Commission - Regular Meeting

We will call this meeting to order Tuesday, August 4th, 2026 of the Brookings County Commission. Please rise, remove cover, and stand for the Pledge of Allegiance.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Number 3 on the agenda is approval of the agenda. Do I have a motion to approve? So moved. Second. Motion is second. Is there any comments, requests, changes? Hearing none, all those in favor signify by saying aye. Opposed say nay. Motion carries. Number four is an invitation for a citizen to schedule time on the commission agenda for an item not listed. There's a five minute time limit per person. Anyone wanting to speak during this agenda item must sign in prior to the start of the meeting. No commission action will be taken during this agenda item. Any requested action may be scheduled for a future meeting date.

We do have several signed in.

First one we call Tony Lanning.

Good morning, commissioners. Thank you. I'm here to speak today about the library funding issue that's come up. As a father, a grandfather, a retired Brookings public school teacher, and a past president of the Brookings Public Library, friends of the library, I appreciate and thank you for supplementing the library's budget in past years. I know that this money allows all residents of Brookings County free access to the library's books, supplies, and services. I learned how limited library services are in the rest of the county, so I appreciate how this commission, the city council, and the library directors have made this free county-wide access to the library a priority. With that said, using the Brookings Public Library and any or all of its activities, materials, and services is a choice. It's a choice that is very important to many families. Families with young children, families with students in kindergarten through graduate levels of college, and new Brookings County families looking for a positive place to learn about and interact with their community. The library provides for what they may not have access to themselves or be able to afford. If the goal of some county residents is to find something bad about the library, a person can find it if that's what they're looking for. Just like a person could find something bad at any business, church, school, or healthcare facility if that's what they're looking for. It's the proverbial not seeing the forest for the trees. I can find unspeakable violence in the literature of any church, if that's what I'm looking for. I can find objectionable clothing in any store, if that's what I'm looking for. And as for pornography, I can find it in a smartphone in seconds if that's what I'm looking for. And that availability is much more perilous for a young adult brain than searching for it in thousands of pages of thousands of books at our public library. This library is a place to learn, discover, create, and connect with others, not a place that indoctrinates or grooms children. It's been a safe and wonderful resource for my family and my students for over 30 years, and I hope the commission agrees with this and continues to make it free for all Brookings County citizens. Thank you. Thank you.

sally pies hi my name is sally peas and i am from vulgar sorry good morning good morning i brought my timer because i can go long sometimes First, thank you for your service to Brookings County. I'm sure that the decisions you have to make are not easy ones. Having said that, I'm here in response to some of the comments I've read concerning funding for the library. This past year I was dismayed to hear that the county funding was being reduced and that county users would be required to pay a user fee for the library. as an avid reader the lifetime member of the friends of the library i was upset on my own behalf but more importantly as an english teacher nearly forty years i was worried that this could result in people losing the use of the library We all know costs for nearly everything are up. It would be a tragedy if any citizen would lose access to such a valuable resource. Thank you so much for reinstating that funding for this year. I was incredibly disappointed then when I began hearing of a small group of people attending these meetings and specifically asking this body to defund the library. I have several comments in response. First, as some of you were quoted in the press saying, this is hardly the venue to address concerns about library policies. What they were suggesting, holding back funding until the library adopts a rating system for young adult books, amounts to budgetary blackmail. Acceding to this request would set a terrible precedent. Anytime someone is upset about something, they could conceivably ask you to defund it. that's hardly a sound way to make budgetary decisions and i'm glad that you hopefully aren't inclined to go down that road having said that it's not the public concerns don't matter i'd like to take a couple of minutes to address some of those brought up about the library there's a body that makes library policy that should be where these concerns are shared second there is written policy about the selection of materials at the library this policy is supported by professional library organizations and carried out by library professionals if a citizen is concerned about specific materials there is a reconsideration form to address that i know that there were some questions about the form not being user friendly i stopped at the library yesterday and picked up a copy of the form Here it is. It's a simple one-page form. It took about 20 seconds. It's also easily available at the library website. Despite this, the librarian said that no one has filled out the form. I would suggest that if there is a real concern about materials, this should be an easy place to start. The group that spoke to the commission seemed more concerned that the library adopt a particular rating system. I did a little research into this. Ratedbooks.org was created by a parent. It crowdsources other parents to flag materials they find objectionable. These are not experts in literature. These are parents with an agenda. More recently they have started selling subscriptions to their service. These are directed at parents. I could find no library, certainly no library in South Dakota, that uses this or any other system to rate their materials. According to the Brookings Library Policy Manual, libraries should provide books and other materials presenting all points of view concerning the problems and issues of our times. No library material should be prescribed or removed from libraries because of partisan or doctrinal disapproval. It also states that with respect to the use of library materials by children, the decision as to what a minor may read, view, or listen to is the responsibility of their parent or guardian. now i will grant you that there are young adult books being written today that are a lot more graphic than those i read at that age unfortunately young adults have access to the internet in their pockets and are dealing with much more weighty issues than many of us had to when we were teenagers i would suggest that if a parent or guardian is concerned about a particular book they should monitor their child's choices they might even find it helpful to individually use that book rating system if they choose What shouldn't happen is the defunding of the library and the loss of access because a few people are upset with some of the materials available. Ironically, most if not all of the people who have expressed concerns do not even have children or young adults. Additionally, how many of those who ask for the library to lose funding are from outside of Brookings? Their access will remain the same even if budgetary costs end up forcing county citizens to pay for their library cards. Finally, just a comment about the proposed voucher system. According to the librarians, there are 2,560 out-of-city card holders. At the last meeting, there was a suggestion to reimburse those who might find it a hardship to purchase a card. If the same level of funding, $25,000, is only enough to support 625 cardholders, I would suggest that the commission is currently getting a bargain by allowing nearly four times that many users to have free access to an amazing resource. Our library is a jewel that our community is incredibly lucky to have. It provides so many services well beyond checking out books. I urge you to continue funding it at the current level. Thank you so much for your time.

Thank you.

and I will make this available to you if you choose.

Thank you. Mary Lewandowski?

Hello. Good morning, hello.

I'm Mary Lineski, 1342 Trail Ridge Circle here in Brookings. I thank you for the time allotted to me and for your service to the county. Based on the minutes of your last meeting concerning funding for the Brookings Public Library, I felt I needed to speak in support of providing the requested funds for the library. And you'll have to pardon me my prepared remarks might Be the same as the previous speaker I'm not sure how many residents you've spoken with about the subject but I assure you that the consensus of many of the people that I've spoken with in this county is agree that the library should be funded at previous levels and not proceed with the voucher process. I strongly agree with Commissioner Jensen when he said the commission is not an ethics board. Some people may find some of the library's books objectable, even offensive. Others may not. Some may see this as a freedom issue. Some may feel banning books is justified. I do not. I'd also like to reference the library's policy manual. Since this issue has come up, I hope you've all read it, including those people who are objecting There are policies and procedures in place to protect minors and to address objectionable materials, which I'd like to quickly summarize. First, parents or guardians of minors under the age of 18 must sign the application for a library card for their child in which they agree to accept the minor's use of the library, its materials, and its internet use. I have copies available if you'd like them. Further, this policy manual sets out on page 10 that the library staff is not responsible for the supervision of children in the library, and parents, caregivers are expected to monitor and supervise their children's use of the library's resources, including the internet, in selecting material that's consistent with personal and family values. It also cautions that available resources may contain materials that some might find controversial. Second, the library has an established material selection policy, as was described before, consistent with South Dakota law section 22, 24, 27. Third, pages 34 through 37, another hoop for the county residents to jump through. The library should provide equal access to all citizens in this county and should not be penalized due to a minority of citizens. My husband and I regularly use the library. It provides a wide range of valuable resources and activities, many focused on children and youth. You should check their online monthly activity calendar to see what I'm talking about. It's fantastic. It would be a shame if they would have to curtail these activities. I urge you to support the library at the previous levels. Thank you.

