Tag: Darla Reppe Alcester SD

06/04/2018 A Voice From the Gallery

Giving money and power to our city council is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys.

P.J. O’Rourke quote

Thus begins the commencement of the June 4, 2018, Alcester City Council with Councilman Dan Haeder, Councilman David Larsen, Councilwoman Melissa Kay, Councilwoman Darla Reppe, Council Candidate Linda Talbott, Alcester City Attorney Sam Nelson,  and oh yeah councilman Lance Johnson.

We all stood and recited the Pledge of Allegiance.  Then all the agenda line items were figuratively tossed into a lottery hopper, spun around and Mayor Half-Glas’d proceeded to pluck the agenda balls off the top of the hopper much like a Saturday night lottery ball pick.

Agenda Item #3 – Approve the Agenda

Agenda Item #4 – Approve Minutes of 05/07/2018 and 05/21/2018

Agenda Item #5 – Administer Oath of Office Ward 1 Candidate Linda Talbott (00:02:18) – I do not recall the council ratifying Mayor Half-Glas’ appointment of Mrs. Talbott.  According to SDCL 9-14-3,

 “…Each appointive officer of a municipality governed by a mayor and common council shall be appointed by the mayor with the approval of the council…”

So if I am correct, how does the vote of individual who has not been formally ratified and who has taken part in several council votes affect council business.

Agenda Item #6 – Mayor appointment of committee-Yup Mayor Half-Glas’d looked down at the list to see whom he appointed and to which committees.

Agenda Item #7 – Public Input-  I spoke first advising the council the pool rules are no longer present at the pool.  Prior to the beginning of the meeting I distributed copies of sample pool rules, highlighting rules which need to be instituted to conform to safety issues with a slide to each of the council members, council-candidate Talbott and City Attorney Sam Nelson.  I formally advised them of pool slide uses which due to liability exposure should be prohibited.  (00:04:29) NO Action.

(00:06:18) Mayor Glas took up space on public input (when he, as author of the agenda could have had an agenda item all to himself) complaining about properties in violation of green growth height and junk.  Yo Mayor, did ya forget we have property maintenance ordinances? Did ya forget we have a code ordinance enforcement officer, Geoff Fillingsness?  Have you not seen FO Pat wandering down the streets during city office business hours with her protégé and camera taking pictures of the weed realms?  Sir didn’t ya’ll get FO Pat’s’ memo on that one?

Ostensibly the ‘need’ for outside code enforcement is to take heat off local employees doing the ticketing job.  So when observant souls in Alcester see FO Pat and her entourage a haulin’ their fannies down the street and stopping in the weed realms to take pictures we are to assume they’re scrapbooking for the Alcester Historical Page of the Union?  Really!  I heard-tell of the golf-cart cortege and how the ‘girls’ were taking pictures of high-jump-sized weeds, drooping trees, eye-balling the height of over-hang and the Salvador Dali school of junk art.  Since no one reported a jousting-style 14 foot pole with the golf-cart cadre or NBA basketball player with a l-o-n-g tape measure standing next to over-hanging trees, eyeball measurements are not best evidence and could be successfully challenged.

Mayor Half-Glas’d called upon the council for ideas TO FORCE ordinance compliance and as the character of Sergeant Schultz was often quoted in the TV series, Hogan’s Heroes, “…I know nothing…n-o-t-h-i-n-g…”  Glas-knost nothin’ neither!  But… but he is the mayor, he is supposed to know!

Since it wasn’t 6:30 pm yet, Mayor Half-Glas’d pulled Agenda item #9 from the top of the lottery tumbler.  Lonnie Johnson gave a synopsis of street updates, flashing cross light with no push buttons and pool updates.  Here was the perfect opportunity for the council to address potential changes in the pool rules or at least have the pool committee of Councilwoman Darla Reppe, Councilman David Larsen and councilman Lance Johnson set up a meeting to address the liability, insurance and pool rules as they apply to the new ‘used’ ‘slide’.  NOPE-didn’t happen!

Still not 6:30 p.m. so Mayor Half-Glas’d moved onto Agenda Item 10 – Water/Wastewater Dale Pearson.  OOPS Mayor didn’t get the memo Dale was not present, so Mayor Half-Glas’d had Lonnie Johnson give the water/wastewater synopsis.

Agenda Item #11 – Police Department-Police Chief Chris Doty was not able to be present so Mayor Glas hop-scotched onward.

Agenda Item #12 –  Golf Course Updates – Councilman David Larsen gave an update on golf course.  Items b and c were postponed until later in the meeting because they required executive session.

Agenda Item #13 – Finance Office Updates –

  1. a) Parking at the Park – concrete bridge near horseshoe pit blocks access for the two northern most homes on Park Place.  Evidently the alley of clown concreters  ‘…did the city a favor…’ by what appears to be an unauthorized change order by building a Dukes of Hazard style ramp/bridge which ‘precipitated’ the flooding of a ‘down-stream’ home.  Who let this pratfall of clowns out unsupervised?  The council cemented their decision to delegate by handing this exercise in concrete off to Alcester City Attorney Sam Nelson so he could present them with a firm solution.
  2. b) Fitting Madam’s door.  Evidently Madam’s door was too short, so Mr. Pies was hired to lower the hem on her door.  Councilman Haeder assured the Mayor and the council that Madam had been take care of.

IT IS 6:30 p.m. Now we go back in ‘Agenda time’ to Agenda Item #8 – City Council Public Hearing for 2018 Planning and Zoning.  Alcester Councilman David Larsen moved to accept the changes in the Zoning Ordinance, Councilman Lance Johnson made the second and with no further discussion the council voted to accept the changes and officially accept the first reading of the 2018 Planning and Zoning Ordinance.  Although the term ‘Planning’ in this context has been to date an oxymoron.

Mayor Half-Glas’d be-bopped back to Agenda Item #11 and Police chief candidate and part-time police officer candidate interviews.  At 6:35 p.m. councilman Lance Johnson moved to go into executive session to conduct police department interviews, second came from Councilwoman Melissa Kay and with no discussion the group voted unanimously to enter executive session for the purpose stated.

LANCE JOHNSON

(00:35:43)  councilman Lance Johnson in response to your pronouncement that I am not a council member.  That is true but neither is Pat Jurrens a member of the Alcester City Council, she gave that up to poach the position of Alcester Finance Officer.  Finance Officer Jurrens has no special insight, no special employee interview talents nor does she have legal standing over any other resident of the City of Alcester to be included in executive session, therefore in your own words councilman Lance Johnson she needed to, “…get out!…”

In addition any historical information concerning wages, resumes, applications is contained within city records available to each and every council member.

Currently, the city of Alcester makes no record of executive session therefore the presence of the city attorney needed unless he is supplying legal advice or opinion.  Should a written record be needed, the president of the council acts as recorder.  Therefore councilman Lance Johnson if the meeting is open enough to support Pat Jurrens presence, it can support my presence as well as any other interested parties presence which in fact makes the meeting open.

At the conclusion of the executive session at 8:35 p.m., the mayor entertained council motions, seconds-to-the-motions and votes to hire Jeff Christie as Police Chief and Kendra Windeshausen as part time officer

The mayor re-called Agenda Item #12 (b) and (c).  Golf Course Committee Chair David Larsen raised the questioned whether the council still needed to go into executive session for the golf course.  FO Pat piped up and said yes.  Curious the guy who is the Golf Course Committee Chairman having an active participation in the daily operations of the Alcester Golf Course questions the need for executive session and yet Finance Officer Pat Jurrens over-ruled him on the need for executive session. H-m-m!

The Council returned to Agenda Item #13 (c) (1) for the Sexual Assault Prevention & Response Training course.  Date of Training and unlike the TV series, MASH character Five o’clock Charlie the group could not land on a time for the training just they felt they needed to be trained.  The question was never called, so no action on the item.

Agenda Items 14, 15, 16, 17, and 18 were superfluous and quickly dispatched, so finally Agenda Item #19 Adjournment was called and with all the alacrity of the last Amen after a two hour sermon in a non-air-conditioned church on a piping, hot day the council voted to adjourn.

