00:00:10,000	S1:
December 16th. It's 515. We're in the Tom Baker room of the city County building. This will be the board of city commissioners. But before we start, if Chaplain Lucas would mind coming forward with benediction and the Pledge of Allegiance, please.

00:00:27,400	S2:
On behalf of Crisis Care Chaplaincy, thank you to the Commission for allowing us to participate, if you would, if you are able, if you would stand with me for the invocation and then remain standing for the pledge.

00:00:42,267	S2:
Heavenly father, we come before you tonight with thanksgiving for all the many blessings that you bestow upon us a nation where we are free elections that give the people a voice. Public meetings like this where people also have a voice. We thank you that the people have an opportunity to serve their city, as these commissioners are as well. We pray protection and wisdom to our first responders as they serve this city in the many capacities that they serve in. We ask you to provide wisdom and discernment to this group tonight as they make decisions going forward and during this Christmas season. May we be a little more kind. May we be a little more generous, and may we be a little more empathetic during this season. We ask all these things in your holy and precious name. Amen.

00:01:49,767	S2:
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.

00:02:03,868	S1:
Thank you sir.

00:02:09,167	S1:
All right. If we can call the meeting to order and call roll.

00:02:14,367	S3:
Commissioner Risch. Here. Commissioner Zenker. Here. Commissioner Connolly here. Commissioner Cleary here. Mayor Schmitz.

00:02:21,000	S1:
Here we are at public comment. Public comment is restricted to the consent agenda. Consent agenda. Regular agenda or prior city commission agenda. Excluding any public hearings that are noted for tonight. So public comment period is now open. Anyone who wish to speak, please come forward. State your name and sign in on the log.

00:03:03,501	S4:
Test all the way. Test?

00:03:09,767	S5:
That parent and the writer. I'm here to discuss the sales tax with these band fans. And I would ask you to give give them the money they had requested. And I would also ask that you make sure Brandon participate. I have tried to advocate for that the past six months for a resident. No one returned a call from the band, and so I would make that contingent upon the city of Mandan participating. This is a joint community. It's public transit. It is for both of our communities. And I don't think Bismarck should just have to pay the bill. I do understand if you have to, but I think they have their own sales tax too. So I would just ask that you considered that. I tried to call yesterday. We would get comments in regarding. And they're not responding to my calls for action. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

00:04:16,467	S1:
Again this is a public comment. Anyone who wishes to speak, please come forward. Identify yourself and the topic.

00:04:29,100	S6:
Hello, my name is Susan Dingell. I want to speak about the third party management

00:04:37,901	S6:
recommendation and the approval of the idea of selecting advisory board members for the event center. I myself still have mixed opinions about the idea of choosing a third party management organization for the Bismarck Event Center, but I am confident at the same time that the process for soliciting applicants and making the recommendation were transparent and fair. That is not what I'm here to comment about. What I am here to comment about is my hopes for Event center staff. The Event center staff are the secret sauce of the Event center. They are why it has succeeded and why it can continue to succeed. Many of these people are members of families that have had other family members working at the event center for generations. This is not typical, and this is certainly nothing to take for granted. This is a strength and it needs to be continued. The same people also can be advocates for helping to recruit other new staff members, and this should be maintained and encouraged. This is a key part of the culture of the event center, and part of how and why it works. It needs to be preserved and upheld and respected.

00:06:14,701	S6:
I think the best thing for the third party management group to do is to realize they're coming in, working with a bunch of experts. These folks don't need training and how to work at an event center. They know that they do that. They can contribute information to the management group in collaboration and consultation about what are your hopes for the future? What are the strengths? What are the problems? What are the opportunities? What are the threats? Can you say Swot analysis?

00:06:49,667	S6:
The staff need to be seen as an essential component of the group moving forward and they need to be respected, rewarded and incentivized in that way. And one of the biggest concerns, and perhaps one of the things that the management group can bring is some perspective on the multiplier effect, because the multiplier effect is really the key metric. Excuse me. With an event center, it's not the profit which may or may not occur. The idea is the event center spotlights the community. It encourages people to come both people from inside the community and maybe the larger communities in the region, but people from other places. The event center has been doing that and could probably do better at it. And of course, things with event centers and arenas and convention centers are changing, and the event center staff probably can tell you that they know about that. What a third party management group with experience in handling event centers could do is perhaps offer some perspectives on how do we maximize some of these partnerships. We already have community partnerships, industry partnerships. We have groups who have long histories of coming and having their events here. What can we do to help maximize these, to help people not just come to the convention center or to the convention center and a hotel, but to do larger things in the community to get a little more connected and interested in the larger picture. Because, of course, the other thing they're trying to do is if somebody is considering a move or a transfer, maybe they would come here. And if they have previous positive experiences here, that might help sway their decisions in favor. That is what the event center is supposed to do. It is supposed to work on those relationships and partnerships and the multiplier effect. What is their outreach in the community and what kind of effect do they have? Going forward, that's what they need to do. And my hope is that's the strength of this new group. Thank you very much.

00:09:27,801	S1:
Thank you.

00:09:28,801	S5:
Thank you.

00:09:30,167	S1:
Yeah. You're signing in. Thank you.

00:09:35,400	S7:
You get this?

00:09:49,367	S6:
I signed in, Trevor and me.

00:09:52,000	S1:
Thank you. All right. Public comment is open.

00:10:00,000	S1:
Second call for public comment.

00:10:05,167	S1:
A third and final call for public comment.

00:10:09,767	S1:
Seeing our hearing, no one else in public comment period is now closed. Commissioners, what are your wishes or. Okay, commissioners.

00:10:20,000	S2:
Commissioners, I would.

00:10:21,167	S8:
Like to pull item D1 for further discussion. Okay.

00:10:24,601	S6:
And I would like to pull two of.

00:10:26,501	S9:
Them item I1 and K9.

00:10:32,567	S1:
Okay. So with those two items pulled, what are your wishes with regard to the rest of the consent agenda. And then we can come back to those three items.

00:10:40,667	S9:
Motion.

00:10:42,467	S8:
Rest of the consent agenda.

00:10:44,100	S9:
Second.

00:10:44,868	S1:
Okay. Any discussion? Hearing none. We'll call roll.

00:10:49,901	S3:
Commissioner Zenker.

00:10:51,167	S8:
Yes.

00:10:51,801	S3:
Commissioner Connolly. Yes. Commissioner Cleary. Yes. Commissioner Risch. Yes. Mayor. Schmitz.

00:10:57,200	S1:
Yes.

00:11:00,968	S5:
Okay.

00:11:04,267	S1:
Commissioner Zenker will start. Yours was the first time.

00:11:06,767	S8:
Yeah. So I just. I guess I got a couple of questions on that. Um. I mean, I'll be honest, I haven't been favorable for the third party management since day one, so, um, typically when we, when we, um, um, talk about the selection committee and operations and negotiate contracts, we've got a precedent set. Right. Our engineering team, when we do a new road, street, that type of stuff, it's already set up. Um, if we go for architects, for buildings, we have that. So we've never negotiated a contract like this. So I guess I have three questions. One, um, what about our staff? Because when we talked about this before, we went for RFP and those types of things. I thought the consensus at the table was to make sure that staff is taken care of.

00:11:52,501	S1:
Two.

00:11:52,968	S8:
Two. Um, what, um, what are we going to do with current contracts that are already, um, on the books, so to speak, business that we're anticipating to have? And then the final one is the big one is what's the return on investment? What, because we've already committed to, um, upgrades to the event center, which we all know they need. Um, and then you know what? What are we going to. What are we guaranteed to have other than expenses? And when we look at it from a business perspective, anytime you go into a contract, there's got to be give or take for everybody. So what's in it for the citizens of Bismarck? I will say the last item on the agenda with the, uh, the board and stuff. I've been an advocate that for a while, I'm really excited to to see that pass and move forward. But I need those three answers on that topic.

00:12:49,100	S1:
So, Jason, do you want to come up? And I mean, I can lead it, but he. Not a problem. Well, and just to further that that when we get to that those individuals were part of this selection process. So they've asked a lot of these same questions.

00:13:04,501	S9:
So good evening mayor and commissioners.

00:13:06,968	S1:
There was never an easy answer.

