Ethics

Sioux Falls City Councilors are oblivious to ethics and transparency

And the unethical behavior continues!

A committee with representation from community members, city council and city administrators looked through the applications and chose which organizations best fit into those three categories and served the needs of Sioux Falls. 

City councilor Miranda Bayse was originally on the committee, however, a conflict of interest with one of the nonprofits caused her to step away from the reviewing and voting on the organizations. She still offered insight to KELOLAND News about the new process. 

Bayse said the proposals exceeded the budget, so committee members had to be selective about which nonprofits received funding from the city. 

“The coliseum and what happens in that space is very important,” Bayse said in an interview with KELOLAND News Tuesday. “I don’t know the answer, but if funding isn’t feasible in the budget, are there other ways as a community to support and encourage the things that happen in that space?” 

Bayse also acknowledged the timeline to submit and review proposals was tight, which could have played a role in why some organizations received funding while others did not. 

Isn’t it interesting how she knows so much about the review process yet she claims she stepped away from it. She was likely in on the meetings, and even if she didn’t vote she can influence other members. It’s pretty simple, if you have a conflict, your recuse yourself before the process even begins. You also tell the public what that conflict is and you certainly can’t vote or influence other councilors. Three strikes against Lucy.

It almost seems like they are proud of what they can get away with. After the city election in June if crap doesn’t shape up I am going to file ethics complaints against the mayor, city councilors and city employees. It’s time they learn what it means to be ethical because this type of blazen behavior erodes public trust immensely.

Mayor TenHaken appoints former city clerk to ethics commission

Board Appointments (Item #36)

Lori Hogstad was a good city clerk. She stepped in when they fired Debra Owen, leaving licensing and taking over a whole new department. While I disagreed with how Owen was let go, that had nothing to do with Hogstad, she was just stepping up. I also have NO doubt that she would be a fair juror on the ethics commission, but the conflicts with former employees could be an issue in which she would have to recuse herself.

But the conflicts are NOT the major issue here. We are a city of 200K+, why do we always pick the same people and former public officials for these positions? LAZINESS. The mayor and his staff don’t encourage board application and they don’t VET all the applicants, instead the mayor goes trolling for friends or friends of friends. A horrible way to govern, but no surprise from a guy who has NO leadership skills.

I couldn’t agree more with Mr. Kirby

Joe did a great blog post today about the charter. While I disagree with some of his premises and anecdotes he is right about ONE thing;

City government would be improved if we established a better separation of powers while at the same time, strengthening the role of our legislature. Here are some changes I think are worth considering in the charter and/or the way city government operates.

  1. Take the next mayor off the city council to establish better separation of powers.

I think this would FORCE the council to do policy because they would be running their own meetings and agendas. This doesn’t mean the mayor could not still present policy but he would have to get at least ONE sponsor on the council and if it really is HIS policy and not something a department head cooked up, he needs to come to the council and present.

I think the charter has worked well also, but the biggest problem is the laziness of the councils since and the corruption at city hall. This of course spells incompetence.

Some rules and regs really do work, but you must apply them, this city has NOT when it comes to policy and our legislative branch.

City of Sioux Falls Executive Order 175

I believe Mayor Huether instituted this EO after certain city employees were letting citizens and journalists in on stuff the mayor was trying to cover up.

There is a difference between keeping confidential documents secure and keeping important public information away from citizens.

All this EO does is intimidate city employees so they don’t whistle blow.

I tell public employees if you see something corrupt the city government is doing you need to report it. I think public employees have a duty to report corruption.

Argus Leader Case against the City of Sioux Falls thrown out

I figured a judge would toss this. (Actually an injunction was denied, the case can still move forward) never understood the argument they were making. The Dakota Scout could not register until after the legislature changed the law.

I think the bigger issue here is the MASSIVE CONFLICT OF INTEREST. I think if not a few, ALL councilors knew that Paulson was an investor and all 9 councilors (includes mayor) have received money and campaign assistance from the email farmer.

But let’s play an ignorant constituent and PRETEND that the council had NO clue who the investors were. If that were the case, why did they vote on this? They know that they have to file a investor disclosure with the SOS and that disclosure should have been a public document BEFORE the council voted. But somehow that filing got mysteriously misplaced.

Shananigans.

This case should have never been about timelines, it’s about a council who has NO ethics and approves a contract that will benefit an investor. And I would argue that Paulson isn’t really benefitting monetarily, but he does control the narrative. You know, like when you reject a mural because you think it is racist, and the media, including the DS didn’t touch the story with a ten foot pool. Shocker!

This case isn’t a question of legality, the Dakota Scout met SOME of those requirements, it is a ETHICAL issue and ALL 9 on that DAIS need to taken to the ethics commission, one by one, and dealt their punishment.

My position on the matter hasn’t changed. The internet has been in existence for over 30 years, it is time to embrace it. Public notices in a paper with a circulation of 5,000 or even 7,000 isn’t cutting it. Nobody goes and reads 6 point type in a paper you pickup at Burger King. Give me a break! It is laughable to think that even one single person is getting their legals from a printed paper.

If you want to see public notices, you can, 24/7, 365 days a year, for free, ONLINE! And if you still want to resist the evil internet you can go to the clerk’s office (unfortunately they don’t serve cheeseburgers) and get a print out. This isn’t hard folks. Stop wasting tax dollars on a service that virtually 1% population MAY use.

Maybe the city could have Legal Notice Mondays and have food trucks in front of Carnegie that wrap your sandwiches in printed out legal notices! Bet you would reach about half of the population that way, because if there is one thing Sioux Falls is good at, it’s eating!

It’s all pretty damn ridiculous how our state legislature crafts laws. They still think it is 1952.