Tag: Mike Burke

03/11/2016 A Voice from the Gallery

 “Your ignorance is their power”

Riley Villiers-Furz,  PAW PRINT,   09/06/13

      The March 7, 2016, council meeting convened at 6.00 p.m. with Mayor Glas and full council present. Approximately 10 minutes into the meeting, after Agenda approval as amended, the minutes of the February 1st and 15th meetings were approved and public input was received, the council went on to the Resolution of Intent to Annex. Councilman David Larsen brought the question that the Union County Commissioners amended Alcester Resolution 2016-01, a Resolution of Annexation:

“ Alcester City Annexation Motion by Karpen, second by Headid to approve the resolution provided by the city of Alcester with the amendment “including all adjoining roads”. Motion carried. Resolution #UCC 2016-001 A RESOLUTION APPROVING ANNEXATION OF TERRITORY BY THE CITY OF ALCESTER WHEREAS, the City of Alcester desires to annex the following described property, to wit: Lot D-SE 28-95-49 was is 307.5 x 300 ft as occupied west of Iowa Street and north of South Street. WHEREAS,    pursuant to SDCL 9-4-5, such annexation may be subject to review by the Board of     County Commissioners. THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the Union County Board of  County Commissioners, that the annexation of the above described territory by the City   of Alcester be and the same is hereby approved. **to include all adjoining roads. Motion    carried.”

(Unapproved minutes of the Union County Commissioners meeting on February 4, 2016, published in the Alcester Union-Hudsonite on February 11, 2016.)

After input from city attorney Chuck Haugland, Mayor Glas called the motion, received the motion from Councilman Lance Johnson who failed to specify the council was considering their initial motion and not the amended motion from the Union County Commissioners, Councilman Mike Burke called second, Mayor Glas failed to call for discussion and the council voted unanimously to approve Councilman Lance Johnson’s motion. It is my opinion, the residents of Alcester may be on the hook for the maintenance of South Street, South Iowa with the twin culverts which need to be replaced. WOW!

At approximately 6:15 p.m. Mayor Glas called for executive session to discuss I believe 1.25.2-3 ( Executive meeting, #3, “Consulting with legal counsel or reviewing communications from legal counsel about proposed or pending litigation or contractual matters…”, it was hard to decipher the mumbling groping for the correct statute. Usually a specific explanation is made, but with Mayor Glas it is the exception unless he is prompted to follow the rule.

Legal update on the status of 202 Broad street which apparently is in foreclosure with a pending bankruptcy which slows the foreclosure process. Mayor Glas told Alcester City Attorney Haugland to handle this issue a.s.a.p. presumably the next day, to which Mr. Haugland told Mayor Glas he was in the middle of tax season and would get to it as soon as he could. Mayor Glas got seven shades of Phizzy, replying, “… the city is paying you as city attorney…” to which Mr. Haugland replied, “I am also under retainer with my tax clients…” Mr. Haugland was dismissed from the meeting. It is to be noted here that Mr. Haugland is giving the city a generous discount for his services but it seems the Mayor wants ‘fire sale’ prices for city attorney and police department.

We have a new police chief, Chris Doty. Congratulations Chris.

It appears the Alcester Industrial Park Board is off and running.   By Golly, they want to get things done! Finance Officer Jurrens asked for permission to plat and plan roads. Mayor Glas called the motion, Councilman Lance Johnson made the motion, Councilman David Larsen provided the second with unanimous approval. Ward I has been waiting patiently for years to have their utilities upgraded to current standards, they have had to watch as East side Anderson Street, Lee Drive got the street upgrades with Beck Drive being developed with utilities, East Clark developed and meanwhile the folks living on the West side are still waiting. So do we have a Flint, Michigan, situation in progress?

SRTS or Safe Routes to School update. In 2013 a grant was awarded for non-infrastructure use. News is the powers that be, failed to read the reimbursement grant and understand that it had an expiration date and the $5K (I believe) was not used so the grant folks figured Alcester did not need the grant. Wh-o-e-e Three month extension?

Executive session was called 1-25-2.1 to discuss personnel which I understand is, “to discuss the qualifications, competence, performance, character of fitness of any public officer or employee or prospective public officer or employee. ” H-m-m I can see why they might not want to explain this one and just refer to it by number.  Given the legal history of two of the council members, I find it curious they are suddenly concerned with fitness of character for prospective public officers. While I have taken no oath, the council has and are bound by that oath, but at least one councilman seems to have violated the precepts of executive session.