After the meeting I questioned Mayor Glas what his reason for keeping Pat Jurrens in Executive sessions was, he hesitated but replied, “…it’s personal…”  I replied how can it be personal, you are mayor, how can your inclusion of Pat Jurrens in executive sessionto interview Police Chief and part-time police officer be personal?  I didn’t get a responsive answer, only that the city attorney told him he could keep Pat Jurrens in executive sessions a-n-d so the conversation devolved.  I walked outside, came across the city attorney and ask him if he had told Mayor Glas that Finance Officer Pat Jurrens could stay in executive session that didn’t require her bookkeeping duties.  I got a surprises, non responsive answer but did take part in a spirit debate on why FO Pat should not be included in executive session since she is no more a member of the Alcester city council than I am.

05/22/2018 A Voice From The Gallery

The May 21, 2018, special meeting to the Alcester City council was half-Glas’d called to order at 6:00 p.m. with the following council members present:  Councilman David Larsen, Councilman Dan Haeder, Councilwoman Darla Reppe, Councilwoman Melissa Kay and Councilman Lance Johnson (got the beans out and deigned us with his presence).  No lawyer present.

Prior to this meeting I distributed copies of the minutes of the May 7, 2018, meeting so the council could see Finance Officer Jurren’s published liberty with the truth of the May 7, 2018, regular meeting of the Alcester City Council meeting and the closure and bar of applicants for the Ward I vacancy, knowing that I would be barred from speaking and pointing out her abysmal failure to record and report the actions of the council.  I also hand-served a FOIA (freedom of information request) on Mayor Glas via the Alcester Finance Officer Jurrens on May 18, 2018, requesting a true and complete copy of the May 7th minutes, a true and complete copy of the 2018 Lease and Operating Agreement between the City and Deem Enterprises, a line item accounting of all expenses attributed to the city asset described as the Alcester Bar for the years 2014 through 2018 and a line item accounting of all income attributable from the Lease and Operating agreement between the City of Alcester and Deem Enterprises for the years 2014 through 2018 (as explained in an amendment to the FOIA).

The purpose of the ‘special meeting’ was to interview candidates for police officer position.   The meeting opened with the pledge, then straight into approval of the Agenda. 

Agenda Item #5 – Alcester Bar.  Madam Woolworth still didn’t have any stools.  Councilman Dan Haeder had done some swivel stool research and found just replacing the ‘swivelly’ part wouldn’t work ’cause the screws wouldn’t match up with Madam’s bottoms.  S-o-o-o the council decided to purchase two-part stools at $138.14 per patron butt times twelve (12) for a ‘bottom-line’ price of $1657.68 for twelve disassembled stools which would have a weight limit of 250 pounds each.  Councilman Haeder stated they (to which Lance Johnson immediately volunteered) would have to assemble the ‘swivelly’ super-structures to the ‘base’ units.

Agenda Item#6 – Public Hearing for the Alcester Quickstop Malt Beverage License.  Evidently a recent change in law created some additional work to issue license now.

Agenda Items #7 – Personnel.  I am pleased to impart the information Alcester Finance Office Pat Jurrens and Mayor Glas were advised that FO Pat’s rendition of the minutes was not factual and needed to be corrected!  Folks the original published minutes were not just incorrect but appeared to be surreptitiously corrected without notice to the council and its approval.  These minutes are unapproved, yet Mayor Glas and Finance Officer patently refuse to publish them as unapproved as I have repeatedly suggested in public input.  The county correctly publish their minutes as unapproved as well as the Alcester-Hudson School district correctly publish their minutes unapproved when the minutes are published before the meeting in which they are formally approved by the board, so why are Mayor Glas and FO Pat refusing to give true, complete and reliable, transparent information to the people of Alcester?

Agenda Item #8 – Police Department.  And now the police interviews.  With the exception of the interview of a female applicant in which the public safety committee (Councilman Dan Haeder, Councilwoman Melissa Kay and Councilman Lance Johnson) decided to interview without Alcester Police Chief Chris Doty.  By-the-way was this the female applicant who was related to a council member as I hear by-the-grape-vine)? The absence of the Police Chief in this quasi police interview is amazing because these council members have (as is my understanding) absolutely no experience in police procedures and training unless one counts being arrested a couple of times).  Candidates for the evening’s interviews were Austin Pickering, Austin Van Horn and Austin Schuller. 

Councilman Lance Johnson moved to go into executive session to discussion personnel, Councilwoman Melissa Kay seconded the motion and with no further discussion and a unanimous aye times five vote council moved into executive session at 6:14 p.m.  However, after shutting down, removing my camera but prior to leaving the council room I saw that Finance Officer Pat Jurrens was making NO move to leave the council room.  WRONG!  I promptly stated, “…It is not proper for the city bookkeeper to remain in executive session to interview police candidates.  FO Pat is NOT the seventh council person, personnel interviews have absolutely no context with the city finance office and Finance Officer Pat Jurrens has absolutely NO relevant input, right to vote nor sway council opinions on police candidates. NONE!  I watched  as Pat looked toward Mayor Glas, Councilman David Larsen stated, “…I see no reason for Pat to stay…she can leave…”  Again Pat stood looking at Mayor Glas and then to Councilman Lance Johnson.  I exited the room, expecting to have Mayor Glas ask for my arrest if I did not.  I had already had the council ask a police officer in a past executive session to be ready to arrest me, if I dared (my word) protest.  So Pat stayed where she did not belong and we trouped out into the hallway.

So while Police Chief Doty, Mayor Glas, Councilman Larsen, Councilman Haeder, Councilman Johnson, Councilwoman Reppe, Councilwoman Kay and bookkeeper Jurrens remained in the council room with the door shut, it was the three Austins and me in the hallway.  I told them Finance Officer Pat Jurrens did not have the right or authority to ask them any questions when they were interviewing in closed session and they did not have to answer any of her questions or comment.  It was purely up to them whether to ignore her interference or answer her, it was not however a requirement of interview.  We idly visited about training and procedures.   Austin Pickering was the first candidate to go into interview, at 6:50 p.m. Austin Pickering came out and Austin Schuller went into interview, at 7:40 p.m. Austin Schuller came out and Austin VanHorn went into interview and exited his interview at 8:05 p.m.  With all candidates out of executive session the Mayor, the Council, Police Chief Doty and bookkeeper Jurrens remained in Executive session until 8:29 p.m.

Agenda Item #8 (f) – -Police Chief Doty’s Resignation.  Police Chief Chris Doty officially tendered his resignation as of June 5, 2018.  The council accepted his resignation unanimously.

Agenda Item #9 – Banking.  Pat wants to transfer $30K from the second (2nd) penny sales tax to the Community Building Fund Account.  Needed a council vote to transfer the money.  Now folks we have several accounts accessible to the finance office which begs the question, WHY?  Too many accounts and lamentably half-Glas’d, poor oversight or duplication duties of oversight results in questionable accounting problems and ‘shortages’.

Agenda Item #10 – Council Vacancy.  The Mayor at the urging of Bookkeeper Pat to appoint Ms. Talbott to the Ward I vacancy.  This effectively shut down anyone who had not been hand-picked by bookkeeper Jurrens from applying for the vacancy and interview.  There was no formal interview of Ms. Talbott, although Councilman Lance Johnson stated he had visited with her privately and gave his tacit approval.  WOW!  So the council dispensed with formal interview ’cause Councilman Bean Talker says he approves.  Alcester Finance Officer Pat Jurrens when asked about the vacancy stated, (00:19:23) “…Ward I is hard to find people to seat…’cause they are old…or they are renters…”  Really, tell me  Councilman Dan Haeder was a renter, so he is not suitable as a councilman because he was a renter according to your statement?  So how old is Mayor Glas, 77 years old?  So FO Pat is 77 years too old, too infirm or too incognizant to be a credible Mayor?  Really!

