OPENPUBLICA · PUBLIC MEETING RECORD
Record of Proceedings

Mandan City Commission Meeting – October 7, 2025

City Commission — Tuesday, October 7, 2025
BodyMandan, North Dakota
SessionCity Commission
DateTuesday, October 7, 2025
StatusFILED
Video Record
0:00 / 1:01:31

Transcript — Verbatim
0:09

Good evening and welcome.

0:10

Today is October 7th, 2025.

0:13

It is 5 30 p.m.

0:15

and we are in the Bosch Frailic meeting room at Mandan City Hall.

0:19

Mr.

0:19

Newbauer, would you please take the role?

0:21

Commissioners Braun.

0:22

Here, Roar.

0:23

Here, Schoberg.

0:24

Here, Hein Sean.

0:25

Here.

0:25

Mayor Frailick.

0:26

Here.

0:27

And at this time we will have Officer Josh Scher and Cooper.

0:34

Lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance.

0:36

Please stand.

0:49

Undergisible liberty and justice for all.

0:57

Thank you, Josh.

1:01

And we will move to announcements, and we're going to switch this up a little.

1:06

We have Marlo Anderson from the Music Museus.

1:10

The Music Hall of Fame.

1:12

Okay.

1:13

And he is going to recap the induction that we had last weekends ago.

1:21

Marlo.

1:22

Thank you, Mayor.

1:23

Commissioners, Mandan City staff.

1:26

First, I just want to thank you all for uh allowing us to make Mandan home for the North Dakota.

1:33

Thank you.

1:34

Music Hall of Fame.

1:36

It's an honor to be here.

1:37

And we've worked hard to make sure that Mandan uh stays the home of the Music Hall of Fame.

1:43

And we have a lot of great things that are coming to our town because of this.

1:48

This is just kind of the start.

1:51

And uh I guess there are some photos in here that I'm going to share with you.

1:56

If I do this properly.

2:02

Are you tech challenged, Marlo?

2:04

Um, you know, I'm only called the guru of Geek, but don't uh here we go.

2:10

Usually I have that's usually when I'm fixing things.

2:12

All right, so I'm on here showing the photo.

2:20

So we had four inductees.

2:25

How many how many people in the city of Man able to take to figure this out?

2:30

Well we got an engineer and an IT person.

2:37

It's not as blue.

2:39

Oh, there we go.

2:47

There we go.

2:47

All right.

2:49

Wonderful, wonderful.

2:51

So we had four inductees.

2:53

Uh we had the blenders.

2:54

Many of you probably know the blenders with the uh really really popular with Christmas music.

3:02

And let's see here.

3:04

Again, I'm tech challenged.

3:08

Of course, we had our own Chuck Suki.

3:11

And uh this is Chuck here with his uh Hall of Fame honor.

3:16

Uh if you missed it, it was quite the event.

3:20

Uh having Richard Torrance and Chuck Suki inducted at the same time this year allowed them to play together at the end of the evening.

3:27

Uh that's Richard Torrance accepting his right there.

3:31

And then we also had Skitch Henderson and Susan, um, any of you know Susan from Bismarck with the Bellmy Hughes, uh, accepted that in his honor.

3:42

Uh so those are the four inductees.

3:44

And uh um I thought the crawl, we had a uh music crawl that went on in our city.

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting
Procedural████████████████████████24%
Engineering And Infrastructure████████████████████████24%
Arts And Culture██████████10%
Water And Wastewater Management██████████10%
Budget Equity Analysis████████8%
Public Safety███████7%
Economic Development█████5%
Emergency Management████4%
Fiscal Sustainability████4%
Summary of Proceedings

Mandan City Commission Meeting – October 7, 2025

The Mandan Board of City Commissioners met on October 7, 2025, at 5:30 PM in the Bosch Frailic Meeting Room at Mandan City Hall. The meeting covered announcements, approvals of past minutes and agenda, a consent agenda, and several new business items including the adoption of a five-year financial plan, engineering service agreements, a request for architectural proposals for a new fire station, and final adoption of the 2026 budget with a reduced property tax levy increase.

Announcements

  • Marlo Anderson from the North Dakota Music Hall of Fame recapped the recent induction ceremony (held two weekends prior) featuring four inductees: The Blenders, Chuck Suki, Richard Torrance, and Skitch Henderson (accepted by Susan Bellmy Hughes). He noted a successful music crawl that turned Mandan into Nashville for a day.
  • Fire Chief Bitts presented a new rescue boat for the fire department, funded by an $80,000 project (under half from a North Dakota Game and Fish grant, the remainder from local businesses). The boat is a rigid-hull aluminum craft with infrared technology and side-scanning sonar, intended to fill a response gap for Mandan’s 24 miles of shoreline. Chief Bitts also announced the fire department open house on October 14 at 7 PM at Fire Station 1.
  • Police Chief Ziegler announced the retirement of K9 Cooper (effective October 10, 2025) after six years of service. Cooper will be adopted by his handler, Sergeant Scher. A replacement K9 is planned for the 2027 budget cycle.
  • Administrator Newbauer reminded the commission of the Business Pitch Challenge on October 15 at Central Station (doors 5 PM, presentations 5:30 PM). Four finalists are competing: Dirty Soda Company, Pronto Chore, Learning Lot Child Care, and Dakota Soda.
  • City Engineer Jarek provided a construction update for Memorial Highway (four underground crews, paving through 43rd Avenue, 40th Avenue closed for ~3 more weeks, winter shutdown target November 23), Water Treatment Plant Phase 3 (lime silo work), Collins Avenue Reservoir (wire winding and shotcrete, online late November), 2024 Street Reconstruction (substantially complete, punch list in progress), and 2025 Street Reconstruction (paving starting end of week, chip seal in spring).
  • Administrator Newbauer announced the Art Alley unveiling and ribbon cutting on October 22 at 5:15 PM.
  • Mayor Frelick proclaimed November 1, 2025 as Extra Mile Day.

