I call this meeting to order.

Please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance.

Will the city clerk please take attendance?

Mayor Nemeyer is absent this evening.

All other council members are present, Deputy Mayor.

Thank you.

Item number three is the approval of the agenda.

I'd like to entertain a motion to approve the agenda.

So move.

Second.

Okay, we have a motion and a second.

Are there any comments on the agenda from the public?

Any comments on the agenda from a member of the council?

All right, hearing none, will the city clerk please call the roll?

Hager.

Aye.

Specker?

Aye.

Tilton Burden.

Aye.

Wendell?

Aye.

Avery?

Doran.

Aye.

Motion passes.

Okay, item number four is an open forum, which is an opportunity for a member of the public to address the council on an item that is not otherwise listed on our agenda.

Would any member of the public like to come forward and speak in the open forum?

Okay.

Two Mondays ago, we had an opportunity to host uh a couple of open houses about a potential uh building project.

Uh as many folks in the community know, we are considering whether or not to build a new police department facility and where we should build such a facility.

During the open house, we had an opportunity to discuss a piece of land that is on the corner of Fifth and Medairy, adjacent to our high school in Maderi Elementary, and have good public comment around the use of that particular piece of land.

Uh city staff had worked with the council to identify more than 20 potential properties throughout the community that might be appropriate settings for a new police department facility.

That one sort of bubbled to the top for a variety of reasons, but we knew that there were a number of stakeholders that would have interest in that particular property.

And so before we invested a lot more time and resources and planning around that property, we thought it would be valuable to host some open forums so members of the public and stakeholders, folks from the neighborhood, uh folks from the school board and the school district could be a part of a community conversation related to the pros and cons of that particular property.

And so we got a lot of great feedback and that elicited lots of feedback online, and I know as counselors we've heard from lots of members of the public about that particular property and its suitability for a future home for the Brookings Police Department.

After we received that feedback and had that conversation, we turned back to staff and have asked them to continue considering properties throughout the community that could be suitable locations for a police department facility in the future.

And so that property is not entirely off the table, but it's now part of a continuing conversation about potential locations.

And I think by mid-January, staff will come back to us with a list of potential property in the community that could be home to a future police department.

And we'll have lots of considerations that will be part of what would be the best place for that uh future facility.

Uh obviously, cost as a driver, if it's connected to a main artery or thoroughfare in the community.

Uh is it connected to other risk factors and other areas in the community?

There's lots of criteria that we would use to determine the most suitable future location for the Brookings Police Department.

But that really kicked off an initial phase of the community conversation, and we wanted to circle back with you all to let you know that the conversation is ongoing, and by mid-January, we'll get a full report from staff uh around other potential locations for a future police department facility.

Okay, I think that closes item number four.

Item number five is the consent agenda.

Are there any items to be removed from the consent agenda?

Or any questions related to items on the consent agenda?

Councilmember Specker?

Yeah, and I think this uh question is for Bonnie.

It has to do with 5D and the temporary alcohol license for Sodexo.

Since later on they are presenting because they've had a violation.

Can we approve this before they do that?

Yes, you certainly can, because we consider the alcohol compliance violation a separate topic.

Okay, thank you.

With that answer, are you comfortable keeping the item on the consent agenda?

Okay.

Any other items to consider or potentially remove from the consent agenda?

Okay.

I'd entertain a motion to approve the consent agenda.

So moved.

Second.

We have a motion and a second.

Are there any public comments related to an item on the consent agenda?

Council have any additional questions or comments on any consent agenda items.

Okay, hearing none, will the city clerk please call the roll?

Specker.

Aye.

Tilton Byrne.

Aye.

Wendell?

I.

Avery?

Aye.

Doran.

Aye.

Hager.

Aye.

Motion passes and the consent agenda is approved.

Item 6A is our report from the Students Association at South Dakota State.

I invite Anna Hunt, the SDSU Students Association Government Affairs Chair to come forward and provide an update.

Anna?

Hi.

Good evening.

Just a little update.

Last week I and myself and Vice President Sierra attended our student federation meeting.

We are just starting prep for Shed Day at the Capitol, which is January 25th and 26th of next year, along with planning the Board of Regents meeting, which is in Sioux Falls next month.

We're also meeting next week to finalize those plans as well.

Our Senator at large applications opened again this morning for next semester.

Our student promotion fund committee also met last week.

We're just going over revisions with our application and evaluation process to clear up some gray area because they haven't been revised in over 10 years, so we're starting that process right now.

We also have a general activity fee reallocation task force going to reallocate some general activity fees.

So we have that for us as well.

End of report.

Any questions for Anna?

I just wanted to make a note about the visitor promotions fund.

Thank you for uh revising some of the paperwork around that fund.

I think that's one of the greatest partnerships that the council has with the students association in distributing those dollars, and you all are a key part of evaluating that.

So thanks.

Yeah, absolutely.

Item 6B are some ex officio reports from members of the council.

Let's start with the Brookings Municipal Utility Board.

Councilmember Avery or Specker, do you have an update?

Yep.

The BMU board met on November 10th and approved claims and bills.

Discussed and approved various BMU policy amendments that were recommended.

Discussed and approved the employee health plan contributions.

And reasons for the upcoming increases in electric rates that BMU purchases from MRES after several years of no increase were discussed, as well as BMU long-term planning.

The 2026 BMU budget was discussed and approved with the following rates for 2026.

For electric rates, the average customer will see a three and a half percent increase in their rates.

For the average user, this will amount to about three dollars and thirty-five cents a month.

Water rates, the average customer will see 2.1% increase in their rates.

This will amount to approximately $1.5 cents per month for the average user.

For wastewater, the average customer will see 2.9% increase, which will amount to approximately $1.28 per month for the average user.

One thing that's happened recently concerning telecommunications is that Swift Tell now offers internet without having to have an landline.

And if anyone's interested in unbundling those services and getting rid of their landline, they should call Swift Tell and get talk to them about doing that.

The new water treatment plan is getting closer to completion, although it's still a couple months behind schedule.

The water department still feels good about how the work is moving along.

Also, a question that keeps coming up at least every three months, I guess, is when will the 6th Street water tower be taken down?

The telecommunications equipment that's currently on that water tower is in the process of being moved.

And right now that the water tower is slated to come down in May or June of 2026.

That's all.

Thank you, Councilmember Specker.

Any questions for council?

Okay, let's hear an update now from the Brookings Health Systems Board of Trustees, Councilmember Doran or Hager.

Okay.

Thank you, Mayor.

So at the Brookings Health System meeting, we had an investment authority board meeting that kicked it off.

And then throughout the regular meeting, we just had some discussions around the continued transition to EPIC, so kind of their updates to technology and what that looks like, as well as just a continuation of their budgeting process.

So right now for the next fiscal year, it's headed to the finance committee for review on the board.

Otherwise, it was discussed on continuing workplace recruitment and retention efforts, a few marketing uh initiatives that you'll see on social media and around local media.

Um they currently have 553 employees, and so they're still looking at a couple of openings and to retain all of those great employees.

They are also working on an implementation of uh CMS age-friendly hospital measure.

This is a new hospital standard, and it focuses on age-friendly care for patients 65 years and older.

And this isn't a new uh kind of state standard.

And then we received a presentation on the 2024 community benefit and economic impact report.

If you saw the article in the Brookings Register this morning, it talked about some of those numbers, and there's going to be some more promo about it.

A couple of highlights from that report is that there were 4,248 hospital patient days.

That is up 42.7%.

There were 23,896 imaging procedures.

That is up 38.6%.

656 local people were helped by financial assistance programs, and it's looking at a total of over 1 million dollars that was assisted with.

And the annual economic impact of Brookings County through the health system, uh, they calculated at over 56 million dollars.

So that's looking at jobs, education, uh, impact in the county, so general economic uh effect.

Otherwise, the final update is that uh this morning they had a ceremony and a presentation of the newly installed uh Emily's Hope nalaxone distribution box.

