welcome to coverage of 2020's final sioux falls city council meeting, which starts at 6 p.m.

not a full house in the audience, but pretty close. seems like maybe tenhaken's not in attendance today

indeed, councilor greg neitzert chairing the meeting. erickson, brekke, kiley and jensen appearing remotely

considerable number of folks unmasked, including a group standing together near the door

starr pulls an item from the consent agenda for discussion, regarding leasing on two ambulances

neitzert addresses the new guidelines for public input

SFFR division chief mark bukovich talking about the ambulance item now. these ambulances are specifically leased for surge capacity

that item is approved 8-0 after a few questions from starr

four items regarding alcohol licensing up now. then we'll get to the second reading of the mask mandate extension, which i would imagine is the reason a lot of folks are here

council asking questions of two stores who have failed a no sales to minor policies (in regards to renewal)

all four items pass in an 8-0 vote.

alright, onto the mask mandate extension. if this passes, the mask mandate extends to march 13: https://www.argusleader.com/story/news/2020/12/04/councilors-want-sioux-falls-mask-mandate-books-until-mid-march/3832493001/

first up is david zokaites, who's asking for some help with a powerpoint

zokaites, unmasked, says that cloth face masks are "relatively unimportant," says america is not mass testing, contact tracing or other things he says are more important

says he did not receive a response from public health director jill franken to an email he sent to her about the science

says the news media is "driving people crazy" by reporting on COVID-19 cases and deaths all the time

zokaites' next slide says it is "Foolish to extend life while making life unbearable"

zokaites said he stopped worrying about covid, saying "healthy living is more important than fear of a flu"

dylan shumacher is up and says he was "promised this was a temporary order." calls this a "council of redcoats" that is an "Excellent example of why we used to tar and feather people in this country"

shumacher asks why people are still getting sick where mask mandates are in place. says part of the councils job is to protect his rights, and he moved here to avoid things like this

"you can't make a law requiring face coverings," shumacher says, calling it an "enumerated right that is out of their reach"

i think he just called face masks "burkas"

dylan gets some applause from the room

up now is alexis, maybe? says we are "the most free state of the most free country," and says "This is the kind of stuff that happens in california."

says neitzert and erickson are "the only two councilors doing their jobs," and says the others are either in fear or what power and control, and that they all know this is unconstitutional

a lot of mention of the virus' "99% survival rate" today

"this is how the loss of freedom starts," alexis says, and asks if jesus christ is the lord and savior of the councilors who are scared

more applause from the room. neitzert asks people to stop doing that. someone yells "keep clapping"

lora hubbel is up again. says she wants to see this in court, and says this is not a "lethal virus" although she says people can die from it

there are bacteria and mold on the "filthy rags" everyone is breathing through, hubbel says. she feels sorry for everyone wearing one, and asks why hydroxychloroquine isn't being used

a lot of comparisons to the lethality of the flu, which has killed two people in south dakota this year

brad (something) is up, and says he was a "Former mask supporter" and recent COVID survivor. says he was on the board of the union gospel mission for "many many years"

he says he had a presentation prepared but he was too busy to bring it tonight

brad says he has seen "Great division" in his church around masks

he points to a news article about cases dropping in south dakota, although i'm not really sure why

brad asks why we'd be more restrictive at the city level than the state or country

up now is leah anderson, who said she spoke about the tuthill house last week. says she's lived here since 1997.

says they've known tenhaken for a while, supported him as mayor. says she's "very disappointed" how the council is treating her as a citizen

says neitzert and erickson are the only ones who have not "fallen for this," and says due to trauma in her life, masks make her feel "less of a person" as do other coverings and small spaces

says masks reduce oxygen levels, and prevent building up immunity by being exposed to things

anderson says what the council should do is mandate vitamin D and ban high fructose corn syrup

face coverings violate her religious freedoms as well, she says. she says churches are not a building, they are "the family of god," so if she has to wear a mask anywhere that's being violated

