Letter author only proved how little they know about city government

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I have often been baffled why so many people are concerned about the presidential election but don’t give two rips about their local government, you know, the people who determine what you pay in over half of your taxes. Just trust them, they say;

We have a progressive city leadership, and I feel they have led proudly through their many achievements.

Don’t compare the success of Downtown, the Events Center and an indoor pool to a $25 million dollar city administration that will be mostly empty and unfinished on day one. That’s not progress, that’s fiscal stupidity. The city would save millions over the next 20-30 years by leasing space. There is NOTHING in city charter that requires the city to OWN the buildings they house workers in. Especially pencil pushers.

(If) We wait another five to six years and decide to build with an increased cost of $8 million to $10 million more?

Yeah, that’s that thing called ‘inflation’ funny how it works. Maybe I should buy a case of candy bars now and freeze them, cause you know, candy bar prices are going up. The problem with his argument is that we don’t need the building today, and we won’t need it 6 years from now. As I have argued, as technology increases, the city should be able to reduce the number of administration workers, or better yet, start a home based worker program, we would save millions and it would boost morale. Let’s truly embrace a REAL progressive idea.

I trust our mayor and elected officials to lead us where we need to go. This city is flourishing.

He is right, the city is flourishing, and it all happened without a new administration building. How did city workers get so much accomplished with stagnant wage increases (while their managers were receiving corporate management style raises) and cramped space? I have often argued that if this building was really needed, we would have built it with cash and reserves before the EC or Indoor Pool. It was an after thought of the mayor, not a progressive idea at all.

There are those poor losers from previous elections that are choosing to make all things at City Hall political.

What part of elected ‘politician’ don’t you understand? Government is NOT business, and vice versa. ANY business our city government does is POLITICAL, whether they are approving a one-day wine license or a $25 million dollar administration building.

I tire of the Kermit Staggers clones that continue to throw cold water rather than seize the moment for numerous advances and the needed update to municipal offices and space. I fear our new council members will be nothing but a drag on continuing progress for Sioux Falls.

Yeah, those darn Staggers followers who got elected in the past election, and their horrible non-progressive ideas like snow gates, gardens in the boulevard and hopefully the elimination of charging for Project Trim. How dare they push these ideas off on us and drag us down by making the city be more customer service oriented, transparent and accountable to the people that fund them. What on God’s green earth are they thinking?

If voters were truly upset by City Council plans, there would be an uprising.

Yeah, because 6,400 signatures in 3 weeks is hardly an uprising.

Pathetic voter turnout is not an encouraging way to promote change; it suggests to me that most voters are complacent but satisfied with this status quo progressive city.

I wish more people would vote, but it seems our town is full of complacency, we do agree on that. But to say they are satisfied, may be a stretch. It’s an education curve, we try hard to get people involved with local government, but every time we do something, we have to hear from letter writers like you who say we are ‘interfering’. The mayor and the city council don’t own our government, WE DO, involvement should be encouraged not scolded.

Nelson Park at 10th Street and Cliff Avenue is the home of a relatively nice outdoor pool complex. Ever notice how much green space is basically wasted on the corner.

We do notice, the complex was supposed to be larger, but it seems some peeps with sour grapes over losing the election cut back on the size of the complex, which is ironic, because Drake Springs is the most popular pool in the city.

Ever wonder how much the city would have saved on the city’s new aquatic center if it had been built eight to 10 years ago on this corner?

We would be spending millions a year on maintenance if we would have built it there. Our aquatic consultant has said in their report that Nelson Park would have been a poor location for an indoor pool due to significant ground water issues that have existed for a 100 years. Besides, voters rejected an indoor pool at that location TWICE.

How bad is the traffic on busy Western Avenue going to congest across the street from a shopping center?

Maybe you should ask our ‘progressive’ and ‘visionary’ mayor and 3 city councilors why Spellerberg was chosen, when the wisest place would have been at the Sanford Sports Complex, with plenty of parking, room for expansion, and a possible partnership with Sanford that would have saved us millions.

The mayor and Councilor Erpenbach should stick to their principles.

Because fiscal stupidity and ignorance should never stand in the way of progress. Go Team!

Posted in: Sioux Falls, Sioux Falls Parks and Rec

Why can’t the hospitality industry in Sioux Falls retain good workers? Greed.

