July 2, 2025 • 23 mins
Tom Gerhardt talks to Jim Neubauer about the Mandan city commission meeting on 7-1-25.
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
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 (00:22):
Welcome to City Current, Mandan Edition. I'm Tom Gerhart from
Dakota Media Access and Jim Neubauer, city administrator from Mandan
joins me. And it's been a wild weather month. Well,
I guess we're into a new.
Speaker 3 (00:34):
Month, but crazy, but another Friday coming up where we
might have some other thunderstorms and things like that, So
be vigilant, be on the lookout, and get to safe
play say when you need to.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
Well, there's a lot going on in Mandan. We'll get
to that in just a minute. But coming up on
this edition of City Current, we're going to talk about
all of the events going on in Mandan this Independence
Day week and weekend. Will provide an update on the
Shores at Lakewood second edition project, and summarize a new
(01:07):
public comment policy that the Commission talked about last night.
So that much more coming up. But yes, it was
kind of a neat way to kick off the Commission
meeting last night. We had a cub Scouts and Boy
Scouts there, and I know you wanted to give them
a shout out.
Speaker 3 (01:25):
Yeah, it was Mayor Frehlik had brought this up a
couple of weeks ago and said, hey, what a how
about if we introduce Independence Day Week and mandan with
the presentation of the colors and finding a group to
do that and also the singing of the nancial anthem.
So big shout out to the Boy Scouts of America
Troupe four to twenty five, which includes Hunter Cooper and
(01:46):
Connor schwartz Bauer and Cub Scout Pack one fifty three
with that also included Audrey Aubrey and Jack schwartz Bauer.
Kind of like a schwartz Bauer family reunion.
Speaker 1 (01:57):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (01:57):
Yes, but they did an awesome job. It was on
watching them practice for about a half hour before the meeting,
not sure they had done this before, but entertaining when
it's like, okay, left foot first, yeah, right foot afterwards.
And I watched when they first started and everybody took
a right foot well step instead of a left but
but I started with one foot. Yeah. But I think
(02:18):
they did an awesome job and great idea. But from
Meyer frail like to say, hey, let's do something different.
It's a big time in Mandan and it doesn't often
happen when we have the first Tuesday of the month
for a regular meeting to be on the first of July,
which kind of kicks off everything in town.
Speaker 2 (02:36):
And I think we have a photo. I don't know
if we popped it up yet, but just to show
those young men and women in action, and like you said,
it was just kind of a neat way to incorporate
community young community members and give them a little exposure
and a little practice. And I'm sure they were very
nervous so leading.
Speaker 3 (02:53):
Up they were a little nervous, not knowing quite what
to do, but their troop leaders got them lined up
in Lord, in line and order, and everything went off
very well. I want to also thank Carrie Schmidt, our
communications yes specialist, who spent a number of hours finding
in lining folks up to do this, and also when
(03:14):
we had the national anthem saying by Lynn zachmar So
trying to find someone to do that as always, you
know you're doing it a cappella, you're doing it in
a room that is not really acoustically great. But thought
she did a fantastic job too, So just again a
neat way to start.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
Yeah, really nice, just nice touches to events. Well, we
started with announcements last night. As we've mentioned, Mandan Independence
Day Parade weekend is on tap. We're just a couple
of days away and just lots of things happening, so
we thought we'd just remind people that, Yeah, the Classic
car parade starts at ten am and I think about
(03:52):
ten minutes later the Grand Marshall will follow. There's that
road race, the five k at eight am, which has
become so popular, and you can go to visit Mandan
dot com to learn more about that event. But what
a huge week weekend in Maddad.
Speaker 3 (04:08):
Yeah, if you're I came into work this morning and going,
all right, I quite realize Main Street was going to
be closed down for most of it while they set
up for Art in the Park I think starts at
nine am on July third. Just want to remind folks
that when the barriers are up, don't go around. Don't
go around them. I actually saw that when I was
(04:28):
coming over this morning, going why is there a line
of cars coming when we've got buried barriers up that
say no through traffic, and it's just a reminder to
be careful. We have additional four way stops along First
Street to help move traffic and control traffic. Again, they're new, yep,
they're not up very often, so slow down, pay attention
and watch for pedestrians because there's going to be a
(04:49):
lot of them and.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
People are wrongly thinking, well it's later in the week.
Yeahbe it's okay to go around them. Now. No, they're
up for a reason, right, They're.
Speaker 3 (04:57):
For a reason, and you know one of those main
reasons is so that the ers can all get their
wares set up at the park, which, like I said,
there's a lot of them, and I think they have
normally about two hundred vendors that are in and like
I said, great to have them in town. We just
got to get them. But I say it set up.
Speaker 2 (05:13):
We'll show some along the lines for art in the
park in just a minute. But getting back to the
Independence Day parade, we want to remind people and you
wanted to talk about, you know, ways to get to
Mandan Memorial Highway will be closed. There's a third street
southeast that would be open if you wanted to come
from that direction. And then if you're coming on I
ninety four, what should you do?
