City Council - Regular Meeting

Call this meeting to order. Start with the pledge of allegiance. I aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Next is invocation by Harvest Community Church. Okay, let's start with the roll call. Bington here. Baski here. Chs here. Smith here. Savers here. Gold Ammer here. Doer. Mardle here.

Okay, we have a quorum. Approval of consent agenda items. Items appearing on the consent agenda may be removed by a city council member for discussion at the beginning of formal agenda items. Would anyone like to remove anything? Motion to approve. Mr. Sabers. Second. Second. Mr. Goldhammer. Further discussion. Would anyone in the audience like to discuss this? Are you do your report? Yep. Yep. I never know exactly.

Good evening, mayor and council. My name is Johanna and I am here from the Mitchell Chamber and Development Corporation and um I would like to present our quarter 4 report for 2025. I can read it too if we need

25 chamber and corporation. Starting with the Mitchell Chamber of Commerce, we welcomed six new members this quarter and had a impressive 11 ribbon cutings. The A business committee planned their livestock and commodity seminar for February of 26 and A in the classroom for March of 26. The government affairs committee had two leadership Mitchell sessions, one in October featuring personal and community leadership and one in November focusing on agriculture and industry. The Government Affairs Committee also hosted a pre-legislative lunchon ahead of the 2026 legislative session on November 20th where Ryan Budmire spoke with president of the South Dakota Chamber of Commerce. Connect Mitchell Committee hosted first Friday coffees at Four Cares, Clockworks, and FNBO. They also hosted lunch and learns at South Dakota Rehab Services, Big Friend, Little Friend, and Embracing Change Counseling Services. There was a mix and mingle at Safe Place of Eastern South Dakota and United Way and groundbreaking help for Lifequest Micro Homes. And moving on to the Mitchell Convention and Visitors Bureau. Looking at our tourism marketing for this quarter, we marketed feeasant hunting season with social media and print advertisements. We welcomed a whopping 180 total bus tours for 2025 and Brilliant Adventures won the summer dinner theater promotion for 2026 securing their bus to visit Mitchell Amber. We confirmed our 2026 plans with Ambridge Marketing focusing on local event promotion along with tourism and hunting. We also confirmed our 2026 plans with Travel South Dakota for tourism peak season. As of November, the entertainment tax is up 5.98% for the year and hotel occupancy is up 2.7% for the year. Looking at our tours of events this quarter, we had peeasant opener weekend where we headed out to Bellas and handed out information and

swag items to hunters and we also had a booth at the airport. We also attended the Feeasant Forever banquet where we helped welcome the hunters. We also participated in the parade of lights this quarter where we kicked off the parade and handed out glow sticks. Moving on to local marketing efforts. We advertised in motor magazine for hunting in Mitchell. We had a television advertisement featuring shopping local in Mitchell. We had a print ad on the inside of the Southeast South Dakota sportsman's guide which featured Hunting in Mitchell. And we continue to ho do our attraction spotlight on social media in October featuring the Mitchell prehistoric indigenous archaeological site. And November was Lee's Red Barn. And now moving on to the Mitchell Area Development Corporation. In October, the MADC partnered with the South Dakota Department of Labor to host a virtual hiring event connecting employers with job seekers. The Mitchell Young Professionals Group continues to host events. In October, they hosted a horror movie trivia night at Bradley's as well as a financial intelligence workshop lit by Matt McManis. In December, they hosted Christmas trivia at Brennan Vine featuring live music and an ugly sweater contest. And they also participated in the parade of lights with the chamber. And now looking at workforce housing, in October, the MADC was notified that South Dakota Housing Development Authority approved a $343,000 grant for funding in the Mitchell Area Housing Initiatives, which included $214,000 through the home program and $129,000 through the Housing Opportunity Fund for down payment loan assistance. the home rehabilitation project. They completed one of the largest single home rehab projects in their organization's history, totaling $58,000. In December, they continued progress in their new housing development. A total of eight homes are on land between the Rididgeon Foster and the South Lake developments. Two Mitchell Tech College homes are located at Rididgeon Foster and three governor's homes are at

Rididgeon Foster and three governor's houses are at South Lake. As of December, two homes have been sold and three homes are actively listed for sale. In October, the Ridgon Foster Development officially held a ribbon cutting and open house showcasing newly completed two and three-bedroom homes. Additionally, in December, they were notified that the Mitchell area received $340,000 in down payment assistant funding from the Federal Home Loan Bank. And moving on to the community concierge. The community concierge program continued to play a vital role in helping new residents integrate into the community. In October, the program hosted a newcomer Mumkin event in partnership with Nebstad's Flowers and Gifts. In November, newcomers participated in Spruce It Up Christmas Porch Pots hosted by James Valley Landscape Solutions and Culver. Our move to Mitchell program remained active throughout the quarter, welcoming multiple individuals and families from employment with organizations such as poet, Dakota physical therapy, home health, true fitness, and entertain. In October, the Mitchell Area Development Corporate Corporation participated in the South Dakota Governor's Hunt. And in November, the MADC hosted its own peasant hunt as a business recruitment tool. On October 27th, the MADC welcomed Bill Even, Commissioner of the South Dakota Governor of Economic Developments Office for a visit and discussion focused on Mitchell's growth opportunities and future collaboration. A major milestone occurred in November with the announcement that the Davidson County Regional Railroad Authority received approval for an additional 5.7 $5.7 million in low interest loan funding to complete rail infrastructure for high plains processing. This brings the total rail investment to $18.3 million. Mitchell continued to lead the state in lean manufacturing and leadership training. In December, seven regional manufacturing professionals graduated from the lean and leadership for supervisors program hosted at the Mitchell Chamber of Commerce in

partnership with the South Dakota Manufacturing and Technology Solutions. And lastly, the Dakota Heartland Development Association for business development in Parkson and Corsica. Kaylor Agra Services continues to grow with the opening of a new soybean roasting facility in Parkston. Corsica senior healthcare task force continues efforts to maintain senior health care services in Douglas County. The community leaders are working with regional partners to develop a plan to sustain a local nursing home and housing in Trip and Parkson. A 12,200 square ft Eisman home was delivered in late December and placed on a full basement. A garage is currently being completed with a concrete driveway to be completed in the next 30 days. Parks and Development is preparing a lot for a three-bedroom governor's home that may arrive as soon as February. Ethan Co-op Lumber continues to build single family spec homes with one nearly completed and another just beginning in their new housing subdivision along South Dakota Highway 37 in Parkston. White Lake has received a lot from the local school district to place a new three-bedroom governor's home and advocacy in Corsica Armor. Corsica and Armor's Development Corporation individually invited their district 21 state legislators for a community leaders breakfast to share success and discuss concerns with their local representatives. Corsica and Armor's development corpor corporations will again be in pier on February 24th for Armor Corps Day at the legislator. This annual event allows development court members to visit with all the legislators while providing Dakota Tom sandwiches, chips, beverages, and a sweet treat. A tradition for over 20 years, community leaders share highlights of the community successes, specific legislation of interest, and thank legislators for their service. All right, I'm really glad that video worked because I have a little sore throat. So, that would have been a lot to have to actually read. Um, that was a lot of information, I know. Um, just a

couple things. We have a lot of chamber events coming up um in February and March. Um, so make sure to check out our calendar for those. We have a state of the schools lunchon um this Thursday. Um, another one that I want to highlight is Mitchell Day at the legislature on February 19th. This is when we're going to go to Pier um and bring I think we have about 50 people that we're taking so far. So, I'm really really excited about that. Um and a ton of other events too that we'll talk about in our uh quarter 1 2026 report, but just wanted to highlight those as well. Um and with that, are there any questions? Awesome. Thank you guys.

Thank you. Okay. Would anyone else in the audience like to address the consent agenda? Okay. Roll call. Doarter. Hi. Mardo. Hi. Sharks. Hi. Smith. Hi. Sabers. Hi. Gold. Ammer. Hi. Bington. Hi. Bath key. Hi.

Motion carries. Public comment. If you need to address the mayor and members of city council on an item that was not on the agenda excluding personnel items, please come forward to the podium and state your name and your concern. Presentations are limited to three minutes. Items will be considered but no action will be taken at this time. Would anyone like to address the council? Uh, greetings council mayor Hansen. I am Elizabeth with Mitchell Mans and Beyond and I just want to highlight Thrive in January and just how it went and where we're going from there. Uh, throughout the month our community came together in powerful ways and engaging scavenger hunts with Colonel Quackers. If you saw that, it was a little duck that looked like a corn cob. It was huge. We had over 15 participating businesses and it was just a way to connect the corn palace throughout our small retail shops downtown to get that ripple effect. We celebrated winter crazy days on probably the coldest day in January, but people still came out and had fun where we featured our first cookie crawl. That is a stepping stone to hopefully do a wine crawl down the road. I've been trying for three years, so looking into 27. I hope to do our first one. But with that being said, we also announced our main street champion, the vault clothing store for their impact downtown and her uh and Blake Savers for being a part of the bid three board and just their efforts to celebrate our downtown community. But that's not it. We have the burger showdown and I'm still waiting on some final numbers to come from restaurants, but so far we have sold 2,779 burgers and I'm still waiting for other numbers to come in. That surpasses last year's number by over 500. So that's really good. That's exciting. And I'm just thank you to the community and beyond that came out to celebrate our nine businesses that participated. But Thrive in January is just beginning. Looking into February, we already have the heart quest launched. It's find the love with our downtown business owners and beyond just to kind of have a fun scavenger hunts are designed to slow you down as you're shopping. So you might

pick up pick up a few more items, but also have fun with our business owners. Downtown date night packages are going to kick off here that we love our neighbors to the east, but you can also have a good date night right here in Mitchell and we're going to help feature some of those options downtown. With that, we are going to have a lot of other promotions throughout February. So, keep your eyes peeled for things like leaping into spring and things like that that are going to be kind of corny. But I want to highlight in March, in February, our small business owners, if you have women in business or proud women business owners, we're going to do like what we did the proud be a small business owner push that we did in November that was such a huge hit. March is women's history month. So, we're going to celebrate women in business. Now, don't worry, we're also going to do men in June with Father's Day, but we are going to do this kind of cool push where we celebrate women in March through that. And then with March's Wing of PL all month long, we get right back into it with the wing contest. And there's more, but that is where I'm gonna end it. So, thank you all for supporting us and thank you to the community. So, keep pushing forward.

