00:00:06,830	Good evening. Excuse me. It’s the 24th of September we’re at 5:15 and the Tom Baker room, this is going to be the board of City commissioners, uh, regular meeting, but before we get started, we’ll have invocation and Pledge of Allegiance, I believe Chaplain Stanton is here to help us.

00:00:29,900	Right Father, we come before you today for Thankful for this Beautiful day Thankful to be living in a wonderful state of North Dakota. Ask you to Bless the meeting Transactions B it we also pray for our nation. Right for peace in Israel. for you I give you praise. You’re the sovereign Amen. What your reason to. United States of America. Richards.

00:01:20,630	And Uh Justice Thank you, sir. If we can call Roll to call the meeting to order. Comm. Risch, Comm. Zenker. Comm. Connelly here. Comm. Cleary here. Mayor Schmidt here. Excuse me. This is the time for public comment. Uh, anyone who Yes, Comm., I’d like to pull a couple of things off the consent agenda.

00:01:53,170	OK, um, Wait till you get to the consent agenda. So we’ll be next. Yeah, we’ll have public comment at first and then, OK. So Uh, we’re public comments or anything on the consent agenda you wish to speak to or the regular agenda which is not a public hearing.

00:02:11,500	Um, if you have anything, please come forward, state your name, sign in and tell us which item you’re speaking to. A second call for public comment. A 3rd and final call for public comment. Seeing and hearing no one, the public comment period is now closed. Commissioners, what are your wishes with the consent agenda. Mr.

00:02:39,630	Mayor and commissioners, I’d like to pull two items off the consent agenda. First one is E1. It’s relating to the airport. They’d like to do a little more work on that particular item. Um, the second one I’d like to pull off is J1 and put it on the regular agenda so we can discuss it a bit. It has to do with the prohibited camping ordinances.

00:02:56,100	OK. Mayor, sorry, Mayor, Comm., I’d also like to pull item 21. For further discussion. OK. From the consent can we make that all as one motion to pull or or just or just to prove minus that those items to approve all items that weren’t pulled from the consent agenda.

00:03:30,400	Second, with one mo one notation of discussion, um, I’m gonna vote no on it and it’s only specific I’ve called about um the meeting minutes before and changes. I’m not gonna go through that process again, but sometimes the meeting minutes seem to be um Too generic sometimes and I’m not going to ask that something be added.

00:03:51,630	I’m just going to vote no for that reason. Oh Yeah So Can we pull the meeting minutes separate out also and then we can vote separately on those. So can we somehow recap what the motion is to the consent to which items are pulled from the consent agenda, please. I am my motion. To OK.

00:04:24,400	OK, I’ll just withdraw my motion. I withdraw I withdraw my um motion to approve consent agenda except for the meeting minutes, E1, J1 and G1. OK, that is that. OK, um, any discussion? Hearing on a call roll on that. Comm. Zenker. Mr. Connelly. Yes, Comm. Cleary, Comm. Risch, Mayor Schmitz, yes. Now, we’ll go down.

00:04:59,970	The item agenda item that was pulled first, the first item on the consent agenda that was pulled is the consideration of approval of minutes. Commissioners, what are your wishes? I’ll move we approve the minute.

00:05:23,570	Second, Do we have discussion? The reason why I’m just listing it when we were talking about the event center, um, property and that as far as moving forward and um. Accepting a. Putting it out for bids and things is, um, just the fact that I mentioned that what can we um. Make sure to note that.

00:05:51,500	For anybody applying to consider it without incentives being possible and that portion, uh, there’s a significant amount of the community that is really hypersensitive to all of the insensitive incentives going out on it, so, um, I didn’t call ahead. I probably should have tried to go down that road again, um. Based on how this turned out, but that was the reasoning. OK OK Any other discussion? Comm., yes. Mayor, Comm., Comm.

00:06:13,800	Conley, do you just want to have the Minutes amended to reflect that? I mean, that’d be the easiest thing to do, sir. Yeah I mean, if we can do that, certainly. I don’t have. We can redo our. If we withdraw the, I think there was a motion to accept. minutes so we’d have to go through the withdrawal process and then.

00:06:37,230	Re Do our motion I’ll withdraw my motion. And my 2nd OK. So now Comm., you could make a motion, I suppose. A motion to approve the minutes, um, with the amendment, uh, For the notation that uh. It just be noted that um.

00:07:11,030	Basically it was mentioned that uh, um, can we send out applications on the idea that there may or may not be incentives, it’s just so there’s a record of it. I don’t know how to word it. I’m a little. Discombobulated now. 2. Any further discussion? Hearing unwell call roll. Comm. Connelly. Yes, Comm. Cleary, Comm. Risch, Comm. Zenker. Yes, Mayor Schmitz, yes. So that’s a procedural question on E1.

00:07:42,630	See if there’s general consensus that it’s OK. OK So Comm. Risch, you want to restate why we’re pulling E1 so we can. Uh, the reason we’re pulling E1 is the airport has.

00:08:00,070	Got a little more work to do on that particular issue and I’d like to revise it and bring it back to the commission when they feel more comfortable with what they have. Commissioners, do we have consensus to do that? OK. OK, thank you. Um, Next one is 12 yep, go ahead, Comm..

00:08:22,300	Thank you, Mayor Mayor and commissioners, so I asked for this to be pulled, uh, one, because we are, I think pretty sure we all received an email with our packets today on one of them. And then I also took a couple of questions, um, about that agenda item. So if, uh, Daniel could give us kind of a, here’s the concern that was raised to me by. A few of the uh citizens down in that area is that the setbacks would go away 100%.

00:08:39,970	Well, I tried to explain to him that he, the only some of the language is coming out for the setbacks, but there’s still setbacks in residential properties. And if Daniel, you can, um. Give us a the correct terminology and the dimensions that would be fantastic, sir. Comm. to make sure this is on. Great, thank you, Mayor, Comm.

00:09:01,230	, I do, we do appreciate the opportunity to clarify this. Uh, we send letters out for these, these items, but it’s not always easy to to explain all this in the letter. So the short answer is that the setbacks will remain within Wachter’s 7th edition.

00:09:18,500	Uh, there are setbacks written into our zoning ordinance in the R5 zoning district, uh, and many of the older plats prior to the 1980s, they also included setback lines shown on the plat. Uh, we no longer do that. It’s not, it’s actually not even allowed by state law. Because it does create confusion to have setbacks in both places.

00:09:37,130	So, um, when these things come get brought to our attention, uh, we just usually take an administrative action to remove them from the plot, but no setbacks are being removed from the zoning, so all these homes, the vast majority of these homes are currently set back 25 ft from the front property lines. So that will still remain the setback within Wachter’s 7th edition.

00:09:55,230	The only place where this does have an impact is along South Washington Street. The plat showed a 40 ft setback, which is unusual. The zoning doesn’t include that. Um, and so that will be reduced from 40 to 20 ft.

00:10:12,430	Uh, so that is an impact that will this will have, but all of the front yard setbacks on all the local streets will not be impacted in any way. Does that help clarify? Mayor and Comm.

00:10:30,000	Daniel, thank you, yeah, because, uh, two of the calls I got were, um, hey, they can build right up to the property line now and I’m, I, I said no, it’s not, it’s in a different location so I appreciate that. So with that I’ll move approval of. 2G1 second. Is there any further discussion? Hearing no will call roll. Comm. Risch. Yes, Comm. Zenker. Comm. Connelly, Comm. Cleary, yes, Mayor Schmitt. Next, uh, Comm. Risch, you had pulled J12J1.

00:11:03,570	Yes, uh 2J1 deals with prohibiting camping and sleeping and leaving your stuff unattended around the city. Uh, the issue of homelessness has been getting worse. I’ve gotten a number of complaints. I’ve, I’ve driven around the city and, um, this proposed ordinance would just give the police officers a little bit more authority to deal with people that are sleeping in entryways, sleeping on public sidewalks, things of that nature doesn’t

00:11:24,030	prohibit them from sleeping in the parks or in a lot of other city. Property, but it would, um, Help them deal with, uh, folks downtown Bismarck and blocking driveways of this, that and the other.

00:11:40,130	And the other thing is that um we have a problem with people having a lot of stuff and they leave it stuff on the sidewalks on the boulevards, and this would give the police an opportunity to, um. Take it and say that listen, you need to move this stuff or we’re going to have to pick it up within 24 hours. It’s a reasonable, modest approach forward. It doesn’t solve homelessness. Homelessness is not illegal.

00:11:59,130	We need to help these people as much as we possibly can, but this gives it, uh, the police. Additional tools in which to help deal with some of the more egregious problems. It may, uh, maybe, um, Chief Drevi will can comment on how he thinks this will play out with the the police force in dealing with the issue.

00:12:21,200	Uh, greetings, Mayor, commissioners, Comm. Risch, thanks for, uh, some time to come up here and talk. Uh, you’re absolutely right. Being homeless is not illegal and uh this is. Um, We, we don’t even want to be involved with homeless people unless they’re committing a crime, so.

00:12:39,930	What this does is address specific instances that happen. And uh, I’d like to show you a couple of pictures here. Of, of what we’re trying to address. Oh That’s not what I’m trying to show you. M. Is that saved on the. So We’ll still do a slide show. Or do I just, just do I go back and forth? OK.

00:13:36,370	We’ll start with this. So this is happening. Mostly downtown, but in certain areas of the city where property is being stored on. Uh, public property People are taking over public property where If I wanted or you want it or anybody wanted access to it, we couldn’t have access.

00:13:56,070	And there’s not really a mechanism for us to address that right now. Recently there was a. Ordinance passed and grass grants pass or um. Oregon, yeah, and uh it went all the way through up to our United States Supreme Court, and they said, you have a good ordinance here, and this is a good way and approach.

00:14:18,130	Janelle has mirrored that language so we can do this in Bismarck. And I want to keep every, uh, Everybody they know that we’re not gonna go looking around trying to harass homeless people. We just want to be able to address complaints that we get because we do get a number of complaints from our citizens that are concerned about this.

00:14:35,800	They’re afraid Bismarck’s going to turn into Portland or Seattle, and we certainly don’t want that. So our goal is to kind of find that balance of compassionate help. But with public safety and public health in the forefront. We believe this helps us do that. Uh, we’ve spent a lot of time talking with public health and, uh, other partners that.

00:14:57,500	Explaining this, and we believe this is the best approach right now, not going to solve homeless issues. It’s just gonna give us a tool to make sure our city stays safe, including the people that own this property and then as well as our public and then the health of our city stays safe

00:15:13,070	as well, so. With that in mind, I answer any questions you may have. I know, uh, Renee is coming up here too, so. M Not so much a question, but um, I attended the Homeless Coalition meeting yesterday, and it came up for discussion during then in the um Bismarck Health um representative there, um,

00:15:38,230	talked about this item and it being a public hearing for two weeks from now. So we’re voting on the public hearing and then we’ll, it was shared yesterday that we want citizens to come forward and share their perspectives as We try to navigate the right answer because even the conversations yesterday, like when you, when

00:15:59,970	you mentioned Portland, they The term was used, they just bulldozed basically large encampments there and that sent a very strong message and um that’s not something that’s being expressed here is, but we do need to move forward because if there’s um if we don’t address um topics where One entity is pushing people out,

00:16:33,670	um, those entities will go in the locations to where there’s nothing and then we end up with a much bigger challenge, so we need to navigate this in a very compassionate, like you said, and very uh um. Intentional way to um meet the needs of the city. Any other questions for Chief? Comm. Cleary.

00:16:57,170	Um, I guess I just would like to add to cause as Chief Dreevitch mentioned, it’s a conversation we’ve had with public health as well, so I’m gonna have Renee come up here, but, um, some of the stuff, as you said, it’s not as if you are wanting to approach homeless and seek this out.

00:17:16,900	It’s going to be on a complaint basis, but even though it’s not necessarily a police issue, but the police deal with the symptoms of it, and so I think that this will just become a tool.

00:17:35,570	Where it’s like if there is just items piling up places, it gives you direction on how to handle those situations when they are brought to your attention. So I think that that’s where I’m seeing the value in it. It’s, it’s a pretty niche scenario. It’s not, we’re not going to be arresting people that are asleep on a bench.

00:17:52,370	It’s more of that encampment, um, and that’s kind of where public health plays a role is like when they’re. Bringing all of this stuff and kind of creating these dwellings it typically is not great for the health of the individual or for the health of the community.

00:18:10,370	So, Um, if, if you’re all set, Chief, I’m gonna have Renee come up and just talk about that side of it because her and I have talked about that unless. Comm. Risch, The only comment I want to make in regards to what, uh, Comm. Connelly said was, we don’t want to get to the point where we have big encampments. That, that’s the whole idea behind this because you when you get to the point when you have big encampments.

00:18:27,900	You’ve got a lot of problems, so. Air conditioners, um, thank you for The Opportunity to speak a little bit about this, um, first off, I would like to clarify. Um, I tag on to what you had to say, Comm.

00:18:53,970	Cleary is, um, the law enforcement aspect of this, um, is something that the public, I really want the public to understand, um, they are not trying to, um, arrest people for being homeless. Um, this is about the stuff and the accumulation of stuff.

