00:00:16,970	On this beautiful Saint Patrick’s Day, March 17th, 2026. It is 5:30 p.m. & we are in the Bosh Froehlich meeting room at Mandan City Hall. Mr. Neubauer, could you please take the roll? Commissioner Braun? Yes, Rohr. Here. Sjoberg. Here. Heinsohn Here. Mayor Froelich here.

00:00:41,570	And at this time, we will have Payton Heimbach from troop Scout troop number 425 lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance. If everybody would stand. Remove any headgear. Face the flag. Please join me in the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge. Allegiance to. The flag of the United States of America. And to the Republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

00:01:14,600	Thank you. Peyton. At this time, we will have announcements, project updates, check. Good evening, mayor and commissioners put together a short slide. Um, for project updates.

00:01:37,830	Uh, we’re getting closer and closer to construction season and trying to give just a kind of a general update to some of these projects that are active right now and will be active in the near future. Um, first Memorial Highway.

00:01:55,200	Uh, people might see that, uh, in the news more and more, uh, the second phase of that project was awarded recently to Northern Improvement, and we will be having a public input meeting tomorrow at Midway Lanes from 4:00 to 7 p.m.. Um, there will be representation from the MnDOT, from the city, uh, and from each of the construction contractors on the project. Um, just inviting people to participate in that.

00:02:15,130	It’s a really good opportunity to have one on one conversations with people that know what’s going on with these projects. Uh, Mandan proper phase one. This is another project that we’ve been active with recently. We had a public input meeting last week, March 12th, from 6 to 8 p.m. at First Lutheran Church.

00:02:30,700	Um, during this project or during this meeting, we discussed the scope of the project schedule, financing and input process. We had a pretty good turnout. This would be the project or this would be the input meeting. After we sent out special assessment letters.

00:02:49,170	So there was a lot of questions and concerns around the special assessment calculation and amount and payback period and all that stuff. So we had a lot of really good, good conversations related to that. I think the general sentiment is that everybody acknowledged that the project was needed and was kind of excited for it.

00:03:05,300	Um, just wanted to bring up that we do have project website available for the Mandan proper phase one project, and many of our other projects. But if people weren’t able to make it to the meeting, they could view the February 24th and March 12th presentation. Videos. There’s an interactive feedback map on the project website.

00:03:23,430	If they have specific concerns they want addressed with the project, as well as contact information, and then the protest period started after our last commission meeting and will end on April 6th, and we will have to consider it at the April 7th meeting. So there will be a quick turnaround on that protest period. Um, another project of interest is our Collins Avenue Reservoir project.

00:03:41,470	This one will be, uh, picking back up in the spring and will be picking back up in kind of a different way. Uh, a lot of one of the major items left to do is to peel back that retaining wall. Uh, at the corner of Division and Collins Avenue.

00:03:55,870	And it should improve the site line. Uh, when you are westbound at that intersection. Um, and then what’s left to do is really site cleanup work and reservoir painting. So, um, that’s a big one right there. And then just to highlight some of the other projects that will have active, uh, around town in 2026.

00:04:16,900	Water treatment plant, phase three Tara Valley decommissioning, master lift station improvements. The three a street rehabilitation project up by Red Trail Elementary. We will have lead service line replacements throughout our community. And then we have our first street reconstruction project, which we’ll discuss in more detail later.

00:04:35,930	And our area to be reconstruction project, which we’ll discuss in detail in more detail later. Um, is there anything on this list that you guys would like me to expand on more. Commissioners? Nope, nope. That’s what I have for project updates. Okay. Thank you. Yep. Spring Cleanup week, April 20th through the 25th. Mr. O’Keefe, the only Irishman in the room.

00:04:59,330	I’m sure that’s not true. Good evening. Mayor. Commissioners. It’s that time of year again. Uh, 2026 spring Cleanup Week is scheduled for April 20th through the 25th. The landfill will be open April 18th. That Saturday, before through the 25th from 8 a.m. to 4:45 p.m.. During this time.

00:05:22,400	Um, we’ll be accepting items like furniture, appliances for your charge for the City of Mandan residents. Uh, but during the spring of Spring cleanup week, just like every other year, we’ll have, uh, we’ll be going around picking up all the all the fun stuff on your normal pickup day from the curb.

00:05:40,530	So we have, uh, stuff that won’t be included on our website. If you have any questions, just call down to Public works. So on this, uh, momentous year of celebrate 250, are you encouraging everyone to really do a good deep spring clean? Yeah. I think. It’s out on the curb and clean up Mandan.

00:05:59,200	Get it out on the curb, and we’ll, uh, we’ll get rid of it for you. I hate to put words in your mouth. Yeah, okay. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. O’Keefe. Mr. Neubauer. Mayor and commissioners. One thing to add to the announcements would be from the Morton Mandan Public Library on March 31st, from 11:15 a.m. to 1:15 p.m. at the Morton Mandan Public Library. What we’re calling the play lab.

00:06:28,070	And again, this is an open house, not at the library, but at 700 one fifth Street, Southwest, which is near the public works shop, only a little bit to the west. Again, big announcement coming up. Um, again, not at liberty to say right now, but there will be an open house March 31st, 11:15 to 1:15 p.m..

00:06:49,370	And I think the Morton Mountain Public Library folks would end appreciate if you would RSVP. There is a QR code on the screen right now, and we have several flyers, um, throughout the area. And also you can pick one up at the library if you’re needing one.

00:07:09,670	But, um, registration would be appreciated so the folks can plan accordingly for refreshments and maybe they’ll even have cookies. There. So. Mayor Jim, is this a building has been renovated for this purpose? Uh, Mayor Froehlich and Commissioner Rohrer, I would like to let the surprise occur on that date. I know the, um, there is an announcement at that point in time.

00:07:33,730	I think this is a result of a few years ago. We had a brownfields grant. And along with that grant came a kind of a visioning program on how we can improve some things on the Third Street corridor. Um, this ties into that really well.

00:07:49,870	So I think folks will be pretty pleased with what the library has planned for that building. So to satisfy our curiosity, we need to go down there. I like to keep you hanging. So, yes, to satisfy your curiosity, I would encourage you to RSVP and show up on March 31st from 1115 until 115. So any questions? Any questions for Mr.

00:08:11,630	Neubauer? Nope. Thank you. Now, at this time we have public comment. Mr. Neubauer, are there any public comments? Not at this time. Okay, commissioners, you have the agenda before you. I would look for a motion to approve the agenda for tonight. Second, we have a motion by Commissioner Brown. Second, by Commissioner Sjoberg.

00:08:40,570	Any further discussion? Hearing none. Roll call, please. Commissioner Rohr. Yes. Sjoberg. Yes. Yes. Ron. Yes. Mayor. Froehlich. Yes. Agenda is approved. We’ll move on to the minutes. Consider approval of the March 3rd, 2026 Board of City Commission meeting. Minutes. I’ll move to. Approve the meeting. Minutes from the March 3rd, 2026 Board of Commission meeting. Second.

00:09:06,000	We have a motion by Commissioner Sjoberg, a second by Commissioner Hinson. Any further discussion? Hearing none. Roll call. Mr. Sjoberg. Yes. Yes, Ron. Yes. Rohr. Yes. Mayor. Froelich. Yes. We’ll now move on to public hearings. Number one, under public hearing. Consider a request for preliminary plat to be named. 1884 edition. Jordan. Good evening. Mayor.

00:09:33,970	Commissioners. Tonight, I’m here requesting the preliminary. Preliminary plat, 1884 edition from the Call Family Trust to be named as such. On my screen, I’ve got just the location map, the zoning. Obviously, this is just west of town. Um, in that area, it’s very low density.

00:09:57,800	Um, section of town. Let me get to the plat itself. This is what we have written up through a few different renditions and, uh, just meeting with staff to make sure we have what we would finally call this 1884 edition. Um, they obviously met with us.

00:10:22,500	And this is what we’ve come up with, though I know the one piece we have as a. Comment. And part of the recommendation is the updated master plan. I believe we’re getting that yet, John. Um, if we haven’t already. So that would be the only other thing that would be outstanding with this plat.

