Rapid City SD – Residents who want to address the Rapid City Council on topics that aren’t on the agenda will now have to wait until the end of the meeting to speak.
The council voted 7-3 Monday to move general public comment from the start of its meetings to the last item on the agenda. The change does not affect comments on specific agenda items. Residents can still speak on those items before the council votes on them.
The change applies only to full council meetings. At Legal and Finance, Council member Kevin Maher had amended the proposal to make the same change at Legal and Finance and Public Works Committee meetings, but the council did not add that to the version it approved Monday.
The resolution was on the consent agenda. Council member Laura Armstrong pulled it for discussion, and Council member John B. Roberts made the motion to approve it.
Why supporters backed it
Supporters said the change lets the council finish city business first without silencing anyone.
“This is not an attempt to squelch anybody’s speaking about anything,” council member Bill Evans said. He argued that under Robert’s Rules of Order, general public comment counts as new business and belongs after the scheduled agenda.
“If it’s really important, people will hang around and speak,” Evans said.
Council member Kevin Maher said residents who work to get an item on the agenda should come first.
“The people who have spent weeks getting something on the agenda, they should take priority over somebody who wants to get up and just talk about something that’s not on the agenda,” Maher said. “I’m fine with sitting here until 11 o’clock at night listening to people talk about general public comment, but let’s do the city’s business first.”
Council member Greg Strommen said state law requires public comment but leaves the timing to the council.
“We’re required by statute to have public comment,” Strommen said. “It doesn’t say when or how much time.”
Strommen said the three-minute limit for general public comment will stay in place. He said Sioux Falls also places general public comment at the end of its agenda.
Why opponents voted no
Residents who spoke during Monday’s public comment opposed the change.
Council member Josh Biberdorf said the council was reshaping its meetings to avoid a handful of speakers, and that it was aimed at “a few nefarious players that we don’t want to hear each night.”
“I think people have the right to come down, express their opinions — right, wrong, or indifferent — and that’s why we’re here to listen to them,” Biberdorf said. “You’re changing the whole meeting to take care of a couple people that you don’t want to hear.”
He also said residents have no way of knowing when a meeting will end.
Council President Stephen Tamang said he supported the idea at the Legal and Finance Committee but changed his mind Monday.
“I have to admit though, tonight I was influenced by what one of the speakers said,” Tamang said. He said that hearing general comments early gives the council a chance to take up a resident’s concern and place it on a future agenda sooner.
Council member Laura Armstrong said she did not believe the proposal was meant as disrespect to residents.
“I really in my heart of hearts think it’s just a matter of streamlining business so we can do what we need to do up here,” she said.
She raised concerns for residents with mobility or transportation barriers and those who don’t want to drive after dark. Armstrong said the city offered an online public comment option about six years ago and suggested bringing it back as a compromise.
“I would feel a little more comfortable if somebody could submit an email with their public comment and then it would be part of the record,” she said.
The resolution passed without that change.
How they voted
Yes (7): Evans, Maher, Strommen, Roberts, Callie Meyer, Lindsey Seachris, Lance Lehmann
No (3): Biberdorf, Tamang, Armstrong
Other business Monday
Breakroom Billiards license. After roughly 30 minutes of discussion, the council unanimously found a workaround for Breakroom Billiards & Darts, 355 11th St., whose owner paid $75,000 for a license transfer that turned out to be legally impossible.
Owner Shaun Clauson told the council he bought the license from another local business to add video lottery machines to his pool hall, which already holds a malt beverage license. Finance Director Daniel Ainslie and City Attorney Carla Cushman explained that the license was tied to a full liquor license, and that state law does not allow the video lottery portion to be separated and sold on its own.
Ainslie said city staff initially checked with the state and saw no problem.
“Originally, we did discuss this via email with the Department of Revenue as well as Lottery. It appeared that they had no concern. Later on, they did,” Ainslie said. After a longer conversation with the Lottery, he said, “We are not able to separate a video lottery license from a liquor license. That is always attached to a liquor license.”
Instead of approving the transfer, which had been continued from Oct. 19, the council allocated one of the city’s four newly available licenses directly to Clauson’s business. That skipped the drawing the city normally holds, where businesses pay a $1,000 nonrefundable entry fee. Three remain for the drawing.
“Did you purchase this license already?” Roberts asked. When Clauson said yes, Roberts replied, “Wow. Wow. I think that there’s somebody’s got some legal possible consequences in this.”
Cushman said she does not give legal advice to residents but that Clauson “may have a legal claim.” She added, “I’ve never heard of somebody trying to separate one from a liquor license.”
Council member Laura Armstrong said she contacted the South Dakota Lottery before the meeting and read its response into the record. Citing SDCL 42-7A-64, the Lottery said a city “cannot remove video lottery authorization from an on-sale liquor license” and that a video lottery establishment license “cannot be sold, transferred, or maintained as a standalone asset.”
The Lottery’s response also noted that giving video lottery authorization to an additional malt beverage license would count toward the city’s new limit without going through the drawing. Breakroom still needs its own state establishment license before it can place machines.
Council member Callie Meyer made the motion to give Breakroom one of the city’s available licenses directly. She said she didn’t join the council to “follow all the precedent that’s come before” or “stick to status quo,” calling it a “really cool opportunity” to help a resident.
City officials said the city has no role in private transactions between businesses. It is unclear whether Clauson will recover the $75,000.
Clauson didn’t put the blame on City Hall.
“Just to clarify, we’re not holding the city responsible for this at all,” he said. “We thought we were doing our due diligence by checking on it.”
Pioneer Drive sidewalk waiver approved. The council voted 7-3 to grant Evergreen Real Estate LLC a waiver from installing a sidewalk along Pioneer Drive, reversing the denial that had been on the consent agenda. City staff and Pennington County recommended denial, and the Public Works Committee denied the waiver unanimously Oct. 27.
Council member Lance Lehmann pulled the item from consent at the request of City Engineer Roger Hall. Roberts moved to approve the waiver. Council member Kevin Maher called it a “sidewalk from nowhere to nowhere” in a neighborhood without connecting sidewalks. Council President Stephen Tamang argued that repeated waivers leave gaps in the city’s pedestrian network. Tamang, Josh Biberdorf and Callie Meyer voted no.
Concrete mixer trailer tabled. At the request of Public Works, Council member Lance Lehmann pulled the $160,065.54 purchase of a Cemen Tech concrete mixer trailer for the Streets Division from the consent agenda and moved to table it. The motion passed unanimously. The vendor’s 30-day price guarantee expired Oct. 16, and the agenda listed the cost as an estimate based on freight.
Employee discipline policy. The council approved the city’s employee discipline policy after Council member Laura Armstrong pulled it to ask about the role of Human Resources compared with department directors’ authority. Council member Bill Evans cast the lone no vote.
Main Street Square. The council approved $500,000 for improvements to Main Street Square. Council member Callie Meyer, who works for Visit Rapid City, pulled the item so she could abstain from the vote.
Sources: Rapid City Council meeting video, Nov. 2, 2026; Rapid City Council roll call vote; Nov. 2 council agenda and packet; South Dakota Secretary of State business records.
Previously in The Sentinel: Rapid City Council rundown for Monday, Nov. 2.
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