Tag: Linda Talbott Alcester SD

12/03/2018 A Voice From the Gallery

“Fear not those who argue, but those who dodge.”

credited to Marie von Ebner Eschenbach

*To my followers, I sincerely apologise for the delay in posting this.  Video tech problems, I am going ahead with the article part and will load the video as soon as possible.

Mayor Tom Glas called the December 3, 2018, regular meeting of the Alcester City Council meeting to order at 6:00 p.m. with the following council members present; Councilman David Larsen, Councilman Dan Haeder, Councilwoman Darla Reppe, Councilwoman Linda Talbott, Councilman Lance Johnson and Councilwoman Melissa Kay.

video to be added

Skipping past the housekeeping agenda line items and with No Public Input offered up for discussion, the council went onto Agenda line item #6 Water, Wastewater Updates.  Superintendent Dale Pearson was not present, however Finance Officer Pat Jurrens opened a discussion concerning fees and procedures on ‘habitual’ late pays.  Current practice is to issue the water bill with a due date, send out a reminder, hand deliver a door hangar reminder when past the due date and if water bill is still unpaid water service is shut off with delinquent fees attached to the last two steps of the procedure.  The argument was made to shorten the procedure by eliminating the first reminder, increase the fine to “make them pay” and shut off the water (00:00:00).  Folks if ya’ll shut the water off, the house has just become uninhabitable.  In some states once the water has been shut off, homeowners are forced out of their home within a 24-48 hour time frame because the house is deemed uninhabitable!  Instead of punitive eviction, how about offering a discount if the water bill is paid three months in advance?  No judgments on lifestyle or ability to budget.  I find it difficult to defend a city council who shamelessly voice judgment on resident’s ability or lack thereof to budget money when Mayor Glas’ agenda line item #11 Finance Office subsection (c) Supplemental Appropriation Ordinance is needed to balance the council’s city budget shortage by skimming some $26,000.00 from city enterprise funds of water, solid waste and sewer and second penny sales tax! (00:00:00)

Agenda line item #7 – street updates.  Under street subsection (c) sign agreement which came in last week, surprise to Lonnie!  Alcester was invited some time ago to participate in city sign updates around 2012, 2013 I believe.  At that time the council determined the signs were too expensive, the existing signs were still serviceable so they declined the offer.  Now they have changed their minds and want to participate under the Hutchinson County agreement  PH 8034(31) PCN 04K9.  Go Figure!

I am going to inject another project here, the SRTS project which the city of Alcester participated and of which there was an over-run of $20,000.00 which appears to be the result of engineering error and which our city council apparently agreed to pay the excess $20K apparently without a second squawk.  The city didn’t engineer the plan, the city did not have the expertise to judge the engineering, and the construction company who won the bid appear to have faithfully followed the engineering prints.  So WHO should be holding the debit bag?  Well let’s see the engineer laid out the plan after presumably walking the site and the state DOT engineers approved the plan, SO who should pay for the change orders?  NOT the city they trusted the engineer to know what he was doing!  Not the construction crew, they merely followed the plan presented to them.  SO the city should bill the engineer or the state who had over-sight of that engineering to re-coup our $20K!

Agenda line item #8 Police Department–  Police Chief Jeff Christie gave the monthly police department stats update.  We have a Meth problem which requires more monitoring, more time spent policing and writing post arrest reports.

A-n-d we have the great Cat Tsunami.  All those years of taking Fluffy and her kits to the country has come home to roost.  Yes, I know cats do not roost!  In the words of T.S. Eliot and taken from “Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats, ‘…they (cats) sit beside the hearth or in the sun or on my hat:  They sit and sit and sit—and that what makes those Gumbie Cats!…'”  Now the council wants to register and license ($10) our kitties, enter into the great Cat Population Management Plan with the Humane Society and get rid of those pesky pussy cats.  The only humane way to deal with feral cats is the three C plan; catch, clip and cut loose.  Catch the feral cat, neuter/sterilize the cat and return the cat to the wild.  Mayor Glas opted to trap the cats, house the cats until we have enough to have our police officers transport the cats to Sioux Falls Humane Society.  Folks, we have a growing Meth presence in our community to keep our officers busy and all Mayor Glas could come up with is to send our officers on the great Pussy Cat Run to Sioux Falls!  Marvelous!  Oh Mayor Glas volunteered Councilman David Larsen to take over the Pussy Cat Run but Mayor Glas failed to provide compensation for time and gas money to transport those delinquent kitties.

Skipping to Agenda line item #11 (b)  Ordinance change to take power away from all future Alcester mayors and protect Finance Officer Pat’s job.   According to Alcester City Attorney Sam Nelson’s public admission in the December 3,2018, council meeting, he sent a ‘confidential memo’ regarding the removal of the position of finance officer from the list of appointees.  In past years, appointees were re-appointed annually or upon the election of a new mayor who gave the appointees a thumbs up or a thumbs down.  Today I e-mailed Alcester Attorney Sam Nelson asking, “who authorized or requested the opinion contained within the confidential memo?”  Alcester Attorney Nelson declined by reply e-mail to divulge that information.  I would argue that Mr. Nelson contracts (charges a fee and paid with public moneys) with the city of Alcester for legal opinions.  It appears Alcester City Attorney Nelson’s opinion involved no contracts, no litigation and no specific employee issue, just generic job titles and definition.  So why should any opinion proffered by Alcester Attorney Sam Nelson paid for with public moneys be cloaked in confidentiality?  Does Finance Officer have the authority to ask for a legal opinion without the express okie dokie of a majority of the city council?

On to Agenda Item 11 (d), the purchase of four new computers for the finance office and the police department with payments to be spread between 2018 and 2019.  Oh and lest we forget to add the proposed purchase of some wippy-dippy desk top risers.  Got to wonder, did the Yoga ball chairs go flat or did the finance office decide not to ‘sit healthy’ but to stand so they can do a little dance, take a little chance and git down tonight or is it so they can dance to that fonky music?  So did the city finance officer get a former employee discount from the vendor?  Oh yes, Councilwoman Melissa Kay asked again about the Alcester City Website.  Answer from Finance Officer Jurrens, “…well we’re really busy, maybe in a couple of months…” (00:00:00)  Really!