00:19:11,330	And I think when we have talked through, um, how this is going to work and what this will mean, I understand the perspective and where they’re coming from, and they need an ordinance in order to act. On some of these things.

00:19:28,830	So I really feel like it’s a step, um, a step for us to build to this community solutions that, um, we are working on when we talked about in my previous, uh, presentation, um, the community triage center, some of the gaps and resources in the community. Obviously, some of the issues that you’re seeing right now is due to the lack of resources that we have and so this is uh I guess a good way for us to start making some progress and getting people the help that they need.

00:19:45,230	Um, some of the things I wanted to mention regarding. Uh, public health and safety. Obviously, the health and safety of our residents is top priority. And so when you’re talking about camping in areas that may not be suited for inhabitation.

00:20:07,670	Um, we’re dealing with some sanitation issues, spread of infectious disease, uh, if there’s a potential body fluids, um, that were, um, you know, part of the camping spaces. Um, we need to address those health risks, and that is something from public health perspective that I think it’s important for us, um, to work together.

00:20:24,270	With the police department to address those health and sanitation needs, but then to also promote, uh, dignity and respect for the individual, um, and make sure that they are getting access and connecting, uh, them to resources. And so we’re gonna try that approach and hopefully um build on uh that model, uh, comprehensive approach, um, to homelessness needs to be multifaceted, as we’ve talked about, it takes the community partners, all of us to work together.

00:20:44,500	Um, we’re looking at mental health, uh, needs, behavioral health. addiction, um, lack of housing, lack of affordable housing, all those things that we’ve talked about all lead to some of the situations that we’re seeing increasing, um, in the community. And we need to try to work through that, um, as a community.

00:21:03,300	And then lastly, um, just that concept to talk about, um, collaboration with our partners, um, this is not something that obviously we can’t change overnight. It’s going to take some time to work through, uh, some solutions and the police department and public health, uh, will be working together with other community organizations and stakeholders to try to see what

00:21:21,830	we can do to improve processes. So, um, if you have any questions for me as far as public health, perspective, I can certainly answer those questions. Are there any questions? Attorney Thank you and I, you know, thank you both for trying to navigate something that.

00:21:41,070	Is a move and hopefully we believe in the right direction to. Help the entirety of. Individuals who are without homes. Um, it is a community. A community issue and we all need to work together. So thank you. Commissioners were this this is what, what this is is a call for public hearing for next meeting. So, to approve the public hearing.

00:22:01,500	Do we have any discussion? Here and then we’ll call the roll. Comm. Zenker. Yes, Comm. Connelly. Yes, Comm. Cleary, Comm. Risch. Mayor Schmidt, yes, moving to our regular agenda first item under 3 is A consider a request to receive presentation on the Bismarck Land Development code. Daniel, you, are you leading us off? Good evening, Mayor commissioners.

00:22:30,530	I’ll lead us off, but then I’ll pass the torch very quickly. I’m, I’m just here to introduce, uh, Jenny Baker with the Clarion Associates. Uh, she’s our consultant for this project.

00:22:46,770	You may recall earlier in this year we came to, uh, telling you we were initiating a land development code and uh we’ve got the green light to do so and so the, uh, this is an update to our zoning and subdivision ordinance. Uh, so Jenny will walk us through where we are in that process and some of the work they’ve done to analyze our existing Title 14 and in some of the next Steps, uh, to take in that process. So here’s Jenny Baker.

00:23:12,900	Great. Good evening. Um, my name’s Jenny Baker. I’m with Clarion Associates. We are a land use and consulting firm based in Denver, and we are glad to be here tonight to tell you a little bit about the land development code update project and um give you a progress report and hear some questions

00:23:32,100	if you want us to elaborate on anything that’s happening so far. We There are 33 groups that are working together on this, and, um, as I mentioned, Clarion, we do land use and consulting. Primarily in the western states in the Midwest, um, both, um, Comprehensive plans and land development codes.

00:23:59,400	We are working with Madden Planning and Madden Planning is based in Arkansas. They specialize in form-based codes, so we’ll tell you a little bit about what that means. And then we are working locally with SRF and they are helping us here in Bismarck with, um, engagement opportunities as those arise.

00:24:23,500	So a little bit about the project, um, the, there, I think, a couple of overarching reasons why to undertake a project like this. One of them is when a city completes and adopts a comprehensive plan.

00:24:43,170	One of the main ways, one of the most effective ways to accomplish the goals and objectives that the community agrees to in that plan is to update your land development regulations to support the goals in the plan. So this is a great opportunity to do that. You have recently adopted the Together 2045, and as a starting point for this project, we have spent a good deal of time going through that plan, seeing how regulations can support the goals and the objectives that are in there.

00:25:00,270	So we’ve got a few of those listed here on the slide and the regulations that we are thinking about should help to support the shape of the community and should help to support connecting through transportation, through interconnected neighborhoods and developments.

00:25:25,370	Um, inhabits, so making sure that all of your residents have ready access to parks and outdoor spaces, um, allowing growth and focusing growth in some cases in existing areas, so it’s infill and redevelopment rather than always expanding out into your greenfield areas, and finally thrive, um, so that involves just supporting the health of the community in general and one thing that is very important in most of the

00:25:48,230	communities where We’re working is focusing on affordable housing. And expanding the opportunities for housing at various price levels and in various forms in the community. So we’ll talk more about that as we go forward.

00:26:13,600	So I mentioned um working to implement the plan and that is one big focus of the review that we have done and thinking about how to update your regulations. Couple of other things in the review are that, um, we are trying to update your regulations. They were adopted, I think. Maybe in the 50s, but the last comprehensive review and update of them dates to the 80s. And we think your community has grown and changed a lot during that time.

00:26:36,370	So you’re trying to do modern development and achieve modern goals with some very outdated regulations. Um, so one objective is to make them modern and more workable.

00:26:57,700	Part of that is making sure that they are objective, that they are clear for both the developers who are using them, the Local property owners who want to do something and for the staff that is trying to implement them. That’s been a big focus in our review. Um, we will talk more about the user friendliness of the existing code versus what we’re trying to provide, I think user friendliness is not something that your current code would score very highly on.

00:27:20,100	Uh, quick overview of the timeline we started the project, um, with an orientation back in May and that involved speaking to stakeholders, um, there is a steering committee that involves local residents, people who are working on your downtown committee, developers, other people with professional interest in this land development code.

00:27:43,770	So there’s a steering committee that we have spoken to back when we started and also this time when we’re here. There is a technical advisory committee that constitutes, um, city staff, county staff, other people who work with the code from the city side. And so they input has been given to us at both of those opportunities.

00:28:04,430	Right now we have completed what we are calling a code assessment or an issues assessment. So that takes into account all of the things that we have heard in those engagement, um, opportunities and all the things that we have heard from staff about using the code and We will tell you a little bit about what our preliminary, I guess, assessment is of the main issues to solve and some

00:28:21,430	of the ways that it can be improved. That’s where we are in the second box that’s right now. Um, we are hoping for feedback from all and Sundry who have the patience to read through this document talking about a zoning code, and then we will get into drafting the updated regulations that will

00:28:38,130	take us through the coming year, but throughout that year, There will be different installments and different opportunities for people to give us feedback on what is proposed for zoning districts and uses is the first installment. The second will be development standards, and the third administration and procedures.

00:29:00,000	Districts and uses, I think you probably all know what that is, development standards talk about how development has to look. So if districts and uses are what you can do and where, development standards or how it has to look, how much parking is there, how much landscaping.

00:29:18,100	And then the last administration and procedures talks about the, the, the development review procedures that often come before you for your decisions. After that year, um, the code will go into adoption and there will be some supports that we will continue to offer to make sure that it’s working for the community if you choose to adopt it.

00:29:43,300	I have mentioned some of the things that informed the issues assessment that we have done. Additionally, we know that the community has worked with AARP and has a blue zone, and so those, um, reviewing those also informed the recommendations that we are making and I think I already told you about the modules and the opportunity to provide input and further recommendations before the drafting gets well underway.

00:30:02,370	So that’s where we are now before we really get into the details, we’d like to hear from you and the members of the community about this proposal. If you think we’re on the right track. Um, so the organizational framework has to do with What is the zoning code focusing on.

00:30:27,030	And this is some, some, some pretty detailed in the weeds kind of, um, kind of thing, so I’ll try to Try to sum it up quickly. Traditional zoning codes mainly focus on uses as many people are aware, it’s trying to keep apart uses that that could not exist harmoniously beside each other.

00:30:46,800	But more recently, there are other ways that people have chosen and communities have chosen to approach zoning that focus on things other than uses. So form is one of them. Sometimes, if you can get the right buildings together, it doesn’t really matter what the uses in it are, and so for that as an example, I would say think of downtown.

00:31:06,500	Uses have changed over time, but it doesn’t so much matter what those are as can they fit in the context of the buildings that are there. So you can use one or either one or both of those focuses to kind of regulate land use.

00:31:25,100	Older codes focused on use, newer codes tried form, but it doesn’t always work because there’s not always a defined form in an area. And so what we are proposing as an organizing concept is to kind of mix those two things together so there isn’t an undue emphasis.

00:31:41,170	on use or on form, but you kind of balance considerations for both of those in different areas depending on the context and depending on what works. We are calling it a hybrid zoning because it includes elements of both focus on use and focus on form. One thing that that will allow is that Bismarck can focus the regulations in different areas to emphasize different things.

00:32:11,030	So again, in your downtown, where the form is defined, you can focus on less on uses and more on maintaining the context in the area, maintaining the way that the downtown looks. Um, It also can help the city to create high quality development.

00:32:34,500	So one thing that you can do when you have a hybrid code is focused more on, um, some of the things that make development look good and feel good to people. So are the buildings close to the street? How, how are they interacting with the sidewalk? What kind of mixed use is there that’s inviting to people? I think that’s all I’ll say about that.

00:32:51,270	I’m happy to try and answer questions if you have some as we go forward, but Now we will tell you a little bit about the other. Part of the document which is the issues assessment, and this looks at the current LDC. Zoning districts are a big part of that, um, this is the part of the code that says, um, what, what, what you can do where. So a zoning district is typically residential.

00:33:15,200	It is commercial. There’s, um, a need for mixed use that I will talk about more in a minute or industrial. So your 20 together 2045 places a good bit of emphasis on developing mixed-use districts which allow commercial to be near residential.

00:33:36,530	Which enable like instead of having to get in your car and go to a different area to kind of meet your daily needs, mixed use. In different contexts can enable you to sort of do all that in one area in a kind of Walkable and comfortable form. The plan emphasizes different kinds of mixed use that people would like to see here in Bismarck.

00:33:58,900	And so some of the zoning districts where we are suggesting creating new ones is to to support implementing those mixed-use areas. One of them is industrial mixed use. There is something that’s called destination mixed use, so that would be sort of like an entertainment area that has restaurants and maybe, you know.

00:34:23,500	Um, indoor amusement facilities, and then some uh residential that is also part of the development. There is a traditional mixed use and um a like a corridor, commercial, like a heavier commercial one. You don’t really have districts right now that support that kind of development. So one of the recommendations is to create those to enable it.

00:34:51,470	This is an example of what your current zoning districts look like in the ordinance versus what we are proposing to create. And I think this generally holds across not just the zoning districts as part of the regulations, but the ordinance right now is, is very text heavy and so you will see these long blocks, long paragraphs, there are not a lot of illustrations in it, not a lot

00:35:09,370	of tables, not a lot of ways to make it easier for people to use. And so here is one example of how that can happen. This is a zoning district page that shows. The purpose for the district. So what kind of development is appropriate there.

00:35:27,570	It shows, uh, an illustration that is the kind of development you might see, and then the table at the bottom has the dimensional standards. So it puts all of the standards that are associated with the zoning district in one place to make it easier for someone to understand.

00:35:46,770	If I’m doing residential development in R5, here’s all the stuff I need to know in one place instead of having someone kind of Page back and forth or scroll up and down to get the different standards for one district. This is an example of what we are proposing with the uses.

00:36:11,900	Right now, the uses are in each of the districts and so if you want to know, OK, I want to build a pharmacy. Can I do it in the CA? Can I do it in the CG district, you kind of have to flip back and forth. This is a consolidated use table which puts all of that in in one place that you can consult. So the districts are listed across the top.

00:36:28,770	The uses are down the left hand side And you can kind of see is something permitted, that’s the P. Does it require a special approval? That’s the S in the table, but it just consolidates it in one place and makes that information easier to find.

00:36:46,130	That’s one of the proposals with the uses, um, a couple of other things that go along with that are making sure that each of the uses has a clear definition. Um, I will talk a little bit more about you specific standards in the next slide and um just a review generally to see.

00:37:06,230	Do you have the uses that you need in the community? For instance, data centers is not something that your code currently covers, maybe you want them, maybe you don’t, but, but in looking at all of the uses, we can try to determine if there are any that are missing like that and other modern uses, or if there are any in there that can be combined, different kinds of retail often have the same

00:37:21,770	impacts. So you can kind of cla classify them as small, medium, large, instead of listing, you know, like every different kind of retail shop you might have. So there can be some combinations, and if there are any things in there that are obsolete, we can take them out.

