Okay.

I call this meeting to order.

Please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance.

Pledge of allegiance.

Thank you all for coming this evening.

Could the city clerk please take attendance?

Six members of the council are present, Mr.

Mayor.

Councilmember Holly Tilton Byrne is joining via conference call.

Councilmember Bonnie Specker is absent this evening.

Also joining via conference call is City Attorney Vince Jones.

Thank you.

All right.

Item three, approval of the agenda.

Entertain a motion to approve the agenda.

So moved.

Second.

All right.

Motion is second.

Are there comments from the public on the on the upcoming agenda?

Council have any comments, questions?

Please call the roll.

Avery.

Aye.

Doran.

Aye.

Hager?

Aye.

Neymar?

Aye.

Wendell?

Aye.

Tilton Byrne.

Okay.

Motion passes.

Echoed executive session.

Item 4A, executive session, pursuant to STCL 1-25-2, one in parentheses for discussing the qualifications, competence, performance, character, or fitness of any public officer or employee or prospective public officer or employee.

The term employee does not include any independent contractor.

I entertain a motion to go into executive session.

So moved.

Second.

All right.

All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

Aye.

We are in executive session.

So James.

Seeing none, we'll move on to consent agenda.

Action on the consent agenda.

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

See none.

Entertain a motion to approve the consent agenda.

So moved.

Second.

Move to second.

Is there any public comment on consent agenda items?

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

Holly, I know you're on.

Comments, questions at all?

No.

All right.

Thank you.

Please call the roll.

Neymar.

All right.

Tilton Byrne.

Aye.

Wendell.

Aye.

Avery.

Aye.

Doran.

Aye.

Hager.

Aye.

All right.

Presentations and reports.

Uh introduction of promoted city of Brookings employees.

And Samantha Beckman will do our introductions.

Actually, she's the one I'm interested in.

She's getting introduced.

There we go.

Yes.

It's my honor to introduce Sam as the assistant city manager.

Sam started with us roughly three years ago, and we're taking away two little words to the but that comes with a lot of responsibility and new leadership with our organization.

For the past two and a half, almost three years now.

Sam's really been an integral part of our organization, really a key component to our leadership team as well, providing guidance and direction when necessary, but also leading major projects such as the downtown master plan, co-leading uh the biggest project we have, and that's of course the budget for next year as well.

Uh she's done that in stride, and she always has a positive attitude.

Uh most importantly, what I'm really excited for is the future.

The future of city management, the future of leadership here in South Dakota.

Sam uh has told me that she's interested in being a city manager someday in the future, not anytime soon.

Uh but with that said, we have a lot of people exiting this profession.

And I think just as Berkings is seeing as a community across the region, the state, the nation to an extent in building leaders, we're building leaders here in local government.

I'm so excited for Sam because Sam is going to be an even better city manager than I could ever be, and I know that to be true uh for Sam.

And in time, I'm excited for her to take on that role, but we still have quite a few years left.

But I'm very excited about Sam taking on this promotion and being the assistant city manager.

Sam, anything you want to say?

Yeah, I just want to say thank you for this opportunity.

Obviously, very grateful, and um Brookings is a great community.

I especially said um if anybody's seen my LinkedIn post, I said city management is where or Berkings is where I found out about city management, and so it's really exciting to kind of continue this opportunity here.

Um, and never miss an opportunity to say kudos to our staff.

Um they're really the ones that kind of help drive forward the city, and um couldn't do it without them.

So thank you.

All right.

Uh comments from council, questions.

Holly.

Nothing from me.

All right, congratulations, Samantha.

Oh, come back, Lisa.

Councilmember Hager.

So I just want to congratulate Samantha on this promotion.

It's very well deserved.

So for anyone who doesn't know, Sam was one of my former students in state and local government here at South Dakota State University.

So I get to be a very excited council member for her, but also a very proud former professor as well.

So congratulations.

All right.

Um Anna Hunt is not here, so we probably won't have a SDSU Student Association report.

Uh move on to exofficial reports.

Wayne Avery has uh BMU report.

Yes, I do.

Um I think I've said this before, but I'll probably mention it again is that the uh the utilities meeting that I attend, and then Bonnie and I take turns attending, is approximately about four hours that we spend there, and we probably go over a close to a hundred pages of information and have staff reports and everything.

So when I come here and and want to condense that into a two-minute deal, it's it's difficult.

So you you hesitate to to cover certain topics because you're afraid that since you're not the expert on that, you might not give all the pertinent information and cause more trouble than uh than you need to.

So I'm gonna keep it fairly brief here.

Uh I think there's real value in us being there that we get to sit in that room though, with for with this with the BMU staff and talk about different issues, and they they uh even though we can't vote on things, we still can have input and and hear what they're working on.

So I think it's it's really valuable.

Uh the one takeaway I had from uh this last meeting was the water uh treatment plant.

Uh the 34th Avenue Water Treatment Plant update of the contractual sub our contractual substantial completion date for the 34th Avenue water plant was October 13th, 2025.

Uh contractor continues to work towards achieving this milestone.

They haven't got there yet, but they're still uh still working on that.

The good part of it is that the seven-day uh demonstration period began on November 17th and has been successfully completed.

So BMU staff has continued to operate the plant uh since that time.

As of December 9th, the BMU staff had three weeks operational experience with the new water plant.

So things are going good.

A few uh things that still need to be tuned up.

Um there was another uh discussion about some uh ongoing uh requests for bids for some pipeline projects, and the indication was that the environment is getting more competitive, and that some of those um uh there was more bidders right now, more people looking for work, and the costs seem to be uh coming down.

So that might bode well for some of our other projects that we're working on.

The total investment in that uh plant, the water plant, which could change by uh up or down somewhat 114.7 million dollars.

So that uh that was quite a project, and um it looks like it's it's gonna be serving us for a long time.

Come so all right, thank you.

And Lisa and Bree.

I understand that the hospital board did not meet this month.

All right, move on to contracts and change, or no, no, take that back, take that back.

We have a presentation from 3M.

Jim Burkhart and uh solvent and plant manager district director will uh provide us an update.

