At-Large and NE District Council Candidates at Dem Forum
l3wis [youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YmLe9baHiAI[/youtube]
April 2016
City Council Candidates buzz word, ‘Transparency’
Imagine, just for once we don’t have to hear about an Events Center in a municipal election (I guess we can thank MMM for something this election season) Though, I somehow feel the word ‘Transparency’ has a little to do with his management (dictator) style, and the fact cameraman Bruce has been following this administration like stink on sh*t with his tripod and handycam.
What a breath for fresh air for someone who has been battling the secrecy of city hall since the Munson days that for once, the candidates get it. Secrecy sucks!
I have been telling several people that the crop of candidates this cycle have been surprisingly surprising in their quest for transparency in government, and win or lose, it seems we have the cream of the crop to pick from for the most part.
Though not all of them have been honest about their work resumes, personal lives and voting records.
I just hope the winners push hard over the next two years to bring more, or should I say, any sunshine to city government.
After all, it’s one thing to say you will do something, it’s a whole other ball of wax to follow through.
As for the other buzz word ‘Potholes’ there seems to be an alternative approach to getting them fixed.
A busy council agenda for Tuesday Night
The council may want to consider one of these for the meeting
Forget about the upcoming municipal election for a brief moment, because the current city council has their work cut out for them Tuesday night. Hopefully they stock up on their Depends and shots of insulin, because it is going to be a long night.
In item #1, in the consent agenda, the council will be asked to appropriate $22K for Events Center Cooler Storage Addition Agreement for engineering services to Koch Hazard (this is only the expenditure for design, not construction). The building is only a year old, and we are already adding ‘little things’ to the facility that should have been in place. Makes you wonder how many other ‘little things’ were skipped to make it under budget? (cough, cough, shoddy siding, cough, cough). Expect this to be just one item of several over the next couple of years. Good thing we got that million dollar settlement for popcorn poppers, maybe they could install a few in the lobby of Carnegie Town Hall?
Now let’s skip all the way down to Item #60 (man, that’s a lot of beer licenses) Must have something to do with this past PBR weekend 🙂
Item #60 deals with FREE youth ridership on city buses. I don’t expect much of a debate and this passing with flying colors, though there may be some opposition from administration.
Item #61 deals with the proposed city administration building, I expect this to fail at least 5-3. It is obvious that this project requires more scrutiny by the next council.
Item #63 deals with the boulevard ordinance. I don’t expect much pushback from the council or public on this one, but you never know, those Kentucky Bluegrass defenders have been known to show up without warning.
Items #71-72, Platting fee increases. Not sure what kind of debate will occur, but expect some from the development community to rear their heads. This goes back to the ridiculous increase in the second penny from .92 to a full penny and the empty, empty, very empty promises of the development peeps to pay their fare share of arterial road development. Not sure if all the fees will pass as is or will need amending, but it is WAY overdue.
Item #75, appropriating left over monies to streets.
Item #76, 1st reading, deals with appropriating grants for affordable housing
Item #77, 1st reading, deals with cleaning up typos from our crack legal team
And that’s not all, it doesn’t end until item #85, in which the mayor will ask for adjournment then tell us how hard our city council and employees work because they had to sit through another long meeting (while collecting a paycheck).
You all come back now, Yah hear?
LGBT community seems to be confused about the role of municipal government
Yet another logo to be added to council candidates websites
Don’t get me wrong, I will defend equality tooth and nail. Whether that is in the workforce, daily lives or in governing the fine folks of this state and city.
On Friday at the Democratic forum some advocates of equality, specifically LGBT rights decided to bark up the tree of municipal government by asking council candidates their feelings on discrimination (we will have up video soon). All of the candidates admitted (even though Paulson’s feathers got a bit ruffled over the question) that they don’t support discrimination in any way shape or form. Stehly said it best, “I love everyone.” While candidate Pat Starr referred to getting educated on the charter amendments on the ballot and the role the Charter Revision Commission plays in making ordinances and laws for our city;
Summary of Duties:Â The commission may deliver a report to the city election authorities framing and proposing amendments to the Sioux Falls Home Rule Charter which it deems advisable. The commission holds at least one public meeting each calendar year for the purpose of receiving recommendations from the public regarding revisions to the charter and to take action upon any matters before the commission relating to proposed charter revisions.
In other words, they are your first line of defense when framing anti-discrimination laws for the city. I have also joked with people when talking about the role of city council I said they have two main jobs, signing checks and approving beer licenses. Every thing else is just fringe social issue fluff that some on the council use to distract us from the important issues, like affordable housing, infrastructure and exploding user fee rates.
There are several professionals working for our city that are in charge of discrimination and equality (though some of those positions don’t seem to last long under this mayor) and while the council does have some say in those positions, under a strong mayor form of government, it is the mayor’s job to keep that kind of stuff in check.
But I do applaud them for asking the question, besides, knowledge doesn’t come from just sitting in front of the TV watching college basketball. Now let’s all hold hands, sing kumbaya and get a sandwich at Badlands Pawn.