Speaker 3 (05:34):
Yeah, the best way to on I ninety four will
be Man Avenue exit or also the Sunset Interchange. To
come on down Sunset Avenue and Sixth Avenue on the
on the western side, and you'll find a place to
park and you're going to do some walking, which is
good for everyone included myself, but Mora a highway because
of the construction going on in that neighborhood, there will
(05:56):
be you know a lot of people used to where
we stage at the Coast Centennial Park, floats and everything
like that. People would line up along Third Street and
that direction. It's like that will be not available as
years who we're going to trend move some more people
down onto Main Street. You might find a new spot
to sit, which is interesting it the trucks and trailers
(06:18):
or campers are already there starting I think on Sunday
people were getting their spot and I think it's great.
You know a lot of family reunions get together and
that's where it happens, and so those are awesome things.
And participate in a safe manner and watch the parade
and take part in the activities that are going on
all around town, including you know, the rodeo. I think
(06:39):
they had slack running on July first in the afternoon
and performances on the second, third, and fourth.
Speaker 2 (06:45):
Yeah, it's and probably just be a little patient, a lot,
a little extra time, right, And I know everybody gets
excited and traffic can be frustrating, but just kind of
take a deep breath.
Speaker 3 (06:55):
And we want to say that, especially in the Coast
Centennial Park here for all of the events that are
going on, there's road construction on Memorial Highway. It's not
your we don't have four lanes moving at the same
time like they normally do. So when you're exiting at night,
after the rodeo or after the performances, patients, be calm,
be safe, and you will get to your destination in
(07:17):
a great manner.
Speaker 2 (07:18):
You mentioned art in the park. We have a graphic
for that to just remind people a little visual reinforcement
that Thursday from nine to seven and Friday from nine
to five are the hours. And you mentioned over two
hundred vendors. I know this is something that a lot
of people circle on their calendars to attend and something
to look forward to. Again just around the corner.
Speaker 3 (07:40):
Yeah, and like I said, they're setting up as we
speak right now. And again patients leave a little early,
get there and find time, and it might take you
a little while to get out of there. But again,
please continue to participate and support your vendors that are
down there, your main street businesses because they're you know,
they're put it kind of an inconvenience also with all
all of the traffic movement as changing. But remember those
(08:04):
folks too, Remember our folks out on the strip and
patronize those businesses as traffic moves through those two.
Speaker 2 (08:09):
We have a graphic that was showing in the commission
meeting last night too. Just again to reiterate places you're
not able to park, they're in the red. So just
the heads up as you're heading over to Mandan. I
participate and knowing where you can and cannot.
Speaker 3 (08:24):
Be yep, And I think Visitmandan dot com has a
lot of maps up will show you where you can go,
where you can go and things like that. But again,
we encourage folks to participate and come on down. We're
inviting you, We're welcoming you. Throw a shout out to
those businesses that have taken the time and made the
extra effort to whether it's cleaning their windows on the outside,
pulling leads in the sidewalks and things like that, just
(08:46):
to you know, thank you to them for doing what
they can to show off their place of business in
downtown Mandan and along the whole parade route. We think
it's important that people it's a great time to spit
it up. Yeah, if you're looking at it all, should
I pull the weeds from borrow? How about today? It
would be a great day to do that. And again
a big shout out to those folks that have taken
(09:06):
the extra effort to do that. So we like to
think they take pride in their community as we all do,
and it really shows during this time of year.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
And you mentioned Mandan Rodeo Days. We wanted to pop
that up to that runs the second through the fourth,
so uh tonight. And you know, for a complete list
of events, you can go to Mandan Rodeo dot com.
But just you know, heavy Hitter event after Heady v
Hitter event in Mandan this.
Speaker 3 (09:32):
Week, all kinds of things going on and I we
can't do this without the support of all of our
sponsors for all of the events and things like that.
And also there's a lot of work that goes on
behind the scenes. There are many plans in place this year,
as there have been in past years, to keep all
of our spectators safe. We like to call them the
(09:53):
things that you don't notice, yep, but we know that
they're there to try and you know, make sure that
everyone has a safe four at the July event, whether
it's at the Rodeo, whether it's downtown. But again, a
huge shout out to all of our team members that
had worked for many months to make this happen in
a safe and secure manner.
Speaker 2 (10:11):
Following the agenda Old Business, consider the development agreement for
the Shores at Lake with second edition. Last commission meeting
you met. I think there were four items that you
and a developer were trying to iron out and had
a couple of weeks, went back to the drawing board.
Speaker 3 (10:27):
And did a couple of weeks to do that. Then
I think those four items we developer asked for some
things to be special assessed in this project and we
had kind of said no, and working through those details
with the developer. We had issues related to you know,
there will be a different grass collection site in that
(10:47):
area and we want to make sure that that site
remains convenient for all the folks that live down there
and also helps us as far as our travel times.
And you know, we the grass collection sites. It's really
I would have never thought they'd become such a big
deal in developments. You take them away. You know, I
won't tell you what all breaks loose, but a lot
(11:08):
of that break is loose. But then finding a location
for that is appropriate for that kind of activity is
also challenging too. And we haul, you know, it's load
by load one load by one load out to our
landfill where we deposit those and kind of do some
recycling and regurgitating, if you want to call it that,
of the grass and debris and things like that, which
(11:30):
after you know, the last couple of weeks the storms
have taken down a lot of branch. Also, yeah, our
collection site is full. Our public works folks have been
working very hard to get that cleaned up and move along,
and we get two steps forward and three steps back,
it seems like. But it is a service that we do.