00:37:44,330	Couple other things about land uses, um, the permissions you saw on the prior slide, P for permitted, S for a special approval, and then in some cases, things just aren’t allowed. We will take a pretty close look at what is allowed where and think about if something isn’t allowed somewhere, why is that? And if we apply the appropriate use-specific standards, can it be allowed without a special

00:38:02,530	use approval. I think a drive through is one example of that. Many communities have them go through special review, but really if you have Standards that deal with how far does it have to be from a property line if there is a speaker box.

00:38:22,100	Where is that speaker box oriented? If there’s a neighbor, like a residential neighbor, we don’t want the speaker box blaring at them, right? So you change the orientation. You make sure that you’re dry vile is not up against a property line or up against the street line.

00:38:41,900	So that’s one example where you can apply standards and make it work in a context that doesn’t necessarily involve you reviewing. or approving it, it can just be handled administratively provided that the standards work to make it fit in without negative impacts. Development standards, um, I mentioned the opportunity to tailor the standards to different contexts.

00:39:07,000	So urban, suburban, rural, you might want a different level of landscaping in a kind of a more urban context, or there might not be space for it, so you require less, but you can tailor some of those requirements based on the context.

00:39:26,730	We want to make sure that you have objective standards, so it’s not should or could or, you know, development Regulations kind of tell you what you need to do, and they shouldn’t be subject to as much negotiation if you have objective standards, makes it easier to use. Um, we can take a look at, uh, landscaping is one thing I mentioned.

00:39:46,430	Parking is another, do you have the right amount of parking? Do you want to take a different approach to it to make it a little more flexible? You can also look at some things like how infill and redevelopment can fit into different areas in the community and kind of make that work when it is subject to some standards to make sure it’s appropriate to the context.

00:40:05,700	Are there standards that you don’t have in the current code that you might want to get into some suggestions we have made are to put some regulations on outdoor lighting, um, site and building standards that can cover an orientation of a building versus a parking lot.

00:40:24,370	Is there an area where you don’t want parking against the street? You want it beside or behind the building because you want to bring those buildings up to the street instead. Um, steep slope regulations. This is about your bluff areas along the river and making sure that development is appropriate in those areas and then mobility and connectivity, um, can emphasize opportunities to put in trails, sidewalks, make sure there are other ways to get around.

00:40:48,830	They’re integrated into development besides just accommodating cars. I should say in addition to accommodating cars. Um, last thing, last topic is to make sure that the procedures are clearly spelled out and that they produce predictable outcomes.

00:41:16,030	So there will still be opportunities for negotiated developments, PUDs, you’re always gonna need those because they’re always going to be developments that don’t quite fit into a standard format for a procedure. But there are a lot of things that don’t need that, and so we will try to help make sure that the procedures are clearly spelled out both from the perspective of someone coming. In to do a development.

00:41:32,900	And from the staff perspective of someone trying to use these regulations and apply them. So, next steps, um. We are here today to tell you that basic kind of overview of what’s happened so far and to um answer any questions you have about the document, if you’ve had a chance to look at it or about the process, we have it posted publicly and you can.

00:41:59,830	I’m gonna come back to that. So the document is posted publicly on the website for this project, which is at the bottom of this slide, and you all and any other member of the community can go take a look, give us any comments about specific sections, about the whole document, whatever you would like to do, um, that is available for comment through

00:42:23,430	October 21st, we will take any feedback that we get and kind of update our recommendations for approaching the drafting based on the feedback and Then Um, We are here to talk to you today and we have had, um, A couple, we have had one open house yesterday and there will be another one tomorrow for

00:42:46,900	members of the public to come in. I mentioned the steering committee and the technical advisory committee, um, we will also talk to your planning commission tomorrow, a week or two ago, there was a booth at a street fair where people who were walking by got to hear a little bit about this project

00:43:06,030	and give some input on it that way. So those are the engagement, um, opportunities that are associated with this so far. And I think after this, we will go back to drafting and probably the next time you will hear from us will be after the first installment is done and we will give another

00:43:26,930	opportunity for you to give feedback on what is in there so far. So that would be the districts and uses. I’m happy to try to answer any questions you have. Commissioners I have a question just for Daniel just because I want to make sure it gets out in the public.

00:43:53,100	So Daniel, can you identify who so far is on the steering committee so that we make sure that we are covering all of the basis of all the people that we need to make sure that we are. Uh, getting feedback from. Sure, uh, Marin, and, uh, so yeah, so let’s see, um. I know I’m putting you on the spot.

00:44:09,700	I, I can, I’m, I’m picturing the meeting room now so I can get it right. So we have uh Brendan Eagle from the Chamber EDC is on it. Um, there are a number of developers in our community that are on it, Chad Mouldenauer, Derek Wachter, Kim Knutson, uh, um, David Withham, and then landed in Niemeyer is

00:44:28,900	with Swinton Hagen Consulting, um, and then, uh, Jason Tomanic from some city administration, Ben Erith, um, Community development director. Uh, Katie Janke is representing the public health aspect, um.

00:44:51,930	And then Kate Herzog on the park board, um, and also with the downtowner is on on the steering committee, um, and those are the ones who were there today. Others have been invited to the steering committee, um, uh, but have not attended thus far. Uh, but I should say that’s one of the communities we’ll be doing, and we also have other stakeholders, groups and and a technical committee as well. And so as you.

00:45:11,130	As commissioners are reviewing this if there’s a user group that we have that has not been identified, reach out to. Daniel, because they may have already been identified, but they haven’t shown up yet, um, because that was one of the things I asked.

00:45:25,970	In the first steering committee is that we made sure we try to get to, you know, the builders and. The developers and cover the. How we cover the ETI, I don’t know yet, but that was one of the things we talked about as well, so. Comm. Connelly, did you, did you have a question for someone I, I may have missed you, so I’m sorry. Um, Miss Baker, um.

00:45:47,830	We, there was one of the meetings yesterday and how many people showed up? 2 Yeah So I would encourage anybody in the public. This is a one of our bigger, bigger ordinance packets and things, so if you want to learn more.

00:46:11,900	I, I know it’s an afternoon versus an evening tomorrow versus yesterday being an evening, but I would encourage anybody if you can afford the time to stop by, ask the questions, um, so we can, um. Push the needles on this so we can have the best outcome is what I’m encouraging. So, and I appreciate I was there last night in the conversation. It was a loaded question.

00:46:30,670	Um, so, so there last night, you know, was a, a modest turnout. I think we’re getting started and the there has not been a lot to review or react to so far. But as we get more into the process, we’re going to put more emphasis on showing the public what is in this, getting people to engage.

00:46:50,870	With us whether at open houses whether virtually or any other way that we can, just so that nobody feels like they are surprised by this when it gets towards the end of the process, but it, it’s kind of Not a lot of people are interested in zoning up front until you tell them some of the things that are included and that you’re proposing.

00:47:06,970	So we are, I think, going to have more emphasis on engaging the public as we go forward and there’s more to react to. I like how you said that where you said we want to do everything we can so people don’t feel surprised.

00:47:25,300	We’ve had quite a few of those discussions in the past, and I would like to try to navigate to where we can avoid it as much as possible going into the future so I appreciate that you completely. Any other comments, commissioners? Thank you. Thanks for your time tonight. We look forward to coming back and talking to you some more in the future. Next item.

00:47:49,570	3B public hearing on a request for a class I2 complimentary alcohol license for white lace Bridal Inc doing businesses with white lace Bridal. This is a public hearing. Anyone who wish to speak to it, please come forward, state your name and sign in. A 2nd call for public comment. A 3rd and final call for public comment.

00:48:16,230	Hearing and seeing no one public comment period is now closed. Motion to approve. Sorry. So Any discussion Harry Nunn will call roll. Comm. Cleary, Comm. Risch, Commissionerker. Mr. Connelly, Mayor Schmitz, yes. Item 3C, uh, this is a public hearing on ordinance 6588 to create a resisting arrest ordinance. Um, I’ll see Comm.

00:48:48,530	Risch, do you want to make any comment? Otherwise, we’ll open the public hearing. I mean, you, this is your portfolio, so. Uh, thank you, Mr. Mayor. I guess the only issue is that when you’re the current laws regarding resisting arrests requires a pretty high threshold and the police think they that if we adopted this ordinance, we could have a

00:49:10,730	lower threshold in handle it in city court rather than um. District court OK So there’s the purpose. So again, this is public hearing anyone who wishes to speak to this ordinance, please come forward. A second call for public comment. Third and final call for public comment.

00:49:38,000	Hearing and seeing no one, public comment period is now closed, Commissioners, what are your wishes? I’ll move with approve. Any discussion A call roll. Comm. Risch, Comm. Zenker. Yes, Comm. Connelly, Comm. Cleary, Mayor Schmitz. Yes. Item 3D, public hearing on approval of the concrete sidewalk curb and gutter private driveway assessments as part of the uh. has to be 2023 assessments. This is a public hearing.

00:50:10,570	Anyone who wishes to speak to these, please come forward. A 2nd call for public comment. A 3rd and final call for public comment. Hearing and seeing no one coming forward, Pa count appear is now closed. Comm., what are your wishes? Move to approve. 2. Any discussion. Hearing done, we’ll call roll. Mr. Deer. Comm. Connelly, Comm.

00:50:43,100	Cleary, yes, Comm. Risch. Mayor Schmitz, yes. Next item 3E public hearing for the 2024 special assessment districts. And conformed assessments as amended. This is a public hearing. Anyone who wishes to speak to these, please come forward. A 2nd call for public comment. A 3rd and final call for public comment.

00:51:14,130	Hearing and seeing no one, public comment period is now closed, commissioners, what are your wishes? Move. 2. Do we have any discussion? Hearing none will call roll. Mr. Connelly. Yes, Comm. Cleary. Yes, Comm. Risch, Comm. Zenker. Yes, Mayor Schmidt. Yes, next item 3 public hearing on ordinance 6589, the 2025 city budget. Um, Dimitri, are you gonna make any presentation or Comm.

00:51:46,630	Cleary? lead it Figured we could do the public hearing first or I guess. OK, that’s fine unless you have something you want to do first, Dmitri. I’m just offering the opportunity. So this is a public hearing for the 2025 budget. Anyone who wished to speak, please come forward. The second call for public comment.

00:52:11,700	A 3rd and final call for public comment. Hearing and seeing no public comment, uh, Public comment period is now closed. Commissioners Comm. Risch Um, I’ve got the, uh, fire department portfolio, and I’d like to make an adjustment and recommendation there, but first of all, I’d like to say we have an excellent fire department.

00:52:35,770	Our chief and his assistant chiefs had done tremendous job, uh, the insurance industry actually rates fire departments around the country and we rate number one at a scale of 1 to 10, and I’ve read where we’re in the top 1% of fire departments in the country and there’s a good reason for that.

00:52:53,470	We’ve got an excellent chief and assistant chiefs. My one concern is that we currently have 5 fire stations and there’s been talk of consideration of building 6 and 7th fire station. And I’m of the opinion that I don’t think we need a 6th or 7th 1 as of yet. We may need one in the future.

00:53:10,070	You have to keep in mind. We’ve got 5 excellent fire stations, uh, Burley County is building one right on the north end of town and broke ground on a rebuilding our new fire station. Man Dan’s talking about building another fire station, so I, I think we’re doing quite well and our city probably has more urgent needs than a 6th fire station.

00:53:28,630	Included in the budget is a, uh, 2 additional positions for the upcoming possible 6 fire station. I would like to move to remove those and allow the administration to Hired two other city employees that are maybe more urgent than we do now.

00:53:47,330	I just think it’s premature to hire the employees for a fire station that may not be built for several years. So I’ll make a motion that we remove the two positions and allow the city administration to, um, Find two other positions that are probably more urgent. I have a motion we may want it. with the schools. We have a motion. Um, I will second for discussion purposes.

00:54:14,000	OK, so we, we have a 1st and a 2nd, so what’s the discussion and what, what’s the thought process? I mean, I heard what Comm. Rich said Comm. Risch and I, we had this conversation in budget committee too when he attended for fire, um, I think that.

00:54:37,100	From the budget committee’s perspective, we’ve been slowly increasing the number of Firefighters so that we’re not having to do a big ask on the year that the fire station 6 does get built, um. So that’s kind of where that perspective came from. Understandably, if we think that the that. Being built is going to slow down. There are other needs.

00:54:59,900	In The at least in the employee list that we said no to. To include these firefighters. So if that’s the consensus that we would rather move forward. With different roles. I, I definitely have some in mind that I think are good priorities as well.

00:55:22,370	And so I think that If the motion could include that change if we come to some kind of consensus so that we’re not just saying pull them, do something else with it, um. But um I’m definitely open to the discussion of.

00:55:42,570	Of holding off on those two or holding off on one of them and shifting the position and slowing that growth of the team, um, or with the potential of and maybe Dimitri can explain this better than I can, but if there’s the Potential of leaving one of them in there, but asking the chief that we don’t fill that role for the 1st 1st 6 months and maybe later in the year we’ll know what the building of Station 6 will look like and

00:56:01,370	timeline wise cause I know that that’s not not locked in right now, so. Do you have something you wanna add or maybe you can explain that better than I can. Comm. Dimitri, I don’t think the mic’s on. American Commissioners Comm.

