00:00:12,170	May 27th, we’re about 5:15. We’re in the Tom Baker room of the City County Building. This will be the board of City Comm regular meeting, but first, uh, we’ll have Pastor Huhn Felder. Huenfeld, please come forward and give us indication and lead us on the pledge of allegiance. first Uh, prayer is probably fine.

00:00:47,400	Let spray Heavenly Father, I come to you this afternoon asking for your help. And coming together to transact the important business of this city, I pray. For our mayor and his staff. For each Comm. To our police chief and each member of the Bismarckli force for members of the sheriff’s department and corrections officers and staff.

00:01:12,530	Of our fire chief and all the personnel who are members of the fire department. For the various and often unseen city workers who work so tirelessly and for the medical staff in our hospitals, care centers, and health clinics. As well as ambulance personnel and first responders. As we gathered this afternoon, I pray for wisdom and handling difficult challenges.

00:01:38,700	ready for protection from physical danger, for mental well-being, and facing, Overwhelming challenges that were unknown a few years ago. Financial assistance and blessings from your hand due to loss of jobs and income. And for peace of heart and mind and the loss of loved ones, family members. And friends During times of stress.

00:02:05,400	Heavenly Father, remind us of our own weaknesses, but the promise of your help. If we only will call upon you. We will choose to live in calm assurance because you are the giver of every good gift. We thank you for your love and care and provisions shown in your son. Jesus Christ. We ask all these things in your name. Amen.

00:02:36,300	OK I pledge allegiance to the flag. Of the United States of America. To the Republic for which it stands. One Under God Indivisible for the liberty and justice. We’ll call me in order if we can call roll. Comm Risch Comm Comm Risch Comm, Comm Zenker. Comm Connelly, Comm Clery here, Mayor Schmidtz here.

00:03:12,130	At this point in time we have public comment. Public Common is for the items that are on the consent agenda or regular agenda item. That are not a public hearing, so anyone who wished to speak, please come forward, state your name and tell us which agenda item you’re speaking to. Mayor Schmitts and commissioners.

00:03:46,800	My name is Trentongan, and I wish to speak during the public comment on regular ad agenda item J. Consider the request from Comm Connelly to have a discussion about the extraterritorial area ETA. I do live in the ETA. And I did not ask Comm Connelly to put this on the agenda.

00:04:09,200	If anybody was curious, the ETA is an area that includes a few 1000 rural residents in 2008 thousands of acres of rural property. I support Comm Connelly’s proposal and ask you to support a special public input meeting with the city commission and County commission to discuss the ETA.

00:04:33,800	This meeting would allow the public to have a voice on the current ETA and hopefully lead to healthy discussion about the ETA between the city, county, and the residents of the ETA. I will stand for any questions. Thank you. Sorry, one second.

00:04:58,270	I’m sorry Trent, do you have any specific concerns that you’re hoping to see addressed? Yes, um, there’s numerous, I’ve, I’ve lived in the, well, I’ve lived out in the rural area my whole life in the ETA came to me, um, so there’s a lot of concerns that I have. I won’t get into a whole laundry list, I’ll, I’ll use one example, Misty Waters, OK? Misty waters should be a premier subdivision in Burlee County. It’s in an upheaval right now for what’s going on there, OK? Um.

00:05:25,130	And to rectify the situation, the county residents don’t have input. It does go to planning and zoning, planning and zoning has representation from the ETA, but it can be appealed, then it goes to the city commission where the rural residents have zero voice. They don’t have a vote. Or anything like that.

00:05:50,170	That, that is a a prime example of where the city has control. But the rural residents that are affected have no voice, no vote in the matter. You’re welcome. Any other questions? Thank you for your consideration. This is public comment. Anyone who wished to speak, please come forward. Good evening. My name is Susan Dingle. I am a public transportation advocate.

00:06:35,130	I have been attending. Transportation committee meetings. And I regularly attend board. You have, it’s not coming through. Sorry. And we probably do. How’s this? Is this better? OK, I regularly attend the transportation committee, the Bism on trans board meetings, MPO tech meetings, city commission.

00:07:12,930	And others transportation is a big concern of mine as a lifelong pedestrian. And also bus user. I am hoping that tonight you will vote to give money from. The City tax revenues and sales tax revenues. To bizman transit to pay off. This year’s annual shortfall of money, which is somewhat misleadingly also called the deficit.

00:07:50,270	This is an ongoing gap in support after federal state and local property tax monies are exhausted but still more money is needed and the reason this sales tax initiative was passed was to fill the gap it needs to be filled without further. Messing around Thank you. Hello, my name is Trevor Burnett. I’m here on the transit issue as well.

00:08:22,870	I, I’m in support of the expansion of the hours and we’ve put a lot of time and effort on the steering committee. I would ask you to consider, Expedi in the process, So gets through, tell the board to start a special meetings because I haven’t heard of one opposition to expanding ours, we need this for a better community and it’s time to let

00:08:49,630	our community have what they voted for. Thank you. That Again, this is public comment. Anyone who wish to speak, please come forward. Good evening, Mayor Commission, um, tonight. I’m here to speak on the regular agenda, I G, um, the discussion.

00:09:37,070	Surrounding the ETA, um, first of all, I want to say I appreciate Comm Connelly bringing this up because Travis Jensen, uh, I’m an ETA resident. Um, live up by Misty Waters, um, been a resident up there for about 14 years. Um, this is nothing new. The commissions before you.

00:09:58,970	have failed to hear the people out, um, so I I appreciate Comm Connelly bringing this up and even Entertaining the idea of hearing people out, um, we are part of the Bismarck community. Whether we pay taxes, whether, you know, we can or cannot elect two people. We are part of Bismarck. Many of us work in Bismarck. Our kids attend school in Bismarck. We have just chosen to live. On the rural outskirts of Bismarck.

00:10:19,730	Um, my biggest problem with the ETA is. We are never hurt. You know, I, I’m reading your guys’ mission here to provide high quality public services in partnership. With our community to enhance our quality of life.

00:10:39,300	Many of us in the ETA, I, I think would probably say we have a little different quality of life. But we fall into your guys’s rule. And like I said, even prior to this commission. Prior to many of you. The issue has not been heard. Um, so I agree with Trent, I, I think that between the county, the city, and the residents that this affects. It’s time we sit down and have a discussion.

00:11:01,970	To see if we can find some sort of compromise, um, because it’s, it’s, it’s been a long ongoing issue, and I feel the ETA. Why it was developed is no longer being used. For why it came about. Um, I, I’m assuming many of you know why the ETA came about.

00:11:22,800	You’re familiar with that process what brought it about. Um, I live in an area that I don’t feel that the city will ever. Annex in Yet I still have to follow your ordinances. I still have to follow your rulings, but yet I don’t have a say. On who’s elected to this board. Or this commission So I, I would support the conversation.

00:11:45,270	being had and Comm Connelly, I, I appreciate you hearing the people. Who have had this concern for quite a while. Thank you. Uh, Josie Millbrat, I fully support a joint public hearing between the, uh, Bismarck City Commission in the Burley County Commission. Um My reasoning is representation.

00:12:28,670	I think I’m not going to echo it too much more than what they’ve already said, but if you can’t elect the people that regulate you, that’s, that’s unconstitutional, to be frank with you, so I fully support that meeting, so. Any questions? Go ahead, Comm Risch. Mr.

00:12:51,570	Mayor, do you have some particular issues that you’ve had problems with, with the planning and zoning or things like that? It really doesn’t matter if I’ve had any issues at all. I don’t get to elect any of you. But yet you regulate what people in the ETA do. I know we get 2 people on the planning and zoning commission, but they’re appointed by you, correct? Uh, no. No. They’re not? OK.

00:13:06,330	So, you get two people on the zoning commission. But the decisions for the most part are made here. This is where the buck stops, so that needs to change. I fully support that public hearing, so. appreciate your consideration. Comm Connelly. Josie, when you say representation, um, you’re the chair of a district, right? I am, yeah.

00:13:27,200	I’m the Chair of the District Republican Party, so a lot of the ETAs and encompassed in the district A Republican Party, so, so I can pretty important to it is 100%. OK. Thank you. Mayor Commissioners, Amanda Yellow with the Bismarck Event Center. I wanted to come up here and just say a few words about agenda. Item F.

00:14:13,170	They considered the request to receive the Bismarck Event Center operating models report from Dan Fenton with Jones Ling and LaSalle. I just have some comments that, um, I put together just something that I think we wanted to just have a voice at the table.

00:14:31,670	Um, there’s been obviously a couple of meetings leading up to this point where we haven’t had, uh, myself or any of our staff come up here and say anything, so just, um, some thoughts to share for your consideration for your decisions you’re making tonight.

00:14:46,700	I stand before you not just as a proud member of this community, but as someone who has worked at the event center almost 12 years, and I want to be a voice for the event center. I believe deeply in the power of local ownership and the value of keeping our events and rooted in the hands of those who know it, love it, and live here.

00:15:02,730	Our event center is more than just a building, it’s where families have celebrated milestones where small businesses have launched big dreams or local businesses have worked hard to grow their event. And expand over the years. It’s where our local dance companies have seen thousands of dancers grace the stage at the Balmayhes.

00:15:22,070	It’s where we’ve had some events in our building since we first opened in 1969 and others that just made their initial call to get booking details and look forward to being in the building for the first time.

00:15:38,030	The Event Center is a cornerstone of Bismarck’s identity for over 50 years and the bell may use for over 111 years, and they deserved to be stewarded by those who understand its heartbeat, and that’s us. The building was originally called the Bismarck Civic Center. It pains me to say that being the marketing person, but I still can stomach saying those words. But it’s a place where the community can utilize the space as its home to help foster their ideas and build their dreams.

