Rex Rolfing needs to learn how to run a meeting from Minnehaha County Commissioner Cindy Heiberger

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cindy_heiberger

The less ‘Freaky’ meeting chair

I will be the first to say I don’t always agree with decisions commissioner Heiberger makes, and sometimes she isn’t real big on transparency, BUT what I can see, as chair of the commission, she runs a tight ship when it comes to meetings.

If you ever watch the meetings, as I do, one thing that often stands out is that Cindy runs the meetings with a high level of decorum and professionalism. She is often polite, respectful and thankful of input, whether that comes from her peers, directors or the public. In fact she often disagrees and weighs in just as much as her peers.

Besides the fact that Cindy runs a smooth ship, most of the time, it is not an easy feat, there is a Hell of a lot more ruckus that goes on at these meetings then the city council meetings. Many of the commissioners ask tough questions of their directors and staff, and if those answers are not kosher, they let them have it. Barth and Kelly are the most vocal, but Beninga, Bender and Heiberger have also chimed in when they think they are being buffaloed by staff or the public.

Cindy lets them rant, she also thanks them when they are done, even if she doesn’t agree. That’s called ‘decorum’ folks. Cindy understands that in government not everything is a rubber stamp and a bed of roses, there has to be uncomfortable discussion, there has to be debate and sometimes that is ruffling feathers. She allows it at her meetings, because I believe she knows it is important. I have been watching the meetings regularly over the past two years, while Cindy has raised her voice a few times and has asked people to calm down, she has NEVER gaveled her fellow peers and freaked out like a monkey banging a drum, and trust me I have seen over 20 rants between Barth and Kelly over the past couple of years that were way more uncomfortable and controversial then a prepared statement by Stehly. But guess what, they haven’t had ethics violations lobbed at them, because they have a right as elected officials to have these rants, we expect it from them.

As I have said, if Rolfing would have just let Stehly speak, it would have all been over in a few minutes, with practically no drama. Maybe Rex could mentor Cindy for a few meetings and learn something about representative government and how to run a meeting.

Speaking of ignorant votes, the Minnehaha County Commission delivers

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Seems the Minnehaha County Commission is taking some moves from Councilor Erpenbach, bitching and complaining about an agenda item that is not working, costing us to much or both, then voting for it anyway. While they all admitted that Dr. Luther isn’t really doing anything for the $30K a year he has received over the past decade, they let him have it again;

All five members of the County Commission raised or acknowledge questions about Luther’s responsibilities at a 2017 budget hearing Wednesday, but Barth was the only member who voted to eliminate the position.

The commission moved instead to extend Luther’s contract one more year as the county pursues a broader study of how rural ambulance services are assigned and regulated.

And let’s talk about duplicity, the city pays over $100K a year for the same service. Why are the taxpayers paying for a service that a private ambulance company is making a profit from? Shouldn’t they be paying fees that supplement his inspection and quality assurance?

Either way, this further proves why we have such a fiasco with our city provided ambulance, why does the city continue to fund this joke of quality assurance;

“It’s our fault we didn’t get more of that money,” Barth said. “It’s our fault we didn’t demand more, it’s our fault that we continue to pay him for this fruitless endeavor.”

And the ignorance continues.

Minnehaha County suing state for $2.5 million

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I guess the state decided to bail on giving Minnehaha County transportation monies for a bridge, so the commission voted today to sue the state over it;

Consider Motion to Authorize Appointment of Johnson, Janklow, Reiter & Parsons to Represent Minnehaha County in Civ 16-1275, the Appeal of the Denial of a Bridge Improvement Grant by the State of SD Transportation Commission – Robert Wilson

I guess the commission budgeted for the money and the state pulled it without notice. It’s funny because Minnehaha County and Sioux Falls are the cash cows for the state, and then they turn around and stick it to us.

Not only did the city of Sioux Falls central services break SIRE, now they are screwing up the county meetings.

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A few months ago, the county upgraded their recording equipment to record the county commission meetings. They spent thousands of dollars to do it. They contract with the city’s central services and media department to record and post the meetings in YouTube. If you watch the two past meetings you will see issues.

• This meeting’s audio is so bad you have to blow out your speakers to hear it.

• There is NO audio for the first 25 minutes of this video.

So now the city isn’t just screwing up the recording of their own meetings, but now they are screwing up the county meetings also.

It seems anything central services touches turns to crap. And they want us to trust them with vetting a new city administration building. No thanks.