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Munson

FEMA Floodplain Floods Munson SF City Council Sioux Falls

So how much did the levee circus cost Sioux Falls taxpayers?

l3wis 6Comments

I guess it never really crossed my mind until yesterday when Quen Be De praised Northside Davey in the informational meeting, “I just think Dave has done a great job of working with our Washington delegation in getting us funds for our projects in Sioux Falls during his administration. I just hope the next three mayors can even come close to what he has been able to accomplish.” (paraphrasing). After I puked in my garbage can I started thinking about that statement. First off, we still are waiting for Lewis & Clark and railroad relocation funds from the Feds, something Dave has not accomplished. Also, they are still in discussions with the Corp of Engineers as to how much money we are gonna get for the levees. And lastly the only reason the levee bonds were called off was because FEMA said that people in the affected area don’t have to buy flood insurance. Go figure. This was all about saving business men and developers insurance premiums not about our safety, because if they were really concerned about our safety, the project would still be moving forward.

Business as usual in city hall.

But how much did this runaround cost us, even if we ditched the bonds? Last Fall councilor Staggers asked the city to give him a list of consulting fees paid out in 2009. He still has not received the list and they continue to deny (a sitting councilor) the numbers. They say he wants to use it for political reasons. My guess is that the amount is so high, that it will for sure become a political issue if it is released. If I had to ballpark it, I would guess the city probably spend close to $12-15 million a year on consulting fees, which includes legal advice.

This has gotten me wondering how much it cost taxpayers to explore the bonds to begin with (including flying a consultant in from Minneapolis in an attempt to scare off our tax initiative petition drive). Just because we only took out a portion of the bonds for the bridge, doesn’t mean they weren’t charging us by the hour. Ironically, the bridge could have been paid for out of the CIP budget, so no consulting fees or interest would have been paid at all.

Why all the secrecy around consulting fees? Because I have a feeling if we knew the real numbers we would have to clean our drawers. I hope the next three mayors aren’t even close to accomplishing what Munson has done, in fact, I hope they go in a completely different direction.

FEMA Floodplain Munson

Seems the Argus had a change of heart, big surprise!

l3wis 0Comments

As the AL reported on January 6th they felt the Levees were needed, even though I stated differently.

Now all of sudden, they are not needed (well duh). Funny how these things work, huh?

Some things just make good common sense.

City officials say they’ll delay issuing more than $40 million in bonds to pay for flood-control upgrades.

Damn right, it is common sense. Myself and Councilor Costello were saying that all along, but nobody was fricking listening!

That means 1,600 new properties that previously weren’t included in the floodplain are included now.

So no one is going to die now? That’s good news.

Although timing is critical with this project, Munson is on the right track.

Since when?! He has been driving the crazy train for far too long.

It’s more than worth the extra time to investigate options for saving the city money, especially when we’re talking about $40 million.

And where was the Argus before the vote about ‘investigating options’?

Apparently asleep and cheerleading Mayor spendy pants.

And they wonder why the subscriptions are going in the toilet. I’ll give you a clue.

Munson red light cameras

It’s OKAY for our mayor to pull a Karl Rove?

l3wis 11Comments

Dave Munson’s Hero?

Only the Gargoyle Leader would defend the mayor by saying it is okay to ignore a subpoena;

Meanwhile, Munson decided not to show up for a deposition that was scheduled for Feb. 19.

 

In this case the mayor’s move is justified.

Justified to ignore the law? As we learned in the Sandy Jerstad crash em’ up, bang em’ up, lawmakers should always be following the law and should be held to a higher standard. But not in South Dakota. Run a stop sign and kill a guy? Slap on the wrist and 100 days in jail.

Lawyer William Garry, who’s representing the city, argues that any information the mayor has about the contract can be obtained from other city employees.

 

As a matter of fact, the contract itself should be easily accessible.

DOES NOT MATTER! Munson signed the contract! He is the responsible party. The buck stops here. The big cheese. Commander in chief. If he can’t remember what he is signing, maybe he needs to sit down with those ‘other’ city employess and figure it out before he testifies.

But there’s no indication that the city either is devaluing this case or trying to make it hard for the plaintiff to gain the information he needs.

Nope, just a pathetic local newspaper pandering and apologizing for them.

In lieu of any such development, however, the mayor is within appropriate bounds to make sure that all the pertinent details about the contract are available in other ways.

No he is not. Who made the great Gargoyle Leader Editorial board judge and jury all of sudden? God forbid. A supoena is just that, a supoena. If he doesn’t want to follow it I suggest we cuff him and stuff him for contempt of court. Case closed!

FEMA Munson Sioux Falls

I thought ‘REAL PEOPLE’ die in floods?!

l3wis 0Comments

Not so much anymore. I guess the 1,600 (retail) properties in the floodplain are not much of a concern anymore either;

The city has delayed issuing more than $40 million in bonds to pay for flood-control upgrades because officials are optimistic the federal government will send money for the project.

This is where I do my ‘I told you so’ dance. Will you join me Councilor Costello?

“I just really think there’s going to be more funding from the stimulus bill, so we’re going to wait,” Sioux Falls Mayor Dave Munson said Tuesday.

Wait! Wait for what! Another flood where water is flying over the spillway and basements are getting flooded* and people are DYING! APOCOLYPSE NOW! *(My bad, that was because of faulty infrastructure not lack of levees)

In a letter dated March 2, FEMA notified the city in an official letter that the new floodplain elevations were completed.

Huh? So we didn’t need to build these new levees right now? Get outta here. Are you setting us up for another Katrina, Dave? I heard our current president doesn’t care about ‘white people’.

“Whatever we get, we’re going to be appreciative of,” Munson said.

Because my knees are beginning to hurt, real bad.

Munson

Clowning around with Mayor Munson

l3wis 4Comments

Not sure if you get the dead tree version of the Gargoyle Leader, but there is a hilarious picture of Northside Davey with Ronald McDonald in it today (Page 3A). I tried to find a link on there website, but no dice. If you see the photo, write a caption to it. Here is mine;

“Ha, Ha, Ha. Yes Ronald, I’m sure Jodi is qualified to work with you. Many other city employees comment all the time that she is good at Clowning Around.”

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