City Council - Regular Meeting

It's okay. That's good. Well, good evening and welcome to the city council meeting for Monday, January 5th, 2026. We will begin with a roll call and determination of quorum.

Leman here. Maher here. Roberts here. Strowman here. Pedigrew here. Serris here. Beaverdorf here. Tamang here. Evans here. Meyer. We have a quorum. Uh, thank you. Next, we'll have an invocation by Pastor Randy Fipps, followed by the pledge of allegiance. If you're able and willing, would you please rise?

Oh, what a joy it is to be able to come and participate in public forum. And thank you to our mayor and our city council for the uh work that you do on the benefit of the citizens of Rapid City. And uh I'm going to ask that the Lord would bless every every activity this new year and for the weeks, months, whatever whatever lies ahead. So Lord, thank you once again for this place, for these people, for this time that you know in advance of what the plans are. Lord, we pray for good things. We pray for great things here in Rapid City, Lord God. That this is a wonderful place to live and raise a family and to do business and to uh once again this life that you've given us is precious. And we thank you today for these service people, for the people that they're serving and the community and the blessing that it is to be able to call Rapid City our home. Bless this time. Bless this meeting. In Jesus name I pray. Amen.

Amen. I alian to the flag of the United States of America and to the stands [clears throat] one indivisibley and justice for all. Thank you. Next, I'll entertain a motion to adopt the agenda.

Got a motion by Evans. Do we have a second by Roberts? All in favor? Any opposed? The agenda is adopted. A couple of programming notes for you. [clears throat] Excuse me. Uh on the presentations and recognitions, those will be swapped. We will uh the point in time presentation will be following the St. Thomas Moore recognition. Um and then uh but prior to that uh we have a as you know a special treat here today and I'm going to go to our council member Bill Evans who would like to share uh briefly uh who we have here. Councilman. Yeah. Thank you mayor. We have some members here from the Rushmore Music Festival and this is a camp that runs year round. In the summer they present uh very fine concert series. During the winter they bring in students from across the country and uh they have mentors and teachers here that come in from all over the place. The director, the first violinist here is Katie Smrnova who runs the whole thing. Over there is Jeff Johnson on the cello who's my dear colleague for many many years here in Rapid City. Uh retired from the weather bureau after like 35 years or so. Um and we have two students here um over on Viola on the far end. Asher, raise your hand. That's Asher who graduated from Central a couple years ago and now is on full scholarship at the Indiana Great Indiana School of Music. And this is um Manas Etien who is from Fort Lauderdale studying here for the winter and will be auditioning for scholarships here. And I'll let Katie go ahead and introduce what they're going to play.

So we'll do a little abbreviated version of these four seasons. We have pretty much warm weather. So we're going to skip all together. So we're going to do a little bit of spring. We're going to do a short movement and then we're going to have a longer one. So I hope you enjoy. [music]

[music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [applause] [music] [music] [music]

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Oh my goodness.

[music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [applause] [applause] [applause] [applause]

And that's for all of you people who think we only have agriculture here. We have other culture in Rapid City. And uh you're all invited also to the symphony safari on Friday where the entire symphony orchestra symphony will be playing for all of the fourth graders in town and I believe that happens at 9:30 on Friday. So anybody can make it there. That's a great thing. But this is where some of when we see money going for the arts, this is where it's going. So thank you guys. Thank you for supporting the Bay Project. We've been able to do about two dozen community performances with various nonprofits. So thank you so much. [applause]

Thank you. [cough and clears throat] Well, when you came to the city council meeting, he wasn't know you're going to get such a great show. That was wonderful. Thank you, uh, Councelor Evans, for uh, arranging that for us tonight. I thought that was a really special way to to begin our time together. Um, we uh, pardon my voice. Hopefully it's it stays on track. Uh, well, today we uh, get to honor another uh, set of students and young people and that is the football team of St. Thomas Moore. How about it? You can tell, right, that these guys are ready to go. They're uh, and if you want to come go ahead and come up here, uh, gentlemen and, uh, coaches and staff, anybody that's with them, feel free to come on up as well. So, uh, well, why are we honoring them tonight? In case you didn't know, uh, they first of all, they finished the season undefeated. Awesome work. [applause] But we we love to honor extraordinary achievement here. And they won the first state title in their program history, winning the state 11B title at the Dakota Dakota Dome in Vermillion back in November. So, congratulations on your state championship. Feels pretty good, right? Yeah. Yeah. Uh they had runner-up finishes back in 04, 05, 06, 07, 09, and 2014. Uh they were seated number two heading into the state title game. The Cavaliers rallied from a second half

deficit and defeated top seed at Elpoint Jefferson 48- 38. So you came from behind, which is such a great life lesson for you guys that that uh in life, you know, you you're not always ahead. You got to work hard, work as a team, and you did that. They scored on all but three possessions which included one punt and one kneel down and only had two incompletions in the game. And uh I have some other highlights here. I feel like a sports cer. I should turn into my sports cer voice. Uh Broden Sales. Broden, are you here?

Broden, five catches with 167 yards and three touchdowns, including a 90ard touchdown pass from fellow wide receiver Kane Mloud. Kane, are you here? Yeah. Well, that's that was a trick play, wasn't it? Yeah. Yeah. Pretty nice. Who knew you had an arm? You probably do.

All right. There you go. Uh Noah Walder. Noah, are you here? No. Well, Noah, who is the quarterback of the team, completed 15 of 17 passes for 203 yards and three touchdowns. He also rushed for 34 yards, winning the Joe Robbie MVP award. So, congratulations to him. Uh Graden, are you here? Is Graden here? Well, he was a running back. He rushed for 66 yards and two touchdowns. Josh Elder, are you here? Josh, you scored a touchdown in that game, right? You look like a fullback or something, right? Yeah, you got that thing going on. Uh, they have a bend don't break attitude from the Cav Cavaliers defensive unit. Who are the defensive guys up here? Anybody play defense? Oh, you're all playing. Good. Yeah, that's the way it should be. Uh, stopped opponents from key plays and forced critical turnovers. Uh, Coach Austin Hagen, coach, are you here? coach. There you are hiding out down there. I'm gonna invite you over here, coach. Um he's in his third year as head coach of the Cavaliers. Of course, Wayne Sullivan was the coach prior to you. Uh obviously built a great program, but obviously you've done an excellent job uh molding these gentlemen, these young men uh to win a state championship. And I'm sure as much as you want them to be great athletes, you know, they want to be better men. Uh so well done to you. Uh tonight what we'd like to do is uh give you all a challenge coin. Uh just a way of signifying from the city that we're proud of you. Uh congratulations for your excellent achievement. Uh can't wait to see what you do in the years to come. And coach, I want to give you an opportunity if you'd like to share a few words. The mic is yours. [clears throat] Uh thank you guys for all being here. Thank you for the opportunity to come and speak. Um we are blessed with a very uh great group of young men from top to bottom. Um, but you can see these are all seniors up here and I think we're missing five. We were very senior heavy. Um, but a great great group of leaders. Um, for our young guys after last year we lost in the semi-final game to winner. Um, the boys understood. I think

the coaching staff understood what we needed to do uh to write our wrongs to get back to that point and capitalize off that um missed opportunity and give us uh an opportunity to get to the Dakota Dome. And um our motto kind of after that game was burn the ships. we weren't going to leave any stone unturned and um go to work every day, put our heads down and just give 110% and this group did that um in the weight room, you know, spring workouts, summer workouts, and then eventually into the fall. And um good things happen. You know, we were a very talented team, but beyond that, um we were very committed and hardworking group. Um and not only on the football field, but like I said, this is a great group of young guys that are committed to their faith, uh to their academics, and then obviously to their ath uh athletics. Um, so like I said, we are very blessed. Um, very going to, uh, miss these guys very much, but the foundation they laid and, um, the young guys getting to learn from them, um, it means the world to our program and hats off to you guys. Great job. [applause]

