00:00:03,300	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.

00:00:28,667	S2:
Recap of most recent Bismarck City Commission meeting. Wait till you hear some of the great stories behind the 1926 Bismarck Fire Truck purchase. Talk about land that's been purchased for future new police department, and explain and educate on a short term rental amendment that was talked about last night. Thanks for joining us. I'm Tom Gerhardt from Dakota media access, joined by Jason Thomas, Bismarck city administrator. And I know you can't wait to talk about this fire truck. The fire truck. I can't wait to hear about it. Well, first of all, uh, let's talk about one of the items last night. You're looking for a new finance director. We'll start there.

00:01:08,267	S3:
We are looking for a new finance director. Uh, Mr. Dmitri Chernykh has, uh, tendered his resignation. His last date with the organization will be Friday, November 7th. Um, I can't say enough nice things about Dmitri. Working with him over the last six plus years has been great. I have learned so much from him. His financial acumen is unparalleled. And not only did I learn a lot, but everyone around him learned more along the way. We as a member of the Budget Committee, Dmitri is as well. Of course, we have a commissioner and then the assistant city administrator, Doug Wiles. Uh, those meetings became so informative and so thorough and just a greater appreciation for how the numbers work, where the revenues are coming from, where the expenses are going. And he leaves a good team behind him. Heel. He manages the Fiscal Services Division and the assessing division, but we will be looking to replace him, fill that position. We have the finance director position posted to the city's website right now. So if anybody out there with, uh, professional credentials as a certified public accountant is looking for employment, we would love for you to submit an application. I think it would be a challenging experience. Government accounting is a little different than private accounting. And so there are some nuances that go along with that. But we will be looking for the best candidate. Hopefully we can, you know, do interviews sometime before Thanksgiving and then work into the beginning of the next year with a new finance director.

00:02:42,868	S2:
Some nice moments last night he actually spoke at the end of the meeting and of course joked about having another PowerPoint that would keep everybody there for an hour. But, uh, commissioners Cleary and Rish had some nice parting words for him, and actually he was a great help to me here, getting some understanding of the accounting and finance and budgeting principles that are necessary. So he has said he said he's staying and will pay his taxes. So that's a big.

00:03:07,667	S3:
Reason to mention he's he's not leaving Bismarck. He's going back to the private sector, which is where he worked previously before coming to Bismarck. He was with a county in Colorado prior to that private sector work. So he's kind of trying something else, a new challenge. He definitely likes to stay busy, and I think he'll have his hands full, but we'll keep track of him. He's not leaving the town so well.

00:03:32,601	S2:
Had to tease the fire truck, but I think it's the moment I've been waiting for. I know you have a lot of information about this thing, but a 1926 Seagrave fire truck that was part of the Bismarck Fire Department back in the early 20s. The city and you provided some outstanding photos. Will start showing them, but I'll kind of just let you take it away. I'll just start by saying I read that it responded to its first fire in March, the 22nd of 1927.

