00:00:11,230	All right. Good morning everybody. Go ahead and call the May board meeting of the Burleigh County Water Resource District to order. Wendy, take roll call, please. Manager here. Manager Mischel here. Manager here. Manager Smith here. Chairman. Landenberger. Here. We have a quorum.

00:00:31,270	We will continue moving on to item two this morning. Approval of last month’s the April board meetings. Meeting minutes. So moved. I’ll second. Got a motion by Manager Smith and a second by manager to approve the meeting. Minutes from last month’s meeting. All those in favor say aye. Aye aye aye. Opposed? Ayes have it. Meeting minutes are approved.

00:00:58,430	Moving on to item three this morning. Uh. The agenda. Any changes or additions to the agenda this morning? Jeff, we were thinking dull. Damn. Yeah. McDowell. Down with the, uh, with the aerators and the parking lot stuff. Maintenance that’s going to be taking place there. Okay. So we’ll add item D, parking lot discussion, and then item E aerators. Okay.

00:01:29,170	And then I would like to add under item nine projects the Apple Creek slide. Uh item five there just a new slide area of have Casey kind of update us. What? Uh, there was a report of a of an additional slide in that area so Casey can give us an update.

00:01:46,630	So I move to approve the agenda as amended. Okay. Second. Got a motion by Manager Smith. Second by Manager Mischel to approve the agenda, as amended. Any other discussion? All those in favor say aye. Aye, aye. Opposed? Ayes have it. Agenda is approved. Okay. Moving on to item for this morning.

00:02:14,730	Any comments from members of the public not associated with the project but still associated with business for the Burleigh County Water Board. Good morning. Good morning. Members of the board. Can you guys hear me at this time? Perfect. Okay, there it is. Good morning chairman. Good morning. Members of the board. Members of the public. My name is Josh Lewis.

00:02:42,600	I’m the president of person. Um, I’m here to facilitate discussion or any questions you may have. I understand that you have an invoice in front of you. Correct. There was an invoice that Michael sent us. Yeah. Yep. And I understand there is some reservations. Well, yeah. Josh, we don’t have a contract with you.

00:03:05,270	That’s. That’s correct. I was under time and materials, so we kind of fall into this space where, per our agreement and our meeting, I was under the assumption, based on what we agreed upon, that there should have been a contract in place. Okay. So.

00:03:26,600	So what meeting are you referring to? Josh? The meeting at Houston Engineering in the conference room with you and legal. David bliss? Yep. And we talked about kind of next steps and having some meetings with Kidder County and potentially Stutsman County, but I don’t remember discussing kind of next steps as far as data collection or, you know, things of that. Well.

00:03:48,770	I did not invoice for data collection. We have in-house data. And then open source data that we do tech reviews and know way are we. This is study and research. We’re not investigating. You don’t see invest as one of the task items or study. Or root cause it’d be route that implies we’re investigating something.

00:04:16,800	Meaning that there would be recommendations, findings, conclusions and a memo or a report. That’s not what we’re doing. We’re simply having discussions with us. Fish and wildlife. What you don’t see on here is the hours spent at the refuge. Since our conversation. 7 or 8 meetings, give or take.

00:04:41,470	I didn’t bill for that. Nor did I bill for my travel time. Why? Because I came back to this state to start a business as a veteran.

00:05:03,370	Having a veteran owned small business to steward and get back to the state of North Dakota that bestowed so much upon me. Why? Because we owe it to our citizens to give them the best ROI that we can. Meaning, I’m going to over deliver, over perform and give you the data that you want at a reasonable cost. Ryan I’ll give it to you. Just got to work it out.

00:05:26,730	Okay. Josh. So I’m looking at the invoice here from your company, and it’s sent to Michael Bunch with Houston Engineering. Do you have an agreement with Houston Engineering? No, that was the direction that was given by Mr. Crunch. Okay. So again, I we do not have a contract with your company. Correct.

00:05:45,670	So, um, our our contract is with Houston Engineering to do engineering for us. So as a sub consultant to him, if that was what was agreed upon by the board, that’s how we would pay for your services is through Houston, as our engineer. That I understand that. I think we’re.

00:06:06,100	Kind of misunderstanding that at all. I mean, this. Yeah, I think the right and the professional thing to do here before we get into the weeds and we get out of the realm of professional space, is I need to sit down with you one on one and have a discussion. Sure. Yeah. That’s fine. Mr. chairman.

00:06:31,270	Yeah. Um, Josh? I’m sorry. Josh, right? Correct. Sorry. Um, beyond the contractual part of it. When did I. I’m looking at your invoice here. I don’t I don’t recall when you might have had that discussion with with James and another board member at Houston engineering offices, but when did some of these expenses be? When were they

00:06:52,500	incurred? I guess they don’t have dates on them, right? So the meeting, the inter-district meeting, Kidder County with their staff, water resource board, uh, Stutsman County was there as well. That was at the end of February.

00:07:13,270	It was, I believe, that Friday, because I took my daughter to Disney on Ice in Fargo. I went to Fargo after that, which, by the way, I really don’t want to be here this morning because my daughter has her end of the year program at Shiloh. And I got to leave in 15 minutes.

00:07:31,170	So the fact that she’s not able to have breakfast with her dad, because I got to address this issue this morning, I have a problem with that. But here I am. Okay, so. Michael, let’s go. Maybe I don’t know if we need to. Just a couple of things, Mister Chairman.

00:07:55,170	Typically what we do with the sub consultants are very similar to what we do with Braun. We ended up with a separate contract, and the board pays it so that we don’t end up up charging for our policy. Um, on this one. Yeah. Um, we did not get that done in the timeline that we needed to for this one.

00:08:11,900	So we can still get that put in place and consider this, um, down the road. I do think that the information I talked to Roger and I talked to James. The information that is here is valuable. Um, it’s a timing of when it occurred somewhat relative to the contract.

00:08:29,370	So I think if you put the contract in place, um, then it’s prudent to move forward with the invoice as it is. And that’s kind of some of the information that I’ve shared before. So. You’re saying the contract with the. , you know, the contract, like we do with Braun tech? Um, it’d be separate and it’d be directly with the board.

00:08:44,800	We would review these, which is why they come to us and you review them for content review and for background what’s done and review in question. And then authorize the board for payment. And I think we do the same here. We just need to get the contract in place to do that.

00:09:03,170	And now that’s partially my fault. I’ll take blame for that because we shared the rate sheet last time so we could move things forward, but we didn’t have a formal contract.

00:09:20,530	And I think as far as from a board standpoint, just understanding what the scope and timeline and work items were, you know, from that meeting, I don’t think we lined out what, you know, to this degree, kind of what was what Josh was going to complete as far as work and how much that was going to cost the board. Yeah, we’ve been in a number of different routes, and I’ve talked to Dave about this too.

00:09:36,100	Um, as the standpoint we started out with a complaint process and it kind of grew and went in like 3 or 4 different directions. So in a way, we were spinning our wheels to get to the point to where we’re at today relative to how that discussion with the refuge will occur.

00:09:49,430	Um, I think we’re in the right place. Um, to do that, um, and the next steps are a little bit off track here, but I’ll just step on that. The next step, the Stutsman County has completed its task of sending the summary and report to Burleigh County.

00:10:09,170	Now, the issue is, and I think Roger was going to check base with, uh, Jared at the refuge to get them back into the office and have a one on one discussion with them to see what pathway they’re on. And this information that Josh has gathered is obviously valuable in that discussion for them and the board to take this to the next step.

00:10:28,900	Yeah, I guess, Mr. Chairman, I just would like clarity on what we’re doing here. I mean, we received a drainage complaint. To me, that’s the only official capacity that we’ve been really need to engage at this point. And I might just as a note, I see a meeting between Carter County and and Stutsman County.

00:10:47,100	I’m thinking, why are we paying for for any services related to that? And so I know there’s indirect connection there, but I think we are I think we maybe need to be just a little more defined in what we’re going to do and what we should be doing.

00:11:01,000	So I’d appreciate that as part of any type of scope language that we can, um, use to measure invoices against. Yeah. And I would agree with you, Dennis, from the standpoint, you know, we started out in technically and I’ll use, uh, the legalistic term, we do not have a

00:11:19,100	complaint in front of us. And we deviated from the idea of having a complaint so that we didn’t get into the timeline process. That’s in the century Code and everything else.

00:11:34,630	Um, what we’re doing now is basically, rather than getting a complaint process from Kidder County and just as background, you know, I prepared the information for the county to file their complaint as part of the direction from the board, but we’re not going down that path right now. We’re just going to be having a discussion with them directly. And to your point, I think that refines the scope.

00:11:50,100	So we need to have the conversation with the refuge to define the what they are going to do. In fact, in a perfect world, they do. The vast majority of this. But so uh, valid points. Chairman, if I may, um, I have asked for clarification, authorization and direction.

00:12:10,600	I know I sent an email to you, Brian. Correct? Yep. Was it pretty clear that I needed direction? Yeah, it was pretty strongly worded. We basically I basically took that as we will the board will kind of work on its own. And thank you for your offer. Understood. That’s that’s correct. So I’ve been very clear. Was this recent read.

00:12:31,170	Uh, that email would have been two weeks ago roughly. Yeah, roughly two. Weeks ago. Good. So and then I also expressed the same concerns with Roger in our meeting about going forward with what I may or may not say on behalf of him to refuge staff, relaying the message. Right. Yeah. And as of right now, I.

00:12:58,430	Yeah, our next step is my conversation would be the refuge. Yeah. Yep. Now I have a rapport with the refuge. It’s been long standing, so I continue. Even today, we’re spending. Leave it all the money that we’re taking in. We invest right back into the community to study and research.

00:13:23,530	We’re in wing Regan, New John’s. You’ll be hearing about that later this year. Logan Township, McKenzie, Slough, all over it. So if you if you want answers, we’re here. I’m willing to work with you guys, but I need clear, concise direction. We agree 100%. Okay, I think I like your idea.

00:13:47,800	Maybe we’ll just find some time here to, you know, for you and I and pilot Michael to meet and discuss kind of what’s how I’ve gotten to this point and what we want to do moving forward and getting a contract in place, I think would be first and foremost.

00:14:01,900	So we’re not we’re not saying that we won’t pay for some of the right. There’s services rendered that the board, you know, agrees to that we want to have done and completed. And that’s that’s what we’ll do. Yeah. So.

00:14:18,500	Yeah, I just wanted to take this time to clear up any, uh, muddy waters and a chance for you guys to address me. Um, so thank you for your time. Any other questions? Nope, nope. Thank you. Thank you. Luck with your daughter. Thank you, thank you. Okay. All right. Any other comments from members of the public not associate the project, but still the business of the board. Good morning. Commissioner.

00:14:43,800	Hello. I had no idea that I was going to speak this morning. No, I don’t. Chair and. Commissioners. Um, I’m not sure if all of you are aware, but, um, as soon as these come available on Dakota media access and a lot of meetings became available during Covid, and that’s when I started watching. Watching.

00:15:02,870	I’ve watched every single one for nine years or attended them, and, um, talking with chair Landenberger. I he you can confirm or deny if you want, but he runs one of the best meetings. Out of all the boards that I’ve watched, he he knows I’ve said it. I did not pay him to come. Yeah.

00:15:23,100	Mike on Bismarck. Planning and zoning does really well as, um. And it’s a learned experience. It’s not an easy thing to do. I also can respect the open meeting process. It’s a little nuanced because, um, nobody wants meetings behind the meetings. That’s how our republic is set up at the local level.

00:15:44,370	And so I don’t know the background of this, but, um, when somebody comes up sometimes when there’s a crux, that’s the only choice you have. So I like the working process when it’s concerning, uh, when you represent a government entity, when all of a sudden I watched last meeting when, um, Josh’s name came up.

00:16:10,270	That’s the first time I ever heard of it at a meeting level. And the work being done, there was a lot of compliments going in that direction.

00:16:27,470	So now the reason why I was, I was wasn’t going to speak, but now speaking, sitting there as a citizen, watching as many meetings as I do, it kind of exposes government a little bit, knowing that there wasn’t a contract in place. That’s where that’s a process failure that puts us all on the hook, and that’s challenging.

