[0:00] Is absent today? Just reminder, avoid embarrassment silent, your phone. They're going to speak today. There's a sign up in the back corner of the room. We ask that you, we have your names for the record. It is required for public record. And we also have absentee voting going on next door. So there are state laws prohibiting the disruption of voters and election workers and prohibiting campaign material for against any person or issue.

[0:30] you in or near the polling places, which I believe is defined as 100 feet from the door

[0:35] of the building.

[0:37] Copies of the statute can be found around the building, including the bulletin board

[0:40] outside these chambers, and I ask you to please stand for the pledge of allegiance.

[0:48] I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which

[0:55] it stands, one nation under God, and the purpose of liberty and justice for all.

[1:03] All right.

[1:06] Look for a motion to approve our agenda.

[1:10] So moved.

[1:11] Motion in a second. All those in favor say aye.

[1:15] Opposite same sign motion carries.

[1:17] Moving on to our consent agenda.

[1:20] Anybody from the public that like to comment on any item on the consent agenda.

[1:27] All right.

[1:28] Commissioners any comments or any items on the consent agenda you want to address.

[1:33] Commissioner Bonnberg. Thank you. I just wanted to make mention of the fact that this month marks the 40 year anniversary of employment with the county on Bill Hoskins, the director of our museums.

[1:47] We greatly appreciate Bill's commitment to the county and I think we're very thankful for his leadership. He does a great job. He runs

[1:56] that facilities very well and manages his staff and many, many budgets and I have had the

[2:05] privilege of working with him now for a couple of years and really appreciate his expertise.

[2:09] So, ironically, he has a lot of history with the museum.

[2:13] 40 years. It's a lot of history. 40 years, definitely. Congratulations, Bill.

[2:19] All right, look for a motion to approve our consent agenda.

[2:23] That is my motion.

[2:25] Second.

[2:26] Motion.

[2:26] Second.

[2:27] Call the roll.

[2:28] Kiplie.

[2:29] Aye.

[2:29] Bender.

[2:31] Aye.

[2:31] Cursky.

[2:32] Aye.

[2:32] Motion carries.

[2:33] Moving on to regular business.

[2:35] We have a public hearing and second reading for the adoption of an ordinance providing for the establishment of speed zones on the many ha county highway system. Good morning.

[2:45] Steve.

[2:46] Morning commissioners.

[2:47] Steve.

[2:47] We're on highway superintendent.

[2:48] this is part two of the item that we brought last week for the first reading. We're proposing

[2:55] adjusting the speed limits at three locations in the county. You're still in favor of it this

[3:01] week. I asked that you approve the ordinance and we'll get these speed limits changed.

[3:06] All right. This is a public hearing. So on public hearings we have an order. We take proponents

[3:12] of the proposed ordinance change first, so any proponents of the speed limit changes as they are

[3:20] proposed.

[3:25] Any opponents,

[3:29] you know, need for a rebuttal, turn it over to the commission for

[3:32] discussion and action.

[3:38] I'd make a motion to approve. Second. Motion in a second, call the roll.

[3:44] Fender. Aye. Well, I'm Bird. Aye. Kipley. Aye. Kersky. Aye. Motion carries. Moving on.

[3:51] A public hearing to brief the 2025-2029 Transportation and Bridge Improvement Plan on Jacob.

[4:01] Morning Commissioner. Jacob Morris County Heavy Department.

[4:05] This is a five-year plan as required by our Bridge Improvement Grant Program

[4:11] administered by the South Dakota Department of Transportation. The next item goes in

[4:15] junction with this, it's the approval of the plan by the Commission. If you so see fit and I will just run through my plan for you a little longer than what are highway items usually are.

[4:31] So our plan goes from 2025 to 2029, these are the different elements required by the DOT.

[4:38] We must have the five-year plan, certification by the Commission, follow all the guidelines,

[4:48] set forth by the DOT and provide updates on last year's projects,

[4:56] a couple of different

[4:57] items that are essential elements.

[5:01] Can you go back to that?

[5:02] I can.

[5:09] Well often do we do the surface evaluation, is that every other year?

[5:15] It is every three years.

[5:16] every three years. Oh, there it is. Thank you. We've done it in 14 17 20 and 23. And these are these are how our PCI

[5:23] scores have come back. The 4% backlog would be roads or 2% that have failed that need to be reconstructed

[5:32] immediately or you're going to risk getting a lot of complaints. So we like to keep that number at zero.

