South Dakota Association of Towns and Townshipssdtown/doc/SummerNewsletter.pdf · South Dakota Association of Towns and Townships 351 Wisconsin SW, Huron, SD • Phone (605) 353-1439

South Dakota Associationof Towns and Townships

Summer 2009351 Wisconsin SW, Huron, SD • Phone (605) 353-1439 • Fax (605) 352-5322

COTTON NAMED SDATAT $1000 SCHOLARSHIP WINNER

Alexander Kotten is the SDATAT $1000 Scholarship winner for 2009. A graduate of Madison High School andthe son of Larry and Kathy Kotten, Alex wrote an essay on the topic, ÒInvestigate what the challenges are intodayÕs local governments by interviewing

your local town ortownship boardmembers. Researchand propose ways tomeet those challengesand give any new ideasto make town andtownship governmentsmore efficient inhandling theirtransactions.Ó Alexturned in a very wellresearched paperinvestigating some ofthe challenges andproposing ideas toresolve them.

Alex plans to attend theSouth Dakota School ofMines in Rapid City thisfall. As he fulfilled hishigh school require-

ments early, he has taken courses at DSU toget a jump on his college career. He did all thiswhile holding down two jobs.

Alex and his parents are invited guests to the Awards Luncheon to be held as part of the SDATAT 30th AnnualMeeting, December 5, 2009 in Brookings, SD. His paper will be presented in its entirety at this time. The South Dakota Association of Towns & Townships annually awards a $1000 scholarship to a graduatingSouth Dakota senior. This award is given to the college of their choice the 1st semester of their 2nd year incollege. The 2010 application will be available in early 2010.

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2 s Summer 2009 s SDATAT Newsletter

President's Columnby Cindy Foster, Miner County

SOUTH DAKOTA ASSOCIATION OF TOWNS AND TOWNSHIPS (SDATAT) ISSN 1072-2505Published quarterly to provide information, education, andtechnical assistance to local governments, by the SOUTH DAKOTA ASSOCIATION OF TOWNS AND TOWNSHIPS PO BOX 903, HURON, SD 57350

GAIL BROCK, EDITOR AND EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Creative Printing, Huron, SD, PrinterRegistered with the Library of Congress.

Postmaster: Send notices or change of address forms to Huron, 57350-0903. *If readers have any comments, corrections, submissions or display ads for this publication, call (605) 353-1439 or FAX (605) 352-5322.

This newsletter is agricultural inks printed on recyclable paper.

Cindy Foster, President................................FultonDuane Harvey, Vice President ......................BalticAl Johnson, Secretary............................BrookingsJim Puffer, Treasurer ..............................Hitchcock

Dan Thyen, Past President .......................WaverlyMark Jensen, Executive Board.....................ErwinDarwin Bettmann, Executive Board.....AberdeenRodney Stormo, Executive Board.................Hayti

Calvin Musch, Director .........................Clear LakeJerry Lingen, Director ...........................Sioux FallsGordon Mussetter, Director .....................SissetonPamela Klebsch, Director.........................Redfield

GGrreeeettiinnggss!!!!

I hope that your summer hasbeen uneventful, however, I’mafraid that isn’t the case formany of you. This has been anunusual summer for weatherevents, be it too much rain,hail, wind, and even flooding. Itdoesn’t seem to let up! I know

what that means for many of you, it has beenchallenging to keep your roads open, and in goodcondition.

I want to thank you for all of your efforts to keep thepublic safe as they travel in your townships andtowns. You as officers don’t get thanked enough forall that you do.

Several members of your SDAT&T board recentlymet with the state boards of Minnesota, Wisconsin,and North Dakota Township Associations. Thismeeting was hosted by North Dakota. All fourstates have many issues that are similar, and wecan learn from each other when we compare notesand relate what is working well in each of ourstates. It was a very interesting meeting, and it isalways fun to “talk shop” with those who are insimilar positions. We also discussed upcomingnational legislation that will affect towns/townships,should it pass.

I want to encourage each of you to keep safety inmind when doing your township duties, as well asduring the upcoming harvest. We want to see eachof you at our annual meeting in December, soplease, stay safe and don’t forget to take the timeto enjoy those high school football games that willbe starting soon. Also, remember, if you haveissues you want considered at the SDATAT AnnualMeeting, contact myself, one of the other boardmembers or the office.

Cindy Foster, President, SDATAT

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During the pastlegislative session, localgovernments came veryclose to securing an increasein highway funding through amodest increase in vehicleregistration (license plate)fees. A large majority ofHouse members approved a$15 increase; however,when the Governor

threatened to veto any license plate bill that didn’t havea gas tax increase included, Senate leaders came up afew votes short of getting approval in the Senate.

