Mandan City Commission Meeting – July 7, 2026
Mandan City Commission Meeting – July 7, 2026
The Mandan City Commission met on July 7, 2026, at 5:30 p.m. in the Ed Bosch Frelec meeting room at Mandan City Hall. The meeting included construction updates, employee anniversary recognitions, a recap of the Fourth of July celebrations, approval of a consent agenda with two items pulled for discussion, a bid award for reservoir coating, a task order for Riverwood Avenue design, a preliminary engineering agreement for the wastewater treatment facility expansion, authorization to advertise bids for a landfill cell excavation, and a second reading of a zone change ordinance. The commission also voted to enter executive session to discuss contract negotiation strategies.
Announcements & Reports
- Construction Updates (Jared Johnson, Public Works): Johnson reported on multiple projects: the 14th Street/Collins Avenue intersection conversion to two-way, now under evaluation with a possible extension due to a water line replacement project near Eagles Park; the Terra Valley Decommissioning project with a sewer main tie-in on 8th Avenue Northwest this week; Memorial Highway Phase 1 (east half) nearing completion with final pavement markings and punch list items, and Phase 2 (west half) with work shifting to the south side of Main Street and underground utility work on the south side of the roadway through mid-to-late August; the First Street downtown improvement project with phases 1 and 2 underway; Water and Sewer District 65 near Lewis and Clark nearing substantial completion with remaining landscaping and a final walkthrough; and Street Improvement District 241 near Red Trail Elementary where ADA ramps are being poured and reclamation operations completed this week. A QR code was shared for the city's project landing page (cityofmandan.com/projects).
- Quarterly Employee Anniversary Recognition (Burger): 14 employees were recognized for service milestones (3, 5, 10, 15, 20 years). Four absent employees were acknowledged by name, and ten present employees received certificates.
- Fourth of July Festivities Recap (Matt Shannon): Shannon reported record-breaking attendance. Art in the Park on July 3 drew an estimated 8,000–10,000 people. The Pyro Musical fireworks show on July 3 featured a 700-foot-wide shoot site with 37 fireballs (400 gallons of gas) and an estimated 5,000 on-site viewers plus 4,000–5,000 in the periphery. The July 4 parade had over 100 entries and an estimated 50,000 attendees. The road race had 990 registered runners, breaking the previous record of 711. Two large flags (U.S. and North Dakota) were debuted. Shannon thanked the property owner (Dr. Belage), Mandan Public Schools, Mandan PD, Fire Department, Public Works, Morton County Emergency Management, Metro Ambulance, city employees, and the commission for their support.
Public Comments & Testimony
- No public comments were offered.
Consent Calendar
- Approval of Agenda: Motion by Commissioner Heinschan, second by Commissioner Brown. Unanimously approved.
- Approval of Minutes: Three sets of minutes were approved unanimously:
- June 16, 2026 Board of City Commission meeting
- June 30, 2026 Board of City Commission potential quorum meeting
- June 30, 2026 Board of City Commission special meeting
- July 6, 2026 Board of City Commission special meeting
- Consent Agenda (Items 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11): Motion by Commissioner Heinschan, second by Commissioner Brown. Approved unanimously. Items 2 and 9 were pulled for separate discussion.
Discussion Items
- Item 2: Change Orders 1 & 2 for First Street Reconstruction Project (Riley): Unexpected clay tile pipe was discovered instead of PVC, requiring difficult removal and manhole modification. The net cost increase was approximately $33,000. The DOT granted a 2-day extension (not the requested 10 days). Motion to approve by Commissioner Schoberg, second by Commissioner Brown. Unanimously approved.
- Item 9: Task Order with HDR for Design of Riverwood Avenue Southeast (Riley): The project would coordinate with the Memorial Highway project to avoid future disruptions. Business owners expressed support. Ground penetrating radar (GPR) was not included due to out-of-state mobilization costs, but the option to add it later was discussed. Motion to approve by Commissioner Schoberg, second by Commissioner Heinschan. Unanimously approved.
- New Business – Engineering Service Agreement with AE2S for Wastewater Treatment Facility Project (Jared Johnson and Zach Ranisate): Ranisate presented the project background: population growth has exceeded biological capacity (by 2035, projections were exceeded by 35%), lack of redundancy in the clarifier (not shut down since 1997), and odor issues. The project will build a new liquids and solids treatment train, with a total project cost of $120 million. The preliminary engineering agreement is for $1.855 million. The project schedule: preliminary design through end of 2026, final design in 2027, construction Q1 2028 – Q3 2030, and startup by Q2 2031. Construction Manager at Risk (CMAR) will provide cost estimates at 30%, 60%, and 90% design, and a guaranteed maximum price. Motion to approve by Commissioner Schoberg, second by Commissioner Bolovic. Unanimously approved.
- New Business – Authorization to Advertise Bids for Landfill Cell Excavation Project (Shane O'Keefe): The proposed new cell is 275 ft long, 150 ft wide, and 30 ft deep, requiring excavation of ~65,000 cubic yards. Estimated cost is $325,000. The project is needed to maintain disposal capacity and comply with ND Department of Environmental Quality regulations. The authorization is only to advertise for bids; final award will come after bids are received. Motion by Commissioner Schoberg, second by Commissioner Brown. Unanimously approved.
