2026-10-20 - City Council Meeting

Good evening, everyone. Welcome to your Sioux Falls City Council meeting. It is Tuesday, October 20th. We start our meetings off with an invocation followed by the pledge of allegiance before, oh, we

have to do a roll call first. So, sorry, I'm still out of order. We're going to do a roll call and then we're going to do the rest. All right. Roll call, please. Sorry. Councilor McCurious here, a

quay here. Oppenheimer present. Pankinen here. Siggity? Spellerberg? Here. Thompson? Present. Facie? Here. Got it. Thank you. I'm still, I mean, I'm still learning. We will start with our council

meeting with an invocation and pledge of allegiance. Before we, as we stand to do that, I just would ask us all to bow our heads in a moment of silence. This week, we lost a very special person in the

line of duty, Deputy Catherine Frank. Um, just an awful situation for all of those involved. Um, I'd just like to recognize her in a moment of silence before we, uh, give our invocation. Our

invocation tonight will be Mike Stahl with, uh, Empire Baptist temple. And he's also a chaplain at the department of corrections. If you could please stand and join me in a moment of silence for

deputy Catherine Frank, your heavenly father. We do ask that you would have your hand upon these proceedings here today, and help us not to forget the sacrifices of those who put on a uniform with the

purpose of protecting us and protecting our city and our state. Lord, may they not be forgotten nor their families, but Lord, we do ask that you would guide these proceedings similar as you did for

Daniel when he prayed as he stood before the King Nebuchadnezzar. He asked simply that you would help him. And we asked the same here today. May you turn the hearts of these members to go according to

your will and also that you would ultimately receive all the glory for what's done. And Lord, we thank you for all the prosperity that you've given us. We pray that you'd continue to do so that we

might live this place in peace in Jesus name. Amen. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God, indivisible, with

liberty and justice for all. All right, council, we will move to the regular agenda. Is there a motion? I missed another page. I'm sorry. Nope. I missed another page. Here we go. I think it's my first

day. All right. We are going to do the consent agenda. My apologies. Is there any changes to the consent agenda? Move approval. Basie. Second speller route. Any discussion? Roll call vote. Councillor

McPherson. Yes. Okay. Yes. Oppenheimer. Yes. Penkonen. Yes. Spellerberg. Yes. Thomas. Yes. Basie. Yes. All right. That passes seven to zero. We are onto the regular agenda. Is there a motion to

approve? Move to approve. Of course. Second, Basie. It's been a motion and a second. They're an amendment. Madam mayor. Yes. I may make a motion to amend by moving item 30 before item 18. Second,

Basie. Boys vote on the amendment. All in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? Okay. We are now onto the regular agenda as amended a roll call vote. Councillor McCurris. Yes. Okay. Yes. Oppenheimer. Yes.

Penkonen. Yes. Spellerberg. Yes. Thomas. Yes. Basie. Yes. That item passes seven to zero before we continue to our regular agenda. I'd like to review public input for regular agenda items. Comments

are limited to three minutes unless that item is being presented for final adoption. In that case, public input is limited to five minutes for all regular agenda items. Comments are limited to just

the agenda item under consideration only during the general public input portion of the meeting. Comments will be no more than three minutes per person and the comments are limited to the topics which

do not involve agenda items appearing earlier in the agenda as comments will have already received public input on those items. Item number 30 item 30 moved by amendment a motion to provide advice and

consent to the mayor's appointment of Brent Collars as director of parts and recreation sponsor mayor. All right. I'm going to pass that off. Madam mayor. Thank you so much. Councillor tonight. I have

the privilege to bring forward the appointment of Brett Collars, the director of parks and recreation. Brett is joined tonight with his wife, Becca daughter grace and sons Jack and Owen. Thanks for

being here guys. It's my privilege to bring Brett forward. We had opened this rule for 30 days. We had a lot of interest. We had a counselor, we had public citizens on there on the hiring process and

through it all Brett's name kept rising to the top again. Brett has garnered a lot of respect within other departments as well as the trust of the public. And so it's my honor to ask for your approval

as Brett Collars for the director of parks and recreation. Are there any members of the public that wish to speak on this item? All right. Seeing, please come forward. Okay. We had, they had a lot of

applicants, right? A lot of applicants that was real qualified for this role, right? And so when Brett first started here, you see that they say the citizens say, he's such a handsome man. He's a

cutie patootie and there's not the other I hear. And I say, well, you know what, let's go from the inside out in the outside hand. And so you could tell that I bet you this only person that was an

