00:00:05,701	S1:
City. Current. Produced by Dakota media access. In-depth discussion with Bismarck and Mandan city officials. Watch on government access channel 602 HD or tune in to radio Access 102.5 FM. Always local, always current.

00:00:27,801	S2:
Coming up on this Bismarck edition of City Current, we'll talk about the homelessness conversation summary given last night at the City Commission meeting in Bismarck. Also, get an update on the Community Triage planning report and the latest on public input on the proposed half cent sales tax extension for roadways. I'm Tom Gearhart. Thanks for joining us. And joining me, as always, Jason Thomas Cook, city administrator from Bismarck. And boy, it's been a while due to one circumstance or another. So it's good to have you have you back or it's good for me to be back one way or the other.

00:01:00,901	S3:
I think you're listening to your intro. Thinking I feel a little rusty. Yeah. The last time we were together, Jim Neubauer was here.

00:01:06,801	S2:
We had the super show.

00:01:08,200	S3:
Yeah, the year in 2025. And then two weeks ago, we had a little disruption in scheduling. So here we are a month later. I guess it's.

00:01:15,300	S2:
Good to be back. A lot of interesting topics. Last night I wanted to start with the regular agenda, and one of the or the first topic last night was the community conversation recap from last November. I think it was there was a we carried it here on DMA and I think 80 some people packed the Tom Baker meeting room. We had a panel of community experts. We had some homeless folks be able to speak and give their opinions. And just a recap of that conversation last night to help inform some some things going forward.

00:01:50,000	S3:
Yeah. Good topic to to start with, we had two representatives from the city's Human Relations committee, outgoing chairperson Sergiy Nowicki and incoming chair Katie Hull. Both provided a summary on the homelessness conversation from last November, and I appreciate how they kind of went through some of the themes and talked about how there was some lack of service providers, lack of affordable housing, lack of 24 over seven shelter operations. And then, of course, we've been hearing this behavioral health, mental health addiction needs as well. And so those were very common themes that came across from the panel. And you mentioned not just service providers, but also people with lived experiences being very open about the struggles that they faced and coming also not just identifying the problems, but also then some suggestions for solutions. And I think it's very timely that this topic came forward last night because following it was Renee Mark's presentation on the community triage center. And we'll we'll get into that as well. But some of the solutions increased access to affordable housing, mixed income models, that might be a new term to some people. Really? What does that mean? It's it's different than previous approaches where government helps with housing. You hear terms in in metropolitan cities of tenement housing or something along those lines. Mixed income housing is just that. It's not just prescribed for low income or high income. It's a variety of incomes, and it's a variety of socioeconomic groups coming together to live in a in a congregate situation. 24 over seven shelter option, both high barrier and low barrier. And what does that mean when we say that high barrier shelter is one where you generally cannot be under the influence of drugs or alcohol? Those are commonly found where you've got families that are seeking temporary shelter. The United Way facility in South Bismarck would be considered a high barrier shelter versus a low barrier shelter. Everyone is welcome, and it sometimes it comes with different challenges, but certainly an understanding of why you would need both In in a community like this, there's just that much diverse population and those that are seeking shelter. But then also in this, again, kind of speaks to where where the city is at and where public health has been working towards establishing a centrally located service hub where multiple service providers can co-locate, improving public transportation options. And I know Dedra Hughes is going to be coming forward with a recommendation from transit on how some of that can help as well. So I share all of these things not just to talk about the problems, but also to talk about some of the solutions and the options that we do have moving forward. And so it's not just that we're collecting information. It seems like we've been doing that for quite some time, but we're now we're starting to see that information paying off into potential solutions that we can now really get into. How does that work? How can the city be a part of that? What is the role of the city? What are the role of all the others that are out there to the other service providers.

00:04:53,567	S2:
And the Human Relations Committee? I think you mentioned a great job bringing these conversations forward, we were happy to be able to provide them for more people, to be able to watch or go back and rewatch and look forward to more in the future. But you mentioned transitioning to Renee's. Uh, she was second on the agenda last night, and I was considering accepting the final Community Triage Center planning report. But again, here we're talking about behavioral health, mental health, addiction, you know, homelessness, all those topics. And how do we address those in the city. And so that's what you've been working on. And she's been working on, and others have been working on in this area. And she went through a lot of good information again last night.

