Corn Palace Stampede seeks court extension to move bleachers to new rodeo site

Sep. 29—MITCHELL — Corn Palace Stampede is seeking an extension to remove its rodeo grounds bleachers and property that it successfully sued for earlier this year from its former landlords at the Horsemen's Sports Arena.

On Sept. 19, Samuel Nelson, the CPS attorney in the matter, filed a motion requesting additional time to remove CPS' property from the grounds, owned by Horsemen's Sports Inc. A hearing date has not been scheduled and HSI has not made a response in court.

In an affidavit, CPS Board President Jim Miskimins wrote that the new facility has had cement pads poured in mid-September to have the bleachers anchored and there has been plumbing and electrical set up for the site. The bleachers and VIP canopy are set to be moved in November, which Miskimins said will take about two weeks and will involve "immense physical labor."

Earlier this year, a circuit court judge allowed HSI a flexible, one-month window to hold its rodeo, which it did Aug. 11-12 with the Shootout at the Lake event. HSI had another two weeks to wrap up its rodeo site considerations and had then a 30-day period was set to begin to have CPS remove its property from the land, a period that was set to expire in September.

Some equipment has been moved. Since June, CPS has removed toilets and sinks from the bathroom building, bucking chutes, a walk-in cooler, aluminum siding, wire cattle panels, an advertising trailer and loading chutes are among the items moved, Miskimins said.

In 2021, the city of Mitchell and the Mitchell Rodeo Foundation — the successor to Corn Palace Stampede, Inc. in terms of a tenant — reached a lease agreement to move to the new grounds, which are located near the Mitchell Regional Airport. Miskimins said construction at the new site couldn't begin earlier than July because the city had to remove an underground irrigation system at the site. CPS canceled its 2023 rodeo due to the legal dispute but still had its family fun day and chili cookoff in July at the new rodeo site.

According to Miskimins, site preparation has included clearing out about 200 trees and installing holding tanks for greywater (non-sewage domestic wastewater). The tanks had to be installed because the city will need a new lift station to connect the property to city's sewer system at a cost of $250,000 to $300,000.

On Monday, Oct. 2, the Mitchell City Council will hear an agenda item to approve a resolution to amend the lease with the Mitchell Rodeo Foundation, with a public hearing on the topic to be set for Oct. 16, if the council approves. City Attorney Justin Johnson wrote in a council agenda memo that the Mitchell Rodeo Foundation is "requesting several changes to their existing lease with the city for the new rodeo grounds. These changes primarily center around the foundation's ability to obtain financing for the site improvements."

The affidavit also lays out, from Miskimins' perspective, how the two sides have worked in 2023 as CPS attempts to move and HSI has attempted to continue on with using its grounds.

"CPS' efforts have been frustrated at times by HSI's refusal to allow CPS volunteers onto the rodeo grounds, or only allowing volunteers onto the rodeo grounds for short periods of times during weeknights and weekends," Miskimins said. "HSI has been able to use their rodeo grounds without incident while our bleachers remain on the premises. The presence of the bleachers and other CPS items have not interfered with HSI's use or sale of the rodeo grounds. In fact, the free use of CPS' bleachers during HSI's event arguably made HSI's events more successful."

In the April case, a jury ruled that CPS can take major elements of the rodeo grounds with them to a new facility, plus awarded $100,000 to CPS in damages after ruling HSI breached the contract with CPS. The lawsuit was spurred in 2020 when HSI members moved fencing and tore out CPS-built VIP platforms as part of the arena expansion. CPS then accused HSI of breaching the lease agreement and argued the improvements it paid for were personal property and could be moved to a new location near the Mitchell Regional Airport.

HSI's appeal of the April jury decision to the South Dakota Supreme Court remains pending, as well. That decision could rule differently on the ownership of the various items from the April trial.