County Commission - Regular Meeting

Seventh, uh, call the meeting of the Burkings County Commission to order. If everyone would please rise for the pledge of allegiance. To the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands nationy and justice for all. Number three on the agenda is approval of the agenda. Do I have a motion to approve? So moved. Second. Motion in a second. Any comments, changes, requests? Hearing none. All in favor signify by saying I. I.

I. Oppos 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 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 item action will be taken during this agenda item. Any requested action item may be scheduled for a future meeting date. And we do have two individuals signed in. Uh first one's up, Rick Wyel. Good morning, county commissioners and uh staff. Thank you so much for this opportunity to speak in front of you. I actually have uh three issues. Um of course uh one of them is elections. So but first is last night I learned that the emergency management in Brookings isn't quite working as we had hoped and I brought forward two years ago. And so now I'm formally asking that we actually have an audit of our emergency management to ensure that all of the radios at the ambulance, fire, public works, and county resources of both the and also the cities are unified. I just learned last night in the city of Elkton that we're not part of your public works and sheriff's unified call to where we could actually be working together when we see incidents that our fire department and I don't know about our ambulance department, they're unable to communicate with you guys. So, we have to utilize our cell phones. This was an issue that was brought up two years ago. I'm aware that the radios themselves have been improved and we've invested as a city to purchase new radios as well as the fire department and then the county installed new radios, but I think we need to wrap up that project and look at a full audit to make sure that things are working. A secondary part of that is

I think there needs to be a tabletop experiment where we have all of the departments there in the room with their radios and we go through all of the 911 call codes to make sure that mutual aid is working properly that all of the right people are being called for each of those call codes. I don't think that's been done and so I'm formally requesting that. Uh second thing is elections. Uh when we look at the state board of elections recently on February 13th certified a new system ESNS6.5.0.0 there's been some misinformation and uh coming from the Secretary of State's office but also uh directly from the South Dakota Association of County Commissioners and what they forwarded to all of you and also what the Secretary of State's office forwarded to the legislature. I'm gravely disappointed. And so I have a packet that I presented to you to basically show what the facts are. Number one, when we look at the picture up above, we see directly from the Secretary of State's office what the administrative rules mean. They have the same weight as statute. Then we look at the actual law that we're looking at here of 12-7B-2 and it specifically states no system may be approved unless the system fulfills the requirements as established by the state board of elections. Then we look at the administrative rule directly below that I've copied for you 5020902 and it specifically states that in the second highlight down there the modification for the already approved system must have been certified as fulfilling the requirements of the election assistance commission voting system 2015 standards by an independent authority accredited by the election assistance commission or been certified to meet the national standards by another state. Well, when we look at the second page, this is the email that I was copied by a legislator that Christine from the SOS office put out there. She's basically saying that

the ES we are saying that she's saying that we're lying about the certification. That is furthest from the truth. Then Chris Jacobson was asked by whoever to forward this to all of you at the county level. That's disgusting. Especially as I do additional research where we look at their own website and one of their goals is to complete research with pertains to county government. Yes, this pertains to your government. She didn't do the basic research. One of the other objectives is that other concerns will be addressed as they become apparent or at the advice of this uh executive board. Well, I'm assuming the executive board did not review this and so she did this on her own valition. Now, if we look at the third page, I clearly show you the differences between the two voluntary voting system guidelines. That's the cover sheet of their manuals. The one on the left in purple, you can see it says 2005 and just underneath the gold box, it says version 1.0. This guidelines over on the right, the white box says 2015 voluntary voting system standards. Right below it says 1.1. Then when we look below at this other chart that I have there, certified voting systems. This is live as of this morning. The EAC has yet to certify any system to the 1.1 2015 standards, not a one because both were active at the time. But here we look at the last page and we see the certificate there of 6.5 and it clearly shows that it was certified to the 1.0 standard, not to the 1.1 or the 2015 standard. And we can also see further down about the cast vote records that I've been talking about for years. Yeah, that's part of the system that we have here in our own county. So, I am trying to work through this with the Secretary of State as well as the State Board of Elections to pull back the certification, redo it, and do not approve it because it breaks our own law and our own administrative rules. So, we have to do things right.

Otherwise, this puts us in a precarious position as a state that oh, none of the laws matter. Thank you. Thank you, Rick. Thank you, Rick.

Next up, we have Sue Engelman. I'm Sue Engelman, a Brookings County residents resident by trade. I am an electronics engineering technician. The Brookings County Zoning Board will be discussing the 765 kilovolt transmission lines at their meeting tonight. I'm asking the Brookings County Commissioners to match the dual county zoning setback requiring that transmission lines with voltage greater than 345 kilovolts must have setback of 2,000 ft from any inhabited residents in all zoning districts. This includes but not limited to support structures greater than 100 ft tall or the base diameter of 25 25 ft or wingspan of 30 ft. I am speaking on behalf of saving our county from this monster power on Midwest transmission line that will only benefit Minnesota. This transmission line is proposed to run from the big stone power plant south to Brookings County and then east to their destinations in Minnesota. As power on Midwest information sheets state the plan was started in 2015 and the expected inservice date is 2034. Bigstone power plant is slated to shut down between 2040 and 2046. This would allow for a maximum of 6 to 12 years of service. Bigstone is being retired because it is a coal fired power plant and not a green energy power plant. I attended the Brookings dual count commi the Brookings the dual county commissioners meeting and also spoke directly to power on Midwest representatives when they were at the information meeting in Brookings when they were asked what the future plans of replacing Bigstone power plant were they said they didn't have plans yet if this project is taking nine years to plan and power up one would think they would already have plans for replacement power sources if they are building the largest

power transmission lines available to this date and not and wanting them to be still in operation. Each of the 765,000 volt towers will be close to 50 ft wide with the height of about 175 ft and a width of 150 ft. That mean they need 250 ft of rightway around each tower. This means that all trees, vegetation, pollinators and animals will be uprooted and death and land erosion will be what remains around those areas forever. To put the size of the power towers in perspective, the SDSU Coughlin Campanneal stands 165 foot tall. That means that each 765 KV tower structure is actually 10t taller than the Campanil with five power tower structures per mile. There's constant noise emanating from this 765 KV transmission lines and also red lights flashing on towers at night. The largest power lines currently located in South Dakota are the 345 KV transmission lines. As large as these existing towers are, the 765 KV towers are much larger. Since the closest 765 KV lines are located in Illinois, most South Dotans don't have a concept of the size of these towers. If you care any about young children having a greatly increased chance of cancer, please assist us in fighting these power lines in the AI data centers in our glorious state of South Dakota. We are killing our earth with these types of things. What will our children and grandchildren have to live with? If we don't stop this now, there will be no opportunity to turn this around and have our natural resources unharmed. These companies are telling us there are no harmful effects from any of these structures. I beg to differ. They are selling us the moon while they are selling out our children and their futures if we let this travesty go unstopped. Power on mid Midwest states that there have been studies over a 40-year period funded by the World Health Organization and

