SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) – A video posted Monday to President Joe Biden’s official White House accounts on Facebook and X features a South Dakota community leader: Madison Mayor Roy Lindsay.
“Mr. Mayor, can you hear me?” Biden says in the video.
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“Yes sir, Mr. President, I can hear you very well,” Lindsay says in response.
Federal dollars connecting the city of Madison with the Lewis & Clark Regional Water System in 2024 prompted the call on Sept. 19 between Lindsay and Biden.
“The quality and quantity of an extra million gallons a day of good, clean water, really a benefit to the citizens of Madison, the businesses of Madison,” Lindsay says in the call.
Lindsay tells KELOLAND News the White House reached out to him because he’s the mayor of a community benefiting from these federal dollars.
“I went to Dollar General and bought a cell phone holder that would stick on the hood of my pickup,” Lindsay said Monday in an interview.
The call featured familiar South Dakota weather, too.
“We were out to the Lewis and Clark water tower, which is two miles east of Madison, and it was terribly windy,” Lindsay said. “It would have been nice if it would have been a nicer day, but I went out and set up and … videoed with his staff ahead of time to make sure that my camera and the background and things were what they were looking for.”
Lindsay describes his opportunity to talk with Biden as “exciting” but not nerve-wracking.
“Nice conversation,” Lindsay said. “My wife asked me the same thing. She said, ‘Are you nervous?’ I said, ‘No. I’m comfortable.'”
And the voice on the other end of the line was feeling good, too.
“We’re making a big difference to making life better for people, and you’re doing a heck of a job, Mr. Mayor,” Biden says during the call.