00:04:01,200	S3:
Right? Yeah. So we actually have photos of the truck from the factory where it was manufactured in 1926. Delivery came in early 1927. City used this fire truck from 1927 up until 1968. Some might wonder, well, where did it go? Well, in 1988, the leaders at that time, the city leaders, decided there was adequate room to store this relic, this historic piece. And so it went out to surplus auction, like a lot of our surplus equipment does. And fortunately for us, a local individual, Jim Beck, Jim and Jan Beck, purchased the fire truck and kept it this entire time. Some people have probably seen this truck because Jim has been known to drive it in a parade. And for those of you who don't know, Jim, you may know of some of the other things that Jim's been a part of. Hough Hills is another one of those. And I also mentioned the Fort Lincoln trolley service that was operational for many years. Jim and Jan were part of that as well. So how did this all come together? Um, I guess maybe a little bit of personal information. I'm a history guy. I like history, I like I really like Bismarck history. And some friends of mine are friends with Andy Beck, Jan and Jim's son. And these people all said, hey, Jason, would you like a chance to see a 1926 fire truck that used to be part of the Bismarck fleet? And I said absolutely without hesitation. And so as as luck would have it, the banks were storing this 1926 fire truck in Bismarck. And so we met at a cold storage facility, a garage, essentially, and check this thing out. And it was under a tarp. It has some dust and some dirt on it. It hadn't been run in about three years. And as we were putting the tarp back on and closing up the garage door. I said to Jim, I said, you know, on behalf of the city. I said, I have to ask in the future if this thing is ever for sale, would you please consider us and let me know? And he smiled in a way that I, I appreciate. And he said, well, it's for sale right now. And I said, please give me some time. I said, I need to work with the commissioners on this one, but I said I would love the opportunity to purchase this for the organization and bring it home, essentially. And as luck would have it, we went through a city Commission executive session where we are allowed to close the door and talk negotiation strategy. And I share this information with the commissioners, and I must share with the public that there was tremendous enthusiasm from the Commission as well. And I'm so grateful that they see the value in bringing a relic home, bringing a piece of history back to Bismarck, and thanks to the Beck family for taking such good care of this and just a message to them. Know that this thing will be loved. It will be cared for. I don't ever see us letting go of this in the future. The Fire Chief, Joel Baz Pflug, has shared with me that this was a morale boost for the fire department. Many of the firefighters were very excited about this. I'm glad to hear that. I'm not really sure what motivated all of this, other than it just seemed like the right thing to do. And it. I'm so glad that it worked out. So where do we go from here? We're not going to hide this thing. We're not going to tuck it in the corner.

00:07:18,100	S2:
And for me, take a look at you said I think it's in working.

00:07:21,567	S3:
It's it's beautiful. Last, last time it ran was three years ago. This was a working fire truck. So we are not looking to restore. We are looking to preserve. And when I say preserve, there's hand turned gold leaf hand painted graphics. It still says Bismarck Fire Department on it. Engine number one. You can't fake this stuff. So to be able to preserve that and then share it with the community. And one of the ways that we're going to do that. Initially, it will be stored at Fire Station two, which is our station on Expressway, gets a lot of traffic. There's probably 30,000 cars a day that go in front of that station. One of the garage bays will have glass panels put in the garage door, so you can see all the way through, and at least get a glimpse of the truck. But then my hope is that in the future, we find all sorts of different ways to share this not just with parades, but other opportunities. Next year, the truck will be 100 years old, and there's going to be some chances to have a celebration, to have a birthday party for a piece of history that I think many people in the future are going to appreciate. And just it's a nice little story. It's a it's a fun thing that we're able to do. And I understand some might say, well, you know, why do you want that? It's old. It's not. There's no value in it. I think there's a lot of people in our organization that would argue there's a tremendous value in this, and just looking at it brings a sense of pride and joy and and just gratitude for the ability to do this, for the backs, for being a part of this, and for us to be able to tell the story.

00:08:53,167	S2:
And for the firefighters throughout history.

00:08:55,167	S3:
Exactly.

00:08:55,767	S2:
And the work that, you know, they put in to protect and serve Bismarck. One piece of history really caught my attention that you talked about, and I'll let you explain. But this truck was used in a significant fire response.

00:09:09,801	S3:
December 28th, 1930. The original North Dakota State Capitol building burned. This truck responded to that emergency fire. That's amazing. That's pretty.

00:09:20,767	S2:
Good. I read also that, uh, it pumped water for 40 straight, 48 straight hours.

00:09:27,767	S3:
48 hours straight, and it pumps water at 750 gallons per minute. So if you want to do the math on that, there was a lot of water used. And it was during, uh, Scott's dime store fire, which occurred on February 4th in 1946. So if you can imagine how cold February is in North Dakota. Yeah, pumping 750 gallons of water per minute for two days straight. The amount of ice and accumulation. And I'd love to have the time to get into the newspapers and find those photos and hear more of that story. But yeah, there will be more information coming forward. I know we've got some firefighters in the department that are very enthusiastic about history, and just I think this will inspire even more research and stories and interest in this. And I look forward to seeing it around town. I look forward to to understanding how the fire department is going to use this in unique in different ways.

