June 18, 2025 • 36 mins
Tom Gerhardt talks to Jason Tomanek about the Bismarck City Commission meeting that took place on 6/10/25.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
City Current, produced by Dakota Media Access in depth discussion
with Bismarck and Mandan city officials. Watch on Government Access
Channel six oh two HD or tune in to Radio
Access one O two point five FM, Always Local, Always Current.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Welcome to City Current, the Bismarck Edition. Following following up
on last night's Bismarck City Commission meeting. I'm Tom Gerhardt
from Dakota Media Access, joined by Jason Toamonic, the Bismarck
City Administrator.
Speaker 3 (00:36):
Welcome and good to have you.
Speaker 4 (00:37):
Thank you for hosting once again. It's always a pleasure
to be here.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
We have a busy, busy recap of last night's commission meetings.
Some highlights that we're going to talk about include zoning
for Misty Waters, a half cent sales tax discussion, which
the mayor moved to the top of the agenda last
night and that received quite a bit of discussion on
Bismarck Eta discussion, and we'll talk about Bismarck Event Center
(01:06):
operating model and a few other things. So, but jumping
right into that regular agenda last night and that half
sent sales tax discussion, this is pretty complicated. I mentioned
to you this morning that I listened last night, and
then I went back and listened again today just to
try and gain some insight. But essentially what's happening is
(01:27):
trying to amend the home rule Charter to do some
different things with that half sent sales tax in the future.
Is that kind of a real simple explanation.
Speaker 4 (01:35):
It's a pretty broad stroke. If I can help maybe
fill in a little details. Home rule charter, there's some
municipal jargon that yes, and so what is a home
rule charter. It is essentially the city's laws. It's the
city's constitution. It is in many ways similar to the
North Dkota Centry Code, which has laws for all of
North Dakota, but cities that have adopted a home rule
(01:56):
charter can be slightly different and from state law. And
so it is essentially it is the guiding document for
municipal government here in Bismarck. A Home ruld charter amendment
can be done a number of ways, and in this
particular situation, we are talking about five citizens that have
(02:17):
formed around a singular topic. Commissioner Mike Connolly has been
advising them on some of the process that goes along
with developing a petition that would potentially become something that
the citizens of Bismarck would vote on. That is essentially
the process to modify the city's home rule Charter. It
(02:39):
would create a new law, and it's not something that
is foreign to us. We have amended the home world
Charter on occasion in the past, in particular with this
topic with a half cent sales tax. Voters were asked
in twenty eighteen if they would like to amend the
home rule Charter to cause a half sent sales tax
(03:01):
to be collected to help pay for major roadway improvements,
and there was a list of projects that was identified
at that time. There was a ten year sunset on
the sales tax, meaning if voters approved it in twenty eighteen,
the city would start collecting an additional half sent sales
tax in twenty nineteen and it would automatically stop ten
(03:21):
years later unless it were resurrected, renewed, revoted on in
that ten year time spa. And so we're in the
middle of that half sent sales tax collection. Gabe Shell,
our city engineer, ran through a number of the projects
that have been done through that half sent sales tax
and today the project that we the city are working
on using those collections is East Century Avenue. We've talked
(03:43):
about that on this program many times, extending it, widening
that roadway, adding sidewalks, curb and gutter, traffic signals, street lighting.
Those are very common things with these large roadway projects.
Other projects that have been done using the half sent
sales tax collection include South Washington Street last year with
the Burley Avenue roundabout area, forty third Avenue in ash Cooley.
(04:05):
All of those extensions east and west have been paid
for using the half sen sales tax. So I really
was Commissioner's anchor last night that remarked that this program
has worked very well, and I think there's some very
measurable results using the collections that are here today. What
Gabe also shared in his presentation last night was the
(04:27):
fairly lengthy process that city staff and elected leaders went
through beginning in twenty sixteen to get to that recommendation.
To get to the point at twenty eighteen, when a
number of stakeholders in the community, business leaders, developers, realtors,
a number of professionals that have an awareness of economic
(04:49):
development opportunities, they all coalesced around an idea to identify
a project. List lists, of the roads that should be
improved using the halfsen sales tax, come up with the
recommendation to have a sunset, and really developed a plan
that was done over almost a two year period with
staff support, commission direction, and a tremendous amount of citizen engagement.
(05:13):
That's what led us to the successful vote in twenty eighteen.
Commissioner Connolly and the group that he is advising are
in many ways it appears to be trying to replicate
that process. They've proposed some potential ballot language that would
initiate a half cent sales tax. Our city attorney has
(05:34):
reviewed that. That is part of the role of the
city attorney, but it is not for her to advise
on the content. It is only for her to advise
on the form. In other words, does it meet the
size and shape of the regulations that are put forth
by Century Code. There was quite a bit of discussion
back and forth from a number of the commissioners. I
believe this was the first time any of the other
(05:56):
commissioners at the table had been made aware of this,
and based on the information that was shared at the table,
the draft petition. There's some work that has gone into
this by the group of citizens and Commissioner Connolly to
get to this point. I think some of the comments
from the commissioners expressed some concerns that staff had not
(06:18):
been engaged in this process, in that this group, although
you know, potentially working with the best intentions, maybe could
benefit from some of the input and feedback from staff.
Because many of us were here in twenty sixteen when
we did this process last time. We have all of
those records, We have all of the meeting minutes, the iterations,
the ideas that had been gone through at that time,
(06:40):
the good ones and the bad ones. And ultimately where
we where the commission landed was a unanimous boat five
to zero, a motion made by a Commissioner Cleary second
and by Commissioner's anchor to include city staff meeting our
city engineer and some of his team if necessary, City administration,
(07:01):
myself and legal to some degree as needed, and including
Commissioner's anchor. Commission's anchor holds a portfolio for Engineering Department,
which is really the group that has been doing the
lion's share of the work managing these projects going forward,
and so we as staff, we need that direction from
(07:22):
the commission. We cannot simply just work on a project
for one commissioner because they have.
Speaker 5 (07:29):
An interest in it or not.
Speaker 4 (07:30):
I mean, sure they guide some of the work that
we do, but ultimately, for a project of this size
and scale, for the amount of time that will be
likely invested into this from the staff resource perspective, we
want to make sure that the full Commission is supportive
of this idea, that we have the support in the
direction that we need to invest the time into this effort.
And so ultimately the goal or the motion was to
(07:55):
engage the petition committee and dialogue and explore potential options
on how to move this far. I think I heard
the remarks of both Commissioner Connolly and then the gentleman
Carl Jung, whose name is one of the five on
the petition, seem pretty intentional about moving forward one way
or together regardless, and as Commissioner Connolly noted, they have
(08:19):
that right that is the democracy that we live within,
not complaining about that whatsoever. But at the same time,
when staff can have information to help potentially guide the
process or identify exactly what it is that would be
most helpful from this effort, I think in the end
we would have a much better result and.
Speaker 2 (08:41):
So, as you said, the motion passed unanimously to have
Administration Engineering legal help in that process. And I shouldn't
ask you, and I know you're not going to speak
for Commissioner Connley or the group. And from listening last
night and watching, it sounded like a lot of the language.
And although it's on paper and I think was included
(09:03):
for the commission to see last night, they Chrishioner Conley
I think, remarked that it's still a work in progress.
So I guess it left me wondering how this could
be different than what's in place already. And again, not
to ask you to speak for that group, but this
would the current goes to twenty twenty nine, correct, right,
(09:26):
and then so this would be they would be trying
to gather signatures for an initiated measure to amend what's
in place already after twenty twenty nine, or interrupting the current.
