Fargo City Commission Meeting - October 16, 2023
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Fargo City Commission Meeting - October 16, 2023
The Fargo City Commission met on Monday, October 16, 2023, at 5:00 p.m. in the Commission Chambers after holding an executive session from 4:00 to 4:45 p.m. to discuss threatened litigation pertaining to 501 Main Avenue. The commission unanimously approved the consent agenda, conducted three public hearings, reviewed the General Fund budget status, approved committee appointments, and received liaison reports. All formal votes were 5-0.
Consent Calendar
- The commission approved all 39 items on the consent agenda in a single roll-call vote. Notable items include:
- Letter of Support for the Smart Wash Laundry project to the ND Opportunity Fund.
- Second Amendment to the Developer Agreement with J Street Properties, LLC.
- Findings of Fact and Orders for dangerous buildings at 1809 14th Avenue South and amended findings for 437 23rd Street South.
- Acceptance of ordinances related to alcoholic beverages, aquatic facilities, and hotels/motels.
- Second readings of rezoning ordinances for EOLA Addition and EOLA Second Addition.
- Amendment to the Lease Agreement with NDSU for the FARGODOME Remodel and Conference Center Addition.
- Various site authorizations and applications for games of chance.
- Purchase of ZenCity community engagement platform via piggyback through Insight Public Sector.
- Grants from ND Department of Emergency Services and ND Department of Health and Human Services (WIC, PHEP, Public Health Infrastructure).
- Engineering services amendment with Houston Engineering Inc. for $84,000 (Project FM-22-C0).
- Multiple change orders and bid awards, including $228,800 for a loader mounted snow blower (RFP24001) and snow/ice removal services.
- 2024 Benefit Renewals effective 1/1/24.
- Skyway Use Agreement with Bostad Condominium Association.
- Memoranda of Understanding with Flock Group, Inc. and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
- Loan agreement for Solid Waste Revenue Bonds Series 2023E/F.
Public Comments & Testimony
- There were no resident comments during the designated period (Item 40).
- During the public hearing on Improvement District No. BN-21-A (Item 42), Tim Nasham, who originally raised the issue, expressed concern that the law requires special assessments to be "within the municipality" and asked to see a breakdown of funding. He stated the city attorney's opinion may be influenced by the attorney-client relationship. He urged commissioners to use their best judgment.
Public Hearings
- Item 41 – Southwest Fargo Mission Second Addition (4451, 4455, 4475 40th Avenue South): This was a continuation from 7/10/23. The commission approved a zoning change from P/I to P/I and GC with a C-O Conditional Overlay, the 1st reading of the rezoning ordinance, and the plat. The property, near Living Waters Lutheran Church, will be replatted into two lots; one lot will remain institutional and the other will be developed as mixed-use. Staff noted one public comment email was received and that a subdivision waiver for drain setback was included as a lay-down item.
- Item 42 – Special Assessment List for Improvement District No. BN-21-A (New Bridge, Underground Utilities, Paving, Shared Use Path and Structure, and Incidentals): Continued from 10/2/23. City Attorney Nancy Morris provided a legal memo concluding the assessment applies only to property within Fargo city limits. City Engineer Tom Hildreth explained that the bridge connects Fargo roadways and that only about one-third of the bridge structure is special-assessed; the assessment cap was not exceeded. The commission approved the special assessment list.
- Item 43 – Dangerous Building at 924 7th Street North: The building is a 1,431 sq. ft., story-and-a-half wood-frame three-plex built in 1908, owned by FM Property Pros Two. It met 7 of 10 dangerous building criteria, with broken windows, squatter activity, and debris. The commission directed the City Attorney's Office to prepare findings and orders and authorized the Inspections Department to solicit removal proposals if the owner fails to remove it by the Board's Order of December 15, 2023.
Discussion Items
- Item 44 – General Fund Budget to Actual through September 30, 2023 and 2023 Year-End Projections: Finance Director Susan Thompson reported that year-to-date revenues are down about $2 million and expenditures are down $2.8 million, leaving revenues exceeding expenditures by about $1 million. A one-time state aid payment of nearly $2 million is expected before year-end. Year-end projections assume a normal winter and include adjustments such as increased franchise fees starting in November/December and removal of an anticipated asset sale.
- Item 45 – Committee Appointments: The commission approved appointments to the Economic Development Incentives Committee and the Fargo Youth Initiative.
- Item 46 – Liaison Commissioner Assignment Updates: Commissioners reported on their activities:
- Commissioner Piepkorn: No update.
- Commissioner Preston: Attended the National Academy of Construction award ceremony where the FM Area Flood Risk Management Project received the Recognition of Special Achievement Award.
