Mayors Behaving Badly redux: At least this one wasn't a DUI

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The Rapid City Journal is reporting this morning that Hot Springs Mayor Carl Oberlitner admits he made mistakes on a land exchange for the local golf course. And on the sale of the library.

But heck, at least he's not out there beating up his wife, fighting with locals, or getting a DUI:
Hot Springs Mayor Carl Oberlitner said Thursday that he made mistakes on the controversial Hot Springs golf course land exchange and on the sale of the former city library, but he said he made the mistakes honestly in efforts to do what was best for the city.A state audit, requested by the city council, found that the city did not follow proper procedures in a land exchange that resulted in a nine-hole addition to the city golf course. It also found that city officials at the last minute added requirements for bids on the former Carnegie Library without council approval, a violation of state law. State auditors presented their report to the city council Sept. 20.

On Oct. 2, the council voted 6-2 to bar Oberlitner from future executive sessions dealing with the state audit. City attorney Pat Ginsbach advised the council that state law allows it to ban the mayor if a conflict of interest exists, according to council member Don Patitz.

However, the council may invite the mayor to the executive sessions, Patitz said Thursday. “I have a lot of questions I would like to ask him.”

Meanwhile, another council member plans to seek a criminal investigation.

and...

Oberlitner said he doesn’t have an opinion on the investigation. “If there’s laws broken, we want them prosecuted and taken care of,” he said.

But Oberlitner said it is difficult for part-time elected officials such as him to get things done. “If they’re going to do things, they’re going to make mistakes,” he said. “You know what, I’m going to make some more mistakes, but I’m going to do something.”
Read it all here.

Comments

Anonymous said…
I'm sure Lance Russell is all over this before the election. What did Lance know and when did he know it?
7:58 AM
Anonymous said…
UH, they just got the audit done.

And Lance has already been clashing with them on this sort of stuff. Do you not recall the flap he personally led over the library and the conduct of city officials.

Pretty selective memory.
8:08 AM
Anonymous said…
Sounds like everybody needs to lighten up a bit. Hot Springs always had a great nine-hole course, but the addition makes it absolutely awesome. It rivals Hart Ranch as the best course in the Black Hills, and I expect will more than return the city's investment in the form of increased tourism in the Southern Hills.

Regardless of the legal technicalities, the nine-hole addition was a fantastic project.
9:39 PM
Anonymous said…
Did anyone see Lance's ad in today's RC Journal. Wow. Any lawyer knows that pulling one or two items out of the sky, such as a reduction in bail story, likely doesn't take into account what a judge was looking at in total (a judges job)...Well, never mind, Lance considers this a political race so all bets are off.
10:03 AM
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