So this is a statewide initiative through a nonprofit called Emily's Hope.

It is right inside the hospital doors if you're going to the emergency room, and it distributes free uh naloxone for anyone that needs it.

So that was really exciting that they came up to Brookings and that that's where a distribution point is.

End of report.

Any questions or comments for Councillor Dorn.

Okay.

I have the privilege of representing the council on the economic development ecosystem board, and so I'll just give a brief update on that board.

Uh that new nine member board is now meeting regularly this fall as we sort of transition into the newly merged organization.

Uh a variety of working groups within that nine member board tackling all the issues you can imagine for a brand new uh organization, everything from you know how uh the legal and accounting and auditing contracts will be handled.

Uh the branding work is under uh way right now, and so the new organization does not have a name or a brand or a logo yet, but that work is happening right now.

A local firm upframe was awarded that contract and is in the midst of the work now.

Uh in fact, more than 140 stakeholders in the community completed surveys or participated in in-person roundtable discussions to sort of uh gather information about what a future brand could and should look like.

The other update I'll give is that the CEO position is live, and so more than uh a couple of dozen individuals have already applied for the position from throughout the country, and so that's a national search process.

Uh, and that position is open right now, and as we get closer to the close date and have a shorter list of potential candidates, I'll keep the group updated on when there'll be public opportunities to interact with those CEO candidates.

But the position is live and it's getting real positive response right now.

That's the update I have on the ecosystem board.

Each member of the council has an opportunity to serve either either as a board member or as an ex-official member on boards throughout the community for our partners.

So this is an opportunity for us to provide updates regularly at these public meetings.

Item six C on the agenda is an update on the downtown revitalization project.

I invite Sam Beckman, the assistant to the city manager, and Kirsten Jezdahl, downtown Brookings executive director to come forward and present an update on this item.

Good evening.

Thank you, Council, for having us here tonight.

Some of you had the opportunity to just do a downtown tour with us earlier this evening and see some of these buildings that we'll be talking about this evening.

But uh Kirsten Jezdal with downtown Brookings and myself, uh, we are really here to kind of give you an update on the downtown revitalization effort in the year now since the downtown master plan was adopted in October of 24.

We'll give you some updates on the plan itself, um, give you a couple downtown fire updates, and then we'll get into those downtown incentive programs that were in its infancy year this year.

So right now we have this downtown master plan.

It was again adopted in October, and we really use this as kind of our guiding framework for all of our downtown work, and this will tell us as the city and downtown Brookings which work really we need to be prioritizing and in what order.

Um moving forward when we were doing the downtown master plan, we were really looking at creating a plan by design, not default, right?

You heard that a lot about last year, and the plan itself was there to stimulate the private investment, establish downtown as a place to live, create a signature gathering space, improve access and circulation, and then strengthen downtown as a destination.

So, really again, we were trying to make sure that we had a plan for the future of downtown and that it wasn't just kind of sporadically happening.

Um the plan itself was split into several different categories here.

So I'm gonna kind of point them out as we go.

So that one up on the top left hand corner is um really how they the consultants viewed our our framework here.

So they split up downtown into five different sections.

We had the Sixth Street side up north of 6th Street.

Um we had the West Edge, which we kind of deemed our residential ribbon, because you have more residential units over there.

We had Main Avenue, which we deemed our kind of commercial ribbon.

We had the East Edge that we deemed our civic ribbon, as you have City Hall and the library and the children's museum, some things like that, and then down south we had the south kind of ribbon there, and then you also had um the downtown split up into different areas of redevelopment opportunities.

So they kind of pointed out some of those opportunities, and um, in this process, it wasn't saying that you had to redevelop any of these sites, it's just that these were kind of maybe the ones that were uh pointed out as the easiest to redevelop if somebody were to choose to do that.

And then on the top right over there is kind of our access mobility areas too.

So they pointed out some some improvements that we could make at intersections and you know, parking and such like that.

And then from the master plan, there were three kind of catalyst projects that came from it saying that if you were to complete these projects today, it would spur the most revitalization throughout the community here.

So the armory reuse and hotel project was one.

The 72-hour parking lot redevelopment as a possibility, and then looking towards uh that signature gathering space that they pointed out could be this downtown park potentially.

So we're always um keeping those on our radar, and um you know, if something were to pop up, we're always um you know open to discussions there.

But um for the downtown master plan though, we we really have all these projects towards the end of the plan.

If you kind of flip through it, there's several pages in there that tell you what you could do in each of those ribbons, right?

And then who would be responsible if it's a policy or if it's um gonna require funding to do those projects.

Um, I'm gonna have Kirsten kind of walk through the downtown master plan updates and those projects that we've been working on.

And I'll turn it over to her and then we'll continue on.

Thank you, Sam.

Um, so I always like to start this presentation by going over a uh definition of placemaking, which is a buzzword I feel like we hear pretty often uh in this work.

It's a collaborative process in which we shape our public realm by harnessing the ideas and assets of the people who use it to maximize shared value.

Um basically what place making in is making a place that you want to be that our citizens want to be and visitors want to visit.

I also want to introduce the concept of place keeping, which is really taking care of and maintaining what we already have.

The people that are already living here, the buildings and spaces that we already have, and making sure that they exist and last for another hundred years for the people who will be here in the future.

So first is streetscaping.

So within the plan, it suggests a number of activities that can help our downtown be more vibrant, and they cover everything from landscaping to the type of furniture we have downtown, potentially forming a business improvement district to work on ongoing projects that the community and business owners and building owners might like to see.

Updating pavement material downtown, so example the brick pavers that are on the sidewalks, and extending the streetscape design onto the side streets.

Right now are kind of historic lighting and bump outs are on Maine for three blocks, three and a half blocks, and then it lines up with the children's museum, but none of the side streets around that do have that same type of design, as well as implementing some public art.

So things that we have been doing over this last year.

We have light pole banners that we have up year-round, as well as ones that we switch out kind of quarterly, depending on what events are going on.

We wrapped five new utility boxes.

So one of which I have up on the screen on the left hand side, so that's kind of kitty corner, or excuse me, across the street from Cool Beans Coffee.

Um, and it features three different historic photos, which is pretty fun.

You can stand on that corner and see all those spaces and what they look like now.

We had a consult consultant come in and talk through what it could look like if we updated the plantings and the bump outs and the landscaping to more native plants and plants that are better designed for those spaces.

A lot of times people shovel their snow onto there, which is full of salt, so it's killing off plants.

Some of them are very thorny, which can be good but can't be bad.

So I'm talking through what that might look like.

We put in crosswalks from the 72 hour parking lot, as you can see there.

Implemented some kind of artwork with along with that, and that was fully funded and paid for by an AARP grant.

So that's a test run to see how that functions for a couple years, see if people like it.

And then we have plans on doing some updates on sixth and main, uh new mural and a utility box strap to make that area a little bit more vibrant.

Next up are buildings on Maine.

So the plan suggests facade improvements throughout the entire kind of neighborhood, working on some investment incentives, working on filling in some of those empty lots that we have downtown, and uh trying to advocate and help our business and building owners work within the historic tax credit possibilities that are out there.

And so, with the support of the council, we were able to offer a facade grant to our downtown businesses, which was well utilized, and those who were able to attend the tour right before this hopefully got to see how important both the facade grant and that interior incentive fund were.

We have a grant, a small grant available for permanent signage.

So PowerShop Gym, Emerald Grace, and Mixed Dry Cleaners are all three examples of people who are able to use that to fix their old signs or update and get new ones.

We also have the lights camera action program that helps put in exterior cameras, exterior lights, and functional placemaking.

So we had some new planters.

I think one of my favorite ones was a like a garden planter outside, so the people who are in that building could plant some tomatoes and stuff out back.

But lots of new cameras and exterior lights around the neighborhood.

And then also just working with those building owners to help find other grant programs that may work for their projects that they're doing.

We will have some more information on those programs later on in this presentation.

Next up is alleyways.

