December 16th, it's 5 15.

We're in the Tom Baker room of the City County Building.

This will be the Board of City Commissioners.

But before we start, if Chaplin Lucas would mind coming forward with Benediction and the Pledge of Allegiance, please.

On behalf of Crisis Care Chaplain C thank you to the commission for allowing us to participate.

If you would, if you are able, if you would stand with me for the invitation and then remain standing for the pledge.

Heavenly Father, we come before you uh tonight with thanksgiving for all the many blessings that you bestow upon us.

A nation where we are free.

Elections that give the people a voice, public meetings like this where people also have a voice.

We thank you that the people have an opportunity to serve their city as these commissioners are as well.

We pray uh protection and wisdom to our first responders as they serve this city in the many capacities uh that they serve in.

We ask you to provide wisdom and discernment to this group tonight as they make decisions going forward.

And during this Christmas season, may we be a little more kind, may we be a little more generous, and may we be a little more empathetic during this season.

We ask all these things in your holy and precious name.

Amen.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Thank you, sir.

All right, if we can call the meeting to order and call roll.

Commissioner Rish.

Here commissioner Zenker?

Here.

Commissioner Connolly?

Here.

Commissioner Cleary?

Here.

Mayor Schmidt.

Here.

We are at public comment.

Public comment is restricted to the consent agenda consent agenda, regular agenda or prior city commission agenda, excluding any public hearings that are noted for tonight.

So public comment period is now open.

Anyone who wish to speak, please come forward, state your name, and sign in on the log.

Well just all the way.

No one would move by call for the city of Man.

So I would make that continue upon the City of Man participating.

This is a joint community of public transit.

It is for both of our communities, and I don't think Bismart should just have to pay the bill.

I I do understand if you have to, but I think they have their own sales tax too.

So I would just ask that you consider that.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Again, this is a public comment.

Anyone who wishes to speak, please come forward, identify yourself and the topic.

Hello, my name is Susan Dingle.

I want to speak about the third party management recommendation and the approval of the idea of selecting advisory board members for the event center.

I myself still have mixed opinions about the idea of choosing a third-party management organization for the Bismarck Event Center, but I am confident at the same time that the process for soliciting applicants and making the recommendation were transparent and fair.

That is not what I'm here to comment about.

What I am here to comment about is my hopes for event center staff.

The event center staff are the secret sauce of the event center.

They are why it has succeeded and why it can continue to succeed.

Many of these people are members of families that have had other family members working at the event center for generations.

This is not typical, and this is certainly nothing to take for granted.

This is a strength, and it needs to be continued.

The same people also can be advocates for helping to recruit other new staff members.

And this should be maintained and encouraged.

This is a key part of the culture of the event center and part of how and why it works.

It needs to be preserved and upheld and respected.

They know that.

And one of the biggest concerns, and perhaps one of the things that the management group can bring, is some perspective on the multiplier effect, because the multiplier effect is really the key metric, excuse me, with an event center.

It's not the profit, which may or may not occur.

The idea is the event center spotlights the community.

It encourages people to come, both people from inside the community and maybe the larger communities in the region, but people from other places.

The event center has been doing that and could probably do better at it.

And of course, things with event centers and arenas and convention centers are changing, and the event center staff probably can tell you that they know about that.

What a third-party management group with experience in handling event centers could do is perhaps offer some perspectives on how do we maximize some of these partnerships?

We already have community partnerships, industry partnerships.

We have groups who have long histories of coming and having their events there.

What can we do to help maximize these, to have people not just come to the convention center or to the convention center and a hotel, but to do larger things in the community to get a little more connected and interested in the larger picture?

Because of course, the other thing they're trying to do is if somebody is considering a move or a transfer, maybe they would come here.

And if they have previous positive experiences here, that might help sway their decisions in favor.

That is what the event center is supposed to do.

It is supposed to work on those relationships and partnerships and the multiplier effect.

What is their outreach in the community and what kind of effect do they have going forward?

That's what they need to do.

And my hope is that's the strength of this new group.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Yeah, you're signing in.

Thank you.

How do you get this fucking pandemic?

Okay, I signed in Trevor and me.

Thank you.

All right, public comment is open.

Okay, second call for public comment.

A third and final call for public comment.

Seeing our hearing no one else, the public comment period is now closed.

Commissioners, what are your wishes?

Or okay.

Commissioner Zinker.

Commissioners.

I would like to pull item D1 for further discussion.

Okay.

And I would like to pull two of them.

Item um I one.

Okay.

So with those two items polled, what are your wishes with regard to the rest of the consent agenda?

And then we can come back to those three items.

I'll motion the rest of the consent agenda.

Second.

Okay, any discussion?

Hearing none will call roll.

Commissioner Zenker.

Yes.

Commissioner Connolly?

Yes.

Commissioner Cleary?

Yes.

Commissioner Vish.

Yes.

Mayor Schmidt.

Yes.

Commissioner Zenker will start yours as the first item.

Yeah.

So I just I guess I got a couple questions on that.

Um I mean, I'll be honest, I haven't been favorable for the third party management since day one.

So typically when we when we um talk about the selection committee and operations and negotiate contracts, we've got a precedent set, right?

Our engineering team, when we do a new road street, that type of stuff, it's already set up.

Um if we go for architects for buildings, we have that.

So we've never negotiated uh contract like this, so I guess I have three questions.

One, um, what about our staff?

Because when we talked about this before we went for RFP and those types of things, I thought the consensus at the table is to make sure that staff is taken care of.

And go two, um what um what are we going to do with current contracts that are already um on the books, so to speak, business that we're anticipating to have.

And then the final one is the big one is what's the return on investment?

What because we've already committed to um upgrades to the event center, which we all know they need.

Um then, you know, what what are we gonna what are we guaranteed to have other than expenses?

And when we look at it from a business perspective, any time you go into a contract, there's gotta be give or take for everybody.

So what's in it for the citizens of Bismarck?

I will say the last item on the agenda with the uh the board and stuff.

I've been an advocate that for a while.

I'm I'm really excited to to see that pass and move forward.

But I I need those three answers on that topic.

So Jason, do you want to come up and I mean I can lead it, but he cannot approach it.

Well, and just to further that that when we get to that, those individuals were part of this selection process.

So they've asked a lot of these same questions.

Okay.

So good evening, uh Mayor and Commissioner.

Well, if there's ever an easy answer.

I'll try and address the questions in the order that they were asked.

So first, what about staff?

Uh Commissioner Zenker, that was uh one of the components of the scoring process when uh the selection committee evaluated the proposals.

Uh the things that we were looking for was uh we refer to it as an employee protection plan.

And ultimately what the groups are recognizing is very much what uh Ms.

Dingle shared earlier is that the staff in this building are the assets that need to be maintained and supported and and the words she used were incentivized uh to continue to do great work.

Uh the employee protection plan was certainly addressed by both components or both uh the uh selection, both of the groups that the selection committee interviewed.

Uh that is a portion of the contract that the city will be sending to Oakview Group.

Uh so we are in the process right now of developing a draft.

And I should have predicated all of this by saying uh city staff is working with the consultants at JLL to walk us through each of these steps.

Is you're right, we've never done this before.

This is new territory for all of us.

However, uh, we are working with uh from what we have learned some of the best in the industry um to get to this process to get to this part.

So uh with that in mind, I am confident and comfortable that uh the draft contract that the city of Bismarck provides to Oakview Group in the very near future will address all of the concerns from the city's perspective first, and then we will hopefully have meaningful negotiations and dialogue back and forth with the intention of best case scenario, we bring that contract to this commission for your review and approval at your second meeting in January.

That's fingers crossed.

That's a fast track.

Um recognizing we've got holidays and things like that in there.

That would be the 27th of January.

It's an internal goal that we've set for ourselves.

I I'm not going to pledge that we're going to make it because we're going to have to rely on third parties operations and their legal team and their comments back and forth.

