Rapid City Council to Continue Airport Board Expansion Discussion, Approves Infrastructure Projects

Mar. 2—The Rapid City Regional Airport will have to wait until March 15 for the second first reading of an ordinance that would expand the board and remove language requiring services from the Rapid City Fire Department.

The Rapid City Council voted unanimously to move the ordinance to its next March meeting following a 30-minute discussion.

The ordinance expands the airport's five-member board to seven with two being residents of Pennington, Meade, Lawrence and/or Custer counties. It would also remove the requirement that the airport use the Rapid City Fire Department for aircraft rescue and firefighting services.

Airport Executive Director Patrick Dame said removing the language on the fire department's service is not a reflection on the department.

"When you get into the issue of looking at the airport's rights and your grant assurances that you sign...we're not supposed to give up our rights," he said. "We're supposed to have options available to us."

Dame said the issue is there are other options out there but they only have access to one.

He also said the board wants to expand to two members outside of city limits to diversify the board.

"The thing we look at the most is we're planning the airport in terms of what's happening tomorrow is already in the can," he said.

Dame said they're going through a large master planning process and looking at the next 15-20 years, they foresee big decisions having to be made. He said as the decisions move forward, they look at if it's fair if Rapid City is the only one at the table at the regional facility.

Council member Jason Salamun made a substitute motion to have the additional members be residents of Rapid City. He said the city has been the main investor in the airport.

"Bringing in other taxing entities, I think if they have a stake, a financial stake in it, obviously they should have representation on that board," he said. "Without that stake, I'm not sure if it's appropriate that they have a voice on how we run the airport unless we change the authority or unless the jurisdiction is split up a little differently."

Dame posed the question should the airport board expand when they need the tax base or is there a need to develop those relationships before the need arises. He said he thinks a seven-member board is a stable form of board for them.

Salamun said going to seven members is a great thing, but wonders if it would set a precedent for other committees and boards.

Council member Ritchie Nordstrom suggested the additional members join as non-voting members. Council member Bill Evans said he could agree with the suggestion.

Evans also said he doesn't see a concern requiring services from the fire department.

"I didn't have enough time to learn about this, it showed up last Wednesday," he said.

Council members discussed the ordinance at the Feb. 24 working session and asked Dame and Fire Chief Jason Culberson about the ordinance. According to the agenda item, removing the language would help avoid potential compliance issues with the airport's grant assurances.

The council voted 7-3 to reject Salamun's amendment and voted 6-4 to approve the board expansion with Salamun and Evans, and council members John Roberts and Ron Weifenbach voting no.

The ordinance was moved to March 15 after some confusion regarding how the council could move part of an ordinance forward as there was still concern and confusion regarding the language on the fire department service.

At the beginning of the meeting, Summit Arena senior project manager Dave Richardson gave a brief presentation and said the project is on schedule and on budget for completion.

Community Development division managers and staff presented current programs and future plans for building services, the Community Development Block Grant program, code enforcement, current planning and long range planning. Affordable housing was listed in the future goals, along with an ordinance for a small homes residential district and parking regulations.

The council approved all other items on its agenda, including several infrastructure projects — like the reconstruction project on Una Del Drive and Wildwood Drive — and rezoning a portion of the Buffalo Crossing Subdivision from office commercial district to medium density residential.

The parcel is about 5.31 acres and will have 13 single family lots and a drainage lot.

— Contact Siandhara Bonnet at [email protected] —

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