Happy New Year! Before we get into the agenda I wanted to alert readers that there are a couple of issues I am working on that the TenHaken administration is ‘trying’ to keep away from public view, I will keep you updated once I get more information.
Sub Item #1, Planning and Housing, Offer to Purchase Real Estate; Gaukler Enterprises, Inc. – Closing costs, $226K. Some city hall moles told me that this is one to watch. I guess the city is purchasing this land for a supposed future Homeless Veteran’s shelter. Now I’m not sure if we are just buying the land and gifting it to the VA to build and maintain the shelter or if the city is planning on paying for the structure and maintaining it. Would have been nice to get an informational on this from the Planning/Housing department, oh I forgot, this administration HATES transparency.
Sub Item #13, another $19k towards the kitchen remodel at the Central Fire Station. With all the money being spent on this kitchen they may be able to make it into a new soup kitchen downtown.
Sub Items #20 Agreement to Provide Funding to assist LifeScape in providing transportation for their clients, $201k & #29, Provide partial funding to assist Dakotabilities in providing transportation for their clients, $400k+. It often surprises me when the city whines about how much public transit is draining the tax rolls than turns around and spends over $600K to assist private non-profits. While I do think the city should provide these rides there should be reimbursement through the Federal government. If there is, that needs to be explained to taxpayers.
Sub Item #21, Rail Yard Development – BNSF Occupancy Permit; Agreement for temporary occupancy, $4,781. After giving millions away for land that wasn’t worth more than a couple of million to this entity (and that Federal taxpayers probably already owned) BNSF has the nerve to charge us a rental fee for using some of their supposed land. Unbelievable. Who was the rocket scientist with the city that negotiated this deal?
Sub Item #33, Provide operation services for the downtown SculptureWalk Program, $32,500. While I support funding to SW, I’m wondering what they spent last year’s supplement on? As you may or may not know is SW was suspended and no new sculptures (or very few) were brought in. Maybe with the pandemic the city should forgo this supplement this year.
Sub Item #34, City Website Consulting Services, Consultant will perform all work to City Website including production of all materials, products and modifications. RoundedCube, $1,700 per month. I’m curious why we need to hire a company that is based in St. Louis, MO to do this, especially when there are many very capable companies in Sioux Falls. The bigger question is why isn’t the city’s own IT department maintaining the site? I also think the city website is a POS and has been for a long time. It’s a navigation hell hole and getting data is a crap shoot. If I were the mayor tomorrow, I would revamp the site and I would get it done in 90 days. Ironically when I looked up RoundedCube yesterday the website was working, but it seems the company we hired to maintain our website can’t maintain their own site, this was the message I got today when I went there;
Items #33-34, The Bonus Round Bar on Cliff & Downtown will be putting in Video Lottery terminals. I guess while the Cliff location will mostly be a VL casino the DT location will still keep all the other pinball machines and games with the VL terminals. While I am not a fan of telephone booth casinos, at least I will be able to walk a block again to get a tasty micro-brew, I’ll just have to wear ear plugs 🙂
Item #38, the use of the unobligated fund balance of $100,000 for the 2021 health budget is authorized to fund a public health education campaign to encourage preventative measures to mitigate the spread of COVID-19. While we continue to throw money at our Covid Tourism campaign we are counter reacting to it by throwing more money on how to keep yourself safe from contracting Covid. Oh the pathetic irony.
Item #43, 2nd Reading, AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF SIOUX FALLS, SD, REZONING PORTION OF PROPERTY LOCATED AT SOUTHWEST OF W. 22ND ST. AND S. ELLIS RD. FROM THE O OFFICE DISTRICT TO THE LW LIVE/WORK DISTRICT, NO. 13281 2020, AND AMENDING THE OFFICIAL ZONING MAP OF THE CITY OF SIOUX FALLS. It will be interesting to see how many residents show up to debate this move Tuesday night.
Item #46, 1st Reading, AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF SIOUX FALLS, SD, APPROVING TERMINATION OF THE RAILROAD SWITCH TRACK EASEMENT. I’ve read the supporting documents of this ordinance and it is about as clear as mud. It involves the downtown properties owned by Gourley and Sioux Steel. It seems like it has something to do with a rail track that isn’t used anymore.
Item #50, A RESOLUTION REMOVING UNCOLLECTIBLE, DELINQUENT ACCOUNTS FROM THE RECORDS. If you look at the supporting documents you will see 2 of the accounts were considered ‘confidential’. I’m not even sure if that is even legal. If the city, a public entity funded by taxpayers is writing off debt they need to make it public. The county commission does this every week. I’m still not sure if anyone competent is running the city attorney’s office. I still think my idea of terminating all the city attorneys and just hiring a para legal and a purchasing agent to run the department may be the best way to go.
