There is a lot of news packed into this issue! The Commercial Club has decided to move ahead with Jesse James Days, though it will be modified and have fewer events than normal. The school board heard the first pieces of the Back to School plan that Superintendent Guy Johnson is working on with educators, and the City continues to move ahead with improvements on infrastructure. Plus, we've got updates on baseball, and more!
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The Garretson 12U baseball team competed in the Brandon Valley Ball Association baseball tournament on July 10th, 11th, and 12th. The boys defeated teams from Sioux Falls, Brandon Valley, and Flandreau to advance to the championship game. In the championship game, the boys lost to a very good Brookings team to take second place in the tournament. It was a good weekend on the diamond for the boys and the team played exceptionally well!
A special thank you goes out to Greg Erickson: American Landscapes, Nick Schotzko: Palisades Chiropractic, and Kevin Jessen: Beaver Creek Bulldogs for sponsoring the team’s entry fee to the tournament. Also, thanks to Mike Decker: Crete Pros for sponsoring the team.
Photo, front row left to right: Elijah Winterton, Collin Olson, Lucas Schotzko, Carter Siemonsma, Isaac Stoterau, Drew Chester, Tyler Erickson. Back row left to right: Coach Tony Olson, Coach Mike Decker, Ethan Magnuson, Noah Schotzko, Dan Hoskins, Treyton Decker, Cole Schleuter, Cole Jessen, Coach Kevin Jessen, Coach Mike Stoterau.
While Garretson baseball has been in serious upheaval this season, the boys have been able to get a few games in. The Garretson 15/16U team has played five games, and are currently at 4-1.
The team was first able to play on July 2 against Salem, where they scored 0-1. The first home game was on July 9, where they beat Flandreau 7-2. The following game against Flandreau was 6-5, and they have played Baltic twice and won with scores of 8-0 and 7-1.
Garretson will be hosting the Class B Region 2 tournaments next Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. Garretson will face off against Elkton at 4:00 p.m. on Monday, July 20.
Regions Brackets for 2020 Class B Region 2 Tournament
“Up bright and early on July 4th were members and friends of Henry G. Fix, Post 23 putting up nearly 100 American Flags in downtown Garretson and in front of the Veteran’s Administration Medical Center in Sioux Falls and then taking them down before dusk. Volunteers included Robert Meyer, Gary and Cheryl Lyngen, Tara Hough, Aarryon Flores, Gale Larson, Steven Hurley, Dell and Arlys Johnson, Don Dorsman and Markel Gnadt. What a great way to display the patriotism of the Garretson Community on this Independence Day! Thank you for brightening up the town. -photos submitted by Legion Commander Rob Meyer
South Dakota parents trying to return to work after pandemic-caused layoffs, furloughs or job changes may have a hard time finding child care as state day-care providers struggle to survive amid decreased business and increased costs.
South Dakota was struggling to build its workforce well before the pandemic hit and a shortage of child care was part of the problem. “I didn’t feel that it was worth the risk to stay open,” said former daycare provider Dawn Wall of Rapid City. Wall closed in March due to health concerns related to the pandemic. South Dakota lost a total of 244 providers between 2015 and 2019, and the pandemic has likely worsened the shortage.
Day-care centers, preschools and state registered in-home day-care providers were struggling against high costs, slim profit margins and a shortage of workers even before the COVID-19 pandemic.
With more parents now working from home, and fewer jobs available due to a slowed economy, many child-care providers find themselves paying for enhanced cleaning measures and extra staff at a time they are serving fewer children and bringing in less revenue.
Industry leaders have begun to worry that without a fully reopened economy and more state and federal support, child-care providers will be forced to close permanently, which could reduce the ability of people to go back to work and prolong the COVID-19 economic recession.
Rebecca Wimmer
“I have heard from other agency directors and CEOs that they are getting to their breaking point,” said Rebecca Wimmer,, CEO of the Boys and Girls Clubs of the Sioux Empire, which operates after-school and child-care programs for working parents. “You definitely feel like when you’re having those conversations that there’s not a whole lot further that these organizations can stretch. And then at that point, I do believe we will be in a serious predicament in terms of not having the available care for our children.”
South Dakota was struggling to build its workforce well before the pandemic hit and a shortage of child care was part of the problem. Between 2015 and 2019, the number of in-home, family day-care providers registered with the Department of Social Services dropped from 689 to 445, a loss of 244 providers and space for up to 2,928 children, according to data gathered by the Kids Count program at the University of South Dakota. In the same time period, just 19 new out-of-home day care centers were added to the market. The pandemic likely made the situation worse due to child-care closures.
