00:00:12,100	I mean it’s 5:15 on August 13th. We’re in the Tom Baker of the City County building. This is going to be the board of City commissioners meeting. Before we get started, uh, Chaplain Wyatt, if you come forward, give us invocation and lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance. The Yeah, go ahead s Stan.

00:00:29,670	That’d be great. Let’s stand for prayer and then we’ll uh do the pledge. Father God, we just, uh, thank you for, uh, this, uh, this evening and this day we have already uh enjoyed some of the moisture that you’re delivering on us.

00:00:48,830	We, we can look at all these things as blessings Uh, we don’t want to look at them as curses we just pray that you’ll be with, uh, uh, the amount of water that might come and, and, uh, those that are driving around be with our first responders as they take care of situations, uh, out in our, our city. I pray that they be safe, be with us tonight.

00:01:06,230	And these commissioners as, as we have conversation about our city and what needs to be done. Uh, we just, uh, pray this all, your son’s name. Amen. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Thank you.

00:01:29,430	Thank you, sir. Right. We’ll call our meeting to order if we can call roll. Comm. Risch. Here Comm., Comm. Connelly, Comm. Cleary here, Mayor Schmitz here. At this point in time we have public comment for anything on the consent agenda or the regular agenda that is not a public hearing.

00:01:56,500	So anyone who wish to speak, please come forward, sign in, and let us know who you are and what you’re talking about. The Second call for public comment. Third and final call for public comment. Hearing and seeing no one public comment period is now closed. Comm., what are your wishes with regard to the consent agenda? Move to approve.

00:02:27,400	Is there any discussion? Hearing on a call roll. Comm. Zenker. Comm. Connelly, Comm. Cleary, Comm. Risch. Mayor Schmitz, yes. First item of me and the regular agenda is a public hearing on a request for a new class I2 complementary alcohol license for yellow stitch. Boutique Doing businesses yellow stitch boutique. In downtown Bismarck. This is a public hearing.

00:02:53,270	Anyone who wish to speak to this topic, please come forward. Second call for public comment. Third and final call for public comment. Hearing and seeing no one, public comment period is now closed. Comm., what are your wishes? Motion to approve. 2. Is there any discussion? Harry Nunn will call roll. Mr. Connelly, Comm.

00:03:22,870	Cleary, Yes, Comm. Risch. Yes, Comm. Zenker. Yes, Mayor Schmidt, yes. Next item is public hearing on a corrected annexation ordinance 6503. Daniel. Good evening, Mayor commissioners. Uh, this is a public hearing for a revised annexation ordinance for Elkridge 3rd edition. Uh, the Orn was originally adopted back in 2022, uh, May of 2022.

00:03:53,030	Now we hold our annexation ordinances that are adopted in conjunction with plats until the plot is recorded and so that took a little bit of time, uh, the plot was recorded, uh, 2 years later in 2024 of May.

00:04:08,830	Uh, after that was recorded and we were adjusting the city limits, an error was noticed in the legal description, uh, the text of the Of the document, uh, the map as you see here has not changed. This is the exact same map that was shown in 2022 and was approved by the City commission. Um, however, the, the text had, um, some lots missing from that description.

00:04:27,930	So what we’re doing today is uh walking through the same process of advertising um that uh a public hearing for the annexation as we would the first time around, uh, to make these corrections, uh, but it doesn’t change anything from the map that you had seen previously. So if you have any questions for me. An attempt to answer them.

00:04:46,700	Commission’s any questions? Doesn’t look like any Again, as stated, this is a public hearing. Anyone who wish to speak to this. Um, correction to the ordinance, please come forward. A second call for public comment. The 3rd and final call for public comment. Hearing and seeing no one, public comment periods now closed, commissioners. Motion to approve. 2.

00:05:11,200	Is there any discussion? Hearing on a call roll. Comm. Cleary, Comm. Risch, Comm. Zenker. Yes, Comm. Connelly, Mayor Schmitt, yes. Next item is a public hearing on ordinance 6585 to amend running at large. The running at large ordinance and I don’t know if. I know what the change is because we read it, but Comm., you were.

00:05:41,670	You kind of led this charge, so. So thank you, Mr. Mayor, Commissioners, um, We have the, the, the proposal here is to change of dog running at large from a misdemeanor immediately to to strikes or 3 strikes and you’re out. The 1st 2 strikes you get infractions and then the third strike you get a uh misdemeanor.

00:06:01,770	And what brought this to light was earlier this year, I opened up the Bismarck Tribune and here we have a federal judge who was charged with a misdemeanor because it got dog got loose and I’m going, well, that seems a little bit harsh, you know, that’s a like a crime for the rest of your life you

00:06:15,770	could say. Have you ever been charged with a crime? Oh yes, I have, and I, I’m a federal judge, and I don’t think a federal judge should be charged any different than anyone else, but it really brought it to light that this is probably a bit excessive on our citizens.

00:06:30,870	So we had a meeting in the animal Control Board. We came to consensus that, hey, listen, if somebody’s outrageous and keeps letting her dog loose, we’ve got, we’ve got to clamp down, but the first couple of times, let’s give them a break and call it an infraction and find him a little bit and move on with our lives.

00:06:45,630	So it was unanimous and announced before the. Commission I’d urge everyone to support it. Thank you, Comm.. So Any questions? OK, is the public hearing, anyone who wish to speak forward Nice summary. A second call for public comment. Third and final call for public comment. Hearing or seeing none, public comment period is now closed.

00:07:12,930	Commissioners, what are your wishes Commissioners, what are your wishes Do we have any discussion? Hearing on this call roll. Comm. Rich. Yay. Comm. Zenker. Yes, Comm. Connelly, Comm. Cleary, yes, Mayor Schmitt, yes. Next item, um, is a zoning map amendment for Misty waters subdivision and Daniel, I’ll let you present because this was a topic. A week ago. Great.

00:07:45,100	So good evening again, uh, Mayor commissioners, uh, so the community development department is seeking some guidance from you on initiating a zoning map amendment to clarify rear yard setbacks for all lots within the misty water subdivision.