"requiring me to wearing a mask silences the light of christ," anderson says

up now is amy willis. she's a regular on the masks and a naturopath. oxygen levels lower, this isn't a dangerous virus, this is unconstitutional.

willis asks why the mandate is being put in place, since it's not for purposes of health and it's not in the benefit of the populace, and asks what the "ulterior motive" is

willis is now reading from the declaration of independence

specifically the part about "throwing off" tyrannical governments

willis asks "is it not time for a revolution?"

willis ends by saying "Give me liberty or give me death"

juan vargas says he wanted to make the council aware this is opposition to this measure. i feel like they probably are aware

vargas says he came from a "different place and a troubled past," and says the people of sioux falls taught him "how to live a good life and be a good person"

"this is not the sioux falls that i remember not that long ago," vargas says, thanking noem for "giving us the freedom to choose" masks. "the city does not have to impose this."

"i'm asking you to do your position as american *men*," vargas says to a council with two female members

tim stanga says a doctor told him that wearing a mask is like wearing "chicken wire in a sandstorm"

stanga again asking how many people have died from "just covid"

colin is not speaking very loudly into the microphone and i cannot really hear him, although he sounds opposed

he says asymptomatic spread is not the problem, and says the sick should be quarantined while the healthy people "get to live our lives as normal"

mike has a few questions, and has a document asking whether the mask mandate is really an attempt to add south dakotans to "a database" via contact tracing

angelica vargas is up. says god has chosen the council members to be leaders in time like these, and says this is "not just about a mask"

says she has been kicked out of stores for not wearing a mask, and asked "rude personal questions"

angelica says she "Refuses to sit on the sidelines and watch the city of sioux falls turn their backs on each other"

"the only answer we have is to trust god and leave it in his hands," angelica says.

kris david says the city has stood strong through things like the tornadoes and flooding, and now people are "turning against each other" over a piece of cloth

david says she supported tenhaken, and says what he and the council have done is cut small businesses off at the knees

david is telling a story about not being allowed into a store to make a $1200 purchase because she wouldn't wear a mask into the store, saying she "can't spend money" at these businesses

olga vargas says her family moved here 22 years ago from los angeles, and says with 2 auto-immune diseases she is at high risk, but doesn't expect others to take on the burden of caring for her

says she is troubled by stories she's heard of elementary schools where kids wearing masks are "rewarded"

"why are people so against those who don't want to wear a mask?" olga asks

nicole hansen says "i love our teachers and our community" and says everyone in sioux falls is "distraught" over what is happening

nicole says she's worried about the masks because "With all the child trafficking" if someone takes them they would never be able to find them again

her kid is then unable to sit with her friends at school, and it "breaks her heart," nicole says.

eventually her kid did wear a mask and she began having headaches, so asked a doctor for a note and couldn't get one. also says kids get prizes for wearing masks

"my kid is not going to grow up and think that we divide because one person wears a mask and one doesn't."

abby (Something) says masks are "so discriminatory" to everyone, because she has to worry whether she's going to get stared at in a store or yelled at

"little teenage girls are telling grown men that they can't be in a store because of a mask. that's not right"

"grown men being kicked out by little girls" is a real concern for abby

alan deguzman(?) says everyone has fears. his include lying under oath and being hit by a drunken driver

he does not get to determine the behavior of others based on his fears, he says.

alan says in 2017-2018 about 61,000 people died of the flu, and asks why no one's wearing masks or shutting down schools

"if you have health risks, then you take extra precautions. do not burden other people for your own health"

daily case counts being reported by the media are also a problem, he says

alan says it is not right to reduce the rights of healthy people so that those with "less normal health" can live a "resemblance of a normal life"

steven johnson asks why march 13 is a "magic number" and says he didn't get any replies from councilors to his questions

johnson says he hasn't seen anyone up here saying he's in support of the masks. he's shaking some sort of pill bottle at the council, saying it has "the same magic placebo effect" as a mask

being held down under a pool is "just like putting on that mask," he says, before saying he regularly wore a much more effective gas mask when he was in the military

steven watched "the avengers or something" with his nephew, and recounts the scene where the hulk smashes loki into the ground and says "puny god." "That's what you are," he says. "Puny gods"

he's just sharing a lot of pictures of people wearing masks that say things like "this is a mind control device" or "freedom doesn't look like this"

okay. i think that's it for public input. sohel moves to approve and it's seconded by kiley.

