00:00:00,000	How are we doing, Paula? She’s working. You may go Good evening everyone and welcome to the uh monthly meeting of the Bismarck Board of Park Commissioners. I will call the meeting to order and ask Juliea to call the roll please, Comm Gilbertson here. Herzog here.

00:00:24,170	Redman Jeske, President Zimmerman here the second item on the agenda is the pledge of allegiance. If you would please rise and join us. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands. One nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Thank you.

00:00:53,370	The 3rd item for uh on the agenda is approval of the agenda for tonight’s meeting. I have a motion, so move. Second motion by Comm Gilbertson, seconded by Comm Redman. Julie, if you’d call the road please. Comm Gilbertson. Herzog, yes. Redman. President Zimmerman.

00:01:20,070	The next item on the agenda is our uh partners, future partners and programs, and it’s, uh, my pleasure tonight to introduce a longtime friend and uh very active community member Mike. Yeah, I was gonna say, uh, yeah, Mike Wall there from, but Mike Wall. He might talk later. Good evening, Mike, and we’re looking forward to update here on the 50th anniversary of the McQuade tournament. Well, good evening. Thank you for inviting us tonight.

00:01:43,570	Um, it’s our 50th year as a lot of you all know, which is uh an amazing accomplishment, uh, for any organization to last 50 years when it deals with charities and, uh, and events that go on throughout the course of the year. So we’re very proud of that and, uh, proud of the fact of Sam.

00:02:03,300	McQuaid Senior for his vision to um even start this tournament in the first place. It started out, uh, basically for developmentally disabled individuals who attended summer camps, um, they were struggling to survive back in the 70s and 80s and, and parents weren’t able to pay the fees for their kids to go to camp.

00:02:22,770	So he had that vision to, uh, do that, and it’s continued to this day where we went from a handful of charities to probably close to 80 charity. that we support Uh, through the funds that we, uh, received from our tournament and uh we’ve estimated that in that 50 years, um, we’ve probably given over Probably

00:02:42,430	well over $3 million back to the Bismarck Mandan community in some locations around the state as well, so, um, it’s been a, a great event for the Bismarck Mandan community and, and for our state as well, so.

00:03:04,700	We do have, um, a lot of stuff going on this year for, uh, the tournament, um, being it’s our 50th anniversary. So we’ve been working, you know, quite a bit, uh, on that. We have a great board of directors who, you know, kind of take their different areas and they run with it, so none of us are really worried about something, you know, not getting done, uh, which is important when we have

00:03:20,230	as much as we need to to organize. Uh, throughout the course of the year. So, um, we’re actually going to kick off our, uh, weekend with a concert with Johnny Holme down at the depot.

00:03:36,870	It’ll be the first concert that’ll be, uh, held down there, which is the old Fiesta Villa for those of you who don’t know where the depot would be, so that’ll be Thursday night. Um, you can get those, uh, tickets online through, uh, the LARCs. We’ve partnered with Fanatics and they’re, uh, taking all of that on for the organization of that and selling tickets.

00:03:56,100	And, and then we will get a A donation back to the tournament from the proceeds that we, uh, raised from, from that concert. So they’ve been a great help and assisting us with that process.

00:04:16,300	So, um, Friday we’ll have an afternoon event, uh, at Shields, uh, partnering with them to do some things that Shields have the USA Patriots down there, um, we’re also having, besides the USA Patriots come in, which is the, um, uh, amputee team made up of military veterans who lost a limb while serving our country. been a great addition to our tournament.

00:04:38,170	Um, they’re coming back, um, and this year, We’re also bringing in some of the ghost players, um, from the Field of Dreams movie, um, and they’re gonna come in and do an exhibition game with the USA Patriots and, and help with some of our Special Olympic events, um, and then this will be our 3rd year where we’ve partnered with the North Dakota State Penitentiary.

00:04:59,500	Where we have an exhibition, softball game out at the penitentiary that’s made up of residents from the penitentiary who will play the USA Patriots, and so it’s been a great community event as far as that’s concerned, it’s really something, uh, for the, uh, residents to look forward to throughout the course of the year.

00:05:18,170	Um, the people I work with says it keeps those people on great behavior throughout the course of the year, so they don’t, you know, lose their privilege to do that game, and we had One Guy who umpired it last year and I saw when I was out there last week, I do an umpire clinic out there for the players and umpires, and he said, yeah, I got a little, a

00:05:31,330	little trouble, so I can’t do it this year. So he’s really disappointed, but he says, I guarantee I’ll be back here, you know, next year to do that. So it’s a great community event, um, To partner with that and um the Missouri River Correctional Center is actually putting together a team that will actually be uh participating in

00:05:50,400	the tournament this year, so they’ll be letting some of those residents come and actually play in the tournament, so it’ll be a great opportunity, uh, for them to do that.

00:06:10,500	So we have a lot of pre-activity stuff, um, going on prior to the tournament starting, um, we’ll kick off Friday night with our exhibition game between the USA Patriots and the Ghost players will play an exhibition game, and then each, uh, year for the past several years, probably the past 10 or 15 years we’ve had a military appreciation and first responders, uh, appreciation games, so we’ll have some people from law enforcement playing some people from the fire.

