The usual suspects, congratulations to us, dollars for dancers and some little b*st*rds are defacing our playground equipment. Among other things.

By Gary Dickson, Editor Siouxland Observer

It was a chilly no, make that cold evening on Tuesday, March 18 and I was pulling into the driveway to North Sioux City’s City Hall. I directed my car down the drive and surveyed the parking lot. Not too bad, I thought, in terms of parked car congestion. The lot was barely over half full. A month and a half or so ago I had to park out on the street between City Hall and the city shops. There wasn’t a parking space to be found in front or back! By the time I got inside the council chambers that night, I’d discovered angry torch-carrying villagers had taken up all but one or two chairs. They were in a snit over what they said was a deception by people asking them to sign petitions.

They really didn’t really have torches, of course. That phrase is just used for illustrative purposes to indicate their level of vexation. Besides, you should know that lit torches are dangerous and can cause fires, especially when they touch paperwork and clothing. They are nothing but trouble, according to most public safety professionals.

Moving on. It was nippy the other night. Since I was a little early for the council meeting, I sat in my car checking my emails on my cellphone. I looked up and saw North Sioux City citizen, council watchdog and current city council candidate Bob Davis slowly making his way across the parking lot. He was slightly bent over, with his jacket pulled up on his shoulders and neck to keep the cold March wind at bay. I watched as he walked toward the front door of City Hall. I decided I’d better go inside as well and followed Davis.

As I got to the sidewalk crossing in front of the building, I saw local opthalmologist Dr. Beth Bruening and her spouse Steve Bruening approaching. Both are avid city council watchdogs who, even though they don’t actually live in the city of North Sioux City, want to make sure the council doesn’t do anything regarding the North Shore Bypass that would cut into their property northwest of Dakota Valley High School. This also happens to be the property that Steve Bruening and I assume Beth Bruening as well, are planning a proposed 55-house development. Then I imagine they hope the city will annex them. At least that’s what I would hope if I were them.

We exchanged pleasantries and comments about the weather and strolled inside.

When one enters the council chambers, you are usually greeted by North Sioux City Police Chief and Union County Commissioner Rich Headid. But tonight he wasn’t there. I figured he might be out chasing crooks or something. Or maybe in the bathroom. Or taking a phone call. Anything was possible. Anyway, I said hello to Public Works Superintendent and stock car racer Rusty Montagne, who usually sits in the first chair to the right of the door behind the table holding the extra meeting agendas. You may not know it, but Montagne used to play college football for the USD Coyotes back in 1999-2001. He played defensive back under coach John Austin. I didn’t find this out about the guy until yesterday when he mentioned it in casual conversation. I used to work at USD during the start of his career at the “U”. Montagne’s a nice guy, but he’s tough. You gotta be tough to be a stock car racer and a defensive back for the Yotes! I tell ya, don’t mess with him.

I surveyed the room. On my right were the city councilors Joan Christiansen, Gary Bogenrief, Greg (Mr. No) Meyer, Dan Parks, Tena Carpenter and Lonny Green. Mayor Patricia Teel sat in the middle of the group. Usually, the city’s attorney, Darrell Jesse sits on the mayor’s left, but I can’t recall if he was there or not. On the left end sat City Administrator Eric Christensen, and bookending the right side was City Finance Officer Amy Lilly. Counselor Kodi Benson was absent.

Then I cast an eye over the crowd in attendance. They weren’t too owly-looking tonight. There were no torches. No one appeared to have guns or knives. There were no brass knuckles – at least from what I could tell. For the most part, it looked like the usual suspects.

The three council watchdogs I’d mentioned earlier – Bob Davis and Steve and Beth Bruening had nestled in a quasi-formation in the middle-back part of the room. They were joined by the doggie daycare/ hotel/day spa owner, Adam Kuiken and boulder collector/amateur landscaper and, according to his neighbors, videography devotee AND city council candidate, Matt Vanderpool. There were other regulars there who I’m sorry I can’t recall or never knew their names, but I did recognize their faces. Such is one of the problems of having reached the age of seventy approximately 11 months ago.

Of course, the North Sioux City Economic Development Director/Dakota Valley School Board Member, Andrew Nilges lurked in the crowd. It would prove useful to have him nearby for an award presentation later. There was also a man sitting in the front row who looked sort of familiar. He wasn’t a local official or North Sioux citizen for that matter, yet I’d seen his face somewhere. Perhaps on TV or in the Journal. Hmmm. Oh well, maybe it would all be revealed later.

You know who wasn’t there? A reporter from The North Sioux City Times. Of course, that’s no surprise, since they have never been at a North Sioux City City Council meeting that I’ve attended. In fact, they’ve only been to one Union County Commissioners’ meeting that I’ve attended. What the hell? I know a Times reporter can listen to a tape recording of the North Sioux council meeting two days or so after the meeting. They write their stories off the meeting minutes, instead. But that is not the same as attending a local government meeting in person. Not even close. Look at all they miss. It’s lazy journalism is what it is.

It was time to get the show rolling. I took a seat in the second row on the far left side. I was about six chairs to the left of Bob Davis, where he could issue a well-formed scowl in my direction. The meeting was called to order by her honor, da mayor. The roll was called. We all stood and the loyalty oath was pledged. We sat back down. The councilors all thought the agenda was A-OK and approved it without objections. They all apparently had taken a previous gander at the minutes from the March 4 regular meeting and “Aye” sounded forth from all simultaneously or close to simultaneously. I looked at my watch and barely five minutes had gone by. Jeepers!

