00:00:03,070	City Current. Produced by Dakota Media Access. In-depth discussion with Bismarck and Mandan city officials. Watch on Government Access channel 602 HD or tune in to Radio Access 102.5 FM. Always local, always current. Coming up on this episode of City Current, look back at the Bismarck City Commission meeting from August 11th. Go over 2025 audit results.

00:00:33,970	Take a look at the water treatment plant expansion and another item on the agenda include the discussion about kratom. Thanks for joining us. I'm Tom Gerhardt from Dakota Media Access, joined by Jason Tomanek Bismarck city administrator. Welcome. Glad to be here. It was always yeah. We had we were talking a little rain.

00:00:54,030	Finally for some of us unfortunately hail for some as well. But it was a little. Nice to get some moisture other than sprinklers. Yes. Agreed. I think no matter how much sprinkler water you use, a little bit of rain always does. Just so much better. Yeah, so much better. Well, a.

00:01:12,830	You know. Fairly light agenda, I guess you would say. I think in our 20 minute commission meeting last night, but some really interesting and important topics to talk about and starting things off wanted to start right with the water treatment plant expansion product project.

00:01:36,270	And so we got a really good overview context from what's been happening to this point and where we're going in the future. Yes. Michael Mart, our public works utility operations director. Michael's been with the city for more than ten years. He's been the utilities director for about a year and a half, shared a great deal of information about the water treatment plant.

00:01:53,470	And for anybody that's unsure, this is the building along the river between the Liberty Memorial Bridge and the rail bridge. Yellow brick building on the east side of River road. If you're not looking at the river, you could be looking at this building.

00:02:12,530	Originally, the plant was constructed in 1924, so we have components in that plant that are over 100 years old and still in use today. And at the time in 1924, when the plant was constructed, they were treating about 2.2 million gallons per day. Today, when people are irrigating and using water, were sometimes north of 30 million gallons a day. And so that's a tremendous amount of growth.

00:02:33,030	And so part of what Michael was working through last night is the expansion project at the water treatment plant. And so the plant is under construction today. And looking at an additional 10 million gallons per day capacity.

00:02:54,730	And so part of the water that is treated by the city of Bismarck is also distributed to South Central Regional Water District, where it then goes to rural neighborhoods. We also provide water to the city of Lincoln and to the United Tribes Technical College campus and the campus of the University of Mary. And so all of that is part of the production that goes on on a regular basis.

00:03:15,130	And so Michael was kind of walking through, the, the plant in and of itself. There's a number of buildings at the plant primarily there's for the, the lime softening building for anybody that can see the screen that is building number one on the screen, kind of the large building right in the middle.

00:03:35,800	There's a pretreatment building that will be repurposed as part of the expansion. And then a a new 10 million gallon ultrafiltration and reverse osmosis addition. That's a lot to get. Yeah, it's going to. Set it. And and then number four and I want to touch on this one just a little bit because the name could be a bit of a misnomer.

00:03:53,300	It's the existing sludge processing plant. And I think Commissioner Reisch had asked what what is the sludge? It's a byproduct of the water treatment process. And so it's typically lime which goes into the raw water to help soften the water. But then it's any of the contaminants that are collected from the river.

00:04:10,670	And so we do collect two different ways. We do just a raw water intake, which is right near the plant. And that's been in operation for over 100 years. But then we also have, as Michael referenced it, the spaceship on the river. It is the horizontal collector.

00:04:26,830	Well, it is that structure just south of the Liberty Memorial Bridge. That water or that device is basically pulling groundwater, and then that is blended with the raw water, and it is all part of the process to get fresh, safe drinking water to businesses, homeowners and everybody in the community and in some places beyond.

00:04:46,500	And so Michael shared a timeline here of about the next four years, also dating back to 2020, when this project first came forward, there was an estimation that it was about a $50 million project. That was a very high level wishful thinking kind of pre Covid disruptions in the market.

00:05:07,700	Where we are today, it's significantly higher than that. We're at about $143 million for the total project cost. That includes the design and all of the work that goes into it.

00:05:27,800	How does all of this get paid for through the rates that we as users pay on our monthly utility bill? We're also very fortunate to receive some funds from the state of North Dakota to help with this, as well, with the Department of Water Resources and much like other cities in the state, those funds through the Department of Water Resources go towards providing safe, clean drinking water because it's such an essential component of a healthy community.

