00:00:11,700	We have a chaplain. All right, let’s let’s stand. We’re going to pray, and then we’ll do the Pledge of Allegiance. Heavenly father, we just thank you for this day, this time, this moment.

00:00:38,530	We relish these moments in spring when we can have these, uh, 65 and 70 degree days where we’re just so grateful for those. I pray that you’ll be in this moment with these commissioners and all these that are here to participate in this meeting. Uh, may the conversation be, uh, what you would want. And, uh.

00:00:56,100	Uh, we ask for guidance and we ask for your, uh, your authority to be over us. And we just thank you for everything. We do this in your son’s name, Jesus. Amen. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America. And to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Yes.

00:01:15,170	Thank you. Thanks. Appreciate that. I’ll call the April 20th, 2026 meeting of the Burleigh County Park Board to order. First item is roll call of members. Commissioner Herman here. Commissioner Woodcox. Commissioner Munson. Here. Commissioner Bakken. Here. Commissioner Schwab. Here. Commissioner Behm. Here. Chairman Bitner here. Next to the approval of the agenda.

00:01:47,470	Any additional subtractions? Anything like that. Entertain a motion to approve the agenda. Move to approve second. Motion. And second, to approve the agenda. Any further discussion? Call the roll. Commissioner Woodcox. Yes. Commissioner Munson. Yes, Commissioner Bakken. Yes, Commissioner Behm. Yes, Commissioner Schwab. Yes, Commissioner Herman. Yes. Chairman Bitner. Yes. Motion carries. Consideration of the March 16th, 2026 meeting minutes. Move to.

00:02:11,870	Approve. Second. Motion and second to approve the meeting minutes. Any further discussion? Call the roll. Commissioner Munson. Yes. Commissioner Bakken. Yes. Commissioner Behm. Yes. Commissioner Schwab. Yes. Commissioner Herman. Yes. Commissioner Woodcox. Yes. Chairman Bitner. Yes. Motion carries. Next is the public comment. Period is restricted to Burleigh County residents and landowners.

00:02:32,630	Anybody wish to speak under the public comment period? Anybody wish to speak under the public comment period? Third call. Anybody wish to speak? I’m going to close the public comment period. We’ll move on to Commissioner Munson. Kimball bottoms, dredging and nifL boat ramp dredging. Thank you. Chair and I. Do have a couple items.

00:02:53,930	For other. business afterwards, so if you’re okay, I’ll just keep going. Yep. Uh, so in front of you, we have a request, uh, to authorize, uh, advertising for bids, uh, to dredge the Kimball Bottoms boat ramp. We have received our permit from the Corps to dredge up to 300yd.

00:03:14,370	Now, the question being is. And the highway department asked me the question. Do we need a quote, or is it a bit. It’s under the $200,000 threshold. And so the difference between the quotes and the bids. My understanding is whether we’re advertising or how we’re advertising for that, uh, service. If nobody has a. What do.

00:03:43,430	We do or what have we done before? The park district has always put it out and advertised for bids and put it in the paper. Advertise to all the contractors that everybody had the opportunity then to to properly quote the project. I think we should do it the same way.

00:04:00,730	We’ve always done it that way. We’re following suit with practice. Um, but because it’s under the threshold, we don’t have to. We still have to get quotes. But I would move to approve that. We authorize to advertise for bids, doing it the way we’ve done it in the past. I would second.

00:04:20,500	That any motion and second, to advertise bids for dredging boat ramps. Are you including both boat ramps? Well, that would be the second one. Uh, and I, because we have the permit for Kimball, I would. Vote on the first. One first. Yeah. But I was asking if. You want. It was for both of them.

00:04:34,600	So I only have one permit. So that’s why I separated it. So we could have a separate conversation. So the question on the first one. Yep. Call the roll. Commissioner Bakken. Yes. Commissioner Behm. Yes. Commissioner Schwab. Yes, Commissioner Herman. Yes, Commissioner Woodcox. Yes, Commissioner Munson. Yes. Chairman Bitner. Yes. Motion carries. Go ahead. Thank you.

00:04:56,700	So we applied to the Corps the same day for both permits. I received one permit back last week. I have not heard anything on the second permit. So what? I’m asking the commission to do would be to allow us to authorize for advertising of bids to dredge the Kimball bottoms. Once the permit is received. A motion. That is, a motion, second.

00:05:16,530	Motion and a second. Any further discussion? Commissioner Barker. So. I. Would we be better off putting it out for bid? And whoever comes in with that bid, it’s time to. Pending the permit. The only difference is, is last year, the corps only allowed us 200yd at nightfall.

00:05:41,730	And so it would be a different dollar amount for that quote or that bid. So I would prefer to do it once we received the permit. And they give us the quantity of yardage so that we have all the right specs. Makes sense. Yep. Okay. Any further discussion? Call the roll. Commissioner Behm. Yes, Commissioner Schwab. Yes, Commissioner Herman. Yes, Commissioner Woodcox.

00:06:01,370	Yes, Commissioner Munson. Yes, Commissioner Bakken. Yes. Chairman Bitner. Yes. Motion carries. Next. Other business. Before we get into the other business. So, have we seen more pressure on the boat ramps since the city shut down? There’s. What are the boat ramps looking like right now? Because I know the fish are biting pretty well.

00:06:21,870	Yeah, I’ve heard some complaints. I’ve received some emails too. I’ve received a lot of people complaining. Yep. Um, but as I’ve responded, we’ve certainly are interested in looking at another boat ramp somewhere. However, that’s a long process. And we’ve talked about it at this board before.

00:06:42,500	We just have to find the right place, um, you know, to add another ramp is not a inexpensive piece, right? Um, and to find the right places, you know, we’ve talked about nifL as I brought it up as an option and, and and I don’t fish the river, so I don’t have the experience others have.

00:07:02,230	And they felt that this wasn’t the right place to do it. Well. And the reason I bring it up, because a lot of the people that were reaching out to me are, you know, we don’t have any control of the boat ramp that was closed. Right? That was the city of Bismarck that closed that ramp.

00:07:15,230	It was not us. We have nothing to do with that. So and neither did the park district then. So. So. Yep. Point your frustrations in the right direction. And as Commissioner Munson has mentioned, we are looking for other locations as well. So to to try to increase river access.

00:07:34,630	Yeah it is, it is a goal of mine to add that ramp. Uh, it’s right now is finding the right place. Uh, there’s no reason to do anything at Kimball with all the restructuring we’re doing.

00:07:50,370	Um, you know this as the river is changing, and even I saw a drone footage of this ramp, uh, this weekend, and I’m not even sure how boats are even getting out, uh, into the channel from this ramp. They are. I’ve seen boats. Out there. From nifL. Uh, the drone drone footage showed a lot of sand coming in and filling.

00:08:11,800	And again, that’s nothing we can get a permit for. Uh, that’s all corps driven. So our permit is just the ramp itself. Um, but, uh, with that, I want to thank the highway department. Uh, they, uh, uh, they had a rough spring, and they had a lot of roads to fix.

00:08:35,100	And in the in that same time period, we were hoping to get ramps, uh, put in place. I had quite a few phone calls, uh, wondering why they weren’t in. And it was it was a pretty easy decision and conversation for me.

00:08:51,630	The highway department was putting their efforts where they had to, and that was on the roads to make sure everything there was taken care of. And as soon as they had an opportunity, uh, they got out and put all of them in. And I also want to thank Chair Bitner. He spent a little time with them to show them, walk them through the process of setting the ramp and setting the ramp correctly. So thank you, chair.

00:09:08,430	I appreciate that. Um, the the biggest item that I think we need to talk about at this table today and, and our part time park, uh, position, uh, we had an, uh, one applicant after six weeks of advertising, when we went to call that applicant to set up the interview, uh, they pulled their application.

00:09:31,870	So we’re back out again looking for, um, individuals that would be interested. Whether it’s a college kid, a retired person that would want to do 20 hours a week, uh, maintaining our restrooms, uh, at the facilities.

00:09:53,530	So because of our short, because of the lack of employees, I reached out to the highway department, their 13 employees short. So there’s no questions there. Uh, commissioner or chair Bitner and I’ve talked, uh, the the rest of the staff here as well. Uh, they’re overbooked and, uh, understaffed. And so we’ve reached out to spiffy beefs.

00:10:13,530	Uh, we’re hoping to hear something shortly, whether they will clean ours, if they won’t, we’ll lock them and put a spiffy biff there instead. Um, because they’re trained for their pieces of equipment. My preference would be that they take care of ours, um, for the time being. But if not, we’ll have to put a spiffy biff out.

00:10:33,630	Now, that’s not going to be anywhere near my budget. That that will be a lot more money than what I had planned on spending for that task, let alone that’s not having an employee check the ramps. That’s not an employee checking the campground at nightfall.

00:10:54,970	And so I want this board to consider whether we close nightfall camping ground for the time being. Uh, I don’t think it’s fair to put that lift on the sheriff’s department. The highway department building is ground. Engine center. Is that. What you’re. We. So we got a sheriff to drive the work crew out. I don’t know, um, it doesn’t work.

00:11:15,270	And so I’m not prepared today for that conversation, but I want this board to consider it, and then we can talk about it at the table. Okay. Commissioner Peluso, maybe. After asking. Commissioner Schwab has his hands up. Mr. Schwab. Maybe what you need to do is do what we did with the weed guy.

00:11:40,370	Uh, hire a full time position, give it a try. An X amount of time will be in the highway department. It’s kind of like the city does it? You know, the forestry comes out. of Public Works Department, and then when he’s not doing forestry, he’s got other things to do.

00:12:08,170	I think that the problem you’ve got there, Commissioner Munson, is that part time does not work well. And we we took your suggestion and we talked about it. Uh, as I visited with HR, and we can’t fill the full time positions that we have at the highway department the way it is, or the seasonal part time at the highway department.

00:12:27,370	So we at this time, we felt it was best to try just the part time to see where we were at. Uh, I agree with your your scenario. I mean, it would be best to have a full time employee that we could share, but we can’t fill the full time positions that we have either.

00:12:41,170	Would that be better suited in facilities. There, over there, overbooked? I mean, they’re understaffed. But adding a. But if you add again, you’re still adding another employee, whether it’s part time, full time, whether it’s to facilities or to the highway or the park district, it’s still adding. Capacity, right? Yeah, that’s just one of them.

00:13:03,000	And my question to HR to Pam is the reason we have one of the reports in our packet, because I was just curious how understaffed we were as a county all the way around.

00:13:18,100	Um, so for now, I’m going to try to find a way to hire that service done so that at least the bathrooms are taken care of. But I think this board needs to consider whether we close the campground or not, because there will not be a daily or a weekly even check to see if they’ve been there for a week or two, or how long, or what the situation is.

00:13:37,900	Um, the other part is, is, uh, the boat ramps, you know, as they need to be raised and lowered, uh, right now we don’t have anybody checking that either. And so, um, we’ll need some we’ll need some help.

00:13:57,170	Maybe the sheriff’s department could swing in and check the the boat ramps once a week and give us an idea of whether they need to be raised or lowered. Um, but I wouldn’t want to put them on the campground for a daily check. I don’t I don’t know if they’ve run through there every day. Anyway. Yes. No. I would think not. Uh.

00:14:19,800	Usually when I go check those, I for some strange reason, I always bump into a sheriff’s deputy, so. I will. I will every time I’ve been there. I have two, but adding that responsibility is maybe not the right place to do it. So, um, so that’s my update. Um, I know it’s only April and camping will be.

00:14:38,800	If we don’t, we may already have someone out there. Um, but it is something that we need to consider. Uh, on that campground. So you’re you’re advertising. Yep. It was it was reposted again today for the part time.

00:15:00,530	Do you want to consider adding more full time to them? Absolutely. I would, if we can add full time to that and have two applications out there to see what we can do, and Pam and I can get together with Commissioner Schwab and find out that other half time in the winter time, what that person would be doing.

00:15:17,530	Does it require a CDL? Does it, you know, where do we go with that? I’m not sure. Many people that are CDL drivers are going to be interested in cleaning bathrooms, but, uh, I don’t know what other roles that the highway department would have that we could utilize, but that’s a conversation for Commissioner Schwab and Pam and I.

00:15:35,370	If you’re going to do that, you’ll have to change the qualifications probably a little bit. I know Casey. Can you come up and save us? Does it? Does, uh, the way we position Darren work? Yeah. It worked. He’s during the time when we drafted. He’s extremely busy doing doing that just full time.

00:16:04,230	Then the rest of the year, if we need anything done, help with signs. Any part out there? He’s more than willing to help out. And we’re able to get get things done and keep him busy. Would it. Would another Darren clone help? Yeah, we we can find things to do. There’s no shortage of work, that’s for sure.

00:16:26,070	I’ll work with Pam tomorrow. We’ll start tomorrow. We’ll include Commissioner Schwab and we’ll, we’ll we’ll have to advertise that way as well. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. Any other business? No, I would just like everybody’s input on thoughts for campground. Not today. I mean, let’s bring that back to the next meeting of the park board.

00:16:50,530	Okay? Okay. That’s all. I have no other business commissioners. We’re going to adjourn the park board. Thank you. Guys, um, I’ll call the April 20th, 2026 meeting of the Burleigh County Commission to order. First item is roll call. The members.. Commissioner Munson here. Commissioner Bakken here. Commissioner Schwab here. Mr. Woodcox. Chairman Bitner.

00:17:17,800	Here. Um, with regards to the agenda, the auditor has asked that we add an item for appointment of election inspectors. Um. I think we’ll just add that at the end under, uh, basically under 17. Anybody else have any other changes, additions, subtractions? And we’ll move to approve the amended agenda.

00:17:59,970	second motion and second, to approve the amend agenda. Any other comments? Call the. Roll. Commissioner Bakken. Yes, Commissioner Schwab. Yes. Commissioner Woodcox. Yes. Commissioner Munson. Yes. Chairman Bitner. Yes. Motion carries consideration of April 6th, 2026. Meeting minutes and bills. Uh, Mr. Chairman, I had an opportunity to review the minutes and the bills this afternoon, and I would move.

00:18:22,000	They be approved. Second. Okay. Motion second to approve the minutes and bills. Any further discussion, call the roll. Commissioner Schwab. Yes, Commissioner Woodcox. Yes. Yes. Commissioner Munson. Yes, Commissioner Bakken. Yes. Chairman Bitner. Yes. Mr. chairman, Mr. Chairman Commissioner One of the bills.

00:18:40,500	I was really glad to see that we paid or got ordered was $10,000 worth of toilet paper for our jail. So we’re in good shape there. It’s on. It’s on the way. So I was shocked at that. When you share some of the boat. Ramps. No, we don’t need them at the boat ramps. Never mind. Sorry. Okay, okay. Next item is public comment.

00:19:01,000	Anybody wish to approach public comment period. Anybody wish to approach for public comment? State your name for the record. Sign in on the sheet. Good evening. Chairman Commissioners.

00:19:26,970	Um, it’s been several meetings since I’ve been up here, but I wasn’t able to attend in person last meeting, but I was able to watch live through Dakota media access, and I just want to reiterate the act of listening. I sat and watched the entire meeting. I had noticed one individual was able to speak three times uninterrupted.

00:19:44,000	While some people weren’t even able to speak once and get their public comment out without interruption or debate or questions. Um, I think we have some work to do. And I, I think the question needs to be asked is it’s something you guys want to work on, or is it something that you guys just feel as kind of above you? Because if it’s above you, I really think you got to ask yourself why you’re serving.

00:20:02,170	Um, we have five of you guys for a reason. You guys are to equally represent the community. That’s why there’s five of you and not just one.

00:20:17,730	Um, I do want to bring up as part of this, um, I would say complaint is that I feel you guys are blurring the lines between discretion and discrimination because we are not giving everybody an equal opportunity to speak up here. Um, that is evident by just watching these meetings. Um, but I do want to point out there was several people that went up to, uh, the garrison diversion meeting, and I watched that myself.

00:20:41,700	And I’ll be honest with you, I was really impressed with how those folks handled it. They let our speakers speak uninterrupted. You know, you guys have sat up here and you complained about them. You’ve ran them into the mud, but yet they still gave the people. I came from Burleigh County an opportunity to speak without interruption.

00:21:02,000	They let them say what they had to say, and that was it. I would ask, maybe, you know, you guys have judged them from afar.

00:21:15,500	Maybe it’s time you take a page out of their book and show the same respect to people that give their time to come up here and speak. You guys get paid to be here. We don’t get anything. We are simply coming here, most of us to speak, to address our public officials. So I would ask you, show people a little bit dignity and respect and start letting people speak uninterrupted, because I watched last me, like I said, it doesn’t look good.

00:21:34,100	It looks like a good old boys club when certain people get to speak multiple times. But yet one person can’t even speak once without being interrupted. I think it’s discussion you guys got to have.

00:21:48,900	And it’s it’s a question that you guys have to, you know, ask yourselves, do you want to improve on or do we want to keep going on the same path? So I would stand for any questions. Questions? Travis, we’ve had meetings here were numerous people come up numerous times. Now I know who you’re talking about. You’re talking about Curt John.

00:22:15,700	He’s spoken three different things, but I only believe he spoke on the off road vehicle once. Everybody else had a chance to speak on the other other subjects too, and nobody came up. So you can’t say one guy is getting all this, uh, time when just about, I believe everybody actually went over the five minute limit.

00:22:43,970	When they got done talking, they sat down. So I don’t understand what the problem is, Commissioner We let him speak for their. As long as he wanted. And just because one person goes and speaks in three different subjects. Well, title to that. Well, I don’t know.

00:23:07,430	I think that’s debatable because in order to I mean, this is a business meeting of Burleigh County. I think at a certain respect. I mean, when you guys state the policy for public comment, I mean, it’s getting to be about a mile long. Heck, I, I can’t remember all the rules for public comment with Burleigh County anymore.

00:23:22,530	I think we have to ask speakers to speak at public comment or during designated public comment areas just to keep the business meeting flowing. I mean, ultimately, that’s I mean, people are here. People are here to speak. We have to try to be understanding of those that have come.

00:23:40,000	I mean, the last meeting, you guys had a game official fish will sit here for almost the entire meeting. I mean, good on him for being patient, but we have to be mindful. There’s other people that are here for the business aspect of your meeting, and we can’t keep having the the side tracks.

00:23:54,630	That’s all I’m asking. It’s a business. Meaning we all have to be respectful of that. So I appreciate it. I guess that means I get to go, okay, it’s free country. Welcome. I was. My name is Curtis John. Chair, Bitner, commissioners.

00:24:19,730	I wasn’t going to address this, but this individual. Yes. He was talking about me and and let’s go back and speak accurately about the record. I got up during this time. Public comment I got up during the OHV and what he says. I got up and made comment at the end.

00:24:35,600	I got up and asked for clarification from emergency Response Manager about the burn ban. That’s it. Okay, now this this individual back here, he posts Mac about me on Facebook. I’m not on Facebook. Don’t read them, but people send them to me. So this individual has a burr under his saddle for some reason.

00:24:52,370	Because I can come up here and speak intelligently. And I think he has a problem with that and might be a little bit challenged himself. So I, I really take exception to you coming up here and having an issue and scolding these guys when I have been here for months to attending meetings, and I got up and stayed till

00:25:08,170	almost 9:00 at how many of these meetings? We don’t even get supper till 9:00, and we stay till the end. And I up and asked a question does not mean I got up a third time. Secondly, I view these as public comment.

00:25:26,270	I also attended six public hearings in 2025 where, just like at Garrison Diversion, you all let us speak uninterrupted public hearing, public comment. When I’m sitting here listening to public comments, I appreciate the and when I’m up here, I appreciate the dialogue and the exchange.

00:25:46,330	So like I said, um, in the last two days, I want to this didn’t mean what I was going to talk about, but can I address this real quick? And the last two days I’ve had friends and family sending me texts. We’re not on Facebook, okay? I don’t have time for it. I said, don’t send me any screenshots. People that are talking smack about me. Okay? I said, I don’t care.

00:26:01,270	I said, I’m trying to I, I’m trying to help find a solution. Just like the CO2 pipeline, my wife and I have the least to gain and the and the most to lose by standing up and helping landowners and citizens, senior citizens, just like the CO2 pipeline who can’t speak for themselves.

