MITCHELL, S.D. (MITCHELLNOW) The City Council met in regular session on Monday September 16, 2024. John Foster, Giovannie Lanier, Nancy Conzemius and Jason Bates were all appointed or reappointed to the Corn Palace Events and Entertainment Board. Malt beverage and wine liquor licenses were transferred from Austin LLC (Rowdy Ram) to MG Oil Company (777 Mitchell).
The Council approved a special event permit for DWU Blue and White Day Homecoming Tailgating activities. The Council voted to build a new hanger at the Mitchell Airport with slots for storage of three airplanes at a cost of $1,197,893, 90% of the cost will be borne by the FAA and 10% will be the City of Mitchell’s responsibility.
The Council declared the Scoreboard building as “surplus” making it possible for the building to be removed. The empty space, when the building is torn down, will be incorporated into the Corn Palace Plaza.
Last year some improvements were made to the municipal golf course as well as the beginnings of a design plan for the expansion of the city cemetery. That necessitated the rerouting of a bike path. That part of the renovations/plans escaped the notice of the Council and the residents and has caused some controversy. After a couple of meetings hearing testimony from concerned residents, the route of the bike path was shifted about ten feet to try and give a little more privacy to residents impacted by the rerouting of the bike path. While somewhat mollified, those along the path were still unhappy. The Council voted 5-3 to approve the rerouting. Councilors Doescher, Smith and Tjarks voted with the residents and opposed the change in the bike path.
The Council also sought to clean up the boundary lines and other impediments to selling the last lake lot. In a referendum, City of Mitchell voters authorized the City to sell lots around the lake and to dedicate the money raised from the sale for the lake restoration project. The last lot had issues that the City Council went a long way to resolving in their meeting and the property will now be available at auction to the public in the near future.