Page 4 - Bob Everson News Today

After learning the new rodeo organization has yet to make a rent payment to the city, a member of Horsemen's Sports deemed it a breach of the lease agreement and urged council to end the lease.

"We have great schools [and] a great community. We just need more affordable places to live," said Avera's Hilary Rockwell. "Otherwise we're just taking other businesses’ [workforces]."

“We’re very pleased with the progress we’ve seen and the additional language you added. It does calm a lot of our concerns,” said Mitchell hotel owner Jerry Thomsen.

The proposed hotel BID tax has seen mixed support from local hotel owners.

“The current language allows them to spend money on maintenance or expansion that may not help result in bringing any events and ultimately people,” Thomsen said.

“We still would love to get a shooting range built in the Mitchell area, but it could be tough to find land," Mitchell Mayor Bob Everson said on searching for a new location for the project.

“We hope it will increase the tax base and attract more people," said Dale Bednarek, President and CEO of Farmers Union Industries. “Ultimately we really want to go 24/7."

“The people at the meeting made it clear they don’t want the range where it’s planned for, but they made it abundantly clear they want a range,” former owner of Boyds' Gunstocks Randy Boyd said.

Although attendance numbers for the pair of concerts didn't meet the expectations of Corn Palace Director Doug Greenway, ridership and revenue from food sales increased from last year's amount.

“The joke I made was if Taylor Swift came to town in the summer, we couldn’t hold a concert at the Corn Palace,” said council member Tim Goldammer, who voted against the new gift shop contract.