But like you said, the grass collection site was one
of them, so we're getting that airned out. A lift
(11:51):
station that developer has to be special assessed, which serves
that development on its own. We said, no developer needs
to pay that as part of their underground work. We
had a potential future upgrade to a lift station, which
meaning a bigger pump. Again, because of this development, we've
got terms that developers agreed to, and then the big
(12:12):
thing was whether to special assess things over a twenty
year period or a fifteen year period. Developer says, you know,
if you've spread it over twenty years, makes it more
affordable for the future house owner or property owner in
that area. But it also you know, we try and
special assess things over the life of the asset. We
know that asphalt streets are about fifteen years and we
(12:34):
have to come back and either do a mill in
overlay and some touch up. We should be doing it
seven to eight years, so we're still working on some
of those things. Concrete curbs and storm out are probably
longer than fifteen years, so maybe we can spread those
costs over twenty. But again shows that there's you know,
there's been back and forth on this development agreement or
(12:55):
probably the past six or seven months, and we're compromising
with the develop runs sometimes the developers compromising with us.
Sometimes and we'll come to an agreement, and I would
think that one should be presented at the July fifteenth
Commission meeting and then we start moving forward.
Speaker 2 (13:09):
Sounds good and moving to new business, consider your adoption
of a public comment policy and listening, this initiate came
from legislative work.
Speaker 3 (13:22):
Yes, this is interesting because really, in general, your city
commission meanings, whether it be park board, school board, city commission,
or county commission, are meetings held in public. Doesn't mean
you have to allow public comment at those meetings. I
think there are a couple of instances around North Dakota
(13:42):
where certain boards that we're not taking any public comment,
and that got the attention of our legislators. Later, the
satyors come back and say, all right, you have to
have a public comment period on your agenda, and they
limited it to the on the current agenda or the
previous agenda, So you can't come in and talk about,
(14:04):
you know, why is the sky blue or anything like that,
So it's limited to those topics as long as the
board has adopted a policy.
Speaker 2 (14:13):
So there's some leeway in there.
Speaker 3 (14:14):
And yet what you proposed, yep, there's some leeway in there.
And really communities need to adopt their own policy. So
last night the North Code Legal Cities had drafted a
model public comment policy. Talks about things like you, here's
a sign up card. You have to put in your
name and address and things like that. You also written
(14:35):
comments have to be in twenty four hours in advance
in order for the Commission to get them. They come
in after twenty four hours in vance, they'll get them
after the meeting. We talked about the time period because
the Commission can set and say do we want to
allow one minute, two minutes, three minutes, whatever that may
be per speaker. In this case, the recommendation was three
(14:55):
minutes per speaker and thirty minutes in total. And what
I pointed out last night was we'll have this on
the front of the agenda, and it doesn't mean that
we if there's no one there to make public comments.
You know, it's a stale d You don't have thirty
men for thirty minutes and dead spain.
Speaker 2 (15:11):
As a speaker goes for three point thirty. There's some
leeway yep.
Speaker 3 (15:15):
Part of that as well. You know. The last night
in the policy it was suggested that the chairman or
the board or the mayor have the ability to kind
of suspend that time period sow do you there's some
flexibility in there. The other option would have been had, well,
this has to go to a vote of the board,
do we want to suspend the time limit here or not?
And then the whole board would have that say, and
(15:37):
as it's written, it would be the chairman of the
board or the mayor has that ability to do that,
and that might make it a little cleaner. This is
a policy, and so that doesn't mean it's set in stone.
The board can certainly find out what's working what's not
working later on, and different communities will set different time limits.
Maybe it's a fifteen minute period for public comment, maybe
(15:58):
it's two and a half minutes per speaker. But in
this case, our choice was three minutes and thirty minutes
in total.
Speaker 2 (16:04):
So there was a good question. I forget which commissioner
brought it up, but just about the idea of remote right,
being able to log in remotely, and it sounds like
got to consider that a little bit more.
Speaker 3 (16:16):
What right? So we've liked people to be there, Yeah,
we like people to be there in person, and I
think the board expressed that last night. We have plosed
that question through our contacts around the state to say, okay,
what are other communities doing. We know that several community
communities after COVID, it was like everyone was zooming in
or teamsing in or however electronically getting into me. And
(16:38):
we've continued to do that through the assistance of Diclobbedy access.
Some entities are saying, nope, you have to be here
in person. We're not going to provide that option for
folks to attend electronically unless it's a commissioner. So that
part will well, we'll work our way through and get
some other feedback from like what are other communities doing?
(16:59):
And so we've started that process already, so it may
come back for some revisions. But again it's a policy
that the board could certainly.
Speaker 2 (17:05):
Change it just an adapt if necessary moving forward under
resolutions and ordinances. Last night, I mean fourth of July.
You know, we love to celebrate our independence and the
fireworks are a big part of that. But just wanted
to remind people in Mandan. First of all, I guess
it was a second consideration of Ordnance fourteen sixty eight
and a clarification there and what was that clarification.
Speaker 3 (17:28):
Yeah, the clarification really adopts or makes certain that everyone
knows it is from noon on July third till midnight
and noon on July fourth until midnight. And those are
changes and compromises that the Board has made over the years.
We know that by stay law, folks can buy fireworks
right starting I think June twenty sixth or Sep. Twenty
(17:50):
seventh with which makes it really tough on enforcement when
we only allow them the third and the fourth. Yea.
