County Commission - Regular Meeting

the meeting to order and we'll begin with the pledge of allegiance. I pledge algiance 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. Okay. Item number three on the agenda is the approval of the agenda. Are there any additions or corrections to the agenda? Do [snorts] I have a motion to approve the agenda? So moved. Second.

Whoa. Who was that? Post. And then Miller seconded. Okay. Excellent. You all sound the same. Motion carried. [snorts] Number four on the agenda is the reorganization of the board. First up is the election of a chairperson for 2026. Does anyone have a motion for an appointment that they would like to make? I would like to nominate Sean Hustler for that position. I have an appointment a motion for an appointment of Shan Hustler made by Kelly Vanderwal. Second.

Second made by Larry by Jensen by for the appointment of Sean Hustler to the chairman of the board. All those in favor say I. I. Opposed. All right, Mr. Hler, the meeting is now yours. All right. Number B on the agenda, uh, action to appoint a vice chair for 2026. Do I have any nominations? I would like to nominate Commissioner Vanderwal. Vice

have a nomination for Vanderwal and a second. Any other nominations? We'll close them. All in favor say I. I. I. Opposed. Congratulations. Number five on the agenda is invitation for a citizen to schedule time on the commission agenda for an item not listed. [snorts] There is a 5m 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 the agenda item. Any requested actions action items may be scheduled for a future meeting date. And I do not believe we have anybody signed in. [snorts] Number six on the agenda, consent agenda items. This includes the minutes, travel and education requests, personal action items, cellular cellular authorizations, and human services reports. Do I have a motion?

So move. Second. I have a motion and a second. Any comments? [snorts] Go ahead and call the role, please. Vanderwal. Hi. Post. Hi. Miller. Hi. Jensen. Hi, Hustler. Hi. Motion carries. All right. Number seven on the agenda, routine business. Uh, approval of the claims. Motion to approve. Second. I have a motion in a second. Any comments? [snorts] Hearing none. Call the role, please. Post. I. Miller. Hi. Jensen. I. Vanderwal. Hi. Hustler. Hi. Motion carries.

All right. Letter B. Department head reports. We'll start off with highway department. Good morning. Well, luckily uh Mother Nature's kept it pretty quiet out at the highway shop. We've been working on uh some tree removal. uh kind of started south of town and we're going to be working our way away around the county uh with the nice weather we have. And secondly here uh January 27th at 2:00 p.m. we're going to be talking about uh opening our annual bids. Um that advertisement here will be sent out at the end of the week and we'll be getting our annual bid process going.

All right. Good. Um, Brian, I was going to ask when uh we go to that, do you have like inventory totals that we have in inventory?

Yeah. Hold on one second. [snorts] Uh currently for our inventory at Barbs Park, uh 3/4 in gravel, we have about 2500 tons uh sitting down there. That's at the S curve at uh 77 and County Road 12. Uh chip rock, we have around 500 ton. Millings and gravel mixed about 1,500 ton. P rock 3000 ton oversized rip wrap 750 ton. Uh the corner over there on Everest on 34th Avenue oversized rip wrap red rocks about 3700 ton. Oversized uh rip wrap natural is 2,000 ton and then black clay we've got about 5,000 ton. Uh Davis Pit uh located by the Lindy Derry 3/4 inch gravel right around 14,000 ton. Uh Sky View we have 9,000 [snorts] tons sitting on the ground over there. Um sandbox up on Highway 30 3/4 gravel we have,000 tons sitting there. Millings gravel mixed about 3,500 tons and clay about 5,000 ton. And then Brew Shop black clay is about 4,000 ton. And the main reason we keep a lot of that stuff around is in case of emergency. Um I know there's been questions in the past, why won't we buy gravel every year? Well, if I have it sitting on the ground, I don't I don't need to buy it. We've already paid for it. Um we do try to keep those stock piles on the ground right around 3 years. have them used up by then so they don't start growing the

growing up with vegetation. Um the pits that we do have gravel in, we do have an agreement right in in the bid packet that says we can let it sit there for a period of 3 years. Uh we usually have it used up by then and then we'll have to buy new. And this year we'll we're probably going to be looking at buying some additional gravel. Uh obviously Perrock for our our chip seal projects will we buy on a yearly basis. Um and then the other part of the annual bid is uh uh our contractor services. If I put that in there mainly for the pure and simple fact if we do have an emergency and I would have to hire a contractor, we know their price. We can hand that to FEMA. Uh and it's all set in place. Not saying that we would need those services because we hope we don't have an emergency, but a lot of the times that's what we do the annual bids and services for. So, we have that set in in place.

Thank you. Any questions on anything else on the annual supplies and materials bid? Brian, could you make a copy of that and send it to me? Yes. And this was taken around in November. Uh obviously we haven't used any material so it's it's fairly accurate depending on the moisture. Only reason I ask is just so I get a better understanding of how that works. So sounds good. And when you do your annual bid, you may do say 30,000 ton north half of the county, south half the county. Yep. And those would be the purchase of 30,000 ton in that area.

In that area, you know, depending on where we're going to have a project, uh, we might specify more in one area. [clears throat]

Sorry, the mic cut out. We may specify more material on one side of the county than we would the other just based on proximity to the projects we're going to be working on. And then to follow that, the reason I do the annual supplies and materials bids first is we do hire our our chip sealing done. And as part of that uh bid for our chip seal, the contractor contractors have to pay excise tax on the material we use. So the road oil, the rock, they have to pay an excise tax. So, we need to have a a price set in line prior to bidding those projects so [snorts] they know what they're going to have to pay for excise tax. So, that's why you don't see any of the actual projects on the ground uh being bid until we get the annual supplies and materials bid complete.

All right. Very good. Anything else for Good information, Brian. Thank you. Thank you. Thanks, Brian, Sheriff.