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You get what you pay for

I will say it, the honeymoon is over. I knew there would come a day that we couldn’t keep building a restaurant on every street corner of this town and expect them to make a profit and last. Some would blame a worker shortage on the problem, I blame something else, a wage shortage.

It used to be easy to gather a group of unexperienced employees to run a restaurant in Sioux Falls, make huge profits, and leave those workers behind. Not anymore. There needs to be a change in philosophy, something I have often suggested in public employees. Hire quality employees, and pay them well, and they will do the work of 2-3 unexperienced employees that you pay half the wage to.

Don’t believe me? Well, I may not have owned a restaurant in my lifetime, but I have been working in them since I was 17 years old (almost 27 years). Over those years I have done it all, dishwasher, pasta maker, bus boy, line cook, fry cook, host and server. I even worked as a maintenance man. I’ve seen a lot, but the one thing that has always been a constant is that good employees who are paid well in the industry stick around, are usually never late and have great attendance. Money may not be the secret to happiness, but working in a customer service industry like food service is very demanding, but can be very rewarding if you are willing to do the job right.

About 5 years ago when I was in between full-time employment in the printing industry, I worked full-time as a server for 2 years. It wasn’t pleasant. It wasn’t the duties of the job that were hard, it was the way the employer treated me (a corporate franchise). Though I was the top earning hourly tipped out server and had $125K a year in sales, not only did my employer not give me a raise, they actually took almost 20% of my tips in a thing they call ‘tip share’. It is a scam that has been getting legal challenges across the country that forces tipped employees to subsidize non-tipped employees (like hosts, bussers and cooks). It saves these companies millions in wages, while killing the morality of their tipped employees who ironically are the front line of customer service for their business. Wouldn’t you want to be paying these people the best instead of robbing them of 20% of their income a year? It goes back to a change in philosophy.

The days where restaurants in Sioux Falls and across the nation can get away with poor pay, virtually no benefits and quite frankly abuse is coming to a close.

My advice is simple to anyone who wants to run a successful restaurant.

• Target your marketing to the customer base you want. Not only are good employees valuable, but so are good customers.

• Treat your employees like you would treat your customers. This one is important. Over the years I have seen good workers with good intentions get thrown under the bus because of a bad customer. In fact I quit my last serving job because of it. I don’t believe in the mantra that the ‘customer is always right’. In fact, 90% of the time, they are completely wrong. When I have been asked what to do with a bad customer, my answer is the same. Apologize to them, thank them for trying your place out, refund their money fully, then ask them to NOT return. I can’t tell you the number of times I have seen good employees get fired because a restaurant owner wants to save a BAD customer. Think about how senseless that is? Not only are bad customers bad for your bottom line, they affect the morality of your employees, and whether you ask them to return or not, they won’t anyway, and they will still talk smack about you either way. Asking them to not return is the smartest move.

• Pay all of your employees well, but also hire quality (experienced) people. I’m not just talking about front of the house, but I am also talking about hosts and dishwashers. Putting your employees on an even keel is the best way to keep peace in an industry known for unrest. There is nothing more frustrating for experienced employees who work their tail off getting paid the same as slackers they always have to carry the water for. Trust me, I believe in the team mentality, but that whole team has to be strong. It’s like links on a chain. Don’t coddle the slackers and reward the hard workers.

• Give customers something they will come back for. This one is very simple, give good service, provide a great product, and have a great ambiance and do it 110% of the time. With the saturation of restaurants in town, let’s face it, their are only so many customers to go around. And if they have one or two bad experiences, they may never return. This goes to how you run your operation. You wouldn’t hire a fisherman to run a battleship and vice versa. I have often joked with people for years, “500 restaurants in Sioux Falls, but not 1 decent place to eat.” Think about that for just a moment. Could you name 4-5 restaurants you have eaten in Sioux Falls where the food and service has been consistent 90% percent of the time? I can’t. And eliminate the price point. If I am going to eat out, price is not a factor, if I get something good in return. Put value in what you are putting out there, that means valuing your employees along with your product.

