SIOUX FALLS S.D. (KELO) — With the start of the new year comes some housekeeping items for county commissions, one of which is choosing their legal newspapers for the year to come.
A legal newspaper is a publication that is officially designated to publish notices required by law, such as those for public hearings, bids, and election notices.
According to the South Dakota Legislature, the commission will decide on their legal newspapers at their regular meeting in January of each year the board of county commissioners shall designate at least three legal newspapers printed in the county as official newspapers. If there are not three legal newspapers within the county, then as many newspapers that are legal newspapers.
Both Lincoln and Minnehaha counties have named the Dakota Scout as one of their legal newspapers for 2025.
Lincoln County
In 2024, Sioux Valley News, Lennox Independent and Tea Weekly were selected as legal newspapers. The commission also elected to publish in the Beresford Republic and the Argus Leader.
Sheri Lund, Lincoln County Auditor, came forth with a recommendation to approve Sioux Valley News, Tea Weekly and Lennox Independent as the three legal newspapers for Lincoln County.
Lincoln County Commissioner Jim Schmidt wished to make an addition to that list with the Dakota Scout.
Lund responded saying it’s not a good use of taxpayer dollars to host additional newspapers when they don’t need to, adding if they have those three papers as their legal newspapers people will know to go to those papers for information.
Schmidt responded saying those three newspapers don’t cover where the majority of the people in Lincoln County live, which is Sioux Falls.
Lincoln County Commissioner Joel Arends said the main reason he wished for the Dakota Scout to be represented as the county’s legal newspaper was legal information can be accessed for free and on their website.
In a vote of 4-1, the Lincoln County Commission decided to host the Dakota Scout, Tea Weekly, and Lennox Independent as the three legal newspapers for Lincoln County.
Minnehaha County
Last year, Minnehaha County chose the Argus Leader, Brandon Valley Journal, Garretson Gazette, and Minnehaha Messenger as its legal newspapers. Since 2019, the commission has chosen to designate four newspapers as legal newspapers.
In a briefing memo to commissioners, Minnehaha County highlighted the weekly circulation breakdown for the newspapers in Minnehaha County. Since 2019, the Argus Leader’s circulation has dropped from 13,149 to 6,234 in 2024.
Minnehaha County Commissioner Joe Kippley said what he wished to see this year.
“We have a couple other local government entities that have made the switch from the Argus Leader to the Dakota Scout and that seems to be working well for them when we get the feedback from them,” Kippley said. ” I do like how we continue to have four newspapers of record.”
Minnehaha County unanimously decided to name the Dakota Scout, The Garretson Gazette, The Minnehaha Messenger and The Brandon Valley Journal as their legal newspapers for 2025.
Dakota Scout
As of November 2024, The Dakota Scout said it was designated as the newspaper of record for the city of Sioux Falls, the Sioux Falls School District, and the city of Baltic.
In a letter to county commissioners, The Dakota Scout said it has increased the number of papers it prints weekly to 5,350.
This comes after a now-dropped lawsuit filed by the Argus Leader, the former official paper for the city.
The owners of Dakota Scout are Joseph M Sneve, Jonathan Ellis, Travis Adney, Matt Paulson, Dan Gehlsen, Dunbar Scribe, LLC and Deja, LLC. Sneve and Ellis are former Argus Leader employees.
As a part of the lawsuit, ownership details for the Dakota Scout came forth. The ownership details were provided by the South Dakota Secretary of State’s Office, as well as by The Dakota Scout co-founder Joe Sneve.