In 2000 Alcester Mayor Kim Shefte padlocked the doors to city hall, now it seems we are still being locked out but by executive session and coffee klatch-type conversations.

Photo of Alcester City Offices Padlocked

Alcester citizens locked out of city hall when Mayor Shefte padlocked the doors!

03/04/2016 A Voice from the Gallery

A Voice from the Gallery

03/04/2016

As I start my political journey I am reminded of “America’s” song lyric, “…On the first part of my journey…”, and as I circulated my petition through Ward III visiting with my neighbors, they shared ideas, opinions and histories with me. One shared that her father gathered up his family and with a couple dozen other drought stricken families from the same SD county moved en masse to the Alcester area to start fresh.  As I understand it, those thirty some families put down roots, flourished and grew Alcester’s population and diversity.

But sadly over the years, the municipal government failed to keep up. The bull-headed, tunneled vision, neck encircling mill-stone policy of the mayor presiding over the council in 1989-1994 refused to levy minimum tax hikes to offset inflation ultimately setting Alcester behind the proverbial 8-ball with no money to maintain or make infrastructure improvements leaving Alcester financially vulnerable.

Today, we still suffer from the effects of the shadow of that 8-ball. In the past three years, the city has been sued or threatened with lawsuit several times. The county dispatch lawsuit, the bar lawsuit, a threatened workplace harassment lawsuit and an alleged assault of one of our police officers and payment for officer certification school.

*The county dispatch lawsuit is ongoing with no updates to the community.

*The bar Sullivan lawsuit was settled, costing the city $30K +/-.

*In the workplace harassment issue the mayor did not hand off to the South Dakota DCI for proper investigation setting the city up for nonfeasance charges, the council did not take action because according to ‘scuttlebutt’ (apparently a councilman divulged executive session) the complaining party resigned so the council figured they did not have to take action, leaving the city open for nonfeasance charges and lawsuit. According to Black’s Law Dictionary, “nonfeasance is neglect of duty, the neglect or failure of a person to do some act which he ought to do” creating an actionable liability. In addition at the September 23rd, 2013, special meeting the council went into executive session to discuss personnel issues with Alcester police officer Lisa present around 5:45 p.m. at which time my name was heard in the closed session and I am not personnel, after 15 minutes officer Lisa left the room and executive session continued for approximately another 48 minutes. The council violated executive session which had been called for the sole purpose of discussing personnel not Vickie Larsen. Officer Lisa tendered her resignation in that session and in a later interview with me, she told me the council wanted her to arrest me if I made a fuss.

*In the police officer issue, the council settled $2889.13 by way of the department of Labor. The alleged assault on the officer appears to have pleaded down and as a reward the council voted to seat the alleged attacker on the council.

Councilman Dykstra was seated then and remains a member of the council, freely participating in the deliberate nose thumbing failure of proper process and his obligation to act among other ‘positive qualities’ which I will address. It appears that Councilman Dykstra and a cohort or two intend to ‘teach’ me as Kevin Alfred Strom wrote, ” To learn who rules over you (me), simply find out who you are not allowed to criticize…”. I started out sharing what I witnessed in council sessions using the ‘flashlight’ of opinion letters-to-the-editor in the local paper until the new publisher refused to carry any more of my letters telling me my reporting was not good for the city. H-m-m I wonder if the publisher has a local bank loan—- VP privileges maybe? So what are they afraid of? I was content to use the ‘flashlight’ to enlighten the residents of council meeting behaviors and behind closed door policies but I do believe a 4000 watt Sky Cannon Skytracker searchlight is more appropriate now.

Vickie

 

02/29/2016 A Voice from the Gallery

It is appropriate that I start my campaign for Alcester city council on Leap Day.

It is a step outside of my comfort zone to run for political office, but the time has come for me step out and act. I do believe the other candidates running in my ward have not had to face a competitive election in the past.  In fact neither of them turned in petitions to run in the last election cycle and were placed on the council and for lack of a better word, “on sufferance” for the most part appointed without election or running the gauntlet of executive session posturing plus one.

When I asked to be appointed in the last cycle, I was questioned by the Finance officer which was improper because the finance officer has no authority in executive session. She asked if I would write only positive things, I replied that if I saw something negative I would address it.  Negative issues cannot be fixed unless they see the light of open, honest discussion.  In addition, one of the council persons in Ward III told me, “…you can run for office in the next election, I am not running.”  Amazing!  Both former Ward III councilmen have taken out petitions.  Glory, those two ol’ boys really don’t want me and my light a shinin’ on them.

If you want open council meetings, Vote for me!

