Public Utilities

Michelle Erpenbach Public Utilities Public Works SF City Council Sioux Falls

City rejects public works bid as non-responsive bidder

l3wis April 12, 2018 3Comments

Watch last night’s Sioux Falls City Council meeting and listen to why the city rejected a bidder. Their reasoning was;

A new company was formed from an old company in 2014, and the old company did bad work for the city between 2001-2008 (apparently it took the city 7 years to figure out they were a bad contractor).

They weren’t paying subcontractors on time or at all

Bonding company had to bail them out on several occasions

Old company had to break up because of multiple judgments against them.

Listening to this, and assuming we trust what the city attorney’s office was saying, it would be safe to assume they had good reasons to reject the bidder.

But read the list again. Does this sound like another contractor/developer the city is currently in cahoots with to build a $20 million dollar parking ramp? Makes you wonder what criteria was used to pick Legacy doesn’t it? Apparently NOT the same to pick contractors that do sewer work for our city. Just sayin’.

*On a side note, at the public input portion of the meeting I mentioned that the new city council needs to work on policies to bring more transparency to city government, especially with communication between the council and mayor’s office.

Before the consent agenda discussion, Erpenbach took the opportunity to chide me and say that while she served on the council they worked on transparency like getting the consent agenda published on SIRE. While this is true, I found her statement a bit ironic. As I recall it, itÂ was Councilor Vernon Brown who spearheaded the idea with the help of than City Clerk Debra Owen, the very person Erpenbach helped push to be terminated, and did it while violating open meetings laws. Erpenbach’s ‘transparency’ hypocrisy will be her legacy.

Mayor High Crimes Mayor Hubris Mayor Pants on Fire Mayor Subprime Mike Huether Mike Huether Public Utilities Public Works Sioux Falls

Mayor justifies $25 million dollar admin building by overcharging us on water rates

l3wis November 14, 2017 3Comments

Boy, the man can spin.

Recently the city re-financed the Lewis & Clark bonds with a supposed $25 million in interest savings. But how this was accomplished was under the guise we were paying higher water/sewer rates for infrastructure upgrades.

We have been told over the past 7-10 years that we had to increase these rates and turn them into their own fund (enterprise) so we could upgrade our aging water & sewer infrastructure.

Sounds reasonable . . . if the city was telling the truth.

They actually have been putting the money in a savings account, $25 million to be exact. In order to save the $25 million in interest for the L & C bonds we had to make a $25 million principal payment. That money came from the ‘savings’ account.

During the Listening and Learning session the mayor justifies the $25 million dollar admin building because we saved $25 million on the L & C bonds. What a stretch.

Okay, let’s break down his illogical argument;

â€¢ We never needed the $80 million dollar hookup to L & C. In fact we only get about 10% of our water from the pipe (contract requirement) while we continue to buy land for more wells. I believe all along that we bailed out L & C and if they would not have gotten the $80 million from us they would have struggled to stay afloat. How was that the responsibility of Sioux Falls taxpayers? Our genius DC reps should have stepped up, I guess they were busy trying to get $27 million for Warren Buffet.

â€¢ We were lied to about increasing water rates. We were told this was for fixing infrastructure. It was never mentioned to us at ANY TIME over past 7 years that this money was going into a savings account, let alone a savings account to pay for an administration building.

â€¢ We didn’t need an administration building. In fact it would be more fiscally responsible to continue to lease property instead of adding more capital that we have to pay off and maintain. We essentially traded a $100K a year lease payment for $1 million dollar a year mortgage payment. There is nothing in the charter that says the city needs to own it’s own office space for employees. Even our finance director said over 2 years ago it made more sense to lease. The city should also concentrate on using more technology to reduce the number of city employees. They should also work on home work spaces.

Like paying for the indoor pool with a Federal levee bond repayment the mayor has justified an unneeded city building by overcharging us on water rates.

Always on the spin cycle.

Mayor High Crimes Mayor Hubris Mayor Pants on Fire Mayor Subprime Mike Huether Mike Huether Public Utilities Public Works Sioux Falls Watertown

Mayor throws councilor Stehly under the bus at water summit

l3wis September 26, 2017 2Comments

If he is not flat out lying, he sure knows how to twist a story to make himself look good. (FF:57:20). During the Mayor’s water summit (in which he talks 90% of the time) they were talking about investing in water and sewer infrastructure and it’s importance. Hey, who wouldn’t agree? Then he proceeds to say a councilor the night before (It was Stehly) chastised him for raising water rates. Oh the tangled web you weave Mike just to get your jollies. Stehly as well as myself during public input were voicing our concerns that our water rates were hiked NOT because we were upgrading CURRENT infrastructure but that the city used the additional funds to build up a $36 million dollar reserve fund (savings account). Stehly was concerned we are building up large reserves in the enterprise funds instead of actually SPENDING the money on it’s intent; upgrading infrastructure.

The man takes no shame in using Stehly to sell his snakeoil. What a loser.

Huether went on to say he was proud of the council to allow him to raise rates (taxes). He felt those rate increases were needed for upgrades. Not true. If mayor Huether was really fiscally responsible he would have spent our CIP money on infrastructure upgrades instead of mortgage debt for playthings.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zfob4CajyzI

He finished the forum by ripping on the ‘loud minority voices’ and how the media gives them a platform. It’s funny, because these ‘loud minority voices’ actually have quite a few of followers. 6,500 of them signed a petition against the City Administration Building (the $25 million dollar bond was implemented by a super minority, the mayor). Oh, and that other minority that approved snow gates by over 70% of the vote. But please, don’t listen to them.

Public Utilities Public Works Sioux Falls Traffic Control

Big Brother is watching you?

l3wis May 20, 2017 7Comments

These cameras have been lining the lights on Minnesota Ave. Pretty scary;

Two different systems, one on Minnesota Avenue and another on 41^stÂ Street, will go live this summer.

Troy Miller, traffic engineer with the city of Sioux Falls, says that two adaptive traffic systems will be activated in the coming months. Â One will encompass eight intersections on Minnesota Avenue between Interstate 229 and 18^th Street; another will span 13 intersections on 41^stStreet between Marion Road and Minnesota Avenue.

The adaptive traffic systems control lights based on traffic. Miller says the systems identify traffic and make adjustments to shorten travel time.

I wonder how these cameras will hold up in a high wind storm? I also wonder what else they are ‘detecting’.

Potholes Public Utilities Public Works Sioux Falls