So, with with most of you being seniors, I hope you're doing a great job mentoring the next group behind you. That's what leadership is, is uh not just you you achieving greatness, but really investing in the next group uh to do their very best, too. So, I'm going to give you some challenge coins, I hope you cherish it all the days of your life. Now, if you don't know how we do this with the challenge coins, any of you going into military, no? Okay. Well, if you ever get a challenge coin in the future, just so you know, you exchange it with a handshake. Okay? So, I'm going to shake your hand. I'm sliding a challenge coin into your hand. That's how it goes. Okay. All right. So, coach, we'll start with you. All

[clears throat]

right, thank you guys. [applause] [clears throat]

Maybe two lines up here a little bit. Thank you. [applause] Okay. Uh, next up we are going to have a special presentation from Well, Amy, you changed your last name on me. Hi.

Congratulations. By the way, Amy Mulac, is that how you pronounce it? Michelac. Mikolak. Thank you. She's with the Volunteers of America. She's going to do a presentation on a uh point in time uh that we're about to have as well as other updates as well. Amy, the [clears throat] floor is yours.

Thank you very much for your time today. Um some of you know me and some of you don't. So, I'm going to just real quickly, my name is Amy Molak. Um, I stand here before you today as a formerly homeless high school dropout. Um, I currently work um under VA for the [clears throat] excuse me uh used to be the Black Hills Regional Homeless Coalition, but we have kind of refocused that more on housing stability and um there's just a lot of different groups. When you say homeless, it's great big group of people. So, we want to focus on um creating stability for some of our families. Um, first of all, we're going to start out with just a quick review. I was here a couple years ago discussing the toolkit. Um, it was bulky, it was clunky, there was a lot of information in it. Um, we've streamlined that. We've brought that down to something that's a little more easily to easily consumable for um, just anybody who's interested in uh, the homeless housing stability issues in Rapid City. Um, so there are several different This is my first time using this presentation, so bear with me, okay? Um, I'm going to go quickly through the, um, PowerPoint. Obviously, everybody knows we have issues with affordable housing, whether you're employed or not. Um, housing's just a real issue across the country. Um, limited shelter capacity. I'm sure each one of the council members here have received phone calls about, you know, what are we doing with this homeless population thing that's going on? What are we doing? What are they doing? Um, this toolkit is intended to tell people, inform people, and let them know we are doing things. Uh, what we are doing, how to access those services, where they are, who's doing what. Um, the worst thing you can do to someone

looking for help is say, "Oh, go talk to Lance." And Lance goes, "Oh, man. That's not me. Go talk to Rod." And you have a person running around looking for all of that stuff. You have a public that wants to help these people, but doesn't know how. That's what this toolkit is intended to do. So, um, it's education, it's awareness, it's intended for the community, the businesses. Uh, we have a text to give, uh, line set up. so that we can I wouldn't want to say target but kind of provide an opportunity for our population that lives here and our tourist population to assist with homelessness in Rapid City in a way that's much more productive than um than some of the other ways that are currently available. The one thing I do want to highlight here is there's [clears throat] a very one thing that I see is people seem to believe there's somewhere for everybody to go. There is one group of people where there is really currently nowhere to go in crisis and that's families unless they're in domestic violence, specifically intimate partner violence. Um, so just a little bit more on that. When you have uh multi-generations living in a household and and violence ensues, that is not the type of domestic violence that we have services for right now. We have services for intimate partner domestic violence. So if you're a family and you have other things going on and you need a safe place to go, there currently is no immediate thing to fill that need. We've addressed most of the other ones relatively well, but that one is really lacking at this point. So I just wanted to highlight that. And of course home uh healthcare and employment gaps. We could talk about some of these things all day, but I don't want to do that. Um, we kind of look at in the people that work in this field kind of look at homelessness as

three different levels. Episodic. Episodic is I would say I was an episodic homeless individual when I was younger in Colorado. Um, I'd get a job, I'd work real hard, I'd get laid off or I was young and made bad decisions and get fired. Now I don't have a job. Now I'm homeless. And then a bus tail to access the services. I get a job. I get a house. 6 months, a year, two years, 5 years later. Oh, shoot. Here we go again. Might have been my choice, might have not. Episodic here and there. Um people that don't have long-term stability. Um and then we have our chronically homeless. This is the population that most of us see visibly on a daily basis in the Rapid City area. Currently, we have about 420, 30 to 50 homeless individuals in Rapid City. Any of your service providers, your police, fire department, I believe, will tell you that the ones you see on the streets that you go, man, we really need to help these people or we really need to do something. That's only about 150. One of the reasons we switched our focus is because there's another 300 out there that live next door to you, shower at the truck stop, work at your local grocery store or McDonald's or whatever. Um, there's a whole group of people that are just continually struggling. They are homeless. There's, you know, you can go to Planet Fitness for $15 a month and take a shower. Okay, so I'm going to take a shower. My wife is going to take the kids to school and at night we're going to come back to that car and go to sleep and we're going to get up and we're going to shower at Planet Fitness and we're going to do it all again. I don't mean that as a point on Planet Fitness. Just an example, Planet Fitness, truck stops, the Y places people can shower. There's a whole group of people in our town that are doing these things. Excuse me, I'm having a

hard time breathing. [gasps] That are doing these things that we don't even know about. So, we want to focus on stability. We want to focus on catching those people before they get to that point. There's a whole lot of people that just need not a hand up. They need someone to walk them through the process. Show them what's available. I want to be able to tell my neighbor what is available. Of course, I do, but as the general community here in Rapid City, we have a lack of understanding of the services that are available. So, this toolkit is what we're going to we're going to use to try and educate the community um on the services that are available, how to refer people in a positive, productive way rather than just, oh, I think you could talk to somebody else, right? So, we're that's what we're trying to do with this. What we'd really like the ask for the people in the community and the council is support us in that. We're requesting your support to educate the people that live in this town as to what to do that is positive that leads to good results rather than just calling one of your council members and going we really got to do something. I want to be able to provide people with the information so they know what can be done and what is available. Another part of what we do at the housing stability partners of the Black Hills is we work with co-response. Co-response is a system um that provides immediate needs attempts and succeeds at partnering with local organizations to reduce calls for service by for ambulance, police, etc. Um our co-response partners are all listed here. If you want more detailed information on that, please feel free to contact me. That's what this toolkit is for is to provide more detail on these things that we have here. Um,

