Recent CC Meeting

There was an interesting article in the Courier this week by John Seiber (page B1). It dealt with a recap of the Nov 10 CC meeting.

Amid all the bickering, indecision, name-calling and back-pedaling on previous decisions, there was a notation regarding a vote on a motion to fence off a section line. The vote was tallied with Hull also casting a vote.

It has been our impression that the Chairman only votes to break a tie and this clearly was NOT a tie vote.

Common sense (and South Dakota law) says that section lines are not to be closed if only ONE person objects, and that article stated there were several objections.

It will be even more interesting to see what write-up is published on this same meeting in 2 weeks won't it?

RC Sheriff Office: A Family Connection?

Of course we all know that RC Sheriff Tasa has a family tie with CC Navratil (he is Roger's nephew). But did you know that 2 recently hired Deputies are cousins as well? One is part time and one is full time, but both are relatives.

Amazing how quiet those CCs are about the Tasa-Navratil-sheriff staff family connection isn't it? Especially when those same CCs howled and roared when Vince Owen hired someone with ties in the past.

Could it be that the current sheriff is easily directed by our CCs so of course they want more of the same in that department? Or could it be simply a matter of skin color and/or genetics?

Makes one wonder if RC adheres to the "Equal Opportunity" disclaimer doesn't it?

RC Sheriff on Vacation?

We hear that our new sheriff is on vacation. Tasa has been on-the-job now for how long? 5 weeks?

This is the first job we heard of that gives a day of vacation for every week worked beginning from the start.

We don't recall seeing that in the job description so it must have come along with the CC promises made to recruit that particular person for that particular job?

CC Real Wages

If RC is broke it might not be all because of the CCs actions, but partly because the CC are "dipping" into county funds by excessive perks, salaries and more.

Figure a base salary per commissioner of $750 per month plus mileage plus insurance at $400 per month per CC. Times that by 5 and then by 12 and you come up with $69,000 PLUS without figuring in "incidentals" such as mileage, meals, paved roads etc. Even if one made a big show of not accepting county insurance, it still comes to over $65,000 PLUS per year.

Shouldn't some of these guys be eligible for Medicare anyway? Do the math. Figuring from 3 hours per week to 10 hours per week that comes out to a very impressive hourly wage doesn't it? Much more than our States Attorney or Sheriff are paid! Are they worth it??

Whatever happened to the days when the CC took on the duties out of a sense of betterment for the county instead of taking all they can get?

Just what is the average RC taxpayer getting for this large expense year after year after year....

Now What?

The Opt Out is over and there will be no tax increase in RC. Most of us would probably have supported a genuine need for more county revenue IF our CC had shown us any caution in spending or intelligent budgeting rather than throwing our money around as if there were no end to it.

Now what? Is it possible the CC have learned something from all of this? Is it possible they could actually reduce their rampant spending and "make do" like we have had to do?

Some ideas to perhaps help reduce the budget blues would be:

Change weekly CC meetings to one per month. In order to do this the CC would have to quit their drama and keep their nose out of private matters (which may be hard for them to do). This could be accomplished by requiring permission to bring up issues beforehand so if those issues were not county matters they would not be able to be aired at county meetings. It is called an agenda. If you are not listed on this you would not be able to bring it up...period. Many counties use this as a means to keep meetings on track.

Allocate some duties or tasks the county does now over to the townships or landowners. Mowing or weed spraying comes to mind, but there are certainly more we are sure.

Be aggressive and apply for those grants and federal monies. It could pay off to hire someone to apply for these funding sources that RC is ignoring.

Think about consolidating some county offices with other counties and saving money. Some services could be spread among one or more adjoining counties without too much inconvenience.

Please add your input to some ways to keep the county afloat, ways the county could save money or do away with unneeded expenses etc.

Think about it and let us know what you come up with. Where do we go from here?

ELECTION RESULTS!

News flash on KELO TV......Roberts County Voters defeated the Opt-Out by 78% NO votes.

Approximately 24% of the voters turned out for this special vote.

