City Council - Regular Meeting

I call this meeting to order. Please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, Thank you all for attending this evening will the city clerk please take attendance All council members are present mr.. Mayor. Thank you entertain a motion to approve the agenda Thank you is there any comments from on the agenda from the public Council have any comments on the agenda Please call the roll.

Hager? Aye. Niemeyer?

Aye.

Specker? Aye. Tilton-Byrne? Aye. Wendell?

Aye.

Avery?

Aye.

Doran? Aye.

All right. On to open forum. In order to provide equal access to all during the open forum and public comment portions of the meeting, each individual offering comments shall not exceed the allotted three-minute period. The podium light turns green, then to yellow, where there is one minute remaining. Your time for comment is expired when the podium light turns red. Is there any member of the public who wishes to address the council on an item not listed on our agenda this evening? Please come up, state your name, ma'am.

Rebecca Hale. Do I talk about it now? OK, so previously it was stated someone had brought forth some issues that we're having in Western Estates and how we know that it's not private property. And there's not much that the city can do for. the lot rent increases that we're facing. There's been two different sales, but there's also been a huge, huge water issue. So last summer, three main pipes bursted and three different homes were affected, and then the previous owner sold it to the new owner. However, no one in Brookings or even in South Dakota was made aware that this was for sale. and we're fighting that, and then we're hooked up to the Brookings water, but our water pipes are not being serviced from Brookings. So I called the utility company today and talked to Chad, and there's not much that he can do other than, like we're a customer, he can come test everything for us, but that won't really do anything because a private company owns the land yet the people who bought it aren't like i can't call and speak to them individually they're an investment company so i really i understand that it's private property but we're also here we work here we live here kids go to school here we're part of the brookings community but i'm wondering what if anything can be done for all of us that are living in there that's all i got all right thank you for coming paul you want to respond

Ma'am, if you would, could you leave your name and number with the city clerk? That way I can follow up with Brookings Municipal Utilities.

Well, I got a couple other people here from the community with me because they're facing these things too. So do you want us all to leave all of our names or what would you...

um well for this specific situation if you'd leave your name and number with the city clerk that way i can follow up with brookings municipal municipal municipal utility sorry and uh find out more about what's going on and hopefully i can respond back to you uh it sounds like chad's been in communication but it'd be good for us to know a little bit further about this situation too

Well, and I didn't have him come out because, again, it's private property. So even if there is an issue, which we're pretty sure there is, he can't do anything.

Sure. It would just be good for us just to fully understand what's going on here. Yeah, for sure. I'd appreciate it. Thank you.

Okay. Thank you so much.

Is there anyone else that would like to come up and talk to the council? Okay, we'll move on. Consent agenda. Action on the consent agenda. Are there any items to be removed from the consent agenda? Entertain a motion to approve the consent agenda.

So moved. Second.

Thank you. Is there any public comment on consent agenda items? Council questions? Comments? Please call the roll.

Nehmeyer.

Aye.

Specker. Aye. Tilton-Byrne. Aye. Wendell.

Aye.

Avery.

Aye.

Doran. Aye. Hager. Aye.

All right. I have a proclamation this evening. I invite Aaron Lavender-Stott to the podium up here. Okay, mayoral proclamation. Whereas June is celebrated as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and two-spirit Pride Month across the U.S. And whereas Pride Month celebrates everyone's right to live without fear of prejudice based on sexual orientation or gender identity. And whereas the LGBTQ2S plus community includes our neighbors, friends, and family members, And whereas the city of Brookings' vision is to be a welcoming and inclusive community where all can bring your dreams. And whereas the city of Brookings has received a score of 100 on the Human Rights Campaign Municipal Equality Index, the largest LGBTQ2S plus civil rights organization in the US for eight years in a row. And whereas these entities in Brookings have been working tirelessly for LGBTQ2S plus awareness and equality, Human Rights Commission, the Brookings Public Library, Brookings Arts Council, and Brookings Pride. And whereas the Brookings community will be celebrating Pride on June 27th at Pioneer Park. Now therefore be it resolved that I, Okegee Niemeyer, Mayor of the City of Brookings, do hereby proclaim June 2026 as LGBTQ2S Plus Pride Month.

So we are both part of Brookings Pride. I also serve as the LGBTQ liaison for the city and Human Rights Commission. I'm Erin Lavender Stott, shell green. And so Pride is happening for Brookings this Saturday, June 27th from 11 to 3. in Pioneer Park. There will be performers, there will be food, there will be sort of conversation, as well as 40 vendors and sort of community activities that will be there. So we hope that as people go to the Bonanza, they will also go the couple of blocks west to Pioneer Park as well and vice versa. So for those of you who do not know, Pride is a global event. It happens in different ways in different communities, but it is commemorating the Stonewall Inn riots that took place on June 28th in 1969. And so Pride occurs globally, again, in different ways in different communities ever since 1970. So this is now the 56th year of Pride happening. And it is a way for sort of visibility as well as celebration, reflection, and advocacy. Stonewall Inn was very much that first time, that first place of sort of we're tired of being invisible, we're tired of hiding, we're tired of being targeted. And so Pride is that chance to come together as community enjoy and the sort of celebration of each other.

Thank you very much. Thank you. I'll keep this because I'm going to do it again, I guess, Saturday. Thank you. Okay, on to Contracts and Change Orders, Item 7A, Action on Resolution 26-042, a resolution awarding the Dakota Nature Park Public Art Installation Project to DJR Design Studio. And Elizabeth Solum, Public Arts Commission Representative, will present this item along with two other young ladies.

Yes, thank you, Mr. Mayor, Council, for allowing us on the agenda. I am Lizbeth Solum. I'm the chair of the Brookings Public Arts Commission. To my right, your left, is Meredith Weiland. She is our vice chair. And of course, Stacey Claussen is with Park and Rec. So, in April of 2025, we talked as a public arts commission about installing a big sculpture. Previously, we had done the baseball mitt and ball in the park, and we decided that a perfect place for that would be a Dakota Nature Park. There's lots of places. It's used so much that the entrance on 32nd is a little hard to see. And so we wanted to draw some interest in that situation. So we put out a call for artists. And we had kind of hoped we'd have 35 applications. We had 167 from all over the nation. Actually more than that, but some of them we had to eliminate because they were out of country. And so that tells you the interest in that. The installation is a $250,000 installation. It's been part of our budget. I'll have Meredith explain that. We're just asking for approval. Do you have a packet in front of you? okay and you can see up on the screen that that's the proposed final exhibit that the council worked with now we had some jurists that worked really really hard they were the ones that went through the 167 applications Meredith and I did not we're not part of that jury we were just facilitators due to our position so I'm going to open it up to questions and anything you might have.

