[0:04] Welcome to Tuesday, September 1st, 2026 meeting. Please silence cell phones,

[0:08] pages, and other electronic communication devices. Agendas, the

[0:13] speaker request forms are located at the back of the chamber. So, if you want to

[0:17] speak, um, please fill out a speaker request form and bring it to the front

[0:21] to Jordan. So, well, all here. So, um, uh, Commissioner Ross Connect is going

[0:27] to lead us in a moment of silence and then pledge of allegiance. So,

[0:31] Commissioner Ross Connect, you have the floor.

[0:51] I aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic

[0:57] for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible with liy and justice

[1:03] for all. >> Thank you.

[1:07] » Um today we have employee recognition day. So, we had cookies at the back and

[1:14] uh we welcome all the new employees to Pennington County. There's a list of

[1:19] these employees somewhere and I I guess I don't have access to don't need to

[1:23] read them, but thank you and welcome. Um so, we'll move on to item number five.

[1:29] The board of commissioners using >> number three, Mr. Chair.

[1:32] » Okay, we need to do what now? >> Review and approve the agenda.

[1:36] » Okay. >> Yep.

[1:39] » I'll make a motion to approve. >> Second. We have a motion and a second.

[1:43] All from a motion from Drew Dur and second from Drews. All in favor say I.

[1:47] » I. >> Motion carries. Thank you. Okay.

[1:53] And then we'll move on to the consent agenda as presented. Is that correct?

[1:56] 5A. >> Correct.

[1:59] » Approval of the adopt a highway application for a portion of 143rd

[2:02] Avenue by Central High School Structured Academics.

[2:09] Do we have a motion on that item? Do we have a speaker on that item?

[2:12] » It's on consent. >> It's on consent. All these are all

[2:15] consent. So these are all I'm sorry. >> Okay. So we'll move on to item six.

[2:19] Public comment for >> Mr. Chair.

[2:22] » Need to make a I'm going to make a motion to approve the consent calendar.

[2:26] » I'll second that. >> Man, I'm getting confused here. Okay. So

[2:29] a motion from Dur and second from Ross Connect to approve the consent calendar.

[2:33] All in favor say I. >> I. Motion carries. Thank you guys.

[2:36] Keeping me straight there. Now we'll move on to item six. Public comment per

[2:40] SDCL1251. There's a threeminut time limit per

[2:44] person. The speaker request form is required. No commission action will be

[2:48] taken during this section. Speakers under this section will be recorded. You

[2:51] will have three minutes and so try to keep it to the three minutes. I got

[2:56] three of them. So we'll just start with uh Miss Cook. Cindy, you are up public

[3:00] comment.

[3:05] You have >> morning commissioners. Uh Cindy Cook,

[3:08] Rapid City, and I had a question for you all today.

[3:13] Who who thinks the 2020 election was stolen?

[3:19] Show of hands. Anybody? interesting because I had a conversation

[3:25] with with uh Commissioner Durr after the July 7th commission meeting and you

[3:31] stated that it was definitely stolen and that you also questioned the Los Angeles

[3:37] elections and the Sou Falls elections, all the elections. We can't have it both

[3:42] ways. Here we are six years later using the same electronics predetermining our

[3:49] elections. Don't you think we should be worried

[3:53] about the ESNS claims in teenytiny print that they have proprietary software with

[4:00] their trade secrets? Think about this for a second. Trade secrets in our

[4:06] elections. It appears that every election for the

[4:11] last two decades have been predetermined.

[4:15] South Dakota Canvasing wrote a Substack pointing out who's really in charge

[4:20] here. I emailed all of you this. Did Did you all get it? My email South Dakota

[4:28] canvasing. >> If you just emailed it recently, I'll

[4:31] speak for the commission and do we A lot of us are just getting our email back

[4:35] up. So, >> well, I should have brought you a copy,

[4:39] but that doesn't seem to do any good either.

[4:44] In it, it says the SDPA, the public assurance alliance, the company that

[4:49] carries the shity bonds on the public officials.

[4:54] They have a conflict problem and so do you. There's Chris Jacobson who's on the

[4:59] board of the SPAA and two other boards. South Dakota Association of County

[5:05] Commissioners, South Dakota Association of of Officials.

[5:11] Chris has lobbied against every single election integrity bill of the people

[5:17] since 2022. I'm sure you've received her messages

[5:21] urging all of you to resist this nonsense of handc counting.

[5:27] This is shocking because you all pretend to act as though

[5:32] you might handcount in the governor's race when you never intended to. Another

[5:38] shocking fact is you had prepaid ESNs for another election without mentioning

[5:44] this to all the people from Pennington County that rounded up 221 voters to

[5:50] work in the precinct for the hand counting of the governor's race. You

[5:56] never intended to have this happen. You're on the wrong side. Commissioners,

[6:04] are you afraid of not getting reelected? Do you want status quo?

[6:13] » Thank you. Uh we move on to uh David

[6:21] » Neerson or public com.

[6:26] » Oh, he's on an ordinance. So, I'm sorry, David, you're you're on a specific

[6:30] ordinance. So, ordinance. >> Yeah, but it is a public comment. So,

[6:34] he's on >> No, this is a different speaker.

[6:38] » Yeah, >> this is a speaker request form from and

[6:40] I can't read the last name. >> David. Yeah, I can't read it either. N.

[6:43] Are you here? David. >> Oh, David, what's going on, man? Come on

[6:47] up. >> You're you're you're next, buddy. Public

[6:51] comment. I didn't even recognize you at first.

[6:55] Sorry. >> David Ne, Ordinance 796.

[6:58] I retired on April 1st, 2026. I currently rent but want to be a

[7:02] homeowner again. My total social security benefit is $1,910

[7:08] monthly. After bills, the estimated remaining balance is $320 monthly. All

[7:15] my exact numbers are inhand documented. From that $320 comes my out-ofpockets,

[7:22] my gas, food, cleaning supplies, personal hygiene, clothing, vehicle

[7:26] maintenance, and planning for the unexpected, such as May 13, 2024,

[7:31] hearing aids, $6,500. August 2024, unplanned dental and

[7:37] medical emergencies, $4,337. April 2026, four new tires, $2,410.50.

[7:47] All of those get paid. All those bills get paid before me. And dead last is me,

[7:52] David. When life goes down the rabbit hole, my quality of life expenses are

[7:57] the first to evaporate. This is why I work two days a week for extra money. At

[8:02] my core, I am entrenched against the idea of one man's debt being shifted to

[8:06] another man, whether he be a tourist, a retiree, a billionaire, or a 10-year-old

[8:12] boy. >> [snorts]

[8:13] » Vote buying 796 is an arrogant ordinance. It forcefully shifts

[8:18] homeowners debt onto me. It also forcefully shifts homeowner

[8:22] responsibility and accountability onto me as well. And I am mad as hell about

[8:27] that.

[8:31] » Thanks, sir. Um, Marilyn Redki. Marilyn, you have the floor.

[8:40] Did I? Okay. I'm here because Can you hear me? I'm so short. [laughter] Okay.

[8:49] I am here because I have a situation with a drainage problem. Uh in visiting

[8:54] with the new owner of the egg store, the feed store on Highway 44. I just

[8:59] happened to stop in there and we were visiting and he told me that a county

[9:05] commissioner was in and the county commissioner said that he thought the

[9:11] the road end of the feed store has got it's it's rough. It's gravel and then

[9:16] there's a a dip where there's a drainage drain.

[9:22] The county commissioner said he thought he could get the feed store property

[9:26] fixed with extra money from a county fund. Now, I talked I called that county

[9:32] commissioner and he was very gracious and he called me back and I told him my

[9:36] concerns that that ditch is there because it keeps my property from being

[9:42] flooded. And I explained that I had lived there

[9:46] since 1971 and the Hawthorne ditch is no longer there. So, that's a blessing.

[9:51] But, we still get the water runoff because we're lower and the ditch needs

[9:56] to be remained open as far as I'm concerned so it doesn't flood our

[10:00] property. And I explained that to him and he said, "Point taken."

[10:08] Now, I don't know what that means, so that's why I'm here. Um he did I told

[10:13] him that I was told that there was money available and he said there might be

[10:20] money available from the city from blood money left

[10:26] over. I don't know what all that means and maybe you don't either but that's

[10:31] how that got brought up to the feed store that he thought he could get money

[10:35] to fix their road. Now my concern is the situation is the drainage field. If

[10:44] it gets it's right now it's just a small drainage area cuz every new owner fills

[10:49] it in a little more since I've been there since 71. My kids used to play in

[10:54] that water. So there was a ditch that ran through there. Whether it's on the

[10:57] plot or the plat I do not know. But it has been flooded. We've had at times

[11:06] two sump pumps running on our property. So, it's a real concern to me to have

[11:12] that. Uh I don't know. I recommend that if they

[11:19] want to fill this in that it should be done with a pipe running through or a

[11:24] small culvert, something so that the water doesn't back up on my property. I

[11:31] have no problem with the owners. It's just the water problem is my concern.

[11:37] And I recommend that if it's going to be filled in to fill it in and do it

[11:41] correctly. Put a pipe in there. Put a culvert in there. Something so that it's

[11:47] it's done correctly. This is a natural drainage area through there. And this is

[11:52] a flood area. So that's my concern. Uh, how can I be assured

[12:00] that the drainage problem will be addressed by you guys?

[12:06] » Oh, Maryland. Um, are you in the city or in the county? Right there.

[12:09] » I can't hear. >> Are are you in the city or the county?

[12:12] » I'm right on Highway 44 by the uh the racetrack.

[12:17] » Okay. >> Right next year before the racetrack and

[12:19] you're before. Yeah. Um I think uh Britney's not here. I was going to have

[12:24] you get with even there's Joe. Joe just came in. If

[12:28] you [clears throat] could get with him, >> he's he's at the back door. If you could

[12:31] get with Joe back there, he can help you understand a little bit more about those

[12:35] roads and everything back there. He's right behind you. Joe,

[12:39] » is there a way you could get with Marilyn and and help her figure out her

[12:43] situation, please? >> I have been to the PL planning and

[12:46] zoning several times and Cody and David have been extremely helpful.

[12:52] » Okay. Uh, but they don't know where they stand

[12:56] either as far as the computer.

[12:59] » We'll help you figure it out >> and nobody can check anything because

[13:03] the computers are down, >> right?

[13:06] » We're getting we're getting better at that, Marilyn. We're getting that stuff

[13:08] up and going. So, we'll help you. Joe will help you a little bit, too. So,

[13:11] » all right. Thank you for Thank you so much for your time.

[13:13] » That's really about all we can tell you right now. So,

[13:16] » um, >> it looks like she wants to speak. Okay,

[13:21] just give her the stand. >> Yeah, Mr. Chair. Yes,

[13:24] » I'm going to follow up if I can on the last one.

[13:27] » So, [clears throat] there's about 20% of what was said that's actually what's

[13:31] been stated. So, I had the discussion when I was at the feed store in the

[13:35] valley and he was talking. I was looking at the drainage ditch out there and so

[13:41] he came over and said, "What are you looking at?" and it was while I was

[13:44] getting feed and I said the county is looking at drainage in the valley and

[13:47] I'm just looking at how this is utilized and he said that he would like to you

[13:54] know look at that. There was no discussion about using county funds or

[13:58] doing anything to fix a road. There was no discussion about a road. Uh I did

[14:03] have a conversation with this individual and she had reached out to planning and

[14:08] I said no we're not doing anything with it. There was no discussion about city

[14:11] funds of any kind, any county funds. It was a conversation with the owner of the

[14:16] feed facility that uh the county was looking at the drainage in the valley

[14:21] and how it's impacted and that we were doing away with our drainage uh

[14:26] relationship with the city and that's the point of the conversation.

[14:30] » Okay, perfect. Thanks. And I know that that Mariah Cranny, Mariah,

[14:37] you have the floor. Good morning, commissioners.

[14:40] » Good morning. >> My name is Mariah Cranny.

[14:45] I'm a civil rights advocate and a registered CNA in Pennington County.

[14:50] Mother of four. I reported seven months ago that 19

[14:56] months ago my children were illegally removed from me by this county and I

[15:01] haven't heard anything back from you. I appear today to place you on formal

[15:06] notice of South Dakota law and federal law that govern this board's power to

[15:10] appropriate and continue paying public money to county offices, departments,

[15:15] contractors, and other entities under your fiscal control. You have now had

[15:20] notice for 7 months that crimes are alleged to have been committed by public

[15:23] servants whom this county employs and whom this board pays. That notice is not

[15:29] a rumor. It is part of the public record of this county. Continuing to fund the

[15:34] same offices and the same people after that notice without investigation,

[15:39] referral, or a recorded finding that the claims are unfounded. It is not a

[15:43] ministerial act. It is a policy choice for which you may be held to account.

[15:48] South Dakota law is not silent. SDCL7-8-20

[15:53] requires this board to superintend the fiscal concerns of the county and to

[15:57] audit accounts of officers who collect or spend county money. SDCL7-21-14

[16:03] imposes a trust when you adopt a budget. Appropriations are not a blank check.

[16:08] SDCL 21-25 through 21-27 make debts and payments beyond lawful appropriation

[16:15] void and can place personal liability on officers whom create or pay them.

[16:20] SDCL36-1 makes willful failure to perform an

[16:24] official duty a class 2 misdemeanor. SDCL22-308-46

[16:30] makes a public officials knowing misuse of entrusted public funds for that

[16:34] official's financial benefit theft. SDCL716-14

[16:40] directs the state's attorney, Lara Wretzel, upon a petition of 15

[16:47] resident taxpayers and reasonable cause to sue commissioners for malfeasants,

[16:51] misappropriation, or other misconduct. SDCL 3-17-6

[16:57] authorizes removal of local officers for misconduct, malfeasants, nonfeasants, or

[17:02] crimes in office. Federal law is not silent. Officials acting under color of

[17:07] law who willfully deprive persons of their rights secured by the constitution

[17:11] or federal law may be prosecuted under 18 USC 242. Two or more persons who

[17:17] conspire to injure or intimidate a person in the free exercise of those

[17:21] rights may be prosecuted under 18 USC 241. Honest services fraud under 18 USC

[17:27] 13411343 and 1346 reaches schemes to deprive the

[17:32] public of the honest services of public officials. None of those statutes

[17:36] require you to convict anyone today. They do require you that you not treat

[17:41] documented notice as something that you can ignore while you keep signing the

[17:44] warrants. You pay these public servants. You sit as the fiscal board of this

[17:49] county after 7 months of notice silences itself a decision. I ask this board on

[17:54] the record an independent review of the notices already given. Thank you for

[17:58] your time. >> Thank you. And Mariah, you done there?

[18:03] This is because this is the second time you've come up here with the same

[18:06] information and we've not been served by any public uh you know. So

[18:13] » I'm sorry what >> I'm not here to argue with you. You had

[18:15] your time. I'm just saying you can't this is the second second meeting that

[18:19] you've come here with the same information. If you have an issue with

[18:22] the state's attorney or with us then you may want to go to the attorney general

[18:26] and file >> the attorney general is also complicit

[18:29] in these crimes. >> Perfect. That's what I

[18:31] » the governor, the state's attorney, CASA, who else?

[18:36] » So, everybody, >> attorney general, county commissioners,

[18:40] » sheriff Brian Mueller says that child trafficking is just part of the system.

[18:45] » So, everyone in this county slashstate slash

[18:49] » Okay, so everybody's against you, right? So,

[18:51] » I'm not saying against me. I'm saying against loving parents who love their

[18:54] children and want them protected. They're not being protected. They're

[18:57] being harmed. And we can't even call and ask if they're okay.

[19:01] » Yeah, definitely. You go. Maybe you need to get a lawyer or something or whatever

[19:04] you need to do, but coming here to just chew us out.

[19:07] » Pay money into the system that's that's harming us.

[19:11] » All right. You have a good day. Your time's up. So,

[19:17] okay. That anybody else want public comment?

[19:22] Nope. Okay. We will formally close public comment and move on.

[19:28] to item seven. Typically, we don't respond at public comment, but when we

[19:33] continue to get the same information and go nowhere, at some point we got to say,

[19:37] you know, let's move on. So, item seven from the Rapid City Police Department,

[19:45] letter of support, model cities initiative app, Dave Kinzer. Dave, you

[19:50] have the floor, sir. Perfect. Uh, appreciate you having me here,

[19:53] everybody. Um, so this was a uh pretty big grant that came out. Um, we had

[19:59] noticed in uh earlier this summer and then working through it and then uh the

[20:04] hack happened and kind of had to redo a bunch of stuff there as I'm sure

[20:08] everybody in the room was affected by that. Um, so this is a very large grant.

[20:14] Um, I don't know the likelihood that we would we are we would be competitive for

[20:19] it or not because background lobbying and whatnot, but if we did get this

[20:23] grant, I think it would fix a lot of strategic initiatives down the road that

[20:28] we've got planned or need to address and I can go through each one of those. Um,

[20:34] but I' I'd like to turn it over to what questions you guys have for me.

[20:39] » Yes, Commissioner Hadcock, do you have the floor?

[20:41] » I don't have any questions, Dave. I just appreciate that you're moving this

[20:44] forward. It's a regional public safety training initiative in the bottom line.

[20:50] Um, if we can get any kind of extra training for our officers or uh public

[20:55] safety uh officials, I think it's always a positive. So, what you're doing, Dave,

[20:59] and you've been in there for a while, um, let's get her done and let's move

[21:04] forward and, um, make sure that our, um, people, our first responders are taken

[21:11] care of. So, um, thank you for calling me. I appreciate that too, Dave, and

[21:16] just visiting about what you're doing and how long you've done it. And like I

[21:20] said, you've been in here for a while. So, when you're putting something

[21:23] forward, um, I appreciate what you're doing because again, the the the main

[21:28] issue I like is re regional public safety training, which has a lot to do

[21:32] with um, all um, elected or not elected um, first responders. So, thank you,

[21:37] Dave, for what you do. >> Thanks. And um one clarification, I'm

[21:41] not asking for your um approval to accept the award um because there's like

[21:46] three uh three processes for this grant. This first it's kind of like a science

[21:51] fair. You go to the local one, submit it to an email, and then they approve you

[21:54] and then you have to do a presentation and then there's another round.

[21:58] » Um so I'm just asking for your permission to go to this first round.

[22:02] And as we progress through the rounds, you guys will be updated and any formal

[22:08] agreements or anything will be given to you for approval and acceptance and

[22:13] contracts and so forward. And how it's structured um it it would go through the

[22:19] city and uh Pennington County would be a subawwardee. So we would have the

[22:23] responsibility for the financial and the reporting obligations, all the not fun

[22:28] stuff with grants. to what you're asking is and that's what I'm saying is that I

[22:33] support the letter of support. I should say it like that. Okay. Thank you,

[22:36] » Mr. Chair. Commissioner Drew, >> I move to authorize the chair to sign

[22:40] the letter of support as presented. >> Second.

[22:43] » Have a motion and a motion from Drew. Second from Mur. All in favor say I.

[22:47] » I. >> Motion carries. And thanks Dave for the

[22:49] phone calls and uh this is the process that starts it. I know that there's

[22:53] challenges with regional officer training. I've had conversations with

[22:57] our sheriff and with Chief Hedrickk both saying that this is uh um it's it's a

[23:02] non-matching one too from what I understand. So we just match it's more

[23:05] like a grant style. So we you can see that we'll support it and we'll we'll

[23:10] we'll have our commission manager draft a letter of support. So

[23:14] » I I've got to have it in today. So I drafted one.

[23:17] » You got to have it in. You drafted it for him. Well, we'll let him read it and

[23:20] and I'm sure it probably makes sense and we'll get the sir

[23:24] » authorize the chair to sign it. So, thanks. Item number uh eight,

[23:31] board committee appointments, air quality board appointment. According

[23:35] to ordinance 12, mun code of the commissioners appoints one at large

[23:39] voting member to the seven person Rapid City air quality board for a three-year

[23:43] term. Incumbent Jackie Cross. Yes. Move to appoint Jackie Crass to the Rapid

[23:48] City Air Quality Board for three-year term effective 83126.

[23:52] Have >> a motion from Hackcock.

[23:55] » Second. >> A second from Ross Connect. Any

[23:57] discussion on the motion? All in favor say I.

[24:00] » I. >> Motion carries. Um items from treasure.

[24:04] Update on treasur's office operations. Missette.

[24:13] » Good morning, Mr. Chair. Commission. Annette Brandt, Pennington County

[24:16] Treasurer. Uh, updating you here on the um public side um since the cyber

[24:22] incident. Just letting you know we've just returned all of our temporary

[24:26] equipment that we were utilizing. So, we're all um we're all util um we are

[24:31] all now back on our on our computers. There's still some things that um we've

[24:36] got a list of items that do need to be updated um or excuse me, not updated,

[24:42] but um worked through, but we're all able to jump onto another computer. If

[24:46] one thing works on one, we can pull from another. It's got that list and we're

[24:51] just waiting in line for that. Um we're getting the info out for the

[24:56] self-service terminal that's now located at 900 Concourse Drive. Um we are

[25:03] getting back to our normal numbers of processing counts. Um checking the queue

[25:11] appointments only is what I'm going to start it off with rather than opening it

[25:15] completely up and we'll continue to do first come first serve through the

[25:21] public line. It does appear that um without the staff having to put in all

[25:25] of the additional information for the return visits for the PE public that we

[25:30] are able to um work through additional uh transactions or at least get them

[25:35] through the line a little bit faster. But I would like the queue availability

[25:39] so that if um the person has waited in line and they have to come back for it

[25:43] that we have an avenue to be able to let them kind of jump the line which is what

[25:48] the queue allowed us to do. So um working on that. The phones are still an

[25:52] issue with our department. Um, this past week we had no calls that were dropping

[25:57] as we were talking to the public. Um, but static still an issue. Um,

[26:02] voicemails have been turned off now for incoming phone calls just so that the

[26:06] public knows they used to be able to leave a voicemail. We do not have the

[26:10] staffing to be able to retrieve those calls and then call them back again. So,

[26:14] um, calls are being taken as a um, first come first serve through that. Um let's

[26:22] see and then there was some discussion earlier um that came from the commission

[26:27] office regarding um balancing in the treasur's office. So I just want to

[26:31] assure you that um on paper the um the treasur's office the county is balanced.

[26:39] Um there is no money missing or anything. It is our office working with

[26:44] the the items that are input into the Tyler system. So, we balance on paper,

[26:50] but the Tyler system had an additional amount. This morning, it came to light.

[26:55] We've been digging for this for a long time, but uh this morning it came to

[27:00] light that it's on a 2024 error that was in the real estate

[27:06] program on the aortioning side that called an NSF charge a real estate. So,

[27:13] we're working through that with the auditor's office to find out how we can

[27:16] correct that. It's not money that was collected. It wasn't even anything that

[27:20] should have been in there. But those are the things that we deal with um with not

[27:25] just the Tyler system, but our old real estate system. So, some days I get

[27:29] pretty frustrated with the new Tyler system, but at the same time, our uh um

[27:34] moving forward with it. It um tells me that we'll have um better situations

[27:41] coming up with um their real estate side versus the one that's pieced together.

[27:46] things like this come up um often. So, and with that, I'll stand by for

[27:52] questions. >> Mr. Chair.

[27:54] » Yep. Commissioner Ross. >> So, now that can you give the commission

[27:57] an update on the two kiosk, the ones placed out here now and it's working and

[28:03] the other one is scheduled to go be placed this month.

[28:07] » Uh that is what I've been told in September that they do have it

[28:11] scheduled. um the owner of that property is going to contact you and I you or I

[28:16] um the minute that they um contact him for the actual placement. They've done

[28:22] site visits already. They have located the building that it will be in and he

[28:27] had like three different locations that were really good um

[28:32] uh strong service there that they for them to choose from. So,

[28:38] » so the location is going to be the Three Forks Country Store

[28:43] » at the junction of Highway 16 and 385. >> And Matt picked three locations and the

[28:50] state has agreed to I think all three. And he told me that sometime this month

[28:55] they they're going to come up there and they're going to put it there. he's

[28:59] going to lose a little retail space, but uh when you when folks from Fall River,

[29:05] any county in the state of South Dakota, they can do their transactions at that

[29:09] convenience store. And his hours are good enough that they'll be plenty of

[29:15] hours uh [clears throat] >> for uh folks to get off work. They'll be

[29:20] open. They open at 6. So, I think it's really going to be a benefit to uh folks

[29:25] that live in that part of Pennington County.

[29:28] » I agree. And we'll keep you posted on that. As as with the one for ours, uh

[29:33] the uh 900 concourse, that specific date got moved several times. Um the original

[29:40] one got juggled around during shipping and um so they had to fix it before

[29:44] they, you know, it took another 3 days for them to fix it to get it in. So,

[29:48] we'll just cautiously approach that for getting that out to the public, but

[29:52] we'll let Cody know that as well. Um, we were making sure that this one that is

[30:00] located right outside this building, um, that the scanners were working because

[30:06] it's not just motor vehicle transactions, it's also driver's

[30:09] license. So, you would scan in your documents that are needed for there. you

[30:13] scan in documents. If you're uh have a veteran plate, the $10, $12, I guess it

[30:20] is now, uh veteran renewal, you have to show your um veteran

[30:25] status. Um that is all working now. And so I just sent out an email to let the

[30:33] powers that be know that and whenever they're ready to be 247, then it looks

[30:37] like that equipment is ready for that, too.

