Entries Tagged 'SF City Council' ↓

“I can’t tell you there’s a flower hanging in front of every business or there’s an event in front of every business,” Downtown Sioux Falls President Dan Statema said. “What I can tell you is that all these things together have an effect on the value of downtown.”

As I reported, DTSF is awash in money from special assessments. And the Gargoyle Leader finally woke up from their two-week sleep and reported on the story today;

A Sioux Falls real estate firm is suing the city over a special assessment collected each year to pay for the operations of Downtown Sioux Falls.

Ronning Cos. calls its $6,500 bill an unconstitutional tax because it receives nothing tangible for paying the organization behind Hot Summer Nights, First Fridays and the Parade of Lights.

While I don’t have a problem with a special assessment for businesses that might gain something from DT entertainment or niceties, I do think it is a little ridiculous to charge a glass shop and apartment building for this stuff and councilor Anderson agrees.

Councilor Kenny Anderson Jr. wasn’t entirely convinced. Businesses such as Glass Pros deserve to have the option of opting out, he said. Anderson was the only councilor to vote against the yearlong contract.

“I wanted to know what services they get for their dollars, and I didn’t get an answer,” he said.

Anderson said he supports downtown improvement but needs to know things are done fairly.

“If we’re going to have a partnership between Downtown Sioux Falls and the city, I would like to make sure things are operating above board,” he said.

There should be an opt-out. Chalk-up another unconstitutional practice by the city and their Home-Rule government.

No surprise that the ED board supports Home Rule and the dictatorship of the mayor when it comes to money transfers;

The fiscal committee plans to bring a recommendation about a proposed ordinance revision to the full council after its September meeting. We’d urge the council to exercise some restraint. It’s simply too early in Huether’s administration to determine whether there’s a legitimate concern about money transfers.

This isn’t about the relationship between Huether and the current council, this is about future mayors and councils. Did we learn anything from the Munson administration? The council should be a check against the mayor’s spending. One person shouldn’t have that kind of power.

I personally think the council should approve most money transfers;

Councilors previously have expressed concern over the control of the five-year Capitol Improvement Plan, which outlines and prioritizes major city projects such as fire stations and pool reconstruction. Councilors take time to review and vote on the plan, but the mayor is free to move projects and money around.

Requiring approval would help protect projects prioritized by the council, councilors say.

Which makes sense? Right?

Huether said he thinks the council could be spending time on other areas. ”I think there’s more critical things the citizens of Sioux Falls want me and the City Council to address than this.”

Like what? Malt beverage licenses? Think about it. What is the point of having a city council if there is no checks and balances against the mayor when money is being spent? They essentially have no purpose. I have often said that city government is 90% fiscal management and 10% legislative management. Huether is going to lose on this one.

(KELO-TV SCREENSHOT)

Not sure if that is what he meant while talking about the city budget, but I like the idea.

Jamison is asking whether that’s the case with this budget. He wants to know if the economy improves next year and sales tax revenues turn around, what the city should do with the extra money.

“Some might think do we really need to keep that money, should we give it back?” Jamison said.

Well, Greg, I think we have been overtaxed for a long time. Maybe instead of rebates, we should just cut taxes. But before we commend Huether for finding $30 million in cuts, we need to look at what he is cutting;

• Non-profits that provide vital services to the city

• Libraries

• Police

• Snow removal

And while he brags about ‘cutting’ these services, he increases general fund spending;

Huether’s proposed $117.7 million in general fund spending is a 0.7 percent increase over the $116.9 million in the 2010 budget after the spending revisions were made.

So what are these cuts you speak of? Especially when you are proposing a cool million for an Events Center plan WE DON’T need since we already have a good one with the Downtown proposal. While I agree we can provide some city services on the cheap why would we cut public safety and libraries first? I believe a 5% across the board cut makes the most sense, then go back and delve into individual cuts. The first place I would start is cutting back on all of these ‘assistant’ directors. Each major department should have ONE director, that’s it. If they can’t handle the job without an assistant, fire them.

If you want to cut essential services for the ‘good people of Sioux Falls’ – Fine, then cut our taxes or pay down our debt, or do both.

His Man Mike is under the impression that combining Smith and Cooper on the same team he has created some kind of powerhouse;

Sioux Falls Mayor Mike Huether said Thursday an organizational change in the Planning and Building Services department is part of his continued efforts to construct what he calls a “powerhouse” of city department leadership.

What the heck is that supposed to mean? More blah, blah, blah, words, words, words. Because if he thinks keeping Cooper on board will help with code enforcement I have some news for him;

“I think one way you improve the process or make code enforcement more simplified is organizationally you improve that structure, and that’s what Kevin and Mike and their teams will work to do,” Huether said.

I think it does need to be simplified, but the due process factor has to also be addressed. As for Cooper helping to the fix the problem, give me a break. He is the problem. He was told back in February of 2009 after an audit that he needed to streamline the process, OVER 18 MONTHS AGO! Councilor Brown referred to his flow-chart of code enforcement as a bad joke. If he hasn’t even made a dent in updating code, what makes you think he is going to fix it now? By keeping the same guard on, you will never fix code enforcement. There needs to be an independent legal review of the ordinances.

