00:00:13,300	And I’ve got 5:15, it’s June 10th. We’re in the Tom Baker room of the City County Building. This will be the board of City Commissioners regular meeting prior to starting off we can call uh Chaplain Crowley forward for invocation and to lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance, please. By your heads, please.

00:00:39,570	Heavenly Father, we thank you for the gift of life. We thank you, Lord, for the opportunity to come together as your people. Help us to act with character and to act with conviction. Help us to listen with understanding and goodwill. Help us to speak with kindness. Give us a spirit of service. Remind us that we are stewards of your authority.

00:01:02,070	Guide the commissioners to be the leaders your people need. And help all here see the humanity and dignity of those who disagree with them and to respond with restraint.

00:01:22,770	To treat all persons, no matter how weak or poor with irreverence your creation deserves, and finally, Father, renew us with the strength of your presence and the joy of helping to build a community worthy of the human person. We ask this as your sons and daughters confident in your goodness and love. Amen. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America. And to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Thank you, sir.

00:01:52,630	Thank you. We’ll, if we can call the order by calling roll, please. Comm Risch. Comm Zenker. Comm Connelly, Comm Cleary here, Mayor Schmittz here. First item is public comment. It’s restricted to the items on the consent agenda or regular agenda.

00:02:22,600	Uh, excluding public hearing items which we’ll have hearing on anyway, so anyone who wished to speak to an item, please come forward, state your name, uh, sign in and tell us the topic you’re talking to, please. 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 with regard to the consent agenda.

00:02:49,900	Move to approve is presented. Second. Is there any discussion? Here on call roll. Comm Zenker. Yes. Comm Connelly? Yes. Comm Cleary? Yes, Comm Risch. Yes. Mayor Schmidtz. Yes.

00:03:16,430	with uh Permission, I would like to move item G on the regular agenda to the top of the agenda and, uh, uh, if that’s all right with everyone, I know that Comm Connelly, a person who is Here regarding that. can make it now and so is that all right with everybody? Sure. OK. So, um, we’ll move item G to A, and I’m gonna let Comm Connelly, this is your agenda item, so.

00:03:42,230	I appreciate it, Mayor and Commissioners and being courteous of uh um Karl the subcommittee chairs um time. He has a prior engagement at 7, and this is just the best way to accommodate for that, um.

00:04:07,830	I We’re like the previous initiated measure, um, I’m the advocate on it and working with different citizens and conversations that have spanned a number of years, um, this is a swing we’re taking using the initiated measure process, um, we met with, um, per request from Jason City administrator and Gabe city engineer, and we had a conversation and they encouraged that we bring this to the table, um, and I’ll just let Karl speak at this time and then if you have any questions for either one of us, we can go

00:04:29,070	for the public so they certainly the listening public can always state the actual topic. I I G, please. Well, Just, just so we get it on the record, yeah, um.

00:04:53,200	The headline on the initiated measure, we’re still going through the approval of the wording process, so we don’t want to, uh, say this is exact yet because it may be subject to change here and there, but, um, the uh title of it is an initiated of city ordinance amending the Home Rule Charter to continue the half cent use and gross receipts tax with the proceeds to be dedicated exclusively to projects related to arterial and collector streets within the Bismarck boundaries defined

00:05:17,170	within. Um I think that gets it on the record so. Thank you. Go ahead, Karl. Good evening. Mayor Schmidt’s, uh, Commissioners, I appreciate your time. My name is Karl Jung, and I’m a long-term resident of Bismarck.

00:05:52,900	I am the subcommittee chair for a local citizen-driven initiated measure that we submitted to the city attorney on May 22nd of this year. I was a member of the subcommittee for the Public Safety Public Transit Measure that was passed by Citizens last year. Following your submission, I received a letter from the city attorney with wording shortfalls and their subcommittee presented our second attempt on June 6th.

00:06:12,930	To work toward making sure the measure is worded in a way that achieves the intended goal and is consistent with the expectations of how it would appear as an amendment to the Home Rule Charter. I left copies with of the latest version of our initiated measure petition proposal with city administrators and encourage them to share as part of your packet tonight.

00:06:35,870	So the reason I stand before you tonight. Comm Connelly and I met with the city administrator, Jason. And send the engineer Gabe on May 29th. Uh, regarding the proposed initiated measure, and we are here based on encouragement from both of them.

00:07:01,770	We have a citizen initiated measures submitted and going through the process to circulate first petition signatures. We intend to get on the ballot regardless of what we share tonight. We will officially talk about the details once we are able, and that will happen after the language is approved for submission or for circulation. Uh, two areas that we received from the engineer and the administrator.

00:07:22,100	That may be a benefit to the citizen came up in relation to uh Language matching intent in the corridor map. And they need city commission permission. To engage with our committee on these items. We are not asking for permission from us. We’re asking the city commission to give them permission to interact with us on this topic.

00:07:45,570	It’s on the agenda out of courtesy. No more, no less. This is a citizen’s right to represent, and we’re choosing to exercise that right. Mm Any questions? Commissioners, do you have any questions? Go ahead, Comm Risch. Um, Mr. Mayor Tom, has there been any analysis of traffic patterns, any study of growth.

00:08:12,330	We’ve got professionals at the city and planning and zoning and engineering, um, the, the streets and that are listed and um I’m looking at them and say, wait, wait a minute, the city might change course within this 10-year time frame.

00:08:31,500	We’re talking about certainly $50 million maybe $80 million of new tax revenues we’re calling on to our citizens. Um I’d feel more comfortable if there was an intense analysis on where we might or maybe not list the roads at all if we want money for roads and funding, maybe we just allow the discretion to the city, Commission and our, our planning and zoning and engineering department.

00:08:49,200	At, at present, Comm, uh, and Mayor Schmidt’s Comm, we’re not prepared to discuss the nuts and bolts of the measure until the language is finalized. Comm Connelly, That’s actually, it’s a great question, uh, Comm Risch, and um That’s why we’re here is with our discussion with Jason and Gabe, and that, um.

00:09:18,970	There’s a little bit of an impasse with How we can go about communicating with one another with respect to each other and with respect to the citizen is It’s an uncomfortable space because They don’t feel it’s appropriate to talk to the subcommittee unless the commission gives permission to have that discussion one way or another.

00:09:44,030	So if you give that permission, we can vet some of those things if that permission is not given, then we will continue the subcommittee will continue to submit wording until it’s approved, and they’ll get the signatures. So, um, It’s, it’s really down to that. I mean, um.

00:10:13,370	Uh Yeah, to answer your que question is is that if you allow them to communicate, then the commission and the administration has more input into how this goes forward. If not, then we’ll do the best we can with what we got and get it as right as possible. Rich. Mr.

00:10:35,030	Mayor, Comm Connelly, but you’ve already established where these uh construction project of 57th Street and whatnot, you’ve got a list of different stuff. Yep, that’s all based on suggestion, uh, when the wordings approved, then the map will be set at that time, but that’s all open for input. Yeah So I, I guess I have a couple of questions, um, and one I’m trying to figure out what your subcommittee of.

00:10:56,670	Well it’s just the committee of your own. It’s just a committee. OK, so, cause that, that gives me concern as to like the city is not. put this forth at this point in time and it’s a city, so make sure we’re referring to it properly if it is. My follow-up question.

00:11:16,430	And this, I think, drives to one of my concerns is Um And I hope that whatever is resolved and if we if we decide as a commission to direct staff to Be a part of this, that’s fine, but In this initiative, you’ve got caps at $1 million and then it would have to be protested out.

00:11:35,730	Understanding that there’s almost no street repair that can be done for $1 million. That’s a pretty restrictive little thing, and if it gets protested out, now we’re sitting on 10 million $20 million of tax, which gives me chills up my spine because it brings back, Something that I don’t wish to talk about called the TIFF district.

00:11:57,070	Fund that’s just pulling at the city and has caused more than enough heartburn in this city already, so I mean, I think those are things that If it’s not opposed to funding streets. Don’t get me wrong, we have one out there that has a sunset on it. Um, that’s why this is maybe even being talked about.

00:12:14,100	I’m not sure we shouldn’t have a sunset again because I’d like to have the opportunity for citizens to reconsider it, but those are, those are my thoughts. I, I was around when that was passed. I was part of getting it passed.

00:12:37,030	So Well, one, that’s part of the reason why not to talk about the nuts and bolts because terms start getting thrown out there and associations start getting made, which is not part of what this wording and trying to get approved of is to throw out the term TIFF dis uh TIFF as a term associated with this is not accurate anyway whatsoever, but, um, also when it’s the caps, the cap portion. It is a trip.

00:13:05,830	It’s um special assessment on one side and half cent sales tax on the other side of the trip. It’s, it’s, there’s no cap to it, it just changes the avenue of the funding source for the particular corridor, but again, the wording is not set to where uh the subcommittee can go collect signatures, so.

00:13:27,900	The conversation would be so wide open. That it just confuses people. And so to get it more accurate, like. was mentioned, Karl’s statement and things is out of courtesy from the meeting, um, we do have a lot of very intelligent, well educated staff, and they Do have that internal knowledge to um give guidance to wording to make sure it’s not worded

00:13:57,630	wrongly to where we have an unintended consequence, but um I think this does have potential of representing citizens in a very good way and talking with others, others do too, um, so even if the commission chooses not to let staff talk. We’ll just go forward the best we can.

00:14:21,700	This is part of the problem uh process that we have being in a representative republican exercising democracy, even though I have a seat at this table as a city Comm. I’m also a citizen, and we can use the initiative process in order to put opportunities forward if it gets voted in, the voters have exercised their position in that process.

00:14:46,230	If it gets voted down, same thing occurs and we go forward with the next idea. OK. I, I’m just voicing my, I’ve had an opportunity to read it, so, um, voicing my concerns and I, I do want to hear from, from Gabe for sure, um, and I also have a inquiry of, uh, city attorney as well.

00:15:06,030	But, if the others have questions for. OK. Yeah, sure. OK. Thank you. Gabe, if you wouldn’t mind giving us your Information please. Hm It’s really the, the point of this presentation would be to kind of do a recap of how we got the 0 cent sales tax for arterial road reconstruction and construction in the first place and then

00:15:44,500	just the status update on where we are with that program currently. So how’d we get here? The infrastructure task force would have been the first thing this was the commission initiated this process and then brought together members from commission members from the business community, members from the community at large and then staff to participate in an

00:16:03,730	analysis and and a work group session to create uh long term financial plans for roads, waters, streets, all, all the infrastructure, uh, had about 12 meetings over the course of this fall of 2016 to spring of 2017 time frame, uh, really early that focus became uh apparent that it should focus on those arterial roadways, the,

00:16:22,370	the rates for the water system and for the sewer system could be adjusted if need be for funding. So the infrastructure task force, even though it has a really broad name focused primarily on roadway, uh, information and looking at the potential. Funding mechanisms that would be used for that sort of work.

00:16:43,270	The recommendations that this task force came with were, were two of them. One of them would have, would have required a home rule charter amendment. The other was a policy decision for the commission.

00:16:59,230	So the first one being capping the 25 mil property tax buydown that at that time, uh, was just tied to the mill levy, but with the mill increasing in its value and the sales tax being flat or even decreasing, uh, the projections were showing that over the course of some period of time, the sales tax would be entirely uh cannibalized by the property. buydown, and there would be no sales tax to use for any other purposes that the commission could, could elect.

00:17:16,230	So that was one of the items that one would take a home rule charter amendment. The second item, redirecting special assessment bydown, uh, to prioritize new arterial road construction was a policy decision that would have been available for the commission, uh, the commission heard both of those recommendations and really didn’t act on those at

00:17:35,200	that time. But that led into the next task force that was then established in the spring of 2017, which was the Special Assessment task force, which once again had some commission members, businesses, probably a larger community representation on this one as well, uh, and then staff uh present at these meetings.

00:17:52,570	This goal was looking at the special assessment process, uh, if the infrastructure task force said, please reallocate special assessment dollars. This was the task force to kind of look into that issue a little bit in greater detail. Um, so as that. Task force came back with recommendations.

00:18:13,170	This would have been the slew or 7 recommendations that the excuse me, the special assessment task force had. Uh, many of those were items that were carried over from the infrastructure task force.

00:18:32,030	So they, they took many of those modified them in some ways, uh, but one of those being the additional sales tax for uh construction of expanded arterial roadways that were identified by the previous task force, as well as capping the sales tax, uh, mill property tax buydown.

00:18:51,970	So They took those two task forces and then combined them, one with membership from both the infrastructure task force as well as the special assessment task force to really come to a, a joint recommendation, um, that would then be put up to, to the commission so the joint task force recommendation was, uh, really to cap the sales tax 25 million property tax buydown at a 2019 level, so that’s a fixed dollar amount is what was put to the voters as well as levy a half cent sales tax to Sunset after 10 years to construct.

00:19:09,630	and reconstruct arterial roadways from a defined project list. So that was put on the ballot in November of 2018 and was passed by our community so that half cent sales tax for arterial road reconstruction and construction, uh, has to be listed on these roadways that are blue on this map, sunsets after 10 years, so we’ll see

00:19:29,170	that expiring in the, uh, first quarter of 2029 is when they’ll find our last collection. We generate about $10 million per year from this program, and so far we’ve invested $67 million in sales tax through 20. 25 with our Century Avenue project and that has been combined with $18.

00:19:48,300	5 million in federal and state aid that has been applied to some of these projects as well. Uh, the projects that are yellow and now highlighted in red represent the projects that we have committed to or have constructed or in the process of constructing, I won’t list them all here, but you can see it’s a wide variety of roadways

00:20:05,700	throughout all quadrants of our, our community here, um. But we are running out of blue roads, uh, to that are even acceptable for us to, to use. So that is something that we’ll, we’ll have to keep track of. So I wanted to tabulate this for my own, just understanding. So I took a little drone video.

00:20:24,730	This is our South Washington Street roundabout at Burley Avenue. So as of the end of 2024, this program has constructed approximately 18 lane miles of concrete pavement. 22,000 tons of asphalt or hot mix.