Thank you. Thank you.

Uh, good evening, Mayor and Council. I'm Luke Hagen. I'm the editor of the Metro Public. Thanks a lot for your service uh for what you all do for our community. Thank you very much. Uh Mitchell Republic is hosting an event on February 12th from 5:30 to 7:30 at Palis City Brewing. There will be a food truck there. There will be three 30 minute panels with uh a number of topics uh on education, business, and local government. Just encouraging the public to come and uh hear the panel. Uh the panelists include um Mayor Hansen and Councilman uh Tim Goldhammer. So, thank you very much. It's a free event. Uh just encourage the community to show up. Thanks a lot. Hey, can you tell some of the other people who will be on those panels?

Yeah, the education panel, like I said, it's a three 30 minute panels. Uh the education panel is uh superintendent Joe Childs. Uh Teresa Crezy, the president of Mitchell Technical College, and Dan KD, the president of Dakota Wesleyan University. The business panel will be Mike Lordson uh CEO of the Chamber Development Corp. Austin Iverson with Iverson Auto and Brett Farnum who is one of the uh owners who started Palis City Brewing and Dental Designs. And I forgot uh I would be uh remissed to forget uh Randy Ryder is also local government. So that's the three um local government panelists, Mayor Hansen, um Tim Goldhammer, and Randy Ryder. So, thank you very much for for being on the panel and like I said, I hope uh everybody from the community is uh interested in joining. Thanks a lot.

Thank you. Would anyone else like to address the council? I'm going to take a moment then since I never miss an opportunity opportunity twice to congratulate and thank Karen Pulley out there for winning person of the year since I didn't do it last time. So, everyone give her a round of applause. Thank you. Okay. Anyone else before I move on? All right. Quiet down out there, please. Board of adjustment. Entertain a motion for the city council to recess and sit as a board of adjustment. Second, second. All those in favor of the motion say I.

Post same thing. Motion carries. Hearing an action on application for Kelsey Poppins conditional use permit. Kelsey Poppins has applied for conditional use permit for a child a child care family residential located at 501 E16th legally described as shown on the agenda. Mr. Jennigus, Mr. Mayor and Council, Planning Commission recommended approval of this unanimously with the three normal conditions. Uh license is non-ransferable. Businesses ceases to operate for 6 months. New application would be required and pass the fire inspection. Um the applicant has already passed the fire inspection on the location. There were three letters returned in favor of this. There was no comment from the planning commission at all. I can answer any questions that you have. Thank you. Approve. Second.

Motion by Mr. Sabers, second by Mr. Mardle by just a second. Further discussion. Anyone in the audience like to discuss this? All those in favor of the motion say I. I. Post same sign. Motion carries. Reconvene a city council. Entertainment a motion for the board of adjustment to adjourn and the city council to reconvene in regular session. So moved. Motion by Mr. Goldhammer. Second second by Mr. Micardo. All those in favor of the motion say I. I.

Post same sign. Motion carries. Hearing an action on the application of transfer RB 2169 retail onoff malt beverage and South Dakota farm wide license for LAB LLC 501 South San Die LLC DBA Rookies Casino 2100 Highland Way Sweet Q. Chief Canling. Mayor, Mr. Councel, um I reviewed the application. I have no concerns. Recommend approval. Move to approve. Thank you. Motion by Mr. Goldhammer, second by Mr. Sabers. Further discussion? Would anyone in the audience like to discuss this? All those in favor of the motion say I.

Post same sign. Motion carries. Action to approve. The vehicle for hire application of Jake Automotive Repair LLC doing business as Mitchell Taxi for 2026. Miss Bathy. This is a new application and all the documents have been submitted. Thank you. Move to approve by Mr. Goldhammer. Second, second by Mr. Bethki. Further discussion. Such a great such a great thing to see having happen. We hope many others can continue to provide competition for him because this is a great service he's providing our community. Much needed.

Thank you. Would anyone in the audience like to discuss this? All those in favor of the motion say I. I. I oppose. Same sign. Motion carries. Action to approve amendment number one to agreement A2022-26 wastewater facility improvement phase 2 with SDANR project 2022-01. Mr. Shrader.

Yep. Mr. Mayor, councel, uh, council approved a request to alter the consolidated water facilities construction grant um from the South Dakota DNR on December 15th of 25 from 5.1% to 10% for our south wastewater treatment plant improvement project. Um, the DAR approved the request and the attached agreement is recommended for council approval and to authorize the mayor to sign on their behalf and I can answer any questions you may have. Thank you. Move to approve. Motion by Mr. Goldhammer. Second. Second by Mr. Smith. Further discussion. Would anyone in the audience like to discuss this? All those in favor of the motion say I.

I. Oppose. Same sign. Motion carries. action to approve agreement A2026-13 old landfill leak sheet monitoring and agreement A2026-14 new landfill monitoring with Geotech Engineering and testing Mr. Shrader.

Yep, Mr. Mayor, Council, uh this is our yearly agreements with Geotech for our landfill moni monitoring. Um what they'll be monitoring for uh includes groundwater level monitoring and groundwater and methane sampling. Um staff does recommend uh the the agreements with Geotech at with the prices of 26,690 for the new landfill and 13,380 for the old landfill and to grant authorization for the mayor to sign to sign. I can answer any questions you have. Thank you. Mr. Mardle, second by Mr. Goldhammer. Further discussion, Joe, what was it last year?

We were within our limits last year. Um, we did have one test uh come back where they required us to do some additional testing. Um, but that put us back within our limits. Um, so we're just to our normal yearly testing that's within limits. Uh, we're monitoring at some point. We think we may have to start capturing um, methane. Uh, but we're not to that point yet.

And what what did they charge us last year? I want to say last year the agreements uh for the new landfill were around 20,000 and the old landfill was around I want to say 12 or 10. So there was an increase um but not an astronomical amount. Okay, further discussion. Okay, any of the audience want to discuss this? Okay, all those in favor of the motion say I. I oppose. Same sign. Motion. Motion carries. Action approve agreement A2026-15 Axon fleet camera. Chief Canipling.

Mr. Mayor and Council. Um, police department is requesting an authorization for the mayor to sign a three-year agreement to purchase a incar video system for Axon for the community resource pickup. Uh, this is a vehicle that has not had one for several years. Um, now that is also being this is a certified officer's vehicle. Um, it just makes sense to have a body camera and a in video camera for the vehicle. Thank you. Move to approve. Second. Motion by Mr. Goldhammer. Second by Mr. Bathky. Further discussion. Would anyone in the audience like to discuss this? All those in favor of the motion say I. I.

Oppose. Same sign. Motion carries. Action to approve agreement A 20266-16 public safety building rooftop air handling unit with Robi Quintel and Everson project 2026-16. Mr. Shrader.

Yes, Mr. Mayor. Council, uh, the public safety building is in need of replacing four rooftop air handling units. Robi, Quintel and Everson has been requested to provide professional engineering services for this project. Services will include specifying new units and include efficiencies within that design. An alternate will be included to upgrade the controls to allow for additional zone controls of the units. Uh services include design bidding, shop draw review, and two site visits during the project. Uh the agreement is attached for more information. Um staff does recommend approval of the agreement with Robi Quinn Neverson at a lump sum fee of $8,285. I can answer any questions you have. Thank you.

Mr. Ch, second by Mr. Colonel, further discussion. I would like to mention that more than likely we're going to come back with a a supplemental request to increase the budget. Um the price was to um replace the units as is. Um it turns out that we can get um better units um that we'll see efficiencies for that will be uh worth our dollars and that's something that uh Robin Everson will be looking at as part of the design. Thank you. Would anyone in the audience like to discuss this? All those in favor of the motion say I. I. Oppos. Same sign.

Motion carries. Action to approve agreement A 2026-17 tax increment district number 45 devel developers agreement legacy shores LLC. Mr. Johnson. All right, Mr. Mayor and councel. This item relates to the uh tax increment district number 45, which would be the event venue on the north side of the lake. uh council has previously approved that established the district. Um again, these development agreements uh lay out some additional terms as to how the increment would be passed on from the city to the developer. Um haven't been any major changes to that document since the last time we approved one of these. Um we can open it up to questions. Thank you.

Move to approve. Motion motion by Mr. Goldhammer. Second by Mr. Sabers. Further discussion. Would anyone in the audience like to discuss this? All those in favor of the motion say I. I. Oppos? Same sign. Motion carries. Action to approve agreement A 20266-18 East 1st Avenue redevelopment agreement. Mr. Johnson.

