Maybe we could fund Medicaid expansion by cutting the meeting budget for the state’s Health and Educational Facilities Authority.
Bob Mercer reports that the HEFA board spent $5,858 last month for a one-hour meeting at a private club:
The Sutton Bay golf and hunting club is in Sully County, overlooking the Missouri River west of Agar.
A sign at the entrance reads, “Private Club” and “Members Only.”
A reporter who drove to the meeting, however, wasn’t turned away when he parked or when he went inside the lodge.
The meeting cost $5,858 to hold there on the afternoon of Sept. 28, according to Don Templeton.
He is executive director for the South Dakota Health and Educational Facilities Authority.
The meeting lasted approximately one hour. Some members stayed the night [Bob Mercer, “State Board Has Annual Meeting at Private Resort,” Mitchell Daily Republic, 2015.10.07].
Mercer reports that HEFA’s annual meetings since 2010 have cost between $2,483.40 and $7,124.38.
Let’s see: seven guys, one hour… instead of driving up to Agar, HEFA could have rented the South Dakota Municipal League’s conference room in Fort Pierre for four hours for $100. They could get Red Rossa to deliver a big dang lunch—salad, soup, pot roast, dessert—for $250 (and that might include the tip). Get the Minnehaha and Pennington contingents of the board to carpool (SDHSAA has its state-event judges do this to save money), pay the drivers the standard state rate of 42 cents per mile and give the riders 10 cents a mile for their sit time, and we spend maybe $700 on mileage. No one needs to stay overnight for a one-hour meeting in Fort Pierre, so we have no lodging cost.
And I’ve barely cracked a thousand dollars. That tells me HEFA has about $4,800 worth of explaining to do.
Ridiculously poor choice for location. The optics tell a story of extreme snobbery and arrogance for the public at a time when the SDGOP gravy train is making front pages again. The Governor can’t take another nap on this one. Heads must roll.
Are the board members paid or are they volunteers?
CH,
I’m not defending or criticizing anything here. But, maybe putting some color on a possible motivation.
1) People give their talents away in a lot of different ways without enumeration equal to the talent provided. Reimbursed for expenses, lunch or dinner and maybe a small stipend. And, after a time, participating loses its “shine” and seems to be burdensome (time away from family, work, friends). But, that time and experience is when the entity needs one to “keep on keeping on.” One way to bridge the burden is to offer a perk that expresses gratitude. Knowing one’s talents are appreciated goes a long ways.
2) The actual business meeting agenda of an entity often are rather short and perfunctory. If people consistently travel hours for a short meeting and are sent on their way, people’s natural desire for personal interaction and understanding of the other people in the group isn’t met leading to one’s willingness to serve be diminished. So, what is often done is have one meeting a year which includes a social component. Maybe spouses are invited to attend.
3) Especially if an entity often relies on teleconference meetings, personal interaction and understanding is in short supply unless it is augmented on occasion. I once directed a state board where efficiency required a lot of teleconference meetings. So, once a year, we planned an annual meeting which looked like what occurred at Sutton Bay. We met someplace where we could do our business and then did something social, had dinner and all stayed overnight. The total cost over a year was less than making busy people travel monthly yet we had an opportunity to interact personally.
Entitled execs? High flying big spenders who deign to share their presence at only the exclusive meeting hot spots? Definitely Republican!!
Exactly, Shirley.
Public service is now a “burden?”
But … but … somewhere there’s some welfare queen trading her SNAP benefits for cigarettes. SQUIRREL! – ok?
Don’t question authority
Don’t question authority
Don’t question authority
Don’t question authority
Don’t question authority
I like how Troy says he’s not defending anything here, and then proceeds to defend everything.
I’m assuming the HEFA board is appointed, and likely is made up of private citizens, government employees, or a mix of the two who knew what they were getting into when they agreed to serve on the board. Troy, I know school board members in West River who drive across some of our state’s larger county’s to sit on the hard chairs in a school library for hours at a time as they figure out how to keep the good teachers they have while trying to attract new young teachers to a school they can barely keep cobbled together because the Legislature thinks it a good idea to use capital outlay money to prop up schools’ general funds. These school board members get paid diddly, and it wouldn’t surprise me if they choose to serve for nothing to save every precious school district dollar. If you were a school board member dealing with so many challenges and not enough resources, how would you feel when you read about the HEFA board’s assumption that they deserve such a spendy, wasteful “perk?”
