Brown County Commission – 4.14.26 Meeting Minutes

BROWN COUNTY COMMISSION

APRIL 14, 2026 MINUTES

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 Gage 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.

OTHER BUSINESS: Chairman Sutton read the Official Proclamation declaring the Week of April 12 – 18, 2026 to be National Public Safety Telecommunications Week in Brown County in honor of the dispatchers whose commitment, service and sacrifice keep our county and citizens safe. Thanked the Dispatch Staff that were in attendance for their dedication and service to the citizens of Brown County.

Lynn Heupel, Brown County Auditor, shared that Absentee voting is to start on Friday, April 17, 2026; however, due to petition challenges Statewide absentee voting will be delayed until all challenges are resolved. Once ballots are available, voters will be able to vote from 8am to 5pm, Monday through Friday at the Brown County Courthouse Community Room up through June 1, 2026. Auditor Heupel stated that updates will be posted on the Brown County website under Elections, Brown County, SD Auditor’s Office Facebook page, Local Radio Stations and on RAVE, new texting system through EM.

PUBLIC COMMENT: None

BID OPENING: CHEMICAL BIDS FOR WEED & PEST: Time and place, as advertised to open, read and consider sealed bids for furnishing of chemical for the Brown County Weed & Pest Board for 2026. Chris Hemen recommended accepting all bids based on price and availability. Moved by Commission Dinger, seconded by Wiese, to accept all bids based on price and availability as recommended by Chris. All members present voting aye. Motion carried. Bids are as follows:

BID OPENING: WOOD WASTE GRINDING: Time and place, as advertised to open, read and consider bids for 2026 Wood Waste Grinding for the Brown County Landfill. One bid was received from Dakota Wood Grinding at $875.00/hour and $3,000.00 Mobilization Grinder Fee. Mike Scott, Landfill Manager, recommended accepting this bid. Moved by Commissioner Dennert, seconded by Dinger to award the Wood Waste Grinding Bid to Dakota Wood Grinding at $875.00/hour and $3,00.00 for Mobilization Grinder Fee. All members present voting aye. Motion carried.

BID OPENING: WASTE TIRE GRINDING: Time and place, as advertised to open, read and consider bids for 2026 Brown County Waste Tire Cleanup at the Landfill. Two bids were received: Saber Shred in the amount of $210.00/ton and Liberty Tire in the amount of $209.50/ton. Mike Scott, Landfill Manager, recommended accepting the bid from Liberty Tire. Moved by Commissioner Wiese, seconded by Gage to award the Waste Tire Removal bid to Liberty Tire in the amount of $209.50/ton. All members present voting aye. Motion carried.

LANDFILL CELL #5 CONSTRUCTION PROJECT CONTRACT: Mike Scott, Landfill Manager and Leif Redinger from Helms Associates presented the Commission with several copies of the Construction Project Contract for Cell #5 at the Landfill asking for approval and authorizing Chairman to sign them. Moved by Commissioner Wiese, seconded by Dennert to approve and authorize Chairman Sutton sign the Construction Project Contracts for Landfill Cell #5. All member present voting aye. Motion carried.

PLANNING & ZONING OFFICE DISCUSSION: Scott Bader, Planning & Zoning Director, met with the Commission to inform them that the Town of Warner wants to give up their Joint Jurisdiction. instead of excluding the area of joint jurisdiction but should be including the County and because of the investment program the County should be the one issuing the permits. The Ordinances that were put into place 30+ years ago stated the Municipalities issued the permits but Scott believes the County should be issuing the permits and the Communities would participate, so he would like to change the Ordinance to this effect. Other Joint Jurisdictions are ½ mile with Frederick, 1 mile with Hecla and Groton, nothing with Westport or Verdon, then the County handles the permits for Columbia, Claremont and Stratford. Ross Aldentaler, State’s Attorney Deputy, will do some research on the statues versus agreements. Then work on getting updated Resolutions and/or agreements with all Municipalities.

APPOINTMENT OF 2026 JUNIOR FAIR BOARD MEMBERS: Rachel Kippley, Fair Manager, presented a list of Junior (Jr.) Fair Board Members for the 2026 Fair to the Commission. Moved by Commissioner Wiese, seconded by Dennert to approve the following 2026 Brown County Jr. Fair Board Members: Iszabell Helm from Aberdeen Christian High School; Jax Holmes & Titus Kippley from Frederick High School; Paisley Mitchell, Payton Mitchell and Gentry Pigors from Groton High School; Sophia Feickert from Roncalli High School and Olivia Marcuson from Warner High School. All members present voting aye. Motion carried.

