The new city petition was turned into city clerk Tom Greco this morning for review, the petitioners hope to get the petition back today so they can start collecting. They will have 6 months to collect approximately 6,500 signatures.
Since the 3 changes proposed to the charter are all under ONE section in the charter, it will require only ONE vote to change these 3 things proposed;
Make city council elections a simple plurality.
Remove Mayor from City Council (tie votes will now fail an item and the council chair will run the meetings).
Super majority (6) to pass ANY bonds (no dollar amount would be attached, it would be for ANY bond the city council has to pass.)
So I started reading this Argus story about across the board raises, this is what the district said;
The wage gap between teachers and administrators in the Sioux Falls School District is widening.
School board candidates in May criticized the district for its spending on administrative salaries, but later in the month the board approved a three-year contract stating that when Sioux Falls teachers get raises, so do their bosses.
This school year, all employees will see a 2.75% salary increase, but when administrators make an average of $76,000 more annually than teachers, that raise goes further for them.
But when you look at the salary increases from last year (they are approved by the school board in July) in the graphic below I created from the district’s salary data, you will see another story. Many administrators are getting massive wage increases right after they approved a $300 million dollar school bond. Here are the entire PDF docs of salaries; 2018-19, 2019-2020
“The city of Sioux Falls, the county, Sanford Health, Avera Health, it’s just kind of the way it works,” said former board member and current administrator Doug Morrison said of the district’s salary schedule. “So everyone can aspire to have a pathway to what they want to be in life.”
The problem(s) with Morrison’s statement (there are several) is that the SFSD is NOT a private corporation or private non-profit, it is a taxpayer funded entity, and our taxes are going through the f’ing roof!
Mickelson would not explain the issue further, but suggested administrator pay be set year-to-year based on performance and the financial condition of the school district instead.
However, district officials say the blanket percentage increase and not seeing the contract’s details beforehand is common practice, something that’s been ongoing for about 20 years.
Whoa! Cynthia and I agree on something. At least Todd Vik (the business manager) admits to the secrecy and backroom deals. Someone told me recently that they overheard Alberty (who just left the board) say in reference to the Sioux Falls City Council’s very public airing of grievances that the school board makes decisions behind closed doors before the public meeting so the public can’t see the sausage being made, so to speak. Well isn’t that nice?!
Vik acknowledged the percentage allocated for increases to teacher salaries has consistently also been tied to administrative salary increases, except for four occasions.
District officials also said the average increase isn’t as large as it seems on paper, and includes those moving up the steps of a set salary schedule.
“A wage gap is accurate, but disparity, if I were to look up the definition, that would say to me our teacher salaries are growing by a less percentage than our administrators,” Alberty said about his May vote Wednesday. “But it’s tied to the teachers increases get and that’s not a disparity in my mind at all.”
Really? The data below tells a different tale Mr. Vik and Mr. Alberty. Administrators are getting rich while the taxpayers are getting screwed.
In the graphic, the RED DOTS denote who got a raise over 2.75%. In fact out of 68 employees listed, 42 got more than that. I also listed the percentages they received. You will also notice that job titles are NOT listed, it is that way in the data the SFSD has listed.
A citizen from Brandon informed one of my foot soldiers today that the city hired Mayor Bucktooth and Bowlcut’s former Communications Specialist for a project.
Heather Hitterdal has her own marketing company. Brandon is paying her $25K to ‘improve their image’. I guess the crappy water in town is causing PR problems. Yah think?!
Instead of hiring a marketing person, they need to hire an engineer that specializes in city water supply.
I guess this citizen got concerned because he saw Ms. Hitterdal is named in the lawsuit against the former mayor for his flying elbows.
Please note that the council meetings are on Monday next week, I believe it is National Night Out on Tuesday, so the council wanted to attend some neighborhood events per request of Councilor Stehly.
Item #6, Approval of Contracts, 10-17 are park land acquisitions, I’m assuming these are the properties the city is buying due to flooding. We are paying $250K for a bookmobile, I wonder if the County is sharing the cost since Siouxland library is jointly funded. I also wonder if we got any Federal grants? Another $47K to the Pavilion for unknown interior projects. City to pay nearly $600K to remove snow from city owned properties to a private contractor – Huh?
Item #32, Lloyd Companies will be transferring a retail liquor license to their tenant, Severance Brewery. This will be interesting because it will be the only brewpub in Sioux Falls to have a liquor license. I have been to several brewpubs across the country and have NEVER been in one with a liquor license.
Item #47, a resolution to expand the city’s jurisdiction and development areas. I don’t know much about this, so it will be interesting to hear.
l3wis 