Rob Grunewald
As South Dakota tries to claw out of the economic crisis caused by the pandemic, the economic consequences of a lack of child-care options could be significant, said Rob Grunewald, an economist with the Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank. If a state becomes too short on child care, its entire economy can be slowed by people staying out of the workforce to care for their children, which can increase reliance on public assistance and decrease economic productivity.
“Without child care, there’s a sizable portion of the workforce that won’t be able to go back to their jobs,” Grunewald said. “If there is a business looking to expand but the workforce doesn’t have enough child care, it can be harder to find workers.”
While unemployment in South Dakota remained much higher than normal in May at 9.4%, businesses are recalling workers. So far, there have been spaces open in child-care programs for the children of returning workers because so many parents were out of work. But those openings will likely be filled quickly, Wimmer said.
In March 2020, Dawn Wall closed her 24-hour, in-home child care operation in Rapid City and took an early retirement after 27 years due to COVID-19. Both she and her husband, who is also retired, are over 60 and are considered to be at higher risk from the potentially deadly disease.
“I didn’t feel that it was worth the risk to stay open,” Wall said. “By the time a vaccine comes out, I’d be at retirement age … it’s not fair to families to open up for a short time and then say, ‘Oh by the way, I’m retiring.’”
Many of the children who needed overnight care were the children of single parents who were nurses, certified nursing assistants, nursing home employees and overnight workers in the hospitality industry. Wall was one of only three 24-hour child-care providers in Rapid City when she retired. Her decision to retire was a blow to some clients who were forced to scramble to find alternate arrangements for their children.
“One client flew a relative into Rapid City to live with them” and help care for the children, Wall said. “Others had to get help from family or work from home.”
Child care is especially important in South Dakota, a state that is near the top in the nation for the number of households in which both parents work one or more jobs.
Exactly what the child-care industry in South Dakota will look like once the thousands of out-of-work parents go back to their jobs is unknown. There are unanswered questions about whether there will be enough support for day cares and whether schools will reopen at full capacity, re-open part time or return to remote learning where children must stay at home, said Janessa Bixel, president of the South Dakota Association for the Education of Young Children.
“We’ve got a lot of advocacy work going on right now.” Bixel said. “We’ve reached out to more economic development people to try to work with them to see how they can potentially provide support, but also how they could loop in other entities across the state because our economy needs child care for people to go back to work.”
Child-care industry hurt by pandemic
Even before the pandemic, the child care industry was approaching a crisis and was ill-equipped to handle a severe economic crisis.
The costs of providing quality early childhood education or child care include providing staff, supplies, food diapers, baby formula and utilities. But there is only so much a day-care provider can charge their clients, who include many young, low-paid workers who cannot afford to pay high rates, Grunewald said.
“Before the pandemic, the business model for child care was one of thin margins and it was a challenging business model to make a profit with,” Grunewald said. “The extra costs, now, to address COVID-19 have created more pressure.”
Outside of Sioux Falls and Rapid City, the Department of Social Services estimates the market rate providers charge for child care at between $3 and $4 per hour at child-care centers or between $2.50 and $2.65 per hour for in-home child care providers. In Sioux Falls and Rapid City, rates can vary between $3 and $4.20 per hour depending on location and provider type, and many providers charge more than the DSS market rates.
Child care is one of the biggest items on most family balance sheets. Many parents pay more than $6,000 a year for child care, according to the national nonprofit Committee for Economic Development. For day-care providers, setting rates attractive to clients while covering the actual cost of care is difficult, Bixel said.
“It’s pretty well known, nationally, that we don’t make big bucks working in early childhood education,” Bixel said. “In part, that is because it costs quite a bit to send kids to child care, and child-care programs try to keep those fees as low as they possibly can for families.”
High costs combined with low rates have made keeping the doors open at many child-care centers a challenging prospect. For example, Bixel said, a child-care center must have one adult staff member for every five children under the age of three. Even at the highest DSS market rate of $4.20 per hour, a center would only be bringing in about $33.60 per day on each toddler or infant.
In South Dakota, the average child-care worker makes about $10.55 an hour, $1.45 more than minimum wage. Subtracting the cost of diapers, formula and food for each of those five kids leaves little left over to pay administrators, invest in new programming or to turn a profit, Bixel said.
