South DaCola

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SF City Council

Elections SF City Council SF School District Sioux Falls Theresa Stehly

Where do we stand in the upcoming Sioux Falls City Council/School Board election?

l3wis 2Comments

As you can see, City Councilor Theresa Stehly has been out collecting her required signatures. I hear the goal is to turn in over 1,000 signatures, but I would not be surprised if the number is closer to 2,000. She is the queen of petitioning, and it is a good way to talk to the electorate.

All potential candidates have until 5 PM, February 28 to turn in their signatures. So far Theresa and Julian are the two left (that we know of).

As it stands today, the potential race between Stehly and Count Jensen will be the only full-city ballot option besides the Charter Revision Commission’s proposed amendments. The race between Greg and Julian is a district only race (NW).

As of right now, Selberg (SW) Starr (NE) and School Board President Cynthia Mickelson have NO challengers, and I don’t suspect they will.

All precincts will be used in this election, which ironically will probably make it the most expensive city election for the lowest turnout in the history of the city. I am suspecting between 5-6,000 voters city wide.

We still have a week to go, so here are some scenarios that could happen;

• Mickelson, Starr and Stehly/Jensen (At Large) could see challengers. I have been hearing whispers there are others that have pulled petitions, but have not filed statements of intent yet. I don’t think Selberg will have a challenger.

I think once everything is filed next Friday and we have the validated candidates, then we will start seeing the fireworks, especially for the At-Large race. There are a lot of loose lips from some of the campaigns, and I have been hearing some ‘interesting’ stories about strategy. Not all bad, but you have to take some of it with a grain of salt, because amateurs like to try to set up traps with their ‘bag of tools’.

Once the validation process is over, you will be hearing more from me about the election.

Alex Jensen Elections SF City Council Sioux Falls

Did Count Jensen have a petition do-over?

l3wis 1Comments
“It’s hard collecting signatures at night.”

I’m hearing from a source that Alex Jensen had to submit his petitions twice. This is his 2nd set that have validated him for the ballot.

I’m not quite sure what was wrong with his first submittal, but I think one of the sheets was invalid which would have put him up short of the 200 valid signatures.

Ironically, there are many signatures on his current petitions that are invalid (but he does have the threshold – and they have to be challenged within 5 days of submittal). So no problems on the 2nd time around.

While running for office can be complicated, let’s face it kids, gathering a couple hundred signatures should be the easy part. Oh, and you should probably tell the wifey not to store her petition sheets in the bathtub, just saying.

SF City Council Sioux Falls

UPDATE: City officials receive a letter of complaint about one of the non-profits they subsidize

l3wis 8Comments

UPDATE: As I reported on January 31, it seems action has taken place;

The president and CEO of the Great Plains Zoo and Delbridge Museum of Natural History is no longer employed with the zoo, according to the board chairman.

Elizabeth Whealy had been employed with the zoo since 2005. In an email to the Argus Leader, Jeff Hugunin, the chair of the Board of the Zoological Society of Sioux Falls, confirmed Whealy’s departure, saying she had left “to pursue other opportunities.”

As I said in the post below, I think it is unfortunate, because I think she really turned the organization around, not just appearance wise but financially. But you know what they say, money isn’t everything, and sometimes you have to treat the people you work with a little nicer.

The letter was supposedly sent to the non-profit’s board of directors, city councilors and I believe the mayor’s office. They are essentially complaining about the management style of the director/CEO and blame that person for the low morale and massive employee turnover. The letter comes from an anonymous group of current and past employees.

Let’s just say it is one of the major subsidies the city has under it’s umbrella. This paragraph is troubling;

We, as a collective, love working here, but unfortunately ‘The Director’ is extremely hard to work for and creates a toxic climate.

I know what you are thinking, ‘It’s the Pavilion’. It’s not, but if it was it would not surprise me. I have actually met the person they are referencing one time at an event, and enjoyed our conversation, and I think they have done a great job turning this entity around. But what can I say, success is usually achieved by a hard ass.

I’m sure this will come out in the MSM soon.

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