City Council - Regular Meeting

Good evening and welcome to the city council meeting for Monday, February 2nd, 2026. We will begin with a roll call and determination of quorum. Leman here. Maher here. Roberts here. Strowman here. Pedigrew here. Cris Beverdorf here. Tang here. Evans Meyer here. We have a quorum. Uh thank you. Next we'll have an invocation by Scott Wy followed by the pledge of allegiance. If you're able and willing, would you please rise?

Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we come before you today with grateful hearts, acknowledging that you're the source of all wisdom and the ultimate authority over all nations and cities. We thank you for the privilege of gathering in this chamber to serve the people of this community. Lord, your word tells us in James 1:5 that if any of us lacks wisdom, we should ask you and you will give it generously. So we ask that for that wisdom now for these council members as they deliberate on the issues before them. Grant them discernment and compassion and integrity. We pray for the peace and prosperity of our city. May the decisions made here tonight foster a community where families can thrive and businesses can grow and every neighbor feels valued and safe. So we commit this meeting into your hands asking that your will be done. We pray this in the name of your son Jesus. Amen.

Amen. To the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. [clears throat] Thank you. Next, I'll entertain a motion to adopt the agenda. [clears throat] We've got a motion by Layman and a second by Roberts. All in favor? [clears throat]

Any opposed? The agenda is adopted. Uh tonight we have a couple of presentations. Uh first, we'll have an update on the park ranger program followed by the sports complex update. Uh so please uh Lou come on up here. Uh [clears throat] Jerelen is the supervisor of our park ranger program. Really was the one who helped get it off the ground and um the floor is yours, sir.

All right. Um good evening, mayor, council, and attendees. Um like like the mayor said, my name is Gerald Llewellyn and I am the Rapid City Park Ranger Supervisor. Um before I begin, I would like to express my gratitude to the Rapid City Police Department and the Rapid City Fire Department for their um partnership and support and getting this program established and even through continued um training for our new hires and such. Um this program was established approximately a year and a half ago um to ensure the safety of the park facilities, visitors and personnel. Um currently we have four full-time park rangers plus one one supervisor which is myself. Um and we patrol the parks to ensure the safety of the green spaces and all the other facilities incorporated in that. Um some of the common common issues that we're seeing in the parks is um some homelessness, public intoxication, and vandalism. [clears throat] Um like I said, this program was created to maintain and enhance the safety of the of the park system. If people perceive the parks aren't safe, they they just simply will not come. Uh since inception, we've had just over 29,000 patrol functions. Um out of those patrol functions, uh 11,000, a little more than 11,000 total events, um included in those 532 which were transition to law enforcement for

some reason or another um mainly we have the intoxicated folks um that are in need and need to be trans transported to care campus. Um in addition 59 incidents where we had to um contact mobile medics or an ambulance to assist us in giving care for folks out on the out on the um parks. Um park rangers are committed to the professional stewardship of the parks uh open spaces and recreational assets. Um, our goal is to gain voluntary compliance through education of the municipal codes and park rules. Um, we're here to protect the the natural resources and support safe and welcoming environment for all park users. And as you can see by this graph, our main issues there. Um, some include restroom open enclosures, which is part of what this program is doing is taking over some some uh external security contracts and stuff like that. closing up restrooms and making sure those places are cleared and evacuated. Um, like I said, just uh general safety of the parks from playgrounds to sports fields, hiking trails, and such. Um, Rapid City is a community that um has values and really likes their outdoor recreation.

Um, safe place to be in Rapid City. Um, park systems long been thought to be safe places for the community to get out and explore. [clears throat] Um, that's about all I have. Like I'll be open to any questions or comments at this time. Um, well, thank you, Lou. I of course I asked him to keep it short, but he did provide us with some u uh fact sheets here. Um, any council members wish to ask any questions? Councelor Pedigrew.

Thank you, uh, Mr. Mayor. So, uh, what type of training do you go through to perform this service, if I may ask?

Um, so we're partnered [clears throat] up with the police department. We have, um, critical incident training, constitutional law training. Um, the rangers right along with me on patrol learning of various park systems. Um, I also have them right along with a street crimes unit officer. um that is patrolling the city um and doing similar functions to to what we're out there looking for. Um uh things things like that. Uh do do you guys carry weapons at all?

The only the only type of self-defense we have is personal recognition and responsibility, officer safety type stuff. We do carry some OC spray which um they do go through training for that also with a practical exam um provided through the police department. And my last uh question would be I see there's a lot of incidents of sleeping in the park. I'm being serious here. My my granddaughter was here this summer. I went down to the park with her, my daughter a couple times. I laid in on a blanket and went to sleep. I mean, what determines who you're going to haul away if they're sleeping in the park? Thank you. [clears throat]

So, sleeping in the park is basically sleeping on the grass or on a bench um is identified in one of the municipal codes is considered disorderly conduct. Um, so with that ordinance, if we feel there's a need, we can go up and just check on on folks, do a welfare check. Hey sir, are you guys doing okay over here? And then by that interaction we can make a determination on hey is this is this person able to care for themselves in an appropriate manner or are they possibly highly intoxicated where they could fall victim of a crime or something of that nature. Thank you.

Yes sir. Counselor Strowman. Thank you mayor and thank you sir for your presentation. Um, I had a question about do you um end up rendering medical aid or do you carry AEDs or have CPR training?

