South DaCola

Editorial Cartoonist from South Dakota

February 2017

Kyle Schoenfish Mayor High Crimes Mayor Hubris Mayor Subprime Mike Huether Mike Huether State Funding State Legislature

Mayor Huether’s Nephew in Deep with Gear Up scandal

l3wis 17Comments

The apple doesn’t fall too far from the tree.

We’ve talked about Mr. Schoenfish in the past, he has been the mayor’s favorite nephew for quite awhile. Kyle received campaign donations from Uncle Mike when he first ran for the legislature as a Democrat, and after losing that race, he realized putting an ‘R’ behind his name was the winning ticket, Uncle High Crimes slipped him some more money that time to. Ironically, Mike left the Democratic party to, it’s a family thing I guess, when the going gets tough . . . the tough switches parties. I wonder if the ‘R’ behind Kyle’s name will be enough to save him this time?

It looks like he is finally going to see his day in court over being the auditor for Mid Central and Gear Up;

The Co-op, which is now defunct, is pointing fingers at its accounting firm which performed yearly audits for more than a decade.

It’s the accounting firm of a current lawmaker, Kyle Schoenfish. Schoenfish is a Republican representative from Scotland, SD.

It is also no secret that Kyle has been looked at from the beginning on the Gear Up investigation;

We looked at Schoenfish’s audit report on Mid Central from July of 2013 to 2014, right before the South Dakota Legislative audit found problems with GEAR UP.

Schoenfish said, “We identified certain deficiencies in internal control that we consider to be material weaknesses. It did find that over an eight year period “errors and omissions were noted in the annual finance statements prepared by cooperative officials.”   Mid Central promised to be more “accurate and complete” when preparing financial statements.

KELOLAND News tried to reach Kyle Schoenfish Tuesday for comment.  We’ll let you know when we hear back from him.

This isn’t the first time the accounting firm of Schoenfish & Company has been under scrutiny over not catching the misuse of GEAR UP funds.

An independent group of citizens has prepared a list of ten questions it would like lawmaker Kyle Schoenfish to answer and has submitted them to the South Dakota Auditor General.

They specifically ask about discrepancies in Mid Central’s balances and if Schoenfish ever reported them to anyone outside of Mid Central. We’ve posted those ten questions online on this story if you’d like to read them.

Maybe Stormland should be calling MMM, see what he knows? Too bad you couldn’t keep those audits secret like the Events Center siding settlement. I wonder if Uncle Hubris will come to the rescue of his favorite nephew if he is charged and faces jail time? Get Fiddle Faddle on it!

Planning Commission SF City Council Sioux Falls

More bullying by the city

l3wis 9Comments

Don’t want to annex, we will get you another way;

That’s the month their sewer bills will jump from $100 to $235 a month.

The price is connected to unpaid pumping charges incurred by the Prairie Meadows Sanitary District in the area, which has long been a target for city annexation.

The Feb. 16 letter announcing the hike said the money would also cover “engineering and other legal costs” and to create a maintenance fund.

 “It’s just unreal,” said Lance Grasma, who called Argus Leader Media about the letter. “That’s like a car payment.”

Some neighbors see the price hike as a pressure tactic to push annexation, which could cost homeowners in the rural residential island on the city’s western edge tens of thousands of dollars in curb and gutter.

While I can see why the city wants to annex the island, the price tag is way to high. I think they should charge them all $1000 a year for the next 20 years and leave it at that. Anything else, the city should just absorb. If I have to pay a mortgage on a building I will never step foot in so the masses can be entertained by another doofus in a cowboy hat, I certainly don’t have a problem with footing the bill for some curb and gutter.

Elections SF City Council Sioux Falls

You say you want to be a city councilor?

l3wis 2Comments

I’m almost finished. Can you feel it?

South DaCola is looking for a few good men and women to run for city council in 2018. Technically there could be four seats up of grabs. Rolfing and Erpenbach are term limited (At-Large and Central). Kiley is up for re-election for his 2nd term (SE district) and badly needs to be retired. Erickson, who I hope runs again for At-Large, may run for mayor, which leaves her seat open. Either way there are plenty of opportunities. While you have to live in Central District to run for that seat, ANYONE in the city limits can run for Rolfing’s empty At-Large seat.

We are hoping some citizen friendly candidates emerge and we would be willing to help out the campaign in any way possible, especially data for direct mail, graphic design and marketing.

