Michelle Erpenbach

Michelle Erpenbach SF City Council Sioux Falls

We ‘MUST’ obey who?

l3wis October 26, 2014 8Comments

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2KXD1_EEBzA[/youtube]

We do not live in an authoritarian society.

Our Sioux Falls City Council met on a Monday this past week so the members could attend the Chamber of Commerce yearly get together at the T Denny Sanford Premier Events Center (wow want a mouthful). There were concerns expressed by the public about changing the weekly meetings to accommodate the event at a recent Council meeting. Of course these were completely ignored. Going to the Chicago concert was more important. (I felt a little throw-up in my throat)

But back to the point of this video. While we have concerns regarding many invocations given at the council meetings, council member Michelle Erpenbach made a few points we needed to address.

Michelle tells us, we the public must OBEY our leaders or authorities. Huh? Blindly following? Without question? Are we supposed to jumpÂ off a cliff just because? Allow profiteering leaders take us to war so they can make money? Allow multinational corporations to destroy our very communities so they can suck money out us then leave? Just because? We don’t think so.

Our system of government is designed to check the assumption of powers not expressly given temporarily to our fellow citizens who become officeholders. We do not stand in front of our fellow citizens and force them to accept commands in the name of a deity. Like painting the snowplows, there should be a separation of your religious views in publicly owned property, places and spaces. Just being in the majority doesn’t trump the rights of a minority.

We have heard excellent invocations at the city council. We often hoped council members would actually listen to and then act on the words of wisdom. The words given were based on the moral values gained by their faith. Not preachy.

So to the people who give invocations, do not force us to listen to words selling your latest project or church. Do not insult us by forcing us to attend your church sermon. ButÂ give inspirational words to cause the listeners to pause. Allow the listeners to consider what they are about to do affects people they may never meet.

This invocation gave us an insight into core beliefs of the speaker and we must remember it forever. It’s not good.

Michelle Erpenbach SF City Council Sioux Falls Parks and Rec

Is it time for Parks Board meetings to be Video taped at Carnegie?

l3wis August 13, 2014 3Comments

Besides the fact that the council ramrodded every agenda item through without much discussion at last night’s cityÂ council meetingÂ (Kermit was absent and attending a conference – which was also ironic that they scheduled an executive session in his absence).

They also approved the transit board recommendations. Two things were missing from that discussion; NO transfers and NO free ridership under a certain age. They also didn’t address the poorly managed dispatch of Paratransit which is probably very costly to the system, but oh well, when councilor Staggers is out of town, questions don’t get asked and we rumberstamp much faster.

Speaking of the rubber stamp, councilors Karsky and Erpenbach seemed to have lost theirs for a moment last night when the council proposed an amendment to overstep the Parks Board. It’s really a simple argument, the city council is an elected board and should always supersede any appointed board, like the Parks Board.

But councilor Erpenbach (a former Parks Board member) felt that the council should not be allowed to overstep their recommendations. Once again, Michelle couldn’t be more wrong. Remember, they are appointed by the Mayor, and they aren’t your average Joe Six-Pack sitting at Van Eps Park drinking a cold one on a Wednesday morning. One of the members for example is the wife of mega-super-TIF-sucking developer Craig Lloyd.

So I ask Michelle, if this board is so precious and powerful, why aren’t the decisions they are making being recorded on video at Carnegie? I suggest the next resolution the city council proposes is that ALL appointed board meetings be recorded at Carnegie, including Ethics board and city council working sessions. If they are so important, they can show their importance by being transparent.

Also, you can’t miss public input from last night, the mayor was ‘forgiven’ for being a jerk by a citizen.

Cartoon Event Center Michelle Erpenbach

Noise pollution?

l3wis July 23, 2014 2Comments

Christine Erickson Elections Mayor Hubris Mayor Subprime Mike Huether Michelle Erpenbach Mike Huether Rex Rolfing Rick Kiley SF City Council Sioux Falls Walfart

The final financial reports are in from the city election

l3wis June 13, 2014 3Comments

No big surprises. It looks like Walmart threw in only an additional $33,000 in the last week before the election. Some interesting notes to point out in the candidate races were that Kiley received only ONE individual contributions right before the election, $250 from Cindy Huether. Cindy Â also gave $250 to Tex Golfing & Michelle Erpenbach. How convenient that she gave this late in the game, knowing her name wouldn’t appear on a financial report until after the election. I guess she learned well from her sneaky husband.

Mayor Huether also had some interesting contributors. From PAC’s he got $1500 from two separate Unions, Citigroup gave $500, John Morrell’s (Smithfield) gave $1000, and one of the more interesting of his PAC contributors was HDR Engineering, which gave $500. HDR does a boatload of consulting for the city planning office. A very strange donation to Christine Erickson was from Kyle Schoenfish (used to be a Democrat, and is the son of Mayor Huether’s first cousin) who gave $125. Still trying to figure that one out.

Elections Michelle Erpenbach SF City Council Sioux Falls Sioux Falls Parks and Rec

Tell us how you really feel Councilor Erpenbach

l3wis May 8, 2014 19Comments

Councilor Erpenbach recently had this reply to a citizen’s email asking about the polling evidence that people want the indoor pool at Spellerberg;

Thanks, —–. I appreciate your input but I seriously disagree with your analysis. Â Â Â Â Â Â

Three separate polls (including the April 8 election) indicate people in Sioux Falls overwhelmingly support an indoor aquatics facility at the Spellerberg location. Those votes include amazing numbers from all of the precincts that touch Spellerberg Park. Your neighbors want this. Â Â Â Â Â Â

And I disagree that no other locations were studied. Many sites were studied extensively. Frankly, if we need to expand our indoor aquatics program, future leaders won’t be adding to Spellerberg, they will be building another site. Â Â Â Â Â Â

The people have spoken. Let’s please move on.

More indoor pools?! We can’t even afford the one, and she is planning on building more?! The indoor pool will only be used to capacity during swim meets and on the weekends.

We ‘MUST’ obey who?

Is it time for Parks Board meetings to be Video taped at Carnegie?

Noise pollution?

The final financial reports are in from the city election

Tell us how you really feel Councilor Erpenbach

You Missed

UPDATE II: Sioux Falls City Councilor could be facing ethics violations after tonight’s vote on Tre Ministries project

UPDATE: City Council Agenda (Dec 2-3)

Seems we are a we bit behind on snow plowing

Libertyland TIF should go to a vote of the entire state!