11Comments

It didn’t happen on the big screen, but after the city’s finance director got his ass handed to him by city councilor Pat Starr he grumbled off and several constituents overheard him call Starr a S.O.B. under his breath. Wasn’t there, so I can’t verify that, but it wouldn’t surprise me coming from the children running city hall these days. Someone must have forgotten their Capri Sun before the meeting.

Basically Pat (and over half the council) have been requesting financial statements from the Event Center, Pavilion, Canaries, etc., and those requests go thru the finance department.

The council isn’t looking for final audits and the nitty gritty, they just want to see profit and loss.

I know why the administration doesn’t want to share the info, because they are making oodles of money, shipping those profits out of town, while the oblivious taxpayers of Sioux Falls are sporting the mortgage and maintenance on these facilities to close to around $10-20 million a year (which sucks directly from our infrastructure needs). Don’t be fooled by operational expenses and sales tax revenue, the city throws millions at these facilities in bond payments and maintenance. Just look at the $6 million dollar roof on the Pavilion.

So what do you think is more important? A new ice cooler for the Pavilion or safe de-iced roads?

The Pavilion and Denty are money vacuums and little else. And one of them is named after an accused and aledged pedophile. Oh, and it’s not George Washington.

Think about it, while most of us can’t afford a $200-$400 ticket to events, we still have to subsidize their maintenance, operations, parking, bonds, and the list goes on, yet we still can’t afford to walk thru it’s doors.

I actually used a free pass last weekend to visit the Pavilion’s art center and science center. Um, yawn.

But let’s get to the transparency issue. Apparently the finance director took issue with Starr’s questions, and he should. As a good Dutch Reform Mafia member, transparency is NOT an option, and when councilors are openly talking about your militant rejection of open government, I’m sure you are a bit confused and befuddled.

Sharing information; GOOD!

Hiding Stuff; BAD!

The taxpayers of Sioux Falls fund these facilities, we have a right to know their finances, even if the people asking are Sons a Bitches, because we all know, the peeps that are supposed to be answering these questions are probably of the same ilk, but likely a lot worse.

Here is a link to the testimony (Item #26) and public input, where a council candidate for the NE district, Mr. Jeske, skewers the mayor and his executive staff and salaries.

*Also, if you follow the discussion on the financial information, you will notice one of the finance director’s excuses against delaying a municipal liquor license was because of upcoming scheduled events.

What a gigantic line of BS! First off, it is a municipal license, the city can start or stop that whenever, it is THEIR license. On top of that, let’s pretend we have to wait, these facilities already have active liquor licenses and access, the city could delay these licenses for 400 years and they would still be valid!

Sioux Falls City Clerk, Jermery Washington, tells me Executive Orders are by request only

l3wis March 12, 2024 3Comments

I have been (trying) to work with the new City of Sioux Falls city clerk and access to executive orders, but recently he responded to me in an email;

I found out that you can request the Executive Orders through a public records request.  Do you have specific ones in mind that you’d like to see?

This was my response;

Jermery,

Thanks for getting back to me.

 

How can I request an executive order if I have NO IDEA what they are? That is why I want to review them, to read them all and see what is on the books. There is no ‘specific’ order I am looking for.

 

When I asked you originally, I told you that the City Clerk’s office used to have those records (because, well, your the city clerk). Why can’t the public access them either online or review them at your offices?

 

WHY?

 

This is public information and should be available WITHOUT a records request.

 

I will work with some councilors to make those available.

As you can see, the new city clerk has NO intention of working with the public to share crucial information. You do know Jermery you work for me and the city council, and the city attorney’s office and mayor are NOT your direct supervisor. You are the CLERK of the city, that means you are responsible for the records of the city and disseminating that information.

And when I try to get help from the assistant city clerks they hide under their desks. Literally.

I’m not sure who is putting the fear of God in city employees, but I am sure they couldn’t hurt a fly (unless they were wearing their man capris.)

Sioux Falls Candidate Forums

l3wis March 12, 2024 0Comments

If the 7-9% of voters that will vote in the upcoming city election are still undecided, the candidate forums are a great place to start;

Sioux Falls League of Women Voters

School Board Candidate Forum • Wednesday, March 13th @ 6:30pm • Instructional Planning Center • 201 E 38th St.

City Council Candidate Forum • Thursday, March 14th @ 5:30pm • Carnegie Town Hall • 235 W 10th St.

Both will likely livestream on Facebook and Youtube.

These are the best links I can provide;

SCHOOL (Youtube, FB)

CITY (Youtube, FB)

LWV (Youtube, FB)

Councilor Neitzert pretty much summed the city election in this interview (surprised the Argus did a story about the upcoming election, I thought maybe it was too hard of an article for the high school journalist class running the place these days

Neitzert also said recent concerted efforts to recruit and fund nominees could be “potentially discouraging” to candidates who didn’t have that level of backing.

It’s not potentially discouraging, it just is. Anybody who has the common sense to even consider running for office sees you can’t fight the Poops money machine, so why put yourself out there only to get beat up?

I advise people that are considering running for office, don’t worry about your image, worry about your context. If someone doesn’t want to vote for you based on image, you don’t want their vote anyway.

Shallow people can take a flying . . .

It’s Sunshine Week!

l3wis March 11, 2024 8Comments

And let the darkness continue;

This space has been used at length and often to chronicle how the Noem administration has been less than open, less than willing to let the sun shine in: 

• As per Noem’s directive, reporters aren’t allowed to talk directly to government sources but must instead submit questions to the department’s public information officer who may, or may not, decide to provide answers. 
• The governor has largely given up on the weekly news conferences traditionally held during the legislative session. 
• During her one, hastily called, legislative press conference this year, she admitted that the cost of deploying National Guard troops to monitor the Texas border was being paid for by South Dakota taxpayers. 
• The Freedom Works Here workforce development commercials starring Noem came under legislative fire for the way that the winning bidder was selected and how that bidder came into possession of ideas submitted in Lawrence and Schiller’s bid.
• ”Security” has been invoked as the reason for not divulging how much it costs to protect the much-traveled governor.
• She refused to release transcripts of the calls to the “whistleblower hotline” set up to collect complaints about the state’s institutions of higher learning. 

Government openness is dependent on our leaders recognizing its importance and acting in a way that sheds light on the bureaucracy. Despite running for office with a “Sunshine Initiative,” Noem has worked tirelessly to ensure that the workings of her administration be encased in darkness.

Many of the things Noem does in the name of closed government, Mayor Poops follows suit.

Paul stopped having his weekly briefings with council leadership, I believe 1-2 years ago. He is on complete information shutdown. There is going to be a very dark cloud hanging over Sioux Falls for the next two years since the upcoming election is pretty much done already and the rubber stampers have their orders!

Hopefully the news will come out soon, but Paul has been actively bullying a candidate for city council, and they have significant proof, and the mayor is aware. I can’t give a lot of details because this needs to come from the candidate. But once this hits the news, Poops is going to wish he could do the whole Delbridge Animal thingy over again instead (how is that coming along anyway? Do you have all your collector friends lined up for the giveaway?)

I also have an update about the school board candidate who 1) has a conflict of interest and really can’t serve on the school board because of the Title 9 gymnastics lawsuit (she is a plaintiff) and 2) she filled out campaign forms fraudulently, TWICE! I guess our local news media is still confused as to what she did wrong. I’m sure if the form was hanging on a menu board of a food truck they would cover the story. Lazy & Dumb, that’s our local press corp!