ALL THE DAKOTA PROTEIN SOLUTIONS CONTENT IN THIS WEEK’S COURIER

TURNER COUNTY OFFICIALS TAKING UP CONCERNS ABOUT DAKOTA PROTEIN SOLUTIONS

Board of Review looks at conditional use permit, learns of non-compliance issues at Aug. 19 meeting; another hearing scheduled for evening of Sept. 23

Action of one kind or another in response to the problematic rendering plant southeast of Freeman could be less than a month away, when the Turner County Board of Adjustment convenes for its next monthly meeting on Tuesday, Sept. 23.

The meeting was moved from its normal late-morning timeslot to 6:30 p.m. and will be held, likely at the Parker Community Building on Main Street to better accommodate the anticipated large public gathering from Freeman residents.

This comes in response to non-compliance issues at Dakota Protein Solutions (DPS) and public outcry over the odor coming from the plant that has grown through the spring and summer months.

The Turner County Board of Adjustment formally took up the issue at its most recent monthly meeting last Tuesday, Aug. 19, when it:

Reviewed the conditional use permit granted DPS on Sept. 14, 2021;

Learned of three violations documented by Daisy Johnson, director of equalization with planning and zoning for Turner County, and;

Heard from Scott Stern, a former Freeman resident and businessman who is one of the primary investors in Dakota Protein Solutions.

No action was taken, but — per Turner County ordinance — a second hearing is required, which on Aug. 19 was set for Sept. 23.

Here is an explanation of the process provided to The Courier in an email by Turner County State’s Attorney Katelynn Hoffman Tuesday evening, Aug. 19.

“Based on complaints received by Turner County as it relates to the conditional use permit (CUP) granted to Dakota Protein Solutions for their rendering facility in 2021, our zoning director, Daisy Johnson, began a review. That investigation found DPS to be noncompliant with three conditions of the permit. The purpose of (the Aug. 19) hearing was for the zoning director to notify the zoning commission of those findings. Prior to (the Aug. 19) hearing, our zoning director provided written notice of the noncompliance to DPS. Our ordinance dictates that after the findings are brought to the attention of the zoning commission, the matter must then be set for an official review of the permit at its next regularly scheduled meeting.

“The ordinance then requires at least 10 days prior to any review hearing, that the zoning director give written notice of the review hearing date/time to DPS. The director is also required to post a sign at the property with that same information regarding the review hearing.

“At the review hearing in September, evidence will be presented to the zoning commission, and if the board determines by substantial evidence that such compliance has not been established, it may: revoke the permit, amend the permit, postpone action for a period of time it deems appropriate to allow the permit holder to comply, or require any other such action it deems appropriate.”

Larger context

The story of Dakota Protein Solutions goes back to 2019, when Stern and a group of investors assumed ownership of another rendering facility — Dakota Rendering, operated by Ray Spangler — and began laying the groundwork for what they would later laud as the only non-proprietary rendering operation in South Dakota, and an enterprise “to be proud of.”

In August of 2021 the city of Freeman approved a resolution in support of DPS, the conditional use permit from Turner County followed the next month, and the ball was rolling.

DPS was celebrated with a ribbon-cutting the morning of Sept. 3, 2024 that included remarks from investors, District 19 Representative Drew Peterson, U.S. Congressman Dusty Johnson, secretary of the DANR Hunter Roberts, and Joe Fiala, Commissioner of the Governor’s Office of Economic Development.

The processing of dead livestock began that month, with water to the plant being supplied by city wells, per a three-year contract.

But public criticism on social media — some of it angry — began snowballing earlier this year because of the odor coming from the plant and has only intensified this summer. Much of it is posted on the Facebook group, Life in the Freeman, SD Area, administered by Laura Townsend and moderated by Bobby Pickett.

And at its July 1 meeting, the Freeman City Council heard from Roger Walker, plant manager at the time, who said, “looks like we’ve got some work ahead of us.”

Walker told the council that the problem was the hard water being supplied by the city and used to operate DPS, which was “raising havoc on sensors and equipment” designed to mitigate the odor.

“We are seeing incredible amounts of mineral buildup and all sorts of issues,” Walker said, adding that DPS is exploring ways “to make the water work for us.”