[5:40] It's not always financially feasible to keep it at zero, but that's our goal.

[5:47] A couple other

[5:47] elements for the bridges would be their location, their structure number, linked with tight

[5:53] sufficient safety rating, which the sufficient safety rating is similar to the PCI score for

[5:59] for a bridge. If they're posted when they were built, your improvement, last type of improvement

[6:08] and here are a couple other items and these are either included in the plan or show up in this year by year

[6:15] spreadsheet I'm going to show you here in a bit. Projectless must include location, type

[6:22] improvement, funding source, design costs, construction costs, and the year of construction.

[6:29] And then if you, the biggest part for us highway, reason to do this is to be eligible for

[6:36] the big program. So we have project shown in every single year anything we think might become

[6:42] eligible within the next year we have to have in this plan.

[6:45] So the last couple of years of this project really get heavy and loaded, I guess you could

[6:50] say.

[6:51] But the first couple of years we know we're going to do in the last couple of years we're

[6:56] trying to plan for as many possibilities as we can.

[7:01] These are our expected projected revenues and expenses.

[7:07] You can see we start out with a fairly good end of your fund balance and we slowly

[7:12] trickling to the negative. We have two federal grants that we plan to apply for. One is the

[7:19] British Improvement Program and the other one is the, it used to be the raised grant. It's going to be

[7:26] some form of that.

[7:30] The BIP application is for three structures just east of Dell Rapids, and then the raise grant, which is by a different name now, is for Maple Park, from Veterans Parkway into SD11 on the south side of Brandon.

[7:46] So those in conjunction with putting a lot of projects in 28 and 29 is what makes this dip into the negative.

[7:53] And

[8:00] we don't fund roads and bridges with property taxes.

[8:03] As you know, we don't get any money from the general fund.

[8:07] They're all, quote unquote, user fees.

[8:10] And we have managed our budget pretty well over the past few years

[8:14] and tried to maintain a healthy end of your fund balance.

[8:19] This is an update of our 2024 projects.

[8:23] The road south of Colton, 5.3 mile the road reconstruction

[8:26] last year in 23 replaced the covers and the two bridges

[8:31] that were out there. This year, next week, we're having a punchless meeting. We're finishing

[8:36] up our insulate grading and roadway widening. And then next year in 25, you'll see we're

[8:42] going to do a new surfacing on that roadway.

[8:46] 337, 130 is planned to start next week. This is a township structure and red rock township.

[8:54] 330, 26 is north of Sherman about 3.4 miles. And this is a bridge deck overlay. This

[9:00] is the Bridge Improvement Grant that we are awarded the last portion of the overlay was completed

[9:07] last week and the road should be open in about two weeks.

[9:11] So now we can get a bridge request yet this year, let me mean.

[9:15] Yes, so this 337 130 is a is a small structure, I want to say it's 2425 feet long and the

[9:25] contractor is putting in a precast box cover. So that project should be three to four weeks.

[9:32] And it's on a gravel road so we don't have any surfacing to do after it's just laying gravel

[9:36] down. So when is a covered of bridge? A cover is a bridge when from a button to when it spans

[9:43] more than 20 feet. And when it spans more than 20 feet on a township road it becomes the county's

[9:50] responsibility. Thank you. Yeah. This 337-130 I failed to mention that's also a big

[9:57] funded project as well. 272-030. This is another big funded project that we did this

[10:08] spring. BX civil completed that one. On a township road this would have been self-

[10:15] self-eased of Dell Rapids about five miles on 247th Street.

[10:23] 5197-100, this project was bid with 33026, they're both big funded projects, they're both

[10:30] bridge deck overlays, but contract was let to allow construction either in 24 or 25,

[10:45] the

[10:46] Two, eight, one, thirty, and two, ninety, one, thirty, one are construction projects that are being led by the South Dakota Department of Transportation.

[10:57] They are using federal funds in the DOT is administering those projects.

[11:02] This project kicked off last week and they also expect to have this one done before winter.

[11:07] And then two, ninety, one, thirty, one is the contract was given to your option and they decided to move into twenty, twenty, twenty, five with that one.

[11:16] This is what our projects look like for our five-year plan.

[11:22] These are just the project shown in construction.

[11:26] So, on this spreadsheet, the white up here is construction and the blue is design.