00:08:00,500	Uh, Ben Erith, community development director, wrote a memo and it was submitted in your packet, so you’ve had a chance to see that. I’ll summarize some of the basic points here of what we’re we’re looking for. Um, over the years there have been some disagreements on where that rear roadside back to Misty Waters is and should be, and so, uh, recently.

00:08:17,300	Supreme Court ruling established that it is the 2005 Lomar line uh for the entirety of Misty waters subdivision, um, however, recently, as you know, uh, a few, uh, homeowners did petition to amend the PUD uh for there were lots only, uh, that would change that 3 yard setback last week that was approved.

00:08:38,100	Uh, so there are still some unresolved issues even with that approval and that that change, uh, there are a number of other uh lots that are potentially in violation of that 2005 Lomar setback line. Um, and also there’s just the fact that right now we have a patchwork of, of rear setbacks within the subdivision.

00:08:57,900	So we would recommend um having a more long lasting solution that did meet the immediate needs of those homeowners, but And have consistency and application for the future.

00:09:16,000	Uh, we could, if you wish, uh, initiate a zoning map amendment for the entirety of Misty Waters, uh, to create a new PUD that would be in every way like that beauty except with a new rear setback for for all lots, and we would work with the HOA and residents in the area to determine exactly how that should be defined.

00:09:31,100	Uh, the way our ordinance is written, um, we do have the ability to initiate these amendments at the direction of City commission or the planning and zoning commission, so Uh, if you do wish to proceed, uh, this would go through the standard process and you would see the the final order and when it’s ready. Go ahead, Comm. Zinkler. Mayor, Comm., thank you. Uh, so Daniel, the only, uh, I got a couple of things.

00:09:51,570	One, there might be whatever line that becomes, uh, hopefully it’s obviously. Excuse me, gonna be fixed. Um, and we need to take into consideration everybody because I don’t know where that drainage easement is or someone’s 2 ft into it or whatever, but hopefully when we’re all done it, it fixes everybody’s lot and not just, you know, hey, you still got a problem type thing.

00:10:11,470	The other thing I think, um, with this, and it happened to be during some of that discussion of that, is that, uh, people said, hey, can we cantilever over the top, but that’s got to be a vertical access plane wherever that is.

00:10:27,570	Building is, is done, you know, hey, let’s build this whatever and then build a, a 10 ft deck the cantilevers over the top of the. Um, drainage easement, I don’t think is beneficial for everybody either that makes sense? Yeah, very much so. Thank you. Thank you, sir. Comm., Mayor, Comm.

00:10:46,530	Daniel, so, um, I definitely think what you have in here is good and you know, if, if directed so staff can proceed with with the following, um, I believe it was Comm. Zenker that made the point of like when they apply for the PUD they or the PUD amendment, they pay a fee now that we are like directing to do that those fees are not going to exist, correct? Is

00:11:07,730	that how this is explaining that? Thank you, Comm. Cleary. That is an important point. Yes, we would not charge a fee when the city initiate. sees, uh, these changes, and it’s just done by the city’s initiative, so, so we would not charge that fee.

00:11:23,730	I believe, yeah, the memo that Ben wrote as well said that we would be willing to refund the fee that the initial property owners paid. Uh, we don’t waive fees very often, but this is a special circumstance and so we would think it’s just important to like moving forward and getting the the area to be as consistent as possible so the PUD is cohesive and makes sense,

00:11:42,200	but then also that it’s fair to, you know, one Homeowner over the other as we’re trying to create that consistency, so I think that that’s a good idea. Thank you so, as I understand the, you know, from our perspective, the director would be because we’re going to that entire development to overlay effectively a brand new POD

00:12:00,700	that’s actually probably gonna encompass the PUD that was just approved that would be appropriate that we refund that, um, that fee because. They weren’t, they would be treated unfairly, so to speak, than the rest of the applicants and, and we’re initiating this now to do the whole thing. to get all one cohesive Comm.

00:12:24,700	Clark Connelly, I’m sorry. That happens way too often. Um, and to expand on what Comm. Zenker said is that with the vertical line, um, because there’s been other talk of to where they brought in fill dirt in order to extend where that line is. No, it’s hard set. You can’t bring in Phil to make that movable.

00:12:47,570	We don’t need to create headaches. Thank you. Is there Any other comments do you feel we have? Direction for. I’ll make a motion to approve as presented. Is there any discussion? I work for you down. hearing none will call roll. Comm. Zenker. Yes, Comm. Connelly, Comm. Cleary, Comm. Risch. Mayor Schmidt, yes. Thank you, everyone.

00:13:24,570	Next item is consider request for resolution to receive bids. Ordering preparation of engineer’s statement in awarding a contract for street Improvement District SI 582. Go ahead, Gabe. All right, thank you, Mayor and commissioners. Uh, as noted, this project is Street Improvement District number 582. It consists of paving and silver ranch 3rd and 4th editions.

00:13:53,730	We opened bids yesterday at 4 p.m. and we had two bidders on this project with the low bid being Strata Corporation, the bid of $2,233,217.36. Uh, our recommendation will be to award to Strata Corporation, but we’ll have a contingency on this, uh.

00:14:15,930	With the developer prepayment for the commercial lots in this area and the use utility capital charge payment being made by next week, um, on the 20th, if that is made in time, we would then proceed. If not, we would come back to the commission on the 27th for a subsequent action.

00:14:30,830	What’s transpired here is that the developer has sold some of the lots or has purchase agreements for other entities to buy some of the lots within here, and he needs some additional time to coordinate who’s paying that developer prepayment and utility capital charge in this area. take any questions you may have. Comm. questions. What are your wishes? Moved to approve is presented 2. Is there any discussion? Hearing none will call roll. Comm. Connelly, Comm.

00:14:57,200	Cleary, Yes, Comm. Risch. Comm. Zener, Mayor Schmidt, yes. Next item is consider a request for resolution to receive bids order. Ordering preparation of engineer statement and awarding the contract for Street Improvement District 584. Go ahead, Gabe. This project is for paving and storm sewer in Elk Ridge 3rd edition.

