Parking enforcement falls to city

The Pennington County Sheriff’s Office is not ticketing cars facing the wrong way on a street. That is according to deputy Jim Waldrop, who answered questions from the mayor at the March 10 Hill City Common Council (HCCC) meeting.

Mayor Tana Nichols asked Waldrop specifically about parking on Pine Avenue after an incident occured, on which she did not elaborate. Waldrop explained to aldermen that currently the issue is a city one, suggesting it be made into a city ordinance.

Waldrop said if this occurred on a state highway  things may be different and that the state “probably does” have a statute of some sort, adding, “I don’t think I’ve ever enforced it.”

Waldrop said he enforces moving violations on city streets, like obeying speed limits and stop signs but that parking codes fall under the city. 

“I can do more research,” Waldrop said, but gave an example of Rapid City as a city that does all its own parking enforcement. He added the court system likely won’t hear a parking case. 

“In essence, it’s become the norm if I write a state statute on that…those judges aren’t gonna deal with parking issues,” Waldrop said. “They’ll kick them down to a lower court.”

Waldrop said parking offences are considered petty versus misdemeanor.  Waldrop says the court system will hear cases like distracted driving with cell phones or seat beltsviolations.

Waldrop is giving many warnings to people driving fast in the school zone. 

“We give quite a few warnings. It’s up to our discretion,” Waldrop said about school zone violators, saying if a car is moving fast when children are present the driver will likely get a citation.

Trustees approved a floodplain development permit for Memorial Park  with little discussion. 

Dani Schade, development services coordinator for Hill City, presented the plan to aldermen.

The plan calls for replacing existing playground equipment and grading the parking lot and driveway entrance to the park. It also calls for removing the BMX track.

Schade said the current playground equipment is “deteriorating and becoming uninsurable.” The new equipment will be placed in the floodway in close proximity to where the current equipment is.

Schade said this use falls into the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) small project category and will not alter drainage or obstruct flood flow. She said the latter is also true for the re-grading and driveway entrance.

After the grading, flood water should flow naturally into Spring Creek.

“I feel very comfortable,” Schade replied when asked about it by Nichols. 

Public works will do a majority of the grading work. The playground equipment costs $103,9567, which includes installation. The park board seeks grant money for the equipment, which has not yet been purchased. 

Public works director Justin Asher said the blue water tower is mostly melted on the outside but still frozen on the inside. He is talking to Midwestern Tank Repair to see if someone can temporarily stop the tower leak.

“Everything went out” including the tank heater, Asher said, saying he looked into running a long extension cord to run the tank heater but thought better of it due to wattage.

City administrator Nate Anderson says the blue water tower “standpipe is nearing the end of its serviceable life.” He says that the city will have to take the tank out of service to refurbish it.

“Sticking with the status quo for our water plan is probably not gonna work for the blue tower.”

Asher said there is an issue with the main well meter at Tracy Park, which is affecting readings.

“The numbers are gonna be a little off until we get that fixed,” Asher said. Asher is working with Dakota Pump to resolve the issue.

Asher noted that street sweeping and regrading of roads begins some time in May.

Anderson addressed public works response to a recent snow storm, explaining that snow plow routes were determined in 2018 based on priority descending from emergency routes, school, the hills and then everything else.

In general, public works trucks will go out once and then work throughout the day to widen things up, Anderson said. 

He said the goal of public works is to get workers home by 8 p.m. and then tackle things first thing in the morning, not having  shifts longer than 12 hours due to safety.

Anderson called it a balance. Aldermen spent more time discussing the Business Improvement District (BID) board alleyway project with no action being taken.

Anderson said currently there is no agreement in place for the project other than a verbal one which would be “$100,000 clear to the current owner.”

Anderson spoke with city engineer AE2S about surveying the area and says the work can be completed when the city is ready. Anderson estimates that costs to be between $4,500-$7,000 saying surveying downtown is tricky.

Alderman Lori Miner wanted to know who would be responsible for alleyway maintenance, lighting or cameras, if installed, and what funds would be used to pay for these ongoing expenses.

“These are questions I am getting from citizens. I think those are fair questions,” says Miner.

The city income survey only got 21 out of the required 60 responses needed to move forward on potential grants for the water and sewer project. Anderson said there is another opportunity to apply in October and will extend the survey period  until May. 

“This gives us more time to regroup,” says Anderson.

The city should know in three weeks whether its funding from the state water plan has been approved.

Anderson met with AE2S to discuss an application for a FEMA floodplain hydrology and hydraulics study. Anderson thinks the study will cost at most $7,000, but likely be covered by a grant. The study will update the topography of the floodplain and remap it accurately.

Anderson says the study  “will not change our current map much” in terms of which parcels are in a flood but will allow for better modeling of culverts and Memorial Park, allowing the city to apply for different grants. 

AE2S will give guidance to homeowners in Sunset Creek about road and landscape to make sure the “landscaping doesn’t impact the water shedding features of the asphalt,” Anderson said. 

Anderson said AE2S will walk through the wastewater plant April 9. He wants a maintenance list of what the city should do  in 2025-26 with its own budget versus waiting for phase three of the water /sewer project. 

The city has been fielding questions about water bills.

“We have had to field a lot of questions about seasonal use,” Anderson  said, adding people did not expect to get a baseline bill.

He also explained the decommissioning process, which takes a meter out of service permanently. He said recommissioning the meter will cost $500. 

HCCC meets again March 24 at 5:30 p.m.