00:00:03,270	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. Coming up on this edition of City Current, talk about the 2026 Bismarck Public Schools bond referendum.

00:00:34,700	Check in on the Dakota West Arts Council's annual report and give you an update. The City of Bismarck strategic plan. Thanks for joining us. I'm Tom Gerhardt from Dakota Media Access, joined by Jason Tomanek. Bismarck city administrator Jason, good to see you. Good to see you, Tom. Thank you for hosting once again. Oh, great to have you over, as always.

00:00:52,100	And fresh off last night's City Commission meeting, it started with a lot of proclamation. So I thought, those are always fun though. And it's a fun time of year when we're transitioning slowly into summer and the daylight hours are getting longer. But Arbor Day was first out of the. It's a great one.

00:01:12,230	Yeah, it's generally reserved for the first Friday in May, I believe. Kind of how it falls locally. We'll be celebrating Arbor Day coming up May 1st and planting a tree for Carolyn Godfrey, who has been 40 years. Incredible. The City of Bismarck's Forestry Advisory Board.

00:01:34,900	So kudos to Carolyn for all of her wisdom and her volunteer time, and just tremendous contributions over the years. So Arbor Day, we do that whenever a year. That's a lot of fun. We'll get out into a park this year. We are gathering up at the Elk Ridge Park near Elkridge Elementary, so certainly a part of town that could use a few more trees, and it's open to the public.

00:01:53,430	If you'd like more information on that, you can certainly check out our website. All right. City of Bismarck Bike Month. Also, I know that's near and dear to your heart. That is it's a round. The corner. Another good one.

00:02:08,900	And that's always the signal that it's time to pull your bike off the hooks in the garage and fill up the tires and get back out. And historic preservation. These are all just lining up. It's like. It's like. Jason, your favorite month of proclamations, Historic Preservation month, the month of May. Our Historic Preservation Commission has a number of activities planned and program. There's things throughout the community I.

00:02:27,630	Full disclosure I'm a member of the Bismarck Historical Society board of directors, and so this is a fun one for us as well. We definitely like to celebrate local history. And then to kind of the the cleanup. Here, it just gets better. Landscape architecture month.

00:02:45,900	So for anybody that knows me professionally, I have a degree from North Dakota State University in landscape architecture, and it was good to see a couple of my professional colleagues in the in the audience last night supporting this as well.

00:03:03,970	The work of landscape architects is very near and dear to my heart, and they make public spaces and private spaces just all the better and so fun to recognize those things. It's kind of proclamation season for us. We definitely do more of these in the spring months than we do in the latter months of the year, but I guess we did round out.

00:03:19,830	With National Small Business Week, and I thought, you know, I was trying to make a connection from one of our past conversations. And I something in my head you talked about at some point opening some sub shop or something. So I thought, well, hey, that's for Jason. Two small business. Really is. And again, for people that know me as a as a person, I support the local retailers as often as I can.

00:03:35,630	With restaurants and retail, anytime you can spend money locally, it stays in the economy. It cycles through. It pays the staff. They live here. So when we can celebrate local businesses in addition to nationwide and franchise businesses, of course, that's great. But yeah, clean sweep proclamations for for this time around.

00:03:54,430	So it was fun to celebrate some of those. On to the regular agenda and what we've seen. If you're paying any attention to social media or anything going on in the community, Bismarck Public Schools Superintendent Doctor Jeff Foss seems like has been out and about really educating the public on the upcoming June 9th bond referendum,

00:04:12,700	and he appeared before the City Commission last night to provide another outlet for people to be informed before they head to the polls. He did, and it's always nice to hear from Doctor Foster.

00:04:29,500	I know he's kind of been making the rounds, as you said, with with a number of different audiences, and we're glad to share an audience with him. I'm sure that there are people that tune in to city commission meetings that may not tune in to school board or vice versa. And for him to come and kind of run through a handful of slides talking about the upcoming bond referendum, of course, we're talking about June 9th. It's election season.

00:04:44,970	If you haven't been out driving around, you might not know that. But based on the yard signs, there's a lot going on in June. But some of the highlights from Doctor Phosphates presentation. He was talking about modernizing and improving efficiency, talking about student safety and accessibility. Clearly that's a key priority, a high priority. I caught that.

