PAGE 14 PRESS & DAKOTAN � SATURDAY, MARCH 1, 2014

2010 Legal and PublicNotices

award the bid to the low bidder, Feimer Construction, Yankton, South Dakota, in the amount of $1,120,487.75. Roll Call: All members present voting “Aye;” voting “Nay:” None.Motion adopted.

Action 14-57Moved by Commissioner Blaalid, seconded by Commissioner Knoff, to adopt Resolution 14-06. (Memorandum 14-38)

RESOLUTION 14-06Plat

WHEREAS, it appears from an examination of the Vacation of Marquardt Subdivision Including Lots 1-5 of Block 1; Lots 1-3, 8-10 of Block 2; Lots 1-3 of Block 3; Lots 1-5 of Block 4 as Recorded in Book S20 of Plats on Page 34and

A Plat of Benedict Estates Includ-ing Lots 1-5 of Block 1; Lots 1-3, 8-10 of Block 2; Lots 1-3 of Block 3; Lots 1-5 of Block 4. Lo-cated in the SE _ of the NE 1/4, Section 2, T93N, R55W of the 5th PM. City of Yankton, South Da-kota. (Including the N. 209'of the E. 209.42' of the SE _ of the NE _ & including a re-plat of Lots 2 & 3 and a portion of Lot 4 Schrempp's Addition) prepared by Brett R. Kennedy of Eisenbraun and Associates, a registered land surveyor in the State of South Da-kota, and

WHEREAS, such plat has been prepared according to law and is substantially consistent with the City's overall Compre-hensive Development Plan.

WHEREAS, the Developer's Agreement approved as a part of the original Marquardt Subdivi-sion plat shall be valid upon the development of said land hereaf-ter known as Benedict Estates.

NOW, THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED by the Board of City Commissioners of the City of Yankton, South Dakota, that the plat for the above described prop-erty are hereby approved.

Roll Call: Members present vot-ing “Aye:” Commissioners Ak-land, Blaalid, Carda, Gross, Hoff-ner, Knoff, Sommer, and Mayor Wenande; voting “Nay:” None; Abstaining: Commissioner Woer-ner.Motion adopted.

Action 14-58Moved by Commissioner Carda, seconded by Commissioner Woer-ner, to adopt Resolution 14-07. (Memorandum 14-39)

RESOLUTION 14-07

WHEREAS, it appears from an examination of the plat of Tract 1, Whitetail Run, in the NE 1/4 of the SE 1/4 of Section 16, T93N, R56W of the 5th P.M., Yankton County, South Dakota prepared by John Brandt, a registered land surveyor in the State of South Da-kota, and

WHEREAS, such plat has been prepared according to law and is consistent with the City's overall Comprehensive Develop-ment Plan.

NOW, THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED by the Board of City Commissioners of the City of Yankton, South Dakota, that the plat for the above described prop-erty is hereby approved.

Roll Call: All members present voting “Aye;” voting “Nay:” None.Motion adopted.

Action 14-59Moved by Commissioner Gross, seconded by Commissioner Knoff, to adopt Resolution 14-08. (Memorandum 14-42)

RESOLUTION 14-08BRIDGE REINSPECTION

2010 Legal and PublicNotices

PROGRAM RESOLUTIONFOR USE WITH SDDOT RETAINER CONTRACT

WHEREAS, Title 23, Section 151, United States Code and Title 23, Part 650, Subpart C, Code of Federal Regulations, requires ini-tial inspection of all bridges and re-inspection at intervals not to exceed two years with the excep-tion of reinforced concrete box culverts that meet specific criteria. These culverts are reinspected at intervals not to exceed four years.

THEREFORE, the City of Yank-ton is desirous of participating in the Bridge Inspection Program us-ing Bridge Replacement funds.

The City of Yankton requests SDDOT to hire Brosz Engineer-ing, Inc. for the inspection work. SDDOT will secure federal ap-provals, make payments to the Consulting Engineer for inspec-tion services rendered, and bill the City for 20% of the cost. The City of Yankton will be responsi-ble for the required 20% matching funds.

Roll Call: All members present voting “Aye;” voting “Nay:” None.Motion adopted.

Action 14-60Moved by Commissioner Woer-ner, seconded by Commissioner Carda, to adjourn into Executive Session at 7:32 p.m. to discuss contractual and personnel matters under SDCL 1-25-2.Roll Call: All members present voting “Aye;” voting “Nay:” None.Motion adopted.

Regular meeting of the Board of City Commissioners of the City of Yankton was reconvened by Mayor Wenande.Roll Call: Present: Commission-ers Akland, Blaalid, Carda, Gross, Hoffner, Knoff, Sommer, and Woerner. City Attorney Den Herder and City Manager Nelson were also present. Absent: None. Quorum present.