Okay, first thing we'll do is entertain a motion to approve.

So moved.

Is there any public comment or questions on this item? Council have questions, comments? All right, Council Member Specker, let's go that route.

Yeah, I just wanted to say I looked at that packet, and it's going to be really neat. We're pretty excited. It looks like a pair of really interesting artists. Thank you for doing all that.

Council Member Hager.

167 applications is very impressive and I really liked what I'm seeing here on the screen. I'm just curious about how you all actually went about narrowing it down to this final project. In the packet I saw that it was asking for organic subjects inspired by nature that would aesthetically fit in the space. And so I know there was a discussion about how this particular proposal did a nice job of using native South Dakota species, but I would just be interested in learning more about how the applications were narrowed down to this particular one.

Sure, I'll let Meredith speak to that.

Yes, absolutely. So basically, there's a standard for calls for art called CAFE. It's a website where artists can submit applications. So we put the post out there with a due date. By that due date, we had received 167 applications. We formed a jury per our bylaws and guidelines as of non-commissioned members who were arts professionals in the community and whatnot. So they went through several rounds of jurying through that website. The first one was just a quick elimination of yes, no, maybe. And so they just kind of looked at materials provided by those artists and got a feel for whether or not they thought that would be something that fit appropriately in the space and in our community. And so I believe there was a total of three or four rounds of jurying and voting, and each time they just kept narrowing that pool until they got it down to final four. So this was the ultimate recommendation of that jury as well as our commission.

Thank you. Council Member Tilton-Byrne.

I just want to thank you for the work you're doing with this. I think the mock-up that we're seeing here in front of us looks phenomenal. I think it's going to be a wonderful addition out there, and I agree that That entrance to the park definitely needs something that catches your eye as you go by, because it can be kind of easy to miss, even with the signage that's there. I think something that our community has just been doing really great over the last several years is public art, and so I just appreciate the work that you guys are doing with all of this, and I can't wait to see this out there. Thank you.

All right. Council Member Wendell.

Thank you, Mayor. I was wondering if maybe a member of the commission or a staff member could just discuss for a moment the funding mechanism that supports these types of large installations. I just think it's helpful for the community to understand sort of what mechanism in place and how we can make investments like this.

yes absolutely so we as a commission are granted an allocation from the city's budget on an annual basis a percentage of that goes towards large projects a percentage towards small or short-term projects and a percentage towards maintenance of all the existing public art THAT LARGE PROJECT BUCKET HAS BEEN ACCUMULATING FUNDS, LIKE LIZBETH SAID, SINCE THAT LET'S PLAY BALL, YEAH, THE LARGE BASEBALL SCULPTURE. SO WE'VE BEEN ABLE TO ACCUMULATE FUNDS IN THAT BUCKET FOR SOMETHING OF THIS SIZE.

Thanks so much for talking about the kind of pillars that you have of where some of those dollars go. If I remember correctly, years ago, we sort of put a mechanism in place so that was it 1% or a certain percentage of large capital projects would go toward public art investments. And so seeing that come to fruition now a couple of times in the community is that number has accumulated over time. It's just something that's exciting to watch unfold. So thank you.

We have to give credit to Scott Meyer. He's the one that came up with that mindset. And it was voted unanimously to start doing that. So it's definitely been a windfall for our community as far as art. Thank you. Thank you. Any other comments, questions? Please call the roll.

Specker? Aye. Tiltonburn?

Aye.

Wendell?

Aye.

Avery?

Aye.

Doran? Aye. Hager? Aye. Niemeyer?

Aye. Thank you, ladies.

Thank you.

All right, first readings. Item 8A, introduction and first reading on Ordinance 26-020, an ordinance authorizing budget amendment number four to the 2026 budget. Paul Brissino will present this item.

Good evening, Mayor, City Council Members. This budget amendment appropriates $450,000 from Economic Development Reserves to acquire a strategically located downtown property, and it also covers the closing costs associated with that property. This property is contiguous to the City-owned land and creates an opportunity to coordinate future development within the downtown. This request does not increase taxes, it does not require debt financing, or impact current service levels. The funding entirely comes from economic development reserves that were established for strategic community investments and actually created by the sale of property. So therefore, once again, we're not using sales tax dollars, property tax dollars, but dollars that were set up and put aside for economic development endeavors. This investment supports the goals and visions outlined in the downtown Brookings Master Plan, and the proposed amendment complies with state law and city financial policies regarding supplemental appropriations. Staff does recommend approval of the budget amendment at the July 4th City Council meeting and is open for any questions that you might have.

Thank you, Paul. Is there any public comment on this item? Council, any questions, comments at this time? All right, move on. Item 8B, the second reading on that action, an action on this item will be on the next meeting on July 14th. Item 8A, introduction and first reading on Ordinance 26-017, an ordinance amending the subdivision regulations of the City of Brookings pertaining to Article VI subdivision improvements and design standards for the purposes of administration of the subdivision regulations. Mike Strucker, Community Development Director, will present this item.

THANK YOU, MAYOR AND MEMBERS OF THE COUNCIL. THE ORDINANCE BEFORE YOU TONIGHT IS SOME REVISIONS TO OUR SUBDIVISION REGULATIONS. THIS IS A PROCESS THAT STARTED ALMOST TWO YEARS AGO WITH THE INITIAL INTENT TO ADDRESS SOME OF THE CONNECTIVITY ISSUES THAT WE'VE SEEN IN THE COMMUNITY AND SO MAKING SOME OF THE POLICY CHANGES TO THE ORDINANCE THERE. As something that we've learned over the years is never let a opportunity pass by you. So Public Works piggybacked with us and looked at some revisions within the warranty section and also clean up language in some of our street design standards. so we massage that process what you're seeing on the overhead screens are some of the examples of some of the trench settlement work that has occurred over the years on some of our streets so there's three primary areas there's a when you look at the marked up version of the ordinance it seems like a significant amount of changes but a lot of it was moving language around and getting it in areas that is more appropriate so that when you read the ordinance, it flows correctly. But there's three primary areas that changed. One of them is we're trying to address cul-de-sac issues. I know that's been a priority of the city to look at minimizing the use of cul-de-sacs. And so we have shortened the length of cul-de-sacs and put in criteria of when they are appropriate and when they're not appropriate. The other issue is trying to address connectivity standards. And so there was just one minor tweak that we made to that. It was just requiring intersecting streets and blocks before our block length was 1,000 feet in residential areas. But there was nothing that said you had to have an interconnecting street. And so you could just do block after block after block without actually putting a street to connect there. And you'd just have long linear. So we made that adjustment as well. And then the third major component is addressing the warranty issues. And so this was quite a lengthy discussion with our planning commission. We actually had... Two different discussion items at the Planning Commission. The original ordinance failed at the Planning Commission. Staff brought it back and had another discussion with them. And so the warranty period with street acceptance policy is it'll be one year on the actual curb and gutter and street. but it's a three-year warranty on the trench settlement issues. And so this does come to you as an anonymous recommendation for approval from the Planning Commission, and with that, we'd stand for any questions you may have.

