BROOKINGS New and promoted city employees were a common sight at the Brookings City Council meeting on Oct. 14, where councilors were introduced to and learned a little about them.
New to the city are Deputy City Manager Johnny Mays and Deputy Police Chief Ryan Baranyos. A more familiar face was Josh McClain, who was introduced as the new assistant street manager by Public Works Director John Thompson.
(Im) thankful for this opportunity (and) I look forward to the new relationships I get to build, McClain said. I love working for the city, and I enjoy working with the public. Thanks, and I appreciate this opportunity.
Mays also offered his thanks.
I just want to thank the governing body for everything you guys are doing for the community and the manager for his leadership, he said. In public service, as you know, we wear many hats and we have thankless positions, so just thank you for everything that you guys are doing.
City Manager Paul Briseno noted that Mays will be overseeing finance, community development, and the parks and fire departments.
For folks who would like to meet some of the new faces, the Brookings Area Chamber of Commerce will host a meet-and-greet mixer for Mays, Baranyos and Deputy Fire Chief Jeremy Scott on Wednesday from 4 to 6 p.m. at Domellies, 931 25th Ave.
Billie Sutton in town
As part of proclamation declaring October as National Disability Employment Awareness Month, it was learned from Brookings Disability Awareness Committee member Mark Sternhagen that former state lawmaker and former gubernatorial candidate Billie Sutton will be in town the night of Oct. 21.
Sternhagen said the event a collaboration of the Brookings Disability Awareness Committee, Office of Student Accessibility, and Student Connection and Engagement will be in the Volstorff Ballroom West at the Student Union on the campus of South Dakota State University. It will run from 7 to 8:30 p.m.
Its about leadership and disabilities, he said. If youve not heard (Sutton) speak, hes a great speaker. If you can possibly make it to that, please try to, because I think that you will be very glad that you did. Theres a lot of good information there.
Sutton, who is paralyzed from the waist down, is a former South Dakota lawmaker who was also the Democratic candidate for governor in 2018 in a race eventually won by Kristi Noem.
Reports received
Councilors also provided insights into some of the issues that the boards of Brookings Municipal Utilities and Brookings Health System are focused on:
Councilor Wayne Avery said the substantial completion date for the BMUs new water treatment plant on 34th Avenue was originally Oct. 13, but thats been pushed back by several weeks to perhaps even a few months.
Its going well, but its just a project that large, just sometimes it takes a little extra time, and some unforeseen things can come up, but its still moving along, he said.
Councilor Lisa Hager related how Brookings Health System might be affected by the ongoing shutdown of the federal government.
The consensus was that things should be OK in the short term. No benefits would be interrupted, just that there might be some administrative slowdowns and reduced customer support, she said. A longer-term shutdown would create some uncertainty, but the good thing, at least as far as Medicaid matches is that those do go through at least the first quarter.
Contact Mondell Keck at [email protected].
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