December 6, 2022
The Miner County Board of Commissioners met in regular session on December 6, 2022 in the Miner County Courthouse Commission room. Members Present: Alex Protsch, Tom Reisch, Kathy Faber and Joe Bechen. Absent: Kari Jo Carlson. The flag pledge was recited. Motion by Reisch, seconded by Faber and carried to approve the agenda. No Commissioner report of meetings attended was given. Others in attendance for portions of the meeting were Tami Severson, Jessica Charles, Darcy Laible, Josh Hahn and Jill Calmus.
The claim from the City of Howard for mosquito spraying was not approved due to needing clarification from the City regarding whether the claim included a charge for the chemical used in the spraying. Motion by Faber seconded by Bechen and carried to approve the following claims for payment: Road & Bridge $45,227.52, Wellmark $51,059.19, Delta Dental $1,608.21, Kansas City Life $475.75, Retirement $7,259.03, OASI $10,533.06, Commissioners $4,519.75, Auditor $8,694.18, Treasurer $7,388.75, States Attorney $6,758.75, Govt Building $3,135.84, Director of Equalization $8,778.04, Register of Deeds $8,322.70, Vet Service $986.00, Tax Deed Property HHCC $700.00, Sheriff $13,889.78, Contract Law $4,617.64, Welfare $667.20, Co Nurse $1,501.50, Ambulance $9,322.11, WIC $97.00, Extension $1,501.50, Weed $1,471.01, Dispatch $15,823.20, Emergency Mgt $2,493.50 NOV PAYROLL; Jurors $400.00 JURIES; Jurors $90.78 TRAVEL; Silencer Central $2,547.00 EQUIPMENT; SDSU Extension $19,831.06 4-H PMT TO STATE; Alliance $150.00 911 CHARGES; ICAP $701.92 COMMUNITY ACTION PMT; Lammers Kleibacker & Dawson $2,414.45 COURT APPT ATTYS; HFCA $23,536.27 FUEL; Emergency Safety Education $135.00 IN SERVICE EDUCATION; Miner Insurance Agency $4,571.68 INSURANCE; Homestead $39.18 INVESTIGATION EXPENSE; Thomson Reuters-West $265.80 LAW BOOKS; GeoTek Engineering $380.00, Sharday Pagan $150.00 PROFESSIONAL SERVICE; Miner County Pioneer $228.38 PUBLISHING; Dust-Tex $199.86 RENT; A&B Pest Control $30.00, Cummins Sales & Service $756.43, Dakota Tool & Sharpening $218.40, Hafner Electric $79.25, Homestead $400.34, John Deere $1,778.44, Klinkhammer Plumbing $99.49, Mitchell Plumbing $2,497.60, Sturdevant’s Auto Parts $31.98, Ultra $1,630.75 REPAIRS; Michael Johnson Construction $1,444.56, Truenorth Steel $6,397.44 ROAD MATERIALS; Kristian Ellendorf $900.00 STATE’S ATTY OFFICE ALLOWANCE; Lexis-Nexis $149.00 SUBSCRIPTION; Dakota Data Shred $66.96, Dust-Tex $225.37, ES&S $2,425.89, Fox Promo $53.51, Homestead $102.87, HFCA $84.62, John Deere $1,556.85, Lori Kiehl $102.41, Tim Reisch $200.00, Rockmount Research $1,094.61, Rusty’s $245.92, Cora Schwader $36.90, SD Continuing Legal Education $75.00, Tami Severson $20.00, Shane’s Hardware $228.14, Thomson Reuters-West $44.30, Truenorth Steel $145.00, Ultra $81.30, USPS $108.00, Zep Manufacturing $263.19 SUPPLIES; Alliance $961.90, AT&T $326.54, Susan Connor $30.00, Lori Kiehl $30.00, Tami Severson $30.00, Verizon $94.09 TELEPHONE; Daniel P Feldhaus Reporting $516.80 TRANSCRIPTS; Joe Bechen $51.00, Susan Connor $24.48, Kathy Faber $85.68, HFCA $33.01 TRAVEL, City of Howard $3,286.31, Northwestern Energy $434.06, Xcel Energy $40.46 UTILITIES.
Motion by Bechen, seconded by Faber and carried to offer the myBlue HDHP Silver, CompleteBlue 4000 PPO, and EnhancedBlue 3000 Wellmark plans offered through The Insurance Store for the 2023 county health insurance plan options, with the county’s portion based off the EnhancedBlue 3000 plan premiums.
Motion by Faber, seconded by Reisch and carried to continue coverage with Kansas City Life for vision and life insurance for 2023.
4-H Adviser Jill Calmus gave the Commission updates from the last quarter. Calmus requested to replace the lighting on the north end of the Quonset; the Commissioners had no objections to this request. Calmus also plans to plant trees in the new campground as well as replace those that were uprooted by the summer derechos. She is working with Tami Moore to try to get a grant to help with this expense. Calmus also gave an update on the fundraising efforts for the new 4-H building.
Highway Superintendent Ron Krempges joined the meeting to give highway department updates. Terry Burger has passed his six-month probationary period, and Krempges requested a level raise for Burger. Motion by Reisch, seconded by Bechen and passed to raise Burger from Level 1 to Level 2, effective December 1. Krempges presented the cover letter format that will be completed for each township applying for funding through the Rural Infrastructure Program. These funds will need to be awarded at the December 20th meeting. Krempges also plans on creating a cover sheet to turn in at the end of the projects which will have all the bills that were paid attached to it.
