00:00:12,770	Good evening. Welcome to the July meeting of the Bismarck Board of Park Commissioners. I will call the meeting to order. And ask uh Julie to call the roll, please. Here, Comm Gilbertson Herzog here, Redman? Here. Jessy here. President Zimmerman 2nd item on the agenda is the pledge of allegiance.

00:00:35,900	I invite you to please stand and join us in the pledge. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America. And to the Republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Thank you.

00:01:03,000	The 3rd item on the agenda is approve the agenda for this evening’s meeting. Do I have a motion? So. Second. motion by motion Comm Gilbertson, seconded by Comm Redmand for approval of the agenda, Julie, if you’ll call the roll, please, Comm Gilbertson. Herzog. Yes, Redman Jesske President Zimmerman. Next item on the agenda is.

00:01:32,330	Featured partners and programs we have two very, uh, Exciting and great programs this evening. Look forward to hearing a little more of the information. First is I can swim camp. And uh Lorena, I hope I have that name correct, Lorena Poppy. We’ll, uh, will, uh, give us some information on I can swim. Good evening, Lorena. Good evening. Uh, am I pronouncing that correctly? You are, yes.

00:01:51,630	Thank you. Yes. Um, I also have my son Matt, Poppy is the camp director for I can Swim, and we do have a little PowerPoint but I promise you it’s not long. Um, we mostly wanted to be able to share some pictures of, of, uh, the activities that go on.

00:02:07,700	So while he is getting that ready, um, I can let you know that um I can swim has been, we’ve been partners with, um, Parks and Rec for the past, um, 4 years, this will be our 5th year this summer, um, first week of August, we will be hosting a, a

00:02:25,770	swim camp again. Um, it’s been an amazing partnership. We’ve seen a lot of tremendous growth, uh, so what, what I can swim is, it’s a swim camp that’s available to people with disabilities starting at age 3 and up.

00:02:48,130	So since 2021, we’ve worked with an organization, a national organization called I Can Shine. You’ll hear about another one of their programs right after this, the I can Bike program, which is also phenomenal, um, this camp, uh, brings the opportunity for, uh, for kids through adulthood, uh, people to come, uh, at whatever level they’re at with swimming, whether they have a fear of the

00:03:08,470	water and have never really been in a pool or if they’ve done some and maybe just need to learn more about safety and that kind of thing. Um, one of the things we know is that for, for people with disabilities, especially children and those with autism, there’s a real attraction to water and so the

00:03:27,130	um rate of drowning for um, For people with disabilities, uh, is like 160 times what it is for the general population. So getting that education, that comfort level, that knowledge of safety is so very important. Uh, I can shine.

00:03:47,870	I just took a quote from their website teaching people with disabilities to swim is not only a good idea, it is essential. It’s essential for everybody, but, um, I don’t know if you, you know, recall hearing in, in the news, um, stories of people with autism, uh, being attracted to water.

00:04:02,330	To a river to a lake, um, one of the reasons for that is there’s a lot of um a lot of times, um, sensory needs that can really be met with that water just kind of enveloping somebody, so it’s a very, very important thing.

00:04:23,870	Um, so our camp structure, we have uh a couple of people who come from the national organization, I can shine, uh, who have, um, years of expertise in uh adapted swim instruction, uh, so with that we’re able to really individualize what we’re doing. We do one on one, activities with participants. The focus of I can swim is really to, um, teach people about exercising water safety, uh, building.

00:04:49,500	confidence for them, increasing just water awareness and awareness of surroundings, um, a couple of the really neat things that happen that you don’t necessarily think about is a lot of friendships are made, uh, a lot of children with disabilities have, um, some situations where there’s more isolation, they’re maybe not out involved in as many activities as, um, other kids might be.

00:05:09,700	So making friends, having fun, that’s, um, that’s some of the most important thing. The pictures that we have attached are from our actual camp, um, that happens at the Bismarck, uh, Aquatic Center.

00:05:31,530	Um, Matt, do you want to talk a little bit about, about the staffing, um, so, uh, as Lorena said, um, our camp is, uh, led by instructors from I can Shine. Um, and they are instructors who are certified with adapted swimming instructions, so they, uh, know how to work with children with disabilities, um, of all different kinds of disabilities and different abilities, um, so, uh, what the camp is set up to

00:05:50,370	do is make sure that they are able to teach our volunteers, um, how to work with these kids, um, how to provide a very safe environment, um, and then from there, the volunteers work one on one with the individuals.

00:06:13,130	So, um, all of our volunteers, uh, are able to give that, uh, that direct attention to these individuals, um, and one of the reasons that that is so important is, um, you know, a, a lot of uh families with kids with disabilities, they’re, um, They’re kind of hesitant to get their kiddos in like a group lesson setting because uh their kid needs that direct attention.

00:06:33,070	If you have one teacher with 8 different kids, um, they, that teacher won’t be able to pay attention to, uh, that one child with disabilities, so having volunteers for the one on one thing is, is crucial, um, our volunteers are aged 15 and up, and most of our volunteers are, um, Uh, high schoolers who

00:06:54,930	are going through their, uh, uh, getting their national honors Honor Society, volunteer hours, um, and they have, you know, we are on our 5th camp this year, um, over the past 4 years, um, we’ve had some Outstanding volunteers who, uh, they take to it right away.

00:07:17,900	They, um, really show a passion for working with the kids, um, and even become involved in these, uh, kiddos’ lives outside of swimming, um. So yeah, it’s overall, I mean, it’s, uh, It’s great for the, the swimmers. It’s great for the volunteers, um. Yeah, it’s, it’s an excellent program.

00:07:41,370	And I just, just wanted to add that um without the partnership with, uh, with Parks and Rec and with um Jonna and Ryan at the the aquatic center, this would not be able to happen. They are just incredible to us. They are flexible where they need to be with, um, kind of juggling some of the other programs that are going on.

00:07:58,900	I’m always amazed this, this program goes off so well while there’s, um, you know, water aerobics classes happening and group lessons happening and it just. It just works and they’ve been so great. So without the ability to utilize that facility, um, we wouldn’t have been able to get this off the ground.

00:08:17,730	We do have, I think Matt had mentioned, um, 30 participants every year we fill, um, I think the first couple of years we were full with um a waitlist within probably a couple hours of opening our registration. It continues to be a very popular, um, uh, program.

00:08:37,300	Some people come back, um, for more than one year. And it’s really neat to see that they’ve, you know, to hear the stories about what they’ve been able to accomplish in the time since we, um, We first worked with them.

00:08:54,970	So again, thank you so much for, um, for for uh supporting this program, very much appreciated and we’d be happy to answer any questions. Thank you, Lorena and Matt, and I’m sure we’ll have some uh questions, start Comm Gilbertson, Comm Jeske. Thank you, President, uh, Zimmerman. So I saw a little puppy’s promise, so I’m guessing there’s a little bit of, I’d love to hear your story.

00:09:18,430	And what drew you to this arena and Matt, why did you become involved? So, um, so we, uh, Poppy’s Promise is an organization that I started about 8 years ago, uh, to provide support. and services to kids, young adults, families who are dealing with disability-related issues.

00:09:42,430	I’ve spent my whole life working in the disability arena either, um, through a provider or, um, I was an advocate with the state, uh, with protection and advocacy for about 12 years and I, I got to a point where I, I had some really, um, Strong visions of of what I would like to see happen and a lot of it is trying to fill the gaps of, um, you know, if somebody is

00:09:57,670	falling through the cracks in the service delivery system or if there’s a program that isn’t out there swimming, um, is one that we actually were encouraged by Roxanne Romani, um, with designer jeans to look into this. Matt is a swim coach. He was a competitive swimmer, um, throughout.

00:10:16,630	Middle school, high school, bringing his passion into it, um, for, for the swimming part of it. He threw I can shine has become an adapted swim instructor, so he actually does one on one, swim instruction for, for families and and kids too.

00:10:36,330	So I think it’s just that, um, always kind of looking for the need and looking for ways to accomplish something without having to, um, you know, break the bank, so. Well, thank you for all that you do.