Morning. Morning. Morning.

Just a quick quick overall of the jail is that at the present time we have 35 inmates. 21 of them are our inmates, uh, Brookings County charges. Uh, the US Marshall Service, we have 16 in there from the US Marshall Services. One from Dual County, one from the Flands, uh, tribe, one from Kingsbury, one from Hamlin. So, uh, numbers are down, which is is is good. I guess that means our crime is down hopefully. So, but that can change at any time. And with 24/7, that's still down, too. that I've talked about in the past too. There's 93 participants in the 247 and we've had as many as 170 in there pre you know previous years. So I mean that's down too but that that area still stays busy because there's 39 that are on PBT that come in twice a day. So that's 78 that come in and then there's uh uh there's six on remote breath, six on scam, there's 22 on UAS and they come in twice twice a week to uh give a sample and stuff. So that area always always stays busy. Um, [clears throat] also just uh what I'll probably do is probably at the next meeting is I'll probably do a end of the uh more of an end of the year report and then compare from the last three years uh on on statistics. But just a little bit uh from last year to this year in 2024 uh uh for inmate days in 2024 was 18,949 and inmate days in 2025 was uh 20,335. So we were up 1,36 more inmate days than than last year. Also, the calls for service is that in

2024, our calls for service was 6,664 and in 2025, our calls for service was 7,955. So, that's up. So, we had 1,291 more calls for service uh that the deputies handled. Um, also in our daily population in the jail in 2024 it was 51 inmates and in 2025 it was 55 inmates. So that went up. But what I'll do I'll do a three-year get more in depth in in it uh probably the next meeting. And I just thought I'd give you a little tidbit there. So we continue to stay busy. So anyway,

other than that, uh New Year's Eve was it was good and uh we've uh not had any any uh bad weather, you know, to so we we're got to knock on wood. I'll probably do myself in now when I say but the variable speed has kicked in a couple times. Um [snorts] uh it's been as low as 40 miles an hour. That one time we had a lot of ice and stuff. uh uh and that kicked in at 40 and then it's been down to like come down to 70 and so that's that that that is working. So anyway, who sets that? Who sets that? Who sets that speed limit when that changes? It's out of Aberdine and there's a guy that controls that. And

somebody here makes that call obviously. What's that? Somebody here locally. I mean the guy in Aberine. Well, what they do is they they get the data from from from uh uh they can tell when the cars start slowing down. So when the traffic starts slowing and everything else and then that Yeah. They can when the and that's when they went down to 40 cuz the cars were creeping on that that one ice when we had uh 100% ice out there. So it Okay.

It tracks all that and Yeah. So the cars were starting to slow down and and then the weather and the conditions and then what whoever you know so then they they make it then they have a scale on where where they put that speed limit. Do they have that on other parts of the interstate are you aware of? I've not seen that before. Are there any other areas on the interstate where they do that?

I'm not aware of any. It starts in Moody County about at 34 at highway 34 and then goes not quite to Dual County. So it's all, you know, a little bit in Moody County and then a little most of it's in Brookings County. But that's where their statistics is. That's when you when the highway patrol has their statistics, it shows that there's a lot of accidents and so forth in the Brookings County area, you know, from from especially in that Moody County Bridge area, you know, just coming into Brookings County and and so forth. So, okay. I'm sure there probably maybe someone I'm not aware of any place else that has the variable speed. So I apologize for not for some reason I'm not picking you when you're talking Dave. I apologize. No worries.

I'm I'm used to someone yelling at me. See you. So I always hear that. So [laughter] other than that unless you have some questions. No. Thank you. Thanks Sheriff. Thank you Marty. finance.

Good morning. Good morning.

Uh tax bills hit residents mailboxes yesterday, so we're popular. And um if you have a mortgage and um you've got one, it's it's a bill for your reference, you can just keep that. Your mortgage company will contact us for the tax amount that they need to be paying. Um also if you get one a tax bill and you have sold that property contact your more um closing agent as they will have um the information on who was credited and who needs to be paying those and sometimes they have that money that they will then apply. So um that's that I wanted to put point out a couple of states do you have control of the Um, a couple of the tax programs, um, disabled bet and surviving spouse property tax exemption. These are due to the director of equalization by November 1st, and you only have to apply for this program one time. It is not a yearly thing. And then we have the big changes this year in the senior citizen and disabled tax freeze assessment. The big change was the valuation criteria. It went up to $514,500. Um so that's a big jump. And then they also did raise income limits roughly $15,000. Single household income is 56,595. and a combined household income um is 668.885. So those are two of the programs that we see used in our county. Um I expect a

lot more activity with this senior citizens program now with those changes in value of the home and income. So questions on that can come to the finance office and that is a a yearly program. You have to apply for that every April. Do you have any ideas how much more participation we're going to have in that program? [snorts] No, not really.

Okay. Okay. And then I've got one more st and I will post the um information on our website and our Facebook page. So it is also election time. Um, we're starting full swing in our office and one of the first things of the year we do is publish this notice of deadline for filing nomination petitions for both the primary election and independent candidates. This tells what positions are open for the election and it also tells the deadlines that they are due. Um, if you're running a partisan ticket, they are due March 28th. If you're running independent, it would be April um 28th, March 31st, excuse me, and April 28th. Um just to highlight some of the positions, county commissioner race, we have three openings to run for. Um they are four-year terms. Commissioner Jensen, Hustler, and Vanderwal have terms that expire this year. We have the county sheriff position that's open to run for and this is a four-year term. We have the county finance officer position to run for. This will be a two-year term with a four-year term following. We have the register of deed position that's open to run for and that is also a four-year term. We have the coroner that is a I believe a four-year term. We have a Republican delegates to the state convention. We have precinct committee men and women for the Republican party. And there's also other district and state positions listed in here. [snorts] Petitions for these can be obtained at the finance office. You can go online to the Secretary of State's office or stop in there personally and peer. Um, and we will publish this twice in the local

papers this month and then also I will have this on our county website and our Facebook page. Any questions? Anything else for Lori? Just one thing to add to the um that notice of deadline. I did add uh conservation district supervisor. There are two positions open. So I did update that. So that will get included in the when we publish. It's not listed on Lor's right now, but it it will be updated and sent out to the papers. All right. Can you explain the two-year finance deal to the four-year?

