By Watertown Current - March 12, 2026 in Official Proceedings
County of Codington
Codington County Court House
14 1st Ave SE
Watertown, SD 57201
February 25, 2026
The Codington County Commissioners met in regular session at 9:00 a.m., Wednesday, February 25, 2026, at the Codington County Court House. Commission members present were Lee Gabel, Tyler McElhany, Myron Johnson, Randall Schweer, and Troy VanDusen; Chair VanDusen, presiding. The pledge of allegiance was led by Commissioner Schweer.
CALLS FOR PUBLIC COMMENT AND CONFLICT OF INTEREST ITEMS
Chair VanDusen 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 Gabel, second by McElhany, to approve February 25, 2026, agenda as posted; all voted aye; motion carried.
MINUTES APPROVED
Motion by Johnson, second by Schweer, to approve the minutes of February 17, 2026; all voted aye; motion carried.
MONTHLY REPORTS
Emergency Management Director, Andrew Delgado, updated the Board: CodeRED Security System is in place and is scheduled to go live this week, would encourage everyone to sign up to ensure they can receive timely and relevant alerts, text 36475 – Watertown or go to watertownalerts.com to sign up; provided building access to allow Red Cross personnel to complete updates and improvements to equipment stored in the trailer; attended the Region 2 meeting and participated in the state communications drill, which is an EMPG requirement; ongoing meetings with city officials to identify and address resource gaps and planning shortfalls related to weather-related incidents; met with local Volunteer Fire Departments and scheduled follow-up meetings to finalize a mutual aid agreement for structure fires, this effort is aimed at improving ISO ratings and strengthening coordinated fire response; met with Prairie Lakes Healthcare staff and South Dakota Healthcare Preparedness (formally the SD Healthcare Coalition) to clarify resource request procedures, particularly concerning OEM assets, additional meetings focused on large-scale incident coordination and multi-agency integration; established Crisis Track user permissions for townships and will continue onboarding additional users over the next month, Township focused training is on March 24th, 2026, at 6:30 p.m. and City and County employee training is on March 25th, 2026, at 9:00 a.m.; Weather Spotter Training for is scheduled for April 8th, 2026, at 1:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. Sheriff, Brad Howell, provided the Board with the following statistics, compiled from activity in the month of January 2026, for the Detention Center and Sheriff’s Office: office fees were collected in the amount of $16,630.06, and were retained by the County; ATM, Kiosk, and Commissary items sold with a commission fee to the County in the amount of $4,252.02; 407 cases/calls for service; 14 accident reports were completed; 63 warrants served; 246 sets of civil papers served; 4,763 transport miles; average daily inmate population 54.68 (high ADP 58 and low ADP 52); 20 individuals wearing SCRAM (security continuous remote alcohol monitor) bracelets; 11 individuals using remote breathalyzers; 43 individuals testing twice daily PBT’S; 56 individuals reporting twice weekly for UA Drug testing; 0 individuals wearing a sweat patch; 162 bookings; $5,787.98 collected in fees for out of county prisoner contracts; $750.00 collected in work release fees; $11,441.56 collected in fees for the 24/7 program and SCRAM fees; Sheriff Howell also provided the Board with 2025 year-end data: average daily inmate population 51.08; 2,256 bookings; 27 protective custody mental health holds with no charges; $136,371.75 collected in 24/7 sobriety program and SCRAM fees; $1,113,440.25 collected for 24/7 & SCRAM fees, work release, out of county contracts, finger print fees, Clerk of Court fees; $15,628.72 collected in commissary commission; $20,089.06 collected in phone commission and $6,282.32 collected in Kiosk (phone/video/text) fees. The report included Sheriff’s office incident and arrests by type and general information for various services; the community project for this year called “Deputies with Donuts” visiting 10 schools is finished, it was aimed at building trust with children in local elementary schools; promoted Trever Schimmel to Deputy Sergeant and Deputies Yost and Wright to Investigators, congratulate them if you see them.
LOCAL EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT PERFORMANCE GRANT CERTIFICATION
Motion by McElhany, second by Gabel, to authorize the Chair to sign the 2026 LEMPG (Local Emergency Management Performance Grant) Certification, Emergency Management Director, Andrew Delgado, gave a brief overview of the grant; all voted aye; motion carried.