Thank you, Mike. Is there any public comment on this item? Council, do we have any questions, comments? Council Member Hager?

So I would like to first thank you for the changes that would discourage cul-de-sacs and encourage connectivity. So whenever we first were kind of talking about some of these issues when a new development came before us and I was just talking about how there's really no way for any of these folks to ever exit where their homes are if and when there needs to be any sort of construction on 20th Street South. I told my whole story about what it was like living in Valley View when 20th Street South was getting redone. I really like to see those changes to try to encourage the connectivity to avoid people having to take a detour all the way west out of town on gravel and whatnot. But anyway, I do have a question about what was happening before Planning Commission and some of the changes that are happening here. So there was a lot of debate before Planning Commission about the length of the warranty period, where the change is really trying to get it to three years to align with BMU's requirements. And so then there was debate about increased cost of this for developers and whether there was a need to really have that one freeze-thaw cycle and what that would mean for delaying development. So my question is, how much of an increased cost would developers likely incur and how much of a delay would be expected with this change?

I can't speak to the cost of it.

Is that a question maybe John might be able to answer too, Mike?

I mean, as far as addressing the issue of delaying for utilities to have to go through one basically freeze-thaw cycle. I think developers will just have to adjust and you're probably gonna see more infrastructure installed late summer to early fall. So then it can go through that freeze-thaw. You're not gonna be able to see where you put utilities in in the spring and be able to start building in the fall with this proposed change.

Yeah, I'll speak to the cost. As far as bonding, so we require a bond of 10% of the construction cost after the street is accepted. And we hold that currently for one year. That one year bond would cost, if it was about $100,000, which is about the average, of about $1,500. If it is stretched to three years, it would be $2,250. So an increase of about $750 on that bond.

Yeah, that's useful information. And then in the planning commission notes, it seemed like there were maybe a developer or two that did show up, but what was your overall reaction as you were working through this process and having more interaction with developers?

Yeah, we had several discussions with some developers. We initially suggested doing a straight three-year bond or straight three-year warranty on everything in the subdivision. There was some concern that they would be held liable for concrete damage for homes that were being built along those streets. That's what we find often happens when homes are constructed. So they were concerned about being liable for that, seeing as they weren't the responsible parties for that damage. So the reason why we really went in this direction was to focus in on the settlement issues that we've been seeing. So we focused in on the years two and three only warranting poor settlement and utilities. So to really focus in on that, and hopefully that will help address the settlement issues that we've been seeing on these streets.

Awesome. Thank you.

Council have any other questions comments We'll also see this on the 14th of July All right item HC introduction first reading on ordinance 26 dash is 0 to 1 an ordinance to change the zoning within the city of Brookings block 2 of Northern Plains addition from in business B B to a office district to a planned development district with business B to a underlying district Mike struck will also present this item I

Thank you, Mayor and members of the Council. This is a unique rezoning in that the Northern Plains addition is currently zoned a business B2A. This is located along Main Avenue South between Hunters Ridge Road and 15th Street South on the east side of the road. The developer applicant is proposing to rezone it to a planned development district. but keep the underlying B2A zoning designation. And they've also provide listing some prohibited uses within the district. What they're looking at is introducing low impact retail uses into this particular area. The business B2A district does not allow retail, and it's kind of a buffer zone between residential areas and more intense business districts. What they are proposing, though, is to allow some retail usage in there. They propose limiting the hours from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., They're proposing not to allow any drive-thrus, convenience stores, or any businesses that serve alcohol or cannabis or cannabis-derived products or any businesses that sell tobacco, vape, or nicotine sales. If you read the planning commission minutes, you'll notice that one of the proposed businesses that is looking at this particular location is a jewelry store, which is a very low impact retail type operation. Their sales vary. Some days they may have one, maybe two people per hour. Other days they may have a little bit more attendance, but That's the initial user that's looking at locating within this area they felt to maintain some a little bit of control and Minimize the type of retail uses that could go in there. They proposed a planned development district with the b2a underlying zoning district This does come to you with a unanimous recommendation for approval from the Planning Commission and staff supports the request We'd stand for any questions you may have

Thank you, Mike. Is there any public comment on this item? Council, any questions, comments at this time? Council Member Specker?

This is more for my information and maybe everybody else's too. On a thing like this, so you have three businesses there and say 10 years from now one business leaves and another business comes in, how is it tracked that these exemptions exist?

Thank you for your question, Council Member Specker. So when you rezone to a planned development district, as part of that rezoning process, they have to get an initial development plan that is reviewed by the Planning Commission recommendation, brought forward to the City Council, and the City Council approves the IDP. That typically occurs at the same time if the rezoning is approved. So this would move on to the July meeting. The IDP will be approved at that particular point in time. The mayor signs it. We keep it on file in our office. It's become part of the record, kind of like with our building permit history. Then they have to come back with a final development plan And so the final development plan needs to be consistent with the initial development plan. This is also part of the commercial corridor So there's also those regulations that apply but for the use we track them we scan them we put them on our server They're kind of tied with our building permits and then we have folders for our plan development districts we can we We're working on incorporating them into our GIS website. We get the rezonings in there, but we could certainly look at trying to add these initial development plans and final development plans as attachments on the website as well.

Thank you.

Council Member Wendell. Thanks, Mayor.

I actually just had a comment to make. I appreciate the conversation that happened at the Planning Commission and the thoughtfulness that staff and the developer have had around the compatibility of the potential tenants with the neighborhood and its surroundings and some of the specific conditions that are called out. I would just say that as we think about developments like this that are adjacent to neighborhoods, As an individual member of the council, I'm sort of open to us thinking about food establishments and light touch types of convenience or bodega styles that are within walking distance from residential neighborhoods in our community. And I think as we talk a lot about connected neighborhoods and walkability of the community, I think sometimes we worry that a strip mall is going to open right across the street from our house and obviously we as folks who are overseeing development are worried about that too and that's not the type of conditions we're trying to create. But I just want the conversation to continue around this type of commercial activity that can happen adjacent to neighborhoods in a way that folks feel like you could just walk down the street and pick up something you need close to home rather than having to hop in your car and drive across town. So I think this is a nice example of starting to move that direction with our thinking and I appreciate that there are guardrails there and we're being thoughtful about Surrounding neighborhoods, but I'd like to see us do more of this than existing neighborhoods. Thanks.

