00:00:02,530	City. Current. Produced by Dakota Media Access. In-depth discussion with Bismarck and Mandan city officials. Watch on government access channel 602 HD or tune in to radio access 102.5 FM. Always local. Always current. And welcome to this Mandan edition of City Current. We'll be talking about Free Landfill Week. Fill you in on the details there.

00:00:35,600	Provide some construction updates, including what's happening on Memorial Highway, and talk about the Open City Commission seat with the death of Commissioner Craig Sjoberg. Thanks for joining us. I'm Tom Gerhardt from Dakota Media Access with a special guest, Kari, from the The Communications Director for the City of Mandan is in place of Jim Neubauer.

00:00:55,770	Just throwing me for a loop here this morning. Not having Jim and his dad jokes. Yeah, he usually tells. So. Welcome. Yes. Thank you for having me. So, last night's city commission meeting. I guess we can kind of jump right into some of what took place.

00:01:13,470	And we'll start, as we usually do, with some construction updates and provide a little context. We know that East End now is like 99.9% done. Yeah. So the East End wrapped up here, I'd say in the last month or so. It's pretty much substantially complete. There's some small things that they're kind of checking off and wrapping up, but, East End has completed.

00:01:36,500	It looks really nice. Traffic is flowing well, and I know the businesses are excited to have that part done. Oh my gosh. And, I was there recently and, what an improvement. I mean, just the waiting.

00:01:56,200	The waiting is the hard part, right? And when we switch over to the west side of Memorial Highway, of course, that's a little different. A lot of work, a lot of activity taking place, as I guess, crews prepare for. It's like you said, it kind of feels like fall this week for the first time. Winter is not too far away. Yeah, they are working really hard on that west end of Memorial Highway.

00:02:13,100	A little bit of a traffic flow change, but things seem to be going really well. Moving fast. It's looking nice down there, too. And, kind of just starting to get the idea of what it's going to look like through those winter months. And then as we prepare for that final phase of Memorial Highway next week, next year.

00:02:34,270	And we will be very happy with that. Get this. Yeah, get this one tucked away after next year. And I know last night. Jared passed along and that there's dewatering taking place. So if anybody notices. Fire hydrants with water spilling out don't be alarmed. Yep. That's just allowing the contractors to work.

00:02:55,000	Gets all that underground water out of the place and keeps it dry for them to do the job that they need to do to keep this project moving. And then I'll keep this QR code up on screen for a few moments.

00:03:10,770	And if you want to know, of course, there are a number of projects, and we've touched on all of them throughout the summer and spring. But just go ahead and scan this QR code if you want to see all of the projects that are taking place in the city of Mandan, and find out for yourself in more detail what's happening. So that was a great addition that was made a few months ago. Yes, it's very nice.

00:03:28,530	Well, let's talk about, I guess this is exciting to free landfall. Landfill week. I forgot the word fall. That's September 14th through the 19th. And what does that mean? I know last night the mayor. Mayor Frey wanted to be really clear on what this means. This means residence hall.

00:03:49,430	What they want out to the landfill, not put it on the curb. That is correct. There is no curbside pickup during free fall landfill week. You can haul out items to the landfill for free. Certain items do have a small cost to them, but that's like tires and stuff like that.

00:04:07,400	But you're normal, cleaned out appliances and items that you're just looking to clean out of your property can go up to the landfill during this week. They're open 8 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. every day, and that will be the same for Saturday as well. And then, Kari, do people need to provide proof of living in Mandan? Yeah.

00:04:29,130	We ask that you bring out either a water bill or just your driver's license or some form of identification, just showing that you live in Mandan. And because this is for our residents. Right? Yeah. Okay. Just wanted to make sure that that was a piece of the pie. Yeah.

00:04:46,500	Also, Fire Prevention Week is the fourth through the 10th, but then we have a fire prevention open house October 13th. Wanted to talk about both of those. Yeah, I just wanted to make sure the public was aware of this fire prevention open house that we have coming up October 13th. It's a Tuesday night at 630.

00:05:08,000	This will start with, a fire truck parade from about north, man down, down to the firehouse, and then starting at seven, that will begin our open house. And this is a well-intended event every year. A chance for public to meet our firefighters and the team out there. Ride in a fire truck, which is.