We do have CPR training. Uh, first aid. Um, we have a first aid kit in the vehicles and stuff. Um I have a direct communication line with dispatch via radio um where we can make a determination on if it's a ambulance that's needed to come come uh code uh means running hot uh a cold response or if maybe a mobile medic may be able to take care of the situation. Okay, thank you.

Any other questions? Well, we appreciate that. Those those numbers are pretty eye opening. Tells you every day uh you're working hard and I know we get a lot of great feedback from the citizens and I thought it was important since especially since it was a newer program. You've given me updates, but we did want to share updates with the rest of the community as well as the council of course uh to make sure they knew the value of this program. So, thank you very much and thank you to your team and also good work in the recent cold snap. I know you were part with Journey Island Police Department, fire department and others who helped get folks to uh safe passage. You saved lives and we appreciate the park rangers for doing that. Yes, sir. Thank you very much. Thank you.

Uh next we are going to get a uh an update from Demo Rodriguez. He is the head of the sports commission and uh regarding the sports complex. Demo.

Thank you uh council, mayor, and uh city staff. I think obviously the vote on January 20th was very uh influential to the Rapid City indoor sports complex and we received quite a few questions literally the day after um uh the vote and we wanted to make sure that we worked with the city staff to try to find alternative locations for this complex. Obviously, the mayors and city staff have been very um uh very favorable for this complex, but there's a lot of things that we wanted to make sure that we brought to attention to the public. Um and we'll go through some of those uh as we go forward. What we do know is we as the commission and I believe the city would prefer to be at the lean site. um they're willing to work with this, but they have some time or they need to take some time to figure out their course of action as well. Obviously, that was a very big loss for everybody, but I think the Lean family felt the majority of that loss. Um and if the complex was at the lean site, we would need to figure out about $10 million plus for infrastructure. And is it possible? Um, obviously the vote on the 20th was very influential to how we move forward with this project. Um, as we were looking at additional sites, a couple of things of note. The location must be within the catalyst district. Uh, because the city did approve and council did approve $15 million towards that project. Uh also additional options need to needed to be identified and for the purpose of this these options city owned property will reduce costs and also just for a scope of work we're looking at a building or two

buildings that equal about 205,000 square feet. Um and then also you know losing the infrastructure piece that was tied to Liberty Land. Ideally, infrastructure would be in place, shared parking, things like that. Uh, and or obviously city sewer, all of the different infrastructure pieces as well. Um, but also one thing that we want to note is in and out of the complex. We need to make sure that there's enough um enough opportunity for people to get in and out because we expect about a thousand people for an event. If there's events going on uh simultaneously, we've got to make sure that we can get in and out. And then the big one is about uh thank you Vicki and her team for coming up with what those parking needs are. And for a building that size, we're looking at about 800 parking spots needed. So just the sheer size of this project um is very large. Also, and I know not everyone can see this, um the big piece is is this is what's in the complex. eight basketball courts convertible to 16 volleyball courts, indoor turf area, and the uh the section highlighted on the right. We did increase the turf space to facilitate an entire indoor soccer field. And that was simply from talking to people in the industry. If you're going to build it, you might as well make it um able to host events and also for community use. So, we did increase that, which gives us about 205,000 square ft uh for all spaces. And the building footprint overall is about 179,000 square ft um with about just over 14.5 acres for parking and everything. Just as a reminder for everybody, um I will say

the word wonky is how this has been proposed over time. the Catalyst dis district boundaries, but if you remember, it was to leverage the development with Black Hills Energy on Deadwood Avenue. And then obviously the far right or the east portion by Seagar Drive, that is where the sports complex was proposed and still proposed. But also, if you noticed, the boundaries had to be contiguous. So they go all the way down mostly through the floodway. But one little section over there that is cut out is Roosevelt um the Roosevelt sports complex that's in existence right now. So the good thing about this is it provides options for us. Um but again 15 million is tied to development within this tiff boundaries. So we've got to be cognizant of uh of the boundaries as we move forward. the first location that was proposed uh for reference for the public that is uh 190 coming down south um on the right side of this and if you uh recognize this location it is also executive golf course. This is simply trying to find an area where we can get four 4 to 500,000 square ft in one reasonable location for building parking in the whole uh the whole complex. Again, not ideal, not one giant space. Also, it is free. So, it is an option uh for the sports complex. Location number two for reference for the group. Um central is right under the word location. The monument is on the top right of the of the map. And then all of those spaces around again 190 to the left and then the different areas. Again the goal is to try and get about uh 200,000 for the building. Now the

building can be broken into compartments about 67,000 for court space about uh the same amount for um turf space but ultimately we've got this location does have some parking some infrastructure uh obviously the botchi courts are in the middle but still not ideal because it's not a contiguous space. One thing of note is that I have talked to leadership at Central High School and they are looking to for a privately funded football track stadium in that area um adjacent to Central um and this is in the TIFF boundaries. Their goal is to create an environment where their kids can practice and play on their campus. But also the one of the things that I said to them is state track is not in Rapid City and eventually long term we'd love to try and make a run at that but this because this is in the tiff boundaries if there was ever additional development that's where a good partnership with the school district um may be able to help create something that is memorable not only for the community as well as the students uh on that campus. The third location is for those that are familiar uh this is Omaha Street. The building to the left there is the U-Haul building on Omaha. For reference, Vitalent has the uh orange roof. And then this is what is known as the pump track behind um Rapid Creek. Again, a very large space for development. Uh, I would say we'd be running into some significant site work expenses with this location because it is uh on the side of a hill or portions of it is on the side of a hill. But again, presenting all