00:06:31,130	departments, so it’s always been a great event and they always look forward to doing that, and it’s a small way for us to thank them for their service that they provide throughout the year, um, to our community to Um, we have our cancer awareness game. Um, this will be, uh, we started that in 2015.

00:06:50,030	Um, so we have our cancer awareness day where, um, I do get some sponsors to help buy some cancer awareness hats and shirts and stuff for our umpires that they wear throughout the course of the day. Um, and we do sell some of that stuff as well.

00:07:07,070	And then the proceeds, uh, that we raised from that goes back to directly back to the Bismarck Cancer Center and maybe some patients, um. Who are, um, you know, dealing with cancer issues for, for travel and expenses and those type of things and, and we provide, um, gift cards to the Bismarck Cancer Center.

00:07:28,670	I think last year we raised about $6000 just that day from, from our cancer awareness day, uh, and game, and then we give it back to them in gift cards, and then they in turn pass that on to cancer patients to help pay for gas and food and lodging and those type of things. So, um, it’s a win-win for both the cancer.

00:07:43,030	Center to be able to provide that and also for those cancer patients to be able to receive those, uh, gift cards to help assist them. Uh, in their expenses. Um, Sunday we have, um, our probably one of the best events of the weekend is our Special Olympics game between the Bismarck and Mandan Special Olympic teams.

00:08:03,900	Um, I always tell people if you come to watch one thing at the tournament throughout the course of the weekend, it would be to watch our Special Olympic athletes, uh, play their game. It’s a pretty humbling experience for competitive people.

00:08:21,270	You know, I’ve had people come and watch that to play in the highest divisions and, you know, they have people on the field that don’t complain about anything. They have fun, they’re cheering on, they’re opposition and, and it’s just great.

00:08:37,900	And I had a Guy one year who played in the upper, the highest division, and he was sitting in the stands and I knew him to be somebody that complained plenty throughout the course of his career, and he looked at me, he says, boy, it’s pretty humbling, isn’t it? And I said, it really is, isn’t it? I said, do you think seeing this will help make you a better player on the field, and he looked at me and he says, probably unfortunately not.

00:08:54,830	But he said it was something really nice, nice to see, um, watching those athletes play and they have a, they have a great time. So, um, we’re really proud to be able to sponsor that game, uh, for the Special Olympics. Um, we’re having the Clydesdales here this year, the Clydesdales are coming for the 50th annual.

00:09:11,600	Um, they will be at the, um, uh, tournament on Friday night for the opening ceremony, um, and then they have a day of rest on Saturday and I believe that the community is going to be able to, um, Be able to go see them at the civic center if they don’t catch them at the

00:09:27,000	diamonds so they can watch our Facebook page for information on when they could go, um, see the Clydesdales. And then we’ll have them back again on Sunday for um our trophy presentation as well. So they’re always a good draw for people coming to the tournament, so.

00:09:49,300	Um Our volunteer groups, we probably couldn’t do this tournament, uh, without our volunteer groups. I traveled to softball events and conferences all over the country and and McQuaid is known all over the United States.

00:10:07,100	Anybody involved in the softball world knows about that, and they say, how can you, uh, run a tournament of that magnitude, and I always tell them the first thing I tell them is we can’t do it without our volunteer groups, um, because it’s a win-win for us and them, you know, they’re the ones. that basically get the proceeds from our tournaments and people tell me all the time, well, where we live, we could not get people to help like that.

00:10:22,500	We don’t have the volunteer base to do that. So, um, it’s worked out great for our volunteer groups over the years, and it’s worked out great for us when there’s people, um, taking tickets, selling t-shirts, cleaning up the diamonds, uh, each night after the games and, and, and a lot of people don’t realize everything it takes to organize

00:10:41,700	something, you know, the teams show up and there happens to be An umpire on the field, there had to be a bracket, so they knew where to go. Um, somebody magically rug the diamonds and chalk the fields, you know, and people I don’t think really have or understand the magnitude of what it takes to

00:10:58,170	run, not only our events, it’s any people that are running charity events to put on, um, The events. Um, we are also doing a couple commemorative bats.

00:11:18,600	We had two bat companies come to us and partner with us, so we’re making a couple 50th anniversary bats, um, one company is making 50 only and going to number them, so they’ll probably be, you know, pretty popular in the other companies making 100, so, uh, so, um, I’m sure that’ll be a popular, uh, thing for, for people and then I did design a commemorative coin, uh, that we’re going to have, um, available.

00:11:37,800	We’re going to give those to all of our umpires, and then we’ll have some extra to sell to anybody who would, you know, might want one of those, so it would be a, a good memento of our, our 50th, uh, 50th anniversary, so. Um, and speaking of the umpires, um, There are another integral part of the lame game. I mean, we can’t.

00:11:57,500	Do this tournament with players or umpires and, um, a lot of our umpires donate all of their time, uh, and they donate all their travel if they’re coming from out of state, um, They pay their way to get here and when we have people that are flying from Connecticut and Maryland and California and um Colorado, Arizona, Nevada, uh, they’re

00:12:19,930	coming from everywhere all over the country. We have some first time umpires coming from Alabama this year. Um, I’ve had several people say that this is their bucket list tournament, you know, they’ve known about it, but they’ve never had the opportunity to get here.

