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Committee OKs emergency repairs after Rapid City server‑room cooling failure
Summary
The Legal & Finance Committee voted to forward an emergency repair request to the full council after the city’s data‑center cooling system failed; IT staff said the room holds servers that route city internet and phone systems and proposed a right‑sized, longer‑term replacement.
The Rapid City Legal and Finance Committee on March 11 voted to forward an emergency repair request to the full City Council after the city’s data‑center cooling system suffered a complete failure over the weekend.
IT Director Jim told the committee that the primary fan motor in the server‑room HVAC system failed and that staff had installed a temporary barn‑fan to keep equipment cool. “All of our communications including our internet and our phones go through that room,” Jim said, explaining the urgency of restoring reliable cooling.
The committee added the item to the agenda by unanimous voice vote after Jim described the incident and requested emergency authority to proceed. Finance staff told the committee that declaring an emergency would allow staff to seek quotes without a full bid process — avoiding a 45–60 day delay — and that exact costs and vendor selection would be determined after Monday’s council decision.
Jim said staff will work with maintenance and outside vendors to “right‑size the solution not just for today but for the next 10 to 20 years,” and that they expect the replacement equipment to be smaller and more efficient than the present unit. He also said some retrofitting of parts is underway because manufacturer parts were unavailable.
Committee members asked whether the city should move fully to cloud‑based services. Jim replied that the city owns substantial on‑site storage and backup — about 42–44 terabytes of daily backups — and that a purely cloud approach would likely cost more than the emergency repair price tag the committee discussed. “Because we archive so much of our data…the amount of storage expense we would spend in the cloud per year would greatly exceed this $110,000,” Jim said.
The committee approved the motion to forward the emergency repair authorization to the full council; the item will appear on the council agenda for formal approval and procurement steps.
The council will consider the emergency authorization at its next meeting. If approved, staff will solicit quotes, select a vendor, and return details of costs and timeline during the council process.