options uh for the complex. The last one I think is probably the most viable for uh several reasons. For people that are unsure this location, this is actually the park. Uh there's two large buildings right in the middle there. That's Roosevelt Ice Arena at the top. There is a space that at one point in time for Rapid City residents that are paying attention and are old enough to remember, there was actually an idea in about 2006 to create a fieldhouse between Roosevelt Ice Arena and Roosevelt Swim Center. Um, and then of course we've got the 50 meter pool um, adjacent to that. Uh, the one thing that I would say about this particular space is we do have some parking uh, available. Also, if you notice the baseball field that's just to the left of that site as well. That is although it's outside of the tiff boundaries. Uh, when I was the president of Harney Little League, we did give that land or that ball field back to the city. And I know parks and wreck has a plan to invest into that uh that complex or that field, but if there was a need for additional parking that could potentially be used for additional parking with those uh those monies be used for other projects, maybe to help the project. One thing of note, there is a building just off of Maple on that same plot of land that uh that shed is leased to Harney Little League. So there would be an expense if we were to try to leverage that for parking. We would need to also address the batting shed needs for Harney Little League. We couldn't take that away from them realistically. Um but there is some parking in place and that is plenty of space for the complex as a whole if we were to build it on that site. The one thing that I did just want to note is the proforma on

the first page outlined about 67,000 square feet for eight basketball courts. That is about what is in between the two buildings right now. So we would be able to put I think we would need to adjust a little bit, but the majority of the courts would be able to sit in that space. We do have additional uh room on the back side in that 200,000 square foot area where we could build the turf space and potentially use for additional parking. But again, this is within the tiff boundaries. Obviously, red pesk field is not. Uh the one thing that I also want to note about the tiff boundaries for the catalyst is the 50 meter pool. Again, if there was an opportunity for additional investment within the Catalyst District, there could potentially be additional funds to help cover that pool. And I know Stacy is here with the uh with the local swim club. That would be ideal. Then we would be able to develop a very large campus for sports in Rapid City just for uh kind of and I apologize for the uh redeployment. That's actually it's reinvestment that really loses the quote. But in one of our meetings, somebody said development is much cheaper than redevelopment. And obviously the Ro Roosevelt um location, there would need to be a lot of redevelopment surrounding that complex for infrastructure, food, things like that, hotels. There's going to be an expense to that. at this site here. Again, the proposed site from the very beginning is a blank canvas and we would be able to develop that. We, not the commission, I apologize. Um, the city, the lean family and whoever they uh would sell land to or develop, they could develop this land and it's a it's much more favorable here. But knowing that we have to make up about $10 million, we've got to come up with

options. And again, thank you for the city staff for providing options for us to even vet. Um, it's a very large project, needs a lot of land. And with that, I also just want to go back to funding really quick, just to jog everybody's memory. This was the capital stack that we put up uh when we pitched this project about a year ago. Again, TIFF uh funding is about 15 million. Again, the hotels have committed uh an extra $2 per room per night to help pay for this complex. So, the hotel uh owners are invested in this as well. The vision fund allocation, I know uh the city's working hard on new market tax credits. We hope to hear something soon about those. Um again, naming rights and secondary sponsorships. The price tag is about 25 million for this. that did not include infrastructure land or any of the ancillary pieces, which is why we were hoping to put it with Liberty Land is because we were going to do some cost sharing with that. Now, we have to figure it out on our own. Again, the leans are willing to help help us um and be partners with this, but we still need to make sure that we're doing the right thing for the community and what the community needs right now and for the next 20 years. So, with that, I can turn it over to any questions if anybody has any.

Thank you, Demo. First, we'll go to Bill Evans. Thank you, Demo. Um, as I sat here thinking about what in the city works, what in the city does not work. Um, we're talking about a tiff zone that is not sacrianked. We created it. We can uncreate it. we can change it. We can do whatever

because it was created by us. And so I'm thinking we're sitting there uh with a mall that's dead. All of this space, thousands upon thousands of parkings, acres of parking around it already there. All of the infrastructure in terms of electrical, sewer, water is there. Have we ever thought about working with the owner of that to take part of that building, redevelop it, all the common spaces could be within the structure and then all the new facilities could be built around it and then we're also fixing a blighted part of the city. I'm just curious, has that ever been explored?