00:05:48,930	So looking ahead, where do we go from here? Well, we've we've got current project cost of 130 million. We've secured 50 million in state funds. We're going to be looking for an additional $80 million, whether it be through the utility reserve balance, additional state grants.

00:06:10,900	It's possible that we may have to issue a bond based on the revenue that the water utility would collect. And then, of course, also the Department of Water Resources revolving Fund, that is a loan through the Bank of North Dakota that is available to municipal governments. It's a lower interest loan that we can apply for and just help lower those project costs all the way across.

00:06:30,930	So a lot of good information. I would encourage anybody to go back and listen to Michael's report. He he did a great job speaking about the components of the project, funding sources, how it's all going to get done.

00:06:49,300	And we have if you have any questions from there, I'm sure you'd be happy to have a conversation with you too. And again, just all this tied to the growth of the community and the other areas that we serve, correct? Yeah. It's interesting. Michael shared a statistic in the winter were generally six, 8 million gallons a day, and in the summer that number goes up exponentially.

00:07:08,500	And it's predominantly irrigation. Those of us that are watering our lawns. So it's it's just the nature of the program that we have here. And we are going to continue to invest in this critical piece of infrastructure because it supports our growing community.

00:07:30,130	Well, moving along, I'll lead with the headline, which I just caught my attention last night. We touched on it briefly this morning, but the attached to another item on the agenda was the possibility in the future of a roller rink roller rink in North Bismarck, and you can take it from there.

00:07:47,500	It was a just a short little comment from the property owner, and the action item last night was to release an easement that's in place. And so the commission had no concerns and released the easement as, as the owner was requesting. But then he shared a little bit about the project. So this is the current owner of the former IL works facility in North Bismarck.

00:08:04,070	It is today a retail store, and they are looking at adding on to the property and creating a roller rink. A good old fashioned put on your roller skates and go. Wheel a. While for a while. For those of us that grew up here. Absolutely. It it's a fun project to think about.

00:08:21,970	It'd be another opportunity for people to get out and get some activity in their day, but also have some fun and have some parties. I remember going to birthday parties at Wheel a While as a kid, and bump until it was right next door.

00:08:37,370	I mentioned that too, so we wish them the best of luck on this one. I didn't hear a timeline from them. I do know that their project is going through our staff site plan review process, which is a typical process for anybody looking to build in the community. We've got a variety of departments looking at the at the site and the location, parking, landscaping, stormwater, all of that.

00:08:56,100	So as they work their way through that with their professional engineers, they hopefully will find a success at the end of that process. And then they would be applying for building permits, and then we would start to see the vertical creation of this new facility, and then we can really get excited.

00:09:12,570	And he said, just looking to provide something for the kids to do, especially in the winter 2025 audit results. So finance director Ryan Scorer stepped to the podium and gave an update on on the results that came in. Yeah, the headline there a clean, unmodified report. And that is the best outcome that any organization can hope for when having an audit performed.

00:09:35,530	We do an audit annually. They're looking at obviously, the financials and how we handle all of those transactions, how we report, how we account. There was a carryover finding and we anticipated this. It was a result of some of the activity at the Bismarck Event Center from a couple of years ago.

00:09:55,300	Ryan did mentioned that we do not anticipate seeing that finding in the future, because we've taken the corrective action and put the right places, the right pieces in the right places.

00:10:13,600	But it was a good opportunity for Ryan to kind of get up and highlight some of the work that the staff does, and he was very mindful to thank the staff for the work that they do. These are typically city staffers that don't see the public. There's not a lot of public engagement. It's more of an internal customer service department for us, but very valuable in the work that we do. Preparing an audit and a report is no small task by any means.

00:10:31,030	It's kind of all hands on deck in that division and having good materials for the auditors to review and evaluate just makes their job easier. And I think we've got a great working relationship with Bailey, who's been contracted to do the work for the last few years.

00:10:50,800	And going forward, certainly Ryan's going to have an influence on this process as well, and he'll learn how we go through this as he continues to take on all these new challenges as a finance director. But for anybody that is interested in the full annual comprehensive financial report, we do post that on our website. It's in the Finance department's page.

00:11:07,030	There's a link to it from our agenda packet as well. If you want to read the full 127 page report, invite you to do that. It is also a reference book for us throughout the year, because we can go back and look at the information, the data, the statistics that we're prepared to demonstrate

00:11:23,400	that we are our mission and our goals, and living up to what we to the standards that we have set. Another item on the agenda. Commissioner Connelly wanted some discussion on kratom.