You weren't expecting that one. I know. Um, when an elected official decides to retire, if [clears throat] they retire at a time that allows that position to go on to that coming year's election ballot, that's what is supposed to be done. Um, I do expect to leave office this coming year sometime between tomorrow and January 1st of 2027. Um, I spoke with Secretary of State's office and with Dan on this and I will provide of course written um resignation with plenty of time when when that when I figure out when that's going to be. Um, this allows that position to get filled and then get back on its normal cycle in on the four-year rotation. Um, this is also how I came into office with the two-year and then the four-year. So,

okay, congratulations. Congratulations. Wow. That is exciting time, huh? I've been here since 1990. So, my my used by fresh date has come and gone, I think. [laughter] All right. Good. Anything else for Lori? Thank you, Lori. Good. Thank you, Lori. Bob with County Development. Good morning. and happy new year. Morning. Morning, Bob.

First thing I got is at the last meeting there was a question about uh fund item 22642224293 disaster recovery. You asked the question, Commissioner Miller specifically, and that $14,260 out of that fund was for our pre- disaster mitigation plan that we had the fund and then and then we get reimbursed and then that goes into the general fund, not back into that. So, that's where that money went. Thank you.

You're welcome. We've had uh we're working on the Big Sue River drainage project and our contractors sent out some correspondence. Each each commissioner should have got a letter from them to ask for replies and they also sent letters out to the surrounding neighbors and we're they're starting to get some of those back. So I'm I some of the correspondence is uh [clears throat] it's going to require some discussion. So I'm I'm want to determine do we want to have a meeting or or when would you like to have a drainage board meeting so we could discuss that? you want to have it after a regular county commission meeting in the future or

that's typically what we do with drainage board is we just add it we just adjourn as the county commission reconvene as the drainage board and have it just as part of a regularly scheduled Tuesday so we can do that whenever and whenever you Bob are ready to yeah you know we we need to do it enough time so we can notify all the people that sent letters some of saying that they haven't been been aware of some of the meetings we've had. So, we don't want to have it maybe next meeting, but maybe the meeting meeting after so we can get all the notifications out. That was I was going to ask Bob when do you think how long would you put out there for responses? So maybe not next meeting but meeting after,

you know, maybe at the first meeting in February if if um Commissioner Director Stephen thinks that we can fit it in. Okay, we'll schedule out for that time then.

Okay. Thank you. Uh our next PPC meeting is this Thursday, January 8th, and um that's 12:00 over at the hospital meeting room. Uh and then on Brookings stay at the cap. I do plan on driving uh county vehicle out, but I do not stay for the evening events. I need to number one, my vehicle's got a radio in case I need to be be called back and I just don't like to stay late at night over in Pier. So if anyone wants a ride going to to the Brookings Day at the Capitol from from the county, let me know and I'll be more than happy to share the ride. And that's all I have this time. Any questions?

Anything for Bob? Thank you. Thank you, Bob. Thanks, Bob.

All right, moving on. We do not have a number eight scheduled agenda item. Number nine, regular business. Letter A, first reading of ordinance 26-01, an ordinance providing for the adoption of the 2021 international [snorts] building code and 2021 international residential code. [snorts] This is the first action uh first reading only. Uh note the date and time of the second uh reading is Tuesday, January 20 20th at 9:00 a.m. [snorts] Moving on to number B. Action to approve resolution 2601, a resolution setting pay for election election officials in 2026. Do I have a motion to approve?

So moved. Second. Motion and a second. Uh any comments hearing? None. Call the role, please. Miller, I. Jensen, hi. Vanderwal. Hi. Post. Hi. Hustler. Hi. Motion carries. All right. Letter C. Action to approve le resolution 26-02, resolution setting vote center locations for countywide elections. [snorts] Do I have a motion to approve? Motion to approve. Second. Motion in a second. Any comments?

Uh the only comment I would have to make is that we are switching up the location in Bruce. Um, in the past we've typically held the elections at the Bruce Community Room, which is just off their uh, city hall building. Um, we've outgrown that space and they hold a lot of their meetings there. So, we are going to go up the street just north about a half a block. Um, and we're going to utilize their community club, which is a beautiful space and it's going to work very well for us. um and they have been using their new club center for a lot of different um events and so we'll just have to make sure that we uh communicate that to um the residents there in Bruce and I don't think that we'll have any um I don't think we'll have any issues and we'll definitely make sure that we post something at the old location that we're no longer there to go to the community club and that is where they can go vote otherwise the The rest of the locations are the same as they were in previous years.

All right. Any other comments? Hearing none. Call the role, please. Jensen. I. Vanderwal. Hi. Post. Hi. Miller. Hi. Hustler. Hi. Motion carries. All right. Letter D. Action approve resolution 26-03. resolution setting meet setting meeting pay and perdm rates for volunteer county boards in 2026. Do I have a motion to approve? So moved. Second motion and a second. Any comments? Hearing none. Call the role please. Vanderwal I. Post. Miller. Hi. Jensen. Hi. Hustler. Hi.

Motion carries. Letter E. Action to approve resolution 26-04, a resolution establishing hours of operation for the Brookings County offices. Do I have a motion to approve? So moved. Second. Motion in a second. Any comments? This just updates um the really the only changes to the weed and pest department updates that information. Okay. [snorts] Any other comments? Hearing none. Call the role, please. Post. I Miller. Hi, Jensen. Hi, Vanderwal. Hi, Hustler. Hi.