00:16:51,230	Um, even in my position, because with me watching so many meetings, um, certain things come up and, um, like when I, we’ve had our conversations, uh, chair, um, where not through benefit to me, but if it could help facilitate our process, I’d be willing to go out and advocate in certain areas and that not to draw attention. My name doesn’t need to be tied to anything. So, um, I like the healthy discussion this morning. Family topics. We get it.

00:17:10,800	We all have things that we’re emotionally tied to, but this podium is not the place to bring that portion up. So I would say in Josh’s case in that regard, uh, we need to keep it to the matter of business.

00:17:28,170	The other thing is, is that I fought really hard with Senator Paulsen for codifying this public comment time. And every single one of our meetings. North Dakota is special in that we’re the first state in the entire country to do that. So and this is proof of that functioning in a really well mannered way. But I guess that would be the tidbits. And if anybody has any questions, feel free.

00:17:48,870	Any questions? Thanks for your comments. I agree with with all of you what you said. Thank you. Yep, yep. Okay. Any other comments this morning? All right. Hearing any we can move on to McDowell dam. Uh, first item up the supplemental water supply.

00:18:14,500	Uh, in your packet on page starting on page seven, is the final signed easement for the last parcel. And then also, you’ll notice in our bills that we do have a check to be approved today. And then that will be paid to that landowner for that, for that last easement. Um, so that’s all in your packet there as well.

00:18:31,600	I don’t know if Travis or Michael, but would you like to give the board kind of an update on what the kind of the next steps are in the timeline schedule on that project? I guess I’ll defer to Travis, because he’s the one who’s going to be doing the final design and moving towards

00:18:48,100	construction. So, Travis, you just want to touch on that place. Morning, Travis. Good morning chairman. Managers. Uh, basically for the timeline that I’m envisioning for the McDowell dam alternate water supply project right now, we’ve got we’ve got to work on doing the final design on that project.

00:19:11,730	And we also have to submit for the DWR cost share on that. And, uh, part of this is going to be, uh, contingent on the approval of that cost share from the state and, uh, timeline for getting that submitted. And then, uh, you know, reviewed at their their next regular meeting.

00:19:28,870	And then upon uh, approval of that or any comments or questions that they have, whether they, uh, have any, um, questions or things that they need to be resolved before they can approve that. Uh, in general, what I’m thinking is, uh, pretty much the rest of this year would be, you know, for the design period and getting things in order.

00:19:47,470	And then I also have to engage the electrical sub consultant to do the electrical design on that, and then take a look at kind of what our procurement timelines are for some of the equipment and such.

00:20:03,500	So, uh, long story short, I’m thinking pretty much through this summer and maybe into the fall, getting getting the approvals, getting the design completed and, and then any other, uh, contingent, uh, factors that need to be worked into that schedule, uh, try to have design completed by the end of this year and potentially advertise for bid.

00:20:26,270	Maybe this fall winter for a construction in 2027 on the timeline for that. So and then some of these electrical components, we’ve seen some extended timelines for procurement because this one’s going to have I’m estimating basically 40 horsepower pumps on this one.

00:20:44,430	And then your control panels and your, your uh switchgear on in such that, that so that I don’t know exactly what kind of timelines we have, you know, for lead times, for equipment like that, although I think those are improving from, from what they have been. So, um, those can be concurrent with, you know, some of the other active construction phases of the project.

00:20:58,900	So basically I’m picturing, you know, the rest of 26 for, uh, design and implementation and then 27 for construction period. Okay. Within one season for construction. Yeah, I think so. Unless like I said, there’s, uh, unless there’s some hang ups on the procurement for some of those electrical components.

00:21:16,170	And even though even then those would be kind of isolated to just those things and the rest of the work could continue until those arrive. But, uh, but yeah, I think I don’t see any reason why this couldn’t be constructed in one full season. Okay. Any questions for Travis? Just Mister Chairman Travis, the the deadline for submittal to the state is late June.

00:21:35,730	Roughly, yes. For for cost share. Well, they have regular meetings every two months. And so, you know, if if you missed one, you just get it into the next. The next. We’d have to submit by late June to get on there. August meeting is what is right.

00:21:52,530	And so are we going to meet that do you suppose? Yeah, I definitely think so. So, uh, you know, they’re they also have they’re, they’re planning for, for their various biennium fundings and, uh, we definitely want to try to get in.

00:22:08,270	So my goal is to get that submitted here, you know, essentially with approval of the contract that we’ve put here for for the final design and implementation of this. As soon as we have that, then we have the numbers that we need to submit to them. I can put together an estimated project cost so that we can get on their, uh, budgeting in their in their planning for their, their following biennium. Yeah. Mr. Chairman and Dennis, you know your point. Yeah.

00:22:25,800	It’s June right now. You have in front of you I think it’s say 311131 is authorized. We would complete the, uh, DWR grant application for final design, and we meet that June timeline. Yeah. And they are aware that this is coming. So we’ve already gotten some submittals into their for their planning.

00:22:48,330	Mr. chairman, that that brings up I don’t think that’s on our agenda, but we we need to consider this. I would say suggest. Yep. It was a separate email for board members. Do you guys see that separate email. That’s a 31.

00:23:09,900	Um, I guess as we’re on that topic, um, is there any questions or thoughts on Essar 31 with Houston for continuing with the supplemental water supply design? And there’s also a contract administration, construction management costs as they have it. Yeah, that’s that’s full cradle to grave budgeting for that one for the design, bidding and construction management services on that entire project. Yeah.

00:23:34,800	Any questions on that? The wishes of the board on the Essar. Um, Mr. Chairman, I move to approve a special authorization number 31 with Houston Engineering to conduct design services, construction administration services for the water water supply project at McDowell dam. Um, right now, the estimated fees in total are $278,900.

00:24:05,170	For the entirety of that set of services. I’ll second. Okay, we got a motion by Manager Reep and a second by Manager Smith to approve the Essar 31 for the supplemental power supply for McDonald dam for design services as well as construction management services, to the tune of about $278,000. Contract.

00:24:32,000	Any questions? Comments on that? Are you not hearing any? When do you take roll call? Vote please. Manager Mager. Yes. Manager Mischel. Yes. Manager Yes. Manager Smith. Yes. Chairman. Lana. Burger. Yes. Motion passes. That will be signed. Okay. Any other questions for Travis or Michael this morning regarding the supplemental water supply project? Okay. Thank you. Travis. All right. Thank you. Yep.

00:25:00,730	Okay. Uh, can we kind of hit on the grant submittal and the water plan submittal? Those happened. Right? Right. Michael? Yeah. The water plan is in there already. The the grant one you just authorized. That’ll be completed here shortly. Okay. For June meeting. Um, in your packet, as well as kind of some updated on.

00:25:20,270	We’ll check some updated information regarding the the land leases. So those were finalized and signed and. Things all finalized and good to go. And for the next ten. Years, ten years for all of them okay. Thank you. Okay. We can move on to item D this morning. The parking lot discussion. Morning, Dave.

00:25:40,270	Manager or sorry chairman Landenberger and managers. Uh, as we discussed last meeting, we had a little bit of surprise this spring with the the parking lot for the boat ramp and the maintenance area.

00:25:59,270	Um, for our discussion, I went back and excuse me, we went back and did some estimating to figure out where we sit for possibly replacing that parking lot or other parking lots in the future. And then as well as how does that fit into our CIP? Uh, for moving forward for 27, 28, 29 and so on.

00:26:18,370	Um, I did send an email to Chairman Landon Berger and, uh, Manager Mischel. So what I did was go back. I went back and looked at, um, definitely parking lot one just for simplification instead of boat ramp or the one near the bathroom, or the second one closest to the bathroom, I numbered the parking lots.

00:26:48,630	Um, so our major issue is in parking lot one on this illustration. If you remember, we had some blowouts there from the, uh, just from the use, uh, from the boat ramp and for the, the garbage pickup. Uh, asked Mr. Robinson to go out to one of those, uh, potholes and dig down, kind of give me a section of of what’s there.

00:27:07,800	And it’s literally four inches of gravel with I think it was just the top was impregnated with oil, about three quarter inches of, of asphalt, essentially, once the gravel solidified. So, um, knowing when you look at that parking lot one and parking lot three and four are all very similar.

00:27:28,270	Um, I took and uh, created some estimates. A little blurry, but I don’t want to mess with it. Uh, create some estimates. Um, assuming the same construction for for those three areas, um, parking lot one.

00:27:57,630	I made some modifications, um, instead of there being asphalt going down to the concrete at the boat ramp, I turned that entire throat to concrete in the concept, because that’s just going to continue to happen. Asphalt on that steep of a slope is going to continue to slide. Um, so I thought, let’s let’s fix the problem. If we’re going to if we’re going to go in here, I also put a large area in for the garbage dumpster.

00:28:11,470	So we don’t continue to have that problem. So that’s in parking lot one is a little bit larger than parking lots three and four, three and four. Are identical. Same shape, same square footage. Um, so I don’t I don’t think that those are too hard to figure out. Um.

00:28:38,600	If you remember, in the CIP, we had our plan was to replace that, uh, secondary bathroom that’s between shelters two and three. Estimate wise. We budget. We proposed budgeting $230,000 for that project. I think, if I remember correctly, that included the construction and consultant fees for that.

00:29:05,900	Um, the next question is, do we want how does the board feel about tackling an additional parking lot on top of that? Do we push the bathroom to another year and we deal with parking lot one? I’ll tell you, based off of mine and David’s evaluation evaluation. Um, three and four aren’t in bad shape compared to one just I wanted to do this process because they’re similar construction for for our knowledge.

00:29:25,600	Eventually we’re going to have to do something at three and four, but we think we can push those out a little bit. Those are definitely the the least used parking lots out of all the lots. Uh. One, one, two and five are primarily the heavily most heavily used. Um, when you look at, uh, at how people use the complex and they’re just talking with Mr.

00:29:48,630	Robinson, he said that five was packed and actually there was overflow in four because all the kids are going to the new playground that we just built by five. So it’s getting used, which is good news.

00:30:06,100	Um, but I really just wanted to get back to how, you know, our discussion from last, last board meeting and try and tie that in, um, the park district is in the process of working out our budget for 27. Uh, we start ours pretty early. Um, and I’d already submitted all of my proposed information to to our finance director and our executive director. Uh, once.

00:30:24,730	And as you guys are very well aware, once you once you submit a proposed budget to the board, you can’t go up. You can always go down. So I listed all three of these parking lots, plus the bathroom in my proposed budget for the water or for McDowell dam, knowing that we’re probably not going to go there.

00:30:42,430	Um, but I wanted to make sure that if if this board felt like we wanted to move forward one or 2 or 3 of these, plus the bathroom, I, I got my buck covered. Um, so I just wanted to lay all that out and then have a discussion with you. So, Dave, it’s your thoughts.

00:30:59,530	You would do the all these parking lots next year or. Chairman Linda Burger I, I really don’t think we need to do three and four. Okay. I really think we probably need to focus on one plan to focus on one. Uh, Mister Robinson’s getting quotes just to patch the area to just to put down an asphalt patch.

00:31:17,600	To get through. This season for the dumpster area. Okay. I don’t want to spend a lot of money like we discussed a lot of money patching this, having to have it ripped out, uh, to replace it in the year.

00:31:30,870	So I don’t think that’s a good use of taxpayer dollars. Um, I’d like to, if we can. Bad term, but limp along if we can, for a year. Uh, to get to get through this and then at least talk about next year.

00:31:44,170	Do we shift do we push off that bathroom for a year? If the board doesn’t want to spend, you know, about $190,000, based off my estimate for a lot, one plus the $230,000 for the bathroom. Um, do we trade those out and push the bathroom to the next year, that kind of thing? Okay.

00:32:01,370	What are thoughts or questions for Dave on that? I was going to, Mr. Chairman. I was going to ask Dave. It was 190,000 for lot one or parking lot one is what I just heard you say. Um, what’s I don’t know, I guess I have my thoughts are I would defer to the, you know, the people that are out there day after day.