You can view the entire news story at KELO TV by clicking the following link:

http://www.keloland.com/NewsDetail6162.cfm?Id=90678

A special thanks to KELO TV for keeping us informed and a very special thanks to all of you voters who GOT THE JOB DONE!!

Where Did Your Taxes Go?

**a take on last week's headlines**

Last week's local paper had the headline: "Where Do Your Taxes Go?" Most of us just want to know what we got from those taxes.....just where DID our taxes go?

We got: 3 Commissioners who think they are almighty, a jail we cannot afford and did not want but we got it anyway (thanks to the CC), an awful LOT of Sheriffs, a short-lived investigator for the States Attorneys office under Kay, Kay still on the county payroll, an Auditor who did not file any audits for several years. What else? Oh yes! We got to pay for a paved road exclusively for ex-commissioner Voeltz. Aren't we lucky to get all that??

No matter if you think you want to pay more taxes or you are tired of paying and paying and paying.....please make sure you are registered and then make sure you get out and vote on Tuesday.

We probably got much more from paying taxes. Who can think of more things we got from those taxes????

SOTA Says It All

Chuck has a very good editorial in this week's SOTA. You can access it by clicking HERE There are also some very thought provoking letters to the Editor in this weeks issue as well.

Seems it all goes back to our sorry bunch of CCs. Everything that has been plaguing RC for years now has its' roots with the CCs. Everything they do, everything they say will haunt the RC citizens for a long, long time.

We are sure there will be yet another sob story printed in what passes for the local newspaper this week, begging the voters to pass the Opt Out issue. Wonder if the opposite view would garner front page week after week? Of course not! Censureship is alive and well in RC.

Just remember when you go to vote on this important issue next week: These same CCs asking for more of your hard earned money to "balance the budget" are the very same who squandered your tax dollars for wasteful spending, ill-thought out expenditures, corruption throughout to say nothing about personal gains. These CCs have proven they cannot manage our tax dollars....don't give them more!!

More CC Madness

So now Chad Ward quit. Looks like those CC are getting exactly what they hoped for....a jail staff that is predominately white and obedient with the Sheriff position in their pocket as well.

Their nice little expensive jail will really be comfy now, especially as it will be mostly empty. All those contracts will wither away with no other departments willing to send prisoners to RC.

Can't someone stop their madness?? Do they ever think? They most likely have a person waiting to take over, someone who won't think or talk back, someone who will do just as they tell him no matter how stupid.

There is another budget installment in the local paper, with more figures pulled from the air.

This time it goes over the expenses for the courthouse. Seems to me if they got rid of the biggest expense there, namely Kay, they could easily balance the budget.

I would bet that most of you could find one or more areas for budget cuts without even trying.

What do you say?

RC Budget: Chapter 2

We must be the only county to have a county-owned newspaper. Seems whatever those CC want published gets into print EXACTLY the way they have it written with no fact finding whatsoever.

This week it was the chapter with the fiction about the highway and landfill budgets.

Highway Dept: If the operators of the RC road equipment were taught how to drive the machinery so they wouldn't damage our roads we'd be able to get along with less expense. Expense for adding gravel that was graded off the roads into the ditches, expense for re-tarring roads that had been damaged by an over-zealous roadgrader gouging chunks of tar from the roads, expense of having to employ bulldozers to remove snow that snowplows had not removed or snow fences not put up etc.

Next time you are out and about see for yourself. When crossing into another county you can see how differently they take care of their roads, unlike RC. Other counties have no ice staying on the roads all winter long (as RC does) Why? Because they get out and remove it rather than waiting a week or more. Other counties have passable gravel roads after a rainfall (as RC does not) because they have rounded roads thereby allowing moisture to drain off....RC roads are either flat or have holes gouged in them allowing water to stand, ever notice?

One big expense easily tossed would be to have landowners/operators mow the roadsides, as they do for townships. Many counties have done this and cut a large chunk off their budgets.