But just know that from a city staff perspective, we are turning this thing around as quickly as we can.

When I say we, myself, uh city attorney, uh Julie Meese, our procurement officer, our finance director, our IT director, we've all had influence and uh feedback into this draft contract, writing it through the eyes of what is best for the city in this scenario, knowing that we're going to volley the contract out first.

Uh the second, does that answer your question about staff?

I mean, so are you are you basically saying there's a guarantee that they'll all have their job?

That is the expectation that on day one, all the staff in the Bismarck event center will be offered a job by the third party, no questions.

Okay.

Okay.

Second question, your your question about current contracts.

Uh for dates that are on the calendar, dates that have been booked or held or reserved, those are conversations that will occur with the third party if they're if they're booked, if they're you know coming up and uh contracts are signed, obviously those are going to be honored.

Um as far as hold dates and things, we're aware that some events are on the calendar for years in advance to say hold the third Thursday in January or whatever that reoccurring date is.

Those types of things, depending on uh the uh the level of priority if they become a say there's a a potential concert that's available on that same date, and we're talking about a hold date that's five years out.

I would expect some type of negotiation back and forth between the group that has the date hold held and uh a higher ticketed event or something like that.

Um but the intention is to continue to honor all the contracts that we have currently, and that extends to the third party vendors that are in there as far as some of the concessions and things like that as well.

Um so there's no intentions to eliminate any of that at this point.

To be continued as part of the dialogue when we enter into the contract negotiation.

And then the third thing, your question about the return on the investment for the third party, uh the city has committed to capital improvements over the next five years.

Um this is actually something in and Mayor Schmitz, feel free to um uh to add on to this.

But one of the things that stood out from the Oakview group to the selection committee was their initial pledge to uh put money into a full-scale commercial kitchen.

Both groups that interviewed with the selection committee highlighted the importance of having food and beverage operations become in-house.

Uh much of the uh plated meals are currently catered in from outside third-party vendors.

That can add concerns with potential cost, quality control, just the some of the things that can go along with plating, you know, 400 plus dinners.

The idea of having an in-house kitchen, it it's a significant investment, but it's an investment that the group is willing to make because they see the value in bringing the food and beverage program internal to be able to control the quality, the food cost, the production.

To be honest, during the during the interviews, the both groups provided a an example of a food program that they would have for whether it be conventions or uh grab and go type things.

Um they had a limited opportunity to prepare any foods, but they did a nice job demonstrating various features of how they address food and beverage in other areas.

So return on investment, yes, we will continue to move forward with the CIP.

We've got a group that's pledging an investment themselves into the build-out of the building.

And I think in the past there's actually been discussions and exploration as to where a kitchen could be located within that facility.

So I think that would be something that we would look to Jeff Eubel uh who is working on the capital improvements project to work with the third party, excuse me, the third party to find the best location for that type of a facility.

As far as the long-term return on investment, uh, when will this facility make money?

Uh both groups had to submit a pro forma as part of their proposal, and I would offer that both of them were very um reserved in their returns, not wanting to perhaps overpromise and then under deliver.

Um but I think something like this, uh, the group that has been recommended to move forward, Oakview Group has demonstrated their ability to turn the Alaris Center in Grand Forks from a uh a deficit each year to this year they will be posting a pretty significant uh uh revenue for the facility on its own.

And I believe Oakview Group's been managing the Alaris Center for somewhere between five and seven years in Grand Forks.

So I don't want to imply that the first year everything is going to be great.

There's going to be uh all the deficits are overcome.

Uh there's certainly capital improvements that need to be considered with this.

There's money going into the building to upgrade some of it.

But I believe that uh the group that has been selected demonstrated the the ability to lead this project for us.

Um maybe just a little bit about Oakview.

Uh they're an international company managing over 300 facilities, all the way from large-scale stadiums to historic theaters, very much like the Bellamay House.

So their their depth and breadth of uh experience and knowledge is pretty vast.

And I I guess I would stand with the recommendation from the selection committee.

I was part of that process, and I I think we've got the right recommendation coming forward for the group.

The other thing is there's several other KPIs that need to be met, like enhanced hotel lights, enhanced revenue and restaurants, and there's measuring metrics that those will be that that will be part of the contract of how we're going to define that and what they have to attain uh to retain their contract.

And if I may, Commissioners, to add on to the mayor's comment about the key performance indicators, that is one of the components, one of the expectations of the authority board is to uphold those KPIs and hold the third party accountable and then be able to measure their productivity year over year because there are incentives based on those KPIs.

If they hit those marks, if they exceed those targets, there are advantages, there are cash incentives for them to do those to to reach those marks.

And so that is one of the responsibilities of the authority board is to meet regularly with the third party and have these discussions about what's coming, how did the last one do, what more do you need, what projects are going on in the building?

I I'm excited for the authority board to uh begin to meet because there's uh there's a lot of opportunity, there's a lot of enthusiasm from not just the members but also the third party and again uh the consultants with JLL have been walking us through all of this, and I am I'm very confident that we're going to be able to hit the ground running.

We will rely on JLL for a few more months to get us through the contract negotiation, but then also help the authority board get established so we know what type of questions should we be asking on these monthly reports?

What type of numbers should we be looking for?

Uh the the authority board is a very diverse group of business people in our community, but I we need to know what questions to ask, and we need to know what information to be looking for each month as we go forward.

So again, we're we're really leaning into JLL and their support, but I think because of all the decisions that have led us to this point, uh I'm comfortable that we're going to continue to make the right decisions going in.

Any other questions, Commissioner Zenker?

No, sir.

Thank you.

Okay.

Um with regard to consent agenda item D1, what are your wishes?

Go and move to approve.

Second.

Any further discussion?

Hearing none will call roll.

Commissioner Connolly.

Yes.

Commissioner Cleary, yes.

Commissioner Rish?

Yes.

Commissioner Zenker?

No.

Mayor Schmidt?

Yes.

Moving to I make sure I have this in the right order.

So Commissioner Connolly, I think it's I 1, correct?

Yeah.

Consent agenda I1.

I'll start with that one.

Um with that in direct relation with municipal court, there's some wording within state law that has some impacts to this conversation.

And I talked to the Supreme Court lawyer representative, and she says they communicate with Stephanie through LEACA Cities.

Stephanie is on vacation through the 19th of this week and would just like to postpone that item to the January 13th meeting because we'll have to renotice that item.

Commissioner Rish.

I just got a question.

So Commissioner Conley, the way I'm looking at it, if we just remove the clerk of court from the list here for the next meeting, would that be okay?

Um I talked with uh our city administrator, and because of the noticing that's required, um it's would be uh better because then we can be transparent with the public on the entire item instead of parcelizing it out.

So that would be it will not have any significant impact on our ability to operate.

So postponing it to the call to be the first meeting in January so that we have the second meeting is when the public hearing is.

I don't see that as a problem.

So we should have a full we should have a motion to pull it entirely or to postpone it.

Postpone the call, I think.

I make a motion to uh move our item I one to from today's meeting to our January 13th meeting.

Second.

Any discussion?

Here and then we'll call the role on that.

Commissioner Cleary?

Yes.

Commissioner Rish?

Yes.

Commissioner Zanker?

Yes.

Commissioner Connolly?

Yes.

Mayor Smith.

Yes.

Then it's K9 if I've got it right, Commissioner.

Yes.

This is a new committee.

Uh all of the committees are being voted on, and most of them are on the consent agenda.

And the people at this table were part of the checks and balances on behalf of the citizen.

This is for economic development.

Um last meeting, uh we paid two entities for economic development.

And we had a presentation at that meeting.

And part of the conversation was is that they also tried to advocate for people to join these committees.

And now that representative's name is one of the people on this.

So we're paying that entity money, and now they're on the committee for economic development, which they also try to train other people for for that.

So it there's some angst with that portion.

The other thing is is some of the other selections have um come up in conversations as medical detox.

That's the part of the triage center that I am on board with.

