SOUTH DAKOTA STRAIGHT TALK

The dog days of summer are over. The coming week brings forth Senate hearings on Judge Roberts, intense speculation on a nomination to replace Chief Justice Rehnquist, and the ongoing rescue, relief, and rebuilding as a consequence of Katrina. What will be lost in some of this I expect may be the release of at the least the preliminary audit findings and report on the City of Sioux Falls past spending practice.

The report will unleash opinions of what is wrong at City Hall.

While I have no specific knowledge of practices or inside happenings in city government what follows are just observation, speculation, and opinion.

The fact that Mayor Dave Munson authorized expenditures for the Phillips to the Falls project is no longer news. Disclosure that the funds for Phillips to the Falls and Paisley Park road projects have been extensively examined and discussed in Sioux Falls political circles. The popular belief among the public is that David Munson is a good person, honest, was acting in good faith and completing these popular projects were in the city’s best interest.

Being a political leader and in particular a Mayor requires many skills but perhaps the most important is being a consensus builder. Mayor Rick Knobe was superlative in his ability to bring diverse groups together. He worked closely and listened with senior citizens, our schools and youth organizations, labor unions, the business community, with the non-profits as well as with the cultural and arts community. During Knobe’s tenure Sioux Falls grew and prospered. Dave Munson shares these skills learned as a former teacher, State legislator, local businessman, and lifetime resident he understands and has access to the diverse Sioux Falls community.

Mayor Munson’s shortcoming is that he is too nice of a guy and sometimes fails to communicate either his own accomplishments or is unwilling to talk about problems and the shortcomings of others. The Mayor would rather not say anything at all than be negative about issues or speak of his disagreement with someone or group.

In that regard consider that since taking office he has had to spend more time at the end of the parade cleaning up the messes made by others than in his rightful place at the front leading. He has cleaned up among others the Orpheum Theatre fiasco and even now is dealing with management failures at the Zoo left to him by his predecessor. He jump-started the Phillips to the Falls project that was going nowhere when he took office.

While the former Mayor provided the vision for a regional water project, within the last year we discovered that the quantity would be inadequate of the city’s growing water needs. Good vision but delayed far too long implementing. Dave Munson faced up to the critical problem and has implemented a solution to Sioux Falls’ longer-term water requirements.

The State Auditor Generals report I think may show that Dave Munson also inherited from the previous administration a finance office that routinely skirted expenditure limits by utilizing funds transfers among various departments of city.

Beyond the pending audit report – Dave Munson does have a vision for Sioux Falls. He understands that Sioux Falls is a diverse and growing city with a high quality of life. The Mayor envisions and is planning for a city of 225,000 plus people. He understands that the City needs good infrastructure planning and implementation. That Sioux Falls does need a recreation center and yes an events center.

We’ll see what the audit finds but what is right at City Hall is Dave Munson.