It is no surprise to me that City Attorney David Pfeifle will take a position
with the South Dakota Public Assurance Alliance. It’s just unfortunate that he will still be schlemping off the taxpayers in his new position. I was hoping he would return to private practice, but maybe he could not hack it in the real world.
I had a weird feeling over the weekend that David would be the next to resign from the Huether administration. I figured once he went on personal leave, we probably wouldn’t see him again, or very little;
Sioux Falls, South Dakota: City Attorney David Pfeifle will become the executive director of the South Dakota Public Assurance Alliance effective November 6, 2017, after seven and a half years serving the City of Sioux Falls and a 23-year career practicing law. His final day with the City of Sioux Falls will be October 31.
I ultimately expect Turbak and Cooper to be next, I don’t expect to many skippers left on the SS Huether come next May. I think Cooper will just retire.
“David has always kept Sioux Falls top of mind and has served all of us so admirably over the years. We would not have been able to navigate some challenging waters, ultimately getting things accomplished for our city, without the wisdom and determination of David Pfeifle. I wish him and his family nothing but the best!†says Mayor Mike Huether.
Pfeifle started with the City of Sioux Falls on July 19, 2010. During his years as the City Attorney, Pfeifle says his greatest accomplishment is assembling a great legal team working on behalf of the people of Sioux Falls, and who will carry the department forward.
Hardy, Harr, Harr. David was famous for hiring outside counsel anytime a ‘challenging’ project came up. So I guess he was smart enough to know when he wasn’t smart enough to know.
When the city got slapped with an open meetings violation while terminating Debra Owen, David had to defend the city’s (his) decision in front of the Open Meetings Commission. I remember sitting in the cramped room listening to people audibly laughing out loud at David’s arguments.
He lost, BTW. In fact David has lost many big cases for the city, even with the help of outside counsel. I would be curious of how much the city has paid out in settlement money since he has been city attorney. Which of course brings us to the convoluted siding settlement.
UPDATE: It is rumored that when the administrative team does their presentation today at the city council informational about the siding settlement, they may refuse to take questions. We will see how the council handles this.
He certainly won’t be missed, it’s just unfortunate we still have to help pay his salary working for an organization that blames ‘GOD’ whenever they don’t want to pay out a claim to the citizens they abuse.
He is a great fit for the Alliance! They are all about secrecy even though they use taxpayer dollars to cover legal costs of public officials, even when the officials have themselves run afoul of the law. The Legislature made sure they don’t have to disclose the info – which may embarass the officials or anger citizens. As in the back and forth with Neitzert – you don’t tell the public anything statute says you may withhold. He’s shown he understands the value of withholding information from taxpayers.
And don’t forget the twisted election language Pfeifle used for the EC and Aquatics Center. He’ll end up an ambulance chaser like similar unethical legal eagles. He’s another career ruined by Mike Huether. At least he sees this time as his last chance to escape from what’s coming down on Huether.
I was sitting in the vicinity of the Mayor and his Team at yesterday’s Council meeting. Every time the mayor jumped up and headed to the podium you could see David Pfeifle cringe.
I’m certain he knows Mike has never learned the first rule of testifying. Keep your mouth shut unless you are asked and then give a direct answer.
I’m surprised no one looked at the SDPAA website for the list of its board members. Two Sioux Falls city staff members are on the board: Tracy Turbak is board chair, and Mike Hall is a board member. It’s only reasonable that the state’s largest city (and presumably SDPAA’s largest customer) would be represented in leadership.
MW – I did know about that. That is why claims are consistently denied to citizens in SF, always using the ‘Act of God’ clause.
This same organization spent hundreds of thousands of dollars fighting a SD tribe who wanted a $20K satellite voting polling station. They eventually won, but they should not have fought them to begin with.
What a lot of people don’t know is the SDPAA helps pay a lot of the legal fees for the city. Basically your taxdollars that fund counties, townships and cities across the state go into the SDPAA coffers, and they turn around and use that money to deny citizens claims and rights.
It doesn’t surprise me they put a weasel like David in charge.
When I first heard City Attorney David Pfeifle was leaving his position with the city, I assumed he was just trying to get out ahead of being released by a new incoming mayor next spring.
That is until I read today’s AL:
“He was the lead attorney for this whole effort, so I would just want some assurance that if we ever needed him to come and speak again that he would be available,” Councilor Theresa Stehly said. “He should still be responsible for any activity that he assisted in — he led the charge.”
But that’s not going to happen. Pfeifle said in an email Wednesday he has no obligation to answer council questions beyond Oct. 31.
After reading this, I find the timing of his departure to be very suspect.
I have often been suspicious of Darrin Smith’s departure also. I think he got blamed for screwing up the DT Parking ramp original deal with Bender. He probably thought, “I don’t need this crap, I’m out of here.” I also think the EC project manager jumped ship to because of the mayor’s blame games. He isn’t exactly an ideal person to work for.
My dream video for DaCola would be an expose of Huether’s former city managers and why they quit.