applicant of all these applicants is the most passionate about parks and rakes than he is. And so when I talked to him a couple months ago about what affects him, it hurts him the most when I get to

get into that, but he his roots are very deep into parks and rakes. And so this was the best applicant. And I say that, well, I can't say the best applicant, but I'm going to say is because he has

experience with donors and that's a huge role when you pick someone that has a good relationship with the donors. Now we made our rounds with, with donors before some donors that don't agree with, but

it is what it is. Right. And so we get through that. This was the best pick and the best choice for him. Not only do it, does he get, I would say rich money because he'll be rich now, but his, his

heart and his soul and his passion for this job is what puts him in this place. I don't think giving him a paycheck of a big bump in pay. I don't think he cares about that. I think he cares about the

citizens and those parks more than anything. So his passion runs very deep within this community of that. Now I'm sure he's blushing, but that's okay because that's just how he is. And then, and they

say, well, Sierra, they say that citizens say, well, I wonder, you know, why, why do they, why does he come up with so much money for these parks and is that the other? Well, it's a gamble that you

take and it's a gamble because everybody said, if you can get more money, why can't you? So we're going to go to council and see what council says, right? But it's what the people want that, that runs

the city. It's what the backers want, the donations, the people that don't need the money where that money wants to go and what they want to use with that money. Okay. So a lot of people, a lot of

citizens get that confused. When you donate hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars, there are stipulations on that money of where that goes. And that has to be used for that specific stuff, even

though we agree or don't agree with it. That's just how it is now. So yeah, he is a cutie patootie and he's very handsome inside out because of the simple fact that his passion and you could feel his

energy and you could feel his, his emotions when he comes to city council, when he gets drilled on certain projects within the city, you could feel the energy. You could see his, his passion and, and,

and his, his deep thought in everything. Well, he always get his way with, with council. Absolutely not. But this was the best pick. And, and, and grant you, there was a lot of applicants that were

well, overwhelmingly qualified for it. They were well qualified over him. But sometimes you have to look at the internal, who's good internal than, you think we could get someone external to come in,

don't even have a clue what the donors want or have a relationship with donors to try to make something work? Absolutely not. And then he was under Kearney for a long time. So then he's fallen under

Kearney's footsteps, which could be good or bad, but I liked Kearney. Kearney had his 50/50 faults, but he, he learned underneath him. So it wasn't like he's getting the role and he doesn't know what

he's doing. So yes. So this was a good decision right here to get him in here and this decision. Now I'm going to say he's rich, but he's rich in his heart. And this is what taxpayers got to remember

that we have a good person on city government or the taxpayers money. And this one right here is good. And we will not complain about paying him his weekly or monthly or, or biweekly salary here.

Okay. So that's what I have to say about that. Thank you. Any other members of the public wish to heat praise upon our nominee this evening. Any other members of the public? All right. Seeing none

council members questions for the mayor, uh, entertain a motion at this time. So move of Thomas and second speller bird move by Thomas and second by speller bird. Any discussion or debate? Councilor

Basie. Thank you councilman chorus. I just want to take the opportunity. Um, Brett, to say thank you over the last two and a half years, I've seen you lean in and be really earnest in listening. Um,

and we've disagreed, but we've also collaborated on a lot of things and I'm excited for you to be the parks director because my expectation is that we'll continue. Any other discussion or debate? See,

oh, constant feller bird. Yeah. Thank you. Um, I'm very excited to support the appointment of this cutie patootie. You are a great partner to the city council and a great asset to this city. Go bears.

Any other helpful, encouraging words? Councilor Oakway Brett in my brief time here, you've just been phenomenal and you've carried a lot of weight, uh, within the past three months. Um, and I wish you

success. Any other discussion or debate? Councilor Pankin. Yes. I, um, I was planning to say a few of the things, but Sierra told store, you know, it's also in my thunder, I guess, but, um, I, I first

met Brett, um, during the campaign this spring and it was really neat to sit down and share some of the ideas I had for green spaces. And I'm just really excited for, for what's to come with this

appointment. So councilor Thomas. I think, uh, you know, on behalf of the panel, um, what we really appreciate it about, uh, the future director of college, he's not quite there yet. Um, but, uh, as

what the constituent says is his passion for, for parks and rec. And so, uh, real appreciative of that. And, um, uh, very excited to, uh, hopefully have a couple of yes votes tonight for him.

