City Council - Regular Meeting

I think I'm settled now. Okay, call this meeting to order. Please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, THANK YOU ALL FOR COMING THIS EVENING. WILL THE CITY CLERK PLEASE TAKE ATTENDANCE?

THERE ARE SIX COUNCILMEMBERS PRESENT, MR. MAYOR. COUNCILMEMBER HAGER IS ABSENT THIS EVENING. CITY ATTORNEY IS JOINING US VIA CONFERENCE LINE.

THANK YOU. ENTERTAIN A MOTION TO APPROVE THE AGENDA.

SO MOVED. SECOND. MOVED AND SECOND. I'LL STOP BY AND INVITE THE COUNCIL AND COMMUNITY MEMBERS TO THE INTERNATIONAL ICE CREAM SOCIAL It's next Wednesday from 7 to 9 at Good Roots Farm and Gardens. Hopefully, Mayor will be there. Right, I intend to. We're looking forward to it. Hope you make it. It's a family-friendly event, and it's to acquaint the new international faculty, students, and their families with our community. We have 22 vendors, including the Park and Rec Department, who is... going to be there that will acquaint them with all the services and support they can get within the community we have volunteers serving SDSU ice cream we have 22 vendors hopefully music dancing games and the kids can feed the goats and jump in the bouncy house weather permitting

About how many countries are usually represented when we do that? I think it's like over 30, 40 of them, isn't it?

At least. I would say at least 30 every year.

It's become a great event. I think we had over 500 people out there last year.

They ran out of ice cream. We had to bring more. There, yeah. We couldn't get them started dancing, but we're trying to. If anybody can do line dancing, I thought that would be a good way to start.

So we'll see. And this is our fifth annual, so we're really excited that this has become, I think, part of our community, both at the university and our community.

I look forward to it.

And the folks who come to the center, that's how they find out about it, and they're very appreciative of all the things that we do.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Anyone else want to approach the council on a certain item? All right. We'll move on. Consent agenda. Is there any items that need to be removed from consent agenda? Seeing none, entertain a motion to approve the consent agenda.

So moved. Second.

Is there any public comment on our consent agenda this evening? Council, questions, comments? Please call the roll.

Nehmeyer?

Aye.

Specker? Aye. Tiltonburn? Aye. Wendell?

Aye.

Avery?

Aye.

Doran? Aye.

All right. We're on to presentations and reports. I have a proclamation this evening for senior companions of South Dakota Day, and I invite Connie Christensen, Connie Hageman, and Sharon Klosterman up to the mic here and I will do a proclamation. Go ahead.

Your shining faces are on the camera.

All right, mayoral proclamation, whereas the Senior Companions of South Dakota is an American Corps seniors program that helps older adults and adults with disabilities remain independent and connected with their communities. And whereas senior companion volunteers reduce loneliness and social isolation and assist their neighbors with transportation, errands, and caregiver respite. Helping individuals to continue living safely and with dignity in their own homes. And whereas Brookings is home to two such dedicated volunteers, Connie Hageman, who has contributed 1,465 hours, and Sharon Klosterman, who has contributed 1,639 hours, representing a combined gift of more than 3,100 hours to our community. That's pretty cool. Whereas this service embodies the very spirit that Brookings strives for as a community, an inclusive, connected place that fosters a high quality of life for all of its residents, sustained by the honesty, integrity, and everyday commitment of neighbors caring for neighbors. And whereas Friday, August 14, 2026, Senior Companions Volunteers will be celebrated at the Northeast South Dakota Volunteer Recognition Event. Now therefore, it be resolved that I, Opie Garrett Niemeyer, Mayor of the City of Brookings, do hereby proclaim Friday, August 14, 2026, as Senior Companions of South Dakota Day. say a few words you certainly may.

I'll just say thank you to everyone, the mayor and the council for recognizing these two special ladies. It's volunteers like Sharon and Connie that help older adults and adults with disabilities remain independent in their own home and also provides respite care for caregivers. They provide transportation to appointments, shopping, most importantly they provide companionship to relieve loneliness and isolation. So thank you very much for all that you do for Brookings and the surrounding area.

So thank you.

Okay, ex-official reports. I know that we don't have one for a health system, but Brookings Municipal Utilities. Wayne?