00:15:22,800	We had 2 bidders on a project we opened up this morning with the low bid being Northern Improvement Company with a bid of $1,686,9925.70. Our recommendation is to award. With no contingencies. Moved to approve is presented. I just want to make a note to Gabe that that’s. 3. almost 4 million bucks and the difference between the bids is less than $15,000.

00:15:49,370	They are very close bid who did the drawing ski? Was it out of your office? It was a combination of some excellent work by the developer’s engineer and excellent work by our office. Fantastic. Don’t get very competitive like that. So do we have a So do we have a All right, any discussion? Marry on call roll. Comm.

00:16:13,470	Cleary Yes, Comm. Risch. Comm. Zenker. Yes, Comm. Connelly, Mayor Schmidt, yes. Next item is a consultant RFP for Ottawa Street Reconstruction. Uh Go ahead, Gabe Thank you, Mayor. Mayor and Comm.

00:16:32,770	, is, this is an item I’ll bring to your attention because it’s something that we don’t do very often and it’s reconstruct a local road is what this amounts to, but it’s a local road that was given to us by the part of transportation, many, many, many moons ago, uh, when the the DOT built State Street in its current configuration, Ottawa Street at that point in time was became a local city street, so we’ve owned and operated that street there’s a

00:16:48,930	period of time where the county owned it and then they gave it to us and now we are the owner of this thing, uh, but it doesn’t meet our current design standard. There’s no lighting. There’s no storm sewer, there’s no curb and gutter, no sidewalks, etc.

00:17:02,330	um, as time has progressed, we’ve looked at these types of roadways, these rural roads, we’ve developed a policy it’s just not a policy that we haven’t used at the city that would have the city contribute funding for reconstruction of these types of roadways into that finalize what we’d call urban, uh, vision of, of, of a roadway that would remove the ditches,

00:17:19,330	put in sidewalks, put in curbs, storm sewers put in parking availability, etc. on these sorts of facilities. Um, so as properties adjacent to Ottawa Street have, uh, petitioned for, uh, development, uh, to ask for a site plan to be permitted or a building to be permitted.

00:17:39,800	And we have at the same time requested that they petition for their parcels support for a reconstruction in the future of this roadway, uh, we’re to the point now that we have over 50% of the parcels have petitioned for this improvement so we feel comfortable moving forward knowing that a special assessed improvement would be a tool that the city commission could utilize to to build and

00:17:55,400	reconstruct this roadway. Um, so this would take place from just north of 43rd Avenue to uh Canada Avenue is kind of the the limits of what we’re thinking right now, and the request right now is to engage.

00:18:12,300	in consultant services to help understand where the stormwater challenges are with this particular corridor designed a facility, engaged with the public, and then come back to you for any decisions as well as then finalizing a project but to note that if we do incur costs with the consulting engineer and we don’t move forward with the project, there will have to be a spot that those costs are paid through um so if the project moves forward

00:18:28,000	those engineering costs can be rolled into the cost of the project, but for whatever reason this uh project stalls out or the commission decides not to move forward, um, we would have to find a. Home for the dollars that we will be incurring.

00:18:40,800	So the request right now is just to engage with a consultant to do an RFP and start that process we’ve come back to you uh if that process was if that request was approved here tonight. We’d come back to you with another engagement to say we’ve selected XYZ consultant. This is the scope and fee.

00:18:53,900	Would you like to move forward, um, but we just don’t want to get too far in front of ourselves if this is not a process that you want to follow. Um, should note that in our 2025 CIP we have included this project, uh, within that with the sales tax contribution of.

00:19:10,400	25% of city subsidy towards the reconstruction of this roadway with the remainder being special assessed to the adjacent properties. So with that I take any questions you would have and would seek your support for this request for proposals. Any questions, commissioners? Comm. Zinker. Mayor, Comm. Gabe, so, um. I just have, I have one concern with this, and it was uh brought up.

00:19:32,900	By one of the landowners is that they’ve, um, Expended some money for storm ponds, so. I mean, if, um, I would hope that we would keep most of those intact because of the amount of money that some of those people had to expand up there, but if we don’t, I think we need to.

00:19:50,170	Figure out a little bit of a compromise with that when we, when we get down to the design side of things. Obviously we don’t know what that’s gonna look like today or tomorrow when they, when we, when they start drawing it up, but I just think we got to keep that on the forefront with those, with those, uh, landowners. OK, Mayor, Comm.

00:20:06,170	, commissioner’s anchor, um, as you indicated at this point we don’t know what gets to stay, what doesn’t, um, because we didn’t know those answers, we have required some of those landowners to um construct detention on site. Some of those will drain north and we will have the ability to To to accommodate their flows.

00:20:20,170	Some of them drained south and really won’t change with this project, um, even after it’s constructed, um, so we’ll take that to note, but um we don’t really know exactly what the answer will be. Any other comments? With that, I’ll move approval as presented. 2. Any discussion. He no call roll. Comm. Risch, Comm. Zenker. Yes, Comm. Connelly, Comm.

00:20:46,130	Cleary, Mayor Smith, yes. All right, next item each uh BNSF rail bridge update and Gabe you’re gonna lead it off and I think there’s some representatives from BNSF here as well, correct? That is correct, Mayor and commissioners, thank you.

00:21:07,030	That this item is to really keep you abreast of some changes that are happening to our roadway network as it results from the bridge activity that’s occurring, um, I’m not in the driver’s seat to discuss those things.

00:21:21,330	We have some BNSF personnel here today to do so, uh, in the crowd today we have Amy Macbeth, uh, area vice president for public affairs and Mike Herzog, the director for bridge construction, and I think I’ll just leave it to Mike to come up and and visit with you all. Thank you. Thank you again. Mayor, commissioners, uh, as Gabe said, my name’s Mike Herzog, director of bridge construction for the BNSF railway.

00:21:45,600	I have responsibility for the the ongoing bridge replacement project we have over the Missouri River and With the project nearing roughly 13 point of completion and the upcoming work that uh will be taking place. We felt it prudent to come and have a conversation with the, the commission to provide an update on, like I said, the work that’s been done and the work that’ll be coming up.

00:22:05,900	So starting out with the work that’s been completed, the date, you’ve probably noticed that a majority of the work has focused on the Mandan side of the river where we’ve conducted, constructed access off the expressway constructed the new earthen embankment, started on three of our major peers, peers 7897 being out in the water, 9 being the furthest to the west.

