00:00:11,270	OK, It’s five o’clock We. Have a chaplain, please Kurt Chaffee from New Song Church Welcome. Hi, guys. Uh, Appreciate you all and All your service, So thank So. We. Pray first, right? Yes, the pledge. God. We are grateful for our city, Our state, Our Nation, Lord.

00:00:41,370	We Pray for a continued, uh, provision protection favor health. Um, overall, the people and citizens are we pray for revival in our land. We pray that we would be courageous and strong against, uh, fear and intimidation to be all that we have been created to be by Just. Thank you for each one here, their families and we thank you again that we could come to you.

00:01:03,630	Our creator our God in Jesus name, Amen and pledge allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you Appreciate that, Kirk.

00:01:36,700	OK I’ll call the, uh, March 18th meeting of the burly County Park board to order the first item is roll Call members, please. Comm. Herman. Mr Woodcock here. Comm. Munson here. Comm. Bakken! Yes Comm. Schwab Comm. Bam Chair Bittner. Her all to first item. Um, is Kimba Bottoms cleaning station. Um Mr Munson. Are. You handling that? Yes.

00:02:03,470	Um and I will we received a request? Uh, from the, uh Game and fish to allow us to put a It’s actually a VA boat cleaning station. Uh, out at Kimba bottoms. Uh, they’re they will cover the cost of the machine. The cost of the maintenance and the operation. They would just like our assistance in finding a place to put it.

00:02:27,570	So with that I would move to approve. That we allow the game and fish to locate this. CD three waterless cleaning device, Kifle. Sorry Not. Kimble Kifle, uh, boat ramp. Second Motion of the second further discussion. Yeah. Which one is it? But? It’s that knife? Sorry, knife, I misspoke. So.

00:02:56,300	Um, is somebody from this board? You gonna assist in? I will ask Dave to to help us locate that. Do you do you pull a boat and Operate a boat and I mean I know it sounds funny, but no.

00:03:13,530	You know when you when you come out of the river and the chair a bit in there and and commissioners Yes, I do have a boat and I’m familiar with Michael when I did put my boat in the river. That’s where it went, was that knife bolt landing, Uh, work with game and fish. They’re very familiar with how much room things need, Uh, up there and very familiar with that property so we can we can find a location if we work together. Sounds good. Perfect.

00:03:29,030	Thank you, Dave. Mr mark just for clarification for the public. Um, how does that operation Because? It’s a waterless system? How. Does that work. Do you have any information on that? You have all of this information. I have all right, Comm.. Bach and I have not seen it in use.

00:03:48,100	I I’ve heard about it, I. I know that game of fish has them at other locations, But I have never seen it in use. And a lot of the thought process behind it is for invasive, invasive zebra muscles. And yeah, so all right. Thank you.

00:04:13,200	OK, any further discussion? Motion in the second to approve call roll, please Comm. schwab Comm. beam Comm., Herman Comm. Woodcox Comm. munson Chair. Bittner Our Comm. bke Yes. Motion carries. Uh, Kimball bottoms, dredging. Yes, Uh, chair chair, Bittner. That time of year again where we need to consider dredging the sand down at Kimball Bottoms.

00:04:37,100	Uh, if you remember we we had, uh, performed that last year to get the sand off of the the concrete. Uh, that goes out into the river. Current elevation of the the river is kind of about where we left it last year. It’s The City gauge is right around 5 5. Ft, um, a little bit more.

00:04:56,670	It’s kind of fluctuated a little bit recently, but, uh There’s definitely sound on on the ramp there. We have not put the dock in. And. Uh, get. Um As of last week there were still ice pre D close to that, uh, to that ramp. Um, we have put the dock in at a couple of the Bismarck parks locations.

00:05:12,900	We did, uh, we put actually we put it in a keel boat and we put it up in a stackle. Uh, for the county. Uh, boat ramp up there, But. Those are the only two docks that we have in at this time waiting as of the end of last week, the inlet at knife was still iced in. Um But anyway.

00:05:31,300	Back to Kimball. Um We have a continuous issue with the way the water the water pushes that sediment right on top of the the concrete there for Kimble bottoms. Have the 404 permit. Completed to submit to the game and fish. I’m sorry to the Army Corps engineers to get on their permit process.

00:05:50,900	Uh, just so when we get into May, we can get right in there. Hopefully, uh and get that dredged out, we would go through the same process we did last year and quoted out.

00:06:08,430	Um, if the board sees fit, I could bring that back to the board for approval, Review and approval of those quotes if I remember last year, the contract was not to exceed $6400 standard maintenance for that. A year with the core.

00:06:25,770	We can’t take out more than 125 cubic yards, because then we run into special conditions when it comes to spawning and nesting grounds and things like that, Uh, just in the time frame that we’d be at for dredging. A lot of stuff there. Comm. munson. So. I put this on the agenda just to make sure we were all um, aware that this is something that will be coming back to us once we get the 404 permit approved, and Dave will put it out for bids.

00:06:48,170	And when those bids are ready for to be reviewed, they’ll bring back here for approval. No action required. No, we get the 44. Just a just a matter of, uh, making sure everybody is aware of what’s coming. OK, thank you anything else to add? No, not at all.

00:07:12,530	OK? If you could I’ve got one more item to to just discuss a little bit, um, talking with the veteran service officer last week. He was. He was telling me that on June 14th out at Driscoll Park. Uh, there is a time capsule buried. That will be unearthed and opened up on that June 14th. So when we get closer to having a program put together I will bring that to the board as well.

00:07:33,700	Good, who buried the time caps. The vet the Veterans group. As Far, As I know, uh, Mark was gonna get more information to me for that, but, uh, Sounds good. Yeah, you You don’t know when it was buried 50 years 50 years ago. Yeah. Already. OK, we’ll wait for that.

00:07:56,900	Is there Anything else for Bur County Park. Yeah. We will adjourn the burly county Park board. Thank you, gentlemen. Thank you. Mhm. OK. I will call the march 18th meeting of the burly County Commission meeting to order Uh, first item is Royal Col. Members, please. Comm. Bakken, your Comm. schwab Comm. Woodcock here. Comm. munson Chair. Um Before.

00:08:36,300	We approve the agenda. I’m going to add two items to it. Um, I was aware of a couple of these from previous meetings, and then it just it just didn’t end up on the agenda. One of them is going to be a Uh, request for a resolution for an ordinance public hearing for the Planning Commission and we, uh Comm..

00:08:56,600	Munson and I were in a meeting and we discussed that that this was gonna come before the board, So. There’s nothing new there. Um and then the other thing is a request from, uh State’s attorney lawyer for um Variance. On unemployed. Uh, salary variance for a new employee.

00:09:20,700	A salary variance for a new employee, and I did see emails on that over the past, So. That’s not a surprise, so I want to add those to the agenda and, um With that I consider a motion for approval of the agenda. Would approve. So Motion to second any further discussion. So. None of those in favor pose. Motion carries.

00:09:45,230	Um I think we’ll go ahead and add the, Um, Since. We added. Those we’ll just take care of those first. Um, Mitch you wanna present on the Mr Chair Comm. wood. Um, I did approve of the bills today and and the minutes and I move. We approve those Oh, Am.

00:10:10,430	I out of order, are you? Where? Are you going in? No? I? I was just gonna move into these changes right away, But that’s that’s we can go ahead and do that. Don’t make any difference. It won’t hurt when we OK, I move that we approve the minutes and the bills second, a motion to second any further discussion.

00:10:26,830	And all those in favor. Motion carries. OK, mitch. Commissioners, Mr chair. This is the first step in in calling for a public hearing on the floodplain ordinances that have to be amended this year due the new Philippine maps that they are going to go into effect in June. We.

