By Dave Baumeister,
County Correspondent
SIOUX FALLS – The “interim” was dropped from his title when Jacob Maras was named the new Highway Superintendent at the Tuesday, April 1, meeting of the Minnehaha County Commission.
Maras who had been the Interim Superintendent since Steve Groen left the position last November, has been with Minnehaha County for the past seven years, being the Assistant Highway Superintendent for the past three.
Previously, he had been with the city of Sioux Falls. He graduated with a degree in civil engineering from South Dakota State University in Brookings.
According to a press release sent out by the county, Maras will be responsible “for a $17.7 million construction budget that provides for the design, construction, and maintenance of approximately 200 bridges and 347 miles of roadway throughout Minnehaha County.
“Maras played a central role in securing over $13 million in State and Federal grant funding to offset the cost of road and bridge work throughout the County.”
Barth’s ‘ghost’ returns
Prior to his leaving office, Commissioner Jeff Barth would regularly explain where some of the major funds were going when the commission paid the bills at each meeting.
At the April 1 meeting, Commissioner Jen Bleyenberg took over that responsibility, detailing where much of the week’s $1 million in bills were being spent.
She pointed out this week, much of that money was going to pay for items the county was legally obligated to provide, including mental health bills, legal fees, and even burials.
Bleyenberg added that over $400,000 was for medical expenses relating to county correctional facilities.
She said that going forward, she hopes either she or another commissioner “will continue to offer brief comments about the bills that we pay.”
April public hearings
Kevin Hoekman of the Planning Department made plans with commissioners for four public hearings to be held at the regular meeting on Tuesday, April 22, concerning changes to the county zoning ordinance.
The changes are all in line with proposals in the new Envision 2045 comprehensive plan and involve Accessory Dwelling Units on rural land.
The first two changes specifically deal with allowing those ADUs in both the county-at-large and in the 3-mile joint jurisdiction zone with the city of Sioux Falls.
The other two ordinance changes would remove restrictions on the transfer property in those same areas.
As explained in the past, the ADUs would allow for smaller homes to be added on rural land for family members.
In many cases, this could be for parents moving out of a larger house to make room for their children’s families taking over stewardship of the farmland.
But being able to build the ADU would allow for family members to still remain on the land.
People wanting to comment on these zoning issues should plan to attend the April 22 meeting. And, like all regular meetings, it will be held in the third-floor commission meeting room of the Minnehaha County Administration Building at 6th and Minnesota in Sioux Falls.
The next commission meeting will be at 9 a.m. on Tuesday, April 15.