“We ask for patience and everybody’s understanding as we try to work through this,” he said.

Blaine Saarie, president of the council, suggested there was a sense of urgency.

“I understand it’s a work in progress,” he told Walker.

However, “the city council is really catching crap on Facebook. What you’re burning is bound to smell, but if a guy can do whatever it takes to get the scrubbers to work, it would be greatly appreciated by everybody.”

But the odor persisted, generating even more outcry on social media.

“Just went outside and wanted to puke,” wrote one Facebook user on July 9. “The city of Freeman really screwed up this time. The smell is terrible. FIX IT PLEASE I don’t want to move.”

The comment elicited 72 responses.

“Got back from a baseball game in Parkston and wanted to sit out on our deck and enjoy a fire,” one wrote. “Guess that’s not happening for the 15th time this summer. So tired of it.”

“It rolled in fast this evening,” wrote another. “Went into Casey’s with fresh air, came out and the smell hits you like a brick. I almost threw up walking to my car. It’s absolutely awful. I wanted to sit and read outside this evening but nope! Stuck indoors because the smell is so strong.”

While Facebook has served — and continues to serve — as a platform for public complaints, the issue took center stage in a more official capacity on Tuesday, Aug. 5, when the DPS situation reached the agenda of the Freeman City Council.

Not only did the meeting provide an opportunity for public comments, it also revealed that city officials had been in contact with City Attorney Mike Fink to work toward a possible resolution.

Fink said at the Aug. 5 meeting that the city has no authority over the plant because it is located in Turner County and just outside the city’s jurisdiction. But he also said he had been in touch with officials from Turner County, which granted DPS the conditional use permit required to operate, and that they were working through a process that could lead to action.

That resulted in the Aug. 19 review of the conditional use permit by the Turner County Board of Adjustment and is what has led to the hearing on Sept. 23.

CITIZENS EXPRESS DISPLEASURE

Residents share concerns at Aug. 19 meeting in Parker

The five-member Turner County Board of Adjustment, chaired by Steve Schmeichel, heard firsthand last week how the odor from Dakota Protein Solutions (DPS) is impacting the lives of Freeman area residents — and the community itself.

Ten of the more than 40 concerned men and women who packed into the small meeting quarters at Miller’s Garage on the south end of Parker spoke out during the board’s Aug. 19 meeting, in which the board reviewed the conditional use permit granted to DPS almost four years ago and learned about compliance violations tied to that permit.

Eight of those speaking were citizen of Freeman; the other two were rural residents.

“I know there are a lot of people here and probably a lot of emotion, so I ask for respect for everybody here,” Schmeichel said. “We will keep this thing moving and limit you to two minutes; not that we’re trying to cut you off, but with this many people here, we need to keep this rolling.

“The board will not be in a debate with you,” he continued. “But this is your opportunity to comment.”

And with that, it began.

Freeman city resident Slade Ammann was first to speak and said he’s accustomed to the smell associated with agriculture. His family on both sides had dairy, cattle and hog operations and he grew up four blocks from John Morrell in Sioux Falls.

“It smelled funky — still does,” he said. “I’d still play with my friends outside, ride bikes, play basketball, baseball, never had a problem with it. It was just an inconvenience.”

But the current situation in Freeman is different and impacts his family, be it his children who want to go for runs in the morning or his want to grill out back on the patio.

“When you want to throw up and lose your appetite, you don’t really want to cook outside,” he said. “We didn’t ask for this; we can’t let it stand.”

Ryan Sorensen, another Freeman city resident and a coach with the local football team, said there were a number of times last fall when “the boys couldn’t even really function because it was so thick. Me just standing there coaching, I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, this is horrible.’ And then them running and having to breath heavier — it was a useless practice.”

And just the Friday before the meeting, he said, his kids wanted to go outside for a cookout and to play some bean bags, but as soon as they opened the garage door — “Nope. Closed it back up, went back inside.

“It’s affecting our outside time,” Sorensen said.

Maurice Waltner, who lives three miles south of Freeman, spoke on behalf of the rural community and said the DPS odor is impacting country folks, too.

“We’re in the valley,” he said, “and when it’s the right humidity, the right wind, it just sits there. So not only does it affect the Freeman community, it affects the residents around the area, too.”