soehl says avera and sanford have both endorsed the mask mandate, and says he's confident the city attorney would not have allowed them to pass an unconstitutional bill

"it comes down to taking care of your neighbor," soehl says. someone laughs loudly as he says that asymptomatic people can spread the virus

brekke speaks to her "constitutionalist" friends, and says she's glad they come although she's voting opposite their beliefs

brekke says she doesn't want to take these concerns lightly, but says she believes this is a "reasonable" restriction

"i do appreciate just how strongly you people feel about it"

erickson speaking now. asks soehl or kiley what the "measurables" are that would prevent this from being extended again past march 13

soehl says march 13 was a decision based on the timetable of the council, and also getting past a "surge" from the holidays

soehl says he'd have to see numbers way down, as well as a nod from both healthcare systems that they supported it being removed

kiley says they worked with local medical professionals, and were advised that identifying those measurables would be "very difficult," and that putting it on just hospitalizations, staffing, etc. doesn't work as these things are interconnected

kiley says it was mentioned several times "that they're not listening," and says that people supporting the measure still exist, even if they don't show up to the meeting, more likely that they don't feel comfortable being in a confined space with unmasked people

kiley adds he isn't going based on a majority of people -- he's going based on the recommendations of medical professionals. also says people talking about mask mandates not working are ignoring "how much more stressed" hospital systems there could be without them

selberg says the extension was a "bit of a hard sell," but says he'll support it and hopes to see the results they're hoping for during that time

motion passes 6-2. neitzert and erickson against. the mask mandate will extend until march 13.

a lot of rezonings on first reading coming up now

one of them is near w. 22nd and s. ellis, which would be moved from office to live/work. there seem to be some concerns about that, and kiley says he'd like to take a closer look at it between now and jan. 5

here's a first reading on the alteration of a sponsorship for the midco aquatic center. i deeply love this item, as it requires government officials to say the phrase "Papa Johns Party Rooms"

that passes 8-0

up now, a private applicant for annexation

it passes. we're now speaking on a resolution that would amend the city's engineering design standards. i do not see a public input line forming

that passes, and we're voting on a resolution about the city's legislative priorities

those priorities:

erickson motions to approve, brekke seconds. starr has a question on point 5, regarding TIFs and a study he's heard about their effectiveness

passes. this is a resolution on the one sioux falls covid-19 action plan, which council is considering readopting today because it expires on dec. 21.

this resolution "exhorts" citizens to wear masks, consider their own physical and mental health, take mitigation measures, patronize businesses taking the safer sioux falls pledge

still some folks around for public input. colin is back and louder, and says information from stanford and yale is being ignored by councilors. "this is a sham."

this resolution passes 8-0.

next up, timothy edman appointed to the solid waste planning board by an 8-0 vote.

sending a street vacation to a hearing on january 12, 2021. that passes 8-0.

our final item, added after the agenda deadline, amends a contract with affordable housing solutions. it lets them begin a construction project early, possible due to nice weather

that passes 8-0. don't go anywhere, though -- it's general public input time

sierra broussard up, talking about an ordinance in des moines she thinks we should have here. not quite sure what the ordinance is, although she's talking about a "slumlord" she has problems with

david zokaites does not have a slideshow, which is legitimately jarring to me. thanks neitzert for chairing a "mellow" meeting

tim stanga says it's nice that people came out to speak in favor of tuthill house last week, hopes they've got the money to save it

and i believe we're done. council is adjourned. we won't be back here (for council at least) until Jan. 5, 2021, which i'm hearing is a "real year" that "actually exists"