00:10:41,770	Um, with that, I would ask for any questions. This came through P and Z and was approved. And obviously city staff recommends approval of the 1884 edition of the preliminary plat, contingent on the updated master plan. But we would like to host a public hearing for it first. Any questions for Jordan? No. Okay. Thank you. Jordan.

00:11:06,400	At this time, we will open the public hearing. Any comments regarding the preliminary plat for 1884? Second call for public comments. Third and final call for public comments. Hearing none. The hearing is closed. Commissioners wishes. I move to recommend approval of the 1884 edition. Preliminary plat contingent on an updated master plan. Second. We have a motion by Commissioner Sjoberg, a second by Commissioner Hasan.

00:11:47,200	Any further discussion? Hearing none. Roll call please. Commissioners. John. Yes, Ron. Yes. Roar. Yes. Sjoberg. Yes. Mayor. Froelich. Yes. We’ll move on to item number two. Consider sufficiency insufficiency of protests for Street Improvement District 242. Jerrick. Mayor. Commissioners. Good evening. I have a short presentation leading into this public hearing.

00:12:15,600	Um, just wanted to maybe update people on the project that haven’t heard of the project before and give a little recap for those who might who might need a refresher on it. Um, the project location for.

00:12:31,600	Yeah, Street Improvement District 242, also known as the project to be area, is near Roosevelt Elementary, just west of Collins. Uh, west of sunset and sixth and north of Main Street. Um, excluding the area that was reconstructed up by Lowe, Strader. Um, last year. Um. Project description.

00:12:50,270	What’s being fixed? The main, main reason for the project is a water main replacement project to fix cast iron water mains that are, um, and pass their useful life brittle and have been breaking at an accelerating rate. Here’s a cast iron water main pipe on the screen on the bottom right here.

00:13:06,030	Um, additionally, we would be looking at making a lot of lead service line replacements in the area. Um, sanitary and storm sewer improvements for better drainage and extending the life to match the life of the new PVC water mains. And we would include road and alley reconstruction and rehabilitation for smoother rides. Address drainage issues.

00:13:27,700	And then as well, we would make some minor quality of life improvements, including Ada ramp, uh, installations which we are required to do. Um, what are the funding sources on the project for this project? We are estimating it to cost about $18.2 million. Uh, we are estimating a DWR grant of about $4.4 million in.

00:13:47,400	This represents 60% of the water eligible items. We would also have a $2.6 million city utility fund contribution and a $2.9 million municipal infrastructure fund contribution, representing 20% of the reconstruction costs. Um, that total amount is just just about $10 million, leaving $8.2 million left.

00:14:11,470	And this project is eligible for a 2%, uh, SRF low interest loan. Um, and we would take out $8.2 million and back that with special assessments. Um, this would translate to a special assessment, uh, per unit that ranges from per residential unit that ranges from $5,000 to $19,500, which translates to $32 per month to $127 per month

00:14:36,530	over the 15 year period. If somebody was to take advantage of the 2% interest loan. Um, and if you. Yeah, assuming yearly payments, that’s about a 66% buy down. Um, if you paid it all upfront, it’s about a 55% buy down.

00:14:57,430	So, um, without funding, just, uh, kind of, uh, putting into other terms, uh, would the project would be exposed to, um, a 6% market rate and the unit assessment would change from 5000 to 19,000 to about 13,000 to 45,000. And that would translate to about $112 per month to $386 per month. Um, public engagement.

00:15:21,570	I know that a lot of people have brought up, uh, public engagement on this project, and I just wanted to recap our public engagement effort. Um, on January 7th, right after the January 6th commission meeting, um, we sent out postcards, uh, for the, um, for the first public input meeting, and these were delivered, and then we had our first public input meeting.

00:15:42,300	Input meeting on January 21st. This would be prior to the creation of the Special Assessment District, which has been very important to us. That is, it is not the first time that people are contacted about the project, uh, with special assessments.

00:16:02,630	Um, at on February 4th, uh, we sent out estimated special assessment letters as well as an invitation to a second public input meeting that would be more focused around assessments and estimated assessments. Um, in addition to this, we have put up a project website that includes a newsletter sign up, interactive feedback map, as well as contact information.

00:16:27,070	Um, for the protests, uh, our protest period, uh, or the resolutions creating the district were approved at the February 3rd meeting. And the resolution of necessity was published on February 6th in the Mandan News. And that initiates that 30 day protest period.

00:16:44,800	Um, since the protest period ended on the weekend, March 9th was the final day to submit protests, and we did receive protests on March 9th, I believe. So people took full advantage of that, that full time period. And then here we are tonight, March 17th, where we are considering the protests. Um, on the right here you can see a protest map. Uh, the red area, the red dots are the protests. Oh, this would happen. Sorry. We’re having some technical difficulty here.

00:17:28,470	There we go. It should be back up. Sorry about that. All right. The, uh, the red dots are a protest. The gray dots are a protest that was submitted and then subsequently withdrawn.

00:17:47,670	And the purple dots are protest that were submitted by somebody other than the property owner, which are not, um, not valid. Um, the total non public land area is about four point 5,000,000ft. And that would be the 100% that we are comparing things against. Uh, the, the total amount of the protest was just over 2,000,000ft, which accounts for about 45.2% of the land area.

00:18:11,200	Um, additionally, we did some more calculations, withdrawn protests accounted for about 6.3% of the land area, and invalid protests accounted for about 1.5% of the land area. So for tonight’s consideration, uh, the we have a protest rate by land area that is under 50%.

00:18:39,470	And eventually in subsequent items, we’ll have a recommendation to find the protest insufficient and to amend a contract with more engineering. But in the meantime, uh, we’ll have our public hearing, and I’d be happy to answer any questions that you you would all like. Further clarification on. Um, otherwise, any questions right now? Any questions for Derek? John? Okay. Thank you. Eric.

00:19:02,930	At this time, we will open the public hearing. Uh, if you wish to speak, please approach the podium, sign in and state your name. Be concise and keep it above the belt. Second, call for comments. Um, my name is Martin Harrelson. I live within this district.

00:19:34,030	Um, I just really want to state that I really appreciate all the work that the city and engineering firm has put into. Um, I live on a street that is steep. And, you know, as I had, I think about five breaks in about three years. So, um, any good backbone of a of a city is clean water, deliverable water, uh, wastewater collection and great water wastewater treatment.

00:19:52,070	And so I’m a huge proponent of this project. And, uh, um, I’m, I don’t like, uh, specials, but at the same time, they’re, they’re, uh, necessary in this case. Um, and so, like I said, I just really appreciate that, appreciate all the work. And, um, I’m, uh, not sad that the, the, uh, 50, 51% hasn’t been met.

00:20:14,470	So anyways, thank you for all your time. Thanks for all your efforts. And thanks for finding all of the SRF money. And also, although the DWR money to try to keep all of our costs down and, um, because if this doesn’t go through at this time, I know that some of those monies might not be around.

00:20:31,100	And also interest rates are looking to go up. So I appreciate that this project keeps moving forward. Thank you. Thank you Marty. Okay. Thank you. Anybody else wishing to speak tonight? Um, I’m part of the project. I guess I’m trying to figure out. Um, according to the Century code, it’s by property.

00:21:10,000	that each percentage. I didn’t know it was acreage. Um, and how many people protested it? Uh, and how many homes were in the area? If you can explain that. Um, trying to understand the century code. Okay. Tom. Yeah. Nothing. Can you sign in, please? Yeah. And then we’ll have Jerry come up and address that.

00:21:33,970	Um, mayor and commissioners, uh, the century code that, uh, lays out the the protest rate is section 42, dash 22, dash 18. And it does say a majority of area. And, um, maybe Amy would be able to, uh, give an a second opinion on that.

00:21:54,800	But land area is always the metric that we use to determine protest rates. Uh, yes. Thanks. Um, so this section is 40, 22, 18. Can’t hear anything. Can you hear me now? This section is 40, 22, 18. If the governing body finds the protest to contain the names of the owners of majority of the area of the property included within the Improvement District.

