City Council - Regular Meeting

Good evening and welcome to the City Council meeting for Monday, May 4th, 2026. We will begin with a roll call and determination of quorum. Leman Here. Maher Here. Roberts Here. Strommen Here. Pettigrew Seacrest Here. Bieberdorf

Here. Tamang Here. Evans Here. Meyer Here. We have a quorum. Uh thank you. Next we'll have an invocation by Pastor Craig Moreau followed by the pledge of allegiance. If you're able and willing, would you please rise? Lord, I thank you for your presence, for your direction and guidance. Lord, let your presence fill this room, fill these people's hearts and minds. Bless our mayor and each of our city council members. May we have a spirit of wisdom and understanding that comes from you, Lord. Help them to do the right things. May they have a spirit of discernment and a spirit of compassion and a spirit of truth. May our government function in a way that blesses our citizens. Lord, bless all of our law enforcement officers, our firefighters. Keep them safe and give them a spirit of wisdom and discernment. Bless all of our first responders, Lord, and help them to be able to do their jobs with excellence. Keep them safe and give them health, strength, wisdom, and discernment. Dear Lord, bless our education system. Bless our school boards, administrators, all of our teachers who educate our children and youth. May they influence our students in ways that are pleasing to you and cause them to live healthy, productive lives and benefit others. Lord, bless the business community. May our business community thrive. May our economy thrive and be blessed by God. Lord, bless the churches and the charitable organizations of this city and may they be a blessing to our people and meet needs and make a big impact for good in this city with the message of the gospel and with hope and peace. Lord, direct the citizens as they vote in upcoming elections. We ask for your direction in the city council races and the school board races and any other city or county offices, Lord, where

elections are being held. Lord, we need your direction and we need your guidance. Lord, give us wisdom to make excellent choices. God bless this city with love, joy, hope, peace, courage, and creativity. Help us to be a shining example of what a city dedicated to God really looks like. We ask all these things in your precious name, the name of Jesus. Amen. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which 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. Motion by Bieberdorf for the second by Tamang. All in favor? Any opposed? Motion carries. I have a proclamation to read, but we aren't going up front cuz it's one that we will keep, but it's honoring Rapid City's 150th anniversary this year. So, I will read this aloud and put it into the record. Whereas, in February 1876, John Brennan and Samuel Scott led a small party of discouraged gold prospectors to the banks of Rapid Creek on the hillside across from Founders Park where they laid out a square mile business district. Within 6 months, more than 100 people called Rapid City home. Whereas, the city's founders built the community as the gateway to the Black Hills and it quickly lived up to the moniker. Originally known as Hay Camp, Rapid City soon became a staging ground for wagons hauling supplies to miners in the Black Hills. Later, it would serve as a hub for all rail traffic. Whereas, throughout its 150 years, Rapid City has experienced numerous impactful and significant events. It has faced its fair share of notable and remarkable experiences as well as struggles, tragedies, and challenges. Whereas, the strength of Rapid City has and is always will be the hard work, compassion, character, and resilience of its people and the never-ending commitment to developing the best possible community for our families and our future. Whereas, numerous activities have been held and are currently underway and planned to give Rapid City residents the opportunity to learn more about our community's history including a permanent exhibit at The Journey Museum, access to the city's history at the Rapid City Public Library, posts on the city's social media platforms, a photo and informational displays at City Hall, a youth art contest, and the unearthing of a 50-year-old time capsule revealing life in Rapid City back in 1976. Whereas, the city is encouraging people of all ages to assemble in Main Street

Square for community photograph on Friday, May 22nd at 1:30 p.m. with the photograph serving as one of many featured items in the upcoming 2076 time capsule to be buried at Founders Park in a special ceremony on Friday, May 29th at 1:30 p.m. Now, therefore, I Jason Solomon, Mayor of Rapid City, do hereby proclaim 2026 as Rapid City's 150th anniversary year, recognizing the 150th anniversary of our community's founding, encouraging residents to participate in upcoming events, reflect on our community's history, and take an active role in shaping our community's present and our future. I've already signed it. There it is. And one quick note as well with travel and tourism week coming up this week, you'll see Dino the dinosaur lit up in a red in observation of that. So, there you go. Lots of good things happening in our community. So, let's get on to the regular business, shall we? I think Rapid City is looking pretty good for our age. 150 years young. Well, next we will have a general public comment. This is a time for members of the public to discuss or express concerns to the council on any issue not on the agenda. Actually will not be taken at the meeting on any issue not on the agenda except by placement on the on the agenda by unanimous vote of the council members present. I do have a handful of speaker request forms. As a reminder, you have a three three-minute time limit and the believe the clock is right above me here. We will begin with Eileen Desmond followed by Brad Walton. Hi, I am Eileen Desmond. I'm the vice president of St. Vincent de Paul here in Rapid City. I wanted to thank you for considering authorizing a match of up to $10,000 from the council contingency fund to help us help our neighbors in need trying to make ends meet. I hope your offer to match funds will help our loving caring community take on this challenge to match your $10,000.