highfrequency utilizers. It's much better when someone someone is in need of a service to be able to call Journey on and say, "Hey, there's a gentleman that's in distress over on whatever street." Um, and Journey On has a cultural awareness and uh tact, I want to call it. um that just really makes it easy for that population to accept the help that we're trying to give them. They're not showing up in a in a with a with a police car in a police uniform or they're showing up human to human, relative to relative and providing them or directing them to the proper services. So, um if you want more information on that, that's what this is for. Um we we support people in crisis. Um, most of that is is things that I've already um reviewed. So, I'm gonna kind of skip over this one because they want me to talk about pit count, too. So, that's it's a lot of information for a person like me to get in 10 minutes. Um, in conclusion, our goal is to have a comprehensive, culturally aware, informed strategy. Our goal is to educate the public, educate the community, educate the businesses. Let people know what we are doing. Really important. Our community does not know how much we really do do to try to hold up that population and provide those stepping stones to better places. So, um that's the goal of the we connect community toolkit. Yay, that's over. I'm very bad at powerpoints. All right. So, um pit count. Pit count stands for point in time count. It's it's mandated by HUD nationwide. HUD tells us as organizations that provide homeless services that you need to go out there and you need to find out how many

homeless people are in your area in the last 10 days of January every year. I'll just leave that at that. I could go on for days about the last 10 days of January, but anyway. So, this year we're doing it on January 27th. Uh we will be doing a citywide effort to identify and survey individuals that are struggling with housing security. Um those numbers are part of a matrix that determine how much money the state of South Dakota gets, the entire state gets to address homeless services. Is it the determining factor? No. Not by a long shot. Um, is it will will they say to me on the phone, well, that's directly related to your funding. No, it's part of what they consider when determining how much funds you get. What it does do is it um it shows the need. It shows our service providers where the need is, how much need there is. Is it accurate? No. It's as close as we're ever going to get to accurate to knowing what the what the problem actually looks like. So, that'll be uh January 27th shortly. We'll be um signing up volunteers to help do surveys for that. Uh we will be providing a meal at the parking lot at VA in the afternoon, probably noon, 1:00. Uh Salvation Army we've partnered with to do that. Uh we will be providing some hats, gloves, blankets, things like that to individuals in need. And we do this every year. In addition to that, as an organization on this side of South Dakota, I am the administrator for the pit count for all of western South Dakota. We choose on even years to do an inadequately housed survey. So once the and we do that for 90 days because those individuals that I

was speaking about earlier that are the unseen homeless are so much harder to find. They're not out actively daily seeking services where we can identify them. So if you're uh living in with one relative for a month and this friend for two weeks and that friend over there for another week, it's hard to find those people and and see how to support them. So every other year we do that that lasts for 90 days. [clears throat] Um and that assists us in finding out or trying to find out how we can support that population to stop them before they're actually on the street. Um so we'll be also doing that. I we have a new website since we changed names. It is not I noticed in the PowerPoint um so get your pencils out. Housing stability partnersbh.org um is where that where you can find that. You can find the toolkit that I was discussing on there. Here in the next few days there'll be some information about the pit count on there. Um, and I just want to I have no idea where my time's at, but in conclusion, some of you guys can stop listening to me. Um, I want to quote a movie in Aaron Brochovich, a very handsome gentleman looks at her and says, "Can I have your number?" And she said, "I got some numbers for you." We have some numbers. We have approximately 500 homeless children in the Rapid City area school district. We have approximately 500 homeless individuals in the Rapid City area, western South Dakota area, almost 1,400 statewide. What's different between us and San Diego or Seattle or some of those places that are really seeing an ugly upsurge

in homelessness? We have the opportunity to start early. We have the opportunity to start now. We have the opportunity to educate our community members, our friends, our neighbors, our families. We have the opportunity to give in positive ways. We have the opportunity to hold up people before they get to a point where they have to build encampments in the park. And that's why I'm here is to encourage the council to please continue to support the toolkit. Please stand behind us while we let your community know what you're doing to help them. for the community. I'm asking that you have some grace for your neighbor, that you take an effort to learn what's out there, that you call, that you talk to me, that you or somebody else, reach out, find out what's really going on, participate in positive ways. That's it, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you. I think I think that's all I got. Any questions? I'd be happy to take a couple minutes to answer questions if you have them. Thank you Amy for coming tonight and sharing that information. Thank you for the toolkit as well. That will be very useful for us.

Thank you. Y thank you. Uh next we will move on to the election of the council vice president. Uh so item number one. With that I believe we open up to nominations first and we will begin with president pedigrew. Nominate Councilman uh Tang for Vice President. All right. All right, we got a nomination by Pedigrew with a second by Meyer to nominate Tamang. Any other nominations? Going once, going twice. The Strowman has moved to make to cease the nominations. Do we have a second?

Got a second by Maher. With that, uh, looks like no vote is necessary. Uh, council member Steven Tang is now the council vice president. Congratulations, councelor Tang. [applause]

All right. Uh now, uh we will move on to general public comment. 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 presence. I do have a handful of speaker request forms. So, I'll say your name and I'll also let the person who's on deck know that they're on deck so they can kind of get themselves together. As a reminder, you have three minutes. The timer is right above me here. Uh, we will begin with Diko Rodriguez, followed by Daniel Malali. Happy new Happy New Year, Mayor Solomon, council, and staff. And thank you for your continued support of sports in Rapid City. I'm here to speak to Rapid City residents. There is a very significant vote on January 20th for the destination district aka Liberty Land. Early voting open today. Thank you, Mr. Tamang, for that. The destination district is an entertainment district and Liberty Land is not an amusement park. The project will be a huge sales tax generator that supports the number of events at the sports complex across the street. The completion of Tish Boulevard is part of the TIFF and it is a major artery to get in and out of the sports complex. If anyone is unfamiliar with Tish Boulevard, I would encourage you to please drive it. It is a one-lane road that dissects two junkyards and it would be necessary to improve if we were looking to bring visitors and residents to the complex. There is also an opportunity to leverage shared parking with Liberty Land which has been a which has been a concern voiced about the SC complex during the process. Rather rather than spending money on additional parking, we can invest those funds into amenities offered to visitors and residents at the complex. The sports

complex is also attempting to leverage government funding as part of the capital stack. And we have received feedback that our project is seen as favorable for this funding because the increased private development surrounding the project Liberty Land. Synergy is the word used when council supported the project for the first time in July and still rings true in 2026. The destination district vote will spur future development surrounding the complex and the area overall. For those that have been to Sou Falls and visited the Sanford Sports Complex, imagine if there was more to do when it was just the um the fieldhouse and the Pentagon. We have an opportunity to develop the sports complex and the surrounding area at the same time for a better experience for all. We are asking the Rapid City residents to make an informed decision on January 20th. Please support the destination district tiff on January January 20th and let's support strategic growth. Thank you.

