By Dave Baumeister
County Correspondent
SIOUX FALLS – At their Tuesday, Jan. 21, meeting, Minnehaha County Commissioners covered a variety of agenda items, but this time, none were as controversial as had been on display at more recent meetings.
First up was an annual briefing from the Family Visitation Center in Sioux Falls about what they had done over the last year.
Director Joleen Thompson thanked the commission for its support in the past and discussed how the center is supported through different ways by the entire community.
According to Thompson, the Family Visitation Center provides “a safe, supervised” environment for children to meet with one or both parents.
While the center does provide services for children in foster care, one of its main functions is to act as a meeting spot for children and non-custodial parents.
It is the custom of all agencies and departments receiving county funds to give a briefing to commissioners at least once during every budget cycle.
The Family Visitation Center is open from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Mondays through Fridays and 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturdays.
New computers
IT Director Monte Watembach received commission approval to purchase new Dell computers for county offices and employees.
He said that each year, his office replaces one fifth of the total number of county computers with new equipment.
This year, after the commission approved the purchase 5-0, the IT Department will be replacing 60 desktop computers, 16 laptops and 30 tablets at a cost of $143,692.
Comprehensive plan
Planning and Zoning Director Scott Anderson briefed commissioners on the public meetings and other input for the Envision 2045 project, which like previous comprehensive plans, will address future growth in the county.
Over the past few months, there have been several public open houses around the county to discuss the plan, Anderson said.
Also, he added, people can fill out a survey and add comments, as well.
Although the public meetings have been completed, the website will be open Tuesday, Feb. 18, at which time there will be a public hearing on the adoption of the 2045 plan.
The entire Envision 2045 plan can be found at https://www. minnehahacounty.gov/dept/pl/envision2045/Envision2045ComprehensivePlan.pdf.
Meeting policies
In the past, every July, commissioners would review existing meeting policies; however, this year, that review was changed to January to align with other re-organization matters.
For this year’s review, no changes were offered to be made, but new commissioner Cole Heisey wanted to look at the current method of getting items on the commission meeting agenda.
As policy states, it takes a consensus of two commissioners to get any item placed on the agenda.
Heisey said that several other counties already allow for any one commissioner to put an item on the agenda, and added that he was surprised to see Minnehaha County required two.
But the other members of the county board were each quick to say that to make meetings run smoother, the two-commissioner policy makes members have to work together to plan meetings.
Several pointed out that it is not hard to convince at least one other member to agree to the consideration of an item for the agenda.
Commissioner Joe Kippley said, “We have a good process in place. (The two-member system) brings collegiality to the body.”
As it now stands, if an item is brought without the support of at least one other commissioner, it would most likely die for lack of a second.
“A regular bill in the state legislature has to get out of a committee before it is ever discussed on the floor,” said Commissioner Jen Bleyenberg, “(the county method now in place) makes one commissioner work with another.”
Commission Chairman Dan Karsky, who previously served as a Sioux Falls city councilman, said that the city also required two members to agree to put any item on the agenda.
While Heisey did cite other counties when he brought up the possible policy change, Minnehaha County is almost twice the size as South Dakota’s second largest county (Pennington) and almost three times the size as the third largest county (Lincoln).
But Heisey said he was appreciative of the discussion on the issue.
“It was a worthwhile conversation to have,” he said.
The next meeting will be at 9 a.m. Tuesday, Jan. 28, in the third-floor meeting room of the Minnehaha County Administration Building at 6th and Minnesota in Sioux Falls.
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