By Dave Baumeister
County Correspondent
SIOUX FALLS – Commissioners praised a plan from county auditor Leah Anderson to “define and adjust election precinct boundaries” during this week’s Minnehaha County Commission meeting.
The impetus for the auditor’s office to make a new precinct map came from the South Dakota State Legislature’s redistricting the legislative map after the 2020 Census.
Anderson said her staff had been working on this plan for several months, and it not only involved legislative districts, but city of Sioux Falls precincts, various school districts, water districts and other considerations, as well.
She explained that the general rule was to keep precincts under 2,500 voters, and of the 81 precincts in Minnehaha County, she said only “a couple” exceeded that number.
Approximately 600 voters would make up the smallest precinct.
All in all, Anderson said 10 precincts would be added and four would be eliminated. A total of 37 precincts would see changes of some type.
She added that one of her goals was to reduce the number of multi-legislative district precincts (those which included more than one legislative ballot).
And while the auditor’s office wasn’t able to eliminate those entirely, she said they were able to reduce the total.
Anderson also mentioned another goal, which was to have “greeters” at some of the precincts to help voters make sure they were in the correct location for voting.
Commissioners voted unanimously to accept Anderson’s plan.
Split renewal vote
Also, at this meeting, commissioners had to decide whether or not to renew a liquor license for the Safari Bar & Grill at the Renner Corner along Highway 115.
While these matters usually move through quickly, there were many questions from the commission to bar co-owner Sandy Sorm, who seemed ill-equipped to answer some of them.
The bar’s general manager, who, it seemed, handled more of the day-to-day operations, was not able to attend.
The reason for the separate renewal vote on the Safari was due to a failed compliance check by the Minnehaha County Sheriff’s office on Nov. 1.
To complicate the matter, Commissioner Joe Kippley pointed out that this was the bar’s second alcohol sting failure in the past two years.
Commission chair Jean Bender said “This is something we take very seriously…two violations in a relatively short period is very unusual. We haven’t seen that in the time I’ve been on the commission.”
In a warning, Commissioner Dean Karsky said, “Your business is important to the people who live out in that area, and if you were to lose your liquor license it would have an impact on the people in that community, so I encourage you say ‘this is not acceptable’.”
However, Karsky did make the motion to approve the renewal, and that vote was 4-1, with Commissioner Gerald Beninga voting “no.”
The next commission meeting will be at 9 a.m. next Tuesday, Dec. 5, on the third floor of the Minnehaha County Administration Building.
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