Thank you. Next up, Daniel Malali, followed by William Wagner.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor and Council for your hard work. Love the music. Love the Vivaldi. My name is Dan Mali, Rapid Valley. Also have several rental units in North Rapid, but want to just give some cautionary comments on development. We've lived in Rapid City for several decades. And while change is inevitable, a recent moment with our daughter and son-in-law made me pause and really think about where our city is headed. Excuse me. They were visiting us from Denver and one evening we stood in a strip mall parking lot looking out over the brightly lit city. Our son-in-law remarked, "If I didn't know better, I could imagine I'm in Denver. Is that what you really want?" His comments struck me deeply. We lived in Denver for several years and left for many reasons. While it has its appeal, it also comes with serious challenges that did we did not want to be part of our daily lives. Hearing Rapid City compared to Denver made me realize how easily growth can drift into something unrecognizable. Finally, a line from Don Henley's song, The Last Resort, has always resonated with me. Quote, "They call it paradise. I don't know why you call someplace paradise. kiss it goodbye," unquote. It feels increasingly relevant as we consider what kind of future we want for our community. Thank you.

Thank you. Next up, William Wagner, followed by Chad Ellsworth.

How y'all doing, city government? William Wagner. Um, I y'all don't know me for anything. I done a lot of investigations. Took out a chief of staff, director of the VA, vision 23 director who oversaw $6.5 billion. I've been kind of busy, that's why I haven't been here. I I have uh invoked four federal foreign investment investigations. We have four different countries here um around Rapid City. But tonight is about the tiffs and stuff. Um, I like invoke and get it on record the sunshine law, South Dakota codified law 1-27-1 where we could get all information on the tails and the sports complex including emails. You know, we're re we're requesting this so we could do some information and research because I see how things have been moving. I've uh brought up article 12 subsection 3. Y'all laughed it off and um it's all about bringing integrity and educating my peers here how to do things as educating myself at the same time. And with that, I I quit. Thanks.

Right. Next up, Chad Ellsworth, followed by James Batada.

Chad Ellsworth, Rap City. I'm uh here to talk about the tiffs and I I see from the the Rapid City uh tape uh website that they put out that uh they think that it's a myth that the city snuck up snuck this project by the public. And I'm here to testify and I've looked a little bit of this stuff up and I do see three or four times where the city uh did that. In 21 they took our separation of powers away from us. Uh all everybody voted on that back then. In 24 the vision fund had a a a city committee that oversaw that fund and it was voted out. And by the way a a good shout out to Mr. Pedigrew and uh Greg Strowman. Um, one more bill uh Bill Evans on trying to fight that thing. They got beat and so there's no more city uh citizen committees except the ones that are dreamed up by the the uh mayor here for an opioid which you can't get into. Nobody knows what's going on on those. I'm really here to talk about the uh ambush on August 27th where uh Miss Meyer was the deciding vote on a committee that kept out uh Mr. Pedigrew, Mr. Strowman, and Mr. Evans from voting. And I uh see that there's a lot of people that have signed on to this uh website. They all knew about all three of these ambushes. They're all involved with it.

And I I I am talking to the people that are in involved with this right now. So, I'm going to ask if there's any recusals, if we can get the people to recuse that are part of team Rapid City to recuse for my comments on this uh on the issue that occurred uh August 27th. If you refuse to recuse, all the signers of the Team Rapid City web public service will be held for abuse of the tax system. I'll forfeit my time and I'll take this all to the sheriff. Thank you.

Thank you. Next up, James Bata, followed by Eileen Desmond.

Well, my name is James Bada and a lot of people know I'm running for Congress and I'd like to talk about national issues and everything else, but I hadn't actually came out and said either way anything positive or negative about the tiff except the fact members of this commission or council failed to disclose your conflict of interest when you took money from the parties at B and that changed. Um my opinion now is to tell everybody not to vote for this tiff after I went to the meetings and the team Rapid City got caught lying in front of a crowd of people and corrected themselves where they said they're going to get tax relief for the construction of the buildings they're building. Um, it is a theme park. Their designs call it a theme park. It's got a merrygoround, a ferris wheel, and a water park. I am sick of the lies. And there's members on this council that have gone with it and proposed those lies. And it's disgusting. You're actually going to let people take out a loan and get tax credits from the county to pay back their loan. Now, either tiffs are for everybody or stop picking and choosing winners and losers because when I build a project, nobody refunded me my loan cost. Nobody refunded me my building cost through taxes. This is corruption 101. And you guys took money for it. And it's disgusting. Now, Chief, don't forget I forgot about you. Chief Don Hendris a while back got rid of an officer and we thought for pretty good reasons. This officer got caught witness tampering on her body cam telling witnesses what to say. That's a 10-year felony, ain't it, Chief.

If that wasn't bad enough, she got caught lying in court on the stand. The judge even wrote in his memo that she was cander in changing her story. Well, that's a class five felony, five years in jail. And for some reason, she was released and we thought for good reason. And she went on the stand at trial and committed perjury again, which is just lovely. That's a class three felony, 15 years. And what I can tell you is that this is what the officer said. When asked regarding what she told other officers, when you tell somebody something that isn't true, that's a lie, right? And she testified, "Not if they don't know if it's a lie." Let me repeat that. An officer said, "Not if they don't know it's a lie." You can lie to people. And then, Chief, you hired her back. Jamie Tubles, she shouldn't be certified to hold a pen and pad. You let a lying cop back onto your force. You're disgusting. And your moral compass, I'm surprised you made

your time's up. Next up, uh, is Eileen Desmond, followed by Sam Brandon.

Hi, I'm Eileen Desmond and I'm a resident of Rapid City, Ward One. In this new year, I'd like to ask the city council to consider creating a committee to include landlords to look at the cost of rent in Rapid City. We are a tourism area and yet the people who are on the front line of making tourism work such as hotel housekeepers, food service employees, and retail employees are being mistreated by all of us. In early 2022, most of the landlords in our area increased their apartment rents by $400 a month. No reason, just because they could. That took our apartments ranging from 650 to 800 to now in the range of 1,200 to$,450. We all know that our frontline employees can only afford $650 to $800 a month in rent. And yet we've doubled that. Housing and Urban Development Hood defines affordable housing as 30% of your income. Most apartments in our town are advertising affordable housing at 60%. You can't feed kids when you're paying 60% of your income on rent. In order to afford a monthly rent in Rapid City of $1,294, you have to have an hourly wage of $26.77. Our state hourly wage just went to $11.85. As we know, increasing minimum wage doesn't help our frontline employees. The economy is like a canoe on water. We keep raising the minimum wage. We keep raising everything else. But the realistic charge is we have to change this town for frontline employees to survive is our real answer. I volunteer for an organization that gets 22 calls a day to help with rent. Mostly paying 1,400 to $1,400 a month as a wage staff or a hotel housekeeper. And they take these unreasonable, inhumane rent prices to have a roof over their head. and they just think they'll work as many hours as they can. But then there's the other glitch. You can't have a second job to help pay your rent when your hours are cut back at work. Once your employee in town here finds out you're applying for a second job in the kitchen or housekeeping, they fire you because they want you available 247. One single mom shared that at her restaurant interview, she said she can only work Saturday and Sunday because

that's when she has solid child care. And that would make great sense. Restaurants need you on weekends. They called her to come in on Friday. She said she couldn't. They fired her over the phone. Our next issue was our frontline people who help with tourism have to work nights and weekends. We don't have public transportation nights and weekends to get them back and forth to work. If they call in because their car won't start, they get fired. If they call in because their friend who's supposed to pick them up never showed up, they get fired. It's like the old off with their heads. There is no compassion at all. We need public transportation nights and weekends. I think New York City solved this problem by hiring offduty cops to drive the buses. You know the definition of insanity and we got it going on here. It's a new year. Let's start with the rent insanity. I'm asking the council to connect with the landlords to see how we can help make life better for those who make the tourism industry a success. Thank you.