00:15:55,030	We have since changed our names so we can be more accurate accurately described when we are contending for conferences, conventions, etc. Now there’s the talk of bringing in a third party management company. On paper, it might sound efficient, but the truth is, when we hand over control to an outside entity, we lose more than just decision-making power.

00:16:15,870	We risk losing our character, our culture and our community-driven focus. A third party management company won’t local or won’t know our local artists, our small business vendors, or this local citizen that needs the location to host their annual fundraiser.

00:16:37,400	They won’t prioritize some of our long standing events over higher paying out of town bookings, though prioritize profit margins over personal connections. We’re in exciting times at the event center, and we have a large seating renovation about ready to kick off in less than one month. We we’ll be adding an additional seats to the arena along with a better sound system.

00:16:51,700	And a better riser system that helps us to save on staff set up and tear down. We also started renovations at the Bell where we’re installing new carpet and replacing the railing system. And also in the last two months, we’ve had 7 ticketed announcements covering all types of genres and demographics, and we’ve had 3 additional announcements that are coming up in the next few weeks, and these are all events

00:17:08,730	that are taking place in the fall and summer of 2025. There are a combination of ball and arena events that will definitely be economic impact drivers to our community and our staff has been working on some of these events for months for them to come to fruition.

00:17:25,430	As far as support currently for the event center, we work with venue Coalition and Arena Network to provide us with the wide range of management support services that help to empower independent venues. We work with this company to help provide us with operational best practices, national booking representation and advocacy.

00:17:47,130	Access to a network of other arenas, stadiums, theaters, and convention centers to hear of industry trends and attend weekly calls with other venues to hear of event group buying opportunities. This company has helped us with making introductions and strategic partnerships with promoters and content providers. There are also additional sup supplemental support services that can be supported by this company for additional costs.

00:18:08,530	If a third-party management company is chosen as the path forward, we will no longer be able to work with this company. Because they do not work with venues that are owned by third-party management companies. So third party management really the answer to the question that was posted back in November when we started this whole process.

00:18:23,500	I’m not here to say that third party management isn’t a good solution for some venues because it is. But I just don’t feel it is the right answer here right now. We’re all looking for different ways to operate the event center and the pros and cons of each option.

00:18:38,400	There were additional options that were presented from JLL after the meeting, and I feel there’s a good hybrid option being presented from those ideas. The idea of the city commission nominating individuals to be on a Bismarck Event Center Authority board would give another connection from the event center to the community to take part and being more connected with the

00:18:53,430	public on events coming to the event center, potential events coming to the event center and giving input on what else makes sense for our community. Under this model, the city retains control, and there is no governance model introduced that allows for local ownership.

00:19:13,730	Local ownership ensures that every decision, every event, every renovation, every dollar spent is guided by people who have a stake in our success. People who walk these streets, who cheered our parades, who care about what happens here tomorrow because they’ll still be here tomorrow. And let’s not forget the economic ripple effect. Keeping management local means jobs stay here, revenue stays here, and more importantly, control stays here.

00:19:31,730	Local ownership allows us to reinvest in our own people, our own businesses, and our own future. The question that keeps coming to mind is, what can our staff not deliver on that a third party management could offer you.

00:19:49,430	You need to give our employees a chance to take the items identified from JLL and run with it. The groundwork has been delay has been laid the to do list has been formed. Now let us move forward with the additional tools in our tool kit. We’ve already proven that we can move forward in a time of uncertainty and try to handle business as usual.

00:20:03,800	So let’s not continue this for another 9 to 12 months with putting together an RFP and waiting for RFPs to come back, potentially hiring third party when maybe an economic impact study or something might be better suited for this time.

00:20:20,630	Let’s start the course of hiring a new director, put the authority board in place and let the people you have in place at the event center deliver for you on the items from the report. When we are fully staffed, we are 25 full-time employees combining for a total of over 100 years of service and around 100+ part-time employees. Let’s not lose this tenure in our building.

00:20:38,630	As the Bismarck citizen noted in her comments in the city commission in April 2024, attending to staff morale and setting the course forward is a largely unaddressed issue so far, but it is neither trivial nor disposable. I would have to say this is something that I feel is still not being considered as it should.

00:20:57,170	Let’s not forget that we have been working through these uncertain times since September of 2023. Let’s not continue this roller coaster uncertainty, and I’m that’s not prolong this process even longer. We’re not just preserving a venue, we’re preserving our voice, our values and our vision for what the event center can continue to be a space that reflects us, serves us, and grows with us.

00:21:16,430	We all agree that operations cannot stay the same because we are not fully staffed, and we need to be able to hire some key positions again. We know that better than anyone else, because when you work in the event industry, you must constantly be adapting to change and making pivots all day long, every single day.

00:21:32,930	Let’s not outsource our identity. Let’s keep our events in our local hands where it belongs. Reform is responsibility. As a risk you’re potentially willing to make worth the reward. We at the event center do not fear failure as we are moving forward, but we are terrified of regret.

00:21:48,530	Giving up on what you have is the birth of regret. Thanks for your time. Anything Commissioners? Thank you, Amanda. This is public comment. Anyone wish to speak, please come forward. I appreciate uh you guys, uh, Mayor Schmittz and commission for Laing the public hearing. This is also in relation to item F. On the agenda with the civic center.

00:22:33,800	And my recommendation. Get rid of this liability. Get it off the city books. Take the risk, turn it over to a third party to increase the flow. Events And reduce the liability of the city. And let’s get the doors swinging. We all know, can you state your name I don’t think I’m sorry.

00:23:02,230	You know, live out in northeast Burleigh County. We all know that any business If the doors aren’t swinging. There’s no money coming in. There’s not even a chance for money to come in. How long have we been arguing? How many meetings, I ask myself, how many meetings have I watched continuous discussion.

00:23:27,270	And I appreciate the gal that came up, the representative for the event center to voice their concern. And I respect her fully on the comments that she read. But this event center, we need to do something different. What we’ve been doing. Unfortunately hasn’t been working. Why? I hear a continuous discussion. We can’t come up with a solution that we feel. is reasonable.

00:23:54,930	And makes sense. So Maybe the risk is trying something different and getting a third party that’s involved with Fargo, Grand Forks, Jamestown, so we can get into that loop. And maybe get some of those concerts. Have them come through if we can book them right, get them on a Friday night or maybe an early Saturday, whatever.

00:24:24,400	Or try and get somebody that’s en route to the casinos. I mean, how are they holding all these venues, and they have a much smaller facility than we do right here in the city of Bismarck. I don’t know how they’re doing it. But I think we can do it. But the way the city’s been working with it, hasn’t been working.

00:24:45,130	That’s all I have. Thank you. Any questions? Thank you, sir. Again, this is public comment and anyone who wished to speak, please come forward. Good evening. Uh, my name is Cody Eigo. I’m an ETA resident for the past 11 or so years, um.

00:25:29,130	And the ETA has been something that the last 3 administrations or whatever you guys want to call yourselves, uh, mayors. I’ve talked to all of them. They’ve all said it’s been something that’s on their radar, they want to address it, and yet nothing has happened of it, um, I guess I’m in full support of having a meeting.

00:25:48,230	And hopefully getting down to Something that’ll open up some lanes of communication between the county, the city, um, I live in Southwest Bismarck. I’d have to say that my neighborhood pretty filled out. I don’t foresee any more development happening down there, um, so as far as jumping through all the flaming hoops to do anything with my property that the city wants me to do.

00:26:11,770	I just, I think it’s a little excessive, um, I’d like to see some of that go back to county control, um, I’ve got, you know, horses on both sides of me. I’ve got barns, I’ve got everything down there. It’s not like I’m living in the cathedral district or In the middle of town, um.

00:26:31,570	I guess that’s all I got to say is I’d like to see it open up and. Hopefully have some More open communication. Some support from the county and not just answering to a planning and zoning and city commission that we have no. Recourse to go after for.

00:26:53,070	A big old rubber stamp, no on anything we want to do with our property, so. With that, that’s all I’ve got. Any questions? Thank you, sir. Thank you. This is public comment. Anyone who wish to speak? Mhm My name is Parker Kilde. I’m a Bismarck ETA resident, and I am in full support of Hearing the item for re reassessing how the. Um, ETA.

00:27:38,130	Is represented. OK Thank you. Public comment is open still. Anyone who wishes to speak, please come forward. Yeah, Mayor and commissioners, first off, I want to thank Mike for bringing us to the, to the table here and. We can get the ball rolling with the, uh, county and the city and the residents.

00:28:27,970	I live in Roberry County and one can you, can you state your name for Mar Abraham. Thank you, sir. Sorry.. 1.1 point in time I was in the ETA of the city, but then it got pulled back and at some point in time, I’ll be back in and I’m sure I’m on 93rd Street, East and South Lincoln.

00:28:47,000	But, uh I fully support, you know, a joint meeting with the residents, the county, and the city. And the other thing that I’m, I wanna I’m concerned about is this mic system in this building. Really sucks. I’ve been coming to the county commission meetings for a long time. One time I got told to turn up my hearing aid.

00:29:07,970	Because I complained because I can’t hear it. Now this gentleman turns up the volume. I don’t know, is that volume control, all these mics. OK, well, maybe it’s been a secret and nobody’s known about it because the county Comm has never known about it and I’m not the only one.

00:29:22,870	There have been several people sit back there and, hey, speak up, we can’t hear you. Our state’s attorney sits over here and she’s about this far from her mic. And she pulls it this far, but we still can’t hear her because she’s stopped smoking. So, I don’t know who’s in charge of this mic system.

