[0:06] good evening ladies and gentlemen

[0:07] welcome to the west fargo

[0:09] city commission meeting for september

[0:11] 7th would you please join me in a pledge

[0:13] of allegiance

[0:16] i pledge allegiance to the flag of the

[0:18] united states of america

[0:20] and to the republic for which it stands

[0:23] one nation under god indivisible with

[0:26] liberty and justice for all

[0:36] thank you the first order of business

[0:38] this evening is to approve the order of

[0:40] the agenda commissioners it has been

[0:42] distributed to you and it is online

[0:46] i'll make a motion to approve thank you

[0:47] commissioner gerda big is there a second

[0:49] please

[0:50] second commissioner george seconds been

[0:52] moved and seconded to approve the order

[0:54] of the agenda as presented for september

[0:56] 7th for the west fargo city commission

[0:59] meeting

[1:00] is there any discussion

[1:04] hearing on all those in favor of

[1:05] approval of the agenda please signify by

[1:07] saying aye

[1:09] opposed

[1:11] motion carried

[1:13] item d is approval of the minutes of

[1:15] august 16th they have been distributed

[1:17] they are online they are pages

[1:20] three through six

[1:22] make motion to approve thank you

[1:24] commissioner olson is there a second

[1:25] please

[1:26] second commissioner judy big second has

[1:28] been moved and seconded to approve the

[1:30] minutes of august 16 2021 for the west

[1:33] fargo city commission meeting

[1:34] is there any discussion

[1:38] hearing on all those in favor please

[1:39] signify by saying aye

[1:42] opposed

[1:44] motion carried

[1:46] next order of business is a consent

[1:48] agenda

[1:49] the consent agenda

[1:50] includes items a through k they have

[1:53] been distributed

[1:54] commissioners you have them in front of

[1:55] you

[2:01] we'll make a motion to approve thank you

[2:03] commissioner george is there a second

[2:04] please

[2:05] second commissioner gerda big seconds

[2:07] moved in second to approve the consent

[2:09] agenda as distributed items a through k

[2:13] is there any discussion

[2:17] all those in favor please signify by

[2:19] saying aye

[2:23] motion carried

[2:28] moving on we are now in the regular

[2:30] agenda

[2:31] item number one is the first reading and

[2:33] public hearing of elmwood court fourth

[2:35] edition

[2:36] rezoning from

[2:37] public facilities to planned unit

[2:40] development

[2:41] this is sankey

[2:48] sorry about this let's see

[2:51] all right thank you this application was

[2:53] received in order to develop a townhouse

[2:55] style property the property was replated

[2:57] last summer by the west fargo park

[2:59] district to allow construction of a

[3:00] service road for access into elmwood

[3:03] park on lot 1 and to prepare lot 2 for

[3:05] sale in future development

[3:07] at their march 9th meeting the planning

[3:09] and zoning commission recommended

[3:11] approval of the rezoning and concept

[3:12] plans for the property subject to

[3:14] conditions including a condition that

[3:16] the developer meet with the neighborhood

[3:19] on june 22nd the developer met with area

[3:21] property owners a summer of the summary

[3:24] of the meeting is included in the agenda

[3:26] packet they submitted a revised site

[3:28] plan showing four five and six unit

[3:30] attached single family buildings the

[3:32] apartment-style buildings were removed

[3:34] and were changed to an attached

[3:36] townhouse style of structure a typical

[3:39] style would be a three level split with

[3:41] a tuck under garage the detached garage

[3:43] structures were removed from the project

[3:45] the unit count on the site was also

[3:47] reduced from 36 units to 28. the

[3:50] applicant also submitted proposed

[3:52] district standards as r2 limited

[3:55] multiple dwelling district with a

[3:56] modification to the property the front

[3:58] yard requirement from cheyenne street

[4:01] and an encroachment of uncovered patio

[4:03] decks 10 feet from into a side yard

[4:06] access is still proposed via the

[4:07] existing park district road to the west

[4:09] of the property

[4:11] prior to the july 13th meeting the

[4:13] updated site plan was forwarded on to

[4:15] area property owners within 150 feet

[4:19] any comments received after the agenda

[4:21] packets were published

[4:23] for the meeting were forwarded on to

[4:24] commissioners the developer park

[4:25] district and were added to the record

[4:27] comments included concerns regarding

[4:29] rental versus owner-occupied structures

[4:31] increased traffic

[4:32] safety suggestions for altern

[4:34] alternative park uses

[4:36] a petition was received from area

[4:38] property owners as well

[4:40] at their july 13th meeting the planning

[4:42] and zoning commission requested that the

[4:44] applicant develop a landscaping plan for

[4:46] review at the august meeting as well as

[4:47] an analysis of the access road to

[4:50] determine the possibility of widening

[4:52] due to the shared use for the august

[4:54] 10th meeting the applicant submitted a

[4:56] landscaping plan and responded to the

[4:58] request for the analysis of the park

[5:00] road access

[5:01] at their july 10th

[5:03] at their august 10th meeting the

[5:05] planning and zoning commission

[5:06] recommended approval of the detailed

[5:08] development plans subject to three

[5:10] conditions listed in the staff report

[5:13] because of the petition from area

[5:15] property owners

[5:17] protest area was calculated by the gi

[5:19] west fargo gis department under

[5:21] ordinance 4-546

[5:25] if a protest against a change supplement

[5:27] modification amendment or repeal is

[5:29] signed by property owners of 20 percent

[5:32] or more

[5:36] approval by the city commission would

[5:38] need to be a super majority of

[5:39] three-fourths of this commission members

[5:40] voting in favor of the zoning ordinance

[5:42] change

[5:44] as mentioned earlier the planning and

[5:45] zoning commission

[5:47] recommended approval of the rezoning

[5:49] including detailed development plans

[5:51] subject

[5:52] to conditions listed in the staff report

[5:54] number one concerns of adjacent

[5:56] neighborhood are given due consideration

[5:58] district standards include provisions to

[6:01] require but not limit

[6:03] limited to supplementary district

[6:04] regulations landscaping standards

[6:06] off-street parking and loading and sign

[6:08] regulations and number three

[6:09] consideration of any comments from

[6:11] engineering and public works regarding

[6:12] services of the property this is a

[6:15] public hearing there are representatives

[6:16] from the park district as well as the

[6:18] developer to answer any questions and i

[6:20] believe there are also members from the

[6:21] public who also may have comments or

[6:23] questions

[6:27] are there any questions for her before

[6:28] we start

[6:31] i actually have one commissioner george

[6:35] so with the

[6:37] farmstead having been donated by the

[6:39] beaton family how are you getting around

[6:42] that or talk to me about the donation

[6:45] of this property because a lot of people

[6:47] have that question

[6:49] as far as this was donated property so

[6:51] how was it being sold i believe

[6:54] barb could answer that question some of

[6:55] the property was purchased by the park

[6:57] district and some of it was donated i'm

[6:59] not sure which

[7:01] property that included thank you mr

[7:03] thank you i'm going to go to

[7:04] our legal counsel mr shockley

[7:07] i asked the question just before the

[7:09] meeting john

[7:10] thank you mr commission president so

[7:13] i believe last year the year before

[7:15] the park the formal park dedication

[7:18] for the what i'm going to call the pie

[7:21] shaped lot the lot that is highlighted

[7:24] that was

[7:26] changed and removed there was a public

[7:27] hearing regarding that

[7:30] and so the park the park dedication was

[7:32] removed

[7:33] the park radication remains on the moon

[7:37] shaped parcel that's closest to the

[7:39] river

[7:40] and then that long parcel in between the

[7:43] existing town home development

[7:45] and the pie shaped lot that was actually

[7:48] purchased by the

[7:50] park district and that was never

[7:52] dedicated that could have been sold at

[7:54] any time to any third

[7:56] party mr george does that satisfy your

[7:59] question are you saying that that that crescent shaped portion on the

[8:04] north side that's just north of the red

[8:06] line is part that was donated but the

[8:08] part south of that was purchased

[8:11] no uh the because there's a lot of

[8:13] questions about this from residents

[8:15] originally the

[8:17] so there was a couple parcels out there was a parcel long straight parcel

[8:22] that was closest to the town homes that

[8:24] was purchased by the park district

[8:27] uh that is proposed to have a road

[8:30] uh existing on it and a trail there's

[8:32] already a road out there

[8:34] and then

[8:35] just the farm itself

[8:37] was donated as to the park district as

[8:42] part of the public lands dedication that

[8:44] you see with a lot of subdivisions

[8:48] that donation can either be in the form

[8:50] of land green space cash and lieu or

[8:54] other lands for public facilities

[8:56] such as a water tower things like that

[8:59] so that parcel that included the farm

[9:01] was originally

[9:02] part of that dedication

[9:05] the parkland dedication was formally

[9:08] vacated about two and a half years ago

[9:10] went through the public hearing process

[9:12] and everything

[9:13] the park dedication for the parcel

[9:17] that is closest to the river remains

[9:20] i don't know

[9:21] that so that was all one parcel now it's

[9:24] divided into one and two lots so the one

[9:27] close to the river that connects to the

[9:29] existing elmwood park is still in

[9:32] parkland dedication

[9:34] and so from a legal perspective uh they

[9:37] can sell the lot that's been replated

[9:41] perfectly within the authority just like

[9:43] the city of west fargo can sell property

[9:45] that's given to this the city

[9:50] mr george that satisfy your question um

[9:54] that one all right thank you

[9:58] mr simmons thank you john uh just in my

[10:00] recollection recollection that was

[10:02] actually done a few years back correct because we had been through this

[10:06] a few times over and over so right

[10:10] i'll have a lot more to say but maybe

[10:12] after okay

[10:14] are there any questions for miss sankey

[10:17] okay

[10:18] with that we'll close the regular

[10:20] meeting

[10:21] we are now in special

[10:24] session uh

[10:26] is there anyone that would like to speak

[10:28] to this item

[10:32] please come to the microphone

[10:35] i'd ask that you introduce yourself and

[10:37] tell us your address

[10:39] okay

[10:40] hi uh thanks for hearing me my name is

[10:42] nicole nelson and i live at 3 39 19th

[10:46] avenue

[10:47] south

[10:48] um

[10:49] that thing's weird okay so i have a few

[10:52] points so if you need to pause me ever

[10:54] just holler at me

[10:56] um so the first thing uh concerned a

[10:58] couple of the recommendations one of

[11:00] them being the concerns of the adjacent

[11:03] neighborhood

[11:04] are given due consideration

[11:06] and you have in your packet

[11:09] multiple

[11:10] emails along with a petition and i know

[11:12] we talked about like the whatever 22

[11:15] point whatever percent but a hundred

[11:17] percent of people who me and my fiance

[11:20] went door to door 100 percent of people

[11:22] that answered their door signed this

[11:25] so my curiosity is

[11:27] who is

[11:28] actually

[11:29] in support because they're not coming

[11:31] forward

[11:33] trying to propose i know in some of

[11:35] those emails people were trying to

[11:37] propose other ideas for the planned unit

[11:39] development

[11:40] and i really feel like we were trying to

[11:42] polish a pickle and just make the best

[11:44] out of the worst situation but that's

[11:47] not what we want

[11:48] we really are asking that no home

[11:51] dwellings be built there

[11:52] and that the lands stay public

[11:54] facilities and we use a more creative

[11:56] way to use that space as the beaten

[11:59] family intended it to be used

[12:01] so my second point

[12:04] kind of has to do with that second

[12:05] recommendation about the supplementary

[12:08] district regulations landscaping

[12:10] standards

[12:11] off-street parking and loading

[12:12] requirements in the sign regulations

[12:15] is there a solution for off-street

[12:17] parking so the documents read that quote

[12:21] a typical local street with parking on

[12:24] one side is going to be 28 feet from

[12:26] face of curb to face of curb

[12:29] end quote the street proposed for access

[12:32] is 24 feet wide so that does not allow

[12:35] for parking on one side of that road so

[12:38] then where is that off street parking

[12:40] going to be and i really hope it is not

[12:41] in front of our homes because we already

[12:43] struggle with that with that um

[12:45] median that's right there so that is

[12:48] certainly a challenge for us already

[12:50] and then we understand the width of the

[12:53] road would allow for that

[12:56] head-to-head traffic

[12:58] and construction vehicles could get

[13:00] through

[13:00] but my question is like the sturdiness

[13:02] and stability and how well-built that

[13:04] road is i understand there needs to be a

[13:06] certain amount of class 5 gravel a

[13:08] certain amount of asphalt and so i'm

[13:10] wondering

[13:10] as far as that condition of the road

[13:13] how will that hold up and how does it

[13:16] compare to something as heavily

[13:17] trafficked as 19th because these people

[13:20] will probably be coming out onto 19th so

[13:22] i feel like they should um really match

[13:25] and when that road

[13:28] goes um

[13:30] fails when that road um yeah

[13:32] struggles how who is going to be

[13:35] responsible to pay for that

[13:37] um if it is park district property are

[13:39] we going to be stuck with those special

[13:41] assessments or is the park district

[13:43] going to step up and use some of those

[13:44] funds to help with that that's a

[13:46] question um

[13:48] every single person

[13:50] who mentioned information in the emails

[13:53] and we put this in the petition as well

[13:55] was about the increase in traffic

[13:58] overall

[14:00] and i really don't feel like we've heard

[14:02] a solid solution to that problem

[14:05] um in the email from andrew the

[14:06] assistant city engineer for the city of

[14:08] west fargo he stated quote with the 28

[14:11] units proposed we are looking at roughly

[14:14] 300 vehicle trips per day

[14:17] for the entire area end quote

[14:19] so

[14:20] we're curious why that hasn't been

[14:22] directly addressed addressed not only

[14:25] will this cause an increase in

[14:26] congestion and chaos but it also becomes

[14:29] a safety issue with that amount of

[14:31] traffic because that is a public park

[14:35] um i'd also like to touch on the

[14:37] necessity

[14:38] of rental properties

[14:40] how many rentals are sitting with

[14:42] vacancies wide open there are hundreds

[14:45] and

[14:47] i think about epic and all of their

[14:49] multi-purpose buildings that's only

[14:51] going to continue to escalate that

[14:53] problem

[14:54] and you also have to consider rental

[14:56] units will attract more people

[14:59] and i actually work for west fargo

[15:01] public school district and our schools

[15:03] are over full

[15:04] they're it's it's wild right now and

[15:06] apartments are also kind of adding to

[15:09] that problem as well so we kind of have

[15:12] to consider yes we want to draw people

[15:14] in

[15:15] but maybe

[15:16] how much are we doing that

[15:18] and then i also feel finally

[15:21] that this is kind of a values issue

[15:24] the values of our elected officials feel

[15:26] like they no longer align with the

[15:28] desires of the residents to the south of

[15:30] our homes

[15:32] so south of 19th there used to be trees

[15:34] fields and even a strawberry patch

[15:36] granted myself and my family did not

[15:38] live in our house during that time

[15:40] but our neighbors who were left felt

[15:42] cheated and ignored

[15:45] from what we've gathered the proposed

[15:46] replenishing of the removed vegetation

[15:50] was not followed through on by the

[15:52] developer and so it feels like the trust

[15:55] with this neighborhood has been broken

[15:57] and many are just really feeling

[15:58] defeated

[16:00] so keeping this property or having this

[16:02] property as planned unit development and

[16:04] developing rentals would just be it'll

[16:06] really feel like another slap in the

[16:08] face to the community

[16:10] what is developed in the community

[16:11] should be desired and increase value to

[16:14] the area and this is really a loss

[16:17] it feels like that

[16:19] the beauty of the property the south has

[16:21] been taken away so we ask that you

[16:23] listen to the community and utilize the

[16:25] property to the north as an opportunity

[16:27] to enhance coveted green space

[16:30] other cities are creating green space

[16:32] wherever they can including rooftops and

[16:36] even lamp posts because they have over

[16:38] developed their green space

[16:41] let's learn from others and enhance

[16:44] rather than remove the green space we

[16:45] have in our city

[16:47] we ask you to demonstrate empathy

[16:49] integrity and do the right thing for our

[16:51] community and this city

[16:54] thank you miss nelson is there any

[16:56] questions for that lady yes mr simmons

[16:59] thank you miss nelson hall you mentioned

[17:00] you were

[17:01] there during the salt project how long

[17:03] have you lived in your home i'm just

[17:04] curious

[17:05] two and a half years two and a half

[17:06] years okay

[17:08] so that had been finished by the time

[17:11] that we had moved in but there's still

[17:13] that plot of land where like subway is

[17:16] that there's that plot of land there too

[17:19] so that's going to be we're going to be

[17:21] sandwiched by development

[17:25] additional questions

[17:28] thank you thank you is there anyone else

[17:31] that would like to speak to this item

[17:35] so please come forward

[17:43] is there anyone else that would like to

[17:45] speak to this item this is my final ask

[17:50] barb please come up

[17:52] barbara stasser director of public west

[17:54] fargo public

[17:56] parks

[17:56] thank you planet earth thank you

[17:58] president dardis and city commission i

[18:01] guess i kind of wanted to follow up of

[18:03] any of the public comments to provide

[18:05] any

[18:07] additional information or answer any

[18:08] questions and i think there's a couple

[18:10] clarifications that i'd like to make

[18:12] first of all directed towards

[18:14] commissioner george's question about the

[18:16] beaten farm donating the land to the

[18:19] park district and actually

[18:22] i've been here for a number of years as

[18:24] many of you probably know but

[18:26] um

[18:27] back in 2002 when the park district got

[18:29] involved with this property the beaten

[18:31] family had sold the property to a

[18:33] developer so it was not a direct

[18:36] dedication to the park district from the

[18:38] beaten family so i want to make that

[18:40] clarification i also want to make

[18:43] clarification too that there were

[18:44] absolutely no homes

[18:47] no development around that farm site it

[18:48] was all field at that time and gosh i

[18:51] don't know when that started developing

[18:55] the other uh

[18:56] i guess

[19:00] you know we we were here we've been here

[19:02] several times and i don't want to take a

[19:04] lot of your time and i had written a