00:05:29,630	There's always a long line for that. Yeah. And this month or this year? Sorry. The fire prevention message is on lithium ion batteries and charging those safely. And so we'll keep an eye out on the fire department's social media for a campaign on that. But basically every household here has a lithium ion battery.

00:05:52,230	And if those aren't charged properly, they can cause fires. And so we're just looking to educate the community on that subject. Okay. Excellent. And the fire prevention week is October 4th through the 10th. Yeah. Yeah. And we tend we like to have that open house on that Tuesday during the week.

00:06:09,130	But because of our commission meeting date, sometimes it gets into the next week. Yeah. All right. Well, we'll be able to promote the open house one more time. Yeah. After the next city commission meeting. Well, let's move along in the meeting. The public hearing on the 2027 budget, as you said.

00:06:29,170	One more step to go after last night's meeting to formally adopt the 2027 budget. But last night, there's a call for a public hearing. There actually was no comment during the public hearing portion for the budget. So you have a little graphic that we can show here about, kind of the process and then what happens next? Yeah.

00:06:51,330	So this process kind of started publicly at the beginning of August, and our finance department did a great job of putting a small presentation together to explain the process or the the budget. Sorry.

00:07:11,270	And, so last night was our public hearing, and a couple of years ago, the commission, decided that they wanted to separate the public hearing from that final consideration, just to take into consideration the feedback that we received during that public hearing. Last night, we did get a question and pointed that person to the website where that QR code is to get that information. And then, we'll bring this back on October 6th for its final consideration.

00:07:33,530	And you mentioned August, but I know that the city's been working on the budget for months. Right. It's kind of like you get done and you maybe get a breather and you start working on the following year's budget, it seems like. So a lot of works gotten into that cityofmandan.com/budget. Correct.

00:07:52,930	Is the URL or like you said, the QR code is up on screen if you want to scan and and anybody could go take a look at anything and everything. Yeah. Yep.

00:08:09,830	And we even have a news release that we put out shortly after the August or the, the August meeting, where it kind of explains more so in like normal layman terms versus reading numbers. And so if you want to grab that news release too, and if anybody has questions or comments, get Ahold of us. Yeah. Like you said, you're always there to answer your questions. Moving along on the agenda, the request for qualifications on the wastewater treatment project.

00:08:29,270	We know this is a huge project that needs to take place. We got the background again a little bit last night on the the wastewater treatment plant that's in currently in use, going all the way back to the 90s. I think we heard last night. Yeah, 1997, 1997. So this thing needs to be replaced. It does.

00:08:49,930	But, so the request for qualifications explain a little bit what happened last night. Yeah. So last night, the request was to advertise a construction manager at risk for and have the request for qualifications for that the construction manager at risk, kind of, it puts in a little help for the city in that respect.

00:09:12,400	And another set of eyes on the project, so to say. And so it's just kind of determining, helping us determine who that contractor for the wastewater treatment facility project will be. And it'll help us get to that 30% design in January, hopefully.

00:09:32,300	So it's a project that's been in the works for at least three years, probably a little bit before then to, but we need to update the wastewater treatment facility. Redundancy seems to be the part that's the scariest for us, right? Yeah.

00:09:54,730	So just listening last night again to the said right now there's no redundancy in, I guess, what that means or what caught my attention was that they can't take any piece offline for maintenance or to upgrade. So it's sort of an all or nothing proposition right now as it deteriorates. That's correct. Yeah. We it's hard to make repairs at this point or to find pieces to repair. And so we need to get those upgrades in. Yeah.

00:10:15,270	It's kind of like maybe, you know, putting insulation in the attic. Not the most fun thing to spend money on, but this is obviously wastewater treatment, something every citizen needs. Yeah. And we always joke wastewater is not something anybody thinks about until it's backing up into your home. And so then you sure do. Yeah. Yeah, yeah.

00:10:33,000	So we want to make sure that the wastewater that gets to our plant leaves clean and to, our environment. And so we have to do this upgrade at some point under new business. Boy, it's been a tough few weeks for the city of Mandan for residents. You know, Commissioner Craig Sjoberg passed away.

00:10:54,300	He was the liaison and a member of the Dakota media Access Board of directors here, too. So we got to interact with him and he's passed away. And I just wanted to give you an opportunity to speak on on what he meant as a commissioner to the city of Mandan.

