South DaCola

Editorial Cartoonist from South Dakota

2017

1st Amendment Mayor High Crimes Mayor Hubris Mayor Subprime Mike Huether Media Mike Huether Open Government Open Meetings Sioux Falls

What is the cost to follow the Mayor around with a camera?

l3wis 4Comments
Theresa Stehly mentioned on B-N-B show this morning that she requested the amount it costs to follow the mayor around with a camera for press conferences and Listening & Learning sessions. The finance director could not give her a solid number saying they really don’t keep track (in other words buried in the CityLink/Media budget.
Huether fancies himself as a great and prudent businessman. He has a director of finance (Turbak) who pretends to know what he is doing controlling the town’s cash. This director of the cash doesn’t know the cost of videoing the mayor’s events?
An astute businessman would know how much it costs to:
  1. buy all the equipment needed
  2. send a guy out with a camera
  3. return to the office to upload
  4. store the recordings
  5. how much it costs to replace the equipment as it wears out
They both complain about the cost of recording but had no idea how much it would cost? This proves how bad the city finance system is when they do not understand the basics of cost centers. This is actually a very easy number to generate. To a real cost accountant, this could take minutes to figure out. As for a guy who has worked in the media business for over 20 years, if I had to do a quick educated guess, just to record the press conferences and L & L sessions, it would be well over $100,000 a year. This does not include the entire CityLink budget OR the independent contract hosts like Madeline and Jolene.
There is a strong belief the lack of recordings is not a cost issue or to protect the board members. This effort to stop recordings is to protect city staff from being recorded giving bad advice the board members have to follow. There is no attempt to protect the members only city employees. Our videos show this time and time again.
Developers Development Glory House Mayor High Crimes Mayor Hubris Mayor Subprime Mike Huether Mike Huether Sioux Falls

Ironic quote of the day by Mayor Huether

l3wis 5Comments

I don’t know where he comes up with this stuff, but it is rich;

“Why we would want to give away something between a half a million and a million dollars, dumbfounds me,” says the Mayor.

If he was Mr. Prudence, I would agree, but this dumbo who has borrowed well over $200 million over the past 7 years spending it mostly on special interests and play things, like $500K to a private tennis center he plastered his name on. What a hypocrite.

Paramedics Plus Sioux Falls

Did Paramedics Plus promise a ‘soft’ bribe?

l3wis 4Comments

I found this part of Angela Keninvestigate’s Stormland TV story about Paramedics Plus interesting;

Paramedics Plus did put in its own dispatch system for Metro Communications called PULSE and two Metro Communications workers were flown to Tyler, Texas for training on the system. The City and Metro Communications tells KELOLAND News it does not know how much Paramedics Plus paid for the PULSE system that came at no expense to the City or Metro Communications.  Paramedics Plus will not tell us how much the PULSE system cost.

However, we did find in REMSA’s annual report to the City that the software system is valued at more than $150,000. 

At the time it got the City Contract, Paramedics Plus told the City it was making a $1.7 million dollar investment into the REMSA System in Sioux Falls. The U.S. Attorney in Texas who filed the suit says it’s against the law to pay kickbacks in order to gain access to Medicare and Medicaid funds.

Acting U.S. Attorney Brit Featherston says, “Kickback schemes are anti-competitive, undermine the integrity of our nation’s health care programs, and wrongly prioritize profits over patient care.”

When Paramedics Plus was being vetted by the city, we found several conflict of interests with PP and the advisory company hired to vet a new ambulance provider. Not sure what a bribe or kickback looks like, but I would think promising a $150K to $1.7 million dollar investment into the system a little murky.

Christine Erickson Greg Neitzert SF City Council Sioux Falls Theresa Stehly

Coffee with the Council – THIS SATURDAY!

l3wis 6Comments

Coffee with Council Members – Erickson, Stehly, and Neitzert

What: Come and have coffee with three (3) of your Sioux Falls City Council Members.

When: Saturday January 28, 2017 from 9:00 a.m. – 10:30 a.m.

Where: Hy-Vee Food Store, 1900 S. Marion Road (W 26th St and Marion Rd), Cafeteria just inside the east entrance

Who: Councilors Christine Erickson (At-Large), Theresa Stehly (At-Large), and Greg Neitzert (Northwest District)

Why: Come and engage three of your Sioux Falls City Councilors to discuss your thoughts, ideas, and concerns!

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