South DaCola

Editorial Cartoonist from South Dakota

2018

Jason Reisdorfer SF City Council Sioux Falls Theresa Stehly

Stehly to hold Press Conference Today!

l3wis 0Comments
What: Press Conference
Where: Downtown Library
When: 1:30 pm,  Thursday September 13th
 
Councilor Theresa Stehly will discuss her concerns with the recent appointment of Jason Reisdorfer for the Director of Innovation and Technology.
The City Council is slated to vote on this nominee at the next September 18th meeting.
 
Please contact Theresa  Stehly with questions @929-8783
ALSO Read the Stehly Report HERE: (Doc: Stehly-Report-Fall-2018
Topics covered in Press Conference;
—Our Mayor’s race was driven by the topics of transparency, openness, accountability, integrity and citizen representation. Also, the topic of working with all council members to create a more “partnership “ attitude  for the benefit of the public was discussed.

—I have requested a comparison breakdown of what Sue Quandbeck and her department provided for the citizens compared with this new positions. I also have requested from Paul TenHaken what the salary will be for this new position. I have asked our City staff what Sue Quandbeck was getting paid. (Including  her benefits, which I have been told is based on 30% of the salary for all employees.)

—I enthusiastically supported the Mayor’s choice for our City Attorney. Stacy Kooistra came into our midst with a clean slate and he exudes integrity, fairness, solid knowledge of the law and a maturity and demeanor that is in my opinion very admirable and fitting for our City Attorney. I stated my feelings about him during the Council meeting before we voted   to approve him several weeks ago.

—Many of my Colleagues , and the Mayor do NOT allow citizens the opportunity to comment on their Facebook page. I do allow respectful conversation from my more than 3300 friends on my personal Facebook page. However, I am under no obligation to accept friends , or keep friends who are disrespectful or belligerent. I also reserve the right to delete comments that are disrespectful, and attacking.

—This IT position is so very important for the integrity of information for the citizens and the entire City communication system. We need an IT director who is impartial and of the highest level of integrity. Our  responsibility as Council members is to ensure that we have the best person serving the citizens. It is our right and responsibility to vet each candidate. This position  needs a leader who is committed to Citizen responsiveness, transparency, communication and has a respectful approach to the public and to the Council members.

— The IT Director needs to have the greatest regard for all the citizens and giving them access and representation. I had concerns about the resistance Jason Riesdoerfer  displayed when we brought an ordinance developing district representation for the Park Board. This ordinance   would have given all parts of our community a place at the table. Jason was very opposed to allowing each area of our community to have a representative on the Park Board, instead defending the closed status quo.

–The IT Director needs to be available and open to hearing from the Public. After Jason and the Park Board voted against the ordinance requesting  more citizens representation, I made a formal request at the  Park Board meeting to have all Park Board members  give me their contact information so I could let the public know how to contact them. Jason and the rest of the Park Board members REFUSED.

—The IT Director needs to be committed to transparency and accessibility. Jason and the rest of the Park Board refuses to hold meetings in a place where they can be video recorded.

—The IT Director needs to show professionalism for our community. Jason’s demeanor on Facebook was less than that. After he called me a Liar, I did unfriend him. Although I had concerns about this attitude coming from a Park Board member, I decided not to pursue it at the time, and let it go. But now , with a proposal to put Jason in charge of all the communications that the public will get , as well as the council information, I needed to step out and express my concerns.

—The IT Director needs to be open and transparent. Jason and the Park Board defended the “secret selection” committee’s recommendation to kick the Dakota Golf Company to the curb. The community and the City Council deserved to have the information used for this decision. I was very vocal about this need for the public to know.

 The Mayor’s department,  and the Park Board refused.  When I stated concerns about the ongoing employment for the staff of Dakota Golf on Facebook, Jason attacked me and called me a liar.

We have since experienced that Dakota Golf manager Tom Jansa was Not retained by the new Golf Company.

 

Parody Satire School Funding SF School District Sioux Falls

New High School to be named after Ronald Reagan?

l3wis 15Comments

Of course we have to wait and see if the bond issue passes on Tuesday, but a group of local businessmen may already be planning to propose it be named after the Gipper.

Of course, many have been proposing Jefferson, but in reality it can be named after any president.

Last week I overheard a group ‘upper crust’ businessmen enjoying a cocktail at Minerva’s bar discussing the push to name it after Reagan.

“Makes sense doesn’t it?” One of them says, “What could be more fitting? I mean, Reagan stuck it to the middle and lower middle class during his presidency that has had lasting economic impact over the past 38 years widening the gap between rich and poor.”

