Happy New Year! Before we get into the agenda I wanted to alert readers that there are a couple of issues I am working on that the TenHaken administration is ‘trying’ to keep away from public view, I will keep you updated once I get more information.

City Council Informational • 4 PM

Covid 19 Update from the health department

Regular meeting • 6 PM

Item #6 Approval of Contracts;

Sub Item #1, Planning and Housing, Offer to Purchase Real Estate; Gaukler Enterprises, Inc. – Closing costs, $226K. Some city hall moles told me that this is one to watch. I guess the city is purchasing this land for a supposed future Homeless Veteran’s shelter. Now I’m not sure if we are just buying the land and gifting it to the VA to build and maintain the shelter or if the city is planning on paying for the structure and maintaining it. Would have been nice to get an informational on this from the Planning/Housing department, oh I forgot, this administration HATES transparency.

Sub Item #13, another $19k towards the kitchen remodel at the Central Fire Station. With all the money being spent on this kitchen they may be able to make it into a new soup kitchen downtown.

Sub Items #20 Agreement to Provide Funding to assist LifeScape in providing transportation for their clients, $201k & #29, Provide partial funding to assist Dakotabilities in providing transportation for their clients, $400k+. It often surprises me when the city whines about how much public transit is draining the tax rolls than turns around and spends over $600K to assist private non-profits. While I do think the city should provide these rides there should be reimbursement through the Federal government. If there is, that needs to be explained to taxpayers.

Sub Item #21, Rail Yard Development – BNSF Occupancy Permit; Agreement
for temporary occupancy, $4,781. After giving millions away for land that wasn’t worth more than a couple of million to this entity (and that Federal taxpayers probably already owned) BNSF has the nerve to charge us a rental fee for using some of their supposed land. Unbelievable. Who was the rocket scientist with the city that negotiated this deal?

Sub Item #33, Provide operation services for the downtown SculptureWalk Program, $32,500. While I support funding to SW, I’m wondering what they spent last year’s supplement on? As you may or may not know is SW was suspended and no new sculptures (or very few) were brought in. Maybe with the pandemic the city should forgo this supplement this year.

Sub Item #34, City Website Consulting Services, Consultant will perform all work to City Website including production of all materials, products and modifications. RoundedCube, $1,700 per month. I’m curious why we need to hire a company that is based in St. Louis, MO to do this, especially when there are many very capable companies in Sioux Falls. The bigger question is why isn’t the city’s own IT department maintaining the site? I also think the city website is a POS and has been for a long time. It’s a navigation hell hole and getting data is a crap shoot. If I were the mayor tomorrow, I would revamp the site and I would get it done in 90 days. Ironically when I looked up RoundedCube yesterday the website was working, but it seems the company we hired to maintain our website can’t maintain their own site, this was the message I got today when I went there;

Items #33-34, The Bonus Round Bar on Cliff & Downtown will be putting in Video Lottery terminals. I guess while the Cliff location will mostly be a VL casino the DT location will still keep all the other pinball machines and games with the VL terminals. While I am not a fan of telephone booth casinos, at least I will be able to walk a block again to get a tasty micro-brew, I’ll just have to wear ear plugs 🙂

Item #38, the use of the unobligated fund balance of $100,000 for the 2021 health budget is authorized to fund a public health education campaign to encourage preventative measures to mitigate the spread of COVID-19. While we continue to throw money at our Covid Tourism campaign we are counter reacting to it by throwing more money on how to keep yourself safe from contracting Covid. Oh the pathetic irony.

Item #43, 2nd Reading, AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF SIOUX FALLS, SD, REZONING PORTION OF PROPERTY LOCATED AT SOUTHWEST OF W. 22ND ST. AND S. ELLIS RD. FROM THE O OFFICE DISTRICT TO THE LW LIVE/WORK DISTRICT, NO. 13281 2020, AND AMENDING THE OFFICIAL ZONING MAP OF THE CITY OF SIOUX FALLS. It will be interesting to see how many residents show up to debate this move Tuesday night.

Item #46, 1st Reading,  AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF SIOUX FALLS, SD, APPROVING TERMINATION OF THE RAILROAD SWITCH TRACK EASEMENT. I’ve read the supporting documents of this ordinance and it is about as clear as mud. It involves the downtown properties owned by Gourley and Sioux Steel. It seems like it has something to do with a rail track that isn’t used anymore.

Item #50, A RESOLUTION REMOVING UNCOLLECTIBLE, DELINQUENT ACCOUNTS FROM THE RECORDS. If you look at the supporting documents you will see 2 of the accounts were considered ‘confidential’. I’m not even sure if that is even legal. If the city, a public entity funded by taxpayers is writing off debt they need to make it public. The county commission does this every week. I’m still not sure if anyone competent is running the city attorney’s office. I still think my idea of terminating all the city attorneys and just hiring a para legal and a purchasing agent to run the department may be the best way to go.