I do have a report. Councilwoman Becker had given the report last week, and she reported on two of the pillars of how the BUMU operates, so I felt compelled to do the other two since I'm sure that everybody was awaiting that information. So we'll talk about the enhanced customer experience, that's the third pillar, to remain the primary trusted advisor to customers and stakeholders for electric utility topics and expand customer engagement opportunities. And they have for three measurables, deploy automated metering infrastructure and meter data management systems, and that has already been done, those systems are operational. provide customers with an energy portal to allow them to view electric usage information in near real time, and that's now operational. So you can actually go out and look at your utility usage and see how much you've used, when you've used it, if there's some kind of anomaly that you think doesn't look right, you can investigate that. And then regularly access customer satisfaction ratings and maintain a benchmark of at least 90% customer satisfaction. And the final pillar is financial sustainability. Maintain financial stability through comprehensive financial planning to keep rates competitive and continue providing value service. Measurables for that is maintain financial reserves above 50% of annual operating revenues, conduct a rate study every three years and maintain electric rates to be within 10% of the median rate as compared to similar utilities in the region, and maintain a consistent and growing transfer to the city General fund. Well, that was the highlight there, I'd say. So the rest of the meeting, which I've said before, are fairly long. We did talk about their capital improvement budget. Like the city, they do their capital improvement budget over a period of many years. That's always subject to changes and what happens if there's more electricity demand or something that needs to be done, a project might get moved up. There's some lead time that takes to get certain pieces of equipment so it might be on the budget for this year but it doesn't won't get delivered for two years. There's a lot of changes that have to be done. Then they try to coordinate with the city as far as capital improvements on streets so the city isn't tearing up a street that just got tore up and put back together by a project that the BMU is working on. There's a lot of coordination and a lot of planning that goes into those projects. That is the end of my report.

Thank you, Wayne. Any questions, comments from council? All right, we'll go on to item seven, contracts and change orders. Item 7A, action on resolution 26-048, a resolution authorizing the city manager to sign bid award and grant documents for Brookings Airport Snow Removal Equipment Building project. AIP number 36-46-0005-041 slash 042-2026 contingent on FAA funding. Charlie, our city manager, our city engineer, sorry, will present this item.

Thank you, Mayor. Good evening. As your city engineer, I'm here tonight requesting approval of Resolution 26-048 to award a contract for the Brookings Airport Snow Removal Equipment Building project. This project will include a drive-thru building with concrete approaches, a water service to the building, and an underground tank to collect water from the floor drains. Bids for this project were opened on July 30th, 2026. The lowest of the six bidders for this project was Lloyd Construction Company with a low base bid plus alternate A1 of $656,036.02, which was approximately 13% lower than the engineer's estimate. Public Works is requesting that the award of this contract be approved tonight contingent upon receipt of FAA grant funding. And we are also requesting city council to grant the city manager the authority to sign off on the grant paperwork for this project. Once received, the grant funding from the FAA will pay for 95% of the project, with an additional 2.5% paid for with state funds. The city's total estimated cost for the project, including construction and engineering, is $49,300. There are sufficient appropriations allocated in ORG 606 for the airport this year for this work. Public Works recommends that Lloyd Construction Company be awarded the contract for this project.

All right. Thank you, Charlie. Entertain a motion to approve. So moved. Second. Moved and seconded. Is there any public comment on this item? Council, any questions, comments? How close were the next two bidders, Charlie, do you know?

They were they were very close. Hold on one moment here. There are 3 that were very tight. The second lowest bidder was about $6,000 off.

All right. Any other questions, comments?

I do also have the project manager for this project here in the audience if you guys have any questions for him.

When will the project get started?

Will it be contingent on the FAA funding? Right.

Which could be months?

It could be a couple months. Okay. With the federal government, sometimes you don't know when that grant money will come through.

All right. Thank you, Charlie. Please call the roll.

Specker? Aye. Tiltonburn? Aye. Wendell?

Aye.

Avery?

Aye.

Doran? Aye. Niemeyer?

Aye. All right. Item 7B, action on resolution 26-052, a resolution awarding the bid for Brookings Fire Department hydraulic rescue tool replacement. Troy, our fire chief, will present this item.

