Minnehaha County

The mostly Republican County Commission accuses the Democratic County Treasurer of playing political games with 'lines'

Who is ‘playing games’? This pissing match back and forth is getting old. It’s petty and immature;

Commission Chairman John Pekas wondered aloud whether Nelson is orchestrating the long lines to get more staffing.

One True Thing release

“We’ve gone through these slowdowns time and time again when she doesn’t get her way,” Pekas said.

Commissioner Anne Hajek took exception to an incident late last month in which Nelson told people who had been waiting in line – some for several hours – to register their complaints with the county commission.

“That kind of lobbying (for more staffers) down there does concern me somewhat,” Hajek said.

Well, knuckleheads, in Pam’s defense you do control the purse strings and she asked you to replace a staffer that had quit. Obviously our brilliant County Commission doesn’t know the difference between a replacement and hiring a new staff member. Let me put it in simple terms for you. When you get a flat tire on your car, you replace it, you don’t drive around with three tires too save a few bucks.

I have met Pam on several occassions and I appreciate her honesty, yes she is opininated, but she does make a good point;

Nelson denied having anything to do with creating the long lines, saying: “How … could I do that? It’s virtually impossible. There’s no reason I’d want to argue with (the commission) on a regular basis. It just adds stress to my life.”

Well duh. Pam has to run an office effectively, this includes having enough staff. I feel anytime you have to wait in line for an extended period of time, you are being taxed extra, it’s inexcusable and the CC need to let her replace that flat tire.

Of course our cowardly commission had to take issue with Pam when she was not around, easy to kick a dog when it is down;

Nelson wasn’t at Tuesday’s meeting when commissioners began talking about the issue.

They practice this quite a bit, like school girls gossipping about a classmate in the lockeroom. Real cool.

Instead, Nelson said, the current problem stems from the fact that the treasurer’s office is understaffed by about three employees at a time when the county is growing.

“If the sheriff and police need more people, it’s only reasonable to assume I do, too,” she said.

Don’t assume anything. Don’t you know armored vehicles to storm neighborhoods with telephone booth casino robbers is more important then providing customer service to taxpayers? C’mon Pam, you should know what Republican’s priorities are by now.

Of course, Pam hasn’t been on the up and up either;

“I was having this conversation, explaining things to a gentleman, and this lady kept butting in and saying not very nice things,” Nelson said. “I told her to drop dead. It was horrible, unprofessional. But what can I say? I promise I’ll never do it again.”

Yeah, probably should not have said that (though I would have probably chuckled if I was standing nearby) I can’t imagine what this woman was blabbering. Was it Anne Hajek?

Pay for Play at the County Commission?

It’s perfectly legal in South Dakota, and politicians don’t seem to be bothered by taking advantage of it. I just wish the Argus would have printed the campaign contributions to the city councilors who took campaign donations from big developers and ultimately voted for a tax increase, oh, that’s right, the Argus was one of the biggest cheerleaders of that tax increase . . .

Sweetman interested in land for quarry

If the commission determines it can sell the property and decides to do so, Sweetman Construction said it would be interested in buying it to incorporate the fairgrounds into Sweetman’s existing quarry.

 

For now, Chief Operating Officer Patrick Sweetman is waiting as the county determines what its options are with the land.

“We’re not trying to influence anybody,” he said. “But I’m trying to make a business decision to plan our future growth.” That means either acquiring the fairgrounds or purchasing a new quarry site.

 

Members of the Sweetman family gave $750 each to Commission Chairman John Pekas and Commissioner Dick Kelly last year during their election campaigns, and the Sweetmans contributed $250 in 2004 and 2006 to Kelly’s state senate races. Pekas and Kelly were the two commissioners who opposed the interim funding for the fair association. 

Remind me why this hunk of steel is more important then fixing our roads?

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Don’t think the city and county waste money? Think again.

There’s only one like it in the entire state of South Dakota.

The Sioux Falls Police Department says a new 261 thousand dollar armored truck has already proven to be priceless for police officers and SWAT team members. 

Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for public safety and the safety of our officers (especially when they are eating for FREE at the hospitals) but I think this expense was a waste.

The ‘BearCat’ is not only bullet-proof, but also features a thermal eye that can highlight areas of heat, and help officers find suspects faster. It’s a tool that is making the line of duty a little more safe for Sioux Falls Police Officers and Minnehaha County Sheriff’s deputies. 

I think the thermal eye is a great tool – but I wonder if they know they can buy those separately?

This is the first time law enforcement agencies in the Sioux Falls area have had a vehicle like this.

My point exactly. If we didn’t need it before, why do we need it now?

Looks like Northside Davey gonna have to star in another campaign commercial for a DEMOCRAT

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Do you also like sausage?

Steffy bringing home the bacon water;

Among Herseth Sandlin’s requests:

 

$35 million for the Lewis & Clark Regional Water System, a project that ultimately will cost $587 million and provide water to communities in South Dakota, Iowa and Minnesota.

I’m confused? I thought Johnson already secured this money for us? I guess that’s what happens when you have a lifelong Republican and lifelong Democrat star in a commercial together, double the bullshit. (During Johnson’s last senate campaign, Mayor Munson praised senator Johnson for all the pork he brought to Sioux Falls. Two of the items were the RR relocation project and Lewis & Clark. But we haven’t received a single penny yet for either project.)

$3.5 million for Minnehaha County to help build Project Safe Home, a 32-unit complex in Sioux Falls that would provide permanent housing to chronically homeless people with severe alcohol addictions.

I see the County and City got the Feds to pony up on helping the homeless. That’s good, so we can free up some of our tax dollars to buy historic million dollar windows and armored vehicles for the Sheriff’s department.

You mean spending money on public safety saves us money in the long run? Get out here!

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A plan to transform the way Minnehaha County deals with the most chronic cases of homelessness has cut county spending in half while providing improved care, according to a report that county commissioners heard Tuesday.

How long have we been saying this would save taxpayer’s money in the long run? For eternity, it seems. So why did it take the city so long to commit the money? Good question. “Um yeah, I need to see the hard numbers, uh, before I commit anything, um, I won’t cut the check until I know for sure this will save us money, uh, because, uh, we need to put million dollar windows in the Pavilion and a $170,000 shitter at the McKennan park tennis courts, it’s all about REAL priorities,” – Mayor Munson.

Human Services Director Hugh Grogan told commissioners that with stable living arrangements, Safe Home participants are much more likely to use less-expensive health care alternatives such as the Community Health clinic than emergency rooms.

Get out of here! You mean when we give the needy a hand-up they don’t turn around and give themselves a $165 million dollar retention bonus? They actually find ways to be thrifty and cost effective. Maybe they should be compiling the CIP budget for the city everyear.

But the cost savings, commissioners Carol Twedt and Jeff Barth said, simply are an unanticipated benefit.

Even though you were presented 9 million studies that showed we would save money under this program, you still call it a ‘unanticipated benefit’. Um, please have a cup of coffee before you show up to the next meeting and actually listen to the presenters when they are presenting.

Minnehaha County Commissioner Dick Kelly cautioned that the report does not necessarily paint a complete picture of the program’s effects. It “tells us something. I don’t think it tells us a lot,” he said.

Imagine that, a conservative Republican is being negative and cynical about helping the needy. I’m shocked! When is Dick gonna run out of offices to run for?