SURPLUS EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT INVENTORY
Motion by McElhany, second by Schweer, to declare the following inventory, in the Emergency Management Office, surplus to be destroyed: Streamlight waypoint lantern; Sony Handy Cam, Model CCD-TRV37, SN 136132; Garmin GPS, SN 23F983773; Garmin GPS, SN INV385195; Motorola Radio Portable, SN 018TFY2065; Motorola Radio Portable, SN 004HFW6851; Panasonic Toughbook, SN 9AKSA26262; and Banquet Table; all voted aye; motion carried.
RESERVE OFFICERS FOR SHERIFF’S OFFICE
Motion by Gabel, second by McElhany, to approve the following Reserve Officers for the Sheriff’s Office, Bryce Lawrence, Steve Barber, Tom Lenox, Wes Jennings, and Kelly Oelrich; all voted aye; motion carried.
OPENING OF ANNUAL BIDS FOR HIGHWAY SUPPLIES AND WEED CHEMICALS
The Board noted the opening of annual bids for Highway supplies and Weed Chemicals will be on Friday, February 27th, 2026, at 10:30 a.m., in the Commission Chambers.
CLAIMS
Motion by Gabel, second by McElhany, to approve for payment the following list of claims; TCP – $10,156.05; Health Equity – $165.00; all voted aye; motion carried.
SALARY CLAIMS
Motion by Johnson, second by McElhany, to approve for payment the following February salary claims; all voted aye; motion carried.
Commissioners: 12,782.81 total salaries. Auditor: 23,177.32 total salaries. Co. Treasurer: 50,708.15 total salaries. States Attorney: 60,935.59 total salaries. Gov. Buildings: 19,411.13 total salaries. Dir. Equalization: 62,580.55 total salaries. Reg. of Deeds: 33,612.62 total salaries. Veterans Service: 13,349.27 total salaries. Sheriff: 150,636.13 total salaries. Jail: 190,428.44 total salaries. Coroner: 1291.80 total salaries. Welfare: 31,025.54 total salaries. CO. Nurse; 6,456.64 total salaries. Park: 0 total salaries Ag. Bldg.: 13,391.03 total salaries. Co. Extension: 14,573.74 total salaries. Weed: 6,202.09 total salaries. Planning Board: 308.92 total salaries. Road & Bridge: 122,547.51 total salaries. Emergency Management; 16,702.77 total salaries. Crime Victim: 9,332.88 total salaries. W.I.C.: 6,003.41 total salaries. 24/7: 0 total salaries. Total 845,458.34
Breakdown of withholding amounts which are included in the above:
S.D. Retirement 81,729.14; VSP 953.00 eye insurance; S.D. Supplemental Retire. 5,340.00 suppl. retire.; Sanford 113,265.67; Reliance Standard Life Insurance 1204.17 life ins.; Delta Dental 7,598.40 ins.; Codington County 7,981.73 employee HSA contribution; AFSCME Council 65 482.04 employee union dues; AFLAC 4,216.98.; VSP 443.05 eye insurance; John Hancock 3,515.00 suppl. retire.; AFLAC 1,783.30 ins.; Sioux Valley Credit Union 21,264.60 employee payments; John Hancock Roth 400.00 suppl. retire.; SDRS Supplemental Retirement 4,835.00 Roth retirement; Teamsters Local Union 120 438.00 employee union due; Codington County Deputy Sheriff’s Association 135.00 employee union dues; ReliaBank Dakota 56,071.01 federal withholding; ReliaBank Dakota 76,805.84 social security; ReliaBank Dakota 17,962.62 Medicare; United Way 25.00 employee contributions; Health Equity 7,981.73 employee HSA contribution.
PERSONNEL CHANGE
Motion by Johnson, second by Schweer, to approve the following personnel change: Trever Schimmel, Deputy Sergeant, Sheriff’s Office, G50/Step E, $38.46 per hour, effective 3-01-2026; all voted aye; motion carried.
OLD BUSINESS
Commissioner Gabel informed the Board that work continues on putting up the pre-cast panels on the new jail.
OPEN
Public Comments – Doug Allen, City Councilman, informed the Board about his concerns about Flock cameras and their potential for abuse, they can be an extremely useful tools but to keep in mind to consider strict regulations on who has access to the information that is obtained from them.
Commission Comments – Commissioner Schweer mentioned that he attended the Weed and Pest Conference and that it was a good opportunity to learn.
ADJOURNMENT
Upon conclusion of all business to come before the Board, a motion was made by Johnson, second by McElhany to adjourn at 9:51 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 March 12, 2026, at the total approximate cost of $90.74 and can be viewed free of charge at www.sdpublicnotices.com and www.watertowncurrent.com.