South DaCola

Editorial Cartoonist from South Dakota

2017

Glory House SF City Council Sioux Falls

Glory to the IcePlex (Jan 17, 2017)

l3wis 8Comments

Is the move on or is the mayor’s hissy fit on? Why did the mayor of Sioux Falls put on a full court press against the Glory House on January 17, 2017? The Sioux Falls City Council decided to explore the options of legally gifting the old IcePlex land to the Glory House and the mayor sent his big guns in to shoot it down.

This Council vote was to set up the discussion process, it does not give the building and land to the Glory House. It is the first of 4 votes necessary to accomplish the gifting. If at any point the process falls apart, the property does not transfer. So why is the mayor so afraid of the first step?

As we write and post this video, the mayor still has not signed the formal paperwork. One of those things that makes you go HMMMMMM?

economy SF City Council Sioux Falls Unions

When will the City of Sioux Falls tell it’s citizens we are going broke?

l3wis 16Comments

City workers collecting their pay checks

You can’t rack up millions in record debt building structures we don’t need, turn around and give your directors atrocious corporate like raises then turn around and tell the minions, here are your crumbs;

The American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees, which represents hundreds of clerks, drivers, and maintenance workers, said Friday that members have rejected a contract offer from the city that would have offered 1.5 percent annual pay increases through 2018.

A spokesman for the union said the raises aren’t enough to cover the rising cost of health insurance paid by city employees. The union representing police officers in the city rejected a similar contract late last year, leaving firefighters as the only employee group with a new labor contract in place.

At the end of the day, the city council will be expected to do the heavy lifting without being let in on the negotiations, basically a shot in the dark;

Although not privy to the negotiations, the City Council will be asked in the coming weeks to approve  the new terms. If the unions declare an impasse, the Council can impose the contract without the consent of the employee groups. Asked by leadership and city attorneys to stay quiet on the topic as it could end up in litigation, councilors mostly have balked at questions surrounding the labor dispute.

“We were told not to comment,” Councilor Greg Neitzert said Thursday.

Councilor Theresa Stehly said it’s not her intention to complicate the process, but she shares the unions’ concerns about not prioritizing personnel.

The city in recent years has extended itself financially with more than $150-million worth of large-scale spending projects like the Midco Aquatic Center, the Denny Sanford Premier Center and the planned city administration building, yet can’t keep the labor force happy, she said.

“I can understand how these unions feel like things aren’t adding up when we’re extending ourselves with pools and administration building,” Stehly said. “It’s so very important in our personal lives and in city life that we take care of what we already have and support what we have before we go out and extend ourselves for these wants.”

While true, seems too little too late. People often tell me that Mayor Huether has accomplished a lot, he sure has, on the backs and debt of the citizenry. He has been anything BUT prudent with our money and now it is time to pay the piper on the bill of goods he sold us.

Mayor High Crimes Mayor Hubris Mayor Subprime Mike Huether Mike Huether Sioux Falls

Shut Up & Listen session (Jan 17, 2017)

l3wis 10Comments

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2JshxpO9V2k

Once again the mayor stretches the truth or just flat out lies about policies of the city. He didn’t disappoint once again.

I will first start off by saying that isn’t it amazing a film crew can follow the mayor around all over town for these sessions and press conferences and NOT once has his directors, the city council, himself or heck even citizens have questioned the cost. Why? Because we want transparency, and that is why I have never questioned it, so why should he question it when it comes to recording committee meetings? Because he is a hypocrite.

• On the topic of Paratransit, he quickly blames the council for not raising fees. Ironically the reason Paratransit costs us so much is because is poorly run with an out-dated dispatch system. We could probably make money on Paratransit if we just ran it more efficiently.

• He is already pushing the city of Sioux Falls to the 180K mark, his new line is ‘Almost 180,000 people’. Some have asked why he keeps pushing the population number and changes the population signs like he changes his underwear, that’s because our bond rating and borrowing power is based on the population number and the mayor doesn’t care if those people are working or not.

• Mike continued the same half-truth that the city hasn’t built any new administration buildings since 1935. I’m not going to list all the buildings the city has built for administration reasons since then, but If I had to guess it would be well over 20.

• He also claimed that the city council voted FOR the admin building (the second time around) and it passed because of the help of his veto. Huh? That doesn’t even make sense. Mike Huether is the ONLY person who decided to move forward on the administration building by the stroke of his veto pen, don’t let him tell you otherwise.

• He said he supports hiring more police. You can take that statement however you want.

• This session was recorded last Tuesday morning before the council meeting where they voted for gifting the Glory House city land. He was asked about how he would vote if he had to break a tie. He wouldn’t answer the question because he claimed he ‘just learned about it’ that morning and his directors ‘just learned about it’ last Thurday. I call BS on that. The council and Pat Starr have been discussing this with city administration since last October. If the mayor is AGAINST something he plays like he wasn’t informed. Even IF no one told him about it in October there have been several media stories about the potential of gifting the building since then. Play dumb and kill the messenger. Your games are getting old Mike.

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