00:26:20,630	We put the bull’s eye on ourselves. We put it on it again by guys like this and on Facebook where they’re these are the people you’re dealing with that are given the OHV folks a bad name. They sit behind their cowardly computers and they criticize people.

00:26:38,000	Okay, I did tell everybody sending me these notices, hey, you know, they’re saying this, this and this said, I don’t care. But I said, do send me screenshots if there’s threats, because then we’ll get law enforcement involved. But I want to tell you how I view these people that are on Facebook trying to be relevant and validate themselves.

00:26:52,370	I view it like I’m a pipeline guy, retired natural gas pipeline guy. I’m going to view it like the hot gas that comes out of a pipeline. I view that as a credible source, and I take it as credible.

00:27:05,530	But the stuff that comes out of a cesspool, that gas, I consider the source and I don’t take it real. But there is one thing that happened just in the last 20, last 12 hours or my last six hours. I have been a member of a snowmobile club. I’ve never stood up here and spoke as their spokesperson, as a board member, as a president.

00:27:24,230	But apparently guys like this whined and complained. I’m speaking on behalf of being able to ride the trail. A snowmobile rider. So they put on their Facebook page, which again, I’m not on Facebook, but it got sent to me that they called me out. Curtis Jones is not the spokesperson.

00:27:40,970	He is not a president of the board. By the way, that’s been taken down. But I can tell you this, I finally got the head of that to tell me. Well, we did that because then they set their position, but they put me called me out in there because the perception was, as much as you get up and speak, because

00:27:56,800	you know what? I’m having the courage to get up here and speak and put the bull’s eye on my back to get a solution. I’ve never said bam, bam, bam, bam, bam.

00:28:10,870	Um, so I, uh, the perception was that because you get up and speak so much that, you know, you’re all for the band, but perception is not reality. I have a perception that Commissioner Woodcox is Colonel Sanders, but I know that’s not true, because you’ve never brought chicken for all of us. So I know that, obviously, as much as you look like his doppelganger, I know that perception is not reality.

00:28:30,900	So I I’m telling you, this is the mentality that you’re dealing with. These are the individuals that have given the OHV riders a bad name. We had white snow on the ground Saturday morning and by God, they’re out there running up and down the ditches already.

00:28:47,270	Now you’re telling me the ditches were dried out? No, they were not. So you all have brought this on yourself? I’ve been trying to help with a solution. I presented ideas from the first time I spoke to you all, and I think there’s some validity in those solutions. In lieu of an immediate full ban.

00:29:02,970	Now, the reason I did want to come up here versus having to challenge that garbage that you just heard, is that I finally went after the last meeting. The last thing we talked about was a burn ban, and I got myself schooled up on it.

00:29:17,470	So I went on the county website, and at the very top is a banner that says County burn ban in effect. So I’ve had friends and family saying, well, what do you mean we can’t burn anything now? And I said, no, I don’t think that’s what that means. So I have educated several people.

00:29:32,630	If you go on and you click on that banner, it takes you to the map and I want to and then you do have to scroll down to find the current status. But the map does tell you some things. But the when the burn ban is high, very high and extreme.

00:29:48,000	And Mary, you can maybe help me out if I’m if I’m off based on or just correct me if it’s high, very high or extreme. You cannot burn. You cannot open burn. You have to have, you know, a control like a gas grill or a fire or a gas grill or charcoal grill.

00:30:05,430	Also, when it’s in high, very high and extreme, you cannot ride in the ditch. You cannot take any vehicle off highway. That’s what I was asking about at the last meeting at the end, because I wasn’t aware of that. And I think that it needs to be made more public.

00:30:21,530	And I’m asking maybe for you all to consider one thing right after that banner on the top, if you could just put another click that takes you immediate to the current status, because you have to.

00:30:32,370	When you click on that banner, you go down and you move down, and then you can get current status and that shows the map. You want to know how this changed in two days. As of September 18th, North Dakota had 31 counties in low drought, 20 in moderate, zero and high, and two and very high.

00:30:49,870	Guess what it is today? 19 low, three moderate, ten high and 21 very high in two days. So things are not looking good. If you look at the outlook for the forecast and precipitation. So I would like it.

00:31:08,230	Maybe if we can make it easier and maybe a little more PR about it’s not just burning, but you can’t take vehicles off highway and start fires and grass fires like you’ve talked about the riding tractor up at the golf course that hit a rut and hit a rock and started a grass fire. I mean, that’s tens of thousands of dollars of money that has to be paid by someone to fight those fires. So that’s what I mainly wanted to talk about.

00:31:24,300	I’ll stand for any questions, commissioners, any questions. Thanks. I appreciate that. Okay. Anybody else to speak? Hello. I’m Randy. Cook and I’ve been here many times about my property on 1926 48th Avenue Southeast, about the drainage problem from Metro Industrial.

00:32:00,970	And a lot of you I met before, we had a lot of meetings before. And two years ago I thought it was my going to be in my backyard from that drainage, from that Metro industrial. And it is in my backyard. I got a thousand gallon septic tank and they had to pump 2000 gallons out of that. And it’s still coming in.

00:32:17,430	And, uh, I built in 2000, Metro Industrial, built in 2005, 2005, 2006. Around there and all their everything comes to our land. All the culverts. I got pictures and you guys been down there. Everything comes toward our land, so I wonder if we could do something about it.

00:32:38,500	Last time we talked about it and they said there ain’t no funds to do it. They said I can pay for it myself, but it’s not my responsibility. What’s your address? 1926 48th Avenue Southeast, 1926. 40th Avenue Southeast. And you guys showed me pictures from the 60s. 70s 80s. And it was you could farm the land.

00:33:02,470	Now you can’t even farm it. And what you guys saw two years ago is it’s like a lake out there. Like the Farmer Canyon farm with us here. So where is Metro Industrial? That’s an off airport road or U of M road? Right to the right. I have a question for you.

00:33:22,230	Those roads in who were those roads in before you built? No. I don’t think anything. Was there. No. They built I think Metro Industrial got built in 2005, 2006. Okay. And like I said, you guys showed me pictures of the 60s old dry, 70s, dry, 80s dry until 2010.

00:33:46,500	And we’ve been trying to fight this since 2010. And which I think is long enough, you know, and we came with a solution to run it, you know, down to Thone Sibley don’t Albuquerque or the river or whatever, but nothing got done yet. Okay. Well. We’ll follow up. Okay. Mr.

00:34:08,970	Chairman, Commissioner, would, uh, that may have that may be something we want to file a complaint with the board of County Water Resource District. Oh, I did, I you wouldn’t believe how many people I talked to. I can name, I got I got about 30 names of my thing. I’m the water board.

00:34:23,330	I talked to. First I talked to Corey Palm. He ain’t working there anymore. And then I talked to Burleigh County Water Resource District, James Landa Berger, I believe. Yep. He’s the president. Randy Vinegar. Yep. He’s. And then then I talked to James. I don’t got James last name, but he said talked to KC Ingram.

00:34:51,530	He’s with the highway department right behind you. Okay. And I talked to Houston Engineering. I talked to Lindy Ulster Michael Green. Well and Phil’s guy I mean I talked to pretty much everybody I could. You wouldn’t happen to have any idea how much drainage area we’re talking about? How many acres. Yeah. Oh that might field.

00:35:14,070	Um, the reason I ask because the water resource district gets in and has authority, um, to take action on drainage areas that are greater than 80 acres. Yeah, I think I got 72 or 73 acres. And there’s probably probably 30, 40 acres filled with water right now.

00:35:35,900	So do you think that the drainage area is bigger than 80 acres? Is the point? So what you need to do in that case, what I’ve done in that case, believe it or not, even as a county commissioner, I ended up filing what’s called a. Complaint of adverse impact. The Burleigh County Water Resource District. Okay.

00:36:00,370	That’s an actual form that you fill out. So it’s a complaint of adverse impact. Okay. That should trigger the.. Okay, I got another quick question. So it’s not just talking to somebody saying, yeah, as a county commissioner I have to do that. If I put a dike up.

00:36:25,600	Is that okay? We can’t answer that right here. That would be there’s too many questions with floodplain and and all that sort of stuff. But I would in that regard, I would talk to Mitch. Okay.

00:36:41,270	Because last time I was here, I told everybody I was going, I was kidding, but I was going to concrete their culvert shut. But which might have which might. Happen on understand your concern, especially if you’re pumping thousands of gallons out of a thousand gallon tank. , because Metro Industrial is a pretty big area and all that water runs to our land. And it has since they built.

00:36:58,170	Well, the highway department heard it, and I know Mitch heard it. So you want to, you know, contact Mitch at the planning department. Okay. Concerning. He’s right there behind you. Okay. Um, uh, and then do that complaint of adverse impact. Okay? Just Google it or something and then think. Just find enough. Not, um, I think I could scare up a copy someplace. That. Mr.

00:37:17,130	Chairman Commissioner wood, can I get your name and address and phone number and I’ll help you follow up on that. My complaint. I’ll get it to him. Okay? Okay, okay. Thank you guys. Thank.. Anybody else wish to speak? Here I’m going to close the public comment period. Next on the agenda is the consent agenda. Commissioners.

00:37:37,900	There’s a special event permits mobile home park abatements. Do you want to pull anything out for conversation? Otherwise, we’ll entertain a motion to approve. Second motion and second, to approve the consent agenda. Any further discussion? Call the. Roll, Commissioner Woodcox. Yes, Commissioner Munson. Yes, Commissioner Bakken. Yes. Commissioner Schwab. Yes, Chairman Bitner.

00:37:58,700	Yes. Motion carries. Item seven. Daymon Mills, Morton Township, Chairman Uh, floodplain resolution. Welcome. Damon. I. Do you. Guys want a copy of the resolution or do you have one? We have. , we have. Okay. Chairman Bitner and. Commissioners. I’m Damon Mills. I’m the. Chairman of Martin Township.

00:38:26,370	I’m here on behalf of the citizens of Morton Township to present a resolution to regain our floodplain authority that the state gave to the counties. This can be done per chapter 54, Dash 45 or dot five of North Dakota Cemetery Code, a political subdivision may, by mutual agreement, transfer, administrative, legal and financial responsibilities to another political subdivision. Um. Some history for our township.

00:38:59,270	We we have a comprehensive plan of our own. Um, we have a planning, zoning, five man planning and zoning board. We, um, received a letter from FEMA in 23 saying that they wanted information on our if we had the land use permit authority.

00:39:29,730	And, um, so we we, uh, made a plan and presented it to our public with a public hearing, and nobody, nobody wanted it. So we wrote a letter to, um, Tyler Spooner, water Resource Board, and Tom birdie of FEMA and, and told them that we were not interested in this. So we’d have had some experience with, uh, FEMA.

00:40:00,170	And I think we could handle this. Uh, project to we, um, like I said, we have a very active township board. We, we put in a grant for. The highway department, state highway department. We got a $740,000 grant for groveling and, um, some culvert repairs and a road repair. Um, we have been, um, doing a lot of zoning, like for.

00:40:38,100	For data centers and battery storage units. So we have a very active board. Um, so with that, I would ask that respectfully, if we could get our authority back and also if if there’s some part of this resolution that you don’t agree with or would like to change.

00:41:01,370	We are also open to that. So I don’t know if I totally confused you or not. Or do we have any questions? Commissioner Schwab. You know, it. If they want to go independent nuts. I’m not going to do a garrison version here. Uh, I’m going to move to approve, but I hope you understand that.

00:41:28,270	You can, on your own. Um, yeah. Yeah. Um. We have a we have a long history. Before you. Have a. Before you have a second. Um, Mitch has some, uh, concern. Unless you have anything else for Damon. Any other questions? Okay, we’ll just note that there’s a motion, but just hang on with.

00:41:59,170	That was my question. Is, how does that impact what we’re doing with. Productive thinking? Chairman If we. If do we need a second to discuss it? Or do. You have even had a motion? Well, we had one though, so. Either you can call for a second. Um, there isn’t one. That motion dies or. Okay, a second or.

00:42:24,870	That wouldn’t do that. Discussion.. A second needs a second. I’ll second it. Okay. Now we’ll go ahead and talk. Yeah, fine. Miss, we don’t have a real rigid parliamentary procedure here. Mister chair. Commissioners. Um, I read the resolution. Um, and it’s fine. It’s it’s their right.

00:42:52,370	Because they at the township is requesting to have that power transferred back to them. Then what I handed you to you, was the SB 2027, which defaults automatically. These floodplain regulations to Burleigh County. If a township elects to go and enforce their own floodplain, they can they have to create that resolution and and send it to the state.

00:43:12,470	Um, then they have to adopt floodplain regulations and the whole thing. The only thing that I could not find in that resolution was an indemnification to Burleigh County, which basically is a concern of mine, because they may want to do their floodplain stuff for a while.

00:43:30,530	And the next board changes their mind. It’s too much work or what, for whatever reason, it’ll it would automatically default back to Burleigh County, but they could create problems.

00:43:51,900	They could have issues from from building permits in the floodplain in the I mean, a whole host of problems could, could come out of this. So I would ask that we include an indemnification to Burleigh County if they choose to do their own floodplain regulations. As a consideration.

00:44:17,600	Did you catch that? Did you have any input on the on the resolution? Did you have a chance to review it? Yes, it was in the packet. Um, so I did take a look at it. I don’t really have anything to add. What do you think about, um, pushing them to add an indemnification clause, and. We can have people indemnify the county. The county just as limited in who the county can indemnify.

00:44:40,630	So as long as the indemnification is going to indemnify us, that’s fine, which is what it sounds like the request was for. So we. have to. Add that to. This.. I think that’s what the request was. Yeah, that’s what Mitch request is, is adding a clause to indemnify Burleigh County.

00:45:15,230	Then I can’t support my motion because it’s not done right. That’s why I just holding off not support my motion until it’s even right. In writing. You could withdraw the motion in a second if you wish. Withdraw it. I’ll withdraw. Okay. I think it makes sense.

00:45:37,100	And it’s a good call to to request that indemnification clause. So I think what we’ll do with that is, um, um, ask that to be put on the agenda for the next meeting, and hopefully you guys can add an indemnification clause consistent with Senate Bill number 2027. Do that. I have a question.

00:46:01,630	It might be a dumb one, but so does that mean we can never get the township could never give back to authority to you guys. Know what that’s doing is making you totally responsible for your decisions. You know, you’re agreeing by doing this, and it’s kind of contrary to the conversation you had with me on the phone. Damon.

00:46:21,970	But you’re agreeing here that you’re going to adopt and enforce floodplain ordinances, right? That’s what you’re that’s what you’re asking to do. Well. So if you decide, like you told me in the on the phone that you weren’t planning on doing that, I mean, did I catch that correctly? Yeah. Right.

00:46:51,070	So if if it’s your decision and I, I think it’s up to you. But if it’s your decision that you’re not wanting to adopt from floodplain zoning ordinances, um, consistent with the flood insurance program, you’re on your own. And, and Burleigh County wants to be indemnified or held harmless from your decision.

00:47:15,870	So at some point in the future, um, FEMA comes and does whatever they do because you never know what comes from them that you’re responsible. Well, the reason why we have this resolution is because that’s what the, um, water district wanted was. They couldn’t show me a resolution, but, uh, they gave me a name from a guy from Fargo, and. You told me that.

00:47:36,870	But what? This the way this resolution is written, you. are agreeing to. You know, you got pursuant to chapter 61, Dash 16.2, the North Dakota Central Code pertaining to floodplain management and the National Flood Insurance Program, 42 U.S.C. 4001 et seq.

00:47:59,900	The term community means any political subdivision that has the authority to zone, and it goes on to say that, um, um, that that you’re required to communities, which is what you, you are having residential and non-residential structures in areas that are subject to excessive flooding shall be required to participate in the National Flood Insurance Program and shall adopt and enforce required floodplain management ordinances.

00:48:23,070	Yeah, we understand that. Okay, but this is the way the way they they wanted it done. And so it’s the first step that we have to take to get maybe get out of it. And if we can’t get out of it, we’re, we’re more than willing to make our zoning and do it ourselves. Okay.

00:48:44,430	That’s what the citizens. Wanted asking for is you had a you add a clause that holds Burleigh County harmless so that your decisions don’t have a negative impact on Burleigh County. Okay. All right. We’ll do okay. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. Bravera Insurance advisor Scott. Welcome. Is this table under. Till the next meeting? Yes.

00:49:11,100	Okay. Because they’ll they’ll they’ll have the opportunity to modify the. Motion for that. No, I don’t think so. Thank you. Thank you. Chairman Uh, commissioners, thank you for the opportunity to get a chance to come in and speak with you guys a little bit today on, uh, in regards to the county’s insurance program.

00:49:48,000	Uh, again, my name is Scott Faehnrich. I’m a commercial advisor at Bravera Insurance. And here in Bismarck. And, um, I come to you today, I actually presented to you guys about a year ago and requested if I could kind of get some access to the documents, like your current policy information, with the idea that I would take

00:50:06,630	a look through that for you guys to kind of give you an impression of, of my take on it, um, of our agencies and impression of it. And if there’s anything notable and to potentially offer you with the, the option or the opportunity for, for us to be able to, to serve or work with you guys in

00:50:22,700	the future. Um, that was, uh, last year, not too far off from this time and starting to get a little closer on the timeline for when renewals were. And so ultimately we waited until this year, and, uh, Taylor Schmidt was very helpful. And and providing that documentation.

00:50:38,100	And so that’s what I’m here to do today is to present on our behalf or to give you, uh, our perspective of having gone through that, um, before I get into kind of my findings, I just want to give you just a little bit of background on myself. I’ve. I’ve worked in insurance for over 15 years.

00:50:53,630	For nearly ten of that. I’ve worked specifically with North Dakota political subdivisions. So this is something, uh, working with cities, county school districts is something that, um, I have a great familiarity with and have been doing it for a long time.

00:51:09,900	Um, I actually brought with my, uh, account manager, Renee Keller, with me tonight. She worked side by side with me on on this stuff. She also has been in insurance for over 18 years. Uh, she’s with Bravera Insurance, of course, as well, and also has significant experience exclusively with, uh, working with North Dakota political subdivisions. Bravera insurance, our agency as a whole.

00:51:28,730	We actually are currently the agent of record for 85 North Dakota political subdivisions, including four counties in the state. So this is something we work with very regularly and have a good pulse of of the changes. And, um, things that that change within local government. Uh, and we are local.

00:51:47,630	And when I say local, I mean, Renee and I literally walked to this meeting today because our office is two blocks away from here. So, um, I know for some that that’s very important and we recognize that, but, uh, yeah, our office and I work right out of the office here on the corner of fourth and

00:52:00,500	Rosser. Um, like I said, we’ve got a very strong understanding of governmental risk, uh, which is very specialized. But beyond that, I think what can really separate us is, is what we describe is, you know, our partnership or our advocacy.

00:52:19,100	Um, I think it’s really important that for each North Dakota political subdivision, that the time is spent to evaluate their unique exposures and the makeup of each of their entities, because, let’s be honest, each entity or each county, whatever it would be, is, is one in its own, uh, Burleigh County operates differently than Morton County and has different exposures, operates different than, uh,

00:52:37,900	Sheridan County. Operates different than Cass County. Um, so I think it’s always important to make sure that we’re going through and doing a deep dive to understand, you know, what are the biggest concerns, what are the assets that we need to protect for Burleigh County, and then make

00:52:51,170	sure that we we approach that appropriately. Um, as far as one other thing I want to point out as far as pricing, because that can be a question. Your guys’s, uh, risk services are right now are provided by the North Dakota Insurance Reserve Fund.

00:53:08,900	And I want to be clear, I am in no way suggesting that there’s an alternative or a better solution for that. Um, what I’m suggesting is that, again, the opportunity of serving as as the agency of the agent of record or the agency that would help represent and advocate on your behalf, we have no opportunity for better pricing or rating that that

00:53:27,730	does not change. The North Dakota Insurance Reserve Fund allows each member to select whatever independent agent they would like to work with. And again, pricing is all the absolute same.

