Sioux Falls City Council Agenda, Dec 18, 2018

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I often tell people it’s the ‘Little Things’ in the meetings that stick out. This week’s meetings are NO exception. The regular council meeting is chocked full of interesting tid-bits.

Council Informational Meeting, 4 PM

Presentations on November Financials, the 85th & I-29 Exchange (That should be interesting). We also get an update on the licensing agreement with Verizon on 5G cells. Read that piece of work, looks as though executives from Verizon wrote this gem; Verizon-agreement

Regular Council Meeting, 7 PM

Item#6, Approval of Contracts

The city is spending $247K on after school programs;

While I think this programming is needed, should it not be the responsibility of the SF School District? I know the CC has argued about this in the past. While I don’t have a problem with my tax dollars funding this, the money should come from my school funding taxes. Not only that, the SFSD is set up to get grant funding for these programs. Instead of paying administrators 6 figures and having private restaurants do fundraisers for FREE and reduced lunches, maybe the SFSD needs to scrape the money together for these programs.

We are spending $40K to ‘foster a servant leadership attitude’

I have NO clue who this is for, but like I have said already, we should be electing leaders, why on earth would be spending taxdollars on ‘leadership training’.

We are paying a the host of the city link show ‘City Scene’ $10K a year;

The consultant, ‘Pinny’ is Michele Wellman who used to work at the Pavilion. She narrates the once a month, 25 minute show for $833 per episode. Even if she did more than speak, like write the show, produce it and edit video (which I doubt) It still is a lot of coin. We have full-time media services people (I believe 3) that can handle this show themselves. Especially if they have time to do crap like this;

There is NO REASON we need to pay a NON city employee to do this show. As a city councilor pointed out to me, she makes HALF of what a city councilor makes in a year, which do a heckuva a lot more than narrate a show. I think the city council needs to request Wellman come before the council on Tuesday night and explain what she does for $833 a month.

Item #24, transfer of a liquor license to Village on the River. I find the last sentence interesting ‘Pending Final Inspections’ from health and FD. I guess that will be in two years when they open the place. So what will they do with the license until than? I guess sit on it like a golden goose egg.

Item #35, Resolution to approve the SFPD Union Contract. I find it interesting they are moving forward with this without the approval from the FOP. I wonder what kind of testimony we will get on this?

Item #37 A RESOLUTION ESTABLISHING THE CITY OF SIOUX FALLS’ LEGISLATIVE PRIORITIES FOR THE 2019 STATE LEGISLATIVE SESSION. (Doc: Legislative-priority)

Besides the fact they keep pushing TIFs with ZERO evidence they produce economic impact, this little gem that got put in without pre-approval from the rest of the council;

My first thought besides WTF? was, what does this have to do with the CC? Isn’t this a State, County or AG issue? As we all know (or maybe we don’t) our new brainiac Attorney General, the Cookie Monster Muppet wants to eliminate presumptive probation. It seems our very partisan Republican Council Chair, Erickson has decided to slip this in at the last minute to help out the new AG. It’s sneaky, slimy, and sloppy all at once. The council would be wise to not get into the Pierre Reindeer games and strike this from their priorities along with TIFs.

Item #38, Appointment of Citizen Board members.

First the good news, Greg Jamison is getting appointed to the BID Tax board. Bravo.

Now the bad news. Mike Begeman, an executive with Sanford, vice president for public affairs, is getting appointed to the Parks Board. While he does live in the NW part of the city instead of the SE side, it is further proof as councilor Stehly has pointed out many times that the Parks Board is an elitist organization of special interests and the wealthy and connected in our community. It’s time to bring back the district ordinance for Parks Board members.

Joint Sioux Falls City Council – Brandon City Council Meeting

Thursday, December 20, 2018 at 6:00 PM

Minerva’s, 301 S. Phillips Ave., Sioux Falls, SD (This is a dinner the city councilors have with each other, each year. Since it is a public meeting, the public can attend).

Posted in: SF City Council, Sioux Falls

UPDATE: Early Voting Starts Monday, March 26 for Municipal Election

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This Monday you can start voting early for the Sioux Falls Municipal Election at the Minnehaha County Auditor’s office. I highly suggest you do. I have voted early for at least the last 5 years. It is very convenient and I have NEVER waited in a line to do so.

While I know who I am voting for in all the races, I know not all of you agree with me. So I’m going to make my suggestions and tell you why I made them.