So that's what this notification was done to make sure
elk it is noon to midnight and noon to midnight
and other than that. And we the board is chosen
to do that over the years based on feedback, favor
(18:10):
seed from citizens saying, hey, can we not be going
to one o'clock in the morning or two o'clock in
the morning. We do allow one in the morning on
New Year's Eve, so I think it's six pm to
one am on New Year's Eve. Go ahead, cheat your
fireworks off in a snowstorm. But for the fourth it's
you know, noon to to midnight.
Speaker 2 (18:29):
And we have that. We have that graphic too, so
you can take a screenshot or whatever you want to do.
But there it is July third and fourth, you know,
dune to yeah, midnight eleven fifty nine. Yeah, I guess
at midnight's technically the next next day.
Speaker 3 (18:42):
And we know we're folks shooting fireworks off last night. Yes,
fully get it. We can't be everywhere at all times.
If you want to go talk to your neighbor and say, hey,
fireworks are you know, noon to midnight on the third
and the fourth, not July first. But again they were
minimal last night that I heard from from my residence,
(19:04):
so that was good. But again it's it's a matter
of this is a compromise. If folks abuse, then all
of a sudden there's all kinds of things happen on
July first and July second. And you know, the Commission
always had that option to say it's going to be
July fourth any only, and we're not going to low
them on the third. So some people are happy with
(19:25):
that change, some people aren't. But we're trying to do
the best for the community as a whole. So again
it's a matter of please be respectful of what the
ordinance says, Be respectful of your neighbors who you know
they may not want fireworks going off on July second,
so hit them on the third.
Speaker 2 (19:41):
Well that basically wrapped up and I know what meaning
lasted what twenties twenty six minutes? Minutes lasting like that,
So you were back on the golf course by it.
Speaker 3 (19:53):
I wish, but it wasn't wasn't last burg break yet
out of there about an hour after that, which is
perfectly great. But again the uh, I know, Mayor of
Frelik said that there was they've been in office for
now a year with he did mention that Rael and
Commissier Schoberg we're elected a year ago and Kmisho Heinsheng
came in a little bit after that.
Speaker 2 (20:11):
But h.
Speaker 3 (20:13):
Great folks to work with, very involved and in essence
want to do the right thing. And that is certainly
reflective of the commission meetings over the past year and
has been in the past, So it's not something new.
This is an item that we've always had really good
commissions to work with, so we're appreciative of them running.
(20:34):
And you know, an year from now we may have
two new or members, so we'll we will see. So
if you're thinking about that, be thinking contact here, Mayor
Conductor Commissioners see what their lives are like since they
got elected. But again, we've been very pleased and very
happy to have folks that are genuinely concerned about the community.
Speaker 2 (20:52):
And time flies as you mentioned, I mean, yep, for
the mayor goes by just like that. And you and
I know that as well as anybody. We know that.
Speaker 3 (21:00):
Really it hits home when we start looking at okay,
the next three meetings coming up or in July and
all we start going, oh boy, this summer's halfway over
or whatever, summer's just starting. But again, Independence Day man
end is a big thing, and I'm so appreciative of
all the folks that turn out, all the sponsors that
help out with all the events, all the volunteers that
(21:22):
contribute their time, all of the entities. I don't think
there's an entity from the public side, from parks to city,
to schools to county that are all providing some type
of assistance to make these events happen. And so, like
I said, I just want to make sure there's a
big shout out to all those folks.
Speaker 2 (21:36):
Yeah, that's great week, great week in mad An. So
hats off to all the work that's been done to
provide this opportunity for so many of us to take
part in a lot of fun events.
Speaker 3 (21:48):
And will be you know, next year will be the
two hundred and fiftieth anniversary, and like I said, we're
kind of working on some brainstorming some plans for the
upcoming year. When like I said, two hudred and fifty
is kind of seal, that's a big deal. So yep,
look forward to things to come.
Speaker 2 (22:04):
Well, I just want to remind everyone that you can
take us with you whereever you are, find us wherever
you are whenever you can on our two apps to
co to Media Access. You can download that app and
find our Government Access channel and our Community Access channel
and find out about all the great programming that we provide.
And you can also download our Radio Access app and
(22:26):
that has a lot of local DJ shows people that
put together music shows, and also a lot of local
podcasts that are produced and the sound quality and the
video quality are great on those. So if you can't
watch us on TV or online, you can check us
out on our apps.
Speaker 3 (22:42):
I'll give you a shout out to the app last
night because I wasn't sure how the national anthem came
through on the broadcast and I was sitting at home
on the back deck and I pulled up the app
and listened to the national anthem and lind Zachmar did
a great job and so, like I said, you can
and it was up within an hour of the meeting
being so yeah.
Speaker 2 (23:00):
If you so, if you miss it live, yeah, our
staff's on top of it and providing that service so
that people can watch it really really quickly after it's done,
like they will with the show. So thanks for joining me, Jim,
have a great fourth. Great to see you.
Speaker 3 (23:13):
Thanks Tom Andrabing all of you for joining us.
Speaker 2 (23:15):
Be safe and have a great week.
Speaker 1 (23:18):
For more information on what was discussed in this episode
of City Current, visit Cityofmandan dot com or call seven
oh one sixty six seven three two one five. If
you have any suggestions, comments, or issues you would like
addressed in future City Current episodes, contact us at info
at FreeTV dot org. This program airs on Government Access
(23:39):
channel 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 FreeTV dot org. Thanks for
tuning in to this edition of City current
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 (00:22):
Welcome to City Current, Mandan Edition. I'm Tom Gerhart from
Dakota Media Access and Jim Neubauer, city administrator from Mandan
joins me. And it's been a wild weather month. Well,
I guess we're into a new.
