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Sioux Falls

Cody Ingle Elections Emmett Reistroffer for City Council Janet Brekke Pam Cole SF City Council Sioux Falls

Vote for the ‘Democracy ‘ candidates in the Sioux Falls City Council race Tuesday

l3wis 24Comments

I have been blogging about this city government for over 15 years, I may not be an expert on all it’s ins and outs, but I have watched its deterioration from an open government.

I used to think the Munson administration was bad, but he was a light weight in comparison to the last two mayors who have destroyed any shred of transparency and open government.

This is why voting for the ‘Democracy’ candidates for council is important, Janet Brekke, Emmett Reistroffer, Cody Ingle and Pam Cole.

We need to bring openness back and shine a light, we also need to put the mayor back at city hall to run the day to day operations and keep out of the council’s policy objectives. This isn’t an ask, this is how the charter is written. The mayor runs the city by directing its employees to implement the policies the council adopts. I have argued for a long time the past two mayors have been violating charter over and over again, and the rubber stamp council has been derelict in their duties of writing good policy and controlling the purse strings.

If we don’t elect at least 3 of these candidates you will see a downward spiral to darkness and we will never be able to crawl out of that hole.

What would happen;

• Government action will be done in complete silence.

• The mayor will introduce all policy and his hand picked rubber stamp puppets will implement it.

• Taxes and fees will skyrocket to keep up with the reckless spending on special interest projects.

• Crime will go thru the roof.

• The core neighborhoods will crumble to dust.

I know this sounds dire, but we are already moving in these directions and it needs to be stopped. While a 4/4 council might not be able to stop all bad legislation (The mayor can still break ties and veto) it will at least be slowed and hopefully we can turn this around.

What does mean to elect the ‘Democracy’ candidates?

• More open and transparent government (which saves us millions).

• More interaction with the citizenry to shape policy.

• Building density and cleaning up our core neighborhoods.

• Fiscal responsibility and holding the line on handouts to wealthy developers, banksters and bondsters.

• A strategic plan for the city written by the council with interaction from the citizens.

• Creative ways to build affordable and workforce housing.

• Safer streets and neighborhoods.

• A modern, safe and practical bike trail.

• More opportunities for small businesses.

I am not asking you to vote for the ‘Democracy’ candidates, I’m BEGGING YOU!

After Tuesday, if we don’t elect these 4 candidates, we can’t go in reverse, and I am afraid Sioux Falls will never be the same.

David ZoKaites Elections Sioux Falls

Interactive Government: David Zokaites

l3wis 4Comments

Guest Post by Mayoral Candidate David Zokaites

Goals

  • Government should care more about public
  • Government should respond to citizens
  • More interaction between government, citizens
  • Would profoundly impact modern life 

Community Outreach

  • Mayor should weekly dine with random city residents
  • Plus weekly lunch with random city employee
  • City councilors, department heads should also regularly meet with random people
  • New mayor will meet with all councilors individually
  • Mayor, councilors should have annual barbecue for camaraderie (invite public too)
  • It’s all part of the job

City Council Meetings

  • Mayor – facilitator, main power source
  • City councilors – vote on proposals, usually approve mayor
  • Citizens – provide input, usually ignored
  • Let’s change the dynamic
  • Increase city council power
  • At-large councilors should be full-time not part-time
  • Utilize public input to create better laws

Current Council Invocation

  • Prayer by minister chosen by mayor
  • Constitution says “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion”
  • Check to see if starting public meeting with prayer is constitutional
  • Take a survey, see if citizens want to keep prayer
  • Council also says Pledge of Allegiance

Ideas for Invocation

  • Mayor’s prayer for community (I wrote one)
  • Mayor’s secular pledge (I wrote one)
  • Mayor’s prayer for social healing (I wrote one)
  • Mayor’s prayer for personal healing (I wrote one)
  • Each city councilor should present their prayer or pledge
  • Invite public to present prayer or pledge