00:20:46,030	On all of the projects, not just this one, we have 4 traffic signals in, uh, as the traffic control device and 4 roundabouts have been installed. including the one we’re looking at here. We have 66,000 square feet of sidewalks or trails, usually a trail on one side, sidewalk on the other, and, uh,, 1000 trees, over 1000 trees. I’m gonna put 1000, but this is over 1000,, 1000 like 81 something along those lines. So into the project, uh, program financials.

00:21:06,370	Uh, this gets back to which projects we have, uh, have actual final costs on which ones are contracted and which ones are just in the CIP so everything except the Tyler Parkway project on the bottom of this list is either a final cost or a contracted cost with Tyler Parkway being, uh, the

00:21:22,930	one element that will be in our 2026, 2030 CIP that you’ll see as part of the budget proceedings coming up, uh, but the rest of these are committed dollars, so what we have on the books so far is that 84 million, uh, programmed, uh, but it. I said before, that was, uh.

00:21:42,100	15 $16 million less in what we’ve spent to date. As we look at the program financials, uh, this is one of my favorite graphs that every year I show it to you when we ask about what the next project should be.

00:21:57,800	So this is the concept of showing what we’ve accrued in our, uh, revenue over the course of time is that gray bar, the project costs or that yellow bar that goes negative on this chart shows which projects or shows that we spent money in those years with then that blue line, uh, representing the, the balance or the estimated balance as we get out into the future of what

00:22:12,070	that program has. So as you can see in 2025, we’re spending a significant sum of money. But also recouping and generating some as we get to 26, um, same kind of story, 2027 and 2028, uh, anticipated revenue will leave us with about $13 million is what we’re projecting at this point in time with all the

00:22:29,200	projects that we have programmed or under construction as a ending balance at this point in time, which could still be spent on the next project, whatever that might be, or considered for whatever the a change I guess could be here too, so just want to update you on what we’ve done so far and if that helps

00:22:45,770	with any of the discussion on what the next steps are, you’d be staff’s position that, um. That that the process that we used previously to engage with stakeholders throughout the community to, to see what do we like about this program, what’s needed, what should we do next, uh, worked well last time and I guess we’d advise that

00:23:01,930	something like that would be done in the future for the reup of this program or the, the, the re-envisioning of whatever this program may be in the future. So take any questions that you may have? Anybody have questions for? Go ahead, Comm Zenker.

00:23:20,370	Gabe real quick, so, uh, the 15 million that we got under before we approve or the city citizens approved this 0 cent sales tax, um, we would only be finishing up the second leg of 43rd now, is that correct? Mayor Comm, Comm Zenker, it would be.

00:23:40,200	Yeah, we would probably be on the 43rd Avenue Project from State Street to Um, 26th Street is be the, the project that we would have taken on and that would have taken every year of financial aid that we get from federal aid sources combined and, and try to make that thing work. So there would be no Ash Cooley Drive, there’d be no South Washington Street.

00:23:56,230	There’d be no paving permanent paving on Tyler Parkway or 43rd Avenue, and that’s what I really want to anchor about is that this thing has been very, very uh Proactive in a reactive scenario. I mean, I remember when I was elected, Forty-third was, was all it was, it was a, was a two-lane road. And, and pretty dangerous.

00:24:13,770	And through this, we, we fast tracked that project. In fact, we did it in COVID. It was one of the first projects that came out during COVID. I just don’t understand why we want to change something that’s working really well for us. I don’t, I don’t get that.

00:24:33,500	Um, yes, they’re, they’re, you’re always gonna get complaints about, hey, the, the, the City commission doesn’t listen. They don’t, they don’t do what we tell them, but we still have 74,000 people that we need to. That we need to listen to. So if You know, 40, 50, don’t agree with it, and we still approve it. It’s not that we’re not listening, it’s just that we have to take into account the much bigger picture.

00:24:50,030	Of what we’re trying to do. Um, I’m, I mean, I really thought that, that when we got to the 2nd phase of the, of this that we would talk more about street utility fees and kind of bring it all together, um, When Gabe and I talked earlier, um, last week in Or this week it was, um,

00:25:12,100	hey, we need to do this in a, in a 2 point old fashion, right? Um, we’ve talked about getting rid of special assessments, and I think there’s a way to do that. If we, if we combine these, this and make it a, a permanent thing moving forward. Um, I, I don’t like the limitations.

00:25:30,300	You’re only, you’re only looking at artillery streets and collector streets, and those definitions are different between what our internal staff has and and what DOT would have or even what federal would have. So, And, and a lot of times we have to play by that federal violin to make sure that we get those, those $15 million of funds.

00:25:48,230	So I just, I just. I would, here’s one thing, it’s my portfolio. I wish somebody would have brought something up to me months ago if this was the, the communication.

00:26:08,570	And 2, I think Um It would have been a professional courtesy to our staff and administration as to what, what we thought the, the vision would be for the future. I don’t, I don’t see this as a vision. I think this just a no disrespect, but it’s a group of people who aren’t happy with the certain ways, certain things are done, and it’s a, it’s a handcuffing scenario in my opinion, so. Comm Connelly. This is not.

00:26:35,330	An effort to say that the current funding source is bad. It has served its purpose. It has done. What it was voted in to be. It’s sunsetting and there are a lot of different dynamics. That are all out on the table that are all part of discussions and with every meeting with every interaction with every um committee, people are listening.

00:27:02,970	And they’re taking all of that information, they’re taking their own experiences. They’re taking what they read, they’re taking it all into consideration and with everything available, can we look at some of the things that we haven’t found an answer for, um, urban sprawl comes up as a topic in a lot of cases as the

00:27:26,030	cities expand and that means we got to get services further and further out, and it increases the cost on an entire community. That’s where the boundaries within the initiated measure come up is that it, a lot of those roads that are on the map from the current initiated measure will be included if

00:27:46,770	this one passes in the measure going forward. It just adds the additional revenue source for the collector and arterial roadways within. In order to remove that special assessment, um, designation along those corridors and for keeping those costs down when the special assessment task force met.

00:28:12,630	I sat in on every single one of those meetings and some of the impasses that came up is, do you look at square footage? Do you look at square footage of a lot? Do you look at linear square footage, and there was an impasse because the top number stayed the same. It’s how you got to that equation to get to that.

00:28:28,430	number, it changed and there were consequences to some businesses at a higher amount, and there are consequences to some businesses at a lower amount and they thought, well, this higher amount’s a little unfair, so let’s move this. So this went up and this went down, and there was fairness and unfairness in every alternative that they talked about.

00:28:50,770	And during that six year period of time, it actually cycled around where we went through the same conversations a couple of times. I mean, you weren’t a lot of those Mayor Schmidts and that, and there was a lot of difference when we’re talking fee for service residential and business, you’re talking to the footprints that business has

00:29:11,630	over special assessment or a fee for service versus special assessments. It was a lot to overcome. And then we also needed state legislation to get that help. The state 3 swings at it and, um, this last round. It actually went backwards to the conversation instead of forward.

00:29:37,300	So something like this, most businesses are along arterials and collector corridors and um with this going forward, we just had the discussion on Ottawa Street. The amount of cost of doing businesses? Puts business in a very difficult place when you’re talking 6 figures of special assessments. That’s hard for a business. It’s competitive enough out there.

00:29:59,630	Government shouldn’t be in a position of making it hard for business to go forward. So do we take a swing at this and maybe ease that if most of those corridors for businesses are off the table. I mean, East Maine’s contested out twice, and that because of the amount. East Maine is getting bad.

00:30:22,100	It needs a rehab, but those businesses down there cannot absorb a huge special assessment and I’ve been. told that by a lot of them. Um, and then, uh, With all of the remaining streets where, um, like the, uh, residential area, when the special assessment task force, they first started out talking about sidewalk to sidewalk, and what would that look like? Well, the fee for service amount started getting

00:30:44,500	too high to where people weren’t comfortable with it. So they reduced it down to curb to curb. Well, if he had the collector and arterial roadways taken care of under one source, can you look at a fee for service that we can discuss at a table like this and does that drive that fee for service down

00:31:03,930	low enough to where we can talk about sidewalk to sidewalk again versus curb to curb. And that’s one of the reasons for having these discussions and taking the swings is, um, it’s not that people didn’t go to each individual person and have the meetings.

00:31:26,170	They’ve been listening all along, and there are projects to where, um, one and done public input meetings. They were told it was public input, and it came across like public information. Like it’s just checking a box and the citizens are going to do what the citizens or the city’s going to do what the city’s to do. Well, this is a swing at addressing that.

00:31:43,770	There are a lot of citizens that say things that aren’t helpful. Well, if everybody has skin in the game, so to speak, and they’re talking to one another as far as what the citizen the city grows into. Maybe it turns into some things, uh, some special things to where we grow in a good way.

00:32:05,670	It’s a ripple on how we change our processes, but we still get the things done. We still get the services and, uh, provide the services and we do the projects that we’ve always been doing. Go ahead, Comm Risch. Mr. Mayor, Comm Connelly.

00:32:31,500	Don’t you agree the 2016 to 2018 community involvement process is far superior than just 6 people putting something on the ballot. This is way more than 6 people. Well, whatever, whatever you got, I, I, I, I wasn’t aware of it. First I saw it was on the agenda. I, I, I didn’t know there was a process out there, community outreach and whatnot on this bigger thing.

00:32:45,270	Uh, 2016 to 2018, there was a real process so you could actually participate. Then it was passed, and it was a 10-year thing. OK, it’s gonna expire in 10 years. Well, we know how that goes. Here we want to extend it for another 10 years.

00:32:59,670	And I’m with the mayor if we’re gonna do it, we probably shouldn’t put a sunset on. And what I’m, and I’m with Comm Zinker here. I don’t want a bunch of strings attached. You mentioned Ottawa Street. That’s a tremendous burden on the people living on Ottawa Street. Maybe we could enact this half cent sales tax and deal with some places like that as well to reduce some of the special assessments.

00:33:18,300	And I guess if that street’s chosen to be part of the map. What if the citizens were to pass this. Wouldn’t that accomplish that ultimate end that you just explained? That would be the intent is getting there and as far as it We’ve had people within the city talking about it at planning and zoning.

00:33:39,670	We’ve had people talk about it at Board of Adjustment meetings. We’ve had it at city commission meetings to where, um, when the sunset arises, they’re going to look at redressing whether in the same form or maybe a minor change. What can this do going into the future. It’s been out there. It’s been talked about.

00:34:00,030	It’s been part of the process the whole time. People have been listening and we’re trying to, one thing it doesn’t do, the current one, it doesn’t address things that like taking a swing at urban sprawl, and that’s something that is written into this measure, um, is do we take a swing at urban

00:34:18,100	sprawl and try to control some of those costs that really, really challenge just about every city in the country. So Um, I’m not sure who I would want to ask this question to, but. Because it’s, it’s what has been put before us. That’s why I’m addressing it, so.

00:34:44,930	Coming back to the As currently drafted, the $1 million trigger. That house of then go through some process. The question I have is how workable is that even for engineering? Maybe Gabe, can you address that? I’m, I’m trying to, like, so we can give guidance to staff if we’re going to do that.

00:35:07,870	Mayor and Comm, Mayor Spitz, I, I think one of the challenges about this whole conversation is that we, we aren’t able to talk about the things that are on this piece of paper that then we’re now having conversations about, so, uh, I think many in the public are probably confused about what we’re even discussing, um, just, I’d add

00:35:21,730	that as a as a preamble to this, um, the concept of requiring a a public vote on whether or not a million dollars. is spent on a roadway improvement, I guess if that’s the language that we’re talking about, um, then that would present challenges, obviously from our ability to program projects and having the assurance, uh, assurance that

00:35:41,900	that project will in fact happen. Let me interrupt. That provision on it does not require a vote. That’s just based on the cost trip or the repairs. So East Century corridor last year, um, was it 3 or 4 districts, each of them tripped over a million dollars.

00:36:03,770	The protests were all 19 to 22% or whatnot, um, those repairs were specially assessed to the benefiting what we have benefiting properties and that in that case by Just the fact that it tripped the million dollars, then that’s when this half cent would kick in. That provision does not go to a vote of the people.

00:36:29,300	So that I, I think there’s a lot of confusion, I, I’d say in the language that we have. So that probably drives the question back to city attorney Me like. How much work needs to be done to get this to something that is even Administratively possible. Well, Mayor Commission, um. I’m I’m sorry, is this not close enough so.

00:36:55,200	The, according to the ordinances, the city attorney can only pass on the form. Of the petition or the initiation. And so I just received this on Friday when I was out, so I haven’t had a chance to dive into it, but I was just listening to what Comm Connelly said, and there are some Drafting errors that contradict what Comm Connelly said, just

00:37:17,500	from my brief reading, um, So I can’t really, because I’m supposed to remain unbiased. I can’t comment on the content. Of the initiation. So I would just encourage the committee to work with staff to make this enforceable. I, I just think there’s some errors in here that make it unenforceable at the moment. So Mr. Connelly.

00:37:47,970	We don’t, uh, per, um, Karl’s testimony in the subcommittee. We don’t have to work with staff or anything, but when we’re talking about trying to put a good something forward for the benefit of the citizen, whether they agree to it in a vote as we communicate into the next election next year, um,

00:38:12,670	trying to come up with the best product so that we can, that helps everybody with the understanding because like we know with any project, any build up, um, the Tyler Parkway conversation was on the conversation piece since 1996. There’s a lot that goes in and the dynamics and the moving parts, it’s a lot.

00:38:40,770	So, um, If you don’t approve that we can interact, we just understand where we all sit. If you do approve and, um, it’s not that they’re telling us what the wording should be, um, we can even bring back to the commission, if $1 million is not a practical because that would be every project out there and let’s talk about the

00:39:02,030	number a little bit, um, uh, some of those things, if, say, even the parameters of the box instead of River Road is a More practical and uh addressing sprawl, moving that parameter to Tyler Parkway.

