City current. Produced by Dakota Media Access. In depth discussion with Bismarck and Man and city officials. Watch on Government Access Channel 602 HD or tune in to Radio Access 102.5 FM. Always local, always current. I'm Tom Gerhart with Dakota Media Access, joined by Man City administrator Jim Neubauer and we're talking uh Mandan City commission from May 20th, although it feels a little bit feels like, uh, early March I think flew in parts of the more like state and not golf weather yet and state track meet coming up. Hopefully the rain will stop getting a little, a little gloomy. Um, show you what we're gonna be talking about or a few of the things today. It was, it was neat last night. Eva Benz, uh, had written, uh, an essay on If I Were Mayor, and, uh, that seemed to be well received, but, uh, it was really cool the way, the experience I thought that she had last night. Saint Joseph's is looking to make an addition, uh, and Abra has also asked for a variance and, uh, something that they'd like to do on the strip and, uh, talk a little bit about a boat that the Manan Fire Department looks like they'll be receiving on some grant money and so, uh, lots going on today. Wanted to show people we've started to, uh, brand the meetings, so if you see a new start and end to the meetings. Um, we just wanna make people aware that you can download our app so that when the weather does get nicer, Jim, when you're out at the golf course or on the beach, uh, on the sands, you're gonna watch the commission meetings, yeah, or, or archives. So, uh, and as everybody knows, we do over 300 meetings a year here at Dakota Media Access. So, um, but let's get into, uh, last night's meeting. And mentioned Eva Benz. If I were a mayor, her essay that she was able to read in front of the commission, uh, but, but it was really cool the way I, I said the way the whole city staff and the commissioners treated her. I think she got an excellent experience last night. Yeah, Eva, um, wrote an awesome essay. Um, this is a North Dakota League of Cities sponsored event, I think across the state, 3rd grade and 7th graders can write an essay. Um, Eva was the only applicant and the only essay that was submitted from Manan this year. Normally, sometimes there's 30 or 40 of them that have been submitted. So we, along with Mayor Frelick and our communication specialist Kerry Schmidt and business development director and, and, uh, Madison Cermak brought donuts up to her class a month or so ago and, uh, introduced ourselves and had a good time, um, in her classroom and then invited her down to kind of spend. Spend a commission meeting with with Mayor Frelick and, uh, Eva's super kid. Parents were there, teacher was there and things like that. And, uh, just another example of, of how we're trying to engage, um, young folks in city government and things like that. And I think, yeah, Mayor Frey and I were having some discussions last night about how can we do more, um, in the future to, to help out whoever wins this contest in, in Mandan and maybe that's a day with the mayor or there's more engagement. With the city commission meetings, I mean, donuts are a good start. Yes, she, in her essay she really started, uh, just elevating, uh, public education and man dance, so that was neat to hear her talk about that. And then, uh, a little side story, I guess you said she got to get out of tennis practice early to come to the commission meeting. I know she made a point of telling me that and uh we conversed about her tennis coach, which happens also to be my daughter and uh so I was trying to dig dig some goods on both and and and cats, so. I'm always interesting when those ties are unexpected. And I was kind of, I didn't let her know that I was her tennis coach's father. Until after she told me what she thought of her tennis coach. So all was good. It, it turned out to be a good day for Eva because she said the right things about her tennis coach and uh got quite the experience last night at the city commission meeting on the consent agenda, and I know this is just standard operating procedure, but a number of gaming renewals and liquor licenses, uh, this time of year. It is like you say, that is, um, July 1st through June 30th are our liquor license renewal periods and also for the gaming, um, operations that go on in town. So we'll see a lot of those. We saw a lot of them on the agenda last night. We'll see a lot of them on the first meeting in June agenda for commission approval. We try and, um, you know, it's interesting because we work, um, on these licenses starting back in April and sometimes in March. And there's sometimes some procrastination that goes on by the license holders and things like that, um, but again we will see more of these coming up on the next agenda too and I guess I bring it up because you know this money, uh, benefits a number of organizations in in communities across the state but as we're talking about mandan. It gives back to a number of nonprofits. Yes, gaming is, is huge. Obviously it's expanded tremendously in