On the 12th of May.

This will be the Board of City Commissioners meeting.

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

Before we start, Chaplain Chaffee is here.

And if we can have invocation and the Pledge of Allegiance, please.

Good evening, Mayor and Commissioners.

Thank you guys all for all that you do.

Let's stand together and we'll pray and say the pledge.

Heavenly Father, we come to you in faith and thank you for your goodness and faithfulness.

We repent of our sin, known and unknown.

Forgive us because of the price Jesus paid for us.

Thank you for your freedom that you've given us.

We ask that your Holy Spirit will cast out evil and bring your presence of health and wholeness.

We ask for your supernatural provision, protection, favor, and health for our leaders as they steward blessings and courage to follow your desire for us as a city, state, and nation.

Guide and direct us, give us dreams and visions for the days and years ahead so we can be all that you created us to be.

May we work to serve you and one another in joy and peace, and may your kingdom come in growing measure on earth as it is in heaven.

Lastly, we pay for all those displaced by the apartment fire as they get relocated and settled, and we thank you for the community outpouring of love and support.

We are grateful for our community.

We ask this in the matchless name of Jesus.

Amen.

And to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all.

Thank you.

Thank you, sir.

We'll call the meeting to order if we can call roll, please.

Commissioner Ish?

Here.

Commissioner Zenker.

Here.

Commissioner Connolly.

Here.

Commissioner Cleary.

Here.

Mayor Schmitz.

Here.

So first item is an award presentation.

Gabe, are you gonna Mayor and Commissioners?

The American Council of Engineering Companies is a group in North Dakota, and they have awarded the Engineering Excellence Award to Apex Engineering for the work that was performed on our South Washington Street Reconstruction Project from 2024.

As you may remember, that was a corridor project in 2024 where we converted a two-lane rural section roadway into a three-lane urban facility with uh lighting, trails, uh traffic signals, roundabouts, uh, shared use path landscaping, transit pull-outs, and assorted features.

Uh, this project was awarded a uh transportation category of the Engineering Excellence Award that recognized the project's innovation, complexity, and overall value.

So we have some representatives from Apex Engineering here today to uh present to the City Commission the award or the plaque that we also then receive through this.

Uh we have Calebarber and Derek Anderson here from Apex, and I guess we'd like to just take a picture to showcase this award.

Certainly.

So if you refer to South Washington, you can say it's the award-winning South Washington Street Project when you need to in the future.

Do you like us all?

That'd be great, yeah.

Okay.

Yes, please go ahead.

For public works professionals.

Whereas public works professionals focus on infrastructure, facilities, and services that are of vital importance to sustainable and resilient communities and to public health, high quality of life, and well-being of the people of Bismarck.

Therefore, be it resolved that I am Michael Schmitz, Mayor of the City of Bismarck, on behalf of this commission do hereby designate the week of May 17th through 23rd, 2026 as National Public Works Week.

I urge all citizens to join with the representatives of the American Public Works Association and the government agencies in activities, events, and ceremonies designed to pay tribute to our public works professionals, engineers, managers, and employees, and to recognize the substantial contributions they make to protecting our national health, safety, and advancing the quality of life for all, signed today, may the 2nd of May 2026.

Next, public comment.

Public comment is restricted to items on well, before I get to that, because there's an item on the regular agenda that is being pulled because it causes a scheduling conflict.

It's item 5D, which is the presentation from Convention and Visitors Bureau.

So just so everybody knows that that's been pulled due to their request.

It will be on next meeting.

So it's on the regular agenda 5D.

And I just want everybody to wear that, so that's not an item on the agenda.

So now I'll open public comment.

Anyone who wish to speak on an item on the agenda, please come forward, identify yourself, sign in, and tell us what you're speaking to.

Good evening, Mr.

Mayor, members of the Commission.

My name is uh Father Joe Hubbard.

I'm the executive director of Ministry on the Margins.

And I'd like to speak to uh item number E on the regular agenda.

Um I was here a couple of Commission meetings ago when um Renee Mock presented the report on phase one of the community triage center.

And there were some good conversations about what this would look like in practice.

And uh there have been community conversations since that time.

Uh there have been ongoing um meetings from stakeholders in the community about the triage center and the planning that needs to go in to make this possible.

And I hear from those in our community that are concerned that we might be creating a destination place for the unhoused and unsheltered.

Um what I would like to encourage this commission to consider is that in fact we're not creating a destination place at all.

If you don't recognize my accent, I'm from Alabama.

Um, and I can tell you, people ask me all the time, why did you move to Bismarck, North Dakota?

I said, Well, they do winters well.

Um folks aren't coming to Bismarck, North Dakota to sleep on the street.

Uh I can tell you, serving at Ministry on the Margins, I have met members of this community, members of this community who have stayed the night uh with us because their hospital bills have gotten out of control, and they have gotten behind on the rent, they've gotten behind on the car note, they've lost a job, and they've needed a place to go that is safe and warm in the winter time.

Um I know one woman who stayed with us for a number of years as an addict.

We helped connect her to services in this community, and not only connecting her to services, uh, but connecting her to job opportunities.

She is now employed and she is housed, and she is six months sober.

This is a woman who was staying with us overnight at Ministry on the Margins.

Um what I'm hoping we can recognize is that all these people that are staying with us, that are staying at United Way, these are members of our community.

Okay?

These are members of our community that were created because they have a gift that this community needs.

They have a gift that this community needs, but because of a series of unfortunate events, they can't provide that gift.

And I dare say if any one of us uh was out of the house in the winter, had no place for our families to go, uh, we would we would very likely lose our jobs.

We would very likely get behind on our bills, and we would not be able to provide the gifts that the God made us to share with this community.

So, as we think about the triage center, I'd like for us to think about a place that will do what we are already doing at Ministry on the Margins, which is coordinating members of this community with the many resources, by the way, and folks are here in this community representing the stakeholders that provide these resources uh to the least, the last and the lost.

But what we do at ministry is we connect those folks with the resources our community has to offer so they can get back on their feet and become again contributing members of the community.

Wouldn't we like to see the unhoused and unsheltered be part of the workforce again in Bismarck?

Wouldn't we like to see them be part of the the well, the taxpaying community in Bismarck?

Part of those who pay property taxes.

So we can get the resources to those who need the most and those who need those resources can become again part of our workforce, part of our tax base, part of our community again.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Again, this is public comment.

Anyone wish to speak tonight on the this agenda, the last agenda or this agenda that's not a public hearing, please come forward.

A second call for public comment.

A third and final call for public comment.

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

Commissioners, what are your move to approve is presented?

Is this the consent agenda?

Yeah.

This will be the this would be the consent agenda.

Okay, I would like to pull um item J2.

I also need to pull item F.

And I want to pull item D2.

Okay.

Well, thanks for playing along, everybody.

I'm sorry, Commissioner Rish, which one was yours?

J2 of the uh land development plan.

Okay.

All right.

Hold it, sir.

Uh Commissioner Conley, Commissioner Cleary has.

I miss Commissioner Cleary's.

Yeah.

Uh Commissioner Clear, which one is yours?

S one, the public health.

Okay.

Oh good.

All right.

So I'll rescind my motion.

And I will make a motion to approve uh the consent agenda less item D2, F1, and J2.

Second.

Any further discussion?

Any discussion.

Hearing them will call roll.

Commissioner Zenker.

Yes.

Commissioner Connolly?

Yes.

Commissioner Cleary.

Yes.

Commissioner Rish?

Yes.

Mayor Schmitz.

Yes.

And I'm going to try to go in order of the agenda.

So, Commissioner Conley, you pulled D2 letter of support to the North Dakota Opportunity Fund for job investments.

Last meeting, it always resets here.

They had a uh glance salon got a renaissance designation.

And uh the kudos to a business that applies for everything available and that, but we have a lot of salons.

We have a lot of those type of businesses in the community.

And my uh I've been consistent is a unique that provides something that Bismarck doesn't do, or an entity that's providing a service where the problem is always going to be bigger than the um resources to address it, like an addiction and so on.

But I would move to deny this.

I'm it's gonna die for lack of a second.

So, Commissioners, what are your wishes with regards to?

I'll move to approve item D2.

Second.

Is there any discussion?

I got one thing.

Yep.

So this is this is probably the third or fourth meeting that the the an item like this has been pulled for discussion.

And I think we're sending a bad message to our business community that we're trying to pick winners and losers.

This is a this is a state, this is a state-funded state example of uh buy down loans and those types of things from a businessman's perspective.

I encourage everybody to apply for whatever they can apply for because with the with just take the last 90 days, what's happened to our economy both locally and nationally.

I mean, I've taken price increases in my businesses.

There's price increases in um nationwide.

I was just in um Georgia for some for some family stuff.

Gas prices there are 383.

We come back, I come back home, it's 425.

So if there's any way that we can support our local businesses to make sure that they have the opportunity to reduce their overhead and and make it and and give it a fighting chance.

Why are we as a commission when everybody that sits up here that gets elected and it's and it's election cycle time and we all promote businesses.

Hey, we want economic growth, we want this.

Why in the heck are we pulling these items to have a major discussion about this?

Go ahead, Commissioner.

Mr.

Mayor, it's interesting that you use the words pick and choose because that's exactly what happens when we do this.

We picked a dental office, we picked a um uh financial advisor's office, we picked the uh electrical contractor, one of each, and we've got probably 50 of each of those, not not 50 dentists' office.

We have lots of them.

And if that's essentially they applied, granted, and I'm not blaming them, but they applied, but actually it distorts the marketplace because we support one business over the other.

I'm gonna support passing this.

Some of these things are loans.

I can get along go along with that, but I'm not a big fan of picking and choosing businesses in which we should support.

So my comment to that is I don't think we are if if we are if we are being consistent and encouraging economic development and especially these particular uh opportunities to get the pace by down, which is a state funded program, and in this case, even more so.

These dollars aren't even being loaned from the city, they're being loaned from the North Dakota Opportunity Fund, which is also I believe funded.

I don't know what their funding mechanism is, but I believe there's some state funding through that.

Um and if it is city of Bismarck, it's a loan that we get repaid back on, and so I true also agree with Commissioner Zenker.

I want to promote business growth, and this is one way to do that.

And I've encouraged multiple people, all kinds of businesses in the same line to apply for this.

There might be other things that maybe that's a more fine line, but um, so anyway, any other comment?

Go ahead, Commissioner Connolly.

Um it's part of the reason why I didn't pull uh D3 is because when we're talking about an educational facility that's also funded by tax dollars, it makes sense that there would be a lower interest rate on the building of a dorms, and that there's a lot of students that end up uh strapped with financial debt.

So there's multiple ways that we'd benefit and empower that because these are the future leaders of our area that are getting continued education.

And so it's I don't think it's against um business development, but there are some businesses there that are incurring all the costs that you mentioned, Commissioner Zenker.

Um and they're competing in the environment and working within that same scope that uh the people that apply to.

Um there's only so many dollars to go around, and I think that we should focus on the ones that really truly start addressing the needs that the economic environment challenge more significantly than others, and that's why I said things like the programs that try to address addiction or homelessness, which is going to be on our agenda versus um something that we see a lot of.

Okay.

Any other comments?

I'm gonna call roll Commissioner Cleary.

Yes.

Commissioner Rish?

Yes.

Commissioner Zenker?

Yes.

Commissioner Connolly?

No.

Mayor Schmitz.

Yes.

Moving to item F1.

I think that's yours, Commissioner Cleary.