others. However, they do not tell you that they are only short-term studies with outcomes that are planned. Not a 40-year study that shows actual negative health impacts. These studies were funded by industry influenced parties and are not independent studies made without gain to those that are paying for the studies. I brought this fact up to the PowerOn Midwest representatives and when pressed, PowerOn Midwest admitted that any of the above mentioned studies were only done on the smaller 345 KV transmission lines and not with the 765,000 KV 765 KV transmission lines. Power on Midwest has no long-term health detriment studies on the 765 KV transmission line since the 765 transmission lines haven't been around for 40 years yet. All of mankind are electrical beings. Our bodies act like an energy wave broadcaster and receiver, incorporating and responding to EMF, electromagnetic frequencies. In fact, scientific research has demonstrated that every cell in your body has its own EMF, helping to regulate important functions and keep you healthy. Strong artificial EMFs, like those from power lines, can scramble and interfere with your body's natural EMF. having everything from your sleep cycles and stress levels to your immune system in um to your immune response and DNA harmed. Again, I am asking for the 2,000 ft setback from any inhabited residents as adopted by Duel County for the health and safety of all Brookings residents. Thank you.

Thank you, Sue. Moving on, I did is number five, consent agenda items, uh, containing the minutes, travel and education requests, personnel action notices, cellular authorizations, and human services report. Do I have a motion to approve? Move to approve. Motion, a second. Any comments? Hearing none, call the role, please. Vanderwal. Hi. Post. Hi. Miller. Hi. Jensen. Hi. Hustler. Hi. Motion carries. Item six, approval of approval of the claims. Do I have a motion to approve? Motion approve. Second.

Motion in a second. Do I have any comments? Other role, please. Post. Hi. Miller. Hi. Jensen. Hi. Vanderwal. Hi. Hustler. Hi. Motion carries. All right. Letter B. Department head reports. Brian. Good morning. Morning. Morning, Brian.

I know it's been quite a while since we've met. Um, we've been working on the crack sealing project and as obviously that's with goes with the chip seal project. Um, we've been working down near uh Lake Campbell here the last couple weeks on County Road 17 and we'll be moving over by Sinai here shortly. And uh I know everybody's been getting a little spring fever here and just wanted to let everyone know uh that today or this morning we'll be removing the load limits on Brookings County roadways uh with the exception of 214th between uh 34th Avenue and Aurora. That will continue to be posted. Um, aside from that, it's been pretty quiet, but I assume now with the load limits pulling and the uh farmers getting to the field here shortly, I'm guessing construction will uh kick off. Uh, so that'll create some extra traffic. Just like to warn everybody that uh take your time around the farm equipment and construction equipment that's moving around and stay safe. Anybody have anything for Brian?

Brian, how does that load limit process work? Is that something that's determined at your office? It is. Um, but we also, uh, work collaboratively with our neighboring counties. So, one county don't pull it, you know, and you get to the next county and they're posted. So we we try to work as a a group in an effort to look at this uh you know conditions of the roadway and then try to uh pull them around the same time so it's it's not a surprise when you get to the border in the next county.

Okay, good. And then how is that posted? How do land owners know that that just by signage? we uh you know pass that resolution um in January and then uh we get over the time we get people you know contacting my office to be notified. I do send out an email um I'll get it to uh our social media and then once the signs are removed uh then that notifies that you know those roads are no longer posted. But, uh, you know, my office does have an email that people ask to get added to, uh, businesses, farmers, you know, anybody can get on that.

How many roads does that affect? Well, we have what we uh, you know, is determined by the commission. We we get roads, you know, from state highways to our smaller towns that are not posted to give those towns access. But anything outside of that, uh, I wouldn't want to necessarily say our secondary roads, but the roads outside of our emergency routes, those are the ones that get posted, and that list was included in that resolution in in January. Okay. Thank you.

Yep. Um, I had a question from, well, it's actually my brother-in-law at Easter dinner, but uh, the townships and the assistance program that we have for them. I guess I just wanted to make sure we talked about that again. As far as there's dollars available for the townships to be applying and what what are the size of the culverts and that are available underneath that? There's there's definitely money available. Um the the size is 54 in in diameter.

And if there's any question of a structure that's in question, I could definitely you know try to assist the township. You know, we might have like a smaller uh you know WPA box that might be say 4T x 4T that would qualify because that's 16 square ft in opening or greater. Okay. Well, that specifically was what I was one of them I was being asked about is an old concrete structure that they don't really, you know, do they want to go back to a covert or how how do they want to replace that?

And and usually what we do in that situation, Doug, is is uh myself or the local transportation assistance program, LTAP, uh has definitely assisted those townships. And then, you know, in a situation like that, we're obviously not going to go back in with the same thing. Uh we will match uh what is available for corrugated metal pipe. Uh and usually if it's say even in question, we'll size up just so we we know we aren't going to back water up onto a the upstream land owner. Thank you. Yep. Anything else, Brent? Thanks Bren.

Thank you Marty with Sheriff's Office. Nothing. Okay Joe with OAC. Morning commissioners. Uh

this is kind of just a brief update of a couple of events that we have had and we have coming up. It's not you know what I usually come to you guys with. So we had a running shoot at the end of March here. We had over 500 folks over 3 days over 130 archers. a lot of compliments about the facility. Um, so that was a really really positive event. Uh, we're kind of just wrapping up our busy season. We've had a lot of both archers and firearm shooters out at the facility over the last couple months. Uh, and now we're kind of starting to look towards our spring and summer. Couple key things that we have coming up here in the spring. We have our welcome to summer event on May 20th. Um, I'm sure a lot of folks have already been reached out to about that. Uh we're pretty looking forward to that. That's always a good event. Uh we're hosting Hunts Safe on May 7th, 8th, and 11th. So hopefully we'll get a bunch of Brookings County kids certified in Huntsafe. Um we are helping with well, we're putting on the trout extravag trout extravaganza event on May 16th and 17th. That'll be at the Indian Hills Pond. Uh so that's seen everywhere or from 500 to 900 youth uh over that weekend. So we're very excited to have that going back again this year. Um our contracted classes have been filling up really really well, better than we've seen in the past actually. So that's definitely a plus. Um we have some schools coming out to do archery, go fishing, uh learn about animals, things like that. I'm also visiting a few classrooms this uh spring. And then we officially have scheduled over three uh free 30 free community classes throughout the summer. So those will be ones that the OEC is offering for people to sign up. Uh we're just waiting on some publications to come back from Alpha Graphics and we will uh get them on Facebook and put in the shopper and stuff like that. So yeah,

it's exciting to see we're expanding programming into and not just a gun range, but it it really the outdoor programming and education. Yeah, for sure. We're definitely going to put it out everywhere we can to get the community out here this summer because we got a lot of opportunity and 30 is just the start. We're seeing a lot of interest. We can add more, too. So, anybody got anything else for drill? Thank you, Joel. Jen with finance.

Morning.