FAIR BOARD MEMBER RESIGNATION: Rachel Kippley, Fair Manager, shared the Fair Board recommends accepting the resignation of Nichole Hacker from the Fair Board due to personal reasons. Moved by Commissioner Wiese, seconded by Gage to accept the resignation of Nichole Hacker from the Brown County Fair Board. All members present voting aye. Motion carried.

CONTRACT WITH FAIRS.COM: Rachel Kippley, Fair Manager, explained to the Commission they want to try a new way for people to pay for camping during non-fair week. The contract with Fairs.com is to allow people to scan a QR code and pay online for their campsite instead of the hosts having to track them down and collect payment. The host would get a list of sites that have paid so they can track it as well. Ben & Heidi Johnson will be the Camp Hosts again this summer. Rachel feels this will be a time saver and more efficient process. Moved by Commissioner Wiese, seconded by Dennert to approve and authorize Chairman Sutton to the sign the contract with Fairs.com. All members present voting aye. Motion carried.

FAIR-FAIRGROUNDS DEPARTMENT UPDATE: Rachel Kippley, Fair Manager, shared they had the Hall of Fame Banquet this past weekend, and had 250-260 in attendance. Bull-a-Rama is this Friday and Saturday night. The proceeds from the concession stand and alcohol sales will be going towards the new 4-H Community Building. The Fair Foundation donated a new set of bleachers to the Fair. Aberdeen Abate has agreed to sell a stage that will be place on the West side of the Clubhouse. They were asking $15,000.00 for the stage but were able to negotiate it down to $4,999.99. May 1^st is when they are planning to open the campgrounds with water and bathroom facilities open. Then if anyone is interested in volunteering for the Fair, they can go the sign-up genius and register for volunteer positions.

ORDINANCE #323 – FIRST READING: Moved by Commissioner Dennert, seconded by Wiese to approve the First Reading of Proposed Ordinance #323. Applicant Darin & Sarah Lowe to rezone from Agriculture Preservation District (AG-P) to Mini-Agriculture (M-AG) to bring this parcel into compliance for its current use: Description of property: The West 720’ of the South 1097’ in the NE1/4 of Section 30-T125N-R61W of the 5^th P.M., except that portion deeded for highway purposes, Brown County, South Dakota (40058 Larson Road; Columbia Twp.). All members present voting aye. Motion carried.

BUILDING PURCHASE DISCUSSION: Chairman Sutton stated that everyone is aware that we have been looking at options due to overcrowding at the Brown County Jail, they had the opportunity to look at a building here in town that may be a good fit a Jail Expansion Project. Sheriff Lunzman shared that the building they are looking for is suitable and could hold up to possibly 70 beds. Could possibly give us an opportunity to rent out some beds with the Federal Building/Federal Courthouse being here to help pay for some of that. The building is in a good location and would serve our needs very well. Chairman Sutton added that currently, we have 48 beds and limited space for JDC. He also shared that a lot of jails in our area don’t include space for JDC so we are contacted on a regular basis, so by doing the reconfiguring then could increase our availability of JDC beds and the revenue for JDC is more per night than adult per night inmate. Sheriff Lunzman commented that the configuration would also streamline things for the kids and increase safety for both the juveniles and staff by being able to separate kids if need be. Along with the proximity to the center is good as well. Chairman Sutton stated they did check with the City of Aberdeen, and it meets their ordinances, so there would be no issues. Looking at a couple different plans, initial intent at this time is that this would be an Adult Male Facility, we would need to look long and hard to find a building that is well suited and structurally sound to accommodate our needs. Commissioner Dennert asked about the cost between building new versus renovating this building is a cost savings of about $4 Million and this will address the County’s needs. Chairman Sutton informed everyone that they have been in communication with the Realtor that listed the property and the current owner, so we are waiting to hear back for a final offer. Feel this is the most logical way to expand at this time our much needed bed capacity and possible growth in counseling and rehabilitation needs as well.

MINUTES: Moved by Commissioner Wiese, seconded by Dinger to approve the General Meeting Minutes of April 7, 2026. All members present voting aye. Motion carried.