00:10:54,000	Thank you, you know, a lot of people would just walk away and think it’s someone else’s issue or problem to work with and the fact that you have put all of your report such passion into this. Thank you so much for doing this. Thank you. Thank you.

00:11:08,970	Comm Redman, and I wanted to, to echo what Comm Jeske said, but it also for you to come forward and you’re so kind to to make such, um, wonderful comments about our, our staff that’s so appreciated, but it’s also you coming forward to say who will partner with us and so we’re glad that that you did that, um, how many volunteers did you said? I know you said you had 30 swimmers, how many volunteers we need to

00:11:21,430	have a swim buddy for a one on one swim buddy for every swimmer. So I mean, ideally we’d have 30 swimmer or 30 volunteers each.

00:11:35,070	Each time, um, we find that volunteers, they like to come back and they like to stay for more than one session. So we usually can do OK if we have even 15 to 20, um, we I’ll just put a plug in. We are still looking for volunteers and it is such a fun thing to do. It’s spending a little time in the pool.

00:11:49,100	You don’t have to be a, a great swimmer. It’s just really being comfortable in the water and willing to spend 45 minutes to an hour with a kiddo in the pool. Um, so it is, it’s a lot of fun. So if you know of anybody. Um, or if you’re interested yourselves, we can always get information. Out Thanks for what you do.

00:12:09,270	Prison Comm Gilbertson? Um, yes, and I, I too, again would just. Like to add and say thank you and um, I mean, my real job, I work in a school setting and um and we have, um, You know, my school, we have Pretty significant population of, of kids with,

00:12:29,570	with needs and um you know, and when you mentioned fall through the cracks, unfortunately, nowadays it’s, it seems. People with disabilities and Whether it be physical, um, or other needs.

00:12:53,600	It seems like they’re, they’re, they don’t fall through the cracks, they’re pushed into the cracks and it’s nice and it’s awesome to see that, um, you know, programs like this and individuals like you step forward and, and provide, provide those things that are necessary and, I mean, and like you said, I mean it it it it can be a matter of life and death, especially living in this community where Water is Reily accessible and dangerous water at times for that matter.

00:13:15,500	So thank you, thank you. Thank you very much. Lorraine and Matt, I have a couple of questions, uh, again, my thanks too for being here. Is it a week-long program, a daily program, or what’s the time frame? I’ll let you go ahead and answer that.

00:13:35,830	Yes, so, um, so I can swim, uh, we host one camp every year, uh, the camp takes place over 5 days, um, and it is just for that week. So yeah, this, this year’s camp is August 4th through the 8th, um.

00:13:57,370	So we go and we have 5 sessions, uh, each day, so, um, we start with, we have age groups 3 to 78 to 12, and then 13 and over. So our littles are usually in the morning times and there are 45 minute sessions. We start at about 9 o’clock and we’re done by 4:30 every day. My next question is, are most of the participants, Bismarck Manan area, or do you have outreach across the area.

00:14:17,470	Yeah, um, uh, most are in the Bismarck. an area, but we have had some, some families from, um, a couple hours away, uh, just in my like correspondence with them over the, over email.

00:14:38,770	Um, they mentioned that, um, all my, my son’s going to stay with his grandma, um, over the course of this week and yeah, he’s so excited or um. Uh, it, it wasn’t able, we weren’t able to line it up because the, the individual ended up having some medical, uh, things going on at the same time as the camp, but we had somebody from Winnipeg who was looking to get into it too, so yeah, we, we went international, uh, potentially.

00:14:58,030	I, I do think there’s, you know, other communities, other, um, uh, parks and Rexs departments and other communities. It’s, it’s such a need and I think there’s such an opportunity for partnership. So, um, you know. as much as we can share information about what we’re doing to other communities too is, um. So, yeah.

00:15:17,370	Another question is registration fees. Do you seek out sponsorships. How do you handle that? We do seek out sponsorships. We also do um a uh registration fee of $75. Um, we do have scholarships, needs-based scholarships as well.

00:15:37,030	Um, when we started this, we really wanted to do it with no fee at all. And in working through I can Shine. They, they said that if you don’t charge anything, the buy-in isn’t necessarily there and people will maybe show up, maybe not. So I think that that registration fee kind of keeps people coming.

00:15:54,070	Think what they’re there the first day, they’re really hooked, but, um, and it’s amazing what happens from Monday to Friday and we end up the last day having a big celebration where everybody is, um, everyone receives, uh, um, an award, a t-shirt, a certificate, and they get, they get to walk through a tunnel of pool noodles if you, yeah, it’s a

00:16:11,300	very, very cool thing. And it’s, yeah, and everyone’s just really excited for them. So yeah, it’s uh we could go on and on, and I know you have a very full agenda, but, um, at any time I’d be happy to, to forward more information. Well, I hope to see it continue.

00:16:28,830	I would add, Perhaps you are aware that Parks and Rec Department has a, uh, uh, Cooperative grant program where uh organization can apply for a grant through the Department for maybe a specialized equipment, maybe you have some equipment that you could use for your lessons.

00:16:52,200	I would encourage you, uh, contact either Kevin or executive Director Mike Wald at the department. We do 2 grant rounds a year and there might be a qualification there for you if you need some, some special equipment. I’m sure the pool has plenty of stuff for you as well, but. Some specialized. Well, thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you guys. All right.

00:17:10,070	Well, we’re going to go from I swim to I bike and uh Kendra Van der Waal is here to give us an update on that program. Good evening, Kendra. Good evening. Hello, everyone. Thank you so much for letting me speak about I can bike.

00:17:31,200	It is another I can shine program as they mentioned, and I just think it is such an amazing skill to learn swimming and biking catered in an environment that is safe and comfortable for our registered participants to be in a space that is just a cheerleader for them, learning really.

00:17:55,270	complicated and tricky motor skills, and so I am so grateful to be just a week apart from the I can shine bike, um, or I can swim at camp, um, because as they mentioned, I think one thing about these programs is it’s very evident and, and very apparent that the community is so supportive and very willing to to collaborate and partnerships with us.

00:18:16,600	I echo tremendously. Thank you, Bismarck Parks and Rec Dylan. I can’t thank you enough for your accommodations, your kindness, and everything that you all have been doing to prepare us for it.

00:18:38,600	It’s a very big space, and we also recognize that there’s also events happening and simultaneously we’re also there having a camp and coordinating the spaces with the community and it’s just been such a smooth, very amazing process, so thank you, Dylan and thank you everybody who’s allowed us to use the BFW space. But a little bit about the I can bike camp. It’s really similar. It does run Monday through Friday. We do have 4 sessions that run.

00:18:58,270	They are 75 minutes long, and we have one registered, uh, writer along with two volunteers, and that is for safety reasons that we go alongside the bike to make sure that the participants feel very confident and safe on their bike. The goal is hopefully that they can ride the bike that they bring.

00:19:19,700	With them to camp, um, after the camp is done so that they can, they can kind of get the skills earlier in the week, and then hopefully can take that home and be successful with it.

00:19:35,200	It’s a kind of a graded camp in that initially in the picture you’ll kind of see the ride tandem at first and they bring their bikes in and there’s a bike technician that helps adjust the bike to meet the rider where they’re at. And then as the week goes on, the supports of the bike are faded.

00:19:54,300	and this the spotters are added to make sure that they feel safe and confident in, in, in the different paths that we have initially, we start inside the building and then by the end of the week, Thursday, Friday, we’re hopeful that we can take them outside to kind of practice in different kind of settings, um, with that being said, this year, we currently

00:20:13,400	have 5 in the 1st 2 sessions and then 4 in the 2nd, 2 sessions, so we’re writing around that. 1819 mark, just confirming with a few more. So hopefully we’ll have a nice full camp.

00:20:34,270	We also need volunteers, and that is a hot commodity for our first session in our 3rd session, um, because we need about 40 volunteers then to kind of help, but, um, again, the community has been so supportive in signing up.

00:20:54,270	We have had, um, that success also with the high school students, um, we’ve had volunteers sign up that have uh, their parents of writers in the past or just volunteers in the past that have loved the program and just wants to continue to give back.

