January 2018

South Dakota, the land of opportunity and awesome wages – NOT

So Puerto Rico got devastated by a hurricane last year, and jobs are sparse for its residents (who are American citizens). No worries, Huron to the rescue;

By some counts, nearly 2,000 Puerto Ricans were leaving every day, and in that exodus, some mainland U.S. companies were starting to see an opportunity of their own — a new answer in their ever-evolving struggle to find workers who would perform lower-rung American jobs.

And if you think things were bad in Puerto Rico, welcome to poverty wages in SD;

Luque told them about the work — that it was repetitive, physical, “not always pretty.” He told them about the wages — $10.00 per hour, jumping soon after to $12 or $13. He said the company would fly them to South Dakota and slowly deduct the flight costs out of their paychecks.

They need workers so bad they can’t even pay for the flight cost. Funny how everyone in Pierre stands around with their fingers in their butts wondering why sales tax revenue is down, it’s simple math, if people don’t have money, they don’t spend money.

McKennan Park Big House goes Bye-Bye

I kind of figured this was going to get interesting;

The South Dakota Supreme Court says the owners of a controversial house in McKennan Park will have to rebuild their home to comply with historical standards.

In their decision, the state Supreme Court wrote: “This is a difficult case. Both parties presented compelling cases, and substantial harm will befall whichever party does not prevail. But the historic regulations apply to Sapienzas’ home, the circuit court clearly balanced the relative hardships, and it applied the required factors for injunctive relief.”

So I talked to a couple people who knew people that were close to the case so I could get some perspective (I read the 21 page decision, and was pretty confused). So here is the gist;

The fireplace setback was thrown out, because there was conflicting setbacks.

10 Feet will have to removed from the top of the house to come into compliance, but it seems the footprint is OK.

A historical façade (which was a part of the original plan) will have to be added to house to come into compliance.

The city will not be sued, simply because, as I understand it, the Sapienzas missed the filing deadline, and the SDSC ruled against suing the city.

I’m thinking since it will be very difficult to cut ten feet off the roof, and all the embarrassment from this ordeal, I’m betting the house gets sold on auction to someone who might want to move it, or salvage it before getting torn down.

As I understand it, the Sapienzas cashed in their Country Club membership recently and plan to move back to Philly. Not sure if this is true, but whether they stay or leave, hopefully they learned that East Coast Elitism doesn’t fly in our town.

Siding Report to come this week?

Looks like there was a delay;

An independent firm, Simpson Gumpertz & Heger Inc., conducted their field observations of the Denny Sanford PREMIER Center siding on December 12 and 13, 2017, and is working to complete the building enclosure report. The City of Sioux Falls has asked Simpson Gumpertz & Heger Inc. to complete the report this week if possible. The City also requested the completed report be sent simultaneously to Purchasing Manager Scott Rust and City Clerk Tom Greco.

I’m glad to see the city council will get the report at the same time as the administration, but I am wondering if Public Works has already seen a DRAFT report and that is why there may have been a delay? As we all know consultants, especially ones that work for our city, many times, give a draft report for review and recommendations. It’s goes to my point that when the city pays some consultant for a report, they sometimes want a specific result(s). Not saying this is happening here, but it HAS happened in the past on water rate reports (recommended increases) and the indoor pool study (recommended Spellerberg park).

Mayor Mike Huether and Director of Public Works Mark Cotter will host a news conference to formally announce the results as soon as possible after receipt of the building enclosure report. City Council Leadership will also be invited to participate in the news conference.

Council should not be ‘invited’ they should be having their own press conference about this, as I have said, this is THEIR report, not the administrations.

In October 2017, the City of Sioux Falls issued a request for proposals for an independent review of the Denny Sanford PREMIER Center’s IMETCO CF-12 exterior metal wall panel system for functionality and structural soundness. In addition to a review of the exterior metal wall panel system, the consultant also reviewed the air and moisture barrier system behind the metal wall panel system. Simpson Gumpertz & Heger Inc., a Chicago-based company with extensive knowledge and experience in building enclosure systems, was chosen to complete the review.

It will be interesting to read this report and it’s findings.

UPDATE: Minnehaha County Commission continues to deny Barth a chairmanship

Not sure if Jeff has fought to be chair or not, but it seems a bit odd that as long as he has been there they won’t give him a chair position. They had their chair election yesterday and re-appointed Heiberger as Chair (she was chair before Beninga) and Bender as Vice-Chair.

Unlike the city council, the commission is a partisan position, and since Jeff isn’t a part of the majority party on the commission, I believe they continue to deny him a chair position. Sad really, since he has the most experience.

Barth also voted against using the Argus Leader as the official designated paper for the county in Sioux Falls. State law really doesn’t give them much of a choice on the matter, but it was a good protest vote. Barth has been critical of the paper for not covering county business very well. While I will agree to some extent, I will say it again, the meetings are at a very bad time, they need to be moved to after 5 PM.

UPDATE: I’m awaiting to see the actual meeting (apparently it takes two days, again, to see the video) but I guess Barth also chastised the city for not telling the county about the asbestos dumping since the county gives permission to the city to use the landfill.