Item #2C, we have another situation where we are changing a office zoned area to residential. Ironically the place is surrounded by office zoning. I think we are going to see a lot of this since the pandemic.
It used to be when you saw the agenda on Friday afternoon before the Tuesday informational meeting you could click on agenda items and have linked documents so you could see what was being discussed. Mayor Bucktooth and Bowlcut moved away from this, and our current jellyfish, transparency hater Mayor Stoneless won’t even give us a hint until a couple of minutes before the meeting starts.
Either way, these two items have me curious;
• Update on Downtown Development, AND
• Land Use Ordinance Updates
My guess is we will hear some watered down B.S. about the Sioux Steel project, but I’m not sure what the land use ordinances are about, but I am guessing they are going to make it easier for developers to side skirt neighbors concerns, or give less rights to neighbors, or both. I honestly don’t know. But I think presenting these two items on the day of the most important election in our lifetime has me a bit concerned they don’t want a huge audience. The steamrolling is coming folks, and it is not going to be pretty, and will mostly be done in the dark.
Weird, I have never seen these meetings on the agenda, online. They are actually good meetings (people asking to use more of their property to build a bunch of crap). Most of the time, I really don’t care, but sometimes people are just being weird with their intentions.
Presentations on the Triage Center Project Lease Agreement and Public Parking Update. The Public Parking update was ‘supposed’ to occur after the council installation so a certain guilty party could sail thru to re-election (this same person has re-opened his Carnegie basement office). The Bunker Ramp has been an enormous disaster, and they don’t like to talk about it. Why? Guilty conscious.
Item #7, Approval of Contracts, Sub Item #13. Notice the ethics complaint that was thrown out against Neitzert cost taxpayers $7,500. And we are worried about what a re-count is costing us . . . Puhleeeeze!
Items #43-44, 1st Reading, Triage lease and joint participation agreements.
Item #45, 1st Reading, More repeals of Covid restriction ordinances. I find it interesting that since the state has decided to call off all restrictive measures, Covid has essentially been flat lining and on some days going up. There has been NO downward curve. This is troublesome because if the curve doesn’t start going down within the next few weeks, we could be maintaining or increasing these numbers going into fall (when school starts) and into winter (when influenza and other illnesses increase). It will be interesting to see if we actually start a downward spiral soon. But I guess when we are hosting youth baseball tournaments and inviting families from out of state (councilor Erickson talked about this in the last informational meeting) what should we expect. While I am fine with people getting back to work safely, some of these other activities are just selfish. So the kids have to take the summer off from sports? Oh well, they are kids, they will forget about it in a couple of years.
Item #6, Approval of Contracts, Sub Item #6, Provide Information Technology Insurance Coverage to the City’s Policy. As I understand this item, the city is seeking a policy to protect them from hackers (instead of just putting safeguards in place to protect us from hackers) $83K.
SIDENOTE: I also have heard that the SD Attorney General is giving Sioux Falls the permission to train their own officers. On one hand, this is a good thing (so we can hire more officers faster) but on the other hand, not sure how this training program will be ran. Hopefully we will hear more about this.
Item #38, The Breaks Coffee House (right next to Total Drag and Common Sense) is applying for a Beer and Wine license. This is awesome because adults will be able to have an adult beverage before attending shows at Total Drag.
It’s been a few weeks since I have done this because the meeting schedules have been all over the map. Just a reminder also that the 2nd reading of the Covid ordinance to allow bars and restaurants to reopen is on Thursday, May 7 (10:30 AM). If passed, it won’t go into effect until Friday, May 8. Several bars and restaurants seemed to have opened over the weekend. Not sure if they understand that the ordinance has not passed yet. I wonder if there will be any enforcement this week?
SPECIAL NOTE: Funny how Mayor TenHaken is calling it a ‘Work Station’ instead of a ‘Precinct’. Gee, would it have anything to do with him attacking Jolene’s plan during the mayoral campaign of creating police precincts? What a tool . . .
• New Governmental Lease Standards and Southwest Police Report to Work Station presentation
SPECIAL NOTE: Notice that the State Theatre will be asking for a wine license. I hope the owner of West Mall shows up and tells them about their hypocrisy if they pass this. I’m sure it has the 4-5 votes to pass. But I do suspect a couple of councilors to vote against it. I’m sure we will hear about all the extra steps they will be taking to ensure minors are not drinking, you know, just like the owner of West Mall promised.