All right. Well, um, as the mayor uh provided, this would be a redevelopment uh agreement for the East 1st Avenue area. Um this would be the the trailer park that the city purchased last year. Um the overall concept here would be to redevelop that area into uh affordable housing units of uh various types. Um this is structured as an agreement with the city and Mitchell Area Development Corporation. Um and as we worked through the process, we found that that was going to be the most efficient way to structure this transaction. um they'll uh on their end work with the redeveloper to actually complete the project. Um but as you can see before you in the agreement, it does lay out a number of requirements as to the project itself. Um I'm not going to go through the details of everything that will be constructed, but you can see that in the document. Um a total of 24 units of various styles. Um there's also um a number of other steps in this overall process that will come back to council. Um part of it you already saw with the vacation of South Hunter Street there um which helped make the transfer of this property um a little bit easier to work with. Um but you'll also see a request for um a tax increment district um come back to council as well as a couple of replats that will be necessary um a request to reszone the area. And um there are also condition or uh conditions here in the agreement that address some of the city's obligations in regards to the alleys. Um one thing to note about I did mention the tiff already, but one thing to note about

that is there's going to be a proposed split of that increment that would go to the developer and to the city. So, um, that will be part of the process, but it's, I guess, a little bit different than other tiffs that we've seen in the past where nearly all of that increment is going to the developer. This one's going to see, at least at this point, would be a more even split of that tax increment. So um again there's also details provided into um how this transfer would take place, how it can be assigned to um an an a third party that would ultimately complete the work. Um and then it does also build in protections for um if this doesn't build out as anticipated how that property would end up coming back to the city. So, um I think with that Stephanie has the map pulled up in front of you uh for the areas that we're talking about and I think we can probably open it up to questions at this point.

Justin, how and when will the city get repaid? What's what you're hoping for the timetable? And will we recoup recoup all the money that we paid? Uh, well, the the tax increment hasn't been uh, excuse me, the tax increment application has not been submitted yet. So, I can't really give you a timeline on that. Um, as you see with other TIFFs, TIFF requests that we deal with, that's typically repaid over a 20-year period. Um, assuming the increment is generated the way that the project uh, proposes it will. Um, at this point we haven't seen numbers on what's going to be generated, but if the city put a million dollars into the purchase of the property, um, the numbers that we've seen at this point probably would not repay to the city that full $1 million. But if you take into account the additional property tax revenue that you would see on the development of these 24 different units, you can look at the city as recouping its money that way. as well.

And if we paid a million for it, and I think that was the number, how much have we spent in clearing it out? Maybe we got an idea and getting it to the point where a developer is ready to do their thing. That'd probably be Joe. As far as for us, it was mainly uh labor. Um, we were able to take uh the demolition debris to the old landfill. Um, so I mean a lot of it was just our own our own forces. So we don't really have a lot into it. Make a motion to approve. Motion by Mr. Mardle.

Second. Second by Mr. Sabers. Further discussion.

Okay. I I know we've all heard from some citizens either by email or phone call about this and I voted for this initially, the purchase of it because I guess I felt like our number one thing as a as a council is to protect the citizens. And I voted for it because of the parking lot. I wanted to see the parking lot expanded to the north for the the pool. And once we do this, we never get it back. And I know uh Jim Sbert stated that to all of us in an email and I had a very lengthy conversation with him about this whole thing, but I just the parking lot is where I just get hung up on this deal. It's not the builder. It's not the the houses. It's It's the parking lot. So, if I could get you, Stephanie, could you pull up uh the June 2nd meeting, please? The RFP and the picture of the RFP because I don't know how you guys feel about the parking lot, but that's that's why I did it.

Mike, how many more parking spaces are requested or needed? Do we anybody come up with a firm number? If No, but if we think about today, we'll never get it back. We never come back. But how many more would you like to see?

Well, I voted for that to be parking. So, I think I went over there and counted and I think there's don't quote me 56 there now. That's just the parking lot. That's not the street, but we are taking a portion of that street away to put in the retention pond. I guess my comment would also be that the mayor um submitted in the budget request funding to expand that parking lot which was ultimately removed by council. Totally agree. Yeah.

And I I I've stood my ground on this whether here or in executive session that that's where I stand with it and that would be the only reason I would vote against this project because we never get it back. And I would I would guess if we're going to grow as a community, we're probably going to have more kids. That's our goal. So there'll be more swimming. And personal experience, picking up kids from swimming lessons is crazy over there. Everybody parks in the street.

Wasn't Wasn't there Mike discussion about parking to the south of the pool across by the tennis courts or more parking just to the uh east of the pool area where it's grass now that could be converted to parking? I mean, rather than take lots away for development, don't we have land to make parking? We do, but again, how many parking spots do we really need?

We do have the land, but pretty soon it's going to be Hitchcock parking lot, not Hitchcock Park because we are adding parking if if the tennis court deal goes through. But I just want to I want to show something on that map that that I noticed and it was because I read the paper. It popped up on my feet or whatever and I'm like See how it doesn't show it as part of the RFP. So, we drastically changed the RFP. I believe the RFP said that the city would be willing to uh entertain any creative proposals from the developers, too. But we drastically changed the drawing that we put out. Was that RFP one or two? I'm just curious.

This would be the first one. Okay. So my concern is and the question falls to Mr. Johnson. Have we changed it to the point where we would have a legal issue by not presenting it appropriately to all citizens or all companies in our community? I I'll just say no. I don't think that there's a significant legal concern with the way that the RFPs played out.

Okay. Anyone else before we open this up to the audience? Would anyone in the audience like to discuss this? Okay, there's nothing further. All those in favor of the motion say I. I. Oppose. Same sign.

Motion carries. Action approve agreement A26-05, an agreement between the city of Mitchell and retail strategies. I will start with this. I think we all remember this from budget time. And Mr. Johnson, have you got the agreement? I don't want to put you on the spot because we didn't talk about this ahead of time, but essentially $50,000 per year for three years to recruit businesses to the Michel community. Did you want to go over it? I I don't want to put you on the spot, but No, I didn't know I was going to be speaking on this. That's why I g I didn't want to I'm not going to put you there. Mayor, I have that timeline up here, too. Okay. Of interest. Yeah, it was a busy day. We didn't get to everything on the agenda this morning.

Yeah, for for my part on it though, I will say that I did review it. Uh we discussed some of the concerns with it internally. Um and we were able to work through a number of those uh with the proposed vendor. Okay. Thank you. I have a couple questions. Go ahead. Now, um this outfit that you entertaining, how long have they been in business? Have they got a proven track record? Have they been successful? How many times, how many places, how, you know, just have we done our diligence on this company?

Yes. I think I don't know the exact details of the entire company's history, but I know it it's been I think seven to 10 years. They've been around. They've been doing this for a very long time in multiple different states. We looked into other comp remember when this passed during budget time, we looked at other companies. Stephie and I kind of dug in to see if anyone would do this. There's either data collection companies and then there's also recruitment companies kind of like consultants. These guys are kind of like fit the mold of both of those things. I don't know if that answers your question but so if we were hire there's no guarantee obviously but that is correct

but but they shouting that they have been successful. they have or they could say once yeah we we were good the one year over in Timbuktu but you know I'm just curious if this company warrants us to commit to that and or we just been wasting our money. So I wonder I think the guy that Perry's said he would be willing to call in if we would want if you if you want me to call the guy and you want to talk to him.

Well if we're trying to make a deal we don't know the answers. I'm just a little hesitant uh to commit to something that we don't know much about. Secondly, um is this something that the chamber was could be involved with recruitment of business and I'll let you address this with the chamber. I mean, it seems like it's something that's up their alley.

Uh yes. um with the development corp. John, I was at the the board meeting last week and uh and this was addressed and when we first the mayor and I went over and and Stephanie was involved too and kind of made a presentation of the presentation that was given to us and and the um the development corp board at that point um said that that sounds like a good deal, but it was 100% to be paid by the city. that that's the way we basically presented it because we said it's right now we could have it in the budget or we we did put recruiting um in the budget. Um so that's that's how it was presented. Now that uh they said that they would be willing to take a look at partnering with us. Um, but just like you, they've got a lot of questions and would like to at least um have a presentation or work with this or look at this company and see if it's something that they would like to proceed and partner with the city. So, they're they're not in a position to say yes or no at this point, but they would but if we would like them to be a partner, they would want to get more information. Well, I'd advocate for partnering with them to cut our cost and still have the same effect.

How soon can the chamber get a commitment and get this their answer? They said in a few in a few months they could they would have a decision if they would have the the funds to to move forward with a pro with this type of a study. Well, makes sense to me to push them along and get it done in partnership, but that's not guaranteed, is it? No, absolutely not.

No, that they would say they would look into it, investigate it, and do some due diligence just like you're saying, but at this point, they not they're not committed one way or the other. That was the message I was supposed to bring if if asked. Just just so I'm understanding you, Mr. Smith Kby, you're saying they want to they said they want to do it, but they don't want to pay for it. Um, is that No, it it was if you're going to pay for it 100%, who are we to say not do it? Okay. But if you want us to participate, then we would like to learn a little bit more about it.

Okay. Okay. Anything else? So, this brings me back to the subsidy time where I can I kind of laid out this exact scenario where if we cut their funding, everybody's funding, all of the nonprofits at 30%, we would have this money available to possibly do it oursel or kick the money in for them to do this. So I guess if they need or they need six months or they didn't give you a timeline.

They said a couple.

Okay. And I just if I'm am I right Mayor Hansen to say like we have to decide tonight or we're out another year. So the information that banks that he's a representative for retail strategies is that there's an ISC ICSC convention in Las Vegas where every major realtor will be real retailer. Sorry that's a tough one. Uh will be there and then they would represent our city for there. There's over 25,000 people there. Uh that's in March. Essentially, if this doesn't go through for several months, we'd be a whole year behind till the next time that big thing is, you know, like everyone plans their year out several quarters. And I mean, it's just going to put us behind if you want to wait.

