The streets and alleys of our wards are notoriously failing, with Mayor Glas habitually and profoundly neglecting them, not failing, however, to draw his regular stipend from the city treasury.
This is something I learned today when I read Mayor Glas’ answers to the questions posed to him by Mr. Gordon Richards in the Alcester Union-Hudsonite, ‘never look a ‘gift’ mayor in the mouth’
Alcester Union Question: “Why do you want to continue to be Mayor of Alcester?”
Mayor Glas’ answer: “I enjoy working with all our city employees. There are many more things I would like to accomplish which would make our town a better place.”
*Mayor Glas gave a non-responsive answer. So WHAT things, Mayor Glas? WHAT things have YOU accomplished Mayor Glas?
Fixed our streets?
Abandoned alleys without proper notification or procedures?
Allowed an earthen dam to be built in the park which promptly flooded residents?
Kept the HRC in a solvent manner?
Constructively fired our former city attorney Chuck Haugland with the help of your Finance Officer?
“…On January 9, 2018, Tuesday morning after the Monday night regular meeting in which the council voted unanimously to approve the retainer with no discussion, Finance Officer Pat Jurrens and Mayor ‘Tom’ visited Mr. Haugland’s law office telling him, “…the City Council felt that it was “time for a change” concerning the retention of our law office and me in particular as City Attorney for the City of Alcester…there was no other reason stated…and the City intended to retain Tom Frieberg of Frieberg, Nelson & Ask of Beresford, SD as the new City Attorney for the City of Alcester…”
Folks the council voted unanimously, Monday, January 8, 2018, and entered into a ratified, binding, good faith agreement. But, wait! On Tuesday, January 9, 2018, less than twenty-four hours later, Finance Officer Pat Jurrens and Mayor Tom are hot-footing it down to Chuck’s office to tell him, “the council decided it’s time for a change (in representation)!”
You allowed the Finance Officer to gift herself with comp time and over-time for which she is ineligible?
Alcester Union Question: “What would you continue to bring to the Council?”
Mayor Glas’ answer: “I bring forward any issues or concerns of our citizens…I always stand behind their (the city council’s) decisions
*Bring forward any issues or concerns of our citizens? Nah and Mayor Glas some advice from an old Cowboy, “Do Not Corner Something That You Know is Meaner Than You!
What about the Overtime and comp time for Finance Officer Pat Jurrens, while you stiffed our past police officers?
Alcester Union Question: “Why should the citizens of Alcester elect you to be the mayor?
Mayor Glas’ answer: “…My job as mayor is not to micromanage our employees, but to let them do their jobs…If elected I will continue to do the same for 4 more years.”
*Mayor Glas’ advocates a hands-off position. Mayor Glas has let Finance Officer Pat Jurrens run the city. WE did not elect Pat Jurrens! Pat Jurrens is the city bookkeeper not a city administrator nor a city manager.
Mayor Glas allowed Finance Officer create the fantasy of comp time and overtime.
Mayor Glas FAILED to sign off!
Mayor Glas FAILED to oversee his employee! Mayor Glas FAILEDto function as mayor!
AND Mayor Glas’ proposes to, “Continue to the same for four more years?”
There are risks and costs to action. But they are far less than the long range risks of comfortable inaction.
John F. Kennedy
Vote for the candidate who is in it for US!
Vote for the candidate who wants to give us back OUR voice!
Vote for the candidate who will provide OVERSIGHT AND LEADERSHIP!
“Government is instituted for the common good: for the protection, safety, prosperity and happiness of the people; and not for the profit, honor, or private interest of any one man, family, or class of men.”
John Adams
Silencing the Voters
I am political! Growing up Lutheran I practiced the Golden Rule, RSV Mathew 7:12 “So whatever you wish that men would do to you, do so to them; for this is the law and the prophets.” Please note the use of ‘practiced’ is my free admission I do not have this lesson totally learned so I continue to “practice” with the faith I will someday be good at it and I will be able to fit through the narrow gate.
I have held many positions as a Girl Scout Leader, to a volunteer EMT, but the one thing I am not is a liar. You can believe me when I say telling the truth can be painful, it has cost me friends, it has cost me business, my political voice/position and I am sorry to say cost my husband, Peter a mayoral election and placed a great target upon my back.
I am political! In 1999 I learned when one has rung the bell at the top of the rope of public embarrassment, public embarrassment no longer controls my behavior. I started going regularly to the Alcester City Council meetings after Rick Johnson was elected mayor. Upon Rick Johnson’s seating, I started writing regular letters to the editor to give my fellow residents and taxpayers highlights of the council meetings. One of the first things Rick Johnson did as mayor was to appoint Finance Office Mike Kezar for only four months which was ratified by the Alcester City Council of which Patricia R. Jurrens was seated.
March 17, 2014, Special meeting. The council opened bids on Beck Drive, Pat Jurrens Pet Project. Pohlman Excavation came in with low bid at $194,353.06 which with additional fees blowing up the cost of Beck Drive to around $250K excluding the paving fee of what I believe $60K to be the city’s expense. The deal was the HRC/City of Alcester would be paying interest payments only until lots were sold in which the price of the lot sales would be applied to the principal. To date Folks, only ONE lot has sold. I do believe the interest rate amount has exceeded the reasonable price of the remaining unsold lots. Care to guess who is going to be called upon to pony-up more taxes to pay for a street on the far side of town?