00:21:15,330	Um, we are able to fund this camp every other year with a partnership with the Our Place motorcycle Club that helps do a bikers for bikers fundraiser every year, and with their support, we were able to raise roughly $11,000 this year, which allowed us to primarily fund the camp and offer scholarship. As well.

00:21:33,070	So again, just amazing sponsorships and partnerships, um, that we’ve established, and this will be our 8th year in doing so, so it’s fun to see the partnerships that continue to support and then new ones that arise too. So, um, we have, uh, not next week but the following week. Um, so we are offering our camp July 28th through August 1st.

00:21:52,800	In Bismarck here we too primarily have most of our registers from the Mandan and Bismarck area, but we do have both volunteers and writers that are coming from a couple hours away. But yeah, what questions can I answer for you? Questions for, uh, I don’t know I got that on my mind here. I’m in the legislature. Comm Herzog. Uh, thank you, President Zimmerman, and thanks so much for being here.

00:22:10,930	I, I was kind of curious about the equipment needs that you have as well. I would assume that, um, just looking through here there’s kind of some interesting things cause they’re bringing their own bike, you’re sort of adapting it and then taking those pieces away, you are good for equipment is that a big need and cost for you all

00:22:25,330	typically I can shine organization does bring in their equipment to help adapt. they make the, the equipment there that they specialize with so the majority of the materials is the space that we need.

00:22:47,130	We do ask families to bring the bike with the hope that they can take it home, um, and then Ann Carlson is helping supply the helmets, so those are our big things and then, um, we give awards at the end, so that that’s our big kind of equipment pieces so we’re, we’re sitting pretty good on that piece of things.

00:23:07,530	Paul Comm Jeske, did you have a question? I’ve always got a question, so, uh, thank you, President Zimmerman, um, so you said you’ve got 5 in the 1st 2 classes. What is your typical average? What’s maximum for you and what’s minimum for sure want to at least have 4 in every session because it’s great to have those peer models, um, this is my first year running it, Roxanne Romani, the

00:23:27,800	wonderful lady she is, um, has ran the Camps prior and um Heather Lin Dean also is a big advocate. She helps bring our University of PT students to help with some of the sessions, and they really advised me to kind of stick to that 4 to 6

00:23:43,870	kind of, uh, writer per session just so that we do have those peer models with them, so I think we’re sitting pretty good with 5 and 4, yeah I know in your brochure it said they must be 8 years of age.

00:24:02,000	What’s the maximum age? I will you take? 45 or 64, our oldest participant was in his 40s, um, yeah, sounds good, yeah, thank you so much and Comm Redman. Um, thank you so much for being here.

00:24:20,400	I’ve had the pleasure of observing this camp before and the volunteers can be faint of heart because you’re running the whole time, so go for those cross country kids because they got to be practicing soon anyway, but that was just an, an eye opening experience to see all the running that they need to do for those sessions, but also the other um eye opening.

00:24:34,670	Uh, for me, not that the age group because for some people, not just the joy of bike riding, but for some of these individuals, it’s their freedom to be able to bike to their employment or to their grandma’s house or to a friend’s house.

00:24:50,170	I hadn’t even thought about that because we think of biking for pleasure, but for a lot of people that was their independence, and I hadn’t thought about that before and it was just eye opening for me and that was a skill that they needed to learn to do that. And also just distractions and it was, um, there was advertising around that.

00:25:04,470	and it was good for them to learn that because they wanted to stop and no you can’t to look at that sign. It was good for them to learn because on the streets there are distractions of signs and traffic lights and people and things like that, and again, an eye-opening experience for me um to see what was happening with all the volunteers and the campers and so thank you for

00:25:18,400	giving people both joy of writing and the freedom to get to where they needed to go, so, so yes, self-confidence, social skills because you wanna ride with your bikes, leisure, health, ED. and skills are going to your jobs, yeah, definitely, and the two different environments too is hopefully kind of aiding some of that as well.

00:25:40,200	Yeah, thank you so much, thank you. Kendra, I would add, if I may have, I would remind you as well of our matching grant program if if there is some equipment, maybe you need.

00:25:58,500	Repair, you know, replacement of something, I would encourage you to consider applying, you know, we, we have those funds available and we hope that we get community groups to apply for the funds. Yes, we appreciate knowing when grants are available, definitely, so thank you very much, thank you for the presentation. Thank you. more Give me a minute here. Yeah. Well Yeah. Trying to be techy here and I can’t be.

00:26:37,330	OK, item 5, we have a number of bids to consider. Our first one is the Tom O’Leary golf cart Path project. We have a representative here this evening to uh give us an update on that, and I know bids were opened this afternoon, so we’re gonna have this is like, A quick turnaround here for bits.

00:26:57,170	Um-hum. Good evening. Uh, good evening, President Zimmerman, Commissioners, executive director. Um I’m here to present the bid results for the Tom O’Leary Cart Path project. Goods were open today. There were 4 bids. The little bid Uh, came from JD Kramer Enterprises in the amount of uh $284,000258.68.

00:27:32,330	This bid was below the engineer’s estimate of $347,353.05. So based on the bids received Apex Engineering Group recommends the Bismarck Parks and Recreation District award the bid. The project to JD Kramer Enterprises. Questions, uh, we had on our agenda, again, the bids were open just this afternoon, the Director. Executive Rectorlip felt anything to add on that.

00:28:00,470	President Zimmerman Commissioners, no, we were happy that we got, got some uh bids and they were competitive, uh, as Thomas said, the, the range from the, the little bit of 284 up to 869, so, but we were, we were very happy with the bids that we got.

00:28:19,500	Any questions from commissioners? Comm Jeske, thank you, President Zimmerman, um, just kind of curious, have we worked with JD Kramer Enterprises before? What is their reputation? We have not, um, I have not worked with JD and, uh, Kramer Enterprises. I, I called a few, uh, of their.

00:28:40,230	Um People that they had on their, on their list of, uh, I guess recommendations and and everybody didn’t, you know, nobody had any issues with them. They said they were a great contractor to work with. In the fit for them, so OK. And when is the project set to start? I imagine it’s got to be close to the end of golf season.

00:28:53,030	Yes, so there’s a few. Uh, golf events that are blocked out in the contract documents where they cannot work but they can work at any other time. Uh, that they can And the completion date, the substantial completion date is, uh, May 20th of 2026.

00:29:12,670	Um Sounds like the contractor wants to get in as soon as possible to start work though, so. Sounds good, thank you. Comm Redmond, did you have a question? Let’s see the light was on there to, As we talked, yes, I’m glad to see that they could start some work this fall. Um-hum. Get ahead of the game a little bit.

00:29:29,170	Hopefully the weather will cooperate with them. Yep. Well, excuse me, do I have a motion? Make a motion to approve the low bid from JD Kramer Enterprises for the Tom O’Leary golf cart Path project. 2nd.... 2nd, Motion by Comm Jeske, seconded by Comm Redman.

00:29:52,730	Any further questions? If not, Julie, if you’ll call the road please. Comm Gilbertson. I. Herzog? Yes. Redman. Jessy, I, President Zimmerman. Thank you. We’ll look forward to get that project going. Thank you. Our next uh disposition of bids is the elks Pool playground. Surfacing replacement and we welcome to the meeting, uh, Brent Gerhold. Good evening, Brent. Good evening, President Zimmerman and Commissioners, executive Director C Klip Fell.

00:30:21,030	My name’s Brett Gerhholt. Uh, Here tonight to just give you a brief overview of the bids again for the Elks Pool playground surfacing replacement project. This one makes me feel a little old because I was on the original design team back in the early 2000s.

00:30:37,470	So now I’m replacing things I did 20 years ago. Uh, anyway, um, pretty straightforward here. We open bids on July 2nd. We received 2 beds. And after we do our typical checking math and, and looking at the numbers. There was one just small mathematical correction that was made.

00:30:58,400	Uh, and that’s in your packet in the cover letter, but in summary, the, the lowest responsible bidder was Dakota Playground. Their bid was $63,611 and that is the recommendation we have for this evening for you to consider awarding that project to them.