Thank you Councilmember Hager so my question dovetails off of councilmember Wendell's comment here pretty well I think I was kind of digging into all of the different zoning options. And so the biggest issue was retail sales are not allowed in a B2A. And so why is the planned development district like the best solution there rather than rezoning it to something different like a B2? Like the only thing I could come up with on my own was like there's residential around there. So it's kind of nice to keep it as close to that as possible. But I didn't know if I was interpreting that right.

No, Councilmember Hager, you're right on track with that. I think the other thing that comes into play is with the traditional zoning district, now you open up that location to anything that would be allowed within that particular zoning district. The other thing we're a little mindful of in this particular location is there's not a lot of crosswalks in close proximity, and this is also located kind of on the downward slope of the hill as you're going northbound. and so there are some concerns or considerations taken into play as far as traffic generators in this particular location we want to be mindful of kind of that low impact commercial retail use just because mainly because of the hill and the sight lines and trying to ensure the safety of the traveling public thank you council member avery

Just a comment. I know when we discussed this whole development a year ago or whenever it was, there was a lot of concerns from the public about drainage issues and everything. It apparently has been addressed and been favorable because we haven't heard anything more about it. The buildings that are there really look Like they belong there and you know, it seems like a very well thought out development Thank you for bringing it up councilmember Avery.

I believe that you know the developer and the developers representative Really listen to the neighborhood listen to the council and the Planning Commission and took a lot of that discussion under advice and they did a nice job of trying to minimize the impact on the drainage onto the adjacent properties and in many instances probably helped improve what was the existing conditions. And so they've done a nice job with the development.

Any other questions, comments? I've got one, Mike, and maybe, Kyle, you could answer this. You're using the front part of that. Is there anything going to happen with the diagonal part and the back part, or is that just going to become green space? Because there's quite a substantial amount of property there that

you don't have anything plan there looks like yeah that's a good question so uh... as bike brought up earlier this was originally kind of brought to the surface by uh... smith and eric tupper uh... who own winks jewelry in town and they're just kind of looking for some long-term growth opportunities and so currently you know our layout is a little bit theoretical kind of what we have on the paper there but Derek and Samantha are hoping to secure that south parcel, and that was kind of their idea on what they wanted to do there. I do know that they have maybe some long-term ideas that they might put a second property on the east side there if it fit. If it fit the PDD and Of course at that time if we turn it into a PDD That'll be a whole nother set of approvals that they'd have to go through and come back to City Council But yeah, I think they just kind of want to be open-minded right now and leave that as green space Okay, yeah, just seemed like there was a lot of space right there. Yeah.

Yeah Any other questions comments? All right second reading on that on the 14th. Also. We have no second readings this evening. I Our next item on the agenda is 10A, Action on Acceptance of the Brookings Area Transportation Plan. And what we have, okay, so we got Charlie Richter, City Engineer, and Thomas Cook from HDR coming up to present the item.

All right. Good evening, Council. As your City Engineer, I'm here tonight with Tom Cook from HDR. To present the final draft of the Brookings Area Transportation Plan for acceptance as guiding document for future improvements to the city's transportation network. As we discussed at the City Council meeting in May, the City received a grant from DOT to update our 2011 Area Transportation Plan in 2024. This document incorporates extensive traffic counting and traffic forecasting with public input to identify existing and future transportation issues and potential solutions to alleviate these issues. Through this two year process, the study advisory group met several times. And the city and DOT hosted two open houses, including stakeholder meetings and travel surveys to ensure the public input was incorporated into this important document. Before I hand it off to Tom, I'd like to clarify a point that has come up recently. This plan does not explore road diets, just doesn't explore road diets in itself. Road diets are just a small part of this plan. This nearly 300 page comprehensive plan analyzes traffic safety and operations at intersections and roadways throughout the city based on crash data and traffic counts and future growth projections. This plan also looks at pedestrian and bicycle facilities for safety and the needs expressed by the community. As Tom will explain, this study is just the first step before any of these projects are implemented. I will hand things off now to Tom, who will share the overview of the plan.

ALL RIGHT.

THANK YOU, CHARLIE. GOOD EVENING, MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL.

COULD I USE THE CLICKER AGAIN, CHARLIE? JUST USE THAT.

SO LIKE CHARLIE MENTIONED, MY NAME IS TOM COOK. I'M A TRAFFIC ENGINEER WITH HDR AND I WAS THE CONSULTANT PROJECT MANAGER FOR THE BROOKINGS AREA TRANSPORTATION PLAN. I WAS HERE ABOUT A MONTH AGO PRESENTING ON THE PLAN IN MORE DETAIL, SO HOPEFULLY JUST GOING TO GIVE A NICE RECAP PRESENTATION OF THE HIGHLIGHTS OF THAT AND TALK ABOUT THE IMPORTANCE TO BROOKINGS, THE BROOKINGS TRANSPORTATION NETWORK INTO THE FUTURE. So talking a little bit about what the Brookings Area Transportation Plan or BATP is, it's a long range multimodal transportation plan looking ahead to the next 25 years of traffic growth for the Brookings Area Transportation Network to roughly about year 2050. It's intended to guide transportation decisions and investments for bicyclists pedestrians transit users and motorists And want to stress that it's been a collaborative effort between the city of Brookings South Dakota Department of Transportation partnering agencies like Brookings County SDSU BMU City of Aurora and so forth other study stakeholders and and most importantly the public through several open houses.

