The secretive administration of Sioux Falls mayor Mike Huether has found a clever way to keep documents used in public decision-making secret: declare them drafts!
Mayor Huether’s lead lawdog launched this gambit to keep the City Council and the public from reviewing the evidence the city used to conclude the siding on the new Sioux Falls event center only has cosmetic flaws, not structural deficiencies that require replacement:
To come to that conclusion, the city hired a forensic consultant out of Minneapolis for about $5,000. That report was never made public or disclosed to the council.
City Attorney David Pfeifle said that report was never formally completed and is only in draft form, meaning the city has no obligation to make it public.
“We will not be providing that draft report for public inspection because it was never completed,” he said [Joe Sneve, “Premier Center Settlement: City Hall Won’t Release Forensic Report,” that Sioux Falls paper, 2017.10.03].
Such clever secrecy is one more reason I’m glad Mayor Huether left the Democratic Party last year and spared me the grief of having to come up with excuses to vote for him for Governor. But beyond my partisan quibbles, former Republican legislator Christine Erickson says Huether’s disdain for openness erodes public trust in city government:
Councilor Christine Erickson said that reluctance to share information about the decision-making process is what’s driving public distrust in the process. Releasing the report so the public can verify that the event center siding is structurally sound would go a long way toward giving the public confidence the right decision was made, she said.
“What assurance can you give the taxpayer that the siding is adequately protecting the event center?” she asked the mayor. “At the end of the day that will help people move on” [Sneve, 2017.10.03].
Draft or not, the forensic report guided a public decision about a public building. Releasing that report would educate the public without harming anyone. Hiding that report under the specious distinction that it is a “draft” serves no good public purpose.
Sioux Falls is the new ‘Dodge City?’
What’s sad is that all though we will finally be getting rid of our city attorney, SF taxpayers will still have to pay his wages at his new job. He could never make it in the Private Sector.
Maybe you missed it, South DaCola. Pfeifle was employed by a private law firm for many years. The claim that he can’t make it in the private sector is not legitimate. The real criticism here is that the public is being denied a report from an engineer regarding the condition of a public building. And even the city council is being denied access to the report. That’s shocking! Perhaps the next mayor will release the report, if the courts haven’t ordered it released sooner.
Imagine with a slick Mike in Washington D.C. and another slick Mike as the mayor, in Sioux Falls.
I do not understand? Is there actually a printed hard copy of this “draft” report? If so where is it kept? Whose job is it to keep it guarded? If even the city council has not read the report, it begs the question of its’ existstance. If it does not exist then what was a forensic engineer paid $5000 of public money for doing? Could we just interview the engineer and get his impressions or has his tongue been cut out and brain lobotomized. Seriously…what is the mayor hiding?
Rors, and why are we being denied the report? Because the ‘Highly Qualified’ David Pfeifle refuses to turn it over. He may be following orders, but he surely isn’t following the law. So yes, this is about the ‘qualifications’ of Mr. Pfeifle or at the very least his integrity as a public law official. He should be stripped of his law license.
Trust me, I’ve been following this admin a little longer than you. A spade is a spade.