When a family in need has a sudden emergency, a problem medical issue, they have to choose what bills to pay. And what happens is the water bill may be one of the ones they don't pay. And we have calls from people who are on dialysis or infants um in homes. And landlord can evict you when you don't have water cuz it's not a habitable uh residence. What we do as St. Vincent de Paul is none of us are paid. We're all volunteers. And so we go into the home two by two as in the Bible and visit with the neighbor in need. What happened is usually the question. And how else we can help them through other agencies in town. And they explain about counseling and budgeting and everything else to help them get ahead. The biggest issue now is the um The Bowls of Hope is coming up. And this is where the people who will match your funds hopefully. It's May 19th uh Tuesday night at the Dahl. And um What else can I say? 6 p.m. And I hope you agree to match our funds. Thank you. Thank you, Eileen. So, I made a mistake. That wasn't a general comment. I believe that's for an item later in the agenda. But we got we got you. You're good. Okay. Brad, you're up next followed by Daniel. Daniel, I'm going to Daniel P. I'll let you tell me how to pronounce your last name when you get up here. Uh kind of weird having me on this side of the room, huh?

It is. Well, thanks for having me up here. I just wanted to say real quick. I've been in that corner for the past 2 years as KOTA Territory News evening reporter. Um Want to let you guys know I this most likely will be my final time covering city council tonight. That's been my main objective as evening reporter, but I have accepted a very cool new position. I am moving on, but I'm not moving. I am going to be the new controller for an exciting company called Dakota Biochar part of the innovation district. Um and basically that just means I'm going to be wearing a lot of hats, but I wanted to just come up here and say a few things. Say a few thank yous. Um I've been incredibly impressed with everybody that I see up here in front of me. I've probably interviewed more than half the people in this room over the past 2 years. Um you do great work up here, but really I think the best work that a lot of you do is out in the community when no one's watching, when there isn't a camera on you. And there's a lot of different things that I've seen, you know, whether it's John and Lance in a lawn chair when they're putting up the new Starlight Motel sign, whether it's Bill playing with the municipal band, whether it's Vicki coming in on a Saturday when I'm a new reporter who doesn't know what he's doing just to make sure that I get an interview that I need. Um You know, Stephen and Callie, it's been so cool watching you two come into your own. Uh Mayor Solomon, you've been a great example of a leader and I've learned so much just from watching you, sir. Uh it's been a great time and I I got to say Chief Hedrick following up with me when I told him one of his officers was doing well and getting on the phone with me for 30 minutes just to make sure that he knew exactly what I was talking about. Chief Culberson personally showing up when we had wildfires on each side of our station and we were all freaked out. Uh and bringing the dogs. Thanks for that. Uh None of you have easy jobs, but you do them extremely well. And um I'm going to be moving on, but I won't be a stranger. You'll still be seeing me around. I want to do great things in

this city. And I'm just glad that I have so many people that I've met over the past 2 years who have been good examples for me to follow in that pursuit. So, um here's to the future. Hopefully, we can work something out where I can do part-time and still come by here every once in a while, but um just wanted to say thank you to all of you. So, thanks for having me up here. Thank you, Brad. That was very nice. [applause]

Daniel, you're up next followed by Shawn Wagner. Daniel, would you mind pronouncing your last name? I don't want to get it wrong. Hello, council members. Um my name is Daniel Perelsky. Perelsky. I'm here tonight just to share a message. Dear citizens of the United States of America, I implore you that if there were ever a time that we as Americans must question how we use our time, effort, and money, that time is now. As elections approach, please be aware of the candidates you are voting for and who funds their campaigns. Our efforts in educating our children must focus on maintaining our sovereignty as Americans without the influence of foreign entities. There is no place in our future for misguided narratives that place value on the definitions given to us by foreign entities over how we as Americans define ourselves. As an American, I will teach the future generations that we should question why the Jewish Holocaust that that occurred in Germany is given so much attention in our American schools while the Christian Holocaust in 1932 that occurred in Ukraine at the hands of Jewish supremacist is not mentioned. I will continue to teach the next generation that the open air air Holocaust and and genocide currently happening in Palestine is occurring against the will of informed Americans. I will teach the next generation that the family of hijacker Ziad Jarrah who attacked the Twin Towers in New York City on September 11th, 2001 have been have been confirmed as Israeli spies. It seems only right that our time spent in Christian churches in America should be done in the presence of the Christian flag, the American flag,

but not the Israeli flag. I will teach future generations that the Israel that is mentioned in the Gospel has no correlation with the murderous monsters that are currently leading the apartheid state of Israel. I will teach future generations that any location that flies the Israeli flag next to the American flag, well, they need to be questioned. Pope Leo quotes, "Woe to those who manipulate religion in the very name of God for their own military, economic, or political gain, dragging that which is sacred into darkness and filth." I will teach future generations to notices to notice the differences between the ever-encroaching Christian Zionist dominance and actual Christian values. I will teach the next generation how Zionism was created by an atheist and that it has no place among Christian churches. It states clearly in the Jewish Talmud that Christ Jesus, my savior, is boiling in hell in hot excrement. Ask yourself why laws have been passed to make it illegal for you as a South Dakotan to receive a public contract if you boycott Israel. We must repeal these laws and others such as the American Israel Israel Enhanced Security Cooperation Act of 2012. Be aware of your tax dollars and where they are being funneled. I appreciate your time. Thank you. Next up, Shawn