Absolutely. As a matter of fact, um, uh, Albertson Engineering, I think Andy Skull, Casey, uh, I think it was Casey Peterson first brought this up as well. Um, we did have an engineer look at the site, but the issue is is that the areas that we were looking at you there's so much work that needs to be done further out than those properties for infrastructure. The suggestion that we got was tear it down and start over because there's so many issues at that site. We absolutely vetted even there's some land on the north side of the mall that we looked at as well. I think everything's on the table again and that's what part of this conversation is truly to begin finding options at this point. We've got to be very smart. We have a very tight budget and it's a very large building. So yes, but I do think that there's an opportunity to look at all options on the table. But again, we've got a finite amount of time to get some things done. If I may, Bill, just one point of clarification and maybe Daniel, actually, Daniel, I'll let you explain this u because we're going to say the same thing. Daniel Aninsley, our finance director.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um, in order to you cannot amend an existing uh TIFF boundary and so a new TIF district would have to be drawn. Um and that new tiff district would have a new valuation and given the amount of time that would be necessary to create a new tiff district it would probably be 3 4 months. During that time, the base valuation of the uh Black Hills energy u uh generation uh would have already increased and so there's a decent amount of increment that would be lost uh just because the new base valuation would be set say in July by that time there's going to be a lot of construction that will have already occurred and so we will have permanently lost that base valuation for whatever valuation has been constructed up until the point of the TIFF actually being approved. And so that also becomes problematic that if we go through the entire TIFF process again, we don't know if that's going to ultimately be approved. And if it is approved, if it also um potentially could be referred as well. And so, um unfortunately, we would like to amend an existing TIFF boundary, but that's just prohibited by the Department of Revenue. But you can overlay.

You can overlay. But again, if we created a new district over it, the valuation would be higher because construction is currently occurring and would continue to occur with Black Hills Energy. With Black Hills Energy and we also are not aware of if it would even pass and if it does pass whether or not it would be referred. Uh next up we have councelor Strowman. Thank you Demo. on your option four um with the Roosevelt Swim Center and the Roosevelt um ice arena. What's what is the uh number of parking spaces to the east there that currently exist?

Uh I believe it was Vicki 400 somewhere in there. So that's about half of what you need. No, we would need an additional 800 for the additional square footage. So that 400 parking spaces and Vicki Vicki staff did provide uh a master plan for parking and I I can turn it over to you Vicki. You're the expert. All right, we're going to go to community development director Vicky Fischer.

I believe it is more than um 400 on-site at Roosevelt Pool. They have built 50 extra spaces that they don't need. In addition, uh, Parks and Wreck has a future parking expansion plan to show where another 150 could easily fit on site. So that would give us 200. So we're only short 600 more spaces to try to fight try to find to fit somewhere that would not impact the floodway. Thank you. Thank you. Next up, Councelor Pedigrew.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um, Councilman Strowman early on in this stage uh, educated me on the benefits of a sports complex. And I have some co-workers whose children are in sports and they travel all the time and I've come to realize how important this this asset would be to Rapid City. I would just like as we make decisions, it seems Rapid City does some wonderful things and through discussions I've been made aware that the track field at Suit Park for whatever reason can't hold a state meet because when it came time to build it, they had to modify the size for cost or something. And it seems like the city often when we want to build these these wonderful projects kind of takes the shortcut and we're always behind. When we built our Rushmore Plaza Civic Center, I'll never forget that was the premier institution in five states. People talked, look what Rapid City did. And I would just encourage all of us to make sure we put it in the right sight. We're not secondguessing. We're not wish we would have could have. Let's let's make sure it's right. And um that may we may have to entertain going outside that district and we're going to have to find an extra $15 million. I know there's talk of a few other sites being tossed around uh that I think would be better, but um I just want us to really make sure this works because it has a huge impact not only economically but uh on all the citizens of Rapid City. Thank you. [clears throat]

Thank you, Councelor Roberts. Thank you very much. Uh can I ask our finance director a question? So if the TID boundaries were amended right now, do you know how much valuation is increased? Mr. Mayor, [clears throat]

um the the valuation since it's not just a normal commercial project, it's more difficult. It's based on the overall utility valuation within the entire state and that goes through a PUC process. And so I can't just say based off of the amount of construction activity that's actually occurred there. Um it's based off of the the profitability of Black Hills Energy's assets throughout the entire state of South Dakota. And that's confusing as hell. So just give me a number. I I don't have that.

Get a hold of Get a hold of the PUC and get a number. So that I'm just curious about that because I know what's been done out there so far. Um, you know, which is very little other than grading.

So I can't imagine that the valuation has gone up that much. I would like to have that number. I And one of the reasons I'm I'm saying this is I had somebody contact me a few days ago. They're going to be bringing forward a proposal of a site. Um it it does abut the boundaries and that's kind of why I was curious about this. Um unfortunately I can't go any further than that because I've given them my promise that I will not until they bring forward their proposal. I will not bring anything else forward. So um but I would like to there's got to be a way we can find that number out.

Thank you. I I appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you, John. Uh councelor Meyer. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Uh I just wanted to make a couple of remarks. Uh option number four, I think could be an exciting opportunity, especially with potential for the innovation district. So, when I saw that, I thought that could be an interesting uh uh spot. Um and then I think just to echo what uh President Pedigrew said that we get one chance to do this, and I think we should make sure we do it right. So, whoever is lucky and gets to sit up here in 20 years doesn't have to uh look back and say, "Gosh, I wish they would have uh done it right the first time." So, thank you for the presentation.