00:13:08,467	S9:
I'll try and address the questions in the order that they were asked. So first, what about staff? Uh, Commissioner Zenker, that was one of the components of the scoring process when the selection committee evaluated the proposals. Uh, the things that we were looking for was we referred to it as an employee protection plan. And ultimately, what the groups are recognizing is very much what Miss Dingell shared earlier is that the staff in this building are the assets that need to be maintained and supported. And and the words she used were incentivized to continue to do great work. The employee protection plan was certainly addressed by both components are both the selection both of the groups that the selection committee interviewed. That is, a portion of the contract that the city will be sending to Oak View Group. So we are in the process right now of developing a draft, and I should have predicated all of this by saying city staff is working with the consultants at JLL to walk us through each of these steps is you're right, we've never done this before. This is new territory for all of us. However, we are working with, from what we have learned, some of the best in the industry to get to this process, to get to this part. So with that in mind, I am confident and comfortable that the draft contract that the City of Bismarck provides to Oak View Group in the very near future will address all of the concerns from the city's perspective first, and then we will hopefully have meaningful negotiations and dialogue back and forth with the intention of best case scenario. We bring that contract to this commission for your review and approval at your second meeting in January. That's fingers crossed. That's a fast track, recognizing we've got holidays and things like that in there. That would be the 27th of January. It's an internal goal that we've set for ourselves. I'm not going to pledge that we're going to make it, because we're going to have to rely on third parties, operations and their legal team and their comments back and forth. But just know that from a city staff perspective, we are turning this thing around as quickly as we can. When I say we myself, City Attorney Julie Meese, our procurement officer, our finance director, our IT director, we've all had influence and feedback into this draft contract, writing it through the eyes of what is best for the city in this scenario, knowing that we're going to volley the contract out first. The second. Does that answer your question about staff?

00:15:34,801	S4:
I mean.

00:15:35,400	S8:
So are you are you basically saying there's a guarantee that they'll all have their job?

00:15:38,801	S9:
That is the expectation that on day one, all the staff in the Bismarck Event Center will be offered a job by the third party. No questions.

00:15:45,801	S8:
Okay. Okay.

00:15:48,367	S9:
Second question. Your your question about current contracts for dates that are on the calendar, dates that have been booked or held or reserved. Those are conversations that will occur with the third party. If they're if they're booked, if they're, you know, coming up and contracts are signed. Obviously those are going to be honored as far as hold dates and things. We're aware that some, um, some events are on the calendar for years in advance to say, hold the third Thursday in January or whatever that reoccurring date is. Those types of things, depending on the, uh, the level of priority, um, if they become a.

00:16:30,200	S9:
Say there's a potential concert that's available on that same date, and we're talking about a whole date that's five years out. I would expect some type of negotiation back and forth between the group that has the date held and a higher ticketed event or something like that. But the intention is to continue to honor all the contracts that we have currently, and that extends to the third party vendors that are in there. As far as some of the concessions and things like that as well. So there's no intentions to eliminate any of that at this point. To be continued as part of the dialogue when we enter into the contract negotiation. And then the third thing, your question about the return on the investment for the third party. The city has committed to capital improvements over the next five years. Um, this is actually something in Mayor Schmitz. Feel free to, um, to add on to this, but one of the things that stood out from the Oakview Group to the selection committee was their initial pledge to put money into a full scale commercial kitchen. Uh, both groups had interviewed with the selection committee, highlighted the importance of having food and beverage operations become in-house. Much of the plated meals are currently catered in from outside third party vendors that can add concerns with potential cost quality control. Just the sum of the things that can go along with plating 400 plus dinners. The idea of having an in-house kitchen. It's a significant investment, but it's an investment that the group is willing to make because they see the value in bringing the food and beverage program internal. To be able to control the quality, the food cost, the production. To be honest, during the during the interviews, the both groups provided an example of a food program that they would have for whether it be conventions or grab and go type things. They had a limited opportunity to prepare any foods, but they did a nice job demonstrating various features of how they address food and beverage in other areas. So, um, return on investment? Yes, we will continue to move forward with the CIP. We've got a group that's pledging and investment themselves into the build out of the building. And I think in the past there's actually been discussions and exploration as to where a kitchen could be located within that facility. So I think that would be something that we would look to. Jeff Hubbell, who is working on the capital Improvements project, to work with the third party. Excuse me, the third party to find the best location for that type of facility as far as the long term return on investment. When will this facility make money? Both groups had to submit a pro forma as part of their proposal, and I would offer that both of them were very, um, reserved in their returns, not wanting to perhaps overpromise and then under deliver. Um, but I think something like this, the group that has been recommended to move forward, Oakview Group, has demonstrated their ability to turn the Alara Center in Grand Forks from a deficit each year to this year, they will be posting a pretty significant, uh, uh, revenue for the facility on its own. And I believe Oakview Group's been managing the Alaris Center for somewhere between 5 and 7 years in Grand Forks. So I don't want to imply that the first year everything is going to be great. There's going to be all the deficits are overcome. There's certainly capital improvements that need to be considered with this. There's money going into the building to upgrade some of it. But I, I believe that, uh, the group that has been selected demonstrated the, the ability to lead this project for us. Um, maybe just a little bit about overview. Uh, they're an international company managing over 300 facilities all the way from large scale stadiums to historic theaters, very much like the Bellamy House. So their their depth and breadth of experience and knowledge is pretty vast, and I guess I would stand with the recommendation from the selection committee. I was part of that process, and I think we've got the right recommendation coming forward for the group.

00:20:45,901	S1:
The other thing is there's several other KPIs that need to be met, like enhanced hotel nights, enhanced revenue and restaurants. There's measuring metrics that those will be that that will be part of the contract, how we're going to find that and what they have to attain to retain their contract.

00:21:05,501	S9:
And if I may, commissioners, to add on to the mayor's comment about the key performance indicators, that is one of the components, one of the expectations of the authority board is to uphold those KPIs and hold the third party accountable and then be able to measure their productivity year over year, because there are incentives based on those KPIs. If they hit those marks, if they exceed those targets, there are advantages. There are cash incentives for them to do those to to reach those marks. And so that is one of the responsibilities of the Authority Board is to meet regularly with the third party and have these discussions about what's coming. How did the last one do? What more do you need? What projects are going on in the building? I'm excited for the Authority Board to begin to meet because there's there's a lot of opportunity, there's a lot of enthusiasm from not just the members but also the third party. And again, the consultants with JLL have been walking us through all of this, and I am very confident that we're going to be able to hit the ground running. We will rely on JLL for a few more months to get us through the contract negotiation, but then also help the authority board get established so we know what type of question should we be asking on these monthly reports? What type of numbers should we be looking for? The the Authority Board is a very diverse group of business people in our community, but we need to know what questions to ask, and we need to know what information to be looking for each month as we go forward. So again, we're really leaning into JLL and their support. But I think because of all the decisions that have led us to this point, I'm comfortable that we're going to continue to make the right decisions going in. Any other questions, Commissioner Zenker? Thank you.

00:22:46,868	S1:
Okay. Um, with regard to consent agenda item D1, what are your wishes?

00:22:54,868	S10:
I would move to approve.

00:22:56,501	S4:
Second.

00:22:57,567	S1:
Any further discussion? Hearing none. We'll call roll.

00:23:02,467	S3:
Commissioner Connolly. Yes. Commissioner Cleary. Yes. Commissioner. Risch. Yes. Commissioner Zenker.

00:23:09,868	S8:
No.

00:23:11,467	S3:
Mayor. Schmitz.

00:23:12,400	S1:
Yes. Moving to make sure I have this in the right order. So, Commissioner Connolly, I think it's I1. Correct? Yes. Consent agenda i1.

00:23:21,567	S4:
I'll start with that one.

00:23:23,000	S8:
Um, I.

00:23:26,667	S6:
With that, in direct relation with municipal.

00:23:29,667	S4:
Court.

00:23:30,501	S6:
There's.

00:23:31,200	S4:
Some.

00:23:32,000	S8:
Wording.

00:23:32,400	S6:
Within state.

00:23:33,267	S4:
Law that has some impacts to this conversation. And I talked to the Supreme Court lawyer representative, and she says they communicate with Stephanie through League of Cities. Stephanie is on vacation through the 19th of this week, and would just like to postpone that item to the January 13th meeting, because we'll have to re notice that item.

00:23:57,601	S1:
Commissioner Risch.

00:23:58,868	S8:
I just got a question.

00:24:00,200	S11:
So, Commissioner Connelly, the way I'm looking at it, if we just removed the clerk of court from the list here for the next meeting, would that be okay?

00:24:08,067	S4:
Um, I talked with, uh, our city administrator, and because of the noticing that's required, um, it's would be better because then we can be transparent with the public on the entire item instead of passing it out. So that would.

00:24:26,000	S1:
Be it will not have any significant impact on our ability to operate. So postponing it to the call to be the first meeting in January so that we have the second meeting is when the public hearing is I don't see that as a problem. So so we should have a full we should have a motion to pull it entirely or to postpone it, postpone the call.

00:24:47,167	S4:
I think I make a motion to move our item I12 from today's meeting to our January 13th meeting.

00:24:58,267	S3:
Second.

00:24:59,000	S1:
Any discussion? Hearing none. We'll call the roll on that.

00:25:04,000	S3:
Commissioner. Cleary. Yes, Commissioner. Risch. Yes, Commissioner. Zenker. Yes, Commissioner. Connolly. Yes, mayor. Schmitz.

00:25:10,767	S1:
Yes. Then it's K9 if I've got it right. Commissioner.