00:53:43,630	The only difference would be is again, the expertise and the care that that you have in that agent to make sure that that you have your controls in place to to keep some costs down. And I certainly have found a couple of those opportunities. Um, as I kind of get into some of these specifics, there is one thing that I do want to point out.

00:53:59,730	Uh, and just to bring it to your attention, there’s there’s actually two different policies here that kind of come into play with the county. Uh, one is for, uh, Berkeley County and the park board. I’ll kind of call that, uh, policy a that’s an entity that has its own policy.

00:54:14,630	And then you’ve got the Burleigh Morton County Detention Center that is a separate entity, uh, set up through a JPA. And right now has its own insurance coverages set up specifically on their own. And I’ll explain why here shortly. Um, we also have looked through both of these policies and, uh, and made sure that we’ve identified areas for both.

00:54:35,970	Um, I’m not going to go into I got plenty of things to talk about. I will try to stay out of the weeds and just give you some high level examples. Um, starting first with the, uh, the Inland Marine coverage, inland marine coverage for Burleigh County is pertains to the mobile equipment. Okay.

00:54:51,730	That’s going to be equipment that the county has that is that’s not stationary. It’s not autos. But it would be heavy equipment or a lot of equipment you might see with the sheriff’s department. That is not again, stationary at one place and can be in different areas. Um, that’s a really important coverage for the county.

00:55:06,330	You have over uh, over 100 individual items that are right now scheduled on that schedule for, um, your equipment totaling almost $10 million. And again, that can be a skid steers that can be skid steer implements or attachments that can be pay loaders, all different levels.

00:55:23,900	Uh, but one thing I noticed is right now you guys have that on a schedule. And so that means that you have 100 different items that list specifically the year make model and serial number. It has to be on that schedule. If it’s not on that schedule, it is not covered with counties or other municipalities.

00:55:39,800	What I’ve seen many a times is you could have different departments or department heads that make a determination, hey, it’s time for us to switch out this piece of equipment or upgrade or get a new attachment.

00:55:54,900	Right now, the way that that’s set up is if those changes are taking place, and every single one is not getting to the contact for the county, then to the agency, then to Neff, and so on. If if those pieces of equipment were to be damaged or have a claim involving them, there is no coverage period.

00:56:14,230	The alternative to that is, is an alternative that the EWF came out with, uh, 5 or 6 years ago, and it’s a blanket option. What that does is rather than having this long list of 100 different items with a value of $10 million, we allocate the total value of those into four different categories subcategories.

00:56:29,430	So you might have coverage A that has 500,000, coverage B might have 6.3 million coverage D, C might have 2.5 and coverage D might have 800,000. The benefit of that is that schedule that I was referring to is gone. Now. All we’re doing instead is we’re making sure that we have adequate limits on each one of those different categories.

00:56:50,800	Again, the biggest impact one better coverage is are provided replacement costs versus actual cash value in many situations. But secondly, again, that schedule, you have a department head who goes and changes a piece of equipment out and say that doesn’t get over to to our contract.

00:57:08,530	And I don’t care if it’s a $10,000 piece of equipment or a $120,000 piece of equipment, if that same loss happens and it’s on the blanket, there’s no problem. There’s no questions ex asked. It fills in the gap. As long as we have adequate coverage. It’s an it’s an absolute no brainer.

00:57:22,600	It’s something that I just noted right away and kind of questioned as to, you know, why it wasn’t on there. And I think the next question that comes up goes is, Scott, that might make some sense, but what’s that going to cost? And the truth is I’ve I’ve done that conversion many times with other entities.

00:57:38,000	I would say about 50% of in my experience, 50% of the time there’s maybe a dollar or two higher, and 50% of the time it’s actually been cheaper. Price really isn’t affected by it. And so again, at the end of the day, when endif came out with this, it was an absolute no brainer.

00:57:51,800	And again, a lot of the entities that maybe don’t I don’t know if it’s been brought into the attention or not, but it’s it’s something that can be really impactful for, for our members. Um, the next one I want to talk to you guys about is on the auto side.

00:58:05,800	Certainly the county has a large fleet of vehicles with their sheriff’s departments and all their different departments. Um, right now you guys have, uh, physical damage, deductibles varying anywhere from $250 up to $1,000. And again, that’s incredibly low. And that’s great in the event that we have a loss and the county only has to incur that $500 deductible of that $1,000 deductible.

00:58:23,700	But as I look through that, I question if it’s ever been brought to your attention about the concept of of either increasing those or bringing those up to like more of a standard level where they’re all 1000, let’s just say.

00:58:38,100	And the benefit of that is, of course, your premium is likely going to be if you increase your deductible, it’s going to bring premium savings for you guys. Now, if you do have a loss, of course, you’re incurring $1,000, let’s say, instead of 500. But honestly, you just extrapolate that out.

00:58:52,170	You quote out those options and you figure out what that potential savings would be. And as long as the county isn’t incurring dozens and dozens of auto claims a year, in most cases it’s it’s in their their benefit to to have a higher deductible. Because the bottom line, you could potentially save five $10,000 a year easily.

00:59:08,530	Um, one other thing on the auto side I noticed is right now the county as far as underinsured motorist and uninsured motorist, have the state minimums of 25,050 thousand. I just haven’t seen that very often.

00:59:23,900	And I again, it might be a smaller detail or something that doesn’t come up very often, but it’s just something where I ask if it’s, you know, maybe been overlooked. Uh, most, most other similar political subdivisions have, you know, an increase of at least 100,000, 300,000. Um, and so that is something that can come up.

00:59:37,530	It’s just an example of, I don’t want to say oversight, but just things that I’ve kind of noticed that I want to make sure that we would be certainly bringing to your guys’s attention. Uh, the next up is I wanted to talk a little bit about property. Property? I’m talking like your buildings and contents.

00:59:51,730	That’s certainly going to be the biggest tangible assets that the county owns. Um, right now, if you look at your schedule of property, uh, it shows that your data appraised on almost everyone is 522 of 23. So that’s three years ago since our values have been updated.

01:00:08,470	Uh, one thing that we do is make sure that on an annual basis, we’re, we’re going through and reviewing that with your guys’s team and making sure that you have the confidence that every year going into, you know, whatever season it might be, you have adequate limits in place so that if one of your buildings is impacted, you’ve got adequate coverage there and you’re not in a shortfall.

01:00:26,500	Um, one other, uh, enhancement on the property side that I wanted to talk about is, uh, there’s multiple enhancements and, um, one that I don’t see you guys are participating in right now, which is totally fine, but I wanted to make sure it’s brought to your attention.

01:00:41,630	Is a wind hail by down option right now? Uh, the county has a $5,000 deductible for any property related loss. $5,000. Uh, if there is a wind or a hail event, as we’re susceptible to in this area that were to come through.

01:00:59,070	And let’s just say that we had a significant event and you had for the county, we had eight buildings that were affected by that, that, uh, that storm right now, the way it sits is you would have a $5,000 deductible for each one of those buildings, five times eight is $40,000 is what the county would incur.

01:01:16,730	As an alternative if they would be interested is there’s there’s an enhancement that that if again, listening to its members came out with years ago that converts that per building deductible to a per occurrence deductible. Okay. So in that exact same experience, exact same situation, if you were to have that, uh, that storm come through and damage eight buildings rather than having eight, $5,000 deductibles, it’s a single deductible.

01:01:37,170	I’ve seen that especially impactful for members that maybe have a little bit of a higher deductible, because there’s more savings, of course. But then also, if you have a significant amount of property or property that’s spread out.

01:01:49,900	So again, just an example of the types of things that that will look into. The last thing, and I think is, is probably the most important that I wanted to to discuss with you guys is the general liability coverage for the county.

01:02:07,370	The general liability coverage is going to be the coverage that protects Burleigh County in the event of a claim or a lawsuit brought against them or their employees. Um, one thing that comes into play and that’s very important is the North Dakota Century Code has established that there’s a tort cap for political subdivisions.

01:02:25,070	What that means is that there is a limit or a cap for the the amount that an individual or individuals can recover against a political subdivision in the event of a a tort claim. A tort claim is it’s a great majority of the claims that any entity ever sees. Those are claims that involve negligence. Those could be auto accidents, slip and falls, property damage, things of those nature.

01:02:43,800	Almost all of our claims are protected. And right now, coming up on 630 of 2026. So coming up here, that tort cap has changed because of some legislative changes from the last session and is ultimately going to come to a resting place where it’s the most that an individual can recover

01:03:00,730	against. The county is $500,000. If there are multiple individuals impacted by one occurrence, the most collectively that they can recover against the county is $2 million 500,002 million aggregate for a group. Um, so again, we’re talking about tort claims and negligence.

01:03:24,100	It’s a great majority of our claims, but it’s important to point out that that tort cap does not protect the county against everything. There are claims that involve the violation of somebody’s civil rights.

01:03:43,170	Um, we’d have a lot of times we associate that with law enforcement’s excessive force claims, jails, uh, wrongful death claims, suicides, anything that would violate civil rights or be brought federally. It is not protected by that same cap that I just talked about with the 500,000, 2 million that is out the window. So that is the reason why it’s important for our political subdivisions to evaluate and determine what is the right limit for us to make sure that we’re protected.

01:03:59,730	If something like that were to happen to our sheriff’s department or our county employees. Now, uh, and it offers anywhere between 2 million and $10 million in liability limits. When I look at the county right now, you guys have a limit of $10 million.

01:04:17,870	The most that any year F will provide. And that makes all the sense in the world. The large county you have that law enforcement exposure. That’s that’s really important. But as I talked about earlier, um, we have a completely separate policy and that’s that law enforcement, uh, I’m sorry that the detention center.

01:04:35,370	Now, I wanted to point out and show, I know, um, if I can transpose or put something on this, uh, screen, I’ll just. I wanted to just highlight something here. So this is an endorsement on Burleigh County’s policy right now. Thank you. Thank you very much.

01:05:00,800	As you can see that that’s, uh, a from the endorsement from the Burleigh County and Burleigh County park boards. Uh, policy right now, in this term, there’s an exclusion that says it is hereby understood and agreed that liability for all operations arising from the Burleigh Morton Detention Center is excluded from Burleigh County’s insurance coverages or insurance policy.

01:05:20,170	And that makes sense, because that’s why they have a separate policy, their own policy. Okay. But what I want to point out here is that just like I talked about how important it is to evaluate those exposures in those risks, this detention center is has some of the highest exposures for those

01:05:37,530	types of claims that are not protected by that, that talk cap. And when I go and look at the Burleigh County Detention Center right now, you can see right now that that limit is at 2 million.

01:05:55,630	So again, what the reason why I think that that’s so important is these are the types of events or these are the types of exposures that are probably most important, in my opinion, of keeping it off the front page news. I mean, we can say lower deductibles and save some money. That’s great. We can prevent some losses to some equipment. That’s great. If we have a $6.

01:06:13,000	5 million judgment against the the detention center, and that, uh, verdict gets carried out and the detention center has to come up with $6.5 million, and they only have two. That other 4.5 million is going to have to come from somewhere else.

01:06:29,600	And again, the alternative here is, as we’ve seen with how the county is set up, there’s up to $10 million in in coverage, and that’s probably would cost in the neighborhood of I’m going to say 8 to $15,000 annually. So very minimal compared to adding $8 million and probably one of the most impactful areas with the highest exposures.

01:06:50,800	So that’s just something that I wanted to, uh, to bring up in kind of my findings. Um, one of the things that I just want to be clear about on that it is possible that some of these things have been brought up and the county has, has chosen to, to not act on them. And that is completely fine.

01:07:03,430	I’m, I’m just going off of the information that I have at hand here. And again, as I go through and see some of these other, maybe smaller examples of, of, you know, no brainers or absolutes that I typically see, I just it brings me to question if this has been brought up for your consideration in the past.

01:07:23,530	Um, and again, I mentioned this before, I’m not suggesting any alternative to the North Dakota Insurance Reserve fund. They’re built by and for North Dakota political subdivisions. What I am suggesting or offering, is the opportunity for us to be able to replace your current agent.

01:07:41,270	Um, and enact us as, as bravura insurance. And it would be myself and Renee, as I talk about working on your your account and our whole team, um, we not only will provide these options specifically on what we’ve talked about today, but we want to provide you with that partnership and that advocacy that I’ve talked

01:07:55,630	about, and that Burleigh County definitely deserves. Uh, and the other question that I’ll get asked is if that is something that Burleigh County is interested in, you know, how does one go about making that change? And it’s really simple. It’s it’s essentially it’s called an agent of record form.

01:08:09,900	It’s just a form that would be signed off by the county, um, that would be provided to the North Dakota Insurance Reserve Fund, saying that you guys are choosing or would like to have Bavaria be your representative, representative and agent of record moving forward. Commissioner Bachman.

01:08:28,530	Um, Scott, one of the things that you just mentioned, the advocacy side of that and and that’s one of the things I look at very closely, uh, because in changes a lot at the behest of the legislature, it’s kind of a fluid, um, how involved are you with that and making sure that the policies that are put in at

01:08:46,170	the legislative level are, you know, because you guys are acting as a fiduciary. So, um, how involved are you with your clients or who you represent for industry? Uh, how we’re involved? Are you at the legislative level and making sure that those good decisions at the legislative level that controls endure for guides and Dourif are made?

01:09:07,470	Yeah. Thank you. And a great question. Um, it’s obviously something that is, as I mentioned before, Rivera, right now we represent 85 different North Dakota political subdivisions and 85 members of the NWF.

01:09:29,630	So any of those decisions, Steve, that you’re talking about, that come down and ultimately can result in changes in coverage and things that get, um, turned out by and whether that’s enhancements and improvements, um, exclusions, whatever it might be. We are constantly on top of that because we know how important even some of these little changes that I’ve discussed here. They might seem minimal, but again, these were brought up and created five and six years ago.

01:09:46,530	For me, that’s important that I need to get those into your guys’s hands immediately, not to to sell you or say you need to do this, but to make sure that you’re informed and you have the information, because some of these changes, if we don’t take action or if they aren’t presented to you right away and

01:10:00,900	time goes on, that’s when you have the losses and when you have the losses and find out, wait, there’s something we could have done to present to prevent this or to save us. I mean, that’s frustrating. That’s my job.

01:10:15,800	That’s that’s what our job is, is to be that advocate or to be that representative, to make sure that we’re staying on top of some of those changes. Steve, that you mentioned and that we’re ready to make sure that you guys are informed in the event of any changes coming down the pike. Okay. You had mentioned, um, agent of record is is Ender currently acting as the agent of record.

01:10:35,500	Then? No. Uh, and I’ll clarify that so you can kind of look at it this way. The North Dakota Insurance Reserve Fund, or Neff, is the provider of your risk services or these different policies. Okay. Then you have Burleigh County, that is, that receives those. In between those two, you have an agent. That’s that representative.

01:10:55,530	Right now you have a different agent or an agency that is your representative or provider of that. What I’m suggesting or offering is to make Bravera that insurance agent of record or agency moving forward. And DRF doesn’t go anywhere. Burleigh County doesn’t go anywhere.

01:11:18,500	You just insert us to replace your current agent and allow us to serve you guys to implement some of these changes. Make sure that you have that advocacy. Um, moving forward. State. Farm doesn’t change. Who’s the who’s who’s who’s the current main agent of record. The uh the industry. And. Which is acquired by. A company out of Nebraska. So yeah. Yeah. So. Sure. Go for it. Um. So I put this on the agenda.

01:11:50,900	Just, uh, Rivera had reached out and I had conversations with Taylor. Um, and there really isn’t, you know, they do their job. The current, um, agent of record. Um, but I think we could get better customer service by going with or with, uh, Rivera.

01:12:15,530	Um, just because of the advocacy side of things. Um, and how closely they function with, interface. So, you know, some of the things that he brought up were, um, when I went through this the first time, especially concerning the, uh, the detention center, um, and I called the sheriff and went, do we know those numbers are that

01:12:41,100	low? And not really. So, um, I, I’m looking at it from the customer service and the ability to have somebody as our advocate, as changes are being made at the legislative level. So, um, in conversations with Taylor, it’s not a I don’t even think we need to put it to a vote.

01:13:04,000	I think it’s a consensus would be just fine. Um, it’s something that the treasurer can can change. Um, there is one other thing to the point of contact is currently, um, Auditor Splonskowski, which I think that point of contact should be with the Treasurer’s office.

01:13:27,070	Um, so I would make a, a motion for consensus that we switch over to Rivera and move the point of contact to Taylor, uh, in the Treasurer’s office. Mr. Chairman You were. When you pushed away. I couldn’t hear you said the the the company that we’re using now sold to somebody in Nebraska or something. Is that what you said? Yeah, that was my understanding. They were acquired by a.

01:13:48,070	They don’t have a local office here anymore or. They do. But the the their parent company is, is an out-of-state company now. Okay. Well, that was a motion. That has the motion you’re doing right now has nothing to do with these minimums and maximums and all that. No. It’s changing the insurance cover or.

01:14:08,630	It’s just like having, say, you have State Farm for your. Yeah, I know. And you’re just shopping agents because it’s the customer service side. And I look at the customer service side and doing business locally here in Bismarck with better customer service for our residents. And a voice at the legislature, to me is important. I would.

01:14:29,670	Second for conversation. Okay. Second. Um. I guess the question I have then is is there a contract or some type of ongoing agreement with the. It’s just a form, correct? Yeah, yeah. And Taylor could speak to that a little bit more if, uh, if he wants to. Come up. Oh, you’re over there. Sorry. New chair today.

01:14:55,600	Yeah, yeah. So, Taylor, if you want to talk a little bit about your dealings with how the The connection and Dourif is and what that looks like for if we change agents. Yeah. So I did reach out to and and they basically just like what Scott said is just a form that we fill out.

01:15:14,530	And they volunteered our new agent, if we have any questions to help us with that transition. And then. We. Just not on RFP or anything like that. It’s just it’s just a form that we get to. Choose. Yep. So we don’t have a contract or anything. That’s just the I guess the one year.

01:15:29,270	And I don’t know if we can change mid-year or not. Typically, typically. That’s done on an on an annual basis. That’s my thought renewal. If, if, if you would like. And sorry, I was just going to say yeah, that’s typically done. Um, at, at a renewal basis. And that’s the reason for my timing here today as well, and I apologize, I neglected that.

01:15:47,000	You’ll see that in the packet. But um, your, the Burleigh County’s policy renewal is seven one of this year. The detention center is six five. Yeah. Detention center comes. First though is June 5th. That’s due earlier. That renewal.

01:16:10,370	Mister Chairman Commissioner Woodcox does, uh, North Dakota fire insurance that we use now? Are they affected by this at all? Fire, tornado. There. They’re within there now, I think. Correct. They’re administered by the North Dakota Insurance Reserve Fund. This would not change any of that. Nope.

01:16:29,630	All this would be again is is the opportunity where some of these things that we’re talking about, we now have the ability to bring that to you. If we’re the agent of record, we have the ability to say, hey, it’s important that we quote out these options for you. It’s important that we bring these to the to the table for your consideration. Okay.

01:16:45,230	Part of this too is that in my time, I haven’t had a report or where we’re at or an update or or anything from our current agent of record, and that’s something I would like to see on a annual basis or a semiannual basis of what is the insurance liability of the county. I would like to see that report show. Up.

01:17:04,270	I apologize, Steve, but I was just going to mention as well that, um, you know, that’s something that I’m very familiar with, with other entities that can be small, that can it doesn’t matter who it is. That can be a small city, that can be a school district.

01:17:19,330	Um, speaking at a school board, uh, event or at city council. Um, that’s something that I do very regularly. So again, if that’s something that’s important, where whether it’s on an annual basis and we come up and kind of do a, you know, gauge the temperature and make sure that we’re we’re bringing some of

01:17:33,270	these things back up. Um, that’s something that I do for my other insurance and is part of my normal, uh, service, I guess I would say. Okay, I think that we have to make sure that that motion and second involves that timing question on that.

01:17:55,730	Um, Taylor, what’s the time frame for? You know, if we have a consensus at the table tonight? What what does that process look like? Is it you fill out the form tomorrow and it changes tomorrow or. Yeah, they asked for 30 to 60 days to process. So we’re, you know, in between the 30 to 60 for the detention center policy.