Speaker 3 (00:34):
Month, but crazy, but another Friday coming up where we
might have some other thunderstorms and things like that, So
be vigilant, be on the lookout, and get to safe
play say when you need to.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
Well, there's a lot going on in Mandan. We'll get
to that in just a minute. But coming up on
this edition of City Current, we're going to talk about
all of the events going on in Mandan this Independence
Day week and weekend. Will provide an update on the
Shores at Lakewood second edition project, and summarize a new
(01:07):
public comment policy that the Commission talked about last night.
So that much more coming up. But yes, it was
kind of a neat way to kick off the Commission
meeting last night. We had a cub Scouts and Boy
Scouts there, and I know you wanted to give them
a shout out.
Speaker 3 (01:25):
Yeah, it was Mayor Frehlik had brought this up a
couple of weeks ago and said, hey, what a how
about if we introduce Independence Day Week and mandan with
the presentation of the colors and finding a group to
do that and also the singing of the nancial anthem.
So big shout out to the Boy Scouts of America
Troupe four to twenty five, which includes Hunter Cooper and
(01:46):
Connor schwartz Bauer and Cub Scout Pack one fifty three
with that also included Audrey Aubrey and Jack schwartz Bauer.
Kind of like a schwartz Bauer family reunion.
Speaker 1 (01:57):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (01:57):
Yes, but they did an awesome job. It was on
watching them practice for about a half hour before the meeting,
not sure they had done this before, but entertaining when
it's like, okay, left foot first, yeah, right foot afterwards.
And I watched when they first started and everybody took
a right foot well step instead of a left but
but I started with one foot. Yeah. But I think
(02:18):
they did an awesome job and great idea. But from
Meyer frail like to say, hey, let's do something different.
It's a big time in Mandan and it doesn't often
happen when we have the first Tuesday of the month
for a regular meeting to be on the first of July,
which kind of kicks off everything in town.
Speaker 2 (02:36):
And I think we have a photo. I don't know
if we popped it up yet, but just to show
those young men and women in action, and like you said,
it was just kind of a neat way to incorporate
community young community members and give them a little exposure
and a little practice. And I'm sure they were very
nervous so leading.
Speaker 3 (02:53):
Up they were a little nervous, not knowing quite what
to do, but their troop leaders got them lined up
in Lord, in line and order, and everything went off
very well. I want to also thank Carrie Schmidt, our
communications yes specialist, who spent a number of hours finding
in lining folks up to do this, and also when
(03:14):
we had the national anthem saying by Lynn zachmar So
trying to find someone to do that as always, you
know you're doing it a cappella, you're doing it in
a room that is not really acoustically great. But thought
she did a fantastic job too, So just again a
neat way to start.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
Yeah, really nice, just nice touches to events. Well, we
started with announcements last night. As we've mentioned, Mandan Independence
Day Parade weekend is on tap. We're just a couple
of days away and just lots of things happening, so
we thought we'd just remind people that, Yeah, the Classic
car parade starts at ten am and I think about
(03:52):
ten minutes later the Grand Marshall will follow. There's that
road race, the five k at eight am, which has
become so popular, and you can go to visit Mandan
dot com to learn more about that event. But what
a huge week weekend in Maddad.
Speaker 3 (04:08):
Yeah, if you're I came into work this morning and going,
all right, I quite realize Main Street was going to
be closed down for most of it while they set
up for Art in the Park I think starts at
nine am on July third. Just want to remind folks
that when the barriers are up, don't go around. Don't
go around them. I actually saw that when I was
(04:28):
coming over this morning, going why is there a line
of cars coming when we've got buried barriers up that
say no through traffic, and it's just a reminder to
be careful. We have additional four way stops along First
Street to help move traffic and control traffic. Again, they're new, yep,
they're not up very often, so slow down, pay attention
and watch for pedestrians because there's going to be a
(04:49):
lot of them and.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
People are wrongly thinking, well it's later in the week.
Yeahbe it's okay to go around them. Now. No, they're
up for a reason, right, They're.
Speaker 3 (04:57):
For a reason, and you know one of those main
reasons is so that the ers can all get their
wares set up at the park, which, like I said,
there's a lot of them, and I think they have
normally about two hundred vendors that are in and like
I said, great to have them in town. We just
got to get them. But I say it set up.
Speaker 2 (05:13):
We'll show some along the lines for art in the
park in just a minute. But getting back to the
Independence Day parade, we want to remind people and you
wanted to talk about, you know, ways to get to
Mandan Memorial Highway will be closed. There's a third street
southeast that would be open if you wanted to come
from that direction. And then if you're coming on I
ninety four, what should you do?
Speaker 3 (05:34):
Yeah, the best way to on I ninety four will
be Man Avenue exit or also the Sunset Interchange. To
come on down Sunset Avenue and Sixth Avenue on the
on the western side, and you'll find a place to
park and you're going to do some walking, which is
good for everyone included myself, but Mora a highway because
of the construction going on in that neighborhood, there will
(05:56):
be you know a lot of people used to where
we stage at the Coast Centennial Park, floats and everything
like that. People would line up along Third Street and
that direction. It's like that will be not available as
years who we're going to trend move some more people
down onto Main Street. You might find a new spot
to sit, which is interesting it the trucks and trailers
(06:18):
or campers are already there starting I think on Sunday
people were getting their spot and I think it's great.
