Congratulations.

Roll call.

Coal pack here.

Strand.

Here.

Turnbird here.

Mahoney.

Here.

We have a short video on the uh NP parking garage opening.

Yeah, it was about 10 years ago that the city did a study on where we could put mixed parking ramps in the city or parking garages.

And so the first one was at Roberts, and the second one was at Mercantile, and this is a third one.

All three of these sites were identified as workable in that study.

It's the largest city-owned parking facility in downtown.

This means more access for downtown visitors, residents, and workers.

It means more convenience for shoppers, more support for local business, and more opportunities for families to enjoy everything that makes this place thrive.

This garage is also the foundation of something larger.

The future home of the Fargo Moorhead Community Theater.

168 new apartments and new commercial spaces.

I think Judy, when you told us we'd have kids and families and people down here 365 days a year, we're all excited because that is a whole different vibrancy that this end of downtown will have.

So you know that sounds our lower demand time, but it really encourages people to come down on the weekend, not have paid for parking, come down in the evening if they're gonna have dinner or go to the theater.

Makes Fargo more attractive place to live and work.

Is there a motion to approve the agenda moving item one from the consent agenda to the regular agenda and added an additional item to discuss employee engagement survey next steps?

Um can I have that motion?

So moved.

Is there a second?

All those in favor say aye.

Motion carried.

So motion approve the minutes of the November 10th, 2025 regular meeting.

I so moved.

Sir second.

Second.

All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

Sir a motion to approve the consent agenda items one through thirty, excluding one, which will be moved to the regular agenda.

So moved.

Second.

Roll call vote, please.

Colpack?

Aye.

Strand.

Yes.

Uh item one.

Uh Ian, are you here?

Yep.

Recommendation.

Uh I believe you're gonna say recommendation to continue the agreement concerning the annexation extraterritorial jurisdiction of the city of Harwood.

Yes, I think this is item number 31, Mayor.

Yes.

Um, so this uh this is just an update from our last executive session.

Uh this deals with section three.

If you remember the west half is in the is in Harwood's ETJ, that's where applied digital is is building their data center.

That's where Applied Digital is is building their data center.

The East half is in Fargo's ETJ.

So following the executive session, Mayor Mahoney reached out to Mayor Hankey.

I understand that there were discussions between the two of you.

And what came about that was the agreement that was enclosed with the packet, which essentially provides Fargo will not try to annex the West half and they will withdraw its annexation resolution.

And Harwood in return will not try to annex the East half, which is in Fargo's ETJ.

So tonight the recommended motion is to approve that agreement.

It will still be subject to Harwood's approval.

So because of that, we would ask that we continue the motion to withdraw the or we will come back in two weeks to deal with whether we withdraw the uh uh annexation resolution for the West half because we need Harwood's approval before we do that.

So tonight is just one step closer to finding a global resolution of um of um of this.

Thank you.

So the motion is to approve the agreement that we've drawn up?

Yes.

Okay.

Any questions?

Mr.

Tan.

Thank you.

Um, I'm just curious, I I don't know this, that's why I'm asking.

If there's this general sense you cannot always easily commit future commissions to decisions, and if we have a 20-year term agreement, how is that for sure binding for future commissions?

Well, realistically, in this case, as soon as we withdraw our annexation resolution for the West Half, Harwood has already has an annexation petition for the West Half, so that land will go in to Harwood.

Um with the East Half which is Fargo, Fargo will have to make the decision in two weeks later.

We still want to move forward with the with the annexation with the Ferical properties half, or or whether we want to hold back on that for the time being.

But this agreement would bind Harwood for the next 20 years, whether they're whether they want to get out of it or not based on a future city council, they would not have the ability based on this agreement.

Would it bind Fargo and Harwood both?

Yes.

And we have similar agreements with West Fargo and Horace about annexation uh boundaries.

Mayor, I have a question.

Mr.

I'd like to ask you.

How do you feel about all this?

And how do you feel with the settlement where we're this is a pretty major deal with a neighbor of ours?

And how is it settling in in our administration in our mayor's office?

I think initially the legal advice was to do an annexation so we could have better leverage with applied digital to talk about the infrastructure issues with the due project.

I think what happened is applied digital wouldn't come to the table, so that made it difficult.

And uh discussing with the mayor of Harwood, I feel that we can make more progress now because he is willing to negotiate or work with us in good faith to try to make sure we can work together on many of those infrastructure, fire infrastructure, so we're and I I think they're Harwood's more willing to work with us now if we move this impediment.

Do I have a motion?

I'll make the motion.

Sir Second.

A second.

Any further discussion?

Roll call vote, please.

Aye.

Aye.

Yes.

Aye.

Aye.

Now we can go to public hearings.

Uh application for ownership change class ABH alcoholic beverage license at 3803 Spirits, doing business at the Holiday Inn to HIWA lounge.

Angie Bear to explain.

Yes, thank you.

Steve is gone, huh?

Steve's gone.

Well, welcome.

Uh thank you.

Thank you.

And thank you, Commissioners.

The uh first one, so the holiday in located, like you said, at uh the 13th Avenue self-location.

It's a transfer from 3803 Spirits.

So that's remaining the ABH license, which is the hotel with 100 or more rooms, the bar has allowed and on off sale.

Uh police had no current issues, and we're looking for a motion to approve the transfer.

Is there a motion for or excuse me?

Is anyone present wishes to speak to this uh application change?

Anyone present wanting to speak?

If not, close the public hearing.

Do I have a motion?

Sir, I'll make the motion.

And if I can make just a quick comment, Mr.

Chair.

So under the applicants, if you look, there's 10 new owners.

And so it goes from you know a gr uh of a singular or two owners to multiple owners.

And so that's been a little bit of a challenge for staff.

Now we have to and you have to do a background check uh for for multiple people.

And so and I I do think this is a potential thing going forward.

Uh it's gonna be a challenge because in the past there's a lot of liquids, like there's just one name on there.

And so I just wanted to give people an explanation.

But we do look at all the and Angie, if you wouldn't mind talking a little bit.

So we do have you you have to have a contact for yourself, but also for the police department if we have an issue, you can't have 10 people uh to contact.

So could you talk and I'm sorry, Mr.

Chair, if if I should just make the motion first or what?

But anyway.

Let's just get a second to that.

Can I get a second?

Second.

Okay.

And Angie, go ahead and start.

Yes.

So we do have a local contact.

We have a database that we ensure that it's a local manager with the phone number and email.

We actually two phone numbers in place for someone local.

And then we will be getting a view-only database.

We're going to work with PD and get that so that the police officers have that available to pull up as well.

So if I had trouble at that bar, who would I call?

Which one of the 10 owners?

So it it says local manager on there.

Okay.

Thank you.

Any other discussion?

Roll call vote, please.

Aye.

Chernberg?

Aye.

Cold Pack?

Aye.

Strand?

Yes.

Mahoney.

All right.

Public hearing application of class GH alcoholic beverage license for Kemp's Kitchen.

I mean business at Kemp's Kitchen to be located at 10045th Avenue, 45th Street South.

So Kim's Kitchen, this is a new a new restaurant that's opening up.

They're going to serve African African cuisine.

They're looking for a GH license, which is beer and wine only.

They also must have 50% of their food sales exceed in order to have the GH license, and they cannot have a bar.

There are no current issues, and I'm looking for a motion to approve.

So anyone present wish to speak to this application.

Is there anyone president wishes to speak?

If not, I'll close the public hearing.

Do I have a motion?

I'll make the motion.

There are second.

Second.

Any discussion or questions?

Roll call vote, please.

Pepcorn?

Aye.

Cold pack?

Aye.

Strand?

Yes.

Chernberg?

Aye.

Mahoney.

Aye.

Application 34 for a class F alcoholic beverage license at Spaghetti Western to invest at Spaghetti Western to be located at 524 Broadway North.

Spaghetti Western, they currently hold the GH license, which I just said was the beer and wine with food.

And they're looking for the Class F license.

They don't have any issues with the food sales already.

They already have 80% of their food sales.

They're looking to add limited alcoholic drinks to the list.

And then the class F license is a beer, wine, and spirits.

No bar.

There are no current issues.

I'm looking for a motion to approve.

So anyone presidents wish to speak to this class F application.

Anyone present wanted to speak?

If not, I'll close the public hearing.

Do I have a motion?

Make the motion.

Is there a second?

Second.

Any discussion?

Roll call vote, please.

Pepcorn?

Aye.

Chernberg.

Aye.

Cold Pack?

Aye.

Strand?

Yes.

Mahoney.

Aye.

Alcoholic beverage license from Roadhouse to the Fargo Holdings to do Texas Roadhouse to Texas Roadhouse Holdings.

Roadhouse located at 4971 13th Avenue South.

This is also just a transfer of the license new owners for this.

They are not they're still going to hold the FA license.

And that's the restaurant with a bar on sale only.

There were no current issues with the police, and I'm looking for a motion to approve this transfer.

Is there anyone present and wishes to speak to this transfer?

Is there anyone present who wishes to speak?

If not, I'll close the public hearing.

Do I have a motion?

I'll make the motion and just the same comment.

Now there's basically 10 owners versus before it was a it was like a franchise.

And so just so people are aware of that, and it's the same situation.

But uh and actually it might improve it because now we have with with franchises sometimes you get directed to a national number versus now we have a local person.

