Fire department for gender neutral facilities for fitness facilities to modernize the station to add in some decontamination procedures with a hot warming coal drilling concept because of the structural issue and because of the needs of the station.

We removed the old living quarter side.

We had to stay within the same footprint of the building.

So we rebuilt the living quarter side and added a couple small things to the apparatus side, the garage where the fire engine is housed that bring the station up to modern standards.

But working with our project coordinators, we wanted as short a time as possible for a closed station.

So we had a one-year project timeline.

During that time, we moved 805 out of the station, and for a short time we shuffled apparatus in different stations in Fargo.

At the beginning of this year, West Fargo offered to house 805 because they're so close.

So we moved 805 over and they were able to operate and live out of the West Fargo Fire Station.

So the big things the firefighters will notice here is a combined living room and kitchen area.

In the past, we just had one big bunk room with some beds in there.

And a treadmill and some fitness equipment all stuffed together.

There really wasn't enough room to house all of that equipment.

So we created a separate fitness room where we can keep the fitness equipment where they can work out.

And then we have separate bedrooms in the back of the station, separate sleeping rooms for each firefighter, and a captain's office that also has a separate sleeping room attached to it.

So those are the big things they'll notice as they walk out of the apparatus floor, they go through the hand washing zones.

We've been very lucky here in the city of Fargo.

The stations that we've built historically have have met the need at the time.

And for the most part, with station five now being renovated, we only have a couple areas in our current existing stations that are in need of some updates and some remodels to make those stations functional, like the rest of the stations.

So it it is important as the city grows not only to look for new areas where we can put new stations, but to make sure that we're keeping up our infrastructure and making sure that infrastructure is safe, that it provides for the firefighters that are working there, and that it's really optimal so we can provide the best service we can for the city of Fargo.

Good to have that done.

And I heard West Fire was happy to have the guys out there, and it was a good exchange, so it worked well.

So a motion to approve the order of agenda, adding an extra item to the regular agenda, approving the agreement of property demolition for Western Excavation LLC for property located at 1102 First Avenue South.

So moved.

Zero second.

Second.

Any discussion.

All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

Motion carried.

Is there a motion to approve the minutes of the September 29th, 2025 regular meeting?

So moved.

Sir Second.

Second.

All those in favor say aye.

Motion carries.

Is there a motion to approve the consent agenda items one through 40?

So moved.

Sir second.

Second.

Roll call vote, please.

Strand.

Yes.

Call pack.

Hi.

Pepcorn?

Hi.

Turnberg.

Aye.

Mahoney.

Aye.

Public hearings.

It's uh first public hearing is to continue till 1027 25.

It's the uh EOLA second edition.

And we will move this to 1025 2027.

Is there a motion?

So moved.

Is there a second?

Second.

Roll call vote, please.

Call pack.

Hi.

Pepcorn.

Hi.

Strand.

Yes.

Turnberg.

Hi.

Mahoney.

Hi.

We're going to get a report today from Fargo Moorhead Economic Development Corporation on Job Creation Incentive Projects.

Ryan Ashtram and Joe Raiso to uh give us this report.

Good evening, everyone.

Uh mayor, commissioners, thanks for having Ryan and I present to you this evening.

I'm really excited about the work that we've been doing with your staffs, uh, especially Jim and Mike, uh, for the last probably year and a half or more on something that I think is really unique, not just to Fargo, but I don't see a lot of this happening anywhere in the country, and I'll explain that in a second.

I think it's probably important.

Um, and I know many of you know this, but for those listening, when we think about economic development and the growth of any economy, pretty much there are four ways in which economy, a regional economy grows.

The first is going to be transfer payments, uh, the money that the city might uh receive from the state or or uh uh national government.

Second, uh will typically be higher education as we see our higher education institutions having uh more students who are then you know living here, paying tuition on spending money in in this economy versus another one.

Uh the third, and I think it's probably tied to your next item on your agenda is tourism.

Um, I've spent a lot of time with each of you related to the convention center and really appreciate that opportunity.

Uh, it's really important to have that partnership um with the uh CVB and organizations like ours.

And then the fourth is these primary sector businesses.

Essentially, the reason why the EDC has existed for 80 years going into next year, and that is to support the companies who essentially don't need to be here or grow here because they serve national and international markets.

So they're making decisions every day uh on where they are selling their goods, but also where they want to locate their businesses.

And um probably a couple of years ago uh through the edict committee, we talked about and the and the uh committee talked about how can the city um uh do a better job of uh being able to collect and report the partnerships that it has with these primary sector companies as they come before you uh for investment into their project uh here in Fargo.

And so we're really excited that we've spent that time uh on our staff is Sammy Rowe.

Sammy is our senior VP of business intelligence, she's a Salesforce administrator.

Uh she worked closely with Jim and Mike and the team and many on the edict to collect the necessary information on the nearly two dozen contracts that the city currently has out with primary sector businesses, uh, just to make sure that those companies are fulfilling uh their commitments to the community uh in terms of new property taxes, uh jobs, and overall wealth creation uh per citizen or per those individuals who are working for these companies.