Councilor Oppenheimer, any further comments? Absolutely. I truly appreciated how great Brett's been to work with in the interim role and very excited for him to continue. And it's great to have a

cutie patootie in, in as a director, adding to the many others that we have fabulous. I think it's the first time in the history of Sioux falls that every counselor has spoken on a nomination. So

congratulations at this time, we'll call for roll call vote, please. Counselor Mercurius. Yes. Aquay. Yes. Oppenheimer. Yes. Pankin. Yes. Spellerberg. Yes. Thomas. Yes. Basie. Yes. That is passed

seven to zero. Thank you, counselor. And thank you, uh, director. Also, I was, uh, should've thanked counselor Thomas and for serving on the hiring committee along with the other crew. We did a little

different. And so thank you for everyone that served on that hiring committee. Congratulations to you and your family back to work. Next item, uh, item 18 new 2026, 27 retail malt beverage license for

ocean oil, getting gold number 25, 4,200 West maple street item 19 new 2026, 27 retail malt beverage license for steel district restaurants, LLC, big Sioux burger, Dahlia kitchen and bar slash

ironwood, one 50 East fourth place sweet one 10 and one 20 slash 200 East fourth place item 20 transfer of 2026 retail liquor license from Casa del Rey incorporated Casa del Rey 9 0 1 West Russell

street to El Agave Mexican restaurant LLC, El Agave 9 0 1 West Russell street item 21 transfer of 2026 retail liquor license from full tight LLC to 30 South Phillips Avenue, sweet one 0 4 to TBM

partners, LLC 32 11 South Sierra Lee Avenue and item 22 special one day malt beverage and special one day wine license for St. Mary Catholic church, 21 0 9 South Fifth Avenue for a fundraiser on

October 24th, 2026 city counselors, uh, items 18 through 22 have been thoroughly reviewed by the city's licensing team and they pass all legal muster and are ready for your. Thank you, attorney.

Anybody from the public wish to speak on these items? Seeing none counselors, um, there any questions or a motion? Move approval for speller bird second to quite spend a motion by speller bird second

by a quay. Any discussion? Seeing none, roll call vote. Councillor McPherson. Yes, a quay. Yes. Oppenheimer. Yes. Pankenin. Yes. Speller bird. Yes. Thomas. Yes. Basie. Yes. That item passes seven to

zero. Item 23 a second reading and ordinance of the city of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, amending the code of ordinance of the city by amending chapter 41 fees parking 41.005 and chapter 77 parking

regulations sub chapter parking ticket appeals section 77.999 sponsors the mayor. Counselors, there's been a request to defer this item until November 4th city council meeting. Is there a motion to

defer? So move speller second. Oppenheimer. There's been a motion and a second to defer this item until November 4th, 2026. Any discussion? Roll call vote. Councillor McCurris. Yes. A quay. Yes.

Oppenheimer. Yes. Pankenin. Yes. Speller bird. Yes. Thomas. Yes. Basie. Yes. That item has been deferred item 24 a second reading and notice of the city of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, approving a lease

of city real property sponsor mayor. Welcome, Matt. This is just a lease. It's an extension of an existing lease for five years with two five year renewals. It's at the parking lot north of the Ace

Hardware in downtown and they will lease the entire lot and secure and reserved. Um, it's a gated lot and the rates are currently set at for next year. They'll start January 1st, but $88 times 1.5

because it is a reserved and secured lot and is what we would anticipate our market rates to be next year and then it will go 4% per year after that. So pending any questions, that's what we have.

Thank you very much. Anybody from the public here wish to speak on item 24 seeing none counselors any questions or a motion? Move approval. Pankenin second Basie motion by Pankenin second by Basie. Is

there any discussion? Seeing none. Roll call vote. Councilor McCurris. Yes. Akwai. Yes. Oppenheimer. Yes. Pankenin. Yes. Spellerberg. Yes. Thomas. Yes. Basie. Yes. That item passes seven to zero. Item

25. First reading and ordinance of the city of Sioux Falls South Dakota rezoning property located 6401 South Cliff Avenue from the C2 commercial neighborhood and street car district to the office

district number 023 542 2026 and amending officials on a map of the city of Sioux Falls. The planning commission recommends approval for the zero recommendation said today the second reading for

Wednesday November 4th 2026 the private applicant Alpine real estate LLC. Good evening Mayor City Council Jason Bieber representing planning and development services. This is an application and the

owners Alpine real estate LLC. It's located at 6401 South Cliff Avenue just west of the USF football stadium. It's about 1.6 acres in size. The purpose of this reasoning is they're looking to

construct an office on the property. Thank you Jason. Anybody from the public wish to speak on item 25. Seeing none Councillors any questions or a motion? Move approval Pankenin. Second. Spellerberg.

