May 31st, 2020 — Audit, Greg Neitzert, SF City Council, Sioux Falls
Have you noticed the blue dotted line between the Operations Committee and the Internal Auditor?
Why is there a dotted line?
Is the Mayor assigning supervisory roles on the City Council?
If Greg is reelected on Tuesday, is he planning to “supervise” the Internal Audit office?
Hmmmmmm.
May 31st, 2020 — Elections, SF City Council, Sioux Falls, Theresa Stehly
In this endorsement of Stehly I could certainly go on and on about her citizen activism and record of getting things done on the council (even if her initiatives don’t garner a single vote) But I won’t, because many know her record. In a recent online poll done by the Argus Leader 40% of the respondents recognized her by seeing an image of her. I’m not sure if I have ever known a city councilor to have that much recognition in Sioux Falls.
Today I want to tell you another side of Stehly that most people never hear much about; She will do ANYTHING for a friend. I could go on and on about her kindness and generosity. She has literally spent thousands of dollars of her own money (not campaign donations) putting out mailers and updates to citizens, because she felt it was the right thing to do. She has tended to the sick and dying spending numerous hours each week visiting people in the hospital and hospice. She probably spends another 20 hours a week responding to citizens questions and needs and is constantly trying to get transparent answers from public officials.
Theresa and I don’t always agree, in fact we have been in a disagreement about how she has been running her campaign, but that is what makes her a good friend. When most people disagree and they blow it off, it means they really don’t care about your point of view OR you personally. When I argue with Theresa (and many of her close friends do) I know it is because she cares about your point of view, which means she cares about you.
She often tells me and the media when she does things for the community, it is because she wants to give them a ‘big hug’.
Theresa may be a bit controversial and outspoken but she certainly isn’t deceptive in her ways, she does those things to bring issues to the forefront.
I bet if I took the time I could find a financial benefit every single councilor has received that has served on the council since the Home Rule Charter started except for Stehly (Brekke, Staggers & Starr). Theresa has never financially benefitted from being a citizen activist or councilor, like I said above, it has actually cost her money.
Theresa does all these things because she loves people and wants to help. That’s it! NO hidden agenda, no backdoor schemes, no financial benefits simply because of her belief in others and having good government.
There is a lot you can say about how Theresa approaches things and it may not be as polished as we would like, but I know as her friend, she does it because she loves us and that love is something that lacks these days in city government, we need 4 more years of her love and support.
Re-Elect my friend Theresa Stehly, there really isn’t another choice.
May 31st, 2020 — Corona Virus, Mayor TenHaken, racism, Sioux Falls
UPDATE: After about 4 hours of a very peaceful protest, the rioting started at the Mall. No surprise when you keep yelling fire in a crowded theater over and over, someone just might light a match. I think if the city would have just told everyone to be safe this probably would not have happened.
I attended the protest yesterday at 41st and Minnesota. Not only was it peaceful and positive, most people were wearing masks and people driving by were honking horns in solidarity. It’s too bad Paul didn’t also come. I was very impressed with how the crowd of around 200 people handled themselves respectfully.
Our mayor seems to have this paranoia about violence against himself or city property. Yet no one has touched him with a 10 foot pole and most of the supposed violent threats have been hyperbole. And besides giving out candy bags, the KKK has NO presence in Sioux Falls. The only people I fear screwing up a peaceful protest in Sioux Falls is those crazy assault weapon freaks showing up with their long arms.
I would even go as far to say that today’s protest will be even more positive and peaceful then yesterday’s. I encourage Paul to attend . . . oh that’s right, city administrative employees are hunkered down in their basements while working(?) on policies that put the rest of back to work and vulnerable to contracting the virus.
Mayor ‘COG’ proves once again the hypocrisy of his office.
May 30th, 2020 — Planning Commission, SF City Council, Sioux Falls
City Council Informational Meeting • 4 PM • June 3
Presentations on Siouxland Library Services and Programming Update, Summer Parks Programming and Youth Sports, and 2021 Legislative Priorities
Regular City Council Meeting • 7 PM • June 3
Item #6, Approval of Contracts, Sub Item #6, Provide Information Technology Insurance Coverage to the City’s Policy. As I understand this item, the city is seeking a policy to protect them from hackers (instead of just putting safeguards in place to protect us from hackers) $83K.
