If you FF the above meeting to 1:10:00 you will see an incident that should have never occurred. It was all spurred by the chair of the meeting (Mayor TenHaken) attempting to shut down public input. Though after he gets his butt handed to him by fellow councilors he proclaims he wasn’t going to shut it down. Yeah, sure, you betcha. He announced at the beginning of public input on the mask mandate that he was going to shut it down at one hour, and exactly at the one hour mark he proceeded with his ‘summary’ in which councilor Starr asked for a point of order. All the shouting back and forth could have ended there.
How?
Well, the chair should have automatically recognized the point of order, he did not, because even after 2 years he still doesn’t understand how to run a meeting.
The city attorney could have jumped in, but since he basically only works for the mayor, he sat there like a bump on a log.
It was actually the job of the city clerk to recognize the point order, he eventually did, but he had to get chided by several councilors to do so. Tom Greco, the city clerk, has been here long enough to know he should intervene in these matters, he works for the council and it is there meeting, he should have automatically, politely told the mayor they needed to rule on Starr’s point of order.
I have often been concerned about the cozy relationship between Greco and TenHaken, it is unhealthy and not good for open government. Tom was appointed/hired by the city council and he must answer to his 8 managers NOT the mayor’s office or even the city attorney’s office.
I highly recommend the city council have an executive session with Greco (this is the legal way to handle personnel issues) and encourage him to intervene moving forward. I would also encourage the council to tell him they fully support him and will back him up if he gets any attacks from the chair for doing so. I don’t think it would be appropriate to punish Tom or censure him for what happened Tuesday, but I would tell him that this is a polite reminder and warning to do his job or take a hike.
Sidenote; I’ve been hearing a lot of blame going around that Councilor Starr is the one who forced the mayor to vote on the tie, but the interesting part is the mayor is the one who was playing games. I guess he approached a certain councilor to vote a certain way so he wouldn’t have to break a tie and that councilor refused, so right before the meeting Paul supposedly cornered Jensen to vote so he wouldn’t have to break a tie, and Jensen bailed on his promise to Kiley. This of course is why Starr likely pulled the Joker from his hand. It’s often important to remember that our beloved mayor plays a lot of these games behind the scenes, and when things don’t go his way he is quick to point fingers. Paul, you are the one that is responsible for the Sh!t Show Tuesday night, no one else.
Update: It only took 2 days, but the city reporter at the paper that barely exists decided to wake up and do a story about Tuesday’s meeting. Maybe he was tired of judging burritos or something? I will make this brief;
There’s no one single thing that led to the decision, he said, although “some of it was the fact that there were only two proponents in that entire room last night, and they were from our healthcare systems. And I think that’s very telling.”
Yes Paul, it is very telling, listen to the doctors not the quacks. A couple of dozen people showed up to spew about I’m not sure what, and if you looked at viewership on YouTube that night, there was 140 active viewers. We are not Milbank, we are a town of almost 200K that should tell you something, don’t listen to the fringe.
And it wasn’t just in-person, he said, estimating that 90% of the correspondence he’d gotten over the last few weeks had the same message: “It’s time for this to end.”
This is interesting coming from the guy who hates transparency. I would love to know who this 90% are? When in doubt Paul always pulls from his behind.
“We could be adding as little as a week on to this ordinance,” TenHaken said, referencing that the failed ordinance would have ended the mandate when the South Dakota Department of Health began vaccinating subgroup 1E.Â
“And so my thought is,” TenHaken said, “what is that week worth?”
My opinion on this is simple, until most if not all are vaccinated and cases are practically at zero, that is when we let up. Do you think a drag racer lets his foot off the gas before he reaches the finish line?
While masks have been a heated topic, TenHaken said it’s not what’s really dividing people. “It’s public dialogue, it’s politics, it’s social justice issues, it’s the stress of the pandemic, it’s unemployment, lost jobs.”
I agree with Paul partially on this, we have had divisive politics over the past 4 years, this doesn’t come from people who wear masks, this comes from people in his party representation who only want to conquer and destroy. This is a guy who wants to put a death nail in affordable housing, a guy who wants to help his bankster and developer friends by increasing taxes on us, a guy who hates open government, a guy who has done little to nothing to insure a livable wage, and a person who refuses to accept sexual preference diversity. We have this hysteria because as the leader of this city you refuse to lead on the very topics you talk about. Division occurs because you allow it, and sometimes encourage it.
Still, TenHaken said he would have preferred not having to vote at all, adding that a tiebreaking vote gives a perception that the mayor is “either the savior or the villain for the item.”