All right.

Thank you.

Um my name is Jim Burkhard, as you said.

I'm the site director at Solventum here in town.

Um I appreciate you having me here tonight.

I'm gonna give an update at our our PFAS mitigation at the plant in town.

All right.

Um, so um through our ongoing monitoring, we've been monitoring for several years now.

The data is beginning to show improvement, so we're really encouraged by that.

Um I'm gonna I'm gonna touch tonight on on some of the history that we've had behind this to kind of remind everybody where we started our ongoing monitoring activities, which are going to be included in a report to the state this coming April.

Um I'll talk a little bit about some progress we've made on stormwater treatment and then um the 2025 um progress plan.

All right, so most folks have probably seen this photo before and this update.

Um, you know, we started back in 2022, late summer 2022.

We identified a leak on our fire suppression system.

Um it was underground, right?

So this leak we reported that leak to the state and made repairs.

Umce that time to present date, we've we've done a lot of work related to sampling groundwater, soil, stormwater surface water as part of our overall investigation through DANR supervision.

And um each year we've submitted those various reports both to the state and to the city.

Um kind of the update here tonight, right?

We're gonna talk about um basically from the end of last year and then through this year, um, where we've taken additional samples and um and then in the I'll talk about the installation of our water treatment system, which was done this year.

All right, so I've got three slides um that kind of talk about our sampling.

Um each slide maybe talks about a specific topic.

The first one is soil and groundwater.

Um then I've got a slide on surface water, and I have a slide on on storm water.

Um so um the picture on the left side, which is on the right side of the of the photos of the side of the slide, but the left picture shows where we have taken additional soil samples this year.

Um, the additional soil samples were all taken on our premises, and so if you just to kind of give folks um it's a busy it's a busy picture, right?

Um the main part of our plant is shown towards the middle of that photo there.

Um the very top is our entrance at Orchard Drive, and then the big kind of white rectangle.

Um that's trailer parking that we have.

That would be um, I would say just to the east of the kind of the row of pine trees that we have on 22nd Avenue.

So the majority of the samples were taken to the north and west side of our property as we hadn't really scoped that area out before.

Um, and then we also took some samples.

I would say more towards the west of our site.

We've taken previous samples in that location as well.

Um, and most of those additional ones I just spoke about are closer to our A triple F storage building that we have in the plant.

The right picture on the screen there shows three off-site um groundwater wells which were southeast of the existing wells that we took.

Um, you can kind of show it here.

So our our site is not really shown in this drawing here.

I would say that the main landmark that maybe I can talk about that shows up is um Mickelson School is kind of right in the middle of that, and so we took um samples to the south and west.

I think it's 12th half in each of those orange circles.

So surface water was ongoing this year.

Most of these data points we've taken previous samples, so we're starting to build a little bit of a track record as to what we're beginning to see.

And so if you look at, I would say these are hexagons, right?

One through nine, we've we've we've sampled those locations previously.

Over to the lower left, items number 10 and 11.

That's additional sampling that was requested this year.

That's taken kind of at the corner of Maderi and 20th Street South, right?

So I think 10 is right along 20th Street South, and then 11 is up a little bit upstream along Madary Avenue, if that makes sense to folks here.

So those would have been the two new ones that we saw.

The results are going to be included for each of these, are going to be included in the April report.

We're starting to see some improvements.

I would say some areas we don't have a lot of data.

It's the first data point we've taken this year, so it's hard to make any conclusions relative to that.

Samples on the golf course look good.

All right, I'll pivot to groundwater sampling here.

Um and the groundwater results that we took, these were done the first half of this year, really consistent with what we've seen in previous years of sampling, so no significant changes.

Um that is located on our property.

Um we would call it outfall four, but it's the the stormwater outfall to the southwest of our property, actually southwest of the plant, but kind of just the west central of the property.

Okay.

Um and so, in conjunction with the the DANR, we did implement a stormwater collection and treatment system in that area, so right where that green circle is located, and I'm going to talk about that on the subsequent slides.

All right, so late 2024, we began construction of a collection pond, and you can kind of see it here in the picture if you look closely.

It's kind of towards the middle of the picture.

If you're looking towards the horizon, you can see some water in the pond.

And it was installed late 2024, but we put the system online right after the um the winter melt off and the beginning of this year.

And so the process was to be really removed a lot of soil in that area.

The soil that was there in that area is right again where the green circle was on the previous drawing where our high levels high PFOS readings on soil and groundwater were taken.

And so we, as part of the project, we cleaned all that soil.

We backfilled with clean soil.

Um we installed a berm, which is effectively a dam for the water that or the storm water that exits the site to the southwest of our plant, and then the captured storm water then runs through a filtration system, which we turned on this spring.

So this slide talks a little bit about the treatment system.

It uses a filtration granulated activated carbon and resin in it.

Um we essentially pump the water from that containment pond and it pumps through these filters and then is discharged to our stormwater through the outfall, what I would call outfall four, but it's that direction to the west of our plant.

Um, through the course of the year, um we treated about five and a half million gallons of stormwater with a greater than 99.9% removal rate.

Um, and so we're really happy with the results that we saw.

So this has been a definite improvement to I would say surface water concentrations leaving the site.

So the 2025 work progress plan is contained, and I've talked about most of the items, um, is kind of summarized on this slide.

Um we installed the three new nested wells, those were those orange circles, right?

That I showed on one of the first slides that I presented.

So those well that well completion is done.

Um we've done additional soil sampling to the northeast or excuse me, northwest side of our site, and then concentrated a lot of sampling near what we would call our existing outdoor ACLF storage building.

Um we've got future work planned around that, and so we want to understand what soil we need to remove when that work is done.

Um stormwater treatment system was operational this spring.

Um there is some additional work that's being done in coordination with 3M, right?

They're they're doing assessment of pumping rates and volumes of off-site wells within a radius of the site, and then evaluating local subservice utilities.

I I don't really have an update on those two bullet points, but those are part of the package that will be sent to the state in April.

