County Commission - Regular Meeting

All the meeting to order Tuesday July 22nd of the Brookings County Commission if all would please rise remove cover for the Pledge of Allegiance.

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

Number three on the agenda is approval of the agenda do I have a motion to approve? Second motion in a second do I have any comments questions? additions or corrections Hearing none all those in favor signify by saying aye opposed say nay motion carries Number four on the agenda is invitation for a citizen to schedule time on the commission agenda for an item not listed. There's a five minute time limit per person. Anyone wanting to speak during this agenda item must sign in prior to the start of the meeting. No commission action will be taken during this agenda item. Any requested action may be scheduled for a future meeting date. And we do have several signed in today. First one, Sharon Leiferman.

Good morning.

Morning.

My name is Dr. Sharon Leiferman. I am a semi-retired veterinarian living in Brookings County. I left my comfort zone today to address the issue of what I feel is pernicious content found in some of the children's and young adult books in our local libraries. One definition of pernicious is something that causes great harm, destruction, or ruin, especially in a gradual, subtle, and stealthy way. As a medical professional, I would like to point out that small doses of poison over time can be just as debilitating and life altering as a single large dose. Small doses of sexually explicit content read over several books can be just as damaging as one single complete book of it. And yet these small doses escape the legal definition of obscene material. Secondly, on the subject of the legality of these small doses, I would like to read an excerpt from a newsletter I received that I believe pertains to this subject. It is a financial investment newsletter called The Root Awakening, and this excerpt was written by the editor, Sean Ring, on July 7, 2026. He wrote, and I quote, three words, three different tests. Most people use moral, ethical, and legal as if they mean the same thing. It may not be obvious yet, but they don't. That confusion is the whole game. Moral is the highest bar. It asks one question, is this thing right or wrong in itself? Not convenient, not clever, right. It lives in your conscience, and for most of Western history, it was anchored in natural law. Some things are good and some are evil, no matter what any parliament says. Ethical is the middle bar. It too asks one question. Does your conduct fit your role? A doctor should adhere to medical ethics, a lawyer to legal ethics. A man in office has a duty of care to the public. The office is a trust, not a treasure chest waiting to be plundered. Ethics is how a decent person acts in a position of responsibility, especially when no one is watching. Legal is the lowest bar of all, right where lawyers reside, of course. It asks one thing as well. Will the state punish you? That's it. Not whether it's right or fitting, just whether there's a statute with your name on it and a prosecutor willing to risk his perfect record. Stack them up. Moral is the ceiling. Ethics is the middle. Legal is the floor. Simply put, it's legal is what a man says once he has already fallen through the other two floors. Why legal is the floor? Here is why the law is the weakest of the three tests. First, the law always lags. Slavery was legal. Jim Crow was legal. Nearly every horror that ever needed a courtroom to undo it was, for a while, perfectly legal. The statute book is a rearview mirror. It shows what we have already been forced to admit. It never shows what's actually right. Second, and this one should make your blood boil, the law is written by the very people it is meant to restrain. When Congress was caught trading on insider information, it passed the Stock Act in 2012 to ban the practice. You don't need to read its fine print because its enforcement is a joke. In more than a decade, not one sitting politician has faced a real penalty. They wrote themselves a law with no teeth and held it up as proof they had cleaned house. That's the trick. When you write the rules you are judged by, legal means nothing at all. So when a powerful man defends himself by saying it's legal, in essence he's confirming your position. He's telling you he can't say it's right, so he's reaching for the lowest thing he can still say without outright lying. End quote. Lastly, several people have remarked that there is a book challenge procedure in place that has not been utilized. I believe parents aren't utilizing the book challenge process because they are not aware of the explicit nature of many of these books. It has also been stated that parents are responsible for knowing what their children read. By utilizing a national rating system that is already available, parents would have access to an effective, thorough, and time-efficient tool to help them. Movies and TV shows have rating guides for the public. Why shouldn't books? Thank you for listening.

Thank you Next up Susan Struy Susan's jewelry from Brookings

According to a psychologist magazine, this was taken from Frontier's stated impact of pornography consumption on children and adolescents. A trauma-informed approach says the explicit images, underlying messages, normative symbolic nature, and sequence of sexual behaviors depicted in pornography can influence the emotional, cognitive, and behavioral aspects of sexuality, particularly when these aspects are not yet well established. Simply said, it cannot be unseen and it may give ideas. It can bring on feelings of arousal that never was experienced before. My suggestion is that young children who have no idea about what they are reading or seeing can be detrimental in ways they are not capable to comprehend. For instance, in brain development, it's not there yet and behavior which could follow. Also includes photos, cannot unsee it. There are several of us who are wanting to see the children protected from this material. A group of moms have sent in completed appeals to schools as well. And out of six presented, all were denied. Why? And what was their criteria? The form stated and required the parent to read the entire book. That's forcing parents to view explicit content as well. Why were their claims denied? Do they themselves understand? Does mom or dad really have the time in their day to read every book brought home? And what happened to morality and trust that we were supposed to have in the system? Sounds like evil trying to portray good. South Dakota Codified Law 22-24A-2 defined adult as 18 years and older. Section 7, harmful to minors. Any reproduction, imitation, characterization, description, visual depiction, or representation of whatever kind or form depicting nudity, sexual conduct, and more. Section B is patently offensive to prevailing standards in the adult community as a whole with respect to what is suitable, matter, or material for minors. Material, anything tangible that is harmful to minors derived through reading, observation, or sound. Matter, any book, magazine, newspaper, or other printed or written material, any picture, drawing, or recording. Codified law 22-2456, public library, due to limit minors to access to obscene materials. Develop and implement by January 1st, 2025, a local policy that establishes measures to restrict minors from accessing obscene material or matter. Codified law 22-24A-4, minor defined, a person 15 years of age or younger. So a minor can purchase alcohol? Can a minor attend an R-rated movie? Is it possible that a minor can purchase pornographic material from a place of business? But you are saying it's okay to, for free, check out a book with porn-related contents from a public library. Codified Law 22-24a-2, Section 11b, Obscene, depicts and describes in a patently offensive way prohibited sexual things. As a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value. Section 19b, sexually oriented material, states any book, keyword any, article, magazine, publication, visual depiction or written material of any kind, drawing, etching, photograph exhibiting uncovered genitals or pubic region. In this saying, because this type of material, due to the fact it was in a library in a section labeled young adult, and no one knows for sure what ages are applied to young adult, is okay. The library gives ages for that section as 11 to 15 or 17. Where did these numbers come from? And I made several calls and I was told there was none to be found. They are just called minors. Did the library make up their own list of ages and then considered them okay? I don't agree. I would like to know where they are so I can see for myself what section of law they found them. Why are the children targets? I'M SPEAKING AS A MOM AND GRANDPARENT AND FOR OTHERS AS WELL. UNLESS THERE IS A REMEDY REGARDING PORNOGRAPHIC MATERIAL IN ANY FORM, AS LAW STATES, THE LIBRARY SHOULD NOT RECEIVE ANY ADDITIONAL FUNDS. THANK YOU.

THANK YOU. JEFF STREWY.

GOOD MORNING, COMMISSIONERS. Anticipation is always good. I'm the transition person here. I'm going to finish off for my wife. The Brookings Public Library began in 1915 with a $10,000 grant from Andrew Carnegie. He spent $56 million and he built over 2,500 libraries globally. But his approach went beyond simply writing checks. His philanthropy required active local commitment to ensure the library's longevity and community use. Three strict conditions applied. One, provide the site. Two, fund the maintenance through public funds via tax levies. open access. The library was required to be free and open to all citizens. And I think the Brookings Library still applies to Dale Carnegie's method today. Transitioning to elections. On July 16th this year, President Trump gave an address to the nation on election integrity. His speech wasn't on one bad ballot. It wasn't one bad machine. It wasn't one county or one election. He laid out the entire election attack surfaced. He covered every dimensions. These are, number one, the foreign layer. China acquired around 220 million American voter records and included names, addresses, phone numbers, social security numbers, driver's license numbers, party preferences and voter registration data. Much of this info is not for our use when we purchase voter records, but all becomes captured when it's hacked. Two, the cyber layer. Assessments spanning years warning that China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, and others have the capability to target election infrastructure, especially centralized voter databases, electronic poll books, election websites, and ballot counting systems. Three, the machine layer. Intelligence describing digital methods developed by Venezuela's Maduro regime to alter vote totals in ways designed to survive an audit, showing the capabilities exist and exposing the danger of trusting software without a fully visible paper trail. Four, the registration layer, FBI files describing a Michigan operation where canvassers admitted signing applications in other people's names, registering fake people and receiving gift cards based on production. It occurred also in Minnesota. Five, the identity layer, a department homeland security review identifying approximately 278,000 non-citizens registered for federal elections. But several states refused to provide complete voter roll data. Registration does not equal a ballot was cast, but it leaves another door open into the system. Number six, the ballot layer, mass mail voting, weak identity checks, long chains of custody, extended arrival windows, and counting continuing well past election day. Seven, the institutional layer, intelligence withheld from the President and Congress, information trapped between agencies, investigations delayed, and officials publicly declaring the system secure while their own classified assessments documented serious vulnerabilities. States are being notified about compromised voter information. DHS is preparing to brief officials on electronic vulnerabilities. And lastly, one seditious conspiracy captured on videotape by a court order referencing Dominion and Smartmatic election rigging systems. The Michigan investigating team obtained forensic access to DS 200 tabulators. The machine that counts the votes tells a 4G wireless chip manufactured in Taiwan was discovered embedded in the motherboard. The voting machine tapes clearly indicate modem engagement and transmission of election data. These were all Dominion and ES&S machines using Smartmatic software. When vote counting was stopped for the night during the 2020 election, Can we remember that? I do. President Trump was significantly ahead. When counting resumed, a massive spike occurred for the other guy. Thank you.

