City Council Informational Meeting • 4 PM
• November 2020 Financial Statements by Shawn Pritchett, Director of Finance (No supporting documents yet)
City Council Regular Meeting • 6 PM
Item #6, Approval of Contracts (Seems the mayor’s office has been busy spending money in some mysterious ways);
Sub Item #5, Great Bear Chairlift Replacement, $1.379 Million. (While we are fussing about a $95K remodel of a historic house in Tuthill park we are paying this amount to replace a chair lift in the middle of a pandemic. Makes sense.)
Sub Item #10, Extending Lease Agreement for two ambulances with equipment for use by Fire/Rescue to provide for surge capacity ambulance service on a limited capacity for an additional term of 90 days ending 2/21/2021. Paramedics Logistics South Dakota, LLC dba PatientCare EMS. $1.00 per month, per vehicle. (I would really like to know the details of this agreement, like how many rides the SFFR is giving and if we are getting reimbursed?)
Sub Item #17, Centralized Facilities Improvements – Central Fire Station Kitchen Remodel; Ronning Enterprises, $220K (Wow, that’s quite the remodel job! Like I said, anytime the city does anything it always costs 3 to 4 times more than what you and I would pay.)
Sub Item #23, Human Resources, Customized education program designed to enhance participant’s ability to collaboratively lead change and foster a servant leadership attitude. University of South Dakota, on behalf of its Beacom School of Business, $40K (So now we are giving business training to city employees to have a ‘servant’ attitude. Weird sh*t.)
Sub Item #24, Human Resources, Professional Services including but not limited to Strategic Planning, Mentoring and Coaching, Intersections Consulting (more training, not sure what for????)
Sub Item #29, Belbas Theater Projection System Upgrade; $68K+ (I may be mistaken, but I thought this was just upgraded a few years ago?)
Sub Item #32, Engagement Agreement for Foundation Park TIF Provide legal services relating to Foundation Park TIF Project, Davenport, Evans, Hurwitz & Smith, L.L.P. $6k (So why are taxpayers paying for a TIF agreement? I have a feeling this TIF is going to cost us quite a bit . . .)
Item #18, 2nd Reading, Mask Mandate extension.
Item #23, 1st Reading, Re-Zone, (I guess the neighborhood is opposed to this because it was zoned office just a couple of years ago and when the developer couldn’t move it for that he changed his mind and wants to put up apartments. Here is a comment from a neighbor that was emailed to the council;
I am writing this letter with the concerns of the proposed rezoning of the corner of 22nd and S. MARY Beth Ave. I purchased my home a little over a year ago, 1604 S. Mary Beth, before I purchased the home the corner was zoned O and west of Mary Beth single family homes. With that taken in to consideration we made the purchase of our new home. I would have never bought this home with the understanding that there would be an apartment complex going on that parcel of ground. With apartments come more traffic and with the main entrance onto MaryBeth our once quite street will have traffic none stop. The value of our homes will decrease and crime will go up. These are proven facts. We will have a towering apartment complex with renters peering in our back yards, all for only the good of the City, MORE TAXES THAT the City will collect from the Developer. It is so unfortunate that the City does not realize this and NOT Approve the rezoning of this ground.
I always find these rezones interesting. I will just warn the neighborhood, you will probably lose this one, the developer in Sioux Falls usually wins 99.999% of the time (unless they are immigrant or a minority). Good Luck.
Item #24, 1st Reading. You can only get Papa John’s Pizza at the Aquatic Center, maybe that is why attendance is down?
Item #27, Resolution, City Council Legislative Priorities, looks like they are still pushing TIF’s;
The Sioux Falls City Council supports tax increment financing (TIF), an economic development tool that has led to millions of dollars in increased property value, benefitting both the state as a whole and the local entities sponsoring the districts, while at the same time maintaining the integrity of the process.
This statement is the biggest line of B.S. I have ever heard. It says nothing about good paying jobs or benefits to the community as a whole, that’s because TIFs are just a ruse. The last line made me laugh. What does that even mean? Integrity would be doing a study showing us the benefits of TIFs, there have been none. And when it is brought up, all you hear is cricketts.
Item #28, A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY OF SIOUX FALLS, SD, OUTLINING THE EXPECTATIONS FOR THE PEOPLE OF SIOUX FALLS TO TAKE ACTION TO SLOW THE SPREAD OF THE VIRUS THAT CAUSES COVID-19. (ONE SIOUX FALLS COVID-19 ACTION PLAN.) – Wonder if they are going to tack this plan to all the telephone posts in town so people can read it?
l3wis 