State Officials Join DDI For One-Stop Ribbon Cutting

Lt. Gov. Larry Rhoden cut the ribbon on the South Dakota One-Stop Facility on Friday, Oct. 7. He along with BOA Commissioner Scott Bollinger, DSS Secretary Laurie Gill, and President of Dream Design Hani Shafai spoke at the ribbon cutting ceremony to celebrate the completion of the Rapid City building that now houses seven state agencies in one place.

“Every dollar that we spend as a state is a taxpayer dollar,” said Lt. Gov. Rhoden in his remarks. “The One-Stop here in Rapid City is another way that we are being responsible stewards of those taxpayer dollars. By consolidating our facilities, we streamline our leases and we lower the cost to taxpayers to operate these agencies. We can use those savings to better serve the people of South Dakota for the future.”

Since its inception, the goal of the One-Stop has been to improve services to the public as well as aid recruitment, retention, and morale of state employees.

“We take state employees for granted,” Shafai said during the ceremony. “Every one of them is crucial, from the receptionist who takes phone calls to the person who is helping with vaccine distribution or to the people who put their lives on the line like Child Protection Services workers. We don’t say it enough where we say thank you to every one of them.”

The process to build the One-Stop started in 2020 when the Bureau of Administration selected Dream Design as a partner on the project.

“Finding space for individual agencies can be very difficult,” said Commissioner Bollinger. “They have ebbs and flows in the number of employees. Looking at a one-stop gives us a great opportunity to provide services for all those agencies, that standing alone, they can’t provide for themselves.”

Dream Design broke ground on the project in March of 2021 and state agencies began moving into the building in August of 2022.

“This is a milestone moment. It’s a reflection of our commitment to western South Dakota and to our employees,” said Secretary Gill. “We appreciate the collaborative effort and approach that Dream Design took as they pulled together the team . . . to design and make this building be something that meets the unique needs of the agencies in here.”

Secretary Joan Adam of the Department of Health and Secretary Mike Houdyshell of the Department of Revenue were also in attendance as well as state employees and city, county, and tribal officials.

Prior to the actual cutting of the ribbon, Robert Rattling Chase of the Oglala Sioux Tribe offered a blessing over the building.

For more information on the One-Stop, go to dreamdesigninc.com/stateonestop.