City hall to close Friday afternoons

Affective Aug. 1, Custer City Hall will be open from 8 a.m. to noon and closed in the afternoon on Fridays to allow city office employees to catch up on their work.
The hour changes were approved at the July 5 meeting of the Custer City Council after the council was told office staff has become overwhelmed with people coming to the office throughout the course of the week and closing the office Friday afternoons from noon to five would go a long way to allowing office staff to catch up on work since they would not be having to answer questions, field phone calls, etc.
One exception to the closure would be any Friday afternoon that the office would be required to be open by state statute.
While supportive of the request, the council said it was important the public be made aware of the coming changes in a timely, efficient and respectful manner. The council discussed announcing the closure on city water bills, as well as other potential avenues.
In other news from the July 5 meeting, the council
Reelected Nina Nielsen as president of the council, and reelected Jeannie Fischer as council vice president. The council also reappointed Terri Williams as the council’s legal counsel, and later in the meeting approved Williams’ contract, which will see Williams paid $165 per hour, and mileage from traveling to Custer. There is no retainer in the contract.
Approved a resolution to modify its discretionary formula for reduced taxation of new structures and partially constructed structures that are considered affordable housing. The changes were required by state law.
Under the resolution, which was already in place, any affordable housing structure containing four or more units with a monthly rental rate of the units at or below the annually calculated rent for the state’s 60 percent area median income being used by the South Dakota Housing Development Authority, for a minimum of 10 years following the date of first occupancy, if the structure has a full and true value of $30,000 or more will be specifically classified for the purpose of taxation.
Following construction, the structure will be initially valued for taxation purposes in the usual manner and the value will be referred to as the “pre-adjustment value” and the first and second tax year following construction will be assessed at 20 percent of the pre-adjustment value. That will move to 50 percent of the pre-adjusted value in the third and fourth, 75 percent in the fifth and sixth year, and 100 percent in the seventh year. The move from seven to five years was mandated by  a law passed by the state legislature.
Approved a request by Marge Baldwin to park a camper off street on her property to live in while her house is made livable again after it was damaged by fire June 17. Baldwin said in a letter to the council she cannot live in the house until all damage is mitigated and smoke damage cleaned, which could take several months. Baldwin said she has been unable to find any sort of rental for herself and her small dog.
The council unanimously allowed Baldwin to live in a camper for 60 days, after which time an extension to that time frame could be discussed if it is neded.
Approved reappointing Rick Hudson as the county’s three-mile representative for the city’s planning commission for another one-year term.