Agenda Item 11 (f), set a December special meeting date for second reading purposes.  Meeting was set for December 10, 2018, at 6:00 p.m.

Agenda Item 11 (e) Resolution of Fees Finance Office Pat Jurrens  talked of adding a finance office labor fee.  $40/hour for any FOIA servicing over one hour.  Gee I wonder why that is?  Could it be the FOIA violation complaint lodged with the South Dakota Office of Hearing Examiners?  (00:00:00)

Agenda Item 13 (a) HRC appointment,  Finance Officer Pat recommended a female candidate to get the female prospective for the HRC (00:00:00)

Agenda Item 14– Community Building update.  Suggestion for a fund raiser—buy a brick.  Really?  Way back in the day, $100 donations were accepted to fund construction of the Auditorium.  $100 donors were recognized with brass name plates placed on a commemorative plaque.  It hung in the atrium of the Auditorium, well it used to until FO Pat relegated it to storage somewhere deep in the bowels of the Auditorium.

Motion to adjourn was called, voted and the December 3, 2018, regular council meeting was adjourned at 8:20 p.m.

10/16/2018 A Voice From the Gallery

I felt some items from the October 1, 2018, Alcester City Council meeting needed additional attention.  First and foremost is the fact it is the Mayor’s job to set the agenda, not the finance officer’s position to decide any agenda item or fill up the agenda with her own ‘agenda’ items.

I would also like to point out what Mayor Glas deems necessary to conduct a city council meeting; one sheet of paper (which I presume is the agenda), one bottle of water, a pen and of course his name plate (see October 1, 2018 city council video)

Agenda Item #8 – Street Updates I have already shared the news that there will be no chip sealing of Alcester City Streets.   

  • WHY?
  • WAS THE 2018 MONEY BUDGETED FOR STREETS SPENT?
  • WHAT WAS IT SPENT ON?
  • WAS THE APPROXIMATE $37K FUNDS RECEIVED THROUGH THE STREET MAINTENANCE SPECIAL ASSESSMENT SPENT?
  • WHERE WAS THE $37K STREET MAINTENANCE ASSESSMENT SPENT?
  • IF NOT SPENT, WHERE DID THAT $37K GO? GENERAL FUND OR THE STREET FUND?

Notice our city streets especially where recent patching appears.  Many of our streets carry a black stripe about 18 inches in width which abuts the cement gutter and runs, almost the length of the block.  Wonder why?  The next time you take your robot-arm-friendly-trash container to the curb, think about where the wheels of the robotic garbage truck are juxta-positioned in relation to the curb and gutter as it latches onto your trash receptacle, now consider how heavy that Great Robotic garbage truck is (approx. 33,000 lbs empty to 51,000 lbs full (9 ton load)) and finally, consider the weight of vehicles for which the streets were designed all those years ago. Notice the squish effect in those areas of the streets not yet ‘patched’.

Agenda Item #10 – Police Department  As I have already discussed in the 10/01/2018 A Voice From the Gallery, I spoke up and was dinged for being out-of-order.  I invite you to go back to the October 1, 2018, video at (01:09:17) and listen to what Alcester City Attorney Sam said to the council, “…you do not have to answer questions from the gallery…”  and as I reported, a few moments later Alcester City Attorney Sam thought better of his response and requested time to, “…to go back to the On-Call…” and upon permission Alcester City Attorney Sam stated, “… in previous discussions (closed session) he had briefed the council on possibilities with regard to the On-Call Solution with a $2K compensation…”

Now folks let’s go back in time to the salary versus wage discussion the council had concerning the rate of pay and for Alcester Police Chief Jeff Christie where Alcester City Attorney Sam offered his opinion concerning what I would term the safer course of wage payment (CTA) for the Alcester Chief of Police would be a per hour wage over the then current offer and past practice of salary payment.  Again, I do believe all discussions relating to per hour wages versus salary were in closed session.  I believe that portion of the closed session was in violation of South Dakota Opening meetings statute because the council and Alcester City Attorney Sam were discussing changing a department payment schedule NOT discussing a specific employee.

I also believe Alcester City Attorney Sam the portion of the closed session/sessions discussing police payroll payments to which you referred (01:09:17), involving the over-time exemption rule and method of compensating our police officers for the hours they spend on-the-job was a generic discussion type of payroll payment not an individual police officer was another violation of South Dakota open meeting statute.  In addition, I believe Alcester City has the ability to compensate our police officers with overtime pay “at Alcester City’s discretion”.  Folks imagine working as a small town police officer where 60 or 80 hours on duty time is required.  Imagine the $18.00 per hour wages for only the 40 hours the council deigned to pay, now do the math!  Federal 2018 minimum wage is $7.25 per hour and South Dakota 2018 minimum wage is $8.85 per hour.  So at some point in those 80 some hours required of Alcester Police Chief and police officers, our law enforcement could be making less per hour than what Alcester pays a first year pool staff, non-WSI.

Now Alcester City Attorney Sam opined during the MUTCD (Manual of Uniform Traffic Control Devices) conversation something about Federal jurisdiction within a municipality.  I must have missed the change in US sovereignty after I graduated.  As I recall in an over-simplified form the Federal government holds sovereignty as outlined in the United States Constitution and grants sovereignty to the individual states who in turn grant sovereignty in form to its counties and municipalities.  I do believe the tenth amendment addresses this sharing of power and sovereignty protection to states, counties and municipal governments.  Simply put the Federal government relegates power to states, states relegate power to counties and cities.  The kicker being as I understand the power trickle- down theory in which states, counties and cities may amend Federal statute but ONLY to make the law more restrictive not less restrictive.  Analogy- the state of South Dakota says bars must close at 2:00 a.m., Alcester Council says,  “Madam Woolworth says she cannot possibly clear the bar at 2:00 a.m., so we will allow her to close at 2:30 a.m. and we will make an ordinance that affirms a 2:30 a.m. closing in place of the state mandated 2:00 a.m. closing.  Alcester does NOT have the authority to over-ride state statute (SDCL 35-4-81.2) by loosening the restrictive 2:00 a.m. state closing time to a less restrictive 2:30 a.m. closing.