00:22:20,470	Yeah, I still didn’t find out how many homes protested and how many were in the area. Do you understand that? That’s the way it went last time they took the number of homes you have, 51% of the people protested and it failed. So now you’re going by area. I’m a little confused. Okay, Derek.

00:22:47,630	Mayor and commissioners. Uh, I don’t know the number of properties in here, and I don’t know the number of properties that protested off the top of my head the last time that we went through this, we we would also do it by area, which is what we are required to do.

00:23:03,730	So in any special assessment district that we’ve done, area would be the determining factor. Um, whether other information had been calculated and shared. The the important one is uh, protest rate by land area. Okay. So in July of 24, this was the same procedure you used, right? Correct. Same process. Same process by the same people. So yep.

00:23:28,870	We have a similar map from the last time, and I’m sure that’s still up on our site. And we can go take a, take a double double check that okay. So nothing has changed. Nope. Well last time if you want to check the records, it did say how many properties were in the area.

00:23:46,930	I think it was 500 something. And there was a so many that protested it. That’s all I’m asking for. It’s a little clarification. Okay? And if he doesn’t know. Thank you. Tom. We can get that information and and make that available. If people are interested in that number okay. That’d be great. Thank you.

00:24:29,070	Anyone else tonight? Mayor. Commissioners. I’m, uh, Lee Fleischer. I, uh, live on, uh, second Street northwest. I came to Mandan in 1967, and we bought a home then. And I can assure you, you know, when I say 67, I was of age then. Plus three.

00:24:55,400	So I’ve seen a lot of changes, uh, go through various parts of Mandan and a lot of changes on the street that I live in. And I just have to say that in the last 15, 20, 25 years, there’s been a lot of positive changes in Mandan.

00:25:19,570	And I’m proud to say I live in Mandan and, uh, I attended both meetings at Roosevelt and I want to thank the commission for bringing this back after two years rather than the normal five year period, because there’s definitely health and safety issues in our area.

00:25:47,170	A previous spokesperson said that, you know, he had that we’ve had in our area in the last 4 to 5 years in my home and the one next to it, three breaks. So we definitely have some problems. There.

00:26:08,530	Also, I think we want to thank the, um, Moore Engineering for all the work they did in preparing the information for us and the city employees who provided information when it was requested. I think this has been very open, very transparent. Uh, parent process. And from my visiting with a number of people, the great majority agree that something needs to be done, whether it’s the street, the sewer, uh, the water line or whatever.

00:26:38,400	Not everybody said that they want the, uh, thing to go through, but they all say something needs to be done. And I think that is the important part. And I’m happy to say that, uh, I think the three things that really came out when I was visiting with people one, something has to be done.

00:27:04,000	And if we don’t do it now, it’s going to cost us more later. Uh, and the 2% loan was also attractive to people. So I feel that the the proposal as presented is in the best interest of our part of town and the city of Mandan, and I would urge the Commission to approve the project and proceed

00:27:30,130	with due diligence. Thank you. And if you have any questions, I’d be happy to answer them. Any questions for Lee? Thank you. Lee. Anyone else want to speak tonight? Third and final call. Without the public hearing is closed. I would ask the commissioners to move on to resolution and ordinances. Item number. Item number two.

00:28:11,800	Determining sufficiency and sufficiency of protest for a street improvement district 242. Gerke. Mayor. Commissioners. Um, yeah. Just to reiterate what I said earlier, um, our recommendation for this is to determine insufficiency of protests. Sorry, I don’t have this.

00:28:33,770	Anything pulled up for this, um, determine insufficiency of protest based on the protest rate by land area. And then to amend our contract with more engineering to, uh, begin on final design and bidding for this project. Okay. Any questions for Derek? If not, thank you. I would entertain a motion.

00:29:00,270	I move to determine insufficiency of protest for Street Improvement District 242 and enter into a contract with Moore Engineering to complete the final design and bidding. Second. We have a motion by Commissioner Brown, second by Commissioner Sjoberg. Any further discussion? Mayor, commissioners and the audience here. I just want to make a couple comments.

00:29:23,270	I want to begin by acknowledging something very important that the other residents in the district and maybe, perhaps are watching at home on our TVs to or check it later, but they’re living on fixed incomes and are understandably worried about the special assessment costs. And I respect that.

00:29:43,100	And I know the concerns are valid, but no one here is trying to minimize the financial pressures that some may feel. And I’m not here to try to dismiss those worries specifically, but to give you a full picture, because this decision made, well, not affect not only today, but the next 20 to 40 years of this particular neighborhood’s future.

00:30:07,000	Delaney’s project may actually make things harder and more expensive for everyone in the long run. The water lines and sewer lines in this part of Mandan are in need of repair and updating. They are reaching the end of their useful life when infrastructure fails unexpectedly.

00:30:30,030	When you have a water main break and repairs are emergency based, not planned, then these emergency repairs cost a lot. You know significantly more in costs and they don’t qualify for the same funding sources that a planned improvement district does. So right now the city has access to some funding mechanisms, cost sharing and financial tools that help reduce the amount that property has to pay.

00:30:55,600	But those programs are not guaranteed in future. They may not be available if we wait 510 years. As you know, with everything, things away in our house, our our cars, if we wait, then the cost of materials and labor and borrowing will go up. It’d be much higher.

00:31:17,530	And that support or funding may not be there later on as well. And the assessments could be dragging dramatically higher. But I know these assessments are difficult. I’ve been city commissioner for almost 16 years anyway, and this has always been a difficult decision. It’s a tough decision on the people that make the assessment districts and determine these as well.

00:31:39,400	And I’ve had to pay them. It’s not one of the more enjoyable things in life is to have to pay special assessments. And if we reject a project, it doesn’t protect us from any costs and long delays things until the cost is higher and the situation is more urgent, and options perhaps are fewer.

00:32:02,400	And moving forward gives us control. It gives us access to funding, it gives us predictability. It protects this neighborhood from a much greater financial strain that will come if the systems fail.

00:32:24,270	My goal is to make sure that we appear to commission the government and that you people out there have the information needed to make the best long term decisions for your homes, for your families, and for your communities. That’s all I have to say, mayor. Very well put, Commissioner. I would also like to add you said 40 years. I would say 75 to 100 years. It will determine the viability of this neighborhood. So yes, it’s not taken lightly.

00:32:50,400	Uh, none of this ever is, but it has to be done. I it’s I made the comment, uh, do we have 38 breaks in this neighborhood? Is that right? Yeah, I think 38, upper 30s. Yeah, yeah. So. And it’s hockey stick, right. The old going along, going along. Boom. Right. Yeah.

00:33:16,200	So it’s terminal and it’s not going to heal itself. So this is a good project. We’re going to uh resolve a lot of issues in that neighborhood. So any other comments commissioners. If not, I would ask for the roll call. Commissioners. Braun. Yes. Rau. Yes. Sjoberg. Yes. Einhorn. Yes. Mayor. Froelich.

00:33:42,670	Yes. With that. We will move on to bids. Consider concurrence of bid award for the downtown phase one improvement project. Street Improvement District 236 Jerrick. Mayor and Commissioners.

00:34:14,270	Um, just as a reminder, this is the project along First Street in the downtown area that would include reconstruction of First Street as well as the intersecting avenues, um, between Sixth Avenue, uh northwest and fourth Avenue Northwest. Um, the MnDOT opened bids for this project, and we received five bids from various contractors. And these bids, bids ranged from just over $5 million to just over $5.8 million, with an engineer’s estimate at $5.7 million.

00:34:45,200	Our low bid was 12% under our estimate, and our high bid was only 2% over our estimate. So a really good bidding environment right now. Um, and, uh, we’re we’re really appreciative of the, of the competitiveness and, and what that, uh, what that does to the prices of our projects.

00:35:09,270	Um, we have quite a bit of we have we were awarded $2.356 million of federal funds for this project, and we are estimating our city’s share to be about $2.686 million. And this would be paid through special assessments, utility fund and municipal infrastructure funds. Um, we’re recommending concurrence of the bid award to site works excavation, and I can answer any questions if you have any.

