Agenda Item #9 – Wheel Loader – bill $12,629.37 The Wheel Loader which was purchased used at a cost of $39,500.00 and as I remember to work on streets. Ours wheel loader is a 2000 John Deere 544 (K) unknown hours with a speculative value somewhere around $15K to $30K in running condition. So it appears the city just did $12,629.37 worth of repairs on a machine valued at or around $12K and that doesn’t include the hauling charge to and from Sioux City? (0:48:01.00) diagnosis:
*Leak in Boom Lift
*Replace O-rings
*Bad U joint
*Oil
*Rebuild Fuel Pump
*Full Service
*Alarms going off due to bad connector
*Issues with shifting
*Issues with Steering
(0:51:49.50) leave it up to the operators. What operators? Why would we leave a $12629.37 bill in the hands of operators? Vote went to pay the $12,629.37 without question.
Folks the wheel loader item was presented as sitting in Sioux City for repairs and awaiting council approval of performing the above listed repairs. The approval happened in the April 19, 2021, city council meeting. So allowing the entire day of Tuesday for the myriad of repairs (or was the magnitude and severity of repairs greatly exaggerated), allowing Wednesday into Thursday for trucking of the wheel loader and leaves Friday to put said machine to work. SO WHO AUTHORIZED THE WORK PRIOR TO THE COUNCIL APPROVAL OF EXPENDITURE FOR THE ABOVE LISTING OF NEEDED REPAIRS APRIL 19, 2021. MAYOR? It is my belief that the Mayor alone cannot approve an expenditure of that monetary size. STREET DEPARTMENT HEAD? Does not have that authority and has not been given that authority by the council via the voters. FINANCE OFFICER? Way…way outside of her authority!
SO JUST WHO DID AUTHORIZE THE $12,629.37 WORTH OF REPAIRS IN ADVANCE OF COUNCIL APPROVAL?
Mayor Dan Haeder called the April 19, 2021, city council meeting to order with the recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance. Council members present were Councilman David Larsen, Councilwoman Darla Reppe, Councilwoman Linda Talbott, Councilwoman Melissa Kay and City Attorney Sam Nelson with Councilman Marcus Ireland participating via telephone.
Agenda Item #3 – Mayor Haeder called for Approval of the Agenda. An adjustment was made to add an additional Executive Session SDCL 1-25-2.3 Legal Contract to Agenda Item #6. Like we really needed another Executive session last night.
Agenda Item #4 – Public Input –
*Vickie Larsen – Wheel Loader throwing good money after bad. (0:07:07.00) Direct Deposit for employees. I ask the question does the city offer direct deposit to its employees. Finance Office Jurrens answer was no. (0:37:70) So Why not? Don’t know how FOPat? Too much work for you? I handed out ‘how to direct deposit’ to the council with a detailed packet to Mayor Haeder. The detailed packet I handed to Mayor Haeder explained how direct deposit would save the city money. Folks keep this mind, ’til you get to the HSA Healthcare provider change Agenda Item #10 (0:54:42.90) and (0:55:14.87)
*Don Drown – (0:10:10.10) Junk and dead cars in the city. Mr. Drown was asked by Attorney Sam Nelson, “have you contacted the city?” (0:14:01.53) Mr. Drown answered, “…numerous times…” (0:14:12.23) Attorney Sam tells Mr. Drown to keep contacting the city office to establish a time line (0:14:19.00) Mayor Haeder says, to talk to him, talk to your councilmember (0:15:18.20) I asked about the a complaint form (0:16:11.77) FOPat answers the city has a form, really? Why didn’t you have Mr. Drown fill out a complaint when he spoke to you all those numerous times? Councilman David Larsen asked, “…Are they (the complaint forms) on the website (0:16:28.57) FOPat replied, : No, but I can put them on it….What you waiting for, why are ya draggin’ your feet FOPat?
*Councilwoman Darla Reppe – (0:17:37.20) Musical Garbage Cans Game the Alcester home version. Frost is out, time to change back. (0:18:36.33) Councilwoman Talbott thinks we should keep the game of Musical Garbage Cans going and FOPat well FOPat says (0:18:45.97), “Actually Loren loves it…” Of course “Loren” loves it, he can get into town and get out of town so he can pick up more garbage on the route and get home. He does not have to pay the street maintenance fee!