00:25:14,601	S4:
Yes. This is a new committee. All of the committees are being voted on, and most of them are in the consent agenda. And.

00:25:29,567	S4:
The people at this table were part of the checks and balances on behalf of the citizen. This is for economic development. Um. Last meeting. Uh, we paid two entities for economic development, and we had a presentation at that meeting. And part of the conversation was, is that they also tried to advocate for people to join these committees. And, um, now that representative's name is one of the people on this. So we're paying that entity money, and now they're on the Committee for Economic Development, which they also try to train other people for, for that. So, um.

00:26:19,567	S4:
There's some angst with that portion. The other thing is, is some of the other selections have, um, come up in conversations. Um, as, um, like medical detox. That's the part of the triage center that I am on board with. I'm still trying to figure out where I'm at with the rest of it. On the pros and cons of it, but one of the names would be one of the names directly, um, indicated, and has already been directly indicated as conversations when that has come up. And an entity that a person works for is also part of that conversation. Um, there's also things like the continual every parking authority meetings, talking about a new parking ramp and um.

00:27:14,400	S4:
The people on this committee are people that directly benefit from those discussions. So is it truly about economic development, border to border for the entire city.

00:27:27,300	S1:
So. So I think we need to let Daniel respond, because I don't think it's economic development at all that this committee is for. So because this this has something to do with entirely different. Yes.

00:27:38,100	S12:
Mayor. Commissioners. Commissioner Kelly, so I do appreciate the opportunity to speak to this. This is a brand new board. So I think it does warrant some some discussion. So the the purpose of the Community Development Advisory Committee would be to advise the city on the selection of Community Development Block Grant sub recipients. So this is funding that we receive every year through from the Department of Housing and Urban Development Hub from HUD. And we do have a annual action plan that you do approve each year, a consolidated plan every few years. And one of the requirements from HUD is that there is a citizen, basically feedback from the public, people who are outside of the organization of the city that provide guidance to us for the spending of this money. So there has been a citizen committee in the past. However, it's really been ad hoc and hasn't really been formalized in the same way that we're proposing today. So what this would do is it would basically bring it to you as a city commission to appoint these members of the citizen committee, and then they would help advise on the selection of these of these grants. And of course, all the meetings would then be publicly noticed and would be recorded and available to anyone to attend as well. So that that's the purpose of this committee. And we did solicit applications, and these were the people who had applied. Um, some people do are certainly have an interest in the field and are involved in this. And of course, they would just need to recuse themselves if it were a conflict.

00:28:59,567	S1:
And I'll speak to the application process like we were short one position for one of the boards until last week. So we had there was like there was no person who put an application in that was turned away.

00:29:16,901	S12:
That's correct.

00:29:17,868	S1:
So so that's part of we're trying to fill it. And so and again this is not economic development. This is.

00:29:25,100	S8:
Well.

00:29:25,400	S4:
Community development and economic. And I appreciate the clarification with that. So and I'm okay with being wrong. That's part of the checks and balances too. As far as clarification I don't mind that that's how we learn. Right. So it's only specific to HUD.

00:29:42,000	S12:
That's correct.

00:29:43,100	S4:
Nothing else.

00:29:43,868	S12:
CDC, CDBG, community voting block grant funding.

00:29:47,000	S4:
Okay.

00:29:47,667	S8:
Okay. Can I make a recommendation? Sure. So next time we do that. Could you could we put in there? What? It's what it's for. Okay. Right. Because I called Daniel to I'm like, hey, what do you need an advisory committee for? For community development?

00:30:01,801	S1:
Yeah, that's a fair question.

00:30:02,767	S8:
Once we had a three minute conversation, I knew exactly what was going on.

00:30:05,901	S1:
And that's a fair question because he asked me about it ahead of time. I knew, but it wasn't in the memo. Very well. That's true.

00:30:12,467	S12:
Duly noted. Yeah.

00:30:13,868	S11:
Yeah, yeah. Mr. mayor, commissioners, one comment I want to make is, you know, we announce all these positions for all these boards and at one meeting the time passes on and all of a sudden they show on the agenda and there's the people's name, but they don't say anything about their qualifications. It would be helpful for me if we posted just something brief about their qualifications in the future. So anybody in the public or music commissioner is going to vote on this. I'll understand something about their qualifications that would be helpful.

00:30:43,767	S8:
Okay.

00:30:44,901	S1:
I think that's doable. Just to add a little bio, because if they do put information in their application.

00:30:51,400	S12:
They do.

00:30:52,400	S4:
So in the clarifications. Helpful. So with that I motion to approve. Okay.

00:30:57,100	S8:
Second.

00:30:57,801	S1:
Any further discussion. Hearing none. Roll call. Roll.

00:31:03,000	S3:
Commissioner. Risch. Yes, Commissioner. Zenker.

00:31:06,067	S8:
Yes.

00:31:06,667	S3:
Commissioner. Connolly. Yes, Commissioner. Cleary. Yes. Mayor. Schmitz.

00:31:10,567	S1:
Yes. All right. We're going to call a regular agenda item A consider recommendation by Bismarck Transit Board for approval of sales tax allocation. Deirdre and Deirdre were going to do the best we can because I know you need to get over to City of Mandan because they're meeting tonight to have this same topic on their agenda.

00:31:30,067	S13:
Yes, I do appreciate that. Good evening, Mayor and commissioners, thank you for the opportunity to speak with you today about our 2025 public transit sales tax request. On behalf of the Transit Board, I am requesting $649,392.15

00:31:45,467	S13:
in sales tax funding to help offset our projected 2025 operating deficit. At the start of 2025, we projected an operating deficit of over 955,000, driven by several challenges rising costs of fuel, vehicle repairs, contractor expenses and staff pay to retain our dedicated team all played a factor in this anticipated deficit. At the same time, our revenues haven't kept pace, while industrywide inflation pushes expenses up by 8.87%, our federal 5307 operating grant has only increased by 2.3%. This grant supports urban areas like ours with populations over 50,000. But as formulas are based on things that don't fully account for our local growth, we typically run out of this funding by September or October of each year. The remaining expenses are fully absorbed by Bozeman Transit's cash reserves with no grant reimbursement. These reserves are necessary to match other federal grants for capital purchases, including buses. As of November 30th, 2025, we have provided 127,197 fixed route trips, up 14.61% over the prior year and 85,346 paratransit trips, up 3.44%. These numbers clearly demonstrate the increasing reliance on these services in our community. Adding to this, community demands are growing, especially for low income individuals, seniors, and people with disabilities. Recently, one of our area's major tax taxi providers shut down, creating an even greater need for public transit. Without additional support support, we risk service cuts that would disproportionately harm these vulnerable groups who depend on us to get to work, doctor's appointments and essential services. I want to highlight that we've been proactive in addressing the deficit. As of November 20th, 2025 are projected annual deficit is now $760,000, which is about 214,000 less than we had originally anticipated. The purpose of this funding request is to cover key operating expenses, including our contract with. We review fuel, insurance, utilities and most importantly, to maintain current service levels for both fixed route and paratransit services, ensuring we can continue connecting our communities without interruption. We're requesting $649,392.15

00:33:57,167	S13:
from Bismarck, which represents 85.44% of the total deficit. I will also be presenting a request to the city of Mandan this evening for $110,664.21,

00:34:08,701	S13:
which is 14.56% of our 2025 deficit. We're hopeful both communities approve our requests. If you may recall, in May, the city Commission discussed allocating up to $1 million to cover this deficit following the Transportation Steering Committee's recommendation. Our updated lower deficit keeps us well within that cap. Once the 2025 deficit is addressed, we will begin our service change process. The first steps in this process are two public comment meetings, which are scheduled for January 13th. Members of the public will also be able to provide comments on what service changes they would like to see through our website. Email in writing and over the phone following the public comment meetings. The public hearing will be held on January 22nd at 10 a.m. at the transit facility. Proposed changes will then be presented to the transit board later that day at the January board meeting. If all goes as planned, I will be back before this group on February 10th to present the proposed service changes for final approval. Although this timeline is somewhat flexible, the goal is to implement all service changes by April 1st. The service changes requested by the Transportation Steering Committee will be discussed, but we will also be exploring other service options, depending on how the public comments and public meetings go. The proposed changes recommended by that committee include offering four additional hours of Cat bus service Monday through Saturday, and three and a half extra hours of demand for service on demand response service on Sunday. It was suggested that the Sunday demand response service also be open to the general public to allow additional transportation options for riders on Sundays. In conclusion, Bozeman Transit is a lifeline for the Bismarck and Mandan communities. We connect people to opportunities including jobs, health care, shopping, and recreation that they might otherwise miss. This deficit threatens our ability to provide these essential services, but with your support, we can sustain them and keep the region moving forward. I'd be happy to answer any questions. Thank you for your time and consideration.

00:35:57,467	S1:
Does anyone have questions? Commissioner Risch.