00:35:39,070	Any questions for Eric? Uh, Jericho Site Works is a local company, is that correct? Um, mayor, Commissioner Sherbrooke I believe they are. We do work a lot with a lot of the local people from site works. If they if if they’re not local, they have a very strong local presence. Okay. Thank you. Jerk. You said there was a federal D.O.T. grant.

00:35:59,900	Mayor? That’s correct. Yeah. The urban grants program, um, which is, uh, which I think is geared more towards this downtown infrastructure. Okay. Which grants like that aren’t available for everything, right? They’re very site specific. Mayor. That’s correct. Their site. Site specific and competitive. Any other questions for Eric? If not commissioners. Thank you. Chair. What are your wishes.

00:36:37,830	And move to award the bid to site work excavation as presented. Second. We have a motion by Commissioner Brown. Second by Commissioner. Second. Any further discussion? Hearing none. Roll call please. Commissioner. Rohr. Yes. Jo’burg. Yes. Yes, Ron. Yes. Mayor. Froelich. Yes. We will move on to the consent agenda.

00:37:02,170	Are there any items you would like pulled from the consent agenda? Mayor, I’d like to pull item three for more clarification, please. Okay. Item three Public works 2026 equipment Budget reallocation. Is pulled. With that, I would entertain a motion to approve the rest of the consent agenda.

00:37:33,400	I’ll make a motion to approve consent agenda items one, two, four, five and six. Second. Motion by Commissioner Hinshaw and second by Commissioner Brown. Any further discussion? Hearing none. Roll call. Commissioner Sjoberg. Yes. Hi, John. Yes, Braun. Yes. Rohrer. Yes. Mayor. Froehlich. Yes. And with that, Mr. O’Keefe. Public works 2026. Equipment budget reallocation. I’m back. Mayor. Commissioners. Good evening.

00:38:08,630	Um, this is just a reallocation for our 2026. We had a roller allocated. Uh, we took a peek at it, talked to the mechanics. We, uh, we we feel our roller is still in good operating condition. And we looked into a mastic dispenser and a machine.

00:38:27,430	Um, it’s just a little bit different option for us for maintenance and longevity of our current road system. Uh, Aztek is a rubberized asphalt material. It has a asphalt binder, polymers and aggregate. It’s heated, uh, to bond tightly. It’s better in the cracks. It helps seal so the water doesn’t get underneath the road systems. Uh, just better. Durability extends the pavement.

00:38:50,900	Life, pavement life and reduces frequency and repairs is just another tool for our tool belt to, you know, continue the longevity of our current road system. And better planning for the future. Uh, Mayor and Shane, thank you for that clarification. I, I was really I didn’t know what mastic was.

00:39:15,970	I think people watching in here, um, I like the for the clarification, but I like the investing forwards, not backwards. Uh, rollers are still going to be used. But if there’s a technology that gets us more life out of the roads. Um, I like this idea of moving this budget item. So thank you for that clarification. Any other questions for Mr. O’Keefe? Thank you. If not, thank you.

00:39:38,230	I’ll move to approve the allocation of the 2026 budgeted funds from the roller purchase to the purchase of a mass tech machine and associated tools. Second. We have a motion by Commissioner Hinshaw and a second by Commissioner Rohrer. Any further discussion? Hearing none. Roll call. Commissioners. Henson. Yes. Ron. Yes. Rohr. Yes. Sjoberg. Yes. Mayor. Froelich.

00:40:02,300	Yes. There is no old business. We will move on to new business. Consider an amendment to the engineering Service agreement to include construction services to the Terra Valley Sanitary Sewer project. Mayor and commissioners.

00:40:27,030	This is for our, uh, Terra Valley decommissioning project, which is a decommissioning of a sanitary lift station. Um, just north of the new high school. Um, as well as the installation of a gravity sanitary sewer main connecting down to 1806. Um, I can try and bring up a map if that’s helpful for folks. We are up here north of 27th Street at the decommissioning. Is the lift station right here.

00:41:02,130	And the flow that goes into that lift station would would go down the hill and connect into a, uh, trunk line on the west side of 1806. Um, this project was awarded to Crowe River Construction in December.

00:41:22,930	And as we approach construction season, um, we have, uh, we need to amend our contract with Apex Engineering in order to include construction oversight and community engagement. So, so at this point in time, all we have have them contracted is through final design. And this would just add this would be the next step.

00:41:40,700	And it’s kind of an anticipated step through the, um, the contracting uh, process. So, um, we’re recommending approval of the contract amendment as presented. But I can try and answer any questions if you have any. Any questions for Derek. I got a couple of them for you. Jeric. Absolutely. That that lift station was put in service in the 19 early 70s.

00:42:02,930	Um, mayor. Commissioner Schober. That’s correct. Okay. And this project, um, just just like like Commissioner Henson with his question for clarification, if people just read the agenda and did get into the packet at all, um, for clarification, the work that we’re going to be doing on that, that, um.

00:42:32,870	That wastewater connection with the new one on 1806 is going to be strictly the abandonment of the current lift station and the, um, digging and burying of the new connecting, uh, sewage line. Mayor. Commissioner Sjoberg. That’s correct.

00:43:03,470	Um, with the caveat that the design work was done for, uh, drainage improvement project, a stormwater improvement project so that the two efforts would be coordinated with each other in the long run. Although that portion of the construction is not included in this bid package. So if any residents in Terra Valley have any questions, um, this does not, um, address the roadways on eighth Avenue Northwest, north of um 24th, 24th. Nor does it include 27th Street at all.

00:43:34,200	Mayor Commissioner Sjoberg that is also correct. We have we were awarded, um, some funding for the Eighth Avenue Northwest and 27th Street North project. Um, and that is upcoming, we expect designed to be finished this summer with a bid, uh, in November of 26 for construction in 27. Okay. Thank you. Yes.

00:44:00,400	Any other questions for chair? Mayor, just a couple comments. Um, and I alluded to it as well, but we are in a competitive bidding environment. This is another one that’s 10% under, um, under bid or under our estimated budget.

00:44:22,330	Um, which I know there’s been some comments of going over budget and these projects and things we do build an anticipated buffer, you know, where we we’re not just throwing a dart, right? We do believe we’re going to fit these projects, you know, into these budgeted amounts. Um, and the bids have been coming in good, which is really good to see.

00:44:44,830	Um, the second comment, I would just like to make is, you know, we’re asking to have this oversight, which we’ve seen, as is proven, beneficial in these projects, but we’re not spending this money until these projects are moving forward.

00:45:03,930	And I just I want to make that comment for the public is we’re we’re budgeting for these, but we’re not we’re not spending these spending the money until things are moving along. Um, and I think that’s important to, to note. So thank you. Any other questions? Okay. With that, commissioners. , I’ll move to amend the engineering services agreement with Apex Engineering as presented. Second. We have a motion by Commissioner Sjoberg. Second, by Commissioner Hasan.

00:45:33,330	Any further discussion? Hearing none. Roll call, please. Commissioner Braun? Yes. Rohr. Yes. Solberg. Yes. Yes. Mayor. Froelich. Yes. We will move back to resolution and ordinances. Item number one, consider a resolution to submit proposed sales and use tax to June 2026. Ballot chief Bits. Good evening, Mayor and commissioners.

00:46:00,170	Uh, kind of going to take a three part approach to this tonight. We’ll lead off a little bit of background information. Uh, we’ll go through a PowerPoint kind of highlighting some of the needs and solutions that we’ve identified in the fire department. And then, uh, we’ll circle back around to the formal business, which is what you mentioned.

00:46:16,600	Uh, a resolution to submit, uh, ballot language. Um, on the June 2026 ballot. So, um, you know, over the past few years as a city and, uh, specifically as a fire department, we’ve looked at our long range planning.

00:46:36,270	Um, and we’ve highlighted a few critical needs that really stuck out at us to secure our emergency response and continue that long into the future. One of the things that we identified, um, right away and very clearly was the need for a fire station number three.

00:46:54,600	Um, and while we started looking at that, we were also looking at, um, are we well positioned to have a backup like emergency operations center? Um, in the event of, uh, river flooding from either Missouri River, Hart River flooding, we have a good protection system in place, but so it really generated a bigger discussion of what does a long range, uh, successful fire department look like.

