Jackson County Highway Department To Build New Shop

The Board of the Jackson County Commissioners conducted its monthly meeting on March 8 in the Commissioners Room at the Jackson County Courthouse. Board members attending the meeting included Gerard Magelky, Ruby Sanftner and Jeff Willert. Jeff Page attended the afternoon session of the meeting. Board member Tom Zickrick was unable to attend the meeting.

Jackson County Sheriff Matt Haugen reported the on the status of departmental vehicles—a Ford Taurus and a Ford pickup. Numerous prisoner transports contribute to the mileage on the sedan and pickup, with 64,000 and 19,000 miles, respectively. In car camera systems have recently been installed on both departmental vehicles. Haugen requested authorization for Jackson County Sheriff Department (JCSD) Deputy Jon Beck to attend training with another JCSD employee on maintaining a sex offenders registry and management of any registered sex offenders within the county.

The Director of Equalization, Cheyenne Herber, appeared before the Board requesting a brief executive session. Afterwards, Herber requested authorization to attend the upcoming annual assessor’s conference. Next, she addressed corrections relating to the sale of a large parcel of property for 2021 and the appellate process necessary to make the corrections. Herber updated the Board on programming specific for assessing agriculture properties and the development of a website by the South Dakota Planning and Development District III on which counties may enter property information. She reported the County Board of Equalization begins April 13. Township and town Board of Equalization was conducted early this month.  

Jackson County Auditor, Vicki Wilson, presented her report to the Board. She reported payments from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and approval for a weed and pest grant in addition to a grant payment from the Help America Vote Act. The Board approved the monthly financial reports and the highway fund analysis for February 2021 in addition to the auditor’s account. The financial report included total county, trust and agency funds held as of Feb. 28. Wilson presented bills to the Board for review and received subsequent approval for February 2021 expenditures with exceptions of bills resubmitted for medical treatments and mental illness. The Board received notice that they are to establish income guidelines on an annual basis for the purpose of assisting poor and indigent residents residing within Jackson County. The Board opted to utilize the federal poverty income guidelines in determining eligibility for 2021. The property insurance carrier issued a payment for repairs to the front door of the Jackson County Library which was vandalized along with other businesses on Main Street. The County received an estimate of $2,200 to install a new door or $250 to replace the glass in the door. The Board rescinded a previous motion to replace the door. The Board moved to acquire a new desktop computer with networking capabilities be installed at the JCL. HCS Hometown Computer Services, Philip, will be installing and setting up the equipment for the JCL. The Board moved to hire Care Rite Cleaning and Protection Specialist to clean carpets at the courthouse and library.

Denny Lottman, superintendent for the Jackson County Highway Department (JCHD), met with the Board. He requested and received authorization to purchase a new desktop computer to accommodate programs utilized by the JCHD. The Board reviewed bids to crush and stockpile gravel at two pits in the county. The Board designated consulting engineers Kadrmas, Lee and Jackson to inspect all Jackson County bridges in 2021 as required by the South Dakota Department of Transportation.

The JCHD plans to construct a new shop on state Highway 248 and awarded the contract to Cornerstone Industries and Construction Services, Wall. The new JCHD shop will be of metal construction, 60 feet wide by 120 feet in length at a cost of $663,954.57. The county plans to finance $300,000 of the costs with a loan secured through BankWest, Kadoka.

The next meeting of the Board of the Jackson County Commissioners will be held on Tuesday, April 13 beginning at 9 a.m. and the Jackson County Board of Equalization at 11 a.m. at the Jackson County Courthouse. The public is invited and encouraged to attend the monthly meetings.