by Benjamin Chase
of the Plainsman
HURON –– After the regular Tuesday morning meeting, the Beadle County Commission held an executive session. After the meeting, Commissioner Allen Greenfield announced that he would resign his seat, effective May 1.
Greenfield is presently on the primary ballot for District 3, facing Jeff McGirr. The commission will appoint a replacement for Greenfield on Thursday, June 4, after canvass of the primary election to complete Greenfield’s term, ending on December 31. If Greenfield were to win the primary, that appointment would be through Dec. 31, and the commission would need to appoint another (or the same) person to fill a two-year term to get the District 3 seat on track with a regular election cycle.
If McGirr were to win the primary, the commission would make an appointment to serve from June to Dec. 31, then McGirr would be sworn in for his elected seat on Jan. 5, 2027.
The meeting began with highway superintendent Jason Fritzsche. He shared an extended view with the commission on the data received with the Vialytics software while driving paved county roads to this point. He showed where roads had been graded throughout the county while also pulling up multiple photos taken by the software to determine the grades given to roads.
Fritzsche explained that the next step would be to integrate bridges and culverts into the software and then do a similar drive on gravel roads to map all gravel miles in the county. He further explained that no grading would be done on gravel roads, as those roads can often shift in grading in a rapid fashion depending on weather and traffic.
The commission then met as the county board of equalization. They heard one appeal of assessment and denied the appeal. The property owner now has until May 15 to appeal the county decision to the South Dakota Office of Hearing Examiners.
The equalization board approved 160 applicants for a freeze assessment on 185 parcels. Director of Equalization Kim Eichstadt noted that there were 35 new applications this year. Two property tax exemptions were also approved. With that, the county approved the 2026 abstract.
Commissioners heard an appeal for the release of a lien for services paid for by the county on an individual more than a decade prior. With the legal documents at hand showing a quit claim deed removing the party in question from the property title, all county payments after that point were dropped, for a partial release of lien.
The commission approved the hire of an intern for the state’s attorney’s office and seasonal employees for the museum.
Commissioners approved the renewal of retail on-off sale bulk beverage and South Dakota farm wine licenses in the county. They discussed possibly assessing a per-machine fee to businesses with video lottery machines at this time, but chose to table that discussion.
Commissioners approved the application for the STOP Violence Against Women Prosecution Grant and also approved a plat of land in western Beadle.
The commission discussed the burn ban and stated that when fire risk is rated as high or very high, the burn ban would automatically be in place, and dispatchers would be notified to make anyone calling in a controlled burn aware.
The commission next meets on May 12.
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