[30:40] Lastly, the last the thing that really boggles my mind is why can't we get good

[30:44] telephone service? How hard can that be? I mean, today's technology and you know,

[30:50] you're >> still dealing with a substandard

[30:55] telephone system in my opinion. I just >> what it reminds me of is when I was a

[30:59] kid and it would rain for whatever reason, the moisture would, you know,

[31:04] make that crackling noise, but they tell me between the two buildings that that's

[31:08] not what it is. But yeah, it is pretty frustrating to the customers as well.

[31:12] So, and on that line too, I I um I don't have an update for the customers, but I

[31:18] do know that it's been asked a lot about the public um internet and so just want

[31:23] to make sure that that's on somebody's plate eventually that they're going to

[31:26] want that as well. They want that back. >> Awesome.

[31:31] » Mr. Chair, >> Commissioner Dur.

[31:32] » Yeah. Ned, when you [clears throat] talked about the fuzzy line, I went

[31:36] back. You're not talking about a hand crank telephone, are you? [laughter]

[31:41] » Okay. So, getting back to >> I'm not as old as I look.

[31:45] » All right. So, getting back to the phone thing. Uh Annette did have a

[31:49] conversation with me when that they found out that they first didn't believe

[31:54] the uh voicemail was working and then came back and there were over a hundred

[32:01] messages. We had 175 messages just on one of the lines. We did not believe

[32:08] that the voicemails were able to be retrieved since the shutdown, but when

[32:14] um when [clears throat] I mentioned that I'd like to know when it's going to be

[32:17] back up again, was told that oh, it has been. So I went back in and and looked

[32:21] and that was just communication I believe between the two departments but

[32:25] went in and I believe that was on the like the 24th or 25th and we had them

[32:30] back there from August 13th. All the others were lost but from 13 forward. So

[32:35] we're working through those now and just asked for it to be shut off completely

[32:38] because anytime the phone goes down it seems that we have issues with that as

[32:42] well. That's not great customer service either because the people are expecting

[32:47] a phone call back and we're not even getting the voice messages to return

[32:50] them in some cases. So, and nor do we have the manpower to retrieve them and

[32:54] then re, you know, they're coming in as fast as we can answer them. So,

[32:59] » and [clears throat] when someone calls in, do we still have kind of that system

[33:05] with a certain amount of phone lines and then you're number one in the queue,

[33:09] your number two in the queue, etc. Is that still functioning or is it just

[33:12] ringing direct? >> Right now I believe it's just ringing

[33:16] directly. Um and I have some of the faster processors on the phone. We've

[33:22] moved them to the back to get through the phone lines a little bit faster and

[33:26] they're all answering them as you know as they're coming in. no matter what it

[33:30] is, they're signed on to all of them where before um we had the newer c or

[33:37] the newer staff were taking in the like the renewal line so that they could

[33:42] learn how to do that. Now we're training them right at the front line as

[33:46] requested. So >> all right and I'm just going to echo,

[33:49] you know, what Commissioner Roskin said, the phone system here, you know, I'm

[33:54] into my second year on the commission. It's been an issue from day one. And I'm

[33:59] not sure what the answer is, but I think uh [clears throat]

[34:02] not having somebody sit on hold and then get into the queuing system and some of

[34:07] them have been on hold for almost an hour and then just get disconnected from

[34:12] our phone system and just that communication going back and forth. And

[34:16] so, um, I think anyway, in my mind, it's just better to pick up the phone and

[34:22] answer the phone and not try to utilize the technology we have, which apparently

[34:26] isn't working. >> Mr. Chair,

[34:30] » Commissioner Ros, sir, >> I don't think it's just

[34:34] uh your office. I've called other offices and I still get that rattly,

[34:39] crackly

[34:43] noise on the phone. So, I I don't know. just be nice if we could just have good

[34:48] phone service. >> Mr. Chair.

[34:51] » Yes, Commissioner Drew. >> So, Net, [clears throat] I'm interested

[34:53] in the lines. Um, I was here about midday yesterday and I counted only a

[35:00] total of 16 people that were in line. Uh, has that line shrunk to that degree

[35:06] at this point in time or are we looking still at fairly long lines?

[35:12] » Mr. chair. Well, I'm I'm glad that you are paying attention to the lines. I get

[35:17] texts almost weekly um telling me how many windows I have open. I know how

[35:22] many windows that I do have open. We adjust based on how many people come in

[35:27] on a daily basis. So now I don't have the Q system to find out what the you

[35:32] know what the volume of people are coming through there but I do believe

[35:36] that we are shaving off time by not having to input their we we definitely

[35:42] we changed our um reception windows the two reception windows that were helping

[35:47] people to verify what they had and get them signed into the queue and get them

[35:51] in the right line and so forth. Those are now processing windows. So, they're

[35:56] doing um all of the faster transactions. We're pulling them out of the the mix um

[36:02] with the other lines and um and we do have the newer staff that are at the

[36:08] front windows as well. So, I don't have an answer for you for that because the

[36:12] minute I say that, yeah, the lines are getting shorter, they're going to get

[36:15] longer. So, it just depends. I've taken pictures several days um several days in

[36:20] the last um two weeks where there hasn't been anybody other than the people that

[36:25] are at the windows that are line that are in line. So again, when it rains it

[36:29] pours, you don't know when they're coming in. So

[36:32] » okay, thank you. >> Yes, you're welcome.

[36:34] » Right. Okay. I can tell you I'm the one that's been texting you because I

[36:39] thought our plan was to have 12 open windows all the time. So that's cuz

[36:43] there is times when I come out there and there's five or six windows and there's

[36:48] 50 60 people waiting. So that's why I text you that my only my only interest

[36:52] is getting people through the line timely in a manner that I think is

[36:56] achievable and that's with a 30 minute wait time. So um

[37:00] » Mr. Chair, you are not the only one. So I just want to make that clear that I am

[37:04] well aware of what's out there and if I have to pull people off for for training

[37:09] for something else, we're doing it. But we that is our goal is to to get as many

[37:14] as we can. >> I've had I've had conversations with the

[37:17] IT department on the phones and it's not been a priority because there's

[37:21] everybody has a priority right now. What what my understanding is the

[37:24] interference that we're getting from all the server ability, but that doesn't it

[37:30] should still shouldn't happen. So, we're going to continue looking into it and

[37:33] try to fit it into that priority window of why because since we've had this

[37:37] phone system, it's not worked correctly or properly at all. So there's there's

[37:41] no and but or nosers about that. It doesn't work properly if you getting

[37:47] disconnected or or but one of the comments was made about the amount of

[37:51] volume that comes in that gets put into the there's only so much volume that

[37:55] that comes in on the phone lines and then it overwhelms the rest of the phone

[37:58] lines. So we'll be looking into that too. So

[38:00] » Okay. I appreciate that. >> Commissioner Rosk,

[38:03] » so we can kind of predict uh busy days. Now, didn't you tell me, Annette, that

[38:10] the last day of the month is normally just crazy?

[38:13] » The last week of the month is normally just crazy.

[38:15] » People are trying. >> That's a fact.

[38:17] » Get everything done before the next month. So,

[38:21] » Right. Right. >> I I just had one other comment. Our our

[38:25] machines 24/7 now, right? Because that was part of the deal we had to do. Or is

[38:28] it? >> Not yet. Not yet because we were making

[38:31] sure that everything um was up and operational. I just sent that email to

[38:35] let them know today and by them I mean it that hand that handles the door and

[38:40] also Cody Wiseman so that he can put that out to the um public. I do want to

[38:44] just add one more thing too that um just to make sure that the other departments

[38:48] are aware too that callers coming to the treasur's office no longer have the

[38:53] ability to leave a voice message. The longest that they will remain on hold

[38:57] waiting for one of our staff to answer is 10 minutes. We're not going to keep

[39:01] them on hold for 50 minutes and then and then have it drop or have them leave a

[39:05] voice message. Those are turned off. So, um if they if people are calling from

[39:10] your departments, you um their message that they're given is just to please try

[39:14] again that all of our um staff are assisting others at this time. So,

[39:21] » okay. Thank you. Any other questions? Seeing none. Thank you, Miss Annette.

[39:27] » Thank you. >> Looks like Mr. Davis is up next. items

[39:30] from buildings and grounds. Highway warming shed wind damage repair bid

[39:35] award. >> Mr. Davis, you have the floor, sir.

[39:39] » Yeah. Good morning, commissioners. Davis Purscell, director of buildings and

[39:42] grounds. Um, so this item was brought to you just a few weeks back to advertise

[39:47] and bid and now we're looking for a bid award. Um, as a reminder, uh, the

[39:52] building that we're looking at did, uh, occur some or incur some structural

[39:56] damage in 2025 in that December wind event. So, what we're looking at doing

[40:01] is, uh, basically stiffening of the whole building, some roof and truss,

[40:05] bracing repairs, roof pllin repairs, and some other items. Uh, what we also did

[40:10] too is we included some alternates into this project. Um because there's going

[40:14] to be a contractor mobilized, we can tackle some other things that we noticed

[40:18] uh that needed to be done, which is the replacement of of their man doors, um

[40:23] replacement of existing windows, um installation of OSB on the east and west

[40:28] walls, and then some more blown in insulation in the attic. So, uh the base

[40:34] bid, the low base bid was actually uh done by Karen Builders. Uh, but when you

[40:40] include all four alternates, seco construction came out the lowest. Um,

[40:44] and that is the bid award that I'm looking at. So, I'll stand for any

[40:47] questions. >> Thank you, commission. Have any

[40:50] questions?

[40:53] » Seeing none, I guess I'll entertain a motion here.

[40:56] » Yes, commissioner. >> Toward the warm shed wind damage repair

[40:59] project at SECO construction for the base bid and alternatives 1 through 4 in

[41:03] the total amount of 316500.

[41:09] Second. >> Have a motion for Hadcock, second by Ros

[41:11] Connect. All in favor say I. I. >> I.

[41:14] » Opposed. Same sign. Hearing none. Motion carries. Item B, request to advertise

[41:19] bids courthouse campus transformer replacement project.

[41:23] » All right. Yeah. So item B is uh when I was writing or when I was looking at

[41:27] this memo, one thing I didn't include is why we were doing this project um or

[41:31] specifically why. So, uh, essentially Black Hills Energy is doing some planned

[41:36] upgrades, uh, to its downtown electrical distribution system. Um, those

[41:42] improvements require us, uh, to change the existing electrical service

[41:46] configurations with our which are the transformers. Um, long story short,

[41:50] there were there's been a lot of discussions with Black Hills Energy over

[41:53] the last six months about this project. Um they so what we what are we doing as

[41:58] part of this project is we're going to replace those transformers and Black

[42:03] Hills Energy is paying for the new transformers um and they will own and

[42:08] operate or own and maintain the new transformers which right now we own them

[42:13] uh which means we're responsible for any repairs or anything like that to those.

[42:17] Um it's typical for Black Hills Energy to own these transformers so that's why

[42:21] we are going this route. Uh but again it is a very complicated project. Um it

[42:27] does involve uh can and will involve multiple buildings being uh without

[42:33] standard power um for potentially 24 hours. Um so we're coordinating this all

[42:38] the way through into May of 2027 which is when some of these planned outages

[42:42] will occur. Uh but again um a lot of this work has been done behind the

[42:46] scenes and and we're now ready to to advertise and bid this project. So

[42:51] » Mr. Chair. >> Yes, Commissioner Ros Connect, sir.

[42:54] » So, Davis, are those step down transformers?

[42:57] » They are for the for the jail public safety building in the courthouse. Yep.

[43:03] » And three-phase, two-phase. >> Uh, I think we have two three-phase and

[43:09] one two-phase. >> Okay.

[43:10] » So, >> what's the initial voltage going into

[43:13] the >> Um, I don't I don't have that

[43:15] information with me. I apologize. Um, I didn't think you'd No. Yeah, that's a

[43:19] great question. anything you'd be asking that, but it's quite a bit. Our jails

[43:22] are obviously our most demanding uh within the PSP and the the courthouse

[43:26] follow. So, >> thank you,

[43:30] » Mr. Chair. I'll go ahead and make the motion to authorize the building and

[43:34] grounds to advertise and solicit competitive bids for the Penning County

[43:37] Courthouse campus transformer replacement project.

[43:40] » Second. >> We have a motion from Ross Connect,

[43:42] second by Drews. All in favor say I. >> I oppose. Same sign. Hearing none.

[43:47] Motion Davis. >> Thank you, Mr. Davis. So, we're going to

[43:49] go to item 11. And I think there's a request from

[43:54] 11 A, B, C, and D to be continued until

[44:00] September 17th. So, >> Mr. Chair, I'd make a motion that we uh

[44:05] go into a board of adjustment. >> Thank you.

[44:08] » That'll be more appropriate. A motion from G um Commissioner Drews and and a

[44:13] second from Commissioner Ross Connect to go into the board of adjustments. All in

[44:16] favor say I. >> I. I. Motion carries. So now being we're

[44:20] in board of adjustments, we can actually talk about 11 A, B, C, and D. And

[44:25] there's a request for that to go to be continued because the uh the engineer

[44:31] can't be here. So um if we move a motion from Hadcock, second

[44:37] » to continue and a second from Ross Connect.

[44:39] » Is that for all four of them? AB, B, >> A, B, C, and D.

[44:42] » Do we have to do them individually? >> I think so. And also make sure you have

[44:47] which date you're continuing. >> September 17th.

[44:50] » Okay. >> So we'll do A. So all in favor say I.

[44:54] » I. Get a motion for B. >> Go ahead.

[45:00] » Move. >> We have a motion and a second.

[45:03] » A second. Motion from Drew. Second from Hancock. All in favor say I.

[45:07] » I. >> Motion carries. We move that to item uh

[45:10] C. >> Yep.

[45:15] Move continuation. >> We have a motion September

[45:18] » Drews and a second from Ross Connect. All in favor say I. I. I.

[45:21] » Motion carries and we're moving these to item to September 17th. On item D.

[45:28] Second. >> Motion from HCO by Ras Connect to move

[45:31] this to September 17th meeting. All in favor say I.

[45:34] » I. >> Motion carries. We move on to item E. U.

[45:38] Miss Britney. >> Good morning commissioners. Britney Han,

[45:40] planning director. Item E is variance COVA26-000020

[45:45] for Murvin Hilty to exceed the maximum height requirement in an agriculture

[45:50] district. This property is located at 24460

[45:53] Assurance Lane. Uh the applicant is requesting to construct a windmill in

[45:58] order to operate his shop building. Um the requested variances and intended to

[46:05] allow the construction of a distributed wind energy system to provide power to

[46:10] an agricultural structure. The lot is capable of reasonable use in compliance

[46:14] with the zoning ordinance and is not subject to exceptional topographical or

[46:18] site constraints. However, windmills are structures that are designed to be

[46:22] constructed to a height greater than 35 ft. It is not uncommon to find windmills

[46:27] in agriculture areas within communities similar to where the applicant resides.

[46:32] Uh this property is agriculturally agriculturally zoned and there's not

[46:37] typically structures that exceed 35 ft. But because staff um has found that

[46:42] there's other structures that are allowed in agriculture districts like

[46:46] spires, um water towers that are allowed to exceed the height. staff feels that

[46:52] this is a reasonable request and is recommending approval.

[46:56] » Chair, >> yes, commissioner move to approve COVA

[46:59] 26-0020 that the windmills turbines are utility

[47:04] related structures that are generally designed to exceed 35 ft in height in

[47:08] order to effectively utilize available wind resources and maximize electrical

[47:13] production with two conditions. >> Second.

[47:16] » A motion from Hadcock, second by Ross Connect. All in favor say I.

[47:20] » I. I >> oppose. Same sign. Hearing none. Motion

[47:22] carries. >> Miss Britney, that's it.

[47:26] » Item 11F is variant COVAA 26-0021 for Zach Van Ginkle to reduce a setback

[47:33] to a property line in a suburban residential district 1. Uh this property

[47:37] the gentleman would like to construct uh his single family residence at a setback

[47:42] of 21.6 ft in lie of 25 ft. There are topographical

[47:48] constraints. Um there is additional information that was given to the board

[47:53] um prior. If you look at the the pictures, you can see that there's a

[47:57] significant amount of uh rock outcrop on this property. Uh the property owner was

[48:04] um beginning to construct his home. He had our building inspector go out and do

[48:08] his initial site inspection and at that time our uh building inspector found

[48:14] that the the setback did not meet the requirements. Uh so the applicant came

[48:19] in and requested uh setback variance. So staff feels that there are topographical

[48:24] and sighting constraints on this property. So staff is recommending

[48:28] approval >> with one condition.

[48:30] » Mr. Chair, >> go ahead, Ron. I'll go ahead and move to

[48:33] approve COVA26-0021 as a subject property does appear to

[48:39] have topographical constraints that limits the buildings [snorts]

[48:43] buildable area of the subject property creating a hardship with one condition.

[48:48] » Second. >> Second.

[48:49] » Have a motion and a second. All in favor say I.

[48:52] » I. >> I. [clears throat] Same sign. Hearing

[48:54] none. Motion carries. >> Move to uh come out of the board of

[48:57] adjustment. >> Second. Have a motion from Ross Connect,

[49:00] second by Hadcock to come out of board of adjustments. All in favor say I.

[49:03] » I. >> Motion carries. Items from emergency

[49:06] management. Item 12. Dustin, you have the floor, sir.

[49:11] » Good morning, commission, uh, chair, members of the commission. Dustin

[49:14] Willlet, Pennington County Emergency Manager. Item A. Oh, yeah. Item A is the

[49:19] 2027, uh, LMPG subreient agreement. This is typically on the consent calendar,

[49:24] but because there have been uh inquiries from from this board about our grant

[49:28] status, uh I just had it moved to our regular consent agenda. This is uh the

[49:32] grant that we've used for decades. Uh that has caused some constrnation in the

[49:37] past couple years because of of some delays in having that award. Uh but so

[49:42] far, all of those those grant funds that we've been uh approved for have

[49:47] eventually come through. Uh this is for the 2027 agreement. Again, it's

[49:51] something we've done for for decades. This covers uh this grant in particular

[49:56] covers about 45% of of my salary in our EM budget. Uh happy to stand for any

[50:02] questions on that. >> Commission,

[50:06] » Mr. Chair. >> Yes.

[50:08] » I'm going to move to approve the 2027 local emergency

[50:12] management performance grant subreionate agreement and authorize chair to sign

[50:16] the agreement. >> Second. Have a motion from Dur, second

[50:19] by Drews. All in favor say I. >> I.

[50:22] » One public comment. >> Well, I got a public comment. Mike, you

[50:25] want to come up and talk on this one?

[50:32] » Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mike Mueller. Um, sorry I'm late getting to this item. I

[50:36] just uh it to Jordan. One of the things I see with state and federal grants is

[50:42] there's a cost of compliance that goes along with this depending on the budget.

[50:46] If it's just emergency services or if it goes into the dispatch budget, which is

[50:51] large compared to the emergency services budget, what's our cost of compliance

[50:54] because of all the rigs that have to be followed, all the things that have to be

[50:57] reported monthly, the hours tracked, etc. That's something I'd be interested

[51:02] in knowing how that comes against how much of grant money we get. I don't know

[51:05] that dollar amount. Couldn't find the dollar amount, but just a caution to the

[51:08] cost of compliance to get this grant and comply with it. Thank you.

[51:12] » Thank you. So >> we already we already proved it. So

[51:16] » that's okay. I don't I don't have that off the top of my head, but I have

[51:19] worked that up before. Uh uh that that question has been asked before. Um so

[51:24] anecdotally, I can say that that our cost of compliance for this grant is is

[51:28] easily justifiable. Uh but I I don't want to to to spew numbers that might be

[51:33] incorrect from the DAS. So I'll follow up on that.

[51:36] » Yeah. Okay. We appreciate that. And if you could get it to Jordan and Jordan

[51:39] can assimilate it to the commission and whoever else is interested in it.

[51:43] » Um I hear your wife's a good pickle ball

[51:46] player by the way. >> What's that?

[51:48] » I heard your wife's a good pickle ball player.

[51:51] » Uh yes she is. Uh she she puts me to shame.

[51:54] » Uh 12B. >> So item B. Uh the outdoor public warning

[51:59] uh siren bid. So this one's a little more involved or a little more complex.

[52:03] Uh the board offered or authorized me to go out for RFP. Uh that RFP went out. We

[52:08] had one responsible uh bid on that. Uh so while my request is that we approve

[52:14] that bid uh and and have those two sirens uh put in by Spearfish Electric,

[52:21] uh I want to be fully transparent on where we're at with the costs on those.

[52:26] Uh so these are the two sirens that were destroyed. uh similar to when Davis uh

[52:30] came up with his items or his first item. Uh these sirens were destroyed in

[52:35] the 2025 windstorm. And so there's a lot of different funding mechanisms going on

[52:39] here. Uh there's a portion of it that is uh insurance uh county insurance. Uh

[52:44] there is a portion that is um uh FEMA uh uh project costing uh that has some

[52:52] state matching for reimbursement. And then there's some mitigation which

[52:56] covers FEMA mitigation which covers some enhancements uh to those siren

[53:00] installations. So there's there's three different uh uh and then the fourth is

[53:04] is our regularly budgeted uh uh dollars for that that we have in our 26 budget.

[53:10] Uh so um

[53:14] my concern and the reason I wanted to make sure that that uh I spelled this

[53:18] out for the commission is I don't know the timing of the insurance proceeds,

[53:26] the the regular FEMA and state reimbursement and the FEMA mitigation

[53:31] reimbursement. And and so my concern is is if those reimbursements don't come in

[53:38] in this fiscal year and yet the bill comes in this fiscal year for doing

[53:42] those sirens, uh uh we would not have the money in our in in our budget to to

[53:48] cover that. Uh the money

[53:53] the money to cover those sirens uh between FEMA, the state, and insurance

[54:00] is there. I just don't know if it's going to be in 26 or in 27. Uh so I just

[54:05] wanted to to make sure I was transparent with the board on the fact that if if we

[54:09] don't get those insurance and reimbursement costs prior to that bill

[54:13] coming due in 2026, uh it would require a supplement um uh from general fund to

[54:19] cover that until those monies came in uh uh to make that hole. There'd be some

[54:23] juggling there. Uh I haven't talked with Sabrina yet. I don't know if that would

[54:27] be an offset with the operating transfer in 27 uh or not. Uh there's a couple

[54:32] different ways to make that right when those revenues come in. Um but I just

[54:37] wanted to to put that up before the commission uh rather than simply asking

[54:41] for approval on that bid. >> Thank you all commission.

[54:49] » No, I mean I've read your memo. I get it. We'll figure out the situation. And

[54:53] I'm going to move to award the siren replacement project to Spearfish

[54:56] Electric in the amount of 1744797. >> Second.

[55:01] » A motion from Dur, second by Drews. All in favor say I.

[55:04] » I. >> Opposed. Same sign. Hearing none. Motion

[55:07] carries. Items from the highway. [clears throat]

[55:10] Mr. Joe.

[55:18] » Sir, you have the floor. Joe. >> Good morning, commission. Joe Miller,

[55:21] Pankton County Highway Department. Uh up in front of you, item A is rightway and

[55:26] utility cert certificates and letting authorization for reservoir and Lamb

[55:32] Road. This project was conceptualized in 21 or 22. I couldn't find the exact date

[55:37] or the exact year. Um due to the numerous accidents that we

[55:44] have at that intersection, we we've tried several different uh orientations

[55:48] of guardrail and um it continually gets hit because the vertical curve going to

[55:53] the north is just not enough sight distance to know that hey that's a 90°

[55:57] corner and when people come up to it they smoke the guardrail and go into the

[56:01] the neighbors property. So, um, with that, the estimated C cost of

[56:06] construction for this, uh, vertical curve realignment is about $2.5 million.

[56:11] Of that, the cost of the county will be 10%, so $250,000.

[56:16] There will be an additional, uh, utility relocation uh, cost for West River

[56:21] Electric coming forward here in the the next couple months. We're working

[56:25] through that agreement with them. That's uh, relocation cost is approximately

[56:29] $150,000. So, um, the cost will be approximately $400,000 to the county and

[56:36] each time we've had to replace that guardrail is between $5 and $10,000 and

[56:40] it's sometimes a couple times a month um in the winter months. So, with that,

[56:46] I'll stand for any questions. >> Commission,

[56:50] » Mr. Chair. >> Yes, Commissioner. I'm going to move to

[56:52] approve the rideway and utility certificates and letting authorization

[56:56] for Reservoir Road and Lamb Road intersection reconstruction project PH

[57:01] 663701 PCN8.

[57:05] » Second A motion from Dur a second by Drews. All in favor say I. I.

