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Ramsbey: Speaking of open communication, the big thing happening in Garretson right now is the street project and the construction. Let’s just talk about that right away. I saw an update in the Gazette with all the delays on the road project. You know better than I do how the business owners are frustrated with this project. Can you share with us any updates?
Beaner: Our lawyer gave us a statement to release. With that, she also sent a list of things that we are not to talk about. It’s a long list. So, there’s a lot of things I can’t comment on. That said, I don’t like to be secretive or keep things hidden-
Ramsbey: Can I pause you really quickly? For those who haven’t seen the story in the Gazette or are new to town, you mentioned there’s lawyers involved. Why?
Beaner: Starting this spring, there have been some issues with the construction. We had a meeting, we met with our lawyers and city engineer and we’ve been working through those problems, trying to make things work right. As of August 1, we have officially turned everything over to our city attorney. It’s a legal matter now so we can’t really discuss much. That being said, when this is all said and done, everything will be explained. I want to assure everybody that we are doing what’s right for the community and we have your best interests in mind. Any small community, the heart of the community is Main Street, and I don’t want to hurt that. We have one grocery store, and that is a necessary, vital business for our community and I don’t want that to be hurt.
Ramsbey: So, to clarify, lawyers have been involved because there have been lots of delays. The city is now taking legal actions to make sure the project gets done sooner rather than later, and done well. Is that correct? The second part is that you are not able to share on a whole lot of this, but when it’s said and done the city will release a full statement detailing what happened, and why this process happened. The day is coming when you will be able do open communication.
Beaner: Yes. And I’ve heard so many complaints from people. I’ll listen to people and I’ll talk to you, and we have the best interests of the community in mind.
Ramsbey: With the truck route, this project is more than Main Street or 3rd Street. Are you able to speak into a timeline of that? Will that be accomplished this year or do you think it’s going to be pushed off to next year, or are you not able to speak into that publicly?
Beaner: The schedule- there were two phases to the schedule [this year], the first phase was to complete Main Street and phase two was to complete the truck route. The project was scheduled to be completed by November. I probably shouldn’t speak more to that.
Ramsbey: One final question that people have been asking, and I totally understand if you can’t speak into this, but the question is, why Haarsma? It’s no secret that the general contractor is Haarsma. Is that a decision that the City made or is that a longer process that Haarsma got hired? As you know, they don’t have the best reputation in Sioux Falls and other areas.
Beaner: I can’t speak to that, but I was on the city council at the time [of hire]. As a government entity, we have to take the lowest bid. We’ve also talked to our lawyer about this, because, looking back, it’s like, did we do something wrong? You’re required to take the lowest bid, unless you have a personal experience with that contractor, so if I had a personal experience- a bad experience- with that contractor, that gives me a reason not to use them again. You cannot use other peoples’ experiences, you cannot use hearsay, you cannot use talk among other contractors. If you do that, you open yourself up to legal consequences. It’s all things we’ve discussed.
Ramsbey: That’s helpful, and hopefully that helps answer some of those questions. And when that day comes that you’re able to discuss those things openly I’m sure more of those things will be answered.
Another big thing I want to talk about is the whole idea of the code enforcement officer. That’s kind of a new thing that the City has been enforcing, and reading through the minutes, there’s also been some questions and changes to how that works, so share with us the importance of having a code enforcement officer for Garretson?
Beaner: I know some people aren’t completely happy with that decision, but it’s becoming standard practice among municipalities to have a code enforcement officer, and some people might say, well, why now? Well actually, the rules have been there for quite some time-
Ramsbey: It’s not like you’re making up code. You’re enforcing the code that’s already been written down.
Beaner: Right. Our code enforcement officer is Scott Dubbe, and he’s a super nice guy. He’s happy to work with you, and what he does is, he just checks properties and makes sure they meet code. So, for example, if I have an abandoned car parked in my yard. An abandoned car means a flat tire, not operable, or no license plate. So, for one, I can’t park it in my front yard, I have to have an improved surface, and it has to work. People might say, well, why do you need this? And I would say, we’re trying to do things to improve our community so when people come and look at our community they’ll say, “wow, what a nice community, I want to move there, I want to live there. We have a really nice daycare, we have good businesses, we have a good school district, people are friendly. We have a housing development coming. When you have guests coming, what do you do? You pick up your house. I think that’s kind of why we’ve started doing this.
Ramsbey: It’s that hospitality, and I love that. Because I’ve driven through other small towns, and you can tell that they don’t enforce anything. The houses are broken down, there’s junk in people’s yards, and when you drive through you think, I don’t want to live there. One of the things I’ve noticed with Garretson is that people do generally try to take care of their property and take care of their yards to make it look nice, and a code enforcement officer is a formal way to make sure that’s happening. Am I describing that correctly?
