City Council hears school crossing concerns, considers new wheel loader options

City Council hears school crossing concerns, considers new wheel loader options
By Shiloh Appel

At the August 21, 2017 Redfield city council meeting, the city council heard concerns from Sheriff Kevin Schurch concerning the morning school crossings.
"I am really worried about Jerry Stahl. He is the crossing guard by the UCC church," said Schurch."Where we run into trouble is in the mornings, particularly in the Fall before Daylight Savings time. The sun just washes out everybody in that area. I've really been worried about him and and I have tried everything I can possibly do. Last time I was up in Aberdeen I stopped in at the DOT office to see if there was anything they could do for us. He gave me some options. One solution that they have would be an overhead red light. The crossing guard would be on the side of the street, the kids would come, and he would hit this button — similar to what we have on Main Street — and the flashing red light would come on."
However, Schurch said that in order for the Department of Transportation to furnish a light for that crossing, they would need to count a certain amount of pedestrians crossing in that area per hour.

"So they are supposed to be down sometime this week to do a pedestrian crossing count," said Schurch. The only other option the Department of Transportation offered was hiring an additional crossing guard.
The sheriff also mentioned two minors that were arrested for Marijuana violations in his report to the council, as well as the charging of a mother with child restraint violations.
"I was going down Main Street the other day and I saw a vehicle with a little bit of blond hair sticking up just above the steering wheel," said Schurch. "Come to find out that a mother was driving with her little son sitting on her lap."
Other things he included in his report was a call about a suspicious white van with out-of-state license plates at Hav-A-Rest, (which was checked into and found to be non-threatening to the safety of the children in the area), additional cases of phone-scam victims, one losing more than $500 and the other losing more than $600, and a domestic case at Foxwood Estates.
"A big brother and sister were defending the honor of their smaller sister," said Schurch. "All three were arrested for assault and miscellaneous alcohol and trespassing charges… The calls at Foxwood are going down, I'd have to say that. It has been very regular out there for the longest time."
Schurch also discussed the frequent calls about the lights being left on at the basketball court, false alarms with bank alarms going off, businesses left unlocked, keys locked inside of vehicles, and calls concerning bats, raccoons, dogs and skunks.
Another visitor, Jeree Meyers, of RDO Equipment, gave a report to the City concerning the opportunity to purchase a new wheel loader through RDO.
"I don't know if you would know it or not, but your current one went out of warranty last week," said Meyers. Meyers presented two wheel loader options to the City for their consideration.
The council also listened to the reports of Norb Barrie and Lisa Zens of the South Dakota Opportunity Group and opened bids for the 2017 Redfield runway construction. The lowest bid was by Midland Contracting at $2,756,497.51 and the lowest electrical bid was by Efraimson Electric, Inc. at $266,420.25.
Old business included a notice of code enforcement activities report by Yost and an update on the street department activities by Haider.
New business included the report by the SD Opportunity Group, the hiring of Arlene Schmitt as part-time help at the Depot, the sewer project on 2nd Avenue West — a quote of $40,050.68 was given by Kimlicka Construction for completion of a new sewer main, and the quote was accepted, the surplus of a fax machine from the library and the construction of a new water plant roof. Watson Construction gave a quote of $16,746.51 for the construction of a new roof on the water plant. The quote was accepted. The approval of Park and Recreation volunteers for workers compensation was also reviewed and approved. The building donated to display the model train at the Depot was discussed but no action was taken.
The meeting came to a close at 8:19 p.m.