85th Exchange Meeting

Taxpayers, get ready to get bent over the barrel, this is going to cost us. This project will be getting not only State and Federal money, but also money from Tea, Lincoln County and Sioux Falls. Tea has already raised taxes in order to save up for this. I guess I really struggle with growth for growth sakes, especially when the core of our city needs a major re-hab and more density. Do we really need another retail center or could we diversify our core? More money dumped into developers who want to turn up cornfields and swamp land instead of investing in our core.

The ENTIRE Sioux Falls City Council needs to be involved in new hires

A brief history of how employment works with the city; If you work under the umbrella of the mayor, he has the power to appoint his directors, he also has the power to approve any hire with the city. I was told once that the former mayor used to sign off on EVERY new hire. I’m sure PTH doesn’t go that far, but you get the gist. The HR department mostly assists in those hires doing the heavy lifting of sorting thru resumes, background checks, drug tests, etc.

It works differently if you work for the city council. The city council has a very small staff which includes three city clerks, operations manager and legislative manager. They also are in charge of the internal audit department (which formerly had 3 people, but I am not sure how many now).

This means the city council ALONE has the power to hire and fire these employees. And it takes a vote of the council to hire and fire.

So fast forward to the search of the new internal auditor position that the city council is currently looking for. Some councilors have told me that not ALL of the city council has been involved in the search and interview process. In fact, the HR department who oversees the mayor’s employees, has been assisting in the search, which I think is a conflict of interest. I’m okay with them doing the necessary background checks, but they should NOT be recommending or assisting in the search process, this should be entirely on the council with the assistance of their current staff. The operations manager is very capable of helping (and probably has been involved).

Ideally, after all the resumes have been collected, the ENTIRE city council ‘SHOULD’ be able to view these applicants either in executive session or in confidential emails. The ENTIRE council should be narrowing down their choice before ultimately picking someone or offering the job to someone. As I understand it, the chair of the audit committee, Neitzert, has taken it upon himself, with the assistance of the mayor’s HR director to find a suitable applicant. If I was a councilor who was left out of the application process I would push back hard on the way this is being handled. I would also VOTE no against any recommendation that wasn’t vetted by the entire council. And while voting on the new hire in the public meeting, I would be very vocal about being left out of the process and why they are voting against the new hire.

The city council doesn’t get many opportunities to hire their own staff, so when they do, that process should be open to the entire council. Just because you may disagree with a certain colleague is all the more reason to bring them to the table. Not to compare this to Lincoln’s Cabinet, but he brought on a whole host of dissenters to get results. Having 16 eyes looking over the applications is better than 2.

As they get closer to picking the new internal auditor it will be interesting to see how they are rolled out.

Is a local TV reporter ‘trying’ to moonlight as an escort?

Last night at the Sioux Falls City Council meeting, sex trafficking watchdog Sierra told the city council during public input that she was concerned that a local TV reporter was trying to sell escort services online on an internet dating site. She said she made the station aware of the person but they seem to be in denial since the reporter still works for them. I guess they claim this person’s photo was taken from them without permission and used in this manner. A lot of he said, she said going on.

Sierra commented, “If the media was paying their employees more competitive wages they wouldn’t have none of their news reporters looking for Sugar Daddies on these websites.”

I was made aware of this last week and have seen some of the ads. While it may be a ‘gray area’ since this was on a dating site, Sierra commented that it still is a form of prostitution.

I’m willing to hear someone out, especially if they think their identity is being stolen from them. I guess if I was in a situation like this (LOL, no one would use a half-naked photo of me unless it was for a weight loss website) I would report it to the police immediately without hesitation.

We will see how this plays out.

*I am not posting the name of the reporter or the station, so if you make any guesses in the comment area they will be deleted.

 

 

Pay to Play, Sioux Falls City Councilor Stehly proposes resolution eliminating registration fee for housing summit

She talks about it above during the open discussion at the city council informational. She requested the mayor’s office to waive the registration fee (with the option to pay for breakfast and lunch if they want it) and to video tape the event. They refused her offer. So Theresa and Pat are bringing a resolution forward. I’m sure it will get voted down 5-3 as usual.

I love it on one hand when the administration and leadership talk about how transparent they are but when given the opportunity, they fight it. Then they scratch their heads wondering why people think they are not transparent.

Local Media websites incredibly frustrating and dysfunctional

I can’t hold it in anymore, the two news sites (that have obviously borrowed their website format from the super media sh*t piles that own them) are horrible. Beyond horrible.

As a person who hasn’t had a functioning TV in almost ten years, I depend on my large monitor and the internet to get everything I need. I actually think by only depending on the internet, I’m more informed. You can really weed thru the BS faster while surfing the net.

So now it comes to our local media. Ironically the best local media website, KDLT doesn’t have as many followers, but somehow have figured out simplicity works, they need to pass that knowledge on.

First with our only local daily. It shocks me that a media company that wants to get rid of their dead tree version and promote digital subscriptions has a website that has so many ads and videos going on that if you dare take a deep breath while viewing it you are back to the home page in a second. So which is it? Do you want to charge for your content or have paid advertisers pay for that content? You seem to want to have both which is a gigantic polished turd. I don’t know how many times I have to refresh, go back to where I thought I was in the story only to be interrupted with an ad, a video about cats, or some other distraction. Please, fire your web developers, they are failing you hugely. I just want to read your stories in peace without Morgan Freeman telling me I need a credit card.

Let’s move on to Stormland-TV. Why is every single video interrupted with an ad at the beginning, in the middle and at the end of your ‘tell me nothing’ 30 second news story? And why is every news story on mute, so I have to start over to hear only to be interrupted by another ad about corn farmers? And what’s up with the volume levels that fluctuate between an AC/DC concert and a kitten purring?

Trust me, it isn’t my ‘device’ these things happen on my phone, laptop, tablet, MAC and PC, at least they are consistent in their dysfunction.

Some would say, ‘Just give up’ but I like to stay apprised with what is going on in the community, I literally am forced to go thru these hoops just to get a tidbit of news and trust me #2 TV station is not much better.

While this blog may not have all the bells and whistles these circus clowns have incorporated, at least you can come here and read the stories without having to build a barrier around your mouse in case you accidentally hit the volume control or click on a floating ad.

The MSM might wonder why they are losing readers, please, take a look in the mirror.