by Carrie Moritz, Gazette
The Garretson City Council meeting for April included an extension of Ordinance 655, which requires businesses to maintain 10 patrons or fewer at any one time, temporarily closed playgrounds and the campground, and began to explore creating a “blighted area renewal” tax relief plan for the area containing the Senior Center building.
The meeting began with an introduction from Jesse Folkert, the new executive director of Minnehaha and Lincoln County Economic Development Associations (MCEDA and LCEDA). He has taken the reins from Nick Fosheim, and is excited to work with Garretson to accomplish its economic development goals (for instance, the council worked closely with MCEDA to redesign its ordinances and to create the Capital Improvement Plan, all of which is aligned with the goal to move Garretson forward economically). A 2014 Augustana graduate, he noted that he does have family in Garretson, so is closely affiliated with the community.
The council approved natural gas prices as recommended, then moved into committee reports, beginning with the Fire Department. Dan Wagner is now Fire Chief. He reported there were 66 calls so far this year, and three people have begun firefighter certification training. They have been working closely with the Garretson Ambulance to get training and PPE (personal protective equipment) in readiness for COVID-19. They are currently still short with regards to gowns and face shields, but can work with the ambulance to acquire some until their backordered supply comes in. He noted that they had a great community response regarding the fire truck parade.
Kurtis Nelson with the Garretson Ambulance reported next, noting their numbers of calls and transports have remained steady so far this year. They have had 56 calls and have 17 active members on their roster, including one registered nurse and one EMT who had just finished the advanced EMT course. They did have to cancel their annual ambulance breakfast fundraiser due to the virus, and will be looking at replacement dates. They have also been working on COVID-19 readiness, minimizing contact with patients and doing additional screening when receiving calls. They too are working to acquire more PPE, but Nelson believes they can handle approximately 20-25 patients before their supply runs out. If they are unable to obtain PPE through normal means, there is a state stockpile they could utilize if needed.
Mayor Greg Beaner expressed his appreciation that the Fire Department, Ambulance, and Law Enforcement were working together in this situation.
The Parks Advisory Committee then presented their report with regards to the three parks. With Grow Garretson, they have raised $3400 after expenses toward the picnic shelter, and are planning to move ahead with the concrete for this summer. They’ve also been working on signage and clean-up, and are looking forward to the installation of the security system at the three parks and the curb and gutter placement at the JC Complex.
They then had some recommendations, the first regarding a response to the pandemic. Due to an inability of the City to keep up with cleaning and sanitizing several areas, they recommended temporarily closing areas such as the restrooms/port-a-potties, playground, visitor’s information center, and picnic shelters. They also recommended keeping the campground closed for the time being. It was slated to open April 1, but due to soft road conditions within Splitrock Park, those gates had remained closed. They did note that opening the gates to canoeing, kayaking, and hiking should be allowed once the roads allow, and that foot traffic should otherwise be okay.
“I’ve thought about this, and I don’t know what the right answer is,” said Mayor Beaner.
Councilmember Bill Hoskins expressed a concern that if the toilets are not available, that other parts of the park may be used for such activities, but keeping up with cleaning and maintaining would be impossible. Mayor Beaner also noted that at that time, state park campgrounds and public facilities were also closed.
Councilmember Dave Bonte inquired as to some of the rationale for closing camping, and accepted the answer that it was to prevent group gatherings and the potential for spreading the virus through commonly-touched objects, such as picnic tables. Councilmember Richelle Hofer suggested that perhaps things shouldn’t be closed without an end date, but re-evaluated at each council meeting.
Councilmember Jodi Gloe, Parks Board advisor, noted that this is what the Park Board is for. “What we have them to do, is make recommendations,” she said. It was then up to the council to make the final decisions. With an agreement to visit the recommendations again at the May meeting, the council voted to act on them.
The Park Board then made a few more recommendations on ways to improve the parks, and the council moved on to an update from Vanessa Victor of Infrastructure Design Group with regards to the 5th Street bridge project. She expected that some drilling through the core of the bridge deck would be occurring shortly in order to find the foundations (due to the fact that the entire bridge will be jacked up in order to do some of the work), which is one of the final steps prior to finalizing the plans for the project. The plans then would go to the SDDOT for approval and then out for bid. When asked when the city could expect the project to begin, Victor responded that it is likely to start in mid-July, but that this depends on the contractor. She expects the project to take approximately six weeks, but wanted to clarify that it may often look like no work was being done.
“Residents may think that you’ve closed down the bridge and nothing is happening,” she said. “That is not the case. They have to wait for concrete to cure…they may not necessarily be out there for the month that the concrete is curing.” She noted that this was actually the most time-intensive part of the project. Upon questioning as to which contractors were available, Victor stated that there were very few rehabilitative contractors, and there were two at the top of the list that both had very good reputations.
The council then discussed the Citywide Cleanup. The trend across the state of SD has been to cancel or postpone, though councilmember Godbey was of the opinion that it should go on. Garbage N More is the contracted service provider. It was suggested that perhaps moving it to a later date would be a good idea in order to encourage social distancing, and the council agreed to that. A new date was not set, and it will be re-evaluated at the May meeting.