Uh yes, I was just asked by public health to pull this one because we are no longer going to be applying for the grant in this capacity because what we had planned doesn't fit all the criteria of the grant, so we're just not moving forward with it, is the only reason that I pulled it.

Okay.

So no action necessary then, Commissioner Rish.

Uh, on a lighter note, thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

I pulled um J1 because this is a call for a public hearing for our land development code major revision.

Uh, that's our zoning ordinance.

This was a long time in the making, probably 20 years working on this.

Um, it comes a dramatic revision of our um zoning ordinances in the city.

And the goals are to establish a simpler, more consistent set of development procedures, implement goals of the city in a comprehensive plan, um, make the ordinance user-friendly and create create more predictable development outcomes.

It's 423 pages long.

So I'm just giving our citizens alert that they might want to look at this next next meeting.

We're going to have a public hearing on it.

I think Daniel and his team have done an incredible job.

They had 34 meetings out there in 30 34, 30 public events and 34 meetings.

And uh we first started zoning in Bismarck in 1924.

Zoning was new at that time.

Bismarck was one of the early cities to actually adopt zoning ordinances.

And it was controversial, very controversial.

There were several cases once the North Dakota Supreme Court challenging Bismarck zoning ordinances.

And we made major revisions in 1936, 1953, and 1982.

So it's been 44 years since we made a major revision.

This is what the mayor earlier said is a heavy lift.

There was a lot of work gone into this.

We've got a consulting team and Daniels team.

So I'm just alerting the public that this is a big deal, and then we'll have a public hearing at the next commission meeting.

And I'll move that we do pass it as presented.

Second.

Any discussion.

Her nun will call roll.

Commissioner Zenker.

Yes.

Commissioner Connolly.

Yes.

Commissioner Cleary.

Yes.

Commissioner Rish.

Yes.

Mayor Schmitz.

Yes.

And then I'm going to ask on the regular agenda if we just move item E to the top and then we'll go down because I know there's people here for that particular item to hear what the outcome is.

So if that's the consideration request to receive the update on the community triage center.

And so Renee.

I'm pulling you up here first, because I know there are people here, and I would just respect their time.

Sorry if I you weren't alerted.

Yeah.

No, I'm good.

Um I'll get my my slides up here.

Jason will.

Yeah.

There we go.

Does this thing work?

Yep.

All right.

Uh Mayor and Commissioners, uh, thank you for uh allowing me to provide an update for you tonight on the community triage center.

Um since the last time we met, um there's been a lot of work done, and I'm here to update you on some of the some of that work that's happened.

Um this is just a slide that is giving an overall summary of some of the activities.

If you recall, uh health management associates uh provided uh a final plan for us and um gave us some implementation activities to work on, um, and those are listed to the left.

Activity one was to convene and organize.

Uh we've done that.

We've um public health continuing to serve as a convener.

We launched uh phase two and continue to engage partners in um our work.

Activity two was to clarify partner roles, um, letters of commitment weren't secured were secured to document partner support for phase two.

You'll see those um as part of your packet.

Um activity three was collecting local data.

I have a lot of that data tonight that I will share with you from community partners to better understand the gaps and the service needs in the community.

Activity four was to refine the model.

Um we've done some of that.

There's still some work that um we have to do and will continue to do about refinement.

And then five is exploring funding and facilities.

Um we're looking at funding opportunities, locations, and potential uh technical assistance options.

So that's a summary of of all of our work.

Um for activity one, just to kind of show you the structure that we had for our steering committee.

Um, those are the partners that we've been working together with uh City Administration, Dakota Foundation, Ministry on the Margins, Harfew Foundation, West Central, Health and Human Services, CHI, St.

Alexius Health, Sanford Health, the Burley County Sheriff's Department, and the Burley Morton Detention Center.

Um something different that we did um through this uh phase two planning was to assign some subcommittees, and that um has different components.

The first one is the low barrier shelter subcommittee, then we have medical detox, and then uh social detox and uh crisis stabilization, um, which is um certified behavioral health clinic work.

Um there's been a lot of data gathering and so not a lot of additional um uh work amongst the subcommittees, but a lot of the work was in itself capturing data uh in partnerships um with these community partners.

So for phase for activity two, um, we got letters of commitment.

Those letters of commitment are basically outlining uh partner support for continuing phase two planning.

It justifies their willingness to participate in activities and a shared commitment to continue to address a coordinated response for behavioral health, substance use, housing instability, and crisis needs.

And we received letters from Dakota Foundation, Heartview Foundation, Ministry on the Margins, CHI, St.

Alexius Health, Sanford Health, and West Central Behavioral Health Clinic to continue participating.

For activity three, we had one is our focus group surveys, and I'll be showing you some data about that tonight.

We were able to gather input from individuals with lived experience.

We had volunteers that went out and talked to individuals that were experiencing homelessness.

Also gathered data from official point and time counts and shelter inventory, and then partner data that I will review with you as well.

So first I'll start with the focus group survey data results.

So we were able to do 105 individuals were reached.

We had volunteers from the street outreach team with Heartview, Ministry on the Margins, and some public health staff that assisted in completion of gathering this data.

We had 93 individuals that completed a survey, 10 that declined to participate, and then two that were actually unable to and were incoherent, not able to fill out a survey.

Of those surveys, we had 43% of the 93 that were from the United Way shelter, 42% were from Ministry on the Margins, 10% were done through street outreach, and then 6% on clients at stepping stones.

Just some demographics.

We had a couple under age 18, but a wide variety of individuals that we were able to capture data from.

So 77% have been here quite some time.

15% one to three years, less than a month, five percent, one to six months, three percent.

So they've been here for a while and not just shown up.

Majority of people said they had friends or family.

Some people came for jobs or employment opportunities, returning home and or growing up here, so they had returning to their roots.

Access to behavioral health or substance use treatment, some preferred not to answer, school, 5%, and then a few others came in at 3%, one following a partner or relationship, being released from jail, or had housing and it and it fall fell through.

So the takeaway from this is that most respondents came to the Bismarck Mandan area because of family or friends employment or had prior ties to the community, suggesting that many people are connected to the region rather than just arriving solely for services.

This is self-reported data.

We wanted to ask the question about physical health conditions, ongoing mental health concerns, or substance use concerns.

And so this self-reported data indicated that substantial physical health, mental health, and substance use needs are happening in individuals experiencing homelessness.

We had almost half that are self-identifying as having these issues.

In the past six months, have you experienced any of the following?

We asked about emergency room visits.

We had 46% that said they've been to the emergency room.

35% of them had a hospital admission.

22% were EMS and ambulance response, 22% had a jail stay, and then 6% had detox services.

And so the key takeaway here is nearly half of the respondents reported that they've been to the emergency room in the past six months, which reflects a crisis driven system and frequent cycling through crisis response hospitals, EMS, and jail.

We also asked them to choose the top three priorities if there were a low barrier shelter that were offered in the community.

And when they chose their top three, what came out as the top three was personal safety at 75%, showers and restrooms, 71%, and then 24 hour access was 51%.

So the key takeaway here was that our individuals we spoke to really want safe safety, hygiene, and 24 hour access, which reinforces the concept that we're planning for to have a safe low barrier model that provides more than overnight shelter and really does serve as an entry point for stabilization and services.

Now move into some of the point and time count data.

So this is for region 7, which is the region that Bismarck is in, Bismarck Mandan, and the surrounding counties.

Just to speak to what point in time count data is, there's a homeless management information system, which the acronym HMIS stands for, and that's the shared data system used by homeless service providers to track shelter utilization services and client level homeless data.

And so this is pulled from the official data from North Dakota Continuum of Care.

I was able to capture data from them.

When we're talking about sheltered individuals, you'll see a slide coming up.

Those individuals are staying in a supervised emergency shelter or transitional housing program on the night of the point in time count.

So if they are at United Way, for example, that is considered a shelter and they would be considered sheltered.

Unsheltered, however, is individuals that would be in areas that are not designated for sleeping accommodation.

That could be on the street, in their car, in the park.

And we also counted the individuals at the coffee house because that is not considered a shelter.

It is a place that individuals are coming to be out of the elements.

And so that's the numbers that you'll be seeing reflected as unsheltered.

So for region 7, this shows this the data for the summer point and time counts.

If you look at the green line, which is the top line that combines the sheltered and unsheltered together from 23 to 25, we had 177 in 2023 to most recently in 2025, 189.

You can see the jump up there in 2024 to 232, but in 2025 it was 187.

We don't have the most recent one that was completed in January of 2026 as of yet, but I can certainly add that statistic once the data is finalized.

So our region seven emergency shelter inventory.

I think this is something that people really need to understand as far as what we currently have available for individuals that might be in need of shelter.

Right now, in our HMIS system, the abused adult resource center is available for domestic violence victims only.

They have 38 beds that individuals can come and stay.

So 42 all-year-round beds is what is available through the United Way shelter.

In addition to that, there is something called the overflow beds, and that is not necessarily a bed.

Just somebody sleeping on a mat, for example.

The HUD guidance, when you're doing the point in time count, uh, it says that shelters are able to utilize these methods when the demand is high.

And that total inventory, including COS, et cetera, is 87.

So all year round, they have the uh 42 actual like beds, bunk beds, and then 45 overflow.

I also wanted to mention that there's a non-HMIS family shelter that does not use this system to report any data, but it's available in our community, and that is the welcome house.

Um, it's for families only.

There are six rooms for six families.

Um, and when we talked to individuals that were doing the street outreach and doing surveys for the focus group, we were told that that's always full.

So that yes.

Commissioner Rush.

Uh Renee, what about um sisters of the stepping stone and then the new the hotel of North Bismarck next to the Walmart that's be could being converted to family housing.

Have you included those?

So those would not be um considered emergency shelter types of facilities.

Um the the I think it's a treatment center, if I remember correctly, that can have um bring your child with you, that's a treatment facility, which would be something separate.

Um, and then what was the other the other one that you asked about?

The one up north and then the one on up north, they're converting it the old best western hotel into families, I think.

Yes, for children.

And then sisters are the stepping stones.

Oh, the stepping stones, yes, that's medical respite.

So that is a separate um you have to be released from the hospital uh with and be homeless and have medical needs to be able to be taken there.

So it's not an emergency shelter facility.

Yeah.

Um, just moving on to some community partner data.

Um, Ministry on the Margins Coffee House, as you know, um, is operating at uh fall and winter, so this is October through March.

Um in 2024 is the orange and then the green is 2025.

So they have um from 56 to 61 about average um guests per night, and then in 2025, 64 to 74 uh between April and September.

And um, just something to keep in mind at uh ministry on the margins, there are no showers, there are no laundry facilities, um, hygiene that the people were looking for as far as shelter goes, uh that is not available at the coffee house.

It is um just a place to come in out of the elements.

Um this slide is in reference to social detox, and um it is a service that we currently have in our community.

Um, starting in 2017 when we had our gold star uh task force that was launched.

We started capturing this data, and social detox was a huge component and something that the police department was driving because of the amount of time spent on detox and the amount of time that is been taking or the space it's been taking as well in the jail.

Um I wanted to note that in 2020, crisis stabilization unit that's operated by Dakota Foundation through a contract from West Central, they expanded their social detox services that would be open to the public, so it's not just West Central clients that are able to come into that facility.

Um that's a sit stand and then a stay type of facility that we have locally.

When we started having that as an option, you can see that the numbers of detox in orange, of course, increased, but the number the number that are actually going to jail is decreased.

