City Council Agendas, Packets and Minutes - Regular Meeting

We'll come to order. Will you please call roll, Wendy?

Right, okay. Chisman?

Here.

Gilbertson? Helweg? Here. Jennewine? Here. Leper? Here. Lias?

Let's wait one moment, because he should be here electronically, but there's a delay.

Yep, okay. Mura?

Here.

Tolar? Major O'Kelley.

Here. Will you please join me in the Pledge of Allegiance?

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

Thank you. Has everyone had a chance to read the minutes of the two meetings? And if so, any changes or comments? revisions If not, I would entertain a motion to approve these minutes as written So move the seconded all in favor say aye aye opposed nay motion passes Are there any additions or changes to the agenda? Oh Well, you can really hear me now. Okay. Are there any more additions or changes to the tonight's agenda?

I

If not, then I entertain a motion. Thank you very much. Is there a second? Second. All in favor indicate by saying aye. Aye. Opposed, nay. The motion passes. The agenda is adopted. Are there any visitors we heard tonight on any item not on the agenda? Seeing none, I will forego reading the rules for visitors. And we'll move right to public hearings. special daily wine and cider license. That is Nick. Thank you, Nick.

Vermilion Cultural Association has submitted an application for a special daily wine and cider license for the 2026 Vermilion Vortex Film Festival. It'll be on Saturday, September 26th from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Sunday, September 27th from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Pocket Park next to the Coyote Twin Theater, which is located at 10 East Main Street. This request is to allow attendees to enjoy drinking beverages in the pocket park. For any beverages served inside the theater, the Vermilion Cultural Association already has a more beverage and wine license for the Coyote Twin Theater. The police chief's report states there have been no alcohol-related violations with this event in the past. A check of the Vermilion Police Department's record revealed no alcohol-related violations and there are no felony convictions in South Dakota in reference to the applicants for this license. The police chief spoke with Executive Director Shannon Cole and discussed safety measures that will be in place to help mitigate any problems. And the city has received a $30 per day license fee and the $20 advertising fee from the applicant for a total of $80. And administration recommends approval of the special daily wine and cider license for the 2026 Vermilion Vortex Film Festival event on September 26th and 27th at the Pocket Park next to the Coyote Twin Theater.

Thank you. Do any members of the public wish to comment on this item? No? How about up here? Any members of City Council have any questions for Dick or any comments on this request?

Second.

All in favor indicate by saying aye. Aye. All opposed say nay. Motion passes. Thank you, Nick. And now Shane, the application for the CDBG grant.

Thank you. So city's taking steps to prepare the replacement of the 12-inch water main that's along Cherry Street from Cottage Avenue to Plum Street. This will provide a benefit to the entire community as this section of water main is one of our main trunk lines for the water system. A preliminary engineering report, or PER, is being prepared by Banner Associates currently following City Council approval back on August 3rd. The PER will give us multiple options for the replacement of this water main. The PER is required as part of an application for the Community Development Block Grant, or the CDBG. The replacement project has an estimated cost of $3,087,000 at the current time. That does include engineering for the project. Staff would like to pursue grant funding to help reduce the potential costs and loans. If we get a loan, we have to repay that through those rates. So if we can get a grant, we can keep those rates lower. So that's kind of the reason to pursue this. The CDBG awards come from the Federal Housing and Urban Development Funds provided to the states for community improvements that will benefit low to moderate income individuals. The City of Vermilion automatically qualifies for the CDBG funding based on our community data. Back in 2025, GOD did raise the maximum grant award to $2 million. Seacog, Sophie Johnson, who is here tonight, has been assisting the city with the CDBG application process. Right now, we plan to get that CDB application submitted by October 1st, and then the GOED consideration in the fourth quarter of 2026. It's anticipated, if awarded, and things move forward, on schedule, we could be getting bids in the next spring to summer and having the work being performed next summer. A requirement of the CDV application process is to conduct a public hearing to explain the project and to complete a community development housing needs assessment with public input component. Following any public input on the project, we do ask that the city council develop a community development and housing needs assessment. A draft document of that assessment has been put together and is in the packet for your guys' review. So following any public comment, we ask that you take a look at that document and change it as you see fit. To this point, the cost is just the advertisement fee for the notice of public hearing, which was $19.40. Under the consent agenda, there are two resolutions. One of them is authorizing the application and financial assistant for the project and authorizing the project certifying officer, which is set as city manager John Prescott. And if he is absent, then the mayor can fill in for that. The consent agenda also includes a resolution identifying residential anti-displacement and relocation plan, which is required for the CDBG application. The public hearing is an opportunity to explain the finances of the project, accept public input, and compile the community development housing need assessment. There is no need needed by the city council. I'm happy to answer any questions, and if I can't, hopefully Sophie can.

