Tribe asks city to work together on saving bridge

Members of the Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe want to help save the Crescent Street bridge.
Tribal President Tony Reider told members of the Flandreau City Council July 6 that the tribe would like ownership of the bridge to put it in Bureau of Indian Affairs inventory and would work on getting replacement money to restore it for use again.
The meeting was the first for newly elected Mayor Dan Sutton, who was sworn in, along with new aldermen Mark Ekern and Mike Fargen and returning council members Karen Tufty and Brad Bjerke. Bjerke was elected president of the new council, and Bob Pesall was elected vice president.
More than 30 people attended the meeting.
Reider said the relationship between the city council and tribal council can be better when it comes to working on the bridge issue, an important link within the community.
“Over the last eight years, the tribe has been left out of the discussion on the center street bridge,” he said. He gave at least one example in which a tribal employee was publicly scolded by a council member over the issue. “I want to open up open dialogue between the city government and the tribal government.”
Reider said details can be worked on in the coming weeks between the two councils and their lawyers.
“The tribe has participated in numerous arrangements with the city government to fund a very long list of projects that benefited the entire community, and we would like to add the Crescent Street bridge to the list of successful community projects, he said.
Sutton said he looks forward to working with the tribe. “We lead two governments, but we’re one community,” he said.
Additional tribal members also spoke in favor of the saving the bridge.
Gary Kills-A-Hundred said he has looked at drone footage of the bridge and has seen places where you can look straight through to the water. The bridge is closing in on being 100 years old and shows it, he said. “Whether it’s sturdy or not, it’s old.”
There are other issues to address by the bridge, as well, including the water’s toxicity, he said. He said he needs more time to get his drone equipment that has ground-penetrating radar to the bridge to check out the condition. “I’m just asking for more time. I just know that we can fix the bridge, and if need be, I know we can build another bridge,” he said.

Scott Anderson, the tribe’s transportation director and a graduate of Flandreau Indian School, said the best option is to replace the bridge. Tribal members live north of the bridge, and there is a lot of history with the bridge, he said.
“I would like to see another option instead of demolition,” he said.
Alderman Jason Unger said it is worthwhile for the city to follow through on working with the tribe to see if their ideas are viable. The bridge issue came up earlier this year when the council was looking at capital projects. Since the time that the council approved an application asking the state for money to tear out the bridge, there has been more interest and discussion in the community lately, he said.
The council’s application had a July 1 deadline and is being considered by the state. If given that grant, it is expected that the city should follow through.
City Administrator Jeff Pederson, who applied for the grant money, said maybe there is good energy brought to discussing the decision again. Even with the option of a new pedestrian bridge, the construction would need pilings like those under the bridge. “All of those structures under the bridge would need to be retained and reused,” he said.
If the grant is awarded in full, the city might have to go back to the state for further discussion, he said.
In other city business,
•Sutton said he will appoint a site location committee to consider places for a new fire hall.
“Hopefully, we can have an opportunity to move this project forward. The first step is to pick a site,” he said. The council can then decide if it is a priority to move forward.
The fire station is part of the city’s capital needs plan because the current hall is too crowded because equipment has gotten bigger. Some trucks are stored off-site.
Pederson said that the fire department if looking at a state grant and is prepared to provide the labor for finishing the interior of the building.
•Resident Jeff Weigel, who recently ran for the council, said he is opposed to the letter from the city’s code enforcement officer, Dave Miller, who said Weigel needed to clean up Rudy’s Welding Shop. Industrial and commercial properties fall under different guidelines than residential sites, he said.
“I want to let you know I’m not happy with what he’s doing,” Weigel said. “I think he’s incompetent.”
Recipients of code enforcement notices may appeal the decision in writing to the city council within 10 days. Property owners also have 30 days to come into compliance.
“You guys are the ones who hired him. I want to give your ear a little bit of chewing,” Weigel said.
•Bonrud received a plaque from the city and thanked fellow council members he has served with during the past 18 years. “It’s been an honor and a privilege to serve you all,” he told citizens in attendance.
•The city can receive $525,000 from the state for costs associated with COVID-19, Pederson said. The city will need to show those expenses, he said.
COVID-19 cases in Moody County have stayed stable the last few weeks with minimal additional testing shown in the statistics.
The number of positive cases remains at 23 as of Sunday. Of those cases, 20 have recovered. An additional 502 cases have been negative, according to the state report Monday. Last week at the same time, 485 people had tested negative.
Counties bordering Moody have had larger increases in the number of positive cases.
•A review of the golf course has come back to the city and shows some ideas that might help improve the course that has flooded and been unplayable in recent wet years. One idea is to re-locate the worst holes, for example.
Costs for work on the course to make it more playable would far exceed $1 million.
“We have a golf course out there that frankly has some pretty significant scars on it,” Pederson said.