[57:10] » Motion carries. Um item B. Joe, you >> item B is a uh letter or an item to

[57:18] terminate an agreement between Sunset Ranch and Pennington County. This uh

[57:23] this agreement dates back to 2012. Um and dates back even further than that.

[57:29] Uh the road district had approached a previous highway superintendent. um

[57:33] right after the uh subdivision had gone in and they paved uh the section line

[57:38] road going to the the subdivision um was sub

[57:43] sub uh oh it was not built to any sort of good standard at the time. Um this

[57:50] agreement is actually one of it is the only agreement that we have with any of

[57:54] our 165 plus road districts. Um, Commissioner Wimbach and myself, as

[58:00] stated in the memo, met with the road district a couple two, three years ago,

[58:04] um, and said that, okay, we'll crack seal this in 2025. We'll get a chip

[58:10] sealed in 2026, which both of those have actually been done. Um, and with that,

[58:15] we would like to terminate the agreement as it's the only one that we have with

[58:19] any of our 165 plus road districts and kind of just make everything the same

[58:24] with all of our road districts. So with that, I'll stand for any questions.

[58:27] » Commission, >> Mr. Chair,

[58:31] » like Mr. Joe had said, we we met with these people and they clearly understood

[58:35] they they had a a request from the county to they requested the county to

[58:40] to crack seal and chip seal and then they would take over from that point.

[58:44] So, but Commissioner, are you? >> Yeah. I'm just going to move to

[58:47] authorize Highway Superintendent to send formal written notice of termination to

[58:50] Sunset Ranch Road District regarding maintenance of a portion of 156th

[58:56] Avenue. >> Seconds.

[58:59] » Have a motion from Durham, second by Ros Connect. All in favor say I.

[59:02] » I. I. >> Motion carries. Thank you, Mr. Joe.

[59:05] » Thank you. >> Items from human resources, HR or

[59:09] changes.

[59:13] Hello. and welcome our new uh HR director.

[59:17] » Hello. So on here, I'm recommending to revise

[59:21] the HR organizational structure to have the HR manager directly supervise those

[59:27] HR generalists. And going forward, the HR manager will

[59:32] be expected to provide that countywide leadership and oversight of those

[59:36] generalists uh within the scope and obviously help with improving the

[59:40] consistency along with myself and align that HR manager position within the

[59:46] scope and complexity of the role. So, I I would like to have you guys

[59:52] consider to update the HR manager and HR generalist job descriptions and the

[59:56] organizational chart to reflect the new structure and then also move to

[1:00:01] reclassify the HR manager role from a P4.1 to a P4.2.

[1:00:07] » Cheer. >> Yes, Commissioner Hancock. So, I agree

[1:00:09] with the move to update the HR manager HR generalist job descriptions and the

[1:00:14] organization organizational charts to reflect the new organizational structure

[1:00:19] effective 8:30 2026. >> Second,

[1:00:26] » Mr. Chair, >> Commissioner.

[1:00:28] » Yeah, I can't support the request. uh and you know we just went through

[1:00:34] reviewing the organizational structure and that just got adopted and there was

[1:00:38] a discussion about you know getting an HR director on board and then reviewing

[1:00:42] that and so uh I know you just been here a few weeks and so I know that this was

[1:00:49] a request from the previous staff as to how they would like to see things but uh

[1:00:54] I'm [clears throat] looking more on a model of and which you know has been

[1:00:57] presented before but a model of Minhow County where they don't even have an HR

[1:01:01] R manager position. They have an HR director and they have a generalist and

[1:01:06] a support staff and the HR director manages all the generalist and manages

[1:01:12] you know the HR department. And so, uh, my reason again for saying no is

[1:01:19] secondarily that, uh, um, this is one thing that I think the county is too

[1:01:25] heavy in and that is, uh, leadership and we have a lot of people, uh, in

[1:01:32] leadership and in positions. Uh, we have a lot of mid-level management and I

[1:01:37] believe in some of those departments, we have positions that are topheavy. If you

[1:01:42] look at the org chart, it's very vertical and then you look at it and you

[1:01:47] say who's actually, you know, doing the job if somebody's going to supervise and

[1:01:51] manage. And so those are, you know, just my objections that I think that we could

[1:01:57] run leaner and uh across the county, not just in the HR office. So

[1:02:02] » chair, >> yes, Commissioner Hackup.

[1:02:05] » Well, I agree. I had talked to um Tell me your first name again, and I'm

[1:02:10] going to always forget it. >> Melissa. Melissa, sorry, Melissa, I need

[1:02:14] to call your name for a few times. I agree with Melissa. Um I think you

[1:02:18] always need a second. I think if Melissa's um gone, there's always nice

[1:02:23] to have a second. Now she puts a third and a fourth and a more titles. Um I'm

[1:02:29] not going to be agreeable to that, but I think um when you're gone, you always

[1:02:33] need a second. So I agree with that. and with the generalists. Um it sounds like

[1:02:39] with Ivana, she's uh built up a relationship as well. So that makes a

[1:02:44] good team effort to do things. But like I said, if you keep adding I need this,

[1:02:48] [clears throat] I need this, then I agree with Commissioner Durr, but at

[1:02:51] this time um when you're running your organization, I just talked to you about

[1:02:55] this. When I'm running something, I always want a second. And I have that in

[1:02:59] one of my ladies named Janice. Um if I'm not there, she takes charge. So, she's

[1:03:04] basically doing my job. Um, so I appreciate that you moved that forward.

[1:03:09] I think again I'm in agreement of how you're running and moving forward in a

[1:03:13] way that you've recognize someone that you know can take your job or not take

[1:03:17] your job but help you with your job to make it more efficient and effective for

[1:03:21] Pennington County. So, thank you Melissa.

[1:03:25] » Mr. Chair, Commissioner Drew, >> I would uh move to update the HR manager

[1:03:30] and HR generalist job descriptions and the organizational chart to reflect the

[1:03:34] new organizational structure effective August 30th, 2026.

[1:03:40] Have >> a motion and a second. Any discussion on

[1:03:42] that motion?

[1:03:45] None. Seeing none, all in favor say I. >> I.

[1:03:49] » Opposed? >> I So, let's do a roll call.

[1:03:55] Drews >> I

[1:03:56] » Durr. >> Nay.

[1:03:58] » Wifeenbach. >> Nay.

[1:03:59] » Ross Connect. >> Hi.

[1:04:01] » Hadcock. >> Hi.

[1:04:03] » Motion carries three to two. >> Thank you, Melissa.

[1:04:08] » She has one more. >> Um,

[1:04:09] » what did you say? >> She has one more item.

[1:04:11] » You got one more. Um, >> yes. And and does that

[1:04:15] » public defender compensation? >> She has two.

[1:04:17] » That >> Oh, interim pay request. I'm sorry.

[1:04:20] » Yep. Two more. >> Okay. Item B.

[1:04:23] » Uh, yep. And this one is the during the consolidation of the HR department. Uh

[1:04:29] Yavana did step in in a time of need and ensured all HR operations continue to

[1:04:34] function effectively. Uh and I would like to provide interimm pay for her

[1:04:40] support and fulfilling that vacant role of the HR director from May 5th to

[1:04:45] August 1st. Chair >> Commissioner Hadcock. Um I think uh

[1:04:49] Ivana like I just said does a wonderful job but uh to be consistent for me um

[1:04:54] and I had talked to you about this too Miss Melissa that um I have not when

[1:04:59] other people have stepped in from public defenders uh Trevor's position the HR

[1:05:04] and um equalization um I was consistent with um and most of the board has been

[1:05:11] too as well of not paying that retroactive uh back pay um in those

[1:05:17] areas. is. So, I won't be in favor of this because of that, not because I

[1:05:21] don't think she does a wonderful job. Um, I just think if we're going to do it

[1:05:25] for one, we need to do it for all. And you are going to change a process, which

[1:05:29] is nice. And once I see the process changed, um, I will probably in that

[1:05:34] case be consistent as well of approving these because you have made the changes

[1:05:39] you needed to do. But with no policy or procedure with that, um, I appreciate

[1:05:44] that they're making the changes, Miss Moose.

[1:05:46] » Mr. Chair, >> Commissioner Duce.

[1:05:49] » Um, I agree with the, uh, proposal. Uh, I think that when individuals like Yvana

[1:05:56] step in and are willing to take on that responsibility during the interim, uh,

[1:06:01] that they, uh, earn the, uh, adjustment. So, I'm going to support this, Mr.

[1:06:07] Chair. >> Commissioner Dur.

[1:06:09] » Yeah. So, Melissa, I'm just going to give a little background on this. So,

[1:06:14] uh, basically the county has been without an HR director since last

[1:06:18] October until you came on at the beginning of this month. And so, no,

[1:06:24] there's been no leadership direction coming from HR organizationally about

[1:06:29] policy changes, anything. I mean, it's been HR in the county has been coasting

[1:06:35] since last October. And so we did have two other individuals that worked in the

[1:06:40] HR office that asked for a a a change in a leadership position or one of them

[1:06:47] specifically a senior HR manager asked for kind of an interim appointment that

[1:06:52] would include interim pay and uh that that individual was holding you know a

[1:06:58] senior management position and we declined to do that. And not only during

[1:07:04] that whole time frame, uh, getting back to Commissioners Hadcock's comments,

[1:07:10] which are spoton, the, uh, other people in the county stepped up. The commission

[1:07:16] office took up a big load of some of the HR responsibilities and coordinating and

[1:07:20] working. And so it was really in the absence of a direct leader there was a

[1:07:26] responsibility that was spread across multiple uh departments and everybody

[1:07:30] just kind of sto stepped up to the plate and said we're all here to help and in

[1:07:35] fact at one point in time we had one person be prior to the combined HR we

[1:07:41] had one individual that we created an HR generalist title because we had no more

[1:07:46] HR people in the office and so we had one individual

[1:07:50] sage that, you know, just kind of balanced things and stepped up to the

[1:07:56] plate and did those things and we didn't give additional pay. We changed the job

[1:08:00] position and made it an HR generalist. But, uh, so there were a lot of people

[1:08:05] that stood up to the plate and if we were going to make this change in my

[1:08:08] mind, then we would need to go back and do the same thing to everybody else that

[1:08:13] requested it and was denied. And so that's the reason I can't support this.

[1:08:18] » Okay. Thank you. Um Jordan, can you go back to the last

[1:08:22] motion we made? Did show me the the whole motion? I mean the

[1:08:28] the on on this here computer screen.

[1:08:31] » Sure. >> Is it didn't it actually include a

[1:08:34] raise? >> The it did include a reclassification of

[1:08:38] the HR manager. >> That would give her a raise.

[1:08:40] » That Yes. >> Okay. So, all right.

[1:08:45] So, Mr. Chair, I'm going to move to deny this motion request for interim pay for

[1:08:53] this position. >> Second.

[1:08:55] » A motion in a second. Any other discussion? Okay. All in favor of the

[1:08:59] motion of leaving everything the same, but we prior motion is good. We're I

[1:09:05] just want to say thanks Melissa. You came in at a really rough time. We're

[1:09:10] very happy to have Melissa on board. Um, and we're very happy to have you Yvana

[1:09:15] on board and and Sage and everything's working out and we've got a great

[1:09:19] environment now to work with and uh we're like we talked before about moving

[1:09:23] forward with having a great communication with all the staff. So,

[1:09:26] but anyway, all in favor say I. >> I

[1:09:29] » opposed. I >> So, one I opposed. Is that correct?

[1:09:34] » Okay, motion carries four to one and we'll Thank you, Melissa. We got

[1:09:40] » public defender. >> Public defender

[1:09:42] » run. >> What?

[1:09:44] » Joanna >> 14C.

[1:09:45] » 14C. >> 14C. Yep.

[1:09:47] » Public defender compensation. >> Yep.

[1:09:49] » Okay. >> Want to make sure you guys were good to

[1:09:51] move that forward to move her pay change uh to step 1068.63.

[1:09:58] » Chair. >> Yes. Commissioner,

[1:10:00] » just a question. Um, why August 2nd instead of she wasn't actually appointed

[1:10:06] till they had the interviews, right? August 10th. Am I correct?

[1:10:12] » When when I spoke to her, I think they made the offer around that time frame.

[1:10:17] Um, and that's that's she didn't really have an official letter from that

[1:10:22] committee that said an effective date. So, I think that's when the the offer

[1:10:26] came through. >> Jordan, did you have something?

[1:10:29] » Yes. In essence, basically we were trying to make it easy on per uh payroll

[1:10:32] personnel. And so because we figured she was already functioning as the interim

[1:10:36] uh public defender appointed by the advisory committee, then we just started

[1:10:40] at the beginning of a pay period in which she was actually appointed the the

[1:10:44] public defender. >> So I thought it said she was appointed

[1:10:47] on August 10th. >> On August 10th is when they did make the

[1:10:50] offer and I believe she accepted it. I want to say the same day.

[1:10:53] » So you appointed her when you had the interviews. It was before August 10th.

[1:10:56] It was August 2nd. >> Right.

[1:10:58] » Okay. Now I get it. Thank you, >> Mr. Chair.

[1:11:02] » Yes. >> I'm going to move to approve the

[1:11:04] compensation for Pennington County Public Defender

[1:11:08] Joanna Lawler at grade P53 step 106863 per hour or 142 75040 annually effective

[1:11:17] August 2nd 2026. >> Second. Okay. We have a motion from Dur,

[1:11:22] a second from Drew. All in favor say I. I.

[1:11:25] » Motion carries. We're done with you. Thank you.

[1:11:31] » Look forward to working with you. Uh items commission office July 6th

[1:11:34] facility closure update. The board will be asked. This is Jordan, right?

[1:11:39] » It sure is. >> Go ahead and speak, Jordan.

[1:11:41] » All right. I'll kind of touch base on uh what how we got here in the first place

[1:11:45] and then uh what we've done to present at least some options here for the board

[1:11:48] to consider. And so if you recall, it was back in July. I don't believe we had

[1:11:52] it ready for that July 7th since that had happened immediately after cyber

[1:11:56] incident. But for the July 21st meeting, we presented a quick memo to the board

[1:12:00] just kind of saying that hey this is what happened um because of

[1:12:04] administrative um processes that were in place there uh certain employees of the

[1:12:10] county were told not to report to work on July 6th. Now after that when finally

[1:12:15] leadership and everybody got to you know be staffed in the same room and the word

[1:12:19] got out it decided that the facilities would remain completely open even though

[1:12:23] some employees had been told not to report to work. And so what we talked

[1:12:28] about at the last meeting was whether or not you wanted to either apply the

[1:12:32] emergency facility closure policy that exists in the handbook even though this

[1:12:37] did not fall under all of the criteria that it needed to meet in order to be

[1:12:41] considered an emergency facility closure. And so that was one option that

[1:12:44] we could do. And then the board floated a couple of other ideas that I then kind

[1:12:48] of fleshed out into four different options that we could try to do

[1:12:51] something or nothing, I guess, in essence uh to to finally put this matter

[1:12:55] to bed. and then payroll will make any retroactive corrections that we have to

[1:13:00] do for this event. And so there's not exactly a correct resolution to this.

[1:13:05] It's all a matter of what comfort level does the board have in trying to fix

[1:13:09] some of the mess that was created by maybe some miscommunication um but also

[1:13:14] balance that against the fiscal responsibility you have to the taxpayer

[1:13:16] dollars that this depending on what you do could end up costing a little bit of

[1:13:20] money. chair. So >> just just one thing Jordan, sorry.

[1:13:25] » So um why I'm saying or >> I'm not trying to interrupt you Jordan.

[1:13:29] It's all right. >> So the direction was when the call was

[1:13:33] made, they you told me they called the department heads and told them what

[1:13:37] direction. >> And so basically it was a communication

[1:13:40] between the sheriff, the EM director, and all the department heads kind of

[1:13:44] saying, "Okay, so um this is what has happened. there's a cyber incident and

[1:13:48] you need to figure out what you're going to be doing with your people

[1:13:50] essentially. And then at that point, they had also spoken to some

[1:13:53] commissioners and kind of got a feel and felt like well I think it's wisest if we

[1:13:57] let the employees know just blanket let them know that hey um you should not

[1:14:02] report to work unless your supervisor tells you to. And so that was kind of

[1:14:05] the direction that people got in a big old mass text to everybody using our

[1:14:09] system. So, >> so that tells me that the supervisors or

[1:14:12] the department heads, whoever, um, potentially with their job description

[1:14:17] weren't needed that if they didn't have to report on Monday. So, it wouldn't be

[1:14:22] actually if if I'm saying an emergency in a sense. It's just that if we don't

[1:14:27] have the capability for you to do anything that day, basically, you're not

[1:14:31] needed. >> Exactly. Yes. it was they had to

[1:14:34] determine for themselves whether or not there was meaningful work that these

[1:14:37] employees could do and if they felt well if we don't have computers because again

[1:14:40] we didn't know the full scope of the incident at that time so everyone was

[1:14:44] kind of operating blind and so it was well if we don't have computers then

[1:14:47] these people can't do work and so there's no reason for them to come to

[1:14:50] the office >> so we have have we ever had an emergency

[1:14:53] where we where we needed and you might not know this and since I've been here

[1:14:57] » that we didn't need people for a certain reason it always when we call we called

[1:15:02] it emergency we didn't need anybody basically you got to stay home. So

[1:15:06] that's why I'm trying to determine okay so the supervisors and the people

[1:15:10] actually said you know we're not going to need you because of these reasons. I

[1:15:14] want to treat the employees right, but I also it's not an emergency in one sense

[1:15:19] and we made a deter determination with our um department heads that you know

[1:15:25] some people could still work. So how do you call it emergency in one sense and

[1:15:29] then the other I get it um you can't you can't do anything once you have that

[1:15:36] kind of cyber incident. >> Um I'm I'm having a hard time not paying

[1:15:41] in one sense and then I'm I don't know what to do. So, how many people remember

[1:15:46] we asked you, how many people did we determine um weren't paid that day?

[1:15:51] Like, >> that is the challenging number that

[1:15:53] we're still trying to get down to. So, we can go off of some payroll records,

[1:15:56] but we don't have records of which employees weren't there because there

[1:16:00] just aren't no records for them. And so, instead of having payroll go through and

[1:16:03] dig through everything, what we did is we tried to gain just some averages so

[1:16:07] that we could come up with some numbers. So, we looked at the Mondays preceding

[1:16:10] and after that event and just compared, okay, well, general hours, how many

[1:16:15] would have been here, how many weren't, and we identified a potential 30 to 50

[1:16:19] people who potentially were not paid and did not report to work on that day from

[1:16:25] what our averages were showing should have been the numbers. And then above

[1:16:29] and beyond that, some people didn't report to work and had to use their own

[1:16:32] personal paid leave. >> So, the bottom line is

[1:16:36] Right.

[1:16:39] It says do not. >> Okay. And then you clicked on the link

[1:16:42] in oh the response time frame that said the full message actually did say

[1:16:48] » how about we do this. How about we go over the options and then we can

[1:16:51] » in the text. Mr. Chair, >> he's got four options. So then we can

[1:16:54] kind of figure out see if there's something.

[1:16:56] » So if it's 30 to 50 people, the main thing is what is 30 to 50 people on the

[1:17:00] cost. Number two, um make sure that none some of those, you know, that they

[1:17:05] weren't supposed to report anyway. So we don't just pay in emergency 3050 people

[1:17:09] that were off that were paying 30 or 50 people that were supposed to supposedly

[1:17:14] report. Make sense? >> What that cost is?

[1:17:17] » Yeah. Yeah. >> So, yeah, my comment on this is the

[1:17:20] chair did not authorize an emergency closure. And so, you know, when you have

[1:17:26] uh department heads or others that put communications out that were not

[1:17:29] authorized by the commission that says, you know, AB and C, and I'm sure at the

[1:17:33] time there was a little bit of communication issue, maybe

[1:17:36] miscommunication. Uh but uh and my issue with this is the

[1:17:40] fact that I was here that Monday morning and the building, this building was open

[1:17:44] to the public and it's not like the sheriff is going to say to his

[1:17:48] correction staff and to the deputies, uh don't report to work today. Um and so we

[1:17:54] had employees that did come to work. There were employees in this building

[1:17:58] and that showed up. And the other issue is that this was not just on that Monday

[1:18:04] following the 4th of July. We're talking about

[1:18:08] a a really the cyber incident caused a lack of productivity and there were many

[1:18:12] employees that did not have computers to do their jobs. And so you found uh you

[1:18:17] know other opportunities within the office to continue to work and to you

[1:18:22] know get paid. And so part of this emergency closure also if you're going

[1:18:26] to say it was an emergency closure is everybody that showed up would get paid

[1:18:30] time and a half. And so I don't think that that's fair to uh across the

[1:18:36] organization to say you came to work that day, you get time and a half uh due

[1:18:41] to our emergency policy and you stayed home and took leave time and so we're

[1:18:46] going to you know you take your leave time and so I think to be fair and

[1:18:50] equitable across the board, you know, and again I said it the last time this

[1:18:55] is why we give you know uh leave benefits to the employees and the fact

[1:19:00] that it was a Monday after a Fourth of July hol holiday is going to make it

[1:19:05] difficult when people submitted their time to say, you know, were you already

[1:19:09] on vacation? Did you take vacation? And nope, now you're going to get paid for

[1:19:13] that or now we're going to pay these people time and a half. Uh, and so, um,

[1:19:19] I'm looking to do nothing other than what has already been done, and that is

[1:19:22] just utilize leave time, go leave without pay, and I'm not looking to pay

[1:19:26] overtime. and he's got the financials in here as to what the options would cost.

[1:19:31] I looked at those yesterday and my comment about this is uh it this

[1:19:37] incident over the last two months has cost the taxpayers time and money. Um

[1:19:42] their inability to do business with the county, some of them not being able to

[1:19:46] close on their properties, paying additional fees to do business uh with

[1:19:50] the county. And so it's been a a hardship the last couple of months

[1:19:54] across Pennington County to the employees, to our staff, to leadership,

[1:19:59] uh to our teams, and we have a lot of good people, but I'm not looking to

[1:20:03] split the hair over this and try to figure out who gets time and a half and

[1:20:07] who doesn't. >> Mr. Chair.

[1:20:09] » Yes, Commissioner Drews. >> So, I'm at the on the other end of the

[1:20:14] spectrum. Uh I believe that uh if employees were told not to report

[1:20:21] uh because of the incident that took place and they were they were scheduled

[1:20:25] to work that day that they should be eligible for pay because of the

[1:20:30] direction that was provided. I'm not in favor of the of the time and a half uh

[1:20:36] for other employees, but I believe that those employees and if that's 30 to 50

[1:20:40] employees, uh certainly the departments know of those that were scheduled to be

[1:20:45] on vacation during that period of time. So that should not be very difficult to

[1:20:50] isolate those individuals. Uh but I think anybody that did not show up

[1:20:54] because of the direction provided of saying not to report to work uh should

[1:20:59] be compensated. >> Can you go over the options with us,

[1:21:04] Jordan? So absolutely give us a better idea of what we're looking at here. Or

[1:21:08] if somebody wants to make a motion, I'm good with that, too.

[1:21:10] » I'll just really quickly touch on the options. I won't get too far into the

[1:21:13] weeds in this. Option A would have been just uh leave things as they were

[1:21:17] already handled. So this was we followed the existing employee handbook as we

[1:21:21] interpreted it, noting that it was not an emergency facility closure. So

[1:21:26] knowing that people were told not to report to work, we had them just kind of

[1:21:29] use their own leave balances and if they didn't have any leave balances, they

[1:21:32] took unpaid time off if they weren't able to report to work. So that's what

[1:21:35] happened for option A. We could leave it at that and move forward. Option B would

[1:21:39] be to apply the emergency facility closure compensation from the policy

[1:21:44] that exists in our policy. We would just be applying it to this exceptional

[1:21:47] situation. So, this is a unique situation that we feel could kind of

[1:21:52] qualify, but we're not going to say that, you know, in uh in perpetuity, but

[1:21:56] at least this one event we would apply this to it. And then that's where you

[1:22:00] would pay people time and a half for those who did work. And it's I've got a

[1:22:03] rough estimate of 45,000 for the people who got the time and a half, 325 for

[1:22:07] leave. that would be refunded to employees who utilized their personal

[1:22:10] leave and up to about 10,000 maybe 11,000 for employees who took unpaid

[1:22:14] time off is our estimate for that. Option C is what Commissioner Drews just

[1:22:18] mentioned. We don't give the time and a half but you still manage those who did

[1:22:22] not report to work and utilized leave balances or took unpaid time off as

[1:22:27] well. And so that removes basically that 45,000 for the time and a half but still

[1:22:31] leaves the potential impact for the leave benefits that are refunded back to

[1:22:35] these employees. And then [snorts] option D was uh again it was floated at

[1:22:40] the from the dis at that July 21st meeting of just well maybe we could just

[1:22:44] give everybody a a broad application of eight hours of administrative leave.

