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City current

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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.

00:00:27,066	spk_1:
Welcome to City Current, uh, Mandan edition. I'm Tom Gerhart from Dakota Media Access, and Jim Neubauer, city administrator for Manan, joins me, and it's been a wild weather month. Yeah, I guess we're into a new month, but,

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but another Friday coming up where we might have some other thunderstorms and things like that. So be vigilant, be on the lookout and Uh, get to a safe safe space

00:00:49,100	spk_1:
when you need to. Well, there's a lot going on in Manan. Uh, we'll get to that in just a minute, but, uh, coming up on this edition of City Current, we're gonna talk about all the events going on in Manan this Independence Day week and weekend. We'll provide an update on the shores at Lakewood 2nd edition, uh, project and Summarize a new public comment policy that uh the commission talked about last night. So that and much more coming up, but we, uh, it's kind of a neat way to kick off the uh commission meeting last night. We had, uh, Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts, uh, there, and I know you wanted to give them a shout out.

00:01:30,000	spk_2:
Yeah, it was, uh, Mayor Frelick had brought this up a couple of weeks ago said, hey, what a, how about if we introduce Independence Day Week and Madan with, um, the presentation of the colors and finding a group to do that and also the singing of the national anthem. So big shout out to the Boy Scouts of America, Troop 425, which includes Hunter, Cooper and Connor Schwartzbauer. And Cub Scout PA 153 with that also included Audrey Aubrey and Jack Schwartzbauer, kind of like a Schwartzbauer Schwarzbower family reunion, yes, um, but they did an awesome job. It was fun watching them practice for about a half hour before the meeting. Not sure they, they had done this before, but Um, entertaining when, uh, it's like, OK, left foot first, right foot afterwards, and I watched when they first started and everybody took a right foot step instead of a left foot but I

00:02:20,367	spk_1:
started with the 1 ft, yeah,

00:02:22,767	spk_2:
but I think they did an awesome job and, and, and, and great idea from Mayor Fre like to say, hey, let's, let's do something different. It's a big time in, in Mandan and, uh, it doesn't often happen when we have the first. Tuesday of the month for our regular meeting to be on the first of July, which kind of kicks off everything in town. And

00:02:40,700	spk_1:
I think we have a photo. I don't know if we popped it up yet, but, uh, just to show those, uh, young men and women in action and uh like you said it was just kind of a neat way to incorporate. Community community members and give them a little exposure and a little practice and I'm sure they were very nervous leading up to do, but their troop leaders got them

00:03:03,400	spk_2:
lined up in in line and ordered and and everything went off very well. I want to also thank Kerry Schmidt, our communications specialist who, um, spent a number of hours finding and lighting folks up to do this and also, uh. When we had the national anthem sang by Lynn Zackmeyer, so trying to find someone to do that is always, you know, you're doing it a cappella, you're doing it in a room that is not really acoustically great, um, but I thought she did a fantastic job too. So just again, a neat way to start.

00:03:34,000	spk_1:
Yeah, just nice touches to events. Well, we started with announcements, uh, last night as we've mentioned the Mandan Independence Day Parade weekend is, is on tap or just a couple of days away. And, uh, just lots of things happening. So we thought we'd uh just remind people that the classic car parade starts at 10 a.m. and I think about 10 minutes later the Grand Marshal will follow. Uh, there's that road race, uh, the 5K at 8 a.m. which has become so popular, and you can go to visitanow.com to learn more about that event. But what a huge weekend in in Madan.

00:04:12,266	spk_2:
Yeah, if you're, um, I came into work this morning and going, all right. I didn't quite realize Main Street was going to be closed down for most of it. Um, while they set up for Art in the Park, I think starts at 9 a.m. on July 3rd. Um, just want to remind folks that when the barriers are up, don't go around, don't go around them. I actually saw that when I was coming over this morning going, why is there a line of cars coming when we've got barriers, barriers up that say no through traffic and It's just a reminder to be careful. We have additional 4-way stops along First Street to help move traffic and control traffic, but again, they're new, they're not up very often, so slow down, pay attention, and, uh, watch for pedestrians because there's gonna be a lot of them and, and

00:04:54,967	spk_1:
people are. Wrongly thinking, well, it's later in the week. Maybe it's OK to go around them now. No, they're up for a reason, right? They're up for a reason

00:05:01,767	spk_2:
and you know, one of those main reasons is so that the vendors can all get their wares set up and in the park, which, um, like I said, there's a lot of them, and I think they have normally about 200 vendors that are in. And, uh, like I said, great to have them in town. Uh, we just gotta get everybody say it set up.

