News

Governor Dennis Daugaard and Sioux Falls, SD Mayor Mike Huether recognize and support engineers by proclaiming August 2, 2017, as Professional Engineers Day!

 

At the General Assembly in Atlanta on Saturday, July 22, 2017 the NSPE House of Delegates received reports, engaged in strategic dialogue on a range of matters related to advocacy, professional advancement, ethics, uniting the PE community, and championing the PE license, engaged in dialogue with technical society representatives, heard from international society representatives, recognized leadership contributions, and elected directors and officers.  

Specific actions taken by the Assembly included:

• Approving the proposed Professional Policy on Diversity (voice vote)
• Approving the proposed Membership Business Model for implementation (roll call vote: 81 - 10)

 

PIERRE, S.D. – Clyde Jundt from Pierre and Mark Knight from Aberdeen have been chosen for induction into the South Dakota Transportation Hall of Honor for 2017.

The purpose of the Transportation Hall of Honor is to recognize those who have made a lasting, valuable or unique contribution to South Dakota’s air, highway or rail transportation system.

The South Dakota Transportation Hall of Honor dates back to 1972 and now includes 88 inductees.

Mark Knight is the former vice-president at Foothills Contracting, Inc. of Aberdeen, a well-known and respected grading contractor for South Dakota and surrounding states. Mark spent 37 years in the grading business and has been a tireless advocate for the highway and transportation industry in South Dakota. He has served on many boards and committees both locally and nationally, including a term as AGC of America President, the first South Dakotan to ever achieve this prestigious level of leadership.

Clyde Jundt is a former South Dakota Department of Transportation employee who retired in 1994 after 37 years. Clyde graduated from South Dakota School of Mines and Technology and served in the U.S. Army. During his time with the department he was passionate about providing practical engineering for structures to effectively link transportation corridors across the state. He was also one of the principal designers of the famous Keystone Wye and “pigtail” bridges on U.S. Highway 16 in the Black Hills.

Banquets to honor both Jundt and Knight will be announced at a later date.

For more information, contact the Department of Transportation at 605-773-3265.

 

Pierre has a new city administrator, the top full-time municipal employee, less than two weeks after Leon Schochenmaier stepped down after 11 years at the post.

The Pierre City Commission on Tuesday approved the hiring of Kristi Honeywell, South Dakota’s state engineer, effective Aug. 14, after Mayor Steve Harding made the motion to hire her.

Like Schochenmaier, who spent a career as an engineer in state agencies, Honeywell has worked as an engineer for the state for 24 years.

Honeywell grew up in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, on the Mississippi Riveri’s west bank, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in chemistry and math at Southeast Missouri State.

She earned a master’s degree in civil engineering from the University of Missouri in Columbia.

She currently holds two positions for the state: she’s the state engineer and the deputy commissioner for the state Bureau of Administration.

Her state job means, among other things, that she’s in charge of all of the state government’s buildings and grounds, including the campuses and the vehicle fleets across the state.

The fact that the heart of the state’s properties could be said to be in Pierre, in and around the Capitol, means that she has worked closely with city employees here, she said.

Honeywell currently earns $99,119 a year, according to the state’s salary website, so her new job comes with a pretty good pay increase of 28.6 percent, to $127,500 annual salary as city administrator.

That’s about $7,620 less than Schochenmaier was making. But, she will be pretty close to that level when she gets the 5 percent increase - about $6,375 - on Jan. 1, 2018, that is part of her contract approved on Tuesday.

“I’m really looking forward to this and it gives me the opportunity to give back to the community that I have been calling home for almost 25 years.” she told the commission.

She and her husband moved here a quarter century ago and found Pierre “a fantastic community to raise a family,” Honeywell said. Their son is 23 and their daughter is 20.

Honeywell “has worked with a lot of the city’s staff in the past,“ and “has a great skill set that will serve the community well,“ Mayor Harding said. “WIth your engineering experience, construction experience and management experience, you will be a great fit for our community.”

Utilities Director Brad Palmer will continue as interim city administrator until Honeywell begins on August 14.

On Tuesday, she moved around greeting the five commissioners and Palmer, and said that she was planning to begin attending some meetings.

Harding said when he took office July 1 that he wanted to fill Schochenmaier’s position quickly because the annual budgeting process begins this month.

Former Mayor Laurie Gill announced early this year, shortly after Schochenmaier announced he was retiring June 30, that she wanted to start quickly to find a successor who would be ready to start July 1.

Three finalists - all men - were interviewed in May in Pierre and Gill planned to name a new administrator in June.

But the man offered the job said he decided he couldn’t leave his Wyoming community because of family considerations. City leaders decided against hiring either of the other two men who were finalists..

A new hiring process was set up and Honeywell was interviewed last week, one of two people interviewed.

Honeywell starts out with close ties with city work.

The city’s primary street project this summer - redoing about three blocks of Capitol Avenue in front of the Capitol, including replacing a 1927 water main between state buildings - has meant city and state leaders working closely together to minimize the disruption to parking, water and traffic.

The project is going well and should be completed on schedule before school starts next month, Palmer told the commission on Tuesday.

The state Bureau of Administration was a key agency working with the city on the project.

“Because of my current work, I am fortunate to already have a relationship with a number of city employees,” she said in a city news release on Tuesday. “I know they will help me get acclimated quickly and help make the transition as smooth as possible for everybody involved.” 

(From the Capital Journal)

FEMA has recently announce the Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) for the 2017 Pre-Disaster Mitigation (PDM) and Flood Mitigation Assistance (FMA) grants.  The application period opens on August 14^th and the deadline to submit any applications to our office will be close of business on October 13, 2017, the same date as the Disaster 4298-Christmas 2016 Ice Storm Hazard Mitigation Grant Program. 