Thank you. Next up, Sam Brandon. And that'll be the end of our general public comment.

Well, thank you, Mr. Mayor, city council and staff. Uh I I'm glad I'm here because I want to thank you. I'm going to appeal to all of the cities in Rapid City. all the citizens of Rapid City. There's only 26 meetings a year. Come out and say thank you to these wonderful men and women who put their lives on the line every day in these city council member meetings. Um I am disappointed that I'm sitting up here that it's caused by me. I'm the one that brought Liberty Land here and I'm so sorry you guys have had to gone go through this for seven years because it's not your fault. It was my fault to do something big for Western South Dakota and I'm still really proud of what we tried to get done here. We have a vote that's coming up. But it's been fun working with all of you. And I want to say what I've observed about you. Okay, that's my 2025 to you. One, you show up. Because you show up, others will follow. Thank you for doing that. Two, it's the little things. Thank you for bringing Randy in to pray for Bill. Thanks for bringing the strings in today. That was really cool. It's the pledge of alleg allegiance, the prayer at every meeting. And yet at the same time, every time that you have the little things, you you add a smile, you add a kind word, and thank you for that because you're not hearing a lot of them from us, which is sad. From the silent majority, please come out and say kind things to these people. Um, three, you lead with empathy. Uh, you embody the importance now more than ever to appreciate your constituents, the community, your staff. They are going through difficult things. And I know they're going through difficult things. And whether you agree or not, you should be saying thank you. So, thank you for everything you're doing. Whether I agree or not, we should be saying thank you. And for to me, you demonstrate in every meeting clarity. And that's key. You make tough decisions. You explain the trade-offs. You ex try to align our expectations on what you are supposed to be doing and what you're not. You learn from the losses and you celebrate the wins. So

for me, I hope the silent majority I'm speaking for is thank you for what you're doing. I hope you hold on to your courage and your clarity and your conviction in 2026. And I hope you celebrate the attributes that have made you great leaders and have made those people follow you and vote for you to be city council members. And that's your integrity, your ability to decide, your knowledge, your endurance, your self-awareness. And to me, that's why we elected you is for your experience and expertise. and thank you for handling that. I [snorts] believe you're genuinely looking out for everybody in Rapid City, not just the welfare of Rapid City itself. And thank you for that. So, I do hope as we await the citywide decision in the upcoming election on January 20th, I hope that the citizens follow your lead and vote yes. Either way, the fate of Liberty Land is in the city residents hands. It will either happen or it won't after January 20th. I understand that. But I hope this doesn't stop here with the thank yous. I hope for the rest of the the citizens come out and say thank you for everything you do. Have a good 2026 and I appreciate everything that you've done in the last seven years.

Thank you. Um please no applause. Uh on that note, while we conclude public comment, it's a good reminder for everybody that the early voting is now underway. Uh you can vote uh remote over at the county administration building early if you'd like to not wait till January 20th. You never know what the weather's going to be like on that day. So uh go ahead and make your vote count. Uh with [clears throat] that, we will close the general public comment and move on to non-public hearing items 2 through 37 and open public comment for items 2 through 36. I have one speaker request form for the for these items and that's for item 27. And once again, Eileen Desmond. Eileen, I have you for item 27.

You do. Thank you. And of course, three minutes once again.

Yes, sir. Um, I want to speak about the Journey on Passage, safe passage walking school bus proposal for Wilson Elementary and Wilson Park area. I'm very impressed with Journey On and the leadership and what they've done in the past. I have no problems with them and what they propose here, but I quote, [snorts] "This proposal responds to ongoing community concerns regarding student safety before and after school, particularly related to activity occurring in and around the adjacent park and surrounding public spaces during school transition times." I think we should always keep our children safe. Every child in this town deserves to be protected. But now you're going to spend $46,000 to accomplish this rather than admit that what we need is a day center for our unhoused residents. $46,000 could go a long way for a day center. If you treat people like animals, they act like animals. What do you expect? There's no bathroom, no washing up, no kindness, so they anesthetize themselves and lay around the park. Where else can they go? All we hear about is conditional use permits and how we can't have anything for the unhoused in town. Let's make it rough on them. But I think you're making it rough on yourselves. Treat the cause for the activity occurring in and around the adjacent park rather than the effect. Instead of admitting we need a day center for the unhoused, there was the push to get the gas station liquor store to back down. Now you're going to pay $46,000 to walk the kids home. Let's explain to those parents that the activity occurring in and around the park with Journey on being there now, I guess they kick the can down the road. Maybe they'll be hanging out in front of their homes instead of in front of the school. A day center is what we asked for. The city keeps saying no, but the city is spending all this extra money rather than admit we need a day center and it's got to be in somebody's backyard. I am glad that Wilson school parents care about their children, but we are all God's children. Many of our residents who are experiencing alcohol addictions were not treated well as children. Nobody cared if they were safe. Our unhoused citizens just need to be treated like humans, hot meal, bathroom, some decency in a community setting where they can sit and talk to their friends safely, not watching their back or their backpacks at all times. Maybe ask Journey on to run a day center

because they know what they're doing and they get the job done. Thank you. Thank you. That will uh conclude the public comment period for non-public hearing items 2 through 36 and we will move on to consent items 2 through 36 with the council like to remove any item for separate consideration or vote on these items. Councelor Tang 27 please. [laughter] All right. Pop back in there. John Councelor Roberts

item 17 please. Right. Any other items to be pulled? Otherwise, I'll entertain a motion to approve items 2 through 36 with the exception of 17 and 27 to approve. Motion by Evans with a second by Maher. All in favor? Any opposed? Motion carries. [clears throat] That'll take us to item 17. confirmed the appointments of Caleb Arseno, uh, Nick Bakowski, Harry Christensen, Logan Stephins, and Casey Thompson to the newly formed Hotel Business Improvement District number two. Councelor Roberts, you pulled this item.

