00:00:11,800	It’s 5:00. Is there a chaplain? Could he get in? I guess we don’t have a chaplain. All right. First thing we’re going to do is Pledge of Allegiance. Pledge allegiance. To the flag. Of the United States of America. And to the republic for which it stands.

00:00:38,170	One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. Thank you. We’ll call the March 16th, 2026 meeting of the Burleigh County Park Board. To order. First item is roll call. The members. Uh, Commissioner Herman here. Commissioner Woodcox here. Commissioner Munson here. Commissioner Bakken here. Commissioner. Schwab. Here. Commissioner Behm here. Okay.

00:01:14,430	Yeah. Here. Just a chopped liver here. Um, just the one running to me. Approval of approval of the agenda. Any changes or anything? Gentlemen, move to approve. Second. Motion and second to approve the agenda. Any further discussion? Call the roll. Commissioner Woodcox. Yes. Commissioner Munson. Yes. Commissioner Bakken. Yes, Commissioner. Schwab. Yes, Commissioner. Behm. Yes. Commissioner. Herman. Yes.

00:01:36,370	Chairman. Bitner. Yes. Motion carries. Next is consideration of February 17th, 2026. Meeting minutes. I don’t see anything on there about the bills. Should be no bills. That should be part of the normal bills. Mister chair, I read and will move to approve the February 17th meeting minutes. Second motion and second to approve the minutes.

00:01:56,630	Any further discussion? Call the roll. Commissioner Munson. Yes, Commissioner. Bakken. Yes, Commissioner. Schwab. Yes, Commissioner. Herman. Yes. Commissioner. Bane. Yes. Commissioner Woodcox. Yes. Motion carries. Um. Next is public comment. It’s restricted to Burleigh County residents and landowners. And this is obviously public comment relative to the county park board.

00:02:22,370	Um, does anybody wish to speak? Public comments for the park board game, for the record. Terry. Mister chairman, good evening. Commissioners. For the record, my name is Terry Fleck. I live in Bismarck and Burleigh County. I’m here tonight to ask for your help. And that question is, does the possibility exist, Mr. Munson? Mr. Bakken, Mr.

00:02:44,170	Bitner, that we could leave the keelboat boat ramp open until it can’t be? I see no reason why it needs to be fenced off and access denied to a group of people who pay their taxes and are good citizens. And so if the foundation can’t find a way to let us use it until we can’t.

00:03:02,730	I’d like to have them explain to you why that is the case, because it’s the only quiet water ramp on the river in the city, and we’d like to be able to use it until we can’t. My guess is they have a plan, and at some point, I’m.

00:03:16,230	I suspect they have a construction permit, as I understand it now. Finally. So at some point they’ll start construction. But it would be nice, Mr. Chairman and commissioners, if we could use it until we can’t. Thank you. Okay.

00:03:30,730	Well, I guess I’m not sure who we would even talk to about that. It’s not a county park. No. Mr. chair, I received two phone calls this week. Already on it. Um, I reached out to the park board. The Bismarck Park board. Even though I knew that wasn’t the right place. But I wanted to catch all the options.

00:03:46,530	Um, Bismarck, Parks and Rec sent me to the city. Uh, I do have a phone call into the mayor to discuss it. Um, I do know that the city owns the land, and the city has the. Is the one that decided to rededicate that area to a different type of park.

00:04:03,600	Uh, I certainly would agree with Terry’s comment that while they’re in the process, it’d be a nice bill to use it. Um, but I have sent that information up the chain. Okay. This will get back to you. Thank you. You’re welcome. Thanks for bringing it up. Anybody else? County Park board, public comment. Third call.

00:04:25,000	Anybody else? I’m going to close the public comment. Period. Um. Number six, Commissioner Munson, consideration of mowing quotes. Long range plan for the park board and transfer pickup from the highway department to the park board. Commissioner Munson, thank you, Mister chair. Uh, in front of you. The first item is, uh, the mowing contracts. Um, we.

00:04:45,270	Every year, um, the Bismarck Park board under our direction put out, uh, bid requests to several local agencies to mow the lawn in front of you. You have the, uh, the tally, uh, for the parks, and they’ve we’ve listed out all the parks.

00:05:07,630	We’ve given them a map of each item that they need to mow, uh, in front of you. You have three bids for that area I would move to approve to accept bids, man. Outdoor services for their monthly fee of 29, 28 and $0.60. Second. You have a motion and a second for an outdoor services. Any further discussion? Call the roll. Commissioner. Bakken. Yes. Commissioner. Schwab. Yes. Commissioner. Behm. Yes, Commissioner. Herman.

00:05:35,370	Yes, Commissioner. Woodcox. Yes. Commissioner. Munson. Yes. Chairman. Bitner. Yes. Motion carries. Um. There was nothing on the Missouri Valley complex then. There is. But that’s not under the park board. That is coming up later on. Item 12. Okay. Sounds good. So.

00:06:00,530	With that thought, um, kind of the long range, uh, vision for the park board, and I just wanted to give, uh, tidbits of my thought processes and some questions that I’ve sent off to State’s attorney lawyer for some answers, as well as to the treasurer’s department to get some handle on the finance side of it.

00:06:20,900	Uh, I’m envisioning without the the use or without the services of the Bismarck Park Board. Um, envisioning of a Burleigh County Park board that would actually include the Missouri Valley complex, uh, would involve possibly a manager.

00:06:41,230	Obviously, we’re, you know, talked later on buying a pickup, but as we are growing in the services, I can tell you that today I had at least two hours today working on different park board projects. That would have been nice to hand off to a manager.

00:07:03,000	Uh, last week with the, uh, the Kimball Bottoms uh, project that is going through the permitting processes, there’s a lot of time that I’ve spent in the last several weeks to a month on that as well. So I see our park district growing. Um, I see the services being, uh, brought to us and us only. Um, so I keep thinking about this larger picture and having the complex to be under the park board as well. Uh, that’s a legal question for Julie.

00:07:25,470	I don’t know if those two can be merged. Um, and Julie was not only on vacation, but also a caseload that is, uh, beyond human comprehension. So I’m not pushing for any answers anytime soon. Uh, but I did want to give you guys a little bit of a heads up of some of the thoughts that I’m I’m working through. Commissioner Buck.

00:07:45,300	Um, Commissioner Munson. So as part of that vision plan with all these different pieces, because, you know, one of the things we’re going to have to address is accessibility to the waterfront as well.

00:07:59,630	So, so the city of Bismarck seems to not want to be involved with allowing access to the waterfront. Um, then I see us taking a bigger role in that. Is that, uh, some of the questions you’ve got for, uh, State’s Attorney as far as what partnerships look like or, you know, because if we’re going to build out future boat ramps or whatever that looks like, I can imagine that’s going to wind up

00:08:19,330	being county park district plus relationships. Relationships with the corps and game and fish and all of that. And so, yeah. Uh, we even talked about at the this table, uh, six months ago, uh, looking at options for another ramp because we knew the city was shutting down, uh, keelboat

00:08:38,530	within the city. Uh, I can tell you that the park district is also looking at growing Fox Island within their boundaries, that they have. Um, but at that point, we still don’t have enough access to the river.

00:08:57,630	Um, I know I’m also I mean, just as as a benefit for everybody else, just some of the other things that are happening within that park district. Um, you know, last year we talked about this, uh, Ada ramp, uh, at, uh, nifL, and I did get an update last week. Uh, the the concrete is cast and everything is in play. The permits are done, the engineers are ready.

00:09:15,900	We’re still looking for one volunteer or one donation, if you will, for flat work, for concrete work, for sidewalks and things that go up to the ramp. But, uh, as soon as we have good enough conditions to start moving equipment in and items in that ramp will be put into place. Um, this spring.

00:09:35,100	Uh, so we’re ready for that. Uh, we have also started the 404, uh, permit process. Thank you. To, uh, the highway department that that helped get that in front of the county water resource district. Uh, typically, that’s something that the park district handled for us.

00:09:54,600	But now, uh, Dan and Casey got that in front of the water resource district. And so they are in that process. Uh, I’ve talked to the folks that are filling out the applications so that we can dredge both of the ramps again to make sure we have good access. Uh, I did have some folks reach out to me from Misty water area.

00:10:10,430	Um, once we get to that point, they would like to hire the same contractor because they’ve got some stuff on their side that needs to be cleaned out as well, and better access to to the river itself. Um, and so they’re working through that process as well. Thank you. Yeah. Chair. Commissioner Swanson. I’m just wondering, Commissioner Munson.

00:10:31,970	What are you, short? Short. Money wise, if you need one more donor. One more. For that. Or the flat work for the concrete sidewalk and stuff that goes up to the Ada ramp. How much? Um, they were guessing about 8 or $9000.

00:10:55,730	We’re actually looking for one of our local concrete folks that would donate the labor. Uh, knife River has already donated the ready mix, so we’re just looking for, uh, that contractor that can set forms and pour it. I did reach out to the gentleman that did the work for us up at Steckel.

00:11:15,070	Uh, and he was looking for the plans so that he could give us an idea if that was something that he would work on for us. Okay. Um, back to your conversation about a manager or something. You know, we tried that years ago, and then kind of fell apart there, too. Um, just wonder if that might not be something that would be handled. Uh, the county administrator as well.

00:11:37,370	Kind of the reason I’ve been holding off. That’s in play. And so, uh, we Pam and I have developed the job description for it. Um, but I think that administrator would be a huge help in that case. For the paperwork related stuff. I don’t think that would replace a. Park ranger person. No. Yep.

00:11:57,630	Okay. Yep. The the amount of paperwork for the federal government to apply for a grant is unbelievable. Did you try the garrison. Diversion? I didn’t, I did not. Well, they came out and said they’re not going to give us any money anyways. Right.

00:12:24,900	We actually thought about sending the application, but we didn’t really want to attend upon the whole process. So we were going to get denied for it anyway because it’s not recreation. It’s actually, you know, repair of of, uh, waterway. I tell you what, I am going to that meeting and Carrington, get your application. I’ll carry it up there. If you want to waste your time.

00:12:48,870	Well, I didn’t really want to pay the engineers to waste their time to do it. It was cheaper just to let that let that one go. Okay. Let’s move ahead. Okay. Uh, the next item on the list is transferring a pickup from the highway department to the park board.

00:13:06,530	Uh, obviously, with us now taking on the maintenance of the parks themselves, we needed that transportation piece. Uh, the highway department was gracious enough. They actually have a one or a 2017 Chevy crew cab, uh, with about 160,000 miles. Kelley Blue Book sits at 9690. Uh, they were willing to sell it to the park board for that.

00:13:28,470	Um, obviously, I don’t have the funds in my budget this year. Uh, as we were not expecting these kinds of expenses when we put our budget together a year ago. Um, talking with Taylor and the finance department, we can do a couple different options. Uh, we could use a Burleigh County.

00:13:50,370	Um, funds or, um, no, I just lost the word reserve funds or what? I’m. What I’m suggesting is that we rent the pickup for the remainder of this year for a $500 a month, uh, and then being able to budget for the remaining 5190, uh, for the 27 series. So that makes it clean. Uh, talking to Dan and Casey.

00:14:14,900	They were fine with that option as well. Uh, looking through my budget. Um, I would have to take a little bit of money from each one of my ramp budgets. Uh, to make this happen. It will not be easy. It’ll be tight.

00:14:32,000	Because, again, we weren’t planning on this kind of expense. Um, but those are the two options that I have. Okay. Sure. Commissioner Bakken. Um. Commissioner Munson. Um, we talked about whether we needed a half ton or a three quarter ton. So this is a half ton. Yep. It is. Would the plan to be looking for a three quarter ton later or.

00:14:54,600	Well, and then talking with Dan and Casey and the opportunities or the time frame that we would actually need a three quarter ton to pull the trailer or the dump trailer. Uh, the highway department would rent us or allow us to use one of their vehicles at a certain hourly rate as we needed.

00:15:11,000	And so it made more sense to buy a good half ton. Now, at this point and, and be able to rent a three quarter ton as needed later on. Perfect. Thank you. Better fuel mileage, better maintenance, better everything. Okay. Anybody else? I’d like your thoughts.

00:15:42,900	Would we want to rent to own, or should we ask for reserve funds? I make a. Motion that we rent. To own. , and. Then in 27, take care of the rest. Did you hear me? Yep. Mm. Second. Okay. We have a motion to rent. Own. Um, with. The. Rest of it coming up for the budget in 27. Commissioner Botkin.

00:16:06,530	Um, were there any terms on on that as far as interest or anything with the. They didn’t ask for any terms. So I they’re both shaking their head. No. So just straight across. Straight across the board. Yep. Okay.

00:16:20,000	I guess for the benefit of the public, the reason that we’re having the conversation is because for the most part, those kind of purchases under the highway department were made with highway dollars, not tax dollars. Correct. Yep. And so in order to keep everything appropriate, you need to take budget from one place and and pay to the other department. So it keeps everything straight and narrow. Absolutely.

00:16:44,000	Keeps it clean. Yep. Any other discussion on the motion? Call the roll. Commissioner Schwab. Yes. Commissioner. Behm. Yes, Commissioner. Herman. Yes. Commissioner. Woodcox. Yes, Commissioner. Munson. Yes. Commissioner. Botkin. Yes. Chairman. Bitner. Yes. Motion carries. Any other. Um. Any other business? For the good of Burleigh County Park board. Seeing none. All adjourn the county park board. Thank you. Gentlemen.

00:17:11,000	Just a reminder, given the new relationship that this park board has with the United States Army Corps of Engineers. And, Jeff, you might want to make sure they’re all aware of it. The ALP meeting, the spring ALP meeting with the Corps of Engineers is this month.

00:17:25,600	This board has not participated in the past. As a matter of fact, we hardly ever seen anyone from the county and or the park board. So I’m encouraging you to be there. It’s going to be a challenging year for water levels on the big lake, as well as the river and access.

00:17:36,270	So I encourage one of you to make an effort to get to the AOPA meetings. There’s a spring and fall. Thank you. Mr. Chairman. Thank you. Thank you. Chair. Okay, well, I already adjourn the park board. Thank you. Gentlemen. The call to March 16th, 2026, meeting of the Burleigh County Commission to order. Um, first item is roll call. Members.

00:18:00,170	Commissioner Woodcox here. Commissioner. Munson. Commissioner. Baskin. Yes. Commissioner. Schwab. Here. Chairman. Bitner. Here. Okay. I had a request from somebody to move the garrison diversion discussion up from the last position to probably here under, uh, either public comment or consent agenda. Before we get into the public hearing. Anybody have any problem with.

00:18:28,800	That? Me on behind consent. Yeah, I think we’ll do it behind the consent. Okay, so that’s taking item 13. Moving it behind item six. You’ll probably learn the reason why we’re doing that. Um, when we get to that part of the discussion, any other changes, additions, anything to the agenda? Mr.

00:19:00,530	chair, I kind of have wondered if we wanted to put all of it in front of the public hearing, but I it’s kind of a the folks stay the whole meeting or. Well, I think every one of these is a real, um, minor thing.

00:19:20,270	So if we if we did that, we’d probably dispense with a lot of, a lot of minor stuff to be heard and get done before the public hearing. Yeah. Because I’m sure that’s going to run late. That’s going to run a while. Okay. Commissioner first. Any other thoughts on that? I’m okay with doing that.

00:19:40,000	Um, so basically what we’ll do is we’ll move item number eight to after item 13. How is that? So how about after 1213 forward. Yeah. Well that same difference right. Okay. We’ll do that after 12. Get a motion to approve the amended agenda. Please. Second motion and second to approve the agenda. Any further discussion? Call the roll. Commissioner Munson. Yes, Commissioner. Bakken.

00:20:08,800	Yes, Commissioner. Schwab. Yes. Commissioner. Woodcox. Yes, chairman. Bitner. Yes. Motion carries. Consideration of the March 2nd, 2026 meeting. Minutes and bills. I did the bills. Looked at them. I couldn’t find anything wrong. And I couldn’t find anything wrong with the minutes. So I moved to approve both.

00:20:33,070	Second motion and second to approve the minutes and the bills. Any further discussion? Call the roll. Commissioner Botkin. Yes. Commissioner. Schwab. Yes, Commissioner. Woodcox. Yes. Commissioner. Munson. Yes, chairman. Bitner. Yes. Motion carries. Next item is public comment. Obviously, it’s public comment for something other than, uh, other than the public hearing. Anybody have anything to wish to speak about under public comment? Long time no see.

00:21:01,170	Chairman, vintner and commissioners. Good evening. For the record. My name is Terry Fleck. I live in Bismarck, Burleigh County, and I’m here tonight. I’ve not been able to attend or watch from afar. The discussions on the Garrison Conservancy District and Commissioner Woodcox, I understand that’s in your portfolio.

00:21:21,530	I just could I get some clarity? Is that in anybody’s portfolio? No. It’s not. A portfolio. What would someone be willing to explain to me? Do. We’re talking about $760,000. Is that correct? Roughly. Yep. That’s pretty close. 10 million. 300,000? Well. Yeah, I’m talking 760,000 per. Year in. The year. For thinking about over the last however. Many years.

00:21:43,470	So my question is, is if we leave the conservancy district, the $760,000 is money that you can do something else with on behalf of the constituents in the county. No. I just don’t. Collect it. The Garrison Conservancy is a separate entity. I understand. Yep. So it’s not something that. I’m. Just asking a question. Yep.

00:22:00,770	Sort of setting the stage. Chair. Mr. Munson, thank you. So I’m here tonight to talk on behalf of Christy and myself, and you can correct me at any time that you want to, but on my property tax statement, if I understand this process correctly, it costs us $24.

00:22:24,070	80 to participate in the Garrison Conservancy District. That’s roughly $0.07 a day. And I just want to make sure you’re clear. I get confused by the discussions we’re prepared to continue our participation at $24.80 a year, because that’s all you’re going to save us. Is that correct? Okay. You’re shaking your head. Yes. Commissioner Munson. Yep.

00:22:51,100	So you’re going to save our family $24.80. So I just want you to understand. We feel as a family, given the importance of the Missouri River. And I want to say this publicly, the Missouri River is the most important resource in the state of North Dakota, second only to its people.

00:23:14,170	And if you’re going to do a jigsaw puzzle, it is imperative to understand that no one piece of the puzzle is more important than the other. But what’s imperative is that you understand the big picture.

00:23:35,470	And so at our house, we see the river and the Conservancy district and the Missouri River Recovery Plan, and the EA program and the Missouri River Joint Water Board and the and the Burleigh County Water Resource District and the Missouri River Recovery Implementation Committee, and all that goes on with the Park board as a much bigger picture. Commissioner Botkin, you suggested that it’s a statewide thing.

00:23:55,000	I agree with you, but the reality is, is if we walk away, do you have an expectation that we’re going to be welcomed and greeted and you’re going to be allowed to to speak your mind and allow this to become a statewide issue? You asking me that? I know I’m talking to Commissioner. But they’ll they’ll let us back for 750,000 a year. May I continue? Mr. Chairman? Yeah. Go ahead.

00:24:10,300	So I just wanted to make sure you’re clear. The question that I have is that according to this property tax statement by Mark King, correct me if I’m wrong. There’s $20 in $0.50 for the Soil Conservation District.

00:24:28,000	And so my question to all of you would be, we live in Bismarck. Is there any particular reason why we have to pay that $20.50? Is there a benefit to us? No. Not that I’m aware of. Okay.

00:24:46,530	And the other question I would ask, and this would be the Commissioner Bakken, as you talk about a statewide issue, any reason why, given the amount of money that we give to higher education in this state, that we as citizens on our property tax statement have to be $28? And I can’t read that without my glasses. I apologize. $24.30 to the medical center. That’s great. I think we’re going to have these conversations.

00:25:03,100	These are conversations you need to include. All of us have a have a public, have a hearing and include the and provide us with an opportunity to come in and have an open and honest and intellectual discussion about the issue. You’re going to go to you’re going to go to Carrington, you’re going to raise all this hell.

00:25:16,530	You’re going to say, we’re not paying it. We’re going to leave. And and so it costs. It costs us $0.07 a day. So, I mean, if the citizens of early Bismarck are can’t afford the $7.07 a day, I understand.

00:25:34,630	But I think there’s a lot of misinformation that money isn’t coming back in some way in terms of property tax relief or any sort of thing. We have a responsibility as citizens to understand the value of the river.

00:25:51,070	And so, in closing, Mister Chairman, the commissioners, I’d encourage you not to go to Carrington, not to ask to be let out of the Conservancy district, but to some of us spend some time to get a greater understanding of just exactly all that goes with it as a jigsaw puzzle. Big picture. And I thank you for this time. I really appreciate it. I hope I didn’t take more than $24.80 worth of. Your. Time, so thank. You. Anybody else wish to.

00:26:10,830	Speak? So is this about the Conservancy district? No. Agenda item? No. Well, that kind of hijacked that. We’ll we’ll talk about the garrison diversion when we get to that agenda item. So then I’ll wait. Okay, okay. Public comment on anything that’s not on the agenda.

00:26:32,170	How’s that? I’m going to close the public comment period. Next is the consent agenda. Commissioners move to. Approve second. Motion and second to approve the consent agenda. Any further discussion, call the. Roll. Commissioner. Schwab. Yes, Commissioner. Woodcox. Yes, Commissioner. Munson. Yes. Commissioner. Bakken. Yes. Chairman. Bitner. Yes. Motion carries. Next. Uh. You know, Ed moved 13 up. Um, so we’re going to talk about the garrison divisions.

00:27:06,270	Okay. Commissioner Schwab, do you want to. I want to take up on that. Well, you know, I, I understand what was just said. $24, but why are we giving over $10 million of taxpayers money to the garrison diversion? If you haven’t watched that meeting that is on the uh, county website.

00:27:45,870	They come right out and say they’re not paying for any water projects for us, it’s as clear. And what’s the reason Bertie County has enough citizens. They can tax them to tax for their water projects. Well, I’ll tell you what. Taking $10 million out of the economy over a period of time, it adds up. And we’re streamlining this.

00:28:16,970	We we’re streamlining our county now. And Commissioner, Commissioner Barkan mentioned, you know, every time you cut garrison your version, you can’t touch them. And yet, if you watch that meeting. They say they collected too much money.