If you want access to your council, Vote for me!

If you want access to city information, Vote for me !

If you want to come first before outside entities and corporations, Vote for me!

If you want a council person who will actually listen, Vote for me!

 

Vickie A. Larsen

02/04/2016 A Voice from the Gallery

A Voice from the Gallery

02/04/2016

                                                        “Think is not illegal… “

                                                                                                       public awareness message, author unknown

After running through the February 1, 2016, meeting agenda and past meeting minutes approvals, once again Mayor Glas failed to ask if there was further discussion between the second to the motion and the vote.   I find it interesting that Alcester City Council met on January 4th, 2016, then again on January 11th ( police hire-what happened to a committee meeting?) and January 20th (discussion purchase of CAT 930G), 2016, yet no action was taken in these ’emergency’ meetings excepting the hire of a police officer which could have been accomplished in the February 1st meeting. Mayor Glas phizzed and moaned about my complaint costing the city legal fees, so what about these non-emergency, emergency council meetings?

In the February 1st meeting, the council gave permission to negotiate a trade plus $1,000 on an Allis D14 or Allis D17, contingent on successful negotiations, purchase and financing of a wheel loader and a wheel loader blade was considered. While the council was discussing the financing offer from Caterpillar-Butler Machinery, a side out-of-order conversation was held between Councilman Dykstra and the street department resulting in an impromptu offer from Councilman Dykstra State Bank of Alcester would match the Cat-Butler offer. So was Mr. Dykstra acting as a council person or an employee of the bank? Two motions were made, one contingent upon the Loader Purchase with the second placing the financing with State Bank of Alcester. Vote on the financing motion was four yes with an abstention coming from Mark Dykstra. Upon the vacant look on the face of Mayor Glas, the term conflict-of-interest had to be defined for the Mayor to explain why Councilman Dykstra abstained from the vote. I find it troubling that Caterpillar-Butler was not advised they were dealing with an in-house money lender in Councilman Dykstra and they were not given an opportunity to amend their offer.

Ken from FCS appeared at the Public hearing regarding the Resolution of Intent to Annex presenting questions:

1) Why was the city annexing now, was it because of the taxing ability on the new bins?

                 Answer. Increased FCS heavy truck traffic on First Street in Alcester was causing   abnormal wear and tear on a street not engineered for the extreme loads FSC bound trucks are subjecting to the street.

2) Which is it, county or township?

                 Answer. The proposed annexed parcel has always been in the township.

3) Why the increase in tax rate because in 2011-2015 the taxes were $11,000.00, why did it bump to $18,000+/-.

                 Answer. A study by SECOG in December 2015placed the property valuation at $1.6 million on Non Ag.

Executive session was called at 6:45 p.m. for legal counsel and returning to open meeting at 6:58 p.m.  No action taken in open meeting.

It seems the police car former Mayor Rick Johnson found wasn’t such a good deal after all. According to the diagnosis, the bearings went out in the motor and that a $6500.00 squad car now needs $5500.00 worth of motor rebuild .   Sadly according to Finance officer Jurrens, she did not feel the $3000.00 formerly budgeted per year safety net to purchase future police cars was necessary. Now we are down one police squad with the remaining squad questionable and because of the budget fudge, apparently the city does not have ready funds to repair or replace the squad.

FCS has proposed a grain storage building along East Clark Street which was tabled due to local resistance to putting a grain storage building on the fair grounds and to wait for annexation approval.

Executive session was called again at 7:38 p.m. for personnel, returning to open meeting at 8:28 p.m. and once again no action was taken in open meeting. Why is it that the city of Alcester has so many personnel issues?

Several months ago the HRC and Finance Officer lobbied the council to allow people living outside the city limits of Alcester to serve on the HRC arm of Alcester City. When the council approved this, I wondered do we not have qualified Alcester property tax payers to serve on the HRC??   Then I found some of these non-municipal residents wanting to be on Alcester HRC were realtors. Nicole Hurlburt recently appointed to the Alcester HRC is a non municipal resident but that is okay she is qualified ’cause apparently she is a loan processor at the State Bank of Alcester.

Special item of significance 202 Broad Street Mayor Glas proposed erecting a Menards-type steel shed for city offices at 202 Broad with a garage door for police car or city owned vehicle for the use of city employees to ‘go to meetings’. In addition to the city offices shed it was suggested another shed would be erected at 202 Broad so at-large-dogs could be caged rather than send them to Hawarden. Evidently Mayor Glas is above his own zoning rules, the same Mayor who wants grass measured, weeds euthanized and yard decor approved by he and his poesy posse wants to erect a steel shed in a residential area of Alcester. So much for protecting property values in Alcester.

