2019
l3wis 85th Exchange Meeting
Taxpayers, get ready to get bent over the barrel, this is going to cost us. This project will be getting not only State and Federal money, but also money from Tea, Lincoln County and Sioux Falls. Tea has already raised taxes in order to save up for this. I guess I really struggle with growth for growth sakes, especially when the core of our city needs a major re-hab and more density. Do we really need another retail center or could we diversify our core? More money dumped into developers who want to turn up cornfields and swamp land instead of investing in our core.
The ENTIRE Sioux Falls City Council needs to be involved in new hires
A brief history of how employment works with the city; If you work under the umbrella of the mayor, he has the power to appoint his directors, he also has the power to approve any hire with the city. I was told once that the former mayor used to sign off on EVERY new hire. I’m sure PTH doesn’t go that far, but you get the gist. The HR department mostly assists in those hires doing the heavy lifting of sorting thru resumes, background checks, drug tests, etc.
It works differently if you work for the city council. The city council has a very small staff which includes three city clerks, operations manager and legislative manager. They also are in charge of the internal audit department (which formerly had 3 people, but I am not sure how many now).
This means the city council ALONE has the power to hire and fire these employees. And it takes a vote of the council to hire and fire.
So fast forward to the search of the new internal auditor position that the city council is currently looking for. Some councilors have told me that not ALL of the city council has been involved in the search and interview process. In fact, the HR department who oversees the mayor’s employees, has been assisting in the search, which I think is a conflict of interest. I’m okay with them doing the necessary background checks, but they should NOT be recommending or assisting in the search process, this should be entirely on the council with the assistance of their current staff. The operations manager is very capable of helping (and probably has been involved).
Ideally, after all the resumes have been collected, the ENTIRE city council ‘SHOULD’ be able to view these applicants either in executive session or in confidential emails. The ENTIRE council should be narrowing down their choice before ultimately picking someone or offering the job to someone. As I understand it, the chair of the audit committee, Neitzert, has taken it upon himself, with the assistance of the mayor’s HR director to find a suitable applicant. If I was a councilor who was left out of the application process I would push back hard on the way this is being handled. I would also VOTE no against any recommendation that wasn’t vetted by the entire council. And while voting on the new hire in the public meeting, I would be very vocal about being left out of the process and why they are voting against the new hire.
The city council doesn’t get many opportunities to hire their own staff, so when they do, that process should be open to the entire council. Just because you may disagree with a certain colleague is all the more reason to bring them to the table. Not to compare this to Lincoln’s Cabinet, but he brought on a whole host of dissenters to get results. Having 16 eyes looking over the applications is better than 2.
As they get closer to picking the new internal auditor it will be interesting to see how they are rolled out.
Is a local TV reporter ‘trying’ to moonlight as an escort?
Last night at the Sioux Falls City Council meeting, sex trafficking watchdog Sierra told the city council during public input that she was concerned that a local TV reporter was trying to sell escort services online on an internet dating site. She said she made the station aware of the person but they seem to be in denial since the reporter still works for them. I guess they claim this person’s photo was taken from them without permission and used in this manner. A lot of he said, she said going on.
Sierra commented, “If the media was paying their employees more competitive wages they wouldn’t have none of their news reporters looking for Sugar Daddies on these websites.â€
I was made aware of this last week and have seen some of the ads. While it may be a ‘gray area’ since this was on a dating site, Sierra commented that it still is a form of prostitution.
I’m willing to hear someone out, especially if they think their identity is being stolen from them. I guess if I was in a situation like this (LOL, no one would use a half-naked photo of me unless it was for a weight loss website) I would report it to the police immediately without hesitation.
We will see how this plays out.
*I am not posting the name of the reporter or the station, so if you make any guesses in the comment area they will be deleted.
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Pay to Play, Sioux Falls City Councilor Stehly proposes resolution eliminating registration fee for housing summit
She talks about it above during the open discussion at the city council informational. She requested the mayor’s office to waive the registration fee (with the option to pay for breakfast and lunch if they want it) and to video tape the event. They refused her offer. So Theresa and Pat are bringing a resolution forward. I’m sure it will get voted down 5-3 as usual.
I love it on one hand when the administration and leadership talk about how transparent they are but when given the opportunity, they fight it. Then they scratch their heads wondering why people think they are not transparent.