Motion carries. Letter F, action to approve abatement 25-16, an abatement application made by Courtney Shine for parcel number 40999-0000005- 030-00 in the amount of $218.54 plus a Brooking City special assessment of $1,78124. [clears throat] Do I have a motion to approve? So move. Second motion a second. Any comments? Hearing none. Call the role, please. Miller. I. Jensen. Hi. Vanderwal. Hi. Post. Hi. Hustler.

Hi. Motion carries. Letter G. Action to approve a agreement 26-01 the 2026 Roberts County Jail bed pdeium contract. Do I have a motion to approve? So moved. Second. Motion, a second comments. Sheriff, I know we we've had a it's a renewing contract, so we can use that as a backup. Uh it's a little less money. Uh that's why we did Beetle a contract with Beetle County, too. And also, it's a backup. Did this go up at all? Yeah, a little bit. Yeah. Okay. Any other comments? Hearing none. Call the RO, please. Jensen. Hi. Vanderwal. Hi. Post. Hi. Miller.

Hi, Hustler. Hi. Motion carries. Letter H, action to approve agreement 26-02, a juvenile detention center agreement between Brookings County and Beetle County. Do I have a motion to approve? Motion to approve. Second. Motion and a second. Comments. Again, this is the second year. We have not used Beetle County. We have used Roberts County, uh, but we've not used Beetle. So that's just another backup for us if we do need juvenile services. Kind of juvenile services across border going up, aren't they? Yes. Yeah. Still cheaper than Yes.

Yes. Any other comments? Hearing none. Call the role, please. Vanderbal. I. Post. Hi. Miller. Hi. Jensen. I. Hustler. Hi. Motion carries. Letter I. Action to approve agreement 26-03, an election agreement for Brookings County. Do I have a motion to approve? So moved. Second. Motion and a second. Comments.

This is a result of a meeting we had with um the Brookings City and Brookings School District on what we were going to charge or how we were going to go forward with elections after the recent law change. Um, this is a result of that and we need your approval on this agreement so that we can then proceed to give it to entities that want to take part in an election with us. It is kind of a blanket agreement that would work for any of the entities. They would all get this same agreement. We would just fill it in. Um and so once we get approval from you on this, we will proceed to give it to those entities that wanted to combine elections so that their boards can then act on it.

Okay. Any other comments, concerns? Hearing none. Call the role, please. Post. I. Miller. I. Jensen. Hi. Vanderwal. Hi. Hustler. Hi. Motion carries. Letter [snorts] J, action to approve agreement 26-04, a short form of agreement between the Brookings County Highway Department and Banner Associates, Inc. for design and bidding services for SN06-153-2000. Do I have a motion to approve? So moved. Second. Motion and a second. comments.

These few agreements that you guys are going to see here are for design ready bid packages for uh these three structures. Um which would make us eligible to be able to apply for a replacement grant uh in January of 2027. Okay. I see the rates on the um hours of service vary quite a bit. Is that just depending on the I think it's the complexity of the structure and who they have to have involved who and all these rates are um pre-approved by the DOT or the

correct correct. Okay. Any other comments, questions? Yeah, just to follow up on that, that was my question, too. Is this a monopoly where we've only got one place to go for this or is there a bidding process? And if it's a state established rates, then that's

all these uh uh consultant engineers do have to be uh approved by the state. So, we do have to select off of a list, which we normally do when we select for our bridge uh inspection program, which will be coming up here. Uh that will be put in front of you commissioners. Um they do have to have be on the approved list to provide those inspections and that that time that's when those rates are submitted to the DOT. for approval.

Do you know what kind of hoops they have to jump through to get approved for that list? I am not sure. Okay. All right. Any other comments hearing? None. Call the RO, please. Miller. Hi. Jensen. Hi. Vanderwal. Hi. Post. Hi. Hustler. Hi. Motion carries. Letter K. Action to approve agree agreement 25-05. a short form agreement between the Brookings County Highway Department and Banner Associates, Inc. for design and bidding services for SN03 06-248-040. Do I have a motion to approve? So move. Second.

Motion and a second. Comments. Same as last hearing. None. Call the RO, please. Jensen. I. Vanderwal. Hi. Post. Hi. Miller. Hi. Hustler. Hi. Motion carries. Letter L. Action to approve agreement 26-06, a short form of agreement between the Brookings County Highway Department and Banner Associates, Inc. for design and bidding services for SN06-320-235. Do I have a motion to approve? Second. Motion in a second. Comments, same thing. Call the RO, please. Vanderwal. I. Post. Hi Miller. Hi Jensen. Hi Hustler.

Hi. Motion carries. Letter M. Action to approve the Brookings Register, Vulga Tribune, Tri City Star, and Elkton Record as the legal papers for Brookings County in 2026. Do I have a motion to approve? So moved. Second. Motion and second. Comments. This is done annually um at the first meeting of January of every year where we list the newspapers um for that will be considered legal papers for the county for next year or for this year. All right. Any other comments? Hearing none. Uh all in favor signifi signify by saying I.

I. All opposed. Motion carried. Letter N. Action to approve the official depositories for Brookings County funds and monies for 2026 as follows. Richland State Bank, Bankstar Financial, Citizen State Bank, First Bank and Trust of Brookings, Dakota Bank, First Interstate Bank, and Central Bank. Do I have a motion to approve? So moved. Second. Motion and a second. Any comments? Hearing none. All in favor signify by saying I. I. Oppose say nay.

