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Sioux Falls Parks and Rec

SF City Council Sioux Falls Sioux Falls Parks and Rec

What are the drawbacks of approving the Indoor pool funding in advance of the yearly city budget preparation?

l3wis 8Comments

While the city discusses options for their DT Trolley system, that was shelved since the Federal money ran dry (saving taxpayers about 140K a year) the mayor’s office is proposing going full steam ahead on an indoor pool.

But are they?

If you look at item #57, the appropriation to be put forth for an Indoor Pool, you will find a distinct difference between the MEMO and the ACTUAL appropriation ordinance document. In the memo, it says the money will go towards the PARKS & RECREATION Department AND;

This funding will be used to complete the funding of the indoor aquatics facility at Spellerberg Park.

But when you read the actual ordinance for the appropriation, NO mention of an indoor pool OR Spellerberg;

That the following fund is supplemented as listed below:

MOU/Division, Parks and Recreation

Funding Source, Sales/Use Tax Fund (unobligated fund balance)

Amount, $11,180,776

I find it a bit odd that they would just appropriate the money to a ‘general’ division without specifying what the money is for. Yes, in the memo it is mentioned, but not in the ordinance itself.

What does this mean? Not sure, it could mean that the Parks & Rec department has a lot of wiggle room with what they can do with the money, and secondly, it certainly doesn’t nail down the Spellerberg location, or does it? Without any resistance from the public or council.

Maybe that is the nature of this beast, without mentioning Spellerberg in the ordinance, it may give the power to the Parks board and director to go hog wild on picking a location and what can be spent and designed for Spellerberg, leaving the council almost completely out of the process, except for approving the funding. Once again, the council would be in the dark, and they would have done it to themselves.

Of course the city would be foolish to spend the appropriation on anything BUT an indoor pool (the voters want one). But the council truly needs to amend this ordinance so they have a final say in location and design of an indoor pool.

My other observation is why are we jumping the gun on this appropriation, especially when it is pretty vague and general? Why not stuff this $11 million in with the budget coming up? The concern is tying up this $11 million dollar in an advance appropriation before the council and mayor have had a chance to prepare the budget for next year.

That’s $11 million we could spend on a lot of different things we may actually NEED (like police officers or new sewer lines) versus things we may WANT.

Normal operating procedure at Carnegie and City Hall once again.

Michelle Erpenbach SF City Council Sioux Falls Sioux Falls Parks and Rec

So who is attributed to this mysterious ‘exit poll’ about an indoor pool?

l3wis 5Comments

Remember the April vote was for a NEW outdoor pool at Spellerberg.  The only poll we know about at this point are the city voters voting against replacing the pool with another outdoor pool. CS365 and Nielson did polls BEFORE the vote, but I have no clue who did an exit poll.

In the informational meeting video (FF: 7:20) Michelle actually states “They have been privy to a poll”.  She says they have a public poll but we have never heard about it before this informational. Was this a top secret poll? Who conducted it? CS365? Another private entity? Or the city?

Informational Meeting Minutes – Tuesday, April 22, 2014

Council Member Michelle Erpenbach responded that polling done illustrated 70% of the voters (who voted against an outdoor pool at Spellerberg Park) assumed they were voting for an indoor pool at this same location.  She recommended listening to the citizens that support this location.  Erpenbach noted that the indoor pool project has been a project for this City Council. She recommended allowing the two outgoing Council Members the right to vote on this item.

In a document handed out at the informational meeting (Spellerberg Scan 042814) there were no attributions as to who conducted the exit poll, not even a mention of this mysterious exit poll, just previous polling and election results. Is councilor Erpenbach just making up this mysterious exit poll? And even if she isn’t, why did voters ‘think’ they were voting on an indoor pool at Spellerberg when it was not on the ballot? And why is councilor Erpenbach bragging about how the city & CS365 used taxpayer and private money to mislead voters?

My bigger concern is that documents are being handed out at public meetings that are claiming a 70% approval of an indoor pool at Spellerberg, and have no attributions as to ‘who’ conducted the poll. Could care less if it was true or not, my bigger question is whether it was actually conducted, or construed and concocted with polling previous to the election?

Looks like something is being pulled from someone’s butt.

Elections SF City Council SF School District Sioux Falls Sioux Falls Parks and Rec

Was local media purposely dismissive of another indoor pool location before the election?

l3wis 17Comments

NOW, our local media tells us about another location for an indoor pool, only a few weeks after the election;

Brown also has reached out to neighboring property owners, the Sioux Falls School District and the city. She had visions of an indoor swimming pool on her land, similar to how the schools, park, community center and library are co-located nearby.

