Department Functions

AUDITOR

The Auditor's Office is responsible for auditing all accounts and maintaining all financial records in and for the County. Processes payroll, prepares annual budget, establishes levies and apportions all tax collections. Monthly audits of all cash and cash items in the hands of the County Treasurer and a verification of bank account balances are performed. Annual Financial Reports are prepared indicating the receipts and expenditures, liabilities and equity, and assets of the County as of December 31st of each year.

Clerk of Board of County Commissioners: The Auditor is the Clerk for the Board of County Commissioners and keeps an accurate record of their official proceedings including the Board of Equalization hearings. The Auditor preserves all documents, books, and records as required by law.

Elections: The Auditor performs all the duties required by law relative to all County, State and Federal elections held in the County. The Auditor also maintains all records of voter registration and election history.

to top

BUILDINGS AND GROUNDS
Responsible for operations and maintenance of all county facilities. Coordinates planning and construction of existing and new facilities. to top

COMMISSIONERS
The County Commission consist of five elected Commissioners. The Commissioners are the governing body of the County. In addition to others specified by law, the Board of County Commissioners has power to:

Institute and prosecute civil actions in the name of the county, for and on behalf of the county; make orders respecting the care and preservation of all property belonging to the county and to sell any real property of the county when authorized by law so to do; to levy a tax not exceeding the amount authorized by law, and to liquidate indebtedness; to audit the accounts of all officers having the care, management, collection or disbursement of any money belonging to the county or appropriated for its benefit; to construct and repair bridges; to open, lay out, vacate, and change highways; to purchase or acquire grounds for courthouse, jail, or other building sites, locate or relocate the courthouse on such sites; to establish election precincts in its county and appoint the judges of election; and, as a board of equalization, to equalize the assessment roll of its county in the manner provided by law; to furnish necessary blank books, blanks, and stationery for the county auditor, register of deeds, county treasurer, state's attorney, sheriff, and other elected or appointed county officers, to be paid out of the county treasury; also a fireproof safe or vaults, when in its judgment the same shall be advisable, in which to keep all the books, records, vouchers, and papers pertaining to the business of the board; to superintend the fiscal concerns of the county and secure their management in the best possible manner; to regulate the transaction of business in alcoholic beverages, the use and consumption thereof, to establish the number of on-sale licenses which may be issued, provide for reasonable classification of on-sale licenses and to fix the fees to be charged for the various classifications which shall be uniform within each class, all consistent with the provisions of Title 35. The secretary of revenue shall be promptly furnished certified copies of all ordinances and resolutions or amendments thereto adopted relating to the exercise of these powers; to make ordinances prohibiting the sale or exhibition of any obscene matter; however, no county resolution shall be effective in any incorporated area within said county; to do and perform such other duties and acts as it is or may hereafter be required to do and perform; to provide additional compensation to the county treasurer, county auditor, county register of deeds, state's attorney, and sheriff. This compensation shall be in addition to the salaries prescribed in South Dakota law; to provide office space, in addition to that provided in the county courthouse, for state's attorneys, appointed officials of the county and other employees; to receive and administer grants, loans and assistance and to enter into agreements for cooperative action, with or on behalf of any public agency or nonprofit organization, to establish, promote and support community development; to enact ordinances to regulate and prevent the placing of ashes, dirt, garbage or any offensive matter in any highway or public ground or in any body or stream of water within the county, but outside of an incorporated municipality or outside of the one mile limits of any incorporated municipality; to enact ordinances to regulate and compel the cleansing, abatement or removal of any sewer, cesspool or any unwholesome or nauseous thing or place; to license and regulate transient merchants, hawkers, solicitors, peddlers, itinerant vendors, and every person retailing tangible personal property or services, unless such business is carried on exclusively within the boundaries of a municipality or is carried on through home solicitation or from a fixed permanent location and place of business in this state where such goods and services are offered on a continuing basis; to enact by ordinance, for any portion of the county which is zoned, certain building codes pursuant to § 11-10-5; to prohibit or restrict open burning, after consultation with local fire officials and law enforcement officials, in order to protect the public health and safety.

The Commission holds regular board meetings on the first and third Tuesdays of each month. These official meetings are recorded and televised. to top

PENNINGTON COUNTY 9-1-1 Operates a 24-hour, regional public safety answering point and dispatch center (911). Provides for efficient communications in both routine and emergency situations within the County and surrounding area and with city, state and federal emergency agencies. Dispatch's all City and County public safety agencies. to top

EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT
Administers the Rapid City - Pennington County emergency and disaster service program and advises Rapid City and Pennington County elected and appointed officials on emergency and disaster operations when a state of emergency or disaster exists. Administers the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) programs at the local level. Emergency Management's website is located at: www.rcpcem.com
to top

