Mandan City Commission Meeting - June 16, 2026: Salary Study, Plat Denial, and Event Permits
Mandan City Commission Meeting - June 16, 2026
The Mandan City Commission met on Tuesday, June 16, 2026, at 5:30 PM in the Bosch Frelec Meeting Room at Mandan City Hall. Commissioners Rohr, Schoberg, Heinchan, and Mayor Frelick were present. The meeting included updates on infrastructure projects, a public hearing on a proposed subdivision plat, approval of special event permits, a salary study presentation, and recognition of Commissioner Dennis Rohr's 16 years of service.
Consent Calendar
- The consent agenda was approved after removing items for separate discussion: Item 6A (Silver Dollar 4th of July Street Dance), Item 6D (Last Call Bar Street Dance and Beer Garden), and Item 2 (Memorial Highway Change Orders 39 and 40).
Public Comments & Testimony
- Keitel South Heart Terrace 5th Edition Plat: Abe Almer (independent land surveying) and Will Gardner (realtor for buyer) spoke against the requirement for an eastern access easement. They argued the access was not needed based on prior approvals, the cost and grade of a potential road, and that the neighbor (Clover Grove) was the one requiring secondary access. They requested approval of the plat as presented.
Discussion Items
- Infrastructure Updates: City Engineer Jarek presented statuses: Memorial Highway Phase 1 expected substantial completion within three weeks; Phase 2 work active at East Main Street. First Street reconstruction progressing, Collins Avenue Reservoir nearing completion, downtown concrete work completed at 60 locations, Lewis & Clark water main paving nearing completion, and Red Trail Elementary mine and blend operations underway.
- Buggies & Blues Recap: Matt (MPO) reported record attendance of 30,000–35,000 for the car show and over 500 vehicles. The event was safe with no incidents.
- 4th of July Events: Matt previewed the Pyro Musical fireworks show on July 3rd at 10:30 PM near Mandan Middle School, featuring over 5,000 shots, a 140-foot suspended wheel, and a skydive. The parade on July 4th is full with 76 floats and special entries. Estimated crowds: 40,000–50,000 for July 4th and 12,000–15,000 for the fireworks.
- Safety Planning: Captain Pat Haug reported successful use of 32 archer barriers at Buggies & Blues. For July 3rd and 4th, additional security features include buses blocking avenues, foot patrols, electric bicycles, UTVs, and a new vehicle incursion control point at 10th Avenue and Main Street.
- Salary Study: Condre Associates presented results showing Mandan at 90% of labor market. Three pay plans were offered: Plan A (102.5% of market, cost $570,754), Plan B (100%, cost $396,903), and Plan C (97.5%, cost $242,443). City Administrator Amy recommended Plan C plus equity adjustments (up to 4% for longer-tenured employees) and a minimum 3.5% increase for all employees to match the Employment Cost Index. A compensation market alignment policy was also proposed.
- Emergency Water Main Replacement: Public Works Director Shane O'Keefe requested emergency declaration for a deteriorated water main on 14th Street NE and Collins Avenue, with multiple failures and three commercial customers on temporary service. The project would use jack and bore to replace 500 feet of 8-inch pipe at standard depth.
- Special Event Permit Moratorium: Commissioner Heinchan proposed a moratorium on new applications for special event permits that include alcohol on public property, pending formation of a committee to evaluate safety and consistency. A motion passed to create the committee and pause new alcohol-related applications until the committee meets.
- Ordinance 1487: Second consideration to amend traffic penalties (doubling fines) was approved with no public comments.
Key Outcomes
- Keitel South Heart Terrace 5th Edition Plat: Motion to deny the preliminary plat, zone change, and development agreement as presented (due to lack of eastern access easement). Passed 4–0.
- Memorial Highway Change Orders 39 and 40: Approved (increase of ~$40,000, net change order savings ~$475,000). Passed 4–0.
- Silver Dollar 4th of July Street Dance: Special event permit approved with condition requiring a physical barrier (e.g., Jersey barriers) on Main Street. Passed 4–0.
- Last Call Bar Street Dance and Beer Garden: Special event permit approved for June 26, 2026, for McQuaid's Softball Weekend, with awareness of updated police hourly rate ($75) and garbage coordination. Passed 4–0.
- Salary Study: Three motions approved:
- Adoption of Salary Plan C (97.5% of market) with open range, effective first pay period of 2027 (December 27, 2026). Passed 4–0.
- Minimum employee increase of 3.5% for 2027 based on Employment Cost Index. Passed 4–0.
- Approval of Compensation Market Alignment Policy for future guidance. Passed 4–0.
- Emergency Water Main Replacement: Declared emergency and approved proceeding with replacement. Passed 4–0.
- Moratorium on Alcohol-Related Event Permits: Motion passed to task Administrator Neubauer with forming a committee and pausing new applications until the committee meets. Passed 4–0.
- Ordinance 1487 (Traffic Penalties): Approved on second reading. Passed 4–0.
- Recognition: Commissioner Dennis Rohr was honored for 16 years of commission service and 37 total years with the City of Mandan.
Meeting Transcript
Welcome to today is June 16th, 2026. It is 5:30 p.m. We are in the Bosch Frelec meeting room at Mandan City Hall. Mr. Newbauer, could you please take the roll? Commissioners Rohr. Here. Schoberg. Here. Hein Chan. Here. Ron. Mayor Freelick. Here. And at this time, we will have Dennis Rohr. Lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance. This is Dennis's last meeting after 16 years as a city commissioner. So Dennis. I appreciate that. Thank you. Pledge of the flag in the United States of America. And to the Republic for which it just stands. Underground. In the visible liberty and justice for all. Mayor and Commissioners, good evening. Let me pull up my presentation here. Same group of projects that I had last time. Starting out with Memorial Highway. Once again, reiterating phase one is the east half that's being constructed by Red Construction. We're expecting that to be substantially completed in the next three weeks leading on leading up to 4th of July. Phase two is the west half that's being constructed by Northern Improvement. They are active at East Main Street right now, as well as on corridor doing some work at this point in time. For this portion of the project, we're expecting all travel lanes, turn lanes, and medians to be completed, pavement marking to be installed. We'll have signals installed likely, but they'll be operating in default mode rather than like smart phasing and stuff like that. Our bike path and sidewalk are likely not going to be all the way complete but nearly complete. And then we'll also have some minor signage landscaping and punch list items that will need to be addressed after the 4th of July holiday. For the west half, we have construction kind of ramping up, kind of in a different uh stage in that project. Main Street and Mandan Avenue intersection is expected to be complete by June 27th. Um on the roadway is expected to be completed this week, so there should be traffic control out of that area. Um street right street light removal and westbound widening was should be complete next week, and that's on the corridor, um just uh on the north side of the corridor by Riverwood Avenue. And then we're expecting work to begin east of Riverwood Avenue and have some traffic shifts in the uh coming weeks. Any questions on Memorial Highway? Oh, I should talk, I should talk about one thing that we've been getting a lot of questions about. There is a lot of discharge happening in the northwest corner of Memorial Highway and Third Street. That discharge is from groundwater dewatering efforts for that west half project. So that is they have groundwater wells that are collecting and pumping it to that location at the northwest corner, and then that is going through the our storm system and ultimately discharging into the ditch on the south side of the tracks and getting out to the Missouri eventually. Mayor Jared, I know Robert Senior. Yeah, under the railroad pass there, there's asphalt there now. Is that that's just temporary you say? Is that gonna be all concrete later on?
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