00:56:26,570	Cleary, um, um, yeah, I mean, we definitely don’t want to surprise her, um, ourselves when, you know, all of a sudden we realized that the fire station does need to be built all of a sudden it would be extremely difficult in the budget to uh all of a sudden budget. For, you know, um. You know, multiple for to 8, whatever it is, the firefighters that are needed.

00:56:43,100	However, I do appreciate Comm. Risch’s point and, and if we, if there is a, a holdback on the, on the fire station, which I don’t think there’s a. Determination on that at this point if I’m not mistaken, so, um, I would, you know, we could, we have other priorities in the budget that we, we obviously go

00:57:02,230	through the budget at a. Very extensive level and this year we had the pleasure of having two commissioners go through the budget, you know, uh, along with the other commissioners in their portfolios.

00:57:21,370	So, um, we certainly declined other priorities in the budget that may have, uh, you know, merit to uh review again and and look and see if if they’re, you know, worth, um. They’re worth the time if if those two firefighters are no longer a priority based on the commission’s decision. Um, before we move on from it, if we could just pull Chief up here.

00:57:40,570	I just want to talk about staff numbers at the stations, just so that we can. Make sure we have that Info Um, In Budget Committee, we talk about how, uh, a station can operate with, I believe it’s 1212 to 15 depending on the shifts and that sort of thing.

00:58:03,200	Uh, can you kind of elaborate on that and then kind of give us like where we’re at as far as how staffed each station is. Sure. OK. Mayor, Comm.. So yes, uh, each fire station would be staffed with a fire captain and 3 firefighters times 3 shifts, so that’s where the number 12 comes from. Thus far in 23 and 24 we’ve added 4 firefighters, so that leaves us yet with.

00:58:28,570	5 firefighters and 3 captains to add 2. Uh, prepare for that station. What’s worked well with the staffing as we’re ramping up. I we have Normal retirements, uh departures. But we don’t want to get into is a situation in 26 where we’re hiring.

00:58:52,370	9 more or 8 more staff plus the 8 that would be retiring, we’d be looking at a peak of like 16 persons possibly. And one of our priorities was the the training position, so that’s still a priority.

00:59:09,170	For us and that’s gonna get more imminent as we go through each year, but that would be where we’re at on Station 64 of the 12, we still would need 5 firefighters, 3 fire captains, plus prepare for the other positions that we normally deal with.

00:59:33,300	So we have 4 that are just currently operating at one of the other stations that would be pulled immediately for Station 6 when it’s built, and these two that are in 2025 would make that number 6, correct? Mayor and Comm., that, that number is correct. Um, the way that we’re ramping up is. Ensuring that these persons are trained as we lose. Experience over the years. That’s costly to us, so it takes at least 3 years for a firefighter to get to a point to even operate the apparatus.

00:59:55,730	So they’re in a training mode and fortunately what they’ve been able to help us fill is we’ve had um. Military deployments. FMLA So we surprisingly we haven’t been heavy. We’ve been maintaining our minimum staff with these 4, so they’ve been, they’ve been a blessing in many ways and we’re able to continue that training to gain there. Experience.

01:00:18,130	OK, thank you. That’s all I had. So Like the question would be if we do this. You know, I guess Where we would are we really truly gonna redeploy to two other positions or another position if there’s a from $1 or cents standpoint, that makes sense too.

01:00:42,170	And I I think we can just remove the positions and not do something or are we reducing. Taxes. I guess. So from my standpoint and we, we had left the firefighters in there, um, in the budget committee with the intention of what the chief was talking about and making sure that that we’re ramping up for it if, if the commission doesn’t feel like that’s necessary this year

01:01:04,500	and we think that the, the building of that station is going to be put off a little bit and we don’t want to ramp up as quickly, I guess my preference would be to leave one of the firefighters in there and to remove.

01:01:21,170	One and the the position that I would have really liked to feel if we would have had the capacity was, um, there was an an HR role, um, that was added in, um, And we’re gonna get the title the assistant director for HR correct? And so I think that that was the other one that I felt like when when you look at how much our staff has grown

01:01:40,400	and then also from the way it was explained to me at a certain point, there was a staff member that kind of in HR a lot of their duties shifted over to payroll so that there isn’t just one person that is fully functioning on the payroll, but then her regular duties didn’t really get filled

01:01:57,900	by another HR person. So there definitely is some, some gaps in the HR. Apartment that I think. It would be helpful to fill that role. I just, we prioritized the firefighters over it, so if we don’t feel like we want to do that, I guess that would be my first.

01:02:16,170	Suggestion as to like how we want to shift our priorities. Right Comm. Connelly. Um, We’re in a unique position this year. We’ve talked about conversations with the general election might bring to the table and things. How much would they say one year pause, um.

01:02:45,430	Change this dynamic that’s been suggested, because if the funding source changes significantly, all of a sudden everything’s kind of spun around on its head. Comm. Connelly, uh, could you elaborate on the word term pause, um. We’re going to be starting another budget cycle next spring already, so. It does This determination, um, like if we followed what Comm. Risch is suggesting.

01:03:11,500	And things, does that bias time be because we’re just being a little bit more conservative on the front side, knowing in 5 weeks that our discussion might change quite a bit. Uh Uh, Comm. Connelly to answer your question, uh.

01:03:33,800	If I’m understanding you correctly, um, having those positions in the budget but pausing on them and not hiring for them is if I’m understanding is that, am I understanding you correctly, either if we pull them completely or leave them in and we’re just not making those decisions to avi date because we don’t know how what the funding sources might look like in a year from now.

01:03:51,900	It seems like it might be a more prudent thing to be a little more conservative at this point because today. I don’t know that answer come December. Mayor Comm., Comm. Connelly, yes, you are absolutely correct, um, November 5th will we may we’ll have a significant, huge decision on the finances of the city and um. Anything would change if depending on which way that election would go. In the budget.

01:04:18,370	I I’m not sure what we’re what you’re asking though, Comm. Connelly, when you say conservative, I’m not sure if you’re trying to say pull the positions, reduce the budget, or Just Leave the positions, but ask them not be filled. Well, that With what Comm.

01:04:41,830	Rich mentioned, it makes sense with all of the uncertainty to where instead of adding those positions at this point, as part of the discussion, if we don’t have them added in and things get a little. Uncertain and we have to make difference decisions going into the future.

01:05:01,130	We’re in a better position where if we start making decisions and we started spending say money, then it gets a little harder to make those adjustments as we go forward. I’m, I’m I, I think I’m following, but I’m not sure I am, so, but Comm. Cleary or Comm. Zink are you? Yeah, Mayor commissioners, um, Chief, could you come back for a second, please? So, so, um, just to elaborate a little bit on what Comm.

01:05:30,430	Risch said about the status of the fire department. Um, what’s the minimum standard for us to be able to Get from the station any emergency call to wherever that emergency is, obviously. Strategically we’ve placed. Fire stations, so what, what’s our, what’s our ETA, I guess is what I’m looking for. Mayor, Comm.

01:05:52,370	, one of the standards, the primary one we use is under National Fire Protection Association also used by the Insurance Service office, and that’s going to be a 4-minute travel. Uh, to the, from the station to the, to the site.

01:06:08,970	And so what we do is in our planning zones we, we measure that as the as the city grows, so where we get pushed to the edge, we start to look at what’s coming next, but for, for 4:30. OK. And then, um. With With us having basically one shift for the new station. If you add 2.

01:06:33,470	That would take us to 6 or halfway there, but we would still, if we would do it incrementally with the two, we are still 3 years away, right? Before we would be able to fulfill and build that new station. So what’s your with at the rate that we’re currently growing. Um, What is your team see for us building that new fire station. Mayor, Comm..

01:06:58,300	The Pro projection at this point would be to occupy an operational by late September 26. And we’ll continue to monitor that, but that, that’s the path we’ve been on. And that’s what we’re Measuring, OK. So, and Since September 24, it’s basically 24 months. So next year you’re really going to come and ask for 6 people if they’re if you’re still on this projection. Mayor, Comm.

01:07:23,830	, yes, we, we would have to accomplish the 12 in some manner to do that. OK. All right. And even if you would push it off to 27. You would still have to split that and need 3 and 3 and, and 25 and 26 to be able to open in 27. Is that correct? Comm., yes. OK. Alright, thank you, sir.

01:07:46,030	Is there any other discussion on this motion? I guess the only other thing I would say that kind of Comm. Connelly’s point is, uh, With the way that it would fluctuate if we just pull them and we don’t choose another priority that is going to replace it.

01:08:09,030	Uh, I just worry that especially with the growth that he’s talking about, we’re gonna, we’re gonna lower just have to raise it even more when we’re adding 8 instead of 6 or whatever it might be in 2 years.

01:08:25,970	So I would rather see the steady growth, even if we ask them not to fill those positions for 6 months and to come back, at least they’re still in the budget so that we’re not having to like. Come up with all of that in one year, I guess is kind of. My thought process with it, um. I, I do just think to um. That there are other priorities that.

01:08:47,370	We chose not to fill because we wanted to keep the growth of the firefighters as it was, um. So I guess I lean towards leaving them in, especially if we’re gonna be building this fire station by even 27 or 28 at least. That growth is manageable, um.

01:09:11,370	But if we’re not going to leave them in, I would like to fill it, I guess, the two needs that we talked most about in Budget Committee was that HR position or uh heavy equipment operators, which we were asked for and I think they asked for 6 and we gave them 2, so. OK Any further, go ahead, Comm. Connelly. Dimitri, uh, case in point with what Comm.

01:09:36,670	Cleary said, if they did budget and we didn’t fill those positions, we just come in under budget and the money is not spent. It’s so that does create a little leeway, do. Regardless of what happens next month. Air Comm. commission uh Comm. Connelly, you’re exactly right.

01:09:56,970	That it, it, it can be in the budget, it can go into reserves and we can, um, have those positions available but not filled, but so and it does leave room for depending on what happens in November and let it leave room for other decisions to be made at the commission table. Comm.. Yeah, again, I’ll say that I don’t think we’ll need the station for a while.

01:10:16,500	We’ve got 5 stations, but if we could have the money going into reserves that would make a lot of sense. We’ve got the, the big flood control project that’s going to cost us millions of dollars. If we build the fire station, the station itself will probably be $5000. I don’t know,,, $3 million worth of equipment plus a 12 employees. It’s an enormous expense.

01:10:34,230	We’ve got other things that we need to figure out ways in which to fund and hopefully we could do that. through reserves or other things rather than having to raise taxes. Comm. Connelly and then Comm. Cleary. So now that you mentioned that Comm.

01:10:54,970	Risch, that brings up a different dynamic because the mayor mentioned, does that mean we’re going to reduce taxes or have those impacts. Well, if that space goes directly into reserves to create that flexibility. I mean, that kind of answers your question along that lines, doesn’t it, Mayor? Yeah, I don’t want the yoyo effect, the tax rate.

01:11:17,030	For one, that’s a concern I have, but, but the other thing is if we’re redeploying the positions to different positions. I don’t know if that’s You know, I’m We have a motion I think we’ve had discussion, Comm. C C Comm.

01:11:34,500	C C C C, do you have another tidbit I would add to if we leave the firefighters in but ask them not to fill them and maybe uh halfway through the year, we can look at like where retirements are at, how, you know, how his staff is and, and evaluate if they’re needed, um, if that money is going into reserves, it’s not being spent.

01:11:52,670	I mean, firefighters similar to the Roads and streets crew, they accrue over time that gets paid out as well. I think that there’s, I, I think it would work fine to just leave them in there and kind of see where we’re at halfway through the year as far as, you know, his retirement’s going and where how they’re staffing and how that’s all shifting before we like ask him to fill them.

01:12:13,430	But if, but if there’s a retirement, that’s automatically replaced. That’s an open position it wouldn’t have anything to do with that. Comm. Zenker. Mayor commissioners, um, Demetri or chief either one of you could answer this question, but. I’m fairly certain that we’ve. Got a couple engines on order already. Um, because of lead times for that.

01:12:36,530	So to your point, sir, of the uh expenses that are, we’ve already spent some of that money, right, because, because I think, I think the last set of engines we ordered were 24 month lead time. Yeah, so, um. It won’t be, we’ve spent some of that to get to that new building.

01:12:56,630	I mean, The vision is there even if it’s to 28, I would still support leaving these two. Fireman in this or fire people in this uh. In the, in this year’s budget. From any other discussion. Comm. Connelly. One additional one, chief, could I ask you a question? Mayor commissioner’s chief, um, what’s the response times I think on the um.

01:13:24,530	South side is built out the platinum drive and on the north side they’ve just started opening up north of the school there. What’s the response times now based on the footprint of where we’re at. Mayor and Comm.

01:13:43,730	, I don’t have that exact time right in my head at this point, but the time that I mentioned that at 4:30, that’s standard. When we look at that, we have to reach 90% of our incidents in that time frame. So they’re for any community, not just Bismarck, you’re gonna have areas that will go beyond that. You can’t have the perfect uh. Coverage 100%.