00:12:36,000	And so, uh, So they’re coming this year, they said they wanted to do it and of course the 50th year is a good year to do that. So I think I have a 123 umpires coming from You know, Bismarck, Mandan around North Dakota and then throughout the country and so we’ve built a good squad of umpires when I first started

00:12:52,000	back in ’91, we had as many or more teams and we did this whole tournament on about 80 to 85 umpires. So it’s, we’ve built a good umpire base and it, it lessens the load for, for umpires they’re not working 16 or 18 games during the weekend, they might be 10 or 12 throughout the weekend.

00:13:11,270	So, so we appreciate uh what they do and what they donate back to the tournament, I think last year, the umpires donated probably about $6000 worth of game fees, uh, back to our tournament that goes directly back to our charities. So, you know, it’s a combination of everybody.

00:13:30,370	It’s the fans who pay a gate fee to get into the games. They buy t-shirts and, and hats and we have a silent auction and so it’s a combination of everybody coming together to um make the tournament, uh, you know, the success that it that it has been so.

00:13:48,600	So that’s kind of some of the things that are going on will have plenty of shirts and, and hats and stuff for sale. We’re doing an online store for the first time this year. So we can offer some different, um, items where we don’t have to have them in stock and people can order what they may want to order too, so that’ll be a nice little feature we feel this

00:14:04,170	year as well, so. A Mike I’m gonna hold you up there for a couple of minutes and ask if our commissioners have comments or questions of Mike. We’ll start, um, Comm Gilbertson. Sure, I guess.

00:14:30,230	If you wish, yes, my only, or my one question is how registration started and how, what do you anticipate the numbers? Yeah, registration is open. We’re almost closed. We’ll probably be closed by the end of this week.

00:14:49,500	Um, we’re, um, probably at around the 3:10 to 320 mark with teams we’re down a little bit in teams, but softball is down not only in North Dakota, but but around the country too, and, and I I’m, I’m sure, you know, um, The economy might come into it too when teams are traveling from Arizona and Colorado and Florida and all those places, but uh, but, but it’s, it’s still good numbers. There’s nothing like it in the United States that that runs a 2.5 day tournament and and we’re 100% of the proceeds go to charity.

00:15:12,930	Yeah, bigger tournament? No, there’s no bigger tournaments in that. I’d say probably there might be some teams in the 175 to 200, but those are people, and those are usually in the youth fast pitch areas, and those people are for-profit groups that are, they’re making money on the, on the tournaments and stuff too.

00:15:31,130	Oh, awesome. Thank you Comm Redman Zimmerman first of all Zimmerman Zimmerman first of all Zimmerman, Mike, thank you very much. I know you’re gonna say it’s a team effort, but there’s little sprinkles of Mike Wolfff all throughout the McQua tournament.

00:15:44,430	So I just want to thank you for all your work because I know there’s hours and hours that you put in personally for this, so thanks for that. When you said there’s 123 umpires. I thought you were gonna say there’s 123 people staying at your house because I know there’s rumors of how many people are camped in your yard and throughout your neighborhood, but I know that

00:15:58,530	that’s the kind of effort you put into having people and these umpires stay with you, so, um, but thanks so much. I’m just so so impressed by how many lives are touched by McQuay Tournament, all these nonprofit organizations by putting in some sweat equity and then, um, receiving a check for their, their work, so

00:16:14,830	thanks so much. Yeah, I appreciate that. And I wish everybody could come to our banquet, and you are all invited to, and I’ll try to make sure I get a hold of Kevin and Kevin’s been to our, our banquet several times and to hear the stories that these organizations is amazing and then, you know, some, there’s,

00:16:34,670	there’s some days I’ve, all of us on the board say some days we ask ourselves, what are we doing and why do we do this? And then you get to the banquet when it’s all over with and you hear the stories of how the funds help these organizations and you say, OK.

00:16:49,670	That’s why we do it and, OK, that’s why I’ll probably do it again next year thank you, Comm, uh, Herzo. Thanks, President Zimmerman, and thanks for being here, Mike and I guess the one thing I noticed when, um, when it’s in town and we, we track the economic impact of things and I’ll look at the software that

00:17:08,170	we use, um, to look at where people are going, and there’s always this big spike at the end of June that, you know, the elbow room or, you know, the bars and the restaurants downtown, the hotel, so.

00:17:26,100	Um, beyond the charitable impact your business impact is huge, um, and it’s a big thing for small retailers to restaurants and bars, so I mean, it’s a fantastic weekend for Bismarck and Mandan and in a bunch of regards, but the business community always looks forward to it too, so appreciate all your work and your volunteer work, and I’ll be there. I’ve got a huge bag of sunflower seeds right in a boogie.

00:17:40,770	There you go. Thank you. Mike, if I might, I, I would echo Comm Herzog and and the other Comm, but certainly the financial impact, I see that in the community. It’s the pride of the Bismarck, Bismarck Man and communities to utilize it. So my congrats there.

