South DaCola

Editorial Cartoonist from South Dakota

Erica Beck

Alex Jensen Christine Erickson Count-cilor Alex Jensen Downtown Sioux Falls Elections Erica Beck Former Mayor Former Mayor Bucktooth & Bowlcut Former Mayor Coors Light & Olives Marshall Selberg Mayor Almost Done Mayor Grump Toad Mayor High Crimes Mayor Hubris Mayor Pants on Fire Mayor Subprime Mike Huether Mayor TenHaken Potsdam Mayor Rich Merkouris SF City Council Sioux Falls Sioux Falls Mayor Race

Who is running for Mayor of Sioux Falls?

l3wis 3Comments

The guy who runs Dakota Wuss College thinks he knows who is running for mayor. He basically lifted my predictions that I have had since this summer. You are welcome. But Pitty brings up 3 new names that made me laugh so hard I just about passed out. While we know Erickson, Beck, and Huether will probably run, Pitty says that Councilors Jensen, Merkouris and Selberg are also considering. Pitty says they will have trouble raising money, but it’s NOT money they need to worry about, it is their reputations;

• While Alex was city councilor he gutted the internal audit department to one auditor that basically sends emails to an outside firm. This all came about because he couldn’t properly discipline a city council employee for poor attendance and she ran off to the finance department escaping punishment and got a raise from the mayor to boot. If this guy can’t manage ONE employee, he certainly can’t manage a city. If he announces I will probably piss my pants laughing.

• Oh Marshall. This guy ILLEGALLY lived out of his district for a year (verified by one of his friends) and lied on campaign finance forms. He doesn’t belong in the Mayor’s office, he belongs in a jail cell.

• Rich Merkouris has a pretty clean record, but if you dig, just a little, into his past, you will see he isn’t really respected in the clergy community because of past grifting of a church. It’s a long complicated story that happened several years ago, but the wounds are still fresh, and if you ask the right people, you will get the story.

While I think none of these people are dumb enough to run for mayor, they might. And trust me, I have years and years of proof and data on ALL of the candidates and none of it is good. I think Erickson will rise to the top quickly and will be in the runoff, but who is the darkhorse? Huether may run on the great Trump comeback. Which I find funny, he got the same number of votes in 2020 and 2016.

Greg Jamison told me this summer he would likely not run, and it’s not for the reasons you may think. Greg told me he just wants to spend more time with his family and grandkids, and who can blame him?

I told someone recently that I hope a well intentioned rich person runs for mayor with a good record of community engagement and charity and they will run away with the mayorship. Populism is where it is at these days and no one is interested in electing old (corrupt) hats.

I have a feeling our next mayor will be someone no one has heard of.

Erica Beck Mayor TenHaken Patrick Starr SF City Council Sioux Falls Tom Greco

Mayor TenHaken says he will provide city board appointees bios ‘in the future’ if we want to see them

l3wis 4Comments

FF: 2:36:30

In a blatant disregard for openness and transparency, Paul has not provided city board appointees bios in the past two times they have been on the city council agenda. He did it tonight for the second time.

Councilor Pat Starr asked why those bios are not being provided any more and Paul said that if he wanted to see them he will provide them in the future. Pat reminded the mayor that he asked in an email yesterday for those bios. Paul responded, “From who?” Starr said that he sent an email request to COS Beck, City Clerk Greco and from the council operations manager, to no avail.

Now this is not something that has traditionally happened. I think the last administration started providing the bios when appointees were on the agenda, and Paul continued up until the last two times. Why did they disappear? I don’t know why, and I sent an email to councilors Brekke, Stehly and Starr last week to find out why.

I guess in some kind of weird defiance, the rumor going around is the COS didn’t provide them to Starr because “Scott was requesting them.”

Let me make it clear, when I ask for information, it isn’t for my own satisfaction, it is to post that information on my blog so constituents can see it.

I think it is insane that the administration thinks it is appropriate to stop providing these bios, they may be volunteers, but citizens have a right to know who the people are making these decisions for us, whether they are paid or elected or appointed.

Starr was the only councilor to vote against the appointments tonight. Bravo!

This constant fight for the simplest of transparent actions is getting old.

Erica Beck Planning Commission Sioux Falls

City of Sioux Falls claims they will be doing a national search for new planning director

l3wis 6Comments

While I believe they are conducting a national search, I wonder how that will really turnout?