Thank you. Rick Weibel.

Good morning, commissioners. I'm Rick Weibel of Elkton, South Dakota. Thank you so much for having the public comments. First off, before the president's speech, the entirety of the EAC commissioners were let go or fired. So right now, the EAC has no commissioners that are bipartisan, that provide bipartisan oversight of the elections. Why? Because they failed. They failed you, they failed me, and they failed the American public. number one it was identified and you can look at my reports at uscase.org that esns dominion and heart and all vendors have failed to provide any engineering change orders for antivirus or windows updates since 2022 not a single one Don't worry, for our state, it's been since March 29th, 2019. No security updates. ES&S is completely unaware of over 30% of the known attack vectors that are affecting the US today. That's of the known universe. What's unknown that they don't even protect? That's negligence. Clear and present. So this is why we have to have proper oversight of our elections. I disagree. that because we have a runoff election that we don't need post-election audits for this runoff. It's a completely different ballot style. We don't know what we don't know. It's not my responsibility to prove that there's issues in the elections. It is the government's responsibility to prove that there were none. So by having proper logic and accuracy tests, having proper post-election audits, having proper oversight of the security, that's your responsibility. And I raise these concerns because there's a real situation in our state right now. Paddington County was attacked. Their systems have been down for a while. Do we know if that could impact the elections? We don't know. But with proper oversight, we can ensure that it won't. So that's the key. We also knew in Brookings, we need to secure our elections and approve wait times. I've provided a document which you guys are already under discussion, so thank you. We have a couple of precincts that are well above 2,000 voters. One of them's at 3,900. Another one is well over 4,000. So my hope is that for the 2028 election, precincts five and six will be bifurcated So that way we can have lower wait times and less of a rush. I'm also advocating that we get rid of vote centers and actually have more in precinct voting because here's the other issue. We're aware in 2022 that Homeland Security confiscated 150 fake IDs heading for Brookings. I've been able to review some of those IDs. There are no voter rolls. They haven't voted. But there's a chance. We need to secure this by having people voting in their precincts where somebody comes up and says, I live at 123 Main Street. And the precinct election judge can say, no, I know nobody lives there. That's part of the security. When we have vote centers, we don't know who lives in Aurora when we're sitting in Elkton. That's part of the danger. So we need to get back to reality. Also, don't use poll pads. Poll pads are not secure and it allows bad actors to monitor who's casting a vote so that way in the last couple of hours they know which voter IDs they can go in and actually use. I'm working on a case in Minnesota where somebody who was running for US Senate, he was actually serving somewhere else in the country while he was doing his Naval SEAL program and somebody voted for him in 2012. That's an impossibility, voted in person in Minnesota. This continues to happen, we see this. There's also damaging an ES&S memo that kind of corresponds to what Homeland Security Mullins put out, which is that the systems aren't secure, and I have an ES&S memo that went to multiple states regarding election records. They said, as noted above, your jurisdiction shall allow for legal transmission of unofficial results via a modem or network connection. There may be a potential security risk in releasing the configuration report, event log report, and system log report produced by the tabulators. IP addresses could be used by bad actors in an attempt to compromise the jurisdiction's networks and critical infrastructure. So for a company that says there's no modems, why did they issue memorandum basically saying you need to safeguard because there's modems in the DS-200s and other election equipment? So this flies in the face of what we've been told for years by ES&S, Homeland Security, and the government. Thank you.

Thank you. Next, Steve January.

Good morning. Good morning. I live in Dual County, southwest of Gary. Two or three months ago, I presented this paper, and each of you had a copy of it, of the British Columbia Medical Journal study on the risk of childhood leukemia for people who live within 2,000 feet of ultra-high voltage power lines. So after I presented that dual County has adopted that 2000 foot ordinance and power on Midwest is complying and my understanding is they have pretty well mapped out a route that exempts the 2000 feet. And a task force was created by you folks, I guess, to study this. And I attended that first meeting and was surprised to find out that there was an employee of Xcel Energy on the task force. But I guess my question respectfully is, what is there to study? This document, the British Columbia Medical Journal, they're no fly-by-night organization. They're one of the top four medical journal publications in the world that include the New England Medical Journal of Medicine, the Journal of American Medical Association, the Lancet, and this British Columbia. So my question is why are we debating whether or not we should enact that 2,000 feet? What's the risk of doing that? You know that Power On will figure out a route if you do enact it. My hope is that the Public Utilities Commission rejects it and they can build their plant in Minnesota where the power is going to, but in lieu of that, I don't understand why we're debating whether or not we should believe this study and wouldn't we want to err on the side of caution by saying, you know, it's not worth the risk. of exposing young children to this by living closer to the power line. The other thing is that I've talked to a farmer in Ohio who has one of these going through his farm. He milks 300 dairy cows. And he said the stray voltage impacted his milk production, and the power company has been working with him to put in ground faults so that they'll drink more water. He tried putting up a fence close to the power line to pasture off some for the cattle. He said when he picked up the wire... he got the shock of his life from the voltage off that power line, so he wouldn't put his cows close to it. He said his GPS and his farm machinery absolutely does not work at all. So again, I urge you to consider the 2,000 foot setback in the interest of caution. Even if this is not completely 100% accurate, why would we not want to enact the 2,000 feet. The other thing is my understanding is that Power On is going to file with the Public Utilities Commission in either August or September. My understanding also is once they file, then if it's too late to pass this ordinance, that the ordinance, if passed after they file, would not carry any weight. So that's my concern. Thank you for your time. Thank you.

Beth Fredrickson? No? Taylor Arndt.

Good morning.

Good morning.

So on July 7th, I went up to ask for a variance with the Joint Board of Jurisdiction. And I do live in Brookings County. And the variance was for to put in a septic system, a new one on my piece of property. currently live in the zone a well-headed area and It is a prohibited use to put a new or a replacement septic system on your piece of property And you can be accommodated with a sealed holding tank. Well, I have a family of five My property is not very big and I would have to pump that thing well More than five times a month Those costs would continue to grow over the year and my house in my opinion is pretty much worth nothing Because I can't replace my septic system my current system, it's small It barely works anymore, and it's literally falling off of a cliff I Need a new system. I cannot live on this piece of property with a sealed holding tank and not a new system and The ordinance specifically says that the Board of Adjustment cannot grant a variance for this prohibited use. So I guess with that being said, on my board, I did have one member vote yes. They're supposed to vote no. I cannot have, you cannot vote on this. So that makes me believe that one, my request is not unreasonable to put a new septic system in. You know, I mean, You have to live in your house. So a sealed holding tank just devalues my property substantially. I don't know any one person who would buy a piece of property when you have to disclose that you have a sealed holding tank. It's just, it can't accommodate the use of a family residence, of a residential property. We take showers, we use laundry, we do dishes. All that goes into one sealed holding tank. I think it is insane that I can't put a new septic system in for something. My house was built before this ordinance was even established in 1980. The house was built in 1975. There's no grandfather clause in the ordinance. It's prohibiting you to even build anything without asking permission from the joint board. I understand that we need clean water. I get that. With the comprehensive plan, the area that I live in is an area of transition, right? They want to limit what you can do to protect the groundwater. That's fine, that's great. But I don't think it should be done at the expense of the residents that live there. It doesn't seem reasonable at all. So I just ask that maybe think about some of these things and I would like it to be on an agenda later on. I'm not the only person that lives on that road or in that area. This is just the first time that it's coming up and I would really like to have an opportunity to discuss with you commissioners about this ordinance and how I can move on because I can't live like this house over another winter. It's not working. So I just I really wanted to just come in and voice my opinion today because I don't think what happened at that meeting should have happened. I think the ordinance needs to be rewritten. Some stuff needs to be adjusted and amended because you can't live on a piece of property. A family cannot live on a residential property without having a working septic system. And a sealed holding tank is not going to cut it. So thank you very much.

Thank you. We do have a scheduled 9 a.m., and it is 9 a.m., so we will come back to the public comments section when that is over. We will move over to Section 7, Scheduled Agenda Item, Letter A, Second Reading and Public Hearing on Ordinance 2026-04. ordinance establishing the requirements fees and regulations for an issuance of alcoholic beverage license within Brookings County Do I have a motion to approve? So moved second motion in a second hearing that we will open the public hearing Is there any proponents for this please come forward any proponents? Is there any proponents Is there any opponents? Any opponents? Is there any opponents? Hearing none, we will close the public hearing and have comments.

So what this ordinance does, the only change that was really made was to area C1. which is the special events licenses. This includes eliminating the number of times a business can apply for a special events license as well as eliminating that public hearing requirement for businesses who currently hold a license with either the county or a community that they're going to use as a special events license. So if you approve this, it will go through the proper notifications and the changes will go into effect on August 20th.

Is there any other comments from the board?

As we've discussed earlier, this just reduces some government oversight and regulation that's not needed because these are already licensed. We still provide law enforcement with acknowledgement of these events happening through this process, but we're just, we're not being the heavy hand of government as far as when and how people can do business as according to the, you know,

The legal guidelines that we need to have followed so that we we know what's going on But we don't have to be an open hearing and posting a certain amount of times most it just reduces regulation The Commission would still have to approve these so there would still have to be Some foresight for businesses to make sure that it gets on a commission agenda, but it wouldn't need to have the public hearing The public hearing which requires prior publication of notices and so really About a week's notice. Yeah a week's notice, and they could get on an agenda more often than not so Is there any other comments?

Hearing none call the roll please Vander wall all right post Miller Jensen all right motion carries all

All right. Letter B. Linda Christensen. Christian, excuse me. Project manager and development of NextEra Energy to present. Come forward. Please state your name for the record.