It was but a week or so, the Finance Officer position was posted. LO and BEHOLD Pat R. Jurrens long, harassing critic of Finance Officer Kezar applied for the Finance Officer appointment. In the June 2, 2014, council meeting Patricia R. Jurrens was appointed to Alcester Finance Officer with a TRAINING SALARY OF $40K PER YEAR commencing June 30, 2014, and current Finance Officer Kezar to expected to train her at his $38K salary. In addition there was talk of a $2K bump in Patty Rose’s salary after training, within a year. WOW!
Upon the September 2014 Mike Kezar’s ignominious ejection after 30 some years of public service to an agenda driven upstart. FO Patty Rose Jurrens subsequently to be referred to as FOPRJ (pronounced FO-purge) began her campaign against the citizens of Alcester by offering up changes in ordinances, changing finance office job descriptions form SDML to FOPRJ code, spending money like it was being printed on the Finance Office Copy Machine, concealing payroll figures and exceeding her employment terms.
In 2013 with the advent of Rick Johnson as mayor, the city of Alcester was subjected to a petty tyrant with absolutely NO Working Knowledge of city government beyond campus cop. On July 6, 2015, with the appointment of Tom Glas to mayor, the city of Alcester was subjected to “Mr. Magoo goes to city hall” where NO Working Knowledge was elevated to a doctorate level. In addition to Tom Glas’ appointment, the city of Alcester was gifted with a weak mayor who allowed and continues to allow the city Finance Officer to act as a proverbial Rabid Cat Off a Leash!
When the Alcester Union-Hudsonite was sold to Shane Hill, I was black-balled from the newspaper. Some folks didn’t like my letters-to-the editor, I guess applied pressure on Publisher Hill and undeniably it was Publisher Hills prerogative to reject my letters. If those folks thought they could SILENCE me, they found much to their chagrin they just issued a challenge to the Mouth That Roared. I found the internet and A VOICE FROM THE GALLERY was not silenced just as the voters will not be silenced!
I am political! It is time for a strong mayor who will re-take the reins of city government from the Finance Office. It is time for a strong mayor who can speak to city government, public policy and practices with knowledge without the tired comment, “…when I was in construction…”. Alcester is a municipality not four inch slab concrete without the rebar base of oversight! It is time for our city to operate in the black without assessing exorbitant fees on the property owners for extra street maintenance fee or comp time (from which our Finance Officer who is exempt and appears to have accumulated and used comp time illegally(without prior signed approval)). It is time to elect a mayor who will bring Alcester back into compliance! It is time to elect a mayor who will guide our recalcitrant Finance Officer back into compliance!
” A person that started in to carry a cat home by the tail was gitting knowledge that was always going to be useful to him and warn’t ever going to grow dim or doubtful.”
Mark Twain
Register to vote! If registration at the city level becomes an issue, feel free to contact me or contact the Union County Auditor. Do not be silenced!
It is time to retire the present milk-toast mayor and elect a strong Mayor who will actually work for the residents of Alcester and help to corral the cats off their leashes!
Last evening, a special meeting of the Alcester City Council was convened as the municipal Board of Equalization to conduct hearings on what property owners feel are inaccurate property tax assessments. While the council conducts these hearings, other city business can be conducted after the Equalization Board portion of the meeting has been completed.
Mayor Glas opened the meeting at 6:00 p.m. with Councilwoman Melissa Kay, Councilwoman Linda Talbott, Councilwoman Darla Reppe, Councilman David Larsen and Mr. Larry A. Nelson of the law firm Frieberg, Nelson and Ask present. Absent were Councilman Dan Haeder and Councilman Lance Johnson. Mayor Glas opened the Alcester Council Special Meeting with the Pledge of Allegiance and called for Approval of the Agenda.
Agenda Item #4 – Equalization Meeting 6:00 p.m. No call to order, just Mayor Glas announcing the Alcester Board of Equalization had received no objections to property tax valuation. Finance Officer Jurrens offered a summary relating to the 5% increase on structures as Council members inspected tax valuations for their respective wards. At 6:17 p.m. Mayor Glas declared the Alcester Board of Equalization out of session. Note: Mayor Glas seems to have Mr. Magoo’d the Alcester Board of Equalization meeting calling it out of session without ever calling it in session.
Agenda item #5 – Mayor Glas called for public input: I responded with an introduction of five documents I had distributed to the council members seating placements prior to the 6:00 p.m. start.
Document #1– a highlighted discussion of FLSA describing Exempt employees, Non-exempt employees, salary tests, definition of executive jobs, professional jobs, and administrative jobs.
Document #2 – a highlighted Job Description, for the position of City Finance Officer, December 2014 presumably authored by Finance Officer Jurrens which she presented to the South Dakota Hearing Examiners Office as proof of her authority to deny me access to public records through excessive, illegal charges for services.
Documents #3 – copy of pages purporting to be compensatory time accumulations for Alcester full time city employees with specific emphasis on the Alcester City Finance Office, Finance Officer Pat Jurrens and Wanda Halverson.
