SIDENOTE: I have been trying to get information from the city about how many city employees have been working from home during Covid, and more specifically what departments these people work in. I have yet to get a ‘number’ of how many people it has been. I am also curious how many of them have been working full-time. In other words has the city’s IT department tracked their computer/phone use. The only information provided is what Mayor TenHaken said in a press conference that ALL city employees at home have been working. Okay. Please provide the proof.
Informational Meeting • 4 PM
Presentations on Covid, April Financials, Legislative Priorities and Election update. There is no link right now, but I think the April financial report will be very telling of the economic sales tax impact to Sioux Falls.
Regular City Council Meeting • 7 PM
Item #6, Approval of Contracts.
Sub Item #1, Provide Consulting to Develop a Formal Electrical Safety Program, $52K. Apparently the city needs to hire a professional consultant to teach city employees how not to stick a fork in a light socket.
Sub Item #18, Debt Collections Services by AAA Collections. Besides receiving a 24% commission collecting on delinquent accounts, AAA has a very poor rating.
Item #20, State Theatre beer/wine license. This is the final reading of the license application. It will be an interesting discussion considering the council denied a license to West Mall Movie Theater, 8-0.
Item #28, Citizen Board Approval. Eric Weisser to the Washington Pavilion Board of Trustees. Eric is of course is the VP of Weisser Distribution. He also used to employee the failed Tech Director for the city, Jason Reisdorfer. While Eric has been very successful as an online tool salesman, I’m not sure why someone like this would be appointed to a board of an arts institution.
Item #31, A RESOLUTION OF THE CITYÂ OF SIOUX FALLS, SD, ENCOURAGING SIOUX FALLS LANDLORDS TO SHOW FLEXIBILITY DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC.
This of course is just a ‘friendly’ suggestion from the Mayor and City Council. There is NO legal teeth in this resolution but typical of our ‘Youth Pastor’ Mayor who likes to give free advice on how to live our lives. It is in city ordinance that ALL landlords must register with the city (many do not), so they could at least enforce some of these suggestions through ordinance especially if we controlled the million bucks we passed off to a non-profit with no oversight;
• Immediately stopping the assessment and accrual of all late fees and penalties for nonpayment of rent for those impacted directly by COVID-19.
• Demonstrating flexibility with rental due dates for those impacted directly by COVID-19.
• Allowing tenants who have been directly impacted by COVID-19 to pay partial amounts of rent and provide a written agreement for full restitution.
• Accepting payments from the One Sioux Falls fund with no further financial obligation to the tenant.
• Stopping the pursuit of evictions exclusively for nonpayment of rent for those impacted directly by COVID-19.