00:22:27,400	In addition, the work on the east side of the river has included some work on our. Substructures that is that are east of River Road. Now looking to the upcoming work. September and beyond, uh, the focus of work efforts is really going to be shifting over to the Bismarck side of the river.

00:22:49,170	We’re going to be working on Piers F 4, which is immediately adjacent to River Road. We’ll be constructing a dock wall very similar to what you see on the west side of the river, that facilitates marine access to construct the next two in-water piers, piers 5 and 6.

00:23:10,070	And as you could probably picture with this much work shifting to the east side of the river, uh, the BNSF rightaway is going to become much more congested, much more congested, and an active construction zone. So today I would say in my opinion we’ve been very successful in having minimal to any impact on vehicular traffic for River Road, pedestrian traffic on ri River Road trail.

00:23:36,630	And BNSF understands how important the River Road Trail is to the community. So we are making efforts to lengthen the period of time that. We do not impact River Road Trail. And the concepts we’re looking at, the first would be potential adjustments in our construction schedule.

00:24:03,730	And the other opportunity we may have is what you see up on the screen is a traffic control concept that was developed with the city of Bismarck Engineering team. Where we would use temporary traffic signals and signage on River Road to turn that into one lane vehicular traffic, and then we would detour pedestrian traffic in the westernmost lane of River Road. This would be in place.

00:24:30,030	Basically, while we’re performing construction for the balance of 2024 and potentially an opportunity into the early part of 2025. So again, this is an effort that BNSF is looking at to, to try to keep the trail open as long as we can before The east side becomes a very congested and active construction zone.

00:24:54,700	And that’s really the update I wanted to provide, and I’d be happy to answer any questions you may have. Comm. Risch, um, so the temporary walking trail moves to the east side of River Road and it’ll be gravel, is that correct? So with the picture on the screen. I’m gonna expand out on your question here.

00:25:14,700	So you see the temporary traffic signals to the right and to the left. Vehicular traffic will be on the easternmost lane, which is right now the northbound lane. That’s vehicular traffic. And then the westernmost lane, which is currently the southbound lane.

00:25:38,570	River Road trail, the pedestrian traffic would go out onto the road, we would construct a Detour, we would connect River Road to River Road trail to take the trail out on that westernmost lane across BNSF right away to where it connected back with River Road Trail on the other side of. Mr. Mayor, Comm..

00:25:58,970	Come fall or come winter freeze up, will the traffic temporary traffic lights still be there, or you gonna remove it and kind of restore it back to where it is for the winter. When winter comes and we have to stop construction, we would remove the temporary traffic control to restore two-lane vehicular traffic on River Road, and then we would restore the trail. For the, for the winter months. Mr. Connelly.

00:26:23,770	Is the trail going to be damaged at all and does, if it is, does the railroad take the onus on repairing that or does that go through our park district? There will be maintenance to perform on it.

00:26:46,230	It will get damaged during the course of construction because it’s heavy earth moving equipment, and at the end of the job when we restore the trail permanently, that’ll be part of our project, part of the railroad cost to restore it across our right of way and go ahead, sorry. How many trees are gonna be impacted because a lot of those trees are fairly aged. I would say I don’t have a account for you.

00:27:05,630	I would say the trees within our rideway between. River Road to the water’s edge. And just to clarify on what we’re talking about. This is to try to, this is our attempt to extend the duration that we can keep River Road Trail open and whether it’s through adjustments in our construction schedule, how we sequence those tasks or whether we employ this traffic control

00:27:28,930	set up. Our effort is to. Keep the trail open. For the rest of 2024. What it looks like beyond that, I’m not ready to commit to at this point.

00:27:49,700	There will be a point where we do need to close the trail because of the congestion of the work and the amount of overhead work taking place as well. This is really just an attempt to lengthen the duration that we can keep the trail open. Other, other questions? Appreciate you coming. I think you know.

00:28:16,500	As this progresses probably frequent or more frequent kind of updates certainly as we get into 2025 where those impacts might be more severe, will be important just for our citizens to know what’s going on. So, thank you very much. Thank you for the time. Excuse me. Next item I is uh considered the draft request for proposal for the operations and management consultant. Um, and Jason. Good evening, Mayor and commissioners included in your packet.

00:28:57,700	I was a about a 15 page uh collaborative effort of administration staff and Bismarck Event Center staff, uh, for your consideration tonight is a consulting services request for proposals and hopefully the the message that came across in the proposal was, um, we’re looking for some help, we’re looking for some recommendations and the recommendations that we’re seeking are relating to the operations and the management

00:29:18,900	of the Bismarck Event Center if that message wasn’t clear The proposal, then I think we have some work to do, but hopefully that that was loud and clear and and very upfront. A couple of things for your consideration tonight. We’re looking for a little direction and some.

00:29:38,570	A finality to, uh, the, the budget for this project, um, this is something we haven’t done before, and, and not something that uh we have a real long list of consultants to even reach out to and speculate what it might take to get this done. Now, obviously the length of the project would have an influence on the cost as well.

00:29:53,070	And so that’s the other component here for your discussion tonight is how long do we want this process to take? How, how eager are you to get your results and recommendations versus. How comprehensive do we want this overview to really be and um.

00:30:14,670	We’re a couple of uh things to at least start the conversation just an estimated dollar amount somewhere between $50,000 and $75,000 to hire a consultant to come in and do an overview and, and come back with recommendations and then as far as the uh the length of time, uh, Amanda Yellow and I talked about this and and and Amanda would like the opportunity to have as much time with the

00:30:32,970	consultant to really see the operations and the seasons that transition through the event center and as we’ve heard before. Uh, March, April, May, very, very busy time for the event center. However, if we’re looking ahead, that’s 9 months from now, and is it fair to ask Amanda to continue to be the acting director.

00:30:53,730	For that entire period of time, do, do you all feel we have that much time to get to a resolution, uh, then again, a too short of a timeline. May not give an accurate perspective of what is really going on within the facility and all those components that are there for consideration and and things to

00:31:10,930	be looked at. So, um, seeking feedback on a dollar amount for the project and then also a duration, and I guess really maybe what we’re looking for from you is when would you like these recommendations delivered. There were some dates that were included in the RFP.