00:39:22,900	Those things can be discussed, but, uh, having something to where we’re um being as fair to the citizen and the wording as we can, as we uh move this initiated measure process forward. Interaction with staff, they have that internal knowledge, they have that expertise, um. If we’re able to talk, putting it out there. We’re not asking the commission to put it on the ballot. We’re not asking, uh, the commission to do any work.

00:39:45,470	We’re not asking them to promote it. We’re not asking them to, um, they can be against it. That’s fine. Um, we’re going to address that side of it with the voters, um, what we’re saying is, This might be. The best benefit to the citizen if you do allow us to talk.

00:40:06,370	Um, but if you don’t, that’s OK. OK, well, it’s obviously up to the commission. My one concern I have, and I just, I, I have to say this is, you know, You are a city and city Comm and so. The struggle I’m having is looking like it’s coming from the city commission, even if it isn’t.

00:40:25,830	And that’s kind of a struggle I have with, you know, and that would have been. As Comm Zinker has mentioned, I, I think it’s not a topic that we didn’t want to address at some point in time.

00:40:40,370	It would have been wonderful if we could have Kind of Guided this ship a little bit, but I, I leave it up to the commissioners. It what we want to do. Comm Risch. Mr. Mayer, is it too late for us to guide this ship? Is it too late for the commission to develop a plan and put it on the ballot as well.

00:41:06,030	It is not, but do we want multiple sales tax in multiple elections. Well, if we have one that’s, Works better. I don’t know. Why, it’s not ideal, certainly. It is not, it would not be pro prohibited. And I, and I mean, as Comm, I mean, I would like to even be more broad thinking and try to attack the special assessments for repairs and maintenance on.

00:41:28,930	All roads. Which We could maybe get there But this won’t get there. It won’t even get close. Because I know what the numbers are. Comm Cleary, I’m sorry. I. That’s OK.

00:42:09,500	Um, I guess the thing I’m struggling with maybe it already has your point has already been made, but it, it’s set up as a citizen initiative and so as much as it makes sense that you would inquire staff and need assistance in some ways to make sure that it’s like written correctly and makes sense and is enforceable. I It, it still has to remain a citizen initiative, it and I.

00:42:28,930	If Comm Risch’s point, if the city is also going to be trying to do something so that this doesn’t sunset and then we’re left with nothing, then do we have two competing things going on. It But then also like, we all seem to have our own concerns or issues with what’s currently laid out, which obviously has plenty of potential to change and be manipulated and stuff.

00:42:50,770	Because it’s still so early, but With staff being involved, it doesn’t necessarily mean that the city And they’re like whether it’s staff opinion or commissioner’s opinion is going to actually guide the ship to what we want it to be because it still is citizen driven at the end of the day, I guess is what I’m struggling with, um.

00:43:12,470	It But, I mean, does that mean that they shouldn’t be able to ask staff for assistance. I mean, I don’t, I don’t think so, but I I guess I don’t know where that leaves us or um like what we’re exactly trying to decide tonight as far as this goes. Comm Connelly.

00:43:37,570	The, well, I wouldn’t use the term manipulate the wording, work on the wording, I would say, but manipulation is not a good word. Um, but the map, I mean, Gabe works with the map and our staff work with the map all the time. Part of the reason in the list is question mark behind things.

00:43:57,300	Is this appropriate to call this a collector? Is it appropriate to call it a collector roadway. What that definition is, is, is, um. And that they have the internal knowledge, um, uh. Not there are people with expertise in that that we’ve talked to. There are people that are, everybody has a different perspective.

00:44:22,430	Um, so the key on the map is, is that once it’s set at a transparency, basically any of the projects that could go on. On in the future, whether it’s a rehab or reconstruction, and that the citizens know exactly with what this funding source that they passed is supposed to be applied to, um.

00:44:46,900	There was even some things that the current one paid for that wasn’t part of that initiated measure like certain turn lanes and things, um. But, uh The other side of it, the citizen-driven portion, once the wordings improved. The map set and um the wording said at that point, the subcommittee and other people that said that they would go out and collect signatures. They will do the work.

00:45:12,630	It takes 1,4066 signatures to get it on the ballot. It’s not an easy feat. Uh, a person would have to turn in arguably 2000 to 2500 signatures because there’s always people that They’ll sign it and they’re from, um, people outside of the jurisdiction and things.

00:45:35,570	Um, it’s citizens going to citizens and talking about, do you think this makes sense or does it not? And you let the voters decide the commission actually has a pretty easy in the sense that any commission could just say, well, we’ve worked on this, we have a subcommittee, a vote of 5 people, 3 being the majority, can put it on a ballot and leave it up to the citizens to

00:45:52,200	decide too. Um I’m a door knocker. I know a lot of people that are door knockers, that interaction has um a lot of citizens appreciate the fact that they like that communication from people, so it’s doesn’t say one side’s wrong or the other.

00:46:18,300	It just says it’s a different approach to exercising what we call our democracy, exercising democracy. So But, um They’re all great Christian. I mean, this is part of the It’s part of civil discourse to where hopefully we get to good answers. This is a chance we’re taking. Any thoughts, commissioners? One last thing, I don’t stand to gain from this at all.

00:47:02,570	It’s just an idea, but if you don’t think I should vote on this. I’m comfortable with that too. I don’t have a motion yet, so. Comm, we’re a little pigeonholed a little bit here. If we want this to be workable in the future, we almost. Need to approve it. So, I don’t. I know. I don’t know what we’re trying to accomplish.

00:47:32,230	That’s the hard thing. Just don’t Comm Risch, uh, Mr. Mayor, I guess I don’t have a problem with the staff advising this committee to get it right, but I’d much prefer that, uh, we use the same process that we use for the 2018 vote, where it was more involving, more input from the community, more open,

00:48:05,670	transparent process. First I saw this was on Thursday when it showed up online. First I heard of it. So the idea that there’s been all kinds of input. I, I, I didn’t see it. So I’d just rather, I, I don’t have a problem with staff giving some advice, but like you said, Mr.

00:48:22,170	Mayor, it looks almost like it’s a city commission-driven thing and it’s not. And um I mean, we could, we could do that on our own. Certainly, but again, how do we want competing measures. Or do we want to be more bold? I mean, Yeah, and I think we need to be more bold. Go big or go home.

00:48:41,900	I don’t think we accomplished what we need to accomplish with this. I think we’ve got to really dive into that and I think it’s been a while, but I’m pretty sure the task force was reconvened, but nothing really ever happened with it. It’s been sitting idle because of this.

00:48:58,000	So maybe it’s that, here’s the I mean, I know there’s people who have asked me if I’d reinstitute it. Here’s the, here’s the button, push it go, to go forward. And we figured it out. I just don’t want to confuse the citizens. That’s my biggest concern because the Halpin has been so good for us.

00:49:14,970	We’ve invested all that money right back in our community. So, Um Yeah, I don’t know. Someone’s got to do something. At And that wouldn’t change if the voters approved of the 50 cents, it’s still going to be reinvested in the community for roadways. Just like it has been, it just A little different context.

00:49:53,330	I, I Question I have For whoever it needs to be to and maybe you can’t answer this, so. If, if city staff is involved and helps. With ideas and how we can get that and we can Get more bold with this to try to address even special assessments. I mean, I’m more inclined to be supportive of asking our staff to do that.

00:50:20,100	Then not and I don’t know if I’m asking the question that’s even legitimate or where you’re at. I also have, if, if we don’t sunset it. And we put borders around the community. We have just tied the hands of all future commissions forever. And The community’s going to grow.

00:50:39,900	Well, let’s face it, we’re growing 1000 residents a year. They got to go someplace. That’s not, that’s not accurate, um, we haven’t tied it because the same thing with any initiated measure, the process on anything just like our ordinance is if people put in the work.

00:51:03,970	Things can be changed, uh, if people go out and get collect signatures, they can amend this just like they can amend anything in the homeor charter is, is that everything being in a republic, the citizens, the city commissions, the state, they’re always influx of change. Nobody’s handcuffed. They can go out and change things. But, but there is, once I realize there can always be in a home rule charter amendment ordinance, but you set something in.

00:51:28,370	out there, it becomes It’s always a bigger leap. It’s always a bigger leap, so I’m just like, that would be my comments if, if there’s openness to looking bigger, bolder.

00:51:49,230	Let’s try to really address some of the issues that I know citizens are concerned with when it comes to special assessments when there’s streets in front of their houses were repaired. Like, now I think we’re talking about some things. Comm Clery. I mean, maybe at this point we direct staff to Have those conversations and then come back to us and like if we get to a point where. We are getting that out of those meetings, then the city stays involved in this measure.

00:52:14,970	And if, if we aren’t and they’re concept is something different than what we’re talking about then. At a certain point that staff involvement stops. I mean, I don’t think it has to be like a direction like staff be involved and then That doesn’t end. It could be like what’s direct staff. To meet with them.

00:52:34,100	You know Like once about this topic, see if we can get everybody on the same page, see if they can assist, maybe it’s more than once, but like it can be like.

00:52:50,570	have staff assist, see if we can get everybody on the same page and then whether it’s Gabe or whoever else comes back to us and lets us know. Have we made progress in the direction that the city wants and that we want or do we want to let this just be fully Citizen-driven and staff steps away.

00:53:10,430	I mean, I think we can kind of, we can let them attempt to help and see where it gets us, and then come back to it. don’t we? And then I would want Comm Zinker to be certainly involved because it’s your portfolio. I can do that. So I guess I will make a motion to request that staff.

00:53:43,100	Uh, whether that’s Gabe or Um, someone in engineering to connect with the committee and see if they can get onto the same page about some of the. Um, process that we’re wanting moving forward and then to report back after. Discussions are had and They’ve resubmitted to. the city attorney. Do you want to include administration on that? Yes, engineering administration and then legal as needed. Perfect. All right Everybody understand the motion along with me. Yes. Perfect.

00:54:12,470	OK, we have a Comm Clark Connelly, sorry. Not to put um Julian difficulty and things, um, because it is that workable because I, you have some guardrails by which you have to follow, and we want to make sure that’s respected because as people use this process for there’s some that are coming across that are awful initiated

00:54:39,030	measures. There’s some that are good and there’s a lot that are all the way in between. We want to make sure that we’re at least telling citizens that there’s a right and a wrong way to go about this, even though it’s a struggle every time, so I don’t want to put you in a

00:54:52,970	difficult spot with that motion is that workable for you? Well, as my, as I understood it, Comm, the, the motion as currently stated would be legal as needed. I would just, my only concern is that under the ordinance, I’m supposed to review this and report back to the commission within 10 working days.

00:55:14,300	I can do that, um, I, at that point, I’m gonna probably step back because I don’t want to be involved in the content. Of it. Sure, that’s why I asked the question. Yeah, no, I appreciate that. Other discussion Herey Dunn will call roll. Mr. Connelly? Yes. Comm Cleary? Yes. Comm Risch? Yes. Comm Zenker. Mayor Schmittz.

00:55:41,770	Yes. that disposes of item 3G. Back to the beginning. I A, consider request receive Dakota West Arts Council 2024 Annual Report. All right, um, well, my name’s Jason Thoms.

00:56:34,370	I am the executive director of the Dakota West Arts Council, um, and each year we uh send a report in to the city to talk about what we’ve done with funds that we’ve received from the city to Give back into the community to support the arts, to support arts, uh, communities. Um, we have created a, a brochure and I was wondering if it’s OK if we bring a brochure to each of you? Sure. OK. Thank There we go.

00:56:57,830	Thank you Just a small bit of background because I’m new in this position. I’ve only lived in Bismarck for this is my 5th year, and I’m, this is the end of my first year as a executive director of Dakota West Arts Council. Uh, we started here in Bismarck in 1980.

00:57:20,300	So we’re about to get to our forty-fifth year of supporting arts arts organizations in the community. Um Oops, I don’t know how to say oops. Oh, I see. This is All right, it’s just this way.

00:57:49,630	So, uh, when we got into COVID was a problem for all the arts organizations, uh, and, and one of the reasons was that we couldn’t bring folks together uh to perform where you often couldn’t bring folks together to be uh in uh performing spaces, and it resulted in a lot of uh slowdown. Luckily there was a lot of federal support and the support we’ve received from the city and uh even North Dakota Council and the.

00:58:09,970	which helped us to kind of maintain for a while. I think we’ve recovered from that COVID time, and we’ve kind of this last year landed in a time where we had some funds available. We had a lot of people interested in the arts. And so, we had, we came up with a variety of uh focuses for this year.

00:58:34,970	We had an enhanced focus on the amplification and promotion of arts events in our. community. Um, there’s a lot of arts organizations, arts professionals. And I, since I’ve been here for the last 5 years, I moved here from New York City area. Sometimes it was hard to figure out what was actually happening in our community.

00:58:51,100	And so that was one of the things I really wanted to make sure. We updated our website to include member profile pages with images, videos, and links connecting the community to the arts organizations and arts professionals. We started uh DWAC Community Arts calendar on our website, uh, and you just received the DA Summer Arts Calendar on, uh, in print.

00:59:13,470	This was made possible by a $5000 grant we received from the Lee Foundation. To support community arts, uh, a calendar and a return of the sub-granting program, which we, which DWAC had done for many, many years, but kind of had to put on pause.

00:59:36,500	Uh, during, uh, the the couple of years after COVID, we restarted that this year, um, and with the goal of setting aside $30,000 from the money that the city provides to us to be able to give back to arts organizations in the, in the, the community. Uh, and we’re working to build partnerships and collaborations between our members and other local organizations.

00:59:57,700	For me, one of the most important things is to build collaboration, partnerships, uh, both in the arts and non-arts. Um, and also to find ways to get more and more free. Arts experiences to the people in our community. And so for That’s kind of been my personal goal for Dakota West Arts Council is to promote more and to get more free events.

01:00:21,870	If you look at the summer Arts calendar, there, if you counted up everything that’s on there, there’s about 120 events that are happening in June to August, and I’ve already had many people contact me and say, oh what, I, I wish I could have gotten mine on there.

01:00:39,430	So there’s hundreds of events that are happening in our community, and it’s just really hard to get people to know what exactly is going on. Um In the last year, we’ve increased our membership by about 3 times. Uh, our membership now includes nearly every arts organization in Bismarck, and even after I created this another arts organization signed up for membership.

