Worked for me
l3wis 
Mayor Subprime Mike Huether
Citizen Advocate, Tim Stenga, gets cut off by the mayor
I have always enjoyed Tim’s rants at the beginning of the City Council meetings (FF: 7:50), but it seems he touched a nerve with Mayor Subprime. Tim finally brings up the incident where the mayor summoned him to his office and asked him, “Who are you working for?” Tim told him tonight, and went on a fantastic tirade about the wasteful spending by the city, in which Mike cut him off at 3:45 minutes. Citizens are allowed 5 minutes as long as they are not being threatening or abusive in their testimony, which Tim was not. It was great to see Joe Six-Pack making an impression. (just for the record, I have never met Tim or have spoken with him. I know it is only a matter of time though. In other words, he’s not working for me, but I am fitting him for a South DaCola foot soldier uniform).
Go get em’ tiger!
Huether’s State of the City address, “We got oodles of money for a new Events Center”
But let’s raise rates on water and sewer to pay for new pipes. Makes sense? Right?
The city last year came in under budget, had $41.7 million in general reserves and another unobligated $4 million in its capital budget.
“Those are extra dollars in the cookie jar,” Huether said.
Reserves are important, he added, because they’re on hand to pay for emergencies or rising costs – or for potential “large investments.”
This has often puzzled me, not just about Huether, but many politicians pull this crap. Doogard pulled it during the campaign, he claimed SD was in great financial shape then slashed education. Huether claims we have all kinds of reserves to help pay for a new EC, which is most likely true, but at the same time we are told we must raise water and sewer rates to pay for new pipes. Shouldn’t we be using that money instead?
Fucked priorities.
UPDATED: Seems Mayor Huether needs to check his timelines and history on the Events Center debate
UPDATE: It seems at this point that Mike was misquoted according to my sources. But we will still see what the video says. I’m watching the video now, and will give you an update. If you Fast Forward to 50:00 min, you can hear the EC discussion. No where does Huether mention we voted on the 2001 proposal. He talks about the proposal, but that’s it.
Either that, or the Argue Endorser had another one of their classic mis-quotes (not like that ever happens 🙂
“Somebody give me the right time to build an events center,” the mayor said. He noted that in 2001, voters turned down a $60 million proposal to build an events center and a recreation center.
Was I living in some other town? Because I don’t remember that. From the Mar. 20 edition of the AL in the Voices section, titled “Timelines for events centers in Sioux Falls, Lincoln, Neb.”:
•2001: Forward Sioux Falls hires Minneapolis consultant to study options for replacing Arena. The consultant suggests building a 12,000-seat arena and a recreation complex for hockey, tennis and swimming. Cost estimates at up to $60 million.
•2003: Former Mayor Dave Munson says he wants a 12,000-seat events center to open along Phillips Avenue near Falls Park by 2008 to tie into a riverfront redevelopment plan.
•2004: Munson names task force to study feasibility of events center and recreation center. The task force recommends a 12,000-seat arena downtown, renovation of Arena and a new recreation center at Nelson Park.
•2005: Voters reject recreation center proposal. In light of public sentiment against that project, the Arena proposal is not pursued.
Voters have never voted on an events center. But like I said above, it is still a mystery who flubbed. The video is not yet up on the city-link’s website and I did not attend, so I can only trust what Harriman said.
Huether’s Mexican Hat Dance
There were two separate articles today in the Argue Endorser with quotes from the mayor. He should turn the Listening and Learning sessions into a comedy routine.
Let’s first start with his response to blogs on the inter-web-nets, specifically, Holsen’s blog, who supported him, then didn’t support him, and now has an axe to grind, all the while feeding from the same trough as Huether;
Her thoughts on Huether have soured quickly: During the runoff election she supported him and even donated to his campaign.
Holsen said she’s always had strong opinions about issues. But in government, her job was to serve the mayor she worked for, and she kept her opinions to herself. Retirement and the glories of the Internet have set her free.
Huh? You worked for the taxpayers of this city, not a mayor. If a mayor was abusing the system, you had an obligation to tell the public. Who knows how many secrets Holsen flushed down the toilet about Munson? As for supporting Huether, no surprise there. Kermit called your ass out so many times I’m sure it started to get sore anytime you saw him in the same room. So, I’m sure it is pretty easy to complain about a guy you supported, simply because you didn’t like Kermit.
But let’s focus on Mike’s silly-talk;
“Occasionally,” he said, “I’ll get a Google alert. And when I read her stuff, half of it is kind of on base. And the other half of it is pure, made-up junk. So I don’t know who’s feeding her. I don’t know where she’s getting her information, and I don’t know why she’s doing this.”
OMG! LMFAO! I hope you get a Google alert about this statement, “You are the corniest politician I have ever heard speak!”
JUNK?
Holsen’s response would match mine if he were talking about me (in which he is, a little);
Anyhow, nobody is feeding her information, she insists. City employees do not provide her with material for her blog. She gets her information by reading the newspaper, watching City Council meetings and other city productions. She formulates opinions based on what she sees in public and based on her experience in government.
Do I get tips from city representatives? Yup. But trust me, I am not a junk peddler unless it has to do with my art 🙂
I formed an opinion about Mike early on, and I was spot on. Way before Staggers had him pegged. Kermit even said to me, “How did you know he was going to be in the runoff with me?”
Because people are naive, and believe what a well dressed, well groomed man tells them.
PART II
A better exchange of quotes happens between Huether and councilor Jamison;
Huether said the saved money is burning a hole in some City Council members’ pockets. “Some elected officials, their first reaction is, ‘OK, let’s spend it.’ I don’t get that. You worked hard to save it. Your first reaction shouldn’t be, ‘Let’s go spend it,’ ” Huether said.
Jamison responds;
“If we don’t have any priorities that need to be addressed, if our roads are smooth and wide enough and traffic is moving like it should, yeah, do something else with the $3.8 million. Save it,” Jamison said.
Until then, the money should be used for necessary projects, especially roads, Jamison said, something for which he found support when polling other council members.
I have never understood this whole ‘savings account’ attitude with taxpayer money. If you have enough leftover for a savings account, you are either over-taxing us or under serving us (both could be said to be true.)
But Jamison added that in a meeting last week among himself, Huether, and council members Sue Aguilar and Michelle Erpenbach, Huether “threatened me that if I did bring that up Monday, he would make sure the people of Sioux Falls knew that spending that $3.8 million right now would have a negative impact to the city,” Jamison said. “So, I guess, here we go.”
Spending money on streets and infrastructure is Negative? Is this the Day of Dead? Am I missing some party?
Huether later downplayed Jamison’s use of “threatened.”
“If that’s the way he wants to characterize it, so be it, I guess,” the mayor said.
Mike. Kinda sounds like a threat to me. And since you have most of the media sources in town by the balls, you could probably make good on that promise.
While I could care less about the pissing matches between Huether, Holsen and the council, I just find his lying appalling.
Strike up the Mariachi band!