Low pay has helped make finding workers difficult, she said, which also was a major problem facing the child-care industry prior to the pandemic.
“You know, some people just aren’t cut out for it or think that it’s gonna be an easy job; it’s not easy,” Bixel said. “And, honestly, people who work at McDonald’s probably make more money than early childhood providers.”
The financial pressures facing child-care providers were a big reason that the state’s in-home or family child care industry was shrinking prior to the pandemic, said Wall, the Rapid City provider.
The child-care business wasn’t an easy way to make a living even during the best of times, she said. As a 24-hour provider who also took children over weekends, Wall said she took, at most, two days each year during her 27 years on the job. Just before the pandemic hit, she had a total of 15 children — up to 12 at a time — in her care each week. State law allows in-home day cares to care for up to 12 children at a time. For most of her time as a provider, Wall was working alone.
“From the time I hit the floor in the morning to the time I fell asleep in bed, I was working,” Wall said.
She made sure each child was learning every day and had positive relationships with Wall and with the other children. Wall also had to manage parental expectations and was responsible for preparing breakfast, lunch and dinner for at least some of the children.
“Child care was really a hard job,” Wall said. “You have to be good at bookkeeping. You have to be good at time management and be good at really managing your own stress levels because it’s a very stressful job.”
Adapting to the pandemic has only added to the financial stress on child-care providers, Bixel said. For large day cares or preschools, new cleaning requirements can cost hundreds or thousands of dollars per week as more supplies are needed, more staff time is devoted to cleaning or if a third-party cleaning service is hired. Even at in-home family day cares, extra cleaning can be expensive, Bixel said.
Still, if the extra cleaning costs were the only issue, things might be OK. But child care providers are contending with another problem — there are fewer kids to serve because parents have been laid off, furloughed or are working from home. Revenues are down at a time when costs have gone up, Bixel said, and it is only a matter of time before child care providers start deciding to close permanently.
“I know it’s been extremely taxing on programs’ finances. We barely make it as is in most early childhood programs,” Bixel said. “I’ve had even big programs say that just with the (new) financial burden, they really have no idea what the future holds right now.”
Several day-care centers around the state have closed temporarily after employees or children tested positive for COVID-19. In early July, the Leap 2 Learn Educational Childcare in Rapid City closed for two weeks after two employees and a child tested positive for the disease. No large outbreaks of COVID-19 have been associated with day-care providers in South Dakota, though in Texas, the state’s roughly 880 child-care facilities had reported 894 staff members and 441 children had become infected as of early July.
Government assistance held off closures
So far, most of South Dakota’s child care centers and registered in-home day-care providers have been able to stave off permanent closure owing to government financial assistance. Many providers have stayed afloat through financial support from the federal government through the CARES Act. But such assistance won’t last forever.
“That’s not sustainable. That’s not the long term,” Bixel said. “If you take a family child-care provider that’s used to having 12 families in their care and now they’re down to three families in their care, plus they’re having to do all this extra work, cleaning and all that, they kind of have to wait to see if it’s really worth it to them to stay in business.”
There also is an entire class of low-cost child-care providers, known as unregistered family day cares, that are unregulated and also ineligible for assistance.
South Dakota doesn’t require in-home child care services to be licensed, so virtually anyone with a clean criminal record can start an in-home day care and care for up to 12 children at a time. While there is not an official tally of how many unregistered day cares exist, the South Dakota Association for the Education of Young Children has estimated the number is likely more than 1,000. Unregistered day cares don’t get access to state or federally funded resources such as emergency funding or training. Parents who send their children to unregistered day cares also cannot ask DSS for help to pay for the service.
In an emailed statement in response to an interview request from News Watch, Department of Social Services Secretary Laurie Gill said the state has not heard from parents unable to find child care.
“DSS staff are diligently keeping a pulse on providers who have openings in the event shortages do occur,” Gill said in the statement.
Any shortages in child-care availability will not become apparent until the service is needed most — the time when parents are recalled to work, said Wimmer. By then, it could take years to rebuild capacity in response to demand.
For many years, organizations such as the Boys and Girls Clubs, Lutheran Social Services and SDAEYC have pushed for more public investment in child care and early childhood education, though without much success. Wimmer said the pandemic could bring much-needed attention to the long-term problems facing state child-care providers.
“We collaborate very well and we help carry each other’s burdens to some degree, and so I don’t know that the magnitude of the issue really was visible,” Wimmer said. “It just happened that COVID was kind of that last piece that made child-care issues more pronounced and, hopefully, has pushed child care into the spotlight so that we can get some things accomplished.”
