Last summer I was told about a building sale downtown Sioux Falls. The seller, Mayor Paul TenHaken, the buyer, Lloyd Companies.

The building to the left is the Rock Island building Mayor TenHaken used to own and sold to Lloyd Companies, the tall apartment building, I coined the ‘Good Times Building’ because it reminds me of the buildings in the intro of the classic TV show, is owned also by Lloyd Companies, and they own the building to the far right, the street in the middle is the 7th Street Cul-de-sac slated for improvements by the city.

It is no secret that elected officials in all capacities in our community either have business ventures or real estate investments, not all of them, but some. Serving as an elected official YOU can LEGALLY and ETHICALLY have real estate investments in our community, where it gets real sticky is using your position of power to sweeten those deals. Not only is that ethically and morally wrong, there are Federal rules when it comes to how Federal subsidies, like ARPA, work, and in no way shape of form can an elected official benefit from those monies.

This is what we know.

Lloyd purchased the property on December 31, 2020 (I know, odd day to complete a closing) thru one of their multiple LLC’s, Cheney Lake, LLC. I was told developers setup multiple LLC’s so they can get different tax breaks and rebates on housing and other rental property. I also know that Cheney Lake, LLC is registered to Lloyd, because like all of their LLC registrations, they are registered at Lloyd’s main corporate offices.

The mayor’s Chief of Staff was a former executive staffer of Lloyd companies. Did she have any hands in brokering this deal?

Paul also owned the building under an LLC, called Phillips to the Falls LLC, which was dissolved because of inactivity (the state will dissolve your account after a period of inactivity, but why didn’t Paul just dissolve it in advance?)

Also, how did Paul acquire the building? If you look up the LLC on the SOS website (type in ‘Phillips to the Falls LLC) you will see it was created in 1998, Paul would have still been in high school, so did Paul acquire the building, other assets and liabilities of the previous owner? In other words did he purchase the building in a straight up property purchase or was there some kind of bank closing on the property? Ted Thoms was the person who originally created the LLC.

Shortly after the purchase at the end of 2020, in August of 2021 (item #49) the council provided supplemental appropriations from ARPA funds. $1.25 million was going towards the reconstruction of the 7th street cul-de-sac that Lloyd now owns three adjoining properties.

The suspicious purchase price has many people scratching their heads. Notice on graphic below how much the assessment jumped in just 2 years. Is it because Lloyd paid above and beyond for the property knowing improvements to the area were coming from the city?

I was told that Lloyd paid $1 million above and beyond appraisal. I certainly don’t have the appraisal, but you can make some assumptions from looking at the tax valuations.

The building was assessed a year later for $2.9 million, taxes are $53K, but if you look at what it was assessed before shortly after the purchase, $33K in taxes, and you extrapolate that from the current taxes, it would have been valued at $1.8 million or less at the time of purchase. So did Lloyd pay a million above and beyond for the property with a promise of ARPA money making improvements to the streetscape around the properties they own?

Well isn’t that the million dollar question?

UPDATE: Also, since the property in question went up so much in assessed value, that means the properties around this building will all be re-assessed and likely go up in value also.

In conclusion, this is troublesome for several reasons, including that probably very few, if any, councilors were in on the back deal. There is also the question of getting paid a million over appraisal while you are a sitting mayor, and of course the ARPA federal dollars being funneled into the project. I also am pretty astonished that you can basically pay double for a property and the county doesn’t even blink an eye and just puts down the new assessment and value like it is no big deal (the valuation jumped around 90%).

This needs to be investigated by the city council and the ethics commission. It’s ethically and morally wrong and possibly criminal.

*I would like to thank several people who helped me with this post, including three sources that were invaluable.

I love tiny desk, probably one of the few corners in my life that always makes me smile, laugh and cry all at the same time. While some of the performer’s music isn’t my cup of tea, I do like the performances. When Ms. Roan texts on her flip phone, I lost it.

Another one for the record books PBS

Over the past couple of months I have been watching the city council races. One candidate seems to bug a lot of people and I have had dozens of people tell me this person was fired from their last job, but nobody would tell me why.

I always had the same answer, “Lots of people get fired for lots of reasons. I’ve been fired before, sometimes I screwed up, sometimes management sucked, etc. This is NO reason to disqualify someone to run for city council.”

So I pretty much put it to bed. If I don’t know why this person was terminated, and NO ONE wants to tell me, there is not much else to say.

Until today.

A person tells me the same thing I have already heard a dozen times, they were fired. So I asked, like I normally do, WHY? They spilled.

Now, this candidate has never told anyone they were terminated or why, but they made this announcement on FB last year about starting a NEW job in the same field;

Usually when you leave a job and you have a cell phone connected to that, you would probably lose your work phone, but if you were fired and it was for very bad stuff, they would certainly take your phone.

I have fed this enlightenment to some journalists in town that are working the details. But I will say, the termination was NOT because of a disagreement or policy dispute, the best way I can describe it without dipping to much into finer details was it was because of corruption and likely is still being investigated.

Hopefully we will see something in the Sioux Falls MSM in the coming days, hopefully before the election, because this person is not only unqualified to serve, if they were alledgedley fired for these reasons, they may have a ‘record’ that doesn’t allow them to serve. (I’m not talking about Bobbie either 🙁

The smart thing to do would be to drop out before the election.

*As for all the council candidates wondering if it is them, trust me, this person knows who I am talking about, and none of the other candidates could hold a candle to these kind of shenanigans.

Also, it’s NOT Jordan Deffenbaugh, he’s only guilty of rocking a cool haircut 🙂

Do you know what the Hebrew word ‘Tzadik’ means?