Agenda Item #11 – Executive Session.  Called by Pat (00:20:31) for Personnel at 8:38 p.m. Really the bookkeeper calling for Personnel Executive Session?  Remaining in the council room were Mayor Glas, Councilman Larsen, Councilman Haeder, Councilwoman Reppe, Councilwoman Kay, Bookkeeper Pat Jurrens and Councilman Johnson.  I was relegated to the Hallway where I took up my usual post by the half-door of the Finance Office.  So what in the world of personnel could they have yet to talk about, the Police interviews had already taken place, the misinformation regarding the pool employee had been corrected, so what else?  It couldn’t be police department performance ’cause the council just hired personnel and Councilman Lance Johnson and Councilman Dan Haeder had already discussed the previous police officer, his finances and possible legal actions against him in OPEN SESSION and the council hasn’t had time to advertise for a Police Chief, although courtesy advertising a vacancy doesn’t seem to be a ‘high priority’ for Mayor Glas and FO Pat.  Maybe they will down size and put FO Pat in charge of the Police Department, TOO.  That way she can schedule police officers patrol times.  Yup I can see this move,”…Whereas, the former software peddler who applied for the Finance Office vacancy caused in part by her council vote to sack the 30+ year finance office veteran, and with absolutely no training, background or expertise was awarded a starting $40+K salary with the expectation the outgoing finance officer would ‘train’ her at his exit wage of $38K+/-.  Now in addition to her ‘expertise’ in police scheduling, I’ll bet she will want to control law enforcement performance, dictating who should be arrested and who shouldn’t?  Similar to the Code Enforcement sorties where I have been told involved a golf cart cruising town, eye-ball judging tree hang-over and issuing ticketing letters.  So what does Code Enforcement Officer Fillingsness do besides provide a form with his signature which the ill-trained golf-cart cadre fill out?  Two ordinance complaints I know of have been filed, yet there is no discussion, no disposition or no courtesy acknowledgement of the complaint.  Amazing!   The council was called out of Executive session at 9:02 p.m. and before I could get completely into position, Councilman Lance Johnson called for adjournment and council was immediately adjourned around 9:05 p.m.

 Ladies and Gentlemen of Alcester, the Alcester Ship of State is being  dragged down by a cadre of milfoil-style barnacles.    

 

 

 

04/03/2018 A Voice From the Gallery

Once again Mayor Glas failed to open the meeting properly (00:00:15), he just announced it’s time, let’s say the pledge and so the April 2, 2018, regular meeting of the Alcester City Council began with the presence of Mayor Glas, Councilman David Larsen, Councilman Lance Johnson, Councilman Dan Haeder, Councilwoman Melissa Kay, Councilwoman Julia Sundstrom-Lyle, Councilwoman Darla Reppe, City Attorney Tom Frieberg and his colleague Sam Nelson of Beresford.

The council unanimously and with no discussion approved the agenda and minutes of the March 5th regular city council meeting and the March 19th Special/ Equalization meeting with no changes or corrections.

Agenda Item #5-Alcester Bar/Theresa Deem  After a far too short respite Madam Woolworth has returned with her hand out to the Alcester taxpayers wallet.  It seems her stools are over-stapled, ‘tipsy’ and because, “…a lot of heavier people are sitting on them…” (00:01:50) she is afraid her stools cannot handle the ‘loads’ placed upon them and Madam, “don’t want nobody gettin’ hurt…”.  Madam wants new stools at what she speculates to be $100-$150 a ‘plop’.

The council discussed Madam’s conundrum and none of the current council members had an idea of past council practices as it related to Madam Woolworth.  In the past lease agreements, Deem Enterprises, LLC, managing member Theresa Deem affixed her signature to the Lease and Operating Agreement acknowledging her responsibilities as lessee under

Title XI REPAIRS – Page 5,  “Operator (Theresa Deem) shall maintain the building premises and any improvements, additions or alterations thereto in a good, safe and substantially similar condition existing at the commencement of this Lease and Operating Agreement…Operator shall also, at her own cost and expense, put, and maintain in thorough repair and in good, safe, and substantial order and condition…Operator shall be responsible for all repairs of equipment…”  

So when Madam, ‘re-tires’ from the bar, she can take her stools and ‘sit on them’ and save the city money spent hauling them away.  The city needs to sell the bar building, get that Central Business property back on the tax rolls and stop the hemorrhage of cash spent to ‘float’ Madam’s booze boat.  I believe Madam’s monthly lease went up to $1300 last operating agreement so she pays the $1300 then holds her right hand out for $1200-$3000 for ‘stools’.  Where is our records custodian? Finance Officer Jurrens is the custodian of city records and she didn’t know to look at the Lease and Operating Agreement for the obligations and restrictions of the parties to the Lease?  By-the-way have the Lease terms and Conditions named Title XIX, Title XXV and Title XXVI been complied with by the Deems and been verified by the city for 2018?

It was still early for the scheduled Planning Commission Public Hearing, the Seal Coat Bid Opening and Mr. Jones representing Alcester Townhouse Apartments was not yet present so the Mayor Glas called Public Input.

Agenda Item #9-Public Input was called.  I responded.  Prior to the meeting I provided the council members with a re-presentation of documents I presented to them in Public Input on June 5, 2017, and to which they failed to respond.  Highlighted on the document was the establishment of an official city website on March 3, 2014, which included the members who made the motion, the members who voted aye which included the Alcester Councilwoman Pat Jurrens and Rick Johnson was Mayor.

This time there was a discussion but the discussion was a little troubling.  Councilwoman Darla Reppe asked the question, “…are we required to have an official website?” (00:19:33) Finance Officer Pat Jurrens responded (00:20:33), “…as long as (minutes) are published in paper”

  (SDCL 1-25-1.1 “…Also, if the public body has its own website, the notice must be posted on the public body’s website upon dissemination of  the notice…The notice must be delivered in person, by mail, by email, or by telephone  to all local news media who have asked to be notified…” and SDCL 1-27-1.17 “requires that draft minutes of public meetings must be made available to the public at the principal place of business for the public body within ten business  days after the meeting (or made available on the website for the public body within five business days…”)) 

Councilwoman Reppe since you were not present at the March 3, 2014, council meeting when that council decision was made and along with your lack of gallery presence at subsequent Alcester City Council meetings until the evening of your interview and appointment as Ward III representative which could have bolstered your insight into how our municipalities operate,  I understand your global ignorance of council procedures and how our municipality operates.   Yeah Councilwoman Reppe and Finance Officer Jurrens, we are required because a previous council approved the official Alcester website and provided for taxpayer moneys to be used!  Madam Finance Officer it fell to you (then Councilwoman Jurrens) who voted on the website to act upon the ratification of that council vote and later when you were appointed as Alcester Finance Officer it became your duty to work at or cause to be implemented the establishment the official city website as voted by the representatives of the people of Alcester!  What were those definitions again, mal-feasance, mis-feasance and non-feasance as it relates to councilwoman oath/duty and finance officer job performance?   Mayor Glas you have thrice been apprised of the website situation and you failed to enact the website directive.  You have the duty to carry out that council vote once you were made aware of the website vote, failure to implement and proof of vote!  Are you aware Mayor Glas of those definitions of mal-feasance, mis-feasance and non-feasance as they apply to your failure to act?  On March 3, 2014, Alcester Councilwoman Kama Johnson moved to establish an official city website, Alcester Councilman Mike Burke made the second to the motion and Councilman David Larsen, Councilman Steve Johannsen, Councilman Mark Dykstra and Councilwoman Pat Jurrens voted unanimously to establish an official city website! Period!  Councilman Dan Haeder responded, “…verify with legal if we have to have a website…vote not relevant to a past council…requirements…?” (00:21:04) So with all due respect Councilman Haeder if we drag our feet long enough, prior decisions of the council are automatically repealed by sitting council declaration?  Is that what you are saying?  So what is the time frame, a month, several months, a year?  How long before we can ignore votes of the current council?  I know ‘we the people’ can already refer, initiate or just move to compel compliance but how long must we wait to come up to an acceptable or widely practiced standard, a website?

