December 2018
l3wis Minnehaha County Commissioner Barth helped recommend Milstead to D9
After a discussion earlier today, Jeff sent me this;
Scott,
I am writing to let you know that I was among those recommending that Governor-Elect Noem plan to select Rhonda Milstead to replace Deb Peters who is quitting before taking office. I am disappointed that the Party in power continues to use that sleight of hand method to protect their domination in Pierre.
Allow me to say that I know Rhonda. We have rented her restaurant for Democratic events. I have eaten there for lunch with groups of Democrats. And, of course I work with her husband, Mike Milstead, our Minnehaha County Sheriff. She is the best Republican choice for this county and it is my job to do what is best for this county.
We can certainly find fault in things she may have said in the past but as has been said,”Every saint has a past and every sinner has a future.”
Jeff Barth
I think Jeff said it best to me, Noem was going to appoint a Republican anyway, it might as well be a decent one.
‘Innovation’ could fix the Metro situation
I think an ideal situation would be for the city to take over Metro 911 100% and have Minnehaha and Lincoln County to pay a service fee to the city, like other communities do for water and sewer from Sioux Falls.
The first reason why I think the city should take it over is because, well, we have the money. I get so tired of the city saying we don’t have money for transit or 911 but have oodles of money to subsidize play palaces. If we can drop $10 million a year for a mortgage payment on a facility that generates virtually no revenue for the city besides some scraps in sales taxes, we can afford to subsidize 911. Besides, they already get funding from cell phone usage*. Thirdly, I think 911 operators deserve a living wage and the same benefits as other city employees. The rumor is starting pay at Metro is $13 an hour. If this is true, it is unacceptable. These people may not be driving patrol cars or chasing down drug dealers, but they have a very stressful job. If we can’t start them out at least $18 an hour, how can we expect to get good people and keep them? Bring them under the city umbrella and let them have union membership.
*As for the cell phone tax to fund 911, I think the city is missing a great opportunity to fund 911 even better with the use of 5G. Instead of charging the communications companies such a low licensing/lease fee, they should make it much more substantial and put that money towards 911. These companies make MILLIONS in Sioux Falls, have them pony up for public safety. Just look at this language in the licensing agreement;
b. An annual charge of $175 per pole shall be paid each year in advance for use of City light poles for small cell equipment; and
c. Subject to approval of the City Council, the foregoing fees and charges may be decreased or increased from time to time based upon cost studies conducted to determine a reasonable approximation of the objectively reasonable and nondiscriminatory costs incurred by the City that are specifically related to and caused by the application and plan review and for deployment of small cell equipment on City’s streetlights. Such studies, and any fee adjustments will be subject to applicable laws, including, without limitation, applicable FCC rulings and regulations.
Only $175 per year! I pay almost $100 a year just for a tag on my car. The city council needs to explore a different fee structure.
County Gives $50K to Gloryhouse.
The MCC has a confusing conversation about the topic, and it seems only Karsky and Beninga support giving the money, then at the end, they add the money to the supplemental budget and approve it. I am still baffled by it. BUT, they did the right thing. This was a one-time donation for the new building. Ironically, $50K is what the Gloryhouse paid the city for the land. Isn’t it funny how your tax dollars from one entity just gets passed to another entity. The taxpayers are ALWAYS holding the bag.
Hector Curriel’s 2018 Cartoons
Hector is a local cartoonist and artist who has worked on children’s books, taught in schools through residency art programs and his political cartoons are featured in publications across the US and featured in Hispanic American publications.
Sioux Falls City Council Agenda, Jan 2-3, 2019
City Council Informational, 4 PM • Wed/2
Updates on Audit Reports.
There is also a draft of changes to the functions in ordinance to the Audit Committee. I encourage you to read the red notes. There are some significant changes that I’m not sure are GOOD or BAD.
City Council Regular Meeting, 7 PM • Wed/2
Item #7, Approval of Contracts
While it is common practice to hire outside counsel for bonds, I find it a little strange that the city attorney’s office could NOT handle this. Why? The city is taking a loan from the state. Unlike other bonds, this doesn’t involve private investors on the open market. To put it in perspective, it’s like borrowing a five spot from your uncle. A government agency in the state borrowing money from the state. Why would we even want PRIVATE outside counsel involved? Weird.
Item #43, 1st Reading, License agreement for 5G network. Come and talk NOW because we will only get two SMALL opportunities to do so while the Feds and Big Communications run rough shot over us and the city rolls over like a dog for John Thune in all his majesty.
I feel like I’m downloading that cat video so much faster already.
One of the locations of the new cell technology will be by the Events Center. How much ‘business’ is being conducted while people are watching a concert? Funny how we always hear the argument for ‘Economic Development’ yet we both know this is about loading up selfies faster to Instagram. And we know what our mayor thinks about selfies.
Planning Commission Meeting, 6 PM • Thur/3
Consent Agenda, Item ‘C’ has the wrong designation on documents, which is further confusing because item ‘D’ for Sanford is missing documents on a site plan. I see the NEW version of SIRE is not working very well.
Regular Agenda Item ‘B’. Moving forward with the St. Francis House expansion in an established neighborhood.
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