00:05:05,800	He mentioned that there are three multi-level schools without an elevator. And so they've had to make some accommodations for people, for staff, for families, for their students. And in today's world of accessibility and just education and all those things, I understand the need for, for some of those types of improvements. He also talked about enhanced community use.

00:05:30,970	Yeah, I just put that slide up and I was going to flag that if you didn't. Yeah. That's that's a good one. And he threw out a number about the number of hours that the schools are used outside normal school days where they're rented by either clubs, service clubs, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, sports groups using the gymnasiums.

00:05:48,530	And I'm not sure everybody fully understands that, but that is a key component to having just a strong community is having a diverse opportunity for some of these facilities. And I think that's a another key point to some of the improvements that they're looking at. Also, fine arts and physical education. I, I know this firsthand.

00:06:11,100	Both my kids went to Century High School looking at the auditorium at century, a school that was built in the 70s versus some of the newer facilities that are offered. Well. High school. Legacy High School, both tremendous facilities and just modernizing some of those offerings for the students, the families, the faculty and all the guests.

00:06:32,100	In the end, of course, there's a cost to all of this. And he's talking about a $127 million bond referendum when when we use those words, that translates to property tax. And so he was wise to share on a valuation. When you talk about the value of your home, he put it in a $100,000 valuation.

00:06:53,270	It's about $4.07 a month. So if you live in an average home in Bismarck, it's anywhere between 3 and 5 to $600,000. You can quickly do the math. There. We have on the screen if you can see a $400,000 home, for instance, would be 1626 per month, they've calculated, or just over $195 per year. Per year.

00:07:16,770	So these things, these schools, these facilities, they take money to maintain, they take money to, to build. Obviously, they're not talking about any new construction here. I thought we were pretty unique at the Bismarck Event Center that we have boilers that are original to the building.

00:07:34,530	In 1969, I think Doctor Foss not one upped us when he said they have boilers at Bismarck High School that are 70 years old. Yeah. That speaks to number one, the quality of the equipment when it was new, certainly first and foremost, but probably more importantly to the maintenance, to the attention to the care, to the just the preventative maintenance that the staff

00:07:50,900	has done for all of these years to keep that piece of equipment running and working and keeping the students and the staff and everybody warm. But these things all have a shelf life, and at some point you might be spending more in maintenance and replacement or maintenance and repairs than you would be in replacement.

00:08:07,330	And so I think that the schools has done a good job identifying a lot of these projects that need to happen. And when you amass them into a large ask, this is what it comes out to. So wish them all the best in in their endeavors.

00:08:24,730	I would say to the voters, to the to the audience that's watching or listening. Do your homework, do your research, make sure you understand what's being asked and what you're willing to support. I'm not here to take a position one way or the other. We just wanted to provide an opportunity for more information sharing.

00:08:42,270	As as government entities, we have to be careful that we are not promoting. We're simply sharing information that is publicly accessible. And that goes for the schools, the parks, the city, of the county all the way across the board. Now, there may be groups out there that want to support this.

00:09:02,070	I've seen some signs and yards for measure measure one for BS that must be done through a separate group or something else. I'm not sure exactly how how that's being managed, but June 9th will be your time, so you've got a little, little opportunity to do some homework. I have no doubt that there's a lot of information on the Bismarck Public Schools website as well. Yeah, he shared.

00:09:17,730	Hadn't hosted an interview here recently, and they do have a lot of information on their website. And that's exactly what you want to educate and inform so people can make the best decision possible for the situation there and in their lives. So we were happy to host that conversation as a similar way that the City Commission hosted last night.

00:09:36,000	So June 9th, again, as you mentioned, is that vote day. Dakota West Arts Council Doctor Jason Thoms provided his annual report for Dakota West Arts Council and highlight a number of areas and a number of partnerships in the community.

00:09:53,070	He did, and it was good to hear him talk about some of the achievements that he's been a part of over the last couple of years. He noted that when he became the director of Dakota West Arts Council, they really didn't have a lot of partner organizations, and he was very pleased to share that they have 47 different groups within the community that have become partners.

