Hildebrand writes letter about administration building vote

Steve points out the importance of a vote on the building;

Please let the citizens of Sioux Falls vote on the $25 million city administration building. Only three of the eight members of the City Council supported this expansion of city government. Five members strongly oppose it. Now, those same three want to stop the citizens from having a say, even though more than 6,500 of us signed petitions in just a few days to get this on the ballot – more than enough signatures to qualify.

I don’t oppose building additional office space if it’s needed for city staff. I do oppose this $25 million, 80 square foot building, because the city has done no strategic planning to even determine how much space they need in 10 years, 20 years, etc. Let’s do the strategic planning first, then determine what kind of building, if any, we need for the future.

First and foremost, elected officials shouldn’t deny citizens the chance to vote on major projects like this. The Mayor and City Council pushed for a public vote on a $25 million indoor swimming pool just a few months ago. Why now, shouldn’t the public have a voice in the largest expansion of city government in my lifetime?

Let the people vote.

Technically there was ‘kind of a vote’ on the indoor pool. We were voting on an outdoor pool, with confusing ballot language (that contained a typo on the date) and misleading advocational sessions. But I still think people wanted the pool by rejecting the outdoor pool in an election.

Steve points out the importance of the vote. Councilor Rolfing pointed out that ‘6,400 people isn’t a lot.’ That’s ironic in itself, because that is HALF the number of people who voted in the previous city election. Rex needs to stop listening to his four golf buddies and start listening to the public. Call the election!