By Dave Baumeister, County Correspondent
SIOUX FALLS – The Minnehaha County Commission was back in session Tuesday, April 14, and once again, Commissioners Jeff Barth and Gerald Beninga were present remotely by phone.
Minnehaha County Commissioners, from left, Jean Bender, Dean Karsky and Cindy Heiberger were "socially distant" at this week's meeting. Located in the center is the phone on which Commissioners Jeff Barth and Gerald Beniga called in from home. (Photo by Dave Baumeister)
Only this time it wasn’t to test the system, it was due to Gov. Kristi Noem’s order that all people in Minnehaha County over 65 years of age and older should stay at home.
Barth and Beninga, as well as Sheriff Mike Milstead, were present via a conference call, since all fall into that “vulnerable” category.
And the theme of working remotely figured largely in the meeting, as the elected county officials – sheriff, auditor, register of deeds, state’s attorney and treasurer – all reported on what their offices are doing to deal with the COVID-19 spread.
The sheriff’s office is the only one of those not located in the County Administration Building, and since deputies need to be out in the public and around inmates, there are limits on what they are able to do.
Milstead lavished a great deal of praise on his staff for work being done under extremely difficult circumstances.
A main area he discussed was the county jail and working with the incarcerated.
He explained that most of their worries come not from within, but from outside staff bring in any type of infection, and that to help with that, rigorous screening procedures and cleaning are in place, since, unlike other departments, deputies and corrections workers cannot work remotely.
However, for the other elected officials working in an administration building closed to the public, three of the four offices have been working to split shifts and have staff work from home.
IT Director Monte Watembach was cited several times as helping them accomplish this, including having office phones ring through to people’s remote work sites.
State’s Attorney Crystal Johnson told commissioners about changes being made at the county courthouse to help accommodate social distancing in courtroom situations.
One such change she mentioned is that some court sessions are being operated remotely, and additional courtrooms are being used to accommodate fewer people needing to be present at any one time.
Johnson also said that some of the regular state’s attorney’s staff is able to login and work from home.
Minnehaha County Auditor Bob Litz and Register of Deeds Julie Risty also discussed changes in their offices.
Both said they currently had several staff members working from home, and others who split shifts so there are always some people present in their respective offices, but people are not located too closely to one another.
Risty said she still works with title companies and others based on appointments.
Not all work remotely
The one office that has not transitioned to any remote workers was the treasurer’s office.
County Treasurer Pam Nelson told commissioners that her office was down five employees, due to being in the vulnerable category, but she seemed to indicate none of them were doing any remote work.
Nelson said that the staff needed to physically be in the office to do their work, despite the fact that the public is not currently able to go into the treasurer’s office.
Commission chairperson Jean Bender, who has seen the logs of phone traffic coming into the administration building, asked about the large number of calls to the treasurer’s office that go unanswered.
Nelson said this was because staff were inundated with an increased amount of mail.
But this left the commissioners wondering why phones hadn’t been routed to those staff members under the stay at home orders.
“We have people that are at home,” Commissioner Cindy Heiberger said, “Have you looked into having some of them doing some of the phone calling?
“People have said that IT can transfer calls to their homes.”
Nelson replied, “Those are things we looked at, but we’ve not really been doing. One reason is we like to keep things the way they’ve been.”
But Commissioner Dean Karsky wondered at how Nelson’s staff was being utilized.
“I’m appalled,” he said, “(at) your refusal to work with your staff for the benefit of the taxpayers of the county.
“You don’t have lines down the hall – so what are people doing?”
(Government workers who have been ordered to stay at home or deemed “unessential,” are still being paid and are expected to be filling their time with work.)
To answer Karsky, Nelson, again, referred to the increased mail volume and phone calls, even though it was pointed out that some of that work could be done remotely.
But Nelson seemed to be satisfied that she was making correct decisions, even though she, herself, indicated there is a problem, when she said, “The Commission doesn’t have any control over how I operate my office… I work for the people of Minnehaha County, and if they decide in November I’m not supposed to be here, then problem fixed.”
Less intense matter
There were no heated discussions when it came to forgiving a property lien.
When a compromise of lien comes before the county, Commission Assistant Melinda Storley presents information about the lien and the person applying for it.
Liens are put in place against property or person when a party owes the county money, and before a property can be sold or any new property can be purchased, the lien must be paid off.
Oftentimes, during a divorce or similar situation when one party was responsible for amassing the lien, commissioners might move to transfer the lien to a certain person.
Other times the party owing money might come to an arrangement with the county for paying a lien so a property can be sold.
Occasionally, people petition commissioners to forgive a lien when they have made no efforts to pay any part of it.
Those petitions are usually rejected.
However, this time, the petition for compromise came from a single mother of three who listed her employment at a “local casino,” where she brings home approximately $1,300 per month.
She and the children have been living in a home they rented, but as Storley explained, the owner had made plans to sell the property.
Her lease gave her the first right of refusal for the $75,000 home, but she had a lien against her from Minnehaha County of just over $4,500, which needed to be cleared up.
The records Storley presented showed that she had been making payments on the lien all along, but in order to buy the house, she offered to make a final payment of $2,500 if the county would forgive the rest.
But after hearing her story, all five commissioners were ready to do more, even though they weren’t asked.
After a short discussion by commissioners, Barth moved, and Heiberger seconded, to forgive the lien in its entirety.
Heiberger said, “To keep these people in their home and keep the kids in the same school district is extremely important.”
Barth added, “When you own something, you take care of it, and you improve it… we’ll help this person get back on her feet.”
The vote was 5-0 to forgive 100 percent of the lien.
The next meeting of the Minnehaha County Commission will be on Tuesday, April 28, at 9 a.m. on the second floor of the county administration building at 6th and Minnesota Ave. in Sioux Falls.
These meetings are open to all, and public comment is usually encouraged, although for people wanting to attend, currently, the only way into the building is at the entrance on the west side of the building, and the number of people allowed into the main commission chamber at any one time is being limited.