bless America. Yeah. Thank Next up, Shawn Wagner followed by Angelo Chiraldy. Good evening, council. How y'all doing? John Roberts, what's up, buddy? I talked to your attorney over here and I told her to describe to you what libel law is. Well, today me and John Roberts had a little discussion on the Neighbors app. And he said that uh you are just fear-mongering with zero facts to 4,400 people participating on this one post. Okay. Well, I'm going to tell you something that I've been telling y'all you didn't listen. The One Compute Project, often referred to to the context of advanced open-source AI infrastructure, is a highly influential, knowledgeable, and powerful organization in the 2026 technology landscape. It acts as a collaborative hub um for major tech firms, Meta, Google, Microsoft, Nvidia, ARM, to standardize hardware and data center designs, making it a cornerstone for scaling AI, which there isn't none. Till now. How powerful are they? The backbone of AI. OCP designs power uh designs powers the largest AI factories, enable enabling massive efficient data centers for training trillion perimeter models and high-speed AI infrastructure. OCP claims to provide blueprints for decentralized open infrastructure to reduce compute cost significantly allowing for example and deployment of thousands of GPUs in single projects. In 2026 the knowledge base but before let me back up. In 2025 of May in my last formal speech I gave you all the wrong name. The closed loop specialist

is Sung A Kim and she's the closed loop water specialist and she says there's no true expertise in a closed loop data center. And when they say it's closed loop it's not in a concrete box like uh you know, like in a cemetery or something. It actually has water lines coming out to cool down the grills. So I'm going to talk look into okay. Also OCP acts as a central respiratory for at scale engineering best practices offering open specifications for service storage and networking. Industry standard setter OCP is the dominant force in open data center infrastructure with over 400 members companies representing the vast majority of the hyperscale operators. They're key player in AI race with AI demanding higher computing power a trend set to accelerate 2026 OCP acts acts as a crucial crucial gatekeeper or enabler for companies looking to build competitive AI infrastructure. Before you like say anything about me, you don't understand how much I read before I put something out, okay? Have a good day and I hope you all look into this too. Angelo, you're up next followed by Dale Nicola. Oh. I just wanted to say that I guess that guy left. I think uh no flag is supposed to be parallel with the American flag. So when you see these lapel pins with Israeli flags side by side with the American flag I don't know how that's even possible but I was going to look up the code for that but um I actually have to uh do a rain check. Uh I have to duty calls so maybe next time we'll discuss this. All right. I'll be be here in a couple weeks. Uh Dale, you're up next, sir.

My name's Dale Nicola. I know about half the board. I am going to address all the board. All of you are sitting there. You are to help this city be great. Now I can tell you for a fact that's not happening. I know you all have legs. You all walked in here. That means you all walk to your business or wherever. You all come in this building. I just showed up 45 minutes early to inspect. This building doesn't pass ADA inspection. It is not legal. I want the people over there to get their people out there and start painting some pink. And I'm telling right now I'm getting upset. I had a neck surgery because this city don't like take care of their sidewalks. Why am I on sidewalks? Because I have a neck surgery. Guess what? Soon as the neck heals I got to have the surgery on my shoulder because of the sidewalks. You walk by a sidewalk and it's got more than a quarter inch. Do you know how my finger is thicker than a quarter inch? That's how much distance you can have from one crack to the next. You're not meeting it. Now I have been told there is a grant now for the sidewalks for ADA inspection

for the entire city. Now if we think we can please me by having a grant I'm not happy until I start seeing work done. I can't even walk around my block. What does my doctor say? You can't do nothing because of your neck. Walk around the block. Can I walk around my block? There ain't no way I can walk around my block. I've got I got gaps this big on the sidewalks. Is the sidewalk crossed the uh alleyway? No. You better start making it that way cuz there ain't no way I can get a wheelchair up over that thing to the other side. You will make everything in this city ADA approved. Do you guys understand what ADA is? Maybe I'm saying foreign words to you. The American Disabilities Act. Yes, I am disabled. Mr. Nicola, your time's up.

is disabled. Thank you. That will conclude general public comment and we will move on to non-public hearing items 1 through 38 and open public comment for items 1 through 35. I do have a couple of speaker request forms. Uh first Mark Malar for item 30. How you doing? Mark Malar, I'm from Ward 4. I'm here to speak about item 30 the new railroad realignment study. Sounds like we got big energy for this amongst the city people except for John. We had an opportunity to listen to the study at public works meeting and the one thing that we did learn was John wasn't interested in hearing the damn thing twice. And I'm glad to hear that John's offending other people in Ward 4. I think everybody should spot that. But anyways, so I have a lot of questions. I John told me when I asked for the working committee which is what public works committee is about is the working branch of your council if we could review the facts, he told me to pound sand and get on the internet and find it. It's almost 100 pages long. It it's good. It's a good study. They did really good work. I hope you guys will take the time to enlighten yourselves with the facts. But the first facts to come out about the new railroad realignment is one it's all generated from the state needing to replace a bridge for $30 million. So the other night it was already misrepresented on the news that that was a city expense and that's wrong. The second thing and and and uh in my list but it's actually the first thing in the list of this study is the most important thing for any of this to happen and to be useful is to rebuild Pressler Junction right out here. So I asked for some information about that and the study doesn't go into that. I