Good evening, Mr. Mayor, members of the council. I'll just give you a brief overview on this. This is to replace some tools that are in excess of 10, maybe 15 years old. The hydraulic rescue equipment, like the Jaws of Life, a lot of people refer to them as that, originally started with a motor that had a hydraulic pump on it and big hoses that ran to the tools, and then the tools had to be hooked up and taken apart. The tools today have gone to a battery operated unit which actually uses a Milwaukee or a DeWalt battery that you can get at Runnings or at Lowe's and other places like that, a lot more efficient. Just the other day we had a crash on the interstate, had three guys, one guy carrying the motor with the pump on, another guy carrying two sets of hoses and another guy carrying a tool and another guy carrying a tool to get down to a truck that was on its side that was pulling a trailer. These new tools are just one. It's got the battery, the hydraulic cylinder. We had two bids in the sealed bid. One was from Genesis. One was from TNT Tools, M&T Fire Equipment out of Volga, which is very close. Genesis is out of Sioux Falls. I think there was about $40,000 or $50,000 in difference. I don't have those numbers in front of me because Jared was kind of the one that headed it up, but we selected the TNT Tools. We had $75,000 in that capital line, and this will get us Two spreaders, two cutters, and two rams to push with under the budget. I think we're at about $74,000 with mounting brackets and things like that. So we recommend that and have had good service from M&T and Volga, too. All right. Thank you, Troy.

Entertain a motion to approve?

So moved. Second.

We move to second. Is there a public comment on this item? Council have questions, comments? Council Member Durin.

Thank you, Mayor. You had mentioned that it had two spreaders and rams. Is that still just one equipment piece, or are we doubling the equipment piece as well with this?

There's generally one of each. So if one breaks, we can still perform the rescue. And this equipment will go on our very large rescue truck that we have. And so if you have a spreader and it breaks, and it's very rare that it does. And these tools actually have a true lifetime warranty. Many call it a lifetime or a forever warranty. And it's 10 years is what that really means. These are actually longer than that. But it can happen. And so it does give us that second tool. We have one heavy one and then one we call it medium duty. it's a little bit smaller sometimes the situation calls for a smaller tool to get into a smaller situation maybe on a small car we don't need as much force bigger trucks we need a bigger one so it kind of is dependent on the situation too so it does give us that variability yeah that makes sense um out of curiosity what is the typical lifespan of this equipment Usually about 10 to 15 years. Now, this purchase was planned before I got here as chief. And I'm sure Pete had put it into the capital plan. And so I think that the tools that we're getting rid of are the old, you know, motorized ones that have a motor that, you know, you've all tried to start your lawnmower at times. You go, geez, I thought the thing was going to run and it doesn't want to run for you. So these things are a lot more dependable where they're just a big, you know, big battery.

Sure. I'm excited to hear that it increases efficiency as well. Do you have an estimation of...

um the decrease of response to use time since it sounds like one person can pull it out and it doesn't take a lot of loading up to use probably is going to take three or four minutes off it depends on how many people are on scene you know sometimes we only have a few people that get there initially and one person can carry that tool and it's going to be ready to go there's nothing else that they need to do to operate it where, you know, now we have to get the motor there. We have to get the hoses there. We have to get the tool there. We have to hook it up and then use it. So, you know, that's three, four minutes sometimes. And so, yeah, it's going to make it quicker for us and just more efficient.

Yeah. And that can make a difference on scene. So I appreciate that it's more efficient as well. Thank you.

We had a good chance to use these. I used them teaching a class in Volga for the mini fire school, and then I was able to teach two days with these tools and other tools, so we got a good comparison at state fire school, and then we actually had these tools two weeks ago at our training site, maybe three weeks ago, where all of our guys got to use them, and so they're pretty happy with it, and the price was significantly less, and we get good service from the local vendor. All right.

Thank you. Any other questions, comments? Please call the roll.

Tilton Byrne, aye. Wendell, aye. Avery, aye. Doran, aye. Niemeyer, aye. Specker, aye.

All right, we do not have any first readings this evening, so we'll go on to item nine, second readings and public hearings. Item 9A, public hearing and action on ordinance 26-018, an ordinance pertaining to a conditional use permit to establish off-street parking, off-site in a residence, R2, two-family district, 816 and 829th Avenue. Mike Strzok, our Community Development Director, will present this item.