00:31:21,430	Uh, as far as schedule goes, uh, obviously this would start after the pool closes and we have a completion date of October 15th. Stand for any other questions. Question of Comm Jeske? Uh, Brett, thank you so much, uh, question, what was our estimate on this project? Great question, President Zimmerman, Commissioners, and Comm Jeske are estimate is shown on the bid tabulation and we had it at 75,500. Oh yes, she did. OK, thank you very much.

00:31:46,370	I appreciate it. Other questions? Brent, is this uh new material? We’re just, I know we’re replacing. Is it same that we have there now or a different product.

00:32:07,900	It’s the same product, so what you have there today is a rubber surface, and I brought a sample if you’d like to see what this looks like in cross section, but they’re basically gonna take up this entire section. They will have a little bit of scope of work to level off the base course that’s underneath this, and then they put this material back in and um.

00:32:23,800	So he, unfortunately, we, we don’t consider this to last as long as the first one did, so fingers crossed that this next one lasts as long, it’s about 20 years that that’s been in, so. Really nice product, a pretty maintenance free, and then when they’re done installing it, we do some testing.

00:32:40,470	To make sure it passes uh GMax ratings for head injuries and, and things that meet the specs, so. That’s all included, but I’m I’m happy to hand this around so you can see what it looks like. I’d like to see it. Yeah. And then, I take it the product that’s there is just discarded. There’s no further use of that.

00:32:55,530	No, there’s really nothing else you can do it, there’s no warranty on it. There, it doesn’t meet any kind of specs, so it will likely go to the landfill unless there’s something we can work with executive Director Clip fell on, uh, for anything that he might need for I can’t imagine what that would be, but uh, yeah.

00:33:13,470	Yeah, I was just saying. Director Cliff Falcon. Well, Brent, thank you. I, um, just, and I know that this may not be with this project, the bid, but the playground equipment is there.

00:33:31,600	Do you have to move that up and take it off site or move it over to, you know, to replace the surfacing or. Yeah. Just out of curiosity President Zimmerman and Commissioners, no, that, that equipment will just be protected, uh, from damage and scuffing and things, but it’ll stay in place, uh, the staff at Bismarck Parks had reviewed that equipment. It’s good condition, uh, so. No need to replace that at this time.

00:33:49,870	Thank you. Uh. Comm Gilbertson, President Zimmerman, um, just like at two questions. Well, what will the color be blue? I believe the color will be blue. Yeah, and it’s a 50/50 blend, so when you look at those granules, 50% will be black and 50% will be blue. Yep.

00:34:12,270	And the second one is, so you’ll be back in 20 years to. Yeah. I hope not. I hope not. OK. President Zimmerman, I would make a motion that we award the contract to Dakota playground and the amount of $63,611 for the Es Pool playground resurfacing. A second. Motion by Comm Gilbertson, second by Comm Jeske.

00:34:40,400	Any further questions? If not, Julie, if you’ll call the roll, please. Comm Gilbertson. I. Herzog? Yes. Redman, Jessy, a President Zimmerman. Thank you, Brett. Our next bid awarding a discussion is for the general Sibley Park Electrical Project. We have representative from Apex Engineering here to give us the lowdown. Good evening.

00:35:09,900	Good evening, President Zimmerman, Commissioners, executive director C Klipfel, um, my name is John Klein. I’m with Apex Engineering. We were asked to go ahead and re-bid. The um electrical RV pedestals for, um, they are very west portion of General Sibley Park. The project was originally bid as an alternate bid back in August of 2021 at that time.

00:35:34,430	The district did not have the funds to do both the eastern or the middle section and the very west section which this project was so that was, um, put on hold until last fall, beginning of the spring.

00:35:54,830	Um, we resurrected the project, went through, redid, uh, code evaluation and then prepared plans to put off for bid, which is the project in front of you today. It consists of replacement of one electrical feedpoint, uh, and 12 RV pedestals, which will be upgraded from a 30 amp receptacle to the more modern 50 amp single phase receptacle for the bigger RVs.

00:36:19,270	Um, and then also include new electrical conductors underground. So, uh, we had. We bid the project back on the 8th of July. There were 5 responsive bidders, the lowest one was Spencer Electric, which we recommend awarding to in the amount of $141,000 even. It uh came in underneath the.

00:36:46,030	The district’s budget and also the engineering estimate of $200,000. I guess at the time if you had any questions. Repre. Comm Herzog, I’m gonna get you up there yet governor God I thank you so much and I’m glad to see we’re going to, you know, the 50 amp. I know we see it with street fairer like the 30 amp and they have to, you know.

00:37:05,170	These trucks and RVs and food trucks and things are just taking so much more power right now, um, which is great, and I’m super happy to see more than one bit, more than 2 bits, which is great, so thank you so much for pounding the pavement. Appreciate it.

00:37:20,700	Other questions? I, I would just like to, Mention, I mean, it’s Very rare that we see, you know, 5 bids come in and they’re all on the estimate that’s, that’s nice to see. So yeah, Comm, I’m, we’re hoping it’s a a trend that continues. It’s been a very painful 5 years from the engineering side of things.

00:37:42,030	My, my question usually is, what’s the timeline or our time schedule here for this project. Uh, President Zimmerman, we gave the contractor two windows for construction. One would be after Labor Day. And before, uh, November 15th or freeze up and then another construction window after April 15th, but before Memorial Day. Good.

00:38:07,130	So, With discussions with executive Director C Klip Fehl. We felt that we would entice more contractors to bid if we had a completion date that was further out in the springtime and then that would ultimately reduce our costs and. Entice more bidders at the same time. Good. Well, thank you for that.

00:38:24,770	I know you hear that often that we put out bids and they’re busy or, you know, we get caught in that, so it’s great to have that for the, for the campground to get that done.

00:38:45,000	Any other questions? If not a motion, President Zimmerman, I would move that we award the contract for the, um, Phase 2 of the general Sibley RV pedestal insulation installation to Fetzer electric in the amount of $141,000. Is there a second? Comm Herzog seconds. Any further discussion? If not, Julie, if you’ll call the roll please, Comm Gilbertson. I. Herzog? Yes. Redman. Jesske, President Zimmerman. Thank you. We’ll look forward to getting the campground fixed up.

00:39:15,370	Our next, uh, big discussion is on the BSC aquatic and Wellness Center pool filter septum, and we have Mike Wald. Good evening, Mike. Hi. Good evening, President Zimmerman. Commissioners. Um On May 14th, staff opened uh bids for pool filter septums for the BSC aquatic and wellness center.

00:39:43,700	Um, we received a bid from Pool Corp Rex Supply in the amount of 30,900 excuse me,,, $950 and staff recommends awarding that bid to Pool Cort. Questions for Mike. Representative. Comm I’m I’m going for Comm Jess I don’t want in the world. I’m doing this, but thank you, President Zimmerman.

00:40:07,670	Um, Mike, was that our only bid that we received, I’m assuming President Zimmerman Commissioners, Comm Jeske, yes, it was. OK. And what was our original estimate on that project? 63,000.

00:40:26,500	And then When are they able to start and when are they able to complete? What’s the window on that one? President Zimmerman, Comm, Comm Jeske, we will, after, if this gets approved, we’ll order the pool septums, and this is something staph can do. So all we do is we shut down a particular filter tank and then replace them and things start up so we don’t have to shut the pool down, we just take care of that particular um filter tank. Very good. Thank you, Mike.

00:40:45,070	Other questions for Mike? I appreciate, Mike, that clarification that we’re not, you know, having to bring somebody in to staff is able to do that. Great, great. I’d call for a motion. President Zimmerman and I move that we, uh, award the pool septum, uh, bid to Pool corp in the amount of $30,950.

00:41:10,230	Is there a second? A second. Motion by Comm Redmond, seconded by Comm Jeske. Any further discussion? If not, Julie, if you call the roll please, Comm Gilbertson. Herzog, yes, Redman. Jessy President Zimmerman. Mike, uh, your next one, you’re also up for the hot tubretiling at the Capitol Rackett and Fitness Center.

