February 25, 2025 • 35 mins
Jason Tomanek is the City Administrator for the City of Bismarck, a position he was appointed to in February 2024. Jason began his career with the City of Bismarck in 2006 as a Community Planner. During those 10 years, Jason spent much of his time working with developers, property owners, and entrepreneurs to support the reinvestment and revitalization of Bismarck’s downtown neighborhood.
Jason is a Bismarck native and BHS graduate with degrees from NDSU in Landscape Architecture and Environmental Design, and a Masters Degree from the University of Mary. Jason is a member, and current Vice President of the Bismarck Historical Society and a producer of the History Hotdish podcast, recorded here in the studio at Dakota Media Access.
In his free time, Jason enjoys being outdoors, hiking, playing disc golf, kayaking, gardening, and searching for historic Bismarck relics and artifacts to add to his ever-growing collection of all-things Bismarck. Mr. Bismarck, as he’s known to his friends and coworkers, is responsible for managing the day-to-day operations for the City of Bismarck and serves as oversight for the planning and direction of all service functions across all 15 city departments.
Jason is a Bismarck native and BHS graduate with degrees from NDSU in Landscape Architecture and Environmental Design, and a Masters Degree from the University of Mary. Jason is a member, and current Vice President of the Bismarck Historical Society and a producer of the History Hotdish podcast, recorded here in the studio at Dakota Media Access.
In his free time, Jason enjoys being outdoors, hiking, playing disc golf, kayaking, gardening, and searching for historic Bismarck relics and artifacts to add to his ever-growing collection of all-things Bismarck. Mr. Bismarck, as he’s known to his friends and coworkers, is responsible for managing the day-to-day operations for the City of Bismarck and serves as oversight for the planning and direction of all service functions across all 15 city departments.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Welcome to These Are Your Neighbors, a podcast hosted by
the City of Bismarck Human Relations Committee and produced by
Dakota Media Access. The purpose of the podcast is to
show the diversity of your neighbors and to encourage inclusivity
among the Bismarck community.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Welcome to These Are Your Neighbors? A podcast hosted by
Tia Jorgensen and Sergiana Woodsky, both members of the City
of Bismarck's Human Relations Committee. Thank you for joining us
as we interview our neighbors who are subject matter experts
in diversity, inclusion, accessibility, and equality.
Speaker 3 (00:38):
Our guest today is Jason Tomonic. Jason is a city
administrator for the City of Bismarck, a position he was
appointed to in February twenty twenty four. Jason McGinn's career
with the City of Bismarck in two thousand and six
as a community planner. During those ten years, Jason spent
much of his time working with developers, property owners, and
entrepreneurs to support the reinvestment and revitalization of Bismarck's downtown.
(01:02):
Jason is a Bismarck native and BHS graduate with degrees
from NDSU in Landscape architecture and environmental design and a
master's degree from the University of Mary. Jason is a
member and current vice president of the Bismarck Historical Society,
as well as the producer of History Hot Dish podcast.
In his free time, Jason enjoys being outdoors, hiking, playing
(01:25):
disc golf, kayaking, gardening, and searching for historic Bismarck relics
to add to his evergoing collection of all things Bismarck.
Mister Bismarck, as he's known to his friends and co workers,
is responsible for managing the day to day operations for
the City of Bismarck and serves as oversight for the
planning and direction of all service functions across all fifteen
(01:46):
city departments.
Speaker 4 (01:47):
Welcome Jason, Thank you very much. I'm glad to be here.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
Do we need to refer to you as mister Bismarck
throughout the entire episode here?
Speaker 4 (01:56):
I don't think that's necessary.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
So as mister Bismarck, what why have you made Bismarck home?
Speaker 5 (02:03):
So I grew up here, I'm a Bismarck kid, and
I took a little time to get through college. I
always joked that I squeezed a five year degree into
ten years worth of college, and it took three campuses
to get there. But by the time I graduated, I
was twenty nine years old, and of the seventeen people
in my class at NDSU with degrees in landscape architecture,
(02:27):
sixteen of them left the state of North Dakota.
Speaker 4 (02:29):
I worked very hard.
Speaker 5 (02:30):
To stay here in North Dakota, and I was really
glad to be able to get a job in my
hometown in Bismarck. So there was out migration was the
big topic at that time, and I just really felt
that I didn't want to follow that path. So I
was very glad, very fortunate to be able to get
(02:51):
a job in my hometown. And here I am today,
still working for the city in a couple of different
positions over that time, but it's been a great eighteen years.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
What is a degree in landscape architecture?
Speaker 5 (03:03):
What is a degree in landscape architecture? So a landscape
architect is a person. When I went to school, they
taught us a landscape architect should be the first person
on a site and the last person to leave the site,
and so landscape architects often get involved with things like
neighborhood planning. More commonly, you'll see them working in park planning.
(03:27):
A lot of my classmates went to school to learn
how to design golf courses. Believe it or not, but
landscape architects also do very public things like plazas, and
like the Riverfront Festival Browns project that we're working on
right now, the lead designer on that project is a
landscape architect.
Speaker 2 (03:47):
Some I would have never never known that was a.
Speaker 5 (03:50):
Degree, or I didn't know it was a thing either
until it was until I was in my mid twenties.
And I actually, you know how you hear people say
the job found you, that particular career found me. I
had never heard of it. I was visiting a friend
of mine who was at NDSU. One of his roommates
was a landscape architect, and I had never heard those
(04:11):
two words together. And I said, you got to tell
me more about this, because I was actually very interested
in all things outdoors. I had considered a career in
forestry at one point. When I figured out what that
really meant.
Speaker 4 (04:22):
That was it.
Speaker 3 (04:24):
So Tia talked about or I'm sorry, I talked about that.
You have a large collection of items relating to Bismarck's history.
What inspired you to collect all those things?
Speaker 5 (04:34):
You know?
Speaker 4 (04:34):
I'm not even sure.
Speaker 5 (04:36):
I think it all started with a postcard, a single
postcard of downtown Bismarck. I picked it up at a
local antique store here, put it in a little frame,
and put it in my office in the community development department.
And I think that just kind of sparked it, at
least for Bismarck stuff and being able to work in
(04:57):
the community development department. I learned so much about how
this community grew, the neighborhoods, the developers, the people that
were part of this community from the very early on.
And I guess I've always been a student of history.
At one point in my long path to get to
landscape architecture, I was actually going to school to be
a history teacher. So I find history interesting in general.
(05:20):
But to get so specific, to be able to focus
on your hometown, I think that's pretty outstanding.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
So if it started with a postcard, we know it's
grown significantly. If you had to pick one item that's
your favorite, what would.
Speaker 4 (05:34):
That be, I don't know.
Speaker 5 (05:38):
I would probably stick to the postcard. I have a
single postcard. It's actually two postcards attached, and it is
a panoramic view of Main Avenue or Main Street at
the time. On the left side of the postcard is
the depot. On the right side is Main Avenue, much
like we see it today, and it's a black and
white street scene and it's It's not every day you
(06:01):
find two postcards connected together, so it's different than a
lot of them. That's probably one of the many favorite things.
I don't know if I could pick just one.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
Though, So do you do you know the timeframe that
that postcard was taken over or not?
Speaker 5 (06:17):
It's the late nineteen ten's early nineteen teens, because in
the postcard on the east side you can see the
Patterson building, and the Patterson was built about nineteen ten.
Speaker 4 (06:27):
Cool.
Speaker 3 (06:27):
So what is the most surprising thing that you've learned
when you've studied the history of Bismarck.
Speaker 5 (06:34):
I don't know about surprising, but I think maybe the
most fascinating thing that I enjoy about Bismarck's history is baseball.
I'm a baseball guy in general. I played baseball, I
coached when my son was playing. It's my favorite sport overall.
But there are records, there are reports from the Bismarck
tribute that baseball games were being played at Fort Lincoln,
(06:55):
the original Fort Lincoln site which today we know is
United Tribes Technical College. There were baseball games being played
in the eighteen seventies by the soldiers that were stationed
at Fort Lincoln.
Speaker 4 (07:06):
That's pretty cool.
Speaker 2 (07:07):
Cool.