Thank you. Patty D'Azale? Rufus Dazeel.

Good morning.

Good morning.

My comments are not about the library rather than they are about the proposed 765 kilovolt transmission line that's being proposed in the county as well as other energy infrastructure projects that are being proposed. My name is Rufus DeZale. My wife, Patty, and I live on a farm north of Elkton on Highway 14. In the past year, we have been approached by InvenEnergy wanting to place wind towers on our land, Doral LLC wanting land for solar panels, and Xcel Energy wanting to place its proposed 765 kV transmission line across our property as well. Each proposal meant signing easements of 30, 50, in the case of the transmission line, forever. For many reasons, for many different reasons, we turned down each proposal, unwilling to obligate ourselves and future generations to the risks and irreversible changes to our operation each project would entail. By allowing any of these projects, we industrialize rural Brookings County. We sacrifice thousands of acres of good productive farmland that will in all likelihood never be used for agricultural purposes again. As farmland disappears, businesses that rely on the farmers buying inputs for these acres lose business. Rural residents who don't have these projects on their property, but live close to them, have to live with this industrialization without being compensated in any way, but they see their rural lifestyle changed forever. Some may choose to move altogether rather than to live with it. We are concerned about this industrialization of Brookings County. What will the effects of increased number of wind towers, large scale solar plants, battery storage facilities, transmission lines like the 765 KV line proposed, and smaller ones that will be needed to connect all these projects, substations, and possibly data centers, what effect will they all have on good productive farmland? Are we willing to sacrifice our farmland, our way of life, our rural lifestyle for all of this industrialization for what? Economic development? For who? The residents of Brookings County or for some private companies that will make huge profits at our expense. Industrial development should happen where it is better suited, not on irreplaceable farmland just because someone has attached a large dollar figure to it. Before decisions are made that will send our county down a road there's no coming back from, I would ask all of you to pause and ask yourselves, is this really what we want Brookings County to turn into? Do we have the proper regulations in place that will protect all residents? Are we willing to allow all of this to happen because of a true need for more energy in this area? Or is it only for financial benefits? And that poses the question, who will be the ones that benefit the most? Money matters, but it cannot be the only measure of a good decision. Once a county begins rezoning rural land for industrial use, it becomes harder to argue that the next property should remain protected. One approval becomes the justification for another, then another, until the rural character that everyone claimed to value is gone forever. We turned down wind and solar projects on our farm even though being promised a lot of money. We have also denied the request to build the transmission line on our property Although if the route doesn't change, XL can ignore our denial and they can take our land for their use under the title of eminent domain, which I wholeheartedly disagree with. What we want to leave to our children and their children and so on is not an energy industrialized landscape, but rather one that preserves our rural landscape that we cherish and enjoy. Thank you for your time.

Thank you. Sue Engelman.

Howdy, I'm Sue Engelman, Brookings County resident. I'm here today to speak about four issues. The first concerning the courthouse window replacement. I emailed each of you the research I have done on the importance of not replacing windows from old growth wood with modern vinyl windows. Please consider the information from the Professional Historic Window Restorer brent hall and if replacement is actually needed please consider the 100 year window that his company has developed the second concern is about the proposed library voucher program for the brookings county residents i strongly disagree with defunding the library program and especially creating a voucher system. I totally agree that there is an issue that needs to be addressed, but the book ratings need to come from the publishers, not the librarians. Those in protest need to contact the publishing companies and demand more book classifications that would split the young adult genre into safe books for younger and older ages. As a mother of five homeschooled children, we attended the library countless times. There is no reason that my family and I, all taxpayers, should have to pay for our library cards. You have allotted the money for a voucher system. That would be a drop in the bucket for all the county folks who use that library. The voucher system would also create a lot of unneeded paperwork. And what child will this protect? Concern number three, respectfully, what can be done at this meeting to stop power on Midwest from filing to construct the 765 kilovolt transmission line? I have been asking to match the dual county 2,000 foot setback since March. As you know, there are readings that need to happen before an ordinance can take place and our deadline is September 26th, just a few weeks away. Lastly, I attended the NextEra Energy Resources LLC open house on July 21st. I gathered the information sheets and found my residence on their proposed solar map. NextEra is connected with Power On Midwest and they are proposing an industrial solar complex just north of Brookings. They are also proposing a battery energy storage system near Elkton. i spoke with a number of their experts but none of them were able to answer the questions that i posed to them the next era representative that addressed the county commission that same day gave me her personal phone number and email address to send my questions to her so that she could answer them i mean i have emailed her over a week ago and still have received no answer In the email information I sent to you all, one of the articles state that Italy now bans the installation of ground-mounted solar arrays on active agricultural land explicitly to protect soil health and food production. The question for any landowner or community is not whether a scientific paper calls the risk minimal. It's how soon, how much, and whether you are willing to roll the dice. These projects are not temporary. They are designed to sit on your landscape for decades. The metals, polymers, and chemicals inside the panels don't disappear. They weather, break, and move into the environment. For me personally, the decision is simple. If contamination is shown to be possible, then the acceptable probability is zero. Anything above that is gambling with soil health, water quality, and the long-term viability of the land. And unlike a financial risk, you can't just sell out. of contaminated soil or water. Your community and the next generation inherit whatever damage is done. I am asking again for an immediate temporary ordinance, moratorium, or whatever it takes to halt all energy companies to include the 765 kilovolt transmission lines, industrial solar complex, it is not a farm folks, and battery energy storage systems, BESS. from filing to build in Brookings County until safety factors have been researched and new ordinances have been established. Thank you.

Thank you. Diana Page.

Hello, Commissioners. I'm Diana Page from Brookings County, and I'm here to speak in support of your appointing Jeff Struwe as the county representative to the Human Rights Commission for many reasons.

That is an item on our agenda, so unfortunately we're unable to speak at it.

Well, at least I got the first sentence out. Thank you.

Sharon Leiferman? No? Okay. Jenny Page? Alicia. Asia, sorry Asia. I'm having a hard time today.

It's a morning. Good morning, commissioners. Thank you. Asia Gustafson, library director at the Brookings Public Library. Just want to thank you for all of your support of the library. And then just to say to all those who have issues with any materials in the library, as many people have pointed out today, that the library does have a policy and a procedure for anybody who has concerns with anything in the library. It's the citizen's request for reconsideration. And I'm more than happy to help people walk through it if they have questions or concerns about the policy or how that process works I'll be up back here at the after the meeting and You can always find me at the Brookings Public Library right across the street at 5 1 5 3rd Street. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you Rick label

morning commissioners uh... my name is uh... revival from oakland south Dakota representing myself and of course i'm here for elections so first off i want to give a special thank you to uh... i probably shouldn't name names but jenna uh... what an absolute class act my wife as a non-party affiliate volunteered to be on the absentee ballot board and when you have county staff recognizing and thanking people to be part of the process that's very encouraging so i want to encourage the rest of the residents to step up support our election officials and our county auditor to make sure that our elections have bipartisan tripartisan and even nonpartisan oversight It's important. It establishes trust in our elections. So thank you, Jenna. The next thing is looking at the data from kind of like the post-election audit. So we have the new data released by the Secretary of State last night. And unfortunately, she violated the law. We have in our law that she's supposed to have, as of July 1, a rolling five years. So that would start July 1 all the way through this morning. And unfortunately, when I went and downloaded the data, all the July data was missing already. And so that law was Senate Bill 214. And that passed this year. Here's a screenshot of what I saw this morning where the July data is missing. And so this is where people like me, when we look at government, we want to make sure that they're following the law to make sure that we have correct protection. Then when I looked at the data so far for Brookings itself, and I just did a quick search on date last voted on this morning's data. and compared it to the Secretary of State's website for total number of ballots cast. So in the voter history area, we see 3,446 in the voter history out of 300, 459 ballots cast, a variance of nine ballots. And so I'll be working with Jenna to kind of figure out why is that difference? Is it just a simple data entry error? Is it because somebody moved since casting their ballot during the absentee? Or do they pass away? But the beauty is, because the election was so far separated between the two candidates on the runoff you can't claim any type of real election issues was there potential fraud of somebody having a duplicate ballot well we can review that and examine it and so this is the beauty of that is that we know that the number is nine that we just have to find out what those answers are to continue to protect the elections that's all I have thank you Patty

