SF City Council
l3wis Is the City of Sioux Falls ‘experimenting’ with a public ambulance service?
So if you were going to tip your toes into the water, wouldn’t you have told the city council in an informational or the public instead of burying it in the consent agenda? Notice it is an executive order,
Item #6, Approval of Contracts, Sub Items 31-32;
I have a feeling it was buried because we are being used as a pawn in a game being played by a for-profit ambulance service. We’ll see if this gets pulled tomorrow night for discussion.
Also the Public Works Director was asked what was going on with the 26th Street project . . . radio silence. I guess that’s telling me it’s worse than what we may imagine.
Sioux Falls City Council Agenda, May 19, 2020
SIDENOTE: I have been trying to get information from the city about how many city employees have been working from home during Covid, and more specifically what departments these people work in. I have yet to get a ‘number’ of how many people it has been. I am also curious how many of them have been working full-time. In other words has the city’s IT department tracked their computer/phone use. The only information provided is what Mayor TenHaken said in a press conference that ALL city employees at home have been working. Okay. Please provide the proof.
Informational Meeting • 4 PM
Presentations on Covid, April Financials, Legislative Priorities and Election update. There is no link right now, but I think the April financial report will be very telling of the economic sales tax impact to Sioux Falls.
Regular City Council Meeting • 7 PM
Item #6, Approval of Contracts.
Sub Item #1, Provide Consulting to Develop a Formal Electrical Safety Program, $52K. Apparently the city needs to hire a professional consultant to teach city employees how not to stick a fork in a light socket.
Sub Item #18, Debt Collections Services by AAA Collections. Besides receiving a 24% commission collecting on delinquent accounts, AAA has a very poor rating.
Item #20, State Theatre beer/wine license. This is the final reading of the license application. It will be an interesting discussion considering the council denied a license to West Mall Movie Theater, 8-0.
Item #28, Citizen Board Approval. Eric Weisser to the Washington Pavilion Board of Trustees. Eric is of course is the VP of Weisser Distribution. He also used to employee the failed Tech Director for the city, Jason Reisdorfer. While Eric has been very successful as an online tool salesman, I’m not sure why someone like this would be appointed to a board of an arts institution.
Item #31, A RESOLUTION OF THE CITYÂ OF SIOUX FALLS, SD, ENCOURAGING SIOUX FALLS LANDLORDS TO SHOW FLEXIBILITY DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC.
This of course is just a ‘friendly’ suggestion from the Mayor and City Council. There is NO legal teeth in this resolution but typical of our ‘Youth Pastor’ Mayor who likes to give free advice on how to live our lives. It is in city ordinance that ALL landlords must register with the city (many do not), so they could at least enforce some of these suggestions through ordinance especially if we controlled the million bucks we passed off to a non-profit with no oversight;
• Immediately stopping the assessment and accrual of all late fees and penalties for nonpayment of rent for those impacted directly by COVID-19.
• Demonstrating flexibility with rental due dates for those impacted directly by COVID-19.
• Allowing tenants who have been directly impacted by COVID-19 to pay partial amounts of rent and provide a written agreement for full restitution.
• Accepting payments from the One Sioux Falls fund with no further financial obligation to the tenant.
• Stopping the pursuit of evictions exclusively for nonpayment of rent for those impacted directly by COVID-19.
Alex Jensen
Cynthia Mickelson
Elections
Greg Neitzert
Julian Beaudion
SF City Council
Sioux Falls
Theresa Stehly
Sioux Falls City Council Candidate Forums
Monday May 18th, Downtown Rotary Forum • At-Large Candidates Stehly and Jensen • Online at NOON.
Thursday May 21st, Council Candidate Forum • All candidates • 5:30 PM
Tuesday May 26th, Argus Leader • At-Large Candidates Stehly and Jensen • 10:30 AM.
There was a SF Chamber Committee private forum this past week and I spoke with someone who was in attendance. They basically said, ‘Theresa crushed it!” They also said Jensen knew very little about city government. Shocker!
My endorsements haven’t really changed;
• Vote NO on both Charter Amendments
• Stehly for At-Large. Like her or not, she has the best interest of the citizens at heart. She is also a champion of transparency.
• Julian Beaudion for NW district. Neitzert has been a turncoat.
• Cynthia Mickelson for school board. I know this may shock some people, but I think she has tried to open the school district up to more transparency. I don’t always agree with her, but I think she really works hard and tries to do the right thing.
• Crystal Johnson for Minnehaha State’s Attorney.
I also encourage everyone to absentee vote either by mail (complicated and they are way behind on applications) or in person at the election center, directly east of the Minnehaha County Administration building. I voted a week ago, brought my own pen, and I was the only one there. As I was leaving I soaked my hands in hand sanitizer by the door.
When endorsing candidates, transparency is key
First I will start with a plug, VOTE STEHLY! Unless you want to turn the RS5 into the RS6. And who needs TWO Marshall Selbergs on the council anyway?
These two endorsement videos on FB for Count Jensen were okay, but they lacked transparency. The first one is by the person who worked for Mayor TenHaken at ClickVain and took over the company when he became mayor. The second video is of a person married to Craig Lloyd’s nephew who works for the family business.
I’m wondering why neither wanted to mention their ‘deep roots’ in the Sioux Falls community? Oh, that’s right, because of the HUGE CONFLICTS OF INTEREST! If you want someone to endorse you, that is awesome, but they should be transparent about who they are.