Speaker 5 (07:08):
So the soldiers brought baseball to Bismarck is essentially what happened.
And if you follow the history of baseball throughout Bismarck,
there are some pretty significant milestones. There are some wonderful teams,
and there's some names that many people know nationwide that
actually played baseball here. The nineteen thirty five baseball team.
Speaker 4 (07:30):
Many know that team had.
Speaker 5 (07:32):
A player, Satchel Page, who went on to play professionally
in the major leagues. He was also a very well
known athlete in the Negro leagues prior to being in Bismarck.
Not only was that team the best at that time,
they actually won a semi pro tournament in Wichita, Kansas,
nineteen thirty five, but that team was integrated. In nineteen
(07:53):
thirty five, Bismarck, North Dakota had an integrated baseball team
and there were teams in that tournament that refused to
play against Bismarck because of that integration.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
That's greyt I had no idea, Did you have no idea?
That's pretty awesome. So Sergiana and I sometimes we research
our guests, so I don't know if this was in
your bio off the top of my head, or if
we just found it, but we read that you've collected
a brick from every downtown building that's been torn down
(08:26):
in the last fifteen years. How many do you have
and what are some of those businesses?
Speaker 5 (08:32):
I don't know if it's every building anymore. I know
I've missed a couple, and I do have a few
bricks from buildings that weren't downtown, but I think they
were significant enough. But yes, I have managed to get
my hands on a few pieces of history that were
torn down and demolished. I guess some of them that
stand out. Excuse me for anybody that remembers the Dakota
(08:53):
Twin Theater. It was on the corner of Fourth and Broadway.
I'm sorry, Fourth and Ross. Today there's a finance institution.
It's on the northeast corner. I remember as a kid
going to movies in that theater, and so when the
building was torn down. It was probably two thousand and
eight and nine ten, maybe somewhere in there. That's one
of the first ones. I probably started it. Since that time,
(09:16):
I've acquired bricks from the former governor's residence that was
demolished at the Capitol grounds, and maybe some things that
weren't demolished. But as people learn, I have collected things.
Two different people in the community have given me bricks.
One of them was a paver that was part of
the street at one time. It's a much bigger brick,
(09:37):
and very recently, when the improvements were done at the
Northern Pacific Depot, similar bricks were found under the parking
lot when they pulled that out, and so those it's
not a cobblestone, but it's.
Speaker 4 (09:49):
A brick paver.
Speaker 5 (09:50):
I've got one of those, not from the depot, but
from a Bismarck street. And then I've got another brick
that again I can't prove this, but I was told
it came from the original Bismarck I'm sorry, the original
state capital that burned in nineteen thirty.
Speaker 3 (10:07):
So while investigating, we also found out, and we're surprised
to find out, that you use eBay as a source
of your purchases. Is there are really that many things
on eBay that are come from Bismarck, And is that
where most of your purchases come from.
Speaker 5 (10:24):
I wouldn't say most of them come from there, but
you'd be surprised what is out there. And what fascinates
me isn't just what's out there, but it's where does
it come from? So some of the things that I've
picked up postcards pretty common. You'll find postcard vendors on
eBay with literally hundreds of thousands of cards for sale.
I am hyper focused on just Bismarck. I'm not interested
(10:46):
in any other topic, and I prefer historic postcards other
historic things that I've picked up. One of them, it's
a mirror, and it's a little handheld mirror and it's old.
Speaker 4 (10:59):
On one side.
Speaker 5 (11:00):
On the back side of the mirror, there's actually a
picture of the Northern Pacific rail Bridge, and I have
that same picture on a postcard, and the postcard is
stamped nineteen ten, so that'll date the mirror just a
little bit. But the mirror is maybe two and a
half inch diameter circular. On the backside is a picture
of the rail bridge and it's got a little metal handle.
And I took it to the Historical Society one day
(11:22):
without any without making an appointment or anything. I just
wandered in and I asked someone there. I said, have
you guys seen anything like this? Can you tell me?
You know, do you have other things? And they said,
we've seen one mirror similar similar to this, not with
this particular picture on it, but never won with a handle.
And they said maybe. We asked where you got it,
and I said, well, I got it on eBay. Believe
(11:43):
it or not, that mirror came back to Bismarck from
San Francisco. So I messaged the cellar and I said,
can you tell me anything about this in The seller said,
I'm sorry.
Speaker 4 (11:53):
I bought it an estate sale.
Speaker 5 (11:55):
So I like to think, and I have no reason
to no ability to prove this, but I liked it
that that mirror was purchased here at the depot as
a memento or as a souvenir. Maybe a parent taking
it back to their child. Maybe a child picked it
up while they were here in traveling West. I don't know,
but I like to know that I'm bringing these things
home and I put them in places where people can
(12:16):
appreciate them and share them and talk about them and
learn about them and just spread some of the history around.
Speaker 4 (12:23):
I guess so.
Speaker 3 (12:25):
Jenny Briya, we talked about that. You have the vice
president of the Vismark Historical Society. Is that a lot
of the things that the Historical Society does is they
find things that people may have and you can bring
them there and they can maybe talk about the historical
significance of something that they have to some degree.
Speaker 5 (12:40):
Yes, the Historical Society, it's a nonprofit organization and our
mission is to preserve and promote bis Mark's rich history.
And one of the ways we promote history is a
program just like this. We have a radio and a
podcast program called History Hot Dish here on to go
to media access. We do a program at the library
several months throughout out the year. We have a board
(13:02):
of directors, and the board is composed of people with
various talents, but all of us are interested in history.
Some of the things that we do as an organization,
I guess we have an archive where.
Speaker 4 (13:13):
People do donate things.
Speaker 5 (13:15):
They'll say, Wow, I was cleaning out my parents' house
and came across this stuff.
Speaker 4 (13:19):
Maybe you guys would be interested in it. Not everything
we have room for. We have a very.
Speaker 5 (13:23):
Modest office space and not a lot of room to
preserve things, but we are working to digitize some of
those important records. One of the projects that we're working
on now is actually in conjunction with the City of Ismark.
We have the old police logs from the early nineteen
hundreds where they were handwritten, all the incidents, all the
things the officers were doing, all the calls that were made.
(13:46):
We have volunteers that are transcribing those logs so they
are preserved digitally. In the event of the future that
paper isn't sustainable or whatever happens storage becomes a problem,
we'll have these things archived in an other way. So
we do a lot of different things to promote history,
but it's all in good spirit. It's all volunteer and
(14:06):
it's just a bunch of local people that I think
it started out people getting, you know, gathering and having
a reason to learn more and celebrate Bismarck's history. I'm
fortunate that a lot of the groundwork was done before
I joined the board. I'm fairly new, maybe just a
couple of years on the board. And so we've been
able to really amplify some of the offerings throughout the
community to just continue to fulfill the mission.
Speaker 2 (14:29):
I don't know why, but the thought of reading those
police logs seems very interesting to me. Maybe it seems
it's great yeahs, and.
Speaker 5 (14:38):
The handwriting is just beautiful. It's all incursive, of course,
and I struggle to read some of that. But the
people that are helping are doing a great job. It's
really cool to hear some of the things that they're
pulling out of there.
Speaker 2 (14:50):
And will that eventually be open to the public.
Speaker 4 (14:54):
It would be our hope. Yes. Through our website, we've.
Speaker 5 (14:57):
Got a number of things available, whether it be pictures
or collections, or we have announcements. We have a Facebook
page where we talk about all the programming and things
that are coming up. So in the future, yes, when
the project is done, it would be wonderful to be
able to share that not just with the city Police Department,
but also with the entire community, because there's some really
interesting stories in.
Speaker 2 (15:16):
There that'd be interesting. So you've talked about quite a
few things that you've collected. What is the item that
traces back the furthest that you're aware of as.
Speaker 5 (15:28):
Far as modern history things that I can can date.
I have some postcards that are actually postmarked pre statehood.
So North Kota became state November second, eighteen eighty nine.
I have postcards that are postmarked from the late eighteen
seventies and early eighteen eighty and they actually say Bismarck DT,
(15:48):
which means Dakota Territory.
Speaker 3 (15:51):
So we're going to display all this stuff.
Speaker 4 (15:54):
Not at home.