Hi Patty to sail from Elton I Also want to talk about the 765 kilovolt line We've been going to the subcommittee meetings for the past two months and at the end of this second meeting the committee was still working on a mission statement and At that same meeting, we were told that the Power On Midwest was going to file with the state PUC in September. My concern and everybody that was at that meeting was that the subcommittee is not going to get anything done in time to make any decisions prior to Power On Midwest filing with the PUC at the state level. These are not isolated projects. The 765 kilovolt line, the wind towers, the solar installations, the battery storage facilities, any future data centers, they're all interconnected. The 765 line is really important because a lot of those other projects are going to be dependent on that line. And if that line is approved, The proliferation of those projects is gonna dramatically increase. It's gonna totally change the landscape of Brookings County. What we're concerned about is that any conditional use permits that are given right now are going to allow these projects to continue and proliferate without all of our questions being answered. We need to do something at the county level, and that's why we're here this morning rather than speaking at the subcommittee level again, because we need to do something at the county level to make sure that these questions get answered. it's too important of a project it's too important to the county to allow quick decisions piecemeal on each one of these projects they're all interconnected they all affect the future of brookings county there has to be a balance between economic development private property rights and we need to have public input and transparency at every level we need to look at the needs of our area Are the energy needs of our area so, from what I've seen, we're meeting the needs of our area right now. We don't have immediate needs. We don't need to make quick decisions. I know energy expansion is going to be important in the future. And I'm not against energy expansion. I know we need to meet the needs of the community. residents that live here. But we need to look at the risks of all of these projects, we need to look at the benefits of all the projects, and we need to balance all of those things before decisions are made. So I would like to encourage the county to put a moratorium, whatever, a pause on any decisions related to any of these projects until all of those answers can be given to us. I sat at a public meeting from Power On Midwest, and I was told that the risks of being underneath the 765 kilovolt lines decrease as you get away from them. But they said the risks are no different, no more harmful to us than standing by my toaster. Okay, when I'm told something like that from experts in the field, I just want to smack them upside the head because how stupid do they think we are to think that the stray voltage underneath the 765 kilovolt line is the same as standing in front of my toaster for 30 seconds to make a piece of toast. I urge you to slow down this process, let us get our answers, and then make decisions for what's best for the county. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you everybody for speaking.

We do have a scheduled 9 a.m. Item number seven on our agenda. Cassie Chase, auditor, Department of Legislative Audit.

Good morning.

Morning.

Good morning.

As he said, I'm Cassie Chase with the Department of Legislative Audit. I'm just here to let you guys know that I'm starting the 2025 financial and compliance audit. If you have any questions, concerns, anything you want me to look at specifically, I'm downstairs on the second floor in the commissioner's office, the conference room there. So you can pop on by, say hi, ask me questions, whatever. I just needed the Engagement letter to be signed today, and that's about it just by board chair and Jen as well So do you need a copy um? No, okay perfect, and then if someone could grab it and get it to me later today.

That would be great Yeah, well it'll be signed at the end of the meeting perfect sounds good.

Thanks guys.

Thank you. Yes All right. Moving to number five, consent agenda items. We have the minutes, which includes the 721 and 730 commission meetings, travel education requests, personal action items, cellular authorizations, human services report. Do I have a motion to approve? So moved.

Second.

Motion is second. Any comments, changes, questions? Hearing none, call the roll please.

Post? Aye. Miller? Aye. Jensen? Aye. Hostler? Aye. Motion carries.

Routine business number six, approval of the claims. Do I have a motion to approve?

Motion to approve.

Second. Motion to second. Any questions, comments?

We do have an additional few claims that got added late. I handed that out this morning to each of you to add to what's being approved today.

Alright. Has everybody had a chance to look through them? Any other comments or questions? Hearing none, call the roll please.

Did I have a motion? Let me look here. Sorry. Oh yeah, Jensen approved second. Okay. Miller? Aye. Jensen? Aye. Post? Aye. Hostler? Aye. Motion carries.

Alright. Regular business number... Oh, department head reports. What's that? Number six yeah be right there department head reports. I'm struggling today Ryan Didn't have my Wheaties this morning, I don't think Maybe a little more coffee.

That's what I'm doing right now All right, I'm gonna start off here with a couple of road closure announcements for some maintenance projects Brookings County Road one or 459th between 199th or County Road 4 and 204th or County Road 6 will be closed for a culvert replacement at the Inlet of Lake Oakwood This was a planned project This is this project presents quite a bit of challenge because of the water That's why the couple week closure is going to take place. We need to set a cofferdam up and dewater the site, remove the culverts, prepare for the installation of the new culverts, and install the culverts and backfill, and then remove the sheet piling. So it is going to be a little bit of a process. Our crew is going to be performing about 95% of the work. We are using Holloway Construction out of Parker. They're going to be installing the sheet pile cofferdam. So we're hoping to have that wrapped up here in the next couple weeks pending any major rain. Secondly here, Brookings County 16A or 214th between 34th Avenue and Aurora will be closed this morning at 9 a.m. Our crews are going to be preparing the east end of the project for bows to move in tomorrow to patch in those areas and pave over the top. And we are going to be utilizing our patching contract That was established here and in February and that was with bows and they'll be performing the work here the next few days it will be open to You know local traffic only no through traffic in an effort to For the safety of the paving crew and the traveling public. We are going to keep it closed until they're done with their work They're anticipating on being done mid Friday Um, last couple weeks here to kind of give you an update on what the crew is doing. We wrapped up culverts on Brookings County Road 2 up near Lake Ponset. Yesterday morning we had a pre-construction meeting with Dunnock Construction out of Watertown. Plans to begin on County Road 2, they're going to be doing the process in place beginning August 16th. We have decided in an effort again to provide Safety for the crew and the traveling public that we will be closing the road It's anticipated about a week week and a half for them to wrap up their work we have reached out to the state park and notified them and Also, I reached out to the emergency management and Marty and Notifying them of that and the neighbors have been talked to They know we've been working up there. So like I said in an effort to provide the safest Operations for the crew and the traveling public we decided to close that why that works taking place and Another part of the crew continues graveling on County Road 36. We've been continue mowing. And then lastly, attended the construction update meeting for the Smarr Avenue project. Underground work continues and a new schedule is provided and it's still anticipated that mid to late September completion date on that project.

Anybody have anything for Brian?

Yeah, I guess the 16A project, how does that compare to what was done last year? Just kind of so I have a better idea of what exactly we're doing there.

