00:00:02,720	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.

00:00:24,960	S2:
Coming up on this edition of city current recap. Last night's Bismarck City Commission meeting. Few of the topics will be touching on include Gateway Fiber coming into town, Bismarck and transit services. They're going to expand some of their services, and we'll get Jason to explain the street utility fee options that were discussed last night. Thanks for joining us. I'm Tom Gerhart from Dakota media access, joined by Jason Tomonaga, city administrator for the city of Bismarck. Good to see you.

00:00:53,399	S3:
Thanks for having me. Glad to be here.

00:00:55,520	S2:
Yeah, we have some good topics. Last night on the. Which was like an hour long city commission meeting. Those don't come around that frequently.

00:01:04,640	S3:
It almost feels a little short. We feel a little cheated.

00:01:07,159	S2:
A little bit, a.

00:01:07,840	S3:
Little.

00:01:08,239	S2:
Bit. I thought the first thing that the community might be interested in is gateway infrastructure. They're a fiber company that seeking approval at the city Commission last night to bring their services to Bismarck.

00:01:23,719	S3:
Correct. So the group had a representative in the community. He's been meeting with primarily city engineering staff. And prior to that, myself and city Engineer Gabe Schell have been in a series of conversations with this group, looking to understand what it would take for them to become a fiber provider in the community. And what we're talking about here would be commercial uses and residential uses for basically broadband internet. And why does that matter? Why? Why are they talking to the city? Because in many cases, the location of that fiber will be within public right of way. And so that's the street network, the boulevards and so on. And there needs to be agreements with the city, and that's generally taken care of and managed by the city engineering department, because one of their primary tasks is managing the public right of way. And so a gentleman came to Bismarck and shared a little bit of background on gateway Fiber. This isn't their first state, but they're also located in Fargo and then Kansas, Missouri, Minnesota, Massachusetts are the other places. And their primary focus is residential. And there are a couple of different tiers of bundles or packages based on internet speed, depending on what you're looking for. And there was a little discussion last night about a franchise fee. Right. And so this isn't anything new for those that have a midcoast account for cable. There has been a franchise agreement between the city of Bismarck and Medco For decades, and it's recognizing that Medco is utilizing a city asset again, that right of way network to essentially provide a service but also make a profit. And in the case of Medco, a portion of their gross sales comes back to the city of Bismarck. And the city then, in turn, provides much of that as a grant to Dakota Access for the operations here. In this case, the question about the franchise fee, where will those collected fees and revenue go? And Gabe Shell said to be determined there isn't a dedicated source at this time, but he did imply future projects where there may be complicated construction situations. So if we're installing fiber generally, that will be board without without creating a lot of open trenches and things like that. But if you think about the subgrade, you've also got water, sewer, potentially cable, telephone. There's a number of things that are already underground. And we're now adding one more potential obstacle when the city is looking at doing a water water main replacement or a sewer main replacement, where we are opening up the earth and getting into a big trench and dealing with old infrastructure. Some of the challenges that may come with additional pieces of infrastructure in the right of way could cause the project to become a higher cost, because the contractors are having to work in a more confined situation. Some of those franchise fees could go towards those additional expenses associated with those projects. That was one scenario that Gabe provided. So the commission will have an opportunity to make that discussion or make that decision in the in the not too distant future. As far as timing. I don't think I heard a specific date of when they're planning to go live.

00:04:45,560	S2:
I didn't, I didn't either.

00:04:46,680	S3:
Yeah, but there are a number of steps for Gateway Fiber in the future. They've talked about planning what the network will look like, where it will be, of course, the engineering that goes along with it. Then the construction, which is generally directional drilling, where they're installing conduit and then laying the fiber, splicing the fiber, putting the land back. That was something that the gentlemen indicated, is that they're very mindful about recognizing what the conditions are before they show up, and then restoring them or making them better once the work has been done, which we appreciate. And then he talked about lighting the neighborhood. So essentially pulling the open sign and saying, okay, we're here. Who wants to connect? And from that time until it's actually live in someone's home or business? I think he implied about five days to have that happen. Now, I think it's fair to mention that there won't be throughout the community immediately. They're going to have to focus on certain areas and build out the network as it's available. That will be part of the work that will go on through City Engineering and our staff, making sure that they're getting right excavation permits or doing all the right inspections and things like that, and we'll we'll know more in the not too distant future. But for now, there's, I guess, some more planning and engineering work to be done before we start to see them show up.

