Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the County Finance Audit topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Bennett County resident urges commissioners to resign, cites alleged budget violations
Summary
During public comment at a Bennett County commissioners meeting, a county taxpayer urged the resignation of multiple commissioners and alleged consecutive years of budget overspending and bid-law violations, citing a state audit and South Dakota statute 7-21-17.
A resident identified only as a Bennett County taxpayer used the meeting's public-comment period to call for the resignation of several county commissioners and to cite alleged budget overspending and state-law violations.
The resident said the county went "rigorously over budget" by "an estimate of $641,409 in 2024, and $455,000 in 2023," and referenced a total overspend figure of about $1,096,000. The speaker said the county auditor's biannual report, authored by State Auditor Al Schaffer, documented "numerous violations" including "illegal bid findings" (finding number referenced in the comment as '22-001').
The speaker said those findings led to a lawsuit with a contractor, Sepulchate Trucking, and predicted the county could be required to pay an additional roughly $300,000. The speaker asked the commissioners named in their packet to resign and requested that the commissioners repay amounts they alleged exceeded the legally approved annual budgets. The residents named in the packet were identified by the speaker as David Bagley, Cole Donovan, Susan Williams, Bill Livermont and Keeley Clausen; the speaker described those people as the current commissioners in their packet.
The speaker explicitly cited South Dakota statute "7-21-17," saying it "states that county commissioners that made authorized contracts on behalf of the county are to be held personally liable for contracts exceeding the approved annual budget." The speaker also handed the board a packet that included a resignation letter they said required signatures and a page listing the laws they said were violated.
County commissioners did not take formal action on the resignation demand during the meeting. Other attendees asked for the county's 2025 road plan to be made public and discussed follow-up on the audit findings; county staff and other commissioners later discussed financial and highway planning matters during the agenda.
The remarks came during the public-comment portion of the regular meeting and were recorded in the meeting minutes; commissioners did not respond with any formal vote on the resignation request during the meeting.
The resident's allegations reference audit findings and a state statute; the board did not announce any administrative or legal follow-up at the time of the meeting.