Mayor Teel announced it was time for community input, which is when citizens are allotted three minutes to speak to the council about issues not on the evening’s agenda. People started looking around expectantly, but none of the council watchdogs had anything to state tonight. All of sudden, the man in the front row whom I thought looked familiar from somewhere, stood up and walked to the rectangular podium in front of the counselors and introduced himself. He was Chris McGowan, President of The Siouxland Initiative (TSI). I’d seen his face on TV talking about economic development issues for the Siouxland area. It’s an arm of the Siouxland Chamber of Commerce. According to their website, “TSI is a private sector, not-for-profit regional economic development organization focused on increasing and enhancing employment opportunities in the tri-state region of Iowa, Nebraska, and South Dakota.”

McGowan wanted to present the City of North Sioux City with an award it shares with the rest of the tri-state region for retaining the nation’s top spot for per capita economic development
performance for populations under 200,000 for the fourth year in a row. According to results released by Site Selection magazine, the Siouxland MSA earned the top national per capita ranking for its population category for January through December 2023. Siouxland also finished first in 2020, ‘21, and ‘22.

McGowan added, “We are grateful to Site Selection magazine for their decades of work in this field, and appreciative of the executives and the corporate decision-makers who consistently choose to expand and locate in Siouxland.”

With the award made, everybody returned to their seats and McGowan grabbed his coat and beat a path for the door. I’m sure he didn’t want to stay around and observe the machinations of the North Sioux City government that might unwind during the rest of the evening. He probably had bigger things to wrestle with in the city that’s not as bad as it smells.

Given this weekend was the end of Sunshine Week in the journalism world, I walked to the podium and briefly spoke about the transparency and openness I’d experienced with the North Sioux City government since I started the Siouxland Observer in October 2023. My opinion is that the city government is primarily very open and cooperative. In fact, I have not experienced a more transparent local government in all the years I’ve covered city, county and school board meetings in South Dakota, Iowa, Nebraska and Minnesota. I have appreciated this city council conducting its business in the open, especially compared to the Union County Commissioners who have so much of their regular meetings in closed session. I explained to the counselors that open government is important for journalists and the citizens who elect them, and that we need to know how our local governments work and what they are doing to get city, county and school business done.

With no more community members wanting to give input, the councilors moved on to department head and community board reports. The council congratulated Police Chief Rich Headid on his officers’ work in apprehending a suspect in a North Sioux City bank robbery. Headid proceeded to review the incident for the councilors from where the suspect walked into Liberty National Bank at 113 Military Road at about 2:45 p.m. last Tuesday. The suspect handed a teller a note that demanded money or someone would be hurt. The suspect displayed a knife. He left the bank with between $1,000 and $5,000 in cash, walked to a nearby parking lot, where he got into a car and fled.

Police followed him into Sioux City where Headid pulled in front of the suspect’s car and forced him to stop near the corner of West 19th and John Streets. He was taken into custody without incident. Headid praised his on-duty as well as his off-duty officers who joined in the chase of the suspect. No bank employees were injured and the bank got all of its money returned.

The problem of vandalism to the playground equipment at the city park located between City Hall and the city shops was discussed with Chief Headid. City Administrator Christensen said the vandalism has been occurring since at least February. There have been three incidents. The city administrator said the vandalism was mostly graffiti-related.

“We are looking into possibly getting cameras installed in the parks,” Christensen said in an email to the Observer. “Unfortunately, we may have to close one or more of the parks if the vandalism continues.”

Councilor Carpenter suggested to Headid that it might be helpful if the police patrolled the parks more often. The city manager explained that the graffiti is difficult to see and that you have to actually climb up on the equipment and look inside the slide. He said he goes down to that park and checks for graffiti himself fairly often. “It’s done with a marker, not spray paint,” Christiansen said.

“Yeah, the drawings are very specific,” Headid agreed. “They’re the type somebody in junior high might make.”

In other words, the drawings were pictures of body parts. Oh my!

In other business . . .

The clock was ticking. It had been almost 16 minutes since the meeting began and I was thinking about the pot roast waiting for me at home for supper. But the department head’s reports were finished. The councilors were ready to chew through the remaining agenda items. They were nobody’s slouches. And so . . .

• They set the date for the Board of Equalization Meeting to Wednesday, March 20 at 6:00 p.m. In all honesty, it will probably be done and over with by the time you read this wee bit of information.
• Because Gov. Kristi Noem designated April Fool’s Day, April 1 as a state holiday, City of North Sioux City offices will be closed. Since that is the day the next city council meeting would have been it won’t be that day any longer. Instead, the next city council meeting will be Tuesday, April 2 in these chambers at 7:00 p.m. And that’s the truth.
• The council approved a pay request submitted by Stockwell Engineers to pay $386,504.40 to Christiansen Construction for the Streeter Drive Water Treatment Plant project.
• Pete Holbrook and Julie Burhoop were re-appointed to 2-year terms on the Planning & Zoning Board.
• VIP Cheer submitted a funding request to help defray the costs of sending participants to the Allstar World Championships in Orlando, Fla. Two participants are competing this year who live in North Sioux City. VIP Cheer did not submit a request for a donation last year. The amount set in Ordinance 3.32.020 for donations is $100 per North Sioux City participant. The council voted unanimously to donate $100 to each North Sioux City participant.
• 5678! Dance has submitted a funding request to help defray the costs of sending participants to the USASF World Dance Competition in Orlando, Fla. Three dancers are competing this year who live in North Sioux City. In each of the last two years, the City donated $100 per participant to 5678! Dance which is the amount set in Ordinance 3.32.020. The council voted unanimously to donate $100 to each North Sioux City participant for a total of $300.00.
• The councilors unanimously approved all the bills as submitted.

The group adjourned at 7:21 p.m. Amazingly, councilor Greg Meyer did not vote “No” or oppose any item on tonight’s agenda.

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