Sioux Falls City Council's three newest members excited to get to work

Three new councilors will take their seats at the Sioux Falls City Council at their first official meeting on Tuesday evening.

It's been just over a month since Sarah Cole, Rich Merkouris and David Barranco each won election to the council in the April 12 election.

Since then, the three councilors, who were sworn in at a ceremony on Tuesday afternoon, say they've been working to make sure they're ready to sit behind the dais, and take on all the work that's required outside Carnegie Town Hall.

"Every day I either meet with a department head or I meet with one of our valuable local community organizations," Barranco said, "so that I get better educated because I'm gonna be the first to acknowledge and admit that as somebody who's only been here, you know, five years, I don't know the deep dive into all the organizations that are so valuable for the city."

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Cole agreed, saying that she was working to ensure she could represent the goals that both she and her constituents want to see for the city.

"Just sitting down and saying 'Okay, what is manageable? What can we do, what has been tried?' And just trying to learn as much as possible during this time," she said.

Merkouris said he's been spending time on education as well, saying he had "gotten to another layer of detail" on those meetings since the election.

All three praised council staff for their help in preparing them for the role, answering questions and more — in addition to the help that sitting councilors have offered.

For Cole, that included Councilor Janet Brekke, who she defeated in the race for the At-Large A seat that Brekke had held since 2018.

"She was just wonderful," said Cole, adding that Brekke had given her advice on how long it takes to have a full understanding of everything.

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"I've watched city council meetings online and I've sat in the meetings," Cole said. "But I know it's much different once you actually take a seat in that chair, and are responsible for knowing all the information."

While Merkouris said he wants to take "a position of learning" for the first few months that it doesn't mean he won't be participating — he hopes to push pretty quickly for action on renewal of the core neighborhoods, one of his campaign focuses.

And of course, housing was a thing to watch for each of the incoming councilors as well.

"One thing that I'm going to try to take the lead on is working with different organizations, banks and credit unions and other lenders," Barranco said. "Because I think that the reality is there are a lot of people who are qualified for loans who maybe don't know that they're qualified. And part of that is because there's just an information problem."

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At first glance, the May 17 meeting shouldn't be especially busy, although the councilors will elect a new chair and vice-chair alongside their regular agenda.

But it'll be the first of more than 140 over their four-year term, alongside the other responsibilities they'll soon have.

"I'm excited to start going to work," Merkouris said, "and stop talking about ideas.”