I

Just a brief reminder about the study area, because I do want to emphasize that these studies look at a pretty wide swath of area. So we looked at not only the city limits of Brookings, as well as Aurora, but the larger Brookings joint jurisdictional area. So a pretty wide study area that we took a look at. Before I get into specific details about the BATP I do want to talk a bit about the transportation planning process and kind of where the ATP fits into that process and so we actually have a graphic in the report towards the end that highlights this as well and so really what this graphic is trying to highlight is that the area transportation plan or master transportation plan is the first step on the road to developing any sort of transportation project. And so in this first stage, as we have done in this project, we look at a community vision for streets and roads into the future, bike and ped facilities and so forth. We take a hard look at existing conditions, whether it's traffic volumes, capacity issues, safety issues based on crash history records, those kind of things. We take a hard look at future growth in terms of population, how that affects traffic into the future as we have done. FROM THOSE STEPS, WE IDENTIFY STRATEGIES AND POTENTIAL PROJECTS THAT COULD BE IMPLEMENTED TO HELP ADDRESS THOSE SHOULD THOSE ARISE IN OUR PLANNING HORIZON. IN ADDITION, WE TYPICALLY DO A FUNDING PLAN OR LOOK AT HISTORICAL TRANSPORTATION EXPENDITURES, FUNDING SOURCES, GRANT OPPORTUNITIES AND SO FORTH FOR POTENTIAL IMPLEMENTATION implementation, rather, of these projects. From there, generally, if you're looking at a corridor, you're looking at a specific corridor study that drills down a little harder on a specific area. You do refined analysis, look at cost estimates. From there, depending on what type of project, you'll do more of an in-depth environmental review. Then comes preliminary engineering, development of plans and so forth, identifying costs and quantities. You move into final plans and then look at implementation years down the road, acquiring right away and actually building out a project. All this is to say is that, again, this is the first step on a 25 year process for potential implementation of projects. And so there are many more discussions and refinement to come following the completion of the BATP. Also want to stress on that note that the BATP is built off of very similar plans that were conducted recently or relatively recently in Brookings is history and so We're mainly here tonight to update or the BATP is here to update the prior master transportation plan from 2011 To address, you know an updated transportation network, especially with the new 20th Street South interchange In addition, we also do similar updates with the 2017 bicycle master plan. So those components really are come into play and we start to move the ball forward with the BATP that we're talking about now. So for the rest of the presentation, I'm just going to go at a high level at the three main sections of the report, talk about briefly what they contain and what the final steps are following adoption. So as you see in the report, it's structured in three phases, the understanding, kind of initial phase of the project, standards and project development where we address issues and needs and look at potential strategies and projects. And then the third and final phase, the implementation plan, which looks at funding as well as prioritized project recommendations that could potentially be implemented. So starting with the understanding phase, the purpose is to gain an understanding of Brookings area transportation issues and needs. Some of the associated tasks with this are to review existing Brookings area plans and community profile. Again, we did that through looking at the prior master transportation plan, bicycle master plan, the downtown area master plan, Brookings County housing study, various comprehensive plans. So we built on all of that information. AS CHARLIE ALLUDED TO, WE DID A LOT OF TRAFFIC ANALYSIS WITH THIS PROJECT. WE REVIEWED TRAFFIC VOLUMES FOR BOTH EXISTING AND FUTURE YEARS, SO BASICALLY LOOKING AT TRAFFIC COUNTS WE COLLECTED WITH THIS STUDY FROM 2024 WHEN IT STARTED ALL THE WAY OUT TO 2050 USING OUR FORECAST METHODOLOGY. I will say this is again been pretty extensive We looked at 40 study intersections and this is for peak hours of the day morning and evening commute hours Typically in these studies we look at about 15 to 20 so a lot of information and that's for 2024 2040 and 2050 just to see what potential issues may arise In addition, we also looked at primary arterial and collector streets throughout the Brookings area in those time frames as well from a daily traffic perspective and I'll talk about this in more detail in my second presentation, but we also performed a very robust crash record review, looking at records from 2019 through June of 2024. Through all of this, we identified issues and needs based on analysis. This is intersection and segment capacity constraints potentially in the future, based on our traffic volume analysis, looking at crash records to indicate what safety improvements may need to be made. And then we presented these issues and needs to the public for feedback back in February of 2025. That was our first set of open houses. We've got an image of that on this slide as well as all the feedback we received that was located on our online comment map. For the second phase of the project, our standards and development phase, the purpose was to develop a series of plans to address those identified issues and needs. Some of our associated tasks were the major roads plan, a vision for streets in the Brookings area, and the prioritization of those streets. We reviewed and recommended updates for the Brookings engineering design standards. We updated the bicycle and pedestrian plan to reflect new priorities and changes in the transportation network since the last plan. We created a new safety action plan per USDOT guidelines. I'll talk about that more in my second presentation. And then we looked at build conditions and supplemental scenarios, which included intersection control evaluations to see if intersections need to be, or if they meet warrants for four-way stop control intersections or signals within our planning study timeframe. In addition, as Charlie mentioned, we also did look at a few select corridors for potential road diets, and we developed illustrative concepts for those and left those as potential concepts to review at a later date. Finally, our third phase was the implementation plan. This was to garner community feedback on our preliminary plans, refine them, and then present a potential implementation plan within the BATP. So this was all presented at the second open house for feedback back in February of this year. Again, we did that funding analysis looking at historical city transportation revenues and expenditures, and then potential grant funding opportunities. Then finally, we did our implementation plan, which is a compiled list and maps of potential projects and time frames associated with those projects for traffic safety and bike pet projects. A lot of those projects are traffic focused, so the timelines or suggested timelines are based on when a signal warrant may be met, for example. A lot of these projects, again, are suggested based on this analysis and feedback, but they're by no means definitive. Briefly, just some long range next steps following the completion of the BATP beyond posting the final version to the city's website. We're going to update city, or the city will update City of Brookings engineering design standards to incorporate design guidance from the BATP and recommendations we have in it. further prioritize and identify projects for potential future SS4A implementation grant. I'll talk about that again more in my second presentation tonight. Review, refine, and potentially implement the BATP traffic, safety, and bike ped projects as needed. Fifth, focus on key safety bike and pedestrian projects in high priority areas like 6th Street, the downtown area, and 20th Street South. And then develop a safe routes to school plan to refine bicycle and pedestrian and safety improvement projects identified in the BATP and formalized school route plans. So again, I know that that's a lot even for a recap, but I'll just leave it open for questions.

All right. Thank you, gentlemen. Entertain a motion to approve.

So moved.

Is there any public comments on this item? Council, any questions, comments? Council Member Hager.

Thank you for that review presentation. And I think it did a good job of addressing some of the feedback and chatter that we got after the initial presentation. In particular, just the fact that a master plan is just that. It's very goal-oriented. It's dealing with a lot of different data points and then trying to make some recommendations moving forward. And not even always recommendations per se, but options for some of those different recommendations. you know regardless we still had citizens with concerns i felt like a lot of the ones that i saw related to questions that i asked when we first had this presented to us relating to how we're balancing the needs of motorists versus transportation that tends to be more seasonal like walking and biking the process for any major changes like the road diets and what citizens should expect moving forward i do think that tonight's presentation addressed a lot of those very well and emphasize the importance of a master plan in order to be competitive for funding for any sorts of projects at least for me i would just preface my vote tonight by saying that i support the master plan in the true sense of what a master plan is and the fact that we were reassured that any types of major changes wouldn't be pursued without any additional community input Like I said last meeting I'm pretty skeptical of road diets myself But again if we're potentially considering those types of changes or any changes in the future I would want to hear more from citizens before we take any action Councilmember specker

