So the Sioux Falls city council has decided to bury this on the consent contracts/agreements, Item #6, last sub item #38;
City Attorney’s office, Engagement Agreement for Human Relations Commission Review, Cadwell Sanford Deibert & Garry, LLP, Not to exceed $5,000
A concerned citizen asked a city councilor to pull this from the agenda for discussion and he not only refused to pull it, he refused to tell the citizen what it was about. Mind you, this is on a publicly posted agenda.
So why is an outside law firm reviewing the Human Relations Commission. I don’t know, but let’s make some guesses;
• The attorney running the department mysteriously disappeared and the replacement left to work for the county. Why?
• There has been several accusations that the commission (city) has been dismissing complaints for no reason.
• Was there a Federal complaint filed? The commission probably is funded by some Federal grants and has to follow certain Federal rules when it comes to the appeals.
As I understand it another city councilor has agreed to pull it from the consent agenda and have some one from the administration explain what this review is about.
At this point I won’t speculate, because I am just as curious as you.