The long intermission from movies at the indoor movie theatres is finally coming to an end. The Dells Theatre is preparing to reopen on July 17.
Jeff Logan, President of Logan Luxury Theatres Corporation, and Nancy Jorgenson, Dells Theatre Manager, announced the re-opening date today. They said the company has taken extensive measures to ensure the health and safety of their guests and staff.
The staff will be spraying disinfectant rated for human coronavirus on all contact surfaces, seats, restrooms, etc. between every showing as well as scheduling more time between the shows to allow for a deeper, more thorough cleaning.
They have also installed an iWave filtering system in the air conditioning unit that uses a patented needlepoint bi-polar ionization to capture any pollutants, viruses or bacteria in the air in both the auditorium and the lobby. Additional UV filters are on order and will be installed as soon as they arrive. These provide an extra method of killing bacteria in the air.
The Dells Theatre has adjusted the selling stations to sell both tickets and concessions during the same transaction at the concessions stand to eliminate extra points of contact. Refill programs on the large popcorn and drinks have been discontinued to eliminate cross-contamination. The annual popcorn bucket program has been modified so bucket owners will receive a new bag of popcorn for each paid refill.
All employees will be wearing masks and any food handlers will also be wearing gloves. Logan said “We are excited to open our doors again and bring the magic of the movies back to our community.” The Dells Theatre will be showing all time favorite movies as noted in Facebook polls until the studios start releasing new movies again. The theatre is also offering opening weekend concession specials. They will be open Friday, Saturday and Sunday only for the first few weeks. The first few weeks of community favorites will be only $5 for all ages.
SIOUX FALLS – The Minnehaha County Commission finished its regular business on Tuesday, July 7, in just 14 minutes.
With the reversal of a property tax abatement being deferred to July 14, the only item on their agenda was the hiring of a temporary tax and revenue technician to help with the glut of customers at the county treasurer’s office.
Treasurer Pam Nelson again talked about some of the reasons that keep people lined up outside the administration building for two to four hours.
Nelson said that prior to the COVID-19 shutdown, wait times were generally less than 20 minutes, and, of course, what waiting there was took place in the building’s climate-controlled hallway.
But with “social distancing,” the line that starts inside now stretches outside the south door and continues back along the sidewalk toward the county courthouse on Dakota Ave.
During this business item, Commissioner Dean Karsky talked about conversations he had with two separate residents.
One, he said, “was a good, old-fashioned, butt chewing,” where the person complained about having to wait outside for long periods of time.
However, another person Karsky spoke to was just taking a spot in line to renew his auto license plate.
He told Karsky that he could use other methods to renew (mail, online and self-service kiosks), but “he said he was ‘too cheap’ to pay the extra $1 (fee).”
The commissioner pointed out “that was his choice,” even though people who make that “choice” have to wait hours in line, as well as extending the wait time for others.
Still, Nelson said most of the business at the office has been for new vehicle titles, which cannot be gotten at any other location.
But she was happy when commissioners approved her new hire unanimously.
“We’ve been putting in one hour of overtime every day,” Nelson said, “and the office has been working Saturday mornings for the past three weeks to go through the mail” and do other things they can’t get to while they are staffing all 12 of the office’s windows to cut the line down.
The Minnehaha Commission has its regular meetings each Tuesday at 9 a.m. on the second floor of the county administration building at 6th and Minnesota in Sioux Falls.
These meetings are open to all, and public comment is always encouraged.
The Garretson City Council meeting held on Monday, July 6 heard an update on the Main Ave/Truck Route construction, a request to help install water lines to the buildings between the railroad tracks on Dows, and a request to encourage removal of the chemical spill dumpsters by Nachurs Alpine. The meeting also saw the installation of the 2020-21 City Council, which had been voted in on June 2.
These dumpsters, which are likely holding much of the chemical spill clean-up, are still present on Nachurs Alpine property more than four months after the incident. The City will be working to see these removed as soon as possible. (Photo from March 2020)
The meeting began with updates from the park board and fire department, as well as approval of natural gas rates.