00:36:02,100	S11:
Mr. mayor. Deidre. So we've got this dedicated sales tax. Now, how is the revenue amount of revenue coming in? Certainly not enough to cover the 760,000. At this point.

00:36:13,667	S13:
We have not received any of that revenue. This request is actually to start accessing that funding.

00:36:19,167	S3:
Okay.

00:36:19,667	S13:
I don't know what the amount is.

00:36:21,467	S1:
Eric, I think I saw him walk in earlier. He may have an idea of what the balance is on that at this point in time, but I suspect we're okay.

00:36:33,901	S14:
Mayor. Commissioners. Commissioner Risch. Um, to date, we have about $2.1 million in collections dedicated to transit, so more than sufficient dollars to accommodate this request.

00:36:46,467	S1:
Commissioner. Connelly.

00:36:48,901	S4:
Commissioner. Risch. Mayor. Other commissioners. That was in the rating of the initiated measure that was on purpose. So that there was a checks and balance. Kind of mentioned it before, is is that, um, Transit's name is not mentioned on that initiated measure. So it allows us the flexibility to make decisions that hopefully best meet the needs of the community. the fact that there's enough money there is why this conversation is being had, but it always has to come through this specific to people in the elder area, people with abilities, disabilities and people of low economic status so that we can hopefully find the best ways to use that to benefit our community. Um, and transit is the entity that's providing that service the most right now.

00:37:43,300	S1:
Any other questions? Comments?

00:37:45,100	S8:
I'll make a motion to approve it presented and hustle over. And good luck with Mandan.

00:37:49,167	S1:
Second and any discussion? Hearing none, we'll call roll.

00:37:53,901	S3:
Commissioner Zenker. Yes, Commissioner. Connolly. Yes, Commissioner. Cleary. Yes, Commissioner. Risch. Yes. Mayor. Schmitz.

00:38:01,601	S1:
Yes. And please drive safely.

00:38:03,567	S5:
Thank you.

00:38:06,467	S1:
Next item.

00:38:10,567	S1:
Is b consider request to receive an end of year update from the Bismarck Mandan Chamber EDC related to economic development services, and also a request for some funding for a business pitch.

00:38:24,167	S5:
Yes.

00:38:24,868	S10:
Good evening, Mayor and commissioners. Thank you for allowing me to take three hours of your time. Commissioner Zenker to speak. Seven minutes. Thank you. I'm. I'm kidding. All right, well, here we are.

00:38:39,501	S10:
It is the end of year, and I want to give you some really helpful updates. Um, as stated before, my name is Brenda Nagel. For those of you that don't know me. Um, and I serve in the role as president and CEO of the Bismarck Mandan Chamber EDC. I'm grateful to partner with the City of Bismarck and to do all of these wonderful things. And so you can see here that we have a new strategic plan. I'm not going to walk you through all of it, but I think there are some highlights and I won't go through all of them. I think you're smart enough to figure out what some of them are, but we broke our strategic plan into four quadrants, all focused around the people that we serve, and we serve the Bismarck Mandan community in this particular meeting. We are talking about the community of Bismarck. We broke it into four quadrants of economic development, public policy, leadership development and community engagement and marketing. And so what does all that mean and why should you care about that? There's a lot that goes on in economic development, and that is the primary work that I think you are interested in. We do a lot of things when it comes to Job Shadow Week, to introduce people to what jobs are available in the in the community. Project development is pretty vague because there are some projects that are out there and are being discussed that people come to us at the chamber EDC and say, we'd like to talk to you about this particular project. Would you sign an NDA? I'm not signing an NDA on behalf of the City of Bismarck by any means. I'm simply signing an NDA to say I won't tell anybody about it until we need to have a conversation with the appropriate location. But I can tell you that there are definitely projects and people interested in doing things in the community of Bismarck. The Bismarck Vision Fund. I think you're very well aware of of the Vision Fund, but we ushered nearly $400,000 through the Vision Fund, unlocking additional state funds in pace dollars, upwards of $800,000. Now, that's just an interest savings and things for those particular businesses. But the projects in total are well, in the millions of dollars. And the economic impact to the community of Bismarck are certainly important. And I know that you're very well aware of those. From a leadership development perspective, we spend a lot of time with students in the community and introduce them to all of the different things that are going on. We take them through a kind of mini Leadership Bismarck Mandan program, so that they can understand what is available and what it takes to make a community run. Leadership Bismarck Mandan is a program on its own that I think you're very well aware of and empowering women in business. The bottom line is leadership development is focused on engaging people in the community so that they want to stay here, and they want to be active participants in the community in which they live and work and, and, and contribute to and so public policy, we do a lot of things with that finalizing land development code. We did participate on that on that particular committee. We also pulled in a lot of our members to ask them to give feedback in that land development code process. We prepare candidates to run. We don't we don't endorse candidates, but we help people understand what does it take to put a campaign together. And we connect them with mentors who are already sitting at the table to help them understand what it's like to be a part of a public servant life. And then we are activating our Military Affairs committee in 2026 and bringing that back. We do a lot of other things in public policy, but I'm highlighting some things here. Community engagement and marketing. We have state of the cities, which is an opportunity for both mayors of our community of Bismarck and Mandan to stand in front of nearly 500 people and let them know what is going on in the community. Welcome initiative is something that we've worked on with both cities of Bismarck and Mandan. It actually was a program that was brought forward by the First Lady and Janelle Schmitz. And Mayor Schmitz was very active in this. And and so we spent a lot of time in engaging in what does it look like to welcome people to the city of Bismarck. And then we also did some things in September, October and November where we engaged pretty heavily. We actually invested significantly with a local marketing firm to attract out-of-state talent and business. And so what we did there is we we took some videos, testimonials of people who have made a conscious effort to move to the Bismarck community, Bismarck, Mandan. And we talked to them and we put them in some very well put together videos that we had received some our funding for, but we also had to do some matching dollars, which is why we did the marketing. We targeted families that match a persona of who we are in this community. And then we sent that out. Those videos out to YouTube, into streaming TV In communities in Minnesota, in Wisconsin and in other areas, because those people know what it's like to live in the cold. And so we don't want to target people from California. We want to target like people to Bismarck. Why should we care about that? Um, we targeted to nearly 900,000 people. Um, it's amazing what people will look at once you serve it to them on, on their on streaming TV, in YouTube and all of those kinds of things. And so what's next out of that is we now have IP addresses and things that we can retarget and we can remarket to those people and continue to help them better understand the story of our community. And why should they, why they should consider moving here, whether it's with their family or moving their business to the community.

00:44:53,000	S10:
The next item on the on the list here is to talk about the business Bismarck business pitch. I would not want to have a conversation about the Bismarck business pitch without giving a shout out to our friends in Mandan. This is a successful program that the city of Mandan and the community has embraced over there for quite some time. We've learned a lot from it, and it's been a really great opportunity for them to really launch that entrepreneurial ecosystem, and that is part of economic development. And so the Bismarck business pitch, it supports entrepreneurs with coaching, with resources. It gives them a platform to refine their ideas, strengthen their plans. We bring people in and help them really understand what's it like to write a business plan. It can't be on a napkin. It can't be scribbled on a piece of paper. It needs to be a little bit more formalized than that. And it really helps them move from concept to launching their business. And we help startups gain visibility, secure investment and accelerate growth. And that's again, important in really nurturing that economic and that entrepreneurial ecosystem. This would be a partnership between the city of Bismarck and our chamber, EDC, to administer the program, including managing the applications and selecting the finalists. Like I said, it's been an incredibly successful program over in Mandan, and we're really looking to duplicate that program and implement it for the city of Bismarck. The funding would come from the Vision Fund, should you choose to approve this evening for three entrepreneurial awards. $10,000 for the first place, 3000 for second place, and $2,000 for third place, for a total request of $15,000. It would be a forgivable loan, and that's exactly how it functions over in Mandan. We wouldn't want to create a fund that is more money than Mandan, because we're not looking to compete between Bismarck and Mandan. We're looking to collaborate and to complement each other by offering the opportunity in both communities. And so once the applications open, the final list would be go through a selection process. They'd receive coaching and support. The pitch would be a hosted event where they they actually get on stage and they share what their dream is, what their vision is, and what it would do for the city of Bismarck. And then winners are awarded and we and we move on. So my request for you this evening is to help us build on this foundation, built in Mandan and make something called the Bismarck Business pitch, and make this an annual event for the city of Bismarck. I'll let you decide on that while I finish up my third slide, if that's okay.