00:41:37,030	Uh, President Zimmerman Commissioners on July 9th, uh, staff opened up, uh, bids for, uh, the replacement of the tiles at the hot tub for the men and women’s hot tubs at the, uh, Karacke and Fitness Center. We did receive one bid and that bid was from Associated Pool Builders in the amount of $590,800 and staff recommend. awarding that bid to associated Pool builders.

00:42:01,930	Questions for Mike on that project. M Mi use it for the men’s and women’s or President Zimmerman Comm, Comm Redmond, yes, for both. OK. Thank you. And Mike, what’s the timeline on this project? President Zimmerman and Commissioners, uh, we, uh, put in the, the bit information that this project has to be done by the end of September.

00:42:21,770	OK. Any further questions on that project? If not, I would uh call for a motion. I’ll make a motion that we accept the bid from associated Pool Builders for the retiling of the Capitol racket and fitness hot tubs for both the men and the women in the amount of $59,800.

00:42:46,470	2nd, Motion by Comm Jeske, second by Comm Gilbertson. Any further discussion? If not, Julie, if you’ll call the roll please, Comm Gilbertson. Herzog, yes, Redman. Jesske President Zimmerman one more Mike, for the VFW Sports Center door replacement project.

00:43:16,330	President Zimmerman and Commissioners also on July 9th, uh, bids were open for the VFW, uh, door replacement project, um, we also did receive only one bid for that project as well, and that bid was from CNH Glass in the amount of $76,657. Staff recommends awarding the bid to CNH Glass. Questions for Mike on that project. Oh, it’s like oh, sorry, I have a question.

00:43:39,770	Comm Jeske President Zimmerman Mike, um, can I just ask why we’re replacing the door? like a silly question, Comm, Comm Jeske, uh, the front doors and the doors in the, on the south entrance of the VFW Sports Center.

00:44:05,330	So basically rank one in the curling rink are the original doors from 1985, 1986 when the building was built and opened up and uh They are used open quite often and abused. I’m so sorry to say, and, and parts are, we can’t get parts anymore for them for replacement. So it was time that we needed to replace those doors. It seems like a logical reason to replace some of them. Thank you, Mike.

00:44:21,970	Mike, I’m assuming this, of course, will meet any ADA requirements or, Anything other considerations on that type of project, President Zimmerman Commissioners, nothing will change as far as the ADA accessibility that we already have there, so the, the doors where there are accessibility, um, buttons to open those doors, um, those will be there as well.

00:44:42,070	So, we’re not changing anything as far as that goes. Thank you. Any other questions? If not, I’d entertain a motion. I’ve done a lot today. Um, I’ll make a motion that we accept the bid from C and H Glass in the amount of $76,657 for the replacement of the VFW Sports Center, um, doors.

00:45:12,070	Motioned by Comm Jeske, seconded by Comm Redman. Any further discussion? Not just that, it’s 40 years of watching 9 year olds go through there with hockey bags. Hopefully, they stand up for a long time. For Nice. Julie, if you’d call the roll please, Comm Gilbertson. Herzog, yes. Redman.

00:45:36,630	Jessy, I President Zimmerman, thank you, uh, Mike, and I know that we, we’ve been going through a lot of bids here with the district on various projects. So my, uh, thanks to, uh, commissioners working, uh, with staff, working with our consultants and other staff members to get these bids ready.

00:45:55,330	I failed to mention earlier for the ice swim and I bike camp to thank our staff for working with them. I know Comm mentioned that, but it’s great to hear that, uh, We’re doing the best we can to work with those groups, you know, later tonight, we’re going to approve the budget.

00:46:12,570	I don’t know that that’ll make any difference in salary adjustments or not, but, uh, But thank you. I, I mean that sincerely, of course, that these projects, these camps don’t happen without our facilities and our staff to be involved. So thanks to all of you. Our next item is consideration of the public comment policy update.

00:46:36,500	A Re Reference back to the Senate bill passed in the last legislature, Senate Bill 2180. I’m going to turn to our, uh, legal counsel, John Ward. Yeah, thank you, President Zimmerman. Commissioners.

00:46:58,430	Uh, so before you, you have my memorandum, you have a copy of Senate Bill 2180, and you also have a, uh, red line edit to our request to peer policy, the changes that are being made before you to our existing policy are Um, listed in the bullets there, so the topics are restricted to the agenda of the current scheduled meeting in one preceding meeting. Uh, that public comments shall be restricted to 5 minutes per topic.

00:47:19,200	The requesting party must provide his or her name and address and the individual’s address is an exempt record. Um, those are the changes that we’re making to our existing policy, we did adopt a policy nearly 20 years before the legislature implemented this, so I mean I I applaud you guys for for doing so and, and your predecessors as well.

00:47:38,270	I think it’s um It’s been important to this board that we’ve always provided an opportunity for public comment. Um, and then the only other changes that we’re changing the title of this from request to peer policy to match with the legislation, um, and calling it the public comment policy. I’d be happy to answer any questions.

00:47:59,200	Thank you, John, for that work and uh if there are commissioners have questions for John, I know he’s also worked with our executive director on this, uh, memoranda as well. But there’s a good time for discussion. Any questions, comments? Comm Herzog. Comm, oh thank you, President Zimmerman, um.

00:48:22,070	And thanks, John, I know there was a lot of discussion on this at the legislature and went back and forth quite a few times about, you know, should it, um, be limited to agenda items and who can speak and things like that, um.

00:48:39,200	I think I’ve I’ve mentioned to Kevin that I’m always open to having it as simple as possible for the public to comment, so any barriers that we can take out of the way would be, you know, beneficial. I know it, um, it says that they have to.

00:48:56,330	Request to be here in writing like 24 hours ahead of time or something like that if that was ever something this board wanted to look at and just allow it like the city does, I would be open to that. Um, I know we’re not necessarily changing it tonight, but, um, what the city does is you get up and you know obviously write your name and address down.

00:49:13,470	Um, you have a certain amount of time and it has to be on the agenda, um, excluding public hearings, so I just don’t know that people pay a lot of attention, they might miss a window or if they want to speak and hopefully they would be respectful when they do so, um, but those are just my comments. I’m glad to see that it passed and. Um, yeah, any opportunity we have to.

00:49:31,470	Have good public good public comment would be great. Other thoughts from commissioners? A presence of Comm Gilbertson. I mean, I, We just like to say thank you to the uh legislature for affirming. 20 years after the fact, our, our policy and um I mean, I’m having, having been here, um. You know, um I think prior with the old.

00:50:01,400	Policy and um and it, I can affirm that it was not always the case. Um, and we, you know, there, this our current policy is, is a direct, um, Result of Of, of that, um, you know, I, I do think that, um, public comment is, is what makes the civic

00:50:27,000	engagement, um, and I know we all of us do take a lot of public comment. It might not be here, um, at, at the podium in front of, um, in front of the camera, but, um, you know, it’s, um, I’m, I’m glad that we, that we do have ours, um, the way it

00:50:47,330	is, um, because, you know, there have also been instances. where, um, you know, I, I, I just don’t want to get into a situation where somebody comes.

00:51:10,830	And demands us to take action right now, which we can’t and we won’t because it, that’s not how that’s not how it works, but, um, but no, I, I mean, I’m, I’m glad that, um. Our council has affirmed also that, you know, we. We are, we are in good standing with that and, and, and to allow people to come. So, thank you.

00:51:35,970	Other comments, questions, I would add that perhaps all of us have read uh cities and other uh political subdivisions across the state have worked on addressing this issue. Um-hum. And it’s interesting how some are handling it to allow You know, that evening or that day of the meeting that someone can appear before the board.

00:51:55,800	We have that flexibility as I understand the presiding president of the board could allow someone to speak. I, my experience in many boards is You know, sometimes that there’s not a lot of value to that.

00:52:12,900	They’re expecting immediate action, and I think our board is correct and affirming our stand that we would certainly take comments, but we’re not going to debate the issue. We’re not going to necessarily make a, a motion that night or an action that night. So, uh, I appreciate John’s work on this, um, any other comments? If not, I would look for a motion. To say this now is our policy for the Bismarck Park District.

