I’m almost finished. Can you feel it?
South DaCola is looking for a few good men and women to run for city council in 2018. Technically there could be four seats up of grabs. Rolfing and Erpenbach are term limited (At-Large and Central). Kiley is up for re-election for his 2nd term (SE district) and badly needs to be retired. Erickson, who I hope runs again for At-Large, may run for mayor, which leaves her seat open. Either way there are plenty of opportunities. While you have to live in Central District to run for that seat, ANYONE in the city limits can run for Rolfing’s empty At-Large seat.
We are hoping some citizen friendly candidates emerge and we would be willing to help out the campaign in any way possible, especially data for direct mail, graphic design and marketing.
Remember, this is a mayoral election, so there will be a bigger voter turnout (I would estimate between 20-30%). Besides the mayor and four council seats, there will probably be some charter adjustments on the ballot. I suspect the campaign will garner good media reporting.
This will be a transformational time on the council. Not only will there possibly be two new councilors and a mayor, this may be a big changeup in the way things have been done over the past 7 years. It will also hinge on how much money Sioux Falls has coming into the coffers and what our current debt limit will allow us to borrow. The next mayor and council will have some challenges, especially after they open the books. I encourage the next mayor and council to request a full forensic audit of the city over at least the past 4 years to get a clear sense of what Mr. Transparency has been up to.
Hopefully some people from the last election cycle will reappear, like Erin Srstka.
Either way, if you are running or not, it will be a fun one to watch.
It’ll become time to open the books, expose Huether, fire the city attorney, and remove the wall of shame at the Toga Bathhouse. ‘Shock and Awe’ to replace the dictator? Use the city MRAP to pull over the Arc of Dreams tribute to Sadam Hussein?
Perhaps the new mayor and 3 councilors will not demand respect they do not deserve. One thing is for sure, there will be leadership that’s been missing.