00:47:37,267	S10:
Economic impacts, I think. Um, Commissioner Zenker, you had asked some questions at a previous meeting that I'm going to hope to answer before you have to ask the question, but I'm certainly open to listening to additional questions from you. So what's our economic impacts if you look up the top three contributors to GDP growth in any community. They're very similar to this, but in the Bismarck community, it shows through our economic indicator reports that health care, retail and manufacturing are the primary drivers of the GDP in Bismarck. So what does that mean? What are we doing about that? Well, I'm not delivering health care. I certainly am not doing that. But we certainly support our health care systems, and we work very closely with anyone who is delivering health care to help them understand what it takes to staff those. And we advocate on on behalf of any of those staffing needs that they have and, and do things from a workforce development perspective. Retail is pretty self-explanatory. But I think I want to call out here increased hotel and conference space. I think the efforts that are happening that that we fully support and enhancing what's going on at the event center as well as the potential to have a hotel and conference center very close to the event center. Certainly will not hurt us from a GDP, and it certainly is not going to hurt us when it comes to economic growth, because we know that we could fill that space from a manufacturing perspective. That one's big and that one is certainly important. We are in the midst of exploring industrial park locations for the city of Bismarck. We have a subcommittee at the chamber, EDC and city administrator is is part of that conversation. And so we are really looking to expand our opportunities to to grow another industrial park. Might I remind you that Northern Plains Commerce Center is basically full? Uh, and so we need to have a shovel ready area that when somebody calls and says, Brenda, do you have a space for this type of industrial business to come to Bismarck? I need to be able to say yes and let's go have a conversation with the city of Bismarck and see where we can put that. And so we're working very diligently. That is an urgent item on the pillar of our economic development plan for 2026 and forward to build out additional industrial park space. And then, of course, I've talked about the facilitation of the Bismarck Vision Fund projects. That certainly has an impact very positively on economic growth, growth, our workforce impacts. I've talked about it before. I'll say it again. The things that we do from a workforce, because we can't do business without workforce. And some of the things that we are doing with our businesses that are members, as well as other community members that make your mark. Bismarck. Com we've got a lot of people coming to that website right now, and we need to capitalize on how do we contact them. And we know how to do that. And how do we show them what it is that the community of Bismarck has to offer in the name of bringing their business here, because we are business friendly, but we also are very family friendly. We have some of the best schools in the in the, in the country. We have great people here and we want to share that with other people and make Bismarck grow. And so community testimonial videos, those are available just so that you are aware they do us no good at the chamber EDC. If we just put them on a shelf and don't share them with anybody, they are out there on the website. They are available to you as as business. If someone's listening out in internet land here on Dakota media access. If we have a business that needs help with recruiting, contact us at the chamber EDC and we're happy to share those videos with you to utilize in your recruitment toolbox. And so I will go back or not to the Bismarck business pitch and ask for discussion or potential approval on business pitch.

00:51:52,901	S1:
Vision fund division funds already recommended this.

00:51:56,167	S10:
They have.

00:52:00,868	S8:
So the Vision Fund's recommended it. But have the has a vision fund sent something to document that to recommend it to the commission.

00:52:09,367	S1:
Because in the minutes I can't tell you that there was.

00:52:12,767	S8:
I think it's a great idea, but I just want to make sure that the I's cross, the T's.

00:52:17,100	S1:
Know that it was it was approved. The Vision Fund, the Vision Fund probably didn't write a letter. It happened.

00:52:23,501	S8:
So do we have to put it on a regular agenda item to vote on it, or if not, I'll make a motion to approve it. Right now.

00:52:30,868	S1:
I don't know. I don't know the legal answer to that question.

00:52:34,267	S8:
Someone's got to help us out.

00:52:37,367	S5:
Okay, so.

00:52:41,367	S15:
It has been noticed on the agenda for the Business Pitch Challenge program. So you can vote on it.

00:52:47,868	S8:
You can just go with that. Okay. All right. Well, I'll make a motion to that. The city of Bismarck implements the, um, Bismarck business pitch. Per the recommendation from the chamber and the Vision Fund approval, apparently.

00:53:03,601	S10:
Second.

00:53:05,100	S1:
Do we have discussion?

00:53:06,067	S16:
I just know, knowing that the Vision Fund approved this, I'm assuming that funding wise. I know that, like, I feel like we've been using more. We're doing more applications than we ever have before, which is a great thing. But I just like, wanted to confirm that the 15,000 isn't going to like, drain that.

00:53:22,868	S1:
It is.

00:53:23,868	S16:
Okay. I just know we haven't talked about like, what's in there lately. So, um, but yeah, I mean, I love this program in Mandan, so I'm excited to see it in Bismarck.

00:53:33,200	S1:
Any other comment? Go ahead. Commissioner.

00:53:35,000	S5:
Mr. mayor.

00:53:36,100	S11:
Uh, Brenda, where does Mandan get their $15,000?

00:53:39,901	S10:
They are from the same place. I mean, they they have funds just like the city of Bismarck does that they set aside for that. That process.

00:53:50,367	S1:
Their.

00:53:51,067	S10:
Their man down.

00:53:51,901	S1:
For progress or whatever.

00:53:53,067	S10:
Man down.

00:53:53,400	S1:
Growth fund. Yeah. It's the same concept of ours is funded or was created.

00:53:59,100	S10:
It's been incredibly successful.

00:54:03,601	S1:
Okay. Any other comments? Call the roll, please.

00:54:09,901	S3:
Commissioner Connolly. Yes. Commissioner Cleary. Yes. Commissioner Risch. Yes. Commissioner Zenker. Yes. Mayor Schmitz.

00:54:16,767	S1:
Yes. Thank you. Brenda.

00:54:18,868	S10:
Thank you so much.

00:54:21,567	S1:
Brenda. Just a minute. Commissioner Collins. Got a quick question. I think.

00:54:25,400	S3:
Certainly.

00:54:25,901	S4:
Commissioner, there's some concerns that people are voicing with me and things is, is that, um, a lot of people are looking for work and not getting callbacks and or there being I know of two businesses at least to where they've said they've over hired. So then they just let people go. When people have rants and those type of things on the line. That's a hard way. All of a sudden it's being listed as a firing, and then they have to go try to find another job with this difficult. And so we have low unemployment. We're recruiting people to fill positions. But now people are saying that they're not getting callbacks and it's getting harder to find work. And those two conversations don't really go hand in hand with one another. So I don't know the answer to it. But if you have some insights, because it's starting to be asked more and more.

00:55:17,601	S10:
Commissioner Connolly. Mayor. Commissioners, I don't have the answer for it. I certainly see it. And I hear those comments as well. And so we do have a workforce development committee, and it's made up of a group of HR people. And those are conversations that we have as far as you know, when you get an application from somebody, what is the process. And I can't dictate what businesses do and how they accept applications and those sorts of things. I think the best thing that we can do at the chamber, EDC, is really encourage people to find the right recruiting tools that work for them, because what works for a restaurant won't necessarily work for an MDU or a Basin Electric, but find the right tools to utilize to capture those resumes and interests, and then at least get back to people so that they know that, hey, we saw it. You're just not one of the qualified candidates. But it is definitely it's something that's got to be looked at. I don't know if we're going to be able to solve it, but it is certainly something that has been a part of some conversations.

00:56:27,567	S11:
I'll just follow up. Mr. mayor, Brenda, I happen to know somebody that had a felony 30 years ago, a talented construction guy, and he's having a heck of a time finding work. So I just encourage businesses that sometimes give somebody another chance. You know.

00:56:41,801	S10:
I agree.

00:56:42,367	S11:
Especially after years and years.

00:56:44,000	S10:
Thank you Commissioner.

00:56:45,667	S4:
And I'll follow up with that. And I appreciate it. It's important that we all keep those on the forefront because as people struggle, I mean, the homeless conversation, a lot of the other conversations that are on the table right now that have huge impacts, if we don't keep it on the forefront and at least say it where everybody knows we're talking about it. Um, it's important to a lot of people because as evictions go up, it gets harder to find housing. And it's a it's a cycle we all don't want.

00:57:14,100	S10:
It is a cycle. And I appreciate the comments, Commissioner. All right.

00:57:19,100	S3:
Anything else?

00:57:21,100	S1:
Okay. Thank you. All right. Item C public hearing on the request to have the new class D sale at retail alcohol beverages license transferred from 1603 Main Events to Eclipse Venue LLC. This is a public hearing. Anyone who wish to speak on this topic, please come forward and sign in.

00:57:48,100	S1:
A second call for public comment.

00:57:54,667	S1:
A third and final call for public comment here in Assiniboine. Public comment period is now closed.

00:58:01,601	S8:
Move to approve is presented.

00:58:02,968	S16:
Second.

00:58:04,000	S1:
Is there any discussion? Hearing. None. Roll call. Roll.

00:58:08,100	S3:
Commissioner. Cleary. Yes. Commissioner. Rice. Yes. Commissioner. Zenker. Yes. Commissioner Connolly. Yes. Mayor Schmitz.

00:58:14,868	S1:
Yes. Next item D public hearing on an application for an F1 alcohol license by Lois Mancera Bar and Grill at 210 East Main Avenue. This is a public hearing. Anyone wish to speak to this? Please come forward.

00:58:32,100	S1:
A second call for public comment. May 3rd and final call for public comment. Seeing or hearing anyone in public comment period is now closed.

00:58:42,000	S8:
Move to approve is presented.