I'm still trying to figure out where I'm at with the rest of it on the pros and cons of it, but one of the names would be one of the names directly um indicated and has already been directly indicated as conversations when that has come up.

And an entity that a person works for is also part of that conversation.

Um there's also things like the continual every parking authority meetings talking about a new parking ramp.

And um the people on this committee are people that directly um benefit from those discussions.

So is it truly about economic development border to border for the entire city?

So so I think we need to let Daniel respond because I don't think it's economic development at all that this committee is for.

So this has something to do entirely different.

Yes.

Uh mayor commissioners, Commissioner Connolly.

So I do appreciate the opportunity to speak to this.

This is a brand new board, so I I think it does warrant some some discussion.

So the uh the purpose of the community development advisory committee would be to advise the city on the selection of community development block grant sub-recipients.

So this is funding that uh we receive every year through from the uh Department of Housing and Urban Development from HUD.

Uh and we do have a uh annual action plan that you do approve each year, a consolidated plan every few years.

Uh and one of the requirements from HUD is that there is a citizen basically feedback from the public, uh people who are outside of the organization of the city that provide guidance to us for the spending of this money.

So there has been a citizen committee in the past, however, it's really been ad hoc and hasn't really been a formalized in the same way that we're proposing today.

So what this would do is it would basically bring it to you as a um city commission to appoint these members of the citizen committee, and then they would help advise on the selection of these of these grants.

And of course, all the meetings would then be publicly noticed and would be um recorded and available to anyone to attend as well.

So that it that's the purpose of this committee, and we did solicit applications and and these are the people who had applied.

Um some people do are certainly have an interest in the field and and are involved in this, and of course they would just need to recuse themselves if if it were a conflict.

And I'll speak to the application process, like we were short one position for one of the boards until last week.

So we had there was like there was no person who put an application in that was turned away.

That's correct.

So that's part of we we're trying to fill the fill it and saw, and again, this is not economic development.

This is sure community development economic, and I I appreciate the clarification with that.

So it and I'm okay with being wrong.

That's part of the checks and balances too, as far as clarification, and I don't mind that.

That's how we learn, right?

So it's only specific to HUD.

That's correct.

Nothing else.

CD C D BG, community development block grant funding.

Okay.

So can I make a recommendation?

Sure.

So next time we do that, could you could we put in there what it's what it's for?

Okay.

Yeah right?

Because I called Daniel too.

I'm like, hey, what do you need an advisory committee for for community development?

That's a fair question.

Once we had a three-minute conversation, I knew exactly what was going on.

That's a fair question.

And because he asked me about it ahead of time, I prom I knew, but it wasn't in the memo memo very well.

That's true.

Doing noted.

Mr.

Mayor, Commissioners, the one one comment I want to make is you know, we mount all these positions for all these boards and at one meeting, and then time passes on and all of a sudden they show on the agenda and there's a people's name, but they don't say anything about their qualifications.

It would be helpful for me if we posted just something brief about their qualifications in the future.

So anybody in the public or me as a commissioner is going to vote on this, I'll understand something about their qualifications.

That would be helpful.

Okay.

I think that's doable just to add a little bile.

Because they do put information in their application.

They do.

So and the clarification is helpful.

So with that, I motion to approve.

Any further discussion.

Hearing on a call roll.

Commissioner Rish?

Yes.

Commissioner Dinker?

Yes.

Commissioner Conley?

Yes.

Commissioner Cleary?

Yes.

Mayor Schmidt.

Yes.

All right.

We're going to call regular agenda item A, consider recommendation from by Bismand Transit Board for approval of sales tax allocation.

Deedra and Deidra, we're going to do the best we can because I know you need to get over to City of Mandan because they are meeting tonight to have the same topic on their agenda.

Yes, I do appreciate that.

Good evening, Mayor and Commissioners.

Thank you for the opportunity to speak with you today about our 2025 public transit sales tax request.

On behalf of the Bisman Transit Board, I am requesting $649,392.15 cents in sales tax funding to help offset our projected 2025 operating deficit.

At the start of 2025, we projected an operating deficit of over 955,000, driven by several challenges.

Rising costs of fuel, vehicle repairs, contractor expenses, and staff pay to retain our dedicated team all play to factor in this anticipated deficit.

At the same time, our revenues haven't kept pace.

While industry-wide inflation pushes expenses up by 8.87 percent, our Federal 5307 operating grant has only increased by 2.3 percent.

This grant supports urban areas like ours with populations over 50,000, but is formulas are based on things that don't fully account for our local growth.

We typically run out of this funding by September or October of each year.

The remaining expenses are fully absorbed by Bisman Transit's cash reserves with no grant reimbursement.

These reserves are necessary to match other federal grants for capital purchases, including buses.

As of November 30th, 2025, we have provided 127,197 fixed route trips, up 14.61 percent over the prior year, and 85,346 paratransit trips up 3.44 percent.

These numbers clearly demonstrate the increasing reliance on these services in our community.

Adding to this, community demands are growing, especially for low-income individuals, seniors, and people with disabilities.

Recently, one of our area's major tax taxi providers shut down, creating an even greater need for public transit.

Without additional support support, we risk service cuts that would disproportionately harm these vulnerable groups who depend on us to get to work, doctor's appointments, and essential services.

I want to highlight that we've been proactive in addressing the deficit as of November 20th, 2025.

Our projected annual deficit is now at $760,000, which is about $214,000 less than we had originally anticipated.

The purpose of this funding request is to cover key operating expenses, including our contract with WeDrive U, fuel, insurance, utilities, and most importantly, to maintain current current service levels for both fixed route and paratransit services, ensuring we can continue connecting our communities without interruption.

We're requesting $649,392 and fifteen cents from Bismarck, which represents 85.44% of the total deficit.

I will also be re presenting a request to the City of Mandan this evening for 110,664.21 cents, which is 14.56% of our 2025 deficit.

We're hopeful both communities approve our requests.

If you may recall, in May, the City Commission discussed allocating up to $1 million to cover this deficit following the Transportation Steering Committee's recommendation.

Our updated lower deficit keeps us well within that cap.

Once the 2025 deficit is addressed, we'll begin our service change process.

The first steps in this process are two public comment meetings which are scheduled for January 13th.

Members of the public will also be able to provide comments on what service changes they would like to see through our website, email, in writing, and over the phone.

Following the public comment meetings, the public hearing will be held on January 22nd at 10 a.m.

at the transit facility.

Proposed changes will then be presented to the Bisman Transit Board later that day at the January board meeting.

If all goes as planned, I will be back before this group on February 10th to present the proposed service changes for final approval.

Although this timeline is somewhat flexible, the goal is to implement all service changes by April 1st.

The service changes requested by the Transportation Steering Committee will be discussed, but we will also be exploring other service options depending on how the public comments and public meetings go.

The proposed changes recommended by that committee include offering four additional hours of CAT bus service Monday through Saturday and three and a half extra hours of demand reservice on demand response service on Sunday.

It was suggested that the Sunday demand response service also be open to the general public to allow additional transportation options for riders on Sundays.

In conclusion, Bismarck Transit is a lifeline for the Bismarck and Mandan communities.

We connect people to opportunities, including jobs, health care, shopping, and recreation that they might otherwise miss.

This deficit threatens our ability to provide these essential services, but with your support, we can sustain them and keep the region moving forward.

I'd be happy to answer any questions.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Does anyone have questions?

Commissioner Rush.

Mr.

Mayor Deedra.

So we've got this dedicated sales tax now.

How is the revenue amounts of revenue coming in?

Certainly not enough to cover the 760,000 at this point.

We have not received any of that revenue.

This request is actually to start accessing that funding.

Okay.

I don't know what the amount is.

Eric, I think I saw him walk in earlier.

He may have an idea what the balance is on that at this point in time, but I suspect we're okay.

Mayor Commissioners, Commissioner Rish.

Um to date, we have about 2.1 million dollars in collections dedicated to transit.