00:05:37,467	S3:
She did. I would encourage anybody that's curious to to learn the full report, to go back in and consume that portion of the meeting, watch the entire meeting. But if you're really interested in this, a lot of information came forward. Of course, the presentation that Rene provided is attached to the minutes from the meeting. So if you're comfortable navigating to the city's website. Going to the agenda center, you will find that full presentation. Some of the things that she talked about. Of course, we had a consultant help us get through this as well. The Health Management Associates may provided a report late in 2025. Renee kind of touched on some of those key takeaways and next steps. Phase one of that project is really done. And that was again that information gathering, bringing stakeholders together, getting them engaged, reviewing different models. What works in other cities, what could work for Bismarck? Um, I think it's fair to say that this isn't just a plug and play situation. Every community has got its own.

00:06:33,501	S2:
Yeah, that was talked about challenges.

00:06:35,267	S3:
Yeah. And so what makes Bismarck unique? What can we capitalize on? What do we need to maybe lift up or support a little bit more to get to that full wraparound services approach? But Renee also touched on the model of how it does this find success. What is this successful triage and crisis center actually look like. What are the governance types? I think this generated a little discussion at the table. What is the role of the city? I think some have said the city is probably not the best entity to be operating, but maybe this facility is owned by the city, and then it can be kind of the catalyst that brings many of these groups together to that central point of location, where there's a multitude of services for people that are looking for a hand up or a little bit of help. So that will need to be determined. I guess the other options, not just city county ownership, but then, of course, a 501 C3 non-profit that would be governed by a board. That's a very common model that we see throughout our community and probably throughout the entire United States. And then the third option that was discussed briefly was the idea of a private ownership, a separate entity that would come in and manage all of that coordinating multi partner governance approach. We got to figure out shared goals and outcomes. The clear roles and accountability for all the parties involved. And then none of this happens without a determined funding source as well. And I think I had heard Renee use the term braided funding, which to me represents a collaboration of grants, fees for service, Medicaid reimbursements, philanthropic donations as well. It's going to take a little bit of everything to make this all happen. This isn't all going to fall on the backs of local government to cover that. And there was a point in the in the conversation where Commissioner Connelly had asked, I think Renee had made a statement implying that there was some support or some assistance to local hospitals. And Commissioner Connelly asked, what how does that how does that work? What does that actually look like? And I think Renee did a nice job explaining that, you know, the city or these service providers aren't here to necessarily financially support the hospital, but also if the triage center is available, there's a way to intercept some of the people that might find their way into an emergency room today and get them in closer to those services that will help them get on the right path. And what we're experiencing today, when we've got somebody that's been picked up by law enforcement, oftentimes before they can be taken to the jail, they would need to be cleared medically, which means you make a trip to the emergency room. Now we've got officers that are attending with somebody that needs to be cleared by medical staff. There may be higher priorities in the emergency room than looking at someone to say, yes, they're okay to go to jail. So having a triage center would alleviate that. Move to the emergency room in many cases, and put that person into a situation where there are medical service providers, there are mental health providers, there's a number of different professionals that can help that person get through those first couple of days of whatever detox might look like or steps towards rehabilitation in the future. So more to learn. Obviously. But in the end, Renee had asked for two things. Number one, she asked to accept the reports. Now, the commission did that. But then secondly, and probably more importantly, was to authorize Bismarck Berlin Public Health to move into phase two. And so phase two is.

00:10:20,167	S2:
We have a graphic of that to just press next as you.

00:10:24,067	S3:
Organizing for action, establishing the formal governance and project leadership, identifying the backbone of of this organization or organizations. Plural. Define the shared agenda and then really start preparing for what the phased funding is going to look like into the future. That leads to phase three, which would be the implementation of the aligned services, monitor the outcomes and support the long term sustainability. But phase two is going to be a big piece of this. There's a lot of work that needs to get done. Yet funding is always extremely critical and everybody's very mindful about taxation and where those sources come from. So as we continue down this next path, Renee and the team at Public Health will work through these pretty noble tasks and then come back again with more information for the commission to continue to make informed decisions going forward.

