00:00:02,720	S1:
City Current Produced by Dakota Media Access. In-depth discussion with Bismarck and Mandan city officials. Watch on government access channel 602 HD or tune in to Radio Access 102.5 FM. Always local, always current.

00:00:24,960	S2:
Coming up on this May 6th edition of City Current, we'll have an update on what's happening on Memorial Highway and other construction projects in Mandan. Well here and learn more about Touch of Truck. Sounds like on track to be a record setting year and an update on the wastewater treatment plant selection. Good morning. I'm Tom Gerhardt from Dakota Media Access, joined by Jim Neubauer Mandan city administrator. Good to see you, Jim.

00:00:49,480	S3:
Good morning Tom. It didn't have to blow over here today. It's not as windy out as it has been.

00:00:54,360	S2:
Not as windy. We're still waiting. Maybe for a little more warmth.

00:00:57,280	S3:
Yeah, 27 degrees out. I think. When I woke up this morning, a little chill in the air, but we know better. Things are on the way.

00:01:03,670	S2:
Better things are on the way. At least some blue sky. And like you said, that wind's been just annoying. Little aggravating. Yeah. It's nice. Nice to have that, uh, down a little bit. A lot happening in the city of Mandan, uh, especially in the upcoming months leading up to America's 250th on July fourth. But a lot of important stuff happening, too. And I just wanted to kick things off with the meeting last night, just with an update again on the Mandan Fire Department, the sales tax initiative, there will be another public meeting so that people can learn about this. This will be May 18th at 6 p.m. at Fort Lincoln.

00:01:36,190	S3:
Yeah. I think this is our second public information meeting on again, May 18th at Fort Lincoln Elementary School. We will have another one. Um, a final one, I believe, in the first part of June at the main fire station downtown on on Collins on first. Again, just to educate the public on here's an initiative up, um, to be voted on in June and it is to, in essence, Extend the three quarter cent sales tax from the sports complex. That was, I think, in 2015 or a couple of years earlier than that when that was passed. And just looking at it, saying we would like to continue that three quarters cent because that bond issue is going to be paid off of several years or 13 to 14 years early, and continue that to meet some of our needs in the northwest part of Mandan, with a new fire station and equipment that goes along with it. In addition to. We completely gutted and redid our downtown fire station in 2001, 25 years ago. There's some things, there's some TLC, things that need to happen to that. And also when we have station two in the Lakewood area to provide some funding to to help that station and make sure we're trying to keep on top of our, our infrastructure that way.

00:02:44,590	S2:
I should mention Chief Bitz was over here a few weeks ago, and there's a half hour conversation that I had with him educating the public on this very issue. So when you head to the polls June 9th, you can make an informed decision and you can find that at Dakota Media Access.

00:03:02,460	S2:
And you'll also find all the debates put on by the League of Women Voters on that page too. So if you want to learn more about Mandan City Commission candidates or this issue, all that information is on that election page. Chief Bitz. Oh, go ahead, go ahead.

00:03:16,500	S3:
I think Chief Bitz has been out doing, whether it's speaking to a Lions Group or a Kiwanis group or, or a Morton man in public library. I know he spoke to our Mandan school board on Monday night. So if if you are an association or a group that would like to have us come and present, here is the here are the needs and here's the funding solution that we have identified. Please reach out to us. We'd be happy to come out and do an educational session for you.

00:03:42,380	S2:
Also on to mention nice touch. At the meeting last night, the chief indicated that they sent resources to Bismarck to help with that, uh, horrific fire that took place earlier this week at the apartment complex in Bismarck. Resources and a crew to help out. And he indicated that this is something that happens a lot between Bismarck and Mandan.

00:04:01,180	S3:
You know, several of our, um, emergency management systems have mutual aid agreements between each other. So we know when we've had apartment fires in Mandan, we've had City Bismarck come over and assist with us. We've had our the marathon refinery has a fire brigade. They've helped us. And we think it's just the right thing to do when there's a significant structure. Fire. Um, that was going on in Bismarck and we received the call for aid, and we go and drop what we're doing. And that's the great thing about living in this community is that everybody's willing to help out. And it's not a, oh, wait, we can't do that, or we can't do this because it's crossing jurisdictional lines. We will go where we're needed and provide that assistance.

00:04:44,740	S2:
Oh, we mentioned, uh, it's going to warm up at some point, but, uh, construction seasons have been heating up for quite some time. And we wanted to get right to all the things going on and including, uh, the one we've been talking about For for so long, Memorial Highway in just.