So in your packet, uh we included uh our report along with a spreadsheet that lists each of those uh contracts and where they sit.

Two things to note before I turn it over to Ryan, maybe to highlight a couple items and then we'd open it up for uh for questions is obviously some of these contracts occurred and started and won't conclude for a couple three years, so there's still about a half dozen that are still in operation.

And also several of those uh started pre-COVID.

Uh we know that there's been some changes, obviously, with the impacts of COVID with automation, um, but also if you look right now on our jobs board, there are several hundred jobs being posted by those companies that still have contracts out uh in partnership with the city.

So I just wanted to share a few of those uh pieces of information.

Really happy to be working on this project uh with you, uh, and we hope to uh replicate that uh with our surrounding communities just to get an even a more macro picture of the value and growth of primary sector companies in your partnership with them.

So I'll let Ryan highlight a few of these items.

Thank you, uh Mayor and Commissioners.

Um yeah, just there's only a few items I I might highlight.

They're they're in the report, so you can see them there.

But um, you know, I think the one item and and data set that's really interesting is um when we looked at and surveyed uh and got uh responses from these uh 15 companies, um the the average wage reported that they were paying uh was 77,328, which is 35 percent higher than the wages committed to at the time that they um completed their incentive agreement with the city.

So uh significant increase in the wages being offered by these companies to attract the talent that that Joe just described, and across the totality of employees that those companies are employing, um, that equals about 28 million dollars.

When you look at that delta between the the 77 million and the 57 million, that uh equates to 28.5 million in an in additional payroll over what was committed to at the time of those incentive agreements.

So that that would be the item if I had to if I had to kind of point one out that I thought was pretty compelling and interesting that that would be it.

So um and I'd add to Ryan's because also in that report, um, and I know property taxes, important consideration for revenue that the city has for your operations, whether it's a fire department or or other basic needs, uh, we saw the property tax uh valuations increase over 300 percent uh on that partnership that you've had with those companies uh over the last several years.

And this is these are the current contracts going back just a handful of years.

We expect to do this going forward as companies come to you uh asking for partnerships to invest here in Fargo versus other locations that they may be looking.

So love any questions that you might have.

Yeah, it's an excellent report.

Where will the public be able to view the report?

Just on our agenda, or would they be got it from you?

We can post it wherever you'd like it.

We can put it on our website.

I think you know, obviously on the city site might be very important in the economic development area.

Well it'd be on our site with the lecture agenda because it's a good jobs report.

Yes, it would be.

Thank you, Joe.

So, Mr.

Chair, so the one thing this will be on the on our city, all this information that that's in here, it's a lot, a lot to go through.

And so for us to see it today, there's a lot for us to go back and look through.

So I want to thank you.

Can you talk a little bit?

So, first of all, actually, these incentives actually reduce property taxes because there's so much money that's grown by those.

Can you talk a little bit about that?

Well, I I think one piece to this, and you know from our time presenting to the commission when we have projects, is we do sometimes large economic impact analysis that looks at not just the direct impact on jobs and property taxes of those businesses, but also what then occurs in the community in other sales, whether it's in healthcare, in in shopping, and maybe as important as anything is in homes.

So these are really conservative impacts because they're not including some of those other what we call indirect or induced impacts to the community.

And and to your point, Commissioner Pepcorn, you know, this this broad portfolio of assets that the city of Fargo has in terms of residential, industrial, and different types of commercial is exactly what a community wants to have so that you can withstand uh fluctuations in the economy.

And by the way, if you look at the numbers today, uh nationally, as there's a lot of uncertainty, this market still is doing pretty well.

In fact, I'll give you one quick statistic.

Um it was just reported two weeks ago uh that of the 387 metropolitan areas in the United States, the Fargo Metro ranks 11th in terms of diversity of economy.

Hugely important.

And if you look at the the these companies and the industries that they're in, that says a lot about continuing to support that diversity.

So a couple more things, Mr.

Shirt.

So, first of all, so Commissioner Strand was concerned about us tracking our incentives, and so this is our we're just getting uh better at it.

We still have a ways to go.

And so if you looked, we had 20 of the 23, so not everybody participated, and so we tried to do it voluntarily this year.

I would say we're trying to do it the nice way, but there are ways that we can make them if they don't want to participate, and in the future, we'll say if you don't participate, then you're not gonna receive the incentive.

So eventually we can.

But I also want to say I want to thank you because what we ended up doing now, instead of having the you guys do your own work and the city do their own work, so now we do it at one time.

And so it's more efficient, and it's the same information.

You're just sharing the information.

So I want to thank Ryan, especially.

He's worked a lot with Jim, and so thank you very much for what you've done because that's that's kind of what we tried to accomplish by using your information and how it applies with the city.

Does that make sense, Ryan?