[11:31] So, we will design projects one, two or three years, we'll start the design before construction.

[11:37] But this map only shows construction.

[11:41] So, the green is what we'd be planning to do next year.

[11:44] We have the bridge on County Highway 104, the Dell Rapids exit, that we're paying for in-house

[11:51] because it's a major trucking route and we don't want that road to get posted and then

[11:56] we have the surface seen down here south of Colton to finish up that County Highway 149 project.

[12:02] That one's been in the works for quite a while.

[12:05] It's going to like the Sue City project.

[12:07] My project number four is MC1710, so we started design in 2017 for it.

[12:13] Yeah. Okay. And then the sell section of road here was built in 2016 and 2017. So yeah,

[12:21] similar to everybody out there will be happy to see it. I think they will be. Yeah. Yeah.

[12:27] This structure.

[12:30] Oh, 87 120 is another big funded project. We are going to let that this fall

[12:36] along with this one and plan to get those replaced next year. Though probably still be given a

[12:42] option on this one. This one is on a county road and we'll just we want to have it replaced next year,

[12:49] but those are those are what we have planned for 2025. Past 2025 things can move around a little bit

[12:56] depending on how what the market looks like, how bids are coming in on other projects,

[13:01] maybe we want to shift to a different style of work, but 2025 is these are the project we're doing

[13:08] next year.

[13:13] I don't know how well you can read these but if you have specific questions on these I've printed these out in a larger format as well so that these can be read.

[13:22] But these top four projects would be the ones that I just went through there in the green and then below that we have our annual painting that we do under county highways.

[13:32] Crack ceiling, and then we have planned to do

[13:37] gypsiline and cold and place recycling next year

[13:40] for our pavement management.

[13:44] And in the blue we have design projects for next year,

[13:47] include three different structures.

[13:53] One of them locally funded and two of them funded by big PE grants,

[13:58] professional engineering grants, and then the fourth item on there

[14:01] is to design various Culver replacements,

[14:04] based on the inspections that our COVID interns did this year.

[14:08] We will design Culver replacements to be replaced in 2026.

[14:16] And I can go through all these projects if you'd like me to,

[14:20] or just kind of go over the more expensive ones.

[14:25] In 2026, our major expenditure is going to be three

[14:34] bridges that we are that we're looking at and then some construction possibly on

[14:44] kind of

[14:44] have a 151 south of Hartford. That road is getting in tough shape and needs to be repaired.

[14:52] And

[14:56] then we have on here potentially building out the face to a bit.

[15:00] The County Highway Facility, a smaller than what the existing facility is there, just a shed to make sure

[15:08] we get everything covered from the rain and the snow. And then in design we have planned for

[15:14] four bridges. We try to, we try to have about three or four bridges in design every year just to keep

[15:21] up with the amount of posted structures that we have in our township rose. In 2027,

[15:29] we start

[15:29] adding projects in here, just to make sure we have them in here in case these bridges fail so we can fund them for big grants.

[15:39] Two, three of these are preservation projects that we're going to apply for from the DOT.

[15:45] You've probably seen the DOT on Interstate 229 around Sioux Falls.

[15:50] They've applied a black surfacing to the highway.

[15:53] So it's to prevent slippage when it gets icy and then in our instance it's more used

[16:01] for sealing the deck so we don't get a lot of chlorides and water and salt in our bridge

[16:05] to break it down.

[16:09] On the bottom here, this purple is our bridging improvement program grant.

[16:14] We would be proposing to start design in 2027 for that.

[16:19] In 2028, the biggest project on here is going to be re-grading the section of County

[16:27] Highway 103 North of Sherman, and then there's almost $6 million in here from Maple

[16:32] Park.

[16:34] Now, at this time, that project will only get funded if it's funded through a raise grant,

[16:39] or some sort of federal funds.

[16:42] As you can see from the budget, we don't have the capital and how it's to pay for that

[16:46] project right now.

[16:48] And then there's more design down here for Maple Park as well.

[16:53] And then in 2021,

[16:58] this would be the year of construction for the Bridge Improvement Program grant.

[17:01] So those three structures, ESA Dell Rapids really bump the budget up quite a bit that year.

[17:08] And then various bridges in design as well.

[17:16] I will leave a comment sheet back there at the sign-in along with a sign-in sheet.

[17:21] If anybody has comments, my email address is on there,

[17:25] and I would appreciate if you would email those to me

[17:27] or you can just hand them to me here in person.