Thank you very much. I'd like to make a motion then hold the floor. I'd like to make a motion to move this to the next council meeting. If I can get a second. Second. All right, we have a motion by Roberts with a second by Lance Layman to move to the next city council meeting. The floor is yours. Thank you very much. And the reason that I'm moving this is I I know there's some people that want to talk about the ordinance tonight that are in the audience. Also, I think it's a little bit premature to set up the committee. You're thinking of 37, Mr. Roberts. Am I looking at Oh, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I grab I pulled the wrong wrong bid. Yeah, I pulled the wrong bid. All right.

I I went through a So, disregard everything you just said. Everything I Well, except for when I put it on the right. It's that's deleted for this item. Okay, that's deleted. And I'll make a motion. I guess we have a sneak preview of what's to come to approve this. Oh, okay. Well, actually, let somebody else make that motion since you've spoken. Motion by C. Chris with a second by Maher to approve item 17. All in favor? Any opposed? I was wondering why everybody was looking at me so crazy. You don't. Thank you.

Yeah, no problem. Uh, items Sorry for the look. Uh item 27, acknowledge presentation by Stephanie Core of Journey on Inc. and approved proposed solution, including a request for $40,000 from the council contingency fund to support safety and community presence efforts at Wilson Park and Wilson Elementary School. Uh with that, we'll go to uh counselor and newly elected vice president Coun to.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I just wanted to provide a little clarity on this. This had a nice discussion at legal and finance and I'm not going to go through all of that but um I know there are people following this along obviously and I appreciated the commentary. The idea behind this as a multi-prong approach to help the situation at Wilson Park and Wilson Elementary. And just to sort of recap, um we've taken a few different steps to do that. Um, we worked with Loaf and Jug to uh get the alcohol sales pushed back to make a list of folks that are um chronic inebriates that buy alcohol there to have a no service list. That's one piece. Um, we met with the mobile medics quality of life and the park rangers to facilitate better work there and journey on is kind of the third piece of the puzzle. And what I wanted to do was just if I may call on Chief Hedrickk here for a couple of questions about ongoing analysis. So, we really want to try to understand which elements that we're doing are working and what data we're tracking. And um Chief Hedrickk has been very helpful um with giving us a lot of data. And I was just hoping that he might be able to tell us what he's looking at going forward and if he could um commit to some sort of a reporting process so that as a council we can responsibly make decisions with budgetary issues. like um Miss Dyman, I'm sorry I didn't have the name quite right, but like she she brought up 46,000 shouldn't be wasted and we want to make sure that we're uh we're wisely utilizing that.

All right, police Chief Hedrickk.

You bet. Um well, and before I get into that, I just want to mention uh some of the work that we've already been doing with Journey up in our northern neighborhood at General Beetle, Nolad Elementary, and North Middle School. Uh we've had a great working relationship with Journey on with the Safe Passages program uh where they encounter six to 700 youth daily up in that neighborhood working with the folks um at the as they come and go to school there and have had good interactions helping keep that neighborhood safe. So I think we have a good model that we can build upon out there already and um good statistics already. the folks that are doing that work with our youth outreach program believe that we can uh build upon that. Um so for us I think it's a pretty I think it's pretty easy for us to keep an eye on the the data as we collect it and move forward. um you know, keeping an eye on calls for service in general in that neighborhood now and moving forward uh and specifically focusing on addresses like Wilson Elementary, Wilson Park, as well as a more general search uh for a block radius around that neighborhood. And you know, I think we can work together with Jouri on moving forward to keep track of not only what interventions that they're having in that neighborhood and six months from now, I think we can come together and present all the work that we're doing to provide an update to the council is I think kind of our game plan.

Thank you. No, that's perfect. So, we'll have a plan in six months and we'll see what's working and we'll address it as a group. So, um with that, I I guess uh I yield the floor. Right. So, we were looking for a motion for item 27. A motion by Maher with a second by Meyer or was that BieberF? All right, we're going to give it to Bdorf. Bieberdorf made the motion with a second by Meer. All in favor?

Any opposed? Uh, motion carries. And that will take us uh to the end of the consent items 2 through 36. We will move on to non-consent item 37. and we will open public comment for item 37. I do have speaker request forms for that item, but before we do that, um, our finance director, Daniel Aninsley, uh, has a brief overview about this item. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. We have a quick presentation.

Sure. Thank you, Mr. Mayor, uh the item before you is just uh holding the public hearing for the uh proposed Mount Rushmore Business Improvement District. Um the purpose of a business improvement district is to provide additional services that go above and beyond uh the typical services that are provided by the government in a specified area. Uh when that is done, uh what happens? property owners within a business district um come before the council and they go through a series of actions and requests that a district be established. Uh this process began almost a year ago uh with several different uh businesses asking for this to be looked at and the businesses um or the council did authorize appointing a business improvement district board. uh that board is m are comprised of five different individuals uh that represent different properties that are within the district. Uh they did review some of the needs of the area and came up with a plan. Um and in order to implement that plan uh they are looking for an assessment. Um the uses of the business improvement district or the proposed uses number one would be for security. Uh already the council has been discussing some of the security issues uh throughout the area. Their uh their current business alliance uh does receive some funding, some donations from individuals and they have been using uh those funds to contract with private security services to do some additional patrolling in the area um in response from businesses who have been requesting for uh additional patrols at different times of day. uh those needs have been increasing and with that uh the donations have not met

that increased demand and so that's the primary use of it. Uh beyond that there's also um a request to do some additional work for the landscaping in the area in particular the rain gardens that were established or uh that were constructed when the Mount Rushmore uh improvements were made by the DOT about uh 10 years ago. Um when those improvements were made, there were 11, I believe, rain gardens that were established, uh there has not been uniform maintenance of those gardens. Uh when they were constructed, uh it was stated that it was going to be the responsibility of the land owners to maintain that. Some land owners have, other land owners have not. and looking at this important um commercial artery in our community. Uh the the Mount Rushmore uh road bid board has uh requested that there be more unified uh maintenance of that in order to make sure that it's uh presented as a welcoming environment for the community and then also some additional holiday decorations. So, um [clears throat] just uh next we have a series of pictures uh that show some of the before and after uh that occurred during this um this reconstruction of Mount Rushmore Road. I think when you look at it, you can see that Mount Rushmore Road overall has had a substantial improvement. Um I think the top photos were from ' 07 and then the bottom photos were from last summer all on Google Maps. Uh but you can see some substantial improvements that have been made to the corridor and uh from hearing from the Mount Rushmore Road Business Improvement District, their main goal is trying to protect this uh investment that has already been made. The vision funds donated or um put in, I believe, almost $5 million towards this. And then the DOT put in more than $20

million for this. And with that, uh, the council just needs to hold the public hearing, hear input from those who are in favor as well as those who are opposed, and then after which, uh, we would just be seeking direction from the council if you would like us to proceed with developing an ordinance that would actually implement that. Uh, that would take some time to write the ordinance. If the council um does direct us to begin uh, drafting that ordinance, it will be presented to you in an upcoming council meeting. And just like any ordinance revision, you would have to vote uh in the affirmative twice in order for it to be effective. Thank you.