*Councilwoman Melissa Kay – Interstate 29 Sign – My advice to Councilwoman Kay, do your homework before you suggest another Bambee-like fiasco such as interstate signage. For instance madam Kay, SDCL 31-29-1 through SDCL 31-29-87. That is just the South Dakota, the Union County, local licensing fees. Then there is the IOWADOT (Iowa Outdoor Advertising Regulations of Interstate Highways) and then there is the Linchpin Article, How to Effectively Use Outdoor and Billboard Advertising at https://linchpinseo.com/the-guide-to-outdoor-advertising/ updated 03/16/2021 author Team Linchpin. Folks I took the advertising course in school. Leisure Sports looked into Bill Board advertising when we became a Recreational Vehicle Dealer. Want to know the potential costs, let’s see there is the annual state licensing permit ranging from $16 to $72 per sign based upon size, State zoning restrictions apply, County zoning restrictions apply, Cannot be in public right-of-way or over-hang it, the maximum area of one sign can be 1200 sq ft and cannot exceed thirty feet in height and 60 feet in length. private property contract for land rent for structure of the sign, and now the biggie. Traditional billboard require a monthly payment of $250.00 to $14,000.00 or more. Digital billboards monthly payments start from $1200.00 to $15,000.00 or more. Now folks FOPat is all hot-to-trot to replace the decrepit signs North of Alcester and South of Alcester. There would be tear down fees, licensing fees from South Dakota and Union County along with any zoning changes along with any restriction as to content of the signage. (0:20:30.97)
Agenda Item #5 – Wastewater Facility with presentation by Banner Representative Ms. Tanya Miller. (0:23:11.03) Duties of the engineering, too bad the city did not have this in place during the SRTS fiasco which bought the city a tort suit. (0:34:23.80) Executive session #1 SDCL 1-25-2.3 Consulting with legal counsel or reviewing communications from legal counsel about proposed or pending litigation or contractual matters; Length of session was 6:34 pm – 7:02 pm equaling a total time of 28 minutes.
Agenda Item #6 – Executive Session SDCL 1-25-2.3 Consulting with legal counsel or reviewing communications from legal counsel about proposed or pending litigation or contractual matters; discussion and decision to settle the claims of Terry and Jessica Christensen under any terms and conditions recommended by outside counsel. Length of session was 7:08 pm – 7:17 pm for a total discussion time of eight (8) minutes.
Agenda Item #7 – Executive Session SDCL 1-25-2.1 Personnel Discussing the qualifications, competence, performance, character or fitness of any public officer or employee or prospective public officer or employee. The term, employee, does not include any independent contractor;Motion made by Councilwoman Melissa Kay. The group entered Executive Session at 7:19 pm and was out of Executive session at 8:09 pm for a total time of 50 minutes. Boy-howdy somebody was in deep do-do.
Agenda Item #8 – Library- Hired a part-time summer read person at $9.60 per hour.
Agenda Item #9 – Wheel Loader – bill $12,629.37 The Wheel Loader which was purchased used at a cost of $39,500.00 and as I remember to work on streets. Ours wheel loader is a 2000 John Deere 544 (K) unknown hours with a speculative value somewhere around $15K to $30K in running condition. So it appears the city just did $12,629.37 worth of repairs on a machine valued at or around $12K and that doesn’t include the hauling charge to and from Sioux City? (0:48:01.00) diagnosis:
*Leak in Boom Lift
*Replace O-rings
*Bad U joint
*Oil
*Rebuild Fuel Pump
*Full Service
*Alarms going off due to bad connector
*Issues with shifting
*Issues with Steering
(0:51:49.50) leave it up to the operators. What operators? Why would we leave a $12629.37 bill in the hands of operators? Vote went to pay the $12,629.37 without question.
Agenda Item #10 – Health Plan change from Sanford to Wellmark with HSA option. (0:54:42.90) Pat’s health plan. So Pat cannot handle direct deposit for the city employees but she is more than willing to take on the management of an HSA for the employees and the city? Really it seems that FOPat is playing Robin Williams’ “Pinocchio, the Home Game” again.
