City Council - Regular Meeting

Good evening and welcome to the City Council meeting for Monday, September 21st, 2026. We will begin with a roll call and determination of quorum.

Thank you. Next, we'll have an invocation by Pastor Steve Selfridge, followed by the Pledge of Allegiance. If you're able and willing, would you please rise? Whichever one.

Thank you, next I'll entertain a motion to adopt the agenda. Got a motion by Meyer with a second by Tamang to adopt. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? All right, the agenda is adopted. We have a couple of proclamations. I'm gonna swing around here to the front and we will get rolling. So do we have anybody here for the fall prevention awareness? All right. Then come on up. All right, chief, come on around. But just yeah, there you go. Take the team. Bring Dexter to. Well, it's my pleasure to do this proclamation for Fall Prevention Awareness Week. This is our second, I believe it's our second ye

So do we need to take a picture? Are we good to go? You're good? I'm going to give that to you. Thank you. Thank you both very much.

Thank you. This next one's another important one for Suicide Prevention Month. And what we have, we have the team behind us from Journey On, as well as the Lost Team. They do great work, obviously, throughout our community, including in this area that's often not talked about. So I'm proud and honored to do this proclamation. I will read it aloud, and then we will open the floor up for your words. Whereas September is recognized nationwide as National Suicide Prevention Month, a time to raise awareness, honor the lives lost to suicide, support survivors, and strengthen our collective commitmen

So we're going to give this to you and I don't know. Do we need to get a picture in? Or do we already get pictures? We're good?

Thank you all very much. We were gonna have a special presentation tonight that is going to be continued to a different meeting. So we will move on to general public comment. This is a time for members of the public to discuss or express concerns to the council on any issue not on the agenda. Action will not be taken at the meeting on any issue not on the agenda, except by placement on the agenda by unanimous vote of the council members present. As a reminder, you have three minutes and I have a few speaker request forms. First, William Wagner.

Mr. Wagner, three minutes are up, sir. Next up, Cindy Cook.

Nevada, thank you. Next up, James Pialotta.

That is the end of general public comment. I do have Councillor Maher who has requested a point of personal privilege. Councillor Maher.

Thank you, Mayor. I just wanted to take a moment to promote our university. the School of Mines. This week is their homecoming week, Saturday at 1 p.m. They have their homecoming football game. It's against the University of New Mexico. They have a great football team this year. They've had four games. They've won three of them, including their best game ever where they beat a Division I university. So I really want the community and the council to support the School of Mines, and thank you for the opportunity just to make sure everybody knows what's going on. Thank you.

Thank you, Councillor Maher. That will conclude this portion of our agenda. We will move on to non-public hearing items 4 through 25 and open public comment for items 4 through 21. I have one speaker request form from James Bailotta for item 14.

All right. That will conclude the public comment for these items. And we will move on to consent items 4 through 21. Councillor Sechrist.

OK, so that item 14 is pulled. Councillor Armstrong.

Item 15. Any other items? OK, we got a motion by Meyer with a second by Tamang to approve items 4 through 21 with the exception of 14 and 15. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries. Item 14, approve the following inaugural board members for the Impact Endowment Fund, Don Warren, Hanny Schaffee, Jim Skull, Kyle Weiss, Marnie Herman, Paulette Davidson, Daniel Ainsley, Brianna Vandepoel, and Kristen Conzett. Councilor Evans, you're in the queue, sir.

Thank you, Mayor. I have to say I find myself in the peculiar situation of agreeing with Mr. Bialata here. As you know, I've been a vocal opponent to the changing of these vision funds and how they've been used over the last two, four years. I think they move farther and farther from the intent of the people and the voters. And in this particular case, I still see these appointments as being inappropriate. I believe it's taken completely out of the hands of the citizens of Rapid City who are paying the tax on this, and I think we should, table this particular approval until we have more discus

and is willing to do the hard work that it takes to go out and raise those dollars because raising three million dollars is no easy feat so i appreciate their efforts um and thank you i yield thank you next up counselor maher uh yes mayor i would just like to make the motion to approve number 14. thank you the motion on the floor is to approve item 14 by maher with a second by secrets and now we'll go to counselor armstrong

Thank you. I just wanted to follow up on my colleague's comments. I think it's great that we are recognizing the, as she calls it, the who's who of Rapid City. I think that's phenomenal. But if we're going to be completely transparent on how this happened, they did not put their name forward. They were selected. The mayor's office reached out to these people. A couple of them actually reached out to me, said, what is this about? I did not know. In addition to being fully transparent, I talked with Black Hills Area Community Foundation, who I hold in high regard. I think they do a stellar job,

Thank you. So we have Leah Braun up here from our office, but I'll kick it off, Leah. Basically, when this board with the vision fund, this is a vision fund award as the council approved some time ago. And in fact, increased the fund, I think I had said I think 1.5 million and you increased it to three. That fund, we did an RFP to foundations in order to create an endowment. The whole purpose of the fund is to create matching funds for capital projects for nonprofits. IN THE COMMUNITY BECAUSE A LOT OF THEM LEVERAGED THE VISION FUND OVER THE YEARS. WE HAD TENS OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS GOING TO NO