Thank you very much. So as I understand it, let me clarify, Shane. So the Community Development and Housing Needs Assessment The draft for that is attached. It's a relatively short document. It's not our recent housing study. It's nothing major like that.

No, it references the recent housing study, but yeah, it's a pretty short document.

Very good. And so from us, you're just notifying us that you're going to have a public hearing on this subject.

It was part of the public hearing. So when we put that out, this was part of the public hearing.

Are there any members of the public who want to speak about that? Ms. Johnson, did you want to speak?

No?

Okay, no vote is required, correct? Okay, thank you very much Shane.

Thank you.

All right, moving to the consent agenda. Any item listed on the consent agenda may be removed at the request of any single council member. Is there anything that you guys, anybody would like to have removed from the consent agenda and removed to new business? It is a long consent agenda tonight. Hearing none, do I hear a motion to approve the consent agenda? Is there a second to that motion?

Second.

All in favor of approving the consent agenda indicate by saying aye. Aye. Opposed nay. The consent agenda is passed in total. Thank you very much. Old business. The second reading of ordinance 1564 for the cable franchise agreement with Midco. Okay, get ready, get ready.

So this is something that comes about back in 2016. We entered into a franchise agreement with Midco. It was a 10-year franchise agreement, which is expiring this October. Provided with your last council packet, and it's the same ordinance tonight. There have not been any changes to it. We have an ordinance to extend the cable franchise for an additional 10 years. There are two changes from the a 2016 document to this one. One is that previously or currently, Medco is required to provide a rate card to the city every time there's a change in a rate for a service that they offer. What the change does is it allows that to be continually posted on their website, which is probably where most customers are finding out what their rates are anyway. But this would change that in the language. The other definition or other change is that there's no longer, quote, free service. Back in 2016, there was a number of facilities that we were able to provide basic cable to as part of the franchise agreement. The FCC order 621 changed it and eliminated free service from being available. It's billed differently. It comes out of franchise fee payments that the city would otherwise receive, but there is a cost for having that basic cable. So those are the two changes that are recognized in the ordinance that we have before you. Otherwise, it continues on the 2016 agreement. As I noted, there have been no changes to this ordinance since the first reading at your last meeting. We'd recommend approval of ordinance 1564 to extend the cable franchise agreement with Medco for an additional ten years.

Thank you very much, John. Are there any members of the public who speak about this franchise agreement? Daryl, did you need to speak about this? I see you read it and you're cool with it. Any members of the City Council have comments, questions? Midco is here. Yes.

So I'm just curious about the Bluffs Golf Course. So because the TV is viewed publicly there, it can't be included in this, right? Is that what we talked about last time?

Right. So that one, the other three buildings that we have it at now, it comes because those don't necessarily have public viewing open to the public. Those come out of the franchise fee payment system. The golf course, since that's open for the public, we also have the golf channel there, as you might guess. Those, it's a different cable package, so we do have, that one is actually billed directly to the bluffs versus coming out of the franchise fee payment.

Yes. Are there any other questions or comments about this franchise agreement?

Move approval.

Is there a second? All in favor, please indicate by saying aye. I'm sorry, this is roll call. Thank you. And we're just waiting a moment for Dave Lyas to vote digitally. He was going to vote.

Did Council Member Lyas indicate how he was voting? I vote aye. Okay. So then I think, you know, I'll do that out.

There you go. Thank you. I don't know if it does it always show up here. He'll put it up. That one should be up here. He's absent.