00:28:41,330	What are they going to do with that money? Well, we got to move this money over here to here, get our story straight with the legislature. That’s what you call a slush fund. And the county should not be involved with anything like that. Plus, hey, pretty soon it’s going to be $1 million a year, and it can stay in the county.

00:29:09,230	Now, another thing about the garrison diversion, the county cannot give out grants. But the money that goes to the garrison diversion can give out grants anywhere. So we want money from the garrison diversion. We have to ask for our money, which makes no sense. The other thing that doesn’t make sense. You never hear him talking about the Boundary Waters anymore.

00:29:35,800	The Boundary Waters are the Red River. And the garrison version is not paying to get that three 3 foot or 4. Foot. Pipeline. And it’s the federal government and probably the state. However, that will go to Fargo. There’s Moorhead.

00:30:03,100	Well, we might use it in a drought year all the way up the line to Canada. Every county on the Minnesota side of the border once said water starts going. It’s going to stick a hose into that river for good old Missouri water. Why aren’t they paying their way on the garrison version? That’s the question.

00:30:27,070	Why are we paying to get water to the west western Minnesota? There’s a lot more to this than people realize. Uh, to be honest with you, I think when they make statements that, uh, you know, they’re not going to pay for for, uh, water projects, etc.

00:30:50,000	, give us a couple of swing sweats, swing sets now and then it’s time for them to go to the Carrington drugstore and get a pound of that, uh, reality powder. Three times a day. They should be taking it, because those days are gone. It adds up, and it’s morally wrong for us to be supporting this. And, like was stated, it just goes away from your from your tax statement.

00:31:16,170	It might not be much, but a lot of this stuff is adding up. And uh, there’s some people, by the way, that I know that are paying $40 a month. Uh, excuse me, a year to the garrison. It depends on what? What their meals are and stuff.

00:31:33,370	But the main fact is you need to watch that meeting. And the way they downgraded the citizens in Burleigh County was atrocious. That was just stunned by by what was said. They don’t mind taking money from the bigger counties and giving a smaller ones.

00:31:59,370	Garrison version last year, I believe, had a $220 million budget. They didn’t get that from the counties. There are kind of money changers. A pass through federal funds for these water projects. When the southwest pipeline went in, they were asked right here by me, how much money did you put in it? None. But they were taking credit. for it.

00:32:26,630	They said, well, you know, we have the south part of Bismarck would not be developed if it was that for them. Well, Morton County doesn’t belong to them. And they developed the south side of Mandan. So the thing about it is.

00:32:54,000	They actually are a pass through money changing operation that the state could easily the state water board could do, and we wouldn’t have to pay this kind of money to keep them relevant. I mean, it it is crazy. So when you when you look at it and you start putting the pieces together.

00:33:20,070	I don’t understand why they’re doing things out of the garrison version district and those counties do not belong into it. I think they they help with the Stark County, that’s all the Dickinson they were crowing about that they don’t belong to the district. We pay for it. And it’s a principle of the thing that people in this county shouldn’t have to do that. Commissioner Bakken, you wanted to.

00:33:40,800	I will not argue that there’s value to garrison diversion. Uh, the authority problem I’ve got is why are a small number of member counties paying for the administration of an agency that functions basically as an NGO in North Dakota that should be under the water board, because the part of the problem is who are they accountable to?

00:34:03,800	There’s no recourse from a taxpayer’s perspective when it comes to who does the audit for them. It’s not the auditor’s office, it’s not the state auditor’s office. There’s a lot of value for the entire state of North Dakota.

00:34:22,000	But the scenario that we’re living in right now is a small group of the member counties are paying for the benefits across the entire state. There’s a lot of benefits that come with garrison diversion. Most notably is protecting our accessibility into the Missouri River.

00:34:43,800	But why isn’t the entire state paying for that? That’s a benefit for the entire state across the board, every county benefits in North Dakota for that. And where I have a problem is we’re not seeing the return on that investment that we’re paying in a mill. And granted our mills about 760, um, Cass County is the highest paying, uh, member there at 1.3 million. Uh, but those numbers just continue to go up.

00:35:04,270	We’re not seeing the benefit for that. The state is. I’ll never argue the fact that the state’s getting benefit out of it, but we as Burleigh County residents are not. And that’s where I have a problem with it.

00:35:20,370	Well, it kind of came to our attention when they started talking about they’re putting in pickleball courts up at Wilton, or they’re doing a community building in some little town someplace that has nothing to do with water projects anywhere. It’s a, um, I think a consensus here was it’s been along the lines of mission creep.

00:35:40,470	And, you know, the goal is to see if we can, um, do some repair on that, because part of the reason that I wanted this to come up at this point, because we’ll have a discussion later about how do we pay for some of these things that are relative to AUVs.

00:35:59,800	Now, if you had $760,000 that wasn’t going out of the county, you could probably do something for AUVs, or you could take that $760,000 in less than four years, would pay off this $3 million project that we have to do state re stabilizing the bank down here on the river, um, at a boat ramp.

00:36:15,870	So there’s things that we’re going to have to fund as the county, which means it’s going to come out of all your pockets and as well as mine. And, um, we think that that that amount of money should be directed internally to Burleigh County.

00:36:41,330	So I think to get us back on track, the point with this was to, um, to look at this letter, um, because there’s, uh, the, the Garrison Diversion Conservancy District will accept letters up until a certain date. And so that was whether you’re going to carry it or send it and carry it, I would say do both. But the goal is to read the letter and and approve it or not. Mr. chairman. Commissioner Woodcox, who wrote the letter I.

00:37:03,100	I’m not positive. I think Commissioner Schwab is probably working with um. It’s not signed or anything and it represents Bertie County, but it’s not. It’s not signed. Not signed. We haven’t had a chance to even vote on it.

00:37:20,470	Who who wrote the letter? Who composed it? It’s very well done. I’m not I’m not debating that. I’m just saying who did it. I did it, I was asked to draw some testimony since no one, since I was told that individuals couldn’t make it to the meeting. And we’re not all going to go as a quorum of commissioners.

00:37:37,900	And so I was asked to draft some potential testimony for the board to discuss tonight as to whether or not they wanted written testimony on behalf of the county commission to go to the, um, the district. Fine. Okay. So you’ve had a chance to read it. Um, what are your thoughts. Mr. Chairman? Commissioner.

00:38:02,070	Before we go too far, uh, uh, last week we had a I’m on the board of county water users, and, uh, I’m an advisor, not a voting member. But, uh, Commissioner Schwab appeared to testify in trying to get the Burdick out of water resource district to back the commission, who voted 3 to 2 to

00:38:24,870	resign from the or discontinue whatever our membership and the garrison division. And a couple of things that he brought up that I really would like to get cleared up right away at the beginning, he said he is he has been appointed to say, I read this 3 or 4 times.

00:38:44,700	I’ve tried to repeat it and repeat it said, I will be going up to represent the county because they will be on the agenda for and he asked for support, but I don’t. I challenged right away whether he could represent the county, and he says he can. And I talked to Julie about that.

00:39:04,870	And also towards the end of his presentation, he said that there was a meeting between, uh, Commissioner Barkan, who was mentioned, and Commissioner uh, BOC Commissioner Bitner, sorry, I got you mixed up. And Commissioner Schwab to allow him to be represented.. And. No. No. That was the vote we took in December. There was no meeting. I believe it was December. Even saying that.

00:39:25,330	Well, I got it. Quote. It said I did not need permission to to represent the county. I’m going up to the county to represent. Then he said, I’m going up to represent the county.

00:39:47,070	And as we commissioners and I quote, we commissioners Barkan and and Bitner decided on the exit, whatever that means, the exit that he would represent the county, which I think is a violation of record law. No, no, no, three commissioners, three commissioners voted here. Right. And I’m not disputing that. I’m one of the three. And I’m going to go up and represent.

00:40:09,000	And if we have to take a vote and want to point somebody, I would assume three commissioners are going to vote for me. I did not have a meeting with these guys. I can’t believe you brought. It up. It’s on. You want to watch the replay? I watched it 4 or 5 times to get it exactly right.

00:40:20,330	I’d like to ask Julie to step in and. And define what’s what’s right and what’s wrong, or. I haven’t seen the meeting myself. Um, but obviously if there is a decision made that one of you will go up and represent the commissioners, there has to be a discussion and vote at a public meeting on that.

00:40:44,730	How about one commissioner representing the the Commission on anything and say they’re representing the Commission? As long as this Commission gives approval for that person to go and give the Commission’s wishes and, and, um, like this testimony that I have drafted up, that’s for discussion and approval by the commission tonight, and it won’t go anywhere unless there is a, um, majority of the commission that

00:41:07,100	approves that same thing, to have a representative of the commission go in lieu of the entire commission. That would have to be with the Commission’s approval, giving the message that the majority of the commission approves of at a public meeting.

00:41:24,800	I would like to request that you look into the replaying that video of the March March 11th meeting of Bertie County Water Resource District started at 8:00. And, uh, see if I interpreted it right. Well, I believe that meeting is next Tuesday. We’re going to call a special meeting. I actually would think maybe Julie can kind of hash this out. Any commissioner could go up there. Republican.

00:41:59,900	Um, it is a public meeting open for public comment. And anyone can go up and give their, um, testimony that they want to. But if someone’s going to represent the commission and provide testimony on behalf of the commission, there has to be an appointment by this commission for that person to

00:42:17,730	represent the commission. And that should be done at a public meeting. And again, the message that the appointee gives should be the message that this commission has approved, that they give.. Commissioner. I think the first step is, uh, approving, um, the testimony drafted by state’s attorney lawyers. So I would make a motion to approve her letter.

00:42:43,800	Second motion or second to approve the letter. Any further discussion, Mr. chair? Commissioner Munson, I’ve voted against these since the beginning. Um, I do agree with Terry Fleck that this is not the right place for us to be.

00:43:03,630	However, I also agree with, uh, Commissioner Barkan that this is a statewide item. Um, there is nothing wrong in this letter. It is very accurate. However, I will still vote against it. Any further discussion? Call the. Roll, Commissioner Woodcox. No. Commissioner. Munson. No. Commissioner. Bakken. Yes. Commissioner. Schwab. Yes. Chairman. Bitner. Yes. Motion carries. No.

00:43:30,800	As to the question of representing the the commission at the meeting, I’m still not sure if I can go. I don’t know that my schedule will allow me to take that whole day off and go to Carrington. I’d like to, but I’m not sure if I can.

00:43:53,330	Um, I personally am not opposed to, um, one of the commissioners representing where we’re at with it, recognizing that it’s a three two. Situation that, um, the motion to do that would have to come from one of you to Mr.. Mister Chair, if I, if I, Commissioner Munson, just a point of clarification. More for Julie.

00:44:17,870	Um, if the citizens of Burleigh County voted to join Ken Burleigh County request to be brought out, or should it be a vote of the citizens.? The statute requires that it’s a petition signed by the county commission, attested to by the auditor. It doesn’t say anything about that going to a vote.

00:44:39,070	It doesn’t mean that the commissioners can’t put that on as like an advisory opinion at the next election. You can do that. That’s been done before, too, but it’s not required before a petition gets filed.

00:45:01,530	Um, so as far as Julie, would it be prudent if see as how we don’t know who’s going to wind up showing up for this? Um, would it make sense just to notice this as a potential quorum? Um, at this meeting? And then what would be the process for moving your letter forward? Would you file that with them for their public hearing? So if, if um, so for the testimony, first of all, the draft testimony that’s on there that you’ve voted on, um, I’d

00:45:20,270	put a line at the bottom indicating that it was approved by a majority of the county commission on this date, and then have the. New file. That and and have the chair sign it assessed by the auditor, and then either the auditor or myself can forward that to the place where they’re accepting written testimony.

00:45:35,170	Um, for your question regarding, um, I’m not sure who’s all going to be there. And if a quorum is going to be there, it should be noticed as a potential quorum of commissioners there to discuss potentially county business. Thank you. Probably should do that. I can all verify, but I believe I’ve already done that. Okay. Thank you.

00:45:53,630	Yeah. And then we also made arrangements, I believe, for Thomas to, um, recorded attend and record and whatnot. I don’t know if you were planning on being there. Yep. Thomas and I will both be at the meeting. Okay. Um, okay, here’s the question of representing the commission. There. There will be, Mr. Chairman.

00:46:16,330	There won’t be any one Commissioner representing the the commission then. Is that correct? See, if I knew I was going to go, I would say, well, I’ll do that then. If we’re going to pick one of the five, I think we should acknowledge it now and not wait for two shows up. Well, it’s in a week.

00:46:37,070	Yes. Week from tomorrow. A week from tomorrow. So. Unless you want this, this letter to be our only, only representation at the meeting. No, I don’t. I will be going to the meeting. Okay. Regardless of what happens here. Mr. chairman. I am going. I would move that. I would move that. Commissioner Schwab be appointed county representative.

00:47:07,500	That doesn’t preclude another commissioner. No going up. No, no, no. Speaking just as part of. The if he wants to be he he would be the representative representing us as a group. That second Adam. Here we have a motion a second. Any further discussion I might go, you know.

00:47:33,900	well and as the chair, um. I’ll tell you what, do you amend the motion? Yeah, I think that would probably be appropriate, because I’d love to go if I could make it. I just don’t know if I can make it yet. So, Jerry, have you amended your motion? Commissioner Schwab would speak unless Chair Bitner is there.

00:47:53,970	I don’t want to amend the motion. Okay. Well, Julie. He said he’s going. He wants to testify and. Go up and speak to. Can’t they? That’s correct. Commissioners. Thank you. That’s correct. Commissioners can go up and speak.

00:48:16,900	But if you want to have one person representing the thoughts and and testimony of this board, you can designate one person to speak for the board. If you want more than one person to speak for the board, again, you should probably give that authority to do so. But again, anyone can go up and speak on their own behalf as well.

00:48:34,530	Well, in case, uh, Chair Bitner wants to go up, we have a problem here. Well, if you’ve been designated as the person representing the county commission, then you should be the one speaking on behalf of the county commission. So he couldn’t put in his $0.02. He can put in his $0.02, but not as a representative of the Commission board.

00:48:55,330	They’ve already had a representative appointed. And that would be you if that this motion goes through. Okay. Any further discussion? Call the roll. Commissioner Munson. No. Commissioner. Bakken. Yes, Commissioner. Schwab. Yes. Commissioner. Woodcox. Yes. Chairman. Bitner. Yes. Motion carries. Now, do you want to say something about the Garrison Division? I guess.

00:49:22,000	Before I move on? I guess if anybody else does. My testimony here is going to be significantly different than the last gentleman. So I’m not looking at $40 or $24, whatever it is on our taxes, I’m looking at 10 million plus dollars. The Burleigh County is paid into something that I just don’t.

00:49:46,600	It’s just a the principle of the whole thing doesn’t sit well with me. When 28 counties out of 53 are participating, and I hear this whole state benefit stuff, um, I want everybody to go on the Garrison Diversion website and read their history and see what’s happened all the way up to

00:50:02,700	1984, where then there was a two year they stopped construction of the McClusky Canal going east. And then in 1986, there was a federal re doing of the Garrison Diversion Unit into the Garrison Diversion Conservancy District.

00:50:25,600	But just remember, prior to 1986, it was a garrison diversion taking Missouri River water for beneficial used primarily east and so 28 counties out of 53 over $10 million of Burleigh County money. By the way, that one mill that we would cancel, that could be one mill used for something else so it could come back for some other causes in Burleigh County.

00:50:47,470	But if you take the time value of money, since we’ve been paying into this thing since 1986, 87, whatever it is, and you take the time value of money, it’s way more. It’s $20 million. Plus, if it’s actual real dollars of ten, it’s got to be time value of money. Pick the rate and it’s probably more than $20 million.

00:51:07,730	That is the issue. I don’t see a benefit to Burleigh County. I want everybody to go on and watch their meeting. They had. I listen to the whole thing for an hour and a half, two hours. I think it was in January. Commissioner Schwab. Yeah, the ninth. Yeah. And by the way, my name is Curtis.

00:51:23,970	Joint chair, Bitner. Commissioners. I sat here and listened to all this, so I guess I kind of got worked up a bit. Our nine minute meeting. Okay. Our nine minute. It felt way longer. It did. It did.

00:51:45,370	So in that meeting, it’s obvious that there’s like Chair Bitner said, there’s considerable mission creep that they realized, you know, they need to that could be a problem even before the legislature. So that that that was something they recognized. So one of their solutions that they came up with was instead of, limiting our grant amounts to 50,000, will increase it to 100,000.

00:52:05,630	So just like, Commissioner Schwab said, we’re going to pay 760,000. And then we have to apply. And of course, they get to pick the winners and losers. They may or may not pick us as a winner, especially after the little stinker we’re making. I’m sure we’re going to get zero.

00:52:19,500	Um, so we’re going to be a loser and I, we get $100,000 for 760. And and again, as an economist, I’m that numbers don’t jive for me. They don’t work out. So if the principle of the whole thing I don’t see a benefit to Burleigh County. We have the treasure of the Missouri River water.

00:52:37,700	And everything that they’re doing is moving that water. And you talked about low water coming up? Yeah. I got a feeling we’re going to have some low water issues on the Missouri, but everything with Missouri garrison diversion, I still call it the garrison diversion.

00:52:53,470	Call it whatever you want, but it’s still about taking water to the east. And I watched the recreational meeting. That’s one of the ways they’re focusing on how to get rid of, you know, millions of dollars that they’re taking in for pickleball courts and swimming pools. I guess I don’t consider that a Missouri River diversion.

00:53:11,070	Use swimming pools and but it’s water. So they I think they justify that as being water. So I, I struggle with the benefit is not there. And I guess the principle of it all is what I have a problem with.

00:53:28,330	And I’m not looking at one year, $760,000 or $24 on my taxes. I’m looking at the county paying over 10 million in real dollars, which is significantly more when you look at time, value, money, and it’s just going to keep growing and growing. 28 counties.

00:53:46,870	How did we get into it? How do we get out of it? Why can’t we get out of it? I realize it’s might be one mill, but that is money. Pennies add to dollars, dollars add to tens, tens, get to hundreds, hundreds get to a thousands. And that’s where we’re at here. This is big dollars over the time and it’s just going to keep growing. Thank you. Thank you. Does anybody else.

00:54:03,900	Wish to speak on that particular item? Okay I guess we’re caught up with that. Mr. Chairman. Commissioner Woodcox, um, I know we’ve had a lot of comment about Burden County. Doesn’t get hardly anything next to nothing. In case of what the recreation progress projects. That’s true.

00:54:29,070	Um, but I visited with the chairman of the, uh, South Central Regional Water District, which is provides rural water to Bergen County and Emmons County. And, uh, that one other one, I think. But he gave me some figures in the last one, 2 or 8 years.

00:54:53,600	We have received Verde County, had Verde County water resources or the regional water district has received over $50 million from garrison diversion as grants. When they do a project, when they want to build a water tower, they apply for a grant from the water or garrison diversion, and they’ve received, but they’ve received over $50 million from garrison Diversion for.

00:55:12,470	And they’re planning and two, I think he said, one and a half or two years from now to expand the project on the river. Now, the Bismarck, uh, operation to have more capacity because they’re running out of capacity and they anticipate a huge donation from Verde County. Water from Garrison diversion. If we were to drop out of garrison diversion now.

00:55:33,800	And do you think, like you just said, do you think two years from now, when we go apply for a $30 million loan, not a loan? It’s a grant. They’re going to you know, what they’re going to say, just like you just said nothing. We will get anything.

00:55:49,100	So but then also somebody Commissioner Schwab’s in a meeting on Wednesday said if that happens, well then there’s other ways that Verde County citizens can pay for it. Well, you know what that is? Tax dollars. That’s an increase in tax dollars to pay that there’s no other way than I know of that.

00:56:03,270	We could provide 30 or 40 million, and they haven’t gotten that figure exactly. But it’ll be substantial. Uh, over that period of time. So that’s one, one major, major benefit. I know, Commissioner, if I might continue, you’ve mentioned that that’s federal dollars and and that you can’t count that as true garrison division. But those monies are federal monies.

00:56:26,530	Come to Garrison Division and come to the counties that whoever applies, we also, Mr.. Chairman. It is federal money. Now we take the dot the Department of Transportation of North Dakota receives a lot of money, federal money, when they have a big road road bill that goes through and we and they get I don’t know how many millions.

00:56:44,170	It’s millions. They take that money federal money and they distribute it to the counties or the or the, the wherever. Who wants to build new roads and and bridges, whatever they have used for. So we have got to come up with, in most cases, a lot of it, we have to come up with matching dollars.

00:57:01,800	If it’s a we we applied for a big one from the Lincoln Bridge. We were going to put a bridge over the, uh, the river and the railroad, but that got to be way out of hand as far as money is concerned. But we saved up, I think it was $2 million.

00:57:15,730	The highway department did to to provide our matching money for a grant that came from the federal government to the state to us. Same thing. It’s federal money, same thing with game and fish. They get a lot of money with water. It’s crazy.

00:57:34,370	Almost every operation that that the federal government comes down to the state and distributes it to, to whoever is applying, whatever the their mission is, that’s federal money. Big deal. Are we going to turn up and turn down federal money? No, never. Can I yeah. Go ahead.

00:57:53,630	I, um, I want to know how much of the $10 million of our mill levy money actually came back to us. That doesn’t that. Well, there’s nothing for me that the federal dollars that that the Garrison Diversion Conservancy District is, is the funnel or to take federal dollars and state dollars and dole it out that I’m talking about the money that we’ve paid, how much of that.

00:58:13,730	We could. He said he could. He said he could find. That Commissioner. Pardon me. Somewhere on the order of 850,000. That’s how much we’ve been paid back out of our ten. Well. That’s on those projects. That 50, 800, 825,588. Okay. But then you’re completely ignoring $50 million. That’s that’s not that’s not our money. Money.

00:58:37,270	That’s not our mill levy money. It’s all it’s all put into one group and they’re distributed from there. If it’s coming federal dollars and state dollars through Garretson Conservancy District, they can’t flip their middle finger at us. And South Central Regional Water. You just said they did. You said they were going to just.