So more than sufficient dollars to accommodate this request.

Commissioner Connolly.

Commissioner Rish, Mayor, other commissioners.

That was in the writing of the initiated measure that was on purpose so that there was a checks and balance, kind of mentioned it before.

Is that transit's name is not mentioned on that initiated measure?

So it allows us the flexibility to make decisions that hopefully best meet the needs of the community.

The fact that there's enough money there is why this conversation is being had.

But it always has to come through this specific to people in the elder area, people with abilities, disabilities, and people of low economic status, so that we can hopefully find the best ways to use that to benefit our community.

Um the entity that's providing that service the most right now.

Any other questions?

Colleagues.

I'll make a motion to approve it presented and hustle over and good luck with mandate.

Second.

And any discussion.

Hearing none will call roll.

Commissioner Zenker.

Yes.

Commissioner Connolly?

Yes.

Commissioner Cleary?

Yes.

Commissioner Rish?

Yes.

Mayor Schmitz.

Yes.

And please drive safely.

Thank you.

Next item is B, consider request, receive a end of your update from the Bismarck Mandan Chamber EDC related to economic development services.

And also a request for some funding for a business pitch.

Yes.

Good evening, Mayor and Commissioners.

Thank you for allowing me to take three hours of your time, Commissioner Zanker, to speak seven minutes.

Thank you.

I'm I'm kidding.

All right.

Well, here we are.

It is the end of year, and I want to give you some really helpful updates.

As stated before, my name is Brendan Eagle for those of you that don't know me.

Um, and I serve in the role as president and CEO of the Bismarck Mandan Chamber EDC.

I'm grateful to partner with the City of Bismarck and to do all of these wonderful things.

And so you can see here that we have a new strategic plan.

I'm not going to walk you through all of it, uh, but I think there are some highlights, and I won't go through all of them.

I think you're smart enough to figure out what some of them are.

Um but we broke our strategic plan into four quadrants, all focused around uh the people that we serve.

And we we serve the Bismarck Mandan community.

In this particular meeting, um, we are talking about the community of Bismarck.

Um we broke it into four quadrants of economic development, public policy, leadership development, and community engagement and marketing.

And so what does all that mean and why should you care about that?

There's a lot that goes on in economic development, and that is the primary um uh work that I think you are are interested in.

Uh, we do a lot of things when it comes to job shadow week to uh introduce people to what jobs are available in the in the community.

Project development is pretty vague because there are some projects that are out there and are being discussed that people come to us at the Chamber of EDC and say, we'd like to talk to you about this particular project.

Would you sign an NDA?

I'm not signing an NDA on behalf of the City of Bismarck by any means.

I'm simply signing an NDA to say I won't tell anybody about it until we need to have a conversation with the appropriate location, but I can tell you that there are definitely projects and people interested in doing things in the community of Bismarck.

The Bismarck Vision Fund, I think you're very well aware of the Vision Fund, but we ushered nearly 400,000 through the Vision Fund, unlocking additional state funds in pace dollars, upwards of $800,000.

Now that's just an interest savings and things for those particular businesses.

But the projects in total are uh well in the millions of dollars, and the economic impact to the community of Bismarck are certainly important, and and I know that you're very well aware of those.

From a leadership development perspective, we spend a lot of time with students in the community and introduce them to all of the different things that are going on.

We take them through a kind of mini uh leadership Bismarck Mandan program so that they can understand what is available and what it takes to make a community run.

Uh leadership Bismarck Mandan is a program on its own that I think you're very well aware of and empowering women in business.

The bottom line is leadership development is focused on engaging people in the community so that they want to stay here and they want to be active participants in the community in which they live and and work and and contribute to.

And so public policy, we do a lot of things with that.

Finalizing land development code, we did participate on that on that particular committee.

We also pulled in a lot of our members uh to ask them to give feedback uh in that land development code process.

We prepare candidates uh to run.

Uh we don't we don't endorse candidates, but we help people understand what does it take to put uh a campaign together and we connect them with mentors who are already sitting at the table to help them understand what it's like to um be a part of a public servant life.

And then we are activating our Military Affairs Committee in 2026 and bringing that back.

We do a lot of other things in public policy, but I'm highlighting some things here.

Community engagement and marketing.

We have state of the cities, which is an opportunity for both mayors of our community of Bismarck and Mandan to stand in front of nearly 500 people and let them know what is going on in the community.

Uh, welcome initiative is something uh that we've worked on with both uh cities of Bismarck and Mandan.

It actually was a program that was brought forward by the first lady, uh Janelle Schmitz, and Mayor Schmitz was very active in this.

And um and so we spent a lot of time in engaging in what does it look like to welcome people to the city of Bismarck.

And then we also um did some things in September, October, and November where we uh engaged pretty heavily.

We actually invested um significantly with a local marketing firm to attract out-of-state talent and business.

And so what we did there is we we took uh some videos, testimonials of people who have made a conscious effort to move to the Bismarck community, Bismarck Mandan, and we talked to them and we put them in some very well put together videos that we had received some RWIP funding for, but we also had to do some matching dollars, which is why we did the marketing.

We uh targeted families that um match a persona of who we are in this community, uh, and then we sent that out, those videos out to YouTube and to streaming TV in communities uh in Minnesota, in Wisconsin, and in other areas because those people know what it's like to live in the cold, and so we we don't want to target people from California, we want to target like people to Bismarck.

Why should we care about that?

Um we targeted to nearly 900,000 people.

Um it's amazing what people will look at once you serve it to them on on their on streaming TV in YouTube and all of those kinds of things.

And so what's next out of that is we now have IP addresses and things that we can retarget and we can remarket to those people and continue to help them better understand the story of our community and why should they why they should consider moving here, whether it's with their family or moving their business to the community.

The next item um on the on the list here is to talk about the uh business Bismarck business pitch.

I would not want to have a conversation about the Bismarck Business Pitch without giving a shout out to our friends in Mandan.

This is a successful program that the City of Mandan and the community has embraced over there for quite some time.

We've learned a lot from it, and it's it's been a really great opportunity for them to really launch that entrepreneurial ecosystem.

And that is part of economic development.

And so the Bismarck Business Pitch, it supports entrepreneurs with coaching, with resources.

It gives them a platform to refine their ideas, strengthen their plans.

We bring people in and help them really understand what's it like to write a business plan.

It can't be on a napkin, it can't be scribbled on a piece of paper, it needs to be a little bit more formalized than that.

And it really helps them move from concept to launching their business.

We help startups gain visibility, secure investment, and accelerate growth.

And that's again important in really nurturing that economic and that entrepreneurial ecosystem.

This would be a partnership between the City of Bismarck and our chamber EDC to administer the program, including managing the applications and selecting the finalists.

Like I said, it's been an incredibly successful program over in Mandan, and we're really looking to duplicate that program and implement it for the City of Bismarck.

The funding would come from the Vision Fund, should you choose to approve this evening for three entrepreneur awards, $10,000 for the first place, $3,000 for second place, and $2,000 for third place for a total request of $15,000.

It would be a forgivable loan, and that's exactly how it's it functions over in Mandan.

We wouldn't want to create a fund that is more money than Mandan because we're not looking to compete between Bismarck and Mandan.

We're looking to collaborate and to complement each other by offering the opportunity in both communities.

And so once the applications open, the finalists would be go through a selection process, they'd receive coaching and support.

The pitch would be a hosted event where they they actually get on stage and they share what their dream is, what their vision is and what it would do for the city of Bismarck, and then winners are awarded and we and we move on.

So my request for you this evening is to help us build on this foundation built in Mandan and make something called the Bismarck Business Pitch and make this an annual event for the City of Bismarck.

I'll let you decide on that while I finish up my third slide if that's okay.

So what's our economic impacts?

If you look up the top three contributors to GDP growth in any community, they're very similar to this.

But in the Bismarck community, it shows through our economic indicator reports that healthcare, retail, and manufacturing are the primary drivers of the GDP in in Bismarck.

