It’s where the dominoes start

There has been quite a bit of turnover in Sioux Falls city government over the past year when it comes to department leadership. But instead of just reacting after the dominoes fall, maybe we should look where the tumble started.

Here is the timeline;

• March 2023, Tom Greco, City Clerk, leaves the city for a job with Minnehaha County. While Tom’s job change DOES come with a raise, it also comes with a lot more responsibility. I also find it interesting that the MCC would hire a Lincoln county resident to run their commission. Tom may have moved to Minnehaha County since, but in 2017 when his wife ran for the Harrisburg School Board they lived in Lincoln County. I’m not sure why Tom left, but it was on his own accord, the council didn’t reprimand or terminate him. I do find the way MCC secretly hired and interviewed him to be highly suspicious though.

• February 2023, Stacy Kooistra, Lead City Attorney, leaves for a research facility that is receiving millions from city taxpayers for landscaping and ‘other stuff’. I could probably write an entire blog post about this departure but I know about as much as you.

• December 2022, Shawn Pritchett, Finance Director takes over as the director of IT and Technology as well as the finance department. I found this move significant. While in the past the city has moved directors around under the current charter, they have never taken a director of one department and made them also the director of another department simultaneously, especially two departments that may work closely together BUT have different functions.

• September 2022, Shana Nelson, Audit Manager, leaves the city council and begins to work for the administration in housing compliance. Rumors had been swirling since July that she was making this move but until councilor Starr brought it up in a public meeting the public was unaware. Granted, she worked for the council and made a lateral move back to the city and is still on the taxpayers dime but I think her move plays into this.

• July 2022; Mike Grisby, IT Director for the city, left the city. The city has not said what the details of his departure were but if you go to Mike’s Linkedin page you will see he is back in Kansas City where he came from and has NO mention of his city employment. Interestingly enough, Grisby did this interview in March of 2022 just a few months before leaving where he talks about the integration of different departments into IT. It’s not a bad concept (considering the administration did just that after he left).

I mention this timeline because in less then a year, since the departure of Grisby there has been major shakeups in leadership.

Grisby is one of the few directors that came to Sioux Falls with little attachment and it is NO surprise he is back in Kansas City. In other words, he had no dog in the fight and nothing grounding him here. I think his sudden departure from the city with NO explanation is where the dominoes started to fall, and I don’t think the last one has dropped yet.

Of course I am speculating, but it is pretty obvious to those looking from the outside that the administration has been circling the wagons over the past year but WHY?