01:01:02,270	Um, are increased activity on social media amplifies sharing posts from our member organizations and has led to more organizations reaching out. We are members of the Downtowners, uh, the convention of Visitors Bureau and the chamber EDC. So we, we really want to be a part of the wider community, uh, even while we’re supporting the arts organizations.

01:01:26,900	This is the list of the arts organizations that are currently members of the Dakota West Arts Council. Avoura, tele studios, Sacred Pipe Resource Center, Northern Lights Chorus, West River, Wind Community Band, Gallery 522. Bismarck Downtown Artists Cooperative, Sleepy Hollow Theatre and Art Park, Bismarck Art and Gallery Association, University of Mary, Bismarck, Mandan Civic Chorus, Bismarck Manda and Symphony.

01:01:53,570	Bismarck State College, Dakota Pro Musica, Dakota Stage, Missouri Valley Chamber Orchestra, Northern Plains dance, the Capitol Gallery, Theo Art School, Central Dakota Children’s Choir, Laughing Sun Brewery, because they are now becoming a, a pretty major host of uh live music, and then Flicker tail, wood carvers. That’s a lot of folks.

01:02:18,700	That’s a lot of people who interact in our community, and it’s across a wide spectrum of, of the arts. Um, in the past year, we’ve um participated with the city and a few different things. We’ve, uh, there was, uh, the city has been working on an arts and culture plan.

01:02:38,970	I know that’s going to be coming to you in a meeting or two from now. And so we, we sat on the, the, the committee and talked with and helped share our expertise. Um, we were a fiscal sponsor for a grant that the city of Bismarck applied for this last year on an asphalt grant.

01:02:59,770	And we were invited to be on a panel for the Mandan Convention in Bismarck, Mandan Convention and Visitors Bureau, and there’s a follow-up meeting coming for that. Um The, the summer arts calendar, we have some for anyone who’s who’s in the audience also, and you can find this online.

01:03:20,630	Um, this took a lot of work, but we’re, our plan is to keep this going and we’re actually wanting to come out with a fall, uh, arts calendar, which will include all of our arts organizations and everything that’s happening over the next year. Uh, we’re trying to find more and better ways to connect this to the convention and Visitors Bureau or to a variety of things.

01:03:39,870	Is there a way for us to Get Um, the Bell or the event center on our lists and things like that. Those are, those are all things that we’re looking. We want to become the home of where people would go to find out what’s happening in the arts. In a more central way. And we have this great design, uh, this, this brochure was designed.

01:04:00,630	By our AmeriCorps volunteer that we have, Alex Dombs. Uh, and Alex has been working over this year. They’re they’re currently in graduate school to get a uh MFA and visual art, but they also do uh have been doing all of our graphic design this year, so we’ve been working with AmeriCorps volunteer, which is

01:04:19,970	really vital, uh, to help us with a small budget. To do everything we possibly can. Last couple of things. Um, we have been partnering for many years now with Bismarck Parks and Recreation to offer a summer song series. Typically there’s been 3 kind of the last Thursday of each month.

01:04:43,830	This year we added a 4th in May because, well, I just thought I’d rather sit outside in May than I would in July. So, uh, and it was a fabulous concert we had in the end of May there. Um, we have another one coming up in June, July, and then the middle of August right before school starts.

01:05:04,170	Um, we had a 160 folks show up to Sibley Park for the, for the first one. I think there’s expectations that could be 40 or 500 coming up for June. Um, so that’s gonna be exciting. Laughing sun comes out and, and uh sells beer there and we have a, an alcohol permit for them to do that.

01:05:20,970	This is one of our most favorite things. And this actually starts tomorrow in Custer Park, and that is a kid’s summer stage. We have every summer, 10 events free to the community. Um, that involve music, some type of performing arts someone giving a performance, singing or the this uh Tomorrow is Northern Plains dance.

01:05:44,770	Um, and then we also this year because of our AmeriCorps worker, we’re, we’re adding in an art and craft experience at the end of that. So there’s 3 half-hour blocks every Wednesday that are free activities for kids and families.

01:06:04,030	Uh, that go out throughout the entire season and what I heard is Custer Park, it might be a little bit more open for parking than it was a couple of weeks ago. So we’re excited about that. We were a little nervous for a little while. And then going into 25, 26, as I mentioned, we’re hoping to create a, a, a big arts calendar for the whole fall and spring. Um, we, we’d like to continue our arts granting program.

01:06:26,970	With the the goal um in. We’re in a tricky time when it comes to arts funding on the federal level and in a variety of things. And so what we can do for our community is going to be really important.

01:06:48,830	Um, what I’m trying to encourage everyone who applies for a grant from Dakota West Arts Council for next year to do is find a way to collaborate. Find a way to make it inexpensive or free, whatever the project is they’re applying for, so that we have much more coverage across our community outside, inside, in the winter, in the summer. And I think that’s really exciting.

01:07:10,000	Um, so sorry, I guess that was the next slide. And this is just a picture I wanted to share with you of one of the grants that we offered, uh, this year, this just to Bismarck Symphony when they had, I believe it was the 4th graders from all the public schools come in.

01:07:30,070	They filled the entire bell with 4th graders, and they gave two different performances of their March concert. So those kids had an amazing opportunity. The the civic chorus also does that, I think for the 3rd graders, and it’s opera Day, and they have two performances in the bell, and all the kids get to come for free. So, really, really excellent.

01:07:46,970	Oops, and I guess that might be the end. So, uh, Are there any questions that anyone might have? Any questions? Thank you, Comm Risch. Uh, Mr. Mayor, Dr Thos, I just want to thank you and what you do to make our community a better place to live and work. Appreciate all you do.

01:08:09,200	I appreciate the time Mr. Mayor and Commissioners for sharing this, and I’m happy to work with the city any time I can to bring more arts and more opportunities to our community. Thank you, sir. Moving to item 3B, consider a request to receive a report from Bismarck Man and Chamber EDC related to the economic development services provided. Hey Brenda.

01:08:32,500	Good evening. it’s coming. See here. closed. Well, you’ll be fine, you think I can wing it? I’m going to apologize for my voice. I, I’ve been doing that for 4 weeks, um, and I don’t know what it is. I’m not, I’m not ill, but I just have this lovely, um, spring. Laryngitis. So I apologize.

01:09:55,100	Um, I’m Brenda Nagel, um, Mayor and commissioners, thank you, um, on behalf of the Bismarck Man and Chamber EDC, uh, thank you for allowing us to myself to come and tell you a little bit about what we are up to, um, if I told you all of the things we’re doing, I’d be here for the next 3 hours, and Comm

01:10:13,970	Zenker would be really clicking on his pen, and we wouldn’t want that to happen, would we? You do, yes. All right. So I’m gonna get right into some of the workforce development sorts of efforts that we have been working on, um, because as you know, um, building a community in which our young people want

01:10:36,370	to come to and want to stay in and set down roots and um and, and be a part of the community in which we all enjoy living in it, we have to spend some time really connecting with those people and helping them see what’s possible, help them imagine themselves living in the city of Bismarck.

01:10:57,700	And so, um, workforce development has been a huge effort on our part as as the work that we’ve been doing on behalf of the City of Bismarck. Our internship network is certainly something that we’ve gotten an awful lot of mileage off of it doesn’t really cost us an awful lot of money um to do.

01:11:14,230	It just takes an awful lot of time to make connections and so what we’ve done is reached out to as many of our members, um, as we possibly can, that we know that have interns through the summer. And many of those interns that are coming to the community are actually coming from outside of the state of North Dakota.

01:11:33,900	Some are you, Mary, BSC, um, students, others are NDSU, UND, uh, Minot State, Dickinson State students, but many and most of them are coming from outside of the state.

01:11:54,700	Those are really the young people that we want to really sink our, our claws into, and we want to help them understand what kind of a community we’ve got. And so what we’ve done, this is the 2nd summer, um, we’ve taken an approach of inviting them via their employer, uh, where they’re doing their internship at.

01:12:13,600	Uh, we invite them to 3 events um throughout the summer because we know that these young people come to the community in which they do their internship, and they probably meet some people, other interns at their place of employment. But then they probably go out to eat somewhere and they go back to their place that they’re staying, and they don’t really connect with. other people in other kinds of jobs.

01:12:33,700	So if you’ve got engineers and you’ve got accountants, um, or, or other folks, they’re not really connecting with other interns. And so this internship network is an opportunity to connect these young people together.

01:12:52,430	So together they can figure out, I really want to walk across the stage when I graduate, and I wanna come back to Bismarck, and I want to get a job at the place that had me um as an intern because I really fell in love with the community. And so our internship network, our first event actually kicks off for the summer on this week. We’ll be at 24/7, um, Cornhole.

01:13:10,630	Um, we try to hold events in Mandan and Bismarck, um, so they have an opportunity to see both sides of the river when we talked to the, the young folks, the interns, um, the 94% felt that they learned more and became more connected with the community through this, um, these types of events. They’ve now met some connections. that they’re staying in contact with.

01:13:31,500	We too are staying in connection with them, um, helping them understand what options are out there for them, um, to continue to work here. So our 2025 season kickoff is scheduled for June 11th, and we are expecting close to 80 some people, um, young people at that event.

01:13:51,770	Um, we also kicked off, which I know you’re all very well aware of the welcome initiative, and thank you um to Mayor Schmittz and um the first lady, um, uh, Janelle, um, really helped to, um, kick that off with us um at the Chamber EDC, um, we held a press conference, um, in May, which seems like a long time ago, but it was just a few weeks ago, and it really encouraged, um,

01:14:12,430	people in our community to open up their eyes to communicating and be accepted. um of people that they don’t know. um, we are a friendly community as long as we know you, um, but if we don’t really know you, we’re not really apt to, uh, invite you over to dinner, um, or to a,

01:14:29,030	a neighborhood barbecue or to meet for a cup of coffee. And so the welcome initiative, um, really was kicked off, um, again with both mayors actually were in attendance, um, uh, from Mandan and Bismarck here, and it’s an opportunity to showcase our community and to really connect with those people.

01:14:50,000	who don’t feel connected to what is happening um in Bismarck. And so lots of things are happening with that. Um, we’ve launched a Facebook page where we can engage with folks, um, and we’ve had, um, nearly 20,000 people, um, who are engaging with that.

01:15:09,030	We have a, um, and also a website um where they can go online, they can see different activities that they can participate in, whether it’s the arts, it’s music, um, and it’s other things they can see what those opportunities are. Again, we want to help people understand what it’s like to be a part of the community and help them envision, um, where they fit in.

01:15:32,030	So other workforce programs that we are working on right now, the educator experience, our workforce coordinator Summer, um, is working with, um, 24 educators in our community and what we do is we take those teachers and we take them to various um businesses around the community and help them understand what the job openings are and what we need to do to connect our young kids,

01:15:57,100	um, to those particular job opportunities. Our teachers are phenomenal. We have an unbelievably, um, fantastic school system, but we have to continue to educate the teachers so they know what sorts of things are open and available so that as they’re working with the young students and even the high school students that they can have

01:16:17,030	those conversations. They can share my experience when I went to the mine was this my experience when I went to this particular business was this. Here’s how we can help you understand.

01:16:36,770	What classes you should take in order to um perhaps pursue that type of um uh position, um, or what kind of school you want to go to. Um, we engage them in, um, firms in engineering architecture, healthcare, media and communications, criminal justice, and even more. And so again, we’re trying to just make sure that we’re connecting with all of the different, um, folks who have access to our young folks.

01:16:56,900	And then, of course, leadership Bismarck Mandan is a program that’s been in Um, the community for well over 30 years. I started as a chamber initiative and when the two organizations came together, it maintained 3 projects this year out of leadership Bismarck Mandan were very specific to Bismarck, and that was, um, the rewind, which is a podcast centered around local retired

01:17:18,300	individuals with the goal of learning more about that that population and find opportunities for them. We find that people never really retire. They just go on to do other and different, um, and more. intriguing things. And so how do we engage with that particular population.

01:17:35,630	And so, um, we had one team, um, that is working on a podcast. Um, we had one team who is working on Welcome to Bismarck signs, um, and we know that the signs right now are a little tired, um, and we’ve grown and so some of those signs are actually in the city a little bit further in than they need to be pushed

01:17:54,570	outside, um, and so, um, that particular committee is working on removing and replacing. current signs to better welcome individuals, um, to the community. And then Paw Patrol, no, it’s not that cartoon that you’re thinking about.

01:18:15,430	It is literally a, um, uh, working on obtaining a therapy Kine um for Bismarck Police Department to help community members and their relationship with law enforcement. And so again, the leadership Bismarck Mandan, um, those young people, those people who are part of the cohort, they take on a project that ultimately gives back to the community, um, in which they are part of, um, talent attraction that make your Marc Bismarckandan.com.

01:18:37,830	Um, um, we are continuing to grow, um, in people who are coming to that page because we’re doing a lot of very focused marketing to reach out to people outside of the state of North Dakota to let them know that we are a business friendly state.

01:18:56,070	We are a business friendly community in Bismarck, and helping them understand how we can help them move to Bismarck, um, come to Bismarck and, um, and, and, and make their life here as well. The top dates you’ll notice there you, you say, well, North Dakota, that’s us, um, that happens because some of us are looking at the website as as well, but we also have people from outside of Bismarck who

01:19:16,330	are looking at our information and looking to move their particular business here, but if you take a look at 2 through 5, Virginia, Minnesota, Texas, and Colorado. If you compare those states to where the um Students are coming to the University of Mary and BSC, very similar.

01:19:39,170	So if you look at the students that are moving here to go to college, um, there, there’s businesses in those same states that are looking to come here, um, to open up a business or to move here as well, so there’s some direct correlation and we want to take advantage of that.

01:20:02,630	So business attraction and development, um, Nathan, um, in our economic development team has been doing a lot of reaching out and connecting, um, again with, um, with other people, um, they attended the Epic um conference. It’s the Energy Progress and Innovation Conference earlier this year, they connected with over 1000 attendees and 200 exhibitors.