And so what does that mean?

What are we doing about that?

Well, I'm not delivering health care.

I certainly am not doing that.

But we certainly support our health care systems and we work very closely with anyone who is delivering health care to help them understand what it takes to staff those.

And we advocate on on behalf of any of those staffing needs that they have and do things from a workforce development perspective.

Retail is pretty self-explanatory, but I think I want to call out here increased hotel and conference space.

I think the efforts that are happening that we fully support in enhancing what's going on at the event center as well as the potential to have a hotel and conference center very close to the event center, certainly will not hurt us from a GDP, and it certainly is not going to hurt us when it comes to economic growth because we know that we could fill that space.

From a manufacturing perspective, that one's big, and that one is certainly important.

We are in the midst of exploring industrial park locations for the city of Bismarck.

We have a subcommittee at the Chamber EDC and City Administrator is part of that conversation.

And so we are just really looking to expand our opportunities to grow another industrial park.

Might I remind you that Northern Plains Commerce Center is basically full.

And so we we need to have a shovel ready area that when somebody calls and says, Brenda, do you have a space for this type of industrial business to come to Bismarck?

I need to be able to say yes, and let's go have a conversation with the City of Bismarck and see where we can put that.

And so we're working very diligently.

That is an urgent item on the pillar of our economic development plan for 2026 and forward to build out additional industrial park space.

And then of course, I've talked about the facilitation of the Bismarck Vision Fund projects.

That certainly has an impact very positively on economic uh gross growth.

Our workforce impacts, I've talked about it before.

I'll I'll say it again, the things that we do from a workforce because we can't do business without workforce, and some of the things that we are doing uh with our businesses that are members uh as well as other community members.

Uh the make your markbizman dot com.

Um we've got a lot of people coming to that website right now, and we need to capitalize on how do we contact them and we know how to do that, and how do we show them what it is that the community of Bismarck has to offer in the name of bringing their business here because we are business friendly, but we also are very family friendly.

We have some of the best schools in the in the in the country.

Um we have great people here, and we want to share that with other people and and make Bismarck grow.

And so community testimonial videos, those are available just so that you are aware.

They do us no good at the Chamber EDC if we just put them on a shelf and don't share them with anybody.

They are out there on the website.

They are available to you as as business.

If someone's listening out in um Internet Land here on Dakota Media Access, if we have a business that needs help with recruiting, um, contact us at the Chamber EDC, and we're happy to share those videos with you to utilize in your recruitment toolbox.

And so I will go back or not to the Bismarck business pitch and ask for uh discussion or potential approval um on business pitch, vision funds.

The vision funds already recommended this.

They have so the vision funds recommended it, but have the has the vision fund sent something to document that to recommend it to the commission.

Because in the minutes, I can't tell you that there was I I think it's a great idea.

I just want to make sure IDIs cross the T's.

No, that it was it was approved at the Vision Fund.

The vision fund probably doesn't write a letter.

So do we have to put it on the regular agenda item to vote on?

Or if not, I'll make a motion to approve it right now I don't know.

I don't know the legal answer to that question.

Someone's got to help us out.

Okay, so it has been noticed on the agenda for the uh business pitch challenge program, so you can vote on it.

So you can just go with that.

Okay.

All right.

Well, I'll make a motion to that the City of Bismarck implements the um Bismarck business pitch per the recommendation from the chamber and the vision fund approval, apparently.

Second.

Do we have discussion?

I just um knowing that the vision fund approved this, I'm assuming that funding-wise, I know that like I feel like we've been using more app or doing more applications than we ever have before, which is a great thing, but I just like wanted to confirm that the 15,000 isn't gonna like drain that it isn't okay.

I just know we haven't talked about like what's in there um lately.

So um, but yeah, I mean I love this program in Mandan, so I'm excited to see it in Bismarck.

Any other con?

Go ahead, Commissioner.

Mr.

Mayor.

Uh Brenda, where does Mandan get their $15,000?

They uh from the same place.

I mean, they they have funds just like the City of Bismarck does that they set aside for that process.

Their mandan growth funds.

Mandan Growth Fund.

Yeah.

It's the same concept of how ours is funded.

Or was created.

It's been incredibly successful.

Okay.

Any other comments?

Call roll, please.

Commissioner Connolly?

Yes.

Commissioner Cleary?

Yes.

Commissioner Rish?

Yes.

Commissioner Zenker?

Yes.

Mayor Schmitz.

Yes.

Thank you, Brenda.

Thank you so much.

Brenda, just a minute.

Commissioner Connolly's got a quick question, I think.

Certainly.

Commissioner.

Some concerns that people are voicing with me and things is that a lot of people are looking for work and not getting callbacks.

And or there being, I know of two businesses at least, to where they've said they've overhired.

So then they just let people go when people have rents and those type of things on the line.

That's a hard way.

All of a sudden it's being listed as a firing.

And then they have to go try to find another job with this difficult.

And so we have low unemployment.

We're recruiting people to fill positions, but now people are saying that they're not getting callbacks and it's getting harder to find work.

And those two conversations don't really go hand in hand with one another.

So I don't know the answer to it, but if you have some insights because it's starting to be asked more and more.

Uh Commissioner Connolly, uh Mayor, Commissioners.

I don't have the answer for it.

I certainly see it, and and I hear those comments as well.

And so we do have a workforce development committee, uh, and it's made up of a group of HR people, and those are conversations that we have as far as you know when you get an application from somebody, what is the process?

And I can't dictate what businesses do and how they accept applications and those sorts of things.

I think the best thing that we can do at the Chamber EDC is really encourage people to find the right recruiting tools that work for them, because what works for a restaurant won't necessarily work for an MDU or a basin electric, but find the right tools uh to utilize to capture those resumes and interests, and then at least get back to people so that they know that hey, we saw it, you're just not one of the qualified candidates.

Um, but it is definitely uh it's something that's got to be looked at.

I don't know if we're gonna be able to solve it, but it is certainly something that has been a part of some conversations.

I'll just follow up, Mr.

Mayor Brenda.

I happen to know somebody that had a felony 30 years ago.

Talented construction guy, and he's having a heck of a time finding work.

So I just encourage businesses to sometimes give somebody another chance, you know.

I agree, especially after years and years.

Thank you, Commissioner.

And I'll follow up with that, and I appreciate it.

It's important that we all keep those on the forefront because as people struggle, I mean the homeless conversation, a lot of the other conversations that are on the table right now that have huge impacts, if we don't keep it on the forefront and at least say it where everybody knows we're talking about it.

Um that it's important to a lot of people because as evictions go up, it gets harder to find housing and it's uh it's a cycle we all don't want.

It is a cycle, and I appreciate the comments, Commissioner.

All right, anything else?

Okay, thank you.

All right, item C public hearing on the request to have the new Class D sale at retail alcohol beverages, license transferred from 1603 main events to Eclipse venue LLC.

This is a public hearing.

Anyone who wish to speak on this topic, please come forward and sign.

A second call for public comment.

A third and final call for public comment.

Hearing is seeing nobody, public comment period is now closed.

Move to approve is presented.

Second.

Is there any discussion?

Hearing none will call roll.

Commissioner Cleary, yes.

Commissioner Rish?

Yes.

Commissioner Zanker?

Yes.

Commissioner Connolly?

Yes.

Mayor Schmitz.

Yes.

Next item D, public hearing on application for an F1 alcohol license by Los Mancheros Bar and Girl at 210 East Main Avenue.

This is a public hearing.

Anyone wish to speak to this, please come forward.

A second call for public comment.

The third and final call for public comment.

Seeing nor hearing anyone, the public comment period is now closed.

Move to approve is presented.

Second.

Any discussion?

Hearing none will call roll.

Commissioner Rish?

Yes.

Commissioner Zenker?

Yes.

Commissioner Connolly?

Yes.

Commissioner Cleary?

Yes.