00:10:19,868	S2:
Yeah, just hand painted that you mentioned. Just incredible. When you look at that detail. I can't wait to see it up close. Here's a, you know, an idea, like you said, of that gold plated or gold painted and logos in the Bismarck Fire Department. Yeah, it's an incredible piece of history.

00:10:38,701	S3:
I should mention the truck today is at Public Works, and so our fleet mechanics are going to go through it and make sure it's operational. The fluids are appropriate and fresh and all of that. And then once it's in driving working order, then the fire department will take it from there and we'll see it all over the place.

00:10:56,901	S2:
Well, speaking of serving and protecting another item from last night, uh, talking about the land purchase for a future police department. Tell us about that, or it's going to be.

00:11:07,467	S3:
And and so this is a project that we as staff have been kind of quietly working on very intentionally for probably the last year or so. But bigger picture. We've been talking about this since 2019, 2020. And what are we really talking about? We're talking about the fact that we have 130 plus sworn officers and another 30, uh, civilian personnel, almost 160 plus people in a department, all housed in one building that was constructed in 1971. And in 1971, One. Bismarck was a much smaller community, both in physical geography but also in population. Over time, we've more than doubled in police staff, and frankly, we've outgrown the building that we're in today. And so previous leadership with the now retired police chief and former city administrator. That's where the conversation started back in 2019. 2020 explored a number of different options, looked at various parcels throughout town. Obviously location is an important feature for us. Many of the officers aren't dispatching from the police station, but we also want to be centrally located, not out on the edge and in an area where we know growth will continue. So where did we end up? We ended up in northeast Bismarck along Century Avenue at the intersection of Century Avenue and Valley Forge. So for landmarks, uh, Northwest Contracting is directly west of this site. You've got the mobile home park to the south and kind of off in that northeast direction. There's a grocery store. I believe the Willow CRS is up there. There's a strip mall with a number of different things. So we're in that area of town. We know we're going to continue growing north and east. Total property size is about ten acres, and it was purchased from a local property owner. So it's nice to know that it's not an out of town landowner. The money that the city paid for this will stay in the local economy. And over time, what we'll see next is development of the designs. And so Police Chief Stoudamire will be working with architects and design professionals in the not too distant future to come back with what is the right size and shape and configuration for the next 50 years, because we're not talking about 5 or 10 years here. We're talking about a generational, multi-generational project that will afford the city of Bismarck to continue to grow and provide the law enforcement services that it needs. I think it's fair to to wonder, well, what are the plans for the other plans for South ninth Street? You've been at 700 South Night since 1971, I can say with with significant confidence that we have no intentions of selling the building. We have no intentions of abandoning the site. We will find a way to repurpose it. It's been a good location for us. I don't want to imply that there will be a precinct or anything like that. I think the chief has some ideas about how he wants to structure the department, but there are some opportunities within that building for training and other facility uses that may not be needed in the new location. So as we go through the design process, part of the process will also include how do we adaptively reuse the existing site and make sure we're appropriately using all of our facilities to the best.

00:14:24,000	S2:
And construction anticipated to begin in 2027.

00:14:28,701	S3:
Hopeful for 2027. If we can do design throughout 2026 and then bid the project in the spring of 27, it'd be wonderful to see some activity over there. I guess another part of this is the funding. To make this happen. For those that remember, there was an election in November of 2024 where the voters were asked about approving a half cent sales tax and a portion of that half cent sales, half cent sales tax goes towards public transportation, both transit and paratransit, and then a slightly larger portion of that half cent goes towards the construction of fire stations, police stations and offsetting some of those costs. So we will have that sales tax revenue to help pay for the bond that will likely be necessary to construct this facility.

00:15:15,667	S2:
Moving along to the regular agenda, transfer of class D alcohol licenses to Polar Package and Lucky's Bar and the main bar to Matt Pack LLC. Now there was some public comment and I think it was a good learning opportunity. A good education piece last night for myself anyway, to hear about the city's role in this type of transfer.

