During the City Council meeting held on Tuesday, January 22, the council agreed to subsidize the Redfield Chamber in the amount of $5,000.
"So, we did have a special Chamber of Commerce meeting somewhat in regards to this, but during that city council meeting we discussed a lot of other things. But this, right now, is the dues," said Mayor Jayme Akin."The $5,000, that would be strictly — at least our thoughts and ideas — that would be for the Fourth of July and activities that they do throughout the calendar year."
A motion was made by Jessi Lewis and seconded by Eileen Kearney to pay the $5,000.
During the special city council meeting held on January 14th, members of the Chamber, business owners and city council members discussed the possible ways to restructure the current Redfield Chamber. Among other ideas, a "wagon wheel" approach was discussed, with spokes of different community improvement categories and volunteers reporting to the hub of a paid director position. The council also discussed making Heidi Appel the new director, but no final decisions were made.

Meanwhile, other activities during the January 22 meeting included an update given to the council by Janelle Fortin and Penny Ihnen on the activities of the Family Crisis Center in Redfield. Fortin, the new director of the Crisis Center, read the Center's 2018 statistics to the council. She said that  the center received 621 total calls in 2018.
"When you have one victim you can have up to 12 or 15 calls. There are many calls that go through," said Ihnen, Rural Advocate with the Family Crisis Center.
Under old business, the council reviewed code enforcement activities and increased CMH personnel benefit hours to 56 hours per week in addition to subsiding the Chamber.
Under new business, the council approved Emergency Volunteers for workers compensation and agreed to proceed with the purchase of an irrigation pump for the Redfield football and soccer fields.
"It could be more or less than $12,000. Worst-case scenario, $15,000," said Akin, in reference to the irrigation pump.
Also under new business, it was moved and seconded to hire Patrick Fuegen as a part-time help with city snow removal; a motion was made by Randy Maddox and seconded by Jessi Lewis to apply for a Deadwood grant for work at the Redfield Carnegie Library; Jessi Lewis made a motion, seconded by Randy Maddox, to send Tom Lesselyoung and Curt Dykstra to the 2019 Annual Water Seminar from February 13-14 in Sioux Falls; and it was moved and seconded to proceed with the purchase of lawn mowers and a CMH tractor at a cost of $30,075.50.
The meeting came to a close in under an hour at 7:55 p.m.