Like I have already said, we could avoid all of this if people just voluntarily got the FREE and EFFECTIVE and SAFE shot instead of making this a political issue.
While I kind of understand the back and forth on mandating vaccinations for private sector employees (Noem is not only allowing it, but she is essentially promoting it) I feel that public employees who receive their pay and health benefits from taxpayers should be required to be vaccinated, especially if they work with the public (which is most of them). This has more to do with me as a taxpayer investing in the city employees health and wellbeing and wanting them to be healthy instead of sitting in a hospital on a ventilator or out of work for a few weeks.
President Biden announced today sweeping vaccine mandates, and since the city of Sioux Falls receive Federal dollars, they really should follow suit. So should the counties and school districts within Sioux Falls.
I find it a bit hypocritical of our Health Department promoting Covid Vaccinations to the general public when they are not encouraging it with city employees. I wouldn’t even be opposed to a $100 bonus to city employees who get the shot. Or have someone from Falls Community Health go around to the different city offices and give them the shots in the comfort of their workspace.
It often seems odd to me the mixed messaging we are getting from our elected officials on Covid. Do as I say, not as I do.
Below are my proposals to the CRC today. I present towards the end of the meeting during public input. I appreciated David Zokaites for defending my TIF proposal and I also appreciate the CRC for allowing me 15 minutes to present, putting my proposals on a future agenda for discussion and engaging me after my presentation (something City Attorney Kooistra tried to stop until I reminded the CRC that was at the discretion of the board) he of course couldn’t resist chastising the board at the end of the meeting for allowing the engagement and his concern for public employees ‘time’. Whatever that means. As I have stated before to the city and on this blog, city meetings have NO time limit laid out in charter. They can recess or go on as long as they wish regardless of city employees ‘time’. As I brought up in my testimony, they work for us, not the other way around.
Charter Revision Proposal Ideas, Scott L. Ehrisman, Sioux Falls, SD;
1) Application for TIF will only be accepted for projects that will eliminate blight, build density in the core, and simultaneously provide affordable and workforce housing. Home rule charter allows the city to be stricter then state law.
I believe since State Law has changed on TIFs the city has been abusing the use of TIFs. They were originally designed to help with blight and provide affordable housing, they are now being used to finance PRIVATE projects and build parking and condominiums.
2) General Public input will be at the beginning of EVERY city public meeting, including boards and commissions and will have a limit of 5 minutes per speaker and NO limit on the amount of speakers EXCEPT at the discretion of the chair of the meeting.
The city has NO standard policy on general public input at it’s public meetings. Per state law every meeting must have it, but the time seems to be all over the place depending on the meeting. This would just standardize it for ALL city meetings. It would also put the Citizens business at the beginning of the meeting where it belongs.
3) Every director or department head must be a Sioux Falls resident, or become one within 30 days of hire/start date. Current directors are exempt. Only applies to new hires appointed by the Mayor and City Council.
Many local government entities require this. I think it is most important for directors that deal with public safety. I also think it is an economic equity issue. Directors that have their salaries and benefits paid for by the taxpayers of Sioux Falls, should also pay taxes in the community that employs them.
I believe it is the duty of the CRC and the City Attorney’s office to determine the final ballot language and the Article it applies to in the Charter and whether the question is legal to vote on. It is NOT your duty to determine if it is appropriate or not, only if it is legal and a legitimate ballot question.
After watching the city council meeting tonight and addressing them on open and transparent government I have to admit I have almost given up on educating them about open government. They don’t have a clue.
While discussing the Med MJ ordinance Councilor Selberg admitted that the councilors formed the ordinance privately talking to each other on the phone. Well at least Selberg told the truth even if he is ethically challenged.
Councilor Kiley blew off the supporters of Med MJ at the meeting speaking out as special interests and brought the mysterious folks he got emails from, yet never read a single email or told us who these people are.
I guess in Kiley’s eyes the 75% of Sioux Falls voters that supported Med MJ are special interests and not worth listening to. What arrogance.
If open government was a foot long blunt lit with a blowtorch and smoked by the councilors, they still wouldn’t understand. Baffling.
A. 2022 Experience Sioux Falls (Convention and Visitor Bureau for Sioux Falls) BID Tax Budget by Teri Schmidt, Executive Director (if you look at the PP presentation you will find it is interesting how since the Events Center has arrived that city’s tourism revenue really hasn’t gone up that much. My suspicions are because the Denty has been only a money vacuum sending most of its profits out of town and not recirculating entertainment dollars in our community. Just another money pit.)
B. Vast Broadband – Communication & Design Update by Mike Harry, Chief Business Development Officer; Jeff Seidenfaden, Chief Commercial Officer; and, Cash Hagen, Chief Operating Officer (I think this will be an interesting presentation. I’m curious who inspired VAST to have a change of heart? I’m even more curious how the city allowed the goofy green towers to be installed to begin with?)
Item #7, Change Orders, Sub Item #5, $39K more for the chairlift replacement at Great Bear.
Item #33, Special One-Day Malt Beverage and Special One-Day Wine Licenses for Community Indoor Tennis Center Inc., 4210 North Bobhalla Drive, for a fundraiser on November 5, 2021. (I find it curious that they don’t call the facility by it’s name, Huether Family Match Pointe. Kind of wondering how that place is doing. Would be nice to get a presentation on how they spent our $500K yet have given the public virtually nothing in return for that handout.)
Items #41-42, 2nd Reading, Med MJ. I would expect a lot of amendments. I do know that around 4-5 councilors have amendments. One of them would be lowering the license fee to $25K. These two items alone will make for a very long night.
