Custer County Chronicle

School board talks construction, COVID

Published by admin on Thu, 09/23/2021 - 9:18am

The ongoing second phase of the Hermosa School project and updates to the district’s COVID Operational Plan prompted most of the discussion at the Custer School District Board of Education meeting Monday, Sept. 13.
Superintendent Mark Naugle reported to the board that Phase 2 is well underway with precast walls going up for the music room and locker room/gym area. Board member Travis Hartshorn, who lives near Hermosa, reported concrete floors were being poured that day. The next step will be to put up more precast walls, followed by steel roof girders.

Monument requires vaccination

Published by admin on Thu, 09/23/2021 - 9:12am

With soaring COVID-19 infections and hospitalizations in western South Dakota, and with the Pfizer vaccine receiving full approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Monument Health announced last week it will require physicians and caregivers to be vaccinated against COVID-19.
Beginning Dec. 1 Monument Health joins more than 170 other health care systems across the country, including Sanford Health and Avera Health, in requiring is physicians and caregivers be vaccinated against COVID-19.

’Cats sixth at BHC meet

Published by admin on Thu, 09/23/2021 - 9:02am

Ryder Bailey was the top finisher for the Custer High School boys golf team Monday at the Black Hills Conference Meet, held at Belle Fourche Country Club.
Bailey fired a round of 96, good for 11th place, while teammate Matt Merrill finished in 16th place with a score of 100. Rounding out Custer’s scores were Bohdan Pesicka at 121 and Jackson Wiles at 125.
As a team, the Wildcats finished in sixth place with a score of 442. Spearfish won the meet with a score of 336, while St. Thomas More’s Vincent Van Liere was medalist with a score of 77.

2021 tourism season rated a ‘10’

Published by admin on Thu, 09/16/2021 - 9:19am

With Custer City sales tax figures rivaling banner year 2016, most travel and hospitality businesses are giving the 2021 tourism season a solid 10 out of 10 rating.
Custer City finance officer Laurie Woodward reported the city’s one-third-cent bed, board and booze (BBB) tax is up 79 percent though July over 2020 figures. Woodward said the massive increase is due in part to the fact that some of the city’s hotels were not open last year because of COVID-19. However, the 2021 figures still represent a 50 percent increase over 2019.

Harbach Park project is a go

Published by admin on Thu, 09/16/2021 - 9:17am

Buoyed by a new low bid $100,000 less than the previous one, the Custer City Council at its Sept. 7 meeting put its stamp of approval on moving ahead with the first two phases of the Harbach Park renovation plans.
Dana Foreman of KLJ Engineering, the firm helping the city with the design and bidding process for the renovation, told the council  the city’s rebidding of the project netted four bids, with RCS Construction the low bidder at $1,157,555.38. RCS was the only bidder the first time the project was bid, but submitted a bid of $1,270,537 that time.

City sets its budget at $10.5 million

Published by admin on Thu, 09/16/2021 - 9:17am

The Custer City Council passed the first reading of a $10,547,185 budget for 2022 at its Sept. 7 meeting, which is around $2.5 million higher than last year’s.
This might be the rare case where an increased budget brings cheers, however, as the increases almost entirely revolve around needed or citizen-sought projects that have been in the works for — in some cases — almost decades.

Hermosa sees first water rate increase in a decade

Published by admin on Thu, 09/16/2021 - 9:16am

When residents of the Town of Hermosa receive their September water bills, they will notice an increase in the cost of both sewer and water services. It is the first such increase the town has enacted in 12 years.
The reason for the increase is simple: the town is growing and infrastructure projects are needed to keep up with the water demand. The increase will help fund those projects and keep the town ahead of the curve when it comes to growth.
“We want to prepare ourselves now, be a little more proactive,” said town board president Dan Holsworth.

Cornelison resigns as county auditor

Published by admin on Thu, 09/09/2021 - 9:19am

A brief and mostly uneventful meeting of the Custer County Commission Tuesday morning came to a surprising conclusion when chief deputy county auditor (formerly the county auditor) Terri Cornelison submitted her resignation to chairman Jim Lintz.
The unexpected turn of events came about during a report from Cornelison and county treasurer Dawn McLaughlin on the progress of making corrections to county books following an audit earlier this year that found numerous discrepancies.

Kistler pleads guilty to sex crimes

Published by admin on Thu, 09/09/2021 - 9:14am

A former Custer County Sheriff’s Office deputy faces a minimum of 10 years in federal prison after pleading guilty to sex crimes he committed as a deputy for the Fall River County Sheriff’s Office.
Francis Kistler, 61, pled guilty to one count of enticement of a minor using the Internet in U.S. District Court late last month. That crime comes with a minimum of 10 years and a maximum of life in prison and a minimum of five years up to a lifetime of supervised release once the prison sentence is completed. It also carries a $250,000 fine.

CHS Homecoming week includes the following schedule changes

Published by admin on Thu, 09/09/2021 - 9:14am

With the short planning time and recent COVID-19 exposures within the school district, the schedule for 2021 Custer High School Homecoming continues to be somewhat fluid.
However, as it stands today, most of the traditional homecoming activities are going on, but not necessarily as traditionally scheduled.
At Monday’s homecoming coronation ceremony at the high school theatre, Eva Studt was crowned queen and Trevor Hartshorn was crowned king.
The other candidates for queen were seniors Kellyn Kortemeyer, Kelley Wicks, Shaylee Gramkow and Josey Wahlstrom.