Now onto Agenda Item #12 – Special Projects  

  • Agenda Item #12(E)(I) Wow! It appears I have achieved special projects status.  I asked for FOIA (Freedom of Information or South Dakota Sunshine) to obtain payroll reports of the total hours and line item break-downs of regular hours, over-time hours per and payments made per week over an approximate two year period for Alcester Police Chief Doty and Alcester Police Officer Dylan Nelsen.

In the past I have made FOIA requests for additional information not presented to or  made available to the residents of Alcester or the gallery.  In addition I always wondered when the push back was going to happen, so I was not overly surprised at the tactic Alcester Finance Officer took upon my June 12, 2018, FOIA request for the payroll reports.

I did not receive a denial but I did receive the next best thing a provisional billing from Finance Officer Pat Jurrens of the City of Alcester for, “…$40.00 per hour for Eight (8) hours of research time to pull time cards and check stubs…to produce copies…” for a grand total of $320.00.  I sent a reply that I would just access them without asking for copies.  I received another copy of the provisional billing stating, “…the cost would remain the same…”  Really?  Then I found there are NO TIMECARDS to pull, the employees use their cell phones or as I witnessed a week ago Alcester City Finance Officer Pat Jurrens logs them in on her computer.  In the course of this Pat-a-cake push back scenario, I requested the name of the accounting program and the name of the payroll program(QuickBooks and CheckMark respectively)both have the capability of producing reports detailing in an Excel-type format, the information for which I asked.

So feeling I had paid out enough line, I set the hook and filed a complaint with the South Dakota Office of Hearing Examiners detailing my official request and the City of Alcester reply.  This constitutes the 8 hour special project charge against the Finance Office.  Really?  Now Alcester Finance Officer Pat Jurrens expects $40.00 per hour

JUST TO DO HER JOB?  REALLY?

  • Agenda Item #12(E)(II) – Special Projects-Tree trimming Database/Letters-134 – 12 Hours. Oh my dear sweet, old Aunt Tillie!  Are ya kidding me?  12 hours to write a form letter reciting a tree-overhang violation?  Folks, think about it, obviously FO Pat has not.  Type up one form letter citing the code violation, save form letter to file, copy the list of residents from the water bill data base onto Avery Labels times 2 (one label for the letter and one label for the envelope), fold copies, insert into envelope, seal envelope, stamp and trot on down to the post office and that takes twelve hours.  Oh that is right we have a Property Maintenance Code Enforcement Officer Geoff Fillingsness, just what does he do now for his fee again?  Somehow I do not think he is running around in a golf cart with his young finance office live-in kid-at-your-back protégé eyeballing branch height and Kodaking the weed heights.  Nope I just do not think so, but I have noticed a pole on the street sweeper and I do not think that it is for a flag!

Again Special Project-Twelve hours? FOR DOING HER JOB? I am relieved the city has a janitor, I would hate to see how many hours it would take for the Special Project of changing the toilet paper in the City Offices restrooms!

 

 

09/26/2018 A Voice From the Gallery

I am b-a-a-c-k!  After four days in Copenhagen, Denmark, sixteen days cruising, crossing the Baltic Sea into the North Sea through the Arctic Circle, through Prins Christian Sund to the Atlantic Ocean and down the coast of Nova Scotia, Canada to Boston with stops at: Skagen – Denmark, Stavanger – Norway, Lerwick, Shetland-Scotland, Akureyri – Iceland, Reykjavik – Iceland, Qaqortog – Greenland, Sydney – Nova Scotia, Halifax – Nova Scotia to three days in Boston – MA.

Needless to say I missed a couple of city council meetings but I did not miss the September 18, 2018, Community Building meeting.  Now the minutes of the September 5, 2018 meeting, published in the September 13, 2018, volume 131, Issue 36 edition of the Alcester Union-Hudsonite newspaper, touched on the “Alcester Community Building” stating in the minutes the community building will be having a drawing presentation later this month.  So just how does an inanimate building have a drawing presentation?  So IF the FO knew a meeting was scheduled, WHY didn’t she announce and publish the date of the drawing presentation in her council minutes?

I arrived early for the meeting because parking can be ‘ifie’ at the golf course with large crowds, I waited, observed and listened.  As I watched Mr. Raph a principal architect with Coop Architecture who handled the Alcester-Hudson School district addition set his poster boards into place around the room for his presentation, readying his slide projecting device and composing himself for the meeting, I heard Finance Officer Pat Jurrens relay the information that Mayor Glas couldn’t make the meeting, so Finance Officer Pat Jurrens was ‘handling’ the meeting and he (Mayor Glas) wanted to suggest some architectural changes.

The meeting began and Mr. Raph started his drawing presentation by showing artist renderings of the bar area and the group seating area with placement showings of the kitchen area, the fitness area, bathroom areas, the golf watching/football watching deck and of course the city office area sans the police department.   After this anti-climatic presentation, the cost of this poor-man’s Taj Mahal was shared…$3,000.000.00.  Oh, but Oh, but Oh Finance Officer raced on like a greyhound after the mechanical bunny at Sodrac park to ‘splain that $2,000,000.00 was coming from the Foundation, private donation and an unspecified organization.  When asked where the last $1 million was coming from…city taxpayers or bake sales?  No answer.   When asked why the Alcester City Finance Office was included in this Poor Man’s Taj Mahal, the FO Pat answered, #1- to give the police department privacy?  Privacy from whom, Finance Officer Jurrens?    #2- staffing time, which FO Pat explained the Finance Office could ‘over-see’ golf course operations…really?  Oh and the golf cart storage would be a ‘free’-standing pole barn type structure instead of beneath the community/golf course building.  Admittedly I was seated some distance from the collage of posters, but what I saw of the design and curb appeal certainly did not impress me and even less so at the price tag of $3 million.  Folks we have an ambulance (albeit a Morton) building where I believe the initial projected cost was somewhere between $250,000-$380,000…?  Now I cannot say what the square footage comparison between the two buildings would be but consider what the inevitable cost over-runs will add to the projected $3 million edifice bearing the look of a generic hillbilly high rise pole building with vinyl siding and a nondescript deck clapped along two sides, but I have to say the Morton building comes off cheaper and more sensory palatable