01:18:11,630	But still detention center is that’s why it’s important to have that discussion tonight. Yes. Okay. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mister Munson, uh, one of the pieces that I like about the motion, uh, we are now defining who is handling this force as well. You know, through the split. Of the auditor treasurer. Who was taking care of that.

01:18:31,230	And now the motion is clear. So we know where that’s. At. The treasurer’s office. Treasurer’s office? Yep. Okay. I just wanted to make sure that we’re recognizing that it’s only going to happen in a certain time so that the. You know, it’s consistent with normal practice. Um, okay.

01:18:54,800	Well, there is a motion a second any further discussion? Okay. I’m going to abstain from voting. Um, this is my insurance company. Or cover. I know that our insurance agent, let’s say it’s not my company. Right. Well, we actually don’t have to vote. We can just have a consensus that you could. Say we’re going to have. We’ll have a vote. Okay.

01:19:10,900	I need if I would like to vote. Okay. Okay. Chair, if I may, we have to technically, we have to have a vote for the commission to allow you to abstain. Yes, we. Do. I move that, we allow Commissioner second. Okay. Motion. And second. Any further discussion? Call the roll. Commissioner Munson. Yes, Commissioner Bakken.

01:19:30,630	Yes, Commissioner Schwab. No. Commissioner Woodcox. Yes. I apologize. For saying no. Okay. All right. Do you want to hear it? No. Oh. Very. Good reason. Well, let’s. Hear it. Okay. Um. Motion carries. Now we can go back to the question on the motion. Previous motion. Call the roll. Commissioner Botkin. Yes, Commissioner Schwab. No. Commissioner Woodcox. Yes.

01:20:01,100	Commissioner Munson. Yes. Motion carries. Thank you, Thank you. Note that. Taylor. You’ll take care of the rest of. Okay. Thank you. Thank you all very much. Appreciate you. Kelly McDonald, Bismarck Library. County library. Summer activities update. Welcome. Hello. Thank you. Thank. You, thank you. All. Hello.

01:21:52,500	Commissioners and Chairman Thank you for your time this evening. I asked to be on the agenda because I wanted to have an opportunity to just check in with you and let you know what we have been up to.

01:22:09,900	Um, how 2025 ended and how what we’re planning for the rest of spring and the summer going forward. So it’s just kind of a check in that, um, I’d like to touch base with you all. Let’s see. Okay. You can see that. So 2025, I’d like to start by sharing some of our highlights.

01:22:34,370	And it was a big year for us as we were able to celebrate the 50th year of service of County Library services. Um, we kind of had there was a library Palooza event, a big event that a lot of people attended, and there were some fun cookies that unconventional cookies made that depicted, like all the different images of the bookmobile over the past 50 years. So it was kind of cute.

01:22:58,230	And a lot of people really ate right into them. You know? So, um, our stops for 2025, we had 593 stops, which included 66 different locations. The miles we put on the vehicle this last year was 7445. We had just over 19,000 visitors. Our cardholders went up 5%. We’re now at 4647.

01:23:32,470	We did 123 programs, which brought in an additional 8662 attendees. And then the items borrowed. And this is just from the bookmobile. It doesn’t include the main library or anything. Um, we were up 12% at 42,134 items. Nope. Wrong direction. Okay, so looking forward. That was our 2025 for spring.

01:24:07,100	When I asked to be on the agenda, I have to honestly say I had no idea that this would fall. This meeting on National Library Week. But today is the first day of National Library Week. And so that’s kind of fitting.

01:24:24,730	And then the Wednesday of National Library Week is National Library Outreach Outreach Day, which they celebrate bookmobile or bringing um library materials and services beyond, like the brick and mortar building. So that is kind of fun that I get to share what we have planned for National Library, um, Outreach Day.

01:24:41,470	And then, you know, I love a good theme, and I didn’t even know what the theme was, but it is library Joy. So, um, this next slide and this is what you kind of have in your. Packet. Is, um, library joy shout outs.

01:25:05,900	So we had 74 library joy shout outs submitted throughout this month of April, and I chose six of kind of some that really stood out to me. They’re they’re kind of funny. They’re touching. They’re they’re just really good stories. And so I’m not going to read all six of them for everyone here to hear. But the one I have up on the screen, um, is from a student at Wing Public School.

01:25:25,730	When I first started the bookmobile, I was six, and now I’m 14 and still love going in there to pick out a great book. The people are so kind and ready to help. It’s amazing.

01:25:40,600	They give us a way to get good books, even when we can’t buy them or drive to get them, and helps us find a way to escape some things in her current mood or his current mood. I guess they’re anonymous. Some of them chose not to say, um, motivated and thankful. So it was just kind of a fun thing that we did. And we have them hanging up throughout the bookmobile right now. Um.

01:25:59,470	So like I said, Wednesday is National Library Outreach Day, and generally in the month we do have one week where we are not out on the road, and that allows us to take care of any maintenance, like if we have to get an oil change or if we need

01:26:14,000	to wash the vehicle or anything like that. But it also gives us a time for our staff to reset and get ready for the upcoming month, because we have a lot of people who have requested books, and we’re pulling those books. Um, we’re just changing out the books on the bookmobile.

01:26:31,370	So that’s what we kind of do during our office week. So this did fall on our office week, but we are going to do a library Joy tour this Wednesday because that is the outreach day. And we don’t often get to actually celebrate some things that are unique and special on the day. So it worked out really nice.

01:26:51,170	So our library Joy tour, we have, um, we’re going to go to five different stops that we don’t normally go to, but we’re um, highlighting special collections that the people with library cards are able to have access to. So, for example, um, Gateway to Science is our first stop.

01:27:11,530	We’re going to park outside of their building in their parking lot. And the library actually has gateway to science family passes that people with their library card can check out a family pass and use it.

01:27:26,330	They get it for a week, and then they can go to the gateway to science without having to pay the admission fee. So that’s a really nice service that all library cardholders have access to. The next stop on our library Joy Tour is Elkridge Park, and we’re going to feature pickleball sets. The library has pickleball sets that people can check out, which is kind of fun.

01:27:44,530	And I don’t know if any of you play pickleball, but it’s kind of fun and it’s very popular right now. After we are done with the pickleball, we’re going to go out to MacDowell dam because the library also has fishing poles, life and state park passes so similar to the gateway to Science Park Pass.

01:28:05,230	We have state park passes where somebody can check out a state park pass for a week, and that gives them access to any of the North Dakota state parks without having to pay. I think it’s the $7 admission fee to that park. So, um, that’s pretty fun.

01:28:23,900	And then another, um, outdoor activity would be going to Lincoln to Millennium Park. They do have a Frisbee golf course there, and the library does have frisbee golf sets. So you can check out some discs, some golf discs and play frisbee golf.

01:28:43,900	And then we’ll end the tour just back at our home base at the library, which will be parked outside as an open house style. So people who don’t normally get to see us can come aboard and see what the bookmobile looks like on inside and everything. So it’s kind of a fun day for us. That’s different. Speaking of themes, like I mentioned, I love a good theme.

01:29:04,970	We’re gearing up for summer reading, summer reading this year. Their theme is Unearth a story. So it kind of has a dinosaur archaeological aspect to it. Our summer schedule you have in your packets, it’s not 100% finalized. It’s as close as possible at this moment, but I am waiting on something. So it is a draft.

01:29:25,800	I do plan to have that schedule printed and published. Um, available by May 1st. We are expecting 55 locations, 183 stops. We have as of right now, about seven special events to go in. That summer schedule is June, July, August, and um, and then we’ll have our fall winter schedule.

01:29:50,970	Uh, we will be working on some story walks this summer, and then we’ll be adding a little extra maintenance to our little free libraries that we house on May 8th. We will be driving in the Band Day Parade in collaboration with the main library, and then May 27th is our big summer reading kickoff to, um, work with the theme and kids can sign up for they get

01:30:14,970	prizes. We have a big prize wheel, not a big prize wheel, but like a prize wheel on the bus that they get to spin, they’re already asking, where’s the prize? We’ll we have to say you only get it in June, in July and August. So they’re looking forward to it.

01:30:34,700	So I’ll show you a couple pictures from past summer events. We do, um, storytimes. We have one of our staff members is really good with the guitar and singing. So she adds like a really nice element to our storytimes. We do, um, have a small partnership where we join Luigi’s Ice Cream.

01:30:57,100	Chuck joins us on a few of our stops, and so they get to come and we have books and ice cream, and it’s always a fun time. We had Clifford join one of our storytimes last year, and then we do have we do go to Biz Market one Saturday a month in, once in June, once in July and

01:31:12,000	once in August. So, um, biz market is always a very busy place for us to be. And I mentioned the story walks, so we’re going on our third summer of putting up story walks. Story walks there, interactive literacy activities, which pages from a book are deconstructed.

01:31:36,730	You have to get like three copies of the book to, um, adhere to copyright law. So they take apart like a children’s book, and then they get laminated the pages, and then they’re displayed in a stand along a park or a trail.

01:31:58,100	They do encourage outdoor activity while promoting reading, and it allows for families to read a story like page by page while they take a walk together. So we’ve had this, like I said, we’ve we’re going on our third summer and we’ve been had our story walks at um, Sibley Park and Campground. And then we had it at the P.T. Weigel Park in Lincoln.

01:32:19,370	And they’re just kind of a fun way to even be out there in a different way than like a traditional library, since, um, this is made possible because we have a really great partnership with Bismarck Public Schools, they actually provide the science for us. And I, with the theme, like this summer will be dinosaurs.

01:32:39,230	Um, I give them the titles of the books. We do six stories, so we change out the story every month at each place. So there’s six stories, and then they’re the ones who deconstruct the book for us. They laminate it.

01:32:59,370	And then a really nice aspect of this is that their literacy coaches are able to add questions or content to the bottom of the page that align with the North Dakota education standards. So there might be like a question or an activity that the families can like, answer and ponder as they read the story. So it’s kind of a nice element. So, um, we get to do that.

01:33:20,800	Another part of what we do is our little Free Libraries. We have nine little Free libraries throughout rural Burleigh County. And so every month we stop and we maintain them. We will change out books. We we add craft kits every month.

01:33:41,170	And, um, if there’s books that aren’t readable anymore, we take those out, we’ll put new ones in. And um, so we really just check on them. But what’s really nice is we don’t really have to do a lot because the idea of them is take a book, leave a book.

01:33:57,700	So the community in which these are placed, those residents are adding their own books and taking the books. So it’s kind of self-sustaining, which is really nice. But we do check on them once a month. Um, and we just enter in our file that with like our regular route. So we do have like for example, like Wing Senior Center, we’re already in wing.

01:34:14,170	It’s easy for us to like swing by and check on that little free library. So this summer will, um, just see if any of them needs, like, paint, touch up, stay in their posts, and just some of the knobs had broken off. So we replaced knobs. Like, that’s the kind of stuff that we also do with that. So I mean, our summer is really busy.

01:34:32,270	Like we’ve added in that and I’m just going to lead. into like August, what do we do in August? Well, a lot of our stops drop off because they are activity centers for the schools, but we still have, um, 37 stops that we do in August.

01:34:56,370	But it’s also a time pictures up here is like the interior of the bookmobile, and then the interior of our office at the library. So I don’t know if any of you have, um, seen what it actually looks like in there, but that is a really good time for us for staff to do inventory, to do weeding, to change out some of the collections, and just kind of

01:35:15,700	like reset. And then that August 1st, I will have our summer or our fall, excuse me, our fall and our winter schedule done and ready to go and hand out. So that kind of brings us to like the end of the summer. So I just kind of wanted. To.

01:35:32,500	You know, give you guys an idea of what we’re doing over there at the library. I know it’s like a real sharp turn of, like what you’ve been listening to already. So it’s like, so. All right. Yeah.

01:35:47,730	So I just included a few of my favorite pictures of the bookmobile out on the road and things that we get to see. So. Yeah. Does do any of you guys have questions? Any questions? Commissioner Um, Kelly, one other thing you mentioned is the partnerships.

01:36:09,500	Um, could you expound on that a little bit because, um, whether you’re out in the county or you’re working a little closer, you guys really do rely on those partnerships for identifying locations and and working with some of those serve communities. Right, right.

01:36:32,430	Um, I mean, I mentioned like, Bismarck Public Schools because they, they specifically work with us on the, um, the story walks, but Bismarck Parks and Rec, I have to work with to have those story walks approved to be at Sibley. And that’s part of why I don’t have my schedule full yet, because we’re hoping that I can get it approved to have a story walk out at MacDowell dam. Um, so that’s a partnership that we just have to touch base with everybody. Um, yeah. Thank you. Yeah, yeah.

01:36:53,530	Other questions. Um. Thank you. Okay. Appreciate it. You’re welcome. Thank you guys. Moving along. Assistant county engineer Casey, master mechanic position and construction engineering RFP. Welcome, Casey. Thank you. Chairman and commissioners.

01:37:24,230	So some background on the master mechanic is during the past few months, the highway department and human resource department have been working on filling, create and creating a master mechanic position. After reviewing the department’s needs, it was determined that the best way to fill this position would be to promote our current shop maintenance worker three to the newly created master Mechanic position.

01:37:43,430	Kirk would be promoted from a shop maintenance worker three position to the master mechanic position with the grades and steps, uh, that have been recommended. Kirk would remain a non-exempt employee. Uh, this change does fit within the current highway department salary and fringe benefit budget. Uh, there is a resolution in the packet, and I’m available for any questions you may have. Commissioners. Any questions? Move to. Approve.

01:38:04,930	Second motion or second to approve any further discussion. Seeing none. Commissioner Schwab. Yes, Commissioner Woodcox. Yes, Commissioner Munson. Yes. Commissioner Bakken. Yes. Chairman Bitner. Yes. Motion carries next. Next one is on Moffett Road. Federal aid project. Um, some of the background on it is, uh, it’s a mill and overlay project on Moffett Road.

01:38:33,170	Project will be led on May 8th by the state, and construction will be funded at a 8020 federal local split. Uh, the use of consulting firms can be beneficial in completing projects that require certain capabilities that we do not have in house, or require faster action than our current staffing can provide.

01:38:51,230	The project will require us to follow the federal construction process, a process that we currently are not certified to complete. We propose using a consultant firm to perform this function. Interested engineering consultant firms will submit a written proposal addressing staff experience, technical capabilities, current workload, understanding of project scope, fee, schedule, etc.

01:39:13,270	once we review the proposals, we do select the most qualified consultant work with the Dot also and go over the scope and timeline for the project. Once the details of the project have been worked out, we apply their fee schedule and come up with the total cost. This will then be brought back to the board for approval.

01:39:28,530	The construction engineering services for this project will be performed and funded under an 8020 federal locals split. There is a proposed resolution in the packet and I am available for any questions. Commissioners, any questions? Move to approve second motion and a second to approve the proposed resolution. Any further discussion, call the roll. Commissioner Woodcox. Yes.

01:39:51,500	Commissioner Munson. Yes, Commissioner Bakken. Yes. Commissioner Schwab. Yes. Chairman Bitner. Yes. Motion carries. Thank you. Commissioners. Thanks. Sheriff. Leben, quarterly jail report. North Dakota Dot traffic safety grant amendment. Salary variance for jail nurse and salary adjustment for jail nurse. Welcome to. Good evening, Mr. Chairman Commissioners, uh, first thing is the quarterly jail report.

01:40:16,100	Um, just to give you a kind of a quick rundown, uh, the average daily population is 385 inmates. To kind of give you a comparison, go back to 2019. And we were running probably right about 300 on the back side of Covid.

01:40:37,430	We’re down probably closer to that 200 number. And now we’re pushing up to that 400. Pretty consistently. Um, the number that we can handle that number, I mean, it definitely. We’re testing the building at that number. But um, one of the things that’s kind of interesting is our daily bookings and releases are not dropping.

01:41:03,600	So as we’re bringing in long term contracts, we’re still as busy at the booking area. And so that’s something that we’re monitoring very closely. Um, the, uh, as we look at this, um, the good thing with our population being there is our billing through March was 1,898,728.

01:41:31,530	Um, if you compare that to where we were, um, I can give you every year but take you back to 2023. We build 558,860 at this point in 2023. I’m predicting we should hit 7.5 million just on jail contracts. If you compare that to 2018, our first full year being open, we were at 1.9 million in contracts. Commissioner bucket. Sure.

01:42:00,700	How does that break down as far as we’ve got those new contracts with the state? And, um, how does that population break down? Um, with local with, you know, our local law enforcement versus state versus federal? Mr. Chairman, commissioners. And that’s a good question. Um, so the jail population or the makeup of the jail population has fluctuated a lot.

01:42:26,270	Um, in seven years. And, uh, what I would say is, you know, we’re finally getting to a point. We kind of understand that building. And what I mean by that is, um, in when we opened in June of 17, the population of inmates in there were primarily burly Morton and Bismarck.

01:42:46,730	Um, that’s who the agencies responsible for those inmates. Um, over time, Bismarck has kind of dropped off. They’re not as big of a player. Um, and some of that is just their change in their core practices and such.

01:43:10,170	Um, in and the other thing is we’ve made a focus, um, as I’ve spoke to this board and our governance board many times, there’s an economy of scale, um, when we’re spending big money to heat and cool the building, the more inmates we can bring in, obviously, to help with that cost.

01:43:32,100	Um, when I say, um, you know, the federal inmates, uh, we really focused on them for a while, uh, primarily us marshal prisoners. Um, and then, you know, now Ice prisoners have become a thing, but we really haven’t had the room to take a lot of those. But when I say federal prisoners, keep in mind they’re still North Dakota citizens, predominantly.

01:43:52,230	Um, the majority of them are people that have committed a crime locally. That is the state’s attorney’s office, works with the US attorney, and they end up charging them federally. So it’s a north it’s a Burleigh County case. Uh, now being prosecuted federally.

01:44:15,270	The other part of that is you have a lot of tribal crime, um, occurring in the state on the reservation, which automatically, if it’s a felony level offense, goes to the federal authorities and not the tribal police. So there’s the majority of those federal inmates. They’re not like they’re being bused in from Miami. These are our prisoners, or I should say, our citizens being charged with federal crimes.

01:44:40,900	Um, the population has changed again, though, because now the state of North Dakota has a big need, um, with prisoner housing. So we’ve kind of had to tell the marshal and Ice that we don’t have as many available beds as we’ve accommodated the state.

01:45:01,970	The state currently has, on average, probably, I would say if you used a number, I’d use 160 inmates a day in our facility. Um, 120 of them are at $105 a day, guaranteed. And then the fluctuating 40 to, you know, 30 to 60 is at $115 a day, which is our daily rate with the feds and the other entities outside of Burleigh County.

01:45:29,100	So, um, you know, obviously our budget has gone up, but like I’ve said many times when we look at the cost to Burleigh and Morton County taxpayers, it has come down greatly. And, uh, it’s an opportunity and and obviously, it’s a, you know, we’re going to be talking at our next governance board meeting coming up here.

01:45:49,000	Um, you know, as you’re aware, I’ll be done in this position the end of the year. I’ll try not to smile, but, uh, um, the, uh, I think there’s a lot of decisions that are going to have to be made about how that detention center looks in the future. Um, because it is an opportunity for Burleigh and Morton County.

01:46:07,370	Um, I it’s always going to be a liability. And as Scott talked about the insurance, I’m well aware of the insurance liability out there. But I mean, there’s an opportunity, um, since we have a jail to maximize the use of it. And that’s what we’re trying to do right now. Um, I’ll keep going.

01:46:28,430	If you got more questions, please ask alternatives to jail. Uh, again, that’s our, uh, basically our 24 over seven alcohol and drug testing. Um, those numbers fluctuate, but they really don’t change much. Um, currently, 200, currently 251 participants in it. The one thing, um, we’re kind of keeping an eye on is the interim legislative committee.

01:46:53,800	Uh, last session, I think I briefed you that, um, some courts have started waiving these fees and, uh, which we as the Sheriffs Association, have strongly opposed because that puts it back on county taxpayers versus the offenders. And, uh, so we tried to get a bill through. The governor vetoed it.