If you guys recall, we paved over the intersections in an effort to prevent them from raveling up. We did take a good look at the base yesterday. I had the engineer that is very familiar with the project take a look at it to give a second opinion to decide to move forward on this. In those lower areas primarily on the east side of town or west side of Aurora Where we experienced the major breakup? With the base and the condition that it is we feel that the base is in very good conditions because we're not seeing any deflection of the roadway to pave over those roads or the pave over those stretches and What we feel happened was the chip seal got brittle which allowed the moisture infiltration Or the asphalt on the other hand. We don't feel it'll get brittle to allow that moisture infiltration So it will be a paved stretch What do you what do you think made that brittle was it the traffic like? Heavier trucks we talked about that in depth and we're basing this off a project the state of South Dakota did down near Beersford. Last year we experienced multiple free-thaw cycles. In that particular area where they dealt with it. It was six Up here. We figured it was three in that time period we figured with it getting above You know that 30 degree mark, you know pavement temperatures can get to that 40 to 50 degrees which allows for the You know movement and that's what we figured allowed that to happen. I And on our end as commissioners and on your recommendation, I'm sure we need to watch for load limits at better times Correct and there again In this situation we did talk about that in depth to it probably should have been acted on earlier and But there again We try to maintain the consistency, but this this road as it sat Most likely should have been acted on earlier Okay anything else for Brian And I do want to throw in one caveat on that, just so you guys are up to date. You know, this isn't a permanent fix. This is to create a safe roadway for the traveling public to follow. I know we've gotten some money as far as planning, but That was what was one thing we did talk about in depth yesterday is how long do we expect this to last? You know we're aiming for that 7 to 12 year and then hopefully in that time period frame we can obtain funding to to get that roadway stretch rebuilt That was another thing we talked to In depth about to is the material that we're putting out there You know even for a future construction With the bait the ability to recycle. It's not going to be wasted very good Very good.

Thanks. All right. Thank you, Brian. Sure Good morning. Morning, Chair.

Just a quick overview of the detention center. We have presently 59 inmates. 23 of them are Brookings County inmates that have charges within Brookings County. Then there's 36 that are out of county. We have two from Kingsbury County, five from Moody County. Department of Corrections has three, and the U.S. Marshal Service has 26. Also, the 24-7 program, we have 87 participants. There's 35 on the PBT that come in twice a day. We got three on remote breath tests. We have six on scram bracelets, and we have 26 on UAs. There's five on drug court, hope court. We don't have anybody at present time. At DUI court, we have 12 coming in to do UAs. So that area always stays busy. I'd also like just a little tidbit there with the 24-7. The Brookings Register did kind of a hero's edition with the register, and I had them interview Tanya, who's the coordinator, and it was a good article. Thank you. And she stays busy. That's a busy place. She's got a lot of responsibility to collect the money, and not everybody has the money, and she tries to work out plans, and she does a great job with that division of the department. Also, just with Deputy Patrol, speeding violations are up. The month of July, we had 184 speeding compared to 142 in June and 101 in May. Also, the stop sign violations, we had 26 for the month of July, which last year in June we had six, and we had... anyway at 6 in May is is there more people running stop signs. The deputies are paying attention to more work in areas where we have complaints of people running stop signs so in that will continue to do that. In those areas. Other than that, the only other thing is, and Commissioner Jensen's aware of this because we had visited a little bit, but the city of Aurora has contacted me that they want to reduce the speed limit going through Aurora, which is a county road. And so between the highway department and myself, we're doing a speed analysis. uh... on that road to kind of give you an indication of uh... what's going on uh... i mean this is a every year between valga i get complaints involved in speeding when it's going to the ethanol plant and so forth so this is a every year complaint in aurora two of the trucks that go down through town to go to either the soybean plant or the co-op or whatever. They'd like to reduce the speed to 15 miles an hour in the downtown area. But anyway, we'll do a speed analysis and give you 85 percentile of what's going on probably Speed that's going on there. We're gonna do this at different times because right now it's it's not that it's not the busy time It soon will be the busy time at harvest is the busy time. So we're gonna do it now then we'll do another analysis and then Bring it before you guys.

So anyway any questions Sheriff with stop signs and that of course being up. Have you ever? identified any other uh... intersection during thing that we might need to look at to put the solar flashy lights on bruce the four-way stop uses one at the interstate coming off onto thirty is one

A lot of that is failure to yield more than stop sign.

Coming off the interstate, is that the on-ramps and off-ramps? That would be the state that we might need to reach out to. The Bruce four-way just south of Bruce is something that maybe we need to...

We had some complaints with trucks that were hauling chopped hay, chopped alfalfa and stuff around the stop sign. So some of that is identified there too. So now we'll get into the corn season and they don't like that. They don't like to slow down and make a complete stop You know the guys you know that you know if they give it you know what we're what we're trying to prevent is the ones that completely blow it at 55 miles an hour or faster That's the ones that you know at least if they slow down hopefully they can have a chance to stop it I mean they have to stop and They have to bring their vehicle to motionless. That's what a stop sign is. It's not slow down and proceed. It's bringing your vehicle to a complete stop and then move. The ones I'm worried about is the ones that are blowing them at high speeds.

It might be something to look at. I know that We've had some issues and a lot of fatalities in the last year so so I mean it might be something to look at for that Intersection to put the I know we put the whirlybirds on it on a few of them, but the There's something about those flashing lights that you can see for a mile So it might be something to look at in the commission for

people continue to social media stuff to uh... uh... when it gets closer when as time goes on to with harvest and and so forth so anyway other other than that and then just a quick uncivil process at that area which stays busy uh... you remember that you were uh... allowed me to have a uh... hire a deputy just to do civil process. He does help out on calls, too, when needed and so forth. So he continues to pay for himself on the civil process. That's an area that never just keeps... keeps papers coming in all the time so that's an area that stays busy and that takes a load off the patrol deputies to have someone to serve in civil process otherwise the patrol deputies would have to take a handful of papers and while they're patrolling in between and And then they don't get to work these areas because they're serving papers, too. So this extra Employee staff really really has helped and it does pay for himself. He pays for himself. So anyway So thank you.

Thanks Marty Just a note on the on ramp on highway 30 there. I use that every day That's a difficult whether you're coming from the north or coming from the south, it's difficult to see cars coming from east or west because of the crown on that bridge. I don't know if anything can be done there. But I've had many, especially if you're pulling a trailer, you can't see the vehicle coming from the other way until they're right on top of the bridge. So I don't know anything that can be done with that.

That's a challenging intersection. And you travel that a lot, I'm sure. Every day. And after that accident, that's when it's becoming more noticeable, too, that I get the calls and stuff about that.

Yeah, it's a legitimate concern there. Is there a speed change on top of that bridge?

Think it's 65 all the way through there isn't it that doesn't change don't reduce there There's other you know like the elkton bridge that reduces speed to 45 45 there Yeah, that particular bridge it. It's not it's not reducing the speed so Yeah, yeah, thank you.

Thanks picture Jen nothing all right Richard County development

not a whole lot to Report but tonight is our meeting night for our planning and zoning commission. We've given 16 building permits for the month of July so Basically, that's all I've got all right anybody have anything for Richard Appreciate it.

Thanks Richard

Alright, don't see any of our other department heads in attendance So now I can move to number eight regular business letter a action to approve agreement 26-46 a construction agreement between Brookings County and Holloway bridge and culvert Inc for structure and approach grading for structure 06-2 4 0-1 2 3 and zero six dash two four zero dash one four one PCN zero nine GT and Zero nine GU do I have motion to approve so moved second motion a second any comments Just the paperwork finalizing the award of the contract to hallway construction for the two structures between white and Bushnell Okay, any other comments questions? Hearing none, call the roll please.

Jensen? Aye. Post? Aye. Miller? Aye. Hostler? Aye. Motion carries.

