My professional dog walking friend shot this photo yesterday. Obviously this sidewalk was poured pre-Nazi Germany, since that symbol was very popular with different groups before Hitler hi-jacked it. But what surprises me is how good of shape it is for being around 80 years old. They really don’t make sidewalks like they used to 🙂
I know it is tempting Dan, but please NO Huether/Hitler jokes.
I was originally going to title this post, ‘This proves just how dense our city council is.’ But I don’t think they were acting out of ignorance when 6 of them approved the parking ramp deal, there has to be some kind of backdoor deal here somewhere, I just can’t put my finger on it;
The U.S. Attorney’s criminal investigation includes a review of more than 150 gigabytes of data related to McMahon’s death, “including video, photographs, interview statements, training materials, engineering plans, building permits, and email correspondence,” according to a court report filed in the name of Patrick B. Augustine, the secretary for the Department of Labor, which oversees OSHA.
Tom sent out this email encouraging people to speak out against the new golf contract with Landscapes Unlimited. I did hear late last week that Tom was planning something in retaliation for talks falling through on selling his equipment to the city. Tuesday’s council meeting should be interesting.
Dakota Golf Passholders,
First of all, on behalf of Dakota Golf Management, we would like to thank you for your support over the past 23 years.Ă‚Â Ă‚Â We could not have been as successful as we were without the support of our loyal customers.
We would like to give an update on the new golf course management contract as it pertains to Dakota Golf.Ă‚Â Ă‚Â While initially accepting of the City’s decision, Dakota Golf is no longer supporting the selection.Ă‚Â Ă‚Â Please join us at the Prairie Green clubhouse tonight, Monday, December 18 from 5-7 to discuss the golf course management contract that will be voted on by the City Council tomorrow night.
We hope that you will spread the word and get your golfing friends to come to Prairie Green tonight and, more importantly, to come to the City Council meeting on Tuesday, December 19 at 7 PM at the City Council chambers on 10th and Dakota.
Thank you for your support over these many years and we hope to see you tonight at Prairie Green.
Tom and Dakota Golf Staff
The EC siding report is expected to be completed by the end of the month, if it already isn’t done. If I was a guessing man, I think the city will get the report next week, or at least hide itĂ‚Â until next week (slow news week).
I still have not heard if the report will be presented to the council before the mayor and public works director, or if they will get to observe the initial report at the same time. My assumption like most things Huether administration is that he and his minions will get to comb through it before giving it to council leadership, who will comb through it also before giving it to the council, than the thoroughly watered down version will reach the public.
If I was a city councilor I would demand the report came to them first and shown to the public before the mayor sees it. Why? The reason the dented up siding was put on the building in the first place was because of decisions made by either the mayor, his management team, or both. We don’t need him noodling around in the report before handing it over to the council.
What should we expect?
First off, the appearance is indisputable. The oil-canning has created a dented up look to it. No matter who would have done the report, that part obvious.
I think they will also find the siding itself structurally sound. I don’t think the siding is going anywhere. I have noticed running up to this report the mayor and his minions kept bringing up the report was mostly about that. I hope not. The concern all along has been whether or not all the holes and cracks created by the oil-canning are going to cause an issue withĂ‚Â the weather barrier.
Determining if the siding is weather tight and not causing moisture and moldĂ‚Â issues under the siding is the biggest question here. I think they will find ‘some issues’ with that and offer some immediate and long term solutions. Trust me, I would take no pleasure in hearing that the moisture barrier is weak and not working effectively, because that would require a multi-million dollar solution which would be to tear off the siding.
But let’s face it, at the end of the day, no matter if it is weather tight or not, it will continue to look like sh*t, because it should not have been put on to begin with. The product selection and application process was done on the cheap to save time and money. We will see just how much ‘money’ we have saved.
*I also believe the mayor is waiting for this report and hoping it will put closure on the siding issues so he can move forward and make his next big political announcement.
Sioux Falls City Council Regular meeting
There is NO scheduled informational meeting.
Item#1, Consent Agenda. There are some strange items on the list I just can only speculate on. There is a massive Right of Way acquisition by the city along Ellis road, 12th street to 41st street.
There is also a curious building lease for $43K for vector control. I’m assuming the city is leasing space for safe storage of their highly poisonous and flammable concentrated mosquito control chemicals. I guess there was no room in the new city administration building 🙂
There is also several expenditures for affordable housing.
We are also throwing more money at the Railroads. Apparently they couldn’t squeeze $1,600 out of their $27 Million payout from Federal taxpayers.
Item #31, the city is moving forward borrowing money for storm drainage instead of just paying for it out of reserves, because it is a ‘heckuva’ deal.
Item #36, an ordinance change on essentially tool sheds with the county.
Item #39, A resolution for the new golf course management contract. This is the big one of the night. Rumor has it that the city will probably not buy the used equipment from Dakota Golf Management. The question is, if the city doesn’t buy it, will new equipment have to be purchased and if so, who will pay for it? The taxpayers or the new contractor? I find this disheartening for a couple of reasons. Like the Snowcat groomer at Great Bear, it seems the city has a habit of buying new equipment instead of maintaining what they have that is still useable. At a recent Minnehaha County Commission meeting (FF: 42:50) the commissioners were made aware of a county vehicle that was totaled in an accident (not the county’s fault) and their concern over replacing it because of it’s heavy usage (5 employees share 3 vehicles). Not only was the vehicle 13 years old it was originally a surplus vehicle gifted from the State DOT. If the city would use such prudence with maintaining city equipment we could probably save taxpayers millions each year.
Charter Revision meeting (Dec 20, 2017)
The CRC is in it’s final throws. In this meeting they will discuss increasing councilor’s pay. Like many things presented to the CRC so far, it will probably be thrown out. Erickson had suggested a super majority on the council for major bonds and Neitzert had suggested going back to plurality in council races (essentially letting voters decide how they want THEIR elections to be run). Both ideas were thrown out because they felt the council should change these things instead of the voters (even though ironically two councilors suggested taking it to voters). The whole purpose of having the CRC is to bring sensitive items like this to the voters instead of the council. I’m assuming the pay increase will be thrown out to. The CRC has been one of the most useless I have seen in recent history, though members like Sue Aguliar fought hard to put some of these items on the ballot, a new comer Attorney Justin Smith has been very vocal about squashing items and essentially keeping voters out of the legislative process. It’s almost as if Fiddle-Faddle has been sending him telepathic messages during the meetings. Hopefully the next mayor/council removes him from the CRC, he has been very detrimental to the process and the rest of the sheep on the CRC seem to be following him threw the hole in the fence.
l3wis