So just that it's the same situation.

Sure, second.

Second.

Moved and second.

Any further discussion?

Thank you.

Uh maybe Commissioner Pepcorn, just for my sake.

Uh many of these are the same owners as the holiday end.

Are there any limits as to who can or how many licenses and so on?

There isn't a limit, and but we are having a discussion about nonprofits.

Uh and so this is a potential thing down the road that in in several cities in North Dakota, nonprofits are buying liquor licenses.

And so it's a little bit of an issue for us.

And so that's something to stay tuned.

We're and we're having it's an ongoing thing.

Uh and if you want to add your two cents or come to the meeting or whatever, uh, it's an issue.

And I'll just, if you don't mind, Angie, uh uh the the main thing is it's not a level playing field with nonprofits.

They get preferential tax in uh advantages.

And so that's it's just a concern.

Uh but I will say it already exists in some cities in North Dakota, and so it's it's an issue that will be coming up, and once it comes to the liquor control, it will eventually come here too.

So go ahead.

I'm sorry, Mr.

Jerry.

Thank you.

Might I continue?

Is it a level playing field for all the existing owners too?

Versus the nonprofit world.

But if you have several overlapping ownerships from licenses across the city, at some point, there becomes uh uh I would think a concern of I'm not saying there is, I'm just wondering how we address that.

So Andrew's the expert, and so that we do have a limit on some of the licenses that you cannot own multiple on some of these licenses, and so that is a that is a good point.

But going back to the nonprofits, the so the the tax advantages are substantial.

And so it's something that we need to at least discuss because uh there is lots of worthwhile nonprofits, but if you're competing against uh regular businesses, the it's it's an issue, and so that we'll be talking about that.

So can you talk a little bit, Angie?

About the there are limits on some licenses where you can only own so many of them, and on others there isn't.

Uh yes.

Unfortunately, I do not have that answer for you.

I'm not the expert yet.

So uh but I can get that answer for you.

I will look into that, or maybe Nancy is aware.

Um I can tell you that I have had the conversation with Steve previously.

It did come up on an earlier application, and one of the owners was not eligible to hold that license.

Um excuse me, we did have the discussion with regard to these license, and these owners are eligible under these circumstances.

Well, Broadway has multiple licenses, they have JL Bears, Will Broadway, Taco, and one with the other restaurant came in.

Eventually had to have it in his wife's name rather than his name.

So there are some limits that you could probably tell us about that next time.

So that is a concern.

Uh but Dave is raising a concern that happened in Grand Forks is the charitable organizations are now getting into possible buying bars so they get the charitable donations back to their charitable business, but then I would do the taxable issue that comes out of that.

So that is something we probably should have Ian or Nancy Praceman look into because we have to be ready for that if that comes to our community, Mr.

Strauss.

So mayor, you mentioned it that there was one license that another um a spouse had taken ownership about across the street.

Then I believe since then we've given ownership back to the original owners.

There is no spouse anymore.

It's to the own both.

Yep.

But but it originally wasn't allowed to have two licenses in the Renaissance owned downtown.

Well, we'll have Angie bring it back to give us clarifications.

Yes, yes, I will do that.

Okay.

Any other discussion?

Interesting discussion.

Thank you.

We'll call vote.

Pepcorn?

Cole pack?

Aye.

Strand?

Yes.

Turnberg?

Aye.

Mahoney.

Lat of gateway on the edition approval recommended by planning commission.

And Nicole Cutzfield is going to give this.

Donald Crest must be on vacation or something.

He is on his one and only vacation.

I'm just kidding.

Um, we had a uh plat come forward, um, so we thought we'd go ahead and process it.

So you get me tonight.

Um so this uh so this is uh gateway Hyundai edition, I replatted lots one and two um ports subdivision.

This is a major subdivision as it uh dedicates a small amount of right-of-way.

So the subject property is located on the southwest corner of the intersection of Main Avenue in Interstate 29.

Um and the building shown in the aerial uh is uh actually the old Biltmore hotel that was demoed earlier this year.

Um a new color dealership is being built on this site, and the building permit being issued uh was issued on August.

So you might see can as you can see in this photo construction happening right now.

The zoning is GC general commercial, no changes proposed.

Um the plat is pretty straightforward with uh one lot in one block and the dedication of a little bit of main avenue um on that frontage road.

The applicant representative Brian Pattengale is present if you have any additional questions, and we'd be glad to answer those.

So my president wishes to speak to this plat.

Anybody present wanting to speak?

If not, do I have a motion?

I'll make the motion.

Sir second.

Second.

Moved in second.

Any discussion?

We'll call vote, please.

Pepcorn?

Turnberg?

Aye.

Colpak?

Aye.

Strand?

Yes.

Mahoney?

Aye.

Public Kerry, here in Dangerous Building located at 1544 Third Avenue South.

Sean Rodnik to explain.

Um good evening, Mayor and Commissioners.

I'm here to present the uh dangerous building at 1544 3rd Avenue South.

Uh give me one second.

Apparently there's technical difficulties.

Thanks, Reggie.

Okay, thank you.

Um this is a 1,570 square foot two-story wood frame single family home.

Uh the owner is Daniel Wall.

It was built in 1922, and the uh taxes for the building have been paid up to 23 and 24.

They have not been paid according to the latest search at the Cascano Records.

Sorry.

I can't switch slides here.

I apologize.

Mr.

Chair.

Yeah.

Sean, did you say they have or have not been paid?

They have not been paid.

Um for 23 and 24.

Okay, thank you.

So they were they were current at 23 and 24.

I'm sorry.

So uh there have been seven calls for service since a fire on 7-Eleven 2024, and that's what alerted us to the dangerous building.

Um at that time, the house showed damage from the interior fire on both the exterior um and the interior of the upper and main levels.

Uh most of the wing windows were broken and missing and making building insecure.

Uh the rear door was either missing or damaged for their making the building insecure.

Um, siding shows signs of fire damage.

There were tents in the backyard for some reason.

Um there was outstanding junk abatements and junk violations on the property, and we were looking at possible vermin harborage due the excess junk in the yard at that time.

Uh, the water was terminated in July of 2024.

The electrical was terminated in August of 25, and it meets eight of the out of the ten dangerous building criteria.

Uh, here's a timeline of events.

I won't go through everything, but um you will notice if you look close that there are two uh there are two dangerous building uh letters that were sent out.

The first one they received a permit for an interior demo, and um at that time they really did nothing with it, so we reissued a second dangerous building letter on 3135, and that's the one we're working off of tonight.

Um there was no we did receive or they did open a permit and they did have some trust drawings and some engineering and stuff for that permit, but uh we had no inspections from the time that that permit was opened up until uh we did an inspection on 919, but we had to request that inspection.

So um after that, there hadn't been substantial work done, so we expired the permit and pushed this forward to the commission.

Here's some pictures that we took.

Uh this is from 5925 of what the house looked like.

Some of the junk in stuff in the backyards, and this is from 922 when we took a look at on the inside to see what had been done, and this is uh what the interior of the building is looking like the last time we were in it.

So you can definitely see there's a lot of damage.

Um they did have some building materials and stuff on site, but again, there was no substantial work done.

And uh we're just asking this to be designated a dangerous building so that uh we can move forward with the process.

Thank you.

I do believe the owner's here tonight, too.

So President, I wish to speak to this issue.

Thank you for having me.

My name is uh Daniel Wall, and the man is uh wrong on a lot of things.

It seemed uh my son told me to come here and not make it personal, and I vowed to do that, but it is personal.

I've been picked on everybody knows it.

They uh first of all, when somebody comes out to inspect your home or to spec inspect what you're doing, shouldn't they tell you what they want fixed, what could be dangerous or not?

They come out and take pictures and take the pictures back to this guy and he shuts me down.

I brought somebody here that's more of an expert because that's what he does for a living, but uh I just want to say what my qualifications are so you know that uh I'm not just uh talking on my hat, if that's okay.

Things I can do.

In high school I took electricity class.

I took mechanics one, two, and three, and auto body and welding.

I took wood class.

I've been a welder at Marvel Steel, where I welded steel buildings.

I've been a welder at Haybuster Manufacturing, where I was a foreman welder.

I've shined shoes as a shoe shine boy when I was in the seventh grade.

Probably my one of my first jobs.

I've been sought after chef at the Eagles, the Elks, the KCs, and the Legion.

Uh in high school.

I was uh head chef at all those, they called them cooks back then.

Um I built houses, high-end houses.

I've built 24plex apartment buildings, I've worked on a half dozen farms at least of relatives.

I've been a bell man at a hotel where I met Johnny Cash and carried his guitars.

Uh I've worked at service stations and high.

I've uh I've drove semi where I had triple tanker uh ratings and anhydrous uh uh hazardous material ratings.

Uh I've been uh on every gang the railroad has.

I've been a foreman on the railroad, I've been a brakeman, I've been a conductor, and I've been an engineer for many years, and I've trained many engineers.

So you want to talk safety with me?

I've been to more safety classes than everybody in this room put together on the railroad.

Um I've got three children.

I had four.

I lost uh my little girl.

So uh I've been around the block a little bit.

Uh that being said, uh my permit is not dangerous.

I tried to tell him when I was in there.

When I walked into the office, the lady goes, uh I said, I'm here to see Dylan because I got a letter to uh um renew my permit.