00:11:14,100	S2:
But yeah, the Commission did vote unanimously to move on to phase two. And so the work you just mentioned is ahead. And it will be I'll be interested to see how things move forward and and what the next phase, phase two brings to the table. Uh, next on the agenda, we heard from Police Chief Meyer and about an internship program with the University of Marion. Of course, I think pretty much everybody knows law enforcement agencies have trouble with retaining employees, recruiting employees. And, uh, a program by Doctor Chad Litton would provide scholarships to some criminal justice students at Yuma who may be interested in a career in law enforcement. Provide them internships with the police department. Maybe that provides the police department with future employees. So I thought that was just a really it was it was kind of a quick thing on the agenda last night, but I thought it was an interesting and uh, as we were talking beforehand, also, again, another great example of the city working with, uh, in this case a local, the University of Mary. Yeah.

00:12:19,767	S3:
We're so very fortunate to have three campuses of higher education here. And, uh, just in the last few years, I can think of several projects where we've reached out to not just you, University Mary, but also United Tribes and Bismarck State College and worked very successfully with their with their staff, with their students. We've gotten projects and products that we likely wouldn't have been able to do on our own. And here's another example of a partnership in a very key area of our organization, where we do struggle to recruit people that are interested in law enforcement. And no doubt it's a very challenging career path. We know that there are people that experience burnout and just a lack of interest as the career goes on, but if we can get the right people from the beginning and they have lots of opportunities to work their way through the organization with promotions and things like that, there's an extremely diverse array of opportunities within the police department. So again, thanks to University of Mary, thanks to Chief Meyer for having the vision and the willingness to do this. I'm anxious to see how many new recruits we can get out of the program.

00:13:27,467	S2:
And it was I trying to remember who's who made the comment, but there was some. Well, is this going to cost the police department extra? You, Mary, would take on the scholarships and, you know, it was said, well, no matter who or who the police department's training, there's basically the cost would offset. There wouldn't be any extra or additional costs to the city or to the police department. So yeah, it'll be cool. And I think the chief said, hey, if we can get a couple of employees a year, that'd be terrific. They'd have four year criminal justice degrees, too, to go along with that internship experience. To serve our city, the public. There's a public hearing on ordinance 6651 and nine. That doesn't mean anything to anyone, necessarily, unless you follow along closely. But this was an amendment requested for rural accessory structure size. And I'll let you explain why that came to the table in discussions, I believe, and what that means for the city.

00:14:24,501	S3:
Slinging a lot of jargon there. Rural accessory structures. What does this mean for for Joe Homeowner, it means that your outbuildings can be larger in the rural residential zoning, the RR, five rural residential zoning, and in the a agricultural zoning district. So these are zoning districts outside city limits. This is in the area that is the ETA. And of course, we've talked about the ETA. We're still going through the transition to reduce the size of the ETA. But for those remaining portions that will continue to be in the city's extraterritorial area. The change is significant in that it aligns with what Burleigh County has done in their portion of the zoning code, and it allows outbuildings or accessory buildings to be up to 4% of the lot size. So it's basic math at that point. If you've got a two acre lot. 4% gets you a building of around 3200ft² or so. Um, previously there were different stipulations based on your lot size and your zoning district, and now it just makes it uniform across all three of the rural residential zoning districts. So I think Commissioner Reisch had noted that it really simplifies the process for a property owner. And I think going forward, there should be less confusion because we are very similar with where we are, the same with what Burleigh County is doing, and I think Mr. Risch asked. He sits on the Burley County Planning and Zoning Commission, along with Commissioner Conley, and he had noted that they're continuing to discuss. Is 4% enough? We know that people will ask for larger buildings. They have more things. You make significant investments in campers, RVs, boats, all of that stuff, and you don't want to just sitting out into the elements. So if Burleigh County changes to 5% or whatever that number might be, I think that would definitely cause a conversation with us as well. But a lot of this is also driven by the volume of applications, the number of requests that people are coming forward with. So with this, with this new change with 4%, does that satisfy most of the requests? Time will tell.