Speaker 4 (09:39):
I believe it's my understanding the intent would be to
pick up after the current half sense Hills tax expired
your twenty twenty nine.
Speaker 2 (09:47):
And as to what that would mean, that's still a
work in progress.
Speaker 3 (09:50):
It sounded like correct last night.
Speaker 4 (09:52):
Yes, Okay, So for those that are interested. For those
that read the minutes, navigate their way to the agenda
center on the website. Because this was shared publicly with
the Commission last night, it will be attached to the minutes.
So please keep in mind this is a draft. It
has not been approved. It is not suitable for circulation
or signature gathering at this time. That is again the
(10:13):
role of our city attorney is to evaluate the form
and not the content, but the form. At this point,
the city Attorney has not signed off on their draft,
and so there will need to do some more reworking
of the language and the appearance of things. But at
that point, if the city Attorney has no objections to
(10:36):
the form, I guess it's their time to go out
and begin petition.
Speaker 3 (10:43):
Was it over fifteen hundred.
Speaker 5 (10:45):
That you would I believe, so there's a threshold.
Speaker 3 (10:49):
And then he said, you know, of course he'd want more, because.
Speaker 4 (10:52):
There's always yes, And so Centry Code sets the minimum
number of signatures. And I believe it's ten percent of
the last mayoral election, So for all the people that
voted for mayor in twenty twenty four, it would be
ten percent. I'm sorry, twenty twenty two to twenty twenty two,
I'd be ten percent of that total vote gathered. And
(11:14):
so fifteen thousand people, fifteen hundred signatures. Our office City
Administration is the department that verifies all the signatures. The
address is legibility, is it complete? Are there any duplicates
those types of things. So yes, very many times there
are signatures that are struck through because they might have
a Bismarck address, but it's Bismarck rural, meaning it's outside
(11:37):
city limits. If you're not in city limits, this petition
is not for you to sign.
Speaker 2 (11:42):
Well, I'm glad I wanted to spend some time here
because I think it is well in some ways is straightforward.
It's also very complicated and complex, and for people maybe
listening in for a first time or who needed a refresher,
I think it was good to kind of walk through
some of the education piece. So I appreciate the background,
and we'll see. We'll continue to follow this as it
(12:03):
moves forward. Following the regular agenda. Along the Dakota West Arts,
Consul Jason Thomes presented his annual report.
Speaker 3 (12:10):
I believe he indicated it was his first year.
Speaker 2 (12:13):
He's getting close to ending his first year as executive director,
and so a number of things happening in the arts community,
and I think one thing that was clear he took
he's taken some initiative to become kind of a home
of an arts home, to make Dakota West Arts Console
an arts home, and through various ways trying to kind
of consolidate all the activities and be a place people
(12:35):
can come to find out what's happening.
Speaker 4 (12:37):
They did a nice job building a brochure of the
summer arts calendar, and so there's a variety of activities.
Some of them kick off today with events at Custer
Park downtown and you can also look on their website
for all of those activities as well. I believe it's
Dakota West Arts Council dot org and for the graphic
on the screen for those that can't see it. Every
Wednesday from noon to one at cuss which is downtown
(13:01):
flanked by Washington Street on the East Broadway on the
south right across from the Elks Pool, there's a small
stage there. It's a free event and it's the kids
Summer Stage activities with kiddiko music. So if you've got
little ones, this is your opportunity to get out, have
some fun, be in the sun, move, dance, sing, whatever
(13:21):
it is. And if you don't have little ones, wander
over to the park anyway, because it's a great place
to take a little break. It's Bismark's oldest park. I'm
a neat little spaces.
Speaker 2 (13:32):
And you indicated mentioned the brochure, I think you have one,
and then we have a graphic too, but a lot
of good information included on this Dakota West Arts Council's
Summer Arts calendar which runs through the summer period, and
I think Jason Indicata last night, this is a project
they'd like to continue to keep people up to date
as we continue through the seasons. And again not everyone
(13:54):
can see this, but this brochure has a number of
dates and talks about a number of events taking place
throughout the June through August of this summer.
Speaker 4 (14:05):
And it's not just gallery art, it's performing arts, whether
it be dance or theater or different activities. I would
encourage people to go check it out.
Speaker 5 (14:14):
For sure. There's always something to do in Bismark.
Speaker 4 (14:16):
I think one of the complaints I've heard over the
years is there's so much going on, but I can't
find it I don't.
Speaker 3 (14:21):
Know how to.
Speaker 4 (14:23):
There's not just one central place, So I think Dakota
West Arts Council has stepped up to at least fill
the gap for identifying what is going on in the
arts world in Bismarck, North Dakota.
Speaker 2 (14:33):
Continuing along the regular agenda, last night, kind of jumping
on to the next topic, the Bismarck Mandan Chamber EDC
presented and they certainly provided a lot of statistics about
things that are happening in the community, and starting with
workforce development, which yes, critical.
Speaker 4 (14:56):
It very much is, and the Chamber has been doing
a great job for us. They are one of our
two economic development consultants and so we rely on them
to promote Bismarck as a wonderful place to start a business, live, work, play,
all of those things. They've done some very intentional work
on their website to drive people towards what are the
(15:17):
opportunities in Bismarck. Is it more than just a place
to work? And for those of us that are here
in call Bismarck home, it's absolutely more than a place
to work. And I think that's part of what the
Chamber can help people realize, is what are the other
things that myself as a new resident or my family,
what would they be doing, What sort of activities can
they be involved in? I think the Chamber does a
(15:38):
really nice job with that. The other thing that Brenda
Nagel mentioned last night was something we've talked about here,
and it's the Mayor and Janelle Schmitz's Welcome Initiative making
Bismarck more friendly, more open, more welcoming. The Chamber has
been doing a number of events to help promote that.
We're sharing a lot of their social media activity on
(15:58):
that cap on that topic as well, and I just
will I think we will continue to see more effort
in that particular area because it is such an important
task and it is such an important feature for the
Mayor and instruments on this one.
Speaker 2 (16:14):
And really interesting statistic that they did in a survey,
ninety four percent of people they surveyed said they felt
that they learned more about Bismarck and became more connected
to Bismarck through events like the Chamber.
Speaker 3 (16:27):
I think they started a patio lunch series.
Speaker 2 (16:30):
As well, so along with the Welcome Initiative and a
number of other things, and a lot of web traffic
created around that the Brenda indicated last night too. So
along with Dakota West Arts Council trying to become sort
of an epicenter for the arts, the Bismark Mandan Chamber
ADC is also garnering a lot of traffic, helping people
find things to do and connecting connecting us to others.
(16:55):
They also will be stopping by here later this month
with their educator experience through their workforce programs, and she
mentioned a podcasts The Rewind that we will be helping
produce here ultimately, So just a couple of other things
in the community to help connect folks here with things
that are happening, other things on the agenda, and it's
(17:18):
kind of like a smorgas Sport, a little bit of everything.
We jump back to Misty Waters where last night, more
discussion and a vote, a split vote, but a motion
passed to I guess in some sense has put an
end to something that's been going on for an awfully
(17:38):
long time. Do you want to fill us in on
the details, because again it can be a little complicated
to sort out what exactly has been happening.
Speaker 4 (17:46):
Yes, this has been a very challenging topic. It has
been a pretty long discussion a number of years, involving
a number of residents, commissioners, staff. Ultimately, as you noted
last night, or did vote on a three to two
vote to approve the amendment to the zoning district as
presented by staff.
