City Notes

Who bought luxury boxes in the events center?

Wed, 06 Mar 2013 12:41:45 -0600

The city says it took only three days to sell off all of the luxury boxes in the events center. Here’s who bought them and how much they’re paying:

Your browser doesn’t support iframes, man.

Totally Worth It

Fri, 15 Feb 2013 23:22:39 -0600

campaignfinance:

Halliburton’s PAC wins for the smallest refund ever.

What Sen. Thune and a pinup model have in common

Wed, 13 Feb 2013 13:55:19 -0600

notdistrictdialogue:

Was just reading the Wikipedia page for Biola University, the small California institution where Sen. John Thune did his undergraduate studies.

Joining Thune in the “notable alumni” section is 1950s pinup girl Bettie Page, who is blogging artist Scott Ehrisman’s favorite subject.

Also noticed Kermit Staggers, Ehrisman’s favorite politician, is cited as a Wikipedia source on the history of Biola.

So that’s weird.

Huether makes two appointments to Veterans’ Memorial Park Advisory Board

Wed, 06 Feb 2013 16:01:38 -0600

Mayor Mike Huether has appointed Richard Birath and Nathan Christopherson to the Veterans’ Memorial Park Advisory Board.

Birath, according to comments (pdf) submitted to the Federal Reserve Board of Governors in 2008, worked at at Citibank and Premier Bankcard for three decades. Huether spent 15 years at Premier.

Christopherson, an Iraq war veteran, is the trauma program manager at Sanford and son of Reid Christopherson, wing executive support officer (and media wrangler) for the South Dakota Air Guard.

Picking through the city water department audit

Wed, 06 Feb 2013 12:48:00 -0600

Sewage is discharged into the Big Sioux River at the lift station near the north side of the zoo Aug. 5, 2010, after a sewage line break. (Emily Spartz / Argus Leader)

The city audit board meets Thursday to discuss recent audits of the library, utility and water programs.

Library (pdf) and utility (pdf) came out pretty clean. The water department audit (pdf), which looked at water main breaks per mile, system leakage and fiscal stability, is the news here.

Overall, the water system audit found the system — 950 miles of water mains, 19,000 valves, 7,000 fire hydrants and 49,000 meters — generally in good condition. The number of breaks per mile and the amount of water lost to system leakage is below the industry average, and the department has plenty of cash in reserve.

Still, the audit found some room for improvement.

For instance, the 2008 audit found that one employee is in charge of inventory for plant supplies, ordering new parts and also adjusting inventory based on new orders. This arrangement, say the auditors, “puts an employee in a position to both misappropriate an asset and cover it up.”

“We would like to emphasize that we have no reason to believe that this is happening or has happened,” the auditors wrote.

After discussing the matter with water managers during the last audit, however, they concluded that segregating these duties wouldn’t be practical because of staffing levels. And anyway, it would be pretty tough to fence water plant equipment.

Nevertheless, the audit recommends that management “develop and implement a compensating control.” Utility operations manager Trent Lubbers responded in a memo (pdf) that they will include more people in approving the daily count sheet and add random inventory checks.

Other notes:

Drought benefits the department financially. “Water fund benefits in years of little rain as they sell large quantities of water to property owners to water their lawns.” This is important because the water department is building its cash reserves to pay down $43 million in debt owed on the Lewis & Clark Regional Water System over the next decade.
E-billing is becoming more popular. In 2011, some 10,000 water customers used e-billing. In 2012, that number jumped to 19,000.
The city will begin a water meter testing program this year, as suggested in the 2008 audit; $40,000 has been set aside in the OCEP budget.
The 2008 audit also recommended a valve-exercising program to check corrosion. This would save time in an emergency. The problem here, as both auditors and water managers recognize, is that it can also be risky to have a valve exercising program — valves might break when they’re being exercised, which would result in service disruptions. Ultimately the auditors say: Go for it! Lubbers responds that, at the current rate of valve operation — 2,000 a year — they could hit that target in a decade.
Some 900 of the city’s 7,000 fire hydrants (13 percent) are privately owned. The 2008 audit suggested passing an ordinance to ensure access to and maintenance of these private hydrants. Instead, the fire protection engineer will review private hydrants this year and inform owners of their responsibilities.

Sioux Falls code enforcement down a bit in 2012

Wed, 06 Feb 2013 11:34:00 -0600

Sioux Falls saw a 3 percent drop in code violations from 2011 to 2012, according to enforcement data presented Tuesday to the City Council.

Kevin Smith, assistant director of planning and building services for the city, said the code enforcement division opened 5,760 cases in 2012 and found 4,889 violations (the remainder were judged invalid).

Three-quarters of those violations were resolved before a citation was issued; all told, the city collected $173,719 in fines.

