By Dave Baumeister
County Correspondent
SIOUX FALLS – Jamie Gravett of the Minnehaha County Juvenile Detention Center opened the Tuesday, March 7, county commission meeting by recognizing two JDC employees that saved two lives the week before.
Gravett told commissioners of what he said was one of the worst days he remembered when there were two separate attempted suicides at the center on Friday March 3.
Two of his staff members were on hand to catch both attempts and save two lives.
Commissioners were quite impressed and were grateful.
Gravett was also grateful to commissioners for supporting the JDC over the past year, and he told them so during his annual briefing.
He said that in 2022, there had been an almost 14% increase in in-take calls concerning kids in trouble. And that many of those were due to mental health concerns.
He explained that 80% of the young people they deal with are on some type of medication for mental health issues.
However, he also said, that while some felonies by juveniles were up, major felonies, such as homicides, rape, arson, etc., were down.
Overall, he pointed out, that the average daily population at the JDC had remained about the same as 2021, as other diversion programs are now available to keep young kids out of the system.
Other business at this meeting was to set the date of March 28 for two zoning issues.
One is to discuss and possibly change the zoning from A1 agricultural to Rural Residential for a proposed housing development northeast of the Crooks/Renner exit off I-229.
The second is to change the language in the county zoning ordinance regarding short-term vacation rentals and requiring them, in some cases, to obtain conditional use permits, in order to operate.
The next meeting will be at 9 a.m. Tuesday, March 21, on the third floor of the Minnehaha County Administration Building at 6th and Minnesota in Sioux Falls.
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