[19:05] letter to you trying to explain um some

[19:07] of the positions of the park district in

[19:09] just essence of time

[19:12] you know we appeared here back in 2019

[19:15] with a little different plan of selling

[19:16] it and there was a lot of hesitation

[19:19] even at the planning and zoning level

[19:20] the city commission level because we've

[19:23] not really encountered this before and

[19:25] the one question when we got to the city

[19:28] commission level was

[19:29] come back when you have more detail

[19:32] and we've got a lot of detail i think

[19:34] this is probably the third time that

[19:36] we've appeared

[19:37] before a board this year and the last

[19:40] one that

[19:41] came up was

[19:43] asking for a landscape plan and we have

[19:45] been working with

[19:47] jno

[19:49] real estate and they put together a very

[19:52] nice landscape plan that showed 70 plus

[19:55] trees that they're looking at planting

[19:57] and so

[19:59] there is that detail and and then also

[20:02] the four public meetings that we've had

[20:04] since 2019

[20:06] we put those meetings out i know

[20:08] somebody commented i think on beloved

[20:10] facebook that it was a

[20:12] short notice

[20:13] planning and zoning sends those out with

[20:16] what is set forth by

[20:18] city policies as to when there's

[20:20] when they're put out we did not have

[20:22] very good attendance at those meetings

[20:23] but

[20:24] i was there my staff was there j o

[20:27] representatives were there as well

[20:29] and we had some really good things that

[20:30] came out of those meetings

[20:32] we put the road in we we actually went

[20:35] back to the drawing board and we

[20:36] retained

[20:37] a portion of the property on the west to

[20:40] keep the path and the road in our

[20:42] intention was never to take out the path

[20:44] and i know that's been stated a few

[20:45] times we added in the road

[20:48] we've gotten a lot of good comments on

[20:50] the road going in and it actually

[20:52] provides a safe in and out access a

[20:55] second access to south elmwood park

[20:59] once the development development starts

[21:01] to happen if it passes this board we

[21:03] will move those gates closer to the

[21:06] trees

[21:07] our intent is to not have that open year

[21:09] round so we've got traffic flowing

[21:11] through there year round but

[21:12] that's how it's set today we actually

[21:15] also retained more acreage by the river

[21:17] so we can accommodate a future bike path

[21:20] through there once the construction is

[21:21] done too so i feel like

[21:24] you know we went back to the drawing

[21:26] board several times and we we

[21:28] did what was in the best interest of

[21:31] the citizens of west fargo the adjoining

[21:33] property to elmwood park

[21:36] i realized that change is difficult and

[21:38] i say this a little bit cautiously but i

[21:40] think the west fargo park district in

[21:43] this property has sort of been a victim

[21:45] to

[21:46] along with some of the other

[21:48] development that's happened in this

[21:49] neighborhood which is unfortunate

[21:53] some of the new development

[21:54] we look at it now what

[21:56] one and two years later and it's great

[21:59] it's worked out fine

[22:00] we don't intend to have off street

[22:02] parking on that roadway that's another

[22:05] thing that i would like

[22:06] to tell you that too and i'm sure

[22:08] if that happens

[22:10] chief otterness and his staff will be

[22:12] getting called though that road has been

[22:14] built to

[22:16] the standards of building a city street

[22:18] that is a heavy duty road i drive on

[22:21] that almost every morning to check out

[22:22] south elmwood park and

[22:24] that is a good solid road which we will

[22:27] have a partnership

[22:28] with

[22:29] the future owner of that property if

[22:31] this passes but

[22:33] again i had sent you an email um you

[22:35] know the impact alone of property taxes

[22:38] almost a million dollars over 10 years

[22:40] to the city is what we could be looking

[22:42] at if this if this is approved tonight

[22:45] um i feel pretty confident i feel very

[22:47] confident with the pud i don't get into

[22:49] the developing uh of neighborhoods a

[22:52] whole lot but from what i understand and

[22:54] i trust with

[22:56] our planning and zoning department is

[22:58] that once it's a pud

[23:01] that's what it has to be and it will be

[23:02] built according to those standards

[23:05] the park district could still as you

[23:07] realize this we could still sell this

[23:09] property

[23:12] and as is and let the developer come

[23:14] through and continue to try the process

[23:17] we want to be good partners to the city

[23:19] we want to be good partners to the

[23:20] neighborhood as well too

[23:22] and i feel a pud is really the best

[23:24] solution and best option in looking at

[23:26] this

[23:30] and i think it's going to be a good fit

[23:31] to the neighborhood we're very concerned

[23:33] about what our neighbors

[23:36] who our neighbors are going to be to

[23:37] south america park that's a long time

[23:39] concern

[23:40] like i said south elmwood park north

[23:42] south elmwood park especially was there

[23:44] for a lot of years before we had any

[23:46] neighbors and we today

[23:48] i think we have some some pretty good

[23:51] pretty great neighbors

[23:52] i've met some of the people through this

[23:54] whole process and i know they're great

[23:56] neighbors because they're people that i

[23:57] talk to and they're they're people that

[23:59] i've gotten to know

[24:00] and um

[24:02] i'm just hoping for your support tonight

[24:03] on this and as you know

[24:06] jainal properties is representing this

[24:08] on the agenda and not the park district

[24:10] again i'm just here to provide any

[24:12] information to you

[24:16] thank you thank you mrs herbst

[24:19] i have a question for you barb i have a

[24:21] quick question for you

[24:23] i'm sure you've seen a lot of the emails

[24:25] that have come in and want to

[24:28] i just want to understand too

[24:30] the concept as to why can't this

[24:33] property just be an extension of the

[24:35] elmwood park so can you just give a

[24:38] reason why you don't want to do that

[24:41] this is a very

[24:42] the way i look at it and i think my

[24:44] board looks at it this way too this is a

[24:46] very high

[24:48] impact area this is a very

[24:51] uh you know we lost our access off of

[24:53] 13th avenue if we were to have park

[24:55] programs in here

[24:57] you know one access in one access out

[24:59] the same

[25:01] you know our anybody that's been to some

[25:02] of our park and rec programs knows that

[25:05] sometimes we get up to two

[25:07] 2 000 to 2500 people at this

[25:10] letting this sit as green space i think

[25:13] it does a disservice to to west fargo

[25:15] and i think it would help the taxpayer

[25:17] to develop it to tell you the truth

[25:20] if we knew in 2002 what we know today

[25:23] because of the growth of the city

[25:25] we probably would have been talking to

[25:28] the developers about a little different

[25:29] area for development and i think you

[25:32] know maybe even some of the homeowners

[25:33] can relate to that too that

[25:36] things have impacted us as well too for

[25:38] that site we used to use that for a lot

[25:40] of our maintenance operations we could

[25:43] not get in and out of there cheyenne

[25:44] street access was taken away from us

[25:48] the access is better and we do like the

[25:50] access that goes into south elmwood park

[25:53] but you know we're kind of limited on

[25:55] this property as well too park districts

[25:57] are not in the business to get rid of

[25:59] green space i can tell you that this is

[26:01] a really unique situation and in my 34

[26:03] years here at the west fargo park

[26:05] district

[26:06] i've not seen anything like this and i

[26:08] hope we don't have to encounter

[26:09] something like this again but

[26:11] um the city was a very much different

[26:13] place back in 2002 than it is today as

[26:16] well

[26:19] christian mr simmons yeah thanks for

[26:21] bringing that up because i'm curious

[26:22] about that as well so

[26:24] even if if this were to state

[26:27] part district property and you were

[26:28] start

[26:29] having events out there i i think it

[26:31] would be crazy 2 300 people yeah how

[26:34] many cars i think that neighborhood

[26:36] would go schizo on that alone yeah

[26:38] that's a lot worse than 28 units yep so

[26:41] we have needs for

[26:43] parks and you know we will look long and

[26:45] hard at the dedication process as we do

[26:48] now

[26:50] with everything i mean our landmass

[26:52] doubled to the south and that's kind of

[26:54] the center of west fargo right now and

[26:57] so it it becomes kind of a difficulty

[26:59] for us

[27:01] okay that's right

[27:03] commissioner

[27:04] so if

[27:05] 300 people's the benchmark i can rattle

[27:07] off another dozen parks i guess we

[27:09] should sell to developers and put

[27:11] apartment buildings in

[27:13] you're not going to get 2 300 people to

[27:14] park around the service club park at

[27:16] eastwood

[27:18] the

[27:19] huge investment

[27:21] on 17th that's being made you're not

[27:22] going to get 2 300 people into that park

[27:24] and have parking anywhere close either

[27:26] so

[27:27] i'm a little challenged

[27:29] by the argument of

[27:31] 2 300 people being the bar for a city

[27:34] parkway to exist i see this as more of

[27:37] an event space

[27:38] just because of locale

[27:40] and every park has a different use and a

[27:43] different yeah rendezvous park and

[27:44] that's fair

[27:46] i think that's maybe the wrong measure

[27:47] too

[27:48] possibly

[27:50] my knees are shaking

[27:56] okay

[27:56] additional questions for mrs erbster

[28:02] all right thank you thank you is there

[28:04] anyone else that would like to speak to

[28:05] this issue

[28:06] uh the lady the lady you go first and

[28:09] then you're the gentleman

[28:11] no no please come up

[28:12] you stood up first ma'am come on up

[28:20] i don't feel like

[28:22] i could come to a meeting if i didn't

[28:24] stand up here and talk to you all right

[28:26] could you please state your name my name

[28:27] is julie shower helgus and i live in the

[28:31] elmwood park edition in the very center

[28:34] condo that looks directly into that park

[28:37] and um

[28:40] i'm delighted that the park board is

[28:42] going to keep that center that that

[28:43] corner up there to make another access

[28:45] into the park for a bike path and for

[28:48] walkers because walkers use that park so

[28:50] much

[28:52] um my concern is that we've talked about

[28:55] traffic on 19th but i i think we keep

[28:58] forgetting that the 19th avenue and 13th

[29:02] avenue are the only ways that anybody

[29:06] from the west side of west fargo can get

[29:09] to cheyenne

[29:11] and so when you look at the little the

[29:12] cute little houses on 19th and the

[29:14] little condos you think that's not very

[29:16] much traffic

[29:18] oh heavens that's not going to add much

[29:20] but you should see what that's like

[29:22] during the rush hour in the morning and

[29:24] the rush hour in the evening and there

[29:26] are buses there are school buses that

[29:29] use and stop

[29:31] along that road and so

[29:34] i don't know what you can do about it

[29:35] but when you only have two avenues of

[29:38] access to 13th or to cheyenne from 13th

[29:42] and 19th i'd like you to rethink the

[29:45] traffic thing a little bit

[29:47] and also

[29:48] i've got the landscape plan which i had

[29:50] asked for and i do appreciate the fact

[29:52] that they did it and it looks lovely

[29:55] trees are pretty small you know

[29:58] one and a half inch caliper tree is a

[30:00] pretty small tree to be planting it's

[30:03] going to take a long time

[30:04] but i'm more concerned about the trees

[30:07] on the north side of that development

[30:10] you can see where the little turquoise

[30:12] line goes all the way way into the park

[30:15] now if you go there there's a lot of

[30:18] trees big

[30:20] beautiful trees there's also a drainage

[30:22] ditch that runs along that and feeds

[30:25] into the river

[30:28] i hate to see them take out all those

[30:30] trees

[30:32] it's wildlife wildlife is there

[30:35] you know we have wildlife all over the

[30:37] park but especially in that area because

[30:39] of the association with the river

[30:42] and

[30:43] i i

[30:44] lived i've been in our condo for 13

[30:47] years and so i was living there when

[30:50] hornwockers and and that development was

[30:52] going off but i wasn't actively involved

[30:54] in it because i wasn't within 150 feet

[30:57] of it so i never was involved in that

[31:00] but i've heard the horror stories from

[31:02] the people that live on 19th and what

[31:04] they were promised

[31:06] and what they got

[31:07] and that's my concern too is this looks

[31:11] great

[31:12] if it gets done

[31:14] correctly and i don't know what

[31:17] recourse we have if

[31:19] any of this gets changed and the trees

[31:21] don't get put in and and i know that

[31:23] people on 19th had some very very

[31:25] specific needs for trees

[31:28] to give them

[31:29] some of their green space back because

[31:31] they're losing it all they lost all the

[31:32] green on the back behind them on the

[31:34] south and now across the street they're

[31:36] losing all of their green space i at

[31:38] least still have some

[31:40] so those are the two things i want you

[31:42] to think about the traffic and the

[31:44] landscaping thank you thank you miss

[31:46] helsinki is there any questions for the

[31:48] lady

[31:49] all right the gentleman please

[31:56] good evening commissioners brian

[31:57] pattengale with houston engineering

[31:58] representing the developer

[32:00] um just want to answer some of the

[32:01] questions some of the residents have had

[32:04] as lisa's slate we've been at this for

[32:06] six seven months now at this

[32:08] we've tried to address their concerns as

[32:10] much as possible

[32:11] within you know reasonable demands

[32:15] for all the parking issues the units are

[32:17] actually like three level splits so

[32:19] there's a two stall double stock tuck

[32:21] under garage underneath for each unit so

[32:23] each unit has two stalls in a garage

[32:25] additionally we've provided 25-foot

[32:27] driveways in front of those garage

[32:29] spaces before the access roads there is

[32:31] sufficient parking in the development

[32:32] itself

[32:34] we don't want to have people parking on

[32:35] the park access road

[32:37] we didn't feel that with the responses

[32:38] we got from our initial sort of

[32:39] development plans the neighborhood would

[32:41] appreciate us turning that into a

[32:43] parking lot

[32:44] so we wanted to maintain that sort of

[32:45] just minimal width which discourages

[32:47] parking

[32:48] additionally with narrower widths of

[32:50] streets tends to discourage higher

[32:52] speeds additionally we don't want to

[32:54] make this a big 35 foot wide piece of

[32:56] pavement because people are going to

[32:57] race down that it's sort of a

[32:59] psychological thing that helps provide

[33:00] traffic calming uh it's a documented

[33:03] thing

[33:04] uh so we are providing adequate parking

[33:06] on site so like i said each site

[33:07] basically got a standard residential

[33:10] driveway in front of it plus your tuck

[33:11] under garage

[33:14] as following that up

[33:16] the roadway section as barb mentioned

[33:17] that street was constructed by the parks

[33:19] department that is a same section as a

[33:21] city street so it's equivalent as far as

[33:23] the section goes

[33:24] for engineering design

[33:26] there is going to be an agreement with

[33:27] the parks that has yet to be worked out

[33:29] between the developer for maintenance

[33:31] and snow removal and access and all of

[33:33] that as it goes forward obviously we

[33:35] haven't done that because the

[33:36] development's not there but that isn't

[33:38] works that has been sort of tenderly

[33:40] agreed to between the developer and the

[33:42] parks department

[33:43] um

[33:46] as far as the vacancy of rental rates i

[33:48] can't speak to that as far as what the

[33:49] actual vacancy of rental rates and the

[33:51] city is that's sort of

[33:52] a developer's metric but i can tell you

[33:54] that if it wasn't needed the developer

[33:56] wouldn't be

[33:58] proposing more rental units there

[33:59] obviously is a need for them they're in

[34:02] the business to make money that's you

[34:04] know their developer their goal is to

[34:05] make money with their developments if

[34:07] they're not going to rent things they're

[34:08] going to be vacant they're not going to

[34:09] build things as needed so like i said i

[34:11] can't speak to event the actual vacancy

[34:13] rates of rental units that is sort of

[34:16] theme that i just don't have access to

[34:17] is a

[34:18] engineering site outside my area of

[34:20] expertise

[34:23] i think double to go and donate to land

[34:24] questions has sort of been answered

[34:26] i do want to touch on the traffic

[34:28] concerns

[34:29] like i said it's a typical residential

[34:31] development it's not excessive traffic

[34:34] for sort of the size it's very typical

[34:36] to single single family units

[34:38] as far as that the overall neighborhood

[34:40] that's sort of up beyond the scope of

[34:41] our development as far as the

[34:43] neighborhood to the west and how much

[34:44] traffic that is generated the city

[34:46] engineers have looked at that and sort

[34:47] of said that they're not concerned with

[34:49] the trip additional trips generated by

[34:51] this unit

[34:52] and development um

[34:55] i've got a couple other notes here

[34:56] hold on for a second

[35:03] um regarding the landscaping stuff with

[35:05] the pud you actually have more control

[35:07] over it we're here reviewing the site

[35:08] plans we're reviewing all this stuff

[35:10] this all becomes a public record to

[35:11] recorded documents that have to be

[35:12] enforced on the development

[35:14] i can speak that we have added

[35:16] over a hundred trees that's what's shown

[35:18] in our planting plan a mix of deciduous

[35:20] and pines so we are adding a significant

[35:22] parking and vegetative buffer

[35:24] it's not up on the screen but we did

[35:26] provide

[35:27] vegetative buffers all along the west

[35:28] side of development along the parks

[35:29] department row so that's a series of

[35:31] trees and shrubs and various other

[35:33] vegetation sort of provide a vegetative

[35:35] screen

[35:36] and that is also on the south side along

[35:38] 19th as well so those are pretty

[35:39] extensive vegetative buffers that have

[35:41] been added and proposed along with

[35:43] additional tree plantings now yes i will

[35:45] address that we are going to remove some

[35:47] trees on the northwest side that's

[35:48] inevitable um the 35 foot drainage

[35:51] easement that exists there today will

[35:52] remain along with the drainage ditch and

[35:54] just freezing that easement we are going

[35:56] to obviously try to limit the number of

[35:57] trees i don't have an exact number how

[35:59] winning will come down and what size

[36:01] they are up there in that northeast

[36:02] corner i'm sorry northwest corner of the

[36:03] property

[36:05] but yes we are going to remove some

[36:06] larger trees that's sort of an

[36:08] inevitable

[36:10] fact of development that we do

[36:11] occasionally remove trees but we are

[36:13] substantially replacing anything that

[36:14] we're taking out with um the landscape

[36:17] plan has been proposed i said over 100