Speaker 5 (18:06):
And so what is that big change?
Speaker 4 (18:08):
It really comes down to lines on a map and
talking about setbacks. We talk about easements for storm water.
We also talk about an acronym that is unique to FEMA.
It's a Lomar letter of map revision. It's a term
that gets into buildable area on property that's adjacent to
a body of water. In the end, I think Ben Areth,
(18:31):
our Community Development director, did a really nice job using
some visuals to help people explain and understand where are
these lines in relation to the homes that are already
built today, Where are these lines in relation to the
high water mark and relation to the stormwater easement? And ultimately,
(18:52):
this is one of those situations where I don't know
that there was a solution that.
Speaker 5 (18:56):
Was going to make everyone happy.
Speaker 3 (18:58):
Yeah, clearly that's the case.
Speaker 4 (19:00):
Still had some dissenting comments from residents in the area.
We had a couple commissioners that didn't support the motion.
I understand all of that, and this goes back many
years to a situation where we, frankly, we have a
home that was built that breached those lines, and now
that home is there, people are living in it, and
(19:23):
this resolution essentially makes that home compliant within the zoning regulations.
And it does offer some more clarification for the other
lots going forward and for any of the lots that
haven't been built on the standards have been set moving forward.
Speaker 2 (19:40):
Also, a couple of topics regarding the events center continued
to discuss last night.
Speaker 3 (19:46):
The operating model.
Speaker 2 (19:49):
Talked about an authority board and boy, this is another
touchy topic that I know has a lot of history
to it and a lot of emotion behind it as well.
Speaker 5 (20:01):
There is and a lot of staff.
Speaker 4 (20:03):
We've got close to twenty five full time employees, many
of them have been invested their careers with the City
of Bismarck, and that has been something that the commissioners
have been number one, very appreciative and mindful of, but
also number two, very intentional about making sure those employees.
Speaker 5 (20:19):
Are kept whole in one way or another.
Speaker 4 (20:22):
And so walking through the presentation last night, again we
heard from Dan Fenton with JLLL Jones Lang lesal as
the consulting firm that the city hired back in November
to help us discern what is the right path forward.
And there were options. Do you hire another director who
is a city employee and we basically put a square
peg in a square hole and keep moving forward, or
(20:43):
do we look at other options? And one of the
options was bringing an outside third party to operate and
manage the facility, and that is a common model that
we see in other places Grand Forks, for example, the
Aleris Center. It's a city owned facility, but the employees
and the operators are a third party entity that are
(21:04):
hired to do that work on behalf of the city
of Grand Forks. In Bismarck, we have always been a
public model, meaning it's a publicly owned building, it's publicly
supported through the City of Bismarck, and all the staff
are public employees. There are occasionally some hourly staff that
are brought in for events and things like that, but those,
for the most part the full time all the full
time staff are city employees.
Speaker 5 (21:24):
All the part time staff or city employees.
Speaker 4 (21:28):
The idea of having a third party is not the
only recommendation that came forward. It was also to have
an authority model or an authority board essentially, and that
would be a group of individuals that are selected to
help guide the operations of the event center, but also
to function and act as the fiduciary. And what does
(21:48):
that really mean. Well, that authority would help develop the budgets,
guide the projects, manage the resources that are there, and
do it on a more intentional basis. In the city
commision is simply able to the city commission sets policy.
They are the ones that make the determinations. Then staff
goes through and enforces the work and performs the work.
(22:08):
In the case of an authority, they would act in
the city's best interests, both in a financial capacity and
managing the building as a resource. And we have an
authority model today in the City of Bismarck structure. For
those of us that work downtown that rely on a
parking structure, we have a Bismarck Parking Authority that has
(22:29):
been an operation for decades and they work very much
for the City of Bismarck. They are volunteers. It's a
five person board to go to media access, carries their meetings.
It's the second Thursday of every month at nine o'clock
in the Tom Baker Room. That group of five has
hired a management company to run the parking facilities on
(22:50):
a day to day basis, and so the city essentially
has asked the parking authority to manage and operate the
ramps in our best interest. And the way they do
that is by contracting with the third party company who
has the employees, the resources, and the know how to
keep the ramps open every day, manage the projects when
they come to repairs and maintenance, and oh the lights
(23:11):
are out, and so they have staff that take care
of all of those things for the benefit of the
City of Bismarck. The management company is paid a portion,
They are paid a fee for the services that they provide.
But at the same time, the parking Authority has financial
resources to cover those repairs and maintenance on their own.
Speaker 5 (23:29):
But they are.
Speaker 4 (23:29):
Existing because they are part of the city. The city
owns the ramps. They manage the ramps on our behalf.
The Bismarck Event Center model for an authority board would
be very similar in that they are working for the
best interests of the city and the event center, but
they are people that are much closer to the understanding
the activities and the awareness of what it takes to
make that happen. And they are also there to support
(23:50):
the staff and to be in between the City Commission
and that potential third party management company that would be
brought in and so ultimately long story even longer. The
motion was made by Commissioner Rish to have JLLL, the
consultant we've been working with, develop a request for proposals
(24:10):
for a third party operator to develop an employee protection plan.
In other words, the employees are currently City of Bismark employees.
In the future, if this model were to be successful,
these employees would transition over to being private third party employees.
The request or the motion from Commissioner Rish was to
make sure that the employees are Number one, they all
(24:33):
have a job on day one. Number two, their compensation
is very similar or better. Number three, their benefits package
and healthcare are very similar to what we offer with
the city. The one thing that maybe wasn't talked about.
If these employees become third party employees, they have the
opportunity to be incentivized. Where we as city staff, we
(24:54):
are not allowed to accept bonuses, We are not allowed
to accept gifts. We do our work and we accept
our paycheck and continue on private third party if they
are able to hit some of those performance indicators, some
of those metrics, there's opportunities for bonuses. There's things that
we as a government entity cannot do that the third
party can do to incentivize the work. How does all
(25:16):
of that work? That's where we are now. So to
finish the discussion, Commissioner Rish made that motion. It was
seconded by Commissioner Cleary. It was a four to one
vote to support it. So the next steps will be
for JLLL to draft an RFP that the Commission will review.
The RFP will be calling all third party operators. Here
(25:40):
are the expectations of the city at Bismarck. Here's what
we need to you. We need you to do. Here
are the stipulations that we want you to achieve. They
would have to put a proposal together, come by and
make the pitch, and a selection would be made to
move forward. And what does that timeline look like? What
does that transition look like? I don't know, say we're
(26:01):
a few months from having an RFP and presentations from
a proposal, what does the full transition look like I
m'd be willing to bet six months a year, eighteen
months minimum to really start to see some things changing
in the facility. Meanwhile, I think it's important to note
the City of Bismarck will continue to own the building,
We will continue to maintain the building. We are moving forward.
(26:23):
That's the next thing that we're going to talk about here.
We're going to be moving forward with our capital improvements
plan to fix the building and repair some of that
deferred maintenance that has been neglected over the years. And
so there, I guess what I'm hoping people here in
all of this is that there is a very intentional
focus on the Bismarck Event Center right now. We have
heard many of the comments that the residents want to
(26:44):
have fun, exciting activities in the event center, but there's
also a need for conventions and conferences because they'll bring
people from outside the community to the hotels and the
restaurants where they leave behind their sales tax dollars, which
then ultimately can be reinvested into the vent center, because
that's part of the funding source to operate the event
center is through sales tax collections on hotel, hotel, restaurant
(27:08):
food tax things like that. So a lot of changes,
a lot of things happening. I understand the staff has
some trepidation, a lot of questions from the staff. We
met with a good number of them this morning to
hear their questions and concerns, and we hope that we're
able to address them. I guess what I would ask
(27:28):
of everybody going forward is just a little bit of patience.
