Tag: Pat Jurrens

11/10/2017 A Voice From the Gallery

Mayor Glas opened the November 6, 2017, regular meeting of the Alcester City Council at 6:00 p.m. with the following members present:  Mayor Glas, Councilwoman Audri Carlson, Councilwoman Julia Sundstrom-Lyle, Councilwoman Darla Reppe, Councilman David Larsen, Councilman Dan Haeder, Councilman Lance Johnson and City Attorney Chuck Haugland.

First order of business was to approve the agenda.  Yup, normally not such a brain stressor here but I have noticed a trend in Mayor Glas’ /FO Pat’s agenda.  Notably the movement of public input.  Public input has always appeared on the front end of the agenda, usually within the first five items.  Since June 2017 Alcester City agenda has placed Public Input just ahead of Adjournment.

Public Input Placement on Agenda 

11/06/2017 Item 14 12/05/2016 Item 5
10/02/2017 Item 13 11/07/2016 Item 6
09/03/2017 Item 11 10/03/2016 Item 5
08/07/2017 Item 9 09/13/2016 Item 5
07/05/2017 Item 14 08/10/2016 Item 5
06/05/2017 Item 10 07/06/2016 Item 5
05/1/2017 Item 7 06/06/2016 Item 5
04/03/2017 Item 5 05/02/2016 Item 5
03/20/2017 Item 5 04/04/2016 Item 4
03/02/2017 Item 5 03/21/2016 Item 4
02/06/2017 Item 5 03/07/2016 Item 4
01/04/2017 Item 11 02/01/2016 Item 4
01/04/2016 Item 4

By placing the public input at the end of the agenda no resident taxpayer can offer up comment BEFORE a vote on the issue.  Many municipalities will schedule input with specific agenda item such as purchasing a couple hundred thousand dollar street sweeper, not Alcester.  As you can see by the table showing the trend in Public Input placement, Mayor Glas/FO Pat appear to deny/restrict public access and comment before council vote discouraging public involvement in their own government.

Next up on the agenda was the approval of October 2, 2017, minutes.  Yup once again FO Pat dropped the ball.  According to South Dakota statute,

          SDCL 9-18-1. Governing  body to publish proceedings and statement of        expenditures–Rate of payment for publication.  The governing body of every             municipality shall cause to be published in the official newspaper which serves therein, or, if no official legal newspaper is published therein, in any legal newspaper which serves such municipality, with thirty days after each meeting thereof a full account of the proceeds at such meeting, give a detailed statement of all expenditures of money, the names of the person who payment is made, and showing the service rendered therefor.  It shall pay for publishing such     proceedings not to exceed ninety percent of the legal line rates for weekly newspapers and not exceed the legal line rate for daily newspapers, as provided in §17-2-19.

And

          SDCL 9-18-1.1  Time for delivery of copy to official newspaper.  The auditor or           clerk responsible for keeping a record of proceedings required to be published  pursuant to §9-18-1 shall cause a copy to be delivered to the officials newspaper within one week from the time such meeting is held.”

The minutes were not delivered to the publisher (per my confirmation visit with Publisher Shane Hill on November 6, 2017, at 11:30 a.m.) as of November 6, 2017.  Alcester City Finance Officer Pat Jurrens failed to get the minutes of the October 2, 2017, Alcester City Council Meeting published within the time frame set out by South Dakota statute.   Due to her failure to have the council minutes published within the parameters of statute, the Finance Officer has extended the time frame in which to refer any business on which the council voted.  It is up to the Finance Officer to get the job done!  The October 2, 2017, minutes finally appeared in the November 9, 2017, edition of the Alcester Union-Hudsonite.  In answer to what appears to be the FO excuse, Shane Hill should have called her to check on the minutes.  It is NOT the job of Publisher Shane Hill, to remind or to run Finance Officer Jurrens down to get the city council minutes, THAT is her job!

Agenda item #7 was a presentation by Larry Anderson, sexton of Pleasant Hill Cemetery.  Mr. Anderson informed the council of the financial status of the cemetery and asked for direction.  Apparently Pleasant Hill Cemetery is a privately owned cemetery whose expenditures are rapidly out-pacing income. Mr. Anderson explored the possibility of the city taking on the ownership and management of Pleasant Hill Cemetery.  No action was taken.

Agenda item #13 Street Department Lonnie Johnson gave an update on the demo of a street sweeper.  The demo sweeper is not the same model the city is contemplating purchasing but Mr. Johnson voiced his opinion on the model that was demonstrated did not meet his expectations.

Agenda Item 12, Executive session based upon Personnel.  Folks, personnel should only be used to discuss a specific city employee!

          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 contractors.

 

This seems to be a favorite ploy to go into Executive Session, secreting public business from the public.  We cannot have that many fitness of personnel questions, unless it is the capabilities of the Finance Officer because she seems to be the only non-council city employee present in these meetings and there rarely is any action taken in open session after these sessions.

Audri Carlson left the meeting at 7:34 p.m.

Agenda Item #13CIII – Austin Schuller requested Alcester municipal sponsorship to the Police Academy.  Mr. Schuller had an sponsorship agreement drafted up by independent counsel which was apparently presented to Alcester City Attorney Chuck Haugland at the meeting.  Mayor Glas/FO Pat Jurrens agenda engineers seem to expect Mr. Haugland to give an off-the-cuff opinion on something he was reading for the first time.  Mr. Haugland indicated language in the agreement draft could possibly cause a Wage and Hour issue for the city,  he needed to read it more closely than a cursory glance and he needed a get together with the attorney who drafted the document.

Agenda item #13E1 was the audit report by Dwight Bergland.  Mr. Bergland gave his report in which he noted some over-budget items and suggested corrective measures for the city of Alcester to be compliant in internal controls i.e. segregation of duties, specifically the finance office.

Agenda item #14 Public Input–

Joe Zweifel wanted to officially recognize Police Officer Dylan Nelson who performed emergent medical intervention on a resident and Police Chief Chris Doty who also performed emergent medical intervention on another resident.

Mike Kezar corrected the Brad Wilson-Work Comp Fund Representative’s data on how long the city of Alcester has participated in the Work Comp Fund.  Mr. Kezar corrected the 15 years noted on the plaque to a term much longer than 15 years.

Wanda Halverson, Assistant Finance Office wanted direction from the council on a dog licensing issue where  a resident told her in response to her questioning the licensure of his dog, ‘I will license my dog, when feral cats are taken care of…”  Councilman Dan Haeder responded Alcester ordinance states dog are to be licensed and cats are not at issue.

Vickie Larsen, ME!  I handed out text of SDCL statutes; SDCL 9-18-1, SDCL 9-18-1.1 and SDCL 1-27-1.16 to each council member and the city attorney.  I informed council members of the publication of minutes violation pointing out times for legal response are limited by publication date of the minutes which were reflected in SDCL 9-18-1 and SDCL 9-18-1.1.

Some time ago, I had asked for a copy of the packet of materials given to the council to be provided to the gallery so anyone interested in following the discussion and FO Pat’s ‘explanation’ could read along.  Once again I was ignored and blown off.  So I included the statute SDCL 1-27-1.16:

          SDCL 1-27-1.16-“Material relating to open meeting agenda item to be available-Exceptions-Violation as misdemeanor.  If a meeting is require to be open to the public pursuant to §1-25-1 and if any printed material relating to an agenda item of the meeting is prepared or distribute by or at least the direction   of the governing body or any of its employees and the printed material is distributed before the meeting to all members of the governing body, the material shall either be posted on the governing body’s website or made available at the official business office of the governing body at least twenty-four     hours prior to the meeting or at the time the material is distributed to the governing body, whichever is later.  If the material is not posted to the governing body’s website, at least one copy of the printed material shall be available in the meeting room for inspection by any person while the governing body is consider the printed material…A violation of this section is a Class 2   misdemeanor…”

Next I brought my request for FOIA to the council’s attention.  On August 7, 2017, I hand-delivered a FOIA for CDBG  (see below*) in the August 7, 2017, regular meeting of the Alcester City Council.

CCI11112017_0001

By the September 6, 2017, I still had not received the CBDG FOIA I requested nor did I receive any written explanation of time delay.  While SDCL 1-27-1 does not appear to have a finite response time, I relied upon an approved sample SD FOIA request in which there is a section that states,

 “If access to the records I am requesting will take longer than a ‘reasonable’       amount of time, please contact me with information about when I might expect copies or the ability to inspect the requested records.”

As of the October 2, 2017, regular meeting of the Alcester City Council I still had not received the FOIA information I requested nor had I received any reply with times I might expect my request to be honored.  During the October 2, 2017, I hand-delivered a second request for the CBDG information and on October 14, 2017, I finally received the requested FOIA documents via USPS.