Good morning. Well, April in the finance office gets pretty busy, so we just have a few things. Um, first half property taxes are due by April 30th. Um, those can be paid in our office online or mail in. just have to make sure it's postmarked by April 30th if you're mailing it in. Um, mobile home distress warrants, uh, second notices for those have gone out and those just go out for mobile home owners who have outstanding taxes. The final notice will go out at the end of April and then the sale for any homes where the taxes are not paid will be Friday, June 5th. So, elections really start ramping up right now. So, petitions, there's still one deadline left for petitions. That's for independent candidates um can still enter a petition as a deadline is Tuesday, April 28th by 5:00 pm. Um and then the primary election, we've got absentee voting begins Friday, April 17th, which is next Friday, coming up fast. Um for the June 2nd primary, temp workers will start April 15th. Um, we did order new poll pads and those arrived yesterday. So, staff will be working on getting those ready and set up for election day. Um, and then the last thing, there is a new law that passed for voter registration. It's uh Senate Bill 175 and it did have an emergency clause, so it came into effect immediately. And what it is is it's putting a proof of citizenship requirement on firsttime registrants. So if you the very first time you register to vote in South Dakota, you have to prove your citizenship. And the options for proving that, some of the options for proving that is if you have a South Dakota driver's license that was issued after July 1st of 2025, that will indicate the citizenship status on the back of the card.

um another state's driver's license or nonident non-driver ID card that indicates citizenship or a legible copy of a birth certificate, US passport, um other things like a certificate of naturalization. Um but basic and but the key thing is that that's only for new registrants. If someone is changing their um party affiliation or changing their address and they're already registered in South Dakota, it does not affect them. It's only for new registrants. So, people coming into South Dakota or if it's your first time registering here in South Dakota. So, that's all I got. Anybody have anything for Jen? Thank you, John. Thank you. Thanks.

All right. We do not have a scheduled 9:00 am. What do we got? Oh, geez. Sorry, Richard. Richard with County Development. I have you written down. Tim Hug. Oh, there he is. Joe was hiding. You couldn't see him over your head. Hiding behind the post back there.

All right. It is the first Tuesday of the month. So, we do have our siren test today at 1:00 p.m. for the testing of the county sirens. Um, tonight we have our zoning meeting and we also will be meeting jointly with the city planning commission on a ordinance update to the joint jurisdiction ordinance which is changing the publication dates from 14 to 10 days. So bringing it back in line with the county um zoning ordinance and state statute. So, um we will have a um setting up a subcommittee at the zoning meeting tonight regarding the 765 uh towers. We'll set up a subcommittee from the planning and zoning commission and those members will be coming back. We'll address that to you going to the board here in the future to set up a subcommittee so they can research the 765 similar to the same way we did the pipeline ordinance. So, um we'll be adding other members from industry and whoever else you would like to uh add to that committee. So, um on April 15th, I will be giving uh two KO presentations at the college. Um and you do have a burn ban on the agenda later on this meeting. Um we did have some moisture over the weekend, but yesterday there was still um it's still dry out there. We still were two fires out in the county and one in the city. So, um you can enact that if you would uh so choose um and resend it later as conditions and things up. So, that's all that I have.

All right. Anything for Richard? Richard, a question on the subcommittees that you're going to put together. What's that selection process? Who picks those? It'll be four members from our zoning board the board will pick and then it'll be other members from we'll bring it back to you, the commission. We'll add uh for um members that you would like to have on there. We're looking for members um power you know electric transmission people basic um East River possibly Brookings municipal utilities um members at large from the community if they would like to be on that. We'll set up meetings and times so we get the whole gamut so we get the full full information for everything

so everybody's represented well. So everybody's represented on this committee. Do you have a target number of how many you'd like to see on that? No, we you don't want to get it. Um we'll have four from our committee. So probably maybe a maximum of eight, but that'll you know depends and same same as what we had for the transmission pipeline and there will be an application for them to fill out and and send out as well. Is that correct? Yes. Yep. However you would like to do that. Yes. Yep. if they would like to be on there. If we did that with the we had something like that for the pipeline. I think that'd be a good idea to get some

application become through your your department probably they would fill that out. Then you at the meeting you would pick the the members you would like to have on there. Anything else for Richard? Thanks Richard. Anything else? No. Thank you Richard. Mr. Uber from the weed. You weren't hiding behind anything. Sorry.

Good morning everyone. Morning. Good morning.

We did have a uh weed board meeting on the 24th. Thought went pretty well. Um kind of learned a few things, but I think we're probably a little slow on getting some stuff done this spring. But thanks to Stacy, I think we're getting up to speed. Uh, basically it was uh the county uh or rather the Gopher bounty program. So I know she got the notices sent out and I think that'll continue as it has in the past. So no differences there. Uh spray contracts are starting to trickle in. And when I say trickle really slow, I think I've gotten four so far. Um and so far nobody's requested our services for the spring. So, uh, other than that, we did talk about mosquitoes and I don't know, Stacy, do you want to talk about that now or?

Um, that's actually on the agenda for a little bit later. Later. Okay. Okay. So, we'll save that for later. Yeah. Other than that, uh, things are going pretty good. Um, had a few questions here and there, but I'd like to thank Brian and and Amber that was out of the highway shop for, you know, just being able to answer stuff, help me out. Stacy's been awesome. And, yeah, just trying to get up to speed on things. So, all right. I guess that's about all I have. All right. Anything, Tim? All right. Thanks. Thank you. Thanks, Tim.

Okay. Now, we can move on to number seven, no scheduled agenda item. Uh, so number eight on the agenda, regular business. Letter A, action to approve resolution 26-11, a resolution declaring a fire danger emergency in Brookings County and prohibiting open burning. I would look for a motion to for discussion only or a motion to approve. I'll make that motion for discussion purpose. Have a motion for discussion. Do we have a second? Second.

Motion in a second. comments. I know we talked Richard talked a little bit about you visited with the uh the local fire chiefs. Can you kind of give us their input a little bit, Richard?

Yes, this is we talked about this earlier um prior to the moisture we've had, but um Dave Jacobson um chairman of the county fire chiefs association visited with the other chiefs. There's kind of a mixed review, but um with the dry conditions that are still there, there's still a danger out there with the moisture that we did have this past weekend. Um there was two fires yesterday out in the county. So, it is still dry. So, you can enact it if moisture and the conditions improve, you can resend it and take it off at any time. So, I think some of the concerns were over u uh producer CRP management practices uh if they were able to do that or not.

