Welcome everyone.

I call this meeting to order.

Please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance.

Again, thank you all for coming.

Will the city clerk please take tenants?

All council members are present, Mr.

Mayor.

Thank you.

Action to approve the agenda.

Um I will entertain a motion to amend the agenda to remove from consent agenda item 5F, action on resolution 25-072.

A resolution designating the official newspaper from tonight's agenda.

Is there a second?

Second.

Any comments from the public.

I guess I I would uh ask the city clerk to explain our position here.

Mr.

Mayor, we are requesting removal of this item as when we look at state law, the declaration of an official newspaper versus what is a legal newspaper are two separate things.

So putting a hold on this resolution will allow staff and the city attorney to review this topic and come back at a future future council meeting after discussion has been held internally.

All right, thank you.

Any other questions from council?

Councilmember Duran.

Thank you, Mayor.

Um Bonnie, maybe this is also included in your previous answer, but is there any newspaper that will be publishing our legal notices in the meantime?

So the definition between official and uh legal newspaper, we will be transferring our publication to use a legal newspaper.

State law outlines that we are first required to publish our notices within a municipal newspaper, of which at this time we do not have one.

So we will revert to the second portion of that law which states then we are to publish in a legal newspaper within the county.

So that county newspaper will be the Volga Tribune.

Thank you.

All right.

Any other questions?

Councilmember Hager.

So could you speak a little bit to any anticipated um disruptions that may cause in our workload by moving from a pretty much daily newspaper with the Brookings Register to a weekly newspaper with um the Volga Tribune?

Certainly.

So the Vulga Tribune is a weekly newspaper.

Their deadline for submission of items is Monday by 5 p.m.

and they publish on Thursdays.

So using tonight's council meeting as an example, we will push anything that is approved tonight.

We will send to the Volga Tribune next Monday for publication the following Thursday.

Um so yes, that adds about 10 days to our timeline for referral of items approved by the council.

Okay.

Questions, comments, any more?

All right.

Please call the roll on the amendment.

Avery.

Aye.

Doran?

Aye.

Neymar.

Aye.

Hager.

Aye.

Specker.

Aye.

Tilton Byrne?

Aye.

Wendell.

Aye.

All right.

Entertain a motion to approve the agenda as amended.

So moved.

Comments on from the public on this item.

Council.

Please call the roll.

Doran.

Aye.

Neymar.

Aye.

Hager.

Aye.

Specker.

Aye.

Tilton Byrne?

Aye.

Wendell.

Aye.

Avery.

Aye.

All right.

On to item four, open forum.

Is there any member of the public who wishes to address the console on an item not listed on tonight's agenda?

Come forward, state your name, address, sir.

Use this one.

Yep.

Hi.

I'm Josh Lenahan.

I'm a resident.

Bring that mic up a little bit more, Josh.

Thank you.

You bet.

Hi, I'm Josh Lenahan.

I'm a resident of Brookings.

And until very recently the managing editor at the Brookings Register.

I just wanted to uh thank all of you, the ones personally and everyone in the city for the outpouring of support.

Um this last few days is truly been overwhelming.

And it shows me there is a uh there is a deep thirst for a vibrant local independent newspaper in Brookings, and that is what I am going to start.

Um I've been in this business now almost 30 years, and people when you talk to them about journalism, they jump to the internet and they jump to Craigslist, and those definitely disrupted the model, but I have been through this more times than I want to count anymore.

And what kills newspapers is debt and conglomeration.

And I don't want to own a newspaper anywhere but Brookings, South Dakota.

This is my hometown.

I came back here to run the newspaper here, and I don't want the future of a free press in Brookings tied to anywhere else, let alone 75 other towns.

So uh there is an absolute groundswell of support for this idea.

There is financial backing considerably.

And I would just ask the council on the on the issue of the uh of the legal notices to remain flexible and even possibly creative as we move forward because there are things that can be done.

There are also laws that can't be gone around and you don't want to go around them, but there are things that can be done, and I look forward, I look forward to talking with you more very soon.

Thank you.

Thank you, Josh.

Any other comments?

Please come forward.

State your name and address, sir.

Uh my name is Sean Sarvis.

I'm from Huron, South Dakota.

Uh I am uh have been the publisher uh at the uh here on Plainsman for the past six months.

Uh prior to that, I have worked in sales.

Um I've helped with a lot of the other publishing.

Um everything that we've had to do with the the Huron Plainsman as well as the Redfield Press.

Uh with the announcement of the recent closures that we had with the four newspapers in South Dakota.

I've been working with a company that is helping us use their experience and also their resources to work up a plan so that we will be able to save the jobs that we had at those newspapers, uh all four of them in South Dakota.

Uh so I wanted to come forward and let you know that we intend to publish the register again by the end of next week.

Uh possibly this week, but I need to make sure that we have a proper way of taking care of our subscribers and the existing businesses that we were working with before we put out that first issue.

Thank you.

Is there any questions for this gentleman?

I have one, and I don't know if it's really one that I should be even bring up, but my wife and I had to make a decision on whether to do the subscription to the Brookings Register a couple weekends ago.

And where did that check go?

So if if the check hasn't been cashed, I've asked that they hold on to them so that we can contact everyone once if we can open the doors and let you make that decision if it hasn't been done.

Right.

My intent is to find a way to honor all subscriptions that have already been currently there.

The company that I'm working with is looking to work with me on that so that we can take care of the community that's here.