Tiffany Mehlhaff spoke next and presented the board of review with a petition that gained 325 signatures in less than four days, as well as a stack of papers that she said resulted from a 10-minute Google search about lawsuits pertaining to these types of plants “and the willful disregard for the public around them.”

Mehlhaff, who lives on Wynken Drive located on the eastern side of the community — “the first line of defense against the smell” — said the people of Freeman have been very patient after previously presenting their concerns and didn’t start getting “pissed” until this past spring.

“They’ve got 800 excuses,” she said. “It’s hot. The water’s bad. All things that somebody starting a rendering plant with this much experience would have known. They didn’t put an air conditioner in, so they said they had to leave the doors open. They acknowledge that the air scrubbers don’t work if the doors are open; the doors are still open. They didn’t put showers in, so the employees leave smelling like that. The plant doesn’t even function like the way they told the residents it would.”

And Mehlhaff noted that the concern goes beyond the smell.

“This is the air quality in your lungs,” she said. “If you can smell it, it’s doing harm to your body.”

Like Mehlhaff, Larry Timmerman lives on Wynken Drive and said his family moved from the country to town 10 years ago to get away from the smell of a feed lot, “and I think I want to move back to my old house, by a feedlot. It’s not even close to what we’re experiencing in town.

“The people in Freeman are suffering,” he continued. “They’re held hostage by a toxic odor — an odor you can’t describe. You have to experience this odor to understand. On a scale of one to 10, it’s vomit stage.”

And Timmerman noted DPS shut down its operation for both the South Dakota Chislic Festival and for the Freeman Volunteer Fire Department’s rib cook-off this past summer.

“But what about every day?” he said. “They know there’s a problem out there or they would not have shut the thing down.”

“Face it, this plant needs to go,” said Timmerman, an outspoken critic of the plant on Facebook. “It’s a total failure. Please cut the losses and run before the whole area is ruined.”

Freeman resident Blaine Saarie, who is president of the Freeman City Council, didn’t go that far, but he said the odor is of serious concern.

“I know Dakota Protein Solutions is a business and they want to keep running,” he said. “And I know they’re trying, but the city council is getting a lot of heat because we let them use our water; that is part of the reason things aren’t working.

“I know the business doesn’t want to do this to Freeman,” Saarie continued. “So I feel whole heartedly that they’re going to solve it, or they’re going to try hard. So if you guys could please help us out to make sure that the problem does get solved; it all comes down to you. Sometimes it gets a little personal and it shouldn’t. We’re all here to help and we’re going to get through this.”

Amy Cummings said she moved to Freeman because she wanted a safe, friendly and peaceful environment to raise her family “and I am grateful to be part of this community.”

But she said the blessing that Freeman was has been compromised because of DPS and she’s concerned for hers and other children of the community.

“I worry about the moments that should be most carefree for them, such as playing outside, recess, practicing sports and gathering outdoors for home games,” she said. “These are core parts of childhood, and they are now at risk of being overshadowed by something no child should have to think about — the smell of a rendering plant.”

Like Timmerman, she noted the plants’ shutdown during Freeman’s two major outdoor summer events.

“I’m concerned about the health of our children, the quality of our schools and the well-being of our families,” she said. “We matter every single day, not just on selective weekends,” Cummings said.

“I’m not here to say the plant cannot exist,” she continued. “What I’m asking is that it must exist responsibly. With the right modifications it can continue operating without harming the quality of life that drew us to Freeman in the first place.

“This is not just about inconvenience. It’s about protecting the peace, health and future of our community. I urge the council to take this matter seriously because it requires meaningful changes so that families like mine can continue to thrive in Freeman.”

Kristi Stahl, another Wynken Drive resident, shared concerns about what might be coming.

“The smell is bad already; what’s going to happen when the irrigation starts?” she said.

Stahl said she has been documenting the plants operation and has seen open doors, trucks not washed, not tarped and sitting outside with a load of dead animals.

“They promised to put a grove of trees around it; nothing has happened regarding that,” she said. “I just feel that a lot of things are being said that aren’t being followed through.”

Scott Hanshaw, who lives two miles south of Freeman on Highway 81, said he moved to Freeman with his family four years ago to escape the poor air quality and contamination of Denver, Colo., and is now forced to deal with the smell of a rendering plant.

