By Dave Baumeister, County Correspondent
SIOUX FALLS - Although the agenda for this week’s Minnehaha County Commission meeting was short, it still lasted around an hour and 20 minutes with three briefings from organizations it supports.
Scott Wick, the manager of the Sioux Empire Fair, reported on a successful fair after coming off the abbreviated pandemic year.
He explained that even though the main act to open the fair, the popular Country band Old Dominion, had to be pulled off stage and eventually canceled due to threatening weather conditions, the rest of the week ran smoothly.
Overall, the financials for this year’s fair showed expenses of just over $1 million, while the revenue side came in at $1.4 million, for a net profit of $387,386.
Wick joked they were “taking a Mulligan” on last year, and instead compared the fair to 2019 figures.
Doing that, he said attendance and revenues both saw an increase.
He also reported that expenses were down 15%.
However other things that were down were food and vendor booths, as many people cited staffing shortages to be a problem.
Also, Wick said beverage sales were down, and he attributed that to the abbreviated Old Dominion concert, as well as the one night the Grandstand was used for a “revival meeting.”
“The message was great,” Wick said, “But this wasn’t an event for beverage sales.”
The other two briefings came from Forward Sioux Falls and Lifescape, and while they didn’t go into finances, they did report on the work their organizations were doing.
Some of the best news for the commission, as well as county employees, was that projected increased insurance costs for this year will be less than what was budgeted, according to Human Resources Director Carey Deaver.
The county had planned for a 15% increase, but it is now projected that insurance costs will only increase 10%.
If these projections hold, the county will be able to help pay down some of the employees’ premiums, keeping those at only a 5% increase.
A last item looked at briefly was the suggestion to change the way meeting agendas are set up, using a “consent agenda,” as opposed to “routine business.”
The consent agenda method would allow for several items that are currently adopted with little to no discussion or requiring any real action, to be adopted all at once, instead of everything requiring separate motions.
If an item might require more discussion, then commissioners or the public could have it moved to become a regular agenda item.
No action was taken on this, but commissioners wanted to revisit it at a future meeting, after they had time to consider it.
The next meeting will be at 9 a.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 2, on the second floor of the Minnehaha County Administration Building at 6th and Minnesota in Sioux Falls.
Time is set aside for public comment at all meetings.