Alcester apparently is working on their version of Flint, MI by ignoring the antediluvian infrastructure in west Alcester in favor of a multi-million dollar remodel of the auditorium. Naming rights? Those are so short lived, ’cause the commemorative plaque dedicated to those who financially supported the original community building has been relegated to the basement. In addition a lift station ($100K =/-) has been proposed for the North Industrial Park which would dump black water into the sewer lines on the west side of town. Wish list tenants of the North Industrial Park mentioned include a spec building, a storage building and a used car lot.

So folks,

 

“Think is not illegal…Yet!”

                                                                                                        public awareness message, author unknown

 

01/01/2016 A Voice from the Gallery

A Voice from the Gallery

01/01/2016

 “Year’s end is neither an end nor a beginning but a going on, with all the wisdom that experience can instill in us”   Hal Borland

Last night I looked back at 2015 and pondered the changes it brought. One significant change , Mayor Glas and his band of HOA-like grass measuring, weed picking pollyannas saddled the city with an ‘opus’ minus the pleasant music of regulations ‘laugh-fectionately’ called the Property Maintenance Manual, chapter 9.02 contained within the city ordinances. Aside from a couple dozen custom ordinances cherry-picked to spike specific individuals, it is an unabridged pilfered regurgitation of the International Property Maintenance Code of 2012. Now If ya’ll want to read the International Property Maintenance Code of 2012, ya have to play ‘Mayor May I’, Pat-a-cake and pay a fee. Well, I was told I must pay a fee above and beyond the copying fee. I do think $40.00 an hour is exorbitant and excessive so we’ll see. The public has a right to read city ordinances for themselves and not be intimidated.

Alcester City Council reps Mark Dykstra and Kama Johnson served on the committee to ‘look’ over the ‘pattern’ IMPC and make adjustments for the city.   The Alcester city council adopted the International Property Maintenance Code the golden pike by which to goad residents. In governmental laws, ordinances and codes, a glossary defining key terms such as, rubbish, eyesores, nuisances, etc. is provided at the beginning of the document limiting or defining the scope of the code . It cannot be an understood definition because, ‘beauty truly is in the eye of the beholder”. For example, a certain property just off second street Alcester was deemed an unsightly nuisance by Mayor Pluck-a-weed and his weed protocol-posse who descended upon the hapless owner like a Luftwaffe strafing run on the SS Minnow. I saw an individual attempting to create a rustic landscape using a Salvador Dali-like technique with found materials. Not everyone’s cup of tea, admittedly. The Property Maintenance code was applied to the owner, Okay. Now one block south, one block west another artiste is at work within the city building. Another rustic, Pinterest-style found materials collage has been installed in the entryway of the city auditorium. I see a scene from hoarders in which the exit to a municipal building is blocked by ‘art’, a repurposed ironing board partially blocking the door to the council room at the top of the stairs to the basement and presenting a clear danger to anyone who gets snagged. In my sight, the city police officer has had his utility belt snagged by the ironing board pulling him off balance and more recently, a high school student was snagged by the ironing board as he entered the council room to make presentation to the council. In public input I noted the danger of the ironing board to the council, nothing happened. The clutter is still there blocking the fire exit, so evidently the rules only apply to certain individuals.

Oh the property owner just off second street with his yard art? It seems he no longer owns the property. The current deed holder is the Alcester Industrial Park Inc, a domestic non-profit. So why is the Alcester Industrial Park Inc setting up shop so-to-speak in a clearly residential area?

 “If you want an interesting party sometime, combine cocktails and a fresh box of crayons for everyone.” Robert Fulghum

             The city sets up rules and picks and chooses to whom the rules will apply. Take another example, Madame Woolworth. Yuppers, the Alcester city council has found their very own charity and by gum they are going to protect her to the city’s dying breath. The Alcester City has gone to the time and expense to write up a lease agreement for the city owned building in which the bar is located, yet cannot seem to enforce it. Madame Five and Dime shows up at a city council meeting lamenting her attic leaks, her beer cooler doesn’t cool, her toilets leak and her bricks are dropping, she flips a knowing look at Councilwoman Kama Johnson (her part-time bartender), Councilman Burke and bats her ‘eyes’ at Councilman Dykstra. Oh lawsy me! The lease clearly states Madam Deem is responsible for the routine maintenance of the building. Madam has stated within my hearing that she did the city a favor by renting the building. Madam stated in front of the Alcester City Council that she allows minors in the bar, she has called the Alcester police out to load a drunken patron into her vehicle, and then again called the Alcester police out to unload the drunk at his house and tuck him in his beddy bye. The council opined that she was doing community service. Are ya kidding me? Madam serviced this patron beyond intoxication in direct violation of South Dakota liquor laws. The Alcester City Council heard and witnessed this confession, yet they did nothing! I filed a formal complaint and they STILL did nothing! It seems the rules are not for the favored few.