00:58:52,170	Say no, no, I’m talking about the $100,000 grant. Uh, Commissioner Woodcox, that they now was 50,000. If we apply for $100,000 grant, which is I’m talking of our ten plus million dollars, how much has actually come back to us? You’re he said he could.

00:59:09,370	He said he could provide those numbers. But I said it won’t be. It won’t be worth it. That is. That’s a real project that he’s talking about that did we did get that back. We applied for the grants and we got them all, almost all of them through the Bismarck Parks and Rec, incidentally.

00:59:22,170	Was that was that the 28 counties mill levy money that we’re talking about that’s coming back to pay 30 or 50 million for our water treatment plant. It’s the same. It’s the same principle. Anyway. I think it’s it doesn’t doesn’t make sense to me.

00:59:38,630	You’re mixing federal state and then our county mill levy dollars. Yeah. Looks like one big pot. So there’s also a state water commission and all that. That certainly would fill the void. And they’re already employed. Um, anyway, we’re going to move on. Uh, Commissioner Barkan age. Well, center presentation. Yeah. Thank you, chair and commissioners.

01:00:00,000	Uh, I’d like Renee Kip to come up from, uh, um, age. Well, center. Um, so March is a very important month. One of the, um, big components of the the age well, center. Senior center, uh, within Burleigh County is the food program. And March is, uh, wheels, um, of merit.

01:00:25,800	Meals on wheels for America, uh, which was started back in 1972. And, um, it really is a big component of service that, uh, um, very heavily utilized within Burleigh County with our senior population. So, Renee. Thank you. Good evening, chair and commissioners. Um, you kind of stole my thunder, Commissioner. Back. Well, you’ve got me passionate about it.

01:00:48,800	So. So, uh, Meals on Wheels of America does recognize March as the march for meals. Um, it’s when the Meals on Wheels program was incorporated into the Older Americans Act, which is the federal legislation that provides the funding for what we we do. Um, nationwide, we serve 2.

01:01:13,700	8 million people every year here in Burleigh County. Um, we are at 700 meals a day. This is 2025 numbers, 700 meals a day. Um, that includes congregate dining, home delivered meals, uh, drive through takeout meals and frozen meals. And we provided 172,081 meals to 2814 people in Burleigh County in 2025.

01:01:41,470	Um, you can see looking at if you look at the sheet inside your brochure since 2019 with prior to the pandemic, our meals have increased almost 71%. We were at just over 100,000 in 2019, 172 this last year. Um, we are expecting another 5% growth in 2026. And then for 2027, another 5% at least.

01:02:14,070	We’re, uh, it’s just really gotten busy for us. And we’re projecting some big numbers. Um, in a meeting I was at last week with Aging Services, they’re telling us we’re going to see this kind of growth for the next 15 years. Um, all the 60, um, 65 and older baby boomers will be in by 2030.

01:02:40,170	They’ll all be 65 by 2040. We’ll have doubled the population of 85 and over. So we’re going to see a lot of demand for our services. So, Renee, two of the things I wanted to bring up with this is, is oh, sorry, is one, food security for our senior population is very, very vital. Very vital.

01:03:04,170	Two, where are we at for capacity? Because you and I have had this conversation. Um, from a kitchen perspective and being able to provide those services, you’re. We’re maxed. Yeah, we’re maxed out. So we’re going to have some real challenges in the future.

01:03:24,630	Um, our capacity committee, that was part of our strategic plan is, um, reconvening so that we can start looking at what we’re going to do to meet that demand over the next few years. Um, our budget for this year is 3.4 million. I’m expecting it to climb with the demand for services. Um, climb substantially.

01:03:48,000	Along with that, we’re seeing a decrease in what people are able to donate to the program. So we’re seeing where these seniors are. They don’t have the funds to continue to donate toward the cost of the meals they’re receiving. It’s decreased substantially.

01:04:10,370	So that means program or the county commission, the state and federal funds, all the other sources of revenue for us become all the more important because we need to meet our budget and the county funds is what feels that gap between the state and federal money and what we receive for donations. Okay. So thank you.

01:04:32,370	I’d like to invite you all to come down to the center for a tour. Um, join in on a route, go out with our one of our volunteers on home delivered meal route, or come for lunch. Um, come have a caramel roll on Wednesday. Something like that. I can give you a tour, and I hope to see you there. Is there an age? Uh. 66, 60 and. over qualifies.

01:04:53,600	So I will say this. Since the little cottage closed. Hands down, the best common roles in town. And they’re only a dollar. But you don’t. You can’t get any because you’re not 60. No. You can have a car. Well, I don’t know how. To qualify the meals.

01:05:14,100	You have to be 60 and over or your spouse has to be 60 and over. Sure. All right. So thank you. Any other questions. Mr. Chairman? Commissioner. Would you talk about your capacity. Have you got room to expand if necessary? Not where we’re at. Um, it’s the challenge that we’ll be looking at.

01:05:32,170	I, like I said, our capacity committee is coming back together. Um, after a few meetings, we should have some ideas on what we could do. Okay. Um, but we’re really strapped for space. Okay. There’s a plan, though. We have a we have a plan where we’re working on filling that void. So. Okay. Thank you. Thank you.

01:05:56,100	Oh. Um. Chair, how do people get signed up for the program? If somebody that may not be part of the meal program, just that has a need, how do they reach out to you guys to get do that? Stop by the HR center, 315 North 20th Street.

01:06:13,800	Give us a call. 2554648. Um, our website is well and.org. There’s information there. Perfect. Okay. Thank you. Okay. Next is Northern Plains Heritage Foundation 2026 4th of July celebration. Mr. chairman. Mr.. I visited with, uh, Mr.. Bollinger from the from the city side of it and Mr..

01:06:46,430	Agnew from the from our side of it, and we discussed the amount of money that we that they requested $40,000 to participate into their, into the city’s fourth, fourth. Excuse me. 4th of July celebration. Um, we had previously for the for the mural on the south side of the Provident. We had approved 35,000 from, uh, Verde County. It was matched with a grant through Mr. Agnew for 35,000.

01:07:11,900	And then we had ten from five from the previous year and five from this year and community involvement. So we had 70,000, $80,000 committed to that project. Well, that fell through because it got way too expensive. We decided not to do it.

01:07:29,600	Now we want to participate with the city of Bismarck because we have we have to have something from Verde County to celebrate the 4th of July, the birthday. So, um, we’ve talked around, how much do we want to? They have requested 40,000, and we’ve already committed ten to the other project. Community involvement. But, uh, there was mentioned that.

01:07:52,000	Well, maybe we should go through the 35 and stay with 35 and the master was 70, and we’d have, well, more we’d have way more money than we than the requested. But I think I this morning I committed to when I said, okay, I’ll bring it up to today’s meeting.

01:08:06,170	And I’m not going to make a motion on the 35,000, but I just want to open up for a discussion. I’m my personal feeling is I think, $20,000 from the, the from the Verde County and a matching 20,000 from the heritage. Is it Fort Lincoln Heritage Fund? Is that it, Commissioner Botnick. Northern plains. Northern plains please.

01:08:25,100	And that would be 40 right there. And we would have the two fives from last year. And this year’s community involvement, which would make it 50. So I think I would like to have that discussion too. So I’d like input from the board as to whether which one do they want. Mr. chair? Thank you, Commissioner Watson.

01:08:42,100	So last year. Or last meeting, we had a consensus for the 5000 for each. One and 20, there was a consensus here. Um. We need. To make it a formal, uh, motion so that they could apply for the grant. Is my understanding at this point. Um. Mr.

01:09:05,070	Chairman, they need a firm commitment from the county that because they’re starting, they’re already starting with working with vendors for whatever rentals and fireworks or whatever it might be.

01:09:21,800	I don’t know what their whole program is, but they are starting to commit to vendors and they need to know for sure what they’re going to receive from Verde County so that they can go ahead and finish that project. So my thought is, I think 20 was substantial. Um, 20 and 20 is 40 and 25 of that would be 50. That’s well more than what they what they proposed. Sure. Commissioner bucket. Um, yeah. We’d kind of settled on 35. Um, and I’m comfortable with that number. Um, for this year, this is the two 50th.

01:09:48,430	It is a fraction of what we would have wound up spending on the mural. I think if we can make it a a bigger event. Um, because this is a one off, uh, I’m comfortable with, uh, the 35. Uh, is there anybody from the Northern Plains Heritage Foundation here? If there is, I’d like to hear from him. Not.

01:10:08,600	Okay. Um, so I would actually make a motion that, uh, we commit 35,000 to the event. A second. Okay, we have a motion and a second to commit 35,000 to the event. Any further discussion? Call the. Roll. Commissioner Bakken. Yes, Commissioner. Schwab. Yes, Commissioner. Woodcox. Yes, Commissioner. Munson. Yes, chairman. Bitner.

01:10:34,800	Yes. What? I’m on the board of directors. Is Heritage Foundation. Maybe you should abstain. Then maybe. Maybe you. Should match that. See. We don’t have that authority. Authority? Thank you. Sheriff Lebon in the room. Okay, Jim. Mr. chairman. Okay. Next. Before he. Come, before he comes up, I.

01:11:05,100	He called me this morning as I was getting out of bed. He’s stuck in Minneapolis at the airport. So he didn’t know whether he’d make it back or not. So he went back. I think he’s taking this retirement stuff maybe a little bit serious already. I told him to have a Bloody Mary rib right down the road from where he’s at. Uh, evening. Commissioners.

01:11:23,370	Chairman Bitner. Uh, I’m going to change the tune just a little bit. Instead of spending money, I’m actually bringing forth something here that’s, uh, pretty unique. We’re seeking authorization to accept a donation from the vets here in Bismarck. They are looking to donate $25,000 to our department, specifically to our drone program.

01:11:42,600	So I’m asking that we can accept that donation.. Move to approve second. Motion to second to approve any further discussion. I wasn’t aware of that. And I want to thank AmVets for their generosity. Um, I had a number of conversations with people that are involved there, and and they’re graciously stepping up and donating to the county.

01:12:02,500	Any other discussion? Call the roll. Commissioner. Schwab. Yes, Commissioner. Woodcox. Yes. Commissioner. Munson. Yes. Commissioner. Bakken. Yes. Chairman. Benner. Yes. Motion carries. Just like to say thank you to everybody at the AmVets. I’m sure there’s some members, uh, out there listening tonight. And, uh, our sincere gratefulness for that means a lot. So thank you.

01:12:22,270	Absolutely. Thank you. Hey, County engineer. Uh, purchase agreement for pickup. This was the relates to the park board. Yes. Right. Okay. Uh, good evening, Mr. Chairman. Commissioners, this item here on our our on your agenda is the authorize the county proper county officials to accept the purchase agreement with Ryder.

01:12:47,170	Vehicle sales for two U.S trucks and make proper payment arrangements in the agenda. It does say pickups, but these are actually gravel hauling trucks. So, uh, I’ll just kind of go through the background on this.

01:13:04,800	During the development of the 2026 Highway Department budget, the highway department set aside $160,000 to replace two of our existing high mileage gravel hauling trucks. These trucks were actually replaced in January of 2026, with the remaining trucks scheduled to be replaced in 2027. Budget. Recently, it was found out that one of our remaining older gravel hauling trucks is in need of a major repair.

01:13:19,900	This repair is estimated to cost similar to what the truck would be expected to sell on auction. We are proposing the we are proposing, proposing replacing this vehicle out of our 2026 budget instead of the original plan of 2027.

01:13:39,000	Uh, after we did some shopping around, we were offered a two truck purchase deal with Ryder Vehicle Sales for a total purchase price of 76,648. Since the purchase of these two trucks would put us over the budget on our truck line item for the year, we intend to use the money saved from our previous truck purchase of approximately $50,000, and some of the money saved on our motor grader bids

01:13:55,630	to cover the overage on the truck purchase. Uh, approximately 50,000 from the previous and 26 648 to cover that overage. Um, there is a proposed resolution in your packet. I would stand for any questions. Um, the two vehicles we’re getting rid of, they will be auctioned off at a later date this year. So. Commissioner Belkin.

01:14:20,170	And those funds will roll back into the purchase price of these, or what? Are you. Yes. Uh, no. The way that we kind of budgeted, we have revenues and we have, um, expenses. Kind of a revolving. Yeah.

01:14:40,630	So we don’t really throw those money, that money back into the, into the, uh, equipment line, but it does come back into our revenue sides. So. Okay, I was, um, I was informed on this, and I saw the documentation on it, and basically what I thought when I read it is that there’s no sense in putting 7 or $8000 into a $7,000 truck. Right.

01:15:00,730	You know, um, and then when they came back with the with the, um, the purchase thing, you’re buying one truck at a at a really reasonable price, actually. And then the second truck is because it’s a two truck deal, it’s half price.

01:15:21,230	And so I thought it would be beneficial to Burleigh County to get that second one for half price versus even though we don’t need it today, it’s certainly a good deal, Commissioner, one. That’s delivered. Right. That’s delivered. Um, same deal we took in January, uh, delivered to our door anything that’s wrong with it. They have a two week warranty.

01:15:39,270	Um, and then we we just they actually, we found just some small odds and ends on the first ones, and they wrote us a check back for it. So, um, they’ve been pretty good to work with. Second motion and second to approve any further discussion. Call the roll. Commissioner Woodcox. Yes, Commissioner. Munson. Yes, Commissioner. Bakken. Yes, Commissioner. Schwab. Yes. Chairman. Bitner. Yes. Motion carries. Thank you. Last thing. Here.

01:16:03,630	Commissioner Munson got Missouri Valley complex planning and permitting authority discussion and consideration of complex mowing quotes. Thank you. Commissioner. Chair. By chair Bitner. The city and the county have been working together for quite a while to allow Burleigh County to have their own zoning authority for the Missouri Valley complex.

01:16:29,330	Uh, recently, the city and county met at their regular scheduled meeting, and we walked through the document that’s in front of you. Um, I had both, uh, planning and zoning and, uh, county highway department go through the document to make sure everything was in order. Um, two items that came up during our meeting. Um, one of them was the word concurrence.

01:16:54,370	And even though personally, it’s not a word that I prefer in the document, uh, in visiting with county highway department staff, that’s the same word that is used in the document that is reverse that the city brings the documents to Burleigh County to approve projects in the EPA.

01:17:13,730	It’s the exact same language that is in this, uh, document that would allow Burleigh County to have the authority in the complex. The other item I want to bring your attention is in public utilities.

01:17:34,470	Uh, currently, there is an eight inch sewer line that runs through the complex, uh, that, uh, provides sewer coming from the east through the west to the lift station. Uh, as soon as or I shouldn’t say as soon as, uh, currently, there’s a construction project going through bringing in a new sewer line, uh, that will replace this eight inch sewer line.

01:17:53,730	The document here basically says that the Burleigh County will assume ownership of that line with the agreement. When this agreement is signed. Uh, I struggle with it. Uh, that eight inch line serves one piece at the complex, and that is the bathrooms at the oval racetrack.

01:18:18,800	Uh, the new line is literally 30, 40ft south of this line. And there’s no reason we can’t tap into the larger line at a later date. Um, my preference would be to take this line out that we don’t want to take ownership of it. But I would like your concurrence in that. See, I use that word.

01:18:38,370	I would like your concurrence. Uh, in this agreement, uh, the rest of it, uh, it’s a great agreement. It, uh, it allows us to, to have that authority within our own complex at Valley.

01:18:59,800	Commissioner bucket, uh, do we actually have to remove that, or does that line get capped off and we can abandon it? I would refer to Commissioner Schwab’s expertise in that. Well. When these guys are running this sewer line, the the first engineering plan that came up was. Let, uh, Bismarck would turn that over to the county.

01:19:29,730	The problem with that is how much did anybody know how much we paid to put that in? And it’s now city. And if we have a sewer plug or something like that, we don’t have jetting trucks or mains to maintain it. Now, the city’s been using it for, I don’t know how long would you know? No. I’m sorry. It seems like forever.

01:19:50,630	And turn it over to us. Why would we even want to accept that? It’s absolutely. If that if that sewer isn’t working, the city has to fix it and not the county. And the city’s got the equipment and the expertise. Our engineering department doesn’t put in sewers. Right? So I am. Could that be abandoned or captain abandoned, or does it.

01:20:16,730	abandon it? Well, no. Does it have to be removed then? No. Actually, I actually they’re going to cut it off at the manhole. Up, up on the east end.

01:20:33,430	And I believe at one time they were going to cut it off down at the, uh, where they’re coming across to that other one. It was going to be totally abandoned. Okay. And when I saw that, I talked to Apex Engineering and it was kind of a complicated deal. So I asked Chair Bitner to get involved in it.

01:20:55,100	Uh, it would have been terrible, a terrible, terrible deal for us to take over a sewer that we can’t maintain. And Chair Bitner, he he helped took three meetings to get a change to leave it as a city. The problem out there is the manholes are covered, and it’s the fairground people that covered it. They need to be exposed.

01:21:22,970	So if there’s a problem with the sewers, they can find the manholes and use their jetting trucks. And after three years and tired of begging the fairground to get them exposed. But that’s history on it. See, I thought we had. Already. Resolved that question about that. We did, until it came back up into this document.

01:21:45,330	Yeah. Um, that’s why I bring it up to the board. Uh, my preference would be to accept this document minus the eight inch sewer line moving into county ownership. I would be okay with that. Then I would, we’d like he’s saying we don’t. We had this conversation last year. We’re asking for trouble.

01:22:07,630	We don’t want to own it. Yeah. Uh, as far as I know, it’s still functional. Correct? Correct. Yeah. Daniel? You’re here. Do you want to speak or. Okay. Good evening commissioners. My name is Michael Martin. I’m the director of utility operations for the city of Bismarck.

01:22:32,330	Um, so I can speak into this line a little bit. Uh, the reason that we had wrote it in there for the water and the sewer line to be turned over to the county is. This is how we typically operate with private developments. Um, they own those utilities within their infrastructure.

01:22:52,070	Um, so when you when you talk about maintenance of it, uh, you’re right. Uh, one thing that we’ve had issues with is these manholes being covered with dirt.

01:23:07,630	Um, we had a backup just last year, and it took us a day to dig out a pile of dirt to find the manhole, to be able to get it. So we are a little concerned with some of this line of what we would be able to maintain. Uh, the access road to the dirt track.

01:23:23,800	You have done a great job of building up those manholes with rock around them and making them exposed to where we could get into it. Um, this this line could stay active. It is a good line. We don’t have any issues with it. Um, the reason we had the backup was when they stockpiled the dirt. It pushed our casting off in a bunch of dirt, got in the manhole. So there are options of keeping this in service.

01:23:42,270	Uh, we understand that you don’t have the means to get the line. Uh, we could work out a part of the agreement that the city would put this on our rotation to get the line and televise a line for you if you want to have ownership of it. Thanks, Mike.

01:24:02,000	My personal preference is not on the line because it’s just not our. It’s not our wheelhouse. We’re not. We’re just not in that. We didn’t put it in. So it takes ownership of something we didn’t put in the first place. Right. So it’s not a deal breaker. It was just as soon to see that side of it. Right.

01:24:20,170	Yeah. And we can still cooperate and um, any issues with that? Uh, no. If, uh, we’re going to own the line, we may just need to talk about what portion of that we keep in service. Again, there’s manholes that go through the dirt track that those are very hard to get to in the wintertime.

01:24:42,800	Um, if you’re keeping those, I don’t know what your development’s going to look like. So part of it can look to see what portions of this we, we do keep. Um, so that’s something that we, we can work out, um, stuff along the dirt road. Great job. It’s accessible. It’s plowed. That’s where we don’t have issues. Okay.

01:25:02,800	I appreciate your willingness to work along with the county on it because, Mister Chair, I would move to approve this agreement minus the county taking ownership of the water and sewer lines. Second motion and a second to approve. With that change, any further discussion? Call the roll. Commissioner Munson. Yes, Commissioner. Baskin. Yes, Commissioner. Schwab. No.

01:25:27,470	Commissioner. Woodcox. Yes, chairman. Bitner. Yes. Why the. No. Wait a minute, Commissioner. I didn’t hear. You. Commissioner Schwab. Yes. You didn’t want the agreement or you didn’t agree with it? Not until it’s done. It’s what they call trust. Oh, okay. And verify. I’m just clarifying that. Okay. Thank you. Mr.

01:25:56,900	chair, the next item on the agenda is consideration of the Missouri Valley Complex mowing quotes. I apologize, but you’re going to have to go all the way back to the park board to see the, uh, bidding process again. We had three, uh, local, uh, agents bid the mowing of the Missouri Valley complex.

01:26:19,800	Um, I would move to accept the low bid from elite lawn care of a monthly fee of $3,900. Second motion and second. Any further discussion? Caldwell. Commissioner. Baskin. Yes. Commissioner. Schwab. Yes. Commissioner. Woodcox. Yes. Commissioner. Munson. Yes, chairman. Bitner. Yes. Motion carries. Mr. chair, if I could have one more go for comment.

01:26:44,800	Um, you see this in front of you? Uh, because we really don’t have a purchasing policy in place yet to. This is stuff that is within the budget. However, as a commissioner, we don’t have authorities yet to authorize these purchases. So, um, it’s in front of you more is because the right thing to do.

01:27:07,270	But mostly it’s a reminder for us that we need to start working on that purchasing guideline, procedures, policies so that we don’t have to have some of these small items coming from the commission. Yeah, that’s the goal with the, um, with adding this, uh, consultant for that. That’s theoretically going to be a part of that.

01:27:28,600	So and I did sign that contract here, um, just a little bit ago. So that’s all going to happen. Anything else before we get into this public hearing? Any other business? Okay. Well, what we’re going to do is, um, we’re going to have a public hearing on an off highway vehicle ordinance and resolution.

01:27:50,000	I guess I’m not familiar. If we need to read anything in particular. The attorney. You know what read. You wouldn’t need to at this time because this couldn’t be the second reading. The publications. Um, for the resolution and the ordinance were published in the paper on March 6th and March 13th.

01:28:11,370	So before the second reading can be had and any action taken on it, it has to be the next meeting. After 20 days since the last publication, um, 20 days after the last publication would be April 2nd. So the second reading should be at the April 6th meeting.