01:14:04,630	So our standard is 90% and we do reach that at this point. I believe we are at 93%. Of our incidents we were within our standard, but there will be parts of the community that are beyond that. And that’s what we measure within our planning zones and when we see that growth it’s gonna go further, then that’s when we start to warrant the station. Comm.

01:14:24,970	Zenker. Yeah, so I mean just to expand on that a little bit, I mean, right, so having the engineering portfolio, some of the things that Gabe does is one in his team is we, we take a look at that because it’s, it’s always a, it’s a full team effect, whatever, whatever Chief and his team needs to

01:14:40,470	make sure that they can get to and from. I’ll, I’ll point to two, construction projects that we have coming, the extension of of Century Avenue and the extension of 52nd so we can tie in, uh, the silver Ranch side to that, and then obviously Tyler Parkway. You know, you, once you start.

01:14:58,470	I shouldn’t say infill, but you expand some of your, your roads and streets, well then clearly now you’re involved because we got to plow those bad boys, but you know, so it’s, so it’s, it’s a cause and effect.

01:15:14,000	The good thing is is that we have a vibrant community, um, and, and we can, we can handle those situations when they come because they’re gonna be here sooner than we know it. So that’s why the the proactive approach that we’ve taken over the last few years to add this, this firemen and this station in the future is the correct way to do it because it’s practical.

01:15:30,530	It’s not, it’s not a leapfrog, it’s not a knee-jerk reaction. Here it is, we can see it coming and, and this is really, um, I appreciate your, your offering to people because I’m sure there’s other departments that puckered up a little bit and lick their lick their lips, but I think we need to keep this, this going this direction to

01:15:47,700	make sure we’re ready for. As the chief said, 26, 27, 28, whatever that is and to follow up I mean we did commit some dollars out of our reserve actually. board committed Funds for the fire station and for 2 engines, I believe.

01:16:07,670	So it’s not that we’re walking into blind, but uh anyway, any other discussion? If not, let’s call roll on that motion and then we’ll come back to the rest of the budget. Comm. Cleary. No. Missioner Visch? Yes. Comm. Zenker. Miss Connelly, Mayor Schmidt, no. All right, going back to the budget.

01:16:38,330	What other items in the budget do we want to look at? I have one that I know that, go ahead, Comm. mayor and Comm., I think, um, um, if I heard right, I got the correct information, the county approved there. The budget on Monday, so I think, um, not everybody was at the commission when we agreed to do that, but last year when we had our joint meeting with the county.

01:16:56,000	We said if they if they. Um, Fulfill their obligation and they take on that 500,000. I’m just gonna use 500,000 because I don’t know the exact number that we would reduce our meals for that. So I would, I would look to us to at least have a 1 mil reduction.

01:17:18,400	Tonight to to accommodate accommodate that? So. I, I have the exact dollars if you want them. Well, I know what the, I know, yes, and so the difference. Is the change. From where they Were before they agreed and then they fulfilled their commitment to re up it. So go ahead, Comm. so this would be.

01:17:46,770	That we’d be lowering the middle levy $282,502 is the. Is the amount, um. To explain is like the original amount that they were already committed to kind of throughout the years was at that $300,000 amount we asked them to go to 25% and that jump we agreed to the difference that like as they would jump up, we would bring ours down.

01:18:08,030	Am I explaining that correctly and the conversation that we had with The in the joint commission meetings was that they understood it would be in arrears. So, so we’re, we’re actually giving the reduction based upon. I guess the 2024 funding.

01:18:29,870	Now, because we don’t know what they’ll do going forward, they can’t commit that they’ll go up or down they may go down in their funding and um. Believe that’s what Comm. Munsen. Provided to the county commission. Through his presentation on that on the public health piece my understanding with him was that the.

01:18:52,200	As or agreement on our side would be then we’re, we’re lowering the mill levy by that increase. Um, That the county increased in 2024 that brought their public health, um, about 5 yeah it was, yeah, because it was they’ve been at kind of that 300,000 for a while and it was so that was about the 20% of, of certain things in public health and we asked them to go

01:19:13,670	to 25% of all of public health, which that’s that 280 is the difference and so by asking them to do that, we agreed to, to lower ours by that difference. Um, I’m not, I’m not sure if we’re answering Comm. Zinker’s question, but that’s it’s 0.54 mils is the total on the.

01:19:35,530	Like, agreed less that we would lower because of their increase in contribution. Comm. Zinker, you, you look like you have a question or, well, I’m not, you’re not, I’m not sure that you, you know, I mean, I specifically remember speaking of reducing it by 1 mil to accommodate what the. What the county was.

01:19:59,000	Going to pay for now I think, I think there’s a couple of different things. I mean, right, this thing was all over the board for a while, so they had a certain percentage, um, or certain dollar amount. We asked them for a 25% at our. At our joint meeting, they didn’t.

01:20:19,930	Allow that they did, they did that 300,000 or whatever. But I mean, they’ve they’ve increased it 2 years. From what I 2 years back to back. Unless somebody’s got some numbers where I’m completely wrong. But the way I see it, if they’re gonna, if they’re gonna spend $580,000 and a meal is worth 580,000.

01:20:41,170	We owe it to the citizens of Bismarck to reduce that by 1 mil. I’m not, I’m not gonna disagree where you’re coming from. The 580 is the total of the 25% of the budget. So I had that conversation directly because I asked Comm. Munsen. As well, and then he spoke with. Other other county commissioners.

01:21:00,500	I mean, I think the past 3 to 2 because you can just that’s just how it passed when they signed the agreement, um. I said, OK, explain to me how we can handle this. Do you want it in arrears? Because if we do a complete Pay this year, then we’re gonna be having a tax increase.

01:21:20,770	Next year if they stay at 25%. And so He was comfortable with being in arrears, so like if they. If, if they choose to go roll back to. $300,000 which was their original commitment.

01:21:46,000	In 20 6 I’m getting my if I’m getting my years right, we would still have that 280 I’ll be a little more this year, 285 or 286,000 that we would keep our. Our taxes reduced by for 2. 6, but then in 27 when we come in, we, we wouldn’t, we would then probably have to increase our meals to cover it so but hey, this is a topic of discussion and we can decide how we feel is appropriate to our citizens.

01:22:07,430	I, I. Understand where you’re coming from because that you’re trying, you’re adding two years together essentially to get caught up. Yeah Um, and then we’d be. On Par with whatever they approved going forward for whatever from the baseline. $300,000. So if I unders if I’m. If I think I’m following you correctly, Comm..

01:22:34,400	I didn’t realize you were trying to sum up 2024 and 2025. I thought you were saying that we’re lowering it because they’re paying a total of 580 and I think at least if I’m understanding the conversations I’ve had with Comm. Munsen, it’s not, we’re not lowering the total amount that they are paying in public health.

01:22:55,700	We’re lowering ours by the increase that we asked of them, and I like, I guess it works better in my brain to think of it percentage wise, um, we asked them for 25. That was that increase, so.

01:23:19,270	It, because there’s been talks at the joint meetings where If that ever goes up further and, and Burley County wants more involvement with public health and say it becomes a fifty-fifty or if we ever get to that point, that then we’d be lowering again as they raise their commitment in the agreement that way. I can’t remember Janelle. Because for public health. Because as of right now they’re kind of they’re staying at the 25%, um.

01:23:45,400	But I mean this is, this is a discussion we’re having we’re we’re gonna figure out, go ahead and Comm., mayor, so I think that was a question that was asked and I believe you talked to or Dimitri talked to, uh, Comm.

01:24:04,800	Munsen, when they talked about it, and I thought he brought that to the Burley County Board when they were discussing it, but, um, because we couldn’t reduce. They gave the mills last time after our taxes had been already sent to the state. So we could not reduce it for that year, um, And so it was my understanding, it was explained at the Burley County Board by by Comm.

01:24:28,670	Munsen that what it is is every year we will continue to have that. Following. So it’s going to be a permanent reduction of point Whatever number you said 458 or whatever it is. Um, and then if there are future reductions, it would be. More beyond that because otherwise, next year you would go up 0.458.

01:24:55,800	Um, and the reasoning, my understanding in the discussions with the Comm. was because their decision to give us money was after the mills had been set. So that’s why we’re, we’re going in arrears. There had been an agreement, we had already had that as part of our.

01:25:17,830	Um, Budget, I thought, in 23, and with the death of the chair last year, that was changed after their initial certification that that money would be paid to us. But eventually they kind of they didn’t put it on taxes, they took it out of their reserves. It’s my understanding. So I don’t know if there was per se a specific agreement made at the commission’s table.

01:25:39,630	It was, we’re going to reduce it if you’re paying on, you’re taking on 25%, we’re gonna reduce the Sharon mills commiserate, whatever it is, because also we didn’t know what the amount of the mill is. It changes every year. So, I mean, we’re dealing with dollars, not. Mills per se with the budget.

01:25:59,500	So I don’t know if that was ever discussed other than to say, if you provide that, then we’re going to decrease our milk. I do know that at the joint committee meeting commission’s meeting, it was discussed as a in arrears because that was the only way we could mathematically make it work without having a big reduction

01:26:16,000	this year and then potentially having an increase in our tax rate for 2020. 6 So And that’s how I know Comm. Munsen was understanding it after we discussed it, but hey, I’m open. I want to give, we need to give something back. That’s the point, uh, to be appropriate with. What the agreement was so.

01:26:39,600	I’m, I’m I’m open to whatever we decide. Comm. Connelly. And how the two, it’s hard to read and things when you’re talking like watching the meetings and the discussions over the last couple of years and, um, how the discussion came up in the county first is, um, some of the commissioners would say,

01:27:04,170	well, we’re not going to make any decision here unless we got some guarantees that the city will do this and. Mm It’s, it’s creating a challenge and that to some degree we’d be giving up a little bit more. Uh, with what Comm.

01:27:26,670	anchor, um, talked about and in a sense we’d be putting ourselves in that position to where we’re taking that dialogue off to where they’re not saying, well, we’re we’re waiting for the city to make a guarantee here before we make a decision if we extend it and cover it that 2 years, it puts them in a position where the ball is in their court, leading into a bigger

01:27:43,170	discussion, because we can. Make decisions going into the future, um, whether to add more or take it away based on what the other says too. And just food for thought, um, because we’ve been. Kind of threading a needle for a long time and it’s been a hard. Discussion all the way through.

01:28:04,870	Yeah, I don’t disagree. Comm. Zer Mayor and commissioners, so I’ll do this. I’ll make a motion to reduce the mills for next, uh, for this budget cycle in 25 by 1, strictly based on the public health agreement that we had with the county. Second, Do we have discussion? Comm..

01:28:31,100	So Mayor, I, I understand that it, it might be more than what we had, um, maybe agreed to or what the increase was, but with the valuations and things that we’ve seen, um, financially on, on residents, um, it might be a, a small give back to them, but at least it’s something and I’m the, um, kind of the way that housing market’s going and

01:28:54,000	commercial markets going, it’ll soften a little bit, but I think we’ll still have a, a net Increase next year when we see valuations, and we’ll easily be able to make up this couple $100,000. Other discussion Comm., I’m not We’ll come to you. I’m, I’m not opposed.

01:29:13,070	I I mean, I had thought that through that this might be where we landed. I think I even talked to Dimitri about that it’s OK, what happens to our budget if we, if we could handle it and so I. I think the answer was we could probably find a way, or we will find a way, but, uh, Renee, you had a comment.

01:29:32,530	I guess I just wanted to mention, so our joint powers agreement was actually on the Berleconi agenda for discussion. I was present at that meeting and the draft that was presented and they approved does has a, have a paragraph, um, in it about the property tax levy.

01:29:52,200	So, They are they, do you want me to read what it states? OK. It says, um, In consideration of the payment of 200,664 paid by Burley to Bismarck after the 2024 tax rates were set. Bismarck will reduce their property tax levy for 2025 by $280 and 660 or 280,000664 for the amounts paid for the 2024 public health budget to have Burley pay 25% of the budget for public health.

01:30:21,670	The portion of the budget attributable to mill rate reductions for the Amounts paid by Burley in 2025 will be reflected in the 2026 Bismarck property tax rates. Since this agreement reflects the same 25% contribution by Burley, there will be no increase or decrease in Bismarck’s property tax mill rate attributable to public health budget in 2026.

01:30:47,670	That’s what I thought was discussed and got into the joint partners agreement, but we have a motion on the table for. One meal, which is, I don’t know what the dollar amount is. I was gonna just go by dollars, to be honest, but. I can amend it to dollars if you’d like me to, Dimitri, but Comm.

01:31:04,130	Conly before me. That would be great. I, I can be flexible too on amending it if need be, um, based on the agreement, but I guess, uh, one food for thought would be is that we’re back at this discussion table.

01:31:24,600	Next year at this time, if we take it a little bit forward, do we put ourselves in a a better discussion because we are willing to extend maybe a little bit, um. In that regard to where we took the chance, we made the reduction at this time so we could open up that discussion in a better light because this has been a hard conversation back and forth for

01:31:43,770	several years. So if I may get that dollar amount. You know what the, the 280,000 1 or the other one I know what he’s asking. What, what’s one mill worth? One mil is 525,104.

01:32:13,800	So if I may, Mayor commissioners, I, I will just say, just preface it that we will not have a balanced budget with this reduction for general fund at this point. You’ll find it The year is not over, remember that. Well, I, I will be remiss to tell you that we have other needs that we may have to fulfill, um.