You know a lot of family reunions get together and
that's where it happens, and so those are awesome things.
And participate in a safe manner and watch the parade
and take part in the activities that are going on
all around town, including you know, the rodeo. I think
(06:39):
they had slack running on July first in the afternoon
and performances on the second, third, and fourth.
Speaker 2 (06:45):
Yeah, it's and probably just be a little patient, a lot,
a little extra time, right, And I know everybody gets
excited and traffic can be frustrating, but just kind of
take a deep breath.
Speaker 3 (06:55):
And we want to say that, especially in the Coast
Centennial Park here for all of the events that are
going on, there's road construction on Memorial Highway. It's not
your we don't have four lanes moving at the same
time like they normally do. So when you're exiting at night,
after the rodeo or after the performances, patients, be calm,
be safe, and you will get to your destination in
(07:17):
a great manner.
Speaker 2 (07:18):
You mentioned art in the park. We have a graphic
for that to just remind people a little visual reinforcement
that Thursday from nine to seven and Friday from nine
to five are the hours. And you mentioned over two
hundred vendors. I know this is something that a lot
of people circle on their calendars to attend and something
to look forward to. Again just around the corner.
Speaker 3 (07:40):
Yeah, and like I said, they're setting up as we
speak right now. And again patients leave a little early,
get there and find time, and it might take you
a little while to get out of there. But again,
please continue to participate and support your vendors that are
down there, your main street businesses because they're you know,
they're put it kind of an inconvenience also with all
all of the traffic movement as changing. But remember those
(08:04):
folks too, Remember our folks out on the strip and
patronize those businesses as traffic moves through those two.
Speaker 2 (08:09):
We have a graphic that was showing in the commission
meeting last night too. Just again to reiterate places you're
not able to park, they're in the red. So just
the heads up as you're heading over to Mandan. I
participate and knowing where you can and cannot.
Speaker 3 (08:24):
Be yep, And I think Visitmandan dot com has a
lot of maps up will show you where you can go,
where you can go and things like that. But again,
we encourage folks to participate and come on down. We're
inviting you, We're welcoming you. Throw a shout out to
those businesses that have taken the time and made the
extra effort to whether it's cleaning their windows on the outside,
pulling leads in the sidewalks and things like that, just
(08:46):
to you know, thank you to them for doing what
they can to show off their place of business in
downtown Mandan and along the whole parade route. We think
it's important that people it's a great time to spit
it up. Yeah, if you're looking at it all, should
I pull the weeds from borrow? How about today? It
would be a great day to do that. And again
a big shout out to those folks that have taken
(09:06):
the extra effort to do that. So we like to
think they take pride in their community as we all do,
and it really shows during this time of year.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
And you mentioned Mandan Rodeo Days. We wanted to pop
that up to that runs the second through the fourth,
so uh tonight. And you know, for a complete list
of events, you can go to Mandan Rodeo dot com.
But just you know, heavy Hitter event after Heady v
Hitter event in Mandan this.
Speaker 3 (09:32):
Week, all kinds of things going on and I we
can't do this without the support of all of our
sponsors for all of the events and things like that.
And also there's a lot of work that goes on
behind the scenes. There are many plans in place this year,
as there have been in past years, to keep all
of our spectators safe. We like to call them the
(09:53):
things that you don't notice, yep, but we know that
they're there to try and you know, make sure that
everyone has a safe four at the July event, whether
it's at the Rodeo, whether it's downtown. But again, a
huge shout out to all of our team members that
had worked for many months to make this happen in
a safe and secure manner.
Speaker 2 (10:11):
Following the agenda Old Business, consider the development agreement for
the Shores at Lake with second edition. Last commission meeting
you met. I think there were four items that you
and a developer were trying to iron out and had
a couple of weeks, went back to the drawing board.
Speaker 3 (10:27):
And did a couple of weeks to do that. Then
I think those four items we developer asked for some
things to be special assessed in this project and we
had kind of said no, and working through those details
with the developer. We had issues related to you know,
there will be a different grass collection site in that
(10:47):
area and we want to make sure that that site
remains convenient for all the folks that live down there
and also helps us as far as our travel times.
And you know, we the grass collection sites. It's really
I would have never thought they'd become such a big
deal in developments. You take them away. You know, I
won't tell you what all breaks loose, but a lot
(11:08):
of that break is loose. But then finding a location
for that is appropriate for that kind of activity is
also challenging too. And we haul, you know, it's load
by load one load by one load out to our
landfill where we deposit those and kind of do some
recycling and regurgitating, if you want to call it that,
of the grass and debris and things like that, which
(11:30):
after you know, the last couple of weeks the storms
have taken down a lot of branch. Also, yeah, our
collection site is full. Our public works folks have been
working very hard to get that cleaned up and move along,
and we get two steps forward and three steps back,
it seems like. But it is a service that we do.
