Commission prioritizes 'social distancing'

By: 
Dave Baumeister, County correspodent

“Social distancing” was the theme during the Tuesday, March 24 Minnehaha County Commission meeting. Only four people were seated at the front, as opposed to the usual seven, to allow for the recommended six feet between each person. In the rest of the room, chairs were spread around in limited areas for the same reason. Dave Baumeister/For the Journal

 

This aerial view and graphics show land near the Renner Corner that was requested to be rezoned as commercial. The Minnehaha County Commission voted unanimously to deny the request. Submitted photo

SIOUX FALLS – “Social distancing” was in full practice at the March 24 Minnehaha County Commission meeting.

Since the previous Friday afternoon, the county administration building has been closed to the general public, but commissioners felt the need to keep regular meetings going because they deal with so many issues, such as, taxes, permits and zoning, on which people in Minnehaha County depend.

But that doesn’t mean it was business as usual.

Changes were obvious in the commission’s meeting room, with commission reporter Olivia Larson and Maggie Gillespie with the State’s Attorney, two integral people at commission meetings, not at their usual seats up front among commissioners, but were seated elsewhere in the room.

Commissioner Jeff Barth, while not at the meeting, volunteered to call in from home and was present via a conference call link.

Commission chair Jean Bender explained that this was to test a system that may, at some point, become necessary, should members of the county board need to call in from a quarantine situation.

And while there is typically 60 chairs in the room, this was cut way back, and for the most part, people came in as their particular agenda item came up for discussion.

All of this allowed for the recommended social distancing of six feet or more between those in the room. 

Main items of the meeting centered on how the county is dealing with the COVID-19 crisis.

Jason Gearman, Emergency Management Director, spoke of information from the South Dakota Department of Health and how the county and city emergency teams were handling things.

As of Monday, March 30, the state reported 101 confirmed cases in the state, with 3,478 others testing negative.

At that time, there were no tests listed as “pending.”

With 85 cases in Minnehaha, four in neighboring Lincoln and two in McCook counties, this area is now the “hot spot” in South Dakota. In Beadle County (Huron area) there are 20 confirmed cases, so officials are now looking at a community spread in all of these areas.

Current cases have more than tripled since Friday, March 27.

All of the results can be found at doh.sd.gov/news/Coronavirus.aspx.

At the March 24 county meeting when numbers were around 20, Gearman said he expected those numbers to grow quite a bit as more tests become available and more people are tested.

Minnehaha Auditor Bob Litz talked about how his office is dealing with upcoming elections.

Statewide, the combined city and school board elections are still scheduled for April 14, and he explained that the state legislature would need to act to change that.

He estimated that there would be 70 such elections around the state, and he is hoping the legislature will act on delaying this to the June 2 primary election date.

The legislature was to meet again for “veto day” on March 30, at which time it is anticipated a decision to change the election date would be made then.

Litz believed that a single ballot could be easily printed up that would list all candidates for election.

He also said that if the legislature did not act by April 2, he would have to spend $40,000 of taxpayer dollars to have ballots printed for the April 14 election.

In a non-virus-related matter, a second reading and public hearing was held for a re-zoning matter near Renner.

A request was made by James Sorum of Sorum Holdings to re-zone a parcel of land from A-1 agricultural to C-1 commercial.

At their February meeting, the county Planning and Zoning Board voted to deny the application for rezoning, mainly because FEMA is in the process of re-mapping the area and putting the land in question into a flood plain. 

Sorum said his current plans did not involve using all the land for commercial, but he was seeking the change for all the land he owned near the Renner Corner at State Highway 115 and County Highway 130.

Commissioners talked about delaying the process so Sorum could re-submit his application, as they did not want to open an entire area in a flood plain for commercial use, but they realized he would need to make a new application for a different zoning change that might be more acceptable.

As it was, commissioners voted 5-0 to uphold the denial.

The Minnehaha Commission has its regular meetings each Tuesday at 9 a.m. on the second floor of the county administration building at Sixth and Minnesota in Sioux Falls.

These meetings are open to all, and public comment is usually encouraged, although for people wanting to attend, currently, the only way into the building is at the entrance on the west side of the building, and the number of people allowed into the main commission chamber at any one time may be limited.

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