suppose we're going to have to get into the plans. But it looks like we're probably going to have to come across the city's parking lot to do that because they said it wasn't going to affect Tuscany Square. So I know you guys believe that we can afford everything under the blue sky. But if we had followed the trail that the city's taken us down in the last 6 months we would be building the 6th Street Promenade on that side of the building, a bridge across Omaha to invite people to pedestrian through our city. And we'd be building a brand new railroad Y on that side of the building. I don't know how that's going to work together as a pair but if that is in fact the most important thing to the railroad for this whole thing to have any purpose, I think we should see the plans. And what you actually plan to put in the middle of Rapid City under the pretense that you're going to fix the railroad traffic. Because a couple of things that we never touched on in your study, they're going to stop trains in this city and they're going to break them in half to supply the mill. They're also going to do that with PNL Plastics. So despite the fact that the changing yard may be out in Box Elder, they're still going to be stopping and breaking trains in half in Rapid City. So when you spend 75 million on what you want we're not going to get what you think. All right. Thank you, Mr. Malar. Uh next we have Ethan Hudson who says he's here for item 11 if we have questions. So Ethan, duly noted. And that will conclude the public comment for the non-public hearing items and we will move on to consent items 1 through 35. Would the council like to remove any item for separate consideration or approve all of these items right now? All right. Counselor See Chris. Item 27 and 30, please.

All right. [snorts] Counselor Stroman. Thank you, Mayor. I have items 13, 29, and 33, please.

Move to approve the All right. Well, I'll entertain a motion to approve items 1 through 35 with the exception of 13, 27, 29, 30, and 33. So moved. Second. Got a motion by Sekeres with a second by Temming. All in favor? Any opposed? Motion carries. All right. Next up, we'll go to item 13. Approve [clears throat] change order 5F for two reconstruction for Sheridan Lake Road reconstruction, Corral Drive to Catron Boulevard, project number 2737, CIP number 51122 dot two for a decrease of $1 million. Counselor Strowman, you pulled this item, sir? Thank you. Um yeah, and of course I'm in favor of um decreasing with a change order net minus $1 million. I'm a little concerned about how this even came to us. Um it's my understanding that in the contract for the Sheridan Lake Road reconstruction, there was supposed to be or apparently there was included in the contract an incentive of a million dollars to complete the contractually scheduled um date of completion, which I don't think is something that we need to be doing with our contracts, especially with one of this size. Um if they get done on time, uh then they should get paid what they were contracted to do. But if they um run late, then there are penalties. That's the way I've always known it to be done anyway, both in private um in practice representing construction companies and also in my past almost 7 years on the council. This is something new to me that we actually would bonus someone for doing what they contract to do. And so I I'm concerned that we don't um move forward with contracting in that

um in that way. I just I don't think that's something that we need to do um when we're bidding these jobs. I yield. Counselor Sekeres. Thank you, Mayor. I was just going to if I may um ask our public works director um what the practice is with the liquidated damages and if this uh is a philosophical shift that we've adjusted or is this kind of a one-off with how this project's been incentivized? All right. So, she has called upon public works director Mike Tice. Um so, liquidated damages are would still be in play in in projects like this. Um that typically comes in play where they don't finish the project on time. Um there's liquidated damages. Um I think this is fairly unique for Rapid City in the past on um offering an award for early completion. I will say industry-wide it is not uncommon at all. Um and it usually it's it's unique projects where this would be a good example that where it's a a pretty significant impact to the community, the amount of traffic, the type of traffic on the road, duration of the project. So, early completion bonuses um I would say are not um unique by any means, but they are typically rare and save for items that would be uh or projects that would be a unique nature where um we're trying to push the contractor to get it done early. In this case, they did not get it done early, so this is a formality to remove that option out of the contract. And would you say that incentivization value, the the $1 million, is that just for the sheer size of this project was not unusual to be that high? Yeah, I would say it's it's typical for a project this size to be of that that volume or that size. And what was that value of the project overall? About $20 million?

Um I'm going to Yeah, Roger looking at Roger. Yeah, roughly $20 million. I don't remember the exact dollar amount, but

Okay, thanks so much. [clears throat] Director Tice, appreciate it. Uh next up, Counselor Roberts. Thank you very much. And can I ask another question to our public works director? So, Tuesday when we had this discussion, uh Roger said that this incentive was to get done on time, not early, but on time. I I can wholeheartedly give a performance bonus to somebody getting a project done early, but if you're contracting to do a project and getting a bonus to get it done on time, I'm going to keep reiterating that. Maybe Roger wants to step up. Go ahead. Well, well, yep. Uh well, who's coming to the podium? I'm trying to keep order here. Is our city engineer Roger Hall, but Director Tice, did you want to say anything or just wait for Roger? I'll let Roger speak to this.

[laughter] All right. Well, well, thank you. Uh John, if if that's what you understood, I I may have misspoke, but the incentive was for an early completion and it was based on $10,000 per day for up to 100 days. If they had completed early, Sheridan Lake Road would have been done prior to the summer rush, okay? And we based it on the amount of cars, the type traveling impact, and everything else along there. So, I apologize if I misspoke, but it was for an early completion for up to 100 days. That makes me feel a lot better cuz I've been doing nothing but thinking about this since Tuesday Call me Tuesday. about why we would pay somebody a bonus to get their job done on time. Should have just called Roger. Thank you. Thank you.