I think you can abstain. I've got no idea. Just a minute.

Very good. Here we go. It's almost there.

Yep. So it would be because those other two are not. There we go. Yep.

All right. So by a vote of 7 to 0, that is passed. Thank you very much. Next, special permit to exceed permissible noise level. Oh, sorry. I'm sorry. I'm on the wrong one. Sorry. I'm on the wrong one. Second reading order is 1573. for Bluestem. So the owners plan to develop this area for residential uses.

Their intent is to have some townhouses along the west and north and co-housing community in the south and the east. The first reading of this ordinance was considered by council back on August 17th. After discussion, council moved to advance the ordinance to the second reading. The vote was 9-0 to advance. There have been no changes to the ordinance since the first reading. Administration recommends approval of the second reading of ordinance 1573. A roll call vote is required for the second reading of an ordinance.

Thank you very much, Shane. Are there any members of the public that would like to comment on this ordinance? Seeing none, any members of the City Council have questions or comments or questions for Shane? Seeing none, I would entertain a motion to approve this ordinance. Is there a second? All in favor indicate by saying aye. Oh, sorry, roll call again, roll call again. Second reading's roll call, very good. And we're waiting again for Dave Lias. My vote is aye. Very good. Summary. Again, seven to nothing in favor of this ordinance.

It passes. I forgot about my gavel.

Very good, thank you. That concludes old business. We'll move on to new business. Item A on new business, the Midco Cable Franchise Annual Report. Sean and Alex.

Hello, my name is Alex Nelson. I'm the field operations manager for the Yankton and Vermillion area. I'm here with John Dory, the GM of the Houston region here for South Dakota. I'm here to do our annual update for Vermillion. I do have some extra sheets here, if you guys would like. Otherwise, I can send these in an email as well.

I would like to, thank you. Thank you very much.

Midco is committed to providing the best connectivity to the citizens of Vermilion, South Dakota with industry-leading customer support and our reliable state-of-the-art fiber network. We have some performance metrics for all of 2025 here. Midco completed more than 2,049 truck rolls on various work order types in Vermilion. This includes installs, service changes, trouble calls, and what we call special request orders. Our first time rate percentage in 2025 was 94%. FTR is a measurement specific to how often we complete a service visit to a customer and are not having to go back within seven days. Our on-time arrival was at 95% for 2025. On-time arrival captures the percentage of time that we arrive at our customer's home within the 15 minutes of our scheduled appointment time. Customer satisfaction score was 9.7 out of 10. Our CSAT score is the performance rating specific to the interaction of our technicians during a work order. Wait times, customers in Vermillion receive a service visit on average in less than 24 hours when calling for support and needing a technician. Customers receive install support on average within four days. This is specific for customers getting a new install or upgrading services. All of these performance metrics for Vermillion are in line with our company averages and associated goals. I then have a construction update for 2025 here. Midco extended our network to six new business accounts, one new 118 unit apartment building, the Clay County Law Enforcement Center, and 19 new lots. We completed 13,374 feet of new build and maintenance across 20 locations. Our total investment for all construction related activities was $157,139. This does include a tower project south of Vermillion, which is about $70,000 of those dollars. I do have the cost breakdowns below there for you. Business at $118,000, new residential at $8,200, and maintenance at $30,000. I also have on the backside of the sheet some of our community involvement that we took part in here in 2025. We are committed to being a force for good in the communities we serve, and below are some of the specifics in 2025. We did a USD football game sponsor, September 20th of 2025. We did the USD men's basketball Star Wars night. We also sponsored the Vermilion Chamber Annual Banquet. A few other sponsorships here, we have the USD Coyotes Sports Properties, USD Coyotes Post Season, and the Vermilion Chamber Annual Banquet, which I see is on there twice now. We also had a grant for the Boys and Girls Club of Vermilion, which we did again this year, which is great. And then we did a donation for the Vermilion Chamber Golf. And that is what I have. Is there any questions on anything?

