Purchase of 'fat truck' could be in the works for Brown County

Sep. 9—Brown County commissioners decided they would seek bids for a new "fat truck," but funding has yet to be finalized.

A fat truck is an industrial all-terrain off-road vehicle.

The projected cost is somewhere between $130,000 and $150,000, depending on what features are added, like additional safety equipment and a trailer. So far, there have been roughly $9,000 in donations from the community. And Sanford Health had made a donation of $10,000.

There are still four funding requests outstanding to help pay for the vehicle. Brown County Emergency Management Director Scott Meints said they are a combination of donation requests and grant applications. A Homeland Security grant for $87,482 will help.

The county will contribute $25,000, according to Commissioner Rachel Kippley.

Fundraising started in September 2020.

"We want to see what it's going to look like and then we can proceed forward, but we've got the Homeland Security grant and the other grants that are on the table," Meints said in a phone call during the meeting. "We really want to get this bid so we can see what the final number looks like and where we can go from there."

Two businesses provide fat truck-style vehicles that can power through snow-covered terrain as well as muddy marsh land. They can also drive on dry land and in water.

Commissioners agreed to seek bids on a 3-1 vote, with Kippley opposed. Commissioner Duane Sutton was absent.

"From the beginning, I don't think general fund money should go towards this. We're already going to be paying the insurance, the storage and maintenance, everything year to-year on this thing," Kippley said.

Commissioner Dennis Feickert said he is open to getting bids, but added that doesn't mean he's vote in favor of the purchase.

Medical marijuana

While medical marijuana wasn't on the agenda, state Rep. Carl Perry, R-Aberdeen, was in attendance at the meeting and gave an update on the process of implementing medical marijuana regulations. Perry is on the medical marijuana study subcommittee and said he has seen presentations from Colorado, North Dakota and Iowa.

"We've had a lot of exposure to a lot of different things," Perry said.

In Iowa, there are three medical marijuana dispensaries in the entire state after two closed in April 2020. There are eight dispensaries in North Dakota, he said.

Last week, the Aberdeen City Council voted to limit the number of dispensaries in town to six.

"We're not trying to stop marijuana, what we're trying to do is make sure that we have good policy, and that's really what the committee is designed to do. And we have several different parts of it, but it's moving along," Perry said.

Perry also discussed legislative redistricting. He said that there will be roughly 25,400 people in each legislative district. There's some flexibility it that number — 5% either way. There have been or will be meetings discussing redistricting in Rapid City, Sioux Falls and rural South Dakota, he said.

Nov. 8 is the deadline for completion of the new redistricting map. That's the same day as the Legislature's special session.

"It will make a difference in different areas. Aberdeen has more growth, so it doesn't mean less representation. It means more representation, and so they have to split things up in different ways," Perry said. "I don't know whether we're going to end up with two or three different groups of legislators coming out of Aberdeen."

No members of the public spoke during the annual hearing on the county budget during Tuesday's meeting.

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