Thank you. If I may, just a a couple of points. Good discussion on this. You know, we are we are determined to bring this to life and I agree with you, Councelor Pedigrew. I don't think any of us want to do it short change it. If we're going to do it, let's do it right. Uh, two, I will I been very gracious from the Lean family, obviously still very willing to donate the land, but even more um because [clears throat] of that lack of development, there are some things that no longer have to happen. Uh, 143rd does not have to built be built all the way through, and there there are some savings that we're going to look at through that. and um and it's looking like potentially there could be other partnerships to shared parking and some things like that that would really help uh cut the cost. So there's I do want to say that there's some real possibilities uh at the uh original location. Uh but to's point, we did feel like it was wise to look at all the options within the catalyst district. um just just to look at it, you know, and and I think that's important and we know it we're pretty fortunate to have as much funding secured as we have for this and um you know and I think the other thing to look at is the opportunity cost that whenever you build something like this, you know that there's going to be development in and around that area and that could be very beneficial uh to the community as well. So, um, we'll continue to work on this and obviously down the road we'll hopefully in the near future we'll bring a recommendation uh forward. Um, but do I appreciate you uh taking the time to fill us in on some of these discussions as well as uh your help and your passion for this project. It's noted and appreciated. Thank you, sir.

Thank you.

Thank Thank you Dave Dolan as well who's here from the sports commission. [clears throat] Excuse me. So now we will move on to general public comment. Uh this is a three-minute period and 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. Have a few speaker request forms. We will begin with Anthony Wright. Anthony, you've done this before, but you have three minutes right over there. And welcome Good evening, mayor and city council members. My name is Anthony Wright and I serve on the student senate and governmental relations committee at South Dakota Minds. I'm here to briefly share student priorities and campus activity that directly intersect with the Rapid City community. One topic students are actively engaging with is the railard relocation and reconfigur reconfiguration study. Students recently attended the first public meeting and are interested in how potential rail realignment could affect campus safety, connectivity, noise levels, and future expansion near the SD Mines Innovation District. Student Senate will be gathering student input and sharing a prel pre preliminary summary with the city as the study continues. I'd also like to highlight state higher education days or shed remind students recently engaged with the legislative process at the state capital. SH gives students the opportunity to meet with state leadership and represent higher education priorities tied to workforce development and economic growth. During shed, students engage with state

officials, including the governor, lieutenant governor, secretary of state, legislative leadership, and the CEO of the South Dakota Community Foundation, reinforcing the connection between higher education and community outcomes. Another issue students engaged with this session was House Bill 1133, which proposed changes to campus carry policy. Student Senate conducted a campus survey with 475 respondents. Results showed 58% opposed, 39% in favor with the remainder with the remainder undecided. The bill did not advance out of committee. We believe sharing this data demonstrates how students are thoughtfully engaging in policy discussions related to campus safety and community well-being. Tomorrow, student school of minds is hosting its career fair, bringing 156 employers, both local and national, to the Rapid City community to recruit from over 1,000 STEM students. Events like this support workforce development while also bringing economic activity and professional engagement into the city. I'd also like to take a moment to thank Councilman Lance L for touring the South Dakota Minds campus last week with student senate leadership. We appreciate his willingness to engage directly with student body and to begin ongoing dialogue about strengthening South Dakota Mind's presence and connection with Rapid City community. Looking ahead, we also appreciate that mayor is uh scheduling to visit student senate on February 18th to continue conversations around collaboration between the city and South Dakota mines as we look forward to building on that relationship. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Wright. Uh next up, Craig Carly. [clears throat]

Good evening, Mr. Mayor, city council, council advisors. Um, I don't have anything prepared. Um, little background. I moved here three years ago from Los Angeles. Please don't hold that against me. Um, if you talked to me, you'd think I was a rapid cityite. Um, but I do have a concern about crime and graffiti. Um, I've noticed in the short three years that I've been here an increase. And I come from a town um in Southern California that was riddled with graffiti. Um, we had a little town next door to us. You guys probably have heard the name Compton, California. I live directly across the river from there. And when I say river, it's a big concrete river. It's not like what we have here. Um, where graffiti comes comes crime. And where crime is, violent crime is, and that of course is followed by drugs and what have you. I commend our police department and our sheriff's department. that they're doing a great job. I know they're underst staffed and most likely like every other police department, underpaid, but um I just I just don't want it to get away. I don't want it to be, "Yeah, there's more graffiti, but we got to do this. Yeah, there's there's more this, but we got to do that." Um because you look one day you look up and you go, "What happened? What happened?" It it just it does. I lived it. I lived it. And some of you folks have never lived outside of South Dakota. I kind of wish I hadn't. I had a great career there, but it's it's different. It's a different way of life and and it does. The graffiti is it's just the start of the cancer and it will grow. So, um, the other side of it, or not the other side of it, but the other thing

I'd like to bring up, I know the homeless population is a big issue. Um, but there's more to it than just the homeless population. I see it every day. The trash left behind from where they're big and on the streets and it just makes our city look like crap. I'm sorry. It makes our city look like crap. And yes, this is my city. This is I retired here intentionally. I wasn't born here. I I retired. I came here and this is my city. I hate it looking like it looks. I hate the graffiti. I hate the trash. Um you know, the homeless population, that's a whole different social issue, but we've got to tighten it up. And it does. It will get away. And those two are tied together. And I appreciate the parks uh not the parks but the park rangers what they're doing because I go to Vicky Powers Park. I live up on that side of town and I don't know if that's uh PD or if it's so but there's drugs and alcohol in there daily. So anyway, I'm out of time. Thank you guys for all you do. I appreciate you. I really do. Thank you.

