By Aberdeen Insider - July 16, 2026 in BROWN COUNTY
JULY 7, 2026
GENERAL MEETING
Meeting called to order by Chairman Sutton at 8:45 A.M. in the Commission Chambers, Courthouse Annex, Brown County, SD. Present were Commissioners Dennert, Dinger, Gage, Sutton and Wiese. Commissioner Wiese led the Pledge of Allegiance.
APPROVAL OF AGENDA: Moved by Commissioner Wiese, seconded by Dennert to approve the agenda. All members present voting aye. Motion carried.
PUBLIC COMMENT: None
ORDWAY TOWNSHIP ROAD: Mike McHugh and John Kippley with Ordway Township met with the Commission and presented a Resolution asking them to Acknowledge a Road in Ordway Township. The road is a half-mile line, not a section line and located at NW ¼ and the NE ¼ of Section 31-Township 125-Range 63 North of the 5th P.M., which was acknowledge and adopted by Ordway Township to recognize the said Hall Road as an official Township Road. Moved by Commissioner Wiese, seconded by Gage to acknowledge the Resolution presented by Ordway Township to adopt Hall Road as a Township Road for Ordway Township. All members present voting aye. Motion carried. Ordway Township will file the Resolution with the Register of Deeds office.
DISCUSS PURCHASING 2 – 50 YD. CONTAINERS: Mike Scott, Landfill Manager, met with the Commission to discuss purchasing 2 – 50 yd. containers. He received 2 quotes: Bon Homme Colony at the cost of $18,800 per container and Olympic Sales Inc. at the cost of $22,875.00 per container. Mike recommended going with Bon Homme Colony. Moved by Commissioner Wiese, seconded by Dennert to approve the purchase of 2 – 50 yd. containers from Bon Homme Colony at the cost of $18,800.00 per container. All members present voting aye. Motion carried.
LANDFILL CELL #5 CONSTRUCTION – PAYMENT #2: Moved by Commissioner Wiese, seconded by Gage to approve and authorize Chairman Sutton to sign the Payment #2 for the Landfill Cell #5 Construction to Midland Contracting, Inc. for $391,359.96. All members present voting aye. Motion carried.
CHANGE ORDER #2 FOR LANDFILL CELL #5 WITH MIDLAND CONTRACTING: Leif Redinger with Helms Engineering and Mike Scott, Landfill Manager, gave an overview of the progress on Landfill Cell #5 and explained the reasons for the Change Order in the amount of $518,821.25. There is no change in the completion date and there is still $200,000.00 left in contingency for the project. Moved by Commissioner Dennert, seconded by Dinger to approve and authorize Chairman Sutton to sign the Change Order #2 for $518,821.25 bringing the new total to $3,095,604.85. All members present voting aye. Motion carried.
VICTIMS OF CRIME ACT (VOCA) AND DOMESTIC & SEXUAL ABUSE (DASA) GRANTS: Karly Winters, State’s Attorney and Adelaide Mounga, State’s Attorney Victim Witness Specialist met with the Commission to get approval for the required match of $1,200.00 for the VOCA Grant and $4,500.00 for the DASA Grant along with authorizing Chairman Sutton to sign the necessary documents for accepting the Fiscal Year 2027 Grant Funds in the amounts of $6,000.00 for the VOCA Grant and $18,000.00 for the DASA Grant. Moved by Commissioner Wiese, seconded by Dinger to approve the required matches for both the VOCA & DASA Grant in the total amount of $5,700.00 and authorizing Chairman Sutton to sign the necessary documents for the Grant Funds totaling $24,000.00. All members present voting aye. Motion carried.
RICHMOND DAM UPDATE: Scott Meints, Emergency Management Director, gave an update on the fire that happened at the weekend at the construction site. There was fuel spraying from the tanker truck and within a matter of minutes it was on fire. They evacuated 3 homes and luckily the wind switched with took the threat away from the homes. It was decided to let it burn so not to contaminate the water, they placed absorbent booms on the lakeside and downstream to catch any run-off. It was a joint effort with DANR, Journey Group and Geotech Engineering, there will continue to work on further clean-up, and soil sampling throughout the project. Believed to be non-malicious at this point but continuing their investigation. The tanker truck was a total lost along with 1 pump, which costs around $500,000.00. Commissioner Sutton shared that he hadn’t received anything from Commissioner Greenfield.