Good morning, everyone.

Good morning.

I'm Linda Christian. I'm coming from NextEra Energy Resources Company out in Florida. I think I sent a one pager and to give you a little information of our company. Yeah. So I don't want to have to take my time, go through all that fuel. But the reason I'm coming today is to because we are a renewable company and we've been working to develop a solar and battery storage project here in Brookings County. I've met with the planning and zoning a few times. I met with economic and development a few times. We built partnerships with South Dakota State University where we taught class and educating the students there on what we do in our company. We are the largest in the United States. We are in 41 states. We have wind, solar, and battery. We're in natural gas and also we build power plants as well all over. But here in Brookings County, we've moved forward to the point where we have enough land participation to where we can build a 200 megawatt solar farm and also a 250 megawatt storage, battery storage. So prior to doing this, we'll come to the commission to make sure that we're following all of your rules and ordinances. Once I move the project on to late stage, that person, which will be another project manager, will come and follow your guidelines. So what we're requesting is making sure that you have battery ordinances in place, and if not, if there are going to be any, what rules to follow to build a battery storage project and also a solar project. So any questions thus far?

Do we have any questions from the board?

I just have one question. Are you planning on having a public input type meeting?

Yes. We've held coffee chats prior. So I had a coffee chat back in October where we sent out a mailing list and also got posted in a newspaper to let everyone know that we're going to be here to answer any questions and anyone's more than welcome to come. And we're also having one today from 11 to 4 p.m. where I can provide that information as well to where anyone that's in the area or out of the area that wants to be educated on what we're doing, I'll have subject matter experts there. So we'll have an environmental person, we'll have myself who's a planner, we'll have an engineer that's there. And we'll also have the land agents who's been communicating with the people in the community. At any given time we can come back as well and host another one at any given time We can come here and take questions We're here to work with you be good neighbors. So We'll follow your rules and guidelines and what you request of us Where is where is that held today? I? can provide you with the It's gonna be On the university campus, okay I have the exact address. Would you like that now or?

Yeah, if you could, that way we could, whoever's listening or in attendance would be able to have that.

It's at the Macquarie Gardens, 631 22, sorry, 22nd Avenue, Brookings.

Okay. And if you would, when you do host more of these, if you could just communicate the schedule and stuff with the county, our commission director, so that we could, you know, we can have it and if we need to, just so we have the information as well.

Yes, I sure can.

Is there any other questions from the board? All right, thank you very much for your time I would request is a copy of your solar nests as I guess I can work with Stacy I think we can get them from Zoning down and down in Community Development Office. We have people down there that they could probably provide you with all those I can get you email addresses and and phone numbers and stuff.

Thank you very much Thank you

All right, that concludes our schedule agenda items. We'll move back to number four, the invitation for citizens to schedule time on the agenda. Next up is Sue Engelman.

I'm Sue Engelman, a Brookings County resident by trade and electronics engineering technician. I'm asking the county commission members for an immediate moratorium concerning all energy and power structures proposed for Brookings County to include the solar farm, the solar battery storage center, and the 765 kilovolt transmission line. This moratorium is extremely important to put in place now before these developers file with the PUC in September. If a moratorium is not put in place prior to the PUC filing, it is impossible to pause to develop safe zoning restrictions for the Brookings County residents. The PUC follows the local zoning regulations in place at the time of filing for the proposed developments. You as county commissioners are to act as the mouthpiece for the county residents you have been voted in to protect. Trent Luce spoke in Brookings concerning the carbon pipeline. These are some of his words concerning solar development in our country. What is taking place today with solar development is unprecedented. We are covering up so many acres with solar farms, not only covering them up, we are destroying them. And for those individuals who tell me they can manage grazing and have solar panels, when in fact you have food companies now rejecting any food crop grown under or on land that a solar panel has ever existed on. We are destroying our infrastructure for food production and much of that isn't replaceable. These companies are LLCs whose the largest shareholders are BlackRock and Vanguard Group. They only care about profit and collecting your taxpayer dollars. August 17th, 2027 in Lebanon, Tennessee, Brooke Rollins, Secretary of Agriculture for the USDA says effective immediately. Not one more acre will be covered with solar panels or wind, but it is still happening every single day. A member of the PUC told Trent Luce that they eliminated the tax credits. Trent stated you are falling prey to lies coming out of the White House because they have not eliminated tax credits. At this moment, it says that if you have your solar or wind projects started before December 31st, 2027, you can get a tax credit. Are you aware of these facts? For the solar panels to capture energy, they have to be washed at least once a week or they will lose 30% of their conductivity of electricity or energy. There is a whole water issue. Solar farms have several downsides. The primary drawbacks include consuming large amounts of land, disrupting local wildlife habitats, and potential solar erosion and runoff during construction. Additionally, solar arrays can only generate power during the day and face decommissioning waste challenges after their 25 to 30 year lifespan. Lifespan of lithium ion solar batteries are a maximum of 10 to 15 years with no end of life disposal or recycling. Battery energy storage systems major disadvantages include high upfront capital cost, limited capacity for extended outages, energy conservation losses, and battery degradation over time. I don't care if you own land, you need to think about what is happening to the neighboring farmland. Where is the next generation coming to take care of this land? This is our job, our stewardship of God's creation. If you think there is anything green about what is being done to our landscapes, I suggest you have not walked the fields to see the topsoil removed, depleted, and hauled off by these solar development companies. It's time we pay attention to what is happening in our local areas. Right now, we have the power to update our local zoning to enforce safe areas for the Brookings County residents. Again, I'm asking the county commission members for an immediate moratorium concerning all energy and power structures proposed for Brookings County before the September filing goes before the PUC. 1 Timothy 610, for the love of money is the root of all evil.

Thank you. Ted Ingleson? No? Okay. All right, moving on to number five, consent agenda items, which include the minutes, travel and education requests, personnel action notices, cellular authorizations, human services report. Do I have a motion to approve? So moved. Second. Motion and a second. Do I have any comments? Hearing none, call the roll, please.

Post? Aye. Miller? Aye. Jensen? Aye. VanderWaal?

Aye.

Hostler? Aye. Motion carries.

Number six, routine business. Approval of the claims. Do I have a motion to approve?

Motion approved.

Second. Motion and a second. Comments? Hearing none, call the roll, please.

Miller? Aye. Jensen? Aye. VanderWaal? Aye. Post? Aye. Osler?

Aye.

Motion carries.

Letter B, department head reports.

Highway.

Morning.

Morning.

Start off with our routine stuff here. The mowing continues throughout the county. And then some other crews have been working on culvert work up near Ponsett and graveling County Road 36 over by the power plant there south and east of White. Sunday at 7.12, at around 5.30, I received a call from dispatch that we had a concrete buckle south of Aurora on 476th Avenue or County Road 23. I had crews go out and remove the concrete and we patched it back in with gravel to reopen it for the night and signed it accordingly. Monday we had Timmons Construction on site to saw cut the concrete across the road. It was buckled all the way across the road. Tuesday morning we removed the southbound concrete that was spalled out and closed the road down to one lane traffic. Signed it accordingly and I made sure I notified emergency management and Marty and get it out to her Facebook. That afternoon Timmons poured the concrete back in. Next morning we used rapid set concrete and we were looking for a PSI rating of 3500 and we got 3850 so we switched it around and Wednesdays did the same thing with a northbound lane and we opened the road back up on Thursday. So we moved pretty quick on that, but it was Unplanned obviously, but we did get that done There's a lot of trucks on that road and a lot of traffic on that road That's kind of what we've been in a nutshell working on the last couple weeks What causes that debacle like that Brian heat expansion? really heat expansion I know the DOT has been experiencing multiple areas on the interstate also.

I was going to say that same day there was a bunch on the interstate down in that too so that I was seeing.

But deputies were out there when I arrived on scene that Sunday afternoon and it was I bet 9 to 12 inches of rise out of that concrete. But any questions on any of that?

I suppose if you put too much

Expansion joints in whether then you've got noise on the road and you're traveling on it And it's not a smooth ride on normal temperatures and we we looked at that Doug And I know I talked to Commissioner Jensen about this, too You get a little farther down the road The cracks were wider or the joints were wider you get a little farther up the road the The joints were wider. I just think in this particular spot, for whatever reason, it just didn't have the expansion that the other areas did. As much as what happened last year, that one was over a culvert or near a culvert. This one wasn't. anywhere in the vicinity of a culvert, so it kind of confused me a little bit on why it happened there, but we did take a look at the joint spacing to make sure there was room for expansion. That road was put in in 2003, and just in the last couple years, we've had to deal with now our second buckle on that road.

Any other questions for Brian?

Brian, I wonder if you could give us an update on the rumble strips up north on 77.

One of the things that I did, you know, I contacted the DOT in questioning on our concrete road, but I did contact the Watertown area DOT office, and they are still working on it. The contractor is in the Aberdeen region so The region covers from Aberdeen all the way to the you know The southern part of Brookings County, so I mean I've contacted them unless the Commission wants me to move forward and do it ourselves I guess that's up to you guys, but they are in the region. I know we've been patiently waiting on this and I know that the traffic continues there and now that 28 is open I Full-heartedly believe that we have a lot You know less traffic now that 28 is open, but I know it's something that we need to get done and I've been in contact with them, but That's the best answer I can give you They're in the region I did have a couple phone calls on that the same subject One of the people from the public brought up a good point, and I don't know if this has been looked at

Has it ever been considered made into a four-way stop?

I've been here for eight years Larry. I I don't know if it ever has in in my tenure here.

No, yeah And I didn't want to state it ever mentioned that oh Yeah

I think that's an idea we need to consider and get some more information on moving that intersection, that troublesome intersection to a four-way.

