Informational Meeting

MINUTES Informational Meeting Tuesday, September 22, 2020 at 4:00 PM Carnegie Town Hall, 235 West 10th St., Sioux Falls, SD 57104 1. Call To Order Council Members Present: Janet Brekke (via telecom), Christine M. Erickson, Alex Jensen, Rick Kiley, Greg Neitzert, Marshall Selberg (dep. at 6:06 p.m.), Curt Soehl, Pat Starr (arr. at 4:21 p.m.) Council Members Absent: None Council Chair Greg Neitzert called the meeting to order at 4 p.m. He acknowledged Council Member Janet Brekke who called in to the meeting. 2. Committee/Commission Reports A. Urbanized Development Commission (UDC): Thursday, September 17, 2020 (Council Members: Kiley, Neitzert, Selberg, Starr) Neitzert provided the report and said they discussed: the first draft of the Go Sioux Falls 2045 Long-Range Transportation Plan; approved revisions to the TIP Program (Transportation Improvement Program); approved letters of support for both Brandon and Hartford grant applications; and approved a Coordinated Public Transit-Human Services Transportation Plan Annual Progress Report. Brekke provided a report on the morning Experience Sioux Falls Business Improvement District (BID) Board meeting. She said the industry has been struggling, due to COVID, and reported that there were 50 event cancellations between July 20th and September 14th. They were down 70,000 visitors to Falls Park and 84 groups cancelled their bus tours. A variety of adjustments were made by the organization, including the decision to reuse the Visitor's Guide. They are hoping to end the year by breaking even, but they are currently down by approximately $120,000. In August, the group was ranked #1 in regional year-to- date in (hotel) occupancy at 45.6%. Governor Kristi Noem's advertising campaign is helping the community. Brekke said they are doing things that are helping them get back on track. She said that there is good news and that Pheasant Fest is coming in February. 3. City Council Open Discussion Neitzert said they were notified that the south side of South Dakota Highway 100 is going to be completed. He said this is a $200 million project, with contributions from the State and City, which will occur from 2023-2026. The project will be from Veterans Parkway, south of 57th Street, to I-29. 4. Presentations A. COVID-19 Update by Jill Franken, Public Health Director; Dr. Michael Elliott, Chief Medical Officer, Avera McKennan Hospital and University Health Center; and Dr. Mike Wilde, Vice President and Medical Officer, Sanford University and Medical Center Presentation: Approximately 15 minutes followed by discussion Franken provided an overview report. New cases in Minnehaha and Lincoln counties for today were 73; statewide there were 320 cases; new cases for the week ending September 20th were 435 for Minnehaha and Lincoln counties, more than 40 for Turner and McCook counties, and 1,875 cases statewide. New cases for September are currently 1,184 for Minnehaha and Lincoln counties and 5,368 statewide. The weekly positivity rate for Minnehaha and Lincoln counties is 15.4%, as of September 19th. Franken said COVID data is available on the City's website. She added that Falls Community Health continues to provide a lot of testing, for a variety of entities, and the demand has increased to the point that they have added two hour daily drive thru testing. They continue to monitor what is happening with the School Districts within the City. Franken updated the Council on the Recovery Center, which was used for people who needed to be quarantined. They will be working with Lutheran Social Services and the County regarding the future of a center based on future demand. Franken said they are planning for COVID vaccinations. The South Dakota Department of Health is putting together a statewide vaccination implementation committee and Sandy Frentz, Public Health Manager, has been asked to join the team. Franken reviewed tasks for the committee. She added that the COVID vaccine will require two doses. Wilde said Sanford has seen an increase in COVID patients, with 15% to 20% of those patients being from Sioux Falls, and the rest of the patients are from both in and out of state. There has also been an increase in patients with a variety of other illnesses and surgical needs in various Sanford hospital locations. He spoke about surge planning and the ability to find needed space. They continue to monitor the personal protective equipment and testing ability. Wilde said there are plans to make their drive thru test site a permanent facility due to the upcoming weather. He encouraged people to call ahead if they aren't feeling well and to stay home. He encouraged those who are able to get the flu vaccination. Wilde also encouraged people to reach out in regards to their mental health. Elliott said Avera's numbers have gone up and they had 30 patients at McKennan and 75 patients hospitalized throughout their entire system. He said an increase was to be expected as they saw the positive numbers going up. Preparations for surge capacity is something that they have been working on since March. Utilizing hospital beds throughout their entire system has helped with surge capacity, according to Elliott. He explained how Avera At Home services is making a difference during this time. By using their variety of resources, from April to June, Avera was able to take care of 350 people at home. Elliott said the rate of hospitalization for the group was