I know what you are thinking, that was really nice of him to say such a gracious thing about our neighboring town that doesn’t employee him for 6 figures a year.
So why would he say this?
Well according to a SF City Councilor who recently spoke with the new chief, this was his response when the councilor asked him why he lives in Canton instead of Sioux Falls (maybe hinting the new fire chief should probably live here and spend his 6-figure salary here instead of in Canton).
WOW! What a vote of confidence from the guy who now is in charge of fighting fires and disasters in Sioux Falls. It’s much better in Canton. Maybe we should have lured Canton’s Fire Chief to come work for us instead?
This of course brings up my old beef about city department heads living in Sioux Falls. Maybe our tax revenue is down in boomtown because all these 6-figure directors don’t spend their bread here?
Goodroad was going to become fire chief anyway. Rumor has it he was endorsed by the Union President and Sideras way before Jim announced his retirement. It was no split second decision by the mayor to appoint Brad as temp Fire Chief and ultimately giving him the job full-time.
I think it is time to recommend to the next Charter Revision Commission that we incorporate a new city ordinance that requires city directors to live in the jurisdiction of Sioux Falls, or at least those that deal with safety, like the Chief of Police and Fire. This is just makes sense folks.