By comparison, in 2011 the city opened 7,893 code enforcement cases and found 5,042 violations. About 88 percent of those violations were resolved before a citation was issued, and the city collected $164,524.

Update: Smith sends over total violations for 2009 (3,927) and 2010 (4,805).

Great Moments in Campaign Finance Disclosure: Radio Controller Gator

Sat, 02 Feb 2013 16:20:28 -0600

Great Moments in Campaign Finance Disclosure: Radio Controller Gator:

campaignfinance:

These expenses, from the first six months of 2011, by the National Association of Wheat Growers PAC, are the best. Don’t believe me? Try some of these descriptions out:

Birthday Cake Feeding

Short Gun

1/s Carat Diamond Necklace

Couer d’Alene Resort pack-age for two

In-kind - Duck…

Political Smokeout: The school sentinel vote

Tue, 29 Jan 2013 17:33:29 -0600

Political Smokeout: The school sentinel vote:

politicalsmokeout:

The full House of Representatives voted 42-27 against House Bill 1087, the “school sentinels” bill. Most Republicans voted yes, and most Democrats voted no. But not all. Here’s the full results, broken down by vote and party:

Democratic no votes (17)

Bartling

Feickert

Gibson

Hawks

Hawley

arguspoliblog: Mail from Mayor Mike Some Sioux Falls residents...

Tue, 29 Jan 2013 14:26:01 -0600

arguspoliblog:

Mail from Mayor Mike

Some Sioux Falls residents are getting mail from the mayor. The mailings are a survey from the city, asking residents how they rate city facilities, employees, services as well as asking respondents questions about themselves.

This isn’t the first time the city has conducted one of these surveys, but to my recollection, it’s the first time the survey has gone out under the mayor’s envelopes and letterhead. The attached letter is signed by Mayor Huether and City Council Chair Michelle Erpenbach, but the council did not pick any of the questions. In at least one past survey, the council did help develop a couple questions.

One person who received the survey almost threw it away, thinking it was junk mail.

The survey is legit. But with a citywide election coming up in a little over a year, this piece of mail reminds me of the “franking” privileges that incumbents in Congress use to get their names out to voters at taxpayer expense.

infinity-imagined: Mitochondria moving inside a Eukaryotic...

Tue, 29 Jan 2013 14:03:32 -0600

infinity-imagined:

Mitochondria moving inside a Eukaryotic cell.

IASUX: Re banned vanity plates in the Hawkeye State

Tue, 29 Jan 2013 11:37:00 -0600

Iowa is one of several states that keeps a list of banned vanity plates, according to records obtained by the good folks over at The Government Attic. Check ‘em out here (pdf).

South Dakota does not keep a list of banned plates, Department of Revenue officials told TGA (pdf).

Coincidentally, just last week I asked DOR for records of rejected vanity plates, as well as departmental guidance on what constitutes a plate that is “offensive to good taste and decency.” I’ll update if/when I hear back.

S.D. university towns spend more on books

Tue, 29 Jan 2013 09:53:00 -0600

Was doing some tourism-tax related research and thought it would be fun to compare the 2012 taxable sales at bookstores (SIC 5942) for the 15 largest cities in South Dakota, per this report (pdf) from the Department of Revenue. The results are sort of obvious — university towns spend more on books — but at least now I know Tablesorter’s currency parser works correctly. Win-win!

Transit board forgot to post its agenda (updated)

Mon, 28 Jan 2013 14:49:00 -0600

Update: Trebilcock says the agenda is posted at city hall, as required, and the two approval items involving federal money were printed in the paper.

Hey — there’s a city transit board meeting in an hour. Funny, though: It’s not on the official city calendar or the board’s website. For the record, meeting agendas are required to be posted 24 hours prior. I got mine by emailing Sam Trebilcock over in planning. Here it is:

PUBLIC TRANSIT ADVISORY BOARD
Advisory committee to the Mayor on public transit issues

Meeting Agenda
January 28, 2013
3:45 p.m.
Commission Room – City Hall

Facilitator: Greg Johnson, Chair

Call to order

1. Approval of November 26, 2012 PTAB Meeting Minutes
(Board action required) Chair

2. Public input on non-agenda items

3. a. Public Hearing: Proposed Program of Projects
5307 Program (Board action required) Sam Trebilcock
4. b. Public Hearing: Proposed Program of Projects
State of Good Repair (Board action required) Sam Trebilcock

5. Old Business:
a. Transit Fare Analysis (Informational) Sam Trebilcock

6. New Business:
a. Transit Space Needs Study (Informational) Sam Trebilcock
b. Title VI Program Update (Board Action Required) Sam Trebilcock

7. Reports:
a. December Operations Report (Informational) Eric Meyerson
b. Transit Marketing Committee (Informational) Randy Hartman

Whence "Good Earth State Park"?