Well, I listened [laughter] to what he said on Tuesday. Why would I have to call him back again? We've all misspoke. Thank you for the clarification. John, did you have anything else? Okay. Counselor Evans, the floor is yours. Yeah, perhaps Roger needed to stay up there cuz he could answer the next one as well. Um I'm I'm assuming that the inverse was always true since there was a bonus for early completion, then it would be logical to have a penalty for late completion. Is that also the case when we do these sort of thing? Uh we have liquidated damages on all of our projects. If the contractor does not complete the contract on time, there is liquidate liquidated damages applied based on the amount of the contract. Uh how often do we actually do that? Because I don't remember in my 7 years here us ever doing that. Maybe I'm incorrect and missed something. Well, it it's uh we try to work with the contractors as much as possible and we've been very successful in getting the contractors to complete on time. Uh we are also very careful in setting our schedules and our timelines and uh work through them with some great diligence to try to give them a realistic timeline with the minimum minimum impact to the public. We have had liquidated damages on projects. Nothing of great significance. This million dollars is a little bit of a standout. It is uh unique for the city of Rapid City, but not uncommon in the industry. I think maybe we need to make it public and when we approve these things that um that is brought up and made to be public knowledge. I I keep thinking of that little chunk of three blocks on Saint Patrick Street that I believe went over by months and really affected business on the corner there. So, I just think we need to be a little more transparent about what we're doing, what were our expectations are, and what's going to happen if our expectations are not met. Yes. That just to make sure on that project specifically, they had a 120 days of liquidated damages. Yeah, thank

you. Uh city engineer knows knows. Well, I'm looking for somebody to make a motion to decrease this by a million dollars. Got a motion by Beaver Dorr for the second by Sekeres. All in favor? Any opposed? Motion carries. Good conversation. Item 27, authorize and appropriate up to $10,000 from the city council contingency funds to match funds raised during the Bulls of Hope fundraiser. We'll go to Counselor Sekeres who pulled this item. Ma'am? All right, stand by. I thought it was magic you could just

You're first, Counselor Sekeres. Thank you, Mayor. Um I wanted to just verify a couple of things with our city finance office if that's uh possible. If I may direct a question to uh Director Ainslie. Absolutely. Um Director Ainslie, um just to make sure we're not duplicating a an existing benefit that's out in the community, um do we have any way for families to uh call into the city and and request that they're assistance with their water bill or or assistance not turning off their electricity? And I believe I know the answer to that, but um and then also how much of a delay do you does a family have before their water's shut off? For the answer to that, we'll go to finance director Daniel Ainslie. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um right now in regards to electricity, we do not have any programs uh for Black Hills Energy or for MDU. Um Programs such as Saint Vincent de Paul as well as uh Salvation Army does some additional assistance. There are a few programs in the community, none that are run by the city. Uh the city does not specifically have any utility um relief programs uh for the municipal utilities. We do have a reduced uh rate that is available uh for lower income individuals, but as far as when there's a family that starts to get behind on their uh utility payment, we do not have any program. Um we do have occasionally individuals um will write in to our utility billing office explaining um an issue with the billing that sometimes the mail gets delayed. And so when that happens, we do have the latitude to forgive some of the late fees when there is a technical issue like that, which we do. But as far as when someone just gets late because their overtime maybe has

been reduced or maybe they were laid off in the winter or something like that, we do not have that. And so this was a strategic partnership that we have started with Saint Vincent de Paul about this time last year where they have helped literally hundreds of families in our community. And so when someone does come to us saying they have an issue, our our staff literally refers them to Saint Vincent de Paul because they're the organization that provides that assistance. Okay, thank you so much for that clarification. I I was able to check down the the South Dakota Department of Social Services Weatherization Assistance. And seem like there's a couple of different programs out there in the community for folks with electricity or other utilities, but not specifically for water utilities outside of perhaps the Pennington County Department of Health and and Human Services where it looks like they're a couple months out for booking an appointment which would then accelerate the additional late fee plus the utility could be shut off by then. And that is a lien that goes back and must be within 6 months. So I just wanted to commend our city staff for their work in bringing forward this effort. I'm a big fan of keeping people housed and utilities is can amplify a crisis situation pretty quickly. So I'm going to be supporting this. I think our city staff have done a great job and I'm just really proud of the city and have been observing this over the last year and I think this is a really great use of our council contingency funds and a great way that we can put ourselves out there and do a little good. Thank you. Councilor Maher. Thank you, Mayor. I just like to make the motion to approve. Got a motion by Maher, second by Bieberdorf to approve. All in favor?