Motion carries. Letter O. Action to approve the rural access infrastructure funding applications for 2026. Do I have a motion to approve? So move. Second. Actually, we need to do these one at a time. Okay. [snorts] So number one, Aurora Township. Do I have a motion to approve? So moved. Second. Motion a second. Any comments? Hearing none. Call the role, please. Post. I. Miller. Hi. Jensen. Hi. Vanderwal. Hi. Hostler. I. Motion carries.

Number two, Ara Township. Do I have a motion to approve? So moved. Second. Motion in a second. Any comments? I just like to ask a question. all these Stacy um you guys have went through all these and everybody is um satisfactory done everything in order to be approved. Yes. Yep.

And I I reviewed all of them. I visited each site and uh verified off of our RAF inventory, rural access infrastructure inventory that's on the state website. I verified that these structures were indeed in poor condition. And also, uh, if I did have questions with the township, I reached out to them, um, to make sure that what they're filling out on their application was what they were actually intending to replace uh, or increase the size. So, there was instances where I I did reach out to them. Um, so there was a little leg work done on that, but I recommended all these for approval to Stacy.

The question, Brian, what at what time do you meet with the contractor then before before they start the proc uh construction or during the the whole

that's the that's the intention. I do ask the townships that they have the contractor reach out to me. uh most of the time uh you know pipes already on the ground um prior to the con start of the project and I can kind of verify what they put in but I do go through and review at the end of the project uh one their bills and then two the the actual install on the ground and then a little background now we are going back through our previous year's projects and actually reinventoring them to put on the RAF website to update that.

Okay. Very good. All right. Any other comments? This for Eureka. Call the role, please. Miller. Hi. Jensen. I. Vanderwal. I. Post. I. Hustler. Hi. Motion carries. Number three. Laketon Township number one. Do I have a motion to approve? Some moved. Second. Motion in a second. Any comments on this hearing? None. and call the role, please. Jensen, I. Vanderwal, hi. Post, hi. Miller, hi. Hustler, I. Motion carries. Number four, Lakeon Township. Number two. Do I have a motion to approve? So moved. Second.

Motion a second. Any comments on this? Hearing none. Call the role, please. Vanderwal. I. Post. Hi. Miller. Hi. Jensen. Hi. Hustler. Hi. Motion carries. Letter five. Oak Lake Township number one. Do I have a motion to approve? So moved. Motion. Do I have a second? Second. Motion and a second. Any comments? Hearing none. Call the role, please. Post. I. Miller. I. Jensen. Hi. Vanderwal. Hi. Hustler. I. Motion carries. Letter six. Oaklake Township number two. Do I have a motion to approve? Motion to approve. Second.

Motion in a second. Any comments on this one? I'd just like to thank the township u individuals for putting this. We have six townships that u applied for this. I want to thank Stacy and Brian for their hard work as well. Just just put Brookings County in a good spot to maintaining our township roads. I just want to say thanks to those folks. Any other comments? Call the role, please. Miller. Hi. Johnson. Hi. Vanderwal. Hi. Post. Hi. Hustler. Hi. Motion carries. All right. Number seven, Oak Lake Township number three. Do I have a motion to approve? So moved.

Second. Motion in a second. Any comments? Call the role, please. Jensen. Hi. Vanderwal. Hi. Post. Hi. Miller. Hi. Hustler. Hi. Motion carries. All right. Number eight, Sterling Township. Do I have a motion to approve? So moved. Second. Motion in a second. Any comments? Hearing none. Call the role, please. Vanderwall. Hi. Post. Hi. Miller. Hi. Jensen. Hi. Hustler. Hi. Motion carries. And number nine, Vulga Township. Do I have a motion to approve? So moved. Second. Motion in a second. Any comments? Hearing none. Call the role, please. Post. I. Miller.

Hi. Jensen. Hi. Vanderwal. Hi. Hustler. I. Motion carries. All right. Thank you.

I'd like just to point out on the on the screen um that was included in your packet just some of the kind of the synopsis of what we've done. Um we received our initial funding for this program, the rural access infrastructure program in 2022. Received some initial funding then. Um we approved our first applications in 23. So here in 26, this will be the fourth year of this program. And you can see there kind of the revenue that we've got that we've received from the state um actual expenses that we have seen if um uh you know if we if we uh have this um hopefully um we have just under a million dollars still left to spend. So you know this is all state money. This is all money that has to be used for township culvert projects. So, um, again, we encourage townships to do this. I do reach out to them all in like June, I believe. I tried to do that so that they have time to meet the deadlines for this program, but we've had pretty good, uh, we've had a lot of success with the with the townships that have been participating in this. So, um, again, if there's townships that have questions, just reach out. I'm more than happy to sit down and visit with you about this program where, see if you can take advantage of it. Um, I think it'd be interesting to or beneficial to have this spreadsheet at the town's township meeting and show uh townships that attend how much has been spent in each township and the benefits of it also.

Yes. Yes. Is there any indication that the state will be providing to refill this fund or is it a one-time and done or

um you know they've they've given some money here over their you know early 22 23 24 I don't know that there's any indication that they're going to continue to fund this. I've even heard that if after so many years if the money isn't spent they'll ask for it back. Um so we do keep this and it's it's in a completely separate fund. these the these monies can stay completely separate from any other funds that we have with the county. So, um no no indication that there's more money coming down the road. If anything, I'm afraid that they would probably take it back. So, that's why um I'm we're more than happy to get this money spent with these townships so that if and when that does happen, we've tried to do as much as we can here in Brookings County to help those townships out. Yeah, I think if we if we do bring this to the town and town townships meeting, it might maybe encourage more of our townships to take a harder look and and help out with that. So,

use it or lose it. Yep. I appreciate all your guys' work. Thank you very much. All right, moving on. Letter P, action to approve a request to fill vacancy for four temporary election workers in the finance department. Do I have a motion to approve? So [snorts] moved. Second. motion in a second. Any comments?