00:16:28,467	S2:
We heard a lot about the Tyler Parkway Extension project, at least I did within the last year starting in this position. And last night, uh, a bid was awarded to Central Specialties Incorporated. But the really interesting nugget there is the bid came in under the estimate.

00:16:48,367	S3:
Very favorable for the city. And in fact, all the bids looking at them were all very, very close. Or most of them were lower than the engineers estimate. There was one that was very close. But we're fortunate in this situation to have a bid that was nearly $5.5 million less than the engineer's estimate. And so this will be for part A or phase one of the Tyler Parkway extension in the Tyler Cooley Regional Ponds. And so we've talked about 2026 being that first year of construction. It'll be a two year construction cycle to get the roadway to bridge the gap between the north and south portions of Tyler Parkway. But we're off to a great start. Hopefully when it's construction season, the weather is accommodating as well and they can stay on stay on task.

00:17:32,667	S2:
We saw the bids up there and like you said, just one came in and that was just slightly over the $15,187,436.50.

00:17:43,667	S2:
That was the estimate engineers gave. Moving along, let's talk about that half cent sales tax for roadways. Gabe came to the podium and really was able to recap all of the public involvement and public input and share what they've found from the public in terms of how people feel about this potential half cent sales tax continuing.

00:18:09,667	S3:
Yep. So we've had a number of different ways to engage with the public. We had an online story map, which basically allows people to kind of scroll through the project. It highlights, you know, certain key components of the project, um, where some of the work might be done, types of roadways that might be improved. There was also an online survey. We had a decent number of responses to that. A public input meeting back in November, I believe it was, and also written and oral replies. Um, in the end, you know, why ask the citizens to extend the tax? Well, that was something that Gabe touched on. We have projects from the original project list that have not yet been completed. We have a situation where federal and state dollars, we often get federal dollars in state dollars to build out some of these major roadways that state aid very rarely will cover the full expense of the project. So this would help eliminate the need for special assessments. And then just also outstanding deficiencies. And Gabe spent a little bit of time talking about some of the gaps that we have in our roadway network. When I say that, I think about Calgary Avenue as an example for anybody that's traveling east of 19th Street on Calgary, you'll know that it's interrupted a couple of times. You can't get between 19th and Centennial on Calgary because we're interrupted by the North-South rail line. And then there's a section of it closer to Legacy High School that hasn't been built yet. And so looking at the value of a cohesive roadway network, there's an important component for us to try and fill in some of those gaps. Another example that Gabe touched on last night was the 19th Street. We refer to the term as a back edge road. For years we've heard Frontage Road, which is basically a road that would parallel a major corridor. We've learned over time those don't always work. They those driveways and traffic conflicts just cause too many disruptions. So now the term is shifted more to a back edge road. And so it would be a parallel road that allows the the local traffic to not use the highway system. So State Street, 19th Street, Ottawa Street, those would be considered back edge roads. 19th Street north of 43rd Avenue doesn't go all the way up to 71st. It should. So by being able to fill in some of those gaps. The North Dakota Department of Transportation has said, listen, if you local Bismarck people are able to try and offset some of the traffic that's on highway 83, we're more inclined to be able to make some of those improvements, knowing that those improvements are going to last longer because not all the traffic is going to be on that corridor. There are alternatives. Ottawa Street, 19th Street being those types of things as well. So still some discussions is what does that final project list look like? Uh, Gabe has talked about finalizing that list in the next six weeks or so in February, coming back to the commission in March with the finalized Home Rule language, ballot language, the Home Rule charter language, and then April through June, if the commission chooses to move forward with this half cent sales tax vote of the public, April through June would be the time that we, as city staff would be able would be available for information sharing educational opportunities. It's likely we would get out and go into hosting, kind of like an open house style meeting where people can show up and ask questions. We'll have information available, maps that show where the projects would be and then ultimately, should the commission decide to move forward with this and put it on the ballot. June 9th is the local election day, and that would be the time when voters can offer their support or not support.

00:22:02,300	S2:
Yeah. And if your.

00:22:03,267	S3:
Opposition.

00:22:03,968	S2:
Watching, here are the next steps on screen leading up to that potential June 9th. Uh, ballot question. So yeah, we'll see you in the next few months how things move forward. But I know as, uh, and visiting with you and others that the this first ten years, we've been able to do a lot of projects here that have been made significant improvements.