00:10:07,430	And when we talk about those groups, it's the Bismarck Mandan Symphony Orchestra, it's Dakota Stage, Bismarck Mandan Children's Choir, Sacred Pipe Resource Center, University of Mary, and of course. Media access. Media access is another partner, a new partner that they've talked about or that he mentioned last night was the Capital City Christmas.

00:10:26,600	Of course, that's been a tradition for the last probably six years or so at the event center. And it's nice to see that organizations are starting to recognize the value of art, public art, fine art, available performing arts available within the community.

00:10:46,900	One of the other projects that he was very proud to, to speak of was this community arts calendar that they have created, began in 2025. And he did note that they do have paper copies of the Community Arts Calendar, but it's also available on their website. And they're again working collaboratively with the Bismarck Mandan Convention and Visitors Bureau to also populate the CVB event calendar.

00:11:11,600	There are some of the summer activities that they've got coming up and that they've had in the past. They've had about 140 events last summer, typically from Memorial Day through the weekend of the United Tribes Technical College.

00:11:31,530	He talked a little bit about the Summer songs concert series, which last year was at General Sibley Park, 4 or 5 dates throughout the summer. Again, free concert in the park, wonderful setting. And then also another component that they promote is the kids Summer stage, which is at Custer Park, just north of the good old Elks Pool downtown on Broadway.

00:11:50,530	And the other component that he touched on, and I think this is great for our community, it's great for local artists. Dakota West Arts Council grants some of the dollars that the city grants to them, to other local artists in the community to help with reduced admission or programing activities in Bismarck, but then also just available public art as well.

00:12:14,100	And so looking ahead, something that he mentioned I had I hadn't realized this would be an opportunity, but it makes sense. He's talking about a barrier to entry. And for some people, events and activities, the price point is just a little out of reach.

00:12:30,170	And so he's working with some of the performing groups in town to say, can some of the people in our community attend your dress rehearsals? Maybe not for a fee, but to still experience the music or the performance or whatever the case may be, because they might not have that opportunity in any other way.

00:12:47,230	And if the Dakota West Arts Council is able to facilitate more accessibility to the arts through the grants that the city provides to them and through the work that they're doing with partners, I think that's just great. I don't I don't think there's anything wrong with that at all. Getting more art to the people in our community.

00:13:01,430	And then he did end by, of course, talking about what everybody's talking about this year. It's celebrating. 50th. Year because 250th. So if you're not talking about that, it's probably time to start talking about. Around the corner. Now less than 60 days away.

00:13:18,100	But that that will be the theme throughout a lot of organizations, a lot of groups in our community this year, the 250th celebration. Yeah. Well, in listening to him talk and seeing the organizations listed, you realize the quality of life that all of these organizations add to the Bismarck Mandan area and a number of people that take part in any number of different arts activities.

00:13:38,430	You mentioned quality of life, and we talk about that, especially with some of the larger employers, when they're working to attract new staff, talented professionals that are in their know, the top tier of their of their field, showing them what Bismarck has to offer. And the questions would also be, if I were to move my family to Bismarck, I might be working.

00:13:56,530	But what can my family do while they're here? What what could my kids be involved in? What could my spouse be a part of? So these types of things are very important for a lot of people. What what do you have for performing arts, fine arts, those types of things.

00:14:08,700	So thanks to Doctor Thoms and the group that he's assembled around himself at the West Arts Council, from the city's perspective, we're glad to continue supporting the organization with the grant dollars that we provide every year, and it's nice to see them churning those things out for the community.

00:14:28,770	A little bit further along the agenda last night, talking about Renaissance Zone, a rehab project on Fourth Street downtown, and there was some discussion last night, I think, which I thought was important for us to talk about today, because I think I gained a better understanding listening to that conversation about how the Renaissance Zone and the projects work.

00:14:46,500	Certainly in Renaissance Zone is a program that I was part of when I worked in the Community Development Department, now the planning department. But what it is, I think there was a common misconception, and there may still be that the Renaissance zone was this pot of money. It is quite the contrary.