Mayoral Race

I’m voting for Greg Jamison, but my second choice would be Jolene Loetscher. Let’s face it, no matter how many times you throw the cards down, Jamison is the only one in the race that has the experience to run the city administratively on day one. While Jim and Kenny also have experience, Jim’s ties to Huether are worrisome. Kenny just hasn’t convinced me he is prepared for the job. Where Jolene lacks experience she makes up with passion and compassion. I really like these qualities about Jolene. If she would make the runoff and win mayor she would also do an excellent job, but she would have an enormous learning curve.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WnBzO-VK78Y

Central District

This one has been a tough one for me. I originally supported Zach DeBoer, but more and more I like the working class fiscally conservative values of Thor Bardon. Thor will get my vote. But a vote for Zach or Tom Hurlbert would certainly not be the wrong way to go. I think all three men are very talented and have immense qualities that would make them great city councilors. I know nothing about Scott Bartlett except that he was a teabagger at one time. Scary. Curt Soehl, while being a former firefighter is a great quality, his attachment to Huether and developers in his campaign donor list makes it obvious where his loyalties lie, not with the people. I was also put off about his comments about the media. Love or hate the media, let’s face it, as a city councilor or other elected official you have to be an open book with the media. It is essential to open and transparent government.

At-Large ‘A’

Janet Brekke is the obvious choice in this race, hands down. Janet’s experience as a former city attorney (she created the city attorney’s office) will help the next council be guided through complex contracts. She also has many great ideas on deregulation, code enforcement changes, customer service and strategic and budget planning. John is a nice guy, but he is running the same losing campaign he ran when he lost to Stehly two years ago. In the past two years he hasn’t offered us anything new. While I agree city government should be more positive he offers no solutions. Ritch Whoever is the really winner in this race because he took the high road and decided not to run this time.

At-Large ‘B’

I’ll be honest with you, I would probably be helping Erickson right now get re-elected if it wasn’t for new friendship with the mayor and her votes on the Downtown Parking Ramp. I have had many discussions with Christine when it came to the school start date, free swimming and bus rides for the kids and other citizen friendly programs. Something changed in Christine over the past two years, and it is worrisome. The Downtown Parking ramp wreaks of corruption and she was in on the deal from the beginning, sitting on the RFQ committee that picked Legacy. Nick Weiland will get my vote, and while Nick may have a learning curve, he has a great passion about redeveloping our core and making our city more digitally advanced which will help with customer service and save taxpayers money.

So on Monday, get out and vote!

Posted in: Elections, Greg Jamison, Sioux Falls

‘Crime’ was actually an issue in the last mayoral campaign

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The problem was it was Greg Jamison ONLY vs. Huether and his entire administration, including a police chief who was in denial, then the governor appoints him to the legislature, go figure;

Sioux Falls Police Chief Doug Barthel says the same things that help the city attract positive attention, and a growing population, also attract crime.

“Over that time period we’ve seen our city grow by almost 20,000 people. We just know there’s a certain number of people who are going to want to commit crimes,” Barthel said.

It actually surprises me we are talking about this again 4 years later. But with excuses like ‘population growth’ over the past 4 years, what do you expect?

And without getting to deep into the current mayor ignoring many social issues over the past 8 years, I find it a little ironic that certain candidates are talking about ‘CRIME’ now?

The first issue that must be addressed is the proliferation of drugs and the resulting violent crime in our community.

Last year, I listened to Minnehaha County Sheriff Mike Milstead address a group of businesspeople about this issue. I started taking notes because what I heard caught me off guard.

“I have never been more concerned about the safety of our community than I am today,” he said in June. “The drugs coming in can change our community. People are breaking into your homes and businesses to feed their addiction.”

A little off guard? I love Jodi’s writing and talent, and her extensive resume in journalism. But I guess I’m taken a little off guard that she has just recently become aware of the issue.

There are many candidates talking about crime in the mayor’s race. Like I said, Jamison made it his #1 issue 4 years ago and has been monitoring it since, essentially seeing it deteriorate into what it is today.

So I ask the question of the other candidates (besides Jamison and Loetscher*) what have you done over the past 4 years to help fight crime in our community and state? Run right wing internet companies? Selling motorcycles? Or is this just another campaign issue that we will be talking about in 4 years again? Or will it be too late?

*As we know, Jolene has an outstanding record of fighting domestic abuse, sexual abuse and human trafficking and she did it without holding an elected position.