[36:19] trees have been added on our landscape

[36:20] plan in addition to various shrubs i

[36:22] don't have the shrub numbers off the top

[36:24] of my head

[36:27] on that so yes we're not going to clear

[36:28] cut the lot by any means we do want to

[36:30] keep the trees that adds value to the

[36:32] property for both the residents and any

[36:34] occupants of the units

[36:37] i'd like to answer any questions anyone

[36:39] has

[36:40] questions for the gentleman

[36:43] commissioner olsen just to comment or

[36:45] whatever something to think about have

[36:46] you ever considered uh like a

[36:48] homeowner's association type thing for

[36:51] it here and where maybe you

[36:55] people who live in those units

[36:57] can't park on the street with their with

[36:59] their personal vehicles that they have

[37:01] to actually use their driveway or their

[37:03] garage as far as the enforcement

[37:05] mechanism as far as an enforcement

[37:07] mechanism i can't speak to that the

[37:08] legality of that um it is professionally

[37:10] managed there's going to be a management

[37:12] organization that takes care of since

[37:14] they are rental units there's going to

[37:15] be a management organization that will

[37:16] run the units do snow removal lawn or

[37:19] care that kind of thing um i can't speak

[37:21] to the legality of how parking

[37:23] enforcement would be done on the parks

[37:25] department road

[37:27] i can't speak to that i don't know the

[37:28] legalities of that

[37:31] as far as enforcing that

[37:33] i was just thinking within the center of

[37:35] your development where the townhomes are

[37:38] all going to be facing the

[37:40] you know street that's inside this the

[37:42] narrow street inside is is going to have

[37:44] to be private enforcement uh that is a

[37:46] 20

[37:47] camera exact dimension off the top of my

[37:49] head but it is also a fire access road

[37:51] so it is not allowed parking on that um

[37:53] that would be something that most likely

[37:55] be enforced by the parking the property

[37:56] management company since it is a private

[37:59] street i don't think believe the fargo

[38:01] part or west fargo police department

[38:02] would go in there and ticketed people

[38:04] unless requested

[38:05] by the property management agency

[38:07] like i said it is it is a private street

[38:10] but no that has to be maintained open

[38:11] and through fair because it is a fire

[38:13] access portion for that development it's

[38:15] just something to think about you know

[38:17] to

[38:18] put the illness on them that they can't

[38:20] use their garage for a storage unit and

[38:21] they actually have to park in their

[38:22] garage

[38:27] additional questions for the gentleman

[38:31] thank you sir

[38:35] is there anyone else that would like to

[38:37] speak to this item

[38:38] again we're at the first reading and

[38:40] public hearing of the elmwood court

[38:41] fourth edition rezoning from public

[38:43] facilities to planned unit development

[38:47] anyone else from the public

[38:54] there's one thing that i've struggled

[38:55] with this

[38:56] on this whole process

[38:59] it says that the owner is the west fargo

[39:01] park district which we know that

[39:03] but the applicant is j o investments

[39:07] so

[39:10] i struggle with that that the the city

[39:12] commission is dealing with

[39:14] really two entities because in the first

[39:17] place

[39:18] the west fargo park district is a

[39:20] separate entity from the city of west

[39:22] fargo and many of the public the people

[39:24] in the public don't understand that but

[39:26] it is

[39:27] so i struggle with me making a decision

[39:30] over that jurisdiction of park board

[39:33] members

[39:34] that have been elected by the same

[39:36] citizens that have elected us

[39:38] to uh that we would override or we would

[39:42] have a jurisdictional

[39:44] oversight over the park district

[39:49] but i do understand that we do on

[39:51] developers

[39:52] and so

[39:54] but

[39:55] again the applicant is j o investments

[39:58] and the owner is the

[40:00] west fargo park district to me that's a difficult decision to make as

[40:04] to who i'm working for

[40:06] in making this decision

[40:08] uh commissioner simmons

[40:11] i guess i'm not sure why mayor that's so

[40:13] difficult

[40:14] i mean because we don't have

[40:15] jurisdiction over the west fargo park no

[40:17] but the park district is the board is

[40:19] recommending that we approve it so

[40:20] obviously they're recommending that we

[40:22] do have that if we i have i am

[40:25] the only one sitting there quite

[40:26] honestly

[40:27] and there's maybe two or three of people

[40:29] in this room including tina

[40:30] barb that have gone through this

[40:32] numerous times over the years numerous

[40:34] times

[40:36] it almost comes back to the same issue

[40:37] you're talking about who is control who

[40:39] doesn't but we have to work together to

[40:41] get the control if we don't work as a

[40:44] team and we don't come together

[40:45] nothing's going to ever get done

[40:47] and this this will sit as it has

[40:50] for many many years so we have to work

[40:52] together on this true but every time

[40:54] that we ever deal with this

[40:56] if barb herb stosser

[40:59] or any member of the west fargo park

[41:01] district would give me their word that

[41:03] these trees are going to be planted and

[41:05] the size of these trees and they're

[41:07] going to protect the the walkways and

[41:09] all of that type of thing i think

[41:11] nothing of it

[41:12] but once we make a decision on this

[41:14] tonight it's totally out of their hands

[41:17] now we're dealing with the developer so

[41:19] our decision is to support the park

[41:22] district and what they want to do with

[41:24] this property

[41:25] and again

[41:27] as a city commissioner i feel no

[41:30] obligation to override what the park

[41:32] district wants to do so i support this i

[41:35] don't support the fact that we have

[41:38] once we do this and i realize it's a pud

[41:41] and we have more oversight and ability

[41:43] to do that

[41:44] but the fact of the matter is

[41:46] we're dealing with these people uh good

[41:49] people that we've worked with uh day to

[41:51] day month to month year to year at the

[41:53] park district

[41:55] and then we'd have to a developer that's

[41:57] going to execute that but these people

[42:00] are giving us their word that they're

[42:01] going to do it and that's a struggle for

[42:03] me

[42:05] but it is going into a pud

[42:08] which means we are going to have control

[42:10] as well as the residents are going to

[42:12] have i love a pud mayor i've done this

[42:14] for years there is no better way

[42:17] there's no better way to do a project

[42:19] than with a pud because then everybody's

[42:21] involved and everybody has some say

[42:24] this could come up as barb mentioned

[42:26] a year from now which it will i

[42:28] guarantee you will come up it has for 18

[42:30] years this will come up again and they

[42:33] could sell to somebody else who will

[42:34] take that gamble

[42:36] and then then that developer will be in

[42:38] front of us and who knows what another

[42:39] commission will do

[42:41] or what we will do

[42:42] the point being is this will come back

[42:44] and come back and come back

[42:46] let me ask you a question uh maybe mr

[42:48] solberg is the best resource for this

[42:51] the development that

[42:53] they referred to as the hornbackers or

[42:56] the subway in that is that a pud

[43:00] mr mr tim selberg assistant city

[43:03] administrator for the city of west fargo

[43:05] former planning and zoning director

[43:07] thank you mr president yes it is a pud

[43:10] reference to the

[43:12] trees that were removed were removed on

[43:13] the property um and in lieu of those

[43:16] trees removed on the property the pud

[43:18] the developer put in a berm which isn't

[43:20] very high but a berman put the fence on

[43:22] top of the berm and evergreen trees

[43:24] behind that berm so that's what we

[43:26] reviewed in the pud and that's what

[43:28] was constructed so if those trees die or

[43:31] if that fence is not maintained the pud

[43:34] is used to enforce that future thank you

[43:36] mr sober the point of the reason i asked

[43:40] him to do that commissioner

[43:42] is we've not we heard from one two three

[43:45] people that on a pud that those people

[43:49] uh that that back up to that development

[43:51] didn't get what they were promised

[43:54] that bothers me i want to maintain the

[43:56] integrity of the existing neighborhoods

[43:59] we owe that to the citizens that are

[44:01] there first

[44:02] mayor let me let me continue i totally

[44:04] agree with you i totally agree but again

[44:06] i was there doing that process as well

[44:08] okay and and the pud went through and

[44:11] that burn was a big issue back then if

[44:13] you recall because it was wet and we

[44:14] couldn't build it and the developer it

[44:16] was the weather they couldn't get it

[44:17] done they finally get done now tim if i

[44:20] could have you come up one more time and

[44:21] i'm not going to get into scrabble but

[44:23] did they do everything that the pud

[44:26] required them to do is there something

[44:28] in the pure ud that that developer did

[44:31] not do

[44:32] no not to this point

[44:34] development there's a still piece that's

[44:36] vacant there but they were required to

[44:37] do the path the berm the fence the trees

[44:41] and before we issued a ceo for

[44:42] hornbackers we reviewed that so if

[44:44] anything's died since then we'd need to

[44:46] be notified or inspected the residents

[44:49] were part of that

[44:50] process part of that pud what they

[44:52] wanted was the berm so forth so it was

[44:55] done mayor it was done

[44:57] i mean everything there was when when

[44:59] you put something in a pud tim

[45:02] test to that that it gets done if you

[45:04] get done you got to go back and the

[45:06] developer will do it yeah commissioner

[45:07] simmons um what was done was what was

[45:10] approved so i i can't say that every

[45:12] resident got what they wanted but right

[45:14] there was a compromise and and the pud

[45:16] addressed that and i'm just saying what

[45:18] was in the pud what was recommended was

[45:20] done and if it's not done you know if

[45:22] there's a resident who says that

[45:23] something isn't done the way it was

[45:25] intended or what we would review that

[45:27] and deal with it as any other code

[45:29] violation

[45:30] thank you we're gonna go commissioner

[45:32] are we still in the public hearing or or

[45:34] is it closed now cause we probably

[45:35] shouldn't are we having this discussion

[45:38] during a good pool in the public hearing

[45:39] or not is what i'm was wondering thank

[45:42] you commissioner

[45:43] for bringing me back on task

[45:46] is there anything else from the public

[45:48] hearing

[45:49] please join us

[45:56] your name and address please

[45:58] my name is leanne drake i live at 327

[46:00] 19th avenue west i just bought my house

[46:04] before while they were working on that

[46:06] development now what i was giving for my

[46:09] realtor when i first bought my place was

[46:12] on that pud there was going to be

[46:14] trees sidewalk trees fence

[46:19] when it went in it went

[46:22] berm

[46:23] fence trees on our side and i can tell

[46:26] you that

[46:27] nobody has been maintaining the trees

[46:31] the mowing unless it's the residents

[46:33] ourselves mowing that land and pulling

[46:34] the weeds off of those trees

[46:37] okay that grass all needs to be receded

[46:39] because it has pretty much died out a b

[46:42] i have water issues in my backyard

[46:44] because of the berm and when i called

[46:46] the city on it was well we did it to code if your

[46:50] yard wasn't done to code that's on you

[46:52] so now i'm in contact with contractors

[46:54] to see what i can do to drain

[46:56] to mr drew's backyard there

[46:59] where he has the drainage because it

[47:01] does not drain from the street down

[47:02] through my yard down to his drainage

[47:05] ditch which is in his yard so that's all

[47:07] going to be at my expense my time in

[47:08] reseeding my grass

[47:10] so saying that they're doing what

[47:13] they're supposed to

[47:14] from my experience in the two years

[47:16] since that's been put up

[47:18] they have not mowed but

[47:19] once

[47:21] we are extremely terrible

[47:25] ma'am you're you're at the podium okay

[47:28] they can come up again

[47:29] so um

[47:31] to me that that's not being maintained

[47:33] and done like

[47:35] what is supposed to be done

[47:37] so you know i came in with my house and

[47:40] my place i bought it there and then i'm

[47:41] also concerned about the traffic because

[47:44] we have one lane out on 19th unless cars

[47:47] are courteous they try and squeeze on

[47:49] each side so we can go two ways

[47:53] with the big meridian in between us

[47:55] there's not traffic being able to go out

[47:57] at 19 that's going to be not congested

[47:59] way back a block behind me and then i

[48:02] cannot get out to work

[48:04] or in from work in a timely manner

[48:06] or if my grandkids are there if there's

[48:08] an emergency on those backed up hours

[48:11] it's going to be hard so

[48:13] if that housing goes in you need to

[48:15] re-look at that

[48:17] driving access on 19th there's it needs

[48:20] to be made into two lanes so that we can

[48:22] get out it's not wide enough

[48:24] and if you drive a full-size pickup and

[48:26] you have two of them side by side it's a

[48:28] little tight

[48:32] so

[48:33] that's all i want to say thank you thank

[48:35] you

[48:37] is there anyone else

[48:45] the public hearing is

[48:47] not

[49:01] and so available going to try and wear

[49:03] two hats on this because i i have an

[49:05] emotional connection to this but i'm

[49:06] trying to look at this logically too and

[49:08] not just emotionally

[49:09] so first of all i think we as

[49:11] commissioners need to remember we get

[49:13] elected by the public right not by the

[49:15] developers not by the park board

[49:17] and 100 of the neighborhood does not

[49:20] want this 100 of the people that elected

[49:23] us do not want this i have received

[49:25] multiple emails phone calls texts i

[49:27] think these people know that i'm a

[49:28] neighbor and we'll you know but we do

[49:30] not want this this is a horrible idea

[49:33] and i'm sorry to say it like that but

[49:34] this is horrible okay the safety alone

[49:37] okay with this street this is a narrow

[49:40] winding little tiny 15 mile an hour road

[49:42] and i stare at it all day every day

[49:43] because it's in my backyard and there's

[49:45] a bike trail that goes right through

[49:46] there and i am terrified one day that a

[49:48] child or a pet or a person anybody is

[49:50] gonna get smacked because you can't see

[49:53] it's blind when you go around the trees

[49:55] block your vision you cannot see and

[49:57] somebody is going to get hit so now

[49:58] we're going to have 300 additional more

[50:00] cars going through here 300 more a day

[50:02] you know they're not going to all funnel

[50:03] out in 19th because the traffic is going

[50:05] to be horrible so what are they going to

[50:06] do they're going to go north 13th and

[50:08] somebody is going to get smacked walking

[50:09] across that bike trail and it's gonna be

[50:11] horrible so they go okay we'll improve

[50:12] the visibility so what are we gonna do

[50:14] we're gonna cut down the rest of the

[50:15] trees i already cried once when the

[50:16] trees went down to put in that road

[50:18] they're gonna knock them down again to

[50:19] make the visibility better that's not

[50:20] improving the neighborhood nobody wants

[50:22] this the neighborhood doesn't want this

[50:25] it's that i better be done because

[50:27] that's but

[50:28] if we support this you are not

[50:29] supporting what people want in the

[50:30] neighborhoods

[50:32] and i just i i can't tell you enough

[50:34] what a horrible idea this is i will say

[50:36] this though you know what this should be

[50:37] you know what everybody wants i am in

[50:38] this park three times a day walking my

[50:40] dog

[50:40] a dog park that is what they should be

[50:42] the park district we do not have a dog

[50:44] park in west fargo that's what this

[50:45] should be that's what all the neighbors

[50:46] want they want that to be a dog park i

[50:48] could also see a community gardens in

[50:49] that corner there's already water access

[50:51] to water the plants so a dog park in

[50:53] community gardens that should not be

[50:54] town homes thank you so

[50:58] commissioner olson you had your hand up

[51:00] i would

[51:01] just ask commissioner george then if it

[51:04] was a dog park or a community garden

[51:07] where would the people park

[51:09] to

[51:10] bring their dogs there or drive to take

[51:13] care of the gardens i mean that i mean

[51:15] that's a good idea

[51:16] but you'd still have the parking issue

[51:18] because not everybody's within walking

[51:20] distance of that park that would want to

[51:23] come to that

[51:24] dog park to do what they need to do with

[51:26] their dogs so we would create a probably

[51:29] bigger

[51:30] parking issue than this than anybody

[51:32] would ever want and since i've got the

[51:34] floor for two seconds here

[51:36] the park district doesn't need our

[51:38] permission to sell the land

[51:41] they can sell the land it's just the

[51:42] rezoning of the land that they're really

[51:44] asking

[51:45] because it could be sold at at any time

[51:47] and come and come in and then that

[51:50] person could ask for it to be rezoned

[51:52] and who knows what could go in there it

[51:54] could be a gas station it could be a

[51:57] anything you could imagine but we still

[51:59] have to approve the rezoning of it but

[52:02] here

[52:03] they have met all of the um

[52:06] requirements the requirements they

[52:08] jumped through the hoops they've done

[52:10] the hurdles to make it something that

[52:12] would fit this little corner of west

[52:14] park

[52:16] that's all i got to say thank you mr so

[52:19] thank you so

[52:20] and mandy i want you to have a heart

[52:22] attack there so please be calm

[52:24] but i do have a couple questions in

[52:25] reference to what you said number one so

[52:27] then

[52:28] you keep

[52:29] first of all we represent the entire

[52:31] city not one neighborhood we have to

[52:32] look out what's best for the entire city

[52:34] and that's called taxpayer dollars you

[52:36] agree with that

[52:37] so there are 250 000

[52:40] in specials now there's another 100 and

[52:42] some thousand if they have to do some

[52:44] tear down projects and future future

[52:46] assessments

[52:47] are you saying that that neighborhood is

[52:49] okay with taking over those assessments

[52:53] personally i would rather pay a little

[52:54] bit more in taxes than have that turned

[52:56] into townhomes so is that going to guess

[52:58] most of the neighbors would probably

[52:59] feel the same way i can't speak for

[53:00] everybody else but i know nobody wants

[53:02] this so that would be my one question

[53:04] because that is a concern who's going to

[53:06] pay those assessments on that property

[53:08] the other thing i want to bring up and

[53:10] again this isn't

[53:11] to these folks because they just moved

[53:13] in and this nice lady in the front row

[53:15] but again i mentioned i've been through

[53:17] this process for 18 years okay when that

[53:20] original was built i was here

[53:22] and i recall them moving forward with

[53:24] where you live mandy they didn't want

[53:26] that either and where you live man they