Any opposed? Motion carries. Item 29, approve resolution number 2026-039, a resolution relating to the improvement of the municipal drinking water system authorizing and directing the issuance and sale of a revenue bond to pay for the cost of set improvements defining the terms and manner of payment of the bond and the security thereof and approving the form of loan agreement. Believe Councilor Stroman, you pulled this item? Yes, thank you, Mayor. This was matter was brought up at the Legal and Finance Committee meeting and Finance Director Ainslie did his usual great job of explaining what was going on here and I wondered if I could call on him to explain what this is for people who are listening and and want to know about these these things. All right, with that we'll go to Finance Director Daniel Ainslie. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I think it was about 18 months ago when the when the water utility rate study was presented to the council, maybe 24 months ago. As part of that, a lot of the public feedback that the city received was trying was suggesting that surcharges be used for the major improvements within the system. The reason for that is that once the improvements are fully paid for, that surcharge drops off and it doesn't just become part of the adopted base minimum going forward. That is something that the city council took to heart and they directed the staff to investigate. And so the city has been working to number one try to ensure that when we are getting the financing for these significant capital projects, that we would use the tax advantaged opportunities that are available to the city. And so we have received a $14 million plus

state revolving loan fund loan that would enable us to pay for these improvements on wells 13 and 14. It is at a very low interest rate. I think it was I'm sorry, I didn't write it down. I think it's 3.75 for 30 years. If we were to go out on our own issuance, it would probably be closer to about 4.25. That half a percent is significant, especially for 30 years. Additionally, what we are requesting is that there would be a surcharge and just to let everyone know, we are not increasing the bills whatsoever. Instead, the amount of the surcharge would be reduced from the base minimum. We are doing that because in order to apply and use the state revolving loan fund, we have to have a surcharge. Plus that is what we heard repeatedly from residents that they wanted to have a surcharge. This will not result in an increase in the in the monthly minimums for our water utilities. But instead it provides a dedicated revenue stream that we are able to pledge to the individuals that buy our bonds. And because of that, we're able to use this tax advantaged program that is set up by the federal government. In doing so additionally, it will not count towards our constitutional debt limit, which we're not even close to approaching, but still it's always wise for us to have as much flexibility as possible should something happen 10, 15, 20 years from now. And so it's good financial stewardship. It also is a way to ensure that our rates are as low as possible as the public works department continues to try to find ways to reduce the costs of the improvements that were included in our water revenue our water water utility study. This is one of those ways that we can reduce the overall cost so that

long-term we do not have to increase rates and in fact perhaps we can slightly reduce the planned increases that were already done. Are there any questions? Okay, I have a little more time.

And I'm not going to try to follow up because that was an excellent explanation. Thank you, Daniel. But long and short of it is you see you see the word surcharge on here and you think oh, there goes the city, they're going to charge us something else. That's not what's happening here. What we're doing is saving money and we're taking advantage of interest rates and other financing sources and funding sources that in the long run will strengthen our city finances and be a benefit to the community and to the citizens. And I just appreciate Daniel going out and finding this opportunity for us to improve our service and also to save money and to benefit our citizens and I just commend him for that and I'm fully in support of this and I appreciate his explanation and I yield. All right, and Councilor Sea Chris, go to you again. Thank you, Mayor. May I ask Director Ainslie just a couple of clarifying questions too? Thank you. Just for clarification, will the surcharge amount be only in only addressed to the residents that are utilizing wells 13 and 14? Director Ainslie. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. No, these are considered system-wide improvements and so it is going to be um the surcharge would be applied to all users of our entire system. However, again, as Councilor Stroman brought up and it's very important to note, this will not increase everyone's rates at all.

And then I guess just follow up on that. Once this is paid off, the term of this 30 years, will that then reduce at that time? Which Yes, it will. Who I I'm sorry. Whoever is sitting in these seats at that time will be able to say they've brought down the water rates, yes. Okay. 30 years. I just wanted to confirm that, Daniel. Thank you so much.

Yeah. All right, looking for a motion. We're going to give the motion to Tamang since Councilor Sea Chris just spoke and and a second to Maher. All in favor? Any opposed? Motion carries. Item 30, approve the rail railyard relocation and railway configuration study draft report. Councilor Sea Chris. Thank you, Mayor. I had spent a considerable amount of time reading through this document and since Mr. Meloy had brought this up in public comment, I wanted to just clarify if we can have our public works director clarify what's changed on that Campbell Street configuration and and why the city is now responsible for reconstruction of that Campbell Street bridge long-term because that is potentially a $30 million project that the city would be on the hook for it it sounds like since the state reclassified it as a um um All right, thank you. You wanted me to go to the public works director? If public works director um Mike Tice.

Mike Tice could answer that. So just to clarify, that is not a city responsibility for the bridge. That is still a DOT responsibility. Okay, so it's it's still a highway. Cuz it sounded it sounded like in the plan that that was what changed was with the highway configuration. Now that we have Catron. And we have

But I and so I guess just for my clarification, would the city be responsible then for paying for the Campbell Street bridge or is that something the state would assist us with? The state would still pay for that DOT bridge. Oh, okay. So, not the city responsibility. Okay. And then, would there be considerable drop in train traffic that we would see through the downtown core with the switching of the railyard out to Box Elder or relocating I think the switchyard? Miss Fisher might be able to answer that better, but I think it's is it three trains going south per week? So, if I recall correctly.

You Miss C Chris, this is your time. Are you okay with Vicki Fisher answering Oh, yes. And I was just I'm trying to get your question answered. for this location and Okay. Um I just thought it was Can I go to Director Fisher? Yes, please do.