00:22:25,667	S3:
It's a great point. Commissioner Zenker called out 43rd Avenue slash Ash Coulee being one of those kind of really good examples of what we were able to do with the current half cent sales tax that had began in 2019. It's a ten year sunset on that entire project. Had we not had the half cent sales tax, I would be willing to bet that there are significant portions of 43rd Avenue that would still be a two lane road without curb and gutter. No sidewalks, no street lighting which aren't safe. They're not effective because they don't carry the volumes of traffic that we need them to. And I think the city has been a good steward of the additional half cent sales tax. I think we can demonstrate that there's been a number of significant improvements made to the transportation network in Bismarck, and I'm anxious to see where the conversation goes from here. I have no doubt that they will do a great job coming back with more recommendations for the commission. And then it comes down to what are the policymakers want to do with it?

00:23:25,467	S2:
A couple of notes to pass along as we begin to close up shop here. The state of the cities is February 3rd at the Bismarck Events Center in Hall A. I think the door is open at seven. Events should wrap up by 930. There's a social to kick things off and a Q&A style with both mayors of Mayor Freilich and Mayor Schmitz.

00:23:47,167	S3:
A little different this year. The Bismarck Mandan Chamber EDC continues to do a great job hosting these annual state of the cities. We've seen different formats over the past few years, and I appreciate the variety, but, uh, it's very well attended. It's a it's a great event. So if you're curious what's going on, either Bismarck, Mandan or both would encourage you to check in with the chamber and see if there are tickets still available.

00:24:09,467	S2:
And the library always has something going on. And they have the Winterfest Bingo Reading Challenge from January 18th through February 21st. And it says you can sign up on Beanstalk with your library today. Pop into the library and there's a website way in the lower corner if you can see on the screen here. But you can find this on the City of Bismarck website as well.

00:24:32,467	S3:
Absolutely. And another shout out to the library. I know they are very much in the throes of renovating the public restrooms in the library, and that continues to be a great project. A very much needed improvement to the library. If you haven't been there lately, there's a lot of construction going on. It doesn't disrupt the serenity of the library, but just know that in the future, the restaurants or restaurants excuse me, restrooms will be improved, and the space in the front of the library where many of us are used to seeing the men's and ladies room, that will have a different function in the not too distant future. So look forward some more opportunities for service providers to be a part of more activities and events at the library.

00:25:14,467	S2:
Cities also has a call for photos out and you can submit photos at Bismarck gov. I have to be photos from 2025. A couple other caveats, but a great way to get a great photo that someone may have taken a little more attention.

00:25:30,200	S3:
Yes, we really appreciate people that are willing to share their photographs with us. We use them throughout the year in a variety of ways, whether it be on a social media post or it gets incorporated with our strategic plan. I know Kaitlyn OST, our communications strategist, just really, really enjoys the talent of the professional photographers. But then also most of us are walking around with a really good camera in our pocket. Those those casual shots, those things that just scream Bismarck! That's those are outstanding. So if you're inclined to share some photos that you may have taken, or if you want to make it a project and go out and take photos, please do. We would recognize those photos that are selected. We'll put your name in the corner, we'll give you credit, and we will use them frequently and very much appreciate people willing to share some of that with us.

00:26:19,801	S2:
Next meeting February 10th, 2026, in the Tom Baker Meeting Room. If you want to rewatch the meeting from last evening and go to Dakota media access, we have video on demand available. We also have a pair of apps that we always like to remind people that they can download the DMA app. You can find all the government and community programming that we offer there, and our radio access app has great music and podcasts and producers featuring local Conversations and local music and invite you to check that out as well. So until next time for Jason Thomas, I'm Tom Gearhart. We'll see you again.

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For more information on what was discussed in this episode of City Current, visit Bismarck gov or call (701) 355-1300.

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If you have suggestions, comments or issues you would like to address in future episodes, contact us at Info at Free TV. This program airs on Government Access channel two and 602 in HD or on Radio Access 102.5 FM. It's also available as a podcast on radio access and as a video viewing link at free TV. Thanks for tuning in to this edition of City Current.