Um, the plants address consolidating dumpsters, adding lighting and security, which we are working on with the lights camera action, creating alley branding.

We do have a number of businesses and apartments that enter from the alley, but it's kind of hard to describe.

You know, you need to enter through the alley that's between Napa and the Skinner's patio, but you can only access it from the south side when you're trying to explain it to a semi-driver.

So being able to brand those with their own specific alley name would be very helpful.

Encouraging rear entrances, upframe creative here is an example of a business that you enter from the alley.

Our buildings are very skinny but very long, and so being able to split those buildings up, buildings up into smaller spaces allows more businesses to utilize it, as well as working on public artwork.

So we have a downtown at Sundown mural that went up, as well as some new lighting along with that.

We're very proud of that.

I think it turned out really well.

Some security camera and those lighting incentives to lights camera action.

There have been some updates through that program also for those alley entrance businesses, which has been great.

And then we wrapped utility boxes in the alley, two of which are shown here.

And next is the third and fifth avenue redesign.

So that is between kind of the downtown core and the 72-hour parking lot.

And plan suggested to kind of test what it would look like to put bump outs there and potentially angled parking, potentially adding a stop sign and adding bike lanes or angled parking into those areas.

And we were able to do that.

So we got the grant for that bump out and crosswalk test fit.

So thank you very much to AARP and Toyota North America for helping us make that happen.

And we also included in a sub-area in that master transportation plan to be able to see how many people are using that space, how fast are they going, does it something like this help increase the safety downtown?

Is it actually making making a difference?

So we are working on then Third Avenue, so that is the idea of right now it's three lanes with parallel parking to potentially what would it look like with two lanes with angled parking, how many more vehicles can we fit, and is that something the community wants to see?

But it's all meant to be at test run, see how the public likes it before something permanent is implemented.

And I'm very thankful for the public works department for helping us make this happen.

And a couple of city employees came and volunteered to help paint too.

So thanks for that.

Next up is wayfinding and signage.

So the plan suggested adding wayfinding, and that is something that the city I'd say as a whole wants to see across the entire city.

So we haven't done much with that yet because I would like to see that be a consistent design across the entire community.

Adding gateways to mark your arrival to downtown.

If you're driving down sixth, you can pretty much drive right past downtown without even realizing you missed it.

So putting something there that people recognize it as somewhere.

Upgrading our street name and our crosswalk signage.

So some students did some studies of our kind of parking lot areas and gave some suggestions of where parking signs could be moved.

And so that was done.

We added a crosswalk sign at the farmers market.

Lots of people park in the parking lot of this building to cross the street.

And so just a temporary one we can put up on Saturdays.

We are working hard to try to get our parking lots listed on Google Maps.

It is very difficult, but I would love to be able to have those there so people can find that more easily.

And we did a test fit with a 988 statue on 6th in Main.

If you guys remember that through the month of September, October, that was statue was up there to see what it would look like if we had a permanent statue put there.

But that's one that is a quite big and quite expensive project.

So hopefully we can find a grant to make that happen.

All right, and then I just wanted to kind of highlight some of our other city contributions to the downtown.

I won't talk about all of these in much detail, but we have those downtown incentive programs, mobility updates, placemaking, placekeeping updates.

We did a lot of work with a downtown fire task force post-fire and meeting with the building owners and helping them.

And then we added in the farmers market support here as well.

If you guys don't know, Winter's Farmers Market is now going on at the Fissory Gym.

And then just a kind of a special thank you to each and every one of our departments has actually helped out tremendously throughout the year since the master plan was updated.

These are just some of the ways in which these departments can and have helped with anything having to do with downtown.

So you see a lot of parks and public works really working on the physical things, but there's a lot happening behind the scenes, right?

You don't realize that our HR department is actually helping with some of these things, or you don't realize that you know the city clerk does all the alcohol permitting and stuff like this.

So there's just a lot happening that I think doesn't really go get a lot of recognition a lot of the time.

So just wanted to point that out.

But there's much, much more that is going on that again flies under the radar.

Um, and then we just kind of wanted to give a little brief downtown fire update.

I was gonna have Kirsten kind of go over the facts of it, and I'll get into it a little bit more too.

So we are close to a year out from the fire, and um, every time Sam and I talk about this and give a presentation, we say this is it.

This is the last time we're doing a fire presentation.

So we're hoping at some point everything feels normal again, and we can stop presenting updates on the fire.

So it started on December 30th.

Um they aren't entirely sure how it started, but they do know it started at Browse Fashions, and so that is at uh three 18 Main Avenue.

Um it affected kind of significantly affected four buildings, but in total, 21 businesses were affected by that, whether from water, smoke, or actual fire.

Um, and there were 12 apartments total, um, affecting 17 people who lived in those apartments that did have to relocate, and um, so it was quite quite a big thing, and I'm very thankful that we have people like the city to help help us kind of get through that.

So just want to make sure, especially while I have time to give Sam a kudos, she's great to work with.

All right, so when you're thinking about the fire too, what happens right away, and then what happens kind of as the long-term recovery efforts.

So, right away, um, downtown Brookings worked with a number of organizations in town to set kind of set up this emergency assistance program where there was I mean several of these um people that lived in the apartments, and then the buildings could also apply for funding relief for the fire.

Um, and then the city set up an internal task force.

We were meeting I believe twice a month to talk about how we could help these building owners move forward, and then we would meet um at least once a month with the building owners themselves to make sure that they were kind of all on the same page and um you know get everybody in one room so that we could all know what was going on and there weren't any surprises that would pop up, or if um the city could help out in any way if we needed to you know help speed along a permit or something.

We we would know to do that then.

Um so that task force was kind of ongoing through, I believe we had the last one around summer time and still working with each of these businesses though.

Um so kind of starting from the the north itself, the um exchange building.

We actually just walked through that building this evening.

Um they basically completely gutted their building, and I'll show you some pictures later on here too.

But they had a full gut of their building right to the south of that, seven songbirds.

Um they had a partial collapse of their building, they had to then uh tear down their whole building.

They are currently in the process of rebuilding.

Um I believe the hopes are to have that kind of enclosed by the one year mark of the fire, pending weather.

Um to the south, bros.

Um, they are currently in kind of a phase where we're making sure that things will be kind of weatherized for the winter time, and um looking through some of their uh suggestions right now from their engineering.

And then to the south, the 314 main building, um, they are still kind of working on redoing some of their their first floor um interior right there, but they've got some businesses that are currently open and operating out of that building as well.

Anything you'll add.

Um I think something that's kind of um I think two interesting facts on the community raised over 75,000 for that fire relief, so that just goes to show the power of the people that we have in this community, and um the majority of the businesses chose to relocate downtown if they needed to relocate, and I think um that's just a great sign of how important a neighborhood like that is that um those business owners saw the importance of of this kind of neighborhood for the success of their business and and chose to reopen there.

All right, and then so the downtown incentive programs.

We had three programs that um started this year.

The I will say the lights camera action program um was ongoing for one year with downtown Brookings, but the city did fund it this year, and then we had a downtown Brookings facade grant and a downtown revitalization incentive program, and we'll touch more on what those mean and um the recipients of those moving forward here.

But the three programs, they all had to submit applications to receive funding for these programs.

Um, there was a small review committee for the facade and the interior program comprised of members from downtown Brookings, the city, and then historic preservation were all kind of on that review committee themselves.

And I believe the um lights camera action went to the design committee under downtown Brookings too.

So Lights Camera Action was funded by the city this year.

We had about 20,000 in which people could apply for these funds, and um it was administered by downtown Brookings in partnership.

So I'll really let Kirsten kind of touch on the projects themselves, but essentially anything that was eligible were lights, cameras, and like she talked about some of these placemaking features.

So that could have been a wide range of things that could have been outdoor landscaping, outdoor dining.

There's a couple other things in here as well, so I'll let her jump in there.

So we in total we're still getting receipts from a number of businesses, but we pretty much allotted the majority of the money for this program.