I actually became fond of road diets after reading this report. I think that if you look at the safety data, one of the things I think a lot of the community didn't realize was that the priorities for this are based on that safety data. And the report, I mean, if anyone has any real concerns about this, they just need to look at the report. Because it has tons of data. It has, like, the map that was on just up there. that i think people honed in on this one as with the road diet on south main if you look at this map that is a illustrative example of when a road diet would you know could be useful and that's based on the national recommendations for road safety on how many cars are traveling on that road you know what the speed limit is and i i just think there's so much information in this report that if people actually read it they would get pretty excited that's my comment thank you council member tilton burn

Thank you, Mayor. I want to first thank you for the presentation and for all of the information. I think one of the really neat things about this plan is that it's not only based on data and best practices that are provided by the state and federal studies that have happened, but also by our community. As you mentioned, there were a lot of different community involvement sessions, and so there were members of the community that came forward and said what they were hoping for in this transportation plan, and I think that's really evident in the way that it was crafted, kind of bringing together all types of transportation, not just motorists, not just bicycling, but kind of all the elements, right? I think it's really exciting to see that this plan is going to implement some really great engineering standards, some suggestions for safety measures, some design elements, suggestions for that pedestrian safety and the safe routes to school. What I would just maybe continue to stress is that what this isn't going to do is immediately implement road diets on all of our streets in Brookings, right? It's not even going to implement them on the examples that are provided in the plan. It's also not going to prioritize any one type of transportation. It doesn't mean that bicyclists are more important than motorists and vice versa, right? It is looking at this in a holistic way that's based on data and information and best practices. And if we find ourselves in a situation where we might need to explore road diets in a certain area of the community, we will now have a document that can help guide us based on data and information to what the best possible route for that might be. And so I think this is really forward thinking. It's kind of bringing us into that next phase of what transportation and connectivity in our community will look like. and certainly not placing us in a box saying that we have to implement road diets or we have to do any one thing. And so I appreciate the comments that we've received from the public because there have been quite a few. And I would encourage all of those folks to continue to bring their comments forward if we're bringing one of these suggestions forward at a future council meeting and moving forward to implement those because really that's when we need to hear that commentary the most is when we're actually making those types of decisions. Appreciate the commentary that has happened, appreciate the folks that participated in the community involvement sessions, and really excited to have a good guiding document that's based on really logical standards that are practical based on data and best practices. So thank you for the work, thank you for the presentation, and excited to have this.

Thank you.

Any other comments, questions? Please call the roll.

Tilton Byrne?

Aye.

Wendell?

Aye.

Avery.

Aye.

Doran. Aye. Hager. Aye. Niemeyer. Aye. Specker. Aye.

All right. On to item 10B, action and resolution on 26-039, resolution adopting the Brookings Area Safety Plan and 2050 Vision Zero Safety Goal Commitment. And Charlie will get us started on this one.

Yes, thanks Mr. Mayor. I'm here again with Tom Cook from HDR to present the final draft of the safety action plan for adoption. As part of this adoption, Public Works is requesting the city's commitment to work towards a long term goal of eliminating fatalities and serious injuries by 2050 called the Brookings Vision Zero Safety Goal. The Safety Action Plan was developed over the past two years in conjunction with the Brookings Area Transportation Plan using extensive crash data and public feedback from two open houses and a survey of area residents. Just a side note, we received over 400 survey results in our survey, online survey. So I really appreciate those comments. It took Tom quite a bit to compile those, but it was really encouraging to see our community involved with that. This data was then used to identify roadways and intersections with elevated crash rates and locations for potential engineering-based safety improvement projects. This plan and the city's commitment to work towards eliminating fatalities and serious injuries will provide federal funding opportunities to address these issues in the future. I will now hand things off to Tom again, who will provide further detail on this part of the plan.

