Funny, the only mayoral candidate that won’t talk to me besides law breaking Hartford resident Selberg is Smith, but I find myself commending Smith today on his campaign.
It appears he has taken NO PAC money. BRAVO! That doesn’t mean he won’t in the future, but it appears at this point he is only taking donations from individuals and he has raised A LOT!
So why is PAC money bad? First off, it was illegal until the SCOTUS decided that money was free speech (worst decision they have ever made since it has turned every election into a bidding war instead of a discussion about the issues, it is F’ing disgusting). You also don’t know who is funding the PACS. It basically is rich folks buying an election.
If I was Jamie, in the age of populism I would encourage him to put out a press release celebrating you took NO PAC money and in the same release explain to folks why PAC money is bad. Two of the other leading candidates took almost entirely PAC money, BAD look. Jamison did not file a report because he didn’t collect donations in 2025, and after his performance in Pierre today on sales taxes and data centers I am a bit nervous about his candidacy (and he should be too).
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.
UPDATE: Looks like they only turned in about 5,000 sigs so it looks like the petition drive failed. I truly think if they would have gotten organized a month before the approval they could have had petitions and volunteers ready to start collecting immediately. I am impressed though that a group of unorganized citizens were able to get that many sigs. Keep the petition data, there is a big petition drive coming on the horizon, and you are going to want to be involved.
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They turned in the sigs today, and like I mentioned before they went on the Chaos route. So we have no idea how many valid sigs they have until they are verified by the city clerk. I also suspect the developer will be requesting a copy of the sigs to peruse. I stayed out of this, like I have told peeps, I hate petition drives but thot this one was needed this is why I quietly contacted people before the vote. I also look at this as a learning experience for different advocacy groups in Sioux Falls that worked together, which they did. Folks, it is not left against right, or poor vs. rich this is taking on a tyrannical government. And any government that votes against the interest and well being of it’s citizens is tyrannical. The Data Center rezone was tyrannical.
Just read this comment from King Maker Matt Paulson on Facebook;
Dude, you are on the wrong side of history on this topic. A data center is a single story office building with a bunch of computers in it on racks. You are turning them into a boogeyman for no good reason. Sure, they use a lot of power. That’s why they want to build one next to an Xcel substation with excess power generation capacity and room to expand. Sioux Falls is quickly becoming an anti-business state… If you don’t want anyone from out of state to invest in projects in South Dakota, keep up with B.S. like trying to overturn zoning approvals after they have gone through both planning commission and city council.
The guy who made all of his money from the Rec MJ bizzo in Canada harvesting email addresses is giving us advice on Data Centers. LOL. Hey Matt, we are calling them the Boogeyman because that is what they are. I also like how he justified the approval because two rubber stamp commissions approved this. Hey Paulson, your authoritarian tendencies are showing.
There is a lot of other issues going on behind the scenes that I really don’t want to get into, but don’t be surprised if they have the valid sigs. Next stop, the courtroom. Petition drives are not easy, but you can’t throw in the towel mid match.
Wednesday, January 28 12:00 PM – 7:00 PM The Painted Lady (HQ)
We’re in the home stretch of the Let Sioux Falls Vote petition campaign and need your help with a critical task: validating petition signatures.
What we’re doing: As petition sheets come in, we need volunteers to verify that signatures match voter registration records. You’ll look up voter information on the Secretary of State’s website and confirm addresses and details are accurate. This verification work is essential to ensure our petition has the strongest possible validity rate when we submit to the city.
What you need: Bring your laptop or computer. If you have an extra device you can share, even better. The work is straightforward and we’ll show you exactly what to do.
Why this matters: The city will likely challenge this petition. Every signature we validate correctly strengthens our case and demonstrates that Sioux Falls voters want this on the ballot. We need as many validators as possible to process the incoming sheets efficiently.
Other ways to help: We also need people at the front desk to assist circulators dropping off sheets, notaries for extended coverage, and drive-up team members to help with traffic flow.
Can you give us a few hours tomorrow? This is how we get across the finish line.
Questions? Comment below or stop by.