Thu, 24 Jan 2013 22:11:10 -0600

I asked Tony Venhuizen, a spokesman for Gov. Dennis Daugaard, where they came up with “Good Earth” to name the proposed state park at Blood Run Nature Area near Sioux Falls. He replied, via email:

As you know the site is of great cultural significance to several tribes. They expressed concern with the Blood Run name, which they felt evoked violence when in fact this site was a place for peaceful gathering.

The Governor asked Tribal Relations Secretary J.R. LaPlante to consult with the tribes, both in SD and to the south, on alternative names. “Good Earth” was a recommendation from that consultation.

Not District Dialogue: Supreme Court sides with ex-DM&E boss in divorce

Thu, 24 Jan 2013 13:21:38 -0600

Not District Dialogue: Supreme Court sides with ex-DM&E boss in divorce:

notdistrictdialogue:

The South Dakota Supreme Court on Wednesday ruled in favor of former DM&E Railroad boss Kevin Schieffer in a dispute over his divorce settlement.

Schieffer had a $5 million prenuptial agreement.

I confess I only scanned the ruling, but it seems the justices spent a long time trying to…

ArgusPoliBlog: Bismarck still looking to SoDak as competition

Thu, 24 Jan 2013 12:34:52 -0600

ArgusPoliBlog: Bismarck still looking to SoDak as competition:

arguspoliblog:

City officials in Bismarck asked voters in November to approve a $90 million financing package to expand that city’s civic center. Voters said no thanks to the plan, which would have raised the money through higher taxes on booze, restaurants and hotels.

When they proposed the idea, Bismarck…

Cleanup from the Arena/Convention Center/entertainment board meeting this a.m.

Wed, 23 Jan 2013 11:18:00 -0600

Couple of notes from the arena/convention center/entertainment board meeting this morning (pdf of agenda):

SMG manager Terry Torkildson went into a bit more detail about how construction on the events center is coming along. (Administration officials gave their bimonthly update to the City Council yesterday.) The suite designs are now final, Torkildson said, and they’re now working on selecting bathroom fixtures, finishings and technology (sound systems, etc.). They’ve chosen the coloring for the basketball court floor, a light wood stain with dark-stain accents. (The original plan called for a burgundy-and-gold scheme that made the floor look too much like the University of Minnesota court.) On the exterior, crews should begin putting up the steel framework any day now, Torkildson said.
Speaking of the events center: Teri Schmidt, executive director of the Sioux Falls Convention and Visitors Bureau, said event planners have been prodding city and tourism officials for a firmer opening date. Right now the city line is that it will be open sometime fall 2014, but “most groups don’t want to be the guinea pig,” Schmidt said. Torkildson said they’ll have a better idea of an opening date once they get through the current bid package.
There was some general discussion about HB1088, which would have kept SDHSAA events in smaller cities. The Sioux Falls lobbying delegation decided not to formally oppose it, assuming that this would fan the flames, but as it turns out they needn’t have worried: the bill went down this morning.
Finance director Tracy Turbak was at the meeting as the new city liaison, as oversight for the SMG contracts has moved from planning and building over to finance.
The agenda said staff would present 2012 financial reports for the Arena/Convention Center, but Torkildson said their accounting person has been out, so those reports aren’t ready yet.
Monster trucks this weekend. My 4-year-old is going to absolutely plotz.

TransCanada flack accidentally emails reporters a report about the reporters' reporting

Tue, 22 Jan 2013 18:25:31 -0600

Gonna take a break from posting city news to pass along this email, which TransCanada spokesman Shawn Howard inadvertently sent to several dozen reporters this afternoon. It’s a recap of how the media covered the announcement that Nebraska Gov. Dave Heineman had approved a revised route for the Keystone XL oil pipeline.

Pretty standard corporate communication speak, but it’s an interesting peek behind the curtain if you’re into that sort of thing.

From: Shawn Howard
Sent: Tuesday, January 22, 2013 4:33 PM
To: [a bunch of reporters]

Earlier today, Nebraska Governor Dave Heineman sent a letter to President Obama, indicating that the State had now approved the re-route of Keystone XL through the state. Shortly after the announcement, External Communications provided more than 55 reporters with quotes from Russ Girling on the announcement. Following that, TransCanada issued its own news release with more detailed information (based on content drafted prior to and after Christmas). A copy of our news release can be found by clicking here.