And so that really shows that when you have appropriate community-based stabilization services that can reduce the reliance on the jail for detox related needs.

Um right now, rather than them going to jail, the focus has been shifted to the emergency rooms.

So a lot of the work that Dakota Foundation does with the crisis response unit or crisis stabilization unit.

Um, right now they don't have a nurse practitioner or anything like that that they can provide medical detox.

So when they need that additional step and additional support for services, they have to go to the emergency room.

Where if we were to open a facility that would have a combined service, they would have medical detox nurse practitioner staff on site rather than having ambulance transports back and forth.

So that's the difference there.

Um I did get some emergency department data from the local hospitals.

Um I asked for some specific criteria.

Uh one was the emergency department visits by crisis related diagnosis category.

So you can see this is for the Bismarck Mandan area, as they do many of them do enterprise.

They specifically narrowed it down to the Bismarck Mandan area in our ERs.

And substance use related is in blue.

That is the highest, 9.9%.

We have so it's 2023 on the far left, 2024 in the middle, and then 2025 to the right.

Um next highest suicidal, homicidal ideation, and then homelessness was the lowest amount.

But these were the crisis related diagnosis that they were able to pull that are coming into the emergency departments.

And so if you look at the total number of crisis diagnosis categories as a percentage of the total number of visits in the emergency department, approximately one in six of these visits are involved in a crisis related diagnosis.

So substance use, um, so one in six is coming in for substance use, mental health, those types of things.

So some key takeaways from all of this.

Um our shelter demand exceeds our current purpose-built capacity.

Um we have uh a lot more people and not enough bed space, obviously, that um is purposely built to meet the needs we have.

Um Bismarck's relying on temporary overflow accommodations such as cots, chairs, and floor space rather than infrastructure designed uh for hygiene dignity and stabilization.

People are cycling through the systems, and then emergency departments are carrying the crisis related demand.

So approximately one in six, as I said, um, had a crisis related diagnosis.

Uh social detox and crisis stabilization data, as I stated previously, does show that community-based alternatives can reduce the reliance on jail.

And lastly, our data that we were able to capture continues to support our planning for the triage center model that we're working on.

Um activity four is something that we're going to continue to work through.

Um, just uh we need to further refine workflows between entities, how staff would be exchanging information, what kinds of systems would be used, et cetera.

So this is more to come on this activity.

Um and then activity five is exploring facilities and funding.

Um for facilities, we are looking very high level at a proximity to wraparound services as far as uh what would be needed to support individuals if they were to stay at the shelter, uh meal service, access to medical care, et cetera, um properties that are available in alignment with appropriate uh square footage needs.

So we're continuing to refine that.

And then for funding, there's the North Dakota Rural Health Transformation Grant that I wanted to bring forward tonight as a potential grant application that relates to this project.

Um so that is what on my next slide is.

Um this has been released uh last, I think it was last week or the week before.

Um it is ensuring safety net service delivery is what this pillar is called, and it is uh competitive funding that is focusing on filling gaps in health and behavioral health services.

Um eligible activities include technical assistance, training, planning, infrastructure development, equipment, and remodeling to address continuum of care gaps.

Priorities include medically managed withdrawal management, behavioral health crisis response, and other behavioral health capacity needs, which is a great tie-in to the work that we're doing.

And uh funding is intended to improve access to care, reduce uh avoidable emergency department use, improve care coordination, and strengthen community-based health capacity.

Applications are due on May 29th.

Um, one year of funding is approximately that they're have open is a total of 15 million dollars.

They're anticipating an estimate of 50 awards of about 300,000 apiece.

And so our intent would be to um potentially apply for that 300,000 dollars, and the proposed use for that would be to support technical assistance and implementation planning uh for this work.

Um I think some of the work that's gonna come next is the financial stability planning and mapping out some of that, and that is where we need some technical assistance and hope to get um some experts that would be able to help with that.

Commissioner Zinker.

Commissioners Renee.

So that funding is it a one-time deal, or is it is there going to be opportunity in the future for more grant funding from the same program?

So there my understanding is this is year one, and then for five years you can reapply.

Um and so there's a potential to have additional years.

I'm not sure if the the dollar amounts are going to be the same.

Um they haven't set all of those parameters, I don't think yet at the state legislature.

Yeah.

Okay.

Thank you.

Yep.

So um the one thing is an eligibility consideration, and this is the reason why um Commissioner Cleary had pulled our former uh grant application is um we were found we found out at a technical assistance call um here at the beginning of May that Bismarck is being considered an urban um area under the rural health transformation grant program.

And so, in order for us to apply for rural health transformation grant uh funds, we have to demonstrate that at least 50 percent of North Dakota rural citizens or uh that grant funded activities are focused on rural citizens.

And so the project that we had planned um on the memo on the consent agenda was for community gardens.

Katie was going to do, which um in the city of Bismarck, and that would not have met that 50 percent requirement.

And Good Commissioner.

Mayor Commissioners Renee.

So what is that?

You know, we kind of talked about this earlier on that the the triage would be more of a regional type scenario.

How is that going to if if we got a new classification that we're dealing with, how is that going to affect the opportunity for that as well?

Yes, great question.

That's my segue to the next bullet.

My uh proposed approach would be to frame, as we have been, the community triage center planning as a region seven safety net service delivery project.

Um because you can see the regions there.

Um we're region seven and right in the middle, and it's uh Burley Morton Oliver.

That's um how the West Central Behavioral Health Clinic is set up to serve Region 7.

And so that's kind of the same concept that we would approach for this.

Commissioner Rush.

Mr.

Mayor, but Renee, when I saw your earlier um slides, um, most of these people are from the community Bismarck or Mandan, far more than 50 percent.

Yes.

Is that gonna be a problem?

Um well, we only surveyed the people that were here.

I'd have to look into that a little bit more.

I look into that a little bit more.

Now, on previous presentations, you said that we're the only triage center in the area, but when we see a map like this, it looks like there's eight.

So there's no other triage center.

Those are just the West Central Behavioral Health Clinic.

So, like the West Central Human Service Center, it's now behavioral health clinic, it's called.

Um, each region has uh behavioral health clinic, but there's not a triage center with medical detox anywhere in the state right now.

Okay.

So potentially, since it's two different conversations, the entire region of North Dakota, since we're the only one, that's the dynamic we would be talking about.

Potentially could be if you wanted to do a statewide thing, but I don't know if that we would would we want to do that or approach it as a regional.

I mean, I I think it's regional.

I think the point we have is we have population base in that region.

Then if we take the whole population base of the region, we're probably 50 percent regional or uh rural.

And I mean I personally have had some further conversations with a few of the delegation members from Bismarck and area, and they were not necessarily uh thinking this would be just cutting Bismarck out of those funding opportunities.

So I think there's still more work to be done there as well.

Okay.

Because the actual federal grant defines all of North Dakota's rural.

And that was what we were told originally, actually.

Including the cities, cities of Bismarck and Fargal.

Yeah.

But you know, this has come out real fast, so we've got to give some grace to those people who are trying to administer it.

But I I mean, go ahead, Renee, if you've got more.

Or I know you've got an ask for us.

So I do have an ask for you.

So um the last slide is one to receive our the presentation that I gave tonight, um, and then to authorize us at public health or me to continue serving as the backbone and convening organization, and then to apply for that grant fund uh opportunity through the rural health transformation grant program.

Commissioner's questions or what are your desires?

Well, I'll move that we receive the report, authorize Bismarck Burley Public Health to continue serving as phase two backbone convening organization and authorize Bismarck Burley Public Health to apply for the North Dakota Rural Health Transfer Grant Program.

Second.

Any discussion?

Commissioner Connolly.

I would say when it's federal or state in this regard.

Even if we don't meet the requirements, you always hear of college students that fill out applications even when they don't qualify and they get awarded something despite that, but to keep the onus off of the local dollar.

I say we apply for everything instead of pulling it because the sustainability of this it's gonna be a hard needle to thread.

And so when we're um like the item that was pulled earlier, I think we should apply for that one too because you get a change in Washington and things change pretty rapidly, and then we're adjusting services.

So if we're in it to win it for people, we need to do everything we can and know that our intention is there to make sure we're winning it for everything that we can.

Any further discussion?

Call the roll.

Commissioner Connolly.

Yes.

Commissioner Cleary.

Yes.

Commissioner Rish.

Yes.

Commissioner Zenker?

Yes.

Mayor Schmitz.

Yes.

No go to item A on the regular agenda public hearing on request for a new class C2 hotel complimentary alcohol license from Okmara LLC doing business super eight.

This is a public hearing, and you don't wish to speak, please come forward.

Please identify yourself and sign in.

Name is Rakesh Oza, representing Super 8.

We are just applying for a beer and wine for the convenience of the customers.

If they are traveling, come late night.

That's all.

Nothing major.

Yep.

Thank you.

All right.

Public hearing is open.

This is a second call for comment.

A third and file and call for a comment.

Seeing no one, hearing no one, public comment period is closed.

Commissioners, what are your wishes?

Move to approve is presented.

Second.

Any discussion?

Hearing on a call roll.

Commissioner Cleary.

Yes.

Commissioner Rish.

Yes.

Commissioner Zenker.

Yes.

Commissioner Connolly?

Yes.

Mayor Schmitz.

Yes.

Item B consider request to receive presentation from the chief of police.

At L.

Mayor, Commissioners.

So uh before we um talk about this, because I'm sure there's gonna be some asks for some budgetary things or something like that in here.

Um I just want to see if anybody's got an issue with me voting on this item because in the future uh my firm will bid on this project, probably maybe not guaranteed that we get it.

Um we might make money lose money too.

So I just want to I just want to make sure if everybody's okay with it.

If not, then I'll I'll sit over there by Gabe.

I'm good.

Commissioner Connolly.

Yeah.

I don't think it's gonna be an issue because you're no longer gonna be on the commission when that comes around.

It's a fair point to bring out, so I think we're good though just at this point in time.

Go ahead, Chief.

Mayor Commissioners, good evening.

I'm here with Eric Hoffert, who is with JLG uh architects.

Um he's kind of the main local point of contact for us uh regarding the new police department.

And I have Brian Berry Hill here uh with he's with Ross Shepherd.

Uh he is out of Denver, unfortunately.

And uh no, he uh he he's he's the expert in building police departments, so that both of them have been great, and then I saw Zoe with GLG also showed up here uh a little later.

So before we get into a presentation, I just want to kind of give the history of of how we landed here uh to begin with.

So in 1979 is when we built the current police department that we're in.

Uh we had 52 officers on staff at that time.

Uh currently we're authorized 136.

So that just shows the the growth that we've had in that many years.

Uh the current building lasted us decades, and it was it was a good building.

Uh there's no doubt about it.

But our programmatic and space needs just don't fit any longer.

Uh we're out of training space, parking space, locker room space, uh space to conduct ceremonies such as retirements promotion and awards, and and quite frankly, I can't even have a department meeting in in my own building.

So we've just outgrown it, is my point of that.

This ain't anything new in 2019 we did a space needs study with a a total different architect firm.

And they estimated square footage they got to about we are where we are with the point we are now with with the current firms and they assessed square footage based off talking to our staff reviewing our what we have right now and what we may need you know 20 years out in the future.

We're just going over this we didn't compare as we were moving forward but we landed on the same square footage.

There's about two thousand more square footage that that we think we need right now to complete this from what they assumed we needed in 2019.