Speaker 5 (15:56):
Fortunately, because I work for the city, I think it's
kind of neat to be able to share that with
people that come to our office. And so I've got
a couple of antique cabinets in the Mayor's conference room,
which is on the fourth floor of the City County Building,
shock filled with all sorts of goodies, whether it be
matchbooks or tokens from various shops that were around, porcelain
(16:21):
items that were purchased at the aw Lucas store. I've
got a big metal or tin can from the old
Schultz Creamery that used to be right over here across
the street from where we are today. Most of those
items are either in my office in picture frames hanging
on the wall, or in these two antique cabinets in
the mayor's conference room or in the city administration department.
Speaker 2 (16:43):
So do you log everything that you have?
Speaker 5 (16:46):
No, I don't have a very good inventory. I like
to think I've got a pretty good memory, but I
probably should go through and identify everything for the future,
because I joke a lot of times that this will
be my kids problem someday, because nobody's going to want
to collect old porcelain stuff from Bismarck. I don't collect
(17:07):
old porcelain stuff. I collect old porcelain stuff from Bismarck,
So there's a difference. I collect plates, but only if
they say Bismarck, North Dakota on them. But I can
appreciate that not everybody has an interest in this type
of stuff. So I should probably write down what it is,
why it's significant, maybe where it came from, and a
little bit of a narrative to go along with it.
I suppose that would make the archivists and the preservationist happy.
Speaker 2 (17:30):
Besides that, So you said you have a good memory,
but I like to think so can you? Just so
how I function? All of a sudden, I'd be like,
I want that postcard from here, and then not remember
where I put it. So you're fairly aware of where
everything is that you have.
Speaker 5 (17:46):
So postcards specifically, Yes, I have close to five hundred
different postcards, and I have them in my office in
three different books, and they're categorized by seeing top era
a variety of ways, and I can flip through them
and if you were to pull one out, I could
probably tell you which.
Speaker 4 (18:07):
One was missing.
Speaker 2 (18:08):
Are most of those like actual photographs on the postcards?
Are they more artwork or so?
Speaker 4 (18:15):
It depends.
Speaker 5 (18:16):
It depends on when the postcard was created. In the
world of postcards. So I guess we'll just get this
out of the way. If you collect postcards, you are
a deltyologist. The art of collecting postcards, or the hobby
of collecting postcards, is called deltyology. Postcards began in the
(18:36):
early eighteen seventies. They were actually something that was issued
by the government as a means to communicate. Over time,
you can actually identify postcards just by what's on the
front of it or the texture of it. There's different
eras that were created or evolved as postcards came about.
(18:57):
There was a linen postcard that actually had a physic
texture to it. It was probably in the nineteen twenties
and thirties. It was the United States' response to Germany.
For the first fifty years of postcard printing, most postcards
were actually manufactured in Germany because they had the best
technology when it came to printing. So as the US
got better and things became more evolved the war was over,
(19:19):
resources were more available. The United States got pretty competitive
in the world of postcard printing, and so you can
figure out when they were created just by looking at them.
The newer ones are obviously much glossier, there's a sheen
to them, but some of the earliest ones were just that.
They were simply a photograph that was taken, printed on
(19:39):
a postcard and then dropped in the mail with a
quick note.
Speaker 2 (19:43):
That's I feel like I could go off this and
ask about forty seven more questions on that. But all
of this aligns up very well with your current job
as the city administrator. What is a typical day to
day like with that.
Speaker 5 (19:59):
I don't know that that any day is typical, And
sometimes I joke around the office that you know, one
phone call or one email can change your entire day.
I will say this, the work that we do in
the city administration apartment definitely has a rhythm and a
pattern to it, and it's generally on a two week
cycle because we are following the pattern of the City
Commission meetings and so a big part of the work
(20:21):
in the Administration Department is to coordinate the work of
all the other departments to get to those City Commission
meetings and then all the actions and activities that happen
after that. Honestly, my day is filled with a lot
of meetings. I go, you know, I visit with a
lot of different departments. I visit with community stakeholders. I
am always on the go, whether it be part of
(20:45):
boards and committees, or working with the mayor and commissioners,
or kicking off another projects. It's different virtually every hour
of the day, which is great because I can show
up and have a clean calendar and within fifteen minutes
my day is because it doesn't take long for things
to work their way up to our attention. And oftentimes
(21:07):
when people are coming to the City Administrative Department, other
city departments are coming to City Administration, it's to get
some help.
Speaker 4 (21:13):
They got to a.
Speaker 5 (21:14):
Spot where they're maybe stuck. They need a little advice,
they need some direction, a decision maybe needs to get
made happy to work in all of those arenas, I
am very comfortable working in a collaborative environment.
Speaker 4 (21:27):
I don't really subscribe to this idea of being the
lone wolf.
Speaker 5 (21:31):
For the the traditional leadership style of the great man theory,
where only one person can be the one to make
those decisions, that's a one hundred and.
Speaker 4 (21:39):
Eighty degrees off of the way I operate.
Speaker 5 (21:41):
I like to surround myself with people that know more
than I do about those things, and collectively we can
work on a decision that makes the most sense, not
only for the organization, but for the community or for
anybody involved.
Speaker 3 (21:53):
So when do you find more surprising since you took
over this position, I.
Speaker 5 (21:59):
Would say the variety of things. And to be fair,
I was the assistant city administrator for eight years, so
I watched Keith Hunky, the former administrator, do.
Speaker 4 (22:09):
The work that he did.
Speaker 5 (22:11):
And when I interviewed with the commissioners back in February,
I told them I said, I am not Keith. I
will not do work like he did. He is not me,
and the results might be the same, but we're going
to take a different path to get there. And I
try and tell myself sometimes whatever you've done to this
point must be working, because I am in a.
Speaker 4 (22:31):
Position of.
Speaker 5 (22:34):
Very a significant position, and I am very fortunate to
have that. I try and use that to ground myself,
to make sure that just keep doing what you're doing.
Whatever you've done to this point seems to be working.
People don't run away when I walk in a room.
Most days, I really really enjoy the work that I do,
and I very much enjoy working with the people, not
(22:55):
only within the organization but throughout the community.
Speaker 4 (22:58):
So I guess, what.
Speaker 5 (23:00):
Are some of What is the biggest surprise? I would say,
right now, it's the pace of learning. And I like
to ask this question when we interview people, and it's
kind of a trick question. We don't really give it
a score, but I ask people, how long do you
think it will take you to become proficient in the
work that you're asked to do? And the answer I'm
looking for there is at least a year, because there
(23:20):
are certain things that you will do one time a year,
and how can you be proficient if you've never done
it before? And so I give myself a little bit
of a pass that I am still learning.
Speaker 4 (23:30):
I've been doing this job less than a year. There
are things that I.
Speaker 5 (23:33):
Have not yet done, and frankly, there are things that
I might do once every two years, just based on
the cycle in the rhythm, the legislature being one of them.
And so with all of that in mind, the surprises
has been the pace, the.
Speaker 4 (23:50):
Volume of work.
Speaker 5 (23:50):
But then also I'm starting to feel like we're having
momentum in the right direction.
Speaker 4 (23:55):
We're moving forward as an organization.
Speaker 5 (23:57):
We're really starting to come together with directors and having
regular meetings and scheduling things, and it's just things are
working really well right now, and so I'm always optimistic,
but I'm feeling good too well.
Speaker 2 (24:10):
So you mentioned there that you are the assistant city administrator.
Prior to that, other than missing the HRC once a month,
how does that are your current role differ from that
As the assistant city admin.
Speaker 5 (24:23):
I would say the biggest change is my time is
spent much more broadly throughout the organization. As the assistant
City Administrator, you're essentially the director of the administration department.
There's a small staff, but the assistant City Administrator doesn't
have authority over any of the other department directors. They're
(24:43):
essentially on the same organizational line, and so the assistant
administrator works with the staff, works with human relations committee,
works with the Animal Advisory Board, and more of the
in house type things. The assistant administrator position all has
become kind of the project manager, the person or the
(25:05):
position that catches those projects that the organization will benefit from,
but no one specific department really stands out to take
the lead on. And one of those types of things
would be the strategic plan that affects the entire organization.