00:32:14,730	What’s your recommendation? And I kind of think I heard it maybe is pushing off the rest restroom replacement one year. Um, assume the restroom will be fine up until 2028. Uh, Manager But the existing bathroom operates. It functions. It just doesn’t meet the accessibility standards.

00:32:38,100	So that’s the that’s what we’re going with is that, you know, we’re we’re trying to make those we talk about those those three legs of the stool. When we created that capital improvement plan equipment, uh, improvements. And then also meeting the, um, the transition plan from the access audit that we did. So the bathroom gets us to that. You know, one of those legs. Yeah.

00:32:56,370	Well, this is a good timing. Obviously, we got, you know, we’re gonna be doing our budget here over the next few weeks as well. And so we could look at that CIP plan, Chuck, and maybe you and I and Dennis is planning a time to get together and look at that CIP and how

00:33:09,900	that looks for 27 and 28 plan budget. But. Mr. Chairman, I’m just looking at your CIP for 26. I mean, new tractor, you had some savings there, but you were also going to talk about maybe pre preemptively going and get some attachments for it because of those savings.

00:33:28,630	So I’m not sure where we are on that. There’s a shower building in 26 also listed. Uh Manager Reep the the shower building is I believe we open bids tomorrow. Okay. Uh, on the, on the shower building. Uh, so we’ll know where that is for, for bidding. Uh, unfortunately. Just in time out with our meeting today.

00:33:50,170	I would have loved to come and share that with you. Sure. Um, my plan, if you’re okay with it and while we’re on the topic, is, uh, if it’s within budget, I’ll recommend recommend to our board that we move forward with it. And our board meets next Thursday. Yeah.

00:34:07,630	Um, I think that’s how we’ve kind of proceeded with some of these projects in the past. As long as it’s within budget, and I’ll definitely come back and talk with you next month about how how it landed within the with the bid results. But the this year it is the bathroom and then yes, the tractor.

00:34:27,970	We did receive the tractor and I think last last month when we talked about those additional pieces of equipment, we were below $5,000 for, for those additional pieces of equipment. I think in 28 I want to say was when we were talking about buying the additional pieces of equipment for, okay, I’m remembering it correctly. Good.

00:34:45,830	Uh, I don’t know if we’ll have to get something else in 28, but we wanted to put that in there. That may concern that may go down, but we may still request some additional equipment in 28 if we if we see that there’s a need for some, because that tractor is going to be very versatile out there.

00:35:03,500	It’s a lot bigger than what we have. So we’ll be able to do more things. Okay. Mr. chairman, I mean, when do you need to decide in this construction season cycle that okay, we’re going to do a lot one um, I mean, do we need to kind of get a good direction

00:35:24,230	from us today to help you in that process? Uh, manager, I think that if I, if I hear from from this board, if you’re if you say that you’d like to focus on just the, um, parking lot, one 427 I can relay that to our, um, to our

00:35:44,700	staff at the district and that we can change our, our proposed budget as we submit it to our board. Um, if you if you’d like me at this point to leave the estimate for lot one and the bathroom, but I don’t know how you all feel about that.

00:36:00,730	Much of an outlay for 27. Um, I can leave it at that and bring it down from three for one. And the bathroom. Um. Mister chair Dave.

00:36:16,270	Well, we’re ultimately talking to the same people when we go up in front and ask, right? And so, I mean, if I don’t know, we have to we do have to start our own budgeting processes. Whenever Dave talks, that reminds me, we’ve got to talk. About the the maybe. Um, but so, you know, if it’s in there in your request, we certainly can carry it forward.

00:36:37,530	I think historically we’ve just taken whatever you guys bring to us and then push it forward to the board, and then we have our own discussion. Um, you know, if if it survives, they’re great. If it doesn’t, I mean, then that’s so I don’t know if that the timing of that will be helpful to you.

00:36:54,530	I guess that’s my thoughts, right? Um, Manager Reep. Um, I’ll set a reminder in April when we start talking about budgets. All over, we. Actually talk with staff and in December about getting ready for the following year. So. Uh, uh, I think if we trade out to answer your question, I kind of skirted around your previous question.

00:37:20,800	Um, we wouldn’t go into design for that dollar amount. We’d be hiring a consultant for for the replacement of the parking lot. So that wouldn’t go into design until late fall of this year. Early, you know, early 27. Um, I don’t think that’ll be an issue.

00:37:39,470	It’s always nice to knowing contractors and how asphalt bids out to have those early in January and ready to go before the contractors are full, uh, so we get some good prices. Um, it might actually timing wouldn’t work out, but it would be great if we could get that parking lot replaced before. Before the before the boat ramp was needed.

00:37:57,170	But asphalt plants usually aren’t up until until after that’s open and ready to go. So, uh, we may even consider that this is a temporary, um, inconvenience. And then we just have the construction happen middle of the summer next year. Just just to get it done. Um, there’s no good time.

00:38:18,000	Um, as I found out, with anything in a park district or anything recreational, when it’s not frozen and covered with snow, everybody wants to use it, so it doesn’t really. There’s no good construction season.

00:38:33,100	Um, we try and make it as minimally impactful to the public as possible when we do these things, but there’s just no way around it. Um, I think if if you’re comfortable with it as a board, if we want to push that bathroom out of here, then let’s focus on the parking lot. One. Um, because they’re kind of a trade off in the dollar amount we’ve already committed in that CIP of of the $230,000.

00:38:53,600	And I think about $190,000 in my rough estimate right. Now. Um, so it’d be a little bit less, but it’s kind of a horse apiece on that one. What’s the thoughts of the board? I mean, obviously we talked about making some of these upgrades.

00:39:14,630	Um, you know, following that, that study that was completed and the importance of doing that too. So, I mean, I if the budget’s there, I’m not opposed to looking at doing both in 2027, but I don’t know. That’s what you guys thinking. That’s that’s exactly right. It’s all depends on the budget. Right. So if we can fit it in, we fit in what we can fit into the budget.

00:39:35,270	Yeah. Do you guys feel that’d be too much work out there if we looked at trying to do both in 27? Chairman Vandenberg I don’t think it would be too much work. You know, we’ll obviously we’ll have to juggle. And I would guess that we’d probably look at. That.

00:39:49,830	That bathroom is a pretty big project. Um, no noticing or thinking that we do it in masonry again. Um, timing wise, we don’t want to get too cold, uh, for a contractor to be in, then have to pay for heating masonry construction. We just don’t want to do that.

00:40:07,270	So that may that may disrupt, um, the use of that bathroom towards the end of the season. So if we push it towards the end of the season, I think it would be okay.

00:40:20,800	Um, one preliminary thought, I think when we when the architect that looked at it conceptually, he was thinking that we would move that bathroom closer to the parking lot so it’d be behind the existing bathroom, which means the existing bathroom could stay functional. If we want to do that. I kind of like where it sits right. Now. Um.

00:40:37,700	So we can we can discuss that over, over the next season if we want to just replace it in, in the location that it sits presently, or if we want to move. It. Um. But I don’t think it would be too disruptive out there. We could make it. work. Uh, I think it would be fine. Okay. I know, Chuck, you have any thoughts on that? Yeah, I think it’s. I think it’ll be. It’ll be fine, too.

00:40:54,900	And sooner we can get after that stuff, I think the better. And if we’re able to afford it in the budget, let’s do it. Just one question on the Ada compliance. If that slips to 28, are we still I mean, are we still okay? Um, legally.

00:41:16,630	And Chairman Landenberger manager I the one thing to uh, to keep in perspective is so to meet standards, we need to show progress. We’ve gone through and done the access audit. We have created a transition plan and we’re moving forward. We have the CIP in place and steps to make improvements to meet Ada. Ultimately, there isn’t a deadline. Okay. Um, we can’t we can’t just ignore the stuff.

00:41:38,000	We’ve identified it. Now we need to make steps towards, you know, repairing those issues. Uh, whether it happens in 27 or if it happens in 28, I don’t think it’s an issue. Okay.

00:42:05,730	When do you need something from us, Dave, for your budget? Is there? Um, I think Chairman Lundberg, what might be best is I can relay back to our finance director and our executive director right now. We want to pare it down to lot one and the bathroom, but it may come later that we’re just going to do one of those.

00:42:24,970	Okay, so I can move forward with that until you guys have a final okay, final saying if it’s within the next month or so. Um, I think we can still go down. Our board doesn’t formally approve their budget. I want to say until September. Oh, um, because I think it’s due in October. If I remember correctly, the the dates. We started having our discussions in June and we got to present to the county commission in June, preliminary.

00:42:49,100	So I think in that sense, and that’s kind of why I’m thinking if we can leave it in there with the two, but then after, after the after that discussion that it’s got to get pared down. We can make that okay. We can make that discussion. I’m in favor consensus from the board. Yep.

00:43:05,530	Okay okay. Great. Thank you I appreciate it. Yeah. Thank you. All right. Moving on item E Chuck the aeration discussion this morning. Yeah I talked to the gentleman from sunflower here last week. Uh, regarding, uh, air putting some aerators in the McDowell dam.

00:43:30,170	And, uh, where we would see more, um, put them in regards to where they should be to be more most effective. And he had given me information here, uh, with Harmon Lake, that they recently put three of them in there. And literally, uh, it was within weeks, the water quality and everything just improved greatly.

00:43:51,100	Um, and these are these new ones that are out now. They run off a solar power and they would just be they would run 365247 and keep going. And you can actually have them on your phone or whatever.

00:44:09,100	So Dave or whatever would have that information out there and be able to monitor it, and it would tell of anything that any alarms that it would create or anything like that. But from the initial reports and looking at Harmon Lake, it’s done a tremendous job with with the lake itself. So. So are Dave and Dave aware of this discussion at all? Okay, maybe that’s something to that.

00:44:26,730	Maybe, Chuck, you could get with them just to explain to them what. So they’re just units that so they operate in the winter as well. Yeah. They okay. And the new ones now they they do that okay. So they’re moving fast enough to keep the water from freezing. Yeah. Yep. Any issues with, uh, safety from ice fishermen or need. I don’t.

00:44:47,000	Know what Harmon Lake has done is in the wintertime, they just push them into a bay. Okay, that’s what I. Was wondering. And just. And just have them out there just because of that exact issue right there. So. Yep. Chairman Berger. That’s exactly what I was going to ask.

00:45:04,630	I actually, David Robinson and I were just having a conversation that there used to be one there. Yeah, I. Kind of and a while back there was an issue and because it created such thin ice that somebody actually it wasn’t at McDowell dam, but at a different location, somebody actually fell in. So that was that’s my first concern.

00:45:21,100	So I’d be pulling them over to a bay, you know. I, I guess the question I would ask is, is it necessary that they run in the winter? I don’t. I mean, generally if you’re going to have an aerator in the winter, it’s to keep the ice, you know, keep it open. Right.

00:45:35,100	Um, but I don’t think I don’t see a necessity to keep it open. Yeah. If the idea is to aerate it, to get better water quality, all for it. Um, but if we can, you know, disconnect and shut them down during the winter and pull them, pull them out of the water, or however that works.

00:45:51,070	Yeah, you could literally do that, Dave, as what you could do as well. Now, is that something that park staff would do, or is this do they have crews that go around. Kind of I can I can ask Wayne about that when I, when I meet with him. Okay. What’s the size dimensions of these units.

00:46:06,530	Do you haven’t had that check. Into here. Uh, I’d say they’re they got to be about like the size of a pickup box or something like that. Okay. Is it basically what they are? And then they got the solar panels around them. And they’re recommending two units.

00:46:20,370	Two? Yep. One at the up by the end. Couple of the intakes on the north northwest side of McDowell dam where the influence coming in, uh, where a lot of your nutrients are and stuff there and getting those mixed up and moved around there.