00:52:36,130	I move that we adopt the public comment policy update as provided. And I’ll second that. Motion by Comm Redmond, seconded by Comm Jeske. Any further discussion? If not, Julia, if you’ll call the roll please, Comm Gilbertson. Herzog, yes. Redman. Jessy, President Zimmerman. Our next item on the agenda, oh, let me back up again. Thanks, John for that work. Appreciate it.

00:53:03,470	Our next item on the agenda is the storm cleanup Re review and, uh, David Bayer, good evening, Dave. Good evening, President Zimmerman, Commissioners. Gonna pull up a little PowerPoint presentation. I came with pictures. Good. It must be bad then. Well, As they say, a picture is worth 1000 words.

00:53:29,730	So I’ll just let you look and I won’t have to talk. Uh, I’m just kidding. Uh, as you are all aware, we did have a significant storm, uh, June 20th, uh, executive Director Clip fell asked me to just provide For those who weren’t able to get out, um, some visuals and some official counts or unofficial counts of

00:53:52,070	the amount of damage we did receive as far as quantity of trees that we lost. So just a few, a few slides to run through here, um. I will say that. You know, we, we had damage. In a lot of our older parks, um.

00:54:09,130	At the end, I’ve got the counts in the park locations, but, uh, to the left is, that’s one of the trees we lost in. Custer Park, um, to the right is JC Park.

00:54:27,570	We did lose a few trees up at the BSE Aquatic Center, uh, on the left and on the right is one of the few trees that we lost in Eagle Park and as you can see for scale, that is a big cottonwood, um. Very large cottonwood. Uh, left is, uh, East Sibley Park. There were 5 of those giant cotton ones that fell across the trail. Um The one on the right, that is.

00:54:50,270	I, I’m gonna use the word gnarly, some gnarly damage to a tree, um, down at General Sibley Park. We had multiple trees were just twisted the tree like that. The wind just.

00:55:11,100	It it was amazing the amount of damage and the style of damage that happened, and there’s our total counts so all totaled, we lost 110 trees across the district. Um, surprisingly, Sir Toma Park was not one of them. Um, we have done, and we work with the, with the forestry uh department in the city of Bismarck very well, um, they were very responsive when they could be. Most of this work, um, our staff was able to address.

00:55:32,400	The damage, um, obviously there were some larger trees like. That we couldn’t take down or collect or pick up and then we relied on, uh, Forestry to do that.

00:55:51,700	Aside from this, there were Countless Um, broken limbs or, you know, hangers, hazardous hazardous things that we worked with forestry to to address. Uh, there are still a few of them that. Forestry has to Interpret whether or not we can salvage the other half of the tree, or if it should just be just for safety’s sake, we should take it down so we may see.

00:56:12,470	Lyon Park increased by one, random locations like that where, where we see an additional tree here and there. There are still branches that are hanging up in trees that are starting to flash brown because the, you know, you couldn’t see it right away because the leaves were green, but now we’ll we have a few spots where I’m starting to notice we have a few branches that are are starting to flash

00:56:26,430	that we’ll have to address some of our staff can get some will ask forestry to help us out with. That’s right. It, it did take Boy, almost a week for our staff to address, uh, we spent, we, we hit it hard and heavy on Monday, um.

00:56:47,070	Tuesday Staff, everybody, I think pretty much all of the operation staff that could be were down at General Sibley dealing with the trees there. It was. Considerable damage to General Sibley Park. Uh, as you can see by the count with 58 loss there, um.

00:57:00,670	But yeah, it was a it was a lot of work and a lot of man hours. I don’t have the count on man hours, um spoken with, uh, executive Director Cliffel about trying to figure out where we stand as far as how many hours we’re actually directed towards cleanup.

00:57:16,170	I can tell you it was just, we’ll just go through the word a lot right now. Questions for David, Comm Jeske. President Zimmerman Dave, I have to say you guys did a phenomenal job, so I got up that morning and I went for my run starting at 7:30 and we started at the Elks, and I was

00:57:33,300	amazed by the amount of trees that were down it as you went further south, um, it got worse, as you can see by the fact that General Sibley had 58, but um they were massive trees. They were absolutely massive.

00:57:50,730	I know you’ve got river Road trail on here. I tried to move one of the um. Yeah. Me and another 60 year old woman tried to move the, uh, tree. It wasn’t happening.

00:58:05,130	That was crossing the trail, but Riverwood Golf Course, um, was that included in this as well, cause I thought there was some damage in there when I golfed on Sunday. President Zimmerman and Commissioners, Comm Jeske, uh, I did check with, uh, Mike Waldman. He said there were no tree losses, there may have been some branches down in there, no losses. Because I know they closed the golf course until noon that day, I believe. Correct.

00:58:21,830	I think it was closed, yes. OK. Yeah. But phenomenal job, you guys. I really appreciate what you did and how you um how quickly you responded. I know it’s, it’s not easy work. Thank you.

00:58:39,500	Comm Redmand Zimmer Dave and crew, thank you so much because I’m sure the people that may have had a shelter reserved that next day for our child’s birthday party, we’re nervous about that, so I know that your staff did an amazing job.

00:58:55,270	So 58 Trees at Sibley, any damage to like any shelters or the playground equipment and those are big trees that are any of the campers or anything down there just President Zimmerman Commission Zimmerman and Comm, Comm, uh. Redman. Thankfully, there was not any damage to any buildings, uh, unfortunately there was an RV that was struck by a limb. Um Just happened to be in the wrong spot at the wrong time. Right.

00:59:16,270	Um, Other than that, that was, that was it, uh, fortunately enough, we didn’t lose any, didn’t lose the restrooms, the shower buildings, the playgrounds, they were all spared. Yes. No. Thank you. Good job.

00:59:40,100	David, question, uh, it’s just happened, but are we looking at replacement schedules? Is there, are you aware of, Say like America the Beautiful Grant, that would help us get up and replace some of these trees, President Zimmerman and Commissioners, uh, the ATB grant is perfect for something like this. In Sibley last year, we planted, uh, I want to say 110 trees, uh, this spring we planted 78 trees in Normandy Park, which wasn’t impacted because it’s a very young park, uh.

01:00:00,530	And we did plan uh apply for an ATP grant as you, I think we awarded that or had that discussion last board meeting, uh, we have planned for a project in, uh, Sertoma Park.

01:00:19,600	So those we’re we’re already uh accounted for in ATB for next spring, uh, but definitely, um, we have been adding trees to generals civility because we know back in the 2011 flood, we lost 1500 trees down there, so we’re still trying to catch up with that. Thank you. Any other questions for David? Thank you, David. Appreciate it. Thank you. I have some more storms yet this year. Yeah.

01:00:40,930	All right, um, Our next item is perhaps the Majo a major item on tonight’s agenda is the introduction of the 2026 operating budget and Kathy is here to present. Good evening, Kathy. Good evening, President Zimmerman and Commissioners.

01:01:29,530	The 2026 budget information your Agenda packet is a summary of the information that was the more detailed information that was included in the proposed work plan and budget workbooks that were discussed during the budget meetings. The information on my slides as a summary of the information that’s in your agenda packet. So these slides were not specifically included in your agenda packets. And we’ll start by looking at the budget overall for the 2026 preliminary budget.

01:01:50,930	All funds combined were proposing $28,217,650 that would be an increase of 3.5% for all funds combined over the prior year. The general fund budget is proposed at $22,396,900. That’s a change of just over a million dollars or 4.8% over the prior year.

01:02:17,170	When we take a look at closer at the general fund expenses, the full time and part-time salaries and wages combined to be 41% of the overall general fund budget, supplies and operations are 12%, utilities at 10% capital expenses at 15%. Insurance at 12%, and then contract services at 9 and other coming in at 1%.

01:02:43,230	On the revenue side, taxes make up 40% of the general fund budget. State replacement, which includes the primary residence credit is 20% of overall general fund revenue and generated revenue comes in at 40% of the overall general fund budget. All funds combined taxes account for 46% of the funding state replacement is 19% and generated revenue is 35%.