00:10:53,700	Uh, this is a First step and then calling that public hearing will will need two public hearings because we’re changing our ordinances. And. It’s gonna allow anybody to, uh, discuss these at the public hearing. The first one will be at the at the Planning Commission. We on the April 10th meeting. OK? So commissioners were asking for.

00:11:24,500	We’re asking for a motion to Prove this resolution. I would move to approve the resolution for the public hearings to consider amendments to ordinances. Motion second, any further discussion. So uncalled a roll, please Comm. schwab. Comm. Woodcock Comm. munson. Yes Comm. Bakken. Yes. Chair Bitner. Yes. Carla you, Mitch.

00:11:54,000	Um and then we’ll go right on into, Um County State’s attorney lawyer, please Thank you commissioners? Um, I did send an email out. It was after the the deadline for getting things on the agenda, So I apologize for that. But. This didn’t come up until after that, and I didn’t wanna wait for the next meeting on that, Um, so no discussion was had over email. But.

00:12:07,970	I did provide you with the documents I’m going to discuss tonight so you’d have an opportunity to review those prior to tonight. Um, we did get an applicant for our senior attorney position on this applicant has extensive experience I did forward along. Um, her cover letter where she outlines her.

00:12:28,730	Along with her resume so you can see the experience that she’s got, Um, she has 12 years of experience as an attorney, most of that in the criminal field along with supervising other employees as well. So what I’m requesting is a salary variance under burly county’s recruitment policy.

00:12:47,970	The policy states that department heads can offer up to step five for a starting employee, and then anything between Step six and Step. Nine requires commission approval. Um, based on her excellent, UM, reputation with the court and her experience, I’m, requesting a variance to offer her step nine. The reason That is, uh, this has been a very difficult position to fill.

00:13:08,900	First of all, um, we don’t get very many applicants for this, especially somebody that’s qualified. Um, since we’ve advertised this in January of 2022, I believe that over the course of that time we’ve had two positions for senior position Open. Um, we did have some internal applicants. Only. One of them was promoted to senior. And.

00:13:27,300	Um, we haven’t really had any qualified applicants apply for this position. Um, and it’s in line with what the other two senior assist. Are making, um, based on their experience as well, so I would just request that variance.

00:13:42,870	Um, I did send this along to the HR director who did send me an email back, saying she supported that which I did forward to all of you as well. So. Um, I’m asking for that. Variances to offer her a step nine. So Second. I have a motion in a second to approve the request for the variance any further discussion. You can call the role place Comm. Bakken. Yes Mr schwab Commission Woodcock Comm. Munson Chair, Bitner. Thank you very much.

00:14:07,070	I wanted to, uh Comm. B. Uh, Julie, where does that bring your department up to? As far as staffing because I know that’s been an ongoing concern. Yes, so our senior positions will be filled. Then. There are three senior attorneys in the office, um, which will help immensely with those more complex cases.

00:14:23,370	And, then, um, we have five positions Open for assistant state’s attorney. No. Well. Anybody out there wants to apply if you’re qualified. Great, boss. You heard it here first. OK the next item is abatements. Consent agenda. I. Guess we can include all of that at one time, Comm.. I would move to approve the consent agenda in its entirety.

00:14:55,370	Motion second to approve the consent agenda. Any further discussion. See None Call the roll, Please. Schwab. Yes. Woodcock Munson Bakken Chair bitner. Yes motion carries, Uh, next item County Engineer Hall. Uh, he’s got a list here. Bunch of bids. That’s correct correct commissioners.

00:15:20,500	Um, the first item I’m gonna have on the agenda is on January 3rd County board authorized a county auditor and the county engineer to advertise for bids for grazing rights on the section of property that we own. We have a sector of land up in the wing township we use for it’s a gravel source, So that’s what we have going on in there. And. In addition to that we also rented out for grazing.

00:15:38,100	Uh, we received. We opened bids on March 11th. We received one bid. This is the current, uh, person that’s been doing grazing up on that particular piece of property 21,000 for that Everything, uh, appears to be correct in his bid, and we would recommend moving forward and approving that there is a proposed resolution in your

00:15:56,770	packet. I would recommend that I. I’d be happy to answer any questions you may have. What we approve. Second a motion and a second to approve any further discussion. That is motion to approve with the resolution. Yes, OK. Second OK? I’d only had one question. Um, do we have water up there? A Comm..

00:16:20,970	That’s the headwaters of the, um Increase. Apple Creek. It is the headwaters, the Apple Creek, so there’s a good area where we have a lot of natural water.

00:16:38,930	In addition to that there is a well up there also, and so, uh, he pays for the electricity for the operation of the well, um and he’s done a really good job of taking care of that up there so Good. Thank you any other discussion? Call the role, please. Mr schwab, Mr Woodcock Comm. Munson Comm. Bakken Chair Bitner Yes motion carries The.

00:17:00,370	Next item I have on the agenda on January 3rd, the county board authorized the county auditor and the county engineer to advertise for bids for township gravel hauling on March 11th. We opened those bids. We received two bids. They are, um in your packet. Uh, so Pontiac is the apparent low bidder. They’re out in Minnesota. We’ve worked with them in the past. They. They do a nice job and we’ve had the good luck with them.

00:17:18,530	Uh, they were, uh, below the engineer’s estimate and within our budget, uh, there is a proposed resolution in your packet. I Approval of that resolution, But. I’d be happy to answer any questions. We approved the resolution second A motion to second to approve the resolution. Any further discussion so you can unca the roll, please Comm. Schwab Commission woodcox, Comm.

00:17:45,170	munson Sharon Bittner motion carries next. The. Next item I have is on January 3rd, the county board authorized county auditor in the county engineer to advertise bids for painting, paving marker markers. Are. We open bids on March 11th. We only received one bid. However. That bid was under the engineer’s estimate.

00:18:04,500	And within our budget, Um There is a proposed resolution in your packet. I would recommend approval of that, but I’d be happy to answer any questions. Any questions commissioners to approve second motion second to approve any further discussion. See none Call the roll, please. Mr schwab Commission Woodcock Comm.

00:18:25,700	munson Commission BN Chair Bener Yes motion carries The. Next item I have is on January 3rd, the county board authorized county auditor in the county engineer to advertise for bids for magnesium chloride. This is basically the dust control operations that we have. Uh, the parent, Little bidder was dust busters Enterprise, uh, that we worked with them in the past.

00:18:45,500	That are really, uh, good, uh, quality contractor. It was a little bit above the engineer’s estimate, but, uh, well below the budget amount that we set aside for that there is a proposed resolution in your packet. I’d recommend approval, but I’d be happy to answer any questions. Move to approve. Motion is second to approve any further discussion.

00:19:03,130	See None Call the roll? Yes Woodcock Yes Comm. munson Comm. Bakken Chair bener yes motion carries Uh, the last one that I have this evening is on January 3rd, the county board and the authorized the county auditor in the county engineer to advertise for a bid for crushing of gravel.

00:19:22,300	We did open those bids on March 11th. We received three bids. Uh, the parent, low bidder was central specialties. Um, and it’s listed in your packet, 8800 and $29,401.

00:19:45,030	Uh, that was a little bit above our engineers estimate and and our budget amount and the reason that was is because we’re changing the way we’re doing gravel crushing this year And as I mentioned to you in the past, we’re doing a Actually five different sites. Two of those sites are virgin areas where we’re at. We’re hauling in rock to get better.