But which department would manage that wouldn't be public Health,
it wouldn't be engineering. It would land with administration because
it's the broadest department. So what is the biggest difference
(25:28):
between that and where I'm at now? I would say
I am out of the office more now being where
others are going to the library for their Board of
Directors meetings, meeting with the fire chief at one of
the fire stations, just being engaged in the work that
they're doing as well, because I want to be able
to support them. I want to know what those departments
are doing, and I want to be a resource to
(25:52):
any of the staff or any of the directors within
the organization. And I think in order for me to
do that effectively, I've got to go where they are.
Speaker 2 (26:00):
That's interesting because we've been on that committee for how
long and I don't think I had a clue what
either of those roles did.
Speaker 4 (26:09):
And most people probably don't.
Speaker 5 (26:11):
Frankly, we're one of those not always seen, not always
heard from either And I get it. City municipal government.
It can be confusing. We are different than the county.
We are different than schools, We are different than the parks.
We are different than the state and the federal government.
We are local government. And if you don't engage with
us on a regular basis, I'm sure there are many
(26:32):
people in this community that don't know the mayor's name.
And I'm not saying that in a disrespectful way. Some
people just don't engage in that way. I can't accept
the fact that silence is acceptance. But at the same time,
oftentimes when we hear from people, it's because they are upset,
or there is a concern, or there is a problem
(26:53):
in their life. The rest of the community, we're growing.
We're growing one thousand people a year and we have
for the last twenty years.
Speaker 4 (27:01):
To me, that means satisfaction.
Speaker 5 (27:02):
There is something about Bismarck, North Dakota that keeps people here.
And whatever we're doing, we need to keep doing because
this town is becoming more diverse, This town is growing,
this town is it's different than it was when I
was a kid, And it's better than it was when
I was a kid because of the diversity, because of
the cultures that are here, because of the people that
(27:23):
are here, bringing their ideas, bringing their families, bringing their
worlds to Bismarck.
Speaker 3 (27:29):
So, as Ts said, we met you through We're both
on the Human Relations Committee. So we're a city, we're
an appointed committee. We're all volunteers or appointed by the mayor.
What would you tell someone who is maybe on the
fence about sitting on a committee like ours?
Speaker 5 (27:46):
First I would say do it, get involved, don't be afraid.
But if you aren't certain, I would say, come to
the meetings. Engage in one way or another, whether it
be through Dakota Media Access, Listen to the meetings, play
them back.
Speaker 4 (28:02):
Come to the meetings.
Speaker 5 (28:03):
All of our meetings, committee meetings, city commission meetings, those
types of things. Those are public meetings. If they're in
the Tom Baker meeting room, they're open to the public.
So if you're interested in getting involved, come and observe
and see what these groups are about, or call one
of us. We would love to tell you what these
different committees are doing. Many of them are advisory, meaning
(28:25):
they work through problems or projects that are specific to
their topic and they provide a recommendation for the City
Commission to make a final decision or determination. That is
a kind of the fundamental role of many of the
advisory boards, and it's a great way for the City
Commission to stay at a higher level and let subject
matter experts really grind through some of those project particulars.
(28:45):
Another thing I would say, and this is going to
be a shameless plug for a program that I helped
I was part of the development group of we have
a Bismarck Citizen Academy. We have a twelve week program
that starts January. Every Thursday in January, February and March
twenty Bismarck residents will spend three hours with city staff
(29:07):
getting to know the buildings, facilities, what each department does.
Speaker 4 (29:12):
We do.
Speaker 5 (29:13):
I say, it's a behind the scenes, in depth look
at us as an organization. We visit different buildings, we
toour as many as we can from that program. We've
done that three years now. The first year we had
twelve participants. The two years after that we had twenty.
So we've had fifty two people go through that. Two
of the participants were on the ballot in June for
(29:36):
City commission this year. That's pretty cool.
Speaker 3 (29:41):
We just have Commissioner John Rish actually tape with us
and he said the reason why he actually ran for
office was because of the Citizen Academy and the information
he learned.
Speaker 5 (29:51):
Yeah, and that's one of the things that kind of
fills my cup. It's Thursday nights, it's three hours, it's January, February, March,
it's cold, it's dark. But the feedback and the input
and the experiences that we can share with the citizens
(30:13):
and then come back and say, you know, I always
wondered about that, or I always wanted to get involved,
and I wasn't sure if I had the expertise or
the information. And now I'm confident to apply for these things.
That's what it's all about. The only thing I wish
is that the program could be bigger. We could do
two hundred people every year and not just twenty. But
(30:34):
given the size of some of our buildings and just
the resources that it would take to grow that program.
We're still continuing to figure out how to do that.
Right now, twenty seems to be the right size and shape,
and we're getting ready to gear up for our fourth
season of Citizen Academy. And so if anybody's got questions
about that, by all means, certainly reach out to our office.
Speaker 4 (30:55):
We'd be happy to tell you about that too.
Speaker 2 (30:57):
So you're obviously a big advocate for investing in your community,
whether it's at a city committee level or just in
any other capacity. Why do you think it's important for
people to get involved.
Speaker 5 (31:11):
I think if you want to be engaged in your community,
if you want to help affect change, if you want
to make a difference, you got to start somewhere, and
you can start at any one of these levels. You
can start coming to the meeting so you can start
asking questions. But frankly, this is how stuff gets done.
And I realize government gets criticized for the pace. We
(31:32):
are not the most swift organization on the planet. However,
we are very intentional, we are very transparent, we are
very open to engaging with the public. There's nothing worse
than having a public meeting, and there's more city staff
than there are residents to learn about the project, and
so one of the struggles that we are working to
overcome and constantly try and really do our best is
(31:58):
getting the public to come to these sessions to learn things,
to give feedback, to provide input, because it's those voices
that ultimately influence the change.
Speaker 3 (32:08):
So we know you're a big advocate for the Human
Relations Committee. In fact, you're kind of the one who
throughout the idea of us having a podcast, and we're
in episode fifty now. So why do you think the
Committee of the Human Relations Committee is so important to
community like ours?
Speaker 5 (32:25):
I think it helps celebrate and recognize what Bismarck is becoming.
Growing up here, this town was pretty homogeneous. There was
some culture that I can recall, but not nearly as
diverse as we are today. And I think to the
mission of the Human Relations Committee to celebrate the diversity
(32:46):
that is here, I think that's just a tremendous opportunity.
And I've watched this committee evolve over the years, and
different faces have come and gone, and some of the
things that you as a group have been able to
accomplish have been very impressive, whether it be the community
conversations or episode fifty of these are your neighbors. To me,
(33:06):
it's inspiring to see the dedication again, the volunteerism, the
willingness to just simply put out your hand and say,
come on in, let's talk, let's get to know each other,
Let's just enjoy Bismarck for what it is. So I
should say thanks to both of you for the time
and energy that you've put forth into this, because, by
no means is it just showing up once a month
(33:29):
for a meeting. There's a lot more that goes into it.
Speaker 4 (33:31):
Than just that.
Speaker 2 (33:33):
Well, if it was just showing up once a month
for the podcast, I'd be on board, but Sergiona keeps
me in mind. So we are out of time here.
So the last question that we ask everyone is how
would you encourage your neighbor to create an atmosphere of inclusion, equality,
diversity and accessibility.
Speaker 5 (33:51):
I'm going to borrow a line from the mayor. Mayor
Mike Schmiz he has worked on an initiative to help
Bismarck become not just friendly, but more welcoming and to
reach out to people. I'm guilty of this too. I'll
smile at you, I'll nod at you on the sidewalk.
I might do that for a month or two, maybe
(34:11):
even a year or two before I'm actually willing or
able to put out my hand.
Speaker 4 (34:15):
And say hi. My name is Jason.
Speaker 5 (34:17):
And I think as a community, for those of us
that are here, for those of us that will continue
to call this home, recognizing there are new faces here
all the time, we need to be better about saying
hi to these people as opposed to just being nice
to them. We need to help them find their way
in this community and stay here, because I think you
(34:38):
get about twelve to eighteen months when somebody relocates to
a new community for them to decide do I stay
or do I go? Do I stay here because there's
things that cause me to want to be here, or
do I get out of here because I just don't
feel like this is the right place. And if we
can help more people feel like this is the right place,
we're going to be better in the end.