00:05:17,667	spk_1:
We'll show something along the lines for art in the park in just a minute, but getting back to the Independence Day parade, we want to remind people, uh, and you wanted to talk about, you know, ways to get to Manan Memorial Highway will be closed. Uh, there's a 3rd street southeast that would be open if you wanted to come from that direction. And then if you're coming on I-94, what should you do? Yeah,

00:05:39,166	spk_2:
the best way to on I-94 would be, uh, Avenue exit or also the Sunset interchange to come on down Sunset Avenue and 6th Avenue on the, on the western side, and you know, find a place to park and, and you're gonna do some walking, which is good for everyone, including myself. Um, but Monro Highway, because of the construction going on in that neighborhood, um, there will be, you know, a lot of people used to, um, when we stage at Dakota Centennial Park, the floats and everything like that, people would line up along 3rd Street, and, uh, that direction it's like that will be not available this year, so we're gonna try and move some more people down onto Main Street. You might find a new spot to sit, which. It's interesting that the trucks and trailers or campers are already there starting, I think, on Sunday, um, people were getting their spot and, and we think it's great, you know, a lot of family reunions get together and, and that's where it happens. And so those are awesome things and participate in a safe manner and watch the parade and take part in the activities that are going on all around town, including, you know, the rodeo. I think they had slack running on. July 1st in the afternoon and performances on the 2nd, 3rd and 4th.

00:06:49,500	spk_1:
Yeah, it's probably just be a little patient, allow a little extra time, right? And I know everybody gets excited and traffic can be frustrating, but just kind of take a deep breath and.

00:07:00,300	spk_2:
We want to say that especially in Dakota Centennial Park here for all of the events are going on there. There's road construction, Memorial Highway. It's not your, we don't have 4 lanes moving. At the same time like they normally do, so when you're exiting at night after the rodeo or after the performances. Patience. Be calm, be safe, and you will get to your destination in a, in a great manner.

00:07:22,800	spk_1:
You mentioned Art in the park. We have a graphic for that too, just to remind people, a little visual reinforcement that Thursday from 9 to 7 and Friday from 9 to 5 are the hours, and you mentioned over 200 vendors. I know this is something that a lot of people circle on their calendars to attend. And, uh, something to look forward to again, uh, just around the corner

00:07:44,066	spk_2:
now. Yeah, and like I said, they're setting up as we speak right now and again, patience, leave a little early, get there and find time and it might take you a little while to get out of there. But again, um, please continue to participate and support your vendors that are down there, your main street businesses, because they're, you know, they're put it kind of an inconvenience also with all of the traffic, uh, movement is changing. Um, but remember those folks too. Remember our folks out on the strip and patronize those businesses as traffic moves through those too.

00:08:13,667	spk_1:
We have a graphic that was shown in the commission meeting last night too, just again, to reiterate, places you're not able to park, they're in the red. So just a heads up as you're heading over to Manan to participate and knowing where you can and cannot be. Yep.

00:08:29,266	spk_2:
And I think, uh, visit Mandan.com. Um, has a lot of maps up. We'll show you where you can go, where you can't go and things like that, um, but again, we encourage folks to participate and come on down, we're inviting you, we're welcoming you, um, throw a shout out to those businesses that have taken the time and made the extra effort to, whether it's cleaning their windows on the outside, pulling weeds in the sidewalks and things like that, just to, you know, thank you to them for doing what they can to show off their, um, place of business in downtown Mandan and along the whole parade route, we think it's important that. it's a great time to spiff it up, you know, if you're looking at, should I pull the weeds today or tomorrow. How about today would be a great day to do that. And again, big shout out to those folks that have taken the extra effort to do that. So we like to, uh, think they take pride in their community as we all do, and it really shows during this time of year.