So, one of the comments that I read from um someone from the public was that retailers are aware of communities that are interested in having them come. I mean, they know that Mitchell, I believe the wording was they know that Mitchell exists and that we are there and it's not like they need someone to put us with them. They're already they have their own scouts that are all looking at where are the hot spots that we should put our place, where are the people, where are the communities that meet our demographics, you know, they have all this strategy. Is this do you feel like this is kind of a waste of money when we know that those people already know that we're here? They already know our demographics. They already know um whether or not we meet their criteria that they're looking for.

I don't because I have just spent a lifetime in sales and I know when I was working on the car lot, people know they wanted a car, but sometimes I had to hold their hand and carry them across the finish line and explain to them that it was the right decision. And sometimes people just need a little push in the right direction. So, these guys have been very adamant in following up on me. I bet the guy from their representative has called me 20 to 50 times. I mean, he probably calls me every week. Hey, everything's good. Checking in, checking in, checking in. If they put any sort of that effort into actually bringing businesses, I find it very hard that they're not going to have some sort of success. That's just my opinion from a sales guy.

And I kind of feel that we that's what we give the money across the street for them to kind of look for businesses for us. that I mean that's what we put money in the budget for them at the MADC is kind of what I'd consider their job and I don't know if we need two different entities doing that is my personal opinion. Well, and I guess if they're willing to participate, it would be in my mind we'd be uh wise to wait for a year so that we have we're sharing that expense. Um and we have they have a chance to look at the proposal and um I I know you know when you're in I can imagine that this is going to be a hard thing to say to them. You know, they want to wait a year. I can just hear how heartbreaking that will be, that phone call will be, and I understand that. I I sympathize with that. But that being said, I think that we'd be fiscally responsible, more fiscally responsible. Um, and we'd be making better use of the taxpayers dollars if we were willing to wait a year until the development corp is will ready to participate with us. if it takes a year. I mean, theoretically maybe we'll miss this convention, but I don't know if that's the one and only of the year or if they can do work outside of that convention. Um, but anyway, I just feel like it's something that we would be fiscally responsible to wait.

So, I got I got your answer to your question, John. He messaged back business been in business for 17 years, closed over 800 retail businesses, recruited in over 38 states.

Pretty good. So, I I want to respond to Miss Chart's comment because it was in an email that we received about if they already know we're here. If that was the case, why would these businesses go to a trade show? I mean, I just returned from a trade show, I mean, in Vegas, actually, is where I was at, too. And it is unbelievable the people that go to these trade shows. So, I'm not trying to argue with you. I just I grappled with that when that that email came like yeah they might know we're here but what if they don't these people may go get them and then the cost of it I'm a fairly simple man if the development corporation and I I don't want to speak for them that's why I'm asking you Mr. If you're saying that their board said yes, they want to do it, but they don't have the money, we get paid next year at subsidy time. If they choose to do it with us, great. I I think it's a a little give and take on both people's parts, both parties parts. And the thing I really like about it is I agree with Mr. Mardle that they're doing some of that, but this is a tool that they're going to grab from also. Or Jeff might say, you know, I know you guys own a building. You might say, "Hey, give this to Retail Strategy. See if they can fill this building for us." I just I don't know how we lose here. I just for the small amount of money, I think it's a great investment. But Stephanie, can you pull the timeline back up? While she's doing that, I just I just want to I just want to say like I feel like I want to just do everything I possibly can. I guess that's it. I just want to do everything I possibly can.

So, one of the reasons I had to bring this up is because I worry that if they're planning to present in March, um, and we're already in February, that the data that they originally attracted me to or when they presented and got me on board with this study, I don't want to rush that portion where we identify the key retail needs of Mitchell um, as a part of what we're doing. And then we were going to market to try and find things that filled gaps in retail currently offered at Mitchell. That's what one of the things that uh when they presented they sold me on their company. I thought that that was a really good thing. And so one of my fears now is that if you tell me that they're going to take a plan to market in March, I feel like we're consolidating now. One of the key things that I thought was really good about them is we are looking at what Mitchell has. We're identifying needs and then we're going to go try and recruit those needs to Mitchell as opposed to or as opposed to trying to use uh tax dollars to try and drive business to Mitchell that maybe uh I love all the pizza shops we have in town. I don't know that we need another one would be example I would use.

Yeah. And I think you know their main their main goal I guess our main goal would not be to cannibalize what's already in town. It's I think the number was $95 million of leakage of dollars that leave our town. It's to capture that money, not just divide on what we have in town. I don't know if that answers your question, but Yes. I don't know if you had a question. No, no, no. So, it was more of I am in favor of waiting now because I don't want them to rush to try and meet a March deadline to go to a show when I don't think they'll be successful in implementing the plan that's on the screen um that shows those kinds of things. Also, um, something else that I specifically had about I the the it's May. Sorry, I misspoke. I misspoke. It's May, not March. I'm texting the guy. So,

okay. It wouldn't be a rush. We'd have an extra two months based on the timeline. Okay. Um, the other thing that uh I had in the contract itself um under the representative would be the mayor. Um, I have never known you to do anything unproprietary, but since you do have a retail or uh retailer's license and can sell real estate, I don't have my license quite yet, but I'm this close, but you're working towards it, right? And so, it might be good to have the chamber on board for that aspect that uh prevents potential conflicts of interest uh for you in a new venture that you're seeking to do. Oh, I'm not doing this to try to make money. That is for sure.

Yes. And I wasn't trying to that was I just it will be contacting with information and then if you're the person that also sells real estate I won't be that guy selling but I understand your concern okay anything else I was against this during budget and I'm I'm still I think we give them enough money across the street that I'm still against this until we get better understanding what's going on. So I'll vote no on this.

So your motion is I didn't have a motion. It was just but I'll I'll make a motion to deny motion by Mr.

Second by Mr. Sabers. Further discussion. I know Roger wants to come up here and talk about how much he loves it. I'm just scared. You want to come up here? Okay, go ahead. I actually think I've done more research on the Mitchell economy than probably everybody at this table. And uh there's a lot of data available. It's free publicly available data on every state today. There's a USD professor that puts out a report will tell you every town in South Dakota, what category of sales, how much they had, what their pull factor was in every category. And I can tell you every one of these businesses that are looking to go someplace, that data is widely available to them for every state in the United States. So, they don't really need help figuring out where to go. uh with AI today, you can take one of those reports and in a matter of minutes you can have it analyzed for you and compared to other states and other towns. Um the one thing I'd like to point out is I really believe if you want to spend money on a consultant, you need to spend money on a consultant that helps you understand the Mitchell economy. And Jordan proposed that in the original budget, but it got taken out of the budget. It's very clear to me that nobody at this table understands the Mitchell economy very well. And uh I have a presentation. I sent it all to you, but I'm going to go through it real quickly. Um I think we'd all agree that everybody in Mitchell um spends the vast majority of their income. There's nobody that has huge reserves to spend at another retail store. So if we bring re bring in another retail store, we're basically moving money from one retail store to another re retail store. Primarily we bring in a new grocery store. People don't eat more in Mitchell

because we have another grocery store. They eat the same amount that they did before we had the new grocery store. If you want to increase the sales in Mitchell, basically two primary ways. number of people have to go up because if you have more families at 60,000 each, 100 families at 60,000, that's six $6 million of additional spending in Mitchell at the first time. And if you if you have people get a raise, so if we have 3,000 people get a $2,000 raise in a year, well, that's another $6 million spent in Mitchell. And those are the two primary ways that you increase the sales. The third way is minor, but it's increase the percentage of local sales to local businesses because that dollars turns over significantly more than sales to a chain store. When Bernard's closes the end of the day, pretty much the money in their account is out of Mitchell before the sun sets. and local businesses tend to keep a higher percentage in town.

Can I ask questions as we Yeah, that's fine. Um, what about like filling in the gaps the place the parts of of uh retail that are not that we don't offer? That would be I would think that that would be an important way that you would increase.

Yep. And I had AI analyze Mitchell and compared it to all the other towns in South Dakota. And there's a couple places it said we could use some additional uh sales. The first place was we could use some specialty restaurants. And this was based on 24 data, 2024 data. Well, we already have an Italian and we have Chef Lou opening up uh beyond that data. So, we've kind of already filled that gap. The other place it said we could use is apparel sales is very low, but it basically says forget that that ship is sailed. That's pretty much done over the internet today. And you know, it's a very small category to start with, but you can't you can't get a decent sized store to come to Mitchell for that category. Uh the other things it said would be good is hunting and fishing, guide services, fishing services, those kinds of things. Things you can't buy over the internet. We don't need another store that sells rods and reels because you can buy that at 100 places on the internet. You need things that are not internet available. The other thing I I when I talk to people about the economy, they all talk about this Sou Falls. Everybody's going to Sou Falls. So I looked at that and the Mitchell what they call pull factor which is a a number that says how good are we at keeping our local business in Mitchell and a factor of one means everybody is shopping 100% in Mitchell and no nothing's going outside and nobody's coming in from the outside. So one is kind of the middle ground and Mitchell's pull factor is already 1.42 which is one of the highest of the reasonable size cities in South Dakota.

Now what do you think Sou Falls is pull factor of Sou Falls? 085.