00:11:11,430	Also, he was involved in so many other areas in the city of Mandan and at one time worked for the Bismarck Police Department. Yes. Yeah. Thank you for the opportunity to speak on him. It has been very difficult in Mandan, for sure. Craig was a huge presence wherever he went. He walked in the door.

00:11:32,230	And for me, it was a big smile on my face because I knew I was going to laugh at some point in time, and I was probably going to learn something about him or someone else that I didn't know. He was at City Hall, I think I can say daily.

00:11:49,400	In fact, the last time I spoke with him, I told him, I reminded him that he didn't get paid by the hour there. But you, you knew when he was there, he had his, truck and his bright yellow tailgate there. But he was the type of person that you didn't.

00:12:10,270	It didn't matter if you knew him your whole life for a couple of years or a couple of minutes, he he impacted you in some way. He truly cared about his role as a commissioner. I met him, I would say maybe in January before he, before he was elected, he came into the office. And from that day forward, he was 110%.

00:12:36,770	There was no question as to what he was doing or why he was there. He wanted to learn about everything. He came with questions, sometimes pages of notes and questions. And, he will definitely be missed. And those are going to be some hard shoes to fill. Gosh, you know, just as someone now who pays attention to both city commission meetings, you could tell he took it seriously.

00:12:58,800	I think the other thing I appreciated is he also spoke his mind. He wasn't afraid to dissent or say what he thought. And I think that that kind of political courage is good to see on display. Yeah.

00:13:16,830	There was often times where he would start out his motion with, well, I guess I'm going to be the bad guy here. But yeah, he he wanted to make well informed decisions that he felt were the best for his, constitutions.

00:13:39,000	And I think he did a great job of that and just a great public servant working for both police departments, I believe, as an EMT then taking on this city commission seat, giving of himself for the benefit of others, I think is a high calling. Yeah. And he spent some time with Mandan Rural Fire Department, and then I believe he helped Mandan fire with, just some internal things that they have back way before he was ever commissioner.

00:14:00,300	But, yeah, he had his hands in a lot of things. And, a public servant. True and true. And a great supporter of ours that could be access. So our thoughts continue to go out to his family. And certainly, as you mentioned, someone will all all remember. Yes. Quite a legacy with that. There's an open commission seat.

00:14:23,070	And I know that that's a difficult thing to pivot to. And his passing is so recent. But that was also a topic last night at the city Commission meeting. And as we heard Jim Neubauer say last night, that petitions were turned in to put this to a vote of the people.

00:14:43,570	And so maybe it if you want to talk to what the options would have been without that petition, you could, but maybe it doesn't matter anymore. So maybe you just want to explain because it's a little bit complicated, as Jim said. Yeah. Moving forward. It's not just as simple as we have an election in a couple of weeks. Yeah, yeah.

00:15:00,930	So if we hadn't received the petitions, there could have been an appointment made after the 15 day waiting period, or the seat could have been left vacant. I don't see anyone wanting to do that, but because we received the petitions, we're now looking at having to call a special election to fill that seat.

00:15:19,330	We do have to call it within the next 95 days. That's the early well, that's the earliest that that special election could happen. 95 days puts us at December 19th, which is a Sunday, I believe.

00:15:40,070	So the earliest would be for Christmas, right, that Christmas week, where people are going to be busy and I'm sure we're going to be cold. And so, I would say we're kind of looking definitely now, at least for this open seat. A 2027 special election. And I don't want to get this wrong, but what? Jim, I took some notes on what Jim said last night.

00:16:00,170	So why 95 days or why is that the earliest? So candidates now need to step forward, but they need to collect signatures to get on a ballot. Yeah. And once and they get 64 days to do that. So even if that started today, which it won't. Right. That would be a 64 day period.

00:16:21,370	And then you need another 30 days, I think, before you could actually have an election, which would bring you to that right on the doorstep of Christmas Eve date? Yes. So the people that are interested in running for, the candidacy spot, they, cannot start collecting signatures until the election is called. And that requires a resolution from the city commission.

00:16:48,000	So we think that potentially the next city commission will have that ready to go. But we need to determine polling places, polling workers. There's a lot to be determined. And we received those petitions Monday afternoon. We had a meeting Tuesday and we just haven't found those answers yet. But yeah, they will have 64 days to collect signatures.