00:04:58,850	S3:
A few years, and we'll talk about it for a few years more, right?

00:05:01,490	S2:
A few years more. But just, uh, where are things at? Now, as we enter early May.

00:05:06,010	S3:
Yeah, folks will see, um, significant progress, I think, um, relatively speaking, to last spring when this project started, uh, contractors were able to get in, um, at the end of April, I think, again, all of this weather permitting, and they've been hit in hard, hit and heavy. Um, you'll see a lot of concrete going down. I think the underground is now complete. And now the like I said, I think they're working from both ends meet in the middle on the concrete pause. You'll also see on the south side that there is um, I noticed last night when I was driving there that there is some of the multi-use path going in on the south side of Memorial Highway also. So, um, significant progress being made. Again, we have a completion date of July 9th for the east half, which is from the east side of Midway Lanes, all through the intersection at 46. And we know 46 is going to have some work done starting today.

00:05:59,450	S2:
Yeah, just wanted to just alert people to this. If you can see this, if you're watching a traffic change, it'll take place beginning today, May 6th in, uh, at that area, 46 Avenue Southeast.

00:06:12,410	S3:
And a continued reminder for folks to, you know, speed limit is 25mph in this area. There is a lot of stuff going on. So please be mindful that we still want you to continue to participate and partake in the businesses that are out there. Um, all of their access points, they may be a little different for the time being while construction happens, but please continue to patronize those businesses. They need your help as they always do. So again, please be mindful when you're traveling that area. We don't have the wavy bacon, uh, roads like we had last year. Um. Thank goodness. Um, but again, we're encouraged by the progress that's been made by the contractors. And with all the firms that have involved so far.

00:06:51,290	S2:
And then again, phase two that we showed earlier on separate contractor. That'll continue on to the next year. But yeah.

00:06:57,920	S3:
Separate contract we had we had thought originally planned for work at the intersection of Main street um Mandan Avenue and Laurel highway would happen kind of after July 9th. But there was some permitting issues that are going on with the Corps of Engineers on getting some things done with storm stormwater. So the contractor has moved into that area along. Again, if you're familiar, the east end of of Men and Main Street, not traffic, gets knocked down a bit. Contractors again have been working hard and will have new traffic signals and things like that in that area.

00:07:29,920	S2:
First street reconstruction. There was a I know, a pre-construction meeting in April.

00:07:39,120	And what are things? What are things stand now? S3:
Yeah. I think, um, if you look on first Street down on the, um, near Sixth Avenue and first Street, that block is right now closed off. All the contractor is in there, um, removing, uh, water lines and replacing water lines going up to second Street. So again, some traffic detours in that area. Contractor again is moving along fairly swiftly. The lack of rain or dry is good in the construction world right to a point. But right now, like I said, construction is moving on in that area pretty good. So we we again, please be mindful there are our businesses in that area and continue to patronize them. And you know, navigating that area is pretty pretty easy because it's like a one block area that is right now completely under it's torn up.

00:08:26,790	S2:
That's some great photos from the Collins Avenue Reservoir project. Uh, that you can see. The reservoir here is is, I would say complete, but that that intersection, the curve shaved off there and the retaining wall really improved that sightline.

00:08:42,590	S3:
Yeah. Um, significant progress here. And we talked about this last week or a couple of weeks ago, also that of one of the benefits of of constructing a new reservoir gave us an opportunity to again improve the sightlines at the intersection of Division and Collins Avenue. And I think the you know, it's one of those. Rarely do we get compliments on a project, but we get compliments on this one just about every day that, hey, now we can see sightlines are much improved. And again, some work on the exterior of the water reservoir up there. And the the, the retaining wall that's being replaced is, is moving on like a big Lego set with pretty heavy Legos going on up there. But if you're interested, you know, take a take a drive by and again, be mindful of construction workers in that area. But that project should be completed shortly.

00:09:31,790	S2:
All right. Downtown concrete. There are multiple locations where some concrete is being fixed up.

00:09:38,070	S3:
Right. We had there's two separate projects here. One of them is a street maintenance project we did several years ago, where the concrete paws and the aprons, there were some flaking going off, and I, I can't remember the term that our city engineer Eric Hughes last night, but it.

00:09:53,540	S2:
Was a great term.

