A ‘South Dakotan through and through’ — that is how Flandreau’s current City Administrator describes the person hired to be his replacement when he retires on July 1, 2022.
City officials announced this past week that Cohl Turnquist has accepted the position. He will join the staff over the next six months as Assistant City Administrator and work with Jeff Pedersen to learn as much as possible before taking on the role himself. The Winner native will be graduating from the University of South Dakota with his Masters Degree in Public Administration this next spring. His undergraduate degree is in Political Science.
“He is dedicated to local government administration and will be an excellent fit for our community,” said Pedersen, adding that he feels the city hiring Turnquist was a very smart move and a somewhat fortuitous opportunity for the city.  

“The MPA program at USD is the recognized professional city management educational program in South Dakota, from which my son and I both also graduated,” said Pedersen. “He brings a strong enthusiasm to the job, and he is very eager to begin to impact both the City organization and the community. Being his first job in the profession, he brings an open mind, strong curiosity, and undoubtedly new talents and interests to the position.”
Over the next six months, Turnquist will be taking on internal projects relating to policy review and development. Specifically, Pedersen said that the Employee Policy Manual for the city needs an overhaul and he will head that up. He will also be given charge of the comprehensive ordinance review and recodification project that has just launched. Turnquist is slated to work with Department Heads, the City Council, and one or two community groups that will be put in place to help review the city’s ordinances.  
Mayor Dan Sutton said that council members were impressed with Turnquist’s outgoing personality and feel he is a great fit for the organization and for the community.
“Cohl is young, open minded, and forward thinking. Cohl may have had the least experience of the finalists, but I believe he will offset that by his South Dakota roots and an enthusiasm for the position.”
The Moody County Enterprise will share more about Turnquist and his goals for the community in an upcoming issue.
Also heard at the December 20 council meeting were plans to move forward with water upgrades that had been scheduled for further out into the future, if at all possible. Grant money made available through the American Rescue Plan Act is pushing up timelines, and not just for city projects. We’ll look at the applications being filed by the city, county and other independent entities in an upcoming issue.