- Commissioner Kolpack: Provided updates on Fire Station No. 8 construction (expected weather-tight by end of November) and the Fargo Youth Initiative, welcoming 7 new and 5 returning members. She also noted that 5 firefighter recruits started a new 16-week academy that day.
- Commissioner Strand: Mentioned Senator Hoven's visit regarding water projects and the airport project ($150 million total, including $75–80 million in federal funding).
Key Outcomes
- Approved the consent agenda (unanimous, 5-0).
- Approved the Southwest Fargo Mission Second Addition rezoning, ordinance first reading, and plat (unanimous, 5-0).
- Approved the special assessment list for BN-21-A (unanimous, 5-0).
- Approved the dangerous building order for 924 7th Street North (unanimous, 5-0).
- Approved the General Fund budget report and year-end projections (received and filed as part of item 44, no separate vote needed).
- Approved committee appointments (unanimous, 5-0).
- Adjourned to 5:00 p.m. on Monday, October 30, 2023.
Note: There is a discrepancy between sources regarding firefighter numbers. The video and minutes refer to 12 graduates (6 Fargo, 6 West Fargo) from the Joint Training Academy, while Commissioner Kolpack's liaison report states that 5 recruits started a new academy that day.
Meeting Transcript
As a recipient of its recognition of Special Achievement Award, which highlights creativity, innovation, vision, and accomplishments of practitioners in engineering, design, and construction industries. The award was presented to the members of the Diversion Authority in the Corps at a ceremony last weekend in Boston. On September 29th, 12 new firefighters graduated from the Joint Training Academy. Six for the Fargo Fire Department and six from the West Fargo Fire Department. These recruits completed a 15-week program to help develop skills to serve Fargo and West Fargo communities. In this video, you will hear from the Fargo recruits on why they chose a career in firefighting and see some of the intense training as they did throughout the Academy. Our comms team made this a little longer because we have some time to make up before we get to 515. And that will help us get there. Plus, it's a good story, right? It's a nice video. And we we see this as a great opportunity for you guys to start a career together because we're neighbors. And we're gonna do nothing but work more closely together. We're very unique in that we do this joint academy, and we're the only ones in the state that are doing something like this. But really it's the model moving forward for what we're looking at in consolidated operations between two cities and how we keep helping each other as we grow and help with our shortcomings. This is only something that's building us further and further into the future. Well, I'm originally from Memphis, Tennessee, so I moved up here in 2018 for all my kids and my wife, and we love the city. We love the family aspect of Fargo, and so we stayed here and I want to make Fargo a better place. I played college football. So that team aspect is something I've been craving ever since uh I graduated college. Um then when I saw that the fire department was hiring, just thought, why not? It's Captain Whirling or I said, I mean, this is the ultimate team sport, um, because you're relying on the person next to you for everything really. Um I was born here, so I I like Fargo. Um, I want to give back to the community. Um, so this is my way of finding a job, finding a career that's stable and knowing what it stands for. Something that draws me to fire is the the team aspect of it, and of course, helping your community. That's something that I've kind of been doing all these years. I love being physically active. It's something I'd always wanted to do, but I hadn't seen a lot of women in the field. Um, you know, growing up in small towns, it's very male dominated. So when I saw, you know, more and more women in our community getting involved, and uh my kids are getting older, I decided it was a good time to jump in and give it a shot. Well, I I mean I I do like the Fargo area, uh, and I was in the area at the time. And the fact that Fargo kind of has their own in-house training really helped because just because I don't have any experience firefighting prior to this, so well, I've always wanted to help people. Um, I like the team aspect of the job, um, hanging out with like people who have the same goals as you and I wanted a career firefighter job. Uh they more opportunity to grow. My dad and a couple uncles and some cousins uh were on a volunteer fire department back home. So growing up, I was always around that, and I was kind of an adrenaline junkie, so I wanted to do something exciting. Um, I've never wanted a job where I sat down and was bored all day. I wanted to be a firefighter because it's different. Every day you meet new people every day, you have different situations, different challenges. Um, and I knew that I would never get bored. Firefighting has always just been a dream of mine since a kid. And so uh my dad is a volunteer firefighter. I did volunteer firefighting before this, and um really just noticed I enjoyed that more than my day-to-day job. And so when the opportunity came up, I took a jump and said, let's uh let's give this a try. We always wanted to help people. I wanted to be a part of a team that was almost more of a family opposed to just going to work and leaving at the end of the day. Uh, I just wanted to be a part, something bigger than myself. The big thing about choosing Fargo for me was uh I grew up in the area and I always felt like it was good to stay close to home and serve the community that I grew up around and uh how fast Fargo's growing and the members of the department are huge for me. I mean, everybody likes to train, everybody likes to teach the younger generation coming up. A lot of my family members are actually firefighters.
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