NOTICE FOR SEALED BIDS FOR COUNTY RETAIL ON-SALE LIQUOR LICENSE

Please publish:  January 27th, 2016 and February 3, 2016- Meade County Times Tribune

        February 1, 2016 -  Rapid City Journal

NOTICE FOR SEALED BIDS

FOR

COUNTY RETAIL ON-SALE LIQUOR LICENSE

NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that sealed bids will be received by the Meade County Auditor’s Office by February 9th, 2016 @ 5:00 p.m. for one (1) retail on-sale liquor license.  Said sealed bids will be opened on February 10th, 2016 @ 1:00 p.m. at the regular meeting of the Meade County Commission.

Said procedure is outlined in the following Resolution passed by the Board of County Commissioners on December 23, 2015:

RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, the Legislature of the State of South Dakota has provided for the approval of liquor licenses by the boards of county commissioners of the counties of said State pursuant to SDCL

Title 35; and

WHEREAS SDCL §35-4-11.1 provides that the board of county commissioners shall, on or before the first of September in each year, determine by ordinance or continuing resolution the number of on-sale licenses (other than malt beverage) it will approve for the ensuing calendar year and the fees to be charged for the various classifications of licenses; and

WHEREAS, the Meade County Board of County Commissioners has set the number of on sale

liquor dealer licenses at 14 and the fee for such license at $150,000; and

WHEREAS, Meade County currently has issued 13 on-sale liquor dealer licenses, making one such license available for issuance; and

WHEREAS the Meade County Board of Commissioners wishes to make the license available to the public in a fair and impartial manner; and

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT HEREBY RESOLVED that the Meade County Commission makes the following rules applicable to the issuance of new on-sale liquor dealer licenses:

1. The Meade County Auditor shall cause to be published twice in the Meade County Times and once in the Rapid City Journal an invitation for bids for the purchase of the available on-sale liquor dealer license. The first publication shall be at least ten days prior to the date set by the Board to open bids hereunder.

2. Applicants may apply for the existing on-sale liquor dealer licenses beginning on the date of this resolution by submitting a sealed bid packet to the Meade County Auditor.

Such sealed bid packet shall include the following:

a. Uniform Alcoholic Beverage Application. This must be completed fully and according to its instructions, and bear the necessary original signatures. Photocopies will not be accepted.

b. Application Fee. Certified check, cashier’s check, or bank draft in the amount of Fifteen Percent (15%) of the bid amount. Alternatively, the applicant may submit a surety bond in the amount of Thirty Percent (30%).  Either application fee guarantees that the applicant will consummate the purchase of the on sale liquor dealer licenses if the applicant is the successful high bidder for such

license as set forth below.

i. If the applicant fails or refuses to consummate the purchase of the on-sale liquor dealer licenses within 15 days of successful selection, the applicant shall forfeit and the County shall be entitled to retain the application fee as liquidated damages. 

ii. In the event that applicant who is the successful high bidder shall not be able to meet the licensing standards set out by SDCL Ch. 35-2, excepting those requirements of SDCL § 35-2-1.2, the applicant shall forfeit and the County shall be entitled to retain the application fee as liquidated damages.

iii. The successful high bidder shall have the application fee credited toward the issuance fee for the on-sale liquor dealer license.

iv. Those unsuccessful bidders shall have their application fee refunded immediately.

c. Deadline and Bid Requirements. All bids for the on-sale liquor dealer license shall be delivered to the office of the Meade County Auditor not later than 5:00 p.m. on the day prior to the date set by the Board to open bids hereunder. The sealed bid shall contain the Uniform Alcoholic Beverage application, the Application Fee, and the amount bid.

d. High Bid. The sealed bids for on-sale liquor dealer licenses shall be opened in an open meeting of the County Commission.

i. Each sealed bid shall be reviewed for completeness of the bid requirements. 

ii. The County Commission may reject any and all bids if none of the bids are satisfactory or if they believe an agreement has been entered into by the bidders to prevent competition.

iii. If two or more sealed bids are identical in price, and are the high bid, the County Commission through the Chairman or through his designee shall award by auction to one of the identical high bidders.

iv. If not rejected as above, the application of the high bidder will be accepted by the County Commission and that applicant’s application shall be set for hearing in accordance with SDCL Ch. 35-2.

3. In the event the applicant refuses to consummate the purchase of the on-sale liquor dealer license or fails to meet the licensing standards set out by SDCL Ch. 35-2, excepting those requirements of SDCL § 35-2-1.2, a subsequent invitation for bids shall be held according to the terms of this Resolution.