01:20:26,330	We have contact information for many people who were at that particular conference and we’re in dialogue with them. Um, through some regular email, um, conversations so that we can help them understand if they’re not already doing business in Bismarck, how do we get you to do business in, in Bismarck.

01:20:46,600	Um, and then our marketing efforts um in Q1, um, we’ve been doing a lot of ReachOut via LinkedIn, um, through Meta website traffic trade shows and emails, um, all that to say is that is that we’ve reached, um, nearly a million people, um, by those efforts and we kind of skinny that down, we take them through the. and we try to make sure that we can make connections with those people and stay connected to them.

01:21:02,970	On the top of the slide you see business boot camp. Um, it’s a multi-stage developmental program, um, built to guide participants through uh a complete process of starting a business.

01:21:23,370	We’ve heard from many people that are in the small business area or people who want to start a business here in this community, they want some help, and so we’re partnering up with some of the entrepreneurs in our community and helping, um, them, they’re helping us put together a business boot camp, um, probably. will be kicking that off more so towards the end of the year.

01:21:41,130	We’ve got some strategic planning that we’ll be doing this summer, um, at the Chamber EDC, so we, we just need to divide and conquer and business boot camp will probably be happening towards the end of the year, but we’re excited about that particular item.

01:22:00,770	And I left it short and sweet, um, because I know that you’ve got an awful lot on your agenda and you all know that you can reach out at any point in time and ask about any of the programs or the efforts that we have going on. We have lunch on the patio, um, we’ve got one coming up on July 10th.

01:22:18,300	Uh, last week we served lunch on the patio to our membership to over 150 people, um, and so that was an amazing opportunity to make connections again with the business community. Um, we’ve got mixers, we’ve got all sorts of events going on.

01:22:36,970	We had a golf event here in town, um, that was sold out and so again, lots of great opportunities to connect with the business community and other members, um, and stay engaged, um, and appreciate the this beautiful city in which we live. Any questions? Mr. Connelly. Not so much a question, but you mentioned uh lunch on the patio. Yes, sir. Um, it is a great event.

01:22:55,270	I was at the last one and arguably the EDC has one of the better views out the back of the patio and things as you’re talking with people and you know, despite it being overcast that day, the weather cooperated, so we enjoyed both outdoor and, um, the inside there was not a lot of wind, so it was a Chamber kind of a day. Thank you, Comm. Any other questions that you might have for me? Thank you for your time. Thank you.

01:23:21,830	Moving to regular agenda item C, public hearing on ordinance 6622 zoning map Amendment from existing PUD to a new PUD and this is a ultimately a continuation. Ben, you’ve got some Some updates for us. Yes, Mayor, I do. I’ll just wait till the, here, it looks like it might be. Coming up.

01:23:57,630	So At the same time. Uh, no. I think I’ll get it. OK. Yeah, thank you, Mayor and Commissioners. Uh, as the mayor, uh, indicated this is a continuation of a public hearing that was held on May 13th, uh, of this year, just a, a couple weeks ago.

01:24:44,530	Um, centered around, uh, as a zoning ordinance, uh, change for, uh, well, it’s actually order 6622 in your packets, um, there are a variety of issues associated with misty waters incorporated into this change, but the, the most substantive item was the setback line associated with, uh, residential properties adjacent to Misty Waters Bay, um, what, what I took from the May 13th.

01:25:10,770	waiting for continuation purposes, uh, we’re, we’re two pieces of direction provided by consensus, uh, to staff, and one of those was to uh. Consider modifying the setback line which, uh, for those, uh, Not able to see the screen and, and for those that are able to see the screen, uh, the May 13th, uh, PewD uh suggested

01:25:35,830	what I’ll refer to as the inland edge of a drainage easement that runs adjacent to the bay, um, for most homes, uh, that, uh, the, the original setback or the existing setback line of the, the 2005 Lomar line, um. Lies, uh.

01:26:04,730	lies closer inland than that, than that inland edge of, of the uh drainage easement, uh, some homes, uh, actually have that Lomar line which extends beyond that inland edge of the, the drainage easement and I’ll demonstrate that.

01:26:25,500	With some of the images, uh, so this is an example of, oh I, I should say the, the second piece of direction that we got was to notify uh all the uh residents that we originally notified of, of the public hearing process, which, which we did. And as part of that notification process, uh, this map was essentially uh included in a, in a link in, in that notification, but one of the uh one of the uh public. Uh Uh, one of the uh individuals who provided public testimony.

01:26:50,200	I’ll just start with their lot as a, as a point of example, um, so in May of 2013 and apologize if you’re color blind, but I’ll try to describe this as well, so the, the red line, um, essentially on this lot would represent that inland edge of the drainage easement, where you see the hatched green lines

01:27:13,570	all over this map that represents where The letter of map revision from 2005 geographically takes place. What, uh, what is proposed based on the, the commission direction on May 13th is to use this, this.

01:27:40,470	Black line which Generally for most lots follows that inline edge of the drainage easement, but where that Lomar line uh is closer to the water for, for, uh, for lack of a better term, it, it follows that that Lomar line.

01:28:01,070	If it’s, if it’s closer to the water, whatever is closer to the to the bay is is what we’re, what we’re following and, and you can see there’s a, a few lots that are impacted, uh, around misty waters, um, certainly happy to. to Talk about this map, uh, zoom into any parts of the, the, the subdivision that you’d like, uh, but, uh, essentially we, we think this complied with your, your direction from, from the last meeting.

01:28:26,700	If this is something you ultimately approve and want us to move forward with probably the next steps would be for me to reach out to a local, uh, likely, likely a local consulting engineering firm.

01:28:51,770	To Basically, legally describe what that new line will be and then for us to record that document and put that record that that uh uh recorder’s number, uh, into the ordinance itself to uh to specify what the line is for what the new setback line would be for Misty Water subdivision. So happy to answer any questions that that you might have, uh, additionally. Just, just to follow up, Ben, so that The change principal change from May 13th to now is that we moved.

01:29:16,400	To address the concerns that were brought forth at least by 1 or 2 individuals on their setback having Taking away some buildable space that they previously had to adjust back to to their original line, is that not correct? That’s correct, Mayor and Commissioners, and it’s, it, although maybe one or two people spoke to it.

01:29:36,700	It’s, it’s more than one or two lots that are impacted, but so every lot where that 2005 Lomar line was closer to the water than the inland edge of the, the drainage easement we used that 2005 Lomart line. OK. That’s, I just want to make sure we’re. That was following that. OK.

01:30:00,700	Anybody else have questions? OK, it’s a continuation of a public hearing and even though we had public comment. I think it’s only appropriate that I allow opportunity for public comment at this point in time with this new information so public comment period is now open. Anyone who wished to speak, please come forward. State your name and sign in.

01:30:25,870	Can, can I borrow your first slide, please? That you, it should be on there popped up. Yeah, I don’t have to. This is the map. It’s. Thank you. It’s an interactive map. Yeah, just the first piece that you brought up and then I don’t have to put up a, My little 8 by 12 on the camera. Adventure. Yes, sir. Thank you.

01:31:02,070	Good evening, Mayor, Commissioners. My name is Pat Spillman. And I am speaking tonight in opposition to the approval of the proposed PU amendment. Which is essence is a creation of a new pud for misty waters. My wife and I purchased our property, lots 60 and 61 on November 4th, 2005, nearly 20 years ago. We were involved with Misty waters.

01:31:24,970	We never anticipated a change in the building’s setback in misty waters whatsoever. We based our lot purchases and construction of our home based on Bismarck Ordnance, 5435. There is no valid reason. to amend the pudd to clarify the rear yard setback in misty waters.

01:31:46,470	This issue was already considered and decided by the North Dakota Supreme Court. The rear yard setback for the bayside residential lots as set forth in the pudd was always and has been the contour line in the 2005 Lomar F as established by the August 2006, Major Pudd Amendment. Again on September 28th, the North Dakota Supreme Court.

01:32:11,970	Held as a matter of law, the PUD for misty waters unambiguously states that the minimum setback from the bay is delineated by a contour line established by the served meats and bones, legal description from the 2005 Lomar F. And the seller’s home, the seller’s homes violates the putt. Comm Schmitz at at the uh planning and zoning meeting in March 26, 25 meeting minutes, page 13.

01:32:43,970	Uh So that the elevation is the city’s interpretation, how other homes were allowed to be construct or Was the uh setback line, it was floating. And if the elevation is the city’s interpretation, how is there other homes that were allowed to be constructed in the floodplain with no Lomar if you’re using the elevation as a

01:33:02,800	setback. The current current ordinance has no mention of changing using slash using setback based on elevation or reference to be the de facto inside edge of the drainage easement being the setback. Why was this even used or who desi who decided it was appropriate.

01:33:24,030	But the city is really requesting this evening is that the commission essentially grant not just an amendment but rather a whole new pud. Ordinance. This is this new proposed ordinance can be construed as spot zoning to a degree. It is evident in my opinion the decision to create this new pudd is to benefit all non-compliant home building setbacks, some landowners and some get no benefit whatsoever.

01:33:48,070	This amendment is an attempt to grandfather pass zoning errors into compliance. My building permit was this. Contain the same setback information as the seller. It used the old 30 ft from the back, it never, it never, uh, Mention the Lomar whatsoever side yard setbacks were in feet back.

01:34:13,230	was in feet And so it’s exactly the same as the building permit for the sellers. I want my rear setback to be increased by 50 ft towards the bay as done for the sellers and others in dream circle. As this Amendment is written, I receive no benefit from this. new ordinance. Asos, lost my picture. As you can see, My home is Come back here.

01:34:44,170	My home If you got a pointer. Good thing. My property is there. I followed the the ordinance and followed the setback line, and I, and I’m legal as far as the ordinance is today. If you go across the way. You can see that the sellers and others in dream circle.

01:35:09,770	Gain gain up to 50 ft of new buildable property area. I get nothing. I thought at one time it was the direction of the commission to the stakeholder meeting was find something fair and equitable. I don’t know that it’s fair and equitable.

01:35:28,900	The C initially established a new setback for Sellers’ Home and others in Dream circle which were in error. The city now wants to amend the PUD to make make other non-compliant homes compliant. I perceived this new PUD as being initiated because of some additional potential liability. It seems to me that the city is pleasing those that violated the setback and no rewards for those that followed it.

01:35:50,870	The city of Bismarck failed to enforce the legally binding setback ordinance in the misty waters PU D. We’ve been after this for nearly 6 years, resulting in multiple homes being built in violation. Now rather than upholding the ordinances, the city is proposing to revise the PUD to accommodate these violations retroactively.

01:36:15,570	This is not merely merely administrative correction, it risks undermining the integrity of the zoning process and may even set precedents. When those who are supposed to enforce the rules begin excuse me, begin rewriting them for the benefit of the violators, the fox is already in the hen house. This leads me to my next concerns.

01:36:36,330	Is there a conflict of interest here? The city created the problem. In the context of creating a new PUD to change the rear building setback requirement, a conflict of interest appears to have arisen. The city was retroactively changing the setback only after violations were discovered. It suggests special treatment, not uniform zoning enforcement.

01:37:00,470	In addition, there was pressure from private parties to alter the rules for the convenience of damage control. I also believe that city officials may have some personal or financial Connections to the parties and involved. My questions are, do any commissioners or their family members employed by anyone involved in this action.

01:37:23,430	2, do any commissioners or their family members have business relationships with any miss water residents or misty waters board meetings currently are retired in the last 2 years. Do any commissioners or their family members have personal relationships with any Misty Waters. With any Misty Waters residents or Misty Waters board members. Has any misty waters residents contributed to excess of $100 to commissioners to any commissioners or their family charities either sponsored or employed with.

01:37:47,500	Well, any commissioners or their family members benefit in any way from this change if approved. I respectfully request the city provide the following. Confirmation of whether any modification of the PU due setback or zoning interpretation is currently under consideration elsewhere.

01:38:12,530	Assurance that such change will follow the full procedural requirements under Bismarck zoning law and the Misty Waters PUD amendment provisions, a legal statement 3 and a legal statement or policy clarification addressing how much How how such changes if made do not constitute a conflict of interest or undermine the integrity of zoning enforcement. There’s one thing someone has to explain to me how how changing my setback without my permission makes these other homes compliant.

01:38:37,900	I didn’t sign off on anything to change my property setback. How is it that the director of community development is allowed to request an amendment to Misty Waters PUD Title Four zoning chapter 14-04-18.4 states, all other changes in the planned unit. Shall be initiated in the following manner application for planned. plan development amendment.

01:39:05,900	The application shall be completed and filed by all owners of the property proposed to be changed or his or her designated agent. The application shall be submitted by the specified application deadline and on the proper form and shall not be accepted by the director of Community Development unless and until all application requirements of this section have been fulfilled.

01:39:26,970	I respectfully submit this inquiry in put in good faith is concerned property owner and a citizen with an interest in transparent. Equitable and consistent land use regulation. What we need now is leadership by the commission, enforcement of existing ordinances would have avoided all chaos surrounding this setback issue.

01:39:50,200	It is nearly 6 years since this violation occurred and we, and then we wasted the last 9 months in stakeholder meetings with nothing to show. As public officials, your duty is to uphold the law and the integrity of the zoning process, not to violate retroactively.

01:40:14,170	The decision before you should be guided by established facts, legal precedents, and the city’s overall and the city’s own ordinances, not personal relationships, sympathies or political pressure. Remember Uncle Ben’s advice to young Peter Parker, Spider-Man, with great power comes great responsibility. Your, your personal and your professional integrity. will show through your decision on what to do with this item. Thank you for your time. Any questions, Mr. Mayor, Mr. uh, No filming.

01:40:41,730	you allege that the city commissioners are somehow are on the take here and we’re supposed to prove we’re not. I don’t even know anybody that lives in misty waters other than the people that have appeared here. What, what, what, what is your evidence that somebody on the city commission is somehow on the take here.