01:28:27,370	So this would just be, um, public input to determine, you know, how you’re going to go forward at the April 6th meeting. Okay. Thank you. Um, I had requested a little bit of information for clarification from the sheriff’s department on the cost of enforcement. I think there were some questions about the cost of enforcement action. And. It’s not working. We had a technical issue right here. All of a sudden.

01:29:21,370	Mr. chairman, I’ve got a couple of questions. Go ahead. Should we bring it up now or. Yeah. The public hearing. Oh, okay. Can I can I bring it up on page 25 of our packet? Page two of the agreement of the ordinance down. Halfway down says it.

01:29:42,070	Number three, it says an individual may not operate an OHV on the shoulder, bottom, ditch or slope of any road, street or highway that takes care of our problem right there. This is so this is going to be a ban on doing anything. Is that what is that what we’re looking at? Did you read it? Um, I was trying to. Get number three, section four.

01:30:04,470	Number three. It says an individual may not operate in OHV on the shoulder, bottom ditch, bottom of ditch or slope of any road, street or highway that takes care of everything, doesn’t it? That’s the that’s the. Proposed ordinance. Yeah, well, I know it’s proposed, but I don’t like it. You know what’s left? Nothing.

01:30:25,270	The road. So this is a ban on this ordinance would be a ban on anybody using the the ditches. At this point. Yeah. Okay. Then keep in mind that that information that we have in here that’s highlighted in yellow, that simply was added from the city ordinance.

01:30:50,370	It had nothing to do with us creating it or whatever. We made some changes based on what are they talked about city streets. And we talk about county roads and that sort of thing. But this was language essentially, that was.

01:31:10,070	My point is, if we pass, why are we doing all this public hearings and arguing if we pass that one sentence that takes care of the whole problem, they can’t do anything. That’s why we’re having a public hearing, is to hear from. The public. Why don’t we have a public hearing on that? Just that, never mind. I know we’re going to get a chance to speak, and that’s not my point.

01:31:24,800	But the point is, why do they have that in their when we got all the other all the rest of the of the ordinance is how we can do it, how they can, how they can’t, uh, enforcement and all that stuff. But if if we pass this as it is. I guess that’s a good point, Commissioner.

01:31:40,630	Um, referring back to the information on, uh, on costs, um, per our conversation and enforcement would cost about $500 per day. Um, that would be two deputies on overtime for four hours on a day. We would put one on an ATV and one in a car. Working as a team.

01:32:06,730	Tony Heilig from North Dakota Parks and RECs has committed to reimbursing up to $10,000 per year, which would be about 20 shifts. So to be effective, we would need to run operations 3 to 4 shifts minimum per week on a consistent basis.

01:32:29,330	If we added a deputy, that would cost around $90,000 a year, and that deputy could team up with someone like our school resource officer in the summer, he says he thinks we can have success, but there will be a cost and hope that helps. So the state of North Dakota was offering up to 10,000 per year, possibly, and there would be about 20 shifts, which is not enough.

01:32:53,730	Well, it’s a couple of weeks or, you know, a month or something of there’s some enforcement. Things more than anything else. Yeah. Yeah. Um, and then obviously in your packet, Dan, you want to add anything on the, um, on what you put together for the cost of repair? Or what your team put together? Uh, Mr.

01:33:20,000	Chairman, commissioners, uh, just if you have any questions about how we came up with the number or if there is any sort of clarification, um, it was kind of 1000 foot overhead view of what was going on and what our operators and things had had observed out there.

01:33:37,100	So we had, uh, Greg, our GIS coordinator, put together that map kind of documenting the areas that they saw in the field. And just they came up with about 40 miles. Uh, that’s just one sided of, of, uh, areas where they observed some sort of a ditch damage. So. Sorry for clarification. That’s only on one side, right. There was damage on the other. Correct. Didn’t include that. That’s correct.

01:33:58,470	So, Mr. Chairman. Commissioner Wiggins, would we have to add any additional employees to carry this out? Uh, if we were going to use the highway department, I would have to pull a crew from somewhere, whether that’s my paving crew or my gravel crew or my culvert crew or something. I had a crew just.

01:34:16,700	Or I would have to add, you know, full time employees that would be working on on fixing this or we’d have to contract it out. The prices that I gave in here was based off contractor pricing. Um, just assuming that we wouldn’t be able to pull from our crews fully to to start working on this right away.

01:34:34,730	While we’re on that subject, just so that everybody understands, he said. About 40 miles, and we know it’ll be higher than that because there’s more damage on on that. And then the price we have in here is, is $42,165 and $0.76 per mile per repair. Per mile.

01:34:55,600	Per mile per mile. Yeah. And so that adds up to almost 1.7 million to repair what’s out there roughly. And that doesn’t include the pavement repairs, any gravel repairs, any culvert issues or anything like that.

01:35:13,070	Um, and as long as I’m on that subject, I think everybody knows by now that that company I own actually does that sort of work for North Dakota Parks and RECs. And I think that you based your numbers probably on big machinery and, and big stuff that goes on with highway construction. And I do believe that, um, that that number is significantly low. Okay. Commissioner.

01:35:36,230	Dan, is there, um. Is there any different methodology for some of these areas? Because it’s like, we all know that if you go back and just put dirt in it, it’s going to get rutted out again.

01:35:56,370	And is there any different materials that could be looked at or different sorts of, of remediation that would be beneficial? Um, I know Glen Ellen, I think had looked at it or had done some, um, crushed brick and they had some good results with that. Is there any different materials that would go into this rather than if we put it back the way it was, it’s just going to get ripped up again.

01:36:13,870	Do you want to ask that of a trail contractor? I know one. Whoever’s got the answer. Mr. Chairman, uh, Commissioner Bakken, uh, I think at that point you’d almost be creating a trail system, um, where you’re you’re going to have some sort of a granular base, it sounds like, or, um, some sort of a, um, material if

01:36:33,800	you’re if you’re putting this back solely back for, you know, grass to a grass surface. , water conveyance. And water conveyance, you’re looking at topsoil and seeding. That’s really the only solution. So. Mr. Chair, Commissioner Munson, Dan, you and I spoke, uh, late last week.

01:36:52,900	We found out that the county highway department has actually been getting money from the state from the sale and the registration of fees from the numbers I put together over the last 25 years, Burleigh County has received about $1.6 million. Where have we used that money? Um, it’s Mr. Chairman and Commissioner Munson.

01:37:19,100	Uh, to the best of my knowledge, that’s come through our gas tax formula. And I was I was actually unaware that we were even getting that money. I know that I wasn’t, but yeah, we we were receiving money, have been receiving the money for well over 25 years. And nobody told us we were receiving money from that, that that revenue source.

01:37:38,870	So we have been receiving it and the townships have been also getting some of that money. Yeah. And we don’t actually know the gas tax formula. Um, the distribution is based on what the state comes up with. And then they distribute the funds to townships, counties, cities, etc.. There’s also a registration fee. That the vehicle excise tax on.

01:37:58,630	And that’s part of that equation. And I just I don’t know that equation. So it’s on the state website where I found it. Okay. So. Great. Thank you. Appreciate it. Mr. Chairman. Mr. woodpecker, since we’re on uh, repairing these ditches, I did happen to visit with our sheriff last week.

01:38:24,330	And I said, well, why don’t we use some prisoners out the jail that are trustees and and get a crew, get a working crew of ten or 15 or 20, whatever. And he said, well, we’d have to have supervision and have to be deputies there.

01:38:40,730	And I said, yeah, there’ll be a cost to that, but I think we should at least look into it. And if he says, no, we can’t do it, I’d say fine. But is that something we should be looking into? They could have a they could be preparing these trails or these ruts all your, all summer long.

01:38:59,370	And they I know the prisoners like to get out of jail so to speak. So I know there’s a county in South Dakota. Is that what you said? Yes. So there’s a chance we’re both on the same committee? Uh, there’s a and you refer that to. I don’t know anything about it. But remember the name of the county. But. That’s doing that, right? Yep.

01:39:17,600	So that’s a possibility. But I wouldn’t mind looking further into it. Sure. Commissioner Barker. So from a extending what the state’s willing to do from an enforcement, I wonder if the state would be willing to spend that money on some of the repairs or maintenance of that, which then those dollars could go towards the increased cost

01:39:48,000	that we would have for managing a work group. If that’s an opportunity, that would probably extend those dollars a little bit further than just 20 trips out to check and try to do enforcement. Yeah. Uh, that would be a question for North Dakota Parks and Rec. No, is Tony here for any sense? There you go. Hey.

01:40:17,370	Not to put you on the spot, but. I have a question for you, though. Before you start. You know, we built a play area out of the Missouri Valley complex. You’re aware of that? You have some trails and, you know, loading ramp and unloading and all that.

01:40:45,370	Do you know who would anybody talk to about the school land across the highway from you? Uh, so. Commissioner Bitner. Commissioners, Chairman Bender, commissioners, Tony hill, North Dakota Parks and recreation department, that would be the schools trust lands, folks. But I could put you in connection with with their director. Yeah. If you wouldn’t mind. Yep.

01:41:05,870	Uh, Commissioner Bakken, uh, yeah. So. So we have a grant program that’s funded through the trails tax dollars that we collect. So, uh, North Dakota Parks and Rec, we have several responsibilities along with the off highway vehicle program, uh, as it pertains to our agency and then supporting some of our good partners.

01:41:33,730	These include our safety, education, support through that law enforcement grant and then promoting responsible OHV recreation across the state, including trail development supported through our Recreational Trails Program grant so that that Recreational Trails Program grant is probably the money that’s available through a grant process to address those. But again, it has to be then dedicated as a trail.

01:41:58,430	So that’s kind of that loophole has to be that trail. Uh, and so we are, um, again, we’re committed to that off highway vehicle law enforcement grant that Burleigh County applied for and has been been approved for, for those enforcement dollars, how the county uses those, from an enforcement perspective, is up to the county and the sheriff’s department.

01:42:20,170	Commissioner Bakken. Tony, I for me, the simplest solution is just figured out how to get the trail system done in here, where we have the the issues.

01:42:37,430	Um, I, I don’t like over legislating and I don’t like throwing a blanket over when we got a little problem right here. But across the rest of the county, um, has there been some conversations or what would that look like for doing that little trail section? And I know there’s been conversations about what the bigger picture looks like with the trail system, either along 83 or 85. Um, connectivity from North Dakota into South Dakota.

01:42:58,600	I mean, all that’s been on the agenda for a long time. Um, has there been any conversations for that bigger picture with South Dakota? But I guess that’s a little bit bigger question.

01:43:17,530	But as far as the ability just to get that trail established so that we’re not ripping up the areas that are being damaged. Um, has there have been some conversations about what that would look like? Uh, Commissioner Bakken, there has been several conversations with that. And again, the department and the governor’s focus is on access to that outdoor recreation.

01:43:36,000	So that would be, uh, supported by the state to increase and access to the outdoor recreation. Again, the Recreational Trails program grant, uh, is a wonderful tool to get that started. Um. Who initiates that? It? Well, it. Has to be a non-profit or a municipality that does it.

01:43:56,470	Luckily, uh, my division and my team actually run that Recreational Trails Program grant, which opens up on the 1st of April for an application. Very simple process. Uh, and so I’d be willing to sit down with anybody that you appoint or non-profit, uh, or somebody from the county and work through that grant process with them. Uh, that also enables me to bring in more support.

01:44:13,530	Right. So when that when it’s dedicated as a trail, uh, then it kind of I can’t go out and and police right away. I can’t go out and support maintenance and right of ways. I can offer some of those support. Once the recreational trail.

01:44:35,270	If so, what’s the timeline on establishing a trail from proposal grant through? You know, granted, it’s what’s the the length of that trail look like. But what’s the process and what’s the timeline on a process like that? Uh, so the application I’ll just run through just a typical application cycle. It would be a 1st April application.

01:44:57,630	Uh, we usually make those notifications in May or June, uh, depending on, uh, we have a volunteer board that reviews those applications and makes those recommendations to our director for approval. That funding source comes from the fiscal year 27 federal highway tax dollars for the Recreational Trails Program grant.

01:45:16,470	We typically see those, uh, at the beginning of the next fiscal federal fiscal year, which would be, uh, you know, early winter, uh, late winter or early spring, uh, so late winter, 26, early spring of 2027 for those dollars to come in. And then what’s the construction timeline. On the, uh, two. Years? Two years. Okay.

01:45:44,630	Anybody got any more questions for Tony? Mister chair? Commissioner. Tony, I just want to thank you for the grant dollars to help our sheriff’s department bring additional enforcement out to our to our roads. So I do appreciate that. Thank you. And again, uh, Commissioner Munson, they’ve been wonderful partners from our safety program aspect as well. So they they actually come down and help.

01:46:04,900	Uh, it’s it’s empowering to have a law enforcement professional there to tell you the rules, uh, versus, uh, you know, an old Cub scout like me that, uh, is telling you the rules versus the safety stuff. So it’s it’s empowering to have them there. They’ve been great partners with our safety course instruction as well. Super.

01:46:22,530	Thanks, Tony. We appreciate that. Okay. We’ll open up the public hearing. Um, I guess if you wish to speak on this item, you come up here to the microphone. Um, we’re going to ask you to kind of keep it brief. Uh, you know, obviously, we want to hear from you. Um, you heard the process.

01:46:45,000	You identify yourself and hopefully sign in on the sheet and we’ll hear from you. Who wants to speak? So right here, this right here is my main issue with this band. Over here, guys. What’s the name, sir? I’ll give it to you one second here. My name is Nathan Jensen.

01:47:18,170	This right here is Knute. This right here is Danny, Hayden and Haley. All four of these kids are here. Live in Burleigh County and live for Rai in the ditch. We don’t have parks. We don’t have pools. We’re not Bismarck. We live in the county, and we absolutely love riding in the ditches.

01:47:39,370	Do you guys enjoy it? Yeah, yeah. We don’t wake up and go to the park. We wake up, start the UTV up and we go for a ride. We spent four hours today cruising the ditches and guess what? We did zero damage. These four kids.

01:47:55,070	This guy right here, especially spent all last summer saving up for a dirt bike. This year. He can legally get his permit when he’s 12 to legally ride in the ditch. This right here is why I am 100% against the ban. You want 100% bandit. I understand there’s issues.

01:48:18,370	I understand we’ve got issues, but 100% ban this right here is why we can’t have a Palmerston ban. Like where any of you guys raised in the county. I was born in the city. I would have traded anything to be raised like these four kids with the right to enjoy the ditch, enjoy the outdoors and put the phones down.

01:48:39,630	You guys want to ban what these kids fight for? That is. What is really irritating me is we raise them in the county. These kids work harder than any damn kid in the city.

01:48:54,070	These kids do your work, they work, they stay their money, they buy their toys so they can ride them in the ditch. Do they ride through the mud? Do they tear up yards? No. I have raised them to respect ditches. Anything you want to say? They’re very, very camera shy off the microphone. They have plenty to say. But to high man, any riding in the ditch is going against the young kids of our generation.

01:49:17,100	I could go on for hours, but 200% ban. This is outrageous. I understand certain townships have issues, certain areas are issues. Worry about that.

01:49:35,270	Don’t worry about where these young kids are growing up in our little communities, our back country roads worry about the main roads, the main ditches where people are tearing shit up and ruining stuff. But if you want to take the right away from the 95% of good riders, that’s where our problem is at. That’s where the issues that I understand, there’s 5% who are caring. Shut up. Who? I’m gonna have to ask you to watch your mouth. Okay? Yep.

01:49:53,900	Sorry, but. Yeah, that’s my piece. I brought these for tonight to bring that up. It’s just the 95%. Here’s a good four of them. They respect the ditch. They’ve earned their right to ride in the ditch and to completely ban. It is outrageous. Outrageous. Good. Thanks. Thank you very much. Have a great night. Anytime.

01:50:26,100	Have a great night. Thank you. That was pretty good that day. Pretty good. Yeah. He’s lucky one. Next. Anybody else? Thanks. Thank you sir. My name is Jeff Sadler. I’m a current resident of Burleigh County. I, too, have three children at home.

01:51:26,330	One of them just recently passed their North Dakota Parks and Rec test and is a official 13 year old who can ride a four Wheeler. I have an 11 year old who turns 12 in a month, and she is excited to take the test, and my nine year old, he would already take the test if we would let him and gladly go

01:51:39,630	ride, but he knows he’s not of age yet. But I’m here tonight to speak against both the resolution zero zero 2020 601 and the ordinance 2601. I don’t like the resolution because there’s no timeline.

01:52:03,230	And I know once something like that passes and there’s no traffic, it’s a lot easier to push a ban or a stop on OHV use in the right of ways. Um, we already have an ordinance for OHV and ATV and four Wheeler and any youth in the ditches that was passed, I believe in 2223 time frame.

01:52:20,500	Um, and I think Burleigh County news would do a better job of enforcing that and trying to find the problem makers at the last two hearings on this issue. We had multiple complaints about safety. Um, accidents happen every day, no matter what you’re doing, whether you’re walking, biking, driving, flying, mowing your yard.

01:52:42,270	Um, it’s a risk that we all take and choose to take every single day and every aspect of our lives. Um, one very unsafe thing that the county has chosen not to enforce over the years is their current road approach uses. I don’t know how to share this. Picture.

01:53:08,270	But everybody who takes out a road approach in Burleigh County receives that on page two of the road approach permit, which says, do you have to maintain a 4 to 1 slope? No vertical retaining walls, no rocks over six inches, things like that. So if a vehicle veers off the road and hits the approach, you don’t come to a sudden stop.

01:53:22,730	Uh, there’s countless approaches around the county that do not abide by this. Um, just for one of the safety things. And then if it’s not safe for me to operate a recreational vehicle in the ditch, I don’t know how it’s safe for you to mow your ditch or ride a horse in the ditch,

01:53:35,530	or walk in the ditch, or bike in the ditch. Um, some of the pictures that have been shown over the last couple meetings are not from OHV and ATVs. That picture was used. That is a vehicle track mark that somebody veered into the ditch.

01:53:58,470	Um, I don’t know if this ban would stop all vehicle traffic from happening in a ditch, or then what would stop me from buying a, um, pre runner off road vehicle and choosing to operate that in the ditch? If a vehicle is not illegal to operate in the ditch, um. This low spot that has been pushed around quite a bit.

01:54:24,630	I fully agree that the ruts and the turning the grass into mud was caused by ATVs and recreational use, but the reason that spot stays muddy is because there’s a pothole in the ditch or a depression, and an ATV doesn’t cause a non draining ditch.

01:54:46,530	I agree that the ruts will hold water and things like that, but damage done was made worse by ATVs. But the reason it happened is there’s a pothole in the ditch and then, you know, this was the I believe last week I saw a picture on the internet that was posted of, I don’t know if that’s just a random resident that decided to drive in the ditch along highway ten, or if that was

01:55:05,730	done by a, um, utility worker doing something. But I don’t know how that didn’t create a lot of ruts and damage in the ditch. And then I would like to put this picture that I printed off today at 330 of the poll by the Bismarck Tribune on their website, of everybody who voted how a 10.

01:55:33,530	3% strongly support the ban, and 82.1 strongly opposed the ban. And if that large of a difference in the residents in Burleigh County, how we’re still talking about this and possibly banning the use of ATVs and ATVs. And other than that, I won’t go down some of my other porches that I wrote to. Keep. It short.

01:55:58,630	Okay, thanks. Anybody got any questions for Jeff? Thank you. Yeah. Well. I appreciate. Their enthusiasm. Yeah. Not after everyone. Right. Okay, we’re going to ask you to refrain from the clapping and those sort of things. Okay. We expect that everybody hears is adult enough to, um, um, have proper decorum. Okay, so next.

01:57:01,000	Name’s Colton Reese. I was here a couple meetings ago. I just. Had a question. It was mentioned 40 miles of ditch damage. What is the criteria for a ditch to be damaged? Um, Dan, you want to weigh in on that at all? Mr.

01:57:28,330	chairman, commissioners, uh, we went off of what our operators observed. So any sort of wheel pathing in the ditch is what we used as our criteria. So thanks. Um, so I take that as maybe 35 miles of ditches that have been ridden for years and years and years with no complaints from landowners, neighbors. Um, residents.

01:57:54,500	So I’d be I’m curious to what damaged sections of ditches, mileage wise, are the actual problem areas. I think that would be something to think about. So that’s my only question or input. Thanks. Cool.

01:58:15,270	Um, actually, the reason why we asked the highway department to put that together, because they’re the guys that build that stuff, you know, they build the ditches and the roads and the whole thing. So we basically took for granted that they would recognize damages for what it is. And with respect to your comment about, uh, with no complaints, I think we’ve been dealing with this particular issue for a long time, probably longer than you’d want to know.

01:58:34,430	But I think to consider damage, there’s criteria that should be made public. You know, how you are rating the section or areas. I think I think just throwing 40 miles out and not saying, you know, what criteria it’s falling under, what kind of damage caused the damage. You know, I don’t think that’s right. Like I said, there’s.

01:58:59,470	We’re we’re like I said, we’re relying on the professionals. But go ahead. Colton. I asked the same question of the county staff. And quite. Honestly, for the. Short amount of time that they had to create a report, they couldn’t create it detailed enough to where this quarter mile needed this repair, this quarter mile needed more repair

01:59:20,900	that please give us some time. Um, but they only had two weeks, uh, to really get that work done. And they did an amazing job to give us an idea of where the trouble spots are.

01:59:35,330	Now we have to go back through and do a much more detailed review of all of that. And I hand the highway department a great deal of thanks, because in a short amount of time, they were able to at least give us this much. Okay. Thank you. Yep. Thank you. Resident Burleigh County. Yeah. There really doesn’t need to be a total ban in my work.

02:00:07,870	In my opinion. But there needs to be enforcement of the the small, small percentage that’s screwing things up for everybody else. You know. HB 1346 was designed to give the law enforcement more teeth to do something, and they still don’t seem to be doing it.

