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Christine Erickson

Christine Erickson SF City Council Sioux Falls

Erickson-Selberg proposal does little to help the contract approval process

l3wis 2Comments

I guess it is time the vice-chair of the Sioux Falls city council, Christine Erickson shows a little leadership now that she has a challenger;

City Councilors Christine Erickson and Marshall Selberg plan to introduce an ordinance that will require the mayor to open up facility management contract drafts for public inspection no fewer than seven days before councilors are asked to vote on them.

While the proposal isn’t completely worthless (it does let the public see contracts a week longer) it does NOTHING to help the council get involved with policy decisions;

That means if City Hall wants to renew a contract or enter a new one to authorize a third-party to run a city-owned facility, the proposed contract will need to be posted online a week in advance of an official hearing.

The idea comes just weeks after the Council was asked to approve a new golf course management contract that councilors had limited time to review.

The major problem with the golf contract wasn’t the timeframe that it was dropped on council, it was the fact the council had little or nothing to do with the decision to change over to a management agreement. As councilor Neitzert pointed out, the council should have been able to negotiate that policy change, and that change should have been approved by them before it made the RFP.

It is no surprise the mayor doesn’t have a problem with Erickson’s proposal;

In an email Friday, Huether said while his finance staff is meeting with councilors to further vet the proposal, he’s inclined to support it.

Of course he supports it, first off he has one foot out the door, and secondly, as I mentioned above, it does nothing to give the council negotiating powers when it comes to policy changes, even though they are the ones that should be setting policy.

Lastly, who cares if the Mayor supports it or not? That has been the major problem with the council over the past 8 years, their fear of what MMM thinks.

Christine Erickson Media Patrick Lalley SF City Council Sioux Falls

Sioux Falls City Councilor Erickson on KSOO 1000 AM TODAY, 4 PM

l3wis 1Comments

She will be talking about her re-election bid. The phone lines will be open, 338-KSOO (5766) so get your questions in. I would like some people to question Erickson on her votes for the golf contract, the DT parking ramp and why she chose Legacy when she sat on the RFQ committee. I would also like to see some questions about why Erickson has supported property tax rate increases and water rate increases while serving on the city council. The Christine we elected is NOT the Christine we have now.

Christine Erickson Elections Rick Kiley SF City Council Sioux Falls

Sioux Falls City Councilors Kiley and Erickson need opponents

l3wis 8Comments

 

It’s time to wipe these two faces from the city website after May 2018.

After the recent votes on the golf contract and parking ramp it is becoming more and more obvious councilors Christine Erickson (at-large) and Rick Kiley (SE) need opponents.

Kiley has always been a strong supporter of the mayor and his policies of secret government. But it seems Erickson has lost her way. It all seem to have happened when her and the mayor had their ‘special’ meeting when she became elected vice-chair. Some kind of handshake deal was made because a lot of people are wondering what happened to the old Christine that supported things like FREE bus rides for kids and opposed the city administration building. That ship has apparently sailed after signing a deal with the devil, or should I say dictator.

Unfortunately NO one has stepped up to run against these two. Clara Hart has decided to stay in the already crowded at-large position that Rolfing is leaving vacant (Paulson and Brekke are also running in that race).

There has been some talk about a possible challenger to Kiley (if not two) but I am still waiting for a challenger to Erickson.

We truly need a significant change in city government coming May, and I think we not only need to replace the mayor and any candidates with his philosophies (Entenman and TenHaken) we need four new fresh faces on the city council.

I encourage people to oppose Kiley and Erickson, they are beatable, you just have to expose their voting records that support a more closed and non-transparent government. Step up, your city needs you!

Christine Erickson Clara Hart Curt Soehl Elections Janet Brekke John Paulson Rick Kiley SF City Council Sioux Falls Thor Bardon Zach DeBoer

Sioux Falls City Council Race mash-up

l3wis 2Comments

The city council races are starting to come together, but there are still some unknowns and variables.

Currently the Central District has three running in the race. I won’t rule out that more could get in that race, but probably unlikely.