00:20:01,830	Gravel, um to those sites are reprocessing existing pits where we’ve hauled in rock and we’re trying to get better gravel and then one site we’re just gonna We have rock that we’re crushing We didn’t have a good feel, because it’s the first time that we’ve done so much rock crushing on what the cost would be associated with that, however, we do have, uh, savings from the hall and gravel and striping and dust

00:20:17,300	control that we would apply to that, and we we We do have enough money to cover that in our budget. Um so I would recommend moving forward with, uh, that particular contractor OK, Comm., but One question, Mark.

00:20:38,730	It’s just, um so Some of the added costs are because New territory, figuring out new grounds. So are these going to be the recognized cost ballpark going forward or are some of the costs just part of the learning curve? Um, I think these are gonna be the recognized cost going forward.

00:20:59,030	Um, we, uh We may not have as much cost in the future because we may cut back a little bit on how much, Uh, we actually crush out there if the board remembers back when we uh uh Terminated the 66th Street project.

00:21:16,670	The board directed us to put the money that we were saving on that project into maintenance operations, And this was one of the big areas that we wanted to to put money into. So this year. We have a little extra money that we’re trying to do and crush rock in that area. Um, in the future, we won’t necessarily have that. It all depends on how the budget process goes through. But. Um, so the the total number will be less, but the unit cost will be very similar.

00:21:33,030	Thank you, Mr. Chair Comm. wood We ever considered crushing our own gravel? Uh, yes, we have. And. I’ve been told. Many times. Stop thinking don’t do it. Only A good reason. Yeah, I don’t want to go there. Got to be a reason for Are.

00:21:53,000	We using our own gravel at any of these, um on all four of the Pisa two reprocessing and the two that we’re doing virgin. Those are sites in which we’ve struck a deal with the landowner and you pay a royalty fee.

00:22:11,030	Uh, for the material that’s there, But we bought that section and and with the Point of using our own gravel rather than contracting it out. Yes and and we are using, and and we do have a large pile at our our county at the section that we have, uh, we just didn’t need to crush this year at that location, so Comm. I have one question.

00:22:31,770	Do we, uh Who are to the fields and stuff and farmers places if there’s enough rock and all Uh, at this point. We are, um we do have two of our, uh, roadway foremen that are going out and scouring the whole county it basically and wherever we see a rock pile, um we talked to those landowners and we’re trying to purchase those or get them donated to the county if

00:22:51,600	they they’re willing to do that, so So then you take them to the nearest pit. We’ll take him to the nearest pit that we can. Yeah. OK we have crushing. I need it so The commissioners before us is a proposed resolution.

00:23:10,670	Is there a motion I still so move second motion in a second, any further discussion. Call, the roll Police Comm. Woodcock Comm. munson. Yes Comm. Bakken. Yes, Mr Schwab? Yes Chair. Yes. Thank you. Thank you, Marcus. Next item on the agenda. Finance Director Jacobs, the detention center Sales tax bond update. If. You Guys Have your coffee already. OK. Now. It’s a lot of information here pay attention. Good Evening chair.

00:23:37,600	Our Commissioners. Yes, there is, um We have had a lot of meetings on this. That’s how I know there’s a lot of information. Um, we had a meeting last month.

00:24:00,970	Uh, the joint meeting of the Morton burly commission, where we held a vote on a Resolution to basically allowing county auditors to get together and sort of figure this out. Um When. We met at that meeting II. I think there was a little bit of confusion. Because. We didn’t have a lot of numbers to present and so one of the things I did tonight. In your packet is I. I tried to put together um, some numbers.

00:24:18,100	I tried to keep it short, but it’s like it’s 12 pages. Um so I would I would encourage you to maybe to to follow along, Um In your in your packet, so Sort of the the background or where we stand is Are.

00:24:41,870	Outstanding principle is about $44 million and we have the earliest payoff is 2025 November. Uh, we don’t need $44 million to pay off the bond. Uh, we need something like 42.5 42 3 according to our bond guys, if we have That amount of money. We can deposit that money and earn interest on it. And. So, the the bond guys will basically credit that interest to our bond.

00:25:09,400	Defeasance, uh, the latest number we got last week was 42 3 39 603 23. Um And. We would have that invested probably for 12 to 16 months. Really good interest rates right now, So. That’s why we don’t need as much money that rates are higher so we can we can invest less money and earn more.

00:25:30,230	Um At this point. At. This point in time. I think I’ll skip the Year end. Um, slide at this point in time. We have Perhaps I should cover this first. So the the amount we need to defeat is 42. 339 We have a reserve fund. Between Burly and Morton That comes off the top.

00:26:03,300	So because that was left over from the original bond issuance. And so what’s left is sort of the the, uh, the balloon payment and of that payment. We split that on historical basis, so burly would need 31 million Morton would need about 6.2 million to to make that final payment.

00:26:29,370	Um One of the one of the issues we’re having is that, um Morton has a renovation bond, and I think we’ve discussed this because they’ve got this renovation Bond. Um we sort of separated in terms of our pay or when we’re gonna pay this bond up. We basically have a timing issue.

00:26:54,030	Uh, where we are set to pay our 31 million sooner or rather to collect our 31 million sooner than Morton will collect their 6 million. So. It’s a. It’s a timing issue. Um, and it’s nobody is Uh, this is totally allowed under the bond. No.

00:27:12,700	You know Morton is is doing, you know the best thing for their for their county certainly and their their They’re well within their rights to do that, Um, so at this point in time, we need 31 million bucks and our balance as of today is 29 9. 29,900,000 So we need about 1.1 million as of today before we hit that amount that we need, Uh Morton has about 4.7 million, so they need about 1.5 million.

00:27:40,000	We collect about a million a month. Morton collects about 100 and 50,000 a month. So. You can see that if if we owe 1.1 million We’re gonna be essentially at pay off in a month month and a half, whereas Morton owing, you know, 1.5 million is is about maybe 10 months, you know, maybe maybe a little bit less.

00:28:00,400	Um So just to just to be clear at this point in time, we do not have enough money in the bank to To pay off the bond. Um So. We’re we’re in a We’re in a little bit of a situation here. Where, um Where. We have to deal with this timing issue. Basically.

00:28:26,830	There’s one other thing I should mention here. Um, at this point, I, I’m thinking about April 24th. We’ll have enough money early. It’s gonna be about November 22nd. That. Morton has enough enough cash. Morton is, uh, I spoke with the Morton county auditor on Friday. They are considering further renovations to their, um Courthouse.

00:28:56,870	Basically, they They’ve got they’ve got some stuff they need to get done. And, so they figured that well, they’ve got the sales tax bond. They had more collections than they thought they would 10 years ago.

00:29:16,570	I mean, basically, you know, the sales tax collections have gone up and so they will still be on track to pay off the Jail bond on November 22nd, but they’re gonna continue. Um, however long it takes for these to do to to, uh, pay off these additional renovation bonds. They’ve got an outstanding bond. And they they’re gonna incur, I think a little more debt point of that is to say that I don’t think they’re in a hurry.

00:29:34,700	To pay off, Um, their bond. Uh, as in. I. Don’t I don’t think they’re highly motivated to escrow. Uh, cash like we discussed at at the last meeting. I don’t know that I’m just inferring. Um, when I spoke to the Morton County auditor on Friday.

00:29:54,970	As of that discussion, they had not They had not come to a decision on this. This escrow um So What do I mean by the escrow? Um We have a couple of different options here as to how we could deal with this. The payoff. Um Option number one is escrow. Meaning, uh, we can loan money from the General fund.

00:30:23,270	To Bank of North Dakota to our accountant, Bank of North Dakota, uh, in the amount needed to defeat the bond. So. That would be, uh as of I think as of A couple in in two or three days. We’ll get our our next. Our next deposit of, uh, the sales tax. It’ll be about 900,000.