01:40:57,700	There’s no, I can’t, I’m, I’m just asking the question. You, you’re making allegations as though this is somehow um a a legitimate allegation. There, there is. And it says. There is a, there is a uh. Recording of a conversation, and I won’t say with who. But that has already made their mind up a number of years ago on this.

01:41:26,130	I And in another venue, I, I have clear evidence. You have evidence? Why don’t, why don’t you take it to them or I’ll, I’ll because I actually brought this to planning and zoning. At one point in time, someone who lives out there, worked for me and planning and zoning cleared me of my conflict.

01:41:50,570	So that’s, that’s fine, but all I’m asking is, is there anybody there that I don’t know about. That’s involved with whatever out there. Not accusing anybody, it’s a question. Mr Cle I guess I would just also like to stay for the record and I understand that you’re saying you’re not accusing, but it came off accusatory.

01:42:11,070	I also don’t know anyone in the Misty Waters area other than public comment here, um, I have no financial personal gain for anything out there and so I just want to put that on the record, that’s where I’m at.

01:42:27,000	I appreciate you asking the question, but it did come off accusatory, so I just wanna put that out there, that was not the intent. I’m worried about is. You know, I’ve watched this commission each time somebody has a conflict of interest, they bring it up and they’re point blank honest about it. All I’m making sure is there’s an opportunity here that that same thing occurs here. Perfect. It’s been noted.

01:42:49,370	Thank you for your time and consideration. This is public commenting else who wish to speak, please come forward. Mayor Commissioners. Uh, my name is Jason Sellers. Um, I’ll keep this short, um, at the last meeting, um. You know Um, it was brought to the attention of can we You know, resolve this line and figure this out to where we, you know.

01:43:34,230	Address issues that were brought up by other homeowners out here last meeting, which staff seems to have done. And um, You know I think through countless meetings over the past years, we’ve shown that the amount of People out at Misty Waters, they’re in favor of this change, plus with the recent changes, you know, I mean, I just asked

01:43:57,300	tonight that you approve it. I won’t waste any more of your time when talking about anything stuff in the past, but I just would very much appreciate your support and tonight in approving this. Thank you. Any questions? Thank you. This is public comment. Anyone else who wish to speak, please come forward.

01:44:20,200	A second call for public comment. A 3rd and final call for public comment. Hearing or seeing anyone further public comment period is now closed. Commissioners I’ll move we approve is presented. Second, Do we have any discussion, Comm Zenker.

01:44:46,970	I’ll make one final comment about this and I’ll, I’ll just reiterate that at no point in time was anybody ever held accountable for this, and I’m telling you right now, you’re sitting one, if this passes, you’re sending one heck of a, of, of a precedence. Be in the construction world. There are a lot of contractors out there just waiting for this to pass.

01:45:01,930	And when it passes, we’re just going to pull our permits and do what we want because that’s exactly what happened in this scenario. This thing is built well over the line. I’ve said it many times. It was, it’s the, the construction should have been stopped. And it wasn’t. So, that’s all I’m gonna say about it. Any other discussion, Comm Mr.

01:45:23,700	Mayor Comm Zinker, I don’t disagree. There were some issues. They were a lot of blame to go around. But what do we do at this point? Have up to 17 homes torn down.

01:45:38,900	I mean, that doesn’t seem rational at all, and I don’t like setting any kind of precedent any more than you do, but this is going to be, Comm Connelly Um, I’m not. I’ve said it and I’ve said it in multiple meetings. I’m not for tearing down any homes, but sometimes you just can’t write or write. Yeah, it’s just a mess going forward and um I’m I’m not comfortable. Gerrymandering changes to just make it an uncomfortable wrong.

01:46:11,830	It’s, it’s wrong regardless of what the decision is made, so I’ll respect whatever people say, but that’s where I’m at. Any other discussion. Wear. Comm Zenker. No. Comm Connelly? No. Comm Cleary? Yes, Comm Risch, Schmitz. Yes.

01:46:46,570	Moving to item D, public hearing on a request for the vacation of the 33 ft statutory right of way on not 1, block 31, block 4 Promontory point. 6th edition and lots 29, 20 through 31, block 1 promontory. 7th edition, Ben. Thank you, Mayor. Just bear with me one second. OK, I think we’re up and running now. Thank you, Mayor.

01:47:36,830	Uh, the, the item, the, the mayor just referenced, uh, the property is located in Northwest Bismarck West to Tyler Parkway on the north side of Frisco Way, uh, the, the right of way was dedicated with plaques associated with promontory 0.6 and 7, which were recorded in 2017 prior to the annexation of the area which occurred in in 2021.

01:48:03,470	Generally, the section line right of way, which this is associated with, is, is not applicable, uh, within incorporated communities, so there’s 33 ft generally of of section line that’s, that’s dedicated for public use outside of incorporated communities, um, this. This particular area, these, these areas were annexed in in 2021. However, there is a platte note which exists on the specific plants of uh promontory 0.

01:48:30,570	6 and 7 with these specific lots, uh, identifying the 33 ft of statutory right away. Uh, it has been confirmed that the right of way is is not currently or in the future needed, uh, staff does recommend the vacation of all of the 33 ft statutory right of way associated with lot one, block 3, and lot 1, block 4, promontory 0.

01:48:54,670	6 edition as well as lots 29 to 31, block 1 promontory point, 7th edition. Uh, any questions that you have related to this, uh, uh, right of way vacation request. Any questions? It’s a public hearing anyone who wished to speak to this, please come forward.

01:49:23,400	Thank you Mar Lay and Naimler Swinson Hagen Engineering representing the Walkers in this case, um, yeah, so really everything Ben is correct just to add a little bit of additional information toward the portions of these flats that are still not annexed into the city. Also had some of the satur right away dedicated on the plat.

01:49:38,300	The county has vacated those already as well, a couple of weeks ago, they, they finished the process over there, so just continuing on with it on, on the city’s end. You Thank you. Again, public comment is open. Anyone who wish to speak to this, please come forward. A second call for public comment. A 3rd and final call for public comment. Well thecom period is now closed. Commissioners, what are your wishes to presented.

01:50:08,300	Second. Any discussion? Here onal role. Comm Connelly? Yes. Comm Cleary? Yes. Comm Risch? Yes. Comm Zenker. Mayor Schmitz. Yes. Next item D consider request for approval of the 2025 to 2029 community development block grant. Consolidated plan in 2025 action plan. Hillary, Good evening, Mayor Schmitz and Comm. Thank you for having me.

01:50:39,630	Included in tonight’s packet for agenda item 3E is a general overview of the Community Development Block Grant program or a CDBG for short, that is administered as part of the planning division of community development.

01:50:56,900	The city of Bismart participates in the CDBG program as an entitlement community receiving an annual allocation from the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development, or HUD for short, which is then used to meet one of the three national objectives set by HUUD, which must include either a benefit to low. to moderate income persons, the removal of slum or blight or an urgent need, typically associated with a declared national disaster.

01:51:14,570	The City of Bismarck has historically aligned its CDBG goals and objectives with activities that accomplish the national objective of a benefit to low to moderate income persons a requirement of continued participation in the CDBG program is the development of a five-year consolidated plan. This plan serves as a framework for the city’s goals and objectives and the implementation of activities over that 5 year period.

01:51:34,700	Goals and objectives are then implemented yearly through the CDBG Annual Action Plan. What you have been provided with in the memo in your packet is a link to the final version of the 2025 to 2029 CDBG consolidated plan.

01:51:52,770	This is the version that will be submitted to HUD for final acceptance once approval is provided by this commission. The plan consists of multiple major sections, including market analysis, needs assessment, strategic plan, and the 2025 Annual Action Plan. We received our final formula in May along with the announcement that the city of Bismarck is to receive $389,0924 for its 2025 program year.

01:52:16,370	This allocation has been committed to 5 sub recipients and can be reviewed in the annual action plan section of the plan. The action being requested at this time is for approval of the 2025 to 2029 CDBG consolidated plan, including the 2025 Annual Action Plan and permission to submit the plan to HUD for final approval as presented.

01:52:33,970	Do you have questions for me? Comm Risch, I just want to say I glanced through, I didn’t read every page. It’s 324 pages long. It’s an incredible amount of useful information for the city. So I just appreciate your work on this. Thank you. We appreciate that feedback. Thank you. Any other questions? Commissioners, what are your wishes? Moved to approve was presented.

01:52:57,500	Any discussion A Nunn will call roll. Mr. Cleary, yes, Comm Risch. Yes, Comm Zenker. Comm Connelly, Mayor Schmitz, yes. Next item Bismarck Event Center operating models, Jason. Good evening, Mayor and Commissioners. I just wanted to, uh, tee up Dan Fenton with Jones Lang and La Salle.

01:53:25,370	Dan is, uh, online and ready to provide a presentation, the, the, uh, presentation that he’ll be providing was part of your agenda packet and I believe there should be paper copies that were printed at your workstations. They were also handed out at the meeting two weeks ago, uh, in addition to the information that Dan will be providing, uh, if you have questions from our HR director, Leeanne Schmidt.

01:53:41,270	Uh, Leanne, myself, Attorney Meese, uh, met with Dan. and explore the various um hybrid models that were considered to effectively try and uh work with a private management company and city staff. And so rather than Dan have to carry that. A portion of the conversation, Leanne does have some remarks.

01:53:59,200	Uh, if you have any questions when we get to that point, but, uh, Dan’s got the slide show and he’ll, he’ll be running the slides, so with that, I will, uh, turn it over to Dan. Great. Thanks everybody. Commission Mayor, thank you very much. uh, Mitch Anvino is also with me from the JLL team.

01:54:22,370	And so we will start our comments on the slide that you see here and just a quick uh recap from the last time we were together, one of the things that the commissioners and mayor everybody had asked us to look at was a couple of things.

01:54:39,630	One was a little bit more detail specifically related to the notion of an authority board. And we have some comments to make here, plus you’ll see in your packet. On the slide that we’re about to show a little bit of detail on some of the key fundamental pieces around an authority board.

01:54:55,630	There’s a sample that you can see there of sort of makeup of that board, so we’ll talk about that in a second. The other, which was mentioned earlier, was also looking going back to some of the operating models that we had discussed and looking at some of the possibilities.

01:55:16,370	Related to what was talked about was the possibilities of sort of private management with public employees and some different things that we’re going to talk through those. We also have a quick review of kind of a job description of a general manager. And then with the last piece we want to finish on is we have comments here around what we’re calling the employee protection plan.

01:55:34,930	And so we’ve put some thought into as we think about next steps here, making sure that there are a lot of considerations that can be certainly part of ultimately moving forward based on the direction that the commission would like to go.

01:55:54,930	So I will start with the next slide here that you see after this, this is a overview and there’s more more detail, I think Mitch in the appendix also, uh, but this is an overview of the authority board, sort of the the sort of key makeup of the board, some key fundamentals related to how we have seen authority boards be most effective. You’ll notice in that second paragraph, we use the term, we say it functions as a fiduciary.

01:56:18,870	Oversight board meaning that we want to make sure that the board, if the commission decides to move forward with this sort of governance model that we really have secured an approach where board members clearly have both responsibility. As well as authority in terms of how they function and how they can support the success. Of the events that are going forward.

01:56:39,600	Uh, if you look at the right hand side there, this is a sample, and this certainly can evolve as we finalize everything of the types of industries, if you will, or backgrounds that authority board members might come from.

01:56:59,830	One of the things that we think is important in formation of something like this is really having a plan for, again, the type of both backgrounds and expertise that we want to see on the board. So you can see a little bit there and then you’ll notice here on the list that we say here, these are just an example of. You know, things that we would finalize.

01:57:19,100	As part of a motion to move forward and really, if you will, finalize all the details of an authority board you can see some of the things that we would be going through there in terms of how it functions, how the meetings function, all the sort of details there of making sure that, you know, we have a, uh, we have a functional board,

01:57:35,670	you’ll see at the bottom there, one of the things that we think is an outcome of all this is continuing to evolve the relationship with the Bismarck man Dan uh convention Visitors Bureau and So they, they’re being a key partner, we sort of see them, uh, also there and also there would be, um, if you

01:57:53,770	will, ex officio members of the board too that would come from city management and other places, but hopefully this slide gives the commission sort of a visual, a sort of a summary. Of what the board would potentially be constituent of in some of the key functionality pieces that would be part of success here.

01:58:13,070	Um, so I’ll go to the, we’ll go to the next slide here. The other thing that the commission talked about when we met last. Was to continue to look at some of the models that we had talked about in our first presentation that sort of is in the overall deck, and if you go

01:58:30,770	to the next slide, we continue to look at, if you will, we sort of analyzed different potential models as part of our discussion, and the first one was the discussion of the authority board overseeing, you know, essentially a public, you know, public sector general manager with public sector employees.

01:58:55,700	Uh, really, this goes back to our initial comment about the overall sort of, you know, if you want to call it the things that we think need to be accomplished over the next period of time that we’ve discussed in the last, uh, Comm meeting, so we won’t necessarily go through all of this in detail, but we did, you know, want to make

01:59:10,030	sure that that was shown here today in terms of a possibility we, we think that the model that we talked a little bit about last meeting, we want to explore further, so we’ll go to the next one that you see here on this slide.

01:59:29,830	Which is having an authority board and then having essentially private management with public employees. And so if you look at some of the bullet points that we have here, um, we had a great conversation with City HR and I’m gonna turn it over to her if she I think she’s ready here in a second.

01:59:46,930	We had a great conversation, spent some time as well as um you know, the city attorney really sort of strategizing, so the conversation was really specific about, you know, what are the possible ways we could make this work, and would it really be functional, so could it? Do we think it would be an effective way to ultimately be able to move all the things that we’ve identified in our

02:00:07,700	last conversation forward and could we create an efficient, if you will, internal model related to how the internal team would sort of be managed how incentive plans could potentially or not or not be able to be, um, if you will, um, put in place and some different things.

02:00:26,430	So let me stop here and if it’s OK, I’ll turn it over to, you know, our city HR Le. and she can talk a little bit about that conversation as well as her thoughts. Is she there? Yeah, she’s coming. OK. Sorry, did I, did I go too quickly. Mm Leon. Hello.