Yeah. Yeah. You guys have read my document. That's not fair. But I've asked probably 25 people that question. I normally get an answer of two, three, four, something like that. And it's 08. I think it's 82 or 85. I don't remember. But it's very, very small. And it's going just like this. 15 or 10 years ago it was like 1.57. Now it's down to 082. So why is that? Do you ever hear people talking to the mall about going to the mall in Sou Falls anymore? 15 years ago that was all you heard about. People are going to the mall in Sou Falls, right? And on the weekend, not not much talk about that today. And the towns around Sou Falls, the tea, Harrisburg, those have all grown up to be big enough now where they have their own retail. So if you live in tea, you don't have to go to Sou Falls and buy everything. You can buy some of the stuff in tea now. So the the towns around there are getting their own retail environments. We're lucky enough that the towns around Mitchell are pretty small and most of them will probably never have a significant amount of retail. So we need to get those people to continue shopping in Mitchell. And we're doing a great job at it. Our numbers have changed from like 1.4 four. Oh, should I one I'll give you the real numbers here. Uh 1 uh 54 in 2015 to 1.42 in 2024. So we've went down 7.8% in our poll factor. Sou Falls has went down 43 and a half%. So we're doing a great job on our retail. I don't know why we're talking about it even here because it's it's the

highlight of Mitchell. It's not a problem. If anything, this consultant should be working for Sou Falls. They're the ones that have the problem. Seriously. And the other things we all talk about we don't want to cannibalize our existing business. What would you bring to Mitchell that would not cannibalize an existing business? So I have actually reached out to Max Hardware and I I look at out this because I I whenever I go to hear I stop there. I think we could increase that pull factor by getting that and getting those people from one side. So is that fair to say that Roger?

I think we're already getting them to tell you the truth in most areas. But anyway, retail businesses go where they can make money. They don't go where we want them to go. I get a kick out of people on the internet will say, "Well, I want a such and such a store." Well, that store figures out where they can make money, not where people want them. And if they can make money, they're going to be here. That's the way the economy works. And they can analyze Mitchell in a matter of minutes and compare it to every city in the United States similar to Mitchell in multiple different categories. But when I analyze it, it looks very, very good to me. It doesn't look like we should be spending dollars to get more retail. If anything, maybe we should be spending dollars to keep the retail we have happy to make sure they continue to stay here. And if we get retail, it will clearly be somebody probably not locally owned and the money will go from a locallyowned business to a chain store of some type. And that money will not turn over more than one time in Mitchell. It will be out of the city immediately. Where if we got a new restaurant, I hear people talk about I'd like a new restaurant. Let's pretend we get a new Apple ways and it gets uh a third of its business from the depot customers, a third from the Bradley customers, and a third from someplace else. Is that good or is that bad? I mean, our local businesses are the ones that support our charities and things like that. You don't get any money from a chain store to support those kinds of things. So it would we be better off if we reduce Bradley's business by a third or the depot by a third?

I like the fact that we have Chef Lou coming in and we have an italier restaurant that are kind of locally owned and I think that's very positive. I'm not against growth in any way, but I am against growth if it takes money and sends it out of town. and the $150,000 we spend for this study over three years that all leaves Mitchell instantly. That doesn't turn over one time in Mitchell. So I mean I've talked multiple times about how to grow the economy, how tourism wasn't our focus or shouldn't be our focus, how growth in people, that's what we have to have. The ideal business is somebody like High Planes. Well, they bring 85 great jobs and they increase the price of soybeans by 15 or 20 cents a bushel, which is like$7 million dollar more into the Mitchell economy. That's the kind of business we need, not just another retail store that we have a TJ Maxx or something like that. It that doesn't help us at all. We need more people and higher paying jobs. And we want to keep as much local as possible. That's the way we've done well. And we have probably as much as local now as we've ever had, which is great. We have a lot of small restaurants downtown and uh they seem to be doing pretty well. Um, the other thing, this is probably the absolute worst time if we were trying to recruit retail. Uh, a study I had said that 55% more stores are going to close in 24 than open in 24. On my way here, I was reading my emails and I read on News Breakak

the headlines, the death of South Dakota retail. And it was primarily talking about Rapid City retail, Sou Falls retail. But I mean, it's it's a it's a time when retail is consolidating, not growing. You hear a lot more closures than openings or new new stores opening in this area. Questions? But I really do think you need a study to understand the economy because I can't come up here every six months and explain it over and over again to you. The uh last study we had had says you don't recruit barbers, you recruit more heads. We're looking at recruiting barbers. Right? We need more heads is what we need. And that was a Dr. Brown. One whole slide was recruit barbers or recruit heads, not barbers. But I really do think you need to understand the Mitchell economy much better than you do.

Other questions? I I got some comments from the guy. Okay. I'll just I'll just address them. I'll just read exactly what he text me. He said he's still happy to call in if he likes. Um there's a reason retailers like to be in the same market as other retailers, which I do know is true. Some people, some stores like to marry each other, be next to each other. Our data shows us the demand for new, there is a demand. Our data shows us where the demand is for new retailers. Some data, many retailers use similar data. 80, this is interesting. 86% of total retail sales are still brick and mortar. I find that pretty interesting. Still what? Uh brick and mortar. 86% of total retail sales are still brick and mortar.

And then versus online, which is pretty interest. I thought it would be much different. And then uh last thing, sales tax revenue is an ROI for the city. National retailers are the biggest generator in the city for sales tax if he recalls. I mean, I think moving sales tax from a from a locallyowned business to a chain store is a negative, right? But we turned over multiple times with the locally and that's not the intent obviously. Remember, there's $95 million of leakage. Yeah, that's a bunch of But hey, no swearing at the podium. People get in trouble over that. Yeah, that was not my intent. I know. I know.

It's like why isn't he why isn't he talking to Sou Falls? They're the one that has the problem. We're doing wonderful. Roger, I got a question for you. Um, obviously you have you have indicated uh and we all recognize and appreciate the investment you've made in Mitchell and and uh trying to get more people to move here and you have presented to the chamber and the development corp uh your online um type application to to try to draw families to Mitchell. Can you just give us a 30 second to a minute update on where you're at in that project of trying to get more people to move to Mitchell?

I turned it over to the chamber about a month ago. I did get an email from them about a week ago that they had sent it out to to the people that they had their email address from that and I don't know what the response rate or is from them but uh I'm not really involved in it anymore other than providing the software for them. But if you want to spend money recruiting, spend$10,000 or $20,000 for the chamber trying to recruit people to move to Mitchell. I mean, first off, that turns over multiple times in Mitchell, which is a positive. And if they do, it's a long-term success. And I'm not a marketing person at all, but uh if you're going to market something, you got to market something that's good for this city. And I really don't believe getting another chain store to come to Mitchell is a good thing for Mitchell.

I think if you got a Perkins to come here, it would be a good thing. I used to eat at Perkins all the time, and I do miss the going to breakfast at Per Perkins, but uh hopefully it would be a locally owned Perkins. That would be the ideal scenario. So, Roger, would you say if we've had a blind I'm just teasing you. I don't know.

I I didn't get it right away. Good point. I think we've had a blind spot for the last 25 years thinking that Mitchell's economy was driven by tourism. And I believe a year ago I totally proved that to be false. I came in here six months ago trying to promote that we need to grow Mitchell and I've given them some tools to do that. But I'm not sure I've convinced you. That's why you need to hire a consultant that is good from South Dakota to figure out what what's good for the Mitchell economy and not quit guessing. I don't think any of you would claim to be an expert in this area. And I don't claim to be an expert in the area, but I can get access to the data real quick. And I use AI to tell me what the data says. And you don't think these big chains are doing the same thing. They can bring in the data from all 50 states and run it through an AI program and it will tell them where the best place to build a store or restaurant is at. And I hear every few days about something closing in Sou Falls. Sometimes it's a restaurant. And I think I' I've attempted to go out to dinner like on a Saturday night in Sou Falls and if you don't have a reservation way ahead of time, you can't get in. So if I'm going to build a restaurant, am I going to build it in Sou Falls or Mitchell?

So you are admitting you're taking your money out of town and I won't give me a seat. What if they were here? Would you do it? Oh, I do all the time. I'm just kidding. I probably eat out in front of everybody in this room. Other questions? Because I I do welcome questions. I that's the only way we get smarter. Roger. Um, one question that I had or I guess in conversations prepare for tonight's meeting. Um, as we look at retail, some of the greatest success stories I think Mitchell has is entrepreneurs developing their own companies at Mitchell. Yep.

Do you feel like that would be a worthwhile investment if we were recruiting people to invest in and be local proprietors?

Um, I like the idea. I don't know that it works. I think if you have somebody that has started a business, it looks like it's going to be successful. I'm all for helping them. get to the next level. At the same time, I always hear that those kind of people don't have capital, so they can't expand. Yet, in my lifetime, I've never had somebody come to me and ask for capital for an expansion of a Mitchell business. So, I find it hard to believe that that's a real problem. I mean, having having the idea that is worth growing, that's the real challenge and then making it happen is the next challenge. But I I agree with our locally owned businesses has been primarily our success and probably will always be our success. And if we can help them, that's great. Um I think the way you help retail is by doing business with them. So that's the the whole concept of a local retail store. If we all do business with them, they're much more likely to survive. So you you talk about the cannibalism of businesses and we've had um you know we've had Menards here for a long time. Uh we added Runnings, we added a new Ace Hardware. Um we have Thoons. Um do you feel like like Menard's has suffered because of the the addition of those other businesses in town? our the way I remember the numbers our sales in I'll call it the construction support industry are great in Mitchell that's one of our real positives and it's partially because of Chromemer's MO pits and they all buy things and there's small spin-off companies like them that get started and and help grow Mitchell. So I I think they've all done great and I think if you look at our

study from 15 years ago that was what Dr. Brown said one of our highlights was our construction industry and I wish we actually would have had more carpenters and stuff so we could build more houses faster. That's probably our biggest challenge. But uh it's just retail is not our problem. That's that's I guess my real message. We're doing great in retail. Sou Falls would envy how good we're doing in retail for our size. So I would agree with you. So, if you're going to place a bet, are you going to place your bet on the winner?

