And Park District board meeting to order today is August 11th, 2025. Uh, any additions or deletions to the agenda? None. OK. Moving on to public communication from visitors seeing nobody in the crowd tonight. Ah, we’ll open and close that portion of the meeting. Uh, moving on to minutes, approval of June 14, 2025 regular meeting minutes and the July 28, 2025 Special meeting minutes. Can we get motion to approve. regular meeting minutes and the July 28th, 2025 special meeting minutes. Motion by Comm Freehlich I’ll second, seconded by Comm Mutter. Any further discussion? All in favor, say I opposed motion carries. All right, moving into our agenda, item number one, presentation from Madison Cermac, Business development director to approve support for extending the Renaissance zone for downtown Manan. Hi, Madison. Good evening. President Meschke and Park Board Ben Bruce, like a, like you said, I am Mastermec, the business development director here at the City of Mandan. So I’m going to do a short presentation about the Renaissance zone, um, the program renewal so if we could get the it on the screen. Yeah It’s loading Yeah I don’t know why it’s not showing this one. just screen All right We’ll try this again So I’m here to do a little presentation on the Renaissance zone, the 20252025 program renewal. So the Manda Renaissance zone was established in 2005. Uh, the Renaissance zone was established at the fifty-sixth, uh, legislative Assembly, and that was in 1999. We didn’t establish it till 2005 due to the diesel, um, spill and kind of figuring out what we’re gonna do at that point, but it is a tool that helps cities revitalize their communities, um, mostly in the downtown area. And that’s by offering both state and local incentives for 5 years for both residents and business owners are provided with an incentive to invest in the community. I have 92 projects completed, but that is an error. There is 97 projects completed so far and that is with over $30 million in private investments. So on average, the cost of property tax incentive for renaissance on projects is recouped within 2 years and 3 months after the property reenters the tax rolls. So you can see our, um, boundary we have. It is a 37 block area. So the first, the state, um, their criteria for determining the amount of blocks per cur community. Um, with the starting a minimum of 34 blocks. per 5000 population. You get one additional block added per 5000 people in population, so Mandan can technically have now up to 39 blocks. Um, and there are 39 block total properties in the boundary. We have 180 commercial, 192 residential and 207 exempt. And you can kind of see that 24 block and 25 block are very large. Um, that is advantage that we have, um, since they are contiguous blocks, um, with many businesses in in in that those blocks. So in 2020 the Mandan Renaissance zone Committee added a two-block contiguous area. Um, the on the memorial’s Highway. This area was determined at the time by different studies and surveys as potential for redevelopment by having a tool to get property owners additional boost to generate projects. So we have kind of the Farland properties, Faulkner seeds, metal craft products welding, Marshall’s lumbers and manufactured home court in Excel’s homes. We do think that after the Memorial Highway project Reconstruction is complete, that we may see some um development happening over there. So the types pro completed projects so far from 2005 to present. We’ve had 33 rehab. 38 leases, 10 new construction, 4 residential, 7 purchase with improvements, and 3 leasehold improvements. So you can kind of see that the most popular is the commercial rehab projects in order to receive that, they have to do to risky the full incentive, um, the applicants must reinvent reinvest at least 50% of what the building’s value currently is. And then with that 80% has to be with capital improvements. So an example of this is that if a building’s true value is $450,000. The minimum of investment the applicant needs to put in is $225,000 with $180,000 in capital improvements. And then just a little side note that the property owners still pay the land value and special suspense to their property. A example of our most recent, um, Renaissanzo project is you’ve probably seen this on 1121 East Main Street. It’s a Dakota Customs. Um, it was a rehab and lease project, so Midwest Rentals LLC purchased and rehabbed the building. Dakota customs was able to retain their business in Mandan. The beginning assessed value of this building was 295,000. The property owner’s actual private investment into the building as completed, has been $2,3063,2363,031. So it’s a very large investment that we’ve had, which is a great thing. So completed Renaissance on projects between 2005 and present have resulted in 12 retained 25 expanded and 21 new businesses and other community benefits. um, from projects include generating sales tax revenue, adding new jobs, and providing additional products and services. So a little data and analytics, um. right here you can see that we have a graph, uh, this shows the yearly assessed values. Um, the blue bar is, uh sorry, the blue bar is uh beginning to assess value and then the orange bar is a new assessed value. So you can see that the large difference in between the uh beginning of susan and then after it’s completed. And like I said before, on average, the cost of property tax incentive for Renaissance its own projects is recouped within 2 years and 3 months after property reentered the tax rolls. um, and then at the bottom there, you can also see that the value of assess assessments on projects from 2005 to present, total to $9.9 million and the value of new assessments on completed projects from 2005 to 2024, increased to a total of $12.6 million so the average assess property value increase by approximately 109%. from 2005 to 2024. All right So during the North Dakota 60th Legislative Assembly adjustments to the Renaissance zone zone ascents were made, including a Renaissance zone extensions may be granted up to 10 years. Previously, extensions were capped at 5 years. The