00:15:42,000	S3:
Yeah, we had a gentleman that expressed some concerns that a not not for profit organization is purchasing a bar and some clarification there. The entity that is actually purchasing the license is an LLC, a limited liability corporation, and it is Matt Pac Properties LLC. So they they are a for profit entity. So they are the ones that are holding the alcohol license now. How did they come about the license? They purchased it from the previous owner, not from the city. The city sold these licenses years ago. The class D license is unique in the world of alcohol licensing. It is the one of two licenses that can be sold or transferred as an asset. And that's exactly what happened in this situation. The gentleman that shared concerns, talked about the the impact of electronic gaming statewide. And I've I've heard numbers north of $1 billion in North Dakota that is passing through these gaming devices and gaming machines. And I think his concerns is that the those those resources could be put towards other things. But the responsibility of the charitable gaming organization is to be good stewards of those dollars and find ways to put them towards charitable uses. And so that's not the city's role to evaluate how they're how they're collecting and distributing those dollars. The city's role here is to evaluate whether or not it meets our criteria for holding an alcohol license. And ultimately, it was Commissioner Cleary who chaired the meeting last night. The mayor was online but unavailable to be in person. Commissioner Cleary chaired the meeting and shared that some of the concerns that the gentleman had expressed really need to be addressed at the legislative level. These are state laws that were written to enable these things to occur. And if those changes are to happen, it cannot be from the city commission table. It must come at a statewide level and appreciate that dialogue. I appreciate that conversation. There was a representative from Matt Pack Properties. I believe he represented himself as the board president, and he explained to the commissioners how their LLC entity is different from the non-profit and how the revenue is generated. And all of this is evaluated by the state. That's part of the role of the attorney General's office. And so the role of the commissioners last night was to evaluate the request. Does it meet the city's criteria to transfer the license, yes or no? The answer was yes. And so it's inevitably both the license for Polar Polar Package Place and Lucky's Bar, which is just one license. It's a Co-location and then the main bar. Both of those licenses were. The approval was granted by the Commission to transfer those from one entity to the other.

00:18:39,000	S2:
Another item of interest for me anyway, last night was the zoning ordinance text amendment for short term rentals. And as someone living here, I just was curious. While Airbnbs and things like that Vrbas existed before this. Explain why this was put into two place. And then I have a graphic that shows peer cities, you know, where there are ordinance or there aren't at this point. So why did the city want to to advance this ordinance?

00:19:09,367	S3:
So for those that have been keeping score, you'll know that the planning department is working through the update of the Land development code. The land development code is essentially the zoning ordinance. Those are the regulations that regulate land use. And so this was a topic that has come up in other cities. There are different communities that choose to regulate these things in one way or another. Because the city of Bismarck did not have any recognition of short term rentals, there was a need to adapt something for the ordinance. And so essentially what they came up with was a definition of what is a short term rental. And it's effectively anything that is used as a rental by one individual for less than 30 days. And we all know them. Many of us have used them. You mentioned at Airbnb, Vrbo, those are the kind of the brands of Airbnbs I believe I read in the staff report from the planning staff that there are somewhere close to 200 registered properties like this in Bismarck that were found through a simple internet search. And so what is the role of the the ordinance here? What are they trying to do in addition to defining what is a short term rental? It talks about how they can or really cannot function. A short term rental is essentially any dwelling permanent dwelling unit. So if you have an accessory dwelling unit, sometimes they call it a mother in law's house in the backyard, or a granny flat that would count, or a primary residence, a single family dwelling all by itself on a regular property. Short term rentals are subject to parking requirements no different than any other home in Bismarck. They also must comply with international building codes so they are, in other words, safe and secure and inspected as renovations occur. But I think this is kind of a unique differentiator. The ordinance specifically says, and I'll read it verbatim, it says a recreational vehicle or other vehicle or structure not classified as a permanent residential dwelling unit may not be used as a short term rental. Translation you can't park a camper in your driveway and rent it out as a short term rental. That doesn't count because it is not a permanent residential dwelling. So it kind of just puts it all out there. It legitimizes these things. We know they exist in many cases. There were comments from the public kind of on both sides. Some people have said, yes, I've had good experiences. I've stayed in them myself. I travel frequently. Others have said I would prefer these not be in my neighborhood because they cause traffic. They cause disruptions there. You know, it's an unknown for some people. Ultimately, the ordinance was approved unanimously by the commission, and it's on the books, and the planners will have a response when these questions come forward in the future.

