Rapid City Common Council will decide whether or not the city needs a mask mandate

RAPID CITY, S.D. — With the increase of positive COVID-19 cases statewide, the Rapid City Common Council will be deciding whether to enforce a mask mandate within the city. Some businesses have already put signs up requiring customers to wear face masks while inside their stores. Some of the merchants believe that having a city wide mask mandate could help stop the rapid spread of COVID-19, at least within the city and Pennington County.

“We put a sign on the door requiring masks and it’s for everybody’s safety,” said Frank Night Pipe, Retail Sales at Prairie Edge. “If a person doesn’t have a mask, we provide a mask for them, so yes, we are in strong support of customers wearing masks. You know we are all in this together, you know, it’s just like they say – and the thing about masks is it keeps everybody safe.”

At Monday’s Council Meeting there will be 3 items on the agenda regarding the mask mandate. The original ordinance will get a second reading; also a new ordinance will be introduced.

Mayor Steve Allender said, “[It’s] an alternate ordinance that I think is gonna be a lot easier for people to live with. It’s gonna still bring about higher compliance, but more on a voluntary basis, and so I think that that’s looking good.”

There will also be a third option in case Council rejects the first two ordinances, which would be the introduction of a proclamation. It’s unclear at this time what’s included in either the proclamation or the alternate ordinance.