[17:30] But if you wouldn't mind signing the attendance sheet,

[17:32] that would be helpful.

[17:34] Thank you.

[17:35] Thank you, Jacob.

[17:36] So we have two actions here.

[17:38] We have a public hearing to brief on the Bridgerman Plan

[17:43] and then we'll move into the five-year transportation plan

[17:47] that includes, this is that correct, am I missing?

[17:51] That is correct.

[17:52] Yes.

[17:53] Okay.

[17:54] So we'll start with ProPonence for the Bridge Improvement Plan as presented by Jacob.

[18:00] Anybody from the public here want to speak as a proponent to the Bridge Improvement

[18:04] Plan.

[18:06] All right.

[18:07] Any old opponents?

[18:11] All right.

[18:12] Move on then to Commission.

[18:16] Any questions from the Commission on the Bridge Improvement Plan?

[18:21] Mr. Weinberg.

[18:22] Thank you.

[18:24] Have you been around long enough to see the beginning of this five-year plan when did we start doing this as a county and how long has this statement requiring it?

[18:31] Oh, when did the

[18:34] I am not sure what year the big program started. Oh

[18:40] I'm not sure I want to say there's some time around 2013. Okay

[18:43] them some time rather. What's that? 2014. Okay. Well I really appreciate it. I think it's

[18:53] helpful for us to be able to see how you're planning ahead and how well you do

[18:56] budgeting for upcoming expenses and trying to maintain the roads. I think our county

[19:02] roads are by and large and very good shape. So I appreciate all of that work. Thank you.

[19:08] How many bridges do you manage? There's 197 in the last couple of years we've

[19:14] We've removed two, we haven't just gone out and deleted waterways, but we have minimized

[19:24] either the width of the structure or made it into two separate structures, where it

[19:28] no longer qualifies as a bridge, but 197, how many culverts, a lot more, okay, how many road

[19:39] miles?

[19:40] It's not only miles, it's 347.

[19:46] Broadmiles.

[19:47] So 340 and 97, okay.

[19:50] So 100 and 97.

[19:53] It's standing.

[19:55] What's the guess on the Maple Park project?

[19:59] I mean, is this our third time to the plate with that project?

[20:04] It is.

[20:04] It's our third time to the plate with that project.

[20:06] As far as a construction cost,

[20:09] We are working through 60% design right now, which is a jointly funded project between the

[20:14] cities who follow the city of Brandon and then Slitrock Township is also helping fund that.

[20:19] That is going to be completed here in December.

[20:22] We'll have a really good idea of what our cost estimates are going to be after that.

[20:26] I don't know that we've adjusted it well for inflation since our last design and now we're

[20:33] looking at raising that bridge.

[20:35] I don't know if you're aware, but the Maple Park Bridge over there was flooded in 2019, and then it was also flooded again.

[20:41] This June, when we had that water event. So, we believe it would be necessary to get that out of the water as well.

[20:50] So, with the bridge, probably around 23 million total, between Sioux Falls's portion, our portion, city of Brandon's portion.

[21:01] Well, okay. I've got another question. Nobody else does. Okay. Can you scroll back to the chart that goes from 25 through 28?

[21:13] Nine? Is it? The total spending? There. I mean we're spending expenses, 25 almost 18 million, little over 18 million and 26.

[21:26] And then 27, if you take a big drop and jump back up in 28, it just is a, to me, an anomaly.

[21:33] What's going on in 27 that we're reducing construction expenses by that much, and then jumping back up so much.

[21:44] The next year.

[21:45] Yeah, good question.

[21:46] So in 25 and 26, we have, in 2025, we have internally a large bridge project.

[21:54] They were funded in County Highway 104, which is over a million dollars, along with a couple

[21:58] of grants from the DOT.

[22:00] So that's what increases our budget in 17, 25 and 26.

[22:06] Those are grant funder projects that are boosting that.

[22:10] In 27, most of that funding is localized or on smaller structures.

[22:16] And then 28, this is where we show our, I think, the ones that bridge improvement program

[22:24] the other ones to raise grant. The Bridge Improvement Program, Funding is in 2020, 9.

[22:30] And the raise grant, maple park is in 2028.

