Sturgis voters eliminate city manager, cancel flat track race

RAPID CITY, S.D. (KEVN) - Sturgis election results came in late Tuesday, with poll workers burning the midnight oil and counting the votes.

In the end, it wasn’t a close race.

The people of Sturgis, in a vote of 844 to 622, voted to eliminate the city manager position from city government. This decision will result in the city making a drastic change as they move from the mayor being a community spokesperson to now being the person who must make decisions previously the responsibility of the city manager.

“There’s a lot of ordinances and policies that we have that refer to the city manager, and so the city attorney and staff will need to go through those and find out how do we proceed and do we need to change verbiage,” said City of Sturgis Communications Director Deb Holland.

Around 340 references to the city manager will need to be changed in both ordinances and in the city’s policy and procedures manual.

As for the agreement to host the “Spirit of Sturgis TT Race” during this year’s Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, the people rejected the council’s decision to host by a vote of 1,031 to 437.

For the city, this means going back to the drawing board to figure out what happens next.

”It wasn’t a vote yes or no on the race it was this contract specifically so what I’m going to say is, I’m not sure, I mean we don’t know what’s going to happen moving forward,” explained Holland.

During the Sturgis City Council meeting April 15, the votes from Tuesday will be canvassed and made official, and discussions on what will happen moving forward will begin.

As for the people elected to the city council Tuesday night, they will start their term May 1.

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