Well, first of all, I want to thank you and Sean for coming. I appreciate that. You're scheduling the time. This evening, you could be anywhere else. So thank you for coming. And actually, thank you for totaling this thing up. The quality assurance numbers are really very impressive. So thank you. Does anybody here have any, does the member of the public have any questions for Sean or Alex? Nick, no, no, I don't see anybody there. Anybody here have any questions for Sean or Alex about field operations for a millionaire? Yes.

I just want to thank you for your community involvement. I think that's one of the key elements a company needs to be thoroughly aware of is that you follow the community investment.

And I just want to make sure that you all feel comfortable with the development that we have going on, and that you feel properly communicated with, that you sort of know where we are expanding to, and that you are ready and prepared to provide services to those new and upcoming areas.

Yes, we actually do have a construction technician here in town that does go to these new builds, these new projects, and is going to scout them out and talk with everyone on site to make sure that they're aware we're owned. But we can, if you need to, I can leave business cards if someone needs to get that information to me. Okay.

I'm sorry, I was a little abrupt there. Did you guys have a question for the mid-code representatives?

Okay, last chance. Thank you very much. All right. Thank you. All right. There we go. Sorry. There we go. Nick, special permit to exceed noise levels at the bunions.

Bunnings has applied for a special permit to exceed allowable noise levels for a live band event at 1201 West Main Street on Saturday, October 3rd from 12 p.m. to midnight. After discussing with the applicant, the live country band will be located in Bunnings parking lot in the southeast corner. The applicant also stated the hours for requested noise permit is for 5 p.m. to midnight, but the actual event will take place from 5 p.m. to 11 p.m. The additional hours for cleanup, cleaning the parking lot, and ensuring attendees leave safely and respectfully The applicant has also been in contact with neighbors to make them aware of the event. The city council will need to determine if the event is in a suitable location with appropriate facilities during the allowable time and if the applicant can demonstrate the public benefit of the event. The organizers of the event have already paid the $25 fee and administration recommends approval of the special noise burning.

Thank you very much. I can see that there are no members of the public who wish to comment on this. I had a question. I don't always read all of the small print, but it says here that sound level measurements shall be made a distance of the property affected by the noise. Do we have a provision to make those sound measurements? A visual? It says that sound level measurements shall be made at a distance of... And I don't know that we have a plan to do so.

So as part of their application, they said that helps any? They submitted what their measurements would be at 50, 100, 150 feet, 200 feet. I believe that is taken from the company that they're working with to do this. But as far as measuring it, I believe the police department has, quote, the noise measuring device. There's probably a name for it more scientific than that. There you go.

So if there were a complaint, the police would be all over it. So like, by the way, I wish they were here. I really like their note to neighbors. It said, please grant us some grace. Did you guys read that? I thought it was a well-written letter. You know, a little patience, kindness. I mean, I think that's a good way to approach your neighbors when you're going to be having an outdoor event. Anybody have any questions or comments about the D-Day's concert at Bunyan's? I will entertain a motion to approve this special noise permit. So moved. Is there a second? Second. All in favor of approving this special noise permit, indicate by saying aye. Aye. Opposed, say nay. Passes. Thank you very much, Nick. All right. A couple of John Prescott things here, I believe. At least one. Resolution establishing a fee for taking away John.

OK. So annually, the city council is asked to establish the property tax levy for the upcoming year. It's a little bit different this year. Historically, with our previous budget process, it was the last couple of lines on your appropriations ordinance. With the change that we have this year, it's a separate ordinance because you'll actually adopt that ordinance with the appropriation line items later this year but the ability for you as a city council to really change the the property tax levy is really pretty much dictated by state statute anymore so on your calculation there you'll see a couple of different numbers the previously certified amount that's listed a growth factor is determined a percentage 1.8 in this case and the state also then determines a consumer price index factor in this case it's two and a half percent You can see that the calculations on the front page, if you put all those numbers together, the property tax levy for the city would come to $3,501,918. That's what the numbers appear to be at this point in time. What we have done in the ordinance that's attached is proposed that we include a number of $3,510,000. The county is still kind of... tweaking and fine tuning those numbers. And so this gives us, if that number comes out to be a little bit higher than the one in the front page, it allows us to go up to 3,510,000. It is based on the numbers that the county has and the formula that's on the front page. So it's not that we're taking or asking for additional funding, it's based on the county's final numbers that are applied there. So we would recommend that ordinance 1574 be advanced to second reading at your next meeting.

