The Garretson Commercial Club met at the Sports Cabin on July 8, 2020.
Club president John Brinkman asked vice-president Garrick Moritz to take the minutes for this meeting, as club secretary Margie Martens was unable to attend.
Present were Laurie Bennet, Anna Uhl, Mary Ann Carlson, Steve Carlson, Tim Mallett, John Brinkman and Garrick Moritz. Also present was city councilwoman Jodi Gloe who accompanied Uhl to the meeting and Oran Sorenson, who had been invited by Moritz, after a phone call earlier in the week about Jesse James Days. Sorenson had a couple of good ideas and Moritz requested he attend. All Commercial Club meetings are open to the public and we welcome the input. Club Treasurer Kris Johnson and board member Ron Luke also joined the meeting later.
At first there were not enough board members in attendance for a quorum. Those present reviewed items on the agenda until a quorum was made. Thankfully, the timely arrival of Kris Johnson gave the club the quorum needed to take votes.
The board approved previous minutes and the treasurer’s report.
Though the members present had already discussed a little bit about Jesse James Days, when Johnson arrived and gave the meeting the quorum required. As soon as quorum was met, board member Anna Uhl requested straight away that the board tackle the big topic of the meeting, the viability of the Jesse James Days event itself.
Many concerns had come to the Commercial Club and its board members. President Brinkman spoke with a local insurance agent (before the last meeting) about how there was not an insurance company in the land right now that would cover a wrongful death lawsuit for a death resulting in COVID-19.
In South Dakota, numbers for coronavirus deaths and infections over the last several weeks have plateaued and now have slightly declined. But elsewhere in the nation, COVID-19 has had multiple and devastating outbreaks in Florida, Georgia, Texas, Arizona and California. (In fact, if Florida was an independent nation, it would have the 6th highest infection rate in the world). As is, the US itself is #1 in world for infections and deaths for the coronavirus.
Taking this into account, it would be wrong not to raise the question if the Jesse James Days event would be viable or not.
Brinkman informed those present that the HS band, FFA and TATU groups would not be able to participate in the parade, and that the proposed petting zoo and FFA Fishing derby would also not be taking place. These reasons were not directly but rather indirectly linked to COVID-19. Bandmaster Mr. Nick Sittig did not have enough rehearsal time with his marching band, and FFA instructor Alysha Kientopf would be away on the weekend in question. Last month, the board already voted to cancel the inflatables, deeming it an unsafe activity for families during this pandemic.
Moritz said he’d heard from many citizens and patrons about how much they were looking forward to Jesse James Days, and had expressed their opinion that it was essential for the morale of the community to go forward. However, he also expressed that he felt one death from a COVID-19 infection from a person who attended Jesse James Days was one death too many. Moritz had a conversation with Oran Sorenson about this very topic the previous day and he invited Sorenson to speak at this meeting.
Sorenson was recognized and he spoke well. He said that in his church, they were weekly taking the precautions of masks and distancing. He said despite the pandemic, the people of this area really needed this celebration to bring them some joy and comfort in these dark times and that there should be a way to do this smartly and safely. The parade, for example, he said, must go forward. All the conversations he’d had with local community members cited that was very important to them. He proposed extending the parade to go down more city streets and all over the city. For downtown streets, he suggested using sidewalk chalk or washable paints to section off 12ft areas where family groups could cluster, with 6 feet of space between them. If the parade length could be lengthened across more residential streets, most Garretson residents would be able to watch the parade from the comfort of their own front yards or porches. The parade will go forward as proposed at its scheduled time as well, and by necessity will be completely motorized.
Uhl and Gloe compared this idea to what the Garretson School had done for the end of year teacher’s parade. Everyone at the meeting concurred.
So, this brought the club board to the issue of what and or how many items to include in the events. How much to be scaled back, with the idea of safety first and limiting the club’s liability.
The Legion building has already been rented for the weekend and at the last contact the Brinkman had with Rich Holzapfel, he was still planning on going forward for the model train exhibition. There are still plans for an outdoor movie Friday night and the Jesse James Road Race (run/walk/bicycle) Saturday morning, albeit with a more staggered style.
Kris Johnson said that the fire department wanted to go forward with the fireman’s breakfast, but they had not decided yet. Brinkman contacted Fire Chief Dan Wagner’s cell phone and after the meeting, just before publishing this report Brinkman reported that they had not yet made a final decision as to whether or not they would host the breakfast.
The Outdoor Community Church Service will also go forward.
Brinkman said he’ d speak with the Legion members at the earliest opportunity to let them know to have a float for the color guard, as walking this extra-long route would be difficult for our retired veterans.
The club’s board voted to scale back to these official events only. This leaves local business and organizations the option to host their own activities or not, as they desire.
The Parade Committee will be working closely with the City of Garretson, as construction has begun in earnest on the street project, once again. When a final route around the city had been decided, and the final schedule set it will be published in this newspaper and made publicly available on the city’s website and across social media.
Next the board discussed ribbon cuttings for new member businesses. Already Rae’s Greenhouse had been featured in the paper and Moritz said that he planned to approach three others in the near future.
The next item for discussion was timely as Oran Sorenson was there, which is discussions about signage at or around Palisades State Park. Sorenson owns the land next to both the current entrance and the newly proposed main entrance when the park expansion is to be completed.
Sorenson was amenable to new signage but he also wanted to address the Commercial Club on a related issue. He felt very strongly that the current entrance should be maintained as a secondary entrance at the conclusion of the project. Sorenson has been championing this issue, and has made several contacts locally and in Pierre. Sorenson said he even had volunteers lined up to man the old entrance if staffing was truly an issue. Advice he had received on the said issue was, that if promoted with a political will, it would easily turn in Garretson’s favor. He said he’s been working on a coalition to lobby both the former and current governor to support keeping the current entrance open as a secondary entrance. If the Garretson Commercial Club and the City of Garretson supported this, he said that the odds of making this happen increase. The Commercial Club was supportive, as were the representatives of the city present at the meeting. Sorenson said he’d keep us all informed as to plans moving forward.
The next item up for discussion was the Pool Auction, which we received word was canceled.
The City-wide rummage sales on Aug. 6, 7 & 8are moving forward as scheduled. The 16th Annual Garretson Commercial Club Golf Tournament would also be going forward as scheduled on Friday, August 7.
The next big item for discussion was the new downtown sound system project. Brinkman did not have a firm estimate on costs for the project, but as proposed the new sound system would be done on a hardline fiber optic cable connected to speakers on the city’s new light posts. It was thought that this would be more reliable and longer lasting than a Bluetooth radio system.
Ron Luke was vocally supportive of the project, saying it could have an undeniable benefit for the city and any and all future city celebrations. And with the commercial club scaling back its activities for Jesse James Days, we might have more funds readily available for the project. Brinkman said he had been coordinating with the City of Garretson to see how much the city would be willing to contribute to the project and that he would seek out firm cost estimates for the project.
Though the Commercial Club has advertised, openly looking for committee members for a Christmas Lanes committee, no one has yet filed for any positions on the committee.
The club’s board then approved two requests from both Sam Williamson and Kris Frerk for gift certificates and prizes for contests.
After this, they adjourned for the day.