Are you going to place your bet on the loser? Because I think retailers retailer is the winner in our town. So, I would when I when I, you know, in the stock market, you let your winners run. You let you bet on the winner. And that's what I that's how I feel is if if retailers winning, let's Right.

Let's keep winning, baby. But if if you bring in more retail to compete with them, some of your local ones are not going to be winners because we only have so many dollars to be spent in restaurants each each day or each week. And another restaurant is definitely going to cannibalize existing restaurants. No question about it. And they're not full that, you know, there's a number doing a good business, but they're not not full by any means. Um, but I can't think of any new retail store that could make money in Mitchell that would help our economy in general. There's a lot that would cannibalize other businesses, but I don't believe we win from that. If we take money that's now going to a local business and move it to a chain, that money doesn't turn over. That leaks town. We want it to turn over. We should be promoting bilocal and we are I mean that's I think most of us are anyway and I think the chamber is probably promoting by local and if there is room or need for another retailer in Mitchell they'll be here. I mean they're not dumb. If they think they can make money in Mitchell they they'll be there period. But if you're going to spend $50,000 a year on something, spend $50,000 understanding how we can improve Mitchell. Not just a gut feeling or what a salesman comes in. And by the way, I believe a salesman is putting pressure on us because it's a highly profitable business for him whether he gets a new store or not. He getting 50,000 a year and from multiple cities. I' I'd love him to move to Mitchell and stay here.

He said there's not enough retailers to move here. I'm just kidding. But Roger, what if what if we landed just one business with this company? Just one, and they had a million dollars in sales in here, which is worth it if it comes from another store. No. But how do you know that that's what's going to happen?

I don't. But when I look at our numbers, we're already capturing more retail sales than a city our size deserves. I mean, we're doing great. It's not like we're if we are at 08 like Sou Falls was, maybe getting another retail work works out, but they're closing because they can't make money. I'm curious to see what this Newsbreak article talks about the death of retail in South Dakota, but you know, it's partially because of the internet, you know, is going taking some of the traffic. Uh, and that'll continue. I mean, I I fully believe that next year our numbers won't be quite as good as they are this year, but it won't be because our local businesses aren't doing good. It'll be because internet will just take a little higher percentage. Okay. Anything else? Nope. Okay. Anyone else in the audience? What what I will do is um I'm getting a sense of if we're going to do anything, it would be nice if we were able to to partner. So, I will get with Mike Lawrenson across the street and uh see what information his boards would like to see and then uh report back and obviously have them come back and and maybe Roger's right. Maybe we're not focusing exactly on the areas where where we should. But let's uh let's talk it through and and then uh hopefully there's a plan that at least uh we're committed to that will help grow Mitchell and just not spend money just for the sake of it. But I think that's what the ultimate goal is is to spend it wisely and try to figure out again how to grow and and I've been getting a some

comments back of of what Roger is saying is the retail follows the number of people that are here. If we grow the number of pe people they really the people that's been visiting with me saying the retail will follow. Now, I'm not going to say that I know that that's correct or not, but we all do know that we we probably need to to grow Mitchell as the mayor has already put a a large number out there. And so, um, that's one of the things we do need to focus on also is is to try to bring additional people just to fill our jobs that we currently have. And I think that goal we can all agree on. Okay. Further discussion before we vote.

So the motion the motion is to deny from Kevin. What was that? Are we tableabling it? Are we killing it? The motion was the motion to deny and Dan second it. Okay. All right. Well, let's vote on that. All those in favor of the motion say I. I. I. Oppose. Same sign. Motion passes to deny. Okay. I know that's complicated, but so we will not be hiring them. Yeah. Normally. Okay. All right. Next action approve resolution R2026-07 2026 bridge inspection consultant. Mr. Mr. Shrader.

Yep. Uh Mr. Mayor, Council, this is our annual bridge resolution. Uh we do it with the South Dakota Department of Transportation. Uh the SD dot sets the bridges to be inspected and the DOT covers 80% of these costs. Uh the public works department recommends uh Bros Engineering is our consultant for the inspections. Um they've done our previous uh bridge work and we've been um happy with them thus far. Um so with that staff does recommend council approval and to authorize the mayor to sign on their behalf. Um there are four bridges uh this year that will be inspected. the Canal Bridge, the Bur Street Bridge at Dry Run Creek, which is a box cover. Um the West End Bridge over Firesteel Creek, um and Minnesota Street at Dry Run Creek, which is also a box cover. And I can answer any questions.

Motion approved. Motion by Mr. Sabers. Second, second by Mr. Bington. Further discussion. Would anyone in the audience like to discuss this? All those in favor of the motion say I. Oppos same time. Motion carries. Action to approve resolution R 2026-08 plot of lot 11 and to replplot the track a Wild Oak Golf Club edition. Mr. Jennings. Mr. Mayor and Council Planning Commission recommended approval of this unanimously follows along with their master plan for the area within the zoning as well and answer any questions that you have for this.

Thank you. Move to approve. Motion by Mr. Coldhammer. Second by Mrs. Sharks. Further discussion. Would anyone in the audience like to discuss this? All those in favor of the motion say I. I. Oppose. Same sign. Motion carries. Reconsider action to approve agreement A206-12 par 3 golf concept plan with Norby pursuant of mayoral veto. Miss Bathky. The action to reconsider will take twothirds vote of the city council to override the mayor's veto. Thank you. Motion denied.

Motion by Mr. Sabers. Point of clarification. Would a motion to approve be the override or a motion to deny be the override? What exactly is your motion to deny? I think I think what you'd want is a motion to override the veto and approve the contract. Excuse me. A motion to override the veto and approve the contract. That's what I want. That's what he wants. The motion is to override the veto. Is that correct? Okay. And I'll second because I assume Mike, you're withdrawing your second. He was kidding. I think he was maybe serious. Okay. Okay. Further discussion. I think you guys know my feelings on this, so I'll just be quiet. Question.

I have a couple. we vote without talking about it. We now we vote on the if we will allow the call to question. Is that correct? Uh you'd need a second on that 2/3 majority. Okay. Yeah. Do we have a second to call the question? We do not. Go ahead, Mr. Doer. All right. I have a couple questions, please. How will this veto affect the overall project? If the veto stands, how how would that affect the whole project? The project wouldn't happen at all.

Unless you bring back a different plan back and said we don't need Norby. We can lay out our own holes and what Norby was going to provide for us. I guess we can do that on our own so the project goes forward. I I don't know the answer to that question. Maybe Mr. Johnson has a and Kevin the parks director is on vacation because his son's getting married. So

I I would have to defer to Kevin. I know he's not here. Um Stephanie or Joe might be more familiar with aspects of the project itself. Um really if the veto was not overridden tonight, all I can say is that this specific contract would not be moving forward. It's not that another one can't be brought back or staff could address the project in some other way, but this contract, this specific contract would not be moving forward. So they they to answer your question simply, they could just go hire someone else and just complete. It's still in the budget. we could basically just move forward with.

But this part of the overall work order project was in the original approved money, right? I mean, this is not an addition to let's pick the number. $1 million was approved to expand this hole. This funding is we need another whatever for Norby Golf. That is correct. It is within the original proposed budget.

It's within within the deal. Correct. I thought so. Uh, so would they we have to okay every little part of that project as it comes forward? We're going to hire a truck to move some dirt. What do you think, folks? You know, and we're going to buy some grass seed for it. What do you think, folks? We're going to vote on that. Are we going to have to vote on every part of the project that's already been approved?

I think I think I can interject and explain that. I look at this as the preliminary design uh phase of the project. So this is just the first step of the the design and then there would be another contract in the design phase process that takes it probably to get you to bidding. Um but it was included originally. It was included in the the way I understand it is this was included in the original budget. It has to be included in the original budget or we wouldn't have budget authority to do it. Yes. Um, but because this is over the bid limit, the bid award's going to have to come to council in the future as well.

It's going to if it's a publicly bid contract, it has to come back to council for the bid approval because it's over the 150,000 is limit. Yeah, this is concept planning. So any other future agreements would need to come to council to be approved. So how what is Norby's charge or fee? Like 9,200 bucks roughly, right? Somewhere in there. somewhere there something well well under what you just quoted having to come it was like 9200 yeah 1.3 bingo yeah so once this phase is done then there would be another contract coming to advance it further

so we would have to as a council approve every step of the project yeah every step of the project require that requires council approval yes because this is a bid project it has to come to council because we are required to have those bids in the council minutes. If it's over a certain dollar figure, we have to approve the

I think councilman Doers, to your point, I think it's hard to answer that question because Kevin did those negotiations. So, he's not here. There might be a reason they did that for a purpose. They might choose to go one direction or another and that's why they chose to just pull this phase out first. But it is all included within the budget. But yeah, any steps further would have to come back to be approved by council. Well, I had these questions. I mean, I was kind of opposed to the project from the start and had expressed my concerns and then when this veto came up, I had these questions that I wanted answered. So, okay. Any other questions from John from Mr. Doer? No.

Okay. as a budgetary purpose. Um the total cost of this project could be within the golf courses reserves. Correct. The cost does not exceed their current reserves. That like as we as we talked about the whole budget, this piece Oh, this 9400. Yes. Correct. Thank you. Okay. So if the project moves forward based on our estimation, what was the cash that we were going to have to pull out reserve put in? Approximately approximately 417,000 from general funds.