Alex Protsch left the meeting, and Tom Reisch took the Chair.
Krempges is reviewing the work agreement between Miner County and Kingsbury County to determine the appropriate payment amount for 2022; he will bring that to a future meeting. There was bridge rehab project that was budgeted for 2021 but was pushed into 2022, resulting in the highway being over budget for this year. Krempges sent in for the DOT reimbursement at the end of September/beginning of October but that payment has not been received yet.
Todd Kays from 1st District joined the meeting. He requested to postpone the 1st District Review to the January 17, 2023 meeting. Kays reviewed proposed zoning ordinance revisions.
Tyler Genzlinger, City of Howard Finance Officer, joined the meeting to request Eagleview Pictometry images of the City of Howard from Miner County for an electric project the city has coming up with DGR Engineering. The entire cost to the county was approximately $140,000 for the two flyovers. Due to this high cost, the Commissioners felt reimbursement for use of the imaging was a reasonable request. The Commissioners requested for Tami Severson to research what other cities have paid counties for similar information. They also requested Genzlinger talk to the City board about what they would be willing to pay for access to the files. The Commissioners also questioned Genzlinger on the bill received from the City of Howard for mosquito spraying due to the fact that the County helped get a grant to purchase chemical in the past. They inquired if all this chemical had been used up. Genzlinger will research this and contact Auditor Connor with the results of this research as well as to get the Eagleview Pictometry request on a future County agenda after speaking to the City council.
Emergency Manager and Weed Supervisor Kent Terwilliger visited with the Commissioners regarding being over budget due to the increase in chemical and fuel prices in 2022. Terwilliger will be traveling to Pierre for his last certification class on Thursday. Terwilliger informed the Commissioners that following that class he will have all courses done for the 6-year period, though he’s only been employed with the county for less than four years. Terwilliger will be requesting a pay increase once all his classes have been completed.
Governor Noem has granted administrative leave for all state offices on Friday, December 23rd, which affects many of the County offices. Motion by Bechen, seconded by Faber and carried to grant Friday, December 23rd as administrative leave for full-time county employees.
The following quote per gallon (excluding non-applicable or refunded tax) based on a constant markup escalator clause was received for fuel for the period of January 1, 2023, through December 31, 2023: Howard Farmers Coop Association $3.406 unleaded, $2.976 unleaded with ethanol, $5.306 clear #1, $4.216 clear #2, $5.039 dyed #1, $3.949 dyed #2, $5.089 dyed #1 at Carthage shop, $3.999 dyed #2 at Carthage shop. It was moved by Bechen, seconded by Faber, and carried to award the purchase of fuel for the period from January 1 to December 31 to Howard Farmers Coop Association with the price being adjusted according to the average cost as of January 1, 2023.
Curt Neises joined the meeting to discuss insurance for the hotel and convention center, which is up for renewal on Wednesday, December 7. The building is set to be auctioned off on the 20th, but the County will need to ensure coverage until the closing, which is set on or before February 3rd. Motion by Faber, seconded by Bechen and carried to purchase the 3-month insurance policy through Lloyds of London for $4,571.68.
The commissioners reviewed the drafts of the Miner County and Miner County Highway Safety Manuals submitted by the Safety Committee. Motion by Bechen, seconded by Faber and carried to adopt these manuals as the official safety manuals for the county and highway employees. Each employee will be given a copy of the manual and will need to return a signed acknowledgement of receipt. Going forward, the safety manual will be given to all new hires.
Motion by Faber, seconded by Bechen and passed to approve the 2023 Annual Memo of Understanding with SDSU for the 4H Youth Advisor.
Motion by Bechen, seconded by Faber and passed to approve the Minnehaha Co Juvenile Detention 2023 Housing Contract.
Motion by Bechen, seconded by Faber and carried to table the Minnehaha County Detention Center New Facility Support decision until the next meeting. Faber will research Miner County’s options and report back to the full board at the next meeting.
Motion by Faber, seconded by Bechen and passed to allow the Auditor to advertise the Commissioners’ intention to adopt a supplemental budget on Thursday, December 29th.
It was moved by Faber, seconded by Bechen and carried to authorize the auditor to make the following operating transfers as provided for in the 2022 budget from the General Fund to Road & Bridge Fund $517,645.
Motion by Bechen, seconded by Faber and passed to approve the 2023 Lake County Inmate Housing Contract.
Lori Kiehl joined the meeting to give an update on quotes for the basement bathroom upgrade. The quote from Mitchell Plumbing, which did not include the cost of installing a wall, was $16,100. Kiehl received a quote from S&S for $8,928 for the plumbing work and a quote from Tom Kramer to install the wall for $1,477, for a total cost of $10,405. Motion by Bechen, seconded by Faber and passed to hire the local contractors S&S and Tom Kramer for the basement bathroom upgrade.
The commissioners were made aware that they need to appoint a coroner for the term beginning January 2023.
Motion by Faber, seconded by Bechen and carried to enter into executive session (SDCL 1-25-2(1)) at 1:45pm. The board came out of executive session at 2:07.
Having no further business, the meeting adjourned until December 20th. Dated this 6th day of December, 2022.
Tom Reisch, Vice-Chair
Miner County Board of Commissioners
Attest: Susan Connor, Miner County Auditor