The results of the information contained within these documents show Finance Officer Pat Jurrens is exempt from overtime pay or comp time!
In addition, my February 28, 2019, FOIA/Sunshine request asked for,
“… 2. A full and complete copy specifically but not limited to Alcester City Council pre-approval of finance office personnel (Patricia Jurrens, Wanda Halverson, Shoshanna LNU) overtime and comp time, justification of overtime and comp time, council roll-call vote for over-time and comp time, date of Alcester Council approval of over-time and comp time, council vote to exceed the limit of over-time and comp time, roll call vote of council exception to over-time and comp time limits, justification for exception of policy and all full and complete minutes of Alcester City Council Meeting relating to over-time and comp time specifically for Finance Officer Pat Jurrens, Wanda Halvorson and Shoshanna LNU of the Alcester City Finance Office…”
I was not given the information requested in item number two (2) of my FOIA request nor was I given an explanation as outlined in that FOIA request.
“… If you deny any or all of this request, please cite each specific exemption you feel justifies your refusal to release the information and notify of the appeal procedures available to me under the law…”
In light of the absence of documentation of approval for overtime by Mayor Glas and with the Finance Officer job description ‘evidence’ Finance Officer Jurrens supplied to the South Dakota Office of Hearing Examiners in the city’s response in Larsen v. City of Alcester, Finance Officer Pat Jurrens was not and is not entitled to the 239.89 hours of overtime or comp time for which she expects remuneration.
At the conclusion of my input, I asked the Alcester City Council review the documents I supplied to them and asked they table the issue until they familiarized themselves with the issues I presented. Councilwoman Melissa Kay responded a committee formed of Mayor Glas, Councilman David Larsen, Councilwoman Melissa Kay and Alcester Finance Officer Pat Jurrens had met, researched and discussed at length the numerous issues arising out of her ‘comp time’ and attempted to justify an executive session to discuss comp time. I reminded Councilwoman Kay, Mayor Glas and the Council, Executive session is for Specific Employee discussion not General issues. Therefore when Mayor Glas called for Executive Session and discussed “general comp time issues ” Mayor Glas violated open meeting.
Agenda Item #8 – Compensation Time The council discussed issues of Finance Officer Pat Jurrens Comp Time, all those weekends, late nights, Chamber of Commerce Meeting, Golf Cart Road Trips to measure trees, organize parades, window peep for dogs and etc. which apparently made up the corn maze of Finance Officer Jurrens comp time diary.
Mayor Glas and his committee discussed options of paying Finance Office Jurrens ‘comp time’ in one lump sum or over several months. The rate however was not divulged, so is it the $40/hour she attempted to extort from me or is it perhaps some other extortive amount?
Folks, Finance Officer Pat Jurrens is exempt from Overtime or Comp Time. Remember not long ago when Mayor Glas and Finance Officer Jurrens re-defined the position of Alcester Police Chief as hourly labor rather than salaried and why? Alcester Council members, you DO NOT have any documentation of Mayor Glas’ approval, you do not have written justification why extra time was needed to complete Finance Office tasks, you have no written justification why the work could not be completed during office hours or any Need for the overtime hours. There is no sign off from Mayor Glas. No approval was given, overtime did not happen! Finance Officer Jurrens either perjured herself to the Office of Hearing Examiners with a Alcester Finance Officer Job description she knows is operationally fiction or she is falsifying overtime/comp time she knows does not apply to her function as Alcester Finance Officer! Mayor Glas did nothing to curtail the fiscal abuse and the finance office version of daylight savings time padding-move the time-clocks ahead! Oh that is right, cell phones are used to clock-in sans time cards.
Agenda Item #10 – Executive session to discuss personnel. At 6:50 p.m. Council moved into executive session for personnel SDCL 1-25-2-1,
“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…”
with Councilman David Larsen, Councilwoman Kay, Councilwoman Talbott, Councilwoman Reppe and Legal Counsel Nelson in session. After a period of time, Finance Officer Jurrens was called into the closed session. Once the door was closed behind FO Pat there was a trill of laughter. H-m-m-m! After another shorter period of time FO Jurrens exited from the closed session. At 7:29 p.m. Mayor Glas declared Alcester City Council out of Executive session.
Upon re-seating the Gallery, Mayor Glas stated on the record a complaint regarding the city finance office’s handling of elections had been lodged with the city. Mayor Glas stated the city of Alcester and Finance office would continue handling elections as they had in the past. NOTE: The city finance officer is in charge of elections procedures in municipalities per SDCL 12-1-3.(9),
“Person in charge of an election,” or “person charged with the conduct of an election,” the county auditor in all cases except local elections for a municipality, school district, township, or other political subdivision, in which case it is the officer having the position comparable to the auditor in that unit of government if not specifically designated by law; “
During my run for Ward III representative, sixteen (16) ballots were not returned to the ballot box and not sealed within the ballot box per protocol. Instead those sixteen ballots laid on top of the ballot box, unsecured overnight in the office of Alcester City Finance Officer Jurrens. Alcester Finance Officer Jurrens failed in her duties resulting in sixteen(16) spoiled ballots! While the count did not appreciably affect my election run, I believe it did affect the recycling question count and outcome.
