South DaCola

Editorial Cartoonist from South Dakota

February 2018

Republicans SF City Council Sioux Falls State Legislature Theresa Stehly

Councilor Stehly; Leave the Initiative process alone

l3wis 3Comments

Theresa sent a fantastic letter to the editor to the Argus;

This is a letter to my dear Republican friends who are serving in the South Dakota legislature:

Please leave the initiated measure process alone. Having led two successful petition drives in Sioux Falls, I can tell you first hand that it is a huge undertaking for a grass roots campaign. It is working just fine the way it is. It is a valuable tool that the citizens can use to inject their voices into the process. It also serves as a “checks and balance” mechanism against bad legislation. To think that just because we are elected, that we make the best decisions at all times is arrogant, elitist and an abuse of power. This multifaceted effort to stifle citizen involvement and strengthen the agenda of the “power machine” in Pierre is an assault on the good people of this state.

The energy coming out of Pierre this year is very concerning to me and to many of the good citizens of South Dakota. Please leave the initiated petitioning process alone.

Mayor Almost Done Mayor Grump Toad Mayor High Crimes Mayor Hubris Mayor Pants on Fire Mayor Subprime Mike Huether Mike Huether SF City Council Sioux Falls

Re-Finance ‘Word Games’ with Huether and crew (Guest Post – Danielson)

l3wis 1Comments

The absurd actions of Mikey the other night are great theater.

The wonderful things about moving the SIRE videos over to YouTube is our ability to catch action and text normally missed. I wasn’t able to be at the meeting but sure heard a lot about it so I went to the YouTube machine at www.siouxfall.org and pulled a transcript. Here are some morsels starting at the moment:

(1:13:01 – Scott Ehrisman) “This, I guess we’re just going to go all the way to the end – may 15th no transparency all the way to the end keep the game consistent” (1:13:02)

(Mike starts a 24 second staring contest with the audience)

(It appears Councilor Erickson tries to break the silence with a quiet) “Mr. Chair” (Mike does not acknowledge her)

(1:13:26 – Mike then continues:) “Tracy, I, ah know you’re chopping at the bit and so am I, is there anybody else in the audience who wanted to speak to this particular item before I turn it over to the council” (1:13:33)

Councilors Erickson, Stehly and Kiley speak and then this;

(1:22:59 – while Kiley is speaking) “push the whole transaction back by far and”

(Mike injects) “Council Chair, if you don’t… my apologies sir, my apologies to you sir you, Tracy if you would just repeat that one more time I, I, councilors if you would have, just beg you to listen to councilor, to Tracy, thank you is keep it simple as much as you can thank you”

(Tracy restarts his explanation…)

Notice Mike tells Tracy to take it real slow and easy on the ignorant councilors by making sure the message is in simple terms?

A couple of thoughts about this exchange:

1. Why did the mayor inject anything at all while he still held the gavel? If he is such a stickler for Robert’s Rules he should have given it up so he could speak out of term.

2. Are our councilors so dumb the mayor has to tell his Director to speak slowly and in simpler words to make it more understandable. How insulting.

3. Why did no one call a POINT OF ORDER to stop him?

My count as of today show we only have 9 more meetings with him in charge then its to let the door hit yah where the good Lord split yah.

Elections SF City Council Sioux Falls

Highlights from Sioux Falls City Council Candidate Forum

l3wis 0Comments

I attended the Forum today at NOON hosted by the Multi-Housing Association. Hope to have video up by tomorrow.

While I think most of the candidates did very well with the short time they had, I think Janet Brekke crushed it. She had quick, simple, intelligent answers to BIG problems. My biggest disappointments were with Kiley and Paulson who really didn’t address anything but boiler plate topics.

Here are some highlights;

Janet Brekke, At-Large A

Not a property owner but did formerly own a restaurant in Sioux Falls.

ISSUES: Council needs to set policy WITH public and mayor, NOT just the mayor. Too many regulations on the books that need to be repealed. Wants to study them. Council needs to set up Long Range Policy Strategies, community policing programs, embrace diversity, and cleaner neighborhoods.