[1:22:48] That would be simple to do administratively but also it's more

[1:22:52] expensive because we're not identifying who was impacted by this. We're just

[1:22:55] saying well if you were employed on that day here you all go here's some leave

[1:23:00] and you can do what you want with it. Um, and so there's a lot of question

[1:23:03] marks around option D. If you guys wanted to talk through some of those

[1:23:06] options and really consider it, we can get into that. Otherwise, those are the

[1:23:09] four that we prepared for today's consideration.

[1:23:13] » And Mr. Chair, >> yep, commission.

[1:23:15] » Yeah. And each of those in my, you know, and again, I mean, it's option D is

[1:23:19] estimated to be $133,000 cost. And getting back to equity,

[1:23:25] uh, so employees that didn't come to work and,

[1:23:29] you know, let's just say they had leave time or they chose not to use their

[1:23:32] leave time, they stayed home and we're going to pay them uh without utilizing

[1:23:37] leave time. And then the ones that showed up, we're just going to pay them

[1:23:40] the regular wage and said, "You showed up to work, you didn't, I'm going to pay

[1:23:44] you, too." And that's where it gets into the inequity. And I think all of this is

[1:23:50] uh one thing uh to um our HR director. The one challenge that I think you know

[1:23:57] we discussed with you during the interview is that our policies and stuff

[1:24:01] in the employee handbook need to be tightened up and we need to have a

[1:24:05] process in place as to how this stuff is going to be implemented and we're

[1:24:10] currently lacking on that knowing that it's something we have to work on. Uh

[1:24:15] but uh anyway, uh I'm gonna make a motion that we go with option A.

[1:24:23] » Chair. >> Yes, Commissioner.

[1:24:25] » Sorry, Commissioner Dur. I just want to hear from some of the department heads

[1:24:28] or the HR and what they're thinking on um some of these options and what what

[1:24:34] they think the process should be. Um obviously, we had some people thought it

[1:24:38] was emergency. Um they sent that out. They weren't trying to be facitious on

[1:24:43] it. they just figured it was an emergency for a reason. Um because of

[1:24:48] bottom line, um it was a big impact. So kind of want to know those decisions and

[1:24:56] some of the stuff on the bottom line of why we should or should not pay.

[1:25:00] » So who would you want us? It looks like the sheriff's moved forward for comment.

[1:25:05] Mr. Brian, you have the chair I and then uh go ahead.

[1:25:10] Brian Mueller, Pennington County Sheriff, and this this might my opinion

[1:25:14] might not is definitely not going to be the opinion of the rest of the elected

[1:25:18] officials and department heads. But uh um this is this is complicated and what

[1:25:24] I try to reflect on on this and I think I talked to Commissioner Wenbach about

[1:25:27] this early on is this is an anomaly. This is the first time this has ever

[1:25:32] happened in Pennington County and we could have shored some things up better

[1:25:35] on the communication and on the front end of it. But it leaves us with a

[1:25:39] really challenging situation. You have uh some departments that told everybody

[1:25:44] to stay home. You have departments like ours that have to keep up and

[1:25:48] operational. And it's even more complicated than that in that we had

[1:25:53] small groups of pe of small teams of people that we brought half the team in

[1:25:58] and half the team stayed home because we just didn't have we didn't have enough

[1:26:02] work at that specific time. Um so uh to pay the ones that just came to work and

[1:26:09] I and I like taking care of the employees. I really do. um to just pay

[1:26:13] the ones that come to work without doing the time and the half, I think it's

[1:26:16] problematic for 3/4 of the employees of Pennington County that came to work that

[1:26:21] day. Um but also at the same time, I think the the financial impact of paying

[1:26:27] everybody time and a half for coming in and doing their regular work doesn't

[1:26:30] necessarily seem right for me. So, I would support option A. And I know

[1:26:35] that's not going to be everybody's uh that's not going to be real popular with

[1:26:39] everybody, but this is a tough situation. I do think internally in our

[1:26:44] office and in probably everybody else's office and department, we've worked out

[1:26:48] how we're going to handle this in the future so we wouldn't have the same

[1:26:51] issue having a better understanding of >> do you just bring everybody in bring

[1:26:58] everybody in and find something as meaningful as we can to do for the day

[1:27:02] versus having some people stay home. I think there'll be a combination of that

[1:27:05] if this type of thing were to happen again, but we've learned a lot from it.

[1:27:08] This is a difficult situation and I appreciate you guys working through it

[1:27:12] and listening. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. Brian. And that that's

[1:27:15] correct. We we had several conversations and I've had several conversations and I

[1:27:21] I'm going to second Commissioner Dur's um request for option A. And the reason

[1:27:28] is is that I remember working in in retail world and and had we got

[1:27:33] burglarized and and and when they got burglarized everybody had to go home and

[1:27:38] nobody got paid. I mean, but I'm holding in front of me here one, two, three,

[1:27:45] four front and back sides of paper that are filled with acred leave time uh and

[1:27:54] vacation time for the county employees of Pennington County. Pennington County

[1:27:58] has a really really lenient uh leave and paid acral approval time.

[1:28:05] Right now, we have a current liability that we don't report on our books of

[1:28:10] $4.6 million. So, if these people all cashed in their

[1:28:15] leave time tomorrow, we would have to write a check for $4.6 million. I think,

[1:28:21] you know, after having extensive conversations and and through the whole

[1:28:24] cyber incident, I can guarantee you one thing. I've learned a ton. I some of it

[1:28:28] I didn't even know how people's operations were connected between trying

[1:28:32] to find priorities, trying to do all these things. Uh we have an IT

[1:28:36] department that's working 12 hours a day as much as they possibly can. We had

[1:28:40] people come in from the outside. We had commissioners get together, bring in

[1:28:44] people um from the outside cyber security

[1:28:49] world. Um everybody's taking it on the chin here and I don't think this is

[1:28:53] asking that much um for someone to just you to we take option A, we we roll with

[1:28:59] it and I think that most of it we've rolled with it already and yeah, did we

[1:29:03] learn a lot? We learned a ton and I tell you it's going to take months before we

[1:29:07] have a uh a uh end of operations uh you know report that says this is how we

[1:29:15] can do it better. There's no doubt that we can but uh we've learned a ton and uh

[1:29:20] I think that with this being a factor that our our leave and our vacation pay

[1:29:26] is so so broad and so lucrative to the employees that I'm I'm fine with option

[1:29:32] A. So, but it looks like Trevor wants to say something.

[1:29:36] » So, but did Commissioner Gary, did you want to say something?

[1:29:39] » I'm going to offer a substitute motion to uh adopt uh item C.

[1:29:44] » We have a substitute motion. Do we have a second for that?

[1:29:48] » Second. >> Okay. So, we have a motion and

[1:29:50] substitute. So, we have a substitute motion to offer C. So, you pull C up,

[1:29:55] Jordan. >> You bet.

[1:29:59] » Okay. So, everybody can see C. And then Trevor, you you want to make a comment?

[1:30:04] » Sure. Okay. Thank you, Chair. Um I'm just going to address uh Commissioner

[1:30:07] Hancock's um request to have department heads come up and give their opinion. Um

[1:30:12] my department was one where I I was the only one there that day. I told everyone

[1:30:17] else to to stay home. Um got the call on Sunday and sent the text out on Sunday.

[1:30:22] Um and I would I would definitely support option C. Um like uh

[1:30:26] Commissioner Drews was was discussing there. Um, I do however understand the

[1:30:32] complexity of this decision. Um, because my office is one where we just had no

[1:30:38] one there and I realize that there's a lot of other uh scenarios to encompass

[1:30:43] there, but I wanted to give my opinion for for my staff. Um, I I'd support

[1:30:47] option C. So, thank you.

[1:31:05] I had to check and make sure it was still morning. Good. Good morning, Laura

[1:31:09] Retzel, states attorney. I just want to say that the text that was sent out

[1:31:16] to all of our employees said, "Do not report."

[1:31:20] And I think that that needs to be clear for the record

[1:31:24] that our people were told not to report and many of them live paycheck to

[1:31:29] paycheck and even even one day of impacted leave um matters and so I am

[1:31:37] stepping forward in support of option C. >> Thank you Miss Laura.

[1:31:43] So, oh,

[1:31:51] » go ahead. You have the floor. >> Good morning. Scott Guffy, Bington

[1:31:54] County natural resource director. Uh, so I was notified by the sheriff on 4th of

[1:31:58] July in the cyber incident and that a text would be going out to our

[1:32:02] employees. I called my foreman and my operations manager telling them to

[1:32:07] report to work. Uh, so we did work. I would support option A.

[1:32:12] Thank you, Scott.

[1:32:16] » So, we have a substitute motion on the floor for option C

[1:32:20] » here. >> Yes, Commissioner Hog.

[1:32:22] » So, listening to both sides, um the complexity and the anomaly, I'm going to

[1:32:28] agree with meaning I was looking at option C, but as actually with common

[1:32:34] sense of it all, um this was a isolated incident. Um, bottom line is just the

[1:32:41] complexity of trying to figure out for the employees

[1:32:45] how we treat one and not the other because some came in, they're going to

[1:32:49] be mad, some going to be mad because they don't get paid. But the bottom line

[1:32:53] comes to the complexity and the anomaly for me um for what happened. Um

[1:33:00] hopefully at this point we've learned something. We've always learned

[1:33:03] something here and I've haven't had to deal with this and I've been in here

[1:33:06] what 12 years. So, uh, bottom line is, um, I'm going to have to go with option

[1:33:12] A today just because of, um, some of the cost wouldn't, uh, put us over the edge

[1:33:19] in one sense, but also to treat both sides fair. So, I appreciate it.

[1:33:24] » Okay. So, right now, we have a motion for option C. So, let's vote on that

[1:33:28] motion. And, uh, all in favor say I. >> I. I.

[1:33:32] » Opposed? I. >> So, let's do a roll call.

[1:33:36] » Drew. I >> Durr.

[1:33:39] » Nay >> Wifenbach.

[1:33:41] » Nay >> Ross Connect

[1:33:44] » I >> Hadcock.

[1:33:47] » Okay. So motion fails. So does that >> mean it goes back to the motion?

[1:33:52] » The original motion which is option A. >> Option A was made by Dur. Second by

[1:33:57] Wenbach. So let's do a roll call vote on that one.

[1:34:01] » Drews. Hey, >> I

[1:34:09] » may >> I motion carries 32. So, we'll move on

[1:34:13] to the next item. >> Can we take a five or 10 minute break?

[1:34:18] » Let's take a break here. >> Yep.

[1:34:19] » Okay, >> we'll take a five or 10 minute probably

[1:34:22] is going to be lean more to 10 to 12 minutes break. So,

[1:34:26] » 11 minute break. Okay, we'll compromise.

[1:34:36] Gonna get back rolling here, guys. Um, thanks for the patience. Uh, we're going

[1:34:42] to start in on some uh the item 16.

[1:34:51] Correct. Item 16, the provisional budget. So, I guess I'll give you the

[1:34:55] floor, Jordan. Is that how you want to operate that?

[1:34:57] » Absolutely. I'll at least kick us off and then as the board has questions or

[1:35:00] wants to go follow down any rabbit hole, we can dive down them as we go. Okay.

[1:35:04] » And so, as we all know, this is the statutoily mandated meeting the first

[1:35:09] Tuesday of September that we have to meet to consider the provisional budget

[1:35:12] for final adoption. It does not have to be made today, but we should decide by

[1:35:16] motion as the board, you I should say, not me, um whether or not you want to

[1:35:19] continue this to a further date or add any other special meetings as well. As a

[1:35:23] reminder, September 17th is kind of slated right now as our approval our

[1:35:28] final approval date, but if the board happened to get through everything they

[1:35:31] wanted to today, you could approve it and adopt it today. I'd just have to go

[1:35:34] type up a resolution. Um, but I had two presentations here that I wanted to

[1:35:38] definitely walk you through. And the rest of this is really just background

[1:35:42] information that if you had some questions, we can go through some of the

[1:35:45] stuff we've seen. But for sure, I wanted to at least touch base on the updates

[1:35:49] from the provisionally approved budget on where we're currently looking at

[1:35:53] personnel figures because that's the the biggest kind of well, what are we going

[1:35:56] to do about that? Because those increases can be in the millions of

[1:35:59] dollars. And so I took the loose board direction that we wanted to go ahead and

[1:36:04] look at those figures if they included a 2.5% cost of living adjustment, uh,

[1:36:09] continued step increases, and then I think it was a 5.75% health insurance

[1:36:15] increase. And that'll be the second presentation I've got is to start those

[1:36:18] conversations on healthcare because I've now finally looked into some of those

[1:36:21] numbers. And I have concerns is where I'll start with that. But let's begin

[1:36:27] with the personnel presentation that I've got here. If it'll load. There we

[1:36:31] go.

[1:36:34] So, first I wanted to give us the baseline of what was provisionally

[1:36:37] approved. And so, we compiled the data from multiple sources. is we put

[1:36:41] together a spreadsheet for personnel figures that gave us a baseline as of

[1:36:44] June 2026. That would have been the number that you did approve

[1:36:48] provisionally. And so the provisionally approved figures did not include benefit

[1:36:52] premium increases. It didn't include shift differential pay. It didn't

[1:36:55] include outofclass pay. And it didn't include any leave payouts for

[1:36:58] anticipated retirements. All of that was left off of those. No promotions,

[1:37:02] nothing like that. It was a very baseline flat number that we were going

[1:37:06] to use to then compare against these other options that part of them the

[1:37:10] board has already made by motion and the rest of it is just kind of general

[1:37:13] direction without an official motion yet. And so the provisionally approved

[1:37:17] budget for J July the personnel totaled 71,966,000

[1:37:23] and that excludes unemployment and the self- insurance fund which essentially

[1:37:27] you'd be double counting that self- insurance fund because it would be an

[1:37:31] expense in group insurance and then another expense in claims paid and

[1:37:34] everything like that in the self- insurance fund. So for the baseline

[1:37:37] figures 719 is kind of what we were looking at for personnel. And there's

[1:37:40] the breakdown of what all is included within that figure. regular wages, time

[1:37:44] of service, overtime, taxes, retirement, and group insurance. Then we looked at a

[1:37:50] really quick five-year history of actual expenditures and personnel versus what

[1:37:54] was budgeted, approved budget. And so that is the approved budget, not the

[1:37:58] final budget after they uh got any, if any, uh supplements. And so you can see

[1:38:03] the trend. We were running about 93.4% then 94.5. We're typically within that

[1:38:08] 95% of personnel spent. And the majority of what you don't see from that being

[1:38:14] unspent is typically in that group insurance line or at least historically

[1:38:18] that's where we've seen the majority of it. There have been some instances where

[1:38:21] you had salary salvage in certain budgets where they just weren't fully

[1:38:25] filled in salaries but really the biggest swing there is well we budgeted

[1:38:29] for someone on a family plan they came in and just declined coverage so now

[1:38:33] we're saving 20,000 $30,000 a year. And so that happens enough times in the

[1:38:37] county that you start to see that 95% utilization.

[1:38:41] And as you can see in 25 and 26, the budget numbers were tight and are tight.

[1:38:47] And so as we're looking at the 2027 provisionally approved budget, it is a

[1:38:52] significant increase. Not quite a million dollars, but still not nearly as

[1:38:56] as big of a jump as you were seeing when you were jumping from say 23 to 24's

[1:39:00] budget of 61.9 up to 67.7 million in personnel. And so it's started to slow

[1:39:06] down and tighten up as as the commission has given directive to kind of let's

[1:39:10] control these increases. And that's what this graph represents.

[1:39:14] And so then we look at the breakout of that provisionally approved personnel

[1:39:17] figures for 2027. And 78% of that is in salaries and wages. And that is still a

[1:39:23] little shocking to me because that is a little bit uh better than the industry

[1:39:26] standard. Usually you see benefits take up a much bigger chunk of someone's

[1:39:30] total compensation. And so to see this just means that we are definitely direct

[1:39:34] paying our employees uh more than than the the average I should say for local

[1:39:39] governments. So then we look at what we changed to

[1:39:42] the provisional. And so after the provisional budget was approved, the

[1:39:45] commission office worked with department heads again and elected officials to

[1:39:48] refine the personnel figures even further. And then do note that the

[1:39:52] following figures are compounding factors on each other. So when I present

[1:39:55] budget impacts for each of these options, those are approximate because

[1:39:59] if you pick a COLA and a step increase, they they add to each other because

[1:40:03] they're compounding. But this is some of the impacts that we looked at here for

[1:40:07] post-provisional changes. We were looking at an increase to the budget if

[1:40:10] we were to add in a 2.5% cost of living adjustment. We anticipate that about to

[1:40:15] be $1.6 million. and then continued annual step increases on the anniversary

[1:40:20] month of an employees hire date of hire, it's about $528,000. And then the

[1:40:26] insurance premiums, this is where uh we'll we'll get into this more later.

[1:40:31] Uh right now, just with about a 6% increase of current premiums both to the

[1:40:35] employee and the employer, you're looking at an extra $350,000.

[1:40:38] And then there were known changes and reductions. The sheriff came at the last

[1:40:42] meeting and offered up some cut positions and also we went with a 4%

[1:40:46] reduction. And so that 4% reduction only applied to the sheriff's budgets at that

[1:40:50] meeting, but we went ahead and applied it to the exact same departments that we

[1:40:55] did it for in 2026's budget. And so that would be the sheriff all divisions,

[1:40:59] highway, ESC 911, state's attorney's office, public defenders office, and

[1:41:04] buildings and grounds. And that amounted to a net reduction in the budget of

[1:41:09] about $2.3 million for that 4% cut just to salaries and wages. And so as we look

[1:41:14] at the total updated personnel figures, we're now rocking somewhere around 717

[1:41:21] with the ads and the subtractions. But then that means that those employees are

[1:41:25] getting that cost of living and step increases. And then there will be a

[1:41:28] known increase to insurance premiums, which I'll go through in a minute. Uh so

[1:41:33] you see that it's a change from the provisionally approved budget by.3%

[1:41:37] basically $200,000 but it is still a change from the approved 2026 budget by

[1:41:43] almost $600,000.

[1:41:47] And that is the end of the personnel spreadsheets. Any question on those

[1:41:50] figures right there? >> That is Oh sorry I will say one thing.

[1:41:56] » So you have miscellaneous. You have self-unded insurance, insurance, debt,

[1:42:00] services, transfer out, and then your total is 220689

[1:42:04] or 696. >> Which sheet are you?

[1:42:08] » I'm on looking at this one. >> Can you see it?

[1:42:12] » Oh, that one. Okay, I can. >> Can you explain the 22068696

[1:42:20] for me? >> Let's see if I can bring that up. Give

[1:42:23] me one moment. >> Thank you, Jordan. I appreciate that.

[1:42:26] And thank you by the way for uh you and Kenner's time yesterday and explaining a

[1:42:30] lot of the budget stuff as well. >> Absolutely. All right. So basically

[1:42:33] miscellaneous is stuff that doesn't necessarily fall into the major

[1:42:36] operational categories, but it still is um items that the county has to pay for.

[1:42:41] So the self-funded insurance plan is essentially double counted in a county

[1:42:45] budget because each of the individual departments have a county portion that

[1:42:49] they have to deduct from their own budgets that then go into the self-

[1:42:53] insurance fund. But we also have claims paid. We have administrative costs that

[1:42:57] those premiums are used to pay for in the self- insurance fund. And so that 10

[1:43:01] million five, that's our admin fees, that's our claims paid, that's our

[1:43:05] dental, that's our life, that's all of that stuff included that's coming out of

[1:43:09] the 603 fund, which is our self- insurance fund.

[1:43:12] » So it comes out, what's the average of the that comes out every year the last

[1:43:15] few years? Do you know? >> Are we talking about claims or the admin

[1:43:19] fees? because the admin fees are between $1.5 to $2 million and our claims have

[1:43:23] been uh staying kind of consist still going up every year but pretty

[1:43:27] consistently between uh I think the lowest in the last 5 years was $6.7

[1:43:31] million and just recently we had a $7.7 million claim year and so

[1:43:36] » so that's why I'm asking you because you you put them all in one which is 10

[1:43:40] million 531440 right

[1:43:43] » but do you have the average of like all of that through the other years meaning

[1:43:47] » we do yes we have all that broken And I am definitely working through those

[1:43:50] financial um pieces. >> And the insurance part is pay the

[1:43:55] insure. >> That $1 million of insurance that is our

[1:43:58] um usually our our property and liability insurance. That's what that

[1:44:01] is. >> Debt services.

[1:44:03] » Debt services payments on the bond. So essentially that's what that 6 million

[1:44:07] is is we had bonded that money and that's what we owe in the interest.

[1:44:11] » Okay. >> And and in principal.

[1:44:13] » Okay. And then we're going to get the interest on it. uh we still as long as

[1:44:17] we maintain that fund balance kind of uh where it was because if we spend it down

[1:44:22] then we won't get as much interest but we are still anticipating having some of

[1:44:25] that bond money left so there will be interest in in this in this budget

[1:44:29] figure. Yes. >> Yeah. Because usually it's about a

[1:44:31] million or million something. So that's going to help our bottom line. And then

[1:44:34] transfers out. >> Yep. And then the transfers out those

[1:44:37] are operational transfers out where they just have to be included as line items

[1:44:40] within the budget. It's just moving money from one fund to another fund. But

[1:44:45] it's not causing us debt. We already have it in there.

[1:44:48] » It is exactly it's a self-balancing kind of thing on the balance sheet is what it

[1:44:52] is where you take money out as an expenditure say from the general fund

[1:44:55] and then you add it as a revenue over in say the emergency management fund a

[1:44:59] restricted fund. And so payment in there is counted as a transfer.

[1:45:03] » Sorry. So basically is it the restricted plus others?

[1:45:07] » It can well I mean sometimes it goes from a restricted to a restricted. For

[1:45:10] example, the unorganized road levy is its own fund, a 200, but our road and

[1:45:16] bridge fund is the one that the expenditures come out of the 2011. So,

[1:45:19] we're transferring that full amount that we levy from the 200 into the 2011 that

[1:45:23] goes into that $4.5 million for transfers.

[1:45:26] » And those are basically washes. Yes. Okay. That's what I mean. Okay. Thank

[1:45:29] you.

[1:45:33] » Commissioner Der, you have the floor. >> Okay. Jordan, go back to your personnel

[1:45:36] if you would. >> Absolutely. [clears throat]

[1:45:42] So, I know at uh the previous meeting when we talked about this, we had some

[1:45:49] um open positions. What the average of open positions were in the county and at

[1:45:53] one point in time when that number was calculated. I believe it was 84 open

[1:45:57] positions >> at one point in time. Yes, we did have

[1:45:59] [clears throat] 84 positions. I know we do batch hiring and I think at least my

[1:46:05] comments from the dis were you know looking at those open positions and uh

[1:46:11] we might be budgeting for a full year of a position knowing that it's not going

[1:46:16] to be hired until 60 70% through the fiscal year. So why would we fund 100%.

[1:46:22] And those 84 positions at that point in time, open positions without all the

[1:46:27] taxes and everything else associated to it was a little about $4.5 million.

[1:46:33] [clears throat] So we asked, you know, what departments

[1:46:37] those would be in, and there was a discussion about departments looking

[1:46:40] internally at those positions that you have and coming forward. And it's my

[1:46:46] understanding the only one that came forward with some recommendations uh was

[1:46:51] the sheriff. >> That is correct.

[1:46:54] » So aside from some of these other calculations

[1:46:59] uh and I know that we're operating at about 95% and we cut the 4% in those

[1:47:04] major departments looking at the current end of I think the one I'd looked at

[1:47:09] that you had for the end of June. So basically halfway through the fiscal

[1:47:14] year and looking how personnel is running across the county that we're

[1:47:17] kind of doing okay even though we made that 4% cut.

[1:47:21] » So far it does seem like the budgets especially at that halfway mark were

[1:47:25] very close to 50% of where they should have been in the salaries and wages

[1:47:29] lines. And so no one seemed to be running super hot like 62% when we're

[1:47:34] half of the year through. And so payroll luckily is one of those that's fairly

[1:47:37] consistent except for specific budgets where you may have to hire in temporary

[1:47:41] seasonals stuff like that where you will see a spike in say the summer years or

[1:47:44] during the rally or or stuff like that. But we're trending on target right now

[1:47:49] » because and not only that but when we budgeted for that we only budgeted step

[1:47:53] increase in the cola and overtime. Yes, >> we did not budget the shift differential

[1:47:58] pay, all the promotions. And if you go back and look at the last year, uh so

[1:48:03] far in this fiscal year, I mean, there's we we budgeted one step increase and

[1:48:09] there's been multiple step increases given across the county costing

[1:48:15] a few hundred,000. And so the fact that they're still able

[1:48:18] to operate within the personnel budget even though we didn't budget fully in

[1:48:22] addition to uh that cut that we made, I would still like to see an analysis of

[1:48:29] those departments and where the open positions have been and look at trying

[1:48:35] to gain some of that uh and cutting in the personnel

[1:48:40] uh a little deeper for those open FTEEs that have not been filled historically.

[1:48:45] And the reason I'm saying that, well, we'll talk about when you get up to your

[1:48:49] insurance presentation.