[53:29] definitely didn't want that project and

[53:31] it's not to the people that live there

[53:32] now it's just that neighborhood they

[53:34] didn't want they don't want anything

[53:35] there but open field and green space and

[53:37] i understand that but when you talk

[53:39] about that hornbackers and that

[53:41] development that is huge for every

[53:43] citizen west fargo that brings in so

[53:45] much tax dollars and it's it's

[53:47] when you buy a house if you have a

[53:49] vacant lot or you have a field behind

[53:50] you you don't know better expect

[53:53] you know that something's going to

[53:54] change and you can't listen

[53:55] unfortunately to your realtors all the

[53:56] time either even though i was one i

[53:58] respect them but they don't have the the

[54:01] true laws and legality so i'm just

[54:03] saying i understand the position you're

[54:05] all in

[54:06] but at the same point

[54:08] we as we have to do something for the

[54:09] entire city

[54:11] thank you commissioner simmons

[54:12] commissioner

[54:14] so you know i agree with

[54:17] the point commissioner simmons on if

[54:19] it's an empty field

[54:22] it's going to be developed but i also

[54:24] believe that when you buy a house next

[54:25] to us what is considered a city park

[54:27] whether they want i mean it might not be

[54:30] most people view it as a component of

[54:31] elmwood

[54:33] and if you buy a house next to any one

[54:36] of our city parks you kind of buy it

[54:37] with the assumption it's going to be a

[54:39] city park

[54:40] and i think that automatically gets

[54:41] built into the value of those homes

[54:44] pretty sure if we wanted to put condos

[54:47] up

[54:48] behind the houses that are on the south

[54:50] side of rendezvous park people would

[54:52] argue that it would be devaluing their

[54:54] house

[54:55] and i don't see a difference

[54:57] in this scenario maybe it doesn't

[54:59] devalue it as much

[55:01] but i think you know there's there's an

[55:02] impact here to the value of the

[55:04] surrounding property owners you know

[55:06] parks this makes total sense from a

[55:09] financial standpoint i have thought

[55:11] i've spent more time on this than i

[55:14] than than i wish i would have you know

[55:16] honestly thinking through this because

[55:17] from a financial perspective i

[55:19] completely agree

[55:20] with what the park board wants to do

[55:23] but then i keep pulling myself back the

[55:25] pet factor i'm not sure parks are

[55:27] supposed to make financial sense

[55:30] in the role they play in our community

[55:32] and so that's i think

[55:35] probably a good hint at where i'm at on

[55:36] this

[55:37] commissioner

[55:39] additional comments commissioners

[55:51] so what is the action mirror that we are

[55:53] expected to take tonight we are we are

[55:56] this is an actionable item to approve

[55:58] the first reading and the public hearing

[56:00] to rezone it okay that's all we're doing

[56:03] is is the zoning

[56:06] question

[56:07] now if this if this goes through and it

[56:09] becomes a pud

[56:11] obviously the developer has to come back

[56:13] with us with whatever and we can approve

[56:16] or disprove

[56:18] uh anything in all that

[56:20] am i correct and not a

[56:22] summary

[56:24] megan or tim megan

[56:28] is that somewhat coherent

[56:31] or correct

[56:34] hi good uh union commission and i would

[56:37] like i guess uh assistance of the

[56:38] administrator to correct me if i'm wrong

[56:40] but you are

[56:43] looking at the development today and

[56:45] making a motion um either in favor or

[56:47] not in favor of um the development and

[56:50] the zoning and the zoning

[56:52] essentially

[56:55] yep correct and there would have to be a

[56:57] second or second radius correct

[56:59] and even more time to work on the pud

[57:02] i would suspect if you have comments

[57:05] that can be relayed to the applicant

[57:08] your commission could do that

[57:10] okay because normally the nomenclature

[57:12] is the final plot too

[57:15] and this is this application is just for

[57:17] zoning

[57:18] there's no um subdivision or plot with

[57:20] this application

[57:21] so

[57:23] again restate

[57:25] it is not only for the zoning change but

[57:28] is an approval for the development

[57:31] that correct correct thank you megan

[57:36] i would make a motion to approve

[57:38] i'll second it

[57:40] it's been moved into commissioner

[57:42] simmons moves commissioner olson seconds

[57:44] the approval of the first reading and

[57:46] the public hearing of elmwood court

[57:48] fourth edition rezoning from public

[57:50] facilities to a pud-planned unit

[57:53] development

[57:54] is there any further discussion

[58:17] all those in favor

[58:19] please signify by saying aye aye aye

[58:23] all those opposed say nay

[58:27] motion fails on a three to two vote

[58:34] item number two is the first reading and

[58:36] public hearing proposed willow creek

[58:38] second subdivision rezoning tabled on

[58:40] august 2 2021 continued on august 16

[58:44] 2021 are we requested to continue the

[58:47] public hearing we have uh

[58:50] mr soberg

[58:52] and megan is coming up to i believe

[58:54] actually another continued request to be

[58:56] continued do you need to come up megan

[58:57] i'm sorry

[59:00] i was just going to note that your

[59:02] commission continued this item on august

[59:03] 16th and we have no new information we

[59:05] work closely with mr shockley on this

[59:07] and right now staff's recommendation is

[59:09] to continue the item

[59:11] so your request is to continue the

[59:12] public hearing

[59:14] commissioners any comments

[59:16] questions

[59:18] i have a motion to uh honor the request

[59:20] to

[59:21] continue the public request to continue

[59:24] so move thank you commissioner simmons

[59:25] is there a second second commissioner

[59:28] gerda big second has been moved and

[59:29] seconded to

[59:30] again continue this public hearing

[59:33] for the first reading of

[59:35] proposed willow creek second subdivision

[59:38] all those in favor signify by saying aye

[59:41] opposed

[59:42] motion carried

[59:44] item number three is the discussion of

[59:46] the drought phase three mr soberg

[59:48] assistant city administrator

[59:50] uh for the city of west fargo and it

[59:52] looks like you have some gentlemen with

[59:54] you

[59:55] uh kellen grubb and troy hall i do thank

[59:58] you mr president in response to the

[1:00:00] continued dry conditions our region our

[1:00:01] region has experienced this year and as

[1:00:03] a response to the city of fargo's recent

[1:00:05] move to what they refer to as phase

[1:00:07] three drought response we want to

[1:00:08] provide the commission with some

[1:00:10] background and explanation of our

[1:00:11] efforts to seek to reduce non-essential

[1:00:13] water usage

[1:00:14] as well as inform you of our

[1:00:15] responsibilities as a customer to the

[1:00:17] city of fargo

[1:00:18] in advance of our consideration of

[1:00:19] ordinance 1191 which is on the next on

[1:00:22] the agenda

[1:00:24] on july 6 2015 the city of

[1:00:27] west fargo entered into an agreement

[1:00:29] with the city of fargo to provide

[1:00:30] treated water for the residents of west

[1:00:32] fargo purchased by the city of fargo we

[1:00:34] provide this water to our customers and

[1:00:36] receive it at two main points from the

[1:00:37] city of fargo with potential of a third

[1:00:39] point in the future part of this

[1:00:40] agreement states that the city of west

[1:00:42] fargo agrees to adopt and enforce an

[1:00:44] equivalent drought and water service

[1:00:46] management plan and equivalent drought

[1:00:48] water service response measures

[1:00:49] ordinance that in the event of certain

[1:00:51] conditions could be used

[1:00:54] to ensure the same water use

[1:00:55] restrictions will be placed on all users

[1:00:57] of this system

[1:00:58] city of west fargo continues to hold

[1:01:00] both and i'm sorry i have listed up here

[1:01:03] uh kellen and troy put a part of our

[1:01:05] agreement on the the powerpoint here and

[1:01:07] we reviewed that again today this indeed

[1:01:10] is the language that's in the agreement

[1:01:12] i paraphrased it on my past paragraph

[1:01:15] there

[1:01:16] the city of west fargo continues to hold

[1:01:17] both surface and ground router

[1:01:19] appropriations however these permits are

[1:01:21] not being utilized our connections to

[1:01:23] the unsustainable groundwater systems

[1:01:25] are closed and are costly and

[1:01:27] complicated to reopen without major

[1:01:29] disruption to the system we also chose

[1:01:31] not to build a very costly surface water

[1:01:33] treatment plant

[1:01:34] the system that we are using today

[1:01:36] provides water through our agreement

[1:01:38] with the city of fargo so we're

[1:01:39] receiving city of fargo surface water

[1:01:41] appropriations

[1:01:42] i'm here to talk about both the drought

[1:01:44] monitoring and the responses that the

[1:01:46] city of fargo have used our water

[1:01:47] utility director troy hall he's joined

[1:01:50] by kellen grubb of and associates who's

[1:01:52] their consultant with this as well i'll

[1:01:54] turn it over to them

[1:01:56] thank you mr sober good evening welcome

[1:01:59] yeah thank you uh mayor commissioners

[1:02:01] yeah i thought we'd uh give a little bit

[1:02:03] of a background on our draw plan i'll

[1:02:06] talk about the fargo appropriations what

[1:02:09] we have for permits and then

[1:02:11] talk a little bit about our drought plan and then kellen

[1:02:15] will talk about the stream flows and

[1:02:17] kind of current conditions and give some

[1:02:19] historical perspective as to

[1:02:21] where we're at

[1:02:26] so with fargo we have three different

[1:02:31] permits to take water for our treatment

[1:02:34] through our treatment plant

[1:02:36] one is the red river of the north that

[1:02:38] right runs right by the water treatment

[1:02:40] plant and that's a a large appropriation

[1:02:44] that we have on that river

[1:02:46] the second one is the cheyenne river and

[1:02:49] we have a smaller permit on the cheyenne

[1:02:51] river we have an intake right at 52nd

[1:02:54] avenue south and we are actually like

[1:02:56] today we're using both both rivers

[1:02:58] right now for for treatment

[1:03:00] the third permit that we have

[1:03:02] is lake ashtabula and that's really our

[1:03:05] doubt our our drought backup water

[1:03:08] supply so that's that's really critical

[1:03:10] for us if we uh get would get further

[1:03:13] into this

[1:03:15] and then

[1:03:16] as far as locations uh just just one

[1:03:20] thing to keep in mind you see this map

[1:03:22] fargo it really doesn't from a

[1:03:24] precipitation standpoint it doesn't

[1:03:26] matter a whole lot from a water supply

[1:03:29] if water if rain falls in fargo and west

[1:03:32] fargo it's really coming from elsewhere

[1:03:34] so that's just something to keep in mind

[1:03:36] we get we got quite a bit of rain the

[1:03:38] last couple weeks but it help it is

[1:03:41] helping but not not as much as we might think

[1:03:45] um

[1:03:46] so the water collects in in different in

[1:03:48] different areas so the water coming from

[1:03:52] the

[1:03:52] lake uh lake hashibula that's north

[1:03:54] valley city so the water collects

[1:03:57] rainfall up north will collect there

[1:03:59] also like travers south of wapaton

[1:04:02] rainfall there but the probably the most

[1:04:04] critical one for us is is really the

[1:04:07] otter tail watershed and i do have a

[1:04:10] slide i just like to explain this just a

[1:04:12] little bit more

[1:04:13] so

[1:04:15] with in order to and this is this has

[1:04:17] been the most really the most reliable

[1:04:20] source of water for the treatment plant

[1:04:23] what you see is uh

[1:04:25] my glasses are a little bit bad here so

[1:04:27] but

[1:04:28] the sea is a graphic and this is the

[1:04:30] ottertail watershed so really

[1:04:32] when we get rain and snowfall in between

[1:04:35] detroit lakes perham

[1:04:37] fergus falls battle lake that's where if

[1:04:41] we get rain and snow in that area

[1:04:43] and it fills the lakes and then it

[1:04:45] eventually runs through fergus falls

[1:04:48] runs up the red river and buyer intake

[1:04:51] so that's really what we need and a lot

[1:04:53] of the rains we've had this summer i

[1:04:56] watched the radars constantly

[1:04:59] just about and

[1:05:00] the the rate it's just the rain a lot of

[1:05:02] the rain is just missing this this area

[1:05:04] here which is kind of unfortunate and it

[1:05:07] did help a couple weeks ago more rain

[1:05:09] fell in fargo

[1:05:10] and west fargo than it did out in lakes

[1:05:13] country

[1:05:17] so that gives you an idea of kind of

[1:05:18] where where it comes from and the only

[1:05:20] other thing i mentioned we are at the

[1:05:22] lakes are low out there and levels we

[1:05:25] are at a water deficit so we got to make

[1:05:27] up some ground and kellen is going to

[1:05:29] show graphic and i think it's in your

[1:05:30] commission pack it shows how much the

[1:05:33] river flow has slowed down over the

[1:05:34] summer

[1:05:37] so

[1:05:38] if if things were to slow down the rain

[1:05:40] just rain just helped but

[1:05:43] we we do have an option as our drought

[1:05:46] supply to

[1:05:47] call on water

[1:05:49] from lake ashabula we'd have to work

[1:05:51] through the state water commission and

[1:05:53] corps of engineers to ask for this water

[1:05:55] but

[1:05:56] fargo has a

[1:05:58] pretty sizable appropriations

[1:06:01] the

[1:06:02] lake ashtabula so does west fargo and so

[1:06:05] we figure we have a a year plus we're at

[1:06:08] the water supply there if things were to

[1:06:09] get more severe we could call upon that

[1:06:12] and we are actually having some

[1:06:13] conversations with and trying to get

[1:06:16] steps in place where we need to do that

[1:06:18] and

[1:06:18] i think the the rain just kind of kicked

[1:06:20] the can down the road a little bit here

[1:06:22] but uh but we we do we are working on

[1:06:24] this option as well

[1:06:27] um for our current uh drought plan this

[1:06:30] is this is the one we uh submitted to

[1:06:34] this the fargo city commission a few

[1:06:36] weeks ago and really what we uh

[1:06:39] look at here

[1:06:41] is there's there's four different

[1:06:42] indicators uh the polymer drought

[1:06:45] severity index the standard

[1:06:46] precipitation index we look at the

[1:06:48] stream flows in the red and cheyenne

[1:06:51] river we also look at

[1:06:53] the reservoir levels um and

[1:06:57] so that we're we're kind of waiting the streamflows and reservoir levels we

[1:07:01] see those uh daily updated

[1:07:04] with the

[1:07:06] palmer drought severity index and the

[1:07:08] standard precipitation index

[1:07:10] those numbers come out monthly so we're

[1:07:12] waiting they should come out about the

[1:07:13] 10th of the month so we're just waiting

[1:07:15] a few more days and we'll have some new

[1:07:17] numbers we thought we'd wait for all the

[1:07:19] data before we recalculated

[1:07:21] so um

[1:07:23] that's what we're that's kind of what

[1:07:24] we're looking looking at but

[1:07:26] again the recent rains helped we're

[1:07:28] assuming

[1:07:29] that the palmer drought severity index

[1:07:31] the standard precipitation

[1:07:33] index will improve but we we're just

[1:07:35] waiting for the numbers on that so right

[1:07:37] now fargo is at a phase three and we're

[1:07:40] going to evaluate where we're at in the

[1:07:42] next week and

[1:07:44] look at potentially a new recommendation

[1:07:47] so from a drought response standpoint

[1:07:50] uh the biggest thing with the phase 3 is

[1:07:53] the outdoor

[1:07:54] it's it's it's outdoor irrigation so

[1:07:57] when we did see the rain and we went to

[1:07:59] phase three the rain probably helped a

[1:08:01] little bit more but we have seen about a

[1:08:03] thirty percent reduction in our water

[1:08:05] man so it it the rain really affects it

[1:08:07] we can see the demands go significantly

[1:08:10] down and really the the

[1:08:13] end game here the thing that's really

[1:08:14] important is we gotta have a enough

[1:08:17] water to keep the water towers full in

[1:08:19] west fargo and fargo so we don't want to

[1:08:22] be in a position

[1:08:23] where we're we're losing ground and we

[1:08:26] can't keep them full so that's why it's

[1:08:27] kind of a phased approach so we can kind

[1:08:30] of ease into it a little bit and then as

[1:08:32] things get more critical that's uh then

[1:08:35] we can make those make those adjustments

[1:08:37] so with that i'm going to turn it over

[1:08:39] to kellen to talk a little bit more

[1:08:41] about the stream flows thank you very

[1:08:43] much thank you sir

[1:08:45] good evening welcome

[1:08:46] um

[1:08:48] good evening uh kellen grubb with berean

[1:08:50] associates

[1:08:51] um so on this graphic this is showing

[1:08:53] red river stream flows measured at the

[1:08:55] fargo gauge the usgs fargo gauge

[1:08:59] as you can see here

[1:09:01] the stream the daily stream flow is

[1:09:02] shown in blue this goes back to april

[1:09:05] 1st through today

[1:09:07] and also the horizontal lines on here

[1:09:09] are the 50th percentile which is the

[1:09:11] median for the period of record

[1:09:13] the 25th percentile flow and the 10th

[1:09:16] percentile

[1:09:18] as you can see things shot up in the

[1:09:19] spring with spring runoff and we've been

[1:09:21] on a pretty steady decline um throughout

[1:09:24] the summer months but the recent rains

[1:09:26] certainly have helped and you've you can

[1:09:28] see towards the end of this graphic the

[1:09:29] stream flows have started to come back

[1:09:31] up a little

[1:09:32] bit this is the same data but this is

[1:09:36] just looking at a 30-day the past 30

[1:09:38] days on the red river so you see those

[1:09:40] significant spikes in in the chart those

[1:09:44] are the rain events that we've

[1:09:45] experienced in the last 30 days and as

[1:09:48] troy

[1:09:49] mentioned about the deficits and the

[1:09:50] watersheds in the basins and all the

[1:09:52] lakes being low

[1:09:53] you know those streets those stream

[1:09:55] flows go right back down is what we've

[1:09:57] seen until that deficit starts to get

[1:09:59] replenished a little bit

[1:10:01] so as you can see

[1:10:03] there was this is the red river graphic

[1:10:05] a lot of a lot of rain in the

[1:10:08] um

[1:10:09] by lake orwell and in lakes country and

[1:10:11] in that river basin so now we're

[1:10:12] starting to see things come back a

[1:10:14] little bit

[1:10:15] and i the data this morning showed 330

[1:10:18] cubic feet per second and i just checked

[1:10:20] it a little bit ago and we're already um

[1:10:22] at 390 cubic feet per second so this is

[1:10:26] something something that we'll continue

[1:10:27] to monitor really closely

[1:10:29] just to make sure that

[1:10:31] stream flows are stabilizing and once we

[1:10:33] start to see those drop off it's just

[1:10:35] something that we like to keep tabs on

[1:10:40] as troy mentioned

[1:10:42] orwell dam is is sits near fergus falls

[1:10:44] on orwell lake this is a critical piece

[1:10:46] of infrastructure of the red river uh

[1:10:48] raw water system so orwell dam

[1:10:50] discharges to the ottertail river which

[1:10:53] joins with the boy de sioux river near

[1:10:55] wapiton and breckenridge and that forms

[1:10:57] the red river of the north

[1:10:59] currently right now they're discharging

[1:11:02] 222 cfs today

[1:11:05] but i do want to note that the core

[1:11:07] minimum release target is 80 cubic feet

[1:11:10] per second

[1:11:12] while the pool elevation remains above

[1:11:15] 1060.