Uh my priority when they contacted me was to save all the jobs that we had, and I told them my second priority was to make sure that everyone who's been faithful to the newspapers remains taken care of so that we can save nearly 600 years of publishing in South Dakota among those publications.

Holly, you have a question?

Yeah, first I would like to thank both of you for coming forward and and bringing um this issue in front of us.

Obviously, it's something that has uh truly shaken this community over the last several days, and so to hear that there are still plans to move forward with a local news distributor is very encouraging, and one that I was hoping that we would hear very soon.

Um I'm wondering a couple of things.

One is uh you've each spoken about plans that are happening here in the future.

Are these plans uh are you working collectively?

Are these separate independent endeavors?

Um, no right or wrong answer, just curious.

Separate.

Okay, thank you.

Um, and then also just wondering what community members can do, what individuals can do if they want to uh lend a hand and reach out and and getting these things restarted.

Um as for the the register, um the the staff are still around town.

Um I'm making things set to make sure that they have those jobs to come back into.

Uh I know as far as is being in here on, I've been asked the same question uh every day since this is has occurred.

Um, from me, I would say subscribe.

Be sure to tell them when you see any of them when you see Mondell uh or anyone else around that that you thank them for what they do, acknowledge it.

Uh it's it's not a job we're we're gonna get rich off of, but it's it's important that we get a lot of those things in that other news organizations that are larger, just they're not gonna cover those, and we want to fill that hole.

Josh, is there anything you want to add to that question too?

Um my personal email address is Josh Linhan at gmail.com.

My phone number is 612 220 8319.

I live over on Edgebrook Circle.

Sounds good.

Well, thank you both for the work you're doing to help our uh community members stay informed on local issues.

We really appreciate it.

All right.

Any other comments from the audience?

Doug Ostrom, I live here in Brookings, and I'm sure the first thing everybody's thinking is now what does he want?

Actually, I'm up here to offer a compliment.

Uh I want to especially thank Charlie Richter and the Brookings Engineering staff and so on for the work that was done along Six Mile Creek and South Madaria Avenue.

I first started trying to work with the city about water issues on Six Mile Creek back in I think 95 or 96.

It was before I even moved to Brookings because we formed a committee of various property owners along there, and they decided I should be chairman because I was the one person that didn't live in town that might be safest to be on that position.

So I've been at after this for a long time.

And I will say in the last two to three months, we've accomplished more than we did in that entire span of 30 some years.

So I just really want to compliment you guys on doing something.

Next time I come up here, I might not be as in front of you.

But thank you.

Any other comments from the public?

All right, we'll move on.

Um consent agenda.

Action on the consent agenda.

Is there any items that need to be removed yet?

Entertain a motion to approve the consent agenda.

I think we voted to approve the consent agenda as amended, did we not?

We approved the agenda as amended.

So now we need to re approve the remaining items on the consent agenda.

So moved.

Second.

Is there any public comment on any of the items that we have in the consent agenda?

Council questions, comments?

Please call the roll.

Neymar.

Hager.

Aye.

Specker.

Aye.

Tilton Byrne.

Hi.

Wendell.

Hi.

Avery?

Hi.

Doran.

Aye.

You want to?

Okay, we'll move on.

All right.

Uh, we have a proclamation this evening.

Uh day to celebrate the cultures of our community.

I'd like to invite Michelle Dudesh, Heidi Brusino, Marilyn Hildress, and Christy Delphinium up to the counter.

Okay.

Merrill Proclamation.

Whereas the Brookings Multicultural Center supports a thriving international community that contributes to the high quality of life and provides a vital economic impact to the Brookings area.

And whereas Brookings has greatly benefited from the contribute contributions of the international faculty, students, and their families who bring valuable enrichment to our community.

Today, the presence of 850 international students from 81 countries enrolled at South Dakota State University continues to positively impact Brookings by fostering cross-cultural understanding, supporting the local economy, and enhancing the educational environment for all.

And whereas the Brookings Multicultural Center and the South Dakota State University Office of International Affairs will hold the fourth annual international ice cream social and community fair to welcome international faculty and students and their families to our community and all who would like to join us to celebrate this event.

Now, therefore be it resolved.

I hope Kigarrett Neemeyer, mayor of the city of Brookings, do hereby proclaim Wednesday, August 20th, 2025, as a day to celebrate the cultures of our community.

Mayor and Council members, on behalf of the Brookings Multicultural Center and the SDSU Office of International Affairs, we thank you for your support of international faculty, students, and staff, and their families.

We appreciate your recognition of the contributions these individuals make within our community.

And we need you, the community, to join us in welcoming these newcomers to Brookings.

It's a family-friendly event next Wednesday evening at Goodroots Farm and Gardens.

Come and meet some new people, play some games, take some photos, join in the dancing, the Papua New Guinea kids are amazing.

Everyone is welcome.

It's fantastic.

By eight o'clock, it's rocking.

Thank you very much.

All right, we'll move on to the annual comp 20 2024 annual comprehensive financial report and audit summary.

And invite Brian Stavinger.

I'm taking a shot at that for Mike Bailey, he's going to present this item.

Thank you very much.

Make sure this is working.

Okay, wonderful.

Uh good evening, Mr.

Mayor, uh, members of the council.

Thank you for having me uh again this year uh to present to you the results of the fiscal year 2024 audit.

This is a very high-level look and summary of the full audit.

Um the audit itself, which I have double-sided printed here, is very large and in fact has the word comprehensive in it.

