Letter: Secrecy in golf management selection a concern

“Those who have nothing to hide, hide nothing.”

These past weeks, many citizens reached out to the Sioux Falls City Council to voice their concerns about who the new managing firm will be for city golf courses. The public had the mistaken impression that the city council would have some “front end” input on the selection process. They didn’t know that an RFP selection group was making all the decisions. The fact is, after making several requests to Sioux Falls Parks and Recreation director, Don Kearney, the council was still not told who was on the “secret” RFP selection committee. We were also not allowed to see the proposals from all the companies. I was told this was to prevent citizens from “lobbying” for their choice of management. In other words, we were being protected from the citizens. I had never heard this rationale before and found it to be very concerning.

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On many other issues, the city council has been openly “lobbied” by developers, neighborhoods, city bureaucrats, business leaders and citizens. This is called open and transparent government, not to mention free speech. Now, more than ever, we need to work overtime to show the citizens that we are listening, responsive and letting them in on the details of transactions and projects that involve tax dollars. Having an anonymous group of people make decisions for the council and the citizens behind closed doors is not my idea of democracy. If you serve on a citizen board or committee, you need to be open to hearing from the public and being identified.

Before we are asked to accept the anointed company chosen by the RFP committee, the council needs to evaluate all the proposals being offered in an executive session. We need more information. If Kearney and Mayor Mike Huether are worried about sharing proprietary “secrets,” then “white out” that information on the proposals. I think the citizens would agree, that in this instance and other projects using tax dollars and city resources, the city council has a right to see all the proposals and make comparisons for ourselves. Then we can justify our vote to the citizens.

Please, feel free to contact me at any time with your concerns.