Another part of my documentation to the city council was a formal complaint made on June 1, 2017, regarding the roll-off container with flammable materials located at 102 E Second Street violating Fire Code 2803.2, 2808.1, 2808.5, 2809.1, 5904.2, 5904.2.1, Alcester Municipal Code 3.0102E and 6.0212.  I have had no response from Code Enforcement Officer Fillingsness or the city of Alcester.  I have heard from other sources Finance Office has been saying, “…the city sidewalk in front of the bank doesn’t have the same restrictions as the residential sidewalks…” BALONEY!  I have also heard reports of comments to the effect that, “…well if they make an effort to clean it up… it is discretionary…”  BALONEY!   Violations are violations, Period!  It makes no difference whether it is the Alcester Tire and Service place (2015-CDBG Loan $15,000.00-Teri Metcalf) or the assistant finance officer’s son-in-law who is operating light industrial in the central business zone.  Nepotistic discretion or Chamber discretion hold weight?  Too many years of, “…it’s on our radar…” allowed a older gentleman by the name of Andrew to perpetrate a municipal nightmare.  Well gents, your radar ain’t pingin’ right!  Maybe, just maybe, that pingin’ on your radar is a UFO or UCO.  Ya know one of them there Un-responsive Finance Officer or Un-responsive Code Officer zippin’ around the grid.

During Public Input I also addressed the Planning and Zoning revision noting the district map had an error on it, as well as and I addressed pages 23 and 32 which dealt with the construction materials.  These pages prohibited corrugated metal, “…corrugated metal is not a permitted roofing material…”.  NOTE:  Both the 01/29/2018 nor the 04/02/2018 draft of the Planning and Zoning Revisions fail to define corrugated metal.  Mayor Glas reveling in his ‘expertise’ undertook the task of educating me on the definition of corrugated metal. (00:41:58)  Mayor Glas the definition of corrugated metal quite simply put is, metal sheeting which has been extruded (if you will) with a texture of ridges and grooves which provide strength to the metal sheet.  Copper, aluminum and stainless steel are the most commonly available corrugated metals and Mayor Glas, these corrugated metals are recognized as an excellent form of residential roofing  (corrugatedmetalroofing.net)  so endeth the lesson Mayor Glas.  Several Alcester residential homes have corrugated metal roofs, drive down Lincoln Drive some time Mayor.  By-the-way check out the pot holes in the street while you are at it!  In addition I told the council the Planning and Zoning revision failed to recognise and/or deal with global solar roofs and panels.  It is easier to fix omissions in an ordinance update before the printing than after the printing and ratification.

Agenda Item #8-Alcester Townhouse Apartments-Dennis Jones  At the conclusion of public input, Mr. Dennis Jones had arrived and his agenda item was moved up in the line-up.  Mr. Jones was present to address a Property Maintenance Complaint on the property located at 101 SD Hwy 11.  The property violates Property Maintenance Code and has done so for quite some time.  Mr. Jones had voiced his concerns in the past with no action taken and he was concerned because he had seen a posting that the business was going to start taking used oil and batteries.  So if the business is going to be put up for sale (per a 01-09-2018 Facebook posting) when will the property be cleaned up?  The CDBG Loan balance due $10,377.05 to Teri Metcalf appears to be the same as Alcester Tire and Service?

Agenda Item #7-Open seal coat bids.  The city received three bids for seal coat select streets in Alcester.  Bid criteria was 20,000 square yards of CRS-2P to be put in place between June 15, 2018, and September 1, 2018.

  •                          Topkote             Yankton             $1.97/square yard     granite chip
  •                          Road Guys         Yankton             $1.75/square yard     granite chip
  •                         Asphalt Surfacing  Sioux Falls       $1.99/square yard     granite chip

Councilman Lance Johnson moved to accept the bid from Road Guys at $1.75/square yard of CRS-2P based upon 20,000 square yard purchase.  Second by Julia Sundstrom-Lyle and a unanimous vote x 6 aye ratification.

Agenda Item #6-Planning Commission Public Hearing  Upon the arrival of Mr. Patrick Andrews SECOG representative, the Planning Commission Public Hearing commenced.  Discussions involving the telecommunication towers addition to the Planning and Zoning document, semantics discussion of appropriate use and conditional use definitions.

Councilman Dan Haeder moved to approve the first reading of the April 2, 2018, revision of the Alcester Planning and Zoning Regulations, with the second to his motion coming from Councilman David Larsen.  No further discussion followed and vote was called with a unanimous X 6 Aye vote, affirming and ratifying the First Reading of the April 2, 2018, Alcester Planning and Zoning Regulation Revision.

Councilman Lance Johnson moved to set the Second reading of the April 2, 2018, Alcester Planning and Zoning Regulation Revision on the May 7, 2018, regular meeting agenda of the Alcester City Council (I presume under old business) with the second to Councilman Johnson’s motion from Councilwoman Darla Reppe, with no further discussion the vote was called with a unanimous X 6 Aye vote.

Agenda Item #10-City Employee Updates-Street Department-Pool  Lonnie Johnson of the Alcester street department gave an update on asphalt repairs and requested a concrete pad be poured near the city shop to control water flow down grade away from the building.  Concrete slab would be .5 X 16 X 30 with rebar reinforcement requiring 9.778 cubic yards of concrete.  Bid from Larsen Construction was $2203.20.  Councilman Lance Johnson moved to approve the project and the Larson Construction Bid of $2203.20 with a second to his motion coming from Councilwoman Darla Reppe and with no further discussion the vote was called with the council voting unanimously X 6 Aye.

Swimming pool issue was called with input from Councilwoman Melissa Kay and  Councilman Dan Haeder on the opinion poll.  Since the criteria of the original opinion poll changed with the advent of the notification from Beresford on the possibility of Alcester acquiring their projected surplus pool slide  making the opinion poll irrelevant and redundant the council addressed the purchase of a diving board.  Councilwoman Melissa Kay moved to purchase the diving board as presented by MCR at the quoted cost, the second came from Councilman David Larsen and with no further discussion the vote was called with the council voting unanimous X 6 Aye to approve the purchase of the diving board.

The slide issue was put off in order to gather more information about the slide.  Unfortunately when I searched for Seawave model by Aqua Thrill, I found the domain name was lapsed and Seawave was now listed under Lincoln Aquatics and the Seawave model is a portable slide.   In addition the criteria for slide installation and operation was sketchy.  Particularly the operational and safety aspects.  I found the suggested rules listed below, some are common sense but others will not allow certain children on the apparatus.

WATER SLIDE RULES:

  1. Make sure the slide is mounted per the manufacture recommended specs for the slide and the pool size.
  2. Children younger than six years old and shorter than three feet tall should not use pool slides.
  3. Don’t push or scuffle on the latter or stairs of the slide.  Only one person on the ladder at a time.
  4. Wait your turn.  Do not try to slide until you see the child before your has cleared the slide land area or left the pool.
  5. Don’t slide holding objects that can get caught on the slide and cause injury.
  6. Only One person at a time should be on the slide.
  7. Slide down feet first only.
  8. Never apply oils or lotions to the slide.
  9. Never throw anything at anyone on a pool slide.

SPECIAL NOTES AND RULES:

  • The splash down area in the swimming pool must be clearly separated from the general recreational pool with buoy lines if the pool is not a dedicated slide land pool. Additional methods of egress may be required if the pool is separated with a buoy line.
  • A lifeguard shall be on duty at the slide whenever it is in use. Where possible one (1) attendant shall be stationed at the top of the tower, and one lifeguard at the splashdown area.

Agenda Item #11-City Employee Updates Water/Wastewater-  No report. Finance Officer Pat Jurrens announced that assistant finance officer Wanda Halverson was updating sewer rates.

