It is that time of the year, time to check the city salaries. I will do comparisons to the year before, but before I do that, I wanted to address something Chief Thum said on Belfrage yesterday. He said the city had 308 sworn officers. If you check the salary data and you count ALL officers like sergeants I counted almost the same amount (I counted about 10 less). But what surprised me is all the security officers that work for the force, over 30, they label them as ‘protective services’.
But I wanted to compare some data with Minneapolis. They currently have about 600 sworn officers (their target is 900).
So in Sioux Falls there is ONE officer for every 730 residents in MPLS it is 715. If they were able to make their quota it would be 476 residents per officer.
Minneapolis is 59 square miles, 10 officers per square mile.
Sioux Falls is 84 square miles, 3.7 officers per square mile.
I was just surprised by how close our numbers are with the cities except for the mileage. I do hear from people in the SE part of town they don’t see many neighborhood patrols. We do have county enforcement from two counties in the city so that helps.
Zach DeBoer Announces Campaign for Sioux Falls City Council – Central District
Artist, educator, and community advocate launches campaign focused on safer streets, stronger neighborhoods, and fiscally responsible growth. Sioux Falls, SD — February 3, 2026 — Zach DeBoer, a longtime community advocate, artist, and educator, announced today that he is running for the Sioux Falls City Council representing the Central District. DeBoer is known for his hands-on work strengthening neighborhoods, improving street safety, and advancing public art across Sioux Falls. DeBoer has worked as a placemaking consultant with communities across South Dakota, partnering with residents to design safer streets, revitalize public spaces, and build local pride. He has also served on the city’s Visual Arts Commission as well as multiple neighborhood and historical boards. DeBoer is currently an elementary school art teacher and has worked in education in Sioux Falls for over a decade, teaching students from kindergarten through college. He credits the classroom with shaping his leadership style—listening carefully, meeting people where they are, solving problems creatively, and making sure no one gets left behind. “Good teaching and good leadership aren’t that different,” DeBoer said. “You show up, you listen, and you build something that works for everyone.” As an artist and educator, DeBoer has been a driving force behind citywide public art efforts, including murals, cultural initiatives, and the adoption of the Sioux Falls city flag—now a widely embraced symbol of local pride. “Central Sioux Falls is the heart of our city,” DeBoer said. “Our neighborhoods should be safe, vibrant, and welcoming, and city government should stay focused on practical solutions that improve everyday life. I’m running because our community deserves a council member who listens, who shows up, and who isn’t afraid to speak up and fight for the people they represent.” A central focus of DeBoer’s campaign is stronger neighborhoods and safer streets. He has been a leading advocate for traffic calming, safer routes around schools, and people-focused street design. His work has helped champion projects such as bike lanes, crosswalks, bump-outs, and neighborhood beautification initiatives. He has also helped schools and neighborhoods implement high-impact safety improvements through low-cost, community-led projects. DeBoer is also calling for fiscally responsible, smarter growth. Rather than chasing expensive, shiny mega-projects, he believes Sioux Falls should be focused on maintaining existing infrastructure, reinvesting in established neighborhoods, revitalizing underutilized spaces, and managing growth responsibly so taxpayers aren’t left paying the price later. “We should be careful and thoughtful with public dollars,” DeBoer said. “Fixing what we already have and investing in proven ideas is often the smartest and most responsible choice.”
DeBoer also emphasized his commitment to transparent, community-driven leadership, saying residents deserve honest communication, leaders who ask tough questions, and decision-makers who genuinely listen to public input. “I don’t have ties to PACs or special interests,” DeBoer said. “I’m not another rubber stamper. I’ll listen to residents, push back when something doesn’t add up, and fight for what’s right for our community.” If elected, DeBoer plans to focus on: • Safer streets that protect children, seniors, pedestrians, and cyclists • Neighborhood revitalization that supports small businesses and strengthens community identity • Smart, fiscally responsible growth that prioritizes reinvestment over sprawl and megaprojects • Transparent, responsive government that treats residents as true partners DeBoer previously ran for City Council in 2018, winning the initial election before narrowly losing in the runoff by less than three percent of the vote. His campaign helped inspire new civic engagement, particularly among young voters, and led to meaningful changes even without holding office – including the official adoption of the Sioux Falls city flag. DeBoer has lived in the All Saints Neighborhood for the past ten years with his wife, Molly O’Connor, and their seven-year-old daughter, Lucy. The election for the Central District seat will be held on June 2, 2026. For more information, visit ZachForCityCouncil.com
NOTE: There is also an Engineer running for SE District. Don’t know much about her, but I can’t recall us ever having a civil engineer on the City Council. I think it would be a great addition and someone who can question planning with big decisions.