00:31:31,130	If you’re comfortable with that, uh, barring any significant changes, I’d like to think that this document is at 95% ready to go, we would put fresh eyes on it one more time before we post it and get the information out, but uh certainly here to answer questions and and take direction. Commission’s comments? Comm.

00:31:51,400	Risch Um, I thought it was very well done, Jason, so I commend you and the team for doing this and Amanda, um. The 50 to $75,000 do we have to set a number or can we ask for bids? Or estimates I, I, who knows what it, the right amount is. Mayor Comm., Comm.

00:32:10,300	Risch, that is certainly an option that we could go forward with. Not all RFPs have a budgeted amount and obviously if we put a dollar amount in there, we’re quite likely to get multiple proposals that will say up to that amount, and then it comes down to how do they address the project, what differentiates them beyond the cost, and so we could certainly

00:32:27,700	leave a dollar amount out of the factor that would then. Result in a little bit of a scoring change because we wouldn’t want to put too much pressure on accepting the lowest bid. There’s no guarantee we’re going to get the best result with the lowest bid either.

00:32:43,370	So then it really comes down to which entity, which consultant, which team can deliver the best results for what we’re looking for in the questions we’re asking here. Mr. Connelly. Hm I think Comm.

00:33:05,370	Risch makes a good point, and that is that let’s see what they have to share and defend what they bring to the table because as we’ve all known that this is not been uncomfortable process and there’s been a lot of history that spanned more than a decade. Um, we can’t This one’s got to be the right answer going forward. Can’t settle for something different. And then the one added thing that I would say under project scope.

00:33:29,770	It says increased venue activity and talking with a lot of people and businesses from the community is a lot of the businesses downtown aren’t um As it came out in all of the discussion, we have more events than we’ve had in the past, and, but it’s been a challenge for businesses because people will travel here, go to the event, and go home.

00:33:51,830	What are going to be the type of events that where they actually stay overnight when we had um the uh Visitors Bureau present that the average stay per person had that $167. Well, a lot of hotel stays are a little bit more than that, so that average goes up with that.

00:34:16,330	So what kind of events can we attract even if it’s less events to where they would stay overnight and be empowered or Encouraged to spend the dollars amount that might make that uh app that makes us all nervous with the AI, um, a little bit more popping. So that’s what I had to say. Thank you. Um, And, and I Didn’t have any idea.

00:34:39,900	Jason asked me for I I don’t know because how do we know, but I do think the scoring is gonna be is. Probably more driven by what the qualifications come from those. Respondents.

00:34:59,500	And you know, obviously cost has some bearing, but as we all know, we could have someone come in with a very low price and that may not even cover the scope of what we need covered, so. Comm. Zinker. Mayor Comm. Jason. So the only thing I would concern me is.

00:35:18,400	Sometimes, uh, when you see a team in motion, it gives you a different um perspective that it’s just like, hey, this is what we do, you know, explanation of it, um, as Jason referenced the, the busy times or that, you know, spring kind of athletic type thing with basketball tournaments and different conferences and those types of um events that take place, and if they don’t get the, they don’t get the kind of see the team in motion.

00:35:36,470	I don’t know if they’re gonna have a true. Um, perspective as to what happens and so I understand the, the concern that hey, that’s 9 months from now, but.

00:35:54,870	I mean, before we blink, there’s gonna be snow, it’s gonna be Christmas and and March is gonna be here so and that doesn’t concern me as much as as getting a a true litmus test of of the team in motion. It probably comes down to more if we want to, I think we can look at historical things when we look at events and what’s gone on from an operational standpoint and what we’ve attracted and which ones can bring in the right attendance,

00:36:11,370	but. Um, we do want to get it right, so I also don’t want to rush it. I don’t want to rush your selection process. I can tell you that. That’s probably my bigger concern is the selection process that might actually set some of the timeline and maybe we put that out there is.

00:36:28,770	It’s part of the RFP. Tell us, tell us. What you need Comm. Zinker. So Mayor, Comm., so, uh, Jason, I’m, I’m assuming, um, once we get whatever information we back from consultants, there’s gonna be an interview process selection team and all that type of stuff that goes with that, yeah, so I think you can, you can vet those out of there

00:36:52,930	and those um that might drive our time yeah and then you can, they can give you budgetary. Scenarios or whatever, but um that interview process I’ve been through it multiple times. Um, that does differentiate the the team the between the top and the bottom. If some of you that haven’t done it, um.

00:37:12,730	I encourage you to maybe take a shot at it because it does, it’s it’s, it’s eye opening, so OK, so Jason or other Comm., I don’t wanna cut anybody off. Go ahead.

00:37:33,630	All right, Mayor, I would agree with that, and that could be part of the proposals that they submit is that, um, as they’re competing with other entities, hopefully we get a broad spectrum of people willing to put their, um, name in the hat and if they give us a timeline to where they can produce great results in a shorter time, that might delegate um a better opportunity for us to make a decision at this table.

00:37:56,100	So other, other comments? Well, Mayor and Comm., if I can maybe direct your eyes towards page 7 of the draft RFP. It has a proposed schedule there and looking at the last two rows, uh, second to last, it says final deliverables due to city administration March 12, 2025, and then presentation of findings and recommendations to the board of City commissioners

00:38:14,900	at a public meeting March 25th. Maybe those dates we don’t pencil those in and we put to be negotiated or to be determined and and be a little more flexible and, and less rigid on that. I think that’s what I’m hearing from the table.

00:38:35,600	And that makes, you know, if we’re gonna do, if we do have the opportunity to have a good pool that we’re interviewing. I think that’s going to help us determine the time. Line that’s appropriate because they may come back and say, no, this is what we need. And We don’t know, yeah, so we’re, we’re just enough. We’re in a way new, a brand new area. Comm.

00:38:57,800	Cleary, Mayor Commissioners, I think kind of to the similar point of we don’t know how much it’s going to cost, let’s kind of see what they bring to us, and you can make the same argument with the timeline.