It's kind of hard to know exactly how much you're going to need because it's 50% of the cost up to $2,000.

So sometimes they might have forecasted 3,000 and it comes up to $2,500.

And so we're quite interested to see kind of how that all shakes out.

Some people ended up being more expensive, some people ended up being less.

But there are a number of new cameras downtown.

Up here, it notes that BPD access.

So that if there is a need for those cameras, that the police will be able to access that.

There's a requirement that video has to stay stored for at least 30 days.

So that is available if needed.

The lights all have to be exterior lights, have to be seen from the outside to just add to the safety of the entire neighborhood.

And then some of the placemaking things I had already mentioned, but we did have someone do benches, planters, and then that kind of more vegetable type planter.

And I do know there are a number of people who are interested in doing that next year.

I think now that people kind of see a vision of a visual of what functional placemaking means, I think there'll be a number of more people who are excited to add that type of thing to their business.

So here we have some of them up here.

So 414 Maine, Rebistel Boutique, put on cameras.

More planters and cameras at 310, parklet at wooden legs, which was very well received.

And this was meant as a pilot project, but hopefully moving forward with seeing that permanently from here on out.

Other ones, 418 Main, put in that kind of planter and back as well as cameras, Main Street Pub and Solies, and also put in cameras as well.

Jim's tap worked on some exterior patio upgrades.

There were patio upgrades, but they had to be kind of visual and impact people who weren't on the patio, so you didn't have to necessarily be at that business in order to see the improvements.

So the exterior of the fence, the lighting.

And then 1111, Bridaland got cameras, and then at Ease Counseling is hoping to still put out some planters and cameras for this year.

So that's a big impact, if you ask me.

And I just wanted to point out too those lights camera action ones.

It's really interesting that there's quite a few that were in the alleyways too.

So that was one of the places that were called out in the downtown master plan as well.

So the other two programs that we have here are the uh facade grant and then the downtown incentive program, the interior grant essentially.

So of all three of these grant programs, there was $320,000 allocated towards them.

And the facade grant was a 50% match up to $25,000.

You had to have a project minimum of $35,000 so that we could make sure that it was really like a substantial project, and that we weren't maybe just funding one window here and there, but that we were funding you know complete restorations of these facades.

So eligible improvements were basically anything outside that was not a sign and was not lighting because those could be encompassed within the signage grant or within the lights camera action grant.

So windows, doors, tuck pointing of brick, replacing awnings, and then there were definitely some historic preservation compliance things that we wanted to make sure remained intact, and accessibility improvements could also be encompassed under the facade grant.

So if somebody really wanted to possibly put in a ramp if that were to fit within their footprint, it's a possibility that you could use this grant program.

Some of those non-eligible improvements, we essentially didn't want to be funding anything that you could view as general maintenance.

So if it's just a deferred maintenance that the business or building owner put off because they didn't want to do it, we didn't want to be funding those things, and then nothing interior because that will be the separate grant that we'll touch on later.

Um new construction.

We wanted these to be revitalizing current existing buildings and really no temporary installations.

We wanted these to be permanently fixed to their buildings, and some of these improvements were drastic.

So they went through the application process.

Applications were due March 1st of this year, went through the review committee.

Then we sent in a conditional award letter, and then we had them sign off on some project commitment forms that they would do these projects.

And then currently in the process of completing the work on a few of them, and we've got reimbursement requests on a couple of them so far.

So the first one that we did for the facade grant was 418 Main.

The current business that's in here is ID8 Architecture.

They received a $25,000 grant.

And you can see here they're kind of before and after photos.

But essentially, there's much more that they did, but they demoed the existing storefront.

They had labor and materials as a project cost, and then they have a new aluminum storefront, new glass, and they revealed those transom windows at the top, and a transom window is right where the cursor is.

The next one, 408 Main, and this is the Main Street pub in here.

They were actually awarded 25,000.

But they also did quite a bit of work on their exterior.

They have a new aluminum storefront and glass.

They brought their storefront closer to the sidewalk, and then they inset the door to be a little bit more historically accurate.

They added the knee wall.

They restored their glass transom windows.

They did tuck pointing of brick and limestone.

And then they repaired broken limestone cornice details above the transom windows as well.

And lastly, for the facade grant, 322 Main Avenue is the exchange building.

They're still working on there, so this is kind of an in-between shot here.

But the before and after photos up here, they ended up replacing their second-story windows, and they replaced their storefront glass, and will be tuck-pointing some of the brick in the future here moving forward.

And they will fix some concrete as well.

The downtown revitalization incentive program, this was a 33% match up to $25,000.

So that project minimum cost was $75,000.

And the kind of premise here was that you could do a 33% low interest loan, possibly through the Brookings Economic Development Corporation.

We kind of referred people over there to see if they would be eligible for some of those loan programs.

And the interior renovation improvements and upgrades that enhance functionality, safety, and aesthetics were the ones that we focused on the most here.

So electric plumbing HVAC updates, ADA compliance updates were really the things that we were looking for here.

What is going to be really impactful for the building itself?

And again, nothing exterior was accepted because we have that facade grant for that.

And the other ones are pretty similar to for the non-eligible improvements to the other ones.

Again, they had a lot going on in this building.

They removed their drop ceiling, which is great for fire suppression.

And once they removed that drop ceiling, they were able to take away some of those I would say haphazard wiring that they found.

So they did a lot of the duct work.

Again, redid the majority of the wiring on that main floor.

They added efficient or energy efficient lighting and fans.

They had a new ceiling that they had to do.

They had to fix the walls because once they removed the drop ceiling, then they had to still kind of create the last three or four feet of their walls.

And then they also have a new epoxy floor.

So they made a quite a few improvements in here as well.

And lastly, 322 Main, the exchange.

So the exchange was one that was impacted by the fire.

So they were pretty significantly impacted in that they basically did a full gut of their whole building.

So some just some of the things that they did were they had to do a whole new structure wall framing and bracing to make sure that their wall didn't collapse in on itself, especially when the Seven Songbirds building was demoed.

They needed to make sure that they were braced for that kind of impact.

They had sheetrocking, they have a new epoxy floor, they have new lights, they've got new walls.

It is kind of a night and day difference when you walk in.

They're much farther along than they were in these pictures.

These pictures I pulled from last week, but they've got um they've got walls that are painted and they've got great lights up now.

Um we're really just excited about the improvements that all of these um business and building owners were able to make.

And I think it just kind of shows the importance of these programs in the budget for tonight.

We will be passing.

Um we do have uh money in there to get us back up to that $320,000 for these programs for next year so that we can continue the great work that's happening downtown.

Does anybody got any questions for us?

Thank you for that great update.

Uh any questions for Sam or Kirsten?

Councilmember Specker?

I think these it's a great project, and I'm glad to see people utilizing it.

You had said that some of the costs come in below what they were awarded.

Are those then gonna be carried over to next year?

Is that gonna be included on top of what is in the current budget or we will be carrying forward money for next year, yes?

Yep.

Okay, thank you.

And um to clarify with the lights camera action program, um uh building owners or build business owners would submit receipts to us, we pay that out, and then I submit my receipt for that payment to the city for reimbursement.

Um, and so in that case, on our end, there's no like carryover money because it's just a straight reimbursement from the city.

Council member Tilton Burn.

Um, I want to first thank both of you and all of the business owners for the great work that's been done.

Um, I think the stewardship that's happening here for our downtown district is just incredible, and so thank you for for making this happen.

Um, my question is how many, if any, um, applications were submitted that weren't able to be funded simply because there weren't enough funds.

Uh I would say that in total we probably got around a 10 to 12 applications.

Um, I will say there were several applications that were maybe half completed, and that's why they didn't move forward.

Um, and then because it was the first year, I think there were still some um confusion in some of the areas of whether or not something would be funded or not.

So right now, as we have it written, it was to fund like a facade of a main avenue facing business, or if your business was in the back, then we would do that one back there.