I am and have always been in favor of a community building which will show off our community.  I believe a combination golf, community building and event center is a good thing.  Keep the city offices downtown where residents can reasonably access the city offices, their bank, the grocery store, post office and retail businesses.  There will be another meeting, go to the meeting, ask questions, insist upon answers and push hard for a building we can be proud of, that will represent our community and not depict us as gapped-tooth grinning folks, gnawing on a spindly piece of straw.

 

 

08/20/2018-II A Voice From the Gallery

Mayor Tom Glas called the August 20, 2018, special meeting to order at 7:15 p.m. with Councilman David Larsen, Councilman Dan Haeder, Councilwoman Darla Reppe, Councilwoman Melissa Kay, Councilwoman Linda Talbott and Councilman Lance Johnson present.  Not present was Alcester City Attorney Sam Nelson.

After the Pledge of Allegiance was recited, the council approved the agenda which included Seven agenda items.  Generally a special council meeting is called to take care of emergency business, you be the judge.

Agenda Item #4 CBDG Loan for Dan Waag.  Councilman David Larsen moved to go into executive session per FO Pat Jurren’s agenda and under SDCL 1-25-2-4 Contracts.  SDCL 1-25-2-4 says,

“1-25-2.   Executive or closed meetings–Purposes–Authorization–Violation as misdemeanor. Executive or closed meetings may be held for the sole purposes of:

             (1)      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;

             (2)      Discussing the expulsion, suspension, discipline, assignment of or the educational program of a student or the eligibility of a student to participate in interscholastic activities provided by the South Dakota High School Activities Association;

             (3)      Consulting with legal counsel or reviewing communications from legal counsel about proposed or pending litigation or contractual matters;

             (4)      Preparing for contract negotiations or negotiating with employees or employee representatives;

             (5)      Discussing marketing or pricing strategies by a board or commission of a business owned by the state or any of its political subdivisions, when public discussion may be harmful to the competitive position of the business.
However, any official action concerning such matters shall be made at an open official meeting. An executive or closed meeting shall be held only upon a majority vote of the members of such body present and voting, and discussion during the closed meeting is restricted to the purpose specified in the closure motion. Nothing in § 1-25-1 or this section may be construed to prevent an executive or closed meeting if the federal or state Constitution or the federal or state statutes require or permit it. A violation of this section is a Class 2 misdemeanor.”

Folks the action of CBDG loan does not fit the purpose of Contract executive session but Finance Office Pat Jurrens practices, “what the council doesn’t know keeps me (Pat Jurrens) in power”.  Follow the action on the video.  Councilwoman Melissa Kay made the second and with a unanimous aye vote the council entered into closed session at 7:20 p.m.  At 7:30 p.m. the council came out of executive session with the statement we need a motion to approve the CBDG Loan to Dan Waag.  Councilman Lance Johnson made the motion to approve the loan, NO AMOUNT, NO INTEREST AND NO TIME FRAME was included in Councilman Johnson’s aberrant motion.  Councilwoman Linda Talbott seconded the motion, and with NO PUBLIC DISCUSSION, the council voted unanimously to approve the Loan.  Folks I had to ask for the amount of the loan, the interest on the loan and the duration of the loan.  The loan was for $5000 at 2% interest and is to run for 5 years.  Again, folks the history of the CBDG loans in Alcester has been the CBDG loan was a second to a primary loan through a financial institution.  It was suggested in the past that the CBDG loans were to be no more than 10% of the primary loan to protect the city funding position.  Apparently Mayor Glas and Finance Officer Jurrens feel the risk of loan failure is an acceptable risk to city moneys. Finance Office Jurrens made the comment she would see that a promissory note would be presented to Mr. Waag.

Agenda Item #5 CBDG Loan to offset interest on Police Truck to the tune of $4500 projected by Alcester Finance Officer Pat Jurrens.  This financial wizardry was the brainchild of FO Pat and not that of the Alcester police department personnel.  Please take note in the video of Councilman Lance Johnson’s opinion to the effect that no discussion was necessary cause he didn’t care what the tax payers thought ;cause it was going to save $4500 over the life of the loan.

Agenda Item #6-Executive Session if needed.  Yeah, that would be a NO.

Agenda Item #7 -Adjourn at 7:40 p.m.

I asked the question while the council was still seated and after adjournment, if Alcester City Attorney Sam Nelson was going to craft the promissory note for Mr. Waag.  I was immediately queried by Finance Officer Pat Jurrens, WHY?  I replied, ‘I was curious if Mayor Glas and Finance Officer Pat Jurrens were going to use the work product of another lawyer.  Seems to be a temptation of the finance office to use previous attorney’s work product as templates for Finance Office DIY legal document!

08/20/2018 A Voice From the Gallery

08/20/2018 A Voice From the Gallery

From last August 6, 2018, city council meeting Mayor ranted and raved about property maintenance and threatened with fines!

