South DaCola

Editorial Cartoonist from South Dakota

Mayor Hubris

Mayor Hubris Mayor Subprime Mike Huether Mike Huether SF City Council Sioux Falls

Let the battle lines be drawn

l3wis 2Comments

Tuesday night’s city council meeting may be one of the most exciting in a long time, and it comes down to two items next to each other, 39 and 40.

Item 39 deals with the Paramedics Plus contract and rate increases. The city council really doesn’t have a choice on this one. If a majority votes against it, they could be sued by Paramedics Plus, so you ask, what’s the point? Trust me, the councilors have been asking themselves that very question.

But don’t think it will get passed quietly. Many former and current Paramedics Plus employees have been speaking out, so have some fire fighters, and mistreated patients and others with connections to REMSA. Expect to hear some interesting public testimony before the vote.

Then there is that little $25 million administration building, Item 40. Expect to hear more testimony, not only about the proposed building but about the 300 building and other unused space the city currently owns. But even if the council can sustain their 5 votes from last week (I suspect they will) they won’t be veto proof. Or can they get one of the 3 to flip (which is a possibility).

But the bigger question is, will Huether veto the repeal if it gets a 5-3 vote? It’s dangerous territory, he wouldn’t just be vetoing the 5 councilors he would be putting a big middle finger to all the voters who elected them to make prudent fiscal decisions. Four of them this past Spring heard it loud and clear from the constituents, they don’t want to see city government grow, they want their money spent on fixing our infrastructure, not paying another mortgage for a building we don’t need.

I also ask the question, if this building was so important, why didn’t we propose it before the indoor pool? We could have used the levee bond repayment to go as a down payment on this building, but instead we foolishly threw the money away on an indoor aquatic center we should have built with a private partnership.

If the mayor thinks his popularity is getting worse, I can guarantee if he vetoes the council on this one, he can kiss the governorship bye-bye. Because he will own that veto straight through the Fall of 2018.

Developers Development Mayor Hubris Mayor Subprime Mike Huether Mike Huether SF City Council Sioux Falls

Prominent Developer in Sioux Falls sends an email to city councilors ‘whining’ about how he has been treated by the Mayor and the Development Office

l3wis 6Comments

IMAG0088_1  IMAG0089_1

The wife of the developer and the mayor having an ‘engaging conversation’ in HyVee’s parking lot (Wednesday morning, 7-13-2016). When was the email sent to councilors? About 2 PM, that same day.

I won’t publish the entire email diatribe from the developer, his name, or the project he refers to, but I will give you some highlights of this seemingly ‘staged’ email.

“The administration eventually conceded that they could provide up to $15 million in bonding authority but “not a penny more”. On December 21, 2015 the City and the 2 private partners received the preliminary budget from — —- Construction. The — —- — structure was estimated to cost $17.3 million . . . . However instead of revising their budget to reflect this new reality the administration insisted that they would require the private sector to give them at least $2 million of the proposed private TIF which left us short by the same amount.”

He was basically saying the project cost jumped $2 million from what was originally proposed by the city, and they were not going to include that extra amount in the TIF. But where the email gets interestingly faux is towards the end;

“For the next 3 months the community develop office worked diligently with us to identify other sources of financing and or grants. We even attempted to find HUD affordable housing funds to help offset the joint budget shortfall.  At that point in late March the Mayor weighed in and decided that any additional monies needed to help offset the budget shortfall was considered “corporate welfare” and asked us to terminate the negotiations immediately.”

Corporate Welfare?! HUD Money?! LMAO! First off, the mayor is the queen of corporate welfare, this is the same guy who gave his tennis center $500K and then slapped his name on it and blockaded the parking lot. Secondly, HUD money for this project IS NOT EVEN REMOTELY AN OPTION!

“As I read this I realize it sounds as though I am whining. And yes I will admit there is a little bit in here. We, as developers, know the risks that every project may not work just like we thought going into it. But I think it is important for you all as policy makers to know the facts of what actually happened and not be swayed by current requests and excuses for an increase in budget. This project is too important for the future of —- to let politics get in the way of it succeeding. Thanks for letting me vent a little and feel free to contact me if you need any more additional information.”

While I will say, he is probably telling the truth about the process and numbers in his email, saying he is whining, is laying it on a bit thick. When on God’s green earth has a prominent developer in Sioux Falls given a rat’s behind about what the council thinks? They have always taken the back door approach through the administration and his minions in the development and planning offices.

Not sure what is cooking, but I suspect the mayor has a few of his ingredients in this stew.

Mayor Hubris Mayor Subprime Mike Huether Mike Huether Sioux Falls

These two paragraphs pretty much sum it up

l3wis 5Comments

Ellis points out something DaCola has known since this mayor (a subprime credit card salesman) started running for office;

The timing may be purely coincidental. But it will certainly be another example to some of how Sioux Falls over the last six years has been run more like a propaganda ministry than a city government.

During the current administration, the city has engaged in all sorts of inane dog-and-pony shows in an effort to control the news cycle with positive accounts of the city at work. City officials have strained themselves to come up with events to garner press coverage. During construction on what became the Denny Sanford Premier Center, it was almost as if they issued a press release every time a new window got installed. There have been events to show how roads get paved. To see the water plant. To talk about the propaganda minister’s colonoscopy. To do this. To do that.

Bout time someone in our local media awakened from the long 6 year sleep.

Mayor Hubris Mayor Subprime Mike Huether Mike Huether

Mayor Huether’s signature is absent on this Anti-Semitism ad

l3wis 5Comments

In an ad by the AJC in the Wall Street Journal today, only one mayor from South Dakota had his signature appear with 318 other mayors across the country in 50 states;

Mayor Steve Allender
Rapid City, SD

Not sure how rampant anti-Semitism is in Sioux Falls or South Dakota? I’m also not sure if Mayor Huether was ever contacted by the AJC to sign the ad? But if he was, what would be the harm in signing the ad, especially a mayor of the largest community in South Dakota that has a Jewish community? Or as he calls himself, ‘The Mayor of South Dakota’

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