When I examined the three FOIA documents provided me by Finance Officer Jurrens, I noted the date of final payment on the Dan Avery CBDG was January 31, 2017, but the release of lien or satisfaction of loan was delayed to June 23, 2017.  Under

             SDCL 44-3-8 -“Satisfaction of lien-Execution of discharge or release by holder-Damages for failure to execute and deliver satisfaction-Attorney fees-Additional penalty.  Whenever any mortgage, pledge or other lien of any means, the holder of such lien shall, within thirty days of satisfaction, deliver a sworn satisfaction to the debtor.  However, immediately upon satisfaction of a lien or at any time thereafter, if the owner of the property makes written demand on the lienholder, the lienholder shall, within ten days of receipt, execute and deliver to the debtor a sufficient sworn satisfaction to cancel the lien or any record thereof.  If the lienholder fails to execute and deliver to the owner of the property a sworn satisfaction within ten days of receipt of a proper written demand, the owner of the property is entitled to recover from the person who failed to comply with the provisions of this section all damages that he or she may have sustained thereby, including attorney’s fees and an additional penalty in the sum of one hundred dollars.”  

So folks, I do believe that June 23, 2017, is well past the 30 day time frame in statute.  The excuse made by Alcester Finance Officer was, “I had to wait to make sure the check cleared.”  You who turned the water off on a resident whose check you had a gut-feeling about, and by your own public admission didn’t even present her check to be cashed?  Madam FO you just called her bank asking if funds were present to cover the check.  The bank can release funds availability for a specific account at the hour, minute and second of the day you call.  They cannot tell you, Madam finance officer if the account holder has overdraft protection.  Madam finance officer by your admission in open council meeting, you did not present the check because of charge back fee applied to the city.  IF THE CHECK WAS NOT PRESENTED IT COULD NOT BE NSF.  Kind-of-like Schrödinger’s Cat.  Is the cat dead or is it alive—Is the check good or is it NSF?  As long the check is not presented for payment, it is good!  Mr. Avery PAID in full on January 31, 2017, and ten days after you presented his check providing ya’ll did not sit on the check, you would have KNOWN the check was good.  So by February 11, 2017, well in advance of February 24, 2017, your other excuse for not providing a timely satisfaction of lien requested by the obligor, Alcester Finance Officer Jurrens you should have provided release of lien and debt satisfaction.  NOT some five months late!

Next FOIA topic was the release of the social security number on a CBDG loan paid on November 16, 2016.  The micr (magnetic ink character recognition) codes were all properly redacted on the checks of all three FOIA documents, but on the loan paid on November 16, 2016, under the financing #2012314910009 signed by Mayor Glas the debtor’s social security number was not redacted.  Sloppy!  As I explained when I addressed the council about how easy ID theft  is in a previous meeting, never did I imagine Mayor Glas or the Finance Office would be so derelict in duty as to Give out a social security number!  Folks, the city could be liable for any damages incurred from this dereliction of duty.  I provided copies of the FOIA materials to City Attorney Haugland and to the Union County States Attorney office.

Agenda item #15 HRC Update -Since Mayor Glas had a blank look on his face when this agenda item was called, it fell to Councilman Dan Haeder to explain events involving the HRC.  Councilman Haeder and Mayor Glas were pleased to announce the sale of one lot.  However, this was a good news and bad news situation.   After 2012 when Mayor Glas (not mayor then) was on the HRC and Finance Officer(?) Pat Jurrens pushed to indebt the city of Alcester to the tune of $200k+ by building Beck Drive including curb/gutter, water and sewer to help sell lots.  Yup, some five years later A lot has finally been sold.  OH BUT WAIT, the purchaser of the lot WANTS GAS piped to her property and as DEVELOPER (?) it apparently falls to the city coffers (taxpayers) to install and pay for gas to the buyers property (so who would have guessed we needed a gas line on Beck Drive apparently not the Beck Drive pushers).  Now the city receives $25K+/- for the sale of the lot, less realtor fees of 6%-7% ($1500-$1750), and the up-front cost of laying in gas?  Folks, the city would be required to lay in gas lines for an up-front cost of maybe $10k, $15K, $25K ? Dang, there goes the budget.  The HRC/city is already on the loan hook for initial cost of Beck Drive and NOW they are going to NEED a loan for the gas installation?  WHO GETS TO PAY FOR THAT?

Now the purchaser of the lot wants to be in her home soon.  By the way it is against ordinance for propane tanks in the city limits.  So our council discussed they would over-look Alcester city statute and allow a ‘small propane tank’.  Really who is going to PAY to fill that tank at winter season rates?  Who wants to live next door to a 500 gallon bomb?  Ever see a split-level house blow up then two minutes later watch the roof come back down, cave into the house and flames lick in the blown out windows of the house next door and know there were people in that house.  I have!  I have not forgotten the sound of the explosion, I have not forgotten seeing the roof float down, caving in on the interior or hearing the sound of jack hammers all night that long ago January looking for the gas leak.  It is not the fault of the residents of Alcester those in charge fail to do proper research.  This is not something we can in good conscience allow the city to give a variance, even a temporary variance!

   Adjourned                  

 

10/03/2017 A Voice from the Gallery

Mayor Glas called the October 2, 2017, regular meeting of the Alcester City council to order at 6:00 p.m. in the Alcester City/School Library with council members Julia Sundstrom-Lyle, Audri Carlson, David Larsen, Dan Haeder, Darla Reppe and Lance Johnson present.

Line item 3 approval of Mayor Glas’ agenda, no discussion with a unanimous aye vote.

Line item 4 approval of the meeting minutes of the September 6, 2017, regular meeting of the council and the meeting minutes of the September 20, 2017, special meeting of the council.  Again, no discussion with a unanimous vote. *(remember this tally on later agenda action)  

Line item 5, the welcome by City/School Librarian Dee Cole.  Librarian Cole informed the council and gallery of the acquisition of a 3D printer, attendance and usage of the Library over the past years, and the move of the city/school Library to the proposed new school.

Line item 6 was sales pitch/information from Randy Smidt from Sanitation Products for a brand-spanking new Elgin Pelican Street Sweeper for a mere 190+K to $200K.  The bid coming from NJPA a national purchasing cooperative.  Councilman Dan Haeder commented the bid was without the extended warranty which had been projected in a previous meeting at $15K.  The projected delivery date contingent on financing after the first of the year.  NOTE:  Financing  Councilman Dan Haeder made the motion to purchase the 2018 Elgin Pelican Street Sweeper at a price of $190+K, Councilwoman Audri Carlson made the second, once again no discussion and the group voted unanimous aye.

Line item 7 was the annexation of city shop parcels.  Failure of Mayor Glas and Finance Officer Jurrens to understand this would be a voluntary annexation and all Mayor Glas had to do was sign and file a written annexation for property the city already owned.  Glas and Jurrens failed to understand or seek counsel from the Alcester city Attorney Haugland and failing to understand they did not need Union County Commissioner approval.  Motion from Councilman Lance Johnson, Second from Councilman Dan Haeder, no discussion and once again a unanimous vote aye.

Line item 8, the infamous Developers Agreement!  Mayor Glas on at least two previous occasions openly, publically verbally attacked Alcester City Attorney Chuck Haugland for not, “…Hopping-to-it…” on drawing up an agreement between the two interested parties of the Nonprofit Alcester Industrial Park and their developer.

FACT CHECK here.   Today, October 3, 2017, I spoke with Industrial Park Board agent Jaimie Schempp for clarification of identities of the parties involved.  Alcester Industrial Park Board agent Schempp acknowledged the Alcester Industrial Board was also in fact the developer.

So to the best of my knowledge, the North Industrial Park has NOT been handed over to the city of Alcester therefore the city should not be footing the legal bill for a developers agreement between Alcester Industrial Park and itself.  Mayor Glas what the devil are ya doin’?  You and your Fo-minion have treated the city attorney with open hostility and blatant disregard of his superior legal expertise to force a financial obligation onto the taxpayers of Alcester.  Do we have to draw you pictures so you can educate yourself to the workings of the city, comic-book style?  As FO-Pat has demonstrated on other warrants,

“…NOT OUR BILL!…”

 

Line item 12,e, i, a & b  From the finance office.  Finance officer Pat Jurrens pulled two charges from the bill submitted by Alcester City Attorney Chuck Haugland.  Ya have to appreciate the irony in this one.  FO-Pat objects to the time spent by Alcester City Attorney Haugland in keeping up with Alcester City Council meetings by reading the rest of the story (thank you, Paul Harvey) in the Vickie Larsen blog “A Voice from the Gallery”.  Yup, Mayor Glas and Finance Officer Jurrens have failed miserably to keep Mr. Haugland, Alcester City Attorney fully apprised their collective ‘TOM FOOLERY’ otherwise known as Alcester City business by dismissing City Attorney Haugland one hour into the city council meeting and exclude him from council decisions for the rest of the meeting because he costs too much, Really!