00:46:38,630	And the other one was towards the south east end, you know, on a past, uh, the closest closer to the dam. Right. Get some. Deeper water. And they and they he thinks that with just those two running there that they could be able to accommodate and work with the whole dam, because Harmon Lake has three in there right now because of the and their size is a little

00:46:54,900	bit bigger as far as acreage and stuff covering there. One thing to consider, and I you’d mentioned solar for them both. Uh, just in our conversation.

00:47:08,230	The power is still out there for the one that was in place, and the power’s out by the new vault toilet that was put in by the dam. So if we’re talking about putting one there, can it run on electricity? The existing electricity can. The, you know, can existing electricity still be updated? Yeah, it’s still in good shape, you know, is there some cost savings in there for that? Something like that. Okay. Okay. Yeah.

00:47:27,000	Is there any kind of obstructions we have to worry about for water sports? Kayaking? I would. I mean. People should be aware of that. Right? Right there, right there, right there. And understand, you know, that’s like with any body of water or anything. You got stuff in there people should be, you know, it’s on them. Good question though, Brian. Mr. chairman, a couple things.

00:47:45,330	Or is it just. You know, just. Underwater. Underwater. Yep. Okay. So it’s not somebody going to get close to and get sprayed or anything like that. No no no. Okay. It doesn’t it doesn’t create does it create a an undertow? I’m not exactly sure. So that’d be the concern. I don’t.

00:48:05,330	Think so. I think it just it is just circulating the water and everything and from, from the, uh, prelim stuff here for Harmon Lake and the impact, uh, it has brought, it has brought the oxygen levels down further into the into the lake itself, you know, create more oxygen down there and everything to

00:48:22,700	and ten, 12ft, I’m guessing, has been the numbers as far as that. And then once you get a little deeper, it’s it it’s not as efficient. But in this case, I think I think it would be plenty efficient. So. , Mr.

00:48:40,800	Chairman, a couple of things, um, aerators were looked at in the water quality study that we’ve done before. I have not dug back into it, but obviously the technology and what’s being used is different than what we talked about way back when.

00:48:56,900	Um, the other thing, as far as navigation side of the equation, I’m sure they have markers and they probably put since they got solar power, they probably could put some flashing lights or something on it. I don’t know what their system is, but I think we don’t have any motorized boats out there, so we don’t have that risk. Um, people on kayaks and stuff, they’re going to be slow enough.

00:49:10,870	They can see it from that perspective. But, um, I’ll go back and take a look at what we had way back when, because I know the technology is different, because I think when the ones we were looking at what actually had the, um, to Dave’s point, more of the spraying environment where we’re taking water and moving

00:49:24,370	it up in the air in order to oxygenate it. Um, this is more and I’m curious as to where they’re locating it because of the bathymetry of the lake. Um, I don’t know if they have any of that information, but we can give that to them.

00:49:37,970	So they’re placing it in the area where they’re getting the the greatest benefit as far as the water body and the water column. Um, and I suspect, um, I know a number of people over at Harmon I can visit with, uh, Jamie Welch over there and have a conversation with him as to, you know, how they’re working and where they place them. Just for background information. So.

00:49:55,530	Yeah. Or I can give you Jamie’s name. You contact him directly either way. Yep. And I have the impact reports and the installation summaries for from Harmon Lake and everything to. And if you guys would like that, I’d be more than happy to forward. It to.

00:50:09,000	Yeah, I think let’s share it with the board and and Dave and Dave and Michael, you kind of look at that and maybe bring it back next month. Is it an actual paddle or is it like an air diffuser. It’s I think it’s like I think it’s just running off of there and it’s just pushing air down into the, into the water. Just circulating it.

00:50:24,900	Mr. chairman, it might be good to have a conversation with our insurance carrier to see whether there are any exclusions for air raiders. Um, I’d be happy to look at it. Or manager, um, Chuck Mischel could look at that as well. Okay. Just to make sure we’re on the right track. Right. That’s a good, good idea.

00:50:43,630	I ever thought to hear Chuck is, you know, depending on what the costs are here, you know, we would likely have to go to the bids. I would think so. That’s something to have to look into. Okay. Thank you. Okay. Thank you Dave.

00:51:00,630	So yeah, we’ll send some information that we can kind of circle back next month okay? Okay. All right. Any other questions for Chuck on that? Okay. All right. Quite the discussion on McDowell Dan today. That’s good. Uh, let’s move on to item six this morning. Financial reports. Mr.

00:51:21,500	chairman, board members, um, page 23 to 25 is a balance sheet. And supporting information. Um, I’ll just go through some of the activity in April, as per usual, our check and balance. We started with $2,225,606.77. We paid bills, including a Fox Island special assessment. Um, transaction in the amount of $250,669.31. We had income in the amount of $93,195.67, which included 18,000 in real estate tax.

00:51:53,530	Um, 4500. And state aid. We had McDowell in dam income in the amount of, uh, slightly over 8000. Most of that was land lease payment for 2025 and 2026, and then some special assessments in the amount of $3,600, um, collections as well. Uh, subsequent to that, we did get a primary residence credit from Burleigh County.

00:52:16,530	Um, in the amount of $221,820 dollars that did not meet this, these numbers. So we you’ll see that on on deposited funds, that amount is what primary tax credit, uh, reimbursement from through Burleigh County, from the state. Um, so anyway, ending balance of $2,068,133.13. Um, in the checking account Bavaria Wealth.

00:52:48,530	Um, the rates are, um, 0.01 lower than they were at this time last month. So again, basically status quo, I think it’s wise to keep them in there as is. Um, but we had about $7,000 in interest through Bavaria wealth. Um, and so that balances $2,510,402.35. Uh, total, including receivables, uh assets, $5,514,051.94. Um.

00:53:23,270	The on m funds and special assessment funds are balanced. And check those out. They seem to be in good order. Um, we I guess with that, Mister chairman. Board members, I move for approval of the balance sheet as presented in your packet. Okay, I’ve got a motion by manager to approve the balance sheet. I’ll second.

00:53:45,630	That second by Manager Smith. Any discussion? Hearing none. Wendy, take roll call. Vote, please. Manager Mager. Yes. Manager Mischel. Yep. Manager Yes. Manager Smith. Yes. Chairman. Landenberger. Yes. Motion passes. Mr. chairman, board members, page 2627. The profit loss statement for the month of April.

00:54:10,900	Um, just one item of note that you’ll see if you notice our real estate tax and collections to date is, um, almost 900,000. That does include that, um, primary residence credit that was not deposited in our checking account at the time of the closure for these reports, but it is in that profit statement.

00:54:29,070	I just wanted to note that with that, I would recommend approval of the profit and loss statement as presented. Uh, moved to approve. Motion by manager to approve the profit and loss statement this month. I’ll second and second by Manager Mischel. Any discussion on the motion? Hearing none. Wendy, take roll call. Vote, please. Manager Mager.

00:54:55,600	Yes, Manager Mischel. Yes. Manager Yes. Manager Smith. Yes. Chairman. Lundberg. Yes. Motion passes. Losses. And then on page 28 is pledged. Securities is required from Bavaro Bank covering our deposits. So just for note of that, um, one item that, you know could have been a budget or agenda item.

00:55:16,430	Sorry, but is we do need to start planning for budgeting process in the past, um, I have participated the chairman’s participated in Wendy. And so I guess, um, barring any interest from other board members, I would recommend that we get together in the next few weeks and get ready for a mid to late June

00:55:34,100	submittal to the uh, County Commission Budgeting Committee. Sounds good. Any other thoughts on that? Okay, we’ll set that up. All right. Uh, I did have one question, Dennis. And maybe Michael, regarding the mask Special Assessment District. Where does that sit today? See, we have a negative balance on that. Is that.

00:55:59,100	We do have a 9200 negative balance. So, um, according to our books. Yeah. Okay. Well. There really has not been any, um, O&M cost that I recall that would create that balance. Um, obviously the payments should be coming in through the tax unless there’s a shortage on that side. Okay. So we’ll have to look at those budget.

00:56:25,730	Are there should be two accounts Wendy. If I recall two, one is for the special assessment. The others for the O&M side. For Mark. Yeah. We had a bond payment in March in the amount of $28,230. That’s. that’s what. That’s probably.

00:56:45,730	Yeah, that would put it in the in the negative. The question then is the collection side, are there any from the assessor side, are there any people in arrears. Yeah I mean we had a collection of 9500 in also in March. Um 400 in in April. So yeah, we’re just recovering from that bond payment okay. Okay okay.

00:57:09,630	In just in general the last year it’s been tracking towards negatives. Okay. Yeah. Okay. All right. Okay. No other questions this morning we can move on to item seven. Drainage permits and complaints. Uh, Michael, I assume there’s no update on the boat park. Not at this point.

00:57:36,900	No, I’ve done a little bit more digging, but I have not finished that yet. Okay, um, how about in the hawk tree? Um. Hawk tree? Um, basically, the stormwater management plan was submitted. Um, Houston Engineering did have an opportunity to review and comment on that. The highway Department is reviewed and commented on it. I don’t know the final updates.

00:57:57,700	That’s basically the extent, um, until it’s approved. So. Yeah, they. Have the comments back there working on them. Then they’ll resubmit. Okay. So it’s in process okay. Thank you Casey. Okay. Uh, we can move on to item C. Manager Mager. You got an update on Knutson? Yeah.

00:58:18,000	So, uh, met with Barb Knutson, uh, a couple three weeks ago. Um, closer to his microphone. Uh, during that discussion, kind of talked about all the issues and kind of pointed out what she believed could possibly be, uh, the obstruction.

00:58:36,630	She noted officially that she would like her, uh, form amended as that obstructions known as the Maher on page 29 of your packet of a map. Um, and basically it’s downstream a few miles. Uh. It is a private crossing. It’s not for those looking on the map. Uh, be on the left hand side there. There’s a blow up insert on the bottom left.

00:58:58,000	Um, and the the elevations presented are based off of the 2024, uh, QL two lidar collect. Um, you can see the content property on the left. Uh, elevation centered right around 1702. Um, and the crossing top roadway, if you will, is right around 1693. So the Knutson property is higher. Um, as of this date, that crossing has washed out.

00:59:22,630	And so I think, uh, for, I guess, starters, I’d like to make, uh, a proposed motion that we dismiss the complaint based on the fact that the crossing is no longer in place. Uh, some more background here.

00:59:42,800	Uh, if you do look at those elevation dots, you can see upstream and downstream of that crossing that there is a foot and a half of water difference between upstream and downstream. Um, I don’t know where we want to call an obstruction or where we want to call a impacted area. Um, but I, I would propose drafting a letter and sending it to the property owner.

01:00:07,900	Maher. That, uh, placement of a future crossing must be in compliance with some standard upstream crossing standards, as you may be aware, apply to public crossings. Um, a it’s going to get into.

01:00:30,270	Yeah, a little bit of a conversation of what the board wants to consider as a formal obstruction. Um, and how we go from there. So I guess open kind of up for discussion. I can kind of talk through the map or talk through, um, the complaint itself.

01:00:49,230	But as of right now, I look to dismiss the complaint based on the amended, um, obstruction complaint being filed against that crossing, which is now no longer in existence. However, if that crossing shall should be replaced, um, having a conversation with what we would and what we would not consider to be an obstruction. So open up for comments. Questions for Manager Mager.

01:01:14,600	Uh, do we have a pretty high level of confidence that he’ll replace the crossing? It? I, I would assume he would. It’s washed out a number of times from aerials. Um, and so it does it does appear that the crossing would be placed back to some degree. And what kind of authority do we have on design standards? I mean, if it’s a private crossing. So there. Really isn’t. Any.

01:01:36,300	Mr. Chairman, there really isn’t any design standards to proper crossings other than the fact that they can’t be put in and cause damages, if you will, from an obstruction complaint perspective, on the upstream properties, in this case, you do have a differential between the, uh, the elevations.

01:01:51,630	Um, Brian, can you tell me what you found? One with the crossing in place. These are those elevations? Yes. So this is the 2024 QL to collect, which has which has the crossing in place. Okay. And I think that’s important to understand.

01:02:07,730	In this particular case, the crossing is in place and the elevations and the differences in elevation between Barb Knutson property and this location. So to the point of, you know, he has put it in the crossings, been there since 94 and it’s out and then it’s back and then it’s out and then it’s back because it continues to wash out.