So Mayor Glas says the city is going to continue handling elections as Finance Officer Jurrens handled them in the past? Now isn’t that warm comfort!
Agenda Item #9 – Planning and Zoning The garage issue. The city has had two requests to build stand alone garages on residential properties. Two requests have been made for variances to build a garage in the Broad Street area and I believe another on Anderson Street to house an RV which is contrary to the codes and covenants of the addition. So the city is being asked to forfeit property tax for an RV garage not in-line with the primary property. Now this means no street maintenance tax, low-ball property tax on a $15K RV storage garage instead of property taxes on a $30K-$50K residence. Tell your Ward representatives you object to variances of these types!
Mayor Tom Glas called the March 4, 2019, regular meeting of the Alcester City Council to order at 6:00 pm with Councilman Dan Haeder, Councilman Lance Johnson, Councilwoman Melissa Kay, Councilwoman Linda Talbott, Councilwoman Darla Reppe, Councilman David Larsen and Alcester City Attorney Tom Frieberg present.
After the Pledge of Allegiance, Mayor Glas called for Agenda Approval. The agenda was amended by a motion from Councilman Lance Johnson to reflect the change of moving agenda item #7-CBDG loan to Taylor Forbes to the March 18, 2019, special Board of Equalization meeting and moving up agenda item #17- Executive Session, Personnel- SDCL 1-25-2.1 into the agenda item #7 spot. “SDCL 1-25-2.1-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.” Councilman Lance Johnson’s motion was approved unanimously.
Motion to approve the February 4, 2019, minutes as presented by Finance Officer Pat Jurrens without change was made by Councilman David Larsen. Councilwoman Melissa Kay seconded the motion and following the absence of discussion, the council approved Finance Officer Jurrens recording of the minutes. I find this interesting in the light the ‘official’ minutes published in the newspaper, Alcester Union-Hudsonite neglected to reflect what has been described to me as a lengthy discussion on Comp Time to the tune of 222.6 comp time hours accrued by Finance Officer Pat Jurrens.
I would like to take you back in time to when Rick Johnson as Mayor made loud noises telling our water and street department guys when they had to take their comp time and designated (I believe) a 16 accrued hour cap. Compensatory time is, “…referred to as comp time, is paid time off given to a non-exempt employee instead of overtime pay. Rather than paying employees time and a half in overtime pay, a company which has a comp time policy gives paid time off from work, for the equivalent amount of time to the extra hours worked …” The key to this definition and implementation is that a government entity does not operate in the same continuum as private businesses. In addition the street and water departments are often called upon overtime hours when clearing and removing snow.
Now I would like to bring you forward in time to the present to our police department. Law enforcement in South Dakota is exempt from receiving over-time pay. i.e. if a law enforcement officer puts in 45 hours, he does not get 40 hour straight time and 5 hours over-time at 1.5 times the straight time rate. He gets 45 hours at straight time. Now the city has the option to voluntarily do the decent thing and pay them OT for hours in excess of 40 hours but Alcester has not elected to extend that nicety to our law enforcement. In fact, our city recently upon the employment of our current police force changed our police chief from a salaried position to an hourly paid position. After I asked via FOIA/Sunshine request for the hours, over-time hours, vacation time hours, was stone-walled by Finance Officer Jurrens and Mayor Glas, and filed a complaint of violation of FOIA/Sunshine Law with the Office of Hearing Examiners against the city of Alcester the city did move toward offering comp time to our law enforcement. At this point I have not had an opportunity to look at the city personnel policy or police policy manuals, ’cause just prior to my complaint of violation Finance Officer Pat Jurrens attempted to charge me $40/hour for just looking at documents I requested through FOIA. In fact during a meeting Councilman Lance Johnson whined my request was causing over-time in the City Finance Office.
Councilman Lance Johnson’s off-hand remark is what peeked my curiosity because it was my understanding Finance Office Pat Jurrens was a salaried appointment. Generally speaking, salaried finance office positions do not receive over-time. I will touch discussion on this subject in more depth later.
Agenda Item #5 was Dwight Berglin’s presentation of the 2017 city audit. Feel free to ask Finance Officer Jurrens to provide a copy for taxpayers to read at their leisure. One of the most noteworthy admonitions was the General Fund showed a loss of $52K, a violation on Budget expenses exceeded income. Credit Risk! Again an observation regarding sub-sufficient material control issues, dual control and over-sight.
Agenda Item #6 Public input. None.
Agenda Item #7– Executive Session for Personnel SDCL 1-25-2.1 Motion was made by Councilwoman Melissa Kay, Second by Councilman Lance Johnson, No discussion, unanimous aye vote. Meeting went into Executive session at 6:30 p.m. with mayor, council, Pat Jurrens and Tom Frieberg in the session to discuss personnel, Pat’s Comp Time ya ‘spose?