Have you forgotten how bad our roads were this past winter? Over a week went by without maintenance just because there were internal problems. A week where we had several snowstorms and many blocked or impassable roads.

Landfill: This should not even be an issue as there was little if any upgrades for a long long time there. There hasn't even been any rodent control expenses from what we hear. With all the "paying customers and counties" using our landfill RC should have a lucrative business there.

Perhaps if RC didn't go around and pave commissioner's roads as "perk's" our budget might still be in the black. Just ask ex commissioner Voeltz about that.

What do YOU think?

RC Budget Baloney

There has been some really thought-provoking comments lately regarding RC budget.

Just exactly what IS the county budget, broken down by department, line by line expenditures beside what was budgeted for that particular item or action? I'm not talking about the budget "fairy tale" published in the local un-newspaper...I am talking about just what really goes on?

RC citizens only know what they are "hand fed" by our Auditor or our CCs or what the Courier is allowed to print. We have no idea what really goes on with our tax money do we?

For instance: There is a cost to RC for training new employees, even if that training is done by present employees. Think about it. When you are showing someone how to do something you are doing yourself, you're doing that task slower with less results and more time spent. Who is paying for that extra time? RC taxpayers, that's who!
And when an RC employee is repairing something that was damaged by stupidity or ignorance, even with no actual charge to the county, the employee who stops what he or she would be doing is being unproductive (on the RC payroll) so factor in that cost as well.

It appears to me that the RC budget is playing "catch-up" with the run-away expenditures rather than an intelligent and honest effort to reign in that excessive and often thoughtless spending.

What do YOU think?

Nepotism in Roberts County??

Did anyone catch the SOTA this week? They have some interesting bits regarding the Opt Out and also one we've been hearing rumors of lately....namely that our new sheriff may be (is) related to one of the commissioners.

Do they call that Nepotism? Or is it Favoritism? Whatever "tism" it is, it is not good.
I would call it a big conflict of interest. Something to be explored further for sure.

Roger N. do you want to address this issue??? Or perhaps Mr. Tasa wants to tell us who his favorite Uncle is???

The story can be found in the SOTA by clicking HERE

More Opt-Out

It appears that the people have spoken and there will be a special vote next month concerning the proposed Opt Out plan "hatched" by our CCs.
Some of you may have read the interview printed in area newspapers where a certain commissioner was quoted as saying that Roberts County had never opted out before. What was not said in that interview is that RC has tried this before and failed.
Several years ago the CC wanted to opt out and it was defeated soundly in a petition.

Why would our CC want to purposely mislead the voters? Why wouldn't our CC rather try to trim their budget, much as we, the taxpayers, are trying to trim our budgets? Are the CC trying to hide their records? Do they have any records?

Questions we would like to see answered. Rest assured though there might only be hand-written minutes (easily altered and embellished) memories are what the CC cannot take away from us. And we DO recall a prior opt out attempt by the RC CC.
Questions? Lots of them. Now we need some answers!

Opt Out Petitions

The Opt Out petitions garnered more than enough signatures to force the issue of raising taxes to a vote. This should be voted upon in September. Thank you to all those who worked so hard to make this happen.

Now of course it is up to you, the voters. Make sure you vote and make sure you tell everyone you know to do the same. Of course if you should want higher taxes you would vote for it, but if you want to hang on to your money a little longer at least now you have a choice and can vote against it.

CHOICE. That is something the CC would like to take completely away from us. Are we going to allow them to do that??

Enough

I think it is long past time for everyone to act like adults here. I have stopped the ignorant juvenile from posting for now.
Maybe they will go out and get a life?

Don't lose focus or tempers please. We can discuss without cussing can't we? Now take a deep breath and start over.

Thank you.

