Keystone meeting times change with daylight

Keystone Town Board meetings will begin at 5 p.m. when daylight saving  time ends and revert to 6 p.m. when daylight saving time begins. The move was agreed upon at the Oct. 8 Keystone Town Board meeting.

The board approved a request from K Bar S Lodge to use a shared trench for its water and sewer pipe expansion project if Rapid City specs are followed where necessary. Dion Lowe requested the shared trench versus getting an  easement from an adjacent property owner to have room between the property line and the edge of the road.

“If we separate by 10 feet, which is the normal, then we’d have to have a permanent easement,” said Lowe. “We don’t want to put all our eggs in one basket because then that would kill the project,” if the landowner did not agree.

Lowe said Rapid City specs allow for this if needed because of tightness and explained the changes that would be needed.

“Maintenance-wise, I would say it could be a problem if the lines were farther apart,” but Lowe said at the proposed 18 inches it won’t be an issue. 

“It’s not terribly hard to maintain because of the depth difference,” Lowe said. 

The adjacent landowner was present at the meeting.

Trustees wanted all lots to have stubs on the extension lots regardless of whether there is a structure on the lot Keystone Town Board president Casey McNulty said there would be a monthly service fee to maintain the account, but there would be no tap fee for the line because the town does not own it. 

“You’re not tapping into our line. You’re tapping into your line,” McNulty said, explaining that during construction the town does not own the line. There will also be a connection fee when an individual connects to the line.

Attorney Mitch Johnson asked about railroad liability insurance, which the contractor is supposed to provide. He also wanted clarification about a protective train order and a $10,000 one time fee for the water and sewer lines. Johnson wanted to make certain the town would not be liable for either, and K Bar S representatives agreed that it was their responsibility to pay. 

There was discussion on well pumps, with the question being asked why it was not included in the project  TIF (tax increment financing) district. McNulty said it is “insane to stop progress, and the development and the future growth of sales tax revenue because we’re not willing to spend a little bit of cost up front.”

“We’re spending $6 million on a sewer upgrade already,” public works supervisor Jerry Przybylski said. 

He wondered why the pumps weren’t in the TIF.

“It’s easy to throw money around. I would say save a little bit of it. We used to have $6 million. I’m pretty sure we don’t have that anymore,”  Przybylski said.

Trustee David Cofoid said, “We knew it had to be done,” and also wondered why pumps weren’t in the TIF.

No action was taken on the pump discussion.

Cofoid asked Johnson about the possibility of an ordinance regarding attendance of trustees at meetings. 

“We don’t have anything. I think we need to have something that if a board member misses too many meetings, they need to resign or something. Can we do something like that?” Cofoid asked. 

Two trustees, Will Parks and Matt Fullilove, were not present at the meeting. 

Attorney Johnson said Hermosa has something in place, and he will look into it.

Engineer Zach  Grapentine said the town sewer line upsize plans are getting submitted to the state next week. However, he is concerned about the federal government shutdown’s impact on the project. 

“With the furlough of some of the agencies and there’s a long haired bat that potentially lives in this area…U.S. Fish and Wildlife is now shutdown,” Grapentine said. 

He said it will not affect the town’s submission but could hurt the bidding because the bats hibernate in certain seasons and fly in others. Grapentine said he is “waiting for the feds to get back online.”

Keystone director of tourism Laura Schluckebier wrapped up the summer season and was pleased with the town’s new website performance. 

“It takes a lot of time, a lot of money and repetition to get eyeballs on that site,” she said. 

Schluckebier said the website has had 35,000 users. 

“It’s just continuing to get more and more momentum,” she said. 

Schluckebier said the same has been true for the town’s social media pages.  A recorded 7,200 guests came to the Keystone Visitor Information Center. Schluckebier said her staff did a fantastic job. 

Schluckebier is hosting a 250th roundtable meeting to discuss what worked in 2020 for the fireworks and what the town wants to see in 2026. The meeting will also be a discussion about a “250 throughout the summer” campaign.

Schluckebier said the town got some free publicity from a YouTube artist who came to town. 

“When he was in Keystone, there were 45,000 people watching him live in town,” she said. 

Schluckebier said he is being followed by a New York Times reporter for an additional article.  Schluckebier noted several publications that featured businesses in Keystone.

Bed Booze and Board (BBB) sales tax was down 0.1 percent from last year and the first and second penny was up 1.9 percent.  This is through the end of September. The state parking lot made $46,555.56 this summer. In 2024, it made $49,564.07. 

Sandi McLain discussed grants she has submitted and grants she is applying for, including one to bring back the Living History program to the Keystone Museum “so we can pay for someone to run it instead of trying to do it ourselves.” 

McLain wanted clarification on whether windows were included on a bid for the museum. McNulty said there were 45 windows cracked or broken that were not included. The board will look at quotes for the windows at the next meeting.

The Keystone Town Board meets again Oct. 22 at 6 p.m.