00:39:10,000	There might be some people that that are gonna say, I can do it in this amount of time, there might be other people that want longer with it because of certain things in the calendar, that sort of thing, um, so I think if we can leave that a little bit more open-ended, um, I think that’s a good idea.

00:39:26,400	With that being said, there’s a lot of good stuff in here, so I think. Um, as frustrating as some of this process has been, I’m really excited as to what we could get out of this because I think it’s, it’s gonna be a um a good thing for us, so.

00:39:41,570	So do you need a motion, Jason, or do you have enough information so we could move forward? I think I’ve got my notes and I understand consensus to be a little more flexible on the dates and to leave the budget open ended and let the professional consultants that have done this before really kind of give us the information that we need to be able to make a decision.

00:39:56,470	So we can hopefully get this out then. We should have no trouble getting this post to the website by the end of the week. So. Thank you. Thank you. All right. Moving on to Mm Item J Um, this is, it’s coming from me, um, I have to be honest, I was.

00:40:20,370	Didn’t think much about it originally, but. You know, I’ve been on a lot of boards. Pointed boards, elected boards. Uh, volunteer boards and I’ve never had a situation where the board hasn’t had their own code of conduct and we don’t have one.

00:40:38,330	And in fact we’re one of the few cities in the state of North Dakota that doesn’t have one and so that’s, this is my attempt to lay that out there and it’s, it’s to help us as commissioners make sure we’re responsible and being respectful to not only ourselves, I think we are, but it, it holds us accountable to be respectful too. All city staff as well, and to make sure that we’re, we’re.

00:40:57,030	Trying to operate for the best of our constituents and it puts it in text, um. It’s my attempt, um. To to modify what was actually drafted by the North Dakota League of Cities. And I modified it from that and so I certainly if, if somebody has further comments or would like to see some things.

00:41:21,830	Tweaked or adjusted. I’m open to that. I would like to get that to administration so that we could then bring it back for a further. Uh, approval, but we can take those comments tonight or if you wanted to send them to to Jason and then by the, let’s say by next. Tuesday, so he would have time.

00:41:40,300	To get it into the next agenda, that’s fine as well, um. It’s not intended to be that it’s like this. Law, but it’s just to develop a. A code we respect. And so I’ll leave it open to everybody here. Go ahead, Comm. Cleary. Mayor, Comm.

00:42:06,600	, I read through the League of Cities model, and then the mockup of what ours would look like nothing stuck out at me as far as like, oh why is that in here or we’re completely missing this. So I, I guess I don’t really have any like super specific comments on it. I thought it looked fine. It all makes sense.

00:42:26,600	It’s, yeah, a lot of it’s Pretty basic Stuff we’re already doing, but I think like you said, I, I’ve also sat on boards and it makes sense to have something like this, so yeah, I don’t have any super specific comments about it, so. Comm. Risch. Thank you, Mr. Mayor, Comm.

00:42:44,070	, when it first came out from the North Dakota League of Cities, I read through it and it’s, it was kind of refreshing. You should look at something like this once in a while just to remind yourself of how to operate correctly reminds me of Dale Carnegie’s book, um, How to Win Friends and Influence People.

00:42:59,570	You should like read it every 5 years, you know, be kind to people, be courteous to do that sort of thing. Well, when I read the, uh, North Dakota Lega cities, it was very restrictive as far as speaking with public employees.

00:43:17,170	Other than the department heads, so I recommended to the mayor that wait a minute, I bump into public employees just through my course of walking through Bismarck, and I like to visit with him a little bit, ask him how things are going, not that I’m delving into the their their supervisor’s role or anything like that. So I just appreciate Mr.

00:43:37,430	Mayor, that you made a modification under the section commission conduct with city staff and it loosened it up so that it’s perfectly appropriate even encouraged when you see a City employees to interact, thank them for their work and whatever else the case may be. So I think it’s fine now that it’s been modified a bit and I certainly support it. Mr.

00:43:55,930	Um, I have probably a little bit more notes than what the other commissioners mentioned, and I don’t, um. Mm It’s a good template and things, um, one, yeah, I’ll just mention two points and then the rest of it I can send certainly to administration and that as far as other notations cause it’s more like. Changing a word here or there as a consideration that we can bring back.

00:44:16,430	Um, I’m wondering if 3 Rs shouldn’t be 4 hours, and um or if it were 3, switch roles to representation, but. Um, we can add a 4th 1 I have no problem with that’s not that that was a, yeah, well, and that’s why I say it is is that um when you’re in an elected seat, there’s a certain

00:44:39,700	expectation from the public as far as what we do as far as representing versus just being in a role that you would be hired to a position to under a job description, so that’s why I added that.

00:44:59,100	And then, um, well, I don’t even need to look at the page, but I’ve done a significant amount of research when it comes to um public comment and Um, the city attorney and I, even before the appointment and over the years we’ve had conversations about it, um, and, uh. The open meeting law is is that nobody has a right to public comment. It’s the law is that it’s solely up to the chair of the border committee.

00:45:20,700	That’s whether it’s a private or a public meeting. Um, but the suggestion, the most significant uh say training on it is a Massachusetts. They have a 9 video. It’s a 9.

00:45:46,070	5 hour training on it and, um, the lawyers in that um portion say if you allow public comment, they don’t suggest taking it away or limiting it to what you’ve had before. I think Bismarck, uh, in all of the meetings that I’ve watched probably does public comment better than any other entity. In government on both sides of the river. Um, One thing is, is that when the time limit appeared on here and it says 3 to 5 minutes.

00:46:07,270	If we could eliminate the 3 and call it 5 and 5 uninterrupted minutes, the reason why I say that is, is that even in middle school, the first essays that are handed out to students are your 600 word essays that average about a page and a half, um, Research wise, they say that’s the minimum amount of words to

00:46:29,870	share a concept in a way that somebody can take an action from. The average person speaks between 100 and 300 words a minute. They’re not everybody is as eloquent at words and they stumble over words or their nervousness and things for those people that say struggle in that communication wise, if we were err on the

00:46:51,130	behalf of 120 words, 120 words times 5 is 600. That gives them the opportunity to express that comment in a way that it might influence our decisions and that’s how I backed that up and I have no particular issue with that either, Comm..

