I will say it again, “Can we have Justin Smith back?” (Justin was the former chair of the CRC)
The latest version of the CRC has been anything but cognitive. While they have incredible citizen proposals in front of them (eliminating the mayor as chair of council meetings and not allowing him to break ties-tie votes would fail, hiring a city manager, increasing the size of the council, eliminating term limits) one member of the CRC, a former private religious college administrator wants to let the council and mayor give themselves raises;
While I do agree councilors should be able to apply for benefits (Councilor Stehly asked for this and was denied) the rest of the proposal is ludicrous.
First, the obvious. The voters clearly rejected pay raises for the mayor and city council in the last city election, telling me they wanted to put the issue to bed.
But Mr. Zylstra just can’t let a sleeping giant rest.
The system works well. The mayor and city council get raises based on inflation/deflation, which;
• Eliminates any conflicts of interest
• Is in line with what the regular private citizen minion gets for raises
• Keeps the mayor and city council out of making controversial/unethical decisions
• Raises should be based on merit
It is pretty obvious to me that someone in either the administration or city council, or both, have roped Zylstra to bring this back door effort to give elected officials raises.
The council is a group of lazy asses that wouldn’t know work if it fell off of the top floor of the bunker ramp and knocked them in the noggin.
I will clarify, there are several councilors past and present who bust their asses and put in well over 40 hours a week. But they are an endangered species. I just look at councilor Selberg who has done virtually nothing but show up to meetings the past 8 years. A tree stump would have served us better (and probably would have talked more).
I am not opposed to looking at the council’s pay structure, but I think it should be based on how much work they put in.
In other words, every councilor should get a base pay, like they do now, but any hours they log going to citizen or other public meetings out of their scope of duties should be compensated for. They should also get merit pay based on how many emails and phone calls they respond to.
Just saying you ‘Work Hard’ doesn’t cut it for me.
The irony is if this does make it to the ballot, which I am sure this group of zombies will endorse, the voters will kill it. In fact, I encourage the city council to kill the proposal before it even makes the ballot.
Here’s the deal, even after councilors are elected they only have one boss, the taxpayer, and it is that very taxpayer that should decide what your pay is. They did that in the new charter and it has worked well since. I may claim to be progressive, but if something ain’t broken, don’t fix it!
Congressmen and Senators get to go to Walter Reed for free for life, I believe. We should do the same for our local political leaders as well, except sentence them to the local VA hospital….. I heard Yankton is full….
The King used to pay his guards with beef, hence the name Beefeaters. We should pay our council with chickens, then they could be called by some: Chicken Shxt.
Supposedly, councilor is a part time position without a full time benefits package. Part time in the private sector is similar. Councilors have other full time jobs or retirement with income and health care. There are full time city directors and managers with duties and responsibilities. Per the authoritarian charter, councilors are independent consultants who vote regarding city business. Their vote is merely an opinion the mayor can accept or decline. The dictator mayor doesn’t have to acknowledge them. They’re BS for citizens to think they are represented in city government.
Make America Irate Again
The current Governing Board of the City of Sioux Falls is actually the third different type of governing board this town has had. Going back to 1857:
The two original townships were operated as Town Companies – the Village of Sioux Falls or the Western Town Company, and the Sioux Falls City operated by the Dakota Land Company ran their organizations with a Board of Trustees, a President, Treasurer, and Secretary operating their organizations, These were companies who homesteaded 320 acres of land, chartered by Iowa and Minnesota.
in 1879, the Town of Sioux Falls established also by a Board of Trustees, a President, Treasurer, Secretary, and Planning Official. It would be this government, responsible for much of the foundation of the town (1880 to 1900).
Beginning in 1902, the Town of Sioux Falls elected a Governing Board that included a Mayor and 4 Commissioners (5 total), to which operated the town as a commission based town, the commissioners were directors managing the offices and agencies themselves, while the Mayor was the administrator as he is today.
As the Town of SIoux Falls, East and West Sioux Falls, and South Sioux Falls all formed the municipality, by 1995, the new Strong Mayor, Strong Council was created.
1 Mayor, 3 At Large Chairs would represent the Landowners, Businesses, Property Holders, while the 5 District Chairs would represent the Residents.
The Mayor was given a full time, Administration Position, while the 8 City Council Members were given Part-time, Policy Making and Investigative Responsibilities.
In any form, the PEOPLE have the utlimate authority in the initiative and referrendum ability, whereas the Mayor and Council stand in between obseriving, administrating, and investigating over the City Organization itself.
THis form of Central government is a stand alone entity, led by the Directors, Managers, Agents, Employees, the Non-Profit Corporations.
The Land Owners always have the Vested Control of Any Township or City. For they own the land, and by law, can control the uses and activities upon that land.
A Township is merely the Landowners, organizing themselves in 36 Sections, with each having 1 Supervisor, to which each section of land may have Residents. These Supervisors Become the Board of Trustees (governing board) to which hires or appoints a Town Clerk, Treasurer, Secretary, and a Constable.
The Original Township of Sioux Falls is south of 7th Street, North of 14th Street, West of Weber Ave, and East of Dakota Avenue aka or 36 Square Miles.
The Current City of Sioux Falls is part of 7 Townships, Town of Sioux Falls, West Sioux Falls, East Sioux Falls, South Sioux Falls, Wayne Township, Delapre Township, Mapleton Township and Split Rock Township, Benton Township.
Each Township has Supervisors, of whom are appointed by the Landowners.