Thank you. We'll look at graffiti. Thank you, sir. Appreciate your feedback. Uh next up, Brian Peek.

[clears throat] Well, happy new year. Hello.

I um [snorts] I think you guys all know my goal. Um I'm a problem solver. I'm hoping um I'm working with the homeless people on the streets. There's incredible It's an incredible problem and it and we've talked about it tonight. numerous times. If we can end the homeless situation on the streets of Rapid City, um it solves a number of problems. What I've done this week is I'm basically auditing the bus service. If our bus service was what it should be, we wouldn't need parking. We wouldn't need parking for the sports center. We could eliminate most of the parking issues. I live in the old hospital on 11th Street. We have three We have 80 apartments. There's 18 people that have cars in that because they live downtown. Parking has to be looked at different because we're in a whole different zone. If we're in the downtown area, if we have good buses that service the people, uh the thing that has really annoyed me about the bus service that we're paying for is that they don't work nights and weekends. I want to go to church on Sunday on a bus. I'm on a fixed income. I need to get to church on Sunday. They don't even work on Sunday. They don't work on Saturday afternoon. I'm I've walked the last week in 20 below weather monitoring how the buses work. It sucks horribly. They don't run after 5:30. I

want to go to the sheep dog trials tonight. There's no buses. I mean, seriously. So, my answer to the problem because when I come here, I want to have an answer, not just a problem. I went down to the bus station. It says free to students. I said, 'Great. I want to go to Carell Drive school. Oh, we don't go that far. Well, how about Stevens? I want to go over to Well, we don't go there. I mean, seriously, we had some kids that got killed on the street because what? They want to go out and drive from one guy to the next and they got killed on the highway because we don't have bus service at night. Seriously, I mean, it's I'm so appalled by our the money that we spend on buses. So, the answer is this. 37 vehicles sitting over here. All of the city employees that work here and do inspections need to be using the bus system. All right, that will conclude our general public comment and we will move on to non-public hearing items 2 through 32 and open public comment for items 2 through 29. I have no speaker request forms for those items. So, we will close the public comment and move on to consent items 2 through 29. Would the council like to remove any item for separate consideration or approve all the items as is? Councelor Pedigrew. Uh 16, please. Okay. Councelor Strowman

number five, please. [cough] [clears throat]

Okay. Otherwise, I'll entertain a motion uh to approve items 2 through 29 with the exception of five and 16. So move second. Got a motion by Pedigree with a second by Tamang. All in favor? Any opposed? All right. Motion carries. Uh we will move on to item number five. Authorize mayor and finance officer to sign a professional services agreement with TSP Inc. for fire station number nine and park improvements project number 2858 CIP number 10002 in the amount of $589,46. Councelor Strowman, the floor is yours, sir.

Thank you, Mayor. Um I just have a question. I'm not sure who can answer it, but um it seems like this went from a current contract amount of 78,380 and then there's a change requested for 589,46 for a new contract amount of 667786. It's like an 850% increase. And I just I don't know what accounts for that kind of an increase from on this project. And I guess the second question I have is um do we have plans or schematics or designs that we have previously used on other fire stations that would be applicable here so we don't have to reinvent the wheel.

So I don't know who can answer those but all right uh we are going to looks like public works director Mike Ty is chiming in Mr. Tyson then we'll have the fire chief. Thank you Mr. Mayor. Um, so I believe this was part of the original scope that was planned for, but the original portion of this contract was just for the schematic designs to essentially to figure out what they needed to do for the design. So the remaining portion here is for the actual um design of the project as well as construction management of the project and all the bidding process that goes along with that. And fire chief wants to chime in as well. J Jason Coerson.

I like Mr. Ty explained that um absolutely perfectly. Um for the other portion, the last station we built was in 2009, I believe, was designed um and it does not fit on this site. We'd have to redesign it anyway. Um since new codes and etc have been done since that time. So, um, yes, we do need to redesign a new building, especially since we're trying to purpose build this for the hazardous material station. Oh. Oh, yeah. And the police precinct is the additional part to that, which none of our other fire stations have that. Thank you.

These also have park improvements as well. So, this is Yeah. And that's our the fire station portion is only part of that. um entire design. The design includes both the park and the fire station police precinct. And as a reminder, this is part of the homestead uh tiff tiff development. So, um just as a reminder of everybody where that's coming from. [clears throat] Good questions. Anything else, Mr. Strowman? No, I yield. Thank you. All right. Thank you.

We got a motion by Tang to approve the second by Bdorf. All in favor? All opposed. Motion carries. Item 16, approve request from Rapid City Sports Commission for the removal of yard waste and recycling containers from the remote collection site adjacent to Fitzgerald Stadium for the duration of annual tournaments including the Black Hills Veterans Classic Firecracker Tournament, Dave Plof Legacy Tournament, an American Legion state a tournament. Containers will be removed no more than 3 days in advance of the tournament and returned no more than 3 days after to allow for removal, clean up, and resetting activity. Councilor uh Pedigrew, you pull this item.

Thank you.