Do we know what traffic counts, have we had any kind of study on traffic counts through that intersection or down Old 77 in recent years? I have not. We've got the equipment to be able to put out there and just get something quick. I would probably, I mean, that might be a place to start.

Marty, with your equipment that was out there last year, did that record any traffic counts? No, it didn't. Okay. The person brought up a good point, and I said I have never, the DOT has never mentioned it, and we've never looked at it.

It wasn't something that's ever came up in conversation. Correct.

Anybody else have anything for Brian? All right, thank you. Sheriff.

Good morning. Morning, Marty.

Morning, Sheriff.

Just want to comment just on the buckled road that after my department learned about it and stuff that the highway department really acted quickly and was nice. It was on Sunday, so we had reduced traffic in that area, but my staff didn't have to stay there a long period of time because the highway department came and took care of it, so it's nice that they were concerned about that and take that. and Larry there has been comments to me about a four-way stop there and just talking with some of the surrounding residents and stuff so I probably agree that probably could take a look at it and see if that would help that I'm not always a favor of adding more stop signs at times but you know maybe we've got four stop signs that someone will stop at one of them So I continue to have problems there. There are complaints there. Also now it goes up to the interstate where the bridge is on 30 there is that we had an injury accident there. And then of course people start calling in saying how they had near misses where people weren't yielding coming off the interstate. They may stop but then pull out in front. And, you know, if you're going south and you stop, you come up off the interstate, you know, it's kind of a blind coming from the west. And, of course, people stop and they pull out. So then I hear all about these near misses, but they don't call me at the time. They always two or three weeks after or it takes an accident. So, you know, we're looking at that area too, but that's... Drivers air a lot of that and that particular bridge is not I got a reduced speed limit there other bridges do you know? Like the Elkton bridge and they have a reduced speed limit going through but that particularly bridge does not have a reduced So but so we're trying to watch watch that uh... area to is as best we can uh... just quickly to is is uh... just a quick overview about uh... of the jail we presently have sixty six inmates in there been busy the last two weeks we would have been running in the seventies uh... and uh... and so that the jail staff has been busy we have we do have twenty six marshall uh... inmates uh... moody county keeps us busy they got four that we got there uh... thirty two inmates are brookings county inmates that have charged out of excuse me out of brookings county uh... twenty four seven uh... is down in number seventy nine but that still keeps us busy cuz we got thirty seven to come in twice a day so that area always It always stays busy so a couple other things is is that we've had some grass fires So it's dry out there, so I don't know if we don't get some rain. We may have to think about something in the future, so It's just things that are either hit something out there that strikes and gets a spark but we've had uh... we've had some grass fires on on on the interstate song uh... another thing is uh... stock and we have a part-time in a control person to wave walberg has and he was full time at the police department retired and he'd been working part-time in my office for I don't know how many years. I don't think you'll ever find anybody like Dwayne because he comes out at any time. You know, it could be 3 o'clock in the morning or 3 o'clock in the afternoon, and he comes out. And he came in yesterday because we've been keeping him busy the last two weeks. And what's interesting is from Saturday to Saturday, he has had 80 calls online. to deal with some type of animal control. or he's got cages out of people that's got raccoons or possums or whatever now in contract towns or in the little towns if he goes into those towns and does something with animal control we build those towns so we do get some of that money back and i guess what my purpose of bringing this up is that we may in the future if this continues to we may have to do something else with animal control as far as maybe having a having an actual someone here and patrolling or doing something but again i think the contract towns and the town should help pay for that if that right now we're we're fine i i i worry about when dwayne ever says he's had enough because i don't think we'll ever find anybody to to replace dwayne as far as coming out in that Like yesterday, we had a warrant for an individual that had a dog at home and the dog had bit somebody at the same time. And he followed up to get that dog because it didn't have a rabies shot. And if a dog does bite somebody, he gets it impounded, keeps track of it for 10 days. That takes a lot of pressure off my deputies. They don't have time to mess with all that stuff that animal control has to do. If the hospital, they're mandatory reporters on dog bites or animal bites. So if somebody comes in to get stitches or whatever, they have to notify my office that a dog bit them. My deputy will take the initial report and then we turn it over to Dwayne to do the follow-up. So it's just something to make you aware of possibly for the future. Other than that, I don't have anything unless the guys have been busy. We've had accidents and of course we continue to have dear accidents. now now pastures are getting worn down and It's dry out there, and so now we're getting animal out calls and and That type of stuff now, so it just continues on so anyway Anybody have anything for Marty?

Thank you, thank you.

Thank you sure Jen from finance

Good morning.

Good morning.

Well, first, we've got the finance officer's report for June in the agenda with be it noted items, auditor's account with treasurer, payroll and additive totals, register of deeds, statement of fees, and the highway fuel report. Things happening in our office right now The public surplus auction is going to begin August 3rd at 10 a.m So that's just any of the items that you guys have approved for surplus. Those will go on that public sale It ends August 13th at 10 a.m and that just you just go to public surplus comm and search for Brookings County and that's really all to find our items that'll be for sale and again that starts August 3rd and uh... runoff election is still going strong so far seven thirty six ballots have been cast last day to absentee vote in our office will be monday at five in the Election will be next Tuesday July 28th Polls will be open 7 a.m.. To 7 p.m. And just a reminder that Volga vote center all the vote centers will be the same except for Volga which due to construction Over on Samara we've moved it to first reform Church at 601 East First Street That'll be just for this election That's all I've got today anybody have anything for Jen Thank you, thank you, thank you Jen

Richard with County Development Morning morning, mr. Hill gave you a staff report, so I won't go over that so far year-to-date we've issued 89 building permits we've issued 10 in the month of July here, so they keep coming in people are still doing some building and We have a regular zoning meeting on August 4th at 8 p.m. here in the commission chambers. I think there's five items on the agenda for that. And that's all that I have.

Anybody have anything for Richard? Thank you, sir.

Yeah, thank you.

All right. Moving on to number eight, regular business. Letter A is action to approve resolution 26-25, a resolution established in three-year terms for members of Brookings County Extension Boards. Do I have a motion to approve? So moved. Motion to second. Comments?

So in large part, thanks to Commissioner Post getting some legislation passed this year with House Bill 1106 that went into effect here at the beginning of the month. That now allows for up to three-year terms for Extension Board members. It was always one-year terms, so those six individuals would have to reapply every year. been in conversation with sonia mack our 4-h youth advisor and kind of coming up with a plan and how to get those terms staggered but we would like to essentially get to that point where they are all at three-year terms and it'll be like two then each year would have to reapply instead of all six every year so that's what this resolution would do okay any comments any questions

Yeah, this was just a request of the Extension Board this past December meeting or whatever. And so I called one of my old acquaintances out there and said, hey, can we fix this? Because the Extension Board was the only one that was left that didn't have staggered terms and had to reapply every time. And it's quite a form that we go through with different checks to make sure that these board members are good citizens and stuff. And so we just as soon have them more convenient for them to continue serving and maybe latch on to a little bit longer so we don't have turnover in the board quite so much.

And this was statewide, right? Right. Yeah.

Yeah.

Any other comments? Hearing none, call the roll please.

Jensen.

Aye.

VanderWaal. Aye. Post. Aye. Miller. Aye. Hostler.

Aye.

Motion carries.

Letter B, action to approve resolution 26-26, a resolution authorizing the purchase of two generators including installation through source well. Do I have a motion to approve? Move to approve. Do I have a second?

I'll second it.

Motion and second. Comments?

County Development Director Bob Hill did create a staff report for this. I handed it out this morning. Basically what SourceWell is is an entity in Minnesota that we have purchased off of their bids before. Sort of a clearing house for bids. We've done that before for, I think, the HVAC system at the courthouse as well as some highway. I think highway has used source well in the past. But this is for two generators. One would be a permanent generator out at the BCOAC. As you may recall, we have noted that that facility could be a backup emergency shelter in case of whatever event may take place. So the thought was to have something permanently mounted there instead of trying to find a generator kind of in the heat of the moment perhaps. The other is a portable or a towable generator for the emergency management department that they would be able to utilize Take wherever it may be needed in the event of an emergency Also could be used by other departments highway department. They need something it could be taken there as well Though those quotes that were included the emergency management generator was just over 70,000 and the permanent generator at the OAC is just shy of 88,000 and Some of those options like for the OAC generator does include like the automatic transfer switch that would be needed in order to have it there. It is wired. There is a hookup for a generator currently there. We have done that in the past. So what this resolution then does is allow us to buy the two generators off that source well bid for the prices I noted.

And this is something we've been talking about for quite a while now, isn't it?

Yeah, there has been quite a bit of discussion on generators in the past. As far as paying for this, these are not budgeted items, but you've directed myself and the finance office to do a supplemental budget with these if you approve them.

Other comments?

I get a question. It says installation included then? They will do the installation at the OAC?

I believe so. Vote Bob. Do we know what the turnaround time would be if we do approve this?

I don't know for sure.

And the portable, that's replacing the one that the emergency management currently has?

Do you know, Richard?

Yes, as stated in the report, it would be replacing that one, but we would also keep that until it's time of use or end of use is completed and it's no longer usable. So the highway department does use it and it's good to use it to have it used once in a while instead of sitting idle for that. It's good to get used and it's also been used for other public service events around in the communities at different times. So Yes, there will be two generators until the older one is no longer functionable.

In the command center, that has an onboard generator, correct? Correct. Okay.

Up to a certain wattage that's there, but yeah.

What's the expected life on the current generator that we have as far as hours or run time or whatever, and how many hours does it have on it?

It's 20 years old and I would say. Brian, do you know any idea what the hours are on there? I've looked at it, but I don't recall. It's been used extensively over the years and it's it's all up to everything is good and working condition on it so.

What's the difference in size between the current portable and the new portable?

