Commissioners

2025 Yankton County Commissioners

John Marquardt

Chair- Term 2023 to 2026 John was elected to the Yankton County Commission in January 2023. He was born in Parkston SD and raised in Clayton SD, a small rural Hutchinson County community. He attended a 1 room country schoolhouse through the 3rd grade and then attended Emery Elementary and High School in Emery SD. He went on to work for Trail King Manufacturing holding several positions including customer service and management. John, Gale, and their family moved to Yankton in 1995 to become a manager at Marquardt Transportation, He also served 4 terms as president of St. John’s Lutheran Church, been a USA Umpire for 18 years and is currently the Southeast SD Umpire in Chief. He received the 2020 USA Umpire of the year award for the state of South Dakota. Send an Email

Wanda Howey-Fox

Vice Chair- Term 2025 to 2028 Wanda Howey-Fox was elected to the Yankton County Commission in January, 2021. She is originally from Watertown, South Dakota. Wanda graduated from SDSU with a B.A. She attended USD and graduated with a J.D. She worked for the Department of Agriculture before working as a Special U.S. Attorney for the District of South Dakota. She accepted a position with John Harmelink in 1986 and became partner in the firm of Harmelink and Fox in 1987. She was appointed as the Child Support Referee for the First Judicial Circuit in 1989 and held that position until 2018. She worked as the Yankton County Deputy State’s Attorney under both Mike Ridgeway and Don Erickson. She worked as the “senior” partner with Harmelink, Fox & Ravnsborg until Jason Ravnsborg was sworn in as the Attorney General for the State of South Dakota in January, 2019. Currently, she is practicing as a sole practitioner in Harmelink & Fox Law Office, PC. Send an Email

Ryan Heine

Commissioner- Term 2023 to 2026 Ryan Heine was elected to the Yankton County Commission in January 2023. He was born in Yankton and raised on a family farm near St. Helena, Nebraska. He graduated from Cedar Catholic High School in 1996 and graduated from Parks College of Saint Louis University in 2001 with a B.S. in Physics and Electrical Engineering. He has been a carreer engineer for the past 22 years for NASA, defence contractors, startup companies and currently is a Principal Hardware Engineer for Image Sensing Systems in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He and his family returned to Yankton in 2014, relocating their growing food service company, Counterfeit Catering, and starting their own small specialty farm, 6th Meridian Hop Farm. Send an Email

Don Kettering

Commissioner- Term 2025 to 2028 Don was elected to the Yankton County Commission in January 2015. Send an Email

Dan Klimisch

Commissioner- Term 2023 to 2026 Dan was elected to the Yankton County Commission in January 2019. He was born and raised on a small family farm near Utica, SD. His family homesteaded in Yankton County in 1886 and has been farming in this community for over 132 years. Dan is a graduate of Yankton High School and South Dakota State University. He has a Masters Degree in Business Administration from The University of Mary. Dan is a retired Army Officer and decorated combat veteran who has served multiple overseas tours of duty and is very involved with local veterans groups. Additionally, Dan serves as a director for the James River Water Development District, and farms part-time with his family. Send an Email

Announcements

Yankton County

Monday, December 29, 2025

The Yankton County Government Center and all other Yankton County Non-Emergency offices will be closed on Thursday, January 1st, 2026 to spend the holiday with our loved ones.

Happy New Year!

Yankton County Commissioners

Friday, December 19, 2025

YANKTON COUNTY COMMISSION NOTICE

The Yankton County Commission is looking for individuals with interest in joining a Financial Planning Task Force. Please contact Commissioner Don Kettering at (605) 660-4303 if interested.

The task force will be appointed to begin work in January 2026.

Yankton County Highway Department

Tuesday, December 2, 2025

The Yankton County Highway Department will begin their winter hours on Monday, December 01, 2025 and will run until further notice.

At this time the winter hours are:
Monday through Thursday: 6:30am to 5:00pm.

Main Phone:
605.260.4400

Address:
321 West 3rd Street, Suite 100 Yankton, SD 57078

Office Hours:
9:00am - 5:00pm CST, Monday-Friday
Closed on Holidays, Saturdays, & Sunday