Top Ten Wins For SF In 2012

by Breanna Fuss, Reporter
January 29, 2013 5:20 PM


The list is being dubbed the "Top Ten Wins for the City of Sioux Falls,” and there's plenty of variety.
 
“Number ten was adding money to our city’s piggy bank,” said Sioux Falls Mayor Mike Huether.

Mayor Huether said for the third year in a row, the city will be adding money to its general operating reserves.

At number nine was the new city website. All 20,000 pages of content and 20GB of data were given an up to date look.
 
Number eight is something Huether said gave people headaches, but it was worth it. The city reached its goal by fixing 200 miles of road.

"Number seven was hallelujah we've got this resource,” said Huether.

And that would be the connection to the Lewis and Clark Regional Water System. Huether said with the summer drought, being connected to the system could not have come at a better time.
     
 “In September there was at least one point where we used 10 million gallons of water to keep our city going,” Huether said.

Number six, on Mayor Huether's list of top ten wins in 2012 was the ground breaking of the Denny Sanford PREMIER Center.

 Number five is called team policing, the department made a large effort to get to know specific neighborhoods in the community.

Coming in at number four was the demolition of the River Ramp, and building the 136-room Hilton Hotel downtown.

Three was how the city has grown economically.

“We inked the largest naming deal in America for a city our size,” said Huether.

The $20.75 million naming rights deal for the events center comes in at number two.

And the number one greatest accomplishment for the city was pension changes in city government.

"They implemented some pension reform that will save this city $300 million over the next 25 to 30 years,” said Huether.
     
And while 2012 went out with a bang, Huether said great expectations are in store for the coming year.

“We've got to make things better, and with 1,100 city employees we will do just that,” said Huether.

Mayor Huether also recognized that over the year 2,000 jobs were created in the city. He also recognized that the population grew one percent to over 158,000.