00:11:42,570	We've all learned quite a bit about kratom in the last week or so, with the special session being called by Governor Armstrong and actions that have been taken to stop the sale of it in North Dakota. And during the public comment period last night, a couple of women approached the podium and gave some personal stories as well. Yes, we had two individuals that had shared some unfortunate stories of their personal experiences with this.

00:12:06,470	And then there was a third individual that spoke on behalf of the Global Kratom Coalition, and her information was a little different, focusing more on the synthetic versus the natural product. And I'm learning as you are, as many of us are, that there is a difference between these two things.

00:12:26,300	But I think what we're what we're kind of hearing is that none of it's terribly safe, and some of it is pretty unpredictable and ultimately very destructive. And so I think Commissioner Connelly was looking for some direction for staff as the special session comes forward in early September. I think I've heard possibly a three day session.

00:12:46,030	Sounds like there could be some other topics discussed as well. But to focus back on on this particular topic, I think Commissioner Connelly was looking to provide some direction to staff. Typically during a traditional legislative session, we will monitor a variety of bills and then oftentimes take a position of support or oppose or just neutral.

00:13:05,930	And then occasionally we will provide written or verbal testimony on these various topics. I think Commissioner Connelly was looking for that type of engagement again from city staff, certainly happy to take that direction, willing to do that. I know public health and environmental health and of course, the police department have an interest in this as well.

00:13:25,500	And should there be any need to take a position or provide information to the legislature, we would be happy to do that. I think for now, between the comments from Mayor Schmitz and Commissioner Risch, we don't know what the bill would say at this point. We don't know what the intent might be.

00:13:43,930	We could probably glean something from the the order that the governor signed. But until we actually see the, you know, the bill in it in its full context, we don't know. So we will continue to monitor. We will if necessary, we will certainly engage, whether it be through law enforcement, public health or city administration.

00:14:04,470	But we will keep our eyes on this one and watch the special session as it comes forward. It's an interesting topic, no doubt about it. It's been around for quite some time, but I think a lot of us have learned a lot in the last two weeks. Yeah, definitely.

00:14:25,200	So in that special session, September 2nd or early September. I believe September 2nd is what I was, what I had read somewhere. So yeah, we'll be able to follow up on that as the special session unfolds here in a couple of weeks. Moving along the agenda, there's an item again, I believe, brought by Commissioner Connelly.

00:14:42,670	Just non-disclosure agreements and how that could impact. He brought up a couple of cases in other parts of the state where he just wanted to have a conversation about that. And city employees. Right. And I believe he had indicated that it was a question that he had received. On the radio.

00:15:02,930	On the radio, he was on a on a different program. And I guess what I would say, Julie Mees, City Attorney Mees did a great job referencing North Dakota Century Code. Section 4404 lays it out very clearly how municipal staff are to operate in these situations.

00:15:24,730	I would just like to say from an organizational perspective, never have I and nor have any of the staff, signed a non-disclosure agreement as part of any development project in the city of Bismarck. I've been with city 20 years and I'll be honest, I've never even seen one. No one has ever even asked Jason, would you consider signing this? The answer would immediately be no.

00:15:42,270	We work in an open record state. We are a public information group. Now, that's not to say we can just disclose proprietary trade secrets. The North Dakota centric code gives us guidance on that as well.

00:16:00,970	But it past practice has been oftentimes with a development group coming in and meeting with staff, we would inform them, hey, listen, you know, if if people start asking questions, we have a responsibility to be honest and share the truth.

00:16:19,030	So any materials that you leave with us would be considered an open record, should someone ask now, it is certainly not the practice of staff to run around and say, look what I've got, look who we went, who we met with today. There needs to be some discretion in all of this as well. But we were talking internally in the office about this. And and oftentimes as city staff were sometimes the last to know. And the first groups that would know would be on the real estate side of things.

00:16:37,200	If there's a land transaction, certainly engineering firms doing development projects for developers, they know lots of this stuff before we do. By the time city staff gets involved in these conversations, some of these plans are very well developed and they go from more than just a concept to here's what we would like to bring to your community.

00:16:59,230	So do we have information that is interesting? Absolutely. Are we holding secrets? No, that's that's not how we operate. And I think the general consensus at the table last night was the Century Code governs how we should be operating, and we are operating under those directions to this point.