That's clearly. Those of you who've been through this process in previous years, do you have any comments or questions for John? This is a totally standard thing, you old-timers, long-termers, annual.

Okay.

Very good. Well, I would entertain a motion to approve this ordinance. I'll move it. Oh, you'd move it? Thank you very much, Mike. Is there a second? And a second. So moved and seconded. All in favor, indicate by saying aye. Opposed, say nay. Thank you very much. The next one is the resolution establishing a fee for the curfew. That's for you, Alex.

Thank you.

I'm sorry. Don't interrupt. Has Dave been voting on these items as well? Yes. Thank you very much. I forgot to ask. Take it away, please, Alex.

I actually have one memo for sorry feedback. for two items, for noise violations and for curfew violations. I just put it in one memo, otherwise I'm just repeating the same thing over again. Currently, if an individual is found in violation of either section of city code, the police officers would need to set a mandatory court appearance. In order to, I guess, limit costs associated with that, and instead of having the city attorney go to court, assign a fine, and then have the judge determine if that individual is guilty, the police department suggested creating these resolutions to make it a bit easier on them. It helps remove that mandatory court appearance for our city attorney and then any other associated costs. Chief Brady did some research for the fees for noises prohibited. She found that it is similar to a disorderly conduct and we currently charge $54 for that plus court fees. So she felt that with it being a similar offense that $54 would be reasonable to charge for that violation. And then with curfew, she had done some research and also found that curfew is not as serious of an offense and that it should be about $25 less, which is why she recommended the $29 plus court fees. She also believed that would be a reasonable cost associated with that offense. Revenue from these fines would be placed in the general fund. Administration recommends approval of the new fees for section 9001, noise is prohibited, and section 13002, curfew, as shown in the attached resolutions. A separate motion is suggested by the city attorney for each resolution.

Do we find people for these violations often? This is a frequent event for us.

I would say it's frequent enough that it's become kind of a nuisance for them to try and figure out how to make it less of a burden, for lack of a better word, and trying to make sure that all of the, I guess, everyone receives a similar fine for each offense.

Sure, it happens enough they need . I have a question, and perhaps John knows. I didn't know we had a curfew when I read this. What is a curfew violation? If I walk down to the gas station at 4 in the morning, am I in violation of the curfew?

No, because I believe it is based on age. Minors.

Oh, it's minors. Minors, oh. Okay, not that I walk you down at 4 o'clock in the morning. So it's minors being out at night after a certain hour? Yes, Julia.

I actually had the same thought and I was pretty surprised to read that 17 year olds are not allowed to be outside after 10 PM. To loiter, idle, wander, stroll, or play in and upon the public streets, highways, roads, alleys, parks, playgrounds, other public grounds, public spaces, and public building. Place of amusement, entertainment, vacant lots, or other unsupervised places between ten and six. And so I actually was kind of surprised, again, that it includes those over age 15 up to age 17, because I do think that sometimes we have, you know, they have events. We have, you know, after prom and all those kinds of things. um and so while technically that the curfew item is not the item that we're considering it is simply to move it to a fee-based schedule um again i was pretty shocked to read that we have this especially in an area where um our teenage children are able to drive and sometimes live outside of city limits um and so might take some time to to get home and so like I would be in favor of considering this further and hearing some more public comment on this, but that's outside of the scope of the question at hand right now.

Very good. I think it probably is worth revisiting sometime in the future. We'll throw that on John's plate. He's making notes about it right now. Very good. So thank you, Alex. Do you have any other comments? Thank you very much, Lindsay.

I actually do have a related question on the curfew code. It says that section two is about the responsibility of the parents. So I assume that the proposed fee would be on the minor and not on the parent, or can it be either? Who would be subject to this fee?