Uh Mayor, um I I just want to I guess bring it to our attention even prior to being on the city council when I watch I'm one of six people who watch these on YouTube. This comes up every year, every year, every year, every year, every year. Why don't we find a different place for this? Why are we continually having to vote on this? Continually invest resources to move it. Uh it it just doesn't make sense to me. In business, you know, you you learn if you do it multiple times, maybe you got to change the way you're doing things and and correct that. But uh and I know Mike and I have talked. He's new. Give him a lot of credit. I really like him. But I think we should really look at finding a different location for this so it saves us money, time, and energy. Thank you.

You know, I agree with you and uh Mr. Ty, let's look into that, please. I think that's a great point. Uh, Councelor Roberts, thank you very much. And yes, this has been a discussion that's been going on for years now. Um, I've always thought the location just to the south of there on the east side of the road where that culde-sac is would be a perfect location because we've got a culde-sac in the middle of basically nowhere that used to have houses, I guess, around it before the flood. I always thought, you know, that would be a good location. We take out the curbs and put in a little parking and there we've got our recycling and the city owns the property. It's

worth evaluating. Looks like Mr. Ty wants to chime in on that. [laughter] Well, I I couldn't agree more with the uh the looking at a different site and we are looking at a couple different options. Um looking at the footprint that's required for those sites, but we do have a couple in mind that we're doing the layouts on to see if they'll work. But uh definitely agree with the comments that we need to move that site long term. All right, good discussion on that and I appreciate that, Mr. Pedigrew. [clears throat] Uh with that though, can we uh get a motion on this? I got a motion by Pedigrew with a second by Layman. All in favor? Any opposed? Motion carries.

That takes us to the end of the consent items. We will move on to non-consent items 30 through 32 and open public comment for items 30 through 32. I have no speaker request forms for items 30 through 32. So, we will close the public comment and move on to item 30. authorized staff to seek proposals for engineering services for Eglund Street traffic study project number 2884.1 CIP number 51214. Councelor Pedigrew. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um I'm not questioning um the recommendation here. I thought I voted against this, but apparently I didn't. But um

okay. Um, I I guess I just don't understand and and it's been explained to me why we have to spend $200,000 to do this study. Um, I just think we have smart engineers. You know, I've been told they're busy. I get that. As I understand it, maybe someone could correct me, this project wouldn't happen for maybe three years. Is that true? Two years. So, I I don't know what it takes to to design and and put all this in, but I just don't know why um we can't carve time into our engineers time and and do this in house, but I guess um I'm in the minority on that. Thank you,

Councelor Strowman.

Thank you, Mayor. And I guess I'd also add to that. Um we do come up with needs for traffic studies on a pretty regular basis. And I know we only have one traffic engineer who's doing a great job and working really hard, but I'm wondering for $200,000 a study if maybe we should look at hiring another traffic engineer uh to do those studies and then we wouldn't have to keep farming this out. And I um I guess my only other thing is I wondered if Mr. Roberts would chime in and give us a little history on this particular study or what's been done out there because I don't have that information. But that's all I yield.

Okay. Director Ty is chiming in. Public works director.

Um so we've had we've done a little bit more research in the engineering group um on this project. I think there was a question raised about whether this was originally designed for five lanes on on Eggland Street. Um they were not able to find any designs. So all the designs they found only showed the three lanes for that area. Um, so I think the question was could we just dust off those old plans, take a look at those and not have to redesign everything for the traffic. Um, the point in question on this one is the traffic study though and and leading up to what do we need to do out on Eglund Street for it. Um, as Mr. Pedigrew pointed out, we've got a very very good staff, very qualified staff to perform studies. The issue is the time that he has to be able to do that. Um, I also agree that, you know, as I have assessed what they have for needs and projects and I see our traffic engineer pulled into a lot of different topics and a lot of discussions on new developments, um, all kinds of lighting projects, things like that. So, um, I do think there's a need to maybe add some staffing there that could help out with that. Um, we a lot of the developments that we do ne necessitate a traffic study. So, I think we could perform more of those in-house if we had the staffing to do that, but I don't feel like our our current traffic engineer has the time to be able to do this one.

Okay. Uh, Council Roberts,

thank you very much. Mike, you should have gave me a call. I could have those plans for you tomorrow. So, um it they I know the city had a copy of them, but I know that the developer has also copies in the originals. Um I've seen the plans. Uh originally, it was designed for five lanes. Um, that's why if you look at the north side of the road out there, the fire hydrants set so far back and so do the so do the sidewalks because originally in this project there was an agreement when when 50% of Rushmore crossing came in. Then the road was the other two lanes were supposed to come in. Um, unfortunately we had a public works director back then, way before my time that intentionally, I think, lost those documents or did something with it. Um, it's amazing how things get lost sometimes. Um, but there there were plans, there were changes that were made to them. I know that uh the the the uh egress on the north side they were changed so some of them offset on the other side and I think that's one of the reasons that you need the traffic study because you have to figure out where you're going to place lights at even though I could probably drive out there and tell you where they should be. I think anybody in Rapid City could that goes out there. Um but again those plans are available if you you guys f can't find them they can be you can have them tomorrow if you really want to see them. So um it's it it was a it was a great project that somehow and it still is a great project don't get me wrong but it would have been a better project if the city hadn't dropped the ball back then