00:47:14,270	Um, so that brought us to the point where we have a solid plan, but we need to identify some funding sources to do that. So anyways, if we could, uh, we’ll transition to a PowerPoint that we’ll kind of help walk through some of that stuff here on the screen there. So.

00:47:34,670	So I mean, first and foremost, every time we, we do anything as a, as a city or a department, we look at our mission, our vision and our values. And we I mean, those aren’t punch lines. We really, truly we do take those, uh, serious. And we make all of our decisions based on those. So, um, we’re we take our our respect, our integrity, accountability very seriously.

00:47:51,070	And we measure our, um, our progress and our response to the community, uh, day in and day out. So we’re not making, uh, wishful decisions. They’re all data driven decisions. Um, this chart clearly shows that our community is on the grow. That’s a good thing. But with that, growth comes needs.

00:48:11,930	And, uh, it’s, um, we have to continue to invest in our community, much like the streets or our other infrastructure that we have in our city. Um, the population today is 25,000.

00:48:30,170	If we look out into the future, um, city planners, uh, or, excuse me, former city planner Andrew Strom, you know, in his, uh, statistics show that in 2050 will be at probably 36,000 people. Um, the and even if that’s inaccurate, the growth today, you can see on the chart since 2015 is continually, steadily increasing. And we don’t see that changing.

00:48:47,970	Um, we, we anticipate that growth to continue. And there’s been a lot of development, um, specifically up in the northwest part of town with a red trail elementary or a new high school in the northwest part of town is well positioned to continue to grow.

00:49:09,000	Um, our call volume, um, we’ve had a about a 62% increase in calls in the last ten years. Um, and we are an all hazards department as a fire department. So we respond to everything from a structure fire to, um, a car accident to, uh, a medical emergency. So it could be cardiac arrest or choking or anything like that. So, um, the calls continue to increase.

00:49:28,870	We are very strategic. We’re we within the last year, we have started to evaluate whether or not we need to go on every single call. And we’ve been reducing, uh, calls to, like, nursing homes and, uh, transfers and such. So we’ll continue to evaluate that.

00:49:46,270	But even doing that, we’re still seeing an increase in call volume just as the population increases and people are more people are more active and there’s there’s more chance for an emergency. So that trend line continues to increase, and we’re going to do everything we can to make sure that we’re being responsible with our response as a city.

00:50:00,900	But the other statistic I want to point out here is that 20%, just over 20% of our calls are overlapping calls, and that’ll become important a little bit longer or a little bit, uh, in the future here in the slide, um, fires as a whole, we get asked a lot or there’s many fires, as there used to be.

00:50:18,500	Well, it’s the fires as a whole has actually flatlined, or maybe even slightly decreased because there is a lot of safety features, uh, built into buildings.

00:50:38,230	However, when fires do occur, based on the, uh, building construction in the product, in our houses, in our buildings nowadays, much of them are based or so much of it’s based off of a petrochemical, um, components compared to traditional construction. Uh, so the fires that do occur are becoming more and more fatal. I just want to point that out.

00:50:56,400	Uh, currently we have two fire stations that we’re serving the city of Mandan with fire station one on the left there. Um, you know, that building was built in the late 1800s or early 1900s. Uh, it served many, many different roles in the city. Everything from city hall to police station. I think Public Works was based out of there. Uh, the fire station.

00:51:15,000	And I think even a jail. I’m not 100% sure on that. I had not. So there was a jail there at one time, and we still use that. It’s an excellent facility. It’s well located for us. We remodeled that in 2001. 2002 era. Um, we have a staffed engine out of there.

00:51:32,070	So that means that one engine company with three firefighters is stationed out of there 24 over seven, and then our administrative offices. So myself and the battalion chief, uh, our office is located at that station. And then our other station, fire station number two out in Lakewood, was built in 2009. And that’s has one engine.

00:51:51,800	And then we also have our water rescue boat assigned to that station. Also within the last 12 months. So that’s a good step in the right direction. That station is staffed with today is staffed with a minimum of two firefighters, 24 over seven by the end of this summer, we’ll have three firefighters at both stations,

00:52:07,800	24 over seven. Uh, the call volume down in Lakewood area continues to increase. Um, you know, when we first opened these stations, it kind of starts off slow, but, uh, as the as the neighborhoods develop and stuff, it becomes more and more evident than need.

00:52:25,170	And we made the right decision by putting that station down there. And it’s a it’s proven to be very successful. So our fire station, when we place our stations, we don’t just throw a dart on the map. We’re very intentional with it. The goal for us is to be on location within four minutes.

00:52:45,870	90% of the time. We don’t. We can’t build the church for Easter Sunday. We know we’re not going to hit it 100% of the time, but we need to strive for that at least 90% of the time. That is the NFPA standard. Um, oops. So here, once, there we go.

00:53:01,800	So that puts if we just as a rule of thumb, that puts our fire stations at about a mile and a half to two mile radius in between those stations, um, you can see station one coverage is pretty good up in the central part of town. Station two’s coverage, uh, covers Lakewood very well.

00:53:18,670	There’s a little bit of a gap down in the southeast part in the Plainview Fort Lincoln Elementary area, but still, it’s not horrible. Where the gap is really evident is in the station three, the northwest part of Mandan.

00:53:35,930	Um, almost that entire circle is in city limits, which we are responsible for, uh, responding everything from a brush fire structure, fire, car accident, cardiac arrest, whatever it might be. Um. So currently, our response time to this area of town is 11 minutes, and that’s driving time only. So that’s if the truck is running in.

00:53:58,030	Our personnel are sitting in the truck waiting for the call to come in, and that. So in an emergency, there’s a process called processing times. When you call 901, there’s still a minute or two for the dispatcher to process the call. Our personnel to get dispatched. Once we’re dispatched, uh, if it’s a medical alarm, uh, it’s 62nd turnout time.

00:54:18,600	If it’s a structure fire where they have to put on their structure firefighting gear, uh, we allow 90s for that turnout time, and then you add the 11 minutes on there. So now you’re looking at, you know, that 13, 14 minute mark quite easily. Um, and again, so our response time to retro elementary today is in excess of 11 minutes.

00:54:38,930	Uh, in that area, in the station three area in that red circle that I highlighted earlier, there’s probably what there’s not probably there is, uh, both 1583 structures in that area. And we estimate about 3500 people live in that area.

00:55:01,600	So the big question comes, I remember, excuse me, remember earlier I mentioned that, uh, about 20 to 25% of our calls are overlapping as our city continues to grow. So if station one is on a call in downtown Mandan or, um, wherever in Station One’s area at City Hall here, that means that station two has to respond up to the area in northwest

00:55:22,200	part of Mandan. The travel time from station two to Red Trail Elementary is a minimum of 13 minutes. Again, that’s if we’re in the truck. In the truck is running and there’s no dispatch delay.

00:55:43,000	So, um, you’re approaching that 20 minute mark, if that, uh, if station one is on a call in station two is not in the truck ready to go, and then we’re also leaving the south east part of Mandan Lakewood area unprotected. So. So we get asked a lot of times, what does that matter? Does the response time really matter? And, um, it’s no surprise. And I’m going to say yes, it does.

00:56:01,730	Um, emergencies, they’re chaotic, but they’re very predictable. I mean, when you when you study them as a, as a whole, uh, there’s a cascade of events and each minute that goes by without interaction from, you know, EMS, fire, law enforcement, that that event continues to escalate until there’s some sort of interaction.

00:56:25,800	Um, so in, like a cardiac arrest situation, brain damage occurs in less than four minutes without CPR. Um, in a structure fire. I mentioned earlier that our building construction has changed. Buildings used to be built with heavier duty material. It was more expensive, but it would last. You could. An average fire had about 10 to 15 minutes of escape time.

00:56:48,130	Now, with modern fire behavior, um, in building construction, the way it is, that flashover time when everything in the room reaches a combustion temperature has been lowered to about 5 to 10 minutes. So again, fires are about flatlined, slightly decreasing.

