South Dakota Mandate Desk: File It Where It Counts

Subject: Consumer complaint — mold in a [GYM / SAUNA / FACILITY] in [CITY], South Dakota

To the Consumer Protection office of Attorney General of South Dakota Marty Jackley:

My name is [YOUR FULL NAME]. I am a [MEMBER / EMPLOYEE / CUSTOMER] of [FACILITY NAME AND FULL ADDRESS].

On [DATE(S)], I found what appears to be mold growth in [THE ROOM — sauna, steam room, locker room, showers]. [DESCRIBE WHAT YOU SAW AND SMELLED: color, how much, where exactly, how long it seems to have been there.]

[I reported this to the facility on [DATE], by [PHONE / EMAIL / IN PERSON]. The response was [WHAT THEY SAID OR DID — OR THAT THERE WAS NO RESPONSE]. Delete this paragraph if you have not raised it with the facility yet.]

[Since using that room I have experienced [YOUR SYMPTOMS IN PLAIN WORDS]. I [SAW / HAVE NOT YET SEEN] a medical professional about it. I am not asking your office for a medical judgment — I am reporting the condition of a room open to the public. Delete this paragraph if it does not apply.]

I have [PHOTOS / VIDEO / A WRITTEN STATEMENT] documenting this and can provide them on request.

I am asking your office to:
1. Record this complaint in your system and give me the complaint or reference number.
2. Tell me which agency — if any — has authority in South Dakota to inspect this facility's sauna / steam room / locker room, test what is growing there, and order it cleaned or closed.
3. If no agency has that authority, say so in writing, and keep this complaint on file as part of the public record of that gap.

Thank you for putting this on the record.

[YOUR FULL NAME]
[YOUR CITY], South Dakota
[YOUR PHONE — OPTIONAL]

Subject: Please create a gym and sauna inspection mandate for South Dakota

Dear Attorney General Jackley,

I am a resident of [CITY], South Dakota. I am writing to ask your office to support a sanitation inspection mandate for gyms, saunas, and steam rooms in South Dakota.

Right now there is no mandate. No agency in South Dakota is required — and in documented cases, no agency is able — to inspect a gym sauna, test what is growing in it, or close it, even on a documented complaint of visible mold. Where gyms are regulated at all, the rules cover registration, contracts, and money — not sanitation. Meanwhile, mold and Legionella findings in gyms, saunas, and locker rooms are documented across the country, in facilities exactly like the ones in our state that nobody inspects.

I ask your office to:
1. Support legislation giving the state health department — or whichever agency is proper — explicit authority to inspect gym saunas and steam rooms, to test on complaint, and to close a room that fails until it is remediated and re-tested.
2. Publish sauna and gym sanitation inspection results, the way pool inspection results are already published.
3. Count and publish consumer complaints about gym sanitation, so the size of this gap is on the public record.

[OPTIONAL — YOUR OWN EXPERIENCE IN TWO OR THREE SENTENCES: WHAT YOU FOUND, WHERE, AND WHAT HAPPENED WHEN YOU REPORTED IT.]

I have also signed the South Dakota petition for a sauna-inspection mandate (moldsgym.com/petitions/south-dakota/).

[YOUR FULL NAME]
[YOUR CITY], South Dakota