Consent Calendar

  • The consent agenda was approved unanimously (motion by Commissioner Brown, second by Commissioner Schoberg; roll call: all yes).

Public Comments & Testimony

  • No public comments were offered.

Discussion Items

  • Approval of Agenda and Minutes – The agenda was approved (motion by Commissioner Brown, second by Commissioner Rohr). Minutes from September 16 and September 29, 2025, were approved separately (both unanimous).
  • New Business – Appointment of Vice President – Commissioner Rohr, completing his fourth term (ending June 30, 2026), resigned as Vice Chair to allow appointment of Commissioner Ryan Henshaw as Vice President. The resignation was accepted (motion by Commissioner Brown, second by Commissioner Schoberg; unanimous). Henshaw was then appointed Vice President (motion by Commissioner Rohr, second by Commissioner Schoberg; unanimous). Henshaw thanked the board and noted his 21+ years of service to Mandan.
  • Long-Term Financial Plan Adoption – Justin presented a five-year financial plan for planning purposes. The commission approved it (motion by Commissioner Heinchan, second by Commissioner Rohr; unanimous).
  • Engineering Service Agreement – Master Lift Station Interim Improvements – Jarek recommended Apex Engineering for design and construction administration ($392,000 fee, estimated construction $2.2–2.5 million). The agreement was approved (motion by Commissioner Schoberg, second by Commissioner Heinchan; unanimous). The master lift station collects 75% of the city’s sewage and has aging asbestos cement pipes (installed 1966) and pump station (mid-1970s).
  • Engineering Service Agreements – Street Rehabilitation 2026-3A and Mandan Proper Phase 1 – Jarek recommended Moore Engineering for two task orders (Task Orders 9 and 10) for preliminary engineering on the NW (3A) area (west of 30th Ave NW, near Red Trail Elementary) and the Mandan Proper area (south of Division, north of 6th St NW). The NW project focuses on road surface and drainage; the Mandan Proper project includes full reconstruction with water, storm, and sanitary sewer upgrades. Approved (motion by Commissioner Brown, second by Commissioner Schoberg; unanimous).
  • Request for Proposals – Fire Station No. 3 Architectural Services – Chief Bitts requested authorization to solicit proposals for a new fire station in northwest Mandan due to growth and extended response times. The city owns a site at Hillside Road and Old Red Trail. The RFP will be advertised in October with proposals due November 10. Approved (motion by Commissioner Heinchan, second by Commissioner Schoberg; unanimous).
  • Second Opinion on Wastewater Treatment Plant Master Plan – Jarek recommended HDR to perform a second opinion ($32,000 fee) to validate the plant selection, after the original $68,000 master plan. Approved (motion by Commissioner Schoberg, second by Commissioner Heinchan; unanimous).

Resolutions & Ordinances

  • Final Adoption of 2026 Budget (Ordinance 1473) – Greg presented the final budget ordinance, which includes a reduced library property tax levy ($10,450 decrease) to align with the county’s population-based funding share. The city’s total property tax levy increase is 2.2% (below the 3% cap), but the average existing residential property tax increase is 3.5% due to market value increases. The budget was adopted (motion by Commissioner Heinchan, second by Commissioner Rohr; unanimous).

Key Outcomes

  • Appointments: Ryan Henshaw appointed Vice President of the Board.
  • Contracts: Engineering agreements approved for Master Lift Station (Apex), Street Rehabilitation (Moore), and Wastewater Treatment Plant second opinion (HDR).
  • RFP Authorization: Fire Department authorized to solicit architectural proposals for Fire Station No. 3.
  • Budget Adoption: 2026 budget and 2025 tax levy approved with a 2.2% levy increase.
  • Upcoming Dates: Next meetings October 21, November 4, and November 18, 2025, all at 5:30 PM.

Meeting Transcript

Good evening and welcome. Today is October 7th, 2025. It is 5 30 p.m. and we are in the Bosch Frailic meeting room at Mandan City Hall. Mr. Newbauer, would you please take the role? Commissioners Braun. Here, Roar. Here, Schoberg. Here, Hein Sean. Here. Mayor Frailick. Here. And at this time we will have Officer Josh Scher and Cooper. Lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance. Please stand. Undergisible liberty and justice for all. Thank you, Josh. And we will move to announcements, and we're going to switch this up a little. We have Marlo Anderson from the Music Museus. The Music Hall of Fame. Okay. And he is going to recap the induction that we had last weekends ago. Marlo. Thank you, Mayor. Commissioners, Mandan City staff. First, I just want to thank you all for uh allowing us to make Mandan home for the North Dakota. Thank you. Music Hall of Fame. It's an honor to be here. And we've worked hard to make sure that Mandan uh stays the home of the Music Hall of Fame. And we have a lot of great things that are coming to our town because of this. This is just kind of the start. And uh I guess there are some photos in here that I'm going to share with you. If I do this properly. Are you tech challenged, Marlo? Um, you know, I'm only called the guru of Geek, but don't uh here we go. Usually I have that's usually when I'm fixing things. All right, so I'm on here showing the photo. So we had four inductees. How many how many people in the city of Man able to take to figure this out? Well we got an engineer and an IT person. It's not as blue. Oh, there we go. There we go. All right. Wonderful, wonderful. So we had four inductees. Uh we had the blenders. Many of you probably know the blenders with the uh really really popular with Christmas music.

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