and because there was a lot of discussion from what I've heard from people that were actually on the council back then and people that were involved. Um there was a lot of discussion about would there ever be enough traffic to, [snorts] you know, four or five lanes to be able to, you know, so that's why they took it down to the three lanes instead of the five lanes that were originally designed for that project. So anyway, um Mr. Roberts, we'd appreciate you sharing that if you could. That'd be helpful. Oh, absolutely. Yeah, I can get the city the night. That'd be great. Thank [snorts] you. Thank you, councelor Taming.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. It's been [clears throat] fun being on council for six, seven months, figuring out all this engineering stuff. Don't know anything about it till I started learning. Boy, it's it's complicated and it's deep. Um, and one thing I've learned as a general rule throughout my career in life is typically speaking when you got something complicated and deep, you want the people closest to the work making the decisions on whether you bring in an outside consultant. You don't necessarily want people playing engineer deciding whether you should bring in a consultant or not. You also don't typically want people that don't have an understanding of engineering like myself deciding on what projects you should or should not bring in outside counsel. Now, it's good to have, I think, presentations and ask questions and understand those sorts of things, but I just want to convey that I have a strong degree of support for what you're trying to do, and I I don't feel like you have to decide. You should do what makes the most sense and not what pressure you're getting from an elected group. And you should obviously be able to explain your reasonings, but I just want to convey from my standpoint, I want to trust that the city staff are going to bring forward the best solution, not the politically expedited one that the council is most likely to support. So, thank you for what you do. We very much appreciate it. I yield.

Councelor Meyer. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I think there's maybe two conversations happening in parallel. One is, is there a way to help the staffing? And then there's one is, how do we fix Rushmore crossing? And I'm like, we have to do that. It is a nightmare. Uh, I see four sons of guns trying to go left on Saturday and I'm like, oh, you don't even know. And so I'm like, I feel like tactically as it relates to item, whatever item we're on, I'm like, I couldn't be more supportive of uh uh figuring out how to um improve that area of town. high yield. Thank you. Yeah, definitely a need out there. Uh so I am looking for a motion on this item.

All right, we got a motion by Bieber with a second by Tang. All in favor? Any opposed? We have three nos from Pedigrew, Strowman, and Roberts and Layman. And what Whoops. I I guess I didn't. My hearing must be going. [snorts] Heidi, I would like to do a roll call vote, please.

Bieberdorf. Hi. Tamang. Hi. Evans. No. Meer. Hi. Leman. No. Maher. Hi. Roberts. No. Strowman. No. Pedigrew. No. the nose when five to four.

Okay. Uh what we'll do is see if we can find whatever those plans are and we got to do something out there. So if anybody has a better idea, we'd love to hear it. Um item 31, a request by Rener Associates LLC for S7 LLC for preliminary subdivision plan for proposed lot 4 Parker subdivision generally described as being located at 350 Jolly Lane. the recommendations to approve with stipulations. Move to approve. Motion by Tamang with a second by Bdorf to approve with stipulations. All in favor? Any opposed? Mot. Councelor Evans or Roberts, are you approve or

Okay. All right. Any opposed? All right. Motion carries. Item 32, authorize staff to advertise for bids for 2025 MIP streets and drainage project number 2842, CIP number 5029.25A with an estimated cost of $385,000. A motion by Bieber with a second by Maher. All in favor?

Any opposed? Motion carries. That takes us to the public hearing items 33 through 36. and we will open the public hearing for items 33 through 36. I have no speaker request forms for items 33 through 36. So we will close the public hearing and move on to consent public hearing items 33 through 34. The council wish to remove any items for consideration or approve them all. Got a motion by Roberts, second by Evans to approve items 33 and 34. All in favor?

Any opposed? Motion carries. That takes us to the end of the consent public hearing calendar. We will move on to non-consent public hearing item 35. Second reading of ordinance number 6702, an ordinance amending section 17.06 of the Rapid City Municipal Code. A request by city of Rapid City for reszoning request from public district to heavy industrial district for property generally described as being located at 5055 South Highway 79. Got a motion by Tamang with a second by Beverdorf. All in favor?

Any opposed? Motion carries. Item 36, second reading of ordinance number 6703, an ordinance amending section 17.06 of the Rap City Municipal Code. A request by TUI Design Group for Watershed Development 2 LLC for a reszoning request from no use district to lowdensity residential district 2 for property generally described as being located north of northern terminus of Cloud Peak Drive. Got a motion by layman with a second by Roberts. All in favor?

Any opposed? Motion carries. Looks like we have a need for an executive session to discuss pending litigation. Do we have a motion to go into executive session? Motion by Meer with a second by Maher to go into executive session. All in favor? All in favor? Any opposed? We're in executive session. Thank you.

All right, we'll entertain. All right, we have a motion to come out of executive session by layman with a second by Maher. All in favor? Any opposed? We're out of executive session. Uh we have no need for staff direction today. So we will move on to the bill list item 37. Uh, with that we'll go to finance director Daniel Aninsley. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. The bill lists for Main Street Square and Visit Rapid City total $17,719.71. Motion by Tang, second by Maher. All in favor? Any opposed? Motion carries with one abstension for Meyer. Item 38. Back to Finance Director Aninsley.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. The remaining bills total 11,514,39.73. Motion by twang. Second by Meyer. All in favor? Any opposed? Motion carries. Uh we'll look like looks like we need a motion to adjurnn. Got a motion by Pedigrew with a second by Strowman. All in favor? Any opposed? We'rejourned. Thanks everyone.