At the March 7 Students’ Association meeting, senators were addressed by Brookings City Manager Paul Briseno, a resolution was passed unanimously and senators began nominations for senator of the year.  

Briseno:

The city manager spoke about topics that directly impact South Dakota State University students. Briseno encouraged students to download Engage Brookings from their respective app store. The app’s description on Google Play says the app is used to “submit non-emergency requests to Engage Brookings and track their resolution.”

“A lot of the time when you call, things just get lost. It’s a great way [for us] to keep track of things going on in the community,” Briseno said.

Briseno said SDSU is also in talks with the city to upgrade the sewer system at the SDSU research park. The city estimates the upgrade to cost about $2.2 million. The research park sewer system is nearing 100% capacity, Briseno said.

The city is also preparing for motorized scooters. “There’s some language change within the state legislature to allow scooters on public streets,” Briseno said. He anticipates companies will approach the city with scooter services. Several years ago, the city was approached by a scooter company, Briseno said, but a deal wasn’t able to be made because the state legislature did not allow it at the time.

The city approved the use of Starship food delivery robots off-campus. The robots will be allowed up to Sixth Street.

The city’s sales tax revenue is up this year over last year thanks to more people returning to retail locations.

“It’s our bread and butter,” Briseno said. “40% of our revenue comes from sales tax.”

For the month of December 2021, sales tax revenue was up 10%, according to Briseno.

Other:

SA President Andrew Rasmussen opened up nominations for senator of the year. Senators Garrett Satterly, Michael Garofalo, Cara Teigum and Grant Sternhagen were nominated.

GSA announced their drag show last week attracted 155 attendees and generated $500.

The senate unanimously passed resolution 21-28-R, which supports the restructuring of SDSU university committees. Currently, committee leadership may only come from SDSU faculty. A change at the university level would allow for others, including students, to helm committees.

“The students represent the highest constituency of SDSU individuals but are not allowed to serve in leadership on committees or have a fair distribution on said committees,” 21-28-R reads.