Agenda Item 12-City Employee Updates-Police Chief  Police Chief Doty gave a statistics update, mentioning a break-in at the bar.  No update on a parking issue.  Police Chief Doty did ask for an executive session regarding police personnel issues.  Councilman Lance Johnson moved to go into executive session to discuss police department personnel issues, the second came from Councilwoman Melissa Kay and with no discussion the vote was called with the council vote X 6 unanimously Aye.  The Council went into executive session at 7:22 p.m.  At 7:35 p.m. the council was declared out of executive session.  Upon which Councilwoman Julia Sundstrom-Lyle moved to send Police Chief Chris Doty to Police Chief Convention with the second coming from Councilwoman Melissa Kay, with no public discussion the vote was called with the council voting X 6 unanimously Aye to approve the motion.

Skipping down the agenda to Agenda Item 15- Fair Board Update– City Councilwoman Darla Reppe and secondary Alcester City Council Fair Board representative was absent from the March 19, 2018, Alcester City Council meeting which was the Equalization meeting.  Councilwoman Reppe announced (01:34:12) in the April 2, 2018, regular meeting of the Alcester City Council she failed to represent her constituents in Ward III with her presence in the March 19, 2018, meeting because she felt it was more important to debunk rumors about the Union County Fair and was instead addressing the Lions Club on behalf of the Fair Board.  WOW!

Councilman Lance Johnson moved to adjourn the meeting, second from Councilwoman Darla Reppe and with no discussion the question was called with a unanimous X 6 Aye vote.  Meeting adjourned at 8:17 p.m.

03/20/2018 A Voice From the Gallery

On Monday, March 19, 2018, Mayor Glas waited until Councilman Lance Johnson wandered back into the council room, jumped up and announced the pledge.  Really again?  Alcester City Council members present and quorum; Councilman Dan Haeder, Councilman David Larsen, Councilwoman Melissa Kay, and Councilman Lance Johnson.  Absent Councilwoman Darla Reppe, Councilwoman Julia Sundstrom-Lyle and city attorney representative. Action taken during any meeting that is not properly opened or has not been properly noticed could, if challenged, be declared null and void.  It could even result in personal liability for members of the governing body involved, depending upon the action taken.  It appears Mayor Glas does need cue cards!

Agenda Item #3 was called and with no corrections Councilman David Larsen moved to approve the agenda as presented with the second coming from Councilman Lance Johnson, no discussion and unanimous vote times 4 approved the agenda.

Agenda Item #4 has no appointments for review of valuations within the city limits of Alcester had been received or documented.  It was noted Beresford would be going through a full evaluation in 2019, but it was unknown when Alcester would be going through a city-wide re-assessment.  It was also noted the assessment logs were not in a logical order, making it difficult to locate certain properties.  In addition it was noted  certain properties with tax exempt status or there was a question of tax exempt status.

Agenda Item #5 Public Input.  I asked the council if they were familiar with Beacon-Schneider which could provide property information by rolling over the city map.  In addition, to the questions of tax exempt status can be obtained by review the entity name via the South Dakota Secretary of State website.

Agenda Item #6 Executive session  Again another executive session for personnel.  This is ONLY to discuss SPECIFIC employees, not whether the finance office needs another $10K spending money for yoga ball chairs.  Executive session began at 6:07 p.m. and lasted until 6:27 p.m.  Really 20 minutes to discuss what batteries to use in the Police department tasers?

NOTE:  I must apologise here, a technical glitch (me not properly activating a button, ya’ll would think I would know how to push buttons by now).  Immediately after entering the council room, placing the camera back onto the tripod and hitting the record button, I was engaged in entering the 6:27 p.m. time back in session and didn’t realise the camera was not activated.  The council was called back into session, I just didn’t get the last two minutes of the meeting on video.

Agenda Item #7 was called with updates the Landfill would be Open Monday April 2, 2018, and Spring clean-u[ would commence on April 13, 2018 and run through April 29, 2018.

Agenda Item #8 Adjournment was called with a motion to adjourn coming from Alcester City Councilman Lance Johnson and the second from Alcester Councilwoman Melissa Kay, no discussion and a unanimous times 4 vote of aye.  Alcester Equalization meeting was adjourned at 6:29 p.m.

NEXT REGULAR MEETING IS APRIL 2, 2018, AT 6:00 p.m.

 

03/05/2018 A Voice From the Gallery

A picture may be worth a thousand words,  but a video with audio is priceless and it makes it tough to call me a liar-Vickie Larsen

On Monday, March 5, 2018, Mayor Tom Glas announced it was 6:00 p.m. let’s open the meeting. (video 00: 00:11).  Really again?  Alcester City Council members present; Councilman Dan Haeder, Councilman David Larsen, Councilwoman Julia Sundstrom-Lyle, Councilman Lance Johnson, Councilwoman Darla Reppe and Councilwoman Melissa Kay.  Absent city attorney representative. Action taken during any meeting that is not open or has not been properly noticed could, if challenged, be declared null and void.  It could even result in personal liability for members of the governing body involved, depending upon the action taken. (CONDUCTING THE PUBLIC’S BUSINESS IN PUBLIC, A guide to South Dakota’s Open Meetings Law (Revised Fall 2015),Prepared by representatives of the:  S.D. Attorney General’s Office S.D. Municipal League Associated School Boards of S.D. S.D. Association of County Commissioners S.D. Association of County Officials S.D. Newspaper Association S.D. Broadcasters Association S.D. Association of Towns and Townships, Published by: South Dakota Newspaper Association 1125 32nd Ave. Brookings, SD 57006)

 John Wooden said, “If you don’t have time to do it right, when will you have the time to do it over?”

Mayor Glas, here is an abbreviated script of calling a meeting to order,  “Good evening! It’s 6:00 p.m. and I’d like to call the March 5, 2018, regular meeting of the Alcester City Council meeting to order.”  You could have cue cards made and have someone hold up the appropriate card, whenever you need prompting.

Agenda Item #3-Approve the agenda– Mayor Glas upon calling for approval of agenda announced the meeting agenda once again needed to be amended by adding item (d) bid for chip sealing to Agenda Item #8.  Once an agenda has been posted no changes can be made unless they are emergencies.  Folks, chip sealing was already discussed in the February 5, 2018, regular meeting under City Employee updates under street updates referencing a collaboration with the city of Beresford.  The February 5 agenda regular meeting agenda change of a one-time burn at the golf course was not an emergency nor was the chip sealing issue an emergency on the March 5 agenda regular meeting change.  Agenda’s must be posted no later than 24 hours in advance of the meeting.

SDCL 1-25-1.1.”Notice of meetings of public bodies other than the state and its boards, commissions, and departments–Violation as misdemeanor. All public bodies, except the state and each state board, commission, or department as provided in § 1-25-1.3, shall provide public notice, with proposed agenda, that is visible, readable, and accessible for at least an entire, continuous twenty-four hours immediately preceding any meeting, by posting a copy of the notice, visible to the public, at the principal office of the public body holding the meeting…”

 Agenda Item #4-Approve minutes – Mayor Glas called the question to approve minutes, Councilwoman Darla Reppe moved to accept the minutes (as provided to the council by Finance Officer Pat Jurrens)  Councilman David Larsen called for correction to the minutes.  Councilman Larsen pointed out the regular city council meeting was held on Monday, February 5, 2018, at 6:00 p.m. not Sunday, February 4, 2018, at 6:00 p.m.  In addition he pointed out the Masthead date on the city’s official paper, The Alcester Union-Hudsonite was inaccurate.  The Masthead date showed the date of Thursday, February 18, 2018.  February 18 was a Sunday not a Thursday.  Please note here that Finance Officer Pat Jurrens failed to inform the council she did not have the correct date of the regular meeting, thereby allowing the council to approve an error.  The council approved the corrected minutes of February 5, 2018.