It is very comprehensive.

Um, but this is intended to summarize that um in a manner much more easy to read.

A lot of details in there, encourage you to read that, encourage uh citizens to read that as well.

I'll pause periodically for questions, comments, um, but we'll get cruising through this presentation.

So, whenever we perform an audit, um, there's really three different standards that we follow.

These are very consistent from year to year, uh, really no change from previous years.

And then our job is really to obtain reasonable assurance that your financial statements, your ACFER, as it's commonly referred to as free of material misstatement, that it's accurate.

Uh specific to that financial statement audit, a clean unmodified opinion, which is really what you want to receive on an annual basis.

That means uh we believe everything is materially accurate, all the required disclosures are in there.

Uh, all the right, right accounting rules are being followed and implemented uh correctly and accurately.

The middle bullet there is um just pointing out an adoption of a new accounting standard.

GASBY stands for governmental accounting standards board.

They set all the different accounting rules for state and local governments across the country.

Uh, they have been on a roll in the last 10 years.

Um there's at least one, sometimes up to three new standards to follow, of which, of course, uh, we as uh CPAs are all over.

Um, but really there's a reliance a lot uh on management and finance leaders uh with each of the entities that we work at work with to also uh understand and implement those.

So a big shout out to to that group, uh Ashley Tyler and everyone else involved.

Um I don't think they get enough credit, at least from my vantage point, it is constant, new standards to implement, um, and they are all over them.

We talk about them sometimes years in advance.

But as Ashley and I were visiting before the meeting started, we still felt like the audit process went very, very well, very, very smooth.

So a big shout out to that team to be consistently prepared.

Probably the most important no findings to report when it comes to the financial statement audit.

We look in a lot of different areas, understand internal controls processes, and this would be the opportunity for us to present any concerns that we have or where we think there might be deficiencies in certain controls or procedures for 2024.

We did not have anything to report.

Questions on that piece of the audit.

Share a few more pieces and then we'll get into some numbers and graphs.

On an annual basis, we also specify and look at the federal fund and make sure that everything is okay there.

This one here, commonly referred to as ARPA.

Should be the last year that we we look at that, but really happy to report also no findings there.

That's very compliance heavy as well as internal control, making sure that not only spending the money appropriately according to the grant agreement, but also strong, adequate internal controls to ensure minimizing the risk of errors occurring.

So clean opinion there, no findings.

Questions on that one.

Oh, color.

Everyone can wake up for a little bit.

Just a few slides here, really just to try to summarize as best we can the financial condition of in a few different areas.

Again, the ACFAR has a lot of detailed information.

The ACFAR itself includes not only the operations of the city, but also BMU and BHS.

They have that's municipal utilities and the health system.

They actually have their own standalone audits conducted, so they have separately issued audits.

Once those are issued and finalized, they're incorporated into the city.

But the fact that those audits are standalone, really reported to their governing bodies.

For the most part, we exclude that activity from the executive summary, but again, very important, it is included in the ACFAR as a whole.

This is a look at total cash just for the city, broken down into two different categories.

Really the enterprise or the smaller one would be your utility type funds where you're charging for a service.

Everything else is considered what we call governmental, which is really your your general fund, any sales tax funded fund, debt service, capital projects, really getting outside of that charges for services and just focusing on really uh more tax-based uh funding.

This also does not include any restricted cash, it does not include any investments.

So this is truly like operating cash that is available to the city.

Uh, the rest of that we will pull into a different slide.

But you can see really the last five years continued growth in that cash balance.

That's very intentional.

Um one of these years when we're interacting at audit time, we're gonna understand hey, we we we're gonna have a new public safety building, and guess what?

We've got some good strong cash on hand to help finance that without having to go to an outside party.

Uh and in today's interest rate environment, uh, pay higher interest rates.

So while the cash continues to increase, that is very intentional saving for future projects.

Um, and that has been the story uh as long as we've been involved, and so we're really looking forward to uh when those projects can come to fruition and you can utilize uh some of that strong cash on hand.

Uh when we're looking at cash, um, those are some big numbers just looking at strictly the cash balances.

This ratio is essentially what kind of cash do you have on hand?

How liquid are you to pay your ongoing monthly bills, your future debt service payments?

Uh I would call that a red line.

It looks almost a little orange, but that bottom colored line at that 1.00 really is trying to illustrate the bottom.

Like you really don't ever want to be below that 1.00.

What that means is for every dollar that you owe you have at least a dollar on hand.

Uh generally speaking, uh, most local governments, their minimum is two.

They always want to be above that too.

Really don't want to get anywhere close to that one.

That's that green line.

So for every dollar you owe, you have two dollars cash on hand.

You can see Brookings has been very strong from a liquidity ratio for the entirety of this graph.

It is going to fluctuate from year to year just depending on what's going on right around year end.

Uh, you know, last few weeks of December, what's going on?

Are you paying a big bill?

So cash is going out.

Did you receipt something in?

So this is going to fluctuate, you know, but for the most part, this has really been uh anywhere from four to six, a good strong liquidity ratio.

This does not include restricted cash set aside for future debt obligations that's required to be done that way, as well as investments.

So this is really stuff that can be liquid, taken from the bank and paid.

So very good strong uh cash position uh again at the end of 2024.

So here's where we add in uh the investments as well as restricted cash.

So very similar in the in the how that graph looks, uh continue to just save up some funds uh for some future projects, um, but overall uh looks like just under 70 million in total, excluding BMU BHS at the end of 2024.