Correct. That was a that was a big big part of it right there. So, they would not be prohibited from doing that. They would still need to call into 911, let them know they're going to have a control burn out there for that. But um because they only have a window of of the month of April

for the month of April to get that that process and get that um material burned off of their property if if their contract states that. I guess I'm fairly hesitant about I don't think burn bans on a two to three week basis are very effective to allow the people to use a fire in a effective way and yet you know keep we got to be cognizant about our firemen and their donated time and you know so I I don't know if there needs to be a change to our current system. I mean, the red flag laws, they're definitely working as far as, you know, when there's a red flag warning out that we need to do a better job of publicizing that or how exactly we need to do it. But if I mean, we put a ban in today and there's a really good day of it can burn today and rain tomorrow and and we've closed this down or at least the public perceives that we've closed that opportunity. that may be the only chance to get a piece of ground in condition for spring work or something like that. So, I guess I'm hesitant about putting a full ban on. I like I like the system we've got. Maybe it needs some improvements as far as with the red flag warnings with high wind and dry. Um, I don't know. I don't know what everybody else is thinking, but I I I think it's it's really limiting to some people that are trying to manage a piece of property. and uh to have a ban on and we could have perfect days and that would be a good day to burn. And we we basically told the people that they can't and then they're trying on some risky day while the band's not on. You know, they get something burned because they don't know when the burn

band's going to show up again. Richard, what are the guidelines uh for somebody doing a prescribed burn to, you know, make sure it doesn't get out of hand? Is there is there certain guidelines that they need to take like being present not just lighting it and leaving and things? What are that? Can you remind us?

They need to be present around there while the burning is going on. they need to call in 911 on the non-emergency line to let them know that they're doing a prescribed burn so they can let the fire chiefs know that if it does get away that hey they need to go out there so they don't get neighbors calling in um sending the fire department out there for a burn that was prescribed and and wasting their time and money and for going out there for prescribed burn. So for the fire departments and now also with the um red flag warning, anytime there's a red flag warning in the county by the National Weather Service, um it's illegal to burn. You cannot burn on those days.

And what kind of penalties do you know off the top of your head? What kind of penalties are associated with that if somebody either doesn't leave one and gets away or they burn at a red flag? That would be in what's in the ordinance. Marty, do you know what those particular ones? I don't recall right off hand. the red flag. I don't know if we our ordinance addresses the red flag. Yes, there is an ordinance for trying if you burn on a red flag day, you are should be able to get ticketed for that if I remember right. I think you will not have that in front of me right now. I think part of the fine is also that the reimbursement to the fire departments for the civil or the um

for the cost of employment. When we do have a burn ban and somebody wants to burn, they call they would call in. Doesn't the fire chief in that area go out and inspect what they're going to firefie? The fire chief could still approve a burn bat if he would looks went out and looks at the where he wants to go and deems it's not um too dangerous or area. So yes, if someone wants to do a prescribed burn ban, they would need to get a hold of their fire chief and the local fire chief would then approve that for that particular piece of property. So the burn ban doesn't limit burning altogether. It just puts requirements of getting a permit and and things like that

instead of just going out there and lighting the match and walking away and not letting anybody know. So

putting other properties and things at risk. if if an individual wants to burn and they'll have to contact their their local fire chief to to get it approved. But that puts an added layer, you know, of responsibility to the fire chiefs. And I just want to thank our fire chiefs for being, you know, willing and and able to do those things. But yeah, I I hear what you're saying, Doug, but I don't know if today is the day to talk about that, but I I am in favor of an in of a burn ban. Um, I was a part of a burn or a fire here a couple weeks ago and nobody lived at the place. It had been started 3 or 4 days before that Saturday, but when it was crazy windy and embers jumped out of that pit and ended up on an old hog barn across the driveway and it could have been a a big mess. It was we were fortunate that it was black all the way around it, but the monitoring after the initial fire probably needed some improvement uh to avoid that situation. But yeah, I'm I'm in favor of that. We are meeting next week on the 14th for equalization, I believe. So, you know, if conditions change, we can take it off then and then we're going to meet again on the 21st of April. Um, so you know, there's opportunities to take it off as well, but again, someone can still burn. It's just an extra layer of protection there, but the fire chiefs are got to be involved with,

but and that's that extra layer is actually something that we requested them to do at all times anyway. So, I'm I just think it's it's it's a poor ordinance the way it is either way. Yeah,

I agree with Kelly. It's that extra they call the fire chief to see if they, you know, what are they going to burn? Are they burning a tree pile? They're be burning a pit or what are they doing? You know, do they got some red dirt or black dirt around it or whatever. It's just an extra I'm not trying to repeat what the commissioner said, but it to me it's a extra layer. Also, you know, the the rural fire chiefs probably will do a verbal. You know, the last burn ban I had that I asked if I could burn, I I I had to get a written permit. You know, uh Brookings has a written permit. You got to get a written permit from Brookings to burn. Unless got a new fire chief, he may do it verbal, too. But uh uh most it's supposed to be come with a plan or tell that fire chief a plan. And a lot of the little ones I uh or the I should say the smaller count or the smaller fire departments, they just do probably a verbal. Some may come out, you know, it just depends on that fire chief, you know, and what he's doing. You know, a lot of them are working full-time, too. But I agree that I think we need a burn ban. Uh the fires that we started are a lot of from the wind that probably reignited. Uh burn barrels. We got to make sure we cover our burn barrels. You know, you should have some type of screen on there so that if the wind does come up, it doesn't get that blowing around. It's It's dry out there right now. So, I'm just trying to save some firemen from doing a lot of extra work, but I think we should have a burn. I agree. We need a burn ban.

I stopped to visit with Dave Jacobson. Had a great conversation with him yesterday and uh explained a lot of things to me and I I agree. I think it's good to be proactive on this. We're not saying that people absolutely cannot burn. It's just being a little more proactive and uh a little more thought and a little more intentional when they go to do a burn. So, I go with the recommendation from the firemen because I have utmost respect for them and what they do. And the police department is really good. You call in your you call in your control burn. So, they they check if you don't call in. you're supposed to call in when it's out. If they if you don't call in, they check on you. They'll call and say, "Is your is it out? Are you are you sure it's out?" You know, and stuff. So, they're really good about following up on them.

It's it's good to stay on top of that. Hopefully, it's just a short-term thing. Any other comments, questions? Should we okay without I just found the part about written permit in there I think that should be emphasize that it it is still possible to burn with proper

we can add some language if you know to our social media posts about this because we will we will advertise the fact that we're in a burn ban and we can make note on that that if you want to do a controlled burn during this time to contact, you know, the best is to probably just contact the non-emergency line at at the at dispatch and then they can put you in contact with who you need to contact, where you're located. Um, so we can get that information out to folks too, so people understand that yes, it's a ban, but there are still certain circumstances where you are allowed to burn if you get that permission. I guess that's probably my biggest conflict with the whole thing is that our burn ban is not a burn ban, but it's what we request people to do on a normal basis is that hey, just let your firemen know so you're not having 30 guys show up because a neighbor called in when everything was okay. I mean, it's almost like our burn ban is what we want to happen on all situations. And yet there's there's just not a lot of definition. It's not very clear as far as what we call it versus what it is versus what we want the public to be doing in the first place. Okay. Any other discussion? Since we have a motion for discussion, do we need to amend that motion or can we just vote?