NON-AGENDA ITEM– Mayor Half-Glas’d whizzed on property maintenance, not stiff enough penalties and he wants to HIT offenders hard with still fines. Mayor Half-Glas’d says he feels like he is living in a slum! (01:09:48) 

Mayor Half-Glas’d, I suggest sir, put your money and ‘mayoral (?) skills’ where your mouth is.  If residents are required to abide by the ordinances, so is the city.  That would be you, Mayor Glas.  YOU and your minion FO have a problem, check out the photos:

Photo #108-20-2018 XI CITY POOL INSIDE FENCE WEED VIOLATIONS CITY POOL WEED VIOLATION

Photo #2 08-20-2018 X CITY POOL INSIDE FENCE WEEDS VIOLATION CITY POOL WEED VIOLATION

Photo #3 08-20-2018I CITY PARK-NORTH HORSE SHOE PIT CITY PARK HORSESHOE PIT

Photo #4 08-20-2018III CITY PARK ALLEY SOUTH OF SRTS LOOKING SO DEPOT ALLEY

 Photo #5 08-20-2018VI CITY PARK ALLEY SOUTH DOWN STREAM FLOOD CAUSE LOOKING NORTH DEPOT ALLEY

  Photo #6 08-20-2018V CITY PARK BACK STOP WEEDS CITY PARK BACKSTOP WEEDS

 Photo #7 08-20-2018IV CITY PARK BASEBALL BACK STOP WEEDS CITY PARK BACKSTOP WEEDS

Photo #8 08-20-2018VII CITY PARK TREE OVERHANG VIOLATION LESS THAN 8 FOOT ABOVE SIDEWALK CITY PARK TREE VIOLATION

  Photo #9 08-20-2018IX CITY PARK TREE OVERHAND VIOLATION LESS THAN 8 FOOT CLEARANCE OVER SIDE WALK CITY PARK TREE VIOLATION

 According to last meeting chit-chat Mayor, you and a couple of the boys had been inspecting the alley, the SRTS fiasco and scratching your collective heads other than to tell the residents experiencing SRTS down-stream flooding was their problem. Boys the city IS NOT IMMUNE to it’s own ordinances and that Councilman Lance Johnson IS YOUR PROBLEM!

 

 

 

 

 

 

08/06/2018 A Voice from the Gallery

The regular meeting of the Alcester City Council was called to order at 6:00 p.m. by Mayor Tom Glas with the following present:  Councilman Dan Haeder, Councilwoman Linda Talbott, Councilwoman Darla Reppe, Councilwoman Melissa Kay, Councilman David Larsen, Councilman Lance Johnson and City Attorney Sam Nelson, Alcester Police Chief Jeff Christie, Alcester Police Officer Austin Schuller and residents Terry and Jessica Christenson, Kathy Behnke and Vickie Larsen in attendance.

The agenda was approve as posted with eighteen (18) agenda items listed.  Folks, this is important to note.*

The meeting minutes from the July 10th meeting were approved without amendments.

Pool Updates were not presented as neither Brianna Walth nor Sam Jensen were present.

Agenda Item #6 – Kathy Behnke (corrected spelling from agenda)  Ms. Behnke requested a variance from ordinance to use a modified fireworks kit for a gender reveal party in the park.  Council gave permission for the fireworks.

Agenda Item #7- Mayor’s comments Mayor Glas commenced whining about the July 10th meeting was s-o-o-o long (00:03:56).  Well Mayor Glas, you’re the dude allegedly in charge.  Advice- Lose the one and three quarters hour personnel executive session and the quarter hour last minute personnel executive session you took in the July meeting.  Mayor Glas your ad-nauseum, substance-abuse-like-addiction to excessive executive sessions for personnel wastes time and in my opinion violates the purpose of executive session.  Perhaps Mayor Glas you should have an interpreter (Sam Nelson) school you on the proper use of executive session.  Perhaps you could lose all those reminiscences’ of your alleged concrete days, too!

Agenda Item #8 – Input   I responded to public input regarding the light installed on the roof of the auditorium for the purpose of lighting the flag after dark violates the quiet enjoyment of those homes down-light-range of the revolving light.  I do believe there is an ordinance which deals with excessive light noise and sound affecting down-range homes.  I also let Councilwoman Darla Reppe (Union County Fair Board Representative) know the document I placed upon the table in front of her seat was for the Fair Board regarding the willful trespass of two vehicles; a dark grey Peterbilt Semi-Tractor South Dakota P/R license 17608 and a Ford 250 crew-cab Super Duty King Ranch Truck with South Dakota license plate WGJ 95 on my business property.

Jessica Christenson and Terry Christenson were present to re-address the flooding, erosion and divots created by the city alteration of the alleyway on the west side of their property (00:03:56).  Mayor Glas and Councilman Lance Johnson are dragging their heels in remedying this hydro-mud offensive result of the poor design of the SRTS project.  Mayor Glas came up with a jewel of a remedy that is guaranteed to add insult to mud-misery.  Please note the conversation (00:08:40) and in particular Alcester City Councilman Lance Johnson’s pontifical soliloquy on historical water issues.  Pardon me—-Councilman Lance Johnson you are all of a four-going-on-five year transplant from the farm to the city under your belt, (00:11:08) whose main claim to advanced studies seems to be a Masters of Philosophy in Bovine Fecal Output and most notably lacking even a 4H white ribbon in hydrology and you come to the window-rattling, knee-jerk opinion the flooding from the poor SRTS design is the problem of the Christenson’s!  Au contraire Councilman Lance, it is Your problem! (00:11:28)  Mayor Half-Glas’s and et. al. idea to throw more cubic yards of dirt (from the landfill?), more culverts, screw with the horseshoe pit and oh yes,  remove the fire hydrant (doesn’t that sound safe for the neighborhood–folks contact your councilperson)

Agenda items #9 Street updates, #10 Wastewater updates, #11 Police Department Updates, and #12 Golf Course Updates were all swiftly dealt with.  One exception held a bit of interest and that was the 4′ X 4′ sign for the police department and the Tiny Tots-like chalk/paint easel to be placed on the corner of Union and Second street to point the way to the city offices.

One item of interest during the discussion of the sign was the removal of the storm shelter sign to a different position, gophers only know where that will be.  The concern I have is that upon the finance office hasty exit at 5:00 p.m. weekdays, the building is locked up.  SO, what happens in an after business hours storm?  Anyone think about that?  Think about folks climbing into their cars and racing down to the auditorium in a tornado alert only to find the doors locked and sorry Dorothy you ain’t in Kansas.  Do we have a procedure, who unlocks the door.  Finance Officer Pat?  Really, most folks have trouble finding her there during business hours!