00:30:44,830	So At that point in time we would need to escrow about 200,000 for burly and Morton would need to escrow 1.31 0.4 million So. That would be option one. We escrow. We. We loan money to BND. So that we can meet our escrow requirement. And. Then. The Bond is considered defused.

00:31:09,300	Um We still have to wait till November 2025 to pay it off. Um, so that’s option number one. In that case we would continue collecting for I. I think Through Q two. Of This year. This is because of the notice requirement that the tax department has we need to give them A.

00:31:35,800	Full quarter, three months of notice before they are able to Shut off the sales tax bond, meaning we’re kind of in between a rock and a hard place. The bond guys are telling us you need to have cash in the bank.

00:31:52,470	You know sufficient to pay off the bond or to to defeat it, Uh, before you can shut off the sales tax, and the tax department is saying you need three months. Meaning. We’re going to continue collecting after we have enough cash to pay off the bond. It’s just Our only option.

00:32:19,200	Um so if we loan money and attempt to You know, deposit sufficient escrow by the end of Q one that would be best case scenario. Um We would still be have access collections of over $4 million at the end of Q two. I spoke with the John at Colliers I. I also had an email, uh, exchange with our Bond council.

00:32:45,970	Both of them are skeptical that this is even logistically possible to do at this point to to get this thing you know, basically give enough notice to turn this off at the end of Q one because that’s like 12 days, um Certainly. It’s possible, but they’re skeptical. One of the issues would be There’s like a seven day notice requirement to get our investments, um, that we would need for the for the escrow.

00:33:07,700	So there’s a logistical component to this, Uh, this option number 1 may or may not even be possible. But. Um even in this what some might consider a best case scenario. We’re still we still have over 4 million in excess collections. So, the the The other option would be to to just wait another quarter.

00:33:28,030	That would be that would be option number two That would put us to Certainly the June um Now at that point in time, we will have Collected enough cash to to do fees the bond at least or at least portion of it. Morton will still need about 900,000.

00:33:55,230	So, you know, in that case, and even in the first case, um Basically Morton would either Loan to B and, um or the other option would be, uh, if burly, just Makes that payment. You know pays both of our essentially, uh, amount burly, would then own a greater stake in the jail.

00:34:20,930	That’s that’s how that would work your ownership in the jail is basically based on your payments that you make. That’s so in the final equation. We’re gonna look back and see who paid what, and that’s gonna be the ownership percentage. Um I would Presume that would it mean in certain cases like if you have capital improvements put a new roof. That probably would go to the ownership percentage.

00:34:41,770	Uh, the operation of the jail is a totally different thing. Um But some of those big ticket items if we own more of the jail, we would probably be responsible for more of the jail.

00:34:57,900	Um I don’t know if there’s an upside to it or not, Uh, I would think certainly when it comes time to demolish it in 100 years, we probably would owe you know a greater share of it. Um But in this second option if we wait until Q two Notify the tax department. We will collect through the end of Q three. We’re still looking at excess collections of about 7.5 million Um And again.

00:35:26,470	Morton would still have that $900,000 deficiency that would have to be dealt with somehow, so that’s option Number three, which is basically Do nothing for for another three months. Um All of these. I’m not a lawyer, you know? Obviously, but I think I’m. I’m correctly.

00:35:53,330	I’m correctly interpreting my my conversation with with our Bond council to say this is all totally legal allowable permissible. Um it’s just It just is based on the way that this home rule charter thing was passed. It’s We’re we’re within the law in all of these scenarios, the the third option, at least that I could come up with there may be 1/4.

00:36:08,830	But the third option that I could come up with would be to wait until Morton Has collected their share. Um And. That’s the other thing. Maybe. I didn’t communicate this very well. But this really is an all or nothing. Deal. Um, we cannot just put our share in there and walk away. We need everything in there.

00:36:30,030	Um That’s just how these bonds work. And this is this is what, uh With. The Bond guys have told me so, um So in the in the third scenario would be to just wait until everybody has all their cash collected. That would be burly, certainly. And and Morton. Uh, like I said By.

00:36:49,300	November, Um they would be They would be all paid up. In. That case we would give notice by the end of Q four. And. We would continue collecting through Q, one of 2025 and under and in that scenario, excess collections would be in excess of $12 million. So. It’s a very difficult, um, very difficult. Situation.

00:37:15,500	Certainly, um What and I did ask I. I asked our Bond Council. What can be done with the excess funds. Um, he assured me they can be used for any lawful purpose And I’m not trying to put julie on the spot, but I did. I did follow up with julie as to whether or not this That.

00:37:35,200	That’s her understanding as well. Um So I know that’s a lot of information. But. I’ll. Uh, questions I. I think you did a good job of covering it? Thanks. Comm. wood. We have to make this decision. That tonight, December. OK, so we got some time to regurgitate this Really? Yes. No. Tonight I.

00:38:03,900	I mean if you so choose, you could take no action and just to be clear that will put us into the next quarter. Certainly, so it would be you know, June. Maybe the upside is we will have a vote on the one cent sales tax at that time. Maybe that’ll give us some more information.

00:38:19,430	Um Maybe not. Um Comm. Munz. Uh, I did watch Uh Morton County’s Commission meeting from last Thursday. They took no action. Uh, they do have a meeting. The second or the fourth Tuesday of the month, So. I don’t know if they’re going to have any action at that meeting. If they did.

00:38:45,670	We could have an emergency meeting to make a decision in this quarter if we chose so, but If. We’ve got a seven day waiting period. We’re still out. Another quarter of collections. I mean we would still have to go through the next quarter. Say what you’re saying so I’m just very concerned about over collecting. Oh.

00:39:05,900	Yeah, that’s that’s why we’re having this right when when we realize that this was coming up that fast. Well, this goes back a couple of years already, you know, so Um But. The solution isn’t real simple. No, you know, um, the seven day waiting period that you referred to That’s seven days for us to take money out of wherever we have it.

00:39:26,700	Is that what I understood is that’s not the bond. Would need seven days. Um It relates to purchasing the securities, So I think the way it works is you would get a third party so CPA firm and they you’ll give them your cash, and they will basically recommend some of these guaranteed investments and that process of getting the

00:39:54,500	investments is like seven days. So it’s It’s a pretty tight turnaround, we would need to sell all of our existing Treasuries, which I I confirm with B and D. It’s 1 to 2 days, So that’s not gonna hold us up. But. Then. There’s this seven day waiting period.

00:40:16,370	Um, in terms of of, uh I’m not sure the proper term but getting these these, uh, investments. True. OK Comm. Muns question and I. Don’t think maybe you’ve explored this. So if we continue to collect through Q two We would have excess funds in our own account. If those funds were at the Bank of North Dakota, but under burly counties Control. The 1.

00:40:45,830	1 million that Morton County owes Can we stop? We’re not giving Martin County. We’re not paying off their portion. We’re not borrowing Morton County. But if the funds were in the bank on our side Could we stop? That’s not my understanding understanding as we would need everything in there.

00:41:11,370	And if we were just gonna gonna wait and just have cat, I think if we had $45 million. That would be our principal and interest in BND. We could. Go through some process with the bond guys verify it and shut off the sales tax on our side.

00:41:35,370	Um You, get into this idea of defusing the bonds and what I did explore is, um, if we were to make this escrow, you know, investment or or, uh, invest in this escrow fund. And defeat the bonds. So suppose we we, uh, put Morton share into this escrow fund and defeat the bonds.

00:41:57,270	Does Morton still have an obligation under the under the bonds to pay their their share and no, they don’t when they’re defeated. The question. Yeah. That’s a. That’s A That’s a no. I mean I’m sure they’re good for it. I would think so. But It would have to be duly writing up a legal document to know not a good path. You know there’s another. Maybe.