Speaker 2 (34:58):
Right.
Speaker 3 (34:59):
Well you everyone for tuning into these are your neighbors
with our guests Jason Toomonic, thank you for wanting to
get to know your neighbors as we hold these important
and necessary conversations. If you follow this conversation as important
as we do, please make sure to share with your neighbors.
Speaker 1 (35:15):
Thank you for tuning into these or your Neighbors a
podcast hosted by the City of Bismarck Human Relations Committee
and produced by Dakota Media Access. The purpose of the
Bismarck Human Relations Committee is to create an atmosphere of inclusion, equality,
and accessibility through education and outreach to recognize the value
(35:36):
of a diverse community. For more information about the Human
Relations Committee, visit bizmarckand dot gov.
Welcome to These Are Your Neighbors, a podcast hosted by
the City of Bismarck Human Relations Committee and produced by
Dakota Media Access. The purpose of the podcast is to
show the diversity of your neighbors and to encourage inclusivity
among the Bismarck community.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Welcome to These Are Your Neighbors? A podcast hosted by
Tia Jorgensen and Sergiana Woodsky, both members of the City
of Bismarck's Human Relations Committee. Thank you for joining us
as we interview our neighbors who are subject matter experts
in diversity, inclusion, accessibility, and equality.
Speaker 3 (00:38):
Our guest today is Jason Tomonic. Jason is a city
administrator for the City of Bismarck, a position he was
appointed to in February twenty twenty four. Jason McGinn's career
with the City of Bismarck in two thousand and six
as a community planner. During those ten years, Jason spent
much of his time working with developers, property owners, and
entrepreneurs to support the reinvestment and revitalization of Bismarck's downtown.
(01:02):
Jason is a Bismarck native and BHS graduate with degrees
from NDSU in Landscape architecture and environmental design and a
master's degree from the University of Mary. Jason is a
member and current vice president of the Bismarck Historical Society,
as well as the producer of History Hot Dish podcast.
In his free time, Jason enjoys being outdoors, hiking, playing
(01:25):
disc golf, kayaking, gardening, and searching for historic Bismarck relics
to add to his evergoing collection of all things Bismarck.
Mister Bismarck, as he's known to his friends and co workers,
is responsible for managing the day to day operations for
the City of Bismarck and serves as oversight for the
planning and direction of all service functions across all fifteen
(01:46):
city departments.
Speaker 4 (01:47):
Welcome Jason, Thank you very much. I'm glad to be here.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
Do we need to refer to you as mister Bismarck
throughout the entire episode here?
Speaker 4 (01:56):
I don't think that's necessary.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
So as mister Bismarck, what why have you made Bismarck home?
Speaker 5 (02:03):
So I grew up here, I'm a Bismarck kid, and
I took a little time to get through college. I
always joked that I squeezed a five year degree into
ten years worth of college, and it took three campuses
to get there. But by the time I graduated, I
was twenty nine years old, and of the seventeen people
in my class at NDSU with degrees in landscape architecture,
(02:27):
sixteen of them left the state of North Dakota.
Speaker 4 (02:29):
I worked very hard.
Speaker 5 (02:30):
To stay here in North Dakota, and I was really
glad to be able to get a job in my
hometown in Bismarck. So there was out migration was the
big topic at that time, and I just really felt
that I didn't want to follow that path. So I
was very glad, very fortunate to be able to get
(02:51):
a job in my hometown. And here I am today,
still working for the city in a couple of different
positions over that time, but it's been a great eighteen years.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
What is a degree in landscape architecture?
Speaker 5 (03:03):
What is a degree in landscape architecture? So a landscape
architect is a person. When I went to school, they
taught us a landscape architect should be the first person
on a site and the last person to leave the site,
and so landscape architects often get involved with things like
neighborhood planning. More commonly, you'll see them working in park planning.
(03:27):
A lot of my classmates went to school to learn
how to design golf courses. Believe it or not, but
landscape architects also do very public things like plazas, and
like the Riverfront Festival Browns project that we're working on
right now, the lead designer on that project is a
landscape architect.
Speaker 2 (03:47):
Some I would have never never known that was a.
Speaker 5 (03:50):
Degree, or I didn't know it was a thing either
until it was until I was in my mid twenties.
And I actually, you know how you hear people say
the job found you, that particular career found me. I
had never heard of it. I was visiting a friend
of mine who was at NDSU. One of his roommates
was a landscape architect, and I had never heard those
(04:11):
two words together. And I said, you got to tell
me more about this, because I was actually very interested
in all things outdoors. I had considered a career in
forestry at one point. When I figured out what that
really meant.
Speaker 4 (04:22):
That was it.
Speaker 3 (04:24):
So Tia talked about or I'm sorry, I talked about that.
You have a large collection of items relating to Bismarck's history.
What inspired you to collect all those things?
Speaker 5 (04:34):
You know?
Speaker 4 (04:34):
I'm not even sure.
Speaker 5 (04:36):
I think it all started with a postcard, a single
postcard of downtown Bismarck. I picked it up at a
local antique store here, put it in a little frame,
and put it in my office in the community development department.
And I think that just kind of sparked it, at
least for Bismarck stuff and being able to work in
(04:57):
the community development department. I learned so much about how
this community grew, the neighborhoods, the developers, the people that
were part of this community from the very early on.
And I guess I've always been a student of history.
At one point in my long path to get to
landscape architecture, I was actually going to school to be
a history teacher. So I find history interesting in general.
(05:20):
But to get so specific, to be able to focus
on your hometown, I think that's pretty outstanding.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
So if it started with a postcard, we know it's
grown significantly. If you had to pick one item that's
your favorite, what would.
Speaker 4 (05:34):
That be, I don't know.
Speaker 5 (05:38):
I would probably stick to the postcard. I have a
single postcard. It's actually two postcards attached, and it is
a panoramic view of Main Avenue or Main Street at
the time. On the left side of the postcard is
the depot. On the right side is Main Avenue, much
like we see it today, and it's a black and
white street scene and it's It's not every day you
(06:01):
find two postcards connected together, so it's different than a
lot of them. That's probably one of the many favorite things.
I don't know if I could pick just one.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
Though, So do you do you know the timeframe that
that postcard was taken over or not?
Speaker 5 (06:17):
It's the late nineteen ten's early nineteen teens, because in
the postcard on the east side you can see the
Patterson building, and the Patterson was built about nineteen ten.
Speaker 4 (06:27):
Cool.
Speaker 3 (06:27):
So what is the most surprising thing that you've learned
when you've studied the history of Bismarck.
Speaker 5 (06:34):
I don't know about surprising, but I think maybe the
most fascinating thing that I enjoy about Bismarck's history is baseball.
I'm a baseball guy in general. I played baseball, I
coached when my son was playing. It's my favorite sport overall.
But there are records, there are reports from the Bismarck
tribute that baseball games were being played at Fort Lincoln,
(06:55):
the original Fort Lincoln site which today we know is
United Tribes Technical College. There were baseball games being played
in the eighteen seventies by the soldiers that were stationed
at Fort Lincoln.
Speaker 4 (07:06):
That's pretty cool.
Speaker 2 (07:07):
Cool.
Speaker 5 (07:08):
So the soldiers brought baseball to Bismarck is essentially what happened.
And if you follow the history of baseball throughout Bismarck,
there are some pretty significant milestones. There are some wonderful teams,
and there's some names that many people know nationwide that
actually played baseball here. The nineteen thirty five baseball team.
Speaker 4 (07:30):
Many know that team had.
Speaker 5 (07:32):
A player, Satchel Page, who went on to play professionally
in the major leagues. He was also a very well
known athlete in the Negro leagues prior to being in Bismarck.
Not only was that team the best at that time,
they actually won a semi pro tournament in Wichita, Kansas,
nineteen thirty five, but that team was integrated. In nineteen
(07:53):
thirty five, Bismarck, North Dakota had an integrated baseball team
and there were teams in that tournament that refused to
play against Bismarck because of that integration.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
That's greyt I had no idea, Did you have no idea?