And uh she says, No, you'll have to see uh Sean or Shane, whatever the name is, I don't know all their names.

And I go, Oh yeah, she goes, Yeah, you'll probably need a lawyer, she says.

And I go, What?

I said, You're scaring me, what's going on?

And then she goes, Well, let me go.

She goes back to talk to him, and he's having lunch.

So she said, Well, you have to talk to him uh come back in an hour or so, he's having lunch.

So I this is about 11 30 in the morning.

I came back at 3 30 in the afternoon, walk in, and she says, she gets up, oh, she goes, and she walks back and says to him, uh Polk puts his her head in his door and says, He's here.

137,000 people in this town, and he's here.

I mean, he he come out and shut me down, he wouldn't listen to me.

I asked him, I told him that I've got extenuating circumstances and I'm ready to move forward.

I bought wood, I bought a $20,000 tail handler because the roofer guy that said he was going to fix the house, kept pushing me back every time I talked to him, he's got another job to do first.

The last time I talked to him, he has two jobs to do first.

So I bought a $20,000 telehandler, and so I could do the job safely, and I'm doing it myself.

Uh I brought a friend over uh who's a uh uh maintenance man for uh Van Raiden homes and had him look at the property and he doesn't think it's unsafe.

It's simply a little construction zone.

So I brought pictures that aren't the same as his pictures to show you that it's not so unsafe.

This is the front of the house.

I've I've filled three of these dumpsters by myself.

I'm almost 67 years old.

So, and I'm working alone because I got three kids.

But uh this my son, when this fire happened, my son and his family of six were burned out of the house.

Thank God they're alive and displaced.

So now I got a family of six.

I'm the grandma, the grandpa, the mom, the dad, I'm everything.

And uh it's been something else, let me tell you.

But he doesn't know me from Adam and he doesn't know all this stuff.

My sister or my sister lost her husband and her son in the last year, and uh 240 cattle on the farm.

Who do you suppose had to go out and fix the barn?

Who do you suppose had to go help?

You're looking at him.

Uh I can go on and on.

My son was in a bad motorcycle accident.

He uh was hit head on by a driver going the wrong way on a one way, and she had no insurance.

And he was in the house at the time of the fire.

He's the one, him and his family were burnt out of there, and he had a landscaping business before he was hit.

He had a back brace, he had a shattered vertebrae and a broken vertebrae.

So all the work is on me because he can't do it.

He had a landscaping business, and the whole backyard was full of stuff from landscaping, and it's all on me.

I've filled three of these large dumpsters by myself.

The fireman come in and pulled all the sheetrock down upstairs.

It was knee deep.

And I'm I got pictures, I take it out in barrels.

This is the he said it's uh unsafe and he's worried about uh squatters.

I just paid over three thousand dollars in taxes two months ago, so his information on the taxes aren't correct.

I know, man, I'm on disability from the railroad, and I've I'm squeezing to pay these this stuff to stay on top of things.

Okay, and uh so he's wrong on the tax deal.

There's a six foot fence around there, as you can see in this picture.

So squatters are coming in there, then they're uh then they're uh breaking and entering.

But and the front doors uh shut, you can't get in there.

Um and I've had squatters stealing from me.

I've had a trailer stolen, I've had torch set stolen, I've had lots of things stolen, and uh nobody cares about me, but I just paid 3,000 in stacks taxes, and uh he's worried about this protecting the squatters that can't get in there.

What a so he says he has to shut me down because it's unsafe.

And I said, So I can't go to the board meeting for another month.

He says, No, it's about two weeks.

I said, No, it's three weeks to the day that I had to wait to come and see you guys because they wouldn't let me do anything on my house, and I could have had the roof on by now.

I wanted to change the story and a half into the two story.

I've got the wood, I've got windows, I've got all kinds of stuff.

And I said, Well, winter's coming.

Can I work on my own house?

I just paid taxes on it.

He said, No.

He said, You can clean it up or cover it up.

It's all I can do.

So he shut me down, and now it's gonna snow like crazy.

And I'm I'm going back tonight to do some more covering stuff up for the weather.

But even my friend said we could have fixed this in a week.

That was three weeks ago.

I haven't been able to do any work on the house for three weeks.

And if he's worried about safety for the squatters, what's he doing shutting me down then?

I got three more weeks till this to make it safer.

And the same just to show you I know what I'm doing.

I this porch here was all sunken.

It's my neighbors.

I put all new windows and door and windows all the way around his house, did that for him.

When my house started on fire, I was working on this one.

The other house that I live in is a block away from the burnt one, so I can see it all the time.

And I'm watching it out.

I'm in there every day, it's not unsafe.

I'm working in there every day.

I've got pictures of the inside.

There's the teleham that I bought, and that's how I'm getting it out in barrels like that, and dumping it in the dumpster from upstairs or wherever I get it.

There's 20 grand wasted right there.

I've spent all kinds of money.

I was gonna show you two years ago when I bought the place, the basement.

See, there's the house.

It's just the roof.

And then uh here's the in front this is the smoke damage.

None of this is for the building.

We just seriously, sir.

If we declare the building dangerous, he has 60 days.

Is that something like that?

Yes, he would have until January 23rd to pull new permits and continue with the work.

Um, as of right now, what he's describing, the work that he's done, has been done after the October 28th uh deadline for his permit when we expired his permit.

Um it has only become a priority within the last couple of weeks since we told him he needs to um wait until after this meeting to see what happens here tonight.

I just wanted to clarify that for you.

You have 60 days to make repairs.

Okay, without a permit.

No, you've got to get a permit.

Well, he wouldn't give me one, and I said he said he couldn't give me one, and I read up on it first.

I said, Yes, you can.

He says, No, I can't.

I said, Yes, you can.

He said, No, I can't.

So I said, Well, it's nice to be in a free country.

Uh my uncle died in this for uh in the Korean war.

I never got to meet him, but my mom cried every time she talked about him, and she's a strong woman, so I hope uh he's on my side on this one.

But I've got steel I-beams in the basement.

When I bought the place, it the basement walls were bowling.

I straightened them, I dug around it, straightened them, put in four-inch I beams.

The place is a fortress, really.

It's not, and I'd like you to hear from uh my friend who's a maintenance man at uh Van Raiden homes, and that he's been through there and he's gonna help me on it, and he doesn't think it's unsafe whatsoever.

Your friend speak now.

Randy.

Oh yeah, I went through the house.

You ask when your friend speaks, you step away from the podium, please.

Okay, sure.

I've walked through the house and I'm agreed to help him with the rest of it once he gets his permits, but um I don't see anything that's unsafe for us.

It's a construction zoning and there you're gonna have stuff that's laying around or stuff that's not picked up, but what he's got going on in there, he's cleaned it all up nice, and we can go on with everything now.

So ashawn says you have to pull a permit, got sixty days.

He can pull a permit right away.

Uh yeah, the only reason I wouldn't issue the permit prior to this is because I was waiting.

We were already on the uh agenda for uh this meeting, and I didn't want to issue a permit for something that was gonna be coming to the commission.

So you just following the rules.

Yes.

Thank you.

That just pushed it back three weeks, though.

So now I have to do it in the snow, so we'll close public hearing.

Mr.

Pipcorn.

Can I ask a question, Mr.

Chair?

So the so after this, starting today, they have till when what's the timeline that they have?

Um they have until January 23rd to either demolish the structure or repair the structure to a point where it's no longer a dangerous building.

At that point, we would bring it back to the commission and ask to vacate the dangerous building if it is voted, uh, if we win the vote tonight.

I guess my question for you is if you don't mind going up with the is that is that something you're going to be able to accomplish because uh to me.

Well, yeah, we discussed what do you think a week or so of nice weather?

We would have had it the roof on.

But they didn't tell me anything.

They didn't say you should fix this or that.

But then they're like cameramen is all they are.

So my question, Mr.

Chair.

So Sean, the the timeline.

What do they have to get done by then?

Is it just the roof or do they have to make repairs on all that?

Because to me, there's fire damage in there.

So they have to have that repaired.

Yeah, as been scan as has been conveyed to them in the past.

The fire damage and all all fire related issues with the house have to be vacated.

They have to it it needs to be gone and it needs to be repaired.

Um so what we're basically gonna look at is if they've got it structurally sound, the exterior is weathered in, the roof is on, the windows are in, all of that stuff is done, and all they have is some interior things left to do.

As long as the structure is okay, we're okay with that.

We're okay with extending permits and and leaving things go for the interior of it, but the exterior and the structure have to be signed off on the you think you need to clean up the outside?

Yes.

Okay, so you understand what you need to do?

Absolutely.

I have cleaned up.

That means those stairs are gone.

Those stairs are gone, right?

Those what?

The burnt stairs are gone.

I've fixed them for use.

Yeah, I'm just saying.

Huh?

Okay, public.

That's the only way to get upstairs.

Uh I've figured there's just what happened is when we tore the chimney out, some of the bricks fell 15 feet down to the stairs and busted a couple of them.

Just uh they're only three quarter wood, and I've put wood over them so there's no holes in them.

I've been up and down one million times and and uh nobody upstairs.

We'll we'll vote on this tonight.

We'll probably call it a dangerous building.

You got 60 days to make a difference.

Okay, okay.

Um I have one more question.