[1:48:54] » Chair, >> Commissioner Hadco.

[1:48:57] » So, for me, just tracking the increases. Um, I talked to Jordan and Kenner about

[1:49:02] some of this. Um, it seems like it's it it's making you're

[1:49:08] showing us a lot of numbers and and I appreciate that, but we're not

[1:49:11] accountants. Um, I know how to do some of it because you already know I've been

[1:49:15] here for a while. Um, other people probably know some of it, but your

[1:49:20] bottom line is is your revenue expenditures. Um, how much bottom line

[1:49:25] you're going to need, where you're going to get it from.

[1:49:28] That's what our decisions are. Um, if we want to cut more, if we want to not cut

[1:49:34] more. Um, but it's hard to do that with not all the revenues and expenditures

[1:49:40] and those numbers at a bottom line right now. So I know you're showing us all

[1:49:46] this and I appreciate that, but a lot of times when you're when you're doing this

[1:49:51] and you have five commissioners, not everybody's going to understand all the

[1:49:55] budget stuff. It takes you a bit. Um, but most people understand revenue and

[1:50:00] expenditures, right? So,

[1:50:04] um I don't the last I heard and we just talked about it was 46, now it's 49. Um

[1:50:10] I know we need some money for um um self assured and I get that. I don't

[1:50:16] know what that percentage should be. Um it looks like from an average it was

[1:50:21] probably 4%. Um I know in 23 it was 6% and then it was you know at one time 2%

[1:50:29] uh one time 10%. Um it'd be nice to know before we decide at 6% or 2% or or what

[1:50:39] these cuts should be all those other numbers and then you could actually come

[1:50:43] to a bottom line for self-insured and then if you want to make more cuts

[1:50:47] looking into people other people's budgets about and not that I'm against

[1:50:51] that for positions that have been open two years or a year or whatever or

[1:50:58] making it like Jerry said you know if you're not going to hire till August,

[1:51:02] you know, that's a big that's a big difference in your budget um when you've

[1:51:07] put it down for all year plus their benefits and everything else. So, I'm

[1:51:11] getting all that, but I'd like to know now what's kind of the normal stuff is

[1:51:18] where we're at. I we got provisional and that's not even close because it's

[1:51:22] changed five times since then. Um but um you're making a hard time tracking even

[1:51:27] as a commissioner where we're going with it when we don't know the numbers. So if

[1:51:32] we can have some some it doesn't have to have bottom line numbers but some of

[1:51:36] these numbers about how much we're needing because that's going to make a

[1:51:40] huge difference if we're taking gross CPI stored CPI

[1:51:44] um instead of just cutting a bunch of services and cutting a bunch of people

[1:51:49] in between. So, um, my bottom line is, um, show us some numbers. Show us the

[1:51:54] interest. Haven't seen the tiff interest yet. Maybe we need to get the auditor

[1:51:58] involved in some of this, uh, budget process because maybe that's going to

[1:52:02] help with those numbers, Jordan. Maybe you already have had the the auditor

[1:52:07] where you had to ask her questions. But some of those, uh, things might be

[1:52:10] easier to run through auditor's office and then bring back with a with a

[1:52:15] definite amount. So, um, I just keep seeing them changing and when you're

[1:52:21] trying to run a budget as a department head and they don't know where they're

[1:52:25] going. I mean, we set budget. I get that. I got we got we set budget, but um

[1:52:31] if I'm a department head and I'm only in a commissioner, this is driving me

[1:52:35] absolutely nuts. >> Try to figure this out. And this is last

[1:52:39] year I got it. Last year I got it. We were trying to cut. We needed to get

[1:52:43] that that 8 million down. We got to we got to be more defined and a little bit

[1:52:48] closer in July. You should almost be where we need to be. We I understand we

[1:52:52] had a cyber incident stuff, but I had paper and was still being able to run

[1:52:56] about the same numbers that you guys came up with. So, um I just like the

[1:53:00] clarification and the stuff. Either we start earlier on what we're doing or do

[1:53:05] something different to end this in September is about the craziest thing

[1:53:10] I've ever seen. uh trying to get these numbers and trying to figure it out as

[1:53:13] commissioner uh where I'm going, let alone uh be up straight as a department

[1:53:18] head, you're just I'm pretty sure they're just freaking them out. Okay,

[1:53:22] that's my opinion just by listening to people and what they're trying to figure

[1:53:26] out on their budgets. Um it it's and I don't mean as attack or

[1:53:31] anything bad on you Jordan because and and Kenner because you've been good with

[1:53:34] me and and learning all this stuff and getting through this, but um I don't I

[1:53:40] don't think you need a computer to figure out some of this stuff. Some of

[1:53:44] it you should actually go, okay, based on these numbers that we have right now,

[1:53:49] we we have to do some more cuts, department heads, we're going to have to

[1:53:52] look at your two-year, one year. And Jerry just gave my heads up. I get it,

[1:53:55] but it's September. So, if we could do it a little bit

[1:53:59] different or maybe get ahead of the game next year, if it's going to take us

[1:54:02] longer, Jordan, maybe that's what we need to do. And I'm not against that. I

[1:54:06] don't think anybody because you're going to have two new commissioners.

[1:54:09] » Anybody's [clears throat] going to be against that. So, by July, we got

[1:54:11] somewhat of an inkling. And then by August, hopefully hit it, hit the ground

[1:54:16] running, okay, this is what we're doing. That way, they have more of a heads up

[1:54:19] and so do we of how our budget's going to look. So just just suggestions, not

[1:54:24] like you suck or anything, but that's a weird word, but yeah. Um, very

[1:54:29] confusing. >> Getting better though. Thank you,

[1:54:31] » Mr. Chair. Commissioner D. >> Yeah. So, I'm going to make a few

[1:54:35] comments here. This is the same information in addition to a little bit

[1:54:38] more that was presented last year during the budget and [clears throat]

[1:54:43] it was given nothing but accolades about how great the information is. First time

[1:54:46] we've ever seen it. There was also comments about we don't want to approve

[1:54:51] a budget and make major changes until the last meeting because then we don't

[1:54:56] give people time to talk about it. And that was a comment from a commissioner.

[1:55:00] And so as I look at the budget information, this is all the information

[1:55:05] I'm looking at and it shows if you just go back to the general fund, it's

[1:55:10] showing that we would have to move money into the general fund of about 5

[1:55:15] million. So, the total transfers and everything,

[1:55:19] getting back to what Commissioner Hadcock just went through,

[1:55:22] [clears throat] uh, you get down to this is, you know, this is legislative

[1:55:27] audits, budget accounting. It's not like we created this. It's how it's got to be

[1:55:31] in the books when the auditor sends the budget off to the state. And so, you

[1:55:35] have to show into those areas. And if you have a I think you have a breakout

[1:55:39] of applied cash. >> Uh, yeah, but I don't know if

[1:55:44] » by fund. So anyway on this one it's showing you know where you have to make

[1:55:47] transfers and these are all you know governmental accounting where you have

[1:55:50] to make these transfers and some of these yes have restricted funds that

[1:55:55] have reserves and you're moving it. It doesn't mean that we don't have the

[1:55:58] money but it's it's a it's called applied cash to make that fund balance

[1:56:03] for the expenditures. you have to move that money and we do have restricted

[1:56:07] funds in the county that do levy and they have to they have to be supported

[1:56:13] by the general fund and so you have to make those so if you're levying a

[1:56:17] certain amount it doesn't cover what the expenditures are or the operational

[1:56:21] costs then you're moving money out of the general fund into that fund to make

[1:56:27] it balance and so the one that I think we need to hone in on is the fact that

[1:56:33] the general fund is just shy of uh supporting itself by about $5

[1:56:38] million. [clears throat] And when we look at the growth in the

[1:56:41] CPI, and I think Jordan's got the numbers of the growth in the CPI, what

[1:56:45] that would cost of the taxpayers. Last year, we bank CPI. And I'm not looking

[1:56:52] at uh I don't want to take CPI this year. I'm looking at just taking growth.

[1:56:58] Growth is one of those if you don't take, you lose that growth forever. But

[1:57:01] uh so I'm looking at the growth and if you plug those numbers in and Jordan

[1:57:06] could finish his presentation, but a couple of comments that I have as I go

[1:57:12] through here because I'm looking at the information and again I'm going to say

[1:57:15] that nobody in the county could get into our financial module for [clears throat]

[1:57:20] nearly six weeks to look at our books and accounting and uh to run reports and

[1:57:27] numbers. So, we were six weeks of not being able to get into our computers and

[1:57:32] financial modules uh because the system was down. And so, it's a little bit

[1:57:39] different uh you know, in this budget process.

[1:57:42] And you just heard it, you know, this morning from the treasur and the auditor

[1:57:47] trying to, you know, balance the books across the county and we didn't even

[1:57:51] have, you know, cashiering and and receding in in the treasur's office. And

[1:57:55] so anyway, I appreciate the information and the budget information. I, you know,

[1:58:00] with what we've had to work with and trying to get through this, I you know,

[1:58:04] it's I I understand it. It's uh and I appreciate the effort. So,

[1:58:09] » cheer >> commissioner head.

[1:58:11] » So, I'm not saying what they're doing is wrong. I'm saying there's a better way

[1:58:14] that now that we went through the learning curve last year and and I

[1:58:19] agreed last year it was good, too, because we're going through a learning

[1:58:21] curve. We were trying to find stuff out and we waited till the last time because

[1:58:26] you know Jordan Kenner we basically worked through every day to try to get

[1:58:30] that done. I got it. So then I understand also our computers went down

[1:58:36] but if I can still figure it out on paper that we're about and I told you I

[1:58:40] got like 4 something almost 5 million as well and that you're coming up with five

[1:58:45] million. Um it didn't take me to be a rocket scientist or accountant to do

[1:58:50] that. Now then you take that 5 million and then you can have discussions about

[1:58:56] cutting stuff. You don't need a paper with numbers on it. Then you start with

[1:59:00] your commission because we are the board. We are the budget and you say

[1:59:04] just like we did. We start with library. We start with all those ones that

[1:59:08] basically you don't want anymore. Okay, I got it. Or then you look at the ones

[1:59:12] you do want. Then you take those numbers on or off added to the five or whatever,

[1:59:18] right? Or off. And then you keep bringing it down. And then you decide,

[1:59:23] okay, you could take CPI and ask the board, do you want CPI growth and CPI uh

[1:59:28] banked, you can put that in there. You can always take it off later, right?

[1:59:33] Once we decide we do other cuts and then by those numbers, you have something to

[1:59:39] work with to a certain extent. Then you're going to add maybe

[1:59:42] self-infunded's going to come in and you're going to have it's how it works.

[1:59:46] It's a good explanation of how to do a budget with people that are just making

[1:59:50] decisions on revenues and expenditures, right? And it simplifies it without me

[1:59:57] having to know all this. And it and it simplifies it for people coming in. Not

[2:00:01] because you're doing anything wrong. I'll keep saying that is we can do it a

[2:00:05] little bit better with those numbers and not seeing all that. just tell us okay

[2:00:11] what I've seen and Jerry will come in like he said and I'm not against that or

[2:00:14] Ron or whoever and say we have leave we have other stuff we have to look at this

[2:00:18] so now we're at five okay or we're at 4.9 now [snorts] what do we need to do

[2:00:24] I'd rather have it and I think when you're when you're commissioners and

[2:00:28] maybe I'm wrong um you need to know the bottom lines and where we're going

[2:00:32] whether it's Jerry wants to cut library and Debbie wants to cut who knows I

[2:00:38] don't I want to got 10 more employees. So, let's look at that. Um, it's a lot

[2:00:44] simpler than keep going through this and then continuing to do what?

[2:00:50] To figure it out by September, the end of September. So, just just food for

[2:00:56] thought when you're doing budgets. Um, it's you're the rocket scientists, you

[2:01:01] and Ter get the numbers and what you're doing. We are the ones that make final

[2:01:04] decisions. That's that's the bottom line. Show the expenditures. showed the

[2:01:08] revenues and and then give these guys that are listening whether it's public

[2:01:12] or otherwise kind of what we're thinking so they can have a intelligent

[2:01:15] conversation about what we're doing to their budgets or even the public saying

[2:01:19] you guys are kicking butt. Hey don't take my library whatever. Um leaving it

[2:01:24] to the last minute doesn't give a lot of people and and I like do I like hearing

[2:01:28] what they have to say whether it's public or or department heads or

[2:01:31] employees um to make a good decision. by then it's hard for me to make one

[2:01:36] personally because we're we're at the la the last minutes.

[2:01:42] So, anything we can do a little bit different to figure those and come up

[2:01:46] with some of that stuff. Like I said, I can come up with the basics of almost

[2:01:50] 4.8 4.9 myself just on paper. >> Um it seems like we could simplify it

[2:01:57] just a little bit different. And yeah, I'm not saying you did anything wrong.

[2:02:00] I'm saying we could do a little bit better just from being in here and

[2:02:02] watching budgets for years. Thank you, >> Mr. Chair. Could Jordan proceed with

[2:02:09] this presentation? >> Yep, that's Jordan.

[2:02:11] » All right. And actually, I'm going to enlist the aid of the HR director for

[2:02:14] this next one. This is going to be a quick analysis of our healthcare, the

[2:02:18] 2027 kind of initial renewals here. So, if Melissa would like to come up here,

[2:02:24] » Miss Melissa, >> we've been working together with uh our

[2:02:28] Wellmark rep and other other uh people to try to make sure that we get a better

[2:02:32] picture of kind of where the self- insurance fund is right now.

[2:02:36] » Yeah. And and today is just the uh formal renewal discussion. You know, we

[2:02:42] are just providing the historical information, enrollment information. So,

[2:02:46] no board action is requested today. We just wanted to give you guys a picture

[2:02:50] of where the fund stands today and some background and context there. So the the

[2:02:56] plan currently has an average enrollment of a little over a thousand individuals.

[2:03:00] And of that 54% are employees, 17% are spouses, and 29%

[2:03:06] are dependent. So this will be important as we evaluate the 2027 renewal. And the

[2:03:13] demographics will also help us understand the overall size and

[2:03:16] composition of the of the self- insurance fund we're supporting as we

[2:03:20] balance the affordability for employees and the financial stability of the

[2:03:25] county. So I'm going to hand it off to Jordan here and talk about the next

[2:03:29] slide. >> All right. And so as that first slide

[2:03:31] showed, we had 1,50 total people on members on the plan basically. So you

[2:03:36] would think 54% are employees. That means they would take up 54% of the

[2:03:40] claims paid. As we're learning, it's actually the employees are taking more,

[2:03:44] which is not not always as typical as what you see in standard plans.

[2:03:47] Typically, we see a lot more of the spouses hitting the plans than the

[2:03:51] actual employees. But this is a pretty good utilization, I would say. Um, you

[2:03:54] can see that the spouses, they account for 17% of the population, but they're

[2:03:58] taking 24% of the claims. That is something you typically see with these

[2:04:02] health insurance plans. And so, as we look at all this and we think, okay,

[2:04:05] $3.6 million in six months, that's what has hit the self- insurance fund. self-

[2:04:10] insurance fund, we would anticipate it probably be about double that then by

[2:04:14] the end of the year. So, we're looking at expected claims of approximately $7.2

[2:04:17] million. Um, the average monthly claims that we'd paid over the past four years

[2:04:22] on average again is $561,000 a month. So, that's every month those claims go

[2:04:27] out. We actually pay them weekly and then there's a monthly settlement at the

[2:04:30] very end of the month to make sure if we had some credits, they give some back.

[2:04:33] If they had extras, we we pay up and settle up every month. And so we only

[2:04:37] wanted to bring this to your attention because of the fact that on the next

[2:04:40] slide I'm going to mention that the industry be best practice recommends

[2:04:45] that an organization of our size maintains a fund balance equal to six

[2:04:49] months of those actual monthly claims. And so if we were to take our 4-year

[2:04:53] average, then we're looking at approximately $3.4 $4 million that we

[2:04:56] want sitting in that fund so that we can comfortably say even if something went

[2:05:01] wrong, even if we had another cyber incident that maybe it took out even

[2:05:05] more of our computers, we could still have money in the bank to pay the claims

[2:05:08] for when people go to a provider. We want to make sure that they're able to

[2:05:12] use their benefits. And so that's typically what they like to see is about

[2:05:15] 6 months because that can usually float some of those really sharp downward

[2:05:19] turns and then you can build it back up within time and not have to really freak

[2:05:23] out about, oh no, we're in the negative balance now. we have to borrow from the

[2:05:25] general fund to try to supplement things. So this that's just industry

[2:05:29] best standard is what they're recommending.

[2:05:30] » Jordan, I can interrupt you for a second. This chart will show us from

[2:05:33] 2020 2014 to 2025 what that balance was. Is that correct?

[2:05:38] » Essentially, this is the average balance throughout the whole year. And so the

[2:05:41] starting and the ending are higher and lower than this, but yes, every year

[2:05:45] this was what our balance was. >> Okay. So we're at 1.1 now and we really

[2:05:50] should be at 3.4. >> 3.4 is where we're hoping to get to. And

[2:05:54] we understand that that's a pretty big significant gap. As you can see, one of

[2:05:58] the biggest jumps we had from year to year was about $600,000 in a really good

[2:06:02] year. And so we know even if we make drastic changes to the plan, we're

[2:06:06] probably not going to be getting a million, $2 million in a year, we're

[2:06:10] going to try to build the fund slowly over a period of Melissa mentioned that

[2:06:14] to me earlier, but going back looking at 2021 to 2023, so two years,

[2:06:20] » we did something wrong. It may not have been that we did something wrong. It

[2:06:24] could have been that the utilization actually was trending a little bit

[2:06:27] differently. And so as we look at this slide right here, we can see that for a

[2:06:31] period we were doing pretty well. We were building the fund. We were getting

[2:06:33] comfortable with where the balance was headed. And so from 2014 to 2024, there

[2:06:38] were no increases to premiums. And so it's possible that as the downward trend

[2:06:43] started, they started make the healthcare trust board was in charge of

[2:06:45] it at the time. and they started making plan changes to try to mitigate some of

[2:06:49] those fund balance decreases because they were seeing that trend coming back

[2:06:52] down and they were trying to take the corrective actions without necessarily

[2:06:55] passing those costs. >> This chart shows us the increases in

[2:06:58] that time frame zero and then 23 to 246 24 to 25. Okay.

[2:07:04] » Yep. And so that's when premium started increasing. Plan changes continued and

[2:07:08] so they started taking corrective action but it doesn't look like we're trending

[2:07:12] up as well as we'd like to at the moment. We we'll know more as we finish

[2:07:16] out this year as to whether or not we're we're still kind of maintaining the

[2:07:19] similar trends as these recent years. And so we're going to keep an eye on all

[2:07:22] that and keep everyone updated as to what our recommendations then would be

[2:07:26] just to try to make sure that we have a healthy fund.

[2:07:29] » Question you again. Thank you, chair. So the

[2:07:33] three to 3.4 million is not for this year. It's it's to trend back up in the

[2:07:38] next three years to try to get up to 3.4.

[2:07:41] » Yes. because we don't feel it's going to be realistic to try to say let's just

[2:07:44] influx real quick $2.5 million into the fund one time. We want to make sure that

[2:07:48] the plan and the premiums are supporting the fund year-over-year because if we

[2:07:52] said okay no increases and we'll just do a general fund transfer of shoot the the

[2:07:56] 5.4 million for the St. Joe Street sale. We'll just put it all into the self

[2:07:59] insurance fund but we didn't change our premiums that means we're going to just

[2:08:02] keep seeing that downward trend back to where where we're at right now. And so

[2:08:06] we want to do some more responsible corrective changes incrementally and try

[2:08:10] to get that in a couple of years. And I think Melissa and I had floated the idea

[2:08:13] maybe 3 to 5 years is a decent enough goal to try to get us much closer than

[2:08:18] where we're at. >> I'm thinking about a million this year.

[2:08:20] Is that what you were saying earlier? >> Well, yes. Um, so the current the the

[2:08:24] current financial figures I've been working on to try to tweak some of the

[2:08:27] premiums and make sure that it's not too big of an increase to employees, too big

[2:08:30] of an increase to the employer still could impact the county budget by

[2:08:34] increasing the payments that we would be making into the fund by about a million

[2:08:37] dollars for the county's portion of it. And then I think it was around a 6 to 7%

[2:08:41] increase for employees as I'm currently running numbers, but none of that is

[2:08:43] finalized. That's all going to be talked about on the 17th.

[2:08:47] » We also can increase some of the premiums. It doesn't have to be for the

[2:08:50] million. You can also put some in on that from general fund to increase it as

[2:08:56] well which we have done before. >> Yes. Okay. Those Yeah, those one time

[2:08:59] influxes. >> Okay. Thank

[2:09:02] » All right. And so the last I don't think I skipped anything on this that I wanted

[2:09:05] to go over. So I think that was pretty good other than it was interesting just

[2:09:08] from a statistical standpoint is that 72% of our members don't even have

[2:09:13] $2,500 in annual claims. So it's about that we have 72% of our people not

[2:09:17] really using it that much. 13 individuals account for 34% of our

[2:09:22] claims. And that's uh that's pretty standard. You see that in in these plans

[2:09:26] is that it's always going to be a couple high utilizations that really drive

[2:09:30] those claims to where they're at. And we don't want to penalize them for using

[2:09:34] the plan if they need it. That's the big thing. Um so the last two slides here

[2:09:39] I'm going to throw back to Melissa if she's willing to talk on the renewal

[2:09:42] talking points we've got so far. >> Yeah. And just from the 2027 renewal,

[2:09:47] you know, we we'll look at establishing a premium structure that's sustainable

[2:09:51] over time. So whether that be over the course of the next three to five years,

[2:09:55] we don't want to impact the employees too significantly nor the county. So um

[2:10:01] you could see the Walmart came in at about 5.75 renewal. Um, so as we look at

[2:10:07] the approach going forward, we'll uh avoid creating any significant one-year

[2:10:13] financial burden for employees or the county. Uh, avoid placing an unnecessary

[2:10:17] financial burden for us and then just really rebuilding that self- insurance

[2:10:22] fund. So, we'll look at different plan designs this coming year, the 2027, and

[2:10:28] contribution structures as we move forward.

[2:10:33] So today again it's just really to educate you guys where the plan stands

[2:10:38] today. Uh so no nothing no action from you guys today. Just wanted to give you

[2:10:43] that information. And then on September 17th we'll bring forward alternative

[2:10:48] plan designs for you guys to review. Uh employee and employer premium

[2:10:52] contributions what that impact will be to the county budget. Uh and then any

[2:10:57] impact on employees. and then October uh 6 will be the final approval from you

[2:11:03] guys. >> Yeah. So, essentially what we're going

[2:11:07] to be looking at at September 17th's meeting um or if we have any other

[2:11:11] special budget hearing scheduled after that between that and the 30th is at

[2:11:14] least making sure that we've got enough money in the budget that we're going to

[2:11:18] be able to handle whatever final decision the board makes on the plan

[2:11:22] design on October 6th. And we need that October 6th to be a pretty firm deadline

[2:11:27] because we're starting open enrollment like a week or two after that. And so we

[2:11:31] need to make sure that we have enough time to educate the employees as to what

[2:11:34] if any changes were made to the plan premiums. And so we can separate the two

[2:11:39] sort of in that we can finalize a budget saying, "Okay, well at least in the

[2:11:44] budget we're comfortable with this number because we're hoping the

[2:11:47] liability will come in under that." And then afterwards we can say, "Okay,

[2:11:51] budget's been set." And so we know we've got all this wiggle room to play with.

[2:11:54] Where is our comfort level on setting the final attachment points as to what

[2:11:57] the county pays, what the employees play, and and what the plan ends up

[2:12:01] being if that makes sense. Melissa and Jordan um having this conversation about

[2:12:06] with Wellmark, are they offering up some options maybe that we introduce uh

[2:12:13] health savings plans and maybe have contributions by the county to actually

[2:12:18] increase like deductibles but yet have money available tax-free or whatever

[2:12:23] that we can offset because sometimes and I think Commissioner Dur alluded to this

[2:12:28] prior about the benefits of having a a taxdeductible plan,

[2:12:34] you know, saves money in the long run because if they're paying So, is that

[2:12:39] something that's on the table with Walmart? Are we that far along?

[2:12:42] » Yeah, that that is one of the recommendations we'll have in there is a

[2:12:46] contribution to the HSA. >> Okay.