But like you said, the grass collection site was one
of them, so we're getting that airned out. A lift
(11:51):
station that developer has to be special assessed, which serves
that development on its own. We said, no developer needs
to pay that as part of their underground work. We
had a potential future upgrade to a lift station, which
meaning a bigger pump. Again, because of this development, we've
got terms that developers agreed to, and then the big
(12:12):
thing was whether to special assess things over a twenty
year period or a fifteen year period. Developer says, you know,
if you've spread it over twenty years, makes it more
affordable for the future house owner or property owner in
that area. But it also you know, we try and
special assess things over the life of the asset. We
know that asphalt streets are about fifteen years and we
(12:34):
have to come back and either do a mill in
overlay and some touch up. We should be doing it
seven to eight years, so we're still working on some
of those things. Concrete curbs and storm out are probably
longer than fifteen years, so maybe we can spread those
costs over twenty. But again shows that there's you know,
there's been back and forth on this development agreement or
(12:55):
probably the past six or seven months, and we're compromising
with the develop runs sometimes the developers compromising with us.
Sometimes and we'll come to an agreement, and I would
think that one should be presented at the July fifteenth
Commission meeting and then we start moving forward.
Speaker 2 (13:09):
Sounds good and moving to new business, consider your adoption
of a public comment policy and listening, this initiate came
from legislative work.
Speaker 3 (13:22):
Yes, this is interesting because really, in general, your city
commission meanings, whether it be park board, school board, city commission,
or county commission, are meetings held in public. Doesn't mean
you have to allow public comment at those meetings. I
think there are a couple of instances around North Dakota
(13:42):
where certain boards that we're not taking any public comment,
and that got the attention of our legislators. Later, the
satyors come back and say, all right, you have to
have a public comment period on your agenda, and they
limited it to the on the current agenda or the
previous agenda, So you can't come in and talk about,
(14:04):
you know, why is the sky blue or anything like that,
So it's limited to those topics as long as the
board has adopted a policy.
Speaker 2 (14:13):
So there's some leeway in there.
Speaker 3 (14:14):
And yet what you proposed, yep, there's some leeway in there.
And really communities need to adopt their own policy. So
last night the North Code Legal Cities had drafted a
model public comment policy. Talks about things like you, here's
a sign up card. You have to put in your
name and address and things like that. You also written
(14:35):
comments have to be in twenty four hours in advance
in order for the Commission to get them. They come
in after twenty four hours in vance, they'll get them
after the meeting. We talked about the time period because
the Commission can set and say do we want to
allow one minute, two minutes, three minutes, whatever that may
be per speaker. In this case, the recommendation was three
(14:55):
minutes per speaker and thirty minutes in total. And what
I pointed out last night was we'll have this on
the front of the agenda, and it doesn't mean that
we if there's no one there to make public comments.
You know, it's a stale d You don't have thirty
men for thirty minutes and dead spain.
Speaker 2 (15:11):
As a speaker goes for three point thirty. There's some
leeway yep.
Speaker 3 (15:15):
Part of that as well. You know. The last night
in the policy it was suggested that the chairman or
the board or the mayor have the ability to kind
of suspend that time period sow do you there's some
flexibility in there. The other option would have been had, well,
this has to go to a vote of the board,
do we want to suspend the time limit here or not?
And then the whole board would have that say, and
(15:37):
as it's written, it would be the chairman of the
board or the mayor has that ability to do that,
and that might make it a little cleaner. This is
a policy, and so that doesn't mean it's set in stone.
The board can certainly find out what's working what's not
working later on, and different communities will set different time limits.
Maybe it's a fifteen minute period for public comment, maybe
(15:58):
it's two and a half minutes per speaker. But in
this case, our choice was three minutes and thirty minutes
in total.
Speaker 2 (16:04):
So there was a good question. I forget which commissioner
brought it up, but just about the idea of remote right,
being able to log in remotely, and it sounds like
got to consider that a little bit more.
Speaker 3 (16:16):
What right? So we've liked people to be there, Yeah,
we like people to be there in person, and I
think the board expressed that last night. We have plosed
that question through our contacts around the state to say, okay,
what are other communities doing. We know that several community
communities after COVID, it was like everyone was zooming in
or teamsing in or however electronically getting into me. And
(16:38):
we've continued to do that through the assistance of Diclobbedy access.
Some entities are saying, nope, you have to be here
in person. We're not going to provide that option for
folks to attend electronically unless it's a commissioner. So that
part will well, we'll work our way through and get
some other feedback from like what are other communities doing?
(16:59):
And so we've started that process already, so it may
come back for some revisions. But again it's a policy
that the board could certainly.
Speaker 2 (17:05):
Change it just an adapt if necessary moving forward under
resolutions and ordinances. Last night, I mean fourth of July.
You know, we love to celebrate our independence and the
fireworks are a big part of that. But just wanted
to remind people in Mandan. First of all, I guess
it was a second consideration of Ordnance fourteen sixty eight
and a clarification there and what was that clarification.
Speaker 3 (17:28):
Yeah, the clarification really adopts or makes certain that everyone
knows it is from noon on July third till midnight
and noon on July fourth until midnight. And those are
changes and compromises that the Board has made over the years.
We know that by stay law, folks can buy fireworks
right starting I think June twenty sixth or Sep. Twenty
(17:50):
seventh with which makes it really tough on enforcement when
we only allow them the third and the fourth. Yea.
