By Watertown Current - February 5, 2026 in OFFICIAL PROCEEDINGS
COUNTY OF CODINGTON
CODINGTON COUNTY COURT HOUSE
14 1st Ave SE
Watertown, SD 57201
January 20, 2026
The Codington County Commissioners met in regular session at 9:00 a.m., Tuesday, January 20, 2026, at the Codington County Court House. Commission members present were Lee Gabel (via ZOOM), Tyler McElhany, Myron Johnson, and Randall Schweer, absent Troy VanDusen; Vice-Chair McElhany, presiding. The pledge of allegiance was led by Commissioner Schweer.
CALLS FOR PUBLIC COMMENT AND CONFLICT OF INTEREST ITEMS
Vice-Chair McElhany called for public comments to be taken up during the open portion of the meeting; none were offered. There were no conflict-of-interest items to note.
AGENDA APPROVED
Motion by Schweer, second by Gabel, to approve January 20, 2026, agenda as posted; all voted aye; motion carried.
MINUTES APPROVED
Motion by Johnson, second by Gabel, to approve the minutes of January 13, 2026; all voted aye; motion carried.
NOTE ANNUAL REVIEW OF OPEN MEETING LAWS SDCL 1-25-13
State’s Attorney, Alison Bakken, informed the Board that due to the change in State Law it is required to have an annual review of open meeting laws SDCL 1-25-13, she provided the Board with materials with open meeting laws and the Attorney General’s publication and asked if the Board had any questions.
CODINGTON COUNTY PRO PHEASANT EVENT
Nick Pillatzke, president of the Codington County Pro Pheasants organization, met with the Board to request authorization to sell alcohol at the 24th Annual Pro Pheasants banquet which will be held at the Codington County Extension Center Complex on February 20th, 2026. Mr. Pillatzke reviewed the procedure for the event, how the sale of alcohol is handled, and noted the license, from Second Street Station, will be transferred for this event. Second Street Station will be responsible for the monitoring and sale of alcohol at this event. Motion by Johnson, second by Schweer, to allow the Codington County Pro Pheasants organization to sell alcohol at their banquet at the Codington County Extension Center Complex; all present voted aye; motion carried.
GIS WEBSITE DEVELOPMENT AND HOSTING
Motion by Gabel, second by Johnson, to authorize Vice-Chair McElhany to sign a letter of agreement, between Codington County and First District Assoc. of Local Governments., authorizing payment to First District in the amount of $4,000.00, for the continued hosting and development of the GIS website for calendar year 2026, all present voted aye; motion carried.
PARCEL DATA BASE MAINTENANCE
Motion by Gabel, second by Johnson, to authorize Vice-Chair McElhany to sign a letter of agreement, between Codington County and First District Association of Local Governments, authorizing payment to First District in the amount of $7,000.00, for services to maintain the County’s parcel data base; all voted aye; motion carried.
MONTHLY REPORTS
Highway Superintendent, Randy Falvey, updated the Board: Grangaard Construction Inc. is continuing work on the 14th Ave. bridge, most of the piles have been driven so they can start pouring footings; finished up work on the first phase of the truck storage upgrade project on the north end of the county shop, the electrical engineer that works with Banner went over our electrical systems at the Highway shop so now we are waiting on the electrical and construction drawings for the second phase of the project from Adam Hanson of Banner Engineering; hauled sand for a couple of days from Con-Ag to the City Street Department facility to contribute our portion of the joint shared sand/salt mix that we use on our roads during the winter season; we have continued to be very fortunate with the snow so far this season, we had a couple snow events, nothing too bad, wind being the biggest issue, so we had the guys go out for a few hours here and thee to put down sand and to scrape some snow in areas; have started to crack seal some of our roads starting with CR 6A north of town; had a number of our newer guys attend Hazmat training at Lake Area Tech and will be sending a few more in February; have had a number of our newer dump trucks checked for a recall involving the torque specs on the rear axle u-bolts, no issues were found with any of our vehicles; along with these safety concerns we replaced a number of windshields in our vehicle also. Facility Manager, Steve Molengraaf, Ag. Building – the correct entry doors were finally completed to the extension office entrance, barn is getting set up for the winter farm show; staff will be installing heaters when they start arriving this week, the concrete in the front entrance to the sale ring door has lifted slightly, this causes the door to be out of square and not to open, the concrete contractor has been informed that they need to fix the issue before the farm show; Court House – normal maintenance; Detention Center – normal maintenance; Park – online booking begins February 1st, 2026, at midnight for any days of the camping season, starting May 1st of first night of stay, camping reservations can be made by going to the Codington County website under Memorial Park. Weed – Annual Weed board meeting and soup supper with the Townships has been set for March 11th, 2026, at 6:00 p.m. in the kitchen of the Codington County Extension Complex, will be working the weed booth at the Sioux Falls farm show; State Weed Conference is February 17th-20th in Deadwood, Ron Moehring won’t be able to attend and the rest of the weed board members and spraying staff also cannot attend, need someone else to attend so we don’t lose full grant dollars; need a Weed Board member from the southwest part of county due to Mike Paulsen resigning. WNV –
SURPLUS HIGHWAY EQUIPMENT
Motion by Johnson, second by Schweer, to declare the following Highway equipment surplus to be sold on Purple Wave; 1993 Lincoln WM-250 portable wire welder; all voted aye; motion carried.