So and we're going to be eight nine years after after the fact so it just gave us some confirmation that I think we're on the right track with our needs.

The previous study looked at uh at a building parking ramp uh west side of our building we looked at building north south uh buying property from both of those property owners and we just we just couldn't make it work with adding on to our current PD we're essentially landlocked and um the acreage just isn't there to to build on so that's kind of why we are where we are today um we're asking for not a final budget but a preliminary budget to work off of and it's the best estimates we have with our construction managers uh that are coming on very soon and then of course our two architect firms that are gonna be talking here today so it's it's more of a preliminary budget so we can move on to uh a schematic design um I guess you don't want to move too far forward into schematic design to have a bunch of funding cut and then you have to s wasted all that tar time and start over and and get into uh some issues with with timing and and bid packages so with that I will turn it over to Eric who's gonna speak first how do we okay good afternoon mayor schmitz uh city commission um my name's Eric Holford I'm with JLG Architects we have a very brief presentation for you here it it's a high level overview of a much more detailed um uh submittal that should be in your packets hopefully you've had a chance to to breeze through it um so this this is meant to supplement that but uh primarily meant to be a forum for you all to ask us questions uh as we move through this process uh I'm gonna kick it over to Brian in a second and get more into the detail of of where we're at with the space needs assessment but before I do that I wanted to highlight this slide um these are are what we call the guiding principles for the project it's the first thing we do the first meeting that we have with the steering committee to talk about what is the ideal project at the end of the day what are the things that want to guide all the decisions that we make on this very important project for the city of Bismarck and we had a really great kind of just open conversation and these were the things that rose to the top and what we thought was really important for this project and for the city of Bismarck.

So longevity and future adaptability thinking well into the future uh thinking about flexibility and technology that's going to change over time we want to make sure that we're designing a building that allows for you know the operations and the facility itself to morph over time and meet your needs over time because those things will change the next one uh we want to support staff wellness and and be efficient with their workflows and operations we've talked a lot about staff wellness uh in our meetings uh with with the steering committee and staff um so we want to we want to prioritize that we want to make spaces that promote their their health and their well-being um they have a really hard job out in the field so we want to make sure that um they're fit to do that that job and we don't want the building to be a barrier to that uh of course financial stewardship this is a this is a taxpayer funded project um we need to make sure that we're being very diligent about how we spend those dollars um so we're constantly thinking about uh what what are the what are the upfront costs for the building how do those how do those play into the operational long-term maintenance cost you know thinking about durability and future growth as well um and then finally um one of the things that I I think chief is is really proud of is is how well connected and engaged uh the department already is with the citizens of the city you know of the city of Bismarck and so having this building be a tool to further that relationship with with the city uh with the citizens of the city of Bismarck um fostering you know that engagement and and continuing to strengthen those relationships.

And so having this building be a tool to further that relationship with with the city, uh with the citizens of the city of Bismarck, fostering you know that engagement and and continuing to strengthen those relationships.

So these again, these are the guiding principles, these are things we'll fall back on when we're trying to make decisions in into the design process.

If a decision we make doesn't support these guiding principles, um it's not the right decision.

So with that, I'm gonna kick it over to Brian to talk a little bit more in detail about where we're at with the space needs assessment.

Mayor, Commission, thanks for having us here this evening.

And I do want to take a moment.

I I have the opportunity to work on uh law enforcement facilities really across the country.

Um our primary territory is essentially anything west of the Mississippi.

Um the the city leaders and administration have been making good decisions about this project for several years now.

Um and it's really refreshing to kind of see this methodical.

Let's let's look at this, let's analyze it, we know there's a need, and let's make the next good decision.

Um and a lot of your counterparts across the country don't do that.

So uh just want to acknowledge that and say thank you.

Um the work so far to date, uh the way we start these projects is when you when you think about what architects do, you know it's always this idea of designing the building.

Uh well, to get to that point, uh we spend a lot of time talking with a lot of people.

We've been given access to multiple city departments, we've been given access to every unit within the police department.

We've interviewed them, we've talked to them, we spent a lot of time uh touring the facility.

Uh we've also gone on ride-alongs, we've watched shift changes, um, and through that process, we're really able to understand the operations.

Uh we identify where the pinch points are, um, and then we we ask really um most of the time, not necessarily hard questions, but make sure we didn't leave anything uh or leave anything out.

Um and through that process, uh what we're able to do is really hone in on room by room, what we call the space needs.

Um before we get there, I think I went too far.

For those that don't know, uh this is a tour of the existing facility.

Umice space, workout space, patrol space, front door space, storage space.

Um, and and this is just indicative, and we see this often, uh, where the building is just too small.

Um and so this type of crowding and using every square inch available uh is pretty typical.

And and in a police department, they're so mission-driven.

Um a lot of times we don't hear about it uh because they want to be out in the community doing their job.

Um but that really starts to identify the need and just how crowded it is.

Um the why now, this gets back to that idea of really honing in on the square footage.

Uh the the bar on the left shows the total square footage that's that you have now.

Uh the bar on the right uh shows what's needed.

Um and Chief alluded to it when we got done with this study, we went back and looked at the study from 2019.

Um, and we were really off by less than five percent.

It it ended up being just over two thousand square feet.

So the need is there, and the need has been consistent even over recent time.

Um this is the summary of that.

Um right now, right sized, there'd be 173 total staff that's sworn and civilian.

Uh 10 years out, we're looking at a need of around 196.

Uh and then when we think about the future, we're we think about 20 years out and and there's even more growth there.

Um and so when we talk about the square footage of one of these facilities, you can see uh as we get down to the grand total GSF number there, uh, and if we move across the page left to right, we can see over time there's not a huge addition of square footage, even 20 years out.

Um and that just shows how once the building suits the need, uh adding on for this future growth or this future staff uh is relatively easy to take care of.

Um and so working toward this target of somewhere around 135,000 square feet, uh it seems to be a be a really nice place to be uh thinking about the need now and then allowing just a little bit for future growth so that you move in and you're still able to accommodate a significant amount of more staff uh before anything would need to be added on to.

Uh parking is always a topic of discussion.

Uh the site that uh was selected uh will accommodate all the parking that's needed.

Uh it will also accommodate all of the building that's needed and provide for future growth.

Um so as we think about uh the site that has been selected and purchased, um these are just some different ways we could configure it.

Uh none of these are the actual final.

We would want to come and and present to you uh what would be some some good options for that as well.

Uh but we do have quick access to major roadways.

Uh it's located in in a uh portion of the city that allows for access to the rest of the city.

Um we can most likely get two clear and distinct points of access into the site, uh, but especially out of the site.

Um and so when officers do happen to need to respond, uh, we can get that secure access out of the site.

Eric.

The fun one.

That was rather anticlimactic.

So um project budget here.

This this again, as Chief alluded to, is based on the information that we know now.

We didn't mention this yet, but we have not started designing anything.

The work that we've done since we came on board in February was the space needs analysis.

It's it's essentially a spreadsheet that lists every space that you need in your building, the size of the space and the quantity.

Um so that's what this budget is based off of.

It's based off of the square footage that we know that you need.

And it and then it's it's filtered through our knowledge of the local market, Roth Shepherd's knowledge of these facilities in the region and the country, as well as the construction manager's input who who this board recently uh approved bringing on board.

I think it was at the last meeting or two meetings ago.

Um so we've gotten there and put on this as well.

Um I'll just cut right to the chase.

Uh we're at 97.6 million dollars.

Uh total project cost.

I want to be clear that that is that is more than just construction.

Um when we talk about a project budget, we have construction, which is the majority of it.

You can see that's kind of the uh the 84.8 million dollars right above where it says soft cost.

That's what you could expect to pay a contractor to build this facility.

But below that line is another, you know, just under $13 million of what we call soft costs, and we want to make sure we capture that in this total budget.

And those are things like your furniture and your equipment, um, you know, various fees, including the fees that you pay uh your design professionals, site surveys, geotechnical reports, all the things that are outside of the scope of a contractor.

We want to make sure we capture those so that you really understand the full scope and the full cost of your project.

And one last thing you'll see up on the top under construction costs, there are there are contingencies built into this.

Because we're so early in the process, we know there are going to be things that come up that we didn't account for.

And so we want to make sure this early in the process that we have a healthy contingency to allow for those things, both during the design process as things come up that we didn't think of, uh, but also during construction.

Uh, you know, when we dig a hole and we find something underground we didn't know it was there, or uh other things that happen during construction.

Um so you you get you get some contingencies in there as well for that risk management.

Um then I'll just say this is also a living document.

We'll be updating this constantly as we as we move through the design process with input from the construction manager, and and certainly we'll keep you all informed uh throughout that process.

I'm sure you'll have questions on the budget.

I have one more.

Oh, go ahead.

Sorry.

Yeah, Mr.

Mayor, Commissioner, Eric.

Um when your team and the other architectural teams made presentations earlier or late last year, I guess it was, and a number of people in the room were on the selection committee, including myself.

Um the recent police stations that were built around the country from your uh your folks and the other teams as well were between 450 and $650 per square feet.

Now, this is $750 a square foot, which is considerably more.

Uh what do you think is driving that?

Is it inflation been that substantial in the last two years that it goes up that dramatically a square foot?

Yeah, I think there's a number number of things.

We were just doing this math earlier before the meeting here because I I thought that would have been a question, which is a valid question.

Um the the construction budget here of $85 million, I think is just under $650 a square foot if you do the math.

But total project, you're right, is I think it's around 720 or 730.

Um I think the difference between what we told you in our interview and now is that we just have more information.

We've been able to engage with our construction manager, uh, really dig into what the needs of your project are.

Um I'll just be honest when we do an interview.

I think you're I think you're referring to the interview when you were selecting an architect, the presentation that you're referring to.

Sure.

I think we said six hundred and fifty.

It's a little bit of an on-the-spot response, and I I I hope we caveated it during that meeting, but um it's it's just something that we need to we need to dig into the details a little bit more, and now we have a more informed um uh approach to the to the budget that we're presenting.

But this is the number that we think you need to build the project um that is outlined in the documents in front of you.

So just for the purpose I think it's built in here somewhat, but it's escalation, but maybe even also under your projected cost, because we're not building it today.

We're building it right next summer and the following summer, probably, or roughly I don't know, even what's the you know, you've got a timeline in here.

Yeah, that's um, but so I I think we need to take that into account as we look at what's a what's a dollar amount that kind of the range, knowing it's not the final budget anyway.

Yeah, Mayor Schmidt's good very good point.

Escalation is currently in there at five percent.

We we typically when we call when we say escalation, we do it to the midpoint of construction.

So that's the amount that we would anticipate escalation to impact your project from now until the midpoint of construction, which um based on feedback from the construction manager, we're estimating at around 22 months if we start, you know, this May.

Um so yeah, that that's the number, and that's actually come down a fair bit from previous years.

We were seeing that at you know, five percent a year just a few years ago.

Um so next May.

You got a question, Commissioner?

Yeah, sorry, next May, thank you.

We're not starting construction this month.

You don't even have a drawn yet.

Okay.

No, that's why I was saying it's gonna be probably into 28 months.

Go ahead, Commissioner Rish.

Um, Mr.

Mayor, uh Commissioners um Eric.

So this could construction manager at risk, he'll be lining up, coordinating, making sure things are done in a timely f fashion.

Will he have the authority to work with the subcontractors to try and negotiate as best he can to reduce the costs going forward, or we just put it out for bids and whatever that is, that is.

Yeah, Commissioner Rish, good question.