the last 4 or 5 years, um, and look at all the projects that they have contributed to, and we'll talk about our, um, boat for the I think there's been some contributions from some of fire department. those gaming organizations. I know man and Parks and Recs are a big recipient of some of the clubs and some of the facilities that we have are a direct result of those gaming operations. So, always good. Moving on to the public hearing section of last night's meeting, Saint Joseph's wants to consider a variance or ask for a variance on, uh, we can, we have a couple of photos. They have this house which, uh, a father lives in right now, but it sounds like it's also serving as an office. Correct. And they'd asked, um, they wanted to build a, a little larger structure on that piece of property, and I think there's normally a 20 ft setback variance, and they, I think they'll go to 10. I can't remember exactly what it is, but, um, commission said yes, that will fit into the surrounding neighborhood. Um, Saint Joe's needs the space. They need the office work. Um, part of that agreement too is that we did get some concerns over off-street parking, and as long as there is an agreement in place where they can utilize the the parking lot that is just to the west of this building, um, for their normal day to day parking, and they're not. Filling up, um, the folks that work in this facility, taking up the residents parking space, I think we're, we're gonna be just fine. There's a rendering of, uh, what the future office church office will look like. We did learn last night that due to some unexpected. Uh, funding, uh, challenges that this project will be moved down the road maybe to next year, but, uh, it will be on, on in the future. And so we can look forward to that and uh very good project, um, and a nice building that they're gonna put up. Also Abra on Memorial Highway I was asked for a variance as well, and I have a couple of photos to kind of give folks a perspective of where that project is. You see Memorial Highway on Southeast labeled there in the outline of the blue, and this again would be a, a nice fresh, uh, look at Abra on the strip, right? Another, um, really positive addition, and we, we look at all the construction, well. Constructions kind of come to a standstill on the strip right now due to the, the rain the last week, um, but a lot of what we're seeing is a lot of the businesses in this area are taking advantage of, OK, if, if there's going to be some construction going on on the street in front of us, maybe it's time for us to do some improvements on the inside or exterior or an addition onto our building. So, I'm pretty pleased with ours, um. And kind of freshen up their look and do some expanding and and that sort of thing. So again, it, it's been very interesting to watch and have the conversations with those entities on the strip. They're looking at, hey, now is the time we're gonna upgrade our buildings along with the upgrade in the infrastructure. Yeah, and we'll show you another one, shortly.AA Auto, uh, before that though, a new business on the agenda last night we heard, uh, consider of approval. Of the North Dakota Game and Fish Department, uh, boat funding agreement with the Mandan Fire Department. There's a lot of words there. I probably could have simplified it a little bit. The Mandan Fire Department. Uh, it's gonna be able to get a boat to help with some, uh, water response. We've got Lakewood station number 2, which is down in the Lakewood and Marina Bay area, very close to the water where if we have to, if we get called out, um, the boat that we're looking at is going to be able to operate in, I think, 8 inches of water. Um, which is pretty critical as the river, you know, fluctuates, as we've said this on the river knows that, um, absolutely, and this, I think, uh, Fire Chief Bits made it, uh, a point of saying we're not in competition with Burleigh County Di and Rescue or Morton County Di and Rescue. This is not intended to be a dive operation. It's for, um, on top of water operations and things like that. We've, and I think when the commission first approved moving forward with this grant application, it was all right, if you. Um, are able to find donations for the rest of it so it's not coming out of our tax base and things like that. If you find, uh, enough donors that are interested in helping support this project and then along with this grant and it's not costing, you know, the, the residents of Man and out of pocket, go for it. Obviously we'll have training and some time from our firefighters put into this. I know that we've even had some discussions with, uh, Police Chief Zigler about if we need to get some, uh, police officers, um, some training in this also that we'll work on that so that we've got a full complement of folks that can be out on the water looking. And again, it's not intended to be in competition or being underwater activities. These are aboveground activities and we'll look forward as we start, uh, procuring bids, um, for this boat. Mayor