I have been tracking Sioux Falls city government for several years now, and nothing surprises me anymore. For instance, city councilor Quen Be De Knudson had this to say in a joint County/Council meeting on monday;
“I can’t wait until we can raise the retail tax to 7 cents so we can build all kinds of wonderful projects for this city.”
In which, Staggers laughingly responded, but he was chuckling so hard I could not understand him. I can about imagine what he was thinking silently.
There are some words that never should come out of a city official’s mouth. Take, for example, Exhibit A – a comment regarding how much money Sioux Falls has received from the federal economic stimulus package. “I don’t know that the total dollar amount is that important,” City Councilor Pat Costello says.
Yeah, I thought it was a pretty silly thing to say, but no surprise. It seems most of our council have no clue what it means to be accountable to the tax payers as a public official.
But given that this is an accountability issue, that’s exactly the kind of efforts city residents expect local officials to undertake, if that’s what’s required to get the job done.
I was listening to KSOO the other afternoon and heard one of the councilors being asked about the fed funds that they have received. Oldie Juan Knobe asked, “How do you know how much has been used” to which the councilor replied “We hired a consultant to audit the process.” Shocker.
Why do we need to have elected officials when consultants can do all the work? Who was the councilor?
Isn’t that the chief of staff’s job? She is the stim coordinator.
She is the stim coordinator.
Something tells me the job desription for that position isn’t what you think it is…