“We feel like we’re prisoners in our own home,” he said. “My wife likes to put clothes out on the line to dry; can’t do that anymore. Can’t have the windows open in the house anymore. We have to answer to our son wondering why it smells like a** outside.

“I wish there was some way I could bring that smell into this room to show you what we’re having to deal with, but I can’t,” Hanshaw continued. “All we’re asking as a community is that you look at this matter and help us get it resolved.”

Micah Graber, a Freeman city resident, said he is concerned about the health of the people, but also the health of the town.

“It’s my hometown and I love it,” he said. “Who’s going to buy a house? Who’s going to move a new business in?”

Graber noted that there have been talks about Freeman Regional Health Services teaming up with Avera to build a new health care campus on the eastern portion of Freeman.

“They’re not going to build it there with that smell,” he said. “They promised that it wouldn’t stink, and it’s pretty much every day.”

STERN TO RESIDENTS: ‘WE HEAR YOU’

Local investor apologizes, says DPS officials are working toward solutions

It wasn’t only a platform for the public to provide input, or a chance for county officials to review the conditional use permit and learn about non-compliance violations by Dakota Protein Solutions.

The Aug. 19 meeting of the Turner County Board of Adjustment was also an opportunity for one of the key investors of the problematic rendering plant located southeast of Freeman to address the concerns and speak directly to the residents of the Freeman community.

And that’s what Scott Stern did.

“We hear you,” he said, appearing in front of the board of adjustment but turning around to speak directly to those crowded in the meeting room and the adjoining office and reception area just outside. “Residents of Freeman, I’m sorry.

“We have stumbled,” Stern said. “And it breaks my heart.”

Stern told the board that, even though he no longer lives there, he considers Freeman home, and he went into this project with the best of intentions.

“I spent some time in public service, and in that capacity, it was important for me to help rural communities,” he said. “I shared repeatedly in public environments how important it was to create economic development and economic advancement in small communities.”

Stern described economic development in larger cities as “lobster traps,” meaning that growth in cities like Sioux Falls and Rapid City stays within. When economic growth happens in rural communities like Freeman, he said, it circulates there first before extending outward.

“Rarely, like a lobster trap, does it go the other way,” Stern told the baord. “That was what my heart was trying to create for this community.”

Cause of the odor

Stern told the board that not all rendering facilities are created equal.

“Compositionally, all rendering plants are made up of the same systems, but they’re all like snowflakes in that they’re all different,” he said. “Every rendering plant has cookers and presses and boilers and things of that nature, but depending on the quantity of the feed stock, the type of the feed stock, the feed rates, even climatic conditions, they’re different.”

“It’s a little bit like an orchestra,” he continued. “You have all of these instruments, but you can’t create beautiful music until they’re all in sync, and we are not all in sync.”

He cited two issues causing the stink: The holding pond south and slightly east of the facility that holds used water, and the water itself.

Stern said the system designed to remove animal fat before the water is pumped out was not running correctly when DPS began processing dead stock, and that resulted in an odor in the holding pond.

Making the issue problematic is that, because of the summer rains, there has been no need to irrigate with that excess water.

“If we’d have had a dry season, that holding pond would have been emptied … so that problem just sits there and continues to fester,” Stern said. “Once we can irrigate that and get it out of the system one time, we’ve got that dialed in. We’re not putting any more fat in that system.”

As for the water challenges, Stern admits that DPS missed the mark out of the gate.

“We made the assumption there was adequate water to serve that plant,” he told the board last week. “There wasn’t.”

As a result, DPS officials approached both TM Rural Water District and B-Y Water — which has supplied the city of Freeman for 30 years — about buying their product but were told neither had the infrastructure required to support the 20,000 gallons required daily to run the operation.

“I don’t think anybody, when they designed rural water, understood that there were going to be small communities that would be using it,” said Steve Schmeichel, chair of the Turner County Board of Adjustment. “It was not sized for that. That’s a challenge for all the rural water communities.”

In light of that obstacle, Stern told the board that DPS went to the city of Freeman and inquired about using its three decommissioned wells that were the source of city water prior to B-Y extending its line to Freeman in 1995, “and they were gracious and kind enough to put the wells into service and give access to that water.”

