Cameraman Bruce asked tonight at public input at the Sioux Falls City Council meeting why the catalytic converters* were missing on the surplus cop cars and sheriff cars at the auction a few weeks ago. He wondered how they got ‘stolen’ in a secure public works lot. And why it wasn’t reported to the SFPD and investigated?
Hmmm.
I guess the driveshafts were also missing on the old para-transit buses also and the flooded out lawn mowers from this Spring were on the auction to.
Once again, Hmmm.
*I guess these parts contain valuable platinum that can be sold as scrap
The mayor’s office confirmed Monday that a cap on a water line for a water cooler in the second floor of the 18-month-old city administration building failed, causing between 750 and 1,000 gallons of water to flood the southeast corner of the building’s second floor before it was noticed.
So now we have the HVAC system litigation in limbo with the CMAR (Construction Manager at Risk) who may be responsible for installing a geo thermal system that didn’t work. Now we have a major water leak, with no viable detection system.
So why on earth would we want to hire the same CMAR to expand the IT department in the building?!
It would be like hiring the same plumber to install a bathtub after he installed a leaky toilet. NO private homeowner would do such a thing, so why would the city?
“One of the things we try to do at Pizza Ranch is to have a greater purpose, to love on people, to make a difference in the world,†said Perry Krosschell, Chief Vision Officer for Pizza Ranch Inc. “Our vision statement is to glorify God by positively impacting the world.â€
So will PTH be hiring a Cheerleader or a Minister?
Remember, we still don’t have an answer on whether the Public Works Director’s mission trip to Haiti with PTH was paid for by taxpayers. I asked, a couple of times . . . radio silence.
There is a presentation on the audit of purchasing cards. I understand why the city uses them, it prevents a lot of meaningless work by the purchasing department and the city receives rebates on the purchases. There are two cards, the first tier allows purchases under $1,000 and the second tier card allows purchases under $2,500. But here is the stunner;
From July 1, 2017 through June 30, 2018, the City spent approximately $5,661,822 with purchasing cards through approximately 12,600 transactions. The table below shows purchasing card spending broken down by Major Organizational Unit (MOU).
The Public Works department spent the most, which is understandable, but the one that surprised is that the finance department spent $930K. Wonder on what? The audit only covered how the program is administered and not if the purchases were justified (that I can see).
In the audit plan for 2019 they plan to audit SMG and Ovations. September 19th was the 5 year anniversary of the opening of the Denty.
A presentation on the Beekeeping ordinance that councilors Brekke and Stehly are bringing forward. I think this is a great idea. Hopefully they have spoken with the mosquito control peeps with the city and what affects their spraying will have on bee hives in the city.
• An EOS Traction System for the Leadership Team (so they can keep on tract)
• Project TOM, this is a program that allows you to turn over your old and unrepairable trailer house for disposal at no cost.
• About $1.6 million in work to the new City Admin building. I wonder if taxpayers ever got a refund on the original defunct HVAC system? Haven’t heard a peep on that.
Item #8, They are suggesting that the Siouxperhero Award be given to the city employees for storm cleanup. While I am appreciative for what they did, they are getting paid (with our tax dollars) to do the cleanup, just another day at work, as far as I am concerned. What about the award going to all the volunteers who helped? What about the contractors? (who also received tax dollars). When this award was originally created it had some clear specifications, I’m not sure ‘city employees’ on the clock counts?
Item #17, New Retail liquor license for The Square on Main LLC. I find it interesting that the address listed for this liquor license is on the 2nd floor of the Houwman insurance building (above Coffea) in the insurance offices. Apparently you will be able to buy a cocktail while talking to your insurance agent. LOL. My assumption is they are going to eventually use the license for a restaurant or bar in the Washington Square building. I really think that the practice of ‘parking’ liquor licenses needs to be reviewed and tightened up. I think the licenses should have to be used within 90 days of purchase. It’s like the licenses that were purchased for the failed bunker ramp hotel, will those have to be resold or can they park them in a undisclosed location?
Same thing is happening with Item#32, where Sanford ‘parked’ a liquor license at the foundation house and now are transferring it to the Golf Place.
Item #5D, A second Keg Chicken location is going into the former Noodles and Company on Arrowhead Parkway.
Item #5E, Another telephone booth VL Casino. There must still be money in VL because these places continue to pop up.
Item #5F, a catering facility down by Falls Park that is asking for reduced parking.
Item #5H, Planning Department is recommending DENIAL of rezone due to the developer NOT providing enough information and NOT conforming with major street development.
Now more than two weeks after the historic weather event, all but a few trees remain to be picked up in city parks,
Not quite. I find it baffling that the city is still struggling with messaging. Earlier this week I rode my bike thru the affected areas along 41st street. While a majority of the bigger trees were picked up, small debris was still strewn all over the residential side streets. On Lincoln Avenue, directly North of the Auto parts store that was damaged, a large piece of the roof sat in a yard (approximately 10 x 30 FT in size).
On the bike trail between Spencer park and Yankton Trail, there were hundreds of trees down and massive piles of tree debris. But the bike trail was clear and clean.
Overall, Smith and others with COAD say operations were mostly smooth, with the city’s emergency operations guide working as it was intended. The document, created in 2012, outlines a chain of command and lays out what steps are to be taken during natural and man-made disasters.
This is also baffling to me. Throughout the article they talk about how they have been planning for this for 9 years and have timely meetings. So what happened with messaging and city assistance?
I think the volunteer efforts were FANTASTIC, but as I have stressed before, volunteers are one leg of the stool, the city, the state and federal government has to step in and help to. This was a major misstep by the city in the early stage of this (they of course stepped up later but never communicated that to the public, or maybe contractors just ignored the rules?).
I don’t know how you can say you have been planning for a tornado for 9 years, and after the event actually happens you tell citizens to call a private non-profit helpline for assistance because it’s not the city’s responsibility to pick up debris, but then do it anyway
l3wis 