Letter B, action to approve agreement 26-27, a short form of agreement between Brookings County and Banner Associates Inc. for construction engineering services for structure 06-240-123, PCN 09GT. Do I have a motion to approve? Motion to approve. Second. Motion to second. Comments?

The contracts that you'll be considering here just for the overall construction services and testing For the two structures to be installed by Holloway construction Any comments or questions One more thing this this part as part of this agreement the state is paying for 80% of the service and the county pays 20

Hearing none. Hearing none. Call the roll, please.

Post. Aye. Miller. Aye. Jensen. Aye. Hostler. Aye. Motion carries.

Letter C, action to approve agreement 26-48, a short form of agreement between Brookings County and Banner Associates, Inc. for construction and engineering services for structure 06-240-141 PCN 09GU. Do I have a motion to approve? So moved. Second. Motion is second. Comments? Same comments. Same. Do we have anything else? Hearing none, call the roll please.

Miller?

Aye.

Jensen? Aye. Post? Aye. Hostler? Aye. Motion carries.

Letter D, action to approve agreement 26-49 a proposal of service agreement between Brookings County and design arc Group for the courthouse cupola restoration project to have a motion to approve Motion approved second motion a second comments So as stated this is architectural services for the cupola project to get us to a point where we are ready to

bid that project in 2027 the contract price would be is for thirty thousand dollars i would recommend taking that out of contingency for 2026 so that we are ready to move forward in 2027. all right any comments from the board did we have a dis i'm just trying to recollect what was the discussion that we kind of thought what the whole project was going to be So as part of the roof project design arc did give us a quote for our kind of a cost estimate of about I want to say it was like 52 to 55,000 for the cupola Now keep in mind that didn't include their fees this is their fees they were already doing work for us on the roof project so It could be that. I don't know. We're three years now down the road so we'll see what we get.

Did they go through this process before?

Yes. They did not go through the bidding process for the cupola before. No.

For the windows. No. They did not. We haven't specifically addressed that.

No. They have not.

Wasn't there a quote before, though, for the windows?

That was just a cost estimate that they provided as they were doing the roof project.

Right. They did not dive in to see what it would take and everything, and this is to kind of move that forward so that we have a better understanding and can get an actual quote, correct?

Yeah, cost estimate and basically get it bid ready for the construction companies to come in and do the work in 2027.

Okay, so just for clarity, so back when I had heard that, the previous commission said that there was no appetite to replace those windows. We didn't go all the way to the bid process where we had... No.

No. We did not.

Specifically what we're dealing with. Just didn't want to address it.

Yes. It was wanting to be addressed. It just that there was outside the scope of the work that we were doing at that point and they brought it to our attention that this needed to be done sooner rather than later is what I think if I remember right.

I believe some of the stone masonry was repaired and the tuck pointing was completed? No.

The commission at the time said no to all of that additional work. We just did the roof.

I think we said no because it was not in the scope of what we had approved before, correct?

I don't know why the commission did not approve it.

So this next go around, are we addressing the tuck pointing and stuff then too? All of that, yes. In the description.

The whole issues of the cupola are being addressed.

I'm just a little curious if we're looking at $30,000 for the engineering, are we looking at a half a million dollar project at the end or is it the engineering is a whole lot more and to me it's a lot of remove and replace as far as the windows are concerned.

Well I think this really dives into the look that we did not do before to find out what actually you know I mean the surface you can see what's wrong but making sure that underneath the surface we fix whatever is wrong there to make it last for the next 50 to 75 years so we don't have to worry about it or we can preserve the courthouse.

And keep in mind, this building is on the National Register of Historic Places. There is a State Historic Preservation Office process through this SHPO. We're fortunate that one of the gentlemen with Design Arc is well versed in that process and will help step us through that process as well. Because we will have to get approval from higher levels than just the County Commission to do whatever it is that,

ultimately we decide to do there and i think they have got they have kind of guidelines for things to be able to do or use and that are way above at least my pay grade that's why i think design arc is what is our liability as far as a bid process on offering up the engineering work to be done here

This is professional services and does not need to be bid. At the $30,000 level, it wouldn't meet those requirements anyway, even if it were supplies or a project. Professional services do not need to be bid.

This just caught me as a surprise because I was under probably my own mistaken assumption that this was more of a 50-60 maybe because of inflation, $100,000 job, and then you've got $30,000 just in engineering. It makes me nervous. We get the engineering done and now we're looking at a bill that we can't afford once we get the engineering done.

Usually it's about 10% for engineering. You're looking at $300,000 at least.

Any other comments?

Hearing none, call the roll please.

Jensen? Aye. Post?

Aye.

Miller? Aye. Hostler? Aye. Motion carries.

All right. Moving to letter E. Action to restructure the 765 KV subcommittee membership. Do I have a motion to approve? So moved.

Do I have a second? What is the motion? We have to state... Oh, sorry. Yeah. What is the motion?

Oh, okay. So... we I suppose do we want to discuss this first so on the on the agenda I guess we have a request to action to restructure the 765 subcommittee membership so is there Dan can you give us some background on this or yes so

The restructuring would be to only include the three planning and zoning members as well as the two County commissioners. So it'd be a subcommittee of five instead of the current structure of the subcommittee. And then those remaining subcommittee members that are not included in those five would be called as subject matter witnesses. And so the Other individuals, whether that's a township board member who has land that's affected by the 765 line or one of the individuals representing one of the companies that's planning or wanting to build the line or. health experts or any other subject matter experts, uh, would be called as witnesses that then would present, uh, to that committee of five. Um, and this was after discussion with the county commission, uh, to restructure it this way. Part of the process of the subcommittee was obviously to gather information. And then based on that information, either make a recommendation, uh, on setbacks on ordinance changes, or just simply submit minutes on these subcommittee meetings for consideration by planning and zoning any recommendation or any change or any submission by this subcommittee would be considered by the full planning and zoning board and then any decision by planning and zoning obviously would have to be approved by the full county commission so what this restructuring does is it just The individuals that would have a say at the planning and zoning level, as well as the county commission, are going to be the ones in the committee, the subcommittee, to hear the information and then make a recommendation. And so I think this will make the meetings more efficient, but it also puts the issues back in front of the local governmental boards that would have a say on it anyway, which is planning and zoning and county commission. Like I said, after visiting with the county commission, we just feel like this is the best, um, um, decision moving forward. Uh, we're still planning to have the meeting in August. And then, um, I think at the August meeting, another meeting will probably be scheduled. Um, and so that's sort of the background behind the motion. Um, and like I said, in terms of organization and information flow, I think this is the most efficient, uh, for the county. So.

Questions for Dan.

Yeah, what if we're not gonna have members of the local jurisdictions there What is the purpose of not just going straight to zoning with it then?

Yeah, I think the purpose of the subcommittee and again, I mean this is your guys's subcommittee. It's not my subcommittee And so I guess you could ask that question to the other commissioners as to why the subcommittee was created I didn't create the subcommittee and so I

The subcommittee was created to bring in the local jurisdictions, those townships that are involved, and to get their point of view and bring in more voices that can be heard from those areas that are familiar with that area. Yeah, and so they would be called as witnesses. And those are the ones that are being removed.

Yep. No, they're not being removed. They're being given a platform to testify at the subcommittee meetings. and those recommendations or concerns that they wanna have addressed, whether it's setbacks, ordinances, it's just being given prior to the Planning and Zoning Committee. So when the Planning and Zoning Committee does, the full Planning and Zoning Committee does address this, they'll have that information to look back on or recall that witness to testify in front of the full Planning and Zoning. So it's really giving ample opportunity. Instead of one chance, it's giving several chances to those landowners and those other individuals that are concerned with the project so and then those minutes can be submitted to planning and zoning and then that can also be considered by the full planning and zoning board so it's actually giving more opportunity to address those concerns in doing this with this subcommittee working as kind of a of the zoning it really the goal is to

create and bring more information and give the planning and zoning and ultimately us a better understanding and more information to be able to make that informed decision.

