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.