More changes in county DOE office

Just a couple of weeks ago, Perkins County commissioners appointed Todd Lutters as the interim Director of Equalization, following Corina Kocer’s resignation at the end of the year. Last week, Lutters, the current deputy in that office, resigned his position, effective February 29.  

Lutter’s resignation left commissioners baffled. Mike Schweitzer turned to his peers and asked, “What in the world are we going to do?” 

Following an executive session that exceeded an hour in length, Commissioners offered the interim position to Brenda Johnson Kari.

Kari is a relatively new county employee who is the administrative assistant for the highway department.  Previously, Kari worked in the Harding County Director of Equalization office and is certified for the position. She will guide the county through the upcoming Equalization process while continuing her duties in the highway department. 

Earlier in the meeting, Kari also agreed to take on the paperwork for the weed board. Loyson Carda had requested to be relieved from those duties but will continue to do inspections and weed spraying as well as train Kari for her new position. 

Kari’s salary as DOE was set at $50,266.23, which will be prorated  monthly until a new director can be hired. She’ll be paid $600/month by the weed board and continue to receive her regular hourly wage from the highway department.

Carrie Fisher, who works in the Equalization office, was given a raise to $18.11/hr. All new salaries/wages became effective Tuesday, the day of last week’s regular meeting of the county commission.

First up on last week’s agenda was a presentation by Roxie Seaman, Prairie City, who spoke on behalf of John and Rebecca Paul who could not be present. 

Last July, Mrs. Paul appeared before the commission to ask their assistance in sending a letter to the state’s Public Utilities Commission regarding some hearings that would be held to allow private companies eminent domain for the purpose of building a CO2 pipeline. 

The commission honored her request. They cited “life, liberty and property” rights, granted in the Constitution, as part of their resolution opposing the granting of any permits to private companies who could then use eminent domain to take private property, especially pertaining to building a CO2 pipeline. 

Following those hearings, the two companies that had requested them were denied the permits.

Now, SB201 is being considered by the South Dakota legislature. In a letter, written by the Pauls and read by Seaman last week, they argued section 16 of that bill, stating it would “strip away any local control by any county, city or other governmental unit when it comes to ordinances, laws or other regulations concerning the CO2 pipelines.” 

The bill doesn’t specifically refer to CO2 pipelines but to “gas or liquid transmission line or an electric transmission line” and also the location of “any building, structure or other above ground appurtenance related to a gas or liquid transmission line or an electric transmission line.” The Pauls feel that such a law would set a precedence that could threaten other local ordinances.

The bill, if passed in its current form, preempts “any local law, ordinance or regulation that conflicts with any provision” of the bill.

The Pauls presented a resolution, entitled, “A Resolution for Local Control,” asking for the commission’s approval and signatures and requesting that they send it to Governor Noem and other top South Dakota officials. They also urged the county board to call their legislators and to, if possible, attend the hearing of SB201 in Pierre. 

Fearing any loss of local control, the five-man commission voted unanimously to sign and send the resolution to Pierre and several expressed an interest in attending the hearing.

During his time on the agenda, Highway Superintendent Cody Green covered several issues including a resolution to again hire Brosz Engineering for bridge inspections, setting gravel and equipment rates and listing several items as surplus property.

Uppermost in his report was the re-signing of a joint powers’ agreement with the State of South Dakota for replacing the bridge on the White Butte Road near Nate Skjoldal in 2026, which was approved and signed in January.

Federal funding of 81.95% had not changed from the original document but wording had. The county will pay the remaining 18.05% of the $6.5 million dollar project. Even that amount will be “almost impossible to come up with,” according to Schweitzer.    Commissioners would still like to consider other less costly options, such as a box culvert. 

Another motion from last month was also rescinded when it was discovered that a Skidsteer the board approved buying last month actually, before trade-in, totaled more than the allowable $50,000 bid limit. 

Using a company called Sourcewell, which holds hundreds of competitively solicited cooperative contracts for governmental use, the county was able to buy off of their bid and still purchase locally.

Yet another resolution was needed to appoint individuals who are authorized to order Wildlife Fire assistance when needed. Named in that resolution were county firefighters Doug Jerde, Wade Henderson, Arlen Hatle, Josh Beckman, Allan Palmer and Brent Dirk.

A major upcoming project is to dig up and replace bad sections of sewer line under the courthouse parking lot. One commissioner termed it “a pretty big expense.”

In other business, Commissioners Todd Campbell and Kyle Carmichael were appointed, respectively, to the Northwest Area Regional Landfill board and the county 4-H board.