South DaCola

Editorial Cartoonist from South Dakota

February 2019

SF City Council Sioux Falls

Sioux Falls City Council Agenda • Feb 12, 2019

l3wis 11Comments

City Council Informational Meeting • 4 PM

The informational meeting is chocked full of great presentations, unfortunately there is NO links to the supporting documents.

• Committee/Commission report; Operations Committee & Municipal League Board of Directors. As we know, the city council continues to make the Operations Committee meetings secret, FOR NO GOOD REASON. Like other City Council Committee meetings, it should be open to the public and video recorded at Carnegie Hall. Often the excuse to keep these meetings silent is because they talk about employee policies. That is a moot argument, because if you are not talking about specific employees and only policy, there is no reason to keep these meetings quiet.

• Long-Range Transportation Plan Upcoming Process

• Consultant agreement for Triage Center

• Elections ordinance (Councilor Brekke). This essentially is about repealing the misguided, unwanted and unneeded election ordinance that now requires a city council candidate get a majority instead of a 34% plurality. This ordinance was not BROKEN, and NO citizen complained that it was. It’s time for the city council to FIX this ordinance that should have NEVER been changed. It will be interesting to see how the council votes on this. I know that Neitzert, Selberg and Erickson refused to sign onto to the repeal when councilor Brekke asked them to. Can’t wait to hear their excuses to keep the anti-voter, and expensive ordinance in place.

City Council Regular Meeting • 7 PM

Item#6, Approval of Contracts;

• $87K to hire a Triage Center Consultant (we need this, but I think if local officials put their heads together they could solve this).

• $300K for roof improvements to SF Stadium. I think this should be deferred until we decide what to do with the stadium. I think it needs to be bulldozed.

• $275K Handout to the SF Development Foundation. The taxpayers of Sioux Falls don’t need to fund this organization anymore. They have plenty of revenue sources. The Development Foundation needs to be funded by those who benefit, the Developers of Sioux Falls.

• $165K to Downtown Sioux Falls. As I understand this, it comes from the DT Bid Tax. But I do have a problem with Downtown becoming Snobville.

Item #12, 1st Reading, Repealing the Majority vote for council candidates.

Item #13, 1st Reading, Wedding Barn Debacle.

Item #14, Resolution, Vacating Elmwood Ave., This is the big party of the night!

More information coming.

1st Amendment 2nd Amendment Media South Dakotans

I’m a credentialed journalist of ONE

l3wis 5Comments

In South Dakota, you can get a badge for almost anything!

As I have stated before, there is no credentialing of journalists in South Dakota. You can certainly belong to the SD Newspaper Association, you can also work for a TV station or newspaper in which you collect a paycheck. You can also have a degree in communications and journalism. But in SD, there is NO organization that will give you credentials.

I find it ironic that a state legislature and governor’s office find it necessary that you have credentials to carry a pen, but you only need a holster to carry a gun.

Their misunderstandings between the 1st & 2nd Amendments are astounding.

Sioux Falls

City of Sioux Falls HR Director blows smoke

l3wis 1Comments

Of course, it is NO surprise that Bill Da’Toole is trying to downplay the corporate like pay structure of city management and directors;

The city says it hires independent consultants every eight to 10 years to make sure it’s recruiting top talent. The city doesn’t want to lose employees to the private sector.

What is NOT mentioned is that those consultants study the wages of the minions in city government (union employees). They do NO studies on director or upper management (non-union) salaries. But somehow Bill tries to tie that study into upper management;

“We’re not Microsoft,” said the city’s human resources director, Bill O’Toole. “We can’t pay at the very top. We’ve gotten very, very practical at how we do this, and we think we do a very good job.”

First off, while the city has many talented employees, trust me, no one in upper management is Microsoft material. Secondly, Microsoft is a private, for profit corporation that in no way runs like a city. So yes Bill, the city isn’t Microsoft, so why are some directors making corporate like executive wages?

He says it isn’t so. Oh really?

So, how do salaries vary over time?

“Every position has a minimum and a maximum,  whether it’s a city director or somebody governed by one of the labor contracts,” said O’Toole.

With good job performance, there are typically nine steps to get from that minimum to that maximum.

“For the first five steps, you’re eligible for a merit increase annually,” said O’Toole. “Between steps five through nine, it’s every 24 months.”

That’s interesting, because many NEW directors get hired at the SAME amount as their predecessor was getting paid when they left the position. It has happened numerous times. When the last city clerk left after around 20 years of service, the new Clerk got her outgoing salary. He isn’t a certified city clerk either.

The city seems to pay their directors like the corporate world; not based on experience, but who you know, not what you know.

Mayor TenHaken Planning Commission SF City Council Sioux Falls

Mayor TenHaken’s office sends out bizarre photo to advocate for the closure of Elmwood Ave.

l3wis 5Comments

You can’t make this stuff up. The mayor’s office sends out the above photo to the city councilors to advocate for the closure of Elmwood Avenue. Saying this;

02-08-19 Update: Mayor Paul TenHaken stated that Erica Beck, Chief of Staff had sent an email to council outlining the administration’s analysis of the street vacation request. The administration supports the vacation, and is not obligated to be neutral. The Crippled Children’s Hospital and School was built in a corn field and predated the neighborhood.

Their argument that they were their first is ridiculous. First off, zoning laws have changed numerous times since the hospital was built. The neighborhood has also changed. The hospital and it’s ownership has changed names at least 4 times since it was built. On top of the that, the current facility plans to sell within 5 years with no idea who will move into the facility (though the rumor is Sanford wants to snatch it up).

While I disagree with some things in our current zoning laws, street closures should NOT occur because someone or some entity with the most money wants it closed. It should be based on what is best for the neighborhood, which is obvious, keeping the street since Elmwood is the only street in that neighborhood that goes all the way through.

But I have an even bigger issue with the Mayor’s office trying to advocate for a private business and influencing the council’s vote before they have the appropriate hearing. This is what happens when your Deputy COS comes from a right-wing partisan-hack background that doesn’t understand how non-partisan, municipal government works. If PTH wants to veto it after the fact, fine, but him and his staff are not acting ethically in this matter, and it’s a damn shame.

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