BROOKINGS The trooper shortage facing the South Dakota Highway Patrol is also having an impact on the Brookings County Sheriffs Office, officials learned at Tuesdays Brookings County Commission meeting.
The Brookings squad normally has nine personnel assigned to it eight troopers and a sergeant, according to information from the sheriffs office. Right now, it only has three troopers and a sergeant. Itll get even thinner in December, when its projected the squad will be down to two troopers and a sergeant.
When theres no troopers, guess who goes to (Interstate 29)? My guys, Sheriff Marty Stanwick told commissioners. So, I spend a lot of time on the interstate, and I have a lot of other responsibilities contract law, and all the traffic issues they have with semis and 213th (Street) with speeding and all that, and now I have to worry about the interstate.
He continued, I bring it to your attention, (as) theres probably going to be overtime to cover stuff because the interstate goes through Brookings County, and guess what? Its still they dont care if its the Highway Patrol or the university police or the Brookings police. They want somebody out there when theres something going on.
Stanwicks worries spurred some questions from commissioners.
The interstate is like an accident or something that youre called to? Commissioner Larry Jensen asked. Youre not running radar or anything out there?
No. No, we dont have time to run radar, Stanwick said, adding that hes also been responding to reports in the county of cattle being out and handling deer accidents as well. I know theyre bringing in troopers from other areas for Hobo Day weekend, which is good.
If theres any silver lining to the Highway Patrols staffing situation locally troopers here cover Brookings, Kingsbury, Lake and Moody counties its that the sheriffs office has been told that one of the recruits from the next graduating class is expected to be assigned to the Brookings squad by March. If so, and theres no additional hirings between now and then, it would mean the Brookings squad would once again have three troopers and a sergeant.
According to earlier reporting from SDPB, the Highway Patrols staffing issue the agency is down dozens of troopers is a statewide one and is especially acute in rural areas.
In closing, Stanwick said, I just wanted to bring to your attention is that when the Highway Patrol is down, it affects Brookings County, it affects our budgets, and it affects our manpower and so forth.
Truck traffic
In other, unrelated, law enforcement matters, Stanwick noted that his office has also been handling concerns about truck traffic on 213th Street south of Volga. It would seem that, instead of using the Samara Avenue project detour through Volga, some truckers are opting to go east on 213th Street, then north on Caspian Avenue to reach the South Dakota Soybean Processors plant on the east side of Volga. Its something thats been annoying for some residents on 213th Street.
I think the semis have slowed down a little bit on 213th (Street), he said. Really, I had only one complaint from one citizen, which was pretty vocal. I did go over there and observe, too, and it was dusty. I dont know if we could have done anything different I think we could have signed better in the beginning, but it is what it is, and so hopefully its slowing down now.
Stanwick expects complaints will ramp up next in the Aurora area.
Every year when its harvest time here, I get the complaints, he said. Now itll be corn, so Ill get the complaints in Aurora going down (476th Avenue), so its every year. It hasnt really changed.
In other business on Tuesday, commissioners:
Received updates on the Third Circuit judicial staffers whose jurisdictions include Brookings County. They include the transfer of Judge Dawn Elshere from Brookings to Watertown; she was replaced by Judge Abigail Howard. Meanwhile, the retirement in June of Judge Gregory Stoltenberg led to the arrival of Judge David Wheeler from Huron. Meanwhile, Flandreau-based Judge Bob Pesall will be handling magistrate matters.
I think, hopefully now between the three of us, weve got some stability for a few years, Howard said. We dont anticipate any other major changes or retirements any time soon.
Learned from Highway Superintendent Brian Gustad that road striping has been completed on the countys chip-seal projects. He further noted that the water and sewer project being undertaken by White has made great progress, with Main Streets paving being complete.
Meanwhile, the overlay project on county Road 25 is progressing, too, with shoulder work continuing, along with striping. Lastly, Gustad said concrete pouring continues on a box culvert project in the eastern part of the county, with dirt work planned along with paving before it gets too cold.
Emergency Manager Bob Hill told commissioners that the Medary Township diversion project involving the Big Sioux River will likely require a long, detailed environmental impact study. He said thats coming down from the federal level and I guess well just have to wait and see what that all entails.
Voted 5-0 to approve an extension for the Samara Avenue reconstruction project in Volga. The Volga City Council approved a similar agreement at its meeting on Monday night.
There are three phases involved, but those phases were switched around due to some construction difficulties. So, the second phase of the work is complete, while work on the first phase is still underway with a substantial completion date of Oct. 24. The third phase will now be pushed back to July of next year, with an anticipated substantial completion date of around Labor Day.
The first couple phases are taking longer than anticipated, and we dont want to start a phase and have a road that is not going to be easily maintained, Commission Department Director Stacy Steffensen said. If the weather turns on us quickly, we dont want just a dirt road for a couple blocks of Samara all winter long and dealing with that.
Contact Mondell Keck at [email protected].
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