South DaCola

Editorial Cartoonist from South Dakota

August 2018

SF City Council Sioux Falls Taxes TIFs

Anti-Citizen (Municipal) League continues to lobby against our best interests

l3wis 1Comments

The taxpayer funded legislative lobbyist Muni-League decided to rear their head again with the city council’s supposed ‘legislative’ priorities (Item #15). But some councilors weren’t buying it. Stehly had an issue with TIFs, some wondered how the county’s priorities got mixed in with it, and councilor Brekke was curious when they even talked about it.

The rumor going around is that a couple of councilors met with Minnehaha County Chair, Heiberger and cooked this up with the help of the Muni-League.

And let’s talk about them. We pay them to lobby for higher taxes (they continually try to sucker the legislature into letting cities raise an extra penny tax for ‘special projects’ with a sunset clause. NO taxes ever ‘sunset’. Once implemented, they are there forever. Look at the 3rd penny entertainment tax in SF for paying off Pavilion bonds. That tax was supposed to sunset after the bonds were paid off. That was 4-5 years ago. Still exists. They also support TIF’s which are nothing more than a tax rebate/welfare program for developers. Most times they have little to NO economic impact except raising property taxes on the rest of us.

It’s time the city cuts ties with the Muni-League. The Sioux Falls city council already has a legislative director/operations manager that makes close to $100K a year. The council praises his hard work, and he is very capable of lobbying for the city. As taxpayers we don’t need to pay another lobbyist to lobby against our interests.

SF City Council Sioux Falls

Sioux Falls City Council engages in a ‘Healthy Debate’

l3wis 5Comments

I have to say it was refreshing to watch the city council tonight (from my comfortable stool position at Club David). They engaged in a very respectful debate about the agenda items, while challenging the city directors.

I have to say that it has been over a decade since I have seen this. I really believe that the former administration stifled this debate by cutting off several councilors and calling on his army of ‘rubber stampers’ to shame other councilors into ‘going along’ while praising city management.

While many have told me they are disappointed in the lack of engagement by the current mayor and chair of the meetings, I would say I quietly applaud Mayor TenHaken for letting the city council conduct their business without his interference or the interference of city directors. He is doing the right thing by ‘chairing’ the meeting and NOT ‘dictating’ it.

Some might argue it may be his lack of experience, and that may be true, but I also think he knows that this is ‘their’ time and NOT his.

While I have my disagreements with some of the things said tonight or decisions made, I really think that the sausage making was done the way it is supposed to be done. The legislative branch (the council) hashing this out without the influence of the mayor’s office or a department.

Bravo to ALL eight of you tonight for keeping it real, and conducting city business in such a concerning and passionate form. Let us not let history repeat itself moving forward in this new term.

Sioux Falls

CITI used us and moved on

l3wis 4Comments

Bravo to the Local Union for calling out CITI;

Kooper Caraway, Sioux Falls AFL-CIO President says Citi isn’t answering any of the questions, as to where these jobs are being transferred.

“Basically what we want is the attention of the South Dakota congressional delegation, we want them to support and sign on to legislation that speaks to limit big banks and big cooperations to send American jobs and particularly South Dakota jobs overseas,” he said.

They made their money here. They got a huge Federal bailout. And now they are leaving. Billy Bob Janks cooked up this scheme years ago and there was nothing holding their feet to the fire.

Mayor TenHaken Sioux Falls

UPDATE: Mayor TenHaken announces NEW City Attorney

l3wis 6Comments

UPDATE: Well, I was half right, he is younger. As for the military experience, I’m not sure how this serves us as a municipality.

Mayor Paul TenHaken is pleased to announce the appointment of Stacy Kooistra as City Attorney for the City of Sioux Falls.

A native of Rock Valley, Iowa, Kooistra graduated from the University of Sioux Falls with a Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology, earned a Master of Science degree in International Relations (MSIR) from Troy University, and obtained his Juris Doctorate from the University of South Dakota. He is currently a partner at Myers Billion Law Firm in Sioux Falls. Since 1996, Kooistra has honorably served his country as a member of the armed forces including the U.S. Army and South Dakota Army National Guard. In 2007, Lt Col Kooistra began his service as a Judge Advocate General Officer for the 114th Fighter Wing, South Dakota Air National Guard based in Sioux Falls, where he currently serves as the 114th Fighter Wing Staff Judge Advocate. Kooistra and his wife Anna have four children—Isabel, Oscar, Owen, and Emmett.

“Stacy’s strengths as a leader, general practice attorney, and military officer make him an excellent choice for the City Attorney’s role,” said Mayor Paul TenHaken. “Sioux Falls is fortunate to have Stacy bring his talents to the City. He will be an incredible asset for myself and the City Council as we navigate the opportunities and challenges of a growing city.”

“I consider it a great honor and solemn responsibility to be appointed by Mayor TenHaken as the next Sioux Falls City Attorney,” said Kooistra. “I want to thank Mayor TenHaken for his trust and confidence and I look forward to meeting with the members of the City Council for their consideration. The prospect of serving on behalf of this dynamic City is truly humbling and genuinely exciting.”

The City Attorney serves as the attorney for the City, serving both the administration and the City Council. The Attorney’s Office oversees the Human Relations, ADA, Risk Management, the Ethics Board, and Charter Revision Commission. It also provides legal support services to all City departments.

Kooistra’s appointment requires the advice and consent of the City Council. That resolution will be presented to the Council on August 21, 2018.

The rumor going around city hall is that Paul will announce his pick for the new city attorney tomorrow. I guess the executive session is for the city council to ask the candidate questions. As I understand it, while a couple of the city councilors get to help the mayor in selecting the new attorney, it is purely up to the mayor to select who he wants to. The city council does approve the decision through a public vote.

While there are a lot of names being tossed around, I wouldn’t have a clue of who he would pick. But my educated guess it is someone who is young with a poli-sci background and probably a woman.

We will see I guess

Code Enforcement Sioux Falls

City’s Code Enforcement Office has highest per capita of geniuses in city hall

l3wis 0Comments

After it was recently decided that Mr. Bendo ‘could’ still hold an unusually small pipe in his hand by the city’s code enforcement office, something else came to realization,

“We just thought, WOW, another decision that had to be overturned by the code enforcement office. They really are the smartest people working in city government,” commented Bill Da’Tool, HR Director.

Unlike the Public Works department that must depend on engineering numbers and science or the IT department that has to depend on complicated software coding, it seems the code enforcement office is content with just pulling rules and regulations right out of their asses, than over turning the decisions later, either based on how the wind is blowing that day or by direction of the SD Supreme Court who has consistently found them to be unconstitutional.

Da’Tool continues, “Of course, second place for geniuses was the traffic control department. Even with millions of dollars in camera equipment, software and plush new offices, they still make you sit at a light for 5 minutes with no cars coming in either direction.”

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