MINUTES: Moved by Commissioner Dinger, seconded by Gage to approve the General Meeting Minutes of June 30, 2026. All members present voting aye. Motion carried.
CLAIMS: Moved by Commissioner Gage, seconded by Wiese to approve the following Claims: Professional Fees: American Engineering Testing, Inc $620.00; CGI, LLC $187.50; Cogley Law Office, Prof LLC $61.00; Dohrer Law Office, PC $719.80; Election Systems & Software $1.20; Gillette Law Office, PC $912.50; Helms & Associates $35,592.34; Jason Hasty $550.00; Jenna Mickelson $300.00; Kuck Law Office $1,581.60; Kylee Boomsma $317.20; Lenling Law Office, Prof. LLC $2,957.50; Mariann Malsom $49.76; Modern Day Health Care Prof LLC $4,725.00; Pauer Sound, LLC $105.00; SDSU Extension $180.00; Taliaferro Law Firm, PC $2,962.20; William A. Moss, Psy.D., LLC $2,500.00. Publishing: Groton Daily Independent $143.55; McQuillen Creative Group, Inc $464.32; The Watertown Current $198.00. Rentals: Linde Gas & Equipment Inc $66.11. Repairs & Maintenance: Big Scoop Snow Removal $120.00; Dakota Pump LLC $10,526.48; Graham Tire Inc $381.20; Hanlon Brothers, LLC $7,575.00; Jake’s Heating & Cooling $172.50; K&S Plumbing, Inc $10,967.47; Lawson Products, Inc $57.66; Leidholt Electric, LLC $358.87; Lien Transportation Company $1,260.00; Olson’s Pest Technicians $260.00; Pantorium Cleaners Inc $32.00; Prahm Construction, Inc $205,042.56; Precision Kiosk Technologies $6,000.00; Pye-Barker Fire & Safety, LLC $544.00; RDO Equipment Co $7,316.27; Sewer Duck, Inc $313.00; Titan Machinery $209.68; Transource Truck & Equipment, Inc $5,457.16. Supplies & Materials: Agtegra Cooperative $6,894.99; Amazon Capital Services, Inc $581.87; Central Network Retail Group LLC $95.77; Christina M. Flack $800.00; Cole Paper Inc $2,996.85; Crawford Trucks & Equipment $153.85; Dakota Fluid Power, Inc $177.09; Dakota Supply Group $129.87; Election Systems & Software $4,836.52; FedEx $45.82; Geffdog Designs $57.12; GovConnection, Inc $1,014.64; Hanlon Brothers, LLC $82,492.77; Jensen Rock & Sand Inc $152,671.50; Kuck Law Office $71.22; LabSource, Inc $848.82; Lawson Products, Inc $635.11; Lien Transportation Company $16,023.60; Menard $302.85; Midstates Group $914.50; Myers Tire Supply Distribution, Inc. $329.84; Performance Oil $123.75; PharmChem, Inc $1,151.34; Quality Welding $116.60; Runnings $469.97; Thomson Reuters – West Payment Center $374.70; T-Mobile USA Inc $121.12; Transource Truck & Equipment, Inc $5,458.73. Travel & Conference: CGI, LLC $4.20; Drew Dennert $443.70; Duane Sutton $208.80; Kent Karlen $19.00; Kyler Dinger $181.98; Lenling Law Office, Prof. LLC $200.00; Neil Bittner $19.00. Utilities: AT&T Mobility $184.89; CenturyLink $296.42; City of Aberdeen Treasurer $2,322.32; Northwestern Energy $16,073.10; WEB Water Development Association, Inc $122.71. Other: City of Aberdeen – Rideline $1,000.00. Improvements: Midland Contracting Inc $391,359.96; Northern Electric $8,551.06. Machinery & Equipment: Transource Truck & Equipment $229,993.00. All members present voting aye. Motion carried.