Um, this is a public project with public dollars.

We want to do competitive open bidding processes.

So you're gonna get the low bidder.

Um, however, with construction management um the uh delivery method, you have the ability to vet those those low bidders and make an informed decision on whether or not the lobes because the low bidder isn't always the best choice.

Um so uh to answer your question more directly, do they negotiate?

Not really.

It's a it's a competitive bid process.

Um but you have you have the ability to go ahead.

So this is what happens.

Okay.

So those guys draw it, goes to construction manager.

Construction manager calls guys like me and say, hey Zinks, what do you think this is gonna cost?

I'm gonna say, I don't know, what are we building?

I'm gonna get a napkin, they're gonna say, hey, give me a budget.

That's pretty much how it goes for a while.

Until they get to they'll they get to plans that are what they call C and D plans, which are a little bit more um structurally sound or or not structurally sound, but have more of a dynamic of what the building's gonna be, so you can fine-tune what that budget can be.

Um I can tell you this from experience.

There are there are times that the um I've given budgets and been completely wrong, like way too low or way too high, those types of things, because you don't know what the market's gonna be, right?

They're gonna ask for budgets for this thing, probably I'm gonna give you eight, nine months before you get some conceptual designs out there.

And then and you're not gonna bid it until April of next year.

Well, or whatever that is.

So some of those projects take a long time, so does that help you?

Yeah.

All right.

Commissioner Collie, I just make sure I missed anything from you, Eva.

Okay.

Okay.

So finally, this is my last slide.

Uh this is this is the proposed schedule.

So we're here at the beginning of May.

And I like I said, we have not started design yet.

We've just been doing the space needs analysis and and we call programming phase.

Um we would look to begin design in June.

And it's a fairly aggressive design schedule for a project of this size, but it's all kind of um built upon getting a bid package out for bidders early next year.

We're looking at February.

That allows you to bid the project out, get everyone under contract, uh, get submittals coming through and reviews so that you're ready to start construction as soon as the the frost comes out of the ground and you know, hopefully April, maybe May.

So it's all built on that.

So yeah, at that at this point, we would we would open it up for questions.

Commissioner Zenker.

Mayor Commissioners, so um, I'm gonna elaborate a little bit on uh Commissioner Rish's comment for the square foot cost.

So have you have you given any thought yet as to what that's gonna be?

Is it gonna be precast, gonna be cast in place for that building?

I mean, there's right, because each one of those is different.

And I've I mean, so if anybody who understands or is watching or whatever what precast is, it's basically um walls and panels that are hauled in from a from a concrete company made in a different part of the state.

You know, and then you can stand them up and pretty soon you got to in three weeks you got a building type thing.

So that's gonna that's gonna adjust your square foot price as to what you're gonna do versus trying to pour concrete and forms in February.

Correct.

Um and so to answer that question with a non-answer, I will say we're not there yet.

Um what I can tell you is some of those example pictures, uh one of those was Tilt Wall.

Um we've done we've done a project in Dickinson that was conventional steel with pre-engineered metal building attached to it.

So being able to maximize the value while still providing a durable building is what we're after.

Um part of that right now, uh the precast market is a little tenuous with scheduling at the moment.

So for instance, if we wanted to do pre-cast, we need to be looking at some type of early packages just to get in line to make our order.

So those kinds of discussions we're already having.

We're just not there yet, and we would evaluate that holistically for all the major systems.

Any other Go ahead, Commissioner Connolly.

I will say that like right at the beginning where you said responsible financial and diligent stewardship.

I know how uh the people organize the the work that went in to provide the funding source for this.

So if there's any rate where you get the best project with the maximizing of stretching of those dollars because we have several fire stations that are in the future, it's the same funding source.

So if we can get this to that level and then also meet the community needs, and um it's just one of those things, the sooner the better.

Sure.

We appreciate that.

So Chief, what's your ask of us?

Well, I'm gonna have him ask it.

Yeah.

So the ask is to uh approve a preliminary budget.

Um not that it's set in stone.

Um we definitely were conservative, meaning we did not want to get a number and then come in with something that's much higher later on.

I mean, we with our best guess, this is the maximum uh cost that it would it would cost.

So uh just to do that.

So yeah, I mean cost 100 million bucks.

So I you know what it makes sense now that we don't move too much further forward, so we don't start designing things around uh, you know, some sort of budget and then have to start over and scrap it and come back.

So I guess you know, I understand this is very significant.

Uh we don't take it lightly.

I imagine that you don't either, and I I guess for tonight that's that's what we're considering.

I don't know if either of you have any comments for that.

Sure.

Just to expand, yeah, Chief is actually is absolutely right.

That's what we're that's what we're looking for today, and we need that to start the design process.

As a design team, we need a we need a target to hit.

Um because if if we get uh we start the drawings and we um you know give give the drawings to our construction manager and we get an estimate comes back and it's you know right on, but then we decide it it needs to be sixty million dollars instead of ninety, ninety-six or ninety-seven million dollars, that's going to cost time because we would have to start over on the design.

And so we just need to know what what is that comfortable target for the city, and we'll hit that target.

Um that is what we're looking that that is what we're looking for today is an approval on the target budget.

So the question I have, and this is just I guess it's more for conversation.

If if this commission said the the numbers 80 million, what happens to the facility in a general big picture standpoint?

Yeah, I think that well, but I want I want that explained so we understand what we're talking about.

Yeah.

Mayor Schmitz, absolutely that that is since that's all we have right now are square foot numbers uh and uh a program that lists the square footage.

That's the first thing that we would do.

If you said the budget's 80 million dollars, we would sit down with this with the steering committee tomorrow and say what what can you live with coming out of the out of the building so we can hit that 80 million dollars.

And I I just want to set the because I because I'm I understand where you're coming from and what we're trying to build a 50-year building here.

So but at the same time, if we can shell out something that we can add the finishes later, maybe that works too.

I don't know.

There are a lot of options on the table, is how I would say that.

Any of the options below kind of this target is exactly what you're talking about.

It's an operational shift in the department.

Okay.

And it may be we're not able to consolidate.

It may be that in 10 years you've got to build something else out.

Uh but it is an operational shift in the department.

Okay.

Thank you.

That's reasonable.

Commissioners.

Mr.

Mayor, Commissioners, I'm all in on building a new police station.

And I'm grateful to the citizens of Bismarck who passed the half cent sales tax to provide for it.

Because without that half cent sales tax, we'd be in a jam right now.

But that gives us the opportunity to bond for it and pay for it and not raise taxes.

But as Commissioner Conley said, that you know, we're building fire station six.

In the future, there'll be a fire station seven and a fire station eight, and we bond this for 20 years.

Um it'll take up most of that sales tax.

So I'll make a motion that we approve the preliminary space needs analysis scope budget necessary to construct the new police department headquarters.

The preliminary budget for construction is estimated to be 97,600,729 dollars, which is an interesting number, and hope that they come in way under that.

Is there any discussion?

We'll call roll.

Commissioner Ish?

Yes.

Commissioner Zenker.

Yes.

Commissioner Connolly?

Yes.

Commissioner Cleary.

Yes.

Mayor Schmitz.

Yes.

Item C consider request to receive presentation of the City of Bismarck annual report.

Jason.

Good evening, Mayor and Commissioners.

I come to you with something that I'm not sure our organization has accomplished in 20 plus years.

I'm holding what I believe is the first comprehensive annual report in quite some time.

Well, I say comprehensive because historically we've had departments that have done their own independent annual reports, uh articulating the work that they do year over year.

Um but I thought it was important to look at this holistically and touch on all the departments within the organization.

And you each have a copy of the final printed material.

Uh we plan to share this with our stakeholders, our partners.

Uh Calen Ost has developed a uh communications uh set of assets that he'll be deploying.

So it'll go on the website on our social media.

Uh this document will live out there for anybody to grab and pick through, and this will be the first of many years that we do this into the future.

Um but none of this could have been done without the help of some partners.

Um as you may recall in the past, we have reached out and utilized the support of uh local students in our community, and we did that again.

Uh previously we had worked with a couple of students from United Tribes to develop the uh uh what do we call it?

The media kit uh that's on our website, and that helps orient new uh media professionals to our organization, to the staff and and how to kind of navigate uh who to connect with when you've got questions about stories or news information.

This document was done with the help of a couple of students from Bismarck State College.

Uh Kirsten and Kayla Hilsendager uh embarked on this project with Kalen la starting last fall as part of the fall semester.

And their heavy lift for us was really pulling all of the visual components together that you see.

Uh so the staff and the departments compiled all the information, the statistics and and all the data that's there.

Uh but Kirsten and Kayla put together the final results.

So the the really stunning part of all of this, and we are very grateful for their time and talent, but also uh it's nice to be a part of their professional portfolio because this is a document that is real and true to the work that they do, and when they're out looking for jobs in the future, they can point to this as an example of how they collaborated with a significant stakeholder in the community and put together a very fine document.

So I certainly don't want to go through the whole thing, uh, but I do want to just bring this to everybody's attention.

Keep an eye on the website, keep an eye on our social media for more information from our communications professionals as they go through this.

But if there are things that you would like to see in a future annual report, uh we'd be happy to take that feedback from you and incorporate that as we embark on this in the future.

Um but maybe just some highlights for anybody that's watching or listening at home or uh wherever they might be.

Not only are we featuring some of the statistics and the data from each of the departments within the organization, but then also kind of some significant things that we did throughout 2025, uh community partner projects talking about our call for projects, the Citizen Academy, uh, our media and municipality meetup where our communication staff were meeting with local uh media people to uh introduce them to departments, but then also potentially generate story ideas and and news information for local media to grab.

Of course, we talk about our strategic plan, and this does fulfill one of the strategic focus areas of our strategic plan by having a more engaged and informed community.

So there's a lot of reasons that we're doing this, but there's a tremendous amount of information in it is in here.

Uh I do need to say thanks to all the department directors and the staff that helped compile this, but then uh really a special thanks to Kirsten and Caleb for the work that they did.

Uh they are here, uh, but I was told that they would rather uh let their product do the speaking for them.

Um despite being communicators, I think they're good with visuals, but maybe a little afraid of the podium.

So not a problem with that at all.

But uh just wanted to bring this to everyone's attention.

If you have any questions, comments, I'm happy to take those now.

But if you have things offline, after you've had a chance to flip through all the pages and and gather all the information, that's great.

One other thing, I do need to note that the vast majority of the photos that are in here were sourced from members of our community through the call for photos.

So another way that we're working to bring people in.

We do give photo credits for all the locals that shared some of their images with us, and so a very collaborative effort, but also a pretty significant lift for us as an organization.

And I'm glad that we're we're doing this, and we will continue to do this into the future.

Any questions?

Great job.

Yep, thank thank you to the students from BSC.

That it's much appreciated.

Thanks, Commissioners.

Yep.

They're hiding, I can't see them.

Okay, moving to item F.

Consider recommendation from Vision Fund Committee to support a flex-based program interest by down for 43rd land LLC.

So before we start, yep.

Um, so I am my firm is doing this project.

So you might want to recuse yourself for that.

If I need to be the tie-breaking vote, I'm over here.

Okay.

All right, go ahead, Noah.

Perfect.

Mr.

Mayor, Commissioners.

In your packet, you have a vision fund application from 43 Land, otherwise known as Bismarck Sports Academy for a flex pace uh loan buy down project.

The city portion is structured as a loan up to 107,692 and 30 cents.