We are government. We move slowly, unfortunately, and if we
could move on a dime, we would all love to.
But we have processes, we have meetings, we have schedules
that we will follow. But we are focusing on this.
We are doing this with the best intentions to activate,
further activate, invigorate the event center, make intentional improvements to
(27:52):
the building, shine it up, fix it up so it's
easier to manage and run. It's a better experience for
everybody inside. We're all trying to pull in the same
direction here and just do what's right for the community.
Speaker 2 (28:02):
A couple other comments, it seemed like I heard the
word accountability. It seemed like there's a decent level of
comfort with the potential of an authority board and having
some local eyes and ears on what's happening along with
this process, and then I thought it was something to
bring up, and I guess I would just invite people
to go back and watch our meeting on the codemedia
(28:24):
access dot org and see. But the mayor had some
strong comments about the event center last night that he
really spent a couple of minutes kind of summarizing some
of his concerns that have evolved throughout the years. So
that'd be something that you could easily go back and
not asking you to speak for the mayor or summarize
what he said, but I think an interesting conversation to
go back and listen to on our archive system. And
(28:47):
you did mention quickly. Another request for proposal for the
Capital Improvements Plan then also will move forward, came shortly
after the operating model.
Speaker 3 (28:59):
Right.
Speaker 4 (28:59):
The way we work with consultants, the way we get
to the end of those types of projects, we go
through the request for proposals and we lay out our expectations,
we ask, we tell people what we're looking for, and
if they feel that they have the qualifications to submit
a project, that becomes a proposal. And so we had
a selection committee four individuals, the mayor, city engineer, Gabe Shell,
(29:23):
Assistant Airport Director, Matthew or Mindsey, and Amandaello, Acting director
at the airport. The four of them received proposals from
five architectural firms last week Friday. We were very fortunate
to have five tremendously qualified firms. This is the type
of work that is very complex. It is very detailed,
but at the same time, for an architectural firm to
(29:45):
have the opportunity to work consistently with an entity like
the city for three, four or five years in a row,
you can build a wonderful relationship. There's a lot of
benefit for both both groups in there. Ultimately, the selection
committee recommended to to move forward with Uble Design Group,
and it frankly was just based primarily on Jeff's experience,
(30:06):
Jeff Yuble's experience working with the event center for the
past fifteen years. All the other firms brought tremendous professionalism
to the proposals, but I think the general sentiment from
the selection committee was that the learning curve is just
it's a big learning curve and we need to work
with the momentum that we have. We need to start
working on implementing these capital improvements with first and foremost
(30:29):
of fifteen million dollar HVAC improvement on the entire arena side.
So the recommendation from the Commission or i'm sorry, from
the selection committee to the Commission was to select uble
design group. Ultimately, the Commission did support that recommendation as well.
Speaker 2 (30:45):
Finally, from the regular agenda, the Bismarck et discussion from
last commission meeting, and the decision was made to try
and get both the Burley County Commission and City commissioners
together early August, I think August fifth. So that's a
work in progress, but that's kind of what came out
of last night's meeting.
Speaker 4 (31:06):
It was and that was a kind of a two
point zero discussion following the Bismarck Burley Combined Commissions Committee
meeting which I am a part of, the mayor is
a part of for the Bismarck side auditors Panskowski and
County Commissioner backing from the county side. The four of
us meet once a month, first Tuesday of every month
at four o'clock in the Tom Baker Room. Again you
(31:27):
can find those quote media access. But at last week's
meeting there was a better discussion and understanding of what
is the ask what is the county asking for in
relation to the ETA? And I think that was the
mayor's point that he had made last night, is that
now he understands what is the intention of simply meeting,
and really the intention is to gather information, share information,
(31:49):
but then also hear from the residents what are your
specific concerns relating to the ETA. And I think part
of the discussion will also be should we talk.
Speaker 5 (31:58):
About the boundary again?
Speaker 4 (32:01):
As I mentioned at the Combined Commissions Committee meeting fifteen
years ago, the City of Bismarck had a little bit
of a different perspective on annexation and providing services, and
I'll use the word absorbing or annexing some of these
large rural subdivisions. I think the staff that we have today,
the staff is different, the perspective is different. The realization
(32:22):
of the city's ability to provide some of these services
is going to be tremendously challenging. And I'm just going
to be honest with some of the things like water
and sewer. Providing sewer service to a rural subdivision, it's
not cost feasible for these neighborhoods, and the city's not
looking to come in in strong arm these subdivisions and
turn them into urban neighborhoods. We understand people want their
(32:43):
elbow room. That's why they built in those areas in
the first place. So with that in mind, looking at
some of these subdivisions that are predominantly built out meeting
there's not a lot of green space around them, you're
not going to see much change in those neighborhoods. Maybe
those are areas that we take a closer look at
based on and similar information to what we had before.
(33:03):
I think that conversation has a lot of potential, but
I think just getting in a room and having a
bunch of people upset about the ETA for various reasons
and just mad that that's not going to be productive,
you know. So we want to have specific concerns and
how can we address those things, and then maybe we
(33:23):
can stop some of this back and forth that it's
been going on for, frankly the entire time that I've
been a part of the city as an organization.
Speaker 2 (33:30):
So well, this just occurred to me today, moving on
that we're just weeks away from July fourth, so we
wanted to remind everyone that Red, White and Boom is
a new Fourth of July celebration that everyone's invited to,
but the big caveat we got to make sure everybody
knows it's not going to be at the Capitol.
Speaker 4 (33:49):
It's not at the Capitol this year and not likely
in the near future going forward. The Capitol grounds have
changed for anybody that hasn't been over there. There's a
new building in the area where we used to set
up fireworks. So committee was formed, decisions were made. We're
moving over to the MDU Resources Community Bowl on the
BSc campus and this will be an opportunity to as
(34:10):
they say in the fancy dining industry, we're going to
elevate the experience. So it's not just the symphony and
fireworks as the night wanes. There will be events for families, kids,
friends throughout the afternoon and into the evening. Concessions available
beard aren't available in the end, what I want people
to hear, and this is the part I'm excited for.
(34:31):
I'm a fireworks guy. The fireworks will be bigger, they
will be better, they will be longer than where you've
used to seeing in the past few years at the Capitol.
We're using the same fireworks vendor, but because of the location,
because of the proximity to things. He has assured us
that the length of the show will definitely be longer
(34:52):
and the crowd should it have a much better experience.
So I don't know, can forward to that.
Speaker 3 (34:56):
That's a good tease.
Speaker 2 (34:57):
Get everybody out there on the fourth of July. Finally,
just remind that you can watch us wherever you are
whenever you can by downloading our apps or going to
your smart TV and finding Dakota Media Access. So thanks
for joining us. We'll see you next time on City Current.
Speaker 6 (35:14):
For more information on what was discussed in this episode
of City Current, visit Bismarck end dot gov or call
seven zero one three five five one three zero zero.
If you have suggestions, comments, or issues you would like
addressed in future episodes, contact us at info at free
tv dot org. This program airs on Government Access Channel
(35:35):
two and six oh two in HD or on Radio
Access one oh two point five FM. It's also available
as a podcast on Radioaccess dot org and as a
video viewing link at free tv dot org. Thanks for
tuning in to this edition of City Current.