Um, and then um again um we we've typically had a a twice a year we've sent an update to the state, and in 26 um we'll be sending just one update to the state of South Dakota that'll be due this coming April, and we will copy the city and BMU as we've done previously when we send that report up.

Uh that's what I had for slides here and for an update.

I again I maybe before I wrap up, I just want to thank the council and the city for for cooperation on this, and we're we're committed to continuing to work to to improve our and to reduce our impact to the city and the community.

Answer some questions if you've got any.

Are there any questions from council?

Question, comments?

Ollie, do you have any questions?

Sorry, on mute.

No.

Um Jim, I just I got one question.

And when you're taking samples from the wells and stuff, is there a third party doing this, or are you guys I mean, how is that process done?

Yeah, so there's um three of them is still involved in this, but they have a third-party um, I'll call them a consultant bar engineering who coordinates all the sampling.

Um, they run their samples through another third-party lab, so they don't analyze them themselves, but but bar engineering is kind of running point as far as um coordinating all those sampling and and making sure they get done.

All right.

Councilmember Duran.

Thank you, Mayor.

Um I just wondered, did you state is is this going to be like the testing and the reports to the state forever ongoing, or is there going to be like a final report to the state, or what does that look like moving forward?

That's a that's a good question.

I mean, right now we've you know we're we're starting, we get there's not a lot of data, right?

It feels like a lot, but when you take a sample once or twice a year, it takes quite a while to build data.

Um I mean, I my expectation is remain open until the state agrees that we can close this close the spill report.

I'm not a hundred percent sure when that date will be, but we're just we're following the direction and we continue to take samples and make sure we update them on our progress.

Thank you.

All right.

Any other questions, comments from council?

Thank you very much, Jim.

I appreciate you guys being as transparent as you are.

Thank you.

All right.

Okay, now item eight contracts and change orders.

Item eight a action on resolution 25-101, a resolution authorizing change order number one for 2025-01 SWR sidewalk maintenance project.

Brock contracting.

Charlie Richter, our city engineer will present this item.

Uh good evening, council.

As your city engine engineer, I'm here tonight requesting approval of resolution 25-101 for change order to the 2025-01 SWR sidewalk maintenance project.

This project is part of the annual sidewalk and inspection project and entails replacement of sidewalks throughout the community.

The requested change order is for additional sidewalks replaced for homeowners for homeowners and for boulevard tree damage sidewalks, which were identified after the bid was let.

The change order totals nine thousand six hundred and forty-nine dollars, which equates to approximately an 18% increase to the to Brock's contract of $52,000.

Sticky paper.

$52,738 and 75 cents.

There are sufficient appropriations in the Capital Projects Fund and Special Assessments Fund for this change order.

Public works recommends the change order for broad contracting to be approved.

All right.

Thanks, Charlie.

Entertain a motion to approve.

So moved.

Second.

Is there any public comment on this item?

Council questions, comments?

Holly.

No, sir.

All right.

Please call the roll.

Tilton Byrne.

Hi.

Wendell?

Aye.

Avery?

Hi.

Doran.

Aye.

Hager.

Aye.

Neemeyer.

Hi.

All right.

On to first readings.

Item 9A, introduction and first reading on ordinance 25-042.

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

Ashley Rynch, our financial director will present this item.

Thank you, Mayor and members of the council.

This is ordinance 25-042.

Amendment number nine to the 2025 budget.

This amendment updates the budget to reflect revenues and related expenditures along with one allocation of reserves.

It includes an additional $54,254 in fire insurance premium reversion, which is passed through the state to support the volunteer firefighter retirement plan.

$20,000 from the South Dakota Community Foundation passed through to the Brookings Area Chamber of Commerce.

And 45,500 from the General Fund Reserves for ancillary costs tied to the previously approved downtown parking lot acquisition, including environmental testing, rental fees, and administrative or closing costs.

These adjustments ensure both compliance with the state law and that the 2025 budget accurately reflects actual revenues and expenditure needs.

The second reading of this ordinance is scheduled for December 16th.

And I'll stand by for questions.

Thank you.

Thank you, Ashley.

Any public comment on this item?

Council questions, comments.

All right.

Move on to the next item.

Item 10, second readings and public hearings.

10A, public hearing in action on ordinance 25-039, an ordinance to rezone lot three of block two of Tel Camp Industrial Edition from an industrial one or I1R restricted district to an industrial I 1 light district.

Mike Struck will present this item for us.

Thank you, Mayor and members of the council.

It's roughly a five and a half acre parcel.

And uh the I1R district is uh it's a industrial restricted district that has um a little bit heavier uh emphasis on landscaping requirements.

In addition, there is uh maximum lot coverage um in that particular district.

Uh as we've seen with some other properties in the vicinity, um just the distance and proximity from Interstate 29.

Um it's roughly almost 900 feet away.

We don't feel like it's located along the primary uh corridor, and then it would be appropriate to rezone it to the I-1, which doesn't come with all of those additional restrictions.

Uh this is something that went to the planning commission, comes to you as a unanimous recommendation, and staff supports the request, and we'd stand for any questions you may have.

Thank you, Mike.

Entertain a motion to approve.

So moved.

Second.

Is there any public on open to public hearing on this item?

Is there any public comment?

Council questions, comments.

All right, please call the roll.

Wendell?

Aye, Avery, aye, Doran, aye, Hager?

Aye.

Neemier?

Aye.

Tilton Byrne.

Aye.

Item 10B, public hearing and action on ordinance 25-040.

An ordinance for conditional use permit to establish an office and a residence R22 Family District, 709 Main Avenue.

Mike Strzok will also present this item.

Thank you, Mayor, and members of the council.

Uh, the ordinance before you tonight is for conditional use authorizing an office located within a residential R2 zoning district.

Uh the location is just north on Main Avenue, north of um 6th Street, there or north of 7th Street, actually.

Uh, in this area, it's primarily residential structures.

However, we have seen um a similar property adjacent to this, just recently go through this same process to establish an office use.

Uh the applicants are proposing to establish a counseling service within this existing residential structure.

There is at this particular time.

Uh there are no changes proposed to the exterior structure itself.