Um Vision Fund received and recommended this project to the city commission on April 23rd of last month.

Um representatives from the project and the bank are here today to present to answer any questions you may have.

If you have any questions for me before they present, uh you're more than welcome to ask.

I can also come up after the project has had a chance to talk to you and answer any questions.

But they have a presentation.

I will call them up if you have no questions.

Go ahead.

Perfect.

Give that and give that to you.

Well, thank you, Mayor Schmitz and City Commissioners, for allowing us to uh give a brief uh presentation on uh kind of a two-part business opportunity that we hear for that we have here for Bismarck.

Um my name is Ben Woodside.

So uh I went to NDSU from 2004 to 2009.

I played basketball with Luke Mormon here, my business partner, and um now I reside in West Fargo.

Introduce yourself quick.

Yeah, Luke Mormon.

I'm currently in my 17th year of teaching at Simley Middle School.

Uh, and my and it'll be my last year now.

I've also been coaching in the community since I moved here uh from college, but also played the same years as Ben.

And uh also the um uh athletic director at St.

Mary's Academy currently, and I'll be continuing to do that as well.

So we have a just a brief presentation here in hopes of uh the approval for the vision fund.

And uh I mentioned a two-part business opportunity, and I'm gonna uh go through this fairly quickly and can answer any questions at the end.

And there's a short, if you guys don't mind, there's a short two-minute video that um can dive into the technology aspect versus me up here vomiting information uh at you, and you can actually visit visualize it a little bit.

So what we have here is we have an opportunity for what's called uh shoot 360 and also a Bismarck Sports Academy.

And uh Shoot 360 is a franchise.

Uh there's 50 locations globally.

Um it's a very, very unique um franchise and a unique opportunity for Bismarck here for kids uh that want to improve their basketball skills.

Everything from shooting basketball to ball handling, and why this opportunity is so unique for them is shoot 360 has a shoot 360 has a um a patent, a technology patent, a NOAA technology patent that there's nothing like it, and what that patent involves is when you shoot a basketball, there's three main components.

Uh there's arc, depth, and alignment.

So those the technology that we have that sits above those five shooting bays that you see is when a kid let's go releases the basketball, our technology grabs that and um justifies the arc, the depth, and the alignment.

So if a kid comes up to the is in one of those shooting bays and shoots the shot short, they can see an instant feedback and instant gratification from okay, your arc was great, your alignment was straight on, but the depth was off, and that and your depth was off by so many millimeters, and that's why the ball didn't go in the hoop.

So we also have the technology for the ball handling aspect, and I'm not gonna get into all that.

There's like I said, there's a brief visualization for it.

But it's an extremely unique opportunity for the community of Bismarck because one, there's only 50 of them globally.

Uh, two, we own the territory rights uh for the western half of the state, and um another new unique aspect is there's kids in Bismarck that are on our shooting bays that could shoot against other kids globally.

So if there's a kid in a Republic of Georgia, they could be in a challenge together and they could shoot against a kid in the Republic of Georgia or the country of Turkey.

So it's a very unique um, it's a very unique business, but it's also a unique opportunity for kids to hone in on their basketball shields uh skills shooting and ball handling.

Um the other aspect, so that's the 360 side, the other aspect, which is the rectangle going north and south here.

That is what's the Bismarck uh sports academy.

And what's gonna be part of the Bismarck Sports Academy is obviously basketball, there's gonna be volleyball, and then there's going to be a turfed area for um batting cages.

So there's three main components in the Bismarck Sports Academy: basketball, volleyball, and batting cages, all through grades K through 12.

And in the batting cages, we're gonna have what's called hit tracks.

So if you guys have ever been to a golf simulator, it's kind of the same thing where uh the hit tracks can uh calculate your exit velocity for baseball and softball, it can uh calculate your bat speed.

So there's um there's a unique opportunity there as well.

Um the other aspect that I just want to point out for the um the non-franchise side, the Bismarck Sports Academy, is we want to partner with other local businesses in town.

Um, and what I mean by that is majority of the year there's kids that are in school.

So our gym goes unused because the kids aren't training there, there's no group sessions going on, there's no one-on-one training going on.

So, what we would like to do is partner with different businesses, say a daycare, where we have um bouncy houses, and I got two kids in in daycare right now, and I know how much energy I got to exert when they get home.

But the but they could come, we could partner with daycares, and they could go and they could use our gym during um school hours, and they could you know the kids could run around, go on our bouncy houses.

So that's one aspect.

The other aspect is homeschool kids too.

Um, I don't uh Luke's a teacher, um, he knows a lot more of the the um school end of it, but homeschool homeschool kids could have the opportunity to come to our gym and facilitate our gym, kind of like a gym class, if you will.

Um, and then lastly, uh we're we want to host birthday parties and gatherings for little kids, and it'd be great uh partnering with um other retail business.

Uh I heard Fizzly Pop is like a huge thing for kids around this area, and so it'd be awesome to partner with Fizzly Pop and somehow we can coordinate and work together for little kids' birthday or kids' birthday parties.

So there's there's that there's that aspect of our operations on the Bismarck Sports Academy that's not just geared for basketball, volleyball, and baseball, but it's also geared to help support other businesses in the community.

Um lastly, and I think this is one of the most important aspects that we and I'm almost done here, but lastly, is uh the community value for all kids and Bismarck Mandan.

This business that we want to start here in Bismarck is not just for kids that can pay for a membership to go to shoot 360.

It's not just for the kids that can be part of a group training uh three-on-three tournament at our facility on the Bismarck Sports Academy side, but it's for partnering with other organizations in town for the opportunity for underprivileged kids to be part of a state-of-the-art facility, to have the opportunity to come in, use our facilities, but also the individuals that we need to hire, and that the coaches that we need to hire are first class individuals, uh respectable individuals, and almost like I'm not gonna call it a mentorship, but these kids know that there's gonna be people there that are gonna show up for them and that are gonna help them out.

And so that's a huge community value that we hope to bring to this um to this facility.

So you may ask why the vision fund, right?

Um, you know, for the benefit for our our business.

As you guys know here, um capital is expensive, capital costs.

Whether you're getting capital, whether you're um the construction costs, um, whether it's um operations, whether it's labor, and specifically for our 360 side, our equipment is very, very specific over there, and it's very, very costly.

And so those three main components plus the ability to have sustainable business for kids in Bismarck.

Um, the opportunity to get approval for the vision fund helps us get our feet wet, get some stabilization, and allows this business to succeed long term, and that's the hopes of this business.

Um, is for the kids long term in Bismarck.

Um, the other aspect is city benefits, right?

You have obviously this is a uh heavily investment um project, and so you have property tax, you have sales tax, but also more importantly is you have outs outside community involvement, such as uh camps, such as um team trainings, um, such as pull uh bringing kids from uh college kids from Jamestown to help coach a camp, bringing kids from NDSU who I know Coach Richmond really well, come in here and putting on a camp here in Bismarck.

So you're gaining you're gaining kids from outside the community coming to Bismarck.

Um, and so I think there's some outside business involvement that would that would really help the city as well.

So we stand up here together um and just ask for in hopes of uh you know approval of the vision fund and um you know what can this uh this unique opportunity both on the 360 side but also on the Bismarck Sports Academy side and how it can benefit uh Bismarck as a whole.

Commissioner Rush, Mr.

Mayor, Commissioner, um Ben, where's it going to be located?

It's gonna be have you picked the spot, maybe you haven't.

I don't know.

It's gonna be located by the Cashwise north side of Cat uh north side of town by Cashwise um uh to the west by is it Haga and Kumara?

It's north of 43rd and just east of Coleman, kind of in the middle.

The only reason why I bring brought up Fizzly Pop is because I know FizzlyPots right there because there's a line of about 50 kids waiting in there.

So that's the strip hall just strip all just to the south of it.

Right.

I'll just follow up, but seems incredible.

It's uh what great benefit for a community.

So thank you, guys.

Yep, thank you.

Do you have community?

Yeah, wasn't there a video that you were gonna show you?

Oh, sure, yeah.

Yeah, our monitor is not working over here.

So you want two minutes?

No, okay.

Go ahead.

Welcome to shoot 360, the world's most advanced basketball training facility.

We specialize in the essential skills of passing, ball handling, and shooting.

Why choose shoot 360?

Because our proprietary system offers the world's best skill training with the most innovative technology in basketball.

On our shooting courts, you will experience our one-of-a-kind splash meter, technology that will revolutionize your training and shooting success.

The splash meter provides instant and precise feedback for every shot, capturing the three most important elements of shot meet, art, depth, and alignment.

The green band connecting each of these three key elements is called the splash zone.

Shots that are aligned inside the splash zone will be made 98% of the time.

In our shooting courts, you will have the ability to select pre-designed workouts where you will follow along with our virtual trainer.

In your shooting workout, we provide instantaneous feedback from our splash meter to improve consistency in your shooting.

Our drills are tiered by difficulty to accommodate athletes of all ages and skill levels.

Shoot 360 gamifies the basketball training experience through interactive competitions.

Our innovative approach to skill development allows you to hone your craft in an engaging, challenging, and fun format.

We are the only basketball training facility that provides virtual training competitions between athletes from all over the world.

Our state-of-the-art technology provides skill challenges that allow you to compete and perform under game like pressure.

Check out our shoot 360 leaderboards to see how you stack up against players in your area and from around the globe.

Put your ball handling skills to the test and experience the world's first high-tech skill court, where you will work to improve your ball handling and passing while being challenged by the most unique and fun skill drills in the game.

Our shoot 360 certified skill development coaches are the best in the business.

Our coaches will help improve your skill and technique so you're building excellent basketball habits.

Because of Shoot 360's world-class technology, dedicated coaches, and one of a kind interactive training environment, we will expedite your skill improvement better than anyone else.

As we like to say, Shoot 360 will unlock your game so that you can become the best basketball player you aspire to be.

Experience shoot 360, the facility that's revolutionizing the way basketball players train.

The future of basketball is here.

You know, explaining all that.

So any other questions?

I don't think so.

I'm gonna let Commissioner Connolly find his way back to this spot.

All right, well, thank you for the time tonight.

Thank you.

And then I'll ask the question.

What are your wishes, Commissioners?

What are your wishes?

I'll move as presented.

And I'll second and then I'll add some um when it comes to these different types of funds.

I often emphasize um unique to where they're not competing against other businesses.

And I think that um certainly occupies this occupies that space.

Okay.

Is there any other discussion?

Hearing them will call roll.

Commissioner Connolly.

Yes.

Commissioner Cleary.

Yes.

Commissioner Rish.

Yes.

Mayor Schmitz.

Yes.

Moving to item G.

Consider request to receive a presentation of the city's comprehensive procurement policy.

It's pretty cool stuff.

And Eric, are you not this way?

Go ahead, Eric.

Thank you, Mayor Commissioners.

Um we're gonna talk about the procurement policy.

It's not uh nearly as fun and cool as shoot 360 right before us, but uh we'll hopefully keep it entertaining for you.

Um, I'm gonna kind of uh break the ice, introduce Josh here in a little bit of our journey here for the procurement policy.

Um, and then he's gonna kind of get into the finer points of what's in that policy.

Um, if you guys remember about this time, 2024, we brought a need through the budget committee um to talk about a procurement officer for the city of Bismarck.

We've just grew too big and needed to get some expertise to help us along the way with that.

And so that happened with the 25 budget, which allowed us to hire Josh Fern, our procurement officer.