Tzadik (Hebrew: ??????? ?add?q[tsa?dik], “righteous [one]”; also zadik or sadiq; pl. tzadikim[tsadi?kim] ??????? ?ad?q?m) is a title in Judaism given to people considered righteous, such as biblical figures and later spiritual masters. 

Interesting that a slumlord would name his properties righteous.

As you can see from the pictures below of just a couple of their properties, they have serious code violations.

Instead of the city coddling this person and trying to protect his investment, the city’s job, and it’s city manager, the mayor, need to have code enforcement rain hail on these properties. Most should be condemned and the conditions his PAYING renters are forced to live in are criminal.

This isn’t FREE housing, they are paying for it, and residents of this city have the right to safe, clean and affordable housing. I actually think criminal charges could be filed against this person.

Would you pay $700 a month to live in these places? Heck, if you BUY a condo at the Steel District, the monthly HOA fee is around $800 a month (which I would assume is for security and building maintenance?)

My point is that most of the people who live in these places are paying rent and working and they needed to be treated better by the city’s code enforcement office.

I heard they are changing the name of this particular complex to ‘Plywood and Needles Estates’ 🙁

The audio may not work on the video below, but basically this is an apartment that was supposedly move in ready.

I decided to challenge myself and write ONE sentence PRO’s and CON’s of the candidates running in the April Election, here we go;

SIOUX FALLS SCHOOL BOARD (2 seats available)

Bobbie Tibbetts

CON: Sued the District over Title 9 and won. As an active plaintiff in that case it would be a gigantic conflict of interest to serve on the board, and I’m not even sure she can legally serve because of it. And there’s those dang forms!

PRO: Young mother active in the school district and activities.

Stuart Willett

CON: Besides being a MAGAt, Stuart decided the best way to tear down government was to NOT vote ever in Sioux Falls. That’s why he registered to vote a few days before he announced.

PRO: Has some good ideas about reading comprehension and listening to teachers.

Gail Swenson

CON: A bureaucrat for 41 years in education.

PRO: A bureaucrat for 41 years in education. (YES I DID THAT ON PURPOSE)

Marc Murren

CON: Voted for the Gymnastics funding to be yanked, which resulted in a lawsuit (see Bobbie Tibbetts above)

PRO: Wants to work towards more transparency in the district.

Pat Starr

CON: Has sent his adopted and foster children to both private and public schools (he mostly sent children to private school due to some special needs).

PRO: Pat has NEVER voted for a tax increase the 8 years he was on council, he is PRO-OPEN GOVERNMENT and he is active in school athletics as a basketball referee and has built great relationships with parents, coaches and students. Also, Pat is a very honest and modest person and probably one of the most mild-tempered councilors I have ever known. He is also highly ethical. I often tell people, if you vote for the candidate with the highest ethical standards, you can guarantee they will govern that way also.

AT-LARGE CITY COUNCIL

Jordan Deffenbaugh

CON: Doesn’t have the campaign finances to mount an effective marketing and mailing campaign (but he still has time).

PRO: Is involved with numerous non-profit organizations that help lower income folks, knows his stuff when it comes to Urban Planning (Founding member of Sioux Falls Strongtowns) and has the vigor and knowledge to be an very effective councilor.

Richard Thomason

CON: Lost his last (corrected) primary election and doesn’t really have a strong message.

PRO: He’s a moderate Republican who lost to a couple of right wing weirdos in the legislature.

Allison Renville

CON: Talks a good game when it comes to school district policy and state law but doesn’t really understand city government.

PRO: Works with her fellow tribal members in the community to help the disadvantaged and abused. Would be the first Native woman to be elected to council.

NORTHEAST DISTRICT

Neil Jeske

CON: Hasn’t lived in Sioux Falls long enough to understand the finer details of city government, but is teachable 🙂

PRO: He has a low tax, low regulation view of local government.

David Zokaites

CON: David is a Fashion Disaster.

PRO: David is a Fashionista.

Miranda Basye (also known as Barney the 5th)

CON: The rumor is she was fired from her last job at the Sioux Metro whatever alliance. Would be nice to know why.

PRO: Has a good background in small business ownership and knows how to turn a wrench.

SW DISTRICT (Uncontested)

Ryan Spellerberg

CON: ZERO TRANSPARENCY. We know absolutely nothing about this person and he didn’t even bother to show up to a candidate forum. Marshall Selberg 2.0.

PRO: ?

NW DISTRICT (Uncontested)

Jennifer Sigette

CON: Another one that has lived and worked in this community for decades and decided to register to vote right before announcing. So not only has she never voted in a city election or for herself, but no one else has either, funny stuff 🙁

PRO: Since she has NO experience in government and she was uncontested, I got the feeling from some of her quotes in the media that she will keep an open mind about planning, etc. So I guess she hasn’t had her ‘specials’ meeting yet where the gifting of the Rubber Stamp occurs and marching orders. Poor girl.

If I had to guess, this election was over before it started. But there are some interesting scenarios. I think if David and Neil or Allison and Jordan can force a runoff (need to get a combined 50% + 1) the race will be more competitive. I am for sure predicting a runoff in the At-Large race (start writing Jordan checks TODAY!) and if Jordan can mount a 1 on 1 against Richard, he CAN beat him. The irony of the Rex Rolfing/Theresa Stehly rule is it may blow up in their faces. Richard could get 49% of the vote in the general and lose in the runoff.

The school board race is incredibly competitive, and with 5 peeps running for 2 seats and it being a plurality, the races could be decided by a handful of votes, and I predict a recount on that election. The 3 strongest candidates are Starr, Murren and Swenson.