South DaCola

Editorial Cartoonist from South Dakota

l3wis

Elections SF City Council Sioux Falls

VOTE NO on Council & Mayor salary increases

l3wis 1Comments

One ballot question that will appear on the Spring city election ballot is salary increases for the city council and the mayor. Did you know they already automatically get them based on inflation? That would mean the mayor and city council will receive a 7.5% pay increase this year without voter approval.

I think with the fiasco over giving the city union employees such a dismal COLA last Fall during the union negotiations and trying to make nice right before an election with a vote bribe bonus says all we need to know about what our mayor and city council deserve for a raise, ZILCH. Not to mention that the council sponsors of this ridiculous and tone deaf measure based the Mayor’s salary on $1 per person. Now that is doing your due diligence Councilor Marshmallow Selfish. It did get amended and reduced, but it is still NOT needed.

I’m sure there will be more discussion and debate about this question once the ballot is official, but I wanted to give a head’s up before you vote. Also ask ALL the candidates running if they support it and why or why not.

Elections Janet Brekke SF City Council Sioux Falls

Sioux Falls City Councilor Brekke on FORUM

l3wis 3Comments

Well at least one other city election candidate/incumbent took advantage of KELO AM’s policy of free advertising (FORUM is actually a required public affairs show that the station plays weekly);

A community issues and answering program that focuses on the city and people of the Sioux Empire.

As I mentioned last week, Mayor Poops two hour appearance didn’t violate any rules. Knowing Jon Michaels I am sure he will bring on several other council candidates to balance it out.

Janet talks about her decades of governmental and business experience in Sioux Falls. While I don’t always agree with Janet’s votes, it still baffles me that her colleagues are fighting so hard to replace her with a person that has ZERO experience in government, public service and the business world.

She also told a strange story of how the Mayor’s receptionist has a photo of herself with one of Janet’s opponents on her desk. Bizarre.

Janet finishes her interview talking about Stakeholder vs. Shareholder government. I will be posting later about a candidate who is part of the Stakeholder gang.

Janet Brekke Patrick Starr SF City Council Sioux Falls

Sioux Falls City Councilors Starr and Brekke present ordinances for more transparency

l3wis 5Comments

There is actually some positive legislation on the city council agenda that costs citizens $0 (so I’m sure there is plenty of money left over from 2021 to fund it 🙂 Pat and Janet are sponsoring two ordinances that address more transparency when it comes to keeping ordinances simple and transparent legal advice.

Item #44 is a clean up measure from state law;

(d) For the purposes of implementing SDCL 9-19-7.1, “substantially alters” shall mean
alterations to a proposed ordinance so significant as to amount to a new proposal from that
which was noticed and heard.

Basically this calls for ordinances to be easily understandable and if they get so complicated and are multi-subject they have to be broken up into separate ordinances (this is how it was explained to me).

Item #45 is self explanatory;

(k) The mayor or any member of the city council may request an official opinion of the city
attorney or a memorandum of legal advice that is not privileged pursuant to SDCL 1-25-2.
Such opinion or memorandum of legal advice shall be open to the public for inspection and
copying. The original opinion or memorandum of legal advice shall be filed with the city
clerk. An official opinion or a memorandum of legal advice shall not be issued on any
matter described in SDCL 1-25-2. The city attorney also reserves the right to deny a request
for an official opinion or a memorandum of legal advice request. Requests for an official
opinion shall not be unreasonably denied, and all denials shall be in writing stating the legal
or policy reason(s) for the denial and shall be filed with the city clerk.

This one will likely get a majority of council support. Basically they are asking the city attorney’s office to issue opinions, due it in a timely manner and make those opinions open to the public.

I guess several councilors have been irked that City Attorney Kooistra’s attitude towards councilors inquiries have been either ignored or denied. Kooistra seems to have one master and they are fed up with it.

As lead city attorney, they must not only serve the mayor and city departments in general but the city council.

I will defend Kooistra on one aspect of his behavior; he probably has denied opinions because he doesn’t know WTF he is talking about.

Denny Sanford Mayor TenHaken SF City Council Sioux Falls

Can I borrow Mayor TenHaken’s Crystal Ball?

l3wis 3Comments

Even though the State Legislature, at this point, has shot down funding the DSU Cyber project in Sioux Falls, it hasn’t stopped Poops from putting it on the Council’s Tuesday’s agenda for first reading (Item #43)

AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF SIOUX FALLS, SD, PROVIDING SUPPLEMENTAL
APPROPRIATIONS TO SUPPORT CONSTRUCTION AND OPERATION OF THE
DAKOTA STATE UNIVERSITY APPLIED CYBER RESEARCH LAB LOCATED IN THE
SIOUX FALLS CYBER INNOVATION PARK IN THE CITY OF SIOUX FALLS.
BE IT ORDAINED BY THE CITY OF SIOUX FALLS, SD:

1. That the Mayor has certified that there are available for appropriation unassigned fund
balances carried forward from prior years or revenues in excess of those estimated in the
budget to provide funding to supplement the 2022 budget.

Oh, so he has ‘certified’ that the money is there . . . even though the council has yet to see a 2021 financial report, kind of like the $2.5 million laying around for employee bonus vote bribes.

Also notice there is NOTHING in the ordinance that says this funding shall dissolve if the state doesn’t pony up. No worries, Fortune Teller Fart Smeller Poops looks into his crystal ball and in an email to council said this;

The funding allocations are nearly complete in Pierre and, despite a small road bump this week
with House Appropriations, I am confident both funding bills in the legislature will be passed.

So now Paul somehow knows that the legislators will revisit this before the end of the session and approve the $30 million? Hey, he may be right, but if I was a betting man . . .

I still recommend that someone on the council amends the funding before the 2nd reading and inserts a clause about dissolving the funding if the state funding doesn’t materialize. And if that happens, let Denny and his banksters pay 100% for something that only really impacts their wealth and investments to begin with.

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