Checking the board members against the Future Fund recipient list: Norbert Sebade, Dave Fleck and Master Baiter Jim Scull all gave Denny Daugaard a thousand simoleons for reelection.
bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/capjournal.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/f/da/fda00c14-8e28-11e3-bd1a-001a4bcf887a/52f1d06d9921c.pdf.pdf
My first thought was that this is just another example of how governing in South Dakota is a lot like a country club filled with perks for those who pay to play.
So Troy, are you saying that there is a certain entitlement that goes along with accepting a gubernatorial appointment?
There is a certain symmetry to having a meeting of those select few chosen to serve having their meeting at a private and exclusive club. Consistency is good.
Say, isn’t the Governor related to the people who own and run Sutton Bay? See, family values are a big part of the Governor’s mission…like bringing value to his family. Not expecting a comment from Tony V any time soon.
The good news is that all of the moderately priced hotels and conference centers in the state must have been too busy to host this group.
Maybe Sutton Bay could host all of the volunteers for Meals on Wheels in SD. Great group of people who deserve a little personal interaction and understanding of the other people in the group.
Mike,
Reality #1: Anything that takes a person away from their family should be considered a burden. Yes, it might be a burden worth bearing but to pretend it is without cost to the board member is fantasy. Personal anecdote: I currently serve on Boards of three charities all in Sioux Falls. I was asked to serve on a state-wide board (100% non-partisan and non-political) with meetings held 6 times around the state. I was asked because the board was searching for my particular skill set. The person who suggested my name knew me because of politics but the person who approached me I knew better and is a Democrat. I hardly even was aware of this entity. While I knew that my particular skill set would be valuable, I support the mission of this entity, and I could even resign in two years when they worked through the need they had, I turned them down for one simple reason: My wife said between my business and other charitable activities she gave me two choices- resign from those entities or pass on this.
Reality #2: HEFA is a very technical and important Board in our state. Not only does it require specialized skills and experience but the people who have those skills are very busy. Go to the link Cory provides and then review the board members. The diversity of the skills of these members encompass the specialized needs of this entity (Legal, finance, construction) and all are accomplished in their fields. Further, review the other non-professional charitable work that has demands on their time and attention. As a citizen, I’m grateful they are willing to give their talents to this important entity that serves our health care and educational needs in the state.
Reality #3: This Board manages $1.2 Billion (yes Billion) of assets. If one board member with experience serves an extra term for any reason (including an incidental token of appreciation like an invite to Sutton Bay) and catches something a less experienced member might miss, $5,000 is immaterial.
$5,858/60 minutes = $97.63 per minute. This is hardly immaterial.
Taking Troy’s suggestion to follow the Cory’s link, I have to agree that $5K is immaterial when their annual report shows HEFA spent $500,000+ on personal expenses and travel.
Who knew the exclusive country club was such a bargain!
In Troy’s defense, I will happily explain this expenditure of taxpayer $ to our widowed neighbor who struggles by on a meager retirement and SS. I’m sure she will appreciate their sacrifice.
Troy,try man ‘plainin burdens to poor women forced to travel hundreds of miles just to exercise their constitutional rights. Your conservative courts don’t seem to think that constitutes a burden.
Public service used to be an honor and a privilege until the privileged took away the honor of derving.
I will hand this to the Republicans in South Dakota, they are good at ruling and lousy at governing.
“Troy” is the 24-hour a day political machine apologist/attack dog.
This directly reflects on Daugaard’s crooked administration. But it doesn’t fit the frugal facade built up for propaganda.
These poor burdened HEFA board members. I feel so sorry for them! I hope they got a massage and a good round of golf on their junket. Surely their resort rooms, steak dinners and bar tabs were covered in full for them as it would be unfair to expect them to pay any of that themselves when they were forced to travel so far from home and family for a one-hour meeting.
If state rate is good enough for state employees it should be good enough for state boards.
Curious from where the hookers at this shindig came.
The Westhills Village in Rapid City. The Minnehaha Country Club in Sioux Falls. The Lodge hotel and casino in Deadwood. Why such plush digs over the years? Is decision-making during a one hour meeting heightened when swathed in luxury? Pizza Ranch isn’t good enough??
