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.
City Finance Officer Anna Uhl then gave an update with regards to natural gas. A letter of termination had been sent to Centerpoint Energy, but no response had been received. Once that is completed, the city will then be moving ahead with using Clayton Energy out of Nebraska. She also gave an update on the response to the RFP (request for proposals) for the community center, and said there was plenty of interest for it. The council will be reviewing the requests and narrowing it down to three contractors for the council to interview.
Next, the mayor gave an update on the street project. Currently, they’re still waiting for the bond company to choose a contractor.
Then the council revisited the current steps that have been taken as to the COVID-19 response, opting to extend the end date of the ordinance until at least May 4.
“I think we’ve taken all the important and necessary steps right now to keep everybody safe,” Mayor Beaner said. “Seems like there’s good compliance with all of our businesses.”
In new business, the council then spoke with Norm DeWitt, who recently purchased the Senior Center building on the corner of 3rd and Main. He is currently in conversation with the family of Dennis Hoven, who owned the building next to it on 3rd Street, in order to purchase that as well. They are working to rehabilitate the old Senior Center/Jesse James Opera House building and converting it to 7-unit apartments. If they are able to purchase the Hoven building, they are also planning to place indoor parking and four more units, depending on the structural integrity. He is hoping to save the Hoven building if possible.
DeWitt was approaching the City to request a letter of recommendation for an Urban Renewal/blighted area tax break, to give them the time to develop the area prior to having residents. Currently, the Senior Center is listed as a non-profit building, but that will change. Uhl is also working with the city attorney to see if it’s possible to have other buildings included, so other business owners can use that to improve their buildings. Essentially, if it increases the value of a building by at least $30,000, the building is eligible for the discretionary tax schedule, but there are some stipulations. It does work on a tiered schedule. The first year a tax payment is required on just land, the second year on land plus 25% of the property tax, the third year it increases to 50%, etc. At the sixth year it is taxed at the full value of land and building. After some discussion as to DeWitt’s further plans for the Hoven building (once purchased), the council agreed, stating that they were all for the work DeWitt was doing to rehabilitate a currently-unusable building. The council will wait to receive all materials from the city attorney first, and then vote for the resolution at the May meeting.
The council then looked at moving its ordinance records on-line to a service called American Eagle Publishing, but due to the financial insecurity of the current time, they opted to wait and re-visit the option. Contracting through American Eagle would have an initial cost of $6500, then $500 per year, but it includes a searchable ordinance database for Garretson and some legal services. Currently, over 40 cities in South Dakota are using it and give positive reviews.
The council then listened to a request from councilmember Hofer, who was acting as a representative of Grow Garretson. The board of Grow Garretson had been able and willing to form a Grow Garretson Relief Fund, and they were requesting $5000 from the City’s third-penny sales tax fund to use as seed money. Uhl responded to inquiries as to the current total in the tax account that there was approximately $14,000 in that account, and that it had to be used for very specific things, such as promotion or betterment of the community. The relief fund has a potential of continuing after the pandemic passes, but depends on how much money is infused into the account and how much is requested and used over time. The council agreed to use the funds for the relief fund, and granted the request. Grow Garretson’s relief fund information can be found at GrowGarretson.com/relief-fund.
As a final piece, Uhl read the Pool Board report to the council. The Pool Board was holding a raffle fundraiser that was slated to end that Wednesday. At this time, there aren’t any finalized plans for the pool for this summer in light of the pandemic, as they are taking a wait-and-see approach. Their staff needs were fulfilled so they weren’t needing to advertise any spots for hire.
Then, the council voted to go into executive session and adjourned. The next meeting of the City Council is scheduled for Monday, May 4 at 6:30 p.m. Information on how to attend via Zoom or phone will be included in the agenda and posted on the City website or the front door of City Hall.
