PIERRE - A Corson County business manager has signed an agreement to pay $2,000 as penalties for failing to timely renew state licenses as a grain buyer and a grain warehouse.
The licenses for McIntosh-Watauga Equity expired July 1. After a state inspection on Aug. 20, the company renewed the licenses Aug. 24. The grain warehouse division of the state Public Utilities Commission conducted the inspection.
The matter came to light Thursday as part of the commission's weekly filings list.
The penalty for operating without a grain-buyer license is $1,000 per day up to $20,000. The penalty for operating without a grain-warehouse license is also $1,000 per day up to $20,000.
Between July 1 and Aug. 20, the company received three loads of grain for purchase that qualified as violations. The total possible fine was $23,000.
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Another 57 loads of wheat arrived under an open storage account that weren't determined to be violations.
Company manager DeAnn Holzwarth and grain-warehouse inspections manager Cody Chambliss signed the agreement earlier this month.
"Both Staff and the Company acknowledge that the facility is subject to the maximum
penalties allowed under the law for operating without a license. However, due to the
circumstances in this matter, neither feels that the maximum penalty is appropriate," the agreement said.
"Staff and the Company both believe a penalty of $1,000 failure to obtain a warehouse
license and $1,000 for failure to obtain a grain buyer license should be paid by the
Company for this violation," it continued.
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The commission's three members will decide whether to accept the agreement at their next regular meeting Oct. 2.