Uh, the only comment I I guess I think that we would make um is this would be for the finance office to hire up to four temporary election workers. Um, these folks help our office with the absentee voting that goes on prior to the primary and the general election and they're much needed. So, we appreciate it. Yes. Any other comments hearing? None. All in favor signify by saying I. I. Oppose say nay.

Motion carries. Letter Q. Action to approve cell phone re reimbursements for the 2026. Do I have a motion to approve? So moved. Second. Second. I have a motion and a second. Any comments? This list is presented every year um at this time and then any new authorizations are approved individually throughout the year but this is the cumul cumulative list that you see the beginning of each year. All right. Any other comments, additional comments? Hearing none. All in favor signify by saying I.

I post say nay. Motion carries. Letter R. action to approve the Brookings County Media Relations Policy. Do I have a motion to approve? So move. Second. Motion and a second. Comments.

So, this was brought to our attention when we had our recent uh safety or our loss control um walkth through with safety benefits throughout the county. And the one thing they suggested that we we get in place is a media relations policy. So, I drafted this policy. Um, states attorney Dan Nelson has reviewed this and so then this would um help with our compliance with our loss control survey.

Sheriff, did you have something like this that it kind of goes by? Anything like that? Yeah. Does it mirror it pretty much? Okay. All right. Any other comments? So, this is a liability thing. Somebody says the wrong thing and we get sued. Correct. Is there an enforcement mechanism to it? I guess I didn't catch that when I browsed through it, but I didn't. I think there was on the on the bottom. Compliance failure to do with the policy may result in corrective action. [snorts] Any other comments? Hearing none. All in favor signify by saying I.

I. All oppose say nay. Motion carries. Letter S, action to approve the exempt employee compensation policy in in 27 pay periods years. Motion to approve. So moved. Second.

Motion and a second. Any comments? uh at at the last meeting um it was brought to your attention that 2026 will have 27 pay periods. you assigned some dollars then at year end to cover to cover that 27th pay period and then just due to the timing of that uh working with HR and payroll exempt staff and this only affects really exempt staff um we're given the option uh this time for 2026 to either be paid over 26 or 27 pay periods in 2026. However, um when this happens again in the future, we wanted to set a policy um that would establish that it would be paid over 27 pay periods. Um again, states attorney Dan Nelson has reviewed this policy. This only happens about once every 11 years. So, um, it's not something that is happens often, but we wanted to have this policy in place moving forward after 2026. So, there are no questions again.

All right. Any additional comments? Hearing none. All in favor signify by saying I. I. Oppose say nay. Motion carries. Letter T, discussion and action to approve board assignments and liaison assignments for 2026. Do I have a motion to approve? Do we not? Okay. Discuss it first. Okay. I didn't know if we had to do that or not. All right. Does everybody have a copy of that? All right. So,

so basically what what you've done in the past is just gone kind of down the list and you know filled in we'll fill in those names and then at the end you make a motion to approve the entire list. All right. So I guess first on the list uh BCOAC advisory board which is monthly there's two positions. Um I can continue to stay on mine. Uh, Commissioner Jensen's on the other side. Yep. You want to stay on that one, too? So, that one's there. The next one is Brookings Area Transit Authority, the Ba Beta. Um, that's a quarterly. Um, Commissioner Miller, you're on that.

I'd stay on that one. Stay on that one. Okay. [snorts] And then we also have Brookings Regional uh Railroad Authority as needed. You're on that as well, Mr. Comm Commissioner Miller, you want to stay on that one, too? I'm okay with that. Yep. Okay. I'll keep the other one. And we have the other one. Okay. And then we do have uh Brookings Economic Development Corp. which uh that has dissolved which it turned into the Brookings Regional Growth Alliance. Um that's their legal name and I serve on that and so I can stay on that one as well. Commissioner Hustler, can you repeat the name of that again?

Oh, absolutely. It's the Brookings Regional Growth Alliance. [snorts] They have not uh created their DBA yet. So, that is that merged organization with the chamber BDC visit and downtown. [snorts] Then we have to keep that alternate. Then we have an alternate for that. You want to keep that one? Yes. Okay. Uh, next we have Brookings County Extension Board Quarterly. Uh, Commissioner Post, you were on that last year. Yep. I'll keep that there. You want to keep that one? Okay.

Uh, domestic abuse shelter. I was on that one, but I'd be willing to uh give that one up if anybody has any interest. I would have interest in that one. Okay. So, we'll change that to Commissioner Miller. [snorts] [cough] And then we have Brookings Behavioral Health and Wellness Board. Commissioner Miller, you were on that one last year. Yes, I would like to stay on that one. Continue on that one. Okay. It's a good board.

Uh, East Central Regional Communication Council. Looks like I get put on that one being the chair. Um, and then Commissioner Vanderwal being vice. So that is one change and then first district associated for local governments quarterly commissioner Vanderwal want to remain on that one. Okay. [snorts] Growth partnership board quarterly. Um I can remain on that one as well. Uh hospital board exeicio monthly. Commissioner Miller that was you. Do you want to stay on that? I would be okay with that one. Anybody else? Anybody else interest?

Okay. I'll do it if you don't doesn't want to. What was that? I would do it if you don't want to. That's up to you. Okay. You can have it. Perfect. All right. Changing that one. Uh, Commissioner Jensen. So, we have Housing and uh Redevelopment Commission Quarterly. Commissioner Post, you were on that. Uh, yeah. I guess Dave and I had discussed he may be a better fit on that one. Okay, I'll take that one. Commissioner Miller. All right, moving that one to Commissioner Miller. [snorts] Inner Lakes Community Action Governing Board by Monthly. Uh, Commissioner Post, you were on that one as well.