The Garretson Parks Advisory Committee (GPAC) reported that the mulch installation at the playground of the Jaycee’s Sports Complex (JSC) had just been completed, and it was a bigger project than had been anticipated, as much of the base was gravel and pea rock that had compacted. It required the use of borrowed equipment (for which they thanked CHS) and manual labor to remove. A 9” layer of shredded wood mulch has now been laid, which brings the playground up to CPSC playground safety standards. The sidewalk and curb project at JSC was given the go-ahead and should be completed in the next few weeks, and a short sidewalk will also be laid near the picnic shelter to help with ADA standards and playground access. Two new pads for bleachers will also be laid. Several ash trees were removed from the complex, partially to keep costs down since the ash borer has not yet been discovered in our immediate area, and partly to keep heavy equipment off the new concrete that will be laid. GPAC is gathering estimates for shade structures and is working closely with the City to have trees replaced. The concession stand and picnic shelter have also been painted.
New mulch was laid at the Jaycee's Sports Complex playground at the end of June. The project ended up being more involved than expected due to a compacted layer of gravel and pea rock, but now has been brought up to safety regulations. Photo by Carrie Moritz
At Split Rock Park, GPAC is working on replacing the sign at the entrance to the park, and are hoping to have that completed by Jesse James Days in August. They noted that they’re working with a local metal sign maker, King Skull Metalworks, and that he will also be making a sign to be placed at the visitor’s center in Devil’s Gulch by the flagpole. They will also be doing some landscaping work at the Devil’s Gulch visitor’s center, including the installation of Kwik Kerb.
After GPAC’s report, the council then heard the quarterly report from the fire department. Fire Chief Dan Wagner presented, noting that in March, they had begun doing birthday party drive-bys to help with community morale while in the midst of the pandemic. They also participated in graduation drives and the end of year teacher parade, and the council thanked them for their willingness to raise spirits. During the spring, calls have continued, but when asked if the fire department had enough PPE, Wagner said they’ve mostly let the ambulance take point on that and they’ve been doing standby, so their PPE reserves are fine at this time.
Next, the council heard an update on street construction from City Maintenance Supervisor Craig Nussbaum. First Rate Excavate was contracted by the bond company to complete the Main Avenue and Truck Route project, and they had started that morning on Main. They will have Main 90% completed (to at least a hard-pack gravel surface) prior to beginning on the Truck Route. They are planning for Main to take 6 to 8 weeks, and for the entire project to be completed by November 15. First Rate has also agreed to do the Lacey Avenue extension, but no estimate had been received yet. Council member Richelle Hofer asked Nussbaum if he had been in contact with Jesse James Country Store regarding the street project, as they had inquired, and he responded that he had.
The new Executive Director of MCEDA/LCEDA, Jesse Fonkert, then introduced himself to the council. He thanked Garretson for being part of the organization, and let the council know that he was available for any economic development needs or questions.
The council adjourned, and re-adjourned as the new council for 2020-21. The mayor and all council members except Tom Godbey had been up for re-election, and members Richelle Hofer and Jodi Gloe had been voted back in during a close 4-way election. The other council members were uncontested. Council members Dave Bonte and Greg Franka were nominated and voted to be President and Vice President, respectively. Committee appointments remained the same.
After the oaths of office were completed, the council heard a request from Rod Tillma, owner of Central Valley Dairy, to help his business work with BNSF Railroad to get water lines installed to his buildings. They are situated between the split railroad tracks on Dows, and he had been working the better part of over a year to get permission to bore for water lines under the tracks. He was unsuccessful with getting a response, even while working closely with Nussbaum. He would like water for not only bathroom facilities, but also a fire hydrant in case of fire. He pointed out there were also CHS propane tanks in the vicinity that were unprotected if there was ever a fire, and Fire Chief Dan Wagner pointed out that his trucks alone would not be able to contain a fire without a hydrant or even two in the area. The council agreed that the lack of response was inappropriate, and agreed to put their support behind getting this issue resolved. Council member Bonte said that the City should move quickly to ensure this project was completed sooner rather than later. City Finance Officer Anna Uhl agreed to take point with the council’s support.
The council then moved to ordinances and resolutions. They voted to approve a fence variance request for 409 Essex, and approved an urban renewal ordinance for the former senior citizen’s and former Hoven buildings. The urban renewal ordinance allows owner Norm DeWitt to take advantage of tax breaks for the first six years. He is retro-fitting the buildings into apartment housing and indoor parking.
The last resolutions were re-wordings of the resolutions passed in June, which dealt with how water and sewer rates are itemized. Uhl said the state requested the surcharge be separated out from the base rate. Prices were still the same regardless. The council voted unanimously to approve the resolutions.