01:02:24,730	And as it turns out, it sounds as though, well, Random Creek is the, um, designated name from McKenzie slew to this crossing into Apple Creek. Uh, and that’s where the primary flows are coming from that create the washout. Uh, so from that perspective, I agree with, uh, Manager Mager’s scenario as far as dismissal.

01:02:47,530	Um, also from the standpoint of the crossing, just to let Mr. Maher know that, hey, whatever he puts back in, it’d be prudent to have it looked at, uh, given the status of the complaint in the background. Um, I will add a little caveat. Do a little bit of a squirrel here.

01:03:04,100	The scenario that I’m thinking instinctively that’s happening with, um, the Knutson property goes back to the high water levels and the continued high water levels and the longer flow durations that we’re having from Long Lake Creek, which is a whole nother topic. But as far as her complaint against, um, Mr. Maher, I agree the dismissal of the appropriate path. Okay.

01:03:25,730	Mr. Chair. Brian. Yeah. And so first question. These are lidar data points that you grabbed off the lighter data set. So are we talking on top of water elevation in some cases? Yeah. So all of them I tried to shoot as water just so we can get a water surface profile.

01:03:38,430	Gotcha. Um, the only ones that are not are those Knutson properties, those 1700 elevation. So, I mean, we’re talking seven feet of drop, eight feet of drop over a couple miles. I mean, I think I’d be surprised that this actual crossing is causing her issues, but. Right. I would agree with that. Um.

01:03:58,770	And but the other thing I would add is if, if he, if our recommendation could be and should be to the landowner that has the crossing is, you know, put a culvert in something to allow passage of the water, you know, at grade.

01:04:16,630	I believe there historically has been just a form of a culvert. I think it’s just inadequate sizing. Gotcha. Yeah. I was going to say, I think what it comes down to is standpoint, he’s put in a 24 and then put in 36 and then put in 236. He just can’t keep up with the size.

01:04:31,800	Plus the you know, how is he actually, you know, the compaction, the crossing itself. Driving over it and collapsing it. Yeah. Part of the scenario he’s got here, he’s got cattle and the cattle don’t necessarily walk on the crossing. He’s hoping they do. Um, but they step off the side of the crossing and obviously they drown, which creates issues.

01:04:46,100	Uh, he is in the process of discussing how to relocate some of his operations, but I still think at some point in time he’s going to want to reestablish that crossing to get to, um, kind of an isolated part of his property.

01:05:05,230	Did, uh, water levels go down on the Knutson property after the crossing washed out? We don’t know when the crossing washed. Yeah, yeah. There’s some anecdotal evidence that some reason, all of a sudden, the water levels drop. But there’s no definitive direction that it was, because they’re not of this.

01:05:23,600	Um, what you have here, too, from a hydraulics standpoint, is you had a confluence between Apple Creek and Random Creek, and at years ago, there was always the discussion that Apple Creek flooded and backwater to Random Creek into McKenzie Slough. And then after some kind of the review and background, it almost sounds as though anecdotally, it actually goes the other way.

01:05:42,500	And that that backwater is not as big as, uh, what might be there, though, um, this has not been hydraulically analyzed as far as the floodplain scenario.

01:06:04,000	Um, FEMA had us stop at the highway, Interstate 94, um, at some point down the road, it might be nice to actually model that, but, uh, um, it’s not not necessary at this point for the complaint. Brian, have you been out to the site? Actually, or the crossings at. No, it’s on private property. I have not gone that far yet. That’s nice. That’s Maher. Yeah. Okay. It’s interesting that there is that almost 2.5ft of water. Right. He’s got to have almost a little rapids.

01:06:23,170	Well, what I would see based on the old aerial photos and again, I haven’t been out there either. Um, but the scenario as this washes out, you have sediment accumulation downstream. So you have that if you want to call it little delta formation from all the washouts.

01:06:37,970	That probably hasn’t completely flushed. Yeah. So that would to me create that 2.5ft difference. Because Apple Creek is a very, very flat gradient in general. Right. So anecdotally, just thinking about it instinctively, that would be probably a primary cause of that. Okay. Uh, so I think you probably need a motion to dismiss.

01:07:04,600	So removal or dismissal and then uh, and then if we do want to make a motion for, um, sending a letter to Maher for any future. Just add that to the motion. Yep. Okay. And that letter would how would we word that. Would we say in there that we have had past complaints. Right.

01:07:28,070	Turning that that is an obstruction. It could be it could be could be viewed. It could be. Yeah. We don’t we’re not even convinced ourselves. Right. Yeah. Right. Right. So I we are to be worded that way. Yep. Yeah. Okay. Yeah.

01:07:43,170	Something along the lines that if it would be found to be an obstruction, the board could order would order it removed. Um, so it would be prudent in your best interest to not. Yeah. Not have this as an obstruction so the board doesn’t remove it. In essence. And I give you some background, Josh has been out there and got permission to go look at it.

01:07:59,170	He has not looked at it. So he’s not been on the ground. But Mr. Maher is aware of it. Obviously he has the issues. There’s kind of background that we’ve learned from those conversations. Um, and I think he’s looking for a solution.

01:08:13,970	He’d like to have one, but he also understands and I think when he if he gets the letter, he’ll understand that, hey, whatever I put in, I should run by the board first to make sure that what I’m doing is prudent and not going to create a secondary issue. So I don’t see that as an adversarial approach on this at all.

01:08:32,970	Okay, we got a motion by Manager Mager to dismiss the complaint and send a letter to the landowner regarding the crossing. I’ll second. Okay. Second, by Manager Smith. Any discussion? If not, when do you take roll call? Vote, please. Yes, Manager Mischel. Yes, Manager Reep? Yes, Manager Smith. Yes. Chairman Landenberger. Yes. Motion passes. Okay. So you work with 18? Yep. When do. You read the letter? Okay. Yep.

01:09:09,070	Thank you. Okay. We move on to Long Lake Refuge. Update this morning, Michael. Okay, a couple things. Obviously it’s a long process. And, um, we’ve been through the disposal, for lack of a better thing, and spinning around a little bit where it sits right now.

01:09:30,230	After a number of conversations with Roger and Brian and and Dave and Josh, the standpoint that the refuge has issues, uh, at one point in time, we went back and talked to the Carter County folks and said, hey, looking at getting complaints from you had the meeting with them, so they were going to pass it to their water resource district and said,

01:09:44,800	okay, as soon as we get there, we’ll let you know. Had additional conversations with the managers and came to the conclusion, um, somewhat at Brian’s suggestion, which I concur with, is the standpoint, um, if we have the authority, the board, uh, to pursue this without a formal complaint process, that it simplifies things from a legal

01:10:06,000	perspective. Um, David pointed out in Dave, if I step too far in the legal side, tell me if I’m out of line. The because you have those structures in your county in Burleigh County does not necessarily mean you have pure jurisdiction over them because of the federal nexus, they’re federal property. They’re federal structures.

01:10:25,530	So realistically, the Fish and Wildlife Service has jurisdiction over them. So the context of the, um, if you want to call it SOP or standard operating procedures, if you are aware of this issue, which you are, and all of the background information to go directly to the Fish and Wildlife Service, have a

01:10:42,470	discussion with the Refuge Manager, as Josh has, and I think Roger’s visited with him as well. I have not um, we exchanged emails for for data collect um, is to have a conversation with them and say, hey, um, what can be done to resolve these issues? Uh, obviously from the Stutsman

01:11:00,900	County side, Stutsman County has completed a letter and a transmittal of the summary of issues, which really is the summary of issues to present to the Fish and Wildlife Service and say here, based on the original data that you provided from your files, uh, the issues in that particular area.

01:11:17,900	And, um, how would you like to go about resolving those? Uh, the discussion was for this board to send a letter to the Fish and Wildlife Service, along with the Stutsman County data, to get that process started. Okay. But to have a meeting in advance before the letter sent.

01:11:35,730	So you have the dialogue and the discussion as to where things can go, what they’re interested in doing. Um, what I understand is that Jared and others are saying, hey, we know we have a problem out here, and we’d like to address it, but in order for us to address it, we need, I wouldn’t necessarily

01:11:52,700	call it a formal complaint, but we need somebody to put something on paper that says, you know, here’s what’s going on. Um, here’s our director, here’s where, uh, where we need to fix that.

01:12:12,270	Um, I can tell you that I did request from the DWR all of their permit data and the background information that they have on that structure of the refuge. I did receive that, um, preliminary review would indicate that Fish and Wildlife Service was aware of this issue. Uh, long before now. What that means, I mean, I haven’t gone through the data and dug through the details.

01:12:30,900	I will, prior to the meeting with, uh, Fish and Wildlife Service. So the idea now is to have the meeting with the Fish and Wildlife Service, have Roger set that up.

01:12:47,630	Uh, sit down with them, talk through it, show them the information that we have, and then, you know, say, okay, how would you like this to proceed from your perspective to, uh, to get the ball rolling, to get your headquarters, to have something done? Like I said, it’s been a long, drawn out process, but I think, um, based on Manager Mager’s suggestion and based on Dave’s legal review of the process that we’re, uh, we’re on the right path.

01:13:08,100	Yeah. You mentioned a letter being sent. Did that letter get sent, then? The letter. The letter to the refuge? No. Okay. No. The discussion.

01:13:22,430	Is, is that we want to bring the information to the refuge one on one in a meeting, have a conversation, and then say, how would you know? Because it may go, be honest with you may go with the phrasing. What is it that you would like us to say that would assist the process, rather than us saying something? Because again, goes back to the complaint picture.

01:13:36,530	We don’t necessarily want to make a complaint all of a sudden get in a process to where we have to step through all the federal regs relative to a complaint. In other words, keep it as an open discussion right now.

01:13:51,870	Um, Dave pointed out, too, that any of the landowners, Carter or Burleigh, if they wanted to file a complaint, that option is still open to them. In other words, that’s not been closed, but this is more of an open dialogue discussion to try and, um, move the situation forward and resolve the longstanding concerns with the with the water management and the refuge. Okay. So what’s next? Steps. Um, getting that meeting scheduled, then.

01:14:11,900	The next steps would be schedule a meeting with, uh, Jared, the refuge Manager Okay. And, uh, showing the letter that we intend on, uh, sending to him. I know it sounds a little strange to have their input, uh, on a letter, but ultimately, he, as he looks at, uh, his administration above him. Uh, and budgets.

01:14:42,430	And I’m speaking a little bit for him. So he he knows that without some kind of government entity pushing, um, uh, them to resolve the issue, that that issue may not, uh, reach a very high priority.

01:15:11,730	And so, uh, he, he knows that the refuge is, uh, the reservoir is too high in the refuge, and, uh, not only impacting land outside of easements, it’s impacting his refuge mission. You know, it’s really just a lake full of carp. And so ultimately, he’d like to be able to control that elevation. And lower it. And there’s a number of scenarios whereby, uh, it’s a win win for upstream landowners.

01:15:36,900	The refuge. And uh, uh, without, you know, possibly impacts the downstream landowners.. And refresh my memory, we got complaints from was it a county and residents of Burleigh County, or was it. No. There were no formal complaints filed. And. Uh. Okay.

01:15:56,270	The refuge has not received in the ten years that he has been refuge Manager Uh, he has not received an official complaint either. Okay. Yeah. Mr. chairman, wait. The way this process kind of worked out with Stutsman County investigating the issue, uh, we heard tons of complaints at the public meeting. Uh, how the refuge was this? The refuge was at.

01:16:17,730	But nobody knew what the issues were. They didn’t know what to complain about. Um, shouldn’t liken it, but it’s a little bit like the Knudson scenario. She was complaining about the general conditions, but didn’t know what to point the finger at.

01:16:34,630	Um, in this particular case, I think the, um, pretty easily identified what the issues are, but the landowners have never taken it to the refuge. They didn’t know what was causing their problem. They just knew they had a problem. Do we need that complaint to continue to move forward with this? And here is the discussion.