Current size is 18,000 if you look on the report it's listed in there and the new one is It's a QAS 70, which is on the second page of your report. There. I can see the the wattage on it. It would have been the same size that has been referenced earlier during discussions when this was beheld. I'm sure that would increase would not have been made.

This one has more options for receptacles to plug into. Yes, yeah, well, I understand.

Yep, this has more options on there, whereas now they have to electrician have to come and wire those into this current generator that we have so. And that had to be done when we used it during the duration in 2024 and so.

It was mentioned that the AOC having a backup generator there in case it was a emergency facility for, but it was a secondary, where's the first?

The first one's, well, here, and then the Dakota Bank Center. Of course, I don't know you know of course there's discussions with with the future use of the Dakota Bank Center I don't know you know what what discussions have been made with that with keeping that as a as a emergency center or if they you know the city decides to change things up with that if that's going to go away, so and After that we don't have another backup. I don't believe I Do we? Correct. That's why the OAC is looking at that.

That's part of the purchase of the dry narrators, so that could be used as a primary or a secondary backup for an evacuation center, shelter.

I believe in the past the Red Cross has come out to the OAC and taken a look and done a walkthrough. Yes, they have.

I think some of that was where the growth went south and east. The OAC was more

convenient location for a storm shelter also right and also with 214 and the upgrades to that and that it helps

whereas now there is a hookup there, but we'd have to get the generator in, find one if ours isn't big enough, and this would be large enough to run the whole facility in a day-to-day operation with all. They went back and looked at utility bills for the past year so they know the size and the wattage that was needed to run everything as if it was hooked up to BMU.

If we look at the... The problems or devastation that happened in Highmoor here earlier this summer, I think it's in our best interest to be as prepared as we can. I like the idea of where we're going with this. There's a cost to it, yes, but I think for our citizens, we need to be prepared.

Well, I have concerns with the portable one when it's not been used. The highway department uses it occasionally. I question why we're going to spend $70,000 when we have one now, and it's rarely used. If it's not used, why do we need to spend $70,000 to get a new one? Just have it. If Brian needs a generator to do highway projects, we could rent one for a fraction of that cost.

Do you know, with this one being, you mentioned 20 years, the current one's 20 years, what is the, does anybody, do we know what the life expectancy for those are? I know with age, if they're not, I mean, if they're not tested regularly and everything, they go bad just sitting there, so we gotta use them on a regular basis or test them, but Do we do we have any idea?

Probably have more issues with the emissions on the new one than you would with the old one

Richard you said that it was used in a duration in what situation what?

Scenario it was brought down to the east fire station And around there for three days as their primary power source when the city of Brookings was out of power It could be taken to other communities in the county and be used as a power source If there's so needed

Those these fire station was a dispatch center And then I think it's been used in Bruce and a couple of their lift stations when the electricity went down also for their sewer systems It can be used for other public use Services like lift stations things like that or other communities if they need to for power sources there and

Without being in the heat of the moment if there's something like that you know you might think yes You could go rent a generator, but if you have a significant damage area those generators could be gone, and you could wait a week For that to get one also Nobody has a glass crystal ball to know what's going to happen and and the like Commissioner Vander wall mentioned you know high more and I

Miller wasn't as bad, but Highmore was devastated with those storms, and they're still cleaning up. Better safe than sorry is always, in my opinion, we have to plan for the worst and hope for the best.

I agree with that to a point, but we're talking serious money here. For the portable one, the OAC, I could... make peace with that. My only concern with that is did we get local bids? I see it's coming out of a Minnesota. But I guess Commissioner Jensen explained to me before of how that bid system works. But anyway, I just have a hard time making peace with $70,000 for something we may or may not need and haven't rarely used in 20 years. My thoughts.

Comments do the smaller communities have their own backups like vulga and white Aurora Bruce That would be a question for them they do not have big generators like this they might have them for their infrastructures possibly Larry we financed we helped with Bruce with Their backup system there for their source system. I believe the year or so ago. We use some commission funds. They made a request. I think other communities rely on portables to run theirs. Bruce has got lift stations. That's a problem. I think the other communities don't have lift stations so their sewers works and it's all gravity flow. Whatever the fire departments have,

I know when the power's out, there's a line at runnings and the shells are already empty of all the generators because everyone's looking for power. I've got a 20-year-old generator I can roll out and milk two cows at a time to get by if I have to.

Initially, when we did the outdoor venture center and had that wired, we initially thought we'll be able to contact one of our local contractors to bring a generator. Well, not thinking, well, if we have a power outage, a two, three day one like we had here previously, they're going to be using theirs so they can function their own equipment and their shops and everything. That's when we decided to look into purchasing one for the OAC so it was there. That's when Bob talked about the storm shelter also.

SWINGING BACK TO EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AND EMERGENCY SERVICES, OUR REPEATERS, AND I KNOW WE JUST ATTENDED, I JUST HAD AN E911 MEETING LAST WEEK, REPEATERS AND STUFF FOR COMMUNITY, FOR EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS, THEY HAVE BATTERY BACKUPS. Are they usually a day or two? Sheriff, do you know?

They're on a maintenance system. I'm not for sure how the extended life or how long the run time is for those. I'd have to check into that. But they're on a service contract for those.

But if power's out for those areas and that repeater, they have battery backups.

Right, I'm not sure how long the battery backup is.

So that is another use that we could use for these generators. Yep. You know depending on the location of where the outages low emergency services down and things like that There's a lot of use for them granted. We do have one but You know It's kind of like fire insurance the only time you need that is when you have a fire yep Any other comments questions

I think this kind of fits what counties do. We plan for the unexpected so that we can cover some of these situations. We'd always like to be conservative with funds, but this fits firmly into the county's wheelhouse as far as what we do. Everything costs too much these days.

Any other comments? Hearing none, call the roll, please.

Vanderwall.

Aye.

Post. Aye. Miller. No. Jensen.

Aye.

Hosler.

Aye.

Motion carries.

Letter C, action to approve resolution 26-27, a 2027 bridge improvement grant, local federal bridge PE program resolution authorizing submission of applications for the following structures numbering 06137-200, 06142-200, and 06170-056. Do I have a motion to approve?

Second motion a second comments So I wanted to cover these guys with you These particular structures are all located on federal aid routes so we at one time got federal money to build these roads and These particular structures that you're going to consider on this one Aren't eligible for the build America 250 funds because at one time they received federal funds so we would be in turn have to be responsible for the 20% on these particular structures. As you can see, these are south of town. These are the two structures. One of the two structures is the bridge that is taking the brunt of the water from the diversion project that you guys have been discussing in depth with the public and Banner. The other one on County Road 77 we applied for last year but failed to receive enough points in that to be eligible to get that structure. Any structures that we do apply for need to be on our five-year plan, and I will cover the changes in the Build America 250 Act on these next two that we'll talk about, but these particular structures are on our county uh... primary system home for this first one any comments

Do you feel that the 20% match, that's part of an offer that we can change?

On the PE grants, Doug, I don't think it's worth, you know, this is just getting the basic type and size of structure that we're going to be looking at replacing these with. We've been really successful in Brookings County staying with that 20%. It's you know in one particular year. We got seven PE grants You know and those take a while to to get completed So I don't think it's necessary that we to up that Because it just kind of goes year year by year on what the state gets as far as other grants for other counties I This is just kind of getting them in the hopper get this is this is getting the initial getting them in the queue to move down the line once we get the preliminary engineering done then as far as getting them to final design and Doing that that's when the actual structure replacement Consideration comes in and that's a that's a total different grant.

This is just getting them in the queue We don't really even know Any other comments Hearing none call the roll please post Miller Jensen Vander wall all right hostler motion carries all

Letter D, action to approve resolution 26-28 of 2027 bridge improvement grant local federal bridge PE program resolution authorizing submission of applications for the following structure numbers. 06190-041 and 06310-059. Do I have a motion to approve? So moved. Second. Motion to second. Discussion? Comments?

So recently in May, the federal government initiated, or the Transportation Committee initiated the Build America 250 Act. And one of the things that came out of that act was to make states make a better effort to fund bridges that are on off-system or non-federally funded routes. So township roads is what their primary focus is on because a lot of the ailing infrastructure throughout the state not just Brookings County, but throughout the state, our poorest bridges are obviously on our least amount of traveled roads. So what this act does is basically told the states that to 100% fund the, if Stacy, if you'd scroll down just a little bit, These two particular structures would, since they're on non-federal aid routes, we don't have any commitment as a county to put any money towards this because of those funds. So what we're going to do when we consider the five-year plan here later in September, which is due October 1st, is we are going to add a lot of our structures that are on our township roads and at Point in time next year. We may be applying for multiple because of this Funding that it's going to be available from 2027 to 2035 So these two particular structures, which are on our five-year plan, has to be on your five-year plan. These will be qualified for that. So as we move forward, we may be considering multiple structures in the future once we approve our five-year plan this year. But the timeline and the way it got down to the counties to where now these applications are due August 1st, our backs are against the wall even to make an amended five-year plan. That's where we're sitting at right now, which I'm guessing multiple counties are, because if you guys may recall, last year we've completed our two bridges that we received federal funding for, which the county ended up being on the hook for those bridges for 6%. So, you know, in the future we may be looking at funds coming down from the federal government to help us replace structures on our township systems is what I've been gathering from the state.

Both of these structures are posted correctly? Correct.

One is on up by the dam by Hendricks the one yes, and then the other one is just to the west of the I Think it's red willow colony Any other comments This sounds like good news to get more of these township structures being able to be listed for future dates and You know, we had focused on that when funding was available for that, but a lot of counties did too. It's a very competitive process, but now the states are getting their hand forced a little bit more to commit more funding to off-system bridges, Doug.

Any other comments, questions?

Hearing none, call the roll, please.