Mayor Schmidt.

Yes.

Next item E public hearing on ordinance 664 48 to amend chapters 907 of the city code of ordinances related to the city employee pension plan.

This is a public hearing.

The public hearing is now open.

Anyone who wish to speak to it, please come forward.

A second call for public comment.

A third and final call for public comment.

Public comment period is closed.

Commissioners.

I move to approve as presented.

Second.

Any discussion?

Hearing none will call roll.

Commissioner Thinker?

Yes.

Commissioner Connolly?

Yes.

Commissioner Cleary?

Yes.

Commissioner Rish?

Yes.

Mayor Schmidt.

Yes.

Next item F public hearing on ordinance 6649 to amend Chapter 9-08 of the City of Bismarck Order of Ordinances related to the police pension plan.

Again, this is a public hearing.

Anyone who wish to speak, please come forward.

A second call for public comment.

A third and final call for public comment.

Public comment period is closed.

Commissioners.

Move to approve is presented.

Second.

Any discussion?

Hearing none will call roll.

Commissioner Connolly?

Yes.

Commissioner Cleary.

Yes.

Commissioner Rish?

Yes.

Commissioner Zanker?

Yes.

Mayor Schmidt.

Yes.

Next item G, public hearing on ordinance 6650 to create the Bismarck Event Center Authority Board.

This is a public hearing.

Anyone who wish to speak to this, please come forward.

A second call for public comment.

A third and final call for public comment.

Seeing nor hearing anyone, public comment period is closed.

Commissioners.

Move to approve as presented.

Second.

Any discussion.

Hearing none will call roll.

Commissioner Cleary.

Yes.

Commissioner Rish?

Yes.

Commissioner Zanker?

Yes.

Commissioner Connolly?

Yes.

Mayor Smith.

Yes.

Um item I.

H is poll.

Item I consider requests for approval of the public health services agreement with Burley County.

And I told Renee I would just, I mean, she's here if you want to ask her any questions.

But Jason and I attended the county meeting where it was on their agenda, basically just outlining the options like do they want to continue the contract, uh contract for services.

Um do they want more of an explanation as what a joint powers agreement looks like, or do they want to move on on their own this last year?

They opted to continue on with the contract for services.

So that's basically what we're bringing back to us tonight.

Is that draft contract?

And they've already approved it, correct?

I believe so.

That's yeah.

That was how it was presented to them.

Is there an escalator in it?

No, there is not.

It's just a year by year.

Year by year.

It's just year by year.

That's kind of how it's always been.

It does seem like that's the way they would want.

I don't want to speak for them, but that does seem the way that they want to continue because I think that it still is their goal that they would function on their own at some point.

So I think whether that's 2027 or 2028, I don't think they know yet.

So we may be in this spot again next year where we're just giving them one more year, but maybe not.

So we'll see.

We asked, right?

We did the current thing.

Yep, yeah.

So they they want to do they want to continue on with the contract for services, so that that con draft contract is what's in front of us now.

Good.

So is it any any but everybody?

Any questions?

If not, we just need approved.

Okay.

Okay.

We need to approve it.

I would move to approve the uh public health services agreement with Burdy County.

Okay.

Any discussion.

Hearing none will call roll.

Commissioner Rish?

Yes.

Commissioner Zanker?

Yes.

Commissioner Connolly?

Yes.

Commissioner Cleary?

Yes.

Mayor Schmidt.

Yes.

Item J, consider request to receive an update on the public engagement process for the city initiated street utility fee and half cent sales tax for roadways, home rule, charter amendments.

Gabe Commissioners, uh, provide a couple updates here on some of the previous and upcoming public engagement opportunities that we've had and will have.

Uh first on the street utility fee, we held a public input meeting on Tuesday, November 18th at our public works building.

Had about 30 to 35 people attend.

Uh simultaneously with that, we had an online engagement process using an ESRI product that's an online story map that had a really similar content to what was presented at the public input meeting.

So if you weren't able to attend the meeting, you could still uh get kind of up to speed on what the city is proposing through that tool.

Um combined with that, we've had a uh public survey that was out uh available for consumption through uh November 17th through the 7th of December.

We had 342 responses during that period of time, and we'll be back to the commission to kind of look at that data and then kind of rehash out exactly what to do as the next steps here in the near future.

Uh well, 342 responses plus the phone calls that we received and email correspondence we had with the um during that period of time um indicates that the public was engaged in the process and was provided some really valuable feedback.

Um so as I mentioned, we will try to get to this board in the first meeting uh in January to recap what was said so far from the public's position on the half-set, excuse me, on the street utility fee uh concept and where to take that discussion moving forward with still an aim to have something on the um June 9th, 2026 ballot for the citizens to decide if they want to move forward with um such a fee.

Um my second uh activity that I'll talk about is more in the future tense.

Um that will be our half cent sales tax uh engagement that we're just starting now.

Um so that would be the proposal to extend the existing half cent sales tax uh that is used to fund arterial road construction and reconstruction uh and uh extend to pass the current sunset that will expire here in 2029 uh to extend it to an indefinite amount of time.

Really, that's something that we want to have uh figure out with the public on what is the appropriate amount of time for a new sunset um to be used.

So we will have a presentation and public input meeting on this Thursday at December 18th at 6 p.m.

at the public works building on South 26th Street with a presentation at 6 and then an open house to follow for anyone in the public that wants to come down and visit about our half cent sales tax extension.

Uh similar to what I mentioned previously, we'll have an online story map that'll be out there for public consumption as well.

So if you're unable to make the the meeting in person, we'll have that opportunity to engage in other means as well.

Um, we'll have a survey because this is just a really good way to get the information out and then really to hear from the public.

We like to use surveys and and comments to to receive that input.

We'll have a survey that will be active from 1218 2025 through January 18th of 2026.

So a really long extension of time knowing that this is the Christmas season, uh New Year's, there's lots of lots of things happening.

So we don't want to um schedule a meeting and have a really short window to uh collect that input.

We'll have it uh during a longer period of time.

Uh what I'd anticipate on this topic is get back to the the city commission here uh probably in that second meeting in January with a recap of what has what transpired at the public meeting that we'll have here on Thursday as well as what the survey results look like for for that uh process.

So we'll try to keep these conversations as separate as we can at the commission because we'll have two separate questions for the the public to decide.

But in the end, there will need to be uh uh probably a joining of these uh activities at some point in time just as we get closer to having to finalize ballot language and have official commission direction to have something on the June 9th uh primary election.

So with that, I'd take any questions that you may have.

Commissioners questions.

Go ahead, Commissioner Rush.

Uh Mr.

Mayor Gabe, I I was at the public hearing the last one on the um, and you did a really good job.

Is there any way we can get that broadcast on Dakota Community Access or record it and post it there or something to that effect?

Mayor Commissioners, Commissioner Rish, uh through our experience in doing in public engagement, uh when we've tried to live record uh a public meeting as it's happening.

We find that that's difficult to do to get a good audio sampling and and really what might take place in a 40 minutes of conversation or pub presentation can be absorbed through um other media or other other ways to communicate that.

So that's really the main reason why we try to spin up those story maps or try to spin up those other ways.

That's really the same text that we would have at the presentation slides.

Um it gets transferred in just a uh a media that's you can just read through or scroll through.

And then what we find is you have a 40-minute YouTube video, people pay attention for the first couple minutes and then they skip right through the whole thing because it's not probably going at the pace that they can receive the information.

So we try to get that in that that uh information out there at a pace that they can absorb it.

And we're always open for questions.

If someone wants to call up and and get a rehash of something that they may be unclear about, we're always open for that conversation to take place.

Any other questions?

Okay, good commissioner.

Thanks.

Mayor Commissioners Gabe, good job.

So I just want to clarify two things, right?

Um, first of all, the from a social media aspect, I think the citizens don't it's not completely clear out there, but these both of these will be voted on as two separate measures.

Um a couple of people have have called me up and said, Hey, when are you implementing this new utility fee?