00:58:43,300	S16:
Second.

00:58:44,067	S1:
Any discussion? Hearing none. We'll call roll.

00:58:48,167	S3:
Commissioner. Risch. Yes, Commissioner. Zenker. Yes, Commissioner. Connolly. Yes, Commissioner. Cleary. Yes. Mayor. Schmitz.

00:58:54,667	S1:
Yes. Next item E public hearing on ordinance 66 448 to amend chapter 907 of the City Code of Ordinances related to the city Employee Pension plan. This is a public hearing. The public hearing is now open. Anyone who wish to speak to it, please come forward.

00:59:17,767	S1:
A second call for public comment. A third and final call for public comment. Public comment period is closed.

00:59:25,167	S11:
Commissioners, I move to approve as presented.

00:59:28,367	S8:
Second.

00:59:29,300	S1:
Any discussion? Hearing none will call roll.

00:59:33,367	S3:
Commissioner Zenker. Yes, Commissioner. Connolly. Yes, Commissioner. Cleary. Yes. Commissioner Risch. Yes. Mayor Schmitz.

00:59:39,968	S1:
Yes. Next item. Public hearing on ordinance 6649 to amend chapter 908 of the City of Bismarck. Order of ordinances related to the police pension plan. And this is a public hearing. Anyone who wish to speak, please come forward. A second call for public comment. A third and final call for public comment. Public comment period is closed.

01:00:03,667	S8:
Commissioners move to approve is presented.

01:00:05,868	S16:
Second.

01:00:07,767	S1:
Any discussion? Hearing none. We'll call roll.

01:00:12,167	S3:
Commissioner Connolly. Yes, Commissioner. Cleary. Yes, Commissioner. Risch. Yes. Commissioner. Zenker. Yes. Mayor. Schmitz.

01:00:18,467	S1:
Yes. Next item G. Public hearing on ordinance 6650 to create the Bismarck Event Center. Authority board. Um, this is a public hearing. Anyone who wished to speak to this, please come forward. A second call for public comment. A third and final call for public comment. Seeing or hearing anyone? Public comment period is closed.

01:00:44,667	S16:
Commissioners move to approve as presented.

01:00:49,167	S8:
Second.

01:00:50,167	S1:
Any discussion? Hearing none. We'll call roll.

01:00:55,100	S3:
Commissioner. Cleary. Yes, Commissioner. Risch. Yes, Commissioner. Zenker. Yes. Commissioner. Connolly. Yes. Mayor. Schmitz.

01:01:01,467	S1:
Yes. Um. Let's hear. Item I know h h is poll item. I consider a request for approval of the public health services agreement with Burleigh County.

01:01:19,100	S1:
And.

01:01:20,868	S16:
Renee, I would just. I mean, she's here if you want to ask her any questions, but, um, Jason and I attended the county meeting where it was on their agenda, basically just outlining the options. Like, do they want to continue the contract, Contract for services. Do they want more of an explanation as what a joint powers agreement looks like, or do they want to move on on their own? This last year, they opted to continue on with the contract for services. So that's basically what we're bringing back to us tonight is that draft contract.

01:01:51,467	S1:
And they've already approved it.

01:01:52,601	S16:
Correct I believe so that's yeah, that was how it was presented to them.

01:01:57,267	S8:
Is there an escalator in it.

01:01:59,100	S16:
No, there is not.

01:02:00,467	S8:
It's just going to do it year by year.

01:02:02,667	S16:
Year by year. That's kind of how it's always been. It does seem like that's the way they would want. I don't want to speak for them, but that does seem the way that they want to continue, because I think that it still is their goal that they would function on their own at some point. So I think whether that's 2027 or 2028, I don't think they know yet. So we may be in this spot again next year where we're just giving them one more year, but maybe not. So we'll see.

01:02:29,701	S8:
We asked. Right. We did the same thing.

01:02:32,567	S16:
Yeah. Yeah. So they want to do they want to continue on with the contract for services. So that that contract contract is what's in front of us now.

01:02:39,367	S8:
Good.

01:02:41,267	S1:
So is there any any questions? If not, we just need approval.

01:02:47,200	S16:
Are you good? Okay.

01:02:49,367	S8:
Yeah.

01:02:50,267	S1:
Okay.

01:02:52,667	S1:
We need to approve it.

01:02:53,667	S16:
I would move to approve the public health services agreement with Broward County.

01:02:58,767	S8:
Second.

01:02:59,801	S1:
Any discussion? Hearing none. We'll call roll.

01:03:04,467	S3:
Commissioner Risch. Yes. Commissioner Zachary. Yes. Commissioner Connolly. Yes. Commissioner Cleary. Yes. Mayor Schmitz.

01:03:10,767	S1:
Yes. Item J. Consider a request to receive an update on the public engagement process for the city. Initiated street utility fee and half cent sales tax for roadways. Home rule charter amendments. Gabe.

01:03:27,400	S17:
And commissioners, provide a couple updates here on some of the previous and upcoming public engagement opportunity that we've had and will have. First on the street utility fee. We held a public input meeting on Tuesday, November 18th at our public works building. We had about 30 to 35 people attend. Simultaneously with that, we had an online engagement process using an ESRI product that's an online story map that had a really similar content to what was presented at the public input meeting. So if you weren't able to attend the meeting, you could still get kind of up to speed on what the city is proposing through that tool. Um, combined with that, we've had a public survey that was out available for consumption through November 17th through the 7th of December. We had 342 responses during that period of time. And we'll be back to the commission to kind of look at that data and kind of rehash out exactly what to do as the next steps here in the near future. With those 342 responses, plus the phone calls that we received, an email correspondence we had with during that period of time indicates that the public was engaged in the process and provided some really valuable feedback. So as I mentioned, we will try to get to this board in the first meeting in January to recap what was said so far from the public's position on the half said, excuse me on the utility fee concept and where to take that discussion moving forward with still an aim to have something on the June 9th, 2026 ballot for the citizens to decide if they want to move forward with such a fee. My second activity that I'll talk about is more in the future tense, and that will be our half cent sales tax engagement that we're just starting now. So that would be the proposal to extend the existing half cent sales tax that is used to fund arterial road construction and reconstruction, and extend to past the current sunset that will expire here in 2029, to extend it to an indefinite amount of time. Really, that's something that we want to have figured out with the public. And what is the appropriate amount of time for a new sunset to be used? So we will have a presentation and public input meeting on this Thursday at December 18th at 6 p.m. at the Public Works Building on South 26th Street, with the presentation at six, and then open House to follow for anyone the public that wants to to come down and visit about our half cent sales tax extension, similar to what I've mentioned previously, we'll have an online story map that will be out there for public consumption as well. So if you're unable to make the meeting in person, we'll have that opportunity to engage in other means as well. Um, once again, also, we'll have a survey because this is just a really good way to get the information out and then really to hear from the public. We like to use surveys and, and comments to, to receive that input. We'll have a survey that will be active from 1218, 2025 through January 18 to 2026. So a really long extension of time, knowing that this is the Christmas season. Um, New Year's, there's lots of things happening. So we don't want to schedule a meeting and have a really short window to collect that input. We'll have it during a longer period of time. Uh, what I'd anticipate on this topic is to get back to the city commission here, probably in that second meeting in January with a recap of what has what transpired at the public meeting that we'll have here on Thursday, as well as what the survey results look like for for that process. So we'll try to keep these conversations as separate as we can at the commission, because we'll have two separate questions for the public to decide. But in the end, there will need to be probably adjoining of these activities at some point in time, just as we get closer to having to finalize ballot language and have official commission direction to have something on the June 9th primary election. So with that, I'd take any questions that you may have.

01:06:53,868	S1:
Commissioners questions. Go ahead. Commissioner Roche.

01:06:57,467	S8:
Um.

01:06:58,267	S11:
Mr. Mayor, Gabe, I was at the public hearing the last one on the, um. And you did a really good job. Is there any way we can get that broadcast on Dakota Community Access or recorded and posted there, or something to that effect?

01:07:11,167	S18:
Mayor, commissioners. Commissioner Rich, through our experience.

01:07:13,901	S17:
And doing public engagement, uh, when we've tried to live record a public meeting as it's happening, we find that that's difficult to to do to get a good audio sampling. And really what might take place in a 40 minutes of conversation or presentation can be absorbed through other media or other other ways to communicate that. So that's really the main reason why we try to spin up those story maps, or try to spin up those other ways that it's really the same text that we would have at the presentation slides that gets transferred in just to a media that you can just read through or scroll through. And what we find is you have a 40 minute YouTube video. People pay attention for the first couple of minutes, and then they skip right through the whole thing, because it's not probably going at the pace that they can receive the information. So we try to get that, that that information out there at a pace that they can absorb it. And we're always open for questions. If someone wants to call up and get a rehash of something that they may be unclear about, we're always open for that conversation to take place.

01:08:11,901	S1:
Any other questions? Okay. Commissioner.

