Look at at this change to policies, (page 13) they are trying to find cover from their Constitutional duties;
Robert’s is a guideline on how to run a meeting, but those RULES do not supersede the 1st Amendment or US Constitution. Like I told the council last Tuesday (FF: 1:10) these are consideration rules that the public AND the council should use as a guideline to the meetings, but when it comes to PUBLIC INPUT anything besides violent threats is allowable and limiting speakers is blatant censorship and little else.
Instead of spending so much time trying to silence the public, why don’t you talk to us? The only time I see councilors is at Carnegie, makes you wonder if some of them are playing Marshall Selberg Musical Districts on us? Speaking of that crooked fella, still wondering why all the councilors and mayor shirked their responsibility of managing their own? Selberg should have been booted from the council and he should have been charged, but not these guys, circle the f’ing wagons.
A good attorney would have told you, you can’t win. So why didn’t the same attorney tell you to file NEW charges in a NEW case?! I have said this is NOT about state law and filing deadlines this is about a MASSIVE conflict of interest. Every single elected official on that dais, including Mayor Poops, received donations and campaign help from the Skab’s main investor, Matt Paulson, then they voted to GIVE a contract to the same person who donated to their campaigns. But it gets even better, they all knew Matt and his Peach colored Lambo SUV was an investor in the Skab before the vote, but the public didn’t know. Probably one of the most unethical and corrupt votes I have ever seen the council take. Quid pro Quo. How can anyone TRUST the council to make a decision based on fairness from now on? They can’t. And here is the kicker, the Argus has more circulation and reach then the Skab, so this tells me the decision by the councilors was based on bias and not facts. I will say it again, I don’t think either paper should have the notices, a gigantic waste of tax dollars. You can see all the notices to your heart’s delight for free online and if you don’t know what the internet is you can always go down to the clerk’s office and get a copy. So wasteful, but not surprising since our state legislature is ran by the stupidest people imaginable. Still waiting for ETC. or 605 Magazine to apply for the notices. I wonder if the AL counsel even knows what a conflict of interest is . . . remember when Randall Beck was gunning for the Denty?
Ironically, if the AL would have reached out I could have provided them evidence of the corruption and lies with some very colorful text messages from one of the Skab owners(?). To which he sent me even more nasty messages before I had to block him. He’s a real Prickly Pear. Maybe the council pricked the Skab because of their enormous professionalism 🙂 and almost Pulitzer Prize winning journalism in uncovering Noem’s hair salon receipts.
I have to admit, I have a lot of political ‘friends’ and Pammy is one of my faves. Never backs down, and holds her ground. So there has been this political discussion about what SD Dem has the most years of political experience, and guess what? It’s not Tim. Now, no disrespect, probably one of the best Senators our state has ever had besides Jim A. and McGovern. Pammy served since the 1970’s and has the longest political career of any SD Dem and probably beats out any Repugs. Pam is modest about it and doesn’t really include her time on the Sioux Falls School Board, but it was public service and should count. Now I am a little off on my timeline, but I believe Pam served the public for 38 years. Pretty Crazy.
I want to take a personal side to this, Pam is extremely political but super funny. I have been in meetings with her where she takes the entire room to the woodshed, and when they try to cut her down she takes them back to the woodshed. I have to admit, when it comes to Pam, you want her on your side. And while we mourn the loss of Mr. Johnson and his incredible service to this country, Pammy is the salt of the earth.
UPDATE: I contacted a current city councilor about this and they said they were unsure what was going on. A former city official told me this title change is NOT going towards the new budget analyst but the CURRENT council chief of Staff, Jim David. But what is confusing is that Mr. David would also be the direct supervisor of the clerk staff which is odd since the city clerk is really the defacto COS of council because of charter language. So why is Mr. David getting the new position and NOT the city clerk? That answer I cannot give you.
Most organizations would have changed the title before advertising the position, but that is NOT how the city council does things. Half-Backwards. The Budget Analyst/legislative advisor was retiring so the city council was tasked with replacing that person (a position that I thought the city really didn’t need because I was unaware of any policy he helped work on or crafted over the years). We also PAY the municipal league to lobby the legislature on our behalf, so having an internal legislative person seems like duplicity.
So why didn’t they just advertise the position that way? Oh, that’s right, because if you look under the pay grade, you will see they get quite the bump. Not bad, getting a raise a week after you are hired, she must be an over achiever. I wonder if the pay bump will be discussed in the meeting. Doubtful.
While I agree the council staff should have some kind of a supervisor, they already do, the city clerk. So why isn’t he the supervisor for the city council staff? I don’t think the council staff needs a direct supervisor but someone who they can go to with day to day HR stuff but the council chairs really should be the direct supervisors.
It’s funny how the new council is taking on all this new staff and I don’t think it was their idea, I think that the council chairs, Soehl and Merkouris have been cooking up these staff additions for awhile so that when stuff goes south on the council they can blame staff, oldest political trick in the book.
There is NO DOUBT opponents of Rec MJ lie thru their e’ffing teeth. Which is odd, because there is a lot of factual negative data on MJ use they could use. For instance, the crafters of this amendment should have made the legal age 25 and older due to brain development, but the opponents are too dumb to figure it out. Either way, I often find zoom interviews interesting and what some people think is a good backdrop. I guess if I was holed up with my other white dude buddy in a Super 8 with what appears to be only one double bed, and I was representing an organization called ‘Protecting Kids’ I would have told DNK we can do this interview over the phone and I will email you a headshot. Let’s just say refuting your lies in a Super 8 isn’t a good look. Do you keep all the campaign donations in a shoebox under the bed? Well at least they aren’t blowing money on hotel rooms with 2 beds! (sometimes if you butter up the night clerk they will give you a rollaway for free!)
l3wis 