That was my impression when the county commission created the subcommittee.

Doug, maybe you or Dan. The concern for the filing date with the public utilities is that, I mean, is Should we have a decision before then, or is that a drop-dead date, or can it be extended?

I haven't gotten hard answers back as far as in the PUC can ignore county. They can follow county depending on if they like what the county decides is kind of what I understand at this point. Dan can probably speak better to it, but... Because I've got concerns that this timeline is getting pushed back. We probably should have had that committee together six months earlier so they would have had something to give the zoning so that we had something to look at so we could decide on it in two weeks. Normally, I'm not in favor of throwing roadblocks up without having a good reason why not or why to or anything. But at this stage of the game, you know, I'm not sure when we formed this and what's been the problems and now we're shuttling the entire thing that was supposed to be studying it in-depthly and we're starting all over and it almost, it can give the impression of a delay tactic. So I guess at this point I'd be in favor of looking at some kind of moratorium to be put into place until we get it properly studied and researched and we know what the local people are actually saying Yeah, and I think this feeling and what and even what rights they have or not because We do have a lot of federal jurisdiction going on with some of these projects whether we could even say no But that stuff we should have had those answers by now instead of being on the third meeting and we're throwing out the local people We're starting all over Well, that's the impression I'm getting yeah, so those meetings again have been set I think it's been once a month so far and

The planning and zoning, whether they conduct their own meetings after this to further study the issue, I don't know if we know that, whether they'll do that or not. But if there's additional meetings that need to take place after this next one to further study that issue, I'll leave that to the discretion of the committee. But in terms of the information gathering, that's not going to change at all. the people that are either the subject matter experts or the landowners impacted by it are still going to get just as much time if not more being called as a witness to offer their suggestions on changes or recommendations and so how you go about that information gathering i don't think is going to necessarily impact what planning and zoning finally decides on it it's it's how many meetings have they had My understanding is two.

We formed this in February, April? Richard, do you know? No.

I believe it was May that the subcommittee was formed.

The questions I've been some of these landowners are in negotiations with them and they're concerned if there's gonna be a setback or not and That's part of their negotiation process that they're doing now, and they're kind of waiting for directions I guess is what I've been hearing Let me share my perspective I've been in on both of those meetings and I hear what you're saying that the intent of this was

Restructuring is not absolutely not to remove people off of that committee that have a say and I agree with you this should have been formed long ago, but we're not there now in an effort to Give this What it needs the last two meetings Were not productive it turned in more of a town hall meeting and it would it seemed a bit chaotic and Not that people don't have the right to share their opinion. Absolutely 100% do. The intent here is to be more intentional and run it like a Robert's Rules meeting should be run and bring people in, let them have their deal, but to be more effective because I feel like the last two meetings there was, we heard the same thing over and over, which is valuable, but it was not I DIDN'T FEEL LIKE IT WAS REALLY PRODUCTIVE MEETINGS. SO MOVING FORWARD, I THINK WE WANT TO BE MORE INTENTIONAL WITH THOSE PEOPLE THAT HAVE THE VOTE ON THERE, NOT TRYING TO REMOVE ANYBODY BY ANY MEANS. THEY STILL CAN COME, AND WE WANT TO HEAR BOTH SIDES. WE WANT TO HEAR ALL THAT STUFF. BUT TO RUN IT MORE OF AN EFFICIENT MEETING BY CHANGING HOW THIS IS DONE. I THINK IT'S A STEP IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION. to be more effective and get things done quicker is how I see this.

Yeah. And just to comment too, um, with it going in front of the commission and the planning and zoning on the subcommittee, I just think that's going to, Commissioner Miller's point, is going to make it more efficient and effective. And so this change does that. And so I think everyone concerned about this project wants information flow to be more efficient as possible. And this restructuring does that. And so, like I said, witnesses will be called. Everyone will get an opportunity to address those five members, three from planning and zoning, two from county commission. to air their concerns and grievances and then Whatever comes from that whether it's the next meeting or the meeting in September Will be in reflection of those concerns and so If you feel the chair should have more meetings between now and September I mean you can pass that along to the chair of the committee if you don't feel like it's moving fast enough and

So thank you, Dan, for that clarity, because I think that is part of the intention is to streamline that so that we can get results quicker and not have to make just a knee jerk reaction and do something without having the correct information and being effective with this short window time frame we have.

So we don't have a motion on the table, but I would look for a motion to redesign. I don't know if that's the right word. Restructure the subcommittee for three members of the planning zoning and two members of the county commission. If somebody... would like to make that motion or if we have recommendations for that to restructure that committee.

I would make that motion to restructure that in the effort of streamlining and making it more effective. I think it's a step in the right direction.

Okay. We'll have a motion. Do we have a second? Second. Motion and a second. Any comments or concerns?

Is there a timeline on this restructured committee then that they would be turning something in or?

Well, so I think part of the problem has been is that in order to make sure everyone has an opportunity to address their concerns, the committee hasn't been able to develop a timeline as to how long that will take. And so do you have one hour meetings? Do you have two hour meetings? Do you have three hour meetings? Do you have a meeting once a week? Do you have a meeting once a month? And so that's been part of the problem is that, um, I don't think anyone on the committee or even anyone who attends the meetings knows quite how long that will take. And so because the committee's had, A lot of discretion to decide what those timelines are, I think. One of the questions at the next meeting will be how many more meetings are we going to have before we either make a recommendation or you don't make a recommendation to planning and zoning, right? Whether that's an ordinance change, whether that's a moratorium, whether that's a setback. That question hasn't really been answered yet as to how long it will take for everyone to get their their information out. additional people that want to speak on new information at the next meeting and then potentially the meeting after that. So I don't really have a clear answer for you, Commissioner Post, but that's sort of I think one of the one of the questions they're going to try to answer at the next meeting.

Well, I definitely want them to be able to spend enough time to research in-depthly, because I don't necessarily have a position that I'm trying to push. I'm just speaking for the people that I don't want the work of that committee to end up being for naught, because everything's passed and everything's on, the ball is rolling before we make a decision. I refer back to when we were on the CO2 pipeline I mean, there was no eminent problem at that time, which was a perfect time to look at it. But there is a deadline pending, and it's a snowballing effect. And so I guess, what is the timeline for us to get a temporary pause in place? And is there even such a thing that's effective? And that would take a normal posting, two meetings, put into place, in which case we'd have to have something for our second August meeting and then the first September.

Yeah, and I think these concerns can be brought to that August meeting.

So that would be something that we're obviously have to bypass all that level and just put that in as a commission if we're interested in that. Because otherwise we're really spinning our wheels, the way it sounds to me. We've got a great decision. It's just six months too late.

Well, my question is, is it? Who, Dan? Can you get us that answer of if we put this moratorium in place, we make a knee-jerk reaction here and put that in place, does that... Yeah, we've been advised by PUC that having an ordinance or a setback in place prior to the application or...

It being passed after the application, the law is mixed on that. That's sort of been the advisement by PUC, but I'll try to drill that down further before the August meeting. Yeah, I think but we've had we've had conversations with PUC. That's sort of been their advisement. They're sort of. They're not fully committal on that question, so like I said, well, we'll try to do that down before the August meeting.

I think that question needs to be answered.

Yeah, and it might not have a good answer, though.

So I'm just kind of cautioning the committee, though, on that. And we put that moratorium in place. Can they override that? Can the PUC override that?