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

Letter E, action to automatically supplement for unanticipated expenses incurred and reimbursement made to Brookings County in the amount of $38,150 for reimbursement of poll pads for elections. Receipt number 00781010 to general line item 101-4 1204350. Do I have motion to approve? So moved. Second. Motion to second. Comments?

This was reimbursement from HAVA funds to pay for pole pads. These are grant dollars that we received to pay for these so we're reimbursing that budget line.

Do you have any other comments?

Hearing none, all those in favor signify by saying aye.

Aye.

Opposed say nay. Motion carries. Letter F, action to automatically supplement for unanticipated expenses incurred and reimbursements made to Brookings County in the amount of $1,500 for reimbursement for travel for veteran services. Receipt number 00781224 to general line 101-4165-4270. Do I have a motion to approve? So moved. Second. Motion to second. Comments?

This is reimbursement that the national CVSO conference reimbursed our VSO Matt Piller for his attendance at that conference. So this would just reimburse his travel line back.

Any other comments or questions? Hearing none, all those in favor signify by saying aye.

Aye.

Opposed say nay. Motion carries. Letter G, action to appoint Aaron Lavender Scott to the Brookings Human Rights Commission for a term to end December 31st, 2028. Do I have a motion to approve? Move to approve. Second. Motion and a second. Comments?

We did receive another application just yesterday afternoon. It was past the deadline to get it on the agenda as a second option for the meeting today. This position has been vacant since January of 2025. We have posted it several times trying to find interested individuals. We were kind of in a point where it was open until filled is where we were. So there was really no like hard and fast application deadline. The application that is in front of you was received on July 2nd. And then another one just came in yesterday. So because this is on the agenda, I believe the commission needs to take action. However, whatever that looks like, if you want to go ahead and approve it, you approve it. If you want to consider both, then you would need to vote this down then with the intent to consider both applications at the next meeting. I would suggest maybe setting a deadline then for applications to be received in case there are others if you're going to consider this other application that came in. But yes, I guess it's at the kind of board discretion at this point on how you would like to handle it.

Can it just be tabled until next meeting?

What's that?

Just be tabled until next meeting?

Think you need to table it and explain the intent behind that or amend the motion to Postpone it because we have another Applicant now, I think we all you can if that's the the direction the board wishes to go I Mean we had somebody else apply we should give them the courtesy to At least consider both and make a decision on both. So what's the protocol to do that? I?

Well, if we were to table this, or I suppose, could we amend the motion to move to next meeting to... To consider both applications?

And then I think you would also want to note if you are going to, you know, set a deadline or just say... These are the the two applications now that we're going to consider in that is it moving forward I guess I think that some direction would be helpful for my office to in case there are others now that apply When would be a suitable deadline?

So that if there was any other applicants I know we have to have everything in by Thursday and THURSDAY BEFORE THE MEETING?

WEDNESDAY BEFORE THE MEETING. I WOULD SAY THE NEXT TUESDAY, THE 28th, BY 5 PM, IF YOU'RE GOING TO ALLOW FOR OTHERS.

THAT GIVES A WEEK. SO MOVED.

SO AMENDED.

SO YOUR AMENDMENT IS TO POSTPONE POSTPONE DECISION ON THIS APPLICATION TO OPEN A DEADLINE TO THE 28th AT 5 PM TO CONSIDER APPLICATION RECEIVED AND POSSIBLE OTHERS? YES. THAT IS PROBABLY HARD FOR JENNA. WORD SALAD THERE. JENNA IS GOOD. I WOULD SECOND THAT.

GIVE HER A SECOND, SHE'LL READ IT BACK TO US.

SORRY, WHO SECONDED?

MILLER. Comments on the amendment?

The only question, was there a deadline before? There wasn't.

There really wasn't. I mean there have been in the past there has been deadlines but because it was not, because no one applied at this point it was just sort of open until filled. We didn't really have a set deadline at this point. That's why it's a little bit of a gray area right now because we don't have a set deadline in place right now.

Because we have had some submit before when we had a deadline they were after the deadline so they were not considered.

Correct. Correct. The only reason the other one hasn't been is we received it late afternoon yesterday which did not give us time to get it on the agenda and properly noticed. Voice vote on the amendment. All those in favor signify by saying aye. Opposed say nay. Amendment carried. Voice vote on the Original motion with the amendment all those in favor signify by saying aye aye Opposed say nay motion as amended carried we will have a deadline of July 28th at 5 p.m. For any additional applications for the human rights for the county's position on the Human Rights Commission All right Moving to letter H, 2027 budget discussions.

Any questions?

I guess I'm just looking if there's any further changes that the commission wants to discuss. We need to get here in August. We need to wrap things up and we'll have to notice the provisional budget here in August. Any final changes that need to be discussed, myself and Jennifer in the finance office, we need final direction from the board.

So I know there's been questions about vehicles and rotating vehicles and and and years and mileage Yeah, sure if I mention this to you We wouldn't be doing our job if we didn't I'm you had three vehicles requested It was kind of vague on what year those vehicles were that were going to be replaced and how many miles were on those vehicles and So they're all the same we purchased them all at the same time and they're all about same mileage I

When we replace a new car, he gets the old one because he's not out actively patrolling it and so forth. To keep up with the rotation Do you know of any outstanding or some major Mechanical issues with any of these that are coming out. Is there probably a I got a couple that we've had to park. We got a new dog, Taco, and we had to park his because we've had several issues with that. Again, they're four years old. It depends on the deputy and how much... You know, we do federal overtime also. So some of these cars get a few more miles on them with the federal overtime. So they can rack up some miles. It depends on the deputy and the use and if it's assigned to federal overtime. But I really need to get three here. That could create some problems for the office if we don't get those three.

Those things are... You think about a four year old vehicle with 120,000, 130,000, 40,000 miles. It's not driven like we usually drive them. They're driven hard to respond to calls and things. They're not abused by any means but it's not normal going to the grocery store.

Try to keep them going by And the good ones that we the good ones that are that aren't having issues we utilize and then surplice the others so

Is there any other questions, concerns? I know we have non-mandateds and all of that in here for discussions.

What questions or concerns do we need to visit about with their... Well we had asked for some clarity with the non-mandated to the library. Did we get any response from them? WITH FOLLOW-UP, WE HAD SOME QUESTIONS ABOUT HOW THAT MONEY WAS SPENT WHEN WE WENT THROUGH THE BUDGET. WE WANTED TO HAVE MORE CLARITY FROM THE LIBRARY.

YOU KNOW, I KNOW, WELL, WITH BUDGET TALKS AND THAT LAST YEAR, AND WE WERE ALL ON THE COMMISSION AT THAT POINT, WHEN WE DID REDUCE FUNDING TO THE LIBRARY AT THAT POINT, It was, you know, the library instituted or was going to institute a $25 fee for county out of Brookings residents to utilize the library. And I think was the paperwork, it's $40 per... per library card? Is that usually what it is?

Initially for 2026 the commission had reduced the funding to $10,000. They routinely ask for $35,000. The commission has done $25,000. For 2026 initially we had reduced it to $10,000. At that point is when the library had said that they would charge $25 per library card for out of city of Brookings residents for a library card. If we did not fund them at all, it would be $40 per out-of-city resident to get a library card at the city of Brookings, is what I recall. The board then reinstated the additional $15,000 to do the $25,000 They ask for 35. We do the 25.

Basically what the library has told us is that any of our contributions that we give to the library is for county residents that don't live in the city of Brookings. For cards for them to be able to access, correct?

Yes. The other conversation that we had with the library too was a lot of additional reporting and things that they would provide to us. couple of times a year I think I had that on a report you know probably several meetings ago now but there were a number of reports and then having the library director come at least annually to a commission meeting I think it was actually twice spring and fall to give updates on on happenings there you know I know we

the numbers that we received has been 2,200 to 2,600 county library cards or what was that number again?

I think it was like between 24 and 2,500 out of city of Brookings library cards.

Library cards.

Or library memberships or yeah, library cards.

I just did some quick math. We had discussed a little bit last year about the possibility of a voucher type system for county residents to come in and WE COULD HELP THEM WITH THE PURCHASE OF A LIBRARY CARD AND WITH THE 25,000 THAT WE'VE GIVEN BEFORE, THAT WOULD ALLOW, IF WE DIDN'T DO ANYTHING TO THE LIBRARY, THAT WOULD ALLOW, LET ME LOOK AT MY CALCULATOR BECAUSE I JUST DID IT. 625 CARDS. SO IT'S A FRACTION OF WHAT THEY ACTUALLY Offset now if we did a voucher system we could we could we could do 625 cards at $40 apiece I mean Well if memory serves me correct during budget time we talked about putting that non-mandated funds to the library on hold and tell some of the concerns of

were addressed that we've had a lot of people come and speak on behalf of the library and concerns there. I thought what we decided in the budget meeting was that we would hold on that until we could have a time to visit with the library and ask some of those questions. Where did we land on that during budget time? I don't think we committed that money to them, did we?

Correct, yeah. There is zero dollars right now in the provisional budget, in the draft provisional.

Okay. This is something finance and we need to get resolved timely fashion because we need to get the budget figured out. You're 100% right. I thought we'd have those answers because we thought some of the numbers were wrong. We had questions on how long is a library card good for? Is it good for two or three years or is it one year deal? We don't know how active all those cards were. That's some of the questions we had, and I just thought we'd get those answers before we decide.

I know we've also requested a position, either board or ex officio. We have not received official correspondence. regards to that but unofficial conversations I do not believe that that seat is going to be is going to be right provided but what I've what I've been told is of course those meetings are open and anybody can attend and voice concerns and and and and just as we do with our meetings so

In both public hearing and in private comments that I've received from constituents and citizens of the county, I think there's enough concern that people don't want their taxpayer dollars going to there. Therefore, those people that do desire the services of the library, paying for a library card is probably the most equitable thing to serve the county. So we just leave it at zero and we roll with it.