“People need to remember, it’s not my item, I just get kind of put in the spot where the council couldn’t figure out how to get to yes or no on it,” TenHaken said.
This statement wreaks of hypocrisy. He is right, it wasn’t his item, because it should never be his item. By charter it is the city council that sets policy, he runs the city. But this mayor, the last one, and two before that decided they should introduce policy items, and proudly prance like a peacock that they are part of the policy making body. So Paul, either you are part of the crew or you are not. Seems he wants his cake.
But Tuesday night was a little different. The original vote was 5-3 against the mandate, until Councilor Pat Starr changed his vote to yes, making a 4-4 tie.
“When Councilor Starr changed his mind, you know, I don’t think you have to be a political pundit to recognize it was really just to put, you know, me on the hot seat for that item,” TenHaken said.
It was a genius move by Starr, because like I said above, you are either part of the body or you are not and since you chose to introduce policy like moving public input to the back of the meeting you have put yourself in the arena. If you don’t want to be there, great, follow charter and stop introducing policy.
And while TenHaken chose a side on Tuesday, he said he doesn’t want people looking at it as a win or a loss for their position.
“There’s no winners in this,” he said. “We’re dealing with a pandemic, and hundreds and hundreds of our neighbors in the state have lost their lives. So turning this into this game where ‘I won the mask mandate discussion or lost,’ it really kind of bums me out.”
Oh, the ‘bummer’ excuse. I am bummed to, because you want to play in the sandbox but when it your turn to build the castle you piss in the moat.
ORIGINAL POST BELOW
The only real thing that was accomplished last night at the Sioux Falls city council meeting was allowing citizens to practice their 1st Amendment rights, even though Stormland TV questioned some of the bull being thrown.
Ironically, even if it would have passed, it would have only been in effect for about a month because of this clause;
III Effective Unless extended, amended, or earlier terminated by ordinance, this ordinance shall automatically terminate upon declaration of the South Dakota Department of Health that vaccinations are available to members of Phase 1 Group E.
The group is scheduled for April 15th (or sooner) to receive vaccinations.
Either way, I have often said since the mandate had no teeth anyway, there was nothing stopping people from NOT wearing masks in public spaces. And even if Covid didn’t exist, any private retail business or private hospital can require you to wear a mask or leave. There are numerous constitutional amendments and laws backing that up.
But what really reared its head last night was Mayor TenHaken’s tantrum when he didn’t understand his own rules when it comes to running a meeting. Besides Starr, three other councilors called him out on it while our City Clerk sat there silent until one of the councilors chided Greco into doing his job. Hey Tom, you work for the city council and the citizens, not Mayor Stoneless. I know it may be your wet dream to be a total suck-up like the city attorney, but you really need to do your overpaid job.
It was a piss poor way to run a meeting, and enough with the huffing and puffing Paul.
Also, while I am not a fan of Councilor Kiley, he really must have been sore when not only the mayor took back his word on the way he was going to vote, but I guess councilor Jensen did also. Like Rick or not, I felt bad that his colleagues took a big dump on him, especially the mayor. That’s not leadership, that’s cowardice.
But the thing that has been baffling me over the past 24 hours is how so many passionate people will show up to complain about a rule that has no teeth and really did no enforcement (I feel businesses have done that on there own) but don’t say a peep when the city tries to stifle them at public input, raises taxes and fees, hides stuff, is full of corruption and unethical behavior. I guess all of that is complicated and hunky-dory, but masks? The shame!
I had to chuckle about how councilor Starr successfully fought the mayor tonight about extending public input about the mask mandate, then when Pat spoke later after public input the crowd that he fought for to speak heckled him. Wow.
I often have to remind my friends, my enemies, local elected officials, relatives and others that the 1st Amendment is number one for a reason, freedom of speech is the only thing you should be concerned about. Everything else is moot.
BTW, the mask mandate failed because it was a tie and Mayor TenHaken voted it down, because he lacks leadership. Shocker.
Also, councilor Selberg made fun of Starr for taking on the mayor calling it the ‘Pat Starr Show’.
While Selberg may have invented the ‘Siouxper Hero’ award, he certainly earned the ‘Siouxper jerk Councilor’ award tonight.
Turns out there is a program, but only 3 properties have taken advantage of it since 2007, and you have to invest $30,000 in the property before getting the program.
At the informational meeting today where they explained the program, most of it goes towards business, and not a surprise the part they want to expand. I’m all for it for local businesses but the program needs to be expanded to residential and the $30,000 expenditure should be drastically reduced to $2,500 or more.
But that of course isn’t the plan, more socialism to big developers and banksters and crumbs for the rest of us.
l3wis 