Yeah, Dave was going to take that one. Dave was Yep. Commissioner Miller will be sitting on that one as well. [snorts] Joint Joint Powers Board Quarterly is I would be willing to give that up if anybody would like to to take that one or I can take keep it. I've never I've never been on it. So, okay. So, [laughter] Commissioner Jensen will take joint powers. And uh Stacy, will you want to stay on that as well? Yes. Okay. keep me in line.

Intergovernment M meeting group quarterly. Commissioner Jensen, you were on that one. Yep. You want to remain on that one? [snorts] And then also, Commissioner Vanderwal, you were on that as well. You want to keep that one as well? [snorts] All right. Local Emergency Planning Committee, LPC, that will be Hustler moving forward. for this year and then planning and zoning board. Commissioner Vanderwal, you were in one of those. You want to continue on that? Uh Commissioner Post, you were the alternate. Yeah.

You want to continue on that [snorts] public affairs committee. I mean, we that's up in the air. So, I don't know with the merged organization if it's really going to be what they're going to do [clears throat] for sure or not. Um I think you want to just keep it for now and we can keep it for now and see even see if they Okay. Yeah. What they do [snorts] weeden Pest board member Commissioner Post, you were on that. Okay.

And then youth and family services advisory board for JDC as needed. I can stay on that one as well. And also juvenile detention alternate innovative JD AI quarterly. I can stay on that one as well. But Township Drainage, we had Commissioner Jensen and Commissioner Post on those. Do you guys want to [clears throat] stay at both of those? Samra Avenue project. We have Commissioner Johnson, Commissioner Vanderwal. Do you guys want to continue with that?

Yep. Okay. [snorts] Uh 214 project. You guys, Jensen and Vanderwal, you want to continue with that one as well? Okay. [snorts] County Corner. We have uh Dave Ericson appointed to that. Want to just continue with that? Sheriff. Yes.

Is there anybody anything? Okay. And then you as deputy coroner and also the deputies. And then highway and superintendent two-year appointment expires 2025. Take that. I'll keep that. Are you sure?

All right. Uh moving into department leaison, we have the BCOAC. Uh I would give that uh give that up. Um being that I'm picking up another one if I would Commissioner Jensen got to be on the advisory board for that. So I was point of contact. Did they call you a week ago? Christmas Eve. Yeah. Yep. I'm on their phone list. [snorts] So Yep. Yeah. I I did update uh Joe's number on that with them. I think they reached out to him. Uh, community health. Commissioner Post, you were on that? Yep.

You want to continue? Uh, emergency management. That will go to Hustler. Equalization. [snorts] Yall, you want to continue? Um, extension extension board matter post. You were on there. Continue with that. Uh, [snorts] finance. Commissioner Miller, you were on that one. Do you want to make any changes or Doug has I was interested in taking that one. Okay. Okay. All right. So, that I guess post. Say that again. Sorry.

Uh post is going to be taking over that. [clears throat] Highway superintendent Commissioner Jensen. You want to continue with that? Uh, register Commissioner Miller, you had that one. Do you want to continue with that one? Yep. And I was leazison on for the sheriff's office. I can continue with that. And also state's attorney. I can continue with that as well. uh Weed and Pest Commissioner Post since you're on the board and zoning and drainage Commissioner Vanderwal.

All right, [snorts] any questions or concerns or anything? We didn't miss any, did we? Nope. I think I've got everything. I will make some corrections and get all the new names added in and get that I'll send that out then to to all of you so you have it. All right. Very good. So now I would look for a motion to approve the assignments for 26. So move second. Motion and a second. Any additional comments? [snorts] Hearing none. All in favor please signify by saying I. I. Oppose say nay.

Motion carried. Number 10, commission department director report.

The strategic plan for the county was included with my report. Um I as I stated in my re my annual review that was back in October. I think we could [snorts] use kind of a concentrated review of this. Um, [clears throat] it's something that I think either the commissioners could do in a special session or, um, I could work on developing an internal committee with some staff and maybe a couple of commissioners to look at this. Um, I guess looking just for some direction on how you would like to handle that ideas or comments. The strategic plan was developed oh gosh back in 15 2015 2016 so it's about 10 years old so I think could stand to just have a good once over a good thorough once over rather than just a kind of a cursory glance so

I think initially all the commissioners we sat down and did this I think all the commissioners should be involved with keeping it together I mean Um, you mean updating it and stuff? I mean, like I said, I mean, if we want to do um a commission work session, we would schedule that, you know, maybe at the end of a a regular commission meeting um at an upcoming meeting and then, you know, we can either move into the exact session room so it's a little bit easier to kind of visit across the table or the community room or or whatnot. But um and give it a more

Would the next meeting work? The the first meeting in February, we have that drainage, right? Yeah, the next meeting would be fine. Would be fine. We could do that at the end. Yep. Okay, that sounds good. All right, sounds good. We can And that the street plan, let me discuss it. It would be open to the public, correct?

Yes. Um, you received an invitation for the Vulga Fire uh department county feed that's coming up next Monday uh the 12th starts at 5:30 with the social. Um you also received an invitation from Power on Midwest for an upcoming open house um informational meeting. The one in Brookings is uh next Wednesday the 14th from 4 to 6 out at the Brookings Zin and Convention Center. So that invitation that was also part of my my report. You did receive a thank you from the Brookings Public Library for uh the additional funds that you approved at the last meeting. Um Colin Zwaska with the Banner provided this information. I think it's kind of good information on the bridge improvement grant or the big program we've been talking about. This was established I think back in 2016 at the state level. This gives um this is a document that Banner Associates created talking about that program. But I think it's just kind of good information, kind of a general overview of that program and that was included with my report. Uh the GFNP's annual wildlife damage program report, it's a fairly lengthy kind of catalog magazine that the GFMP puts together every year. If you would like to see that, it is in my office and you can come feel free to stop by and take a look at that. Um, other than that, I think it's just some of those upcoming dates. Um, [clears throat] [snorts] the first couple, um, we've talked about the Vulga Fire feed, power, uh, fire department, county feed, the power on Midwest open house. Brookings

day at the cap is Wednesday, January 21st. Um, I know Bob had said that he is going and and is willing to take passengers. I did reserve the Durango for that day for anyone who wants to take it as well to pier. So that is available. Um just have to coordinate coordinate when you're going to leave and and whatnot. Um and then offices are closed for President's Day on the 16th and then uh it was brought up a little bit earlier, the towns and townships meeting with regard to the rural access infrastructure funding. That meeting is coming up February 26th. It's a Thursday and it's out at the BCOAC at 10:00. And that's all I have unless you have some questions for me.