01:16:50,900	Dave and I were having this relative to the if you want to call it, the legal process and the Fish and Wildlife Service. I think having a dialogue first is far better than sending in a formal complaint, because if it’s an informational exchange, then we don’t get into the complaint process where all of a sudden you’re in other words, the rulebook changes.

01:17:09,500	Um, I think they recognize they have a problem. And if that problem can be elevated, it may be resolved or a direction for resolution without any formal complaint.

01:17:27,900	But the landowners out there, um, obviously they they complain to Stutsman County, which we kind of told them it’s been that issue has been there for a long time, or at least since the lake was raised. So they have the ability to file complaints, but they have not. So. Mr. Chairman, if I may, um, and Roger can chime in here. We have a lot of moving jurisdictional parts, and the fewer that moved, the better.

01:17:47,170	So we we have the Rumsey clause. The federal government takes precedence over state law and county law. We know that the difficulty here is that, um, it’s not only the spillway itself and other structures, it’s actually the impacts of the spillway. And and who actually has jurisdiction over that. That’s a little grayer.

01:18:09,000	We may say the water district does. More likely than not, it’s the federal government who has that. The federal government has a separate complaint process. Districts have their complaint process. Um, really we’ve talked about this before. No questionnaires, no complaints. Less is more. At this point.

01:18:31,100	Roger, can if we can meet with Long Lake and just say, look, here’s what we need to have happen once we start formalizing this thing. The same rule applies with other districts. Kidder County Water District or or Stutsman County. We have no specific joint powers, agreements or or agreements with them to handle these complaints. So jurisdictional.

01:18:51,730	We’ve got a lot of irons in the fire, and if we don’t need to go there, let’s not because that pushes us into another realm. And a procedure. And I just think if we can somehow negotiate with them, like Roger, we get a meeting with those guys and maybe touch upon these jurisdictional issues, say, how are we going

01:19:11,170	to handle this? If a complaint comes down the road? Well, then we’re just going to have to deal with that. But if it doesn’t and we could might even have some informal agreements with Fish and Wildlife Service if in fact, this district does get a complaint.

01:19:28,630	What do we do with that? We you know, the board has 120 days and they it we just have this process. We have to do. Um, I would hope that as a part of our meeting with Fish and Wildlife Service, we can address these procedural issues so we don’t get in the mix of all of this other stuff,

01:19:46,170	which really isn’t, um, isn’t solving the problem. But I think, I hope that we can sort of build something when we have that meeting between the federal government and the sand. DWR is involved in this thing, too, as well as the districts. And I think, Mr.

01:20:04,270	Chairman, to add to that, because you have the jurisdictional crossovers, Carter Burleigh, is that, um, Roger and us can have the meeting with Fish and Wildlife Service. Um, I will update, um, Carter County, you know, as part of the process and let them know what’s happening.

01:20:24,530	Ultimately, Kerr County would be brought into the discussion once we have the discussion with Fish and Wildlife Service as to where they may go. Uh, there may be a need for Carter County to provide data. Uh, there may be a desire. Maybe a desire is probably better word for Burleigh County to provide data.

01:20:41,900	But, you know, Carter County should provide their data independently at Burleigh County because it’s their jurisdiction. So they’re kind of as a crossover, um, kind of goes to where we were looking at with the complaint. If we had the complaint files from their landowners and Burleigh County landowners, then you can put them together and consider it as a single one.

01:20:56,630	In this case, with the jurisdictional issue, having a conversation first, um, Carter County needs to be brought into that conversation. But I think it’s important rather than spin the wheel and doing it 2 or 3 times to find out what the direction is before, um, bringing them in for the conversation. Yeah.

01:21:16,900	Um, I see we have some Fish and Wildlife Service people in, and I do have a question maybe that they would, uh, if they’d be willing to answer. And I. Couldn’t even see them over there. because. Give up. We’re talking. And we’re talking like you’re not even here. Um, chairman. Managers. My name is Jared Newton.

01:21:36,700	I am the station manager of Long Lake National Wildlife Refuge and Long Lake Wetland Management District, which includes properties in Burleigh, Kidder and Emmons County. I also have with me, uh, Sean Lofgren. He’s the project leader for the Central North Dakota Wetland Management District, which is a bigger area. He is my supervisor.

01:21:57,430	Um, we, uh, we saw that we were on the agenda today and have been speaking with some folks individually, but wanted to take this opportunity to introduce ourselves, um, to you guys.

01:22:20,970	Happy to, um, work with you all, have the opportunity, um, to, to solve issues that affect, um, both of our arenas and, um, I think we want to work in a collaborative effort to try and resolve these issues. We understand that there’s, um, changes on the landscape, changes in how the water, uh, moves in the landscape. And those are affecting the way that the refuge operates. And upstream and downstream from the refuge.

01:22:44,500	Um, so we do understand that there are some, uh, issues that that need to be looked at. And I guess what our intent is to, um, like I said, work with you more, more. So garner your support for, um, when we are bringing these things to a higher level. Yeah. And happy to answer any questions that you have. Yeah. Uh thank you. Jared.

01:23:06,130	Did I speak correctly then when I said that, uh, presently, the reservoir is higher than you’d want it, and, uh, and the inability to manage it at a lower elevation doesn’t exist. Correct. Mr. chairman, um, I forgot your first name again. Jared. Jared. Um, Jared.

01:23:30,530	Um, so I heard that a letter from an entity such as the Berlin County Water Resource District could be helpful in your process. Uh, yes. Yes. And then, so my my follow up question to that, is it helpful if you have multiple letters from multiple government entities? I think it would be beneficial if we had something from Carter County as well.

01:23:50,370	I know the commissioners from Carter County, we do have a relationship with them. So, um, obviously happy to to work with them as well on this situation. And then, if I may, one more follow up question. You said there’s probably some, you know, buzzwords that may be helpful in that letter that help your process.

01:24:06,230	And so you’d be willing to share those that insight with us as a letter gets developed. Yes. Happy, happy to work with Manager Mager and Manager Smith to identify, um, the best way to address that. Yeah. Good. I would. Just add here. Yeah. Thanks. Thanks for coming in, Brian. Mr.

01:24:29,700	chairman, I think that I think that’s our immediate next step that we discussed is to have that discussion and get the letter sent off, and let’s see where it goes. That would be my thoughts. And Jared thank you I’m hiding behind over here. Yes I thank you for the information you submitted. We talked or emailed back and forth.

01:24:46,900	Um I did create this summary for Stutsman County. You’ll be seeing that. We’ll share that with you. Some background. Uh, there’s some information that the DWR level you heard me mention. Um, I’ll share some of that.

01:25:03,800	And the collaborative effort here, I think is critical because, um, obviously visiting with Roger and his background, Ducks unlimited been around for a number of years relative to, um, management of waters and the, uh, the refuges per se.

01:25:20,370	Uh, I think there’s a great opportunity here to not only get the refuge back on mission, if you will, personal opinion from a technical perspective, but also to get the landowners back to where oh, yeah, this is what this is the way it’s supposed to be. There’s a there’s a dual opportunity here that I think is is very beneficial to both sides.

01:25:34,730	And I think the, you know, there’s some technical issues obviously, from a management of the waters, the structure and other things. Um, so um, I’m looking forward to a very positive interaction in making this go forward. So we’ll be in touch. Yeah. Happy to hear that. Uh, Mr. Jones, we are excited about it too. Actually, I think this has the opportunity to make some, some very positive impacts for the refuge.

01:25:52,000	Um, but we are aware that things that we change on the refuge impact, um, Burleigh County downstream as well. So that’s why we want to work with you.

01:26:07,900	But, Jared, if I could, uh, have you expand a little bit, uh, when we were discussing, you were giving me some history of the refuge and how, uh, at one time, it was, uh, used by waterfowl. You even gave some numbers. And now, uh, at the elevation, it is, it’s created some impacts that aren’t necessarily, uh, favorable to waterfowl.

01:26:28,630	Maybe for the rest of the managers, maybe you could expand on that because they might not fully understand what the high water levels are doing. So, um, so Long Lake Refuge was established in 1932, very dry time in in North Dakota. Um, Long Lake is a natural lake, um, a shallow lake.

01:26:50,630	It’s not uh, was was never a substantial fishery by any means. It was it was a waterfall. Um, lake. Um, had a lot of emergent vegetation, things like that, that are good for migrating waterfowl and nesting waterfowl and brood rearing, all of those things.

01:27:10,970	Um, one of the major problems, uh, that it had was being an alkali lake, um, enclosed vegetation, um, those situations tend to develop botulism outbreaks, uh, which can have a severe impact on the waterfowl that are using that that area, basically, um, like botulism in your face.

01:27:33,630	It, it deadens nerves and, and what it would do is their, um, reduce their ability to hold their head up and they end up drowning. Um, and it spreads quickly in those scenarios. Um, so the solution that they came up with to solve that was increasing the water level. They applied for. Um, uh, elevated water, right to, to increase the depth of the lake.

01:27:57,800	For the most part, it had the intended effect of reducing botulism outbreaks went from hundreds of thousands of birds dying to thousands or hundreds or none. Um, so so we we had that that, um, uh, intended solution to that problem.

01:28:23,270	Unfortunately, um, raising the lake made it possible for carp, um, rough fish to inhabit that lake on a consistent basis, disturbing the vegetation, disturbing the bottom of the substrate, increasing the turbidity of the lake. Um, now that vegetation essentially doesn’t grow in that lake, and and it has become, as you stated, that I stated, a carp lake.

01:28:45,800	Um, and we still do get lots of, uh, migration there is still use there, but it is not at the extent to what our historic documents state. That was once the use. So, um, in this process through through lowering it, um, you know, there will be some, some positives and some negatives associated with, with, uh, potentially doing that work. Um, don’t know what they all may be.

01:29:07,230	Some things we won’t foresee as well, but, um, we expect that the carp would no longer be able to, to live in that situation. Vegetation would regrow. It would become much more, um, uh, habitable for, for waterfowl year round. But we’re going to increase our likelihood of, of, uh, botulism outbreaks again.

01:29:28,100	So that’s, that’s a, a management concern that, that we have to deal with. Lesser of two evils. Right. I there’s there’s good things and bad things about both. Yeah. Absolutely. Well good. Well yeah I appreciate you showing up this morning and, uh, giving us some additional information.

01:29:49,100	And as everybody said here this morning, looking forward to collaborating with you, with you all to see if we can, you know, be a solution provider in this in this whole process. And yeah. So next steps. Then schedule a meeting. Roger. Brian, you both. Schedule a meeting with Brian.

01:30:07,800	It can be, uh, what I’ll do is email the draft to him so he’ll have the opportunity to review the draft letter and then probably handle it over the phone. And, uh, after your review, we can discuss how to finalize it, and then we will finalize it and send you the letter. Does that sound good? Yeah. Happy. Happy to to facilitate it however you want.

01:30:29,630	Um, any of you are also welcome to come out to the refuge, if you would, if you would like as well. Yeah, actually, that might, uh, that might work as well. I’m looking at my calendar, um. It may actually, Mr.

01:30:48,700	Chairman, it may be, you know, we were talking about having the meeting at Houston Engineering, which is fine. Or may actually be beneficial if you’ve got a little conference room at the refuge we do to be on site, and then we can point to things and say, look out the window. It’s over here.

01:30:59,970	I mean, I think I got a pretty good idea of where things are at. I’ve driven around and know where things are at. But, um, being in your office and talking about things directly may be helpful. Um, I would suggest I will be in contact. I know you know them.

01:31:18,800	All the Carter County folks, but because of the jurisdictional issue here, um, I will be in contact with them regarding this process and where this is going, because at some point in time, everybody needs to be in the room and the discussion and open and transparent. So, but, uh, we’ll step through this a little bit at a time, trying not to overstep, um, so that you get what you need.

01:31:34,900	I can tell you from the standpoint I’m also working on the Crystal Springs project, as you know, uh, Stutsman County doesn’t have any jurisdiction here, but they do have the potential for sending water.

