I’m going to avoid full snark on this, I will instead let my commenters have fun with that. But I will say this, I find it ironic that the administration would argue against recording citizen board meetings (REMSA and Parks) because of ‘cost’ but it seems there is plenty of money laying around over at CityLink to record exercise shows and press conferences about moving a pile of dirt 50 feet. Now go do your Russian Twists, you are getting fat.
As I have mentioned already, I have been disappointed with the CRC this time around. They have chosen to put no proposed amendments on the ballot for the 2018 spring election. I really felt it was because of pressure and legal mumbo-jumbo from one particular member, Justin Smith, a local attorney who specializes in government relations.
I told them how I felt about their ‘pointless’ meetings during public input this afternoon and told them they wasted their time with these meetings and let down the voters of this city.
I think there was many great amendment proposals, but the CRC chickened out and didn’t think the public should decide. Democracy at it’s worst.
Always handy to have around when the mayor is in town.
Here is the email that was sent out;
What happens if the Council does not approve the LMC contract? I thought I would share this information with you.
5.07Â Â Special Conditions
This RFP does not commit the City to procure or award a contract for the scope of work described herein. The City has sole discretion and reserves the right to reject any and all proposals received with respect to this RFP and to cancel the RFP at any time prior to entering into a formal agreement. The City also reserves the right to reasonably request additional information or clarification of information provided in the proposal without changing the terms of the RFP.There is also this section; however it should not apply as there was an agreement reached, just not approved.
Section 4—Review of Proposals and Evaluation Criteria
4.01 Selection Criteria:  Upon review of the proposals, the City will score the proposals and may shortlist and interview the highest ranking Proposers. Upon completion of the interviews, the highest ranking Proposer will then be asked to enter into contract negotiations with the City. If an agreement cannot be reached with the highest ranked Proposer, the City will move to the next highest ranked Proposer. The same process will be repeated with the other ranked Proposers if no such agreement can be reached. The City reserves the right to not select a Proposer as part of this process if an agreement cannot be reached with the interviewed Proposers.Finally, the state law governing procurements says: 5-18A-12.  Cancellation of invitation for bids or request for proposals and rejection of bids or proposals. An invitation for bids, a request for proposals, or other solicitation may be canceled, or any or all bids or proposals may be rejected in whole or in part as may be specified in the solicitation, if the purchasing agency determines it is in the best interests of the agency. The reasons for the cancellation or rejection shall be made part of the contract file.
Seems the city attorney’s office is struggling since Fiddle took his Faddle and jumped ship. What I found interesting in the meeting last night was when private counsel came up to answer the same questions asked of city attorney Ms. Leonard, he answered with quick and simple ‘NO’ answers and was very confident in his responses.
If you think last night’s meeting was interesting, I have a feeling next Tuesday will be the real fireworks. MMM was on the B-N-B show this morning, and you could tell he was NOT pleased this was deferred and lied for about the entire 45 minutes about public input, RFP secrecy and our pitiful signed parking ramp agreement with Mr. Hultgren. I wonder if Belfrage has a skid steer on standby whenever the Mayor comes to visit the studio?
We give a go at what has happened in the past year in the city, state and country. Listen HERE.
Here is the official list;
SD Supreme Court rules against the city of Sioux Falls in Events Center siding settlement. City moves forward with an independent siding review.