00:17:59,600	I want to take this time in advance to thank our staff that’s going to put in the extra hours dragging the fields, cleaning it. So thank you all in advance for those that may be watching or David, uh please extend that on behalf of all. Commissioners that I know you’re gonna work hard that weekend.

00:18:17,230	I’ve been down there and it’s been rainy fields to take care of and people are not happy, and then there’s hot weekends, so thank you to our staff and you know, everybody who will be pitched in on that. I just wondered, um, our Boy Scout trooper, the troop I’m with has done the, uh, home run derby for like 20 some years.

00:18:36,970	And the boys, they literally fight to do that and because they’re always waiting for the time that A home run is knocked out of the field and hits the car on the expressway because I can hear it. It’s like, OK, yeah, there we go.

00:18:51,270	Just wanted to, yeah, I hit cars on the expressway, but I know that this year too will be, uh, perhaps the first use of the stack shack for the McQuaid tournament. So my thanks for all the efforts you did and others in having that facility ready for all these umpires that will be here. Yeah, that has worked out amazing.

00:19:09,370	We got to use it last year, starting with our state tournaments and we’ve One tournament already this year, and, and it’s, it’s amazing facility. It’s air conditioned when it gets hot and it’s got a heater when it gets cold and so that has been really a godsend to our, our umpires and it’s even extended beyond that, we kind of let the

00:19:28,630	fast pitch group come in and use a little bit of it when we have their big fast pitch tournament, whether it’s the state or their invitational and let them set up in there too, so it’s, it’s become a multi-purpose room and we’re, uh, we’re very glad to share it. with whoever needs to share it.

00:19:44,130	But Mike, before we get away, I do have one other honor I wanted to, uh, uh, tell to uh all the folks here in Bismarck community to recognize Mike has worked at the highest levels in in slow pitch softball for the American softball Association, including the men’s major and men’s super national championships.

00:20:05,130	A great accomplishment for his umpire career was that Mike worked 7 national championships and was selected for the championship game for 6 of them. His umpire career included serving as the umpire in chief for the USA softball of North Dakota since 2004 and was a deputy umpire in chief for several years before that.

00:20:29,000	As great as Mike’s accomplishments are in the Ame American Softball Association and USA softball. One has to start with his involvement in the annual McQuaid charity softball tournament where he serves as a tournament director and empire in chief for over 30 years.

00:20:54,730	Mike is passionate about softball and the umpire program nationally and locally and in recognition of his passion and commitment, Mike was recently inducted. In the class of 2024 national softball Hall of Fame on October 26th in Oklahoma City. I wanted to read that specific. Mike, congratulations. Thank you very much. Thank you. And again, that’s a lot of other people helping me along the way too.

00:21:19,300	Can’t do things by yourself, so, and I would thank you for, I did want to emphasize to the, the staff that you do have for, uh, parks and Rec that uh that Kevin has and, um, it’s great.

00:21:36,300	People love coming here because the fields are always in tiptop shape, and they love the facilities, um, and that’s another reason why teams like to come to Bismarck to play, whether it’s the McQuaid or state tournaments or weekend tournaments, so, so, um, we really appreciate them and We work well with them as well too, so. Well, thank you, Mike, and we’re crossing our fingers for good weather for the weekend. Uh, that’s your, that’s your job. Yeah. Thank you, Mike, thank you. Awesome.

00:21:57,570	Our next item is the 2024. Audited financial statements. Mindy peats with uh Brady Marts will present our audited financial statements. Good evening. Mindy and welcome. Good evening. It’s getting fed up here. OK, there we go. Well, good evening everybody.

00:22:25,900	I’m Mindy Piaz with Berdy Marts, and we’ll be going over the audit results for the Park District for 2024. Uh, so we’ll go over the opinions and reports that we issue, uh, next, go over some financial highlights and then wrap up with some required items that we communicate at the end of the audit.

00:22:48,300	So first off, um, the overall objective of the audit, we do have guidelines that we have to follow by our professional standards. Those include generally accepted auditing standards and government auditing standards. Um, the purpose of the audit is to obtain a reasonable but not absolute, uh, assurance and provide that the financial statements are free of material misstatement. It also remind you that the audit is not designed to to detect fraud.

00:23:09,800	However, if we do become aware of fraud, we are required. To communicate that with the board. So for 2024, we are, we issued an unmodified opinion on the financial statements, um, the unmodified is basically a clean opinion, meaning that the financial statements are fairly presented in accordance with GAP or generally accepted accounting principles.

00:23:35,300	It’s the highest level of assurance that we can provide on the financial statements. Additionally, because the report, the audit is conducted in accordance with government auditing standards.

00:23:53,900	We issue another report, um, for performing the audit in accordance with those standards, um, as part of that, we are required to review internal controls, and if we become aware of any kind of deficiencies or material weaknesses, we would know note them in that report, but again, that one is also unmodified, so a C clean opinion, um, no issues were noted during the audit.

00:24:15,530	Next, going over some financial highlights, so, um, the blue is 2024 cash and investment position and then the green is 2023. I’ll just go over the more significant changes by fund. The first one, general funded, general fund cash. So last year it was approximately 4.9 million, ending at almost 7 million this year.