Immediately upon exit from Executive Session at 7:05 p.m. Mayor Glas once again resumed the meeting without allowing the gallery to re-enter the council room. Error! Councilman Lance Johnson attempted a garbled, motion to form a committee to meet with Finance Officer Pat Jurrens to discuss comp time issues, future resolutions, review current policy on comp time. Did I call it or did I call it? Folks this illegal executive session is a violation of open meeting! Mr. Freiberg should have called it, but he didn’t. Councilman Dan Haeder stepped in after the hic-cupping, garbled and strangulated motion attempt of Councilman Lance Johnson ceased and formed a motion to set up a committee of Councilman David Larsen, Councilwoman Melissa Kay, Mayor Glas and Pat to meet to rewrite current policy on comp time. Councilman Lance Johnson finally got his tongue unwrapped from his tonsils to make a second and with no further discussion or meeting time and date, the council voted unanimously in favor of the committee. Tom Frieberg left the meeting immediately upon the motion approval coming out of the Executive Session.
In addition, here is a request for freedom of information. Please note what information I requested and the detail specifics for which I asked. This is important to what I received.
Now I will present the fruits of my FOIA! Please note the nature of the record is a compilation of comp time, note the lack of authorization for over-time which resulted in the ‘comp time’ and note the lack of justification for the over-time hours which would result in ‘comp time’!
Agenda Item #10 Police Department Mayor Glas and Finance Officer Pat Jurrens were attempting to circumvent and violate the Fourth Amendment rights of dog owners by asking the Alcester Police Chief to issue dog license violations on those folks who had not purchased dog licenses and without witnessing dogs running-at-large.
Mayor Tom Glas called the January 7, 2019, regular 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 and Alcester City Attorney Sam Nelson.
The mayor called for Agenda Approval. Alcester City Councilman Lance Johnson moved to approve the agenda with no changes, Alcester City Councilman Melissa Kay seconded the motion and with no further discussion the group voted unanimously to approve the January 7, 2019, agenda with no corrections or additions.
The mayor then asked for council approval of the minutes from December 3rd, regular Alcester City Council Meeting and December 10th special Alcester City Council meetings. Councilman David Larsen moved to approve the minutes of both meetings without any additions or corrections with a second to the motion from Councilwoman Darla Reppe, council voted unanimously to approve the motion.
Input-I had and I did. First up was my commentary on ‘professionalism’ in the finance office and FO Pat’s ‘cost cutting’. Prior to the January 7, 2019, meeting I distributed photocopies of a September 20, 2018, three page letter authored by Finance Office Jurrens sent to the Office of the South Dakota Hearing examiners defending herself against my complaint she violated open records to the table placements of the Alcester City Council. What was interesting is according to FO Jurrens, “…Ms. Larsen questions my (FO Pat) qualifications to competently do the job as City Finance Officer. I am a graduate of the University of South Dakota, Beacon School of Business with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration and Accountancy…I am knowledgeable of Government Accounting, Financial States and operation QuickBooks…” Folks this is a letter to the Office of South Dakota Hearing Examiners by a representative of Alcester City. I pointed out to the council the use of letter head for all three pages.
Folks please note, there are no page numbers to distinguish the page order, the lack of title for Chief Hearing Examiner Duenwald and the familiar use of comma in a formal business letter plus numerous grammatical errors most high school students learn to avoid when they are crafting a term paper. Folks if I used a red pencil to mark the errors I would have run out of red graphite. In addition even if I did not have a BA degree from Northern I learned as a sophomore in my high school Secretarial Science Course, one only uses letter head for the first page, uses page numbers and uses footers in a formal letter.
I researched the USD Beacon School of Business, I couldn’t find it. Then I noticed there was a BEACOM School of Business, not Beacon. Really such an exemplary honors student does not know her alma mater Beacom from Beacon? Evidently one can see the ‘light’ and one is left in the grammatical dark.
On to page 2 of the September 20, 2018, letter to the South Dakota Office of Hearing Examiners where FO Pat says,“…Regarding Ms. Larsen comment about using my work email address researching something on Pinterest-the research was completed on my off-work time but for fund raising projects for the City. The City of Alcester had a financial shortfall for a special project and research was conducted for ideas to re-use pallets and other fund raising ideas…”FO Pat writes the research was completed, so when was it started? Fund Raising? Really Fund Raising? FO Pat the good citizens of Alcester DID NOT hire you to organize bake sales, given lessons in Pinterest pallet art con termites nor your rampant Conflict of Interest position as Chamber of Commerce President! You, yourself crow you are proficient in Government Accounting, Financial Statements and operating QuickBooks Accounting Software. How is it the City of Alcester even developed a financial shortfall for a special project under YOUR professed proficient Accounting and Financial prowess? Who ‘creates’ the budget out of the erratic mumblings of Mayor Concrete Google Master? Granted the council gives their okie dokie but their okie dokie is predicated on your so-called ‘expertise’. But I have to hand it to ya Madame FO, you seem to be adapting yourself to taxing Peter to fund Pat!
Going on to my FOIA request for an accounting for work hours, on call hours, over-time hours of two members of the police force. FO Pat further states in her September 20, 2018, letter to the South Dakota Office of Hearing Examiners that, “… each letter (my FOIA) asks for a full and complete copy of…total hours worked…active…on-call…salary…total over-time earnings…date of payment…” going on to explain to the Office of Hearing Examiners that, “…Ms. Larsen, due to her interaction with the Police Department is aware of names…I personally witnessed her interaction with each member of our Police Department and called them by name…Another reason a physical examination of the weekly timecard is necessary…This is not information that can be run in a report from the TimeClock Software…”REALLY?