I guess the starting point is the violations, the binder being out, as to who they assess the fee to. I'd have to look a little closer, but normally the parent, as a practical matter, the parent pays it. That's just in my experience with curfew violations. And I just recently, Mayor, you had asked a question earlier. There have been a number of citations I've seen for curfew violations, and I don't know if it's summer months. Maybe you have more of that. And quite frankly, it's more of a group thing. And I suspect that the police department, to your question, is somebody's coming to or from a sporting event and has their gear in the car. I suspect that's not a curfew violation. But if that's not in the exception list, it should be.

I'm just a little confused on the proposed fine and proposed total cost. I know we add up the $72.50 plus the fine, that's the total cost, but even though it's been six years since the state changed and for some reason they changed, we've got to change this all again. So I'm confused. To me it's confusing. I like the idea of a $54 plus court cost because if that changes, that changes. But by telling it automatically it's $126.50. If the court changes, then again, we're only going to miss a few dollars, but it's not that big of a deal. I just thought we've got two things to say, both states proposed.

Within each resolution, it does say shall be $54 plus court fees and then $29 plus court fees. So within the resolutions themselves, they do just say plus court fees.

So the right-hand one where it says $126, that's not going to be in the...

That won't be on the resolution. That's just so you guys can know what the total cost would be with the court fees.

Fees. Very good. Hearing none, I would entertain a motion to approve the new fee structure for section 90.01. Is there a second? I'm sorry, did you have a further comment? Did I go too fast again?

I just want to make sure, are we voting on both of these simultaneously or are we doing them separately?

Separate. We're doing separately? I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I jumped all together. Let's talk about the noises first. 90-01, noises. We have a motion and we have a second. Do we have a second on that one?

Second.

All in favor of that, please say aye. Aye. All opposed, nay. 90-01 passes. Now the curfew is 130.02. We'll take that separately. Does anybody have any comments? Mike, you've moved approval. Is there a second?

Second.

All in favor of this one, please indicate by saying aye. Aye. Opposed, nay. Okay, thank you. Did you catch that, Alex? We had a nay. Thank you. All right, so the first reading of proposed ordinance 1575 on the traffic code to talk about parking. I'm sorry, to talk about motorized foot scooters. Motorized foot scooters.

Thank you. Our police department had been reviewing some of our code regarding scooters, and when they were reviewing it, they discovered that the definition for a motorized foot scooter was incorrect. Currently, a section of that definition reads that has more than two 12-inch or smaller diameter wheels. Instead of saying that, it should say that has no more than two 12-inch or smaller diameter wheels. We just need to add in the word no. So adoption of the ordinance will only involve publication costs. Administration recommends that the city council advance ordinance 1575 to the second reading on September 21st.

That seems very straightforward as a typo the first time. We just forgot to put the word no in there. Any other questions about the two and a half inches wheels? Smaller than two and a half inches. No more than could be replaced with smaller than. Just for future use. Nobody has any questions. I would entertain a motion to approve this change to ordinance 1575. So moved. Is there a second?

Second.

All in favor indicate by saying aye. Aye. Opposed nay. All right. There's no bid openings. We'll move right to the city manager's report.

