BROOKINGS — The city’s Public Works Department is undertaking a pilot program to assist some property owners with sidewalk repairs this year, Brookings City Council members learned at Tuesday night’s meeting.

“At the end of this year, staff will evaluate the impact and outcome of the project and to determine if it’s a sustainable option for future years,” Public Works Director John Thompson said, adding that the pilot program is just for this year and isn’t retroactive to previous years.

He said the program will utilize up to $35,000 this year. Approximately $20,000 of that amount has been set aside for previously identified sites in the city with first-time damage caused by boulevard trees — 28 sidewalk panels on 17 properties in total. Thompson noted that staff is also working with Inter-Lakes Community Action Partnership to provide screening qualification services for those property owners who might not have the financial means to repair their sidewalks.

Private property owners who might especially benefit from this, Thompson told the Brookings Register in an interview, are those who have received notices and are on the city’s 2024 concrete replacement program. They can contact the city’s engineering division at 605-692-6629 to see if they might qualify for help.

“As financial assistance requests come in, staff will refer those property owners over to ICAP for qualification,” Thompson said.

Currently, the city policy’s for first-time sidewalk damage due to boulevard trees is that it’s the property owner’s responsibility to fix. Any damage after that is the city’s responsibility to repair — and the city also has the option at that point to see if it wants to keep that boulevard tree.

“Do we really want to keep that tree? Is it going to continue to cause damage, or do we take it out?” Thompson said.

He also noted that the Parks, Recreation and Forestry Department has, for several years now, been putting in appropriate tree species that shouldn’t cause this kind of damage, so issues of sidewalk damage in boulevards should become less of a concern in the years ahead.

Toward the end of the discussion, Councilor Brianna Doran asked what kind of measurable metrics were going to be used to decide the pilot program future after this year.

“It’s going to be more of a financial stability … what we’ll look at this year is how well it was engaged with potentially lower-income property owners and how well that qualification screening worked out,” Thompson said. “We don’t really have a good, solid matrix on it since it’s just a pilot.”

In other business at Tuesday’s meeting, councilors:

• Approved, on a 7-0 vote, a bid from Timmons Construction of Brookings to handle the city’s concrete maintenance project for this year. The cost came in at $329,229, which was roughly  22% lower than the original estimated cost of $419,635.95.
• Also on a 7-0 vote, gave the go-ahead to a $310,669.95 bid from BTY Construction of Flandreau to build an equipment storage shed at Brookings Regional Landfill. That total is approximately 38% below budget.
• Discussed fees for on-sale liquor and full-service restaurant on-sale liquor licenses in Brookings. As of now, the former fee is $25,000, while the latter fee is $100,000. No final decision was made, and the issue will be addressed again at an upcoming City Council meeting.
• Observed the pinning ceremony for two new officers in the Brookings Police Department — patrol officers Cora Olson and Easton Thury — along with the introduction of new community service officers: Kyler Mahler, Liv Hanson, Matthew Ridgeway, Isabell Vree, Emmie Dittmar, Hudson Spoonemore and Aiden Metcalfe.
• Agreed to split the four combined items within a budget amendment into items that will be addressed separately at a future City Council meeting.

The items were consulting for library and activity center improvements for $103,860; consulting for National Civic League City Charter revision process for $85,000; non-departmental professional services for Shady Acres remediation for $350,000 — this includes $170,000 for demolition and other site costs, $100,000 for rental assistance, $65,000 for case management and a $15,000 fee to ICAP for administering the programs; and, finally, a contract amendment with RESPEC for the Six-Mile Creek Feasibility Study for $21,000.

The next City Council meeting will be at 5:30 p.m. on May 7 in the Brookings City & County Government Center, 520 Third St.

— Contact Mondell Keck at mkeck@brookingsregister.com.