01:32:33,330	Uh, with, with in the future, like, you know, um, certain funds like Rosen Streets and events that that may need additional funding, so I would be remiss to not tell you that in prior to this motion, whether it goes approved or not, can I ask the question then? So what if we going from the. $280,000. number reduction.

01:32:57,100	To 525,000 what what’s our, what’s our budget under your budget number right now? What would the budget show as a result? Uh, it’s, it’s about the difference would be between the 280,000. I can find the number and the 525 essentially so it’s another $200,000 50,000 we be budgeting at roughly $250,000 deficit. For 2025 on our. $65 million general fund budget. 70 million, but yes. Sorry.

01:33:31,730	Hm So hug it out I’ll be all right. Please. I’ll withdraw my emotion. Second, oh, and I will make the motion that we reduce the. Probably taxes by 525 $104 to equal, which would be equivalent to one meal for the public health contribution from the county. Second OK, do we have any further discussion? We’ll call roll. Comm.

01:34:05,670	Risch, yes. Comm. Zinker? Yes. Comm. Connelly, yes. Comm. Cleary? No. Mayor Schmidt. I’m going to vote yes. Um, I actually think it’s gonna send a good message. And I think we’ll find the $280,000.

01:34:34,670	Is there any other? So I’m assuming we’re gonna have to make some type of adjustment to the budget so we have a balanced budget. OK, so I should be able, we should just be able to, what’s the net difference, Dmitri? Could you give that to me, please? Yeah. 242602 Yeah, so if that’s the case. Can I make a Let’s just have a conversation before I make the motion, please.

01:35:03,500	So if I, if I’m tentatively make the motion to take the money from. Um Reserves currently and put it in the 24 budget of 242,602, that would, in general, give us a. A balanced budget. Is that correct? is that I, I don’t know if that’s an appropriate answer that can be done. I don’t know that answer. Can we move Out of out of reserves.

01:35:28,000	Into the To cover the general fund? Uh, Mayor Comm., uh, Mayor Schmitz, you could do that, but you know, it’s not a sustainable uh situation, obviously, but we can certainly use our reserves for one year. Without causing. Long term damage. To the budget. With that, I’ll make a motion that we take. Reserves of 242,602.

01:35:54,670	Um, And put it into the. Income side of the. Of the budget for 2024. To cover the, um, one mil or the 525, the difference of the 525, 104. Versus what the county was paying. For public health. Second for discussion. OK, we are 1st and 2nd. We have discussion um.

01:36:30,470	It’s been overstated that this has been a hard process and things, so we’re doing what we can at this table to further that in a positive way and hopefully our um people that uh hopefully care for the citizens within the borders of the city as much as they care for the citizens outside to where we can come to those better outcomes in the

01:36:47,130	future. We have any other discussion. Hearing none will call roll. Comm. Zenker. Yes. Mr. Connelly, Mr. Cleary. Yes. Comm. Risch, yes, Mary Schmidt, yes. Is there any other items on the budget? Mary, if we could, I believe if we could approve the budget ordinance itself.

01:37:20,700	Oh, did we have, we had we had already did, yeah, we did it first, yeah. Um, with the Other Adjustments or changes that were made during the. I would, um, I guess Just want to, because we didn’t review it again like we did in July, just kind of go over so that anyone who’s watching this meeting kind of knows some of the big pieces in it, um, we,

01:37:45,770	uh, in the 2025 budget, um, are addressing public safety with some additional, uh, Axxon software for the police and police equipment and software for drone emergency response programs.

01:38:07,770	Um, and additional training software for firefighters and the addition of two firefighters, um, we’re addressing roads uh Works snow removal operations to equipment, um, operators and roads and streets supervisor. Um, we approved, uh, Software and creating efficiencies in the city’s existing processes and addressed inflationary increases across the board, including responsible rate increases within certain enterprise funds develop, um, fund uh departments to balance these funds and continued on the equipment replacement program, um, with all that being said, I would move to approve the 2025 budget

01:38:39,000	ordinance of 6589, um, including the 2025 fees and charges and general. fund Commitment balances, uh, balance amounts, uh, that were presented during the preliminary budget on 20 July 23, 2024, and then the changes that we made here today. Oh Comm., 2. We have a 1st and a 2nd.

01:39:31,470	Yeah We have discussion Um, I’ll, I’ll wait till after, uh, no discussion, we can call roll. Mayor, Comm., we got to make one adjustment. So with the, uh, and this is late to the, to the game, we should have maybe brought this up a little bit before the motion, but we had a meeting with Michelle. About um.

01:39:53,430	The money that the state has granted us for the, yes, the legislature for the water. Intake treatment plant. And, um, with that. We’re going to need to, um, see some of those savings. So we’re going to have a base rate. Adjustment on meter charges, and I don’t know if we need to.

01:40:19,530	We can we approve it like this and then amend that in a future setting. Or do we need to, cause nobody here has those figures. As to what we’re going to reduce that by. I mean, I think.

01:40:35,600	I was gonna bring it up after we did this and see if we could bring it so it would be actually on the agenda next meeting. Um, but I think we, what we discussed was a 5% reduction in the base rate, but we don’t know the exact fee schedule so that that would then come to the consent agenda.

01:40:51,030	With the actual table 2 weeks and I’d be, I’d be comfortable with that just so that everybody knows that that will, that will be adjusted and is just another, um, first of all, we need to thank our local legislation for getting that done. And then, um, another adjustment for our city users of water that we can realize some of those savings because of the $50 million grant from that, so.

01:41:11,870	Um, that’s all I wanted to bring up because and this does not affect changing those rates does not affect the, the mill rate, so we’re good there. There’s enterprise funds. Some other legal jargon that Janelle worked through if we have to. OK. Do we want to just amend your your.

01:41:31,770	Can we maybe we should. I don’t know how to do this. What I don’t know what’s the most efficient way to do that. Can we just bring this up after this, after this motion and then. Because modify that. Um, at a later time or if you wanna. Iman Moster withdraw your motion and have it include. Let’s do that.

01:41:55,470	Reduction? Yeah, let’s do that if we can. Comm. Clery I’ll withdraw my motion to approve the budget ordinance. I will try the second. And then I will move to approve the 2025 budget ordinance, uh, of 6589.

01:42:21,730	Including the 2025 fees and charges and general fund committed balance amounts that were presented during the preliminary budget on July 23rd, um, including the conversations and changes we made today as well as a 5% decrease in the base meter, right? Am I meter, right? Am I meter, right? Am I saying that I don’t know if we got the right term. Is that Is that so 5% decrease on the base charge and I’ll second that.

01:42:41,470	Now do we have any further discussion. Comm. Connelly. I mayor commissioners, I just wanted to thank all the work that Comm. Zenker’s done. Uh, this water discussion has been literally years and ongoing and also to all of the staff that played a part in this.

01:43:03,730	There’s a lot of moving parts and it means a significant difference to some of the future costs to a lot of our citizens. So I just wanna say thank you. So, Comm. Connelly, uh, thank you for that, but remember it’s just, it’s all of us. It’s, it just might be my portfolio, but it’s a true team effort. I mean, there were.

01:43:21,530	At the last legislative cycle, I’m sure they heard from the all the commissioners at some point, just, you know, the bug in the air, the bug in the air, and it went down and went back up, went down, went back up and when it passed, it was exactly what we wanted, so, um, thank you though I do appreciate that.

01:43:33,630	Uh All right, let’s call roll on that. Mr. Connelly. Mr Cleary, Comm. Risch, Comm. Zenker. Mayor Schmitz, yes. We made it through. I Item 3G. Consider a request to receive presentation regarding regulatory compliance with. With legislative revisions to the EPA lead and copper rule and. Michelle Mayor and commissioners.

01:44:24,670	Um, we have a, a presentation for you tonight and the main point of this presentation is we’re going to be required to send out mailings to our customers across the city. So I wanted to give you some background on what we’re dealing with and then what kind of presentations that were or what type of um information we’re going to be sending out to our residents.

01:44:42,170	This all deals with the EPA’s lead and copper rule revision, um, that has been in the works for a while. They had an EPA had announced the revisions in 2021 and we worked with other cities across the state to provide comments, um, because this is quite a bit of change from what had been for the

01:45:04,070	regulatory compliance within the, um, the city itself, the responsibilities with the um the city itself. The new rule will be effective on October 16th and it’s intended to remove or accelerate the removal of lead service lines, um, within our community.

01:45:26,930	Um, and EPA is trying to have basically 0 lead um within the water supply, um, and this is the methods that they’re using to move forward. To prep for the rule, as I mentioned, we had provided um some feedback on the rules. Some of our comments were considered, but other portions had not.

01:45:51,000	Um, we’ve had, we’ve been working to identify and replace lead service lines as part of our cast iron water main replacements. We’ve been doing that for several years. Um, we’ve also secured and used 1.7 million in state grant funding to help offset homeowners who have already replaced their lead service lines.

01:46:16,070	We started our inventory and key dates um that were used for understanding if lead is a material in the service line that serves the customers or in each of their homes. Um, the state actually banned use of lead for service lines in 1988.

01:46:34,730	So if your home was built after 1988, you have assurances that you have no lead service lines in the city of Bismarck, we had enough documentation, our engineering drawings that from the period of 196 9 to the future, we were requiring um copper service lines. So with that, the state did accept that any home built before um or after 1969 does not have a lead service line, um, any home that was built before 1969 has a potential of having a lead service line.

01:47:00,400	We do corrosion control in our um water system, which provides a protective coating on the interior of our pipe, um, of the service line itself. So even if that service line is made of lead, it has a protective coating that reduces the likelihood of any lead materials um coming off the surface of that pipe and entering the um water that

01:47:19,770	people are drinking within their home. Um, so that protective coating provides a benefit to all of our customers, including those that do have a confirmed lead service line. We want to show a display of what the service line is, um, and kind of give you a visual.

01:47:41,200	The water main is our larger line that goes typically underneath the street, um, it’s connected to the service line at a corporation stop, um, and then to a curb stop. There’s a bunch of pieces within this rule, um, that recognizes the, the location of the service line between the water main and the service line as being one section, it’s viewed as being in the public right away, that

01:48:01,230	section in the city of Bismarck, that portion is still owned by the homeowner. So the the homeowner actually owns an entire service line in the city of Bismarck, nationwide, that’s a little bit different depending on what location is, but the main distinction they’re making is the line or the connection between the water main to the curb stop,

01:48:18,500	and then the curb stop too, basically the water meter in the home. There can be times when those types of materials in that service line are different.

01:48:35,870	If there had been a water main replacement in the area where we had worked on the water main, and there was lead service line connected to the water main, we replaced that line to the curb stop. More recently when we’ve been doing those replacements to the Curbo stop. We’ve also been contacting the homeowner to see if they’re interested in replacing the rest of the line between the service line into their home and several have taken that opportunity to do that, um, replacement, um, now.

01:49:01,000	One thing to recognize with the new rule is if we can’t determine that it’s non-lead, we have to say that it’s unknown. And so any service line that we have in our community that is unknown, we have to provide an annual notification to those homeowners as well as to the homeowners that have known lead

01:49:19,730	service lines and let them know of the risk of having um lead within their service line. Um, And then both sides of that service line have to be identified as non-lead to remove it from the list that will be mailing out, um, to residents to let them know, um, basically what, what that means

01:49:39,600	for their system or for themselves. So some of the upcoming inventory compliance issues that we’ve been having to deal with before this October 16th date is we did have to do a system-wide, um, leads or in, um, water service line inventory.

01:50:04,530	We did provide that to the state, um, and then the state approval of that list is still pending, but the initial list has been provided. Within 30 days of that approval of that inventory, we have to provide written notice to our residents and owners of the properties with lead or galvanized or unknown materials, we have to provide that that notice to the state and then we have to certify that

01:50:28,900	notification. What we have found right now, um, or we’ll begin those notifications on the 30th of September. So that’s when our first batch of letters will be going out. We’re looking at like 4 or 5 sets of mailings to send out this information.

01:50:49,030	The total number of letters that are going to be spent sent is about 6,266 letters. We have over 23,000 service connections in the city of Bismarck. So of those 23,000, we have 184 that are known lead service lines. We have another 10 that are galvanized service line, galvanized materials could have held particles of lead.

01:51:14,130	So even though they’re not made of lead, they could contain leaded material and so the EPA treats them as lead service lines. And then we have 6,072 unknown service lines and with that I can let you know that we’ve contacted those residents multiple times.

01:51:34,270	I think we’ve had about 4 mailings that had gone out, um, to see, to let them know that we can help identify their service line, um, and we just haven’t received responses. We did get several other responses, a lot of areas have been removed from this listing.

01:51:52,930	We’re going to have to continue sending out these notices and if residents can help us identify what The, um, service line is made out of, then we’re able to update this list continuously so that they can be removed from this inventory. But at this point in time, this is what’s going to be required, um, for an annual requirement of sending mailings to this, um, list holders of lead service lines are unknown lead service lines. Just get a pause at this point if there’s any questions. Comm. Risch.

