County hears conservation efforts, Veteran tax relief, and Hudson storm response

The Lincoln County Commission met Tuesday, August 5 in the Lincoln County Boardroom. Commissioners heard agenda items including department presentations, public hearing request, and a July 28 storm update.

Jeremy Sogstead from the Lincoln County Soil Conservation District was present to give a presentation on his department. 

“The Conservation District generally is the same geographic boundaries as most of the counties in the state, but not all of them. There are 69 districts compared to our 66 I think counties. The main purpose of the district is really a connection from the public to resource management. Basically, we work with different agencies to provide information on how to best manage the local conservation for the landowners and the residents,” he said. 

The goal of the group is to educate the public on good conservation practices. 

“The district was originally started to address soil erosion, it used to be the Lincoln Soil Conservation Office, then water was added, so now we’re just the conservation office and we cover anything,” he said.  The funds given from Lincoln County do not have a specific use for the district. 

“We don’t put the funds in a special pot, they’re not specifically designated but again, our main expense is to provide information, and we put a lot of time into tree plans and grass plans,” he said.

 The Commission thanked the district for their presentation. Veterans Services Officer, David Ekle was present to give a presentation on disabled veteran property tax exemption and paraplegic veteran property tax exemption programs. 

“To be eligible for this, a veteran will have to have a rating through the VA. Permanently and total disabled to be eligible for the disabled veteran exemption and the paraplegic will have to have that rating to reflect that they have that paraplegic rating with the VA. When I meet with the veterans, we cover all the benefits they may be eligible for,” he said. 

Commissioner Joel Arends and Ekle have met previously to review the list of people who are eligible for tax exemption. 

“David is going to reach out to these 110 veterans who may or may not already have applied for the property tax deductions, and we’re not just going to sit back and wait for them to apply, we’re going to go to them and we’re going to say do you want to take advantage? Do you want some free money? Do you want your money back that you worked so hard for? These people served their country, and they are eligible, but we’re not just going to sit on our thumbs and wait for these people to apply,” Commissioner Arends said. 

The Commission thanked Ekle and Arends for their efforts in the matter.

Auditor Sheri Lund was present to ask the commission to consider a motion to approve the 2026 Provisional Budget for publication and authorize the Auditor to advertise for the public hearing to be held on September 9. 

“We do have to get this published, because we do have to have it published for 10 days prior to the hearings. So, if there’s anything in the budget right now what you want to remove, we can always do it at the hearing. This is not passing the budget, it’s just authorizing me to advertise it and set the hearing,” Lund said. 

With no public input, a motion to approve the 2026 Provisional Budget for publication and authorize the Auditor to advertise made by Otten, seconded by Arends, motion carried.

Emergency Management Director, Harold Timmerman gave a briefing on the severe storm that occurred on July 28. 

“I was in Pierre that evening, getting ready for a class on Tuesday that I was supposed to be in and at about 9:22 p.m., I got a call from the Fire Chief in Hudson asking me to come down because he thought there was a tornado that went through town. I said well I’m in Pierre. I made phone calls and after an hour I drove home and went down to Hudson the next morning with their incident command trailer and that first night the county was out clearing roads all over the place and I asked Jared Narum to take the big payloader down there which he did with the grappler,” he said. 

Timmerman reported six fire departments helped the first night making sure the town was safe and no one was hurt along with the Highway Patrol and the Sheriff’s Office and was impressed by the number of volunteers willing to use their own equipment to help clear damage or provide food for the volunteers. 

“The power company brought a big generator for the community center, and powered it up so we could use it for feeding all the workers and some of the town folks too that didn’t have any power. When you looked the whole thing over, not a tree or a power line in that town was not affected,” Timmerman said. 

“Sometimes we overlook the fact of how well coordinated we really are, how we get things done, how we collaborate, how people come together at these kinds of times, and it all comes from the top,” Commissioner Jim Schmidt said thanking Timmerman for his efforts. 

Commissioner Schmidt opened the floor for public comment for items not on the agenda. Scott Montgomery was the first to speak. 

“I just want to commend all that’s gone on and everybody that’s put their effort into saving Hudson. It was a mess down there and it’s a mess out in the rural area and Harold is a big huge part of that and I just want to commend them. On another note, I’ve been part of a group that’s been researching the actions of some departments in Lincoln County and we believe we’ve discovered the civil rights of some Lincoln County residents have been violated. I just ask that you be in contact with me and try to get us on the agenda where we can further discuss that,” he said. 

Linda Montgomery was the next to speak. 

“I want to address public comment of the last two evening meetings that we had in the last two months. Public comment at the meeting was changed to the beginning of the meeting instead of the end. I respect that sometimes that needs to be done, but I think we probably know that ahead of time and I think that any major change that is total public issue that it’s public comment, that they need to also be aware that there’s going to be a change and I request, and beg, and I would like people respected that those changes be made on Friday before the meeting when the agenda comes out so they can manage their time. A lot of time when public comment is at the end, they wait to come until later and then to find out that public comment has been moved to the beginning is rather disrespectful,” she said.