Agenda Item #5-Public Input– I(Vickie Larsen) answered the call for public input.  I pointed out the council had approved the Alcester Union-Hudsonite newspaper as the official city newspaper and published legal documents and notices with time sensitive dates.  Any Masthead date errors such as the February 18, 2018, could have consequences regarding the time period to refer ordinances, resolutions and etc.  For example the flowery prosy Extract of Minutes of Meeting of the City Common Council of City of Alcester, dear sweet Aunt Polly.  In what archaic book of forms did the finance office find that one?  This creative alliterative prose wasn’t drawn up by the former city attorney and I checked with the office of the new city attorney and they said they didn’t write this piece of ye olde prose (my words not theirs), so I must assume the finance office put on their round conical lawyer hat and ‘writ’ their own resolution.  Now this resolution from the date of publication, February 18, 2018, we the people have 20 days to refer this assault on our collective wallets.  Oh but February 18, 2018, was on a Sunday.  I recommended the council confer with their legal counsel.  After some discussion the council decided to contact the publisher of The Alcester Union-Hudsonite for a correction in the next issue of the newspaper which in my opinion could have the effect of adding another seven days on to the already three day late publish date.  In other words, it could have the effect of adding another ten days in which to refer Ye olde sales tax revenue bond.  I also recommended the Finance Officer indicate the whether the minutes were council approved or unapproved minutes.  It is important for the citizens of Alcester to understand current practice has been to publish the unapproved minutes with any corrections MAYBE coming the month later publication of minutes and again in unapproved publication form!

Agenda Item #6 Road Safety Improvement Project DOT 929-08/2015 Joint Powers PH0020 (187) PCN-06JK – this involved sign replacements as translated by Finance Officer Pat Jurrens.  The council was provided a copy of the contract required for participation in this project for replacing street signs.  Alcester Finance Officer Pat Jurrens prefaced her explanation (video 00:08:35) with reference to the Alcester City Council of Four years ago took the line that they were unwilling to cover the liability of sign replacement if for some reason the signs were destroyed.  H-m-m so who was on that council?  Let’s see Mayor Rick Johnson,  Mark Dykstra, Mike Burke, Kama Johnson, David Larsen and of course COUNCILWOMAN PAT JURRENS!

The story goes like this, “In the May 5, 2014, regular meeting of the Alcester City council…MAYOR RICK JOHNSON announced he signed up for ‘free street signs and wanted council permission to sign an agreement ASAP.  Councilman Larsen and Councilman Dykstra asked to see the agreement since MAYOR RICK JOHNSON failed to share advance information with the council.  Upon reading the city would be liable for the cost of materials and engineering if it didn’t maintain the signs and records.  The council said NO!  Given his responses to questions, it became clear MAYOR RICK JOHNSON failed to ‘read’ the agreement he was so anxious to sign because apparently he missed the payback clause and the cost of payback! WOW…”*

Imagine Finance Office Pat Jurrens ‘FORGOT’ all about her starring role as Alcester Councilwoman during that discussion.  Imagine that!  WATCH OUT FOR THE FO BUS BOYS!  Mayor Glas and FO Pat want those street signs up to code and BY Golly Gummed Up catastrophe it NEEDS to be done!  Now folks the council voted to approve this time but the scary thing is Councilman Lance Johnson voted to do the visual sign replacement with the second coming from Councilwoman Melissa Kay, discussion happened and the good folks realised they needed to amend the motion to allow Mayor Glas and Finance Officer Pat Jurrens to sign the document (presumably) WITHOUT presenting the final document to the council for approval.  Watch video of this (video 00:23:51)  Anyone have a problem with this scenario?  We really want to trust a pair that have trouble getting the agenda right not once but at least twice.  Or get the date of the regular city council meeting correct BEFORE putting it out for publication?

*Vickie A. Larsen, a View from the Gallery,  published May 15, 2014, The Alcester Union-Hudsonite newspaper.

Agenda Item #7 Planning and Zoning–  Set meeting for public hearing for the next council meeting on April 2, 2018, 6:15 p.m.

Agenda Item #8-Street Department – (c)  parking on 4th street and feuding neighbors.  Yup folks it is true.  Finance Officer Pat brought up an incident where two parties were creating a bottleneck on a narrow street and FO Pat thought the city might need to another parking ordinance limiting parking on one side of the street only.  ONE INCIDENT and she was questioning a need for an ordinance?  Ya Kiddin’ me.  Leave it to the police department!

Agenda Item #10-Police Department – Alcester Police Chief Chris Doty gave an update on department activities in the past month specifically referencing a mutual aid call to Beresford on the ‘trunk jumper’ in Beresford on Thursday, February 22, 2018.  There was NO agenda item involving an Executive session for the Police Department.  At the conclusion of Chief Doty’s updates, council members briefly talked among themselves with Councilman Lance Johnson asking, “… about that Thursday conversation with Chief Doty and whether it was common knowledge”, (video 01:02:25)Chief Doty replied, “no”.  At which Councilman Dan Haeder moved to go into Executive session for personnel, the second came from Councilman Lance Johnson, council approved and Mayor Glas declared the council in Executive session and Pat Jurrens remained in the Executive session with the council.  At this point Pat Jurrens has no privileged standing, therefore she should not be included in the Executive session unless she is the focus of allegations.  Since Pat Jurrens is not a member of the Police Department she is not entitled to be a part of the discussion.  If notes are required, the president of the council is called upon to take any session notes, not the city bookkeeper!

I QUESTION THE VALIDITY OF EXECUTIVE SESSION TO DISCUSS PERSONNEL. 

Alcester Councilman Lance Johnson asked about some information Chief Chris Doty shared with him on Thursday night.  Councilman Lance Johnson asked the question, “IS THIS COMMON KNOWLEDGE?”  If Councilman Lance Johnson is asking this question, it means a specific named employee of the city was not the focus of the Executive session!  A Violation of Executive session!  SDCL 1-25-2 allows a public body to close a meeting for the following purposes: 1) to discuss personnel issues pertaining to officers or employees;… Any official action based on discussions in executive session must, however, be made at an open meeting.”

Agenda Item 12 (h) Employee Updates-Finance Office – Executive session  Now folks this generic Executive session operates as a JUST-IN-CASE-WE NEED-IT-EXECUTIVE-SESSION because as I explained above if it is not included on the agenda, it cannot happen! (i.e. the police department executive session).

Mayor Glas called Executive session agenda item, asking if anyone needed an Executive session. (video 01:36:28 )  Councilwoman Melissa Kay raised her hand and commented, ” I would like to discuss some things in the employee manual (waving what appeared to be the employee manual) and police manual…”  Councilwoman Melissa Kay moved to go into Executive session to discussion personnel issues, second came from Councilman Dan Haeder.  Vote Aye times 6.  The council entered into Executive session at 7:56 p.m. and exited the session at 8:26 p.m.

I AGAIN QUESTION THE VALIDITY OF EXECUTIVE SESSION TO DISCUSS PERSONNEL. 

A Violation of Executive session!  SDCL 1-25-2 allows a public body to close a meeting for the following purposes: 1) to discuss personnel issues pertaining to officers or employees;  Specific employees or officers!  First, any Employee Manual employee violation and any Police Manual violations cannot be dealt within  ONE Executive session.  VIOLATION  It is not an appropriate  discussion if employees should be allowed to take their PTO for illness to take care of children under school age when the spouse is sick.  Or even when employees can or cannot take PTO, Leave or Comp time—NOT Executive session material.  Second, the Police Manual in and of itself  is not Executive session material valid.  What cannot be discussed in open session is specific investigations or events.

Agenda Item #14-HRC UPDATE-Mayor Glas is upset ’cause the HRC committee said the little Beck Drive lot sign on SD Hwy 46 was ineffective and needed to be moved.  I told the Mayor and council this some time ago.  The rule of thumb in Highway advertising is the traveling speed on the highway, the number of seconds a person has to view the sign at that speed, eye or above eye level and complexity of the sign.  One must KISS it for highway advertising.  Keep the design simple, 3-5 second readability and eye level or above.  The Beck drive sign on Highway 46 is down in the ditch, complex design and the lettering is so small one has to stand on the highway for full readability.  Mayor Glas had already purchased the signs, they were a sittin’ in the basement for a year and by golly they needed to be put up and he finally got the job done.  Five signs at (just guessing here) $150-$200 a pop and totally worthless for outside city limits advertising.  Salute Mayor Glas!  Check out ( video 01:39:54)

Agenda Item #15-Alcester Community Building-Real Estate Purchase Agreement.  Agreement needs changes regarding dates, liability and etc.  The council authorised Mayor Glas and Finance Officer Pat Jurrens to sign the final draft.  I  feel the council should review the final draft of any agreement before Mayor Glas and Finance Officer Jurrens sign it, we have had too many revisions and amendments because the Mayor and city bookkeeper cannot accurately proof read legal documents as to dates and contexts.  These signatures could bind the city inextricably to conditions Alcester city residents/taxpayers cannot afford.