He comes to the city um in April of 2025, bringing almost two decades of procurement expertise, um, both private and public.

He's really helped spearhead this um this policy writing for the city of Bismarck to meet with all the directors, find out what we're doing, what works, what doesn't work, and really try to streamline this process for us for procurement um change order management and those types of problems that we have.

Everything that we have today is simply governed by one little blurp in Title VII in the code of city ordinance.

So, what he's done is met to understand the needs, um, the various compliance-related issues that we face and try to come up with a policy, a method for the city to give us some um some standardization amongst all of the departments and finding things that uh work for all of us so that way we're we're able to maximize and um on the city dollars that are being spent for our citizens and really streamline and be more effective.

Um, with that, I will turn it over to Josh and let him talk about the finer points of the policy.

Um with that, I will turn it over to Josh and let him talk about the finer points of the policy, and after Josh is done, what we're looking for is approval for the policy tonight.

Um with the approval of the policy, it will we'll also be looking for direction from the commission to amend Title VII in the city ordinances, which will require obviously a public hearing, um, and we'll move forward with those if the policy is approved.

Okay.

Welcome, Josh.

Thank you, Eric.

Mayor, commissioners.

I just wanted to take some time to kind of go over what the procurement policy is and how we got to where we are today.

So for the last several months, we've been meeting with all the departments and getting buy-in from everybody on what are the needs the city has with procurement, what are the pain points, how can we alleviate the pain points and develop a policy that works day to day for all departments in the city.

The policy was benchmarked against federal regulations, North Dakota Century Code, and then we also compared it to FEMA emergency purchase procedures and the comparable municipalities' best practices.

So we're more stringent in our procurement policy than the federal government is on theirs.

We're just as stringent as the state is, and we can handle FEMA procurement.

If there's an emergency and we're receiving federal funds, we're in line already.

We don't have to make any adjustments in our purchasing.

The result after all our negotiations or our meetings with the other departments is we they weren't negotiations, we were meeting and getting feedback.

The result is a comprehensive policy that organizes procurement into dollar thresholds, and within those dollar thresholds, we provide we identify appropriate procurement methods.

So the three dollar thresholds that we have are anything below $10,000 is considered a low-risk purchase, but we're still promoting sound judgment and fiscal responsibility.

We're not just buying something because we want it, we're buying it because it's a need.

If it's over 10,000 to 100,000, we require more formalized process where we're ensuring fairness and competition and reasonable pricing among our vendors.

Over 100,000 has the highest level of scrutiny.

There we require formal solicitation and the procurement methods that are available for purchases over 100,000 are designed to promote transparency to the public.

We really have to justify not only why we're purchasing this, but that the price is reasonable.

When these thresholds we are within these thresholds, the policy defines seven or defines seven procurement methods.

Each method is tailored to the size, type, and complexity of the purchase.

So this gives departments an opportunity to choose which procurement method best suits their needs.

Purchasing a pipe is different than purchasing an automobile, and there might be different requirements, but we clarified the requirements in the policy.

The policy also defines contract and contract amendment execution authority.

Who can sign a contract on behalf of the city and who has to review contracts when they're going through city when they're being signed by the city?

So we're outlining based on a dollar amount what's required, but within that dollar amount, we have options.

And those options are designed to provide flexibility for the departments to procure what they want, but at the same time, justify price reasonable lists and make sure we're getting the best value for the city.

The policy just represents the first phase of our procurement initiatives.

As Eric said, I'm new.

The city didn't have a procurement policy.

So phase one is having a procurement policy, so we have guidance and governance for the departments.

Phase two is we want to standardize the tools and procedures.

We want to create templates and forms so that all departments are operating in the same way, so that it's very clear if I'm purchasing a car, what are the requirements?

If I'm purchasing uh something that is sole source, what are the requirements?

We want to standardize those across all departments.

The final phase is to develop a centralized database.

And I've been working with Tondra and the IT department.

They've been fantastic in creating a database where once you purchase something, you can upload your documentation.

That is required under federal guidance that municipalities centrally store procurement documentation, and that we have a justification for the price we're paying.

But this also opens up spend management reporting.

Once we have that information centrally located, we'll have a database where we can look and see what is the city spending on certain items.

Are there group purchasing opportunities?

Can we have departments co-spend together?

It's going to open up a whole world of spend management analytics.

All of these things are coming together, but they start with the procurement policy.

The procurement policy is the foundation that we're building on.

What are the documents that we require in the database that comes from the procurement policy?

So that's just a broad overview of what we've been working on the last couple months.

And with that, I'll open it up to questions.

Commissioner Rush.

Mr.

Mayor, Commissioner Josh.

Well, when I first got elected two years ago, I was surprised that the city of Bismarck, this big of operation, we did not have procurement officers.

We buy a lot of things and we need to buy them at the best possible price.

I get nothing but good reports about you, Josh.

So you're you're our procurement department.

You're standing there.

But um and just a heads up, I I attended some of the uh citizens' academies um meetings this year, and Josh was in the Citizens Academy, and I thought that on his own time, mind you, every Thursday night for several hours to get a good feel of the city.

So I thank you for doing that.

Um my basic question I went through the the document, and it looks like there's been no stone unturned.

I mean, this is this is thorough and very um professional.

But I never saw anything about negotiating.

And and I brought this up earlier, I know, and I from the labor side, I like to negotiate.

I like to get a good deal.

Uh last week I purchased an American-made card at a Bismarck dealership, but I traded mine in.

So I'd go in there with my car and I said, Well, yeah, I'd like to trade this in.

They came up with a price.

I said, Wow, that's a lot.

So I came up with, of course, a lower price.

Went back and forth a couple of times.

We agreed on a price.

If I would have right away said, Oh, yeah, I'll take it at that price, I would have cost me several thousand dollars more.

So is there any provisions or any ability for you as a procurement officer to actually negotiate some of these prices that we're paying for all these things the city needs?

Yes, absolutely.

The city should always be negotiating price and contract terms.

We have procurement methods, as I said, there's seven procurement methods, and those methods define when negotiation is reasonable.

As they were saying earlier, if we have a sealed bid situation, it's provided that the vendor is giving their firm lowest price.

And so in that case, negotiation wouldn't be reasonable after the bidding takes place.

But if we're publishing an RFP, a public solicitation, we should always be negotiating both price and contract terms.

Go ahead, Commissioner Conley.

On the part where you mentioned uh sound judgment and fiscal responsibility.

Any part into this where it's kind of an unusual or new purchase where even if it's below some of those thresholds to where at least the designated portfolio holder or coming in front of the commission makes sense.

Can we add that into the documentation itself too, just so we have a little bit more of that checks and balance?

Absolutely, absolutely.

We can look into amending that.

We we do have we do clarify that there are situations, for example, a contract review, regardless of price, needs to be reviewed by certain people.

If it's as I said, if it's under $10,000, that doesn't mean we can purchase whatever we want.

There's stipulations that this has to be reasonable, there has to be a need, and it has it still needs director approval.

But we can I can work with you, speak with you, and we can look at amending it to be clearer on that.

Commissioner Zinker.

Yeah, so on that, I would think that some of that stuff would be already vetted through the budgeting process.

I mean, this is this is not in my I mean, yeah, it's a procurement situation, but if you're if there's something new that you want to bring into someone's department or whatever, that should be really vetted through the budgeting process, not midway through the year that you got X amount of funds left over from something and now you want to go buy something new.

I mean, still should go through that that type of scenario.

I don't I don't know if it really needs to go as high as a portfolio holder because I mean I got I got the public works um water side, and if they need a impeller or diffuser or uh um whatever for a pump and some of those pumps are really big, that could easily be 10,000 bucks.

I mean, and they're specific to the manufacturer, and we don't we don't have time to talk to everybody on the phone to get that stuff done.

I mean, I've had several conversations with Michael about emergency buys and those types of things, and and they're they're in here.

Um, but I would think that once we vet this and go through it for a year or two, that that would be pretty simple to be able to do and and run through it.

So I think the purpose of the policy is exactly that.

So that you know, a if it's in the budget, it's approved uh purchase and a certain level of purchase.

We we can't have things held up for two weeks for a commission meeting.

And so that's why this this is a very I thought this was a very good document.

I thought it covered everything.

Doesn't mean it won't, it's a policy, so it can change something document.

It's always amendable.

Yep, yeah.

So I think you did a great job.

Approval of this, is this an update?

You're gonna go back and you're gonna go back and negotiate with the rest of the team as to what you get out of the deal.

We we spent the year going through making sure all the departments are set.

I'll make a motion to approve is presented.

Second further discussion.

Hearing on call roll.

Commissioner Connolly, yes.

Commissioner Cleary.

Yes.

Commissioner Rish.

Yes.

Commissioner Zanker.

Yes.

Yes.

Mayor Schmitz.

Yes.

And then you have a request to change title.

Yes.

Or amend title.

So part of this is is staff getting direction from the commission with some of the dollar thresholds that are are listed in the the procurement policy that will require us it to amend title seven of the ordinances.

Um we'll we'll start the process with um noticing the public meeting, and that'll be on the consent agenda for the next commission meeting.

And then Commissioner Zenker.

Yeah, so I mean, I would assume that you would you were gonna have to amend this anyways.

Um in the next legislative cycle, they might change the the buys values and those types of things.

So you're gonna you're gonna make those types of yearly changes or biannual changes anyway.

So that's correct.

Make it practical.

Yep.

And hopefully, with having this the thresholds listed in policy going forward, um, we can handle it in one meeting um with the commission here with policy amendments rather than going through the the continual two meeting for public hearing.

Okay, um I think it's a good idea and to make those amendments and ordinance to be able to follow the policy, I think is is wise.

Correct.

All right, thank you.

More efficient.

Thank you.

Yep, thanks, guys.

Next item H consider a request to receive bids and award contract for street light and traffic signal project SV 88.

Uh Gabe.

Good evening, Mayor Commissioners.

So Street Light and Traffic Signal Project 88 is our 2026 fiber interconnect project.

Have it up on the screen here and should have it in your packet as well.

Uh, we received bids on May 5th for this project, and we had three bidders with a low bid being Fetzer Electric LLC with a bid of 199,500.

Our recommendation is to award to Fetzer Electric.

Take any questions you may have.

Most to approve is presented.

Second.

Any discussion?

Hearing none will call roll.

Commissioner Cleary.

Yes.

Commissioner Rish.

Yes.

Commissioner Zanker.

Yes.

Commissioner Connolly?

Yes.

Mayor Schmitz.

Yes.

Next item is consider request receive bid and award contract on a water utility project 153.

Mayor Commissioners.

Uh water utility project 153 is our 2026 hydrant and valve replacement.

Uh for this project, we had two bidders with the low bid being DL Barkey Construction Incorporated with the bid of eight eighty-eight thousand five hundred.

Our recommendation is to award to DL Barkey.

Move to approve.

I just have a question for Gabe.

Oh, Mr.

Mayor and Commissioner, I'm not familiar with Barkey construction.

You've worked with them before, or you're familiar with them.

It's a pretty low bid compared to what the other one was.

Mayor Commissioners, Commissioner Rish.

Actually, this this project lasts a couple of years, or maybe not every single year for the last couple of years, but uh deal barkey's actually received this project, the the uh hydrant valve replacement project uh a couple of times previously.

Uh, their firm out of my not, uh, but it's a type of project that can come down and kind of perform it and go back to mine when they're done.

Sure.

Second.

Okay.

Any further discussion?