Agenda item #13-Finance Office – Most important action taken was on Agenda item #13, (b) SRTS payment.  Councilman Dan Haeder moved to hold up $20K payment and sign off until all questions were answered and the Christenson water-run-off was solved, no action was taken.  (00:38:35)

Agenda item #13 (c) – Shoshannah Avery re-designation of job description to include: meter reading, maintenance and general office which was approved by unanimous vote.

Agenda Item #15 – HRC Update  It was announced the city is upside-down on the four-plex and there was a question on Shane Hill’s progress on selling the open lots.  I do believe that at least one lot a year had to be peddled just to make the interest payment!  Don’t take my observation, Ask your council person!  Do we get to pay for that, too Mayor Glas?

Agenda Item #16 – Community Building blue prints need to be adjusted ’cause the concession stand in the AAB is not viable and the lower level golf cart storage is a no go due to cost.  Mayor Glas thinks a pole building at roughly $13/foot is more appropriate than the approximate $100/ foot for the lower level building storage.

 Agenda Item #17 – Update volunteer roster. Nothing!

Agenda Item #18 – Adjournment   OH WAIT, WAIT, MAYOR GLAS HAS MORE TO SAY!

*NON-AGENDA ITEM- FEMA    Mayor Half-Glas’d doesn’t think FEMA is worthwhile (01:08:25) NO EMERGENCY!

*NON-AGENDA ITEM– Mayor Half-Glas’d whizzed on property maintenance, not stiff enough penalties and he wants to HIT offenders hard with still fines. (01:09:48) Mayor Half-Glas’d says he feels like he is living in a slum! (01:09:48)  NEW FEES AND FINES  LOSE YOUR HOUSE FOR AN 8 INCH WEED AND FINANCE OFFICER PAT THINKS YOUR TREE ENCROACHES HER STREET.  LET EM KNOW HOW YOU FEEL ABOUT THIS!  NO EMERGENCY!

*NON-AGENDA ITEM– STILL NO CITY WEBSITE – DISCUSSION-NO EMERGENCY!

MAYOR HALF-GLAS’D

YOU HAVE VIOLATED OPEN MEETING BY ADDING TO THE PUBLISHED AGENDA AND WHAT YOU ADDED TO THE AGENDA WAS NOT AN EMERGENCY!

 

 

07/11/2018 A Voice From the Gallery

The regular meeting of the Alcester City Council was called to order at 6:00 p.m. by Mayor Tom Glas with the following council present”  Councilman Dan Haeder, Councilwoman Linda Talbott, Councilwoman Darla Reppe, Councilwoman Melissa Kay, City Attorney Sam Nelson and at 6:05 p.m. via Skype, Councilman David Larsen.  AWOL Ward III Councilman Lance Johnson who was going to be late.

*Just prior to the start of the council meeting, Finance Officer Jurrens presented an envelope addressed to me.  I slipped it into my bag without opening it.

The agenda was approved with the exception of the Agenda Item #8 Pool Update to be delivered by Pool Employee Sam Jensen to be moved to just after Agenda Item #4-Approval of June 4th and June 11th meeting minutes. 

Agenda Item #8 Pool Update – Sam Jensen delivered the report stating things were going well.  Mr. Jensen was asked the question, if the pool needed to do things differently what would he recommend.  Mr. Jensen stated a new for a new pool vacuum.  Note nothing was asked about the pool rules of Mr. Jensen. I will reiterate, “Folks nothing was introduced on pool slide rules or the imminent danger of injury due to the placement of the slide and rules of use, i.e. pool safety recommendations of  feet first sliding, no head first or backwards sliding , no child under the age of 6 years old without parent in the pool catching, only one child on slide or slide ladder at a time, no toys on the slide and roped off to keep swimmers out of the splash down zone.  I passed out pool slide rules from other sources including a national organization for safety last meeting for the council to read.  Evidently it is not as Finance Officer/Bookkeeper Pat Jurrens puts it, a high priority.  Alcester children it appears are not a high priority.  Imagine your 8 year old or 10 year old suffering a spinal cord injury with the life-long result of tetraplegia or paraplegia because the pool rules were not set or enforced.  Are you willing to bet your child’s future on FO Pat’s ability to distinguish high priority or ignorable priority.  FO Pat’s, Mayor Hal-Glas’d and the city’s pocket are not deep enough to restore what may be lost through sheer ego and terminal stupidity! 

Agenda Item #5 Public Input–  I responded for public input, I distributed spiral bound documents for each council member and distributed them to their usual seats at the council table prior to the meeting.  Contained within the document was Safe Routes to School Issue which contained email transcripts between Mr. Kim McLaury of McLaury Engineering, Mr. Rod Gall of the Mitchell Region Office of the South Dakota Department of Transportation and Mr. Dustin DeBoer special Attorney General of the South Dakota Department of Transportation.  I had asked for change orders issued for the substantial grade change, addition of culverts to discharge water build up on the upstream side of the earthen dam the grade change created.  I addressed the unintended (?) consequences of an earthen dam which created a downstream water/flooding issue, the entrapment of standing water which created a breeding surface for insects, the attractive hazard created by a ramp in which children with bicycles were already Evel Knieviling over the new sidewalk with the added prospect of motorcycles, scooters and snow mobiles doing their own version of Dukes of Hazard maneuvers in the park, additional charges for increase thickness of concrete to allow for car and truck traffic implementation of the sidewalk through the park but the sharp grade increase would cause a regular car or truck to bottom out making it useless.  In addition of grading changes in the construction of this project, the north/south alley on the west edge of the Alcester Park was constructively abandoned without public hearings , proper notification to affected residents and notification of abandonment and proper legal steps.  I advised the council of the liability of the ramp, flooding situation and the loss of backyard access could cause lawsuits against the city and city council, jointly and severally. 