Frelick, I thought asked an interesting question about would this boat be Uh, left in, um, a marina on the water and, uh, Chief Bitt said no, and there are a couple of reasons for that, obviously, and you can go into it a little bit more response was one, you wouldn't want to have the boat at one marina and have an issue somewhere else. And then also I think you mentioned the low uh 8 inches of water that this boat can be utilized and also there was some uh. Part of the boat that would be subject to a lot of weathering, it's the uh UV anyone who has any, um, whether it's a jet ski or a pontoon or a boat outside, your UV rays are really gonna deteriorate, um, that fabric and that and that, uh, that boat. And so we will keep it inside stored at Lakewood Station too. We have a vehicle that will pull it in and out and, you know, if we were to, you know, dock this in Marina Bay, absolutely for positive. The first call we get out is going to be somewhere far away, and uh we're gonna have to load it up and put it on the trailer and get it out um so in this manner it'll be kept inside out of the elements and available for use at a drop of a hat. That's another tool for public safety, right, so very good. It's, uh, you know, something we've been looking at for several years and now the timing was right. The funding, um, obviously is, is coming in with donations and also with this grant. Napa Auto on Main Street is doing its refresh, I think after 3 decades or so, and we can see, uh, current state of NAPA Auto parts and then what the proposed signage would look like, but a nice refresh. Yeah, good project, um, and this is what our, um, downtown storefront improvement or actually we've expanded to the strip and other parts of town, but right now for our storefront improvement project, um, in this case, NAPA is a corner lot, so they're eligible for not only the. A main street facing side of their building, but also the westerly side, they're going to part of the project is removing all signs of blight and things like that in order to qualify for the project. They came in with, I think, a great plan, a great refresh, updates, things like that, that'll make it look more modern and it It, it, uh, it was time. And so they're eligible for, uh, I think up to $60,000 in, in grant funds as long as they spend $120 so it's a dollar for dollar match. And we also, as part of what we call clawbacks, is that we put in a 5 year, it's really a 5 year promissory note or a loan that we provide to the, to the entity, and that is forgiven in equal portions over 5 years. So if this Building where to sell or change or rebrand or or something within 2 years, then we will get a payback of those funds because we want to make sure that the changes that are made are substantial and they're long-lasting. We'll hop, uh, back to Memorial Highway and you mentioned the rain hasn't been a friend of construction, but, uh, and then we've talked about this project in the past, but just the financing resolution and the cost share involved, uh, uh, uh, from the finance department, Greg Walch appeared before the commission last night to, to provide the update. Yeah, part of that, I think it is uh $31 million and that includes both above ground and our below ground portion. Of this project and this is, you know, it's important to note we've got a $120 million project going on of that $120 the local, which are the responsibility of the city and our residents and things like that is $31 million. A lot of that is on the below ground water and sewer and things like that that, um, are not necessarily eligible for federal funding. We've done, uh, I think a yeoman's job of obtaining all the grant funding we can to help reduce that local cost and. In this case, we're able to tap into 2% loan money, which is a huge savings if we would need to go out and borrow on the on the open market in today's rates, you might be looking at, you know, 5 or 6% interest, 2% over the time period of this loan is a is a great benefit, and that's part of what they say North Dakota provides. Projects like this, so big help in that cooperation, like you said, is a big bonus for the taxpayers. And again, $120 million project and there's lots of different grant funding sources that are going in to make this project possible. Um, obviously the rain of late has, uh, put a little damper on that, but they're busy, and I know even this weekend they were trying to pump out some of the water from the, the places and dry it out, but that has kind of been a fruitless effort to date with the rain continuing. Oh gosh. Well, it looks like in the extended forecast we might get some sunshine and some dry conditions finally. Yeah, but that's always, you know, when, when contractors bid projects, there are rain days built in. So if your project is supposed to last 100 days, you may have 20 rain days built in. So we still are expecting everything to be done on time, um, but we will see how long this continues. We've been showing folks this, uh, contact form just if they want to stay up to date with