Latest news with #McCookLakeAssociation
Yahoo
25-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Candidate townhall for North Sioux City's new governing body
NORTH SIOUX CITY, S.D. (KCAU) — Residents in North Sioux City got the opportunity on Monday to hear from the candidates who will be on the ballot on April 8, deciding which individuals will sit in the city's new governing body. The candidate townhall took place in the council chambers at North Sioux City City Hall. All 10 candidates participated in the event. They're going for the open seats on the new Five-Commissioner form of government, that will have one Mayor and 4 Commissioners. The candidates answered questions from the American Legion, the McCook Lake Association, and the Dakota Valley Business Council, along with some of the residents that showed up for the townhall. Some of the questions included how do the candidates envision the city growing and developing in the next 5-10 years and how to bring people who work in North Sioux City, but don't live in the city to move into the area. This led to the topic of Tax Increment Financing, or TIF to be discussed. 'The Governor came up with a new kind of TIF, called affordable housing TIF and they keep the school whole. It's a great tool used by many, many communities all over the State of South Dakota. There's 33 right now, that I know of,' said Chris Bogenrief, candidate for Mayor. Sioux City residents speak out on proposed property tax levy 'We must recognize that TIFs take away taxable valuation because it's given to the developer, rather than to the expenses created by the additional growth. So, it's actually a burden on us taxpayers who do not live in TIFs,' said Greg Meyer, candidate for Mayor. Other questions that were asked to candidates included one about what improvements or investments in infrastructure are most important to the city's continued growth and how does the city pay for it. This brought up the discussion of flood mitigation. 'I think that we need to make sure that the flood thing never happens again and if it does, we're totally prepared. Personally, I feel running the water to the lake is like Plan D. I think we need to come up with better ways to get rid of the water than running it into the lake,' said Vincent D. Tucker, candidate for the 1-year Commissioner seat. 'Greg brought up the idea that you're not going to do that with just one 6-foot culvert and I completely agree with you, Greg. But, creativity would tell us that maybe there's a way that we could identify three or even four spot where we can have culverts going underneath, to be able to absorb more water to send that into the lake and again, have that controlled out,' said David James Wilch, candidate for the 1-year Commissioner seat. North Sioux City residents can vote on April 8 to choose who will be the Mayor and 4 Commissioners. Absentee voting for this election began on Monday, which happens at City Hall from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday-Friday through April 7. To watch the replay of Monday's candidate townhall, click here. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
27-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Bill to help clean up McCook Lake dies in committee
UNION COUNTY, S.D. (KCAU) — South Dakota House Bill 1108 would have created a contingency fund for the restoration of McCook Lake. However, the bill was sent to the 41st day by the House Appropriations Committee, killing the proposal. McCook Lake is a state-owned lake, and the South Dakota Department of Game, Fish, and Parks (GFP) is in charge of cleaning the lake. GFP hasn't even done an assessment of the damage yet, though, so the cost of restoration isn't known yet. SD House denies reconsideration of prison funding bill 'The progress in terms of cleaning up McCook Lake has been very slow,' McCook Lake Association President Dirk Lohry said. 'It's been eight months since we had this flood on June 23. The Game, Fish, and Parks, which is now in charge of the lake's restoration has been very slow in terms of getting anything done. Their first step is to get a scope of what it takes to get the clean-up done. Once they get the scope done, which is supposed to be next week, but we're crossing our fingers.' Once GFP gets done with its assessment of the damage to McCook Lake, they will take bids on the restoration. The concern with the McCook Lake Association is that they don't know how much restoration GFP is going to do and they don't know the cost or if they will need extra money, which HB 1108 would have addressed. 'The importance of this bill is we aren't real sure what their scope is going to be,' Lohry said. 'It could be to bring the lake back to where it was before, or they could just say it kind of looks fine. Having a tree out in the middle of the lake is kind of natural and we don't think we need to do much of anything other than to just surface, types of things. So that has us concerned.' According to the association, because of the slow progress, one concern is the usability of the lake. Right now, it's not clear if the lake will be usable this summer. Two baby girls surrendered under Iowa Safe Haven Law in February 'Our problem is this lake drains every year, and we'd like to fill it up again and make the lake usable,' Lohry said. 'All of our house values have dropped because there's not a usable lake here. We would like to have a usable lake this summer.' According to South Dakota State Representative William Sharma, who represents McCook Lake, the hope is that once GFP finishes its assessment and the cost of restoration is known, if more money is needed, they can try again next year to get the bill passed. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