All right, just like everything else, I have a long list, or like the consent agenda. So just a couple of upcoming meetings before your next city council meeting on September 21st. The Historic Preservation Commission meets tomorrow at 9 a.m. in the Powell Conference Room here. and the second floor city hall in the library board meets on next wednesday september sixteenth at six p m at the library uh... the planning zoning commission they're meeting next monday september fourteenth that's at five thirty p m here in the city council chambers uh... they have two items on their agenda one is a rezoning request the rezoning request is from r one to r three and this is the uh... nelson property uh... that runs basically from the west side of north university over to the dakota dome You have the USD tennis courts to the north and Kyle Village property to the south. So that zoning request is from R1 to R3 zoning. The second item on the agenda is the continued community discussion on the data center ordinances. So they'll be continuing that discussion. I would note the September 14th school board meeting is going to be at the Vermillion High School next Monday the 14th. So we won't have that conflict here between the planning zoning commission and the school board. Speaking of boards, we do have a couple of boards or commissions that have seats that are open. Our Human Relations Commission, we have a one-year term for a post-secondary student. That term remains open. Our Business Improvement District, it's a three-year term. This seat needs to be filled by an owner or manager of a lodging property. That term is available. And then the Vermillion Housing Authority has a five-year term that's available on that board as well. And then we're going to be starting the process to fill seats that are expiring on business improvement district number one, business improvement district number two, and the tree board. Two recent plats that have been administratively approved in the recent weeks. One is lots 10A, 11A, 13A of block 23 Van Meter Edition. That's 900 block of West Main Street. The other one is tracks 1, 2, and 3 Pioneer Edition. That's on the 700 block of West Broadway. Included, it is raffle season. In your packet were four different raffles, and so I'll just kind of note those so we can get those included in the minutes. The Vermillion Pink Ladies, they are selling $5 raffle tickets September 19th to April 3rd of next year. This is to raise funds to assist individuals and families that are battling cancer. The first, second, and third place prizes are $500, $250, and $100. The balance of these funds are used to help provide the assistance. The Vermillion After Prom Committee had two raffle notifications that were part of your packet. Their first raffle notification, they're selling tickets at, you can buy one ticket for $10, three tickets for $25, or five for $40. They'll sell those September 30th to October 20th of this year. The prize is two tickets to the USD University of Minnesota volleyball match at the Sanford Pentagon. and also includes a stay at the Grand Falls Hotel. The value is approximately $350 and the proceeds will be used to support the after prom event. The other raffle for Vermillion After Prom Committee, they're selling tickets, again, one ticket for $10, three tickets for $25, or five for $40. Those tickets are sold August 27th to September 11th of this year. So time's running out on that one. The prize is four tickets to the USD SDSU football game in Brookings on Saturday, October 31st. And again, the proceeds from this raffle will be used to support the after prom event. The final raffle notification is St. Agnes is selling $1 raffle tickets as part of their fall festival. Tickets will be sold September 26th until the drawing on October 19th, and the top prize is $500, and the proceeds go to St. Agnes Church for general use. That's all that I have, Mayor. Thank you.

Well attended. The two issues that are up there are very popular, both the Nelson property is going to be there, the university is going to be there, and also the definitions for the data center issues is up there. So there could be a quorum attending that meeting as there was a month ago when they first started considering data centers. Just a heads up in that regard. Also, next meeting on the 21st, the SGA student rep will be here. We might want to mention privately to her that we have an opening on the Human Relations Commission. Perhaps she can help us fill that spot.

I already emailed John about that.

Oh, you did? Okay, brilliant. Minds think alike. Okay, very good. Thank you very much. And then the library board, how's that going? Magnificent. Fantastic. Thank you very much. That's one of the more busy, boards we have, so thank you for taking that on. Thank you for taking that on. All right, and if there's nothing else, I would entertain a motion. Yes, Mike.

I have just one question that is probably not going to be very popular. The Planning and Zoning Commission now has had two meetings over this data center. And pretty much everybody is saying the same thing from what I gather over and over and over again. How long do they have to keep going before they can move on that or have to move on that? To me, I know everybody gets their voice. That's the great thing about living in America. But at some point, we have to move on.

So I believe the plan at this point in time, and I don't mean to box in the plan and zoning commission, but my understanding is that they are going to, 1565 is the first ordinance and that was the definitions, that they're going to, I believe, start with 1566 Because that hasn't really had the same discussion as the first two had and then work their way through that staff has prepared some updated information for 1565 the definition one definition ordinance, so if they're able to present that that they will so they're They're having that you know discussion. They're working through those I would envision They'll be I would have to say at least one more meeting because I would anticipate 1565 staff is ready to bring back some changes based on what was heard at the previous meetings. The other five ordinances haven't really had that same level of review. I'm anticipating at least something is going to change in those and so then staff would prepare those changes with the discussion that they had and bring those back. There's not a limit to how many times it can be discussed, but I would envision there's at least two more meetings before they would be looking at voting on them. That'd be my guess.