4. In the event that no valid applications are received by the Meade County Auditor by 5:00 p.m. on the day prior to the date set by the Board to open bids hereunder, the on-sale liquor dealer licenses shall become available on a first-come, first served basis, subject to the statutory licensing terms regarding notice, hearing, and all license requirements. For purposes of this resolution, “first-come first-served” shall mean that the first fully and accurately completed application for on-sale liquor dealer licenses which is submitted to the office of the Meade County Auditor with the issuance fee of $225,000 in good funds shall be entitled to have their application noticed and heard in accordance with the alcoholic beverage licensing statutes.

5. In the event the first-come first-served applicant is not able to meet the licensing standards set out by SDCL Ch. 35-2, the applicant who next submits a fully and accurately completed application together with the issuance fee shall be next considered.

DATED this 23rd day of December, 2015.

APPROVED: _/s/ Alan Aker___________________

Alan Aker, Chairman

ATTEST: _/s/ Lisa Schieffer_______________

Lisa Schieffer, Auditor

Published twice at the total approximate amount of ____________________.

Notes from the County Commission

by Robert Heidgerken, District 5 Commissioner

The Meade County Commission met on January 27, 2016 for their second meeting of the year. Vice Chair Bob Bertolotto led the meeting as Chair Galen Niederwerder was absent. 

The board approved a request from the sheriff’s office to purchase new software and have it installed in the computers in the jail, sheriff’s office and patrol cars.  This is the same software used by most counties in South Dakota.  It will aid in tracking arrests through the justice system.

Mr. John Boylan of rural Piedmont was appointed to the Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) committee.  The MPO has representatives from several cities and counties surrounding Rapid City.  He will serve a three year term.  

Lincoln Shuck, Highway Superintendent and Scott Togetoff, Assistant Superintendent came  before the board to discuss the asphalt plan for 2016.  They will be working with Brosz Engineering on the plans for the south end of the New Underwood Road.  They are also working with landowners to acquire the right of way for the Elk Vale and Elk Creek paving project.

Jenny Voigt, 4H Youth Program Advisor and members of the Meade County Fair Board discussed the need for a building for 4H activities such as shooting sports.  A heated building is needed.  Stay tuned to see how this turns out.  

The Veteran of the Month is James E. Adams.  Thank you for your service.
Meade County passed the state audit with No Deficiency Disclosed.  GOOD JOB LISA!

The commission passed the second reading of the revamped Ordinance #34 -  Building Code & Construction Ordinance.  The changes to this ordinance should make it easer to understand and for the county to enforce.  

A request was made to change the name of SEQUOIA LN. to  Escape Ln.  This solves the confusion in the 911 system with a similar named road in Pennington County.  The request was approved by the commission.

The “Meade Moving Forward 2040 Transportation Plan” was approved by the board.  This plan proposes how the roads in Meade County will be maintained, improved  and built for the next 25 years.  It is not written in stone and can and will be modified as conditions warrant.   The plan was financed by the state DOT through the MPO.  The data as to why a given road is included in this plan is part of the document.  

Ground hogs day is half way through winter.  We have six more weeks of winter.  Let’s hope for good weather.

2nd Public Workshop Concerning the Ellsworth Air Force Base Joint Land Use Study

Notes from the County Commission

by Alan Aker, Piedmont-Summerset-Black Hawk District 4 commissioner.

We're organized.  The Meade Commission held its organizational meeting January 5 and elected Commissioner Galen Niederwerder Chair and Commissioner Bob Bertolotto Vice-Chair.  I'm looking forward to not having to run the meetings this year, and I think it's good for the public to see this position rotate.  Our board has always decided how to run our meetings by consensus and discussion among all five board members, and the chair of the board only runs the meeting, not the county, and I think the public can forget this if they see the same presiding officer year after year.

We also discussed the need for some of our smaller entities to get some audits, in light of the alleged theft of over $140,000 from the Kadoka Volunteer Fire Department by their treasurer.  There is no requirement for any outside audits of volunteer fire departments, road districts, ambulance districts, fire districts, and sanitary districts.  Townships file annual reports with the county commission, which are published.  The consensus of the board was that we do not have authority to require audits or public financial reports from these entities, but their members/taxpayers do have the right to ask to see the checkbooks of these entities, and we encourage them to do so.  We noted that it is also a wise practice to require two signatures to write checks and/or rotate the treasurer position every year or so.  We discussed whether it would be a good use of county funds to offer to pay the expense of random audits of those entities which would like to be audited.  Please let any of your commissioners know if you see value in this.  We're not accusing any of our entities of any mis-spending; we're just trying to learn the lesson from the Kadoka incident the easy way instead of the hard way.  