She witnessed my interaction with each member of the Police Department, HOW does FO Pat get anything done if she has our police department under surveillance to see when I talk to them. These particular employees ‘punched’ in for work on their cell phones. No time cards! The software should have the ability to create a report of hours, type of hours and rates of pay, and etc. In addition QuickBooks the accounting program used by the City of Alcester, is the same QB program I use it in my business. I am able to create wage reports in QuickBooks and I didn’t work for a ‘software’ company hawking QuickBooks.
In addition to the FO Pat’s answer to OHE File Number PRR 18-03 Larsen vs. City of Alcester, I provided a list of questions I verbally posed to the City Council. I have started following this procedure so I don’t forget my questions, the council can read my questions and I can get answers instead of the usual mayoral shrug-off.
ALCESTER CITY COUNCIL QUESTIONS
WHERE IS THE STREET MAINTENANCE FEE MONEY NOT USED FOR CHIP SEAL? (2018)
Answer: special account
HOW MUCH CHIP SEAL WILL THE RESIDENTS GET NEXT YEAR FOR THEIR TWO YEARS WORTH OF FEES?
Answer: 2 shots
WHERE IS THE FLOW DETAIL ON THE DONATION RECEIVED BY THE CITY OF ALCESTER FROM THE CANTON BARN FUNDRAISER FOR THE BENEFIT OF THE VICTIMS OF THE ALCESTER NURSING HOME CRASH?
Answer: Non-answer
WHAT IS THE OUTCOME OF THE CURB VANDALIZATION ON ANDERSON STREET ALONG THE NORTH JOHNSON PROPERTY?
Answer: Beyond the temper tantrum of Councilman Lance Johnson calling me, lady followed with my short reactive set-down of, “Mr. Johnson, my name is Mrs. Larsen…” Councilman Lance Johnson said he didn’t own the property. I had already checked with Beacon-Schneider parcel ID 01.11.10.1035 Lot B, Block 10, Tr 3, Numsen’s Addition, Alcester City (12/20/2013 property was divided into parcel 01.11.10.1035 Lance Johnson Family Trust and parcel 01.11.10.1036 Randy and Pam Heuer). Councilman Johnson YOUas an Alcester City Councilman and it is your DUTY to notify the city of acts of vandalism!
HAS THE REPAIR OF THAT CURB BEEN EFFECTED AND PAID FOR BY THOSE WHO RIPPED OUT THE CURB? CITATION ISSUE?
Answer: Undecided
Going on down the agenda:
6. Legal Updates to the Personnel Policy-stalled, Legal Updates to the Police-no action yet. No action taken.
7. 2019 Legal Retainer-Same as 2018 with Frieberg, Nelson and Ask. Unanimous Approval.
8. Official Newspaper 2019 Named-introduction of Mr. Gordon Richard, writer/reporter for the Alcester Union-Hudsonite. Unanimous Approval.
9. Office Bank 2019 Named-Premier Bank Unanimous Approval.
10. Ordinance changes regarding Cats-No action ’cause the humane folks do not take feral cats just our Fluffy’s.
11. Ordinance change Appointed Officers (2019-01)-Still a ‘work in progress’. This ordinance change is to all intents a purposes change FO Pat from an appointed position to a hired position. Evidently she doesn’t want done to her what Rick Johnson did to her predecessor Mike Kezar, where Mayor Johnson declined to ‘appoint 30 year veteran Finance Officer Kezar and where then Councilwoman Jurrens cast her ‘bye-bye’ to remove Mr. Kezar. Evidently FO Pat recognized Karma when she spotted it comin’ at her at raceway speeds and tryin’ to take evasive actions. The council also discussed the verbiage used to terminate or fire a city employee. This ordinance had its first reading (not on the agenda?).
12. Pleasant Hill Cemetery-perpetual care monetary minimums, cash assets, paperwork and grounds keeping were issues discussed. Questions but no answers. No action taken.
13. Nuisance Property Discussion-Mayor Glas’s hobby horse. He complains about several mattresses in his backyard view. Really, chuckle, chuckle. Mayor Glas change the zoning and charge a sizable entertainment tax on those mattresses and apply the income to our street maintenance so we can repair our streets without taxing Peter to Pay FO Pat! Say you could even make a video and put it up on the city website? Oh that is right we do not have a website ’cause it is not a priority for FO Pat, however she is still working on those Pinterest pallets for fund raising. Well now a pallet has been defined as a mattress, so FO Pat could collect those ‘pallets’ for her fund raising efforts. Shoot she can display them next to the walls where she is hawking paintings in the Alcester City Council Meeting room and put up her sign—Pat’s Pinterest Palace of Paintings and Pre-Used Poly Pallets.
There was an open session disgust-tion of the Code Enforcement Officer by Mayor Tom Glas and Alcester City Councilman Lance Johnson.
18. (a) Finance Office warrants (bills to be paid) Unanimous Approval
(b) Resolution for City Fees-Key Fee here is the Finance Office Staff Fee goat rodeo courtesy of an action initiated by yours truly. I will discuss this lil’ ‘ol fee in a future installment. In addition to the FO staff fee, Golf fees and pool fees were among the changes. Unanimous approval.