Now I want to I'm up there and you take about three three floor steps and you hit the other side of the because it's uh uh it's just uh roof like this, you know.

So it's really narrow upstairs.

So I discussed it with uh I know the guy who owns uh um Cobra engineering in West Fargo, and he's gonna make me some uh um clear span uh choices for the ceiling up there, and uh I'd like to turn it into two stories instead of storing a half because the story half of it's burnt anyway, so it only makes sense.

And I've got the plan for doing that if I'm allowed to do it.

It goes through permitting, yeah.

When they go through permitting, they'll have to provide the engineering as well as the the drawings that they have to accomplish that.

Um so they'll have to have an engineer take a look at the structure and make sure that what is currently there can support that extra story.

I've had him do that already with his computer.

Yep, bring them in tomorrow.

Get to work.

Close public hearing.

Do we have a motion?

Make the motion, sir.

Second.

Second.

Discussion.

This is uh declared a dangerous building.

Cole pack?

Aye.

Strand?

Yes.

Chernberg?

Aye.

Mahoney.

Aye.

Item 38, public hearing.

It's continue this one to 1282.

It's an annexation item on the west half to section three.

Do I have a motion to continue?

So moved.

Sir Second.

Second.

Discussion.

We're waiting to see what Harwood does, and this we be going next time we would do this as next meeting.

We'll call vote, please.

Cole pack?

Aye.

Strand?

Yes.

Epcorn?

Aye.

Chernberg.

Aye.

Mahoney.

Aye.

And item 39 is the same.

Continue to 1288.

It's an annexation of 2.5.

3.

This will continue till Monday, December 8th.

Do I have a motion?

So moved.

Very second.

Second.

Any discussion?

We'll call vote, please.

Cole pack?

Aye.

Strand?

Yes.

Epcorn?

Aye.

Chernberg?

Aye.

Mahoney.

Aye.

And same with item four is it continue to 12825 with annexation of 2.36 acres?

Township 141.

Do I have a motion?

So moved.

Second.

We'll call vote, please.

Strand.

Yes.

Epcorn.

Chernberg.

Aye.

Mahoney.

Hi.

The Metro Railroad needs study presentation.

Ben Griffin from MetroCog.

Dave, do you know this gentleman?

You were pointing to him.

You want to introduce them?

Sorry, I went to the wrong podium.

Mayor Mahoney, Honorable Commissioners.

I'm glad to present this project to y'all this evening.

Um, this project has been over almost three years in the making.

Um BNSF Railroad approached several of the jurisdictions in the region as well as Metro COG with the intention of doing a study to look at long-term infrastructure improvements.

Um we met with all the jurisdictions and uh and also met with BNSF to discuss the project in more detail, and all parties agreed that there was a need for a long-term study to look at these improvements.

Um HDR began work on the project in June of last year, and we've had multiple meetings with with uh the the public through public engagement process.

We've had pop-up meetings.

We met in in most of the jurisdictions over the month of July this year, and we've uh come now to the to prepare in the final report.

One of the things that I'd like to point out for all the jurisdictions is that as y'all know, or most of y'all know that there's a local match that's required for federal transportation dollars for planning projects, and in this case, BNSF Railroad paid the local match.

So none of the local jurisdictions were required to provide that 20% local match.

So that was a big relief for all the jurisdictions.

Um project manager Dan Burgesson is here to walk y'all through some slides and do a quick explanation of some of the improvements that have been proposed in the long term for the city of Fargo.

Dan you Ben.

And thank you, Mayor and Commissioners.

Yep.

So as Ben said, uh we did have 15 locations within the metro area that were included as study locations.

These were all chosen by the jurisdictions.

Um five of those locations are in Fargo, and some of our key objectives were evaluating existing conditions, assessing potential improvements, and recommending infrastructure enhancements.

So we just want to touch quick on the engagement that we did, as Ben noted.

We had um uh quite a bit for this project.

We had a study review committee and a stakeholder committee, which uh included members from Fargo Engineering, Fargo Fire, Fargo Police, public schools and parks, as well as MAT bus and Cass County planning and engineering, as well as NDDOT, as well as uh additional members on the Minnesota side.

Um we did have a pop-up event at the 67th annual Kawanis Pancake Carnival at the Fargo Dome.

Uh I'd like to thank the Kwanis Club for allowing us to be in the entryway of the Fargo Dome, and we got some great foot traffic for input there.

We also had for our public meeting in Fargo at the public library.

Um that was just one of our public meetings.

We also covered West Fargo and Moorhead and Dilworth.

And we'll uh get right to the preferred alternatives that we identified for the five locations within the city.

Um, we have here an 18th Street pedestrian crossing.

Um I will throw the caveat out there for all of these locations.

These are if um you know improvements are selected to move forward.

This particular location, there is no existing crossing, so obviously there'd be a process uh and this is a planning study, a reminder.

Um this option would create an elevated ramp and bridge structure for uh bicyclists and pedestrians.

This is right near uh Bruhalla, uh, one of the locations for a potential convention center.

Um obviously, if that came to fruition, there might be some modifications to uh the layout of this.

The other two alternatives were also um grade separations, one of them being a different bridge layout, and the other one being uh potential underpass.

Um the reason the underpass was not selected as a preferred alternative is uh they can be challenging to put in and require to shut down the railroad for a period of time, which is always challenging.

Our next location was at 7th Avenue North, the skewed crossing near the former Fargo Brewing Company location.

Um the city of Fargo actually currently has uh quiet zone plans on the shelf for this location.

And we um looked at quiet zone as well as uh grade separation at this location and ultimately decided the quiet zone was still preferred uh just due to some site constraints and in addition to the cost that that would uh require.

The next location was University Drive near the 7th Avenue North Underpass.

This would just look at potentially replacing that structure pretty much in kind and looking at potential improvements for bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure, as well as if we could maybe gain a little bit more vertical clearance there.

It is under the standard that BNSF prefers as kind of a national standard for new structures.

Uh in this case, we don't have a history of bridge strikes, so we just kind of look to do what we could there.

10th Street North, near 7th Avenue North is a very similar to university, uh, an aging aging structure there where we'd look to uh do what we can to improve it with bicycle pedestrian facilities as well as vertical clearance where possible.

And finally, uh 19th Avenue North, this is just west of the airport uh and Dakota Drive.

There is uh path infrastructure near the interstate on 19th Avenue on the south side, and there's also a path on the north side of 19th Avenue as you get up towards the airport.

And this would be kind of a part of the requirement to make that connection between the two.

Um it would look at utilizing the existing structure where the railroad goes over the roadway and doing some additional excavation and um and slope stabilization to make it so that a pedestrian path uh could make it underneath the existing structure.

And the two options we had here, one was on the north, one was on the south.

We went with the one on the south because we could limit pedestrian crossings of 19th to the signalized Dakota Drive intersection.

Um the study review committee and the stakeholder committee um voted on these um, we'll call them scoring criteria for uh multiple accounting valuation, which is essentially a scoring matrix between all the different alternatives we had in the metro area.

Um it was just weighting our priorities, and you can see that the magnitude of project benefits as well as emergency service access were the two that most highly rated, and community impacts and magnitude of project costs were also fairly substantial.

And to keep it brief, um I'd like to thank you all again and um let you know that the final report is final draft report is available on MetroCog's website if anyone would like to review it further.

Do you have one speaker?

Uh Colton Ulmer, Fargo resident.

There's a lot of very good stuff in that railroad needs study.

I'm just gonna touch on the few you guys mentioned.

19th Avenue Path addresses the current sidewalk to nowhere.

Option 1B to signalize crossings at the intersection is way better than 1A.

As that expects you to cross four lanes of 40 plus mile per hour car traffic, not really gonna happen.

18th Street pedestrian crossing, huge benefit to the residents on the south side of the tracks who want more access to Brewhal.

And especially so, as they mentioned, if that becomes the site for the new future event center.

Any option is better than no options, but just because it's challenging doesn't mean we should shy away from it.

I would prefer option three of the underpass.

Though I would like to see a staircase option added on the south end.

Tenton University critical infrastructure that should absolutely be a priority.

Though I would say we can do better than just a painted bicycle gutter.

And this may be one of the only chances for years to address it.

Bikes aren't delivery trucks and don't need the same clearance and slope.

We could have a slightly raised concrete section inside the underpass with a barrier to protect and separate the cyclists.

Many of the projects and the rest of the report discuss the benefits of separating cars and trains.

These are good locations to consider the benefits of separating cars and bikes as well.

Seventh Avenue, rush hour traffic stuck behind a freight train is not an uncommon occurrence.

There isn't a lot of space to queue up on the east side, and it easily spills into 7th University intersection.

All the benefits, safety, noise reduction, avoiding traffic backlog that the city gets from the grade separation on 10th in university.

It could also realize with the multimodal grade separated underpass on 7th.

Thank you.

No.

I don't know if he's looking for anything from me, but it's on the No, you don't necessarily respond if you want to make any corrections here.

Any questions?

The Commissioner, President Strand.

Thank you, Mayor.

This isn't so much a question, but it's a concern I've had for years, and whenever we talk railroads and safety and infrastructure, I I I I uh I need to voice my concerns about train speeds through town.

Almost every year or two, some pedestrians getting hit by a train.

Over the time I've given up asking how fast was that train going, because they won't tell you.

You know, it's you get averages.

