DATE: JUNE 1, 2007TO: All Interested Parties FROM: South Dakota One Call Notification Board SUBJECT: Procedures for Completing and Complaint Form for Probable Violations of South Dakota Excavation Laws and/or Administrative Rules The South Dakota Statute SDCL 49-7A provides for civil penalties for failure to comply with the Statue or with South Dakota Administrative Rules. The statute and rules are available for review on the South Dakota One Call Board web site www.sdonecall.com. The South Dakota One Call Notification Board encourages parties involved to discuss and resolve as many issues as possible without the utilization of the penalty process. When resolution cannot be obtained the following process is available to either party. Forms are available to anyone that wishes to file a complaint alleging violations of the excavation laws (see Penalty Process – Forms). There are several methods available to file the complaint: 1. The complaint may be filed by electronic means. Simply go to www.sdonecall.com and click on the Complaint forms tab. You can then select If you wish to electronically file a Complaint you can click here and the electronic format will be available for you to use. 2. You can also download into Microsoft Word and complete the form on your computer. 3. You can download in Adobe Acrobat PDF, print the form and manually enter the information. The South Dakota One Call Notification Board is charged with enforcing the laws, and will only accept written complaints. To ensure that complaints are given proper attention, the following guidelines should be followed: 1. The signature of the person filing the complaint must be provided. If the complaint is filed on behalf of a business, the signature should be that of an authorized person. 2. The Complainant must provide as much information as possible, and provide factual evidence to support the allegations (pictures, videotape, statements of witnesses, measurements, etc.). The South Dakota One Call Notification Board will not conduct an investigation but will review the information for completeness and understandability. Incomplete forms will be returned. All information provided in the complaint will be available to the complained against party in determining their response. The burden for substantiating the complaint lies with the complainant. 3. The complaint must be filed within 90 days of the violation or in the instance of unreported damage to an underground facility within 1 year of discovery of the damage. 4. Additional pages may be attached to the complaint form. 5. The completed form and supporting evidence should be sent to:
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UTILITIES COMMISSION 6. A copy of the complaint and associated material will be provided to the complained against party who will have twenty calendar days from the date the complaint is served on them to respond. 7. The Enforcement Committee will review the information provided by both parties and will make a determination that a probable violation occurred or may dismiss the complaint. If a determination of probable cause is made, the Committee will recommend an appropriate penalty. 8. The recommendation of the Enforcement Committee will be submitted to both parties for acceptance or rejection. Failure to respond to the recommendation is considered acceptance of the recommendation. 9. If neither party rejects the recommendation of the Enforcement Committee; the South Dakota One Call Notification Board is required to accept the recommendation. 10. If either party rejects the recommendation of the Enforcement Committee, they may request a formal hearing before the South Dakota One Call Notification Board. The hearing will be conducted as a contested case under chapter 1-26. Following the hearing, the Board shall either render a decision dismissing the complaint for insufficient evidence or shall impose a penalty pursuant to the Statute. This finding may be appealed to Circuit Court. THE STATUS OF THE COMPLAINT PROCESS AND ALL DOCUMENTS ASSOCIATED WITH THE COMPLAINT ARE AVAILABLE ON THE WEB SITE www.sdonecall.com A SAMPLE COMPLAINT FOLLOWS FOR YOUR REFERENCE, IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS CONCERNING THE COMPLETION OF THIS FORM, PLEASE CALL SOUTH DAKOTA ONE CALL AT 605-335-0529 OR EMAIL exedir@sdonecall.com |