Snow Job piece in SF school district’s community mailer
l3wis What is this all about? Is this sarcasm?
2012
Welcome to Sanford Falls
Gotta love I.L. (FF: 4:30) he asked the council and mayor tonight at the council meeting why developers can’t just buy the RR tracks, why is Pat Lloyd serving on the Parks Board, if Sanford was going to buy the naming rights to the city and the Argus Leader. I think ‘Sanford Times’ has a nice ring to it. He did it all in about 3 minutes. Talk about the speed round.
Now FF to (9:00).
From a South DaCola reader;
I don’t know if you looked at the upcoming city council meeting agenda, but… It looks like the city is going a little crazy with assessments. It reminded me of a good StrongTowns post from a few months ago about the questionable constitutionality of special assessments when they are applied to some projects. It would seem to me that, unless a city project for which a citizen is assessed actually increases the true value of their property, their 5th amendment rights to due process are being violated, since they are being deprived of their money (property).
Building new sidewalks and streets obviously increases property values — no problem there. But does sidewalk repair increase property values? Does tree-trimming, or litter removal, or lawn-mowing? One of the assessments is even for snow removal! Sounds more like a hostage situation than an assessment to me (“We won’t plow your street until you pay up!”).
Yet another questionable brush with due process for this City. It’s getting old.
Kermit asked, “Do we thank homeowners for scooping snow off of city owned sidewalks?” LOL!
Does the SF School District’s Asst. Super have teaching credentials?
Sue Simons, Assistant Super to the SF School District (KELO-TV, Screenshot)
According to the SF School District’s website;
Sue Simons, Assistant Superintendent for HR and Legal Services
And according to martindale.com (which still has her listed as a partner at Davenport Evans):
| Susan Brunick Simons 206 West 14th Street, P.O. Box 1030 Sioux Falls, South Dakota
(Lincoln & Minnehaha Cos.)
|
| University | College of St. Benedict, B.A. |
| Law School | University of South Dakota, J.D. |
| Admitted | 1987 |
| ISLN | 908719493 |
I don’t mean to split hairs, but wouldn’t you want the assistant super to have a little knowledge in teaching and administration? Maybe I can’t find the credentials. Does anybody know?
Was the Sanford Center the plan all along? Even before the public voted on it?
Just another ‘secret’ Sanford events center meeting
I have been following the Events Center debate for years. But not until the recent final push to name the place after Sanford do the puzzle pieces come into place.
While we can all sit around and wonder if Sanford’s name was going to be on this place all along, I want to share these tidbits with you. You can draw your own conclusions . . .
Did you know that there was a get-out-the-vote (secret) committee within Sanford? Some of the member’s may or may not have included Dave and De Knudson, councilor (former) chair Sue Aguliar, Sanford volunteer coordinator Nona Bixler, wife of David Bixler, financial and budget analyst for the SF city council. It is also assumed that councilor Jim Entenman was involved since he sits on the Sanford board of trustees.
It is also very peculiar that the SF finance department’s director, Tracy Turbak, was in charge of the EC election. Municipal elections are typically handled by the city clerk. In light of the fact that former city clerk, Debra Owen was terminated right before the election it makes it even more peculiar. Especially when you consider that former county auditor (an expert of local elections) was named interim city clerk after Owen left, and she wasn’t asked to run the election. Why?
Having a secret get-out-the-vote committee isn’t that big of deal, actually I commend their efforts, though I disagree with what they were selling the public.
What makes it a big deal is that these same people are dictating whose name gets to be on the side of the building. Dave Knudson, VP and chief legal advisor to Sanford wrote the naming rights contract based on a series of ‘supposed’ secret meetings with a secret committee which might have been comprised of the same people that sat on the secret get-out-the-vote committee.
But as councilor Tex Golfing said in the recent EC contract working session, “There is a difference between ‘secret‘ meetings and ‘private’ meetings. These were ‘private’ meetings.”
The smoke couldn’t get any thicker.
Goodbye to the old farm
My grandparents recently moved into an apartment and left the old farmstead. I went there yesterday and dug around and was allowed to take whatever I wanted. I got some cool tools, a vintage tie, and old tube radio (that still works) and some other momentos. The house is over 100 years old and my grandparents have lived there since the late 40’s. It will probably be torn down. They lived half-way between Tyndall and Springfield.