02:00:33,630	So I’m really not for a total ban, but I, I am for more law enforcement. I mean, my wife had to hit her brakes. Uh uh, on moonshine land. Somebody jumped over the road. You know, either she would have hit him or they would have hit her, you know, and something’s going to get hurt or killed.

02:00:51,630	You know? So that’s. That’s what I’m worried about. You know, and you don’t really want to take people’s rights away. Totally. You know, I mean, just take the bad apples, get them, get rid of them. Got rid of them. But, well, find them. Thanks. All right. Thanks. Good evening.

02:01:24,970	My name is Scott Simic. Uh, I’m a resident of Burleigh County. Um, and I am. I’m deeply affected by what we’re talking about tonight. I’ve got 1200 feet of frontage on 52nd Street, just north of 43rd. And, um, we get. Especially when the weather gets better. A lot of traffic.

02:01:48,470	I’ve lived at that residence since the fall of 2018, and it went for a were when I moved in at the time. And I mow that ditch, uh, on a very regular basis, where before it used to be just grass impressions too. Now I’ve got real ruts.

02:02:06,070	Know by how what you hear me saying? You think I before the ban? I’m not for a ban. Okay. Again, the ditches are. I think we have horses. I want to see the same kind of access for the proper use of motor vehicles as I do my horses. Okay. But there is that small percentage that is ruining this. And really, um, making this an issue.

02:02:26,170	All right. We basically, when I have three straightaways, basically, and you can hear some of them kids and I’m sorry, not just kids. Sometimes it’s young adults, sometimes adults gun at engine to get up some speed on them stretches. And they hit our approaches.

02:02:45,000	And for about 300 of that 1200 feet that actually comes into my lawn, they’re avoiding the ditch completely. So it’s tearing up my property. So I would like to see, like the gentleman said before, enforcement, I applaud Mr. Jensen, who came up earlier with his children. He’s doing the right thing. Not everybody’s doing the right thing. And some of those some folks are abusing it.

02:03:05,630	Um, and when it comes to a safety issue, again, sometimes I’m going to, uh, saddle up my horse and get a horse and somebody guns it through there. They jump, you know, and I’ve got pretty desensitized horses, and they still do that.

02:03:20,330	So I would like I said, I don’t support a ban, but we have to do better either through education, training, enforcement or whatever. Yeah. We got to clean up some bad apples and make this better. Thank you. Thank you. Next. Uh, John. Schmidt.. Uh, Berkeley County. resident. Um. Here’s a couple things. Is I’m against a ban, but.

02:03:55,530	part of this problem is you’ve went 35 years with with ignoring any fixes whatsoever, but you’re more than willing to go get grants for more enforcement. That’s just another bill for us in the long run. Why don’t we establish a trail system and then Parks and Rec.

02:04:16,270	Now you can go for grants to help fix this, that that trail that everybody’s been using, that where the grass has gone in the ditch. That’s that took, what, ten, 15 years to happen. And the 40 miles that’s wrecked.

02:04:38,700	How many miles of ditch are in Burleigh County? What percentage is that? Does anybody know? And you want to come up with 40 miles? Well, how many miles of ditch aren’t wrecked? And in 35 years, don’t you think you’re going to get 40 miles? If we if we spend the money to fix. And right away it’ll take time, because we’re so far behind right now. But you got to catch up on fixing the ditches. You do that.

02:05:00,600	A lot of these people won’t have an issue. That’s just my thought on it. Instead of going in and making more bills for us, establish some trails so we can. We got a tool to fix them. Thank you. You’re welcome. Thanks. Next. Thank you. Oh, man. Yeah. Commissioner Bitner and members of the Burleigh County.

02:06:06,630	My name is Annette Beam Caldwell. You’ve heard from me before? My husband, dusty, and I own and operate Open Road Honda in Mandan. We are residents of Burleigh County and ride OHV. My husband actually rides an on road, off road motorcycle. I’m going to provide some factual information.

02:06:26,000	Actually, this gentleman spurred me to get up about this controversy. Um. Oh, ve users contribute directly to county and township funds, and this is a little bit tough to read. What? I just pointed their sales and motor vehicle tax. Each OHV dirt bike, ATV side by side pays a 5% motor vehicle tax, which goes to the state if you follow the arrows.

02:06:51,530	That state fund goes through the county aid distribution and the state Aid Distribution fund, which both goes to the county. Motor vehicle registrations pay $5 every two years, and they also use gasoline, which has gasoline tax. Those funds flow through to the Highway Tax Distribution Fund, which goes directly to the counties and the townships.

02:07:17,170	We have been in business for 25 years and have collected those funds for 25 years. Um, our numbers alone are in millions of dollars of what we have remitted to the state of North Dakota on behalf of OHV riders.

02:07:36,900	The scope of the right of way that the gentleman asked, according to the website, Burleigh County has 1484 miles of county. Right away. The 39.43 miles of right of way that need require repair represent 2.6 of the total right of way miles. I’m not arguing that repairs need to take place, but in a perspective of the entire entirety of Burleigh County, it’s very small.

02:08:01,070	There were approximately 4688 registered in Burleigh County. And again, I’m reminding you, we think OHV. I think everyone’s jumping to side by side. That’s dirt bikes. Even little dirt bikes, ATVs and side by sides. In 2025, there were approximately 36 verified complaints about OHV activity.

02:08:25,530	So when viewed proportionally, that means complaints are less than 1% of registered OHV users, like a few thousand. Like they’ve said before, it’s a few bad apples that we can find. Um, OHV riding and ditches and right of ways did not begin recently. As they’ve said before, some of these trails have been here since the very first dirt bike was sold in Burleigh County.

02:08:45,730	There are collaborative solutions that can be used, but the most effective solutions come when they come through collaboration, not prohibiting behavior. We can address concerns related to the right of way, using participation from multiple stakeholders, including government, county, the government, county, state agencies, property owners, law enforcement, the power sports industry, and the OHV riders

02:09:09,370	and enthusiasts who are in this room. Each of these groups brings a value, perspective and practical experience that can contribute to a balanced, workable solutions that provide safety, protect property and preserve responsible recreation. Any questions regarding the facts and numbers that I shared? Commissioners. Any questions? Oh, it’s it’s it’s on the legislative website.

02:09:34,530	You just gotta know where to look. Good. Good job. Well thank you. Thanks, Annette. Next. Burleigh County resident Calvin Aberlin. All right. Calvin Eberly. I got a lot of points on here, but a lot of people that said already. But thanks for the opportunity. Speaking.

02:10:25,600	I’m a member of the snowmobile club, and we’re concerned that the broad limits on the off road vehicle could unintentionally affect our ability to create, maintain and connect snowmobile trails. Our access sometimes depends on county right of and crossings and restrictions could make this harder for us to maintain. These routes. Our club actively supports community through more than just recreation.

02:10:52,370	We contribute to programs such as Community Emergency Response Team, which it’s been used a few times already in the past. We also provide donations and fundraising support for rural fire departments, rural ambulances that you guys also use if these trails are restricted, this could limit our ability to continue providing these services.

02:11:22,730	A broad restriction could affect not just the few riders, but also responsible riders, volunteers, community organizations who bring value to the county. I respectfully ask the commission to consider balance, practical solutions that address the problem behaviors without discouraging responsible recreation or community involvement. Thanks for the time and consideration. Good. Thank you. Good evening, commissioners calico.

02:12:02,800	I was not going to speak tonight, but I feel compelled. I believe most, if not all of you sitting at the commission table have a general idea where I live. If you do not, I live on 66th Street southeast, just south of the railroad tracks, two miles north of Lincoln.

02:12:23,600	It is has always been a main corridor of OHV travel. We as property owners along that corridor have had ditch land that we hay and that we use for our livestock. And my horses damaged. We have had thousands of dollars in damage to our approaches where people have jumped them.

02:12:52,630	We have had countless OHV and snowmobiles come onto our private property beyond fence lines, beyond no trespassing signs, and I personally don’t tell the Burleigh County Sheriff’s Department have chased down several of those violators myself. That said, I am an avid off highway vehicle supporter. I personally own a side by side of four Wheeler.

02:13:20,730	My child gained his chops on his dirt bike, his four Wheeler, and now his side by side, riding the ditches of Burleigh County. I do not believe that a ban is the right step forward.

02:13:43,630	I believe that the word moratorium is one of the worst words that a governing body can use, because it stops conversation, it stops relationship building, and it stops collaboration. I want to also debunk a couple of myths that I see perpetuated on social media. And I’ve heard at this very podium, some of the properties in the county that are being damaged are indeed private property. The ditches are not a blanket ownership of the county.

02:14:10,870	I will give again my case as an example. Up until eight years ago, our land was not platted. Therefore we owned the private property to the centerline of the highway. As soon as we went forward, and it had to do a subdivision in order to split the land. At that point.

02:14:34,370	Then that land was dedicated easement to the county up. Prior to then, we were responsible for those ditches. The very same ditches we wrote it. So as you are writing in the county, you have no idea unless you have contacted Burleigh County, whether or not those are private property or just right of way.

02:15:00,630	And Casey, correct me if I said that wrong. The second thing is, I would love to hear. And Commissioner Munson, I totally respect the comments made for the highway Department and their quick turnaround, but I think we do need to define what it is that damage is and rank that because as people have spoken before

02:15:23,530	me, some of these trails a mile and a half south of my house, I can’t even go over with our Polaris side by side because they’re so deep. And finally, I urge every single person in this room to be part of the solution.

02:15:55,000	I see far too often comments on social media or had in private conversations of, well, we’re just going to go out there and we’ll show them and we’re going to ride and we’re going to rip this stuff up. That does absolutely nothing to help anybody at this table or in this audience. We have to be better to each other. We simply must be better.

02:16:14,270	But a moratorium is not the answer. I would stand for any questions. Commissioners, any questions for Kate? Thanks. Next. Travis Jensen, Berkeley County resident. Um, I guess what I want to hit on tonight is I appreciate the information in regards to what it will take to enforce, um, the current laws and this proposed ordinance, but this will be the second

02:16:50,000	time that I have asked you guys about beyond the enforcement comes the State Attorney’s office. Um, we again heard at this meeting for. I’ve lost count, guys, how overwhelmed our state’s Attorney’s office is.

02:17:12,070	And again, I’m going to reiterate for the record that our state’s attorney’s office, county state’s attorney’s office does not handle all of our cases. We are currently contracting, I believe, with two outside law firms, because we are shorthanded. And as you guys said, Julie’s office is doing everything they can to keep up.

02:17:31,230	So now with the amount of complaints that are going to come in, if this is passed, how is Julie’s office going to prosecute? Because, yeah, we can sell the public on well, it’s going to be education. Our law enforcement will stop, they’ll make contact and they’ll try to educate first. But at some point, guys, the people that have brought this forth are not going to be happy with just educating.

02:17:47,370	They are going to want consequences and with consequences. You guys now involve our county state’s attorney’s office. So what I would like to hear is we have heard what it will take to fund the Sheriff’s department.

02:18:08,470	I would like to hear numbers in regards to what this will take and what the added workload will be to our county State’s Attorney’s office. Um, to keep it short and brief, I would also like to touch on the Facebook post that the county made in regards to this open or this, uh, this meeting tonight in regards to the public hearing, I feel there was a little biased exercised in that

02:18:27,270	post. Um, there was some pictures that have previously been shared repetitively at the county commission meeting, township meetings. Um, and they were plastered on the post, which doesn’t typically seem like a routine thing that we do when we post public hearings, job openings, etc.. Um, I feel there was a little bias inserted in there.

02:18:48,170	I think a lot of people in this room feel like overall, and I think you guys can agree our county looks good, ditches look good. Overall, most of the residents, most of the property looks good. This is a small fraction of our county. So do post that as if this is a county wide issue.

02:19:09,800	It seems like some bias was inserted, so I would ask moving forward, the whole point of these public hearings is to have you guys hear the public and kind of go at it with an open mind and hear what the people want.

02:19:27,700	So moving forward, I would I would ask that both sides be represented on those posts versus making it sound like it’s a county wide issue with those pictures. Thank you. Next. Chair. Commissioner Baskin. Um, granted, I you probably don’t have an answer, Julie, but have you given any consideration what, uh, enforcement of the proposed ordinance would look like when it comes working with the sheriff’s department? Um, and what that would do to your office.

02:20:02,070	So it looks. Like the proposed penalty would. Oh. Thank you. It looks like the proposed penalty would be a basically a fine. So, like a traffic ticket. Um, and so the way those are processed is those go to the court without going through our office first.

02:20:20,330	And then if someone can test it, then, then our office gets involved. And then we would have somebody attend the hearing. We’d have to call a witness. Um, and, and go about doing it that way. So it just would depend on how many citations are issued.

02:20:35,270	Um, we do have somebody that’s designated to go up during the traffic hearing time regardless. So I can’t really tell you what the impact would be until we see what the enforcement would be. Thank you. Okay. Next. Good evening gentlemen. My name is John Schaffner. I do live on 52nd Street Northeast, just south of 71st Avenue. In. Been a lot of great discussion on different aspects of this.

02:21:03,530	Damage is one thing, but it is a safety issue. On several occasions. Our house is about 200ft off of 52nd Street. On several occasions we have seen kids jump. Our approach with a dirt bike. And then there they lay in the ditch. Can’t get up for 10 or 20 minutes. We run over there. Are you okay? Yeah.

02:21:24,900	I’m okay. And then everybody’s call somebody with a pickup. They come and they throw the dirt bike on and they’re all gone. So it’s a safety issue. Uh, this past summer, I was mowing my ditch.

02:21:44,630	I have a, um, mature row of evergreen trees running along my property parallel with the ditch. Um, I’m on my ditch with my riding lawnmower heading north.

02:22:01,800	I take a slight left turn kind of past the the evergreen trees mowing part of my yard, and then I’m just ready to turn right and go back out to my ditch and continue mowing because I like to keep it nice and just before I turn a dirt bike come blowing by me. Had I turned a half a second sooner, I’m pretty sure he’d have went right over top of me.

02:22:19,500	And every time I leave my yard, I hold my breath as I’m gone out to what if today’s the day? Would I come flying over here with a dirt bike and hit the side of my car where my grandkids are in that car, or whether I’m in there? It’s a safety issue. It’s not just damage.

02:22:35,470	And I you know, that’s all I got to say. I don’t I don’t know that a fan is the OP is the answer. I think some lessons in respect for people’s property, I think, would be the best solution. Thank you. Thank you. Good evening commissioners.

02:23:16,630	My name is Patrick Iger and I’m going to be the 2% of the minority vote here tonight. Our voice I own property north of Bismarck up by the Capital City Garden Club. And we have the same situation that the young lady had earlier where we owned to the center of the road. It’s not county property.

02:23:36,800	I believe everybody has the right to buy an ATV to own them, ride them, whatever. But it’s disrespectful when you’re riding my private property, which mine is. I’m sorry. I have a really bad cold, but, um, when you’re. I’m going to relay this a little off to the left when you’re hunting. I grew up on the property. My folks bought it back in 1972.

02:23:56,530	We never had problems with ATVs until about the last five years. But when you’re hunting, you ask for permission from that landowner. If you can go on their property and hunt, how many ATV owners go to the property owners and ask if they can ride their vehicles? None.

02:24:14,170	So nobody’s ever asked me. They tear up my fences. They tear up my culvert, so on and so forth, and that’s money out of my pocket. The solution is give them a place to ride someplace else, not mine. Maybe they can do like the snowmobile clubs.

02:24:35,100	They can all get together and have ATV clubs pull your money together, go buy 40 acres and ride out there. I don’t know how the specific answer, but nobody here that owns a house would want me driving my truck or an ATV on their lawn. The other aspect that wasn’t brought up is the noise pollution.

02:24:55,900	You hear these things a half a mile away at 5:00 in the morning, 6:00 in the morning, 11:00 at night. And it sounds like a bunch of bees buzzing around your head. So with that, thank you for your time. We appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you. My name is Luke Langfelder. I’m a resident of Burleigh County.

02:25:29,000	I live up north of Bismarck. Uh, my question is, where else do we have to go? I mean, I’ve I’ve heard people say that there’s Burleigh County property out by the motocross track that people can use.

02:25:56,100	What? What areas are open right now where if this moratorium happens, that kids can load up their bikes or side by sides and going, use. I used to be able to run from South 12th Street all the way up past McLean bottoms, go camping and fishing. There was trails all the way out there. All of that’s been shut down. What’s open publicly for me to go use kids to go use as an option.

02:26:27,070	Well, I think we’ve talked about in previous meetings that we created an area out of the Missouri Valley complex, and I think I was also real clear that probably not a good idea to try to go to ride there now, because they’re doing a big, uh, sewer line project.

02:26:44,230	Yeah, it’s kind of going right through there. So that’s, um, you know, that was one of the biggest areas that we had available. When that was how long is that sewer line project in to last? Should just be. I, I don’t know. So it’ll be for the rest of the summer. So.

02:27:00,270	Right right now besides like going down to the desert, that’s the only other place publicly that kids can go legally. If this is shut down. All right. There’s just there’s lots of lots of and lots of questions to be answered here.

02:27:24,730	I just feel like shutting everything down for these kids, and especially county wide, is just crazy. I don’t even know what to say. It’s there has to be other solutions. We have law enforcement that’s out there right now that are getting paid to watch. Why can’t you know? I see sheriffs all the time when I’m out on my motorcycle or side by side.

02:27:50,470	Why can’t they just pull over? Kids do whatever without all this extra cost. They’re out there enforcing the laws anyway. You guys have a good night. Hello. My name is Dale Burleigh, County resident.

02:28:37,330	One thing I haven’t heard is the effect that the farmers, ranchers, anybody like that is going to have if you do this ban. Somebody working in their field needs to run the town for a part. Anything like that. Yeah. I can answer that one for you. Okay. Um, there’s a clause in there that exempts, um, you know, those kind of activities from that. Okay.

02:29:01,330	Um, primarily because we know for a fact that nowadays not too many people use horses to chase cows anymore. Most of them are using ATVs and side by side and stuff like that. And a lot of us, um, that live out there, use them for weed spraying. And, you know, plowing and doing all kinds of things. So there’s a clause in there that, okay, we’ll have no effect on that. Okay.

02:29:20,230	And then as far as I guess, the general consensus of everybody is the actions, a, a few are hurting the masses. When it comes down to it. I live in XT 83 block off 83. So the state snowmobile trail, the other trails. I see people using them all the time.

02:29:42,470	The kids even going through the development main road into our development and runs right in front of my house. So there’s constantly traffic back and forth and ultimately what it comes down to is, you know, teaching the kids or whoever is doing it to respect others people’s property.

02:30:03,800	And like you touched on before, private property hunting aspect, if it is posted, go ask, get permission. You know, take responsibility, be responsible for yourself and teach the kids. This is what needs to be done. Instead of punishing the masses by doing this. That’s just my opinion. Thank you. Okay. Thank you. Next. All right. Hold your applause.

02:30:41,170	I already signed up. I’m glad you said that, because there won’t be any. Probably when I’m done, but. So I’m not. I’m just going to. I’m going to make some statements here. Um, right out of the chute. It didn’t sit well with me right out of the chute, because you got to be kidding me.

02:30:59,870	They went out riding these wet, soggy ditches today. Are you serious? There’s a problem right there. No matter what we do right off the bat, we need to have while we’re coming up with a. There’s no solutions that I’ve heard from anyone today, and that’s what’s missing. What we hear is that AUVs have a right.

02:31:19,630	Have a right. I’m in the county. Have a right. Don’t take my right away. But what about the safety aspect of all of us who are egress, ingress, and like me, in the last several years, nearly T-boned a dirt bike on 71st Avenue as he was racing home after sunset.

02:31:38,800	And the gentleman that talked about, um, on 52nd Street. What about the rights of the property owners that are being damaged? I mean, they have rights. Where are the solutions being brought forth by all of you OHV proponents to provide solutions to the people’s property that you’re damaging, whether it’s theirs or the county’s, which they still have to maintain it.

02:32:01,370	They’re still filling the ruts in the ditch so they don’t high center their garden. Tractor. Where are the solutions to that? I think at a minimum, immediately there needs to be a ride. Uh, restriction days. There should be no riding today. The ditches are soggy. Nowhere in the county. Um.

02:32:21,730	Oh, and then there’s a thing brought up about where where the words we left to ride. I’ll tell you, effective September 1st, 1987, the 1987 legislature put in the statute 39 2909. The OHV rules.

02:32:47,270	Okay, then it was modified a little bit a year ago, which didn’t matter because we have the homeroom room, the Home rule charter, to be able to do some things. But I say you have you can ride in just like the snowmobile club we ride in the state highway right of way. That’s open. You can all ride from Bismarck all the way to the Canadian border if you want. Both sides.

02:33:03,730	I mean, the state right of way by statute, is open to OHV, and I don’t see any real restriction other than there in 22,006 and 2011, they did put in um, registration requirements and safe operation. But okay, so aside from the ban, okay, what are the solutions? I’ve heard nothing tonight.

02:33:29,370	I’ve been up northeast of Bismarck for 20 years. For whatever reason, bigger. Uh, ATVs, more disrespectful riders, whatever the reason is, I’ve never seen so much damage. And of course, the open winter having April temperatures in February, there should have been no riding those days.

02:33:58,230	Those ATVs probably should not be or UTV should not be in our ditches from the first snowfall or whatever all the way till April 1st or something. But I mean, it’s been there’s been no, uh, I would say 908 residents in Gibbs Township, 1500 homes in Hay Creek Township.

02:34:23,330	We’re talking a very, very, very small percent of kids that leave their parents home, okay? They’re not all riding in the ditches on Apple Creek like we just heard from Kate. They’re not riding and tearing up their own ditch that they’re haying and all that. They’re leaving their home. I see it all the time, and they’re riding on 71st Avenue till they hop in the ditch, get on 52nd.

02:34:40,330	There is a safety concern. I hear nothing being proposed by any of the powersports folks, by any of you proponents. What are the solutions to help protect the rights of the property owners that have safety issues, and whose property is being damaged? Even if it’s a county property, we have to maintain

02:34:58,600	the ditches. The county is not going to come mow and maintain the ditches. We maintain the ditches. And I wonder how many parents who have riders drive on.

