Council Hears Parking Complaint

Democratic candidate for Governor, Jamie Smith, was in Britton last week. Smith, along with Lt. Governor candidate, Jennifer Keintz, spoke to a sizable crowd at the city park. See the front for the full story

Council Hears Parking Complaint

A Britton-Hecla student was recently chosen as the Lake Region Electric Scholar of The Week. Alyssa James, daughter of Lake Region Electric member Brian and Carrie James, is a senior at B-H and received a scholarship for the honor. She is a leader in every sense of the word. “She is rarely seen without a smile on her face and a pep in her step,” says teacher Jenna Peters who nominated Alyssa. Pictured, left to right, Jenna Peters, Alyssa James and Lake Region Manager of Member Services, Brett Kwasniewski.

Council Hears Parking Complaint

Britton-Hecla recently started their oral interp season by attending a contest in Milbank last week. B-H contestants included, Oliver Moeckly, Ashlyn Casey, Brynlee Patterson, Cassidy Biel, Braydon Casey, Will Schuller, Regan Ringkob and Faith Small.

Council Hears Parking Complaint

At the Britton City Council Meeting on Monday, the group heard complaints relating to parking around the Event Center. Richard Lemler attended the meeting to discuss the problems. The Lemlers live south of the Event Center at 1205 3rd Street. They explained that they are persistently dealing with people parking on their lawn and driving and walking through it during events. They also find a lot of garbage in the yard after events.

The council discussed both short term and long-term solutions. “We need to put up something that is a deterrent for people from parking and walking there,” said Mayor Clyde Fredrickson. He noted that the long-term goal would be to do curb and gutter around the current parking lot by the Lemlers in addition to adding a permanent fence. The homeowners were agreeable to that idea. They also said they would be happy with a temporary fence with posts and caution tape.

Maynard Bosse attended the meeting to discuss the west part of the Britton Cemetery (the Memorial Park portion) and the ordinance requiring only flat headstones. He asked the council to reconsider it and said that traditional upright headstones promote “recognition, reflection and respect.” Fredrickson ultimately asked that the cemetery board work on uniform requirements for all the city cemeteries and possibly ones that would allow upright stones. They invited Bosse to participate in that effort.

The council discussed intown septic systems. A septic system is not allowed in town when there is access to a municipal sewer, per city and state codes. There is concern that some businesses on the south side of town are in violation of this. Fredrickson noted that this is more reason for the city to pursue the South Main sewer project in a timely fashion. The council also discussed sending letters to businesses in violation of the rule.

City Attorney Justin Scott presented the results of title searches surrounding a previous question of encroachment around 14th Avenue. He found that the Muth property title stipulates the city has an easement that allows the street to be there. The Jay Marx property had no easement stipulated. However, the property owner must make a claim for adverse possession within 20 years and since the street has been there longer than 20 years, the city has no legal obligation to do anything about the encroachment. They took no action on the matter.

In other council business, they agreed to make some insurance changes. Finance Officer Jennifer Athey said they recently learned from their insurance agents that some coverage on items were not at the minimum required value. The city’s agents also informed them they are overinsured in the area of liability insurance. Most similar size communities have $2 million in liability coverage while Britton has $5 million. The city agreed to make the recommended coverage changes.

The council approved changes to George Flanery’s job description as Public Works Supervisor. They also asked Athey and Flanery to work together on the purchase of new Christmas lights. $10,000 was budgeted for the purchase.

At the end of the meeting, Fredrickson thanked outgoing city finance officer Marie Marlow. Marlow is retiring after 30 years of service to the city.

There will be a special city councilmeetingonWednesday, October 19 at 4 p.m. to discuss budget matters.

Marshall County Journal

PO Box 69, Britton, SD 57430
Phone: (605) 448-2281