Theresa will be talking all things citizens, her Staggers’ endorsement, snowgates and transparency in government. Tune-In.
Joe Snevameetingcrasher wrote a story about the At-Large race tonight;
Theresa Stehly sees her campaign for City Council as part of a David-and-Goliath contest.
“And there’s two Goliaths,†Stehly said.
Well, when it comes to money that is . . . ask De Knudson how that worked out when she lost to Kermit four years ago.
I was told last night that the city council had the votes to kill the proposed city administration building. Joe Snevashamrockness confirms it tonight;
Councilors Karsky, Rex Rolfing, Christine Erickson, Kermit Staggers and Greg Jamison said in interviews this week they won’t support the project — at least not until the city has a chance to look into partnering with county government on a shared building. They plan to postpone or reject a bonding proposal next month.
(I have personally heard that Erpenbach is also opposed, while Kiley and Anderson are still on board).
As council candidate, Greg Neitzert recently said at a candidate forum when it comes to reigning in the mayor, “sometimes you have to say NO!”
Looks like they are learning, too bad it took a few of them to the end of their terms to learn the word.
Theresa Stehly, AT-Large leading council candidate. Theresa will be submitting over 700 nominating petition signatures today at the city clerk’s office.
Tomorrow is the filing deadline for Sioux Falls city council nominating petitions to be a candidate, and it looks like we are going to have a full house, which I expected in the end because of the lack of incumbents.
While I could go on about how we have a ‘nice mix’ of candidates, I really can’t say that. I can pretty much sum it up this way, we have people who know city government well and would have no learning curves going into council, we have people who are good at business, but really don’t understand government that well, we have people that have some self-interest in this race, we have some with conflicts of interest, some that are nice with a big heart, and those that don’t have a freaking clue.
I will give you my early run down of candidates and early support and endorsements. But I recommend to every voter to do your own research and call each candidate and ask them their specific stances on issues like;
Entertainment/recreational spending
Infrastructure spending
City Salaries
City Debt
Fiscal responsibility
Public Safety/Crime rate
Code enforcement
Now let’s review the races;
AT-Large
John Paulson is a former Sanford Executive who is retired and his donor list just in the 1st report is peppered with the who’s who of Sioux Falls. I’m no political genius, but it would be safe to assume that they will throw tons of money at John to beat the other two candidates. Remember, doesn’t always work that way. Knudson spent 6x more then Staggers 4 years ago, and she got clobbered.
Ritch Noble is well established in the local Chamber and a business man. Other then that, I hear he is a great guy. I’m just not confident he knows much about governing. As Huether has shown, a business acumen doesn’t always cut the mustard, it has proven to eliminate transparency and put the city further in dept.
Theresa Stehly is my recommendation for AT-Large. She has ran twice before but was beaten by incumbents. With her name well established with other community activism, Theresa has a clear shot at winning. She will also be a strong advocate of the little guy, she is living proof in the way she lives her own life.
Northeast
Tamera R. Enalls-Fenner is a longtime resident of Sioux Falls and has her own consulting business. Outside of that, there is not much known about her. I did listen to her on John Michael’s FORUM and she seemed willing to talk about the issues, which is refreshing.
Robert Knutson is a part-time employee at Minnehaha County’s juvenile detention center and a private security company. What worries me about Robert is the first two times he tried to run for office, he failed on the simple execution of receiving petitions. I question his sincerity.
Pat Starr is my recommendation for the NE. Pat has worked in politics for years, and has a serious grasp of the issues, like the councilor that is leaving the seat (Kenny Anderson) Pat truly is concerned about his neighbors and takes their concerns at heart.
Southwest
Marshall Selberg is an independent broker for Lloyd Companies. It says the same thing to me as the mayor being the former VP of marketing for First Premier card. Take it for what it is, face value is probably face value.
Manny Steele a self-proclaimed neo-con doesn’t hide his badge. And while I find some of his social stances not my cup of tea, he would be an advocate of fiscal conservatism. But I won’t endorse him. I will give him one up on his opponent though, his experience in the state legislature gives him the advantage of governing on day one.
Northwest
Briggs Warren is a youngster with big ambitions. Good for him. I applaud his efforts to get young people registered to vote and his love of politics at a young age. I hope he keeps at it. Bravo for your participation.
Erin Srstka is a talented and a well-liked candidate. I actually found out about her candidacy through a mutual friend that thinks the world of her. To be honest, it would be tough to say anything bad about Erin. But what sticks in my craw is her conflicts of interest. As a full-time employee of the county administration, a primary caregiver to her disabled husband and a mother (her biggest job) I struggle if Erin has the time to take on a semi-fulltime job as city councilor. I will applaud her for her efforts, and agree we need more women on the city council. But my doubts in her dedication in lue of her other commitments are to strong to endorse her for this seat. I do hope she runs again though for another elected position.