Rick Kiley, SE District, no challengers

Does not own investment property.

ISSUES: Public Safety, Affordable Housing, Streets.

Clara Hart, At-Large A

Owns one Duplex rental unit.

ISSUES: Need to address the low wage culture in Sioux Falls to help with affordable housing. Better public trust in law enforcement, affordable housing for the working poor, better public transit system that serves ALL.

John Paulson, At-Large A

Does not own investment property.

ISSUES: Better leadership.

Christine Erickson, At-Large B

Owns several short-term rental properties, Air B-N-B

ISSUES: Should have a fiscal impact statement with new proposed regs/permits. Focus on public safety and drug prevention programs.

Thor Bardon, Central District

Owns home, rents to roommates.

ISSUES: Councilors should cite reasons they vote for or against an ordinance. (Tax) incentive program for maintaining investment properties or homes. Better ethics and city planning.

Tom Hurlbert, Central District

Owns several investment properties.

ISSUES: 1st and 2nd readings of ordinances are too late for the public to have input, should be done in advance. Should be a test or trial period on new permitting. We should elect an Architect (like himself) to council who understands building and zoning issues. Better council communication with public.

Peter Pischke, At-Large B

Does not own investment property.

ISSUES: Public input is messy, but worth it. CityLink is useless, needs to be re-formatted. Wants a more ethical city government. Thanked Stehly for working towards better ethics.

Zach DeBoer, Central District

Owns Gallery, rents studio space

ISSUES: Incremental Development, focus on smaller developers, proposed smaller mini-TIFs. Better city planning and infrastructure.

Curt Soehl, Central District

Used to own a rental, got rid of it because renters are a pain.

ISSUES: More public input during planning process. City Board meetings should be more open (ironically why we have been pushing to have them recorded, give CityLink a purpose). Focus on public safety and jobs.

Nick Weiland, At-Large B

Owns Parker’s restaurant with Family.

ISSUES: Need to embrace technology more to help public in all facets of city government, upgrade CityLink. Better wages and better jobs.

SF City Council Sioux Falls

Is Sioux Falls City Hall, Finance and Attorney offices trying to pull a fast one on the council and public?

l3wis 0Comments

There was supposed to be a city council discussion next Tuesday about how to spend or not to spend $3.3 Million in surplus, but it seems the city attorney’s office with help of council leadership and fianance is looking to put it towards the bond refinance instead;

From: Bengford, Paul (City Attorney)

Mayor Huether and City Council,

On February 13, 2018, the City Council adopted Ordinance Number 12-18 that authorizes the issuance of Sales Tax Revenue Refunding Bonds.  The ordinance allows, but does not require, the use of unobligated available cash in the Sales Tax Fund to reduce the amount of new bonds issued.  I told you at the City Council Meeting on Tuesday, February 13, 2018, that the City Attorney’s Office would internally discuss how to get the issue of how much, if any, of the unobligated available cash to be utilized to reduce the amount of the bonds issued to be presented at the February 20, 2018 City Council Meeting.  The attached Resolution has been sponsored by Councilors Erickson and Kiley for purposes of discussion.  The resolution indicates that $3.3 million in unobligated cash funds would be utilized to reduce the amount of new bonds issued.  The maximum amount was placed in the Resolution to allow the City Council and public to know the maximum amount that could be potentially utilized to reduce the debt.  The City Council is free to utilize the resolution or amend the amount downward.  The City Council decision can be anywhere from $0 to $3.3 Million depending on what the City Council believes to be in the best interests of the City.

Thank you for your consideration of this issue.

While they can amend the resolution at the regular council meeting, it seems they are jumping the gun by proposing the resolution to begin with. They should have had an open discussion FIRST about how to spend it, than write a resolution on the expenditure instead of farting around with a sloppy piece of legislation that they would have to amend.

Like the run-off resolution for council races, the council seems to like to negotiate on the fly instead of having a public discussion.

Once again, secret, secret, secret, RAMROD. Three months left of this CRAP.

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