“Not sure I understand?” says one of his friends

He replies, “Well the bond itself will burden those same people for up to 30 years. And who can forget sticking it to the elderly on fixed incomes?”

A third guy chimes in, “Sounds verrrryyyy Reagan-ness to me. Here’s a cheer to Ronald Regan High School!”

*While this is a parody, don’t be surprised if someone actually proposes it.

Elections School Funding SF School District Sioux Falls Taxes

$300 Million Dollar School Bond will likely pass

l3wis 9Comments

I figured I would get a head of this before Tuesday. The writing is on the wall, the bond issue will likely pass with at least 62% of the vote.

There are a lot of factors, such as a special election in the middle of September, which will assure a low voter turnout with only those wanting this showing up to the polls. There is also the possibility of the E-Poll books and hand tabulation going awry, but even if it does, that won’t change many votes.

Yesterday the Chamber and other businesses endorsed the bond. One of them was Sanford. The Sanford endorsement made me chuckle considering the fact that Sanford got a $9 million dollar TIF for the sports complex (essentially money that will be rebated back to them instead of funding education). I guess it’s easy to endorse a $300 million dollar property tax increase when you don’t have to pay towards it.

One of the latest arguments from the Chamber Hob Knobbers is economic development and growth. “People won’t want to move here if we don’t have good schools.” Why is growth for growth sake a worthy cause? And with half the kids in the District on Free or Reduced lunches it is pretty obvious we are not exactly a high-wage community. I would think what a job pays would be more of concern to moving to Sioux Falls than good schools.

I have said a real economic impact on our city would be giving out FREE birth control instead of FREE lunches. You don’t have to educate or feed a kid that is never born.

So what is the real reason I think this will pass?

There is NO real organized opposition to this. While I am disappointed that the State’s Attorney, Secretary of State or Attorney General isn’t investigating possible violations of campaign rules or the shady ‘IN-HOUSE’ election, there isn’t much I can do to stop this steam roller. The ACLU was even asked to investigate the ‘super precincts’ to see if that was even Federally legal. No avail.

Sioux Falls is just going to get a little more expensive to live after Tuesday. With a $48 million dollar jail, $260 million dollar waste treatment plant and $300 million in schools, I have to think of the famous words of the Seattle band Mudhoney, time for leaving is now;

Jason Reisdorfer Mayor TenHaken SF City Council Sioux Falls

Former Pizza Maker & Parks Board Member gets nod for new IT Director for city

l3wis 41Comments

Not since Paul appointed that FB cusser, TJ Nelson, as his deputy COS has he made a flub in an important appointment. Today that changed;

Mayor Paul TenHaken today announced the appointment of Jason Reisdorfer to the new position of Director of Innovation and Technology.

Where to begin with Jason? When he was appointed to the Parks Board, we decided to check his voting record. While he was registered to vote, he seemed skip the important part of that registration by voting. In anything.

You may also remember Jason’s very public attacks on FB towards councilor Stehly for trying to convert the Parks Board into districts and get their meetings video recorded. I guess I am not real keen on Jason’s disdain for government transparency and fairness when he will be running our secure data for the city.

But let’s move on to his stellar resume;

In 2012, Jason sold his restaurant business to go work with his long-time friend Eric Weisser.

I guess I am puzzled what business he sold? Or was it more like a liquidation? As I understand it the business he is referring to is a very successful pizza chain in the region that is still alive and well. I think Jason had a small ownership in a branch of the business that has since closed in Harrisburg.

Together, they built Weisser Distributing into one of the fastest growing companies in South Dakota. They recently earned their fourth consecutive selection to the Inc. 5000 list of fastest growing private companies in the United States. As the Director of Operations, Jason led Weisser Distributing’s growth from four employees and $1 million in sales to over 130 employees with warehouses in three cities and are on pace to record over $65 million sales in 2018.

So this part of his resume actually has me asking more questions than anything. If he was just an employee that helped build the business this much, why would they let him go? If he had actual ownership in the business, why isn’t he staying? Did he sell his part? Or will he still have ownership and involvement while working for the city? Is that a conflict? I don’t know.

Also, I find it curious that he wants to work for the city of Sioux Falls when this company decided to move to Tea, SD to grow and not stay in Sioux Falls. How can you have pride in working for Sioux Falls when you decided to grow your business in Tea?

There is a lot of questions the city council needs to ask before approving this appointment.

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