Mandaransson’s own committee recommended to update the extension for 5 to 10 years. and then future recommendations may include to opt to have two islands to the primary contiguous zone. Each island can be up to 3 contiguous blocks, and they were, um, a high contender right now would be the old high school site, um, but it has not been approved. formally Other adjustments included with no action from Renaissance’s own committee. you could have eligible projects me now receive up to 8 taxable years of Renaissance benefits instead of the 5 years. But we didn’t think he was necessary at this time. So, yeah, Next steps, um, the current program will expire at the end of this month, August 31st. um, we are seeking that 10-year extension. And even though the city is not required by state to have a formal parks approval, um, we think, we believe that the city and the Renaissance zone that all taxing entities should be involved in the process with the continued support for the program. If you have any questions, let me know. Um, sorry, a little out of breath. I feel like a baby is punching me in the stomach right now. So. So, you’re just looking for support from the Park District and extending it for 10 years. Is that correct? That is correct. So, so when you talk about just question about the islands, so like the one-off memorial, is that considered one of the one island right now, or? That would be considered one island, um, and we can have up to 2 now. So, uh, if we, and I was going to mention too that if there’s no activity that happens on an island or if there’s no redevelopment that happens or the owners don’t have any wanting to do redevelopment. We can take that island and move it to a different area committee decides those things and makes those recommendations, yeah. Madison, are you expanding it to 39 blocks to hear, hear you right. I know you’re gonna ask questions. Um, no, well, we could, it could go up to 39 blocks. Um, that is something that the Renaissanceone Committee can include, um, to do. It would just be have to do kind of like a little surveying of where. those would want to be in because they had to be continuous of the boundary. So, um, I think last time they added blocks, they did a lot of surveying of businesses to see who potentially would want to do improvements and what areas of town needed the most improvements. So the islands are separate from the those blocks and correct correct. OK. Anything else from Maddison Well, you better, you better take care of that baby. Um so I guess, uh, uh, formal motion to I’ll make a motion to uh uh give the Park District support for extending the Renaissance zone for a downtown man and the additional 10 years. I’ll second motion by motion by Comm Melhlhoff, seconded by Comm Mutter. Any further discussion? Hey, all in favor say aye. Opposed? Motion carries. Thank you, Madison. Thank you for, thank you for coming. All right, moving on to item number 2 We’ll look at our 2026 preliminary budget presentation. Now if Terry can get her slideshow back up there. We’ll be in good shape. I think so, yes. There you go OK, I think we’re set. Good evening, President Meschke and Commissioners. The preliminary 2026 budget that I am presenting tonight was approved at the board’s special meeting on July 28th of 2025. So first of all, looking at the recap by fund. We’ll start with the general fund and the general fund budgeted appropriations for 2026 are rounded up to about $7.5 million with the revenue budgeted just under $7.4 million. So within the general fund, fees and charges account for 50% of the revenue, Property taxes are 37% of the revenue. State aid is 7%, and the remaining 6 % is from donations and miscellaneous. Our other funds besides the general fund are also itemized here, bringing the total revenue in all funds to 10.2 million total expenses in all funds are $9.7 million and the surplus that you see in the Raging Rivers Fund, the construction fund, and the vision fund are all funds that are designated for specific repairs, replacements, and future projects. Here you’re going to see a comparison of our full-time salaries and benefits, the actual figures for 2024, estimates for 2025 and our budget for 2026. Included in the 2026 budget is a 3% cost of living increase for full-time employees, as well as departmental dollar allocations to be used for merits, and this amount comes to an average of 1% per employee. Since we switched our health insurance coverage in 2022 to a high deductible health plan through North Dakota FI. We continue to see significant cost savings due to the to the district due to our low loss ratio. So for 2026, our health insurance premium rates are increasing by 5.51%. And our total full-time salary and budget benefit. full-time salary benefits budget for 26 is $2.8 million. The next two slides here are a list of the capital outlay for 2026 funded through our capital improvement fund levy. This first slide is an itemized list of the equipment purchases plan for 2026, totaling $243,000. This next slide are the capital projects budgeted for 2026, and these total $373,000. Our 2026 debt service payments are listed here just a few highlights on these. I wanted to remind you that the rodeo facility debt is completely covered through outside pledges and donations, and this payment in 2026 is the final payment on that project. Then the tennis Center debt is covered completely by um the lease from the LLC that runs the operas operations at the facility, and then you’ll see the annual debt payment for our park maintenance shop. And then finally, our special assessments, annual payment, and the Geo bond annual payment, which is also refinanced special assessments. For the current year’s budget, when looking at all the taxing entities from the county, city, schools and parks. The park District accounts for 10% of the entire levy. So for every $1 in local property taxes collected 10 cents of that goes to the park district. For 2025, our tax levy, which is for the 2026 budget consists of in the general fund. I apologize if it’s a little hard to read, but it’s $2,960,0631 in our special assessment fund. The