00:29:39,930	If, if there’s a better way of doing it so we can hear, we, we come to support you guys at these meetings, but we’re wasting our time if we can’t hear what’s going on? Well, we’ll try to, we try to make sure people can be heard. Well, and the same with you.

00:29:53,130	I’ve sat back there in the back and I can barely hear you sometimes too, so you guys need to get closer to your mics then. Maybe we need collar mics or something. I don’t know, but, uh, I’ve complained about that for years and it ain’t working. Thank you. for you. public comment is open still.

00:30:33,200	Oh Secret Comm Mayor, I appreciate the opportunity to Speak a little bit on behalf of Jay. Um, in regards to the ETA, I appreciate Mike for bringing this up. Um, I’ve been a resident of the ETA for approximately 20 years.

00:30:52,400	And I, prior to that I lived in the city of Bismarck and I chose to move out of the city of Bismarck and now I’m finding myself kind of drugged back into the middle. Of the city of Bismarck, which I understand growth happens, but I think we need to Basically reiterate what everybody else has said in regards to having a voice. Um, we fall under the city’s zoning and planning if we want to do anything on our property.

00:31:15,970	Um, outside of the building of our home, if we want to put up a secondary building. We got to go through city zoning and planning to get that approved. Um, but I’ve got no representation in terms of voting for you guys.

00:31:30,530	I agree with what the other gentleman said, I think we need to have a voice. I think we, if you guys are going to make decisions based on what we can do on our property. Um then we should have a voice and You know, having a vote. So I would encourage the commissioners to get together, um, with you folks and with us.

00:31:51,770	To figure out how we’re going to figure this out. Let’s quit kicking the can down the road, so can you state your name for the record? My name is Eric Kilzer. Thank you. Thank you. And I’m in full support of whatever we need to do to get the ball rolling. So thank you. Well, the common period is still open.

00:32:31,230	Anyone who wish to speak? Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for allowing me to speak. I’m also here to vote in favor to speak in favor of getting more Representation for the county in the ETA. I’ve been an ETA resident for 20 years. I also lived in Bismarck for a lot of years.

00:32:51,570	I moved out to the county because I want the county experience. I want to live out in the country. I don’t want to be. Bound by the city rules, um, I understand building codes, it’s got to be built properly, I understand all that, but we have no voice perfect example is the intersection on Highway 10 heading out towards Lincoln, who decided to take away that

00:33:13,400	second lane going up the hill. Now you’re stuck behind a car or a semi that’s doing 30 miles an hour all the way to the roundabout. There’s no passing all the way to the roundabout. We never had a voice in that. That was decided by the city. It’s, I’m sorry, but it’s asinine. It’s a dumb idea.

00:33:34,230	There’s no traffic flow and we’ve got more and more housing going out there and we have no say, so I’m in favor of getting more voice to the county. Can you state your name, sir? Sorry, Da Faber. F A B E R. Thank you for the chance to speak. Thank you.

00:33:56,130	Again, public comment period is open. Anyone who wish to speak, please come forward. A second call for public comment. Do I need to write my name again? No. OK. Ferron Kastner live in Burleigh County. Uh, Eric Kilzer was actually the one that came.

00:34:22,800	He called me and asked me, you know, hey, are you familiar with this ETA thing. Here’s what’s going on. Can I come over and visit with you. And uh he’s the one that’s told me that Comm Connelly stepped up to the plate, initiated, uh, must have been through conversation.

00:34:44,170	I’m in support of it, um, you know, how long are we going to waste time on it? The other thing is, I know all the Burley County Commission works. Are they all going to show up and have a legitimate taxpayer public discussion. That’s the question. Thank you. And if I may add, uh, I forgot to discuss when we were, I was discussing the event center. May I also talk about that or no? OK.

00:35:11,330	Um, I would. The last meeting with the discussion of this high rise motel, small business, little boutiques in the main floor, uh, going, is it straight across from the event center where that strip mall used to be? No. It’s, it’s in the West. OK. That’s a, that’s a maybe. OK. Yeah, OK.

00:35:42,870	My suggestion would be, and I think I emailed you, Comm Zenker. And anyway, Why not put it Kitty corner. Straight east to Hooha. And maintain and have as close a parking to the event center as you can. And increase the amount of handicap accessible spots. Yeah, I remember that. Oh, sorry.

00:36:12,270	I don’t want to get yelled at by Marv, um, so. I do, I, I remember that email. I don’t have the portfolio anymore. So I took that and I forwarded it to Amanda, the, uh, intern director and to the mayor. So, um, yeah, I just, once we, if it’s on our portfolio, we typically don’t respond back to that.

00:36:31,370	And then, uh, that’s what I did with that. So I did, I did get that email. Marv, did you hear that? All right. OK, so my other question is, Why would you take A parking lot. Right next in the event center that’s in. I thought pretty good shape. And disturb it. When you have that parking lot, Kitty Corner.

00:36:57,600	That’s in rough shape. It’s a snow pilele parking lot, as well as on the south side of the fence, I’m assuming that the city uses some of that as well as Kirkwood Mall might use some of it. It’s kind of a dumping ground. I think it’s kind of a dirt lot, whatever storage, but Use that parking area.

00:37:17,530	Instead of going in there and spending taxpayer money on refurbishing, rebuilding. Versus disturbing a nice parking lot. That’s right there, and we all know that handicap parking is limited. That we can enable the handicap close accessibility. To become involved with the event center. That’s my suggestion. Or the other thing, if you’re, whoever’s adamant on putting it.

00:37:50,470	Across the street. And doing some type of a skywalk to access the parking lot to get into the event center. In the unfortunate climate control that we have in North Dakota, right? So, I mean, and I never, I don’t recall ever seeing one of those proposals when on the previous uh meeting discussion.

00:38:15,570	About maybe a skywalk or an underpass under something, OK, for the handicapped people. All things are being considered. I understand it’s a blank page at the moment. Yep. You know what? My recommendation, I would keep that a blank page because I don’t think that we need it.

00:38:38,070	Why would we take away revenue from the motels. OK, thanks for your time. Chill up Yeah. It’s about time it’s about staying on task, then talking about the topics that are on the agenda. Mayor Commissioners. I’m sort of on both sides of the ETA issue. I own a house off of Richmond in town. Just for the record, state your name.

00:39:09,070	Robert Field. Thank you. And I own 16 acres in the ETA. And the things about the ETA that we don’t care for is the only time we see a Bismarck cop. As if they get lost and they’re chasing somebody. And then I see him at 2 in the morning in my yard.

00:39:30,300	OK We get deputies in our area, but we also get Lincoln cops. pulling people over in the ETA. Bismarck and Lincoln do not have. Legal authority in the ETA. But you guys want to be in charge. And manage that area. But yet, you don’t manage it. You just want to bully anybody that wants to build something.

00:39:56,000	I can have a horse and I can have fish, but I can’t have a steer on 16 acres. Which one, you know, who at the city come up with that plan? What’s the difference between horse *** and cow ***, same thing. But I can’t have a steer supposedly. We’re supposed to. Only have a certain number of chickens.

00:40:16,830	Do you know how big a 16 acre piece of ground is? It’s ridiculous. So I don’t think anybody in the city really has any business. Going past the hard city limit. Cause we get, we don’t get garbage from you guys. We don’t get anything from Bismarck.

00:40:40,730	So it’s kind of ridiculous that those of us living out there. Have to be controlled by people we don’t vote for, that we can’t vote for. None of us can run for mayor. None of us can run for city council, but yet you guys control us. And I agree that it’s unconstitutional. One of these days somebody’s gonna sue everybody individually and Waste some money.

00:41:05,800	Cause I guarantee you that can’t be constitutional. Thank you. Have a good evening. Thank you. Public comment period is open. Anyone who wish to speak, please come forward. 3rd and final call for public comment. I just wanted to add something about uh.

00:41:33,170	I just want to add something about how you guys take care of the ETA, um, you know, I stood at the planning and zoning commission here a few months ago. My neighbor wanted to put a greenhouse up. So I was talking about how we displace water and uh I think Gabe can maybe chime in because he specifically said that there was no water runoff study done down by my house.

00:41:51,870	But yeah, you guys, you know, and I brought it up prior to the building going on in my area, because I was the only house out there for many, many years. And the ditch, I mean, we’re literally right off the river. The ditch runs like this. Wouldn’t you think water would be engineered to run Towards the river.

00:42:08,270	So when we get a heavy rain. The west part of my yard. has a, has a lake in it. You guys, if you want control of the ETA. You guys have to manage it.

00:42:28,570	You can’t just treat us like the redheaded stepchild, because again, now how do you fix my ditch? If we want to fix the ditch, how do we fix the ditch when we have 12 approaches now in our way. Um, Comm Zaner, I know you know some construction knowledge. You know, wouldn’t that have been a lot easier to do before we started building houses and putting approaches in. You know, during the flood, I’ve been down in the flood.

00:42:46,800	Um, I see my city commissioners. I didn’t see anybody. From the city out there seeing how we were doing. You guys were more worried about bringing the county folks in the county. And using our only resource out of the ETA. So if you want it, Then own it.

00:43:09,200	If not Find a compromise and let us go, like I said, I think Gabe, I can pull up the date if you want, but Gabe specifically said there was no wastewater runoff study done down there. T3rd and final call for public comment. En seeing no further public comment, public comment period is now closed. Thank you everyone.

00:43:35,370	Commissioners, before we get to the consent agenda, I am requesting to pull item D2. Related to liquor license ordinance, language cleanup, there’s still some work to be done on that. Beyond that, is there any other What are the wishes of the commission on the consent agenda. Move to approve as presented. Any discussion. Here no will call roll. Comm Zenker. Yes. Comm Connelly? Yes.