Agenda Item #11 – Department Head reports –
Garbage pick-up moved to accommodate Park Street and Sixth Street rip up. (1:06:09.97)
Today has been a perfect example for erosion. Folks I have asked repeatedly in Public Input, when is the retaining wall going to happen, NO ANSWER. I commented about the failure of SunnySide Storage Units to put in the retaining wall on the variance side of their property which was a provision of the variance. Is it laziness on Mr. SunnySide or the procedural incompetence of our building permit issuer (Finance Officer). It appears our building permits are in a sorry state of compliance and oversight.
If the above building falls off the edge of the SunnySide cliff, someone is going to be sued. Will it be Mr. SunnySide for digging where he should not have, the failure of Mr. SunnySide to install the retaining wall, the Finance Officer who made a promise to Mr. SunnySide she could not fulfill and she did not have the authority to assure he had a slam duck building permit, the city council who approved the variance or will it be all three.
Folks, if this were your property, your building sitting on the edge of oblivion at the next rain, how much compensation would you ask for $50,000 each for the two separate properties affected by the failure of the city to follow through on their building permit?
EROSION and SEDIMENT CONTROL and STORMWATER MANAGEMENT FY2020 – Special read Introduction pages 14-19, 29-31 and 43-50. Under #2.11 Property Rights, page #12; Sub#3.2, page #14; Sub 3.4,page #15; and Sub 3.18, page 19-20.
“Don’t lie to me unless you’re absolutely sure that I will never find out the truth”
(ongoing criminality?)
Mayor Dan Haeder called the April 5, 2021, city council meeting to order with the recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance. Council members present were Councilman David Larsen, Councilwoman Darla Reppe, Councilwoman Linda Talbott, and City Attorney Sam Nelson with Councilwoman Melissa Kay with Councilman Marcus Ireland participating via telephone.
Agenda Item #3 – Mayor Haeder called for Approval of the Agenda.
Mistake #1 – Agenda Item #6 should never had been on the list, given the identity of the Ward III Candidate.
Agenda Item #4 – Approval of March 1, 2021, and March 15, 2021, council minutes. Approve without change.
Agenda Item #5 – Public Input – Vickie Larsen brought up the #1- need for a storm shelter replacement. The city instituted a storm shelter at the auditorium and when they sold the building they had an obligation to find a suitable alternative in my opinion; #2 – improperness of alderman interviews before the first May meeting (little did I know all the facts on that one) (0:04:32.42); #3 – the custom computer and Finance Officer Patricia Jurren’s contention the custom computer is an IBM clone. All computers after IBM could be described as clones (0:04:55.60) Below you find the product of my FOIA/Sunshine request of February 17, 2021, regarding the custom computer, take special note of the scrawled notations on the invoice page and the costs. Folks I did not received any answer to my questions during or after my input.
Agenda Item #4 – 4th graders driving golf carts in the cemetery; #5 – tracking water usage of the Alcester Fire Department and an apparent personal use of free (straight off the backs of the Alcester taxpayers); and Finally #6 – the failure of Sunnyside Storage to complete a retaining wall on the south edge of their property on Sixth street.
Agenda Item #6 – Executive Session – Interview pursuant of SDCL 1-25-2-1 Alderman Interview with a motion to approve Ward III Alderman, term until next election. Who put this on the agenda FOPat or the real mayor. I had already raised the question of the error in procedure. At Councilwoman Melissa Kay’s instigation with the active participation of City Attorney Sam Nelson and council actively disenfranchised Ward III residents by terminating a valid appointed councilwoman fulfilling her oath of office. Councilwoman Melissa Kay, City Attorney and the council continued their deliberate participation of the Ward III disenfranchisement by failing to seat a replacement from October 5, 2021, to April 5, 2021. Now after discussion among the council, the city attorney and Mayor Haeder and without naming the candidate, the group decided by consensus to delay any appointments to the Ward III seat to the May 3, 2021, meeting. I wondered why the rush to seat a Ward III council person before the proper time. There was a guy seated behind me and of whose identity I was blissfully unaware. Mayor Haeder looked around me and ask if the person who was going to be interviewed could make the May 3 meeting and received an affirmative response from the guy behind me. Had the council continued under FOPat’s thumb-print pressure, this individual would have been seated and able to vote on futher ward openings. Guess What, I have since learned the identity of the guy, and wonder-of-wonder it is none other than Dale Jurrens. ARE YOU KIDDING ME? What part of CONFLICT of INTEREST do you not get? So tell me, (and we are likely to surpass the Armstrong, Iowa, story here) if the Finance Officer is sleeping with her Alderman does that count as overtime or does that qualify as merit pay? And is that for one or both of them. How does the city insurance work, do they both get insurance paid? Does FOPat give him orders or as Ward III council person does Councilman Dalie give her orders? So if there is a spat between FOPat and Councilman ‘Dalie’, do we have to pay City Attorney Sam Nelson to arbitrate and who pays that bill? Just askin’.
