Hank Harris photo of the day
l3wis 
March 2012
Why is Sanford being awarded a TIF? Just Curious.
I found these two items interesting on the Planning Commission Agenda from Wednesday. Good luck watching the video though, I have noticed that it takes a few days for the Planning Commission Meetings to be posted on SIRE. Not sure why? Maybe it has something to do with Personnel matters 🙂
The City of SF found in violation of the open meetings laws
I was at the hearing/meeting today of the Open Meetings Commission, which involved the termination of city clerk Debra Owen. It was probably one of the most interesting public meetings I have ever attended. At one point, the crowd applauded the AL’s attorney, Jon Arneson after his opening statements. And there was a lot of audible snickering anytime David Fiddle-Faddle from the city would say something.
According to KSFY, the commission still has to decide punishment;
The South Dakota Open Meeting Commission says the city of Sioux Falls violated state open meetings laws when it fired former city clerk Debra Owen last fall.
The city will be formally reprimanded once the commission gets more information from both lawyers involved.
I think the vote was 4-1 in favor of violation. I had to leave before the final vote.
Stormland-TV also covered the event.
I congratulate the Argus Leader and Debra Owen for the victory, even though, once again, like the violation against Dr. Staggers, too little, too late. Debra is still terminated, and the public still does not know why.
UPDATE: New Sioux Falls City Clerk announced today
Lorie Hogstad, a former assistant city clerk and the current licensing specialist for the city, will become the new city clerk, Council chairwoman Sue Aguilar announced today.
I have been impressed by Lorie’s professionalism as the licensing specialist for the city. The only thing that worries me about Lorie is that she has worked for the city for 27 years, while her experience and knowledge is a good thing, it can also be a detriment to progress. The thing I thought gave Owen an advantage as city clerk was that she wasn’t a city person that wanted to play the reindeer games that long time city employees play. We will see how much transparency Hogstad will bring to the table, and the latitude she will have to utilize it. Take a deep breath and cross your fingers.
UPDATE: Here are some little known factoids about Lorie’s history working for the city
• Lorie can retire with 30 years of service so she can leave (if she chooses) in a few years.
• She may be bailing out the council because they really didn’t have a plan B. Why wasn’t another assistant city clerk appointed to the position?
• Lorie worked in the clerk’s office prior to 2006 when Debra Owen was appointed.
• Lorie was in line for the promotion BUT the council insisted that they follow Charter and appoint this position (not the mayor). In doing so, the council changed (beefed up) the job description and appointed Owen. (Actually they announced the change via a press release stating Owen would serve as their Chief of Staff.)
• De Knudson (Sue Aguilar’s mentor) never cared for Owen and wanted to get rid of her and put Lorie back into that position and reduce the scope of authority of the city clerk. Looks like De and Sue got there way.
The District 12 race is about to get, well, interesting
Recognize that smile? Kinda looks like he inherited it from the Quen Be. Oh, because he did.
Okay, so you got this crazy right-wing, Mr. Family Values (though he is not) Manny Steele in District 12. And, he likes to talk about guns and wombs and how gays are destroying our society. He also is looking for Obama’s birth certificate.
So what Democrat would you put up against him? A flaming liberal. No, that wouldn’t be such a good idea, that, and they don’t exist in SD. How about a guy whose parents were once Dems, became Republicans when the money got better, but still act like moderate independents?
Well the campaign mode is in full swing in the Knudson house (not Dave this time, even though they are using his campaign designs) But Mike Knudson, his son, is running in District 12, as a Democrat, against Manny Steele.
If elected Mike, don’t get caught watching TV on the House floor.