Cocktails, trap shooting, massages, happy endings for all. Almost like another Valhalla.
In fairness to the board members. I have actually had the chance to meet a couple of them and I’m sure that this extravagance was not expected or asked for. I do thank them for their service.
To give background and where credit is due.
I don’t think it was HEFA but another authority (Housing Authority?) was created by Harvey Wollman in the mid-70’s. Harvey understood a powerful and effective role the state could provide was being a pooling source of capital for various endeavors that served the public good. He understood an aggregated Authority which pooled risk and offered expertise cheaper than the endeavors could achieve individually. Within a decade driven by the success of the first authority, the State created multiple authorities do do various things (dorms on campuses, other higher education buildings, state buildings, etc). By the mid-80’s South Dakota was considered a creative leader in this regard. I know this personally because I coordinated a meeting in DC while working for Abdnor with SD Authority staff and that of Hawaii who wanted to model their Authority after South Dakota’s.
Gene Lebrun was the Democrat Speaker of the House about the time Wollman led the creation of whatever Authority he initiated and serves on HEFA board. He must now be pretty old but his experience (beyond legal advice) has to be invaluable especially if he has been serving for as long as might be the case. Dave Timpe is has a financial reputation as stellar as Lebrun’s legal reputation. And Dave Fleck is not only among the smartest people in this state but also might be unequaled with regard to personal devotion to civic improvement. I don’t know anyone else on the Board but their resume’s are impressive.
Something that should also be noted. Because of the complexity of what they do (issued $60 million in bonds in 2014), the actual meeting is probably less than 10% of the total time they spend reading and preparing for these meetings. I know because I once was the Director of the Economic Development Finance Authority and depended on people like this and know what was expected of them. I also served on an Authority when I was an employee and know the extra time that was for something a lot less significant than HEFA. If HEFA hired just Lebrun and Timpe for their expertise, I’d be shocked if they could get it for less than $30,000.
Again, I’m grateful for their service.
Jana, to your points:
1) This is not taxpayer money. It is funds of the Authority. With regard to the $13K in travel in 2014, I’m shocked they can hold 8 meetings as they did in 2014 without use of teleconference calls creating justification in my mind for a meeting which allowed personal interaction and relationship development outside of the actual business meeting. In fact, I’d be shocked if at least half of that expense wasn’t for staff travel both around the state and to national conferences to stay up-to-date on what is happening in the industry.
2) I can assure you that the entities which benefit from HEFA could not procure the expertise from the staff of HEFA and its board members for $494,000 if they had to do it on their own.
This is a very lean organization that efficiently provides a great service for our citizens. The widowed neighbor you reference has gotten a lot more benefit from HEFA than her “share” of the $5,000.
So, Bob Mercer is just pounding sand into our assets for what exactly, Troy?
P.S. To be clear, the cost of operating HEFA is paid for by those who use it. I don’t believe they get an appropriation from the Legislature.
Disgusted Dakotan & Larry Kurtz,
I was drawn to this for one simple reason: Fleck, Timpe & Lebrun (and I assume the other board members) nor HEFA deserve the implication they are taking advantage of or abusing the taxpayer. Second, as a grateful citizen, if there is a token of appreciation extended for it, it is done with my blessing. And, to express appreciation, the token shouldn’t be so insignificant as to have the opposite affect (lunch at Pizza Ranch). As Jana said, these people wouldn’t ask for it or expect it (they can all afford it). But, just as a neighbor who makes a batch of cookies for shoveling her driveway isn’t expected (I can afford my own cookies), graciously accepting such an token of appreciation is equally appropriate.
The Future Fund account isn’t taxpayer money? HEFA asks the legislature for dollars damned near every session.
So Troy, do the organizations that use and pay for the HEFA services derive their revenue from taxpayers? Are we just really looking at a pass through?
Troy’s excuses are textbook political diversions. There is no excuse for these crazy extravagances in light of the hog trough behavior of the power elites in state government and their political pals. This is South Dakota, Troy. If they had the lunch meeting at the Ramkota, it would still be less than $1,000.