00:06:08,480	S2:
Commission unanimously approved that last night. Another interesting note the company started in Missouri in 2019, The Graphic said. But he said it started in a community of 300. So it has small town roots. Just a little note of interest. We also talked last night about the highway construction project. 174 I guess that's the technical name, but we're talking about Ottawa Street up by plant perfect in North Bismarck and bids coming in and a bid was accepted last night.

00:06:37,720	S3:
We got pretty favorable bids as well. The engineer's estimate for this project was just over $5.3 million. We received five competitive bids from local contractors, with Strata Corporation being the low bidder, just under $4.4 $4 million, so nearly $1 million less than the engineer's estimate. Commissioner Risch is very mindful of those types of bids and and certainly appreciates that. But then also had some questions about the engineering fees that go into these projects. And Gabe Schell, again, city engineer, explained that city staff, we do not have the technical expertise or the ability to design some of these types of projects, nor do we have the resources to manage and oversee the contractors in the various disciplines that go into this. That's why we hire consulting firms, because they have a much broader scope of staff and a deeper pool of resources. That 25% of the total project cost goes towards those engineering fees, because we simply just don't have the resources to do those types of things for ourselves.

00:07:47,120	S2:
And we've talked in the past, that stretch of Ottawa Street is actually old highway, right?

00:07:51,639	S3:
It is. It's the part of the old highway 83 right of way north south corridor. And for those that are familiar with it, they'll know its constraints for those that aren't. It's basically a two lane road with a ditch on both sides. The new design will incorporate sidewalk, curb and gutter, street lighting, appropriate crosswalks when and when necessary. And it'll just it'll be a much more urban look. It'll be more of a contemporary look to the street like the rest of the neighborhoods throughout Bismarck. But it comes with its challenges, and it's a fairly expensive project, and we're very mindful of that. And I know the commission has talked about special assessments in the city's portion of the contribution towards the total project cost. So we're not crippling the property owners with six figure insurmountable special assessments on some of these things.

00:08:43,799	S2:
Right. And I know we've heard those conversations in the past, that the special assessments were just too much for the folks living along that corridor.

00:08:51,039	S3:
Yeah, I think a couple of the properties indicated several hundred thousand of dollars worth of special assessments over a ten year period. That can change the change the dynamics of your business tremendously.

00:09:02,840	S2:
So I'm forgetting, and I don't mean to put you on the spot. Do you know a timeline on this project?

00:09:07,080	S3:
I believe construction is scheduled for 2026.

00:09:09,440	S2:
So that's what I thought the sign said.

00:09:11,720	S3:
With the favorable spring. Knock on wood that we're having. I'm not going to imply that they're going to be starting anytime next week. But certainly if these conditions continue, we could see an early start to construction season in 2026.

00:09:26,679	S2:
That'll be a nice improvement. That's a busy corridor and it seems like it's really growing in activity in that in that area. Biz Man Transit Services is expanding its services. That's kind of the quick way to say it. I know you have details on what was talked about last night and extended hours and.

00:09:47,440	S3:
Extended hours, uh, additional day of operations and then some alternatives or some options for people that may not have been eligible prior. And so Deidre Hughes, executive director of Binghamton Transit, did a great job outlining what the stakeholder group has discussed and the recommendations that they're coming forward with. And I think it's appropriate to mention that all of this is predicated on a public vote back in November of 2024, where the citizens were asked if they wanted to support a half cent sales tax, where a portion would go towards public transportation. The voters said, yes, those funds have started to be collected, and now that there's an understanding of what that revenue stream is going to look like, Bozeman Transit has, this has determined some of the best ways to put those resources to good use. And by doing that, they're looking at increasing operational hours by four hours daily Monday through Saturday. And the intention there is to help support shift workers, people that may be able to get to work on the bus. But by the time the bus is done, at the end of the day, their shift isn't over and now they don't have a return. So I think that's a great adaptation. Current hours are Monday through Friday 7 to 7, Saturday 8 to 7. The proposed hours will be 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. and then on Saturday, 7 a.m. to 10 p.m.. So that's a nice shift. And then also Sunday paratransit. There's an extension of hours on Sundays. Currently it runs 730 to 230. Proposed addition will be 730 to 6 p.m., so longer hours in the day. Paratransit riders have expressed a desire to have more time, get to events, family functions, whatever the case might be, and then public access the transition to Sunday. Demand response and holiday services. Going from previously it was general public riders cannot use demand response services on Sundays or holidays. The change would be that the general public will be able to use those services as well. And so great additions, great adaptations. And Mayor Schmitz had noted, there's a transportation study that's going to be coming up in the not too distant future where this man transit will be looking at a route study. Infrastructure needs for better safety, the potential for a transit hub, and then maybe bus shelters at some of the routes along or some of the locations along the routes as well. And all of this, again, is working towards the betterment of public transportation in Bismarck. I know Bismarck and Mandan. Excuse me. Deidra has mentioned over the years ridership has increased, which is great. And I think one of the keys to seeing an increase in ridership is maybe shortening some of those routes. And so people often will comment that it does take some time to get from one place to another if you're looking at a long gap.