No, you can vote. Okay. So, hearing no other comments or questions, uh, go ahead and call the role, please. Miller. Hi. Jensen. Hi. Vanderwal. Hi. Post. No. Hustler. I. Motion carries. Letter B. Action to approve resolution 26-12, a resolution approving the South Dakota Department of Transportation proposed functional classification of certain county roads. Do I have a motion to approve? So moved. Do I have a second? Motion and a second. comments.

I was approached by DOT staff and uh Federal Highway at one of the recent uh conventions I attended out in Deadwood. And uh it was recommended at that time that um we follow through with this to ensure that Brookings County is in position to uh classify this roadway as a rural major collector in order to be uh eligible for some certain types of federal funding. Um, so at that point in time, that's where DOT staff prepared this resolution for us to consider today uh in order to help the eligibility of Brookings County and and being able to look at uh some potential uh future federal funding to uh reconstruct that roadway.

Okay. Brian, is there a maximum amount of miles that Brookings County can have on this classification? Um, a lot of it has to do with uh traffic counts and and also, you know, the potential uh you know, the the city's doing a a overall traffic uh study and highway plan, and this kind of coincides with that because of the increased traffic counts that 214th has experienced due to the new interchange. And uh that piques the interest of the uh federal highway obviously because you know we went from a a rural roadway that was maybe receiving 50 to 100 vehicles a day to per near 900 uh in over a period of one year. Uh so potential down the road, you know, we're going to be looking at traffic counts into the thousands uh you know, if that roadway is improved. So, you know, looking long range, that's what the DOT and the federal highway is looking at.

Any other comments, concerns? Call the role, please. Jensen, I. Vanderwal, hi. Post. Hi. Miller. Hi. Hustler. Hi. Motion carries. Letter C. Action to approve resolution number 2613. A resolution authorizing the purchase of corrugated metal pipe, bridge materials, and greater blades based upon the price and established through the county of Beetle, South Dakota bid process. Do I have a motion to approve? Move to approve. Second.

Motion and a second. Comments. Um I know we've done this in the past here and I would also like to touch on these are the prices that uh we encourage the uh participants of the array program. The townships can also purchase materials off of this uh bid price. Um we do require within our permit that you know uh the townships do purchase these prices. Um, we encourage the townships to uh possibly work together or work collaboratively with the highway department in order to uh eliminate some shipping uh charges if we can get a full load of culverts. Uh, you know, the contractor may or may not have to go out and get the the culvert to do a raft program project. Um, we we buy materials like this in order to try to save the taxpayers money because literally the beater Beetle County Highway Department is right across the street um from that and with a full load of culvert uh we can we can save some shipping costs and we'd like to pass that on to the townships.

Any other comments, questions? Hearing none. Call the role, please. Vanderwal, I. Post I. Miller. Hi. Jensen. Hi. Hustler. I. Motion carries. Letter D. Action to approve agreement 26-30, an application for occupancy of rightway county road county highways made by Brookings Municipal Utilities in the Aurora Township. Do I have a motion to approve? Move to approve. Second. I have a motion and a second. comments.

This is just the final piece of the puzzle in order for uh some connectivity between the new wells out there along 213th and between 34th Avenue and Novita that the uh Brookings Municipal Utilities is building. Any other comments or concerns? Hearing none. All in favor signify by saying I.

I. Oppose say nay. Motion carries. Letter E, action to approve a agreement 26-31, an application of occupancy rightaway of T county highways made by Brookings Dual Rural Water Systems in Sherman Township. Do I have a motion to approve? So moved. Second. Motion and a second. Comments hearing none. All in favor signify by saying I. I.

Oppose. Say nay. Motion carries. Letter F. Items for items for approval regarding project BRF 6317 0023-4 PNC 09 GT. Letter I. Letter one. Action to approve agreement 2632, an agreement for voluntary rightaway donation made by Dale Bound Trust. Do I have a motion to approve? So moved. Second. Motion and a second. Comments.

So in the future, uh, you know, this is just the kind of the final piece of the puzzle here that DOT and Federal Highway wants to see. Um when we go to re reconstruct structure number 06240123 which is uh north of Bushnull um or north of County Road uh 46. Uh we have a a bridge that's going to be replaced with a box culvert. So in the future you're going to be seeing this PCN number 09 GT uh come forward with any any relation to that uh project. But uh these two uh right-of-way donations um will cover the east and west side of the roadway. Um and then also the utilities. Uh this is just a notification to the utilities and we've contacted the utilities to notify them of this project. So they if they have uh infrastructure within the rightway that it needs to be uh relocated and moved. And then also the the right of way sir to ensure that we have no encroachments near the project while that project is taking place. And uh that's just for verification. So once we do get to the project, we have the utilities out of the rightway or any encroachments. And uh like I said, this is the north of the two structures that we're going to be looking at in the future for replacement. I'm anticipating that we'll be looking at bidding in June or July of this year with construction to follow uh either this fall or be most likely next year.

Do do you know if they will be bidding these two structures together or separate?

We are going to bid these structures concurrently. Uh we're anticipating that one contractor would most likely end up with the two structures. Um I know that there's been a lot of questions from the locals because of the uh vicinity of these two structures together. Are they going to be complet you know constructed at the same time? Um I think we're going to phase this is what Colin and I have talked about so we can you know make an effort to not have both structures closed down at the you know the same time. That way, one can be completed and then uh focused on the other one. Uh but we may get an aggressive bid if we have an option to do them at the same time. So, that's going to be a consideration that uh will be offered to the commission.

Any other questions? Brian on uh just I see we're dealing with several of these rightaways um and I'm just curious several of them are ask like this specific one is asking for new fencing to be installed. Is that something that your staff does? Correct. Yes. The negotiating on these is done by who?

Um most most of the time it's myself or my or my lead foreman. In this case it was my lead foreman. Uh we try not to do a monetary exchange uh because we're not talking large sections. You know, we're looking at, you know, 0.05 of an acre for perpetual easement. That perpetual easement covers our rip wrap, our erosion control measures where the temporary easement, you know, we're looking at a quarter of an acre. Uh that's where it comes into uh the county will be responsible for the temporary fencing while the construction project is taking place. And that allows a little extra room for the contractor to have uh stockpile for material and and obviously room to work around the construction site. And then, you know, we got to remove the fence uh while the project is taking place. So, the county replaces it after it's done. Uh most of the time uh you know so in one of the cases you know a landowner asked for an additional driveway you know and that's something on top of the project that the county provides just in an effort to work with the land owners uh you know to make sure when the project's done that you know they're happy and then also the safety of the traveling public is taken into consideration and and like I said most of the time we're not looking at huge dollar figures when it comes to the acres. So, it's just that little bit extra the county can do in an effort to work with the land owners.

I I think that's good. I just I found it interesting on each of them how it's so different. One guy's specifying he wants two 12oot gates and the next guy wants three belly dump full of gravel of gravel. Yeah. Yeah. So, you know, like I said, we try not to do a monetary exchange because we're not looking at at huge uh amounts of acres here, but in an effort to to work with the land owners to uh you know, get this project done for the betterment of the traveling public is what we're after. Okay. Thank you. Any other comments, concerns?

