Another Bobblehead throws his Hat in the ring

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buffalox

Hey, Rick, you won’t have time to feed the buffalo if you win.

Rick Knobe is looking to get his old job back . . .

Easy Rider rip

Former Mayor Rick Knobe says he is giving consideration to another bid.

 

“I think about it nearly every day and have not ruled out the possibility,” Knobe told me Monday.

“What makes up my mind? Probably time more than anything. I have a good feel for the issues. I know what needs to be done. I always have fire in the belly, but is it enough fire?” Knobe said.

I wish him luck, but I have had this race predicted before it has even started. It will be decided in a runoff election between Costello and Staggers. And it will be a death match to the finish line.

Other possible mayoral candidates include Sioux Falls businessman Bill Peterson (Mr. Wishy Washy), who is thought to be seriously considering a run but has not made a decision, and City Council members Vernon Brown (Mr. Rainbow Unicorns), Kermit Staggers (The Enforcer), Gerald Beninga (Mr. Doesn’t say much) and Pat Costello (Mr. Math Nerd & hamburger maker). Consider Greg Jamision (Drama Queen) as a possible candidate, too. Encouraged by his friends (?$$$$) to run Jamision says he would like the opportunity to help shape Sioux Falls.

Bahahahahaha! Gawd, I hope Greg runs. Going to the Mayoral Forums will be like improv night at community theatre (wonder if he will tear up). “I decided to run to save people from dying in floods, bring more AC/DC concerts to town and to represent the silent minority millionaire developers who aren’t getting enough handouts and tax breaks from the city already.”

Posted in: Sioux Falls Mayor Race

Imagine that, the Sioux Falls MSM ignores the consulting fee story

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So I will give you an update (watch video here).

As I predicted, Dave was absent from the meeting (go figure) must have been working on his deposition for the Red Light Camera lawsuit.

It all started with Councilor Staggers wondering why this mysterious memo about the audit never reached him- then a circus of finger pointing started, the only thing that was missing was a seltzer bottle, monkeys and a roaring lion. They really need to install a popcorn and roasted peanut machine at Carnegie Hall.

Staggers asks the auditor what process is used to pick consultants and professional services, he says “They don’t always use a request for proposal” In other words, some of them are just handpicked by the mayor or department heads. Now that’s fiscal responsibility and accountability, isn’t it?

Towards the end, Vernon Brown rears his head and points out that consulting fees only are .2% of the total budget this year. (but fails to mention they have doubled in 3 years. Yeah, Vernon, What’s the diff if they cost us $500,000 or $1 million? It’s only .2% of the total budget.

It’s important to note that the total amount of professional services is over 12% of the total budget ($34 million). I guess Vernon forgot to bring that up in the meeting.

Posted in: Consultants, Sioux Falls

Consulting and Professional Services fees doubling over the past three years for the City of Sioux Falls

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Tonight’s informational meeting for the Sioux Falls city council could get a little ‘dicey’ to say the least. The audit that councilor Staggers asked for last summer has finally came out, and the results are astonishing. City Hall has done it’s best to stall the audit, saying Staggers’ request had political motives and what good would it be to know those amounts. As you can see below, there is a reason City Hall has been delaying the audit.

SPECIAL PROJECT

 

Consulting fees jumped almost a 100% in two years and the most shocking is professional services jumped from $16 million to $34 million in 3 years. This is appalling on two fronts. First off the city should be spending less, not more, especially in this economy and I don’t care how out of control inflation may be, there is no excuse whatsoever for a $16 million dollar jump over a three year period. It is pretty obvious that there is a lot of hogs at the trough of city hall and Munson has the feeding pail. I hope Staggers takes them to task tonight over the out of control spending, we’ll see if Northside Davey has the gonads to show up to the meeting tonight.

SEE THE FULL AUDIT HERE

Posted in: SF City Council, Sioux Falls

So how much did the levee circus cost Sioux Falls taxpayers?

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I guess it never really crossed my mind until yesterday when Quen Be De praised Northside Davey in the informational meeting, “I just think Dave has done a great job of working with our Washington delegation in getting us funds for our projects in Sioux Falls during his administration. I just hope the next three mayors can even come close to what he has been able to accomplish.” (paraphrasing). After I puked in my garbage can I started thinking about that statement. First off, we still are waiting for Lewis & Clark and railroad relocation funds from the Feds, something Dave has not accomplished. Also, they are still in discussions with the Corp of Engineers as to how much money we are gonna get for the levees. And lastly the only reason the levee bonds were called off was because FEMA said that people in the affected area don’t have to buy flood insurance. Go figure. This was all about saving business men and developers insurance premiums not about our safety, because if they were really concerned about our safety, the project would still be moving forward.

Business as usual in city hall.

But how much did this runaround cost us, even if we ditched the bonds? Last Fall councilor Staggers asked the city to give him a list of consulting fees paid out in 2009. He still has not received the list and they continue to deny (a sitting councilor) the numbers. They say he wants to use it for political reasons. My guess is that the amount is so high, that it will for sure become a political issue if it is released. If I had to ballpark it, I would guess the city probably spend close to $12-15 million a year on consulting fees, which includes legal advice.

This has gotten me wondering how much it cost taxpayers to explore the bonds to begin with (including flying a consultant in from Minneapolis in an attempt to scare off our tax initiative petition drive). Just because we only took out a portion of the bonds for the bridge, doesn’t mean they weren’t charging us by the hour. Ironically, the bridge could have been paid for out of the CIP budget, so no consulting fees or interest would have been paid at all.

Why all the secrecy around consulting fees? Because I have a feeling if we knew the real numbers we would have to clean our drawers. I hope the next three mayors aren’t even close to accomplishing what Munson has done, in fact, I hope they go in a completely different direction.

Posted in: FEMA, Floodplain, Floods, Munson, SF City Council, Sioux Falls

I don’t mean to beat a dead horse, but I’m gonna anyway

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The council wants to play hardball, fine, I’m all for it;

Advisory opinions allow the board to review a situation and determine if it violates the city’s ethics policy. Currently, anyone can ask the board for an opinion about the behavior of a city official.

But some councilors feel the process has burned them. They say it has been misused as a political weapon because a person who files one can then make it public. They argue advisory opinions should be available only to city officials who want guidance about their own conduct.

Myself and residents will just wait for you to do something unethical then file a complaint, if you want it that way. You think asking for opinion is ‘politically damaging’? Wait until you actually screw up and a complaint is filed. All you are doing is shooting yourself in the foot.

Board members have proposed keeping advisory opinions available to all residents. They would make them confidential as well, which would prohibit someone from asking for an opinion and then using it to damage someone politically.

I am all for confidentiality. Like I have said before, this isn’t about making things ‘political’ (even though everything you do is political, because, you are a politician) it is about nipping conflict of interest in the butt before it turns into a complaint. It’s all about prevention. Duh!

But that idea doesn’t appear to have much traction with councilors.

 

“The best way to stop an advisory opinion from becoming political is not to have it,” Councilor Kermit Staggers said.

So basically what councilor Staggers is saying is that residents don’t have the ‘knowledge’ to know whether or not a councilor is acting inappropriately or unethically, only other councilors and city staff? Give me a break – don’t insult my intelligence. Who was dead on center about not getting stimulus money or not needing to borrow for the levees? Not any of you.

Posted in: Ethics, SF City Council