(c) 2019 Election Vacancies:
Mayor-5 years, * 50 legal signatures to be safe
Ward I-3years 15-20 legal signatures to be safe,**
Ward II-3 years 15-20 legal signature to be safe **
Ward III-3 years 15-20 legal signatures to be safe **
Petitions take-out-01/25/2019,
Petition hand-in- 02/22/2019,
Voter Registration-03/25/2019,
Election-04/09/2019
* at least 3 times the Ward signature number
** my opinion if more than one candidate
(d) 2019 Salaries:
Executive session was called-Council went into Executive session at 7:22 p.m. and was out 7:26 p.m. Unanimous approval of the 2019 Salaries
*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.
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 ontoAgenda 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!
“Democracy must be built through open societies that share information. When there is information, there is enlightenment. When there is debate, there are solutions. When there is no sharing of power, no rule of law, no accountability, there is abuse, corruption, subjugation and indignation.” Atifete Jahjaga
Mayor Glas called the October 2, 2018, meeting of the Alcester City council to order in the Alcester-Hudson City-School Library at 6:00 p.m. with Alcester City Councilwoman Darla Reppe, Alcester City Councilwoman Melissa Kay, Alcester City Councilman David Larsen, Alcester City Councilman Dan Haeder and Alcester City Attorney Sam Nelson present. Absent were Alcester Councilwoman Linda Talbott and Alcester Councilman Lance Johnson. Since a quorum was still intact, the meeting remained in session.
The meeting commenced with the recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance.
Agenda Item #3 – Approval of the Agenda. The agenda item order was changed by moving Agenda Item #17 – Executive Session 1-25-2 (3) Pending Litigation. Councilman Haeder moved to approve the agenda with the change moving Agenda Item #17 – Executive Session to just after Agenda Item #11 – Golf Course Updates, Councilwoman Darla Reppe seconded the motion, and with no further discussion the group voted four ayes, zero nays to approve the agenda as changed.
Agenda Item #4 – Approve Minutes of September 5, 2018 and September 14, 2018. Councilwoman Melissa Kay moved to approve the September 5, 2018, council minutes and September 14, 2018, council minutes as written and distributed to the council via email. No discussion and the quorum council voted four (4) aye and zero (0) nays.
Agenda Item #5 – Dee Cole Welcome. Librarian Cole welcomed the group and gave an update of library usage, added WI-FI access, programs and hours of operation.
Agenda Item #6 – Stacy Johnson, Barb Johnson- Parking on Iowa Street. These ladies brought their parking violation issue to the city council seeking redress. These ladies received parking tickets on September 11, 2018, for parking in a no parking zone on Iowa Street. At issue was the placement of the ‘No Parking’ sign placement. At the place the ladies accessed Iowa street (a one-way street) the no parking sign was not visible and thought to be out of placement. Alcester Street Department Representative Lonnie Johnson stated he used the MUTCD for placement of signs which is an acronym for the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices.* The council visited among themselves, sought input from the police department and opinion from City Attorney Sam Nelson and based upon input and opinion of legal theory declined to set aside the tickets, keeping the violations in force and payable.
*The state of South Dakota adopted the Millennium Edition of the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices as it official manual for traffic control. Perhaps the city would be well served if in the future they direct the street department to paint the curb in addition to No Parking signage as suggested by MUTCD.
Agenda Item #7 – Public Input
(00:26:29) I responded with a complaint the August 21, 2018, Alcester City Council Meeting Minutes were not published in the newspaper. This is the second occurrence of failure to publish minutes in a timely manner.
First failure incident involved the failure to publish notice for city council vacancy February 23, 2018, petition deadline. I had contacted Alcester Union-Hudsonite Shane Hill to confirm receipt of notification for publication, he confirmed he had not received an email from Alcester Finance Office Pat Jurrens.
This time it was the minutes for the August 20, 2018, minutes which did not appear but were approved in the September 5, 2018, Alcester City Council Meeting Minutes which appear in Volume 131, Issue 36, Thursday, September 13, 2018, edition of the Alcester Union-Hudsonite. So where are the minutes…not published. I called the Alcester Union-Hudsonite publisher Shane Hill and asked him. He took my number and said he would get back to me. Uhm, he didn’t get back to me but instead apparently telephone the Alcester Finance Officer to give her the heads up. ‘Cause Finance Officer Jurrens upon my input, explained to the council she included something in their ‘packet’. SDCL 9-18-1 states,
“Governing body to publish minutes of meetings including statement of expenditures–Rate of payment for publication. The governing body of each municipality shall publish, within twelve business days, the minutes for each meeting of the governing body including a detailed statement of all expenditures of money and the name of each person paid and the service provided. The municipality shall pay for the publication of the minutes no to exceed ninety percent of the legal line rates for weekly newspapers and not to exceed the legal line rate for daily newspapers as provided in 17-2-19…”
and SDCL 9-18-1.1 states,
“Time for delivery of copy to official newspaper. The finance officer shall maintain a record of the minutes published pursuant to § 9-18-1 and deliver a copy to the official newspaper within five business days from the date the meeting was held…”
Derek MacIntosh introduced himself as candidate for Union County Sheriff and spoke to his experience and his goals.