And it's down in Texas or somewhere that the GPS is being measured.

So I really believe it's a high priority in our community ongoing into the future always to monitor train speeds.

And we don't have the exploding oil trains like we used to, but they used to, they were just barreling through town then too.

And it's not just pedestrians.

So that's a concern of mine is train speed safety.

And then I'm told city jurisdictions, and this is before you here been at Metro Cog, but I'm I've re repeatedly told that well, train speeds aren't affected by jurisdictions.

Yet there are some jurisdictions like Castleton to my knowledge, where they do, in fact, slow trains going down through their communities.

So I just I'd like to see this ongoingly on our radar for the sake of our people and and and have fewer instances of pedestrians getting hit by trains, and who knows how fast they're going.

That's my editorial comment for the day.

So this is just uh file receiving file, basically, or do we have to approve it as well?

Yeah, there's there's no action.

There's no action required.

Okay, Mayor.

Um, this this project will um the study will go to the policy board at Metro Cog next month.

And because of the nature of the study with all the different crossings in all the different jurisdictions, we didn't feel it appropriate to ask each jurisdiction to take action at this time, but rather at a regional level.

Well, also the railroads paying for it were not, right?

That always helps.

Yeah, that always helps.

Okay.

Any other questions or discussion?

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Application for an abatement or refund of taxes 4595 for a property located at 1437 15th Street South request a reduction of value for the 2025 taxes.

Mike's been asked you to explain.

Good evening, Mayor and Commissioners.

Uh, the abatement before you is a product of a sale on the property that uh occurred in uh July of this year.

And uh the current owner is saying that the value that we had on it was incorrect due to the uh basically dilapidated uh condition of the property.

Uh we were in it in 2021.

Uh we were able to see most of it, but part of the uh house was uh being uh basically shut off by dogs, so we couldn't see everything that was there.

We do know that the property owner or the the prior property owner who is now deceased died in 2023, and then the house sat until this time, so it's possible that there was some uh uh the condition may have deteriorated in that time.

So the former owner or the current owner said that the condition of the house was unlivable to the point where they weren't even able to get conventional loans on it.

They had to get a construction loan on it in order to uh start do some clean on cleanup on it first, and then they did supply us uh uh an appraisal that was done after they had done some of the work to it.

So uh based off of that information, um and the fact that we don't have any sales of properties in poor condition, only basically sales of properties in fair condition.

Uh we kind of had to uh do a little bit of uh estimating as to what the condition of the property was as of February 1st for 2025.

Based off the information that I supplied for you for the sales, um the basically what we said is the condition of the property is probably uh equal to the least fair sale that we have in that type of property in that condition.

So we are agreeing that the value was overstated for 2025, and we are recommending the reduction down to uh 134200 from the 225 uh seven.

Uh at this time the appellate has accepted the value recommendation.

I don't know if he's present or not.

Okay.

Any questions?

Mike?

Mr.

Stran.

Are they going to Mike?

Are they going to rebuild or are they going to demolish and build new?

Yeah, uh, they are they're actually in the process of gutting it and remodeling it already.

So that's why when we went out there, we didn't we couldn't verify that it was in poor condition because they had already started the process.

Okay, I would also suggest habitat or land trust might be able to help you find some valuations of taking over properties that are flighted or dilapidated for comparisons in the future.

Yeah, and that would be fine as long as they're arms length transactions.

This is one of those properties because it's an estate sale and it's sold at auction.

We can't actually lawfully use it as an arm's length transaction for our comparisons.

I'll make the motion, Mr.

Chair.

Is there a second?

Second.

Any discussion?

Roll call vote, please.

Turnberg, aye.

Hopak.

Aye.

Strand.

Yes.

Mahoney.

Hi.

Item 43 recommend and approve the 2026 engineering CIP.

The 2027 core neighborhood reconstruction, the 2027 Federal Aid Reconstruction Project, an updated language to infrastructure funding policy.

Don Knockbus to explain again.

Good evening.

Here this evening seeking approval for the 2026 CIP and additional items that the uh mayor just mentioned.

Uh just want to remind uh the public uh that we did present the engineering CIP to the finance committee on November 10th.

Uh I did follow up last week with uh PUPEC, the Public Works Project Evaluation Committee, uh, and they did uh recommend approval uh to the city commission at our meeting last week.

Uh and so again tonight seeking approval uh of the these various items 2026 CIP, the 2027 core neighborhood reconstruction projects, as well as one federal aid reconstruction project, the change to the infrastructure funding policy.

Uh as we meant or talked about two weeks ago, a lot of different categories that we kind of use within the engineering CIP.

Uh, they're listed here.

Um, and the values of the various categories are listed here of what is being proposed for 2026 specifically.

Uh here's a quick breakdown.

Again, this was looked at two weeks ago, but a quick breakdown of the funding for the 2026 CIP.

I do want to take a brief moment and talk about the 27 uh projects that uh we're also seeking approval on.

Uh so there are three core neighborhood projects, uh, one in Longfellow neighborhood, one in Hawthorne neighborhood, and one in Horse Man neighborhood.

And then one federal aid reconstruction project.

Uh, this is the only federal aid recon or construction project that we're looking for approval on, uh, and this is on 17th Avenue South from 25th Street to University.

Might be asking why we're also seeking approval for 2027 projects at this point.

Uh, really, what it does is allow us to start on the project design and communicate with the impacted property owners uh a year ahead of the construction occurring.

So just a brief recap of uh where these core neighborhood projects are uh in gray are our projects within the Longfellow neighborhood that have been previously reconstructed.

Uh we have two proposed projects in 26 and one in 27.

In the Horace Man neighborhood, again, number of projects that have been completed in this area, uh one project proposed in 26 and one in 27.

And the Hawthorn neighborhood, again, number of projects that have been completed shown here in gray.

Uh, two locations proposed in 26 and one in 2027.

For federal aid projects on the north side of town uh seeking approval for 26 uh reconstruction of main avenue from 25th street to university.

Uh, that will be a two-year construction timeline.

Uh and then we also have a safety improvement project at the intersection 19th Avenue and University Drive in 2026.

On the south side in 2026, uh reconstruction of uh 32nd Avenue from 15th Street to the Red River, and then as I mentioned, uh on 17th Avenue uh for 2027 uh between 25th Street and University.

Uh also want to highlight the uh uh proposed revision to the infrastructure funding policy that we highlighted uh two weeks ago.

Uh currently initial wear course and initial SEAL code or special assessed over a 25-year term.

Uh we're proposing that be revised to a 15-year term.

Um and I did break that down what that impact is.

Uh typical property, uh, say 50-foot lot uh would see about a four and a half dollar increase per month uh with that change, but ultimately by by lowering that term um there's a reduction in interest uh and would see a savings about uh of just over six hundred dollars.

With that, happy to answer any questions the commission might have.

Any questions for any commissioner?

So moved.

Very second.

Second.

Uh Commissioner Colpak.

Yeah, I just want to thank you.

I had a really extensive good conversation with Tom and Nathan on this after our Brombag.

Um I think the challenge of the CIP every year and looking into the future is the dynamic nature truly of this plan moving forward because uh unknown sources of funding in the future, um, some collaboration even with neighboring cities on some projects, um, new commissioners coming on board.

I mean, so this is still very much a roadmap for that construction project.

We have to know where we're going and the cost of things.

But a great example of of uncertainty in in funding source, for instance, is where we'll land on prairie dog funds again, and um the uncertainty around funds like that, and certainly federal funds.

So while this is a plan and a roadmap, right?

That it's constantly being evaluated and judged, and it's important for the public to know that there is a dynamic nature to this process that will continue and be evaluated.

And maybe just one follow-up on that.

Um again, that's that's part of the purpose of uh providing a four-year outlook when we're looking at these CIP plans, but really only requesting one year at a time because so many of those things can change.

Any other comments?

Tom, excellent work, your team's done a great job.

I think you continue to do a great job, and I think it's really nice that the public knows where you're headed in the future, so they can start figuring it out.

I think neighbors always are when is this going to happen?

And you're pointing it out.

So nice job.

I appreciate it.

Kolpack?

I turnberg.

Aye.

Epcorn.

I strand.

Yes.

Mahoney.

Hi.

When we got this brought this out last time, I was on the impression that all the commissioners had weighed in on this, and I apologize, you all were not necessarily uh briefed on this.

When we have public comment, if it's negative, how do we cut it off as quickly as possible, or if they swear or have bad language?

Uh there was a staff discussion about this, and we had some different things.

I did want Nancy just before Mr.

Kolpak gets into this to just uh there are some things which I think commissioners have to be aware of.

You actually can mention commissioners' names.

It's just what they do after they say the name.

So I just wanted Nancy just to go over that just a little bit so the public understands a little bit where we were going and what we were trying to address.

Sure, and I can do that.

We've got uh policy number five, which is the process for resident comment.

You also have statutory guidance and uh First Amendment issues that may arise as a result of providing a limited public forum for presentations.

So the rules um don't quite track the the process for resident comment, and there has been a lot of discussions in a number of jurisdictions about what you can and can't do when there is an individual at the at the podium.

So, first I would call your attention to the statute that does um particular provide it may must be pertinent to the public entity, must not interfere with the orderly conduct of the regular meeting, may not be defamatory, abusive, harassing, or unlawful.