01:47:22,800	Um, questions on constitutionality, um, but ultimately, you know, the argument that the people that want the courts to have this right to waive the fees is, is that it’s cheaper for them to be on a program versus in jail. And, and I don’t agree with that. Um, really, when you boil it down, the jails open. We’re open for business.

01:47:42,970	Um, it costs us $8 a day to feed an inmate. So, um, I would I think the offenders need to pay that bill for that service to stay out of jail. We’re going to keep working on that.

01:48:00,630	The interim legislative committee, uh, we’re providing a lot of data through the Association of Counties, uh, to that committee. And so my hope is that, um, they’re looking at the fee structure. And, you know, we we collect money, we send some back to the AG’s office. So they’re looking at that long term.

01:48:20,970	But again, our goal is to make sure the offender has some skin in the game on that program. And it isn’t just on the back of taxpayers. Uh, staffing. Uh, you know, I this is the never ending story. Oh, I. I jinxed myself three months ago. Um, we are currently, um, we have lost a lot of good people.

01:48:43,370	The good thing, like we talk about at work is we’re losing good people. Um, there was a time we. We had some problems we had to work through. Uh, we grew quickly when we opened that building. The problem now is our staff is being picked off by every other law enforcement agency.

01:49:00,970	So Mandan Police Department, our detention officers, get a chance to go over there and become a sworn officer. Um, it’s a great career move for them. Uh, it’s a I think it’s a good thing for us, but it just hard, um, that our people are being recruited to go to work for other law enforcement agencies on patrol, which a lot

01:49:21,370	of those detention officers want to do. So we’re back in a hiring frenzy. Um, trying to staff this. Uh, we are paying a lot of overtime. Um, but we’ve got in, in, in the budget, and we’ve been here before. We’ll get through this, too.

01:49:42,500	Last thing I’ll say is that Docker contract, like I’ve been telling you about the 120 guaranteed beds. Uh, all of the beds were filled around the beginning of March. Uh, this continues to be a work in progress. We’re making some adjustments. Docker is making some adjustments. The good thing is, though, I see a lot of good things coming out of this as we collaborate together.

01:50:03,970	Uh, looking at different programming and opportunities. Uh, so I think this is going to be a good thing long term. Um, obviously it generates revenue, but it also gives us opportunities to grow in how we do things.

01:50:25,500	One thing I will just stress again, though, um, you know, it’s, uh, all that money we’re creating in revenue. Like I said, I think this year we should end 7.5 million just on the contracts. Uh, take in the other revenue we have from phones and video visitation, commissary, all that. I think we should be pushing $8 million. Um, the problem is, it’s not all free.

01:50:47,800	We gotta, you know, as we’re growing, we’re starting to notice some things. I’ll be honest, the one thing I. The water bill. Um, you know, you kind of try to guess and budget. Okay, if we’re at 300, we pay this much. What’s it? When we pay, get 400 inmates in here. And that has fluctuated. That water bill.

01:51:09,500	And then the other is the garbage. I kind of as I look and see those bills come in and and they’re within reason.

01:51:23,170	It just that you look at the budget and you try and figure out as you grow that population, what’s it going to cost you? We are going to have to look in the budget and we’ll discuss that at the governance board meeting at the end of this month. I just public noticed that, um, everybody, anybody is welcome to attend that.

01:51:41,600	It is an open meeting at the jail, but we will be talking about some staffing issues. Um, and, you know, one of the things I can kind of preface it when we open the when you open a pod, um, you have four shifts. It takes two people to run a pod.

01:52:00,370	Well, when we open the 500 pods, our special needs pod in Covid, we filled it with four people because we just want, you know, we didn’t want to take too many on and not know what we were doing. Uh, and then now the 500 pods up and running. But we really should have hired eight. We only hired four.

01:52:20,000	Then when we did the Docker contract, we brought on another four. Um, so again, when you say with shifts, you’re hiring two per shift. We only hired one per shift. So I will be asking for four detention officers and we’ll work through that in the governance board. But just kind of throwing that out there. Any questions on the jail report? I don’t see any.

01:52:44,000	Okay. I’ll just keep moving. Uh, next thing I’ve got is the Department of Transportation traffic safety grant. This is an addendum to the original grant. You guys had approved the original grant every year. This is routine.

01:53:04,870	They give us the overtime dollars, and then later on, they look at what they have left, and then they look at the equipment everybody requested. Uh, so I forwarded the email to Auditor Splonskowski. It wouldneed to be signed by him and you as the chair. If approved, Commissioner Bitner. Basically, we are awarded $9,500, $1,500 for a radar unit and 8000 for an in-car camera system.

01:53:29,430	Uh, we budget for this every year. Knowing that this grant is going to be coming. So the money is there just basically a reimbursement back to the general fund. Move to approve. Second. Motion. And second to approve any further discussion. Where should I not speed now? Everywhere in Burleigh County. Commissioner Munson. Yes, Commissioner Bakken. Yes, Commissioner Schwab. No. Commissioner Woodcox. Yes.

01:53:57,330	Chairman Bitner. Yes. Motion carries. Mr. chairman, commissioners. Last two agenda items. I’m just going to take them together because they’re kind of Interwoven, and I’ll explain what’s going on. If you. Remember a couple of meetings ago, uh, we were trying to hire.

01:54:18,170	A nurse, and ultimately the candidate, after several attempts that we did get, which was a very good qualified candidate. Um, but the problem was our nurse supervisor salary, um, when we could have never got this nurse without adjusting our nurse supervisor. And so that’s what we did a couple months ago. Uh, we’re back in the same situation again here.

01:54:42,000	Uh, we went through three hiring, uh, processes. Um, this is the only candidate we ended up with after, um, we’re very happy we conditionally employed this one currently in the background process. The only problem is, again, we’re up against salaries that are being paid out at all the other facilities.

01:55:04,170	And, uh, you know, I can’t say this enough. You, you know, when you look at positions and obviously, you know, experience is going to cost you money and sometimes you got to say, you know what? We’re going to give up on experience, um, to keep salaries in whack.

01:55:24,230	I would say, well, the problem is right now, um, it’s hard for us to compete and especially with new, um, nurses, um, because a lot of them didn’t go to college thinking they’d go to work in the jail. So no matter how hard we recruit, they’re already looking at clinics or hospitals or something along that lines.

01:55:48,730	So ultimately, what we’re asking for is a variance for our starting nurse. Um, as you’re aware, you can, um, I can authorize step five on the grading system. Um, above that, I have to have a variance. So we’re asking for a step 12 for this nurse. Um, she is qualified. She is worth it. Um, comes with a lot of experience.

01:56:12,330	Along with that, though, is our current LPN, who has basically the same experience as her, is actually a grade 11. So what we’re asking is to move that our existing LPN up to a grade 13, and then we would bring in the new, um, LPN at a grade 12.

01:56:35,730	I have spoken with, uh, HR Director Binder on this. We can make this work in the salary, uh, basically after three attempts, we’re really run out of options on how to get a nurse.

01:56:58,900	Okay? I don’t mean to split hairs, Kelly, but you were just saying grade 13 and grade 12, and I’m reading here, like grade seven. Step 13. I’m sorry. Yes, yes, yes. Step. I’m. I mixed them up. It’s it’s late. Okay. Yeah. So step. We’ll move our current, um, LPN thanks for the correction from a step 11 to a step 13 and a variance to bring the new nurse in at instead of a step five.

01:57:20,630	Bring her in at a step 12. Mr. Buck. Uh, Sheriff, how competitive does that make us with a hospital setting or clinic setting? Is that going to. Does that get us on par? So we’re not going to have to revisit this again anytime soon or. I know it’s a special. I got.

01:57:42,170	An answer in the, uh, the right fit for this position, but what. , Mister chairman? Commissioners, here’s what I’ll say. Um, and Pam can attest to this.

01:58:00,630	I’ve never when I look back at my history in Burleigh County, I’ve never been a fan of bringing in and out of state firm to do a salary survey or whatever you want to do, because we end up spending, on average, $40,000 to do that. And then, you know, you still got to implement it. So you got that 40,000. So I’ve always advocated let’s just spend the 40,000 or whatever and try and do salary adjustments.

01:58:24,100	I will say this. We are on the back end. I blame the oil boom for a lot of things. And probably upsets people, but I think there’s a lot of a lot of good has happened in this state. But right now with the, uh, the job market and the, um, uh, inflation, everything going on.

01:58:46,500	Honestly, Commissioner Barkan, I don’t know, because I drive by these nursing homes and I drive by all these other assisted care facilities, and they’re all hiring and and where they got the money for the bonuses is beyond me. Um, and good for them. Good for the employees.

01:59:07,270	But I, I suggested our last department head meeting. I almost think we have to bring a professional firm in. I know it costs money, but I think we got to look at where we’re at to stay competitive because we struggle to hire even, you know, like I’ve told you before.

01:59:28,530	So, deputy sheriff and detention and and I don’t want to sell those guys and gals short. They work very hard. But the nurses, especially those hospitals, um, they have got some advantages over us. One, people want to go to work for them. Uh, that’s what you go to college for.

01:59:50,000	But we have we have quarterly meetings with some of the medical facilities, and, uh, I think they were hiring, like at that time, like 15 nurses. And they had paid the tuition for every one of those nurses through college.

02:00:11,630	Um, you know, and and I even said to the CEO over at Saint A’s or Essentia or whatever it’s called now, I said, I don’t know how we compete against that. Um, and so I think this will take care of our problem short term. But I do think, you know, long term, we have to look at where is it, because some of this, you know, and I hate doing this because it just knocks us out of whack in a different direction.

02:00:32,170	Well, yeah. Um, but just for what it’s worth, just recently I had a meeting between myself and and, um, Mary and Pam, and this was kind of a big part of that conversation as well. Not only the recruiting, but the retention and and different steps that we can take to address it.

02:00:50,370	And I think, um, it’s pretty obvious that we’ve got some adjustments need got to be made because we’re across the board, short on short on staff. I mean, it seems like every every time I turn around, more people. I’ll say one last thing, chair.

02:01:12,470	Uh, Sergeant Carvel, um, had asked me if I had a magic wand and could fix one thing. This was a couple years ago. He said, what would you fix? I said I’d fix staffing because that will fix everything else. Um, our liability. You know, you talk about the lawsuits. Uh, I remember this conversation with Commissioner Peluso.

02:01:32,100	If we don’t retain employees, we’re going to pay it out in lawsuits because the inexperience at 3:00 in the morning can kill us financially. And so I think I’m with you guys. I, I’m I want to be conservative as ever. Uh, you know, find that balance between taking care of the employees and being conservative to the taxpayer.

02:01:53,800	Uh, but in today’s job market, I mean, it’s getting cutthroat. Uh, Emmons County, I think, starts their deputies at 70 some thousand a year. That’s more than we pay now. We have a lot of things we can offer that Emmons County cannot.

02:02:15,000	But at some point, a young deputy looks and says, well, I can make way more money down there. And, uh, and they go there. The commissioners in front of you, there’s two proposed resolutions. Can they combine them? Yeah, yeah. Um, I would move to combine those two resolutions and move to approve. Second motion and second to approve the combined resolutions. Any further discussion? Call the roll.

02:02:42,530	Commissioner Bakken. Yes, Commissioner Schwab. Yes, Commissioner Woodcox. Yes, Commissioner Munson. Yes. Chairman Bitner. Yes. Motion carries. Mr. Chairman Commissioners, one last thing. If I could have the liberty, um, after your meeting, when you passed the, uh, the burn restriction, and we had discussed that off road travel, and I know Curtis brought it up tonight.

02:03:03,370	Um, I had drafted the next day a press release, um, making the public aware that that does include the OHV travel. I just need to make sure we got to our, uh, supervisors on patrol so they understood everything, and we could work through questions. That press release did go out this morning, so. thank you.

02:03:27,000	Thank you. Okay, Jacob. Uh, Jacob Achtenberg, facilities director, a maintenance level three. Welcome, Jacob. Good evening. Chair Bitner. Commissioners, as mentioned in the agenda, I’m Jacob Achtenberg, the facilities director of Burleigh County. I’m here to propose the addition of maintenance Technician three to our current organizational chart.

02:04:00,470	When the maintenance department was organizational chart was made, it was allowing provisions to add master technician or Maintenance Technician three to it in the future. Right now we have maintenance Technician one, which is a novice maintenance technician two, which is journeyman, and the potential to add maintenance Technician three, which is a master technician.

02:04:19,800	I feel this classification is critical in keeping my maintenance team growing and progressing in the right direction. This classification aims to show appreciation for a level of dedication to the county’s building and grounds that can only be gained by knowledge acquired for years from years of experience and skilled diagnostics.

02:04:38,900	This level of commitment and experience cannot be replaced, adding this classification will give me the opportunity to reward excellence in my team, and I feel it will help me retain our dedicated technicians in an ever competitive private market. Right now I have two maintenance Technician twos who would qualify for this promotion.

02:05:01,270	Uh, Dean Van from Burleigh and Morton County Detention Center, who is under Kelly. Uh, Sheriff Kelly Levin’s budget with almost ten years of service, and Mike Eichenberg, who is under the Burleigh County Courthouse, Burleigh County buildings budget with almost 29 years of service, um, and before I go on, I would like to thank the team at the Human Resources department as they were

02:05:20,430	monumental and helping me put together the maintenance technician. Three and I get it in front of you guys. I also want to let you guys know I’ve spoken with Sheriff Kelly Lebon, about this position, so he’s aware.

02:05:37,800	Um, and then also the county administrator and administrator, Mary Singer, is aware of it to, um, if you have any questions for me, I’ll stand to answer them at this time. Commissioners. Any questions? But we approve both positions. Second motion and second to approve any further discussion. Call the roll. Commissioner Schwab. Yes, Commissioner Woodcox. Yes, Commissioner Munson. Yes, Commissioner Bakken. Yes. Chairman Bitner. Yes. Motion carries. Thank you.

02:06:03,070	Guys. County Planning Director Flanagan, CJB subdivision EAH subdivision and a variance request. Welcome. Good evening again, commissioners. Uh, first up is a CJB subdivision. It’s in Painted Woods is a a single lot subdivision containing 5.46 acres, is zoned AG and remain AG zoning. Uh Painted Woods recommends the development of this law.

02:06:36,370	The stormwater management waiver was approved on March 24th. The paving waiver on February or April 6th, and the Planning Commission recommended an 8 to 0 vote in approval.. Move to approve. second motion and second to approve any further discussion. Call the. Roll, Commissioner Woodcox. Yes. Commissioner Munson. Yes. Commissioner Bakken. Yes. Commissioner Schwab. Yes, Chairman Bitner. Yes. Motion carries.

02:06:59,800	Next up is the EA subdivision. It is in Burnt Creek Township. We don’t have a 911 address yet for it, but it’s 57 acres total. Lot one contains 28.2, and lot two contains 23.8 acres. The stormwater waiver was approved on April 12th.

02:07:25,100	The paving waiver was approved on February or April 6th, and the Planning Commission again recommended 8 to 0 vote. They did attempt to start. The start of this was to change the zoning to residential, but they changed that. So the ag zoning will remain AG. Move to approve second. Motion and second to approve any further discussion. Call the roll. Commissioner Munson. Yes, Commissioner Bakken.

02:07:49,070	Yes, Commissioner Schwab. Yes, Commissioner Woodcox. Yes. Chairman Bitner. Yes. Motion carries. Next up is a variance request for 8716 Caraway Drive. The owner wants to build a 2400 square foot accessory building and is requesting a change to the 40 foot setback along Caraway Drive and reduce that to 15 foot as standard side lot

02:08:13,500	setbacks. Um, because it is corner lot, there are 40 foot setbacks on the on the north and the east lot lines. So the the planning Commission recommended approval 8 to 0 vote. And it’s a 25 foot variance request, not the 15. So move to. Approve second. Motion second to approve any discussion.

02:08:35,870	Commissioner Woodcox, as the neighbor been informed of this, they get approval. We had no objections to it. We sent out the 18 letters. Okay. But the one adjacent to it, that’s one that’s going to be affected the most. Apparently they had a chance to.

02:08:54,070	Yeah, there’s a public hearing and they were notified, uh, well, within the time of the public hearing and, um, we we had no pushback on it. Call the roll, Commissioner Bakken. Yes, Commissioner Schwab. Yes, Commissioner Woodcox. Yes, Commissioner Munson. Yes, Chairman Business. Yes. Motion carries. Thank you. Commissioner HR director. Binder. Page 79. Burleigh County health insurance plan update for the county employee data insights update. Welcome, Pam.

02:09:24,970	Chairman, Bitner. Commissioners. I’m going to go briefly over our annual health insurance plan. Just basically every year I go through kind of how is the plan doing whatever.

02:09:44,800	What are our claims cost? What are our inputs into the plan and what are our outputs out of the plan? Um, overall, our plan is doing well. Um, we have a reserve built up. Um, it was good that the commission in 2019, when the plan was created, um, had the the foresight to put together that $3.2 million loan, so to speak, to help us with our plan.

02:10:11,970	What we always thought in the health insurance world is that when we had a pandemic, it would break our self-insured plans. We know the opposite happened and it that 2020 was the actual, um, year where we actually were able to build our reserves for the first time. Um, since then, we’ve kind of been bouncing all over the place with our reserves.

02:10:31,900	Uh, we have been gradually paying that back $500,000 increments every year. And last year it was a $700,000 increment. And I did come to the commission and asked if we could keep 1 million of that loan and roll it into our plan and use it for reserves. And that was granted. That was approved last year.

02:10:53,100	So our plan right now has a $2.1 million reserve in it. Um, I showed separate tables of kind of the components that go into our plan because we’re self-insured. We do re reinsurance and that’s called stop loss insurance.

02:11:13,970	So we purchase insurance for our high dollar claims that are over 60,000. Um, we do have a fair amount of high dollar claims. Um, a lot of it is prescription related. We do have some chronic conditions. Um, so I have a, a table that kind of goes through what our stop loss credits were and our premiums and that percentage of increase.

02:11:35,470	Um, I have also we also have administrative services because Blue Cross and Blue Shield is our third party administrator. They process our claims. Um, they do that for a fee. They help us with their plan.

02:11:51,970	Um, for the first three years of the plan or two years of the plan, they didn’t go up on their administrative fees at all. They’ve been gradually going up, mainly due to medical inflation. Um, and processing. They’ve also added, uh, certain aspects to the plan. They come in.

02:12:13,730	T is a partner that they deal with and what that company does is it goes through the claims and it audits them and it finds fraud. And they have been able to find a significant amount of fraud that helps us because they take a percentage of it. We get a percentage back. So we have had some reprocessing of claims that that have helped us. We also have, um, our rebates.

02:12:33,170	So our prescription drugs, Prime Therapeutics is the PBM, um, pharmacy benefit manager for Blue Cross and Blue Shield. And on the back end, depending on what drugs are membership has, we can get, um, rebates for that for certain drugs. And it’s usually the high dollar drugs.

02:12:56,630	The specialty drugs, drugs for miss um, some are like cystic fibrosis. Some of the cancers, the high end drugs that we get rebates back. Those rebates are usually maybe a year, maybe two in arrears. So that’s why this, um, table that I have on the back, the spreadsheet keeps changing year over year.

02:13:17,270	Um, and then I also put our employee contributions in there. What our employees contribute and what our employer contributes. Um, and then the total contributions and how they’ve gone up over the years just to show you what we’re contributing to the plan. Um, this year we did have some changes.

02:13:43,430	Legislative changes have happened last season with, um, some of like, insulin covered insulin and some other drugs that are are required to be covered with that. There was some changes that had to be made in our formulary, and this was made from Blue Cross Blue Shield. They have what is called the Net Results formulary, which will keep us in compliance.

02:14:00,530	Unfortunately, there are some drugs that aren’t covered and some of our GLP ones are on that part of that. And so we have some cost savings just due to some of the legislation. And that net results formulary that we had to put in place.

02:14:17,270	Um, we had the choice. We could either put it in place in January or wait until July 1st to put it in place, but we had to be in compliance with the state of North Dakota. So we have some cost savings realized from that. Um, we normally try to have increases in our plan.