Posted in: Elections, SFPD, Sioux Falls

Entenman WORSE than Huether, TenHaken just like Huether

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I enjoyed reading Paul TenHaken’s 2026 plan for the city. Would really like to meet the authors, maybe they should be running 🙂

What I’m finding more and more is TenHaken is running on the Huether platform and Entenman is running on Corporate Welfare platform (if you think Huether gave the farm away to developers, you wait).

While Paul’s plan has value, without government leadership skills he would run this city like Huether did. And that’s really scary. Government isn’t a business. It’s time the citizens of this city elect a government leader that offers the highest level of customer service with the best value. That person isn’t Jim or Paul. It’s time to embrace our citizens over the next 8 years, business will do just fine on it’s own.

Memory Lane with Huether

Wow. You would think Mike had only a few days left in his administration when listening to his interview this morning on Belfrage. We have 3 months left of listening to this guy patting himself on the back. Puke.

He reveals some interesting things. He compares himself to Janklow, which I agree is appropriate. Stepping all over the little guy to get things done while mysteriously making himself a multi-millionaire working in public service most of his life.

He also claims he doesn’t talk to a couple of councilors (Starr and Stehly) because they don’t accomplish anything. It’s his way of saying they stand up to him and his corrupt deals. Sometimes putting on the brakes accomplishes more than tying the citizens to bad deals. He goes on to saying he only needs 4 votes to accomplish things. Sad really. Or brags about vetoes.

Than he goes on to throw all the mayoral candidates under the bus (because he was so great, you know) especially Greg Jamison. C’mon Mike, you are not running for office, stay out it. Please.

 

Posted in: Elections, Jim Entenman, Mayor Almost Done, Mayor Grump Toad, Mayor High Crimes, Mayor Hubris, Mayor Pants on Fire, Mayor Subprime Mike Huether, Mike Huether, Paul Ten Haken, SF City Council, Sioux Falls

Sioux Falls City Council MUST repeal Downtown Parking Ramp contract

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Councilor Stehly announced yesterday that she is offering a repeal of the DT parking ramp at the January 2, 2018 council meeting.

The council, ALL of them, need to vote for this repeal. It simply is the right thing to do. The council only needs 6 votes to stop a VETO.

The contract should have not been approved to begin with. We already knew about the OSHA fines levied against Mr. Hultgren. We had a dubious 80 year lease, and the 4-6 million in ‘soft costs’ the city’s taxpayers have to pay for. As former councilor Greg Jamison recently said on the Good Ship Lalley Pop show, it’s a great deal for the developer, not so good for the taxpayers. This is a prime piece of DT property, it should come with a prime price that is beneficial to the city. I truly believe we can find another developer with integrity to partner with.

As we have learned over the past week or so, there is now a criminal investigation into Mr. Hultgren, his defunct construction company and Legacy. There was also an environmental fine levied against Hultgren that was never paid because they said they didn’t have the money. The council probably didn’t know this information before the vote but they know now.

So why didn’t the administration tell them? They knew about the landfill fines they also had to have known about the Federal Criminal Investigation that was filed in November. On Wednesday Mayor Huether told Belfrage on his radio show that the city had to turn over videos to the investigators.

Why didn’t the administration tell the council about the fines and investigation?

Why didn’t the developer tell the council about the possible litigation? Seems a little sneaky to me.

What I find ironic is that if Hultgren and Legacy can’t even pay a $20K fine, how do they expect to get $30 million in investors? Also, who would invest with someone who is facing serious criminal charges with possible Federal prison time? You would have to be completely bonkers or incredibly f’ing stupid to invest with these people.

I also find it a little ironic that the council didn’t ask for testimony from the developers at the initial vote of this project. In fact besides Stehly offering amendments, NO councilor discussed the pros or cons of this project that night. This same council will debate for 45 minutes about a church electronic sign, chew out C-Store owners over alcohol stings and pursue limiting malt beverage sales in poor neighborhoods, but doing business with a possible criminal who can’t even pay it’s fines gets passed without any debate or discussion.

Pathetic.

The council will now have the chance to take this all back and redeem themselves. I hope ALL eight of them do a lot of soul searching over the holiday season and come to a proper conclusion - Stopping the project – there really isn’t any other options at this point.

Posted in: Developers, Development, Downtown Sioux Falls, SF City Council, Sioux Falls