Speaker 3 (36:03):
Need time
City Current, produced by Dakota Media Access in depth discussion
with Bismarck and Mandan city officials. Watch on Government Access
Channel six oh two HD or tune in to Radio
Access one O two point five FM, Always Local, Always Current.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Welcome to City Current, the Bismarck Edition. Following following up
on last night's Bismarck City Commission meeting. I'm Tom Gerhardt
from Dakota Media Access, joined by Jason Toamonic, the Bismarck
City Administrator.
Speaker 3 (00:36):
Welcome and good to have you.
Speaker 4 (00:37):
Thank you for hosting once again. It's always a pleasure
to be here.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
We have a busy, busy recap of last night's commission meetings.
Some highlights that we're going to talk about include zoning
for Misty Waters, a half cent sales tax discussion, which
the mayor moved to the top of the agenda last
night and that received quite a bit of discussion on
Bismarck Eta discussion, and we'll talk about Bismarck Event Center
(01:06):
operating model and a few other things. So, but jumping
right into that regular agenda last night and that half
sent sales tax discussion, this is pretty complicated. I mentioned
to you this morning that I listened last night, and
then I went back and listened again today just to
try and gain some insight. But essentially what's happening is
(01:27):
trying to amend the home rule Charter to do some
different things with that half sent sales tax in the future.
Is that kind of a real simple explanation.
Speaker 4 (01:35):
It's a pretty broad stroke. If I can help maybe
fill in a little details. Home rule charter, there's some
municipal jargon that yes, and so what is a home
rule charter. It is essentially the city's laws. It's the
city's constitution. It is in many ways similar to the
North Dkota Centry Code, which has laws for all of
North Dakota, but cities that have adopted a home rule
(01:56):
charter can be slightly different and from state law. And
so it is essentially it is the guiding document for
municipal government here in Bismarck. A Home ruld charter amendment
can be done a number of ways, and in this
particular situation, we are talking about five citizens that have
(02:17):
formed around a singular topic. Commissioner Mike Connolly has been
advising them on some of the process that goes along
with developing a petition that would potentially become something that
the citizens of Bismarck would vote on. That is essentially
the process to modify the city's home rule Charter. It
(02:39):
would create a new law, and it's not something that
is foreign to us. We have amended the home world
Charter on occasion in the past, in particular with this
topic with a half cent sales tax. Voters were asked
in twenty eighteen if they would like to amend the
home rule Charter to cause a half sent sales tax
(03:01):
to be collected to help pay for major roadway improvements,
and there was a list of projects that was identified
at that time. There was a ten year sunset on
the sales tax, meaning if voters approved it in twenty eighteen,
the city would start collecting an additional half sent sales
tax in twenty nineteen and it would automatically stop ten
(03:21):
years later unless it were resurrected, renewed, revoted on in
that ten year time spa. And so we're in the
middle of that half sent sales tax collection. Gabe Shell,
our city engineer, ran through a number of the projects
that have been done through that half sent sales tax
and today the project that we the city are working
on using those collections is East Century Avenue. We've talked
(03:43):
about that on this program many times, extending it, widening
that roadway, adding sidewalks, curb and gutter, traffic signals, street lighting.
Those are very common things with these large roadway projects.
Other projects that have been done using the half sent
sales tax collection include South Washington Street last year with
the Burley Avenue roundabout area, forty third Avenue in ash Cooley.
(04:05):
All of those extensions east and west have been paid
for using the half sen sales tax. So I really
was Commissioner's anchor last night that remarked that this program
has worked very well, and I think there's some very
measurable results using the collections that are here today. What
Gabe also shared in his presentation last night was the
(04:27):
fairly lengthy process that city staff and elected leaders went
through beginning in twenty sixteen to get to that recommendation.
To get to the point at twenty eighteen, when a
number of stakeholders in the community, business leaders, developers, realtors,
a number of professionals that have an awareness of economic
(04:49):
development opportunities, they all coalesced around an idea to identify
a project. List lists, of the roads that should be
improved using the halfsen sales tax, come up with the
recommendation to have a sunset, and really developed a plan
that was done over almost a two year period with
staff support, commission direction, and a tremendous amount of citizen engagement.
(05:13):
That's what led us to the successful vote in twenty eighteen.
Commissioner Connolly and the group that he is advising are
in many ways it appears to be trying to replicate
that process. They've proposed some potential ballot language that would
initiate a half cent sales tax. Our city attorney has
(05:34):
reviewed that. That is part of the role of the
city attorney, but it is not for her to advise
on the content. It is only for her to advise
on the form. In other words, does it meet the
size and shape of the regulations that are put forth
by Century Code. There was quite a bit of discussion
back and forth from a number of the commissioners. I
believe this was the first time any of the other
(05:56):
commissioners at the table had been made aware of this,
and based on the information that was shared at the table,
the draft petition. There's some work that has gone into
this by the group of citizens and Commissioner Connolly to
get to this point. I think some of the comments
from the commissioners expressed some concerns that staff had not
(06:18):
been engaged in this process, in that this group, although
you know, potentially working with the best intentions, maybe could
benefit from some of the input and feedback from staff.
Because many of us were here in twenty sixteen when
we did this process last time. We have all of
those records, We have all of the meeting minutes, the iterations,
the ideas that had been gone through at that time,
(06:40):
the good ones and the bad ones. And ultimately where
we where the commission landed was a unanimous boat five
to zero, a motion made by a Commissioner Cleary second
and by Commissioner's anchor to include city staff meeting our
city engineer and some of his team if necessary, City administration,
(07:01):
myself and legal to some degree as needed, and including
Commissioner's anchor. Commission's anchor holds a portfolio for Engineering Department,
which is really the group that has been doing the
lion's share of the work managing these projects going forward,
and so we as staff, we need that direction from
(07:22):
the commission. We cannot simply just work on a project
for one commissioner because they have.
Speaker 5 (07:29):
An interest in it or not.
Speaker 4 (07:30):
I mean, sure they guide some of the work that
we do, but ultimately, for a project of this size
and scale, for the amount of time that will be
likely invested into this from the staff resource perspective, we
want to make sure that the full Commission is supportive
of this idea, that we have the support in the
direction that we need to invest the time into this effort.
And so ultimately the goal or the motion was to
(07:55):
engage the petition committee and dialogue and explore potential options
on how to move this far. I think I heard
the remarks of both Commissioner Connolly and then the gentleman
Carl Jung, whose name is one of the five on
the petition, seem pretty intentional about moving forward one way
or together regardless, and as Commissioner Connolly noted, they have
(08:19):
that right that is the democracy that we live within,
not complaining about that whatsoever. But at the same time,
when staff can have information to help potentially guide the
process or identify exactly what it is that would be
most helpful from this effort, I think in the end
we would have a much better result and.
Speaker 2 (08:41):
So, as you said, the motion passed unanimously to have
Administration Engineering legal help in that process. And I shouldn't
ask you, and I know you're not going to speak
for Commissioner Connley or the group. And from listening last
night and watching, it sounded like a lot of the language.
And although it's on paper and I think was included
(09:03):
for the commission to see last night, they Chrishioner Conley
I think, remarked that it's still a work in progress.
So I guess it left me wondering how this could
be different than what's in place already. And again, not
to ask you to speak for that group, but this
would the current goes to twenty twenty nine, correct, right,
(09:26):
and then so this would be they would be trying
to gather signatures for an initiated measure to amend what's
in place already after twenty twenty nine, or interrupting the current.
