TenHaken touts managing growth, connecting with youth in State of the City

By early April, a lot of challenges for city government were in the rearview mirror.

Attempting to prevent hospitals from being overrun with COVID-19 patients by limiting gatherings and encouraging masking.

Handling social unrest as relations between law enforcement and the communities they serve became strained nationwide.

And, before that, historic tornados and flooding that decimated some businesses and residences.

On April 3, the issue of the day was lifeguards.

So Mayor Paul TenHaken took his 8-year-old daughter, Nora, live on Facebook for a call to action.

“We need lifeguards bad,” he said with an empty Laurel Oaks Aquatic Center behind him.

“So bad actually, we are somewhat in a little bit of jeopardy of getting these pools open because we do not have enough staff.”

You get a hiring bonus, he told potential applicants. You get to be outside. You can work full time or part time. The city will help certify you.

Within two days, there were 17 new applications. Two weeks later, the City Council approved a $2-per-hour wage increase.

On schedule, later this month, “pools will open and operate at full strength,” TenHaken said.

One more issue down. A never-ending string of others ahead.

Today, TenHaken detailed what’s driving his priority list for the year ahead in the annual State of the City address.

There’s a lot to tell from 2020 – and much of it played out beneath the headlines, he said.

Things like how the city paid down $25 million in debt, leaving debt per capita the lowest it has been in more than a decade.

Things like the completion of the overpass and viaduct at East 26th Street and a $200 million funding commitment in partnership with the state of South Dakota to finish Veterans Parkway. A bond that will fund a state-of-the-art public safety training center.

“None of these great things broke through the noise of COVID and social unrest and the political climate,” said TenHaken in an interview last week ahead of his speech.

“While the world was focused on those things, we were getting things done.”

The numbers prove it, he said. Unemployment is back below 3 percent. Sales tax is ahead of last year. Building permit valuation set a record in 2020 and appears positioned to break it this year if momentum continues.

It all “points to us being in a good spot, and with that comes all these challenges with growth we have to address,” he said.

One year from now will determine whether the mayor serves a second term. He recently filed the first paperwork necessary for a reelection bid, though none has been announced.

While his first three years have demanded crisis management, they also have left the city in the enviable but challenging position of having to manage business and residential growth.

“At times we have to make sure it’s not growth at any cost,” TenHaken said. “We have youth crime challenges, we have some aging infrastructure to deal with, and we don’t have enough housing, and that’s what keeps me up at night. It’s not the excitement side of it. I’m nervous about crime and housing and the issues that come with growth.”

One of those is neighborhood revitalization, and TenHaken today announced a new organizational structure to address it.

The newly created division will combine the city’s code enforcement arms under one entity that reports up through planning and development services. The team, led by Matt Tobias, will address “how do we take care of our core and make neighborhoods cleaner and acquire properties,” TenHaken said.

The bigger vision is to assemble and invest in land and amenities such as parks to create neighborhoods in the center of the city that appeal to residents and businesses, “so people aren’t looking to the ‘burbs but look inward,” he continued. “Some of the best neighborhoods are in the core.”

Focus on youth

For much of his term, TenHaken only had the bandwidth to focus on parts of his agenda as emergency response required it.

For the next year, he said he’s hoping to address some of what motivated him to seek office in the first place.

“When I ran for office, I talked about being a next-generation leader and the next generation of leadership, and I really think there are intentional programs to look at around our youth,” he said.

One of those is a new Mayor’s Youth Council, which he announced today and is in the process of creating with help from a city team.

“There’s no way for youth to have a connection to their government and see what it’s like to serve and have a platform to have their voice heard,” he said. “I’d like to get to a point where when we decide to invest in a park like Hayward or the ice ribbon that the Youth Council has a chance to weigh in.”

He also is going to continue to promote his Sioux 52 mentoring initiative, which aims to recruit 5,200 mentors by 2026.

“I’m going to pound on it as long as I’m in office because … the need for mentorship has grown as a result of the pandemic and social justice topics, so we’re going to talk more about that,” he said.

A symbol of the community socially also will come in the form of the downtown Sixth Street bridge, which is scheduled for construction next year. The plan is to enhance and brand it as the “Unity Bridge,” with “tributes to bridge builders who have been part of this community over the decades,” TenHaken said.

The public improvements, especially downtown, combined with private investment and partnerships such as the recently announced Jacobson Plaza at Falls Park, are “part of a strategy to get a larger return on the downtown community with private investment,” he continued.

The business interest in Sioux Falls is not abating, TenHaken added.

“Once every two weeks, I either get an email or have a conversation about a strong prospect that wants to bring a business here,” he said. “These are real conversations.”

But he’s mindful the window of opportunity might not be open forever. Places elsewhere that have discouraged residents and businesses likely will return to a better sense of normalcy. The energy for moving could wane.

“I think this post-COVID world we’re in as a city and state, we have 24 to 36 months to ride some incredible momentum before some of these economies get back to normal,” he said.

In the meantime: “I have all the confidence in the world. The phone calls are happening.”