Russ Girling participated in a media scrum in Calgary with TV and print reporters from about 10 media outlets. Shawn Howard completed another 10 media interviews with reporters from Nebraska, Texas, South Dakota, New York and Washington, D.C. The main range of topics included: eminent domain in Nebraska, if we expect President Obama to approve KXL (juxtaposed against his comments in his Inaguaral Speech on climate change), what steps come next in the process, how quickly we could begin construction if we receive a Presidential Permit and the importance of the route approval through Nebraska. Our main messaging on these topics are as follows:

We are pleased with today’s announcement. This has been an exhaustive process that has involved Nebraskans and the NDEQ for the past seven to eight months and we appreciate the input they provided. We worked hard to address as many concerns as possible and today’s approval reflects our efforts to do that.
TransCanada supports the move to a less carbon-intense economy but we are decades away from that. TransCanada has invested billions of dollars in emission-less power generation – we know what the technology can do today and what its limitations are. The debate about climate change and emissions is not connected to Keystone XL – the oil sands produce about 1/10 of one per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions and shutting down the oil sands entirely would do almost nothing for emissions. Focusing on improved fuel standards, energy efficiency and other measures will have a real impact on GHGs.
Keystone XL is the safest way to move oil from Canadian and US oil fields to the markets where they are needed. This is the most responsible way to move oil to markets, will have virtually no environmental impacts, enhances continental energy security and provides jobs of thousands of workers who are ready to build Keystone XL (and have been ready for years).
Our focus in Nebraska now is to enter into direct discussions with landowners to reach voluntary easement agreements. We work very hard to be a good neighbor and it’s not in anyone’s interests to have to go into the eminent domain process because in our experience, most panels end up awarding landowners less than what we offer as compensation for the easement and in that situation, no one is a winner.
We continue to believe that Keystone XL will be approved. The need for Keystone XL grows stronger as time goes on. U.S. refiners will soon lose supply contracts with places like Mexico and Venezuela and they need this stable, secure supply of oil to maintain their ability to produce goods and products we all rely on.

As of now, there have been more than 440 media hits on this story and many have taken directly from our news release and background information on our website. David Dodson responded to two Gulf Coast Project calls today. One was from Richard Nelson of the Diboll Free Press regarding our lack of an easement on a small parcel of land owned by the county. David told the reporter:

Work has been suspended on a small parcel of land in the overall 485-mile Gulf Coast Project in Angelina County, Texas, south of the city of Diboll.
TransCanada executed an easement agreement with the landowner, who subsequently sold a portion of the property to the county for purposes of construction of a weigh station. TransCanada inadvertently included the county property in its proposed route.
TransCanada is working with the county and other relevant agencies to resolve the issue. Resolution may include a slight route deviation.
As no plan is in place, no estimate of time associated with the route change can be made. We are confident accommodation will be reached with all parties.

David also spoke to the San Antonio Current. Mr. Barajas received the standard messages about protestors, number of workers, purpose and need. David stressed that:

The project is employing about 4,000 workers in Texas and Oklahoma. Because of the nature of pipeline construction and the protestors’ choice of targets, the impact of all the various protests can be counted in hours, not days.
Still, if the protestors had their way, these thousands of American workers would be kept from their jobs, and an important part of President Obama’s “all-of-the-above” energy strategy would be thwarted.
TransCanada is gratified by the many showings of local support, and we do not believe these protestors represent an indigenous, grass-roots movement. It is a handful of individuals, and the vast majority of them are from out of state.

SOCIAL MEDIA
There are no items that we are monitoring that require our online engagement at this time. Today’s Nebraska announcement was shared extensively online, including a FOX News article that was shared more than 5,400 times. Interestingly there was very little sharing of postings by our normal opponents.

Many of our supporters were active online in their support for today’s Nebraska announcement. Those tweets and social media postings will be re-tweeted by TransCanada tomorrow and included in our next Media Today report. Have a great evening. Shawn

Council will oppose SB51

Tue, 22 Jan 2013 18:00:04 -0600

At the 4 o’clock informational today, the City Council said they would formally oppose SB51, a bill that which would change how revenue is collected for a state tax credit. In short, South Dakota cities would be on the hook for an estimated $1.5 million in sales tax, and $440,000 of that would come from Sioux Falls.

Legislative director Jim David presented this form letter —

— which council chairwoman Michelle Erpenbach said she and Mayor Mike Huether would sign. (“Nearly assures passage in Pierre,” quipped @chuckpoint49.)

neuromorphogenesis: Baroque Blood Vessels A scanning electron...

Fri, 18 Jan 2013 23:57:02 -0600

neuromorphogenesis:

Baroque Blood Vessels

A scanning electron microscope (SEM) image zooms in on the baroque branching structures that send blood to the human brain’s cortex. The vessels are organized such that the large blood vessels surround the surface of the brain (top of image), sending thin, dense projections down into the depths of the cortex (bottom of image).