Um, but there's several that have, for example, um have walls that are maybe facing a north or south that maybe didn't weren't eligible this year, but those are things that we're looking at for changes for next year as possible um updates.

So I had kept a list of things from all year that I had heard, especially as we were going through the um application review process and things that um you know we weren't necessarily thinking of as we were creating it, but um great improvement opportunities for the grant programs themselves.

And just to clarify, you said 10 to 12.

Is that across all three of the group um I I was just saying the 10 to 12 for the facade and the interior one and then the lights camera action?

Um there were just probably two or three that we weren't able to do, and it was because the the um projects that were submitted wouldn't have been eligible.

Um, they were for things that were you know painting the inside of a patio fence that like the general public wouldn't see.

So great.

I think um having had the opportunity to go on the tour this evening.

I think uh some of the testimony that we heard from the business owners was really impactful, and so uh if they're able to share their stories with some of the other business owners downtown, I think that could be really meaningful and maybe encourage some of the other business owners to participate in these programs.

So if there's any way we can kind of capture that, um their their comments or quotes, whatever it might be, um I think that could be really great.

But again, just kudos to you and the business owners.

This has been really fun to see.

Um, I will look at doing some sort of like a survey or something following up with those that did receive the grants.

Um, and then just because it's kind of fun.

There are several people that have already contacted me for if we will be continuing the grant programs for next year.

So I've actually been keeping a list of people since March of those who have contacted and were wanting to do it, but didn't necessarily get an application in this year.

So we're excited to be able to offer those for next year.

Other questions?

Paul Sam, if you could go back, and I think it's about 15 slides back.

The amount of work that has been done over this last year, I think it's always great to reflect on this amount of work.

A lot of times people assume we just put these master plans on the shelf.

And this is just one year's worth of work with one master plan for the downtown.

I just want to reflect on the great work that you two and all of our departments and all of the community is doing in this area.

And so hats off to you and congratulations on that work.

Any other comments or questions?

Well, maybe before we close the update, I would echo Paul's sentiments and appreciation.

But I would also just note that I know the whole community is excited about the opening of Aldi this week and the continued development at the marketplace, but we have tried to be really thoughtful about continuing to invest in our downtown at the same time.

We really think of that as the heart of the community, and leaders like you are putting that into action.

And so I know we're all excited about different economic development and business districts in the community, but the downtown and a continued investment in the downtown is so important to Brooking.

So thank you.

Thank you.

Let's move on to item 6D, which is a report on the 2025 bridge reinspection program.

Chris Brozick with Civil Design Incorporated is going to come forward and present this report.

Chris evening, Council members.

Chris Brozick with Civil Design right here in Brookings.

Here this evening to talk about the City of Brookings bridge inspection program.

The City of Brookings has four bridges within the city of Brookings.

One was recently decommissioned and is no longer a bridge, and I'll get into that in a minute.

And then three others still within the city limits of Brookings, along with one within the City of Brookings Airport.

Kind of just a little bit of background.

The DOT then hires the consultant.

So we technically are working for the DOT to make sure that we're following all of the federal requirements that are a part of the bridge inspection program.

So as I mentioned, CDI contracts with DOT on three of those bridges within the city limits, and then we contract directly with the city on the airport bridge, since that technically is a private structure only used for airport access road purposes.

As a kind of general understanding, bridges are constituted as a structure that spans greater than 20 feet in length.

So any structure or box culvert or larger pipe system within the city limits of Brookings that wouldn't meet that 20-foot span length requirement, we do not perform inspections on.

So every on a biannual schedule, we're performing those inspections for the city.

So every every odd year we're out there looking at these structures.

Following the field work and doing a re-inspection, then we prepare an updated bridge inspection report and any recommendations, repairs, or findings that we would have that need to be relayed to city staff and any future maintenance and or uh repair replacement items are uh discussed.

That that meeting was held uh a couple weeks ago with the city engineering and public works department to go through those findings and provide those recommendations.

Um I always try and provide this update too, just as a general piece of information that when we're out doing inspections, um, we're mainly looking at those safety features of the roadway as it ties to the structure and also the structure condition itself.

We're not looking at drainage ways or improvements to drainage within the city of Brookings, mainly looking at those structural components.

So, as I mentioned, one one bridge previously was on the city's uh system.

If you look at the map here in the top right, this would be Western Avenue just north of the bowling alley.

Um, and then this structure here in red in the map was actually replaced in 2024.

That previously was a triple uh cell box culvert that was nearing 100 years in age and had seen its service life, and then some that was uh replaced in the late fall of 2024, and we were able to uh go through the design and the replacement process for that by replacing it with the 330-inch RCP arch culverts that replace the existing box culvert.

And as I mentioned, if there's a structure, even with a series of pipes that's less than 20 feet in length, it does not qualify as a bridge, so we were actually able to remove this uh structure location from the city's system, which ends up saving uh a little bit of money on the inspection side.

The next structure is also on western, just to the south.

Um this is a 114-foot three-span continuous concrete bridge built in 1988.

Two more structures, those would be located along North Maderi, just north of the bypass.

Um, 147 is the northernmost structure along the north branch of 6 Mile Creek, and the structure just to the south would be this uh 170-149 structure just north of the intersection that crosses over 6 Mile Creek.

That is your oldest structure built in 1968.

And then lastly, the Brookings Airport Bridge is actually located just west of the runway along an access road on the 1230 runway system that provides access to the runway over the uh crossing over the 6 Mile Creek realignment.

Uh, if you remember how the the airport was reconfigured years ago, that bridge was put in uh in 2013 to help with the runway realignment.

So, of those three existing bridges within the city limits of Brookings, um just want to provide some brief findings and recommendations that we provided city staff.

So 06 160-158 just north of the bowling alley.

Uh, that uh did have some advanced uh conditions on the bridge deck.

Overall, the bridge is still in you know reasonably good condition.

We we rate structures on a good fair pour system, basically on a scale of zero to nine.

So zero to four would be poor, five to six would be fair, seven to nine would be good.

So this structure we would rate as a six overall based on a uh ranking system uh to provide that overall condition rating.

Um the main reason it doesn't uh rate as a good structure is mainly just that condition of the deck.

We're starting to see a little bit more advanced cracking in the deck system, and uh also what's called a deck delamination.

We perform a chain drag over the deck, and we sound for hollow areas within the deck where we're seeing some delamination, and basically what's happening is chlorides from uh winter salt applications get into the deck through the cracks along with moisture and over time that rebar within the deck system itself begins to deteriorate, it expands and it wants to pop the deck, which then also allows for further infiltration and it starts to advance deterioration on your deck.

So finding those things isn't always a bad thing, it's an opportunity to work to do future maintenance and rehabilitation to extend the service life of that structure.

Um the next structure that's not listed here was 170-147, that's that northernmost structure north of the bypass.

That one didn't really have any major changes, so I didn't want to bring it to anyone's attention here today.

The biggest thing that we did see a couple years ago was some scour along one of the substructure units.

Um that is still in the process of being repaired.

That one unfortunately has kind of a uh the north branch of Six Mile Creek has pretty much kind of a spring where it continually has water flowing through there, so it's a rare opportunity to get the get it dry enough where we can go in there and actually get that repaired properly.

So waiting for that opportunity so we can get that completed in the near future.

The the last structure, 170-149, that is the structure on uh North Madary just north of the intersection of uh the bypass.

That's a fairly wide bridge, it's about five lanes wide right there, so it is a pretty decent sized deck area.

This exhibit here is uh a map that identifies the amount of deck delamination on that deck, which is kind of why I wanted to educate a little bit on what that actually is.

This one's a little bit different in the fact that it it already has a concrete overlay on that deck.

That concrete overlay was installed back in 1996 and has seen uh a great service life over those 29 years that it's been in place.

We're starting to see the effects of the deterioration of that overlay itself and that it's nearing the end of its service life.