00:12:44,320	S2:
Right.

Sure. 00:12:45,039	S3:
And understanding that where a if the routes were maybe different, more like a hub and spoke system than there would be a central location where buses would deploy on an outand back type of a route. That's why we do a study. I'm by no means a transportation planning expert, and I'm not trying to pretend to be one, but I really appreciate that there is a large group of people that is interested in this. They're working to make it better, because I think public transportation is the key to a bustling community, and having options for people to get to and from work to and from events, activities, whatever the case might be. I think that's great.

00:13:22,240	S2:
And speaking of that vote, I can't recall the number, but it sounds like we'd collected some money already from that will help fund this.

00:13:30,720	S3:
Correct? There are generally about $2 million on hand from new collections, and the portion of the half cent sales tax will generate about $4 million $4 million in Bismarck annually.

00:13:44,039	S2:
To help take care of expanding these services.

00:13:46,559	S3:
Expanding and then covering that gap in funding. Historically, there has been federal dollars to support public transportation, but there's generally been a gap that doesn't cover all of it. These additional revenues will help fill that gap as well.

00:14:00,159	S2:
Well, the final item on the agenda last night was talking about the street utility fee options. We've heard some conversation about this through prior city commission meetings, and we've mentioned Gabe Shell where you have several times already. He was back at the podium outlining some options and then for the commission to determine which direction they'd like to go. And I'm going to let you unbundle unbundle that. This is eight.

00:14:27,200	S3:
Eight years, nine years in the making. We continue to talk about the street maintenance fee. And for those that haven't heard these words put together yet, essentially what the commissioners are wrestling with is this concept of creating a monthly fee that would be collected by the city through your monthly utility bill, where we're also billing you for water service, sewer service, garbage collection, recycling, streetlights. There's a number of things on your monthly utility bill. What they're talking about is adding an additional fee that would eliminate the need for special assessments for street maintenance projects. So we talk about this every spring. Every year the city spends 10 million, give or take, repairing and maintaining roads throughout the community. And when we do that, we establish a district benefiting properties within the district, pay a portion of that repair cost, and then we call it a special assessment. Essentially, we build them over a period of 7 to 10 years, depending on the length of the district or the length of the bond. This concept of a street maintenance fee would eliminate the need for special assessments for street maintenance projects, and it would enable the city to collect funds on a monthly basis from property owners that would be directly implemented towards regular maintenance throughout the community, from north to south and east to west. Sounds pretty okay when you just think of the high level stuff, but there, as you can imagine. The more we get into this, the more details, the more what ifs there, the more. Oh gosh, we hadn't thought about that yet. There's a lot of different twists and turns to this, and I appreciate everybody that's hung in there and been a part of this conversation from the beginning. I know we had some public comment at the onset from Dustin Gavrilo. Dustin was part of the Infrastructure Task Force, the Special Assessment Task force. He's continued to attend these meetings. And and I believe he's advocated for the concept that it makes sense and something that we should move forward with. Getting to what we all agree on makes the best sense is still part of the conversation. And so I think where the commission kind of coalesced or, uh, generally agreed that moving forward towards a June election is still a potential. And what they had asked Gabe to do is come back at the next meeting. I'm sorry. At the first commission meeting in March with proposed ballot language, what does this look like? But the ballot language was predicated on the idea that the question in June would be an advisory vote. And what is an advisory vote? Well, it's essentially a non-binding question of the public. What do you think we should do? And maybe to distill it down is as plain and simple as a yes or no. The question might be, do you think the city should pursue a street utility fee for the November general election? Yes or no? And if the answer is yes, then that gives the commissioners direction to move forward, but also a better understanding that some people like the idea, some people understand, but there's a ton of work to educate the rest of the community on all of this. And as staff, of course, we cannot advocate for one thing or another, but we can educate and we can provide information. And so that would be our charge between June and November is to try and share as much as we can with the concept. Commissioner Risch noted at the commission meeting that this idea, in his opinion, has the ability to save millions of dollars over the lifespan. And how would that be done? One of the ways is by eliminating some of the fees that go along with bonding. Every time we do a special assessment district, if we are collecting funds in 2026 and paying for a project in 2027 with the dollars collected in 2026, there's no interest, there's no bonding. It reduces some of that overall cost, right? So I can appreciate that perspective as well. But also as a homeowner, as a citizen, I understand that the commission wants everyone to have a say in this. And in the end, does a homeowner, a property owner support the idea of a monthly fee that would eliminate the occasional large bill special assessment. Or do you like the system the way it is? And we just want to keep it. And Northcote is unique. In special assessments, I've talked to many people that have moved here from out of state, and they scratch their head and say, what? What are what are you guys doing? How can you do this? Well, North Dakota code enables it. There's a lot of cities in North Dakota that use special assessments. There are other methods. There are other options. And we've been exploring one for quite some time. And I think in the end, it's going to come to a head one way or the other. Commissioners. Anker had noted we need to just ask the question. We need to either do this or move on because we've expunged a lot of time and energy, right? But at the same time, I don't think anybody wants to rush into something that's only half baked, right.