00:09:54,340	S3:
Yeah, whatever that is. I'm not sure what it is, but one that I didn't understand or know what it was. I'm going. Okay. Good one. Um, but in essence, we we've tried several fixes on that. The contractor has tried things and finally decided we're just going to tear it out and report. So again, at no cost to the project because it was kind of warranty work that's being done. We also, um, I think Jared mentioned in our municipal sidewalk concrete project, um, we had all of our city hall crews each, each out and about last fall, and they each kind of took a block and they went around that block. And again, in preparation of the 250, we know there's going to be a bunch of people in town for the parade and all the other doings. And and our folks took blocks, walked the entire block, said, okay, we've got sidewalk, we've got we've got street signs that need to be straightened out. We've got curb repairs that need to be done, took pictures, brought them back, or engineering folks put those all into kind of a big old work order and a lot of that stuff we want to have completed by June, middle of June. So again, we're prepped and we don't have sidewalks that people are tripping over and curb cuts that are out of place and things like that. So you will see significant, um, concrete curbs and sidewalk being repaired between, um, Mandan Avenue or Burger King. Yeah. On Main Street, first Street, all the way through to the, uh, I think the Teepee Motel and Sixth Avenue. So again, significant work down there. We're using some Department of Transportation, some flex funding to pay for this. So this is not a special assessment project. But again, we we figured we need to put on our good face for the, the America's 250 and, uh, clean it up a bit.

00:11:36,660	S2:
Absolutely. Eighth Avenue northwest and 27th Street. We see there's a public input meeting May 14th at Mandan High School. Tell us about this project.

00:11:47,340	S3:
Yeah, this is up where the, um, the new Mandan High school was constructed. We attempted to move a project through several years, in fact, before the high school was even built or constructed there, streets were in in a state of disrepair even before the school went in there. And again, we've had to kind of move and reapply for some federal funds that have been available to make sure this project gets in. We would have liked to have it done before the high school open, but that did not happen. So now again, first public meeting May 14th, 6 to 7:30 p.m. at Mandan High School in the PLC room. So again, there's some federal funding that's available for this project now. And we need to determine what is that exact scope of work going to entail. And and look at the proposed special assessment boundaries.

00:12:38,330	S2:
And just a quick update on a number of neighborhood projects taking place.

00:12:44,290	S3:
It is that season, there's winter and there's construction season. So a number of different projects going on all around town, if you're interested in looking that at that map, we have some near illustrator. Um, and the culvert is kind of a final cleanup up a few areas on that project. We've got some road work needs to be done near the Lewis and Clark. Um, Lewis and Clark around by the Red Trail Elementary School. Um, we've got some, um, work going on near Roosevelt on the final design. That was an assessment project that we was approved. And now, um, again, we were at 30%. Now we're needing to 100% and then Mandan proper on phase one, on the final design on that project, which would be in the First Lutheran church area.

00:13:29,040	S2:
And you want to follow along from home?

00:13:32,320	S3:
Yes. Fall out for.

00:13:33,240	S2:
Home in between, uh, city current city commission meetings. There's a QR code you can scan or you can go to cityofmandan.

00:13:43,640	com/projects S2:
and get all sorts of information. Yep.

00:13:46,120	S3:
Jarek, our city engineer and the crews and you know, big thank you to those folks who are keeping those sites updated. And if you want to go there, you can go there and look or call the office, and we'll do our best to help you out.

00:13:56,360	S2:
All right. We talked about a lot of activities. We've got touch a truck coming up May 6th.

00:14:00,560	S3:
The fun stuff now. Fun stuff.

00:14:02,400	S2:
And we heard last night this is going to be a record setting year. It sounds.

00:14:06,440	S3:
Like. Yeah a number of and again I think Tristan from the Mandan Parks organization did a really nice job explaining. Here's what the activities are going to be going on around Touch A Truck. And also that this is a free, family friendly, kid friendly event. Um, if you don't like horns honking and things like that, you might want to get there. I think the first half hour is a.

00:14:27,120	S2:
10 to 10.

00:14:27,680	S3:
10 to 1030 is a, you know, a quiet time. Um, if and there's it was funny because when we first started Touch Truck, um, one of those thoughts that, you know, no one thought about people having issues with the horns and things like that. So we make sure that there's a half hour of quiet time. And then from 1030 on, Um, I will just say that it might get a little noisy. Um, but again, it's a free event, family and a big, huge thank you to all the sponsors again that we couldn't we I say we and the Mandan Progress organization could not put this on without the assistance of our sponsors, both Bismarck, Mandan and the surrounding area. So big shout out to them and thank you.