00:17:22,500	And I think for Commissioner Connelly just to be able to have the conversation publicly and be able to say these things was important because it is it is a topic in our state lately with some of the other development projects and communities across North Dakota. Yeah.

00:17:39,870	The mayor asked, there are any additional agenda items at that point, and another term that I've only recently heard, I guess last to know flock cameras. Commissioner Risch brought up the term flock cameras and indicated the city doesn't have these, but potentially some businesses could. And and I didn't know what flock cameras were, I think until a week or two ago.

00:18:00,900	So my understanding is it is a surveillance camera that uses artificial intelligence to recognize characteristics, license plates, things like that. The city of Bismarck does not use flock cameras. We do not have a contract with flock cameras. We they're not in our repertoire. Now, Commissioner Risch did note there are some private businesses in town that may be using them, and that is certainly their discretion.

00:18:22,800	And it's my understanding they're using those for lost prevention, shoplifting, things like that, so I understand. They've they've got people talking. But I think it is worth noting that Bismarck is not a customer of flock, nor do we have any intentions of entering into any agreements with them in the near future.

00:18:41,930	Then the mayor had one last item that he wanted to talk about, and looking at creating a task force on the street, utility fees. And he he brought the context. That's been something we've talked about for quite some time and. Almost ten years. A decade.

00:18:59,870	It was one of the first projects I was part of when I started in the administration department, and at that time it was known as the Special Assessment Task Force. And there was also the Infrastructure Task Force. And then those two kind of merged and blended together.

00:19:17,330	And really, what is this, this task force, what is this concept? It's the idea of eliminating special assessments and switching to a monthly fee on your utility bill that would then be used to do street maintenance projects throughout Bismarck. We have some details to work through.

00:19:39,300	We have questions about what do you do with the existing special assessments? What do you do if somebody's paid off their specials? What are you doing in brand new neighborhoods that just have fresh asphalt, hence the task force? And so the mayor was part of these discussions in the recent past.

00:19:57,000	Prior to him being the mayor, we also had a number of different citizens, businesses, stakeholders, all part of these conversations. Going forward, we'll have to discern what is the right composition, what is the right size for this task force.

00:20:15,630	But we anticipate this group will begin meeting in the near future, and their goals will be to answer the questions I just mentioned, but then also to develop some sort of an educational component to have this information available to the citizenry. It's it's a pretty complex concept, but if you're able to sit down and talk through the scenarios with an individual, I think there's an moment that says, wait a minute. This is a predictable fee. It will ultimately save the city millions of dollars.

00:20:36,170	Okay, I think I, I think I can get behind that, but you can't do that 78,000 times with all the citizens. So what would an educational piece look like to help people figure it out in a one pager or a brief little handout? Or are we are we going to be hosting educational sessions to really get

00:20:55,530	through some of these questions and answers? So the goal would be if I understood the mayor's intentions, looking at the election in June of 2028, to have this on the ballot at that time. So we've got two years, but we all know it can go quickly if we don't act now. Yeah.

00:21:15,570	So those meetings, when they do become available, they will be public. I'm not sure exactly where we will meet, but they will be a structured meeting. We'll have a chair, we'll have public comments. It'll be all the things that the public can participate in and engage with. And so we'll likely be talking about that here in the near future.

00:21:34,800	That wrapped up the agenda. The next Bismarck City Commission meeting is August 25th. And as we always do, still construction season. If you want the latest updates, you can go to BismarckND.

00:21:49,070	gov/streets For all the latest info about what's happening around town and if you'd like to watch last night's City Commission meeting in its entirety, or scrub through to your favorite places to learn about thought cameras and roller rinks and hear about the kratom discussion. You can download our app or go to DakotaMediaAccess.

00:22:07,500	org And also just in the mood for some entertainment, local podcasts, local musicians, Radio Access or our radio access 102.5 app or 102.5 on your FM dial. Until next time, I'm Tom Gerhardt, Jason Tomanek Have a great day! For more information on what was discussed in this episode of City Current, visit BismarckND.gov or call (701) 355-1300.

00:22:32,700	If you have suggestions, comments, or issues you would like addressed in future episodes, contact us at info@freetv.org This program airs on Government Access channel two and 602 in HD on Radio Access 102.5 FM. It's also available as a podcast on Radio Access and as a video viewing link at FreeTV.org.

00:22:57,400	Thanks for tuning in to this edition of City Current.