‘firm belief in the reliability, truth, ability, or strength of someone or something.’
With the council suddenly decided they wanted to do something about transparency, this word popped in my head. The public no longer ‘trusts’ elected officials. Why is that? We could go into a long diatribe about how they vote, who funds their campaigns and all of their conflicts of interest and multiple ethics and open meeting violations, it is some of that, but all of that corruption occurred because of closed government, which has been intentional for almost 20 years.
The timing is ALSO suspect. Councilor Merkouris who was just appointed council chair (this is a little game they play when an incumbent is up for reelection, they appoint them as chair so it looks like they are important.) I have never understood the game, because most people watching it, know what is going on. Merkouris has had 4 years to make these changes, but has fought them all the way. Why? Because corruption cannot occur in a transparent government. Merkouris is up for reelection and has a challenger, this is why he is doing it. Let’s look at Rich’s track record. He headed up the homeless task force that barely made a dent in homelessness and has actually gotten worse. Even though they have tons of national support to help with a solution they instead blew money on marketing campaigns, unneeded ordinances and a fence.
I don’t trust him farther then I can throw him. Maybe less.
Here are Merkouris’ transparency concepts (that I suspect will get watered down and amended before the council takes final action);
- Creating consistent public input opportunities across boards and committee meetings as a way to make sure expectations are clear for when folks can weigh in,
- Finding ways to improve how various entities give notice when a meeting is going to happen,
- Creating consistency in meeting locations,
- And looking at ways to improve meeting agendas so people understand what decisions are being made when they show up.
While I have stated that I have been after the council for almost 20 years about transparency I proposed almost every single one of these proposals to Brekke and Stehly, they tried to get some stuff passed but got tons of push back, this is WHY I don’t trust Merkouris on this.
Here are my suggestions;
• Public input at ALL public meetings should be at the beginning of the meeting between the consent agenda and 1st Readings of items. It should be 5 minutes and no limit on how many people can testify.
• Post all agendas for ALL meetings on the same agenda page, and have a BIG BUTTON LINK to the agenda page at the top of the city’s home page website.
• Have ALL meetings at Carnegie, Main Conference Room of Admin or City Hall Chambers ONLY! Record ALL meetings and post on YouTube and stream in real time. Have meetings when people can attend or watch. I have said all public meetings should be after 5:30 PM Mon-Friday so people can attend. I would also do an experiment with Saturday meetings.
• This is a Mike Zitterich idea; There should be a Q & A with the council and mayor in the Carnegie overflow room on the last day of the month 30 Minutes before the regular scheduled meeting. This would be a wonderful chance for constituents to ask questions with the help of the media. It would really show you cared about transparency AND it would probably alleviate the volatile public input during the regular meeting.
• Eliminate the rule that you can’t interact or engage with the public. I think Huether* got rid of this rule. It pisses people off and irritates them that you can’t answer simple questions. Munson was famous for interacting with constituents, he kind of had a special talent for it. I find it ironic that Paul breaks this rule EVERY meeting when he cuts people off and gets into an argument with them. The next time he tries to censor me, I think I will bring up he is breaking decorum rules.
I also think the next mayor needs to hire a director level Public Information Officer who manages transparency and records for the city. I will agree with council on one thing, it is NOT their job to manage meetings, that is staff.
All of this stuff is Transparency 101, that’s why I don’t trust much will come from this, except more closed government. I want people to know I HATE PETITION DRIVES, they are messy, they can involve court cases, they are hard work, and, most of all they should be UNNECESSARY. Why? Because our Sioux Falls city council is a non-partisan representative government, that means they should vote and create policy around what the constituents want.
*MY MAN MIKE MIGHT RUN FOR SOMETHING?
So Huether is either running for Mayor, Governor or US Congress against Jackboots as an Indy. But I am also hearing he is SCARED TO DEATH of losing. That is why I am going with US Congress. It would be most beneficial to him to be in DC, and Jackboots is a flawed candidate involved in gobs of scandals;
Gear UP
EB-4
SOS state cover-up (he decided since Gant and Pitty didn’t steal money from the petty cash drawer they were innocent).
DCI Sexual Harrassment and the list goes on. (oh and he buried the investigation of Huether hitting Cameraman Bruce.)
Huether can beat Jackboots, and he doesn’t like to lose. We will see. (but I really hope he runs against Dusty, because that ass whooping will be fun to watch.)