So we are starting to have those conversations with city staff about how to go about a future removal of the concrete overlay, doing any deck repairs that are necessary, and then reinstalling with a new concrete overlay to help extend that service life of the structure so we don't have a tardy replacement uh time frame on that structure.

So overall, though, um the state of the bridge infrastructure within the city of Brookings is quite good.

Um I do about 300 inspections every year, and your guys are you know, generally speaking, in that satisfactory to good range and don't have any foreseeable major replacement type work on any of these four structures in the foreseeable future.

There is that ongoing minimal maintenance cost and some of these identified more uh moderate rehabilitations that are going to need to take place to keep them in that condition.

Um things are looking good, and we don't have any need for a future load posting or anything like that that would hinder any uh any traffic uh rerouting or anything of that nature.

Uh lastly, we we also provide the city staff with kind of a just a summary in addition to the detailed bridge inspection reports.

Uh the bridge inspection reports provide a very detailed report of any defects that are going on with that bridge and the severity of those defects.

Um then we also provide any recommendations for city maintenance and/or larger rehabilitation projects.

This is just more of a generalized breakdown of that to see it uh tangibly in one in one location rather than having to go through a you know 30, 40 page bridge inspection report.

Um I already touched on the meeting with the engineering and public works department.

The last thing I'll touch on is um as I mentioned the overall condition ratings, again, that seven to nine range being good, five to six being fair, zero four being poor, that green, yellow, red.

As you guys can see, those three structures are in that yellow to green range, showing that they're in a satisfactory to uh good condition overall.

With that, I'll entertain any questions.

Well, thanks for the update, Chris.

Any questions for Chris?

Councilmember Dorn.

Thank you, Mayor.

Um, I just have one question.

You talked about the the overall um kind of quality right now is good.

Is that still following like the typical lifespan that you see of these bridges too, of looking at when they were built, or how do we fall on that scale too?

That's a great question.

So in today's age, we're designing bridges for 75 plus years.

We're hoping that we can get at least that, if not closer to a hundred years back when these bridges were built.

The style of bridges that you guys have currently, they should last in that 75-year range.

So seeing that you know, two of your bridges were built in the mid to late 80s, and then that one on North Maderi, just north of the bypass being oldest in the 60s, even if that uh 68 bridge, you know, looking at today, you're at that 60-year life.

So you still have a good 15-20 years before we'd be looking at doing anything long term for replacement.

Sure, thank you.

Any other questions?

All right.

Thanks for the update, Chris.

Thank you.

There are no contracts and change orders on this evening's agenda, so let's move on to item 8A.

Introduction and first reading on ordinance 25-0036 and ordinance authorizing budget amendment number eight to the 2025 budget.

Ashley Wrench, the finance director, will present this item.

Thank you, Mayor.

Council members.

This is the first reading of ordinance 25-036.

Amendment number eight to the 2025 budget.

This amendment authorizes a 38,000 dollar transfer from the 3B tax fund to the Capital Improvement Plan Fund to support the Fishback Park splash pad project.

This project was budgeted for 2025, and the contract is scheduled to be awarded next week at the November 25th meeting.

Installation will occur in the spring of 2026, and this amendment ensures that the funds are proactively allocated prior to contract approval to carry forward into next year for this work.

The second reading of this ordinance will be on November 25th.

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

Thank you.

Is there any public comment on this item?

All right, hearing none.

Does the council have any questions or comments for Ashley?

Okay, the second reading and action on this item will be held at our meeting on November 25th.

Moving on to second readings and public hearings.

Item 9A is a public hearing in action on a wine alcoholic beverage license renewal for an establishment which has failed an alcohol compliance check within the past 12 months.

Bonnie Foster, our city clerk will present this item.

Bonnie.

Deputy Mayor and Council members.

This is for a alcohol compliance check that Sedexo experienced in October of this year at the Dana J.

Dykehouse Stadium.

This is their first compliance check failure in the past five years.

As part of the city's process, Sedexo did provide you a letter under separate cover, which was explaining the process and the changes that they were making in their processes to check IDs of those wishing to consume alcoholic beverages during events at the stadium.

If you have any questions, as you can see, we have representatives here tonight that are willing to ask and answer any questions you may have.

Staff does recommend approval of the license reissuance for 2026.

Thank you.

First, I'd entertain a motion to approve this item.

So moved.

Second.

Okay, it has been moved and seconded.

I open the public hearing on this item.

Is there any public comment?

You can go ahead.

Um good evening, ladies and gentlemen.

I we but we apologize.

Um it was an internal audit to check on compliance.

Um interrupt you for one moment.

Could you just introduce yourself?

Uh apologize.

My name is James Quinn.

I'm the resident district manager for Sedexo and SDSU.

I'm Emily O'Connor, and I'm the catering director.

Okay.

Yeah, so um we took that seriously, and we've um implemented um more safety procedures in two, which is uh in the letter that we put forward.

Um we've we're doing a lot more training with people.

Um it's 133,000 cans would be uh uh over a seven-game period.

I don't think uh that was um that one incident, it won't happen again.

Thank you.

Does the council have any questions for James Emily or anyone else?

Councilmember Hager?

I have a comment more than anything.

I just want to tell you that I appreciate how serious you all were taking it, and as a season ticket holder, just this past weekend.

I did firsthand see all of the different training methods that you had put in place.

A lot of the um employees were asking additional questions about IDs, making sure there were wristbands, making sure there were stamps.

I saw they had laminated placards, so I just want to say I really appreciated that.

Thank you.

Any other questions or comments?

Councilmember Tilton Byrne.

I just want to echo those sentiments and say um I also experienced the changes and even noticing kind of the change in placement of where folks are presenting their IDs in order to obtain a beverage.

Um while we might not be discussing it in depth tonight.

We do have materials that you've submitted uh outlining some of those changes, and so thank you for providing us that information and thank you for taking quick action to correct this.

Thank you.

Okay, if there are no more questions and comments, will the city clerk please call the roll?

Tilton Byrne, aye.

Wendell?

Aye.

Avery?

Aye.

Doran?

Aye.

Hager?

Aye.

Specker, aye.

Motion passes.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Let's move on now to item B, which is a public hearing in action on a special event or temporary alcoholic beverage application from St.

Thomas Moore Catholic School.

Bonnie Foster, the city clerk, will present this item.

Bonnie.

Deputy Mayor and Council members, this is a special event temporary alcoholic license for an annual event that has been occurring for the last six years at St.

Thomas Moore Catholic Church.

This is for their school.

It is a winter gala and grand auction.

Like I said, they've been having there for the past six years.

Uh Jennifer Rigg is present if the council has any questions about the event itself and staff recommends approval.

Thank you.

With that, I'd entertain a motion to approve.

So moved.

Second.

Okay, it has been moved and seconded.

So it open a public hearing on this item.

Is there any public comment?

Okay.

Hearing none, does the council have any questions or comments?

All right.

Will the city clerk please call the roll?

Wendell?

Aye.

Avery.

Aye.

Doran.

Aye.

Henker?

Aye.

Specker?

Aye.

Tilton Byrne.

Aye.

Motion passes.

Congratulations.

Let's move on to item 9C, the public hearing and action on ordinance 25-033, an ordinance to change the zoning within the city of Brookings.

Outlaw 19 and the northwest fourth of section 23, excluding lot 8-1 thereof.

T 110 North R50W, also known as 213 West Highway 14 bypass from residential R-3 apartment district to business B-3 Heavy District.

Mike Strzok, the community development director, will present this item.

Mike.

Thank you, Deputy Mayor and members of the council.

The action before you tonight on ordinance uh 25-033 is a rezoning.

This property is located up on the Highway 14 by Pass.

It was previously utilized as a fraternity over the years.

The applicant is interested in acquiring that.

One of the conditions is getting a rezoning approved.

Um, with the intentions of uh converting that uh former fraternity to like a motel hotel um space.

Uh this does come to you as a unanimous recommendation from the planning commission for approval and the development review team supports the request, and I'd stand for any questions you may have.

Thank you, Mike.