House Transportation Committee Chair, ShantelKrebs, and Senate Transportation Committee Chairman,Mike Vehle, led efforts to conduct additional studies onlong term highway funding needs during the 2009Interim as part of the scheduled Department ofTransportation Agency Review. The first Committeemeeting was held on June 23 and 24, 2009. Publictestimony, led by SDATAT, was provided to show theneeds and funding shortfalls on local roads, as well as byDOT on State highways. During discussion by theCommittee, there appeared to be considerable supportfrom both Democrats and Republicans in both the Houseand Senate for seeking additional funding for both Stateand local roads. Bipartisan support, as well as supportfrom the Governor is critical in gaining approval ofincreased funding as next year is an election year.

This is where Township Supervisors can get involved.Listed below are ways and things Board members can doto help in gaining public and legislative support for

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Summer 2009 s SDATAT Newsletter s 3

INSURING TOWNS AND TOWNSHIPSSchwebach Insurance Agency

402 Garfield, Dell Rapids, SD 57022

1-800-657-8005Safety Dividend Group Plan Approved By Your Association

Safety Dividend PlanAvailable Through All

Employers Mutual AgentsUnderwritten by Insurance Companies

Tom Dravland, Secretary of the SouthDakota Department of Public Safety, wasannounced as the 2009 winner of the Legacyof Leadership Public Employee award at theUSD Masters of Public Administration Pre-commencement Luncheon on May 8, 2009.

The Legacy of Leadership Public EmployeeAward is sponsored by the Students of PublicAdministration and the W. O. Farber Centerfor Civic Leadership in the Political ScienceDepartment. The award recognizes anoutstanding federal, state, or localgovernment employee working in SouthDakota who has demonstrated exemplarycivic leadership skills for the betterment ofgovernment and community. Letters ofnomination sent on Mr. Dravland’s behalfhighlight his many achievements and hisengagement in civic affairs.

Thomas Dravland wasappointed Secretary of theDepartment of Public Safetyin April of 2003. Prior to this,Dravland worked for theSouth Dakota Highway Patrolfor over 27 years. He servedin various positions during thistime: Field Trooper,Investigator for the VehicleTheft Unit, StaffS e r g e a n t / L i e u t e n a n t ,Assistant Superintendent andSuperintendent. From 1986to 1994, Dravland served as aClass B Trustee for the SouthDakota Retirement Systemand is a current member of

the Law Enforcement Standards and TrainingCommission. Mr. Dravland earned the rankof Colonel and became Superintendent ofthe Highway Patrol in 1999, a position heheld until his appointment as Secretaryof the Department of Public Safety. ThroughMr. Dravland’s leadership and vision, theSouth Dakota 9-1-1 Coordination Board wascreated to address state-wide issues with 9-1-1 response systems.

Mr. Dravland has launched the PARENTSMATTER program in South Dakota and wasinstrumental in bringing the Alive at 25program to South Dakota in 2008. Both ofthese programs focus on reducing thenumber of traffic fatalities and injuries inSouth Dakota, especially among our youngpeople.

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Cliff Reuer, Traffic andSafety Engineer in the Officeof Project Development withthe SD Dept ofTransportation, will retire onAugust 7, 2009. Cliff hasworked for the DOT for 40years. Many of you have metCliff at the SDATAT AnnualMeetings or at countymeetings. Some of you haveworked with him on thesigning program for yourtownship/town.

We want to take thisopportunity to wish Cliff wellin his retirement and to say“Thank You” for all theassistance he has given tolocal governments.

Speaking of his retirement,Cliff says, “as the Harleyriders say, ‘it is not about thedestination, it is about theride.’ It has been a greatride.”

Congratulations Cliff on ajob well done and have awonderful retirement.


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Al Batt of rural Hartland, Minnesota is a writer, speaker,storyteller, and humorist. Al writes four columns perweek for many newspapers and does a show threetimes per week on a number of radio stations. Hewrites a number of popular cartoon strips that aresyndicated nationally and has written for a number ofmagazines and books, including the Chicken Soup Forthe Soul series. Al appears each week on “Memoriesand Musings by Al Batt” on public television. He haswritten for the movies. He speaks at various festivals,conferences, and conventions all over the UnitedStates. He is clerk of Hartland Township, speaks toanyone who will listen, and his mother thinks he isspecial.

Batt will speak at the banquet Friday night, December4, 2009 at the Days Inn in Brookings. Moreinformation on the event will be forthcoming.