New Sheriff Named

A new Sheriff has been appointed we hear. Let's all give Jay Tasa a welcome & a chance to show what he's got. We hope he can get in the saddle quickly as this county needs all the help and leadership it can get. We would like to hear from you Jay.
It isn't his fault that RC is saddled with a bunch of inept power hungry ignorant CC's who think the CC title is rightfully theirs forever. Well at least 3 out of 5 think so.
We know that you read this blog Hull. Why don't you explain how you came to this decision? What made Mr. Tasa get the position over the other applicants? Just what "qualifications" did he have that those others were lacking?
It looks like there is a little over a year for Mr. Tasa to "prove" himself and some of you CCs will be facing elections soon won't you. You have already "proved" yourselves and the voters are ready to VOTE.
It was good to hear from Orville Folk also. Thanks for all you have done for RC Orville. It sounds like you would have been a
good choice, but we are sure those CC feel they know better than everyone else don't we.

And you thought it couldn't get any worse??

Higher Taxes aka Opt Out

We hear there is a petition circulating regarding the proposed Opt Out/Higher Taxes that our CC would pass with no input from the taxpayers. In fact, there are several petitions going around right now.

This is in reference to the small article buried in the Courier about how broke the county is and how the Big Bad jail did it all. The jail, by the way, that those same CCs pushed onto the citizens...all the while touting about how much it would "save" the county with lower costs, less employees and more income etc etc. The same jail that was voted down several times and then passed by those same CCs over a technicality in the end. The very same jail that the very same CCs would not share with the Tribe.

It is a fact that RC is hurting on the budget, that same budget that could be cut in many other ways. Maybe these petitions will be The Way it is done?

Perhaps we could eliminate keeping Kay on the county payroll especially since she lost the election? Maybe our CCs would forego collecting all that unnecessary mileage fees when they go all over the county (and then some) over common sense issues that do not need to include road tripping?

By signing this petition a voter is demanding the issue of higher taxes be put to a vote so the citizens can decide just when it is time to STOP THE SPENDING!

Sheriff Applications

Things must be settling down as it has been a month since a post was made. That is a good thing. No comments is not. We must have SOMETHING to discuss?

How about just who are those who applied for the RC Sheriff position? Wouldn't it be nice if our commissioners would announce who applied for this position? And announce it before they choose someone so the voters could participate in the process by their input? Just a list of names and set a date where input could be given before they go thru the hiring process? Just maybe there are among us some who might know something that would be relevant, something that might not otherwise be brought up? Wouldn't it be nice if we, the voters, were INVOLVED in the hiring this time?

The way it was worded in this week's Courier that process may well not take place until next year. Sounds like they are leaving themselves a lot of "wiggle room" there.

Comments anyone??

Check Out The SOTA

Claudia has a very good letter to the Editor in this week's SOTA that makes some really good points regarding what really happened leading to Sheriff Owen's resignation versus what we were told happened.......

It is a "must read" so be sure to check it out! Just click the colored SOTA name in this post to read it.

Thanks to Claudia and of course to Chuck for telling it like it is....

Does anybody see a pattern here?

Does anybody see a pattern here?

In 2006 Moen was voted out as sheriff and Gaikowski elected. Gaikowski was to have begun in January 2007, but the CC decided to create a "new" position suddenly. This "new position" entailed them appointing McClelland
and giving him complete authority over Gaikowski, leaving nothing for the duly elected sheriff to do. Of course Gaikowski resigned (something the CCs were hoping would happen all along). Due to the many complaints from voters over this the CC appointed another Native American, Owen, who was reelected by the voters. Owen endured many months of harassment by the CCs with their vendetta against anyone with any ties to the Oyate.
Now Owen has resigned, leaving the county vulnerable again to the idiotic whims of a few who imagine themselves invincible and all powerful.

This pretty much boils down to white supremacy and a total discriminatory attitude by some of the ccs. They don't want a Native in a position of any sort of power, plain and simple....even if that person was duly elected by the people.

Have we had enough yet? Are we going to allow even more damage done to our county by those who took an oath to work for us rather than against us? The damage done by our present commissioners will live long after we get rid of them so the sooner we get them OUT the sooner we can begin the healing process. Roger and Tim are okay, but the others are not.

How much more of this behavior will it take for the PEOPLE to take back our county??? We need to stand up and be counted and we need to do it NOW!!