Yeah, we can try to drill that down as well.

But I'm sure the file...

They know our intention, though.

But I'm sure the filing date and when they finally make a decision, there must be a length of time within there for them to gather information to. Right.

I think another question to ask, too, is if there is interest in an ordinance for a moratorium, because it is related to planning and zoning, does it have to go through planning and zoning first before it comes to the commission? Or can it be something passed directly by this board? I guess that's another question to ask on that, too. I don't know the answer to that, but just something to find out.

So where do we go with that to get those answers? I mean, time is, it would be really good to know before we start making decisions that we're making decisions that may have an impact. Otherwise. Yeah, I'll try to drill that down before the August meeting. Super. Yeah, I think that's important to know before we.

I would appreciate that, too, because I believe I've asked you these questions. What's that? I BELIEVE I'VE ASKED YOU SOME OF THESE QUESTIONS, TOO, AND IN MY CONVERSATIONS WITH PEOPLE RELATED TO THE PUC OFFICE, YOU KNOW, THEY GAVE ME DIRECTIONS AS FAR AS WHO TO CONTACT.

YEAH, THEY'RE NOT MAYBE AS FORTHCOMING ON SOME OF THIS STUFF, BUT WE'LL DO OUR BEST TO TRY TO TRACK THAT DOWN.

SO ON THE TABLE IS THE MOTION TO REORGANIZE THE Do we have any other comments on the reorganization of the committee?

I just want to state that to those of you that are here with that concern, we're not trying to skirt something. We're not trying to go around it. We're trying to be more efficient and do due diligence. You said you wanted to make sure that there's the proper amount of research done on this. And I do too. I don't want to make a knee jerk reaction.

I want to make sure we have the right decision, so we hear you Yeah, we do have comment come up to the microphones Dual County has already put the 2,000-foot setback in. I handed Stacy another copy. I've given copies since March, guys. What more do you need? 2,000-foot setback, that's all we're asking. There's nothing more to it.

My question is, is that effective with the POC? Can they override that?

No, they don't typically override the county's ordinance once it's set in place. That's why it's so important to have the ordinance in place prior to the filing for the 765. That's why I'm so adamant about this, guys. It is the way it is. PUC follows the county because they figure that the county has done the research already and not sitting on it. You have the ordinance. All we have to do is lock arms with what Dual County did. They did the research. They had the attorneys and everything come and write it. Please, do just mirror theirs. Lock arms with the county above us. That's all I'm asking. It's not taking it out of play. It's putting a 2,000 foot setback from a resident that is living in that space. 2,000 foot, that's not even a quarter of a mile. Do you know how big those things are? They have power coming off of them. You have no idea what you're opening yourself up to. 2,000 foot is nothing because the cardiologist in Minnesota that's fighting this, who is coming through his land, a cardiologist says it should be a 3.1 mile. And by the way, you're on the subcommittee. I put all these things into play. You should have read them.

I did.

Good, then you should be making a decision. All we're asking for is an ordinance for a 2,000 foot setback. If there's something better, go for it. But a 2,000 foot ordinance that dual county has already passed, you have to do two readings before that can come into play. The PUC will take what the county says. Trust me, they've already done it multiple times. If you want to know, ask Marina Osbush who is doing that at Dual County. She's very knowledgeable because she's dealt with all those things The PUC always takes precedence with what the county has in place. That's why it's so important to have the ordinance in place before the filing. Once the filing is done, you're done. The PUC can do the wishy-washy stuff like Dan is saying. If the ordinance is in place, they will take the ordinance in. that the county has in place. And like I said, it's not saying that you can't have it. There's an exclusion if you read that. If a landowner, if this thing comes through and a landowner actually wants it, they can sign off that they're okay with it 500 feet away, fully knowing that this is a cancer-causing situation. But a 2,000 foot setback from a residence is nothing.

Thank you, Sue.

Yes, any other questions? Because I've done multiple, I've done hours and hours of research.

And we have, I know I have received your information.

Yep, and I sent you guys this morning, at about two in the morning, I sent you the map, and I have one here, about the three things in Brookings County laid out with what this looks like. And most of the county, because of these three projects, is involved.

Thank you. Yes. So on the restructuring of the subcommittee, do we have any other comments?

I'd just encourage to have a meeting as soon as possible, I guess.

Okay. Hearing no other comments, call the roll, please.

Post. Aye. Miller. Aye. Jensen.

Aye.

Hossler.

Aye.

Motion carries.

All right. Letter F, action to appoint a member of the Brookings Human Rights Commission. I know we have received two applications. This was on the agenda for our last meeting and we received another application Before or after the time to be able to post it so that we did move that to this meeting Do we have any any? comments from the board or anything about the applications or the Any concerns questions Comments that the board wants to wants to make about any of the two candidates I would

MOVED TO THAT WE PLACE JEFF STRUY ON THE COMMITTEE.

I WOULD SECOND THAT.

SO WE DO HAVE COMMENTS ON THIS MOTION.

I'VE RECEIVED LOTS OF E-MAILS, MOST OF THEM IN FAVOR OF JEFF. public input. I've had many phone calls in favor of Jeff as well. I've not received a couple emails. I think there was two in favor of Aaron, who I believe has a spot on the board now. I guess my thing is that it's my impression that the majority of the population has, or my input anyway, is for Jeff. That's where I'm at with that.

I researched a little bit into the Human Rights Convention, and I got the resolution that they used to help form it. Gave me a text. I don't talk into the mic well enough So I'll move over here, but out of the resolution it says right in there that Whereas the city of Brookings draws strength from the diversity of its residents age ethnicity gender gender identity language nationality physical mental and developmental abilities race religion sexual orientation skin color and social economical status political ideology and perspective That's one of their And then the corresponding section two down here at the bottom, the City of Brookings reaffirms its commitment to uphold justice, provide equality and opportunity for all, actively encourage all voices to be heard, promote inclusion, and oppose acts of intolerance or discrimination. So based on that and looking at the current members of the Brookings Human Rights Council, I would say that Jeff definitely represents disaffected population on that commission and His views would be adequate to represent the entire county on that Commission, so I guess that's that's where I'm coming from on that nomination of him And the other factor was yeah our other nominee is currently serving as a position on there, so it's not like we're denying a the ability to serve on there. She does have some capacity that she's serving on there.

Like advisor? Is that, I think, something like that? A past member and advisor or something.

So I think is... Yeah.

I know... One of my big things for this is we want somebody that will represent everybody, have an open mind, be able to have good positive discussions that represent the entirety of Brookings County. It's not It's not a committee just to represent one area of our community, but it needs to be somebody that's very positive and will ask the hard questions and can talk and can compromise when needed because we find way too long that that does not happen.

I agree with fellow commissioners. Jeff's very adamant about the issues that he speaks about. I think he'll do the research and do a good job.

I would agree with that. Jeff is very passionate about what he does and that.

He's shown a willingness to serve the public. He's been before us many times and he has that service. I appreciate that.

Do we have any other comments? Hearing none. All those in favor of appointing Jeff Struy to the Human Rights Commission in the Brookings County spot signify by saying aye. Aye. Opposed say nay. Motion carries. Letter G. Action to declare a check printer as surplus property to be disposed of. Do I have a motion to approve?

Motion to approve. Second.

Motion to second. Comments? Done. Call all those in favor signify by saying aye.

Aye.

Opposed say nay. Motion carries. Letter H. Action to approve request to fill vacancy for a heavy equipment operator in the highway department. Do I have a motion to approve?

So moved.

Second. Motion is second. Any comments?

We have a recent announcement of a retirement. Sorry.

No.