Uh, I believe they do show the ability that uh with some of their clientele that may want to install an accessible ramp from the alley parking to the rear entrance of this particular structure.

Um with the conditional use is that it is for uh the applicants only, so it's non-transferable.

Um, in addition, um they are proposing that it's just be limited to three suites, and so with their particular uh business model, um they kind of have three different uh areas of specialty and and that's really all they want to to focus on at this particular time.

Uh you know, the indications are is you know of their clientele that they work with.

Um maybe half of the visits will actually occur at this facility.

The other ones they go to the clients, and even with that, they're talking minimal of you know, potentially one to three or four clients per day amongst the the three specialties.

So uh the co-applicant is in attendance tonight.

Uh this does come to you as a unanimous recommendation for the planning commission.

Staff supports the request, and we'd be available for any questions you may have.

Thank you, Mike.

Entertain a motion to approve.

So moved.

Second.

Open to public hearing on this item.

Is there any public comment?

All right.

Council have questions, comments.

Holly.

No, sir.

Thank you.

Please call the roll.

Avery.

Aye.

Doran?

Aye.

Hager.

Aye.

Neymar.

Aye.

Tilton Byrne.

Aye.

Wendell.

Aye.

All right.

Item 10 C, public hearing action on ordinance 25-041.

An ordinance to rezone northeast quarter, northwest quarter, excluding outlet A and Section 3-T109-R50W from the residential R3 apartment district to a residential R1A single family district.

Address is one one one five West 20th Street South.

Thank you, Mayor, and members of the council.

The action before you tonight is a rezone on a property located along uh west 20th Street South.

Um, we're kind of familiar with this.

Is this was previously rezoned to an R3 property along with uh large-scale residential and development plan?

Uh the development team has reconsidered and are proposing to rezone this back to an R1A, which is a low density single family residential zoning district, uh comes with a minimum lot size of 15,000 square feet minimum lot frontage width of uh at least 100.

Their intentions is they would like to pursue um small acreages down in this area, looking somewhere in the ballpark of 12 to 15 lots.

It's just over 30 acres, but by the time you um deduct the right-of-ways and storm drainage facilities and such, uh it would fall um with uh our one district with a minimum of three acre, it it just wasn't gonna work with them to get the lots.

So the minimum is 15, but it gives them the flexibility that they can do various sizes from three acres to one and a half acres and such, and try and get hit that uh you know preferred lot number of somewhere in that 12 to 15 range.

Uh the applicant was not a well, the applicant was concerned about the weather, they are watching from home.

They are available if we have any questions.

I can call them on their cell phone.

Um this does come to you with the unanimous recommendation from the planning commission.

Uh and the staff supports the request, and with that I'd stand for any questions you may have.

All right, thank you, Mike.

Entertain a motion to approve.

So moved.

Second.

Okay.

Public hearing is open on this item.

Is there any public comment on this item?

Council have any questions or comments on this one?

Councilmember Wendell.

I might just note for the benefit of those that have sort of been interested in this property and its development over time that this is a shift back to a different zone.

Um, but this is just zoning.

And so there'll be an opportunity, of course, to evaluate the design in the future and to continue engagement.

But uh I just know that this is one that people are sort of interested in, and this is just a decision relative to zoning this evening.

Yep.

Okay.

Any other comments, questions?

Holly, do you have any comments and questions on this item?

I do not.

All right, please call the roll.

Avery.

Aye.

Doran.

Aye.

Hager?

Aye.

Neymar.

Aye.

Tilton Byrne.

Aye.

Wendell.

Aye.

All right.

We'll move on to item 10 D, second reading in action on ordinance 25-037, an ordinance setting the annual election date for either June or we will talk about this also in 10E.

Same item would be in November.

Bonnie Foster, our city clerk will present this item.

Mayor and council members, I will give just one summary for both items.

Both ordinances 25037 and 25038.

So before you are two ordinances to set the 2026 election date for the municipal municipality of the city of Brookings, those dates that we are limited to would be June 2nd or November 3rd, respectively, with the ordinances.

All right.

The first question I'm gonna ask before I even ask for an amendment or a motion is can we just have someone state a motion for which month they prefer with a second?

We need to add to both of them.

All right, so let's go with this.

Entertain a motion to approve a annual elections on the 10th or on June.

The motion to approve would open the floor for discussion.

A vote could still be taken where you vote no, just to remind you.

So moved.

Second.

All right, we moved and second.

Is there any public comment on this item?

Holly, do you close public comments?

Holly, do you have any comments on this?

Um I think most of my comments will probably come in the next section, but um uh I would just have the intent of not uh voting for June instead of November.

Okay.

Any other comments from council on this item?

Please call the roll.

Duran, no Hager, no.

Nehmeyer, no.

Tilton Burden.

No.

Wendell?

No.

Avery.

No.

All right.

Motion fails.

Item 10E, second reading and action on ordinance 25-038, an ordinance setting the annual election date.

November.

Bonnie Foster will also present this item.

As I stated earlier, I gave you one summary.

I don't I stand by for any questions you may have.

All right.

Entertain a motion to approve.

So moved.

Second.

Is there any public comment on this item?

Council have any questions, comments?

Councilmember Duran.

Thank you, Mayor.

Um, so Bonnie, I know that last meeting you said that uh we're focusing on just the date, and I agree that that is what the vote is.

So I do have some questions that I know we've just talked about in the public and other partnership meetings, and I know the school board discussed last night, so I I'll ask the questions, but if you're like not at this time, we we don't know that we're still figuring that out.

That's that's okay.

Uh so the first one is I just wanted to affirm there's been conversations around the cost of the election.

Um, and it sounds like a plan was proposed, a potential uh percentage um if we were on the same ballot and we used the same equipment from the county like we're doing now.

Um is that one of the options?

Are we still working through what that cost will look like or what does that look like with this change?

That is currently what is being discussed.

There was a meeting held yesterday.

It was a joint meeting of the the city, the school, and the county.

There was applicable staff and governing elected members were also present.

Um there was a 25% off the top, which was proposed that we'd be divided by all of the entities combining on a particular election date.