That's pretty awesome. So Sergiana and I sometimes we research
our guests, so I don't know if this was in
your bio off the top of my head, or if
we just found it, but we read that you've collected
a brick from every downtown building that's been torn down
(08:26):
in the last fifteen years. How many do you have
and what are some of those businesses?
Speaker 5 (08:32):
I don't know if it's every building anymore. I know
I've missed a couple, and I do have a few
bricks from buildings that weren't downtown, but I think they
were significant enough. But yes, I have managed to get
my hands on a few pieces of history that were
torn down and demolished. I guess some of them that
stand out. Excuse me for anybody that remembers the Dakota
(08:53):
Twin Theater. It was on the corner of Fourth and Broadway.
I'm sorry, Fourth and Ross. Today there's a finance institution.
It's on the northeast corner. I remember as a kid
going to movies in that theater, and so when the
building was torn down. It was probably two thousand and
eight and nine ten, maybe somewhere in there. That's one
of the first ones. I probably started it. Since that time,
(09:16):
I've acquired bricks from the former governor's residence that was
demolished at the Capitol grounds, and maybe some things that
weren't demolished. But as people learn, I have collected things.
Two different people in the community have given me bricks.
One of them was a paver that was part of
the street at one time. It's a much bigger brick,
(09:37):
and very recently, when the improvements were done at the
Northern Pacific Depot, similar bricks were found under the parking
lot when they pulled that out, and so those it's
not a cobblestone, but it's.
Speaker 4 (09:49):
A brick paver.
Speaker 5 (09:50):
I've got one of those, not from the depot, but
from a Bismarck street. And then I've got another brick
that again I can't prove this, but I was told
it came from the original Bismarck I'm sorry, the original
state capital that burned in nineteen thirty.
Speaker 3 (10:07):
So while investigating, we also found out, and we're surprised
to find out, that you use eBay as a source
of your purchases. Is there are really that many things
on eBay that are come from Bismarck, And is that
where most of your purchases come from.
Speaker 5 (10:24):
I wouldn't say most of them come from there, but
you'd be surprised what is out there. And what fascinates
me isn't just what's out there, but it's where does
it come from? So some of the things that I've
picked up postcards pretty common. You'll find postcard vendors on
eBay with literally hundreds of thousands of cards for sale.
I am hyper focused on just Bismarck. I'm not interested
(10:46):
in any other topic, and I prefer historic postcards other
historic things that I've picked up. One of them, it's
a mirror, and it's a little handheld mirror and it's old.
Speaker 4 (10:59):
On one side.
Speaker 5 (11:00):
On the back side of the mirror, there's actually a
picture of the Northern Pacific rail Bridge, and I have
that same picture on a postcard, and the postcard is
stamped nineteen ten, so that'll date the mirror just a
little bit. But the mirror is maybe two and a
half inch diameter circular. On the backside is a picture
of the rail bridge and it's got a little metal handle.
And I took it to the Historical Society one day
(11:22):
without any without making an appointment or anything. I just
wandered in and I asked someone there. I said, have
you guys seen anything like this? Can you tell me?
You know, do you have other things? And they said,
we've seen one mirror similar similar to this, not with
this particular picture on it, but never won with a handle.
And they said maybe. We asked where you got it,
and I said, well, I got it on eBay. Believe
(11:43):
it or not, that mirror came back to Bismarck from
San Francisco. So I messaged the cellar and I said,
can you tell me anything about this in The seller said,
I'm sorry.
Speaker 4 (11:53):
I bought it an estate sale.
Speaker 5 (11:55):
So I like to think, and I have no reason
to no ability to prove this, but I liked it
that that mirror was purchased here at the depot as
a memento or as a souvenir. Maybe a parent taking
it back to their child. Maybe a child picked it
up while they were here in traveling West. I don't know,
but I like to know that I'm bringing these things
home and I put them in places where people can
(12:16):
appreciate them and share them and talk about them and
learn about them and just spread some of the history around.
Speaker 4 (12:23):
I guess so.
Speaker 3 (12:25):
Jenny Briya, we talked about that. You have the vice
president of the Vismark Historical Society. Is that a lot
of the things that the Historical Society does is they
find things that people may have and you can bring
them there and they can maybe talk about the historical
significance of something that they have to some degree.
Speaker 5 (12:40):
Yes, the Historical Society, it's a nonprofit organization and our
mission is to preserve and promote bis Mark's rich history.
And one of the ways we promote history is a
program just like this. We have a radio and a
podcast program called History Hot Dish here on to go
to media access. We do a program at the library
several months throughout out the year. We have a board
(13:02):
of directors, and the board is composed of people with
various talents, but all of us are interested in history.
Some of the things that we do as an organization,
I guess we have an archive where.
Speaker 4 (13:13):
People do donate things.
Speaker 5 (13:15):
They'll say, Wow, I was cleaning out my parents' house
and came across this stuff.
Speaker 4 (13:19):
Maybe you guys would be interested in it. Not everything
we have room for. We have a very.
Speaker 5 (13:23):
Modest office space and not a lot of room to
preserve things, but we are working to digitize some of
those important records. One of the projects that we're working
on now is actually in conjunction with the City of Ismark.
We have the old police logs from the early nineteen
hundreds where they were handwritten, all the incidents, all the
things the officers were doing, all the calls that were made.
(13:46):
We have volunteers that are transcribing those logs so they
are preserved digitally. In the event of the future that
paper isn't sustainable or whatever happens storage becomes a problem,
we'll have these things archived in an other way. So
we do a lot of different things to promote history,
but it's all in good spirit. It's all volunteer and
(14:06):
it's just a bunch of local people that I think
it started out people getting, you know, gathering and having
a reason to learn more and celebrate Bismarck's history. I'm
fortunate that a lot of the groundwork was done before
I joined the board. I'm fairly new, maybe just a
couple of years on the board. And so we've been
able to really amplify some of the offerings throughout the
community to just continue to fulfill the mission.
Speaker 2 (14:29):
I don't know why, but the thought of reading those
police logs seems very interesting to me. Maybe it seems
it's great yeahs, and.
Speaker 5 (14:38):
The handwriting is just beautiful. It's all incursive, of course,
and I struggle to read some of that. But the
people that are helping are doing a great job. It's
really cool to hear some of the things that they're
pulling out of there.
Speaker 2 (14:50):
And will that eventually be open to the public.
Speaker 4 (14:54):
It would be our hope. Yes. Through our website, we've.
Speaker 5 (14:57):
Got a number of things available, whether it be pictures
or collections, or we have announcements. We have a Facebook
page where we talk about all the programming and things
that are coming up. So in the future, yes, when
the project is done, it would be wonderful to be
able to share that not just with the city Police Department,
but also with the entire community, because there's some really
interesting stories in.
Speaker 2 (15:16):
There that'd be interesting. So you've talked about quite a
few things that you've collected. What is the item that
traces back the furthest that you're aware of as.
Speaker 5 (15:28):
Far as modern history things that I can can date.
I have some postcards that are actually postmarked pre statehood.
So North Kota became state November second, eighteen eighty nine.
I have postcards that are postmarked from the late eighteen
seventies and early eighteen eighty and they actually say Bismarck DT,
(15:48):
which means Dakota Territory.
Speaker 3 (15:51):
So we're going to display all this stuff.
Speaker 4 (15:54):
Not at home.
Speaker 5 (15:56):
Fortunately, because I work for the city, I think it's
kind of neat to be able to share that with
people that come to our office. And so I've got
a couple of antique cabinets in the Mayor's conference room,
which is on the fourth floor of the City County Building,
shock filled with all sorts of goodies, whether it be
matchbooks or tokens from various shops that were around, porcelain
(16:21):
items that were purchased at the aw Lucas store. I've
got a big metal or tin can from the old
Schultz Creamery that used to be right over here across
the street from where we are today. Most of those
items are either in my office in picture frames hanging
on the wall, or in these two antique cabinets in
the mayor's conference room or in the city administration department.
Speaker 2 (16:43):
So do you log everything that you have?