00:19:40,849	S2:
You want to give it a fair shot? We do. And so in not next meeting, but two meetings from now. Gabe will come back with reworked language and then kind of go from there with maybe doing that, uh, advisory advisory vote in June with the possibility then of November. So that's kind of where things stand right now. And then, like you said, the big piece for the city and, and we certainly want to help is how do you educate people so they know what they're voting on?

00:20:09,650	S3:
Yeah. Once we're able to have a thorough conversation with people, there's a there's a light bulb moment. There's an understanding that, oh, okay, I think this works for me in my situation, unfortunately, we've got.

00:20:24,809	S2:
Lots of different situations.

00:20:25,809	S3:
Lots of different situations. There's close to 80,000 people that live here. There's 23,000 plus parcels. That's a lot of conversations. And yeah, we we struggle to get the word out. We struggle to get the message out. We have this. You know, sometimes it's a running joke If we have more citizens than staff at a meeting, it's a it's a good public meeting. And we appreciate the work that you guys do to help us get the message out. And I understand everyone is busy and we're competing with everything else, all the other noise in the world. And unfortunately, a lot of times when we engage with somebody, it's when the city comes knocking at their door and we've got a project ready to go, and now there's a bit of a learning curve to get caught up and understand, okay, what just happened? How did we get here? Why am I involved when we can work through all those questions and answers? That's that's great. But I, I understand there can be frustration, there can be misunderstandings. And not everybody spends their days in municipal government.

00:21:28,450	S2:
However.

00:21:29,329	S3:
So we've talked a heck of a hobby.

00:21:31,490	S2:
These are well, I mean, these decisions affect, you know, so many things that, you know, our schools, our streets, our water, our, you know, everything we so we should pay attention and and the information is there. If we do pay attention that I will say.

00:21:46,170	S3:
That's a good point. Our website is filled with information. Your website has meetings, record of things, discussions across all the government platforms, which is great and it just takes time, which everybody. We all have the same amount of time. That's the route I guess.

00:22:04,650	S2:
Is.

00:22:05,450	S3:
Is up to us. So um, but yeah, we're we're happy to continue down this path. We've, as I mentioned, we've spent a lot of time over the years investing in this. I don't know that we have the perfect solution quite yet, but we continue to learn more and engage more. And as the questions come forward, that only makes the formula stronger because it eliminates some of those what if situations, if we're able to address them earlier.

00:22:32,329	S2:
Get it to as good a place as possible, and let the.

00:22:35,650	S3:
Voters.

00:22:36,009	S2:
Decide.

00:22:36,690	S3:
Exactly.

00:22:37,769	S2:
Uh, got some fun stuff I wanted to go over. A lot of things happening in Bismarck. Start with the if I were mayor contest. And you know, this has been around, as you said, third and seventh graders can submit essays to the North Dakota League of Cities.

00:22:54,049	S3:
That's a.

00:22:54,569	S2:
Fun.

00:22:54,849	S3:
Project. Fun little project. League of cities has been doing for years. We're glad to help promote that. We are, of course, members of the North Dakota League of Cities. They represent most of the 355 communities across North Dakota. And this is one one of their fun little things throughout the year to keep people engaged and get kids thinking about municipal government.

00:23:15,130	S2:
And I think that's what's so cool, is you get you know, we just talked about paying attention. And but if you can get some understanding at a young age, uh, in theory you'd be a better contributing citizen later on.

So. 00:23:31,250	S2:
If you'd like to find more information. I also wanted to mention the Sidewalk Gaps project. Got a little graphic for that.

00:23:42,529	S3:
Every year where we do a number of sidewalk repair projects and sidewalk gap projects, and on our social media, on our Facebook page. City engineering has got a call to action out there, asking for people to identify gaps, potentially in their neighborhoods or in corridors that they're walking so we can go in and best fill those gaps and make sure that we're helping people navigate one way or the other across our community.