01:08:15,100	S8:
Thanks, mayor. Commissioners. Gabe. Good job. So I just want to clarify two things, right. Um, first of all, the from a social media aspect. I think the citizens don't. It's not completely clear out there. But these both of these will be voted on as two separate measures. Um, a couple people have called me up and said, hey, when are you implementing this new utility fee? I said, well, as soon as as soon as we vote on it, we figure out what all the details are. You know? So some people thought this was like happening January 2nd of 2026. So just for just for educational pieces out there, um, these are two separate issues and they're both going to be voted on. We're not going to get the chance to to make the decision. I hope they they both pass because it's really going to set the city up for the future. Um, the second thing is, is, is, um, you know, don't believe everything you read on social media because not all that stuff is exactly accurate. Um, so I just caution us to, as individuals and staff that we don't engage in that because it's just not it's kind of frivolous. And you don't build consensus on social media, you build animosity and we can get this done through an educational piece that Gabe is doing. I'm super proud that he's doing it and that we're taking this on. So I just caution everybody from a city perspective as to what social media will do to this. So that's all I got. Thank you.

01:09:39,167	S1:
Commissioner Conley.

01:09:40,667	S4:
Just one clarification.

01:09:45,100	S4:
I try not to presume what other people think. There's a lot of people that do listen to meetings front side to end, and there are some people that don't. And that and I don't know if it's our place to speak to the broad breadth of 78,000 people. I mean, we've locked ourselves into some difficult communications in general when that happened. So let's just be careful of that if I if we could. Okay.

01:10:15,067	S1:
Okay. Anything else? Thank you. Gabe, I thank you. The engagement sessions are very important.

01:10:22,567	S19:
Thank you.

01:10:23,667	S17:
Next Thursday, public works.

01:10:25,567	S19:
Okay.

01:10:26,367	S1:
Okay. Right. Perfect.

01:10:37,868	S1:
I don't know. All right. We got to move on to the next agenda item because.

01:10:45,267	S1:
It's just that nobody else could hear it.

01:10:46,767	S19:
So give me a better

01:10:51,100	S19:
item.

01:10:52,000	S1:
Consider a request by Municipal court to receive. Consider an award bids for the indigent defense contracts for 2026 and 2027. Um. With the option to renew for additional two years.

01:11:05,200	S20:
Hi. Good afternoon, mayor and commissioners. The municipal court published the request for or for proposals for the defense attorney contract, which received two responses from Municipal court. Is mandatory by law to provide defense attorney services for individual defendants who do not meet certain income thresholds, asset limits, and who are charged with a crime in municipal court for which jail time may be imposed and select other situations. The deadline for the bids was December 12th, 2025. Two bids were received from Tom Glass and Steve Balaban. The amount proposed by each entity is $3,200 per month. Based on the information, Staff recommends Awards that bids to Tom Glass and Steve Balaban for the defense contracts. Do you guys have any questions?

01:11:53,100	S1:
So we had.

01:11:53,767	S21:
Two, just two.

01:11:54,601	S1:
Previously as well.

01:11:55,667	S21:
Yeah, yeah, they've been our.

01:11:57,367	S20:
Two for the past oh gosh. At least seven years. And we haven't upped because it's been $3,000. They've got paid per month for the last seven years okay.

01:12:06,968	S1:
Commissioner Connelly.

01:12:08,868	S4:
Nicole. There was one particular one for a bit that wasn't at all of the court dates and things. Has that been worked out?

01:12:17,367	S21:
Oh, you're.

01:12:18,267	S20:
Talking about how, um, starting January 1st in custody is the court. They have to have a court appointed attorney counsel at the jail.

01:12:25,601	S4:
Right. Well, there were some where the lawyer wasn't present when they should have been at the court meetings. Yes. And if it's the same one, has that ever that discussion been had it.

01:12:36,501	S20:
They have he's been knowledge. We've sent emails to him when that happens. Um, the judge has talked to, you know, said stuff in the courtroom to him. So.

01:12:45,167	S4:
Yeah. Because they do have a backup in those situations that kind of.

01:12:49,200	S20:
They're each other's backup. And if, for instance, there's a conflict with both attorneys, then they have to find another one on the city's behalf.

01:13:00,367	S19:
Yeah.

01:13:01,167	S4:
Just wanted it out there that we need to. That checks and balances is vital for municipal court to function.

01:13:07,367	S21:
Yes.

01:13:09,501	S1:
Any any other questions for Nicole? Thank you. You did awesome.

01:13:14,000	S8:
Thank you. I'll make a motion to approve as presented.

01:13:16,367	S1:
Second any. Just any discussion. Hearing none. We'll call roll.

01:13:22,667	S3:
Commissioner Connolly. Yes, Commissioner. Cleary. Yes, Commissioner. Rice. Yes, Commissioner. Zenker. Yes, mayor. Schmitz.

01:13:29,367	S1:
Yes, I am accept award from the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies to the Bismarck Police Department for its 11th re accreditation in chief. I think he's got a presentation.

01:13:42,100	S11:
And Mr. Mayor, as he's coming up here, I just want to give a shout out to our fine department, who's once again got the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies. CALEA. Um, this is a gold standard for law enforcement agencies. Um, this is the 11th time the city of Bismarck has received this. There's only two other entities in North Dakota that have this accreditation, and that's the North Dakota Highway Patrol and the city of Grand Forks. So this is this is a really big deal. Another thing is there's 18,000, almost 18,000 law enforcement Agencies in the country, and only 800 of them received this accreditation. And of those 800, about 515 are city police department. So our police department receiving this for the 11th time is remarkable. I just want to thank Officer Gallagher for your hard work in making sure this happens and the professionalism of the entire department in order to reach and attain the standard. Congratulations.

01:14:40,701	S1:
Thank you, Mayor and commissioners.

01:14:42,567	S22:
Good evening. Uh, yes. We, uh, attained our 11th, uh, re accreditation that we started in 1991. So it used to be every three years now it's every four years. Uh, but we are tested every year. Um, they dig through our policies, they make recommendations, they, uh, basically oversee a lot of the things we do. So we have a huge policy at 700 pages. They don't really tell us what to do necessarily. Like when I first started at the police department, they we all thought, Kelly is just telling us what to do. What Clea is there for, to give us some guidelines. We create the policies and then they want to make sure we follow our own policies. And that's anything from HR type things that were being fair when we promote and um, other miscellaneous items. So, uh, Officer Gallagher and I went down to Jacksonville, Florida. Um, that sounds like it's warm, but the first day we were down there, it was warmer in Bismarck, North Dakota. So everybody's involved at the PD on on doing the work for this. But Officer Gallagher, she does a lot. And we couldn't have done this without her. Um, she's been with us doing that for four years, so it was perfect. She was part of the process to get re-accredited four years ago, and now in 2025,

01:16:24,868	S22:
we were surprised. We were sitting there at a banquet at the opening ceremony, and there was about 4 or 5 officers called up to get the certified Accreditation Manager award, and they called her name up there. So we were in a room with a thousand plus people, and she was one of five that that received that award. And that includes many accomplishments that she had to receive to get that one being. She had to be the accreditation manager of record for Nuclear Enrolled Agency for four consecutive years. Must have been an accreditation or excuse me, successful Completion of CALEA endorsed accreditation manager. Online training. Letter of recommendation from assigned regional Program manager. So that's big that our regional manager is Tim Basinger. Correct. Um, he's doing two regions. He's all over the country. But we met with him. Uh, he's very supportive of our agency. Um, she had to receive a public safety official peer letter of recommendation from another accredited agency.

01:17:48,701	S22:
And then, uh, the biggest one, I think, is must have been accreditation manager of record with an agency that received one CALEA accreditation award without conditions. So that's a big one. You can have conditions people mess up and and we just fix those, work through it and make sure we're applying the standard after we have a condition. But she was there when we had zero conditions, and there's hundreds of conditions that we we have to meet. Um.

01:18:22,200	S22:
So what were we doing down in Jacksonville? Um, the kind of explain that it was very good for the training. We received a lot of, uh, training, uh, legal perspectives. They had a panel with high profile attorneys and law enforcement chiefs and police in that area. Um, future of AI and policing. That's going to be very interesting. Um, we're going to have to know how to solve the crime related to AI, and.

01:19:00,400	S22:
I don't think it's going to go away anytime soon. It's going to get get pretty interesting. Uh, so we attended social media and law enforcement and then Swat training and integration. So the final process, we go in front of a board. There's 15 roughly other agencies in there. So we we sat through we were almost the last. We were the last one. And they wanted to talk about specific topics. And the topics were discussions on pursuits. They noted that we discontinue a lot of pursuits. So I explained why we do that. However, we have numerous tactics that we can do on finding the suspects after. We don't want to have people crashing into people for a speeding ticket or whatnot. So they were impressed with that. They looked through our citizen survey. They asked me about that. They said that was a very good survey that we had put out. It was available for anybody to give feedback, And they were very impressed with with that, our juvenile services division, that's one of a kind in the whole country. We divert youth out of the juvenile system when they're really first time offenders and those type of things. So we handle that in-house, make sure the parents and the, you know, the child or whoever it is gets the treatment that they need, um, or any type of, um, whatever. Uh, so they're very, very good with that. And then our intelligence led policing, um, they were it's kind of it's one of a kind. Two. And they were very impressed with that. So with that, they made a recommendation to the full commission and we were awarded our 11th Re accreditation. So we're slated for 2029, and we hope that Officer Gallagher can get us through 2029 at least. So any questions related to accreditation?

