SF City Council

NO WHERE in the City Charter does it say Sioux Falls city council meetings have a time limit

l3wis March 3, 2019 10Comments

Just another city council working session

In fact, the only guidance the charter gives is that the chair can recess a meeting for breaks or to another day if business isn’t finished;

• Any meeting of the city council may be adjourned to a later date and time, provided that no adjournment shall be for a longer period than until the next scheduled meeting.
• The city council chair and vice chair shall determine the agenda, with city council input, for all informational meetings and working sessions.

City councilors supposedly received an email from council chair Erickson over the weekend telling councilors that the informational meetings are getting ‘too long’ and too many questions are being asked, and that councilors need to prepare their questions in advance.

I find the rules from the chair interesting, considering she has NO more powers then her peers and that their is no time limits in the charter on meetings. I also find it interesting that the public isn’t granted access to supporting documents in SIRE until sometimes a half-hour before the meeting starts. So how do constituents get questions to be asked during informational meetings on agenda items to councilors before the meeting starts when they don’t know what the presentation is about. There was also the working session last week where two councilors didn’t even show up and the other two had nothing to contribute. Let’s talk about being prepared in advance.

For instance, the Avera ‘core neighborhood’ plans presentation on Tuesday has NO supporting documents right now online. We have NO idea what they will be saying, and most likely councilors no very little also, this is why they ask questions at the meeting.

It’s also important to note that this stuff has to be on record, another reason multiple and thorough questions need to be asked.

Also don’t forget that while the public may make comment at the end of the informational meeting, none of their questions will be answered.

This continuing argument that meetings need to be shorter is tiresome. Charter doesn’t place time limits on meetings. If the council chair is concerned she won’t be able to have a fancy sit down dinner at Minervas in between meetings on Tuesday, maybe she should pack a lunch, order in delivery, or even better, resign.

Sioux Falls City Council Agenda • March 5, 2019

l3wis March 1, 2019 2Comments

Informational Meeting, 4 PM

Presentations on city 2018 financials, Avera will come and talk about their core institutional growth (about 10 years to late), The new sculptures for 2019 will be presented by SculptureWalk (you can view them now in SIRE) and the Falls Overlook Cafe’ management agreement (that is pretty much a done deal). You can view the contract under the Parks Board Agenda-2/20.

Fiscal Committee, 5:30 (after informational meeting)

POET is proposing using renewable fuels in city vehicles.

Regular City Council Meeting, 7 PM

Item #7, Approval of Contracts, Midwest engineering is receiving $40K to design a new wall that could probably be fixed for the same amount. Interesting tidbit, the engineer working on this ‘Robbie’ used to work in the city engineering department. This item also appears on the agenda (Item #23) with NO supporting documents, they must be hidden with the ‘no mow’ lists.

The Pavilion is asking for the East retaining wall to be rebuilt. I have heard that since the Pavilion opened they were having trouble with the foundation on the North and Northeast corner of the building. I wonder if we will ever be told what is going on? An eyewitness told me a few years back before the sculpture garden was built that they were pouring tons of yards of concrete in the middle of winter along the North Wall outside the Everist Gallery. Wish I had pictures. The Pavilion is also asking for a ‘Cornice Study‘. Maybe they are considering getting rid of all the corners in the building?

I’m also wondering why the city spends $12K+ a year on mowing around their own facilities (water and light)? Are the parks department lawn mowers not good enough?

We also have a $75K outside counsel agreement with Woods an Fuller for waste water agreement. It seems the more city council asks about outside attorney fees, the more the prices go up.

Item#13, apparently I-29 Brick had to file a lien against the city to get paid for work done to the Admin building. I wonder if the brick was ‘dented’?

Item#34, 1st Reading, Ordinance. Apparently there is going to be a ‘hospitality’ deck at the Levitt sponsored by Howalt + McDowell Insurance. It’s unclear from reading the contract if this will be only for private use for the events under a rental agreement, or just open to the public. Like most things in this town, we have to snob-up a publicly owned venue with a place for the ‘special people’ to look down on the rest of us. This is why I have argued that it should be BYOB at Levitt, even if it is in a designated area. I guess the Levitt is getting less FREE by the day. Within a couple of years they will probably be charging a fee if you are without shoes or not wearing a shirt.

Item#36, 1st reading, Some councilors are asking for the citizens to vote on the plurality rule on the school board election ballot on Tuesday, May 21, 2019. Estimates are it will cost the city around $20K to participate in the election. While that isn’t chump change, it is way cheaper then council runoff elections. It would cost us nothing if the other 4 councilors and mayor would pull their heads out of their butts and just change it back on a simple vote.