“You may choose to look the other way, but you can never say again that you did not know.”     William Wilberforce

12/31/2015 A Voice from the Gallery

A Voice from the Gallery

12/31/2015

To sum up my 2015 writing endeavor, I started writing “A view from the Gallery” as an opinion letter to the Alcester Union-Hudsonite under the ownership of Paul Buum after reading the following quotation:

 “I always wondered why somebody didn’t do something about that, then I realized                                   I AM SOMEBODY!”

             When new owner Shane Hill took over the Alcester Union-Hudsonite, judged me, finding me too critical of the Alcester city council, decided to censure Freedom of Speech by declining any future articles from me preferring instead sugary, non-controversial, stars-in-your-eyes happy news and having been advised by a member of the community that I really should run my letters-to-the-editor through my pastor for acceptability, I decided emulate Martin Luther continuing to use his solution of asking questions and running propositions for debate. While my queries can never equal Luther’s queries, it is my sincere hope that I can elicit change in our local government with my own version of 95 Theses. I started my website “avoicefromthegallery.com” to bypass Mr. Hill’s censure in order to provide full disclosure of the antics of the Alcester City Council to the people of Alcester. So I dedicate this quote to the Mayor of Alcester, the Alcester City Council Mr. Shane Hill-publisher and of course that illustrious community member so well versed in Luther’s 95 Theses and who recommended I drag my LCMS pastor into the middle of a political critique.

 “If you have no critics, you’ll likely have no success.”

(Malcolm X)

I would like to make another dedication, since I appear to-be-on-a-roll:

“You may choose to look the other way, but you can never say again that you did not know”            William Wilberforce

          The above is dedicated to the Honorable Duane E. Hoffmeyer, and the Honorable Steven J. Andreasen who decreed a young mother must make her baby daughter available for visitation without supervision or drug testing to a self-proclaimed opiate, drug addict, which admission was made in Plymouth County Iowa court under oath in August of 2015. One has to wonder did these ole’ boys hear of the Dickinson County Iowa case of the death Shelby Duis on January 4, 2000, and the question of the boyfriend’s alleged abuse of little Shelby. The mother who went to jail because she did not ‘protect her child’. What was the system doing to protect the child?

It appears the system still has not changed because SR, the 27 year old drug addict who lives in an $850.00 per month condo in Iowa City (utilities extra); leases a late model car; fuel for car; allegedly attended University of Iowa at Iowa City; SR, the 27 year old drug addict who is successfully unemployed; the 27 year old drug addict who reluctantly pays just $42.50 per month child support. Where does SR get the money to pay for all this??? Enabler Daddy Financial Advisor? Or is he selling?

Court Ordered visitation allowed SR, the self-proclaimed drug addict to take the child out of Iowa to visit SR’s father who is a Washington financial advisor. When Mom cannot contact SR, receives no answer or call back- finally calls Daddy Financial Advisor who tells her that SR went to the hospital and is in rehab again, but Daddy Financial Advisor failed to let baby’s Mom know until she called them. Really?? Mom is in Iowa, going to school, working a full time job to pay the bills, worrying about her darling baby daughter who is in Washington with junkie dad and enabling Daddy Financial Advisor and we still do not know if or when Baby will be coming home to her Mommy.

Mom, her family and I have taken pains to inform law enforcement of the on-going drug use and problem of SR. The court heard the admission of SR’s drug use for their own ears, it is in the record, yet the court failed to protect this child. To these entities I repeat: You were warned and you chose to look the other way, you can never say you did not know!!  I will be there to remind you.

12/01/2015 A Voice from the Gallery

By now many of you have read or heard of Mayor Glas’ rebuttal and allegation that my attentiveness to city business is costing the city money in the minutes of the November 5, 2015 regular city council meeting.

Mayor Glas laid out a unsubstantiated figure of $1120.84, I want a line-item, detailed accounting of that figure. Mayor Glas went on to moan about the cost in time and money to the finance office to research my request for Freedom of Information and that it was putting a strain on the finance office. Perhaps less decorating, extraneous work time social business would free up finance office time. Perhaps Mayor Glas you might free up some of that time by setting your own agenda and actually familiarize yourself with the items on the agenda before the meetings rather than always looking to the finance officer during the meeting for information or explanation. In school they call that coming to class prepared!