02:01:01,700	So, I did have a copy, so I’m, I don’t know where I put it. Somebody finds it, let me know, but, um, I’ll, uh, Um, go ahead and just start talking, so two weeks No, no, I have a copy of that. I had a copy of talking points for myself and Somehow I strategically placed them somewhere so.

02:01:29,970	OK You So I guess, um, starting out, I, um, it was a really robust conversation. We, we It took a lot of time trying to pull the mic down, took a lot of time trying to consider, sorry, I just don’t wanna wreck anything, OK, um, took a lot of time to consider the options, what we could do, what we think seemed reasonable.

02:01:47,570	Um, I have over 30 years of experience in HR includes private and public sector entities, um, including the city, and I spent about 20 years at the state. The state has 60 different agencies, um, many of which have unclassified employees, and then when there’s a large classified service. as well.

02:02:08,970	And there were agencies that had unclassified employees and generally those were set aside as those that were unique to state government. So some examples were, um, Bank of North Dakota, their officers, their sales, uh, Rough Rider Industries, which was part of Department of Corrections and Rehab. They have some sales folks.

02:02:27,100	So those were unique from what you would call typical work for classified service. And so, With that, I think it’s important to remember that the classified service was created back in the late 1800s, um, to protect political subs from being impacted by political changes that could affect employees performing the work to provide the infrastructure for city, county, state, federal, and so Um, explain the positions in

02:02:50,100	the late 1990s, um, Workforce Safety and Insurance was removed from the classified service. The argument was that they were like a private insurance company.

02:03:10,900	And so that was done and then in 2008, the agency was brought back into the classified service, um, by a vote of the people, but prior to that, the former WSI director was charged with misappropriating 18,000 in public monies and was convicted of a felony. The money that was used for employee lunches, gift cards. Um, maybe some kind of awards.

02:03:33,300	The incentive models and methods that private sector have versus what the public sector have are very different, and there can be consequences like explained in the WSI situation. Public employees are subject to the North Dakota Anti-gift clause, which means we can’t receive anything of value of more than $25. When you think about that today, that’s a Yeti mug, you know, or it’s a sweatshirt, you know, so public employees are also subject to different things like open records and open meetings.

02:03:51,670	And so it’s important to keep these things in mind when you think of having a workforce that’s going to be together. North Dakota is a right to work state. And so what that means is I as the employee and the employer can end that relationship at any time.

02:04:08,070	Our probationary employees with the city for the probationary period are what you call it will, and then any seasonal part-time employees are also well, but once an employee completes their, a full-time employee completes their process of their probation, then they become what we call in the classified service, and there’s a civil service process is associated with that for classified employees and that need to be

02:04:25,730	followed in a private employer. It’s not gonna be subject to that or have the knowledge and so it, it would be problematic managing and supervising employees with commingled, um, Types of employees. Private sector is decidedly different than public employment. Private employers must employ employers must pay overtime. They’re not available.

02:04:48,030	They can’t give employees comp time like public employees can. Rep Republican employers can, it would be administratively very challenging and problematic to have a private. Have private employees performing the same work next to public employees in the city department that are doing the same thing.

02:05:08,470	How do we defend that? And being in a private sector, you can incentivize and do things with employees that are not going to be allowed with the public sector. Well then you think about that, we have 15 different diverse departments across the city, and they can be called upon those 650 employees to respond to situations like long term employment situations are enforcement, law enforcement situations, um, weather related issues, disasters, floods, 100

02:05:31,300	inches of snow plus for winters. And those employees would want to be incentivized as well, assuming we had a group of employees that were public employees that somehow managed to get some kind of incentives, it would really be problematic and I think would really negatively impact morale. And I just wanted to cover that.

02:05:52,630	I stand for any questions, I guess. Britain Or any questions we can forward? I’m sorry, I didn’t hear that. No, I was just gonna keep going, but I didn’t know if there were any questions I’ll, I’ll hold here. I think you can proceed. OK.

02:06:12,100	Um, so if you go to, uh, next slide here. Sort of back to the um recommended approach. We talked about this last meeting. We had gone over this with our, with the city HR team there, talk through some of the things that you see listed here that she’s already really talked about in terms of incentive plans and, you know, different ways that

02:06:31,630	we would try to create an environment for, if you want to call it environment to help us move forward and some of the opportunities or challenges that that would occur. So we continue to suggest that The authority board, so bringing a new governing governance model in with accountability, with fiduciary responsibility and with a third party operator.

02:06:55,570	Uh, in the event center, really positions us, we think most successfully in terms of the future. Now, if you look at this slide here at the bottom. We, we make a note here that there are some key considerations when it comes to, to, if we move in this direction to really still making sure that there is what

02:07:14,370	we’re calling a robust employee protection plan that would be outlined and would be part of not just RFP process, but the actual contract. Between the city and a potential third party operator. So you’ll see a couple of examples here, for example, staff retention. Right, alignment of benefits.

02:07:37,430	Um, we put that here to really look at making sure that we, we, we went to whoever ultimately or as we thought about a third party, we made sure that that was part of the employee program. Um, we talked about things like tenured employees. So if there were some of our current team.

02:07:58,130	That were close to Maybe either retirement or the end of their tenure, there would be a, a sort of a proactive effort to try to see if there was a way to place them in alternative locations in, you know, within the city structure.

02:08:17,500	Um, we also, you’ll see here the whole stipulation that the third party, you know, we want to encourage them here to work with our team, keep them on, you know, give them the sort of support that’s needed, so you’ll notice here there could be provisions around. Termination so that it couldn’t happen.

02:08:38,630	Essentially until the city was convinced that there was a period of time that had gone on so clearly support had been given to the uh internal team members who essentially were part of, you know, the, the future team at the event center.

02:08:58,430	So these are just some examples we have more that we’ll show you in a second, but there we we want the commission to know that this is not a situation where the city has the ability and we would recommend this to make sure that these are covered in part of a transition plan. Uh, so we’ll go to the next slide here. This just, just a quick overview of really what you just heard from the city HR leadership so we can, you can read this, but this sort of, um, you know, kind of reviews what you just heard.

02:09:16,730	Um, we’re going to move through these slides pretty quickly, but this details what a general manager kind of job description would be. This was a request that was made, and you can see here’s a narrative around the kind of things that a future general manager is going to be responsible for these bullet points that you see here, give

02:09:34,870	you a sense of the breath. Of the responsibility of the general manager. One quick caveat, which is not in this, but I just want to mention this as it relates to the city’s ability to make sure that there is the type of environment that we want to make sure of in most of the third party agreements

02:09:54,570	that we are involved with, the general manager position in particular, the city has a lot of authority over the hiring practice, the performance, and the, the authority board. would have a lot of direct involvement in what I would call the oversight of that position and the leadership there.

02:10:16,370	So there is an opportunity there to make sure that, again, the city’s got the ability to influence, if you will, the environment, the outcome, etc. Um, this is a little bit on salary structure here. If you look at that bottom box here, you’ll notice that these are some of the typical incentives.

02:10:35,670	That are put into place for general managers and, you know, management companies, we want to make sure if that is the direction of the commission that we create incentives. On behalf of the commissioners that really reflect the priorities of Bismarck.

02:10:55,830	And so there’s a process that we would go through to, to really come back and say, here’s the type of incentives that we want to make sure are part of both RFP process and final contract. If you go to the next slide here. You’ll see, um, a little bit more here. On the detail of some of the employee protection plan ideas that we have here.

02:11:13,130	So if you look at some of these things that we’ve got some of these we, we noted, we noted ahead of time, but you can see more here on how we would make sure that there was continuity. And how we would make sure we did everything that was possible and that really the commissioners wanted to make sure it was in place as part of a smooth transition. Uh, so we’ll stop there.

02:11:32,800	Right? And just pause for a moment, answer questions, uh, but we really, we wanted to take a moment, so the questions that we’re asking in our last session, the Comm and mayor that you know that we really did that due diligence and, and here’s the feedback that we got. Commissioner’s questions of Dan. Mayor, and Mr.

02:11:56,200	Mayor Dan, um, if we proceed either way, will JLL be able to help develop the RFP? Yeah, we’re happy to do that and I think that there’s a lot of opportunity in that RFP development to make sure that again. A lot of the priorities are, are, are basically noted in that RFP process.

02:12:20,700	Comm Connelly. Um, on the option of the third party GM, um, so just uh clarification, like we had a director before, and they received all of the public employee benefits. So the civil service protections and all of those things, um, with a private party. The Civil Service protections wouldn’t apply.

02:12:46,900	Would that be correct? That’s correct. So One thing I would say, Comm, on that though, kind of the reason I mentioned the The nature of the general manager position when it comes to the authority board if we go that direction or and or commission.

02:13:04,500	Is that is a position that is structured in a way normally where the city has a lot of, um, let’s call it just authority over the who is hired and performance and a lot of issues that position is one that is a critical one for there to be collective involvement that makes sense. Yes. Mr. Clery, Dan, thanks for all the info.

02:13:25,870	I just wanted to make sure I understood correctly, like when you’re talking about with the authority board, and when it comes to the employee protections or like you were just saying, the, the GM role, you in other instances in other communities that you’ve walked through this process, that pieces of that are involved within the RFP as well as in the actual contract, correct?

02:13:47,270	Yeah, yeah, yeah, I think the key thing that I think is important, we were trying to really thought through this with all the internal conversations is we want to make sure that both the RFP states are priorities collective and then in that contract, that the things that we believe are important from a standpoint of key performance

02:14:04,830	indicators as well as everything we talked about in terms of employee protection. All of that is stipulated both in the RFP so we can make sure that the respondents can tell us how they’re going to do this and then 2 in the actual contract, right, yeah, I think that my like.

02:14:22,130	Main concern or goal would be that like, you can put it in the RFP and ask people to provide that, but I wanna make sure that it’s also in the contract whether it’s the KPIs, the employee protection, the involvement of the board with hiring the GM, uh, and just so that we can make sure that we’re able, we

02:14:37,600	have the ability to hold them accountable. Absolutely. Yeah. Comm Connelly. Dmitri Could you come up, please? I know you’re back in the corner there. Oh At any point in time has this department functioned. Like an enterprise fund supposed to function without the bailout of general or reserve funds as far as you know.

02:15:19,100	Uh, American Commissioners Comm Connelly, I have, it has never produced a profit, if that’s what you mean by or even broke even or even broke even. OK. Um, I think it would be important for context that we don’t refer to it as an enterprise fund because since it doesn’t function that way.

02:15:40,430	And we have other departments that do, um, as we go forward and trying to find the next best answer for this topic. So, I just wanted to make that a point of clarification. Thank you, Demetri. Commissionerer Mayor, Comm, so I’ll just expand on that because.

02:16:05,700	That is, is true that the red, the event center doesn’t operate in a profitable scenario, but When it, when it has events and it brings people in from outside the community. It does, uh, it does have an economic positive economic impact on our community. So you can’t just use one in a, in a big jigsaw puzzle of stuff. You can’t just use one of those pieces to make a decision.

02:16:24,930	Yep And even more to the point of why not using that term because we have other departments that function as enterprise funds that hold up to what that um definition would be, so. Mhm How so? Good Comm Cleary. Just, I mean, just to elaborate, I think that Asking whether it operates in the red or the black.

02:16:53,630	I mean, it proves that it brings in its own income, which to me is the definition of an enterprise fund, an enterprise fund operates as a business. It brings in its own income. It attempts to operate off of that income. There’s private businesses that end up in the red.

02:17:09,670	Very like all the time, uh, obviously, it’s not the goal, but it doesn’t mean it’s not an enterprise fund, I guess. It, it might even be just a little off topic at this point, but um. I guess I don’t know if changing it and not calling it enterprise fund changes anything.

02:17:30,370	But don’t know that that’s really the topic here, but it’s, it’s been classified as an enterprise fund, it’s but it’s intention is to drive economic benefit to the community. That’s, that’s the intention of it. Which If that does that, that generates revenue which ultimately helps fund its. Operations. It’s never, it’s It’s intended to drive economic benefit. I’m comfortable with that. So Commissioners Rich, uh, Mr.

02:18:02,470	Mayor, I, I move that we have JLL develop and publish an RFP to contract with a third party to operate our events center. Further that the RFP include the employee protective provisions that, as outlined in the presentation. Does that include the authority board concept. I didn’t address that.

02:18:22,900	We can deal with that, um, separately, or I’d be, I could add that. It can be all one or it can be two separate. I’ll second. I guess, um, I’ll just add for discussion purposes that I don’t. I don’t want to operate with a third party operator. Without the authority board concept because I think that that’s what gives us.

02:18:55,900	The oversight that’s needed, um. And, and I think it makes the most sense with the, with the concepts and the recommendations that are laid out. I would accept that as a friendly amendment to include the authority board. Is that OK, Julie? Can we do that, Julie? To be extra clear, if we could just.

02:19:19,030	Have Comm Risch withdraw that motion. I’ll withdraw my motion. OK, I will draw my second if we could have Comm Risch restate his very concise motion and then add the part about the, the advisory board. Sure. I move that we have JLL develop and publish an RFP to contract with a third party to operate our events center.

02:19:42,200	Further that the RFP include the employee protective provisions as outlined in the presentation and also include an authority board. OK. We have discussion. And I have some comments that I want to add. So first I’m going to acknowledge that we have had 18 months.

02:20:09,970	Plus Of difficult time, and I certainly appreciate all of the hard work that has gone on. Um By the team members at the event center. But We have to recognize the fact that the citizens of Bismarck Deserve better than what we’ve had operating for the last several decades. Busy does not always mean we’re productive. And we’ve been busy but not necessarily productive.

02:20:37,770	This is largely why I support The change we need to be bold. On February 27th of 2024 The fact finding committee submitted a report. That clearly indicated there were operating issues at the event center. As of yet Several of those have not been addressed, including inventory for alcohol. Beverages by a third party vendor.

02:21:08,300	Further, I have learned. Recently that we have No solid tracking of cash. When used at the parking lot. For ins and outs because we have the same person. Reconciling the bag as who crated the bag. We are not Properly inventorying our. Concession stands our POS system is not.