00:44:09,000	Comm Cleary? Yes. Comm Risch. Mayor Schmitz, yes. Moving to regular agenda item. 3A public hearing on a request for a new class I2 complementary alcohol license for Allstar Nails. And Spa uh on East La Salle. This is a public hearing. Anyone who wished to speak to this, please come forward.

00:44:37,370	A second call for public comment. A 3rd and final call for public comment. Seeing and nor hearing anyone, public comment period is now closed. Commissioners. Is there any discussion He none will call roll. Mr. Connelly? Yes. Comm Clery? Yes. Comm Risch, Comm Zenker? Yes. Mayor Schmitz. Yes. Item 3B.

00:45:08,270	Public hearing on a request for a new class I-2 complementary alcohol license for Sta Gold. Studio LLC at 4:13 East Broadway Avenue. Again, this is a public hearing anyone wished to speak to it, please come forward. A second call for public comment. A 3rd and final call for public comment. Public comment period is now closed. Commissioners, what are your wishes? I approve as presented. Second.

00:45:34,630	Is there any discussion? He none will call roll. Comm Cleary, Comm Risch. Comm Zenker. Comm Connelly, Mayor Schmidtz, yes. Moving to item 3C public hearing on ordinance 6619 is only map Amendment. From our 10 residential to conditional RT. And I’ll let Ben you can describe the rest of the lengthy description.

00:46:04,270	Mayor, for the introduction of the zoning map uh amendment, the Mayor referenced uh is uh uh proposing to convert a portion of uh the proposal from an R 10 residential to conditional RT residential. On lot’s 25 to 40, 3, excuse me, 34 block 1.

00:46:31,100	Bolden edition, as well as revisions to uh various conditions of the entire conditional zoning district identified an ordinance 6619 in your packets. And coupled with this as a future land use plan amendment, uh, of a portion of an area from urban neighborhood to urban mixed, uh, excuse me, urban mix or neighborhood mixed use. Uh, the property is located in North Bismarck, adjacent to the east side of Washington Street and south of La Salle Drive.

00:46:49,730	The project area is comprised of 9.2 acres and 33 lots in one block. Future land use associated with the proposal is a combination of neighborhood mixed use and urban neighborhood and existing zoning as a combination of R 10 residential and RT residential zoning districts.

00:47:16,430	Planning and Zoning Commission did consider this request on March 26th and April 23rd, uh, of this year, a variety of members, uh, of the public provided both oral and written testimony in support and in opposition of the project.

00:47:40,400	Uh, uh, I’ll just summarize sort of both viewpoints, uh, uh, succinctly as I can here, but concerns for the, those opposed to the project generally included the following increased faster moving traffic in the area, uh, changing area designation from homes to commercial uses. Light pollution impact on property values in the area, and a belief that other commercial areas exist in the community for uh develop uh this type of development purpose.

00:48:02,370	Uh, comments in favor generally included the following that, uh, the, the, the proposal is of high quality design. There’ll be additional landscape enhancements and that traffic is, is comparable, uh, to, to allowable uses today. At the conclusion of the public hearing, the planning and zoning commission did recommend approval of the zoning map amendment from the R10 residential to conditional RT.

00:48:27,670	Uh, with the conditions of the entire condition, uh, excuse me, residential district, um, excuse me, let me start over. Uh, the, the commission did recommend a zoning map amendment from the R10 residential to conditional RT on lots on lots 25 through 34 block 1, Bolden edition and visions to conditions of the entire conditional zoning district is identified in ordinance 6619.

00:48:49,900	Uh, in your packets and that a future land use plan amendment of a portion of the area from urban neighborhood to urban mixed use, uh, it was also approved. Are there any questions that any of you have related to this item? Commissioners, any questions, Ben? This is a public hearing. Anyone who wished to speak to this item, please come forward.

00:49:15,930	A second call for public comment. A 3rd and final call for public comment. Hearing and seeing no public comment, public comment period is closed on that item. Move to approve is presented. Is there any discussion? Here none will call roll. Comm Risch? Yes. Comm Zenker. Comm Connelly, Comm Cleary, yes, Mayor Schmitz, yes.

00:49:47,600	Item 3D, public hearing on Ordinance 6621, a zoning map amendment that would add temporary fireworks sales as administered. Special use to an existing conditional MA industrial zoning district, Ben. OK. Yes. Thank you, Mayor.

00:50:17,870	Uh, the, the project, the, the mayor just, uh, just described is located in North Bismarck east of US Highway 83 between North Star Drive and 71st Avenue Northeast, uh, 1 2nd, the slides aren’t advancing. All righty, I think, I think it’s working now. Uh, so the property in question is located in North Bismarck, east of US Highway 83. Uh, between North Star Drive and 71st Avenue Northeast, uh, the project area is comprised of 33.5 acres in 13 lots in one block.

00:51:03,800	Future land use associated with the area is a combination of community mixed use and industrial flex and the existing zoning. Uh, is, uh, conditional MA industrial planning and zoning Commission did consider this request on April 23rd of this year.

00:51:24,270	Both oral and written testimony, uh, were provided uh in both support and opposition of the proposal. I’ll just try to summarize again the comments in, firstly in opposition. Uh, there were concerns related to potentially additional firework debris, uh, in the area, potential for grass fire and potential for increased traffic to the area.

00:51:51,300	Comments for uh essentially addressed uh the, the, the points made in opposition, ah, to, to the proposal. And at the conclusion of the public hearing, the planning and zoning Commission did recommend approval of the zoning map amendment that would allow temporary fireworks sales as a administrative special use to the conditional MA industrial zoning district for blocks 12, and 3 of North Star. Marshall Park as outlined in ordnance 6621 in your packets.

00:52:17,500	Uh, is there any questions that you have? Commissioners. It’s not great. It’s a public hearing. Anyone who wished to speak to this topic, please come forward. A second call for public comment. A 3rd and final call for public comment. Public comment period is now closed, Commissioners, what are your wishes? Move to approve.

00:52:44,830	Second, Any discussion He will call roll. Comm Zenker? Yes. Comm Connelly? Yes. Comm Cleary? Yes. Comm Risch. Yes. Mayor Schmitz. Yes. Next item 3 public hearing to release the drainage easement on lot 42, block 1 Misty Waters subdivision. Go ahead, Lauren. Good evening, Marin Commissioners.

00:53:26,430	Jeffrey and Robin Carlson are requesting the release of the 20-foot drainage easement on lot 42, block 1 Misty Waters. The project area is located northwest of Bismarck, west of Bert Creek Loop, north of. Dream circle on the west side of Dream Drive, the original easement was granted with the plot of Misty Waters, which was recorded on September 27, 2005.

00:53:51,070	By a city policy release of an easements other than franchise utility easements requires a public hearing with the city commission. Owners of adjacent properties have been notified of this public hearing. Staff have not received any formal public comments regarding this request.

00:54:10,670	As a result of all findings contained in the staff reports, City of Bismarck staff find that the release of the drainage easement as described in the attached resolution would not adversely impact the public health, safety in general welfare and is consistent with the comprehensive plan, Bismarck Code of Ordinances and relevant state law. Therefore, staff recommends approval of the release of the drainage easement on lot 42, block 1 Misty Waters.

00:54:29,570	Do you have any questions for me? Commissioners, any questions? Thank you This is a public hearing. Anyone who wish to speak to this, please come forward. A second call for public comment. A 3rd and final call for public comment. Hearing or seeing anyone public comment period is now closed. Commissioners, what are your wishes? Moved to approve as presented. Second.

00:54:56,730	His very discussion He none will call roll. Mr. Connelly, Comm Clery, Comm Risch? Yes. Comm Zenker? Yes. Mayor Schmitt. Yes. Next item 3F consider a request to receive the Bismarck Event Center operating models report from Dan Fenton of JLL.

00:55:25,930	Jason Mayor and Commissioners, uh, the consultants for the next item are double booked this evening and I’ve been texting with Dan, um, letting him know where we are on the agenda. I think they could use a little bit more time if I could ask you to.

00:55:40,330	Pull the next two items up, and I believe both of them are part of City Engineering’s Report, and then that should give enough time for Dan and Mitch to uh join the discussion. OK, we can do that. Thank you. So we’ll hold off on F and move to G. Consider requests received bids and award contract for highway construction project 178. A Hold on just a second. Let me put all something.

00:56:18,270	Mayor and Commissioners, it looks like we’re having some technical trouble with the agenda, um. And now it’s working. Maybe hit refresh Comm Risch. I didn’t see wasn’t working, but now it seems to be. The attachments weren’t showing up. Mine was working too. I’ve got it now. I’m. Sorry about that. get go.

00:56:49,770	I also thought it was me until I saw that you were also having issues. Hopefully it syncs up here. Wonderful. Mayor Commissioners, uh, first item I have for you today is the award for highway construction Project number 178. We opened bids this morning on this project, uh, which would put some pavement markings on some of our collector and arterial roads, uh, yet this summer.

00:57:20,330	We had one bidder on this project and our recommendation is to award to traffic safety services Incorporated, uh, whomitted a bit of $239,526.85. Take any questions that you may have. Any questions? Moved to approve as presented. 2. In the discussion He none will call roll. Comm Cleary? Yes. Comm Risch? Yes. Comm Zenker. Comm Connelly, Mayor Schmitz, yes.