Okay, further questions before we open up to the audience? Have a couple people bounce up and out there. Okay, anyone in the audience like to discuss this? Uh, good evening, Mr. Mayor and Council. My name is Stuart Hansen. I waited to come up here and speak tonight until after I heard what everyone else had to say. The mayor's veto on this shouldn't be surprising to anyone because he stated time and time again that he was against using general fund money to subsidize the golf course. That's why he left it out of the budget. That's why the previous mayor vetoed using general fund money to subsidize the golf course in 2023. In 2023, the city council voted 7 to1 in favor of giving the golf course money from the general fund. Mrs. Charts was alone no vote. Then the previous mayor vetoed it. After two new council members were sworn in, a vote was taken to overturn the mayor's veto. It would take six votes to overturn it. The vote was 5 to three, so the veto stood. The three councilmen that voted not to overturn the veto were Mrs. Charts, Mr. Doer, and Mr. Bathy. So, here we are in 2025 with the council again getting ready to vote to overturn this mayor's veto. Will Mrs. Charts, Mr. Doer, and Mr. Bathy vote no again? At a previous council meeting, Mr. Doer said he was against using general fund money for the par three project because as he said only 10% of the population golfs and probably less around here due to our weather. Now Mr. McAfee spoke at an earlier council meeting and said that the project at the golf course was all about excuse me the quality of life. I think most people in this community would say being able to afford paying their water bill is more of a quality of life issue. The golf board wants this council to transfer se $417,000 from the general fund to the golf course. And by the way, there's a $242,000

equipment loan on the books that the golf course owes the general fund and there hasn't been any payments made yet. During a previous council meeting, the council oaided adding an additional 39,000 to the rec center's budget. When a council member asked why, we were told it was due to the higher water rates. So, we as taxpayers are paying the higher cost of water at the rec center while we are struggling to pay our own water bills. At an earlier council meeting, Mrs. Chart said she received an email from a constituent asking why we can't use general fund money to help lower our water rates, which by the way are the highest in the state. We were told we can't because water rates are controlled by an enterprise fund, meaning the cost of operation are to be covered by user fees. But the golf course is also an enterprise fund. So, let's be honest with the taxpayers. The council controls the money in the general fund. So, now we know this council can apply general fund money to help lower our water rates, but will they? Or will they choose general fund money to do their pet projects like the golf course, which by the way isn't just for kids, it's for the adults also. Deciding how to vote shouldn't matter if you're up for reelection this year or years to come. Your vote should be about what's best for the majority of taxpayers in this community. whether that's helping lower our water rates or some other project. Thank you. Thank you.

Would anyone else like to address the council?

Evening, mayor, council. My name is Doug Bland. I'm actually really thankful Mr. Music got to speak before me. Um, speaking of retail and cannibalizing, you guys are going to do this right here for this vote and put a new guy possibly out of business across town. And you guys are doing it as a government. I don't think that's right. I think you should consider this veto and vote this down. Thank you. Thank you.

Would anyone else in the audience like to discuss this? very brief and I'm not a golfer. Don't don't really have any Yeah, I know better. Um I believe if you pass this, you need to reform how the rates are set at the golf course because they cannot constantly lose money every two or three years and come to the console. If the water department did that, you'd raise the rates. You need to If you're if you're going to allow the board to set their own rates, it needs to be reviewed by Stephanie and she needs to tell us that the rates are significant to support the golf course on an ongoing basis. Not that we think we can survive this year, but if we don't, we'll come in and get money from the council. So, I think you need to rectify that problem. I think you all know it's been a problem for many years, and we've just ignored it.

Thank you. Thank you. So, I had a a council woman reach out to me at budget time and tell me that they moved this and Stephanie probably knows when. I think she said that unless maybe never mind. No, no. It was in I think she said 1983. No, no, no, no, no, no. That's I just wanted to clarify. You didn't reach out and tell them this. You ain't been there long. No. Uh it was uh Tony Rosa.

Oh, Tony Ros. and and she said they did this for this exact reason and she asked me to vote to hold hold up the veto and and she said they did it because it should stand alone. That was the whole reason for doing that's why I just I really struggle with this and I shared this. I'm not against golf. I'm not against them doing this. But if if Chase the new guy survives this, is he going to take enough away from them that they're going to be coming back every year? Exactly what Roger said. Are they going to continually keep coming back for it? And then I want to know and without him here, I don't know if any of those guys in the audience know, are you going to charge more or you already set reset your rates? Did you figure charging more this year for it or next year for it? Because it's going to take a lot of water to establish this to make it usable. I I could probably answer the question is they they're not going to raise the rates for some for something they don't have yet. No, should they raise rates preemptively to pay for the project? That's up for debate, but I'm just throwing that out there. That makes sense.

And they get their water from Lake Mitchell, so they're not paying water rates,

right? And I'm I just want to say that I disagree, Doug, that with you in terms of us um putting Wild Oak out of business because I feel like this three-part course is a totally different thing. It's It's not um I think that the municipal golf course, the 18 hole I you know, I should know more about golf, but I I wish I did. Um anyway, the 18hole golf course at Wild Oak and the 18hole golf course at the municipal golf course, I think those two are in competition with each other, but I see this as a feeder course for both of them. Um, I feel like this is something that is an entity unto itself. And um, I the way I justify supporting the development of this is that it's it's not unlike the things that we do to um, improve and make our public park systems better all the time. There are lots of things that we do. We talk about quality of life. I think this is going to be something that will be um for lack of a better word, a feather in our cap that we will have this feeder uh three park golf course that will allow kids and beginners to learn to golf so that they will then go to those 18hole golf courses and you know perfect their skills or whatever. So I in my mind this is not something that competes with wild oak or actually it doesn't compete with the municipal golf course. I think it's just like something that's going to be especially for those us who

are starting out um people like me or my grandkids who want to learn more about golfing. And it will provide a way for both of the golf courses to thrive. As I think about this project, I think two things to keep in mind. One, they have enough money in reserves to pay for this part of the project. And similar to what we've done with other projects that until you have the design phase and know what the actual project will cost, there's no way for a group to actually know what the project will cost. Um, and so this is one of the reasons why I supported it two weeks ago and we'll be supporting it tonight that uh even if the project doesn't move forward in future council meetings that at this point what we're asking for is the ability to lay out and look at what the overall project will look like and specifically what the design of the course could be um for future count future council consideration as denoted earlier.

I got a quick question too. I think they it stated that the golf course lost money. I think they made money last year. Is that correct? I think the last five years technically they have. And if I remember right, they didn't they raise their rates too this year? I think yes, that's true. So I think they're they're not losing money. So why haven't they paid the money back then?

Because they don't have the cash reserves to pay it back and still apply what they have budgeted for the project. if they weren't doing the project, they'd be able to make a repayment um or at least start a repayment. But when we went through budget, they will not have cash reserves available to make the loan payment and put the cash that they anticipate towards this project.

So, I don't go buy a Porsche until I pay for my Volkswagen. I don't get it how how we can keep doing this and pay for a design like we did at the farm palace and then we don't use it. I think the train should stop right here. That's a good point. That that was my original intent rather than get too far down the road and have a bunch of money sunk into design costs. So that was the original intent. Okay. Do we have any further discussion before we vote on this? Just to clarify, the vote is to override the veto. Correct. Okay. Let's do a roll call. Bington. Hi. Bathy. No

charts. Hi Smith. Hi Savers. Hi Goldhammer. Hi Derer. No Mardle. I 68. That means it passes six to two. Okay. Veto over it. Next second reading and ordinance O26-02 reszoning as shown on the agenda. Mr. Jennigus.

Mr. Mayor and councel. Um as you remember from planning commissioners recommended approval. Um I've not gotten anything further since first reading of this. Um this one is for um by River Tree Church getting some more parking lot area in the future and then also um changing what should have been changed in the past from R2 to neighborhood shopping so that way it's all the same for that church block. I can answer any questions that you have. Move to place on second reading. Motion by Mr. Goldhammer. Second by Mr. Von I think. Okay. Further discussion. Anyone in the audience like to discuss this? All those in favor of the motion say I.

I. Same sign. We got a motion by Mr. Smith. Second by Mr. Bington. Further discussion. Would anyone in the audience like to discuss this? Roll call. Charts. I. Smith. Hi. Savers. Hi. Goldhammer. Hi. Doer. Hi. Mardle. I Bington I bath key. Hi. Motion carries. Second reading on ordinance O26-03 reszoning as shown on the agenda. Mr. Jennigus.

Mr. Baron. Council planning commission recommended approval of this. Um since first reading I have not had any other comments or or against this at all. Um applicants in the future would like to plat two pieces of ground together. Um they're different zones right now. Um, so I'd like to make them into one uh in urban development so that way it can be plotted to get egg status with the department of legalization to answer any questions that you have for me. Thank you. Move to place on second reading. Motion by Mr. Goldhammer. Second. Second by Mr. Mardle. Further discussion. Anyone in the audience here to discuss this? All those in favor of the motion say I post. Same sign. Motion carries. Move to

adopt. Motion by Mrs. Sharks. Second by Mr. Basky I think. Further discussion. Would anyone in the audience like to discuss this? Okay. Roll call. Savers. Hi. Goldhammer. Hi. Doer. Hi. Mardle. Hi. Bington. Hi. Bathki. Hi. Charts. I. Smith. I.