Speaker 5 (16:46):
No, I don't have a very good inventory. I like
to think I've got a pretty good memory, but I
probably should go through and identify everything for the future,
because I joke a lot of times that this will
be my kids problem someday, because nobody's going to want
to collect old porcelain stuff from Bismarck. I don't collect
(17:07):
old porcelain stuff. I collect old porcelain stuff from Bismarck,
So there's a difference. I collect plates, but only if
they say Bismarck, North Dakota on them. But I can
appreciate that not everybody has an interest in this type
of stuff. So I should probably write down what it is,
why it's significant, maybe where it came from, and a
little bit of a narrative to go along with it.
I suppose that would make the archivists and the preservationist happy.
Speaker 2 (17:30):
Besides that, So you said you have a good memory,
but I like to think so can you? Just so
how I function? All of a sudden, I'd be like,
I want that postcard from here, and then not remember
where I put it. So you're fairly aware of where
everything is that you have.
Speaker 5 (17:46):
So postcards specifically, Yes, I have close to five hundred
different postcards, and I have them in my office in
three different books, and they're categorized by seeing top era
a variety of ways, and I can flip through them
and if you were to pull one out, I could
probably tell you which.
Speaker 4 (18:07):
One was missing.
Speaker 2 (18:08):
Are most of those like actual photographs on the postcards?
Are they more artwork or so?
Speaker 4 (18:15):
It depends.
Speaker 5 (18:16):
It depends on when the postcard was created. In the
world of postcards. So I guess we'll just get this
out of the way. If you collect postcards, you are
a deltyologist. The art of collecting postcards, or the hobby
of collecting postcards, is called deltyology. Postcards began in the
(18:36):
early eighteen seventies. They were actually something that was issued
by the government as a means to communicate. Over time,
you can actually identify postcards just by what's on the
front of it or the texture of it. There's different
eras that were created or evolved as postcards came about.
(18:57):
There was a linen postcard that actually had a physic
texture to it. It was probably in the nineteen twenties
and thirties. It was the United States' response to Germany.
For the first fifty years of postcard printing, most postcards
were actually manufactured in Germany because they had the best
technology when it came to printing. So as the US
got better and things became more evolved the war was over,
(19:19):
resources were more available. The United States got pretty competitive
in the world of postcard printing, and so you can
figure out when they were created just by looking at them.
The newer ones are obviously much glossier, there's a sheen
to them, but some of the earliest ones were just that.
They were simply a photograph that was taken, printed on
(19:39):
a postcard and then dropped in the mail with a
quick note.
Speaker 2 (19:43):
That's I feel like I could go off this and
ask about forty seven more questions on that. But all
of this aligns up very well with your current job
as the city administrator. What is a typical day to
day like with that.
Speaker 5 (19:59):
I don't know that that any day is typical, And
sometimes I joke around the office that you know, one
phone call or one email can change your entire day.
I will say this, the work that we do in
the city administration apartment definitely has a rhythm and a
pattern to it, and it's generally on a two week
cycle because we are following the pattern of the City
Commission meetings and so a big part of the work
(20:21):
in the Administration Department is to coordinate the work of
all the other departments to get to those City Commission
meetings and then all the actions and activities that happen
after that. Honestly, my day is filled with a lot
of meetings. I go, you know, I visit with a
lot of different departments. I visit with community stakeholders. I
am always on the go, whether it be part of
(20:45):
boards and committees, or working with the mayor and commissioners,
or kicking off another projects. It's different virtually every hour
of the day, which is great because I can show
up and have a clean calendar and within fifteen minutes
my day is because it doesn't take long for things
to work their way up to our attention. And oftentimes
(21:07):
when people are coming to the City Administrative Department, other
city departments are coming to City Administration, it's to get
some help.
Speaker 4 (21:13):
They got to a.
Speaker 5 (21:14):
Spot where they're maybe stuck. They need a little advice,
they need some direction, a decision maybe needs to get
made happy to work in all of those arenas, I
am very comfortable working in a collaborative environment.
Speaker 4 (21:27):
I don't really subscribe to this idea of being the
lone wolf.
Speaker 5 (21:31):
For the the traditional leadership style of the great man theory,
where only one person can be the one to make
those decisions, that's a one hundred and.
Speaker 4 (21:39):
Eighty degrees off of the way I operate.
Speaker 5 (21:41):
I like to surround myself with people that know more
than I do about those things, and collectively we can
work on a decision that makes the most sense, not
only for the organization, but for the community or for
anybody involved.
Speaker 3 (21:53):
So when do you find more surprising since you took
over this position, I.
Speaker 5 (21:59):
Would say the variety of things. And to be fair,
I was the assistant city administrator for eight years, so
I watched Keith Hunky, the former administrator, do.
Speaker 4 (22:09):
The work that he did.
Speaker 5 (22:11):
And when I interviewed with the commissioners back in February,
I told them I said, I am not Keith. I
will not do work like he did. He is not me,
and the results might be the same, but we're going
to take a different path to get there. And I
try and tell myself sometimes whatever you've done to this
point must be working, because I am in a.
Speaker 4 (22:31):
Position of.
Speaker 5 (22:34):
Very a significant position, and I am very fortunate to
have that. I try and use that to ground myself,
to make sure that just keep doing what you're doing.
Whatever you've done to this point seems to be working.
People don't run away when I walk in a room.
Most days, I really really enjoy the work that I do,
and I very much enjoy working with the people, not
(22:55):
only within the organization but throughout the community.
Speaker 4 (22:58):
So I guess, what.
Speaker 5 (23:00):
Are some of What is the biggest surprise? I would say,
right now, it's the pace of learning. And I like
to ask this question when we interview people, and it's
kind of a trick question. We don't really give it
a score, but I ask people, how long do you
think it will take you to become proficient in the
work that you're asked to do? And the answer I'm
looking for there is at least a year, because there
(23:20):
are certain things that you will do one time a year,
and how can you be proficient if you've never done
it before? And so I give myself a little bit
of a pass that I am still learning.
Speaker 4 (23:30):
I've been doing this job less than a year. There
are things that I.
Speaker 5 (23:33):
Have not yet done, and frankly, there are things that
I might do once every two years, just based on
the cycle in the rhythm, the legislature being one of them.
And so with all of that in mind, the surprises
has been the pace, the.
Speaker 4 (23:50):
Volume of work.
Speaker 5 (23:50):
But then also I'm starting to feel like we're having
momentum in the right direction.
Speaker 4 (23:55):
We're moving forward as an organization.
Speaker 5 (23:57):
We're really starting to come together with directors and having
regular meetings and scheduling things, and it's just things are
working really well right now, and so I'm always optimistic,
but I'm feeling good too well.
Speaker 2 (24:10):
So you mentioned there that you are the assistant city administrator.
Prior to that, other than missing the HRC once a month,
how does that are your current role differ from that
As the assistant city admin.
Speaker 5 (24:23):
I would say the biggest change is my time is
spent much more broadly throughout the organization. As the assistant
City Administrator, you're essentially the director of the administration department.
There's a small staff, but the assistant City Administrator doesn't
have authority over any of the other department directors. They're
(24:43):
essentially on the same organizational line, and so the assistant
administrator works with the staff, works with human relations committee,
works with the Animal Advisory Board, and more of the
in house type things. The assistant administrator position all has
become kind of the project manager, the person or the
(25:05):
position that catches those projects that the organization will benefit from,
but no one specific department really stands out to take
the lead on. And one of those types of things
would be the strategic plan that affects the entire organization.
But which department would manage that wouldn't be public Health,
it wouldn't be engineering. It would land with administration because
it's the broadest department. So what is the biggest difference
(25:28):
between that and where I'm at now? I would say
I am out of the office more now being where
others are going to the library for their Board of
Directors meetings, meeting with the fire chief at one of
the fire stations, just being engaged in the work that
they're doing as well, because I want to be able
to support them. I want to know what those departments
are doing, and I want to be a resource to
(25:52):
any of the staff or any of the directors within
the organization. And I think in order for me to
do that effectively, I've got to go where they are.
Speaker 2 (26:00):
That's interesting because we've been on that committee for how
long and I don't think I had a clue what
either of those roles did.
Speaker 4 (26:09):
And most people probably don't.
Speaker 5 (26:11):
Frankly, we're one of those not always seen, not always
heard from either And I get it. City municipal government.