SIDENOTE: I also have heard that the SD Attorney General is giving Sioux Falls the permission to train their own officers. On one hand, this is a good thing (so we can hire more officers faster) but on the other hand, not sure how this training program will be ran. Hopefully we will hear more about this.
Item #38, The Breaks Coffee House (right next to Total Drag and Common Sense) is applying for a Beer and Wine license. This is awesome because adults will be able to have an adult beverage before attending shows at Total Drag.
Planning Commission Meeting • 6 PM • June 4
Item #5B, Children’s Inn is asking for a Rezone to build on the Campus of the School for the Death (where the current track field is)
May 29th, 2020 — Alex Jensen, Elections, SF City Council, Sioux Falls, Theresa Stehly
So there is a lot of talk about transparency as a candidate for city council but little action. While the blog up North wants to rip on Stehly for a tiny donation from a well known Democrat, there has been little mention of Jensen getting endorsements and donations from two well known Democrats, Jack Billion and Scott Heidepreim. I will commend the Count for at least talking about it.
But what is startling is the lack of transparency on his financial report. You spent all this money on ‘advertising’ but didn’t break it down? How much on consulting, meals, TV ads, Social Media, radio, publications, postage, printing, etc.
So why is this? I think he hired the blogger up North to run the whole campaign. So no one knows how much money is being made and where it is being spent.
The way one runs a campaign is comparable to how they will govern. If you can’t even tell us how much you spent on stamps, how can we trust you as an elected leader? We can’t. There is a lot of people running a cottage industry from making money from suckers like Jensen, and the ring leaders are cashing in. I took very little in when running 4 successful campaigns. Why? Because I believed in them and didn’t care about the payola.
And for the record, I have received NO money from the Stehly campaign and the only consulting I had with her was contentious conversations about how she was doing it wrong. That is why I respect Big ‘T’ because I can have disagreements with her and it is water under the bridge. I don’t owe her a damn thing, and she doesn’t owe me.
Jensen is running a ‘big money’ campaign not because he wants to win but because he is lining the pockets of those who are supposed to be helping him. It is pathetic, disgusting and the reason why politics have become so gutter.
While I have my issues with Theresa sometimes, I would NEVER question her intentions, integrity or looking at the bigger picture. Theresa could give ‘two-sh*ts’ about what it takes to win a campaign, she learned from the best of them (Staggers) that it is about human contact and connecting with constituents, you can’t put a price tag on that. That’s why I think she will pull this off. Trust me it will be close, but I know who her supporters are, and they vote. If she loses, oh well, it will only fortify that scheming and scamming is the only strategy that gets BAD candidates elected.
May 29th, 2020 — Elections, Minnehaha County, Sioux Falls
I had to chuckle a little bit about Paul’s concern;
A candidate for State’s Attorney is accusing his competitors of violating residency requirements for living outside of Minnehaha County.
Paul Bengford, an assistant city attorney for the city of Sioux Falls pursuing the county’s top prosecutor’s job, this week took to radio airwaves and reporters’ inboxes calling on two others in the race to suspend their campaigns because they have residences in Lincoln County.
“Crystal Johnson and Daniel Haggar have broken faith with voters by filing petitions falsely claiming each has a primary residence in Minnehaha County,” Bengford said in a news release Wednesday.
UPDATE: First of all, it is completely legal to be a State’s Attorney and live in another ‘adjoining’ county. Marty Jackley served in a county he did not live in. If it is a small county. It doesn’t apply in Minnehaha;
7-16-31. Residency requirements for state’s attorney in counties with low population. In any county with a population of less than five thousand persons, no state’s attorney is disqualified from holding office for failure to be a resident of that county if the state’s attorney is a resident of a county which is contiguous to the county in which the state’s attorney holds such office.
Source: SL 2004, ch 69, § 1.