Alcester City Councilman Dan Haeder wanted to clarify in light of blow-back the city position on the feral cat round-up to, “…the use of all legal means…”.
Agenda Item #8 – Street Updates Street Department Representative Lonnie Johnson stated he had no updates. The subject of Joe Zweifel’s complaint about the street condition at 305 W. Third Street. Apparently there seems to be no long term fix such as complete street rebuild in the vocabulary of the Mayor just periodic asphalt treatments. Other suggestions by members of the city council was curb and gutter re-do at home owners expense which council members seemed oblivious to the cause-effect of the weighted robotic garbage truck which seems to pull the street material away from the curb and gutter.
At which point Executive session was called for contract discussion. Alcester City Councilman David Larsen made the motion to go into executive session with a second coming from Alcester City Councilwoman Darla Reppe, discussion was to contract concerning the street. Executive session commenced at 6:55 p.m. and was called back into open session at 7:10 p.m. It was at this point there was not going to be any chip seal put down this year. Apparently vacating the vote taken at Agenda Item #7 in the April 2, 2018, awarding the seal coat bid to Road Guys at $1.75 per square yard of CRS-2P based upon 20K Square yard purchase and to be put in place between June 1, 2018 and September 1, 2018. No chip seal…so where is the money, was there a cancellation fee and who defaulted? So are we going to have twice the coverage in 2019?
Agenda Item 9 – Wastewater/Water Dale was not available so Lonnie Johnson gave a summary. So what is going on the Water tower cleaning, painting and where is the light, huh Mayor, Finance Officer Pat?
Agenda Item 10 – Police Department Police Chief Christie gave updates which included police calls were up and 40% of those calls involved drugs. The new radios were up and running thanks to the grant that purchased them.
The question of On Call Pay was raised (01:03:25). This discussion was done in open session, evidently arising out of executive session discussions covering several months of dithering about with apparently a decision to move forward with an Overtime rate inclusion in the 2019 budget and carrying a retro-active decision implementation. According to the discussion among the four Alcester City Councilpersons, Mayor Glas and Finance Officer Jurrens the ON CALL decision was not shared with Alcester Police Chief Christie nor apparently with the public in open meeting.
(01:09:17) I immediately spoke up and most definitely out-of-order with the question, “When was this vote taken…was it take in executive session” at which Alcester City Attorney Sam Nelson addressed Mayor Glas advising him and the council, “…you do not have to answer questions from the gallery”. I smiled. After a couple more minutes of discussion on writing police policy concerning On-Call, set time to allow the safety committee to meet and to set the date for a special full city council meeting Alcester City Attorney Sam asked Mayor Glas to, “…go back to the On-call…” Upon Mayor Glas’ okie-dokie, Alcester City Attorney Sam stated that in previous closed session discussions he had briefed the council on possibilities with regard to the On-Call solution with a $2k compensation. Imagine that!
Folks our law enforcement officers past and present operated in On-Call capacities which involved additional on duty hours after they had been on duty for a full tour. On-Call meaning our officers were not on the clock but had to be available to respond on-call for another eight to ten hours. They could not leave the city, they could not have an after duty beer, they could not take their spouses to a movie and dinner and they were NOT paid for this additional time nor were they given comp time in any form. In addition police officers, paid fire men and women are exempted from Overtime pay. Folks how many of you would be willing to work under conditions like this?
Mr. Nelson they did not have to answer me then, if the Alcester City Council is voting in executive session they most assuredly have to answer to me and my fellow taxpayers NOW!
Agenda Item #11 – Updates Alcester City Councilman Dave Larsen gave updates on the golf course.
Agenda Item #17 – Moved Executive Session regarding pending litigation. Alcester City Councilwoman Darla Reppe moved to go into Executive session, Second came from Alcester City Councilman Dan Haeder and with no further discussion the four voted to close the session at 7:42 p.m. and opened the session at 8:00 p.m. No action taken in open session. Included in the closed session were Alcester Finance Officer Pat Jurrens and Alcester Finance Office employee Wanda Halvorson.
Agenda Item #12 – Finance Office
Warrants were approved.
Issue of American Legion Auxiliary request for storage was not acted upon until the Auxiliary provides specifications of what they need.
SRTS issue. A meeting will be set up for all parties. Definition- All parties exception the homeowners. An extension for final payment has been extended by 6 months with conditions concerning mitigating determination of problem.
Police Personnel Manual. Finance Office Pat Jurrens is to have the draft copy of the police manual to Alcester City Attorney Sam Nelson but according to Finance Officer Jurrens it is “a work in progress”.
Special Projects – Response letter to Office of Hearing Examiners/Vickie Larsen – 8 hours* and Tree Trimming Database/Letters- 134 letters- 12 hours.
Agenda Item 13 – Fair Board Update Date provisionally set for 2019 August 1-4
Agenda Item 15 – Alcester Community Building Update another show-me-the-money meeting to be scheduled for public input.
Agenda Item 18 – Adjourn approx. 8:35 p.m.
*My Explanation in future ‘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.
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!
A Voice from the Gallery 