Hearing none will call roll.

Commissioner Rish.

Yes.

Commissioner Zanker.

Yes.

Commissioner Connolly?

Yes.

Commissioner Cleary.

Yes.

Mayor Schmitz.

Yes.

Next item is consider a request for partial release of existing easement within lots 18-19 block 4, South Bay, 5th edition.

Mayor, Commissioners, the City of Bismarck was granted an easement for the purpose of constructing or a private drive known as Nimitz Court in South Bay, 5th edition.

They have an exhibit up on the screen here.

The access easement was granted a width wider than was needed for construction.

Subsequent to that, the owner of the lots of 18 and 19 is requesting that the West 4 feet is released so that they can build their units or their structures a little bit closer to the actual driveway as opposed to what the access easement.

We measure that setback from the access easement currently in ordinance and the release of this easement will allow them to build that structure a little bit closer to the roadway itself.

This will be a public hearing.

Our access or our easement release policy is a little convoluted.

Most of these easements come along time when we're doing a platted subdivision.

So a lot of times we tack this on to the public hearing for the platform the zoning change.

Rarely do we have a standalone non-platted easement that needs to be released, but the city commission's policy is to inform the adjacent landowners of the easement release and then hold a public hearing for that.

So I guess that'd step aside and have a public hearing before you take action on this.

Okay.

Didn't know it wasn't noted that way, but we'll we'll do that.

This is a public this we'll open the public hearing for this uh easement release.

Anyone wish to speak, please come forward.

Second call for comment.

Third and final call for comment.

Seeing no one hearing all public comment is closed.

Commissioners move to approve is presented.

Second.

Is there any discussion?

Hearing and will call roll.

Commissioner Zenker.

Yes.

Commissioner Connolly.

Yes.

Commissioner Cleary.

Yes.

Commissioner Rish.

Yes.

Mayor Schmitz.

Yes.

Or to other business.

Um I would like to call.

Oh, go ahead, Commissioner Zeker.

Oh, if you got other businesses.

I was gonna have uh Chief Fire Chief come forward and just talk about the fire and all the cooperation we had.

Um ahead, Chief Mayor and Commissioners.

Um, thank you for the opportunity to address you regarding the uh apartment complex fire on May 4.

To recap what occurred, uh CENCOM notified us of possible smoke in the building.

On arrival, our first arriving crew, they encountered smoke within the entryway along with a large number of residents that were needing assistance to evacuate.

So an initial priority was to move residents outside to a safe location and to evacuate the entire building.

Another priority, of course, was the fire itself, which was below grade and within some concealed spaces.

Our firefighters engaged in offensive firefighting, but after numerous attempts and the behavior of the fire, the decision was made to transition to a defensive mode.

The fire did move vertically and eventually entered into the attic space.

So the firefighter resources were positioned to contain the spread of the fire so that it would not extend further east or south.

And during that fire, there was a section of the building that did collapse.

We experienced one fire ground injury to a firefighter that was not related to the clap to the collapse.

The firefighter was transported for observation and should return to work, I believe, this week.

I want to take a moment to thank the firefighters.

They were very professional, worked very hard and were successful in the rescue of persons and the containment of the fire.

We can all be very proud of their actions.

I've mentioned uh administrator Tomonic on many occasions that the City of Bismarck has something unique.

We've got a special trait amongst the departments.

We're clearly a team, and this fire is one of those examples of how the team of departments came together.

I'd like just to take a minute to describe how I saw that and what it looked like.

Administration and Commissioner Rish were very supportive throughout the entire event.

The police department, they provided assistance with the evacuation of residents, helped us with firefighting equipment such as shuttling breathing air cylinders, provided our command staff aerial views with a drone, and controlled the perimeter of the scene.

Public works on the wet side.

They uh responded to our requests, they increased the water pressure, and actually uh came on scene when we had some difficulties shutting down a hydrant.

Building inspections.

They assisted our command staff with the actual building blueprints to supplement our pre-fire plans.

That was very helpful in determining the placement of our firefighting equipment to stop the spread of the fire.

Emergency management, they initiated actions for sheltering and other assistance requests, public health engaged in the care of displaced residents, residents through the sheltering activities.

And there were other agencies, of course, such as Christ List Crisis Care Chaplaincy.

They provided the care and the safety of the residents, Metroambulance.

They had a large number of resources on scene to care for the emergency responders.

Mandan Fire was called in to assist us, and they also provided us with air supply.

The list goes on.

We had Red Cross, Salvation Army, Kitty City, Furry Friends, Utility Companies, Lions, and many generous citizens.

I'm afraid that I probably missed a department or agency, but my point here is to indicate that we all work very well together.

We each have our roles and responsibilities, and together we do make a great team.

So thank you to all these agencies and to you as the commission.

Do you have any questions that I might be able to address?

Commissioner Rush.

I just want to say Mr.

Mayor, Commissioner's uh chief, thank you and the team at the fire department.

Excellent job.

And as you pointed out, all these other parts of the city pitching in, including the city of Madad.

It's remarkable.

And I know Renee's here.

And Renee, you had quite a I mean the what troubles me about this, this is a lot of these people were handicapped, disabled people living in that building that needed a lot of care, which is that's that's a big burden.

So Renee, you got anything to say?

What was your department?

I I don't want to cut you off, Chief.

I'm just asking her to have some more questions for you, Chief.

I do have some things to say.

I don't want to cut in front of him if he has additional things to say, but um.

So we were called in.

Um I received a a phone call from actually assisted administrator uh Wiles about 545 just to notify us of the fire.

We practiced medical sheltering before, but um there's been some close calls, but we've never actually uh had a situation where we had to set up a shelter.

Um and then about 9:30 um there was a notification that Red Cross would be setting up medical sheltering at the Century Baptist Church, and there were significant significant medical needs as you had stated, um, individuals with mobility and accessibility related issues.

So at 10 p.m.

Um public health staff reported to the Century Baptist Church.

Um it was me, the public health director, Teresa Schmidt, our nurse manager, Chris Koontz, our emergency preparedness coordinator, and Jody Bender, health maintenance coordinator that reported that first night.

Um we had eight individuals that um stayed overnight in the shelter.

There were several more that reported to the shelter right away, but eight that actually spent the night.

Umluded replacement of some vital medications, um, support for medical conditions and assistive equipment.

Um so that was all on the first night, and then on uh the following day, we continued to assist individuals with medication replacement, medical um equipment needs, care coordination, and then some temporary lodging.

It was um a challenge for us to identify ADA accessible hotel placements for individuals.

Um that was something that we worked on throughout the day, and by the end of the day on Tuesday, we had four individuals that were remaining at the shelter location.

Several community agencies, like HIT Pride Enabled Community Options actively supported their clients and assisted their clients with care coordination.

Um, and we worked with local pharmacies and physicians to help with medication assistance and replace medications and supplies.

Um that second night we had four individuals that spent the night in the shelter, and then the following day, Wednesday, we made it our goal to um find placement for the remaining individuals at some type of lodging establishment.

Um we continued to help walk-ins, um, but as five as of 5 p.m.

on Wednesday, all the individuals that um had come into the medical shelter for support had been placed in temporary lodging, um, a majority of which had ADA accessibility um needs.

And so um the Red Cross then um we were done at the end of day on on Wednesday for our role as medical shelter.

Uh Red Cross did stay um through Friday morning at Century Baptist, and then they re relocated to the Schaumburg Ice Arena where they're continuing to provide support services.

Um just to to mention uh my thanks um to the community uh response.

The community response has been amazing.

Paul Hare and the Century Baptist Church opened the facility and had support displaced residents during the time of shelter response.

Marlowe Anderson, the North Dakota Lions disaster relief, has assisted us with hotel placements and emergency lodging support.

We would not not know what to do with individuals if we didn't have that resource.

Thank you to them.

But also thank you to the public health nursing staff.

I know that much of our work happens behind the scenes.

And I'm always proud of the staff when they can come forward and show dignity and uh care to the clients that were in need.

It really showed the best of public service.

And it's nurses week, so another opportunity for for me to say thank you for all that they do for the community.

Well, thank you.

Thank you.

Did anybody chief?

Did you have anything else you wanted to say?

Okay.

I I just want to say thanks to the entire team of the city and all those individuals from the public.

We got all those individuals out safely, no casualties, which is amazing.

And very it just shows you the strength of our community.

Thank you.

Any other business?

Yes, sir.

Go ahead.

Mayor commissioners.

So I gotta uh bring this up.

So we have on Thursday, Gabe.

Correct me if I miss anything here.

On Thursday, we have um at the public works from four to seven an information and informational um for the half cent extension for the half cent sales tax for the roads.

Um it's gonna be a little bit different.

It's going to be open house concept, but at the uh four o'clock, five o'clock, and six o'clock, there's gonna be a uh little uh 20-minute presentation.

Um kind of filling in the um what we're doing, the ex the expansion of the projects um duration of the extension and those types of things.

So uh if anybody wants to go out to that at public works, public works.

Anybody good at all?

Okay.

Okay, is there any other business?

Commissioner Rish.

Yeah, I guess it's a question for Commissioner Conley.

I was listening to the KFAR Calfway radio show the other day, and um you were urging people to vote against this half cents extension of the sales tax.

But yet as a commissioner, you were a commissioner with us that approved the language and approved putting it on the ballot, and now you're on the radio urging people to vote.

No, I'd just like to get an explanation of what you're up to.

That's not what I'm up to.

I appreciate I worked with citizens.

We tried to get one on the ballot, and it was stopped.

They went through due diligence, they were recommended to go to the stake um election department to get formatting advice.

State said that they would have to accept the wording based on what was presented to them.

They brought it back here and it was stopped.

And I thought that the city and working with the citizens obstructed the citizens trying to put something forward.

So there's three more opportunities to do it better.

Well, you supported it, and all you needed to do is not appropriate.

You did not support the I supported the wording being put on the ballot.

It's not much of a distinction.

I've got one other thing, Mr.

Mayor.

Go ahead.

Um I just want to recognize Zach Wyan from the Bismarck Tribune.

Uh I got elected uh just not quite two years ago, and he's been a reporter here for the the entire time I've been a commissioner.

And this will be a glass meeting.

He's going on to a different job, but I want to say that Zach has done some excellent reporting.

He has written articles in an objective way, and I just really appreciate what you've done in your role at the Tribune.

So best wishes to you, Zach, for the future.

Thank you.

I appreciate it.

Go ahead, Commissioner Connolly.

I want uh Zach.

You're one of the best ones that I've ever seen as far as writing um at the local level, so really appreciate that.

To follow up with uh Commissioner Rish, I mean, I got tagged a while back for bringing up a political question during the other business time.

So there was a lot that went into this.

There's a lot of people that want more than one and done.

They say they're public input meetings, they're public information meetings.

We had uh one issue that we had talking about to where public comment was to close at a later date, and I made a motion to table it until after that comment.

But we're already making decisions on the project before that's closed.

That sends a message to the community that we're going to do what we're going to do, regardless of putting us in a position to listen to them.

Well, this point is that's not this point.

It's on the ballot.

That's not genuine, that's not sincere, and that's not communication with the public.

Well, we're communicating.

There's meetings and meetings and meetings, and thanks for Gabe for putting these additional ones coming up this Thursday.

So it's already been decided it's going on the ballot, right?

This commission decided that.

Yep, and the voters determine one way or another how it turns out.

We live in an awesome republic, and civil discourse is how we get to our ultimate means.

We stand adjourned.