Remember, this is a mayoral election, so there will be a bigger voter turnout (I would estimate between 20-30%). Besides the mayor and four council seats, there will probably be some charter adjustments on the ballot. I suspect the campaign will garner good media reporting.

This will be a transformational time on the council. Not only will there possibly be two new councilors and a mayor, this may be a big changeup in the way things have been done over the past 7 years. It will also hinge on how much money Sioux Falls has coming into the coffers and what our current debt limit will allow us to borrow. The next mayor and council will have some challenges, especially after they open the books. I encourage the next mayor and council to request a full forensic audit of the city over at least the past 4 years to get a clear sense of what Mr. Transparency has been up to.

Hopefully some people from the last election cycle will reappear, like Erin Srstka.

Either way, if you are running or not, it will be a fun one to watch.

 

Developers Development Downtown Sioux Falls SF City Council Sioux Falls

Is another parking ramp downtown being vetted correctly?

l3wis 1Comments

The first thing I can say is that I am grateful the city council killed the funding of the DT parking ramp in last year’s budget hearings. At least now we have a buffer from Veto Vinnie the Mayor before another one can be built.

Besides the fact that Legacy shouldn’t be touching any public projects with a 100 foot crane until a full investigation of the Copper Lounge collapse is completed, there is the bigger question if the proper location is being picked.

Like Washington Square, that got a TIF because they are promising FREE parking on nights and weekends (even though there is a parking ramp right across the street that offers the same thing) some wonder if building another parking ramp across the street from the current one on 10th is a very wise idea.

There is also the question if this should be a sloped parking ramp. As Bender pointed out in his market report last week, we should be focusing on flat parking structures because they can be repurposed if they don’t fill with parking.

There is also the question if parking ramps downtown are really being used at 100% capacity. Recently a South DaCola foot soldier perused them DT on a weekday afternoon and found the upper levels to be almost empty. Remember, the city is relying on a parking study done almost 3 years ago.

The city is once again pushing their idea to the city council during the informational meeting today. Some have suggested that the location of a new ramp should be closer to the Eastbank and something that could compliment the RR relocation project.

If anything, the council needs to kill the current plan, with or without a replacement plan.

 

Developers Development Planning Commission SF City Council Sioux Falls

Citizens get involved with a redevelopment project and everybody has a cow

l3wis 6Comments

It was one of the biggest Public Input involvement the city council has ever seen when the Oakview neighborhood showed up ahead of the approval of the Lacey apartment complex proposed by a local developer.

In fact the movement was so huge it helped to create one of the biggest neighborhood associations in the city (almost 10x the size of other neighborhood associations in the city).

It also prompted the city to try to stomp out the public input by creating benign rules before you can testify at Planning Meetings. They also came after a city councilor for encouraging public engagement with threats of false ethics charges.

The efforts of the neighborhood killed the project. That wasn’t a bad thing. It showed when you get involved with your local government you can make a difference. But the neighborhood is NOT against redevelopment of the area, they just want to be involved with that decision. This is where they are misunderstood.

But it seems some people are not happy the citizens voiced their concerns and got involved;

“Nobody wants to even make an offer because they don’t want to go through what Kelly and Lois went through last year,” said Arlie Brende, the Browns’ attorney who’s helping them navigate the process at City Hall. “It was brutal.”

Last year the Browns had a purchase agreement with Lloyd Companies contingent on it being rezoned for multi-family housing. The developer wanted to build an apartment complex but neighborhood opposition ended up killing the project.

So now we are comparing the public’s involvement with redevelopment a form of brutality. WOW. But Mr. Brende is famous for his quips.

The development community with the help of an anti-citizen planning department has been able to ramrod their wishes down the throats of citizens with out much resistance. The first battle occurred with the Walmart at 85th and Minnesota, and while that neighborhood is still fighting that battle, the residents of Oakview were not having it, and fired the first shots which took the developer by surprise.

Hopefully when the dust clears this time, everyone will be in agreement with the final project. Democracy is messy, but it is supposed to be, we get better government and in this case better development when citizens are involved.

Next Page »

You Missed

Mike Huether South Dakotans

South Dakota Hall of Shame

1st Amendment Elections SF School Board Member SF School District

School Board Candidate Forum on Wednesday

Donita Trump Noem Humor Kristi Noem Political Satire Satire

Noem continues the title of dumbest person on earth

Cartoon Cartoonists Dusty Johnson Political Satire Rounds Satire Thune

No Town Hall Weasels