This morning Councilor Janet Brekke and I had a very productive conference call with our City Attorney Stacy Kooistra and our Council Staff person Jim David.
We discussed two items that I wanted to share with you:
1. We discussed a proposed  ordinance that Councilor Brekke and I are preparing that will include safety  standards for protection of employees during this Covid 19 pandemic.  Councilor Brekke and I have spent hours working on this issue and now more than ever we feel it is a necessary part of our safety standards. We appreciate the advice and counsel of our City Attorney  Stacy Kooistra. We will keep you apprised of the outcome of those discussions.
2. We also discussed the  distribution issues related to  Rental Assistance fund.  This fund has $1 million tax dollars in it.  I have been receiving communication from recipients of the funds as to how the fund is being managed. After the conversation this morning with Councilor Brekke and City attorney Kooistra, I  did further follow up and had discussions with Planning director Jeff Eckhoff, 211 helpline director Janet Kitterams and Community outreach member Rich Merkouris. They have all agreed that the payment policy to the landlords could be revisited. Â
In the midst of these conversations, I have suggested:
****Reduce the award to 50%.
**** Stipulate that the remaining balance is forgiven by the landlord who is accepting the payment. NO FINES CAN BE IMPOSED UPON THE RENTER.
****Stipulate that the tenant will not be evicted for a minimum of 90 days.
The discussions are ongoing and we will keep you informed as to the latest developments.
“There is no specific agreement that the landlord signs,” said Janet Kittams, executive director of the 211 Helpline Center. “We’re taking it on a good faith commitment that when they receive that check for 70% of the rent that they will not evict that person.”
This is why it needs to be administered by city officials, so they can put in stipulations that evictions don’t occur. Non-Profits don’t have that authority;
Anderson said city officials told him the city doesn’t have the authority to stop evictions from happening based on South Dakota law, but he argued that because the city of Sioux Falls has a mandatory registry of rental properties, making it the sole authority over what “those licensees may or may not do with those licenses.”
“I understand that there might not be any established legal precedent for what we’re asking, but we are living in unprecedented times,” he said. “I have no doubt that you all care for your fellow citizens, but I’m asking you tonight to turn that care into action.”
And once again, Stehly was justified in asking those questions;
Councilor Theresa Stehly pressed city staff on whether landlords were bound to play nice with their tenants if they received money through the One Sioux Falls Fund.
“I don’t know,” Sioux Falls Planning and Development Services Director Jeff Eckhoff said.
The program should have been administered through the planning office. But that is the least of the city’s problems.
This morning Mayor TenHaken said a major employer has become a hotspot. The guess by many and the media is Smithfield (who recently offered employees a $500 bonus for showing up to work over the next month). But our very transparent mayor didn’t want to share that information with the public. Later Noem admitted to it.
WHAT!?
If there is a major outbreak of covid at a major employer, don’t you think for public safety we need to tell the public who it is?! I keep beating this drum, TRANSPARENCY DURING A TIME OF CRISIS IS CRITICAL! I don’t understand why PTH doesn’t get it. The public has a right to know what business this is, for our safety and wellbeing.
This is why a stay at home order for businesses that employ ten or more needed to be implemented a couple of weeks ago. Now I’m afraid it may be too late. The head doctor at Falls Community Health admitted today that since we didn’t have stay at home orders like many cities across the US our numbers will now spike, dramatically. She made this admission today at the health board meeting. An admission PTH failed to inform the public about this morning, and even telling Belfrage this morning that he ‘didn’t want to show modeling daily to the public, because it changes to much.’ I have argued what will get people to stay home is putting the fear of God in them by giving them the realistic projections, instead we have downplayed the pandemic and put on art contests to keep our minds off of the inevitable. Again, NO LEADERSHIP and NO TRANSPARENCY.
The meeting last night (above) wasn’t much better. Cameraman Bruce addressed transparency during a crisis (below-transcript at bottom of article), but it fell on deaf ears. And while Stehly offered amendments for the safety of employees, the RS5 once again said while it was a good idea, they couldn’t support it, because you know, it was Stehly’s idea. Councilor Neizert even commented that by voting against it, people will write bad things about them (the RS5) on social media. Yeah, because you need to stop listening to our moronic city attorney who doesn’t know his butt from a hole in the ground.
At public input, even a citizen pointed out that we have the legal rights to implement rules when it comes to stay at home orders and eviction stipulations.
Besides the lack of transparency and legal knowledge of what to do during a health emergency, it appears some on the council are also worried about their appearance. Put a trucker hat on it, maybe that will make you look better, but just like the bunker ramp, you can only get the sh*t so shiny when you polish a turd.
The RW3 (Right Way Three) the only ones ‘leading’ during this crisis.
Bruce’s input transcript; Democracy dies in darkness
Real leaders can take people into the darkness and find the light.