02:14:38,370	So for budgeting, I put in a 4% increase because that’s half we usually do at 8 or 6. I just for budgeting, I use 4%. I’m not asking for a motion on that because we can ride that out and see, um, in July when we do the preliminary budget, if a 4% will do and we can make that

02:14:54,970	motion at that time, we haven’t had a formal meeting of our health insurance committee. Um, this year, because there’s been other things going on, and we have lost three of those committee members.

02:15:11,600	So we are going to be looking at redoing the health insurance committee and adding three new members on to that. So that’s why I don’t want to have a motion made right now from the commission. We’re just going to put that 4% in as a placeholder on the budget. So are there any questions on the health insurance plan, commissioners. Any questions? I’m not seeing any. Okay. I will add one other thing.

02:15:32,600	That kind of takes us into the segue into our data insights on our health insurance plan. We have 317 members enrolled in that plan. Our employees, um, so I took that into the 372 employees that we have, um, employed. At this point. I broke that down to see what a percentage is.

02:15:54,370	So we actually have of the there are 317 that are on our health insurance. We have ten that are under the age of ten, employees that are under the age of 26.

02:16:05,870	So they get to be on their health, their parent’s health plan until the end of the month of their 26th birthday. So those 10th May or may not be added to our plan later. Um, we have four employees that their spouse works for Burleigh County, so their spouse is the holder of the insurance, a family premium, so they don’t have to have insurance.

02:16:23,870	Um, we have 18 employees that are covered under their spouses plan elsewhere. Um, we have two employees that are on Medicare, so they can’t be on our plan because we’re not a supplement. We’re a full plan. Um, we have 15 members that aren’t employees. There are auxiliary board members. Our planning and zoning are, um, human service zone board, our park board.

02:16:43,370	So they don’t qualify for insurance. And then we have six new employees right now that are still in their waiting period, and they’re deciding if they want to have our coverage or not. So that brings us to our 372 employees. So we actually have 89% of our employees that are enrolled into our health insurance plan.

02:16:59,900	So we have a very good share of our employees. It is a retention tool. Um, so that’s what we look at. Uh, there was some conversations back and forth between some of the department heads about, well, maybe we should look at other health insurance plans.

02:17:15,730	Maybe we should look at the enterprise plan. We could save some money. Um, that’s something that has to be looked at in totality along with our compensation. Um, because even though there’s cost differences in the plan, there’s also plan design differences. And the plan design, what you do with it is a level of your coverage.

02:17:34,870	So we could bring our deductibles up if we had to in some of our co-insurance up, and we would still be at a richer benefit than what the Indy Pers plan is, the health insurance plan.

02:17:47,970	So we’ve got a lot of wiggle room that we can do if we need to. Um, I just wanted to let you know that we do have almost 90% of our employees that take our health insurance. So if we were to mess with that, that could be a retention tool that we would lose, that we could lose.

02:18:05,000	So with that, the segway into the data insights is and I think from the theme of the meeting, I think my name has been brought up. I think just about every other person that’s been up here other than department had at least. So we do have recruiting, uh, a lot of recruiting that we’re doing.

02:18:26,370	Um, we have active employees. We have 372 active employees, and the chart one kind of breaks it down into what, uh, how many employees are in a department and detention is right up there with 92 at the time. And that’s how many employees we have right now. That doesn’t include the open positions.

02:18:48,730	So the recruiting is separate. So we have hired so far from January 1st until April 15th, we have hired 28 employees. That’s on the second chart. That’s in blue and 18 employees have terminated from Burleigh County. So we’re kind of treading water in certain areas.

02:19:09,170	We have had a lot of people that we have offered the position to, and they have declined because they’ve taken a different job someplace else. Um, so we have had rounds of positions that we have put out for one round of receiving applicants. We’ve done the interview process, and then the person has declined the position.

02:19:25,270	So then we have to put it out in a second round and we actually have, I believe. Four positions, five positions that we’re doing that with now that are all on their second round. We have the park board technician, um, we have the legal assistant one, legal assistant three, and our accountant positions that are out for the second time.

02:19:43,730	We also have the highway maintenance worker in Wilton that’s been out for the second time, and we’re having a hard time getting applications. Um, so you can see the turnover rate. We’re at a 4.9% turnover rate. Um, on the attachment. See, for the fourth chart, it’s a gender the gender chart. And we’re pretty even up between male and female.

02:20:06,700	Um, across Burleigh County, I know there’s some of the departments that are heavily male or heavily female, but overall we do good. Um, we’re 49% female and 55.1% male. And then our tenure over time is the last chart. It’s the C5 chart. And that has the different colors, like a rainbow.

02:20:31,800	Um, we have 26 employees that have been here less than three months. We have 36 employees that have been here between 3 and 12 months. Um, 76 employees that have been here at 1 to 3 years, 45 employees that have been here 3 to 5 years.

02:20:49,100	We have 92 employees that have been here 5 to 10 years, and 97 employees that have been here over ten years. So we do have tenured staff. So retention is big because we want to keep those that staff we have right now, um, we’re actively receiving applications for ten positions. We have two positions on hold. And that is the finance director at this point.

02:21:09,800	And the deputy VSO. We’re interviewing for eight positions. So we have eight different sets of interviews, rounds of interviews that we’re doing for these positions. And then our pre hiring process, there’s three in there. So all jobs that we have currently going on in the HR department, there’s 23 different job postings.

02:21:29,970	Now the detention officer is one job posting but there’s four openings. Um accountant is one job posting but there’s two openings. So there’s multiple openings on some of those. So are there any questions on our data insights commissioners. Any questions. Appreciate the information. I’m not seeing any questions. Just to let you know my magic wand is burnt. Out. Thank you.

02:21:55,130	Thanks, Pam. Commissioner Schwab, garrison division discussion and public notice discussion. Are you ready for the news? Yep. We were denied an exit by the garrison diversion. Uh, evidently, they want to continue to loot the citizens of this county, keep on to plantation.

02:22:36,900	And the thing that I find really strange about this is they keep talking about potential. Of 17,000 acres of land irrigated. Well, I want to congratulate them. They’re at 45 acres now. And they’re dropping. By the way.

02:23:10,530	So the thing about it is, I’m going to be working with, uh, Julie, if she ever has time to figure out a way to proceed. And, uh, I do have a have a I suspect that all of a sudden there’s going to be some grants handed out here in Burleigh County to sue to stroke feathers because they increased that, uh, grant per project to 100,000.

02:23:36,270	I’m sure the Bismarck Park and Rec will try to get some of that. But I will tell you, there is nothing they can do to make up for $10.3 million. So I think they made a big mistake by not letting us out.

02:23:56,970	The vote was not unanimous, but I haven’t watched the meeting yet, so I don’t know what the exact vote was. So maybe somebody’s got some sense up there. That’s all I got. Say. Do you know anybody? Commissioner? That that irrigates out of that, uh, canal? I don’t know who who would irrigate 45. Irrigate? Yes.

02:24:29,970	Really? Do you mind sharing a little information? How many acres? What? Uh. My name is, uh, Kevin Horniman, and we have a farm just south of the McClusky Canal. We irrigate. Technically, they say 75 acres, but it’s 85 acres because they don’t count what’s under your on the pivot. What’s under the end? Gun? Um, we’ve been doing that for about 6 or 7 years now.

02:24:56,000	Across the canal on the other side, on the Sheridan County side. One of the neighbors just added 13 more pivots. And, um, it does have to do with the state is allowed at a certain amount of acreage or water rights for for irrigation.

02:25:16,970	Um, besides, besides that fact that we irrigate from the canal and there is a potential for other people to irrigate from the canal. Uh, I’m not sure if everybody is aware of this, but there is water that comes out of the new John’s Lake that goes into the Painted Creek. We just had three moose in my front yard the other day.

02:25:38,800	And, um, that Painted Creek, that entryway, that a few hundred thousand gallons per minute or whatever, they run that all year long. So there’s fresh water going into that Painted Creek, and then that water goes down to the next neighbor. He waters his cows with that, and that goes all the way down.

02:25:54,270	So there’s some agricultural benefits to it. There’s a lot of it goes into that East Long Lake area. And, um, they do something with it at the Russ Stewart Wildlife Area. So it has a lot of benefits for wildlife too. So I think that the brief I haven’t really looked into it this much.

02:26:13,070	I’m just sort of hearing about it now. But I think that where the county might have gone wrong and is just not by not applying for enough grants and not asking for the changes to be made, I think that this is a good potential to improve the program, get more out of it, as opposed to just trying to leave. Leave the program.

02:26:36,070	I think that we should be looking at what did we do wrong? What did they do wrong? What you know, what improvements can we be made? But I think there’s a lot of I do think there is a lot of potential.

02:26:49,900	Um, it was another guy just added from the canal too, but he was on the Sheridan County side. But there is a potential to to add irrigated acres, and there is the potential to do a lot more with New John’s Lake.

02:27:07,070	And from a recreational standpoint to it’s one of the few areas in the summertime when all the other lakes go green, that this has got fresh water in it all year long. And we could, you know, potentially put a beach there. I know my grandchildren enjoy kayaking and swimming in the New John’s Lake, so I wouldn’t rush to get out. I would just rush to make sure we’re getting a fair deal. And I would look into it some more.

02:27:25,070	Well, hang on, get more questions for you. So why are you the only person irrigating? Uh, I think it has something to do with the setup cost. I think, you know, for us to buy our pivot was six years ago, was about $150,000.

02:27:44,800	So, I mean, there is the state does have some grants and programs for purchasing pivots. But, um, you know, that upfront cost is a big issue and we only have a quarter acre pivot. So if you were to buy a full section pivot, you’re looking at spending some more money there too.

02:28:00,600	So it seems like a really good idea when you’re in a drought year. And then when, um, you know, then the next year you have some rain and people are not rushing into it, but, um, it, you know, the potential is there. It’s just not utilized. Apparently. Um, so what can you tell me about the water quality? Because that’s been a kind of a bit of conversation.

02:28:22,630	Yeah. I find the water quality to be high pH. Um, not quite high salt, but not the best quality. They are adding a 60 inch pipeline from McClusky going east, and that should freshen the water up a good bit. Going east, that would be the Red River Valley Water supply project.

02:28:43,800	Yeah, I’m not sure the name of it, but I know it’s, uh, something they’ve started. They’ve started working on it and, um, it’s a 60 inch line under pressure. It should it should actually change the water quality. Substantial high pH and high saline.

02:29:00,100	That would have a negative impact on the crops in it. Doesn’t my yard. I guess. It can if it’s not managed. We’re managing it. Um, but that’s also the that’s the water that we have in North Dakota. So you’re going to have that same issue with, you know, counties and municipalities and, you know, we just North Dakota just has high pH.

02:29:19,370	Water. Mm mm. But you know, you’ll notice it I mean we tend to use, you know, do oats and barley more so than we, you know, because we’ll tend to pick crops that are can handle that a little bit better. Some crops can handle it better than other crops. So do you pay for that water.

02:29:37,900	Yeah. The water we pay for it. And it’s pretty cheap. I think it’s, you know, maybe $1,000 a year or something like that. Um, it’s not expensive when you look at what Arizona, California, New Mexico, Las Vegas, you know what they’re paying for water. It’s not even the same, same ballpark.

02:29:53,970	We’re we’re allotted a very good amount. We’re a lot, you know, basically all the water we can use so. Well. So you’re aware that that the membership in that, um, costs fairly county like something like $739,000 a year, right? So, I mean, I think, like I said, a lot of benefits if you

02:30:15,000	talk to people, um, you know, that do hunting and fishing and they’re, they I think the county residents are getting some benefit from the canal.

02:30:31,970	When you look a little bit broader than just the actual, you know, obviously, when it makes sense to do it just for my farm. So but there is there is other things that’s being done with the water besides that. Okay. Thanks. I appreciate the answers to the question. Thank you. That was helpful. Commissioners. Well, I talked to what is your name again? Kevin Horner. Kevin, I talked to him and I did mention that.

02:31:06,530	And the garrison version also stated, well, Burleigh County doesn’t ask for enough grants. Okay. But then they turn around and they say, well, uh, if early county would deed some land to us. In other words, we buy land. Oh, they’ll build us a park. It’s a park board. It’s a park board.

02:31:32,000	So now we got state park board, Bismarck Park rec, we got Burleigh County Park board, and we got the Garrison Diversion Park board. It doesn’t make any sense at all. So like I said, I. I’m going to hassle Judy there to help me get something going on it. Okay.

02:31:54,930	I don’t think it should end right here. Now, I can tell you that. Through all the research I’ve done, and this is for Commissioner Woodcox, they don’t pay for water towers, no. Matter what you’re. Referring to. I’m sorry. What are you referring to? Water towers? What are you talking about? Storage facilities? No, they don’t pay. For it.

02:32:20,730	I could be right. I don’t know. What they do is when they get these grants, not grants. But, um, these projects administrate them. They’re cut of the fee for administrating is built into the project. Kind of hidden.

02:32:45,230	And all they do is cut checks, go out, maybe, and measure how many lines, how many? Uh, miles of pipe was put in. Okay. We’ll cut them a check for this now. And so that’s all they do. They do not design. They do nothing other than get a cut. And some of these projects are big million dollar projects. You know, multi-million.

02:33:07,370	So I’ll have this stuff put together here whenever. And then I will present it. Okay. The Mr. Chairman Commissioner The vote was unanimous with the exception of one abstention. And that was our Burleigh County elected official.

02:33:26,870	So I don’t know how many board of directors they had say they had 12. It was 11 against us. And the other one abstained. And that was our Burleigh County representative. And they have not found out why he did, I don’t know. Well, I talked. To him. You do? Okay. Asked him to asked him that.

02:33:43,800	You know, obviously the board of the county commission made a decision. I just asked him that, uh, he represent the Burleigh County Commission decision. Okay. And he’s a real good guy. So? So he abstained. He abstained. That’s my understanding. I don’t know why he wouldn’t have.

02:34:08,630	If he’s going to vote in favor of Burleigh County, you think he would have voted to? That’s how that went. Well, that was kind of. That was kind of sneaky because they were supposed to let the county know when this vote was going to happen, and they didn’t do it. And there was a public input at the beginning of this meeting where I could have gone up there and read them.

02:34:27,370	The riot act. They just went ahead and did it. They’re not very honest, let’s put it that way. All they’re interested in is 730,000. Pretty soon it’ll be a million. Whatever.

02:34:50,330	And I really find it strange that they can go out and brag about all the potential, all due respect to you, about irrigating. And in 30 some years, they’ve got him irrigating 75 acres. All it is is propaganda. It’s a propaganda machine. Trying to say relevant and loot our taxpayers. And I. You. I think it’s crazy, but whatever.

02:35:20,430	Well, you would think you would think our authorized elected official would have would have informed this board of what’s going on. He certainly knew the agenda before the meeting. You would think, well, I would suppose we are hardly ever walking into a meeting without an agenda. So I would think, I don’t know why. I don’t know why he did not. I have no idea. They would not let us know. It was.

02:35:37,800	They were even talking about having the vote in July, and we wanted to go up there and film it, video it. Yeah. And uh, so we’ll see what happens. I don’t want to dwell. On it. Okay. Let’s move on to item B public notice discussion. Okay. Uh, we have a Bismarck Tribune reporter here. Yeah.

02:36:04,770	And he can’t help us tonight, but I talk. I got a call this afternoon from the, uh, Blake Nicholson, and he’s the editor.

02:36:29,800	And he said it would be of no use him coming to talk about what we want to talk about, because that’s on the business side. And they haven’t had somebody up there for 2 or 3 years that handles that. So he suggested that we.

02:36:56,800	Whatever questions we got concerning publication of notices, uh, um, request for proposals that sets up jobs to get a list going of them, and then he’ll get them to the right person wherever headquarters is. Now, I understand that somebody took over Lee enterprises. They have a new CEO. He bought controlling shares in it. He owns over 50%, I believe, and I don’t know, maybe he’s not aware of these changes and stuff, but whatever.

02:37:24,530	I, uh, I asked the guy to come out and he said, this be a waste of time. Okay. Um, just a little more backstory on that. Commissioner Schwab and I were talking about that because somebody called me and told me that the Bismarck Tribune had had started terminating people, you know, like their, um, printer staff and print. What they call those press pressmen, pressmen.

02:37:51,800	And then, uh, delivery people and whatnot were being terminated. And I think there was some severance packages or something. And so the question I had is, what does that do to our public notices? Because if if the Tribune is it’s sounding like it’s, I. Don’t know, a week. Yeah, yeah, three days a week or something.

02:38:15,600	But if they’re firing their pressmen and stuff, then where’s that getting printed? And how is that relative to our, our there’s a lot of our public notices that are time specific. You know, there’s specific days a certain number of days before an event or after, you know, all that. And so that’s kind of what led up to that.

02:38:35,930	They’re going to, I believe the first week. May of May make them changes right in there. Yeah. And it’ll be a Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday newspaper. Right.

02:38:57,070	But my my concern is from what I know about all of the kind of public notices that we put out there, how what assurance do we have that that is on a timely basis. You know, which is kind of the biggest question for, um. Well, and we all vote on paper of record, you know, whether or not we’re spending money on that.

02:39:21,800	So is there a better avenue for getting those public notices out than putting them in the paper? Because when everybody gets their ballot, they vote, hey, is this. Your source? Well, no choice. I think the question really. Is there’s not a choice, but.

02:39:39,230	I think we need some assistance from the state’s attorney on the, um, because I reviewed a little bit of just a little bit of century code, and it talks about the, you know, the websites and the and the things that we could do on our own that it used to be you could only use the newspaper, but I think they made changes that, that, you know, because because the entity has its own websites.

02:39:58,230	I wonder if you could help me out on that. So there are still statutes that require us to publish things in the the official newspaper of the county, which is why it’s on the ballot. Um, to elect that and keep in mind that there are smaller counties that only have weekly newspapers.

02:40:14,630	And so, um, generally the notices that have to be published in the paper are published two consecutive weeks. So it doesn’t matter exactly what day it is, as long as it’s two consecutive weeks before, you know, whatever event it triggers. Um, I pulled it up as we were sitting here talking.

02:40:28,970	And the Bismarck Tribune does have public notices on its website, which I don’t have a subscription I’m logged into, and I’m able to see the notices. So they post them on their website. They’d print them if there’s a print paper. Still, I would assume.

02:40:45,800	Um, but we would still be required to do those specific things that are required by statute to be published in the official newspaper of the county through the Bismarck Tribune, because they are official newspaper at this point. Okay. Well, we’re just looking to make sure that we were going to be able to comply with existing rules and regulations, the center code and all that.

02:41:03,370	Well, it doesn’t say how the newspaper is supposed to run. It just says we’re supposed to publish in the county newspaper, the official newspaper of the county. So as long as we’re complying with that portion of it and they’re running it for consecutive weeks, like there, we’re asking them to it should be okay. I think it’s workable.

02:41:22,630	Mr. Chairman Commissioner Is there any reason or any any of us looking into cable access and have them post a because they have cable access all day long and you look at the different. Yeah, but they used it. Could we add on public hearings for the county some way. Well that’s why.

02:41:43,530	You can sure do that. Unless the statute requires. It wouldn’t require it wouldn’t solve that problem. But certainly give the people of constituents a lot better chance at seeing that there’s going to be a meeting.

02:42:01,630	Generally, it’s required that we post it through the auditor at the location where the, um, the meeting is going to take place. And we continue to do that, and it’s always available on the county website. Sounds like there’s going to be some lobbying of the capital. They’re going to have to fix this.

02:42:35,430	What happens if the question is what happens if they go down to no newspapers? It’s a website really going to function well, especially for the older people, etc.. Yeah, well, I don’t have an answer. Accessibility perspective. It’s like our website should suffice. No different than this. The newspaper’s website. And if you have to do a digital subscription, ours is free. Mhm. True enough. Okay. We’re going to move on.

02:43:04,100	Commission continued items uh OHV ordinance and resolution discussion. We’re where we left off at the last meeting was I think you were talking about getting with the state’s attorney, Commissioner Munson, and, and working on some stuff. And we attempted a few times over email. We never got a chance. Okay. I’m not surprised everybody’s tied up.

02:43:22,230	So I know, I know, um, so, Julie, what we were looking at is language very similar to the fire ban that the county could enact as needed, depending on if we had wet conditions.

