Minutes of the Annual Meeting Southern Black Hills Water System Board (Provisional)
Pringle Community Hall, Pringle, South Dakota
Thursday, October 02, 2025
The Annual Meeting of the Southern Black Hills Water System was held at the Pringle Community Hall, Pringle, South Dakota on Thursday, October 02, 2025.
Chairman Ted Wick called the meeting to order at approximately 6:30 p.m.
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ROLL CALL -  Attending were 5 board members who are system users, present were an additional 19 members and 85 other members were represented by proxy.  That is sufficient for a quorum.

MINUTES -  Motion by R Chavez and 2nd by D Musser to approve the minutes of last year’s meeting held on October 24, 2024.  Motion passed unanimously.

ELECTION - This year there was one open elected member seat for the board in 2026-2028.  Only one petition was taken out and returned, by Rick Krump.  Legal counsel Talbot Wieczorek verified that the petition bore sufficient valid signatures.  Krump will start his three year term in January.

Auditors Report -  Jordan Jones from Ketel-Thorstenson presented the 2024 Financial Summary-Modified Cash Basis.  He answered questions from the Board of Directors and from individuals attending the meeting.

Managers’ Report 
System Manager Don Peterson presented the Manager report.
  1. On September 22, 2025, the SBHWS main along Hwy 385 suffered a break in a 40 foot long section of 12 inch diameter pipe.  During repairs, SBHWS installed a 12 inch gate valve that would allow continued service to more customers in the event of a future break.  SBHWS thanks customers in the Phase 2 service area (roughly along Hwy 89 and westward) for conserving water while repairs were being made.  Due to multiple issues, customers in both Phase 1 and Phase 2 experienced air in the service lines; customers who chose to flush the air in their lines can contact SBHWS management for adjustment of their water usage fees.
  2. The forms for customer notification of water service issues via the IRIS notification system were available at the meeting and and can found on the southernblackhills.com website.  The IRIS system is our only feasible means to contact customers who want to be notified of service issues.
  3. SBHWS total water sales from January through August of 2025 was 20,936,300 gallons compared with 20,141,600 gallons for January through September of 2024.
  4. The 2024 DANR Secretary’s Award for Drinking Water Excellence was presented.  The DANR certificate identifies and rewards those water systems and their operation specialists that have demonstrated excellence in water system management and maintenance; this is the 13th year in a row that SBHWS has been received this award.
  5. SBHWS continues its membership in the Western Dakota Regional Water System, which is an effort to bring Missouri River water to Black Hills communities to address future demands for water.  SHBWS’s annual membership fee is $1500.  SBHWS has been and will continue to be involved in planning activities with WDRWS.
  6. The Paramount Point / Spring Creek Acres project is in progress in all aspects.  The pipeline contractor is still pressure testing a small portion of the water main lines and starting cleanup work.  The pump station contractor has the 30,000 gallon reservoir in place and recently set the pump station in place.  SBHWS will be having the third well for this system drilled near the new pump station.  The water tower tank contractor has the foundation in place and plans to start putting the tank up this fall, weather permitting.  With the completion of this project, SBHWS will be able to pump water along Hwy 78 to feed the Spring Creek Acres development.  SHBWS has been contacted by developers currently in the planning stages in this area for water service when the project is completed. 


Water Rates
The board has finalized a budget for 2026, water service base rates for 2026 will be be same as those projected in the Projected Rate Schedule report:  3% increase for Phase 1 and Phase 2 residential customers, with 5% or 6.5% increases for other customer areas.  Water usage rates remain unchanged.

Members Comments
  1. SBHWS staff has noticed a small number of meters have been under reporting water usage, and the meters fixed. The affected customers have been notified that they will likely have increased service charges in the future, but will not be required to pay for prior unreported usage.
  2. There were questions about what additional costs will SBHWS incur in its relation with WDRWS. At present, the only cost is the membership fee.  SBHWS sees this as a modest investment which can benefit us in multiple ways.  In the future, WDRWS wants to be able to provide water to southern Black Hills municipalities and looks to be funding additional SBHWS lines to extend the water delivery infrastructure necessary for the success of the WDRWS project, with SBHWS providing water to these customers on behalf of WDRWS.  Also, hydrology studies indicate that local water sources could be exhausted due to growing demand and this membership assures SBHWS of access to this outside source when it becomes available.
  3. Information about the term of office for board members was requested.  This information will be added to the website under the About Us tab.
ADJOURNMENT -  Wick thanked all for attending the annual meeting and asked to close the meeting. There being no further business, the Chairman adjourned the meeting at approximately 7:45 PM.