HURON — The Huron City Commission received annual reports from the Huron Even Center and Huron Senior Center as part of Monday evening’s meeting.

Brenda Jager, manager of the Huron Event Center (HEC), presented to the commission first. She excitedly remarked about the positive first half of 2023 that HEC has experienced.

Jager reported that HEC had seen revenue increase approximately $50,000 over 2022 at the same point.

Jager noted that HEC is in its “slow” period right now, with most of the events happening with weekend weddings, but she stated that conventions and other events are already scheduled to see September and October pick up.

Finally, Jager noted that working with the Huron Chamber that HEC has booked 10 conventions in the last six months, three of which will be coming to Huron for the first time.

Huron Senior Center director Megan Hogla presented her first annual report in her position with the center. She reported that the Huron senior community is notably more active than surrounding areas, which brings more attendance and more events to the center.

Hogla reported that of the 23 apartments within the Senior Center building, 22 are currently occupied. She also noted that Meals on Wheels numbers continue to rise, and there are requests to serve just outside the Huron city limits. The issue is volunteers, and

Hogla stated that routes are being reviewed to potentially lighten the load on each individual volunteer, which in turn could encourage more volunteers to commit.

The evening’s proceedings opened with public forum. Commissioner Drew Weinreis issued a public thank you to city staff from multiple departments that enabled the Karen soccer tournament and cultural festival to go well over the past weekend.

Commissioner Weinreis also encouraged residents to attend the Huron Street Dance on July 15 from 8 p.m. to midnight on Third Street Southeast. The event is organized by the city’s Community Improvement Committee.

City engineer Brett Runge presented a payment request for Menning Excavating Inc to the commission. This was for the third payment toward the contract for water main replacement. Runge explained that the project is more than 70% complete at this time with the target date of August 30 for full completion still in line. This was approved.

The commission approved a design amendment for the contract on the Huron Parking Ramp removal and new parking lot construction for an amount not to exceed $10,000.

Runge also presented an agreement with Micro-Comm Inc to provide system integration for Phase 3 SCADA and Phase 4 SCADA upgrades, which will impact the water system and radio network as well as the wastewater collection system. This is an upgrade on systems that are decades old, according to Runge, and the new systems will allow for better full system integration on city services. Phase 3 in the agreement will be $293,769 and Phase 4 will be $564,891 for a total of $858,660, which is roughly $200,000 under the initial budget for the project. This was approved.

City financial director Paullyn Carey presented a retail on-off sale malt beverage and South Dakota farm wine license for Dakota Provisions, doing business as Wyshbone Market. Carey noted that no objections had been received and the city inspection had gone well. This was approved.

The meeting closed with a work session regarding Alley Cat Mission within Huron.