Hearing none. No date. No hearing none. All in favor signify by saying I. I. I. Oppose say nay. Motion carries. Number two. Action to approve agreement 26-33. An agreement for voluntary rightof donation donation made by Richard Thompson. Do I have a motion to approve? So moved. Second. Motion in a second. Comments. Same for this one. Sean. Okay. Any other comments? Hearing none. All in favor signify by saying I. I. I. Say n.

Motion carries. Number three. Action to approve the utility certificate for project BRF63170023-4 PCN09GT. Do I have a motion to approve? So move. Second. Motion a second. comments. Like I mentioned earlier, uh this is that we've reached out to the utilities that have been been identified surrounding this structure in an effort to uh give those utilities times to remove time to remove those remove or uh relocate temporarily while this project takes place.

Any other comments or questions hearing? None. All in favor signify by saying I. I. I. Oppose. Say n. Motion carries. Number four. Action to approve the rightaway certificate for project BRF63170023-4 PCN09 GT. Do I have a motion to approve? Second. Motion to second. Comments. This is just verifying like I said that we've reached out to the land owners which is covered under the voluntary uh right ofway donations and the utilities.

Any other comments, concerns? Hearing none. All in favor signify by saying I. I. Post say nay. Motion carries. Letter G. Items for approval regarding project BF BRF 63170023-5 PCN09GU. Number one, action to approve agreement 26-34, an agreement for voluntary rightaway donation made by Joanne Murphy Life Estate. Do I motion to approve? Second. Motion a second. Comments?

Uh, same thing as mentioned on the last structure. Um, aside from in f in the future when we uh look at uh any more correspondence uh for this structure, it'll be 09 GU, which is 06240 141, which is the structure about a half mile north of Bushnell on County Road 478 or or county road 25. So, uh, these next four, uh, be this mimic the last just like the last ones for near 09 GT. Okay. Any comments on this? Hearing none, all in favor signify by saying I. I.

Post say a motion carries. Number two, action to approve agreement 25 26-35, an agreement for voluntary rightaway donation made by Singrid Ozenbeck, Cara Bradley Hansen. Do I have a motion to approve? Motion to approve. Second. Motion to second. Comments hearing none. All in favor signify by saying I. I.

Oppos say a. Motion carries. Number three, action to approve the utility certificate for project BRF6317 0023-5 PCN 09GU. Do I have a motion to approve? So move. Second. Motion second. Comments hearing none. All in favor signify by saying I. I. Post say nay. Motion carries. Number four, action to approve the rightaway certificate for project BRF 631723-5 PCN 09G guu. Do I have a motion to approve? So move

second. Motion a second. Comments hearing none. All in favor signify by saying I. I oppose saying nay. Motion carries. Letter H. Action. Action to approve abatement 26-10, an abatement application made by Heck Dair LLC for parcel 080000- You missed one. We go up to H.

Oh, yep. H. Letter H. Action to approve abatement 26-07, an abatement application made by Melanie Stringy for parcel 32 31200 D-00200 D-005- 0 in the amount of $1,343.94. Do I have a motion to approve? So moved. Second. Motion second. comments hearing none. All in favor signify by saying I. I.

Post say nay. Motion carries. Now we have item I. Action to approve abatement 26-10, an abatement for application made by Hemlick Dair LLC for parcel 080000-11250 dash 223-05 in the amount of $5,5491. Do I have a motion to approve? So moved. Second. Motion a second. Any comments? Hearing none. All in favor signify by saying I. I

oppose saying nay. Motion carries. Letter J. Action to automatically supplement for unanticipated expenses incured and reimbursement made to Brookings County in the amount of $88,72018. Receipt number 00764172 to general line GL line 201-4-311-4226. Do I have a motion to approve? So move. Second. Motion a second. Comments.

This is reimbursement from the city of Vulga for the Samra Avenue project. Any other comments? Hearing none. All in favor signify by saying I. I. Oppos say nay. Motion carries. Letter K. Discussion and possible action on a funding request from the from the Elton Community Ambulance. Motion to approve. Do I have a second? Second.

Motion a second. Discussion, comments? Um, I had a chance to sit down with a um individual that requested uh the funding for this uh um package. I guess there's a couple deals here. There's a funding for um um an accelerated training uh which would bring their I'm not sure on their status on the ambulance crew is from a uh I don't know if you could help me on that. Um,

yeah. So, I think most of them are the EMT basic, which is just basic life support, not being able to do a lot of like IVs and things like that. Um, and I think this is bringing all of their current staff. Was there eight 15 18?

There's 13 requested and and it would bring them up that they would be able to do a little more advanced uh care. Um, and the the training manuals and the cost for that is uh $500 per person. Uh, then the other part of the request was for uh handheld radios um for their actual staff. Um the her main request was was the $500 per person. It's hard. you know, you got volunteers that are volunteering and want to help the community out and uh their time, it's hard to make them pay the $500 to up their um certification. And then she said, uh with the three radios, she said if we get one radio, that's great. If we get three, that's better. It's uh it's one of those deals. Uh they are doing some um requests. They've approached townships, the city of Elkton. uh they're building a new facility over there. Um they requested all the townships that they cover within the area and service uh to contribute to that. Um this was we were the only ones that were asked about the supplies and textbook material and the radios. So that's uh kind of the breakdown of what she talked to me about here a couple weeks ago. So I see the three Motorola radios. their the digital radio. Do we know Richard stepped out? Sheriff, do you know are they are these types of radios eligible to have our law enforcement channels and stuff programmed into them?

I know there was a questions about, you know, radios and stuff this morning. Should be able to should be able to. Yep. So, okay. I know they had some communications problem of the last I know this is for the animals, right? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I think the last communicate or last issue that they had at the last fire and stuff was there was a breaker or something on the repeater that got flipped and it wasn't caught quite at time or at tone. I don't know something. It was just a reset. A reset. Yep. And we do need to look at that.

Yep. What is the cost of the radios that Brookings County uses? That's expensive. They're about 5,000 a piece. They're right on there. We did try some. We're trying out some cheap. Well, I was seeing reading through the through reading through the radios, they're they're able I don't know if they've got what kind of capabilities, but there's they're look like they're really I mean they should last for a while and they're they're if there's

they're close to the price. I mean they're probably right on the price,000 something. mobile ones in the trucks are cheaper just like police. Yeah, I just with my question just making sure that they can talk to you guys. I think they could probably with the new digital radios that we put in the county county trucks and stuff too. they as long as they're compatible and and they can visit with whoever they need to as well as other fire departments. Um compatible just

just programming just programming program at the time on the the funding where where would we be be able to take the funding from Stacy? It would just come out of fund balance. we would have to do a supplemental budget, take it out of fund balance, and we'd probably create a line similar like we similarly to like the fire um the fire association that we do now. We would probably create its own GL line for Elton Ambulance and take it out of fund balance. And they're asking the total there is 2263.