[2:12:49] » Okay. Perfect. >> And for the timeline, Wellar didn't

[2:12:51] promise promise, but they're going to get as many of these alternates that

[2:12:54] we've asked for by >> One of the things I noticed was that the

[2:12:56] the lower utilization's not even they're not even hitting 2500,

[2:13:00] » right? So, I mean, what difference to them if it would be 5,000 and there was

[2:13:05] a, you know, a provision there somewhere that there was a a fund that was

[2:13:09] available for >> an HSA that maybe the employer could

[2:13:13] » they could also do >> a contribution tax-free that would

[2:13:17] actually lower their cost. So, I guess it's a okay

[2:13:20] » chair commissioner. So I was in the conversation because we had a department

[2:13:25] head meeting with the wellmark lady who's very good at what she does and she

[2:13:29] did you're right commissioner Wimbach she offered up a bunch of different

[2:13:34] areas that we can change or those remember those higher or lower

[2:13:38] deductible people might go higher just because of what that information we just

[2:13:42] learned like you just said at the 2500 they might raise it up not because of

[2:13:47] the amount but amount that they use it in the long run. So, um, she was really

[2:13:53] good at what she did in the in the wellmarked presentation, but I'd also

[2:13:56] like to know if any of the department heads had any, um, information that they

[2:14:01] wanted to share since they've been in that meeting because that might be a

[2:14:05] huge difference for the self-insured as well. So, maybe if we [snorts] had a

[2:14:09] minute for people to department heads if they have any interest on the

[2:14:12] self-insured and what they're thinking on it.

[2:14:16] Thank you. Yeah. >> Thank you,

[2:14:20] » Mr. [clears throat] Chair. >> Yep. Commissioner,

[2:14:22] » I still have a couple questions for >> Oh, Melissa Melissa,

[2:14:26] » Commissioner Dur had a couple questions for you.

[2:14:30] » Commissioner Dur, you had the floor, sir.

[2:14:32] So getting back to the funding level and one of the things we had talked about

[2:14:37] before you [clears throat] got here earlier in the spring and we looked at

[2:14:41] there were discussions about the contribution on the county side into the

[2:14:45] fund and what [clears throat] percent the

[2:14:48] county is paying on the family plan. Let's just call it a family plan and a

[2:14:53] single plan. And I believe anyway that we're kind of under the market trend as

[2:14:58] to what the county's contribution would be on that. So do you have some

[2:15:02] comments? >> Yeah, we are below the industry

[2:15:04] standards there and I think that is one of the recommendations, one of the many

[2:15:09] that we'll recommend is increasing that a little bit so we [clears throat] can

[2:15:13] get closer to that. It might not be the full amount, but maybe even a half a

[2:15:18] percent closer to that each year. We could look at that, but that's that's

[2:15:22] one of the goals is to get closer to the industry.

[2:15:25] » Okay? Because if we and again if we were to move the county's contribution up

[2:15:31] when we're talking about the dollars that need to be collected to put into

[2:15:34] that fund. So if we're talking about let's just say a 6% increase then we

[2:15:39] could absorb some of that and offset that to the employees and not have that

[2:15:43] all fall onto them. >> Right.

[2:15:45] » Okay. And then um last year and I've mentioned it a couple times and I did

[2:15:51] talk to the HR staff, you know, was discussed at a meeting here prior to you

[2:15:55] getting hired, but I wanted to look at uh Delta Dental. And so currently we

[2:16:00] have a $1,000 deductible on Delta Dental. And um I'd ask them to reach out

[2:16:05] to Delta to see I'm curious what the utilization of the plan is and uh to

[2:16:12] look at having that out-of- pocket max go not the deductible but the out-of-

[2:16:17] pocket max go from a,000 to 2,000 what that would cost.

[2:16:21] And then there was a question I also had about our life insurance. if we

[2:16:25] increased what the county uh the dollar amount increased our life insurance

[2:16:30] currently I think is 10 and a lot of entities have a base plan

[2:16:37] of 50 >> okay

[2:16:39] » and so and my comment about Delta Dental is [clears throat]

[2:16:43] when you get your renewal rate and then again years of service you kind of get

[2:16:47] locked in and so you're not absorbing a whole increase but uh when you have the

[2:16:51] market trend and you're at a high utilization at market trend and and then

[2:16:55] you can raise that out-of- pocket maximum up a little bit which a lot of

[2:16:59] the times doesn't cost a lot [clears throat] but when you go to get

[2:17:02] your renewal uh you know you're not hitting that market trend and so you're

[2:17:06] getting a better renewal rate and it's a little different than our you know it's

[2:17:11] basically fully funded you know we're only paying what they we're not managing

[2:17:15] it >> right

[2:17:16] » like the self- insurance fund but a couple of those things I'm just curious

[2:17:19] on the Delta Dentl what our utilization is what the $1,000 out of pocket and

[2:17:24] what it look like uh to double that. >> I do have the utilization breakdown. I

[2:17:29] can get that to you. Get that to everybody.

[2:17:31] » Yeah, I think it would be good just for the board to see what the utilization is

[2:17:34] just like this one to see a breakout of the utilization and how close we are to

[2:17:39] market trend. And that's one thing that I noticed when I came on the commission

[2:17:43] that the county share is kind of lower than a lot of other counties and

[2:17:48] municipalities on the percentage that we're paying of those plans.

[2:17:52] » Okay. And if I

[2:17:55] » just just one thing, Jordan, it's in the budgets. So how much is this changing

[2:18:01] the budgets once you change the the plans? Is it a big difference? That's

[2:18:06] why I'm saying I hear you. That's going to be another effect that you're going

[2:18:10] to have to change for department heads that it's hard to do

[2:18:15] in a month or two weeks whenever when we do our changes and how much are those

[2:18:18] changes and maybe it's not but um because you're not going to find out

[2:18:22] till October 6th. So there's nothing you could do about that Jordan but just food

[2:18:28] for thought for department heads or otherwise there's another area that

[2:18:31] that's going to change our budgets for 27 either good bad or ugly.

[2:18:37] Uh yeah, sorry. I just wanted to give additional information on Commissioner

[2:18:40] Dur's points there because Melissa did look up some of the Bureau of Labor

[2:18:43] Statistics information on employer versus employee paid in the percentages

[2:18:47] there. And what we found is that industry standard, especially for local

[2:18:51] governmental agencies, the employer typically pays between 85 to 90% of an

[2:18:56] employeeonly plan and between 75 and 80% of a family plan. And for reference, we

[2:19:02] currently in 2026 are paying roughly about 83% so of the single plan and all

[2:19:09] about 65 a.5% for the family plan. So we're under potentially even 10% on a

[2:19:14] family plan if we were going off of this bureau BLS um statistics on employer

[2:19:20] employee pays.

[2:19:28] » Yeah. Yeah, and thank you Melissa for providing that information. That was

[2:19:34] » Anything else on that? >> Okay, so that's all I had really to say.

[2:19:37] » Thank you. >> That's the doom and gloom for the

[2:19:40] healthcare plan. No, it should be all right. We're just going to make sure

[2:19:42] that we're uh keeping an eye on it. >> No doom and gloom here, brother. So,

[2:19:46] let's uh go move on, Jordan. >> All right. And then the other

[2:19:50] presentation I've got here was requested by Commissioner Hadcock. She just wanted

[2:19:53] to see a little bit of a breakdown in our revenues. There's not a whole lot

[2:19:56] here that I need to go through because the uh the numbers are pretty much

[2:19:59] self-evident here. This kind of gives us just a breakdown of where our means of

[2:20:03] finance come through, what our revenues all go into. And so, as we talked about,

[2:20:08] um Commissioner Hadcock rightfully asked, hey, those other financing

[2:20:11] sources, you see 4.7 in there. What all is that? That's the revenue side of

[2:20:15] those operating transfers. And so, that is once again just one of those numbers

[2:20:18] that gets added to the total. So, when we look at that grand total of $137

[2:20:22] million, that's the means of finance. That's not our revenues really because

[2:20:26] we're also then saying, well, cash balance applied is going to be 9 million

[2:20:29] of that. And then we've got our other financing sources which are just

[2:20:32] transfers within the county's budget but from a restricted fund or a

[2:20:36] non-restricted fund to a different fund. And so some of that information is a

[2:20:39] little bit double tapped there. But as you can see, you could take down that

[2:20:43] 137 by 13.7 million. And so you're much much closer to roughly about 125 million

[2:20:50] is what I'd say in revenues that we currently have on the books. Um, and

[2:20:54] then I wanted to give a quick snapshot of the top 10 line items. Number 10 is

[2:21:00] federal PIL dollars that we get 2 million on that. Number nine is the 911

[2:21:04] remittances. That's our um money from state, right? Yeah. And the uh the feds

[2:21:10] on our 911 stuff. Uh but you can see here property tax and this included

[2:21:14] everything. Property tax really is our number one and our number two. But then

[2:21:18] we start to see other other sources of income um other sources of revenue start

[2:21:23] to plug in some of those gaps because sure 51 million is all going into the

[2:21:27] general fund for our tax levy but then as we look even motor vehicle you got

[2:21:31] 3.7 for some of that stuff 3.6 for the wheel tax the local government highway

[2:21:35] bridge 2.9. So millions of dollars are not necessarily property tax and that's

[2:21:40] what's definitely supporting our budget. And so you can see current property tax

[2:21:45] is sitting at 63.3. But then as we look our charges for goods and services is 33

[2:21:50] million and any intergovernmental revenue which is where that tilt stuff

[2:21:53] would fall or any other agreements we have with cities and and counties town.

[2:21:57] » Jordan, can you take a minute to explain cash balance supplied?

[2:22:00] » Sure. The cash balance applied is a number that we have to do in order to

[2:22:04] ensure that all of our our uh funds are in the positive. So basically, if we've

[2:22:10] got expenditures that are exceeding revenues within a specific fund, you

[2:22:13] have to apply a balance of cash. Some of that is fund balance, we can call them

[2:22:17] kind of for for for thought purposes reserves is that they've been sitting on

[2:22:21] this fund balance saving up for usually specific purposes and now they're going

[2:22:26] to be spending from those funds to get down to uh you know the their balanced

[2:22:30] budget where it's not necessarily the revenues are meeting the expenditures.

[2:22:34] It's that the revenues plus whatever fund balance we're trying to apply, the

[2:22:37] cash balance applied to the budget will meet what our our budgeted expenditures

[2:22:41] are. And so half of that is going to be well a little bit more than half of that

[2:22:44] is going to be from the general fund though and that's not a restricted fund.

[2:22:47] That is coming from the general fund reserves to balance the current

[2:22:51] anticipated appropriations which are >> you're saying that number is roughly

[2:22:54] four and a half. >> It's about four 4.8 is where we're

[2:22:57] looking right now. So a little bit more than half.

[2:23:00] » And then that takes the reserve to what percent? That would take it down to I

[2:23:04] had that sheet open just a second ago. >> Tony.

[2:23:09] » Yeah. And if again the numbers I'm mentioning here do not include that 5.4

[2:23:14] million for the St. Joe Street building. That's that's not included here. I have

[2:23:17] those figures ready somewhere but uh they were not included when we were

[2:23:21] preparing these numbers. Um so we're looking at a 26% basically um reserve

[2:23:28] balance. what what our target is. >> The target has historically been between

[2:23:33] 20 and 25 is where the board has kind of set it. That's that's just generally

[2:23:36] where we feel comfortable um as a county. And so I think yeah, last year I

[2:23:41] believe the board made a a goal I should say, not a motion, they made a goal to

[2:23:45] say let's keep that around that 25%. >> And then we haven't um I think it the um

[2:23:51] growth and the CPI were brought up. Is that something that's going to be coming

[2:23:54] up in your presentation here? >> Uh no. Oh yes, it was actually. And yep,

[2:23:58] that was in the revenue presentation. That is correct. Um, and so we did not

[2:24:03] incorporate growth or CPI or bankked CPI into the numbers we have presented here

[2:24:08] on those appendixes. So all of that is potential additional revenue that you

[2:24:13] could add into our budget calculations and and then that would offset some of

[2:24:18] that cash balance applied. So as we look at our levy options here, the

[2:24:22] provisionally approved revenue was current 2026 year. So that's that's the

[2:24:27] the current 26 we just rolled over to the provisionally approved 2027 budget.

[2:24:32] However, you can take obviously any increases or decreases the board wants

[2:24:35] to look at as from our preliminary numbers and these were a little bit

[2:24:39] tough to get because I know that equalization and auditor's office

[2:24:42] haven't had access to real estate data for getting all these total valuations

[2:24:45] until very recently. So we're still working on making sure these are as

[2:24:49] accurate as possible before we you know finalize this. But what we were seeing

[2:24:52] is that the average growth throughout all the categories within the county is

[2:24:56] almost 2%. And so that would be a potential $1.2 million increase to

[2:25:00] revenues. And then our CPI for this year, as we know, is 2.5%. And then we

[2:25:05] did bank our CPI from last year, didn't spend it, and we can hold that for up to

[2:25:09] three years. So this would be year number two for that bank CPI of 2.9%.

[2:25:14] » And the other question I had, is there any tiffs that are rolling off here that

[2:25:17] are any of any significance? I asked the auditor and she was not aware of

[2:25:21] anything that was going to really significantly hit our books. And so

[2:25:24] we're not we're not certain that there's going to be

[2:25:26] » that number is not considered in the growth then

[2:25:28] » it is not no or unless they were scheduled to be paid

[2:25:33] off if if it was like oh it's an early paid off tiff and now they're going to

[2:25:35] hit the books. That is not something that calculated

[2:25:39] » if we it would I think it would do detrimental harm if we didn't take the

[2:25:44] growth >> because you can't get the growth back.

[2:25:47] if you don't take the growth >> just for the fact that that's you know

[2:25:50] factored into what's happening on a daily basis but uh so

[2:25:54] » so chair >> yes commissioner hack

[2:25:56] » so it'd be nice to know what the levies are once you do the increase if you take

[2:26:00] growth only only what is the increase what is the growth in CPI meaning if you

[2:26:05] took it um and brought down that 4.8 eight more.

[2:26:09] It'd be nice to know what the levy or what the taxpayer is paying because I

[2:26:12] know the increase is not what the levy is. We talked about that yesterday,

[2:26:16] Jordan. >> Yes.

[2:26:17] » Um just because if it's $4 increase, is it a $10

[2:26:23] increase with that levy? That's going to be a huge difference. Um number two, you

[2:26:28] got to remember we provide services for Pennington County. So, um I'm not

[2:26:33] against taking some of that. And I think for banked, why are you banking it for a

[2:26:36] certain amount? Um and for why um that's going to be a huge difference for me for

[2:26:42] me as well. um we can only cut people so much and I get that and we had the

[2:26:48] departments do their 4% like I said if you have the two-year people that have

[2:26:52] been not used or one year whatever that might make a difference plus it might

[2:26:56] change um working with the uh departments when they don't have to you

[2:27:01] know put in all the money for the whole year like Jerry said for so some of

[2:27:06] that's going to bring it down naturally anyway meaning it's going to make those

[2:27:10] increases a lot higher but Then wife and Bach had brought up as well the leave

[2:27:16] and certain things. Um they used to include that in on their totals which

[2:27:22] made sense but if they didn't leave that year I get it but you also can't dump

[2:27:27] you know depending on which department you're talking about um 500,000 on a

[2:27:33] department. So I don't know how you balance that out for a department. I

[2:27:38] don't know how we balance it out if we put it in um

[2:27:42] you know what do we call it contingency >> but um it has to be put in there um like

[2:27:50] I said they put it in there before and maybe some of that's why some of those

[2:27:53] were higher maybe the cash turn back is is huge it'd be nice to see the average

[2:27:58] of the turnbacks being from before and then hitting 26

[2:28:03] remember when we changed things to see if those difference why you do that and

[2:28:07] you Know I I talked about that yesterday. When you're doing a budget

[2:28:10] and you you do comparables, you start seeing the anomalies or you start seeing

[2:28:14] the areas where it makes a huge difference, the leaves, the different

[2:28:18] things where we're taking out and then we come and say we're just going to do

[2:28:21] contingency and they don't have it in their budgets. What's that going to do?

[2:28:25] » So you got to have you got to look at all those pieces and parts and then

[2:28:29] understand their part in one sense and do we take that out and put it of their

[2:28:33] budgets and put it in contingency. Um, I'm getting where everybody's going on

[2:28:40] some of their stuff, but the bottom line is if you're not doing the comparables

[2:28:43] and you're not looking, you're guessing on some of this stuff and that's not

[2:28:48] your fault as well, but um it it's it'll be easier to track by the

[2:28:54] turnbacks. How about that? Of every year. Like how much did you have of

[2:28:58] January 1st, 2027? Did we have 3,647 this year? Did we have 2,200 the year

[2:29:05] before? Because if the average starts being a certain amount, then you're

[2:29:08] going to see why uh the leaves and the different stuff weren't taken out

[2:29:12] before. Should they be told? Should they be acred as you say for revenues and

[2:29:17] expenditures? I get all that. But the bottom line is is where where is that

[2:29:22] money coming from? And if you drain everybody to a certain extent as well

[2:29:26] where we don't have an alternative area, what also does that do to our reserves?

[2:29:32] So, all of those are big concerns because I'm I'm hearing a lot of really

[2:29:36] good things that are coming out that we're finding that we need to acrew for.

[2:29:40] But I also understand that we're taking a lot of that stuff out of those budgets

[2:29:45] like um um restricted unrestricted be unrestricted and also taking like wife

[2:29:51] and buck said on some of those leaves and stuff. We took those out of their

[2:29:53] budgets if I'm correct as well. So, where's that all coming from and how are

[2:29:58] we making that up? So, you're doing good, Jordan. And like I said, I I'm not

[2:30:03] saying you're doing anything wrong. There just a lot of things for you to

[2:30:06] think about and there's a lot of things for us to know which I have not since

[2:30:10] I've been here known as much since you and Ker have brought some of this

[2:30:13] forward. So, I appreciate that as well. Thank you,

[2:30:18] » Mr. Chair. >> Yes. [clears throat]

[2:30:20] » Jordan, did you have some more slides? I looked at him yesterday, but

[2:30:28] » oops, that was the wrong button. Not on that one.

[2:30:35] Was there one in particular that you recall that you want to see?

[2:30:41] Because we did have other graphs. We had other tables. We had a lot of other

[2:30:44] rollups. >> Yeah. About the overall budget, I

[2:30:46] believe, >> because this is one

[2:30:56] » [clears throat] >> And Mr. Chair, while he's looking for

[2:30:59] that, I've got a question for the sheriff.

[2:31:02] » Yes, Mr. Brian. >> Mr. Brian.

[2:31:06] » Brian. Mr. Sheriff. [clears throat]

[2:31:12] » Mr. Dur has a question for you, sir.

[2:31:17] » Good. Good. Yeah. Still morning. So,

[2:31:22] so Brian, I appreciate you coming forward, you know, during this budget

[2:31:25] process and looking internally in your department and looking for ways to find

[2:31:29] some savings and u um making some of those changes to get

[2:31:35] us the information to show where some of those cuts could be made. Um, the one

[2:31:40] I'm looking at specifically relates to HR. And I see throughout your public

[2:31:46] safety budgets, I believe JSC, the jail, and the sheriff's office, you have

[2:31:51] 136,000 in a line item that says HR.

[2:31:55] » Yep. And that's that is the line item for um our background investigations and

[2:32:02] job recruitment specifically. And uh we're we're looking at refining that

[2:32:07] number. and I talked about it the last the at the last budget meeting on

[2:32:11] reducing that uh the background portion of that down a little bit. So,

[2:32:15] » good. And then the other thing that I would I mean for me kind of getting back

[2:32:19] to the kind of accounting and seeing where the money is going if it's coming

[2:32:23] down to recruiting and HR type stuff, I would like to see those dollars in the

[2:32:28] HR budget. That's my comments that so if we're doing recruiting and personnel

[2:32:34] stuff that's being done by the HR office now and we do have marketing that

[2:32:39] um to try to get a true understanding as to what the expenditures are for HR

[2:32:44] related matters since we don't do billbacks except for the highway

[2:32:47] department but to look at some of those anyways

[2:32:53] just a comment if you could visit with Melissa to make sure that we're pulling

[2:32:56] out of the appropriate budget for some of that recruiting

[2:32:59] And since we do have marketing and we have a new structure in HR that we're

[2:33:04] not duplicating services. >> Yep. And and I've been visiting with

[2:33:08] Cody too and we're looking at consolidating some things that we

[2:33:11] previously were taking out to third parties this year and that should be a

[2:33:15] cost savings a little bit next year too. >> Okay. Thanks.

[2:33:18] » Y thanks. >> Thank you. Mr. Brian,

[2:33:22] » was this the one you were commission? >> I know Jordan.

[2:33:24] » No. >> No.

[2:33:25] » You had some other slides. It's all right.

[2:33:27] » Um >> and I Mr. chair. Y

[2:33:29] » I've just got a couple of notes that I've made when I looked at this budget

[2:33:33] new information yesterday that came up and I know that we'd looked at outside

[2:33:37] agencies and we made some cuts last year to say

[2:33:42] that we were going to be moving forward, you know, two to three years down the

[2:33:46] road to try to get to a balanced budget. And then if you look at some of those

[2:33:51] decisions, I think we added over the provisional budget, we're close to

[2:33:55] 600,000 over what we had for provisional.

[2:33:59] Uh yeah, that's the one. They're one of those. Anyway, and I know that it's a a

[2:34:05] work in progress and I we had a discussion with a couple of departments

[2:34:09] about vehicles and uh um before outside of public safety, but any

[2:34:17] other department that's got vehicle purchases for 27, I would like to see

[2:34:22] those, this is me, I would like to see those put on hold until we get a handle

[2:34:26] on our fleet management. Uh that's a comment. And then the vacant positions.

[2:34:33] Uh we've talked about this, but we've had an average of over 50 vacant

[2:34:38] positions for many years. Even though we made that 4% cut in personnel,

[2:34:44] uh I would like to see if we could absorb some of those cost on that

[2:34:47] because I would like to look for the areas where we actually have it in the

[2:34:52] budget, but we are pretty confident we're not going to spend it. But if

[2:34:56] we're allocating those dollars, and let's just say we're allocating a

[2:35:00] million dollars on expenditures that we know that we're not going to expend,

[2:35:04] that's a million dollars that we can't fund other things that would be a

[2:35:07] priority for the county. Uh to include, you know, looking at our self- insurance

[2:35:12] fund and trying to get that stabilized and back up and looking at those cost

[2:35:16] share with the employees. Uh, and there [clears throat] is if you

[2:35:22] go back into the five-year history of the budgets that's in here. So, if you

[2:35:26] go if you look at those slides that show five years of budget and actual

[2:35:32] expenditures, you can look at

[2:35:36] uh some of those and see where we've been budgeting across the county tens of

[2:35:42] thousands of dollars. Well, it's actually hundreds of thousands of

[2:35:45] dollars that have been unspent in some of those line items. And we did make a

[2:35:50] change last year we where we upped the county's contingency from 100,000 to a

[2:35:55] half a million and basically kind of using that as our little savings if

[2:36:00] something came up that we would do that. And a comment, one of them gets back to

[2:36:04] title three funds. And Scott, you were not here at the last commission meeting

[2:36:09] when we talked about title three. You want to come forward, Scott, or

[2:36:15] » because I'm not sure that we've made a decision on that. Have we moved that or

[2:36:18] not? >> Yeah. I mean, you definitely moved from

[2:36:23] the the sheriff's portion of the search and

[2:36:26] rescue and you increased the search and rescue budget. Uh, and so that leaves

[2:36:30] title three. Um, >> all right.

[2:36:32] » Open. >> Okay. And so those funds and just brief

[2:36:37] us on your kind you weren't here but we read your memorandum but what you're

[2:36:40] going to do with those funds. >> Yes. Uh Scott Guffy Pankton County

[2:36:44] natural resource director. Uh we were uh working with the Forest Service to do

[2:36:49] some fuels work um um with that money which is allowable and that would

[2:36:56] basically save salaries in ours so we could run our salaries through that

[2:36:59] title three dollars. Um, I think there's a little over $73,000 in there. Uh, I'd

[2:37:06] like to spread it over two years. So, 40,000 this year and then the remainder

[2:37:10] next year. Uh, and then we can we can put that into one agreement with the

[2:37:14] Forest Service. Forest service will match that 20%. So, we'll actually make

[2:37:18] a little money on that too back to us. And we've been working uh looking at

[2:37:24] areas to you to use it in. Uh the NEPA is kind of the big thing kind of that

[2:37:29] hold up but a lot of stuff that they have covered in NEPA we can hit it right

[2:37:32] away. >> Does that make sense to you Jordan?

[2:37:34] » Yeah. >> Yeah.

[2:37:36] » And then >> and it just have to be spread through

[2:37:37] the salary lineup >> and then the uh the areas there where we

[2:37:41] had all these um that Commissioner Dur was talking

[2:37:45] about that we don't use those monies. >> Right.