01:03:09,930	When looking at the value of the mill, the estimated value of the mill for this, um, taxing year would be an increase of $24,467 or an increase of 4.66% over the prior year. Based on the 2024 levies for the current year, the Park District levied 32.

01:03:37,870	684 mLs of the just over 257 mills in local property taxes no levy that were levied for the current budget year, 12.7% of that is the Park District’s levy, that means that for every $1 of local property taxes that is assessed the Park District gets 12.7 cents. of each of those dollars. The 2026 budget is built on an estimated mill levy of 32.24 mLs, that would be a decrease of about 0.

01:04:01,730	44 mLs over the prior year. When we look at the impact to a property owner, a property owner owning a home valued at $365,000 once you go through all the math and based on the difference of the estimated decrease in the number of mills that property owner would pay about $7 less than property

01:04:25,870	taxes for the year. That would um hold true if their evaluation did not change. So their evaluation did increase, they’d pay a little bit more, and if they’re um evaluation happen to decrease, they would pay less and in Park Distric. Property taxes.

01:04:42,930	There’s a few additional items to note that are included in the budget. We have included a 3% merit increase for all full-time employees, 1% of full-time salaries is equivalent to about $47,200. There’s also money set aside for market adjustments for full-time employees, that’s at a 0.5%.

01:05:06,470	We have included a request for one new full-time employee, that employee would be at the golf courses, and that would bring our full-time employees to 70 for 2026. We have also included proposed changes to the seasonal and part-time pay plan. Those include changes to the part-time hourly 12, and 3 categories, as well as the full-time seasonal 4 and 5.

01:05:28,730	We also have increases proposed for the junior golf instructors and some of the recreation class instructors, and then we are requesting to remove the bus drivers from the pay schedule. On the fees and charges side, we did include in your agenda packet a detail of those proposed changes, those charges were reviewed in greater detail when we had our budget meetings and then just a reminder that the youth volleyball fees are requested

01:05:51,370	to be effective when the season starts this fall when registration opens for that, for those programs. Then we have finally the long term liabilities, the Park District is scheduled to pay down just under $3.6 million in principle in 2026. That concludes my overview of the 2026 preliminary budget.

01:06:17,330	Are there any questions for me? Commissioner’s questions on budget, Comm Herzog, thanks, Kathy and and Kevin and everybody, um. A different year to do budget, um, with the state changing some stuff. If people are looking through it, I’m just gonna point out the things that kind of.

01:06:33,430	Might look different, but the state aid replacement versus the tax levy, and when you look at it, it looks a lot different year to year because they’re just kind of, Going from one bucket to the other a little bit, um, so folks look through that and then you had mentioned our um, our health insurance, um, premiums and, and maybe some

01:06:50,070	good news there that was nice to hear as well that it’s not. Increasing exponentially, um, for the current correct President Zimmerman, Comm, Comm Herzog for the 2026, um, annual year, we are expecting that there will be no increase in the health insurance premium premiums for the health plan that is offered, um, to full-time employees.

01:07:11,900	Thanks so much for, uh, again, different year or different way to, to calculate things. I’m sure you guys had extra working hours and so I appreciate that if people have questions you want them to reach out to Kevin or Kathy, or how would you, if the public has questions about it, how would you like them to do

01:07:27,800	that? President Zimmerman Commissioners, uh, Comm Herzog, they are able to, um, if they’d like to, they can call the main office and they can um talk to um ask for executive Dr Klipfel or myself. They can also send an email to our biz Parks at bizarks.

01:07:47,670	org account, um, that would probably be the the best way to, um, communicate and then we can get a response to any questions that there might be. Thank you so much, Kathy. Appreciate it. Other questions from commissioners. Cathy, I just a couple of questions or comments again. Thank you for doing the budget. I am perhaps challenged to understand all of those, uh, nuances of a budget.

01:08:10,030	In generalities, what’s the trend of our Budget Window or category from taxes as compared to fees and other charges. Are we? Staying about that, are we expecting more from taxes and relying less on fees or are we trying to. Equalize that or not.

01:08:36,670	President Zimmerman and Commissioners, um, generally in the past practice the um generated revenue compared to the um to the property taxes has been the property taxes has essentially been about 50% of our budget.

01:08:57,400	Um, it is a little bit less than this year as Comm Herzog pointed out that there’s a reallocation between the um the taxes line item and the, um, state replacement, but in general we’re, we’re, we’re, um. We are estimating that the um fees and charges are increasing slightly, so it might be like a, a percentage or so difference, but we, we aim for that 50%, um. Reimbursement from the property taxes side. Thank you.

01:09:16,230	I, I also wanted to mention I like, I’m appreciative of two items that were reducing our mill levy, albeit it’s 0044, but it’s better than an increase, and we’re still able, I think, to have a very good budget that we can address our issues. I am also pleased that we can. Pay off a 3.

01:09:40,770	6 million in debt to the district I hear often people say, well, the Park District has way too much debt. But uh we, we know, we tried to serve the community, and here we are paying off 3.6 million. So my thanks to all the staff on their input on the budget.

01:10:02,100	Um, I know we have several motions to make in that consideration this evening. Can you guide us through that, Cathy? I don’t, I didn’t have that. That’s another question. OK, I’m sorry. I’m, yes, go ahead, Comm Redman. Thank you. Um, again, I just want to, um, echo just incredible work. It, it almost starts with the, well, it really does start with the strategic planning process of.

01:10:22,830	Gathering our wishes and dreams and what kind of district do we see ourselves being, uh, and working together. And then you have to get to the realistic part of but how much, how, how much resources, how many resources do we have? Um, I love it that there, there’s revenue growth projected in, in

01:10:37,270	those three buckets in the property tax, even given our new restrictions, um, in the state aid and certainly in, in the generated revenue. I saw all the work that was done in tweaking little things here, 50 cents and $1 and things like that, and I like it that we do those gradually.

01:10:51,330	It’s not big leaps and bounds. And so we don’t want to put any excess pressure on people to have access to our facilities and programs because we want affordability and accessibility for, for all. So I, I love the thought that went into that. And I also love that it’s always a balanced budget.

01:11:06,630	That’s a $28 million balanced budget. So that’s it. The, the, the revenue side, but the expense side, I’d, I’d like us to take a look at that, that, um, that 3% merit increase.

01:11:22,300	I think, I think we can do better looking at what other park districts had done looking at what other political subdivisions have done, um, here in Bismarck and Burley County. I, I think we can do a little bit better when we look at another 1%, um, it’s $47,200. I think in a $28 million budget. I, I think it’s doable to adjust that to find, um, a little bit more revenue in in other areas and so I would.

01:11:40,070	Like us, and I’d like to some other discussion on that to consider another 1% for that merit increase for 2026. Um, So I think that that would be something that I would like to see us discuss as possibility before we get into any motions for accepting and things like that for 2026.

01:12:01,670	Comm Jeske Zimmerman, thank you. I agree, Paula, um, you know, I think we got to look at that merit, but I would like. Executive director Cliffel or Kathy to give us maybe a recap, because last year we actually took a really hard look at everyone’s pay scale, did we not? And then also did merit plus market

01:12:22,070	adjustments, so just kind of like a recap on what we did last year, if that’s possible. President Zimmerman and Commissioners, Comm Jeske, so, uh, last year, well, I’ll even back up a little bit.

01:12:43,270	We did, uh, we, uh, contracted with Condre and Associates to do the salary study and so that that led us, um, we got that completed and that led us through our budgeting for 2025, um. I don’t have it in front of me, but I think that the increase was about 6.

01:13:04,170	6% in salaries, and that was based on a compilation of things, um, the, the, uh, condry and associates looked at the, looked at the jobs, did it, did the analysis of all the positions, and then looked at uh where we were market-wise and tried to get a baseline for all the positions, and then there was, it wasn’t a merit or a cost, uh, cost of living, but they, they looked at the experience.

01:13:21,800	And so that’s how there is some some additional escalators in there. So people based on their experience, got a little bit uh a bit bigger increase as part of that process.