Yeah, no, it's been a great partnership, and and uh would also recognize Michael Spinouski with the city as well, um, has been a great partner.

And so we've got technology tools.

Uh we invest a lot in these resources and to be able to kind of coordinate and collaborate, and we're tracking the same things that uh that the city is interested in tracking, so it would seem like a good fit.

And I just want to say to blow our own horn a little bit.

So that Cass County EDC, they work for everybody, but 70% of the projects are in Fargo.

And so that's the uh we we are the uh we're the big kid on the block, and and that's a good thing sometimes.

So I just and I want to thank you.

I mean, we I would consider we're good partners.

You're at our meetings, and and I think this is a good evidence of us working together, and that's you can get a lot more done.

So thank you for sure for all those not from Fargo listening.

Those decisions are made by the companies to where the assets are.

Uh we're agnostic on that.

We want it to locate somewhere in the metro.

Um, Joe, come on, Joe.

Fargo just happens to be able to do that.

You're at the city commission meeting for Fargo.

Oh, I know, but you gotta let us get listened to by others as well.

I know you're a politician, Joe, and I know you have to have everyone like you, but I'm just saying in Fargo, we're very proud that 70% of it is here in Fargo.

So sorry, Mr.

Chair.

We have great industrial sites, Joe.

Commissioner Colpat.

Yeah, thank you for this data.

Very much appreciate it.

Um, and to that point, I see on a November 12th, there's a meeting breakfast meeting where you're going to be sharing more of your data.

And I'm sorry if I'm putting you on the spot here, but that can you at a just at a high level talk about some of the innovative ways you truly are working on attracting more workforce to this metro?

Yeah, thank you.

Thank you, Commissioner.

A couple of things.

One is on November 12th, um, we'll be sharing the results of a regional workforce survey that we're asking all organizations, so actually the city should be filling this survey out, the school districts, private companies from up throughout the region.

Uh, last year we did this um and had about 25% of all employees employed in this region represented in that survey.

We want to break that record because we really want um to understand what is happening in the most important um criteria for companies, and that's workforce, that's talent for any organization.

So the more we know based on this survey that we're delivering in partnership with FMHRA, there's about 15 partners who are delivering this as well.

Um I know Shirley's here with the convention visitors bureau, our chamber, and others.

So anybody listening gets access to that, please fill that out.

In terms of what we're doing specifically, there's a laundry list of things that we've been doing for a couple of years with the resources used and you and others have provided.

More important than anything is we know the growth of this regional economy is going to be led by our ability to attract people here.

There just aren't enough humans in this market to fill the open jobs that we have, and that's been the case for quite some time.

So for those listening, you can you can use this site and share as a company or as a person with others.

Uh live in Fargo.com.

It's also live in West Fargo and live in Moorhead and live in FM area, Commissioner Pepcorn, but I'll just say live in Fargo.

Um and it will direct you to information about what it's like to live here, authentically what we all know that a lot of people don't know.

It also has a jobs board, so you can look up jobs by positions and and make connections to companies.

Uh we've been marketing that site uh directly uh to targeted individuals around the country and markets.

Right now, today we have over 20,000 people we're communicating with who have told us they want to be communicated about our region.

Um and there's a lot of other things, uh, Commissioner Kolpack that we're doing that be happy to talk to anybody about in more detail.

Mr.

Strand, do you have relied on do you want to speak?

Commissioner Strain?

Yes, I do.

Uh for a long time there's been discussion about look back claw back in incentives.

And I don't know if if is is a 5% non-fulfillment rate in projected job creation uh uh an adequate, acceptable position for us to be in, or do we need to tighten it up?

Because that's 110 jobs times 177,000 per job, it's pretty substantial.

So, how do we how do we tighten that up?

And then we have three businesses that don't even participate in this survey.

Yeah, I I would you know, to uh Commissioner Pepcorn's earlier comments.

We're we're starting this process, we're communicating with these companies.

A number of these companies uh have made commitments and and expect to fulfill those commitments, whether that's five percent, three percent, ten percent.

I think there are a lot of other factors that are important for a community to look at.

Overall property tax increase, uh, wages per employee, uh, the effects of automation.

I think what we're trying to do here and what we heard from the city leadership who's been involved in this is this allows us to have a meaningful conversation with this company.

If you're meeting those requirements, great.

How do we help you grow even more?

If you're not, let's sit down and talk about what is the situation that's that's causing you at this point in time to not meet those requirements.

So I see it not as a gotcha, I see it as an opportunity to have a further conversation.

And the last thing I'd say about this too is you do have clawbacks, so you can you can act on those.

Um, but also um, you know, in our view, a lot of this is a portfolio.

Uh we manage um a 9.6 million dollar loan fund on behalf of the city of Fargo, West Fargo, and Cass County, um, have all of the 300 and some projects we funded over the last 30 years uh worked out.

No, they haven't.

But that loan fund has grown three times its original investment because of successes.