00:57:54,270	Go item H consider a request to approve installing water and sanitary sewer along Vermont Avenue by special assessment. Go ahead De Mayor Comm, uh, this, what I have in front of you is a map showing, uh, Vermont Avenue, or I should say the the subject property of 2810 Vermont Avenue, uh, this is an unimproved area of Vermont Avenue that which is

00:58:13,170	hatched and shaded in that green color, uh, per the development agreement that this board approved, uh, would have been a couple of years ago now in 2020. To, uh, we allowed the owner of the 813 Burlington Drive, Property to install or to to construct their building, uh, but not install water sewer or the street as would our

00:58:31,830	typical development policies would require and instead agreed via petition to delay that construction until such time that a neighbor to the north or the east, uh, submitted a petition to construct that infrastructure. We’re now to the point that we believe that the owner of the lot to the north is interested in doing this.

00:58:48,800	We’re still working through that process, but in our conversations with the owner to the north of 2810 Vermont Avenue. Uh, we have indicated that the city commission would allow a special assessment for the uh outlaying of the water and sewer because they previously uh entered into an agreement with the property owner to the

00:59:06,500	south to do the same thing. So before we, uh, bring back to you a petition or uh creating a district, we want to just make sure that. assumptions OK and kind of uh get some blessing that this is an approach that we can go down.

00:59:21,870	We’ve had locations in dissimilar ownership such as this that we have allowed special assessment as the method to put water and sewer in, in areas where we have unified ownership or the landowner, the developer owns both sides of the street.

00:59:37,470	We, our development cost policy requires them to install that water and sewer, uh, without the use of special assessments, so this is a little bit unique in that sense, but we did allow the neighbor to the south to use special assessments as a Uh cost Method of financing that improvement.

00:59:56,000	So I guess we take any questions that you may have or if there’s any more other further explanation of what we’re, we’re asking, must it all be conditioned, uh, if the owner to the North actually submits a petition and then we’d have processes and steps to create districts, but before we started that process, just wanted to check in on that assumption. Questions, Commissioners? OK.

01:00:13,170	I guess I would, I would, I think all we would really need is some consensus that this sounds like an OK path to go down and obviously any details will get ironed out at such time that we create that district is kind of what we’re looking for right now. Good commissioners with. Mr. Connelly. You got your consensus that works for me. Thank you very much. OK. We’ll go back to item F.

01:00:33,930	Consider request to receive the Bismarck Event Center operating models report from Dan Fenton of JLL. Dan, hopefully. Hey, can you hear me? Yes OK. I’m actually here to answer any questions. Dawn Yeah, yeah, you can hear me. I can certainly do kind of an overview of what you have in front of you.

01:01:15,100	Can everybody hear me OK? We can go ahead and do an overview, please. OK, so, so if you. Right. OK. So if you see um The, uh, essentially the overview of the deck here.

01:01:36,470	Trying to find me the release one, but long story short, you’ll see that what we have first detailed in the deck is an overview of some of the key components of an authority board. And we’ve tried to put A decent amount of detail plus a sense of the type of responsibility that would be important for uh the board to have. So that it can, you know, function well and be effective for the commission.

01:01:56,730	And so if you look at that first sort of section, you’ll see recommendations on a number of board members, potential areas. That the board members would come from just to ensure that you had the right sort of expertise on the board, um, the notion of the board certainly being a fiduciary board.

01:02:22,330	Therefore, having really that responsibility to truly oversee and take on a more strategic role than what you might traditionally call an advisory board. And, uh, so there’s a whole series of details on that won’t necessarily go through every single one of those, but hopefully that Gives the commission a sense of You know, how a board, like we talked about last meeting might be

01:02:41,000	structured. Um, there’s obviously opportunity to continue to refine this, but I think you’ll see a Pretty significant amount of sort of detail on functionality, term limits, and Just a different sort of potential pieces related to how the board would function. Uh, so, Mr. Mayor, maybe I’ll stop there because that’s one section.

01:03:06,130	If there are any questions related to the layout that we did on what they both make up and kind of responsibilities of an authority board would be happy to answer questions here. I’m, I’m letting the commissioners peruse.

01:03:28,900	Any questions, Commissioners, on the concept of the authority board, Comm Zenker Mayor, Comm, so I’ll be, I’ll be honest, if that’s all we were gonna get was a little summary today. I’m a little disappointed this wasn’t included in our packet, so we could read it over prior to the meeting. I mean if we’re expecting us to make a decision tonight on this and then, and giving us 7.

01:03:43,470	5 minutes or 3 minutes to read this thing and make that decision. I don’t find that feasible. So I, whose decision was it to not include this in the packet? I think we didn’t get it till today.

01:03:58,430	Well, then we should have pulled it from the agenda and moved it to the next meeting because quite honestly, I, I’d like to, I’d like more time as to absorb and read the whole thing. And then move on from there. I’m fine with that. I said, I didn’t find out there was, it hadn’t a real arrived until sometime today. So We can certainly Move to the next meeting. I’m fine with that. OK.

01:04:23,700	Well Table to Whatever the next, I don’t know, June. 10th or something, whatever it is. OK. Great, OK, we’re happy to come back and go over it then. OK. Thanks. Great. Thanks, buddy. Alright, um, Moving to I consider request discuss recommendation from the Transportation steering Committee and provide direction to staff.

01:05:01,470	Evening Mayor Commissioners on May 13th, the transportation steering Committee met and had a recommendation for this commission that recommendation. was to Allocate up to $1.1 million spent to expand Bisman Transit service times by 4 hours for the 6 fix routes and expand Sunday service to run to 6 p.m. and to open it up to the general public.

01:05:24,500	So that was the same day we had a meeting our previous meeting on May 13th, and you guys had approved, uh, Mrs. Dingle had made mention of that that you had previously approved up to a million dollars to fund the deficit for the 2025 budget. This is a separate motion or recommendation from that committee. Go ahead, Comm. So Mayor Commissioners Doug, just Help me out.

01:05:47,400	So it’s separate, it’s inclusive of the million dollars that we’re already this is a this is a different, different motion. There’s $1 million for the deficit, and this is 1.1 million to expand the services of Bisman Transit. So let me get, OK. So, it’d be 2.1 total 2.1 million and we’ve only started collecting the, the money in April 1st.

01:06:07,370	That’s correct. So Comm, in part response that we know that it’s not all going out now, and I, Deidre’s back here, she can speak to the ramp up of what it will take to even expand the services, so. Good evening, Mary and Commissioners.

01:06:32,870	Yeah, so any service expansion, um, recommendations that would come from the city commission would still need to go through a number of public hearings, public comment, um, to follow the Federal Transit Administration guidelines, um, the board of directors would then vote and then I’d be back before the city commission, um, any, any service expansion.

01:06:50,430	That being said, we obviously have a pretty substantial ramp up period like the mayor indicated for us to get staffed, um, to accommodate this. 4 extra um cat bus hours throughout the week is going to be about 10 extra drivers that we need for CDL, um, er trends is a little bit easier to come by, but training and, and public outreach and things like that.

01:07:11,730	likely would not happen for several months. Um, that being said, we do understand that the money has not been collected yet, so um we do have kind of some time to to buy or have some time that we can. Continue to operate.

01:07:35,230	Comm Connelly, do you want to speak? Um, one of the questions I’d asked because citizens, I mean, they um. Everybody likes honesty with it, and when we went out and collected signatures. It’s very, the measure is very specific, elderly, disabled, and people of low socioeconomic status.

01:07:57,530	Those are the priorities of just general, it doesn’t have to be, but what percentage of the population, do you provide services for fall into those categories because it’s significant. The majority of the services that we provide are falling within those categories.

01:08:16,330	Obviously, we do provide service to the general public on our campus, so it’s very challenging to say, um, How that classification breaks out, um, but for the er transit service, I mean, that would be elderly and disabled would be 100% of those, those trips that we’re providing the buses, uh, they have special hydraulics and things to make it very accommodating to like people that are using wheelchairs that can get level with the curvature, and it’s a flag-down service and people with challenges, um, such as that, that flag down service could be

01:08:38,270	uh a lifesaver in some cases. a battery runs out on a chair or something like that, correct? Yes, absolutely. So all of our vehicles are ADA accessible. Um, they all have tie downs for um mobility aids, um, so absolutely our system is is set up to accommodate, you know, all.

01:08:57,070	You know, walks of life and then one of the things to answer some of your questions, Comm Zenker. um, right now, the way the system’s set up with the 7 to 7 service, people can get to work, or they can get from work, but a lot of times they might not have a ride to or from depending on the part

01:09:14,970	of the day, and that that came up during the community conversation. It came up during our, um, subcommittee meetings a lot and if we’re truly providing a to citizens that need that extra opportunity to advance in life, um, that’s why they expanded hours did come up in the conversation, but like Dere had mentioned, which I

01:09:36,400	appreciate all the work that you do on this is, uh, it’s daunting in the fact that, um, transit can’t keep up with like all the trucking companies, those type of things, so it does, um, Take a little bit to get those drivers on board, but once they’re staffed and, um, It would, I think it would

01:09:56,630	benefit our city a great deal. So I think what the Steering committee, what the steering committee was trying to recommend is that we encourage the movement forward.

01:10:19,570	To begin to put the plan in place to establish the additional hours, uh, on the fixed route and on the paratransit on Sunday, knowing that we are not going to be immediately up and running, nor do we have the dollars immediately, but it’s gonna take some planning to accomplish that.

01:10:39,370	And by the time that planning is done, then we should have revenue that is being collected and flowing through, in fact, I would guess within the next 1 to 10 days, we have our first collections arriving, um, but it’s gonna have to, you know, it’s not going to go out all one lump sum. And so it was, that was the whole goal out of the steering committee was OK, can we start giving some recommendations, how we can start to enhance the service, knowing it’s gonna take.