UPDATE: Love this video of Chris with Jordan. The irony is I disagree with both of them on politics, but they are spot on about the petition drive! Thank YOU! Hey Chris, I need a new bed, can we work something out 🙂
“We’re excited to see people pay attention to what’s happening in Sioux Falls. But I think there was a lot of misinformation there,” said Ryan Spellerberg, a city councilor.
YES! And it all of that misinformation is coming from the city.
Let Sioux Falls Vote will be collecting circulator sheets starting tomorrow with a deadline of Thursday to turn in the petitions. I have no idea how many sigs they have, because they decided to collect signatures in what I call the ‘chaos’ style. Now, this is NOT bad, just chaotic because you are depending on hundreds of volunteers (not paid circulators) to collect the sigs for you and you come in at the end with the booty. If I had to guess, they have the sigs, maybe more, but there is NO way of knowing until Thursday. All that aside, even if they don’t make the mark, this petition drive has united many folks across the political landscape. Dems, Repubs, Indies and all stripes are working together on this. With all the horrible political division going on in this country, it makes me smile that EVERYONE in the community is working on this together, and it is what I envisioned anyway; CITIZENS UNITED AGAINST A CORRUPT CITY GOVERNMENT And even if they get the valid sigs, the city and developer will likely challenge in court; language, active voters, etc. It will be a sh!t show. But let’s pretend for a moment this makes it to the June ballot, the rezone will go down 70/30. And even if the petition drive isn’t successful, it will reveal the true colors of our city government, and that sends the best message.
I also want people to know Sam Scarlata who is organizing the petition drive is also running for At-Large City Council against the incumbent Rich Merkouris. We may not be able to kill the Data Center, but we can kill his council seat! I want Sam to know, there is a grassroots network in this town that will destroy the Matt Paulson money machine, we are going to change city hall in June, and I mean it this time 🙂
Speaking of the Developer Welfare Queens, I was awaiting Jodi’s article defending the grifter class in Sioux Falls with all the Data Center resistance;
Rapid City voters last week made a clear statement about the guardrails they believe should exist around tax increment financing. Without delving too deep, Rapid City also historically has used tax increment financing to fund growth in ways that fundamentally are different from Sioux Falls.
Sioux Falls generally has taken what I would call a conservative approach with structuring TIFs, focusing on some of the most basic qualifying costs allowed under state law: things like site preparation, infrastructure and parking. I can point to numerous downtown redevelopment projects that would not exist at the scale they do or exist at all without this economic development tool. They have done what they were intended to do: driven additional economic activity well beyond the increment in property tax growth they were able to use to support their projects.
This statement is on it’s head. Rapid City has actually used TIFs more, but for smaller infrastructure and housing projects, that is why the Libertyland TIF was so ridiculous to RC voters. Sioux Falls has NOT used them CONSERVATIVELY. Massive tax breaks for parking ramps ($100 MILLION) that mostly residents of the expensive condos use, which drive up our personal property taxes and forces residents across the state to fund our school district with sales tax revenue. In other words when the SF city council gives a TIF (property tax break) the school district has to make up that property tax revenue from state sales tax collection. So when you buy a loaf of bread in Milbank you are funding the tax cut for millionaire condos in Sioux Falls. I know, not fair. At all.
Economic development incentives aren’t giveaways. They’re more like investments.
I would agree 100%. When we use tax dollars to fight a fire, build a road or give us clean drinking water, that is an INVESTMENT, in EVERYONE. When we give that to rich developers that just creates a wealth gap and raises taxes on the rest of us. If anything it is a DI-VESTMENT in our citizens.
Every time I hear a journalist or some other talking head talk about the benefits of TIFs, I ask the same question, ‘What is the benefit to the average tax payer?’ I usually get crickets and the reason there has never been an independent state or city audit of TIFs is because there is NO benefit, and they know it. TIFs are really the emperor with no clothes.
If TIFs really work, why not an audit?
I hope Jodi had a nice dinner from the revenue she made from this article, because you are the only one benefiting from TIFs. Just sayin.’
l3wis 