So I I would I would also offer up for your consideration to think about this, yes, individually, but as much as a portfolio of what the city's partnerships with the business community are.

If I might continue, you know, the reason I vote for these is because of the jobs they create and the wages that they're set at.

And if those jobs don't get delivered at the wages we expected, then that raises a question in my mind.

What's the what's the concern?

Are we going the right direction?

Is it is it improving or what?

That's just where I'm at.

That's why I vote for these incentives is to get those jobs.

So if somebody comes to us and presents and asks for incentives and they don't deliver, there needs to be some sort of consequence.

If they don't deliver what they said they would deliver, that led to them getting it.

And I'm I'm in favor of incentives, and not everybody is.

But but if they're not going to deliver what they said they would deliver, that has to be addressed.

And I think we're making that very transparent for you to have those conversations.

You know, our job we feel in this in this particular initiative is to have the technology and the relationships to be able to collect this information in a meaningful way that the city was not able to do prior.

So that now you're informed to then have a discussion.

You know, it's a contract with you.

It's not a contract with the EDC, but because of our partnership investment in your investment in us, we feel this is this is something that we can do more efficiently and effectively.

Might I ask one more question.

I'm just curious about the lay of the land.

I with the the cap imposed upon government subdivisions by the state, and it is what it is.

There's some folks that are pulling back from their support of incentives.

Are you getting any indication from other governments if they're if they're full full on full completely, or are they are they more concerned?

Or I where are we all landing with the counties and the schools and state?

Well, in a lot of cases, communities aren't having projects to even have that discussion.

Fortunately for this region, we continue to see quite a bit of activity.

We keep a very up-to-date list of projects we're working on.

I think we're just about 35 right now that we're working on.

I I would suggest, like when I came here in 2018, our region wasn't marketing to attract companies because of the workforce issue.

Um of my comments to leadership at that time is I think you always have to have your sign out and you have to be talking about what's available here.

So having the tool in the tool chest is important.

So then when the opportunity comes up, you working with us and others can make an informed decision.

And if you if you you know, every year we do an economic impact of all these projects, just like we just did here, so that you can make an informed decision.

Um I wouldn't personally advise to turn off incentives or to double incentives.

I think what you have right now and the conversations we're having is is sufficient to hopefully continue to move the economy forward.

Any other questions or discussion?

Thank you.

Ryan and Joe?

Thank you.

Recommendation for convention center committee to move four developers forward at the second phase of convention center site selection process.

Jim Gilmore and a retired joint uh Charlie Johnson.

Yeah, Charlie, as you know, Charlie's been leading uh this committee, and I just want to stress you know the city commission appointed this committee, and the city commission approved the RFP and the scoring.

And so now what Charlie's bringing forward today is a results of that scoring using the you know system that you had uh approved.

So I'll just turn it over to him, and you can see up on the screen.

This is how the committee ended up uh scoring the uh nine different proposals.

Yep.

Thanks, Jim, and thank you, Mayor and Commissioners.

Thank you for all for your participation in the the committee.

I think we've made really good progress.

I want to take this opportunity to thank everyone on the committee, including Joe Raso.

Thank you for the kind words about the CBB, Joe and the chamber, and we have uh 14 members on the committee, including all of you, so nine who are not uh city commission members, and they've all been very diligent and worked hard at this, and and I appreciate everything they and you have all done on this.

So, as Jim said, uh we had presentations from all nine of the proposed uh locations, and after that we engaged in scoring.

It took a couple weeks to score them.

And what happened was the the top four came out to be much ler bartram, which is Bruhalla area, Enclave, which is the Shields Arena site, RLE, uh, which is the Fargo Dome site, and EAPC architects and engineers, which is the downtown site.

Those are the four that arose to the top in the scoring of the committee and also of our consultant, uh, the same four, not necessarily in the same order, but the same four were in the top of those top scorings.

So the committee a couple weeks ago voted to advance these to the city commission, and we would like your approval to move forward with those four.

And uh our plan is to um we have a meeting this week where we're gonna discuss what might be in the second round of the RFP.

We have some things written down already and how we might score that, and then the next two weeks are going to be uh question and answer periods with the four remaining projects and the developers with them before we uh send the second round out.

And be happy to ask and answer any questions.

Uh, we do have a proposed motion uh before you.

So if you have questions, Jim and I are here to help you out.

Any any questions on any of the questioners?

Yeah, it's a hard working group there, Charlie.

Want to congratulate the people who worked hard on this.

Thank you.

Do I have a motion to move forward to four uh uh the four different site uh or excuse me uh applications, which would be much larger bartram, site Brahalla, Enclave Shields Arena, RLD, Fargo Dome, and EEPAC, Civic Downtown and Downtown site to have a motion?

Some moved.

Is there a second?

Second.

Any further discussion?

Just so the public knows you go through some things now and it'll come back eventually to uh the developers will bring back second site or second uh round of questions, and then uh your committee will make a selection.