02:21:38,300	Tracking that and as the current holder of the department, I’ve had nobody ask me what I support enhancing that, and the answer would have been immediately, yes. We have other ongoing internal control problems that have not been addressed, and I don’t believe 15 months is I believe in 15 months since that report has been delivered, I would have expected to see some of those

02:22:01,100	things. We still don’t have a comprehensive plan on how we should operate, which is clearly pointed out by the JLL report. So based upon what the JLL report has shown and what I’m aware of from the factfinding. Committee That was Approved by the commission at the time.

02:22:27,230	It is clear that we need to move into a direction differently than we are. Further, the third party vendor will be able to offer compensation packages that will incent our team members to go out and attract the types of activities to the event center that will drive economic development and growth and spending in our community. Doesn’t mean we don’t have some other things to do.

02:22:46,700	We have some of those things on our agenda yet today. Those need to also be addressed. This is an opportunity for us to be bold and to provide to our citizens an opportunity to truly attract things that will bring dollars to the community and events to the community that the citizens want to see.

02:23:07,300	Being busy does not mean we’re productive. Those are my comments. Any other discussion You’re no longer call role. Comm Zenker? No. Comm Connelly? Yes, Comm Cleary, yes, Comm Rich, Mayor Schmitz, yes. Moving that item H. Consider request to receive the recommendation to select a consultant for the Bismarck Event Center’s indefinite delivery in definite quantity proposals, Jason.

02:23:52,100	Mayor and Commissioners, uh, from the last commission meeting, you’ll recall there was a request to put together a request for proposals for indefinite delivery in definite quantity architectural services to help move forward and implement the Event Center, uh, uh, capital improvements plan that was developed recently by the UL Design Group, a selection committee was formed.

02:24:14,030	We were fortunate to receive 5 very qualified proposals from local architecture firms, uh. I will admit I was not part of the selection committee. I I did Proctor, um, and facilitate the process and, uh, Mayor Schmittz was part of the selection committee as well as city engineer Gabe Schell, uh, interim director Amanda Yellow and uh assistant airport

02:24:36,570	Director Matthew Rominzi, um, my takeaway from the discussions at the table, all 5 firms were qualified to do the work. However, uh, given the expertise and the experience that the Eil Design Group has has learned over the 15 plus.

02:24:54,800	years that they have been working in the facility, uh, the selection committee felt that the uh the best, most qualified firm was the Yel Design Group, so the recommendation from the firm is a, it was a unanimous selection uh to recommend moving forward with uh Usign Group as the architect for the indefinite delivery indefinite quantities, uh, contract. You have any questions, I’d be happy to try and answer those for you.

02:25:14,430	Commissioners. What are your wishes? So Jason, you just need direction on whether to move for you on a motion and move forward with Mayor Commissioners, Comm Cleary, we would be looking for a motion to move forward with the evil design group since that was the recommendation from the selection committee to the next

02:25:46,600	step would be to engage in contract discussion ultimately looking forward to having that, I believe it was a 3 year contract with 21-year potential extensions. OK, I will move as presented. Second Any discussion. Mr. Zenker. I just got one question. Um In the memo, it says, Oh, you had it.

02:26:11,500	I’m sorry, today is the 12th or 10th, my bad. OK Thank you. Any further discussion? Hearing of Malal. Mr. Connelly, Comm Cleary, Yes. Comm Risch, Comm Zenker. Jeff, this is nothing personal. No. Meerschmitz Yes And I consider a request to receive information and direct staff to schedule a public hearing to consider entering into an exclusive agreement memorandum of understanding with AP construction we will

02:26:46,170	design and JLL JLG architects regarding the proposed Hotel development near the event center and Um, Trimes, if you just want to explain a little bit why we got to go through this process and the, and so we can be appropriate, please. So Mayor and Commissioners, um, I, I, I did attach.

02:27:11,300	The You, you need to pull your, sorry,, sorry, I keep forgetting. Um, so I did attach the Opinion or the memo written by one of the attorneys in the office, Josh Dying, I think he did a great job explaining. Um, the process and so this would be considered a, a fee-based, um, process and so the entry code.

02:27:33,700	Controls here and then there’s an attorney General’s opinion regarding the necessity for a public hearing. And because it’s an attorney General’s opinion that has not been overturned by any other court decision that is binding on the city. And so that’s the requirement for the, the public hearing.

02:27:55,030	On On that decision whether or not to go forward with the group. So we call for a public hearing. Have the public hearing. Based on what are the results of the public hearing, then we could enter into an exclusive agreement at that point in time if we make a decision to do so. That’s correct. OK.

02:28:17,070	So of We should have a motion if we’re going to do that, I believe, to call for the public hearing. I’ll move for staff to schedule a public hearing to consider the MOU with exclusive development rights to the AP uh construction Us design group and JLG Architects.

02:28:43,730	Second, Is there any discussion? But I would Say that, you know, as they move forward on that, the only comment I have is I know we identified a particular parcel of land, but there are two other lots that might be attractive versus the one that’s there, so. Um, any other discussion. no one will call roll. Comm Clery? Yes, Comm Risch. Comm Zener? No. Comm Connelly? Yes, Mayor Schmitz, yes.

02:29:11,100	Next item J, consider a request for review. And consider a new on-call policy, Doug. Evening Mayor Commissioners. Uh, item you have before you is a new on-call policy. So Bismarck has many departments that provide 24 hour service. Uh, for our citizens, some of those provide that service through shift work.

02:29:41,230	Some of those provide that service through what we’re doing is on call. We’re using on-call, but we don’t have an actual policy to compensate our staff for that. So for decades, and this has been since I’ve been here, it’s, um, I’ve heard about it for 10 years and it’s been going on for 20 years before that, from what I’ve learned.

02:29:58,830	Um, So what the situation we have is for these departments that are using, utilizing on-call. We schedule staff, uh, they sit at home on the hours that they’re not scheduled to work, so that’s after normal work hours, that’s over the weekend, and then they report in to when they get called in by dispatch or for some other emergency.

02:30:16,500	So we have staff giving up time, uh, with their family, not able to travel, but we haven’t been compensating them for that for years. And so what this policy does is it addresses that, um, it’s, it’s vague in how it’s been written so that we could provide department directors, um, discretion to implement and

02:30:36,230	one of the, this has been tried to, tried to be worked through for many different times and kind of the stopping point every time was that we were trying to fit everybody in a box and make them do the same thing for all the departments.

02:30:51,300	And this policy gives a little bit of discretion for directors because we don’t all operate the same in the city. Marker department’s a very different. So When you look at the, the policy and you should have a copy at your desk as well. There was a, a small edit that I’ll share with you. When you look at the pay portion of this policy, um.

02:31:08,370	It doesn’t list the specific amount, which I’m happy to share which, which, which, what was discussed, but it gives the commission the authority to set that during our budget process annually. And it’s for non-exempt employees, and that’s the edit and why you have the, the copy on your desk, um, I didn’t include that.

02:31:24,500	I just said employees in the original version, but it’s for non-exempt employees only. Um And we had to, to put in this policy a response time because we are requiring staff to show up at a certain amount of time, they’re giving up their, their free time at home.

02:31:42,400	And so we had a committee that started at the beginning of the year trying to work through all the different scenarios that these departments are, are working in to provide this 24 hour service and we, part of that was discussing what is a reasonable amount of response time and, and where we landed was the 30-minute response time.

02:32:01,770	Um, this was presented to the Employee representative committee, um, after much discussion, there, there was some concern about the 30-minute response time, you know, and it’s included in the policy that under normal conditions, like if there’s a storm and somebody can’t get here for 35 minutes. We’re not going to sit with a stopwatch as supervisors. That’s not the intent of this.

02:32:19,430	It’s just to make sure that we’re getting staff as efficiently as possible to what they need to respond to. Um The dollar amount that was discussed, which is probably the most important part for, for you to know, Commissioners, um.

02:32:41,170	There were several different options and several different communities have, it’s all over the board with how they compensate their staff for on-call, but where we landed was a flat $3 for every hour that they are on call outside of work. So it’s not $3 on top of their hourly rate, it’s just $3. And what that equates to, uh, roughly for each division that utilizes on call is about $19,968 a year, I believe. Um, yes, $968 per division.

02:33:05,900	That Does that will implement this policy. And annually for our budgets with the, the divisions and departments that utilize on-call right now for the general fund. It’s going to be just shy of $100,000 and for, uh, those departments that are fee-based or enterprise funds, it’s gonna be about $40,000 annually. questions for Doug.

02:33:33,430	I, I commend you and the team for taking this on and addressing it because I think it’s definitely something that I would, I’m kind of ashamed we haven’t addressed in the past. I agree. Comm Risch. Mr. Mary Doug, um. I was on call for 30 years.

02:33:51,670	It’s not what it’s cracked up to be, um, not only can you not travel someplace, you can’t go have a beer, you can’t do anything like that, and you’ve got to be able to report for duty. In the railroad industry, the standard’s pretty much an hour and a half, but then when they called me, I’d be going maybe. 2 or 3 days, maybe even a week at a time and an outlying point.

02:34:07,270	So that’s, but a half hour is going to be difficult, and I, I, I would trust the department heads to be somewhat lenient, because some people might live 20 minutes away from where they go to work, you know, so pretty difficult just to, you know, have your work clothes on and almost ready in the car when

02:34:22,770	they call you. So, but anyway, uh, it should be compensated. There should be some sort of compensation because your time is not your own when you’re on call. Mr. Clare, Steve and I have had many conversations about this because obviously it’s a thing for road, roads and streets, but, um.

02:34:42,070	To your point, Comm Risch, I think that when Doug and I talked about it, it was like, do you say a half hour or do you say an hour, but I think that the half hour is just our way of setting the precedent that like, We want you to be there.

02:34:55,800	It needs to be timely, you know, and like Doug said, a lot of times you’re on call roads and streets. A lot of times it’s because of snow or something like that, so like obviously. We’re hoping that the department heads understand that they’re operating at their discretion with some of it too, so. Commissioners Make a motion to prove as presented.

02:35:18,700	Second, any discussion? Here and we’ll call. Comm Rich? Yes. Comm Zenker? Yes. Comm Connelly? Yes, Comm Cleary, yes, Mayor Schmitz, yes. Thank you very much. the Next item K consider requests from Burley County to hold a joint meeting with the board of City Commissioners and the board of county commissioners to discuss the ETA, um, when we had our joint Commission’s

02:35:46,530	meeting on the 3rd of June, uh, Comm, myself and Comm Bakke. Discussed that, um, the, the intent would be. Originally to have it as a Uh, I don’t know, kind of call it a working group, but more of an information gathering component where both planning and zoning.

02:36:15,830	Uh, departments, the city and the county would present information on The planning and zoning and the ETA and Specifically what differences there might be between the two. Um, from, from the regulatory standpoint. And then Um, depending on what that. What would come of that potentially have a Meeting with some public input, um, my concern is not, it’s not a concern.

02:36:41,430	My only request would be is what the public input becomes is that it let’s have problems that need to be addressed. So we can try to correct them instead of just We Say we don’t like to be regulated. Well, we’re going to be regulated by somebody, so, um, I think that Comm Bakken was in agreement with that.

02:36:59,630	His request was that we did it at the next. Joint Commission’s meeting, which I don’t know if he said he needed all 10 of us there. I can’t remember, Jason.

02:37:25,230	Mayor and Comm, Mayor and Commissioners, I believe the desire was to have all 10 elected leaders from both commissions there and um recognizing early July could be some holiday time for folks. I mean, he threw that happens to be July 1. I realize what week that is. And so that may not be so good, and I think we may just have to find another time or do it in August.

02:37:41,770	It didn’t seem like it would be problematic if it moved to August for that meeting, but, um, Since he brought the request, I think I was more appropriate coming from them because it’s an effect to their, their voting members. Comm Connelly. Um, anybody through DMA thinks Mayor and Commissioners. Anybody through Dakota Media Access can go back to, um, the County Commission meeting on Monday.

02:38:04,270	It was brought up during the other business, and he did get consensus from all 5 commissioners. And then um can watch the Bismarck Burley meeting, and I appreciate both of you talking about it.

02:38:23,670	Um, he did say the suggestion, I do the work that day, but since I brought it up originally, um, depending on the decision, I will make that. Me. Um, if it’s another day, then I’ll make that meeting, so. I think we just need to get back with them if that works or. Or we would want to move it to the, and I don’t even know what the August 1 is. I’d have to look at the calendar.

02:38:43,100	Comm Mayor Comm, um, July 1 is out for me. I’m gone that entire week, so that was. Yep, and I don’t blame you. So I, I, Jason and I talked about that afterwards and we’re like, oh, I don’t know if this is, I would recommend we try for the August meeting, I think mayor and Comm, the joint meeting of

02:39:05,570	the Bismarck Burley Combined Commission’s Committee meeting is the first Tuesday of each month at 4 p.m. the first Tuesday in August would be the 5th. I, I would That’s more doable than July 1 for me, I guess too.

02:39:25,270	OK, so everybody, If everybody is in agreement on that, then we can just push that out to. Comm Bakke and OK. I mayor Commissioners, I can certainly communicate with the County Comm Bakke and, uh, offered the date of August 5th. I do believe the county would have their first meeting of the month on August 4th.

02:39:47,830	They typically meet the 1st and 3rd Mondays, um, but they would have multiple meetings before August 5th to confirm if all five of them would also be available. If not, we’ll have to find a date. Understood. All right. Um, that’s the last item on the agenda. Is there any other business? Comm Risch. Well, I just wanna, um, say that last Thursday we had an exciting announcement.

02:40:07,100	The mayor and I were, were at the airport and we’ve got a new direct flight from here to Chicago. So, um, I’m excited about that. I, we, we hope to draw a bunch of Chicago folks in Bismarck and the sur surrounding area for tourism. And, um, you know, I love Chicago.

02:40:22,470	It’s a great place to go spend a few days, so, um, just to mentioning it so anybody watching on TV or whatever can consider taking that flight so we. Make it a successful endeavor. OK. Is