The floor was then opened for public comments. Community member Bruce Brown requested the City take action towards removal of the dumpsters on Nachurs Alpine property. These dumpsters are assumedly holding the chemical spill clean-up that occurred in March. Not only is this a concern for public health and safety, and an eyesore, but the trucks used in the clean-up effort ruined the road. With Railroad Avenue on schedule to be replaced in the next few months, the mayor expressed concern that the dumpster removal could ruin the new road as well. Mayor Greg Beaner agreed to ensure those were removed as soon as possible.
Council member Hofer then addressed a drainage issue that had been brought up by a community member on Garretson Living a few weeks ago. It was found that a drain had been nicked by equipment and was no longer functioning properly, which meant that dirt and debris from the new development were again flowing down Sarah C Street when it rained. It had since been fixed, and had worked during a downpour that morning. Another drain is also being worked on in the southwest corner of the development to ensure the backyards and field to the south and west didn’t develop drainage issues as well. The council again asks that residents contact the City or their Ward representative directly when issues are found instead of complaining on Facebook, as direct communication is more effective.
The final piece before the council entered executive session was to surplus the old police radar trailer, which hadn’t been used in many years. This is part of an effort by the maintenance department to clean up the area around City Hall. Nussbaum noted that an ad could be placed in the paper to see if there was any interest.
After executive session, the council voted to raise Nussbaum’s wages the previously agreed-upon 3%. Council member Hofer noted that the City should budget for wage increases for 2021 to match the rates that had been brought up by the study presented in June.
The council then adjourned. The next meeting will be August 3 at 6:30 p.m. The council will continue to meet at the Legion in the future unless community pandemic numbers increase substantially.
Many residents have had questions about the upcoming Garretson school year, and when and whether or not it will be open for business as usual this fall.
Although it wasn’t a specific line item of discussion in the Garretson School Board’s agenda on the night of Monday, July 13, it was discussed a few times throughout the meeting and during the Superintendent’s Report and briefing to the board.
“A lot of people are wondering one what’s going to happen this year, and whether or not the school will open on time,” said Supt. Guy Johnson at the meeting Monday night. “People want guidance and want to know what our plan is, because there is a lot of uncertainty right now. We don’t have a concrete plan as of right now, but we’re are working on one.”
“It’s really unfortunate that this issue has become so political. One side is driving the school to open for business as usual. The other side seems determined that we not open at all. As educators, we’re caught in the middle. We know that students need teachers and teachers need students, and there are things we can do to open our school up with the health and safety of our students and staff as our highest priority.”
“Flexibility is going to be the key word this year,” he said. “Our staff showed how flexible they can be at the start of all these troubles and flexibility this coming year will be more important than ever. We’re all going to have to be flexible. Our initial plan as of right now is to open, face to face with our students with as many precautions as we can reasonably take. This week we’ re going to meet with staff members representing each grade level and decide how we’re going to handle this thing. We’ll take this step by step, with caution. What works for one classroom, may not work for another classroom. And what works for Garretson, won’t necessarily work in Sioux Falls or vice versa. However, we and every other district in the state will be working and sharing information of what does work with each other.”
“A lot of the decisions that will have to be made will be done right here by this board,” said Shannon Nordstrom. “That’s not necessarily a bad thing, as I’ m confident we can make the right judgments to keep our students and staff safe.”
During the course of the meeting, several items of interest came up related to this topic. As an example, infrared thermometers have been purchased for each elementary classroom to be used periodically throughout the day.
“We’re confident we can open safely and we’ re going to go to teachers grade by grade with the initial plan from the administration offices which they will and should poke holes into. With that we can form better plans and go forward, because I can guarantee they’ ll think of things we hadn’t thought of. We’ll do all of this with a mind to responsibility and safety, and do everything in our power to get our kids in the building and get education happening again.”
Supt. Johnson reported that the ESSER federal funds have come through to support the summer-long lunch program that the school has been providing. However, he also noted that the GEER grants from the State of South Dakota have as yet failed to launch.
“The GEER (Governor’s Emergency Education Relief fund), was to be a competitive grant application system that schools could apply to offset additional costs because of the COVID-19 pandemic,” Supt. Johnson said. “However, this program has so far failed to launch. The application process hasn’t even started and we can’t even get an application document as of yet. As an example, those thermometers that were mentioned are an additional expense that could be covered by the grant, but we can’t get reimbursed if we can’t apply. Also, earlier we talked about lunchroom tables. Right now, we seat eight kids to a table, and under the current circumstances that’s probably not a good idea. So, we need more lunchroom tables. Well, if I ordered those today they aren’t just going to materialize by the start of the school year. Things take time to arrange, so we need this sooner rather than later.”