Um, and that 25% would cover the normal election workers, use of equipment, maintenance of equipment, those things that have to take place at every election, regardless of what it is.

And then there's a 75% that was proposed that we would then be based on a pro rate of how many items a particular entity has on the ballot.

So how many bubbles on the ballot?

Um, so for say, for example, if there was 10 items or let's go 20 items on the ballot, the city council has two items, so then we would pay 10% of that 75%.

Does that make sense?

Yes, yep.

Um and then a follow-up of if the county doesn't have an election, so those odd years when it would most likely just be us.

Um, would we run the election just like how we have been right now with still using their equipment and polling place?

And would all that cost be on us at that point, or what does that look like in the odd years?

Correct.

So in the odd years, um all of the expense would be the incurred by the city.

So we're looking between 20 and 30,000 for an election cost in the odd year.

Okay.

And remind me, is that pretty typical to like when we've had to do special elections when it's just us, that's around the cost of one.

Yes, I think in uh 2025 in our April election this year, we spent 23,000, and that was a combined election between the city and schools.

So you divide that number in half.

So each of us only spent around 12,000 this year for election expenses, but to go on our own for a November election will eat the whole cost.

Sure.

Okay.

And then two more questions that I have.

One, um, are we looking at, and maybe we currently do have a formalized agreement with the county of all of these logistics, or will we be, I don't know if we currently do, um, or if we will be creating one with this change?

There will be an agreement forthcoming um that would be handled administratively.

If for some reason that needs to come to council, we can do that as well.

Sure.

I'm I'm fine with that administratively.

I was just curious.

Um and then my final question is you know, I know we've had a lot of discussions around if we were to be on the same ballot and all the variations.

Um it sounds like with this partnership we will be on the same ballot.

Do you have you received any guidance from the state or the county of what that looks like of making it clear uh that this is a nonpartisan race because this does change that we will be on a partisan ballot now?

There's been no direction from the Secretary of State's office as to that.

Okay.

Do you know will they come with some?

Are they currently are you waiting on an opinion from them or submitted a question about that?

I am not sure that we're gonna get anything out of the Secretary of State's office as to the level of that.

Um we're just gonna have to wait and see at this point in time.

Um, but it is a question on everybody's mind on how that's going to be represented on the ballots.

Sure, yes.

I understand that um ballot format and design has a pretty significant impact on the outcome of an election.

So I'd be curious to to hear from that.

Otherwise, I have a statement, but I'll I'll wait to see what the rest of the discussion looks like.

Thank you.

All right.

Any other comments, questions by con council?

Councilmember Avery.

Just a comment.

I mean, for anybody out there that hasn't followed this, it wasn't anything that the cities uh went to their legislature and said, Well, we have a problem, because this elections in April just isn't working.

Um it's worked for many, many years.

Local elections had that uh niche where people who were interested in local elections and followed what was going on, could vote in that April election.

City's on the city council, the school board.

The legislature somehow decided that you shall have elections either in June or in November.

Didn't say how, didn't say who was gonna pay for it, didn't say anything, just said you shall have it.

So it's kind of a you know, it's not uh the ideal situation because we're gonna we're asked tonight to vote for.

We've we've already decided we're not gonna vote for June, we're gonna have November.

We don't really know what we're gonna have.

We don't really know what the costs are gonna be, but we don't have any choice.

I mean, it's just an unfortunate thing, and I you know that's um I guess we need to maybe express some of those frustrations with our people in peer.

Holly, do you have any comments, questions?

Um yes, thank you, Mayor.

Um, I guess my comments around this at this time echo some of what has already been stated.

I think uh one of the elements that council member Duran uh was pointing out is that this cost will increase for the city um for our election process, at least for those odd years.

Um I I am concerned about what that uh increase will look like.

Um additionally, I would say uh similar to other concerns that were brought up, um, this shift moving, whether it is in June or in November, will certainly whether we have to uh list ourselves as partisan on the ballot or not, it will certainly create more partisan uh sentiment on the elections for both school board and city council, and that does concern me.

I as as a city council member who's been on council for several years now, I think that there is a lot of value in having our petition be non-partisan, and I am concerned about what the impact could be if decisions for our local elections become more partisan.

Um and so that'll certainly be something we have to watch as we go through this process.

Um I guess uh we obviously are choosing November here.

Um, and that now means that our school board elections will be at a different time than our city council elections, and that also I think will have an impact on on what our local elections look like and potentially could uh have an impact on voter turnout for those particular elections, too.

So I think there's just a lot of unknown at this point.

Um, and similar to what council member Avery would say, uh, we're sort of put in the situation where we're forced to make this decision.

Um that does feel uncomfortable, and I think that in Brooklyn we have had good success with our April elections, and so I hope that we continue to have that success as we have to change the date here.

Thanks, Holly.

Um I do have a question, Bonnie.

We're not required to put party affiliation on our our part of the ballot, are we?

No, we are not.

So this could still still stay the elections can still stay nonpartisan for city councils.

I just want the public to know that.

That I don't think there's any intention on our council whatsoever to start doing party affiliation things.

So with that being and I apologize if my comments made that uh seem as though what I was suggesting, and not at all.

I just uh having these um elections on a ballot that where there are a lot of other partisan uh elections will certainly bring that flavor to the council school board election.

Right.

I and I was just trying to clarify that that is the case that we are nonpartisan.

Councilmember Hager.

Yeah, so one thing that Councilmember Tilton Byrne and Avery didn't necessarily mention that I think is worth pointing out is just the different contexts in which we're going to see our elections take place.

So next year there will be the gubernatorial race, then there'll be an off-year, and then there will be a general election.

So the context of what's going on with respect to state and national politics and then local politics will just be drastically different depending on what the election cycle is.

So I think that's just another unintended consequence of this particular legislation.

But I do have a statement that just really explains my thought process in terms of voting no earlier on the June ordinance and planning to vote yes, obviously, here on the November ordinance.

So the idea behind the state law for anyone who's maybe unaware is to increase voter turnout.

So anyone can go back and watch our September study session.

But the data confirms that turnout is higher in November with the general election than in June during the primary, when typically only one party in South Dakota has competitive races.