00:24:37,230	Um, that is due mostly, that is up to mostly just due to the increase in net or fund balance for the. General fund, um, I’ll go over the general fund in a little bit more details, but it was just a better financial year for, for the general fund.

00:24:52,700	And then park, the park improvement fund had a drastic decrease, so last year there was a bond that was issued, um, those projects were obviously worked on and completed, um, or close to complete this year, so that’s the substantial change there and similarly with the construction fund, um, using money for projects this year. So that’s why that has decreased.

00:25:16,170	Next, looking at revenues and expenses by fund, as I mentioned earlier, the general fund had, um, just more money coming in than expenses going up. So looking at that, um, total revenues, it really was in multiple areas, um, charges for services were up. I think golf specifically was up a little bit on property taxes came in a little higher.

00:25:36,530	It wasn’t really One specific thing and I, I literally went line by line on the financials just saying like, OK, what, what jumped out, but, um, overall just a lot of that and then expenses really were kept maintained year over year. It wasn’t a large percentage increase there. And then obviously the park improvement fund, uh, less revenues coming in. Last year they had that bond issue and so a lot more expenses going out this year.

00:25:58,370	Looking at total expenditures for the general fund, so for a fiscal year 2024, total expenditures were approximately 19.4 million, um, and when I say controlling expenses, it was only a 3% increase from last year. So given the market and the economy and everything going on in the world today, um.

00:26:18,800	That’s pretty, pretty commendable to the staff at the Park District to keep that at 3%, um, and then you have an influx in, um, use of the pools and golf courses with that too, so. The largest expenses for the park district in the general fund, um, general maintenance was at 19% or 3.7 million.

00:26:45,370	And then other recreational activities was at 14%, and then golf was at 12% or about 2.4 million this year. Next, looking at the composition of fund balance. So within each fund there’s different varying degrees of the fund balance or the residual equity for those funds, um, and they’re categorized by their purpose and how you can use them, so the general fund,

00:27:08,800	you’ll see the, the bulk of that is a light blue color, so that’s unassigned, so you can use that for general park operations. Um, there is a small amount in the general fund that’s committed and that’s money that’s been set aside by the park board.

00:27:26,170	um, for the Gulf Dome, I believe, because you can’t receive insurance on that, so just sending money aside for replacement of that in the future. And then the other funds have um the dark blue is restricted, so the restricted, uh, residual equity that is money that you can spend, but for a specific purposes, obviously, um, in the specialists that spent fund in the construction fund for park

00:27:48,370	improvements, um, or general uh capital projects. And then they committed um. Committed and a sign, those are just varying degrees of how the, whether it was the board’s intention or management’s intention, um, you can use that money.

00:28:06,100	It’s just saying we have this extra money, we’re going to use it for a different purpose or saying what you’re going to use it for. OK. Next, moving on to um the debt. So no new debt this year for the Park District, um, but the balances are on the screen above, um, all the, the The debt this year did go down with payments, and then you can see the projected schedule of principal and interest going

00:28:35,300	forward, um, those tables at the table on the right side, it’s multiple years at the end, it doesn’t actually get to be more, it’s just multiple years are combined, and that’s how it’s presented in the financial statements, but on average, I think it’s about 4 to 4.5 million every year annually, what’s owed in debt right now.

00:28:53,430	OK, looking at the general fund, um, the budget versus actual, so, uh, the blue is the budgeted amount and then green is actual, so, um, it actually swung in the right way both ways, so there was more revenue coming in than what was budgeted for and then expenses were less than what was budgeted for.

00:29:19,030	Lastly, you just wanna go over um some items that we are required to communicate with the board, um, upon completion of our audit. So as part of our audit, we do look at estimates, um, and making sure that those are reasonable and the assumptions going into them are reasonable for the financials and the users, uh, really the Park

00:29:37,230	District only has two significant ones, and those are for the net pension liability and then the OPEB liability, which is the other post-employment benefits, um, calculate Uh, during the audit, we didn’t note that there were any unusual transactions.

00:29:56,230	Um, we didn’t have any difficulties in conducting the audit, nor do we have any disagreements with management. Uh, as part of the audit we did have one uncorrected misstatement. So that was just an item or difference that we came across, um, that we did not post and correct in the actual financial statements and it wasn’t posted just because it wasn’t material.

00:30:13,570	So it was just passed on, um, and then lastly, as part of the audit, we do request management representations from management, basically just asserting that they have given us full access to everything, um, and that everything’s recorded in accordance with GA to their Knowledge. So with that, my contact information is on the screen.

00:30:36,000	If anybody does have questions later and wants to get a hold of me, um, other than that, I just wanna thank, uh, Kevin and Kathy for their work. It’s a, it’s a quick turnaround process, but the staff does a great job in responding to our requests, and I’m happy to answer any questions, uh, commissioners might have. Questions Commissioners.

00:30:55,770	Well, Mindy, I want to thank you. I, uh, I often say I’m not a financial genius, but it’s Great to have the explanation of it, and it looks to me like the districts in good financial shape. Yeah, yep, I would agree with that. All right.