Yes. So we have 25,000 or something that we could Yeah. Yeah. I mean there's Yes, there's there's money available in fund balance if you choose to spend it. Any other comments in in discussing with them? Commissioner Jensen, did uh the three they got two vehicles and then they'd have a staff that would have one or No, they they want to have all the staff to have one at some point.

All the staff does not have one. They I believe they have like three or four, but they're being used and it would help to have three three more would be nice. I believe that uh those radios would then the person could take them home with them. So when you get a call, right, get on call. Yeah, I think if I think they kind of share them with the fire some of the people around the fire department and the ambulance, they're kind of shared. So

yeah, I think in their in their request I with reviewing it, I think they mentioned that they want to they want to eventually equip all their EMTs with radios down the road and just to start budgeting that, I believe, is what the what their goal is. Of course, the training, uh, EMT Basics, you know, being over in Elkton with their with their training, being able to either give some IVs or some, I don't know about the the medical the medical side, if there's some other medications that they might be able to do below a paramedic, but that EMTA, which used to be the EMTI training, that's

it helps with with uh having uh advanced life support being as far away as they can.

They do they do have some of their staff that can do the advanced life support with the IVs and stuff, but with this training, they all kind of move up a step and uh it I guess they they're very aggressive and they're they had a meeting over there probably a month ago. I attended and Richard was there also. I mean, there was 40 plus people there attending. I mean, they were all there um getting I guess it was a refresher course is what that was. So, but it's nice to see they they've got a a very strong volunteer following which we see across the state where there's a lot of departments that are not they're having a hard time getting their volunteers. So, in my opinion, if we can do anything to help advance that across county countywide to help with volunteers and that, I I would be I'm all for it.

I'd make the motion to approve the request of 2260613 for total. Second. We have a motion and a second. Do we have any other comments? That would be a motion to amend because there was already a motion on the table. Okay. Any other comments on the motion to amend? I'd look for a roll call vote on the motion to amend. Post. I. Miller. Hi. Jensen. Hi. Vanderwal. Hi. Hustler. Hi. Amendment carries. And then call the role for the original motion. Motion with the amendment. Yep. Uh Miller. Hi. Jensen. Hi. Manorwal. Hi. Post Hustler.

Hi. Main motion as amended carried. All right. Letter L. Action to approve a request to fill vacancy for deputy states attorney in the state's attorney's office. Have a motion to approve. So moved. Second. Motion is second. Comments. Hearing none. All in favor signify by saying I. I. Post say nay. Motion carries. Letter M. Action to approve request to fill vacancy for a part-time corrections officer in the detention center. Do I have a motion to approve? So move. Second. Motion a second. Comments up for motion.

All right. Any more comments? All in favor signify by saying I. I. Say n. Motion carries. Letter N. Action to declare items as surplus property to be disposed of. Do I have a motion to approve? So move. Second. Motion a second. Comments.

Um my only comment, uh Jenna Baker in the finance office, um just department heads and staff went through their fixed asset sheets back in December of 2025. So at that time in doing that process it was determined that several of the items needed to be declared a surplus property uh and to be disposed of so that we can clean up these uh fixed assets. Um most of the items on this list as you can see on the very far right of the spreadsheet you can see which department um those items were coming from. Most of these are computers that were being replaced. Um, so none of these items will be sold online. They will all just be disposed of and um taken to the landfill. So,

all right. Any other comments? Hearing none. All in favor signify by saying I. I. Say n. Motion carries. Letter O. Discussion and possible action regarding mosquito spraying for the 26 season. Do I have a motion for discussion? I think we can discuss first before we take any action here. Um,

the weed board met a couple of weeks ago now, kind of briefly discussed mosquito spraying. Um, I think it was my understanding that all of the chemical that we had from last year has been used um with with a with a new supervisor and then um just the the we have the two full-time staff coming from the highway department that they share. We're not going to hire a seasonal worker this year. um we need just to see what's happening to get um kind of feet underneath us here to see uh the needs of the department. I I I think the weed board was, you know, was going to defer to the commission, but I think their recommendation was not to do any mosquito spraying this season and there are private applicators that will do it. Um so, you know, Doug, you're on the weed board if you have anything else, too. Yeah, I guess we we kind of ran into a little bit this last year too where it's impossible for us with our staffing to cover the entire county if everybody wanted it done. And so it that makes it difficult and then between that combining competing with private and it's just not something that uh especially with this year's staffing situation that they're going to be able to handle. So it would be best to make a decision early on this so everybody knows ahead of time that if we become into a mosquito issue that they'll be able to find other means.

Last year it became an issue when we had a very wet June and mosquitoes became an issue. Um prior to that we hadn't sprayed for mosquitoes for a number of years as far as the county goes. Um, one of our full-time staff would um take hours out of his out of his daytime hours for spraying weeds and go spray from mosquitoes at night. Now, with the staff um being kind of a minimal staff, I just don't think we'll have the the manpower to do it as well. And we thought it would be best to get the word out now. So, I don't know that there's any really action to take, but kind of more of um kind of a consensus from the board that that's the direction that we'll go for this for this season.

Yeah, I think if we just get a list of private applicators and if anybody just calls, they can we can just refer them to them and go down the list and let them know who's available to do it. That sounds like the way we want to go about it with the board. Sounds good. Okay. All right. Sounds good. Moving on. Number nine, commission director or department director's report.

Okay, we have um the veteran service officer was able to get me numbers right away here at the end of for March here at the end of March. So, six DAV rides. They had a couple events um uh coffee with vets and then after hours the veteran service officer um at the VFW. Uh Matt Pillar, our VSO did go to Washington DC had a conference there. Uh they the office also attended an online presentation um from the Brookings County Mental Health Coalition. Um claims that report again I believe was in the packet. Uh good month for claims. Lot of lot of traffic in and out of that office for sure. Um, I think uh Matt had told me too that I some of their applications uh with the VA for the DAV van, they're seeing a couple kind of start to come back. So hopefully we'll add some drivers to that program here shortly. Um crossing our fingers with that with that process. um tomorrow night and as part of my report there is another power on mid uh power on open house power on Midwest open house it's up in Clear Lake uh from 4 to 6 at their community center there and that again was included with my packet we received three closeout letters for the three big uh bridge improvement projects that we have done the PCN numbers are listed there um I have been working. It's kind of been a fun project. I've been going up I've gone up to SD SDSU a couple of times meeting with a landscape architecture class and graphic design students as well. They're teaming up um as with their semester project is to design a like a shared use trail that