Beaner: Right. And I think that people need to know, too, that we’re not going to go “Dutch communities.” Have you ever been to northwest Iowa? Like, you go to Orange City or Sioux Center, and they probably walk around with the ruler and check grass- I mean, it is serious. But, just to keep our community looking nice, that’s what we want. Not, making sure people have their garbage cans in the back of the house and not putting their garbage cans out too early. Some places go way overboard on this.
Ramsbey: Keeping with the spirit of the law, not the legal code of the law, where it can be oppressive on people.
Beaner: Right. And some people are like, you made this so hard. Well, actually, we loosened up some laws- like parking trailers on the road and things like that so it’s a little easier for people, especially if you have a business and you have a trailer.
Ramsbey: I’ll give one plug- there’s a new storage unit out on Nordstrom Ave built by Mike Decker with Crete Pros, brand new camper-sized storage units. So, if the code enforcement officer is telling you that you need to move your stuff off your property, reach out to Mike Decker. You’ll find him in the business directory. That’s one of the reasons he built it, is for people who don’t have the storage space. These are nice, big, new storage units.
Let’s talk about housing. This is a conversation that has been happening for a few years. I remember in the mayoral race, this is one of the things identified by each candidate, the need for housing in Garretson. Because even if people want to move here, they can’t live here, and that’s always going to be a problem. So, speak into the housing developments that are going to happen in Garretson.
Beaner: One of the big campaign platforms was a TIF [Tax Incremental Financing] and as everybody knows, government takes a long time. So, we had had an investment group purchase some land to build a housing development, and that land has been sold to a developer, and the final plan is set up and ready to be approved. Our city engineer, Chad Hanisch, he’s been helping us. There were some issues with drainage on that area, he has that all resolved and the last thing is the TIF. That has been moved to the Board of Revenue with the State and I believe that’s the final step for approval. They look at it and they approve it.
Ramsbey: For those who have no idea what you’re talking about, what’s a TIF?
Beaner: I forgot the full name. What it means is, if I’m a developer, I purchase land and I get a TIF from the city. The land that was purchased was ag land. So, the property tax doesn’t increase on that land. It stays as ag land, even if I build a hundred homes on it. The school will get their money, but the city and the county don’t get any money- like, if I build a $100,000 home on there, there’s no tax money for the city. But we have the people moving in, we have the development. At the point that development is paid for, then it returns to normal tax rates. It’s a low-risk way to encourage a developer to come in and build houses.
Ramsbey: Cool. That makes sense. So you’ve taken these steps and now it’s kind of a waiting period for that to get approved. Is there a timeline for that?
Beaner: There’s no timeline- it’s on the state. However long it takes the state. It’s gonna happen. It’s done, the plans are out there.
Ramsbey: One final question I want to throw past you. To get a little more practical, as you know, it takes all of the citizens of the community to make the community a better place. So as the mayor of Garretson, can you encourage us as citizens with one, two, or three things we can do in our individual lives to make Garretson a healthier community?
Beaner: Garretson’s a friendly community- like you said, it’s a great community to live in. And I would encourage people- you know, our city council members, we need to hear input, good or bad. If you don’t like something your city council member is doing, talk to them. If you like something they’re doing, talk to them. I see people complain on Facebook and- like, don’t go on Facebook. Go straight to the person that can make that decision and tell them what you think. I like to have that closure. You put something out as a complaint on social media, you never get an answer. Other people feed on that. And I’m not saying what you should or should not put on social media. But, go talk to somebody. Get an answer. If you have a question about the City, go talk to [City Finance Officer] Anna [Uhl]. Say hey, why this? Or what’s going on with this? Talk to your city council member.
Ramsbey: So input, talk face-to-face, not on social media- unless you’re on a podcast and can talk to them face-to-face while on social media-
Beaner: Right. And I’ll answer questions, absolutely.
Ramsbey: What’s the best way to reach out to you?
Beaner: My cell phone is 360-7091. Probably the best way, though, is email. . I can’t always answer my phone at work.
Ramsbey: Great. For those watching, thank you for joining us. Greg, thank you for being on the podcast a third time. We’ll have more in the future I’m sure.
I will say, I’m always looking for suggestions of people to have on the podcast, so if you know someone who might have a cool story, or a cause they’re passionate about, reach out to them and tell them hey, you need to be on this podcast. We’re kind of expanding this podcast, so if you live in one of the neighboring towns, like Jasper or Dell Rapids, I would like to meet with you and shed some light on some of the cool things that people are doing in our small towns.
I will catch you guys next time.
Revision (8/23/19) The initial printing of this article insinuated that Tyler Ramsbey was acting on behalf of the Renovation Church, where he is Pastor. He was not acting on their behalf, but as a member of the Garretson Commercial Club and a community of Garretson. The Gazette regrets this error.