[1:11:16] you can see here that today we're at

[1:11:18] 1065 pool elevation

[1:11:21] and i did want to mention that

[1:11:24] outflows as low as 63 cfs did occur

[1:11:27] throughout a lot of

[1:11:29] the middle of august

[1:11:31] so we did start to see right around

[1:11:33] those minimum releases from the core

[1:11:38] this is the same graphic except this is

[1:11:40] the cheyenne river measured at kindred

[1:11:42] um the one thing to note here was that

[1:11:45] around

[1:11:46] um you know july 22nd we started to see

[1:11:50] things really start to drop off on the

[1:11:52] cheyenne river and then around middle of

[1:11:55] august we actually dropped below the

[1:11:57] 10th percentile flow

[1:11:59] of 39 cfs so we were below that but

[1:12:03] recent rainfall throughout the month of

[1:12:05] august in the cheyenne river basin has

[1:12:08] led to that stream flow increasing as

[1:12:10] well

[1:12:11] and

[1:12:12] we just show here the same 30-day

[1:12:16] previous 30 days on the cheyenne river

[1:12:18] and i just checked this as well and this

[1:12:20] was 184 this morning and it's 212 cubic

[1:12:23] feet per second as of just a little bit

[1:12:25] ago

[1:12:28] uh troy also mentioned bald hill dam so

[1:12:30] this sits on lake ashtabula and this

[1:12:32] feeds the cheyenne river system

[1:12:34] um

[1:12:36] see today they are releasing around i

[1:12:39] believe that says 190 197 cubic feet per

[1:12:42] second

[1:12:43] and the core minimum release target is

[1:12:46] 13 cubic feet per second

[1:12:48] on this dam and

[1:12:50] throughout

[1:12:51] a good portion of august they were

[1:12:53] actually releasing the minimum

[1:12:56] from bald hill down

[1:13:00] last i just want to show a couple

[1:13:01] historical comparison graphics

[1:13:03] so this is compare comparing 2021

[1:13:06] conditions so where we're at today on

[1:13:08] the red river

[1:13:10] those bars are shown in blue that's your

[1:13:12] monthly average stream flow and then the

[1:13:14] gray bars are historical

[1:13:16] so in this graphic

[1:13:18] people you know the 1930s is a

[1:13:20] significant drought that's referenced

[1:13:22] frequently um in the red river valley so

[1:13:24] this is overlaying that early late 1929

[1:13:28] and then

[1:13:29] early 1930s data

[1:13:31] with this effort we were just trying to

[1:13:32] see okay how do we align in 2021 versus

[1:13:35] some of these past you know really

[1:13:38] catastrophic droughts we just wanted to

[1:13:39] see where we're at we were at in terms

[1:13:41] of stream flows as you can see um the

[1:13:44] stream flows and all the blue bars are

[1:13:45] greater than the gray bars which shows

[1:13:47] us that we're not quite there at um you

[1:13:49] know like a 1930s style drought

[1:13:54] lastly a drought that is more recent the

[1:13:56] late 1980s and the red river actually um

[1:14:00] over the last couple months has been the

[1:14:01] lowest since the night since this

[1:14:03] drought period so this was a good uh

[1:14:06] good time period to reference but as you

[1:14:08] can see here with july and august

[1:14:11] 2021 actually started to dip below what

[1:14:14] we saw in 1987 so

[1:14:16] i should note that these graphics don't

[1:14:18] have september on it seems like flows

[1:14:20] are starting to come back you know

[1:14:21] towards the end of august and into

[1:14:22] september now with the recent rains um

[1:14:25] we will certainly add that as we get

[1:14:26] more data

[1:14:28] but we're hoping that when we see you

[1:14:31] know add september to this chart it's

[1:14:33] above that gray bar but we're just

[1:14:35] comparing

[1:14:36] our current conditions to historical

[1:14:38] conditions to see where we're

[1:14:40] at with that we'd like to thank you and

[1:14:43] then we'd be happy to answer any

[1:14:44] questions thank you mr grubb

[1:14:46] questions for mr grubb or mr hall

[1:14:52] commissioner george can you just really

[1:14:54] simplify it in simple terms how the

[1:14:56] recent rains have affected um the

[1:14:59] drought right now just

[1:15:02] so um i guess i'll go back

[1:15:05] here um

[1:15:08] maybe to these graphics this one in the

[1:15:10] red river so those are the significant

[1:15:12] rain events that we see in fargo and you

[1:15:14] see those um you see those drastic peaks

[1:15:17] because all the water is flowing into

[1:15:19] the red river and it's getting picked up

[1:15:20] at that gauge

[1:15:22] but because of the deficit that we have

[1:15:24] in the basin um and the watershed those

[1:15:28] um haven't began to stabilize yet but

[1:15:30] now we're hoping that with this you know

[1:15:33] these series of rainfall events that

[1:15:35] it's going to help replenish that

[1:15:36] deficit the lakes will come up the

[1:15:38] reservoirs will come up and then that

[1:15:40] will start to stabilize and you won't

[1:15:42] see that significant decrease but

[1:15:45] does that answer your question thank you

[1:15:52] anyone else

[1:15:54] i was called to an emergency drought

[1:15:56] meeting last week with mayor mahoney

[1:15:58] myself

[1:16:00] mayor boshinsky out of grand forks

[1:16:03] senate majority leader rich wardner was

[1:16:05] there a house majority leader chetra

[1:16:08] pollard was there

[1:16:10] appropriations were there chairman and

[1:16:12] all and it was all over the red river

[1:16:15] water supply discussion

[1:16:18] and

[1:16:18] the all the concerns that they have with

[1:16:20] drought and obviously mr hall and mr

[1:16:23] grubb here are providing some of that

[1:16:25] uh

[1:16:27] important data to to all the parties

[1:16:30] involved so it is a real concern that

[1:16:32] we're dealing with right now there's no

[1:16:33] question about that commissioner olsen

[1:16:36] just one question yeah does the city of

[1:16:38] moorhead take water from the red no

[1:16:40] wahpeton

[1:16:41] um east grand forks all that

[1:16:45] yeah thank you for the question morehead

[1:16:48] does take water from the red river they

[1:16:50] also have wells

[1:16:51] to the uh to the east

[1:16:54] of moorhead so they have river and wells

[1:16:57] east grand forks i believe they take

[1:16:59] water not from the red river from the

[1:17:01] red lake river

[1:17:03] up there

[1:17:04] wapton i think they're a groundwater

[1:17:06] system but i'm not certain about that

[1:17:08] but yeah we have

[1:17:10] grand forks has both permits on the red

[1:17:13] and red lake river i think they mostly

[1:17:15] use the red lake river

[1:17:17] thank you

[1:17:19] additional questions for the gentleman

[1:17:22] all right thank you very much

[1:17:24] this is for information only this is not

[1:17:26] an actionable item item number four is a

[1:17:28] drought ordinance ordinance 1191

[1:17:32] i'm sorry commission

[1:17:34] uh commissioner george is requesting

[1:17:36] that we take a recess so

[1:17:38] we're we stand adjourned for uh

[1:17:41] five minutes

[1:17:44] uh

[1:18:00] so you want me

[1:18:18] foreign

[1:18:29] um

[1:19:28] architecture

[1:19:53] is

[1:20:38] hello

[1:20:58] you were right you're right

[1:21:28] yes

[1:21:45] foreign

[1:22:12] uh

[1:22:27] okay

[1:22:44] here we go

[1:22:54] so i didn't take the six years

[1:23:13] is

[1:23:26] ready

[1:23:35] the meeting will please come back to

[1:23:36] order

[1:23:37] item number four is a drought ordinance 1191

[1:23:41] second reading mr shockley city attorney

[1:23:44] city of west fargo thank you mr

[1:23:46] commission president

[1:23:48] before you you have the

[1:23:51] ordinance number 1191

[1:23:54] is the second reading of the ordinance

[1:23:56] creating a drought and water system

[1:23:58] response measures

[1:24:00] there's been no changes between the

[1:24:02] first and second reading if this

[1:24:04] ordinance is approved then the next step

[1:24:06] is i'll be working with the city

[1:24:07] engineer and the city administrator to

[1:24:09] develop regulations to implement the

[1:24:12] ordinance

[1:24:13] and those regulations would then come

[1:24:14] back to the city commission for approval

[1:24:18] to to be quite frank i i would not

[1:24:20] expect that the regulations would become

[1:24:22] operative until next summer hopefully it

[1:24:24] doesn't but if we were in a drought

[1:24:27] situation

[1:24:28] so

[1:24:29] this is one step in several that we're

[1:24:31] required to undertake as part of our

[1:24:33] agreement with fargo to purchase water

[1:24:36] thank you mr shock questions for mr

[1:24:38] shockley

[1:24:40] commissioner simon i won john i read

[1:24:42] through this just to make sure i'm

[1:24:43] correct that

[1:24:45] when we go through these different

[1:24:46] phases and if we would have to consider

[1:24:48] an emergency drought that the city

[1:24:50] commission makes that decision is that

[1:24:52] correct that is correct commissioner

[1:24:55] simmons thank you

[1:25:01] at the same time there's conditions in

[1:25:03] our contract with the city of fargo

[1:25:06] correct

[1:25:09] you would still have to follow your

[1:25:10] contract but we've matched the drought

[1:25:13] conditions up to what are pretty close

[1:25:15] to fargo so as far ago i would envision

[1:25:17] it

[1:25:18] and we'll we'll probably address this in

[1:25:20] the regulations but when fargo takes

[1:25:22] action i would expect you know they'll

[1:25:24] go first west fargo as you go through

[1:25:27] the different drought phases just like

[1:25:29] it's happening now but we're just

[1:25:30] codifying it

[1:25:32] yeah yeah

[1:25:33] just to clarify we have a contractual

[1:25:36] agreement that we need to follow

[1:25:39] thank you absolutely and i totally agree

[1:25:41] with that my more my more question and

[1:25:43] it was the question asked was correct

[1:25:45] but it's like

[1:25:46] so say fargo

[1:25:48] does this on a tuesday

[1:25:51] do we just automatically follow suit or

[1:25:53] do we have to have a commission meeting

[1:25:54] to do it because waiting two weeks to do

[1:25:56] this stuff is kind of

[1:25:57] too long i mean you know we can't we've

[1:25:59] been out here three weeks waiting

[1:26:01] they've already went to a phase and here

[1:26:02] we sit so that was kind of where i was

[1:26:04] going where

[1:26:06] would this be automatic or do we come

[1:26:08] back to the commission the way it's

[1:26:09] drafted right now would have to come

[1:26:11] back to the city commission it wouldn't

[1:26:13] just be automatic uh i guess i have

[1:26:16] concerns with the city commission not

[1:26:18] taking action i mean it

[1:26:20] correct so we could have a special

[1:26:22] meeting though very quickly

[1:26:24] good question thank you yeah i i just

[1:26:27] didn't i just thought it is something

[1:26:29] that the city commission

[1:26:30] should be making that decision rather

[1:26:32] than it automatically happening now if

[1:26:34] the city commission failed to take

[1:26:36] action there might be contractual

[1:26:39] uh issues with the city of fargo but to

[1:26:41] me that's a decision that's

[1:26:43] up to the city commission to balance

[1:26:45] those issues out and make it here i'm

[1:26:47] sorry

[1:26:48] i don't the reason i ask that question i

[1:26:50] don't want to lose the authority that

[1:26:52] the city commission makes it but at the

[1:26:54] same time i want to make sure that we're

[1:26:55] expedient and so we could call a special

[1:26:57] meeting very quickly to get that done we

[1:26:59] don't have to wait this three weeks it's

[1:27:00] kind of my point here correct yep

[1:27:03] my question is can we

[1:27:05] declare a drought emergency

[1:27:09] prior to fargo

[1:27:11] yes okay that doesn't prohibit us of

[1:27:13] doing that if we feel we

[1:27:16] need to implement it we can do it

[1:27:17] without having to wait for them to do it correct okay

[1:27:24] commissioners you have before you the

[1:27:26] drought ordinance 1191 second reading

[1:27:29] your pleasure

[1:27:31] my move we approve the second mission

[1:27:33] commissioner olson moves to approve sir

[1:27:34] second commissioner jordanvik second

[1:27:37] it's been moved in second to approve

[1:27:39] uh the second reading of ordinance 1191

[1:27:42] which is the drought ordinance

[1:27:44] uh is there any further discussion

[1:27:51] hearing on all those in favor signify by

[1:27:53] saying aye

[1:27:56] opposed

[1:27:58] motion carries thank you commissioners

[1:28:00] item number five is a presentation of

[1:28:03] the city of west fargo's 2020 financial

[1:28:06] statements and audit mr larson finance

[1:28:08] director

[1:28:10] city of west fargo

[1:28:12] also with him is brian steven jur from

[1:28:15] ida bailey

[1:28:16] good evening commission president

[1:28:18] commissioners thank you for the

[1:28:19] opportunity to present the 2020 audit

[1:28:21] while it is a few months past that year

[1:28:24] end it's still relevant uh that we make

[1:28:26] sure that we take a look at these this

[1:28:28] information

[1:28:29] so the 2020 financials were audited by

[1:28:33] id bailly hired by the commission

[1:28:35] and that

[1:28:36] completed on august 2nd 2021

[1:28:41] it's a process that takes a time frame

[1:28:43] it does take effort from staff finance

[1:28:44] staff as well as other members of the of

[1:28:46] the uh city staff it's not just the

[1:28:48] financial staff that have to work on

[1:28:50] this

[1:28:52] today tonight we have brian stavinger

[1:28:53] here he is a partner with id bailly and

[1:28:55] he will be presenting an executive

[1:28:57] summary which allows us to condense down

[1:29:00] the amount of information

[1:29:02] as well tonight i did present to you as

[1:29:05] prepared by bailey the full financial

[1:29:07] statements and audit report federal and

[1:29:10] regular audit as well as the executive

[1:29:12] summary and so with that

[1:29:15] i am going to let

[1:29:17] brian stavenger come up and

[1:29:20] present and respond to any questions as

[1:29:22] well

[1:29:22] city administrator myself are available

[1:29:24] for questions also thank you mr larson

[1:29:26] thank you

[1:29:28] good evening and welcome

[1:29:30] thank you very much

[1:29:32] certainly don't want to minimize the

[1:29:34] importance of an audit the importance of

[1:29:35] financial statements but i am going to

[1:29:36] go through this fairly quickly

[1:29:39] the executive summary and all that

[1:29:40] information i know was previously

[1:29:41] provided electronically to you got hard copies today

[1:29:46] and jim informed me that he provided

[1:29:48] kind of his own commentary as well when

[1:29:49] he shared that with you a few weeks ago

[1:29:51] so you'll probably hear a little bit of

[1:29:52] repeat from that email

[1:29:54] but again i'm going to try to go through

[1:29:56] it as quick as i can i'll pause

[1:29:57] periodically as you have questions or

[1:30:00] comments to be made

[1:30:01] and we'll get through this as quick as

[1:30:03] we can

[1:30:04] so as jim mentioned uh 2020 audit so

[1:30:07] whenever i talk about this year or this

[1:30:09] most recent year always uh uh

[1:30:12] remembering it's actually eight year

[1:30:13] eight months ago it was finished up so

[1:30:15] it is a little bit of uh some history

[1:30:17] that we're talking about

[1:30:19] the benefit of this executive summary is

[1:30:21] we've got 10 years worth of information

[1:30:23] in most spots the audit annually is

[1:30:25] about one year maybe two years so really

[1:30:27] like to give you some graphical

[1:30:28] information

[1:30:30] and allow you to see that those trends

[1:30:32] so i'll go through first the auto

[1:30:33] opinion very very important our opinion

[1:30:35] is a clean unmodified opinion that's

[1:30:37] what you want when you get an audit that

[1:30:39] means everything is fairly stated

[1:30:41] materially accurate everything that's in

[1:30:43] that full audit or needs to be in that

[1:30:44] full audit is in that audit

[1:30:49] this year

[1:30:50] 2020

[1:30:52] for the first time in in a long time

[1:30:54] also had to do a separate audit on

[1:30:56] federal funds so anytime any local

[1:30:58] government

[1:31:00] receives or expends over 750 000 in

[1:31:03] federal awards requires a secondary

[1:31:05] audit required by federal guidance

[1:31:07] uh roughly 4.8 almost 4.9 million in

[1:31:10] 2020 which was vast vast majority of

[1:31:14] that was uh

[1:31:15] virus relief funds from the cares act

[1:31:18] triggered that requirement so in

[1:31:20] conjunction with your annual audit that

[1:31:21] we do every year we also did a federal

[1:31:23] audit heavy compliance and internal

[1:31:25] controls just to make sure you're

[1:31:26] spending those dollars appropriately

[1:31:28] according to the federal guidelines also

[1:31:30] a clean unmodified opinion on those

[1:31:33] federal funds

[1:31:36] lastly in this section any findings as

[1:31:38] we go through the audit

[1:31:40] if we have any findings to report to you

[1:31:41] those would be reported in your full

[1:31:43] audit we summarize those here two audits

[1:31:45] are two findings on the financial

[1:31:46] statement audit no findings on the

[1:31:48] federal audit those two findings for the

[1:31:50] financial statements uh were also in

[1:31:52] place in 2019

[1:31:53] material journal entries basically we

[1:31:55] are asked by the the city to help with

[1:31:58] the pension entries those are pretty

[1:32:00] complicated calculations as well as

[1:32:02] other post-employment benefits or opeb

[1:32:04] so we propose those entries management

[1:32:06] reviews them and approves them we also

[1:32:09] as auditors have been asked by

[1:32:11] management to prepare the full audit on

[1:32:13] the city's behalf we prepare it it is

[1:32:15] reviewed extensively and approved by

[1:32:18] management

[1:32:19] any uh instance where those two items

[1:32:21] come up we have to report those as

[1:32:23] findings

[1:32:24] and when we do that again in federal

[1:32:26] awards no findings that's very very

[1:32:28] important uh from the federal government

[1:32:29] standpoint that you're spending the

[1:32:30] money appropriately according to those

[1:32:32] rules i'll pause there to see if there's

[1:32:34] any questions

[1:32:36] on the uh high level results of the

[1:32:38] audit

[1:32:42] all right continue on we'll get into

[1:32:43] some numbers

[1:32:46] first one here is cash this is looking

[1:32:47] at total cash balances across the entire

[1:32:49] city broken down into two categories the

[1:32:52] proprietary which is really the water

[1:32:54] sewer and garbage that's the green for

[1:32:56] each year and then the rest of it it's

[1:32:58] really everything else general fund debt

[1:33:00] service fund capital projects fund

[1:33:02] you can see beginning in 2018 uh

[1:33:04] significant growth in that cash balance

[1:33:06] from 2019 to 2020

[1:33:09] really about 10 million dollars in

[1:33:11] special assessment prepays from the

[1:33:12] school district as well as the cares act

[1:33:15] funding of just under 5 million allowed

[1:33:17] or caused that increase in total cash at

[1:33:20] the end of 2020.

[1:33:24] what do we do

[1:33:26] with that cash as auditors and really as

[1:33:28] just finance people we like to see what

[1:33:29] do you have

[1:33:31] on hand

[1:33:32] but how liquid is it meaning

[1:33:34] yes you have cash on hand but how does

[1:33:36] that compare to your current liabilities

[1:33:38] your accounts payable your monthly bills

[1:33:40] your salaries you pay

[1:33:41] any current maturities of long-term debt

[1:33:44] we always like to analyze what do you

[1:33:45] have cash on hand compared to really

[1:33:47] what you owe

[1:33:48] in in the next year

[1:33:51] minimum ratio really any

[1:33:54] government any any company private

[1:33:56] company would be 1.0 if you have under a

[1:33:59] under 1.0 that means you don't have

[1:34:01] enough cash on hand to pay your monthly

[1:34:03] bills

[1:34:04] that means you may be borrowing

[1:34:06] in the short term so really you want to

[1:34:08] be above 1.0 you can see a very strong

[1:34:10] liquidity liquidity ratio

[1:34:12] jumped up a lot in 2020 because of those

[1:34:14] prepays prepays and cares act funding

[1:34:17] but overall very strong good liquidity

[1:34:19] ratio for the city

[1:34:23] questions before we move on

[1:34:24] to look at some of the individual funds

[1:34:27] okay general fund so we'll break these

[1:34:29] down into different funds again very high level

[1:34:33] there's a lot of information on this

[1:34:34] page revenues and transfers in so you

[1:34:36] look at the general fund what do you collect for revenues uh be

[1:34:39] it intergovernmental licenses and

[1:34:42] permits taxes there's also transfers in

[1:34:44] from other funds

[1:34:46] really most categories here are very

[1:34:48] similar with the exception of

[1:34:49] intergovernmental and those are the

[1:34:50] cares act funds about 5 million dollars

[1:34:53] very abnormal

[1:34:55] in 2020 you'll probably see that

[1:34:56] continuing on into the future

[1:34:59] and then transfers and transfers in are

[1:35:01] mainly from capital project funds for

[1:35:03] administrative and engineering fees

[1:35:05] that'll fluctuate just kind of depending

[1:35:07] on the projects in place

[1:35:09] but otherwise good strong revenue growth

[1:35:11] in the general fund

[1:35:16] looking at the expenditures so as you

[1:35:18] collect those revenues then what do you

[1:35:20] spend those dollars on in the general

[1:35:21] fund

[1:35:23] expenditures also very much

[1:35:26] similar or steady growth

[1:35:28] uh with the exception of transfers out

[1:35:32] are going to happen from time to time uh

[1:35:34] depending on different situations in the

[1:35:36] in in 2020 those cares act funds

[1:35:39] were receded into the general fund and

[1:35:41] then transferred out to be to be really

[1:35:43] segregated out and accounted for

[1:35:45] separately and tracked separately uh

[1:35:47] which is a good move on the city's part

[1:35:49] and we recommend that to all governments

[1:35:51] so there's a significant transfer out

[1:35:53] there

[1:35:53] in 2020 otherwise just really slow

[1:35:56] steady growth

[1:35:57] uh in the in the budget and the

[1:35:59] expenditures of the general fund

[1:36:05] so the big question on the general fund

[1:36:07] what do we have for fund balance what do

[1:36:09] we have for reserves

[1:36:11] yes those are some big cash dollars yes

[1:36:13] we've got a lot of revenue coming in we

[1:36:15] spend a lot of dollars in the end what

[1:36:17] do we have for fund balance

[1:36:19] going forward fund balance is really

[1:36:21] your reserves going forward

[1:36:23] you do want to have a positive fund

[1:36:24] balance for these three three reasons

[1:36:26] there's several different categories of

[1:36:28] fund balance thankfully the city only

[1:36:30] has two of them

[1:36:31] one on each end the non-spendable which

[1:36:33] is very small if you have any inventory

[1:36:35] on hand any prepaid items

[1:36:37] really the far right bucket unassigned

[1:36:40] that's your true reserves your true

[1:36:41] rainy day fund and we're going to

[1:36:43] analyze that unassigned

[1:36:45] on the next page

[1:36:48] the next few pages

[1:36:50] total fund balances in the general fund

[1:36:52] so as you've progressed over the last 10

[1:36:54] years

[1:36:55] you know real steady incremental growth

[1:36:58] from 2011 to 2015 probably slowed down a

[1:37:02] little bit on the ending reserves still

[1:37:05] grew still grew a little bit

[1:37:07] but slowed down definitely from 19 to 20

[1:37:10] actually a little bit of a reduction in

[1:37:11] your fund balance in the general fund

[1:37:13] mainly 2020 of course an abnormal year

[1:37:16] when it comes to what began in the

[1:37:18] spring but a reduction of state aid

[1:37:20] highway taxes and other revenues impacted by the pandemic really

[1:37:24] just allowed that fund balance to

[1:37:25] maintain its its level a slight

[1:37:28] reduction from 2019 but very very level

[1:37:31] all of these are numbers big big numbers

[1:37:34] as the city's grown the numbers have

[1:37:36] gotten larger what we always like to do

[1:37:38] is we like to turn that fund balance

[1:37:40] into a what is that as a percentage of

[1:37:42] your budget essentially

[1:37:44] what you have for expenditures in your

[1:37:46] general fund what is the fund balance or

[1:37:48] what is your reserves compared to that

[1:37:52] so you can see on this page

[1:37:54] that grew for the first five years

[1:37:57] peaking in 2015 at just under 200

[1:37:59] percent

[1:38:00] essentially almost two years worth of

[1:38:02] reserves

[1:38:03] in your fund balance you could have

[1:38:05] operated your fund or your general fund

[1:38:07] essentially without taking in any

[1:38:09] revenue for about two years that was

[1:38:10] back in 2015.