01:10:54,930	6 months Or more maybe even to get ramped up because it could require some equipment too. Yes, that’s correct. And, um, one other thing to add is uh through that public hearing and public comment um process if, um, the, there is an overwhelming, uh, opinion from the public to change what the recommendation is from the

01:11:17,870	steering committee or to shift or anything like that, I would still need to come before you, um, with all of that information saying, you know, the public felt that it was more important for us to start earlier and end service earlier or or shift that. Accordingly, um, but that’s just following the um FTA regulations.

01:11:37,200	Comm Zenker. So Mayor Commissioners in Deidre, you’d probably be able to answer this better than anybody. So, what’s the, what’s the 1.1 million? Get us. Is that equipment or time, because if that’s the case, um, you probably don’t need this, a full 11, 1.

01:11:56,230	1 to get us through the rest of this fiscal year, right? So maybe that’s why the the shock and awe, all of a sudden it’s 2.1 in 3 weeks that we need that we need money for here type thing, 1.1 is the, the, the cost of the service over time. So it’s about one, that’s about one year’s worth of cost.

01:12:16,570	OK, so then we, it’s really got to go through the budget cycle. We might have to do something for the last quarter of this year, right? If it’s 6 months, I mean, it’s the 5th, so that’s 11th. So for 8 weeks of this year, we probably have to do something fiscally, but it wouldn’t cost us 1.1 million for 8 weeks. Correct.

01:12:33,730	OK. All right. That’s what I was just trying to. So, really, you need this 1.1 for next fiscal year. For future years in general operations which have collections for that sales tax. OK. Perfect. Thank you.

01:12:53,870	And I, and I believe the steering committee was like, let’s get some momentum going for Bisman Transit in this case to get up and Enrolling and But Deidre’s got to go through her own set of public hearings as well, so. Comm Connelly, did I state that? OK. Comm Risch.

01:13:15,270	Uh, but we won’t, we’ll have the money rolling and it started coming in last month and by the time they need it, we’ll have the sales tax revenue to cover it. Correct. Um-hum. We’re probably as Comm Zenker said, we probably will have to do a budget amendment. Towards the end of this year, if we’re upscaled up and have the funds. Available to do that.

01:13:43,030	Yeah What are your thoughts, Commissioners? Go ahead, Comm, I would be in agreeance that, um, I mean, we talked about this last week, it was like the whole point of the ballot measure and the, the 20% or, you know, 0.

01:14:03,330	2 and the 3 is for public safety was, was to work on things like this to get these programs more fully funded but also better too, so I mean, I think I’m in support of that as long as we’re making sure that it makes sense fiscally, uh, whether that’s an amendment and And also just making sure obviously that we’re following that ballot measure, that whatever we’re spending still remains in that bubble of that.

01:14:20,400	percent is that’s allocated, which I think when we saw those numbers 2 weeks ago were still well under that, so. That would be if I’m remembering that would be the projections, yes, we know we’re not immediately spending because there’s likely some capital needs. Come in. So go ahead, Comm Connelly.

01:14:46,530	I, uh, Echo a little bit of what Comm Zenker says with it not being there. Does it absolutely have to be. A motion today, can it be a consensus and bring it back in 8 weeks. We’re OK with consensus. I just want to have so that Deirdre has some direction from us. Mhm Yeah. OK. OK. Thank you. Yep.

01:15:13,270	Next item J consider requests from Comm Connelly to have discussion about the ETA or extraterritorial area. Comm, it’s your agenda item. Um, thank you, uh, Mayor Commissioners and everyone that uh came out, um. As I’ve become more and more engaged with our community the last decade.

01:15:47,400	I’ve knocked on a lot of doors and talked to a lot of people, and I hold representation in high regard, whether a person votes for me, whether they don’t vote for me, whether they can vote me or whether they can’t vote for me, and in the top 5, conversations that come up repeatedly is the conversation about there’s never been A really.

01:16:14,770	wholehearted conversation where um people impacted by city decisions have been able to have a public input session and um there’s a lot of things going on always with both county Commission and at our table, that you know I always like to hope and wait for an ideal timing, and it’s just, it just doesn’t happen, so I, uh, just asked for it to be put on the agenda.

01:16:34,470	The time is now and um. The um ask is to call a meeting with all 5 members of the county commission present with all 5 members of the city commission present, um, because it is an agreement between both jurisdictions.

01:16:57,870	We all have roles and then the citizens, whether they live in the city of Bismarck, whether they’re in the ETA, um, everybody comes to our community. They pay when they buy goods, they do support our city through our sales tax revenue.

01:17:21,870	and fees, um, on some level, but there is some other nuances that come along with the ETA as far as what happens at annexation, how close to that border, um, there’s some rules that are into play, um, that I asked staff to uh share some of that information on and they would shortly and it’s just merely to I don’t know what the answers are.

01:17:41,600	I don’t know where the outcome is, but this the ask is, let’s represent the citizens in our area that support a lot of the things that we do have an honest conversation and The ideal thing was is we grow to a better place, I think that happened when we talked about home occupations, um, which was a long process, but we got to a better answer, I believe, and this is just another opportunity to do that.

01:18:00,430	So did you want Staff to give any information um. I, Jason, uh, would you? Mayor Commissioners, uh, Friday afternoon, Comm Connelly and I talked about this, uh, particular agenda item, the, the content in the cover memo, uh, came from an email from Comm Connelly. As far as staff being prepared to give a presentation tonight.

01:18:33,070	We’re not ready. Um, we don’t. Monday was a holiday. There was no staff that was here. I wasn’t going to ask them to work over a long weekend at the beginning of the summertime. The intent was to, my expectation was to have this conversation at the table and see.

01:18:47,370	Where this board wanted to go with it. If there is additional information that is necessary from staff, we would have that available. I know in the last probably 1215 months, a very similar conversation was had at this table, uh regarding the ETA I believe at that time, Community Development Director Ben Ereth provided information.

01:19:05,470	I know Gabe Schell had provided information as well based on a long list of uh stormwater concerns that were brought up. Many of those predated stormwater regulations, uh, in the city or the county. one of those go farther back than even in the early 1970s.

01:19:25,330	Um, so rather than dig all of that information out, go through an entire presentation again, I guess I would prefer to see what direction this uh this commission would like to go before asking staff to prepare a bunch of information again, not necessarily sure what exactly was the intent of the discussion this evening.

01:19:44,970	So and if I misunderstood, I apologize, but I don’t believe we’ve got any formal presentations ready to go. this evening. Go ahead, Comm Zenker. Mayor, Comm, so I’m just gonna put some people on the spot and just ask a couple of questions just because they came up in discussion tonight, and I think those are fair question to ask. So, Chief put you, I’ll put you on the spot first.

01:20:03,770	Since there was a comment made about um Um, City of Bismarck. Uh, police in the ETA. What’s the, do we have an, uh, MOU with the sheriff or anything? Because I mean, If you live in the city, you are in Burleigh County and you can be pulled over by a HP or a sheriff within the city.

01:20:25,030	So what’s the, what’s, what’s the working relationship you have with the, uh, which is good, but is there a memorandum of understanding between you and the sheriff’s Department of the ETA, uh, well, not just for Burleigh County.

01:20:42,070	So it doesn’t matter or if they ask for our help, we’ll go help them wherever they need us, and you can make a traffic stop within the ETA and do you patrol the ETA? You only go to the ETA when called upon. So Mayor and Commissioners, when we end up out of town, there’s a couple of different ways it can happen.

01:20:59,370	Uh, fresh pursuit is one so if somebody flees from us and we’re trying, we need to stop them, we can chase them. Wherever we need to chase them to. We do have jurisdiction 2 miles outside of city limits, but we’re not out there patrolling.

01:21:16,230	um, we may end up out there for things, um, generally when we go out into the, the city limits to go out to the county. We let the county people know, uh, oftentimes we. Depending on the situation, we may want a deputy with us when we do that, so. Awesome. Thank you, sir. Um, Gabe, your next. So can you explain the, um, the same type of thing with the memorandum understanding with, with, uh, Mr.

01:21:46,670	Hall, about storm water and those types of things that That we have between The working relationship with them. Sure, Comm, Commissioner’s anchor, as it pertains to stormwater management in particular, uh, any plat or any proposed plot as it’s working its way through the process is conditionally approved by both the city of Bismarck’s engineering department as well as the Burleigh County Highway

01:22:06,470	Department to make sure that both parties are, are OK with what the concept is fully understanding that in a in a rural ETA latte, uh, that highway or that road is going to be Burleigh County Highway departments for the foreseeable future until such time if the city annexed into, into that area.

01:22:21,400	Um, so it’s a joint process, and we work collaboratively in that regard. Uh, we’d say the same on, well, maybe speak to the public works and our some of our roads and streets agreements that some of these roadways are half annexed into the city and or maybe it’s just portions of them are annexed into the city on an

01:22:34,830	annual basis, uh, between the Burley County Highway Department and the Public Works service ops uh department they’ll negotiate a kind of a maintenance agreement between those two areas. So, uh, that no one party is taking on the entire brunt of maintenance responsibilities for snow clearing or patching or anything along those lines, so.

01:22:51,270	We have a good working relationship with the Burlee County Highway Department, uh, to better serve all those of those citizens. And then follow-up question. I mean, if there’s a responsibility of a study for that stormwater, does that, is that in conjunction with us in the county or do we lead that or does the county lead that? Could you explain

01:23:07,900	that too, please, sir? Sure. Mayor and Comm, Comm anchor, uh, if it’s a really large Undertaking stormwater related, a lot of it is going to be driven by whoever that lead agency is.