Uh thank you. Next, we're going to move on to the public comment period. Uh Director Angel will be available for questions if anybody has it. When we get to that item, uh the first speaker request form is from Susan Jones. Susan, uh you have three minutes. You'll be followed by Lacy Sosa. [clears throat] Thank you. Um, I've been a property owner for 38 years on Mount Rushmore Road. Appreciate the time. Um, I have not been aware of any of these happenings or anything because I'm not running my business anymore. I sold my business. So when Rapid City Planning proposed the changes to Mount Rushmore Road by installing medians throughout the roadway, we as business property owners were assured by the city planners that it would be beautiful the area and that the city would take care of all the planting, watering, maintenance of the proposed medians. I repeat, they would be responsible. At the same time, the city decided to take over the maintenance of the road from the state. So that now we are responsible as a city for that. Let's address the three priorities you have listed to justify the bid. Maintenance, the restructuring of the road, change the appearance of the fronts of the multiple properties by removing the green grass parking and replacing it with concrete. Um the medians and loss of street parking have resulted in difficulties for the small businesses to have deliveries by large trucks. These trucks now are impacting the side streets and the alleys because they were not designed to carry the weight of those

trucks. See, most important maintenance problems involve the flow and almost all of the traffic. Throughout the numbers have increased over the years. There is not a significant difference between the amount of traffic police calls on Mount Rushmore Road compared to Mountain View Road, Sheridan Lake Road, Jackson Boulevard, all of which not to my knowledge have no bid. security crime has not significantly increased percentage-wise in our area related to the businesses on Mount Rushmore Road specifically. The majority of police calls on Mount Rushmore Road are related to alcohol toxicity. Then there are some 1044 calls and other incidents that only require verbal warnings on the record. These are not problems directly related to the individual businesses on Mount Rushmore Road and are not a new phenomenon. A lot of the increased traffic is encouraged by other things that are not associated with the businesses. I have owned my property for 38 years. Removing the billboards would have been a wonderful thing and we have requested that for 38 years and it has not been done. the biggest eyes are the medians and those the city reassured that the they would look after them and take care of them. The plants have not thrived. They have not watered them. They collect all the litter. Um it's just, you know, I I think that it's wrong that we as business owners have to clean up what the city told us we had to take.

And so, um I thank you. It's difficult to put it in three minutes when you haven't had time to prepare. Uh, next up, Lacy Sosa, followed by Greg Stilton.

Good evening, Mayor and Council. My name is Lacy Sosa, and I have the distinct pleasure to run a beautiful new business on Mount Rushmore Road. Many days on my way to work, I choose to drive along West Boulevard because it feels welcoming and cared for. I noticed the mature trees, the seasonal decor, neighbors walking their dogs and enjoying the scenery, and the pride that comes from the consistent attention and investment. Mount Rushmore Road serves a different purpose as a business corridor, but it sits right alongside that experience. And I'm here to say that I believe it deserves the same sense of intention and pride. Mount Rushmore Road isn't just a road. It's the road to Mount Rushmore and one of the most visible gateways into the city of Presidents. It carries residents, workers, students, and visitors every single day. As we prepare for the nation's 250th anniversary, this corridor represents an opportunity to reinforce Rapid City's identity through thoughtful maintenance, beautifification, and a cohesive sense of place. A business improvement district gives property owners a locally guided, collaborative way to invest in that vision. By pooling our resources, we can support consistent landscaping, rain garden maintenance, safety efforts, and streetscape elements that enhance both tourism and local business activity. This is not about changing the character of the corridor, but about caring for it intentionally and sustainably. When everyone contributes a little, the result is a corridor that feels connected, welcoming, and worthy of its role as a national gateway. So with that, supporting the Mount Roshmore Road bid is an investment in economic vitality, civic pride, and the long-term success of one of Rapid City's most important corridors. So, I respectfully encourage you and your support and ask you to approve the Mount Rushmore Road bid. Thank you.

Thank you. Next up, we'll have Greg Stilton, uh, followed by Deborah Jensen, who is the final speaker tonight. Thank you. Um, just I'm my name's Greg Stilton. I'm the owner of Rushmore Real Estate Group. Um, I'm a business owner on the strip and a property owner not only in Mount Rushmore Road, but within the West Boulevard district on the um the west side of Mount Rushmore Road and I own property on the east side of Mount Rushmore Road. I um I stand firmly against the proposed resolution number 20 20205141 which was seeks to establish business improvement district. The resolution includes the specific tax increases. Now you can call it a bid, you can call it whatever you like. It's a tax increase and it balances out to about 10% tax increase. Now, you guys have already increased the taxes on that strip over the last seven years over 40%. Okay. I um received my letter on the 2nd of Well, actually, I received my letter that was written on the 2nd of December. Well, it was written on the second. I received it on the 5th. Most of the people that I spoke to in the neighborhood on the strip didn't receive their letters until the roughly the 13th, the week after, two weeks before Christmas. It's the first we knew about this. There has not been any collaboration from this committee or from the city other than the letter. There's been no buyin by any of the participants that I'm aware of. I wrote to every member that I could find, every property owner on the strip

and on behalf of the property owners, I'd like to strike down the resolution. I submit here with signatures from the majority of the property owners, both by ownership of the properties and by lineal square foot on Mount Rushmore Road, which is one of the methods you were going to be using as charging. Um so who officially object we officially object to the proposal as per the rules set down under SC 955 110 immediately strike to strike down the proposal. I urge the city leaders to support the will of the majority of the property owners and South Dakota codified law which dictates the majority can nullify this proposal and in future should the city try to amend increase or for enforce new ordinances or property taxes in any area of the city or the county I recommend that you seek buyin from the majority of the actual affected parties. prior to the matties matters like this even being brought to the city for a vote because we were not aware of it. Now I've spoken to 70 plus of the owners. Thank you very much. It actually made me contact the um my neighbors and find out some of who the significant property owners are.

Times up. Thank you, sir. Uh final speaker is Deborah Jensen.

There's the signatures of the property owners. Good evening, Mayor Solomon and members of the city council. I'm Deborah Jensen, the president of the Mount Rushmore Road Group and I'm chair of the Mount Rushmore Road Board uh bid board and there are members here tonight from each regarding item 37, the Mount Rushmore Road Bid, you should have received an information packet via email. The packet includes detailed chronology actually dating back to 2023, recent letters of support, signatures collected this past summer, a copy of the city's notification of two property owners, and a stakeholder letter addressing our purpose, our plan, and proposed budget. For 20 years, the Mount Rushmore Road Group has been dedicated to the rehabilitation and revitalization of this corridor. Our collective efforts have ensured that no business was left behind during the intensive construction of 2014 to 2018. We successfully pushed for the removal of the overhead power lines and those old poles that were there for decades are gone. Infrastructure was updated. Eco gardens and welcome markers were also installed. Mount Rushmore Road was rebuilt to handle 5,000 more cars a day. and it is the fourth busiest road in Rapid City. But today, property owners and businesses are facing significant challenges regarding the safety and the visual marketing. Everyone I have met with and talked to the past several days and months have all agreed Mount Rushmore Road is less secure. Businesses, employees, and customers say it is less attractive than it was a few years ago. This bid would enable the

improvement district to address these challenges through security enhancements, streetscape maintenance, as well as the continuation of the holiday lighting at Wilson Park and Mount Rushmore Road. All projects, budgets, and timelines would be decided by the investors who are within the bid, which addresses the needs that fall outside of the city's scope. No single business can address these issues alone. As Rapid City expands, is vital that Mount Rushmore Road remains a premier entrance to the downtown, our medical district, diverse services, commerce, and of course, Mount Rushmore. The bid ensures consistent investment, protecting property values, and building a stronger local economy through collective resources. to ensure that we can continue to invest in this essential business community. We're asking for your full support in approving this ordinance and by doing so it ensures that no one will feel left behind. Thank you.