CLAIMS: Moved by Commissioner Dennert, seconded by Wiese to approve the following Claims: Professional Fees: Alcohol Monitoring Systems, Inc. $1,643.80; Carrels & Bain Family Dental Care, LLC $230.51; Certified Languages International LLC $694.65; Cogley Law Office, Prof LLC $85.40; Den Herder Law Firm $292.80; Dohrer Law Office, PC $292.80; Faulk County Sheriff’s Office $270.00; IMEG Corp $10,250.00; Kuck Law Office $1,984.10; Kylee Boomsma $3,208.20; Language Line Services, Inc $815.01; Lenling Law Office, Prof. LLC $427.00; LexisNexis Risk Data Mgt, LLC $200.00; Marco Technologies, LLC $3,352.58; Modern Day Health Care Prof LLC $360.55; Network Center, Inc $3,426.16; Northeastern Mental Health Center $1,793.75; Norther Plains Animal Health $113.53; PharmChem, Inc $2,230.65; Sanford Health Occupational Medicine $184.00; Sanford Health $4,817.00; State of South Dakota PMB 0112 $87.17; Taliaferro Law Firm, PC $3,851.40; Tammy Stolle Court Reporting $92.15; Taylor Bell $34.00; Thomson Reuters – West Payment Center $595.49; Yellow Robe Consulting $1,800.00. Publishing: Aberdeen Parks, Recreation and Forestry $500.00; Groton Daily Independent $263.81; Hub City Radio $350.00; McQuillen Creative Group, Inc $1,557.42. Rentals: Linde Gas & Equipment Inc $64.13; Vestis $261.65. Repairs & Maintenance: Axon Enterprise, Inc $2,139.45; Butler Machinery Company $8,936.83; C Express Inc $12.00; Custom Installation Solutions $1,310.00; Diesel Machinery, Inc $8,721.96; EcoLab Pest Elimination Division $178.77; Geffdog Designs $189.50; Hub City Roofing Inc $315.00; Jason’s Electric Inc $1,616.29; Lien Transportation Company $612.50; Meister Mowing, LLC $595.00; O’Reilly Auto Enterprises, LLC $152.35; Pantorium Cleaners $282.60; Pierson Ford Lincoln, Inc $369.90; RDO Equipment Co $3,797.60; Richard Marberg $3,849.83; Titan Machinery $424.31. Supplies & Materials: Aberdeen Abate $4,999.99; Agtegra Cooperative $21,031.12; Amazon Capital Services, Inc $3,802.52; American Solutions for Business $282.60; Butler Machinery Company $3,580.20; Cartney Bearing $74.22; Century Business Products $367.71; Christina M. Flack $1,230.59; Cole Paper Inc $50.08; Creative Product Sourcing, Inc $44.39; Diesel Machinery, Inc $728.50; Division of Motor Vehicles $6.00; Doll Distributing LLC $6,204.05; East Side Jersey Dairy Inc $1,535.20; Eddie’s Northside Sinclair $225.00; Graham Tire Inc $59.40; Joe Kretchman $100.00; Johnson Brothers of South Dakota, Inc. $538.80; Ken’s SuperFair Foods $151.62; Kessler’s $336.35; Kuck Law Office $45.12; L. G. Everist, Inc $6,810.78; Linde Gas & Equipment Inc $392.43; Menards $207.64; Midstates Group $983.05; NVC $30.61; Pantorium Cleaners $60.00; Performance Oil $294.75; Pierson Ford Lincoln, Inc $108.40; RDO Equipment Co $6,216.27; Runnings $962.20; Safety Service $193.43; Sander’s Sew-N-Vac $221.94; South Dakota Law Review $40.00; Sunset Law Enforcement, LLC $3,060.20; The Frame Guy $284.16; US Foods $13,107.27. Travel & Conference: Austin Ball $28.00; Becca Tullar $19.00; Bryan Gordon $145.00; Kyle Couchey $19.00; Lenling Law Office, Prof. LLC $40.00; Neil Bittner $19.00. Utilities: CenturyLink $9.90; City of Aberdeen Treasurer $2,235.59; City of Hecla $232.41; Economy Propane, LLC $1,542.40; Midwest Alarm Fire & Security Systems $1,400.11; Northern Electric $117.50; Northwestern Energy $4,270.97; NVC $876.39; WEB Water Development Association, Inc $113.74. Other: SD Assoc of County Officials $772.00; SD Dept of Agriculture & Natural Resources $4,647.95. Machinery & Equipment: Transource Truck & Equipment, Inc $297,500.00. All members present voting aye. Motion carried.