levy is $355,674. In the geeO bond fund, the levy is $111,150. And in the capital improvement fund, our levy is $711,348 for a total levy by the Park District of 4 million,138,803 dollars. And this is a dollar difference of 150,801 more than the prior year. Now, with the recent legislation on House Bill 1176. We’re now limited to a 3% increase in the dollars that we levy in our general fund and capital improvement funds with an additional amount that is allowed for the calculation of the 3% increase on all new properties. The special assessment fund and the Geo Bond Fund. were not included in these caps, since these are for predetermined debt and the legislature exempted them from the 3% cap, allowing us to continue to levy what is necessary to make the debt payments. So then in looking at our levy in terms of mills, you’ll see our previous your mail value was 136,787 and the estimated mill value for the 2026 budget is 143,443. So it’s an increase in the male value of about $6600. Now, with the cap on the amount that we can increase our dollars levied, our total mills have decreased from 29.15 down to 28.85%, which is a slight decrease of about 1/3 of a mil. This slide then shows the computation of the Park District’s share of property taxes on an average home that would be valued at $300,000. And how you go from the true and full value to the taxable valuation upon which taxes are assessed. Because of the slight decrease in our mills, those residential properties with no valuation increase in the past year, we’ll see a slight reduction in the Park District’s share of their annual property tax. In this example, it is a $4 decrease for the year. However, a taxpayer’s increase or a decrease in the amount of their property tax depends on whether or not there is a change in the market value of their property. Over the past year, the average market increase for residential property was 3.5%. So this example shows a property previously valued at 300,000 and with an increase of 3.5% in the evaluation, it would bring it to a valuation of 310,500. Therefore, this taxpayer will see an increase in park property taxes of approximately $9 a year. And again, that’s due to the increase in the valuation of their property, and this is still just a 2% increase in the amount of the tax that they’re being assessed over the prior year. So finally, looking at the budget calendar, the Morton County treasurer will be providing written notice to property owners by August 31st with a list of public hearing dates, times and locations. Our Park District public hearing is on September 8th, 2025, and this is on the 2026 budget. It’ll be at 5:30 here at Mandan’s City Hall. So that concludes my presentation on the 2026 budget. All of the information presented here will be posted on our website tomorrow. Do you have any questions for me? Thank you, Terry. Any questions for Terry Terry, I got one real quick question. I’m on a roll tonight, I guess. Um. seems like last year or the last couple of years, we’ve been 10% uh for the total mall for taxes. Is that where we’re always at seems like. We have fairly consistently, yes, been at 10%. Thank you. Anything else for Terry All right, thank you, Terry Alright, moving on to item number 3, authorization to pay our monthly bills. We’ll make a motion to approve author. authorized payment of our monthly bills. Motion by Comm Milhlhoff. Second by Comm Freehlich. Any further discussion? Hearing none all in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed motion carries. I’m number 4, Comm Staff reports. Cole. Anything Da? Just a few comments. Um, Fileen Station, as we know, has been approved to move forward. They’re gonna start working on that on Thursday, um, so you start seeing work between Thursday and Friday. Hopefully have that wrapped up by the end of August. Um, the ADA, um, lift is still in question if it will be able to get in, um, before the end of freeze up just because of the tariffs and things getting across the border from Canada and um to North Dakotas’s still a Jim to be to be determined, um, Raging Rivers right now is 12 to 5 this week and then it closes for the season on August 17th. and maybe some of you have heard, but the Coastail Park had their monster truck event this weekend on at Daocentennial Park. and the promoter of that event, which was an affiliated with the Stockar Association, but the promoter had placed signs along the public streets saying no parking, tow away or vehicles will be towed. um, it was addressed, uh, Stock Car Association was not aware that they were doing that, um, but they were charging for parking on the on the grounds of Dakosa Tao Park, but parking in the street is not kosher as far as what we feel either. So we addressed that with it. So if you do hear anything with that, and that’s all I have. Terry, anything else Turning rough Uh, just for your information, I did have a initial discussion with the attorney for JLG with regard to the St star and sports complex matter. uh he has gone for two weeks when he’s back, I believe it’ll be next week sometime. We’ll continue our discussion and we’re looking to try to schedule a meeting for sometime September. Yep, thank you Comm Mutter I just want to thank, I, Brittney gave me this information and I since August 17th is closing date. We had 70 lifeguards, all those young people that we hired to take care of all of us at the, at Reing Rivers, I think is awesome. But since I brought that up, we do need workers for volleyball officials, basketball scorekeepers and MAc program for the wintertime. So if any young people or old people, even if they want a zen, uh, that’s my problem. Anyway, um, but if you want to raise some money or make some money, um, call the Parks and Rec. Thanks. Mr. Frelick. Mr. Mehhoff, uh, no report. OK, moving on to I guess future meeting dates for Park Board Commissioners like, uh, Terry said, um, we’ll have our public hearing correct on September 8th at our next board meeting, uh, right here at 5:30. And can we get a motion to Adjourn? I’ll make a motion Adjourned, motion by Comm Mutter. seconded by Comm Freelich All in favor