The public input that I received overwhelmingly reinforced that data.

I will say I particularly valued the input that we received from the SDSU Students Association that said a June election would make it difficult for them to participate.

I think a portion of this legislation is also geared toward trying to ensure that as many people can easily participate in whatever date is chosen.

And I think it's important that our entire community has an easy ability to get to the polls on election day.

So that is definitely a concern.

But I do feel hopeful about the tentative agreement that has been reached.

All right, Councilmember Durin.

Thank you, Mayor.

Um some of my thoughts may echo other council members' thoughts, so I'll try to stay.

But um I absolutely understand and believe with the intent of this law is to increase voter turnout.

But improving that number is a shared responsibility among the public candidates and election administrators.

And I appreciate the many organizations and individuals that we've seen who have worked to increase voter engagement over the years.

Um a study came out of the Augustana Research Institute's fellow program that noted in 2024 that the biggest factor discouraging voting is actually attitudinal.

So it's a general disenchantment with politics.

That highlights that achieving the intent of this law and continuing to address voter turnout requires more than just moving a date and involving numerous considerations in several conversations that we've had throughout the last few months with our partners.

We have had to navigate election day logistics, figuring out the polling locations, ballot formats, poll workers, equipment, as well as looking at voter awareness and education, explicitly ensuring nonpartisan races remain and are effectively communicated as such, maintaining strong partnerships with the county and school district, aligning with the true intent of this law, and ultimately remaining fiscally responsible in the cost of elections.

It's important to note that when local elections appear on a full ballot, as we've discussed, our races will be placed at the bottom or on the back.

Down ballot under voting is common due to voter fatigue, lack of voter education, and ballot design, as we've discussed tonight.

This makes it harder for local candidates to be heard and break through the noise, and it increases the cost of campaigning, which can deter potential candidates.

Additionally, when major elections occur only in even numbered years, it becomes even more challenging to motivate turnout in odd years, as we've said, which is a challenge that we are already facing.

More so just as Councilmember Hager said, the school board voted last night to move its election to June while this body is considering November.

And so I acknowledge that it will affect local elections.

Um, as school board and city council races often drive interest in one another, and it affects our cost-sharing partnership potentially.

But I believe that holding our election November best aligns with the intent of this law, and it ensures college students have a meaningful opportunity to participate in local elections, as we've seen with the recent council member who served with us.

And it aligns with the higher turnout election cycles, even years, as councilmember Hager said.

I really want to thank our city clerk Bonnie Foster for her work, adaptability, and commitment to coordinating with our partners and navigating all of this with minimal guidance.

And I appreciate all the thoughtful conversations we've had together and with our partners and the public surrounding how to effectively implement this law.

Ultimately, Brookings knows Brookings.

So I encourage this conversation to continue to be holistic in our efforts in this community, acknowledging that voter turnout encompasses society's political atmosphere, accessibility of offices in the slate of campaigns, and voting accessibility and education.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Any other comments, questions?

Councilmember Wendell.

Thank you, Mayor.

Bonnie, I seem to remember that the law also clarified that the term of a successful candidate begins the first regular meeting after the election date.

Is that correct?

Correct.

So we will so with November, so we'll have a November 3rd election date.

We will have to hold our canvas within seven days, and then they will take office at the first meeting of the next month.

Okay.

So elections in November, they'll take off as first meeting in December.

Okay.

I wanted to clarify that shift, and thank you.

I I didn't understand the beginning of the next month, so that's good to know.

And then I'm thinking through, you know, we're we'll be moving into the 2026 legislative session soon.

Um I do know that folks are recognizing in communities all over the state as they're moving through the implementation of this law that was passed during the 2025 session that there are some challenges and there are some areas that are not clearly defined in the law.

There could be some improvements made, and I think we can all acknowledge that as we're considering implementation.

I just think in the best interest of communities throughout the state, I hope at the very least this law can remain in place and not be modified during the 2026 session, because likely a modification would take effect on July 1st of 2026, which just further complicates all of this.

So if you're hearing legislative chatter during the upcoming session about potentially adjusting this law now before we've even implemented it, please encourage your lawmakers to just let us live with this for a year.

I think we all acknowledge it's not perfect, but I think making a change that will then take effect July 1st would introduce a whole new set of challenges for school districts and municipalities in the state.

So I think it's good to discuss where there could be changes.

We'll learn a lot this year that could be implemented down the road.

But if you're hearing those conversations locally, just encourage your lawmakers not to make that change during the 2026 session.

I think that would have a detrimental effect.

All right.

Please call the roll.

Hager.

Aye.

Neemeyer.

Aye.

Tilton Burden.

Hi.

Wendell.

Aye.

Avery.

Duran.

Aye.

All right.

Move on to 11A, other business.

Action on resolution 25-100, a resolution transferring city manager contingency funds to city department.

Jashley Wrench, our finance director will present this item.

Thank you, Mayor, members of the council.

This is resolution 25-100, authorizing a contingency transfer of $34,000 to support unanticipated forestry department needs in 2025.

The transfer includes 11,000 for temporary pay, eleven thousand dollars for workers' compensation, and twelve thousand dollars for equipment maintenance.

These needs are primarily driven by ongoing emerald ash borer remediation efforts, which have increased equipment use and seasonal staffing needs.

Sufficient contingency funds are available, and this transfer ensures continued safe and effective operations.

Staff recommends approval of this resolution as presented.

And I'll stand by for questions.

Thank you, Ashley.

Entertain a motion to approve.

So moved.

Second.

Is there any public comment on this item?

Council have questions, comments.

Please call the roll.

Nee Meyer.

Aye.

Tilton Bern.

Aye.

Wendell?

Hi.

Avery.

Aye.

Doran.

Aye.

Hager.

Aye.

All right.

Move on to 11B.

Action on resolution 25 099.

A resolution transferring capital improvement plan sinking funds.

Ashley Wrench will also present this item.

Thank you, Mayor and Council members.

This is resolution 25-099.

Allocating funding for the chiller replacement and boiler upgrades at the city county administration building.