All right. Director Fisher. Thank you, Mayor. So, this project is actually one that was spearheaded by community development, not public works. Kip Harrington, our uh transportation coordinator for the city, partnered closely with the uh rail and the state to bring forward the recommendation of that study. And if Mayor, if you don't mind, Kip could give some additional detail. All right. We're just going to keep bouncing this all over the place. Uh Kip Harrington from our community development department. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. So, the train traffic would still go through downtown. The decrease in train traffic would be towards the southeast part of the community where all the switching traffic takes place. Due to the Y configuration at Prestler Junction, every train that comes into town and leaves town has to go down to that switchyard and reverse direction. So, this study identifies that if we move the trail or the train switchyard out of town, then that switching movement would take place out there. And then, the only the trains that go southeast through town would continue to go that way to the southeast part of the state. Um so, therefore, train traffic would be greatly decreased in the southeast part of the community. Thank you so much, Kip.

You're welcome. Okay. All right. Any other comments on this? All right. Counselor Evans. Yeah, I just wanted to comment that I did go to that presentation and learned a lot uh staying there when you had the all the placards up around the room. And um I hadn't even considered the fact that Box Elder out there was uh an option. And it seemed to make a lot of sense. And I can speak for the fact that living down there near that intersection um and St. Patrick and uh the railroad crossing, there have been times when the trains back up traffic all the way past Maple um depending on how long that train gets stuck there. So, any reduction in the train traffic in that particular intersection is going to be huge, huge advantage for us, especially in emergency response. So, I just think this looks like a good plan that's forward-thinking and frankly, very creative cuz I hadn't even thought of that as an option. So, I want to say I think the thorough study was very, very good. Thank you. All right. We'll entertain a motion. Motion by Lyman with a second by Was that Bieberdorf or Bahar? We're going to give it to Bahar. All in favor? Any opposed? Motion carries. Item 33, approve award of base bid and alternates 201 and 205 through 209 for Norwood Park Redevelopment Project Number PR23-6192, CIP Number 51458. Open on April 28th, 2026 to the lowest responsible bidder, RCS Construction in the amount of $2,815,557.26. Counselor Stroman, you're the one who pulled this item, sir. Thank you, Mayor. Um I think this is an exciting project for the Norwood area. And um it's been a long time coming. Um when John and Lance, before they were

sitting out on their lawn chairs, they were actually really pushing to get this um done for their ward. And I appreciate the efforts that they made. And I would like to have um Parks Director Beegler mention briefly what this entails just so that people know what's happening there. All right. With that, we'll go to Parks and Recreation Director Jeff Beegler. Uh thank you, Mr. Mayor. And thank you for the question, Councilman Stroman. Uh this project, yes, you're exactly right. This is an exciting project and it has been a long time in the making. Uh in addition to the the the new park amenities that will go into this park, playground, restroom, uh pathway that goes all the way around the drainage area, lighting, parking, all of that stuff, uh there will also be some uh infrastructure work done to the drain itself. Public Works is partnering with us on this to uh do some dredging and cleaning out of that uh that drainage area so it functions better and and like it is uh designed to do. Uh and they'll also be uh making some improvements to allow better access for the maintenance equipment to get into the park to maintain those uh that infrastructure. So, yes, very exciting. Um we've been looking forward to this for quite some time. And uh there are a lot of families up in that area that I think will benefit from this. Okay. Well, would anybody like to make a motion to approve it? So moved. All right. We're going to give it to Roberts and a second by Lyman. All in favor? Any opposed? Motion carries. Uh that takes us to non-consent items 36 through 38. We'll open public comment for item 36 through 38. I have one speaker request form from Pat Roseland for item 36. Good evening, Council members. Mayor, uh Pat Roseland, uh member of the Zoning and Planning Commission. Uh this ordinance amending Rapid City Municipal Zoning Planning Commission to

allow vacation home and accessory dwelling units. I normally do not agree or disagree with our exceptional planning department. However, um in 2019, that ordinance was presented to the council and was approved to allow accessory dwelling units in residential districts with the restriction that they cannot be used as vacation home rentals. The purpose of the ordinance was to encourage development of affordable and workforce housing options. Since that time, Rapid City has not seen an appreciable increase of affordable and workforce housing. The vacation home uh advisory committee, which I was a member, we met for over a year, produced the ordinance that was presented to the Common Council, which was approved in December of 2025. Following the adoption of the vacation home rental ordinance in December of last year, those who operate vacation home rentals and ADUs I guess want to revisit restrictions placed on their use. At this time, there are 692 vacation home rentals in Rapid City. And as of December, when the ordinance was approved, there have been 20 short-term rentals in compliance or have been licensed by the state with the others waiting for online platform or licensing. For these for or there are 19 registered ADUs in Rapid City, which I'm guessing there are far other or far more than we aware of at this point. And what they'll probably raise their ugly head when this thing passes, which I'm sure it will, but so, if the council approves this amended use of the short-term rental ordinance, obviously, there will be less affordable housing and workforce housing in Rapid City. My question is, why are we adding to the issue that already exists, a desperate shortage of workforce housing in Rapid City? And I voted no on the work on this

