The Rapid City Council convened on July 29, 2026, to review proposed 2027 budgets for the Human Resources, Information Technology, Mayor's Office, and Parks and Recreation departments. Department heads presented priorities, staffing, and financial changes, with council members asking questions about health insurance reserves, cybersecurity costs, recreation demand, and infrastructure needs. No consent calendar or public comments were included on the agenda.
Meeting will come to order. Let's begin with roll call and determination of quorum. I was going to claim glasses. Meyer. Here. Evans. Temang. Here. Bieberdorf. Secrets. Armstrong. Strowman. Roberts. Maher. Lehman. We have a quorum. Thank you. Next, we will proceed with the Pledge of Allegiance. If you're able and willing, please stand. I pledge at least. Next looking for a motion to adopt the agenda. I have a motion and a second. All in favor? Any opposed? We have an agenda. I have no public comments before me, so I will open and close that and next move on to non-public hearing items one through five and begin with number one, the 2027 human resource budget presentation by Director Amber Cornella. Ms. Cornella, the floor is yours. All right, thank you everyone. Can you hear me okay? All right. That commitment guides every decision we make, including how we allocate our resources. Everything we do is grounded in excellence, connection, and purpose, and in building a workplace where individuals can thrive and the organization can succeed. The work we've invested in modernizing HR systems and operations has created efficiencies that allow us to shift more of our time towards proactive strategic work. As one example of an efficiency gain from this work, employees used to receive a multi-page PDF packet and completed their paperwork manually when they were hired. Today, all onboarding tasks for employees with city email access are completed directly in Tyler, which reduces manual work, improves accuracy, and creates long-term savings by streamlining the entire employee lifecycle. Alongside these system improvements, we developed updated HR tools, policies, and procedures that support consistency across the city. And by transitioning compensation studies in-house, we reduced reliance on external consultants and built internal expertise that will continue to benefit the city year after year. We made significant progress in strengthening the employee experience through targeted improvements that directly support retention, engagement, and workforce stability. We expanded our benefits package with stronger ancillary offerings, improved our dental coverage, and transitioned to a better vision provider, all designed to enhance the value of employment without significant cost increases. We implemented an improved employee assistance program at no additional cost. This included expanding eligibility to part-time employees, increasing the number of covered sessions per topic per year from three to five, and adding access to a digital platform and mobile app. Our new interactive real-time recognition platform reduces manual work and supports a culture of appreciation across departments. And in order to strengthen onboarding and leadership readiness, we created standardized toolkits for employees and supervisors and launched leadership connection, which is a key component of our leadership development framework that supports consistent communication, targeted training, and ongoing networking for people leaders across the city. These initiatives represent strategic investments in people and are designed to reduce turnover-related costs, strengthen leadership consistency, and support long-term workforce planning. And finally, we've spent significant time and effort in the area of labor relations. We earlier this year reached a mutually beneficial agreement with IATSI, which is the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees who work at the monument. Negotiations with IAFF, the international associations of firefighters, began in June and are progressing well with collaborative discussions underway. The third set of negotiations that are expected to take place this year are with the APSME Union or American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees. The contract is up at the end of the year, and negotiations are expected to begin soon.