Item #44, 1st Reading, Property Tax Increase. Once again the Rubber Stamp Council will increase our taxes even though they have NO real reason to do so. Just because. Ironically in the same year they gave away around $144 Million in TIFs. (I have said $200 million in the past, and I am correcting that statement. It was $94 to the Development Foundation and $25 to Sioux Steel and $25 to Cherapa II)
Item #50, 1st Reading, Chief Matt Burns (Firing) Range Naming. As if the night couldn’t get more ridiculous the Mayor has asked the Naming Commission and the City Council to approve this naming at the new public safety facility. Am I the only one that finds it a bit ironic that a ‘firing’ range is being named after him? Maybe Mayor Poops is sending some kind of subtle message about why Burns left the city? We may never know.
Item #53, Resolution, Main Street BID Tax. For several years many downtown business owners have asked what they get for this special tax roll. DTSF does use the money and staff to promote Downtown (if you pay membership dues) and do have a cleaning crew (which I think the city’s Parks and Rec department should be doing). But does this BID help provide healthcare insurance options for small business owner’s employees? Business insurance? Short term business loans or grants? Nope. Nadda. Zilch. It seems all the BID tax really does is pay salaries of those who work for DTSF. I would love it if they would do a presentation on what they are doing to actually help DT businesses thrive economically. Because watering plants and marketing a Burger Battle isn’t cutting it.
The CRC will begin taking recommendations from the public. I will present my 3 ideas during public input since the city wants regular citizens jumping through hoops to bring them in advance and get on the agenda. Here is my exchange with the city’s paralegal in emails;
To:Â Greco, Tom Cc:Â Hanzel, Cari Subject:Â Re[2]: Charter Revision Commission
Tom, thanks for the assistance.
Cari, so as I understand Tom, I can just present my ideas during public input for consideration? Correct? and give the CRC members a copy of my proposals at that time?
Thanks
Her response;
Hello Mr. Ehrisman:
The Charter Revision Commission’s preferred practice is to submit your proposal, to include a copy of the Article section(s) with the proposed amendments made in underlined/strike-through format, to them at least a week ahead of the meeting you would like to attend so that it could be added to the agenda. At their initial meeting in August, the Commission set out a schedule of when they would be reviewing each Article. I believe Tom provided that schedule to you already. It would make the most sense to put your proposal on the agenda for the meeting that the Commission will address that relevant Article. All that being said, you are always welcome to address the Charter Revision Commission during public input at any meeting and submit your proposal(s) at that time. The down side to that is the time limit of 5 minutes. If presented during public input, the Commission may decide to address your proposal(s) at a later date and/or when that particular Article comes up for review in their schedule.
Do you have proposals that relate to Articles I-III? If so, and they are ready to go,  I can check into the possibility of amending the agenda to include your proposal as a formal recommendation under the appropriate Article for the meeting next week. Let me know what Article sections you are looking at and we can figure out the best way to proceed. Thank you!Â
My response back, in which I received no response, and didn’t expect one;
Cari, I have no idea where my articles would fit in, I am not a city attorney, and I don’t believe it is the duty of a citizen to try to hunt it down in the city charter, that would be the responsibility of the CRC and the City attorney’s office. My only responsibility is presenting my ideas to the commission. I know it is not in your wheelhouse to tell the CRC what to do, but this is prime example of poor customer service to citizens, which I believe is done purposely to discourage participation, there really is no other excuse. Citizens should be able to present their ideas to the CRC and the CRC can decide to craft the proper language and article in which it applies. I also believe that there should be NO time limit on presenting ideas to the CRC. I should be afforded at least 5 minutes for each item. I will present my ideas to the CRC in public input and ‘try’ to figure out the articles it applies to. Thank you for you time. Scott L. Ehrisman
As I have mentioned in the past, even if my revisions make the ballot (which I doubt they will since the CRC is only interested in killing citizen ideas) I’m not so sure they would pass. As the CRC has said in the past they are concerned about putting revisions on the ballot because they almost always pass. I think I would have to educate a lot of folks to get passage. I am still refining my revisions, but I can tell you they concern TIFs, Public Input and City Directors. You will have to tune in on Wednesday to hear them 🙂
While the average non-management wage was $12, “I can’t afford to pay teenagers $15 or $16 an hour – and they’re going to those jobs – unless I want to raise the price of pizzas by $2,†Porter said. “It gets to the point where it’s a whole to do for not much because it sucks all the profit out. The small guys are getting killed because we can’t afford to pay these large wages.â€
Well maybe you need to charge more for your pizza and make a better pizza? Mr. Porter calls himself a small guy. That’s interesting since he owns around 6 fast casual restaurants in Sioux Falls and has a home valued at $600K. Yeah, real small potatoes.
A survey of restaurant workers done in the second quarter by Black Box Intelligence found several factors behind employees who quit their restaurant roles.
More than two-thirds of current and former restaurant workers said disrespect from customers is a factor in the labor shortage.
Nearly half said emotional abuse from managers contributed to their decision to stay or leave, with 15 percent saying they were sexually harassed by managers or co-workers, while another 15 percent said they were sexually harassed by customers.
I would agree that management in the hospitality industry in Sioux Falls is something to be desired. But that is the problem with a right to work state, business owners have full control of you as an employee instead of the other way around. This is why Noem does NOT support mandating businesses because she knows it would throw a wrench in our worthless right to work laws. This is about her protecting the ruling class NOT individual employee rights. If workers had more rights in South Dakota, ‘small’ businesses would have no problem finding workers, oh, and you really need to pay more.
l3wis 