SPECIAL NOTE II: I heard that Councilor Erickson is planning on running for mayor. This probably confirms the rumor that TenHaken will run in a primary against Noem for Governor in 2022. It’s hard for me to wrap my head around these rumors, because I have seen these two clowns do some weird crap over the past couple of years, but it would not surprise me. I think a race between Erickson and Huether would be fun to watch. Get out the popcorn.
Item #6, Approval of Contracts, Sub Item #15, Meals for Isolation Sites. Shouldn’t this be an expense of the County, the State or the Feds?
Sub Item #19, over $100K to fix the retention pond at the Denty. I wonder if they are fishing out bad siding? This place is the biggest money pit this city will ever see.
I found out today many people across the city are doing ‘projects’ on their homes without permits. Some of these properties have been reported to the city. Most of the projects are new roofs, but there have been reports of window replacements and even an entire house being gutted.
I guess one of the reasons this is going on is because the city has limited their building inspections. Not sure if that is true, but if it is, it seems odd. Building inspectors have less interaction with the public than police or fire does. If they are sitting on their butts at home, time to get back to work!
If our governor and mayor tell us we all need to go to work each day because hot dog makers, credit card hucksters and personal trainers are ‘essential’, it’s time they put their money where their mouth is and order all city and state workers to either be working full-time from home and if they cannot, report for duty. If anyone one is essential right now, it is people drawing a salary from taxpayers. If the rest of us can endure being exposed to Covid, the government workers should be able to also.
Maybe the Mayor needs to test his SOAR program out first on city employees?
The hypocrisy is unprecedented – and all reported from Noem’s $130K FOX News studio in the basement of the governor’s mansion.
When she was running for governor, my mother coined her as ‘Donita Trump’. How true it is. How true it is!
Maybe she should resign and hand the reigns over to Rep. Mike Saba, the only elected official in state government who is trying to fight through this crisis with calculated and studied approaches.
While he talks about how he is transparent, he still hates transparency like the Dickens. Absolutely hates it. We saw this over the past couple of weeks when he couldn’t tell us about the covid outbreaks. Hey Paul, the truth will set you free Brah!
What is even more alarming is that a councilor has specifically requested this information to be shared with the public and still the refusal, it’s like a gigantic middle finger to him.
There are two new appointees to the Planning Commission (I will share a short bio),
• Janet Kittams (CEO of the Helpline Center) Janet is good person, and has formerly served on the REMSA board. I think she will make a great addition.
• Bradyn Neises, (Commercial Real Estate broker with Bender). His appointment is kind of ironic since he will be replacing another former Bender Real Estate Broker, Andi Anderson. Maybe she will borrow him her company polo shirts to wear during the meetings. Bradyn will be filling in for Andi’s last year of of appointment.
Neighborhood Connect. It appears the Planning Department is rolling out some new software to do the following;
• Transparency • Extend business hours • Alerts • Reduce inquiries • Easy user interface It integrates with the City of Sioux Falls Land Management software
While on it’s face, I think it is a good idea, over the last couple of months the city hasn’t had a very good track record with their online presence. Their videos have been crashing, the CityLink live stream has been taken down, the search engines are complicated and a mess and the pilot program for on-demand transit may not get off the ground. I guess if the city wants to be innovative, maybe that innovation should work.
Also presentations on the upcoming election and 2021 Budget Prioritization.
Item #45 & #60, 2nd Reading, Supplemental Appropriations. Not sure how this vote will go, or if it will be amended, but I have a feeling it will get at least 4 votes to pass (Mayor tie-breaker). They really should censure him for violating the charter and proposing budget changes.
Item #54, 1st Reading, Supplemental Appropriations of $355K to Pavilion for planning the repair of the roof.
Item #55, 1st Reading: AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF SIOUX FALLS, SD, REPEALING SUBCHAPTER SIOUX FALLS VETERANS PARK ADVISORY BOARD OF CHAPTER 95: PARKS AND RECREATION OF THE CODE OF ORDINANCES OF SAID CITY. (I’m not sure why this board is being repealed, hopefully there will be more details Tuesday night).
Item #56 (57-58), 1st Reading:AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF SIOUX FALLS, SD, AUTHORIZING INTERIM WATER RATES FOR CERTAIN CUSTOMERS OUTSIDE THE CITY OF SIOUX FALLS. (Prairie Meadow Area). This has to do with a future annexation agreement.
Item #64, A RESOLUTION ADVISING AND GIVING CONSENT TO THE APPOINTMENT OF MEMBERS TO CERTAIN CITIZEN BOARDS. (once again the biographies are missing, I have requested from some councilors to ask the administration why the BIOs are no longer listed on agenda).
There have been a lot of strange changes lately to the city website and agendas. The latest is in the Planning agenda, instead of numbering the items, they are now using this labeling system; Ex: REZ-011688-2020. More confusion for no reason.
