By Dave Baumeister, County Correspondent
SIOUX FALLS – During this week’s session, Minnehaha County Commissioners extended their reduced meeting schedule through the end of 2021.
As a COVID relief measure, at the beginning of this year they called for limiting meetings to three per month to reduce the number of people needing to be at the meetings on a regular basis.
While the commission had been holding session every Tuesday, for the first three months of the year, they cut the schedule back to just three meetings per month. There have been no meetings held on the second Tuesdays or the fifth Tuesday of March.
As this was the last regular meeting for the first quarter, commissioners revisited their schedule and decided to continue with that for the remainder of 2021.
Having only three meetings a month does make for longer sessions, but it allows people who attend from other departments to accomplish more business during the Tuesdays they have to be present.
“We are the only county (in South Dakota) that meets every week,” Commission Chairperson Dean Karsky said in regard to the change.
He added that commissioners have plenty of other things to keep busy, as they all have other duties and committees they take part in.
For example, when the regular meeting is cancelled in the second week of April, commissioners will still be meeting as the board of adjustment that day to deal with property tax matters.
If commissioners see a need to go back to weekly meetings, they can make the change anytime during the year, but by planning their schedule for the next nine months, it allows others to adapt their own schedules, as well.
Group briefings
Again this week, commissioners heard several presentations from agencies receiving county money.
Representatives from the public defender’s and public advocate’s offices, Lifescape and the Humboldt Fire and Ambulance Service talked about what their offices had done over the past year.
Tim Even from Humboldt Fire and Ambulance talked about what was happening in the 270 square miles of western Minnehaha County for which they are responsible.
Along with being the ambulance provider for Humboldt and Hartford, they also serve 10 county townships.
In addition, they take mutual aid calls for eastern McCook County, as their service can often arrive at some parts of that county more quickly.
And just in the past year, they have gotten five new volunteer members, with an application pending for the sixth.
Even added that while they usually have around 275 calls annually, in 2020, that rose to 340 calls.
He also referred to a little history of the ambulance service as he said that when they started 55 years ago, their ambulance was a used hearse.
“I can’t imagine calling for an ambulance and having a hearse show up in the driveway!” Even said.
Currently, the service uses a 2014 Lifeline ambulance, but they have a new $230,000 vehicle on order which Even expects to be delivered in mid-April.
There will be no commission meeting next week, and the next meeting will be at 9 a.m. on Tuesday, April 6, on the second floor of the Minnehaha County Administration Building at 6th and Minnesota in Sioux Falls.
Regular commission meetings are open to all, and time is always made for public comment.