I was just curious, because you know as well as I do, the room's going to be full of people, and they're all going to get up and say no, no, no, and there'll be one or two that'll say yes. But when I was here at the first one, a lot of stuff was repeated. And I just feel that something needs to happen. It needs to either move on with it or just forget it. That's my opinion right now. And like I say, I'm probably going to get run through the mill on this, but that's how I feel right now.

A lot of committees have the same issue, the same procedure we have, you know, you're allowed three minutes or five minutes, and a hundred people will go up there and talk for five minutes, and you're here until three in the morning. That has happened, because that's written into our code. Yes, Julia.

I wonder if it's allowable, but I know that I was at a library board meeting where it was the same kind of thing. The sentiments were really high and everybody wanted to have their voice heard. And what they decided to do was to do either a poll, sort of show of hands of who has this opinion or a written statement so everyone could feel like they had expressed their preferences even if they did not speak for a full five minutes and so i'm not sure if maybe we can explore some of those legal options for input that we can offer to the planning and zoning commission as sort of a way to ex facilitate and expedite the meetings without shutting people out

Trust me, the last thing I want to do is not have people, their voices heard. Please understand that. But I just feel that there's got to be, and I agree, there has to be a better way than sitting here and having the same thing over and over and over and over for two to three hours every time. I'm just kind of... I'm looking out for the Planning and Zoning Commission, kind of from my angle of it, that they've heard this now twice or three times, going to be probably two to three more times, and the rooms are going to be full with the same people saying the same stuff over and over and over again. I just wish there was a way to streamline it for them.

I'm glad you brought that up because our agenda says that public speakers have five minutes to speak. They don't have that in the Planning and Zoning Commission agenda. So if you can advise, we have a good chair in the Planning and Zoning, Matt Fairholme, he's very competent, and if you have suggestions about how he can streamline a meeting in which 100 people want to say exactly the same thing, I don't want the public voice to be a tool to stifle the Planning and Zoning Commission. I wonder what they have to say, but I don't want them to be obstructive to the process. If you can throw out some suggestions, and we'll forward them to Matt Fairholme. Thank you very much Mike. Is there anything else for the good of the order? Yes. John, about the Human Relations Commission meetings, and it wasn't so horrible when you gave us that two or three months ago. The meetings were, like, three out of the four meetings had occurred. You gave us a summary.

So I think the one I was speaking of, the last time they had a quorum, so they have a meeting typically on the first Thursday of the month. The last time that they were able to have a quorum was their May meeting. June, July, August, September, they've not been able to establish a quorum. And it rotates. It's not the same member gone each time. They just have not been able to put together four members out of the meeting. And as I noted, the one has never been filled, but they still have to have four members to have a quorum. And so they're trying to get four out of six, and they have struggled since May to have four people present. I see.

So what do you suggest, Gary?

I think we need to find a time when we can meet.

Maybe it's the time that they're selecting?

Due to D-days being the week of their October meeting, they did adjust their October meeting date to September 29th. So we do have a quorum set for that date. So hopefully we're able to all meet. Nothing else pops up. A lot of times it's just sick kid or they're sick themselves that they're caring for sick kids. It's just been a couple of things that just have snowballed together that usually don't happen. They're usually really good about meeting. It's just been a weird summer for them.

Is there a possibility of doing as we were doing with Dave Lias, having them come in by Zoom? If I got a sick kid, maybe I can Zoom in. Is that a possibility for these meetings? I don't know where they're held.

They're held in the Powell conference room. They were in a different room. They moved back to Powell. I don't know that that would have helped. It was just different commitments that kept them from it. One had a youth activity, sports activity that they were at, so it wouldn't have been feasible for them to participate. One, a couple months ago, had the community theater practice. And so it's been just a series of different things.

Well, I can see how awkward it would be to fill the student position during the summer. They're not here. They're not here at all. So I couldn't stand during the summer, so maybe we'll... Do you attend those meetings, Alex? So if you can mention there's a concern about lack of meetings and recommit. And we'll see how it goes. We'll track it. We'll keep tracking it. Thank you very much, John. Thank you, Alex. If there's nothing else, I would entertain a motion to adjourn. All in favor? No second needed. No second needed. We're adjourned. But I forgot.