[22:35] And then these later years in 28 and 29, it's really throwing darts at a dartboard, trying to make

[22:45] a good estimate of what's going to happen. And then we work with our bridge inspectors,

[22:51] CDI out of Brookings, to come up with structures that we, he feels like, could degrade quicker

[22:59] than expected and we might need to have in your to apply for grants.

[23:03] All right. Okay.

[23:06] The other questions on this commissioner.

[23:08] Kippley, I'm just going to ask you to walk us through the cycle time,

[23:12] the time that will be applying for the big grants isn't that,

[23:15] usually in the early calendar year,

[23:18] and we get the results of it in the spring.

[23:20] Yes.

[23:21] So, just to clarify two,

[23:23] some of these already listed as a worded in some of them are anticipated grants.

[23:27] So I'm guessing we're going to be most interested in the anticipated grants and this applying

[23:32] for those this next cycle.

[23:34] We are, yes.

[23:36] There are a couple of different application pieces and deadlines.

[23:42] The deadline for these two projects right here, big, big PEs.

[23:49] I think it's August 1st, is when those are due.

[23:51] And then there is an application for on this 20, so 1.07033026.

[24:02] We didn't replace those bridges.

[24:03] We just rehabbed them.

[24:06] The pre rehab applications are due October, September 1st.

[24:12] I think it's September 1st.

[24:14] And then we go through a consultation with the DOT and they tell us if we have a good plan

[24:19] we need to change it, and then the actual application for the rehab projects or preservation

[24:25] projects, and then the full replacement projects are due at the first of the year.

[24:30] And we find out the awards, it changes a little bit every year, but generally around the

[24:35] end of March.

[24:37] And then just to follow up on that, we did make an adjustment to our wheel tax to get the full

[24:42] five points.

[24:44] Is that my memory is served me correctly or we haven't acted on that yet?

[24:49] we have not done anything with that okay so we'd get four dollars equals four points still

[24:56] we currently we currently receive four points for a wheel tax yeah

[25:02] and then my last question

[25:04] is this the only public hearing or did you all have anything out in the community for

[25:09] public hearings on this topic yeah so it was it was advertised to the townships as well for them to

[25:15] come in uh to the highway department to come to come and visit about it um Jen actually attended

[25:21] that meeting this year. She was the only one that came to that meeting this year. Generally

[25:26] in the past we have between two and seven township personnel that attended, but just with

[25:34] the timing of it this year, Jen was the only one that showed up.

[25:39] The few in the proud. That's good. Thanks for being there, Commissioner. That's all I had, Mr. Chair.

[25:45] Thanks. All right. So no action on this item, but then we do move to consider a motion to approve

[25:51] the five-year transportation plan in accordance with the bridge improvement grant fund requirements by

[25:57] signing the attach certification form.

[26:02] Yep, and this is a certification form that the commission

[26:05] concurrs with what the Iowa Department has provided as our five-year plan.

[26:11] All right,

[26:12] public comment on this later.

[26:18] Okay, commission discussion, action. I'll make a motion to approve.

[26:24] second motion in a second it doesn't say roll call vote but do I need a roll call vote

[26:29] and this one okay all those in favor say aye aye aye aye vote same sign motion

[26:34] carries move it on then consider a motion to approve amendments to section 1514

[26:41] parking to the Minion County employee handbook morning down good morning Tom

[26:46] Greco commission administrative officer I brief you on this last week I'll just

[26:50] provide a quick recap. I'm going to get to the map here quickly.

[26:56] So the purpose of this is to make some minor changes to our employee parking, basically

[27:03] map in our policy. This sprung primarily from the fact that this past summer, parking

[27:10] lot C was redone. We did lose a few parking spots there. So in the course of evaluating what

[27:16] to do about that situation, we did take a broader look at parking in general.

[27:21] So just want to highlight what this policy change does specifically is it makes parking

[27:26] lots see a permit only lot in the past that was public and permit public two hours.

[27:34] This would restrict it to just permit.

[27:36] I do want to remind folks that we still have a public only lot just to the west here and

[27:42] There's on-street parking around the entire complex along with public parking in Laude and also here in Laude H and other various points on the county campus.

[27:55] The other change that was included in this particular policy is just clarifying parking here in Laude by practice, blue and red permits have been authorized.

