No matter how many laws Pierre wants to pass, municipalities like Sioux Falls will just find ways around them;
Senate Bill 84 would bar state and local governments from negotiating confidential settlements in lawsuits. Settlement agreements involving government entities would be public records, including the amount of money paid in the settlement and the parties involved.
The citizens of Sioux Falls were fortunate enough to have a multi-million dollar corporation willing to take the city to the Supreme Court, but in most cases, with individual citizens, that would be rare. We would ultimately be victims of the corrupt and closed government of the city administration.
It doesn’t help that the former head city attorney, David Fiddle-Faddle has his College BFF, Attorney General Jackboots, in his back pocket to kill DCI investigations (before even interviewing witnesses) or to refuse to investigate at all.
The city attorney’s office has always had it’s own set of rules it goes by, way before Fiddle-Faddle took over, and be damned if some dirt fool citizen with no lawyering deegrie and no money hires an attorney (if they can find one to represent them in Sioux Falls).
Pierre can goof around passing all kinds of laws about confidential settlements, doesn’t matter, the Mike Huethers, Marty Jackboots and David Fiddle-Faddles of the world will find ways around the laws.
It’s hard to watch public funds wasted on private projects. Sioux Falls is the worst case corruption in the state. There was a time when city leaders served for the benefit of the public, not themselves. The city can make rules but not enforce them. Court cases can be dismissed because the judicial ordinance in the Charter is unconstitutional. When they threaten you it’s hard not to smile. Live here for as long as it is bearable but start investigating a neighboring city where there’s democracy.