EQUALIZATION
Owner occupied program - Prepares owner lists for variances, zoning changes and conditional use permits (CUP's). Discovers, lists and values property for taxation purposes; Conducts on-site inspections of Mobile Homes; Identifies properties to be appraised; Appraises Commercial and Industrial properties (reviews improvements); Performs complex appraisal of land, commercial buildings, single and multi-unit residential buildings and improvements for tax purposes; Advises tax payers of appraisal process used in arriving at assessed value; maintains a county-wide mapping system which identifies property by ownership. Provides listing data for Real Estate salesmen and brokers. to top

EXTENSION SERVICES
The Cooperative Extension Service is the informal educational arm of the South Dakota State University. It is the function of the Extension Service to take University based research and disseminate it to the general public in a fashion that is useful to the public. The areas that are stressed are Agriculture, Horticulture, Family Consumer Sciences, Food and Nutrition, 4-H/Youth Development and Character Counts.

The Extension Board composition include: six members who are responsible for providing community input for local needs assessment, program planning and development, staff evaluation and fiscal responsibility. to top

FIRE ADMINISTRATION
Provides workman's compensation insurance, as directed by state law, to all volunteer firefighters in Pennington County; Provides vehicle liability insurance for all fire vehicles that are owned or co-owned by Pennington County and/or the local volunteer fire department; Assist Pennington County volunteer fire departments in the purchase of firefighting equipment, vehicles, training and other fire related activities; Provides a central focal point for fire related items (this may include, but is not limited to, administration, training, financial, public and/or news media relations, operations (both structural and wild land), hazardous material); Advise the Pennington County Board of Commissioners on fire related activities; Liaison between all law enforcement agencies, state and national agencies, various other county officials and other fire departments.

The Pennington County Fire Service Board, which overseas the Fire Coordinator and provides direction for the above activities, is a ten member volunteer board that serves without pay. The Fire Service Board represents the volunteer fire departments, SD State Forestry, US Forestry, Emergency Management, and the Pennington County Commissioners.

Pennington County Fire does not provide any direct fire suppression activities or duties. This is the responsibility of the 19 volunteer and two career fire departments that serve Pennington County. to top

HEALTH & HUMAN SERVICES

Health and Human Services provides emergency assistance for individuals who are in need of rent due to the threat of eviction or in need of utility assistance because they have received a disconnect notice. Other types of emergency assistance that may be available are groceries, gas, or bus ticket. Individuals must meet the requirement of the County approved guidelines and state statutes.

This office also provides financial assistance for medical services. State statutes and County guidelines determine qualifications for these services. Following is a list of the types of medical assistance that may be available:

Hospitalization
Specialty doctor care
Medications
Equipment rental
Out of State travel expense

This office also assists in the financial assistance of funeral services and burials.

A Protective Payee Program is also administered through this department and is a referral program for individuals in need of money management.

The Veterans Service Office is an agency within this department, and provides information on benefits and assistance that may be available to a veteran including disability benefits, survivors benefits, education benefits, home loan certificates, burial benefits and obtaining military records and discharges. They offer complete claims service, explanation of VA procedures and provides follow-up service once a decision has been made. They also provide information regarding eligibility at VA medical facilities.

to top

HIGHWAY
The Pennington County Highway Department has the responsibility to maintain one of the largest County Road and Bridge Systems in the State. There are over 869 miles of road and 154 bridges.
The normal functions of a Highway Department are divided into two general classes of work, construction and maintenance. Construction is to develop highways or facilities on new locations or to realign or improve the quality of existing highways or facilities. Construction costs increase the value of the highway facility and are properly added to the asset, while maintenance costs are operating expenses.

Another responsibility of the Highway Department is to respond to emergency needs and snow/ice removal. The Highway Department does not provide snow removal service to private individuals or businesses. However, special snow removal service is provided in life threatening situations.

The Highway Department has divisions in Rapid City, Hill City, New Underwood and Wall.

to top

HUMAN RESOURCES
The Human Resources' Office functions as the centralized job applicaton agent for all Pennington County Departments. This includes posting all available position openings, processing all applications received, and documenting equal employment opportunity and affirmative action statistics. to top

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY SERVICES
Troubleshoots user department hardware and software problems and answers questions; develops proper system structure; analyze specific problems, needs and goals of various departments (recommend solutions, course of action, purchases of software and hardware); analyze cost savings to the County; analyze system use of space, configuration and future needs. to top

JUVENILE DIVERSION
The Juvenile Diversion Program, which includes Teen Court, is a collaborative effort between the Pennington County State’s Attorney, the 7^th Judicial Circuit Court, and local social service providers. These juveniles have committed misdemeanor offenses, and after meeting certain criteria may be offered Diversion services in lieu of formal court proceedings.