00:09:18,100	spk_1:
And you mentioned Man down Rodeo Days. We wanted to pop that up too that, uh, runs the 2nd through the 4th, so, uh. Tonight, and you know, for a complete list of events you can go to mananrodeo.com, but just, you know, heavy hitter event after heavy hitter event in in Manan this week.

00:09:36,800	spk_2:
All kinds of things going on and I, I, we can't do this without the support of all of our sponsors for all of the events and things like that. And also there's a lot of um work that goes on behind the scenes. There are many. Plans in place this year as there have been in past years to keep all of our spectators safe. Um, we like to call them the things that you don't notice, but we know that they're there to try and, you know, make sure that everyone has a safe 4th of July event, whether it's at the rodeo, whether it's downtown, um, but again, a huge shout out to all of our team members that have worked, um, for many months to make this happen in a safe and secure manner.

00:10:16,100	spk_1:
Following the agenda, old business, uh, consider the development agreement for the shores at Lakewood 2nd edition. Last commission meeting you met. I think there were 4 items that you and the developer were trying to iron out and, uh, had a couple of weeks, went back to the drawing board and a

00:10:31,867	spk_2:
couple weeks to do that and, um, I think those 4 items we, um, developer asked for um some things to be special assessed. In this project and we had kind of said no and uh working through those details with the developer, um, we had issues related to, you know, there will be a different grass collection site in that area and we want to make sure that that site remains convenient for all the folks that live down there and it also helps us as far as our travel times and you know, we, the grass collection sites, it's really, I would have never thought they'd be become such a big deal in developments. You take them away. You know, I won't tell you what all breaks loose, but a lot of that breaks loose, um, but then finding a location for that is appropriate, um, for that kind of activity is also challenging too, and we haul, you know, it, it's load by load, one load by one load, um, out to our landfill where we deposit those and kind of do some recycling, regurgitating, if you want to call it that, of the, the grass and debris and things like that which Um, after, you know, the last couple of weeks, the storms have taken down a lot of branches and our collection site is full. Our public works folks have been working very hard to get that cleaned up and move along, and we get, you know, 2 steps forward and 3 steps back, it seems like, but it is a service that we do. And, um, but like you said, the grass collection site was one of them. So we're getting that ironed out, um, a lift station that developer has to be special assessed, which serves that development. On its own, um, we said no, developer needs to pay that as part of their underground work. Um, we had a potential future upgrade to a lift station which may need a bigger pump again, because of this development. Uh, we've got terms that developers agreed to, and then the big thing was whether to special assess things over a 20 year period or a 15 year period. Developer says, you know, if you spread it over 20 years, makes it more affordable, um, for the future, um, house owner or property owner in that area. Um, but it also, you know, we try and special assess things over the life of the asset. We know that asphalt streets are about 15 years and we have to come back and either do a mail and overlay and some touch up we should be doing at 7 to 8 years. Um, so we're still working on some of those things, concrete curbs and storm water probably longer than 15 years. So maybe we can spread those costs over 20, um, but again, Shows that there's, you know, there's been back and forth on this development agreement over probably the past 6 or 7 months, and we're, you know, compromising with the developer on sometimes and developers compromising with us sometimes and we'll come to an agreement and I think that one should be presented at the July 15th commission meeting and then we start moving forward.

00:13:14,166	spk_1:
Sounds good. Uh, moving to new business, uh, consider adoption of a public comment policy and listening this, uh, initiative came from legislative, uh, work.

00:13:26,600	spk_2:
Um, this is interesting because really, um, in general, your city commission meetings, whether it be park board, school board, um, city commission, or county commission are meetings held in public. Doesn't mean you have to allow public comment at those meetings. Um, I think there are a couple of instances around North Dakota where, um, certain boards that we're not taking any public comment and that got the attention of our legislators. Later the states come back and say, all right, you have to have a public comment period on your agenda and they limited it to the items on the current agenda or the previous agenda, so you can't come in and talk about, you know, why is the sky blue or anything like that. So it's limited to those topics. As long as the board has adopted a policy, so, so there's

