The county will increase the amount it charges the city of Flandreau for 911 dispatch services based on use, commissioners voted last week.

The city’s price will increase from $51,500 for fiscal year 2018 to $58,000 for 2019, the commission said. The Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe’s rate will remain the same for both years at $15,000.

The numbers are based on the percentage of calls each law enforcement agency gets through dispatch. The Moody County Sheriff’s Office did an average of four years of data to come up with more solid numbers on what to charge.

For 2017, Flandreau police had 3,778 calls, while Moody County had 4,768. Tribal police had 1,058 calls, the law enforcement report from Sheriff Troy Wellman shows.

The largest number of calls for the city police were in May, while the heaviest calls for tribal police and county deputies were in July.

“I think we feel more confident on our numbers,” Commissioner Rick Veldkamp said of rationale to increase the rate to reflect the actual volume of calls. In addition, the county has invested in its updating its 911 system.

The city should pay its fair share of the bill, Commissioner Jerry Doyle said.

The shared cost amounts are for salaries and do not include other expenses.

In other business:

• The county board of adjustment approved a variance for a second house on an acreage three miles south of Lone Tree. Lauren Greenhoff asked for the same variance held by the previous owner because he did not realize the permit was running out.

His neighbor opposed the variance in a letter to the county because he doesn’t want a house that close to his property, but the county board said the 6.5 acres of property meets the requirements of what is typically granted for a second house on a quarter/quarter section.

• The board also approved a variance for a second house on property owned by Tom and Patty Munk, on 477th Avenue north of Dell Rapids. The Munks want their son-in-law and daughter, Wade and Katie Luggar, to be able to build a home on the family land.

“We’re just trying to keep it in the family,” Patty Munk said.

Enterprise Township denied the request initially because they didn’t want to restrict a possible future cattle feedlot expansion by neighbor Mark Bares. Any expansion would be small because he is limited in how many cattle he could have there.

Bares said he doesn’t know if he will expand but would like that option if it makes sense to do so in the future. He would have no guarantee the Luggars or any future owners would sign off on allowing the expansion, he said.

“I’m not opposed at all to them building a house there,” Bares said. “I don’t want to cut my throat down the road.”

The Luggars said they would sign a waiver and would not prevent an expansion in the future. That waiver would continue with whoever owned the home in the future.

• The board approved a conditional use for Brian Anderson to put an off-premise sign in an agriculture area to promote his camper repair business west of the Royal River Casino RV lot.

Anderson estimated the sign would be three-feet-by-four or three-feet-by-three, and it would help people find his business.

“It’s a new address assigned to that street. I’m having people have a difficult time finding me,” he said. He built the building for the business two years ago and started working fulltime this spring.

• The recent hire of a county dispatcher has fallen through after the person was unable to move to Flandreau, said Marty Skroch, county commission assistant. The county will reopen applications.
• The county will put surplus items on an auction being organized by the Flandreau School District for June 5.
• Commissioners approved $50,813 for striping for 67 miles of county roads.
• A pre-construction meeting is planned for May 17 before work will start on the Ward Road bridge. Construction is tentatively going to start May 29, said Marc Blum, county highway superintendent.
• Repairs of the Christenson bridge northwest of Flandreau may be completed as early as this week, Blum said. Work on the Gullickson bridge will start in June.

Drivers have been ignoring the road closed signs leading up to the Christenson bridge, and Blum said they need to be reminded that closed really does mean that they can’t drive on it. He has had to move barricades to prevent drivers from going around signs.

• Commissioners voted to fix the 2013 Charger that is being replaced this year but will remain in the Sheriff Department’s fleet for part-time use. “It started making a horrible knocking noise,” Wellman said.

He wanted the commission to discuss whether it was worth putting nearly $3,000 into fixing it.

“It’s more or less worthless if you don’t,” said Commissioner Jerry Doyle.

The car will be repaired at Krull’s Garage.

• A grant to pay for a lift for the county’s new ambulance did not come through, Skroch said. But the county did get a small grant of $3,000 to put toward that purchase, he said.
• So far this year, 166 youth are enrolled in the Moody County 4-H program with 21 adult volunteers helping, according to a report from Allyssa Sims, youth program advisor.

The county has added a robotics project area thanks to a volunteer who has agreed to help with the program. Rodeo is a growing project area for 4-H and in the county with 30 participants at this point, she said.