Um there's been a recommendation that you put that you uh address the commission as a whole, as a commission action that has been taken.

So that would be the the guidance that we would be providing.

Obviously, if it's an attack or or becomes defamatory, we're always caution, make sure it's truthful, make sure that it's not confidential or exempt information that we would not otherwise release and uh and be respectful.

I just wanted that so you understood that.

So if they mention a name, I can't necessarily turn the mic off, but if they mentioned in the interrogatory, then I can cut the mic off.

Commissioner Kolpak, I'll let you make your comment.

This is your your uh Yeah, and so after the the announcement at the last meeting um to your point that wasn't wasn't shared ahead of time.

Um I did research on the existing policy from 2018, and as it stands today, that policy is still in place, which does say we will broadcast public comments at meetings, and so there's no action needed to be taken unless you want to revoke that policy.

But I certainly support continuing to broadcast general comments.

Any other comments, Mr.

Turnberg?

I I agree we should broadcast.

However, we have had continual issue, continual issues with people giving false names, laughing about it.

And I also think we should make a change to the rules that it applies to Fargo City business.

There is really no reason to discuss Palestine at a Fargo City Commission meeting when we have citizens with real concerns.

So I I would like to see us to make sure that someone's identity is verified so they cannot give fake names.

I don't care about comments, but that the person comes up, gives a real name and gives real issues to the city of Fargo.

Mr.

Turb.

So I guess what's the process?

So I think now they they give their name.

I mean, what's the process how and how through how do you want to?

How would you do that?

Well, I think we've discovered a couple different people use fake names, and I think we will keep it mandatory that they do the right name from now on in the sense and that the chair can take the prerogative if it's not a real name, that they will not be asked to speak to us, Dave.

So Mr.

Chair, I guess my main question is so so now we're not going to make a change, correct?

It's gonna keep keep how it was.

I I I guess to me, uh my I didn't know any of this was going on at the last meeting.

This one was announced, and I don't think Commissioner Strand did either.

And that's not uh we're the elected officials.

We have to all be included.

If we're gonna make a change, then we all have to be included.

So I don't know what happened there, but that's and this is not the only time this has happened.

And so we we have to we are the elected officials and we have to be included.

And that's not a I'm not asking for a favor.

Uh that's required.

That's what our job is.

We're we are elected to represent the best interest of our citizens.

And if we're not being included, uh that's that's not appropriate.

So that's just my comments.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

And that was noted, you weren't included in that.

You should have been included on this.

The question would be is Commissioner Turnberg wanted to change it to you cannot talk policy, that actually would have to be voted on.

The the rest of it.

If we go back to the normal site, then you can go ahead.

But if Darth, uh, excuse me, Fargo is different than other sites in the state of North Dakota because many of the public comments you have to either speak about an agenda item that was just at this meeting or agenda item that was last meeting, where the only city in the state as far as I'm aware that allows in public comments, you can speak to anything as long as you're a Fargo resident or have a business in town.

Is that correct, Nancy?

No, that actually um that has been changed that you don't have an agenda limitation, but there is no requirement that they be a Fargo resident or have a business interest that was not provided for by statute, so that has been eliminated as a requirement.

The individual the statute provides that the individual must give their name and address and the address is an exempt record.

So that is not disclosed to outside of the process.

So could we do this?

Could we review with Nancy or Ian, whoever is there, the each commissioners, Commissioner Turnberg, if you want to make some changes.

Can we look at the actual policy we presently have now and bring it to the next meeting?

What you might try to change?

Would that be fair?

Okay.

Well, having just returned again from meeting of cities across the country, this is a front burner topic everywhere.

And and balancing free speech with First Amendment rights and and and it's all under the the guise of decorum and civility.

It's just ugly out there.

And uh what a lot of elected officials, not just city public officials, school boards think what they've been going through.

But this is a really ripe topic.

And it's it's a it it behooves us to make sure that make sure that we're always aiming for the high road, trying to stay up in the up in the up in the you know, ethically stay where we're we're we're not harming people, and we don't allow other people to harm people.

But it's not just us.

It's it's the whole country is wrestling with this.

And bottom line, they're letting speech happen, though.

And our legislature even modified and addressed public comment.

So the the my then that the need is request the requirement is there to allow speech, but but it's on us to keep it civil.

And that's where our procedures and our protocols and our Roberts rules and our meeting decorum, like say somebody starts going off the demo.

We probably need to re recess briefly and be prepared to stand up and immediately address what's happening.

Shut the mics off, shut the cameras off, and and and come back in a few minutes and not tolerate it.

But it's it's everywhere.

I do have one public speaker on this uh virtual Olivia Fisher.

Hi, can you hear me?

Yes, we can.

Hi, Olivia Fargo resident.

I appreciate those who pushed for this to be attitude to the agenda.

Um this decision should have been an agenda item for everyone to speak on from the start, considering it affects the entire town's access to hearing public comment.

Not everyone can make it to a 5 p.m.

meeting in person.

People have kids and can't afford child care.

Some don't have access to transportation, and some people cannot be in public due to weakened immune system.

Do they not deserve to listen in on public comment as it's happening?

You cannot punish the entire community and remove the live broadcasting of public information just because people occasionally break the rules.

You are the one with the mute button, and you are capable of asking folks to not continue breaking said rules.

This is nothing more than another shameful attempt to silence constituents.

The commission has already banned signs and move public comments to the end of the meetings, which deters people from speaking or watching.

I'd like to note that both of these changes happened while citizens were pushing for a ceasefire resolution and Palestinian liberation.

And now we have this overreaching decision to stop broadcasting public comments entirely.

I was told that this change was a result of people swearing and making rude comments, which is interesting because if you go back to the meeting prior to last, you will not hear any speeches of swearing or direct attacks on any individual commissioners.

You will just hear me speaking about how it has officially been two years of genocide in Palestine and how the commission's lack of compassion has aided in the suffering, which is factual information and it affects us all.

Public comment cannot be considered public if it is being cut from the broadcast.

As the source from 2018 says, the entire reason you started broadcasting was because folks wanted there to be transparency on what is said at public meetings, which includes public comment.

When I speak at the end of meetings, I'm speaking to you all and my community.

So this seems like an intentional attack on people like myself who challenge you all to do better and educate the public on city related issues.

Also, I must say it's probably hard for residents to take the rules for public comment seriously when some commissioners are constantly attacking their fellow city staff, both in and outside of meetings.

And I've seen far worse things written online about commissioners than I have ever heard stated publicly at these meetings.

I'll end by saying that people can access archived public comments by going online to Fargo ND.gov, click on the city commission tab, then click meeting videos.

Thank you very much.

So no motion needs to be done.

We'll move on to the next item.

Mr.

Chair.

Mr.

Turnberg.

I will say it.

To me, that was extremely hard to understand what she said.

So I don't know if we want to revisit the call-in portion, but I can hardly decipher what's being said over the telephone.

And again, Palestine in a Fargo City Commission meeting.

Free speech, but know your audience.

Uh next item is uh item number one, uh appointment of uh Ian McLean as city attorney, effective 112525.

Uh Mike Redinger to speak to this.

Well, thank you, Mayor and Commissioners.

Good evening.

And I'm pleased to uh report uh that we're pointing uh Ian to the position of city attorney this evening.

Uh first let me thank Nancy for her years of service out of the city of Fargo.

Nancy has worked with us for a number of years and has been your city attorney for the last several.

So we just are are very appreciative of the relationship uh to with Nancy and with Ian at the Circling firm as we talk about the future and we talk about providing the civil legal services uh for the city of Fargo.

So I included in the packet for you this evening is just a brief background on the uh qualifications and the credentials of of Ian.

Ian uh has been our our first assistant attorney and has been working with us for a number of years.

And so we're very appreciative of of Ian's service to Fargo.

Uh he has in fact been the assistant city attorney for Fargo for the last 10 years and has been with the Circle and firm for 13 of uh 13 years in total uh after completing law school at the University of Iowa College of Law.

So we're just very appreciative of uh Ian's interest in stepping forward to uh help us out as city attorney and uh really want to thank Nancy for all of her years and and much much appreciation for all of her time and counsel to the staff and to the commission and all of us uh throughout the organization.

So thank you to Nancy and uh commissioners uh simply uh formally appointing uh Ian tonight, strongly recommending that appointment and just ask for the your consideration of that.

Thank you.

Do you want to say anything else?

Yeah, it was on the consent agenda originally, and I wanted to pull so that we could acknowledge and recognize Nancy for her years of service and welcome Ian to the dias who will be up here now for the meetings.

Um have him share a little bit about his background and the public to meet him, but truly to thank Nancy for the years of service and collaboration that will continue.

So Nancy wants to remind us she's not fading into the sunset.

She still will be around.

So uh made the mistake of saying she was semi-retired.

Ian, you want to say anything to the group?

Yeah, I'm uh born and raised in uh Fargo.

I uh graduated law school from the University of Iowa.

I've been practicing law since 2011.

Uh I've been working with the city of Fargo since February 2015.

It was primarily in prosecution when I started, but it has grown to about every department in the city.

It's been tremendous to work with all the employees of the city and all of the commissioners over time.

Um I want to give special thanks to Nancy Morris, the current city attorney and Eric Johnson is the former city attorney.

They've both been great mentors and friends.

And I just want to thank the commission for the trust that you're placing in me.

