What is the cost to follow the Mayor around with a camera?

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Theresa Stehly mentioned on B-N-B show this morning that she requested the amount it costs to follow the mayor around with a camera for press conferences and Listening & Learning sessions. The finance director could not give her a solid number saying they really don’t keep track (in other words buried in the CityLink/Media budget.
Huether fancies himself as a great and prudent businessman. He has a director of finance (Turbak) who pretends to know what he is doing controlling the town’s cash. This director of the cash doesn’t know the cost of videoing the mayor’s events?
An astute businessman would know how much it costs to:
  1. buy all the equipment needed
  2. send a guy out with a camera
  3. return to the office to upload
  4. store the recordings
  5. how much it costs to replace the equipment as it wears out
They both complain about the cost of recording but had no idea how much it would cost? This proves how bad the city finance system is when they do not understand the basics of cost centers. This is actually a very easy number to generate. To a real cost accountant, this could take minutes to figure out. As for a guy who has worked in the media business for over 20 years, if I had to do a quick educated guess, just to record the press conferences and L & L sessions, it would be well over $100,000 a year. This does not include the entire CityLink budget OR the independent contract hosts like Madeline and Jolene.
There is a strong belief the lack of recordings is not a cost issue or to protect the board members. This effort to stop recordings is to protect city staff from being recorded giving bad advice the board members have to follow. There is no attempt to protect the members only city employees. Our videos show this time and time again.

Ironic quote of the day by Mayor Huether

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I don’t know where he comes up with this stuff, but it is rich;

“Why we would want to give away something between a half a million and a million dollars, dumbfounds me,” says the Mayor.

If he was Mr. Prudence, I would agree, but this dumbo who has borrowed well over $200 million over the past 7 years spending it mostly on special interests and play things, like $500K to a private tennis center he plastered his name on. What a hypocrite.

This should bode well with voters if Huether decides to run for higher office

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South Dakotans love nothing better then an elected official bragging about increasing taxes, especially property taxes;

Mayor Mike and Cindy Huether have long supported and advocated for the public school system. In fact, they were the co-chairs of the last two opt-out campaigns to increase funding for Sioux Falls public schools, along with many other leadership and stewardship roles.

Mike really likes to shoot himself in the foot lately, like calling transparency a slippery slope. Now he brags about wanting to raise our taxes as proof he supports education. Can’t wait for this tidbit to come out if he runs for higher office.

Mayor Veto’s recording meetings. Calls transparency a ‘slippery slope’

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Yup, like a grumpy old man, our mayor of all he sees says, “stay away”. Keep off the grass. Wash behind your ears. Don’t park there. Shut up when I enter the room. Bow before me. I am in charge, do not question me. Like a President of 40 years ago, Yup, like a grumpy old man, our mayor of all he sees stay away. Keep off the grass. Wash behind your ears. Don’t park there. Shut up when I enter the room. Bow before me. I am in charge, do not question me or my authority.

We now have a Sioux Falls City Council able to question everything and does with regularity. There are things happening in city government the people want to see. The citizens have for quite a while. Due to the way our city charter is set up, we have little choice but accept the authoritarian “take or leave it” way of the leader.

His veto of the publication rules for Park and Recreation Board meetings is another slap in the face of all citizens. He is saying, “things are going well for me, keep out”. These fine citizens have done what Don Kearney and I want so leave them alone.

Nowhere in the discussion have we citizens said the board members have done anything wrong. We just want to be able to see their deliberations. Cameraman Bruce has been to several meetings and seen how it works. Like the other board meetings he has been to, not much happens there not controlled by the department “advisors”.

Maybe the January 24, 2017 veto decision by the mayor was more to protect the advisors than the members?

Mayor Huether uses the power of veto to finally prove once and for all he is vehemently against transparency in government

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I have been beating this drum for 7 years. Huether is extremely anti-transparent, he has proven it time and time again. He used the power of the VETO pen today to prove it. He had a very weak argument that these committees are volunteers and didn’t sign up for this? First off, you do have to sign up to get on these boards and committees. You have to fill out an application, you have to submit a resume, then you have to be vetted not only by the mayor but the board itself. So there is a process. If you WANT to be on these boards, you have to do a little work to get there. And secondly, I only want honest and open people serving on these advisory boards, not secretive.

He also calls recording these meetings a ‘slippery slope’. It’s a slippery slope to prohibit recording board meetings.

Anybody who argues against recording these meetings, are what they are, fascists.