Earlier this year, council approved a preliminary development agreement with Johnson Controls to develop design and cost proposals.

While the final PDA is not yet complete, procurement timing requires funding to be in place so the project can proceed once the contract is ready.

The total project cost is estimated at 1.32 million dollars, shared 48% city and 52% county.

The city's estimated share is $634,111, which this resolution allocates from the city's CIP sinking funds.

The project will move forward through an authorized cooperative purchasing method and council approval of the final contract will not be required under existing authority.

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

Thank you.

Thank you, Ashley.

Entertain a motion to approve.

So moved.

Public comment on this item.

Council questions, comments.

I guess I'd like to make a statement.

We started doing the sinking fund quite a few years ago, and it's good that we have this money in place now, just for incidental things that we don't expect to have to do.

This building is relatively new, and we did find out that we have equipment that is either faulty or not working correctly.

It's good that we have that funding instead of having to wait for a rainy day where we can gain the money on it.

So I think it's uh it's smart that we've done that.

I I have to I have to um compliment staff for convincing us this was a good thing to do because we have quite a few buildings that we don't know what's gonna happen, they're aged, and and uh I just want to make sure that everybody understands how much is left in that fund after this, Ashley.

Sure.

So um the sinking fund started 2025 with 984,549 dollars.

We've had three transfers this year, um, one for fire apparatus maintenance, chiller PDA, and then the splash pad for a total of 149,302 dollars.

That leaves us with uh 835,247 dollars.

If you take that 634,111 out, you have two 101,136 dollars.

And then at the end of 2025, we will um allocate our budgeted 150,000 contribution, which will put us at 351,136 at the end of the year.

150,000 is also budgeted for 2026, and that will leave us um with 501,136 dollars to work with.

Thank you.

I forgot I figured you'd have those numbers in front of us.

So appreciate that.

Any other questions, comments?

Please call the roll.

Tilton Byrne.

Aye, Wendell, Avery, Doran.

Aye, Hager, aye.

Neemeyer.

Aye.

Okay, uh item 11c, action on city attorney legal services agreement for 2026.

Paul Racino, our city manager will present this item.

Good we mayor, city council members.

In 2025, the city council uh elected a contract with Woods Fuller Schultz Smith PC with uh Vince as our city attorney and Susan and Seth as our assistant city attorneys.

Uh we have in the agreement today uh an extension for that agreement for 2026, included in the pack it also includes their hourly rates.

We have budgeted roughly 200,000 for this service with an additional $4,000 budgeted for additional professional mentorship and training costs associated with those services.

Uh, as noted, every year that amount just fluctuates depending on the amount of work created by our organization for those legal services.

The city's been very happy with our services this past uh six to eight months uh that we've had uh Vince and his crew.

Uh we'll say it's been a learning curve for all of us, but I it feels like we're really hitting our rhythm now uh when utilizing their services.

We do appreciate Vince as well as the rest of his team uh to help us uh through our legal matters, and with that we would recommend approval of the contract for 2026 a motion to approve.

So moved.

Second all right.

Uh any public comment on this item.

Vince, this would be a good time if you want to chime in.

I just wanted to say thank you, and uh let uh I let Bonnie and and uh company know that I would make myself available for questions, and then I would hang up and allow you guys to complete your discussions uh with me out of the room.

So I just wanted to say thank you, really appreciate.

We love the work and Brookings is a great place.

All right.

Uh any council comments, questions?

Vince, it has been enjoyed uh working with you.

Uh uh, you've uh driven up here a couple times in some pretty crappy weather, and I appreciate your initiative on some of those things, and where you've quickly uh made a quick turnaround on some of the subjects that we've had where you've had to book it on the way up.

I remember one time your son was driving and you had to read the rules on a particular item.

I was appreciated that you had done that for us.

Um look forward to next year.

Councilmember Duran.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mayor.

Um, I would just echo those thoughts that I knew that when we decided to work with a firm after the retirement of our previous attorney that it could be an increase in cost, but I really do think that we have seen as a city council and as a city uh the benefit of the breadth of knowledge that this firm brings and the quick turnarounds as uh the mayor has said, and just I appreciate all of your working on the numerous projects that have been brought up over the last year.

All right, Paul, you have any comments?

Okay, please call the roll.

I should stop stop.

Holly, do you have any comments or questions?

Just uh echoing the um sentiment of thanks to Vince and his team.

Um it's been great to work with him.

All right, thank you.

I will hang up.

I appreciate it.

All right.

Please call the roll.

Wendell.

I Avery.

Vince.

Doran.

I'm taking her aye.

Neemaier.

Aye.

Tilton Byrne.

Aye.

All right.

Uh we will be going into executive session, but um uh we'll talk a little bit about the the meeting for uh the 16th next week.

Um we do have uh one obviously a couple uh uh change orders.

Um we will be talking about the golf course water sourcing contract or bid award or deny.

Um we also have Edgebrook Clubhouse uh management agreement, uh a couple first readings on conditional use permit for rock crushing and disposal of electric waste at landfill, and then uh a couple second readings.

Uh we also have uh additional uh or uh wine uh a casino adding a wine license, and uh we do have an annex session uh request.

And then also the uh assistant city manager will be giving us a report next week for uh there we go.

All right.

Um additional topics that the council would like to have in future agendas.

Okay, we will go on now.

Um executive session.

Item 13a, executive session pursuant to SDCL 1-25-2.1 for discussion the qualifications, competence, performance, character, and fitness of any public officer or employee or prospective public officer or employee.

The term employee does not include any independent contractor.

Entertain a motion to before I say that we will be doing an action after we get out of executive session.

So uh just so everybody knows, um, and then we will adjourn immediately after that.

Enter and entertain a motion to enter an executive session.

So moved.

Second.

All right.

Those all in favor say aye.

Aye.

We are in executive session.

Oh, yeah.

Holly, are you there?

Yes, I'm on.

Perfect.

All right.

Well uh uh we've came out of uh executive session, and uh before we uh start talking about Paul's compensation.

I'd like to have Casey uh our HR department director to kind of explain to the public and ourselves and reiterate where we're why we were at where we're at.