I'm grateful for the opportunity.

I'm ready to get to work.

Thank you.

Thank you.

I think that's what we needed.

Thank you, Mike.

Thank you.

Mr.

Northum, uh discussion of the employee engagement survey next steps, Commissioner Kolpak.

I'm I'm sorry to interrupt, but you know, because you took it off of consent, you do need a motion on that.

Yes.

Thank you.

It was on consent for approval, Mr.

Chair.

Oh, okay.

Is there a motion to approve?

So moved.

Is there a second?

Second.

Ian McLean is motioned and a second because of our next attorney.

Uh uh roll call vote, please.

Colpak?

Aye.

Turnberg?

Aye.

Epcorn.

Aye.

Strand?

Yes.

Mahoney.

Aye.

Okay.

Mike and uh Joel, Mr.

Kolpak, you want to explain this to employment cautious?

Yes.

So I added this topic to tonight's agenda.

Um the employee engagement survey results have been back now for probably a month.

We we've had meetings with each individual commissioner, at least the option to meet with Michael and HR team on the results of that survey.

Last week, Thursday, they were the results were released publicly along with public comments.

And so before I add a few comments, I thought maybe Michael and Jill, you want to just give a high level of summary of the work that was done, and then um I'd like to say a few words.

Well, thank you, uh, mayor and commissioners and Ella just provide a high-level summary of of what we've uh received now.

First, I just want to note that this is our first ever engagement for us to have this type of initiative with our employees.

And so we started this process in August.

We launched this initiative.

And so this is although it's never been done before in Fargo, obviously we've really enjoyed several, several years of very, very healthy and productive relationships with our employees.

So this is uh an opportunity to further expand on those relationships that we have and really invest in our employees.

And I just want to say that at the beginning.

This is really about our employees, this is about helping them and listening to them so that we as an employer are providing them with the training, the skills, as well as the support needed to really move our team forward.

And so just note that as we look to the future, and as Jill and I can both talk about what the next steps will look like.

The goal really is to try and improve the experience for our employees and really give them an opportunity to see that their future here is going to be a strong one, and one that we welcome and one that we want to see uh fruitful for them and want them to be able to stay here.

Um the goal also uh certainly in addition to retention was to show that we're uh showing active listening.

Uh that active listening happens throughout a very, very large organization.

Twenty-two departments scattered geographically into every corner of this community means that we really have to rely on our department heads and our leaders to listen to authentically what's happening in those departments.

And so it was very insightful for us to hear what is occurring out there and then what are in the minds of our of our staff as they think about their futures collectively here uh in uh team Fargo.

So I would say that in total we were pleased with the responses.

We had a 68% sp response rate, uh 700 employees uniquely participated in the survey process.

That exceeded our internal goal of 60 percent.

And I I would venture to guess that this uh for a larger public employer would be some of the a better number, you know, relative to other peers uh that are in this space.

So we really uh saw a great demonstration of of support for the process.

Uh it really showed that our employees uh have uh thoughts that they want to share with us, that they are engaged, and that they want to make sure that uh they're they're letting us know what's on their minds, which is great.

And so from here today, and uh again, Jill and I can both uh talk about next steps.

We're really going to be looking at some action planning.

We're gonna be looking at focus groups as well as some larger um uh endeavors within the organization to try to keep this work alive.

Um, this is not a one-and-done uh type of a situation.

In fact, this is a part of an ongoing relationship and an ongoing revisitation of our employees so that we can again hear what's on their minds.

So, what you're going to see us do is now kind of break this apart.

We know that work is already underway in our department.

Some have already been meeting in kind of small cohorts and focus groups, talking about how to dissect this information and really take it to the next level.

But the other thing we're we're wanting to do then is keep this regular.

So this is 2025's work, but we want to come back to the future commission and the future mayor in 2027 with another report about how things are going.

Again, emphasizing that this is really about the employees.

This is really about their collective investment of time, energy, and effort for the citizens of Fargo, the businesses of Fargo, and what we can do to help support them.

So that is just a very, very high level of what we hope to continue to gain here.

But I want to thank those 700 plus employees without their input, without their feedback, we would not have this data as a baseline to start.

So getting this baseline, very important because everything that we do comparatively after this will help us see how we're making changes, how we're making improvements, how we're moving forward together as Team Fargo.

And with that, I'll ask Jill for any additional comments she has too.

Thank you.

Yeah, as Michael stated, the the survey is just really the start of the overall employee engagement initiative.

As you all know, the the results of that survey were presented to our employee group to those who were able to join the virtual presentation on October 30th.

We had good participation so that they first had an opportunity to see the overall survey results.

Again, as previously stated, this they really are the focus of this entire initiative.

Our city leaders were also able to see those results and all of you as as elected officials and now available for the public.

We've had good discussions at the cabinet level, and I think our department heads are really committed to this initiative, committed to listening and learning and creating those plans.

As Michael talked about, we have plans starting early this coming year to hold employee discussion groups.

Those will be happening at the departmental level, led by leadership teams, and will be happening citywide led by the human resources team.

And from there, we intend to develop action plans.

Again, those will be both at the department level as citywide level that we ask, we're going to ask all of our employees to participate in each of these steps.

And then ultimately it'll be you know learning what's going well and how we support and maintain that.

But what areas do we need to improve on?

We got a lot of good constructive feedback through the comments in the survey.

I think that the uh discussion groups are really going to result in even more detailed feedback so we have an even better understanding of what's going well and where we need to improve.

And the goal really is just to give everyone who wishes to be involved a voice in how we move forward.

Um again, we'll be taking the survey again in a couple of years to measure our progress.

Uh, but in the meantime, we'll through the action plans and through what we have been able to implement over that uh time period.

I think we'll be telling as well in the progress that we're making to uh address employee concerns and as well as the successes that were identified in the survey.

Mr.

Kolpak.

Yeah, thank you.

I appreciate that update and the feedback, especially for the public.

I I was pretty impressive that almost 70% of employees ended up participating in the survey.

Um there also were 433 individual comments made by employees and 38 pages in the back.

Um and some of the comments are very raw and difficult to hear.

And what we do now with that information needs to be the priority of administration and department leaders.

Also through my monthly and regular meetings with my my five assigned departments.

We each have respective assigned departments as part of our portfolio, as well as from conversations while working in my office.

I can tell you that the comments were not a surprise.

I have provided much of that same feedback about the concerns to city administration now over the past several months, and I'll continue to support the action plans of my assigned departments for sure.

I'll also be asking for regular updates at commission meetings to track overall progress.

Um while initially the 433rd employee comments were redacted.

I also have requested an unredacted copy three weeks ago and understand an unredacted version will be available in the next couple of days.

I believe it took courage for employees to share their comments with candor and redacting them to me is a is an example of some minimization.

But importantly, I understand that North Dakota open records regulations don't support the redactions as well.

So I'll just I'll close with this.

I firmly believe that our employees truly are our most valuable asset.

And without them, we would have no services, no public safety or fire protections, no utilities, our road maintenance, no planning, no sustainable programming that the citizens of Fargo deserve and expect.

And so the results clearly pointed to real issues.

Certainly pay and benefit continues to be one of the biggest concerns.

Departments having input and transparency into their respective budgets with more oversight of approved appropriations, and overall more support needed for supervisors and employees day to day.

We cannot let this slip.

And we must do the work with sincerity and a sense of urgency.

Our greatest asset, our people deserve and expect it.

So I want to thank all the employees who participated, who were candid, who shared their concerns and constructive feedback.

Appreciate the work that's coming with the action plans by department.

And we'll continue to monitor the progress.

So thank you.

Mr.

Strant.

Thank you, Mayor, and thank you, Commissioner Kolpeck, for putting this on our radar to initially uh acknowledge that this took place.

You know, uh I'm not an HR guy person expert.

That's not my my field.

I my eyes kind of glaze over when I hear about stay interviews and exit interviews and and things like that.

Um and and your world and all the lanes and matrixes are just way over my head.

Um but I'm glad we have people that do that.

However, in these 400 and some comments that we got, every single one of them in my mind is a roadmap of action plans to go forward.

We had over 50, 50 percent of the respondents.

50 some percent of our own people said they won't even listen to us.

Imagine that.

What is it?

A third of our people are ready to leave their jobs.

And and they they don't think we're listening to them.

There was another respondent who said in my 20-some years here, nobody's ever asked me my opinion.

It's on us to make sure our workforce is appreciated, valued, supported, honored, and protected in every single effort they do.

So I'm looking forward to checking off all 433 of these comments, and make sure every single person who took the effort and the courage to share with us their views that they know we actually listen.

And it might be past us that we might not even be around here back then.

But you know, this is this isn't uh an exit interview.

We we have folks out there, even the media and others going out and going down rabbit holes and looking down at exit interviews.

Well, you know, when people leave, they're not always going to say the most pleasant things about the entity they left.

Well, let's focus on the moment present.

These are the people moment-present interviews.

This is our workforce right now.

They haven't left.

They're here.

They're telling us what they need.

They're setting the bar of their expectations for us.

So I'll leave it at that.

I would suggest that we we continually dig into this.

We continually check off every single comment that we made.

Um I mentioned to our city administered I'd like to take this info info and dump it into a modern privatized AI program where we feed it all the data, and then I can start asking it all the questions I want to ask.