00:15:09,030	S2:
Also have a public works open house May 21st from 3 to 6 and sounds like maybe get to touch a street sweeper or something.

00:15:17,590	S3:
I think I took my grandkids last year and they were able to get in the street sweeper, or get in a snow plow in one of the big trucks and ride around in that. So, um, hamburgers, hot dogs, you know, chips have have a water and things like that. Come on in and take a look at our public works facility and see meet our operators, meet our administrative staff and things like that. So it's always a good event. Again, family friendly. Come on in. Um, 3:00 to 6:00 and just enjoy yourself. And like I said, we're pretty proud of the public works facility that we have, and the people that work in that facility are proud of it. And we like to say, come on in, because sometimes I think people think that, oh, they're public employees there. They don't care about anything. Our folks care. And come on in. We'll we'll treat you right. And like I said, it's just it's a really nice event. And we've got sponsors for this that are actually public works. Director Shane O'Keefe came up to me yesterday and said, he goes, you wouldn't believe the number of people that want to contribute to this, this open house. And you can like, walk in and then some of those firms will have a booth there to talk to you about this, that and the other thing. So again, please feel free to come on in and enjoy.

00:16:26,470	S2:
And May is cleanup month, and I think we heard last night from Carrie Schmidt that there are three routes yet that you need some volunteers to sign up for.

00:16:36,430	S3:
Yeah, I don't think Kari's daughter, Cadence, was real thrilled with that announcement because she was sleeping and Kari's her daughters. Was she impressed with the city Commission meeting? I hard to believe.

00:16:46,070	S2:
You could interpret it however you.

00:16:48,140	S3:
Like, but young Miss Cadence was taking a nap, and Kari indicated that I think we have three cleanup routes left for folks to sign up for. So again, mayor's cleanup month. Huge shout out. Again, we've got a number of sponsors and we have all those, you know, whether it's a family group, whether it's your business or just you have friends that want to get together. And we'll clean up this area along a major artery and Mandan. So again, three routes are left. And again, big shout out to all those people that have already gone out and cleaned up. You know, clean up their bags. The side of the road will come by and pick them up and away we go. So again, a great event that started several years ago from a citizen that said, hey, there's some garbage over here in this ditch. How about if we start a cleanup and it has grown from that point? Um, normally we have a couple hundred volunteers. And also, again, big thank you to them.

00:17:36,100	S2:
And Arbor Day is taking place since our last city print. And, uh, some great photos from kids. Two trees were planted and, uh, from Lakewood Elementary.

00:17:46,660	S3:
We had a planting in Dykshoorn Park, one hackberry and one Ohio Buckeye tree. Um, shout out to again, um, Jason and Adam and Allison, our grounds maintenance crew, for getting anything prepped. Pretty easy for the kids to come and put a shovel full of dirt because we've got the tree already planted. Um, put a shovel full of dirt in. They get to learn some fun facts about Arbor Day. Um, we know that. I learned some things. I did not know that there were only 42 cities.

00:18:14,900	S2:
I heard you say that 50.

00:18:16,700	S3:
And don't quote me on that number. I think it was 42. Yeah. Cities in the United States that were, um, a Tree City, USA. And of those 42, I think we're down to we are one of 16 and I believe Grand Forks is the other one in North Dakota that celebrate their 50th, um, Tree City us an anniversary. And I think, um, I did, you know, provide a shout out to our city commissioners and mayor at the time.

00:18:41,460	S2:
I think you, uh. Yeah, you threw out some.

00:18:44,100	S3:
Threw out some names. So again, it's you know, their foresight and their vision is why we're here today celebrating 50 years. So big shout out to the mayor at that time was Malcolm Brown. He was also our our city attorney for several years to the commissioners at the time were Edward R Froehlich, which would be Bosch Froehlich. And that is the name of the meeting room that we were in, along with Carolyn Luckett and Joe Schaaf and B.J. Silverdale. So shout out to those folks or if you are somehow related to them, um, foresight. Um, great. Great thing. And uh, like I said, I think it's it's important that we honor those because they set the tone for now, 50 years later, we are trees continue to be a Tree city, USA.

00:19:27,690	S2:
So yeah, I'm getting these, uh, the elementary students involved. Just a great way to bring it full circle.

00:19:32,970	S3:
Normally, try and plant a tree at one of the elementary schools every year and or another area. This year, we thought for the 50th we would do an index park.

00:19:41,650	S2:
Makes a lot of sense. New business last night. You're looking to select a engineering firm for the wastewater treatment plant. And, uh, you went through the process of who's on the selection committee, how you scored it, and, uh, came up with a recommendation last night.