NOTE MILEAGE RATE CHANGE FOR NON-ELECTED EMPLOYEES
Note that the mileage rate change for non-elected employees will now be 72.5 cents per mile, effective January 1, 2026.
CORRECTIONAL OFFICER POSITION
Motion by Gabel, second by Schweer, to approve to hire a full-time correctional officer position in the jail; due to a promotion; all voted aye; motion carried.
BUDGETED OPERATING CASH TRANSFERS
Motion by Gabel, second by Johnson, to approve the following operating cash transfers as budgeted for 2026:
Debit General Fund $1,357,055.00
Credit Road & Bridge Funds $1,000,000.00
Credit Emergency Management Fund $233,612.00
Credit Victims of Crime Fund $109,430.00
Credit WIC Fund $14,013.00
Upon vote of the Board, all voted aye; motion carried.
REVIEW EMPLOYEE PERSONNEL MANUAL
Human Resource Representative, Natalie Remund, provided the Board with updates to the Personnel Manual regarding uniform allowance for the management staff of the Sheriff’s Department including the Sheriff, Chief Deputy and Chief of Corrections which matches the allowance allowed per the Sheriff’s Deputies and Correctional Officers Collective Bargaining Agreements, in addition, a uniform allowance shall also be provided as follows for the following departments: Director of Emergency Management, Change Appendix A in 7.17 Wages to Appendix B, and 7.18 Cell Phone Stipend to include that the Cell phone stipends are based on position grade per the County’s wage scale: Motion by Gabel, second by Schweer, to approve the changes as relating to uniform allowance, cell phone stipends, and change appendix A to B, as presented by Human Resource Representative, Natalie Remund, all voted aye; motion carried.
PERSONNEL CHANGE
Motion by Gabel, second by Johnson, to approve the following personnel change: Konner Anderson, Deputy Sheriff, G40/Step B, $30.63 per hour, effective 2-01-2026; all voted aye; motion carried.
TRAVEL REQUESTS
Motion by Johnson, second by Schweer, to approve the following travel requests: Weed & Pest staff to attend Farm Show and Conference; all voted aye; motion carried.
EXECUTIVE SESSION
Motion by Johnson, second by Gabel, to enter executive session, per SDCL 1-25-2(1); (3) Preparing for contract negotiations or negotiating with employees or employee representatives at 9:25 a.m.; all voted aye; motion carried. The Board returned to regular session at 9:35 a.m., no action was taken. Human Resource Representative, Natalie Remund, was present for executive session.
ADJOURNMENT
Upon conclusion of all business to come before the Board, a motion was made by Gabel, second by
Schweer to adjourn at 9:36 a.m., all voted aye; motion carried.
ATTEST:
Brenda Hanten
Codington County Auditor
Codington County does not discriminate on the basis of color, national origin, sex, religion, age, or disability in employment or the provision of service.
Published once on February 5, 2026, at the total approximate cost of $85.28 and can be viewed free of charge at www.sdpublicnotices.com and www.watertowncurrent.com.