• Trust your employees. This one is huge. Never take the word of a stranger (your customers) over your employees, unless it is blatant they are lying. We all have bad days, that doesn’t make them bad employees. But there should also be REAL consequences to employees who screw up, which brings me to favoritism and nepotism. I see this all to often in the industry, in Sioux Falls it is like the Black Plague. Treat all of your employees the same while on the clock. There is nothing wrong with management being friends with their employees, but keep your love fest for each other off the clock.

The restaurant industry in Sioux Falls is on the cusp of collapse, I really believe that. My last job certainly proved that. This saturation of bad food and service cannot last and can only be tackled by higher wages to better employees. The industry doesn’t want to admit it, but they know eventually they are going to have to change. Quality people are available to work in the industry in Sioux Falls, I have worked with many of them throughout the years, but with quality people has to come quality wages.

But this isn’t just up to the industry, the legislature and the city council need to make some changes to the laws on the books. Years ago a team of well intentioned restauranteurs made their way to Pierre to change how employees in the industry get paid. Those guys are about ready to retire, and you can probably guess who they are. They have made millions on the backs of their employees by suckering the state legislature over the years. And they have strong allies that need to be persuaded to make changes to, like the Retailers Association and the Chamber of Commerce who are consistently anti-hospitality worker.

Here’s some quick changes that could be made;

• Eliminate the tipped employee minimum wage. It should be identical to all minimum wage earners. A tip should be an ‘extra’ a server or bartender gets for good service, it shouldn’t be 90% of their overall wages. Tips are too volatile.

• Eliminate the ‘tip share’. Allow tipped employees to keep 100% of their tips.

• Pay your front of the house employees the same as the back of the house. Harmony is a good thing.

• Hire more full-time employees, provide them benefits and PTO. A consistent workforce equals a consistent product. Keep hiring low-wage, part-time alcoholic stoners and you reap what you sow. By law, require restaurants to have a certain percentage of their workforce to be full-time.

I know, I have worked in a lot of places, and I can truly admit, not every restaurant runs perfectly. But blatantly ignoring the 700 pound gorilla in the room will only doom the industry in Sioux Falls eventually.

Pay better and hire better employees. It really is that simple.

Posted in: Employment, Food, Sioux Falls, State Legislature

Let’s have a REAL discussion about Enterprise Funds

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“I’m giving it all I got Captain, but I’m afraid the EC won’t be profitable this year.”

Here’s an idea I would like to pitch to DaCola readers; let’s expand the use of enterprise funds.

You are probably asking what the hell I am talking about?

Let’s look at the city’s argument behind using enterprise funds for water and sewer, they feel the ‘users’ should pay for these infrastructure upgrades instead of coming from the 2nd penny (what they are not telling you is that they want to also use the funds to build NEW infrastructure, like Foundation Park, that has little to do with normal maintenance, operations and upgrades.)

It’s not a bad concept, so why not apply it to other entities in Sioux Falls government? Why not pay to play at these facilities also;

• City Golf Courses

• Swimming Pools (especially the indoor pool)

• The Arena, Orpheum, Washington Pavilion and especially the Events Center.

Why not take the fees from users and put that money into a fund that helps pay for maintenance and even debt service? Not only does it make sense, the tax payers would truly see just how valuable our quality of life projects are to us.

In fact, I don’t think the city golf courses have ever lost money, maybe tie all the Parks Department entities that charge fees together (Golf, Swim and Great Bear).

Then at the end of each year, each of the funds could ‘borrow’ or be subsidized by the 2nd penny if they come up short. This would show us a true ‘balance sheet’ and go along with that whole ‘transparency in government’ thingy.

What do you think?

 

Posted in: Public Works, SF City Council, Sioux Falls, Sioux Falls Parks and Rec

Is the Pavilion enjoying a empty sense of security?

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Stu Whitney thinks that Darrin Smith’s new job as President of the Washington Pavilion will be smooth sailing. because gosh darnit folks (since the Pavilion charges for everything now, including the Arts Center) it really has become a place for everyone;

Was the Washington Pavilion truly a building for the masses? And just how much public money would Sioux Falls pour into it? (referring to the rock concert of Collective Soul and the shaking balcony).

