City Council approves pool, soccer complex, fire program funds - KOTA Territory News

City Council approves pool, soccer complex, fire program funds

After very little discussion, the Rapid City Council Monday night approved more than $7 million in Vision Fund monies.
 
Council members allocated $2.2 million for a 21-field soccer complex off North Elk Vale Road, despite objections from one audience member about flooding possibilities.

Council approved another $5.1 million from the Vision Fund for fiscal year 2015 for the Horace Mann leisure pool.

And in another fiscal measure, Council added $250,000 to the 2013 budget for fire suppression and beetle-kill tree removal.

Alderman Steve Laurenti expressed concerns about where the money would come from and about the fact that the program hadn't been means-tested, but his misgivings were dismissed by the rest of the Council.
 
"Those bugs and those fires don't means-test anybody," alderman Jerry Wright said. "I think we need to just get it done. And this is a consistent program, and I think it's the only way we have of maybe minimizing the damage."
 
The amended 2013 appropriations measure passed 9-, with only Laurenti voting against it.