Speaker 4 (09:39):
I believe it's my understanding the intent would be to
pick up after the current half sense Hills tax expired
your twenty twenty nine.
Speaker 2 (09:47):
And as to what that would mean, that's still a
work in progress.
Speaker 3 (09:50):
It sounded like correct last night.
Speaker 4 (09:52):
Yes, Okay, So for those that are interested. For those
that read the minutes, navigate their way to the agenda
center on the website. Because this was shared publicly with
the Commission last night, it will be attached to the minutes.
So please keep in mind this is a draft. It
has not been approved. It is not suitable for circulation
or signature gathering at this time. That is again the
(10:13):
role of our city attorney is to evaluate the form
and not the content, but the form. At this point,
the city Attorney has not signed off on their draft,
and so there will need to do some more reworking
of the language and the appearance of things. But at
that point, if the city Attorney has no objections to
(10:36):
the form, I guess it's their time to go out
and begin petition.
Speaker 3 (10:43):
Was it over fifteen hundred.
Speaker 5 (10:45):
That you would I believe, so there's a threshold.
Speaker 3 (10:49):
And then he said, you know, of course he'd want more, because.
Speaker 4 (10:52):
There's always yes, And so Centry Code sets the minimum
number of signatures. And I believe it's ten percent of
the last mayoral election, So for all the people that
voted for mayor in twenty twenty four, it would be
ten percent. I'm sorry, twenty twenty two to twenty twenty two,
I'd be ten percent of that total vote gathered. And
(11:14):
so fifteen thousand people, fifteen hundred signatures. Our office City
Administration is the department that verifies all the signatures. The
address is legibility, is it complete? Are there any duplicates
those types of things. So yes, very many times there
are signatures that are struck through because they might have
a Bismarck address, but it's Bismarck rural, meaning it's outside
(11:37):
city limits. If you're not in city limits, this petition
is not for you to sign.
Speaker 2 (11:42):
Well, I'm glad I wanted to spend some time here
because I think it is well in some ways is straightforward.
It's also very complicated and complex, and for people maybe
listening in for a first time or who needed a refresher,
I think it was good to kind of walk through
some of the education piece. So I appreciate the background,
and we'll see. We'll continue to follow this as it
(12:03):
moves forward. Following the regular agenda. Along the Dakota West Arts,
Consul Jason Thomes presented his annual report.
Speaker 3 (12:10):
I believe he indicated it was his first year.
Speaker 2 (12:13):
He's getting close to ending his first year as executive director,
and so a number of things happening in the arts community,
and I think one thing that was clear he took
he's taken some initiative to become kind of a home
of an arts home, to make Dakota West Arts Console
an arts home, and through various ways trying to kind
of consolidate all the activities and be a place people
(12:35):
can come to find out what's happening.
Speaker 4 (12:37):
They did a nice job building a brochure of the
summer arts calendar, and so there's a variety of activities.
Some of them kick off today with events at Custer
Park downtown and you can also look on their website
for all of those activities as well. I believe it's
Dakota West Arts Council dot org and for the graphic
on the screen for those that can't see it. Every
Wednesday from noon to one at cuss which is downtown
(13:01):
flanked by Washington Street on the East Broadway on the
south right across from the Elks Pool, there's a small
stage there. It's a free event and it's the kids
Summer Stage activities with kiddiko music. So if you've got
little ones, this is your opportunity to get out, have
some fun, be in the sun, move, dance, sing, whatever
(13:21):
it is. And if you don't have little ones, wander
over to the park anyway, because it's a great place
to take a little break. It's Bismark's oldest park. I'm
a neat little spaces.
Speaker 2 (13:32):
And you indicated mentioned the brochure, I think you have one,
and then we have a graphic too, but a lot
of good information included on this Dakota West Arts Council's
Summer Arts calendar which runs through the summer period, and
I think Jason Indicata last night, this is a project
they'd like to continue to keep people up to date
as we continue through the seasons. And again not everyone
(13:54):
can see this, but this brochure has a number of
dates and talks about a number of events taking place
throughout the June through August of this summer.
Speaker 4 (14:05):
And it's not just gallery art, it's performing arts, whether
it be dance or theater or different activities. I would
encourage people to go check it out.
Speaker 5 (14:14):
For sure. There's always something to do in Bismark.
Speaker 4 (14:16):
I think one of the complaints I've heard over the
years is there's so much going on, but I can't
find it I don't.
Speaker 3 (14:21):
Know how to.
Speaker 4 (14:23):
There's not just one central place, So I think Dakota
West Arts Council has stepped up to at least fill
the gap for identifying what is going on in the
arts world in Bismarck, North Dakota.
Speaker 2 (14:33):
Continuing along the regular agenda, last night, kind of jumping
on to the next topic, the Bismarck Mandan Chamber EDC
presented and they certainly provided a lot of statistics about
things that are happening in the community, and starting with
workforce development, which yes, critical.
Speaker 4 (14:56):
It very much is, and the Chamber has been doing
a great job for us. They are one of our
two economic development consultants and so we rely on them
to promote Bismarck as a wonderful place to start a business, live, work, play,
all of those things. They've done some very intentional work
on their website to drive people towards what are the
(15:17):
opportunities in Bismarck. Is it more than just a place
to work? And for those of us that are here
in call Bismarck home, it's absolutely more than a place
to work. And I think that's part of what the
Chamber can help people realize, is what are the other
things that myself as a new resident or my family,
what would they be doing, What sort of activities can
they be involved in? I think the Chamber does a
(15:38):
really nice job with that. The other thing that Brenda
Nagel mentioned last night was something we've talked about here,
and it's the Mayor and Janelle Schmitz's Welcome Initiative making
Bismarck more friendly, more open, more welcoming. The Chamber has
been doing a number of events to help promote that.
We're sharing a lot of their social media activity on
(15:58):
that cap on that topic as well, and I just
will I think we will continue to see more effort
in that particular area because it is such an important
task and it is such an important feature for the
Mayor and instruments on this one.
Speaker 2 (16:14):
And really interesting statistic that they did in a survey,
ninety four percent of people they surveyed said they felt
that they learned more about Bismarck and became more connected
to Bismarck through events like the Chamber.
Speaker 3 (16:27):
I think they started a patio lunch series.
Speaker 2 (16:30):
As well, so along with the Welcome Initiative and a
number of other things, and a lot of web traffic
created around that the Brenda indicated last night too. So
along with Dakota West Arts Council trying to become sort
of an epicenter for the arts, the Bismark Mandan Chamber
ADC is also garnering a lot of traffic, helping people
find things to do and connecting connecting us to others.
(16:55):
They also will be stopping by here later this month
with their educator experience through their workforce programs, and she
mentioned a podcasts The Rewind that we will be helping
produce here ultimately, So just a couple of other things
in the community to help connect folks here with things
that are happening, other things on the agenda, and it's
(17:18):
kind of like a smorgas Sport, a little bit of everything.
We jump back to Misty Waters where last night, more
discussion and a vote, a split vote, but a motion
passed to I guess in some sense has put an
end to something that's been going on for an awfully
(17:38):
long time. Do you want to fill us in on
the details, because again it can be a little complicated
to sort out what exactly has been happening.
Speaker 4 (17:46):
Yes, this has been a very challenging topic. It has
been a pretty long discussion a number of years, involving
a number of residents, commissioners, staff. Ultimately, as you noted
last night, or did vote on a three to two
vote to approve the amendment to the zoning district as
presented by staff.
Speaker 5 (18:06):
And so what is that big change?