SD State legislature repeals IM22
EB-5 and Gear Up scandals get buried
A majority of the Lincoln County Commission and Lincoln County voters vote down wind power
Badlands Pawn and Speedway close, blame Rate Cap vote
OSHA levies $200K in fines as the Feds conduct a criminal investigation. City approves a $50 million dollar partnership with the very people involved with investigation
Mayor helps to kill districting the parks board AND recording the meetings
City gifts (some) land to the Glory House
SD Legislator Wollman resigns over sex allegations, Gene Abdallah tells accuser to ‘Go to Hell’ – Pierre becomes the sexual harassment capital of South Dakota
REMSA uses secret ambulance codes – says public and elected officials are too dumb to understand
Sioux Falls School District/Board uses slanted survey as excuse to change school start date
Long time city planner Steve Metli passes – local media treats his legacy like he built the Great Wall of China
Judge Pekas orders a McKennan Park house be torn down, moved or fixed – SD Supreme Court has reviewed ruling, we are awaiting a verdict
Mayor Huether uses taxpayer money to figure out who is behind the fake mayoral twitter account, he is unsuccessful
Cynthia Mickelson spends over $6 a vote to be elected to SF school board setting a record for money raised ($20K). School district limits voting and has NO northern precincts
Mayor and council deny SFPD back pay
Stephanie Herseth-Sandlin becomes president of Augustana University
Uptown II Project (Cascades) gets approved by city council with a TIF, 12 years after first proposed
SF Thrive Report states the obvious – low wages and lack of higher learning are contributing to the need for affordable housing
Annexation Task Force switches gears on annexing islands, islands ironically created by over annexation of land and urban sprawl over the past 7 years
Sales Tax revenue continues to be down in SF
SFFD Chief retires, gets charged with possessing child porn, gets to keep city pension. Court date pending.
Rental registry inspections FAILS, city council votes down proposal
Flopdation Park finally gets first tenant, Ice Cream warehouse
Pavilion appoints a Youth pastor cartoonist as director of Visual Arts and Science Center. Longtime Operations manager resigns.
Patrick Lalley replaces Knobe on KSOO
SF School district approves $50 million opt-out with little public input. Petition drive for repeal fails
KELO TV reporter Perry Groton grows new hair
Hats still banned during public input at Carnegie Town Hall, bandanas are allowed
Annette Bosworth’s perjury charges are dropped – medical board still pursues taking her license away
Snubbed landowner in SF puts up FUSF sign
Garth Brooks takes $7 million out of local economy
ARC of Dreams changes design, cost goes up to $1.6 million and the mayor approved temporary easement without telling the city council or public
Longtime city politician, Bob Jamison passes away
Former School Board President Doug Morrison gets 6-figure job with district, he’s charged with eliminating wasteful spending
Eight Candidates are running for Mayor of SF in 2018
Sioux Falls Little League makes it to the World Series, loses all of their games
SF School district admits open enrollment has caused segregation of classes, still waiting for a solution
South DaCola announces sister website search engine, sfmeetings.org
SF city councilors Rolfing and Erpenbach convince council and mayor to change council races from a plurality to a majority
Right on Red signs are removed – bike community freaks
Sister City Potsdam Mayor visits SF – breaks city ordinance and smokes a cigarette in a park at German Fest
SF Parks Director Don Kearney lies about NO mowing lists – never apologizes to public or media
Midco Aquatic Center celebrates 1st anniversary, has a $400k operating deficit, attendance down
SF City attorney leaves before the Huether ship sinks
City golf course RFP secrecy causes issues with equipment transfer
LYFT comes to Sioux Falls, deal struck in secrecy
Pavilion contract renewed without a city audit in 12 years
I know what you are thinking, “Man, Detroit, you have really lost your marbles when it comes to this conspiracy theory.”
Now bear with me.
I won’t go into detail about what happened tonight, let’s just assume you watched the city council meeting and you saw the council defer the golf contract to next week so they could discuss a possible one year extension to Dakota Golf Management.
The major discussion tonight surrounded the secrecy around RFP’s and how they have been handled poorly. I couldn’t help to ponder if the 6 councilors who approved the parking ramp deal two weeks ago have been doing a lot of soul searching over the past 24 hours once they found out Hultgren, one of the guarantors of the deal, is being criminally investigated.
I get the feeling that a majority of the 6, if not all of them didn’t see this coming and depended on the information they had to make a decision. I think they don’t like all the mud on their faces now, and they weren’t going to let this happen again to them tonight.
So what do I think will happen? I think the council will extend another year with DGM, and I wouldn’t doubt they decide to put the parking ramp on hold until the investigation is complete. Let’s keep our fingers crossed.
l3wis