Motion by Pankenin second by Spellerberg. Any discussion? Seeing none roll call vote. Councillor McCurris. Yes. Akwai. Yes. Oppenheimer. Yes. Pankenin. Yes. Spellerberg. Yes. Thomas. Yes. Basie. Yes.

That item passes seven to zero. Item 26. A first reading and ordinance of the city of Sioux Falls South Dakota rezoning property located at 700 South Sycamore Avenue from the RD1 twin home duplex

residential suburban district to the C2 commercial neighborhood and street car district number 023575 2026 and amending the official zoning map of the city of Sioux Falls. The planning commission

recommends approval for the zero. Recommendation set a date a second reading for Wednesday November 4th 2026 the private applicant Tisdall commercial LLC Ryan Tisdall. The applicant here is Ryan

Tisdall. It's located at 700 South Sycamore Avenue just south of the Vern Idie plex there to the north. It's 0.89 acres in size. The purpose of this rezoning is the applicants looking to construct a

parking lot here for some overflow parking for the cars from Vern Idie. Thank you Jason. Anybody from the public wish to speak on item 26. Councillors is there any are there any questions or is there

a motion. Move approval Pankin in. Second of course. Motion by Pankin in second by McChorus. Any discussion? Seeing none roll call vote. Councillor McCurris. Yes. Aquey. Yes. Oppenheimer. Yes.

Pankinin. Yes. Spellerberg. Yes. Thomas. Yes. Basie. Yes. That item passes 7-0 item 27. A resolution removing uncollectible delinquent accounts from the record sponsor mayor. Welcome Shawn. Good

evening mayor and council so this is something we do once a year and it is essentially looking at any outstanding receivables of the city that we no longer believe to be collectible and we anything

above five thousand dollars has to be written off by the City Council anything below five thousand dollars per person per entity that I can write off as director of finance so these are the items that

are above five thousand as we prepare for our end of year and closing that year out if there's any questions anything that is deemed that we could send to collections we do send to collections if it's

allowed so that I'm happy to answer any questions thank you Shawn anybody from the public wish to speak on item 27 seeing none counselors any questions for Shawn counselor Basie thank you madam mayor

Shawn just to make sure we're all on the same page there's probably some internal efforts procedures of trying to collect on these before we get to this point that is correct yep so we've attempted to

collect we're required by our financial procedures that if you know it's been stale for a year or two years there's been no activity or other reasons that we have to take it off the books or we're not

showing a receivable or an asset that's not appropriate any longer great thanks any other questions or a motion move approval Basie second Spellerberg motion by Basie second by Spellerberg any

discussion seeing none the roll call vote counselor Mccurs yes a quake yes Oppenheimer yes thank you yes Spellerberg yes Thomas yes Basie yes that item passes 7-0 next item item 28 the resolution

including certain contiguous territory within the corporate limits of the Sioux Falls South Dakota sponsor mayor the applicant owner here is Steve van buskirk with van buskirk construction it's

located at 83 oh one East Madison Street it's about nine point zero one acres in size the purpose of this annexation is this property will be used for future public drainage and then transfer it over

to the city thank you Jason anybody from the public wish to speak on this item counselors is there a motion or questions move approval Basie second spell over motion by Basie second by Spellerberg any

discussion seeing none roll call vote counselor Mccurs yes a quake yes Oppenheimer yes panken yes Spellerberg yes Thomas yes Basie yes that item passes 7-0 item 29 a resolution advising and giving

consent to the appointment of members to various citizen board sponsor mayor and madam mayor if I may read these to the board or excuse me to the building board of appeals Jackson Baske and Matthew

Kirkwold and to the library board of trustees marine own thank you anybody from the public wish to speak on this item counselors any questions or a motion move approval Oppenheimer second Thompson

motion by Oppenheimer second by Thomas in any discussion roll call vote counselor Mccurs yes a quake yes Oppenheimer yes panken yes Spellerberg yes Thomas yes Basie yes passes 7-0 next item item 31

notice of transfer of appropriations on the memorandum dated September 30th 2026 right next any new business seeing none the next item is general public input at this time I'd ask anybody that wishes

to speak to please come forward as a reminder during public input you will have no more than three minutes per person and all topics covered previously cannot be discussed please come forward at this

time state your name for the record how are you guys doing my name is Heather Lynn pastor all right I had something on my heart and what I want to talk about it's not just about mine and James's

situation but everybody that's going through what we're going through let me start off by saying this one of the pastors at my church had spoken about something the time that God got spoken to by a