01:52:15,430	Um, Mr. Mayor, how do you determine, I mean, other than digging up the line, how can you tell if it’s a lead line or not? Can you test the water inside the home or or what? So the rule is still fairly new.

01:52:30,270	That is one option that we’re actually checking into further to see if you could just do a testing. Um, typically what we have to do is when we do a, um, a water main replacement or connection on the the water main portion, we can identify what material, because we always have to reconnect that curb stop to the main line when it’s being worked on.

01:52:48,000	So that helps us dig up the situation and actually see what’s on that site. On the other side in the home, you can tell, um, by what the connection is coming in from the floor to the meter. Typically you can identify if that’s actually a lead service line, um, and we have techniques to do that.

01:53:04,570	Our service representatives will actually come out to the home and help you out too so we can kind of walk you through that or we can help identify it ourselves. So we’re willing to do that moving forward. Go ahead, Comm.. I use a little construction, right? This is so if it’s, if it’s lead or galvanizing.

01:53:22,670	typically more of a grayish type matter or material, copper copper, right? And then, um, the newer stuff is poly, so it’s a black poly line that comes through it.

01:53:36,470	So if you’re listening at home and you want to run downstairs or wherever your water comes in and look at it, you can do it in about 4 or 5 seconds. If you know where your water comes into your house. And, and, and if you’re home, yeah.

01:53:55,830	It, it is, not everybody knows where their water meter is, but just to let you know, um, we have, you know, with the 23,000 connections we’ve rolled out a large number across our community that do not have lead service lines, but if your home had been built before the or at 1969 or earlier. That’s where we actually want more communication with you unless we’ve already confirmed that you do not have a lead service line, so. Comm.

01:54:15,470	Risch, our home was built in 1989, so we don’t have a lead service line, but they used lead solder in the copper plate or lead-based solder in the copper pipes. Is that an issue? We don’t know. So I’ll give you that. I’ll keep you out of trouble. The no. Because the, the, when you and Pammy, that’s my plumbing days, 1989. I might have plumbed that house.

01:54:39,000	You should, yeah, so when that really doesn’t the only time that makes a connection to the waters when your pipe goes in the fittings, right? When you heat that up, that solder pulls into that area, so there might be just a little bit of.

01:54:54,400	That 50/50 solder we called it back in the day that that had a little bit of lead to it, but it’s very minuscule compared to what a lead service line is, so. Great question. Comm. Connelly. My house might be one of those, um, it was built in 52, I believe, and.

01:55:18,000	There’s some stacks of mail we probably need to go through yet because I’m on the road a lot. So if it’s still on the list, I can certainly talk to you, but I would encourage people because lead is a big deal, I mean. Right. I am now giving you an example of what’s contained in the letter.

01:55:37,730	Um, we had to get approval of the letters we would send out so the state is doing that review, um, this one is specific to the lead service line, and then we’ll show you the sections that are slightly different in the galvanized, um, service line and then the unknown service line. So at the very beginning, we will let the residents know notification of a confirmed lead service line.

01:56:00,700	That is the 180, um, some service lines that are known when will be receiving this letter. We will have to tell, um, everyone that’s on this mailing is that we are focusing on protecting the health of every household in our community.

01:56:19,930	Um, we’re providing this information and that we’re wanting this information shared with anyone who drinks or cooks and uses water at this property. Um, that includes residents in apartments, staff and patients in nursing homes, students and staff in schools, employees and customers and businesses and parents and guardians and children of daycare facilities.

01:56:40,200	And so then it has a way for non-English speakers to receive appropriate translation and it also has our connection to our um our staff office for questions. We describe what a service line is and provides our title in the city of Bismarck that all service pipes, um, curb boxes, corporation stops, shut off boxes, and any other fixtures off of the main are the property of the owner

01:56:58,400	and must be kept in repair at the owner’s expense. Then we talk about that the city are utility operations has determined that a portion of their line or their entire line has been addressed, um, or is made of lead and that people in the homes with lead service line may have an increased risk

01:57:15,400	of exposure to lead in their drinking water. So that will be right on the front of that piece. The next section was a portion that we’re not able to um adjust within the letters, all the letters being sent will have this information of health effects of lead.

01:57:34,070	That exposure to lead in drinking water can cause serious health effects in all age groups, infants and children can have decrease in IQ and attention span, lead exposure can lead to new learning and behavior problems or worsening existing learning and behavior problems.

01:57:53,870	The children and women who are exposed to lead before or during pregnancy can have increased risks of these negative health effects, and adults can have increased risk of health, heart disease, high blood pressure, and kidney and nervous system problems. In the letter it’ll talk about lead or replacing lead service lines and potential funding sources. So this is the one section to pay attention if you are receiving this lead service line letter.

01:58:16,900	We do have still remaining 1.2 million in grant funding that we received from North Dakota DEQ to cover the cost of lead service line replacements. We are able to cover the cost of 80% of the replacement of lead service lines, and we’re able to help special assess over a period of time the remaining portion of

01:58:32,900	that cost and so if we do have homeowners that are interested, we do try and target those that actually have higher lead levels in their homes, but anyone with a lead service line, um, is eligible for this program. Um, homeowner costs are still expected to be around 1500 to 2500 for this replacement.

01:58:52,100	The cost difference is if your connection to the main is on your side of the street, or if your line actually connects to the main on the other side of the street. You may have a longer length of your service line that needs to be replaced and that’s where we see the most variation in cost.

01:59:06,970	Um, when we’re assessing this amount, it can be assessed over a seven-year period of time. And there is no certainty that grant funding will continue to be available.

01:59:27,230	We will continue working with DQ making request for funding, um, but other cities are also making similar requests, um, Bismarck was one of the first cities in our state to receive assistance for lead service line replacements. So we’ve been doing this for several years. And then again, it has our contact information. I’m sorry, go ahead, Comm. Collin. Um, with that, like the water projects that have been going throughout the community year after year.

01:59:49,130	Some of those are those replacement because I think they’re I’ve seen mains and everything and they just did our area around Hillside. So when you talk about that as in relation to mains and those piping, how much of that would have been replaced with those ongoing projects that we’ve had. Done. Thanks, Mayor and Comm..

02:00:08,270	The last several years when we’ve replaced those water mains, any time that we are seeing a lead service line from the main to the curb stop. We have replaced that service, that portion of the service line as part of the construction. And so it’s been part of the construction costs.

02:00:25,070	There hasn’t been anything else covered by the resident for the help. Excuse me. And as we move forward, we will continue with our, um, water main replacements, we will continue replacing if we come across lead service lines, we will replace the curb stop, but we also notify the homeowner that we’ve identified lead and give them the option to um replace the remaining portion.

02:00:46,270	Anytime that we affect a lead service line, we also have to provide filters for the drinking water to be used for a year’s period of time. Wants a service line is cut, it is considered that it could release particles that could provide you a higher level of lead and so even over a year’s period of time

02:01:03,400	following the construction, EPA has found that there can be elevated levels of lead, um, but it’s not consistent. It can actually go up or down, um, but. Those projects that we’re undertaking and it’s been fortunate last 5 years we have been, um, really concentrating in the older parts of town, um, that have had more lead service

02:01:24,270	lines. And so we have done several replacements as part of those programs already and so we’re almost a little bit of ahead of the curve, but we are still required to identify all the remaining um potential lead service lines within our community.

02:01:46,130	This will be the top letter, um, a little bit different um messaging on the galvanized service lines. Um, it will let you let the homeowner know that they have a confirmed galvanized service line. It also talks about that, um.

02:02:07,000	Galvanize material could have absorbed lead because records indicate that the current or past presence of lead service line pipe at that address, um, and so this is how it gets labeled in another category, but it’s basically treated as lead underneath the roll.

02:02:24,030	The final notice will be for homeowners that we do not know what their material is service line and this might be the most shocking because they don’t really know if they have a lead service line or not have a lead service line, and that’s what, that’s what we’re also trying to let them know as we don’t know, but we still have to provide this mailing. So they’re receiving it because it’s unknown.

02:02:41,530	Um, we’re going to continue working with people to identify, um, if it is lead, this message, we include how to identify service line materials and so we talk about contacting us um to also identify it and then. We also have some um EPA website links to also help address identifying lead service lines. So that’s all covering the front page of what’s on each of these letters on the back page.

02:03:01,900	I’m gonna go through just 3 slides to kind of cover what the back page is talking about. It talks about how to reduce lead in your drinking water, so clearing your aerator, your aerator screen is the little teeny screen on the edge of the faucet.

02:03:19,770	You can remove that occasionally, you can rinse it out, sometimes it holds particles there, um, regularly removing and cleaning that erator um does help you remove any kind of debris or sediment or if there was lead particles caught in that screen, it just helps you rinse them out and so they’re not exposing to the new water that’s coming in.

02:03:35,600	It’s actually good practice for every home to to work, uh, clean their A screen once in a while, but most people don’t even know it comes off. Um, using cold water is also a, a good thing for drinking water, um, we always say, um. Using water that hasn’t gone through your softener is always a good idea.

02:03:55,400	So every time you pull for water from your faucet using your cold water for cooking and drinking is always the best solution. Um, it’s also noticed that boiling water does not remove lead, so other types of germs or things that could be in drinking water can be removed from boiling. Lead is not one of those. Um, and then it also talks about flushing um water service lines. So if you’re, if you’re.

02:04:12,870	This is important for people that are gone for long periods of time. If you’re gone all winter and your home is sitting with water in the lines for a long period of time and you do have lead service lines.

02:04:26,800	It really is best practice for you to flush all the water out of the service line so um pull in new water from the water main. It only takes like 10 minutes to run your lines that you’re actually getting new fresh water from the water main.

02:04:40,830	So pull all the water that had been sitting in the lead lines all winter long or if you’re gone for a, you know, a month or two. flush those lines out before you’re consuming water. In our past testing, we have found that if water is sitting for several months, you will end up having higher levels of lead detected in that drinking water.

02:05:03,130	If you want to sample, um, your tap at the location, you can actually do some sampling and we provide that information in, um, into this letter. We’re also always looking for new sampling sites because people are replacing their lead service lines and were required to do testing on lead service lines.

02:05:19,270	So if you want to be added to our list that is part of our required testing, and you have a lead service line, we can add you on our list and then give you the results of our testing as well. The last part of it is talking about using a filter properly, um, and if it’s, it should be certified to remove lead. There’s lots of filters, um, that are certified to remove 99.

02:05:41,530	9% of the lead, those are effective. Um, we do hand those out when we’re working on construction projects if you have if you want to have information on that, that’s also we can provide that information. And then if you’re concerned about it, you can also talk to your healthcare provider, and then we have information on EPA’s website. All right, so that’s the letter.

02:06:01,100	The next step that we have to do after sending out the letter is we are working on a website that has to be also publicly available to let people know how we have a record of their service lines and I have to let you know that this is as accurate as we have it, but

02:06:18,400	there’s likely to be updating that we need to do. So, um, we have a map. It’s not been publicly released yet. Um, I, I, what I, I just want to show you kind of what it looks like, um, but this will also be coming in the future.

02:06:35,470	is after the letters are sent, we will be put, uh, releasing this information on our website. The website you will be able to zoom into locations, into our city, um, to find your own home, um, find kind of the neighborhoods. What it will show is a circle.

02:06:58,170	And the um the left hand side of the circle will represent the water main to the curb stop. And on the right-hand circle is going to recognize or represent the curb stop into the home because we have to show both sides of it.

02:07:16,700	So here we have an area where we picked on an address and the one side from the curb stop or water main to the curbt has been identified as lead, but from the curb stop into the building, it’s unknown. So once you click on the dot, it will give you the distinction, but then there’s also a menu on the side to let you know if both sides are red, that means both sides are. No one to be led.

02:07:31,630	If one side’s red and one side’s yellow, that means it’s lead and galvanized. If it’s in the gray color, it is unknown if it’s in the blue color, it’s unknown, or it is, I’m sorry, if it’s in the blue color, then it’s non-lead. But we are working with our GIS department on building the map.

02:07:50,770	Every single city and water system across the US will have these maps available. So this is a nationwide effort to make sure people are more aware of where lead service lines are. Located. And then after all that, we have more compliance that’s going to be coming our way.

02:08:12,770	Um, they will do updating testing, so we will no longer samples the way we are now, we will actually be tech um. The the, let me start off the limit. We will be testing different, um, the 1st and the 5th leader of the water coming through your pipe, and that is expected to show higher results for lead.

02:08:33,970	Um, the reductions are also expected for an action level was at 15 parts per billion for lead, and it will be moving down to 10 parts per billion. There is potential legislation that may move that down to 5 parts per million, uh, or for parts per billion, I’m sorry, parts per billion. So it’s dramatically EPA is making.

02:08:52,600	Their efforts to reduce not to have any lead in the drinking water. Um, there’s going to be increased and widespread notifications of requirement, um, when lead levels are exceeded.

02:09:10,300	So if we ever exceed that 10 parts, um, there was going to have to be additional notifications and then additional testing and then also replacement of lead service lines. We are going to be continuing to actually work to identify service lines of unknown materials. And again, this is not. It’s not infrastructure the city owns. This is not utility owned infrastructure.

