l3wis

UPDATE II: Sioux Falls City Council already knows who they will appoint to Cole’s vacant seat

l3wis November 15, 2025 4Comments

UPDATE II: So I was pondering this today; does the city council even have to replace Cole for a six month period? Not at all. Yeah, the charter says blah, blah, blah, but since the council still has forum without Cole they don’t need to replace her for a short period of time. Charter does require the council to appoint someone to fill the role within a month or there will be a special election. I think the council would be wise to change it in the charter that they do NOT need to replace a councilor if there is only 6 months left on a term as long as council has quorum. Quorum is the legal precedent of attendance of voting members at a public meeting. Quorum for the council is 5 members. In other words, 5 members only can show up to a meeting and make decisions for the entire body without the absent members being present. In other words, the council could have 3 members absent for the next 6 months and still legally conduct bizzo. So why throw $10K+ at someone to be a rubber stamper? I hope the nomination is to nominate no one and conduct business as usual. But that would make sense and be less controversial. Oops.

UPDATE: So while the council had an opportunity at the informational and regular city council meeting yesterday to inform the public on how to apply, they decided to wait almost a full day and have a presser. It wasn’t much more helpful. Basically, Council Chair Merkouris said you have to basically kiss the asses of two city councilors to get nominated. Nothing about submitting an application, nothing about that application getting reviewed by council. I never again want to hear ONE single councilor BITCH about constituent participation in government when you play the Chamber Brown Nose Truffle game with this appointment. Do these folks ever look in the mirror?

I know I bring it up a lot, but the city council is very predictable. Watching the meeting tonight was like watching a community theatre play. I have been very speculative of the appointment process for replacing Cole because there has been no public announcement that people can apply to be nominated and appointed. I texted city councilor Barranco a few weeks back about how the appointment process would be handled and he told me that councilor Sigette was handling it, which I find ironic since she also was NOT elected. David also gave me no information on how to apply. I am assuming you would send your nominating petition to Jim David, Council Operations Manager; 605-367-8080. But when Mr. David talked about the item (#21) tonight he never gave an email address or a process of how to submit your nomination and none of the councilors brought it up either. I even texted councilor Barranco after the resolution vote and urged him to inform the public how to apply at the end of the meeting. Crickets. I think it is ironic that a council and mayor that whines about voter participation in elections and running for office gives the public ZERO information on how to be nominated and applying for this position. You can’t complain on one hand that no one participates in local government then turnaround and give the public ZERO information on how to get involved. Are you really that stupid and arrogant? Or more importantly, do you think the public is that stupid? I sometimes wonder what planet these folks are from . . . oh, that’s right, Planet Chamber of Commerce, where the favorite app at the mixer is brown nose truffles.

I encourage EVERYONE even if you are not interested, to apply for this nomination and appointment. Please, flood Mr. David’s voicemail box, because the council will have to answer to that the night of the appointment.

I do make a lot of predictions on this site, you know, my record is so-so, but I have to admit I was astonished that I predicted Cole’s council path almost to the tee. Magic 8-Ball, don’t fail me now!!!!!

I think they will pick Rex Rolfing or Rick Kiley, even though I think Neitzert could also be picked because he would be safe and non-controversial. I actually would look forward to Greg removing his hand from Cole’s back and just taking her seat himself. He was supposed to do a presentation at the informational today about public transit but had to cancel. That tells me he is the favorite to take the spot because he is actively getting involved. This may be a 3 man race, so to speak.

GUNS A BLAZING!

I think my favorite part of the council meeting tonight was public input. At first I was sympathetic to a gentleman that was detained by police for having a LEGAL firearm on him and explaining his situation, but then when he blamed liberals for police training, I just shook my head. I have a feeling the cops ran his plates and found some kind of violation in his past record so they decided to question him. Maybe that is NOT the case, but when you automatically blame liberals for something they have nothing to do with, you already lost you argument. He talked about some lawsuit, so we will see where this Yosemite Sam ordeal goes.

Gun people = Weird

You know, there is a lot of liberal Indy’s like myself who support 2nd Amendment rights, with some regulation, but when you have crazy talk at a public meeting, it just makes me NOT want to support you. I have crazy liberal friends that hunt like mad and have over 20 firearms, but support gun control. Build bridges not shooting ranges.