HURON — The Huron City Commission rescinded the conditional use permit for one of the four medical cannabis permits that is available within the city at Monday evening’s commission meeting.

Humphrey’s THC LLC announced closure of the facility earlier this month, and city planner Barry Cranston explained that per city ordinance, the conditional use permit needs to be revoked as it is specific to an address and anyone that would open a business in the location would need to come before the commission to be granted the same conditional use.

The vote to rescind was unanimous.

At public forum to open the meeting, commissioner Drew Weinreis expressed satisfaction with the first week of the citywide clean up last week. He noted that the two days combined for 76 total loads at both the solid waste site and the drop off site that was located at the Parks & Recreation building. In all, 1.63 tons of metal, 5.32 tons of rubble, and 0.76 tons of landfill material were brought in during the two days.

Residents are reminded that Tuesday and Wednesday this week the drop off location will be at the former Souled Out Center at 775 Dakota Ave. N.

The public was also reminded of the upcoming street dance on Saturday beginning at 8 p.m. The dance will be held on the west side of Dakota Ave. between Dakota and Wisconsin Ave. All ages are welcome.

The city approved payments to HK solutions for sewer main repair work in the amount of $63,606.74 and for $135,008.18 to First Rate Excavate Inc. for the parking ramp removal and lot construction. Assistant engineer Dennis Bennett noted that restriping of the new parking lot will take place in the next couple of weeks.

Laurie Shelton, President/CEO of the Huron Chamber & Visitors Bureau, presented to the commission the annual update of the Chamber. She explained that the Chamber now has 442 members in Huron and participated in 27 ribbon-cuttings in the town in 2023.

She also discussed the reports that she can now receive on visitors to the city through use of PacerAI. Through those reports, she observed that this year has seen a decrease in spending on lodging and beverage establishments, but that spending on eating out in town has gone up by ten percent.

She also discussed the ways the Chamber advertises to the community and across the country as well to bring visitors to Huron and keep residents updated. Shelton said her marketing spending budgeted for 2024 was $177,429. She also observed that Prairie Tracks currently has a circulation of 16,000, though it does cost the Chamber more than $24,000 per year to print.

Finally, Shelton explained that the previous attempt to build a new “World’s Largest Pheasant” ended with the city getting its money back from the contractor. She stated that the project is currently in “wait and see mode.”

The commission also heard from Peggy Besch, South Dakota State Fair Division Director. Besch stated that the main project going on at the fairgrounds is fundraising for The Shed, a new 40,000-square-foot facility with an estimated $8 million price tag. She explained that the state budgeted $4 million toward the project and that fundraising has been around $2 million, which is not surprising to Besch so quickly after the fundraising campaign to build the DEX.

With the potential shortfall in fundraising, work is being done to adjust the building to allow building within the same footprint closer to a $6 million budget. The groundbreaking for the new building will take place on Thursday, Aug. 29, during this year’s State Fair.

The next projects that Besch sees coming on the grounds are a new roof for the Dakotaland museum and for the dairy barn. She observed that the dairy barn roof would be “a significant project.”

Throughout the fairgrounds in 2023, 220 events were held. Besch did explain that revenues for the State Fair were down in 2023 due to the extreme heat and concessions that had to be made due to the heat, such as sending animals home early and shutting down the amusement rides during the heat of the day, which affected overall attendance numbers and revenue for the fair.

She is looking forward to this year’s fair, which will officially begin on Wednesday, Aug. 28, adding a day to the fair schedule. Besch explained that those interested in ticket discounts for rides and gate admission will have ample opportunity to save throughout the week of the fair through various giveaways and discounts.

Commissioners also:
• Approved a raffle for the Huron Elks Lodge for Sept. 28.

• Accepted the resignation of Kristal Volquardsen from the Community Improvement Committee and accepted the appointment of Marilyn Grafsgard to the committee.
• Approved the hire of John Miller for a police officer position.
• Accepted the voluntary retirement resignation of John Todd from the Airport Operations Maintenance Technician position and approved posting and advertising for the position.
• Approved that Arnold Case and Josh Nelson have both completed 60-day probationary periods in new positions.
• Approved the first reading of Ordinance 2263-8-24 regarding treating feral cats and set the second reading for July 29.
• Approved the second reading of Ordinance 2262-24-10 regarding water main construction in subdivisions.

Commissioner Shawn Harvey gave an update on the closure of 4th St. beginning at Sherman Ave. as the reconstruction of 4th St. project begins a new phase. Access to the community gardens and the yard waste drop off site will be from Custer Ave. during this phase of the construction.

Harvey also updated the construction on Dakota Ave., explaining that Dakota is now closed from Market St. to 5th St. He also observed that progress from Market to 3rd St. is coming close to the point of putting in curb and gutter before paving the road.

The commission then received an update on the Solid Waste building project from Solid Waste Superintendent Dale Fortin before adjourning to review two executive sessions.