Agenda Item #18 Adjourn  Meeting was adjourned at 8:39 p.m.

Board of Equalization appeal deadline:  March 15, 2018

Board of Equalization meeting:  March 19, 2018  6:00 p.m.

Regular Alcester City Council Meeting April 2, 2018, 6:00 p.m.

Planning and Zoning Public Hearing:  April 2, 2018  6:15 p.m.

Election:  April 10, 2018

01/16/2018 A Voice From the Gallery

The January 8, 2018, regular meeting of the Alcester City Council was called to order at 6:00 p.m. by Mayor Tom Glas with Council members Dan Haeder, Julia Sundstrom-Lyle, Lance Johnson, Darla Reppe and David Larsen present.  Also present was Alcester City Attorney Chuck Haugland.

(Prior to the opening of the Alcester City Council, I (Vickie Larsen) placed copies of my explanation of equipment purchases along with the figures, computations and loan calculator I used to come to the amount of “…Alcester City Council have spent almost $500,000.00 on equipment purchases through loans which debt service coverage obligation is from Alcester’s municipal second penny sales tax[1]…” which Alcester City Finance Officer Pat Jurrens requested for the council)

The council approved the agenda without change (Note:  Public Input was positioned as agenda item number six prior to any financing discussion, also copies of materials provided to the city council were provided with which the gallery could follow along during the meeting) and the council approved the minutes of the December 4, 2017, regular meeting, the December 21, 2017, special meeting and the December 29, 2017, special meeting without change or discussion.  It is to be noted here, that Councilwoman Julia Sundstrom-Lyle upon the call for motion, asked the council if they knew of any changes to the minutes of the above mentioned meetings and receiving no additions or changes moved to approve the minutes as written.  Councilwoman Darla Reppe seconded the motion, with no further discussion the group voted unanimously to approve the minutes as written.

Agenda Item 5 was called with Councilman Lance Johnson moving to go into Executive session to conduct interviews of candidates for the Ward I vacancy.  Councilman David Larsen seconded the motion, with no discussion the group voted five unanimous yea votes to close the session to discuss and interview Ward I candidates.  Council in Executive session at 6:02 p.m. and the gallery removed to the hallway and the council room door was closed with the following remaining in closed session:  Mayor Tom Glas, Alcester City Attorney Chuck Haugland, Councilmen Lance Johnson, Dan Haeder, David Larsen, Councilwomen Julia Sundstrom-Lyle, Darla Reppe and Alcester City Finance Officer Pat Jurrens.

At 6:06 p.m. Alcester City Attorney Chuck Haugland came out of the room and at 6:08 p.m., sole Ward I candidate (Melissa*)Amanda Kay entered into Executive Session to be interviewed for the Ward I vacancy.  At 6:18 p.m. Mayor Glass declared the council out of Executive Session.

Once back in open session, Councilman Lance Johnson moved to appoint (Melissa*)Amanda Kay to the vacant Ward I seat with Councilman David Larsen seconding the motion.  With no discussion, the council voted four (4) to one (1) to accept the appointment of Amanda Kay to the vacant Ward I seat.  Councilwoman Julia Sundstromm-Lyle abstained from the vote.  Alcester City Attorney Chuck Haugland administered the oath office to Ms. Kay and upon administration of the oath, Alcester Ward I Councilwoman (Melissa*)Amanda Kay took her seat.

Agenda Item-Public Input was called and I responded directing the council to the figures I had provided to them before the meeting.  With no further public input the council moved down the agenda.

ALCESTER EQUIPMENT FINANCE

 

Under the 2018 Equipment Bond, the council did not yet have the physical resolution from Todd Meierhenry and upon advice from legal counsel the city council should not enact without the resolution document present, took no action.  There was a brief comment, the bond should not exceed $270K.  This resolution can be referred 20 days after publication.

Agenda Item Southeastern Plat map was called and was noted the Plat Map action needed to be in the form of a resolution.  Alcester City Councilman Dan Haeder was appointed to be the Planning Director (by Pat Jurrens)?  Finance Officer Pat Jurrens made the comment that, “…(she)chose Dan as President of Council…when Glas is not there…” Apparently Southeastern directors are selling off the Southeastern Electric Cooperative’s Managers House.  Councilman Dan Haeder moved to approve the Plat map plus/minus 1 acre, with the second coming from Councilwoman Darla Reppe, upon no discussion the council voted unanimously to approve the Plat Map.

Agenda item- Austin Schuller agreement was called.  Alcester City Attorney Chuck Haugland stated he had received no response from Austin’s attorney David Stewart concerning Mr. Haugland’s modifications to the contract.  Austin Schuller was present but City Attorney Haugland had ethics concerns and was reluctant to proceed without Austins legal representative present.  Austin stated he had a December 1, 2017, email in which his attorney had approved Mr. Haugland’s modifications to Austin’s academy sponsorship agreement.  Mr. Schuller forwarded his attorney’s December 1, 2047, email and upon receipt of that email the council elected to go ahead.  Alcester City Councilman David Larsen moved to approve the amended sponsorship agreement with Austin Schuller, second from Councilwoman Julia Sundstrom-Lyle and with no further discussion the council voted unanimously (X6) to approve.

Agenda item-Retainer Agreement with Chuck Haugland.  Mr. Haugland of Gubbrud, Haugland and Gillespie has provided legal services to the city of Alcester for a modest retainer fee.  In the past years retainers, Mr. Haugland’s retainer fee has increased by only $5/hour with a dialed back minimum of one hour.  As recently as the October 3, 2017, regular meeting of the Alcester City Council,  Mayor Glas, Finance Officer Jurrens and Councilman Lance Johnson insisted that City Attorney Haugland was not to read or talk to me (A Voice from the Gallery or Vickie Larsen) and charge the city  “…The motion was made by Councilman Dan Haeder to approve the August legal warrant hold back of $52.50 and the September legal warrant hold back of $63.00 with no further legal time charged for reading A Voice from the Gallery blog, Second came from Councilman David Larsen.  Once again no discussion with an unanimous aye vote… ”    Mr. Haugland added a provision “…30 day notice to fire or Mr. Haugland to quit…”  Councilman Larsen moved to approve the City Attorney Haugland’s retainer agreement, Councilwoman Reppe seconded the motion to approve, with questions from Councilwoman Kay the group voted unanimously (X6) to approve Mr. Haugland’s retainer agreement.

The group also approved the Alcester Union and Hudsonite as the official newspaper and Premier Bank (formerly the State Bank of Alcester) as the official bank.

Employee updates included dump truck and chip sealing contracts.  Chip sealing contracts were discussed along with the amount of chip seal needed and the extension of the bid deadline.  The dump truck was once again discussed with comments from Councilman Lance Johnson and Mayor Glas as “…repair dump truck, no matter what!…hire and rent(Lance Johnson)…spent an awful lot of money (Mayor Glas)…with the group coming to the consensus of no action.

Alcester City Attorney Chuck Haugland was dismissed by Mayor Glas right on schedule at 7:05 p.m.

Police Department update.  Alcester council has approved hiring two part-time officers.  Fernando Claren of the Dunes was hired on at $14.00/hour and will need training and certification.  Anthony Garcia who is certified from Madison, SD at $15.00/hour.

