City council hears update on SDDC land purchase agreement

Posted

City council hears update on SDDC land purchase agreement

By Shiloh Appel

On Monday, November 20th, 2017, the Redfield City Council heard Ryan Brunner and A.J. Franken, representatives of the State of South Dakota, as they updated the City Council on the current state of the SDDC land purchase agreement between the City of Redfield and the State.

" Many of you remember we were here roughly a year ago talking about wether or not it would be possible to transfer the land at the SDDC campus to the city of Redfield… and find a use for two of the buildings that were there that the state had at one time proposed to demolish," said Brunner. "We estimated it would be about 1.2 million dollars in demolition liability, which is more than what the underlying land was worth, so we were willing to go explain that to the legislature… As far as the general fund goes, it will save the State about a million dollars in general funds some day with not having to tear those buildings down. If the City of Redfield had a use for them, that would be beneficial to the City of Redfield. It just made sense for all of us to get together and work on that transfer."

Brunner went on to explain how the State had wanted to give the land to the City of Redfield for free last year, but constitutional provisions prevented the transfer.

"[An] 1889 provision says the minimum you can sell is 10 dollars per acre, so at 73.4 acres we would charge 734 dollars and 40 cents. So, the way we explained it to the legislature is, yes, you pay 734 dollars, but we are reducing our liability as far as demolition by over a million dollars," said Brunner."I think it is a win-win for all of the taxpayers."

Sheriff Kevin Schurch also gave the council his customary update on the activities of the sheriff's department.

"We have been having… deer in town for some reason," said Schurch. "We had one injured deer and one walking around in town, walking right down Main Street. The deputies got it shooed out of town and the one that was injured got put out of its misery."

The Sheriff also updated the council on the most recent scam call methods being used in Spink County, including an apparent call from one of his deputies.

"A woman called the office and said that she received a call from one of my deputies. The phone number appeared in the caller ID and the deputy was requesting payment for fines. It was an obvious scam. Somebody had spoofed one of my deputies phone numbers," said Schurch. "There is just nothing that is sacred anymore."

Schurch also updated the council on arrest cases for Marijuana possession and a case in which a vehicle and building were damaged by gunshots.

"We really don't know when this happened," said Schurch, concerning the gunshot damage."The business owner told me it could be three months ago, it could be six months ago. The vehicle that they had out front …they [just] noticed the bullet holes in it. There were two in the front of the building, also. We don't have any suspects. Their business camera goes back 30 days. We didn't find anything in the last 30 days."

Other activities and items of interest Schurch reported to the council included three dog bit cases last month, the unused prescription pills turn-in day held by the sheriff's department, a Redfield apartment burglary case, which is under investigation, random drug tests and a positive report on how well Halloween went this year.

"A substantial amount of money was stolen from her apartment and vehicle," said Schurch, of the burglary case. "We have two suspects and have got some pretty good video of people that were involved in this burglary and we expect they will be arrested shortly."

After Schurch gave his report, Dustin Schmidt also petitioned the council to consider building a gate by 7th street East.

"I farm the land on both sides of the road that goes out to the shooting range. Doug Miller owns it, I rent from him. He is in support of what I want to do here," said Schmidt. "The kids rip around with their vehicles out in that field. I would like to remove the gate and put in another gate."

As for new business, the council carried the motion to purchase fireworks for 2018 from Premier Pyrotechnics for $12,000. The council also discussed the Pheasant Fest which will take place in Sioux Falls from February 16-18, 2018.

The Council then carried a motion to surplus the city's 1970 American LaFrance pumper truck, as the fire department is now using the new firetruck.

"We would look to have Joe Lutter put it up on auction," said Akin.

Also under new business, the Council  carried a motion to hire David "Squirrel" Michaelis as part-time help for the Redfield street department at $13 per hour.

After approving Park and Recreation volunteers for workers compensation, a pay request for the sanitary sewer installation project by Kimlicka Construction and a pay request for the monitoring of the airport runway, the council carried a motion to send Shelly Wipf and Mary Lou Schwartz to the SD Governor's Conference on Tourism.

The council entered executive session at 8:12 p.m. and adjourned at 8:26p.m.