[2:37:48] » Can we identify those? Yes, we I mean we definitely have a short list I would say

[2:37:53] of some of the ones that seems like wow these are a lot of head space from

[2:37:57] actual expend expenditure trends versus what the budget is for one example and

[2:38:02] it's always one of those where it's a what if though. So they budget in the

[2:38:05] court administration for abused and neglected attorneys and usually they

[2:38:10] budget around like $700,000 for those abused and neglected. We've historically

[2:38:13] been spending $450,000. That means that we've been putting 250,000 a quarter of

[2:38:18] a million into the budget just in case we need to spend that. I understand that

[2:38:22] the costs are going up, the trend is going up, but uh it doesn't seem like

[2:38:26] it's going up to that extent. >> That's where the cash applied can come

[2:38:29] from then, right? >> You could potentially

[2:38:31] » causes a cash applied, but I mean it just it causes a budget maneuver that we

[2:38:36] don't necessarily like like to have, >> right? If you cut off that little

[2:38:39] headroom there, you do run the risk. Well, what if it comes in where they

[2:38:43] were anticipating it to be? what if the trend is broken this year and that's why

[2:38:47] it's good to have some sort of contingency plan for the county as a

[2:38:50] whole which is what the board did when they

[2:38:52] » the other question I have is you know since the IT incident um we've had some

[2:38:57] conversation about um having a cyber security person I know we we lost a u um

[2:39:08] risk management person and his really more the cyber security more along the

[2:39:14] lines of that risk management person. I mean, or do we have to figure something

[2:39:18] in for a budget for that person because they're not cheap? But it's uh after the

[2:39:22] conversations that we had with outside council and some of these guys which are

[2:39:28] the top in the nation maybe in the world uh suggested that we have our own IT

[2:39:35] guy. I think we had that discussion up here on the dis and so um having that in

[2:39:40] the budget would would make sense cuz it's something that I think that we need

[2:39:44] to move on just to prevent or help prevent well I

[2:39:48] don't think we can ever prevent it with AI now AI is just so powerful

[2:39:53] » I mean yeah I do want to state the fact that we did incorporate an FTE for that

[2:39:57] in the 27 budget because we were anticipating it it's has not been

[2:40:00] approved by the board yet but that is important to know that's incorporated

[2:40:03] that it's been incorporated >> perfect Okay. So, we're covering the

[2:40:06] things that I had concerns about and then obviously the judicial system being

[2:40:11] backed up. How do we, you know, figure that out? I mean, we got 600 people in

[2:40:17] jail and 30 people serving time and 570 waiting for trials. And I mean, what

[2:40:24] role do we play in with the new judges thing? What role does the defender's

[2:40:28] office and the state's attorney's office play in that role? Um, that's something

[2:40:33] we need to consider. Um it's just unsustainable.

[2:40:38] So >> Mr. Chair,

[2:40:40] » yes, Commissioner. >> Yeah, hopefully I made a comment related

[2:40:43] to that. I believe the judge Linger and I believe it's August 1st when kind of

[2:40:47] the new procedure was kicking off in the court system with

[2:40:51] how they were handling those cases. So, uh hoping that that's a win for

[2:40:55] everybody. I think it's a big big change coordination between the state's

[2:41:00] attorney's office and everybody and the public defenders office and judicial to

[2:41:05] try to get streamlining and a better calendar timeline to get those cases

[2:41:11] through and adjudicated. Um Jordan, could you go through and

[2:41:15] explain this slide? >> All right. Yeah, this one was one we

[2:41:18] kind of put together a little bit in a hurry there. Ken wanted to make sure

[2:41:21] that we looked at three things for the last four years. And so we looked at

[2:41:25] what the budget was as adopted. That's your darker blue there on the left. And

[2:41:28] then what the final budget was after all the supplements went through. That's

[2:41:32] your green in the middle. And you'll see the trend is that the actual

[2:41:35] expenditures are coming in in between those two numbers. And the reason for

[2:41:39] that is that not all of the budgets that had to get supplemented were expended

[2:41:45] fully. And so um some of it the budget supplement was uh appropriate because

[2:41:50] say for example we had a project and we didn't know what the cost was for a

[2:41:53] building project roof repair something like that we then had to supplement that

[2:41:57] budget but elsewhere in the budget like let's just say we didn't have a HR

[2:42:02] director for a couple months that year that one was then underspent even though

[2:42:05] you had to supplement the general fund by a certain amount. And so that's what

[2:42:09] we're seeing here is that you have to supplement a budget so it doesn't go

[2:42:12] into the negative so it has all the budget available for it. Um, but when

[2:42:16] you supplement that and underspend others, we're hitting in between then

[2:42:20] what the actual final budget was after it was supplemented and what was

[2:42:24] originally initially approved. And that's kind of what what you see here.

[2:42:27] » So like 2025, we can actually explain the differences there of the

[2:42:33] roughly 4.7 million or whatever 4.8 million with whatever it was. I mean, we

[2:42:39] we can if it was like something >> is that the turn back cash at the end of

[2:42:43] the year that wasn't that wasn't spent. Is that what's making your trend in the

[2:42:48] gray? >> Not not always. Um yes, some but then

[2:42:52] others it >> was restricted not used or unrestricted

[2:42:55] not used. I got that. >> So yeah, basically it was either the

[2:42:58] budget was fully expended and it had to be supplemented so it's not any cash

[2:43:01] back or some of those were definitely giving some budget back. But as you can

[2:43:06] see, that gray is above that dark blue, meaning that we spent more than we

[2:43:09] anticipated. >> Building this building that could have

[2:43:12] been wasn't in the budget. That's what we're trying to change right now is try

[2:43:15] to make some provisions in our budget. >> Yeah, we're to not have this

[2:43:20] » correct. >> We're trying to get an understanding as

[2:43:22] to what all of our expenditures are going to be and not getting into doing

[2:43:26] supplements. So, in 2025, there was a nearly $15 million supplement to 25's

[2:43:31] budget. And so if you look at what was actually so go back to 22 and say that

[2:43:37] we budgeted and set a budget and said we were going to spend 113 million uh we

[2:43:43] wound up spending 121 million. 23 we budgeted 110 million we spent 116

[2:43:50] million. 24 we budgeted 120 million we spent 128 million. And in 25 the budget

[2:43:58] was $126 and we spent $132. So we were nearly $6 million over what

[2:44:06] we budgeted and expended in 2025. And so that's why you know and again and

[2:44:13] I think we had it like in one of our initial breakout but we have the

[2:44:18] accumulated building fund and we're saying it's you know we're going to a

[2:44:21] million dollars. then we need to look at, you know, what are the projects

[2:44:25] estimated to be expended in 27 to draw that fund down. But if we have known

[2:44:31] expenditures and that's what you get back into, but we can have these

[2:44:35] anomalies, but what my goal would be as a commissioner is that we try to get

[2:44:41] down to uh you know, we're saying that we're budgeting a certain amount, that

[2:44:46] we stay within that amount or under that, that we're not supplementing

[2:44:49] unless some emergency comes up. And the history has been we have known

[2:44:54] expenditures that we're not budgeting for that come up and there's just budget

[2:44:58] supplements done in 2025 is a good example of the one motion that was made

[2:45:03] that was nearly $15 million to supplement a budget that was already

[2:45:07] approved. And so what I would like to see getting

[2:45:11] back to I I mean I have a bunch of this in my own notes but there are line items

[2:45:17] in the budget for 5year history unless there's and some of those are pretty

[2:45:21] much a standout. Unless [clears throat] there's an

[2:45:24] explanation as to why last year you know for fiveyear average we're spending uh

[2:45:30] $20,000 but every year we've been budgeting

[2:45:34] $80,000 $100,000. And if you're budgeting that amount the

[2:45:39] same, why aren't we closer to a five-year average? And if we're off,

[2:45:43] then explain why we need to bump it up this year. And uh there's a talking

[2:45:49] point uh on many of them. And so I mean I would like to see [clears throat]

[2:45:55] some information on what you guys are looking at of the budget and saying here

[2:46:00] is you know some anomalies that we think and maybe get back to the department

[2:46:04] heads and say the your five years of expenditures in this line item is

[2:46:10] $10,000 but you continually been budgeting $50,000

[2:46:14] because I would like to find those incremental savings in there knowing

[2:46:18] that we're not going to expend those funds. historically though we budgeted

[2:46:22] for it because I think every dollar needs to be accounted for so we can make

[2:46:27] smart decisions on the employee and the personnel package and the HR stuff and

[2:46:32] say well if applied cash is 6 million and we say we want applied cash at 2

[2:46:37] million in the general fund then getting back to commissioner Hadcock's point

[2:46:42] then that puts us in a position of saying well what are the priorities and

[2:46:46] let's go cut 4 million when we could have the information to make good

[2:46:51] decisions about where we could get that applied cash number down.

[2:46:55] » Chair.

[2:46:59] So, okay. So, I've been here through all of

[2:47:03] what you're talking about plus more. So, in 21 I got the weird part. The anomaly

[2:47:10] is COVID 19 2021. So, there's some weird things going on there. Meaning, um could

[2:47:16] have been accounted for a little bit differently. So those numbers were

[2:47:19] different. Um then you started bonding and you started using that bonding for a

[2:47:25] for a cumulative building. Nothing to do with our accumulative building person

[2:47:28] because he wasn't here but we started using that bonding and it started

[2:47:32] changing the numbers. When you're seeing a lot of that gray or basically trending

[2:47:38] higher, you got to remember from 22 to 25 there was some anomalies of

[2:47:44] 13,647,000 that was absorbed in these budgets for

[2:47:50] um raises. So a lot of that going by line item by

[2:47:56] line item for people for me I get it. We need to look at everything. But the

[2:48:02] anomaly was what was spent on giving raises in that time that at shouldn't

[2:48:08] have been done at that kind of scale. So a lot of this that you're seeing is

[2:48:15] wage differentials, not just overspending of budgets or or

[2:48:20] counting everybody in these budgets as department heads is, you know,

[2:48:26] um basically spending their line items like they shouldn't. So the only thing

[2:48:31] that I was seeing the most of back then was when you gave the ra ra ra ra ra ra

[2:48:36] ra ra ra ra ra ra ra ra ra ra ra ra ra ra ra ra ra ra ra ra ra ra ra ra ra ra

[2:48:36] ra ra ra ra ra ra ra ra raises, we didn't know at the time, and to be fair

[2:48:38] to Ron and Gary at this point, we didn't find out that it was 13,647

[2:48:43] because I kept asking the uh auditor, what is those totals every year? Well,

[2:48:48] we already knew when you started having 4 million, 5 million um stuff like that

[2:48:54] that was going on in the last few years, that was crazy.

[2:48:59] We also said two of us were on there saying this is crazy what we're doing

[2:49:02] because we cannot absorb this. So now we're starting to cut the 4% in the

[2:49:07] wages and other stuff. So I get where you're going with some of this budget,

[2:49:10] but some of it um you know you're going to have to look sensibly about some of

[2:49:18] that stuff that you don't have to micromanage to a certain extent, but you

[2:49:23] also should look at the major numbers. So some of that um I'm in agreement with

[2:49:28] and other things it's like okay we got in control last year to a certain extent

[2:49:32] of the 8 million to try to cut some of those excessive things that were going

[2:49:36] on with the wages. The buildings when you're talking about the buildings um

[2:49:40] that didn't make us in in one sense it didn't make it a deficit but it was

[2:49:45] using bonding money that shouldn't have been used for other projects for

[2:49:49] buildings and grounds. They should have had that in their budgets.

[2:49:54] So, I got that as well. The 5.4 was a building we never were going to buy.

[2:49:59] This building was accounted for and some of the bonding money if we include and

[2:50:04] then most of it was sheriff and then we started doing the sheriff's money um for

[2:50:11] buying buildings. So, when you see some of these numbers,

[2:50:14] you got to remember that when I was telling you about the buildings and the

[2:50:18] um wages, those were huge differentials on what's going on with those budgets

[2:50:23] from like 22 to to up till 26. Some of it uh should have been done

[2:50:29] differently. Too late now. Now, we made that difference. So, that's why I saying

[2:50:35] on the budgets, you trying to track it to a certain extent and not knowing the

[2:50:38] history on some of this stuff, guys. um not all the department heads were doing

[2:50:42] what what this anomaly is showing. A lot of them held the line. Some of them did

[2:50:48] not and that's what caused some of that. So how we move forward hopefully in a

[2:50:54] positive way is is to make sure that we are making sure we have those services

[2:50:59] that we need for the future. Make sure that self-funding is where it's supposed

[2:51:02] to be. And then um I'm going to be up straight. I'm not against using CPI

[2:51:07] growth and and um some of that depending on what those levies come in those areas

[2:51:13] and I'd like to know bottom line where we have to cut if it's a certain area.

[2:51:17] You don't have to take 10 million off a budget. What you need to do is come

[2:51:21] close to making it so it's balanced and it's not causing the taxpayer where they

[2:51:25] go, "Okay, you just increase me $100 each blah blah blah for your levy,

[2:51:30] whatever." Um you can make the levy like look good. They used to do the levy back

[2:51:35] in the day, make the levy look like they weren't raising the taxes

[2:51:40] then. I don't think the people understood that in the first place they

[2:51:42] were. They just made it look like the levy was low and they weren't doing

[2:51:46] anything. So, I don't want to play that game either. So, thank you.

[2:51:49] » So, Jordan, so I guess on September 17th, we need to have a um this needs to

[2:51:56] be like close to the end of the conversations on where we're going here.

[2:52:00] Yep. So, I just want to make sure the commission understands that if you need

[2:52:05] if you if they have some direction that they want to give you, let's be explicit

[2:52:10] about it. Let's be to the point and uh let's get there on 17th. So,

[2:52:16] Commissioner Dur. >> Yeah, I'm just going to say what I would

[2:52:18] like to look at. I mean, I have my own numbers here, but I'd like the

[2:52:21] information coming from the commission office. uh the five-year average of some

[2:52:26] of those expenditures, just Jordan mentioned one of them, but I mean it

[2:52:29] adds up to hundreds of thousands of dollars. And I would just rather get

[2:52:33] down to a true accounting and saying this is what we believe we're going to

[2:52:37] expend for five years. We have we have a line item of 50 grand and we haven't

[2:52:40] spent it in five years. And I would just like the comfort level because it comes

[2:52:45] down to and again if we if we don't have to continually tax more from the

[2:52:50] taxpayers to balance a budget because the bal the budget continually increases

[2:52:55] uh that's a lot of what our taxpayers are upset about the fact that an owner

[2:52:59] occupied since 2022 or 2020 has gone up 40%. And so, and again, we've, you know,

[2:53:09] we heard it this morning. It's not popular with everybody, but you know, we

[2:53:13] passed the sales tax and hopefully that will, you know, offset,

[2:53:17] you know, in the future. We'll see how that works out to offset some of the

[2:53:22] property tax burden, but the majority of our services, and again, it's a, you

[2:53:27] know, you look at where the revenue is coming in, it's what the county has to

[2:53:30] rely upon as property tax. And uh uh now we'll look at a sales tax opportunity.

[2:53:37] And the other talking point in there too is you go back and look at the revenue

[2:53:42] and the sheriff's office through you know the marshalss and different things.

[2:53:47] In fact that hit one of your top 10. >> It did. uh the revenue coming in on some

[2:53:52] of the contracts and agreements we have through public safety, you know, is a

[2:53:56] benefit to the organization and offsetting offsetting some of those

[2:53:59] operational costs. And uh and again getting back to what was echoed this

[2:54:05] morning, you know, from Mr. Mueller about looking at uh you know some of

[2:54:10] those things that we have agreements and contracts in place and this is you know

[2:54:14] something that we're working on but is it the bang for the buck to make sure

[2:54:18] that we're just not providing a service under an agreement that is not

[2:54:22] beneficial to the organization or the taxpayers. So anyway it's some of those

[2:54:26] because I you know and again I'm not even though the levy goes down because

[2:54:30] our growth has increased we're still collecting more tax revenue. So, uh, and

[2:54:36] the other thing I do know like in some of the budgets and I'd mentioned it and

[2:54:41] I can, you know, I would like to look at and we won't have it done, but the

[2:54:45] departments that are looking at getting brand new vehicles in 27 outside of

[2:54:49] public safety, uh, I only know of one or I only know of

[2:54:54] a couple that have popped out, but I would like to know what those capital p

[2:54:58] capital expenditures are and uh, because I believe we do have enough vehicles in

[2:55:04] the county. So, >> Commissioner Dur, can you um make sure

[2:55:08] you get those explicitly to to Jordan and he can share them and he can pass

[2:55:13] those out to anybody that >> you want to be included in public

[2:55:16] safety? >> I I was just going to ask the question.

[2:55:18] We have a 10-year replacement plan that we've been proceeding with for the last

[2:55:22] several years. I just wanted to confirm that we are good to to continue.

[2:55:26] » Are you talking about equipment or you talking about new vehicles?

[2:55:28] » So, our our vehicles are included in that. Um, in 2027, I believe our plan

[2:55:33] only includes um shop pick or a service vehicle that uh is replacing a 2003

[2:55:41] or 2004 with over 200,000 miles on it that is in desperate need of

[2:55:45] replacement. So, that's included in next year's I would be

[2:55:50] if you get a memo from Jordan, you'll know and so just attack it at that

[2:55:54] moment. What I would like to see is just all the those capital but basically

[2:55:58] vehicles that are being purchased. So we have an un so I have an understanding

[2:56:01] and the rest of the commission does is why and uh because I and again I think

[2:56:06] it would help to have that information knowing you know what our fleet

[2:56:11] management is going to be and uh you know I know that that's another project

[2:56:16] in the pipeline to work on fleet management trying to have some shared

[2:56:21] resources across different departments and I'm talking about some of the

[2:56:26] smaller departments in the county not the larger ones Okay. I will I believe

[2:56:31] we have our equipment purchase plan. So if we don't, we'll get it from it. So

[2:56:36] » yeah, >> Commissioner Hadco.

[2:56:38] » So if you're going to make changes to the budget or touch people's budgets as

[2:56:42] um we have done in the past for provisional or otherwise, we want to

[2:56:46] make sure that we're communicating to those departments where we're switching

[2:56:50] things. And I know you're doing that this week, Jordan. Thank you very much.

[2:56:53] Kenner, but um before you make the changes, that communication should be

[2:56:58] done, whether it's Jerry's direction, my direction, or anybody's direction. You

[2:57:02] need to communicate with the department head where you're going before you put

[2:57:05] it up here on the DIS. So, it's not like, okay, holy crap, what did you do

[2:57:10] or where the changes? Cuz I know with uh some of sheriff stuff, we talked about

[2:57:15] that that that's why you're meeting with him is because his understanding was

[2:57:18] this and our understanding for his budget. So then he was starting all over

[2:57:22] again on some of his stuff trying to figure it out. So remember um that

[2:57:27] communication, we are the budget people. I got it. But that communication with

[2:57:31] your department heads so they know how to figure out their budgets or if they

[2:57:35] think 50,000 that's been in there for two years for some reason or whatever or

[2:57:40] whatever we're going. I get cut some of that stuff. But um I'd like [snorts]

[2:57:44] some communication. And it doesn't have to be um what uh 80some areas that we

[2:57:52] have to go and discuss up here. There should be a discussion with you and them

[2:57:56] and by the time you're done you'll probably narrow it down to 30. So just

[2:58:00] to make sure that's happening in the future. So um again um I like to make

[2:58:06] sure that our depart um our department heads and I'll just tell you I've

[2:58:11] watched it. team and you've seen it. Um that they have uh true discussions and

[2:58:16] then when they're talking with their budgets or whatever, even with you on

[2:58:20] some of that stuff, that those concerns are getting met um and related to us

[2:58:24] because it's it's huge when we have 17 departments helping us run an

[2:58:29] organization and then five are elected. So all that [snorts] makes a huge

[2:58:33] difference if you could do those changes and and in a hopefully in a good way so

[2:58:38] they have time to look at look at it not have to explain each one of them why you

[2:58:42] should keep it in there. Thank you. >> Any other commissioner have anything

[2:58:45] they want to look into on the on the >> Yeah. Melissa

[2:58:50] » Melissa >> then I want to speak to

[2:58:54] get to you too brother. >> Yep.

[2:59:00] that commissioner dur. >> So I know that uh your department and

[2:59:04] again yeah happy to finally have an HR director you know on the team and it's

[2:59:10] not like uh you don't have anything to do.

[2:59:14] So the uh there's a couple of things that you know I think we could hammer

[2:59:20] that out in the discussion because again a lot of the handbook and the employee

[2:59:24] handbook ties to county expenditures. Uh but getting back to these open

[2:59:30] positions, I believe it was in June when a report was ran and at that point in

[2:59:35] time we had 84 positions at a snapshot in time that you know were open and then

[2:59:42] looking at historically what those open positions have been and that's what I

[2:59:47] would like to see for the 17th and between Jordan and Ken having some of

[2:59:52] the information. I think some of it came from your office on historical stuff and

[2:59:57] gathering that and the sheriff stepped forward and said, you know, I'm going to

[3:00:02] we had that discussion. I'm going to offer these positions. I'm going to make

[3:00:05] these cuts. And that was the only department that came forward. And so I

[3:00:10] would like to see what those uh positions historically have been and

[3:00:13] open and getting back to it because I do know that we do batch hiring. And so

[3:00:19] specifically in the public safety sector to include the state's attorney's office

[3:00:24] saying, you know, I have to wait until August, you know, to uh when they get

[3:00:29] out of school and graduate and then come into the office on and where sheriff's

[3:00:35] office looks at, you know, because of uh recruiting and training in that timeline

[3:00:41] and doing batch hiring on some of those positions

[3:00:44] uh that we look at. Is there an opportunity outside of the 4% that we've

[3:00:50] we did? Is there an opportunity to look at some of those vacant positions?

[3:00:55] Specifically, if we're funding 100% and we know that every year, you know, we're

[3:01:00] not filling those positions until, you know, midyear, 3/4 year, etc. So,

[3:01:07] » I can I can get that for you guys. >> All right. Thank you.

[3:01:12] » Thank you, Melissa. >> Yeah. Um,

[3:01:16] » Mr. Chair, >> Mr.

[3:01:18] » So, Jordan, we were uh talking about outside agencies and one of them is

[3:01:23] Pennington County Council of Aging and their request for 10,000 for Prairie

[3:01:27] Hills Transit 7,144 for uh basically be supplies for

[3:01:34] independent for seniors that are living independent that the Department of Human

[3:01:38] Services can't get reimbursed for. So, uh, is would this be the time to kind of

[3:01:45] talk about that meeting that you had that I had an MO meeting that I couldn't

[3:01:50] go to both? We we certainly could. Um, so the direction I kind of gave uh at

[3:01:55] the time was that we would either discuss it on September 1st or September

[3:01:59] 17th. And since there was another outside agency uh the the Rapid City

[3:02:03] Public Library that we were going to deal with, I was going to kind of get

[3:02:06] all that information together for the 17th if that

[3:02:09] » and that's fine. I just want to touch base on

[3:02:12] » uh there were some questions on you know payments in the last two years for uh

[3:02:16] transportation. That's one of our >> uh goals is to pro provide

[3:02:21] transportation for the senior population in Penton County. So I'll just go over

[3:02:25] this real quick. >> Absolutely.

[3:02:28] So, Prairie Hills Transit, we had a check for 625

[3:02:33] uh January of 24 and then February of 24 another check for 625

[3:02:42] and uh three of 25 check for 625 the Prairie Hills Transit

[3:02:49] and in three of 24 Prairie Hills uh Rapid Transit. Uh and we also uh provide

[3:02:57] senior transportation in Rapid City uh to the two rapid transit that was for

[3:03:02] 5,647. Then Prairie Hills Transit again on 24

[3:03:07] for 1,500. Uh 24 another check to Prairie Hills

[3:03:13] Transit for 4,125. And then in 19 or in 2025 we gave

[3:03:20] Prairie Hills Transit a check for 10,000.

[3:03:24] And in 19 or 2025, another check to Rapid Transit for

[3:03:31] 5,310. And then February of this year, we wrote a check the Perry Hills

[3:03:36] transfer per 10,000. So, you know, historically, those are

[3:03:41] the checks that we have written uh for transportation for the needs of the

[3:03:47] senior population living in Pennington County. Another thing that we mentioned,

[3:03:51] yeah, Gary Jerry was concerned, do we have some money in a checkin count that

[3:03:57] was left over the way that we operated before? And we do. We do. I think as of

[3:04:02] the meeting that you had there was about $18,000

[3:04:05] in that account and their request for this year would be 17,144

[3:04:11] that would be for combination of transportation and needs for these

[3:04:17] seniors uh for their independent living. Uh

[3:04:21] so when we mention why do you want to keep

[3:04:27] some money in your account because now the process is it it's a lengthy process

[3:04:32] to come before the commission and ask for funds. And one of the things that we

[3:04:38] could pride ourselves in the past is that one of the senior centers could

[3:04:43] call up and say our freezer went out and we just don't have the funds to replace

[3:04:48] it or our oven went out for. So those emergency funds were used for those type

[3:04:54] of purposes. And so just a an overview of some of

[3:05:00] those examples would be uh Keystone Senior Center. Uh they had a

[3:05:07] emergency roof repair which we covered and then uh a year later there was some

[3:05:13] additional leaking and you know just something that

[3:05:17] needed to get done and this is the type of stuff that we could sit there and

[3:05:20] write write a check to make that happen. Then the Menaoosa on senior centers

[3:05:26] their refrigerate re refrigerator went out their freezer. So you know we're

[3:05:31] able to sit there and write a check uh once we got the approval from the

[3:05:35] committee and then we uh Keystone Senior Center uh

[3:05:41] a stove and I can go on and on. So the checks that we have written in the in

[3:05:46] the last seven years that I've been involved has

[3:05:50] either been for transportation emergency

[3:05:54] situations, freezers, stoves, and whatnot. Meals on wheels. We used to

[3:06:00] write a number of checks for that uh last year. I don't believe we've written

[3:06:04] any checks to that capacity. All I'm saying is that we would like to

[3:06:10] I I believe keep 5 to10 thou or5 to $8,000 in that account which will never

[3:06:15] be replenished. Once it's gone, it's gone for emergency services. So I just

[3:06:19] want to make that aware to the other commissioners as we

[3:06:23] move forward uh on outside agencies. Thank you, Commissioner Ross Connect.

