When you read the job listing all it says is that the city is hiring an ‘assistant director’ without specifying the department. Once you scroll down to the bottom you figure out from job qualifications they are looking for an assistant director. Currently, Kevin Smith is the Assistant Director of the Planning Department, unless he has already ‘left’ or is planning on retirement it seems this person would be his replacement.
While chatting with different employees in the Sioux Falls Public Works department they seem surprised the city would be buying used maintainers for snowplowing and spending that much money for equipment that is essentially only used for plowing snow. Maybe this would be the reason why we have leased for so long?
I also asked about collection times and if they would be effected. They told me NO because they pull drivers from Parks and Rec and other departments like Water, and Fire.
But I guess the large purchase irks the employees because they have been begging the city purchases it’s own mil grinder (I probably have the name of the equipment wrong, but what it basically does is grind down a street a few inches for resurfacing). I guess the city leases the equipment and they have trouble getting it because other contractors are also leasing it at the same time they want to use it. Employees have told me it would save taxpayers $$$ and would be more convenient for our Public Works department. As one employee said to me, “And we get a heckuva a lot more streets fixed, faster.” So while $9 million for some snowplows may be a worthy investment, it seems the city’s priorities once again are whacked!
Anytime I see a warning or notice on the city website I get curious about a cover-up (I really do). The other day the city was warning that folks near Veterans Parkway were under a boil order. The city reported it as an accident with a contractor. I was waiting for one of my city hall moles to call me for the other side of the story. I got that call tonight. According to them there was quite the kerfuffle at public works about how this all came down. It seems the ‘accident’ was partially the contractor’s fault and partially the city’s. According to my source who was getting their information from another city employee (so it’s a bit fuzzy) they said the contractor called the city asking permission to open a valve. The city granted the permission but the contractor opened the wrong valve (maybe?). So partially the city’s fault, partially the contractor’s. No harm. No foul.
Well it didn’t end there. So someone at public works apparently didn’t want any blame on the city and blamed the whole incident on the contractor, so NOW the contractor is facing a ‘unresponsive contractor’ label, which means they won’t be able to bid on RFP’s anymore.
Like I said, 2nd hand info, from a grunt, but it wouldn’t surprise me if it were true, because, you know, the city engineers NEVER F’k Up a city project 🙁
Bunker Ramp
Unity Bridge
Admin building
Midco
Denty, and much more . . .
It seemed a majority on the council were suspicious of this deal and why we need to buy these maintainers BEFORE the yearly budget is approved. And for good reason. So the question that we ALL need an answer to is; ‘Was it the city’s idea to purchase the maintainers or the contractor?’ I don’t know, but the more that gets revealed it seems this deal was concocted and pitched to the city by the contractor wanting to ‘rid’ themselves of the used equipment. So why would they need to get rid of this equipment? Long story short, the contractor who leased the equipment had the contract tied to a major developer who is out of the business now. So did this contractor inform the city they were no longer going to do the lease? And while they were at it, did they offer the city this ‘deal’ to purchase the used equipment we have already been paying leases on? Yup, that’s right folks, they want to sell us the very equipment they have been leasing to us. So since they are apparently not in the business anymore and a major investor has passed away it seems like a sweetheart deal for the contractor and ANY investor he may have had. Be warned council, this isn’t being done to bail out the city, it is being done to bail out a contractor. No surprise, while there is nothing nefarious about the current lease agreement, you have to question the arrangement with the developer, the city and what goes on at the yearly ‘High Tea’ meetings. The city council needs to budget for a NEW lease agreement with a NEW provider after a RFP is put out. I hope the council comes to their senses and looks at the current lease agreement and who is listed on it.
As you know I have been encouraging the city for over a decade to tear down the MX liquor property at 15th and Cliff. I was happy to hear they were finally moving forward. They tore down MX and an abandoned house but gave the property owner a couple more months to fix up the two remaining houses. He has done nothing, and the deadlines have passed and the houses still sit there rotting (literally).
On top of that, I have contacted 3 city councilors and someone at public works (demolition) about why these properties have NOT been demolished yet . . . crickets. Which tells me they plan to do nothing. And they wonder why I call them incompetent?
But it gets even better.
(Yes, the power pole is hanging at an angle with extremely heavy transformers on top)
One of my neighbors noticed that a tree in the backyard of one of the dump houses broke and landed on the garage and a power pole, bending the pole and some of the equipment on the pole (this pole provides power to Century Business Products). So my neighbor, being the good gent he is, called the non-emergency police line to tell them about it and his concern for a fire being sparked. So a couple of minutes later he was standing in his front yard and he saw a fire truck pull up, the driver pointed out the window, talked to the other firefighter for about a minute and drove off. My neighbor was called back and told that Excel and the SFFD can’t do anything because it is on private property. HUH? Excel OWNS the pole, not the private property owner. They have a thing called an easement.
It’s time to bulldoze these places before an electrical fire, or worse breaks out. But I am not holding my breath. I told my neighbor we may wake up one morning and the houses will have collapsed into the basements and it would take another 10 years before the city would come and clean it up. If you ain’t in the Jones neighborhood in Sioux Falls, yah don’t matter.
l3wis