Public Input

  • Mostly ignored – should be valued
  • Limited to certain points in the meeting
  • Better to allow input after raising your hand
  • Each public inputer should be contacted by district councilor, at-large councilor, mayor’s assistant, or mayor
  • Acknowledgement is key to peace, progress
  • Allow PowerPoint and electronic presentations
  • They were generally disallowed 4 years ago
  • Exclusion was (apparently) directed against myself and Bruce Danielson
  • Move public input back to the start of council meeting to encourage more public input

Designing Laws

  • Ordinances (usually) decided long before public presentation
  • Design laws with actual citizen involvement
  • Convert council meeting from theater to meaningful discussion
  • Present rough ideas at council, a preliminary reading (new)
  • Keep first reading of codified proposals
  • Keep second reading

Controversial Votes

  • If any proposal has 3 or more public comments …
  • All councilors and mayor should explain their votes
  • Limit explanation to 2 minutes  
SF City Council Sioux Falls

Sioux Falls City Council Agenda, Wednesday April 13, 2022

l3wis 4Comments

The city council meetings are on Wednesday this week due to the election on Tuesday.

Informational • 4 PM

Presentations on 2022 Street Construction Overview & Water Reclamation Plant Expansion Update by Mark Cotter, Director of Public Works. There are NO attached documents, and don’t expect to see any until right before the meeting, you know, that war on transparency this administration has.

I find the second presentation interesting considering it is just one day after the election (I don’t expect a mayoral run-off election but maybe a couple of council seats). There has been rumors floating around that the reclamation plant is extremely over budget, and I don’t think Cotter will be delivering us good news about it. How convenient the mayor has spent surpluses on pet projects before an election but waits until it is over to drop the bomb on this. Granted, the Reclamation bonds are funded by enterprise funds (our fees) and not from the 2nd penny. But there is nothing stopping the council from using surpluses to help fund this project if it is over budget. So if they don’t use surpluses, where will we get the money? You guessed it, increased fees. Brace yourselves folks, this is not going to be fun. Even before Covid and inflation, I told people that this project will be over budget, all city projects go over budget, unless you use sh!tty siding 🙂

Regular Meeting • 6 PM

Item #6, Sub-Item #3, Human Resources, Intergovernmental Contract for the SD Public Assurance Alliance, Administrative updates to the contract including any member who elects to depart the SDPAA to wait two years before they may reapply and eliminating the partial refund of contributions to departing members, $0.00. (I have no idea what this is about, but it would be interesting to see the council pull this item for an explanation.)

All of these items below are important. It will be interesting to see how the council votes on Starr and Brekke’s ordinances and if a victory/loss by Brekke on Tuesday will weigh in on it. Either way, the discussion should be good.

Item #17, A RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE MAYOR TO ENTER INTO AN AGREEMENT FOR FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE BETWEEN THE CITY OF SIOUX FALLS AND SOUTH DAKOTA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE & NATURAL RESOURCES.

You are probably thinking the same thing as me. Huh? Another reason why Brekke and Starr’s ordinance should pass. This is the city asking for more money from the state for the reclamation plant expansion. Probably will be discussed at the informational meeting.

Elections SF City Council Sioux Falls

Falls Community Growth PAC missed filing deadline

l3wis 4Comments

As I reported in January, local businessman, Matt Paulson is funneling his personal wealth into the city council races by using his PAC. It is completely legal, but kind of shady (you know like having your toddlers donate thousands to a campaign).

According to the city’s website;

April 7, 2022 – Local Jurisdictions Campaign Finance Disclosure Report due not later than 5 p.m. for all municipal candidates, municipal candidate campaign committees, municipal political action committees, municipal ballot question committees, and applicable nonmunicipal political action committees.* The reporting period is March 1, 2022 (or last submitted report) through April 4, 2022.

Paulson’s PAC hasn’t filed another report since January.

Maybe I am unclear of the rules, but it appears to me you don’t have to file a report if you didn’t give or receive money. But that is not the case. In January he lists candidates Rehfeldt, Barranco and Soehl.

But if you look at the reports for Merkouris filed on April 7, he has since then received money from the PAC. Soehl also lists receiving another donation since then.