less than 5%. Avera is keeping close tabs on their supplies and are able to run approximately 600 COVID test a day in house. He said the demand for tests are sometimes higher and they have test sent to outside labs. Elliott said they are not experiencing any shortages for beds or supplies. He explained why they are worried about a potential staff shortage. Elliott stressed the  importance of taking care of routine health care needs, the importance of the flu vaccine, and mitigation strategies. Discussion followed regarding: encouraging people to attend to their general medical needs; people not seeking timely medical attention; symptom differences between the flu and COVID; joint testing for the flu and COVID; rapid testing for COVID; transmission of COVID; testing process and costs; quarantine rules and testing; importance of wearing masks; flu mitigation; guide for gathering of groups; quarantine rules for the school districts; local COVID demographics; COVID symptoms; vaccine development; local COVID hospitalizations; general takeways; and the importance of good mental health and seeking help if needed. B. August 2020 Monthly Financials by Shawn Pritchett, Director of Finance Presentation: Approximately 20 minutes followed by discussion Pritchett spoke about the following; steady growth with Labor Force & Employment; July Unemployment was at 5.5%; Insured Unemployment is at 1.55% with approximately 6,511 unemployment claims; Inflation rose to 1.3% in August; $410M to date for Building Permits YTD Building Valuations, which is lower than the previous two years; housing permits are up approximately 21% for Sioux Falls YTD Residential Permits (Units); Sales Tax Collections w/out Audits is down slightly and anticipating 0% growth for the year; Entertainment Tax Collections w/out Audits remains down; Industry Taxable Sales Data showed growth in some areas; YTD Property Tax Revenues (Current) was at $37.0M, which is an increase over the previous year; down 25% for Lodging Tax Receipts; down 23% for Lodging BID Tax Receipts; General Fund - Revenues YTD, the CARES ACT funds are reflected in and inflating the August totals for 63%; General Fund - Expenditures YTD are at 59%; General Fund Summary; possible Council Working Session; 2020 Budget Appropriation Supplements; October Supplements - OCEP (Police, Health, Highways & Streets, and Water Reclamation); October Supplements - CIP (Parks & Recreation and Highways & Streets); and October Supplements - Operational (Planning & Development- TIF Fund, Housing-Community Development Fund, and Entertainment Venues - Entertainment Tax Fund). Discussion followed regarding: the General Fund and grants; Entertainment venues and funding; and the Entertainment Tax Fund. C. Pedestrian Safety at Intersections by Christine M. Erickson, Council Member Presentation: Approximately 15 minutes followed by discussion Council Member Christine M. Erickson said that she and Neitzert have been talking about pedestrian safety at many of the city's intersections. She added that a recent Oklahoma case, has really restricted what can be done in regards to pedestrian safety based on1st Amendment rights. Safety is important for both the motorist and the pedestrians; and an increased police presence has helped reduce the dangers at the intersections. Police Chief Matt Burns acknowledged the problem and said there are significant legal issues to it. He introduced Keith Allenstein, Assistant City Attorney, to explain the 1st Amendment issues.  Allenstein said the following are prohibited: soliciting in an aggressive manner; soliciting on private property without permission of the person; soliciting for funds for a specific purpose, when they are not needed for that purpose; and soliciting from traffic, requiring a hand to hand transaction in traffic. Allenstein said you can't regulate someone holding a sign on the side of the street, because there are billboards which solicit for funds. He spoke about a recent decision out of the 10th Circuit Court in Oklahoma regarding protected speech. Allenstein said panhandling is protected speech. He said that anything they do is going to have to be able to face Constitutional scrutiny. Lt. Nick Cook said they began to notice issues beginning in April, primarily at the following intersections:10th Street and I-229; 14th Street and Cliff Avenue; 10th Street and Cliff Avenue; I-229 and Minnesota Avenue; and 41st Street and I-29. He said the department can track approximately 536 calls to those areas. The police presence was increased in those areas. Cook spoke about what the officers focused on, the difference it made and working with other entities to help mitigate the issue. Burns said they would like to increase public awareness and that there are hurdles in place, but they are enforcing what they can. Addiction issues are associated with some of the people that the police encounter and the money that they solicit go towards those addictions. Discussion followed regarding: constituent emails; citations; upcoming news release; public do's and don'ts; the complexity of the issue; median strategies; boulevards and public right of ways; signage; Oklahoma court decision; street jurisdiction; and educating the public on how to help. Council Member Marshall Selberg left the meeting. 5. Public Comment There was none. 6. Adjournment Council Chair Greg Neitzert adjourned the meeting at 6:12 p.m. Denise D. Tucker, MMC, Assistant City Clerk