02:35:14,700	You have to drive across from the Koa campground and see what that that property owner has got in each side of his ditch, and then go all the way up 71st Avenue. Look at the damage. 20 years. I’ve never seen it so bad. So somebody in this pro group please come up with some solutions so that maybe we don’t have to have an all out ban. I don’t think that’s asking too much. Okay. Thank you. Thank you.

02:35:38,000	Okay I wasn’t going to get up again, but it was 13 degrees today. So even if you would have put a ban on, it was still legal to drive today. When’s your ban. Is it 29 degrees? 32 degrees. When do you want to put that ban? I know. That that’s not okay. We’re not you know.

02:35:58,800	We’re not going to have. This conversation. No. But I mean who who determines when it’s when it’s legal to drive, when it’s not. Yeah. That’d be me. Yeah. And and the solution is designate some trails so we can get some grants to fix the roads. And I agree with you.

02:36:19,730	20 years, you probably haven’t seen it so bad, but it hasn’t been fixed in 20 years. We got to come up with a maintenance program before we can start bitching about. Right. It’s more of a maintenance issue than it is also a ban. Fixed. Commissioners.

02:36:56,000	Tom Dutton, um, with Burleigh County Township Officers Association, we as a board, uh, did not take a side on this issue because of so many people involved in it, but we do have a problem with your with your county wide band. We do not believe that you have the authority to ban in township roads. Um, in Century Code 24 0601.

02:37:37,730	Basically says that township supervisors have the right to are the supervisors of the townships. Are in charge of highways, ditches, bridges, and, and, uh, culverts. I am also on the state Board of Townships. So I asked our attorney what his opinion was, and he agreed with me.

02:38:13,370	You do not have the right to ban it in the township areas. Um, I also heard from him that he had spoken with, uh, the attorney for, um, the Association of Counties, and he agreed with me. So I don’t believe that you have the authority to do this countywide. Just want to make that statement. Thank you. Thanks. Good evening, chairman. Commissioners. Uh. First I’d like to. Ask.

02:39:20,730	What what temperature. Was it this morning when you got up? Five below. So this nice family that went out riding today. What’s your name? Oh, Dustin Krieger. I’m sorry. Uh, the family went out riding this morning. Uh, or today, um, in the high of today was, what, 13? Um, the ground was frozen.

02:39:40,900	There was no damage done today when they out riding. So first and foremost, I wanted to just say that, um, I also was going to say I like the little graphic on, uh, your monitor here. It’s got a little star and the whole rest of the county. That’s definitely a good representation.

02:39:57,470	Uh, of kind of the small, very small problem area compared to the rest of the county to where it makes it seem really ridiculous to, you know, pose this ban on the entire county. Um, and my family and I and friends have been riding ATV, UTV, uh, for over 20 years.

02:40:22,270	And respectfully, um, if we hadn’t gotten snow over this past weekend, I would have brought some pictures of, uh, my ditch. The ditch along 110th Avenue where I live, and you can see how nice my ditches are.

02:40:41,430	So, uh, I wish I could have brought those just to kind of offset the, uh, pictures that were posted on the Burleigh County, uh, public notice. Um, I have quite a few items that I will actually try to keep it to a short list, but, um, as I was looking through this ban in case it actually, uh, is considered to be passed, there’s some wording issues in that proposal, and I don’t know

02:41:05,500	if that’s anything. Anybody here wants to hear tonight at all, but, um, a class two OHV as defined, uh, is a 50 inch or less, um, inches wide. The what I assume is the addition to the existing ordinance. It is section three. Uh, where is it? Okay.

02:41:39,000	So so the definition of an OHV class two is section 3.3. B. Like I said, it’s 50in or less in width. And then this added uh item under section three uh three item D it says only OHV with a minimum width of 50in. Uh meeting the requirements of the section can operate on Burleigh County roads. Uh, your standard ATV is uh is 48in.

02:42:07,170	So that would essentially remove if you did a ban in the ditch, it would also remove riding on roads. And, uh, Chairman Bitner, didn’t you say a couple, um, meetings ago that you ride your own ATV on 80th, 80th Street? Sure. Great. Because you can if if this were to pass as is, uh, you know, um, you couldn’t know. I could.

02:42:31,230	Is your is your, uh, again, I’m just looking at the wording. Yeah. Um, your ATV, I assume, is stock, and it’s 48in. What? Clarify for you. Um, when I use mine and it has anywhere near. The.

02:42:50,000	Road, it’s because I’m spraying and whatnot, and there’s language in here that exempts those normal kind of activities. You know, farming, ranching, commercial, homeowner, landowner things. So, yeah, sure.

02:43:05,900	But for for the rest of us, I get, you know, and I’m just looking at if this band were to go through which again, obviously I’m strongly opposed to, uh, but if it were to go through wording like this, um, if I can’t ride my ATV into ditch this wording, I couldn’t ride it on any roads either, because yes, currently, now we can ride on county roads.

02:43:27,000	But, uh, you know, meeting the the requirements to be street legal for, for a class two, but this would completely remove us from the roads too. So then essentially it would only be side by sides. That could even be street legal at that point. So, um. Again, I. Should probably point out, you know, we utilize the language essentially that the city had under their ordinances.

02:43:46,170	And so I don’t think there was any real concern given to the measurements of the widths of a machine at that point. And I think with respect to that point, as we can sure take a look at it.

02:43:58,270	However, I’d be willing to bet you and nickel that if you go home and you look at the fender of your ATV, it’s going to tell you on there. Don’t ride that thing on public roads. You know, it’s, you know, it’s riveted to your fender. But it is is that I mean, is that a. It had nothing to do with this. Yeah.

02:44:15,470	But I looked at mine and I took pictures of it, you know, because it’s physically riveted to the machine. It says in two different places do not operate this on public roads. So I’m, I’m not a manufacturer. I don’t know why they would put that on there. That had nothing to do with this. And we can certainly take a look at that language.

02:44:34,830	But yeah, I just want to bring to everyone’s attention just that the, the wording on here, there’s, there’s, you know, some others in here now, um, is it true that, uh, that there’s going to be at least one more public hearing on this ordinance? Will it be just one more, or are there actually be

02:44:52,730	a total of three? I. Don’t know yet. Oh, okay. You know, we I think that what usually happens with these things is we take public input and then we try to change what language we can and, and things like that, you know, and, and see what happens moving forward.

02:45:11,370	There’s nothing, nothing chiseled in stone here, you know, it’s not the Ten Commandments. All right. That’s all I got. Thank you. Thanks. Next. Uh. Jesse Zander. Uh, resident of Burleigh County. Um, I guess one thing that hasn’t really been talked about is, you know, hey, obviously there’s.

02:46:04,470	got to be something done to repair some of these areas. Um, I’m against a ban, but you go in these ditches with some skid steers and topsoil, disturb the sod. I guess we do need to figure out what to do in those areas to. Um. Allow that. Um.

02:46:35,800	Vegetation to recover and, you know, get a decent product again. So I guess just a little food for thought. There. As far as you know, a not not a major band, but, you know, some signage, some restrictions and specific areas. And I think that that would probably be something that would need to be probably best be worked out with the, um, townships.

02:47:04,170	As far as you know, what, you know, I know a lot of these areas are in Gibbs Township. Hey, Creek Township, which areas that actually need this attention and, you know where we’re comfortable putting restrictions in place because, you know, just putting permanent restriction in one place is gonna push that traffic to another ditch.

02:47:32,470	So, I mean, I think that’s something that needs a lot of consideration. And then, um, I guess I also had a question. Maybe it was answered, but the draft that was on the website, you said that basically came right from the what the city has implemented. No, not not not the whole thing.

02:47:56,900	Um, there’s an existing ordinance and in here, the stuff that was highlighted in yellow, I don’t know what it is. Oh, yes. Yes. But the highlighted in yellow stuff was essentially from the. Okay. The city ordinance.

02:48:15,600	Uh, there there’s definitely some issues in there that I mean, if that’s something we want to work with, definitely need to be ironed through. I mean, one line in there referring directly to a type two OHV, which of course we know is, a ATV that you straddle with handlebars and specifies that it requires seat belts. So, I mean, just a few points in there that definitely need a little more attention.

02:48:36,970	But I mean, obviously the time wasn’t given to it yet, but that’s all I had. Thanks for the time. Thanks. Okay. My name is Earl Stettler. I’ve been up here before in previous meetings.

02:49:12,100	Um, I’m, uh, I live north on, uh, 70th or on Centennial, uh, south of 71st, North of the new exit that they put up. But, uh, you know, we’ve been dealing with this for a number of years. More recently, I guess it’s been worse. But, uh, you know, I’m kind of fed up with the whole thing.

02:49:30,370	Uh, I would like to see some sort of a ban or maybe a temporary ban. Uh, if the guys can drive there. Uh, units on on 83. I understand that’s a state highway, so that would be one way to go. Um, I just don’t know.

02:49:53,730	I don’t I don’t want to ban them, but, I mean, we’ve got ruts that are from 4 to 6in deep, and then on both sides of our entry road, that’s all tore away. And ruts in the top of the road.

02:50:13,100	And every summer I usually go get a load or two of of road pack and try to fix that, but it just gets tore up again right away. Um, so I don’t know. And the worst of it, it seems like these bigger machines that they have now are basically like a, like a four wheel drive pickup. Uh, and they got the big knobby tires. So, you know, it’s going to rip the roads up. The ditch is up.

02:50:31,330	That’s just the way it is. So I don’t know if you’re going to repair that every summer or every year. It’s going to be pretty costly. So uh, snowmobiles have never had a problem with snowmobiles. They’re out there when it’s frozen. Uh, usually when there’s a fair amount of snow on the ground.

02:50:57,870	Um, almost never have I seen any of them jumped. The approach roads. There may have been some, but I’ve never seen that. And then when there is a lot of snow, they usually have a machine that’ll groom a trail in there to 8 or 12ft wide.

02:51:18,170	And then they got, excuse me, they got little signs up, uh, where there’s, uh, places that you want to stay away from. And I think little spots on each side of the road that you should stop or at least slow way down. So those, like I say, snowmobiles. I’ve never had an issue with them.

02:51:34,270	Um, I don’t own one. Used to drive one when I was young, but we went out to the Fort Lincoln Park south of Mandan. That’s where we would go. But, uh, so that’s all I’ve got to say. You know, if there’s a if there’s a way to solve this, you know, maybe we need to make some.

02:51:53,900	Everybody that owns those get together and form a club and, and and try to make an area where they can ride. Um, I don’t know what the solution is, but that’s it for me. Thank you. Good evening. I’m Mike Coleman. I live. out by Lincoln. Um. my question is. The. Tax dollars.

02:52:23,000	That get brought into the county from. The sales. Of OHV. Vehicle, OHV vehicles, uh, dirt bikes, that kind of stuff. Along with the registration.

02:52:41,470	Where does that money go? Why don’t we utilize that to help parks and Rec create a trail system over those 40 miles? Kind of work with the Parks and Rec so that the problem gets addressed, but also us as OHV riders have a place to go and some of the landowners, it’ll help cover that damage. So. Thank you.

02:53:09,730	I don’t I don’t really have an answer because tonight was the first time I heard a commissioner say that there was any revenue to the county at all, and I’m not aware of that. And I just learned, you know, last. week never been a thing. I think our highway engineer indicated. That. Money goes to the state and they’ve distributed back to us in our county, uh, sales or tax thing. And it’s not itemized. So we don’t know what.

02:53:28,900	You know. It is or where it’s it’s not designated for any particular purpose, but it is it does come to us, but we don’t know where it’s going. Apparently. Is that highway department for roads. And that’s part of that. package that goes for that funding.

02:53:45,000	It was just never designated or never has been designated. How much comes from each source of funding. Right. So Dan and Casey were completely flabbergasted when I found it and asked. Him. Yeah. Okay. Good evening commissioners. I wonder if somebody could. There you go. Perfect. Chair. Bitner. Commissioners. My name is Doug Pearson.

02:54:18,900	I live in Hay Creek Township. Tonight I will not be speaking about the right of way issues. It’s very clear our laws are outdated and need to be fixed. But what I would like to talk about is the noise issues. Like the gentleman already spoke about. We need to visit about this right here a little bit.

02:54:37,900	And our century quote makes it clear private nuisance and public nuisance violations. You guys can read it for yourself right there. A private nuisance is one which affects a single individual or a determinate number of persons in the enjoyment of some private right. Not common to the public.

02:55:03,530	So if I’m out in the morning having a cup of coffee, gardening in the afternoon, or maybe barbecuing at night, I don’t want to listen to OHV revving around my neighborhood and racing up and down my roads.

02:55:36,700	Public nuisance definition is one which at the same time affects an entire community or neighborhood, or any considerable number of persons. And of course you see it. A remedy is right there. You know, if you know, we’ve been dealing with this for 25 years and just knocking our head up against the wall, Sheriff’s department, if they’re not going to do nothing about it.

02:55:54,730	State’s attorney, we will bring a criminal action before the jurisdiction or excuse me, a district judge. And I hope it doesn’t come to that. But we’re up against a wall. We want something done about this. You can see right there if you’re guilty of a public nuisance, it’s a class A misdemeanor.

02:56:45,530	I’d also like to mention, before Burleigh County ordinance for no engine brakes was put in place. We were protected under the nuisance ordinance or. Excuse me, the nuisance language of North Dakota. Century Code 42 and the decibel ranges for OHV are the same as engine brakes, which is an 85 to 110dB. So there are protections out there for us.

02:57:08,900	We just need to put them in place and get something done about this. And I’ll finish up with this right here. And we’re going to go right to you to OHV, uh, Century Code, which is 3929 nine, part five and individual may not operate an OHV vehicle in the following ways, which are declared to be

02:57:35,630	unsafe and a public nuisance. The language is there. And these are basically for noise right here. So we got to deal with that each and every day from morning to night.

02:57:51,270	I got an elderly mother that lives right up on that corner, and she’s got to deal with this right here where our rights, you know, it goes both ways. And I’m not against an O or a complete ban in Burleigh County, but I think we need to do something in the Oeta area. That’s where the problem is. So with that, I’ll stand for any questions. Commissioners, any questions for Doug. Thank you Doug. Mr. chairman. Commissioner Woodcox.

02:58:16,170	Uh, Doug, you and I rode around. We sure. Did. And you had pointed out. And I’ve still got your map. A lot of areas that could be used for these vehicles. Absolutely.

02:58:37,270	How? But how do we have to make them available? That’s what I, I struggled with that because I looked and it’s private property and the places a lot of them are not even developed at all. But then people have to tow their vehicle to get there to use that. Well for, for example, Commissioner 43rd Avenue, I know there’s a lot of kids that come out of Sattler subdivision and, uh, Silver Ranch, you got 43rd.

02:58:56,730	That goes completely east. Those are roads that you can ride on. And also in the ditches. Now you go across 80th Street where you’re over by the Highway Department building. You go east of there. There’s all kind of right of ways out there. There’s a gravel roads they can ride up and down. I mean, there’s hundreds of miles out there.

02:59:17,000	How do we get that message out to the people that are? Well, I think, uh, Tony Hillock with Parks and Rec, I know, um, Major Jim Holm marks the snowmobile trails. They work together. Let’s start marking, uh, trails for OHV. Good idea. It can be done.

02:59:37,500	We just got to take the time and effort to do it, because, like I said, I’m not against a complete ban. I really am not. But we need protections in those high populated areas of the EPA. So thank. You. Hello. My name is DJ Berger. I live in Lincoln.

03:00:46,170	I have grown up on a farm, so I understand people’s concerns with private property, posted property, I know how I feel when we have people come on our property without permissions. I don’t appreciate it. Uh, I understand people’s concerns with, uh, damage to property. Um, so I totally understand that argument. That being said, I am 100% against a ban.

03:01:08,700	I personally own a side by side. I grew up with four Wheeler. I use it for multiple things. As you said, you use yours for spraying. We use ours for farm maintenance, recreation all the same. Um, I think, uh, easy solution or easier solution than just a full out ban would be to put in a trail system.

03:01:33,370	Um, we talked about costs for repairs. I would be curious as to what the cost difference would be versus repairs versus just putting in a trail with good quality ground materials that doesn’t develop ruts that you know is easily maintained. Um, I also want a snowmobile.

03:01:57,430	So I do appreciate the fact that we have snowmobile trails. Um, my brother lives on the north side of Bismarck. So for me to go from Lincoln with my side by side to my brother’s house on the north side of Bismarck, either I have to drive paved roads or I have to take back

03:02:14,330	roads, or I take a ditch. And, uh, you know, we talked about 40 miles of trails or damages to ditches. Well, why don’t we make those and establish trail and put in materials to prevent the damage? I think it’d be easier to maintain, um, as has been mentioned, we do pay fees yearly.

03:02:39,530	My side by side is licensed. I have blinkers, horns, mirrors, everything. I pay fees. Um, that should be going towards this. Another point I’d like to make is, uh. I have traveled to use my side by side. Uh, I’ve been in South Dakota. I have been in Minnesota as far as I know. North Dakota, not even just Burleigh County, but the state.

03:03:02,870	We are the only state that doesn’t have side by side trails, OHV trails. So not only are we kind of left behind on that front, but I feel like we could be missing out on revenue from tourism because I don’t know how anybody else feels.

03:03:26,970	But if there would be a good trail system out in Medora, like that’d be a heck of a business opportunity for somebody. I mean, we already do musical packages where people come out and stay. Wouldn’t it be great to come out? You could rent a side by side.

03:03:45,070	I mean, I go to Idaho, I go to Montana for snowmobiling, and you can go out there and rent machines and use their trails, and you have to pay a trail fee. And a lot of times they’re not cheap. You know, you’re 8000 bucks to ride on a trail. And I go for a week at best. Usually it’s about three days. So we’re missing out on that revenue as well.

03:04:01,730	If we would have a trail system in North Dakota and if there was an established trail versus some of these ditches, I think it’d be a lot more a lot easier for people to avoid these other areas where there is a potential problem and follow an established trail that’s taking care of, that’s maintained.

03:04:26,230	And it would eliminate some of these problem areas. Thank you. So before you go, you know, there there actually is established trails in the state of North Dakota. I’ve, I’ve actually worked on and and built a bunch of them.

03:04:47,530	You know, you can go up to the Pembina Gorge, uh, there’s um, I don’t know, Turtle Mountain or something like that. You got the Rough Rider Trail over here in Morton County? Um, I think Tony would be able to point out some other ones that are some trails. Whether there’s enough that obviously not. It’s obviously not enough. But they do get built every year.

03:05:09,900	Well, I just think this is a and I appreciate your point there. I’m not aware of all the trails. If there are some in North Dakota, but Pembina that’s that’s a long drive. You know I currently I don’t have kids. Um, so this is more of a selfish thing for me, I guess.

03:05:26,230	I do appreciate everybody that has kids because I have nieces and nephews, you know, and they have dirt bikes and but again, they were raised to respect the land, respect people’s properties and to use their machines, their toys, in a respectful manner and to tell a young kid of 14 that he’s got

03:05:47,070	to load it up on the north side of Bismarck to even go to Mandan. How is he getting it there? I mean, that’s it’s not really realistic. I mean, do we want young kids to be pulling trailers just so they can get somewhere to ride? I mean, I don’t really think that’s realistic. Um. Yeah. Thanks.

03:06:11,800	Thank you, thank you. Cody. Burleigh, County resident. Um. I guess by your own admission, trail systems work. Yes. No. I mean, if you’ve spent time to build them and maintain them, I mean, obviously you must put some value to them and think they’re a worthwhile investment.

03:07:00,600	Well, I think they are, um, for, um, for the places where they exist. I think they’re a good thing. I wouldn’t build them if I didn’t think so. So, I mean, and, uh, the thing to keep in mind, though, is it’s not just building them, it’s maintaining them and, and whatnot. That actually is probably the biggest problem we’re faced with in the state right now.

03:07:17,300	Well. the state Parks and Rec guy, I forget his name, you know, I mean, if there’s grants available and all we need to do is fill out these applications, get the ball rolling, I feel like that’s a much better solution than an outright ban.

03:07:36,800	I mean, at the end of the day, we’ve got a handful of squeaky wheels that are trying to force their hand on a county wide ban. And I just I think that’s egregious. That’s horrible. Awful. Um, you know, trails there’s revenue to be made there. We’ve I mean, millions are missing.

03:08:01,470	Nobody knows where this sales tax money and gas tax and fees and stuff that we own. Um, I don’t know, I just, I think trails are the answer or ban isn’t the answer. Um, you know, obviously there’s going to be arterials whether there’s noise ordinances within the subdivisions, you know, the little subdivisions. You they’ve got to stay on the street.

03:08:26,900	They can’t be on people’s yards and stuff because in those situations that is maintained, that is mowed. Um, you know, people care about that versus an agricultural plat where, you know, half of these pictures with the damage, they’re unmaintained ditches. Ignorance isn’t an excuse, but kids are idiots.

03:08:49,870	They don’t know the difference, you know? But some of these pictures with the damage, you know, there’s saplings growing, there’s boulders, trails going around that stuff. I mean, that’s going to become an established trail. It’s going to create ruts. Um, you know, but then to sit there and say that that’s, you know, whether it’s private property or not, nobody knows.

03:09:11,870	You know, I don’t know I don’t know that on the fly kids aren’t certainly going to know that, um, you know, some of these people that want to complain, I’d be the first one to complain about it, too, if I had a highway and my first front yard. But I’d. Go figure out who it is. These kids aren’t traveling that far.

03:09:28,330	You can find them. And if you’re scared or apprehensive about doing it, call a deputy. Hey, can you meet here? Can we go over to this house? We can have a sit down, chat with the parents and these kids. I just think education’s going to be the key to this thing.

03:09:46,100	Instead of a ban. I guess. Any questions? Any questions? No. Thank you. Thanks. Hello. My name is. Tate. But most of the people here know. Me as king. Of the ditch. So, um. So far, it seems that, um, very few people, including landowners, support a full ban.

03:10:31,470	As Commissioner Woodcox pointed out at the beginning, is basically the way that the writing, uh, lays this out. Yet, as we’ve, you know, has repeatedly been said, it seems that it’s a few, uh, individuals, a few bad apples that have been responsible for most of the damage that we have seen yet.