Thank you to the people of Sioux Falls in braving the wind, snow and blinding cold to help 5,012 citizens to together to send a message to our city government. We may not have been able to get the needed signatures to prevail on this immediate issue, we are sending a message. The Let Sioux Falls Vote petition brought much of our great city together like it hasn’t in many years. We just couldn’t fight the Dakota winter to collect what was necessary. We, as voters and citizens in Sioux Falls, have much to do in the next few months to preserve out personal and property rights. We must stay active and involved to protect our futures from being damaged by higher utility rates and increased tax burdens due to this and maybe other monster data centers. It’s not likely an out of state-owned data center will care about our needs. They are moving here for their profits; this is not for solid financial community growth. As the media is reporting the lack of enough petition signers to take it to a public vote, I feel it is important to take time to say thank you. The voter’s overwhelming response is heartwarming. The drive showed we can work together on a common issue. Our volunteers are from so many different backgrounds, with so many views on other issues, feeling or being told they are too divided to work together. The volunteers proved the naysayers wrong. Dozens of fellow citizens fought brutal winter weather to be a part of something bigger than anyone one person. This was amazing. We weren’t fighting amongst each-other; we were fighting together for the same thing. The out-pouring of unity was not only in Sioux Falls, but brought our Brandon, Valley Springs, Lennox, Harrisburg, and more neighbors to see there is much more to fight for, together. On behalf of Let Sioux Falls Vote, thank you, seriously. It does not go unnoticed. We will keep the fires burning. We are proud of the volunteer’s valiant efforts to be part of the process reforming Sioux Falls for the better. Thank you again for everything everybody put into this effort. We are not alone. We are not done.
Samantha Scarlata
NOTE: Sam is running for the AT-Large City council seat against Rich Merkouris. Please support her! He is the only incumbent running in the next city election and he needs to be eliminated. His homeless task force was a complete disaster. Numbers actually went up! They did spend money, mostly on marketing. Not sure how a billboard houses anyone?
as Merkouris notes, the timing is right before a change in administration with a mayoral and council election coming in June
“Now is a natural time to establish some new policies or patterns that we want to put in place,” he said.
Rich, if you were paying any attention 4 years ago when you were installed, you would notice a lot of the changes you are promoting were in place back then, not all, but a good portion. So I ask the question, If you knew these things were broken, why not fix them 4 years ago? Or better yet, not spend $1 million to make our city website worse. As I said, all of this nickel and diming is pointless on transparency. The next mayor and council need to put a open government commission together that recommends REAL LASTING changes in ordinance that another mayor and council can’t just ignore without legal consequences.
Over 20 years ago I had high hopes we could turn things around in Sioux Falls for local artists, especially visual and musicians. After participating in several local and regional juried shows, different galleries and businesses in Sioux Falls and even starting a large art group, I realized that individual artists in Sioux Falls will never get the support of the city, ever, and that tradition continues.
Today at the City Council Informational meeting a consultant provided their report on arts programming and the city. This study has been done numerous times over the past 20 years. The city pays for it (we do) and they take the recommendations and throw them away, throw a bunch of money at a large arts org, like the Washington Bazillion, and tell them to handle it.
This is exactly what will happen here. I keep telling yah the city is predictable, and on this one, they will go down the same freaking path. Make it look like you are doing something by hiring a consultant, present the plan, throw out recommendations that actually work, and throw a bunch of money at an org that will just blow the grant on salaries while providing little to the local artists.
In my opinion, government and development need to stay out of the arts, you don’t help us anyway, and you are just wasting tax dollars on consultant plans you will never engage.
I wonder if the library has a special room where they store all the art consultant reports the city has wiped their asses with? Because, our city clerk, whose job title is ‘City Archivist’ doesn’t have any city records, he sends you to other departments. So what does a city archivist do all day if they are not keeping track of the records. And who is keeping track of records if you are not? Weird.
GET ME ON THE TELLY!
So at the city council meeting tonight 2 members were doing it telephonic while council chair Ditchy Richy Murkeywaters was running the meeting. While councilor Barranco has been out sick due to emergency surgery, he has been following the meetings telephonically (though his phone must have been broke the night they approved the Data Center 🙂 So tonight it was David and Vernon. Unbelievable. Just appointed to serve a few months and he is already calling in meetings. Hey, David has been there for almost 4 years and had major surgery, what’s your excuse? Must have been busy filling tea bags or something.
It was also funny, because they had the phones on a 1 minute delay (yeah, that is how genius our media department is) and they had such a time figuring it out they had to take a recess for several minutes, then when they returned, the audio wasn’t working for several minutes. Open government? LOL. They first have to figure out how to tie their shoes and turn on a light switch. You know, I would be willing to volunteer with my Amazon $28 dollar livestream setup and film the meetings for you and stream them on YouTube so people can actually see it uninterrupted. What a circus.
Hey, we all have one. Someone told me once, Tom Arnold, I don’t see it. But I have always thot our Mayor looks like Alexander Skargard. He was the guest on SNL last night, and this skit was the best.
l3wis 