goes from Aurora through Brookings over to Vulga connecting those three communities. This is their semester project. They're supposed to kind of think outside the box. um look at different things. So, they've been picking our brains. Basically, it was myself, Kristen Zimmerman, the parks and park and recck director for the city of Brookings, and Michael Schulty with the city of Vulga kind of getting ideas on um uh what we want to spotlight in those communities. Um potential potential routes, things like that. They uh will be giving their final presentations to all of us here at the end of this month. So, it'll be fun to see what they have come up with. So, nothing committed to doing anything. It's just um but it'll be fun to see what those students come up with and potentially maybe a viable option there as well. So, um it's it's been fun to work with with that class and those students. Um as you know, uh we have drafted that um or we had that we had approved the code of conduct recently. Um, we've got the acknowledgement drafted. We'll be getting those out to, um, all of the department heads, uh, this board as well as all of our other boards and committees as well. So, department heads who have other boards and committees, you'll be seeing that from me here shortly. Um, making sure we get all of those acknowledgements signed and back. Um, other than that, just the upcoming dates. Um, tonight is the dashel dialogues at 6:30 at First Bank and Trust. Tomorrow we have our Sou Valley Commissioners Association, our 10 county meeting over in Dismet. Um, I will get that address out to you. I know it was on an agenda in a previous packet, but I'll I'll send that out so everybody knows where

they're going tomorrow. Um, that pipeline uh response training too was at Dakota Bank Center tomorrow. It kind of conflicts with that 10count meeting. And again, as I had mentioned, that Power on Midwest open house tomorrow night up in Clear Lake. Next Tuesday, we do have equalization boards starting at 8:30 um right here in the commission chambers. I don't know. Do you know how many appeals we have, Jenna? We have one so far.

Okay. So, um it shouldn't be shouldn't be too bad of a meeting. We should be able to get through that very quickly. Um, as Commissioner Vanderwal had mentioned, if you know, if things change with a burn ban, we can kind of start looking at that. We'll have to kind of know by the by the end of the week. Um, so we can get that noticed properly. But, um, we'll just kind of keep an eye on things and I can definitely stay in touch with uh, with Richard and then Dave Jacobson too with fire chiefs association. Also, next Tuesday, the week of the uh young child community celebrations at the MU Children's Museum from 4 to 6. Um I had gotten some information. I still don't have a time on that. Brookings dur dual rural water annual meeting Mcnite Hall in White. It's next Tuesday. I don't have a time on that. If anybody has that and could share that with me, I would appreciate that. Um, kind of looking out a little bit further, Tuesday, May 12th, we had the special joint meeting with the Brookings City Council. I know Richard had um discussed an ordinance that the the joint planning commissions are working on. That ordinance will, if passed, will eventually come to the joint meeting of the commission and the city council. So, that we already have that scheduled if that comes to be. Um, June, we have the good, the bad, the invasive plant field day. that's out at Ree Heights, so it's a little bit further away this year, but if anyone is interested in that, um, let me know and I can visit with you more about that. June 23rd, make sure that budget hearings are on your calendar. And then August 20th, the conservation district tour, make sure that's on your calendar. Um, that's all I've got unless you have questions for me.

Anything else for Stacy? All right. Thank you. Number 10, State Attorney's Office report. Nothing to report. Nothing to report. Number 11, commissioners report and discussion. Commissioner Vanderwal,

thank you. On Wednesday, March 18, I attended the community open house at the Dakota Bank Center. Uh, very interesting and we'll see where that leads. On Tuesday, March 31st, that evening, I attended the Brookings Fire Department annual feed here in Brookings. It was a good crowd to see the retirees. Some of the retirees and um different departments were represented there as well. On Thursday, April 2, I attended the Lorie Schultz uh finance person uh retirement here in this building. And later that evening, I attended the Taste of Brookings um at the Dakota Bank Center. Very good to see uh so many people well attended event. And then last night, Monday, April 6, I attended the Elkton Fireman Appreciation Feed over in Elkton. And that's my report.

All right, Commissioner Post. On the 20th of March, I did attend the Brookings County Lincoln Day dinner for the Republican Party. Had a chance to visit with several of our statewide elected officials. It was a good time there to connect with them. And then on Tuesday the 24th, we had our weed meeting as mentioned earlier in the meeting. All right, Commissioner Miller. Well, uh, not long after the last meeting, I, uh, left the country and spent a little quality time in the sun, so I have no report. I just played on the beach. Commissioner Jensen,

uh, the 18th, I also attended the Dakota Bank Center open house. Uh on the 20th I briefly attended the Lincoln Day supper. Uh like I said there was a lot of people there and got a chance to talk to some of the representatives. It was good good meeting. On the 22nd I did go over to Sinai to their fireman's uh fundraiser. Uh on the 23rd uh the BCOAC advisory board meeting on the 29th attended the story of firemen's uh morning breakfast there. And on the 31st, I also attended the Brookings Fireman's Feed. Uh on the 2nd, um celebrated with Lorie Schultz, her retirement. Uh u congratulations to her and hope she enjoys her retirement. On the 3. Oh, later that evening, I did go taste of Brookings also with the Commissioner Vanderwal. On the 3, I did go over to the Elkton community uh fish fry over there. And then last night I was over there for the Elton fireman's feat. That concludes my report.

All right. Thanks. Uh for me on the 18th uh I also depend attended the Dakota Bank Center open house. Uh kind of learned what the what information they got from the survey. Basically it sounds like they need to do more work and get more input uh to figure out what they want to do with that. On the 19th, uh I had a research park board meeting uh out at the research park. On the 20th, uh I also attended the Lincoln Day dinner uh up at Club 71 up on SDSU. It was uh attended well. Uh was able to talk like like the other commissioners talk with a lot of our state and local representatives uh candidates for governor and things like that. It was very well attended. Um on the 26th uh attended the Brookings Regional Growth Alliance board meeting. Uh been a lot of uh a lot of great updates uh with the growth alliance. Um they do have a uh new brand and uh earlier this week they uh launched their uh merged Facebook pages and websites and things like that. So, I encourage everybody that is online and on Facebook to go out and and like and share the the event uh page there. They're uh that's where they share a lot of the news uh and that with with the community, upcoming events like uh ribbon cutings and stuff like that for that merged organization. Um on the 31st uh attended the Brookings Fire Department County feed u like the other commissioners said, it was very well attended. Uh, I think they said they hadund enough for 150. I don't think they uh they cooked all their steaks, but uh there was a lot of people there. It was it was good to visit with with everybody. Uh on the second uh I also attended Lorie Schultz's retirement party here. Uh wish her all the best. Uh

if she's up watching, hopefully she's not and she is enjoying her retirement. And then that night, uh, Taste of Brookings at the Dakota Bake Center, uh, where they where, uh, they celebrated the the graduates of the, um, of the class, the what is it called? The Brookings Brookings leadership class. Yes. Thanks, Jenna. and uh and then also several of the volunteers through there announced the brand and and we actually got a hear from the first time from uh from the CEO Lori uh uh she will be probably coming and and visiting with us in in a upcoming meeting. And then last night uh as well uh went over to Elton and uh ate some fish and chislick that the Elkton Fire Department put on for their county feed. It was uh well attended and got to talk to a lot of people there too. So that is my report. Uh moving on number 12. Uh we do have executive session in accordance with SDCL1-25-2 parentheses 1 and 4 for personnel and contract negotiations. Look for a motion to enter. So

move second. Motion a second. All in favor? I. All opposed. We are in executive session.