01:31:51,330	Um, I’ll kind of the if you want to say the contact information person, but there will be nobody from Stutsman County in that process because there are two separate issues. One is a project related issue. This is a refuge management issue. So, um, it’s tough to kind of keep things separate. But I think it’s important for the the landowners are looking at that that way too. So yeah, I understand the jurisdictional complications. Thank you.

01:32:11,430	Chairman Lundberg. I do have to recuse myself from interactions with another federal. It makes sense. Yep. Uh. How is next Tuesday like the 19th? That afternoon. Would that work for you? My son is graduating from fifth grade that day, so that was a terrible day. How about. The. Uh, Monday afternoon? Like the 18th? The afternoon? Yeah.

01:32:49,870	It doesn’t matter. Actually, it could be morning or afternoon, but typically Monday mornings or so for other things. Yeah. Uh. You guys pick a time. It’s open for me, too. If the 18th. Yeah. Okay. And. Yeah. Just meeting you and I. Yeah.

01:33:11,900	And, uh, we’d leave here after lunch, maybe set it for like, 2:00 or something on Monday. That’d be fine. Okay. All right. Let’s be in touch to confirm that. Okay? Okay. All right, all right. Thank you. Any other questions? All right. Thanks again. Thank you. Thank you Jared. All right. We can move on to item E this morning.

01:33:39,530	Michael, any update on the cook property? Um, a couple things on the Mike cook property. I understand Mike showed up on one of the county commission meetings and basically said the same thing he said, because nobody’s helping him. So I don’t want to touch base on that aspect. Um, we prepared a memo. I have a copy of it.

01:33:57,170	We completed it, I guess I printed out a draft copy, but it’s been finalized. Um, we basically let Mike cook know the background as to where the city is at. Uh, extraterritorial area where the water resource district is at and where the highway department is at.

01:34:19,600	And there’s nobody there to there’s no jurisdictional authority to go in and fix his particular concern. Um, there’s also some questions in my mind as to what’s actually going on out there, even though we know that the development of the commercial industrial area has obviously put more water on his property, that is there. That’s that’s the truth. The solution or one of the only directions that we see available to Mr.

01:34:39,500	Cook. And we pointed it out in the in the memorandum was be to actually go and get a petition, get people to sign on and create a special assessment district for a drainage project. Now, uh, one can answer the question, this is still within the EPA, but it’s still county property.

01:34:57,100	So it may be a jurisdictional question as far as, um, the, uh, creating the Special Assessment District within the EPA, but I believe you can um, but that’s a that’s a process that’s important. What happens with Mr.

01:35:15,800	Cook in his summary is that he is going to be ending up paying a good portion of the cost because from a benefit standpoint, which we’ve looked at, the largest beneficiary is him. It may be caused by somebody else, but that’s immaterial. He has run off of his own. And based on the runoff component, he has a large portion of that.

01:35:32,900	So he would have to get a number of those individual landowners within the, um, industrial park, if you will, to sign off on the petition to say, yes, we’re interested in paying for a portion of that, um, solution or improvement. Uh, that being said, as you know, with special assessment districts, this board can review applications or petitions, if you will, for such projects.

01:35:57,430	Uh, you can also, if you desire, bond for such projects. In other words, you bond for the preliminary engineering report. And if the project doesn’t go forward, you have the ability to collect on that bond or recover your costs.

01:36:17,500	Now that you’ve not bonded in past projects, but you’ve also ended up with a past project in your hands that, um, unfortunately, you had a lot of costs for because the landowners decided not to go forward so very quickly. Um, the information has been provided to Mr. Cook. I don’t know that there’s any additional contact necessary. Um, so, like I said, it’s all been emailed to him so that he has that information.

01:36:35,000	So we can be confirmed that he received that and that he. He actually asked for it twice. I’ve got several emails and said, by the way, we sent this to you earlier and I sent it to him again. Okay. So now I also did recommend, based on his commentary.

01:36:52,270	Um, I did recommend that if he wanted another engineer or legal to look at it for him and advise him that he could pursue doing that. And to my knowledge, I’ve not heard back from him. So thanks, Michael. Question for Dave.

01:37:12,530	I guess on the on this ETA, is there anything we need to research on? I mean, we’re all kind of nodding that we think that we have the ability to do this within that ETA, even though because it’s county property. But is that something we need to research? Mr. chairman, it is something we should probably look at.

01:37:30,370	I can work with Mike and and get the latest correspondence and we’ll see where we go on it. And Mr. Chairman, I know other other legal drains or assessment drains out there have city entities that are actually part of the assessment districts. So I can’t imagine that there’s any prohibition against creating an assessment district within an ETA. Yeah. Um, I have one question.

01:37:51,000	What’s the, uh what’s the estimated percentage that would be the responsibility of Mr. Cook? If I recall the number, it’s about 46%. So bottom line, he would need some of the property owners who are draining on him. If you want to look at it that way, to be part of that process. Okay.

01:38:11,970	And remember, we did that based on a volumetric scenario on runoff for beneficiary. Is there any any other owners that are receiving some of this water. No. He’s dealing. With he’s on the bottom end.. And Michael, when you say draining on him or their actual drains. No, this is the scenario where the watershed was all eg land. And now there’s the Metro Industrial Park.

01:38:34,900	So it was converted from AG land to basically urban and commercial property, which obviously has a higher level of runoff. So it’s not formal drainage, it’s just the runoff coefficient. And it is significant. It’s a significant change. If you go back and look at the aerial photos, you’ll see that over the years it’s just this area just keeps getting water.

01:38:54,630	And it’s that industrial area that would be part of the assessment. Not all of it, but a good portion of it based on watershed, correct? Okay. Now I can tell you that, you know, having conversations with the city of Bismarck and early County highway department, um, there are restrictions now on the development of the final

01:39:17,600	pieces of property out there relative to runoff coefficients and stuff. So there is some level of control, obviously, before nothing was controlled. They just you had a factor. This was developed long before the stormwater management plans were necessary.

01:39:39,370	So therefore the developer just, you know, did what was necessary under the planning and zoning requirements at that point in time. But the individual stormwater permits are being considered and are being looked at. There’s a number of culvert issues within the subdivision that, um, have to be accommodated and changed for the conditions that are there. Question.

01:39:58,000	Michael, I didn’t see the commission meeting, but was there discussion and was there, you know, talk about the commission reaching out to us and asking us to get more involved. I don’t KC, I don’t know if you were there either, but I just curious if we need to touch base with the county commission. And miss Jerry.

01:40:12,900	That last meeting, he came to us and like my indicated, he has never received any help. So that was our real concern was he went on and on about he’s done this and contacted these people, these people, and nothing’s been done. So we had it.

01:40:32,330	We directed him to come to the water resource to file a complaint. And that’s kind of where he I think he knows more than he let us on by a long ways, uh, in that he’s the only receiver of the runoff that nobody else is getting it.

01:40:47,170	It’s he he’s got a bad situation because all this commercial is running under him. And how do you stop it? I don’t know, it’d be a pretty good chunk of change. So we headed him to this board, and that’s where it’s at. Yeah. Yep. And he filed a complaint. Quite a while ago. Apparently years. Ago. And it was October. Of 24. Yeah.

01:41:05,270	And he he didn’t indicate that to us at the meeting. He just said I haven’t had any help and he hasn’t any help because he knows what the result is going to be, is he’s going to end up being the the funder of most of it. So yeah.

01:41:21,800	And we met Casey with the highway department with with Mr. Cook too, and kind of walked through some options and scenarios and potential costs there. And right. So it’s not that we haven’t done nothing. I mean, we’ve been trying to figure out. Well, that was the that was the point. He said. I want to make sure.

01:41:35,500	We had the I shouldn’t say we had the attitude from him that nothing has been done. And this is a brand new situation and we should help him out. Well, that wasn’t the case at all. So. Okay. All right. Thanks, Commissioner. Because Dave, I go to as far. As.

01:41:51,770	Well as, you know, what sort of precedent we said, you know, if we start looking at every individual and setting up special assessment districts to help offset this, is that.

01:42:07,270	And then we had this discussion regarding Hog Island, too, right? At what point is, you know, can you do an assessment district of 1 or 2 people, you know, landowners, but something to look into, I think. I mean, what point is, yeah. I’ll do. That. Mr. Chair. Thank you. And from this perspective, we’ve got a list of the number of landowners. It’s not just him, right.

01:42:25,500	Obviously, there’s a lot of landowners. And based on where the culverts are at within the subdivision and which is our actually contributing. Yeah. So, um, I don’t think the cost again, um, if you’re going to tell me I have to pay for something that somebody else may have done, it’s pretty tough, I think, to

01:42:44,170	get those other landowners to actually step up and be participate in the process. Um, um, out of their goodwill, should they? Probably because they are contributing. But then again, um, uh, Mr.

01:43:01,500	Cook is looking for a solution, as I gather, where he doesn’t have to pay a big chunk of this because he thinks it’s other people’s issues. Um, in this particular case, in order to spread the benefits or shall we say, the solution, um, he’s going to end up paying a portion of it because there’s no other funding source that can come in and and repair that or correct that. So.

01:43:20,330	Go with him not being a bigger benefactor. The the assessment vote would actually be challenging, right? I mean, yes, at least one other landowner. Yeah. One other landowner. Right. And then like we have a whole bunch of not very happy landowners. And therein lies the scenario.

01:43:44,970	Having been Mister Chairman through a number of, um, public informational meetings, you would have, uh, say just as an example, Mr. Cook and a few others that are fine and by volume in number of people, you would have a number of people coming in and saying, we’re not going to go here and they’re going to get the opinion, as with any assessment district,

01:44:02,000	that, you know, the people with the 50% carry the vote and you’re going to have a number of people who may not be happy. So this is a public information or a public relations issue as well in a project.

01:44:20,230	I mean, we see it in all projects, obviously, but it’s a public relations issue, you know, to let everybody know what’s going on, should it ever get to that point. And I’m not saying you don’t do it for that reason, but the scenario is just being aware of that. There’s a process that we need. Yeah, okay. Thank you. Any other questions comments. This morning. All right. There’s no we can move on to item eight.

01:44:46,900	Uh there’s no other terrain. Plants that are being closed this month. We can move on to item nine projects. Any updates this morning regarding the Hog Island? Yeah, I’ll just kind of run through all of them. Um, access easement revisions. Um, I’ve talked to Travis. Travis and I will get something to Dave shortly on those easements.

01:45:07,270	As far as new language goes, um, obviously the original ones were written in the 70s. Um, they don’t apply. The legal descriptions don’t apply. So we’ll be stepping those through to give that to Dave to review that language on the, uh, Dave Charter. Uh, we did get the bathymetric survey done.

01:45:25,000	Uh, we provided it to Braun. Uh, there is a slight bulge of the material shifting out into the river. So now they’ll go into it and say, okay, what do we do to stabilize that and prevent that from continuing? Um, so we don’t have an answer on that. On the Roger Jonas one.

01:45:40,270	Michael, before we go to that one, um, so are they doing some soil borings or. Soil borings already done. They were completed as well. Yeah, they were completed. We just couldn’t get the cemetery data because ice moved in. Okay. So now we have the bathymetry data and they can complete their analysis okay.

01:45:55,970	So that’s the next step would be to provide some kind of a technical memo or report on. What they’re as far as, you know, what should be done. For the recommendations. Exactly. Okay. Um, on the Roger Jonas one, what I suggest is I suspect we’re going to have some project at charters.

01:46:13,370	Um, I’ve kind of directed Travis to get some numbers together for that Jonas site. Uh, submit to DWR. Um, the request for cost share. That’s primarily going to be a remediation. In other words, placing rock where the rock is disappeared.

01:46:32,100	But from a cost perspective, if you’re doing anything at charters, doing Jonas, you got a contractor out there, you’re already delivering materials. It’s a one bid process. So I think there’s an advantageous position to be doing that rather than waiting for it to become worse and and do it that way. So that’s kind of been my direction.