[1:38:12] that has slowly decreased 2020 decreased

[1:38:16] down to 136 percent still very very

[1:38:18] strong reserves

[1:38:20] but you can see essentially what this

[1:38:21] means is your expenditures have have

[1:38:24] grown as as they've grown your fund

[1:38:26] balance has not grown at the same same

[1:38:28] level the same pace which is okay

[1:38:30] there's nothing wrong with that it just

[1:38:32] means that as it's grown your reserves

[1:38:34] as a percentage of your total budget

[1:38:36] have decreased a little bit but overall

[1:38:38] still a very strong fund balance very

[1:38:39] strong reserves

[1:38:41] i'll pause there before we move into

[1:38:42] some other funds see if there's any

[1:38:44] questions

[1:38:47] okay

[1:38:48] sales tax fund sales tax fund collects

[1:38:50] revenues in 2015 a new sales tax was

[1:38:53] enacted that's why it jumped up so much

[1:38:55] good slow steady growth even in 2020

[1:38:58] i can tell you halfway through 2020

[1:39:01] when we had some check-in calls with the

[1:39:03] city

[1:39:04] it was kind of like how are the sales

[1:39:06] taxes going i don't know i don't know

[1:39:08] how they're going to end up actually end

[1:39:09] up about a nine percent increase in

[1:39:11] sales tax collections in 2020. those

[1:39:13] revenues are collected uh and then for

[1:39:15] the most part they're collected

[1:39:17] and utilized to transfer out for use in

[1:39:19] capital projects and economic

[1:39:21] development so in general you collect

[1:39:23] them in and you transfer them out at the

[1:39:25] end of the year at the end of the year

[1:39:26] what do you have for fund balance or

[1:39:27] reserves in that sales tax fund it's

[1:39:29] pretty pretty evident here uh in the

[1:39:31] last three years you've targeted roughly

[1:39:33] four million dollars is what you want to

[1:39:34] maintain in there and the rest is

[1:39:36] transferred out to support capital

[1:39:38] projects and economic development

[1:39:44] capital projects fund

[1:39:49] we don't don't focus so much on on

[1:39:51] revenues or transfers in those are

[1:39:53] mainly transfers in that fund the

[1:39:55] capital projects

[1:39:57] focus more on expenditures of course

[1:39:59] depending on the different projects

[1:40:00] going on this will fluctuate up and down

[1:40:02] these are really all non-utility

[1:40:05] projects utility projects are accounted

[1:40:07] for separately we can see in 2020 just

[1:40:10] under 50 million in expenditures in that

[1:40:12] capital outlay fund

[1:40:16] at the end of the year what is the fund

[1:40:17] balance

[1:40:19] you can see negative for the first uh

[1:40:21] seven years

[1:40:22] positive in 2018 and 2019 and then a

[1:40:24] slight negative in 2020. you know it's

[1:40:27] really just the way that that fund

[1:40:28] operates essentially

[1:40:30] pays for

[1:40:31] the cash or i guess

[1:40:34] pays for projects up front and

[1:40:36] essentially gets reimbursed once the

[1:40:38] projects are done by by finance or bond

[1:40:41] proceeds so typically you're going to

[1:40:43] have a negative fund balance there

[1:40:44] really changed in 2018 and 2019 because

[1:40:47] of the cheyenne street project that was

[1:40:49] just so large scale that that kind of

[1:40:50] modified the way that the the the

[1:40:52] financing was done uh 2020 kind of

[1:40:55] revert it back to the more typical

[1:40:58] way to finance projects pay for cash get

[1:41:00] reimbursed later

[1:41:02] this is all managed very very well no

[1:41:03] concerns here that this would be

[1:41:05] negative

[1:41:08] water and sewer fund

[1:41:11] and the water is still fun a lot of

[1:41:12] information here too uh the main thing

[1:41:14] to point out is that yellow line that

[1:41:16] very bottom line that's depreciation

[1:41:18] expense is a non-cash

[1:41:22] expense

[1:41:23] we point that out only because if you

[1:41:26] look at the actual results of this fund

[1:41:29] it shows as a net loss but that's

[1:41:31] because of the depreciation

[1:41:32] if we back off the depreciation that's

[1:41:34] really the top three lines operating

[1:41:36] revenues which there was a rate increase

[1:41:38] on july 1st of 2020

[1:41:41] causing that 2020 revenues to go up

[1:41:43] expenses excluding depreciation so

[1:41:46] really more of your true cash outlay and

[1:41:48] then the red line there is is

[1:41:50] essentially your net income or net loss

[1:41:52] excluding depreciation

[1:41:54] you really want to be at a minimum of

[1:41:56] breakeven you usually want to generate a

[1:41:58] little bit of profit here and that's

[1:41:59] really what it's been doing once you

[1:42:01] exclude those non-cash depreciation

[1:42:03] items

[1:42:04] depreciation continues to grow there's

[1:42:05] been a ton of investment in

[1:42:07] infrastructure in the water and sewer

[1:42:09] funds that means increased depreciation

[1:42:12] we monitor all of that but i would say

[1:42:14] that red line is the most important

[1:42:16] really from a cash flow standpoint

[1:42:18] you're generating positive cash flow as

[1:42:20] positive income

[1:42:22] questions on that that can be

[1:42:24] a little bit confusing

[1:42:28] uh net position here net position in the

[1:42:31] water sewer fund uh 97 of it

[1:42:34] is infrastructure so in the general fund

[1:42:36] when you look at kind of the reserves

[1:42:38] there that's more cash and liquid assets

[1:42:41] not the case here uh

[1:42:43] just under 350 million in net position

[1:42:45] or reserves

[1:42:46] almost all of it is infrastructure

[1:42:48] investment

[1:42:49] really shows you the growth

[1:42:51] in the water and sewer fund for sure but

[1:42:54] city-wide a lot of investments in

[1:42:56] infrastructure

[1:42:59] more important that we monitor would be

[1:43:01] the year-end cash what do you have for

[1:43:03] cash in that fund

[1:43:04] uh very very strong growth beginning in

[1:43:07] 2015 and then it's been much more steady

[1:43:09] but at the end of the year just over 12

[1:43:11] million dollars in cash in that water

[1:43:13] and sewer fund

[1:43:17] last one the garbage fund

[1:43:22] revenues in blue expenses in green and

[1:43:25] then operating income or loss

[1:43:27] the garbage fund typically right around

[1:43:30] that break even sometimes it loses a

[1:43:32] little bit of money sometimes it gains a

[1:43:33] little bit of money the last two years

[1:43:35] 2019 and 2020

[1:43:37] generating positive operating income

[1:43:40] but overall pretty steady

[1:43:42] right at or above that break-even line

[1:43:44] which is what we like to see

[1:43:46] net position there about 50 percent of

[1:43:48] that is infrastructure in the garbage

[1:43:50] fund otherwise more liquid

[1:43:53] pretty steady through 2018 some growth

[1:43:55] in the last couple years

[1:43:58] and then year-end cash has grown

[1:44:00] significantly in the last couple years

[1:44:01] at least compared comparatively

[1:44:04] at the end of 2020 just over three

[1:44:06] million dollars

[1:44:07] in cash in the garbage fund

[1:44:11] okay

[1:44:12] i flew through it

[1:44:13] hopefully giving you though a good high

[1:44:15] level overview

[1:44:17] of the financial results for 2020

[1:44:19] compare those to historical

[1:44:21] and i'll just ask for a final time for

[1:44:23] any other questions that you might have

[1:44:27] gentlemen

[1:44:29] questions for a minute commission

[1:44:31] question for you on your depreciation

[1:44:33] schedule

[1:44:34] does infrastructure it did you actually

[1:44:37] do a depreciation

[1:44:39] schedule on the infrastructure

[1:44:41] in addition to the you know physical

[1:44:42] assets that you have in that department

[1:44:44] yes

[1:44:45] what is the rate on the uh depreciation

[1:44:48] schedule for the infrastructure is usually on between a

[1:44:52] 35 to 50-year life

[1:44:56] 30-year to 50-year jim can you tell us

[1:44:58] what we do

[1:45:01] yes we uh we depreciate uh at 50 we use

[1:45:04] a 50-year life for most of our

[1:45:06] infrastructure which i think is pretty

[1:45:08] uh similar to what actual life we're

[1:45:10] experiencing

[1:45:11] thank you kindly

[1:45:13] thank you good

[1:45:14] question anyone else

[1:45:19] mr stavinger thank you thank you so much

[1:45:27] mr larson is this an actionable item

[1:45:29] that you want us to approve the audit

[1:45:31] report i would assume

[1:45:32] um

[1:45:33] yes if you would uh be willing to make a

[1:45:35] motion to approve and receive it as

[1:45:37] presented

[1:45:38] appreciate it so moved commissioner simmons moved is there a

[1:45:42] second please second commissioner gerda

[1:45:44] big second and moved in second to

[1:45:46] approve

[1:45:47] uh the west fargo 2020 financial

[1:45:49] statement and ottoman audit as presented

[1:45:52] by id bailey and mr larson finance

[1:45:55] director for the city of west fargo is

[1:45:57] there any discussion

[1:46:00] all those in favor signify by saying aye i'm opposed

[1:46:05] motion carried thank you again

[1:46:08] item number six is the red river

[1:46:10] regional dispatch center consideration

[1:46:12] this is an update from

[1:46:14] dennis otterness chief of police city of

[1:46:16] west fargo chief welcome this evening

[1:46:19] thank you commission president dardis

[1:46:21] and members of the commission

[1:46:23] uh very brief tonight

[1:46:25] [Music]

[1:46:26] i've got an action item for you to

[1:46:28] consider related to the red river

[1:46:30] regional dispatch center

[1:46:32] to appoint cass county as a fiscal agent

[1:46:35] and recommend sch as our architectural

[1:46:37] design contractor

[1:46:40] the city west fargo is a participating

[1:46:42] agency and holds a seat on the board of

[1:46:44] authority of the red river regional

[1:46:46] dispatch center

[1:46:47] also known as a triple rdc

[1:46:50] the triple rdc serves to combine public

[1:46:52] safety communications and dispatch

[1:46:54] services in a jointly operated dispatch

[1:46:56] center

[1:46:57] and we've been participating since 2008

[1:47:00] that triple rdc was originally formed in

[1:47:02] 2001.

[1:47:04] population served by the triple rdc

[1:47:06] since its inception has grown

[1:47:08] exponentially

[1:47:09] and recently in ad hoc committee the

[1:47:11] triple rdc has been working on

[1:47:12] addressing site and space needs for the

[1:47:14] past three years

[1:47:16] discussions have been held with the city

[1:47:18] county administrators

[1:47:20] elected officials in the past year to

[1:47:22] determine the most appropriate path

[1:47:23] forward

[1:47:25] the committee has found there to be a

[1:47:26] strong support from all entities to move

[1:47:28] forward with building a new dispatch

[1:47:29] center

[1:47:30] to serve our communities for the next 50

[1:47:32] years

[1:47:34] cass county government has agreed to

[1:47:35] serve as the fiscal agent on the project

[1:47:38] representatives from the cities of west

[1:47:40] fargo fargo moorhead cass and clay

[1:47:43] counties

[1:47:44] have recently conducted interviews of

[1:47:46] architectural firms to assist in site

[1:47:48] selection

[1:47:49] and conceptual designs for a new center

[1:47:51] and we are providing this firm for your

[1:47:53] consideration of support tonight

[1:47:56] the recommendation is that the city of

[1:47:57] west fargo agree to participate in

[1:47:59] selection of a location and building a

[1:48:01] renovation of an existing building to

[1:48:04] house her triple rdc and support cass

[1:48:06] county government serving as a fiscal

[1:48:08] agent for the project

[1:48:10] the city of west fargo agrees to support

[1:48:12] the recommendation

[1:48:13] of the joint selection committee for

[1:48:15] short

[1:48:16] eliot and hendrickson sch

[1:48:19] architectural firm for the selection and

[1:48:20] design of a new triple rdc

[1:48:24] and i'll stand for any questions if you

[1:48:25] have them

[1:48:26] thank you chief question

[1:48:28] mandy's got a person andy please

[1:48:30] um i was just wondering

[1:48:32] what kind of financial obligation we

[1:48:33] have for this as a city

[1:48:37] uh i guess i'd have to probably defer to

[1:48:39] the city administrator on that there's a

[1:48:41] formula

[1:48:42] that we pay into i don't have those

[1:48:44] numbers with me tonight exactly what

[1:48:47] that formula is

[1:48:48] but it's based on population and so we

[1:48:51] serve it serves as you know the triple

[1:48:54] rdc entities both on the north dakota

[1:48:56] and minnesota side

[1:48:58] so we all collectively on the north

[1:49:00] dakota side pay into cass county all the

[1:49:02] entities fargo police department west

[1:49:04] fargo police fire fargo fire and then

[1:49:07] cass county serves as our fiscal agent

[1:49:08] into that triple rdc to fund that every

[1:49:11] year but i don't have the specific

[1:49:13] formula with me tonight

[1:49:16] city administrator fisk yes in relation

[1:49:19] to that the formula is going to be

[1:49:21] altered based on our

[1:49:23] census numbers and so when we have that

[1:49:26] information i will bring that forward to

[1:49:27] the commission

[1:49:29] thank you thank you as chief has

[1:49:31] indicated the uh

[1:49:33] it's going to be based one of two ways

[1:49:34] either on population or the number of

[1:49:37] calls coming into the dispatch center

[1:49:39] because there is a little bit of

[1:49:41] difference in the in the ratio of

[1:49:43] population to the calls

[1:49:46] it's interesting data to study and so uh

[1:49:49] that's still to be uh determined

[1:49:51] uh there's

[1:49:53] we're also working with a third

[1:49:55] entity

[1:49:56] that might also join the red river

[1:49:58] valley dispatch center

[1:50:01] one of the local hospitals and their

[1:50:03] dispatching of their ambulance service

[1:50:06] so there's there's lots of things in

[1:50:07] discussion here

[1:50:09] we already participate

[1:50:12] at the at the level that we do and

[1:50:13] there's no

[1:50:15] additional financial obligation being

[1:50:17] asked this evening

[1:50:19] we have hired an architect

[1:50:21] and

[1:50:23] chief otterness and myself were both

[1:50:25] part of that review committee that's uh for the city of west fargo so it's

[1:50:30] there's there's no obligations now

[1:50:33] but uh there's a lot of discussion going

[1:50:35] on commissioner olson

[1:50:36] just for clarification chief um under

[1:50:39] the recommendation that says we're going

[1:50:40] to participate in the selection of a

[1:50:42] location and building

[1:50:44] and there's a slash renovating of an

[1:50:46] existing building so are we looking at

[1:50:48] doing

[1:50:49] both building a brand new one plus

[1:50:51] renovating the existing one no we're uh

[1:50:54] thank you commissioner for the

[1:50:55] clarification so there's a site

[1:50:57] committee that's put together uh that uh

[1:50:59] is formed uh from several members from

[1:51:02] the board of authority

[1:51:03] that are looking at not only a potential

[1:51:05] build sites but also existing sites that

[1:51:09] might be suitable for renovation

[1:51:11] uh the difficult part with uh with a

[1:51:13] dispatch center like this is their

[1:51:15] specifications

[1:51:16] uh that it has to be met to weather

[1:51:19] certain

[1:51:20] you know

[1:51:21] weather events like tornadoes hardening

[1:51:23] of the building and such so there hasn't

[1:51:25] been a final

[1:51:26] site selected yet so we will continue to

[1:51:28] participate in that

[1:51:30] i will as a member of the board of

[1:51:31] authority

[1:51:32] but that decision has not been made yet

[1:51:34] where that site will be the existing

[1:51:37] dispatch center is not a hardened

[1:51:39] building

[1:51:40] the red river dispatch center

[1:51:43] group the consortium owns the building

[1:51:46] that will be sold

[1:51:47] but they're looking at other potential

[1:51:49] buildings it has to meet a class five

[1:51:52] that's which is virtually tornado proof

[1:51:55] for a dispatch center because of the

[1:51:57] importance of emergency services they

[1:51:59] can't go down

[1:52:01] the the company that they've selected uh

[1:52:04] that the chief has in this report

[1:52:07] has built over 400 of them across

[1:52:09] america many of them in florida uh that

[1:52:11] are hurricane proof and so they're very

[1:52:14] familiar with

[1:52:15] hardening of buildings and weather

[1:52:17] events although you know a little bit

[1:52:19] different here

[1:52:20] commissioner simmons who sits on this

[1:52:22] committee chief

[1:52:24] uh commissioner simmons which on the

[1:52:26] board of authority yeah or on the on the

[1:52:28] site selection committee well either one

[1:52:30] who sits on it for the city of west

[1:52:31] fargo i do for the on the board of

[1:52:34] authority and how about on the committee

[1:52:36] well there's several committees uh the

[1:52:38] site selection committee is made up of

[1:52:41] several members from the board of

[1:52:42] authority there's personnel committees

[1:52:45] that we have a representative on

[1:52:47] i serve as the chair of the personnel

[1:52:49] committee

[1:52:50] we have a presence on the finance

[1:52:52] committee there's an operations

[1:52:54] committee that are all subcommittees

[1:52:55] that make recommendations up to the

[1:52:57] board of authority and then we bring

[1:52:59] those uh to our i guess where i'm going

[1:53:01] with this is i find it somewhat

[1:53:03] insulting that as police commissioner

[1:53:06] i haven't been involved in any of this

[1:53:08] to me that's a little bit when we came

[1:53:10] out in 2008 i was a major player in that

[1:53:14] and and i was actually

[1:53:15] the police commissioner back then i was

[1:53:17] part of involved with with uh chief

[1:53:19] rasmussen

[1:53:20] getting involved in actually pushing us

[1:53:22] with the former mayor and quite honestly

[1:53:24] i other than one conversation i don't

[1:53:26] know anything about this i don't know if

[1:53:28] you other commissioners do but i think

[1:53:30] it's a little insulting to me as a

[1:53:31] police commissioner there's been no

[1:53:33] decisions made i realize that you guys

[1:53:35] have been having

[1:53:37] let's not i'm just let me speak my piece

[1:53:38] and that's all i'm saying as police

[1:53:40] commissioner as a street commissioner or

[1:53:42] whatever commissioners

[1:53:43] we are i think that is part of our

[1:53:45] portfolio that we should be involved a

[1:53:47] little bit more in this step

[1:53:49] that's just my opinion

[1:53:51] just for clarifications to commissioner

[1:53:53] this is we are at the very infant stage

[1:53:55] of this where the site selection

[1:53:56] committee has just been um

[1:53:59] made up out of our members of the board

[1:54:01] of authority

[1:54:02] and so the the architectural firm

[1:54:05] selection and the review of those

[1:54:07] different proposals

[1:54:09] the mayor and i both sat through those

[1:54:11] just to

[1:54:13] i guess finalize who we're going to use

[1:54:15] as an architect to now start looking at

[1:54:18] sites and design and all those kinds of

[1:54:20] things so there will be a lot more

[1:54:22] decisions to be made moving forward

[1:54:24] we're right at the beginning of it

[1:54:26] again i sit on the

[1:54:27] fire department portfolio as well

[1:54:30] and i was involved in every one of those

[1:54:32] decisions as the architect and

[1:54:33] everything else i'm just saying i i just

[1:54:35] think i'm just a little offended by it

[1:54:37] that's all i'll live with it but i want

[1:54:38] you to know that

[1:54:43] mr shockley

[1:54:44] thank you mr commission president

[1:54:47] members of the commission i did want to

[1:54:49] note that currently

[1:54:50] uh we've been tina and i have been

[1:54:53] meeting with the city of fargo and some

[1:54:55] of the other member entities and we're

[1:54:56] looking at

[1:54:57] reconstituting the board

[1:55:00] and so that discussion about and it's being generated by the construction

[1:55:05] of this new facility

[1:55:07] and we have we haven't really come down

[1:55:09] to what that board will finally look

[1:55:11] like

[1:55:12] but the concept is that elected

[1:55:13] officials would be on that board rather

[1:55:16] than

[1:55:17] the police chiefs and the fire chiefs

[1:55:19] and so those discussions are underway

[1:55:21] right now just

[1:55:23] we don't have they haven't matured

[1:55:24] enough yet to come forward to the

[1:55:26] commission so we i think as a group we

[1:55:30] we've heard that concern that the

[1:55:32] elected officials would like to be on

[1:55:34] that board

[1:55:35] and so we're taking that back and

[1:55:36] looking at the amendment when the

[1:55:38] dispatch center was first started years

[1:55:40] ago

[1:55:41] it was

[1:55:42] born out of necessity because he needed

[1:55:45] a regional dispatch center and so

[1:55:47] anything born out of necessity was sort

[1:55:48] of being you know they were dry they

[1:55:50] were building the car as they were

[1:55:52] driving it and now we have an

[1:55:54] opportunity to

[1:55:56] look back and say

[1:55:58] we need to make these changes how the

[1:56:00] board operates in the subcommittees and

[1:56:01] so we've been having some initial

[1:56:03] meetings about what that board structure

[1:56:05] should look like but i think it's safe

[1:56:07] to say the general comment is that

[1:56:11] the

[1:56:11] governing board of that authority will

[1:56:13] have elected officials from each of the

[1:56:16] member entities on it

[1:56:18] i think it absolutely has to if we're

[1:56:20] spending taxpayer dollars you have to

[1:56:21] have the elected officials on that part

[1:56:27] president dardis i have another comment

[1:56:29] um

[1:56:30] commissioner simmons and the rest of the

[1:56:32] commission

[1:56:33] um

[1:56:34] we were taking the directive through the

[1:56:36] county the county took the lead and they

[1:56:38] requested that

[1:56:40] um

[1:56:41] each city have the city administrator

[1:56:44] the president of their commission

[1:56:48] and either a police or fire chief

[1:56:50] for this initial part

[1:56:52] and so that was their request and so

[1:56:55] that's how those got chosen it wasn't it

[1:56:58] wasn't anybody picking if um i if you

[1:57:01] want to point place place blame i should

[1:57:04] have kept you more informed and i did

[1:57:06] not but this was a decision originally

[1:57:09] and the county administrator told me

[1:57:11] himself he goes i'm kind of going blind

[1:57:13] i don't know he said this is all new to

[1:57:15] him as well so he's he's learning just

[1:57:17] like we are

[1:57:19] but um it was a directive from the

[1:57:21] county level and that's how the

[1:57:23] participants were chosen

[1:57:29] any additional questions for the chief

[1:57:34] this is an actionable item cass county

[1:57:36] government

[1:57:37] has agreed to serve as a fiscal agent

[1:57:40] and we as one of the entity members of

[1:57:43] that

[1:57:44] we have to

[1:57:46] it's it's going to be in the

[1:57:48] clay county cass county moorhead fargo

[1:57:52] and west fargo all at once

[1:57:54] everybody that's having a meeting this

[1:57:56] evening is voting on this same item

[1:58:00] i will make a motion to approve thank

[1:58:02] you commissioner gerda big is there a

[1:58:03] second please second

[1:58:04] commissioner george ii has been moved

[1:58:06] and seconded to approve

[1:58:08] the

[1:58:09] red river regional dispatch center

[1:58:11] consideration as presented by chief

[1:58:13] utterness this evening is there any

[1:58:15] further discussion

[1:58:20] hearing now and all those in favor

[1:58:21] signify by saying aye aye aye

[1:58:24] opposed

[1:58:25] motion carried

[1:58:28] item number seven is the first reading

[1:58:30] ordinance 1195

[1:58:32] legislative amendments mr shockley thank

[1:58:35] you mr commission president

[1:58:37] before you you have

[1:58:39] ordinance number 1195

[1:58:42] as the commission may be aware

[1:58:44] every two years the legislature meets

[1:58:46] and has a new set of laws that become

[1:58:48] effective on august 1st

[1:58:51] and this ordinance is really to

[1:58:54] bring our

[1:58:55] most of our criminal

[1:58:57] ordinances up to

[1:58:59] the same level as what's in the state

[1:59:01] and so we're just conforming the two

[1:59:03] together

[1:59:04] and

[1:59:05] i won't go through each change because

[1:59:07] some of them are very minor

[1:59:09] but in the big changes reflecting the

[1:59:12] change in federal legislation and state

[1:59:15] legislation regarding tobacco sales

[1:59:18] the t21 legislation that came through

[1:59:20] last year at the federal level

[1:59:22] made tobacco sales illegal to anybody

[1:59:25] under the age of 21.