Mayor Glas opined that Mr. Haugland could read the minutes in the local newspaper or in the minutes by Finance Officer Pat (When she finally gets around to getting the draft minutes to Mr. Haugland).  When Mr.Haugland argued he needed inclusive access to council discussions so he could determine how they might affect legal liabilities to the city of Alcester, Mr. Haugland was told by Mayor Glas and FO Pat that they would make the determination of possible legal exposure and relay it to him.  Really?  The city bookkeeper is going to give a legal opinion, or Tag-a-long Tom give a legal opinion?  He couldn’t determine a support brick wall versus a decorative brick facing.   Back in Des Moines his legal prowess didn’t work out so well for him, either.  Alcester City Attorney Haugland challenged Finance Officer Pat Jurrens by asking her, “do you read ‘A Voice from the Galley’?  FO-Pat said, “yes, she did read the blog” and then Mr. Haugland asked, “when do you read it,  on city time?”  I do believe the answer was yes.

HOW DARE MAYOR GLAS, ALCESTER FINANCE OFFICER JURRENS AND THE ALCESTER CITY COUNCIL HOLD ATTORNEY HAUGLAND TO A DIFFERENT STANDARD THAT THEY OPERATE UNDER!

LANCE JOHNSON

Then there is Councilman Lance Johnson, the council’s little teapot short and mouthy who ranted and raved about my blog.  Alleging the home truths I shared were inaccurate, this little varmint who after he was initially appointed to Ward III council seat told me, “In a year I will be leaving so you can apply then…”  Then Councilman Lance Johnson in his quivering rage continued his rant at me (who was not a party to the discussion) railing, “You (meaning me) don’t even have the guts to allow comments on your blog”.  Into which morass, Mayor Glas and Finance Officer Pat Jurrens weighed in with their ill-considered opinions.  I listened in silence and as the tirades of Councilman Johnson, Mayor Glas and Finance Officer wound down, I asked for rebuttal time.  Care to guess what Mayor Glas answered, “No, you can answer in public input”  City Attorney Haugland was attacked, I was attacked and given NO opportunity to respond to the allegations publically without a time limit.

The motion was made by Councilman Dan Haeder to approve paying (10/10/2017 clarification) the August legal warrant hold back of $52.50 and the September legal warrant hold back of $63.00 with no further legal time charged for reading A Voice from the Gallery blog, Second came from Councilman David Larsen.  Once again no discussion with an unanimous aye vote.  Then Councilman David Larsen moved to approve the rest of the warrants, second came from Councilwoman Julia Sundstrom-Lyle, again no discussion with an unanimous aye vote.

Line item 12, (e) ii, a & b  Motion by Councilman Lance Johnson to approve the second reading of the water rate increase, second came from Councilwoman Darla Reppe, again no discussion with an unanimous aye vote.

Line item 12, (e) iii a  Motion to go into Executive Session for Personnel SDCL 1-25-2-1 which is:

(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;[1]

This appears to be a habit of the council when they do not want an audience while they discuss a thorn-in-their-side rather than one specific employee.

Line item 13 Public Input was called, I responded and Mayor Glas told me I had two minutes.  I had already distributed a second request for FOIA regarding CBDG financials that have been ignored and received no response when I initially served the Mayor on August 7. 2017, and provided copies to the council that same meeting.

I also dealt with Councilman Lance Johnson’s rant telling him that the council could video the council meetings and post them on the city website, I pointed out to the council they were not required to vote unanimously every vote, they could think for themselves and vote nay and I pointed out Finance Officer Pat Jurrens was misusing the city email alcestercityfo for a Pinterest ID.  I received the same blank look and non-action from Mayor Glas, his usual condescending pat-on-the-head and go away.

Line item 19 Adjourn  Councilwoman Audri Carlson moved to adjourn the meeting at 8:35 p.m. with a second coming from Councilman Lance Johnson.  No discussion with a vote of 5 ayes; Councilwoman Julie, Councilwoman Darla, Councilwoman Audri, Councilman Dan and Councilman Lance and 1 nay, Councilman David with the pointed salute to a non-unanimous* vote.  Salute!

 

[1] South Dakota legislature-Legislative Research Council (www.sdlegislature.gov), 2017, State Affairs & Government-Meetings of Public Agencies, October 3, 2017.

09/22/2017 A Voice from the Gallery

The Special meeting of the Alcester City Council was convened on September 20, 2017, at 6:00 p.m.

This meeting came out of the necessity to enact an amendment to an existing Ordinance which reflected the text of the state Ordinance 7.0402 concerning flashing lights.  This issue came to light when the semantics of the state ordinance and practices of the city of Alcester were contrary to each other.  The city has the ability to enact more restrictive ordinance but it cannot loosen restrictions.  In this case Alcester law enforcement wanted to extend parameters of the flashing school speed zone signs to include more school activities after the regular hours of school and to actively enforce school zone speeds.  The Alcester Ordinance 7.0402 B1 was put into code to accommodate that restrictive speed limit.

Next up was the resolution 2017-09 to further burden the PROPERTY OWNING residents of Alcester with a $1.00/ front footage of their property, properties whose front doors faced the street.  Note all properties on SD Highway 11 with their frontage facing HWY 11 were excluded from this fee because their front doors face a state highway and not a city street.  Those pie-shaped properties whose front doors face the small end of the pie-shape enjoy a sort-of-discount such as the Finance Officer Jurrens (author and promoter of the street maintenance TAX) whose new digs on Hyden drive measure well to her advantage, I invite Alcester property owners to measure your front footage and measure her front footage on Hyden, plug in the $1.00/foot tax and compare the two tax amounts. WHY cannot the Finance officer and Mayor Glas, whose duties include city budget creation, budget enough money to adequately cover street maintenance?   Where is the money going?  It seems Finance Officer Jurrens is over ambitious in spending tax money on non-refundable fees for surveyors and engineers for pie-in-the-sky wish list items.  Former Councilwoman Jurrens berated our former finance officer for his conservative spending and budgets, voted to fire him, resigned her seat on the council and applied for his job ’cause apparently she felt she could do better and here she is spending money like she has a fancy new money printer in the Finance office, STILL taking part in council discussions that do not pertain to finance office activities and sitting in on executive sessions concerning ‘personnel’.  Now Folks, there are no minutes taken in Executive session so she doesn’t even have the excuse she must take notes.  If notes need to be taken for a specific record of an Executive session, either the city attorney can take the notes or the president of the council can take the notes.

Next on the list is Mayor Glas’ insistence the property taxpayers of Alcester pay for the legal work on a developers agreement between the Alcester Industrial Board and the Developer.  Mayor Tom and Finance Officer Jurrens are woefully ignorant of the limits of their jobs.  The Alcester Industrial Park Board is a stand-alone entity independent from the city of Alcester and who apparently contracted with the developer.  Alcester Industrial Park Board (NS010806) is a domestic Nonprofit, made up of:

This Nonprofit does NOT have the authority to contract debt or financial obligation on behalf of the citizens of Alcester.  Mayor Glas, Finance Officer Pat Jurrens do NOT have the authority to contract debt or financial obligation on behalf of the citizens of Alcester without vote.  While the city of Alcester has annexed the North Industrial Park into the corporate city limits of Alcester, the city of Alcester DOES NOT OWN the property known as North Industrial.  Neither Mayor Glas nor Alcester Finance Officer Pat Jurrens have the authority to compel Alcester City Attorney Chuck Haugland to craft legal documents NOR does the Alcester City Council have the authority to pay property tax dollars out for legal service obligations of Alcester Industrial Park nor the Developer of the tract of land owned by Alcester Industrial Park.

Agenda Item Water Rate Increase reaches deep into the collective pockets of Alcester residents with rise in rates from $16.00/minimum 0 gallons used to $17.00/minimum 0 gallons used and going from $5.45 per 1000 gallons used to $6.35 per thousand gallons used or fraction of 1000 gallons used.  So in addition to the street maintenance fee of $1.00 per frontage foot, city taxpayers can add the rise in water rates along with the capital outlay for a brand-spanking new street sweeper at $200K, financed OF COURSE!

So let’s put this in terms of family grocery bag count, how many bags of family groceries from a weekly purchase of four to five grocery bags are going to be taken away to satisfy Mayor Glas’ and his Finance Office’s inability to budget properly to pay for street maintenance, water rate hikes and a street sweeper and whatever else comes along that trips their trigger?

 

Mayor Glas, the budget is your baby, OWN IT!