00:24:08,970	S2:
All right. I want to talk about a couple things going on at the public library as well. There's a children's book flash sale Saturday, February 14th. That's this Saturday as of the taping, and that'll take place from ten to noon. A lot of books available for great prices for kids.

00:24:26,890	S3:
A high amount of activity at the library when there's a book sale going on.

00:24:31,009	S2:
It's I've been in line.

00:24:32,210	S3:
It's it's always impressive to see people standing out in line early. This one, of course, is just geared for kids, which is going to be fun. I think there's another book sale coming up in early March.

00:24:41,690	S2:
Got a graphic of that, too? Yep. March 5th, sixth and seventh. There we go. We got our our monitor back.

00:24:48,289	S3:
Outstanding. So. And the the book sale is a fundraiser. Fundraiser for friends of the Bismarck Public Library. That's one of the groups that provides additional funding. Of course, the library is funded through property tax, but also grants, donations, gifts, fundraisers, and friends of the Bismarck Public Library is one of those wonderful groups that help support our tremendous public library.

00:25:12,890	S2:
We mentioned this last time, but it's ongoing until February 21st. The Winterfest Bingo Reading Challenge. So we've got some more time to participate in that. And that's a collab between the Morton Mandan Public Library and the Bismarck Veterans Memorial Public Library. Uh, it doesn't feel much like winter right now. There's not much snow left in my yard, frankly, but I probably shouldn't say that out loud and jinx it all.

00:25:36,569	S3:
But I hope we get at least one more in March. That's nice. Big blizzard with that heavy, wet snow. Just in time for spring.

00:25:44,410	S2:
Yeah, just to get an aching back before summer. Uh, you had a lot of success. You mentioned a story that I think kV wire did on your call for photos. I've seen some beautiful photos on your Facebook page, but that's ongoing until the end of the month as well.

00:26:00,490	S3:
Yeah. We appreciate everybody that's willing to share some of their photos. Treasures of Bismarck. And thanks to KFI, WRTV for passing that story along. That generated dozens of contributions. And I know some have asked, do we compensate for the photos? Not monetarily, but we will certainly recognize the photographers and give them credit for those photos. How will we use them? A number of ways throughout the year, whether it be internal communications, external communications, publications like our social media, graphics, things like that. We are just so grateful when people are willing to share this community. I think about it a lot as I drive around. Oh, that's a cool vantage point. There'd be a neat photo there. And it's not always just these big, sweeping, panoramic photos. It's sometimes just those cool little touches of.

00:26:49,410	S2:
Light is just right, the angles just right, and.

00:26:52,049	S3:
Something in the background. There's yeah, that's Bismarck I recognize. Yeah. So looking forward to seeing all of those come out over the months ahead.

00:27:00,329	S2:
Deadlines through the end of February. As I mentioned, the photo has photos have to have been from 2025. And you can submit them at Bismarck, ND gov. I also wanted to talk about 2026 Flurry Fest that's taking place with the Bismarck Parks and Recreation District, and we particularly, I know, wanted to mention that the treasure hunt is back on and that'll take place February 16th through the 20th.

00:27:26,609	S3:
That's a pretty fun event for some people. I really think they're treasure hunting. Seriously, I don't know that it's a contact sport, but I think it's definitely competitive. And thanks to our friends and partners over at Bismarck Parks and Recreation District for finding ways to keep people active in the winter. I know it's long nights, cold days, that kind of stuff here, but every February, Parks and Rec does a full calendar of events that is encouraging people to do various things. Unfortunately, this year we don't have the snow to accommodate some of those traditional cross-country skiing at night at Tom O'Leary or sledding or, I'm sorry, cross-country skiing at Riverwood or sledding at Tom O'Leary. Um, but hopefully when we did have snow, people were able to get out and do that before it all melted.

00:28:11,009	S2:
And you mentioned we were looking at the calendar earlier today. So you can go to Bismarck Parks and Rec website and find out a full list of activities. Well, that wraps up our show. Wanted to remind you again, you can download our Dakota media access app. Our Radio Access 102.5 app to access all of our great programming. You can also check it out at Dakota media access. If you'd like to watch anything video on demand. So for Jason Thomas. I'm Tom Gearhart. Thanks for joining us. Have a great day.

00:28:42,490	S1:
For more information on what was discussed in this episode of City Current, visit Bismarck, n.d. gov or call (701) 355-1300.

00:28:52,529	S1:
If you have suggestions, comments, or issues you would like addressed 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.