Minutes of Regular Meeting of Southern Black Hills Water System Board (Provisional)
Crazy Horse Monument
Thursday, May 28, 2026
The Regular Meeting of the Board of Directors of the Southern Black Hills Water System was held at the Crazy Horse Monument on Thursday, May 28, 2026.
Chairman Wick called the meeting to order at approximately 1:00 p.m.
ROLL CALL – Board Members present were Wick, Baird, Kowalski, Krump, Nase, Smith, and Zolnowsky; Smith was absent. Others in attendance were manager Don Peterson and observer Lynn Fillinger.
AGENDA – Motion by Nase, 2nd by Kowalski to approve the agenda; motion passed unanimously.
MINUTES - Motion by Krump, 2nd by Baird to approve the minutes of the April 23, 2026 meeting. Motion passed unanimously.
TREASURER’S REPORT – Peterson presented the treasurer’s report for April 2026. The report was reviewed by the board members. The check sequence ending April 30 was check #4924 and beginning May 1 was check #4925. Motion by Zolnowsky, 2nd by Baird to approve the treasurer’s report and transfer $15,000 from the regular checking account into the RD savings account; motion passed unanimously.
OLD BUSINESS –
Managers’ Report
The water usage report continues to indicate a large leak within Ph 1. Extensive search along the service lines in Ph 1 did not reveal any evidence of such a large loss of water. Suspicion has now shifted to the flow meters at the Streeter Well and the Argyle Booster Pump Station, which have reached their recommended lifetime and thus may be overestimating the amount of water passing through. Those flow meters will be replaced and the results checked again.
Ketel Thorstenson will present the results of their audit of 2025 operations and finances to the Board at the June 25 meeting.
The Mauer Subdivision has completed their water distribution lines, including boring under Argyle Rd to connect the SBHWS main. Westwind subdivision is still in the process of obtaining an easement from a landowner to complete their bore to connect to SBHWS. Both developments elected to build their water distribution with flow to each lot limited to one gallon per minute, which effectively requires those customers to utilize cisterns and pumps to meet normal usage.
Recent experience with use of the developer policy as described in the Developer Process document has led to the realization that providing water to customers added through developments has infrastructure costs to SBHWS in order to provide adequate service, most notably additional storage. Motion by Krump, 2nd by Nase to have legal counsel draft language amending the Developer Process and developer policy to require developers to pay $1,000 per lot/customer to SBHWS in order to fund infrastructure for maintaining adequate service levels; motion passed unanimously.
Chairman Wick, Zolnowsky, and manager Peterson met May 22 with AE2S staff representing Western Dakota Regional Water System to discuss plans for WDRWS distribution through the SBWHS service area. The discussion focused primarily on connections between WDRWS and SBHWS lines. Past conversations had focused on a more collaborative model of involvement, with SBHWS providing water to southern hills customers through lines funded by WDRWS; SBHWS will seek a follow-on meeting to determine how much of that model is still in planning.
Where the Paramount Point / Spring Creek Acres connection and storage project required passage through private property, easements were purchased through granting free taps to the affected parties. Rod Reynolds is in the process of installing those taps, and has completed three of the promised six.
The quoted price of obtaining equipment to use the tracer wires buried with water lines was approximately $9,000. A December 2025 SDARWS water distribution class included information about using high-precision GPS to manage water line distribution mapping information. Dakota Ludwig has obtained equipment capable of recording and locating water lines and connections using this satellite-based system costing $2,400.
Construction of the line connecting Paramount Point to Spring Creek Acres required changing the routing of the line and added unexpected cost to the overall project, which the Board has chosen to cover with a $12.50 surcharge on SCA customer. Management asked whether the Board would consider changing the member fee for Spring Creek Acres customers to match Ph 1 & 2 rather than using the surcharge. Discussion among the Board led the conclusion to stay with the surcharge, since the Board had already established the Projected Rate Schedule and the Board has not yet defined how all customers paying full membership fees will be represented on the Board. Management will work with counsel to write a notice of the surcharge and distribute it to SCA customers.
NEW BUSINESS -
The Preston family is still working to procure the required easements so that SBHWS can provide water service to the nine lots north of Hermosa.
EXECUTIVE SESSION -
There was no Executive Session.
UPCOMING MEETINGS -
The next meeting of the Southern Black Hills System Board will be Thursday,, June 25, 2026 at 1:00 PM at the Crazy Horse Monument in Custer. Future board meetings will be July 23 and August 27.
ADJOURNMENT - There being no further business, the chair declared the meeting adjourned at 2:20.