Troy, I’ll accept that public service on these boards requires sacrifice. I’ll accept that we should make these public servants dig into their own pockets to do the people’s work. But I think there’s a distinction between covering expenses and throwing a party for board members (that is what you’re describing, right? a social event, an opportunity for pleasant interaction, essentially a dinner party or cocktail party?). I think I laid out a pretty generous program: mileage, fancy meal, convenient meeting room. We could obtain those items every year for a consistent price (mileage stays somewhat consistent, since if we go to Rapid or Deadwood, three guys drive much farther but three guys have little commute). The swings from $2,500 to $7,000+ reflect something more than just taking care of business each year.
Consider again the analogy to SDHSAA state officials. State One-Act is a three-day event. We pay judges to drive to the event and judge 15–16 shows one after the other. We pay for motel rooms and meals. Should SDHSAA also use member high school entry fees and dues for judges to come a day early with their spouses and enjoy a shopping trip around Sioux Falls and an evening at the casino?
Boards are very important, so is my money. I might suggest Skype as a way to do the conference. Important members could lounge in their p.j.’s while they have a cocktail and discuss the different ways in which to help the downtrodden. As this could then be considered transparent, observers could join in, but would not be able to speak to the assembled board with being muted. Open government is not so difficult with the technology we now have, and the cost of this meeting would be negligible for taxpayers like yours truly.
Jana,
Not sure I understand the question but I’ll try to answer what I think it is.
Most of the users of HEFA are our hospitals. As you know, hospitals are very capital intensive and hospitals that can deliver their services as inexpensive as possible is in the public interest (saves us directly on health care costs and indirectly through Medicare/Medicaid). Thus, HEFA because the pooled expertise and capital risk allows them to access the public capital markets cheaper than a hospital can on their own.
Based on the most recent annual report, it cost roughly $700K to run HEFA which is essentially passed through to the users (issuers in the past and current issuers) via an “administrative fee” (I’m not sure the actual term but that describes it). There is nothing that requires any health or education entity from using HEFA. They can try to do it on their own. However, because they do use HEFA (few major projects that I know of don’t use HEFA), it is obvious to me they find this more efficient and cost effective.
So, what did the hospitals say about Medicaid Expansion?
Troy, I understand what you’re saying and it’s not uncommon. I don’t have an argument with you.
My argument is with the routine assumption that “busy people” who handle large, even very large sums of money are therefore more important and more valuable than people who are not very busy and don’t handle very large sums of money. It’s a clear example of the American caste/class system.
Recently a prison debate team roundly defeated the Harvard debate team. Obviously the Harvard team, despite being out thought, out planned, out prepared, is more valuable than the prison team. Why? The American caste/class system assigns them greater value. They’re busier, they handle large sums of money. Therefore, they deserve more.
It’s an assumption made without thought. I believe the examples given by others are valid. It is the assumptions about value that are invalid.
My Mom told me that when touching starts on dates that the brain quits working. So why can not a professional with a good mind and experience and good values do all their business teleconferencing so they can have the perk of staying home with mama every night and still make good decisions. Over spending makes as much sense and when congressmen could make ‘better decisions’ over a beer at a party.
Call it what you want: crony capitalism, pay to play, white privilege, that it gave the last journalist standing in Pierre pause makes it newsworthy for its stench if nothing else.
Mercer deserves the Wurlitzer Prize if nothing else.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=atcqLVEYfUY
Jerry, on Skype: It seems we could do the actual work of the commission quite efficiently by Skype or other teleconference technology.
However, I understand and to some extent agree with Troy’s objection to pure teleconferencing. Face-to-face interaction is much richer than what we get when we reduce ourselves to electronic representations.
But do we need use taxpayer dollars or “administrative fees on bond issues” (Mercer’s description) to pay for that richer interaction? Is that richer interaction essential to fulfilling the board’s mission? If I take Troy’s statements seriously, I could say that the middle road—”perfunctory” face-to-face meetings—is the worst path, and that we get our best bang for the buck from the extremes: all meetings by teleconference to spend the least money and impose the least time burden on the board members, or fancy meetings augmented with social events that build personal bonds and make the travel burden worthwhile.
I would like to look at a portion of Troy’s statements that strikes me as important: “If people consistently travel hours for a short meeting and are sent on their way, people’s natural desire for personal interaction and understanding of the other people in the group isn’t met leading to one’s willingness to serve be diminished…. Especially if an entity often relies on teleconference meetings, personal interaction and understanding is in short supply unless it is augmented on occasion.”