Sarah Cole also received $5,000 from Lee Schoenbeck’s PAC, SD Strong. That PAC hasn’t filed since January either and Buffalo PAC gave her $5,000 and they have not filed either.

I think the fine is $50 for missing a filing date, but you have to wonder if they are just running out the clock until Wednesday to hide something? Or it could be blatant incompetence. I’m going with further shaddiness.

Mayoral Candidate David Z said it best in the debates, there is too much money in the local races.

Dr. Sarah Cole Elections Janet Brekke SF City Council Sioux Falls

If Citizen Dr. Sarah Cole hasn’t found the time to vote in city elections, how will she find time to be a Councilor?

l3wis 12Comments

As you may know, Sioux Falls city council candidate, Dr. Sarah Cole hasn’t voted in any city or school board election since moving to our city. I would assume if this was NOT true, she would have made a statement about it, she has NOT. One of her other opponents is not much better, Bobbi Andera, only voting one time in 10 years in a local election.

As I mention in the title, I struggle supporting someone for public office who hasn’t even bothered to take 10 minutes to vote. Does this say something about the time she will dedicate to her job if elected?

I found this article about doctor’s voting records revealing;

One in four physicians didn’t vote in all of the last three presidential elections. So, what’s their excuse?

Dr. Nidhi Goel, a hospitalist at the University of Maryland Medical Center in Baltimore, offers up a suggestion: “I think everybody will use the excuse of time, which is fair, but then kind of not so much. Because we can find time to do things that are important.”

When Dr. Cole mentions in her latest mailer integrity, it kind of falls on deaf ears. How can we expect her to show up to meetings? Will she be absent, not only in votes but in responding to constituents?

Dr. Nidhi Goel, a hospitalist at the University of Maryland Medical Center in Baltimore, offers up a suggestion: “I think everybody will use the excuse of time, which is fair, but then kind of not so much. Because we can find time to do things that are important.”

And she’s right. Lack of time is a key reason doctors give for not voting. Researchers who study voting patterns have theorized that doctors vote in lower numbers because medical schools attract people who like science more than civics. Other studies have indicated that many doctors feel like their work has enough social purpose, so they can skip voting, guilt-free.

If this is true, why does Dr. Cole want the job?

Think about it, do you really want to know that your doctor is voting for the candidate you can’t stand? Some doctors stay out of politics for the same reason, so they don’t alienate their patients.

This the same reason why many business people stay out of it, not to alienate customers. Shouldn’t Sarah be worried that a decision she makes on the council may make her look bad affecting her practice and employer?

“We are very linear thinkers,” Lam says. “We base all our decisions, or we try to, on data, on things that we see, on observations. That’s not necessarily the case in policy, where you’re trying to convince people. From a physician’s standpoint, from a scientist’s standpoint, it’s incredibly frustrating to realize that the data might be completely outweighed by one or two stories.”

Lam warns that politicians also make decisions based on who shows up to vote: “If they see that the physician community doesn’t come out to vote as often as, say, the attorney community, then they will probably be more likely to listen to the attorney community than to physicians. Because you don’t turn out to vote.”

I am sure Sarah is a fantastic physician. I have actually heard from colleagues and parents of patients she is good at her job. But being a good doctor may not make her a very good lawmaker as mentioned above.

After Mayor TenHaken’s intimidation tactic on Janet Brekke was revealed, it is even more obvious she was recruited for a job she probably has no desire to have and Poops probably feels he has to make up ground for Sarah due to the lack of her enthusiasm. I also find Councilor Greg Neitzert’s mentoring a little strange considering he is sitting on that very dais because someone mentored him and has since turned his back on those mentors.

If Sarah loses, and I think she will, it will be interesting to see how quickly her relationship with Neitzert and TenHaken deflates.

It turns out, taking good care of patients includes showing up Tuesday morning to pull that lever.

And if she can’t even bother to do that, I would suggest you vote for the incumbent, a former city attorney and prosecutor who will make the time to serve us, Janet Brekke.

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