What was the feedback for the city commission?

What was the feedback for the finance department?

What was the feedback for the for the HR department?

What was the feedback for our employ employee personnel compensation and pro and all this that whole era of compensation?

You know, there's all these categories we can learn from people.

What did they ask of us as elected officials?

We need to pay attention to that, what they're asking of us and expecting of us and of each other.

So thank you for doing this survey.

And and thank you for bringing this to our attention.

And I and I just can't wait to have our people be surprised at us and go, you know.

Gosh darn it, they listened.

Any other comments?

I think it's uh courageous to trying to find out what your employees feel.

Now you find out what they feel, now we need to address it.

So looking forward to what comes out of your discussion and focused review, and looking forward to suggestions our employees make to us.

One big big item came out is a lot of our employees really like working and doing the service and doing the mission that they are assigned to do.

And I think we have to recognize that that many people are mission-driven, and that's why they work for us.

But good luck with that, see what you come up with.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Uh we don't have to have anything on that.

That's just a discussion.

We only have one public comment.

Olivia Fisher, you're on again.

Um I don't know, Olivia, if you are in a mask or not, but we could not hear you very well in your last discussion.

Could you kindly, if you are, just remove the mask and speak to the phone mic so we can hear you.

We'd like to hear what you have to say.

You are my only speaker tonight, so you will have your two and a half minutes.

Okay, yeah, I appreciate that.

Sorry, I never wear my mask over the phone.

It might be because I use speaker phone.

So I'll try my best.

Yeah, it's uh sometimes dictation is hard for us to hear.

For sure.

Thank you.

Um Olivia, Fargo resident.

I just wanted to make a suggestion after seeing the recent article about Winter Warming Center.

Um, from the sounds of it, there has not been a location officially designated for it, nor is there a set of opening date.

Mind you, we are about to be in a winter storm, but it is November 24th, so this shouldn't be a surprise.

Uh the warming center should have been ready to go by the end of October with how unpredictable our winters are here.

After requesting information about the warming center for over a month, it was frustrating to see news finally break with the same answers I've been receiving.

No finalized plans, just promises that our homeless community is holding on to tightly.

Someone house folks are under the impression that it is opening tonight.

And something that is still going to be at the public health building.

I certainly hope something will be open tonight, but I haven't heard any public confirmation on that.

So my request today is that you, city admin and city staff who are handling the warming center to hold another town hall for the community to attend and learn more about what you're going to do to ensure residents stay warm this winter, next winter, and the winters to come.

And it would be appreciative if more than a week's notice would be provided if and when this town hall would occur.

A separate town hall about the new deck location would also be beneficial as there are more questions to be answered about that as well.

I'd like to list a few of mine.

Will the deck resume weekend hours in their new building?

If not, will the warming center still be open on the weekend if it ends up being located in the deck?

Will the new deck location still have laundry services, showers, and lockers?

And will there be any additional amenities like those?

Are there transportation plans to get folks to the warming center each night or plans to get folks from the deck to the Salvation Army for meals when it's cold out?

If not, could the city formulate a program to distribute free bus cards for folks to get around downtown?

I know those can't be answered tonight, but it's just something for you all to think about because our unsheltered neighbors have to think about that and more.

These folks have to carry their entire life on their backs, and many don't know where their next meal will come from.

The least we can do in this notoriously cold region is provide spaces for people to warm up, use the restroom and sleep without having to pay to do so.

The warming center itself isn't perfect, and I understand it might be difficult to maintain, but it is necessary.

We cannot let folks freeze to that this winter.

And lastly, free Palestine.

Ladies on reports, Commissioner Pepcorn.

Mr.

Turnberg.

No update.

Uh today we dedicated the uh Veterans Memorial Center.

We had a groundbreaking out at the Fargo uh National Cemetery.

That's an interesting uh Jake Us was able enough to give the land.

They had five acres, now we have thirty acres more.

In a time frame, what will happen is they will be building a memorial center out there.

It started at uh two million dollars, and now they have three million dollars from the state, and they have three million dollars from the feds.

The good thing about it is that the feds are actually going to uh maintain it as time goes on.

So the city has no cost in it, West Fargo has no cost, the county has no cost into it, and that's a marvelous uh thing that's come out of that.

And in the past, they never had any place where you stood in the cold.

You had to stand out in the cold, and veterans are buried all the time out there.

So this is a wonderful addition that has come about, and Senator Hovind, Kramer, and Fedorchek worked hard to help us get the Federal money, and the Veterans Association has worked with us as well.

So it started as a dream, has come to a fruition, and we did the groundbreaking that should be ready in two years.

And what will happen now is from now on when we have a service uh for the family that could be out there in a warm building.

So it's a fantastic uh agreement, and all the cities work together on this as well as the counties to have this happen.

So that was something to celebrate today.

Mr.

Kolpak.

Yeah, I I have two updates.

The first, I'll just summarize this slide.

Um I was honored to participate in the Moorhead West Fargo Fargo kickoff of this year's Salvation Army.

This is the wrong deck again.

I'll just talk about it.

Um in the Salvation Army's kickoff event at the mall, and it included the three cities along with the mayors, and then every year there is a friendly competition between the fire department, the fire, the police department, and the North Dakota Association of Realtors to see who can raise the most money in ringing bells at the kettles.

And I was I'm proud to be named the honorary kettle chair for this year for the Salvation Army kettle event.

So looking forward to that.

I'll be ringing December 12th with the firefighters and helping them support them that day.

So that's my update.

Oh, and then the second thing, Jody, welcome to your first solo meeting up here.

You've done great.

Mr.

Stran.

Thank you, Mayor.

I have three three items.

Uh initially I'll start with winter warming, it's starting tonight.

It's at the downtown engagement center beginning at 8 a.m.

till 8 p.m.

every night.

And so that's beginning.

Winter is coming.

Yes, the snow is going to blow, but our our public health people keep on delivering and keep working in the background and they're del they're doing it again, and they're going to be saving lives.

So that's starting tonight.

And Olivia, thank you for reminding us of this expectation.

Secondly, I'd like to just touch on some topics.

I I I was at the National League of Cities this last week at Salt Lake City.

I'm pretty involved with them.

And and in fact, it was my time this time to be uh there as a vice chair of one of their seven policy committees, the human development committee.

So that's quite interesting to get to that level of leadership access at the National League level.

One of the hottest topics this year at the league meeting in Salt Lake was immigration and ice.

Well, we spent months in my human development committee working on completely turning upside down and revamping our policy recommendations and our resolutions regarding immigration and refugees and ICE behavior.

Because there's it's just a uh uh uh a conundrum out there, what cities some cities are dealing with and the lack of communication and the lack of understanding and and what's unfolding, it's just uh it's a mess for some, and we're not so affected by it here, but it's a it's a big issue at the at this at the national level.

And it was the one topic that got the biggest discussion and and debate at their board meeting where they were looking at our proposals and our resolution.

Another topic that really surfaced a lot at the National League is housing, housing, housing, housing, housing.

Uh and and and but I'll say this I don't think there's a city out there anymore, uh anymore, hardly at all, that doesn't include inclusionary housing.

We don't here.

In fact, our people tell us it won't work.

Hundreds of cities across the country.

If you're bringing forward a housing project, it's going to be required that you include affordable housing in your component proposal.

10 percent, 12 percent, 15 percent, 20 percent.

And we don't even go there.

So I'm gonna put this on the front burner and learn what other cities are doing, because we have a housing crisis and housing is infrastructure and housing is workforce.

So we have opportunities here to broaden our housing base across the continuum to include workforce, but also to make sure that when somebody is getting especially tax incentives of millions of dollars, that a little bit of what they're doing can be for people who don't have the same means as everybody else.

That was a really, really major topic that I would say.

Another thing that was a primary top focus across the country is their downtowns.

It's not just our downtown that's struggling.

And and the common phrase is post-COVID, post-COVID.

You know, uh, and and it's not unusual.

I think everybody's sealing seeing a deduction, uh, uh a stable uh uh uh decrease or in in revenues.

Their sales taxes like ours aren't growing.

So the economy is really a challenge uh across the country and in our own our own downtown.

And one note I'll just make is there are two cities presenting about reinvigorating and revitalizing their downtowns, Raleigh, North Carolina, and and Frederick, Maryland, and two of their highest priorities to get their convention center put downtown.

Just saying.

All right.

The last thing I'll say is this is a little more personal relative to my hat I wear at times as a liaison.

After our last meeting, I was really challenged with why when I'm the liaison to public health where I didn't stand up and defend them.

And to have our our employees attacked to have it said at the podium that there might should be maybe resignations from our people and and and and without conscience.

You know, so we have governance procedures, we have rules of decorum, we have codes of conduct, we have uh understandings that we take on when we are elected to office.

And and and it it's to respect our people and don't demean them and don't disparage them publicly.

Honor them.

Go through the channels if you have complaints and issues with anybody.

Don't take it up to the front and put it in front of the public.

So here's what I'm going to do.

If anybody, if anybody ever again says at this stadium that they're going to call for the resignation of any of our people, and if it's affecting any of my portfolios, I'm going to call for an immediate point of order to redirect the conversation to get us back on the rails.

And I'm also, if it doesn't stop and doesn't get handled, I'm going to call for censorship of anybody who's breaching our own rules, just because there are rules.