I said, Well, as soon as soon as we vote on it, we figure out what all the details are.

You know, so some people thought this was like happening January 2nd of 2026.

So just for just for educational pieces out there, um these are two separate issues and they're both going to be voted on.

We're not gonna get the chance to to make the decision.

I I hope they they both pass because they're gonna it's really gonna set the city up for the future.

Um the second thing is is um you know, don't believe everything you read on social media because not all that stuff is exactly accurate.

Um so I just caution us too as individuals and staff that we don't engage in that because it's just not it's kind of frivolous and you don't build consensus on social media, you build animosity.

And we can get this done through an educational piece that Gabe is doing.

I'm super proud that he's doing it, and then we're taking this on.

So I just caution everybody from a city perspective as to what social media will do to this.

So it's all I got.

Thank you.

Okay.

Commissioner Conley.

Just one clarification.

I try not to presume what other people think.

There's a lot of people that do listen to meetings front side to end.

And there are some people that don't, and that and I don't know if it's our place to speak to the broad breath of 78,000 people.

I mean, we've walked ourselves into some difficult communications in general when that happens.

So let's just be careful of that if I if we could.

Okay.

Anything else?

Thank you, Gabe.

I think you the the engagement sessions are very important.

Thank you.

Thursday is the next one.

Thursday.

Public works.

Okay.

Right, perfect.

I don't know.

All right.

We got to move on to the next agenda item because.

It's just that nobody else could hear it.

So item L consider request by municipal court to receive, consider and award bids for the indigent defense contracts for 2026 and 2027.

Um with the option to renew for additional two years.

Hi, good afternoon, Mayor and Commissioners.

The municipal court published the request for proposals for the defense attorney contract which received two responses from municipal court.

It's mandatory by law to provide defense attorney services for individual defendants who do not meet certain income thresholds, asset limits, and who are charged with a crime in municipal court for which jail time may be imposed, and select other situations.

The deadline for the bids was December 12th, 2025.

Two bids were received from Tom Glass and Steve Balabad.

The amount proposed by each entity is $3,200 per month based on the information staff recommends awards that bids to Tom Glass and Steve Bellaban for the defense contracts.

Do you guys have any questions?

So we had two previously as well, right?

Yeah, yeah.

They've been our two for the past I think oh gosh, at least seven years.

And we haven't upped because it's been three thousand dollars, they've got paid per month for the last seven years.

Okay.

Commissioner Connolly.

Nicole, there was one particular one for a bit that wasn't at all of the court dates and things.

Has that been worked out?

Oh, are you you're talking about how um starting January 1st in custody is that court of they have to have a court appointed attorney counsel at the jail?

Right.

Well, there were some to where uh the lawyer wasn't present when they should have been at the court meetings.

Yes, and if it's the same one, has that ever that discussion been had?

It they have he's been knowledge.

We've sent emails to him when that happens.

Um the judge has talked to you know says stuff in the courtroom to him.

So yeah, because they do have a backup in those situations that kind of they're each other's backup.

And if for instance there's a conflict with both attorneys, then they have to fire find another one on the city's behalf.

Yeah.

Just wanted it out there that we need to that checks and balances is vital for municipal court to function.

Yes.

Any other questions for Nicole?

Thank you.

Okay, you did awesome.

Thank you.

I'll make a motion to approve is presented.

Second.

Any dis uh any discussion?

Hearing on will call roll.

Commissioner Connolly?

Yes.

Commissioner Cleary?

Yes.

Commissioner Rish?

Yes.

Commissioner Zenker?

Yes.

Mayor Schmidt.

Yes.

Item M.

Except award from the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies to the Bismarck Police Department for its 11th reaccreditation.

In chief, I think he's got a presentation.

And Mr.

Mayor, as he's coming up here, I just want to give a shout out to our fine department who's once again got the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies, Calia.

Um, this is a gold standard for law enforcement agencies.

Um this is the 11th time the city of Bismarck has received this.

There's only two other entities in North Dakota that have this accreditation, and that's the North Dakota Highway Patrol and the City of Grand Fork.

So this is a this is a really big deal.

Another thing is there's 18,000, almost 18,000 law enforcement agencies in the country, and only 800 of them received this accreditation.

And of those 800, about 515 are city police department.

So our police department receiving this for the 11th time is remarkable.

I just want to thank Officer Gallagher for your hard work in making sure this happens and the professionalism of the entire department in order to reach and attain this standard.

Congratulations, thank you, Mayor and Commissioners.

Good evening.

Um we uh attained our 11th uh re-accreditation that uh we started in 1991.

So it used to be every three years, now it's every four years.

Uh, but we are tested every year.

Um they dig through our policies, they make recommendations, they uh basically oversee a lot of the things we do.

So we have a huge policy, it's 700 pages.

Um they don't really tell us what to do necessarily, like when I first started at the police department, uh they we all thought CLEA is just telling us what to do.

Uh what CLIA is there for to give us some guidelines, we create the policies, and then they want to make sure we follow our own policies, and that's anything from HR type things that were being fair uh when we promote and um other miscellaneous items.

So uh Officer Gallagher and I uh went down to uh Jacksonville, Florida.

Um that sounds like it's warm, but the first day we were down there, it was warmer in Bismarck, North Dakota.

So everybody's involved at the PD on doing the work for this, but Officer Gallagher uh she does a lot, and we couldn't have done this without her.

Um she's been with us uh doing that for four years, so it was perfect.

She was part of the process to get re-accredited four years ago, and and now in 2025.

Uh we were surprised.

We were sitting there at a banquet at the opening ceremony, and there was about four or five uh officers called up uh to get the certified accreditation manager award, and they called her name up there.

So we were in a room with a thousand plus people, and she was one of five uh that that received that uh award, and that includes uh many accomplishments that she had to receive to get that.

Um being uh she had to be the accreditation manager of record for uh CLIA enrolled agency for four consecutive years, must have been an accreditation man or excuse me, successful completion of CLIA endorsed accreditation manager online training, um letter of recommendation from assigned regional program manager, so that's big.

Um our regional manager is Tim Basinger, correct.

Um he's doing two regions.

Uh he's all over the country, but we met with him.

Uh he's uh uh very supportive of our agency.

Um she had to receive a public uh safety official peer letter of recommendation uh from another CLIA accredited agency.

And then uh the biggest one I think is must have been an accreditation manager of record with an agency uh that received one CLIA accreditation award without conditions, so that's a big one.

You can have conditions, uh people mess up and and we just fix those, work through it and make sure we're applying the standard after we have a condition, but she was there when we had zero conditions, and there's hundreds of conditions that we we have to meet.

Um what were we doing down in Jacksonville?

Um the kind of explain that it was very um good for the training.

Uh we received a lot of uh training, uh legal perspectives.

They had a panel with uh high profile attorneys and law enforcement uh chiefs and uh police uh in that area.

Um future of AI and policing, that's gonna be very interesting.

Um we're gonna have to know how to solve the crime related to AI.

And I don't think it's gonna go away anytime soon.

It's gonna get get pretty interesting.

Uh so we attended social media and law enforcement and then uh SWAT training and integration.

Uh so the final process um we go in front of a board.

There's 15 roughly other agencies in there.

So we we sat through we were almost the last we were the last one, and they wanted to talk about specific topics, and the topics were discussions on pursuits.

Uh they noted that we discon discontinue a lot of pursuits, so I explained why we do that.

Um however, uh we have numerous tactics that we can do on finding uh the suspects after.

We don't want to have people crashing into people for a speeding ticket or whatnot.

So they were impressed with that.

Uh they looked through our citizen survey, they asked me about that.

They said that was a very good survey that we had put out.

Uh it was available for anybody uh to give feedback, and uh they were very impressed with with that.

Our juvenile services division, that's one of a kind in the whole country.

Um we uh divert youth um out of the juvenile system when they're really first-time offenders and those type of things.

