BROOKINGS — The Brookings County Outdoor Adventure Center will soon need new leadership after it was officially learned Tuesday that Director Dustin Huber has resigned, with his last day being April 26.

Huber’s impending departure is not something Brookings County commissioners are looking forward to, judging from the praise they heaped on the director during his presentation at Tuesday morning’s meeting.

“I just wanted to thank you for all your hard work and dedication,” Commissioner Shawn Hostler said. “Thank you very much.”

“I echo that as well,” Commissioner Kelly VanderWal added.

“I know you have to move on and do what’s right for you, but we just hate to see you go,” Commissioner Larry Jensen said. “Thank you.”

Huber has led the BCOAC, found at 2810 22nd Avenue S., since 2020. In his presentation, he said he’d get as much detail work done as possible in order to make life easier for his successor. He also provided some insights into the center’s use by area residents, noting that:

• In 2022, a total of 12,021 people used the facility

• That number climbed in 2023 to 14,805

• So far this year, 1,140 people have made use of the gun range, while 531 have used the archery range

“Again, (I) want to … thank (Huber) for all his hard work and dedication to bring the Outdoor Adventure Center to where it is today and wish him luck on his future endeavors,” Hostler said.

Burn bans

Another topic that came up Tuesday was a possible burn ban in Brookings County when red flag conditions exist.

Emergency Management Director Bob Hill said the county currently doesn’t have an ordinance in place to automatically ban burning when such conditions are present. Typically, he said, either he or Sheriff Marty Stanwick contacts county fire groups when there’s a red flag warning and they make a recommendation to the county commission as to whether a burn ban should be enacted.

“Is the red flag ordinance something that the commission would like for me to at least approach the county fire people about, or just let it ride like we got now?” Hill asked.

Discussion then briefly touched on bans in other counties during red flag conditions, including Lake (confirmed) and Yankton (not confirmed), and whether the issue might confuse people.

Hill added that he thinks the county fire chiefs need to have a say in the matter, so he wants to approach them with the suggestion and see how they feel about it before bringing it back to commissioners for further consideration.

“Have that conversation with them,” Hostler said. “I think it would be a good conversation, even if it doesn’t go anywhere.”

214th Street status

If you’re wondering about who’s taking care a 2.5-mile stretch of 214th Street between Aurora and Brookings in Aurora and Trenton townships, well, you’re in good company.

“What’s the status on 214th Street — have you heard anything from the state or what’s the process?” Jensen asked.

Highway Superintendent Brian Gustad said the county hasn’t taken control of the segment, as the state has yet to get back to the county on the resolutions from those townships to change the road’s jurisdiction. That change has already been OK’d by county commissioners, but there’s always that one last hoop to jump through.

Gustad noted the resolution was sent to a representative with the South Dakota Department of Transportation. He said it’s likely the Transportation Commission needs to deal with it, and the panel has yet to have a meeting since receiving the resolution. Still, he said he will reach out to check on its status.

“That has to be approved before we do any maintenance on that stretch of road, then?” Jensen queried.

“I’m assuming so,” Gustad said.

“I was wondering if we could make sure the townships know that,” Jensen said. “I’ve been getting some questions why we’re not out there. I think it needs to be clarified once the state approves it, then we’ll be able to.”

Tax abatements

Following in the steps of last week’s Brookings City Council meeting, the county commission also approved a series of tax abatements for seven properties. The issue came about because of an oversight.

“All the abatements in front of you today are dealing with the same issue,” Director of Equalization Jacob Brehmer said. “There was a legislative rewrite of South Dakota Codified Law 10-6-137.1 — specifically, the law changed in the way that we assess partial-complete construction on apartment properties. In the past, we had assessed the property as it stood on Nov. 1. If it was 50 percent complete we would assess it as such and they would pay taxes on the 50 percent complete building the following year.”

He continued, “The rewrite specifically states that during construction the assessed value of the property may not exceed the property’s assessed value in the year preceding the start of construction, meaning we can’t assess the apartment until it’s fully complete, and then it goes on the discretionary formula.”

“That rewrite was an oversight by our office,” Brehmer noted. “We assessed seven properties at partial-complete as they stood on Nov. 1, 2022. The abatements are correcting the taxes that were levied on those partial-complete structures. We’ve already taken it a step further and corrected the 2024 assessed values at the local Board of Equalization on any apartment structures that were partial-complete on Nov. 1, 2023, for 2024’s assessment.”

Brehmer added, “This law has a little bit of a loophole in it, maybe needs to be closed up, you know, coming up in the next legislative session. As it reads right now, this is the way that we can correct our oversight on that.”

All of the abatement applications were OK’d, so that’s at least seven property owners who are happier now than they were before the county commission meeting.

— Contact Mondell Keck at mkeck@brookingsregister.com.