SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO.com) -- At a news conference today, City Councilors Theresa Stehly and Pat Starr said they want to put a stop to the public/private ramp hotel project and turn back the increased percentage to elect city councilors.
They say there are too many questions about one of the ramp project's guarantors.
At the wide-ranging news conference, they announced the measures they will be introducing to the Council next week.
Starr and Stehly want Sioux Falls voters to decide if Councilors should be elected by a plurality or a majority.
Stehly says the change to a majority vote will keep grassroots candidates like her from running. The Council changed from a plurality to a majority vote--and the increased potential for run-offis in multi-candidate fields--earlier this year.
"The big players in the community, is that all we want to be able to be elected?" Stehly asked. "That you have to have x, $50,000 to run?"
She and Starr will introduce a measure to allow a citizen vote on the matter as part of the city's charter. They hope that election will be April during the city/school district election.
They also said they will introduce measures to stop the ramp project. Though the City Council approved the private/public ramp project last week, the Councilors say it shouldn't go forward.
They say concerns about the financial ability of one of the guarantors--Aaron Hultgren of Legacy Developments--has come up.
"I have heard from Council members that they are interested," Stehly said. "Since this came out last week, they've been hearing from constituents and its getting harder and harder to defend this project."
However, community development director Darren Ketcham, who sat in on the news conference, also unexpectedly answered a flurry of questions from reporters and citizens.
Ketcham defended the city and its relationship with Hultgren's Legacy Developments being a guarantor of the $30 million ramp project, even though Hultgren personally signed a settlement agreement with the state of South Dakota's Department of Environment and Natural Resources. One of Hultgren's other companies, Hultgren Construction, could not pay a fine for the improper disposal of asbestos from the Copper Lounge building, which collapsed last December. The U.S. Attorney's Office is also conducting a criminal investigation surrounding the collapse.
"According to the DENR's findings, those were against Copper Lounge Partners and they were against Hultgren Construction--two companies the City is not doing business with," Ketcham said.
Stehly and Starr will introduce two ordinances stopping the project next week.
Starr says city government isn't asking citizens what they want before they devolp requests for proposals. He says controversy over the award of the city golf concession and the downtown ramp project could have been avoided.
"How do we get 100 people plus in an overflow room that was full?" Starr asked. 'It's because we didn't talk to people before the we went out RFPs. What do we want in a golf facility? What do we want in a parking ramp? We didn't have public meetings beforehand."
The two Councilors also expressed concerns about the strong-mayor form of government. However, Stehly said "that's a show for another day."