It's I'M NOT OPPOSED TO THE VOUCHER SYSTEM. IF WE'VE GOT A SITUATION WHERE PEOPLE ARE DOWN AND OUT AND THEY SIMPLY CAN'T AFFORD THAT, I WOULD CERTAINLY LOOK AT THAT. BUT JUST TO OFFSET THE COST FOR ANYBODY THAT WANTS A LIBRARY CARD, I DON'T KNOW THAT'S THE BEST USE OF OUR NON-MANDATED FUNDS. MY INTENT IS TO BE RESPONSIBLE WITH THAT MONEY. EVERY OTHER NON-MANDATED AGENCY THAT GETS MONEY FROM US, WE HAVE A SEAT ON THE BOARD OR WE HAVE SOME INPUT OF HOW THAT MONEY IS USED AND I THINK IN AN ATTEMPT TO BE RESPONSIBLE WITH THIS MONEY, I GUESS I'M WITH DOUG, I WOULD SAY WE'VE GOT NO COMMENT FROM THEM AND I'M NOT IN FAVOR OF THE $25,000 TO THE LIBRARY BECAUSE WE JUST FEEL LIKE WE'RE NOT GETTING ANSWERS THERE. AND THERE'S CONCERNS FROM THE COUNTY RESIDENTS THAT I THINK SHOULD BE ADDRESSED.

I've also had concerns with not funding them, people that value the services that the library does provide. They provide a lot of services. The comments that this group has brought forward to us, I didn't realize this before, I'm concerned with what you've brought forward, that it's available, but we're not an ethics board here. I think your complaint or your concern should be taken up with the library board. They I don't know if they have a process there or not to address those concerns but on both sides They do provide some essential services to the citizens of the county also so certainly you know that is that is some of the

TO BUILD ON COMMISSIONER JENSON'S STATEMENTS, THAT IS SOME OF THE CONCERNS THAT I'VE RECEIVED ALSO AND CORRESPONDENTS THAT I'VE HAD THROUGH CONVERSATIONS AND E-MAILS, I HAVE FORWARDED THE ACTUAL INFORMATION WITH THE LINKS TO THE, AND I DON'T KNOW WHAT THEY CALL IT, EITHER THEIR COMPLAINT OR THEIR CONCERN PAGE. But that is one thing that we, of course, do not have control over is operational or total control over the library. That is the library board. That is the city council. And that is something that I've expressed to the individuals that I've had correspondence with is to please reach out to the boards that actually have a say to be able to affect the changes that they're asking. I don't know. At my last knowledge, I believe middle of last week or so, I haven't heard late last week or this week, I don't know if there has been any of those forms or any of that officially requested to the library. Did just see at the beginning of our meeting the library director was in our in our gallery And she's not anymore, but I don't know if Any citizen has taken those steps to formally go in front of the the boards That can make those changes and I of course Would hope that they would do that because we don't have a the teeth to make those changes.

I like all your thoughts. I noticed we had two guests here today that have not been here in the past. I was encouraged by that. I appreciate the community involvement, the public openness here. I would encourage each and every one of you that have concerns on the library to go to the library board, to go to the city council and talk about those same concerns County we're just 1.5 percent our contribution to that library Total budget, so it's a small portion of our contributions that help run that library But I would encourage each and every one of you that have concerns With with the library to go to the library board to go to the City Council and express those same concerns I

Okay, so moving forward with our budget discussion, where are we at here? What do we need to do to keep this moving forward with the library funds?

I need direction on if you want any changes for funding for the library.

Okay, so in the budget meetings we proposed to not give them the money. Correct. So it stays as is.

Correct. Unless someone else

I'm just going to throw this suggestion out there, but to keep this process moving forward, I think what if we put down $25,000 for the library, but it doesn't have to be a direct $25,000. Maybe it's in a form of a voucher system. I'm not sure what the right answer here, but I think it's important we try to find some compromise and keep moving this forward. I too, like Commissioner Jensen has mentioned, I've had a lot of public comment saying that they utilize the library services way more than I thought. So the comments of the negative You know it's it's probably 60 plus and 40 for the negative is where I've been hearing comments from But I think for what our finance office and commission department are trying to do to complete our budget We could put 25,000 in that slot That's just a suggestion

YOU KNOW, I DO, I WANT TO BUILD ON THAT AS WELL, COMMISSIONER VANDERWAL. THE CONCERNS THAT HAVE BEEN RAISED FOR THE LAST SEVERAL MONTHS ARE VALID CONCERNS. I DON'T DISCREDIT THAT AT ALL. IN FACT, I WISH MY SON WOULD READ MORE, BUT HE JUST DOESN'T. AND THAT DRIVES ME NUTS. BUT THEY ARE VALID CONCERNS. Really do hope that the city and the library will take a hard look at it From last year and all of the all of the concerns that I received and I believe more of the Commission did limiting that funds that we did to provide you know to open it up to all of our county residents to have a have access to the library at no cost except travel to the library you know I like I I think that's a that's an added benefit that we can provide to our to our citizens you know It's one of those things that we don't have any control over what they do in that building, but it's historically been shown that the money we give goes to provide access and not policy over there.

the voucher, how is the voucher going to work? If you're going to do a voucher, how do you implement that? Is that just another step that finance is going to have to handle or somebody's going to have to handle doing vouchers?

I think we could handle it in my department. It would be We would need proof of residency outside of the city of Brookings, proof that they paid for the membership, and then we would reimburse. We would create a budget line, or whether it's the same budget line or create a different budget line, but then we'd have to get that information about residency and that they've already paid for the membership, and then we would reimburse based on that. would be a claim that would come through the commission and then up to the dollar amount that you would potentially set.

So the first, if it is $40, the first 600 and whatever people would get it and then the remainder would be out there? Correct.

We would only be able to reimburse up to the amount that you budget for. If there is 2,500 people at $40 a piece, you're looking at $100,000. They're set to make way more money on this by charging people than what we would be budgeting for.

I feel the residents of the county all contribute to the sales tax in Brookings. That should go towards the library. Essentially, it does. I just don't want to discriminate it because you live outside the city limits that you have to pay. We'll come here and get a voucher. I don't agree with that.

Can I just point can I make one point if you're using a voucher system you're still using $25,000 of taxpayer money for the library You're just giving it to them in a roundabout way.

Correct.

Why put them through another step to and that $25,000 is not servicing all of our residents. It's servicing a very small portion of who currently has library cards

In clarity on this they would charge just County residents that if the city any city Residents get it free.

They're just gonna charge County County residents and as of right now with our contributions they any in Brookings County outside of Brookings City can receive a card and at no cost, but they charge any out-of-county resident $40 to come and utilize the Brookings Library.

And let me be clear, that didn't happen because the county reinstated the $25,000. So it never came to pass that they were charging out-of-city Residents for library carts. So what we're basing this conversation off of is what they had indicated they would do without County funding in 2026 So They could choose not to do that they could choose to do a $25? I mean, it could be anything. I don't know. I don't have the answers to what that... If I recall correctly, because of the $10,000 that we initially budgeted for, they said $25,000. And then they said, I think there was a comment made that if it had been zero, it would be $40. It's all sort of... Nothing ever came to pass with that. Going off conversations that happened this past spring.

Does the city charge out of city residents to use the public pools extra even though they don't? How do the public pools work?

They charge everybody to go to the pools. They don't do anything like this for the pool. You have to buy either a family or an individual pool pass or or period time pool pass yeah there's there's they charge everybody i believe do we have a different rate for county versus city at the oac no it's flat it's flat membership yeah it's a flat membership and you know last year you know it it would be good to mention that The library never came to us to let us know officially that they were going to do this. It was via social media posts. They never came and asked to reinstate. It was via social media posts and that's how we found out they were going to do this.

It all started with us trying to be responsible with money and not having enough to spread around and cut funds there and then THE REACTION FROM THEM I THOUGHT WAS VERY POOR COMMUNICATION AND ATTACKING US ON SOCIAL MEDIA WAS NOT THE RIGHT WAY TO DO THAT. WE'RE SIMPLY TRYING TO BE RESPONSIBLE WITH TAXPAYER FUNDS. AND ALL OF A SUDDEN WE GET THROWN UNDER THE BUS FOR THIS THAT WE DIDN'T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT. ASKING FOR COMMUNICATION AND NEVER GETTING IT. ANOTHER QUESTION OF THE LIBRARY CARDS. IS THAT A ONE-YEAR THING? DO YOU DO IT ANNUALLY? IS IT A THREE-YEAR? YOU BUY A CARD AND YOU'RE DONE ONCE?

I think it's annually. I believe it's annually.

I haven't been on their website to look. That's my bad to see what it's written.

We don't subsidize the pool or the golf course or any other city entities for people that want to be a member of that. My library offers a lot of great services. You want to be a part of that, more power to you. BUT THAT WOULD BE THE ONLY ENTITY THAT WE'RE SUBSIDIZING, WHICH DOESN'T SEEM FAIR TO THE OTHER ENTITIES EITHER. WITH THE POOL, OAC, YOU PICK WHATEVER. IF YOU WANT TO BE A MEMBERSHIP, YOU WANT TO BE A PART OF THAT, YOU PAY TO GO THERE. AND $25 FOR A CARD DOESN'T SEEM UNREASONABLE.

WELL, THAT 25 HISTORICALLY WAS IF WE GAVE THEM $10,000. And it was 40 if we didn't do anything.

All right. So to keep this moving, where are we at on this?

Commissioner VanderWaal mentioned putting 25 into the non-mandated. And what was the...