Speaker 4 (18:08):
It really comes down to lines on a map and
talking about setbacks. We talk about easements for storm water.
We also talk about an acronym that is unique to FEMA.
It's a Lomar letter of map revision. It's a term
that gets into buildable area on property that's adjacent to
a body of water. In the end, I think Ben Areth,
(18:31):
our Community Development director, did a really nice job using
some visuals to help people explain and understand where are
these lines in relation to the homes that are already
built today, Where are these lines in relation to the
high water mark and relation to the stormwater easement? And ultimately,
(18:52):
this is one of those situations where I don't know
that there was a solution that.
Speaker 5 (18:56):
Was going to make everyone happy.
Speaker 3 (18:58):
Yeah, clearly that's the case.
Speaker 4 (19:00):
Still had some dissenting comments from residents in the area.
We had a couple commissioners that didn't support the motion.
I understand all of that, and this goes back many
years to a situation where we, frankly, we have a
home that was built that breached those lines, and now
that home is there, people are living in it, and
(19:23):
this resolution essentially makes that home compliant within the zoning regulations.
And it does offer some more clarification for the other
lots going forward and for any of the lots that
haven't been built on the standards have been set moving forward.
Speaker 2 (19:40):
Also, a couple of topics regarding the events center continued
to discuss last night.
Speaker 3 (19:46):
The operating model.
Speaker 2 (19:49):
Talked about an authority board and boy, this is another
touchy topic that I know has a lot of history
to it and a lot of emotion behind it as well.
Speaker 5 (20:01):
There is and a lot of staff.
Speaker 4 (20:03):
We've got close to twenty five full time employees, many
of them have been invested their careers with the City
of Bismarck, and that has been something that the commissioners
have been number one, very appreciative and mindful of, but
also number two, very intentional about making sure those employees.
Speaker 5 (20:19):
Are kept whole in one way or another.
Speaker 4 (20:22):
And so walking through the presentation last night, again we
heard from Dan Fenton with JLLL Jones Lang lesal as
the consulting firm that the city hired back in November
to help us discern what is the right path forward.
And there were options. Do you hire another director who
is a city employee and we basically put a square
peg in a square hole and keep moving forward, or
(20:43):
do we look at other options? And one of the
options was bringing an outside third party to operate and
manage the facility, and that is a common model that
we see in other places Grand Forks, for example, the
Aleris Center. It's a city owned facility, but the employees
and the operators are a third party entity that are
(21:04):
hired to do that work on behalf of the city
of Grand Forks. In Bismarck, we have always been a
public model, meaning it's a publicly owned building, it's publicly
supported through the City of Bismarck, and all the staff
are public employees. There are occasionally some hourly staff that
are brought in for events and things like that, but those,
for the most part the full time all the full
time staff are city employees.
Speaker 5 (21:24):
All the part time staff or city employees.
Speaker 4 (21:28):
The idea of having a third party is not the
only recommendation that came forward. It was also to have
an authority model or an authority board essentially, and that
would be a group of individuals that are selected to
help guide the operations of the event center, but also
to function and act as the fiduciary. And what does
(21:48):
that really mean. Well, that authority would help develop the budgets,
guide the projects, manage the resources that are there, and
do it on a more intentional basis. In the city
commision is simply able to the city commission sets policy.
They are the ones that make the determinations. Then staff
goes through and enforces the work and performs the work.
(22:08):
In the case of an authority, they would act in
the city's best interests, both in a financial capacity and
managing the building as a resource. And we have an
authority model today in the City of Bismarck structure. For
those of us that work downtown that rely on a
parking structure, we have a Bismarck Parking Authority that has
(22:29):
been an operation for decades and they work very much
for the City of Bismarck. They are volunteers. It's a
five person board to go to media access, carries their meetings.
It's the second Thursday of every month at nine o'clock
in the Tom Baker Room. That group of five has
hired a management company to run the parking facilities on
(22:50):
a day to day basis, and so the city essentially
has asked the parking authority to manage and operate the
ramps in our best interest. And the way they do
that is by contracting with the third party company who
has the employees, the resources, and the know how to
keep the ramps open every day, manage the projects when
they come to repairs and maintenance, and oh the lights
(23:11):
are out, and so they have staff that take care
of all of those things for the benefit of the
City of Bismarck. The management company is paid a portion,
They are paid a fee for the services that they provide.
But at the same time, the parking Authority has financial
resources to cover those repairs and maintenance on their own.
Speaker 5 (23:29):
But they are.
Speaker 4 (23:29):
Existing because they are part of the city. The city
owns the ramps. They manage the ramps on our behalf.
The Bismarck Event Center model for an authority board would
be very similar in that they are working for the
best interests of the city and the event center, but
they are people that are much closer to the understanding
the activities and the awareness of what it takes to
make that happen. And they are also there to support
(23:50):
the staff and to be in between the City Commission
and that potential third party management company that would be
brought in and so ultimately long story even longer. The
motion was made by Commissioner Rish to have JLLL, the
consultant we've been working with, develop a request for proposals
(24:10):
for a third party operator to develop an employee protection plan.
In other words, the employees are currently City of Bismark employees.
In the future, if this model were to be successful,
these employees would transition over to being private third party employees.
The request or the motion from Commissioner Rish was to
make sure that the employees are Number one, they all
(24:33):
have a job on day one. Number two, their compensation
is very similar or better. Number three, their benefits package
and healthcare are very similar to what we offer with
the city. The one thing that maybe wasn't talked about.
If these employees become third party employees, they have the
opportunity to be incentivized. Where we as city staff, we
(24:54):
are not allowed to accept bonuses, We are not allowed
to accept gifts. We do our work and we accept
our paycheck and continue on private third party if they
are able to hit some of those performance indicators, some
of those metrics, there's opportunities for bonuses. There's things that
we as a government entity cannot do that the third
party can do to incentivize the work. How does all
(25:16):
of that work? That's where we are now. So to
finish the discussion, Commissioner Rish made that motion. It was
seconded by Commissioner Cleary. It was a four to one
vote to support it. So the next steps will be
for JLLL to draft an RFP that the Commission will review.
The RFP will be calling all third party operators. Here
(25:40):
are the expectations of the city at Bismarck. Here's what
we need to you. We need you to do. Here
are the stipulations that we want you to achieve. They
would have to put a proposal together, come by and
make the pitch, and a selection would be made to
move forward. And what does that timeline look like? What
does that transition look like? I don't know, say we're
(26:01):
a few months from having an RFP and presentations from
a proposal, what does the full transition look like I
m'd be willing to bet six months a year, eighteen
months minimum to really start to see some things changing
in the facility. Meanwhile, I think it's important to note
the City of Bismarck will continue to own the building,
We will continue to maintain the building. We are moving forward.
(26:23):
That's the next thing that we're going to talk about here.
We're going to be moving forward with our capital improvements
plan to fix the building and repair some of that
deferred maintenance that has been neglected over the years. And
so there, I guess what I'm hoping people here in
all of this is that there is a very intentional
focus on the Bismarck Event Center right now. We have
heard many of the comments that the residents want to
(26:44):
have fun, exciting activities in the event center, but there's
also a need for conventions and conferences because they'll bring
people from outside the community to the hotels and the
restaurants where they leave behind their sales tax dollars, which
then ultimately can be reinvested into the vent center, because
that's part of the funding source to operate the event
center is through sales tax collections on hotel, hotel, restaurant
(27:08):
food tax things like that. So a lot of changes,
a lot of things happening. I understand the staff has
some trepidation, a lot of questions from the staff. We
met with a good number of them this morning to
hear their questions and concerns, and we hope that we're
able to address them. I guess what I would ask
(27:28):
of everybody going forward is just a little bit of patience.