All right, good evening again. And Charlie's not kidding. There were about 500 survey responses. So we had a lot of really helpful information for both these studies. They're kind of one of the same. But I talked about it a little bit at my initial presentation about a month ago. Touched on a few references in my first presentation. But I'm going to kind of give an overview of the Brookings Area Safety Action Plan, what safety action plans are, how it relates to the ATP, and what benefits it can bring to Brookings long term. So to start off, what is a safety action plan or SAP? They're a relatively new type of plan that came out pretty much starting in 2021. Basically, they're comprehensive safety plans to reduce and eliminate fatal and serious injury crashes affecting all road users. I do want to emphasize it's a data-driven analysis to determine roadway safety issues and identify potential engineering-based projects and strategies. And then thirdly, it's a creek key criterion for the safe streets and roads for all or SS for a grant program So some of the need for a safety action plan in a community You know, there's a need to provide guidance on current roadway safety issues and potential safety minded engineering based improvement strategies Through safety action plans. They can establish long-range visionary safety goals and priorities for our community IN PARTICULAR TO BROOKINGS, IT POSITIONS THE CITY TO BE POSITIONS THE CITY TO BE ELIGIBLE FOR THAT IMPLEMENTATION ELIGIBLE FOR THAT IMPLEMENTATION GRANT FUNDING WHICH IS TO GRANT FUNDING WHICH IS TO DESIGN AND CONSTRUCT TRAFFIC DESIGN AND CONSTRUCT TRAFFIC SAFETY AND BIKE PEDESTRIAN SAFETY AND BIKE PEDESTRIAN TYPE PROJECTS. TYPE PROJECTS. TO DO THAT, YOU MUST DEVELOP A TO DO THAT, YOU MUST DEVELOP A PLAN AND FOLLOW THE SEVEN PLAN AND FOLLOW THE SEVEN CRITERIA IN THE GRAPHIC I HAVE CRITERIA IN THE GRAPHIC I HAVE ON THE SLIDE TO THE RIGHT. As I mentioned, it derives from the Brookings Area Transportation Plan. We've done a lot of these plans together or in conjunction, and so it utilizes things you would be doing in the ATP anyway, but puts them in an SS4A safety action plan context. So if you do apply for a grant, it's very evident that you're checking all the boxes. So just a little background on the SS4A program itself. It's again a grant program established in 2021 through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. The U.S. Department of Transportation manages the SS4A fund with about $5 billion in funding currently available from 2022 to 2026. with the program anticipated for renewal in the upcoming transportation bill. The program helps fund regional and local safety projects to prevent roadway fatalities and serious injuries, and then the program seeks an overall goal of zero roadway deaths and serious injuries. Again, we utilize the same study area as the Brookings Area Transportation Plan, so the study area and extents and what we looked at is pretty large, similar to the ATP. SO FOR THE REST OF THE PRESENTATION, I'M JUST GOING TO TALK ABOUT SOME KEY SAFETY ACTION PLAN COMPONENTS THAT YOU MIGHT BE INTERESTED IN, ESPECIALLY ONE THAT PERTAINS TO THE RESOLUTION HERE TONIGHT. SO STARTING WITH THE SAFETY ACTION PLAN SAFETY ANALYSIS COMPONENT. AS WE TALKED ABOUT, OUR SAFETY ANALYSIS THAT WE DID FOR THIS PLAN AND THE ATP WAS PRETTY ROBUST, LOOKING AT SOUTH DAKOTA DOT CRASH RECORDS FOR THE BROOKINGS AREA BETWEEN JANUARY 2019 AND JUNE OF 2024. This analysis focused on several themes, looking at locations for fatal and injury-type crashes, intersections and roadway segments with high crash frequency and elevated injury crash rates, bicycle and pedestrian safety throughout the city, downtown brooking safety, and then select crash characteristics that tend to have risky behaviors associated with them. Speeding, lane departures, angle crashes, and distracted driving are examples of some of those that we looked at. Just a few high notes of our key crash history findings. In the five and a half years of data that we looked at, there were about 1,450 total crashes. About 260 of those were injury crashes, which is about 18% of that total. When we look at the Brookings area overall, there were four fatal and 17 serious injury crashes. Around 50 total crashes in the downtown Brookings area, with about 10 resulting in an injury. And then throughout the city, there were about 28 bicycle and pedestrian crashes, all of which resulted in an injury, highlighting the vulnerability of those modes of travel. In addition, we reviewed crash history records at about 62 specific intersections and 61 roadway segments in the Brookings area. So again, pretty extensive for an area wide plan like this. When we get down to the intersection and roadway segment level, looking at things from a crash frequency standpoint, the number of crashes at locations, we see a lot of locations on 6th Street where there's a lot of traffic, obviously. So 6th and 22nd Avenue, 6th and Maderi, as well as 22nd Avenue and University Boulevard are amongst some of the most crash frequent locations in the city during this time period anyway. When we look at it from a segment perspective, we saw a lot of crashes on Highway 14, east and west of city limits, Brookings County Highway 7, and then a subsegment of 6th Street in town as well. Again, we also looked at intersections and segments from an elevated injury crash rate perspective, so focusing on locations with more crash severity, higher crashes resulting in injuries. Some of those locations include, in terms of intersections, 22nd Avenue and 20th Street South, the Aurora Corner, 4th Street and 11th Avenue, Main and 4th. During that time period, again, there have been obviously changes since this analysis has occurred in some cases. In terms of roadway segments, we saw some on this highlighted Western Avenue, County Highway 21, Southland Lane, 17th Avenue South, and County Highway 12, amongst others. Taken together One of the key components of the safety analysis is to develop a high injury network Which is a map that identifies those roadways with roadways and intersections with elevated injury crash rates So basically taking the intersections of roadway segments. I just talked about in trying to prioritize them in terms of safety benefit Again an SS for a program requirement again want to stress it's a data-driven approach and based on locations identified in that crash history review and Moving on to the next component, the engagement and collaboration component. So the SS4A program requires that some level of engagement with the public and relevant stakeholders take place, and that we incorporate engagement feedback into the safety action plan. For this plan, again, that's where we're basically doing the ATP and the safety action plan at the same time, covering a lot of the same issues. So we utilize the feedback from our BATP open houses in both February of 2025 and this year, as well as online feedback through the Brookings ATP study website. That feedback informed prioritized safety strategies and projects in the plan. The next component I wanted to touch on is the strategy and project selections, so similar maps to at the end of the BATP report. This is essentially a map compiling locations for potential future engineering-based safety improvement projects. Again, they compile and prioritize locations highlighted in both the safety analysis as well as public and stakeholder feedback that we received. These recommendations are proven safety strategies established in engineering manuals and guidance documents from South Dakota DOT, Federal Highway Administration, NHTSA, amongst others. So they're really proven countermeasures in many cases. JUST A COUPLE EXAMPLES OF SOME OF THE POTENTIAL PROJECTS THAT WE MENTIONED TO CONSIDER FOR CERTAIN LOCATIONS. SO FOR EXAMPLE, 22ND AVENUE AND UNIVERSITY BOULEVARD, WHEN WE LOOK AT THE CRASH HISTORY, THERE WERE ABOUT 20 TOTAL CRASHES IN THE TIME PERIOD WE LOOKED AT. IT WAS A HIGH INJURY NETWORK INTERSECTION, MEANING THERE WAS SOME LEVEL OF SEVERITY AMONGST THOSE CRASHES. THERE WAS A HISTORY OF BICYCLE AND PEDESTRIAN CRASHES, SPEEDING. and lane departure amongst those crash records. And some of the engagement feedback we received was potential recommendation to consider a roundabout in the future to address some of that. So some of the potential safety projects we recommended for consideration include dynamic feedback signs to help manage speed in that area as a gateway section of town, as well as looking at an intersection control evaluation prior to corridor reconstruction, looking at both a roundabout and a conventional intersection, And then looking at high visibility crosswalks and controlled crossing devices like a rectangular rapid flashing beacon or pedestrian hybrid beacon. So I do have examples of the dynamic feedback sign and the controlled crossing device that's installed on Southland Lane by the Boys and Girls Club. SO IT WOULD BE SIMILAR TO THAT. AND THEN THE OTHER EXAMPLE IS FOR 6th STREET WHERE WE RECEIVED QUITE A BIT OF FEEDBACK ON. SO LOOKING AT THE CORRIDOR THROUGHOUT THE CITY, COMBINED THERE WERE 284 TOTAL CRASHES IN THE TIME PERIOD WE LOOKED AT. 54 of those were injury crashes. There were several high injury network intersections and segments on the corridor. Again, a history of bike and ped crashes, speeding, and angle crashes. And again, a lot of the feedback that we heard were, you know, improved signal timings, improved corridor walkability, and increased pedestrian crossing opportunities along that stretch of road. So some of the projects we offered up for consideration include reviewing and optimizing traffic signal plans for the corridor, signal timing plans rather, looking at a roundabout and traffic signal at 6th Street and Western Avenue. And then installing pedestrian hybrid beacons with median refuge islands at select locations. We have a figure that showcases that example effectively. It's a signalized controlled crosswalk that pedestrians can activate. And then there's a center median that gives them a little protective space halfway through a wide corridor like 6th Street. And then finally, the last component I'm going to talk about tonight is the leadership and goal setting, which is directly related to the resolution related to this item. And so for this criterion, the SS4A program requires an official commitment to an eventual goal of zero roadway fatalities and serious injuries, and then a commitment target date to reach zero or reduction target dates. And so with this resolution, there's a 2050 Brookings Vision Zero goal. It's a long-term visionary goal of zero roadway fatalities and serious injuries by year 2050 within the Brookings area. I do want to stress that this is a visionary goal only. It's not a definitive obligation for the city. It's just simply stating that safety is a priority in the community. This commitment is made official by the resolution here tonight, approving both the safety action plan as well as the safety goal. And then the plan and goals must be approved to meet program requirements for SS4A and to be eligible for that SS4A implementation grant funding. So briefly, just a few next steps following adoption. First step is to finalize and post both the safety action plan and the BATP to the city's website. Second is to organize a safety action plan advisory group to oversee plan implementation and progress. This is another SS4A program requirement. Third is to further prioritize potential projects for a future SS4A implementation grant application. Again, I want to stress that the safety action plan plays a critical role. It sets the foundation for being able to apply for that funding. You have to have it in order to be eligible. And then finally, with this plan and following implementation, I just want to focus on key safety and bike ped projects in high-priority areas, again, like 6th Street, the downtown area, and 20th Street South. So again, I know a lot of information. Hopefully that was helpful in recapping the safety action plan. I just open it up for questions.