“The city has not showed any interest in that even though they’re looking for an indoor facility and the people who live around me would not be unhappy,” Brown said.

Maybe our local paper got this story after the election? Not sure. I never heard a peep about the Lacey family proposal before the election, not even a rumor, and I know several politicos who know Brown. I would have thought I would have at least heard an inkling of this proposal.

It’s no secret, my idea for an indoor pool would be either to build it where it can be expanded with a private/public partnership or in conjunction with the school district. The crazy part about the proposal was it was sitting in front of our faces all this time. I’m curious as to who Brown is talking about when she says ‘the city showed no interest’. Who with the city or either the school district told her they were not interested? I have never seen this presented to the city council or school board. So was it the planning office? Parks and recreation or the mayor’s office that said NO? It is also very curious that this proposal wasn’t mentioned until after the election. While I find Schwan’s article intriguing I am wondering how this got buried.

Elections farts Sioux Falls Sioux Falls Parks and Rec

Community Swim’s literature includes images of domestic disputes and child neglect

l3wis 24Comments

I had heard about the photo shoot at Spellerberg, but never imagined they would actually use the photos in a mailer. I was wrong.

So now CS365 is using images of kids fighting and making kids stand in the cold? WOW, they are getting desperate. I thought they were concerned about kids getting diabetes, but frostbite? Who cares. What’s next an imagine of a fat kid sitting on the couch eating chips, drinking pop with an insulin pump attached to him?

BTW, my brother and I used to get into all kinds of fights, but it was never about indoor swimming, it usually involved something to do with farts or boogers, not child hood obesity and diabetes.

Scan10001pool

Sioux Falls Sioux Falls Parks and Rec

Participant Poll Show 53% Vote YES for Outdoor Pool

l3wis 29Comments

UnderWater_520x260

Veterans for the VA Host Telephone Town Hall With 7638 Voters

Veterans for the VA held a telephone town hall on Tuesday night focusing on why voting Yes to keep an outdoor pool at Spellerberg Park is the prudent way to vote on April 8th.  Measure 2 on the ballot calls for the city of Sioux Falls to spend no more than $7.5 million on an outdoor pool at Spellerberg Park. A YES vote for Measure 2 keeps an outdoor pool and rescues the city from spending nearly $20 million on an indoor aquatics center at Spellerberg Park which would add $13 million in new debt to the city’s finances while impeding veterans access to the VA and increasing traffic and parking problems in the Spellerberg neighborhood.

Tom Muenster, a local veteran, long time Sioux Falls resident and leader of Veterans for the VA had this to say, “We are not at all surprised by the great turnout for last night’s call.  Spending nearly $20 million on an indoor aquatics center at an inappropriate site while adding $13 million in taxpayer debt is simply a misguided plan.  When voters hear the facts they vote YES to keep an outdoor pool at Spellerberg Park because it is the fiscally responsible choice.”

More than 3800 households participated in the telephone town hall to learn about how voting YES on Measure 2 helps Sioux Falls upgrade to a modern outdoor pool at Spellerberg Park while avoiding the pitfalls of municipal debt associated with building the indoor aquatic center at Spellerberg Park, which is opposed by seven of the eleven candidates running for office on April 8th.  “With over $400 million in debt already, Sioux Falls has a larger debt than the entire State of South Dakota.  Adding another $13 million for an indoor pool is simply too much debt to put on the taxpayers creditcard,” said Muenster.

Veterans for the VA reached nearly 8,000 voters in over 3,800 households during the telephone town hall last night.  When polled about their position on Measure 2, 53% of voters stated they planned to vote YES for an outdoor pool while only 41% planned to vote no.  “A majority of voters are clearly concerned about the impacts of spending $20 million on an indoor pool that piles on more than $13 million in new debt,” said John Matthius, a Save Spellerberg member who also participated in the call.   “When voters hear about the added debt, along with the negative impact on the neighborhood, on the trees and green space in Spellerberg Park, and the adverse impacts to veterans’ access to health care services at the VA hospital, they understand that supporting a proposed indoor aquatic center at Spellerberg Park is the wrong choice.”

Neighbors have been citing their concerns to an indoor pool at this site for a number of years.  Suzanne Van Bockern, a member of Save Spellerberg, said, “Voting YES for the outdoor pool at Spellerberg Park is the right choice to protect the park, protect the VA and protect the neighborhood.”  Residents near Spellerberg Park gathered over 7,000 signatures needed to put the issue of capping spending on a pool at $7.5 million.  A vote on April 8th will determine whether their fellow residents heard their pleadings to rescue Spellerberg Park.

Visit www.siouxfallsfacts.com to get the facts.

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