The Mandan Board of City Commissioners met on Tuesday, May 5, 2026, at 5:30 PM in the Bosch Frelec meeting room at Mandan City Hall. Mayor Frelick presided, with Commissioners Braun, Rohr, Schilberg, and Heinchon present. The meeting opened with the Pledge of Allegiance led by Tristan Kosick of the Mandan Progress Organization (MPO). Key topics included updates on major infrastructure projects, upcoming community events, approval of variances and plats, and the selection of a design consultant for the wastewater treatment plant.
Welcome. Today is Cinco de Mayo, and for our friends in Bismarck, that is May the 5th, 2026. It is 5:30 p.m. and we are in the Bosch Frelec meeting room in Mandan City Hall. Mr. Neubauer, could you please take the roll? Commissioner Braun. Roar. Chair Schilberg. Here. Hein Challenge. Here. Mayor Freelick. I'm here. At this time we will have Tristan Kosick with the Mandan Progress Organization. Lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge to the flag of the United States of America. To the Republic for which it stands. One nation. Under God. Individual liberty and justice. All right, we'll start out with announcements. And uh first one up is Fire Chief Mitch Bitts with NORSA Fire Department Sales Tax Initiative Public Information Meetings. Good evening, Mayor and Commissioners. Uh thank you for the opportunity to uh remind our residents of our public input information meeting on uh May 18th at 6 p.m. down at Fort Lincoln Elementary School. Um during that time, we're gonna do a small presentation and just kind of lay out um some of our uh thought process and the need for uh station three and uh the facts that are related to the sales tax. It's gonna be on the June uh 2026 ballot to continue that existing sales tax from the Starring Sports Complex to uh reallocate that to the fire department. So um invite the public to come out, interact with us and uh ask questions and um just stop in and say hi if they're able. Okay, thank you, Mitch. Um could you also comment on last night's fire in Bismarck and the Mandan Department's response? How that works. Yep, absolutely, Mayor, uh Commissioner. So uh unfortunately our neighbors in Bismarck did uh have a significant uh structure fire last night. Um large uh multifamily residential unit. And those are very taxing uh from a from a labor uh standpoint or our our forces. So we have a very strong working relationship with Bismarck Fire Department, and they uh called for some of our equipment. Uh we have to have a mobile air trailer, which is part of a regional response team, and that's exactly what it's designed for, um, is to take out a large incidents like that, um, help fill air bottles on scene rather than having to transport bottles back and forth to the station. And then we also sent a crew over a little bit later just to assist with uh personnel. Um again, and there's very labor-intensive operations, and Bismarck has helped us out many times, and we work very well together, so it's reciprocal gesture. We have received a few phone calls just to mention um asking where people can donate. Uh the City of Bismarck website uh does have some information on it. Uh the North Dakota Lions Emergency Relief Group is kind of leading the charge on that, or the Chrysler Crisis Care Chaplain Chryseless Crisis Care Chaplaincy, uh Salvation Army or American Red Cross are also good places to donate. So answers your questions. Yes, did thank you, Mitch. Now we will have construction updates. Mayor and Commissioners. Um we've got a lot of projects that are kind of starting up officially uh in around town. Um first uh as always is the Memorial Highway project. Um got uh graphic up on screen just to kind of remind everybody that this is a two-phase project with two different contractors, and um you know that while they are coordinated and communicated as one project, there might be some nuances in between the two.