01:13:38,300	Um, I will say that, you know, over the years, um, the last salary study we did was about 1010 or 11 years before that and uh Kare Associates was very happy with, we, we didn’t have a huge jumps to make to get back to the market. And so that, that’s a credit to the board and the staff for over years to just trying to keep up with the process as we went through that. So.

01:13:51,230	Um, I think that’s, that’s, that’s just a credit to us that we’ve had a, have had some consistent growth. And I understand. I mean, the cost of living is expensive and shrinkflation is making a big impact on people, um, so.

01:14:11,500	Yeah, I guess I’d I’d, I’d want a little bit more information before we look at 4% as opposed to 3 just based on what we did last year, but I’m not saying that the staff doesn’t deserve it. Um, I’m just thinking I I always like the balanced budget and if we pay an additional 47, where do we pull it from? Comm Herzog.

01:14:33,900	Thanks, President Zimmerman, is it uh maybe a Cathy or John or someone if After we approved the preliminary budget, we can’t add to it, but we can take away from it. Is that? Correct? President Zimmerman and Commissioners Comm Herzog, so what that is referring to when you hear you can’t, you can’t increase it, but you can decrease it is your property tax levy, so you’re, so the budget resolution that is in

01:14:53,170	the agenda packet to be approved, that would be set at the maximum would be those levels. There might be some adjustments depending upon where the final calculations of that 3% legislative cap comes in, but there would be no option to increase that.

01:15:08,170	You can always decrease it, but you can’t increase it, and you can realloc. ate within your budget if you need to. OK, thank you. That’s what I’m trying to figure out, uh, for Comm Redman if we We did want to add it. And we could, you know, look at it and have time.

01:15:20,930	I just wanna make sure if that’s something you want to add for more discussion later. We could add it later, we wouldn’t have to add it necessarily right now in my understanding that. OK, thank you. Other comments? OK. I agree. I think there’s uh some room there for some discussions, but I think we could.

01:15:47,570	Moved to adopt the budget here and, uh, perhaps we’ll get some input from the community as well. I think that’ll give us the opportunity then to come back then for, uh, You know, the final budget, um, so thanks to Comm Jeske has provided me those motions that need to be made this evening.

01:16:07,270	Thank you, Kathy. No further questions for Kathy. We have 3 motions to make the first motion is to approve the introduction of the 2026 operating budget as presented. So 22nd. Comm Gilbertson, seconded by Comm Jeske. Any further discussion? If not, uh, Julie, you’ll call the roll. Comm Gilbertson. Herzog, yes, Redman.

01:16:36,270	Jessky, President Zimmerman. The second motion is to approve the 2026 budget resolution. Second. Motion by Comm Redmond, seconded by Comm Gilbertson. Any further questions? Now Julie, if you’ll call the roll, please. Comm Gilbertson. Herzog, yes, Redman. Jessky, President Zimmerman, I. The last motion is to approve the preliminary budget statement for 2026 and set the public hearing.

01:17:12,400	At the board meeting of September 11, 2025 at 5:15 p.m. Emotion, so I moved. Second. Motion by Comm Gilbertson, seconded by Comm Jeske. Any further discussion? If not, please call the roll, Julie. Comm Gilbertson. Herzog, yes, Redman. Jesske, President Zimmerman, I.

01:17:42,330	Again, uh, I would mention to the folks watching this evening, if you have comments, concerns, questions on the budget as Kathy would mention, you can certainly call the district office a visit with either executive Director Klipfel or Cathy or go online, the budget is uh posted there. We certainly look for input from the community.

01:18:04,470	Comm Jeske, President Zimmerman, just one thing based on the conversation that we had prior to approving these motions, would it be in our best interest if Kevin or Kathy would put together, uh, compilation of the salaries over the past couple of years and then also if we could also look at that Cory report, um, just so that we can make an educated decision on what we

01:18:23,000	should do with salaries. Comm, OK, I would, I, I agree with you I was going to ask for a motion. I’ll make that motion. 22nd, motion by Comm Jeske, seconded by Comm Redman. Any further discussion? Uh, Julie, are you on, Kate, sorry. Oh, Comm Herzog.

01:18:46,270	President Zimmerman, could we also, um, and this doesn’t have to be in the motion, but as we met, as you know, in our budget groups could we. Do that again after we get that information so we can um ask any questions of Kathy and, um, executive director clipful, kind of like we did when we went through the budget. OK. OK. Thank you.

01:19:03,930	Julie, do you have that motion, correct there, just make sure we’re squared? I do. All right. Uh no further discussion. Joe, if you’ll call the roll. Comm Gilbertson. Hi. Herzog? Yes. Redman Jesky, President Zimmerman. Good discussion and we look forward again.

01:19:27,470	I hope folks in the community will ask the questions we need to have folks as input on what you want for the budget for the, for the park district. The next item on the agenda is the uh consent agenda.

01:19:43,430	We have a number of items there and of course any item can be, uh, removed from the. Consent to gender if so wished and talk of them individually, please allow me to go through those. We have the consent agenda includes consideration of the June 19, 2025 board minute meetings. Request board authorization to apply for destination development grants, 2 grants. For the Paul Wachter aquatic complex and municipal ballpark. Consideration of agreements.

01:20:14,000	There’s a number of them listed. They are for two years for the Bismarck hockey boosters, Ice Arena, Bismarck figure skating Club for ice arenas, Capital Curling Club for ice Arenas, Bismarck Public Schools for ice arenas, Bismarck Sports Group, that’s the Bobcats for Ice Arenas, Bismarck Sports Group, again, the Bobcats for

01:20:39,030	advertising. And the Bismarck Public Schools for BSC aquatic and Wellness Center. Next item on a consent agenda is consideration of a real estate purchase agreement for a lot 2 block 1 of the Hay Creek edition, and the last item on the consent agenda is request authorization to participate in a cooperative purchasing program.

01:21:06,270	Any commissioner’s wish for their discussion or removal of any of those items. Sorry, I will move to approve the consent agenda as presented. Motion by Comm Jeske, 2nd by Comm Redman. Any further discussion? If not, Julie, if you’ll call the roll, please, Comm Gilbertson. Herzog, yes, Redman. Jessy President Zimmerman.

01:21:41,400	Before we Adjourn this evening, I want to, uh, uh, make note of this, uh, this month is Parks a month. And we have a full agenda of activities, and I thought it’d be a good time to just mention this weekend, uh, activities include, uh, A tennis challenge at uh at the Sertoma Tennis Complex. There is a free movie out at McDowell Dam.

01:22:05,430	So hopefully folks, if you’re looking for something to do this weekend, on Saturday, just a reminder, um, maybe rent one of the bicycles at the, uh, at the uh cycle program, all the stops around town at the Aquatic Center, Cottonwood Park, Peace Park and Cer Toma Park can, uh, you can all rent a

01:22:24,170	bike and uh get out and around the trail. So there’s a full schedule of events for the month of July, and I would encourage folks to go online, take a look at all the events at the staff in the district is put together and, and enjoy our

01:22:38,000	parks. If not, I, well, the next item is the approval of the bills. So moved. Motion by Comm Gilbertson, seconded by Comm Jeske for approval of the bills. Julie, if you’ll call the roll. Comm Gilbertson. Hi.

01:23:03,700	Herzog, yes, Redmond, Jessky, President Zimmerman, President Zimmerman, if I, could I give a kudos? I saw you grabbed that gavel real fast, um. I asked, I had asked Kevin some some time ago if we could get all of our bids in one spot on our website and like and we have it all on one spot right now, which is awesome, I think people ask me about where do I find the

01:23:16,570	information? and so I just want to thank everybody, um, and admin for getting that up, but now it’s kind of a one stop shop, which is great for people who are out looking for bids and wanna give us all those bids that are under budget and

01:23:29,330	on time now you know where to find them, so I, I appreciate that thank you guys so much. Thank you, Comm Herzo. Any other comments? I don’t want to cut short if anybody has any. Commons to. If not, the next regular scheduled board meeting is August 21st, 2025 at 5:15 in the fabulous Tom Baker meeting