And and the compensation that we had with Paul and and uh we're moving up ranges and compensation.

Sure.

Good evening, Mayor and City Council members.

Uh so last year, City Council had tasked the HR department with going out and doing a comprehensive salary and benefits study for the city manager position.

And the reason being is making sure that you were equipped as council with uh information based on the market for what the appropriate salary and benefits are for a city manager, right?

Uh, in the event, let's say Paul were to choose to leave and we needed to recruit, you need to be equipped with having that information so that you know what the appropriate pay and benefits would be for that position.

Uh so once we got those marching orders, uh we uh went and identified some consultants uh that could possibly help us perform this service.

Uh and one of the key aspects that we key criteria criteria for those consultants was those that could do a nationwide look.

So if Paul were to leave, and again, Paul, I'm sorry I keep talking about you in this way, but if Paul were to leave, we needed to, we knew that we were going to be recruiting for this position nationwide, so it was really important that we took a nationwide look at what these uh wages and benefits would be for the city manager.

Um we found one consultant that could help do this service for us uh at that level.

Uh MGT, uh they're a very respected uh consultant within the industry that performs a number of different services, including salary and benefit surveys.

Um so once we identified that consultant and started working with them, we identified comparable communities, right?

Those that are peers with Brookings all across the United States.

Uh and once once we gathered that salary and benefits data from them, we got some good information back.

Uh the first thing being is our city manager wage range was out of adjustment.

We saw a lot of um market changes with with salary on the city manager side, and it was almost 15% off of our peers.

So the first thing that told us is we need to do adjust our range, and the consultants recommended taking the position at a grade 48 currently and bringing it up to a grade 51 that would account for that 15% change.

Um the second piece was looking at our benefits, and good news is we were really close on benefits.

Most of it we are pretty much right in line, but there were some opportunities to be competitive with our 457 contributions, uh the retirement side.

Um GT had recommended increasing the uh 457 contribution.

Um we're currently funding it at 9%.

They recommended bringing that up to 11% and then offering a catch-up uh provision.

Um, because once an employee turns age 50, they're eligible to contribute up to an additional uh IRS limit.

So they recommended offering the catch-up contribution as well.

Um so what this did is it really equipped you as city council members with good market-based based data uh that isn't based on feeling, right?

This is really what we saw from peer communities.

Again, uh what we would need to pay both on the salary and benefit side if we needed to recruit for this position or to make sure that we're being competitive with an incumbent already in that role.

And then with that, uh we have ways that we've implemented salary surveys in the past um consistent with all of their staff that would be an increase based on how many grades that person changed.

Paul's uh position or the city manager position needs to move three grades.

Um historically, what we've done with staff in the past is offer a two percent for each grade that they had moved, uh therefore making uh the recommendation a six percent increase from the market study.

I'll stand by for any questions.

All right, before we do any kind of emotion, is anybody got any questions or comments as far as uh what we had for your consultant?

Councilman Duran Um I just had a comment on kind of our decision making process and uh our evaluation.

I just wanted to say that I'm very proud to live in Brookings and to be part of a highly functional team that serves our community.

I want to do a shout out to Paul that he really exemplifies enthusiasm and his work and community partnerships, and he pushes our community and staff forward and how we can work, live, and play.

And when I think of the success and the services that I like to enjoy as a as a private resident, I think we're really successful as a community because of incredible staff and leadership like Paul.

So when we looked at look at this every year, um we look at the list of accomplishments and what we have achieved as a city.

We've worked on downtown affordable housing, marketplace development, and many more projects, and we've seen Paul as an employee take the policy and vision that city council sets forward and finds a way to effectively and efficiently implement it with staff.

And just like what Casey said, we evaluated industry market rates through peer city competitive compensation.

We did a performance review, we looked at matching with our internal practices, um, and we really looked through the lens of Paul the person and the city manager position objectively.

So I'm comfortable with our our motion and getting this bump to have Paul the person and the city manager position where they should be.

Thank you.

All right.

I I think I've gotten the motion written how it should be stated.

I will make the motion and ask for a second.

I move the city mayor to increase compensation for our city manager Paul Brasino from range 48, which was at a max of 2,000 or 207,27245, to range 51, which is a range of 177,350 up to a max of 239,944.

Compensation that we would give uh we're offering Paul this year, and he uh already has kind of formally accepted a little bit.

Uh 2% merit increase plus a 2% increase per range for a total of an 8% increase in his current salary, which would put him at 224,000 102 dollars and ninety-nine cents.

Right?

Correct.

Correct.

All right.

102, yeah, 224,001 99.

And also we are bringing the uh 457 um compensation, deferred compensation.

Uh we're bringing that up to uh IRS limit, and then uh we're also including the uh catch up contribution after age 50, which we need to include in next year's budget uh to be included in this also uh for future reference uh at the IRS total contribution.

Um with that being said, is there a second?

Second.

All right.

Now we have any public comment on this item.

Okay, move on.

Council of comments.

Holly, I'll let you go first.

Um I just want to say thank you to Paul, and I just want to um also highlight I think what uh some of what Councilmember Doran was saying, and that uh this is not just a um merit adjustment, it is truly uh a market adjustment as well.

Um I appreciate all the work that went into doing the study with the consultant to make sure that the range for the position itself is in the right place.

Um this is something that we had requested last year and um to to see that that was uh taken seriously and and really fully vetted, I think is um a great reflection of the HR team that uh our our city has.

Um but again, thanks to Paul.

Um, this uh is not only uh well earned and deserved, but but also then gets him into the right range.

So um I'm very comfortable with where we're at here any questions, comments all right, Paul.

I've uh I've really uh enjoyed working with you this year again.

Uh I think you're getting due compensation for the work that you've done for us and and expect to see you uh here until we get you more grade than you already are.

Um so that means I want you here for a long time.

Uh please call the roll.

Hager aye.

Neymar.

Aye.

Tiltaburn.

Aye.

Wendell?

Aye.

Avery?

Aye.

Doran, aye.

Motion passes.

Um entertain a motion to adjourn.

So moved.

Second.

All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

Meeting adjourned.