It was a voucher system. You talked that through with the voucher system. I don't know that that makes sense because you're, you know... then do you do limits on that i guess my point and saying the voucher system is if you've got somebody that's in a hardship and can't do that do we want to consider helping them get a card if they can't afford the 25 a year or or how do you how do you prove that yeah exactly and i don't know that we want to go down that road so do we full circle i don't know that the voucher system's the right idea either so i just have a hard time i have a hard time

of course understanding the concerns i have a hard time not not giving money knowing that it's going for access to the library and and restricting or putting that burden on on to our residents when we've given that 25 000 for well as long as i've been here um and allowing our our

County residents to have that access for a very small amount That that access is already paid with for the 2% on everything else they spend when they fill up the gas when they Buy a meal when they go downtown go shopping Over and over and over again. They pay that with their 2% that goes to the city that they don't see their streets clean They don't see the city police department. They don't have any of those benefits and If the city of Brookings wants to, if their sticking point from the city of Brookings and the city library is to make sure that this type of material is still available to 11 year olds, that's on them. That's not on us.

Okay. So again, clarity. We talked in budgeting. to not give them the $25,000. So is somebody going to make, to keep this budget discussion moving forward, is somebody going to make a motion to give that back to them, or are we going to leave it as is?

You want to amend your motion, Commissioner Vanderwaal?

We don't need a motion for that. It's just a recommendation consensus to replace that $25,000. I'll second that and I I feel I feel that 25,000 is a good use of our money knowing that we don't have That it's not going towards Content it's going towards access This

I'd like to say Mr Shrewing earlier made a comment on the Carnegie Library Grant years ago in 1915. No person should have to pay to use a public library. That's I feel part of it.

So I I believe there's consensus to add that 25 in.

majority consensus To add the 25,000 in for a voucher program well or to just give it as non-mandated My intent was 25,000 for a voucher program up to 25,000 That way we get our budget Settled here

Consensus that all three of you are on the record is supporting Yes Access to the library access to the library Do we have any other comments or questions of regarding budget nice don't know if we've We've got Consensus with that for a voucher. Is there any other issues or concerns? that we need to talk about with the budget.

I think we, did you, what was the final dollars on the road project on our two county roads on the border of Elkton?

So at the last meeting I think you had directed to we had about 1 million fifty thousand dollars Remaining to budget out of general for a general fund. I think we did a million to the the road and bridge fund For to start going towards that Elkton project.

Well, it's it's it's in the that's I Another deal how is recorded in the paper. It's not their sewer project. It's County roads Those are two County roads within their project area, right?

Yeah But it was 1 million you had correct, but we're gonna have to make some adjustments now with this 25,000 So we move that back to 975 correct yeah fair enough

Any other questions on our, we wanna discuss on budget? Moving to number nine, commission director's report.

VETERAN SERVICE REPORT, WE HAD SIX DAV VAN RIDES HERE IN JUNE. AS I HAD PREVIOUSLY MENTIONED WITH THAT AUTOMATIC SUPPLEMENT, OUR VSO MATT PILLER ATTENDED THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF COUNTY VETERAN SERVICE OFFICER NATIONAL CONVENTION IN NEVADA. And then some outreach events that were held with Coffee with Vets, the after hours at the VFW that they do, and then they did, that office did spend quite a bit of time out at the Wall that Heals as well when that was here last month. The June general fund surplus of 37%. That's right on track with our 10-year average of 37.8. So just a little bit light, but we're in good shape there. I did receive a letter from senior companions about their... upcoming recognition luncheon. It's Friday, August 14th from 10.30 to 12.30. It's in Watertown. If anyone wants to attend that, please let me know. I need to RSVP by August 10th for that. So again, that's Friday, August 14th, the Senior Companions Luncheon. recognition luncheon The other thing that I guess I had did have some conversations about the the cupola project over at the courthouse Kind of I guess I need some direction from the board and not a hundred percent, but just sort of generally if we're looking at replacement of the windows versus rehabilitation of the windows Rehabilitation would be probably an easier process through the state historic preservation office. However, it doesn't sound like we can really guarantee that a rehab project would last know five to ten years maybe and then we might be right way back where we're at a replacement project could last us much much longer however the process going through the historic preservation commission would be more lengthy and would take some additional time and some additional approvals and blessings for that so it's just something to think of you know if you have strong feelings one way or another um it can move in a certain direction but that is one thing and then some design work here if we did um In 2026, we don't have anything budgeted for in 2026, but if we could get some just kind of a consensus to move forward with some design work, we could have that maybe potentially ready to bid or do an RFP early in 2027 for that work. If it doesn't hit that bid threshold, we still probably want to do a bid or an RFP so we know we get a qualified person to do the work. Do you feel very strongly one way or another about the rehab versus replacement?

I think we need to do it the right way because of course top of the building everything below that is affects if there's something going on on top i would love to be able to me personally i would love to be able to keep the historical and and that but if we can do it right and keep that that would be the best thing but i think we need to look at doing it the right way right and and have those conversations with the historical areas and commissions and work with them. I think they wouldn't block us from doing anything. They want us to do everything we can to make sure everything's good over there.

Basically the murals and everything we're protecting all that. If possible make it look like what we have using a vinyl window or if they can, I'm not a window person, I don't know if they can fabricate something that will look similar to what we have.

Yeah, if they can make a good solid window that's going to last several years versus just putting some new boards up there and trying to caulk in it.

Yeah, we want it right.

It's got to be able to last and protect all the history that's below it as well. Right now all that's in jeopardy as well.

Yeah.

Okay. Other than that, just some dates. Again, we have that special commission meeting on the 30th to canvas the votes from the runoff election on the 28th. 4-H Achievement Days is August 3rd through August 6th out at the Dakota Bank Center. I believe that you'll be hearing from 4-H as far as asking for help out at the barbecue on Thursday, August 6th. National Night Out is over in Volga on the 4th of August from 5 to 8, right there on their main street. The Sioux Valley Commissioners Association meeting is at noon on Wednesday, August 12th. We did receive just today, this morning, we received the agenda. They want RSVPs by Monday. I think I had... Commissioners Vander wall Jensen and Miller is going and then Doug you were a maybe do you know yet if you are can make that No Okay. Because you were gone. Yeah. Okay. CDI golf outing on the 13th. Also on the 13th is the next 756, 765. My dyslexia is kicking in there. Subcommittee meeting, 730, here in the chambers. Not in the community room. It'll be in this room I believe the conservation district tour just a reminder that make sure you got that moved back a week it's now August 27th and Then Labor Day and then of course coming up I think we've talked about this the last meeting to the fall convention down in Sioux Falls here in middle of September That's all I have unless you have questions for me Hearing none state's attorney

Oh, I missed you. Thank you, Chair. I know Deputy Austin Ochsner had related to the commission about the training that we put on for all the law enforcement agencies, and so I know Sheriff Stanwyck had A lot of folks from his office come over, the PD, University Police Department, Highway Patrol. In total, we had 60 law enforcement officers in total attend the four trainings that our office put on. I think we got a lot of good feedback. Certainly improves community safety and accountability inside of the courtroom. So thank you all for Law enforcement agencies for attending that and I just wanted to follow up because I know that was mentioned in the last meeting Thank you Moving to Commissioner reports Commissioner VanderWaal State's attorney is that training something that commissioners could attend to in the future?

Yes seems very interesting and I Think I'd like to go to that next year though Okay, moving under than my report Tuesday July 7. We had the zoning board meeting here and in this room, and then on Thursday, July 9, we had that special commission meeting on the 214 project. Later that evening, the subcommittee met for the 765 KVA line, and Thursday, July 16, I had the 911 meeting, and later that day, I met with two department heads on a couple of issues. And then Saturday morning I did go out to the Balloons Over Brookings event. Well done by that group. I'm glad we sent some money that way. We drove a lot of people into Brookings. The weather was great for that other than a little bit hot. But yeah, a lot of positive comments on that. Thank you.

Commissioner Post?

Nothing to report.

Commissioner Miller? On the 9th I attended the grant meeting here in the chambers, and that evening, the 765 subcommittee. A lot of information there, lively discussion. And on the 16th, I had a Brookings Housing board meeting. That's my report.

Commissioner Jensen.

On the 9th, I also attended a special meeting for the grant for 214th Street. And on the 20th, yesterday, the BCOAC Advisory Board meeting called in by a phone. And that's all I have.

All right. My report on the 8th, we had a Brookings Regional Growth Alliance and a Vision Brookings joint meeting to kind of align visions for the Brookings region for... economic economic development and just seeing where where both organizations lie and and Partnerships there was some great discussion with the two boards and and I look forward to to Fostering that relationship with vision Brookings and the growth alliance on the 9th I also attended the special commission meeting. That afternoon we had a PPC pod meeting at the hospital. On the 16th over in 300 we had an E911 meeting. We continue to evaluate our emergency services, our emergency communications, making sure that we provide the best possible services countywide with no gaps in coverages and and responses. That afternoon we had a actual Brookings Regional Growth Alliance board meeting discussing newer projects and partners throughout the community and just growing our economic development not only in Brookings but in our surrounding communities. and there's some promising things coming and those people over at the Growth Alliance are really working hard to make Brookings a place to come. As it was shown this weekend I also did get over a couple times to balloons over Brookings. I know we had some questions about that and if it was a good use of how many people it would actually bring in place was packed for three days just about just about two full days Friday night all day Saturday Sunday I hope I really hope we can we can get more things like that to really showcase Brookings and the Brookings region and how special we are and then last yesterday at noon outdoor Adventure Center advisory meeting attended with Commissioner Jensen and that's my report We do not have a number 12 executive session, so we'll move to number 13. Motion to adjourn. So moved.

Second.

Motion is second. All in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Opposed, say nay. Thank you very much, everybody.