The city had an emergency meeting at 7:30 a.m. on October 29, 2015, to change the regular November council meeting from November 2, 2015, to November 5, 2015, at 6:00 p.m. with the Mayor Glas and four council members present: Lance Johnson, Kama Johnson, Mark Dykstra and Audri Carlson.   Items on the quickie agenda included: Open meeting, Approve agenda, Change from November 2 to November 5 and the all inclusive “Any other Business”. “Any other business” can cover a multitude of sins almost quite literally because this is where important interesting stuff can be backdoored.   Emergency? I think not and certainly not by municipal definition. So Mayor what did that little emergency cost the property owners in Alcester? I did not see where the council members waived their meeting fee, so Mayor Glas that would be $40 per meeting for you and $30.00 per meeting times four council members for a grand total of $160 and of course you must add time for the finance officer, right? So what exactly was the emergency, football finals? The meeting was called to order at 7:30 a.m. and according to the published minutes the meeting was adjourned at 7:33 a.m.  WOW

Going on to the November 30, 2015, special meeting for police chief (?) with Mayor Glas present with all the council members present: Lance Johnson, Mike Burke, Mark Dykstra, Kama Johnson, Audri Carlson, David Larsen and finance officer Jurrens. While the city police officer was present, the city attorney was not invited to this little soiree! On the agenda of this ‘special’ meeting was : Open Meeting (5:00 p.m.), Approve Agenda, Executive session pursuant to SDCL 1-25-2-1-Personnel interviews and Adjournment. So let’s do the tally: Mayor $40 and $30 times six council members and of course cost of the finance officer brings the cost to $240+/- ! So, between the October 29 and the November 30 special meetings the Mayor spent $400+/- of city dollars. H-m-m

The emergency or ‘specialness’ of last night’s meeting? OMG, we are down a police chief and we gotta hurry up and hire one, no matter what. So you couldn’t wait for the next regular meeting on December 7th? Really? Are ya worried about yet another fight at Madame Woolworth’s Jiggle Joint and ya’ll have just one officer an’ he’s just a youngin’?

Now folks I was at the meeting. One has to admire the time management involved in this meeting. The meeting was called to order at 5:00 p.m. with the following agenda: Open meeting, Approve agenda, Executive session and adjourn. Kama Johnson moved to approve the agenda, with the second coming from Lance Johnson and approval was unanimous. Lance Johnson moved to go into executive session for the reason listed with the second coming from Kama Johnson and approval was unanimous. Executive session at 5:03 p.m. The Mayor, the council, the finance officer and Officer Jesse McLaughlin were cloistered alone for about 20 minutes before they called the only applicant present into the executive session at 5:25 p.m. At 6:07 p.m. applicant Brian came out of the executive session and left. Executive session carried on with occasional bursts of laughter echoing into the hallway. H-m-m? At 6:37 p.m. the executive session was ended and council declared themselves in open session. David Larsen moved to adjourn with the second coming from Lance Johnson and approval was unanimous.

Barring telephonic interviews of which I would have no knowledge, the interview of the lone applicant present could have been compressed and handled in the regular city council meeting. The council was presented with what appeared to be a resume by Officer Jesse McLaughlin. Any resumes of applicants should have been reviewed by the committee that handles law enforcement with final recommendations accompanied by resumes made to the council in advance. There is no reason the council could not have handled this matter at the regular city council meeting.

 

 

 

11/30/2015 A Voice from the Gallery

November 30, 2015 A Voice from the Gallery

November 30, 2015

There is an error in the minutes of the November 5, 2015, regular Alcester City Council meeting. In paragraph three of the published unofficial minutes, “Mayor Tom Glas presented the Mayor’s response: This is a response to the…On page 5 paragraph 2 (of the complaint answer rebuttal), it states that I gave Mrs. Larsen a tap on the head. Not true…”

Mayor Glas and Alcester City Council members, I wrote on page 5 of my Complaint Answer Rebuttal that, “…During my discussion of the complaint, Mayor Glas remarked, ‘…Police Chief Ryan Knutson has been instructed to follow the law…’ which in effect was an insulting pat on my head and run along dismissal…” I expect a correction of the record and an retraction in the paper.