Action 14-61Moved by Commissioner Woer-ner, seconded by Commissioner Carda, to adjourn at 7:40 p.m.Roll Call: All members present voting “Aye;” voting “Nay:” None.Motion adopted.

Nancy WenandeMayor

ATTEST:

Al ViereckFinance OfficerPublished once at the approximate cost of $149.28.

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“The state refused to dothat, so (the couple) filed anapplication in court in Min-nehaha County where theylived, and the judge grantedthem the change of name,”Baron said.

“That was a minor victoryfor those who wanted to pro-mote the interests of same-sex couples. And it’s an issueof how South Dakota gotdragged into it.”

Another issue has arisenwith same-sex couplesadopting children, Baronsaid.

“It’s fairly prevalent inSouth Dakota,” he said. “Con-servative factions don’t likeit and think it’s a bad thing,but it’s happening.”

In neighboring Nebraska,the law has banned not onlysame-sex marriages but alsocivil unions.

Legal challenges tend tobe more difficult in stateslike South Dakota, whoseconstitutions ban gay mar-riage or define marriage asthe union of a man andwoman, Baron said.

But even seemingly “air-tight” laws are subject tosuits, particularly over unan-ticipated situations, he said.“I don’t know how the courtsin South Dakota would dealwith it,” he said.

COURT CHALLENGES?South Dakota’s laws re-

main unaffected by decisionsin Texas and other states,said Yankton attorney SteveHuff, who has been outspo-ken on equality issues.

“The long and the shortof this issue is that SouthDakota’s law remains sta-ble,” he said.

Any changes in SouthDakota law — short of a U.S.Supreme Court decision —must come from within thestate, Huff said.

“Only a South Dakotastatute or decision from a

South Dakota court can dothat, and only a decisionfrom our Supreme Court or aSouth Dakota based federalcourt will alter the currentstate of South Dakota law,”he said.

Huff believes any chal-lenges to the state’s lawswould have been started bynow. He sees any changemore likely coming from theU.S. Supreme Court thanfrom the South Dakota’s Leg-islature or its courts.

In turn, the Yankton attor-ney foresees the issue ofsame-sex marriage headedfor the nation’s highestcourt.

“Most of the jurisdictionsthat have reversed bans (ongay marriages) are stayingthose decisions until the U.S.Supreme Court hears one ormore of those cases,” hesaid, adding the high courtenacted a stay where thelower court did not do so.

Through two decisionslast year, the U.S. SupremeCourt has apparently pro-vided much of the currentmomentum among states al-lowing gay marriage, Baronsaid.

In one case, the highcourt effectively allowed gaymarriage in California, hesaid. In the other decision,the court struck down De-fense of Marriage Act(DOMA) provisions banningfederal benefits to legallymarried same-sex couples,he added.

The DOMA ruling actuallyaddressed states’ rights,Baron said.

“Under DOMA, Congressdefined marriage as betweena man and a woman when tra-ditionally the states weredefining what was marriage,”he said. “The Supreme Courtheld that it was unconstitu-tional that Congress acted indefining marriage.”

The Supreme Court deci-sion wasn’t an endorsementof gay marriage, and thatissue remains unresolved,Baron said.

“It’s not the recognition ofthe federal right to marry assame-sex couples,” he said.

“It was saying that it was upto the states, and if the statedid recognize same-sex mar-riage, the federal governmentcouldn’t interfere.”

HISTORY IN THE MAKINGBaron has seen major

changes since a 1972 Min-nesota court decision reject-ing same-sex marriage, whichhe considers the first re-ported legal opinion on theissue.

“Over the last severaldecades, I have been follow-ing the struggles with tryingto get recognition for same-sex marriage. There has beena lot of hoopla but no successwhatsoever,” he said. “Therewas absolutely no recognitionfor same-sex marriage (40years ago), but it has reallyevolved and remains evolvingin terms of response.”

A major change came witha Hawaii Supreme Court deci-sion in 1993, reversing a caseand referring it to the Legisla-ture, which in turn referred itto a public vote, Baron said.

The prospect of Hawaiiansapproving gay marriage ledopponents across the nationto organize and promoteDOMA, which was enacted in1996, he added.

Massachusetts providedthe first official recognition ofsame-sex marriage in 2003.However, a number of juris-dictions were already recog-nizing and extending benefitsto civil unions and domesticpartnerships, Baron said.

“We had civil unions, butthat was seen as just a stop-gap measure,” he said. “Wehave bypassed that andmoved straight ahead.”

Baron has watched withinterest the unfolding courtcases across the nation.

“It’s amazing, if you lookat a map, more and more (de-cisions) are turning in juris-dictions where you wouldn’texpect it to turn,” he said.

The U.S. Supreme Courtcould “fast track” any gay-marriage cases but is morelikely to let the lower-courtcases play out first, Baronsaid.