Thank you, gentlemen. Entertain a motion to approve.

So moved.

Is there any public comment on this item? Council, have any questions, comments on this item? Council Member Hager?

On slide 16, there's mention of an SAP advisory group. How would membership be determined for that?

So generally in this plan where we've left it is we've given a general idea of what could be done and generally it involves city staff that were a part of the Brookings area transportation plan like Charlie and John other planning staff and so but we've left it open that it can be it can include council members it can vary as time goes on.

Could it include citizens by chance?

Yes certainly. Any other comments questions? Please call the roll.

Wendell?

Aye.

Avery?

Aye.

Doran? Aye. Hager? Aye. Niemeyer? Aye. Specker? Aye. Chilton-Burton? Aye.

All right, that completes our business tonight. We have a progress report from Samantha Beckman, our Assistant City Manager.

GOOD EVENING, EVERYBODY. THIS IS THE JUNE 2026 PROGRESS REPORT. UP FIRST IN THE PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT, THE ENGINEERING DIVISION, THEY'VE GOT SEVERAL PROJECTS THAT THEY'VE WRAPPED UP THIS MONTH, INCLUDING THE SLURRY SEAL STREET MAINTENANCE PROJECT AND THE 22nd AVENUE AND 20th STREET SOUTH INTERSECTION WIDENING PROJECT, WHICH THAT WAS NOT A CITY PROJECT, BUT STILL IS COMPLETED AND WANTED TO RECOGNIZE THAT. YOU ALSO HEARD TONIGHT ABOUT THE MASTER TRANSPORTATION PLAN WHICH CAN BE FOUND ON THE CITY'S WEBSITE FOR THOSE THAT WANT TO REVIEW THAT. UPCOMING PROJECTS INCLUDE THE STREET OVERLAY PROJECT WHICH WILL BEGIN AT THE END OF JUNE AND YOU CAN CHECK AND SEE IF YOUR STREET IS ON THAT PROJECT BY VISITING THE BRICKINGS COMMUNITY CONSTRUCTION WEB PAGE WHICH IS ALSO LISTED ON THE SCREEN UP HERE. One other major project for the summer to note is the intersection of 20th Street South and Rapid Valley Kind of on the west side of town will be shaving down that hill so you might have to Reroute yourself over there and hopefully it will help with some traffic sight lines in the future But there will be detour signs posted One other thing to note is that the Flying Jacks Club and the Women in Aviation will be hosting a fly-in breakfast at the airport on July 11 from 8 to noon. The police department is also staying active lately. Officer Bonama took Teddy, our canine, to a demonstration at Peaceful Pines Senior Living. Officers also stopped by a lemonade stand to support where all proceeds were donated to a family of the Brookings Rangers hockey team member. officers were also escorting the wall that heals into town along with lots of volunteers and also conducted safety checks of that area throughout the week we've also been doing foot patrols downtown and the 2026 safety town program is also underway the library also hosted the bike rodeo earlier this month and lots of police department participation was always very active at that one And with the library, our summer reading program is off to a fantastic start. We have 955 children, 119 teens, and 137 adults that were signed up so far. So we're very much on track to exceed our numbers from last year, which is awesome. So kudos to the library staff. The library is also known for their fantastic escape rooms. So they had a Jurassic Trek themed one that was a big hit this year. And the library also will be at various booths and community events throughout the summer. In the Parks, Recreation, and Forestry Department, the Edgebrook Golf Course Clubhouse received some major updates in their interior renovations this summer. So if you haven't stopped by the golf course lately to check those out, please do so. Construction on the skate park project began in early June and is expected to continue throughout most of the summer The sustainability council in partnership with the parks department also recently hosted their ribbon-cutting for the new community food forest which is located just north of the community gardens and The bidding for the golf course water sourcing project was also awarded in this last month The fish back soccer complex was home to the wall that heals for a couple days about two weeks ago So thank you to all of the volunteers and city staff members that helped set those things up tear those things down Stayed with it 24 hours a day for about four days It's really great to see the community impact out there. I And then lastly here, I just wanted to note that the Uncle Sam Jam will be held at the Larson Ice Center this year with fireworks to follow later on that night, which I know our fire department is very excited to shoot off more fireworks this year than last year. Fireworks will be held at the Weiss property, which is just north of the Target building to the west of the Larson Ice Center. And lastly, the Dakota Bank Center, they'll host five events this month over 12 event days. Last month's highlights included the South Dakota Quarter Horse Show with about 600 attendees. Upcoming events include, there's a circus, which is not listed on the screen. The circus is this week, June 25th, and then a Masked Mania professional wrestling event in October. And then I was asked one more thing on here too. The current management contract with the facility runs through the end of 2026. We'll have more information that will come to light and come to further city council meetings on the reimagining of that facility. So more to come. And if you have any questions, I'll be available.

Thank you, Samantha. Any questions, comments? Paul?

Sam, can you remind us again when does the Target grand opening happening? Because I don't think we'll have a progress report by that time.

I'm not sure that we have clarification on if we can say that. Do you know, Sherry?

My assumption is that you'll be promoting that on social media.

We will be heavily promoting that once we know that we can promote that, yes.

I do want to reiterate again how the community came together. We had a wall of healing here. Numerous volunteers bringing it up together and taking it down. Great experience. We had volunteers that were there in the middle of the night. 24-hour deal. It was very impressive. I just want to thank the community. Did we have a number of how many attendees, Sam? Yes, we were given an estimate about 10,000 attendees right so big event only one that we had in the state of South Dakota, so All right. Thank you very much, Sam Next council meeting is on the 14th Some of the items that are on there are obviously the first readings we had this evening. There will be second readings There are some renewals Dakota Bank Center mosaic wine bar We will have ex-official reports, and there is a proclamation for park and rec month. Otherwise, is there any other items that the council would have interest in having for future discussion? I would entertain a motion to adjourn.

So moved.

Second.

All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

Meeting adjourned.