Mayor Glas’ remarks that Police Chief Ryan Knutson had been instructed to follow the law was a blatant non-answer meant to be accepted blindly. In 1897 Virginia O’Hanlon was told by her father, “if you see it in The Sun it must be so” which prompted her letter to The Sun. The proverbial pat-on-the-head and a wink was a favorite ruse of ad-men in the forties and fifties to convince the little woman or house wives to buy their products. Children and women were given the proverbial as well as actual condescending, patronizing pats-on-the-head by husbands and fathers to silence uncomfortable questions.

Mayor Glas you charge that I alleged you gave me a ‘tap-on-the head’, I did not and I can prove it. Retract your statement, sir. Mayor Glas, you mentioned a phantom figure of $1120.84, I would like a detailed break-down of how you arrived at your figure. Mayor Glas you stated the bar generates $1200.00 per month, so where are the maintenance costs per month? Mayor Glas, what are the legal fees for generating the lease and operating agreement? Mayor Glas, you forgot the property tax revenue the city loses on the bar building property. You seem to conveniently forget debits against the credits for the bar. Mayor Glas you attribute “many tax dollars” to the Alcester bar. As I understand it, South Dakota does not give a breakdown for individual sales tax collected by individual entities within municipalities, so just how can you make the statement, “many tax dollars”?

The purpose in my complaint was to bring to light and prompt an investigation of illegal activities and violations of the rental agreement as admitted by Theresa Deem in open council meeting in front of the Alcester City Council.

11/07/2015 A Voice from the Gallery

A Voice from the Gallery

11/07/2015

“Standing up for something even if it means standing alone…” (author unknown)

Mayor Glas called the November 5, 2015, regular Alcester City Council meeting to order at 6:00 p.m. with all council members present. The agenda and minutes of the October 5th and 29th meetings were approved unanimously.

There was no public input but the Mayor was slotted time on the agenda to respond to my formal complaint of August 3, 2015, regarding public admissions of statute violations and lease agreement by Theresa Deem in front of the Mayor, the city council and myself with the rest of the gallery on July 6th, 2015. Needless to say the Mayor was unhappy with my persistence action be taken. Mayor Glas rambled on about the cost incurred by my complaint, legal fees, the whopping (my term, not his) $1200.00 per month income from the bar and the fact he visited the bar on October 16, 2015, and smelled no smoke. So Mayor Glas did you let them know you were coming? Mayor Glas failed to take into account the debit side of the bar lease per month, Theresa Deem has repeatedly come to the council for money to fix routine maintenance costs attributed to the lessee outlined in the operating agreement as her responsibility and wonder-of-wonders another line item further down the agenda was a beer cooler for the bar. Not to be confused with a previous demand for a new Keg cooler. A used beer cooler is running about $1200.00+, so there goes the profit for the month. Tell me again about the vast income the city is getting off of the bar, Mayor? Really? Add to that, the CDBG loan that was awarded to Madam Deem on a building she didn’t own, a primary loan that didn’t exist ( which is part of the criteria) and I believe the council gave her $10K with which she bought inventory. Other applicants for CDBG loans have been turned down due to the same criteria Theresa Deem was approved. Really! We lose money on the lease, we lose money in property tax, it is time to sell the property to someone who wants to own and operate a bar and by which we will recover property tax. Right now, it appears the city is running a five and dime charity that serves alcohol using property owners tax dollars to fund the operation.

As the Mayor pin-balled his way through the agenda, the next item dealt with on the agenda was acceptance of Ryan Knutson’s resignation. Interesting procedural blunder by Mayor Glas, a motion was made by Lance Johnson, a second received by Mike Burke and the Mayor Glas called for the vote without asking for further discussion. This is a procedural error I had previously pointed out to him, h-m-m. So without a call for further discussion David Larsen, Audri Carlson, Lance Johnson, Mike Burke and Kama Johnson voted for acceptance of Ryan Knutson’s resignation with Mark Dykstra voting not to accept the resignation. Then a couple council members asked questions and wanted to discuss the issue. TOO LATE! Mr. Mayor the time for discussion, was before the vote.

Police Officer Jesse asked permission to create a Facebook page for the police department to report “positive” items only. H-m-m With an almost imperceptible jab in the side by Councilman Mark Dykstra who was once again channeling Jeff Dunham, Mike Burke moved to approve the creation of a Facebook page with a second coming from Kama Johnson. Talk about a pure definition of irony concerning the motion and second here. It would be kinda nice to include a police call blotter log on the Facebook page for ‘positive’ law enforcement. Once again without a call for further discussion, the council voted unanimously for a Police Facebook page creation.