It can be confusing. We are different than the county.
We are different than schools, We are different than the parks.
We are different than the state and the federal government.
We are local government. And if you don't engage with
us on a regular basis, I'm sure there are many
(26:32):
people in this community that don't know the mayor's name.
And I'm not saying that in a disrespectful way. Some
people just don't engage in that way. I can't accept
the fact that silence is acceptance. But at the same time,
oftentimes when we hear from people, it's because they are upset,
or there is a concern, or there is a problem
(26:53):
in their life. The rest of the community, we're growing.
We're growing one thousand people a year and we have
for the last twenty years.
Speaker 4 (27:01):
To me, that means satisfaction.
Speaker 5 (27:02):
There is something about Bismarck, North Dakota that keeps people here.
And whatever we're doing, we need to keep doing because
this town is becoming more diverse, This town is growing,
this town is it's different than it was when I
was a kid, And it's better than it was when
I was a kid because of the diversity, because of
the cultures that are here, because of the people that
(27:23):
are here, bringing their ideas, bringing their families, bringing their
worlds to Bismarck.
Speaker 3 (27:29):
So, as Ts said, we met you through We're both
on the Human Relations Committee. So we're a city, we're
an appointed committee. We're all volunteers or appointed by the mayor.
What would you tell someone who is maybe on the
fence about sitting on a committee like ours?
Speaker 5 (27:46):
First I would say do it, get involved, don't be afraid.
But if you aren't certain, I would say, come to
the meetings. Engage in one way or another, whether it
be through Dakota Media Access, Listen to the meetings, play
them back.
Speaker 4 (28:02):
Come to the meetings.
Speaker 5 (28:03):
All of our meetings, committee meetings, city commission meetings, those
types of things. Those are public meetings. If they're in
the Tom Baker meeting room, they're open to the public.
So if you're interested in getting involved, come and observe
and see what these groups are about, or call one
of us. We would love to tell you what these
different committees are doing. Many of them are advisory, meaning
(28:25):
they work through problems or projects that are specific to
their topic and they provide a recommendation for the City
Commission to make a final decision or determination. That is
a kind of the fundamental role of many of the
advisory boards, and it's a great way for the City
Commission to stay at a higher level and let subject
matter experts really grind through some of those project particulars.
(28:45):
Another thing I would say, and this is going to
be a shameless plug for a program that I helped
I was part of the development group of we have
a Bismarck Citizen Academy. We have a twelve week program
that starts January. Every Thursday in January, February and March
twenty Bismarck residents will spend three hours with city staff
(29:07):
getting to know the buildings, facilities, what each department does.
Speaker 4 (29:12):
We do.
Speaker 5 (29:13):
I say, it's a behind the scenes, in depth look
at us as an organization. We visit different buildings, we
toour as many as we can from that program. We've
done that three years now. The first year we had
twelve participants. The two years after that we had twenty.
So we've had fifty two people go through that. Two
of the participants were on the ballot in June for
(29:36):
City commission this year. That's pretty cool.
Speaker 3 (29:41):
We just have Commissioner John Rish actually tape with us
and he said the reason why he actually ran for
office was because of the Citizen Academy and the information
he learned.
Speaker 5 (29:51):
Yeah, and that's one of the things that kind of
fills my cup. It's Thursday nights, it's three hours, it's January, February, March,
it's cold, it's dark. But the feedback and the input
and the experiences that we can share with the citizens
(30:13):
and then come back and say, you know, I always
wondered about that, or I always wanted to get involved,
and I wasn't sure if I had the expertise or
the information. And now I'm confident to apply for these things.
That's what it's all about. The only thing I wish
is that the program could be bigger. We could do
two hundred people every year and not just twenty. But
(30:34):
given the size of some of our buildings and just
the resources that it would take to grow that program.
We're still continuing to figure out how to do that.
Right now, twenty seems to be the right size and shape,
and we're getting ready to gear up for our fourth
season of Citizen Academy. And so if anybody's got questions
about that, by all means, certainly reach out to our office.
Speaker 4 (30:55):
We'd be happy to tell you about that too.
Speaker 2 (30:57):
So you're obviously a big advocate for investing in your community,
whether it's at a city committee level or just in
any other capacity. Why do you think it's important for
people to get involved.
Speaker 5 (31:11):
I think if you want to be engaged in your community,
if you want to help affect change, if you want
to make a difference, you got to start somewhere, and
you can start at any one of these levels. You
can start coming to the meeting so you can start
asking questions. But frankly, this is how stuff gets done.
And I realize government gets criticized for the pace. We
(31:32):
are not the most swift organization on the planet. However,
we are very intentional, we are very transparent, we are
very open to engaging with the public. There's nothing worse
than having a public meeting, and there's more city staff
than there are residents to learn about the project, and
so one of the struggles that we are working to
overcome and constantly try and really do our best is
(31:58):
getting the public to come to these sessions to learn things,
to give feedback, to provide input, because it's those voices
that ultimately influence the change.
Speaker 3 (32:08):
So we know you're a big advocate for the Human
Relations Committee. In fact, you're kind of the one who
throughout the idea of us having a podcast, and we're
in episode fifty now. So why do you think the
Committee of the Human Relations Committee is so important to
community like ours?
Speaker 5 (32:25):
I think it helps celebrate and recognize what Bismarck is becoming.
Growing up here, this town was pretty homogeneous. There was
some culture that I can recall, but not nearly as
diverse as we are today. And I think to the
mission of the Human Relations Committee to celebrate the diversity
(32:46):
that is here, I think that's just a tremendous opportunity.
And I've watched this committee evolve over the years, and
different faces have come and gone, and some of the
things that you as a group have been able to
accomplish have been very impressive, whether it be the community
conversations or episode fifty of these are your neighbors. To me,
(33:06):
it's inspiring to see the dedication again, the volunteerism, the
willingness to just simply put out your hand and say,
come on in, let's talk, let's get to know each other,
Let's just enjoy Bismarck for what it is. So I
should say thanks to both of you for the time
and energy that you've put forth into this, because, by
no means is it just showing up once a month
(33:29):
for a meeting. There's a lot more that goes into it.
Speaker 4 (33:31):
Than just that.
Speaker 2 (33:33):
Well, if it was just showing up once a month
for the podcast, I'd be on board, but Sergiona keeps
me in mind. So we are out of time here.
So the last question that we ask everyone is how
would you encourage your neighbor to create an atmosphere of inclusion, equality,
diversity and accessibility.
Speaker 5 (33:51):
I'm going to borrow a line from the mayor. Mayor
Mike Schmiz he has worked on an initiative to help
Bismarck become not just friendly, but more welcoming and to
reach out to people. I'm guilty of this too. I'll
smile at you, I'll nod at you on the sidewalk.
I might do that for a month or two, maybe
(34:11):
even a year or two before I'm actually willing or
able to put out my hand.
Speaker 4 (34:15):
And say hi. My name is Jason.
Speaker 5 (34:17):
And I think as a community, for those of us
that are here, for those of us that will continue
to call this home, recognizing there are new faces here
all the time, we need to be better about saying
hi to these people as opposed to just being nice
to them. We need to help them find their way
in this community and stay here, because I think you
(34:38):
get about twelve to eighteen months when somebody relocates to
a new community for them to decide do I stay
or do I go? Do I stay here because there's
things that cause me to want to be here, or
do I get out of here because I just don't
feel like this is the right place. And if we
can help more people feel like this is the right place,
we're going to be better in the end.
Speaker 2 (34:58):
Right.
Speaker 3 (34:59):
Well you everyone for tuning into these are your neighbors
with our guests Jason Toomonic, thank you for wanting to
get to know your neighbors as we hold these important
and necessary conversations. If you follow this conversation as important
as we do, please make sure to share with your neighbors.
Speaker 1 (35:15):
Thank you for tuning into these or your Neighbors a
podcast hosted by the City of Bismarck Human Relations Committee
and produced by Dakota Media Access. The purpose of the
Bismarck Human Relations Committee is to create an atmosphere of inclusion, equality,
and accessibility through education and outreach to recognize the value
(35:36):
of a diverse community. For more information about the Human
Relations Committee, visit bizmarckand dot gov.
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