00:31:13,270	Well, thank you, but before you go, uh, while we’re on the subject, I too want to thank Cassie, Kevin, Julie, all the staff that had their input on the, on the, on the audit. It’s, it’s great when I look at it to see, uh, the district is in good shape, and we’ve, uh, in light of, you know, legislative action and that.

00:31:33,170	That’s going to Give pause for us to be maybe a little closer at the budget. It’s great to have a, a good audit report as we move forward. So thank you, thank you for your time and thank you uh to your company as well. Thank you.

00:31:52,400	Uh, executive Director C Klipfel, any other comments on the audit that you wish to. No, I guess we just want a motion to, uh, accept the honor. Thank you. Is there a motion to accept the audit as presented by Brady Marks. I’ll move to accept the 2024 uh audited financial statements and and the audit from Brady March.

00:32:15,270	Is there a second? Motion by Comm Herzog, motion, uh, seconded by Comm Gilbertson. To accept the audit as presented by Brady Martz, Julie, if you’ll call the roll please, Comm Gilbertson. Herzog, yes, Redman. President Zimmerman. Our next item on the agenda is disposition of bids.

00:32:38,370	Our first one is the VFW Sports Complex painting project Jeff Oel with Uel Design Group will, uh, give us an update. Good evening, Jeff. Good evening, President Zimmerman. Commissioners, good to see you all. Um, uh, as indicated, I’m here to present the bids for the repainting of the VFW, so this is interior painting of what essentially is a rink one. And the supporting spaces. On May 6th at 11 a.m.

00:32:59,570	we received bids at the Bismarck Parks and Recreation District office. Uh, at the time we received 2 bids. Um Uh, for the first time, I think I’ve been doing this for close to 30 years and I’ve never seen bids that are actually this close, ever.

00:33:25,470	Uh, we received, uh, one bid from Oxenteno, um, for 155,500 and we received a second bid from Roy H. Dietz and Sons for $156,000. Uh, at this time we’re recommending acceptance of the bids to Oxentino for $1,550,500. If you have any questions, I’d be happy to answer them. Questions from commission Mr.

00:33:49,370	Herzog? I just had, uh, thanks, and, uh, uh, President Zimmerman Comm, I had one question I had asked Kevin, but just for everyone’s um Who’s listening because I’m sure there’s people watching. We had budget the budgeted amount that we had for this project was kind of close to the bits. It was one 40 President Zimmerman and commissioners, yes, the, the budget amount for this project was 140,000. Thank you. Commission Comm Redbnman.

00:34:16,370	I would move for approval to uh extend the bid to Oxenteno, uh, Incorporated for $155,500 for the painting of BFW Sports Center. Is there a second? Second Motion by Comm Redman, second by Comm Herzog to accept the bid of $155,000 for $500 from oxenanununs for the painting, the interior at, um, the VFW Sports, uh, July, if

00:34:47,530	you’ll call the roll please. Comm Gilbertson. Herzog, yes. Redmand President Zimmerman. The next item on the approval of bids is for the McDowellam playground project or operation. Director David Barron will, uh, provide us the update on that, uh, project. David, good evening.

00:35:11,600	Good evening, President Zimmerman and Commissioners exactly the McDowell Dam playground project, the project is to construct a brand new playground. Out near Shelter 3 at McDowell Dam, uh, on the property, uh, new sidewalks, new playground equipment, you. Benches And eventually we’ll put some additional planting in that’ll be by staff later at a different time.

00:35:31,470	Uh, but we did open bids, uh, we received two bids and opened them on May 6th at 1:30 and it is uh after review of staff’s recommendation to award the project to Paramount Builders Inc. in the amount of $129,658. Questions for David on that, uh, Comm Gilbertson. President Zimmerman, uh, Davis. Close to budget.

00:36:03,330	President Zimmerman, uh, Comm, Comm Gilbertson, it is Depending on which version of the budget or the estimate that we put together, we’re, we’re right in the middle, uh. We had some varying estimates that we put together.

00:36:21,630	I think we budgeted around $120,000 for it, but this project was submitted for a garrison diversion conservancy District grant, and we were successful in that, so it’ll bring it back underneath the budgeted amount. I did have an opportunity to discuss with the Burley County Water Resource District, uh, board yesterday morning and shared with them the, the good news on this, and they were excited for the project as well.

00:36:40,670	Comm Herzo? Do you have a question? I was just, I was going to make a motion unless there’s a. Uh, David, I have a question to clarify, this is a completely new playground, not a replacement. President Zimmerman and Commissioners, yes, it is a brand new playground. New location we’re not replacing the old one with a new playground. It’s uh in addition to the playground that’s out there.

00:37:00,370	Man, how many playground areas do we already have at McDonald, do you know offhand? There is one that we only have one playground, yes. Any further questions? If not a motion to accept the bids, do we have a motion? I’d moved to approve that we accept the bids for the McDowell Dam playground, um, Paramount Builers and the

00:37:20,770	amount of 129658. There a second? A second. Motion by Comm Herzog, seconded by Comm Redmond to accept the bill on the McDowell Dam playground project. Julie, if you’ll call the roll, please. Comm Gilbertson. Herzog, yes, Redman, President Zimmerman. Our next one is also uh David will give us a.