rich man and said father how is it that I can make it through the gates of heaven and something about well you got to get rid of all your items and give it to the poor well obviously he doesn't want

to do that so how hard is it to see a needle through you guys know the rest here's my point so far this year me and James and other people going through we've had back to back landlords getting

wealthy wealthy off of ripping us off government frudgery I've been dealing with job discrimination I'm gonna see here now our new landlords are trying to pull fast one on us and that's pretty like

this I had no idea they were gonna take my full October rent and put it towards my security deposit now we're trying to work deals out and get help so that we can get caught up now if we don't get

what we can for them next month is gonna take all of my income and both of my man's income to get caught up or they're telling us we will be on the street GH house got away with ripping me off I'm

working with the woman named Tiffany this is not just for us my man can't even get his wheelchair that his medical accepted for him now or a battery now we're not wealthy we're two people trying to

live our lives I just want to say a prayer for everybody it's going through I don't care if you have a job I don't care what nationality you are this is for everybody because well and all these places

you guys want us to go through nobody wants to help us community outreach they told me you guys are eligible for rent assistance but guess what I gotta call their phone number and I get no I don't get

through I'm gonna try to go through St. Louis Nepal already got my stuff together for that I also want to set a prayer out for that officer because I remember that woman she came to the GH house when

I had to talk to her about this guy named Josh who was harassing us our door that got slammed and she was a really I also want to send prayer out for my god grandma KK when I was at the GS house I

lost my god grandma another man named John and I want to say a prayer for everybody because it shouldn't matter what you are what nationality everybody deserves to have a life thank you Heather

anybody here else wish to speak welcome sir anybody else wish to speak now does Sierra Bruce are you see the outreach people him was David Saylor you know what he did so he went downtown calling

people effin niggas juveniles that's what he did two years ago so yeah and he got a mental issue so you think that's we need to do street outreach on him now with his behavior his stuff he doesn't

retreat that's jail for him okay so we don't need outreach for him that's David Saylor then we have had it it's always wanting to complain you want to talk about street outreach with her let's talk

about street outreach that doesn't do nothing I just had the landlord put her out so she don't have nowhere to go she got put out of the glory house because of her her behavior so you think we need to

outreach you tell her where her resources is under the she need prison jail time she's already had like 15 charges in last year so 150 hundred forty thousand dollars of taxpayers money to help these

idiots these two idiots right here you think that's gonna help help their racism and their mental illness that's so far gone she is with alcoholism she knows what she's doing if she can get up to this

podium she sure can go and get her meds from the psychiatrist can't she so I think we need that hundred forty thousand dollars I think we need an outreach person here to give them a pamphlet for

resources and maybe walk their hand and bring them and give them some help did they need right that's why I said incarceration because she's been incarcerated and has so has he on the streets so when

you think about on the taxpayers money hundred forty thousand to help these individuals there's no help for these people jail is the answer for these people you haven't seen her around right why cuz

she's been on probation so that probation does work doesn't it I think so so these two individuals are always getting incarcerated I don't feel sorry for these people hundred forty thousand dollars

more for weedier neighborhood these two people are with your neighborhood think there's help with them in random with here you think we can outreach them and tell them their resources in with here or

is it incarceration now you understand why the police are saying to chief to me to stop his politics this is a prime example right so you can be a walking racism person as long as you don't commit a

crime and you could be so mentally ill and alcoholic like she is and don't commit crimes either son against the law but we don't need to outreach to these people this is a prime example why we don't

need a hundred forty thousand dollars for individuals like this they know their resources and they know where to go get help that anybody else wish to speak please come forward if you do plan to speak

if you could just join us in the front seat that would be great hi my name is Savannah Holloman I was born and raised in Sioux Falls I had so much fun talking to you guys last week I thought I'd come

back and say hi when I was here last week I mentioned met the many communities throughout the country whose residents are experiencing life altering changes that they attribute to the hyperscale data

centers in their area today I just want to talk a little bit about what's going on in Cheyenne Wyoming where meta is building a closed loop hyperscale data center over the first quarter of this year

contractors released over 800,000 gallons of construction wastewater into the public sewer system as a routine part of their construction process in February the city of Cheyenne identified an

antibiotic resistant bacterium in the wastewater for those who aren't familiar recycled wastewater is used for things like sprinklers in public areas like parks and golf courses the city became

concerned that the bacterium would get into the air and make people sick what happened was it established itself the bacterium established itself inside the city's biological treatment system so they

had to remediate that and shut down the entire irrigation system to drain flush and disinfect it it's important to note that the drinking water was not contaminated but because the city didn't want