Though masks were not discussed, half of the present board members were wearing them at the meeting, as well as all of the three members of the public who were there for the meeting. Board members were distanced at least six feet apart along with the audience. The recent City Council meeting had zero masks worn at their recent in-person meeting, nor were councilors distanced more than four feet apart.
Nordstrom mentioned that he’ d received a news update on his phone that people were protesting the Sioux Falls school board meeting. Tony Martens asked what they were protesting about. Nordstrom replied that he wasn’t sure, but that he guessed it was that the school be opened for students. In fact, the Argus Leader and KELO reported that the protests at the Instructional Learning Center were by the teachers, because they were requesting that the proposed Sioux Falls school districts’ “Return to Learning” plans change from masks being “highly recommended” to “required.” Masks have remained highly contentious, as early guidelines recommended against mask-wearing, partly to protect medical workers from personal protective equipment shortages. However, as more evidence became available that Sars-CoV-2 was likely spread by airborne particles from those who are asymptomatic or pre-symptomatic, the CDC revised its guidelines to encourage covering the nose, mouth, and even eyes to help prevent the spread of the virus.
The full report of the Garretson School Board meeting will be in next week’s paper.
The parade will go on! The Garretson Commercial Club has opted to continue with Jesse James Days, with changes made in order to keep community members safer. One change is a longer parade route so more social distancing can occur. (Photo from Jesse James Days 2019)
The Garretson Commercial Club met at the Sports Cabin on July 8, 2020.
Club president John Brinkman asked vice-president Garrick Moritz to take the minutes for this meeting, as club secretary Margie Martens was unable to attend.
Present were Laurie Bennet, Anna Uhl, Mary Ann Carlson, Steve Carlson, Tim Mallett, John Brinkman and Garrick Moritz. Also present was city councilwoman Jodi Gloe who accompanied Uhl to the meeting and Oran Sorenson, who had been invited by Moritz, after a phone call earlier in the week about Jesse James Days. Sorenson had a couple of good ideas and Moritz requested he attend. All Commercial Club meetings are open to the public and we welcome the input. Club Treasurer Kris Johnson and board member Ron Luke also joined the meeting later.
At first there were not enough board members in attendance for a quorum. Those present reviewed items on the agenda until a quorum was made. Thankfully, the timely arrival of Kris Johnson gave the club the quorum needed to take votes.
The board approved previous minutes and the treasurer’s report.
Though the members present had already discussed a little bit about Jesse James Days, when Johnson arrived and gave the meeting the quorum required. As soon as quorum was met, board member Anna Uhl requested straight away that the board tackle the big topic of the meeting, the viability of the Jesse James Days event itself.
Many concerns had come to the Commercial Club and its board members. President Brinkman spoke with a local insurance agent (before the last meeting) about how there was not an insurance company in the land right now that would cover a wrongful death lawsuit for a death resulting in COVID-19.
In South Dakota, numbers for coronavirus deaths and infections over the last several weeks have plateaued and now have slightly declined. But elsewhere in the nation, COVID-19 has had multiple and devastating outbreaks in Florida, Georgia, Texas, Arizona and California. (In fact, if Florida was an independent nation, it would have the 6th highest infection rate in the world). As is, the US itself is #1 in world for infections and deaths for the coronavirus.
Taking this into account, it would be wrong not to raise the question if the Jesse James Days event would be viable or not.
Brinkman informed those present that the HS band, FFA and TATU groups would not be able to participate in the parade, and that the proposed petting zoo and FFA Fishing derby would also not be taking place. These reasons were not directly but rather indirectly linked to COVID-19. Bandmaster Mr. Nick Sittig did not have enough rehearsal time with his marching band, and FFA instructor Alysha Kientopf would be away on the weekend in question. Last month, the board already voted to cancel the inflatables, deeming it an unsafe activity for families during this pandemic.
Moritz said he’d heard from many citizens and patrons about how much they were looking forward to Jesse James Days, and had expressed their opinion that it was essential for the morale of the community to go forward. However, he also expressed that he felt one death from a COVID-19 infection from a person who attended Jesse James Days was one death too many. Moritz had a conversation with Oran Sorenson about this very topic the previous day and he invited Sorenson to speak at this meeting.