We'll look at a few specific uh funds.

So your general fund is your main operating fund.

Um, these are the revenues that come into to that fund.

You can see really over the last three years, uh a significant uptick uh in funds, a lot of that having to do with the federal funding uh that's been flowing through directly to you or through the state or through other uh entities that that then uh end up reaching uh the city, but also sales and use taxes continue to grow and just continues to provide good strong revenue streams uh in that general fund.

Here's what is being spent out of that general fund.

So uh four, I'm sorry, five different categories.

Um, you know, a pretty significant one that can impact this is capital outlay.

So as you have uh vehicle purchases, equipment purchases, potential building type uh renovation or or updating capital outlay isn't as consistent as these other areas.

A lot of the other areas are really uh to fund people to run culture and rec public works, those things, those are more steady.

Um the capital outlay can fluctuate.

So as this kind of ebbs and flows, a lot of it uh is driven by capital outlay.

So an uptick in 2024, but also an uptick in uh outlay uh towards capital.

All right, what do you have at the end of the year in the general fund?

Uh it's typically called the fund balance.

Uh you can hear that called reserves.

Um there's a lot of components of fund balance.

So, what we're looking at, because there can be restricted.

Um, you receive federal funding in one year, haven't spent it all, you can spend it in the next year.

That's restricted.

Uh anything that's completely unrestricted goes in what's called the unassigned fund balance.

That's what this represents.

Uh you can see that is just over 15 million at the end of 2024.

So, just looking at that, big number, what does that mean?

We like to put it into uh a different format and say, what is that compared to your expenditure budget or essentially your general fund budget?

Generally speaking, uh, what most the majority of local governments, I should say local governments, municipalities, try to aim for that 50%.

50% means you've got in your reserves the ability to fund 50% of your operations or six months of your operations without any revenue coming in.

So if there's a catastrophic event, uh significant capital outlay that's needed that wasn't planned, you've got those reserves to keep things steady.

Um that fluctuates depending on the different projects you've got going.

Um, it was intentional to build it up into 2020, and then in 2021 and 2022, spend some dollars on some capital projects, um then that slowly started coming back up in 2023, 2024.

Um, again, I think this city, in my experience, has been very, very good about planning, long-term planning, and not just long-term planning for what it's going to cost, but how it's going to be funded.

Um, and you have done a wonderful job of balancing that out.

It's not a hundred percent debt.

Yes, there's debt that's issued, but you're also utilizing cash, keeping interest rates low.

Um, so in our involvement with the city, everything is is typically made sense.

Hey, this is what we intend to do.

We come back a year later, and like, oh, that's what happened.

Um, so nothing to be concerned about here.

Um really planned uh savings and then spend a few more slides.

I want to make sure I pause before we move on from the general fund.

Any questions on that main operating fund of the city?

Second penny sales and use tax fund revenues.

Uh outside of the green, um, which is kind of the the miscellaneous uh miscellaneous funding will come in depending on projects.

Um so that's gonna fluctuate from year to year, really just paying attention to that that blue, that darker blue on sales and use taxes.

You can see just good steady growth.

Um, even during 2020, it was about flat with 2019, maybe a slight decrease, but since then really rebounded nicely, continue to have good growth there.

And then the ending fund balance.

So, as you take in those revenues and you spend them or transfer them out for other uses, uh, what is that fund balance?

You can see for the last three years, uh, really on average about 15 million uh in that fund balance.

So good reserves there to utilize going forward for for various projects and funding.

Look at that.

We're done.

Uh just to summarize quick clean opinions on on all the audits we conducted, uh no findings.

Implementation of a new standard which took a lot of time from the finance team.

They implemented it accurately and timely and overall good strong financial position for the city as of 1231 24.

Final opportunity for questions uh or comments before I depart.

Thank you, Brian.

Council questions, comments?

Councilmember Specker.

Yes, I actually tried to read that final report, made it to about page 20 and gave up, and I like numbers, so I did like this um presentation.

I have just a couple things.

I one of them is the independence of the auditor from the city.

I think that that would be good to mention.

And then also I'm just kind of curious on public works in 2024 really decreased.

Can we ask specific questions on this?

Is much smaller on one of your slides, and I was just wondering what that was.

Sure.

I'm looking.

And Ashley might be the best person that can speak that.

I know I asked that similar question.

Uh I think it might have been regarding a major project that we had completed, but Ashley, could you address that?

Yeah, let me address the independence question first.

Uh audit standards um of which they were there were three different standards that we follow require us to remain independent from the city.

Um so what does that mean?

Uh we cannot have any sort of financial interest in anything city related.

Uh, me personally, any of my team members, I'd bailey, our company as a whole, can't be any sort of financial um transactions other than just through this professional agreement.

Um there's also restrictions on family members.

Um so if I have family members that are either elected officials, city manager in the finance department, um, that can cause independence issues because inherently um hopefully all of us have good strong uh family relationships.

Um that can lead to challenges.

Um I could stand up here and say, yeah, you know what?

My sister is an elected official, but we're we're good.

We don't we don't mess around.

Well there's a lack, there's an appearance of a lack of independence.

Um clearly that's not okay.

Um so every year through our planning process, we have to go through a process to make sure that we still have that independence, um, not only specifically with this entity, but really our whole entire company on an annual basis has to fill out a survey.

We've got upwards of 4,000 employees now.

Um so that is very, very much at the forefront of what we do to make sure that we remain remain independent and can give you that independent third party opinion.