Bam, out-of-the-blue Mike Burke jumped, groped for the proper statute number, finally making a motion to go into executive session to discuss personnel with the aid of Kama Johnson reading the statute numbers for him. David L seconded the motion and the council went into executive session to discuss personnel with Officer Jesse.

Next up was the vacancy of the Police chief position. Evidently there has already been an advertisement for police chief. Now folks, the city doesn’t need a police chief. Why pay a salary of $40K+ for a police chief plus $31K officer pay, when two police officers work just as well for approximately $62K?  As chief law enforcement officer, the mayor can handle the scheduling.

2016 Liquor license and Operating agreement staying at the 2015 price level, motion was made by Lance Johnson with a second coming from David Larsen. Again no discussion prior to vote, council voted unanimously. So my question is, why are we no longer advertising the bar lease to get the best price for the bar?

Community Building remodel committee has been developing a survey for the public. Perhaps the committee should review the findings of the previous hardworking committee led by Mark Doty and which committee was blown off by the then seated council and nothing happened on a community building project.

The council entertained a motion by David Larsen to adjourn, second from Audri Carlson and unanimously approved and the council was adjourned.

After the council members exited the meeting room, I approached the Mayor since I did not have the opportunity to address his response in council meeting to discuss why it was my right as a resident and property owner in Alcester to file a complaint and my obligation to insist action be taken on a properly filed complaint.

10/20/2015 A Voice from the Gallery

A Voice from the Gallery

10/20/2015

Ray Mosby editor and publisher of The Deer Creek Pilot of Rolling Fork, Mississippi, wrote an article entitled, Why Community Newspapers Matter, which appeared on the front page of the October 8, 2015, Volume 128, Issue 41 edition of The Alcester Union-Hudsonite. Mr. Mosby discussed the importance of a small town newspaper to its community citing community mindedness, the power to exact change, to promote things that benefit the community and to shed light on those things that do not benefit the community as a neighbor and fellow resident; former newspaper publisher and editor, Paul Buum did that. Sadly Mr. Buum is no longer with us, our paper has been absorbed into a group of other small newspapers owned by a publisher who is not our neighbor and not a fellow resident.

As a contributor I wrote opinion pieces to the Alcester Union-Hudsonite called A View from the Gallery which reported and critiqued the Alcester city council and its decisions which affected the citizens of Alcester. I attended each and every meeting that I wrote about and I presented a bald, truthful and not-always-so complimentary account of what I heard, saw and witnessed behaviors of council members during those city council meetings beyond the summary accounting of minutes published in the newspaper by the city. 

In June 2015 my opinion pieces were no longer accepted for publication, so I sent an email to Shane Hill owner and publisher of The Alcester Union-Hudsonite as well as many other small newspapers in the surrounding area asking for a face-to-face meeting to discuss why my submission was declined. I received the following email in response:

“Jun 5 at 12:57 PM

Vickie

          It is our decision not to publish any of your view from the gallery because I feel they are not productive for the City of Alcester only bashing most actions the council takes.  My advice would be if you are not happy with how matter are being handled, you should take one of the open seats and try to fix matters as part of the council.  That way what you have to say will be recorded in the Minutes and published each meeting.         

Thanks,

Shane Hill

       Alcester Union Hudsonite”

Mr. Hill sits in judgment determining what is or is not good for the city of Alcester and Mr. Hill, who to my knowledge, has not been a regular first-hand witness/attendee of Alcester city council meetings and who has no skin-in-the-game as far as a taxpaying resident. History has taught the folly of censure of-and-by newspapers i.e. Hitler’s Germany and Hussein’s Iraq. As citizen taxpayers, we have a duty to critique and take to task those who have taken an oath to govern our city of Alcester for their poor choices, bad decisions, libelous comments about Alcester city employees in open meeting, failure to properly investigate charges of sexual harassment within city departments because the complainant resigned, assault of a police officer doing his duty and failure to vacate for cause the lease of a woman operating the city bar who admitted in open regular meeting of the council (one councilmember works as a bartender in the Alcester bar) she allowed underage kids in the bar.

I filed a complaint based upon her admissions in an attempt to force the city to take action. On October 6th,2015, I reiterated my complaint and presented it in written form to the city attorney and the mayor who dispersed copies to the rest of the council which included city councilwoman/Alcester bartender , I received a call the following day from Alcester barmaid Kelsey blathering, “We’re going to put the Kibosh on you”.

We cannot allow certain self-serving city council members or non-resident newspaper publishers to squelch the truth just because it offends them, a public official friend, businessman or financial institution.