03:10:52,630	One thing that hasn’t been brought up is the, um, bad apples of landowners that also exist. Several OHV riders have been chased down by landowners for believing, you know, as far as they know, did nothing wrong, which when, you know, landowner will try to cut in front of them, try to chase them down, which if somebody taps my car in a parking lot

03:11:10,970	and they run off and I chase after them, I’m pretty sure that’s a felony. Um, regardless, some a few individual landowners have thought that, you know, that is justified when when I register my OHV, I get a registration tag with a number, just like a license plate, but that’s the only

03:11:28,470	thing they would need to report something to, uh, police department or, uh, county sheriff’s department. Also, several landowners, uh, you know, or a few individual landowners have built fences out through the ditch up to the road, which, whether it’s legal or not, that is extremely dangerous and reckless.

03:11:51,900	If OHV rider were to hit that, there’s a chance that they could die. It’s very probable. Yet they’ve thought that that’s okay. And whether it’s legal or not. And to me, that tells me that those few people, which are probably the people who support an all out ban, they’re not actually concerned with damage or, um, right, or safety, they generally just don’t like to

03:12:12,970	see people having fun riding OHV. Um, you know, people talk about noise and whatnot, but, you know, to do something that reckless that tells me that they don’t actually care about the OHV riders at all, which, you know, we’ve talked about damage in numbers, which is great, but, you know, overall,

03:12:33,070	then my solution would be that anybody who doesn’t like to see OHV riders having fun riding, you know, and the few individuals of the few bad apples of the riders who are causing damage should absolutely be prosecuted.

03:12:53,870	Um, but the, uh, few individuals who do support a full out ban, to me, it seems that they just don’t like watching OHV riders have fun, and my solution would be that those people should move into the suburb and buy a Tesla. So. I know that’s not a solution that most people are going to like, but that’s the opinion I see it. Thank you. Mr. Chairman. Can I. Ask.

03:13:14,630	Mr. Woodcox? Yeah. This ordinance that we’re looking at now has a $50 fine for a violation. Okay. You think that’s a that’s adequate? Is that going to is that going to deter anybody from like a $50 speed limit ticket? Is that is that enough. And I’m asking I’m looking for information. Should it be a $500 or $200.

03:13:37,630	Is it. A progressive? As for repeat offenders, is there any sort of repeat violation? I’m not sure if we can do that, but is that 50 enough? Uh, it depends whether you can enforce it. If you can continuously enforce it, then probably, you know, if I.

03:13:55,000	Got it, if we find somebody and they actually did whatever they were supposed to do and they’re issued a ticket, the ticket, just like a speeding ticket, tells you to pay $10. Or. So if you maybe, but it’s 50 enough, I don’t I personally don’t think it is enough. Maybe not, I would agree. I’d say 100 would be the minimum.

03:14:08,530	Sure. And so if somebody has repeat violations, is it possible to take their OHV tag and you can no longer legally operate? I don’t know. Or is that something you have to work out? I think we’ve got that. I see somebody shaking their head in the far side. There’s no. I don’t know all the legality behind it.

03:14:27,800	Apparently we can’t do that. So okay, well okay. But so I’d say, you know, it goes back to there’s a few bad apples. I think somehow there has to be a way to enforce it. Right.

03:14:43,000	And you know, I think if we had all the money in the world to fix all of the ditches, I think a lot of the people who want to pull out, man, they still wouldn’t be happy. I think they just don’t want to see people riding right. Any other questions? Thank you. Okay. Next. Uh. Commissioner Woodcox, to answer your question about, uh, Aaron Hermanson.

03:15:21,330	Sorry, uh, to answer your question about, is the $50 enough? Um, first of all, I’m against a ban. Uh, but the majority, I bet almost every responsible writer would tell you that if you can, if you find someone jumping ditches, riding recklessly, causing issues, throw the book at them. $50. Book, $50? Is that. No, no, it’s not enough.

03:15:51,730	No, it’s not going to deter much, if anything. And again, the responsible riders, you’re going to be hard pressed to find someone who’s who says no, keep it at 50, because the majority of the people who are out there riding don’t want we don’t want this. We don’t want landowners and riders at odds. I don’t want to interrupt with, you.

03:16:17,270	Know, David, no, I don’t think you were, um, the it’s been brought up a couple of times. But back to the the registration fees. I think regardless of what happens with a ban, we need to figure out where that’s going.

03:16:38,070	Um, if it was, if it was registration fees for vehicles in the county and we didn’t know where it went, that would be that would be a problem. We’d probably get to the bottom of it right away. So I don’t think it should be any different with this.

03:16:54,900	Um, there’s money going somewhere and we don’t seem to have the answer to that. Um, I’ve lived in Berkeley County my entire life. I’ve lived outside the city. Almost all of it. And people who live in Driscoll and Moffett, Baldwin, they don’t want they don’t live out there because they like the city of Bismarck’s laws.

03:17:19,730	So when we’re talking about using that as a framework for a countywide proposed law, um, that’s definitely not fair. And it’s it’s using a machete when we should be using a scalpel. But there’s a lot of responsible riders out there. There are some legitimate concerns. Legitimate complaints by landowners. Um, those can all be addressed that don’t come anywhere near a countywide ban.

03:17:51,270	There’s already noise ordinances. It’s already illegal to jump ditches. We don’t need a ban. Thank you. Thank you. I say one more time. Yeah, sure. Somebody else did. Okay. That’s right. I guess. Um, that to a minimum. But Chair Bitner, commissioners. Um, so one of the things that full disclosure, I’m part of the. North. Dakota Roughriders snowmobile.

03:18:39,300	Club. And I haven’t had my sled out for three winters. And we ride on top of the snow. Um, just like how carbon Solutions CO2 pipeline ruined it for about every other project that wants to acquire right of way in North Dakota, we have call them bad actors, call them whatever you want, but we have a problem

03:18:58,630	here of now the ditch, ditch, king, ditch rider, king man here. I wonder how many dollars he’s paid for any repair of ditches or anything. Anything. See, what I’m hearing for solutions is grants and other people’s money needs to provide this for us so we can have fun.

03:19:15,600	But you’re talking about my money now. I don’t want Gibbs Township money going to repair the extensive damage in Gibbs Township. I’ll be at their meeting tomorrow night. I’m going to say that.

03:19:30,530	I’m sure Hay Creek people feel the same way, because we’re talking a very small amount of riders coming from these, uh, thousands of Hay Creek Gibbs riders. And so I don’t want that happening. But I also don’t want these bad actors that you call them, that seem to feel they have a right to do whatever because they live in the county.

03:19:48,270	And this whole idea that move into the city, if you don’t like it, Holy hell, are you kidding me? So these landowners that are having to haul in dirt gravel to repair their road, repair their ditches, that you have a right to cause them to have to do that every spring and every summer, that’s BS.

03:20:07,870	So I’m not buying that argument because you, King ditch rider, don’t have to pay a dime to go out and have fun. And no, this isn’t about fun. All these people that live out in the county, we all like to have fun. I have a UTV and ATV and a snowmobile and a Harley-Davidson.

03:20:22,330	Not one of them have ever touched the ditch. I ride on my grass, my lot and I’ll tell you when I turn that ATV in my lot. Pony little ATV cart, it rips the hell out of the grass. I don’t ride my UTV Street Legal, so I don’t ride that on any grass or gravel.

03:20:36,100	But the fact that this could spill over and eliminate all snowmobile use when the when the Rough Rider Snowmobile Club has been good stewards, trail management and all that thing. Not one, not 1 in 4 meetings. This is the fourth time I’ve heard comments on OHV.

03:20:54,100	Has any landowner adjacent to the damage said they’ve had an issue with snowmobiles? Just for the record, now I want to tell you about these bad actors not far from our home. This right of way fence. The king of the ditch man talked about. That’s those people have a right to fence because that’s their property. They’re on an unplanned land.

03:21:10,000	They have a right to put the fence on their property line, which does happen to be on the slope of the ditch. So one of these landowners did it. Well, guess what happened twice. These these, uh, king of the ditch bad.

03:21:28,100	I’m not saying you did it, but these bad actors came and snipped his barbed wire in the dark of the night. Twice. Okay, now there’s another guy who’s testified here coupled meetings ago, who lives north, west, east of us, who has voiced some opinion on this.

03:21:48,370	Well, guess what his neighbor did who has tracks on his UTV and his ATV, his neighbor came out of his house, rode down and ripped up his ditch. Now this is. I wish Sheriff Lehman were here because I would ask him to work with, uh, our state’s attorney. We need A5150 law here. And I’m telling you, that guy has mental illness. He the sheriff who? The guy called the sheriff’s came. He said, oh, call the sheriff.

03:22:07,100	We can’t catch ditch jumpers. We can’t catch people doing all this damage. What do we. Sheriff? He just jumped my ditch. Yeah, he’s now at Wilton. Can you get up there and get him? I mean, come on. Putting this on the sheriff’s department to fix is a no go. That is. That is absolutely ridiculous.

03:22:24,170	So the sheriff comes up, the ditch is ripped up. Huh? Nothing’s being done. You can file a civil suit against your neighbor. Well, that’s my option. Wow, that’s really wonderful. But that guy, the sheriff, should A515 hold him. Call him in for 72 hour valuation because he has melty illness.

03:22:42,900	He’s a sociopath to do that to your neighbor. And that’s the problem we have. We have sociopaths out there ripping up other people’s property. Hey, it isn’t going to cost me anything. I’m out having fun and it’s my right. No, it’s not your right to cause me expense.

03:22:58,800	And by the way, thanks to all my testimony on Summit Carbon Solutions, I have about ten security cameras around my house. So if you drive by my house and you pass gas in your car, I’m going to hear it and I’m going to be able to find you.

03:23:10,100	So if you come and try to rip up my ditch, because I’m speaking tonight and I’m not saying ban this thing, but I’ve heard no solutions, I’ve heard no solutions that are viable tonight. Maybe the trail thing, but then all I hear is put it on all of us and our taxpayers to pay for it so we can have fun. That’s not a solution.

03:23:27,970	You you guys are gonna have to be willing to put a lot more effort into it and a lot more time and a lot more fundraising and get a lot more creative before any of this is going to work. But immediately, you should not be writing this.

03:23:42,530	Okay? I shoveled 25% of my driveway yesterday, and guess what? By this morning the snow was gone and it was, what, eight degrees? That’s because the ground’s warm and the sun is shining. You should not have been riding in the ditch today. There should be restrictions. No ride days to reduce the damage immediately. Okay, thanks. Is there a representative of some.? I have to. I’m sorry.

03:24:04,900	We welcome the testimony. Oh. Good evening. My name is Andrew Iverson. I’m a Burleigh County resident, live northeast of Bismarck. Um, sounds like we found some money that, uh, we didn’t know about. Um, you’re asking for solutions.

03:24:32,230	Why don’t we look at the feasibility of taking some of that and we can identify it and fixing some of the issues, like private landowner damage. Let’s let’s look at fixing that. And I’d like to see a study or something with some of that money on building a trail system. Um, I’m against the band. I ride a little bit. Not a whole lot.

03:24:53,870	My kids, 95% of the time, they’re on my property. Every once. Well, to take a ditch to a buddy’s house, but that’s all an easement. Um, personally, against the ban. That’s all I got to say. Thank you. Yeah. I’ve got one more quick comment. Earl Stadler. I was up here earlier.

03:25:28,270	Um, maybe part of the solution would be to make a temporary ban or whatever you want to call it. So many miles out from Bismarck, around the Bismarck area. I don’t know how far this goes. I know on on my in my ditch. I don’t want any trail coming up my ditch. I’m fed up with the whole thing.

03:25:44,800	And I’ve been living out there for 40 years. I was one of the first residents up north there, and now it’s just gotten crazy. And like I say, I think it’s mostly these bigger units that are also street legal. You know, they’re as big as a vehicle and they’re just they’re digging up the ditches.

03:26:06,100	There’s no other. When it gets a little wet, they’re going to dig up the ditches. Um, so I don’t know. That’s. And then another big issue would be the safety factor, which I didn’t mention before. That’s, uh, that’s been a real issue for, for me.

03:26:28,070	I’ve almost got, uh, run over by a smaller 4x4, and, uh, every time I go out from my pine trees to mow the ditch, you better look both ways several times. So that’s all I had to. Add. Thanks. I good evening. Josh Burleigh, County resident. I’ll keep it. Keep it short tonight.

03:26:57,000	Just wanted to add some context to a couple couple things that were said tonight. Um, I commented a couple weeks ago just on some industry stats. Um, in the OHV industry in our county, and there’s roughly I don’t have the last up to date, but this should be a rolling 12 number.

03:27:21,470	There’s roughly about 500 new, uh, off road off OHV vehicles sold and registered in the county that’s not registered outside of the county. So somewhere between ten to 12 to $15 million in, in, uh, revenue. That’s taxed.

03:27:40,600	So when we talk about this money, that where it is now, I won’t say tonight, I know the formula that the county is getting provided to from the state. But I can tell you that somewhere between 600 and $750,000 is going into that fund on new registrations per year, and then, uh, there’s roughly around 5000 OHV in the register to the county that pay a license fee every year.

03:28:02,530	So when we add into that, there’s another $100,000 throwing into that. Call it state fund, that, uh, net testified earlier that shows that it does funnel to the county.

03:28:20,100	Now at what level that is, I don’t know, tonight, and I’m not going to speak to something I’m not certain of, but to put some context into that dollar amount that’s been thrown around a little bit tonight. Um, and that’s per year. Okay. So somewhere between 700 to $800,000 per year. And there has been a lot of talk tonight of a 25 year period. So you can do the math pretty quickly.

03:28:40,900	How much money potentially from OHV s have gone into that fund that’s funneled to the state over that time period? Um, lastly, I just want to comment one thing that there’s been lots of talk about, no solutions.

03:28:58,000	And, uh, I can say, um, I’m only going to speak to, to myself, but I also think I can speak on behalf of several other dealers and the industry. Um, in our area. And I think it’s really important that it’s it’s impossible for momentum and collaboration between, uh, the industry, our riders, the government officials. Um, if we put this ban in place, we have momentum going.

03:29:24,270	Um, there’s been several discussions and meetings that have gone on with, uh, the sheriff’s department, uh, fellow commissioners, the state of North Dakota, uh, industry clubs. Um, these things are happening may not go at the pace, um, that we many people in the room would like to see.

03:29:42,870	Um, but I also witnessed there’s many things that don’t happen in the county at the pace that we’d all like to see us citizens as well. Right. So I think it’s really important to remember that collaboration in things like this provide solutions. And that’s what has to happen as we go. And I think there’s a lot of things in place going from trail systems to fines to enforcement.

03:30:06,800	Um, there is solutions in place that are happening. Um, as we speak, and they may not be a hard line solution that is instant, but we just heard tonight that we got extra money for enforcement. We can say that’s not a solution. But you know what? That’s money that we didn’t have before to provide for some solutions.

03:30:23,630	We’ve had recommendations of how we get trail systems, what our next steps. We’ve talked about, what areas need to get resolved. There is momentum moving to help with this.

03:30:39,170	Are we ever going to eliminate the bad apples? You know what? We’re never going to eliminate all bad apples and all things in life. But we have to find solutions and momentum and, uh, us as a dealership and as a group, uh, do not believe in this ban and do not believe in a blanket. Uh, blanket ban that’s going to hurt our responsible riders.

03:30:56,800	And, uh, we’ll hopefully solve and work towards a solution that works for everyone. So thank you. Any questions on that? Thank you. Anybody else? Burned off half of my coffee. I think I can. Talk. Luke Langfelder again. Uh, Commissioner Woodcox had mentioned something about fines. Right. And we’re. Where were you guys getting looking at to get information for fines.

03:31:33,900	Where did you come up with that 50 bucks at? I assume it’s part of the city ordinance. Is that correct? No, 50. Is in the current Burleigh. County ordinance. 50 bucks isn’t going. To do. Anything, I think. Yeah, it’s a joke. 50 bucks is nothing. I can go to Hardee’s and spend 20 bucks for lunch. I mean, 50 bucks is nothing.

03:31:52,070	If you want to stop the bad apples, that few percent that are causing problems, you got to make it hurt. Make it a couple hundred bucks, 250 bucks. Make it something that when they get a ticket, it’ll hurt that it that it means something. Because 50 bucks isn’t anything, you know.

03:32:11,270	And I don’t mind seeing fines higher. I ride through ditches. Mine street legal. I ride it on the street. If I’m doing something stupid, I expect to get a spanking and I should, you know, that’s that’s not an issue. And it shouldn’t be for anybody that likes enjoying this stuff.

03:32:29,470	Make those fines hurt so people quit doing the stupid stuff. You know, our law enforcement we have out there, there’s sheriffs all over the place all the time. Rarely am I ever out that I don’t see sheriffs.

03:32:48,270	And if they know that it’s worth the pull the side by side or bike or whatever over and give them a $250 fine instead of a speeding ticket for ten bucks to somebody else that’s driving on the street, it’s worth their time to stop and and do it. Yeah. It’s all I got. Thanks. Thank you. Hi, I’m Christina Berger. I’m gonna pull it down a little. Okay? I should right. On here.

03:33:22,100	All right. Um, I grew up in Bismarck, just north of Bismarck. Um, was able to do all the things outside my whole life. Uh, when me and my husband got married, we moved north of Bismarck. We were the second house. And the development that we live in right now. Great place to live.

03:33:41,370	I have kids, they aren’t little anymore. My youngest is now 16. He does ride a dirt bike. You’ll find no ruts in my yard. You will not find my kids like jumping ditches. You won’t find him doing these things.

03:34:00,100	If you do, please find him and find him so that it hurts. Don’t give him $50. He’s going to be like, huh? It’s a joke, but it needs to be within reason. I’m not saying, like for me, it’s expensive to get a dirt bike.

03:34:17,270	When my girls were younger, I couldn’t have afforded to get a dirt bike for my kids. We just didn’t have the money. We had house payment, we had car payments. So it still has to be within reason. But it does need to hurt. And I if if my kid gets caught, I need to know about it too. So $50 ticket.

03:34:34,270	It’s not going to say or do anything now 150 I find that in today’s society and what people are making, if you can afford to get a dirt bike, I’d say $150 is super reasonable. So I just wanted to let you know my input on it. Thank you. Thanks. Anybody else wish.

03:35:18,530	To speak? Hello, I’m Kyle Olson. Um, I’ve been in Burleigh County for about two years now. I moved. Here from being actually in the powersports industry in Minnesota, and, I mean, I’ve had kind of the pleasure and ability to ride kind of all over the US. Um, people talk about having a park for riders.

03:35:40,470	One of the potential issues with that is if you don’t have enough area, you have all these people in a very small confined space and it kind of amplifies risk. I’ve ridden in Durham Town, which is in Georgia, somewhere between Atlanta and Augusta.

03:36:00,370	There were people every which way you would turn, and it was a lot of fun, but there was a lot of risk there that you had to be aware of. I’ve ridden in the deserts of high, the high desert of California near Barstow. There, every which way there’s trails going, you have to watch and be aware.

03:36:17,330	Um, again, it’s kind of like, you know, just put a bunch of people in an area, but at the same point, I grew up in northeast North Dakota. We have snowmobile trails that cross a lot of our farmland. And for the most part, you know, we don’t have any no trespassing signs on those on those fields.

03:36:32,800	People kind of go every which way. There are actually no trespassing signs on certain fields, and people with snowmobiles completely ignore them at kind of the against what our landowner wants in that area. Um, we also have the Pembina Gorge. Now that is relatively new.

03:36:50,900	That wasn’t there when I was a kid. Um, for the trail, the trails do get closed because of the washouts due to the pretty nice views, but also steep.

03:37:06,730	Um, I guess you’d say, like, erosion can happen and wash out the trail because it is on the hill side of the valley, and I think here, you know, you guys have an opportunity along the Missouri Valley if there is any undeveloped land, have pretty good views similar to what the gorge has, but also you talk about safety in the ditches. I live south of Lincoln.

03:37:24,700	I’ve lived there for just over two years now, actually, within the week. And last year I think it was um, County came out, I believe it was cut trees in the ditch, just shrub trees, left stumps about like this tall for a period of time. And I saw plenty of people in the ditch.

03:37:40,070	Pretty easy to end up to, where if you hit that, you would be in pretty good damage situation. If it upset the vehicle and it comes back to, you know, I don’t ride here, I should I have opportunity to get out of our development and get out on township roads or in the ditches, but it just seems

03:38:01,900	like there is a lot of inherent risk. There’s people riding on the wrong side of the road, largely because trails are only set up on one side, or there’s fences near the road because there isn’t a right of way. As people have stated, it’s plotted to the center in our home area.

03:38:19,100	Most of that is to where you have a right of way for the township. So people clear trees, the fences are held back because of that, and I think the opportunity really needs to be there for enjoyment outside. Maybe not, as some people say, they they’re mad that they don’t want their land destroyed.

03:38:39,800	I get that we see people who go two miles down the road from their house and they go rip, uh, you know, do donuts out in the gravel road and make it nice and rough for us on our farm equipment and our pickups and everything else. And that’s just there are bad apples. Buy a flat out ban.

03:38:57,900	You have it to where everybody will not be able to enjoy the outdoors. You’re kind of pushing people to go to South Dakota, go to the Black Hills. They’re great. I ride dirt bike there. I’ve ridden side by side there. I’ve tested side by sides and ATVs. They’re actually south of Bemidji.

03:39:15,600	Great area for dirt bikes and side by sides. Um, way up towards our Warroad. There’s riding there too, and a forest. So you kind of push people out.

03:39:35,100	When I looked on the website, you know, south of what is it for? Um, Abraham, Abraham or whatever, on the other side of the river, there’s a down and back. Well, that doesn’t really connect you place to place. I don’t really think that I want to go from south of Lincoln all the way over there to ride.

03:39:48,600	Um, I would rather just kind of go ride back home outside of this whole area instead of that, which kind of makes it so people won’t be coming here as a destination or to enjoy the outdoors.

03:40:07,270	There’s lots of mountain bike trails in the city that overlook the river and other areas, but we don’t have much out there for people to kind of get out and explore the outdoors. With powersports, I hope in the future that we can have something like that.

