Challenger Jamison Wants to End Mayor Huether's Run

Greg Jamison is the challenger in the Mayoral race in Sioux Falls for the upcoming election on April 8th. The current member of the City Council wants your support to move into the top chair.

One of Jamison’s prime challenges is to combat crime in Sioux Falls. “Since 2009, felonies have risen 48 percent in our city. At the State of the City Address, (the Mayor) actually stated people feel safe in our community, but actually the numbers tell a different story. Rape is up 9 percent. Burglary is up 15 percent and assault 50 percent. My approach is to prevent crime from happening.” Jamison would do that by adding more officers and develop a task force to find the 10 most violent individuals in the community.

Jamison also perceives that the ballot issues residents will decide are a signal to City officials. “Every elected official should pay attention to what’s happening with these two initiatives and two referendums. It’s clear that the public doesn’t feel like they are getting heard. I’m hearing from a lot of people that they come up to the City Council, they speak their words, but they can tell. The Council is sitting there and not paying attention to them.”

One of the charter amendments that voters will decide stems from a need for the Council and Mayor to share services with the City Attorney. Jamison says this change is necessary to prevent a conflict of interest. “The origin of it is really about trust. We saw the City Attorney torn between what he knew was right and what his boss was telling him to do.” As a result the amendment came about which Jamison feels that would better allow the City Attorney to do his job without fear of reprisal from whomever is Mayor of Sioux Falls.

Jamison realizes that you can talk accomplishments for both himself and Mayor Mike Huether who is running for re-election. The challenger presents the aspect of personal conduct as something for voters to consider. “I think the integrity that people want in their elected official should be as basic as it comes. If that’s in question, I think people should take pause. So if the Mayor has a development that he’s involved in and then he comes out and says, ‘Hey we should build a Walmart over here or over there.’ The City directors wonder how to make that work. Is something being done for his own benefit?” The above reference was to a development in southeastern Sioux Falls in which Huether has an investment.

Regardless of the outcome of the election, Jamison would either be elected as Mayor or he would continue serving on the City Council to fill out his second term. For more from Greg Jamison, listen to the interview below.

Segment 1: Crime numbers are beyond what they should be.