UPDATE: Sioux Falls City Councilor could be facing ethics violations after tonight’s vote on Tre Ministries project
l3wis UPDATE: Remember when you were just a snot and you broke your mom’s favorite matador/bull sculpture and instead of just telling her you tried to fix it with school glue? Remember how that turned out? Apparently Mr. Spellerberg hasn’t had this experience, because of instead just admitting that he broke the matador, he tries to glue it back together;
Roll call vote to adopt. 6 Yes: Thomason, Basye, Cole, Merkouris, Sigette, Soehl; 0 No: (None). Motion Passed. Spellerberg was excused from the meeting and the vote on this item pursuant to City Ordinance 30.017.
This specific ordinance reads;
City council members may not abstain from voting, but may absent themselves from the meeting by physically leaving the meeting at the time an item is called by the clerk. Members with a financial interest in a matter shall disclose that interest and shall absent themselves from the meeting by physically leaving the meeting while the matter is considered.
In other words it is something financial, but what is more interesting is he didn’t follow the ordinance quoted in the minutes by telling us what that is (ex; loan security, board membership, personal assets, etc.) This get worse by the minute(s);
Spellerberg was excused from the meeting
Notice they said ‘excused’ instead of ‘recused’ there is a legal difference;
In legal and ethical terms, recuse is to withdraw from a case due to a conflict of interest, while excuse is a broader term for releasing someone from a duty or requirement, which can be due to reasons other than a conflict of interest. To recuse is a specific type of excuse, a voluntary action taken by a judicial official like a judge or juror to remove themselves from a case to avoid bias or the appearance of bias.
So which is it Fiddle Faddle and your trusty city clerk? I await your answer, of course, after your 500 board meetings. LMFAO!
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City council members may not abstain from voting, but may absent themselves from the meeting by physically leaving the meeting at the time an item is called by the clerk. Members with a financial interest in a matter shall disclose that interest and shall absent themselves from the meeting by physically leaving the meeting while the matter is considered.
It seems the neighborhood is all for the street closure and project at the council meeting tonight, so who am I to tell them otherwise? The city council did what they are supposed to do, listen to the neighbors and proceed. I personally don’t like the project because there really isn’t anything special about it which is troublesome so close to a historic neighborhood, but if the neighbors are fine with it, I support the council in their decision, BUT, Councilor Spellerberg didn’t follow city charter when he recused himself tonight;
35.056 DISCLOSURE OF INTEREST. City council members who have a financial interest in any matter pending before the city shall disclose that interest to other members of the city council, and shall refrain from further discussion of the matter; shall not be physically present when the subject is discussed in an executive session; and shall not vote on or participate further therein in any manner.
In other words when you are telling the rest of the council, you don’t do it in an email or private phone conversation, you make the announcement at the public meeting, as he did, and you TELL the council and the public what that conflict is, which he DID not. Several current councilors have followed this rule, when recusing themselves they tell the council and the public why they are recused. For example, Councilor Thomason has recused himself several times on an issue in which he serves on a board, and he told the council and the public in a public meeting WHY he was recused. This is the proper procedure. But the misstep tonight was just a culmination of conflicts. The city council has voted on this item three times before the second reading (a first reading and two deferrals) in August, September and October, and each time, Spellerberg voted and did not recuse himself. So why now? Not sure, but my educated guess is that he works for a company that is handling the finances of the developer, but who knows?
So let’s just say for a moment that Spellerberg didn’t have Tre Ministries as a client until after the last vote in October, that just makes it even more troubling because the passage of this item effects his bottom line. It would be one thing if he voted in August then withheld the next two, but I have a feeling he knew all along what he was concocting and this is why it is a serious ethics violation, I would even suggest he should be recalled, even if he wasn’t elected 🙁
The irony of this is that it is Ethics 101. When you have a conflict, you explain that to the public, you also don’t lie about that conflict for 9 months then recuse yourself when it matters. Ethics don’t work that way, they are not like laws that can be turned on and off, they are guide on how to govern, and if you don’t follow it, you are not only cheating your reputation but the citizens who put you there. This isn’t hard. You can’t just be ethical when it is convenient, which is exactly what councilor Spellerberg did.
I’m sure they will blame the city attorney for bad advice, but everyone and their cousin knows he is a legal dolt. Just watch his stellar performance at the informational today where he did everything in his power to shut down open meetings and transparency, even claiming at one point that the city has 500 separate board meetings a year. I literally busted up laughing when he said that and went to the city calendar. The city has about 75-100 board/committee meetings a year with about a third of them being canceled. I’m not sure where the 500 number came from, but I am assuming Fiddle-Faddle thinks having a Diet Coke with the Mayor in a city hall hallway constitutes a board meeting. Or maybe he is referring to having a couple of micro-brews and Fireball shots at a downtown bar as a ‘board meeting’?
I know it is hard to see with all the political turmoil going on right now, but our city government is corrupt, and the sad part is they don’t even realize it.