I'd like to begin by entertaining a motion to approve.

So moved.

Second.

It's been moved and seconded.

I'll open the public hearing on this item.

Is there any public comment?

Okay.

Hearing none, the public hearing is now closed.

Does the council have any questions or comments on this rezoning action?

Okay.

Hearing none, will the city clerk please call the roll?

Avery.

Aye.

Doran?

Aye.

Hager?

Aye.

Specker.

Aye.

Tilton Byrne?

Aye.

Wendell.

Aye.

Motion passes.

Let's move on to item 9D, which is a public hearing and action on ordinance 25-035.

An ordinance pertaining to an application for a conditional use permit to establish an office in a residence R2 2 family district at 717 and 719 Main Avenue.

Mike Strzok, the community development director, will present this item.

Mike.

Thank you, Deputy Mayor and members of the council.

The ordinance 25-035 is for conditional use to establish an office use in a residential R2 zoning district.

As uh conditional use within the R2 zoning district.

Uh an office must be located on an arterial collector street, and it satisfies that requirement on Main Avenue being a collector in this particular location.

Uh consideration for the uh compatibility of the architecture with the existing neighborhood.

Uh no exterior changes are being proposed at this particular time.

It still maintains that residential uh look and feel on the exterior.

Uh consideration shall be given to the traffic generated by such use, the type of sign, the hours of operation, and the character of the use.

Uh it's primarily used as a property management office, typical office hours ranging kind of in that nine to five range with you know potential appointments as needed on an after-hour basis.

The signage requirements would be those consistent within the residential district, so they wouldn't be able to have like large commercial signage are residential signage requirements are pretty strict from a height size square footage manner.

So there's really no concerns with that.

The traffic generated by this use, um, it's probably no different, probably even less than what the previous use as a dentist office was.

Um it's a small property management type office, the parking there's both off-street parking off the alley and the driveway as shown on the site plan above.

In addition, this area of main avenue is uh has a tremendous amount of diagonal parking on the street as well.

Um and then one of the last conditions is the the parking um on the rear of the building needs to be screened from adjacent properties, and so there is fencing proposed on both the north and south sides of the parking areas to screen it from the adjacent residential properties.

One of the conditions that is also being recommended with uh if this is approved, is that the conditional use permit is non-transferable, so it would be strictly for this use uh and to this owner if uh property were to change hands, any future use would have to come back through a similar process.

This does come as a unanimous recommendation from the planning commission and the development review team supports the request.

I'd stand for any questions you may have.

Thank you, Mike.

Let's start by entertaining a motion to approve item 9D.

So moved.

Second.

Okay, it's been moved and seconded.

With that, I opened the public hearing on this item.

Is there any public comment?

Okay.

Seeing none, the public hearing is now closed.

Does the council have any questions or comments?

Councilmember Specker.

Yeah, Mike, I just have a question, and this may be an off-the-wall question, but when it was a dentist office, why was it never zoned business?

I mean, I can see keeping it residential and that way it would fit in better, but I'm just wondering why it never got changed historically.

I can't explain it.

I went back through the records when the original structure is built.

I was residential zoned at that time.

It was originally built as a dentist office in a residential zone.

And um it was many years ago.

Um not even sure if I was alive at that time, so if that indicates how long ago it was.

I don't I there's I can't explain.

I mean, I like it being zoned residential because you're essentially forcing it to fit in with the neighborhood because of that, uh, the restrictions of that.

I was just wondering why it never got changed.

I I think uh when it was used as a dentist office, it was originally built as a dentist office in a residential zone, and they continued that use for a number of years, and it was just probably within the last few years that they kind of closed down that dentist office.

Uh and I think there was the ability that you know it could potentially go either way if if somebody wanted to remodel it and make it more into a residential structure, they could, or if they wanted to continue the office use, they could.

And so I think you know they they didn't feel a need to change the zoning because the the use that they originally saw was working fine in that neighborhood.

Okay, thanks.

Any other questions or comments from the council?

Mike, I have a clarifying question.

Uh if the same owner were to change the purpose of the business, so it doesn't change hands, but the purpose of the office were to change, would they need to go through an additional conditional use process?

No, not if it continues to be utilized as an office.

Um if it you know, say they're potentially using it right now as a property management type office, but if they decided they wanted to do a financial insurance office out of there, that really wouldn't change it.

It's more a change of ownership, or if you're changing it from an office use to another potential uh use that would be allowed within the R2 district that they would have to come through the conditional use process.

Thank you for clarifying.

Any other questions or comments on item 9D?

Okay, will the city clerk please call the roll?

Doran?

Aye, Hagar?

Aye.

Specker, aye.

Tilton Byrne, aye.

Wendell?

Aye.

Avery.

Motion passes.

Okay, item 9E.

Is a second reading in action on ordinance 25034, the 2026 appropriations ordinance.

Ashley Wrench, our finance director will present this item.

Ashley.

Thank you, Deputy Mayor and members of the Council.

This is the second reading of ordinance 25-034, the 2026 appropriation ordinance.

No changes have been made since the first reading.

Tonight, along with the final reading of the budget ordinance, we'll also bring forward the 10-year capital improvement plan and the 2026 consolidated fee schedule.

The budget reflects the council's five focus areas and serves as a policy tool, operations guide, financial plan, and communications device.

The proposed budget for 2026 is 72.5 million dollars, which represents about a 1% decrease from the 2025 adopted budget.

And this is primarily driven by enterprise fund capital projects.

It reflects a balanced general fund with an estimated 3% sales tax growth and 5% property tax growth, along with strategic capital investments, including street maintenance, public safety vehicles and equipment, Fifth Street Gym improvements, and contributions to the South Dakota State University Performing Arts Center and the Brookings Health System.

Staff recommends approval of this ordinance as presented, and I'll stand by for questions.

Thank you.

Thank you, Ashley.

Let's start by entertaining a motion to approve item 9E.

So moved.

Second.

It's been moved and seconded with that.

Is there any public comment on this item?

Okay, hearing no public comments.

Does the council have any questions or comments?

We've spent a lot of time to say I apologize.

Councilmember Hager, go for it.

So I just wanted to repeat my statement from last meeting when we first uh considered this particular issue.

So as a member of council, I do serve in my own private capacity, but there are some budget items that impact my employer, South Dakota State University.

And so in my conversation with our city attorney, he suggested that I look at those specific budget items and then my relation to them as a faculty member at SDSU.

And so some of those Ashley did just mention in her presentation, but some of the others include scholarships for students, the contribution to the performing arts center, research park, some funding to students association for their visitor promotion fund, and then also a subsidy for the airport.

So as an associate professor in the School of American and Global Studies and the pre-law advisor on campus, none of those particular initiatives target my students in particular, nor do any of my students or direct colleagues participate in any of those programs.

And so my assessment has been that there is no conflict of interest there, and I would be able to vote on this particular budget item.

And so still with my conversation with our city attorney, he still said that it would be beneficial for me to make the statement and then also let anyone ask any additional questions if they have any.

Thank you for that thoughtful statement, Councilmember Hager.

Any other questions or comments?

I was just going to note that we've spent several weeks, months actually digging into this budget.

So tonight is sort of getting it across the goal line, but we've had lots of thoughtful thoughtful public discussion on this particular item.

If there are no other questions or comments from the council, will the city clerk please call the roll?

Hager, aye.

Specker, aye.

Tilton Byrne, aye.

Wendell?

Aye.

Avery?

Aye.

Norren, aye.

Motion passes.

Let's move on to item 10A, action on resolution 25-087, a resolution adopting the consolidated fee schedule.

Ashley Wrench, the finance director, will present this item.

Ashley.

Thank you, Deputy Mayor.

This is resolution 25-087 adopting the 2026 consolidated fee schedule.

As part of our annual budget process, staff reviews and updates fees to ensure they're equitable, reflect cost recovery goals, and remain in line with peer communities.