02:09:31,730	This law is requiring us to go out and understand the private, what was privately put in and that’s this this law is putting a lot of um responsibility on the water system, and we really will need help from homeowners and business owners to help identify these areas to be able to provide the reporting that we need to provide.

02:09:53,470	Um, there’s going to be also additional evaluations on our corrosion control practices, and there will be increased educational, um, requirements for schools and daycare that will come along, um, as well. One thing that I should know that typically like your larger schools and we’ve had looked at this before, the school systems and the larger daycare centers, typically actually had larger service lines coming into the home.

02:10:12,800	Typically lead service lines were smaller lines under 1 inch. And so your bigger businesses. Um, this is not as much of an issue that they would have any lead because those materials are a much different material. So we looked in the past, um, the schools and the, um, the, the schools were not having lead service lines.

02:10:29,800	The problem is there could be some piping within the schools or piping materials that were used, and then we’re going to have to do testing and educational, um, in the future as well. Not all of that information is available, how that’s going to be done, but that will be continuing down the line as well.

02:10:49,570	So we, the high points to end is we still have 1.2 million in state grant funding help offset some homeowners cost. If you know you have a lead service line and you’re interested in replacement, please contact us. This is still going to be first come, first serve basis, so we really do want to provide assistance to our residents.

02:11:07,130	And then is there any other questions? Comm. Zenker. Mayor and Comm.. So Michelle, that your last statement kind of caught me. A little bit because some of those older buildings that haven’t been remodeled, say like. 1955, 1952. They possibly could have galvanized and led behind those nice brick walls, um, and we’re responsible.

02:11:37,070	For that OK, but we have to educate them well, education is a little bit easier than going in and tell them they got to remodel their building. So, OK. It made me nervous. Anything else? Thank you, Michelle, for providing this information and citizens, uh, we do ask for your help.

02:11:58,100	It would be good to be able to get this mapped out. And where we have some, some areas to help with. And I should have introduced Sarah earlier, but Sarah’s our customer service manager and so she is going to be the face for months up to the screen as well.

02:12:18,200	Um, when you’re, you’re making calls or, or, um, scheduling services, Sarah’s crew is the one who’s helping us do this outreach with the public. Um, and then we also have staff that’s actually working on the lead service line replacements, um, but we have a very good crew pulling our information together and helping work with our residents, so. Thank you, Michelle. Thank you. OK. All right.

02:12:41,070	Item H Consider request for approval to eliminate 2 9/11 specialists positions at Sun some common and reallocate the budget to provide equity increases to employees and Jason’s gonna. Kick this off. Good evening, Mayor and commissioners. We’re going to talk a little bit about a city department that we don’t spend a ton of time talking about, but it’s one of those.

02:12:59,770	A very critical positions within the organization, uh, SEC, uh, for those that don’t know, Central Dakota communications, uh, maybe a little less municipal jargon. This is our 911 dispatch facility. Uh, these are the 1st, 1st responders, they are the ones that get the call when somebody is dialing 911.

02:13:23,370	Uh, Mike Dannenfelser has been the director of this department for uh 20 plus years and SEC is a little, a little unique to us in that it is a. A bit of a consortium. It’s a city of Bismarck department, City of Bismarck employees, but it’s also uh funded through Burley County and through City of Mandan, and it provides 911 communication support for not just the community but throughout the region and a

02:13:45,200	number of other uh things like metro area ambulance and some of the rural um emergency providers. Uh, Lincoln, Mike is here, uh, Mike Dannenfelser and uh Leeanne Schmidt, HR director as well.

02:14:06,570	Um, I think they might have some comments to uh to share as well here, but, uh, in talking with Mike, he has had a, I guess I’ll use the word chronic problem when it comes to being fully staffed and if you can imagine the. Uh, the role of a 911 emergency dispatcher, uh, these shifts are. Uh, 12 hour shifts, uh, 24 hours a day, you know, there’s no, no days off for SEC.

02:14:28,600	Uh, and also a very high stress situation and then, uh, there’s some unique challenges, um, that come along with the emergency response and so retaining talent and attracting talent is, has proved to be challenging for Mike and the team at SEO, and so, uh, we have been talking about this for.

02:14:50,600	A couple of months internally as staff and, and shared this concern with the mayor as he holds the portfolio for human resources, and the mayor challenged us to think outside the box and try to come up with a solution that might be different than something we’ve addressed in the past. And in sitting down with.

02:15:09,530	Uh, the finance director, the HR director, uh, certainly SEC director and, and just others, uh, kind of brainstorm some options to consider a way to incentivize these positions for the existing staff, but then also to make them a little more attractive for for potential employees in the future. And the way that we came up with uh.

02:15:31,170	Thinking outside the box is to essentially take two of the positions that are currently unfilled and I, I should have mentioned Mike can elaborate on this too, but throughout the years, uh, when we first started this discussion earlier this year, there were, I believe, 7 or 8 vacant positions, uh, unfilled positions within a rank of about 30. So a third of the staff was uh essentially.

02:15:50,700	Uh, not on the schedule and so that creates a lot of additional. Over time, it creates strain on existing staff, and it obviously creates a lot of challenges when it comes to scheduling. And these are positions that really you have to fill, uh, there, there needs to be people there to answer these 911 calls.

02:16:07,730	And so when we looked at these positions and and HR developed a little bit of an evaluation rubric that was included in your, your packet if you’ve got questions on that. Leeanne would be happy to.

02:16:28,700	Uh, walk through that, but it looked at the, the turnover rate, the vacancy rates, and just really the frequency of, of turnover within that particular department and it became pretty apparent that we need to do something unique with these particular positions. So what we’re proposing the solution that we’d come up with, uh, would be to eliminate two of those unfilled positions today.

02:16:52,070	Because those budget dollars were already approved in 2024, use those two positions and essentially uh redistribute those dollars to the existing staff, not just to the dispatchers but also the supervisors to make sure that there’s an adjustment, uh, in the, in the existing salaries and then to address hiring new employees at a higher rate. Uh, historically, SECO employees will start at 80% of the salaries midpoint.

02:17:15,000	Uh, what we’ve discussed with Mike and encouraged him to attempt is to start employees at 85% of midpoint. And this will widen the range a little bit, it’ll increase that salary starting amount and it might attract a few more potential employees. What it also does is it really.

02:17:34,770	It kind of levels the playing field between SEC, which is a city department and state radio, which of course is a state. Department. State radio is effectively the direct competitor for employees in this particular profession. State radio provides emergency services for essentially uh. State highway patrol and also a number of role uh providers as well. So to recognize.

02:18:04,330	What state radio has done to remain competitive in the marketplace, uh, city staff is recommending that some adjustments be made to the base. Hiring range, but then also to recognize or to increase the salaries of existing employees to encourage them to. Stay and recognize that the work that they’re doing is, is critically important.

02:18:24,870	And so with that in mind, um, the criteria that we, that HR uh developed and to establish. You know, kind of looking at this as a pilot, as a test case. Those criteria were included in the Agenda packet and it it really talked about position turnover rate is more than 15% for two consecutive years or more, position vacancy rate is 15% for two years or more and employees in current positions

02:18:46,230	are typically paid between 83% and 85% of the salary range. So with these criteria in mind, it really pulls out the 911 communicators position and sets it aside as something that’s got its own unique challenges to it and so. To address that particular situation, this is our recommendation. This is our proposal.

02:19:07,570	Uh, we’d be happy to try and answer any questions for you, and I should know, should note there are a couple other positions within the organization where we have struggled, uh, struggled to not just attract good talent but also to keep the talent that is here. And with us as a service-based organization.

02:19:27,300	Having long-standing employees that understand what they’re doing and why they’re doing it is critical to that delivery of services and so there may be positions in the not too distant future that we take another unique look at to try and address those challenges that come along with hiring.

02:19:41,230	But this one being the first we wanted to present it and kind of shine a light on a little bit to talk about what we are doing to combat some of the struggles we’re having with employment, uh, but then to also note that in 6 months if you’re willing to approve this.

02:19:56,200	A proposal tonight in 6 months we’re going to check back in and see how this has made a difference. Did it help in attracting more qualified employees are there, is the turnover rate reduced a little bit because we’ve got people that are happier because we’re paying them a little bit more to do this, uh, this challenging work.

02:20:15,030	Um, so with that in mind, uh, the staff recommendation would be to approve this as a pilot project with the understanding that we will, uh, keep an eye on this and, and certainly share more information as we go forward, but then also recognize that we have some other challenges in the future with some other unique positions as well.

02:20:32,500	OK And if I can do that so that the two positions elimination, it also includes eliminating from the 2025 budget at least at this point in time, and I did so when I challenged Jason to challenge the departments. Um, to think outside the box is like, well we can’t change the dollars we’re spending. In total compensation, so that’s where this was coming from.

02:20:51,270	So just as an idea how it might work, Comm. Connelly. And thank you for all the information presented um with that, I have a unique perspective on it because I actually made my swing at being a dispatcher at one point, and the calls that all of the staff respond to.

02:21:15,300	They catch people in some very vulnerable situations, and they’re covering a lot of departments, um, they, when an employees there, they sign off because the need is the most important thing. So a lot of times.

02:21:33,000	They’re having their meals and things at their desk because they just can’t spare that person during high call volume times and things, and it can switch, you could think that, oh, I’m finally getting a break, and then all of a sudden you have to be on it because people’s lives are at stake. Um, and. I think I was kind of. Mhm Being there was meant to be because I didn’t know I was going to be appointed.

02:21:53,770	To this seat, so then seeing some of the information come across and seeing some of the people that I recognized the leave without pay. The people that have left and come back. Um, it’s, that’s a significant volume as well, and I haven’t seen that in other types of um forms of employment.

02:22:19,900	Um, so retaining that talent and creating flexibility because it is a thankless position a lot of times and knowing how much a lot of the people that really, really care. Um, don’t get recognized just because it’s not in the budget, um. This is a pilot project, I think would be worth it and because of those parameters and things, I would make a a motion to approve.

02:22:43,470	Second Do we have any discussion? Comm. Zinker uh Comm. Jason. Um Maybe there is hey, he’s hiding behind me. You can’t see him, but he’s waiting to come up here these columns are so nice sometimes. Um, but I remember, um. When there’s a transition and I had that budget portfolio for a little bit, Comm.

02:23:07,300	Marquardt and I had a sit-down meeting with police and, and, um, Mr. Danenfelser for SEC because of that exact issue. Um, there were some other ideas within that meeting. Have those ideas been vetted? Or Is this like the? First hurdle to cause there were some what I would what I would consider some very uh valid ideas moving forward.

02:23:29,830	Mayor and commissioners, Comm. Anchor, yes, we, I wouldn’t say that we fully vetted him to the end that they aren’t an option to consider, but in through our discussions, we wanted to try this idea first, uh, just to see if it does.

02:23:45,800	Have an impact because it is something that we have direct control over with with the two positions that are here and and as the mayor pointed out they were budgeted for this year. Uh, so the allocation, uh, if this is approved, the allocation of those funds would be distributed this year, recognizing that. Salary adjustments for 2025 would be on the heels of that as well. Sure, perfect.

02:24:03,030	So nothing’s been really taken off the table, so to speak, is what you’re, I would agree with that, yes. Thank you, sir. let’s see if we can get something moving and find a path forward, so Comm. Risch, uh, Mr. Mayor, uh, Jason, so do I understand you right? it’s already October, you’ll you’ll.

02:24:20,530	Prorate this for the whole year and people will get a pretty substantial. Model money. Mayor and Comm. is Comm. Risch, I don’t believe the intent was to prorate it for the entire year. It would be for the, make the adjustments for the remainder of 2024 and then, uh, new salaries for 2025. Mike’s ready here. Yeah, OK. Comm. Connelly.

02:24:46,100	I guess one point that I would add to that, um. I, I do have, um, college education and things, but right now the current position I hold is one that only requires a diploma. It actually pays higher than what my college education would allow for.

02:25:06,830	And so when I applied, it was taking a pay cut, but it was one opportunity that would provide me being in town a little bit more local, so uh if the pool of employees were um. Trying to get where we’re competing with um folks high in demand that only require a high school diploma that it’s also something to take into consideration and in what played into my motion.

02:25:30,570	Do we have any other discussion? You know we’ll call the roll. Mr. McCleary. Yes, Comm. Risch, Comm. Zenker. Mr. Connelly. Mayor Schmitz, yes, thank you, Jason. Um, Item I. Is anyone, uh Ready to make the motion to enter into executive session.

02:26:01,030	I would move to other business before, well, yeah, we could do that first and then come back to this. Good idea. Thank you. Do you have any other business for tonight, commissioners? Comm. Connelly. I would just want to reiterate the uh um public input meeting tomorrow.

02:26:22,770	It’s in the upstairs conference room right when you come in the door off to the left from 2:30 to 4 for the land development code if, um, anybody has that flexible time, please attend. Any other business? OK No ask if somebody would like to make the motion to go to a new executive session. Move to enter executive session under North Dakota Century Code Section 44-04-19.2. Regarding contract negotiations. 2. Any discussion. Hearing honorable call roll. Comm. Risch, Mr.

02:26:52,670	Zenker. Yes, Mr. Connelly, Mr. Cleary, yes, Mayor Schmidt. We’ll now enter executive