08/24/2017 A Voice from the Gallery

        (continuation of August 7, 2017, regular city council meeting commentary)

Agenda Item 10 City Employee Updates included:

10(a)  Lonnie Johnson’s report on street work including the chip sealing, repairs on 3rd street and Union and siren batteries (?)

10(b) Waste water was the tour of the sewer plant.

10(c)  Swimming Pool Update on the round success/failure of swimming lessons.  It is to be noted here on the July 5, 2017, agenda Item 15(c)(ii) appeared Diving Board Repairs due to a catastrophe at the pool when a large male bounced a bit too hard  and the board collapsed.  The council was notified, yet the board is still in place with cones placed around it and as of this filing the damaged board is still in place.  This is a liability for the city and has been since the event happened and it was not removed!  There is a legal thing that happens when the city has been notified of an event which would endanger persons or the public and the city fails to remedy or cure the liability, council members could be held jointly and severally liable.

10(f)(v)  Alcester Bar Air conditioning Unit replacement Quotes.     Folks, Madam Woolworth had an A/C failure.  According to FO-Pat, Madam Woolworth’s wires are arcing, her wires are hot and smell like they are burning but nobody seems to have a definitive causal answer so in lieu of a definitive answer the council elected to replace the air-conditioning unit with commercial 5 ton and 3 ton, roof top air-conditioning unit at a price tag quote of $10,800.

The city receives lease/rent of just the building somewhere between $1200-$1300 per month for an annual income of $14,400-15,600 on the bar.  At $14,400 income less $10,800 debit for Madam Woolworth to ‘keep her cool’ Alcester residents will only make $3600 this year and that figure does not account for any other expenses the city has paid out this year.  It is TIME get rid of the alcoholic albatross.  Sell the bar!  Sane, bottom-line economics dictate the city sure could use the  money to fix the streets, the residents not get hit with a street maintenance tax and get the bar back on the property tax rolls again.

10(f)(vi) Special Maintenance Fee for Street Maintenance/Repairs.         Yup, there it is!  What happened to the round-robin zones of street repair that were in place when Rick Johnson took over?  Prior to Rick Johnson’s election and the subsequent election of Tom Glas, Alcester used a four to five year schedule of street repair.  Each year zones similar to our voting wards were scheduled to received chip seal treatments.  For example Year 1 a zone in West Alcester would be sealed, Year 2 a zone in Midwest-Alcester would be sealed, Year 3 a zone Mideast Alcester would be sealed and Year 4 Eastern Alcester zone would be chip sealed with the next year starting on the west side again so all streets would receive treatment every four to five years.  Now the streets are a disaster because Mayor Johnson failed to budget and Mayor Glas failed to budget.  It is the Mayor who works with the Finance Officer to create a budget and the it is the Mayor who presents the council with a suggested budget and the council reads it, hopefully asks questions and votes to accept or deny the presented budget.

Unfortunately street repair was not high on the Finance Office bucket list or Mayor Glas’ what-ever list.  So now (we) according to FO-Pat (I presume we means Fo-Pat and her sock-puppet Lampchop Tom)  have decided the good people need to pay extra street repair taxes because someone made a harmless-error, a term used when the powers-that-be explain their screws-up which costs people money, jail time or loss of reputation and the powers-that-be have no intention of correcting the error and making their victims whole.

Fo-Pat suggests a fee of $1.00 per frontage foot.  So let’s discuss the frontage foot, please consider South Dakota Highway 11 and all of those frontage feet.  What about them?  Those folks can logically argue they owe nothing because the city does not maintain SD Highway 11.  H-m-m.

Oh and let’s not forget the alleys.  Yup, folks the alleys.  Sometime ago the city council approved black-topping the alley on First Street between SD Highway 11 and Dakota Street and the alley on First Street between Dakota and Iowa.  These alleys have tractor-trailer trucks delivering to businesses.  There is an alley on third street, between Dakota and Iowa that has no businesses so not business deliveries by heavy trucks BUT  in last week or so this alley was black-topped from third street to a point about two-thirds of the way North ending approximately at the northern lot line of 306 Dakota Street (finance office employee?).  Now the word is, one resident paid a share of this alley black-topping and the city paid the rest of the cost.  I saw no city approval or action on black-topping a city alley in the past meetings.

Who approved this?

 

What happened with the quote process?

 

When was the council advised?

 

Where is the money coming from?

 

Why is the City black-topping alleys, when we have been told we do not have the money to finish seal coating the streets of Alcester and when FO-Pat and Mayor Glas want to institute a buck-a-foot fee on the residents of Alcester to pay for street maintenance and Folks this sounded like a forever-and-ever-Amen Fee that could go up in cost!

Sometime ago, around the time the Edifices to Garbage were being foisted upon the residents I suggested the city charge the regular fee, sell rolls of biodegradable, clear, green garbage bags to the residents to fill with garbage and place at the curb, bags which would be picked up by city employees (establishing two more part-time city jobs) who would place these bags into a central roll off container that Loren Fischer could collect.  Eliminating running a heavy garbage truck twice down every street and damage to our fragile streets.  As usual I was ignored.  Funny thing, the folks who come in to repair our streets suggested the very same thing.  IMAGINE THAT!

Let your city government know what you think, ask for an agenda, Come to a meeting (Wednesday, September 6, 2017, 6:00 p.m.), telephone your representatives Ward I; Councilwoman Audri Carlson, Councilwoman Julia Sundstrom-Lyle, Ward II; Councilman Dan Haeder, Councilman David Larsen and Ward III; Councilwoman Darla Reppe and Councilman Lance Johnson or call Mayor Glas, call the city offices 934-2851 or write a letter to the Editor of the Alcester Union-Hudsonite.

 

 

 

08/21/2017 A Voice From the Gallery

The August 7th, 2017, regular meeting of the Alcester City Council was called to order by Mayor Glas with five members present:  Councilman Dan Haeder, Councilwoman Darla Reppe, Councilman David Larsen, Councilwoman Audri Carlson and Councilwoman Julia Sundstrom-Lyle.  Absent Lance Johnson.

The meeting was opened at the Alcester Sewer Plant for a tour from 5:30 p.m. to 5:45 p.m. with a recess and “opening” the meeting at the Alcester Community Building at 6:00 p.m. Upon recital of the Pledge of Alliance the council approved the agenda minus my request of agenda placement and no discussion, approved the minutes with no discussion of the regular July 5, 2017, and the extra July 13, 2017, meeting.  Once those housekeeping chores were completed, Mayor Glas (?) called the Developers Agreement-North Industrial Park Update and the plat agreement for Greg Kleinhans parcel.  Alcester City Attorney Haugland gave an explanation of the details and explained the Pro forma agreement which will be addresses in the September meeting.

Two other agenda items included no update on the Village West Apartment Ordinance violation (so why place this item on the agenda?) and the 306 Iowa Property which Alcester City Attorney Haugland explained had an August 12, 2017, deadline to respond to legal notification.  Agenda Item 8, Support Options from the city for the Tragedy was called.  Simply put, this item was explained as some sort of financial help from the taxpayers of Alcester city.  One councilperson protested donation of any city funds.  Past mayors and councils have not spent tax dollars, committed tax dollars or donated tax dollars to fundraisers for private sector causes, matching or otherwise.  If council members wished to donate to a cause, they could donate personally but no city funds were to be donated to private entities or individuals.

        Regarding the suggestion from another council member to establish a fund to which the city would match donations.  The city does not operate like a private business which can pick and chose to which entities they want to contribute and the monetary amount they wish to contribute.  The city cannot operate in that way.  It is interesting to note here that not one word, reference or appreciation was acknowledged by Mayor Glas or Alcester city FO Jurrens advising the council members or gallery that according to  KDLT news item by Sydney Kern titled, “Small Towns Sticking Together“, dated July 30, 2017, the finance office had received or was to receive a portion of proceeds generated during the “music-on-the-patio” event held at The Canton Barn.   See article at http://www.kdlt.com/2017/07/2017/small-towns-sticking-together/

      So why was the council left in the ‘dark’ …again!  The council was left to think about this fundraiser until the next meeting.  The city of Alcester should not be paying tax dollars into fundraisers, individual city representatives certainly can pay out-of-their-personal-pockets into fundraisers  but NOT expend city funds.

        Next agenda item was Public Input.  On July 19, 2017, I formally asked for agenda placement above and beyond public input.  For those of you who do not know, most public input is not recorded as official minutes, rarely acted upon and treated by Mayor Glas as a totality(eclipse slang) blow-off.  I specified the purpose for my inclusion on the agenda was to discuss policies, practices and personnel to which FO-Pat leaped like a toe-dancer doing a Grand jeté, airbourne split ‘n’ all, to the conclusion I wanted to talk about her.  H-m-m guilty conscience rising like millefoil on a shallow pond!