[28:07] but that is not specifically what the map reflected so the maps have been updated to show that

[28:12] this is public and employee parking here behind the courthouse as well. Some other minor

[28:19] changes, a lot I was converted from a red and blue parking permit pass only to basically any color

[28:28] permit. That would generally allow any overflow greens from lots to park over here and a lot

[28:35] I, and in addition to those changes, there was one minor change that clarifies the process

[28:41] for issuing temporary parking permits to employees who have some sort of medical condition

[28:47] that requires them to close park, park closer to the building without the need for a state

[28:55] accessible pass.

[28:56] I'll suggest to your questions, that's all I have.

[28:58] public comment on this agenda.

[29:04] All right, commission questions.

[29:08] Action.

[29:11] Like a motion to approve?

[29:13] Second.

[29:14] Motion in a second.

[29:15] Call the roll.

[29:16] Bloomberg.

[29:17] Aye.

[29:17] Kipling.

[29:18] Aye.

[29:18] Bender.

[29:19] Aye.

[29:20] Moshing carries.

[29:22] We are done with our regular agenda.

[29:24] We have the opportunity for public comment.

[29:27] Public has five minutes.

[29:28] We have total of 30 minutes.

[29:30] And we asked just for your name and your county of residence on the back.

[29:34] sign up, sheet. Thank you. Good morning. Good morning. Good morning.

[29:42] Okay. My name is Jean Childs.

[29:47] I live in Lincoln County in a well known department store in Sioux Falls. This sign is clearly posted.

[29:58] Shoplifting is stealing.

[30:00] It is not a prank, a joke or a thrill. It's a crime. We will prosecute to the fullest extent of the law. Please don't risk it.

[30:12] We, the people, do not want our votes shoplifted. Please don't risk it. Thank you.

[30:26] Good morning.

[30:28] My name is Taxpaying Citizen of Minihaha County.

[30:33] As it is not possible to attend your meetings during work hours, I have asked this person

[30:37] to review my place.

[30:39] We do need you to explain.

[30:39] Why does this commission feel they are no longer responsible to answer to the public?

[30:44] I have watched many of these recorded meetings, and has seen citizens get up and ask

[30:48] the legitimate questions only to be met with silent blank stairs.

[30:53] It has been three weeks now since Auditor Anderson was accused of breaking the law and yet

[30:57] there has been no mention or forthcoming of what law or laws she is breaking.

[31:03] That is a serious charge to state a public meeting with the local news crew there to report

[31:08] on.

[31:09] My name is Gary Meyer.

[31:11] I have had many conversations with people with these same legitimate concerns.

[31:17] Not only do I sympathize with these people, I can't answer their concerns.

[31:20] We have a commissioner that boldly stated that the auditor is breaking the law, is incompetent,

[31:27] is not credible, is an idiot, does not follow the rules and needs to resign.

[31:33] And if she doesn't, he will ask for budget revisions to cover the inedible litigation, which has not been done.

[31:41] All while providing no proof of any laws being broken.

[31:44] And as I stated last week, the rest of you have remained silent,

[31:49] including the state's attorneys.

[31:51] Now Mr. Kippley may be protected under the first amendment,

[31:55] but as a public official he needs to be held accountable if these are false accusations.

[32:00] And the fact that the rest of you remain silent is just appalling

[32:03] why are you covering for him? What are you covering?

[32:07] Is everybody on this board compromised? Or is it just a power thing?

[32:12] After all, power makes intelligent people do stupid things.

[32:15] So, I ask once again, what laws has the auditor broken?

[32:22] Either present the information or take disciplinary action

[32:25] and issue a public statement saying as much.

[32:28] Destroying a person's credibility and influencing public opinion

[32:31] by abusing or power as a commissioner is unforgivable.

[32:36] So, let's start with a yesional question, has the auditor broken any laws?

[32:42] It's time for Mr. Kipling to offer up some more of his moral clarity.

[32:46] Anybody? Has the auditor broken any laws?

[32:49] Deputy State's attorney, chairperson Karsky, are you going to use the out-of-order

[32:56] well card again and tell me to sit down? Because you don't engage with public with a

[33:02] people that elected you, has the auditor broken any laws as Mr. Kippley has charged. It's

[33:08] said that you allow a lead as lead as character and good name to be slandered because

[33:11] you're too afraid to say something or because you don't agree with the way she's doing

[33:15] her job, and that includes the state's attorney Daniel Hager, who pretty much played at the

[33:20] fifth when I ordered him last week after the meeting.

[33:24] Let remind you that falsely destroying the character of an elected official is election

[33:29] interference, and I remind you of executive order 13848 that was presented to you last week.