00:14:18,066	spk_1:
some leeway in there and yeah, what you proposed, yep,

00:14:20,767	spk_2:
there's some leeway in there and really communities need to adopt their own policy. So last night, um, the North Dakota League of Cities had drafted a model, uh, public comment policy talks about things like you, you know, here's a sign up card you have to put in your name and address and things like that. You also, uh, written comments have to be in 24 hours in advance in order for the commission to get them. They come in after 24 hours in advance. They'll get them after the meeting. Um, we talked about the time period because the, the commission can set and say, do we want to allow 1 minute, 2 minutes, 3 minutes, whatever that may be per speaker. Um, in this case, the recommendation was 3 minutes per speaker and 30 minutes in total. So again, what I pointed out last night was. We'll have this on the front of the agenda, and it doesn't mean that we if there's no one there to make public comments, you don't have 3 for 30 minutes in space

00:15:15,967	spk_1:
and if the speaker goes for 3:30, there's some leeway, part

00:15:19,967	spk_2:
of that is, well, you know, the, uh, last night the in the policy it was suggested that the chairman or the, the board or the mayor have the ability to kind of suspend that time period. So there's some flexibility in there. The other option would have been have, well, this has to go to a vote. Of the board, do we want to suspend the time limit here or not, and then the whole board would have that say. And as it's written, it would be the chairman of the board or the mayor has that ability to do that, and that might make it a little cleaner. Um, this is a policy, so that doesn't mean it's set in stone. Um, the board can certainly find out what's working and what's not working later on and different communities will set different time limits. Maybe it's a 15 minute period for public comment, maybe it's 2.5 minutes per speaker, but. In this case, um, our choice was 3 minutes and 30 minutes in total. So

00:16:09,467	spk_1:
there was a good question. I forget which commissioner brought it up, but just about the idea of remote, uh, being able to log in remotely, and it sounds like got to consider that a little bit more what we'd like people to be there. Yeah,

00:16:23,200	spk_2:
we like people to be there in person, and I think the board expressed that last night. The we have posed that question through our contacts around the state to say, OK, what are other communities doing? We know that. Several communities after COVID, it was like everyone was zooming in or teamsing in or how electronically getting into a meeting. We've continued to do that through the assistance of Dakota Media Access. Um, some entities are saying, no, you have to be here in person, we're not going to provide that option for folks to, um. Attend electronically unless it's a commissioner, um, so that part will we'll we'll work our way through and get some other feedback from like what our other community is doing and so we've started that process already so it may come back for some revisions but again it's a policy that the board could certainly change at any time and

00:17:11,066	spk_1:
adapt if necessary moving forward. Under resolutions and ordinances last night, I mean, Fourth of July, you know, we love to celebrate our independence and fireworks are a big part of that, but just wanted to remind people in Man and first of all, I guess, uh, it was a second consideration of ordinance 1468 and a clarification there and what was that clarification

00:17:32,500	spk_2:
that clarification really adopts or or makes certain that everyone knows it is from. Noon on July 3rd till midnight and noon on July 4th until midnight. And those are changes and compromises that the board has made over the years. Um, we know that. By state law, folks can buy fireworks, right, starting, I think June 26th or 27th with which makes it really tough on enforcement, um, when we only allow them the third and the fourth, and so that's what this, um, codification was done to make sure that OK, it is noon to midnight and noon to midnight, and other than that. And we, the board has chosen to do that over the years based on feedback they've received from citizens saying, hey, can we not be going to 1 o'clock in the morning or 2 o'clock in the morning? We do allow 1 in the morning on New Year's Eve, um, so I think it's 6 p.m. to 10 a.m. on New Year's Eve. Um, go ahead and probably works off on in a snowstorm, but. Um, for the 4th, it's, you know, 12:12 to midnight.