We'll bring back the scoring criteria for the second round to have you approve that before it goes out to the developers.

Yeah, Colpack.

Yeah, just want to concur with Charlie's comments about the rest of the the committee non-commission members.

I've learned so much from all of you who are in the industry.

Every single one of you has contributed a question at the appropriate time given your expertise.

And it has really made a difference.

The last thing I'll say is we spent an entire two meetings on the formula for the ranking and the judging and how I mean it was it was diligence to the tenth degree, but I think in the end you're seeing a really good product as a result.

So I just really want to thank you all.

Thank you.

Thank you, Commissioner.

Commissioner Pipcorn, you have relied on or don't just real quick.

Uh obviously the we do have an excellent committee, but the next phase is the critical phase because it's the financial uh modeling.

And to me, the critical thing is it has to be financially successful and not be a burden on the taxpayers.

And so to me, the location that's not that important.

The the most important thing is that it's at least break even and hopefully makes money.

And so that that that is going to be a critical thing.

And I do I will say so.

The scoring, I didn't agree with all the scores, and and it's kind of cool because if the public wants to see how we scored, you can see it.

And so I like that.

But the committee, that was our top four, and there was kind of a break.

And so if you're on a committee and everybody votes, then that's what that's the way you go.

And so Charlie's our leader, and he said that's what the that's what we're doing.

So by God, that's what we're doing.

So uh anyway, uh, and it is an excellent mix of people, lots of good questions, and so we've learned a lot uh that will make the project a better project, no matter which one we select.

The last thing I'll say is the worst part was each one of those projects had something that I would have liked to have kept.

Of all nine, there's something in each one, whether it's an architect or the hotel or the that was the hardest part because they all had something that was very appealing, and so that was to me the toughest part of it.

So wasn't it wonderful though to get nine viable projects?

That's uh I think even I was a little surprised that we got a total of nine of of really good projects.

So we appreciate everyone's interest in this, and and it gives me heart that they think this is something that can happen.

Very good.

Roll call vote, please.

Oh, I'm sorry, Commissioner.

I'm just curious if we're at is there any intention to engage the public significantly so we can find out what the people want.

I know I hear anecdotally what people think they want, but is there any formal approach to go to the people and say, hey, give us your thoughts.

We've had some uh discussion about that.

We haven't landed on a good process for that at this point.

Uh, but once we get into the second round, I'm sure that will come up again and we'll see if there's some way for us to do that.

It it's uh um, you know, the process is in motion.

Um, so we certainly are willing to take feedback from anybody at any time when we do receive that via email and and other communications.

Uh, we haven't come up with a particular way to uh have an open session or anything yet.

So we'll we'll discuss that as we get into the second round.

Thank you.

I would suggest Charlie, the public can uh contact commissioners any time to give their preference.

And I've gotten a couple of emails, just traffic issues or different issues.

So I would encourage the public if they want to get involved with four site selections, if they feel one is better than the other, reach out to us and please send a communication to us.

And I would I would add too that I and I think the commissioners being on the on the committee has made this uh absolutely mandatory, but we always intended this to be fully transparent.

Every meeting is on television, you can go back and look at every single meeting if there's anything you want to know about it.

And uh we like uh Commissioner Pepcorn said, we have even posted the individual uh scoring.

You can see how each committee member scored all of the proposals.

So if anybody has questions, they certainly can reach out to us.

Uh I think we're all pretty well known in the community.

Commissioner Pipcorn, so if the public's interested, our our meetings are open too.

It's at one o'clock on Fridays, and and you're willing to come.

Uh everybody is here in person.

Most people are, and so if you want to have something that you want to say, we're we're there.

And so I would encourage people to, and if you want to see how we came to those votes, all that information is you can go back and look at it all online.

So uh what but we welcome participation without a doubt.

Yeah.

But we'll we'll discuss that a little bit more, Commissioner Strand, as we go forward and see if there's some way we can uh get further input.

But again, we're always available for that.

Very good.

Roll call vote, please.

Colpak?

Hi.

Pepcorn?

Hi.

Strand?

Yes.

Turnberg?

Aye.

Mahoney?

I'm 45 construction update.

Tom Knock was to explain.

44.

Oh, I'm sorry, Series F.

Well, I gotta explain.

Thanks for being reluctant to get up.

Okay.

So we're coming to uh Series F, which is a part of our uh approval for interim financing.

The Farco's local cost chair for the Red River Valley Water Supply by AM plan.

Red River Wild Valley Water Supply Project will deliver treated water from the Missouri River basin to the central and eastern parts of the state.

The project will provide supplemental and emergency water supplies to the Red River Valley, especially if during doubts or during droughts when local bought surface water and groundwater sources do not suffice.

This is the next phase of Fargo's ongoing collaboration with Federal, State, and local partners to ensure water supply for Eastern North Dakota.

This concept has been discussed for decades.

