Brookings City Council Regular Meeting - July 9, 2024
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Brookings City Council Regular Meeting - July 9, 2024
The Brookings City Council met on July 9, 2024, at 6:00 PM in the Council Chambers. Topics included a mosquito abatement update, airport construction, franchise agreement, budget amendments, a rezoning, and temporary alcohol licenses. The council also approved a future study session on Initiated Measure 28. All votes were unanimous unless noted.
Public Comments & Testimony
- No members of the public addressed the council on items not on the agenda during Open Forum.
Presentations & Reports
- Mosquito Abatement Program Update (John Thompson, Public Works): Thompson provided an informal update on the city's integrated mosquito management program, which budgets $50,000 annually (likely to exceed this year due to conditions). He described larvaciding in April–May using BTI (a natural bacteria) and adult fogging with 3% permetherin and 15% piperonyl butoxide. The fogging uses a very low dosage: 74 ounces (about 1.5 tablespoons) per acre. On the night of July 8, four trucks treated 1,250 acres using 13.7 gallons of chemical each. Spraying is done at night to protect beneficial insects. Fogging provides immediate kill of flying mosquitoes, and traps are set the following day to measure effectiveness. The council praised the timeliness of the report.
- Ex-Officio Reports:
- Brookings Municipal Utilities (Councilmember Wendell reporting): Discussed progress on the new water treatment facility (on schedule), electrical department priorities (quality power supply, operational excellence, enhanced customer experience, financial sustainability), use of smart grid technology, the 80-acre solar panel farm (completion fall 2025/early 2026), and potential large-scale backup generators.
- Brookings Health System (Councilmember Rasmussen reporting): The Foundation’s 15th annual fundraiser will be August 8 at the Brookings Gun Club to support a new advanced life support ambulance (650 raffle tickets at $50 each). Six respiratory therapy students from SDSU began clinicals at the health system. e-NICU services implementation is nearly complete, allowing specialists to visually assess newborns.
Consent Calendar
- The council approved the consent agenda, including:
- City Council meeting minutes from June 25, 2024.
- Temporary alcohol/special event licenses for existing license holders on publicly owned property.
- Resolution 24-066 awarding the Brookings City & County Government Center Custodial Services Contract.
- Resolution 24-064 declaring certain city property as surplus.
Contracts & Change Orders
- Airport Parallel Taxiway Construction (Resolution 24-075): Lucas Dahl (Airport) presented the low bid award to Bose Construction for $884,234.25, contingent on FAA grant funding. The project will construct Taxiway Charlie connecting Runway 17/35, improving safety by eliminating back-taxiing on active runways. Work is split: grading and fill in fall 2024, paving in spring 2025. Funds are available in the airport account. The city attorney will review grants. Council voted unanimously to approve.
Ordinance First Readings
- Ordinance 24-010 (ITC Cable Television Franchise): City Attorney Steve Britzman introduced a 10-year renewal of the franchise for Interstate Telecommunications Cooperative to operate a cable TV system in city rights-of-way. The ordinance includes a 5% franchise fee and standard protections. Second reading scheduled for July 23, 2024.
- Ordinance 24-021 (Budget Amendment No. 7): Finance Director Ashley Rynch introduced a budget amendment increasing the E911 equipment maintenance budget by $45,243 for 2024, with an annual maintenance contract of $11,800 for four years. Funded from E911 Special Revenue Fund reserves. The East Central Communications Joint Powers Board had approved. Second reading July 23, 2024.
Public Hearings & Second Readings
- Ordinance 24-015 (Budget Amendment No. 6): Second reading to increase solid waste disposal contracting services by $75,000 for additional leachate hauling at the landfill (polluted liquid from rain filtering through waste). A new hauling agreement with Liberty Septic began in May 2023, and quantities were higher than anticipated. No changes since first reading. Council voted unanimously to approve.
- Ordinance 24-009 (Rezone 2311 Yorkshire Drive): Public hearing and second reading. Community Development Director Mike Struck presented a rezoning request from Brookings Health System to change the parcel from R-3 (Residence Apartment District) to B-2A (Business Office District) to support future redevelopment. The planning commission had recommended approval. No public comment. Council voted unanimously to approve.