Is the only question I got on the Brookings Day at the Capitol as soon as they have an agenda. Could you get it to us? Yeah, I'll have to look. I don't know that I specifically get one. I don't know. I'll have to look to see if there is something out on like the chambers's website or or something, but I can sure take a look and see if I can track one down. And I can reach out and see what uh see what they have put together. I think we have a meeting coming up next week, I believe. So, I just didn't know how early in the day it would start and and I think typically I think they've left at like they left at like 6 in the morning. is that

I want to say you know yeah you usually leave like with the chamber when they take the leadership Brookings group they leave yeah 5 5:30 5:30 6 o 6 o'clock in the morning so um I'm guessing it's probably like about a 9:30 start out in pier then with it being about a three-hour drive. So but I'll take a look or if you see something yeah I'll send an email to the to the board and u and see if we can get a get a uh agenda sent to us. So, all right. Any additional question? The one question I have is, will county offices be closed on Monday the 19th of January, too? Um, yes, they will. Okay,

good catch. I don't have that on there for Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Yes. All right. Thank you, Stacy. Number 11, state's attorney office report.

I'll plan to give my year in review. If the sheriff's going to give his next meeting, I'll probably give mine the meeting after. So, okay. Other than that, I have nothing to report. All right. Number 12, commissioner report and discussion items. Commissioner Vanderwal,

thank you. Uh just one event that Commissioner Jensen and I attended on December 17th, a Wednesday. We attended the East Brookings business uh annual meeting. Uh was good discussions and uh they were looking for a 214 project update. So we update them with what we knew and and was good to get together. That's my report. Short with the holidays. Um thank you. All right. Thanks, Commissioner Vanderwal. Commissioner Post, nothing to report. Commissioner Post, nothing to report. Commissioner Miller, same with me. At the holidays, I have nothing to report. All right, Commissioner Jensen.

On the 17th, uh, noon, I had a conservation district meeting. Um, part of the agenda there was a letter of, uh, was to sign a letter of support for the Maderi drainage project out, uh, down south here. And uh I explained uh there was uh numerous people on the board that never knew that was even happening or where it was at. And when I went through explaining everything to them, uh they uh drafted a letter of support for the project to continue to move forward. That was part of the um requirements by the uh state and the federal uh to move forward with the project. Uh later that evening, like Kelly said, we're East Brooking Business District. We gave a report on the 214th project. Uh it was also some good reports on u the new water treatment facility. Also, um in the business district out there, uh some plans in the future for expansion and then lots available for businesses and stuff. It was a pretty good meeting and uh I did talk with Matt Bray yesterday uh district supervisor in Watertown for the DOT about the rumble strips at the two locations here in Brookies County. Um he is currently at 10:00 this morning having a meeting with the regional supervisor uh for the state and they will be discussing um those rumble strips and the the contractor. They have um they haven't been able to contact the the the contractor to set down a date, but uh it's on there. I gave them a notice and hopefully we get an answer here in the future here. hopefully this morning. If I do, I'll let everybody know. So, that's all I have.

All right. And me, uh, on December 12th, we had a BEDC board meeting, the final board meeting, uh, which, uh, the board of directors, uh, officially voted to dissolve and join the Brookings Regional Growth Alliance, which is the new merged organization we talked about earlier. Um on the 13th uh we had a Brookings Regional Growth Alliance CEO search committee uh meeting. Um that is moving along. In fact, next week we have a couple a couple meetings uh with some narrowed down candidates. They've had about 70 candidates uh interest which the search company uh Co Taylor out of the cities uh that was contracted has uh narrowed that down uh to the best six to eight which uh the board will uh be notified of uh next week and then uh interviews will start uh later in the week there. So that is uh it's an exciting thing to move into that uh that new organization. Um on the 19th we did have the Brookings Regional Growth Alliance board meeting uh accepted all of the uh all of the agencies. The four organizations did uh did uh vote to merge uh and disband their their their areas. I want to thank the boards for all four organizations for their hard work. uh we will be putting together some uh uh advisory committees uh that we're we'll be looking at uh the different pillars and different areas uh in that organization. So there will be more options and and um time to to uh um serve uh and assist the community and the region as a whole. Um

on the 30th we had our last meeting for the Brookings Regional Growth Alliance. Uh and then on the 30th as well, I attended the Dakota Bowworks uh announcement uh out at the uh innovation campus uh uh where they received um just under I believe just under or around $900,000 from um the South Dakota GOED um governor's economic development. It was a well attended and and uh serving on the board of the research park seeing what kind of innovation uh the bioworks does and uh companies that they bring in it's uh it's very exciting and that uh that funding will go a long way to help uh with farmers producers in the state uh and also bringing uh more economic development and companies to South Dakota. And that is my report. Uh number 13, executive session in coordinance with SDCL 1252. I do not believe we have an executive session. Uh that would bring us to number 14, adjournment. Do I have a motion to adjurnn?

Motion to approve. Second. Motion and a second. All in favor say I. I. I. Opposed. We are adjourned.