But the concern really made me chuckle, because Bengford has been an attorney with the City of Sioux Falls for several years and has never said anything about the massive amount of city employees who don’t live in Sioux Falls or pay property taxes here. For example one of the city attorneys lives in Madison, our Fire Chief lives in Canton (he told councilors when he was appointed to the job that SF wasn’t a safe place to raise kids) and our Library Director lives in Minnesota. I think I was told once about a third of the city’s employees don’t live in Sioux Falls. I have often recommended that at least management and directors have a requirement to live in the city they serve, especially someone who works in public safety like our Fire Chief. Many councilors have told me they were not really concerned about it, so no ordinances have been proposed. It is pretty obvious Bengford is just trying to make this into a political football. Remember, Paul was the city attorney who went after Cameraman Bruce for a raspberry bush in his fenced off back yard as a public nuance. Bengford lost that case and many other code enforcement cases. Not only is Paul not qualified to be State’s Attorney, he barely is qualified to be a city attorney.
Vote for Crystal Johnson.
I also chuckled about Daniel Haggar defending his residency. His sister Jenna was rumored to be living out of state with her husband while serving her last year in the legislature. The legislature was asked to investigate the claims, but nothing was ever done about it. She resigned after the session was over.
May 29th, 2020 — Elections, Julian Beaudion, SF City Council, Sioux Falls
“I am impressed with Julian Beaudion’s decade of law enforcement service and his commitment to helping citizens throughout our diverse community. These priorities along with his business experience will make him a perfect addition to the Sioux Falls City Council. With your support, I look forward to serving alongside Julian and making sure every neighborhood is represented on the Council!”
City Council member Janet Brekke is a former small business owner and long-time Sioux Falls City Attorney, serving under five different mayors.
Brekke’s endorsement is significant, given her unique position as a current City Council member and her significant role in shaping Sioux Falls city government over the last few decades! Thank you Janet!
Please remember to vote on Tuesday June 2, 2020. You can vote early by visiting 220 W. 6th St to cast your vote.
Learn more about my campaign, please visit my website atJulianForSiouxFalls.com
May 28th, 2020 — Elections, Greg Neitzert, Julian Beaudion, SF City Council, Sioux Falls
Greg has stabbed a lot of people in the back over the last four years, not only myself who helped him get elected in the first place, laying out his campaign marketing strategy, but many citizens along the way. Let’s look at Greg’s supposed record of leadership.
• Voted for property tax increases all four years on the council. He claims to have been the champion of killing the cable tax hike, but I didn’t have a problem with it because cable is a luxury, affordable housing is not.
• His reversal on the administration building. This was the first time Greg started to show his true colors. The building was not needed, and originally Greg knew this, but apparently someone got him in a dark corner and gave him a titty twister. The taxpayers are also holding the bag on the HVAC replacement.
• Greg slipped out of ethics violations by getting the Ethics Board to play legal tricks with the charter. Greg also has violated ethics by continuing to attack his fellow councilors in private emails (I have seen them-they are nasty and childish) on FB and in public meetings.
• Greg didn’t do an extensive search for an internal auditor though the audit committee asked him to.
• But Greg’s biggest folly is supporting the Bunker Ramp. To this day, he has yet to apologize for the fiasco. He defended the developers, he defended the pricetag, and he defended both mayors on this disastrous project. Anybody who would continue to defend this is NOT fit to lead.
Like I have said before, I don’t know much about his opponent Julian, but I do know as a State Highway Patrolman (recruiter) Julian must always work with the highest level of transparency and integrity, because if he lacked these things, he would have been unemployed years ago. The best part about this choice, is that by NOT voting for Greg, we will actually get someone who is qualified.
May 28th, 2020 — Downtown Sioux Falls, SF City Council, Sioux Falls, TIFs
As we have been hearing through sparse media reports, the project is on hold until 2021. What does this mean? Well, it means if it does rear it’s head next year, and that’s a big if, the project may change. This of course means the TIF would be null and void. I have encouraged councilors to rescind the TIF ASAP and get it off the books until we actually know what is going to happen.
May 28th, 2020 — Mayor TenHaken, Sioux Falls, T.J. Nelson, Uncategorized
As you can see about 10 days ago Mayor ‘COG’ handed another demotion to T.J. Typeover, he removed him from the CVB Bid Board. I asked someone why T.J. still continues to keep his job (and pay scale) when he keeps getting demotions. The answer I got, “Because he is probably running Paul’s gubernatorial campaign on the taxpayer’s dime.” No one has seen T.J. in months either, oh that’s right, like many city managers, directors and pencil pushing administrators he’s been ‘working’ at home.
Argus Leader KELOLAND KDLT Rapid City Journal