The Custer County Board of Supervisors met in regular session Tuesday morning starting at 9:00 am. Sara Parliament was the only supervisor not present.
After minutes, mail, committee reports, claims, and Board of Equalization matters, the board voted unanimously to strike unpaid distress warrants by request of the treasurer’s office.
Hot mix work on the Arnold River Road was on the agenda Tuesday morning. An existing project in the area has hot mix set to reach about two miles short of the Rye Valley Road. Chris Jacobsen told the board that the money needed for the extra two miles is in the budget, and that Paulsen told him to budget approximately an additional $645,000 for the additional distance. The contract on the project was at $305,000 per mile at the time it was agreed upon. After a discussion about location and road travel number studies, the board voted unanimously to approve the two miles of hot mix be added to the nine mile project for a total of 11 miles of hot mix on the Arnold River Road.
Back on the agenda were funding requests for fiscal year 2023-2024. The Custer County Historical Society had requested $8,500 while the Seven Valleys Historical Society had requested $8,000. Supervisor Anne Gibbons started conversations by reminding the board of her request to the Seven Valleys representatives who appeared last time to meet with a specific individual in the community who might be willing to help write grant requests. She stated that this individual said she had not heard from the Seven Valleys Society. Gibbons went on by speaking from the taxpayer perspective and whether or not those in communities outside of the Seven Valleys Historical Society area would see granting the request as a good use of their tax money. Ultimately, Gibbons made a motion to approve a $2,500 request amount with an encouragement for the group to seek grants. The motion passed unanimously. The request from the Custer County Historical Society passed unanimously at the original request amount.
Weed Superintendent Tim Conover appeared before the board regarding updating an inter-local coop agreement with the Sandhills Weed Management area. He stated that the last time this was done was March of 2007 when six counties were involved. There are now 21as a part of the area. The board approved the agreement unanimously.
Sonya Grant was approved to the Corner Township board unanimously by the supervisors.
Christie Trumbull appeared for the Register of Deeds office regarding a storage and vault space issue with record books. She stated that statute requires a hard copy of certain documents be kept on hand, and that they were running out of room, even for this year’s books. She asked that the eventual solution found be a safe location that ensures no moisture can reach the documents. No decision was made.
The Supervisors entered a break at 10:18 am with the intention of coming back at 1:00 for a public hearing on the 2023-2034 Custer County budget, budget appropriation and adoption, to set the final tax request, and to authorize/reauthorize petty cash funds.
A separate story regarding the afternoon section of budget and tax decisions will be made available on SandhillsExpress.com.
