Tonight at the City Council meeting Councilor Starr offered a a simple amendment to the $1 Million dollar gift to the Community Foundation (specifically the $750K from the general fund). He wanted the city to have the ability to audit the rental assistance program after it was completed.
A fair amendment that was actually suggested by Councilor Neitzert just minutes before the amendment was proposed. Greg basically said he discussed it with the internal auditor and thought it was a good idea (he of course didn’t know Starr wanted it in writing and quickly melted with the rest of the RS5 after proposed).
Even the CEO of the Helpline Center, the ones processing the applications for rental assistance and in charge of dispersing the money (starting this week) agreed they would let the city look at the program and dispersements in a spreadsheet. (this was also before the amendment was proposed).
But since Pat is part of the Right Way 3, the RS5 has a fit. I thought Councilor Soehl was going to pop a vein in his head he was so pissed that Pat dared to suggest transparency with taxpayer funds.
Why? They hate transparency, because the public would get to see who greases the palms of the RS5.
Heck, when Soehl questioned City Attorney Stacy Kooistra, Stacy couldn’t even figure out if this was a contract or a supplemental appropriation, but gosh darn it, he was pretty darn sure it was the job of the ‘administration’ to negotiate the contract or whatever it is. So sure that Mayor Selfie handed the gavel over to chair Marshall Selberg so he could look like a powerful leader who had a pout fest earlier today because the State Legislature wouldn’t give him the authority to close businesses (than Noem later said he has that authority thru the city’s health department) but Pauly is scared some of his buddies might sue. Please Paul, take off the trucker hat and Converse All-Stars and put on your big boy pants.
It got even better when Councilor Ricky Lee Kiley accused Councilor Starr of aligning himself with folks who are ‘critics of the Community Foundation’. Who are these mysterious folks he speaks of? I think the rental assistance program is a good idea, and I happen to agree with Pat that it should be transparent. You know Ricky Lee, if you were talking about a certain blogger, you can use my name, just make sure you mention my URL also, because if you are going to insult me, at least give me some free advertising. Maybe I’ll volunteer to print you some flyers for your next violin concerto.
But Theresa had the last word when Soehl said we needed to get this done ASAP and worry about the auditing later. She mentioned that we have heard this before and reminded them of the colossal mistake, the Bunker Ramp. You could have heard a pin drop.
Once again, it’s ramrod, ramrod, ramrod than worry about the hurried mistakes and secrets later. Pathetic.
The RS5 are like the guys who hung around Biff Tannen, or evoke a butt kissing self-righteousness like a Lumpy Rutherford.
For those of you too young to recognize these movie/tv characters, well, let me just say the comparisons are not flattering.
Is anyone else tired of the shenanigans of these 5? What a group of two faced hypocrites. Hopefully, this will be balanced out at next election. If not this year, we look forward to 2022.
He runs this about like getting the bars and food places to close what a Joke.And his followers will do what is told.
The Mayor is a lightweight who will receive an aggressive, fully funded challenge in two years because of his completely inept handling of this crisis. He will be held accountable, guaranteed.
I don’t blame him, Noem or Trump for this happening, but I do blame them for being totally unprepared. But this is what happens when you have closed government, greedy, fake Christians run the show. Utterly failure. I’m hoping like they are we dodge a bullet, but I doubt it.
Kiley “accused Councilor Starr of aligning himself with folks who are ‘critics of the Community Foundation’.”
LOL! So Kiley consumes your blog (to apply the words of former Argus Leader publisher Randell Beck).
Take that as a compliment, lad!
As the days have passed and I have listened to Press Conferences and City Council meetings, I’ve been trying to think of what best describes Kristi Noem, Paul Ten Haken and HIS lawyer, City Attorney Stacy Kooistra.
Andy has it right: All Lightweights.
Thirty-three States have ‘Shelter-In-Place’ orders. South Dakota and specifically Sioux Falls do not.
Stacy Kooistra is doing no favors for Sioux Falls residents with the legal advice he has given ten haken….
Kooistra is afraid of his own shadow!!!
“‘Community Foundation’ sounds like a slush fund that allows ‘them’ to keep wages down, if you ask me”….
“How will I get my Lasagna with this lockdown everyone wants”
“Say ‘Garfield,’ be careful”…. “Some people around here don’t like quotation marks”…. 😉
Many citizens live week to week. Stehly’s right, they need immediate aid. If the city doesn’t get something going, there will be crime. 3 hots and a cot is worth robbing a casino for. There’s more guns than people. This is serious. If congress can approve $1200 in days the city can do so as well. Tenner must accept that the governor is a woman and succumb that the state has more power. If an election could happen this month we’d show how unhappy we are with several councilors.
There’s an HBO documentary “Kill Chain: The Cyber War on America’s Electionsâ€. There are 3 manufacturers of election machines. All can be manipulated with a few lines of code. Do we need elections if the results are predetermined? Instead, how about a People’s PAC that buys city leaders for 6 figures or a few rolls of toilet paper.
“People who talk in 3rd person imaginary characters need medication”
I would be SHOCKED if we DON’T find abuse by landlords with this program.
I’d be willing to bet Babinski is already scamming for assistance on units which are vacant.
“‘Bart,’ you need some quotations unless you are the real Bart.”
I have to agree with Scott on the matter of Curt Soehl and Rick Kiley. I even sent Curt an Email telling him how wrong he was, and that he acted immature and like a child. I may do the same with Mr Kiley as well. But I will never a response from any of them. I am so tired of Rick and Curt acting like ‘pot heads’ and you can tell in Rick’s voice on the speaker that he is wanting to lash out. These two must go ASAP. I cant take anymore of their ‘immature’ behaviors. If we could just remove those two off the council and replace them with decent conservative reps – we have a good council. In fact if we, should downgrade the Council to 5 Districts – 4 Small Districts and 1 At Large District. Should not have an even # anyways, you need an odd number in order to break ties, as it is today, the mayor can break the tie.
if we need to change the charter, I would keep the Strong Mayor form of government, but remove 3 council seats…then we could place the power in the hands of the people, and be able to break ties without the Mayor.
– Mike Zitterich