00:42:15,500	This is too early to to mention this, but there’s something else to keep in the back of your mind that you know, these bonds are like 2% interest, and we’re currently getting like 5% interest. Um four or 5% interest on the C DS. So.

00:42:31,500	Um, that’s just as as another element to this that we can string them out till 2032. I don’t know how long interest rates are gonna be up, But. That’s just something to keep in mind. Mr Chair. In my mind. I’d like to wait for it.

00:42:51,470	Only, We’re only 90 days away from our election in the spring, which will be the Continuation of the one that to reduce the property taxes. The one cent sales tax. After that time we’ll know more about what we’re doing, whether we can reduce property tax or that that passes or if we can continue on with the one set and decide the half sets and decide when we want to pay that off, because, uh, To today is a

00:43:09,500	little early. I think we wait till the end of June? We’ll know more about what we’re at? You know the thoughts. Comm. B. We do have an estimate about that number would be as far as over collection. Right. Well.

00:43:35,430	He did give us I think as of June we thought it would be about 77 7.5 million 7 million on the over collection. And then what are the constraints on those funds? Well? What I? I did ask us our bond council that and and he told me that any lawful purpose they can be used for any lawful purpose. And as I mentioned.

00:43:55,770	I did follow up with Julie just to get another another view on that from the state’s attorney’s side because we do have a home rule charter and so forth. But, the bond, the the Bond Council saying any lawful purpose Which along those lines. To me it would be consistent with property tax relief. I mean as far as I’m concerned.

00:44:18,270	Whether well, first off, there’s an over collection no matter what there’s nothing is going to stop the fact that we’re over collecting because of all these, There’s. There’s a lot of reasons. But.

00:44:35,830	I think that that money can just as easily be put towards property tax relief, and I thought quite a little bit about this over the weekend. Um, you know it if we if the do nothing approach just allow it to run to win, Morton Conley’s has paid off, which is probably the I. I don’t know without speaking to their commission again. But that was the point in having that meeting. Like.

00:44:57,700	Excuse me? I don’t think That we would want to take that whole 12.7 million and just apply it to Uh, next year’s property tax. You know all in one year simply because if the one cent sales tax passes and I believe it should I I really wholeheartedly believe that property tax the county portion of your property taxes will be really helped out by the sales

00:45:21,230	tax. We know how successful that’s been for the jail? However if if that passes And, then you know we collect up a certain amount of money. Then.

00:45:42,030	If we put all of those eggs in one basket and reduce the property taxes totally for this next year, 25 that would sound like a lot of relief, but then we bump it right back up for 26, which wouldn’t be a good thing I don’t think as far as the citizens But Um, with with those funds.

00:46:02,570	We have options on on applying it for property tax relief, and I think one of the things the citizens would be concerned about is that that’s that overage or whatever doesn’t turn into a free for all. And it’s not not in my opinion, and I know all of you commissioners. I think we’re all on the same page that our goal is property tax reduction. As far as the county is concerned for sure. So.

00:46:21,570	Um, I just wanted to make sure and and throw that out there and then the secondary thought about that and something that we have to think about is when that when that sales tax starts and you start collecting money, the question is, how do we go through the budget process? You know at at what point do you like S? Stop it for The books, you know, and then you get into

00:46:43,070	the budget cycle, so we’re gonna have to be pretty careful. And. I was thinking about that, too. You know what I’m saying? And I was thinking about that, too, Because if so, there’s a window and there’s a lag between collections and when you can utilize those funds when they show up in the ledger,

00:46:57,630	um I got a couple issues with this. I mean, first of all, if we’re going to ask something from the taxpayers, we need to give something back. This Bond was sold as And. When. It’s done.

00:47:19,230	It’s done and and I also have a problem with, um because we see this on the state level on a recurring basis. Hey we gave you property tax relief. Um, year after year and in my mind if you’re able to do that, then you probably took too much money in the first place. Now. We’re admitting that we’re going to have an overage on this. If.

00:47:40,130	We were to utilize because I I agree with you 100% on the taking it down and then bumping it back up, and there’s a leg in there. If. There’s a way to utilize the overage on those funds should that property or the one stent? Excuse me? The. One sent, Uh uh, sales tax go through for property tax relief If.

00:47:58,770	We can use those funds to mitigate that. L time. Then. The process is seamless. So A and I have a little less heartburn. It’s not. It’s kind of a one off, but you know, I I have a hard time going down the same road the state does year after year after year after year.

00:48:18,070	I I if if you’re Harping on giving relief, Then. That means you’re taking too much in the first place. So If there’s a way to offset that lag time and then make it a seamless process. I would be in favor of that. Sure and that that’s absolutely key.

00:48:33,570	We have to look at the the timing of all of that, however, it’s going to work because we can’t budget for You know, with the with the property tax we budget because we know we send out the the bill and and you get the money, but this kind of changes that whole dynamic, So. We just have to be careful in that, So.

00:48:46,370	I want to make sure and point it out. Um Comm. Munson. Uh, real quick Auditor splonskowski one item that’s not in our budget packet is the home rule charter language that I had submitted, OK? And so that plays into this conversation? Absolutely it does. I didn’t see that right? And. I just noticed that it was not in our packet.

00:49:07,070	OK, At least It’s not in my pocket That’s online. So when the home rule charter met. The. The thought process was collecting from July 1 to June 30th. Using that. Collections. For budgeting purposes going into the next year. So.

00:49:34,400	That’s the way the language was initially created was Tax collections from June 30th to July 1st so that we had that money in the bank. So that when we did our budgeting in June, July, we knew what that number was so that we could have that property tax relief.

00:49:53,970	Now what’s happening, and that’s the next one of the items we’ll have to discuss yet today with you and I have had very serious conversations about making sure that this is stopped. Before. We start the next so that we’re not even if it’s for one quarter. I don’t want to have a 1.5 Cent collection.

00:50:15,470	You know, Uh, if this all happens, so it’s it’s a pretty serious conversation we need to have as to what Lee’s giving us what we need to do to make sure that we’re not doing a 1.5 Cent collection, even if it is for three months. Right? But. But anyway, the language was written so that we specifically collected End of June early July 1st of July or, however, that one year period went we would have that money in the bank.

00:50:35,100	So when we went through budget, we would have Those dollars to eliminate from our budget for the next year, OK? One of the thought that that came to mind while you were mentioning that was that there’s there’s like a two month lag time from window to the the sales tax gets collected before it would like hit the book. Yep.

00:50:55,430	So that would throw another wrench into that into that whole giddy up, too, You know for the first year. It was the first the first year it’s almost as if you would have to collect it for a year.

00:51:13,170	So that you’d have it versus Right thinking you’re going to have it because you know things change when Covid came along, it lacked sales and, uh, it took. You know the I mean just the difference between last year’s November sales tax in December sales tax. You know there was like a I don’t know 3 $400,000 split? Yep. Right, So. We have to be.

00:51:30,830	The point is that we have to be real careful with that and consider these timing things that we’ve learned about now and like I said that was in the language very specifically so that we had one year collected. Before. We budgeted the following year’s reduction. OK? Will. Um, we’ll see that information here. I. Suppose. I’m, hoping we’ll have some information.

00:51:54,930	Provided so back to the subject here because lee still standing there. There. There’s only a couple of options that we have moving forward here today. Um, if we were to decide a question of of paying ahead The question would be Um How much of it. We’re going to pay. Obviously. We’re gonna pay our part. And.

00:52:17,730	If we pay anything that would cover Morton County’s part we would have to have some kind of an agreement in place that was addressing the ownership or was addressing something, so I don’t think I don’t think right, so I don’t think we can do that, or even approach that option without having information.