And then any follow-up questions on that?

No, I appreciate your comments.

Yeah, Ashley.

All right.

Um here.

Oh, you're addressing the the green there on for 2024 for public works.

So um basically the the reason for that is um there were certain public works expenditure that that were um classified as public works in the previous audit that were um reclassified to capital outlay, and then also we had um the ARPA funds that we had um allocated to our community partners, and they were all spent out last year, and so that increased the capital outlay as well.

Okay.

Any other questions, comments from council?

Councilmember Wendell.

Thank you, Mayor.

I think this may be a question for Ashley as well.

Um on the liquidity ratio, encouraged to see it uh at such a healthy place, always above that three.

Um, do we have an internal policy on the liquidity ratio always being above that three threshold, or is that become a common practice for the city as we consider debt?

Right.

It's a common practice to have it, you know, uh over that too, but we do not have a um specific policy on the liquidity to liquidity ratio.

We do have policies on reserves uh to operation, specifically within the general fund.

The council passed right around seven years ago.

The first one is um uh specific reserve, and then there's a secondary reserve that most cities don't have because we are sales tax driven.

And Ashley, do you know which ones I'm talking about?

Um are you talking about the budget stabilization reserve?

Okay, so we have two of those.

We have uh we have a 15 percent and a five percent.

So uh 20 percent of the general fund um annual budget is um a prudent reserve that we keep.

Councilmember Duran.

Thank you, Mayor.

Um, I don't have any questions.

Uh I would just like to thank you for your presentation and for your incredible work for always maintaining the standards and for monitoring our finances.

I know that that does take a lot of effort, so thank you, and the rest of the staff that helps with this.

Um, I also just wanted to send a note of encouragement to the public to look at this report attached.

I understand it is very thick, like demonstrated.

Um, but even in the first few pages, you see some key accomplishments in relation to our strategic plan.

And throughout the document, you really do get great context into what our resources are, where we're putting them, essentially showing the values of the city, excuse me, and and how the numbers on a page can turn into action in our community.

So when you do have a couple of moments, really do dive into that report.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Ashley, would you mind going to uh page five for me?

There you go.

I just wanted to take a quick moment to reflect on this page and what I think the audit is telling our residents and the council and this this organization.

As you look since 2019 to today, you see that graph just increase, right?

And those are city council, this organization's reserves.

In 2018, this city council adjusted all the financial policies.

We took a lot of time to make sure that we're putting proper policies in place that govern how we purchase and operate this organization.

Since that time, we've also been very prudent in ensuring that we um follow all of those policies, which is very difficult at times, but we have stuck to it.

And because of that, we are in a great, great financial position to where we're able to utilize cash for major projects uh that can change this community, much like a police facility, a fire facility costs millions of dollars.

Most communities have to bond that type of project, which increases debt, which increases ultimately more times than not property taxes.

But this city council, because of your prudent financing policies, your conservative nature and budgeting, we are in a great financial position uh today.

And just hats off to council and to the department heads and everyone who's gotten us to this position.

It's been difficult and it's been hard, um, but it's been well worth it.

Okay.

I guess my applause for uh for Ashley and her group, but uh these are the times where you need to get your compliments in.

Thank you very much for your presentation, and uh we'll move on to ex official reports.

Uh Brookings Municipal Utility Board.

I think both Bonnie and Wayne have reports.

So I'm reporting on the July 14th meeting of the BMU board, and other than bills and claims and their other usual typical business things, um, they did have a presentation on the water department's strategic priorities, and I just wanted to mention a couple of those because I think they're good to highlight.

The first one is actually the drinking water supply and ensuring long-term water resources for the community.

Um, and they talk about different ways they they have been doing that or are doing that.

And the second one is protecting existing water groundwater resources from contamination.

How do you protect the well fields?

Um that's a big priority of theirs.

Another priority is complying with all the water quality and regulatory requirements.

And then they have about 10, but I'm just giving you a couple of them.

Another one that they had that I thought was interesting was um under rates and equity and protecting the rate payers through fair and equitable rates.

And one of the areas that they mentioned that I don't think a lot of people realize is if you have a new development and you're putting in water systems, you know, that's pretty expensive construction.

Those costs are actually um not put on the rate payers, they're put on the developers.

So just I think people don't might not realize that.

So those were just a couple of the things they highlighted.

Um there are also gonna be some changes, and I thought I mentioned this for people that might be listening.

There's gonna be some changes in the BMU billing dates, and they're doing this to allow for the financial and operational data to be in sync with each other.

And there's also a new system software, so you're going to start seeing changes in the appearance of your bill, but there's going to be a month where bills are a little bit different than they normally are while they sync up those dates, and then the bills are going to start looking different due to this new software.

So that's a heads up on that.

And then Wayne did August.

But the city owned utility company expects to transfer $2,705,000 to the city's general fund in 2026, increase of $50,000 from 2025, and that's the agreement.

And each year it's not based on percentages or anything.

Each year they give an additional $50,000 on top of what was given the previous year.

So that's the what the city receives in revenue from the utility company.

Then a 5% overall increase in 28 and through 32, which is generally mostly brought about by increases in the wholesale cost of power that the BMU gets from the Missouri River Electric and from WAPA, pretty much just to cover those increased cost.

A lot of what we talked about the other day was the capital improvement plan that goes through 2033.