Due for retirement? Correct. Yep. Do I have any other comments? Hearing none, all those in favor signify by saying aye. Opposed say nay. Motion carries. Letter I. Action to approve a request to fill vacancy for an equipment operator in the highway department.

Motion approved.

Second. Motion is second. Comments?

We intend to promote from within So there will be an opening Promote from within to fill the heavy equipment spot, and then there'll be an opening on the Equipment operator position Any other comments All those in favor signify by saying aye no opposed say nay most carries I

Letter J, action to appoint Sergeant Tom Chester to the BCOAC Advisory Board as a law enforcement representative. Do I have a motion to approve?

So moved. Second.

Motion to second. Any comments?

The advisory board for the VCOAC includes a law enforcement representative that has been Sheriff Stanwyck since we purchased the facility and created this board about nine years ago now. He is now requesting that Sergeant Chester be appointed to that position on the board.

Any other comments? All those in favor signify by saying aye. Opposed say nay. carries number nine commission department director report I

The agenda for next Wednesday's 10-county or the Sioux Valley Commissioners Association meeting, that was included with my report. That meeting is going to be held in Bryant at Our Redeemer Lutheran Church. It's right on Highway 28. I know the address isn't that. It's kind of a side street, but it's right on Highway 28, right on the east side of Bryant when you come into town. I do have the Durango reserved for those of us. Do you want to ride in it? Larry, yes. Dave, no. Then I'll visit with Kelly about that as well. That is that. Then fall convention here is coming up in a little over a month down in Sioux Falls. I do have hotel rooms reserved, I think, for everyone for Monday and Tuesday nights. I need to know who plans to stay, if I need to cancel some reservations, if you plan to stay. Do you plan to stay both nights, Larry, both nights? You want Monday and Tuesday night? Okay, then I'll confirm with Kelly as well. Perfect. That's easy enough. The other thing I wanted to discuss was we do have... a number of items here uh... and we talked about doing a supplemental budget for the generators for the elkton ambulance that we had approved earlier this year and then at the special meeting that we had last thursday i had discussed some work in the dome of the courthouse as well as some bat mitigation at the courthouse I guess just kind of looking for some direction as far as doing a supplemental budget versus using contingency. So for supplemental budget, that would be basically pulling the money out of our fund balance and using it that way versus using our budgeted contingency. I would suggest, I guess my suggestion is doing a supplemental budget for sure for the two generators. They're a little higher dollar amounts. Possibly, I would definitely suggest using contingency for the dome and the bats, and then I had mentioned earlier with the design arc fees for that. I guess I'm just looking for direction on Elkton Ambulance, how you want to handle that, if you want to use contingency or do a supplemental budget for that. Contingency, we have about $683,000. We haven't spent any of that. We usually do that towards the end of the year. as we look at budgets and see who may need contingency. I'm not too concerned at this point with using some of that now to get these items paid for. We would need to do basically a contingency resolution to do that, but I guess I'm looking for directions. So my thoughts are to use contingency for The dome, that's about $8,800. The bat mitigation at $14,300. Design arc fees of $30,000. And then the Elkton ambulance is the one I'm questioning. That's about $22,600. That we already paid for, actually, out of the sheriff's budget. We would supplement that back, but. But the generators I think we'll do a supplemental budget for. Any concern about or any direction on Elkton Ambulance?

That would probably be one to put on the supplemental budget as well.

Supplemental budget?

Is there a possibility on the Commissioner's Special Projects?

We don't have any money budgeted for that. in commissioned special projects. That would be a supplemental budget basically if we do it that way. Yeah. So contingency for the dome, the bats, the design arc fees and then supplemental for ambulance and the generators. Okay that's good direction there. Then other than that I have just dates. 4-H Achievement Days is going on right now as we speak out at the Dakota Bank Center this week. The barbecue is Thursday evening. Tonight is National Night Out over in Volga from 5-8 there on their main street. As I had mentioned, next Wednesday the 12th is the Sioux Valley Commissioners Association, our 10-county meeting, and Commissioners Jensen and Miller and then Commissioner VanderWaller all signed up for that. A golf outing on the 13th. Also on the 13th is the scheduled 765 subcommittee meeting, 730 here in this room. Here coming up, it's getting closer and closer now, the August 27th Conservation District Tour. I believe we typically meet at 8 o'clock out at their shop north of town on 42nd Street. We meet about 8 o'clock, we take off about 8.15. We're back, we have a little lunch, and so we usually wrap up about 12.30, 1 o'clock that day. And then just a little bit further out, Labor Day is the 7th this year, and then Fall Convention is I have Monday, that's the golf outing for those of us participating in that. Otherwise, the convention itself is the 15th and 16th down at the Ram Kota in Sioux Falls. And that's all I have unless you have questions for me.

Anybody have anything for Stacy? All right. State's Attorney Officer report. Moving to 11, Commissioner reports. Commissioner Post.

Nothing to report other than fielding lots of emails and phone calls from citizens throughout the last couple weeks. is great to hear all their input. One thing that I would, if Mondale can get this into his next library story, that I really encourage those people that are questioning some of the positions held here, and some of the commenters that we've had, that they go and check out these books in the library themselves and read that material if they're not familiar with it already. And I would ask them if they overheard a stranger reading these books to their kid or grandkid or whoever it might be, if they would be at all unease at that. So, thank you very much.

All right, Commissioner Miller. Okay, short report from me. The meeting on the 30th to canvass the votes. Other than that I again have lots of emails and phone calls in the last two weeks. That's good.

I appreciate people reaching out Commissioner Jensen on the 21st after a commission meeting about I went out and attended the next era energy open house at the McCourty Gardens I had a lot of information there maps of There are projects within the county. It was all pretty good information. I was able to ask questions. I was about the only one there at the time. I went late in the day. On the 22nd, progress meeting at Samara Avenue. The 25th, participating in the Bruce Parade and some of the events up there the next morning at Legion Breakfast. On July 30th, we canvassed the votes here after the the election on the 31st. Received a call from the city of Aurora asking about the process of lowering speed limits through Aurora and I relayed the information to Marty and I think Marty and Brian are working on that. And attended Aurora gala days last weekend. That's all I have.

Alright, and yeah, so mine on the 27th. I I had a meeting with Commissioner Vander wall Stacy and Asia and Sam I got her name right. I hopefully she's listening about library discussion You know it that is of course we've had a lot of those emails and and and people reaching out more lately on the the other side too. It hasn't been so one sided. So I really appreciate I think of course today we had a lot of people in attendance and I appreciate the feedback that we're getting. Again you know we are a very small portion of that budget and From the beginning, I've really stressed to all parties involved to go to the city council, go to the library, attend their meetings, let your voices be heard to the individuals that can actually make the changes that are talked about and then on the other side, if they're doing a good job, have those voices be heard too. So you know I really appreciate everybody's involvement Later that day on the 27th had a committee meeting for the growth alliance and and then on the 28th I attended a zoom rural tribal assistance program kickoff that that was held with our with our grant for the 214-16A money to go to the, hopefully, as Brian said, the next five to 10 years, hopefully we can get that so that that is a very good thoroughfare from Brookings from the interstate to Aurora on that south side. I attended that meeting kick off on the 28th of course. It was election night. I came and watched the votes come in and the tabulator and ballots all counted and everything. It was a quick one. Very, very thankful to the finance office. You guys did a great job that night. And then on the 30th, of course, we did have that commission meeting and canvas election that we were intending here. So that is my report. Number 12, we do have executive session in accordance with SDCL 125.2 parentheses 4 for contract negotiations. I would look for a motion to enter into executive session.

Second.

Motion and a second. All in favor signify by saying aye.

Aye.

Opposed say nay. We are in executive session. Thank you.