        The second part of the booklet of documents dealt with my Freedom of Information request of the City.  These documents were a collection of FOIA requests and Alcester Finance Officer Pat Jurrens response which simply put was going to cost me $40 per hour for eight (8) hours research time in addition to copying costs.  This maneuver by Mayor Glas and Finance Officer Jurrens has the effect of deliberately closing public records (00:06:13) and creates a violation of Federal and State open records statutes.

        I finished up my public input with notification to the council that someone appeared to have vandalized the curb on Anderson Drive across the street from Alcester City Councilman Lance Johnson’s home.  The upper part of the curb had been hacked away from the horizontal plane of the gutter which would allow water to collect and possibly wash away support compactions under the street creating a voids and street collapse.

        Also presenting public input were Terry and Jessica Christiansen, owners of the former depot building.  Due to the creation of the earthen dam related to the Safe Routes to School Sidewalk changes has caused flooding in their home and continues to create flooding with each rain event.  It is the Christiansen’s understanding they will have to foot the bill of the poor engineering of the sidewalk which caused damage to their home.  Please note Mayor Half-Glas’d “I (Mayor Glas) was in construction” comments on a cure for the Christiansens. (00:11:25) 

 Agenda Item #6 – Planning and Zoning  This was the second reading of  the Planning and Zoning Ordinance.

 Agenda Item #7 – Street Updates Items of interest is the maintenance of the gravel on West Clark Street, that portion of street running north of the Fairgrounds parking lot.  The grain hauling trucks are complaining the concrete has broken away and have sharp edges.

         A one-time burn permit was approved on the 6th street property, I believe this is the future site for the community building and city offices (?)  But as we the tax-payers have received very little information on the proposed community building, design, funding and our input-wise we are as usual in the financial dark.

 Agenda Item #10 – Police Department Updates.  Chief Christie brought the council up to speed on new locks, evidence lockers and storage and announced the new hire Kendra was  no longer a part-time officer with the Alcester Police Department, she has accepted the open deputy position with the Union County Sheriff’s office created with the departure of Jeff Christie to take the position of Alcester Police Chief.

        The council went into Executive session to discuss personnel at 7:10 p.m. pondered and pondered and pondered until they declared themselves out of Executive session at 8:33 p.m. just shy of an hour and a half. Sheesh!  Either one is fit to be a police officer or not, and it really shouldn’t have taken one and half hours to make that determination.

        A curious thing though Chief Christie and OfficerSchuller came out after about 20 minutes or so after the start of executive session.  They were followed a couple of minutes later by Finance Office Jurrens, who remained in her office another 15-20 minutes or so until she was called back into the Executive session meeting.  This finance officer exit was unusual, ’cause unless Finance Officer Pat comes out to retrieve documents, she simply does not come out of executive sessions until they declared out of executive session or…?

Agenda Item #11-Golf Course  Councilman David Larsen gave a brief report via Skype.  He announced the golf course had a health inspection and received a 98 out of 100. 

        There was an irrigation control issue and has been repaired. However there was an issue where duplicate control boards were purchased.  One control board was purchased independently from the repair guy at $250 and the repair guy brought a second control board and charged the city for it but took a control board away with him.  To be resolved in the future

 Agenda Item #12 – Finance Office Update 

        Warrants were approved with the payment for the diving board was withheld by Finance Officer Pat due to funding.

        Safe Routes To School (SRTS) Project sign off and payment of $20K was delayed due to the questions on, specifically who is financially responsible for the apparent omissions and errors.

        CDBG Loans-Years ago the city of Alcester received a grant from the state of South Dakota secured by Alcester businessman/ South Dakota legislator Roger McKellips to finance the expansion of Alcester Meats.  Alcester Meats repaid the loan with interest to the City of Alcester which was placed into a special account which the city could extend secondary loans to a primary bank loan by businesses relocating to Alcester or expanding into Alcester, to grow Alcester business district.  These loans were to be repaid with interest to keep the fund alive to encourage new business.  These loans should never have been guaranteed with perishable inventories such as alcohol or disposable commodities.  Finance Officer Pat announced two businesses Alcester Tire and Alcester Steakhouse recipients of outstanding CDBG loans have closed their doors but at this time both extinct businesses are current in their loan payments.

        Parking at Alcester City Park included a discussion on the properties immediately North of the Earthen Dam Sidewalk and their loss of access to the rear boundary of their properties.  In other words, the failure of the city to comply with abandonment procedures set by statute.

        Personnel Policy Manual-Committee members set as Councilman David Larsen and Councilwoman Melissa Kay with additional committee members to be comprised of employees.  What About City residents input on Personnel Manual?

        Consensus for the city to take over the Chamber Website and cause the new website to be the Official Alcester City Website with all the bells and whistles of a genuine city website including, agendas, minutes and city codes on line for residents.

        Just before Agenda Item #10, Executive session was called AGAIN to discuss personnel which does not show up on the agenda.  H-m-m!  The council moved into Executive session at 9:15 p.m. and declared out of Executive session at 9:27 p.m.

        NOTE:  Alcester City Councilman Lance Johnson never did show up for the meeting.  The late Ward III Councilman just couldn’t seem to come to the meeting to represent his ward.

Agenda Item #17-Adjournment

        After motions and vote, Mayor Glas declared the regular meeting of the July 10, 2018, Alcester City Council meeting adjourned       

          

 

 

06/21/2018 A Voice From the Gallery

If I am silent it’s because there is a thunder inside me Or I am just chillin’, it depends.  May the odds be ever in your favor.

author unknown

Before I begin my commentary on the June 11, 2018, special city council meeting, upon advice my comments involving the legal procedure for filling of a vacancy on the council had an error I make the following correction.

First it is important to know that city of Alcester is by definition a second class municipality.   According to SDCL § 9-2-1, “…Municipalities of the second class are municipal corporations with a population between five hundred and five thousand…”.