00:52:37,370	Additional information from Morton County, right? I mean I would suggest that we table this until we have additional conversations with Morton because in one of the pieces of that, too Chair is the ownership percentage of the jail and I You know that’s something that was set up.

00:52:54,600	That’s something that was set up a long time ago, and those numbers when I went back and looked into those numbers are there for a reason. So I don’t know if we want to screw with the percentages of ownership on that project, so That’s III I I’m very cognizant of not going down the road that’s gonna change the ownership percentages with how the operations work out and and I don’t know if Sheriff Liebman

00:53:17,900	would have anything to add on that, but, uh Um, if you did, please come forward, But. You know th those Those ownership percentages are there for a reason, aren’t they? Mr Chair commissioners. Excuse me, Um So. Currently.

00:53:47,900	The ownership percentage is basically 8713 with Berle owning 87%, according to the original Joint Joint Powers agreement, that percentage will be finalized on the ownership once the final bill is paid. Um then they’ll look back. That was decided before the renovation bond. That was about with Morton County, though correct, that was. Those numbers were set in the original thought process was this number was gonna be Pretty Gross, So.

00:54:14,570	The Operation costs are a different percentage that’s calculated every two years. Um, I have had a conversation with Comm. Munson. It would be my recommendation not to take on additional ownership because really, there’s no benefit to the citizens of Bela County to have additional ownership. Basically We just be tying up more money. In the building. So.

00:54:38,570	I think that original agreement was fair. Um, I Think basically I I feel for the position you’re in as you try and navigate. What’s the right thing to do here, but, uh, it would be my recommendation. The ownership percentage does not change on the other side of that, too, is there is always the concern.

00:55:00,500	Um, that I’ve heard from the Morton County side is that they fear at some point, burly county may want to kick them out of the building. Which has been reassured. That’s never been the intent. Um So us taking more of this ownership could also be viewed in a negative fashion, right? I Wanna that was made clear to us. I Know one of the commissioners.

00:55:20,700	That’s been a sticking point with him over there, and that was never the intention and and it’s not our intention. No. Um, that was offered up. I think from staff as a as a way to Avoid, the loaning, essentially loaning money to them. But Those things just aren’t practical.

00:55:41,030	The more we debate it. You know some of these answers just aren’t gonna work, and so It. It really is in Morton County’s court, if if they have the ability and I think we need our auditor or our finance director or both to work with the Morton County auditor and see if what are they willing to do? You know I,

00:56:02,630	I. We’ve already given that that direction our turn. Right? I don’t think we’d have to change any OK, we have, but they still have that ability. We just need a better answer. You know, do they? Do? They Wanna do a B or nothing.

00:56:21,770	And then I would that would help us? I Think to understand Because we don’t have. I mean at this point. It’s like it’s almost like our hands are tied. Based on that renovation bond for Them and I I think we don’t want to get into that situation and I. I don’t want to go down the road of Changing. The percentages of ownership of what was pretty close to that.

00:56:39,730	I. Don’t think that’s unfortunately we’re not the bank of burly and neither are our taxpayers. So. Yeah, So. I’m not loaning money to another county. I can tell you I’m not going to support that. Well if I could chair Munson. We’re really not going to make a decision today, which is not.

00:56:55,900	We were still then going to have to collect through a quarter two. We. We. We, don’t we can’t We can’t make that decision. You can’t There’s enough if we table this for three months. And work with Morton County to try to have a decision.

00:57:15,100	By the end of the second quarter so that we can stop collecting at the end of the third quarter would be about the best case scenario at this point. Yeah I. I think we would want to ratchet that up a little bit if we can. I, don’t I.

00:57:33,770	Don’t think if we if we tell Morin County we want to have an answer and 90 days, that’s I mean they could put it on the agenda. Discuss Commission B and so not knowing whether or not this is on their agenda in the next meeting that they are having, um Um Can. We table this until our next meeting after theirs just to revisit If. Any decisions were made at their meeting and we can review our options at that point.

00:57:51,430	Well, that would be that would be my thoughts on this is and I don’t think it requires a motion. I think we should just move it to our next meeting agenda. And, then hopefully we’ll have additional information at that time.

00:58:11,030	That way we don’t have to table to the next meeting that we can actually I think we can do that by consensus. OK. So we’ll put this on the agenda for the next meeting on Thank you. Thank you, Kelly. OK, um Thanks, lee. Appreciate all the hard work on this. OK, we’ll move into hard work’s not done on this. No because that’s this comes up next. OK. So.

00:58:37,630	What we have now is the, uh, home rule charter ballot language. You got the floor. Thank you. Chair. Could you put one up on the Elmo for people at home to be able to see it. Thank you, Mark.

00:59:06,770	Thank you? So when we when we drafted this language, as as I stated before the thought process was to have Collections from One full year. Having that collection. And. I Apologize start July, 1 and June 30th so that we would then know exactly how much money is collected so that when we went into our budget cycle, we could then Have that full year of collection, so we knew what we could work with. Um, through this process.

00:59:28,530	Yes, we’ve learned that it’s a two month lag. So the first year would only be 10 months worth the next year would be 12. So I I. My personal opinion is we leave the July 1 through June 30th dates in the language. Um, because I think that’s what gives us the best. Data to give our citizens the best.

00:59:55,700	Discount or the the best property tax relief. The. Biggest question that I have with the ballot language is We know it’s going to take three months for it to Start. But when it’s a June, you know, election we won’t be able to start until January, 1st.

01:00:21,930	Because we give them that that third quarter notice that they get it activated so that it starts the first quarter of the following year with that in mind. Are. You interested in changing the language to January to December or just leave it June or July to June for collections. Now with that. Sorry, That’s OK, I was just going to chime in with.

01:00:51,430	You’ve already approved the home rule charter language and you’ve already gone through the public hearings regarding that, And. So if you want to go back and change the language of the home rule charter that was approved to be on the ballot, you’re gonna have to go back and do some of those things over again

01:01:04,530	and we don’t have time for that. I would suggest you leave the language in the way it was because we understood that it was a 90 day notice to give, um, the state that they needed before they could start collecting and so even if it In the June election.

01:01:21,630	It wouldn’t be until you know they need that 90 days notice. So. What’s the last quarter of the year. That’s when they can start doing that at the earliest, And that was understood, um, with everything that we’ve talked about tonight. Um you know, this would only affect that first year.

01:01:37,230	Obviously, if you kept the dates the same and what? What we talked about tonight, Um, gathering that excess. Maybe. You could look at how much we’ve collected during a portion and then apply a portion of that excess to make up for the fact that we had to start later.

01:01:50,670	For that first year that may be Option that still keeps everything in place and not having to go back and redo some of those things, right? It. So the answer is we’re not going to change it right? It? Don’t. Even. It was easy. That was easy. Somebody got the easy button. Thank you. OK, um And we’re just gonna move on to Missouri Valley complex Committee applications Comm. munson. Uh, chair and commissioners in your packet.

01:02:20,400	You do have four applications. Uh, for the three positions at the, uh Uh, Missouri Valley fairground of Committee. Um I have visited with all of the applicants. And. I would like to make a motion. To accept wayne Martinson for a two year term. Kay La Hoy for coal.

01:02:45,600	Excuse me for a three year term and dustin Gavrilo for a four year term. The reason we’re doing that is to stagger them so that Then when Wayne’s term ends. Then There’s a four year cycle at starting at that point with new members. Second, I have a motion to second. Any further discussion. Comm. wayne Martinez in for a two year term.

01:03:06,000	Uh K for a three year term. And dusted Glo for a four year term. And I never SP and I never pronounced his last name correctly, So I apologize. He said. Mo Go low Go low Well, then I am saying, All right, OK? All right. Any further discussion. Comm. Schwab.

