OBSERVATIONS, SUGGESTIONS AND ISSUES

LEGAL

Transparency in fees, charges and hourly retainer.

• Billing project by project allotment of fees, charges, billing and number of attorneys, aides, interns, etc.  ie.  Lawsuits, condemnations- municipal resolutions, municipal ordinances, and etc.
• All opinions given to the mayor and council should be treated as formal and be in written form.  If a verbal opinion is voiced in council meeting whether in person or via telephone, it should be written, dated and signed with the subject matter and involved parties noted.
• All consultations with advisors with specialties such as Finance Officer or property maintenance will be limited to time on project, written opinions and will have a council member present at that meeting so nothing can be lost in any self-serving translation or paraphrasing.  (my recommendation)  Get rid of Geoff Fillingson, he is redundant.  He is an unnecessary drain on the budget because his opinion is being spoon fed by the city attorney and more than likely has a form which he fills out.  We already pay the attorney, why pay some unnecessary individual $25.00 an hour to replicate legal advice at the retainer fee of the city attorney,
• All Lawsuits cost of settlement versus cost of representation, subpoenas for financial records not relevant to the details of the damages torte portion of the lawsuit should be considered.

LATE (THAT EVENING) ADDITIONAL NOTES

• LATE ADDITIONAL NOTES REGARDING COUNCILWOMAN CYNDI PEEPLES WORKING IN THE ALCESTER CITY OFFICES.
• ALLOWING PATRICIA JURRENS IN THE CITY OFFICES BEHIND THE COUNTER AND IN CITY FILES AND DOCUMENTS WITH/OR WITHOUT SUPERVISIONS.
• MUST CONSIDER BOTH DOCUMENTS FROM MAYOR DRIESEN, THE RESIGNATION AND THE RESCISSION OF HIS RESIGNATION.

ART GALLERY, DISPLAYS OF FOR-PROFIT ENTITIES AT CITY EXPENSE

The city needs to remove all artwork from the premises of the City Office and Community Event Center immediately.  There is an implied liability, no waiver of liability is in place and the city is being expected to act as a gallerist for the sale of this artwork and maintenance of display.  The city of Alcester and its taxpayers are financing this community center and should not be footing the bill for display, sale of artwork and maintenance of the said artwork.

• The City should bill Ms. Fagre for the repair of the walls in the City Office and the Community Center for the damage incurred with the hanging of those art pieces.
• No Sales of artwork or any other for profit merchandise or services should be happening.
• City personnel will not offer wares for sale at city public arenas.
• No sidewalk sales hawking merchandise, foods, or promotion items unrelated to city sanctioned fundraisers like city park playground equipment or improvements.
• City could accept seasonal promotional brochures to be placed within the municipal public areas from such entities as the Alcester Area Chamber of Commerce with all monies to be paid directly to said entity.

ENGINEERING CONSULT

Given the poor performance of what appears to be the city’s present go-to-engineer of choice—should not hire him again given the recent lawsuit emanating from his apparent lamentable lack of ADA knowledge.  If he cannot engineer an ADA SRTS within ADA compliance and which does not flood private homes in the area he is a major liability and needs to be placed upon the do not call list or request for bid list.

MAKE USE OF ALCESTER’S RESIDENT EXPERTS/TRADES PEOPLE

Alcester has trades people with the appropriate backgrounds and provable experience in building projects of most forms who our city council council could consult with, get opinions and options of any municipal project.

• Council could better make use of the local experts who can explain processes to council members who are not conversant with processes, equipment or construction.

SET UP A BUSINESS OFFICE FILING SYSTEM CONSISTENT WITH TRANSPARENT RECORD RETENTION.

Alcester needs a filing system consistent with normal, common sense  records filing, labeling and storage.  

• Mayor and council members should be educated to the filing systems so that should there be absence of the usual records keeper the mayor or any council member could find and access and find any given file, form or document of the city easily.  Limited to the mayor and two council members.
• Familiarize the Mayor and council members with the definition of archival documents, mandated by the State of South Dakota  and/or Federal government for retention.

DEPARTMENT COMMITTEES

• Alcester Mayor sits on all department committees.
• Past Alcester City practice, three (3) council members have been assigned to each committee.
• The purpose of these department committees is to divide up the departments amongst the council, usually to each council member’s area of expertise or experience.
• The mayor, committee chair and two council members will meet to discuss the operations, needs and overall performance of the department.  This committee will receive written requests for supplies, equipment, suggestions on projects, costs for projects and etc. from employees of that department.
• The committee chair will sign off on the warrants emanating from their department or in the absence of the committee chair one of the two remaining council members on the committee will sign the warrant with the Alcester Mayor signing the checks for those warrants.
• In the event of any performance issues, reviews and like business within the department, the department chair and committee will meet with the employee and discuss any issues arising and will then make recommendations to the mayor who will have the ultimate decision..  
• In addition the department Chair and committee members will meet with any other individuals with pertinent information to any specific issue or department need prior to presentation of requests to the whole council for purchase or action.

POST ALL DOCUMENTS/ITEMS TO BE DISCUSSED IN MEETING ON CITY WEBSITE.

SDCL 1-25-1.4. Information to be posted on state website.

Any state board, commission, or department that is required to provide public notice of its meetings pursuant to § 1-25-1.3 shall make available on a state website designated by the commissioner of the Bureau of Finance and Management, if the information exists:

(1)    Financial statements;

(2)    Audit reports;

(3)    A list of the members of the board or commission;

(4)    A schedule of future meetings;

(5)    Public meeting materials that are available before a public meeting;

(6)    Meeting minutes; and

(7)    Annual reports.