Well, I don't disagree with Ms. Sechrist about the importance of having people of prominence being able to raise money. But from my little research I've done, the Sioux Falls Fund was not created with taxpayers' dollars that were voted on by the people to have a different purpose. And so it's not about the fact that the fund is there, because I supported the creation of this fund. I think it's a great idea. We should have had one for 50 years in this town. However, it's the process of how the money ended up all of a sudden not being under the control of the people. This is the problem with wha

Councilor Maher. Well, thank you, Mayor. I just wanted to add that the council passed the vision fund of $3 million to go to the new impact fund. One of the reasons it was done, and you guys can do your homework, one of the reasons it was done is to take the decisions out of the city council And we were just, this was the seed money. The goal is to get $10 million into this fund before they start giving money out. It's an independent board. They pick the nonprofits that qualify, that they vote. The board will change, but the city is out of it. It was a one-time gift. There's no more taxpayer d

So right now the motion on the floor is to approve. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Motion passes with two noes from Armstrong and Evans. Thank you. Next we're going to item 15, an authorized staff to hire outside counsel to file collection actions for certain outstanding utility accounts. Laura Armstrong, Counselor Armstrong, you pull this item.

Thank you. I'd like to make a motion to table this item. If I could get a second and I'll explain why. I'll second. Great, thank you.

Motion by Armstrong with a second by Evans to table. So we have to go to an immediate vote on that.

I can't explain why? Nope, not under tabling.

Not under tabling, motion. So all those in favor of tabling say aye. Any opposed? Motion passes two to eight.

Oh, excuse me. I think we voted to table it. I incorrectly stated that. Motion fails two to eight. Thank you. So it is not tabled. Did not have the votes of the council. So we were backed on the agenda. Councillor Armstrong, you are free to continue speaking.

Okay, thank you. I was hoping to put pause on this action, not because I want to give Sadiq any kind of grace. I've followed the history. What they're doing up in Star Village, I think, is completely wrong. But I really feel that there's been a lot of finger pointing at Sadiq And I think that we should look at the city and ask ourselves how this happened. I can't seem to find an actual cost of how much this has grown to, but it's exorbitant and I don't understand why this was not addressed a year or two ago or before it got into the six digits. I would like to have some sort of working session

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Well, we could sit and beat our heads against the wall all day long to figure out how to make this never happen again, and it will still happen again. The biggest problem that we have as a city, and the reason that it got to this point now, is because we've only got one option. They start getting behind, we turn off their water. Do you want to turn off the water to 300 residents? That's impossible to do. I've had this and I've been beating my head against the wall on this on a property in my ward for a decade. They get behind, they get behind, they get behind, then we hav

Thank you, Mayor. Can I direct the questions to the city attorney? So Carla, I've got a few questions. Is this a contingent or hourly rate agreement, and is there a limit? My second question is, what are the reasonable expectations of collections? And my third is, can we collect anything with the bankruptcy court because there's automatic stay?

OK, with that, we'll go to our city attorney, Carla Cushman.

Councillor Evans. Thank you. Let's not distort what Ms. Armstrong was saying over there. It was not her intent to not want to collect this. I think she was just pointing out that we haven't been briefed on it enough to know exactly what our process is. Now, over the years, I've seen kind of how things work. If you don't have recourse in the assets to fight the city, They come crashing down on you and squish you like a measly little bug. But if you're a billionaire living in Miami or whoever this is, I'm telling you, $50,000 for our attorney fees in South Dakota isn't going to be enough to matc

All right, we got a motion by Tamang with a second by Roberts to approve. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Motion passes with two noes from Evans and Armstrong. Thanks, everyone. That takes us to the end of the consent items. We will move on to non-consent items 22 through 25, an open public comment for items 22 through 25. I have no speaker request form, so I will close the public comment. move on to item 22 first reading of ordinance number 6745 an ordinance amending section 17.06 of the rap city municipal code a request by black hills area community foundation for rezoning requests from ligh

Yeah, as I mentioned at Public Works, I'm confused a little bit by the purpose of the committee that we have here, and several constituents called me, reading the South Dakota requirement for such a group that oversees historical things. and I don't believe they're fulfilling their obligations. I've watched since I've been on city council, the interior of the Rushmore Mutual building, great interior demolished without protest. I've watched the Christian Science Church, one of three Art Deco structures from the 30s in town demolished with no protest. I've watched as St. John's Church just last

Yes. Thank you. I just want to refresh everybody's memory at the Public Works meeting. I think it's important that these committees come before our council to give us updates, much like the Disability Committee, to let us know what they're doing. I think that's really important. And I have talked with Director Fischer about Having this group come before us, should I direct anything to Director Fischer? We are bringing a presentation in December that could give us an update. I think that would help us have a better rapport with our city committees and also encourage people to join these city co

Okay, well the motion on the floor is to approve. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Motion passes with two nos from Stroman and Evans. All right, item 25. We have a special event alcoholic beverage license application. Fat Boys Inc. doing business as Firehouse Brewing for a special event on sale malt beverage license for an on sale wine license. and an on-sale wine license, excuse me, for an event to take place on September 26, 2026 at O'Hare Stadium at 501 East St. Joseph Street. All right, the motion by Strowman's to approve or the second by Roberts. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Motion carr

Motion by Tamang with a second by Roberts to approve item 28. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries with one abstention from Meyer. Item 29, back to you, Daniel.

Motion by Meyer with a second by Sekaris to approve item 29. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries. Do we have a motion to adjourn? Motion by Sechrist, second by Meyer to adjourn. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? We're adjourned. Thanks, everyone.