Crazy Horse Monument
Thursday, May 28, 2026
The Regular Meeting of the Board of Directors of the Southern Black Hills Water System was held at the Crazy Horse Monument on Thursday, May 28, 2026.
Chairman Wick called the meeting to order at approximately 1:00 p.m.
ROLL CALL – Board Members present were Wick, Baird, Kowalski, Krump, Nase, Smith, and Zolnowsky; Smith was absent. Others in attendance were manager Don Peterson and observer Lynn Fillinger.
AGENDA – Motion by Nase, 2nd by Kowalski to approve the agenda; motion passed unanimously.
MINUTES - Motion by Krump, 2nd by Baird to approve the minutes of the April 23, 2026 meeting. Motion passed unanimously.
TREASURER’S REPORT – Peterson presented the treasurer’s report for April 2026. The report was reviewed by the board members. The check sequence ending April 30 was check #4924 and beginning May 1 was check #4925. Motion by Zolnowsky, 2nd by Baird to approve the treasurer’s report and transfer $15,000 from the regular checking account into the RD savings account; motion passed unanimously.
OLD BUSINESS –
Managers’ Report
The water usage report continues to indicate a large leak within Ph 1. Extensive search along the service lines in Ph 1 did not reveal any evidence of such a large loss of water. Suspicion has now shifted to the flow meters at the Streeter Well and the Argyle Booster Pump Station, which have reached their recommended lifetime and thus may be overestimating the amount of water passing through. Those flow meters will be replaced and the results checked again.
Ketel Thorstenson will present the results of their audit of 2025 operations and finances to the Board at the June 25 meeting.
The Mauer Subdivision has completed their water distribution lines, including boring under Argyle Rd to connect the SBHWS main. Westwind subdivision is still in the process of obtaining an easement from a landowner to complete their bore to connect to SBHWS. Both developments elected to build their water distribution with flow to each lot limited to one gallon per minute, which effectively requires those customers to utilize cisterns and pumps to meet normal usage.
Recent experience with use of the developer policy as described in the Developer Process document has led to the realization that providing water to customers added through developments has infrastructure costs to SBHWS in order to provide adequate service, most notably additional storage. Motion by Krump, 2nd by Nase to have legal counsel draft language amending the Developer Process and developer policy to require developers to pay $1,000 per lot/customer to SBHWS in order to fund infrastructure for maintaining adequate service levels; motion passed unanimously.
Chairman Wick, Zolnowsky, and manager Peterson met May 22 with AE2S staff representing Western Dakota Regional Water System to discuss plans for WDRWS distribution through the SBWHS service area. The discussion focused primarily on connections between WDRWS and SBHWS lines. Past conversations had focused on a more collaborative model of involvement, with SBHWS providing water to southern hills customers through lines funded by WDRWS; SBHWS will seek a follow-on meeting to determine how much of that model is still in planning.
Where the Paramount Point / Spring Creek Acres connection and storage project required passage through private property, easements were purchased through granting free taps to the affected parties. Rod Reynolds is in the process of installing those taps, and has completed three of the promised six.
The quoted price of obtaining equipment to use the tracer wires buried with water lines was approximately $9,000. A December 2025 SDARWS water distribution class included information about using high-precision GPS to manage water line distribution mapping information. Dakota Ludwig has obtained equipment capable of recording and locating water lines and connections using this satellite-based system costing $2,400.
Construction of the line connecting Paramount Point to Spring Creek Acres required changing the routing of the line and added unexpected cost to the overall project, which the Board has chosen to cover with a $12.50 surcharge on SCA customer. Management asked whether the Board would consider changing the member fee for Spring Creek Acres customers to match Ph 1 & 2 rather than using the surcharge. Discussion among the Board led the conclusion to stay with the surcharge, since the Board had already established the Projected Rate Schedule and the Board has not yet defined how all customers paying full membership fees will be represented on the Board. Management will work with counsel to write a notice of the surcharge and distribute it to SCA customers.
NEW BUSINESS -
The Preston family is still working to procure the required easements so that SBHWS can provide water service to the nine lots north of Hermosa.
EXECUTIVE SESSION -
There was no Executive Session.
UPCOMING MEETINGS -
The next meeting of the Southern Black Hills System Board will be Thursday,, June 25, 2026 at 1:00 PM at the Crazy Horse Monument in Custer. Future board meetings will be July 23 and August 27.
ADJOURNMENT - There being no further business, the chair declared the meeting adjourned at 2:20.