00:47:11,130	I That 3 to 5 I think in the original draft from League of Cities was a hard 3 to 5. I actually tried to soften it up that that like we could choose to expand that like we have in the past too, so I didn’t want to be a hard number.

00:47:26,330	It’s just like if we know we’ve got a room full, we might need to try to express some. Some limits will get everybody heard, um, I don’t think. Taking it removing the 3 and leaving at 5 or approximately 5 is, I think that’s fine with me anyway. Any other thoughts? Comm., if you have other.

00:47:49,800	Kind of word things you want that we could get those to Jason I really then we could act on it maybe next meeting. Commission Zinker, do you have any thoughts? I’ll just give you my two cents, um.

00:48:09,400	Personally, I think some of this is written because of the situation we went through and the accountability, how I held people accountable, um, and there’s some things in here that I agree with, it’s not a big deal, but um, I’m not gonna change who I am based on this 15 page document. if I need to hold somebody accountable. I’m going to hold them accountable and sometimes that’s. A little bit rough around the edges, but I don’t walk in eggshells, and I have no problem being held accountable either.

00:48:31,500	So, um, from that perspective, I think there’s some of this that goes a little bit too far. It mentions about, um, former commissioners and those types of things. Um, I don’t think anything from a former Comm.

00:48:49,400	should be held, should be in this document because I mean, they, they either won, either they lost an election or they chose not to run, so they, they’re not on the board, so they shouldn’t be held to a different standard if they’ve been gone for 2 years, 5 years, or 10 years. Um. So I do, I do understand why some of it’s written. There might be a situation where, um.

00:49:11,800	Whether it’s the official spokesperson of the city, but if this if this table is split on a vote, um, I’m representing those people that agree with me as well as those who disagree with me, so I, I have a little issue with it that it can only come from one person.

00:49:29,500	I obviously there’s a if the media contacts me and I’m gonna make a comment, that’s gonna be my comment, so as a city official, uh, who represents the entire city, um. My perspective or or my point of view is too included, should be included in that as well, so, um, but yeah, I mean, I do understand the rationale for it, but, um, that’s.

00:49:56,270	Neither here nor there, I guess, so. So Comm. Risch. Uh, Mr. Mayor, Comm., Comm. Zinker, I’m looking at the no current or former Comm. and what it says is shall intentionally use or disclose information gained in the course or by reason of his position or activities in any way that could result in receipt of any personal benefit.

00:50:17,370	I mean Yeah, I think there’s another reference in there. I mean, but there’s I don’t have a problem with that. I mean, you don’t want to use your commissions. Your position to personal benefit now or even after you left the commission. Well, it could.

00:50:38,730	Well, it’s personal benefits totally different than what I was referring to, I guess, so, um, but yeah, the, the way the city conducts business with open bids or those types of things, you, it’s really difficult to. To do that, I mean there’s no handshake deal. There’s no negotiations. There’s other things that are other ideas that are in place for that, so. Comm. Connelly.

00:51:03,230	Um, these were some of the things that, um, would kind of address some of that stuff is um when it comes to the Comm. should be clear on whether their comments are official city position or personal viewpoint.

00:51:25,630	That’s something that we could talk about and as I share, um, that, um, since the mayor is the spokesperson for unless they delegate that out, is is that um keep it at that is is that any time an individual com Comm., um. Expresses an opinion to media or other. It’s from that personal viewpoint because we can’t speak for other person’s votes anyway. So I think that part should be just be a standard.

00:51:50,700	Um, versus um one climbing one way or another, um, I think that helps with some things and then. Um, Uh It was mentioned I kind of mentioned the same thing that Comm. Zenker that it is that at our last meeting, 76% voted one wanted one thing and 24 the other.

00:52:14,000	We represent, as soon as we take our oath we represent them all. Um, so, like, uh, on the checklist, uh, respect for the community and places where it says community, can we add the word citizen? Um, the reason why is like in some respects, we have Walmarts, we have, um, big corporations and things that.

00:52:38,670	They have a business plan, but unless those entities are in it to win it for our community as it pertains to the citizen. Community is a little bit too broad. In my opinion, um, and then, um, where it says checklist for monitoring conduct is my conduct fair, just, or morally right, um.

00:53:02,170	That can be any thing under the sun these days because everybody has a different opinion on what it is, so. Is my conduct representative of the position we take an oath for. So, and then there’s others, so I mean, and not just as a comment, I mean a checklist is just a checklist to make you think about things. It’s not a.

00:53:24,570	Stated But Code per se. It’s a, it’s a checklist they stop and think how you’re doing, which should always be the case, we should always have our own internal checklist, I think. As far as the, you know, how the comments, I mean, I’m OK. This is just again, I started with a draft.

00:53:42,830	I made several changes and tried to pull things out that clearly I didn’t think made sense, um, you know, I think we all are potentially subject to media inquiry and. Mm That’s not restricted shouldn’t be restricted.

00:54:02,130	I mean, hopefully we’re, if there’s decisions made, we’re supportive of what that ultimately decision is at the table, but we all have our own opinion and we have a right to express that. And so that certainly that statement could come out. I don’t have a particular issue with that. I was just, it was there and I didn’t. Just happened to not pull that one out. So.

00:54:19,330	Jason, we could do you know where that’s at and I can find it in the document because I just had it. Sure, yep. It was just under commission conduct with media. And I think it’s under the first bullet point. There might be references elsewhere in the document, so we’ll have to look for that. Anything else? OK All right, then We’ll hopefully have something for next meeting.

00:54:49,100	All right, thank you everyone for your comments. Appreciate them. Um, Other business. Anyone have other business? I, I have one thing, but you can bring it up if you want, it’s Washington. Yes, yeah, OK.

00:55:09,700	I do too, but he, he can go first, or whoever’s gonna talk about that can go first, OK, um, I would like to bring Gabechell up just to give an update on the status of the South Washington reconstruction, um, and to let citizens know really what’s is. How we’re progressing well. I live down there, but there are a whole bunch of other people who live down there and try to traverse north to south. Mayor and Comm.