00:37:47,330	A review on the general Sibley playground project, David. President Zimmerman and Commissioners, yes, uh, we also went out for bid on the replacement of the 2 to 5 playground in the day use Par at General Sibley. Uh We, on the same date at roughly the same time opened bids for that project. We had 4 bidders for that project. Uh, our recommendation.

00:38:13,070	We broke that into two different pieces. We did the playground. Um, equipment replacement and then delivery and supplying the engineered wood fiber, which is the surfacing that goes down underneath the playground we break them into two and it’s generally we’ve broken them into two when it’s just a playground replacement.

00:38:30,830	We can see a little bit more of a competitive bid that way that we found, so that’s why you’ll, I’ll be making two recommendations. Uh But the recommendation for the playground installation uh goes to Weber Recreation in the amount of $43,0741 and the engineered wood fiber surfacing goes to uh recommendation goes to uh Dakota playground in the amount of $4,678.

00:38:59,370	Any questions for, uh, David on that project? All right, I will look for a motion, please. My question is. Oh, yes, go ahead. Comm, would you need two motions on this, or can they be put in one motion and executive Director Clifffield, do you have a preference on that? President Zimmerman and Commissioners that could be made in one

00:39:21,670	motion. OK. In one motion. I would move that we, uh, award the bid for the playground equipment to Weber Recreation and for the, uh, fiber surface Dakota playground. Section. Motion by Comm Redmond, seconded by Comm Gilbertson for the, uh, General Sibleyra their own project. Julie, if you’ll call the roll, please, Comm Gilbertson. Herzog.

00:39:51,730	Yes, Redmand President Zimmerman, thank you, David. We’ll look forward to new playground equipment. Just waiting for the next one, President Zimmerman. Oh, I, I’m looking ahead to Mike. They looking at Mike, sorry, sorry, Mike. All right, uh, item 7, maybe I better get into the optometrist. Item 7, a consideration of agreements. Companion agreement with the city of Bismarck.

00:40:18,900	David, my apologies, but please take that item as well. Not a problem. President Zimmerman, uh, in your packet is a companion agreement for consideration by the board. If you remember last year, we, there was a matching grant project for a mural in the expressway underpass. That is not owned by the Park District. We simply maintain.

00:40:42,670	Conveyance through there and make sure that it’s clean and and ready for the citizens to use. It is owned by the North Dakota DOT and managed by the city of Bismarck. So when we, when we presented the idea for the mural, it had to go through a few extra channels the DOT had to approve it.

00:41:01,630	The DOT writes their approval to the city of Bismarck and essentially this is a pass-through agreement similar to what we do with the TA grant funding. So that we accept the responsibility.

00:41:19,230	That the city of Bismarck is accepting from the DOT, so that’s what this I’m trying to summarize it I might have made it a little more confusing, but, uh, trying to summarize what it is, uh, essentially we’re taking responsibility for the the mural installation and the maintenance of it and it’s not the city’s responsibility.

00:41:38,730	Any questions for David on that, uh, Comm Redman, Dave, was it approved at the May 13th meeting that was in the memo that was going to be where there was I believe it was, yes. Sorry. Other questions? If not, I’ll look for a motion. Uh, I moved to approve, uh, the, the companion agreement for the expressway underpass tunnel mural with the city. And duty and everybody else that’s in it. Seconded Motion by Comm Herzog, seconded by Comm Redman. Julie, if you’ll call the roll, please.

00:42:03,570	Comm Gilbertson. Herzog, yes, Redman. President Zimmerman, thank you, David. Thank you. Now we’ll call up Mike Wald. Mike has a Presentation on the concession extension addendum with the Bismarck hockey boosters. Good evening, Mike.

00:42:31,400	Good evening, President Zimmerman and commissioners in your pack it’s a memo from the executive, excuse me, executive director of the Bismarck hockey boosters requesting a one-year extension. To their current concessions agreement that they have with us to provide concessions at the uh capitalized complex.

00:42:56,430	Um, again, that option is also in their agreement, um, for that extension and the period of time for that extension would be September 1 of 2025 through August 31st of 2026 and staff does recommend approval of this extension. Any questions for Mike on uh that agreement with the hockey boosters. Mh. I was Mike, I had questioned, um, Do we have any input, any oversight on The financial aspects of it and what they, what the agreement calls to be paid to the district.

00:43:27,430	To the extent of Their own Financial management or M mismanagement at some time, is there ever. If you see where I’m going here with it, if there’s ever a question of How they were managing this operation. Where, what’s the liability or what’s the involvement of the Park District to that.

00:43:49,970	President Zimmerman commissioners in in the proposal of their agreement, there is a percentage that we ask come back of sales come back to the park district. Um, they do provide us financial statements of the sales commission sales every month and week based that commission off of that, um, what their percentage that they sold coming back to us. OK.

00:44:10,770	But let’s say to the extent if there was ever a question on their financial operation. That’s we’re not involved in that. President Zimmerman and Commissioners, I do not believe so. That’s all on them. OK. Any other questions for Mike on that? I have a motion for that. Zimmerman. accept the, approve the one year extension for the concession agreement with Bismarck hockey boosters.

