Carrie A. Moritz, Garretson Gazette
The Garretson City Council met on Wednesday, October 12 at city hall after a postponement due to the Native American Day holiday. During that meeting, the council discussed upcoming winter strip prices for natural gas and heard from Tad Heitkamp and Levi Schmid about the new firehouse plans.
Natural gas prices were down from last month, but are still quite a bit higher than they have been in the past. Garretson's natural gas broker, Clayton Energy, is trying to lock in pricing for the remaining 25% of normal winter usage.
"We don't know what [prices] are going to look like over the next 3-4 months," said Economic Development Director and utilities billing supervisor Jessica Fueston. She said that Clayton Energy's president, Bill Lindley, had discussed locking the remaining 25% at $8.50 per decatherm with city employees earlier that day.
Fueston also reported that Northern Natural Gas, Garretson's supplier, is requesting a 121% rate increase at the national level, which will impact prices. She and City Finance Officer Paetyn Dreckman said they do not know if that rate increase will be approved by the Natural Gas Reliability Corporation (NERC).
NERC is an international regulatory authority that is the Electric Reliability Organization for America and is subject to oversight by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. However, until then, Northern Natural is likely to charge a rate that is in between their current rate and their expected increased rate, and any overage once a final decision comes down would be refunded.
Discussion ensued around locking in the remaining 25% at the $8.50 per decatherm rate, and the council suggested Dreckman stay in contact with Lindley and have him use his best judgement in order to lock in 100% of Garretson's normal winter usage. Further reporting on natural gas can be found above.
Dreckman then reported to the council that the Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources had awarded a grant in the amount of $92,900 to the city to help with the costs of installing the water main on Dows Street, which will help create redundancy in the system and bring water to Central Valley Dairy. In order to qualify for this grant, the city had to promise a matched amount in ARPA funds. This will cover all but $16,000 of the projected project costs.
Dreckman also reported that the first pre-construction meeting for the 5th Street bridge project will occur on Friday, October 21 at 8:00 a.m. at City Hall. This project will likely begin next spring, and will include replacing bearings and repairing structural weaknesses found a few years ago that caused the speed limit over the bridge to be reduced to 20 mph. It will also lengthen the life of the historic bridge, which is one of only two remaining arch bridges left in South Dakota.
After Park Board Advisor and councilor Greg Franka reported that things were progressing with seeding, mulching, and planting at Split Rock Park, Garretson Fire Department Chief Levi Schmid and Treasurer Tad Heitkamp discussed new fire hall plans with the council.
Mainly, they were requesting they be allowed to purchase a little less than an acre of the land on the corner of Dows Street and Center Avenue.
"We're in a 50-year building that's suited us very well for a lot of years," said Schmid. "But with the change of fire standards and what we're needing to have, it's time [to build something new and larger]."
They are proposing pursuing the purchase of an amount of land that is 200 feet east-to-west by 100 feet north-to-south in order to install a building that would have offices, a display area for the historic fire truck, meeting room, kitchen, parking lot, laundry, storage, and six bays for trucks.
"With the decision of that spot, we're gonna make sure it's not an eyesore for anybody coming into the town," said Schmid. It will not be a pole building, he said, but a well-built and architecturally-stylish facility that would impress out of town visitors. He and Heitkamp also stressed that their plans are for another 50-year building, which will take into account larger truck sizes, a community that will be increasing in size, and continually-improving department standards. They also plan to utilize lessons learned from other communities that have recently built facilities, and utilize what worked and eliminate what did not work.
With planning and construction, the project will likely be another 4-5 years before completion, but the department will need the approval of the council on the purchase of the land in order to continue.
Councilor Bruce Brown had concerns regarding use of that land. "That was one of the areas we had picked out for a dog park," he said. "But if you are not taking the whole thing, there still would be potential to put a dog park in there."
Due to the confusion on how much land the fire department was requesting, the council opted to defer a decision until a rough perimeter or aerial map of the building on the land is produced. For size reference, councilor Franka said it appeared to be the fourth tree along Center Avenue and the fifth tree along Dows, or approximately a quarter of the full open lot.
Councilor Dave Bonte asked the two representatives to plan for a full acre of that corner in drawing up the map. Councilor Bill Hoskins also asked that attorneys be contacted in order to ensure a proper changeover of land rights would occur, whether through a purchase or lease. However, the council appeared amenable to the request.
After that discussion, the council approved the transfer of funds from Capital Outlay to the General Fund in order to pay for the GIS system work that has been completed, as well as approving the Capital Outlay Fund for 2023. They also approved a request to pour cement by Blue Dragon Academy for their garbage bins prior to receiving the formal land survey results, then moved into executive session.
Upon coming back into general session, the council approved a 2% salary increase for City Maintenance Supervisors Jordan Doane and Ryan Nussbaum and Economic Development Director Fueston, and adjourned.
The next regular meeting of the city council will be held Monday, November 14 at 6:30 p.m. at the Legion Dugout.