[3:06:28] Any other comments from here? >> Yep. Commissioner,

[3:06:32] » just about the library. Um, Ker and I met with the li library board and Laura

[3:06:36] Armstrong and uh bottom line we came up with the 320

[3:06:41] um in agreement which I understood but I think they also asked why didn't we have

[3:06:46] a vote yet on the library and I think that's something I don't know how long

[3:06:50] that takes to organize or if I need to work with Jordan to look at that about

[3:06:54] how we move forward that's setting up um a vote on the library with the outlining

[3:06:59] areas. I think that's a smart idea. That way we can also see what that levy needs

[3:07:04] to be and if uh I'm not into and this year we were going to pay general fund

[3:07:08] because we didn't think real hard or I didn't about the 80,000 that we'd end up

[3:07:13] paying and how much people not only in the outlining but the city also that

[3:07:18] help pay. So um what I told them is the give and take with the city and the

[3:07:23] county on areas that we pay and they pay. I also believe that when you have a

[3:07:27] donnut hole around 20,000 people basically, that's what I'm guesstimating

[3:07:32] at this point because it used to be 20,000 I don't know a year or two ago in

[3:07:36] um Rapid Valley that how much did they could contribute for everything else

[3:07:40] being that close basically their city. So, um, us the county is paying about I

[3:07:47] don't know how many people are in in that area, but we're paying basically

[3:07:51] their library cards when, um, there should be something different in that

[3:07:55] three mile limit when you don't want to, um, or even the mile limit when you

[3:07:59] don't want to annex them in because of infrastructure or other stuff. Well, um,

[3:08:05] we're taking care of those areas and ask the highway department in some of those

[3:08:08] areas as well when that doesn't annex in for drainage and other stuff. So, um,

[3:08:14] long story short, she asked, and that was Miss Terry, why didn't you give us

[3:08:18] the 40,000 more difference? I said, because at this point, the 320, um, a

[3:08:24] lot of us thought out of four of us thought that that was pretty fair. And

[3:08:27] based on the numbers uh Kenner ran um we thought maybe even a little bit lower,

[3:08:32] but um

[3:08:37] our bottom line was um they were going to come and they said could we ask for

[3:08:42] higher said you can ask for whatever you want at this point but it looked like

[3:08:46] four votes for at least 320. I don't know if that's going to happen on the

[3:08:49] 17th. We told them I just could say at my I'm one of uh five that at the 320

[3:08:55] it's good but I would be looking to try to do that boat to see if [snorts] the

[3:08:59] county residents still wanted it. I also wanted to know how many people if we

[3:09:03] could find out in Rapid Valley that use it because again if there's 35 40,000

[3:09:08] people in the outlining areas and Box Elder didn't pay as well as you know

[3:09:13] some of that um there's going to be something that needs to be changed and

[3:09:16] that would be huge if we did the vote and then included anybody that needed to

[3:09:20] pay for it for that library at that point to make it fair and just

[3:09:24] throughout the outlining areas. Um, also if you think about it, and I'll keep

[3:09:29] saying it, they've been paying for, um, ambulance services for over 25 years.

[3:09:34] So, um, I was willing to like do that give and take for, um, the general fund

[3:09:40] on this point, but I'd like to know how we get that vote move forward and then

[3:09:45] I'll probably come to you Jordan for some conversation or if you send me to

[3:09:48] the auditor >> and then bring that forward to the

[3:09:51] board. Thank you. Any

[3:09:55] other comments or are you Kerry, did you have a comment or no? Okay, Jordan. Um,

[3:10:03] where do we go from here? >> Well, um, did you guys want to make any

[3:10:07] motions on anything within the budget right now? Because if not, then the next

[3:10:09] thing that we would want to do is to set by motion uh, the continuation of

[3:10:13] consideration of the provisional budget to the September 17th.

[3:10:16] » I just want the commission to have a good feel for what's going to happen

[3:10:19] mean between now and the 17th. and that is that there's some things that Jerry

[3:10:23] wanted you to look at that you would communicate to all of us.

[3:10:26] » Yes. >> Okay. Some of the policy things there

[3:10:29] one thing we were working on was the contracts. I don't know if that's going

[3:10:31] to affect the budget or not. So like with all the copers, all that type of

[3:10:35] stuff. >> I'll touch base with it again on those

[3:10:37] just to see where we're at with that. If we've got any numbers that we could

[3:10:40] present of potential savings to the budget.

[3:10:42] » Okay. Um Mr. Chair. >> Yes. Commissioner Ross.

[3:10:45] » Yeah. The only other thing is that uh the Hill City Library Board has reached

[3:10:50] out to me and Jordan and we've told them that uh we've we've kind of told them

[3:10:55] they're they're kind of asking, you know, like where are we at? So, we've

[3:10:59] given them just as much information as we can at this point. And I I think it

[3:11:03] was basically where we're at for 2027 is somewhere

[3:11:09] uh the same amount that they got for 2026.

[3:11:13] » Yes. And to clarify that point, um, essentially if you guys decide to

[3:11:17] increase levies by growth in CPI or whatever you end up doing, it's going to

[3:11:21] increase the library levy unless you specifically say it won't. And any of

[3:11:24] that increase then could be added into the contracts as well and kind of offset

[3:11:28] some of the funding that they're getting because we I I believe it's still the

[3:11:31] board's intention not to have a remaining fund balance in these

[3:11:34] restricted funds when we're supposed to be paying for these services. And so we

[3:11:37] don't want to maintain a fund balance. We want to pay it to directly to the

[3:11:40] entities with whom we contract. >> Sure. So chair, can I ask a question? So

[3:11:44] on the library, we can increase the levies

[3:11:47] » 427 also to offset some of that 320 and that whatever we do in Hill City,

[3:11:53] Keystone and >> Yes.

[3:11:54] » Okay. So you'll bring that forward how we do that.

[3:11:56] » Yep. >> Yeah, that one. Yes, that that's part of

[3:11:58] the resolution. Basically, you list the funds, you list the library fund, the

[3:12:01] county consolidated, and you say what you want to set the max tax at. But I'll

[3:12:05] have the auditor help me with those numbers to make sure that we've got all

[3:12:07] the valuations, the levies, everything >> and what those numbers mean. And what

[3:12:11] same with like where we're at with if you guys are at four or three or two or

[3:12:16] whatever on those levies, what's that tax increase? Thank you,

[3:12:19] » Jordan. Is it fair to say that we'll have consideration to do with some of

[3:12:23] the the items that Commissioner was asked about, the ones that are ongoing

[3:12:27] that we're not meeting? And then the uh vehicles.

[3:12:31] » Yes. >> Purchase of new vehicles. Do we need

[3:12:34] those vehicles? That conversation has to happen in between a little bit. Yep. Um,

[3:12:40] oh no, I just slipped my mind the other. >> Yeah, I'll be meeting with the

[3:12:44] individual departments again just to try to make sure that if we've got any

[3:12:47] questions on those budgets because to Commissioner Dur and Commissioner

[3:12:50] Hadcock's point, um, we've been meeting with them. Uh, Commissioner Hadcock and

[3:12:54] Kenner met with them once, asked about, hey, I'm seeing a trend here. And then

[3:12:58] some of them wrote written responses, some of them just gave us verbal

[3:13:00] responses. I will compile all the information that we've gotten from them

[3:13:04] communicating what their budgets were were changing and and uh what what

[3:13:08] that's going to look like for the >> commission needs to look at growth CPI

[3:13:12] bank CPI and see where that fits into what we're doing here.

[3:13:15] » Um so another item I can't

[3:13:20] recall oh we need to figure out how to at least

[3:13:24] expose our our contingencies on liabilities that may happen. at least

[3:13:29] have a footnote somewhere that says this is what we have. I mean, I don't think

[3:13:33] it's very appropriate not to have that listed somewhere. So, at least having a

[3:13:38] footnote that if this happens and then we can relook at that policy,

[3:13:43] » you know, more questions here >> forward. So,

[3:13:46] » so do we what do we do with the 600,000 for cyber stuff that we have to absorb?

[3:13:52] Are we doing a I think I asked you yesterday and some of it's give and take

[3:13:55] because some of their contracts aren't going to be there and stuff,

[3:13:58] » right? >> So, what's that going to do for our

[3:14:01] budget? Are they doing it this year or next year?

[3:14:04] » See that? I'll have to get with Mike on that one. I I'll get with it to make

[3:14:07] sure exactly whether or not that's going to be impacting this year's budget as

[3:14:10] well as or if some of it's going to be grant funded and what that all looks

[3:14:13] like. So, I'll I'll try to get that ready for the 17th as well.

[3:14:16] » I appreciate that. >> Jordan, also just on another note

[3:14:20] and the Our emails are ready for the commissions. I haven't gotten mine up,

[3:14:25] but it will I'll work on getting that going. So, if any other commissioner has

[3:14:29] an email or they want the email on their phone, I think Mike will make that

[3:14:33] available for them. Uh we're slowly [clears throat] getting back up to par.

[3:14:38] It's it's a lengthy long and lengthy process and and when you go through this

[3:14:42] process, you start to question whether you know, are we approaching it

[3:14:45] correctly or are we not approaching it correctly? And I'll reiterate the same

[3:14:49] fact that we've had conversations with some of the best cyber security people

[3:14:55] probably in the world that live right here in our community, which has been

[3:14:59] absolutely fabulous. They say we're heading in the right direction and I

[3:15:03] understand everybody wants to have a priority. I get that. And so don't be

[3:15:07] concerned if you're a department head or whatever and you feel that way. You

[3:15:10] should feel that way. So and and sometimes things get missed. So, um,

[3:15:16] contact Jordan or myself and we'll try to help figure out another priority to

[3:15:20] help you get where you're going and just, you know, but don't don't sit back

[3:15:25] and wait for another entity to answer your question. That was one thing we

[3:15:30] found out that was probably a weakness in our in our operation now is that we

[3:15:34] were waiting on the city to make decisions when they had no reason not to

[3:15:38] just make that decision that day. And so we'd spent weeks waiting for a a call

[3:15:44] back or something, you know, and so if you're experiencing that, get a hold of

[3:15:48] Jordan or or just assert yourself. We'll we'll stand behind you. Um, so but we I

[3:15:55] think the sheriff put it in a good nutshell for us that there's a lot of

[3:15:59] opportunity for us to >> we've never I mean I don't think anybody

[3:16:03] in the state of South Dakota had um had the same situation we've had, but the

[3:16:08] the the mass amount of servers and and and frontline connections that we have

[3:16:14] to make is incredible. Once you start realizing that, you can see where the

[3:16:18] massive uh time frame has to happen. It'll probably be months upon months

[3:16:23] before we can come back with a end of action report that says here's what

[3:16:28] happened, here's what we found, and here's what we'll do moving forward. So,

[3:16:34] just keep that in mind and and you know, run your operation and and but don't

[3:16:38] just sit back and let things happen. Assert yourselves if you need to. Um, we

[3:16:43] understand that. So, >> Cody, you have

[3:16:47] » Mr. Chair. >> Yes, Commissioner Dur.

[3:16:49] » Yeah, one more note. He actually reminded me of it. Uh, Sheriff Miller.

[3:16:54] Mueller.

[3:16:59] » Brian, thanks for coming forward.

[3:17:05] » So, Camp Rapid Dispatch Center. >> Yes.

[3:17:11] » The dollars that are required to get that to be independent.

[3:17:17] » Do we know what Do we have an idea what that would take? I don't have that

[3:17:20] dollar amount. >> Okay. Could you guys work on Could you

[3:17:24] guys work on that and get a dollar amount as to what it would take to get

[3:17:28] to the Camp Rapid facility independent?

[3:17:33] » Yes. >> I think Kevin's working on that.

[3:17:36] » Oh, there he is. >> Hey, Kevin.

[3:17:41] » And we had this conversation once. But go ahead and commissioner Dur's asking

[3:17:45] what it's going to take to to finish off the independence of C Rapids.

[3:17:50] » It came up in discussions that it was previous

[3:17:54] no one there were previous discussions where the dollars did not want to be put

[3:17:58] into the budget to get that facility independent.

[3:18:02] » Okay. Well, yes, I understand that. I can I can address that for you. So what

[3:18:08] we were talking about is the backup CAD server, not a backup system for Camp

[3:18:15] Rapid. So the backup, we have a main CAD server and a backup CAD server. We have

[3:18:20] those. It's a shared server with the highway patrol or sheriff's office,

[3:18:23] police department. So when we were talking about moving the backup server

[3:18:27] to Camp Rapid, that was just the CAD server, which wouldn't have affected any

[3:18:31] of the any other county networks. and our CAD server actually stayed up um

[3:18:36] through this whole outage. We've had a CAD server. Now, if we're speaking about

[3:18:39] putting the backup center on an entirely separate county network um or entire

[3:18:45] separate network so that it's always up regardless what happens to the county

[3:18:49] network. >> Correct.

[3:18:50] » Okay. That's a conversation that I have to have with Mike and he's not quite

[3:18:53] there yet because his hands are full um dealing with his other things. So that's

[3:18:57] more of an IT driven type thing than it is uh something a conversation that I

[3:19:03] can I can drive. So we're not quite ready to have that conversation yet, but

[3:19:08] I definitely think it's something that we need to to look at.

[3:19:11] » All right. And I would just ask that Jordan, could you take the lead on

[3:19:15] trying to work with those indivi individuals to get what that dollar

[3:19:20] amount is because it came up that uh you know without getting into everything

[3:19:24] that uh it would have been nice to have that functional. [snorts]

[3:19:28] » Yeah. And and we kept most of our functionality throughout this. Um the

[3:19:35] the biggest challenge we had was we lost our our connectivity to the NCIC and the

[3:19:40] state actually shut that switch off and I'm not sure that having it on a

[3:19:43] separate network would have prevented that but by all means we definitely need

[3:19:47] need to pursue that that possibility. I agree 100%.

[3:19:51] » All right. Thanks. >> That's definitely will be something in

[3:19:54] our end of action report is how we approach that conversation. But I found

[3:19:59] that uh a lot of the programs that the department heads and and elected

[3:20:04] officials work on or interacted with third parties and some of the third

[3:20:08] parties have you know they got a different priority than we do. So we we

[3:20:13] have to assert ourselves in those positions to say you know we're a

[3:20:16] priority moving forward. So, um, but that being said, we, you know,

[3:20:21] definitely have a lot of opportunity there and and a lot of strengths, too.

[3:20:25] I, you know, so there there's a lot of kudos to be had for some of the things

[3:20:29] that took place, too. So, and we'll have those discussions, but uh, um, I Jordan,

[3:20:35] is there more that you got to add to this or, um, so are you getting a good

[3:20:40] idea where we want to be on the 17th? And then if something comes up in

[3:20:44] between commission, just contact Jordan and Jordan will contact anybody who's

[3:20:48] involved in that decision or or something comes up from the department

[3:20:51] heads or somebody, they can contact Jordan, make sure we get the notes. So

[3:20:55] when we come here on the 17th, we're we're clear-headed and we have a really

[3:20:59] good idea of what we need to look at and make some some good decisions on. So,

[3:21:04] um, >> and just as a a note on the timeline,

[3:21:08] basically we typically try to have the agenda live the Wednesday before a

[3:21:12] Tuesday meeting, but because this meeting is going to be on September

[3:21:15] 17th, which is a Thursday, we're going to take most of next week. And so, we

[3:21:19] won't publish the meeting. Won't make the agenda live until probably about

[3:21:21] Friday. Um, that'll give us a little bit more time to coordinate with more of the

[3:21:25] departments to try to gather all the information we have because it would

[3:21:28] have been a little bit difficult to kind of get everything that we're looking to

[3:21:30] change and everything that we want updated by next Wednesday. But luckily

[3:21:33] with an extra couple few days, we should be able to gather and and communicate as

[3:21:37] much as we possibly can. >> No. And sometimes that needed

[3:21:40] flexibility comes in handy. So um >> so Mr. Chair,

[3:21:45] » yes, Commissioner. >> So Jordan, one of the things that I

[3:21:48] think the minutes probably reflected motions that we have made on the

[3:21:51] provisional budget. Um but will that be upgraded so that we'll be able to see?

[3:21:57] » Yes. >> Okay.

[3:21:58] » Yep. I'm going to have the the the full changes from provisional. I didn't think

[3:22:02] I'd need it today because I didn't think we were going to approve the final. But

[3:22:05] I will absolutely have that of by department, by fund, everywhere that we

[3:22:08] have to make changes within the budget and unfortunately because of personnel,

[3:22:12] it's going to be most budgets are going to be impacted.

[3:22:15] » Thank you. >> That's a that's a good point to to be

[3:22:19] made. >> Yes, there is an executive.

[3:22:21] » Okay. So, um >> but I would ask that the board make a

[3:22:25] motion to continue the consideration of the budget. Got it up on the screen

[3:22:28] there. >> That' be my motion.

[3:22:31] Second. Have >> a motion from Hancock, second by Dur to

[3:22:33] continue to September 17th. Is that correct? All in favor say I. I.

[3:22:38] » I. >> 2026.

[3:22:41] » 2026. Okay. Then we're we go to um item 17. Is that correct? Updates from

[3:22:48] commissioners. >> Dur Drew. Durr your first nothing.

[3:22:51] Drews. >> Uh yeah, just a quick one. uh attended

[3:22:54] the complete health uh board meeting last Thursday

[3:22:59] and [clears throat] they um they continue to see you know as many

[3:23:03] patients as they have capacity to do with the ultimate goal of keeping

[3:23:08] patients healthier between visits uh and out of higher care uh higher cost care

[3:23:14] which I interpret to be outside emergency rooms. So, uh, continues to

[3:23:19] work for our benefit, uh, relative to these. They deal with a lot of, uh,

[3:23:24] poverty-stricken, uh, individuals, uh, through their clinic and, um,

[3:23:31] they they do a great job. >> I've heard and I've heard good comments

[3:23:34] about that. So, Gary, I was going to ask you a question because you seem to be

[3:23:37] the resident expert about how we transition into the half cent sales tax.

[3:23:44] How does can you give us a little bit short explanation for the audience maybe

[3:23:47] if you could or >> Sure. Sure. So, so we've adopted it. Uh

[3:23:53] I I don't know if the the 20 I think the 20 days is probably passed at this point

[3:23:58] in time. So, it's uh we're moving forward. So, we will notify the South

[3:24:04] Dakota Department of Revenue that we've adopted it that we planned on

[3:24:08] proceeding. That collection then will begin in January. uh that it'll start

[3:24:15] taking place. Uh as we as we as a commission adopted it, uh we we did not

[3:24:22] choose to start paying out in 2027. Uh we chose to give it the year so we

[3:24:31] know exactly how many dollars will come in uh before that is distributed out to

[3:24:37] the uh property tax payers. Okay. Uh just again a reminder, not one penny of

[3:24:44] that sales tax comes to the county for other use. It's total replacement of

[3:24:50] property tax. >> The scary part is the is the state going

[3:24:54] downstairs in the basement and counting it and coming back up and said, "Here's

[3:24:57] your share." >> Yes. Commissioner Ross.

[3:25:00] » So Gary, uh relative to Senate Bill 245, when would that take effect? I I I

[3:25:06] believe that that uh takes effect uh >> January 1st.

[3:25:10] » No, I think that takes effect. I don't know. I think it's I think it's July one

[3:25:15] next year, I think. >> Okay. So,

[3:25:18] u in a year from now, people in Pennington County should see some pretty

[3:25:23] significant tax relief. >> I mean, in in 28.

[3:25:28] » Yep. Starting in 28. Yes.

[3:25:34] We'll we'll weigh with baited breath. Huh? Okay. Um, Commissioner Hackcock,

[3:25:39] you're next. Um, >> fair. I went to the first meeting and

[3:25:43] then I didn't feel sick. I felt kind of yucky, so I went to the demolition derby

[3:25:47] and then we had a meeting on Monday about what was all happening and then I

[3:25:51] started feeling not very well. So, I didn't I missed a bunch of the

[3:25:55] opportunity to go to the different fair events this year, but sounds like they

[3:25:59] were really good. I let people use my passes that don't usually get a go or

[3:26:03] people that were egg that wanted to really go, but uh some people were the

[3:26:07] main main issue was that $15 parking. Uh that was an issue and then some of the

[3:26:13] prices. So um yep, the vents I heard were amazing. I heard the uh my husband

[3:26:19] and my maintenance guy went to Dallas went to the um Bron the the national

[3:26:25] final one that they put on. Um it's it was pretty amazing. The fireworks they

[3:26:31] said just kept going on and on and then the public were just amazed. So that was

[3:26:35] pretty cool. Um Penny County Housing, we're moving forward on that rad

[3:26:40] conversion. So that section 8 housing stuff that we're going to do instead of

[3:26:44] the public uh housing. The difference is on section 8 instead of just giving them

[3:26:49] a house on public housing, it's based on your income. So you can do a little bit

[3:26:54] more with that. So we're buying two properties right now. We already have

[3:26:58] bought one. Um I don't know if I could tell you which one that is right now.

[3:27:01] And we're in the second one. We'll turn around some areas in the north side.

[3:27:07] It's going to make a huge difference, let alone for health and human services

[3:27:11] and others. Uh Alex can probably um attest to this because that's what he

[3:27:16] does for a living and I kind of see it through what I do for a living. So um

[3:27:21] it's going to be huge for Rapid City and the surrounding area and Pennington

[3:27:24] County. um what we're doing um it also is going to include VASH um we've had

[3:27:30] some major VASH issues trying to get people with um um housing and hopefully

[3:27:36] with me county and um Alex can probably tell you more about that. He's he's

[3:27:41] pretty expert on the veteran stuff. Um it's going to be huge how we're going to

[3:27:46] help the veterans as well. So that was kind of our goal in the long run when I

[3:27:50] started this as well is to get some veteran housing for two, three, and four

[3:27:53] bedrooms because we didn't really have any in Pennington County. So a lot of

[3:27:58] them couldn't get help or even the reduced uh difference on that bash from

[3:28:02] that. So it's going to be huge. But I'm pretty excited. We have amazing CEO and

[3:28:07] amazing board. Um and again, we added Alex and we have some other people from

[3:28:12] uh Elevate, Laura, and then Mr. Maine who's been in the Teton Coalition. So,

[3:28:17] with that uh team and his team, um he runs a pretty tight ship over there as a

[3:28:24] CEO. Um really knows his stuff. Anyway, can't say enough about uh Penny's County

[3:28:29] Housing and uh he already knows not perfect in everything we do, but we're

[3:28:33] trying to make a difference in the community and I think we have. So, thank

[3:28:38] you. >> Perfect. Yeah. Thank sound like you guys

[3:28:40] had a good time according to my text messages. I kept that was on your group

[3:28:44] text messages. So be careful >> with the

[3:28:49] me. >> Okay. So um Mr. Ro.

[3:28:54] » Yeah. The only thing I really attended was the uh MO for Rapid City and just an

[3:29:00] update on city uh infrastructure projects and some of the stuff the state

[3:29:05] DOT is doing. Nothing too exciting. >> Thank you again. I didn't I didn't make

[3:29:09] it to a lot of them last week. I spent a lot of time trying to bridge some gaps

[3:29:13] with the cyber security stuff and some of the things that were taking place

[3:29:17] between different entities. So, we got a lot of that

[3:29:21] resolved. Like I said, we found a lot of opportunities in there. With that being

[3:29:26] said, uh >> Mr. Chair,

[3:29:27] » we look for Yep. >> Yeah. I'm going to move to enter into

[3:29:29] executive session pursuant to SDCL125-2 subsection 3 for the purposes discussion

[3:29:36] discussing pending litigation and SDCL125-26

[3:29:41] for the purposes to discussing emergency management.

[3:29:47] » Motion from Dur and second by Drews. All in favor say I. I. We're in executive

[3:29:52] session.

[3:30:01] I'm going to make a motion to come out of executive session. Come out of

[3:30:04] executive session. Second. Have a motion and a second to come out of executive

[3:30:07] session. Motion by Dur. Second by Ros Connect. All in favor say I.

[3:30:10] » I. >> Going to make a motion to adjurnn.

[3:30:12] » Second. >> Have a motion and a second and a third

[3:30:16] from >> a fourth. All in favor say I. I. Motion

[3:30:20] carries. Thanks guys.

September 1, 2026 | Pennington County Board of Commissioners Meeting

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