Just when you thought the SF City Council was Cuckoo, Rapid City has to show us up

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I have often known South Dakotans to be prejudice, but when you are elected to office, you should probably avoid the ‘macca’ moment as much as possible, especially when speaking to REPORTERS!

For months, a city attorney investigation into the conduct of a Rapid City council member has been shrouded in mystery — with details of who was investigated and why kept from public view.

But now, the Journal has learned that the target of the investigation was Ward 1 Council Member Bill Clayton, who faced two separate sets of allegations. One complaint alleges that Clayton made racist comments to an African-American television news reporter during an interview. The other complaint centers on disparaging remarks Clayton reportedly made about fellow Ward 1 Council Member Charity Doyle in August.

Geeesh, and I thought the dirt I had on Councilor Erpenbach was rich, this teabagging birther has her beat, hands down. The part that worries me more is the secrecy around the investigation. Like I said yesterday, that is one reason why I would never file an ethics complaint against Michelle or any other councilor, when the city handles stuff internally, it gets swept under the rug, all behind closed doors.

Hey, Bill, Go back to Bumfck, USA, or wherever you are from . . .

RC Mayor Sam Kooiker is South DaCola’s Patriot of the week

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Sam got praise from me August 1, for lowering garbage rates. Sam is the recipient of my first ever Patriot of the week for putting his fist down on property tax increases;

Rapid City Mayor Sam Kooiker has vetoed the city council’s decision to raise city property taxes next year.

The city council voted 6-4 earlier in the week to increase property taxes by the rate of inflation, an adjustment done to offset rising costs.

Kooiker says the property tax is not needed. The mayor says city sales tax collections are rising more than had been expected and eight tax increment financing districts are expiring.

The inflationary increase in the property tax would bring in an extra $402,000 in revenue to the city.

Sam has it right. If a tax increase is not needed why do it? Every year I see the SF city council and recently the Minnehaha County Commission make this same stupid decision while the mayor sits and brags about the great economic shape we are in. Municipal government’s job is to provide services to citizens from the taxes they pay. Not entertainment or more prosecutions (spending money on crime prevention makes more sense, and saves tax payers $$$).

BRAVO SAM!

 

While SF continues to see MORE regulation and RATE INCREASES, Rapid City takes a different approach

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Rapid City’s mayor, Sam Kooiker, posted this on his FB page this morning;

The 8% garbage rate decrease passed unanimously in Public Works Committee yesterday. Members Ritchie Nordstrom, John Roberts, Chad Lewis, Ron Sasso and Bill Clayton all voted for it. It now heads to the full council on Monday for a vote. If approved, this will return $300,000 annually to the ratepayers. That’s not including the $100,000 we saved by having your new Public Works Director do the study in house instead of hiring an expensive out of town consultant to do it.
http://rapidcityjournal.com/news/public-works-approves-decrease-in-garbage-fees/article_1de5f02e-0586-5df3-af55-8fcabbe0a120.html

Rapid City does not have private garbage haulers.  It is a city-run service.

On a separate, but similar note, Why isn’t the city of Sioux Falls more proactive in tightening watering restrictions?  I can’t believe we didn’t go to once-a-week a month ago.  Might it be because the more water we use on lawns, the more money the city makes on revenue?

Sure, a lot of people have figured this out and cut back on our useless watering.  I have not watered my lawn once this summer. Not only have I been saving money on water, I have been saving money on mowing my lawn. I think it has been almost 6-weeks since I have mowed. But I still see too many people watering every other morning because they can, and the water literally runs off their yards and down the street and they will keep doing this until Big Brother finally tells them to knock it off. Sheep.

And you thought SF’s city government lacked transparency

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Apparently, Rapid City has everyone in the state whipped;

Although many of the incumbents in next month’s mayor and city council races pledge they are proponents of open, transparent government, they operate the most closed-door city council sessions in South Dakota.

In 2010, councilors voted to shield their discussion from public view at 20 of the 23 regularly scheduled council meetings. They spent more than 18 hours discussing city issues they deemed sensitive enough for private discussion. That is nearly 20 percent of the 98 hours the body met in total, according to an analysis by the Rapid City Journal.

And compare that to Sioux Falls;

However, records indicate that Sioux Falls — which is more than twice as populous as Rapid City — entered closed sessions at only nine of its 43 meetings in 2010. That accounted for less than six hours, or 10 percent of the total meeting time. Sioux Falls City Attorney Dave Pfeifle said they only use the sessions for brief updates on litigation and other important discussions.

The litigation part I understand, but what does ‘important discussion’ mean? Personnel and Litigation matters – fine. Anything else should be wide open. Hasn’t RC learned something from the sanitation debacle? Maybe they have; MORE SECRECY.

 

Sam Kooiker for Rapid City mayor

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Remember Sam? He’s the bad ass who dared to question wasteful spending in city government in Rapid City, then the monkey trials began. I don’t know Sam personally, or have ever had correspondence with him, but I fully support his run for Rapid City mayor and I hope he wins. Any candidate who pledges;

Three important goals for my administration are:

Open, People-friendly Government

  • Regardless of status, all citizens and businesses will be treated fairly and consistently.
  • Post income statements for all income generating departments (enterprise funds) on the internet monthly/quarterly.
  • Institute a system of functioning checks and balances for all 11 city departmentsand the mayor’s office to prevent a repeat of the type of situation that occurred at the landfill.
  • Restore accountability in management.

GO SAM!