HR REPORT: Moved by Commissioner Dinger, seconded by Dennert to approve the following Human Resource Report submitted by Human Resources Generalist, Jessica Johnson:
- Amendment to June 9, 2026 HR Report; retracted hiring of Brian Bell as Brown County Seasonal Weed & Pest Control Technician – effective June 29, 2026.
All members present voting aye. Motion carried.
LANDFILL TONNAGE REPORT: Moved by Commissioner Dennert, seconded by Gage to acknowledge the Landfill Tonnage Report for June 2026. All members present voting aye. Motion carried.
AUTHORIZE ADVERTISING FOR BUDGET HEARING: Moved by Commissioner Dinger, seconded by Wiese to authorize advertising for the Budget Supplement Hearing to be held on Tuesday, July 28th. All members present voting aye. Motion carried.
SET HEARING DATE/AUTHORIZE ADVERTISING FOR COUNTY GROSS RECEIPTS TAX ORDINANCE: Moved by Commissioner Gage, seconded by Wiese to set hearing date and authorize publication for the first reading of Ordinance # 331 – County Gross Receipts Tax to be held on July 28, 2026 in the Commission Chambers, Courthouse Annex, Brown County, South Dakota. Proposed Ordinance #331 for the purpose of providing additional revenue for Brown County, South Dakota, by imposing county gross receipts tax pursuant to the powers grant to the county by the State of South Dakota, by SDCL 10-XX entitled Uniform County Non-Ad Valorem Tax Law and acts amendatory thereto. The purpose of the county gross receipts tax is to provide property tax relief on the county property tax levy for all property classified as owner-occupied. All monies collected by the county from the gross receipts tax must be deposited into a property tax reduction fund, which is hereby created. From and after the first day of January 2027, a one half percent (0.5%) on the gross receipts of all persons engaged in business with the jurisdiction of Brown County, South Dakota, who are subject to the South Dakota Retail Occupational Sales and Service Tax, SDCL 10-45 and at the same rate upon all transactions or use, storage and consumption which are subject to the South Dakota Use Tax, SDCL 10-46, and acts amendatory thereto. All members present voting aye. Motion carried.
Chairman Sutton and Commissioner Wiese shared that the Commission would like to see this be referred to a vote of the people, in time to have it on the General Election ballot so not to hold a special election.
TRAVEL REQUESTS: Moved by Commissioner Wiese, seconded by Dinger to approve the following Travel Requests: Lynn Heupel, Auditor/Welfare Director to attend SDACO Executive Board Meeting and to attend SDACO Fall Convention/Welfare Meetings & Tours. All members present voting aye. Motion carried.
LOTTERY PERMIT FOR BOYS & GIRLS CLUB: Moved by Commissioner Dinger, seconded by Gage to approve and authorize Chairman Sutton to sign the Lottery Permit Application submitted by Boys & Girls Club of Aberdeen Area for August 10th & 11th at the Brown County Fair to raise funds for Operational Expenses. All members present voting aye. Motion carried.
OTHER BUSINESS: Patricia Kendall, Museum Director stopped in to Thank the Commission for allowing them to use the parking lot for the July 4th Parade. The Commission gave thanks to Patricia and those that helped put the parade together.
EXECUTIVE SESSION: Moved by Commissioner Dennert, seconded by Wiese to go into Executive Session per SDCL 1-25-2 for Personnel. All member present voting aye. Motion carried.
Chairman Sutton declared the Executive Session closed with No Action taken.
ADJOURNMENT: Moved by Commissioner Wiese, seconded by Dennert to adjourn the Brown County Commission at 10:07 A.M. All members present voting aye. Motion carried.
Lynn Heupel, Brown County Auditor
Published once on July 16, 2026, at the total approximate cost of $115.37 and may be viewed free of charge at www.sdpublicnotices.com and www.aberdeeninsider.com