- Temporary Alcohol License – Downtown at Sundown (Application by Brookings Area Chamber): Public hearing on a license for five events on August 1, 8, 15, 22, and 29, 2024, in the 300 block of 5th Street and 400 block of Main Avenue. Event coordinator Eansley Bennett noted this is the ninth annual event and the first time all five nights are sold out of vendors. Themes include Bobcat Night, New Resident Welcome, Multicultural Night, and SDSU Night. The council unanimously approved.
Other Business
- Future Discussion Item – Initiated Measure 28 Study Session: Councilmember Andrew Rasmussen proposed a study session before the November 2024 election to inform the community about Initiated Measure 28 (grocery tax). The session would include presentations from city staff, local economic development partners, and invited representatives from the South Dakota Municipal League and South Dakota Retailers Association. The council approved the motion unanimously. The city manager will coordinate a date in September or October.
- City Manager Announcement: Paul Briseno noted an Emerald Ash Borer informational meeting on Thursday, July 11, at 7:00 PM at McCrory Gardens. Forestry staff and expert John Ball will discuss treatment options for private property.
Key Outcomes
- Unanimous approval of the consent agenda, airport taxiway contract (Resolution 24-075), budget amendments 6 and 7, rezoning of 2311 Yorkshire Drive, and the Downtown at Sundown temporary alcohol license.
- First readings of ordinances 24-010 and 24-021 were received; second readings set for July 23, 2024.
- A study session on Initiated Measure 28 was approved; date to be determined.
- The meeting adjourned after approximately 40 minutes.
Meeting Transcript
Okay, call this meeting to order. Please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance. Thank you for attending tonight. Will the clerk please take a details? There are five council members present, Mr. Mayor, Council members Doran and Tilton Burner absent at this time. All right. Action to approve the agenda. Entertain a motion to approve the agenda. So moved. Please call the roll. Avery. Hi. Neymar. Hi. Rasmussen. Aye. Specker. Aye. Wendell. Aye. All right. At this time we have open forum. Is there any member of the public who wishes to address the council on an item not listed on tonight's agenda? Seeing none, I think uh John, did you want to do a presentation? Good evening, Council. Um, Mayor, Council, John Thompson with Public Works. Um, asked Paul to ask me to come up and give you just a quick little informal update as to what we're doing with mosquito abatement or our mosquito control program. And I actually even brought along a uh show and tell tonight as to how we trap the mosquitoes and count the machine at the school's too. There's about 250 dead mosquitoes in this, so if you guys want to see that later up close and personal, we can have the mosquito abatement program or mosquito management program is one of our quality of life programs for the citizens of the city. Um our focus is really sustaining our community community's quality of life in regards to twilight outdoor recreation while monitoring the and protecting our community from the West Niles virus. Uh we annually we budget about fifty thousand dollars a year. This year we're probably gonna blow the budget a little bit because of the the environment that we are in. Um and we have several pieces of equipment for monitoring, larva siding, and adult sighting. So this the program itself starts generally. I wonder if I could get this shown up there. I'll give you an idea. If they can zoom in to the top of that a little bit. So we really have two uh in our integrated management mosquito management program. There's really two avenues that we follow. One is uh larvacide control, which is over here. This is what we really try to catch first. Uh that happens starts up in April and May. We try to go out and larvacide any of the wet areas within town to kill the mosquitoes before they become adults and start flying and biting. Uh and that runs all the way through late September. We're always out there spraying and seeding these ponds for larva larva side. Once a larva is detected, that's when we start larvaciding, which is generally when the water gets over fifty degrees. Uh we're always dipping it and seeing if there's any uh people down there. After the summer starts going on like we've had the last three, four weeks, uh the hatches, the mosquito hatches are too consistent and they kind of explode. You can't catch all the larvae because there's a lot of pastors around the community that we it they're private property, so we can't really treat those pastors or anything like that.
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