SF City Council
l3wis Common Sense left the room at Carnegie Hall yesterday
Yesterday’s Sioux Falls City Council informational meeting was one for the books. By the time I got to give my public input, the first thing I could say was watching the meeting was ‘painful’.
As we know, the council in it’s current state is extremely dysfunctional, they displayed this dysfunction yesterday when they discussed their travel budget for well over 45 minutes. Besides the fact the staffer who is in charge of this is disorganized and lacks the initiative to put this together properly I found it an exercise in ignorance that never accomplished anything.
They first complained that they had to ‘VOTE’ on what they wanted, in which they really didn’t have to (they normally don’t vote at informational meetings). I reminded them in the past that the council just had a set dollar amount of $19,000 (I misspoke and said million) for the travel budget and when it came time to book the trip they discussed who would go. Not that complicated. But instead they were making decisions on trips that haven’t even been booked.
Councilor Neitzert felt the public was against these ‘junket trips’ because they were waste of taxpayer dollars, but not a $26 million dollar parking ramp with no tenants that we did not need and built in the wrong spot. But let’s split hairs on $19K.
Councilor Soehl felt these meetings were for staff not councilors. Stehly, Brekke and myself told Soehl that these are meetings for policy makers NOT staff, you know, the people who make policy decisions. His ignorance of the legislative process was shocking, to say the least.
They did however approve a facilatator to help with the council’s goal setting (I feel sorry for that person) and the mayor agreed to help pay for a neighborhood summit this Fall (possibly 2 in 2020) which is a great idea. They want to hold it at the new ministry center at the former school for the deaf because they offered the space for FREE.
But what got very interesting was the discussion over the donation to the State Theatre. They want to essentially give them $1.5 million out of the entertainment tax and have strings attached for 10 years. Councilor Starr pointed out that giving money from the entertainment tax would set up a precedent for other non-profits to ask for that money in the future. I agreed with Starr and said that it really should come out of the CIP as a one time gift.
Councilor Neitzert pointed out he struggled with having the option of the city buying the building if they went belly up over the next ten years, saying that the city owns enough entertainment facilities.
What is even more frustrating is that the council and mayor are doing this all based on a decision Denny Sanford made. I asked the council if this is how policy decisions are made, and if so, it was sad. I also told them that while most of the citizens in this community are excited about it being finished and opened, I have never heard anyone say we should be giving them tax dollars.
What is also troubling is that the State Theatre still has to raise another $2.5 million on their own to complete the project, and then there is the operating and maintenance costs. I’m not sure how they will manage that?
The good news though is that the gifting contract is NOT finished yet, and could be tweaked. I would prefer we don’t give the money, but if we do, it should come from the CIP, be a one-time gift with no strings attached, and if it can’t survive on it’s own it can be sold privately. As Greg said, we have enough entertainment facilities that are publicly funded.
Sioux Falls City Council Agenda, July 2-3, 2019
City Council Informational Meeting, 4 PM, July 2
Presentations on Ambulance Service (Annual Report), Update on the State Theatre Funding and the City Council 2019 budget expenditures.
City Council Regular Meeting, 7 PM, July 2
Item #38, 2nd Reading, Ordinance, More changes to removing ‘gun dealers’ from pawn shops.
Item #45, 1st reading, Ordinance, Annual Ambulance Service rate increase (written into contract, so the CC has very little power over it.
Planning Commission Meeting, 6 PM, July 3
Item#5B, neighbors are resisting a re-zone from residential to C-2 Commercial for a mini-mall retail center.
Item #5C, permit for alcohol for a casino in the former Bob’s Café. The neighborhood is strongly opposed. They are looking for a deferral.
Item #5D, another permit for alcohol for a casino in a former gas station on N. Cliff. Planning department recommends denial due to not meeting alcohol requirements.
Item #5G, Adjusting the 2040 Comprehensive plan growth tier map.
I also noticed that many exhibit maps were missing from items in SIRE. Hopefully they will be up for the meeting on Wednesday.
UPDATE: Using Entertainment taxes for private entity setting a bad precedent
I first want to say I support finishing the State Theatre, I have actually helped with some charity fundraisers for the facility through ZombieWalk and SF Roller Dollz. I think it is a worthy cause and I applaud Denny Sanford for giving money to the goal of completion. But I think that is still the direction the theatre should move in, private donations for a private facility.
Using entertainment taxes sets a bad precedent, as I pointed out yesterday, and I will tell you why.
Seven years ago, former city clerk Debra Owen won an open meetings case over how her termination was handled. During the proceedings, City Attorney David Fiddle-Faddle argued his case based on the opinion of a former attorney general. 4 of the 5 attorneys who sat on the Open Meetings Commission contended that an ‘opinion’ of an AG is NOT case law, so it did not apply. When Fiddle continued to argue based on the AG’s opinion, one of the panelists asked David cynically, “You do understand that the opinion of a AG is not the same as case law? Don’t you?” The crowd in attendance let out an audible giggle. The commission determined that you have to base your arguments on tried case law, not opinions.
The City of Sioux Falls is trying to say they can spend the entertainment money on a private entity in the form of promoting the city based on a opinion of the AG in 1984. But there is NO case law. In other words, the city could be sued if they try to set this precedent. Even if I supported giving the State Theatre MORE tax money, which I don’t, it should come out of the CIP not the entertainment tax.
Listen to Allison Weiland talk about the State on Jon Michael’s Forum
In other news, Cameraman Bruce attended a luncheon today talking about open meeting laws, 3 of the panelists were former State Legislator Dave Knudson, Argus reporter Jonathan Ellis and Jon Arneson (Argus attorney). They all contended that the most recent open meeting laws that Knudson helped write, said that if text messaging or emails during a public open meeting are being used, that correspondence can be used in a court case. So council, if you were smart, you would put the phones and email chatting away during the meetings.