Council candidates lay out how they would improve Sioux Falls during Thursday's debate
The eight candidates running for Sioux Falls City Council had a chance to pitch themselves and their campaigns to the public at a Thursday evening forum held by the Greater Sioux Falls Chamber of Commerce.
The forum was split into two parts, beginning with a moderated forum where candidates answered prepared questions, followed by a session where the public could ask their own.
More: 8 people are running for Sioux Falls City Council: What to know
Here's a look at a few highlights from each candidate throughout the night. Election Day is April 9.
At-Large C
Thomason made it a point to note his prior government experience as a legislator in the South Dakota House of Representatives several times, encouraging residents to look up his track record, which he called in part "pro-Sioux Falls."
Like other candidates, he said collaboration of all kinds would be important to him if elected, adding he planned to "learn from everybody."
Among specific ideas he proposed were creating initiatives exclusively for smaller businesses to help them get started in the city, and working with developers to ensure that affordable housing in Sioux Falls was being built in area where occupants would have easy access to necessary amenities.
Deffenbaugh's answers — on topics from affordable housing to business development — often came back to the city's zoning ordinances, something he's said he would like to address if elected.
He pointed to multiple initiatives in the city he had either started or assisted on, including Strong Towns Sioux Falls, the Sioux Falls Tool Library, Citizen Taco and the Community Revitalization Collective.
He also discussed concerns about some of the city's ongoing projects. While he didn't directly name it, his allusion to a $200 million project was a clear reference to the Riverline Center — a discussion he said should have done more to include nearby neighborhoods.
Renville made one of the few direct comparisons between candidates of the night in her opening statement, saying one reason she ran was that she wasn't satisfied with what she'd heard from her opponents.
She said her identity as a Native American would make her a unique presence on the council. She said she would be willing to have hard conversations on topics in the city.
And while she didn't dig too deep into the specifics, her self-described "radical" proposal to make the city more sustainable was to "properly tax" wealthy people who moved into the city.
Northeast District
Basye also made multiple references to collaboration and crowdsourcing ideas as important factors of her time on the council if elected.
And while she praised the city's strong tradition of philanthropy for major projects, she added for people in her district, something as simple as the addition of sidewalks could be a quality of life improvement.
She also said she wanted to see more engagement overall throughout the city's neighborhoods, pointing to the All Saints neighborhood as a positive example.
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Jeske spoke against the city's existing government several times throughout the night. One of his primary goals if elected would be to try and eliminate several members of Mayor Paul TenHaken's staff that he feels are overpaid, he said.
The self-described "libertarian statesman" also said the city government's involvement in issues such as affordable housing and workforce development should be "little to none," and said the city should remove as many regulations as possible.
"All the waste is at city hall and HR," Jeske said.
Zokaites tied multiple issues back to marijuana laws throughout the night, and said he wanted to see more transparency in government — a topic he often hits in his weekly presentations at Sioux Falls City Council meetings as a regular speaker during public comment.
No stranger to odd moments while campaigning, he said one of the ways he had improved the city was through teaching an after-school martial arts program where, he explained, he learned how to successfully fall off a ladder.
He also said he'd like to see political campaigns be publicly funded, which he said would help address corruption.
Northwest
Though Sigette is running for the Northwest seat uncontested and will not be on the ballot, she still spoke at the forum, saying she wanted to approach the job with an open mind and an interest in learning about various issues.
She praised several sitting councilors for projects she thought had or could have a positive effect, including Councilor Sarah Cole's work on funding a police campaign to get people to lock their cars, and a project from councilors Curt Soehl and David Barranco to provide tax incentives for green homes.
She also said she wanted to see more people engaged and giving feedback on public projects such as parks and pools, not just the people who had strong feelings about them. She added she'd like to take a more data-driven approach to such projects, as opposed to simply going off narratives heard.
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Southwest
Spellerberg, who is also uncontested in his race and will not be on the ballot, did not attend the forum, citing an existing conflict.
This article originally appeared on Sioux Falls Argus Leader: Council candidates lay out how they would improve Sioux Falls during Thursday's debate