03:40:26,070	One thing to note, I when I went and rode, um, personally in Utah, they have to where you have to do a online safety class prior to getting your off highway vehicle license as out of state for there. That is one thing that was implemented in before 2024, when I rode there from when I last rode the out there in 2019. So everybody’s kind of handling it different ways. I don’t think all a ban is the way to go.

03:40:49,470	Um, the agriculture use, how are you going to enforce that? I mean, I technically am a farmer back home, have 140 acres that I farm. Could I use my side by side in Burleigh County, not in Pembina County, and claim that since I’m a farmer, I can get around it? No, but. You open it up to how are you going to properly enforce it? Is is how. The question I.

03:41:06,370	Think, you know, in reference to that. Everybody around here. Has got enough common sense. To figure that out. Just pointing out that there are lots of potential ways around it. So that’s not one of them. We could find you $50. Yeah.

03:41:25,270	Spraying the ditch as well though, if it’s the right of way. And he doesn’t have his private applicators license, might put him at risk too. So no, I don’t think it would. Um. Because you. Can spray your own land without a applicators license. To have a commercial applicators license. So I’m going through that class again tomorrow. Yeah, it’s good luck. Private, though. Luckily. Okay. So. All right. Thanks.

03:42:00,270	Colton again. Um, the the landowner side. You guys are asking us, um, against the ban for us to come up with the solution. I don’t know if I maybe speak for others.

03:42:18,700	What can we do? What are we allowed to do? What can we do to work with the county to go forward on this? And I reached out to you, Bitner, about the area out by the fairgrounds. Um, I haven’t gone out there yet. I don’t want to sing. I don’t want to sneak my truck anywhere, but, um, I I’m still interested in seeing that area.

03:42:34,000	Um, how do we, as residents work with you? With ideas to, you know, aside from, you know, just coming to the meetings for 3 or 4 hours at a time and everybody complaining to you guys, how do we how do we work with you guys to go forward?

03:42:52,100	How do we reach out to other, you know, we rode he rode, uh, Minnesota to Utah. How do we reach out to those places, what they have implemented, what works, what doesn’t work. Something like that. I know I think down in, uh, excuse me. Glendive. Um, I think they’ve got a big riding area.

03:43:10,270	Um, South Dakota’s been mentioned. You know, what? Could we reach out to these places and see what works? What hasn’t worked? If they had the idea of bands, if you know something like that, even, you know South Dakota, their ATVs are road legal. I think in certain cities or towns. Um, I’m not saying we need to.

03:43:29,770	Go for that. What’s that? They are here as well. in the city. Street legal? Yeah. An ATV, not a UTV, an ATV. No, that’s not a that’s not a legal, uh, machine in the city. But there I’m correct me if I’m wrong. In South Dakota, there are towns or areas where ATVs are legal. I wouldn’t know anything.

03:43:51,500	Okay, well, I if we could reach out, you know, like I said, if other places got it down, you know, they got solutions. They figured a way around it. Through it. How do we go about that? Is that residents responsibility to see how what works there is that, uh, government like you guys reaching out or.

03:44:10,530	It’s a good question. Um, you know, I provided some solutions already. I was actively involved in doing the the thing out at the fairgrounds. Yep. And there was trails and a loading ramp and the whole kind of thing, you know, um, basically we’ve we’ve said at this table, I know I’ve said that, um, we expect that the

03:44:32,530	dealers and the users of, of these machines are going to step up and come up with some solutions. And so far, um, that’s been pretty limited. So, you know, uh, working with dealerships or, or start a club, you know, the, the snowmobile club, the Rough Rider guys, they’re, they’ve been in existence a long time.

03:44:57,070	I mean, a long time. And we don’t have much trouble with that. So to answer your question, you know, you’re welcome to call, um, and I would suggest that getting involved any way you can, you know, there’s a there’s. A lot of people. That are like minded, um. Um.

03:45:19,700	I’m not going to provide much more by way of solutions. I already have, and it hasn’t worked. Commissioner Bakken. You know, I think the probably place to start is the user groups, um, working with the dealers, trying to get, um, you know, working with Tony and his department at the state.

03:45:36,600	Um, bigger picture for those opportunities you mentioned in other states and other places. Um, just like Kyle did. Um, you know, that’s one of the things that’s lacking on a statewide level.

03:45:57,000	Um, so what does that look like with Tony’s department working with Dot to establish trail systems? You know, with what we’re dealing here is it’s a little piece of a potential trail system, but that should be part of a bigger trail system.

03:46:16,630	So, um, working with the user groups, the dealerships, working with the state, uh, to try to get what that bigger picture looks like, now’s a good time to be doing it, because you’re heading into a legislative session. So, um, that’s where a lot of those discussions are going to have to go for that bigger picture. What we’re dealing with right now, though, is our little piece. And is it establishing a trail trail system? Um, that’s what I would like to see.

03:46:34,270	That’s the easiest solution, because now we’ve got a mechanism by which we can maintain something. Um, I’m a little. I’m really hard pressed to be in favor of throwing a blanket over the entire county, for this is the problem, and I’m just not in favor of over legislating. But there are some concerns.

03:46:53,630	You’ve heard some of those concerns, and that’s what we have to navigate. But I would say the place to start is start working with the dealers and working with the state. Okay. Actually. Colton, call me. I’ve already been working. With the dealers. Um. We’ve already made some huge. Contacts with.

03:47:12,800	state agencies to help navigate and build trails. Uh, we’re already running down a lot of the same lines that have already been talked about here. So, uh, the state game of fish is part of it. Um, so, yeah, give me a call. Okay. Sounds good. Okay. Otherwise, I do appreciate. I think all of us do.

03:47:30,330	Um, the time and effort just even to the the public comment sessions, um, whether you’re for or against landowners, you got side by side. You ride the ditches, you don’t. I think everybody appreciates being able to, given their side of the story or their $0.02. So you guys listening. So thank you. Thank you. Anybody else.

03:47:56,900	Good evening. Good evening Valerie. And I was here last last meeting. Um, how do you use this? I was just going to show this picture. Just put it here. It, uh, this was. Um, February 6th of this year in front of a private owners, um, property. You can’t tell me that that wasn’t deliberate.

03:48:22,600	Running back and forth and ripping through with the water as it was running because it was so mild. And I have many. More like that. And you’ve seen the damages to the ditches. They’re real. And I’ve sent you emails. Okay.

03:48:41,730	Um, and as I mentioned in my first testimony, we’re not against writers unlike what some of the folks wanted to claim, but we also want to hear some respect and responsibility for our personal property. And I haven’t heard a thing, not one. So thank you for offering and suggesting the same thing that you’re looking for solutions. So, Commissioner Woodcox, she asked if $50 is enough.

03:48:58,870	Absolutely not. I don’t think $5 is enough either for the registration. I mean, when you think of the thousands of dollars that these individuals are making from the sale of these machines, and they’re selling more and more and more, let’s get some, you know, personal responsibility and

03:49:13,370	revenue back to those who are affected by it so that those who benefit from this, whether they’re out there using it or they’re selling it, they’re the ones who are investing in it as well. I shouldn’t have to invest in it. As a private owner. That’s not my responsibility.

03:49:29,800	And yet I’m out there fixing our ditches. We’re out there fixing our ditches. Our neighbors are. We haven’t talked about the noise. Only one individual talked about the noise in it’s real. Um, I don’t know. You know, we were told that you can have them come and picked up.

03:49:46,370	Well, they we were told that unless they see it, they can’t come after them. So I don’t know, are we allowed to? You know, we’ve got cameras out to. Can we show the sheriff the cameras? Can we show them the videos? Then how do you identify who the rider is? I mean, you know, and you.

03:49:59,730	So again, I agree that the users are the ones who are benefiting from this, are the ones who should come up with the solutions. But imposing and encroaching on our personal private property is against the law. And we need your help to help us enforce that law.

03:50:16,530	Um, I also think that it would be helpful. We were saying about the ATV, um, you know, the dealerships, um, I think too, they should be handing out flyers or something and helping to educate that there are people’s personal property. If it is posted that you can be fined.

03:50:35,730	I mean, help them to realize that this just isn’t an open field for everybody because it’s not, um, we’ve owned our property for since early 1972, and we’ve lived out there for 35 years. We’ve never had a problem. Some individuals have claimed that these ditches have been worn after 30 years. That’s not true.

03:50:53,600	This is a problem that just had started happening when all of Bismarck started, you know, growing north for the most part. And the thing that someone else hasn’t talked about is the damage to utilities. And I did send pictures to you on that.

03:51:06,530	Who is going to be paying for the cost of that? It isn’t going to be the phone and the cable companies. It’s going to be those of us who had nothing to do with the damage. And those are real issues as well. So somebody has to be responsible for that.

03:51:23,170	Um, as, as Curt mentioned and my brother mentioned, um, if you own a gun and you go buy a gun, I have a right to go buy a gun. I have a right to go buy an ATV or an OHV, but I don’t have a right to go on somebody else’s property and start shooting it.

03:51:34,370	You don’t have a right to come onto my property and start ripping up our ditches. And we own our property to the center of the road. And if we have a right to post that, and we have a right to put fences up, that’s not because we don’t want you to have fun. It’s because we own it.

03:51:45,100	And we’ve spent a lot of money to keep it groomed. And and the farmers that are kind enough to rent our land and farm our land couldn’t get into our field last year because the ruts were so deep in the approach. That is a real problem, and that I want a solution to that too. So thank you very much.

03:52:07,800	Okay. Are you going to cover some new ground for us? Are we going to go over this? I got. Some new stuff. For. You. Uh, good evening, Mr. Chairman and Commissioners. Um, this is. The first public meeting that I’ve had the opportunity to speak at. My name is Brad Pfennig.

03:52:31,370	Um, Bena Burleigh County resident. The past 40 years. Born and raised here. Love Burleigh County, um, a place that we chose to raise our children. And, uh, we have horses. Uh, want to give you a little background.

03:52:49,170	Uh, the past 15 years, I’ve been a land agent where I’ve acquired right of way for the Department of Transportation. I’ve been through the process of eminent domain. I’ve done several surveys, been part of all the planning process. Um, we do live out on 80th Street, and we are one of the landowners that fenced our property. Being that we own to the center of the road.

03:53:08,170	The reason for doing that couple things. Safety. Priority one, um, our three kids all ride horses. They play outside, they play basketball, they ride their bicycles.

03:53:30,270	Prior to us fencing our property, several OHV riders came through all the way up to our concrete driveway, tearing everything up within feet of our kids where our kids have to run into the home, scared for their life. Now we put our fence up. That seems to resolve some of the the issue that we have. But since that has happened, these people, the king of the Ditch Rider and these other riders, they come back and they mock us. They terrorize us.

03:53:50,370	They’ll sit at our approaches, revving their engines, spinning rock all over my maintain property. Um, I am in favor of finding trails. The snowmobile trail goes by my property. So far I haven’t had any issues with the snowmobile trail. No concerns.

03:54:11,530	But if the county or the park board thinks they’re going to use the snowmobile trail for OHV, the county or the park board can buy the farm, there’s no way I’m gonna live and enjoy our property and have an OHV nuisance. We have a horse riding arena. These kids are coming by and they do it on purpose. We have souped up barrel horses.

03:54:34,230	They come by and they’ll rev their engines just to try to scare these horses, to cause injury to our kids. It’s not fair to us landowners and the entitlement of some of these riders needs to stop. And they’re just mocking us right now.

03:54:52,870	You hear all these people, they put up the Tribune thing, the statistics, they’re going in and hit, repeat, repeat, repeat. One way to stop this, one way to stop this is to go in all their property. Everybody that signed this, they should put their address down. Tell me the percentage of those people that are having their ditches in their subdivision damage. None.

03:55:11,530	And if they did, they’d feel the same way. We do. Thank you. I do have my name on there. Good job. I’ll stand for questions, but we do maintain our ditch. We try to keep a nice property for the county and take a lot of pride in what we have.

03:55:30,730	So any questions? Any questions? Commissioners? I don’t see any thanks. Thank you. Uh, Tate. Again. Just have a question. So how. Many complaints. Have. Been made? Do we know over the last how many years? And do we know, like tracked how many in specific individuals have actually complained about this? I’m just curious because, you know, I made a joke earlier

03:55:52,700	that those people should move in the city. Obviously, everybody has the right to own land wherever they want. Um, but I’m just curious, you know, what percentage of landowners actually have an issue with this? Or does nobody know? I don’t think we have that information. Okay, sure. We’ve had that list of complaints. I’ve seen.

03:56:13,530	The number of complaints. A previous meeting. But, you know, I don’t I don’t know much. About that. Number. A number of complaints, but we don’t know the number of actual specific individuals because I’m guessing many of the individuals have made numerous complaints. Oh, we don’t know that.

03:56:29,130	So so you have no idea how many landowners would actually be in favor of this? We just said that. Yep yep yep. Just want to make clear. All right. That’s it for now. Good. Hi. My name is Pat Geiger. I was up here earlier before.. I want to. Hopefully be. The last.

03:56:51,600	Person up here to lighten things up a little bit. As a landowner, you want a solution? A gentleman earlier mentioned that you can go to an RV park, and they may charge $80 to get on a trail. If anybody wants to pay me $80, I’ll let you come and ride my. Kids all.

03:57:10,000	Day long, and then I’ll have $80 to fix the ditch, and it’ll cost the county nothing. Thank you. Yeah. Thank you. That’s a solution. My number is on my no trespassing signs. They can call here. You know, um. He made me think of another question.

03:57:34,270	So similar to, like, the way hunting works. If, uh, if you’re okay with people hunting on your land, you know, they’re free to come do so in the state. But you can also state, you know, my property is off limits.

03:57:49,630	Is there a way to implement a system similar to that with OHV use? It’d be a state transportation, but the county wouldn’t be able to manage that. No. No, we wouldn’t even try. And that’s where it comes back to. This has to be an all or nothing band. And, you know, as I’ve said, I think the full out ban is kind of ridiculous. So. Right. Thank you. Yeah. Take 100 bucks. Um. I’ve just got. A nice regional.

03:58:18,370	I’ve got a pretty long ditch. I’ve just got a question. If the state highways are open to the OHV, maybe that’s where. And they won’t be closed. Even with this ban, I would guess. Right. Um, maybe that’s where the focus should be for trail. A trail system in North Dakota.

03:58:38,630	And it’d be another way to generate income for the state, you know, focus on different areas, obviously. 83 right here, uh, would be number one, you know, all these people that are, uh, like in my area on Centennial. Geez, it’s just a a mile. Well, probably 2 or 3 miles over to 83.

03:59:00,000	So maybe that’s where they should be told to, to ride so they can still go in the ditch. Well, and that’s a conversation I actually our Dot director was here earlier this evening as well.

03:59:16,100	And, and I had that conversation with him about, you know, what would that look like. And that’s part of that bigger picture of, of a state trail system right now. They’re not set up for that. Um, you just don’t run a trail along US 83 or 85 or whatever that is. But that’s part of the discussion that needs to take place with state recreation.

03:59:32,070	And coming into this next legislative session. That’s the bigger picture. We’re just trying to fix the little picture right now. Even at that right now, they’re they’re able to ride those ditches on the state highways without being banned.

03:59:51,800	And there’s already a lot of them that are close to Bismarck where the where the ruts are a little bit, you know, they’re they’re now. So if, if all these people were made aware, you have to go on state highway ditches and maybe have a map of those areas for temporary anyway, that would solve that problem. And that’s all I have to add.

04:00:10,970	Okay. It’s still the connectivity to get to those state highways as well. So but and that’s what we’re trying to address okay. Does anybody have anything new to add. Anybody have anything new to add. Third time. Does anybody have anything new to add. New. So with these fines. Would. There be a.

04:00:47,970	Point system with it. Would it be reported. to insurance. Just like. Your car speeding down the road. ten miles an hour over the speed limits, a $15 ticket in one point? Yeah. It’s not a big deal for $15. Take your name, by the. Way. Jeremy Schauer.

04:01:09,170	Thinks it’s not that big of a deal for a $15 ticket. Get three of them in a month, and your insurance company calls you. Julie is ready. I was. Actually asked that by the sheriff’s department, and I just did a quick look of, um, century code.

04:01:24,330	And it doesn’t appear that the OHV laws on the state side are linked to your driving record. And so it does not appear that there are any points associated with it, which means ours would not either. And it doesn’t appear that it goes on the driving record.

04:01:41,800	And something to keep in mind too, is that, um, you can ride an OHV in the ditch areas under state law, between the ages of 12 and 16, with just a certification. And you don’t even have to have a license. So there would be no license to assess those points too. So required insurance, right? Pardon me. You’re still required insurance? Um, I didn’t look into it that far.

04:01:56,970	I’m assuming if you’re driving vehicles on the roadway. Yes. You know, you’d have to, but, um, whether it’s off road, I don’t know if it’s required insurance. I have to look at that. Okay. Jeremy.

04:02:14,970	it’s so in visiting with the sheriff’s department on this, too, I had talked about a graduating scale, you know, going up each time. And that was their concern as well as this is not tied into the state system. So the sheriff’s actually working right now trying to figure out a system where internally they can track if you’ve had one, fine.

04:02:32,170	It’s this if it’s the second fine, you can graduate, you know, third again up. But we’re trying to figure out a way to track it right now because it doesn’t tie in with the state. As an avid speeder back when I was young, $15. Isn’t that big, it was saying.

04:02:52,270	But when the insurance company calls you after you got that third one in the month and now your premium just went from one year’s premium to one month’s premium. You don’t you don’t speed. Fines work real well. Yeah. Okay. Anybody else got anything. New? Getting late. Anybody else? I’m going to close the public hearing. Uh, there’s nothing to vote on.

04:03:19,630	Um, there’s no action necessary at this point. I think that, um, the question is whether we want to change any of the language, do whatever, whatever. And I don’t have any particular thoughts on that at this point. Chair, if I may. Yes. The resolution under the Home Rule Charter is for a specific period.

04:03:39,900	And I noticed this resolution on the moratorium doesn’t have a specific period. It’s kind of left open. And so I would suggest that you discuss what kind of a time period you’re going to put on it. You can always renew it when that time period is ending.

04:03:54,430	Um, but because we’re talking about having it for a limited time, there should be some sort of time frame to it. Okay. I guess I. Could repeat, you know, the the reason that I brought up the resolution instead of an ordinance that outright bans and so that we would have an opportunity for the dealers and users and yourself and whatever to work together towards some

04:04:13,000	kind of solutions. So with regards to that, I would say, you know, what’s this season, this what would be the the riding season, you know, from now until, I don’t know, freeze up. Or Commissioner Botkin. Um. Julie, is that something we could look at? Uh, because the, uh, the reading would be the next commission meeting.

04:04:45,900	Correct? Um, yes. The second reading. Yes. The second reading could be at the next commission meeting that would fall in the timeline. Could we address that then, or do you want that address now? No, you can address that at that time. You can make modifications to it before it’s passed.

04:05:00,530	At that second reading I just wanted to throw that out there. So you would be thinking about that. Thank you. I suppose part of that would be how much time do, um, folks think they need to come up with some sort of solutions? Because, you know, we’re interested in solutions. However, doing nothing does not appear to be the option.

04:05:23,000	Some of the motions that I will bring, uh, next meeting and Curt beat me to the punch, but, uh, a a wheeled OHV restriction for a time period is definitely one of them that I’m bringing so that we are protecting our ditches.

04:05:44,870	Along with that, I want to suggest, uh, the highway department being able to no different than we do a fire ban if we’ve got a period of rain that is coming at us, the highway department can put out a notice that we can splash, uh, to social media, to the county website, the sheriff’s department, the dealers to hold off riding for a certain period of time.

04:06:04,630	Uh, I just talked a little bit ago about escalating fines, and we’re working with the sheriff’s department with that as well. Uh, because I am of the opinion that a ban is not going to work, you’re still going to have those 20 kids doing the same damn thing every time.

04:06:21,070	And I just don’t feel that banning the entire county is going to work. What I want to do is find those kids I want to I shouldn’t call them kids. There’s probably some young adults out there, too. Uh, but I need to find those people that are doing it wrong and make them pay. Make them clean the ditches, whatever it takes.

04:06:39,730	But, but, but I don’t believe a full ban is is going to work. Nor do I feel a moratorium is going to work. But we do have to come up with some solutions.

04:06:54,270	And we’ve had phenomenal conversations with the dealers over the last couple of weeks that included the sheriff’s department. It included the state, and so and like I said, I know the dealers are already working with a national organization on trail systems themselves. Uh, so there’s a lot of things that are going in the works already.

04:07:13,530	Um, you know, as Josh said, we can’t build a trail in the next couple of weeks to get that done. But at the same point, I like the idea of if we’re going to spend money fixing, why don’t we spend money creating the trails so that we’re not wasting that money at that point? Um, but that’s time, you

04:07:27,730	know, we need time for that to happen. But there are a lot of things that we can do short term, uh, to, to find them heavier, to keep them out of the ditches when it’s wet because the county doesn’t want to spend the money on fixing that. And it’s not up to the residents for that.

04:07:46,100	That’s not their that’s not your job. Um, so there are lots of solutions that I have planned for for our next meeting. Um, I put all my cards, not all of them, but for most of the cards on the table already. So, uh, we’ll we’ll wait till the next meeting. Okay. Anything else? For the good of the county.

04:08:07,800	Mr. Chairman.. Thank you, Mr. Woodcox. I thought you talked about temporary solutions. We have that land out by, uh, buck stop junction that we rent out for a small amount. Is that available that we could for the next year, or. Because we’re not doing anything with it now? I mean, we. Already have. That, commissioner, so. No, I’m.

04:08:29,230	Talking about the the the the. The the agricultural land. Yes. We have that available as well. I did go back in time about 15 years on Google Earth. I finally found the trails. Yeah, that have not been maintained for a long time, but I found it and they were there.

04:08:47,270	And once this construction is done, that would be another good spot to go back and. Get them. Get them out again and get them ready. Yeah. It was a great system I. Well I spent. So I spent a lot of time looking at Google Earth that day and it had a nice trail.