DPS and the city of Freeman entered into a three-year contract.

The problem, Stern continued, is the poor quality of that well water, which is what prompted the city to contract with B-Y in the first place.

“You know how important good water is,” he said. “The chemicals that we’re putting in the scrubber are being scavenged by the minerals in that water, so it makes the whole system almost non-functional.”

But DPS is working on a solution, he said — the identification of another water source that can provide about 16,000 gallons of good, clean water a day, which is enough to sustain the plant for the next several years. After that, Stern said, he is hopeful that B-Y Water will have extended its infrastructure in a way that can support DPS long-term.

Stern also noted that DPS is putting up a 50,000-gallon tank for a fresh water supply if necessary.

“Those are the two forces that are fixable,” he said of the holding pond and the water supply issues. “This is like a cancer, but it’s a curable cancer, and we’re committed to curing it. The solutions are there.”

Non-compliance

Stern was pressed by the commission on why DPS was not in compliance in the first place — why the issue was brought to the Aug. 19 meeting in the first place.

Stern said cited violation on the hauling agreement was a misunderstanding — that he thought that, because another governing agency was issuing that, it would be the ones to file an agreement.

“I did not realize that we were supposed to be the originator,” he said. “We’re happy to accommodate that.”

“That’s all appreciated, but it’s like closing the gate after the cows were out,” responded one of the board members. “Why wasn’t it done initially.”

“No excuses, but we had a manager that left us who (was supposed to) take care of those things,” Stern said. “We have an active management team that’s supposed to execute on those things and, when they don’t, we own it. No excuse, but that’s what happened.”

As for the dust control required twice yearly, Stern said the product has been on hand but works best under dry conditions.

“It hasn’t been imminent in our mind because it hasn’t been dry — we haven’t had a dust challenge,” he said. “It will get done. The requirement is twice a year, it will be twice a year.”

As for the livestock stored in trailers, he called it “a bit ambiguous.”

“We didn’t see that we were storing the animals in the trailer,” Stern said. “That was waiting to be unloaded — like it was in transit. I sure wish all hogs and cattle picked up died from 8 to 5 Monday through Friday, but they don’t.”

Stern used an example of when the electricity goes out and takes out an entire hog barn, “when four, five, six trailers of material that ends up at our place overnight, that we don’t know about.

“Those are some of the things that we can have discussion on or work through about how to effectively handle those spikes when those things happen,” he said. “But we never saw that as storage — basically waiting to be unloaded or in transit.

“I would disagree that we are not in compliance there,” Stern concluded. “It’s driving efficiency for the haulers; they drop that trailer, they pick up a clean, sanitized trailer and go. I know people have posted pictures of trailers that don’t look good; those are being pulled by our shag truck that never left the property. We want to clear up some of that misinformation.”

Additional discussion

Stern addressed several other issues.

He spoke to the criticism that has resulted from doors at DPS that are sometimes open — criticism that has been documented and shared through photos on social media and with Freeman City Attorney Mike Fink. But Stern said the reason for the open doors is to pull more air into the plant than can then be pushed through the air scubber system.

He also asked that residents not take the problem out on the employees who work at DPS.

“Our employees are passionate about working at that plant, and if there’s any animosity that needs to be focused, give it to us. Our employees don’t deserve that. Freeman’s a welcoming community and it’s unfortunate what they’ve been exposed to.

“We’ll take that on.”

Tiffany Mehlhaf, who earlier in the meeting shared her concerns, asked during Stern’s dialogue with the board if those attending could ask questions of Stern, and pushed back when she was told no.

“We have problems that are happening here and I have questions for Scott that you guys might not come up with,” she said. “I understand the process, but we’ve asked to talk to Scott, and now Scott shows up and we can’t ask him questions.”

“Not right here during this meeting,” responded Daisy Johnson, Turner County’s director of equalization with planning and zoning who documented and shared with the board the three non-compliance issues being reviewed.

“Then we’re not going to get it,” Mehlhaff responded.

“Why is that?” Schmeichel asked.

“Because we’ve tried,” she said.

Later in the meeting, somebody asked where to address questions to Stern “instead of social posting it?”

“I appreciate that,” Stern responded. “Those people that have reached out in a rational capacity, I am more than willing to have conversations with.”