First up on Public Input was the 911 dispatch lawsuit against the cities in Union County was dismissed with prejudice.  Thank you former Mayor Peter Larsen for actually representing and protecting the citizens of Alcester.  For those who don’t know, the Union County Commissioners primarily Doyle Karpen and Ross Jordan started making noises about billing the cities in Union County for 911 dispatching at a rate per municipal resident excluding rural residents and the CID Dakota Dunes.  Note Dakota Dunes is not a municipality, it is a CID.  It cannot levy local sales taxes, cannot operate a police force and would not be subject to the Union County Commissioner 911 dispatch Municipal Resident Tax.  Alcester Mayor Peter Larsen reached out to the Mayors of Beresford, Elk Point, Jefferson and North Sioux City to form a coalition to stop this movement by the Union County Commissioners.  This mayoral alliance met, discussed the dispatch issue and agreed this fee was not something the cities wanted.  The mayoral alliance scheduled a meeting with the commissioners and asked Mayor Peter Larsen to be their spokesman.  The group presented their position, suggested an opt-out and the commissioners scheduled an opt-out vote.  This opt-out would tax everyone in the county; urban, rural and CID with full parity.  The op-out vote was successful BUT, the then seated commissioners used the opt-out money for other 911 purposes and proceeded to bill the cities of Beresford, Elk Point, Jefferson, North Sioux City and Alcester for dispatch, culminating in a lawsuit when the cities refused to pay the fee.  The 911 dispatch lawsuit has now been dismissed.  Thank you former Mayor Peter Larsen for reaching out, organizing an alliance with your fellow Mayors in Beresford, Elk Point, Jefferson and North Sioux City to stand as a united front against the county commissioners fee and for standing up for the residents of Alcester!

I was next on Public Input.  I distributed an approximate twenty-two page, combed document outlining what I would have presented with more discussion depth had I been allowed on the agenda.  Part I, the Introduction was a history of my request to be placed on the August 7th, 2017, agenda and is set out in the 08-17-2017 A Voice from the Gallery.

Part II of the 08/07/2017 document was a copy of a complaint I made to the Property Maintenance Code Officer which included photograph, a code violation complaint form citing the violation name, address, telephone number and violation which was a roll off container with flammable materials in the central business center of Alcester.  The most notable detail of this violation is that other residents have reported being cited by Code Enforcement for having a woodpile next to their home and other similar infractions but it is okay for a ‘permanent’ open container roll off filled with dimensional wood, wood scraps and wood based demolitions to be placed adjacent to a neighboring building in the central business center, finished product stored on city parking r.o.w. and of course the nepotic connection.  This complaint along with photograph was presented to the Code Enforcement Officer Geoffrey Fillingsness on June 1, 2017.  As of August 21, 2017, I STILL have not received confirmation of receipt from this contract based, quasi employee of Alcester City!  It is interesting to note that apparently FO Pat accompanies Code Enforcement Officer Fillingsness on his Alcester inspection rounds, ‘spose she points out her pet peeves?  I included the copy of my complaint to Code Enforcement, a face page of the certificate of adoption of Ordinance 137,  copy of the extant zoning map adopted February 1972, Article 4 zoning districts 401 and 402, Article 8 describing the Central Business Center, Article 14 and extant supplementary District Regulations.

Part III of the 08/07/2017 document was a copy of a letter dated 02/10/2017, concerning non-receipt of my water bill issue arising because FO Pat couldn’t be bothered to send water bill by mail.  Alcester water bills come in post card form with our personal information on it which subjects residents to the possibility of identity theft.  Also included in Part III was a copy of an email to FO Pat from the city attorney on 02/17/2017, instructing the FO Pat to mail the bill.  We pay a lump sum once a year and work off of a credit balance.  FO Jurrens failed to mail statements to save money (Folks she was paying a postcard postal rate, all of $.34 per month for a grand total of $4.08 a year) but would only provide a statement when the balance dropped below the monthly rate.  My husband received this FO note, went to the City offices around 2:00 p.m. on a week day to discuss the FO’s position and found the office closed up tighter than a misers purse on pay day, so he walked on down the street and spoke to the Alcester City Attorney who was in his office.  This city business meeting would later be brought up by Councilman Lance Johnson who whizzed and moaned about the Larsens getting free legal advice on the city’s dime.  The finance office was closed at 2:00 p.m. on a workday! Lately this seems to happen more routine than as a rarity.  Part III included a torn water bill for July 3, 2017, which was torn and delayed by sixteen days and would have been subject to a $5/month late fee.  Discussion included questions from the council concerning identity theft in which I explained how I could steal their identities using the information provided on the post card.  I could have shown them, but I prefer not to have a felony on my record.  The FO responded to a council question regarding how many billing postcards were lost with the FO’s reply was “several” but they always worked it out. I put offered the information that utilities billings in most cities are handled with a statement sheet/bill inside of an envelope for security reasons.

These were two issues regarding policies and practices of the Alcester Finance Office and since I was only allowed five minutes.  Regarding the personnel issue, in the 08/17/2017 A Voice from the Gallery there was an email exchange which shows the behavior and practicing attitude of FO Jurrens and apparently the Code Enforcement Officer.  When a resident files a complaint and signs the complaint they darn well deserve an answer, see corrective measures and not have their heads patted by the ‘mayor’ and blown off.

At this point we have achieved Item 9 on a 15 item agenda.  More to come.

 

 

 

08/17/2017 A Voice from the Gallery

On July 19, 2017, I made an official (Item A) request to Mayor Tom Glas to be placed on the August 7, 2017, agenda for the purpose of discussing practices, polices and personnel above and beyond public input.  It was appropriate to direct this request to Mayor Glas because it is his responsibility to create an agenda for all meetings of the city council, it is not the decision of a finance officer whose scope of municipal bookkeeping/finance compliance duty only allows for her typing the agenda NOT setting the agenda.  I waited for a response.

Finally on Tuesday, August 1, 2017, I received an email from the Alcester City FO (Item B).  I responded to the email and sent via USPS a letter of explanation to Mayor Glas, members of the city council and the Alcester Municipal Attorney. (Item C)

On Wednesday, August 1, 2017, 8:29 a.m. I received another email from Alcester FO Jurrens  setting a date and time of August 3, 2017, at 4:00 p.m. to meet with the purpose of discussing my request for agenda placement.  (Item D) 

Noting the ‘we’, I responded at 2:15 p.m. on Wednesday, August 3, 2017, I wanted to meet with just Mayor Glas alone and if Mayor Glas was not comfortable with meeting me alone, I would concede to meet him with a council person present.  I received NO response to this clarification of meeting terms. (Item E)

I presented myself at 4:00 p.m. at the city offices ready and willing to meet with Mayor Glas to discuss my appearance on the meeting agenda.  Upon my entry into the building, Mayor Glas scurried out of the finance office with a fist full of papers with Alcester FO Jurrens tailgating him every step of the way.  As Mayor Glas approached me, he announced Alcester FO Jurrens would be attending the meeting because he did not feel safe meeting me alone and shuffling through the papers he clutched in his hand he pointed to a document, proceeding to parrot “a” version of the duties of a finance officer.  I want to note here, I researched those “duties”  two years ago and was well aware of privileges Mayor Glas could and could not endow his finance officer.  I told Mayor Glas we were done.  I explained my meeting may have the possibility of discussing sensitive issues, it was inappropriate to have the city bookkeeper present and I would not meet with the city bookkeeper present.  As usual, finance officer Jurrens interrupted the conversation between Mayor Glas and myself to offer her opinion which was not relevant and well beyond her scope of job description.  At that point Mayor Glas refused me the meeting scheduled because, “…Pat has the right to know if your issue relates to her…to face her accuser…”  to which I replied the finance officer did not have the right to know if my issue related to her.  Mayor Glas refused to meet with me, he refused me agenda time so I left the building with Alcester FO Jurrens calling after me, “…it was all my choice to refuse the meeting…”  to which I responded that it was not my choice.  On August 3, 2017, at 5:35 p.m. finance officer Jurrens sent an email continuation of her aggressive, irrelevant opinion.  I wonder did she get over-time pay for that gem of an email?

Mayor Glas had no intention of meeting with me without finance officer Jurrens.  As they say in union-speak, Mayor Glas showed no “good faith”.  He had no intention of meeting with me on August 3, 2017, which became evident when Mayor Glas showed me the crib notes on the duties of a finance officer from finance officer Pat.  Move over Shari Lewis and Lamb chop!

Item A

Vickie A. Larsen

Alcester, SD  57001

                                                                                                      July 19, 2017

Alcester City

P.O. Box 318

Alcester, SD  57001

re:  Agenda placement

Dear Mayor Glas:

          I request agenda line item placement on the August 7th, 2017, regular meeting of the Alcester City Council for the purpose of discussing practices, policies and personnel above and beyond public input.