The current project has been in development for over 10 years, including five previous financial agreements totaling over $600 million, which Fargo's share being approximately $120 million.

We have approved all the previous interim financing agreements A through E for biennium work plans similar terms.

Series F is a continuation of the previous financing agreements we've been approved by the Commission.

The interim finance agreement plans F is associated with the 2025-2026 7 state biannual work plan for Red River Valley Water Supply.

2025 State Biennum Work Plan is 273.33 million, which 75 percent is the state at 205, and 25 percent is the local at 68.33.

This is one of the largest, if not the largest, single appropriation in legislative history, demonstrating the priority of this project is shown to the entire state.

Now interesting, the local share is being financed by the garrison diversion through an infrastructure loan with the Bank of North Dakota at 40 years for 2 percent and shape debt for the first two years deferred, and the next three years interest only.

It's the only time in Bank of North Dakota history these types of terms have been offered.

The terms were necessary to allow water systems to grow their rates over time.

Remember that Fargo share of 25 percent includes the city of West Fargo and Cass Rural Water District.

Fargo, West Fargo, and Castro paying 1,000 per gallon for their nominated water.

Fargo's chair, including West Fargo and Asprail, of the cost for the projects that have been included in the water utilities financial model and projected water rates.

We feel this is continue to be uh a great way in which we've figured out the debt and how we can manage the debt so it's not a burden of our taxpayers.

And Ian, you want to go on some more things or yeah, we just have one modification to the agreement compared to what was in your agenda packet, which is to recital number seven.

It's a slight modification.

It was made in conjunction with the Department of Water Resources, the modified recitals on the board saying all parties recognize valid Thompson Acker water rights held by Grand Forks, Fargo West, Fargo Valley City and Lisbon.

Agreements or modifications of any related to these Thompson Acker water rights will be negotiated and executed solely and exclusively with the North Dakota Department of Water Resources and the list of right holders above.

And Thompson Acker water rights, what that is is it's our right to have to have stored water at Lake Ash, uh Ashtabula.

So those five cities have the property right in that water.

And what we're saying here is there's if there's any modifications to those rights, those will only be agreed upon between the five cities and the Department of Water Resources.

So this is a non-substantive change, but we pointed out because it is a change to what was in your agenda packet.

So with that, we're happy to answer any questions, but the suggested motion is on the board.

And Dan, you want to add anything?

No, no, it took a lot of negotiations to get here with the Series F agreements and stuff.

So it's it's a big project, and you know, with the state funding that they appropriate it so much, you know, it's it's good to be a part of the big project.

So we're hoping there may be some federal money that's coming as well.

We're working on that, and we may get some of that to help decrease the rates of eventually the consumer has to pay.

I have a suggested motion to have a motion.

So moved.

Oh, sorry.

Second, second, and I have a commissioner.

Some questions if you don't mind.

So obviously, this is it's a great project, but the but the the amount of debt.

So can you talk a little bit?

So obviously we're getting a preferred interest rate, but does this affect, I mean, this is still going on, this is our debt, even though it's and so and it's a lot of money.

So I just where does this show up on our balance sheet?

So we are obligated to repay this debt, but technically the debt is in the name of garrison diversion, so it actually will not affect our bond rating.

But with that said, we are obligated to repay this debt, but it will not affect our bond rating with the way it's currently orchestrated.

And obviously, it's the the interest rate is incredibly low, so that's beneficial, but but it's still so technically it's how does it show up though?

Like when we're looking at our at our overall debt, where does it show up or doesn't it show up at all?

I don't think it shows up at all.

It will not show up on on uh our on our debt rating.

It doesn't show up.

So that concerns me because this is still our debt.

Uh and even though we have a great interest rate and it's a great project, uh, this is a lot of money, and it's still our dot.

Do you get what I'm saying?

And so I think actually in utility rates, you Dan has that rated out there.

We have money that we have over time.

We know that we're gonna have to pay.

So when he's looking at his debt load or what he has to do in utility rates, that is uh a rejected in that as well.

Yeah, right right now, Commissioner, the um the financial model for the water utility does include the entire project projected into our water rates.

But as far as I think on our balance sheets, it might not be on there, but we do project the shape debt, the two percent over the 40 years.

What it doesn't affect, it doesn't affect Moody's rating because it's not seen there as obligated debt.

That's what I believe, yeah.

But you get what I'm saying, Mr.

Absolutely, but they have to have it in your utility, otherwise it would and I and I totally get this.

But the other the other thing that I mean uh in Fargo we're very fortunate.

We have an excellent water department.

There's a lot of small cities that are eligible to be on this project that aren't because they can't afford uh can't afford to participate.

And so if there was some way, and this is above our pay grade as a city of Fargo, but I I wish the state would have some type of scholarship program because uh for a lot of small towns, this would be a huge benefit 20, 50, 100 years from now.

And so and anyway, that's that's an um I don't know if you agree with that, Mr.