Comments Off on Sioux Falls City Council Agenda, March 3, 2020
Questions about the ownership of a strip of land within the Sioux Steel Co. site in downtown Sioux Falls has created a new, unexpected hurdle for the proposed $185 million redevelopment of the property.
The land in question was once a channel of the Big Sioux River and has ownership origins that stretch back beyond South Dakota statehood all the way to the presidency of Abraham Lincoln.
Archived press clippings appear to indicate that the channel that separated Seney Island from the western bank of the Big Sioux River was filled in and, along with the former island, was turned into usable land in the early 1900s. Sioux Steel Co. has owned and operated on the site since 1918.
Officials in the state School and Public Lands and Attorney General’s offices are reviewing maps, historic documents and other information to determine whether the state may have a claim of ownership to the strip of land.
I’m not naive, I’m sure the State will probably come back and say they don’t have rights to it, or if they do, sell it for very little coin. I know how palms are greased in Pierre.
But what makes this story frustrating is with all of the people from the Sioux Steel Company, Lloyd Company and the city’s planning office, NO one came across this possible conflict? It took a hobbyist in history to find it?
Not to mention that around $3.5 million has already been spent on planning this project and NONE of these questions were asked before passing a $20 million dollar TIF.
Sometimes I think developers in this town just fly by the seat of their pants, cross their fingers and hope things turn out.
Only agenda item is a going away party for Departing Members Pauline Poletes and Robert Thimjon. They accomplished their very successful shut down of charter amendments. Party on Garth.
Sub Item #25, $136K to YMCA for after school programs and
Sub Item #26, $111 to VOA for after school programs.
I wish the merits of these four items would have been discussed in the regular meeting instead of stuffed into the consent agenda.
Item #7, Change orders, we will be handing about $1.5 million to Journey Construction for the Village on the River Bunker Ramp.
Item #20, Transfer of 2020 Retail Liquor License, with video lottery terminals, and 2020 Package Liquor License from Badlands Gaming LLC, Badlands Gaming, 1600 West Russell Street, to South Dakota Veterans Alliance Inc., 1600 West Russell Street. It looks like this deal is moving forward.
Item #25 (29-30), 2nd Reading of TIF agreement with Lloyd Companies and Sioux Steel Development. As I have said in the past this will pass. I guess councilor Stehly will be absent from this meeting and NOT voting on the issue due to previous commitments. I have said that a better approach would be to gift them the River Greenway property (so they can develop it at their expense) and give them a $10 million dollar TIF only for that redevelopment. I think it is a crying shame that local lawmakers across the country are suckered into these kind of agreements which are truly developer handouts and little else. I’m praying for an amendment, but I don’t think it will happen.
Item #26, 2nd Reading, ordinance on campaign financing and elections. I feel there will be some amendments to this item and it will be an interesting to see what is slipped in. I still think that this ordinance should be amended so it is NOT implemented until after the municipal election.
Item #27, Supplemental appropriations for police overtime pay for special events. Like I said yesterday in a post, I fully support this, but I think a discussion should have occurred with the council before the mayor’s office proposed this. It is the council’s job as laid out in charter to be the legislators, not the mayor’s office.
Item #28, Parks and Rec fee increases. You will notice that some of the biggest increases are at the Midco Aquatic Center.
Item #31, Resolution approving preliminary plan for the controversial Golden Gateway addition.
Item #32, A RESOLUTION REMOVING UNCOLLECTIBLE, DELINQUENT ACCOUNTS FROM THE RECORDS. Interesting that these accounts are confidential?
Item #34, Resolution, allowing Landscapes Unlimited to modify the noncompetition clause under the Management Agreement.
Item #35, Charter Revision Commission presents their ballot amendments. I’m urging a vote NO on amendment ‘B’ which would increase the number of signatures needed for a charter revision petition.
HARRISBURG, S.D. (KELO) -- Harrisburg was the new Number 1 team in Class "AA" girls basketball, but was put to the test in their first game since earning the top spot, as they welcomed 5th-ranked Brandon Valley to town. Click the video player to view highlights from tonight's KELOLAND Game of the Day.
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) -- Roosevelt re-entered the Prep Media Basketball Poll, checking in at Number 4. The Rough Riders hosted 3rd-ranked Harrisburg in a top-five boys basketball showdown Tuesday night. Click the video player to view highlights.
No matter how hard the Rapid City Stevens boys' basketball team tried to create distance between itself and Douglas, the Raiders just couldn’t shake off the Patriots.
A security team patrols in front of the White House as preparations continue ahead of President-elect Joe Biden's inauguration ceremony, Tuesday, Jan. 19, 2021, in Washington.