[33:36] Dolls involved in unscrupulous behavior will be sought out, caught, and prosecuted at levels

[33:41] Unfortunately, never seen before in our country.

[33:46] So, has Leah broken any laws?

[33:52] Yes or no. It's been three weeks.

[33:55] You publicly stated in front of the camera that she has broken laws.

[34:00] Has she?

[34:01] Don't look at me like you don't know what I'm talking about.

[34:03] You're the one that said it.

[34:06] Oh, yes, you do. You'll exactly what I'm talking about.

[34:09] You said she's not credible. She's an idiot. She says,

[34:11] not follow the rules. She's incompetent and she has broken the law, which you were going to

[34:15] pad the budget to prepare for. Was that just a public statement to get your way to slander

[34:21] her character? Home ruled in work. You got to figure out another way to get her out of office.

[34:25] This is this is despicable. And you sit there to stare at me. Yeah, you Dean, you should

[34:31] know better.

[34:37] Has she broken any laws? It's been three weeks. And you've been in executive

[34:40] sessions. Gene,

[34:46] you only got two months left, you miles will speak up now.

[34:50] So you don't

[34:51] engage with the public. You need there.

[34:57] Pretty disappointed Dean,

[35:01] but you covered for him over there.

[35:04] And you just laugh. I'm pretty really disappointed in that too.

[35:09] Yeah. I'm pretty very good. Let's get out of the district. I still got 13 seconds left. I'm waiting

[35:15] for some moral clarity. You have morals.

[35:23] At least you didn't call me out of order.

[35:24] Good

[35:35] morning, Cindy Meyer, Mini-Haha County.

[35:39] Last week at the September 24 meeting, we have Mr. Benica asking the deputies about

[35:44] a gun.

[35:46] Well, as I just a harmless question, I find it to be rather threatening.

[35:51] Months back, Jessica and I had a conversation with Mr. Benica in the hall after a meeting,

[35:56] where we had once again presented election information during public comment time.

[36:00] Mr. Benica told me to my face, I don't even listen to you anymore.

[36:06] After the September 10th Commission meeting, I approached the Commission desk to talk to Mr. Kippley.

[36:11] Not much was shared other than Mr. Kippley called me an alien from another planet.

[36:16] And in fact, said all of you in South Dakota, canvassing are like aliens from another planet.

[36:22] A couple months ago, I was told to my face after a commission meeting by Chairman Karsky that we, South Dakota, canvassing, will never be allowed on the agenda to discuss elections.

[36:36] The fire in the eyes of Mr. Karsky, as he made that comment, was very visible and a bit frightening to see.

[36:43] During the commission meeting on September 24, I received a text message saying that the livestream was down.

[36:49] So I went over to the Commission Office to inquire, and the Commission Office was a deputy, but I proceeded to ask my question.

[36:58] The deputy left after I did.

[37:01] Then another question came to mind, so I went back into the Commission Office and the deputy followed me back into that office to again listen to the conversation.

[37:10] It was very visible the amount of law enforcement slash deputies in the building for the September 24 meeting.

[37:17] where some of the deputies called in after the commissioner saw the room full of patriots.

[37:23] When elections are on the agenda and the people get up to speak, the deputies will be standing in the doorways.

[37:30] On September 24 meeting, elections weren't on the agenda, but the room was filled with patriots. So did another deputy, get a call to let their presence, get other deputies, get a call to let their presence be seen? In today's climate, where the fake news media is labeling conservatives as a crazy folk, and everyone should be scared of us because that's the narrative being spread. However, after last week's comments about a gun by Mr. Banniga, whether serious or in fun,

[38:00] It was threatening, asking for a gun should never be a funny comment.

[38:06] Speaking out of the commission meeting was intimidating when we started down this journey

[38:11] three years ago, I don't recall deputy standing in the doorways, however, the three or

[38:17] four of us that were coming to those meetings and speaking of retreated with respect.

[38:22] We could have civil conversations with you after the meetings, but that's not the environment

[38:27] today.

[38:28] The Commission meetings have become a hostile environment, is it any wonder why new folks won't stand up and voice their concerns?

[38:36] The deputies are standing in the doorways that are standing in the doorways sworn old to protect the people.

[38:44] And after last week's comment about a gun, I now feel a sense of relief knowing the deputies are here to protect me from you.