Agenda Item #7 – Paint South Dakota – No volunteers project dropped.
Agenda Item #8 – Legal – Sam Nelson Mr. Nelson dealt with the property nuisance issues, and brought up two legislative issues. One pertinent to Alcester is HB 1084 dealing with covenants (0:14:07.07) (0:15:29.07)where the time has been extended to 40 years to protect homeowners from sh*thousers. City Attorney Sam says this does not apply to the variances given by Pat to her buds Lance, Mike and etc. I disagree. Keep in mind here that FOPat and then-Ward III councilman Lance Johnson went to seek the counsel of Mike McGill fellow Beresford Lawyer to none other than our Alcester City Attorney Sam Nelson and I do believe upon Mr. Nelson’s recommendation. Isn’t that nice? “…We are all on one team…” except when it comes to protecting our property values from being decimated by barns/garages, sh*t house steel mansions and infected alien attorneys.
Agenda Item #9 – Department Head Updates –
No Dept. head from Streets;
No Dept. head from Water/wastewater but had input from FOPat who stated water is a enterprise fund and the city it to make money off our water. (01:29:15.97) Return to my input on the water usage by the Fire Department. Folks the city (the residents of Alcester) pay for the water from Southern Rural Water. The city has allowed the fair to use water from the city at no cost, in fact they watered the fairgrounds to get the grass to grow a couple of years ago. The city allows the Fire Department to use water without cost to fight fires, Okay. But to fill personal swimming pools, not on your life. So did Fire Chief Kast approve this?
No Dept. head from cemetery, Chief Jeff was present with his report, Councilman David Larsen gave report on the Golf Course and the library. Committee Chairperson reports did not happen cause no committee chairs were prepared or present.
Agenda Item #10 – Post Hole Digger – Motion to purchase a post hole digger from Axel Ericson for $1200.00 with three (3) attachments. We now have the ‘tools’ to dig post holes.
Agenda Item #11– Ordinance/Policy Clarifications – This involves interpretations of parking Chapter 7.05 (0:43:11.47) (0:43:24.23) and (1:00:07.9)
Agenda Item #12 – Re-Evaluation 2021-03 Face Coverings – no action needed
Agenda Item #14 – Water Meter Installation discussion of fees. (1:29:15.97)
Agenda Item #15 – Gravely Mower (1:47:39.10) FO Pat took it upon herself to have the mower put into the discard bin for scrap value. (1:48:11.07) the bin is gone according to report. FO Pat made the decision to surplus the mower WITHOUT council approval. So who is Mayor? The city bookkeeper is not the mayor nor is she a member of the council. Apparently FOPat does not think she needs council approval of disposal of city property.
Agenda Item #16 – Life Guard certification pay back. Given what I am hearing about paychecks, I wish the lifeguards good luck in getting reimbursement from the finance officer in a timely manner.
Agenda Item #17 – Sirens tested and will have a statewide tornado drill on April 21.
Agenda Item #18 – Finance Office Updates
Evidently the city is no longer using a direct deposit service for the employees and as I understand it the mayor cannot seem to sign the payroll checks in a timely manner.
Agenda Item #19 – Community center Update.
Agenda Item #20 – Fair board Update.
Agenda Item #21 – Executive Session if needed, it was not. Fancy that!
A Voice from the Gallery 