HR REPORT: Moved by Commissioner Dinger, seconded by Wiese to approve the following Human Resource Report submitted by Human Resources Director, Allison Tunheim:

• Resignation of Amanda Brumfield as Brown County Jail/JDC Nurse, FT; effective April 7, 2026.
• Resignation of Aleigha Allison as Brown County Jail Detention Officer, FT; effective April 9, 2026. Request to fill.
• Last day for temporary PRN Brown County Jail/JDC Nurse, Jennifer Powell; effective April 21, 2026.
• Return of Gentry Pigors as Brown County Fair/4-H Summer Intern, FT; starting wage $13.25/hr. – effective May 18, 2026.
• Hiring of Addisyn Heinrich as Brown County Fair/4-H Summer Intern, PT; starting wage $12.50/hr. – effective May 19, 2026.
• Mileage Reports:
  • Approve personal miles driven for December 18-31, 2025 as follows at $0.70/mile: Joshua Matthews 72 miles at $50.40; Matt Heupel 25 Miles at $17.50; John Florey 36 miles at $25.20.
  • Approve personal miles for January 2026 as follows at $0.725/mile: Joshua Matthews 228 miles at $165.30; Matt Heupel 75 miles at $52.50; John Florey 114 miles at $79.80.
  • Approve personal miles for February 2026 as follows at $0.725/mile: Joshua Matthews 228 miles at $165.30; Matt Heupel 85 miles at $59.50; John Florey 117 miles at $81.90.
  • Approve personal miles for March 2026 as follows at $0.725/mile: Joshua Matthews 264 miles at $191.40; Matt Heupel 100 miles at $70.00; John Florey 138 miles at $96.60.

All members present voting aye. Motion carried.

AUDITOR’S REPORT OF ACCOUNTS FOR FEBRUARY 2026: Moved by Commissioner Gage, seconded by Dennert to approve the Auditor’s Report of Accounts for February 2026: Total Cash and Checks on Hand $7,700.00; Total Checking Account Balances: $16,313,290.72; Total Savings Account Balances: $1,525,447.42; Total Certificates of Deposit: $13,302,725.57; Grand Total Cash and Balances: $31,149,163.71. General Fund $16,615,897.63; Road & Bridge Fund $2,417,999.79; Road & Bridge Fund – restricted $0.00; 911 Service $530,702.21; Emergency & Disaster ($43,827.39); Domestic Abuse $672.53; SA Grants $180,760.95; 24/7 Sobriety $71,973.32; ROD M&P $71,407.52; Opioid Settlement Fund $40,956.81; Rural Access Infrastructure $376,393.85; Tif Debt Service $102,156.92; Landfill + cash change $7,858,943.29; Landfill – restricted $1,894,495.06; Trust and Agency Funds $2,925,126.28; GRAND TOTAL GENERAL FUND CASH AND INVESTMENTS $31,149,163.71. All members present voting aye. Motion carried.

LEASE AGREEMENTS: Moved by Commissioner Dennert, seconded by Wiese to approve and authorize Chairman Sutton to sign the following lease agreements: SD Farmer’s Union to lease the Beef Barn on April 29, 2026 for 4^th Grade Ag Fair; Tabitha DeVoss to lease Richmond Lake Youth Camp on August 7-9, 2026 for a wedding; Jennifer & Jeff Tichi to lease the Clubhouse on July 17-20, 2026 for a wedding; Brown County 4-H to lease the Akkerman Open Horse Arena on May 30, 2026 for 4-H Horse Safety Clinic; Jeff Wolff to lease the Hog & Sheep Barn along with Panels and Showring on June 7-8, 2026 for Showmanship Camp; Jason Abel to lease the Clubhouse on June 5-8, 2026 for a wedding. All members present voting aye. Motion carried.

TRAVEL REQUESTS: Moved by Commissioner Wiese, seconded by Gage to approve the following Travel Request: John Florey, Josh Matthews and Matt Heupel, Highway Department to go the Federal Surplus on April 13, 2026 in Huron, SD; Brad Borge, Public Defender to attend 2026 Forensic Science & Technology Seminar on April 23-26, 2026 in Las Vegas, NV and 2026 Joint Family/Criminal Law CLE on May 7-9, 2026 in Rapid City, SD. All members present voting aye. Motion carried.

OPERATING TRANSFERS: Moved by Commissioner Wiese, seconded by Dennert to approve and authorize the following operating transfers from the General Fund #101.5.911.191 in the total amount of $450,014.00 to the E-911 Communications #207.4.371 @ $200,000.00 and Emergency Management #226.4.371 @ $250,014.00; as reflected in the 2026 General Fund Budget. All members present voting aye. Motion carried.

EXECUTIVE SESSION: Moved by Commissioner Wiese, seconded by Dennert to go into Executive Session per SDCL 1-25-2 for Personnel and Legal. All members present voting aye. Motion carried.

Chairman Sutton declared the Executive Session closed with No Action taken.

ADJOURNMENT: Moved by Commissioner Dennert, seconded by Wiese to adjourn the Brown County Commission at 11:06 A.M. All members present voting aye. Motion carried.

Lynn Heupel, Brown County Auditor

Published once on April 23, 2026, at the total approximate cost of $219.44 and may be viewed free of charge at www.sdpublicnotices.com and www.aberdeeninsider.com