02:43:44,230	So I did do some research on that because I think one of the questions, too, was, can that be delegated to someone, you know, like, um, the Dot closes down the interstate when there’s too much snow? And, um, so there is statutory authority for the department to do temporary road closures like that for whatever reason.

02:44:06,000	And then the statute regarding county roads says that this commission has the sole responsibility for operating the roads of the county, so it doesn’t allow for designation of that to be to a department head or anything like that, like it does the D.O.T.. Julie, what’s the definition of the road? Is it the road and the right of way of the road, which would include the ditches? It would include the county road system. Okay. So that would.

02:44:21,200	So roads, the ditches. Yep. So this board would have to at a regular meeting or a special meeting meet. No different than we did for the fire band last year, but a special meeting to enact. Um, a fire ban so that could happen at the behest of the chair to call a meeting, to have that discussion..

02:44:44,000	Correct? Yes, you could do that. If they want to put specific dates in and then that doesn’t prohibit, like. I was hoping that was going to be a little easier. Well, it didn’t really solve much of anything. No, no. And that that actually isn’t the meat of the issue. So no.

02:45:10,170	Um, and just so that everybody’s aware, my, my opinion hasn’t changed any, uh, in fact, I had an interesting conversation with a, with a resident this week that even solidified my position a little bit more. So I do plan on making a motion to deny the moratorium.

02:45:29,900	I do plan on making a motion to to remove the proposed amendments to the current ordinance. Uh, I will also make a motion to restrict wheeled OHV at a certain time period, and I will move to increase penalties. Um, that’s what I had made. Statement of last meeting. And that is still my my thought.

02:45:53,270	I had a a call from a resident last week who was telling me that he was chasing a young person on a motorcycle. He was driving on our gravel roads at speeds excess of 70 miles an hour to try to catch this person, and I had to explain to him that he was just as illegal as the person on the motorcycle.

02:46:15,270	And please not to take matters in your own hands that way, because there are so many other issues that this resident could face by doing that. And my plea to him is to let us get this in place. We have the Sheriff’s department with additional man hours allocated. Uh, let us get this process in place.

02:46:36,730	Uh, let the sheriff’s department handle what they need to handle. Uh, we have, uh, been, uh, we’ve been told by Yamaha, and I’m going to get the dealers wrong, so I’m not going to list all of them.

02:46:57,530	But we buy the factory representatives, their attorneys, uh, are lending us assistance and assistance in creating a network system of trails. Uh, we have a young man in our audience that is actually in the process of getting his, uh, 501 non-profit set up with that non-profit. We are able to then apply for RTP grants from the state to help us build these trails.

02:47:23,100	Uh, and that part of my concern is, is our time frame is getting shorter. Uh, those grant applications are due shortly. I don’t know the exact date, but it is May something. And the sooner we have a decision here at this table, the sooner that the groups can act and start working on the trail system to get these riders a safe place to move them through our

02:47:44,900	system, to get them out in the county so that they have the ability to ride, uh, for their enjoyment. Um, and as we said last, last meeting, uh, there are going to be bad actors no matter what we do.

02:48:02,630	There are still people in this community that drive drunk, drive without a seat belt, drive while talking, or, you know, with reading on their phone. Those are laws that are no different than the ordinances that we have in front of us that specify how wrong that is. But we have people that still do it every day.

02:48:23,000	Um, our job as a commission is to get, in my opinion, this activated, get it moving and get this taken care of. Uh, let us let us handle this. Let us get this done. Let us, let us make it safe for us.

02:48:36,330	How long do you think that’s going to take, Commissioner, if you’re talking about kicking the can down the road and yeah, we’re not. We’re talking two years before we’re going to be able to have an implemented trail system. Right.

02:48:55,530	One of the things you’re going to have to keep in mind that the majority of the right of way, certainly the right of way, like I say, 80th Street and most of these places, um, there is no place for a tree. Correct. So anything you would have, you would have to do easements for trails in any location because the county is not able to do a trail with an easement. That’s for a specific purpose. Like I met with Greg at our GIS coordinator as well as, uh, Dan and Casey this this morning.

02:49:17,800	Uh, and we’re working through that very same process of being able to put together, um, with state attorney Lawyer’s assistance, a map that says this is a do not ride area very specifically. These are areas we can’t.

02:49:38,630	So where do we then create the trails from them leading up to it? Because you’re going to have we’re going to have to take some action now. Yes. Because the problem is now. Yep. The problem has been here since I moved here. And we it has now never really been addressed. However, we have more rural residents, we have more rural developments, and we have a higher, uh, impact.

02:49:59,900	I will also say that I had I was very surprised, uh, one of the, uh, the folks that has been contacting me over the last two years on this situation sent me an email and thanked the county commission, uh, for our conversations at this table, for the dealerships that have sent out their social media

02:50:19,230	post. Her issue in her neighborhood has become much better there. They’re not finding the issues with the bad actors, if you will, in that area.

02:50:41,900	Uh, I we all got an email from someone earlier or last week saying the same thing that it has reduced, and I’m going to give the dealers a lot of credit for that. The what they’ve been posting, uh, on social media is to pay attention and to stop. Uh, in fact, I ran into a county employee today that ran down two young men on motorcycles, uh, that were very respectful. When she stopped them.

02:51:01,900	Um, and she had a long conversation with them of where the proper place to do it and how to properly do it. And they were very respectful with the situation. They had no idea we were having this conversation. Of course, they’re they’re 16 years old. They’re not going to know, you know, but their parents should have. Yeah.

02:51:19,000	And so I think through the the last several months of this conversation, we’ve made some good strides. Now we just need to keep working on it. Well, we don’t have two years. Mister Chairman Commissioner Wilcox.

02:51:44,170	Can we have can we, um, amend our current ordinance that’s in place right now? Can we amend that now without having public hearings? And yes. We can. Today because we have had the public notice. Yeah. And so three months from now, if we have another need to do that, we do the same public notice process and we can amend to answer your questions. Yes. Okay. And. Because that’s.

02:52:05,170	The second point, a follow up question, the how did we leave this last meeting to be table it the whole the whole discussion. If we did we got to remove that from the table to make any changes. And I would like to do that. I don’t know whether we did. We ended up. We end up tabling it. Yes. Okay. Then I would move that.

02:52:20,700	We have removed this problem to the board, to the table so we can enact on it. Second motion and a second to remove it from the table. Any further discussion, call the roll. Commissioner Schwab. No. Commissioner Woodcox. Yes, Commissioner Munson. Yes. Commissioner Bakken. Yes. Chairman Bitner. Yes. Motion carries. With that.

02:52:42,470	I will move to deny the moratorium on the use of operation of OHV and resolution 00202601. Second for discussion. No motion and second for discussion. Go ahead. For me. Over legislating and throwing a blanket across the entire city of Burleigh County for the sake of a handful of people who are causing the problem, is not the solution.

02:53:14,800	The problem is the solution is going to take some time. The time that it’s already been on the table, not this table, but an issue in the county in general has been sizable. Yeah. So.

02:53:41,170	Honestly, I wish when the legislature fixed what they thought they were fixing, I wish they would have dropped it down to the township level because the townships would have been in a much better space for dealing with local issues locally. It’s not the case. So we have to deal with this, right? The long term solution is the trail system, the connectivity dot being involved.

02:54:02,900	Um, all of the above on the state level, what do we do in the meantime? And this back when I was mayor, Commissioner Bitner, you and I worked with other commissioners very stringently to try to fix the ETA.

02:54:26,600	This is one example where if there was an ETA, pretty simple solution moratorium within the ETA were done. I think the better answer right now is let’s figure out where the problem areas are, and let’s put those distances out there. And I’m not talking mileage, I’m talking, uh, delineation by roadways. Is it 80th? Is it 71st to the north, is it 66th? What that looks like.

02:54:55,230	And saying we’re done in here, we are done until the trail system is established. I think that’s equitable for everybody else. I think that’s a better solution.

02:55:17,530	The ordinances that were written for the city, which I was a part of, was for on road vehicles, on hard surfaces, not the same issues that we’re having within the county right now. But I’m also cognizant of the fact that we don’t have problems across the rest of the county. It’s very localized to within what that old ETA boundary was. So it’s the population density within the city of Bismarck.

02:55:35,870	I think a good compromise is we don’t penalize the people out in the rest of the county any way, shape or form. We deal with the problem locally, and if it’s a short term until the process has a chance to work, then I say we go that route.

02:55:56,000	I mean, the easy solution is like, stay on the damn gravel roads because you’re not causing a problem there. But what if you’re ten? What if you’re 12? What if you’re with your family? Legally, we can’t say that. Julie’s probably looking at me right now, nodding your head. Um, the holes. She’s burning in the back here. But practical application from growing up rural.

02:56:15,370	That’s how it works. So I would say we look at or have staff delineate what the problem area is. We could even. I don’t want to go back to the old ETA discussion at all, because that was such a scattershot map. I mean, it was a hodgepodge.

02:56:35,000	That was part of the problem with the ETA, but look at what is it, 71st of the North of the 66 to the east is what does that look like for mitigating the problems we’re having right now with residents that are having damage to their property right now? And then when the trail system starts now, we can start removing.

02:56:54,270	That’s I can answer that to a certain point, Commissioner Um, 110th. Casey, you want to help me out here? Um, 110th, 110th to the north, 93rd to the east. And what’s down to the south? South of, uh, Copper Ridge, 40. South of Copper. Ridge. You’re. On. Or or the desert.

02:57:21,500	Desert? Are we having problems down around there? Yeah. You’d be down to 60s on the north side. So you’re 1804, essentially, and you see some tracks on 1804 further east. But they’re not terrible. But you do see some. Okay.

02:57:48,370	So what would you recommend as a, as a line on the south side? You’re probably around 62nd because you don’t see much, uh, going south of there on Copper Ridge, going in that area. And as you get further east in the county, you might see a track not torn up tracks. You’ll see where some have gone, but that’s probably more just people just doing their regular day to day business. Was ranching. Yeah.

02:58:13,800	What is that take in University of Mary? No, you don’t get South 1804. You’re almost down to. Well, yeah. If you’re on 62nd getting down there because university Mary with 48th up over there because if you go down to 1804 on the South, yeah. You’d be all the way over there because it zigzags up from everything if you’re talking.

02:58:38,670	I’ve seen I’ve seen stuff tore up on 93rd down to down to 1804. You know, I was just down there fishing last week, and I saw it, and I was like, oh, they’re clear down here. Oh yeah. So but that would be a, you know, 110th to 93rd to 1804. Yeah.

02:58:56,670	It’s a good box. Completely disagree. Well what else. That’s where the damage is. I completely disagree. We still are going to have the bad actors that are going to do the damage. No matter what you do.

02:59:16,070	You can put a moratorium on this, but you’re not going to stop the damage. You’re not going to stop the bad actors. Well, if they’re not able to drive, how are they going to do damage? That’s the people still drive drunk. It’s illegal. So putting a moratorium, Sheriff told us that stopping it is the easiest way to enforce.

02:59:38,730	Did you not were you not at that meeting that. But the reality of it is you’re still going to have the same bad actors. No different than you have the same people in drive without enforcement capability. If they’re there with four officers. Yeah, that’s all it takes. You want to weigh in on their kill. You’re on TV now. Remember that right back here.

02:59:58,370	Mr. Chairman Commissioners, I’ll say you’re both right. Um, the easiest thing.. That’s the biggest. Political statement I’ve. Heard in a while. Hey, but you weren’t running again. I’m not. But, uh, you’re still elected. No. In all seriousness, I agree with you, Commissioner Bitner.

03:00:20,370	That has been my statement from the start, and I would give you the example of when we close the interstate. Do we catch everybody that’s out driving on the closed interstate? No we don’t. Some still are out there. Bad things still happen. Um, but they’re easier to spot. They don’t blend in. And that’s our problem right now.

03:00:44,370	When I say, um, you look at four ATVs, they’re all wearing helmets at a glance. I don’t know who’s five and who’s 12. At a quick glance. So, um, we still. I agree with Commissioner Munson. We’re still going to have problems. Um, no matter what you do. Um, we have drugs in Burleigh County. Um, and it’s been illegal for many years.

03:01:07,330	Um, but it’s easier to spot, so I don’t know if that helps you guys, but, um, I guess my only question, and this is a state’s Attorney question, can we have, um, different bands or different enforcement throughout the county? Um, and that’s my question for Julie.

03:01:28,170	I, I my understanding is it has to be one for the jurisdiction of the county. That’s what she just shook her head. It’s all or nothing. I guess I made it more complicated. Thanks a lot, Kelly. Just give me a warning when you want to help. Next time. Commissioner Sean. Casey mentioned Copper Ridge.

03:02:08,800	Uh, I was down here. There are a couple of days after this last snowfall and the big thing down there was on the east side where the pavement ends. You got about a mile of gravel, was doing wheelies and wrecking the shoulders. And, I mean, there were a lot of wheelies done.

03:02:34,330	You would think that they know that we’re going to do something about this eventually. Uh, hopefully. You think they would lay off, but now they’re out in the middle of the roads, spinning the tires and knocking the gravel off, wrecking the shoulders.

03:03:03,700	Well, what do you expect? And this, it’s BS when everybody says, oh, a few bad apples. It’s a lot of bad apples. It is a lot of them. Because I see people leaving their places because I drive the roads a lot. They line up and it’s just about all of them. It’s monkey see, monkey do, and it’s time you have to admit that.

03:03:26,330	So I think we should pass an ordinance that allows them to drive in front of their parents house. Really? Then I’ll bet you we’d get something done. They can go and they can. They can get on the driveway, come out of the garage, go down and and, uh, maybe go a quarter of a mile and get in a ditch and start wrecking everything.

03:03:50,730	Well, maybe the way to do this is you’re not licensed. Don’t let them do that. They can’t be on the road, so they’ll have to take the ditch, and then they can complain about their driveways. Because I look at this way, all I’ve heard from, from the writers is we have a right. Well, okay.

03:04:12,730	If that’s true, do you also have a right to wreck the ditches? Well, you don’t have that right. No, no, it’s not a. Nobody does. So there you are. How do you win a situation like this? Well. Mr. Chair, if I can go ahead.

03:04:34,370	Um, the thought process is to build the trails that they can’t wreck. And so it gives them that place to do. It doesn’t exist, Commissioner Well. You can’t build a trail that they can’t wreck. Not that we can afford. It’s the difference. We can build it. We can’t afford. It. Mr. Chairman Depends on how many grants we get.

03:04:56,000	Somebody mentioned tonight that they know if the fine is high enough. We’ve already seen a reduction in the amount of of, uh, usage of damage in that they think there’s a $250 fine and we’ve only got a $50 one. Isn’t that what it is now, $50.

03:05:15,230	50? What if we take our our ordinances in place now, raise that to 250 immediately. That will take care of it. Might might improve the situation entirely if they know that they’re going to get a 250 fine rather than a 50. Of course, we haven’t even enforced the 50. We can’t.

03:05:32,370	So we’ll keep in mind the fine for the, uh, running an ATV during the fire ban is already 1500. Well, but the fire band is not going to be on all the time. If we if we did, the. It’ll be on only when when the fire danger. So anyway, the top end of the band would be 1500. So you know 250 is not enough. Well. I think 250 is a.

03:05:51,500	, I think. That’s gonna make it 500. There you go. Now we’re. Making that a motion.. You mean business commissioner? We’ve already got a motion. On the. Motion on the table. Julie, is there anything precludes us designating where a fine goes? Um, per statute, it goes to the county general fund, I believe. Okay, so.

03:06:13,800	And so then you’re responsible for deciding where general fund money is spent. So. What if we took any fines? Originated as well, and rolled them back to the sheriff’s department for enforcement. Or repair. Or repair? Yeah. Well. Or repair, but I would like to see the enforcement side of it, though. And we can do that.

03:06:41,270	Mr. Chairman Commissioners, I would discourage that. Um, because then we’re going to be accused of policing for profit. Um, I think. We will be a revenue Ernie. Right. I think we, uh, come before this board with our budget of what we need, where you get that money is up to you. Then I’d be fine with repair.

03:07:04,100	That’s what I’m typing in right now. Yep. Okay. We have a motion on the. We have a motion to, um. Can we repeat the motion? Because it was on a moratorium. It’s not just to deny the moratorium. That was proposed in resolution 00202601. Which was that’s county wide. That’s county wide.

03:07:27,730	Okay. Now we got passing microphones over here. What? Looks like back and forth. I’m about ready to say something. No, I’m just getting real. Um. I would I would keep the, uh. I would keep the moratorium in play.

03:07:51,000	The question about a moratorium, because so far, we don’t have solutions on the table. Um, so I’m going to vote against it. But go ahead and call the roll. Commissioner Woodcox. Yes, Commissioner Munson. Yes, Commissioner Bakken. Yes, Commissioner Schwab. Yes, Chairman Bitner. No motion carries. Okay. Next motion.

03:08:14,730	We move to remove all proposed amendments to the OHV ordinance 20 3-1, relating to the operation of all terrain or off highway vehicles. Due to language concerns that they were conflicting with the size of the OHV that is allowed or is not allowed. So.. Second. Motion and second. Any further discussion? Yes, you said remove all of the ordinances. No. Remove all of the amendment.

03:08:37,270	The amendments that were proposed. So in our packet, all of the yellow highlighted amendments. Any further discussion, call the roll. Commissioner Munson. Yes, Commissioner Bakken. Yes. Commissioner Schwab. No. Commissioner Woodcox. Yes. Chairman Bitner. No motion carries. Uh, the next motion would be to add in section four.

03:09:05,800	Number three, restrict wheeled OHV operations in the road right of way from December 1st to May 1st, with a fine of $750 for riding during that time period. Second, for discussion. That was what was the dates again. December 1st through May 1st. That is something that was proposed by the OHV dealers. Yeah. Okay.

03:09:29,200	I don’t know if that date works for what our typical wet season is. And you’ve heard the concerns at this table about 250, 550, 750, a thousand. Um, and I wanted to open up the discussion with the rest of the table.

03:09:53,570	Is do we raise that fine even higher? Well, and this is just the fine for operating in that time period. Mhm. Um, the other fines, you know, we played with a little bit last meeting. Um I have no issue raising that fine. And I would have no problem amending my motion for that. Um, again. What about the dates. Um.

03:10:14,970	Because again, I keep going back to what was written for the city. Hard surfaces, street legal, different than what we’re dealing with in the county, because what I think a lot of people also forget about is if you’re 16 and you’re driving a street legal machine, you don’t have to be in the ditch, right? You just don’t.

03:10:35,630	To get from point A to point B, um. The county tends to be wet until May 15th. We have various gentlemen that are. Wet all year round. Well, like I said, I grew up in the Red River Valley.

03:10:58,100	We didn’t go in the ditches because if you did, those ditches were meant to convey water so farmers could get in their fields. If you went in them, you got stuck. You buried whatever you were in. Yeah. So I would be more comfortable with that May 15th date. I. I have no issue amending to me. And I’m open to discussion on increasing the fine.

03:11:16,700	The other thing is to is just like the burn ban, we can systematically close things down without having to do it across the entire county. That’s why I was asking for state attorney Lawyer’s advice. And I’m perfectly willing to do that, just like we do with the burn ban. The burn bans. County light.

03:11:41,230	Yeah. I don’t I don’t think so. We wouldn’t be having this discussion. Was that simple. Did you hear. That? We need another mic over there, I think. Yeah. We will. Get one. Yes. If you’re going to make restrictions, it’s going to have to be county wide.

03:12:06,800	You can’t just restrict in specific areas. Your ordinance would apply throughout your jurisdiction. Right. But that wasn’t the question. He said. Can we just enact different things at different times, like we do the burn ban when it’s wet or something? Right. That was kind of the nutshell.

03:12:29,800	If I can, that’s the state attorney Lawyer said that earlier that we could as a commission enact a restriction of OHV wheeled OHV. If we have a wet season. It happens at this table, no different than it would be for a burn ban. Correct. Like we do a burn ban. We could do a wet ban. Yes, just like we do road restrictions. Correct.