We had a good discussion with our new Highway Superintendent, Lincoln Shuck, about whether the county could save money by hiring its own engineer.  It appears to me that there is a good chance we could.  We asked Shuck to report back with cost projections.  Conservative government isn't always just cutting the payroll:  in this case, it's looking for the lowest-cost option between having a county employee and hiring an outside firm.  Pennington County, with fewer miles of roads and fewer bridges, does have staff engineers.  Towns as small as Belle Fourche also have a city engineer, so it would not be unusual for a county our size to have one.

Shuck also spoke about the poor quality of some of the gravel the county has paid for.  He stated that just looking at the gravel reveals some was taken from parts of the pits that had too little stone to be gravel.  In the past, the county has relied on random testing of the gravel by outside engineers.  Shuck stated he will now have county employees, including himself, frequently checking on the crushing while it's happening.  Just meeting the minimum standard will no longer be good enough in Meade County.  Amen and amen!

We also discussed use of some of the money paid to the county by Glencoe Campground owners as a fine for their illegal damming of Bear Butte Creek.  The money is required to be spent on land conservation.  The commission set a hearing on creating a budget category for these funds, and there was support for helping Black Hills Trails, a volunteer trail-building group, with supplies for the newly-approved Seventh Cavalry and Deadman Trails near Sturgis and Piedmont.  

The county's checkbook balance continues to improve year-over-year.  This year should bring us additional significant savings just from lower fuel prices alone.  The extremely low cost of the first phase of Fort Meade Way adds another $300,000+ in savings.  The legislature is considering a bill to give counties a slice of liquor taxes that would bring in over $100,000 in new revenue.  I know that other counties in the state are telling legislators that they're falling behind on maintenance and equipment and are otherwise starved for money, but it's certainly not true for Meade County.  It's partly explained by our growth in new construction and low crime rate.  Another factor is our staff cuts over the past six years.  The commission began the process with some staff cuts which were fairly vigorously opposed, but after the cuts happened, with no ill effects, the process gained a momentum of its own: departments which had not seen staff cuts came to us with their own proposed reductions, and they've all worked well.  Good job, Meade County employees.  All this is making me itch to cut the county property tax levy even further than what's allowed by statute again this year.  I would love us to be the lowest-taxed county in the state.  The other thing we could do with the extra money is road improvement projects.  Stay tuned and let us know what you think.    

Permit Plans Required at Time of Application

When applying for a permit through the Meade County Equalization & Planning Department, the applicant will be required to submit all required plans and documentation, as well as payment, before their application will be accepted. Incomplete applications will not be accepted. 

Please reference Meade County’s website for a listing of the required plans and documentation, as well as the permit applications.

Applications can be accepted in person at our office, by mail, or online through our website.

Please contact Jennifer Williams at the Meade County Equalization & Planning Office with any questions, at 605-347-3818, or jwilliams@meadecounty.org.

MPO Citizen Committee - Notice of Vacancy

Sturgis, SD - The Meade County Board of Commissioners is accepting applications from individuals who are interested in serving on the Metropolitan Planning Organization : “Citizens Advisory Committee”

• One opening
• Two year term
• Appointment will be effective January 27, 2016
• Committee meets eight times per year
• Meade County residents must live within the MPO Boundary 

The Citizens Advisory Committee represents the following: (1) freight or private providers of transportation freight, (2) under-represented minority group(s), (3) advocates for people with disabilities and (4) bicycle and pedestrian advocates. This committee is one of three established to review transportation related issues in the Rapid City area. Membership consists of citizens representing all sectors of the community including Rapid City, Box Elder, Summerset, Piedmont, portions of Meade and Pennington counties, the Meade County School District, the Rapid City Area School District, the Douglas School District and Ellsworth Air Force Base.

Individuals who want to be considered for an appointment are asked to fill out a Citizen Interest Application form and submit to Jerry Derr at jderr@meadecounty.org or by mail toMeade County Board of Commissioners, 1300 Sherman Street, STE 212, Sturgis, SD 57785.  Citizen Interest Application available at: www.meadecounty.org via Human Resources Office.

All applications must be received by 5:00 p.m., January 22, 2016