We are government. We move slowly, unfortunately, and if we
could move on a dime, we would all love to.
But we have processes, we have meetings, we have schedules
that we will follow. But we are focusing on this.
We are doing this with the best intentions to activate,
further activate, invigorate the event center, make intentional improvements to
(27:52):
the building, shine it up, fix it up so it's
easier to manage and run. It's a better experience for
everybody inside. We're all trying to pull in the same
direction here and just do what's right for the community.
Speaker 2 (28:02):
A couple other comments, it seemed like I heard the
word accountability. It seemed like there's a decent level of
comfort with the potential of an authority board and having
some local eyes and ears on what's happening along with
this process, and then I thought it was something to
bring up, and I guess I would just invite people
to go back and watch our meeting on the codemedia
(28:24):
access dot org and see. But the mayor had some
strong comments about the event center last night that he
really spent a couple of minutes kind of summarizing some
of his concerns that have evolved throughout the years. So
that'd be something that you could easily go back and
not asking you to speak for the mayor or summarize
what he said, but I think an interesting conversation to
go back and listen to on our archive system. And
(28:47):
you did mention quickly. Another request for proposal for the
Capital Improvements Plan then also will move forward, came shortly
after the operating model.
Speaker 3 (28:59):
Right.
Speaker 4 (28:59):
The way we work with consultants, the way we get
to the end of those types of projects, we go
through the request for proposals and we lay out our expectations,
we ask, we tell people what we're looking for, and
if they feel that they have the qualifications to submit
a project, that becomes a proposal. And so we had
a selection committee four individuals, the mayor, city engineer, Gabe Shell,
(29:23):
Assistant Airport Director, Matthew or Mindsey, and Amandaello, Acting director
at the airport. The four of them received proposals from
five architectural firms last week Friday. We were very fortunate
to have five tremendously qualified firms. This is the type
of work that is very complex. It is very detailed,
but at the same time, for an architectural firm to
(29:45):
have the opportunity to work consistently with an entity like
the city for three, four or five years in a row,
you can build a wonderful relationship. There's a lot of
benefit for both both groups in there. Ultimately, the selection
committee recommended to to move forward with Uble Design Group,
and it frankly was just based primarily on Jeff's experience,
(30:06):
Jeff Yuble's experience working with the event center for the
past fifteen years. All the other firms brought tremendous professionalism
to the proposals, but I think the general sentiment from
the selection committee was that the learning curve is just
it's a big learning curve and we need to work
with the momentum that we have. We need to start
working on implementing these capital improvements with first and foremost
(30:29):
of fifteen million dollar HVAC improvement on the entire arena side.
So the recommendation from the Commission or i'm sorry, from
the selection committee to the Commission was to select uble
design group. Ultimately, the Commission did support that recommendation as well.
Speaker 2 (30:45):
Finally, from the regular agenda, the Bismarck et discussion from
last commission meeting, and the decision was made to try
and get both the Burley County Commission and City commissioners
together early August, I think August fifth. So that's a
work in progress, but that's kind of what came out
of last night's meeting.
Speaker 4 (31:06):
It was and that was a kind of a two
point zero discussion following the Bismarck Burley Combined Commissions Committee
meeting which I am a part of, the mayor is
a part of for the Bismarck side auditors Panskowski and
County Commissioner backing from the county side. The four of
us meet once a month, first Tuesday of every month
at four o'clock in the Tom Baker Room. Again you
(31:27):
can find those quote media access. But at last week's
meeting there was a better discussion and understanding of what
is the ask what is the county asking for in
relation to the ETA? And I think that was the
mayor's point that he had made last night, is that
now he understands what is the intention of simply meeting,
and really the intention is to gather information, share information,
(31:49):
but then also hear from the residents what are your
specific concerns relating to the ETA. And I think part
of the discussion will also be should we talk.
Speaker 5 (31:58):
About the boundary again?
Speaker 4 (32:01):
As I mentioned at the Combined Commissions Committee meeting fifteen
years ago, the City of Bismarck had a little bit
of a different perspective on annexation and providing services, and
I'll use the word absorbing or annexing some of these
large rural subdivisions. I think the staff that we have today,
the staff is different, the perspective is different. The realization
(32:22):
of the city's ability to provide some of these services
is going to be tremendously challenging. And I'm just going
to be honest with some of the things like water
and sewer. Providing sewer service to a rural subdivision, it's
not cost feasible for these neighborhoods, and the city's not
looking to come in in strong arm these subdivisions and
turn them into urban neighborhoods. We understand people want their
(32:43):
elbow room. That's why they built in those areas in
the first place. So with that in mind, looking at
some of these subdivisions that are predominantly built out meeting
there's not a lot of green space around them, you're
not going to see much change in those neighborhoods. Maybe
those are areas that we take a closer look at
based on and similar information to what we had before.
(33:03):
I think that conversation has a lot of potential, but
I think just getting in a room and having a
bunch of people upset about the ETA for various reasons
and just mad that that's not going to be productive,
you know. So we want to have specific concerns and
how can we address those things, and then maybe we
(33:23):
can stop some of this back and forth that it's
been going on for, frankly the entire time that I've
been a part of the city as an organization.
Speaker 2 (33:30):
So well, this just occurred to me today, moving on
that we're just weeks away from July fourth, so we
wanted to remind everyone that Red, White and Boom is
a new Fourth of July celebration that everyone's invited to,
but the big caveat we got to make sure everybody
knows it's not going to be at the Capitol.
Speaker 4 (33:49):
It's not at the Capitol this year and not likely
in the near future going forward. The Capitol grounds have
changed for anybody that hasn't been over there. There's a
new building in the area where we used to set
up fireworks. So committee was formed, decisions were made. We're
moving over to the MDU Resources Community Bowl on the
BSc campus and this will be an opportunity to as
(34:10):
they say in the fancy dining industry, we're going to
elevate the experience. So it's not just the symphony and
fireworks as the night wanes. There will be events for families, kids,
friends throughout the afternoon and into the evening. Concessions available
beard aren't available in the end, what I want people
to hear, and this is the part I'm excited for.
(34:31):
I'm a fireworks guy. The fireworks will be bigger, they
will be better, they will be longer than where you've
used to seeing in the past few years at the Capitol.
We're using the same fireworks vendor, but because of the location,
because of the proximity to things. He has assured us
that the length of the show will definitely be longer
(34:52):
and the crowd should it have a much better experience.
So I don't know, can forward to that.
Speaker 3 (34:56):
That's a good tease.
Speaker 2 (34:57):
Get everybody out there on the fourth of July. Finally,
just remind that you can watch us wherever you are
whenever you can by downloading our apps or going to
your smart TV and finding Dakota Media Access. So thanks
for joining us. We'll see you next time on City Current.
Speaker 6 (35:14):
For more information on what was discussed in this episode
of City Current, visit Bismarck end dot gov or call
seven zero one three five five one three zero zero.
If you have suggestions, comments, or issues you would like
addressed in future episodes, contact us at info at free
tv dot org. This program airs on Government Access Channel
(35:35):
two and six oh two in HD or on Radio
Access one oh two point five FM. It's also available
as a podcast on Radioaccess dot org and as a
video viewing link at free tv dot org. Thanks for
tuning in to this edition of City Current.
Speaker 3 (36:03):
Need time
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