FFoorrttyy OOnnee YYeeaarrss ooff SSeerrvviicceeJoe Stastny knows whatcommunity service means. He hasserved as treasurer for Plain CenterTownship in Charles Mix County for41 years. Stastny has lived in thetownship his entire 83 years.

Mr. and Mrs. Stastny have 5children, all have collegeeducations. Mrs. Stastny is ahomemaker and plays theaccordion. She had a family bandfor 20 years and still entertains in the area. She has served asa volunteer at the Wagner Nursing Home for 40 years.

Joe was the recipient of a plaque from the South DakotaAssociation of Towns and Townships in recognition of hisservice on the township board.

SDATAT will again recognize town/township board memberswho have served 40 years or more on their respective boards.The recognition will be a part of the SDATAT Annual MeetingDecember 4 & 5, 2009 in Brookings. More information will bein the October newsletter.


Spring flooding, heavy rains or otherdisasters can occur in any county, city,or township. If you had flooding in manylocations, for example, how many roadswould you be able to close properly?How many Type III barricades and roadclosure signs does your agency have onhand?

This is a problem in South Dakotaand is something highwaysuperintendents, street superintendentsand townships supervisors need toaddress.

Proper closure usually requiresblocking access to areas that aredangerous to the traveling public toprotect your governmental unit from anyliability problems that may occur.However, you may have to allow accessfor local traffic beyond a closedintersection. In this case, warningshould be given at the nearestintersection and complete closure madeat the point of danger.

We have seen many hazardoussituations where roads are not properlyclosed and this could be a major liabilityproblem to a local agency. To preventproblems you must be aware of thestandards that exist for road closure.

The manual that sets standards forall traffic control is the 2003 edition ofthe Manual on Uniform Traffic ControlDevices (MUTCD). Section 6F.63 of theMUTCD provides guidance on Type I, IIor III Barricades and where they shouldbe used. Another good handbook is theSouth Dakota Local Government RoadsSigning Reference, 2004 edition,Section 6F.60, pages A-15 through A-19. These two manuals will give you theproper signing methods and guidancefor proper closures.

We strongly suggest you contact the

proper authorities when a road is closedThis will help in re-routing emergencyvehicles around these sites. Whenworking as a highway superintendent inBrookings County, I always contactedthe sheriff’s office and they in turninformed the emergency units of theclosures. Also, keep a good log of whenthe road was closed and note the dateand time when it was re-opened forpublic travel. If you keep good recordsand you have any incidents such asbarricade removal by vandals, you haverecords to protect you and yourdepartment. If you have a digitalcamera, dated pictures of the closuresare certainly beneficial.

At this time, many counties andtownships in South Dakota have had toclose roads due to spring run off andmajor flooding along rivers and manysmall tributaries. Many governmentalunits do not have enough barricades tocomplete the closures. It’s a good ideato contact other governmental units inyour area to see if you could use theirsigns and barricades in case ofdisasters. Make a list of how many youcan borrow and this will help determinethe number you need in the future.Funding is a problem for many of youand sharing signs and barricades is away of working together.

Another way to get the signs youneed is to rent signs from signcontractors throughout the state.

The cost in May 2009 for a completeType III barricade is about $218 andincludes a 48”520” Road Closed sign.The 30”530” advance warning signs are$32 each.

Consider: Is this cost excessive if alife is lost or having a huge liability caseto proceed through our court system?These are some of the issues we dealwith on a day to day basis—Are YouPrepared?

Are YouPrepared?

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AMERICA’STOWN MEETING

2009 LEGISLATIVECONFERENCE

Sept 8 - 11, 2009

Hyatt Regency Washington Capitol Hill • Washington, DC

For more information including schedule,room rates, and registration information,

contact the SDATAT - phone 605-353-1439 or e-mail: [email protected]


Summer is half over and it seems likeit just started. Most parts of the statelook absolutely beautiful with greenpastures and hills, tall corn, ripe wheatready to be harvested. There are thosewho talk about the ‘lazy days ofsummer’. I am not sure where thatcame from but take it from me, therehaven’t been any ‘lazy days’ atSDATAT.

Dick Howard is continuing to serve aslobbyist for the Association. You willfind his comments in this newsletter.He has participated in several meetingson your behalf and testified at theInterim Committee on HighwayFinancing.

Funding for township roads continuesto be a challenge for many of you. Weworked hard to secure additionalfunding in the 2009 LegislativeSession and were not successful. Ifyou remember, at the 2008 SDATATAnnual Meeting, the voting delegates

adopted a policy to support a $10increase in registration fees and a 5cent gas tax increase. Dick has done agood job of documenting the needs oflocal governments and producingdocumentation of what the proposedincreases would mean in dollars forlocal roads.

Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT) has beenmentioned but not discussed at lengthin Pierre. However, on the nationallevel, VMT is being talked about. Thereason for the discussion is because ofthe effort to consume less gasoline.We have vehicles which get higher gasmileage, there are hybrid cars which donot consumer any gasoline and therewill be more of those in the future. Allof this leads to a reduction in theamount of gas tax collected both onthe national and state levels whichtranslates into fewer dollars for roadconstruction and maintenance. Thecurrent highway bill is set to expire inSeptember. However, the word is it will

be a continuing resolution and a newhighway bill could be as much as 18months before being adopted.

How do you feel about VMT? I think itcould be very costly for people in therural states like South Dakota. Wehave to travel many miles for services,to market products, etc. Add that tothe idea of someone keeping track ofthe miles you drive seems like aninvasion of privacy to me.

One thing is certain, you cannot sweepthe VMT issue under the rug and say itwill never happen. Keep your earsopen, read as much as you can on thisissue, and then let your legislators andcongressional delegation know howyou feel.

Don’t forget the SDATAT AnnualMeeting Dec 4 & 5 in Brookings. Joinus as we celebrate SDATAT’s 30thbirthday.

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ASSOCIATE MEMBERS OFTHE SOUTH DAKOTA

ASSOCIATION OF TOWNSAND TOWNSHIPS

DIAMOND ASSOCIATES -EMC Insurance Companies

Huron Culvert & TankCodington Co. AT&T

Schwebach Insurance Agency, Dell RapidsSD Corn Growers

Boyer Trucks, Sioux FallsAg United

GOLD ASSOCIATES -DMI, Sioux Falls

Wells Fargo Bank, WatertownGlacial Lakes Energy, LLC, Watertown

Sheehan Mack Sales & Equipment,Sioux Falls

Butler Machinery

COPPER ASSOCIATES -Hurkes Implement, WatertownWatertown Livestock AuctionPeople’s State Bank, De Smet

Spink County AT&TBrookings County AT&T

Beadle County AT&TRobert Buchmann, Emery, SD

*Individuals, corporations, cooperatives, organizations and associationsmay apply for annual Associate membership by contacting SDATAT.

Associates may request not to appear in this listing.

~ CALENDAR ~AAUUGGUUSSTT 1199 && 2200

Long Term Highway Needs and DOT AgencyReview - Pierre, SD

SSEEPPTTEEMMBBEERR 88 ÐÐ 1100AmericaÕs Town Meeting, Washington DC

SSEEPPTTEEMMBBEERR 2266SDATAT Board of Directors, Dell Rapids, SD

OOCCTTOOBBEERR 2277Township Meetings as required by law

NNOOVVEEMMBBEERR 22Ag Land Assessment Advisory Task Force

Pierre, SD

DDEECCEEMMBBEERR 44 && 55SDATAT 30th Anniversary Annual Meeting

Brookings, SD

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AAMMEERRIICCAA’’SS TTOOWWNN MMEEEETTIINNGGSeptember 8-11, 2009 • Washington DC

increased highway funding, starting now:

1. Talk to friends and neighbors, both urban and rural, about townshipresponsibilities for maintaining roads, the importance of good local roads foreconomic development and quality of life in SD, and point out the roadconditions, needs, and shortage of funding.

2. Invite the legislators in your Districts to accompany you on a tour of roadsso you can show them the conditions and needs.

3. Better yet, coordinate with county commissioners in your area to jointly showlegislators conditions on both county and township roads. It is essential forlocal governments to be together in supporting legislation for fundingincreases.

4. Write letters to the editor of your local newspapers pointing out the needs,the sources of funding, and asking for support.

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South Dakota Associationof Towns and Townships

PO Box 903Huron, SD 57350

Prsrt Std

U.S. Postage

PAID

Permit No. 180

Huron, SD 57350

30 YEARS!You Are Invited….To the Birthday Party!

December 4 & 5, 2009 for the South Dakota Association of Towns and Townships

Celebrating 30 years of working for local government in South DakotaDays Inn, Brookings, South Dakota

Circle the dates on the calendar, watch the October newsletter for registrationinformation. See you at the party!!!

South Dakota Association of Towns and Townshipssdtown/doc/SummerNewsletter.pdf · South Dakota Association of Towns and Townships 351 Wisconsin SW, Huron, SD • Phone (605) 353-1439

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