00:57:04,830	But when they do occur, they’re much more, uh, extreme and violent and fatal than what they used to be. Uh, so what’s our solution? We talked a lot about problems. What’s the solution? Um, if we build a fire station up in the northwest part of town, that will obviously help us reduce our response times from that, you know, 11 minute mark,

00:57:24,470	minimum to 3 to 4 minutes, which we would again obtain our goal of a four minute response time 90% of the time. Uh, so it doesn’t replace any stations. It would be adding adding a station.

00:57:41,630	Um, one of the other things I wanted to mention earlier was when there is a structure fire, the NFPA standard is that we should be able to assemble anywhere from 17 to 18 firefighters on scene within eight minutes. So right now tonight, we have I think we have five people on duty.

00:58:00,800	So after we get station three built, we would want to have three firefighters at station one, station two, as well as station three to help us get closer to that number. That immediate response is where, uh, your success comes from when you’re trying to interject in an emergency situation. So you have to hit it.

00:58:18,100	You have to hit the situation very hard and very fast with a lot of personnel at once. So that’s the purpose of having people on duty in addition to trying to curb your response times.

00:58:41,330	Um, so when we looked at again at our ten year plan at the fire department, um, it became evident that we, we need to spend about anywhere from 12 to $14 million to build a fire station with emergency operations center. Um, as we mentioned earlier, we’re we’re looking for the long play here. If we’re going to build a building up there and we’re going to spend a couple million dollars, we want to make sure that it’s something that is going to last for a long time.

00:58:55,730	It’s going to well serve us for a long time. Um, I talked a little bit briefly about possibly an EOC. Um, currently, if Mandan needed an EOC, we work very closely with our partners at Morgan County, and we would go over to the basement of the Morgan County Courthouse and utilize their

00:59:13,470	EOC. Um, but if we can go out in the hallway here and look at pictures of three, four feet deep water, uh, in the building that we’re standing in or out on the street that we’re on, uh, we’re protected well, with our levee system, but things happen. So we’re looking at the long play.

00:59:36,000	If we’re going to build a building, it makes sense for us to build this thing. So we as a city and even a county for that matter, uh, can fall back to a building on the high ground that’s equipped with the technology.

00:59:52,370	Um, we’re in discussions with Morton County to see if there’s a way that we can work together on that. Uh, and those discussions are going very well. Um, what that looks like. We’re not exactly sure yet, but we’re going to continue those, uh, and then, of course, the truck to the truck and equipment for that station is very expensive.

01:00:09,930	Um, we’ve also looked at, um, our long term facility maintenance on station one and station two. As I mentioned earlier, station one is 2001, 2002. And, uh, these needs some improvements over the next coming years. And then station two again in the next ten, ten year range.

01:00:27,470	We’re going to need to update that to make sure that that building stays for a long time. Um, as mentioned, when we when we as a city and a fire department plan to building, we want to do it right, and we want to make sure that it’s going to be here for years to come.

01:00:37,670	One of the other things we want to point out is with this fire station, we’re not going to be fully hardened facility, but we do want to make it semi hardened. And what what I mean when I say that is, is if a tornado comes, we need to be able to respond.

01:00:50,600	We don’t want this building to tip over and crush our fire trucks or our firefighters. Um, so that we are working towards that as a design principle. And then also, um, with this funding package, we were looking at land for possibly station four at some point.

01:01:12,500	Station four is a long ways on the radar, but land is not going to get any cheaper. So if we know we’re going to need it, now’s the time to secure that land. At some point. And the question we get is, will my taxes go up? No, we do not plan to raise your taxes.

01:01:30,530	The starring sports complex three quarter cent sales tax is expected to be paid off 14 years early in late 2027 or 2028. At some point. Um, so it’s our, uh, suggestion and funding package or recommendation would be to go to a vote in June of 2026 and ask the voters to approve, uh, extending that sales tax or reallocating.

01:01:54,530	It’d be a so it would be replacing the three quarters cent sales tax that already exists today, which is being used to pay off the starring sports complex. And again, that’s, uh, happening 14 years earlier than anticipated. So it’s a it’s a sign that our sales tax is strong and our community is strong.

01:02:15,030	So what is a three quarter cent sales tax look like? Um, if you spent a dollar here’s the math on it. But if you’re anything like me, every time you stop somewhere, it’s at least $100. It’s never a dollar. So that’d be an $8.25 tax. And again, it would we wouldn’t be stacking taxes.

01:02:33,530	This would be once the starring sports complex taxes paid off, we would continue it and collect that money as a city and use it to fund this, uh, plan. The other question we get, uh, what is what is our sales tax getting out of hand? Um, well, again, we wouldn’t be increasing it. We would be keeping it the same as it is today.

01:02:49,000	And just for reference, Bismarck is 8% sales tax. So yes, we are higher, but only by 0.2 5%. Um, grant funding gets talked about a lot. We we are always seeking grants. We updated our fire station one and station two with, uh, exhaust recovery systems to the tune of just under $100,000. That was lost last year.

01:03:17,330	The boat that we recently purchased, that was, um, about half funded through grant money. We have a truck on order expected to be delivered. Uh, this coming fall. Yet that is about half grant money. Um, the six firefighters that we just started our fire academy with, uh, this last Monday were part of the Safer grant.

01:03:36,570	So we’re constantly exploring grant money. Mandan is kind of in a unique situation where we’re not a small town, but we’re not a big city. So that seems like a lot of those grants are geared for small town or big cities and not always. But, um, we’re continuing to scour for grants.

01:03:54,270	Um, we don’t see any that we’re finding right now. Uh, why don’t we co-op with man and Rural Fire Department? That’s a question we get asked a lot, and we work very well with men and rural fire department, um, mutual aid calls. We run with those guys quite a bit.

01:04:08,330	They run with us quite a bit. The problem is, is that they’re not staffed 24 over seven, so it doesn’t reduce our response times. They their firefighters are at home and then they get called in and come to the station and get a truck. And it won’t reduce our response time.

01:04:23,570	But again, we continue to work with both those entities. So what does our timeline look like? This is what I just mentioned a minute ago. In June of 2026, we would ask for the public support, uh, or go to a vote of the people, uh, if that vote passes in 2026, we would anticipate working through design, uh, through 2027 with a

01:04:43,900	groundbreaking sometime in 2027 with an anticipated opening in 2028. At some point, um, and again, we put in here, uh, because station one and station two are aging as we speak.

01:05:04,070	So we, we would as part of this funding package, we would want to make sure that those facilities are, uh, maintained to the point where they can serve as well into the future. Um, here’s a rendering that we have done on our, uh, fire station three. So this would be a three base station. It would house an engine company, uh, and a brush truck up there.

01:05:24,970	It would be designed to have 24, seven living quarters for up to four firefighters. And again, this, this particular concept that’s on the screen, uh, is with some office space on the main floor and EOC and emergency operations center, uh, and then the living quarters would be upstairs in this, this scenario, um, as I mentioned earlier, there are long term facilities.

01:05:46,270	We don’t want to we don’t want to be short sighted and not build it appropriately for a long term play for our city. So we plan to do a public engagement session. If this is, if this if we proceed forward tonight, um, at Retro Elementary on April 13th from 6 to 7:30 p.m.

01:06:07,670	and we plan to do lots of public engagement again, if this is successful tonight with approving the ballot language. Um, I threw a lot of information at you. Uh, is there any questions on the actual PowerPoint or how would you like to proceed with going into the resolution right away, or questions first? Uh, Mitch, could you, um, I’m sorry. Go ahead. Oh, you.

01:06:26,400	First, could you explain to the folks, um, what NFPA is and what they do? And also ISO. Thank you. Mayor. Uh, commissioners. Commissioner Sjoberg. Yeah. So NFPA is National Fire Protection Association. They are the industry standard across the country. Um, that established standards for what communities? And, uh, municipalities across our country are.

01:06:53,700	That’s the legal standard and set safety standards for all kinds of activities. From what type of gear we wear to our response times to, um, building code, uh, where tanks can be placed and such. So that is the industry standard for that.

