STURGIS, S.D. – On a 6-3 vote Tuesday night, the Sturgis City Council passed a resolution concerning the operation of the city’s municipal government.
The resolution is in response to the current legal challenge filed by Tammy and Justin Bohn and Brenda Vasknetz regarding the legality of the current city manager form of government.
The resolution was prepared by Mayor Mark Carstensen, who says the resolution is to remind the community of the great lengths to which the citizens of Sturgis and previous City Councils have gone to empower the city to employ a city manager.
He says the subsequent litigation has the potential to undermine many of the city’s accomplishments over the past 15 years and a ruling adverse to the City of Sturgis may result in the constructive or actual discharge of the city manager from his employment.
Sturgis Council President Kevin Forrester says such a ruling may also seriously disrupt the City’s vital relationships with its many employees, employee unions, creditors and the Motorcycle Rally sponsors and vendors.
“The way these lawsuits look, there’s two ways they could go, and they will mean different things,” Forrester told KBHB News Wednesday morning.
“I think the important part about this is, that it is making sure we don’t null and void existing loans, contracts, all of these things we’ve done over the years and make sure we’re ready to keep moving forward.”
The resolution also includes copies of presentations made during the 2007 campaign that set up the city manager which council and the community may not recall or be aware.
Carstensen says the resolution is to also ratify the conduct of Council and the city manager’s “we have employed to preserve the excellent work that has been done for our City.”
You can see the full resolution by clicking here: Sturgis Resolution Regarding Operation of City Government