what's happening on Memorial Highway. So there's a QR code. And uh uh a URL and also a phone number so I guess if you wanna keep up to date with the project and don't want to drive through and take a look at things, that's a way for people to keep in contact. Yeah, interesting call I received uh and the the owner decided to tell me that. There's a lot of rain. I said, yes, there is. OK, I just wanted to let you know that. And I said, perfect. Thanks for calling. Anything else? No, no, just thought I'd, you know, call and tell you that. And it was one of those calls you go, all right, thank you very much. And they fully understood what's going on and going, you know, there can't be a lot of work going on when, when there's so much rain at the same time. So like I said, one of those calls you go. Thanks for calling. We appreciate it. Anything else you need to tell? Nope, just want to let you know that. I said, perfect. He said, all right, all good. Well, hopefully, uh, for your public works open house tomorrow, uh, the weather lets up a little bit, although, uh. Won't be outside, I guess, uh, but, uh, this is a pretty neat event and gives people an opportunity to really see what the city crews are, are doing and city workers are up to. Yeah, I think our public works director Shane O'Keefe, um, kind of gave some highlights and last night, so April, April, May, I think it's April because April showers, right? So May 18th through 24th is National Public Works Week. Our open house is Thursday, May 22nd from 4 to 6 p.m. down at our public workshop. And normally we're inside there anyway, and there will be, you know, hamburgers and hot dogs and some snacks, and, and folks will have the ability to, if you want to get in and, you know, hop in a snowplow, see what it looks like, hop in a street sweeper we'll take you for a ride and a lot of kids come down and like this a lot of our. Um, different, uh, partners that we work with will have a booth set up at that point in time. So again, huge, um, shout out to our, our public works folks, men and women have been busy cleaning the equipment and, and getting things ready for this. And, and they are, you know, they're out there right now making sure storm drains are open, doing their best to make sure any other issues that are going on with the city. I know we've had, uh, I think 1 or 2 water line breaks. Um, so they're out there busy doing the work that they normally do and also getting ready for this. So big shout out to our public works crew. You already answered my question, but, uh, I thought it was, uh, a fun moment in the meeting last night where Shane, will, will there be? And the answer is yes. We normally, we know in order to get people to come to an event, you'll you'll need, uh, food and beverages. Yes, so there will be, um, I think water. For folks to drink and a hot dog and a hamburger and I think we're gonna have cookies too, expect to see you there. That seals it, yeah, I can't can't miss that. I guess the good news. All this rain, or one of the good pieces of all this rain is Morton County's lifted its burn ban. Yeah, and, uh, we'll say that it's lifted for now, I believe, um, and again, it's, it's really important that folks are always diligent in, in when those burn bans are in place. We know that. You know, not far away. The 4th of July is coming up, and we're certainly hoping that we're not into the same situation we were a week ago, um, where the burn ban is in place, and, um, like I said, so no matter what, people just need to be diligent and careful. And it's camping season. I mean, it's Memorial Day weekend. It is never seems. Have great weather at least looking back, it always feels that way, but everybody's gonna be out and about and enjoying summer and so good advice, uh, always to be cautious. Well, we mentioned before, we'd love, uh, folks to download our apps at Dakota Media Access, uh, the DMA app will give you access to our, uh, government access station and also our community access stations so you can stay on top of all the happenings in Bismarck and Mandan and Burley and Morton County. And our radio access app has a lot of uh really great DJ produced local produced uh radio programming and also podcasts that are produced locally. So great, uh, great apps to have handy if you wanna listen to some music while you're out and about this summer, and you can find us wherever you are, whenever you can. Jim, thanks for the visit. Uh, we'll see you in a couple of weeks. Yeah, thank you very much and we'll dry out by then dry out by then and we'll see, uh, what's in the future. Thanks for joining us today. For more information on what was discussed in this episode of City Current, visit cityofmanan.com or call 701-667-3215. If you have any suggestions, comments, or issues you would like addressed in future city current episodes, contact us at info@retv.org. This program airs on Government Access Channel 2 and 602 and 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 freeTv.org. Thanks for tuning in to this edition of City Current.