01:07:19,130	ISO is an insurance services organization, which means they go around and they evaluate communities and almost give your community. It’s like a credit score. Uh, it’s not a credit card. It’s an insurance score is what it is. And 1 to 10 is what they rate your community at as your community.

01:07:35,730	Uh, if you have no fire department, it would be a ten on a score of 1 to 10. If you have class, one is the best fire department, uh, fully staffed, fully equipped with response times. You know, under that four minute mark, 90% of the time, uh, with a, you know, 17 minimum people on duty.

01:07:54,730	Currently, we are class three department, uh, in the city of Mandan. And what that is, is your insurance companies use that rating or may use that rating? I have to be careful how we say that, because some some do, some don’t. Uh, but they may use that rating to adjust your premiums based on your ISO class. I don’t I kind of set a lot of words here.

01:08:10,230	I don’t know, I hope I covered your you did question. Thank you. You did. Thank you. Chief bits, I want to clarify something. Um, when we look back at the sales tax today, um, if you could bring that slide back up. So out of $100 bill, the sales tax is $8.25.

01:08:36,600	But that is not the City of Man Downs. That you’ve got the state, you’ve got Morton County. And, uh, so and then the city. So that adds up to 825. Right? Mayor. Commissioners, that’s an excellent clarification. I probably glossed over that as as noted on the slide.

01:08:59,630	City of Mandan tax is 2.25% of that 8.25%. So yes, you are correct. Okay. Thank you. And then when we look at the, um, the growth pattern for Northwest Mandan, you could bring that circle back up. And what was the the homes were or property was 1500 up there. Yes. Uh, I think 1583 structures, if I’m not mistaken.

01:09:26,700	Okay. With a population of 3800. Yep. That’s what we estimate. So when we look at our projection maps, um, that area could grow by. I don’t know, 5 to 10,000 easily. Mayor, commissioners.

01:09:55,000	Um, I don’t have that future growth prediction number in the mine, but I know that, uh, there’s development underway as we speak and that area. And then there’s also a talk of, um, at some point in the long term future, another interchange out in that same direction. So the area is definitely primed for growth. I don’t have the exact number of what that number looks like, but definitely prime for growth.

01:10:11,700	Yeah, it has to because we can’t go east. Right. So we can go northwest. Um, and we can go south and uh, but yes, that area is going to be uh, the primary growth in Mandan in the next 25 to 50 years.

01:10:36,130	And so when we talk about so a fire station, when you look at our current one, fire station one, it’s 100 years old, right? So these structures aren’t we’re not going to wear it out in 30 years. So when we put the fire station there, it’s going to be there for 100 years.

01:10:50,000	And that’s why you want it hardened in the event of a natural disaster, a tornado, because the fire department is going to respond. And when we talk about an emergency operations center, again, everything is fine. But we are all in a floodplain. All of our emergency response services are in a floodplain.

01:11:14,530	So I think it would be very prudent, given the opportunity to have an emergency operations center potential if needed, outside of the floodplain. Yeah, mayor, that’s very well said. Um, as you mentioned, everything’s fine. Everything’s fine until it’s not. Until it’s not.

01:11:40,370	And, uh, we again, it’s a long term play and yes, it’s money. We don’t I mean, we don’t take that lightly. It’s money. But, um, as mentioned earlier, if we’re going to do it, it’s never going to get cheaper than it will be today. That much I can promise.

01:11:57,270	Any other questions for Mitch? Mayor? Chief, I just, uh, regarding to your man power resources, just to understand, you know, is it true to say that it takes roughly five people to make 124, seven day a week around the clock position? In other words, if you’re another, if you if your ideal is to have or right now to have three firemen on duty at all

01:12:17,100	times, it’s going to actually take 15 firemen to staff that station. Would that be correct? Mayor, commissioners, Commissioner. Rohr, 12 to 15. Depends on what you staff at. Yes. Um, okay. Yeah.

01:12:36,270	Just to recognize that it takes a number of manpower because when you’re going 24 over seven, it’s it takes a lot more people to provide the coverage or provide the services. And that’s all part of the cost. And, and police and fire alone, you know, the personnel services are high cost. Sometimes up to 80, 85% of the operating budget. So, uh, but it’s something you have to have.

01:12:54,200	Also, I was going to ask it just a curiosity. If a you have three officers, firemen working during the day and you have off duty firemen and you get a call, are they still paged out? I lost track of time. You still how did they get out? How did they get called? Yeah. So, mayor, commissioners, Commissioner. Rohr. Uh, yeah.

01:13:11,700	So if we have full time staff on duty and if there’s a medical call or a just a minor car accident, the on duty staff handle that. If there’s a fire call, we still rely heavily on our paid on call, our part time personnel.

01:13:25,030	Again, we don’t have enough staff. We don’t. We’re not getting rid of our part time people. We don’t have enough staff with our full time. So the part time paid on call, which used to be volunteers many years ago, they respond to the station and they get a truck, um, in respond to the scene as well.

01:13:41,530	Our off duty full time personnel will respond if there’s a like a confirmed structure fire or a confirmed entrapment in a vehicle or something like that. What mechanism is used, though to alert them? I’m sorry, mayor and commissioners. Commissioner, uh, we use our cell phones. There’s an app on our cell phone that is utilized.

01:13:58,400	Okay, this is my question. I use the old time, you know, pager. Sure. Yeah. Used to get page out of city commission meetings. Uh, when I didn’t want to pay a lot of attention to them. I was chief of chief of police. Hate them. But. Commissioner, maybe afterwards you can teach me some things.

01:14:15,570	So talk to me after meeting. I’ll show you some tricks. Email him on his BlackBerry. Any other questions for Chief Bits, mayor? Um, fellow commissioners, if I may. I’ve got one question. We heard the term EOC quite a bit, uh, and Morton County Emergency Management Director Pat Martin is in the audience.

01:14:41,270	Pat, I don’t need you three under the bus because we served together with Mandan Rural many years ago. Um, but if you could explain in a nutshell, Pat, what your geographic area is and what you do. You’re under the bus. I can hear the wheels are rolling. Oh, that’s that’s why I’m here.

01:15:07,000	Uh, Commissioner Schober got, um, Mr. mayor, commissioners, um, first of all, thank you for for having me inviting me up. Um, even with the, uh, long, potentially long answer.

01:15:37,270	But, um, so an emergency operations center, um, is basically can can, uh, be many different things, right? Um, particularly in Mandan and Morton County, uh, we we have a lot of events. Right. Uh, mass gathering events, um, and recently within the past two years, with some change in leadership, uh, we have really ramped up our efforts to plan for those events from a public safety standpoint. Uh, we’re involving emergency management. Um, fire police.

01:16:07,730	Um, EMS, private security. Um, so we bring all of those stakeholders together into one room during those events, and then we have an emergency action plan that if needed, we will implement. But we more importantly, are able to monitor those public gatherings, um, in real time. Um, and that’s done through an emergency operations center.

01:16:34,970	Um, currently, um, under our current infrastructure that we have the, our emergency operations center, like Chief Bit spoke about is a shared, um, environment in that, um, we’ve been operating out of the law enforcement center for, um, for those events.

01:17:00,700	Um, but yet at the end of the day, those are shared. That’s a shared building. Right? Um, many shared jurisdictions which, um, it works for us. But, um, I think if we take a look at historically, particularly, uh, dapple, uh, particularly the 2011 flood that affected Mandan and Morton County, um, our emergency operations center operated out of the law enforcement center, and that

01:17:32,730	was problematic. Uh, I talked to, um, some of the staff that worked during that time, particularly the flood, and, um, one of the things that he talked about was the the inability to have a private space to accomplish some tasks. Right.

01:17:57,330	Uh, he talked about in particular, every day he needed to prepare a briefing for the, uh, political leadership, uh, whether it was the city or the county. So that that, uh, that leadership could, uh, have a meeting with, um, Bismarck, burly leadership, um, and he had to leave that shared environment, um, and find a, an office space in the courthouse,

01:18:23,870	uh, so that he could accomplish that. So the emergency operations Center is is when it’s up and running is a very busy place. Right. We have a planning section. We have operations section, we have finance sections. All those sections are staffed. Right. Um, so to my point, a lot of people are coming in and out.

