Fort Pierre: Powering Progress

Fort Pierre has a lot going on! I have  been in Fort Pierre several times. I’ve  driven through, stayed at the hotels, and  I even called it home for three legislative  sessions, but I am ashamed to say that  I have never really explored the town.

Although the South Dakota Municipal  League offices are in Fort Pierre, I  actually live and work in Plankinton  which is one of the 35 municipal  electric communities, so I do not spend  a lot of time in Fort Pierre. Last week,  I was able to visit with Terry Schroer,  Electrical Superintendent, and Rick  Hahn, Director of Public Works. I always  knew that the City of Fort Pierre seemed  like it had a lot going on, but the current  and future projects continue to make it a  great place to visit or call home.

Currently, the electric department is  working on overhead-to-underground  conversions and have completed  approximately 95% of those conversions  with some still needing to be fi nished  on the edges of town. They have  drive-by automatic meter reading and  have around 1,200 electric meters.  They are also working on converting to  LED streetlights, changing them out as  needed and putting LEDs in any new  developments.

The city also has a six-megawatt  emergency generation plant that was  commissioned in 2004 and was used  during winter storm Uri for about  72 hours. They also run it one hour  each quarter or if they must perform  maintenance on a line or if Southwest  Power Pool or Western Area Power  Administration requests added load or  load shedding. The electrical department  is working on an electrical study and on  updating their switches. The department  is also responsible for power to the  lagoon aerator as well as the nine lift  stations to pump the wastewater to the  lagoon.

The city has several other projects  taking place, including a water storage tank that is currently in the design  phase and will be going to bid this fall.  They are also looking at a possible city  shop expansion and upgrading their  supervisory control and data acquisition  (SCADA) system for water and sewer.

With the new bridge over the Missouri  River being constructed, the city has  plans for a nearby plaza on the Fort  Pierre side of the river. It will include a  fi shing pier, two overlooks on the bridge,  a recreation trail that spans the bridge  and a nature trail that extends west to  east along Hustan Avenue. The nature  trail, named the Tatanka Trail, will feature  historical and educational information  for users. A pedestrian bridge will go  over the opening at Riverwalk Landing

Marina to keep the recreation trail continuous along the river and tie into the Tatanka Trail.

Fort Pierre has even more planned. They’ll soon see privately funded renovations to the Holiday Inn Express, a potential new dual brand hotel going up, and - already under constructiona senior living center with 19 independent living apartments, 20 assisted living apartments, and 13 memory care rooms for a total of 52 housing units. Phase 2 of this project is construction of an apartment building with approximately 36 apartments that will have 60 beds and include independent living, assisted living, and a memory care unit. Phase 2 of the senior living center will include apartments.

The Verendrye Museum was upgraded a couple of years ago and there are two other museums in town including the Fort Pierre Depot Museum as well as the Casey Tibbs Rodeo Center Museum. There is a fish cleaning station going in by the 5th Avenue boat ramp that will be a year-round heated and cooled station.

With all of the current business, new development, and entertainment, it is easy to see why their HOMETOWN is great! ■