uh uh re- amendment re- uh we I'd say amendment change at uh Zoning and Planning Commission. And I just I know this is the first reading, and it passed nine nine to one or eight to one, whoever was over there. But I just felt like I needed to vote no on this because of where we are where we are at in the in the workforce housing and low-income housing, which we basically have none. Because a lot of this because of the vacation home rental. So, thank you. Appreciate it, Councilman Stroman. Uh that will conclude the public comment for item 36 through 38. And we will move on to item 36, first reading of ordinance number 6714, an ordinance amending section 17. 50.219 of the RCMC to allow vacation homes and ADUs. Counselor Evans. Thank you. I'd like to ask Miss Fisher exactly where our planners are on this issue and what our their stand is on it. Go to Finance or Community Development Director Vicki Fisher. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. And thank you for the question. Uh so, we did look at this very closely. And uh currently, we have 14 accessory dwelling units permitted within the city. When we brought forward that ordinance in 2019, there was this big concern. And by the way, it took us over a year to get that ordinance uh passed by council. We went out into neighborhoods. There was a big concern that it would just change the character of every residential lot in the community. We saw what happened in Denver, and we felt it would be negligible. But we wanted to be able to provide a housing options where people could age in place. Where if your children are grown and you're getting older and you want to move into a smaller home and maybe have a grown child take over the larger home, they can assist you when need be, and it would also serve as a second uh form of income. So, maybe as parents, we could

help our children secure a higher education or maybe even retire at an earlier date. When we stood up the vacation home ordinance in 2025, um 6 years later, uh we did have a lot of discussion at the vacation home committee as to whether or not uh, we should allow a short-term rental in a vacation home. And mind you, there was a member on the ADU committee that represented the hotel industry. And they were very concerned that the ADUs would be used for short-term rentals. When we then, 6 years later, created the committee for the the vacation home ordinance, uh, and again, we met also for a year. The majority of those committee members all agreed that we should actually have ADUs serve as a good place for a vacation home. Mainly for the oversight because the property owner has to live on the property to have an ADU. And that's one of the biggest complaints about a vacation home is that if you do get an unruly crowd, the owner may be out of state or across town, and this would allow it. We are diligently working with the Department of Health to train up so that we can assist them with performing inspections because we know that the number of vacation homes in Rapid City is a large amount, and we took the position when we created the vacation home ordinance to allow the fair market value to dictate the number. So, if there's a period of time where we have too many vacation homes and there is an abundance of vacancies, we see about a third of those convert into monthly rentals. Then, when the vacation season hits us, as it's about to come up, then a lot of those will convert back to vacation home uses. The committee as a whole agreed that we should have the accessory dwelling units, mindful of the fact that

6 years later we only have 14. That that would be an appropriate location for a vacation home use to create that oversight. And so, we are in support of doing this. We are working with DOH to get trained up so that we can help with inspections so that during the 6-month grace period from when we adopted the vacation home ordinance, that we can get all those that are choosing to get licensed and registered, licensed through the state, registered through the city, we'll we'll assist the state with those inspections to ensure that we come forward with that. Those that choose to ignore all regulations, then we will work with the attorney's office, and we will seek complaints that way. Thank you. Looking for a motion. Motion by Temain. Second by Evans. All in favor? Any opposed? Motion carries. Item 37, a request by Avid 4 Engineering Inc. for Hayground LLC for preliminary subdivision plan for proposed lots in block 4 and 5 of East Small Business Center subdivision, generally described as being located north of East Small Drive, east of North LaCrosse Street, south of Seger Drive, and west of Tish Boulevard. The recommendation is to approve with stipulations. Motion by Layman with a second by Maher. All in favor? Any opposed? Motion carries. Item 38, approve the attached list of 2026 through 2027 malt beverage and South Dakota farm wine renewals upon approval from the Rapid City Police Department and Rapid City Fire Department. Motion by Roberts with a second by Layman. All in favor? Any opposed? Motion carries. That takes us to the end of the consent public hearing We will move on to non-public non-consent public hearing item 39, approve resolution number 2026-030. Or excuse me, let me go back to the

public hearing item uh, 39. We will open the public hearing for item 39. I have no request forms for item 39, so we will close the public hearing. And now I will read in item 39, approve resolution number 2026-030, a resolution for a vacation of right-of-way for property generally described as being located at 620 East Boulevard North. Motion by Roberts with a second by Seacrist. All in favor? Any opposed? Motion carries. We're going to move on to the bill list with item 40. We'll go to Finance Director Daniel Ainslie. And real quick, Mr. Olson, you had a general public comment. It looks like we're past that part of our of our agenda, but looks like it might be a public works item. So, Mike Tice, would you mind for Mr. Vance, if you raise your hand, Mr. Vance, uh, connect with them about your concern after the meeting. Thank you. Yep. Um, item 40, Finance Director Daniel Ainslie. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. The bill list for Main Street Square and Visit Rapid City total $104,805.40. Motion by Layman with a second by Roberts. All in favor? Any opposed? Motion carries with one abstention from uh, Councilman Meyer. Item 41, back to Finance Director Daniel Ainslie. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. The remaining bill list total $12,258,167.66. Got a motion by Meyer with a second by Seacrist. All in favor? The motion was to approve. All All in favor was I. Any opposed? Motion carries. All right, we'll look for a motion to adjourn. Motion by Temain, second by Roberts to adjourn. All or Strowman, one of you. Starting to sound alike. All in favor, say I. Any opposed? We're adjourned. Thanks, everyone.