00:15:02,630	There's no cash waiting for an applicant. What the incentives are if you own a property and invest in it significantly with building improvements. We're not just talking about, you know, new paint and some some window treatments.

00:15:27,170	We're talking about full blown improvements, whether it be HVAC, roof work, exterior work, new windows, new elevator, electrical, plumbing, all of those substantial improvements count towards the value of the property. So the way to qualify is by investing back in the building a minimum of 50% of the assessed value of the building.

00:15:45,600	And what is your incentive from the city's perspective, if you own the building and qualify with the renovations and the financial investment that is proposed, you can receive up to a five year property tax exemption on the value of the improvements. And so really what it does is it takes the property value today it freezes it. So the property owner still pays that same amount, but the exemption is on the value of the improvements.

00:16:04,430	So in the case of the building that we were talking about last night, the minimum level of investment was just under $400,000. The applicant was proposing to invest almost $600,000 so far above the 50% threshold. And then the exemption comes out to a small percentage of the total.

00:16:31,700	So the estimated value today is about 780,000, with an annual property tax of $9,321. The estimated benefit over that five year period is about $29,000, but the value of the building will increase from 787,000 to approximately $1.2 million. And so we're talking a $400,000 valuation increase.

00:16:56,800	Why is that important? Because as soon as the five year tax exemption is over, the property will begin paying on that new valuation. So the small amount that the city forego or left on the table for that five year period will quickly be recuperated and far exceeded within three four years of the building being back on the tax rolls, that new and improved value will forever gain.

00:17:17,900	Whereas if the building were not improved through these material improvements, it's quite likely the valuation could go the other way. And then when the valuation goes down, the tax value goes down as well. And so when you've got older buildings, you've got old infrastructure in these things. They need some attention over the years.

00:17:38,100	And Andrea Burst, the owner of Glass Salon talked about the types of improvements that are happening in this building. And I think the question from believe it was Mayor Schmitz was, are these improvements specific to a salon, meaning is it just going to benefit your business? Or when you're done with this building, will there be value for the next person?

00:17:55,170	And the answer to that question was there will be value to the next person, because the improvements that are happening to this building will keep it going, keep life in it. Make sure that it is a stout building. It is leak proof. It is efficient. It is all the things that everybody wants a building to be.

00:18:10,370	And so it was a good discussion. It was it was a good opportunity to talk about this. Quite honestly, we haven't seen a ton of Renaissance home projects come through lately. And it's good to see that people are still confident in investing in properties downtown. This just adds life to the block. It adds life to the neighborhood.

00:18:29,000	It it adds opportunities for employment for in this case, it's a salon. So there's a number of services that they'll be offering there. And we wish Andrea and her business partners the best of luck as they move forward on this. It'll be fun to see some of the improvements. I'm personally not a customer of the salon.

00:18:47,230	I tend not to need those services, but I'm. I know they are extremely busy and they've been a good neighbor downtown for more than 15 years, so wish them the best. Finally, on the agenda last night, Doug Wiles, assistant city administrator, came to the podium to talk about the strategic plan update. I believe he does that quarterly.

00:19:08,470	Now he will be. Yep. This is one of Doug's tasks that he will be focusing on for the organization. He led a large group of city staff through the process to update the strategic plan. The previous one we had, we were working off of from 2019.

00:19:25,500	So it was time we get about 4 or 5, six years out of those things and it's time to reboot. In this case, it was more of an internal look at who we are as an organization. What are our goals for the organization, the staff, the departments, and all of those things? But what Doug was sharing last night was the the rollout.

00:19:40,800	And by that, it's the public facing side of the strategic plan. So we have developed what a lot of people refer to as a dashboard. There's a page on our website where you can track our progress, but then we, as staff and department representatives are responsible for inputting accomplishments, goals, projects that we have been working on.

00:20:01,800	We have strategic focus areas, and then we have specific goals and objectives to support those strategic focus areas as departments work towards those goals, accomplish those goals, that reporting is fed into the dashboard and then visible to anyone to see how we're doing.

00:20:20,700	Are we keeping up after we attaining our goals or have our goals shifted in any cases? Doug did share that we're at about 15% right now, so we've got a long ways to go, but that's expected. We just adopted this thing at the end of last year. So we're we've got great momentum. We've got some tools at our disposal that we didn't have previously.