their public green spaces and ponds to dry out they temporarily hooked up the city managed sprinklers to the clean drinking water grid for four months who paid for that I don't know Cheyenne is

reported to get half of their drinking water from 115 miles away through the continental divide so I'm assuming it was pretty expensive the city of Cheyenne was relying on meta and the data center

developers to be good neighbors they did not proactively establish adequate regulations to protect their community from the environmental impacts health issues and costs associated with the

development of the hyperscale data centers now they find themselves asking meta very nicely to help cover the cost of the contamination I don't know if the city of Cheyenne was made aware of any

concerns before the construction began on their data center but council members were elected to represent the members of this community because we believe that you will act in our best interest now

that we know better we have to do better can we confidently say that we've done everything possible to ensure that Sioux Falls doesn't become another another one of these cautionary tales I don't want

to be the next Cheyenne Wyoming anything worth doing is worth doing right so I'm asking you to please pass the moratorium on all data center development including the Gemini project until it can be

done the right way thank you thank you so much good evening council I'm Adam Mayer I'm Amanda Kendall chair of let's see falls vote I want to talk about something that I don't think we're giving

nearly enough attention surrounding hyperscale data centers and that's just how incredibly complicated it is to write ordinances that actually protect our community I think it's easy to look at this

process and think okay we have a few months we'll research some concerns write some ordinances and we'll be good unfortunately it's just not that simple and that's what worries me we're not trying to

or we're just not trying to write ordinances about noise water electricity and environmental impacts we're trying to account for all the different variables within every single one of those issues

take noise for example we could establish a decibel limit great but what about low frequency noise weather conditions multiple pieces of equipment operating at once how are we measuring it how are

reinforcing it and that's just not even that's not all the complexity surrounding sound either that's just one single topic of concern now multiply that by every single possible problem area where

have we're trying to address then consider how those issues interact how technology changes what happens when equipment fails and whether what we're writing is even legally enforceable that's a huge

amount of responsibility I want to be clear I appreciate the work this council has started and I recognize the time and effort you're putting into this and I thank you for it but I generally worry

we're underestimating how much time this actually requires I don't say that because I don't believe you're capable I say it because I want you to succeed I want a community to succeed because if we

overlook something it's not just a mistake on paper it's someone's home it's their health their neighborhood their future and the city's financial standing that are at stake I just want us to look

back years from now wishing I don't want to look back years from now wishing we had just given ourselves more time for putting deadlines on a process when we don't even know the full extent of the

work that needs to be done when the stakes are this high I struggle to understand why we're willing to take that risk a temporary moratorium to give us time to bring in independent experts involve our

community and establish protections that actually work I'm not asking you to halt the process I'm asking you to recognize that protecting our community deserves as much consideration as it takes to

develop it we have an opportunity to get this right the first time please give yourself the regulatory oversight committee in our community time to do just that I have submitted a bunch of data to the

regulatory oversight committee I understand that it may be overwhelming the amount of information that's there but that's just how complex these these data centers are right and I am NOT trying to

overload or overwhelm I'm just trying to inform so I know it takes a lot of a lot of time to process all these topics but that's why I'm pushing for a moratorium just because we need to be able to

understand the topics in order to develop strong ordinances that protect our community and I appreciate your time thank you Amanda anybody else wish to speak tonight good evening council members my

name is Josh Erickson nice seeing you all again today I had some time to thank the past couple weeks I missed a session last week I was a little sickly about you know I came in here kind of pretty

upset last couple times and I don't think I did a good enough job explaining why I am an American and I believe in the Constitution I am very anti flock for those of you who don't remember me and I

believe these cameras are dangerous to our democracy I think that they enforce a type of panopticon where everybody's acting like they always are being watched because they always are being watched

and I think that's a dangerous precedent to set as I've considered the the position that you are put in I think I've had some more time to think about why you would put these up in the first place and

perhaps it did start with good intentions right this is maybe giving the benefit of the doubt maybe there isn't a monetary reason maybe this comes seriously from a place of public safety I personally

believe that these are a danger not a safety measure and I don't have much else to say this time but I do want to leave you with with just a question that I want you guys to consider when is enough

enough before these cameras will put up I would see cameras all around right you see him on you see him at storefronts you see him in ATMs you see him at traffic lights all that stuff but when is when

is it enough safety do you guys feel more safe currently now that we have these cameras up maybe you do I don't but with that are we going to see in the next couple months well yes we have these