Democracy dies in darkness
Our elected leaders saying I “really didn’t sign up for this†is missing the point of leadership 101. There are no classes to teach imaginative leadership. It does not come from the Gallup Polling service. We have had many leaders who really didn’t understand what they got themselves into even prior to the drought, virus or tornadoes.
Democracy dies in darkness
Government positions are not to be treated as pedestals of success, a position of stature, or a line on their resume. We voters elected every one of you on this dais to lead us through the darkness by giving us disaster plans when times are good. We had boom times up until 2 months ago, why didn’t the RS5 and the plus one up in front of us have the disaster plans ready.
Democracy dies in darkness
The reason we question and then get derided by the RS5 members of this body is because we have been asking for preparedness and all we get are jabs, assaults, broken teeth, jail time and more.
Democracy dies in darkness
Last week, when I was finally able to log into the meetings held in this very room, I saw what could easily be prosecuted as criminal. This is not Soviet Russia or Red China, this body is a public government forum where our rights guarantee our leaders and the public the ability to ask questions. No matter how embarrassing it might be to those in power. To tell the members of this body they cannot ask questions before they vote is criminal. Councilor Starr did the right thing in attempting to adjourn the meeting.
Democracy dies in darkness
The reasons we ask embarrassing questions is because some of us have been lied to and jailed as a result of our questions. Just think the Midco Pool windows, HVAC failures in a building we didn’t need, a death caused by a failed parking ramp project, secret settlements for a lousy siding job and more. As said in the old movie “Don’t pee in my boot and tell me it’s raining.†We know the difference.
Democracy dies in darkness
Opening an official meeting of this city by calling it goat roping is insulting to the body and especially the voters who put you here. Also, hiding the city’s pressers, business and health discussions on a private membership, data harvesting service such as Facebook and not putting them on the taxpayer’s CityLink should be considered a crime.
Democracy dies in darkness
Now more than ever, the public needs a voice in this room because our city leadership has shown window shades are safer than open windows. This city government needs to empty their boots and get to work opening up the process to the public. It has come to the time after hearing the open discussion at today’s Informational, the public should be able to sign up to speak via their phones or computers. If you have to be here until midnight, we don’t care.
You’ll see his answers to Theresa’s questions at the bottom of the column. Not only does he say there is a temporary hospital plan, he basically says they don’t need to tell anyone until it gets bad.
Usually you should share those plans before it gets ‘bad’.
He also has NO idea how much the taxpayers are giving to the Community Foundation. He says $750K, it’s actually $1 Million.
We know who the really leader is in this column, and it’s not the guy answering the questions.
Whether it was a misguided administration building, parking ramp, secretive task force meetings or potholes, Stehly was the first, once again;
But the safety of doing so is in question amid the COVID-19 pandemic. That’s why Mayor Paul TenHaken, all eight city councilors and the City Clerk are urging Gov. Kristi Noem and Secretary of State Steve Barnett to take emergency action to postpone the April 14 election.
Theresa had been asking for at least a couple of weeks to postpone the city elections across the state while her colleagues on the council (not Starr or Brekke who have bee supportive of Stehly’s idea) have been ignoring her.
So after Starr and Cameraman Bruce organize a drive-thru absentee ballot sign up over the past two days (as I understand was very safe, with no crowded lines with people remaining in their cars) all of a sudden the rest of the council has a change of heart.
Once again Stehly was ahead of the curve on this and the rest of the city council had no choice but to follow suit. Which proves once again why she needs to be reelected.
What makes this even more egregious is that this letter wasn’t supposed to go out until after Tuesday’s Health Board decision comes out, but somehow got leaked onto FB by Erickson and then to her little slimeball friend up north. Funny how that works?
Speaking of the health board, now our great leader of the city is leaving it up to them and ultimately the city council to make the difficult decision to mandate restaurants and bars be closed, which will only domino into most non-essential businesses being closed.
While I have argued for a long time that the city council doesn’t really do squat, thank GOD we have them now to make the critical decisions that the mayor’s office cannot apparently make, or willing to make.
Mayor TenHaken could make a solid legal case for shutting down the public health threat those barhoppers pose to all of us.
This will give him more time to hand out board games to the quarantined and drive around SF taking pictures of bars’ parking lots. Sorry Paul, while being ‘Positive’ during a crisis is a good suggestion and all, it doesn’t pay the rent or cure the sick. We used to have this saying in the restaurant business when a customer would give you a glowing compliment than leave NO tip; You can’t buy groceries with a compliment.
But one more thing, the City Council also needs to mandate that the Events Center, Convention Center and Arena’s floor space be dedicated for a temporary health care facility/shelter if needed. They DO have the power to do that considering the taxpayers own those facilities. We may just make the Denty useful after all.
We also need to work with the local grocers and food banks to have a safe system to hand out food to those who need it. People soon will be unable to safely go in person to the grocery stores, even if they have the money. This hysteria could lead to looting, we don’t want to go there. We need a plan NOW on how we are going to handle food shortages.
