New Meade commissioners take office; board addresses statutory duties, appointments
(Note: Residents can expect a short synopsis of the Meade County Commissioners’ twice monthly meetings. Authorship of the articles will be on a rotation basis between members. District 2 Commissioner Doreen Creed was directed to write the first one for 2017. This meeting was abnormally short and limited in scope.)
Tuesday marked a significant change on the Meade County Commission. Joining the five-member board were two new members: Ted Seaman of Piedmont; and Doreen Allison Creed of Sturgis. The pair defeated incumbents Alan Aker and Bob Bertolotto in the June primary election.
The morning also marked incumbents, State’s Attorney Kevin Krull, and Treasurer Susan Boadwine being administered the oath of office by Fourth Circuit Judge Jerome Eckrich. The terms for all four positions is four years.
Galen Niederwerder and Linda Rausch were the lone candidates for the chairman and vice-chairman positions.
The bulk of the commissioners’ annual meeting centered on county management statutory requirements concerning bank depositories, publication of notices, approval of salaries adopted during the budget process last September, setting meeting dates for the year, and dozens of appointments.
The board interviewed three of the five individuals, who applied for two positions on the Meade County Planning Commission. The two residents selected for the four-year terms were: Frank Watson and Richard Liggett.
Liggett was a member of the City of Summerset Commission for three years. He also served on Summerset’s Planning and Zoning Board. He has since moved outside the city limits. The engineer has 16-years experience in the profession working for Wyoming and South Dakota municipalities.
Watson, a two-year board incumbent, has 40 years-experience in the construction business. He is also a board member of the Blucksberg Road District.
This seven-member planning board, which includes one commissioner, meets the second Monday of each month. It serves in an advisory capacity to the commissioners on sub-division plats, variance requests and development as outlined in Ordinance 20. The county has no zoning.
Commission chair Niederwerder deferred two agenda topics to the board’s Wednesday, Jan. 25 agenda. Creed had placed both items on the board’s schedule: The rate of pay for county employees working holidays; and county’s contract with the S.D. Department of Health for a county nurse position.
The commissioners’ regular meetings are the second and fourth Wednesdays each month starting at 8:30 a.m. in the Erskine Building. Because the board met Jan. 3 as required by state statute, it will not meet Jan. 11.