[1:59:27] that's a change

[1:59:29] you'll see that going through the

[1:59:30] ordinance

[1:59:31] we modified shoplifting to match the new

[1:59:34] definition

[1:59:35] that is in state law

[1:59:37] you'll see references to electric

[1:59:39] bicycles in there and then also uh

[1:59:44] possession of a firearm at a public

[1:59:46] gathering to bring that in conformance

[1:59:48] with state law

[1:59:50] and then some other

[1:59:53] what i would call just conforming

[1:59:55] ordinances i can certainly

[1:59:57] answer any questions that you might have

[1:59:58] but this is just to conform our

[2:00:00] ordinances with state law

[2:00:02] thank you mr shockley questions for mr

[2:00:04] shockley from the commission

[2:00:12] i moved to approve thank you

[2:00:14] commissioner george we are approving the

[2:00:16] first reading of the ordinance 1195 the

[2:00:18] legislative amendments mr george's moved

[2:00:20] is there a second second commissioner

[2:00:22] olson has seconded been moved and

[2:00:24] seconded to her first reading ordinance

[2:00:26] at 1195 legislative amendments as

[2:00:29] presented by mr shockley our city

[2:00:31] attorney is there any further discussion

[2:00:37] hearing on all those in favor please

[2:00:38] signify by saying aye

[2:00:41] opposed

[2:00:44] motion carried item number eight is the

[2:00:46] second reading of ordinance 1192

[2:00:50] hours of operation for liquor sales mr

[2:00:52] shockley city attorney city of west

[2:00:54] fargo

[2:00:55] thank you mr commission president

[2:00:58] this is a second reading of the

[2:01:00] ordinance changing the hours of sunday

[2:01:02] sale for

[2:01:03] alcohol

[2:01:05] no changes have been made between the

[2:01:07] first and second reading

[2:01:10] as a city you're not required to adopt

[2:01:12] this but a lot of the license

[2:01:14] establishments had requested the

[2:01:16] additional hours of operation and so

[2:01:18] staff brought it forward

[2:01:20] based upon the request of the businesses

[2:01:22] to have extended hours

[2:01:25] thank you mr shockley questions for mr

[2:01:27] shockley

[2:01:32] it's your pleasure commissioners well we

[2:01:34] approve the second reading commissioner

[2:01:35] olson moves to approve the second

[2:01:36] reading of ordinance 1192 the hours of

[2:01:39] operation for liquor sales is there a

[2:01:41] second place second commissioner simmons

[2:01:43] seconds been moved and seconded

[2:01:46] is there any further discussion

[2:01:50] all those in favor please signify by

[2:01:52] saying aye

[2:01:54] opposed

[2:01:55] motion carried item number nine it's

[2:01:58] public hearings to confirm an approved

[2:02:00] special assessment list for the follow

[2:02:02] improvement districts as presented by mr

[2:02:05] shockley 1321 wild's 11th edition 1322

[2:02:10] eaglewood 7th edition 1323 brooks harbor

[2:02:14] 9th edition 1325

[2:02:16] oak ridge 9th 1329

[2:02:20] oak ridge eagle run 9 2254 eagle ridge

[2:02:24] plaza 6th 4063

[2:02:27] wild storm sewer lift station mr

[2:02:29] shockley thank you mr commission uh

[2:02:32] president and members of the western

[2:02:34] commission uh tonight you have before

[2:02:36] you the appeal hearing for any party

[2:02:39] that wishes to appeal

[2:02:41] the proposed assessments in the

[2:02:43] districts that you had just listed out

[2:02:46] the special assessment commission

[2:02:48] published the list

[2:02:50] held hearings

[2:02:52] and then the proper procedure is if

[2:02:53] anybody that objected to those

[2:02:55] assessments would file a written appeal

[2:02:58] and then the commission would hear that

[2:03:00] written appeal

[2:03:02] these districts we only had my

[2:03:04] recollection was one person

[2:03:06] show up and they didn't necessarily have

[2:03:08] an objection

[2:03:10] they had a lot of questions about the

[2:03:11] nature of the improvements

[2:03:14] who owned the pond what the pipe looked

[2:03:16] like those

[2:03:18] i mean they were really good questions

[2:03:19] they just weren't really objections

[2:03:22] her questions were satisfied and

[2:03:25] the special assessment commission voted

[2:03:27] unanimously to

[2:03:28] approve the assessments as proposed and

[2:03:31] move them forward

[2:03:34] as of today's date we have not received

[2:03:36] any written appeals for any of these

[2:03:37] districts

[2:03:39] and

[2:03:40] the work has been completed in the

[2:03:41] district you've already bonded for the

[2:03:44] districts you've already spent the money

[2:03:46] and so this is the final step in the

[2:03:48] process where

[2:03:50] you would just be confirming the

[2:03:51] activities of

[2:03:53] the special assessment commission in

[2:03:55] levying the special assessments

[2:03:58] also just for public information

[2:04:00] and

[2:04:01] the staff has done a fantastic job of

[2:04:04] notifying everybody but

[2:04:06] tonight we are not considering district

[2:04:07] 2250 because we're still working on some

[2:04:10] policy changes that we will be bringing

[2:04:12] forward to the city commission

[2:04:15] so i can answer any questions you might

[2:04:17] have if there if there were somebody

[2:04:19] here

[2:04:20] that wanted to speak to it you you would

[2:04:22] have discretion as the board

[2:04:24] to listen to them uh you wouldn't have

[2:04:27] to legally act on their

[2:04:30] appeal because it wasn't properly filed

[2:04:32] that's a decision for the commission i

[2:04:34] don't know if anybody's here though

[2:04:36] thank you mr shockley uh again the

[2:04:39] special assessment uh

[2:04:43] review of that is it's normally to be

[2:04:45] presented to mrs fisk

[2:04:48] in advance in writing and we've had none

[2:04:51] in writing so

[2:04:52] we figure we feel that there's no

[2:04:54] appeals to any of these

[2:04:56] particular uh assessment districts as

[2:04:59] listed uh for you today

[2:05:01] so is there any more discussion or any

[2:05:03] uh questions please commissioner olson

[2:05:06] do these have to be acted on

[2:05:08] individually or can one motion

[2:05:10] [Music]

[2:05:11] act on all of them that are listed here

[2:05:14] you as the commission you could act on

[2:05:16] all of them since there is no appeals

[2:05:19] there's just there's no objections

[2:05:21] there's no particulars to hear you could

[2:05:23] make one motion to approve all the

[2:05:25] districts and

[2:05:27] confirm them because there's just

[2:05:28] there's no written appeals

[2:05:32] additional questions of mr shockley

[2:05:36] i'll make a motion to prove them all at

[2:05:37] one time thank you commissioner simmons

[2:05:40] been moved and seconded to approve

[2:05:42] uh the special way second year oh i'm

[2:05:45] sorry i'll second though commissioner

[2:05:47] olson

[2:05:51] everybody keeps telling me what time

[2:05:53] they want to be home tonight so i'm

[2:05:54] trying to hurry this along no you're

[2:05:56] right

[2:05:59] emily started at seven o'clock

[2:06:02] so thank you commissioner olson it's

[2:06:04] been moved and seconded to confirm the

[2:06:07] improved special assessment list as the

[2:06:10] following 1321 1322 1323 1325 1329 2254

[2:06:16] and 4063.

[2:06:18] is there any further discussion

[2:06:21] does there need to be a public hearing

[2:06:24] it just says that in the title

[2:06:27] technically it's it's a hearing it's not

[2:06:29] a public hearing you would have to you

[2:06:32] would have to have filed your written

[2:06:34] appeal okay i was just making sure

[2:06:37] okay very good

[2:06:40] mr george

[2:06:41] so everybody here knows how i feel about

[2:06:43] special assessments and i don't care for

[2:06:45] any of them looking at this list tonight

[2:06:48] i looked at each of them pretty

[2:06:49] carefully

[2:06:50] i really don't

[2:06:52] like how a couple of them are laid out

[2:06:53] but considering there are no appeals

[2:06:55] there's no objections no you know they

[2:06:58] do have to be paid for the work is done

[2:07:00] that's how i'm basing my vote tonight

[2:07:03] thank you commissioner george

[2:07:06] any additional comments from the

[2:07:07] commission we do have a motion in a

[2:07:08] second

[2:07:13] all those in favor signify by saying aye

[2:07:17] opposed

[2:07:19] motion carried thank you commissioners

[2:07:21] item number 10 is an improvement

[2:07:23] district 1339 stockyards first edition

[2:07:26] mr scott city of engineer for the city

[2:07:28] of west fargo

[2:07:30] the

[2:07:30] task at hand is to approve a task order

[2:07:33] number 49-1 for basic services mr scott

[2:07:39] well good evening thank you commission

[2:07:41] president dardis and members of the

[2:07:42] commission

[2:07:43] as directed by the city commission on

[2:07:44] august 16th we are working on the plans

[2:07:46] and specs for the construction of

[2:07:48] improvements in the

[2:07:50] stockyards first edition

[2:07:52] before you tonight is just a task order

[2:07:53] for the basic services uh that will be

[2:07:55] performed by more engineering the uh

[2:07:57] value of the task order is 267

[2:08:00] 630 dollars

[2:08:02] with that i will answer any questions

[2:08:05] thank you mr scott questions for mr

[2:08:07] scott

[2:08:14] i'll make a motion to approve thank you

[2:08:15] commissioner gerda big is there a second

[2:08:17] place

[2:08:18] second

[2:08:20] commissioner simmons second it's been

[2:08:21] moved and seconded to

[2:08:23] approve uh the uh task order for 49-1

[2:08:27] for basic services for improvement

[2:08:30] district number 1339 the stockyards

[2:08:32] first edition

[2:08:34] is there any further discussion

[2:08:39] hearing none all those in favor please

[2:08:41] signify by saying aye my opposed

[2:08:46] motion carried

[2:08:48] thank you mr scott item number 11

[2:08:51] 2022 final budget adjustment request by

[2:08:54] commission mrs fisk city administrator

[2:09:00] good evening commissioner commission

[2:09:02] president commissioners

[2:09:04] in your packet

[2:09:06] i have a list and i have some

[2:09:08] information

[2:09:09] at the july 19 commission meeting the

[2:09:12] commission directed staff to continue to

[2:09:14] seek reductions and indicate a desire to

[2:09:16] try and reduce one mill

[2:09:18] which equates to a reduction of 197

[2:09:21] thousand dollars to the preliminary

[2:09:22] budget

[2:09:23] after that meeting a request was

[2:09:25] distributed to all the department heads

[2:09:27] requesting that they give an additional

[2:09:29] review to try and meet the commission's

[2:09:31] request

[2:09:32] this will be the third request of

[2:09:34] reviews and cuts to each department

[2:09:37] in order to reduce their expenses while

[2:09:39] continuing to provide the services

[2:09:41] required to operate the city of west

[2:09:42] fargo

[2:09:44] with a combination of staggering

[2:09:46] employee hires removing employee

[2:09:47] training options cutting other public

[2:09:50] services we have been able to consider

[2:09:53] and bring before you

[2:09:54] a reduction of 159

[2:09:57] 787 dollars from the proposed budget

[2:10:00] the reductions come from the departments

[2:10:02] of administration information technology

[2:10:04] engineering planning police public works

[2:10:07] and fire all the reductions if you

[2:10:09] choose to approve them

[2:10:11] would equal 0.81 mills

[2:10:14] for the general fund and fire or 3.65

[2:10:17] cents per hundred thousand dollars of

[2:10:19] home value

[2:10:20] we were not given a directive to request

[2:10:22] any reductions of the library so there

[2:10:23] are none attached for them

[2:10:26] on the attach sheet that you have as

[2:10:29] well it lists each department that has

[2:10:31] proposed cuts from their budget please

[2:10:33] note that all the items that are cut

[2:10:35] will need to be reinstated to the 2023

[2:10:37] budget

[2:10:39] so at this time what i would like to do

[2:10:41] is go

[2:10:43] by department

[2:10:44] and

[2:10:45] get the consensus on from the commission

[2:10:48] on by department which items you would

[2:10:50] like to cut

[2:10:51] if any

[2:10:53] and we would start with administration

[2:10:55] the cut was 2 000.