Sorenson was recognized and he spoke well. He said that in his church, they were weekly taking the precautions of masks and distancing. He said despite the pandemic, the people of this area really needed this celebration to bring them some joy and comfort in these dark times and that there should be a way to do this smartly and safely. The parade, for example, he said, must go forward. All the conversations he’d had with local community members cited that was very important to them. He proposed extending the parade to go down more city streets and all over the city. For downtown streets, he suggested using sidewalk chalk or washable paints to section off 12ft areas where family groups could cluster, with 6 feet of space between them. If the parade length could be lengthened across more residential streets, most Garretson residents would be able to watch the parade from the comfort of their own front yards or porches. The parade will go forward as proposed at its scheduled time as well, and by necessity will be completely motorized.
Uhl and Gloe compared this idea to what the Garretson School had done for the end of year teacher’s parade. Everyone at the meeting concurred.
So, this brought the club board to the issue of what and or how many items to include in the events. How much to be scaled back, with the idea of safety first and limiting the club’s liability.
The Legion building has already been rented for the weekend and at the last contact the Brinkman had with Rich Holzapfel, he was still planning on going forward for the model train exhibition. There are still plans for an outdoor movie Friday night and the Jesse James Road Race (run/walk/bicycle) Saturday morning, albeit with a more staggered style.
Kris Johnson said that the fire department wanted to go forward with the fireman’s breakfast, but they had not decided yet. Brinkman contacted Fire Chief Dan Wagner’s cell phone and after the meeting, just before publishing this report Brinkman reported that they had not yet made a final decision as to whether or not they would host the breakfast.
The Outdoor Community Church Service will also go forward.
Brinkman said he’ d speak with the Legion members at the earliest opportunity to let them know to have a float for the color guard, as walking this extra-long route would be difficult for our retired veterans.
The club’s board voted to scale back to these official events only. This leaves local business and organizations the option to host their own activities or not, as they desire.
The Parade Committee will be working closely with the City of Garretson, as construction has begun in earnest on the street project, once again. When a final route around the city had been decided, and the final schedule set it will be published in this newspaper and made publicly available on the city’s website and across social media.
Next the board discussed ribbon cuttings for new member businesses. Already Rae’s Greenhouse had been featured in the paper and Moritz said that he planned to approach three others in the near future.
The next item for discussion was timely as Oran Sorenson was there, which is discussions about signage at or around Palisades State Park. Sorenson owns the land next to both the current entrance and the newly proposed main entrance when the park expansion is to be completed.
Sorenson was amenable to new signage but he also wanted to address the Commercial Club on a related issue. He felt very strongly that the current entrance should be maintained as a secondary entrance at the conclusion of the project. Sorenson has been championing this issue, and has made several contacts locally and in Pierre. Sorenson said he even had volunteers lined up to man the old entrance if staffing was truly an issue. Advice he had received on the said issue was, that if promoted with a political will, it would easily turn in Garretson’s favor. He said he’s been working on a coalition to lobby both the former and current governor to support keeping the current entrance open as a secondary entrance. If the Garretson Commercial Club and the City of Garretson supported this, he said that the odds of making this happen increase. The Commercial Club was supportive, as were the representatives of the city present at the meeting. Sorenson said he’d keep us all informed as to plans moving forward.
The next item up for discussion was the Pool Auction, which we received word was canceled.
The City-wide rummage sales on Aug. 6, 7 & 8are moving forward as scheduled. The 16th Annual Garretson Commercial Club Golf Tournament would also be going forward as scheduled on Friday, August 7.
The next big item for discussion was the new downtown sound system project. Brinkman did not have a firm estimate on costs for the project, but as proposed the new sound system would be done on a hardline fiber optic cable connected to speakers on the city’s new light posts. It was thought that this would be more reliable and longer lasting than a Bluetooth radio system.
Ron Luke was vocally supportive of the project, saying it could have an undeniable benefit for the city and any and all future city celebrations. And with the commercial club scaling back its activities for Jesse James Days, we might have more funds readily available for the project. Brinkman said he had been coordinating with the City of Garretson to see how much the city would be willing to contribute to the project and that he would seek out firm cost estimates for the project.
Though the Commercial Club has advertised, openly looking for committee members for a Christmas Lanes committee, no one has yet filed for any positions on the committee.
The club’s board then approved two requests from both Sam Williamson and Kris Frerk for gift certificates and prizes for contests.