Thank you, Mayor and members of the Council. The ordinance before you, 26-018, is an ordinance for conditional use for the SDSU Foundation to establish off-street, off-site parking in a garage facility for the offices at the Foundation building there. This has been a long process that the foundation has went through in acquiring the property. They have tore down one of the homes and another one of the homes when we were here for the first reading was being moved that day to its final destination on Maderi Avenue. The foundation acquired this with the sole purpose of expansion for their facility. They went through the historic review process, got all the necessary approvals. They are planning to place a garage on the site, but from the street side. It really has the design and look and feel of a residential home, and the garage doors will face to the east towards the SDSU Foundation building. There will be, I think it's approximately 30 to 32 parking spaces on site as well. It does come to you with a unanimous recommendation for approval from the Planning Commission, and staff recommends approval, and I'd stand for any questions you may have.

All right. Thank you, Mike. Entertain a motion to approve. So moved. Second. All right. I open the public hearing on this item. Is there any public comment? All right. Public comment closed. Council questions, comments? Council Member Tilton-Byrne.

I would just like to state that I will be recusing myself from this topic since I am an employee of the Alumni and Foundation.

Fair enough. Any other questions, comments? I like the idea of the front of that to make it look like it's part of the residential area. It's pretty cool.

Any other comments?

Please call the roll.

Wendell?

Aye.

Avery?

Aye.

Doran? Aye. Niemeyer?

Aye.

Specker? Aye. Tildenburn? Abstain.

Item 9B, public hearing in action on Ordinance 26-023, an ordinance to change the zoning within the city of Brookings. Lots 4, 4A, 5, 5A, 6, 6A, Lot 7, excluding the south 106 feet, and Lot 7A in Block 1 of 3rd Edition from a Business B4 Highway District to a Business B2 District. Mike Strzok will also present this item.

Thank you, Mayor and members of the Council. The rezoning action before you tonight is for the property called the West Lodge, formerly known as the Sunshine Inn. The property is currently zoned B4 and the new ownership group is interested in rezoning to a B2. The B2 more closely aligns with the proposed use in this area as well as the size of the parcel. B4 zone property is our kind of large highway commercial district. It's really not very prevalent in the city of Brookings. It's primarily found between 22nd Avenue and Interstate 29 along 6th Street, really intended for big boxes. This is a smaller use on the site and they felt with some of the things that they're trying to do and kind of doing some renovations of the property. There's a number of variances that they would need so the staff advised to maybe seek a rezoning to a B2 to more closely bring them into alignment with the uses there. It does come to you with the unanimous recommendation from the Planning Commission staff supports the rezoning request and stand for any questions you may have.

Thank you, Mike. Entertain a motion to approve.

So moved. Second.

Open a public hearing on this item. Is there any public comment on this item? Close public comment. Questions, comments from council? All right. Please call the roll.

Avery.

Aye.

Doran. Aye. Niemeyer.

Aye.

Specker. Aye. Tildenburn. Aye. Wendell. Aye.

Okay, on to other business. We have 10A, action on Resolution 26-050, a resolution authorizing supplemental appropriation of grant funds to the 2026 budget. Ashley Wrench will present this item.

Good evening, Mayor and members of the Council. This is Resolution 26-050, authorizing supplemental appropriations of grant funds to the 2026 budget. The Brookings Fire Department has been awarded a $7,000 volunteer fire assistance grant through the South Dakota Department of Public Safety Wildland Fire Division. The grant will assist with the purchase of five new portable radio packages, including a radio, charger, and spare battery for each unit. The total purchase is $22,842, and the grant will provide $7,000 with the remaining $15,842 funded through the fire department's existing capital budget. This purchase is also the first phase of the fire department's effort to standardize portable radios. The department currently uses several different manufacturers and models, and moving towards standardized equipment will improve operations and simplify training, programming, maintenance, and replacement parts, ultimately providing a safer and more effective emergency communication system. The resolution increases both grant revenue and fire equipment expenditure authority by $7,000, so this resolution has no impact on existing city reserves. Staff recommends approval of this resolution as presented, and I'd be glad to answer any questions you may have. Thank you.

Thank you, Ashley. Entertain a motion to approve. So moved. Is there any public comment on this item? Council have questions, comments? Please call the roll.

Doran? Aye. Niemeyer?

Aye.

Specker? Aye. Tiltonburn? Aye. Wendell? Aye. Avery?