Motion carries. Next one. Discussion adding discussion on adding $1 admission fee to the world's only corn pel. I'm going to start with this. I am not advocating one way or another. This is just specifically for a brainstorming session to see if it's a good idea. I have had a lot of people ask me in the public to do this and they said why don't you guys do that and I don't want to answer for you so I'm just trying to clear the air Dave and I talk about this Mr. Chetszma and we're just looking for resolution as again I'm not advocating yes I'm not advocating no we're just having a calm relaxing conversation I'll start first I did I did some research on this uh 2014 and um back then I said it's really tough to again the corn palace is an enterprise fund and we're going to lose between it'll cost between five and 750,000 a year this way it is. Um that's directly indirectly we make a lot of money on it because of all what people come to town what they spend money on. It's a matter how you want to look at it. But the numbers are now that we have door counters you can get down to the the numbers from the time that the corn the chamber is on the floor. Um there's 137,000 people come through the door. Now roughly give or take back then 85% of the chamber sales this is old data um goes from the 80 to 85 days are on the floor so they sell their stuff on the floor. So, out of that 137,000 people, that's locals, that's uh people coming in, basketball games, uh you know, um cornbt team camps, me coming in, get a So, that's that's all the people that come through that door and uh through the front door. Um

Dan Dan, you said 137 during the summer when the corn pallets the time the chamber first got somebody sitting there there's 137,000 people. You said that then you said but then there's that includes Okay. So like you have Friday nights they come and use the bathroom they're coming through the door. No, no. Stephanie, Stephanie's got the numbers if you want to pull that up for today, not 2014. Just so we

out of that, the concessions are way more than I thought. And also then people are in are buying concessions, but our concession stand on the POS comes up to 140,000. So, I mean, it's more income than I thought out of concession stands. Um, you know, the point is, um, I think that I think the admission is worth discussion. Um, I think there should be a committee to check into it. Um, I think it's a valid point. Um, you you if you start low, you know, you start low. I would never start too high. You don't want people to not come in. But the outside of the Corn Palace, in my opinion, is free. They come here to see the outside. And while they're here, they come in. Now, would a small fee stop them to come in? It'd stop a few. Maybe it stop 20%. So, your numbers would go down. They wouldn't spend. Um, also the people that come in, are they going to buy something? Uh, you'd have to ch the chamber's probably got reports on that. Um, but they sell a lot of trinkets and most of it's on the floor for the chamber for them to survive. And the concession stand, well, that hurt. Um, I know Crazy Horse, if you got a license plate from that town, you get in free that county. You know, there could be something like that. you the people can still come in and eat free if you have driver's license Mitchell with Mitchell or Davidson County but I really feel that this deserves a discussion and u and a look into um I'm not the negative is you know it's probably going to hurt your sales probably going to hurt your your your but people can still outside can still free so the store over here the store over there is probably going to help Now you can look at it the other way. You want to talk about thriving local businesses, they can't come in here, they're going to go over there.

That's just my opinion. So I I do feel it needs to be something to look into and and discuss. Thank you. I think the word free attracts a lot of people and it's like Wall Drug has

as the free and uh I think the free getting in the corn pel offsets the money that people spend in town here. I mean if a lot of people don't carry cash, you know, we don't want to be doing dollar swipe cards and stuff like that. I don't think personally because I don't know what it costs to swipe a card, but I know there's a percentage. But I think people see it on the internet. We'd have to change all our billboards. we have to change this and that. But I think people see that word free and it brings them into town. Then they get gas, they eat, they do this and that. Then they get back on the road again. They spend a lot more than a dollar

u by by sucking them off the interstate coming to town. That's that's my opinion. I I think we should leave it the way it is myself. So I did uh mayor have a discussion with the chamber board uh because that was on Thursday and the agenda came out and so we uh I just posed it. I says, "Now, what message should I send back?" And they said, "Initially, you know, they they really like the fact that it is free and just just some of the discussion of Wall Drug and so forth." So, I had them do a little bit of figuring and and Dan had some numbers here. Each person that comes through the door last year spent over $25 um a piece. I think 25 per family. We ran the

Was it per family? Yeah. Because if you do the math, 136 times 25, it comes up to like $3 million. It's not quite that. Yeah. Oh, I I mis I misunderstood that. I I thought

Well, it's it's still not bad, but they they really like the fact that we set ourselves apart with the free part of with being free. And then we kind of brainstormed a little bit of what what if we would kind of focus in on the donations and almost shame people into saying this is the amount of money that we have that we pay to raise the corn to harvest the corn to put it on design the murals. You know we've got we've got tens almost whatever it is $100,000.

Can you bring that picture up Stephanie? And maybe you've got this already, but the the fact is as part of our presentation is we have got costs associated with putting this together. So this is tourist attraction. This is a like a donation. Is this budgeted, Dave? I can't. Sorry. Dave C. Yes, we uh in this year's budget did uh move forward with a plan to do something like this that would um accentuate. Currently, we just have a 2x two by three foot high box that's by the door gets moved around quite a bit. And and

yeah, and for everyone at home, what this is is a donation box with every state or country. So when you come to visit, you want to show how cool your state is by shoving that thing full of cash. So that was one of the other options that we're exploring. Kind of a neat deal where you can say, "Oh, you know, I think Stephanie's example was I went somewhere and no one was in South Dakota, so she had to represent." I did. It was Rocky Mountain National Park. How much from Hey, they got $10 out of me to boost us up a little bit. So, that's why I said then you go in there and you pull a couple out of the box so they're empty. I think a nice donation box, Stephanie. How much their donation box take in now? Is it Or maybe Dave knows? Gosh, I don't have it in front of me. I think it's usually between 20 and 30,000. We should have had that prepared. I knew that was going to be a question.

20,000. I feel like it's around 20. I I was thinking between 20 and 30 for for an estimate. Probably closer to probably closer. It does it does well. It does well. I think if you spruce it up, you could do a lot. Yeah. And again, make it known the fact that we've got this much cost to put this attraction together and will you help us offset that? Yeah. And I I think this is good discussion. Obviously, anytime we can we can lower the amount that we're subsidizing makes perfect sense.

I would be concerned that if I was operating the chamber gift gift shop on the floor and you're going to raise charge people to come in and you're you're expecting to have fewer numbers. I don't want to pay you the same rent I had to pay before when they were 185,000. Now we're only going to have 150,000 and you up the same rent. That That is a good point. I would agree with you because that was something I didn't think about till today. I don't even know if the chamber contract would allow that since they rented, you know, so I hadn't thought about that until today.

Uh so I I think initially I was very adamantly against any kind of fee and I don't know that I'm uh convinced to charge a dollar fee. Uh but I did have a very good conversation that lasted uh an hour and a half I think last night with someone and one of the key takeaways for me was what would it take for me to be able to support some kind of dollar fee or whatever the number would be. Um and I think two economic studies I would have to see is one that the GDP of Mitchell wouldn't be affected by this in either in any of the categories that I feel like tourists and not even just tourists but local. Um, and Dan's point, I think the Davidson County idea was a great idea. Um, but the other part that I would I would like to see or consider is what the staffing cost would be for someone to sit and collect funds for a period of time because we don't have that person. Currently, our box office isn't open the whole of the corner stores as I understand.

Oh, not yes. The reason I did the numbers from the day that that that they're on the floor to me, you'd only be able to point of emphasis would be you'd only charge when there's something to charge for. So they're on the floor when the movie theater then the the the movie is going on. So and you would have someone there because they have uh what do you want to say? Addition additional events or something like that. Yes. Yeah. Welcome people, right? You know, and that's a good point. That was another thing that we had a discussion about of over the years we've had different things for young families to do in the in the corn palace and we've kind of abandoned that. We're working on it.

I I that was the point I wanted to make, mayor, is the fact that we make it a more attractive and and have a little bit more fun, have people stay in Mitchell a little bit longer. Um and and then then at that point then does it make sense to possibly charge? But right now I I you know just to come in and and walk along the walls and you know it there there's very limited of of even though I think the best mural we still have is the one that's over the

the the stage. I I still think that that's one of the favorite ones that we've ever done. Uh but anyway, u that that's still more brainstorming of how do we make this a a lot more fun for families to stop and and and just adults too and and spend more time and spend more money. And you know, we've we've done different things over the years with w with like the combines and we had uh farm equipment and then we had a little grocery store upstairs for a while. um that there there's some money budgeted this year for making additional summertime attractions and I think that's the goal doing the armory because there's not much going on in the summer. So,

okay. I I'm glad to hear that. That's I think those are great ideas. Sorry to interrupt you. Just letting you. Like I said, we're just having a fun coming up here. Okay, going on up. Hello, Jessica Picket. I had the opportunity to go down to the Alamo this last summer and something they did. You get to go to the Alamo. You could see everything for free. You can see the outside, you can go the inside, but if you wanted a guided tour, you had to pay for it. And I know they do tours of the Corn Palace all the time. And I think the tours are fantastic. I pay for a guided tour to find out about the background and history of the Corn Palace. That's a good idea. Thank you.

See, we're getting good ideas here. I don't know how many people have ever taken the tour, but uh it's really good. It's it's it's so informational. I mean, it's it's uh the people that are doing it are good and it and it it's it's everybody should take it once and it's an eye openener how good it is and and the facts you would know about the Corn Palace. I um I'm reticent about casting stones, but I took my family members there twice this year and there was no one to give them a tour and I talked so I've talked to the people across the street about that. They were aware of it. Um, but I I think that we need to expect more from the chamber when it comes to those tours because I agree with you completely and I can't believe that I I was two for two that there was no one there on two separate occasions. I had family members visiting and so I do think that that that should be something that we expect to have happening

um by those by the people that are manning the booth across the you know during at the Corn Palace. Okay. Presently does the chamber provide the people I didn't know that. Yeah, they do. They do bus a lot of bus tours I believe. Mhm. In the summertime. In the summertime. Right. Yeah. Okay, it's a great brainstorming session. Anything else before we move on? Okay, motion to enter into executive session according to SDCL 12523 consulting with legal council and SDCL 1919 502 lawyer client communications.

Motion to enter into executive session. Second micard second by Mr. Wimer. All those in the motion say I. I post same sign. Motion carries. There will be no action after executive session.