First, I would say that I support councilor Stehly’s idea to present council legislation to split the Parks Board into districts. Her and I have had this discussion for several years, and it certainly isn’t a new idea that came out of left field;
Sioux Falls City Councilor Theresa Stehly is floating a proposal to bring more geographic diversity to the city’s Parks and Recreation Board.
More than half of the seven-member volunteer board live in southeastern Sioux Falls, which leaves most of the city underrepresented in comparison, Stehly said.
“The founding fathers of our [city] charter thought it was important for the City Council to have district representation, and I think that would hold true for our Park Board,†Stehly said.
I’ll be the first to admit, this isn’t ground breaking legislation, and it certainly isn’t urgent (they will have until 2024 to implement it fully) But it is good government. Puzzling why anyone would oppose it? Right? But let’s listen to the other side’s argument against this;
Ann Nachtigal, one of the four Park Board members who live in the southeast district, said she doesn’t see how geographic diversity would improve the work of the board, which by charter is required to consider all park-related policies before they head to the City Council.
“How is it going to benefit the Park Board?†Nachtigal said. “I think she’s misinformed about what constitutes diversity. The best boards are comprised of individuals with different skills, knowledge, the time they can contribute. There are so many more things that constitute diversity.â€
Not sure how a group of wealthy people mostly from the SE district constitutes ‘diversity’. But either way, this isn’t about the ‘diversity’ of the members, it’s about representing a certain portion of our city, and since the parks are stretched into ALL districts, wouldn’t having a representative in each of those districts make sense?
City Councilor Michelle Erpenbach, who served five years on the Park Board before being elected as the central district representative on the Council, said she won’t support the measure.
If passed, the Park Board would be the only citizen advisory board with membership dictated by districts. She also worries a district requirement could create turf wars among Park Board members.
She said right now board members represent the entire city, but designating members by district could create competition when deciding what parks are going to get a new pool, playgrounds or other upgrades.
“It would be worse,†Erpenbach said.
Unlike other boards like REMSA for example, that look at the entire wellbeing of our city, the Parks Board is in charge of plots of land that are dispersed throughout the city, having a district representative for those parks makes sense.
The ‘turf war’ argument is ridiculous.
Before any new park is approved, the board will have to be in agreement. I see an advantage of having districts because more horse trading will have to take place, which makes for better fiscal decisions. For instance if a board member from the SE district wants something, they are going to have to get all the members on board, this will mean more debate, discussion and scrutiny, which is very healthy in a democratic society. I don’t want a rubberstamp parks board, I want them to look at every decision carefully.
The discussion could go like this, “I see a park in the SE district beneficial to that district, but how does it help the city as a whole?”
I really think Erpenbach opposes this because it is a certain councilor’s idea and not because it is a bad idea. Her anger for Staggers and now Stehly is getting very tiresome.
I really don’t think this is any different than the city council being broken up into districts. It will be nice if all of our districts had equal representation on the board. When it comes to parks in Sioux Falls, it really is a socialist system, and in a system like that you need to require equality, you would get that with board members dispersed throughout our community instead of all hanging out in the Northern part of Lincoln County.
Allowing two consecutive five-year terms is way too long to sit on any City Board.
By Erps logic we should not have councilors based on geographical areas. She is a moron. She opposes any idea thats not made by da mayors crew.