Key changes this year include a 3% increase in most solid waste fees, aligning refrigerator and air conditioner disposal as well as mobile home disposal with actual processing costs, 3% increase in the storm drainage unit financial charge, 25 to $50 increases in planning and zoning fees with the annual $5 increases in sign fees, and then $5 to $10 increases in residential building permit fees.

We're also eliminating the application fee for the street flag and banner program while increasing the fees for removal of flags and banners to align with the cost of performing that service.

Staff recommends approval of this resolution as presented, and I'll stand by for questions.

Thank you.

Thank you, Ashley.

I'll entertain a motion to approve.

So moved.

Second.

Okay, it's been moved and seconded.

Is there any public comment on item 10A?

Please state your name.

Doug Ostrheim, citizen of the community, and somebody with a lot of experience in city government, various things.

I really think that we ought to lower those building permit costs as low as we could possibly lower them.

I don't care whether you're building a half a million dollar house or a hundred thousand dollar house.

That building permit is of an important aspect of the cost of that permit, as well as the time involved in getting that permit, which is rather excessive in this community as well.

So I would recommend that we lower those costs across the board.

You might say that large valuable house doesn't need a decrease because they got lots of money, but every increase in the cost of housing across the board impacts people at the next stage below.

So I really think we want to get affordable housing.

We gotta look at every possible way to lower the cost of that those projects.

And I think we can start by setting a good example by lowering the building permit.

Thank you.

Thank you for your comment.

Any other public comments?

Okay.

Hearing none, does the council have any questions or comments on item 10A?

Councilmember Specker.

Um, kind of along those lines, and maybe Mike can answer this.

Have we in the past, when we have done affordable housing projects, waived building permit fees?

Fair question.

Thank you for the question, Councilmember Specker.

Um we do have the ability to waive building permits for certain um partners, so like for ICAP and Habitat for Humanity, their building permit fees are waived.

Um occasion we brought forth resolutions when there's uh low-income housing tax credit projects.

We're have the ability to waive those building permit fees as well.

I think that's important the public to know.

Thank you.

Any other questions or comments from council?

Okay, hearing none, will the city clerk please call the roll?

Specker.

Aye.

Tilton Byrne, aye.

Wendell?

Aye.

Avery?

Aye.

Doran, aye.

Hager, aye.

Item 10B, action on resolution 25-089, a resolution transferring capital improvement plan sinking funds.

Ashley Wrench, the finance director, will present this item.

Thank you, Deputy Mayor.

This is resolution 25-089 authorizing contingency transfer of $95,000 from the CIP sinking fund to the general fund.

These funds will increase the recreation department's contracted services budget and will be used for planning and early design work aimed at improving the city's recreation facilities.

This is strategic use of contingency funds to prepare for capital planning and staff recommends approval of this resolution as presented.

With that, I'll stand by for questions.

Thank you.

Thank you, Ashley.

I entertain a motion to approve.

So moved.

Second.

Okay, we have a motion and a second.

Is there any public comment on item 10B?

Hearing none, does the council have any questions or comments?

Councilmember Hager.

This question is probably more appropriate for Kristen, actually, but I was just curious because we were talking in generalities, both in the presentation and in the materials that we have for this meeting.

But is there anything that you particularly have in mind that you would like to share for these funds at this time?

It's okay if you don't.

I was just curious.

Thank you for the awesome question.

Um we are always looking at all of our facilities, and so it's there's some that are more advantageous than others, but um right now not ready to disclose anything.

Thank you, Kristen.

Any other questions from council?

All right.

Will the city clerk please call the roll?

Tilton Byrne.

Aye.

Wendell?

Aye.

Avery?

Aye.

Doran.

Aye.

Hager?

Aye.

Specker.

Aye.

Motion passes.

We are on to item 10C.

The momentum builds.

Action on the City of Brookings 10-year capital improvement plan.

Samantha Beckman, assistant to city manager, will present this item.

Sam?

Hello, thank you.

I will be speaking on the last item of the budget this year.

The capital improvement plan, the CIP, is a 10-year planning tool for expenses, $25,000 and above.

The primary revenue source for the CIP is the second penny sales tax and is used to fund equipment and fleet, uh, facility maintenance and repair or replacement for city operations.

The CIP includes funding for debt services and outside agency capital commitments such as the SDC Performing Arts Center and the Brookings Health System.

The CIP is balanced through 2035 as a result of prioritization strategic project timing and cuts and utilization of carryover and reserves.

A more in-depth discussion was had at the budget workshops in September.

If the public would like to go back and reference any of those materials, and staff recommends approval as presented.

Thank you, Sam.

Let's start by uh entertaining a motion to approve.

So moved.

It's been moved and seconded.

Uh is there any public comment on item 10C?

Hearing none, does the council have any questions or comments on the 10-year capital improvement plan?

Council member Specker.

Yeah, this is more in some of the details for this.

And it just dawned on me when I was looking over them like next year we're putting in close to a million dollars for a new fire truck.

But then if you look out, you have like fire truck three, maybe that's next year.

I forget what numbers what, but further out, we're doing one of the fire trucks over three years, and it totals about the same as the one we're paying a lump sum for next year.

And then even further out, there's one that's over a million dollars.

Why is one of them spread out over three years and not all of them?

Yeah, so when we have large equipment purchases like that, if we wanted to split it out, um, that's a decision that we make based on what our capital improvement plan looks like for the one year.

So, and I'm gonna be off a little bit on numbers here.

Here we go.

Um we've got $13 million that we could spend this year.

Um, and that just kind of worked out that we were able to um spend all of the money on the fire truck this year.

Whereas in some of these other further out years, we might need to split it up to just make the 10-year CIP work for us.

So we just kind of um fiddle with the with how we um pay for things either right now or over a certain time so that we are able to make sure that we've got room uh for other projects too that we can do multiple things, yep.

Yep, that makes sense.

Is it more a lot more expensive to spread it out?

Um we will have to uh finance it, so I think it's probably a little bit more expensive, but I wouldn't say that it's astronomic astronomically more expensive to do that now.

Okay, thank you.

Any other questions or comments for Sam?

Okay, will the city clerk please call the role?

Wendell?

Aye, Avery, aye, Doran?

Aye, Hager, aye, Specker, aye.

Tilton Byrne, aye.

Motion passes.

As we approve that suite of uh budget items, I just wanted to take a moment to once again share our appreciation to staff that have really led the way on this budgeting process.

I think it's been a real evolution for the city of Brookings over the last several years.

Obviously, it's a very public-facing process.

Um, and I think department heads, key staff members, and leadership have have really crafted a process that for council um we can walk through in a public environment, um, ask good questions.

It holds up to scrutiny, and I think at the end of the day, we end up with a balanced budget that's doing some really great long-term work for the city.

So thank you to staff leaders around the room and and other folks who contributed to this process.

Item 11, an opportunity for council members to introduce topics for future discussion.

Our next meeting on November 25th.

Just wanted to note that uh we'll have an update from on the city's mass notification software from our PIO, uh, a couple of contracts and change orders relative to the splash pad to the Edgebrook Golf Course water sourcing and the golf course management contract.

Um, a couple of contracts and change orders relative to the splash pad to the Edgebrook Golf Course water sourcing and the golf course management contract.

We have a couple of first readings, including some rezonings and the consideration of a conditional use permit.

Uh and the potential setting of an annual election dates, either in June or November.

And we'll receive uh the city progress report at our next meeting.

Are there any topics that a council member would want to introduce for discussion at a future meeting?

Nothing right now.

With that, item number twelve is a move into executive session.

I just want to note we won't be taking action after this evening's executive session.

Executive session pursuant to South Dakota codified law one-25-2.6a for the purpose of discussing information pertaining to the protection of public or private property and any person on or within public or private property specific to a any vulnerability assessment or response plan intended to prevent or mitigate criminal acts.

I'd entertain a motion to enter into executive session.

So mood.

Motion and a second.

And we can do a voice vote to enter.

So all those in favor of moving into executive session signify by saying I.

We are in executive session.

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