An example of one of the lots on Higbee Cut, Lake Andes, SD on Lake Francis Case (not one of the lots owned by the firefighters).
Through public records (both the city of Sioux Falls and Charles Mix County) I have found that the Fire Chief for Sioux Falls, a Captain, a Division Chief, a Battalion Chief and a former Battalion Chief (5 total) have invested in approximately 25+ total lots in the Higbee Cut area near Lake Andes, SD in Charles Mix county. They all own their OWN set of lots, and NOT together as a group, according to county records.
Not sure what I think about public employees, that work for the same municipality, investing together. At least they had the common sense to NOT invest in Sioux Falls or Minnehaha or Lincoln county and to buy the lots individually instead as an investment group. Private employees, who work together, often invest together in land or other investments. Many people have made great friends through their employment, and often spend time together outside of work recreating. Some times that means investing in that recreation together as a group, outside of work.
Three of the supervisors under the fire chief have received promotions since 2010, the 4th is no longer with the Fire Department.
I totally understand the ‘brotherhood’ firefighters have with each other, and I encourage the camaraderie and involvement in each other’s private lives, especially people who are in charge of saving lives and property for the public, they HAVE to work as a tight knit team!
What do you think?
Personally, I don’t get involved to much with my fellow employee’s lives. Whether that is investing money, dating or other private matters. One of the main reasons is when problems arise in such arrangements, you have to work with these people, and it can cause issues at work (especially when it comes to love and money 🙂
What do I think? I think it’s typical for this City’s administration. Not even surprising anymore.
Do you know who I’d like to hear from and we probably never will? The people who didn’t get promoted by the chief who weren’t a part of the of the land deal. Or even some of the non-management firefighters to hear if the best people got the jobs or if “yes men” got the jobs.
Sounds very Huether-like.
I don’t take issue with them buying land in the same area, nothing illegal about that. But I do question the timing of the investment and the promotions (how close were they?). These lots actually go pretty cheap, I think I saw one listed at $15K.
But shouldn’t something like this have gone through the ethics board anyway?
If the fire chief is involved in business dealings with subordinates who he decides if they get promoted or not and does their performance reviews, is that appropriate?
It may not be illegal, but it sure doesn’t seem on the level.
Were all people who wanted to promote into management given the opportunity to invest in the land deal?
You said the fire chief supervises 3 people that received promotions that are a part of this land deal. How many does he supervise that aren’t part of the land deal?
This definitely sounds like ethics board material.
Let’s just say, it wouldn’t be Jim’s first go around with the ethics commission.
Thanks for this post. Nice to know where they are so I’m sure to avoid and label their commune. At least they’re smart not to invest in Sioux Falls. This proves what insiders know. They are not city devoted and want to distance themselves weekends and going into retirement. Property taxes rose here. Astonomical debt makes the city no longer a retirement mecca.
Of course, this is an ethics issue. However, Huether decides if they’ll be an ethics hearing and (if so) who will be on the board. There’s an unofficial understanding this’ll not happen provided they collaborate with and never testify against him. I watched the now retired fire chief lie for a deposition and in my court case saying he was not on the board of a zoning hearing. I proved he was.
One thing you must never expect is integrity, honesty, representation, & justice from officials at city hall. If you deal with them at all, record it and/or make a video. I know you don’t believe me so go ahead and find out the hard way.
I bet they all shorted Lehman Bros. right before it tanked too! You stated they invested as individuals and not as a group so who cares? Plenty of coworkers public and private talk and share information. There is more being discussed at Americas water coolers than conspiracy theories.
Bill, you are right, they are investing individually, and nothing wrong with that. But there are two things with this information that I can’t quite figure out. Why did they buy a combined total of 26 lots? (wouldn’t two each be enough for a vacation spot?) Are they planning a development OR a vacation get away? Secondly, seems strange that 3 of the investors got promoted by one of their fellow investors.
Here are the lots in sequence;
Lot 2, 2A, 5A, 11A, 12, 12A, 13, 13A, 14, 14A, 15, 15A, 16, 16A, 21, 23, 25, 26, 28, 30, 32, 35, 42, 48, 48A, 48B
The promotions and the timing of the investments is the issue here. I don’t care if fire management spends their paychecks on cotton candy and bingo, it’s the question of having investments with the guy who is in charge of giving you a raise and promotion, and paying you with money that is NOT his.
When the initial purchase was made, they did it as group, split the cost to bring in the services, divide the lots, etc. then split the ownership. As others have said, all done on their own time – well within their rights.
This deal went on with some employees at the fire department finding out about it. Didn’t matter if you had the cash or not. If you weren’t invited, you couldn’t join. Once again, not nice, but within their rights.
Now some of the people who are land owners are getting promoted. Some relatives of land owners got promoted. And you forgot to mention one of the land owners in the union president. Conflict of interest? Let’s see:
One of the people promoted last year to a management position was the union vice president. He has been a career-long, anti-management complainer who was eligible to retire. The only benefit for him not to retire and take a promotion was to spike his pension.
So when the fire chief and the union president are sitting by the campfire singing Kumbuya, it’s possible inappropriate inside influence was applied.
Now, how would you feel if you were one of those management hopefuls who never got a chance to take part in the land deal or one of the “off the books” private retreats?
Whatever Scott. This was fed to you by the idiot who got himself fired and convicted for hacking the fire chief’s email. It’s all sour grapes and baloney and you know it but we all know you can’t control your inner troll.
Don’t believe it, call the Charles Mix County assessor’s office. They will give you the records. The city posts the salaries of their employees on the city website, they match up.
I think I have been very clear, anybody can invest in anything they want to, the rest is speculation. But those names on the public record of investors match the management of the fire department. Didn’t make that up.
I like to judge an article by the responses it gets.
Judging by “I got fired”, they are either a land owner or know one of them.
They didn’t offer reason’s why your story wasn’t valid or why it wasn’t a possible conflict of interest, all they could do was attack you and their best argument included “baloney” and calling people “idiots” or “trolls”.
I’d say you struck a nerve and must be on to something. I think it just backs Not a Fan’s idea that this should be reviewed by the ethics board.
Like I have already said, it depends on the timing of the investments/purchases and the promotions/salary increases.
Huether is the ethics board. The fox in charge of the hen house. If he goes after them, they’ll sing about him. Not gonna happen.