[38:51] Because of the comments made to my face by Commissioner Benica Kippley and Karski, I call for the resignation of each of you.

[39:00] If you can't listen to or talk to the people without these outbursts of anger, then you are not fit for the office and you all need to resign.

[39:09] We are your constituents. How shameful that you treat us in this fashion.

[39:18] Any other public comment?

[39:21] Okay, I'm going to move on to Commission Liaison reports anybody attend the Southeast District meeting.

[39:29] Last week you did, Commissioner.

[39:32] Any report on that?

[39:34] Thanks for the reminder, I was just going to scramble for my phone to see where we had been.

[39:39] The Southeast District meeting was held in Lennox, Lincoln County hosted.

[39:45] There was good turnout from many counties.

[39:47] We had a couple of state legislators there in attendance, so that was great to be able to have them join us for the commissioner ground table and to be able to share some of the things of points of interest for counties with those state representatives.

[40:08] I think that sums it up.

[40:09] All right.

[40:11] Other commissionary is under sports.

[40:14] Mr. Chair, I can just mention that we

[40:16] had our planning and zoning meeting last week.

[40:20] We discussed the last stages of the comprehensive plan.

[40:24] Looking out to 2045 is kind of the vision on that now.

[40:28] That will have some public sessions in, I believe,

[40:34] Hartford, D'Arabbits, and Brandon in November.

[40:37] And then also, we'll have a Scott Anderson.

[40:39] and we'll give a presentation on the comprehensive plan in, I think, November 12th to our

[40:43] commission meeting with the idea that we'd incorporate public feedback and adopt that

[40:48] comprehensive plan for our planning department in early in 2025.

[40:54] So that's been almost probably a year in the works already, it's probably an 18 month vision to

[40:59] get all of that. Consolidies, gather a couple of different task force that have worked on density

[41:04] zoning and some other concepts so pretty happy with the way that's coming together but more

[41:10] to come in November and I think that's all I have. Thanks. Right. Last week I attended the chamber

[41:19] of Commerce, Sioux Falls Area, Chamber of Greater Sioux Falls Area, Chamber of Commerce. Monthly

[41:25] board meeting, they're in transition. Leadership changes today. They have their annual meeting

[41:31] coming up in a couple of weeks, REO Speedwagon for us, older generation don't laugh, might

[41:38] be interested in attending.

[41:41] So Miles Beacon is the incoming chair of the chamber. They're

[41:46] looking forward to a good year. We do have a very good working relationship with the chamber

[41:50] commerce and it's good to keep that ongoing. So move it on to non-action commissioned discussion.

[42:02] I've got a couple of things, you know, law enforcement,

[42:07] president meetings has always been a thing.

[42:09] In fact, City Council has several law enforcement officers.

[42:13] We have law enforcement officers here to brief us on different

[42:16] funding.

[42:17] It might be a captain, it might be a sergeant.

[42:21] We do have now a law enforcement present in the building 24.

[42:27] or I'm sorry, during all operations of the building here.

[42:34] And it's because we have hundreds of employees in this building,

[42:38] and we also have a lot of the public comments.

[42:43] So law enforcement is for the safety

[42:46] of the employees, for the public, for the elected officials.

[42:50] So it's not new.

[42:51] It's maybe stepped up by one officer,

[42:53] just because we thought in today's environment it would be best to have a greater

[43:00] present in the presence in the building. So yes there is law enforcement here and

[43:06] it's for everybody safety. Other non-action commission discussion I am going to

[43:13] bring up right now that the 2020 ballots were mentioned before and we personally went

[43:19] to the auditor and asked her if she wanted to open those boxes that she needed to request

[43:24] it.

[43:25] We don't own the boxes.

[43:27] We have to ask the courts if the boxes, the election ballots can be open and a request

[43:33] was given to Leah that if she would like the ballot boxes to be open, that it would

[43:40] have to come as a request to the commission so that we could then request a judge that

[43:45] they be unsealed.

[43:46] that request never came to us. I don't know if the auditor is presenting that information to the group that supports her, but we haven't received a request, so we did not request from the courts that that be done.

[44:03] So, it's all I got.

[44:06] Any other non-action commission discussion?

[44:12] We have no exactly a session today, so I'll look for a motion to adjourn.

[44:15] So I moved. Second. Motion of second. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed. Same sign. Motion carries. We are adjourned.

Minnehaha County Commission Meeting 10-1-24

Transcript