By Dave Baumeister, County Correspondent
SIOUX FALLS – Apart from the events surrounding the resignation of State’s Attorney Aaron McGowan, there was plenty of other major business at the Tuesday, Dec. 3, Minnehaha County Commission meeting.
One major item came as commissioners discussed and decided on raises to recommend for the county’s elected officials for 2020.
Those recommendations will be written up by HR director Carey Deaver for approval at the Dec. 10 meeting.
After several minutes of discussion, commissioners decided on the following raises: 6% for Sheriff Mike Milstead, 4% for Register of Deeds Julie Risty, and 2% for Auditor Bob Litz.
Commissioners said that because of the problems with the county Treasurer’s office in 2019 and write-ups from the State Office of Legislative Audit, no raise was recommended for Minnehaha County Treasurer Pam Nelson.
Also, due to the uncertainty with how the state’s attorney office will proceed, there was no “raise” planned, but a set salary of $130,000 was suggested for that position.
Commissioner Gerald Beninga originally suggested that raises be tied into cost of living increases, but other’s felt that, especially, the sheriff deserved more with the influx of work for law enforcement and emergency management during the past year.
This meeting was also a public hearing for the second reading of changes to the county’s Surface Ambulance Ordinance.
Those two changes involved bringing Minnehaha County’s requirements in line with those of the state and altering the wording about an invited provider doing a special event in another’s area.
Currently, the state of South Dakota only requires that one EMT be present on any ambulance run, while the unamended ordinance called for two EMTs in Minnehaha County.
In addition, the ordinance had stated that a provider working a special event in another provider’s designated area needed to get written permission from the regular service to do so.
The change eliminated the need for “written permission,” changing the wording to saying a provider hired to do a special event just needed to “notify” the regular provider.
Speaking in favor of these changes, Dr. Jeff Luther, the Quality Assurance Director for the Minnehaha County Ambulance Association, liked the idea of aligning ambulance regulations.
But while Jay Masur of MedStar Ambulance in Brandon didn’t specifically speak against the changes, he made a strong case for not lowering standards, which he definitely was against.
“You are lessening the requirements for services you are subsidizing, so the services you are not subsidizing will have to back them up even more. To me, that is absolutely backwards,” Masur explained.
“When you get to a scene, and you’re the only EMT on the scene, and you need help, you have none.”
And Masur stressed that MedStar would not be lowering its standards to only having one EMT or paramedic on a run.
Adding to what was already said, Luther, Emergency Management Director Jason Gearman, and Commissioner Jeff Barth all commended Masur for his work and comments, but they said the idea behind this is not to put a service in a situation where they cannot transport a person who needs to get to a hospital immediately, because they only have one EMT available.
Barth referred to the service with the border town of Jasper, Minn., which has to follow separate regulations for the states of Minnesota, South Dakota and Minnehaha County.
On a motion from Commissioner Dan Karsky, the changes to the ordinance were approved on a 5-0 vote.
The Minnehaha Commission has its regular meetings each Tuesday at 9 a.m. on the second floor of the county administration building at 6th and Minnesota in Sioux Falls.
These meetings are open to all, and public comment is always encouraged.