So that's what this notification was done to make sure
elk it is noon to midnight and noon to midnight
and other than that. And we the board is chosen
to do that over the years based on feedback, favor
(18:10):
seed from citizens saying, hey, can we not be going
to one o'clock in the morning or two o'clock in
the morning. We do allow one in the morning on
New Year's Eve, so I think it's six pm to
one am on New Year's Eve. Go ahead, cheat your
fireworks off in a snowstorm. But for the fourth it's
you know, noon to to midnight.
Speaker 2 (18:29):
And we have that. We have that graphic too, so
you can take a screenshot or whatever you want to do.
But there it is July third and fourth, you know,
dune to yeah, midnight eleven fifty nine. Yeah, I guess
at midnight's technically the next next day.
Speaker 3 (18:42):
And we know we're folks shooting fireworks off last night. Yes,
fully get it. We can't be everywhere at all times.
If you want to go talk to your neighbor and say, hey,
fireworks are you know, noon to midnight on the third
and the fourth, not July first. But again they were
minimal last night that I heard from from my residence,
(19:04):
so that was good. But again it's it's a matter
of this is a compromise. If folks abuse, then all
of a sudden there's all kinds of things happen on
July first and July second. And you know, the Commission
always had that option to say it's going to be
July fourth any only, and we're not going to low
them on the third. So some people are happy with
(19:25):
that change, some people aren't. But we're trying to do
the best for the community as a whole. So again
it's a matter of please be respectful of what the
ordinance says, Be respectful of your neighbors who you know
they may not want fireworks going off on July second,
so hit them on the third.
Speaker 2 (19:41):
Well that basically wrapped up and I know what meaning
lasted what twenties twenty six minutes? Minutes lasting like that,
So you were back on the golf course by it.
Speaker 3 (19:53):
I wish, but it wasn't wasn't last burg break yet
out of there about an hour after that, which is
perfectly great. But again the uh, I know, Mayor of
Frelik said that there was they've been in office for
now a year with he did mention that Rael and
Commissier Schoberg we're elected a year ago and Kmisho Heinsheng
came in a little bit after that.
Speaker 2 (20:11):
But h.
Speaker 3 (20:13):
Great folks to work with, very involved and in essence
want to do the right thing. And that is certainly
reflective of the commission meetings over the past year and
has been in the past, So it's not something new.
This is an item that we've always had really good
commissions to work with, so we're appreciative of them running.
(20:34):
And you know, an year from now we may have
two new or members, so we'll we will see. So
if you're thinking about that, be thinking contact here, Mayor
Conductor Commissioners see what their lives are like since they
got elected. But again, we've been very pleased and very
happy to have folks that are genuinely concerned about the community.
Speaker 2 (20:52):
And time flies as you mentioned, I mean, yep, for
the mayor goes by just like that. And you and
I know that as well as anybody. We know that.
Speaker 3 (21:00):
Really it hits home when we start looking at okay,
the next three meetings coming up or in July and
all we start going, oh boy, this summer's halfway over
or whatever, summer's just starting. But again, Independence Day man
end is a big thing, and I'm so appreciative of
all the folks that turn out, all the sponsors that
help out with all the events, all the volunteers that
(21:22):
contribute their time, all of the entities. I don't think
there's an entity from the public side, from parks to city,
to schools to county that are all providing some type
of assistance to make these events happen. And so, like
I said, I just want to make sure there's a
big shout out to all those folks.
Speaker 2 (21:36):
Yeah, that's great week, great week in mad An. So
hats off to all the work that's been done to
provide this opportunity for so many of us to take
part in a lot of fun events.
Speaker 3 (21:48):
And will be you know, next year will be the
two hundred and fiftieth anniversary, and like I said, we're
kind of working on some brainstorming some plans for the
upcoming year. When like I said, two hudred and fifty
is kind of seal, that's a big deal. So yep,
look forward to things to come.
Speaker 2 (22:04):
Well, I just want to remind everyone that you can
take us with you whereever you are, find us wherever
you are whenever you can on our two apps to
co to Media Access. You can download that app and
find our Government Access channel and our Community Access channel
and find out about all the great programming that we provide.
And you can also download our Radio Access app and
(22:26):
that has a lot of local DJ shows people that
put together music shows, and also a lot of local
podcasts that are produced and the sound quality and the
video quality are great on those. So if you can't
watch us on TV or online, you can check us
out on our apps.
Speaker 3 (22:42):
I'll give you a shout out to the app last
night because I wasn't sure how the national anthem came
through on the broadcast and I was sitting at home
on the back deck and I pulled up the app
and listened to the national anthem and lind Zachmar did
a great job and so, like I said, you can
and it was up within an hour of the meeting
being so yeah.
Speaker 2 (23:00):
If you so, if you miss it live, yeah, our
staff's on top of it and providing that service so
that people can watch it really really quickly after it's done,
like they will with the show. So thanks for joining me, Jim,
have a great fourth. Great to see you.
Speaker 3 (23:13):
Thanks Tom Andrabing all of you for joining us.
Speaker 2 (23:15):
Be safe and have a great week.
Speaker 1 (23:18):
For more information on what was discussed in this episode
of City Current, visit Cityofmandan dot com or call seven
oh one sixty six seven three two one five. If
you have any suggestions, comments, or issues you would like
addressed in future City Current episodes, contact us at info
at FreeTV dot org. This program airs on Government Access
(23:39):
channel 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 FreeTV dot org. Thanks for
tuning in to this edition of City current
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