00:44:40,700	The 2nd. Second. Well that motion by Comm Gilbertson, seconded by Comm Herzog. Julie, if you’ll call the roll please, Comm Gilbertson. Herzog, yes, Redman, President Zimmerman. Mike, the next one is the bare knuckle baseball and North Woods. League Addendum to the facilities. Information, Mike, if you’ll take over, please.

00:45:09,830	Sure, President Zimmerman and Commissioners in your packet is an addendum to the bare knuckle baseball and Northwoods League use agreement, uh, due to the addition of the artificial turf, um, we looked at just adding some changes to that, uh, statement of liability, you know, who’s responsible for any damage, and that’s in that addendum right now, just to cover any incidents that would happen to the artificial

00:45:32,900	turfers. natural grass turf. Questions for Mike? Mike, while we’re talking on the turf, how’s it, how is it holding up if we, I know there’s been games on it, uh, President Zimmerman and Commissioners, the, uh, comments have been very positive.

00:45:54,830	Um, I think staff has, uh, done a very nice job adjusting to the maintenance that needs to be done and, you know, it’s obviously different than the, uh, agri lime that’s there and the grass that used to or used to be there in the grass that used to be there, but yeah, it, it looks beautiful. It’s green all the time and, and the comments are very.

00:46:10,370	Positive I’m going to put you on the spot with the rain in the last two days. When’s the next game? I, because I know that’s been an issue if the field is wet, and we’re not having a game.

00:46:25,170	We’re going to have a test here, how soon we can get back on the field or President Zimmerman Commissioners, I, I look, did look at the schedule for the ballpark, uh, yesterday, and there are games scheduled for tomorrow and through the weekend.

00:46:43,030	So, um, we should be playing if it doesn’t rain too, too hard, you know, the, the activities have a rule, depending on the Air temperature and that sort of thing, and I suppose how hard it’s actually raining, whether they’ll play, but the field should be ready. Thank you. I will look then for a motion on the acceptance of the bare knuckle baseball and Northwood League Addendum. Presidents are just a quick question, go ahead, Comm Herzog.

00:47:01,030	Do other groups that use the the turf field, then will they also be in uh some sort of agreement, you know, uh, BPS or whatever that if it’s damaged. Um, but they’re responsible. President Zimmerman, Comm Herzo commissioners, uh, yes, they’re in their current agreement right now, OK? We’ll take a look at what the word ages in there.

00:47:26,030	The larks in the Northwoods League, they do a lot of different activities on the field, then what the high school in, in, uh, Legion teams do, but we’ll definitely take a look at that and if we need to make any changes, um, we’ll, we’ll make those changes for the next use agreements. OK, then I, I would, uh, move to approve as uh presented.

00:47:43,170	I do see it as fireworks in here, so yeah, yeah, you pointed that out, but, uh, I would move to approve. Second to motion. Second, motion by Comm Herzog, second by Comm Gilbertson to accept the bare knuckle baseball and Northwood League Addendum. Julie, if you’ll call the roll, please, Comm Gilbertson. Herzog, yes, Redman, President Zimmerman.

00:48:07,830	I, thank you, Mike. Next item on the agenda is consideration of the April 17th board minute meetings proof. Second Most by Comm Redmond, second by Comm Gilbertson to approve the board meetings of uh April 17th. Julie, if you’ll call the roll please, Comm Gilbertson, Herzog, yes, Redman. President Zimmerman.

00:48:37,170	Next item on the agenda is approval of bills, so we. Move by Comm Gilbertson, seconded by Comm Redmand for approval of bills. Julia, if you’ll call the roll, please. Comm Gilbertson. Herzog? Yes. Redmond. President Zimmerman. The next item on the agenda is an executive session under the authority of North Dakota Century Code, Section 4404-19.1 and 44-04-19.

00:49:15,970	2 for attorney consultation with the board’s attorney and to discuss contract negotiation for the sale of Hay Creek lots. This item may be discussed in an executive session. The legal authority for closing this portion of the meeting is North Dakota Century Code sections 4404-19.1 and 4404-19.2.

00:49:45,900	The topic of purpose of this executive session is for attorney consul consultation with the board’s attorney and to discuss contract negotiation for sale of Hay Creek lots. At this time, a motion would be in order to discuss the next topic in executive session rather then in an open meeting. Is there such a motion? I A second, any discussion on the motion? Julie, will you call the roll? Comm Gilbertson. Herzog, yes, Redman, President Zimmerman, I motion carried.

00:50:09,400	The executive session will be recorded and all members of the governing body are reminded to limit their discussion during the executive session to the announced topic. The prohibition of taking final action during the executive session does not allow to providing guidance or instructions to our attorney or negotiator.

00:50:32,570	We will now ask the members of the public who are attending the meeting to leave the room. We anticipate adjourning the executive session. And the meeting currently concurrently is no further business will be conducted as this is the last agenda item on this month’s meeting. The minutes will show that the executive session began at 6:04 p.m. and was attended by Comm Gilbertson,