01:03:31,830	Uh, we’re only looking for three spots so his would not be accepted at this point. OK Mr. Chair Comm. woodcox. I On the same line you are, steve knew has got more experience and all these other three put together with parks and rec and that whole whole area of grants and then you what? They’re gonna be using primarily, um, I’ve got

01:03:51,630	some reservations on a couple of the others that, um, concerned about in in my conversations with Steve. He was he wanted to, uh, recuse himself if there were enough other applicants because he’s already volunteered to be involved anyway.

01:04:14,600	As, a non voting member of of the group, so He will be involved heavily, but he is the one that asked me to pull his application if we had three others, OK? All right. He will be involved heavily. He will be heavily on the backside. He’s a non vote. He would be a non voting member, but he would attend the meetings.

01:04:31,170	He would take notes he would help us with grants. He would he would help the group without being Grants. But without being a voting member. OK, um, I have a motion a second, right? Yep. Call the roll, please. Comm. Schwab no commission Woodcock. No Comm. munson! Yes Comm. Bakken. Yes. Chair. Bitner? Yes. Motion carries.

01:04:59,130	The next item on the agenda is election coordinator Lisa Hart. Welcome, Lisa. Evening chair Bittner and commissioners. I have a couple items before you tonight. Um, the first one is a proposed resolution to approve the enclosed list of the election inspectors. Um most of the inspectors have agreed to do both primary and general, um one of them.

01:05:27,930	Danelle is only the general and there was a question that was brought up because she’s running for Park board, So. It’s not an issue, though. Being that she’s just for the general So, um Yeah.

01:05:51,770	But just, uh, recommend your approval of the of the list of inspectors where were covered Serve in both elections, So in case something else comes up, just giving us the authority to Choose someone else Someone backs out. Some of them have two in it. Most of them have only one just the size the size of the polling place, you know, like the event center has to Small S out of town.

01:06:18,100	I would move to improve second motion a second to approve any further discussion, seeing none call the roll. Mr Schwab Comm. wood woodcocks Comm.. Munson. Yes, Mr Bakken. Yes Chair. Yes motion carries. N resolution regarding County employee poll workers. OK So, There’s a proposed resolution regarding election worker recruitment and burly county employees, and this has been a resolution that’s been adopted every election year.

01:06:46,970	It just helps our office, um, recruit some more election workers. Um if we need them, and I would recommend approval of the resolution. To approve a motion to second to approve the resolution. Any further discussion. See none call the rule Police Commission Manson. Yes Comm. Ban? Yes Comm. Schwab. Yes Comm. Woodcox Yes Chair bitner. Yes motion carries.

01:07:11,830	Thank you, Lisa. OK the next item on the agenda is, Uh uh, fill a position in the Bismarck Planning Commission. I found out I was misinformed. I thought we had two seats to appoint. And. Apparently. We only have one And. So we appointed to and he’s gonna take us through that.

01:07:34,870	Yep that’s correct Chair and, uh and so, basically, uh, there’s only one position available for the board, and, uh, it’s supposed to be an individual in the ETA. And so basically what I did is I took the two people who were approved at the last meeting.

01:07:48,830	Place them for consideration on this meeting, and we just need to decide between one or the other. Just so you know commissioners. I have no thoughts one way or the other on either one of the applicants, so I have? No. Uh, I don’t think so. I would move to approve Sheldon’s sac. Second to have a motion in the second for a client. We don’t know these people.

01:08:19,730	We we might get some publicity out of it. For sure. Why, not you have a fight in your pocket. Uh, no! OK, OK. I don’t carry money. I don’t know. OK, we have a motion in a second, any further discussion? Call the roll Comm. Schwab. He’s got a coin in his pocket. Yes. Trisha Woodcock? Yes Comm. munson. Yes Comm.

01:08:47,970	bn Yes chair Bener. Yes motion carries. Thank you. Um other business. I. I have, uh one or two things to mention. We, um I think Comm.. Bach and you provided me with some information, but Um, with this conversation about CO2 pipelines and core of engineers, Comm..

01:09:15,630	Schwab brought up the point of why don’t they have to do a Uh, environmental impact study. OK and so I looked into that, actually and and what it turns out, believe it or not.

01:09:38,970	Is that This entire thing and keep in mind this this pipeline and everything that I’ve read and all these meetings that we’ve gone to has been touted that this is the world’s largest C two pipeline project, the world’s largest ever, right, That’s consistently what we’re hearing.

01:10:09,030	Well, apparently the Army Corps of engineers is looking at what they call a section 58 permit, which allows you to permit these these projects as what they call a minor project, which doesn’t include the environmental impact statement or in study that Comm. schwab was referring to, and so two things are happening right now, Um, our attorney that we engaged for this process has With me involved.

01:10:36,330	Um, we are requesting from the Army Corps of Engineers of Freedom of Information Act request for emails, communications and things you know how like We want to find out who was talking about what in that process. And. Then. There may be a need for, um Some other request or action on this section 58 issue and I don’t know how that’s gonna play out or and what we would have to say with that, But there may be, uh, an additional letter or some some additional communications and some effort.

01:11:03,600	Um about that, and and I guess what I I. I don’t want to just speak for the commission without the commission being aware of everything that we’re doing, So, I’m bringing that up Comm. buffet. And, could you just for the record? Public Service Commission had, uh Hearing today concerning our request.

01:11:26,500	So if you wanna Yeah just a little more background. Yeah, I can sure get to that a little bit. Um, but one of the things that that section 58 and I don’t know if that was clear, but the section 58 is specific to minor projects.

01:11:45,300	Minor projects is how they do this, And that means probably if you wanted to run a garden hose across the creek to your garden on the other side, and you’re probably OK with that.

01:12:02,300	I don’t think they anticipated a 2000 some odd mile pipeline crossing how many Hundreds, if not thousands of streams and creeks and waterways and the whole thing all the way up and down the country for the world’s largest carbon project that would somehow fall into the category of a minor project. So. Um just so you know if if you wanted by consensus or anything else, but there may be some additional action Burly County would take on on that. In your research.

01:12:22,570	Do you know How long is that was that Dapple pipeline. I didn’t look into the Dapple pipeline at all. But that would be a good point. You’re talking as far as miles and comparing Len and stuff, and now they add it more they picked up Navigators, so I don’t know where the hell they’re gonna put all this stuff.

01:12:41,500	They’re gonna blow up that land up there. Yeah. You know. How. Do they know they got capacity for whatever. Um, I’m still struggling with the science on this one, You know that That’s a good question. You’re pumping, you know. So when you put air in your tire, you only put £ 32 in there. Otherwise it right is Comm.

01:13:00,430	Woodcox. I think as a group. We’ve done everything we can to, Uh I shouldn’t say resist, but make this a tough project for them because the locals don’t want it And.

01:13:17,170	We’ve indicated that as a group many times, so I think we We gotta continue on the same track if we can find any way of, uh Objecting to it and making it I should say more difficult but make it more difficult. Uh, because they’re gonna make millions and millions and billions on billions Billions. And.

01:13:37,370	What are these people along the line gonna get And? What are the counties in townships and what are they gonna benefit next to nothing next to? No in my mind? I think you’ve got a consensus of our group right now is to if you get the chance to keep us informed, But, uh, do everything you can to continue. Our line of of, uh, objecting OK, and just for the record input 30 inch pipe.

01:13:58,500	1100 some miles for the Dakota access pipeline. 30 years. How Big. How big is this well, this is slated for 24 1 of the concerns I’ve got is with them, adding More customers onto that, by the time it gets here, are we looking at an 80 inch pipe? You? So? What was the mileage on that 1100 change. 300 miles.

