Sioux Falls City Council Agenda • March 5, 2019
l3wis Presentations on city 2018 financials, Avera will come and talk about their core institutional growth (about 10 years to late), The new sculptures for 2019 will be presented by SculptureWalk (you can view them now in SIRE) and the Falls Overlook Cafe’ management agreement (that is pretty much a done deal). You can view the contract under the Parks Board Agenda-2/20.
Fiscal Committee, 5:30 (after informational meeting)
POET is proposing using renewable fuels in city vehicles.
Regular City Council Meeting, 7 PM
Item #7, Approval of Contracts, Midwest engineering is receiving $40K to design a new wall that could probably be fixed for the same amount. Interesting tidbit, the engineer working on this ‘Robbie’ used to work in the city engineering department. This item also appears on the agenda (Item #23) with NO supporting documents, they must be hidden with the ‘no mow’ lists.
The Pavilion is asking for the East retaining wall to be rebuilt. I have heard that since the Pavilion opened they were having trouble with the foundation on the North and Northeast corner of the building. I wonder if we will ever be told what is going on? An eyewitness told me a few years back before the sculpture garden was built that they were pouring tons of yards of concrete in the middle of winter along the North Wall outside the Everist Gallery. Wish I had pictures. The Pavilion is also asking for a ‘Cornice Study‘. Maybe they are considering getting rid of all the corners in the building?
I’m also wondering why the city spends $12K+ a year on mowing around their own facilities (water and light)? Are the parks department lawn mowers not good enough?
We also have a $75K outside counsel agreement with Woods an Fuller for waste water agreement. It seems the more city council asks about outside attorney fees, the more the prices go up.
Item#13, apparently I-29 Brick had to file a lien against the city to get paid for work done to the Admin building. I wonder if the brick was ‘dented’?
Item#34, 1st Reading, Ordinance. Apparently there is going to be a ‘hospitality’ deck at the Levitt sponsored by Howalt + McDowell Insurance. It’s unclear from reading the contract if this will be only for private use for the events under a rental agreement, or just open to the public. Like most things in this town, we have to snob-up a publicly owned venue with a place for the ‘special people’ to look down on the rest of us. This is why I have argued that it should be BYOB at Levitt, even if it is in a designated area. I guess the Levitt is getting less FREE by the day. Within a couple of years they will probably be charging a fee if you are without shoes or not wearing a shirt.
Item#36, 1st reading, Some councilors are asking for the citizens to vote on the plurality rule on the school board election ballot on Tuesday, May 21, 2019. Estimates are it will cost the city around $20K to participate in the election. While that isn’t chump change, it is way cheaper then council runoff elections. It would cost us nothing if the other 4 councilors and mayor would pull their heads out of their butts and just change it back on a simple vote.