00:18:33,400	spk_1:
We have that, we have that graphic too, so you can take a screenshot or whatever you want to do, but there it is July 3rd and 4th, you know, 12 to, yeah, midnight, 11:59 p.m. I guess midnight's technically the next, next day,

00:18:46,100	spk_2:
but we know folks shooting fireworks off last night. Yes, fully get it. Um, we can't be everywhere at all times. Um, if you want to go talk to your neighbor and say, hey, fireworks are, you know, noon to midnight on the 3rd and the 4th, not July 1st, um, but again, they were minimal, um, last night that I heard from, from my residents, so that was good. And, but again, it's, it's a matter of this is a compromise, if folks abuse. And all of a sudden, there's all kinds of things happening on July 1st and July 2nd, and, you know, the commission always have that option to say it's gonna be July 4th any only, and we're not gonna allow them on the 3rd. So, some people are happy with that change, some people aren't, but we're trying to do the best for the community as a whole. Um, so, again, it's a matter of please be respectful of what the ordinance says, be respectful of your neighbors who You know, they may not want fireworks going off on July 2nd, so hit them on the 3rd.

00:19:45,900	spk_1:
Well, that basically wrapped up and I know I mean lasted what, 2 minutes or

00:19:52,166	spk_2:
something like that.

00:19:53,166	spk_1:
So you're back on the golf course.

00:19:57,567	spk_2:
I wish, but it wasn't wasn't last night I was there about an hour after that, which is perfectly great, um, but again, the, uh, I know Mayor Frelick said that there was they've been in office for now a year with he did mention that Frelich and Commissioner Schober were elected a year ago, and Commissioner Heins came in a little bit after that, but, uh, um, great folks to work with, very involved and in essence wanna do the right thing. And and that is certainly reflective of the commission meetings over the past year and has been in the past, so it's not something new. This is an item that we've always had really good commissions to work with, so we're appreciative of of them running and you know, a year from now we may have two new board members, so we'll, we will see. So if you're thinking about that, be thinking, contact your mayor, contact the commissioner, see what they're. Lives are like since they got elected, um, but again we've been very pleased and very happy to have folks that are genuinely concerned about the community and

00:20:56,767	spk_1:
time flies, as you mentioned. I mean, for the mayor a year goes by just like that and you and I know that as well as anybody.

00:21:03,600	spk_2:
We know that and it really hits home when we start looking at, uh, OK, the next 3 meetings coming up in July and August we start going, oh boy, um, summer's halfway over whatever summer's just starting, um, but again. Independence Day in Man and is a big thing, and, uh, I'm so appreciative of all the folks that turn out, all the sponsors that help out with all the events, all the volunteers that that contribute their time, all of the entities. I don't think there's an entity from the public side, from parks to city, to schools to county they're all providing some type of assistance to make these events happen. And so, like I said, I just wanna make sure there's a big shout out to all those folks.

00:21:40,667	spk_1:
Yeah, it's a great, great week in Maddance. So hats off to all the work that's been done to, uh, provide this opportunity for so many of us to take part in a lot of fun events.

00:21:53,000	spk_2:
You know, next year will be the 250th anniversary, and, uh, like I said, we're kind of working on some brainstorming some plans for the upcoming year when, uh, like I said, 250 is kind of a big deal. That's a big deal.

00:22:05,200	spk_1:
So yep,

00:22:06,567	spk_2:
look forward to things to come.

00:22:08,467	spk_1:
Well, just want to remind everyone that you can take us with you wherever you are. Find us wherever you are, whenever you can on our two apps, Dakota Media Access. You can download that app and find our government access channel and our community access channel and find out about all the great programming that we provide. And you can also download our Rad access app, and that has a lot of local DJ shows, people that put together music shows, and also a lot of local podcasts that are produced and the sound quality and the video quality are great on those. So if you if you can't watch us on TV or online, you can. Check us out on our apps.

00:22:46,767	spk_2:
I'll give you a shout out to the app last night because I wasn't sure how the national anthem came through on the broadcast and I was sitting at home on the back deck and I pulled up the app and listened to the national anthem and Um, Lynn Zaker did a great job and so like I said, you can, and it was up within an hour of the meeting being over.

00:23:04,467	spk_1:
So yeah, if you, so if you miss it live, yeah, our staff's on top of it and providing that service, uh, so that people can watch it really, really quickly after it's done like they will with the show. So thanks for joining me, Jim. Have a great 4th. Great to see you. Thanks Tom and thanks to all of you for joining us. Be safe and have a great week.

00:23:22,467	spk_0:
For more information on what was discussed in this episode of City Current, visit cityofmanan.com or call 701-667-3215.

00:23:32,767	spk_0:
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.