So we handle that in-house, uh, make sure the parents and uh you know the child or whoever it is gets the treatment that they need or any type of um whatever uh so they're very very good with that, and then our intelligence-led policing.

Um they were it's kind of uh it's one of a kind too, um, and they were very impressed with that.

So with that, um they made a recommendation to the full commission, and we were awarded our 11th uh re-accreditation.

So uh we're slated for 2029, and we hope that Officer Gallagher can get us through 2029 at least.

So any questions related to accreditation?

Just congratulations.

Thank you for the effort of the entire team there.

Appreciate it.

Okay, item N, consider a request.

Oh, I'm sorry.

At the beginning of meetings, we always have proclamations and we do photos, and then I think that's actually worth a photo with us too.

But these two I I am okay with that if they wish to if they're willing to come up.

That's an excellent idea.

We were hoping to have the award.

It wasn't it didn't arise as of yet, but I think a photo is appropriate.

Yeah, they send an award.

Um it's about this big.

We have them hanging around the PD, but yes, um, it did not come in time for this.

We looked at it.

Thank you for the time credit.

Um, they're the stars.

Fantastic.

Thank you.

All right.

Item N, consider request receive bids and award contract for water utility project 150.

Um mayor and commissioners, WU uh water utility project 150 is a extension of the zone three line on 57th Avenue in the vicinity of Washington Street.

Uh Washington Street and um between excuse me, 57th Avenue between Washington Street and Micah Drive.

Uh as you can see from the bid summary here.

We had a lot of bidders on this project.

So anytime we get six or seven bidders, that's a good good indication that the contracting industry is hungry for the work and that we're getting a good price.

Uh in this particular instance, our recommendation is to award to SiteWorks Excavation with a low bit of 123,001 and zero cents.

I take any questions that you may have.

Any questions, Commissioners?

Mr.

Mayor Gabe, I'm I'm just looking at it in the engineers.

It's half less than half of what the engineers' estimate was.

Kind of unusual, or have you worked with these folks before?

I'm not familiar with them.

Mayor Commissioners, Commissioner Rish.

Um, our engineers estimate will use some historical bid prices, and really they are subject to how hungry that contracting industry might be at the time.

So you'll see that we weren't the high bidder either.

Our go our goal is to be somewhere in the middle with with our number.

Um, and hopefully there's a low bidder that comes below that.

Uh we have worked with SiteWorks Excavation.

They have been uh either uh a direct contractor for the city or they've been a subcontractor on some of our like in fact our East Entry Avenue paving project this last year.

Siteworks was the subcontractor working on behalf of the prime for them.

So we are familiar with their work.

Okay, thank you.

Move to approve is presented.

Second, any discussion?

Hearing none will call roll.

Commissioner Rish?

Yes, Commissioner Zenker?

Yes.

Commissioner Connolly?

Yes.

Commissioner Cleary?

Yes.

Mayor Schmidt.

Yes.

Next item.

Oh, approve the inaugural membership appointments to the Bismarck Event Center Authority Board.

Jason.

Mayor and Commissioners, uh, this is a follow-up to uh one of the ordinances that was approved uh quietly earlier this evening with the public hearings.

Uh this particular item addresses the composition of the inaugural uh group that will serve as the authority board for uh the Bismarck Event Center.

And maybe just I'll touch on a little bit of the role of the authority board uh what the membership looks like and why those particular groups were recommended since we didn't talk about it very much during the ordinance.

Uh ultimately the authority board is meant to work between the city commission and the third party management company.

And so the authority board will have a regular schedule of meetings like all the other advisory boards or authority boards that we have.

Uh they will be working on behalf of the city of Bismarck with the City of Bismarck's best interests at hand.

And the primary role will be to help hold the management company accountable uh for the work that they claim that they will be doing and enforce the contract and all of the stipulations that we are expecting over the course of that uh entire span of time.

Uh as prescribed by ordinance, the authority board is a seven-person volunteer committee.

Uh two of those positions would be held by the city administrator and the portfolio holder, uh, which in this case is myself and Mayor Schmidt.

Uh the other five individuals represent uh organizations that have a very keen interest in the success of the event center.

And those particular organizations would be the convention and visitors bureau.

Obviously, this is a partnership that has been uh a longstanding relationship between the event center and uh the convention and visitors bureau.

Having Sherry Grossman as the executive director of the uh convention and visitors bureau, uh part of this group will be uh tremendously valuable and important.

Another individual represents Kirkwood Mall.

Uh Kirkwood Mall is a very key partner in the event center, and uh Jen Wilson, who is a general manager at Kirkwood Mall, will tell you she knows when there's events going on at the event center because the sales at the uh mall are directly influenced.

In fact, the last concert that uh the sellout concert earlier in November uh generated about a 20 percent uptick in daily sales at the mall.

Having that type of feedback from events that are occurring at the event center is another key piece of information for the authority board to be able to work with.

Uh in addition to uh Ms.

Wilson and Ms.

Grossman, uh the we requested a participant from the downtowners organization, and specifically not necessarily a board member, but somebody that represents one of the businesses or the organizations that are members of the downtowners.

In this case, the recommendation that came forward from that organization is Joel Kostolecki.

Uh Joel is a commercial loan officer with one of the local banks in town.

So he will also bring uh a little bit of a business perspective to this as well.

Uh in addition to those three, we had identified someone representing uh the arts and culture and particularly user groups of the Bell Mayhouse Auditorium.

Uh one of the best groups that uh one of the best examples of groups that use the uh Bell Mayhouse Auditorium is the Bismarck Mandan Symphony Orchestra.

And from that organization comes forward their executive director, Mike Gardner.

And last but certainly not least, we were looking for somebody with experience in hospitality or food and beverage restaurant.

Uh the name that came forward is one of the owners of the Blarney Stone, as well as the owner of the domain, which is the properties on Third Street.

Many of you know him, Chad Walkter.

Uh Chad is also uh very business savvy.

And should be noted his family was the original landowners when Bismarck was established, and ultimately that is the land where the event center sits today.

And I know Mr.

Walkner has a very uh intentional interest in seeing Bismarck's continued success into the future.

So those are the initial seven members that would compose the authority board.

Uh their terms would be staggered.

In other words, what we're not looking for is all the members to come on and leave at the same time.

And so through organizational meetings and and getting things established, we would determine uh which individual would serve in which role, recognizing that there would be an opportunity to reapply for those positions into the future.

Uh do you have any questions that I maybe didn't cover or thoughts?

Commissioner Connolly.

Um like our other advisory boards.

Sorry.

Um like our other advisory boards, will this be taped?

Uh Mayor and Commissioners, that is a great question, Commissioner Connolly.

Initially, uh we have not established the regular cadence of the meetings.

We we don't know when those will be.

We don't have the pattern of of how that will work.

But in conversations with the uh consultants, it was recommended that the authority board meetings be held in the event center.

Uh on the off chance that there is a need to get out and explore or see a portion of the building or whatever the case might be.

The meeting room that is could accommodate those particular meetings.

I do not believe currently has the technology to support that.

However, I do have a post-it note on my screen upstairs that says look into what we need to do to bring that technology to the room.

So in other words, much like we do for uh human relations committee, which meets outside this room.

We still record those meetings and post them to our uh uh public channel so you can view those meetings in uh following those uh recorded events.

Okay I appreciate that.

Any other questions?

Okay, we would need a motion to approve them.

Move to approve.

Second, any discussion?

Hearing none will call roll.

Commissioner Zenker?

Yes, Commissioner Connolly?

Yes, Commissioner Cleary, yes, Commissioner Vish?

Yes, Mayor Schmidt.

Yes, is there any other business?

Go ahead, Commissioner Ranch.

Uh this is a holiday season.

I just want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a happy new year.

Our my fellow commissioners, Bismarck City employees and all our citizens, and time to be kind to one another and help each other help each other out.

So all the best.

Thank you for that.

So we are we are adjourned then.

Thank you.