01:21:18,868	S1:
Just congratulations and thank you for the effort of the entire team there.

01:21:24,567	S22:
Appreciate it.

01:21:32,167	S1:
Okay. Item n consider request. Oh I'm sorry.

01:21:37,167	S4:
At the beginning of meetings, we always have proclamations and we do photos in that. I think that's actually worth a photo with us to put these two.

01:21:44,000	S1:
I am okay with that if they wish to, if they're willing to come up.

01:21:48,167	S11:
That's an excellent idea. We were hoping to have the award. It wasn't didn't arise as of yet, but I think a photo is appropriate.

01:21:55,667	S22:
Yeah, they send an award. Um, it's about this big. We have them hanging around the PD, but yes, it did not come in time for this.

01:22:06,767	S19:
Thank you for your time.

01:22:11,567	S19:
Where are you? You should get all of us in.

01:22:17,300	S19:
The stars.

01:22:20,267	S19:
Excuse me. There you are.

01:22:27,868	S19:
Big smile.

01:22:30,901	S19:
Fantastic. Thank you. Thank you.

01:22:47,767	S1:
All right. Item n consider. Request received. Bids in award contract for water utility project 150.

01:23:19,968	S17:
Mayor. Commissioners. Water utility. Project 150 is a extension of the zone three line on 57th Avenue in the vicinity of Washington Street.

01:23:30,167	S19:
There's a little more Linden.

01:23:37,267	S17:
Of Washington Street and between. Excuse me, 57th Avenue, between Washington Street and Micah Drive. As you can see from the bid summary here, we had a lot of bidders on this project. So anytime we get 6 or 7 bidders, that's a good, good, good indication that the contracting industry is hungry for the work and we're getting a good price. In this particular instance, our recommendation is to award to site works excavation with a little bit of $3,017.00. Now take any questions that you may have.

01:24:04,200	S1:
Any questions, commissioners.

01:24:05,701	S11:
Mr. mayor. Gabe, I'm. I'm just looking at it in the engineers. It's half less than half of what the engineers estimate was kind of unusual. Or have you worked with these folks before? I'm not familiar.

01:24:15,701	S17:
With mayor, commissioners, Commissioner. Uh, our engineer's estimate. We'll use some historical bid prices. And really, they are subject to how hungry that contracting industry might be at the time. So you'll see that we weren't the high bidder either. Our goal is to be somewhere in the middle with our number, and hopefully those are a low bidder that comes below that. We have worked with Site Works excavation. They have been either a direct contractor for the city or they've been a subcontractor on some of our, in fact, our East Century Avenue paving project. This last year the site works was the subcontractor working on behalf of the Prime for them. So we are familiar with their work.

01:24:47,868	S11:
Okay. Thank you.

01:24:50,667	S8:
Move to approve as presented.

01:24:52,000	S19:
Second.

01:24:52,667	S1:
Any discussion? Hearing none. We'll call roll.

01:24:56,267	S3:
Commissioner rice. Yes, Commissioner. Zenker. Yes. Commissioner Connolly. Yes. Commissioner Cleary. Yes. Mayor Schmitz.

01:25:02,868	S1:
Yes. Next item. All approved the inaugural membership appointments to the Bismarck Senate Event Center authority board. And Jason.

01:25:12,868	S9:
Mayor and commissioners. This is a follow up to one of the ordinances that was approved quietly earlier this evening with the public hearings. This particular item addresses the the composition of the inaugural group that will serve as the authority board for the Bismarck Event Center. Maybe just I'll touch on a little bit of the role of the Authority Board. Uh, what the membership looks like and why those particular groups were recommended. Um, since we didn't talk about it very much during the ordinance. Ultimately, the authority board is meant to work between the city commission and the third party management company. And so the authority board will have a regular schedule of meetings, like all the other advisory boards or authority boards that we have. They will be working on behalf of the city of Bismarck, with the City of Bismarck best interests at hand. And the primary role will be to help hold the management company accountable for the work that they claim that they will be doing, and enforce the contract. And all of the stipulations that we are expecting over the course of that entire span of time. As prescribed by ordinance, the authority board is a seven person volunteer committee. Two of those positions would be held by the city administrator and the portfolio holder, which in this case is myself and Mayor Schmitz. The other five individuals represent organizations that have a very keen interest in the success of the event center, and those particular organizations would be the Convention and Visitors Bureau. Obviously, this is a partnership that has been a longstanding relationship between the Event Center and the Convention and Visitors Bureau. Having Sheri Grossman as the executive director of the Convention and Visitors Bureau. Part of this group will be tremendously valuable and important. Another individual represents Kirkwood Mall. Kirkwood mall is a very key partner in the event Center, and Jen Wilson, who is a general manager at Kirkwood Mall, will tell you she knows when there's events going on at the Event Center because the sales at the mall are directly influenced. In fact, the last concert that the sellout concert earlier in November generated about a 20% uptick in daily sales at the mall. Having that type of feedback from events that are occurring at the event center is another key piece of information for the Authority Board to be able to work with. In addition to Miss Wilson and Miss Grossman, the. We requested a participant from the downtown organization and specifically not necessarily a board member, but somebody that represents one of the businesses or the organizations that are members of the downtown ERS. In this case, the recommendation that came forward from that organization is Joel Acosta. Joel is a commercial loan officer with one of the local banks in town. So he will also bring a little bit of a business perspective to this as well. In addition to those three, we had identified someone representing the arts and culture, and particularly user groups of the Bill Maher Auditorium. Uh, one of the best groups that one of the best examples of groups that use the Bill Maher Auditorium is the Bismarck Mandan Symphony Orchestra. And from that organization comes forward their executive director, Mike Gardner. And last but certainly not least, we were looking for somebody with experience in hospitality or food and beverage restaurant. Uh, the name that came forward is one of the owners of the Blarney Stone, as well as the owner of the domain, which is the properties on Third Street. Many of you know him, Chad Walker. Chad is also very business savvy and should be noted. His family was the original landowners when Bismarck was established, and ultimately that is the land where the event center sits today. And I know Mr. Walker has a very intentional interest in seeing Bismarck's continued success into the future. So those are the initial seven members that would compose the authority board. Their terms would be staggered. In other words, what we're not looking for is all the members to come on and leave at the same time. And so through organizational meetings and getting things established, we would determine which individual would serve in which role, recognizing that there would be an opportunity to reapply for those positions into the future. Uh, do you have any questions that I maybe didn't cover or thoughts?

01:29:31,767	S1:
Mr. Connelly.

01:29:33,667	S19:
Like our other advisory boards. Sorry.

01:29:36,467	S4:
Um, like our other advisory boards. Will this be taped?

01:29:41,467	S9:
Uh, mayor and commissioners. That is a great question, Commissioner Connelly. Initially, we have not established the regular cadence of the meetings. We we don't know when those will be. We don't have the pattern of of how that will work. But in conversations with the consultants, it was recommended that the authority board meetings be held in the event center on the off chance that there is a need to get out and explore or see a portion of the building, or whatever the case might be. The meeting room that is could accommodate those particular meetings I do not believe currently has the technology to support that. However, I do have a post-it note on my screen upstairs that says, look into what we need to do to bring that technology to the room. So in other words, much like we do for Human Relations Committee, which meets outside this room, we still record those meetings and post them to our public channels so you can view those meetings in following those recorded events.

01:30:40,100	S4:
I appreciate.

01:30:40,701	S19:
That.

01:30:41,767	S1:
Any other questions?

01:30:45,767	S1:
We would need a motion to approve them.

01:30:47,567	S16:
Move to.

01:30:47,901	S8:
Approve. Second.

01:30:48,968	S1:
Any discussion? Hearing none. We'll call roll.

01:30:53,868	S3:
Commissioner Zenker. Yes, Commissioner. Connolly. Yes. Commissioner Cleary. Yes. Commissioner. Risch. Yes. Mayor Schmitz.

01:31:00,767	S1:
Yes. Is there any other business? Go ahead. Commissioner.

01:31:05,567	S11:
This is a holiday season. I just want to wish everyone a merry Christmas and a happy New Year. My fellow commissioners, Bismarck city employees and all our citizens. And time to be kind to one another and help each other. Help each other out. So all the best.

01:31:19,701	S1:
Thank you for that. So we are. We are adjourned then. Thank you.