Chair, but it's uh it's well no, but we've had a good sign up down uh yeah, and we've had a good sign up of our users throughout the state because of that shape at the Bank of North Dakota and what it's doing.

So our participation has been excellent as far as people that signed up.

But you're right, it's nice if the state can continue to help out.

And if we get some federal money, we think that'll help the small users as well.

So and I guess that's what if possible, uh I I would encourage us to do that.

Uh and I don't uh obviously we're limited as to what we can do, but whatever we can do to help, because for a lot of small towns, if you only have 200 customers, you can't afford to participate in this.

But down the road, this would be really their their lifeline for economic development, especially.

And so all right.

I apologize, but it's it's a it's something that's kind of out of our area, but but it does apply to us.

So all right.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

Commissioner Qualpack.

Yeah, I was just gonna reinforce the importance of the relationships with the state on this project, both the bank in North Dakota, but also our legislature.

This was the largest awarded at 205 million project for support.

Understanding to your point, Commissioner Pepcorn, the impact economically in the eastern part of the of the state.

And so um just kudos to that working relationship all the way around.

We want to thank legislative team as well, because it was down to 150 and they went up to 205.

So we're very pleased with the work of them.

Commissioner Strand?

Thank you, Mayor.

You know, we're we're so far into the weeds talking about detail that it's it's easy to overlook how how many decades this has been coming.

My entire life, we've been anticipating that water would come from western North Dakota to the eastern part of the state was promised decades ago.

So this this with water with resilience and uh protecting ourselves from flooding and protecting ourselves from droughts, we're really positioned in a in a really major way for a future that's solid.

But this is gargantuan in in that picture of getting this accomplished after generations of work.

Thank you, John.

Any other comments?

Roll call, please.

Pepcorn strand?

Yes, Farnberg?

Hi, Mahoney.

Tom, are you now ready to do a construction update?

Well, good evening, Mayor and Commissioners.

Uh happy to provide another update of engineering-led uh projects within the city of Fargo.

Uh always likes to lead off with this slide.

There have not been any uh injuries or accidents on any City of Fargo projects since the last time I reported to you.

Uh best place I'd like to steer people is to Fargo Streets.com.

Uh we have uh links on there to current projects, future projects, and then an interactive map of street closures and detours.

Uh kick off the update with uh update on the gateway fiber build out.

Um you can see there's a lot of work that's been done in the last two months uh as part of that fiber build out.

Um so everything in green is fully installed, um, completed in restoration uh complete.

Um you can see some green dots.

There are some restoration or clean up items that were tracking in some of those locations, uh, number of proposed routes, number of active builds, um, and then a couple of concerns and complaints that we're also tracking.

So we've we've created this uh internally, this GIS tool that's been great for for tracking all these issues and the progress of the project.

Uh if residents uh do have any concerns with with anything uh happening in their neighborhood with the build out, uh we encourage them to uh either email us at this email address listed or give us a call and leave a voicemail at the phone number listed.

A lot of various projects going on um throughout the city.

Um, I'm not gonna go through the list here, uh, but we do still have a few core neighborhood projects uh that are going, uh, and hopefully those will be wrapping up here in the next couple weeks.

To highlight some of the ongoing projects in the new development, so Selkirk uh third edition, uh phase one is complete and home construction is started there.

That's uh the west half of that that project.

Uh, and the contractors continue to install underground utilities and work on roadway uh construction on the east part of that project.

Up north into Coda Commerce Center uh phase two.

Uh uh contractors working on the installation of underground utilities and working on uh earthwork for the roadways.

Here you can see working east to west on 52nd Avenue North, uh, just south of the lagoons.

Uh, and there they were installing um storm sewer here in this photo.

The Southwest Metro Pond continues um to progress.

Uh the contractor did complete the installation of the box culverts under 45th Street, and that's what you see in this image here.

There are two uh box culverts crossing under 45th Street, south of 64th Avenue.

Uh the one on the right hand side of the picture is the pedestrian uh crossing for a grade separated pedestrian crossing, and the one on the left side of the picture is the uh waterway.

Um looking for the west, you can see um in that image um the secondary pond that's part of that system.

Uh and overall, uh the contractor is excavated about 60 percent of the the overall clay that they have to move for this project.

Uh you can see here at the larger north pond.

Um, you know, the the first phase that was dug a couple years ago, uh, and then how the contour shape is is showing up here on the expanded part of that pond.

Uh 32nd Avenue uh between 15th Street and 22nd Street is complete and open to the public.

Uh I should have said moving into completed projects and no longer ongoing projects.

Uh just want to highlight a few of our core neighborhood reconstruction projects.

Uh, this is what 6th Street South looked like uh prior to a reconstruction.

You can see uh pavement was in pretty rough condition.

Uh you know, what you don't see in these images are all the work that was done below grade two.

Uh most of these uh core neighborhood projects had underground utilities that were in excess of a hundred years old, and they were certainly showing their age.