01:18:48,930	Um, they come up to that particular staff member and say, hey, uh, Joel, I need this or that. Well, Joel’s in the middle of getting a briefing done for for leadership.

01:19:12,130	So that that was an example of some past, um, past examples of where if we had that type of facility that, uh, that we’re looking at, maybe planning for would alleviate that. Um, I guess to answer your question to, uh, Commissioner Sjoberg, emergency management as a whole, um, I get that question a lot, right? Um, so the quick answer is basically FEMA at the local level. Um, the longer answer is, excuse me.

01:19:40,270	We work as as a coordinating source for local emergencies. Right? All all emergencies begin local and local. We may bring the state in for assistance. We may bring the federal government in for assistance, depending on the emergency or the disaster. But, um, emergency management is at the core of that.

01:20:02,600	And coordinating all of the effort of that response. Um, for example, if, um, a prime example of of how we would help coordinate a local response here in Mandan, uh, for example, is, um, particularly when that disaster exceeds the capabilities of the locals, then we as emergency management can come in. And number one, help with the response.

01:20:33,600	We’re doing that from the get go. But, um, we can reach out to the state and, uh, because we have those relationships established and, um, you know, look at what type of resources the state can bring. Um, and then, of course, that can bounce up, like I said before, to the federal level as well.

01:20:55,430	So we’re that coordinating body. Um, for the whole jurisdiction of Morgan County. Um, you know, the city of Mandan, obviously New Salem, flasher, Almont, Hebron, um, and Glen Allen and everywhere in between. So we work very closely with our with our emergency responders.

01:21:20,530	We want to have a great relationship with them. Um, I think today I can say that we do as the Office of Emergency Management in Morton County, um, our working relationship with the locals here in, in, in, uh, Mandan is probably the best that I’ve seen in, you know, since probably 20 years, honestly. So thank you, Pat. Appreciate it. Yeah.

01:21:47,130	Thank you Pat. Any other questions for Chief? So I guess, uh, if there’s no further questions specifically related to like the fire station or anything like that, the the formal action item would be to, um, to carry on to pass the resolution, solidifying the ballot language. Um, for the June 2026 election.

01:22:21,930	And again, uh, it’s this would be not increasing the tax. It would be replacing the tax. The purpose of the tax. The purpose of the tax would be. Yes. Yeah. So, mayor, commissioners are going. Yes.

01:22:48,130	And and in true transparency, instead of extending it out as it was voted to 2041, uh, once it’s paid off, it is felt that it should be submitted back to the citizens to decide how they want to use it again. Correct. Uh, mayor. Commissioners. That is correct. Um, one thing. I’m going to use your words. You just said we want to be transparent, um, as as a city, as a fire department, as a park district.

01:23:12,670	If people voted on something, we we say what we’re going to do, and we do what we’re going to say, and we follow through on that. So, um, that is the intention to be clear and transparent, that this would be to, uh, be used for the fire department, for station three and the trucks and equipment for that.

01:23:30,770	Okay. One, we paid off the Star and Sports Complex 14 years early, and now we’re asking for that sales tax to be reallocated for the new fire station. And the upkeep of the other two. That is correct. Yes. Commissioners. I’ll move to approve the attached resolution in ballot language as presented. Second.

01:23:59,530	We have a motion by Commissioner Haynes on a second by Commissioner Sjoberg. Any further discussion? Hearing none. Roll call, please. Commissioners. Rohr. Yes. Yes. Pine. Sean. Yes. Ron. Yes. Mayor. Froelich. Yes. And this is bitter irony. We’ll move to item number three.

01:24:33,270	Second consideration of ordinance number 1484, floodplain Ordinance 105 for four are the Mandan Code of Ordinances. Jordan. Good evening. Mayor. Commissioners. Yeah, definitely some irony there.

01:24:51,670	And I would also take this opportunity to, uh, say if you have a house or residence or any, any type of structure that does have some low lying area with the temps coming up to what they are later this week, it might be a great opportunity to check out your sump pumps and low lying areas of your home. So hey, let’s let’s get that in there too. So pro. Tip. Um, this is the second consideration of ordinance 1484. The floodplain ordinance that we would be replacing.

01:25:11,300	Um, I have no other comments. No, um, public comments that I have received between now and the in the first consideration. So any questions for me? Any questions for Jordan? Nope. Thank you Jordan. Thank you commissioners. I move to approve the second and final consideration of ordinance number 1484. As presented.

01:25:38,670	Second motion by Commissioner Rohrs, second by Commissioner Haynes. On any further discussion. Hearing none. Roll call. Commissioners. Sjoberg. Yes. Heinsohn. Yes. Ron. Yes. Roar. Yes. Mayor. Froelich. Yes. Item number four. Consider a resolution to adjust the rate at which extra duty police is build. Chief Ziegler. Mr. Mayor and Commissioners. Currently. Um, the police department occasionally gets requests.

01:26:04,030	From, uh, you know, private or public organizations to come and work and off what we call extra duty or off duty work in the city under the city ordinance. Currently, it’s $55 an hour for that. That’s helped to reimburse the cost of the officer and equipment.

01:26:22,400	Uh, it hasn’t been changed in probably about eight years. So that cost is is one up. There’s, um, you know, the cost of doing business is going up the current $55 barely covers the salary of an officer at its current state.

01:26:43,100	There’s some officers with their salaries and wages that will exceed at time and a half, the $55 an hour. So therefore, the city is losing money. Um, and it’s my belief that that should be the responsibility. Whoever is hiring for that extra duty to pay that so the taxpayers don’t have to.

01:26:59,630	So my request is to move to move that from a $55 to a $75 fee or billing fee for any entity that wants to hire a police officer for extra duty or off duty purposes. Uh, we only get a few requests a year, but, uh, um, with the special events and more private businesses coming in and doing things that could increase, and I think it’s only fair to the

01:27:21,030	citizens that they don’t pay that that the entity that is hosting that event pays it. And I’m free for any questions. Any questions for Chief Zeigler.

01:27:45,470	Chief, um, I know I’m working on something now with one of my portfolios, and, uh, that that’s a Fargo, uh, operation that, uh, wants to use one of our facilities. So, uh, be honest with you, I don’t know if there’s any other out of Bismarck. Mandan areas that are asking that. I just know the one. But that is a two and a half day event. And I use that just as an example.

01:28:07,330	Uh, they’re not requesting any law enforcement, fire or EMS. However, they are requesting the use of our facility. So there is merit to your request. In my opinion. Thank you. Sir. Okay. Any other questions for Chief Ziegler? If not your wishes.

01:28:36,730	I’ll move to approve increasing the police extra duty billing rate from $55 per hour to $75 per hour for extra duty services, when requested by any organization or person. Second. We have a motion by Commissioner Hinshaw and a second by Commissioner Sjoberg. Any further discussion? Hearing none. Roll call. Commissioners. Hein? Sean. Yes. Yes. Roar. Yes. Spielberg. Yes. Mayor. Froelich. Yes. There is no other business tonight. Future meeting dates to the board of City Commissioner are as follows.

01:29:07,130	Tuesday, April 7th at 530 and after the Commission meeting, the Board of Equalization will meet at 7 p.m. Tuesday, April 21st, 530 and Tuesday, May 5th at 530. And with that, as always, be kind to yourself. Be kind to your neighbor.

01:29:40,400	It’s onward and upward, Mandan, and we will leave you with a bit of a Irish prayer tonight in honor of Saint Patrick’s Day, Commissioner Sjoberg. All right. Um, the following words are commonly known as an Irish blessing. And, uh, when I sing, the water shuts itself off in the house. So we’re just going to read this to you all. May the road rise to meet you.

01:30:04,270	May the wind be always at your back. May the sun shine warm upon your face. The rains fall gently on your fields. And until we meet again. May God hold you in the palm of his hand. May God hold you in the palm of his hand. Thank you.

01:30:23,930	Thank you. And with that, I feel like we should cue the Lawrence Welk. Good night. Meeting is adjourned. Thank