Codington County Commission approves jail-project claims and state payment for mental-health services

The Codington County Commission approved several claims for the county jail project and a state payment for mental-health services at its meeting.

County staff read a series of invoices for the jail project, identifying Beckenhower Construction and several consulting firms among the payees. The commission moved to approve the jail-project claims (motion approved by Gable; second by Melhaney) and the chair declared the motion carried. Finance staff read cumulative figures aloud during the presentation; because the numbers were spoken with inconsistent formatting in the transcript, the amounts are reported here as presented at the meeting: Beckenhower Construction (read as “1,137,2278”), geotechnical services ($1,638.40), Antgra ($20,843.15), and other line items. Staff also said two of the claims had already been paid to municipal utilities. The net payable figure for the current claims was read aloud by staff and reported in the meeting record as roughly $1.185 million (figure given at meeting and not independently verified).

Commissioners then took up a separate line item described by staff as a state payment for May services supporting people who are mentally ill or disabled. The amount read at the meeting was approximately $713,110; the payment was approved on a motion by Johnson, seconded by Malaney. Commissioners did not dispute the purpose described at the meeting.

The commission later returned to executive session on personnel matters. No additional public comment was recorded on the payments.

Next steps: the approved claims will be processed per the county's claims schedule.