So uh a huge improvement that you don't see in these projects are are those uh updates to that underground infrastructure.

Uh likewise, another uh core neighborhood project that's completed.

Uh, this one is up in the Longfellow neighborhood on Hickory Street, and so you can see the Google Street View uh image uh prior to reconstruction and again after reconstruction.

Uh this one is in downtown on 8th Street between NP and First Avenue.

Uh again, you can see the the pavement was quite shot here, and again, we had uh a number of underground utility issues here.

Um, and you can see we've been able to improve those.

Uh also want to highlight a shared use path uh repair that we did.

This is just uh east of northeast of City Hall here along the Red River.

Um the existing concrete path in this area had um settled quite a bit and created some issues.

You can see there's a large uh grade issue there, and that was recently repaired um back to ADA standards.

Number of other completed projects, uh again, not gonna go through detail in these.

Most of these I've highlighted at previous uh commission meetings, but as you can see, the the list continues to grow as we are getting towards the end of our construction season.

Um, with that, happy to answer any questions.

Uh, and otherwise, hopefully in a month, I'll be back to provide another update, and we'll be pretty well wrapped up at that point.

Any questions of Tom?

Thank you, Tom.

Appreciate it.

Just before I have the liaison, I think we'll just get our other business done with Chris Rose recommendation to approve the agreement for property demolition with Western activation property located at 1102 First Avenue South.

Good evening, Mayor and Commissioners.

I'm here to ask you for your signatures for a contract that was previously approved on September 29th for Western excavation to move forward with the demolition.

I don't have no two First Avenue South.

So tonight we just need approval through your signatures.

Were you sure on any slides or no?

No.

Oh, okay.

Any questions of the commission?

Do we have a motion?

I'll make the motion.

Zero second.

Second.

Any comments?

Capcorn?

Turnberg.

Aye.

Colpack.

Aye.

Strand.

Mahoney?

Aye.

Thank you.

He's on reports.

Commissioner Strand.

Thank you, Mayor.

The today is Indigenous People's Day.

And the mayor and I joined our leadership and community at the Indigenous Association this morning for a community breakfast, which is just a really good attendance.

And uh and a good event, they they named I hope I got the first name right.

Cindy Gillay was named the Gladys Ray Award recipient for this year.

And she's from a Wahala area originally and is uh uh a lifelong advocate for native issues in the community.

When you meet her, and if you ever hear her speech, you go um there's a lot we can learn culturally from people like that, especially when they're in our community.

It was really something.

Fargo was the twelfth city in the country to to uh name Indigenous People's Day as opposed to Columbus Day, and and in the in that in that culture, that's a really big accomplishment when the natives felt like and not felt like they experienced genocide after Columbus landed here, essentially.

And uh so we're at the forefront of that movement uh that messaging, and we have a role five tribes in our community.

There's events all day long today uh across the river as well.

Let's just remind ourselves always that we're we're on native lands first and foremost.

They were here long before us, and we need to always honor them and learn from those cultures that preceded us that are still with us.

Thank you, John.

Commissioner Kolpak.

Yes, I have two updates.

Um updates.

The first is about the water tower.

You may have seen this story in the forum.

Dan was interviewed.

Um, but the downtown water tower is competing in the national tank of the year contest, which features tanks from across the US and Canada.

There's quite a few there, you will see if you go to vote.

And at two and a half million gallons, it's north, it's Fargo's new water tower is the largest in North Dakota.

And as a reminder, the Arts and Culture Commission worked with the city on the mural on the tower, and it tells the story of place, the winding Red River of the North, the city skyline, popular outdoor activities and local symbols were woven together into one bold colorful landmark.

The tank of the year contests determined by your votes at bit dot ly backslash vote for Fargo.

It's also on the city website and our social channels.

So I hope you take a look at that.

I think we're no longer we were in first, second, and then third, and now we're out of third place, so we need your votes.

Um then tonight I just want to answer a question that did come up when a resident was reviewing the agenda for the last city commission meeting, and I thought I'd share it with everyone.

It's a question I asked early on as a commissioner, but on every agenda, the last item typically on the consent agenda is an item called bills, and there's nothing in the agenda packet that's associated with that.

And this is the reason it's a standing item every two weeks that is basically the commission giving permission for city staff to pay the city's ongoing bills as approved in the annual budget.

And then all final bills are then posted with the meeting minutes after the meeting in the forum public notice section.

So just a little insight there, and that's my report.

Thank you.

That bill's question is a good question.

I have no report this time.

Commissioner Turnberg.

Tom just did a big report for me, so no report here.

Mr.

Pipburn, okay.

So then we're going to go public comments.

Uh in person, I have Izzy Wright.

Is he right?

I'm invoking Marcy's law against Michelle Turnberg, and I need a potentially file formal complaint and press charges against her on my behalf of the case.

Okay, we can't bring up commissioners if you want.

If you want to do something different, you may do that.

But if you want to speak to an issue.