Aye. Okay, that concludes our agenda this evening. We do have a meeting coming up on August 25th. We won't have any second readings as of right now, I would assume, except for we do have some public hearings, malt license and operating agreement applications for the Quick Star, I'm assuming, out by Aldi, right? And then new wine operating agreement, or transfer ownership on an off-sale malt license on a video lottery business, and then transfer location also for that lottery business. And then we have two bid awards for snow removal equipment contracts and drainage improvements. THERE ANY ITEM THAT THE PUBLIC OR THE COUNCIL WOULD LIKE TO HAVE FOR A FUTURE ITEM ON DISCUSSION OR AGENDA? COUNCIL MEMBER WENDELL.

Thank you, Mayor. I'll maybe make my motion on the topic first, and if it receives a second, then I can discuss why I want to make sure we discuss this topic. I'd like to make a motion that we ensure that our current relationship with the Brookings School District that funds a portion of our school resource officers is discussed at our budget considerations over the next couple of weeks or months when it's appropriate for us to discuss that line item I wanted to make sure that's highlighted and we have an opportunity to publicly discuss it.

I'll second it.

I wanted to just share a little bit of background because this discussion sort of bubbled up publicly this week and some of you maybe have tracked that and others haven't and so I thought it would be of value tonight to make sure we had a chance to acknowledge that. For those that don't know, the Brookings School District has two school resource officers. Those are shared positions between the city of Brookings, our police department, and the Brookings School District. The first 75% of that first position is funded by the Brookings School District, and the remaining 25% is funded by the city of Brookings. the second school resource officer position is 100 funded by the city of brookings we believe in our school resource officers that's a phenomenal program they're a high priority for both the city and the school district and so this is not about reducing or removing our school resource officers what the discussion really is about is what should that balance be in terms of how we fund school resource officers inside of our schools and in a lot of cities that balance is a bit different than it currently is Brookings they spend 75% of their time in our schools but the schools currently cover far less than that in terms of the overall funding for the two positions and so the city of Brookings initiated a conversation with the school district to look at that funding model in the future the challenge is our budget cycles are off Our fiscal year runs January to December, the calendar year, and their fiscal year runs July 1 to June 30th. And so if any change was gonna be made in that existing funding relationship, we wanted to make sure the school district had as much advance notice as possible so that if we are going to, request any type of change that they had time to absorb that into a future budget we're entering into the 2027 budget cycle now so it was an appropriate time to start that conversation with the school district i'll just say as an individual member of the council I think it's unfortunate that that now has bubbled up to a public discussion. It was not intended to be publicly debated because it's not about the city's support or the school district's support of our school resource officers. Those are valuable positions. We've got phenomenal SROs in our schools. We want to continue to support them. Our current funding model just is not well aligned with the industry standards. So I think it's important if we're going to sustain funding in this relationship that we have discussions about possible shifts, whether that happens now or down the road. I just think it's prudent for us to discuss that with the district. That's the spirit of the conversation around the school resource officer funding over the next couple of weeks and months. As we prepare our 2027 budget, it was important that we look down the road and consider that relationship. I know the school district will be doing the same thing. Both of our personnel budgets are tight. So this is an important shared relationship. This is not about us shifting that. It's really just about what is the industry standard? Is there room for changes in Brookings? And can both of us absorb those changes? And can we do that thoughtfully? So we'll continue that conversation. I'm sure the council and the school board and our shared staff will have opportunities to continue that. I know there's public chatter about it this week, and I wanted to make sure folks were updated. As we move into the budget season and we get budget presentations, we don't always highlight that line item because it's been a longstanding partnership, and I just wanted to make sure that we have an opportunity to sort of look at that line item, how we're currently funding it, what's the industry standard, what could that relationship look like in the future, that sort of thing.

Bonnie do we need to do a vote on that?

Yes, we do.

All right. Is there any other are we discussing anything here? Anybody want to discuss any more of this?

All right, please call the roll Nehmeyer aye Specker aye Tilton burn aye Wendell aye Avery Doran aye All right.

Any other topics that we want to discuss in the future? All right, we will be going into an executive session. There will be not any action. We will adjourn as soon as executive session is out of session. So item 12A, executive session pursuant to South Dakota SDCL, let's go with that, 1-25-24, preparing for contract negotiations and negotiating with employees or employee representatives. I entertain a motion to enter into executive session.

So moved.

Second. All those in favor, voice vote.

Aye.