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Jackie Hendry: Local leaders are facing an unforeseen challenge as the pandemic continues. With a noticeable uptake in COVID-19 cases, West River, it's hard not to wonder if we're about to see another hotspot in South Dakota. Steve Allender is the mayor of Rapid City, and he joins us today to discuss the recent uptick in COVID-19 numbers in his city and plans to protect the city's homeless population, and I'm sure much more. Mayor Allender, welcome back to In the Moment. Thanks for taking the time to talk with us today.
Steve Allender: Thanks for having me this morning.
Jackie Hendry: So let's start with probably the most recent news this morning, receiving word that a Rapid City police officer has now tested positive for COVID-19, just the latest case in kind of an uprise in your city. What can you tell us about that particular situation?
Steve Allender: Well, I think it's one of it's one of those things we all assumed was going to happen, either with our police officers, firefighters, paramedics, those frontline workers for the city. They're interacting with the public every day. So this is the first police officer who is home sick with COVID-19, although there's been a couple others that have tested positive for antibodies. So there is close contact, and sometimes it's unavoidable. And the police involved shooting the other night involved a suspect who was COVID-19 positive. So it's unavoidable, realistically.
Jackie Hendry: I know Rapid City took some real stringent measures as far as businesses are concerned and things like that, probably one of the early communities to take those measures. Give us an update on what you're looking at as far as business restrictions and things like that in your city.
Steve Allender: Well, the business restrictions that are in place right now are very realistic and common sense based restrictions. It requires spacing in restaurants and bars, safety precautions and warnings in other retail stores. And last night at the city council meeting, the council voted to extend that ordinance, to give them the ability to continue to regulate through July. And then at the next city council meeting in two weeks, they will take up the resolution, which is the way they have chosen to alter the city ordinance. So the votes were six to three to keep that ordinance in place. So there's still strong support on the city council for it. But we're at the beginning of tourist season here, and there's a little bit of uncertainty about what that means for us.
Jackie Hendry: Right. Talk to us a little bit more about that, because of course we're coming up to Memorial Day weekend, usually our unofficial kickoff to summer and folks taking those trips. What's the initial feeling right now?
Steve Allender: Well, the feeling is of course different for different people. The tourism industry, the businesses, are hoping to have a tourist season this year. There are a number of residents who fear that only the infected are going to come here and they're going to leave us with widespread disease and then go back home. And so there's a lot of fear, some of it irrational, but our population, if we have a near normal tourist season, our population in Rapid City will rise by five to 10,000 people on a daily basis of lots of folks here. So if there were people able to transmit the virus and they were here interacting with us, it could cause a spike. That's the statistical reality of it. But I think what's in question is really how much of a tourist season we're going to have. I think it's starting out slow. The reservations are slow, and we're a bit conflicted as far as how much to advertise and how much to try to be normal this tourist season.
Jackie Hendry: Right. And I'm hearing there's this idea that you're anticipating somewhere around $6 million budget cuts in the city. A lot of that, I would imagine, having to do with tourist season and just all of the other restrictions and issues that we're dealing with right now. On the state level, the state seems to be a little less willing to put out those predictions just yet. Can you talk about how the city is kind of putting a finger on those initial numbers and ideas of where money needs to be moved around?
Steve Allender: Well, they're projections, and even though I disclaim this every time I say it, I'm not sure if anyone really hears it, but they're projections and they'll change over time. One of the things we don't have to make these projections is real time data. So we're projecting six months overall of pretty bleak economic activity here. We've based our projections on that, and the state sales tax submissions to the city come a month late just because of the way they're reported and distributed. So we'll start having real data around the end of this month, and at the end of every month to follow. So that could change the projections.
But we have to project, estimate. It's part of responsible budgeting, because we're nearing half of the year going by already, and so we have to curtail our spending and start shutting down programs in order to make it to the end of the year with a positive balance. Cities can't go in debt for operations. We require a balanced budget. And so it's going to mean some changes for the people of Rapid City and for some of our visitors.
Jackie Hendry: And again, I'll reiterate your disclaimer. These are projections, but in anticipation of those projections, you talk about losing some programs. What are we looking at for some of those hard decisions?
Steve Allender: Well, the most noticeable I think for residents will be the recreation program. Some of the normal programming through our ice rink and swim center will be postponed until September 1st. That's a huge disappointment to folks out there, especially our seniors who go to that swim center for their daily exercise. And the city swimming pools in our parks won't be open this year. And that is purely a financial decision, not a COVID-19 related decision. I mean, we didn't even have to weigh CDC guidelines on operation of swimming pools because we can't afford to operate them.
There's an illusion, I think, that because kids pay an admittance fee and they buy potato chips or whatever at the concession stand there, that it must make some money or break even, but it's not true at all. It will cost taxpayers, over and above admission fees, about $5,000 a day to run the three swimming pools in our parks. And that's every day for 75 days, so about $385,000 out of pocket to keep the pools open for two and a half months. And a fairly limited number of kids and adults will participate in those pools. So that's going to be, you know, we're going to get some jabs over that one, but it's, like I said, it's a financial decision.