Planning Commission Meeting • 6 PM • Wed Jan 6

Item #2C, we have another situation where we are changing a office zoned area to residential. Ironically the place is surrounded by office zoning. I think we are going to see a lot of this since the pandemic.

Item #7, Election of officers

9 Thoughts on “Sioux Falls City Council Agenda, Jan 5, 2021

  1. D@ily Spin on January 2, 2021 at 3:10 pm said:

    The city can’t sue or be sued per Judicial Ordinance wording. Don’t pay the RR. Fines mean nothing. Citizens know not to pay. Write offs are what can’t be collected.
    The city hires a NB company to mow but Parks has 70 employees. Now they award web site service to MO despite having IT and/or using a local contractor. There’s not the budget this year to be buying land. The VA can and does assist Vets. Get the city involved and assistance will be inferior. Take care of your homeless instead. This council powwow is INCLUSIVEly ridiculous.

  2. Mike Lee Zitterich on January 2, 2021 at 9:37 pm said:

    Scott,

    A few weeks ago the city said they did not have money to fix the tut-hill house that probally costs $250,000 at most. Whike that is public property the city is attempting to pass it off in the private sector to fund raise..

    All of a sudden they have $100,000 for marketing Covid when we have a mask ordinance and resolution that promises we will ad a business community promote and encourage CDC policies Safe Sioux Falls.

    Plus there is a private group called “UNMASK THEBTRUTH – HEALTHY AMERICAN SD trying to organize and promote this privately. CHECK THEN OUT ON FACRBOOK. I URGED them to come Tuesday to discuss their plans.

    That $100,000 should go to MATCHING FUNDS to repair Tut Hill House which we promised the family in 1950.

    I have lobbied 4 councilors and the Mayor to vote no on the Covid dollars.

    I am also working on a privste concept to AUDIT the Motor Vehicle Funds the city gets every quarter. They seem to hide the cash under “MISC-REVENUE”. Keep you posted.

    – Mike Zitterich

  3. Mike Lee Zitterich on January 2, 2021 at 9:41 pm said:

    Forgot to mention – the SFBS Railroad Company may actually hold the Land Patent for that land in the east bank. If that’s true- lawfully they can charge rent to anyone whom wishes to use their land. We should research that…

    That property been in their control since 1902. Has it ever been ceded to the State … thus giving up the patent rights?

    – Mike Zitterich

  4. The Guy From Guernsey on January 3, 2021 at 9:33 am said:

    A new resraurant proposed in the Taupeville Stadium District!
    A full sevice bar and grill (with the obligatory “supplemental” video lottery).
    But, Third Base Bar and Grill?!?!
    Since there is no baseball field, nor softball diamond on the USF stadium property, I can only assume “third base” is a metaphor for something else. Do high school kids still use baseball references in scaling the “progress of the runner”?

  5. The Guy From Guernsey on January 3, 2021 at 9:44 am said:

    … or is Third Base Bar and Grilll a harbinger that independent league baseball* will be placed in the Taupeville Stadium District, stol… err “appropriated” from DTSF and the Sanford Sports Complex?

    * I think Major League Baseball has nearly completed the musical chairs resortment of affiliated minor league baseball. Sioux Falls will not likely have a seat.

  6. The Guy From Guernsey on January 3, 2021 at 10:25 am said:

    Is the property referenced for the homeless veterans project located on Western Ave, adjacent to Axtell Middle School?
    Also, sincerely hope the amount of the transaction includes purchase AND closing costs? This land parcel on Western Ave has assessed valuations of $280.5k.

  7. As I understand it that the closing costs and price is included in that number, but I don’t know for sure. I also don’t know the location. This is why the CC should have gotten an informational about this land purchase. I asked one of them about it, and they know as much as I do. Hopefully it gets pulled for an explanation.

  8. The Guy From Guernsey on January 3, 2021 at 2:04 pm said:

    ‘Confidential’? One of the parties granted ‘Confidential’ status by the City was not anonymous nor confidential when the property was placed into mortgage default and sold at the Sheriff’s auction.

    BTW, are the business reporters in this town so busy chronicling the weekly list of highest value residential real estate sale transactions that a $31 million bank default and subsequent sale at Sheriff’s Auction wouldn’t warrant some ink/pixels/bytes?

  9. Mike Lee Zitterich on January 4, 2021 at 12:23 am said:

    Kind of out of site out of mind, if you go to Tuesday nights “agenda: under Communications, the Mayor is putting in a Change ORder in the amount of $141,000 in relation to COVID-19 to cover expenses of Shelter Operations. The Money is to be directed to the Bishop Dudley House.

    Communications > Agenda Item #6 > Claim # 30

    This is in relation to Executive Order 218 (20-4283)

    30 Planning &
    DevelopmentHousing
    NA Provide eligible costs for
    COVID-19 related expenses for
    shelter operations
    Executive order 218
    20-4283
    Bishop Dudley
    Hospitality
    House
    $141,000.00

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