01:23:25,630	So if it’s something that we’re doing a stormwater analysis or a master plan, uh, because we envisioned this entire watershed someday becoming part of the city of Bismarck. Those are our recommendations to act on because it’s going to be our uh infrastructure in the future that we’re really talking about and, and planning for, uh, it might be a different study if it’s a flood plain study that is more, more of the current situation and, and those things,

01:23:41,530	it’s, it’s in between the, the highway. department as well as the B Burleigh County Water Resource District that might take the lead on, on those sorts of recommendations if that’s not something that the city is actively participating in trying to get new infrastructure out into a certain area. Thank you, sir.

01:23:57,170	And unless somebody’s got more questions for Gabe, but I got Ben’s the next Guy on the, on the hit list as far as you’re going, let’s let’s have your questions asked. I love momentum. Thanks, Ben. All right, Ben. So, help me with my memory because.

01:24:16,730	Um, you work with this a little bit more than I do, but from a, just from the code perspective, and I just want to talk about building code perspective right now, OK? If I remember correctly, the building codes in the county and the city are the same. There may be subtle differences, uh, um, between city and county, but both adopt state code.

01:24:39,670	Uh, um, to your question, one that I think might be different in ours is, is the uh egress window height and that is at uh to help benefit uh firefighters from entering and exiting uh a home, for instance, if they need to get in the basement or in the basement and need to get out.

01:24:57,400	I don’t recall where, uh, Burleigh County is at that point, but I, I would say there’s maybe Uh, 5 or less, uh, areas where we differ from state code. Uh, I, I can’t speak to our Burleigh County is at, uh, but, but, uh, I think we are fairly close to state code, uh, uh, with, with a handful of, with a handful of exceptions.

01:25:17,670	It is this one might be more for Brady, but I’ll go to this difference here. So the gentleman who spoke about the animals, um, I mean, right? He’s kind of correct.

01:25:37,400	There’s really no difference, but is, is the, is there a limitation? um, explain the animal limitation within the ETA and would you know, and I, I put you on the spot. Would you know what the, what the. Limitation would be in the county as well. Uh, I, I can look it up. Um, I, I, I don’t know what it is in the county, but for rural residential, and I think we’re talking about limitations and rural residential areas.

01:25:57,070	So these are neighborhoods where things like horses and chickens, uh, there, there’s a limit, and, um, and, and to be honest, I think Cattle aren’t allowed in a rural residential, uh, neighborhood, uh, agricultural zoning districts in the ETA would of course be different.

01:26:20,000	You are intended to pursue agricultural pursuits in those areas where livestock would be allowed to To to be raised. So with that being said, that, and that’s kind of my, my one of my points is, I mean, you could have a, you could have a rural residential area, um.

01:26:38,500	That has the same kind of footprint that we have in the ETA but might have the same characteristics of limitations for, for farm animals. Yeah, you gotta check with Burley County, I can look, I can try to look it up quick when during a break if I, if I never get back down. OK. So, OK, perfect.

01:26:57,030	And then is, is Brady here because I want to ask him of, of flood prick I don’t think he is, but I can try to attempt to address it. So I just want to, cause I got this call today and I was pretty certain last June when we had our meeting when we accepted the new FEMA map that the free board between the city and the county was the same and it’s 2

01:27:12,470	ft. I thought I, I’m pretty sure I asked that question, and I just want clarification on that. To be honest, I don’t, I don’t recall if it’s 2 ft. I, I think it is 2 ft within the county.

01:27:31,300	I know the county does also regulate to the 500 year flood plain, uh, we, we do not, so there are some differences in flood plain regulation between city and county. I do think the free board was the same distance. I thought we did, but I, I’m wrong 2% of the time, so. Um, but yeah, that’s all I got. Thanks, sir. Mr.

01:27:55,700	Connelly Um, I don’t know it, Sorry, I don’t know which department, um, task, but maybe it’s you, Ben, uh, thanks for answering uh Comm Zener’s questions, but, um, when a home is a, there’s a number 300 ft within the border of the county then some state law and.

01:28:19,630	Local ordinance applies to where if there’s septic system goes out, what’s the next steps after that? Yeah, and, and you might be referring to Comm, you might be referring to state plumbing code where if you’re a certain distance, and I think it’s actually 200 ft, uh, from a, a, a city, you know, water main that they’re actually required the sooty water in Maine that they’re actually required to connect to city sewer services.

01:28:42,000	Is, is that where you’re going? OK. Go ahead. I can expand on that too because it’s in the state plumbing code that if you’re within that same distance of 200 ft, you got to tie to that municipal water, so that would, doesn’t matter if you’re in the city, the ETA or in the middle of the county, if there’s rural

01:28:59,230	water within 200 ft of your building and your well goes out by code, you’re supposed to tie to that rule water now it’s got to be enforced too, so, um.

01:29:24,470	Is there is there’s fees that are being tabulated and once that happens, is there a special assessment that looks back on the entire time that that property was around, and can you explain that? Um, I might, uh, punt it to Gabe here, but I think where you’re going is the holding uh uh a special assessments in a, in a bands is is that your question? So, uh, I think to explain this in Gabe’s, uh, directly involved or more directly involved in

01:29:43,670	the process than I, but essentially the concept is if an area is specially assessed for an improvement and let’s say they would normally fall the the homes would normally fall or businesses would normally fall. With the distance of a special assessment district, but happened to be.

01:30:06,400	Unannexed in the county, those, uh, properties uh are held what’s called in abeyance until they are annexed into annexed into the city and then basically charged that special assessment for, for the subject improvement. OK.

01:30:28,900	So, between state plumbing code and how we follow the state and local laws, um, data bans can turn out to be a pretty substantial charge against the property because they were never assessed it before, but all of a sudden, They can be. Yeah, and I’m not, I can’t speak to the notification process or the protest process associated with that, Gabe might be able to answer that more effectively than, than I, again, I’m not directly involved in it, but I don’t know what the notification process is for

01:30:46,470	that, so, well, that’s one of the 4 bullet points that I brought up is it’s a little nuance that puts us all, whether it’s the city or the county in a little bit of a fluxes is that I, I’d heard discussions um from other commissioners. during the time to where they talk about um taxation without representation.

01:31:06,730	Well, People are being taxed. They’re just not. Um, made to pay it. At the time until they’re annexed in, but for the entire time that they were in the county, that fee applies.

01:31:31,470	And so is it one of the reasons to have this discussion, can we get to a point where People are only charged for those services going forward rather than all the time that they were in the county going back. Or if that’s not possible, that’s where do they deserve the right to vote. And just opening that up for discussion and seeing what that looks like. Yeah, I, I can’t answer that.

01:31:52,600	What I, what I can’t answer is that either party or both Burly or City of Bismarck can amend the, the agreement at any point. It’s, it’s blatantly stated in the agreement that if any party wants to renegotiate, they can do that. They just have to provide notification to the other party. Um, and both parties have to agree to whatever that that change is.

01:32:14,000	Also, either party can terminate the existing agreement, so it’s, it’s not a requirement that we have an ETA agreement. Uh, actually, it’s, it’s probably, I would say maybe more unique that we have an agreement compared to our peers than, then, then not state entry code, uh, would essentially give communities the size of Bismarck, Fargo,

01:32:38,570	Grand Forks, Mayot, a 4 mile extraterritorial area, um. That would essentially, uh, there’s mechanisms in place that would allow that extraterritorial area to expand proportionally to annex boundaries, so every time a city annexes that 4 mile ETA moves outward, uh, with the agreement that we have in place, the boundary really doesn’t move outward or inward unless

01:33:09,030	the parties involved in that agreement agreed to that, and there’s terms of the agreement too, you might be Speaking of different terms associated with the agreement, um, I, I.

01:33:30,970	I am skeptical or I, I, I wouldn’t speak to the, to the representation part of, of uh elected leadership, uh, but other pieces to it, I, I suspect we, we could investigate. Well, um, I really thank you for that comment. That’s. One of the best dialogues I’ve ever heard you say. So I appreciate that.

01:33:53,400	And you jumped ahead of the, um, by saying I wouldn’t speak to elected leadership that’s uh so I’ll, I’ll turn that back to us is, um, What’s the harm in getting all 10 of us in the room to have such discussions in the public view. When we’re representing people. There’s a lot of different opinions. We ran to represent. I mean That’s my request. What’s the harm in it? I just got a question, Ben, so we’re allowed 4 miles, but we’re only out about 2.5 miles.

01:34:16,300	Yeah, thanks for that question, Comm Risha I neglected to state the other half of that, that point, um, so, uh, right now we would be allowed for miles, uh, with the 1st 2 miles being the exclusive jurisdiction of the city of Bismarck, 2 miles out to the 4 mile being a joint jurisdiction between city and

01:34:36,070	county, um. That would roughly equate to about 120 square square miles, um, that if we were given the, the, or operating rather under the, the 4 mile, uh, ETA right now, the negotiated boundary is roughly half that. It’s about 64 square miles that that we have that.

01:35:01,230	The benefit, there’s benefit, there’s pluses and minuses to having a negotiated boundary, uh, the benefit, uh, potentially what we’ve heard from the development community is with the negotiated boundary, um, there’s only one jurisdiction involved, so they, the, the developers don’t have to go before City of Bismarck and Burleigh County for a consideration of, of approvals, so the time frame is expedited and, you know, maybe there’s

01:35:25,500	less, you know, risk depending on, you know, what the issue is. Uh, that, that is, is proposed. The sort of the con or the negative of that, at least from a city’s perspective is that the boundary is static in until we, we, we all agree to to change it, so.

01:35:49,130	Just to follow up with Comm Connelly’s question. Haur County requested this meeting? Anybody at Burley County Comm? So I can speak that our joint committee between the two actually discussed this topic last summer. And both planning and zoning departments and the 4 of us that were at the table.