“The (high) court likes tolet the issues percolate,” he

said. “We have 13 differentfederal circuits, and theSupreme Court likes thesefederal circuits to adjudicatethese things. We have theseissues reviewed and decidedupon by as many of the lowercourts as possible.”

LOOKING AHEADBaron incorporates the

same-sex marriage cases aspart of his family law courseat USD. He has also publisheda book with a section de-voted to the issue.

In the wake of the rapidchanges during the past yearor two, he finds himselfquickly revamping both hiscourse and book.

“It was very easy to teachprior to the Hawaii SupremeCourt decision in 1993. Now,there always changes,” hesaid. “If you had told me 10years ago that it was going togo this way, I would havethought it was crazy.”

Baron points to the grow-ing discussion about gayrights, particularly with morefamilies dealing with it.

“It’s coming to the fore-front where it had been kept inthe closet before, and now youcan’t look back. You have (for-mer U.S. Vice President) DickCheney whose daughter is in asame-sex relationship,” theUSD professor said.

“You find more and morepeople who were quiet beforeand wanted to assert theirrights in this area, but theyhadn’t done it. Now, more andmore people are doing it, andthat’s why the floodgates areopening.”

The issue of same-sex mar-riage remains a hot-buttontopic on religious and politicalgrounds, but it also involves fi-nancial and domestic matters,Baron said.

“This is not going to goaway,” he said of the courtcases. “I foresee only contin-ued growth in the number ofjurisdictions that permit same-sex marriages. It’s not going togo backwards and reverse it-self.”

You can follow RandyDockendorf on Twitter at twit-ter.com/RDockendorf. Discussthis story at www.yankton.net.

MarriageFrom Page 1

• conducting performanceevaluations on non-electedcounty officials;

• updating the county com-prehensive plan;

• completing a storage fa-cility project for the ambu-lance service;

• supporting infrastructureplanning activities as basiceconomic development prepa-ration;

• targeting bridges for im-provement; and

• reviewing opportunitiesto cooperate with neighboringcounties on joint purchasesand other activities of mutualbenefit.

Nearly all of those goalswere accomplished or in theprocess of being met, accord-ing to the commission.

No serious considerationhas been given to a part-timeadministrative assistant. Com-missioner Donna Freng saidthe position might be neededin the future but is not neces-sary now.

Because of the funding itwould require, the commis-sion also acknowledged thatsupporting infrastructureplanning activities as basiceconomic development prepa-ration has been tough.

Commission ChairmanBruce Jensen said he was par-ticularly proud of the budgetcarry-over the county hadmoving into 2014. It amountedto $4.7 million — the largest inmemory.

“We know that’s not goingto happen every year, but Ithink it’s quite an accomplish-ment,” he stated. “Most coun-ties are struggling right now.That’s why we have ourguards up. We don’t want toget into that position downthe road.”

He credited a lack of snow

and revenue from contracts tohold prisoners for other agen-cies as a couple reasons thecounty was able to hold on tosome money in 2013.

Commissioner Allen Sin-clair said the work done in thehighway department — in-creasing the use of inmatelabor, purchasing new equip-ment, working on a capital im-provement plan, etc. — wasone of the most importantthings accomplished last year.

Setting the agenda for thisyear, the commission’s goalsinclude:

• paying down the princi-pal on its loan for the newhighway shop;

• addressing the CountyGovernment Center waterleakage issues that have beenongoing for years. In thespring, digging will be done onthe foundation of the east sideof the building to see if acause can be determined forthat particular leakage prob-lem;

• completing work on acourt room in the YanktonCounty Courthouse and SafetyCenter that was not built outwhen the facility was reno-vated. The court system hassaid it is now needed. “I’m justglad that those commissionerswho were on the board whenthat Safety Center was beingbuilt thought far enoughahead so that the expenses ofbuilding it out are minimal,”Freng said;

• continuing to work onthe Highway 52 corridor plan;

• continuing to support theconversion of the Mead Build-ing into a museum and cul-tural center;

• addressing the future ofthe county 4-H program,which is currently having diffi-culties attracting YanktonCounty 4-H/youth develop-ment director candidates;

• working on the capitalimprovement plan for infra-structure, including bridge re-placements. “We need to get

really serious about that,”Moore stated. “If we can’t fixthese bridges, we’re going tohave to close roads”;

• creating a county roadload limit task force;

• proceeding with job eval-uations on non-elected countyofficials;

• maintaining technology;• maintaining highway de-

partment equipment; and• increasing the use of in-

mate labor for county work.“I think we have the oppor-

tunity to do a lot of differentthings this year,” Moore said.“It’s not going to be strictlylimited to this list, but it’s aworking document to take alook at. It will be subject tochange.”

You can follow NathanJohnson on Twitter attwitter.com/AnInlandVoyage.Discuss this story atwww.yankton.net/.

CountyFrom Page 1

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