South DaCola

Editorial Cartoonist from South Dakota

Sioux Falls

Christine Erickson Mayor TenHaken Open Government Open Meetings Sioux Falls

Why does Sioux Falls struggle so much with open government?

l3wis 3Comments
Many in the media are wondering why Mayor Paul doesn’t hold regular press conferences where the media can ask questions. Sorry folks, have to head to my kid’s soccer game.

I have often argued that this should be one of the easiest things our local government officials do – open the books! We already have the laws in place that allow government in South Dakota to open the books as much as they want to, with only a handful of things that are not allowable (and are clearly defined).

It often baffles me when I watch the video above or hear a local official say this (Sioux Falls City Councilor Erickson is referring to a conversation she had on Wednesday with Mayor TenHaken about communication);

“Help me understand this. Where was the communication breakdown, and how can we do better for you guys (city councilors)?”

I mean, if you have to ask, you are apparently either NOT fit to lead, or acting naive on purpose to hide things. I think it is a little of both.

When leaders fail at the simplest of tasks, it clearly shows they are NOT prepared for the job and should resign.

I drive past the Mayor’s office every weekday going to work (about 7:45 AM) and again going home (about 4:45 PM) and it is always dark. Why do we need city hall security for a mayor that doesn’t show up to his office?

Minnehaha County Sioux Falls

Meeting Updates

l3wis 1Comments

Just in case you haven’t been over to our YouTube Channel, here are some meeting link updates. Enjoy local government nerds!

Minnehaha County Commission Meeting, Nov 5, 2019

Inside Town Hall with Theresa Stehly

Sioux Falls City Council Informational, November 5, 2019

Sioux Falls City Council Meeting, November 5, 2019

Joint City of Sioux Falls & Minnehaha County Planning Meeting

Joint City of Sioux Falls & Minnehaha County Planning Meeting

Minnehaha County Planning Meeting

Janet Brekke Patrick Lalley Patrick Starr SF City Council Sioux Falls

Patrick Lalley Podcast

l3wis 0Comments

Pat’s guests this week were councilors Starr and Brekke. It was a great discussion about the lack of transparency and communication coming from the Mayor’s Administration and how it reminds us of the last administration’s lack of it also, even though there is different players.

Pat Lalley also rips on the councilors for not standing up to Video Lottery in our community, and I agree!

Bunker Ramp Downtown Sioux Falls SF City Council Sioux Falls

Sioux Falls City Councilors defer $1.5 Million in additional spending to the Bunker Ramp

l3wis 6Comments

Apparently we are all out of extra money, go figure. The money is needed to fill all the ‘holes’ in the building. It’s too late, the money has already gone down the tubes 🙂

The administration waited until tonight at 10:40 PM to give the information. Erickson suggested they defer it to digest it more and she said it was unacceptable to not get the information last week, saying they knew the numbers then.

Councilor Stehly railed on them about ramrodding this project and asked for an audit of the parking department. She also asked for a deferral.

Councilor Brekke also raised concerns about last minute information and is concerned about the continuing trend of inadequate information given to the city council. She also wanted a deferral.

Councilor Soehl suggests they just approve it and it doesn’t matter if they are ‘pissed’ at the administration about the information. (yes it does).

Neitzert agrees with him, and admits he got information in advance this afternoon. He also says the councilors are being ridiculous by acting like engineers. He is right, they are not engineers, but they are in charge of the purse, and should be watching how money is being spent.

The deferral passes 5-3 (Neitzert, Selberg and Soehl voted against it).

Brekke said it best, “We have this false sense of urgency all the time, and it needs to end.”

SF City Council Sioux Falls

Sioux Falls City Councilors Erickson and Kiley propose ridiculous amendments to Beekeeping ordinance

l3wis 6Comments

And one of them passed . . .

First they wanted to have inspections every three years. That failed and was changed to the hives being inspected whenever animal control gets a concern or complaint.

They wanted signs posted in the yards of people who have hives to warn people. This amendment passed, and is completely ridiculous. If I had to put one of these signs in my yard, I would put another sign next to it that says, “Councilors Erickson and Kiley made me put this sign up because they are paranoid nanny-staters.” I would go even farther to offer my design skills to design the signs and send you to a printer that can provide it.

The last amendment was to have physical barriers of the hives on the property (like walls or solid fences) instead of just forage. This also failed.

The whole ordinance passed (amended for signage), but Erickson and Kiley voted against it. They were concerned about bee allergies.

As I have stated before, bees are already here, and they can sting people whenever they want to, adding hives won’t increase or reduce this risk. 

It amazes me that the people who proposed these ludicrous amendments are the same people who voted for the fraudulent bunker ramp downtown. Maybe we should put a sign in the yard of every city councilor, mayor and city employee that supported the bunker ramp that says, “I voted for the bunker ramp, even though I had mountains of evidence it was a bad idea and I have yet to apologize for my monumental mistake.”

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