This was submitted to South DaCola;
Joe Kirby’s (Huether and administration) amendment does much more than contracts, frankly it would gut the council and reduce them to a rubber stamping committee — of which they are not far from now.
Having the mayor to be able to hire/fire council employees is a huge threat to internal audit and any staffer of the council.
The mayor has the authority to hire and fire his own employees — if that is what the Charter Revision wants to repeat in Charter, fine, BUT clearly state that this applies to employees of the mayor NOT the council. (Again, the mayor/administration want to have internal audit BACK and under their thumbs. This is a MUCH bigger threat than just contracts.)
Second, the City purchased a software program (SIRE) in early 2011. It now runs the CC meetings and assists with agenda management, the software was purchased to address document imaging and managing those documents electronically. The City has the software to post ALL contracts/agreements online now (making them available to the public) — in fact this should have been accomplished last year. I think the City spent $100K for SIRE so it is ridiculous that this system is not up and running and providing more transparency to the public for contracts/agreements.
*CRC member De Knudson claimed during the last meeting that the software wasn’t available yet to post contracts, but that is not true.
Third, a number of departments and recipients of city contracts DO NOT want those contracts/agreements public. Why? Well if you are a conspiracy theorist, like myself, it would expose the inside deals the mayor provides to his special interests/friends.
A recent example is a contract between Mayor Munson and Council Member Beninga. BTW, this contract was NOT on the City’s current document management system (called the AS400). An internal auditor found the contract at Transit. The contract reduced the fee (which is specified in city ordinance) to the Center of Active Generations. (Beninga manages Center for Active Generations) Center for Active Generations riders were permitted to ride the City Transit system for a reduced fare (in violation of city ordinance) because of this contract between a mayor and council member. (See September Audit Committee’s report on Transit:
Transitaudit)
Last, a number of circumspect contracts/agreements do not get posted on the current AS400 system. In a council working session last year ,the budget analyst when doing research for council, found a contract that the Landfill Supervisor signed, in violation of the city ordinance. (The mayor is to sign all contracts and the clerk’s office attests to his signature — unless the mayor is out of town.) These contracts were not in the AS400 but were found with the vendor of the city by the budget analyst. Contracts are important but the council staff needs to remain independent from the mayor/administration to do their job — especially internal audit. The proposed revision to the Charter would jeopardize the independence of internal audit.
As you can see, the handling of contracts goes much, much deeper then a change by the CRC. And for the record, I am not revealing my source to anyone, besides, I am still unclear who it is – but it doesn’t matter, because I fact checked all of the submitted material and edited anything I could not verify.
Hmm, Tweed —> Richard Daily —> Huether??? IDK, think MMM’s a little too small time for that group…maybe Boss Hogg???
Seriously, though, are the majority of citizens in this city such sheep that this stuff raises no interest, much less concern? The mass apathy (willful ignorance?) of the people (and “media”) of Sioux Falls makes me ill! Maybe they’ve all become numb to it after all the years of Bill Janklow pulling a similar act – but to credit the former Gov, his machinations often produced valuable benefits for the people of the state. MMM is on some kind of self-validating ego trip – goaded on by a few select individuals who stand to profit.
The problem is simple – our media just won’t cover this stuff other than the simple press release-type stories. At the very most, there will be an edited criticism from a city council member included in the story. No way anybody at KELO, KSFY, or (especially) KDLT has the brains to read so deep into these cretins actual plans.
Hmr59 gets it. A majority of citizens would too were there a way to get the message out. Nobody reads the Argus and local TV news is cats caught in trees. The city has become a crime syndicate. 330 million annual budget is a billion for a 4 year term. Incentive for organized crime.
Would agree our media is spineless. But I encourage anybody from the city, employee or not to send me information, anon or not. Unlike the AL and KELO, I don’t have to reveal my sources, anonimity is protected by the 1st Amendment.
The media will never step on the toes of their advertisers. And in this town, those advertisers are part of the problem…not the solution.
Good point. I also encourage businesses that are not to chickenshit to reveal the truth about city government to advertise on DaCola.