Retired Firefighter and Insurance Salesman, Curt Soehl. I don’t know a whole lot about Curt, but what I have read on his FB page is that he was very pro-Huether and approved of his accomplishments and leadership style, which is unfortunate.

Thor Bardon. I believe Thor works in banking. Thor’s platform is workforce development and other social issues in our community.

Local art promoter and business owner, Zach DeBoer. Zach is heavily involved with the downtown culture and development.

At-Large has 3 candidates, but that could change.

John Paulson, former Sanford Executive and Planning Commission member who lost to Theresa Stehly in the last election will probably run the same ‘everything is wonderful and great in Sioux Falls’ campaign.

Janet Brekke, who is a former city attorney and currently a private attorney is challenging Paulson. I don’t know a lot about Janet, but I think we will learn more in the coming weeks since she has formerly announced.

Clara Hart has said she will run in the At-Large, but she could just as easily challenge Rick Kiley to get out of a crowded At-Large race (which may get more crowded). Clara lives in his SE district and may have a better chance in a two person race, and avoid a run-off.

As I said, Kiley has announced he will run for a 2nd term and has no challengers currently, I hope that changes.

Erickson hasn’t announced whether she is running for a 2nd term or not, she has said she will probably NOT run for mayor. But currently if Erickson did announce, she doesn’t have a challenger. I’m wondering if someone is waiting in the wings until Erickson announces. One of the bigger questions I have been asked over the past couple of weeks has been, “Will Erickson run for a 2nd term to begin with or is she busy trying to recruit someone to run for the seat?”

As you can see, we have about 5-1/2 months until the city election and the council races are still shaping up. Anything could change at this point.

Christine Erickson SF City Council Sioux Falls TIFs

Chamber to host a TIF informational

l3wis 2Comments

I find the statement ‘TIF itself can be rather complex and confusing’ a little comical. TIFs are not complicated. They are basically a property tax rebate to private development. Funny how I could explain that in one sentence. Where it gets confusing and frustrating is when they hand this rebate to extremely successful and wealthy free enterprise private developers for property that isn’t blighted OR above and beyond what that blight is costing them to develop. It is also a little ironic that TIF recipients are often big campaign donors to the elected officials who authorize the TIFs. It’s a blatant conflict of interest, corruption and corporate welfare. It’s time we end TIFs. They don’t benefit the common citizen in any way. A better program would be more low interest or no interest community development loans to landlords who want to provide working class affordable housing. Read all about it;

Dear Community Leader,

You are invited to join Lt. Gov. Matt Michels and other state and local leaders in learning more about an economic development tool called Tax Increment Financing (TIF). TIF is a development incentive primarily used locally to redevelop blighted areas and grow the local economy. TIF is a useful economic development tool intended to attract private investment and new businesses, which in turn means more jobs, more customers, and a growing tax base. When used correctly, the benefit to our community seems to be straightforward—however, TIF itself can be rather complex and confusing.

With that in mind, we would like to take the opportunity to invite you to an informational “TIF Forum”. During this event, you will hear from:

*   Lieutenant Governor, Matt Michels
*   Secretary of the Department of Revenue, Andy Gerlach
*   Department of Revenue’s Director of Property Special Taxes, Mike Houdyshell
*   City Council Vice Chair, Christine Erickson.
This is an opportunity to simply learn more about TIF, how it works, and ask any questions you might have. We hope you will consider attending this event.

Tax Increment Financing Forum
Sioux Falls Area Chamber of Commerce- Betty J. Ordal Room
Monday, Nov. 13, 2017
3:00-5:00 p.m.

We kindly ask you to RSVP by responding to this email no later than Monday, Nov. 13th at noon. With limited seating available in the Chamber’s conference room, this event will be restricted to the first 45 people to RSVP.

Thank you,

Teresa Schreier
Public Affairs and Communications Assistant
Sioux Falls Area Chamber of Commerce
200 N. Phillips Ave., Suite 200
PO Box 1425 | Sioux Falls, SD 57101-1425
P 605.373.2050 | F 605.336.6499

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