The electric CIP includes major capital expenditures of 63.7 million dollars throughout the life of the plan and are primarily for reserve capacity generators, infrastructure development throughout the community to include substations and underground conversions, renewable energy projects, building upgrades and storage, street light conversions, and service vehicles.

So that's a major investment.

The um probably the biggest investment we've had in the utilities for quite some time is the water uh plant.

Uh the 70 million dollar project.

It's supposed to be substantially complete by October of this year, and there will be a point in time where staff will take over the um operations of the plant, but they'll still be the construction people will still be there at the same point.

So the whole project is supposed to be done by spring of uh 26 and let's see, and the next part will that we have talked about before, but we get asked quite a bit what it when's the water tower on 6th Street coming down.

And they say it's uh probably the spring of 26.

The most um or what's taking longer there is the needing to move all of the um uh communication towers off of that uh tower and relocate those.

So that's what's uh taking some time.

So that's uh that concludes my report.

Thank you.

I understand there is not a hospital report, but I think Deputy Mayor Wendell would like to give us an update on the merger.

Uh thank you, Mayor.

Um the uh for those of you that have been following some of the activities of of the council in recent months.

You know that we've been working with our four economic development agencies to merge those entities into one collective organization set to launch in January of 2026.

Through that process, uh we also appointed a new board of directors that will oversee that new merged organization, and that 11 member board of directors met for the first time yesterday and appointed a chairperson and a vice chair for the coming two years, uh, and also established a set of subcommittees that will begin to work on some of those initial priorities, including the search process for a president and CEO to lead the organization, um brand development subcommittee.

Obviously, we have to establish a new brand and identity for this organization, and so a subcommittee that will lead that work, and then a third subcommittee that will lead the staff engagement process, continuing to engage with our current staff, which will be joining the merged organization, and so there'll be a regular cadence of meetings now with that newly formed board uh as we prepare to transition to a newly merged organization at the beginning of 2026 and continue to do work with our existing four organizations, including the Brookings Area Chamber of Commerce, the Brookings Economic Development Corporation, Downtown Brookings, and Visit Brookings.

Thank you, Nick.

Um questions for Nick?

All right.

Uh we'll move on to item.

There are no changes or change orders or contracts this evening.

We'll go on to item eight, first readings.

Item eight a introduction and first reading on ordinance 25-029.

An ordinance authorizing budget amendment number six to the 2025 budget.

Ashley Rynch, our finance director will present this item.

Good evening, Mayor and members of the council.

This is ordinance 25-029 authorizing amendment number six to the 2025 budget.

This ordinance has two parts.

Part one increases grant revenue and grant expenditures in the library to account for the 120,000 dollar Lowe's hometown grant that was received to enhance youth and teen areas in the library with new shelving.

Part two increases the city and county administration buildings budget by $54,900 for a preliminary development agreement with Johnson Controls to develop a chiller replacement project for the building.

The City of Brookings is responsible for 48% of the costs, while Berkings County is responsible for 52% per the joint powers agreement.

The preliminary development agreement has been approved by the Joint Powers Board and the Berkings County Commission.

The second reading of this ordinance is scheduled for August 26th.

And with that, I'll stand by for questions.

Thank you.

Any public comment on this item.

Council questions, comments.

Councilmember Duran.

Thank you, Mayor.

I just want to say congratulations to Asia and the library staff for being awarded the grant.

That's really impressive.

In the memo, it says that it's expected to be completed uh later this year.

Would you mind kind of overviewing what that transition would look like for the library since that's all of the shelving, so where the books go and what that looks like for patrons of the library?

Sure, thank you.

Um is to be completed in November is the the grant timeline.

Uh due to shelving and tariffs and all of the things that are happening.

We might get have to push that back, but there is a we can ask for an extension on that.

Um so we are working with Library Furniture International is who we get our shelving through.

Um so the children's area will get what are called browsing shelves.

So instead of them being up and down and looking at the spines of all those tiny little easy books, you'll see the um the front of it, so it's easier for the kids to look through and browse.

Um, and then the teens will get some fun new furniture and some like updates to their area as well.

Very cool.

Thank you for that update.

Any other comments?

Questions from council?

Three re-assed it.

All right, all right.

Um we'll have a second reading on that, and so we go on to second readings and public notice or hearings.

Item 9a, second reading in action on ordinance 25-027, an ordinance authorizing budget amendment number five to the 2025 budget.

Ashley Brench will present this item also.

Or Paul, one of the two.

I'll take this one, Mayor.

Uh staff uh this evening is presenting the second uh reading on the ordinance to purchase land at 214 Front Street for the development of a parking lot in downtown.

The budget amendment is for 1.3 million dollars, contains funding for land purchase, environmental study, property appraisal, and real estate closing costs, all contained within that dollar amount.

Staff does recommend utilizing the city council's financial policy funds.

Uh, this fund was created for one-time infrastructure purchases, our facility investments, and opportunities.

Um, last uh city council meeting city council did pass a resolution to purchase this property, but just to reiterate last year the city completed a year's long analysis on the downtown and a study, and what we heard uh predominantly is a desire to ensure that we have adequate downtown parking specifically as we look to redevelop many sections of the downtown.

With that said, city staff does recommend approval of this ordinance.

All right.

So moved.

Second is there any public comment on this item?

Council questions, comments.

Please call the roll.

Hager, aye.

Specker?

Aye.

Chilton Byrne, aye.

Wendell?

Aye, Avery.

Aye, Doran.

Aye.

Neyer.

Aye.

Item 9B, second reading in action on ordinance 25-024.