00:21:57,868	S2:
Moving along the utility capital charges, there are some proposed revisions. It's kind of a mouthful. Uh, I'll let you take it.

00:22:08,267	S3:
We refer to them as a UCC utility. Capital charge. What is it? It's a it's a fee that a developer or a property owner will encounter when building a new structure in town. And so why are we charging all these fees? Well, for those of us that have been a part of Bismarck for any period of time, we have paid utility bills, meaning we're paying into the water utility that takes care of all the drinking water, all the wastewater and the stormwater. And by paying for those services, we are also providing them the opportunity to generate revenue to maintain the plants, grow the plants, take care of all of the infrastructure. If you're brand new and you say, hey, I'm here to take some water, the utility capital charge is really a recognition of all the investment that has been provided for the generations that have been here before, those new properties. And so really, it's a it's a buy in. It helps pay for some of the projects as the plants continue to grow to service the rest of the community. But it also recognizes for those of us that have been paying monthly utility bills for years, that somebody isn't just showing up and getting something without a portion of an investment. And so really the big question here is when does the city collect these capital, these utility capital charges? I think the most dynamic shift many of us won't even realize unless we're actually building a home or a new property in the community. Previously, the utility capital charges were collected at the at the recording of the plat. So when the subdivision is created and all the lots are available for sale, the city was collecting those fees from the developer. The dynamic switch here is that now those fees will be collected at the time the permit is issued. Why does that matter? Well, if you're a developer that's holding dozens of lots waiting for either builders or potential homeowners to buy them from you, there's a lot of development costs tied up in that initial fee. If you're a homeowner and willing and ready to build your own home, it becomes part of that initial upfront cost with the permit, and it's collected at the time the permit is issued, which would make sense because some of these lots in town, in new neighborhoods, will sit idle for ten years waiting for the right person to buy it. Or maybe someone bought it in their saving to be able to build the home. And so some again, some changes. But for the vast majority of our community, probably not going to notice a significant change unless you're building something brand new.

00:24:46,067	S2:
Well, let's move on to Assistant City Administrator Doug Wiles wanted to update us on the 2026 Citizen Academy, and I think applications will be taken beginning in November.