00:19:59,240	S3:
Yeah, very. Um, it is not just a, um. Who do we like? Who do we don't like? Who do we think does this? Who do we think does this, um, Jarek, our City engineer put together a very comprehensive weighting system and scoring system? That was all. Um, the cake was already baked, right? And then you had the ingredients. So we had the cake baked, and then we came in, and then we. I think there were 5 or 6 of us that, um, interviewed, um, the, the, um, applicants that submitted to be our engineer in lead on this project and that happened. And those scores get put into that matrix and, and outcomes. Um, usually a a very good recommendation. So all of all three consultants that Provided interest in this project, interviewed very well. So we are very fortunate to have to have them in the game. But again, the the scoring shook out as A to S as the the lead engineering firm. They are looking at Jacobs as another firm that they will partner with. And Jake Siemens I think is a worldwide um engineering firm that kind of specializes in wastewater treatment plant. This is a big project. And also Icahn Architectural Group that does a lot of the, um, a lot of the PR around this and will help them through that process and community engagement and things like that. Yeah.

00:21:21,520	S2:
We heard you mentioned big project. Maybe that's almost an understatement.

00:21:24,960	S3:
It is. Um, it I say it's a big project. It's a large expensive. We talk about Memorial Highway, right, right. Massive project. Um, you know, I think the total is $119 million, split many different ways. Um, we're looking at potentially a similarly sized project on our wastewater treatment facility. That was last. It was really built in the mid 90s and became operational, I think in 97, 98. It's lasted 25 years and it's time things change. And that that environment in a wastewater treatment plant is pretty nasty. I don't know, I don't have a fancy word like state engineer we've had for the for the concrete did. It's a nasty environment and caustic and things, um, just overtime fail no matter what you kind of coatings you put on to protection and things like that. But it's a facility that it's one of those you have to do it there. We don't have a choice. And it is, um, you know, the things that you expect, you expect when you, you know, turn your faucet on, water comes out, you expect when you go the other end and you flush the toilet that things go away. Yeah. And this is part of that things going away and need to make sure that it is done in the most cost effective and regulatory effective manner, and these folks are going to help us get there.

00:22:44,590	S2:
Well, that wrapped up the agenda last night, but we did want to call attention to that sub tent July 4th, America's two 50th coming up and the big celebration, Independence Day celebration in Mandan. Just not that no one knows, but just want to remind people that that's just around the corner.

00:23:02,190	S3:
That is, I think Mayor Froelich the other day said 74 days away. But I think we're probably into the 64, 65 days away right now. Again, for America's 250, the the big things going on between rodeos and art in the park and the parade, which I think we are close to, the amount of parade entries that we have in previous years. The key this year is that you need to have a float. You can't just drive your vehicle in with a sticker on it. You have to have it, um, decorate it and things like that. And all those guidelines are laid out by the Mandan Progress Organization. We have, I think, July 3rd, if you liked the New Year's Eve fireworks celebration, um, that we had this year. You will like the July 3rd fireworks celebration. And like I said, if you're if you're looking for fireworks and you can't find them, you're just not looking.

00:23:51,780	S2:
You're not looking.

00:23:52,220	S3:
Hard. I'll be sleeping through the third and 4th of July. Um, you know, we know Bismarck swing the July 4th. Um, we are doing ours on July 3rd. And like I said, on the fourth, you know, we talked about earlier. Make a friend in Mandan, come on over and shoot your fireworks in town and be respectful. But again, lots of big things are going on around the 4th of July this year.

00:24:13,900	S2:
Well, that pretty much wrapped up the meeting. Just wanted to remind folks of that celebration and also remind people that you can watch City Current city commission meetings, any government meeting or content that we create on our DakotaMediaAccess app. We also have a Radio Access app, so you can listen to all sorts of local musicians and local podcasts, and you can find that also on our website, DakotaMediaAccess.org So until next time for Jim I'm Tom.

00:24:45,540	Have a great day! S1:
For more information on what was discussed in this episode of City Current, visit City of Mandan or call (701) 667-3215.

00:24:55,900	S1:
If you have any suggestions, comments or issues you would like addressed in future City Current episodes, contact us at info@freetv.org. This program airs on Government Access channel two and 602 in HD or on Radio Access 102.5 FM. It's also available as a podcast on Radio Access and as a video viewing link at FreeTV.org. Thanks for tuning in to this edition of City Current.