00:17:08,670	And then there's a 30 day kind of like waiting period, I believe once we've collected that. And that just is so that we can notice the election too, and get the ballots made and, be ready for a special election. So the I mean, it's not even likely, it's for sure going to be after into the new Year at some point.

00:17:27,330	It's just undetermined depending upon like he said, probably at the next city commission meeting in early October, they'll decide the path forward. But until then, we really don't know for certain other than it'll be sometime down the road. Yeah, I think 2027 is a very safe bet. Safe bet for sure.

00:17:49,670	Another item on the agenda of new Business Forever Treasures in Mandan. And they're going to utilize the Mandan Growth Fund. Yeah. Which is meant to help businesses get off the ground. Tell me about what happened last night. Yeah. So they came in and applied for a retail incentive program project, and that retail incentive has been around for a few years.

00:18:10,900	It helps us feel gaps in our community. Mandan does not have a consignment store. We have thrift shops, but they're different. Consignments are for profit. And they basically you work with that store to sell. I can bring in old jeans and we would split the profit after they sell essentially. Yep. That's exactly right.

00:18:32,830	And then if your item forever treasures, what they're doing is if your item wouldn't sell during whatever time frame you guys agreed on, there'll be a contract to sell their, they would then go to the person that brought them the items and say, hey, do you want your items back? That person can say yes or no.

00:18:50,800	If they say no, then Forever Treasures will actually donate those items to a place in the community, which is really cool. But the retail incentive, they basically had to go through kind of a mini business pitch. It's a really, stringent application.

00:19:13,400	So by the time that it comes to the growth Fund, they've really vetted out their business and came up with a business plan, and then they're rated and ranked in 13 different categories from the growth fund on, how they did a and then that determines the price per square foot. And so forever treasures. We'll look at they got a $3 and 75 cent per square foot, incentive.

00:19:37,530	And so that's just under $13,000 in a forgivable loan, which will help her tremendously.

00:19:42,900	All right. One other thing. Under resolutions and ordinances last night, the maximum tax imposed. Yeah. And. Nobody nobody commented on this. It was passed unanimously last night by the commission. But, I just trying to understand. It's not hard to understand, but it's just the language is a little bit complicated.

00:20:12,100	But try and unbundle a little bit about what was determined last night. Yeah. So prior to last night, there was a cap on an item sold within the city of Mandan. And then that we could collect tax on. And last night it removed that cap. I think that cap was like $56 and that and some change.

00:20:34,470	And basically what would happen was prior to us being able to remove this cap every time, like a sales tax initiative was added. So you did your.05 percent increase or whatever it may be, you had to come up with the mass for that, and that just removed that maximum cap on sales.

00:20:55,330	And then, we don't know what the impact to the community is going to be in that, but we do know that it's positive. It can only be positive. You will capture more sales tax. We will. Yeah. Absolutely. Absolutely. No doubt about that. But yeah you don't know how much. Nope.

00:21:12,670	We have no idea on the number that that will reflect. And I didn't ask you this beforehand, but do you know, does that take effect immediately or does that take some time before that's implemented? I don't mean to put you on the spot. Oh, that's a good question.

00:21:27,570	I'm guessing because it deals with sales tax that there's a time period. Yeah. Well, it'll be interesting to see what happens moving forward. But like you said, should put a little bit more money into the city's pockets to help out. Yeah. Whatever area sees fit. Well, Kari, thanks for the conversation. Lots of interesting topics.

00:21:46,170	I think it was about a 50 minute meeting last night, so. Yeah. Too bad. Right? Yeah. If anyone wants to go back and watch the full city commission meeting or or scrub through to your favorite part. I'd love you to take a look at our new website. We've upgraded it. The code of access.org.

00:22:03,130	I think the navigation is going to be helpful, so it'll be able to find exactly what you're looking for. You can also find it on our DMA app and check out our Radio Access app too. If you want to be entertained by local musicians or local podcasts. Until next time, Kari, thanks for joining us.

00:22:21,330	Have a great day everyone. For more information on what was discussed in this episode of City Current, visit CityofMandan.com or call (701) 667-3215. If you have any suggestions, comments or issues you would like addressed in Future City Current episodes, contact us at info@freetv.

00:22:47,100	org This program airs on Government Access channel two and 602 and or on Radio Access 102.5 FM. It's also available as a podcast on Radio Access and as a video viewing link at FreeTV.org. Thanks for tuning in to this edition of City Current.