00:24:58,868	S3:
Yes. So the entire month of November, we are gladly accepting applications for the Bismarck Citizen Academy. For those that are wondering what that means, what is the Citizen Academy? This will be the fifth year for the program. It has grown into a 12 week, 36 hour. It's kind of like a master's in municipal government is really what it becomes. It's almost like night class. And so for 12 Thursdays in a row, from 6 to 9 p.m., the 20 individuals that are chosen to participate in the program, we we around the office, we refer to them as cadets. Cadets in the Citizen Academy. These 12 individuals will walk through all 17 departments of the city, engaging with dozens of city staff, directors, commissioners. And it's really this immersive educational experience where you see how it all fits, how it all works together. And we start very intentionally with week one, with the administration department, the city commission, and just kind of lay some of that baseline information. What does human resources really mean for the city of Bismarck? What does municipal court do? What does the legal department do? So that's week one. Week two. It's it's an information dump. It is a lot. We spend a great deal of time talking about financing and budgets. I shouldn't say financing, I should say finance is and budgets and general fund, enterprise fund, sales tax, property tax. What does all of that mean? And then from there we build on it with every department week after week. And that's when it starts to get really exciting, because by week three we're now mobile. We're going to different buildings, we're seeing different departments and equipment and facilities. And these are oftentimes most of the general public won't have these experiences or these opportunities. So we're glad to share these experiences. We're glad to share staff. We're glad to share our time. But really what is Citizen Academy? It's our chance to build a better knowledge base. And as Doug pointed out at the commission meeting on Tuesday, City Commissioner John Risch was part of the first group of Citizen Academy cadets. And something about that experience either inspired him or gave him the confidence to put his name in the in the hat to run for city commissioner. And now he's here, sitting at the table making policy decisions for the entire community. To think that Citizen Academy had a role in that is pretty rewarding, but it's also pretty impactful to think this, this is this is our day to day. This is what we do. But to know that people have an interest in this and have a desire to better understand how our organization works, we welcome that. Yeah, we're so looking forward to this. Doug will be taking over the responsibilities of guiding the cadets through their 12 weeks. This is a program that I was part of from the from the onset. And it's been it's been a great experience. I'm not going to lie. It's a time commitment. It's 36 hours together. But everybody that I've continued to keep in touch with or see around town or talk with, that was part of it. They continue to bring back some of the memories and some of the things that they've learned. Help educate others too. And we ask them. Go be an ambassador. Share this information with others because we want everybody to know all of this stuff. Because I think that when there's a better understanding and an appreciation for the work that we do, it's just easier for everybody. It's there's a respect, there's an appreciation and understanding, and we just want to show off some of some of what we do.

00:28:40,200	S2:
And, you know, the vast majority of us have no clue, you know, like thinking of even like the water treatment plant, you know, just things like that. There's so many tentacles, arms of the city, you know, it's our everyday lives are touched multiple times by decisions that are made so fantastic. And then also a lot of boards I think. What did you count up? Ten boards.

00:29:05,000	S3:
Advisory boards.

00:29:05,567	S2:
Advisory boards for the city and a number of openings.

00:29:09,000	S3:
Eight positions on ten advisory boards, and that sounds like a lot. But one of the advisory boards is brand new, so there would be eight new faces to that advisory board. But the nine others. Every year we see people's terms expire. And so some in some cases they need to leave the board. In other cases they apply and can be reappointed. But for anybody that's looking to get involved in an advisory board position, whether it be the Planning and Zoning Commission or the Renaissance Zone Authority, the Human Relations Committee, the Vision Fund, Forestry Advisory Board, Board of Adjustment, Historic Preservation, Parking Authority. We've got we've got something animal advisory board. And there was another one I didn't mention 28 positions, ten different boards. How do you get engaged? Go to the city website. Starting November 1st, we'll have a big banner ad. You click on it. You can you can apply right online the entire month of November. We're collecting applications for all the advisory board positions, but then also Citizen Academy. And so then in December, those that are chosen are selected for those positions. And in the city's academy, we'd make contact with them. And then everything starts up in January 2026.

00:30:20,000	S2:
Well, yeah, a lot of work to be done, but look forward to it. Call to action. I call.

00:30:25,701	S3:
The action. Call to action.

00:30:27,300	S2:
Check out the city website.

00:30:29,100	S3:
If you have any questions, we would love to sit down and talk about this. Give us a phone call. We're looking for people to get engaged. We see it at the state local level. It. If you're ever wondered if you're ever curious, now's your chance.

00:30:43,267	S2:
That's right. Well, thanks for joining us on this edition of City Current. By the way, if you don't have time or you do have time, either way you can watch On Demand or live. Check out our apps. We have one for Dakota Access, also for our radio station 102.5 FM. And on your smart TV, you can find Dakota media access, so you can check out all of the city and county government meetings and all of the local community programming. Have a great day. See you next time.

00:31:12,767	S1:
For more information on what was discussed in this episode of City Current, visit Bismarck gov or call (701) 355-1300.

00:31:22,667	S1:
If you have suggestions, comments or issues you would like addressed in future episodes, contact us at info at Free TV. Org. 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 org and as a video viewing link at free TV. Thanks for tuning in to this edition of City Current.