00:55:30,800	Mayor Schmidt’s, uh. In a perfect world, we press a button and then flip a switch and then the road’s just constructed, but in our real world that we live in, it takes time, so unfortunately it works the same for lots of things, yep.

00:55:45,570	Uh, so this project, uh, it’s obviously we knew it was gonna be a large undertaking the contract and it would be a large undertaking we have contractual mechanisms in place to say here’s the date you have to have work completed by, please have it done or else here are the liquidated damages assessed to your to to the project.

00:55:57,870	So the contractor has an incentive to get it done on time, um, to hopefully meet the, the public’s expectation that it’s done in. before the uh the freeze up. specific to what they have accomplished, most of it has been, you know, removals of the existing road underground work bringing uh we have a force main sanitary sewer force main and a storm

00:56:14,770	sewer force mean coming from the south end of the project at Burleigh Avenue bringing those up to Santa Fe, as well as the gravity sewer. That’s what’s being installed and has been the priority to be installed so far this year.

00:56:31,070	The contractor recognizing that they weren’t getting enough production potentially from from their current operations brought in another subcontractor to do additional excavation work, so they have another excavator, uh, an excavated. working from the north end, working their way south at the same time, so if all goes well in the next couple of weeks and granted we just got a huge rainstorm and and that affects production and all those things could potentially affect production.

00:56:47,330	Uh, they like to have the underground work completed this month, so the end of August with would put them in a spot that once again with, with good weather and good conditions, um, can get pavement on the ground and and move forward and still make their completion dates.

00:57:02,830	Uh, so the contract has a interterim completion date of October 19th that all concrete roadway curb and gutter and the Shared use paths, shared use path should be completed by that date and a substantial completion of November 15th to have everything else kind of wrapped up and then a final completion in 2025 for all the miscellaneous items, so the contractor excuse me, the contractors applies a schedule

00:57:20,530	on a monthly basis, um, and that schedule shows how they will meet all of those dates and they’re still showing a schedule that will meet all those dates, but obviously those schedules are subject to change as those conditions change, but we’re working, the contractors working and contractor says they’ll still have it done on time, but.

00:57:36,500	That is hoping for good weather and good production here the rest of the season. Comm. Connelly. Mayor and commissioners Gabe, um, yesterday, I actually, um, was asked a question.

00:57:57,000	Water was cut off and they weren’t on the neighboring neighbors said that they weren’t aware that it was going to be and it was a long period of time. How’s has that all been restored to them or? Um, Mayor and Comm. Comm. Connelly, I guess specifically that I’m not sure which resident you’re you’re talking about if I was on South Washington project or other places.

00:58:13,200	We have, we have other water projects going on, so that’s so that’s so that’s that’s why I was so I guess to that end, I guess I’m not sure exactly what the situation was, uh, we typically when it’s a known outage would for the contractors required to provide advance notice letting the letting the residents know that water will be out of service for a period of time.

00:58:28,800	That’s even in situations where we provide temporary water to those same. facilities that we let them know there will be a short period of time where they’ll be without water while we we switch over the system, um, but if it’s an unplanned type thing that obviously we’re we’re able to uh provide that advance notice.

00:58:43,700	So I can’t speak specifically to to that item, but if they do have concerns, uh, and it’s related to a construction project, uh, we, we request the citizens call us and when we’re we’re the ones that engineering department would have the best handle on how to resolve the thing, uh, or whatever the issue may be, yeah, I just

00:58:57,700	brought it up. I didn’t have time to follow up today, so, um, if you More great, if not, uh, I’ll tell him to give you a call, OK. Other Questions or comments? And I know that Comm. Zenker is staying in touch with you on this project, so. Thank you, Gabe. Thank you.

00:59:20,800	Is there any other business, um, I just wanted to remind everybody, um, who’s watching and hear that the uh garbage collection survey is live as of yesterday. We’ve already received 1000 people or more. I think that got like at least 25 during this meeting, so, um, which is awesome.

00:59:45,970	It’s a way bigger number than I thought, um, so but just a reminder that the survey is based off of the The fact that we aren’t able to secure more multi-pack trucks, so we have to come up with uh the what we think is best case scenario for extras with garbage moving forward and what citizens think that should look like, since we’re kind of being

01:00:03,770	forced to make a change, so that’s what the survey is based on. It’s on the Facebook page and it’s on the website. Under forms, but also on like the main. Thing on the Top of the Facebook or website so. Mayor, Comm., Comm.

01:00:21,770	Cleary, you said you got 25 just in this meeting, so you get them too. I get an email every time someone fills one out, so yeah. But, um, I, I don’t know what the normal number is for these surveys, but I’ve been impressed with how many we’ve gotten, but I think the more people that fill it out, the better because I think they’re it’ll be it’ll be

01:00:40,830	a big change for citizens regardless which direction we go in. Uh, it’s not a scenario where we can make no change, so I think the more feedback we can get, the better.

01:00:56,030	I know we’ve already talked about it at this table and one of the main goals with that conversation was for our group at Public Works to go out and Get feedback, so it’s nice to see that that’s working well, but the more people that fill it out, the better, so I just wanted to mention it in case you haven’t filled it out, go fill it out.

01:01:09,630	I was just gonna add one of the other place on the Bismarck Tribune website, when you read the article, you can click on the link. That’s how I did it. Perfect. Mr. Connelly. I’ve been getting a little bit of feedback on it.

01:01:27,530	They really wished on some uh some of the people that took it if there was an NA option which um is not part of it, um, I don’t know if it can be added in or not, um, but the other thing is is that I vetted the information that we got at the presentation and I made calls to the company that holds the patent on that multi-pack and they are the vendor if any.

01:01:46,800	What else offers that option. They were the vendor that sent it to those other companies. They are not going to produce it and at some point in time they’re not going to produce the parts for it.

01:02:02,800	So our hands are tied and I mean, people will look it up and say, oh, I Googled it and those sites come up that they have a picture of it. In the near future, it’s not going to be available and it’s not a good way to run the city because we will have garbage up and down our streets and not know what to do with them if we don’t make some

01:02:16,300	decisions. Is there any other business? we stand adjourned.