Thank you. And I did receive a just now received a speaker request form for item 37 from Sam Fiser. Thank you, ladies and gentlemen of the council. My name is Sam Fischer. I'm a business owner along Mount Rushmore Road. And uh since the notice went out from the city about a month ago on December 2nd, a number of business owners have endeavored to collect signatures in opposition. And you were given those signatures this evening, and you were also sent an email list of the businesses that signed those signatures. Um, it's my understanding per state law that once you have a majority of the signatures furnished to you either by business owner percentage or Mount Rushmore Road frontage, you are obligated under state law to terminate the question. Thank you.

Right. And that is all I have for speaker request forms. So, we will close the public comment and move on to item 37, which says to approve the Mount Rushmore Road Business Improvement District. Councelor Roberts, I had a feeling you'd chime in. Imagine that. I've finally found the right one. Uh, can I ask our city attorney a question? Absolutely.

Joel, so uh, what Mr. Fischer just said, I have never heard of that before because I've never had something like this come before me on my many years of council. um if they have a percentage which I think is quite a bit higher than your Can I ask you a question real quick, Greg? I I'll get right back to you, but I I think that

Yes, sir. I think you contacted 70 plus% of the property owners.

We contacted um as many of the owners as as we could. Obviously there's over the Christmas break the very difficult to get into some of the corporates. Um overall we have in excess of 60% of the property owners by by ownership. We have over 60% via lineal square foot. Um, in addition to the signatures that we have there, we have a number of verbals, but because they're in Florida on Christmas break still doing whatever, they haven't been able to get signatures to us. Um, so they aren't in that, but we still hold a majority over the top of that.

Just just for public knowledge, how many signatures is that roughly? Do you know? um that I didn't bring it with me, but there was there's 84 properties and I believe we've got close to 60. Okay. Because I've seen five signatures in support or I mean five letters in and they're the committee members and they're not property owners. So there's only there's only one on the committee that is actually a property owner. So the vote doesn't count. So thank you very much. I appreciate it. And I'll get back to you Joel. is does state law require that if there's a percentage of the property owners that are against it? City attorney Joel Andine.

Thank you, Mayor. Uh yes, if uh we verify I would I think earlier your attempt was to continue it. I'd maybe suggest continuing it so we can verify the signatures and the that that's accurate, but just looking at it, I mean, I have no reason to doubt. But if if they're verified, then I believe yes, you have an obligation to uh in the not adopt the resolution or just put it into the district. Well, I'm going to get out and I hope somebody comes in and makes a motion to move this to the next council meeting so we can verify those. Okay, we're going to go to councelor Lance Layman. Thank you, Mayor. I'd like to make a motion to move this to the next council meeting. Okay, we got a motion by Layman with a second by was it Strowman

or Tamine? All right. [snorts] the VP. All right. [clears throat] Uh so that's the motion on the floor right now and we will go to Councelor Strowman.

Thank you, Mayor. And uh I've heard from several uh businesses and property owners both for and against. And um I've also heard some that just weren't aware that this was even happening. And I don't know why they weren't aware because I do understand that the notices were sent out and so forth. Um but I don't think we have any choice according to the state law as uh Mr. Fischer pointed out. I think we have to terminate this hearing uh based on SDCL9-55-10 because um whether we have or don't have a majority we can still terminate the hearing and verify those signatures um before we proceed because I think if we proceed now um we run the risk of you know violating the statute which is not a good thing for us to do as a governing body and uh so whether you think the bid is a good idea or not I still think we have to do this procedurally um before we can have a a decision made on this. So, I'm going to vote in favor of the continuence. Thank you. You'll

Thank you. Uh, Councelor Evans,

I'm going to vote in favor of the continuence as well, but I want to make a comment that um, back when the DOT and the city decided to rebuild Mount Rushmore, those of us who remember it was all headlined as a beautifification project, but I think it turned out as an uglification project. And I think we should start using that term because as I recall, even Black Hills Energy had offered to replace trees. And I think not a single tree was [snorts] purchased by Black Hills Energy to replace the large trees that were that were chopped down. So it was not a it was not a good design, but it went ahead and this happens all the time with Rapid City and the DOT. It happened with the overpass that they rebuilt there on Animosa Street going over I190. We tried to get some beautifification money on that. They wouldn't do it. the intersection up on Lacrosse Street. Everybody hates that. It's filled with concrete. We try to get beautifification money there. For some reason, uh they have a policy in this state that beautifification money is all the responsibility of the local government and not the state government because that doesn't wash in Wyoming. It doesn't wash in Colorado and and Minnesota when you see these beautiful interchanges and everything being built by their department of roads. Uh so I think we need some changes there in Pier. But as far as this thing goes, I don't know. I'm I'm having a little trouble with using property taxes to fund this. It seems like every month our uh sales receipts come in higher uh in terms of our sales tax revenue. And I would think we could come up with a proposal that would dedicate part of the money generated by those very businesses that collect that tax on Rushmore Road. dedicate that money to a point limited by whatever and then beyond that the rest goes into the general fund. Then we could fund this project which is

obviously needed because she's right. This is a national gateway to an important thing and I think a different funding source is probably what we need to do. So I hope we investigate something like that moving forward. Thank you. Thank you. I have no other uh speaker requests in the queue. So, uh, the motion on the floor is to continue this to the next city council meeting to, uh, verify the information provided tonight. All in favor?

Any opposed? Motion carries. Uh, that takes us to the public hearing item 38 and we will open the public hearing for item 38. I have no request forms for that. So, we will close the public hearing on that and move on to item 38, which is the alcohol licenses. Uh, do we have a motion? And a motion by Tamang with a second by Roberts to approve item 38. All in favor? Any opposed? Motion carries. And with that, we will move that will take us to the end of the consent public hearing calendar. We will move on to the bill list. And with that, we'll go to finance director Daniel Anley. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. The bills tonight total 10,596,36266.

Quick question. Do we have to separate that out? No, we have nothing on this uh bill list. Thank you for just wanted to verify. Just just looking just looking out for everybody. All right. Do we have a motion to approve the bill list? Motion by Maher or motion by Cali Meyer and a second by Kevin Maher. All in favor? Any opposed? Motion carries. Do we have a motion to adjurnn? Got a motion by Pedigrew with a second by Evans. All in favor? Any opposed? We're journed. Thanks everyone.