00:20:39,370	And it's it's going to be fun to watch that 15% grow over time. And there's no doubt in my mind that a strategic plan, it's not set in stone. It's a living document. Some of these things that we thought were, you know, very important top priority in 2025, those are going to evolve. Those are going to change.

00:20:57,530	But we can adapt with those things and we can demonstrate how we're doing that. But as always, this strategic plan is our focus. That's our our beacon that kind of keeps us pointed in a direction that everybody agrees is appropriate. And it was it was it was interesting last night. It was it made me smile.

00:21:14,600	Commissioners anchor, who was part of the strategic plan in 2019, part of the group again in 2025, dug out his paper copy from 2019. And he said, I'm going to challenge all of you to keep your copy here.

00:21:27,170	Bring it with you for every meeting, refer to it and use it because it is that's it's a tool for us. It's not just a pretty book with some nice pictures that goes on the shelf, and we can pat ourselves in the back for doing another project. It's not that at all. It is the guiding document that will keep our organization moving forward.

00:21:42,970	I think he also indicated he's not running for reelection, has four meetings left, or so. I think. I heard you say. That he would be watching from afar to make sure that those those books were were with all the commissioners. Something tells me I will keep his phone number and my cell phone, and we will have conversations.

00:21:59,530	Even after he's done being a commissioner. He's he's invested in this community. And we appreciate that eight years is a long time to dedicate to anything. And he has certainly he's been a good commissioner over these years. And it's it's great when you're on the same team pulling in the same direction.

00:22:16,330	He's he's a definitely a good teammate. Well we mentioned the bond referendum. But we also want to remind folks that there's a lot on the ballot coming up in June. And we've been happy again to team with the League of Women Voters in North Dakota to offer debate coverage.

00:22:33,970	So if you can, if you can't see a screen, if you're listening on the radio. April 23rd, we carried the Mandan City Commission and Mandan Park Board meetings. You can find those, however, on demand at Dakota Media Access elections.

00:22:52,530	And that's where all of these meetings or all these debates will live eventually as, as as they are checked off. So April 29th, Mandan School Board, April 30th. That'll be Thursday as we're taping tomorrow, the Bismarck City Commission and Bismarck Mayor mayoral debate will take place. And then finally, on May 6th, we'll have the Bismarck Park board debate.

00:23:12,900	So all those you can watch live on Midcoast 602 and you can find again on demand anytime at your convenience, at Dakota Media Access, elections. And the Bismarck ones. Will those be held in the Tom Baker meeting room? Those are in the Tom Baker meeting room. And are they open to the public? Open to the public? Okay. That is correct. Yeah.

00:23:31,600	So as you said earlier, just we want everybody to be informed and educated and make the best decision they can, no matter who they're voting for or what issue they're voting on. Also, I just wanted to pass it along one more time. The Bismarck award is open through April 30th.

00:23:51,900	That will be passed some of these shows if you watch on demand, but if you see it between now and tomorrow, you can still vote for the Humanitarian Award. And we always like to pass along the Bismarck and Gov Streets website, just in case you want to track progress taking place all over the capital city.

00:24:12,000	Now that we're done with winter, we get our other season construction. That's right. Well, yeah, we all know the the jokes about the seasons in North Dakota. But yeah, Jason, thanks for joining us. As always. If you want to take in any of our content, you can go to our website.

00:24:32,270	We also have a TV app and you can watch all of our local programs and government meetings. Or you can listen to a lot of great radio, music, local music, and local producers and local podcasts on our radio access 102.5 app. So until next time for Jason I'm Tom.

00:24:49,630	Have a great day! For more information on what was discussed in this episode of City Current, visit BismarckND.gov or call (701) 355-1300. If you have suggestions, comments or issues you would like addressed in future episodes, contact us at info@freetv.org. This program airs on Government Access channel 2 and 602. and on Radio Access 102.5 FM.

00:25:18,430	It's also available as a podcast on Radio Access and as a video viewing link at freetv.org. Thanks for tuning in to this edition of City Current.