As South Dakotans decided on state representatives and several ballot initiatives last night, many local proposals around the state were voted on as well. One proposal voted down was a project to bring a 5.3 million dollar events and fine arts center to Chamberlain. Chamberlain School superintendent Debbie Johnson said the center would have brought many activities and educational programs to the area.
“Last night many of the steering committee members were together when we saw the votes coming in and of course we were disappointed that it didn’t pass and didn’t get the 60 percent plus one. We do believe though that we gave it our best effort in trying to pass it. We did a lot of community meetings, met with a lot of people, distributed a lot of information, had a lot of volunteers who helped try to promote the project. So from now, we’ll go back to the school board, see what they want to look at in terms of facilities and programming and how our district will continue to move forward.”
In Miner County, voters decided the western half of the county would leave the James River Water Development District because of concerns about getting projects approved. Other local votes included two defeated wheel tax proposals in Hanson and Hughes Counties.