Any application received by our office will be presented to the State Hazard Mitigation Team during the week of November 6^th and are eligible to be submitted in either the HMGP or PDM funding opportunity.

If there are any questions, please contact our mitigation staff.

Thanks,

JIM

 

Jim Poppen, CFM State Hazard Mitigation Officer 221 South Central Avenue, Pierre, SD 57501 605-773-3231 Office 605-773-3580 Fax 605-280-4096 Cell Department of Public Safety Office of Emergency Management

Celebrate Licensure and the Profession with PEs Around the World on August 2, 2017, for the second annual Professional Engineers Day!

 

On August 8, 1907, the first professional engineering license was issued to Charles Bellamy in Wyoming. Since that time, licensure has expanded and professional engineers across the U.S. have made the commitment to protect the public health, safety, and welfare. NSPE is celebrating licensed professional engineers with the second annual Professional Engineers Day on Wednesday, August 2, 2017. Join us as we raise awareness about what it means to be a PE, recognize licensed PEs, and show appreciation for the work they do each and every day.

 

Be a part of the virtual event on August 2, 2017!

Use #LicensedPEDay on   Twitter,   Facebook or   Instagram to:
◾ Upload a photo or video of yourself, tell us why you decided to become a PE
◾ Post photos or videos of your team of PEs
◾ Share your reasons for hiring PEs
◾ Give special recognition to your PEs in the workplace or on the job
◾ Educate your colleagues about the importance of the PE license
 

The 12^th Street Bridge Replacement project in Sioux Falls, SD, was selected as the 2016 Outstanding Engineering Achievement at the South Dakota Engineering Society (SDES) 57^th Annual Conference held in Spearfish, SD on April 26-28, 2017.   This $7.5 million project utilized several accelerated bridge construction techniques to reconstruct the bridge over the Ellis and Eastern railroad tracks near 12^th Street and Grange Avenue in Sioux Falls. HDR, Inc. was the design firm for this project.

Mark Mayer, PE, from Pierre, SD, was named the SDES Engineer of the Year.  The Engineer of the Year award recognizes SDES members who have made outstanding contributions to the engineering profession, the public welfare, and/or humankind.

Stacia Slowey, EIT, from Rapid City, SD, was named the SDES Young Engineer of the Year.  This award recognizes young SDES members who have made outstanding contributions to the engineering profession and their communities during the early years of their career.

 

The South Dakota Office of Emergency Management will be hosting a free training taught by FEMA procurement specialists that will discuss Federal standards for procurement. The information will enable participants to successfully participate in the FEMA Public Assistance (PA) program under a disaster and is also useful for applicants of the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program or any other sub-recipient of a Federal grant.

Local and tribal governments and private non-profit organizations must use their documented procurement procedures that reflect applicable state, tribal and local government laws and regulations, provided that the methods of procurement conform to applicable Federal law and standards. This training will assist your entity with ensuring you are compliant with applicable Federal and State laws.

This training will be offered in Watertown on April 5th. If you would like to attended this class please register using the link below. If you have any questions, contact Tyler Steen with the Office of Emergency Management at 605-773-3231.

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/fema-grants-procurement-training-watertown-tickets-32955292166

 

For Immediate Release

Contact: Jesse Morris, PE (605) 391-6449

Students Win South Dakota State Math Competition

Pierre, SD – March 11, 2017 — A team of middle school Mathletes^® from Mickelson Middle School in Brookings, SD won the South Dakota state MATHCOUNTS competition for the third year in a row. The top individual was Serena An from Mickelson Middle School, who also won the state competition last year.

Members of the winning team are: Serena An, Samyok Nepal, Ryan Nielson and Carl Steinlicht, coached by Shannon Renkly.

The second and third place teams are from Edison Middle School of Sioux Falls, and Holgate Middle School of Aberdeen, respectively.

The top four individuals from the State Competition will represent South Dakota at the 2017 Raytheon MATHCOUNTS National Competition in Orlando, FL, May 13-16. The four team members are Serena An (Mickelson Middle School – Brookings), Samyok Nepal (Mickelson Middle School – Brookings), Drew Comstock (Holgate Middle School – Aberdeen), and Tristina Ting (Mickelson Middle School – Brookings). The coach is Shannon Renkly (Mickelson Middle School – Brookings).

In our increasingly technological society, those students who do not begin developing strong problem-solving, logical thinking and analytical abilities in middle school will face an uphill battle later in life if they wish to pursue a medical, scientific, mathematical, engineering or technical career. As a national math enrichment, coaching and competition program designed to improve math skills among U.S. students, MATHCOUNTS prepares students for future career opportunities and success. More than 6 million students across the U.S. have participated in MATHCOUNTS programs.

The state program is sponsored by the South Dakota Engineering Society and 3M Gives Foundation. Leadership at the local levels of the MATHCOUNTS Competition Series is provided by members of the South Dakota Engineering Society of the National Society of Professional Engineers.

The National Sponsors of MATHCOUNTS are Raytheon Company, Northrop Grumman Foundation, U.S. Department of Defense, National Society of Professional Engineers, CNA Foundation, Phillips 66, Texas Instruments Incorporated, 3Mgives, Art of Problem Solving and NextThought.  MATHCOUNTS was founded by the National Society of Professional Engineers, National Council of Teachers of Mathematics and CNA Foundation.

Additional information on MATHCOUNTS is available at www.mathcounts.org.

SDES engineers honored their colleagues and engineering projects at SDES respective chapter activities during 2017 Engineers Week.  Congratulations to all recipients and thank you for all you do for the betterment of our lives.