01:46:49,170	And then of course, you would get the, uh, the cost share scenario, just like, uh, what happened on charters. And then of course, the general 32 DWR that’s been submitted to the water plan. Um, that’s kind of an ongoing number that you submit on an annual basis. Okay. So we’re waiting to submit for the grant for the Jonas property.

01:47:14,730	What is the plan there? Is there a timeline? Um, well, we’ll wait a little bit and probably see where Brian is at. Um, though we, you know, if we’re going to get something in for DWR, of course, that will be a director. Approval will be under the 100,000. So let’s wait for Braun and see what their recommendation is.

01:47:29,630	So we kind of get a feel for the project. But Travis is already kind of given a a rough cut number as to how much rock would have to be brought in for that, uh, for that remediation. Okay. So Brian is also assisting us on the Jones’s property. No, no, that’s not that’s when I was asking about. No.

01:47:46,470	No, they don’t need they’re not doing anything on that. All that is, is basically the backside of the revetment is washed out and the rock is gone. So it’s a matter of restoring that rock. That’s. But you’re you’re waiting just because of the Chaytor situation. Try to get one contractor to do both. That’s correct. Waiting. Right. Yeah.

01:48:01,670	Okay. That’s correct. Okay. So we’ll wait to get the report from Ron to kind of maybe finalize what we’re looking at for the Jones right portion. And because the shares are independent of one another with DWR, we’d wait. And then once we have the numbers, we would submit for the combined.

01:48:16,470	Submit them. Okay. Okay. All right. Thank you. Yeah. Any questions on hold? That one. Okay. Move on to project B Apple Creek slide this morning okay. Interesting scenario there. Some of it’s pretty straightforward. The HMP quarterly progress report was submitted. Um the cost share reimbursement has been submitted.

01:48:40,730	All the documentation I believe Wendy’s actually got the check for that. Uh, for a reimbursement. Um, the emergency action plan is kind of hanging out there. We finish that up. It’s like I said, probably 80 to 90% done.

01:48:59,470	Uh, interestingly enough, we received a call or I should say Burleigh County Highway Department received a call that something and moved out there and that something had slid into the creek. Uh, as it turns out, it’s actually downstream to the south from the repair area, if you want to look at it that way. So, um, it has impeded the flow in the creek, but it’s washing out. It’s fairly stable.

01:49:16,970	So it just kind of monitor and let it, mother Nature do its thing. Uh, we did have Brian go out and look because of the call. Uh, I got an email I could share. Part of that is that, uh, there’s obviously still some movement on the major hill.

01:49:30,970	Uh, there’s a scarp starting to appear. Uh, we noted in the picking up of the monitoring from bar is that we did notice some movement again in March. Uh, no movement recently. We thought maybe the recent little clip caused some movement in the incline, but it’s not showing at this point.

01:49:49,530	So they’re not interconnected at all. Um, but we do have some movement there, and we’ll continue to monitor going forward. So. Casey, any other update regarding that new slide? I mean, we have photos. I don’t know if you have those two. Michael, we want to try to share with the board or not.

01:50:06,330	But I will share the link when I get back to the office. Okay. I just got it yesterday. How far south of this of the you Mary area is this new slide? Is it. The Casey address? I don’t believe it’s a very far, but. Yeah, it’s not very far.

01:50:22,630	You’re talking quarter third of a mile to the south. Okay. On there. Um, from April 17th, we flew that, uh, luckily the drone picture just happens to catch the same area. Oh, we got the same angle. Reshot it. You can see sometime between April 17th and yesterday, obviously, something had let go in there.

01:50:50,970	And it’s maybe 70 ish percent blocking, but it is moving through. Uh, it’s not eroding on the side where houses are at. Uh, the part that’s in the creek is the part that looks like it’s eroding. Things look stable for the time being. We’ll just continue to monitor it. Uh, especially after storms. Everything.

01:51:10,270	But we’ll we added that to our area on there. So when we fly the University of Mary one, we already have angles set up to. So we can kind of see that a little bit more and just keep our eye on it. Okay.

01:51:26,700	Just for the board’s sake, so that I remember the first slide that happened and it kind of angled the creek flow right into the bank. And then the the highway with the road was right there. So that was kind of why this was that was a kind of a bigger deal.

01:51:36,900	Because the access for emergency vehicles and things of that nature, if that road were to get taken out, it’s when there’s not as much of an impact to to Casey’s Road. But it’s also but there is a house there and it seems like it just kind of shifted it, like Casey said and blocked off part of it. But there’s good flow running laterally along the bank.

01:51:54,500	So it didn’t angle it into the bank or anything of that nature like the last one. So but a bigger picture standpoint, the concern could be if it was to ever completely choke off Apple Creek. And that’s, that’s the the emergency action kind of scenario that we’ve kind of talked about. But it doesn’t seem like that’s an issue at.

01:52:11,100	This point. Yeah. A couple aspects of the Emergency Action Plan visiting with, uh, administrator. Um, Sanger at this point, um, the emergency action there, there’s the repair that was done by the University of Mary. That was the bigger, larger concern.

01:52:30,270	There’s also a smaller slide to the north, which has a lesser concern. And then now there’s the stuff to the south. There are independent slides, but they’re there. Uh, that EP is in place or can be in place for action regardless as to which one goes right. So it’s just just an awareness scenario.

01:52:49,630	Um, the larger one obviously has the bigger impact, but the smaller ones could still have a notification process that, hey, there’s been a slide down there, be aware. And then further notification or further information would be provided, um, as it becomes available. So good. Thank you. Any questions for Casey? Thank you. Thank you. Okay. Uh, we can move on to other old business. Mr. Chairman. Oh, yeah. Mr.

01:53:16,530	Chairman, if I might, I have to leave it at 10:00. But, um, an update on the garrison diversion. Yeah. Last week we voted to appeal that to the Senate, to the district court.

01:53:33,270	And so that our state’s attorney has the information that’s in her ballpark, so to speak, and they’re going to proceed to do that. And I think. I don’t I don’t want to predict what a court can do, but I think they’re going to uphold the decision made by garrison diversion. So we may appeal to the Supreme Court. I don’t know. I’m not in favor of that because it’s expensive.

01:53:49,870	And I think we know what the attitude of the district and the courts are. So, uh, but that’s where it’s at anyway, so. Okay. Thank you, Commissioner Woodcox. I was just curious during this process, has there been any thoughts or discussions of the county meeting with garrison to discuss mill levy and missed opportunities to reduce that?

01:54:11,100	Well, we’re set with one bill now, 750,000 approximately. And we’ve never negotiated with them to say, hey, cut in half or something like that, which which I think is a possibility. But, um, the attitude of those that are pushing that is not. not in order to do that. So we’ll see how it goes.

01:54:32,000	I think the language is up to one mill. Yep, yep. But I don’t know. We’ve never considered. That petition to consider.. And they’ve never they’ve never given us any indication that we should go look at that line. But that’s where we’re at. It’s up to. So yeah, I was just curious. Okay. Yeah. Okay. Thank you. Thank you.

01:54:50,370	Commissioner. Okay. All right. Uh, see, Mitch is in here, so there’s probably no update this morning unless. Michael, you’ve heard anything regarding the, you know, the CRS, but. No, no update. At this point. Some of those items. He’s working through, the process. He’s called and asked a couple of questions.

01:55:10,600	But, uh, um, nothing significant at this point from our workload. Okay. All right. And Commissioner just updated us on item B so we can move. There’s no other old business we can move on to item 11. New business this morning. Uh, first item there, the summer meeting on July 15th and 16th.

01:55:32,000	So I think I heard, uh, Manager Mischel was looking to maybe attend. I think I am as well. I don’t know, Dennis. You’ll probably be there. I plan to be. Yes. So that’s something we’ll probably have to post just with us three. I don’t know, Brian or Roger, if you’re planning to go. We’re. Where is this one? References Waterford City Hall. I probably would not go.

01:55:48,270	Okay, okay. So if we do have the three of us there, then we’ll have Wendy probably posted as a meeting. But. Okay. Uh, next item, there is some temporary water permits in your packet. You can review if you have any questions or concerns. Certainly let us know. Um, then there is a our dues increase.

01:56:09,700	I’m not sure how much dynasty. You know what that increase is. I forget what our, uh, Wendy River. It’s going to be 520 27. Did they say in the letter. What it was? It was 300 before. From 3 to 500. Yeah. Okay. Oh, that’s. It sounds quite right. But, um. Anyway.

01:56:27,970	And I don’t know the number exactly, but the rationale, the reason is that, um, I don’t know if this was shared with you, but the state Department of Water Resources, State Water Commission had previously shared significantly with just the operations costs of the water users and water resource districts that they have discontinued that for, just

01:56:48,700	maybe, uh, um, legal reasons, just to make sure they’re not I’m not sure all the background, but so with that, the necessitates, um, you know, spreading the or narrowing up the, the pie slice. Yep. When does that payment actually do. Is that could it be for next year’s. It would be for 27. Yeah okay.

01:57:12,870	They typically send it out December somewhere in there. And we consider it in the early part of the year. So it still seems like a reasonable. We actually paid it in August last year and it was 32532525 okay. Thank you. Thank you. Mr. Chairman. Just to let you know, I’m going to bug out.

01:57:30,900	There’s a, uh, informational meeting on the Garrison Dam spillway improvements up at PSC at 10:00. So I’m going to be a little bit behind getting there, but, um. All right. So if you need anything else for me, just let me know, okay. Thank you. All right. Yeah.

01:57:50,730	So I guess we’ll see that bill in August or September and look to pay that. All right. Any other new business? Okay. Moving on to item 12. There is additional information regarding those plats and stormwater management plans. You can see there for the Edwards Village seventh edition, the Boulder Ridge seventh edition, Ponderosa Riverside, uh eighth and ninth.

01:58:16,230	And then the plot Subdivision and Norb subdivision. So I want to add additional information. You can reach out to Wendy to provide that. You can move on to item 13, approval of this month’s bills, and you reap. Uh, Mr.

01:58:34,370	Chairman, uh, board members, I did go through the bills as they are presented in your packet. Um, a couple items of note. The Bismarck Parks and Rec invoice, if you recall, we had a discussion about a credit back to the Burleigh County Water Resource District based on the percentage they charge for capital outlays, where they purchased that tractor.

01:58:50,270	And, and our, our percentage share, that was like 5000. We did split that with them. So we do have that credit in this invoice that we got from Bismarck Parks and Rec so that we’re all square there. Um, I guess that was the main one I was going to bring up.

01:59:09,730	Um, there is, uh, two invoices that were shared subsequent to the preparation of this of your packet. One is from Brown, Inter Tech. Um, and that is for oh, shoot is for a Apple Creek landslide work through our contract with them in order $8,615. Um, and then we have the one that was discussed in our public comment period.

01:59:38,370	Um, with the addition, if we if the board is agreeable of the Brown inter tech invoice for 8615, our new total would be 180,000 for 93 and $0.85.

02:00:01,900	Um, if you know, based on the discussion, I, I, I guess my opinion would be we should table the other invoice from the. And I’m not going to try that name of that company. I’ll mispronounce it. But and so if I’ll just go ahead and make a motion that we pay the bills in the amount of $180,493.85, and table the one invoice that we received from, um, Josh, Josh, thank you.

02:00:26,000	I can’t remember his company name. Um, until, uh, for further discussion. Okay. All right. A motion by Manager Reep I’ll second. Second by Manager Smith to approve this month’s bills, including the brand invoice and the amount $180,493.85. And other discussion questions. Wendy, take roll call Vote, please. Manager Mager Yes. Manager Mischel. Yes. Manager Reep Yes. Manager Smith. Yes.

02:00:56,600	Chairman Landenberger Yes. Motion passes. Bills will be paid. Okay. Um, the additional information in your packet there on pages 38 through 106 is just some detailed information on the bills. Our next scheduled meeting is Wednesday, June 10th at 8 a.m. in this room. Everybody here can make that at meeting. Good. Okay.

02:01:20,530	Is there any other business before the board today? Excuse me, Mr. Chairman, one more thing to add. We did get the tractor put on to insurance. Oh, okay. Good. Great. I just wanted it. Okay, good. Thank you, thank