An ordinance establishing citizens' request for reconsideration policy appeal process.

Mayor and council, thank you.

Um, this is ordinance 25-024, establishing um the appeal process within our citizens' request for reconsideration within the library's policy.

Um, and it is for obscene materials that would make it to that appeal process.

Okay.

Entertain a motion to approve.

So move second.

Any public comment on this item.

Councilwoman questions, comments on this item.

Councilmember Wendell.

Thank you, Mayor.

I don't have any questions.

We had some good conversation uh during the first reading.

I did just want to remind folks that perhaps have not followed this issue.

Um this is not uh authority that the council is requesting.

This is in response to a state law that is requiring this type of mechanism be put in place in municipal libraries.

I appreciate the work that our staff and the board of trustees have done in the library, they have very sound policies and processes in place.

Uh I think you've guided us uh through your response to this uh state law accordingly, and I appreciate that.

Uh as a member of the council, I'm a bit uneasy with the role we'll be expected to play should something uh move up and through the process in this way, but we don't have a choice uh but to uh pass uh this particular policy in response to new state law.

So thank you for guiding us in the process.

You're very welcome.

All right.

Any other comments, questions from council?

Please call the roll.

Specker, aye.

Tilton Byrne.

Aye, Wendell?

Aye, Avery, Doran.

Aye, Neymar.

Aye.

Hager, aye.

All right, item 9C, public hearing and action on ordinance 25-023, an ordinance amending chapter 94, Article 6, Division 6.

Pertaining to Section 94-505 regulations relating to cannabis dispensaries.

Mike Struck, our community development director will present this item.

Thank you, Mayor, and members of the council ordinance 25-023 is uh ordinance amending uh the B2A district regulations and removing that particular zoning district from uh removing the cannabis dispensaries as an allowable use in the B2A district.

Uh that's the the only change that's being made to the cannabis regulations is just simply removing the B business B2A district.

The B2A district is kind of a transitional uh commercial district between more uh intensive commercial uses and residential areas.

And uh, you know, over the years um since we've adopted the cannabis ordinance, um you know, we've talked with some of the neighbors uh that are adjacent to B2A zoning and their preferences to remove that.

Um we've took it to the planning commission.

Um we did get uh a majority approval.

I think we had one dissenting vote um at the planning commission.

The development review team recommends approval, and with that I would stand for any questions you may have.

All right, thanks, Mike.

Entertain a motion to approve.

So moved.

Second.

Open public hearing on this item.

Is there any public comment?

Council have any questions, comments?

Councilmember Tilton Byrne.

Um I'm wondering if any of the current dispensaries that operate in town are located in a B2A.

If so, how this change would impact them.

Uh there's no dispensaries in the B2A zone at this time.

Um, so it wouldn't put anyone into a non-conforming status.

That's part of the reason why planning commission was comfortable is there's a number of B1, B2, B3, and B4 property around the community.

Uh we actually have very limited B2A properties.

It's um for the most part uh along 22nd Avenue south of 6th Street and some locations um west of 22nd Avenue on 20th Street South.

Otherwise, um that's predominantly where the B2A is, so it wouldn't impact any existing businesses.

Great, thank you.

All right, any other comments, questions from council.

Please call the roll.

Tilton Byrne.

Aye, Wendell.

Aye, Avery.

Aye.

Doran.

Aye, Neymar.

Aye.

Hager, aye.

Specker, aye.

All right.

Item 9D, public hearing and action on ordinance 25-025, an ordinance to change the zoning within the city of Brookings on various city properties reclassified to a civic district.

Mike Struck will present this item also.

Thank you, Mayor, and members of the council.

Uh, ordinance 25-025 is uh ordinance to rezone approximately 68 city-owned properties across the community from their current zoning designations that range anywhere from egg to floodplain to some sort of residential, there's some commercial and industrial in there as well to our newest zoning district, the civic district.

Uh civic district was adopted in February of this year.

Um primary purpose behind the civic district is it's uh kind of the somewhat centralized some of the the public type uses and public type facilities that are located throughout our community, but each one has different standards and regulations they have to comply with because of the various zoning districts that they're in, and so this is to try and unify them all into one particular zoning district in the civic district, primarily focuses on like I mentioned the public uses, public type uses.

Um most of the properties that you see on the overhead area are parks, um, some drainage ways, some bike trails, there's some substations, lift stations, water tower sites, um, but those would all bring into a civic district, and I'm not sure if there's in your packet, there was kind of a um uh document that compared the uses that are allowed in the civic district and then the uses that are located in all of the various districts, and so um reviewing that you can notice notice that uh there are a lot of areas that the number of uses have significantly been reduced.

Um, if they were approved to be in a civic district.

Uh uh selfishly, one of the benefits of doing something like this, um, this raises awareness to the community to the public with the civic zoning, these are public spaces for public use.

Selfishly, I hope developers from out of town and out of state will stop calling me and wanting to acquire these properties because they feel that they're undeveloped because they're park space.

I get about 15 to 20 of those calls a year, and I turn them away and say that's parkland.

We're not not for sale.

Um but overall it's just to try and bring some uniformity within our zoning, and so it gives some assurance uh to the community that these are public spaces.

It did cut does come to you with unanimous recommendation from the planning commission.

Uh development review team supports the request, and I'll stand for any questions you may have.

Thank you, Mike.

Oh entertain a motion to approve.

So moved back in.

Is there any public comment on this item or questions Doug Ostram again, president of Berkings?