cameras but we just need 10 more or maybe 15 or maybe 20 maybe we need them in our schools after all different communities have suffered shootings in their schools terrible tragedies maybe we need

them to protect our kids maybe we need them in our churches for the same reason maybe we need them in our bars so that we can stop any kind of kerfuffles that go on there I just I'm confused is it

when these things are in your our own homes that they matter to us when they're watching us while we spend time with our friends and while we discuss is that when it's too far the reason for my anger

and the reason that anger is still very much present is because I believe that this system has already stepped too far and the slippery slope I think we're already tumbling down it so I'll leave you

with my last 30 seconds but please do consider that before our next meeting and I look forward to talking to you about them again thank you for your time thank you Josh anybody else wish to speak good

evening City Council and Madame Mayor my name is Melanie some and I'm with the nonprofit feed Sioux Falls first I want to thank Zach and all you City Council members for your hard hard to work with

homelessness one of the causes of homelessness is affordable housing in 2024 John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health published an article on what it takes to end homelessness in the article it

was stated that there is no state in the country that a person working a full-time job and making minimum wage could afford a modest two-bedroom apartment the article mentioned South Dakota which has

the lowest housing cost a person would have to work 66 hours a week to afford a modest two-bedroom apartment there is research that indicates that 57 percent of US workers are living paycheck to

paycheck it would take one major illness potentially even a costly car repair bill for them to slip into homelessness the reality of being homeless as though that is closer to 57 percent of Americans

than what they want to admit when a person slips into homelessness a solution for them would be the program that provides housing first thus addressing the need of a media shelter and safety when

their basic needs are met offer them services like health care employment assistance and treatment of substance abuse disorders housing first is cost-effective in the fact that it'll cost taxpayers

more for homeless person to live on the street versus taxpayers providing housing and treatment the cost of taxpayers is 81 percent more in medical cost alone than providing a permanent home the best

way to end homelessness is sufficient low and moderate income housing available to our citizens I one of the things I am suggesting is to think about expanding the city portion of the property tax

refund program to people that rent to low-income families thank you very much thank you anybody else wish to speak good evening council members my name is Mary Elanius and I volunteer with feed Sioux

Falls you've heard me speak before and you've read my emails but tonight is different on one night this January the city counted 605 people experiencing homelessness in Sioux Falls I'm here to tell

you about the other 364 nights every Saturday at 10 in the morning feed Sioux Falls pulls into Heritage Park and people are already waiting they line up patiently to fill a bag with whatever will get

them to next Saturday some of them were sleeping on a friend's couch on the night of the count others tell me everything they owned was stolen overnight even their ID one man told me he woke up in a

hospital with no home to go back to on a night like that he doesn't get counted but he's real he's hungry and he's waiting in our line the counts at homelessness dropped by 20 people this year but

since 2022 it has grown by almost half and the number of people sleeping outside has more than doubled one night can't show you that but being there all year can and feed Sioux Falls is there all year

there 24/7 pantry on Spring Avenue never closes and people come at every hour to take what they need and leave what they can they collect surveys and see who is new who keeps coming back who's account

missed and who is getting better or worse what feeds Sioux Falls doesn't have is resources and winter is coming soon that pantry will be buried in snow and drinks will freeze in their cups before

people reach the front of the line feed Sioux Falls runs on a small team volunteers and donations and this winter that won't be enough so I'm asking for three things first please bring feed Sioux

Falls to the table when the city plans to address homelessness second partner with feed Sioux Falls on a free storage locker pilot with no ID or fee required up front the hand out in front of you

shows how it works the city provides a building and lockers and feed Sioux Falls provides the locks and volunteers third helps you feed Sioux Falls keep serving through this winter so the work already

happening doesn't stop when the snow comes the city sees one night a year feed Sioux Falls sees the other 364 imagine what the city could do if it saw all of them too thank you thank you Mary yeah

anybody else wish to speak hi there hi I'm Sarah dual I've been living here it's Sioux Falls what I more than 20 years my goodness I want to comment for going back about the data centers okay and what