01:14:24,330	Did they did that have to do? Oh. Yeah? Oh? Yeah. The Court ordered that that’s that’s their big hitch in the Get up for them right now considered a big project and that’s why it’s going back to the court right now. We Don’t consider like Dapple high pressure either. Do no, that’s not a high pressure.

01:14:42,430	No. I’m not, you know, I just I’m not at all worried about that oil pipeline. I mean I understand that it could contaminate water, but we have We have been cleaning up oil messes around the world. No problem. I mean, we We can do that. I. I hope we never have to.

01:14:58,500	But this carbon dioxide is a whole different thing, Gentlemen. You know, um Go ahead. Comm. brings up That I heard last week. The injection P SI is 3000 P SI correct. Which is even higher than what’s in the pipeline. I mean Where. Is this all gonna go? And? What? Is it pushing out? Oh. I can answer that. Somewhat.

01:15:24,770	Within the last week or two, I suddenly realized a light bulb went on that the the Broom Creek formation down there at at whatever elevation 6000 ft or something, Whatever it is Um, is actually a saline aquifer. It’s It’s, um, a salt water aquifer. So. What they’re gonna do is essentially put Pipes down there.

01:15:52,970	And, then the current pressure is somewhere around. 2600 or 2700, depending on and they got a maximum bottom hole pressure that they can’t exceed with, like 4000 P SI so by injecting a 3000 P SI, essentially what that’s going to do is displace that salt water.

01:16:19,100	To the tune of Possibly where what are they at now? 15 million metric tons per year. Um, which is you know, so anyway, it’s gonna essentially displace That salt water and then increase the pressure. In the in the, uh, reservoir in the Broom Creek formation and then over time what’s expected to happen from what I understand? Is that that pressure then will seek, Uh, areas of less pressure.

01:16:45,300	Which could be anything. I don’t know what that is, but it’s going to try to basically neutralize over time, and there’s anticipated drift or migration of the of that material. Um, probably what they call up dip, which the formation isn’t Down there. It’s It’s kind of It’s kind of well like a seashore.

01:17:03,700	If. You can imagine how we used to be a seashore and whatnot and then so chances are Uh, you know That’ll have some effect over time. But. The.

01:17:23,830	The goal is to basically over, pressurize it so that it displaces assault water and that salt water is supposed to go somewhere now Don’t ask me where? Because you know, I learned a little bit about science and School, and for every action, there’s an opposite and equal reaction, so I don’t know, but that’s that’s what’s anticipated to happen. Well that brings up another point on And. This was discussed by me and another guy today.

01:17:44,670	Uh and I thought it was a good point. The reason why they want to bring That up here. It’s because of pop population. Density not very many people up here. Let’s put it here because every state has these The same. Yeah. But they don’t want him down there because of the population. So we’re actually gonna be a dump ground.

01:18:11,770	We’re gonna be carbon neutral, but we’re gonna import carbon up here, which makes no sense. Yeah. I agree with you, but the population. Uh It. It makes sense. You know that if something goes wrong Well. I think my bigger concern, too. Along that same line. Is that If if there’s a problem. And.

01:18:37,870	We’re we’re the ones that are going to pay the price and we get very little of any sort of benefit and then You know II. I. Personally. My family has benefited from the coal gasification plant out at Beulah and we were having to be involved in some sequestration there against our wishes.

01:19:00,330	Right, however, that is our industries, our North Dakota industries, and I’m worried about. I tried to do some research on on how much How much Can, you pump down there until you can’t pump anymore, You know and I and I still haven’t completed that math and I’m getting some assistance from engineers, but, um, at some point Doesn’t it seem like the bucket will be

01:19:18,500	full. And. Then what do we do with North? Dakota industry is is my question because I can support this sort of effort. If. That’s what it takes for North Dakota to survive into the future, But if we’re loading up and filling our well, for example, the the Beulah plant that project is anticipated to

01:19:37,270	be completed in 12 years. So. That’s 15,900 Acres right there. They’re gonna They’re gonna pump down there for 12 years and be done. At that location, So. It’s not like you. Just start this up and keep it going forever. That’s. That’s not the case at all. So there’s there’s a lot of those kind of concerns.

01:19:56,530	And. Then, If that salt water. Uh, there’s this Hart River fault out here. I don’t know if you know about that one. But. That’s up dip from all that and that heart River fault would be a little bit of a concern to me, but Anyway, um, we could beat up on that all night, and

01:20:10,770	that’s not necessary. But with regards to the meeting today. Um, the decision was to deny the reconsideration. Um That we put forth and in general terms that was based on that.

01:20:35,300	Essentially, we were saying what we said during the hearing when they issued That original order and that therefore, it had already been considered, so they weren’t going to reconsider. And then Subsequent to that. Then. They scheduled some additional meetings because as we’re all aware they’re contemplating a reroute to a different location.

01:21:00,970	You know different area of the county and so the the Public Service Commission wants to have additional hearings based on these new routes, And so we’re certainly gonna want people to pay attention to those public service Commission meetings in particular for the reroute. You may recall that Um some landowners here have all joined together in opposition to that pipeline, and they have spent a ton of money.

01:21:25,630	Um, an attorney’s fees and all that, and now this is apparently going to rope in a whole bunch more people up around through burly further north now, so it’s more More people are going to be affected, and I think the lawyers are doing pretty well over this, John Surprise. So is does that answer the questions then? As far as No those meetings and anything else.

01:21:48,600	Mr Chair Chair here on the corps of Engineer Rule or 58. Are. They doing that now on this pipeline, That’s my understanding, you know that they have been there has not been any mention whatsoever these attorneys that they hired or they proceeding against that. I mean No, we’re going to try to Yeah, we’re going to Yeah, we’re gonna try to now.

01:22:05,570	I don’t know of any other attorneys what they’re doing. In our Last motion and when we voted to reconsider with the PSE was that part of it that if we got kicked out of that we would automatically Sue and go to the district Court. I don’t recall that. That was a thing.

01:22:26,030	I would caution you on that, Um, I would that wasn’t the motion and I don’t know that I would I would wouldn’t take that path yet. Um Emmons County has already done that right? There was there was something that came up and and Truly can probably speak to it except that if it’s not a final order of the PSC And.

01:22:48,230	I don’t think it’s appealable to appealable to the district court yet. I think we almost have to wait and see. Um, I don’t know that you would know more about that than me. Right. So there’s an appeal that’s in the district court already regarding the same thing already, there’s no need to join into that, Um, basically, as Comm.

01:23:07,030	Bittner said, It’s kind of waiting to see what the judge is going to do regarding whether or not that’s a final order that is appealable. And. If they do, um I. Guess. We go from there, So. We’re just gonna watch that one for now. So. We’ll wait and see everybody stay tuned, but Anything else.

01:23:26,700	There is one of the thing that concerns me on on this whole thing. I have worked on natural gas pumping stations. They’re noisy. And They take a lot of power. For what they produce, uh, proposing to do what is their carbon footprint? They’re gonna be using a tremendous amount of electricity to push this stuff up there.

01:23:58,330	And I’ll Bet If we knew that, and That would make a big difference because they’re going to be producing more carbon. Then. There’s sequestering. You know you’re pumping this stuff at a high pressure for 2000 miles, And. Now, they added more. I. I’m telling you their carbon front’s gotta be tremendous.

01:24:19,900	What are this recycling, uh, carbon and they get paid for it? So. That’s another Another question that I have on that thing, and that was asked by me at one of the meetings. And Top secret. Everything stopped secret with them Top secret. He? There’s got to be a way to find some sort of information on that. You know? Google.

01:24:46,570	Hey anything else for the good of burly county. None were adjourned. Thank you gentlemen.