Um, as I probably pointed out before, I have had a lot of experience with zoning and city government and that so on, as well as park issues, both locally, state, and national.

Um I I agree with the need to unify our zoning so that we don't have all these various entities being in all kinds of different zonings.

That's uh something we need to do.

But I totally disagree with lumping them all into one new zone.

Typically, a uh zoning zone is set up on a more restricted basis.

We're saying this area is zoned for just these uses, but it could be open to conditional uses and so on, but for the most part, it just has a pretty specific use.

Now we're saying that parks and sewer plants and everything else can all be in one zone, and that doesn't make sense to me.

I think parks should be in one specific zone called park zone.

And whatever you want to do with the hospital and the sewer plan, I'm not gonna get into because that's not as important to me.

But I think it's very important that we keep parks as parks and keep you know, they keep telling me we gotta do this to protect our parks.

There's only one thing we need to protect our parks from, and that's either from you people that are sitting up there now or from future councils.

And I think that the more we designate them specifically as parks, the better protected they'll be.

I only have one other comment or question that we have not been able to get answered, even though it's been asked many times in the last few weeks.

Why did the city of Brookings lobby the state legislature to change the state law so that parks could be removed from park usage without a public vote, as was previously state law?

Nobody has been able to tell me why you did that.

It seems to me that before you lobbied the legislature for something like that, it might have got discussed at a council meeting.

But I would like to know the answer to that question, whether it pertains to tonight's motion or not, I'm not even sure.

I'm not even sure.

Thank you.

Any other public comments on this item?

Council have any questions, comments.

Please call the roll.

Wendell.

Aye.

Avery.

Aye.

Doran.

Aye.

Neemeyer.

Aye.

Hager.

Aye.

Specker.

Aye.

Tilton Byrne.

Aye.

All right.

Item 9E, public hearing action on ordinance 25-026.

An ordinance to change the zoning within the city of Brookings.

South 110 feet of outlet A and the South West Quarter in Section 20, Township 110, Range 49, also known as 716 34th Avenue.

Mike Strck will present this item.

Thank you, Mayor.

And members of the council.

Ordinance 25-026.

Is a rezoning for property on the east side of 34th Avenue.

This area is proposed to be rezoned from A to a B3 district.

It is consistent with the future land use map of our comprehensive plan.

It's part of a couple of other lots that have been acquired by a development group that uh they're proposing uh to redevelop this area in the near future.

And so there's been some land consolidation that went through the um rezoning process.

If approved, the next item on your agenda is the preliminary plan for this same area.

Uh this does come to you with a unanimous approval from the planning commission.

Staff supports the rezoning request, and I'd stand for any questions you may have.

Thanks, Mike.

Entertain a motion to approve.

So moved.

Second.

Open this public hearing.

Any public comment.

Thank you, Mayor.

Council members, I'm Justin Booker with Banner Associates here in Brookings representing the developer.

Um don't really have anything specific to add to what Mike just said, but it'll be available for any questions.

Thank you.

Any other public comments on this item?

Council questions, comments.

Please call the roll.

Avery.

Aye.

Doran.

Aye.

Neyer.

Aye.

Hager.

Aye.

Specker.

Aye.

Tilton Byrne.

Aye.

Wendell.

Aye.

Okay.

Item 10A, action on a preliminary plat.

Block 21, legacy edition.

Mike will present this item.

Thank you, Mayor.

And members of the council.

Um the action you just approved was a rezoning before you tonight is a preliminary plan for this same area.

It's uh uh approximately a 3.3 acre um piece of property just on the east side of 34th Avenue.

On the overhead map, it's shown in kind of the blue outlined area.

Uh, that is what the preliminary plan is showing tonight.

Um they have submitted uh the necessary preliminary drainage plan.

It's been reviewed.

Um, they have the appropriate grading plan.

They're showing it as one large lot, uh, but I believe their intentions are there's gonna be multiple structures on the on the lot.

Um however, they at this time they do not plan to subdivide the lot into smaller parcels, they're just gonna maintain it as one larger parcel with multiple structures on there.

This does come to you with the unanimous recommendation from the planning commission and the development review team submit uh supports the request, and I'd stand for any questions you may have.

Thank you, Mike.

Entertain a motion to approve.

So moved second.

Been moved to second.

Is there any public comment on this item?

Council of questions, comments on this item.

Please call the roll.

Doran.

Aye.

Neyer.

Aye.

Hager, aye.

Specker, aye.

Tilton Byrne?

Aye.

Wendell?

Aye.

Avery.

Aye.

Okay, that kind of concludes the business for this evening.

Um next meeting is August 26th.

Uh we'll have our first SDSU students report uh for the year or for this this fall.

Uh budget amendment number six will be in the first second readings, right?

And then uh couple uh malt uh and wine uh transfers.

That's all we have so far on the agenda.

Does the member of the council have any uh items for future agenda?

We will be going into executive session after this.

Uh there will be no business uh afterwards.

We'll just adjourn right after that.

Um that being said, item 12a executive session, pursuant to SDCL 1-25-2.3 for consulting with legal counsel or reviewing communications from legal counsel about proposed or petting litigation or contractual matters.

And SDCL 1-25-2.5 for discussing marketing and pricing strategies by a board or a commission of a business owned by the state or of any of its public subdivisions when public discussion may be harmful to the competitive position of the business.

Entertain a motion to go into executive session.

So moved.

Second.

All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

Opposed?

We are in executive session.