Second the city of Alcester is by definition as aldermanic consisting of a mayor and what is called a common council, this form of government is generally referred to as a strong council, weak mayor meaning a council of six voting members versus one mayor who does not have the power of vote beyond ties and contrary to Mayor Glas and Finance Officer Pat Jurrens apparent belief of a strong mayor, weak council and one terminally pushy Finance Officer operating under the delusion she is City Manager.  According to SDCL  § 9-2-3, “…Each municipality shall be governed by a board of trustees, a mayor and common council, OR by a board of commissioners. (Source: SDC 1939, § 45.0401; SL 1992, ch 60, § 2; SL 2000, ch 34, § 1.)”

Correction

SDCL §9-8-5 Titled Power of council to judge members and govern proceedings-Bribery vacating office.

    “The council is the judge of the election and qualification of its members. The council determines its rules of procedure, and may punish its members for disorderly conduct, and, with the concurrence of two-thirds of the aldermen may expel a member…(Source: SL 1890, ch 37, art IV, §§ 6, 7; RPolC 1903, §§ 1203, 1204; RC 1919, § 6210; SDC 1939, § 45.0704; SL 2017, ch 56, § 6.)”

and

SDCL §9-13-14.1 Titled Filling of vacancy on municipal governing body-No special election.

“Filling of vacancy on municipal governing body–Appointment or special election. If a vacancy exists on a municipal governing body, the remaining members shall appoint a replacement to serve until the next annual municipal election, or the vacancy may be filled by special election for the remainder of the unexpired term as provided in § 9-13-14.2. In the aldermanic form of municipal government, the appointment shall be a person from the same ward of the municipality. If electing a person to fill the remainder of the unexpired term at an annual municipal election, the vacancy shall have occurred prior to the publication required by § 9-13-6.  (Source: PolC 1877, ch 24, § 18; CL 1887, § 1039; SL 1890, ch 37, art IV, §§ 6, 7; RPolC 1903, §§ 1203, 1204, 1434; RC 1919, §§ 6198, 6210; SL 1931, ch 200, § 2; SDC 1939, §§ 45.0603, 45.0704; SDCL §§ 9-7-4, 9-8-6; SL 1979, ch 50, § 2; SL 1992, ch 60, § 2; SL 2005, ch 48, § 5; SL 2006, ch 28, § 1; SL 2010, ch 74, § 5.)”

With those citations serving as basis for correction of my previous comment regarding the appointment and ratification of Councilmember Linda Talbott simply put and according to statute not practice, it is up to the five remaining, duly seated members of the council to secure a candidate, appoint and ratify the candidate for interim council member NOT the mayor nor the Finance Officer.

Now to the meeting of the special meeting of the Alcester City Council which appears to act as the Cliff Notes version of a Bigger Problem.

The special meeting was called to order by Mayor Glas with Councilwoman Linda Talbott, Councilwoman Melissa Kay, Councilwoman Darla Reppe, Councilman Dan Haeder, Councilman David Larsen, City Attorney Sam Nelson and oh yeah, Councilman Lance Johnson present.

Agenda Item #4 – Police Department

  1. a) Police personnel Discussion- the June 4, 2018,  the language of the Councilman Lance Johnson’s motion to hire Jeff Christie as Alcester Police Chief was restricted to specific contract language regarding salary versus hourly wage.  Historically Alcester Police Chief’s were salaried positions.  It is extremely important to note here certain groups of workers are excluded from over-time pay.  As I understand it, Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) requires all covered non-exempt employees be paid overtime pay at no less than time and one-half their regular rates of pay for all hours of work in excess of 40 in a work week.  However Section 13(b)(2) of the FLSA provides an overtime exemption to law enforcement or fire protection employees of a public agency that employs less than five employees during the workweek in law enforcement or fire protection activities.  So is this Mayor Cheap-Glas’s move to low-ball our police officers pay and hand over quasi-control of our police department to FO Pat?

There are three criteria used to determine if the employee is exempted from the minimum wage and over-time protections. 1) the employee must be paid a pre-determined and fixed salary that is not subject to reduction, 2) the salary paid must meet a minimum specified amount and 3) the employees job duties must primarily involve executive , administration or professional duties as defined by the regulations (duties test).

So explain it to us Mayor Cheap-Glas’d, explain in detail why you and your minion FO Pat pushed to reduce the Salary of the Alcester Police Chief to an Hourly wage?  Oh and don’t fob us off on advice of counsel, that tired old response has run its course of credibility.  Oh and while you are at it, explain why conditions are not retro-active (00:05:55), to Police Chief Chris’ salary?

AND of course the city is not barred from paying over-time to our officers.  It does have the discretionary power to pay over-time to its officers.

Agenda Items #5-Warrants and Agenda Item #6 – Sexual Assault Prevention & Response Training were disposed of through vote.  The Sexual Assault Prevention & Response Training was scheduled for the week of July 9 with a morning session as well as an afternoon session.

Agenda Item #7 – Executive session As usual the session was for personnel purposes, as far as the Alcester City Mayor and FO Pat Jurrens there is no other kind of purpose for executive session!  Council went into session at 6:15 p.m. and exited personnel executive session at 6:45 p.m.

Meeting was adjourned at approximately 6:46 p.m.

Folks nothing was introduced on pool slide rules or the imminent danger of injury due to the placement of the slide and rules of use, i.e. pool safety recommendations of  feet first sliding, no head first or backwards sliding, no child under the age of 6 years old without parent in the pool catching, only one child on slide or slide ladder at a time, no toys on the slide and roped off to keep swimmers out of the splash down zone.  I passed out pool slide rules from other sources including a national organization for safety last meeting for the council to read.  Evidently it is not as Finance Officer/Bookkeeper Pat Jurrens puts it, a high priority.  Alcester children it appears are not a high priority.  Imagine your 8 year old or 10 year old suffering a spinal cord injury with the life-long result of tetraplegia or paraplegia because the pool rules were not set or enforced.  Are you willing to bet your child’s future on FO Pat’s ability to distinguish high priority or ignorable priority.  FO Pat’s, Mayor Half-Glas’d and the city’s pocket are not deep enough to restore what may be lost through sheer ego and terminal stupidity!   

 

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.