[2:10:59] um commissioner

[2:11:01] so um and i'm bringing something to the

[2:11:03] table late in the game here but it was

[2:11:05] actually listening to i

[2:11:07] bailey

[2:11:08] talk that kind of popped this in my mind

[2:11:11] so and i don't have the budget in front

[2:11:12] of me so i'm going to use rough ballpark

[2:11:14] numbers um but in the budget there's a

[2:11:16] line item for the police department for

[2:11:19] 300 and some thousand for new squad cars

[2:11:21] correct

[2:11:22] yes

[2:11:24] and from my understanding in

[2:11:26] conversations that line item is there

[2:11:28] because we just i mean we kind of

[2:11:30] approved something mid-year this year to

[2:11:32] spend some money that wasn't going to be

[2:11:33] spent on new police cars

[2:11:35] but

[2:11:36] from my understanding at some point in

[2:11:39] our history we've let ourselves get kind

[2:11:40] of

[2:11:41] behind

[2:11:42] in

[2:11:43] equipment displacement you were correct

[2:11:44] yes so that's sort of an out of ordinary

[2:11:47] position that we're in and we just have

[2:11:49] to get caught up

[2:11:50] correct we are caught up i do believe

[2:11:53] and um chief otterness can correct me if

[2:11:56] i'm wrong but the three police cars is a

[2:11:59] normal rotation per year to keep the

[2:12:01] fleet up to date is that correct

[2:12:06] that's correct uh working with um

[2:12:09] mr larson in finance what i've what i've

[2:12:11] tried to do is

[2:12:12] identify

[2:12:14] through a budget request adjustment last

[2:12:16] year spending some positive uh budget

[2:12:20] performance or some savings that we had

[2:12:22] to try to shore up that gap in our fleet

[2:12:24] but moving forward what we're trying to

[2:12:26] do is stabilize that so we don't have

[2:12:28] years where we're asking for five cars

[2:12:30] one year one car the next year and so to

[2:12:33] try to stabilize our our police

[2:12:35] department fleet and our budget

[2:12:37] we're looking at you know trying to get

[2:12:38] maybe three cars per year to to keep i'm

[2:12:41] not trying to cut those three cars just

[2:12:43] to clarify before i'm just that's just

[2:12:45] the rationale behind it just try to is

[2:12:47] to try to stabilize that number moving

[2:12:49] forward so and and maybe i'm

[2:12:51] misunderstanding some of the ways we can

[2:12:52] spend this money but we are still

[2:12:54] sitting on

[2:12:56] a few million dollars of covered money

[2:12:58] that we have taken in that we have not

[2:13:00] allocated to anyone

[2:13:03] commissioner jarvig no we have used some

[2:13:05] of those funds to reimburse covet

[2:13:07] expenses but also in this budget what

[2:13:10] was done is

[2:13:11] the coveted money we got from the state

[2:13:13] initially went into the police

[2:13:15] department fund which created

[2:13:17] a positive balance that was then

[2:13:19] transferred into a special fund to be

[2:13:21] used and we have actually

[2:13:23] 1.174 million dollars of that money

[2:13:27] in this budget to keep expenses down

[2:13:29] that was one of the ways we were able to

[2:13:30] cut that four million dollars down so we

[2:13:33] are using that money so how many

[2:13:34] millions do we have left that hasn't

[2:13:36] been allocated i believe in that fund

[2:13:38] it's just over two million

[2:13:40] yes and the point behind it is that

[2:13:43] we we don't

[2:13:45] we didn't want to just use it all up at

[2:13:47] one time and then have something come

[2:13:49] along that's a very good project that

[2:13:51] you would like to use the funds for

[2:13:53] so we found one-time purchases

[2:13:57] in the budget and that's how we came up

[2:13:59] with the

[2:14:00] 1.174 if it's something that

[2:14:02] you would purchase or pay for and not

[2:14:04] buy it again the next year next year that seemed the best and most

[2:14:08] logical way to use the money and save

[2:14:10] the dollars for the taxpayer and that's

[2:14:12] fair and i started down this path

[2:14:14] thinking that these

[2:14:16] squad cars were talking about were more

[2:14:17] of a one-time catch-up but i would still

[2:14:20] potentially argue that

[2:14:21] if we're already taking

[2:14:23] a million and a half or whatever the

[2:14:24] amount was out of covid but we still

[2:14:26] have

[2:14:27] millions sitting there

[2:14:29] you know we could accomplish

[2:14:32] this

[2:14:33] pulling this budget back by taking

[2:14:35] another 150 or 200 000 out of that and

[2:14:37] then not having to necessarily

[2:14:40] you know line item by line item go

[2:14:41] through this i mean it just seems like a

[2:14:43] easier solution that doesn't

[2:14:46] necessarily uh

[2:14:49] come by sacrificing some of the training

[2:14:51] and so forth so just a it

[2:14:53] was a thought that i kind of came to

[2:14:55] over the course of the meetings and i

[2:14:57] appreciate um that's very true

[2:14:58] commissioner jerry vig we could

[2:15:00] take whatever out of those funds

[2:15:03] just keep in mind that again any

[2:15:04] purchases of recurring expenses like

[2:15:07] their police cars will come back

[2:15:09] and we'll have to deal with them next

[2:15:10] year as well so it and however you guys

[2:15:12] choose to do it it's it's your guys's

[2:15:14] call

[2:15:16] commissioner simmons has a point thank

[2:15:17] you mayor i uh

[2:15:19] i just find it absurd that we're sitting

[2:15:21] here talking about taking eighty

[2:15:23] thousand dollars from the chief of

[2:15:24] police we're talking about two thousand

[2:15:26] from city administration and yet we're

[2:15:28] giving the library over two hundred

[2:15:30] thousand dollars an increase

[2:15:32] um

[2:15:33] i'm we are too we're absolutely doing it

[2:15:35] the hundred i know you're going here

[2:15:36] with the hundred thousand dollar the

[2:15:38] mill but they had money in the account

[2:15:42] we forced them to spend money they

[2:15:43] shouldn't have had that's how we got to

[2:15:45] that middle of you my point is this

[2:15:47] um i am not going to support anything

[2:15:49] we're taking any money from a department

[2:15:51] that does a good job of saving that's

[2:15:53] like the government you save the money

[2:15:55] as a department then all of a sudden you

[2:15:56] give it back i understand that process

[2:15:58] but

[2:15:59] these departments are doing great jobs

[2:16:01] the only thing i'm going to support i

[2:16:03] just assume give do the increase as as

[2:16:05] commissioner olson had said let's just

[2:16:07] go with what we got originally let it go

[2:16:09] i'm not going to cut these departments i

[2:16:10] will support a budget like that

[2:16:13] so and and you and i can agree on the

[2:16:14] fact as it relates to the police because

[2:16:17] why i'm bringing up this alternative

[2:16:19] idea is we're sitting on a couple

[2:16:21] million dollars we haven't figured out

[2:16:22] how to spend but yet we're raising the

[2:16:24] mill levy on our taxpayers

[2:16:26] simultaneously i would rather

[2:16:29] use some of that money to offset that

[2:16:31] for the next year and we still would be

[2:16:33] sitting on if we can i don't know that

[2:16:35] we are are there restrictions on what

[2:16:37] that can be used for

[2:16:39] this particular portion of money the 2

[2:16:41] million this is not the federal money

[2:16:43] that just came through the state that

[2:16:44] has a lot of restrictions this

[2:16:46] particular money doesn't have a lot of

[2:16:48] restrictions

[2:16:49] um the importance of keeping in mind

[2:16:53] what we do with it is that

[2:16:55] there's we're gonna have

[2:16:57] even next year there's gonna we're gonna

[2:16:59] have to use some of that money to keep

[2:17:00] the mill levy at a decent amount so that

[2:17:03] it's not a big increase

[2:17:05] and so we're trying to weigh you know if

[2:17:07] you look at our financial statements

[2:17:08] they showed you today our our general

[2:17:11] fund once it was audited has dropped a

[2:17:13] million dollars

[2:17:15] from 19 to 20. and if we need to

[2:17:17] transfer in what we budgeted for 21 it's

[2:17:20] going to drop a can

[2:17:22] so

[2:17:22] i just

[2:17:24] our concern myself and the finance

[2:17:25] director and the assistant city

[2:17:26] administrator was

[2:17:28] we wanted to be cautious and we wanted

[2:17:30] to be careful we don't want to just

[2:17:32] find ways to just spend that money we

[2:17:35] want to do it in a way that benefits the

[2:17:37] taxpayer the best

[2:17:40] not just say well i want to get it down

[2:17:42] to zero mills so let's do this and then

[2:17:44] next year all of a sudden we're in the

[2:17:46] same boat that's kind of what we were

[2:17:47] looking at again this is

[2:17:49] totally a commissioned decision on what

[2:17:52] you want us to do um

[2:17:54] the current budget of

[2:17:57] increase of 4.5 is where we're at

[2:18:00] and so

[2:18:02] it's it's what you choose

[2:18:05] commissioner olsen

[2:18:07] so a lot of the

[2:18:09] expenses out there are what do you think

[2:18:12] out of our control more or less because

[2:18:14] of everything else costs more right yes

[2:18:17] and i handed out a sheet to you um and

[2:18:20] this kind of will tell you a little bit

[2:18:22] um the finance director jim larson

[2:18:25] provided this i had a request from

[2:18:27] bernie to pull it the u.s average in

[2:18:29] july

[2:18:30] of

[2:18:32] july was

[2:18:33] 5.4 percent inflation

[2:18:36] but in the midwest where we are for our

[2:18:38] communities it's 6.1 percent and so if

[2:18:42] our budget was to account for that

[2:18:44] we would need a larger increase and i

[2:18:46] mean we're trying everything we can to

[2:18:48] keep it down

[2:18:53] okay uh

[2:18:55] my turn

[2:18:57] thank you

[2:18:58] mrs fisk for the efforts on yours and

[2:19:01] all the department heads and mr larson

[2:19:04] you know the point that commissioner

[2:19:06] simmons just made

[2:19:07] uh with regard to two thousand dollars

[2:19:10] from administration or

[2:19:12] x number of dollars from the police

[2:19:13] department is

[2:19:16] noteworthy

[2:19:18] i'm concerned about something else and and i'm very concerned about it

[2:19:23] i was told yesterday or the last week by

[2:19:26] an analyst in cass county that there's

[2:19:29] ten thousand job openings in west park

[2:19:31] or in the in the in the cass county 10

[2:19:34] 000 job openings

[2:19:37] 25 000 in the state of north dakota

[2:19:40] supposedly uh job service uh that

[2:19:43] they're reporting and stuff like that

[2:19:45] doesn't count anymore because people

[2:19:46] aren't even posting jobs anymore take a

[2:19:49] look at our community with the portable

[2:19:50] signs that we see around here

[2:19:53] this budget has a one percent increase

[2:19:55] for a cost of living

[2:19:58] for all these wonderful people that do

[2:20:00] all the work around here

[2:20:03] my concern

[2:20:04] as as as important it is is to get back

[2:20:07] on time with maintenance and purchases

[2:20:10] of equipment like we did with the

[2:20:11] garbage trucks or our police cars

[2:20:15] if you don't have somebody sitting in

[2:20:16] that chair

[2:20:18] running that police car

[2:20:20] or driving that garbage truck where are

[2:20:22] we

[2:20:24] and a one percent you know is if you

[2:20:26] take a look at the

[2:20:27] any of the any reporting agency will

[2:20:29] tell you that inflation's running five

[2:20:31] percent right now

[2:20:33] so my concern here is is that if we're

[2:20:37] going to invest some of those additional

[2:20:39] dollars that

[2:20:40] you know commissioner judy big was was

[2:20:42] uh trying to get the answers to

[2:20:45] and the like

[2:20:46] we need to review that now i understand

[2:20:49] that if you're

[2:20:50] if you take a look at the way that our

[2:20:52] pay schedule works around the city of

[2:20:54] west fargo that if

[2:20:56] you go from one classification to

[2:20:59] another or or a number of years of

[2:21:01] service there's still going to be some

[2:21:03] raises there

[2:21:04] but the fact of the matter is

[2:21:07] if you've ever been in the uh

[2:21:09] hired a lot of people and all of us have

[2:21:12] got great work experience we know what

[2:21:15] that's like to retrain people or to

[2:21:17] recruit people or trying to retain them

[2:21:20] retain recruit

[2:21:24] or replace

[2:21:25] and that's expensive that's really

[2:21:28] expensive

[2:21:29] so as we continue to

[2:21:31] [Music]

[2:21:32] review this budget i realize we've

[2:21:34] already capped what the budget can be

[2:21:36] with our with our preliminary findings

[2:21:40] but i think that we as a commission we

[2:21:42] need to really think this through

[2:21:44] as to how we're going to do this or

[2:21:45] where this money is going to be applied

[2:21:48] and

[2:21:50] i think we need to reinvest

[2:21:53] any dollars that we possibly can

[2:21:55] into retaining these wonderful people

[2:21:57] that we have working for this community

[2:22:02] and i'm going to leave that up to staff

[2:22:04] as to how to figure that out too

[2:22:08] commissioner simmons i would suggest

[2:22:10] that we leave the budget as it is and

[2:22:11] move forward

[2:22:13] and just

[2:22:14] leave it where we're at that 4.5 leave

[2:22:16] it there let's just move forward and and

[2:22:18] uh and worry about our employees next

[2:22:22] well this is this report this evening

[2:22:24] from mrs fisk is a response from

[2:22:27] our request to go find additional

[2:22:29] savings so

[2:22:31] we do have a preliminary budget that has

[2:22:33] been posted with

[2:22:35] the cass county commission

[2:22:37] so you know

[2:22:39] we can do that we could think about what

[2:22:41] was discussed this evening some more we

[2:22:43] still have a little time not a lot

[2:22:46] or

[2:22:48] if you're inclined to make your motion

[2:22:49] then you do what you you know i will

[2:22:51] make that motion because i don't want

[2:22:52] the staff to spend any more time on this

[2:22:54] let's just move on i think we'll be fine

[2:22:56] um again then we'll have to look at the

[2:22:58] employees next

[2:23:03] i have a motion by commissioner simmons

[2:23:05] i have a second by commissioner olson

[2:23:08] that we move on with the uh preliminary

[2:23:11] budget as originally posted

[2:23:13] correct correct and uh with the

[2:23:16] possibility of reviewing uh cola also

[2:23:20] is that that correct

[2:23:23] motion and second okay

[2:23:25] any discussion

[2:23:27] commissioner george

[2:23:29] just a quick comment so i missed the

[2:23:30] last meeting because i was working

[2:23:32] during that time but i did watch it and

[2:23:34] at the end

[2:23:35] when i saw commissioner olson's comments

[2:23:38] honestly i was kind of a little taken

[2:23:40] aback initially by it because it was

[2:23:42] like well they should work on cuts

[2:23:43] wherever they can now i see that you

[2:23:45] have i see what you've done i'm

[2:23:47] impressed with the work you've done

[2:23:49] but after seeing it and thinking about

[2:23:51] in the comments made tonight i would

[2:23:52] agree with what i'm hearing with

[2:23:54] everybody else here i think we leave it

[2:23:56] as is i would support the increase in

[2:23:58] wage

[2:23:59] if we can reasonably take money out of

[2:24:02] kovid funds i would support that too so

[2:24:04] i think these are all fantastic ideas

[2:24:06] and i'd support any of it thank you mr

[2:24:08] george community

[2:24:09] well my comment it might just be the way

[2:24:11] it was emotionally but i will say it

[2:24:13] just seems like the comment was because

[2:24:15] it's tough work

[2:24:17] let's just move forward with what we got

[2:24:18] and i mean the budget of how we spend

[2:24:20] our money as a city is probably the

[2:24:21] number one job we have as commissioner

[2:24:23] so i'm not sure i

[2:24:25] like at least kind of

[2:24:27] the vibe that i feel like

[2:24:29] was coming from that if

[2:24:31] we have a responsibility to try

[2:24:34] to

[2:24:35] if if there's a way to not raise mills

[2:24:39] to 4.5 and to have it be at three that's

[2:24:41] a win or a 3.5 or whatever it is

[2:24:44] and

[2:24:45] i can agree with i mean i i also am

[2:24:48] concerned about her staff and therefore

[2:24:50] i'm going to go back to

[2:24:52] we are

[2:24:53] millions of dollars a couple million

[2:24:55] dollars of code money that we don't have

[2:24:57] a plan

[2:24:58] as to what we're going to spend it on

[2:25:00] but instead we're going to let it sit

[2:25:02] there while we

[2:25:04] raise them a levy and so you know i'm

[2:25:06] going to vote against the motion but

[2:25:07] it's not necessarily a vote against the

[2:25:10] idea of increasing our cost of living um

[2:25:14] i i just kind of disagree with

[2:25:17] i don't know

[2:25:18] commissioner simmons

[2:25:19] thank you i just got to make one more

[2:25:21] thing because i don't want people to put

[2:25:22] words in my mouth i'm approving this and

[2:25:25] making the motion because it's a damn

[2:25:27] good budget and you worked your butts

[2:25:29] off to get there that's why i'm proving

[2:25:31] it not because it's easy because there's

[2:25:33] nowhere to cut it's pretty common when

[2:25:34] you look at commissioner george and

[2:25:36] olsen so my motion is because you did a

[2:25:38] great budget thank you very much

[2:25:40] mrs frisco honored to make a point yes

[2:25:43] um thank you commission president i just

[2:25:45] wanted to reiterate for the public that

[2:25:48] doesn't realize what's been going on

[2:25:49] behind the scenes we started this budget

[2:25:53] four million dollars in the hole

[2:25:56] because of decisions that have been made

[2:25:58] and changes that have happened which is

[2:26:00] fine

[2:26:01] we had it from double digit

[2:26:03] mill levy increases down to just under

[2:26:06] six

[2:26:07] and at that point

[2:26:09] it was we thought we'd done a fantastic

[2:26:12] job well then we found another revenue

[2:26:13] source and said okay now we got it down

[2:26:15] to 4.5

[2:26:17] um and so we were really happy with

[2:26:19] where because everyone worked everyone

[2:26:21] cut everyone sacrificed and so i

[2:26:24] appreciate the motion

[2:26:26] and i appreciate commissioner jaravik

[2:26:28] and what he's saying but

[2:26:30] i do believe that this is

[2:26:33] the leanest budget we can have people

[2:26:36] still want services and we have to give

[2:26:38] them to them

[2:26:39] they demand more and more

[2:26:41] every day

[2:26:43] so thank you

[2:26:45] just ask commissioner olsen please

[2:26:47] so

[2:26:48] through the whole process

[2:26:50] you've trimmed away all the fat

[2:26:52] yes and by making this additional

[2:26:55] trim of the budget we're now getting

[2:26:57] into the meat yes yes it's going to hurt

[2:27:00] even though it may be training

[2:27:02] it's still a service

[2:27:04] because we need to be trained to provide

[2:27:06] the service and as in your report

[2:27:10] it says that these items out if we would

[2:27:13] cut them today

[2:27:14] they're going to be added tomorrow so

[2:27:16] like we're doing all we're doing is

[2:27:18] kicking it down the road one more time

[2:27:21] so i am in support of leaving it the way

[2:27:24] it was

[2:27:25] that is correct um we have like slashed

[2:27:28] overtime

[2:27:29] for the police department

[2:27:31] because they aren't always able to get

[2:27:33] their hires started on time so we cut

[2:27:34] their overtime

[2:27:35] that's where the 80 000 comes from we've

[2:27:37] got things that we needed in engineering

[2:27:40] they're slashed we took out street

[2:27:42] sweeping for instance matt and big

[2:27:44] reduced a sweet street sweeping budget

[2:27:46] for next year it just and then it's

[2:27:48] travel and it's training

[2:27:51] different things like that staggered

[2:27:52] hires

[2:27:53] all those things

[2:27:55] how many hires are in your budget at the

[2:27:56] present time not very many um i think we

[2:28:00] have

[2:28:01] six

[2:28:03] you gotta now you're making me think i

[2:28:04] was looking at is it six or is it four

[2:28:07] okay it's six one in the general fund

[2:28:11] two and two in fire

[2:28:13] and then

[2:28:15] the others are in the

[2:28:16] non-non-tax levied funds

[2:28:23] she answered it when she was tough we

[2:28:24] have a motion on the table any further

[2:28:26] discussion

[2:28:32] emily can you read the motion back just

[2:28:35] make sure that we move forward with the

[2:28:37] preliminary budget as uh whatever the

[2:28:40] date was that we uh accepted that

[2:28:43] with the possibility of looking at cola

[2:28:52] okay well

[2:28:53] the fact that july 19th preliminary no

[2:28:55] not july 19th what was the date jim

[2:28:58] the preliminary budget approval

[2:29:03] august 19th

[2:29:15] well on page 372 it says that our july

[2:29:18] 19th it's supposed to yeah that was a

[2:29:20] table

[2:29:24] august 2nd

[2:29:27] so yes that should say it doesn't

[2:29:29] shouldn't say july i should say august

[2:29:30] on the memo

[2:29:36] everybody understand the motion

[2:29:39] okay

[2:29:40] all those in favor of the motion please

[2:29:42] signify by saying aye

[2:29:45] opposed

[2:29:46] no

[2:29:47] motion carried

[2:29:55] number 12 is the city administrators

[2:29:57] report mrs fisk

[2:29:59] thank you commission president

[2:30:00] commissioners i've just got a few items

[2:30:02] and i won't drag them out

[2:30:05] first of all i just wanted to get you up

[2:30:07] to speed there have been some concerns

[2:30:08] at the parking garage

[2:30:10] we have individuals that are kind of

[2:30:12] loitering in there they when the tiger

[2:30:14] lily concert was going on some

[2:30:16] individual climbed over and got

[2:30:18] backstage with them a couple times

[2:30:21] and we've had people standing on ledges

[2:30:23] and dropping things from the top or

[2:30:25] whatever and so um

[2:30:28] we are looking into screening to try and

[2:30:32] screen that that south side something

[2:30:35] that wouldn't be not something hideous

[2:30:37] but just something we're just going to

[2:30:38] look at the cost of trying to provide a

[2:30:40] protective barrier because if one person

[2:30:42] falls

[2:30:43] and gets

[2:30:44] hurt or killed

[2:30:47] that would be terrible and so we want

[2:30:49] we're looking into trying to find a way

[2:30:50] to protect people basically from

[2:30:52] themselves so and i will be bringing

[2:30:54] that back to you guys so that you can

[2:30:56] see and make those decisions i just want

[2:30:59] you to be aware that we are looking into

[2:31:00] it we also are putting up signage in

[2:31:04] there

[2:31:05] that um tells people that they cannot

[2:31:06] loiter

[2:31:08] you if you're there you parked a car you

[2:31:10] get out you go somewhere you can't just

[2:31:12] walk around and they're sitting there so

[2:31:14] and that will allow the police

[2:31:15] department to be able to enforce better

[2:31:17] so

[2:31:20] we're preparing signage for that as well

[2:31:23] the other thing i wanted to let remind

[2:31:24] you is the north dakota league of cities

[2:31:27] state meeting is september 16th through

[2:31:30] 18th which is next week thursday through

[2:31:32] saturday i will be gone the 17th and

[2:31:35] 18th for that conference and i know

[2:31:37] president dardis is going for sure for

[2:31:39] at least a day

[2:31:41] but then is coming back for west fest so

[2:31:43] i just wanted to kind of give you the

[2:31:45] heads up on that

[2:31:48] i want to take a moment to congratulate

[2:31:50] brian maskey and matt anbig

[2:31:52] they put in a grant

[2:31:54] request at for at watersmart and i put

[2:31:57] the information in your correspondence

[2:31:59] packets and they received a grant

[2:32:02] towards their ami project of 75 000. so

[2:32:06] they're a great job every dollar helps

[2:32:08] so thank you

[2:32:11] um let's see

[2:32:12] in october 12 13 the economic

[2:32:16] development

[2:32:17] north dakota conference is going to be

[2:32:18] held in west fargo it's going to be a

[2:32:20] big event governor will be here

[2:32:22] just keep in mind mark your calendars

[2:32:25] and we'll send out reminders as well so

[2:32:26] that if you could attend that'd be

[2:32:28] fantastic so

[2:32:30] and last but not least i just kind of

[2:32:32] wanted to give you an update um we've

[2:32:34] been having some serious safety concerns

[2:32:36] with court

[2:32:38] the judge is

[2:32:40] not comfortable because she has to walk

[2:32:42] in through all the defendants and then

[2:32:45] walk around

[2:32:47] clerk of court the clerks are way down

[2:32:49] another hallway and so we've got

[2:32:51] defendants sitting in the main hallway

[2:32:53] walking around all over the place

[2:32:56] so one of the things that we did because

[2:32:59] we're out of we're out of space

[2:33:01] our intention is to take the west fargo

[2:33:03] room and we're going to make that into

[2:33:04] the clerk of court's office and then

[2:33:06] they would have to cut a hole in the

[2:33:08] wall

[2:33:09] and then create a walkway a safe walkway

[2:33:12] for the judge to get up here

[2:33:15] that's the the best workaround we could

[2:33:18] find we'll create a new window for the

[2:33:20] clerk and it'll be right by here so that

[2:33:22] they're able to

[2:33:23] try and keep people more contained but

[2:33:26] it is becoming a big issue the more

[2:33:28] cases we have

[2:33:30] you can have 50 people standing around

[2:33:31] out there and it's not safe

[2:33:33] the police department is fantastic about

[2:33:35] helping out but it is it is a serious

[2:33:39] issue so um i just wanted you to be

[2:33:41] aware that that is what we're working on

[2:33:44] and it's for the safety of not only the

[2:33:47] clerks

[2:33:48] but our concern for the judge

[2:33:51] and the others so do you have any

[2:33:53] questions for me on that the reason she

[2:33:55] couldn't come through this store

[2:33:57] um

[2:33:59] i think she

[2:34:00] exits that door i'm not sure if she

[2:34:03] accident i would think she could come

[2:34:04] into it it would save us a whole lot of

[2:34:06] money

[2:34:07] yeah i'm not sure i i i can't answer

[2:34:10] that jim do you know for sure what her

[2:34:12] reasoning was

[2:34:21] right but if she access it then what's

[2:34:23] the difference why couldn't she why

[2:34:24] could she not enter it

[2:34:26] just saying it seems like we might want

[2:34:28] to think about that before we start

[2:34:29] remodeling and spend a whole lot of

[2:34:30] money if if that's the case

[2:34:39] i'm assuming it'll come before the

[2:34:41] commission before you follow those plans

[2:34:43] through correct before you start

[2:34:44] spending money on it the the costs the

[2:34:47] cost estimates will come before

[2:34:48] commission for approval if you would

[2:34:50] like um typically when we're trying to

[2:34:52] just make space at city hall we've just

[2:34:54] kind of taken bits and pieces and tried

[2:34:56] to do the best we could but

[2:34:58] if you would like us to i definitely

[2:35:00] will bring those forward to you for

[2:35:01] review and approval

[2:35:06] i guess

[2:35:07] i'd kind of like to know the yeah just

[2:35:09] what it's going to cost us before we do

[2:35:10] it

[2:35:12] maybe there's other alternatives

[2:35:14] okay i will do so

[2:35:17] all right and that is all i have what do

[2:35:20] you have for me

[2:35:21] and you

[2:35:22] distributed your correspondence correct

[2:35:24] yes i did

[2:35:27] questions for mrs fisk on

[2:35:29] correspondence or her city

[2:35:31] administrator's report

[2:35:34] thank you thank you

[2:35:37] commissioners any of you have any

[2:35:38] non-agenda items you'd like to bring

[2:35:40] forward tonight

[2:35:45] staff anybody department heads anybody

[2:35:47] like to bring something forward this

[2:35:48] evening

[2:35:52] i'd like to there was an item on the

[2:35:55] consent agenda

[2:35:57] that kind of went unnoticed uh

[2:36:00] and that is

[2:36:02] uh

[2:36:03] public works matt anvik putting out for

[2:36:06] bids to get rid of the rip wrapping

[2:36:08] along around our

[2:36:10] um

[2:36:12] lagoon

[2:36:14] cells

[2:36:15] good work matthew

[2:36:17] i mean we're getting paid for them to

[2:36:19] come and get it and get it out of there

[2:36:20] we'd had to get them out of there before

[2:36:22] you can

[2:36:23] fully reclaim them anyway so you've got

[2:36:25] somebody to buy them

[2:36:27] and to remove them

[2:36:28] that's top-notch work so my

[2:36:30] congratulations to you and your team who

[2:36:33] all who are involved please

[2:36:35] give them the thanks to the city

[2:36:36] commission for that

[2:36:38] and i think that generated two hundred

[2:36:40] thousand dollars plus in revenue

[2:36:43] good work

[2:36:44] uh

[2:36:45] commissioner simmons moved to adjourn

[2:36:47] commissioner olsen second we are

[2:36:50] adjourned

West Fargo City Commission Meeting 9-7-2021

Agenda

Transcript