03:12:51,530	But it’s at it’s at this table. It’s on the agenda on a Wednesday. It’s back on it’s at this table on Monday. And we can enact it at that time. If it’s wet.

03:13:05,700	And the highway department says we do a road restriction and we shut things down because the frost is coming out of the roads. Same with the ditches. What if you just said no riding in that ditch? If that ditch is wet and then it’s an interpretation. That decides what wet. Wet. Wet subjective? You’d have to have a definition for that. And who decides what wet is. And that’s going to be the dry.

03:13:24,530	And there’s what is the meaning. Of is right. It’s is that wet. But we have. That what an ordinary person would understand what that means. We’re not dealing. We’re not dealing. Yeah. Well what another question. Are you exempting agricultural vehicles and accepting I mean, exempting, uh, snowmobiles. So that’s why it says wheeled.

03:13:46,430	So that doesn’t include snowmobiles. Uh, and in our ordinance, it always, um. some say exempts AG and commercial. That is still in our ordinance that that did not get removed.

03:14:12,630	So if you’re spraying for weeds as a farmer or if you’re going to your tractor with your OHV, you are legal to travel from point A to point B. Okay, any further discussion? Um, why. Do you want me to amend the the 15th? I would say the 15th just because of the, the wetness side. What is the consensus that the table on the fine. I would be fine going to a thousand.

03:14:36,530	I’m all we need. All we need is 1 or 2 cases that we can actually prove and follow through on. And it’ll take care of the problem. The sheriff here’s the problem. But then the other the other part of that too, is I would like to see that fine. Whatever it might be designated for repairs. Sheriff.

03:15:04,000	Mr. chairman, commissioners, um, obviously, whatever you decide is your decision up here? Um, the only thing I would say is in my professional opinion, um, the size of the fine isn’t the deterrent. It’s the risk of getting caught.

03:15:26,800	And I think when we look at, you know, what’s the likelihood of getting caught? And I’ll just use texting and driving, uh, drive around and look at every car. Obviously, the risk is low. We put a lot of effort into it, but it’s hard to detect. Bismarck police officer earlier this week, there was texting while he was driving his cruiser. So you’re right. Yeah. So.

03:15:44,900	And so my point is this, um, looking at this from a law enforcement perspective. What’s enforceable. What’s enforceable, um, what’s going to happen in the event if you made the fine $1,000? I believe it’s a big deterrent.

03:16:05,230	Um, but it’s also a big, uh, risk where somebody’s going to say they’re going to quickly weigh. Do I try to outrun them? Run. Or do I stop? Um, I, think I think whether your fine is two 50, 500, whatever you set it at, I think $50 is too small, but I think a $250 ticket, um, is sizable.

03:16:28,900	Um, I, I just I’m afraid we get it too high and we’re going to take on. And it’s not our risk. I mean, people flee us all the time, and I don’t want to sound cold and callous. Um, you know, they’re not obeying the law.

03:16:46,500	Um, and and they go from not obeying the law on the ATV to fleeing and not obeying the law to stop it. Um, but I think that’s a factor. At least I want you to be aware of as you decide this, because I do know that there will be a lot of flames on these ATVs. Mr. Chairman Oh.

03:17:09,430	Commissioner How about a graduated like we had mentioned before, two 5500, 750 or. That repeat offenders. That’s in the next one. Four oh, this is just for the restriction in that time period for that dollar amount. My next motion will change the graduating fine. We’re talking about it strictly for the the moratorium period.

03:17:29,230	Well from that no riding of Wheeled OHV from December 1st to May 15th, which I will amend okay to that. So will you. Second my amendment. Second, the amendment. Okay. Uh, Mr. Chair, I would also Commissioner Schwab. Sorry. Turn your back on. Because that’s. When.

03:17:58,070	I think the date should be June 1st, because that’s when the highway department can mold also, uh, has anybody ever thought about the liability if there’s somebody young trying to out raise the patrol car and he’s jumping driveways and flips it and kills himself? Are we going to get sued for that? That’s why you got all the insurance we just approved. We’re said insurance guy. We left..

03:18:30,530	No, I remember hearing something about a state law that when you’re engaged in those kind of activities, that you’re liable for your own actions. So that effect. Yeah. I mean, they could try to suit I doubt whether it’d be successful. Right. Okay. So where are we at with this now we have an amended motion to May 15th, 7th May first.. To what? May 15th.

03:18:56,530	With December 1st of May 15th, with. The fine remaining at 750. For this. 750. Yep. That was the motion. There’s another motion. There’s another motion coming for.. I’ll deal with this one. Yep. Okay. Call the roll. Uh, do we have a second for that amended motion? Okay. Uh, Commissioner Schwab, no. Commissioner Woodcox. Yes, Commissioner Munson. Yes.

03:19:23,730	Commissioner Bakken. Yes, Chairman Bitner. Beats me. That was the vote on the amendment to the motion. Correct. Now we gotta do the motion as amended. Yep, yep, that’s a no. What was that? I’m sorry. I said no. As I said. 3 to 2. So now we still have motion carries. Yep. We still. Have to make.

03:19:46,330	The amendment carries. Now the motion we’ve already had on the board and seconded and amended. Right and seconded and passed. Now we need motion on that or vote on that. Yep. We just did. We voted on the. amendment only now we have to motion vote on amended motion. Oh god damn. Parliamentary procedures everybody.

03:20:15,730	Anybody else have anything to say? Um. I’m. Comments. Call the. Roll, Commissioner Woodcox. Yes, Commissioner Munson. Yes, Commissioner Bakken. Yes, Commissioner Schwab. No. Chairman Bitner. No. Only because you lost me. Okay. Sorry. What was that? He did. We lost. Yeah, he. Lost me. Yeah. I got other things on my mind here. I would move to amend. Motion carries.

03:20:35,600	By the way. Sorry about that. I would move to amend section eight. Increasing violation penalties from $50 to 250 for the first events. Offense, 500 for the second offense, 750 for the third, and every offense after the third. All fine income to be distributed to the Highway department to be used for repair of the road right aways.

03:21:02,000	Second, for discussion. Okay, now motion and second, any discussion? Kelly, in your opinion, is that workable? Mr. chairman, commissioners, and I’ve talked to Commissioner Munson at great length with this. Um, he assures me state’s attorney Lawyer will be if I’m saying this correct. Correct me if I’m wrong. Uh, she would be like the gatekeeper.

03:21:28,730	It would be impossible for us to, on the enforcement side, because in the system we use for citations, there’s no way to track that. Like, for example, a third or subsequent DUI, we use the driving abstract, but my understanding is these won’t go on the driving abstract.

03:21:51,700	So ultimately then, um, you know, at 10:00 at night or whatever time and a deputy would need to be able to see that if we were going to track it. But my understanding is the state’s attorney will be the gatekeeper. Mary and I had that conversation, not Julie. Okay. So we don’t want to put Julie in trouble where she’s not.

03:22:09,630	I have that conversation with Kelly. I knew I. Knew somebody. Yes. All right. So and. I just wanted to make sure that there was something workable that would not put the sheriff’s department in an untenable position. Thank you. And. Yes. Okay. Thank you. That was a long way to get a yes. Mr. chairman, just being up here.

03:22:32,730	I’d like to make sure this is correct. Now, this is countywide. Yes. And it’s not during the period of the December 15th, May, December 1st, I mean. Right. Okay. That’s the other day. What are we enforcing? And that was my next question. What what are we enforcing then? Our current ordinance. Current ordinance. Okay. Call the roll.

03:22:59,430	Commissioner Munson. Yes. Commissioner Bakken. Yes. Commissioner Schwab. No. Commissioner Woodcox. Yes. Chairman Bitner. No motion carries. Mr.. And Mr. Chairman I should tell you something right now. This is not absolutely not going to work. Why is. That? What has. Just hasn’t worked here? Oh, we have to we have to enforce it. Now the next problem is enforcement.

03:23:28,330	Yeah. Good luck with that. We’ve already spotted 3 or 4 good spots for speed traps. Right. We have I’m serious. I’m not I’m not joking. I’m telling you, you need a drone. Which which brings. Which brings up something. Can we set a speed limit and ditch? Of course.

03:23:51,270	Really? We kind of already have them with the with the reckless driving portion of it. No. But you’d have to sign it. And no, you can’t really set a speed limit in the ditch.

03:24:06,270	I think there’s already something that says, I think we look this up already, and it’s basically what’s the speed limit on the road is what’s the speed limit in the ditch. Yeah, I, I vaguely remember reading that. Actually, that’s a serious question. Kelly, do you need a drone for this. Helicopter? Yeah. Mr. chairman, commissioners, um, we actually got drones and we’ve talked about that.

03:24:38,800	I think, with Commissioner Woodcox and Commissioner Munson. And, uh, in this application, it wouldn’t be effective. But they’re fast enough. They don’t last long enough. No, the batteries don’t last long. One other thing. If I can. I wasn’t on my phone looking at Facebook, I promise you.

03:24:59,100	Um, I don’t think you would be able to do road restrictions in the ditch. And this is a states attorney question. Um, like, you can do a burn ban. Um, the burn ban applies to off road travel, but the section of law that I was reading, just to make sure, is, um, it’s under emergency services, and it basically says local disasters,

03:25:23,170	mandatory evacuations or emergencies. So before you would do that, I would think you would want to get legal opinion if off highway vehicle in the ditch would fall into one of those categories. It wouldn’t fall into one of those categories.

03:25:47,100	What you’d have to do is put a portion of that law to say that in in situations where, you know, I we’d have to work on the wording for it. But basically in situations where the weather prohibits or where there is some sort of thing where you’d want to do a restriction, then you have correct. It would be the adjacent right of way.

03:26:00,370	And then, um, same thing with, you know, like the the burn restrictions have certain, um, certain things set up where certain, um, help me out. Disaster. Thank you. The fire danger index indicates that we need to put burn restrictions in place.

03:26:21,370	You could have something written into this where if weather conditions or soil conditions dictate that restrictions be put in place, that this board be able to do that. So if we get a six inch rainfall and there’s some certain county roads that aren’t traversable because they get wrecked and we put a road restriction in and we same as the ditch.

03:26:39,230	You could have that as part of your ordinance as well. So how long do you need to be able to write that up and to get it into something that’s usable? Next meeting. Mr. chairman, we’re looking at technicalities.

03:27:02,170	What are we going to do with the like you on your property to the middle of the road? And I don’t know, I only go to the edge of the fence. How do we if these kids are I should say, kid, if anybody’s caught riding on private property like they’re on your land, is that a different problem with our ordinance? Is that. That’s trespassing. That’s trespassing. Yep.

03:27:19,530	So then you charge them with trespassing. Not the ordinance violation. Correct. So the $650 fine would not be in effect. Or what was it, $1,000 fine. Whatever. It was. 750. But that would be a that would be a trespassing issue. And the trespassing would be have to be followed through with the owner, not not us. No.

03:27:50,070	Just need to clarify that. So somebody with a trail camera or with proof. Right. Kelly? Nope nope nope. Mr. chairman, commissioners, this would be honestly a mess.

03:28:10,370	I’m just going to say it because before you can charge somebody with trespass and they have to be given notice, uh, that they’re not permitted on that property. Um, I think this would be obviously a. Steep learning sign suffice. Well, the problem is you can’t put obstructions in the right of way. And so, you know, I think I think this would be a like.

03:28:31,530	I just think it would be a mess even in the court system. Um, you know, because obviously that is property. Um, you know, but the, the easements are granted, you know, this would I mean, this is a. That’s why you’re retiring. In your. This will drive me into retirement quicker.

03:28:55,170	Um, I understand what you’re trying to do, and I understand, you know, the the frustration of some of the people. I think these, as Casey could attest, these are checkerboard. I mean, so you might have, you know, a quarter mile of frontage that’s private, technically private owned, another next quarter mile.

03:29:22,800	The county paid for an easement, uh, the next quarter mile, um, it’s like Commissioner Woodcox said, it ends at the fence line. So it it’s it would be a mess. Casey tried to give me a 15 minute orientation this afternoon or this morning that said some people would could teach an eight hour class on that. Correct. I asked him to stop because I was confused as all get out.

03:29:44,230	And so yes, that is obviously some more things that we need to work on. And, and to expound on that even like so when you own to the middle of the road in Casey, correct me if I’m wrong. Um, that is because that is a, uh, section line roadway.

03:30:06,230	Um, that becomes that center of the roadway usually, which again, has a right of travel under North Dakota state. Law. Which is where I was understanding. It’s on platted. Yeah. You can really get in the weeds in a hurry because it can be, um, platted statutory right away. And sometimes there’s a roadway easement or a township easement.

03:30:25,730	Sometimes when you get those easements, there are certain conditions placed upon those, like, you can’t, uh, grant water or sanitary sewer utility easements. Some there there’s a lot of different ones. And they they’re not always uniform. So they you can you always got to go to what’s the actual written document.

03:30:43,430	And it, it varies quickly going through. And it, it takes way longer. To expand because. Every deputy is not gonna know what that written document is.

03:31:02,100	Uh, when they ran into issues, deputies do call us and I, we tell them I need to know the exact area you’re looking at because dedicated right of fee simple. Right away. Statutory right of way. Prescriptive right away. Township right away. County roadway easement. Township roadway easement are all different things. And they all. Have at least. A semester in school, wasn’t it? I it’s been a lot more after. Out of school, actually. You know.

03:31:25,530	Yeah. Well, apparently there’s more more work under the. Good. So I think we’re going to probably stop right there. Um, and wait on some additional information from the state’s attorney. The next meeting. Mr. Chairman Mr.

03:31:51,800	Woodcox, can we go back to banning him within the old ETA lines? Can we ban them in a certain section? Do we discuss that? Yep. You said we can’t do that, right. It’s all correct. You have it’s going to have to apply to all the areas that you have control over. You can’t just pick and choose which areas that the law is going to apply to. Well, I thought that’d be easy, but.

03:32:11,530	Is there a way? Go ahead. Is there a way to designate an area as a. Sensitive impact area? I’m digging here. I am digging. Around for the fact that you can’t pick and choose what area of. The law.. Well. We can pick and choose where they are allowed to go.

03:32:33,500	Casey, could there be a sensitive roadway area that we could look at? Oh, here he comes. Maybe he’s got. A good answer. Don’t do it. Uh, great creative question. I’ll give you that. I’m trying. Here. All right. Well, we’ll put that on the agenda for the next meeting, and we’ll have some other discussion. We’ve done a lot today, though. We really have. So.

03:32:57,970	Um, other business there’s an appointment and we added an appointment of election inspectors to the, um, I think that’s in front of you there, commissioners, there’s a list and I see that there’s some open positions for election inspection inspectors, and that is a paying gig.

03:33:23,100	So I would like to, you know, mention to the public that we do have one, two, 345, six, seven eight openings. If you’re interested. Go ahead. Yes. Thank you. Chairman and commissioners, I’ll just quickly read this here. Uh, currently under state law, the Board of County Commissioners, in cooperation with the.

03:33:45,500	County auditor, shall appoint the inspectors of the election for all polling locations within Burleigh County by 40 days preceding the election. Each election board must be comprised of at least one election inspector per local, per polling location within the county. The Election Inspector supervises the conduct of the election and ensures that all election workers are performing their duties.

03:34:08,100	Additionally, the inspector and judges verify the results of the election and return the election results and associated ballots to the county auditor. At the close of the polls, Burleigh County Auditor and Elections Coordinator are committed to providing a positive voting experience to all voters within Burleigh County, while simultaneously upholding the security and integrity of elections. The post lists. Commissioner Bob.

03:34:31,900	Um, I meant to hop in when you’re done, but okay, so go ahead and finish the enclosed list of election inspectors ensures the Burleigh County’s successes for the upcoming elections. Uh, we have a few openings, but most of them are filled.

03:34:48,500	And so basically, I have a recommendation, uh, here, uh, with the resolution, uh, is recommended that the Burleigh County Board of Commissioners, adult adopt the proposed resolution, basically that approves the people currently on the list and gives me the authority to appoint anybody to fill those vacancies. So two questions.

03:35:07,170	One, um, what are the qualifications for that position? I just wanted out in the record for if anybody has interest in, uh, hopping on, what are the qualifications or, and is there anything that disqualifies somebody. Well, the, the minimum qualifications for any polling location worker is that they have to be 16 years of age or older.

03:35:24,270	Uh, legal resident of the of Burleigh County and a citizen of the United States. That’s the minimum requirements. Is there anything that disqualifies somebody is running for an office or anything like that? Disqualify an individual? Anybody who is running for office and any immediate relatives of that candidate cannot be a poll worker.

03:35:44,700	Thank you. Uh, with that, I’d move to approve. Second motion or second to approve any further discussion. What training do they have to have? Uh, there is training provided. And what do they paid? Uh, the training is provided. It’s about an hour, maybe two hours before each election, and they are paid $15 an. Hour. 15. Correct.

03:36:05,330	Okay. Same job. Pardon me. Are you looking. For a job? I’m going to run. I’m going to be a I’m tired, excited. I’m going to be a write in candidate. So write that down. Commissioner Botkin. Yes, Commissioner Schwab. Yes, Commissioner Woodcox. Yes, Commissioner Munson. Yes, Chairman Bitner. Yes. Thank you. Anything else from you? Yes. Commissioner Schwab.

03:36:32,100	I asked you back if you want an only reason why I voted. And I’m going to give the reason. Voted on what? It’s on what? It makes no difference the issues that we vote on. And no one assaulting the sheriff back there because he’ll pick me up.

03:36:51,370	But when I see inside a grant, in a request for a grant, okay. And the information is available at the Otter’s office if you want to see it, that doesn’t cut it any more. Tonight we got something like 4 to 5 deals that should have been in the damn agenda.

03:37:21,630	People don’t understand what we’re talking about. They can’t read the agenda. And we’ve just. Anybody understand or know what that insurance guy talked about fully? No, but guess what? He got what he wanted. And it scares me because that was kind of an open end deal. I wanted to see it in writing.

03:37:44,700	So that’s the explanation for me voting against some of this stuff. I will continue to do it. It’s got to be in writing now. I did talk to Chairman Bitner about that, and, uh, I didn’t try to swim or anything, but I think I have a valid point.

03:38:06,730	Uh, like the Joint Powers Agreement with the city. Last meeting. I want to see it in writing before I will say, okay. And I think that’s. And I think that the stuff that we were discussing tonight, there was so much that should have been in the agenda.

03:38:29,100	What happens? We get this folder here and we’re supposed to read it while we’re listening to her, read it. I mean, we could have read it. It would have been in the agenda and cut the time that she needed to go through the whole thing. And if people were interested, they could have gone to, um, the website and got that. So I hope everybody.

03:38:50,800	I appreciate your I appreciate your thoughts on that. I appreciate your thoughts on that, Commissioner And I was wondering if we can just kind of direct that the auditor, when you have somebody that asks to get on the agenda, you tell them, are you going to have any information to present

03:39:04,170	to the commission, and if so, get it to me for the agenda packet, right? Yeah. Typically speaking, I do reach out, especially if it’s a department head. Um, for this particular case with the library, I didn’t ask them.

03:39:24,070	Uh, but typically oftentimes when the department head that oftentimes has a agenda item, I ask if they have any packet information. Would it hurt you to kind of start asking that, like, you know, I think the library and the and the other guy, the, uh, um, bank, the whole thing. Yeah, I can make that standard practice. Chair. Mr. Schwab had two items on the agenda with nothing in the packet. No explanation.

03:39:42,730	Right. But there wasn’t a need. Really? Yes there was. I came in and asked specific. I said, what are we voting on here? It just says open resolution or something. Like that. We didn’t we didn’t vote. We didn’t do anything. What goes on here? Uh. Be nice to know.

03:39:57,870	That once in a while, that turn around, then we vote on it. And know the vote. Somebody should have said, well, this is a voting deal. What I had tonight was a discussion. Okay. I think that’s what it said. So there was a difference.

03:40:14,370	And you have discussions, you have presentations and then you have voting. And there are all three different. Very good point. So the thing about it is it wouldn’t be hard to do it and save a lot of time. And then I would start voting yes. Well then we’d have to get used to.

03:40:31,270	Some new stuff that I agreed with. But it’s the principle of the thing. Commissioners. We’re adjourned.