- Resolution & Ordinances – Second Consideration of Ordinance 1485 (Zone Change): Jordan presented the zone change for the old school district property, changing portions to R7 (single-family), R3.2 (two-family), CA (commercial), and CC (commercial). Only comment received was that the grass looks nice. She thanked citizens for their patience during the project. Motion to approve by Commissioner Brown, second by Commissioner Schoberg. Unanimously approved.
Key Outcomes
- Votes and Decisions:
- Agenda and minutes approved unanimously.
- Consent agenda (minus items 2 and 9) approved unanimously.
- Bid award for South Side Reservoir Coating Project to Car Coatings LLC for $163,450, with a budget amendment of $37,450, approved unanimously.
- Change orders 1 & 2 for First Street Reconstruction Project approved unanimously.
- Task order with HDR for Riverwood Avenue design approved unanimously.
- Preliminary engineering agreement with AE2S for wastewater treatment facility expansion approved unanimously.
- Authorization to advertise bids for landfill cell excavation project approved unanimously.
- Ordinance 1485 (zone change) approved on second reading unanimously.
- Executive Session: The commission voted to enter executive session at 6:23 p.m. to discuss contract negotiation strategies for a specific parcel (lot J of SW quarter SW quarter, etc.). The session was recorded, and no final action was taken in the open meeting after reconvening (the meeting adjourned without further open action recorded).
Meeting Transcript
Welcome to the Mandan City Commission meeting on July 7th, 2026. We're in the Ed Bosch Frelec meeting room, Mandan City Hall. It is 5 30 p.m. Mr. Newbauer, could you please take the roll call? Commissioners. Heinchan. Here. Bronn here. Bolavik. Here. Showberg. Here. Mayor Frelick. Here. And at this time, we will have our very own Jared Johnson from Command and Public Works Department lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance. Please remove any hats and stand. Hi. Congratulations to the flag of the United States of America. It just stands under God. Thank you, Jared. And at this time we will move to announcements and we'll go with construction updates. Jerek. Mayor Commissioners, good evening. Here I'm trying to pull up my presentation. There we go. Have a few new faces on this list and dropped off a few of our projects that are nearing completion. First one I wanted to talk about is one that has uh kind of been a hot topic in the last week. Uh last Tuesday we did convert the 14th Street and Collins Avenue intersection from a four-way intersection to a two-way intersection in anticipation of the large 4th of July festivities north of the interstate. Um we did do this, we did do a traffic study ahead of this recommended conversion, and we do want to uh utilize utilize this time to do further analysis on the real world performance of the intersection as a two-way intersection. Um we had initially planned for a two-week conversion, though there is now a water line replacement project happening just south of Eagles Park, and we may want to extend it to get actual real world conditions represented in our uh traffic analysis. And then uh piggyback piggybacking on that, there is a water main uh reconstruction happening that was uh subject at a couple commission meetings ago, and it was for the emergency replacement of the water main between Collins Avenue and I think Ann's place just to the east. Uh and that uh that work will be ongoing for a little while now. Um another one that hasn't uh been talked about much at these commission meetings is our Terra Valley Decommissioning Project. Um this construction project includes the installation of a gravity sanitary sewer main from 8th Avenue Northwest down the hill to 1806 tying into a trunk sewer line. Um there is a connection in to a manhole in the middle of 8th Avenue Northwest that needs to occur this week. So we're expecting some uh construction related traffic closures along 8th Avenue Northwest associated with this tie-in. Just wanted to make everybody aware of that, and we will be sharing this with our communications department to get um more information out there. Uh Memorial Highway. We've got our phase one and phase two. Phase one being the east half of the project constructed by Redeconstruction, phase two being the west half of the project constructed by Northern Improvement. Um the east half uh is very close to completion. The focus right now is completing the 40th Avenue intersection. Um this week we are expecting TSS to finish pavement markings and signage. Uh we have other kind of smaller to mid-size items remaining, such as the shared use path, sidewalk, tie other concrete tie-ins that kind of need to be wrapped up, and then we have a lot of punchless items that include um landscaping and um maybe repairing some some areas that have cracked or failed and just punch list project closeout items, but very close to completion on the east half of the project. Uh west half of the project, uh a lot of work was happening around the main street intersection ahead of 4th of July, and then traffic uh traffic control, temporary traffic control was removed. And then after 4th of July, it has been put back up, except for the work at the intersection has shifted to the south side of the intersection. So the traffic patterns at the intersection of Main Street and Memorial Highway are uh fairly different from what they were prior to the 4th of July uh holiday. Um there is also underground utility work occurring between 24th Avenue and Riverwood Avenue and uh on the south side of the roadway, and there was a temporary asphalt uh lane extension done on the north side of the roadway to accommodate this work. We're expecting that segment of utility work to be completed sometime in mid to late August.
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