          I am,

                                                                                                sincerely yours,

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     Vickie A. Larsen

 

Item B

Alcester Finance Officer <alcestercityfo@alliancecom.net> .

To

Vickie A Larsen

Today at 2:36 PM , August 1, 2017

Vickie,

Mayor Tom asked me to respond to your letter dated July 19th regarding agenda line placement. 

 In this letter – you stated your wish for agenda line placement to discuss practices, policies and personnel.  Regarding your request for line agenda placement for Policy & Practices  – you may speak on these issues during public input for an allotted time of five minutes.

Regarding your request to discuss personnel during open session – this has been denied.  If you wish to discuss personnel – you may send a letter to the Alderman & Mayor detailing your concerns about personnel issues and if the Council deems necessary – these issues will be addressed in Executive Session.  Another option available to you – Alderman Dave Larsen would be willing to meet with you individually where you may discuss your concerns on the subject of  personnel.    

Thank you.

 Patricia Jurrens City of Alcester PO Box 318 Alcester SD 57001 City Hall: 605-934-2851 Email: alcestercityfo@alliancecom.net Virus-free. http://www.avast.com

Item C

Vickie A. Larsen

Alcester, SD 57001-0137
http://www.avoicefromthegallery.com

                                                                                                                  August 1, 2017
City of Alcester
P.O. Box 318
106 West Second Street
Alcester, SD 57001

re: Request for Agenda Placement

Dear Alcester Mayor Tom Glas:

On July 19, 2017, I requested agenda line item placement on the August 7th, 2017, regular meeting of the Alcester City Council for the purpose of discussing practices, policies and personnel above and beyond public input.

Today, August 1, 2017, at 2:36 P.M. I received an email from the finance officer stating she was acting upon your request. In this email Alcester City Finance Officer Jurrens allowed I could speak during public input for an allotted time of five minutes on the subjects policy and practices. In addition Alcester City Finance Officer Jurrens stated my request to discuss personnel issues, I should send a letter to the, “Alderman and Mayor detailing your concerns about personnel issues…these issues will be addressed in Executive Session…” Sir, I did not mention any specific employee nor was I asked about any specific employee in my letter of request. Since I have no idea which specific “Alderman” Finance Officer Jurrens had in mind when she suggested I send a letter the “Alderman” or that I should contact Alcester City Councilman David Larsen was willing to meet with me but who is the representative for Ward II not Ward III. The suggestions put forth by Alcester City Finance Officer Jurrens in her email are unacceptable.

Perhaps Mr. Mayor, you and I should sit down and discuss my request prior to the publication of the agenda for the August 7th, 2017, regular meeting of the Alcester City Council. In fact Mr. Mayor, I would like to meet with you and discuss my request for agenda time at the August 7th, 2017, regular meeting of the Alcester City Council. It would be a good opportunity to be certain I am indeed speaking with the Mayor. I am,

sincerely yours

Vickie A. Larsen
Resident Taxpayer
cc: City Attorney Chuck Haugland
Councilman Lance Johnson
Councilman Dan Haeder
Councilman David Larsen
Councilwoman Audri Carlson
Councilwoman Julia Sundstrom Lyle
Councilwoman Darla Reppe
File

Item D

 

AUG 2, 2017 FO REPLY

Item D2 To Alcester Finance Office

aug-22017-email-me.jpg

Subsequent email exchange

To:

 Alcester Finance Officer

Aug 3 at 4:53 PM

It is unfortunate Mayor Glas has failed  to meet with me.  I requested time on the agenda in a form much like a motion for going into executive session and confused him.  He has his Pat send a email that, “we will meet with you on Thursday, August 3, 2017, at 4:00 p.m. at the city offices.  I replied that I would happily meet with JUST Mayor Glas alone because there was a possibility of introducing sensitive nature and IF he was uncomfortable meeting with me alone I would concede to meet him and an Alcester City Councilman.  I arrived at the appointed time and was met with Mayor Glas with the Alcester City Finance Officer (bookkeeper), I told him Finance Officer Jurrens was not an elected city official and therefore I would not meet with her present because some information could be sensitive.  Mayor Glas responded she had a right to know if my issue related to her to which I replied, “NO she did not”  so he refused me the meeting and he refused me agenda time.


                                                                                                   Vickie A. Larsen

 

Aug 3 at 5:35 PM

Vickie,

Mayor Tom was here to meet with you.  Mayor Tom tried to meet with you.  Several options were given to accommodate you. 

You were the one who got angry and stated you would not meet with Mayor Tom and myself.  You were the one who left the building without conducting the meeting. 

It is unfortunate that you felt the need to leave without expressing your concerns.  Do not say that Mayor Tom refused you the meeting.  Those were all your decisions.

Pat

 Patricia Jurrens
City of Alcester
PO Box 318
Alcester  SD  57001
City Hall:  605-934-2851
Email:  alcestercityfo@alliancecom.net

 

To

Alcester Finance Officer

Aug 3 at 6:28 PM

No Finance Officer Jurrens, Mayor GLAS did not try to meet with me.  He had no intention of meeting with me because he insisted you, a non-elected city employee take part to as he stated “to protect him and take notes”.  He knew in advance there was a possibility of discussion sensitive issues yet he included you, the city bookkeeper who is NOT a duly elected Alcester City Councilperson.  You gave that up, remember when you took Mike Kezar’s job?   Alcester does NOT have a city administrator, either.  You both assumed I wished to speak to him about you, at that time.  That became evident when Mayor GLAS made the statement that you (Pat) had a right be present (I have to guess a sort-of-face your accuser I imagine).  Keep in mind that facing one’s accuser is only relevant in court, not the investigation otherwise there could be witness intimidation.   

 Mrs. Jurrens your opinions are not pertinent to this matter, as I told you when you repeatedly tried to inject your opinions into the town-hall-conversation I trying to conduct with Mayor Glas regarding my inclusion on the Alcester City Agenda.  I left be the building because the Mayor insisted you be present, a presence I believed to be an over-stepping extraneous intrusion into my meeting with Mayor Glas, Mayor Glas failed to meet the modest criteria I had previously set for discussing my request to be placed on the August 7, 2017, regular meeting of the Alcester City Council Agenda, Mayor Glas totally wasted my time just so you and he could play juvenile games such as Captain, May I?  Angry you bet I was!   Not only was that can of milk dropped but was kicked over and the bucket was kicked clean out of the barn.  I saw any mitigating solution to Mayor Glas and I successfully meeting was slopping down the barn floor like the milk out of that dropped bucket and flowing all the way out of the barn.  I had NO choice but to leave before Mayor Glas ordered, the by now present, Alcester Chief of Police Doty to arrest me.  

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           Vickie A. Larsen

                                                                                                                                                                                                          

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

08/12/2017 A Voice from the Gallery

First let’s review the July 13th, 2017, meeting at 7:30 a.m.  This was a short agenda.  The quorum of four councilmembers:  David Larsen, Lance Johnson, Dan Haeder and Audri Carlson was present with the Mayor and Alcester FO Jurrens.  There was only two items on the agenda;  Item 4, the malt liquor license transfer approval to Keith Vandon Bosch, owner of Alcester Quickstop located at the former DJ’s Express, the vote to approve the Malt Beverage Purchase agreement with Alcester Quickstop and Item 5, the Meagan Fischer request for variance.

Both liquor issues were rolled into one motion to transfer the liquor license from DJ’s Express to Keith Vandon Bosch (Alcester Quickstop) and approval of the agreement with Keith Vandon Bosch doing business as Alcester Quickstop.

Motion to approve made/David Larsen,

Second to the motion/Audri Carlson,

no discussion,

vote aye times 4 with a unanimous aye quorum vote.

Meagan Fischer request for variance was dealt without vote upon the advice of Alcester City Attorney.  Using the current Alcester zoning ordinance found ordinance 7-09 already dealt with the change proposed by Fischer.  It is however noted here that once again Alcester FO offered up her opinion on the matter which was an out-of-order utterance and whose opinion was not relevant and beyond Alcester FO officer’s scope of duties and which was not related to her duties as city bookkeeper.

 

 

07/05/2017 A Voice from the Gallery

Mayor Glas called the July 5th, 2017, meeting to order at 6:03 p.m. with council persons; David Larsen, Audri Carlson, Julia Sundstrom-Lyle, and Dan Haeder present.  Council persons Lance Johnson and Darla Reppe were absent.

Keith Vandon Bosch, owner of Alcester Quickstop formerly known as DJ’s Express was present to obtain a liquor license.  A hearing was set for July 13, 2017, to expedite the licensure.

