UPDATE: So I guess the institute may still exist, in a charming Ranch style home. But I still can’t find any tax filings. The worst part is when you start doing searches on the internet for the place the ‘Institutes of Health Ethics, etc., comes up.
Whenever I open up the city council agenda for the following week on Friday night, I always take a deep breath before reading it. This week there was some gasps.
Besides the fact city councilors want to hire another employee (even though several of their current employees job duties are a mystery) and they want to get rid of taxi fare maximums (I thought we solved this when Lyft and Uber came to town?) the mayor has appointed former police chief Matt Burns to be on the ethics commission.
I know. WTF?
But the funny part is Mr. Burns BIO (Item #74);
• Sioux Falls Chief of Police 2015–2021.
• Bachelor of Science in criminal justice administration from the University of Central
Missouri.• Certified instructor—National Institute of Ethics.
I am not sure how you become a certified Instructor with an organization that hasn’t filed a tax filing since 2012(?) and no longer exists? I called the number, out of service.
Maybe I got the organization wrong? Or maybe they merged with another organization, but when you do a search, the last tax filing was in 2012. So how is it you are a certified instructor with an organization that disbanded 11 years ago?
I’m not sure you understand ‘ETHICS’ Mr. Burns;
Ethics examines the rational justification for our moral judgments; it studies what is morally right or wrong, just or unjust.
So is it ETHICAL to lie on your resume for a volunteer public service position? Maybe I should ask a certified instructor? If only there was an organization that still trains them.
You know, I won many animal showmanship awards when I was in 4-H, maybe I should put that on my resume? Doesn’t matter I haven’t been a member of the Country Wranglers for 30 years, I really knew how to stage a ewe!
Do I think he is lying about being an instructor? NO. But he should clarify what century he was an instructor.
Even the white lie on the resume isn’t the worst part about this BAAAAAAAAD appointment (sorry, sheep humor) it’s his conflict of interest being a former manger with the city of Sioux Falls. How can you judge your former peers on ethics when you have built professional relationships with these folks over several years?
It would be like your significant other asking if their butt looks big in a certain pair of pants.
Conflicts of interest are the main reason we have ethics commissions, to help us determine what is ethically doable within those relationships.
I’m not even going to blame Mr. Burns for accepting this appointment, desperate times.
But it makes you wonder if the reputation of city hall is getting so bad Poops is appointing former managers just to fill the seats of these boards?
You have to scratch your head a bit when in one breath you name a police shooting range after a dude then in the next breath ask him to be on the ethics board.