Finance Office agenda item to approve warrants.  Approved as presented.    Next agenda item was coyotes.  Evidently the state folks will only trap if the coyotes are doing damage and as explained to the state, Alcester landfill coyotes have not committed damage as the state defines it.  Why do anything?  Permission was given to Nick Day who was recommended by the SD state trapper to snare in the fence line and trap at the sewage beds.  Motion was made by Councilwoman Darla Reppe, second from Councilman Dan Haeder and with no discussion the group voted 4 yea; Lance Johnson, Dan Haeder, Darla Reppe and David Larsen, 1 nay; Julia Sundstrom-Lyle and 1 abstain; (Melissa*)Amanda Kay.

Agenda Item 2018 Municipal election:  Five vacancies on the council of six:  Ward I-Julia Sundstrom-Lyle, Ward I-(Melissa*)Amanda Kay, Ward II-David Larsen, Ward III-Lance Johnson and Ward III-Darla Reppe.

March 26, 2018, voter registration.  Petitions taken out 01/26/2018 and signed returned Petitions due February 23, 2018, 15 signatures needed extra signatures advised in case of disqualifications.  April 10, 2018, election day.

Agenda item #15(e)(1) Resolution of 2018 Alcester city Fees-  Motion by Councilman Johnson, second from Councilwoman Reppe, with no discussion and vote of five (5) yeas; Johnson, Reppe, Haeder, Larsen, Sundstro-Lyle with one (1) abstain (Melissa*) Amanda Kay.

Agenda Item 2018 Salaries and Contracts-  Motion for Executive Session by Councilwoman Reppe, second from Councilman Johnson, no discussion, vote unanimous.  Council in Executive session at 7:33 p.m.  Council declared out of Executive session at 7:45 p.m.

Councilman Larsen moved to approve the Wages and Salaries, seconded by Councilman Johnson, no discussion with five (5) yea votes and one (1) abstain.  Councilman Larsen moved to go into Executive session to discuss contracts, with the second from Councilwoman Julia Sundstrom-Lyle, no discussion with unanimous vote of six (6) yeas.  Council went into Executive session at 7:50 p.m. without the presence of Finance Officer Pat Jurrens, and declared out of Executive session at 8:07 p.m.  At 8:10 p.m. Alcester City Councilman David Larsen left the meeting.

Agenda item 17 HRC-Mayor Glas broached the subject of selling the Four-plex on Lee Drive (piece meal-my term not Glas’).  Mayor Glas proposed the idea of selling each separate apartment much like a condominium. No further discussion or action taken.

No community building update*

Councilman Lance Johnson made the motion to adjourn, Councilwoman Julia Sundstrom-Lyle seconded the motion, no discussion and approved with five yea votes.  Meeting adjourn approximately 8:23 p.m.

 

Note  A couple of days after the January 8, 2018, meeting I was told of a meeting which took place on Tuesday, January 9, 2018, in which one attendee was Alcester Finance Officer Pat Jurrens in which there was an alleged discussion and an alleged approval of building a new Golf  Club House based upon a donation.  On Thursday, January 11, 2018, I visited with Finance Officer Jurrens questioning the alleged meeting upon which I was told that, “…there was no city council meeting but a planning meeting…”  H-m-m!

* I erred in reporting the name of the Ward I candidate and ultimately seated council member.  The newly seated Alcester City Councilwoman from Ward I is Melissa Kay not Amanda Kay as I indicated in this piece.  My apologies to Councilwoman Kay and to my readers.

[1] Vickie Larsen Complaint to Office of Legislative Audit, December 19, 2017, p 7.

12/31/2017 A Voice From the Gallery

Mayor Tom Glas called the December 29, 2017, special meeting of the Alcester City Council to order at 7:00 a.m. with Councilwoman Darla Reppe, Councilwoman Julia Sundstrom-Lyle, Councilman Dan Haeder, Councilman Lance Johnson present and Councilman David Larsen via telephone and Vickie Larsen in the gallery after which the group recited the Pledge of Allegiance.  City Attorney Chuck Haugland was not present.

This meeting was necessitated because Mayor Glas and Finance Officer Jurrens did not know the difference between a Resolution and an Ordinance and obdurately neglected to seek a definition from the city legal counsel, Chuck Haugland.  Over the past year or two Mayor Glas and Finance Officer Jurrens apparently feel the city is paying out too much for legal advice.  It has been Mayor Glas’ practice to excuse Mr. Haugland from city council meetings about an hour into the meeting while he (the mayor) wings the rest of the meeting on his and Finance Officer Jurrens’ own legal acumen, blithely allowing the council to make legally malinformed decisions.

Come to a meeting and see Mayor Glas clock-watch while Mr. Haugland is in the meeting. (maybe I can get it on tape)  Sadly the council accepts whatever Finance Officer Jurrens tells them regarding any agenda item, whether it lay within her scope of finance officer duties or not.  Many times when City Attorney Haugland is not present, the council gets an ‘explanation’ from Finance Officer Jurrens who has ‘talked’ to Mr. Haugland.  Now there is a theory in law called best evidence or best evidence rule which Black’s Dictionary describes as,

          “…Primary evidence, as distinguished from secondary;  original, as distinguished  from substitutionary…The original of a written instrument is itself always regarded as the primary or best possible evidence…a copy or the recollection of a witness, would be secondary evidence…”[1]

In other words Alcester City Attorney Chuck Haugland’s opinion  in person is the best evidence, not the recollections or translations of his and FO Pat’s conversations  presented to the council by Finance Officer Jurrens in Mr. Haugland’s absence.

The council ratified the motion to approve the agenda made by Councilwoman Darla Reppe, seconded by Councilman Dan Haeder, with no discussion and with a unanimous vote of five yeas.

The council went on to the second reading of the Supplemental Appropriation Ordinance 2017-12, with no changes or further discussion.  Upon Councilman David Larsen’s motion to approve, Councilman Lance Johnson’s second, the Alcester City Council ratified Supplemental Appropriation Ordinance 2017-12 with a five yea unanimous vote.

At this point Councilman Dan Haeder moved to forego the council and mayor’s meeting pay, Councilwoman Darla Reppe seconded the motion, and with the council’s unanimous vote the council agreed to forego pay for the December 29, 2017, special meeting.

Last item on the agenda was Executive Session.  Imagine that!  Immediately Councilman Lance Johnson piped up to say, “I want to discuss what I found out about equipment in executive session…”  I sat quietly watching Mayor Glas look toward Finance Officer Jurrens a couple of times before Finance Officer Jurrens told Councilman Lance well she needed know more information.  Then FO Pat with a couple other chiming voices responded we cannot go into executive session for equipment eliciting an immediate response from Councilman Lance Johnson, “…well then I move to go into executive session to discussion personnel.” (really transparent move there, Councilman Lance!)  At which point FO Pat provided him with the appropriated South Dakota Statute for personnel.   Councilwoman Darla Reppe seconded the motion, with no discussion the council with a unanimous vote of five yeas approved the move to closed session at 7:03 a.m.  As I exited the room, I stopped to point out to the council they could only discuss specific personnel and they could not discuss equipment or anything else.  I was called back into the council room.   As I entered the room, Mayor Tom Glas called the meeting out of executive session at 7:07 a.m.  Upon the Mayor’s declaration, Councilman Dan Haeder commented they would discuss the contract stuff in the January meeting.  The January regular Alcester city council meeting is scheduled for January 8*, 2018, at 6:00 p.m.

At this juncture Councilman Dan Haeder moved to adjourn, Councilwoman Julia Sundstrom-Lyle seconded the motion to adjourn, with no discussion the group voted five unanimous yeas to adjourn.

Meeting was adjourned at 7:08 a.m.

*Waiting for confirmation.  Confirmation received today, meeting is January 8, 2018, at 6:00 p.m.

[1] Henry , Campbell Black, Joseph Nolan and Jacqueline Nolan-Haley. “Best Evidence.” Black’s Law Dictionary with Pronunciations. Abridged Sixth Edition, Centennial Edition (1891-1991). St. Paul, MN: West Publishing Company, 1991. 110. Print.