Update on 911 lawsuit.  A motion for summary judgment  against Union County was filed by the municipalities of Alcester, Beresford, Elk Point, Jefferson and North Sioux claiming unjust enrichment.  Union County was attempting to single out and charge the residents of the above named corporate municipalities for 911 dispatch services without parity for dispatch services on rural residents and Dakota Dunes.  Alcester Mayor Peter Larsen was the initiating force which united the Mayors of Beresford, Elk Point, North Sioux City and Jefferson to fight the unjust fee the Union county commissioners were attempting to levy on each person within the corporate city limits of each municipality.

Meagan Fischer was present to ask the city to allow her to raise the height of her privacy fence from six feet to nine feet.  This would be a zoning violation according to our code.  Councilman David Larsen moved to allow the individual offset of zoning, Alcester City Attorney Haugland explained there would have to be a zoning change not just a variance.  The motion died from lack of second and the question was to be placed on a future agenda.  It is interesting to note here Mayor Glas’ was most concerned with the shape and size of the posts on the fence, not the a violation of city code–predictable!

Angela Hansel was present to complete a variance* which would allow her to build a shed encroaching into the alley on the eastern edge of her property.  Councilman Dan Haeder moved to abandon that portion of the alley in favor of the Hansel’s shed.  City Attorney Haugland opened the question for public input.  I shared my opinion that we would be establishing a precedent which may have unintended consequences and the council should think carefully before granting this request.  Councilman Dan Haeder quickly responded with the comment, “I feel we have spent enough consideration and done our due diligence”.  At the end of Councilman Dan Haeder’s due diligence remark the vote was called and the abandonment of city property was granted by a 4 yea vote.   The question to grant a variance allowing the Hansel’s to encroach was called with a motion from Councilman David Larsen, a second from Councilwoman Julia Sundstrom-Lyle, no discussion and a vote of four quorum unanimous granted the variance.

Next Agenda item is one of great interest to ALL residents of Alcester.  Finance Officer Pat Jurrens and Mayor Glas decided the city should take the garbage billing away from Loren Fischer.  FO-Pat and Mayor Tom want to rewrite the current 1996 ordinance to allow FO-Pat to bill for garbage pickup because there are people who are using dumpsters or taking their garbage elsewhere.  According to the FO-Pat chitchat ’cause Mayor Tom did not feel up the explanation, each household/business within the city limits would be charged by the city for commercial/residential garbage pickup from the tipping fee, to the garbage can rent, dumpster rent, and garbage.  Those sharing dumpsters presumably would be charged individually at commercial dumpster rate and the dumpster tipping fee rate.  Apartment complexes appear to be in line for each apartment being charged a garbage fee which presumably include the tipping fee, the garbage can fee, and at presumably the $20-$25 garbage fee not a commercial rate.  It is unknown how the Assisted Living apartments would fare.  Of course we would not have the online ability to check our billing history, ’cause we still do not have a official city website with that link or information on it.  Former Finance Officer Mike Kezar told FO-Pat and Mayor Tom this was attempted in the past and failed miserably!  Feel free to contact your finance office, Mayor Tom or any of the council members for more information.

City employee information, the city street department has run out-of-money for patching our streets. During Mayor Peter Larsen’s tenure as Alcester City Mayor, the streets were on a rotating schedule with a specific number of streets budgeted for repair and chip sealed each year so that at the end of the schedule, all city streets had been repaired in a timely manner.  Under Mayor Rick Johnson the schedule was abandoned, the must have street $$$ patcher was purchased (and ultimately found lacking and still in inventory), streets were favored with a cursory patch here and there when the machine was working but the patches failed. This lack of attention and lack of budgeting has continued under Mayor Glas so now Alcester streets are a disaster.  It is not the fault of our street department guys, they can only work with what they are given.  It is the failure, inattention and crass inexperience of our past two mayors.

Oh Folks it gets better (not really).  Fo-Pat and Mayor Tom want to institute a special assessment.  Yup you got it, a speshal assessment!  This is where FO-Pat and Mayor Tom reach into your wallet and just leave ya’ll with just ne-kid leather.  The theory of this Special Street Maintenance FEE is residents in specific, designated areas will be assessed a not-to-exceed $2.00 per foot street maintenance fee to repair their street, the curb and gutter and whatever else that the nomenclature street maintenance  could mean ’cause according to FO-Pat all the cities are doing it.  Really?  Take a good long look at all those car-toons drawn on the street in front of your house, what are the odds that you are in a designated area for the FEE!

HRC update-the HRC Four Plex is for sale-  Appraisals and realtors are being groomed, so far Jensen and Weber are being courted for handling the sale.  Mayor Glas stated the city should not be in the building ownership business.  H-m-m.  When the HRC was formed in Alcester it was with the idea to sell the Four Plex once it was established, creating a sort of renewal/upgrade plan for the various empty lots and abandoned, derelict houses in town making use of the Governor’s houses to update the older parts of town.

Upcoming meetings:

  • July 13, 2017    7:30 A.M.   Council meeting**
  • July 18, 2017    5:00 P.M.   Budget committee meeting**
  • July 18, 2017     8:30 P.M.   Planning and Zoning**

 

*the council asked Alcester City Attorney to aid in the variance application                              on the behalf of Angela Hansel contrary to Councilman Lance’s rant about paying for legal advice for private citizens who wanted their water bill statement each month and the FO wa denying them.

**set at July 5, 2017, council meeting but subject to change

06/10/2017 A Voice from the Gallery

The June 5th, 2017, regular Alcester City Council was called to order by Mayor Tom Glas with Councilman David Larsen, Councilwoman Julia Sundstrom-Lyle, Councilman Dan Haeder, Councilwoman Darla Reppe and Councilman Lance Johnson present. Councilwoman Audri Carlson was absent.

The Council recited the Pledge of Allegiance, approved the agenda with no additions or corrections, and approved the minutes of regular city council meeting held at 6:00 p.m. on May 1, 2017 and the (?) meeting held at 7:30 A.M. on May 23, 2017.

The Alcester City Council meeting held on May 23, 2017, was NOT a regular meeting but a meeting to effect the purchase of a new 2017 police car. I have to wonder why a special meeting at a special time had to be held on May 23rd. What was so urgent about the purchase of a new Cop car Mayor Glas, that this issue could not be held at the June 5th regular meeting of the Alcester City Council? A little short of funds this month, Mayor Glas?

Folks, special meetings are for emergent purposes. However, special meetings are to be just as open to the public as regular meetings, committee meetings, HRC meetings, and etcetera complete with published notices with dates, times and agendas. Changing the meeting time to 7:30 A.M. smacks of manipulation to effect a closed meeting. Why? I could speculate. Yup, I missed the meeting. That I missed the meeting was my fault, I failed to notice the time manipulation. Of course FO Jurrens failed to point out the time change when I picked up a copy of the agenda the day before, imagine that! So in addition to a new Cop car, it appears this fantastic beast of a car will be financed with the State Bank of Alcester over a period of four years.

Item 5 on the agenda was to amend the minutes of the March 2nd, 2017, meeting. Specifically to include “…Seat coat bids were opened. Road Guy bid $1.70 per square yard and Topkote bid $1.71 per square yard. Mark Dykstra made the motion to accept and approve the bid from The Road Guy at a rate of $1.70 per yard seal coating approximately 8,000 square yards. Audri Carlson seconded it. All voted aye…” Councilman Lance Johnson moved to accept the amendment to the minutes, with the second coming from Councilwoman Julia Sundstrom Lyle with unanimous quorum vote yes. BUT the council failed to approve the minutes with the amendment attached. Unfortunately by this failure to follow rules; the council who approved the March 2nd, 2017, minutes in the April 3rd, 2017, meeting, then voted to change (by adding an amendment) the March 2nd, 2017 minutes in the June 5th, 2017, regular city council meeting, and then FAILED to approve the March 2nd, 2017, minutes with the added amendment language,  left the March 2nd, 2017, minutes approved as written in the April 3rd, 2017, meeting and the June 5th, 2017, amendment dangling without being attached to the motion. I know this sounds complicated, but it is pretty simple.

  • Motion A, 2nd to motion A, vote, majority vote yes. Motion A carrys.
  • Amend Motion A to correct an error or omission. Motion B to amend Motion A, 2nd to Motion B, vote, majority vote yes. Motion B carrys.
  • Motion C to officially approve Motion A with the insertion of the amendment approved in Motion B, 2nd to Motion C, vote, majority vote yes. Motion C carrys showing the Motion B officially attached to Motion A.*

* Keep this in mind for the sewer repair issue!

Updates on Malt beverage applications, Village West Apartment ordinance fiasco, and condemnation of 306 Iowa street condemnation.