Greg Neitzert is my recommendation for NW. The best and brightest candidate in this race. And I am not just saying this because he is my friend. Greg is considered a citizen advocate expert on zoning in Sioux Falls, and has sat on two citizen zoning committees and currently sits on a zoning board for the city. All volunteer positions. What I like about Greg the most is his readiness to be a city councilor. He reminds me a lot of current councilor Erickson, who has only been in her position for two years and has put forth amazing legislature due to her knowledge of government and tenure on the state legislature. That is also why I support Theresa and Pat. Their years of experience in local and state politics gives them the edge on the council.
For almost 10 years I have watched ineffective councilors like Rolfing and Karsky who don’t accomplish much because they don’t have the knowledge or experience to do the job. This isn’t about how much you want to have a beer with someone, this is about experience and integrity. Look at the resumes and who butters the bread and your decisions will be simple.
I encourage any council candidate to contact me though, and I will post their BIO.
Hi, I’m Briggs Warren, don’t confuse me for my older opponent Greg Neitzert. Even at the ripe age of 18, I’m my own man, heck, and I have been registered to vote longer then our city clerk, who just retired from the military.
Like a lot of SD Democrats (or at least the younger ones) in order to get elected under the ‘D’ symbol, they take ideas from their conservative opponents and somehow twist them into their own values. Huether pulled that crap on Staggers, taking some of Kermit’s best ideas and values and making them into his ‘issues’. (Snowgates, better infrastructure, building an EC without raising taxes). It seems Briggs is pulling the same tricks, not just by duplicating Greg’s website format, but most of his ‘issues’.
Neitzert’s Website (which has been up for several months)
Warren on Transparency; An Informed citizenry is crucial to a democracy and without transparency, we can not have either. That is why one of my top priorities will be to ensure nothing is hidden away behind legal documents unable to be viewed by the very people they concern.
Neitzert on Transparency; Transparency will be a top priority for me. Trust is only gained and preserved with transparency. Secrecy is antithetical to a good government. We cannot ask citizens to pay for city government and tell them they have no right to know what we are doing with their money. We need to strive to avoid arrangements that allow for confidential agreements and settlements whenever possible. We need the council and citizens to be informed as fully and as early as possible.
Warren on Fiscal Policy; At the end of the day, the money used to run this city is your money. Â With the tax money collected, we need to make sure that it’s used responsibly and that we don’t spend more than we have. It’s important to the city’s future that we don’t burden ourselves with unnecessary debt.
Neitzert on Fiscal Policy; I take a conservative approach to fiscal policy. I believe the money you work so hard for is your money. Raising taxes and user fees should be a last resort. As a city, we need to provide vital services and a quality of life that citizens have come to expect. However, we must balance that with being fiscally responsible. When government is entrusted with your money, it must be as careful with it as possible. We must also be very conservative with debt. We need to pay off city debt when we can. We need to be very cautious about taking on new debt. We should always strive to find ways to pay as we go. The first step to getting out of a hole is to stop digging. We need to avoid new debt whenever possible.
Warren on Zoning; Sioux Falls is growing, and that’s great! What’s not great is megastores being built across the street from residential homes. We need to make sure we protect residential homeowners from having their neighborhoods destroyed by commercial development. I believe we can do this while still allowing Sioux Falls to grow and it will be one of my top priorities in office.
Neitzert on Zoning; Zoning is a top priority for me because it is critical – it protects and preserves neighborhoods and the investment citizens have made into their homes and private property. Sioux Falls is a vibrant, growing city. We must encourage growth and redevelopment. However, we must also protect existing uses, neighborhoods, and homes. Protection of existing single family uses must be paramount. That will be my guiding philosophy. Encroachment of commercial development into existing residential neighborhoods is a major concern. Zoning is one of the most important and most common items the City Council addresses.
Warren on Infrastructure; The backbone of any city is its infrastructure. While it may not be exciting to talk about it is the most important part of our city and should be treated as such. The fact is South Dakota weather is tough on our road system; we need to look into ways of extending the usable life of the roads we have and invest in the best materials possible. Other cities have been able to extend their roads during harsh winters and its time for Sioux Falls to follow suit.
Neitzert on Infrastructure; Infrastructure is the most critical and basic of services our city provides. Roads, water, and sewer are core functions of our city. As our city grows, we must continue to expand our road system. In this region, road repair and reconstruction is a constant reality. We need to aggressively fund road maintenance and reconstruction to stay ahead of it. We need to repair roads not only in our main corridors, but in neighborhoods where they have aged and deteriorated.
I think it is great that Warren admires Greg’s conservative approach to city government as a registered Democrat, but instead of running against Greg, maybe he should be volunteering for his campaign?
Tree Trimming and Snowgate History
Weeeeeeee!
Warning!
Code Attorney comes to the city.
The Ugly Table
Probably our Best Rant-A-Bit
The day Pitty-Patt thought he could work a real government job. How does that saying go about screwing up a wet dream?
Part of the reason Staggers lost to Huether, the smear campaign
Dear John . . .
And the mission was accomplished