This really came down to one thing, poor engineering and design. A few years after the incident and the fix, Arturo Sandoval played the Pavilion, he had every person in that hall dancing on their feet to a sold out show. I looked over at my boss at the time (I was lead usher), Jeff Venekamp and said, “Are you thinking what I am thinking?” He was, if Arturo would have played the great hall before Collective Soul, how would the architects blame Rock & Roll for their bad designs? You know, because Cuban Jazz is hardly the devil 🙂

It wasn’t R & R at fault or even those evil Cubans. Which has been proven throughout the years.

Then there is the ‘funding’.

The annual contribution of about $1.5 million from the city’s entertainment tax – primarily for expenses such as maintenance and utilities – comprises just 20 percent of the Pavilion’s operating budget of $7.5 million, with the city also providing capital improvement funds as needed.

Okay, a little clarity. If you continue to read the article, you will see the Pavilion cost around $32 million to complete instead of the $20 million actually pitched to voters (actually it is over $50 million to date). The entertainment tax mentioned above was also supposed to go bye-bye after the bonds were paid off, you know, those BS sunshine clauses people always talk about. Didn’t happen, they continue to pile that money into the money trap it has become, with constant repairs and subsidies. Like a new roof on the Cinendome, the main roof, and hundreds of other ‘little fixes’ in the building. Their is also the millions from the CIP (2nd penny) for windows and malfunctioning sprinkler systems that ARE NOT part of the $1.5 million subsidy (you know, the reason why are water rates are going up). And of course this little tidbit, that always makes me chuckle, in a very dark way;

But it represents solid progress for the nonprofit Pavilion, which has been in the black six straight years after hitting rock bottom in 2009.

The Pavilion has never been in the black, let me repeat that THE PAVILION HAS NEVER BEEN IN THE BLACK! That’s like saying your lemonade stand made a profit after 3 people actually bought lemonade from you and your grand pappy bought your supplies (lemonade) and stand.

Same goes for the Events Center. A subsidy or a mortgage payment not tied into actual profitability, isn’t profit. No normal business runs that way. The money you take in should cover your expenses, or you are operating in the red. Doesn’t matter how much your uncle Bob gives you to stay afloat. In the real world, the Pavilion would have filed for bankruptcy years ago.

But there is still room for improvement, which makes Darrin’s job cut out for him.

Besides making the Visual Arts Center free again, the first thing President Smith needs to do is stop lying to the public, or at least tell us the truth about finances. Let’s face it, the Pavilion is an unprofitable organization that gets most of it’s funding from people who never use your facility. Invite them in, for FREE every once in awhile. And those elitists that use the place? Make them pay double.

Posted in: Darrin Smith, Sioux Falls, Washington Pavilion

What was that Cotter? 70% on roads?

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As a South DaCola foot soldier points out, Public Works director Mark Cotter may have ‘Mispoke’ recently on the Belfrage Show when he said “70% of the 2nd penny is spent on roads. As ‘Warren’ points out, not so fast;

I was also wondering where cotter got that 70% figure for second penny money for streets. Seemed high considering our debt service for playthings.

From page 8 2015 budget.

Street. 47.6%
Debt service. 28.1%
Culture/Rec. 14.3%
Police/Fire. 5.4%
Info/Tech (indoctrination) 2.2%
And a couple more percent split amongst several other departments

From page 8 2016 budget

Street. 51%
Debt service 26.8%
Culture/Rec. 11.2%
Police /Fire. 4.4%
Info/ Tech. 2%

The city has two reserve funds. The general fund is the city’s primary operating fund. This cover department wages, services, day to day functions. Main sources of revenue are the 1st penny tax and property tax.

The CIP is a plan, by department, that list capital projects related to infrastructure costs. The second penny funds this. Does the above look like the intent of the second penny?

Another note. The water reclamation enterprise fund (piggy bank, courtesy of the bills we pay) has 62.4 million in it. The water department has 39 million.

As Stehly has pointed out correctly, we ARE NOT spending enough of the 2nd penny on roads and infrastructure, and our enterprise funds really are turning into a ‘slush fund’ due to the enormous rate increases. Maybe Mark and Finance Director Tracy Turbak need to have a meeting a get on the same page before blasting councilors elect Stehly and Neitzert for pointing out the truth. One of these days the current administration will figure out that that lying thing will eventually bite you in the ass.

 

Posted in: Public Utilities, Public Works, Sioux Falls, Taxes