The Daugaard Administration has sent a lot of people to talk to his Blue Ribbon K-12 panel about the merits of distance education. When the Blue Ribbon proposals come forward, are we going to have to adapt Troy’s statement to defend face-to-face learning? “If people consistently travel hours for a short meeting and are sent on their way, people’s natural desire for personal interaction and understanding of the other people in the group isn’t met leading to one’s willingness to learn be diminished…. Especially if an entity often relies on teleconference meetings, personal interaction and understanding is in short supply unless it is augmented on occasion.” Will circuit-riding teachers shared among schools feel less connected to their students and thus less motivated to stick with the job? Will students learning by screen require augmented interaction to get the same quality learning they get from face-to-face teaching?
In my experience, short meetings are the best money the public can spend. Short meetings mean things are going well. Long meetings? Well . . . you know something’s hit the fan.
Recent examples:
1 hour meeting overseeing a billion dollar bond portfolio: Good.
3 hour exec. session with attorney overseeing a $4.5 million education grant: Bad.
Maybe we could expand Medicaid by taxing corporations and rich people.
http://247wallst.com/special-report/2013/10/11/the-most-tax-friendly-states-for-business-2/3/
When the administrators of Janklow’s very successful reading improvement program AREA (Advanced Reading Enhancement Approach) had their expensive booze party, some heads rolled. It seems that at least one only rolled as far as Mid_Central! The Argus Leader did great reporting on that misuse of public dollars.
Master it is also easier to hand someone money under the table while seeing them face to face. Unless it was done by electronic money transfer(always seems to leave a followable trace) it is nearly impossible to hand someone money under the table via Skype.
This link will explain the compensation: http://bfy.tw/2Dfl
I found this website helpful in providing the following answer:
“The Act provides that the Authority shall consist of seven members serving five-year terms who shall be appointed by the Governor. All members of the Authority serve without compensation but are entitled to reimbursement for actual or necessary expenses incurred in the performance of their duties under the Act. The Authority annually elects one member to serve as Chairman, one member to serve as Vice Chairman and one member to serve as Treasurer.”
I serve on a state committee. We meet at a chain hotel in Ft. Pierre for all-day meetings. Lunch is on our own. We get reimbursed at the state rate for hotel and mileage, but most of our members don’t stay over. They are too busy. We accomplish a lot at our meetings. It is the sense of accomplishment and doing something good for the people in our state that keep us on the committee – not the perks.
Rod, you appear to be referring to this 2002 story about Karen Fox’s party for AREA trainers:
That administrator got busted for spending $1,200 on alcohol for 50 teachers. The total party tab was $2,000, so we’re talking $40 per person to promote more of the interpersonal interaction Troy says is so important. Fox lost her job.
The HEFA board members spent $837 on each of themselves. I wonder how much of that money went extra-special goodies beyond meeting essentials at the Agar resort.
Kate, thank you for your service. I would think the chance to participate in such important decision-making would be a great deal of the reward for the sacrifice you make. Have you found that it’s difficult to get people to serve on your committee? Are there discussions about the merits of face-to-face meetings versus teleconferences?
good debate. Having rec’d a quarter of a million from public for a job, albeit years ago, $5k is NOT immaterial.
We don’t know that Ms. Kate’s committee is making important decisions or not. She has not identified the group of power brokers she is consorting with. It might be the board of hair dressers and barbershops.
grudznick, you don’t know the committee I’m on but decide to insult me anyway. It doesn’t matter what committee I’m on. My position with the committee is to do the work of the committee – not to party at the expense of others. That holds true for ANY committee commissioned by the state government. If your only purpose on here is to insult and degrade other posters, maybe you should rethink your purpose in life.
I did not insult you, Ms. Kate. I stated facts. We do not know what committee you are on. I’m sure it is one of the most important ones.
Yup Grudz,you insulted her in a left handed sort of way.
Then I’m sorry to Ms. Kate. As I said, there is likely no doubt her committee is one of the most important ones and is doing things with great transparency and not in secret at all.
It is the Sabbath there in Iowa, Mr. Mike, where you are from. We should all feel the fellowship that Ms. Kate and I do on a nice day like this.
Sabbath doesn’t compute. It is football sunday which follows Big 10 football Saturday,Grudz. What is this sabbath of which you speak?
grudz-your mo exposed-sideways slurs on every post. please stop