Angela Hansel alley issue tabled from regular May council May meeting. At issue is a variance and vacation of city right-of-way in block 2 through block 3 alley between SD Hwy 11 and Circle Drive behind the property of Angela Hansel. Ms. Hansel wants to demolish the present small shed on the alley which was grandfathered in to cure an easement encroachment, then she wants to build a new shed to house motorcycles motorcycle trailer on a concrete pad that would encroach 1 foot by 12 feet into the actual alley violating the 25 foot set-back. Early on in this discussion it became apparent that a few council members knew what “grandfathered in meant”. ‘Grandfathering’ is an easement allowed on an encroachment that was in existence before current ordinances took effect. ‘Grandfathering’ is nullified and made void by demolition of the ‘grandfathered’ building. NO FO Jurrens you cannot legally take down one wall at a time, rebuilding the encroachment one wall at a time. Ordinance violation! Pure and simple.

It is the opinion of Mayor Glas and FO Jurrens to allow the abandonment of the 25 foot set-back and encroachment into the city alley.

SINCE WHEN DOES THE CITY BOOKKEEPER’S OPINION COUNT FOR ONE SORRY HILL OF BEANS ON THE ENCROACHMENT OF A CITY ALLEY?

When Alcester Councilwoman Jurrens resigned and applied for the position of Alcester Finance Officer she gave up all rights, privileges, voice and votes in Alcester City Council Meetings!

Alcester city attorney Chuck Haugland recommended Angela Hansel file a petition for the city to vacate the alley and ask for a variance to property code. Alcester city councilman Lance Johnson moved to have Alcester City Attorney Charles Haugland to write and file a petition for city vacation of the Alcester City alley for a private resident, Angela Hansel apparently at city cost. Councilwoman Darla Reppe seconded the (?) motion with a quorum unanimous vote of yes. Yup and just a month or so ago Councilman Lance Johnson delivered a smoking, wild-eyed’ rant about ‘residents’ getting free legal advice from the city attorney on the city’s dime. Evidently ol’ Councilman Lance likes to cherry pick, but I already knew that.

Joe Zweifel wanted to use a city alley (which utility trucks use to work on phone, electric, and etc.) to facilitate a cement truck delivering cement to the back of his property and FO Jurrens told him NO he could not and a statement she confirmed and reiterated during June 5th, 2017, council meeting.   Since when did FO Jurrens become the 7th council person with a vote?   She does not get paid to offer up legal opinions, it is up to the council to give permission if indeed permission is needed to use a city alley way. Evidently it is okay to build a shed and encroach in the city alley but not to allow  truck traffic.

Wastewater report-Here the chat was about the sewer sleeving project and the goat rodeo of an improper motion by Councilman Lance Johnson who failed to state where the money was to come from. Later an amendment was made but the full amended corrected motion failed to be called. So the old motion still stands and the amendment stands in limbo.

JULY MEETING DATE WAS SET FOR JULY 5, 2017 AT REGULAR TIME OF 6:00 PM

Planning and Zoning committee of Councilwoman Julia Sundstrom-Lyle, Councilman Dan Haeder and Councilman Lance Johnson set a time of 5:00 p.m. to meet but not a date. (THIS IS IMPORTANT TO NOTE)

Item 12-f-vii-e Elected officials workshop was called. This is a workshop that helps elected officials do things properly in the course of their meetings. The question was called who wanted to attend this workshop to which Alcester City Councilman Lance Johnson replied, “I do not want to go…Not my type of thing to go to…” (This was the guy who was appointed over me in my first attempt at appointment, the guy who called to me as we exited the building at the end of that meeting telling me he was only on the council for one year and was not going to re-up and I could have the seat after him. Yeah and I weigh 110.00 pounds!)   Motion to call the question of registration payment of up to $200.00 per person attending from Alcester City Council was made by Councilman David Larsen with a 2nd coming from Councilman Lance Johnson. Vote was called with a quorum unanimous vote of yes.

HRC update given by Mayor Glas who was so proud of his signs. Uhm, really? The sign on SD Hwy 46 is undersized, dark and blends into the background and are too low for the average traffic speed on Hwy 46. The other sign again is too dark, blends with background and if one does not know it is there, they will miss it. Mayor says he has two more waiting to be placed. Wonder how much those cost the HRC? I wonder how the interest payments are being made with no lots being sold and no principal being paid off. Déjà Vu?

Point of Order was called on amendment to the sewer repair which appears in my June 6th, 2017, blog.

Mayor called the question for adjournment. Motion to adjourn was made by Councilwoman Darla Reppe with the second to the motion coming from Councilman Lance Johnson. Unanimous vote yes, from quorum council adjourned the meeting.

NOTE: After adjournment Councilman David Larsen left the meeting room, but Mayor Tom Glas, Councilwoman Darla Reppe, Councilwoman Julia Sundstrom, Councilman Dan Haeder and Councilman Lance Johnson remained in the room along with FO Pat Jurrens and myself, Vickie Larsen. Four council members and Mayor Glas were still present in the room, a quorum existed. At this point Councilwoman Julia Sundstrom, Councilman Lance Johnson and Councilman Dan Haeder continued their earlier city business discussion concerning setting the date for a planning and zoning meeting and decided to set the time and date of the planning and zoning committee meeting for June 14, 2017, at 5:00 P.M. A quorum existed and city business was discussed after the meeting was adjourned, clearly a violation of open meeting. This is a tactic that has been used by other cities to circumvent open meeting laws relying on a rapid exit of gallery in most instances.

06/05/2017 A View from the Gallery

At last evening’s Alcester City Council Meeting, item number 12-b-ii was considered. This issue dealt with the sewer line at 5th & Ofstad which had been discussed at a previous meeting of the council. The issue was whether to sleeve* ($16,000.00) the sewer line to effect a repair or to a total, complete repair the line at a projected cost of ($25,000.00) and the consequences of this sewer line was the proposed line to take the sewages from the N40 Industrial Park (my term).

During this discussion, the question was asked where the funds to effect either the sleeving or the full, complete repair, to which FO Jurrens replied, “from the 2nd penny sales tax”. I was astounded because Alcester has a sewer enterprise fund just for the purpose of replacing and repair of the sewer infrastructure. WHAT HAPPENED TO THAT FUND? Why is the city using the 2nd penny sales tax to fund something that each and every resident and business within the corporate limits of Alcester are already billed and pay into a sewer enterprise fund through their water bill. Check your water bill folks. Simply put the sewer fee breaks down into operational costs plus a sort-of-contingency fee or a savings account if you will to pay for costs of repair, renewal and construction of waste-water/sewer infrastructure. Ostensibly these contingency fees/sewer savings account would draw interest which would build the fund.

Since 2014 these enterprise funds have been raided (borrowed from) to pay for things not water or sewer, the city has been admonished for these questionable accounting practices and because of these practices the city is ineligible for certain grants.

So motion was called. Alcester City Councilman Lance Johnson made the motion to sleeve the Ofstad sewer line compromise but failed to state the intention to fund this ‘sleeving’ out of the second penny sales away rather than from the normal sewer fund. Councilman Dan Haeder seconded the motion and vote was unanimous to sleeve the Ofstad sewer line compromise.

At this point the city attorney was released from the meeting and on his way past me, I asked him about the failure to designate funding type and that an amendment was needed to confirm the fund from which the $16000.00 cost was to come. He agreed and spoke to FO Pat Jurrens before he left. Apparently FO Jurrens decided it was not necessary to amend the sewer ‘sleeve’ vote ignoring the Alcester City Attorney’s counsel because she did not inform Mayor Glas of the need for an amendment.

I waited, realizing the amendment was not going to be made, called point of order so the improper motion would be properly corrected.

To amend, the council needed to review the motion. Then make a motion to add the corrective language, second the motion to add corrective language and take a vote. Upon majority yes vote, the corrective language is added to the motion. The corrected motion then is made, a second is made and a vote taken to pass the corrected motion.

What actually happened?  Chaos! The motion to amend the original motion to read the funding of $16000.00 would be taken from the 2nd penny sales tax was made by Councilman David Larsen and seconded by Councilman Lance Johnson and vote to amend was unanimous. But a motion to accept the amended motion was not taken based on the rationale they had already voted on the original motion. So the amended motion to sleeve the Ofstad sewer compromise lies in limbo until a confirming vote can be taken to set the decision to ‘sleeve’ the Ofstad sewer compromise with the $16000.00 cost to come from the 2nd penny sales tax.

Failure of proper procedure has just put the Ofstad sewer sleeve project on hold until a proper motion and vote can be taken. Still the question,

 

        WHAT HAPPENED TO THE MONEY IN THE SEWER FUND?

      WHERE DID IT GO?

        WHY THE LIBERTIES WITH OUR SEWER ENTERPRISE FUND?

*Simplified a ‘sleeve’ is the process which inserts a smaller diameter pipe through the damaged outer pipe to carry the sewage in this case.