01:36:10,470	2 from the city, 2 from the county, agreed that For this year That the Boundaries were appropriate, but that we would revisit it. I remember what we said every year or every other year. It’s every 2 years, Mayor, thank you, and, and roughly October-ish is when, so it’s not just the city of Bismarck and Burleigh County that have agreements.

01:36:32,600	It’s Bismarck, Burleigh County, City of Lincoln, Notton Township, Missouri Township, and Apple Creek Township. So there’s 5 different entities that the city has agreements with and, and to the mayor’s, uh, comment, uh, in 2023, I think we got all of those parties together.

01:36:55,330	And at least from a staff or a representative from the township’s perspective, it, there’s enough area to grow into in this current ETA that there wasn’t uh. identified from a at least a staff level perspective to, to change the boundary, so. So, go ahead, Comm Connelly. The one thing about the Bismarck Burghley meeting is it’s usually Friday afternoon and it’s before 5.

01:37:21,570	Well, it’s, it’s before 5, but it’s, yes, it’s moves around a little bit here and there and that, and that’s really difficult for a lot of people in public, so like it said there’s staff, there’s township members, and there’s people from boards, but it’s not publicly. It’s also not the main meeting, so it’s not what people are thinking about.

01:37:41,970	So when we’re trying to improve communication and trying to make ourselves available to the public that the subcommittees get a little bit more challenging, especially when they get further outside of, say, our commission meetings or our planning and zoning because it’s a lot to keep up with. I’ve been watching them all for a long time.

01:38:01,070	It’s a lot to keep up with and sometimes decisions, people don’t find out about them until after they’re made. And then you’re waiting another whole year before that opportunity comes again and people get busy and off the radar. So, This is Be to bring awareness to it, get it out in the open. It’s obviously by the attendance, it’s something that people want to discuss, so.

01:38:23,400	And I’ll rest with that. Comm Clery. I guess I, it’s not like I am opposed by any means to sitting at the table, all 10 of us, uh, we did it 2 years ago for public health when something needed to be discussed with the joint powers agreement.

01:38:44,800	Do I think that we’re going to somehow come up with a magical solution that pleases everybody by getting all 10 of us in the room? No, um. I, I guess looking at these bullet points. It, I think you’re gonna get a city and a county perspective and it’s, it’s going to be different and it all comes down to.

01:39:06,370	How we want to approach growth, but then also who we represent the bullet 0.1 discussing allowing citizens to vote if the ETA continues, uh, I mean, I didn’t seem like voting was mentioned in public comment, but it was mentioned in the sense that In my opinion, if you’re voting in a city election, you should also be paying city property taxes.

01:39:29,200	The the citizens of the city of Bismarck are who the five of us serve. I understand that the ETA is a confusing beast of a thing, but at the end of the day, like there has to, we have to find that balance, so if all 10 of us sitting in a room gets us there, great, I just, it

01:39:46,600	like. It To me, the eliminating the ETA is a struggle with development, uh, having them all vote and bringing them all into the city, it’s like a giant annexation. I don’t even know how that would work, uh, so I mean, is there somewhere in between? I Potentially, I guess I don’t know.

01:40:09,670	Comm Connelly, um, I thank you, Comm Clery, and I’ll address that in a second. I apologize, Comm Risch, I didn’t answer your question. Um, the conversation has been had several times with both county and city when they talked about kicking the can down the road when the previous mayor ran for office, he promised that that discussion

01:40:31,330	would be had, and it wasn’t, um, to where everybody had that Bismarck Burley meeting, which is new. is the closest that um was, it’s Members from each at the same time it’s not always all of the members, and there’s finger pointing that happens between commissions to where one points at the other, there’s back talk and we’ve all

01:40:55,630	been around to hear it to where it’s that way. By getting all 10 people in the room. I used to, my educational background is counseling. When you get a lot of that finger pointing, get everybody in the room to talk and it takes away a lot of those um challenges and Um In that regard, pretty confident

01:41:17,470	that if we Call for this meeting. The other 5 commissioners from the county would also join us in that meeting. I mean, because in that regard, all those people do vote for them. And um as far as uh uh what you referenced, Comm Cleary.

01:41:39,470	We have kids that don’t pay property tax but we represent them and they’re within city limits with their parents and granted the parents pay property tax. We have a lot of new Americans in the community that aren’t citizens yet and we still represent them within the community. There’s a lot of people to wear.

01:42:00,400	The Segway between where do you draw the line of representation and where you don’t, um, it gets a little, um, You end up drawing those lines for ourselves. And in this case, potentially every single one of those people could come into this, and we have another topic. We want regional buy-in into those discussions, we want to grow in a positive way.

01:42:22,600	Well, having discussions to where we’re bringing people to the table and welcoming them. That’s how we get to that answer, and because it impacts every single one of us, whether they pay property taxes or not, because we want those people to also partake in some of those big decisions that impact the whole region.

01:43:03,730	What are the wishes? Has this even been Sent over to the county to is like, is it something? That Because I mean, To Comm Connelly’s point, like, It, it It’s something that he’s bringing up because something people speaking to him, it’s not something that county has asked, has communicated with him about, so I guess I just. I mean Um I don’t, I can’t answer that.

01:43:30,030	I mean, I just know that we have it in our joint meeting, it has the ETA. Agreement has been Disgust and I, if it was 2023, then it was, then it would be up and it’s due to be reviewed now, but um. You know, I, my only concern is putting 10 of us in the room.

01:43:48,000	I’m not sure what we get done for sure. Um-hum. Well, uh, mayor and Comm, Comm Clary Clary, I appreciate that, um. Uh, as we’re all adjusting to what people are saying, um.

01:44:17,400	What I would say uh I would like to make a motion to request that the county Commission join us in a public hearing or public input meeting with citizens both in the ETA and locally to discuss this issue to see if there’s a better way of going about things on contingency that the counting Commission has a majority vote to join us on that matter. Would that answer your question? Sure. So we have a motion.

01:44:53,270	Yeah So I’m going to second the motion for purposes of discussion. So we were 1st and a 2nd. We have a a motion to request, I guess it would be a request to have a meeting because they could deny it. Uh, as long as there’s 3 present, so they have a quorum. What, what’s the discussion? Mr. Connelly.

01:45:19,330	I would say when it’s majority vote that their request is that all 5 of them attend to. If I need to amend. I think you said quorum, but that’s. Well, a vote when if 3 of them vote, it’s kind of like they’re speaking for their entire board. But Mr. Mayor, um, I’m not really clear. You’re saying you have to have a majority, that’s only 3. Right.

01:45:46,130	Would that be great. Yeah. Um Am I clear you say the county has to have a majority that would be 3 board members, 3 county commissioners. I appreciate that question, um, Comm Risch. I was trying to answer uh Comm Cleary’s question.

01:46:12,730	The anticipation is that all 5 county commissioners attend, but um, it would be based on their vote, if it’s, um, 3 or against, then it’s all null and void. I mean, it falls back onto their plate, but if they’ve About 3 to 2 for the meeting, then, and that’s why I said. Can we amend the motion or if I need to, I can, that all 5 have to attend.

01:46:32,500	U 5 attend, those 5 attend. Mr. Mayor, what if somebody doesn’t show? I guess they run for election too. So, the The ask is to like put it on their agenda and have them vote on holding a meeting and as long as that passes at their meeting, we’re still asking obviously that all of them attend.

01:46:57,170	Like if they vote no on having the meeting, we’re still asking them to attend, is basically what you’re saying, OK. Hi. I don’t know if that’s what the motion said or not, but Would you like me to withdraw and restate it? Take a swing a second swing at it, I think that would be good, yes. OK.

01:47:21,600	I see you. Julie nodding, um. I withdraw my first motion and I’ll withdraw the second. OK. I would like to make a motion that we have a meeting with fully represented by both the Board of City Commissioners and the Board of County Commissioners, contingent on a majority vote of the county requesting that all of their

01:47:46,800	members attend as well. OK, so first. Second. OK. So we’re a 1st and a 2nd. What is the discussion, is that clear enough? Is it concise enough? It’s, your emotions are so vague, dude. Just say what you want to say.

01:48:12,070	I think as long as it’s gonna be on the record so we can piece it together from the market. Sure. OK. What’s the discussion? Any discussion? It is what it is. I, yeah, I mean, I, I, I, I agree with you.

01:48:34,770	I don’t know, I don’t know what consensus we come to at a meeting of all 10 of us, but I mean, I guess we doesn’t mean we can’t ask them to have it, so It Um, we We have a 1st and a 2nd, no discussion. Call the roll, please. Comm Risch? No. Comm Zenker? Yes, Comm Connelly, yes. Comm Cleary, no. Merschmitz No, I don’t know what we’re going to gain. Get more than this. Give it a shot. Uh Do we have any other business tonight? Mr.

01:49:33,030	Mayor, yeah, we had an excellent meeting today with the backyard Chi group and uh we’re working on this ordinance. I call it a beautiful, maybe a perfect upcoming ordinance. It’s gonna be so great. I think Comm Zinker is going to be all over it, maybe make the motion to approve.

01:49:50,000	So I just want to report that things are going well in that regard, but we’ve got some white. So why is your goal? OK. Any other business? I can give a quick update to you on, uh, Jason was here, was up a few weeks ago or 2 meetings ago we talked about, um, there, that we have a committee kind

01:50:06,070	of working on Fourth of July stuff. We met again today for that. Things are going well, um, you’re gonna keep seeing it in the newspaper and hopefully we can keep putting it out, uh, from the city side to make sure that everybody understand where is it happening, that it’s still happening, that sort of

01:50:21,530	stuff, so everything is going good with that too. if you keep seeing it in the news. Thank