I basically I want to just give a few examples of very particular details that I'm aware of and I want to say that I'm really super concerned okay I've not had loads and loads of time to really spend

in-depth so doing research but I do know some of the huge issues involved as a man who is saying very complex and I want to emphasize for everyone here not just you council members but for everyone

there are very drastic health issues associated with data centers and there's some different reports on that and what I want to comment about the health issues is because of the noise that they create

the sound level I don't know how the best way to term that but something I do know sound waves interact with brain waves and that might sound ho-hum but I'm gonna tell you from experience as both

outwardly as a doctor's daughter a nurse's daughter and I'm actually even a former massage therapist and I'm also a brain trauma survivor so I dealt with very far extremes I know that those sound

waves especially for young children and our youth whose brains are not even fully developed it's going to be a real overtime that can become a really serious bad problem if anybody here in this room

does have a child with ADD ADHD stop and take a minute to consider what the sound waves from data centers do to their child's brain that have been personally I consider a label of ADD ADHD learning

difficulties learning differences I'd rather say it will affect them a lot and the other thing I know from doing some degree of research is that the migratory patterns of birds have been severely

disrupted by data centers and so this is just like a little tip of a huge iceberg of a really serious we all really should be concerned and say no thank you please and thank you especially for

listening because a lot of bad health issues and who's going to cover the cost and that includes her water water consumption thank you thank you Sarah anybody else wish to speak tonight hello my name

is Robin Shirell I appreciate all that you do because I used to be a county commissioner myself I want to tell you a little bit about myself before I ask for your help I used to be a county official

of the year in 2008 I was awarded that I'm the only South Dakotan that has ever won this award I worked 40 plus years as a professional engineer Sarah so glad you're here I'm a United States Army

veteran I was diagnosed with remitting MS in 1996 I'm still on medical workers comp for lifting a computer server at work I'm on Medicare and my only source of income now is Social Security since my

assets of retirements and life insurance were stolen by IRS contract investigators that are actually criminals therefore I no longer need to even files income taxes with the IRS these same IRS

contract investigators located out of the IRS Sioux Falls office have been squatting in my home for 10 years now which is illegal two and a half years ago I came before this council and I realized

some of you are new when I filed a human rights relations excuse me complaint against these IRS contract investigators the complaint was not directed at the IRS since these are contract investigators

not a federal agency and they fall within the Sioux Falls Human Relations Commission's authority but because I do not have a physical address in Sioux Falls to direct this complaint to as squatters

that they are I used the IRS's address in Sioux Falls since they will be able to direct them complaint to those contract investigators since they have hired them and they are committing criminal acts

the now these IRS contract investigators have set up a meth lab in our home my tax accountant who is also the mayor of Sioux City Iowa told me that these IRS investigators are making drugs in my home

when they stole numerous pressure cookers in addition they continually steal our filtered water our ice cubes baggies and ziplocs and paper towels for their meth lab I have not heard back on this

human relations complaint with the city of Sioux Falls because they are confused that is against the IRS and not the IRS contract investigators because you are allowed to go forward with complaints to

contractors of the federal government please new madam mayor and I am so glad you are here and new City Council members Sarah I'm so glad you are here especially with as an engineer please help me

this is not adequate and the previous council members may be included in these criminals racketeering behavior so mr. attorney I think you might want to look into this thank you again for all your

time since I was a previous County Commissioner I appreciate you and everything that you do thank you thank you Robin anybody else wish to speak tonight good evening mayor and council people my name

is Nancy Reagan I did come up last week and I spoke about the data center however tonight I'm led to speak about feed Sioux Falls I have newly started supporting speed Sioux Falls because I worked

with the Department of Social Services for just shy of 18 years and I know that the yearly count that they do on the homeless I'm sorry to report is truly a joke because I would have about 20 maybe 22

homeless families on my caseload and on the day that they would do the count unless all of my people showed up on that day to be counted they wouldn't get counted so you figure if I have 22 of these

households unless they went to the Department of Health or some other location that was doing the counting that day they never got counted so I would be safe to say that probably your homeless count

is half or one third of what it truly is in Sioux Falls and the needs of these people is just monumental and the things that they provide now down at the Heritage Park on Saturdays it's just the most

simple things I mean I've been preparing baggies full of first-aid supplies with alcohol wipes and band-aids and little tubes of shampoo and conditioner and bars of soap and just any clothing they

will take and then over at the veterinary clinic I've been supplying as has various other people that I'm that I'm familiar with every kind of food item you can possibly imagine but the shelves they

don't even have a cover on the front of them and they're having difficulty with the manage not the people that own the property not allowing them to put up proper facilities to protect it these items

when the weather is going to be changing and these are homeless people that need our help and they're being passed over and they're being undercounted and they need your help and the food pantry

frankly I used it for years I sent people there all the time it isn't enough we need to help these homeless people they need your help they need your understanding and they need it now thank you thank

you Nancy anybody else here tonight wish to speak Tim going once going twice all right I know you like to lolly gig up is there a motion to adjourn so move second there's been a motion in a second all

in favor say aye we are adjourned