With Cooper retiring in April, the city has started a nationwide search for his replacement.

“To maintain the growth we’ve had in the city and to keep that moving forward, this position is responsible for that, so for all intents and purposes, it’s one of our biggest positions,” Mayor Paul TenHaken said.

I have maintained for awhile that if you bring in a new planning director from out of state they will not have the historical knowledge of how planning and development is done in Sioux Falls. As we know, developers and the hospitals run the town, they pretty much admitted that during the Citizens Planning Academy when a citizen asked why Sanford and the other big developers get what they want. Those with the most money win!

I think the new position will be a Co-Director position that will manage the department, but I think the new director will have to answer to a higher power who has the historical knowledge. I think the department will ultimately be managed by COS Beck.

Erica Beck Mayor TenHaken SF City Council Sioux Falls

UPDATE: Sioux Falls Chief of Staff for TenHaken makes $161K a year

l3wis 7Comments

While I’m still waiting for the 2019 salary report to come out, I have some ‘early’ returns.

COS Erica Beck’s salary is $161K + $28K in benefits.

In comparison, Mayor TenHaken’s salary is $128K + $42K in benefits (Salary is controlled by ordinance and not performance or education).

Also, City Councilor’s yearly salary is $19K plus $200 month stipend for gas and phone. They are ineligible for retirement or healthcare benefits even though other cities and counties across the state allow it.

Like I said, once I get the full salary report, I will have more names to add.

I have often felt that NONE of the Mayor’s ‘support staff’ should get paid more than him. For example, when looking at the 2018 salaries, the former mayor’s secretary (who is still with the city) was getting $63K + Benefits and his communications manager was getting $75K + Benefits. Also, the Operations manager for the city council will make around $100K this year, and he has to support 8 people instead of just one.

I also find it a bit ironic when you see these corporate like pay scales in public service (government is not like private business).

Just read this story when you want to have comparable wages in the private sector in SD;

The News Watch analysis of 2017 wage data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics within the U.S. Department of Labor showed that:

  • Roughly 21 percent of employed South Dakota residents, about 87,000 people, make under $30,000 a year; 41 percent of employed South Dakota residents, about 169,400 people, make under $35,000 a year, and 71 percent of employed South Dakota residents, about 292,000 people, make under $40,000 a year.
  • Out of the 50 states and the District of Columbia, South Dakota is third lowest in average annual pay at $40,770, with the national average at $55,470. The state is also at or near the bottom nationally for average pay in several occupational sectors, including office and administrative support (51st), architecture/engineering (51st), education (50th), production workers (50th), life/physical/social sciences (50th), construction and extraction (50th), arts/design/sports/media (50th), computer and mathematical (49th), community and social services (48th), legal (47th), transportation and materials movement (45th), community and social services (47th) and business and financial operations (44th).
  • While doctors, medical specialists, dentists and CEOs are among the highest paid, the support staffs that work for them are among the lowest paid.

Isn’t it sad that about 71% of employed people in SD make under $40K a year and the mayor’s COS makes 4X that in the public sector. What is even more troubling is that TenHaken calls himself a fiscal conservative because he is of Dutch decent, yet pays corporate like wages on the taxpayer’s dime. I guess he is only conservative when it comes to HIS money, not ours.

I also find it a bit ironic that this story has been long overdue, and where did it come from? The local MSM? The AP? Maybe PBS? Nope. From a Non-Profit online news organization.

Erica Beck Jason Reisdorfer

Mayor TenHaken decided he better research just what his COS does.

l3wis 2Comments

I got a chuckle after finding this on Paul’s FB page, he says this;

One of the reasons I believe I was elected was my executive experience and CEO mentality that I campaigned on. That being said, it is my belief that every good CEO needs a strong #2. In my case, that is my Chief of Staff, Erica Beck.

Today, I am spending some time exploring how other organizations use this critical role to create efficiencies and progress. Sioux Falls is lucky to have someone of Erica’s caliber serving in City Hall. #OneSiouxFalls

While I agree we are lucky to have Beck (I think) wouldn’t have you defined her role before hiring her? I have heard that the some on the city council have requested a job description of Beck, Jason Reisdorfer (IT Specialist) and TJ Nelson (Deputy COS) and have yet to receive one.

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