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SF City Council

Cody Ingle Elections Emmett Reistroffer for City Council SF City Council Sioux Falls

BREAKING: Emmett Reistroffer & Cody Ingle qualified for Sioux Falls City Council ballot today

l3wis 27Comments

Some very good news today in the city council races. Both young men are incredible progressive advocates for citizens and they are going to make this race fun to watch.

Riestroffer is running for Central District. He is a consultant for the Cannabis industry and has previously run for the City Council I think against Rex Rolfing.

Ingle is running for SE District.

About

I currently work as the IT/App Support Specialist at the Center for Family Medicine, where I help physicians and residents best utilize our Electronic Medical Record system to ensure quality patient care. I also help in daily IT issues, such as printing errors and random computer glitches (technology is great). I am passionate about healthcare and addressing the disparities seen in it. Data analysis and population health are my biggest professional joys.

I am a board member of Pathways to Inclusive and Equitable Workplaces, which strives to educate the business community in Sioux Falls on diversity, equity, and inclusion. I am the Secretary of Sioux Falls Pride, and am a strong advocate for marginalized people groups. I strive to help lift up voices of those who feel as though they have no voice, and to help bring equity to all humans.

Here is the list of candidates. While Emmett is NOT listed on the city website, he did confirm to me that the city clerk confirmed he had enough signatures. I guess Immanuel Bassey did not have enough signatures to make the ballot in the SE District.

Listing of Current Candidates
(Alphabetical Order (Last Name) by Office)
Name Office
Taneeza Islam Mayor
Paul TenHaken Mayor
David Zokaites Mayor
Bobbi Andera At-Large Council Member “A”
Janet Brekke At-Large Council Member “A”
Sarah Cole At-Large Council Member “A”
Pam Cole At-Large Council Member “B”
Rich Merkouris At-Large Council Member “B”
David Barranco Southeast District Council Member
Cody Ingle Southeast District Council Member
Jim Burzynski Central District Council Member
Emmett Reistroffer Central District Council Member
Curt Soehl Central District Council Member

Elections SF City Council Sioux Falls

Big Surprises in the Sioux Falls City Election should come on Friday

l3wis 4Comments

All candidates have until 5 PM Friday to turn in petitions to get on the ballot. I’m hearing a lot of chatter that Friday will have some big and new announcements.

This is where we are at;

• Mayor; 3 candidates announced (I have not heard of any more, which disappoints me, but we may never now).

• At-Large A; 3 candidates announced, ALL WOMEN! (I also have not heard of any more in this race).

• At-Large B; 3 candidates announced (While I have not heard of any more, I wouldn’t be surprised if another candidate(s) jumps in).

• SE District; 1 Candidate announced (I have heard there may be up to 3 more announcing by Friday).

• Central District; 2 Candidates announced (I have heard this may be a crowded race with a possibility of 2-3 more candidates jumping in on Friday).

With some of the names being thrown around, I am excited that ALL races will be well balanced. So far we have a color blind graphic designer, a medical lab manager, 2 doctors, 3 lawyers, a pastor, a used car salesman, an insurance salesman (retired fire fighter) and many more professions.

There will likely be at least 1-3 runoffs in this election with city council seats. Unfortunately I don’t think there will be a runoff in the mayoral race. Winning candidates MUST receive at least 51% of the vote in the general election to avoid a runoff.

I will announce my early predictions and candidate profiles probably this weekend once I know who is running and more importantly who they are. Of the ones that have NOT announced, if they do, we will have one of the most diverse city election candidate pools of all time when it comes to ethnicity, gender and profession.

I am pretty excited . . . this time around we must stop big money in its tracks and hopefully create a more balanced council and since we won’t have silly primary voters mucking up the voting rolls we may get a very fair and balanced city election.

SF City Council Sioux Falls

Sioux Falls City Council still considers their ‘SPECIAL’ meeting on Jan 31 the 1st Regular meeting of February

l3wis 14Comments

As you can see below the city council only held two regular meetings in February and skipped the 3rd regular Tuesday meeting this month. They are only required to have one regular meeting a month so skipping the 3rd is not a big deal except for the fact they normally have three.

What does this say?

It says they still consider the special meeting on January 31, the 1st regular meeting of February.

You would think with all the issues they are having with employees . . . they would at least try to do something right, like designating meetings correctly. But not this bunch.

Cruise control government has just officially gone over the rumblestrips and straight for the ditch.

Elections Employment Mayor TenHaken SF City Council Sioux Falls Unions

So are City of Sioux Falls Union Reps admitting they have failed their members?

l3wis 9Comments

This story gets more confusing by the minute, first the hussle-bussle on Cory’s site;

They received a 1% COLA last year, this cannot wait. – Kooper Caraway, president of the South Dakota Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO

Well Mr. Caraway, whose fault is that? It’s certainly not the taxpayers fault. You are the chief negotiator. Unless you have been living under a rock, economists have been talking about how the economic recovery will go, they have predicted inflation, employment issues etc. This is not some surprise. So why didn’t you negotiate this to begin with?

I will also say that I have never heard of a non-management union employee of the city living paycheck to paycheck. Maybe it is happening, but you truly need to supply proof. You have not.

But it didn’t stop them from bullying a mayoral candidate;

In a statement to the Argus Leader Wednesday afternoon, Islam said “since [the ordinance] was advanced to a second reading last night, it should be approved on March 1.”

Do they deserve this? I am not sure. But if they do it isn’t because inflation suddenly reared its head it’s because the original negotiations were horrible. Who accepts a 1% raise even in normal economic times?

But I will argue it still goes back to whose money this is. The taxpayers. Why are we so quick to hand out bonuses when this money could be spent on much needed infrastructure projects for the very people who paid in the money?

I am astounded how this has become so complicated and convoluted;

• The union messed up in the original bargaining agreement

• They want to save face

• The timing is horrific, so they make excuses

You can spin this how ever you want to, you can bully candidates, but at the end of the day a spade is a spade. This is a bribe right before an election and any other assessment is hogwash and circumvent.

Elections Rich Merkouris SF City Council Sioux Falls

Sioux Falls City Council Candidate hands out free money thru his church

l3wis 7Comments


And we thought it was questionable when one candidate was buying pizza and rounds of mini-golf, or Poops giving secretly negotiated bonuses to city employees. Candidate for At-Large B, Pastor Rich Merkouris’ church is handing out gift cards



Fill out this form, and you will receive a $25 gift card to give to that person.
But that’s just the beginning.


You can request up to $500 to help someone with a specific need. The barrier to receiving money is low. There is some follow-up to check on the details, but the goal is to fulfill as many requests as possible, Merkouris said.


And if you need help, just ask.


The budget for the campaign is $45,000.


Don’t get me wrong, I will commend any non-profit or church that wants to help people in our community, like the weekly food giveaway at the fairgrounds, but this is questionable considering the good pastor is running for city council and these gift cards could appear as a way to buy votes. It seems the crowd that runs with the mayor can only win elections with money.

I sometimes wonder if anybody running for office has any sense of ethics?

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