Did Spencer’s dog park cost us 500K? Nope.
When the mayor helped four councilors approve the million dollar dog parks, he did a gigantic disservice to the taxpayers of Sioux Falls. Am I against dog parks in Sioux Falls? No, and I think the four councilors that voted against the expenditure were not either. They simply were asking, “Why so expensive?” But apparently the mayor thinks that is a nice pricetag. Why is that?
My guess is because someone is getting a hell of deal on contracting fees. It reminds me of when the Pavilion window project was re-bid, and another contractor came in several thousands of dollars lower (I think it was 200K lower then original bid). I think it is a bit ridiculous that we spend 500K for each of these parks for a fence, a couple parking spots and some lights (we already own the land).
Councilor Anderson suggested before the vote that the land use committee look at more economical options before approving this. Mayor Huether, Councilors Entenman, Erpenbach, Aguliar and Rolfing don’t seem to care that we are blowing a cool million of taxpayer’s money on these parks, and don’t seem to think we should explore more economical options. Shame on them. I guess the council has really gone to the dogs. Literally.
What it really comes down to is that a mayor and some councilors are afraid if we start digging around on RFPs we may reveal something troubling, some contractors in town are taking us to the cleaners.