Jackie Hendry: Talk to us about, we had a conversation on our show yesterday about the statewide homeless count for 2020, and I know Rapid City has been looking at things that they can do for the population of folks experiencing homelessness right now. Bring us up to speed on some of that.
Steve Allender: Well, there's homeless, and then there's homeless. As far as our typical emergency shelter goes, there has been reduced space in the shelter due to distancing requirements. And we have a county care campus that's been open now for a year or so, and we're able to take some individuals there, but the part that's more related to our emergency actions are the chronic homeless. And those are folks that are out on the streets. They are not seeking treatment. They are, for the most part, unwilling to accept treatment or programming. They're living their life, and a high percentage of them are addicted. And so when they become ill, we anticipate that will spread through that community very rapidly, because they do not concern themselves with hygiene or distancing. There's very close contact between this group of individuals.
So when they become ill, we have an emergency shelter set up at our civic center, where it's completely equipped to handle these individuals. We're funded to take care of them. They will require constant supervision. And we also think that there's probably a chance that not all of them are going to want to stay in the facility. And for people who are not addicted to something, a substance, it might be difficult to understand, but in the middle of the night, when someone hasn't had a drink for a while, they'll do anything to find one. And so if we have an infected individual that is set on leaving the emergency shelter, then we're going to have a monitoring problem that we're going to have to deal with and perhaps require the state to intervene with a public health emergency declaration. And worst case scenario, that individual can be taken into custody to protect the rest of the community from infections.
So it's kind of complicated and clunky, but it's one of those scenarios that I think none of us imagined we would ever be talking about here in 2020, but that's the reality of it. So we're set up. The infrastructure is there, the procedures are there. We have a rumor as of yesterday of an infected homeless individual. We haven't seen any yet. And so we're gearing up for that. But so far, as far as the traditional homeless shelter, the Cornerstone Rescue Mission, it seems to be doing okay. And so we're taking each day as it comes.
Jackie Hendry: Can you talk a little bit about, and I don't think you mean to generalize, but kind of that distinction between folks who are truly unwilling to seek those services and just a matter of access, which I'm sure is exacerbated by the current situation, like shelters not being able to take in as many people and things like that. As far as addiction services in the area, do you have any insight on how they're responding to our unique situation right now?
Steve Allender: Well, generally speaking, the human services provider community is doing a good job. They're seeing increases in referrals. So I think access is okay right now for individuals seeking help. In fact, there's a chance with all the attention on mental health related issues, it could actually be better right now. But that's for people who want help, who see there's a problem, who don't choose to deal with it on their own anymore. And there's a huge difference between that individual and someone who we would classify as a chronic homeless, who's been living on the street, living on their own, for a number of years and refuses to accept any help or programming. So there's not an access issue there, because they turn the other way when it comes to programs or treatment facilities.
Jackie Hendry: Yeah. And I'm curious about if there is suspicion or something, as far as access for people who are homeless, who may believe that they have COVID-19 symptoms or something like that. And I'm thinking about the state's announcement about mass testing in nursing homes and other communal living situations. Have you heard about any conversations about mass testing in shelters, like we've talked about, or access for folks who maybe don't have a primary care provider? Like we've been told we should call a primary care provider if we're concerned about symptoms?
Steve Allender: No, I haven't heard any suggestions or comments about mass testing in shelters. Of course, we haven't identified an outbreak at the shelters yet, but access generally, access to testing, is very, very low anyway. I think the state's average is about 14% of everyone tested is positive, because the testing protocol's very targeted, and, you know, not testing everyone who walks through the door and is curious if they might have COVID. But as far as the individuals, such as the homeless, and in Rapid City, I mean, our primary minority population is Native American, and we have a Native American health system here. And so there's good access there. They're doing a lot of testing, finding quite a few positive test results lately, but those results, those testing supplies, are becoming very limited. So they're testing fewer people, waiting for a resupply.
And I think that's one of the most frustrating things with this whole pandemic, is I don't think it was five minutes after we heard on the news that there was a pandemic that we also heard that there was a global shortage of testing supplies. And that's been months now, and we still cannot catch up to the testing demand, but I think we ought to be testing enough people so that that positive rate is maybe a third or a fourth of what it is now, to give us some real feeling of security so that we have a better idea how the disease is progressing in our communities. So access generally is denied. Access for the homeless individual, even more limited, because of the circles they run in. If they get sick, they may just lay down wherever they are, rather than seek help.
And transportation's an issue, if they want to go to the doctor somewhere. So they would typically rely on the ambulance or other first responders to deal with them and make those referrals. So it's a system that doesn't really guarantee great service, because to a good extent, there's a less than willing patient who may really need a test for their own benefit and for the benefit of the community. It's just really confusing and frustrating to try to navigate all of these little glitches in the system.
Jackie Hendry: Right. My guest has been Rapid City mayor Steve Allender. Unfortunately we're out of time today, but you're welcome back on In the Moment anytime. And thanks for taking the time to talk with us today.
Steve Allender: Well, thanks for having me. I appreciate it.