It also pains me that every time Mike brings up code enforcement he never mentions ‘due process’ or ‘property rights’ for the citizens. All you are doing is inviting more lawsuits for the city.

There has been a lot of chatter lately that Mayor Mike is planning some more staff changes, but what will they be? While this does not surprise me, I assume they will come after his budget address on July 22.

Here are some possible scenarios;

• Darrin Smith will move to a different position or get a new title.

• Cooper and Rowenhorst will resign after the budget is complete.

• Terri Ellis Schmidt will leave the CVB. (This one is interesting, while the mayor doesn’t have the power to fire Terri he can cut funding. Ellis and Huether are at odds about expanding the CC. And if you don’t play the reindeer games, we know what happens to you.

It will be interesting to see how this all pans out. I may be completely wrong on my predictions, but I GUARANTEE something is happening soon.

But the Gargoyle Leader Editorial board thinks that is unnecessary if the Mayor’s office just ‘communicates’ a little bit;

Perhaps prompted by Huether’s lack of communication, the City Council’s Fiscal Committee now is considering an ordinance that will require some oversight over such money transfers.

City Clerk Debra Owen has suggested having a threshold of a particular percentage or dollar amount that would automatically trigger a City Council vote to approve a transfer by the mayor.

That sounds reasonable, but it might be unnecessary if Huether would take the time to communicate with the council.

Give me a break. We went through this with Munson and we ended up paying someone over $100,000 a year to be his puppet. Enough with the communication bullshit. The mayor’s office SHOULD be talking to the councilors, duh. But this isn’t always the case, that is why we have the council as checks and balances. As a councilor recently said to me, (paraphrasing) “What’s the point of approving the budget if the mayor can change the appropriations the next day?” And they are right. Why even have a city council if they don’t even have control over the purse strings?

It is time the council took the bull by the horns and approved most money transfers. We don’t need more ‘communication’ we need more ‘common sense.’

Can someone fill me in about this latest development that will occur at the July 12th city council meeting? I’m trying to figure out what all of these resolutions mean? Someone fill me in.

I will have to admit, I was a little humbled last night. I sat down for a few cocktails after the SF city council meeting with two city councilors and and city employee. It was amazing to hear about all of the things they are working on behind the scenes (good stuff).

I kind of called the meeting because of my concerns, and instead of bringing my fat bitching beer belly to a council meeting public input, I decided this was a better approach.

We talked about;

• Code Enforcement

• Events Center

• Contract compliance

• Lyon County casino

• Mayoral election

I kind of promised I wouldn’t go into detail, but I will say this, they are working very hard on all of these issues, and trust me, there is turbulence and disagreement, but isn’t that why we pay attention? I can also say that some solutions are around the bend, and some are in lah-lah land.

Mayor Mike lays out his vision for the press

During the informational meeting, Mike had this to say about the media concerning the recent audit of Global Spectrum

“. . . why I think it is important to verify the recommendations is that it will help us manage the press as well, not that we want to tell the Argus Leader, KELO, KSFY or KDLT what to report on but I think it will help the public understand that having this business audited is a good thing, and that’s how they started the process, when I was in business, I wanted my department to be audited, because I wanted them to find recommendations and mistakes prior to the press, or 60 Minutes or some Eide Bailley or whoever will be find it, and in this case I think it got out of hand, and I think the spirit was good and then I think oh my gosh, the sky is falling when in reality it wasn’t . . . “

Mike sure has a skewed view of ‘The fourth estate’ It is their job to report everything; the good, the bad and the ugly. One reason why blogs have gotten so popular is because the MSM isn’t reporting that way anymore. This is also an interesting comment, because this is a guy who has had hissy-fits with several media people for simply reporting the facts about his campaign. The media needs to keep an eye on Mr. Huether, I think he will be a Slippery Pete when it comes to the press.

It also seems that the council doesn’t want him to continue the King Dave practice of money transfers;

Sioux Falls city councilors Tuesday set the stage for the latest battle with the mayor’s office over who controls tax dollars, an ongoing struggle that former mayor Dave Munson’s administration also confronted.

If Huether wants to shift money among projects, he might have to get the City Council’s approval first. Councilors are looking into requiring their authorization on certain money transfers – an action Huether opposes.

Which is interesting, because if Mike wants to be a ‘fiscally prudent’ mayor, wouldn’t he want more checks and balances in place?

“I think it’s a good form of checks and balances, and we are protecting our constituents,” councilor Rex Rolfing said.

It is possible to put a process in place without disrupting our form of government. In Omaha, which has the same form of city charter, I believe, the council has to approve any money transfer over $20,000. While that may make the council meetings last longer, there may be a way to streamline that process.

Brown later said, “It’s like handing a big bag of money to one person, in this case the mayor” and allowing him to spend it on projects of his choosing.

But Huether doesn’t think council approval is necessary.

“City government already moves slow enough because of all the controls that are in place,” he said. “At some point, you’ve got to allow government to work, and you have to trust government to work.”

That is the problem, the council trusted the last mayor on this issue, and where did it get us? $300 million in debt. This isn’t about TRUST anyway, it is about checks and balances and I hope the city council moves forward on this issue.