Clients meet the following criteria:

Clients between the ages of 10 and 17 at the time of the offense.
Clients admit their guilt, culpability and/or involvement in the offense.
Client and their parent/guardian voluntarily agree to participate in the program.
Clients agree to and do comply with the Juvenile Diversion Contract.
The services available in Diversion are appropriate and meet the needs of the client

to top

ORDINANCE ENFORCEMENT
Implements procedures for the enforcement of Pennington County Ordinances relating to public nuisance, health and safety, environmental, and resource issues, Serves as Pennington County Coordinator for the Spruce Up South Dakota Program. to top

PLANNING & ZONING
The Pennington County Planning Department provides planning services to the County which includes the preparation of land use plans for long range growth of Pennington County and reviews development requests in the unincorporated areas of the County. The Pennington County Planning and Zoning Commission is a seven member citizen board that provides recommendations to the County Commission for a variety of land use applications with the County Commission having final authority for approval of those requests. to top

PUBLIC DEFENDER
The Pennington County Public Defender's Office is appointed by the courts of Pennington County to represent all indigent persons who by law are entitled to be represented by an attorney in the proceeding in which they are involved. The attorneys in the office primarily represent adults and juveniles charged with crimes, but the office also represents persons on mental and alcohol commitments, other juvenile court proceedings, and appeals and post-conviction proceedings.to top

REGISTER OF DEEDS
The Register of Deeds Office keeps full and true computerized, filmed and scanned records of deeds, mortgages and other instruments authorized by law to be recorded. Filings consist of UCC's, fictitious names, bills of sale, death certificates, county indigent liens, sheriffs levy, personal property liens, federal tax liens, state tax liens and other miscellaneous documents. Birth certificates are electronically submitted to the State Department of Health from the hospital. Certified copies of birth certificates can be issued for $10.00 each for all registered South Dakota. Certified copies of death certificates are $10.00 each, certified copies of marriage license are $10.00 and a marriage license is $40.00. Death Certificates from 2004 to present are available state wide. to top

SHERIFF'S OFFICE (PCSO)
The Sheriff keeps his office at the county seat, serves or post all notices he/she may receive from the county auditor or the board of commissioners, and perform such other duties as are prescribed by the laws of the state; attends the sessions of the circuit court and the board of county commissioners when required by the board to attend; to comply with all orders of the attorney general at all times, whether on duty or not; to see to it as far as may be possible that all the laws of the state and especially all laws relating to alcoholic beverages are faithfully executed and enforced. When the sheriff is disqualified or incapacitated, a deputy sheriff shall exercise the powers and duties of the office of sheriff so far as such disqualification or incapacity of the sheriff involved same. The sheriff keeps and preserves the peace; pursues and apprehends all felons, and must execute all writs, warrants, and other process from any court or magistrate which shall be directed to him/her by legal authority and serves in the capacity of the County Coroner. Sheriff's Office website is located at: www.penningtoncountysheriff.com

to top

STATE'S ATTORNEY
Investigates and makes formal charges; assist other states in returning fugitives to those states; extradites suspects from other states who committed crimes in South Dakota; handles misdemeanors (criminal procedure and traffic citations); investigates and formal charging dealing with juvenile delinquency; dependency and neglect proceedings; voluntary/involuntary mental and alcohol commitments; represents county in all legal matters; provides consultation of law enforcement. to top

TREASURER
The County Treasurer is the collector of taxes. By law the Treasurer's office must be located at the county seat. It is the Treasurer's duty to receive all money belonging to the county from whatever source derived. The Treasurer processes motor vehicle refunds; Types Distress Warrants to send to the Sheriff's Office; Collects license fees, real estate and mobile home taxes; Handles vehicle licensing; Provides information regarding real estate; Types deeds for County acquired properties; Processes Special Assessments; Provides Tax Certificates. to top

VETERANS' SERVICES
Assists victims of crime as they work with the criminal justice system in various ways including explaining the criminal justice system, referring victims to community services such as counseling, social services, and legal services, accompanying victims to court, etc. to top

VICTIM'S ASSISTANCE
Assists victims of crime as they work with the criminal justice system in various ways including explaining the criminal justice system, referring victims to community services such as counseling, social services, and legal services, accompanying victims to court, etc. to top

WEED & PEST
Designs and implements noxious weed and declared pest control program for the county; coordinates projects with other departments; provides answers to questions from the public relating to weeds and pests; administers commercial and private applicator tests for licensing; sells poison grain baits and smoke bombs to licensed applicators; administers county contribution to Pennington and East Pennington Conservation Districts and Game, Fish and Parks; administer county enforcement of nuisance ordinance.

The Weed and Pest Board composition include five members. Member areas consist of Area #1 - Wyoming line east to SD Highway 79; Area #2 - SD Highway 79 east to the Cheyenne River; Area #3 - that area of Pennington County lying east of the Cheyenne River. to top

Department Functions

Quick Links:

Links to Departments and Services: