West Fargo City Commission meeting.

Before we start, I would respectfully ask that everybody silence their cell phones with the exception of emergency personnel.

We call the meeting to order.

Please join the commission in a pledge of allegiance.

One is fall.

The secretary will call a roll shortly.

Commissioner Anderson is not going to be with us this evening.

And Commissioner Jorgensen is zooming in.

Madam Secretary, please call the roll.

Um it looks like Commissioner Jorgensen is still trying to connect.

So Commissioner.

Oh, he's on.

Just kidding.

Come on, Emily.

Commissioner Jorgensen.

Present.

Commissioner Zondell.

Present.

Commissioner Dartis.

Here.

Commissioner Olson.

Here.

Thank you.

Let the record show there are four commissioners present.

Next order of business is to approve the order of the agenda.

It has been distributed and is in front of you.

I would make a motion to make number two, the public hearing that we have really item 3A and the library carpet replacement item 3B.

Is there a second?

Second.

Of a motion and a second to amend the regular agenda moving uh an item number two to three A with regard to the second reading.

Is there any discussion?

Hearing none, all those in favor, please signify by saying aye.

Aye.

Aye.

Aye.

Opposed.

Motion carried.

For the public record, the reason that we move that is the item under 2A to approve the second reading of the adoption of the city's updated flood management ordinance is not a public is not a public hearing.

So that's the reason that it was inadvertently put there.

And so that's why we're changing it.

We have an approval of the agenda.

We move on to the approval of the minutes of August 4th.

So moved.

Thank you, Commissioner Olson.

Is there a second?

Second.

Commissioner Sondell seconds.

I have a motion and a second to approve the minutes of August 4th as distributed.

Is there any discussion?

Hearing none, all those in favor, please signify by saying aye.

Aye.

Aye.

Aye.

Opposed.

Motion carried.

Next order is the building permits.

Again, the building permit report has been distributed and in your packets.

Move to approve.

Commissioner Zundal moves to approve.

Is there a second, please?

Second.

Sorry.

Commissioner Jorgensen seconds.

Been moved and seconded to approve the building permits as distributed.

Is there any discussion?

Hearing none.

Sorry, Brandon, this was the building permits.

Yes.

I'm sorry, I need to recuse myself.

All right.

Thank you, Commissioner Jorgensen.

Commissioner Jorgensen recuses himself from the building permits.

So can he second it then?

You cannot second it at all.

I'll have a second by Commissioner Olson.

Okay.

Um a motion and a second.

Any discussion.

All those in favor, please signify by saying aye.

Aye.

Aye.

Opposed?

Motion carried.

Let the record show the vote was three to one.

One recusing himself.

Commissioner Jorgensen.

30, right?

30.

Did I say four?

You said three one.

I'll be okay.

It's moving on.

We are now on the consent agenda.

Items I through I.

A through I, excuse me.

Move the approve.

Commissioner Zundow moves to approve the consent agenda.

Items A through I.

Is there a second?

Oh second.

Commissioner Jorgensen seconds.

We have a motion and a second to approve the consent agenda as distributed, items A through I.

Is there any discussion?

Hearing none.

All those in favor, please signify by saying aye.

Aye.

Aye.

Opposed?

Motion carried.

The next order of business in the regular agenda is item number one.

Item number one is public comment.

We have one individual signed up for public conduct comment, excuse me, Mr.

Steve Marcourt.

Please use this microphone, sir.

Good evening and welcome.

Good evening, Commissioners.

Tonight on your agenda, you are asked to consider and approve the establishment of two street improvement districts for mill and overlay of the asphalt surface.

There is no mention in the agenda items if these projects ultimately will be put out for public bid, or if the city plans to utilize its own forces to complete this work.

The city is currently undertaking project 2290 in the West Side area with its own crews.

Of the projects done by the city crews.

Additionally, the same type of question as it relates the time to complete the project.

Actual versus the estimate.

The reason for these questions is there is a strong feeling that the city is not saving money by utilizing its own crews and equipment for this type of work.

And additionally, may not be getting the same quality of work as professional contractor would provide.

As to why this concern is being raised.

Thank you for your time.

Thank you.

Again, for the record, there is only one individual signed up for public comment, Mr.

Marco.

So we move on.

The next order of business is a discussion by uh Jerry Wallace, City Engineer, with regarding to a uh flood management ordinance.

The purpose of this discussion is to approve the second reading regarding the adoption of the city's updated flood plan management ordinance.

Mr.

Wallace, good evening and welcome.

Thank you, Mr.

President, Mr.

Commission President and Commissioners.

Uh, appreciate your time tonight.

Uh I'll try to be brief here.

Uh there's not really a whole lot of new information to discuss.

Uh this is the second time you're seeing this item.

Um essentially, this has been uh, as Mayor DARTAS, I'm sure can attest, you know, there's been a lot of back and forth between FEMA and us, um, the changes that are taking place to the Cass County flood insurance study and uh our requirements uh from the effects of that.

Um essentially, this is just trying to keep us current uh with the National Flood Insurance Program and uh the new flood insurance rate maps.

Um I'm here tonight.

Uh I guess recommending uh adoption of the city's updated floodplain management ordinance, and and with that I'll stand for any questions you may have.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Commissioners, any questions from Mr.

Wallace?

Any changes from the first reading to the second reading?

Uh there was I I believe just some very minor uh typos that call on Katie Schmidt, legal counsel for the city of West Fargo that helps draft the ordinance.

Yeah, there were minor changes that switched to align phrases with definitions that had been changed.

So those were the only items.

Okay.

Thank you.

Any additional questions for Mr.

Wallace?

Anyone?

We approve.

Commissioner Olson moves to approve.

Is there a second?

Second.

Commissioner Zundell seconds.

I have a motion and a second to approve the second reading of the adoptions of the city's updated flood plan management ordinance.

Is there any discussion?

Hearing none, all those in favor, please signify by saying aye.

Aye.

Thank you for your time tonight.

Motion carried.

Thank you, Mr.

Wallace.

Next order of business is 3B, which is the library carpet replacement.

We're going to call on Jenna Cayley, uh, the library director.

Purpose of the discussion is to award a project to all states flooring.

Good evening and welcome.

Thank you, Commissioner President and Commissioners.

Appreciate the time tonight.

Um the request is coming to you in a smaller scope than what had previously been approved in the capital improvement sales tax plan.

Um the intent here is to save the taxpayers of West Fargo a little bit of money while still meeting the carpet needs of the West Fargo library.

So after talking to some engineers and designers and some other people, we reduced the scope previously when we had quoted this out for inclusion in the capital improvement plan.

And we were looking at doing all of the flooring in the carpet as it's worn.

Since then, we've learned that due to the design of the library, um, it's not particularly feasible to do the top floor where we have our tallest shelving due to how the shelving is built.

Um we'd have to add some additional um support underneath the balcony, and that's where we do our children's story time, which is our most popular program.

That would be a major disruption to services.

We'd also have to hire a structural engineer.

And frankly, we don't own that building.

We lease that space.

Also, the top floor was the least worn carpet in the building underneath those stacks.

So we scaled back the project a bit and looked at replacing the most worn carpet.

So the project that was scoped out for these quotes is the carpet on the stairs and the main floor.

That's why the costs are significantly reduced from what we had looked at previously.

So if we look at the quotes that came in, um, the lowest quote was for all states flooring for just under 43,000.

Uh there will be some additional costs.

We're look at looking at hiring some movers to help us move the shelving and some of the desks on that main floor again to minimize the disturbance to library services.

And um we probably will purchase some additional um book trucks to move some of our library materials as well to try to keep them in order so we can get them back on the shelves quickly as well.

So looking for um permission to award that to the lowest bidder.

Thank you.

Commissioners, any questions?

Commissioner Olson.

Um with the additional costs you mentioned about hiring some movers and other things like that.

Will that be using the uh capital improvement uh sales tax funds or different funds?

Yes, we'd like to use the capital improvement funds as well.

So you're gonna go out with bids on that and bring that back to us so we know what it is before we just give you the I have gotten some bids already.

Um the quotes for the movers came in at um around six thousand dollars so far.

I was working with public works on those bids.

Okay.

For the record, uh this carpet replacement was in the 2024 budget in the CPS uh commu I'll be all right.

Community improvement capital improvement plan.

So that uh that is why she's asking permission, being the scope of the project has changed.

But this was included in our 2024 for CIP.

Yeah.

Any more discussions, Ms.

Caye.

I move that we uh award the project to all states flooring.

Thank you.

I have a motion.

Is there a second?

Second.

Commissioner Olson seconds.

We have a motion and a second to award a project of all states flooring for the library carpet replacement for the sum of 42,775 plus uh the contractor that will be chosen to help move the uh bookshelves.

Is there any discussion?

Hearing none, all those in favor, please signify by saying aye.

Aye.

Opposed?

Motion carried.

Thank you.

Thank you, Commission.

Item number four.

Shadowwood neighborhood mill and overlay.

We're gonna call on Mr.

Dan Hanson, Senior Director of Community and Development.

The purpose of this discussion is to create an improvement district number 2296 and direct the engineer topreneur and engineers report.

Good evening, Mr.

Hanson and Walker.

Thank you, Commissioner President Dartis and Commissioners.

Uh this project was originally part of a a different project in 2023.

Uh we had a project that we had brought forward where we were going to mill and overlay seven different neighborhoods, and uh we had a resolution of necessity that was passed at that time in a hearing of protest was conducted.

And of that at that time, we had 31 submitted official protests of us creating that district.

Still exist.

These are neighborhoods that are in generally speaking about 15 years old in that neighborhood where the original original construction happened about 15 years ago.

It's time for a mill and overlay to restore the surface, get things smooth again.

There's some settlement that's occurred in in the curb and gutter and in the roadways.

I'm being back in front of you for approval to move forward.

We're scaling it back a little bit.

We're just moving forward, potentially with two different uh neighborhoods, and we're treating those as two separate districts.

Uh one of the things from the first one was we had the vast majority of the protests come out of one neighborhood before.

Uh the the two neighborhoods in front of us tonight uh were neighborhoods uh that were previously designed for that project, and in the packet for both of these projects, uh there's the uh the map that was presented uh at the resolution of necessity public hearing, and uh that showed that in these two neighborhoods, in each of the neighborhoods, there was only one parcel that had written a protest against the creation of that district.

So these were two neighborhoods that were not really contested, uh which would lead you to believe that they wanted the project to happen.

Uh also, as I stated at a recent commission meeting, uh we have received uh numerous phone calls um from residents in these day neighborhoods wondering uh when help is on the way.

And so the intent would be to bring forth uh generally speaking about two neighborhoods, or maybe if there's some smaller ones, potentially three, uh, and over the next several years, uh starting in 2026, uh starting to do those revitalization program uh projects, mill and overlay projects to the south side uh for these neighborhoods that are of that age that are showing uh deterioration of the roadways, including settlement.

So uh the one that's in front of us right now is the Shadowwood neighborhood.

Um again that had about 150 single-family homes in it.

And uh again, only in the previous project, only one resident uh wrote a letter of protest for that.

So in the in the packet is an improvement district map that shows uh the area that we're looking to uh improve with this mill and overlay.

Uh the only difference between the Can we please call the map up so the public can see it?

Yeah, I can scroll down.

Thank you.

There you go.

Uh so basically, all of these uh all of these roadways within uh that district, and then also since then uh we have added this cul-de-sac uh just to the north because there will have there have been people that have been reaching out and just due to the vicinity of that cul-de-sac, we looked to add it to this project as well.

Uh and then also on 36th Avenue East, there is a couple stretches where there's some been some uh pretty heavy settlement that public works in recent years has just uh put some asphalt in there to make it uh rideable, but we'd like to fix that so that the curb and gutter uh drains properly.

So those would be uh what we're looking to include in this project.

Uh tonight we're just looking to create that district and direct the engineer to prepare an engineer's report where we will uh go analyze the costs.

Uh also to be mentioned since we had that project that was in front of you uh in 2023.

Uh we had the 2024 CIP where we changed the assessment percentage where as previously uh mill and overlay projects were 100 percent assessed.

When we brought back that uh when we brought forth that project in 2023, we had proposed 80 percent assessments on that project uh with our new capital improvement plan in place that has a suggested percentage of 50 percent assessed and a 50 percent cost share by the city for that.

Um also uh both of these projects are intended to be designed and bid and constructed by uh a contractor not using uh city of uh West Fargo Public Works Forces to do these mill and overlay projects.

And with that, I would stand for any questions.

Questions for Mr.

Hanson Anyone?

Do we want to do this each separately?

There are two separate projects and two separate districts, so yes, I would do it separate.

Okay, I'll make the motion on this one to approve.

Commissioner Olson moves to approve moves to approve or create an improvement district 2296 and direct the engineer to prepare an engineer's report.

Is there a second?

Second.

Commissioner Zundell seconds.

I have a motion and the second.

Is there any further discussion?

Hearing none, all those in favor, please signify by saying aye.

Aye.

Opposed.

Motion carried.

Thank you, Mr.

Hanson.

Thank you.

Item number five is the South Pond neighborhood, Mill and Overlay.

Again, we call on Mr.

Dan Hanson, Senior Director of Community and Development.

Purpose of this discussion is to create an improvement district number 2297 and direct the engineer to prepare an engineer's report.

Thank you, continue.

President Dartis and Commissioners, the exact same presentation for this uh project as the previous project, so I won't go back through all the details.

Uh it is just a different area.

Uh this is the South Pond neighborhood.

And you can see if you can zoom out a little bit.

What you see in front of you is the improvement district that we're looking to create for this one.

Uh again, it's uh this is also intended to be uh bid uh designed uh publicly bid and constructed uh by uh a contractor and not public works forces for this project.

And with that, I'd entertain questions.

Questions for Mr.

Hansen?

Commissioner Zundow.

Is there a reason that Freedom Elementary is excluded from this district?

Or like the other business on Blue Stream Drive, it looks like we've kind of uh Blue STEM Drive is not it proposed to be improved with this uh project, it's just within the neighborhood, uh the local roads within the neighborhood that exit out.

Um Freedom Elementary just has the exits out onto uh fourth.

It does not access any of these roadways.

Uh and so we were looking at this as more of a uh local improvement more than a regional improvement.

So that's why there isn't anything outside of the boundaries of the of the neighborhoods uh being proposed to be assessed with this.

And then the other business.

Well, I guess so Blue Strum isn't so you're leaving the other business grouping out of it because they only exit and enter from Blue Strand.

Would that be correct?

Uh that's I I believe that's correct if I understood your question right.

So eventually we're gonna be uh we'll be doing improvements to Blue STEM and they they will be getting uh assessed for the improvements on that uh on that road.

But right now it's just local to the neighborhood.

Commissioner Olson.

So on your map, the grayed out streets are the ones that you're gonna do the mill and overlay on, so it won't be 31st Avenue.

Correct?

Uh that is correct.

Okay.

That's why it looks okay.

Okay.

I will say that once we get into design, uh 31st Avenue is included in the district.

So I mean it the road will be looked at, but um this is reflective of what we brought forth in 2023.

Assuming that there hasn't been any uh further major degradation of those roadways.

Uh we would be just looking to do what's grayed out as yeah, as you mentioned.

Okay.

Additional questions for Mr.

Hanson.

All right.

Commissioners.

Move to approve.

Mr.

Olson moves to approve the improvement district number 2297 and direct an engineer to prepare an engineer's report.

Is there a second?

Second.

Commissioner Zondell seconds.

We have a motion and the second to create the improvement district number 2297.

Is there any discussion?

Hearing none, all those in favor, please signify by saying aye.

Aye opposed.

Motion carried.

Item number six is ninth street northeast, main avenue to 12th Avenue Northeast.

We can again, Mr.

Dan Hanson, senior director of community and development.

We'll have a discussion with regard to create an improvement district number 2265 and direct the engineer to prepare an engineer's report.

Thank you, Commissioner President Dartis and Commissioners.

Uh this is a project that has been underway for quite some time now from the planning stages uh back, I believe as early as 2020.

Um in 2026, it is intended that 9th Street Northeast and 7th Avenue Northeast will be reconstructed.

Uh 9th Street Northeast will be from Main Avenue all the way north to 12th Avenue with it uh some improvements of the roundabout at that intersection.

And then 7th Avenue Northeast would be reconstructed from 9th Street Northeast, going east about 1,300 feet into the City of Fargo.

But that will complete complete the roadway with a concrete urbanized section all the way through that corridor.

Also included are some multi-use paths for pedestrians.

That also helped us get some of the grant money that we were able to receive with this project.

And right now we're in the process of design.

And it would be to be constructed in 2026.

So there is approximately say about 1200 feet of 9th Street that is not included in this project.

This is just the improvements of the at grade pieces of that pro of that roadway.

And uh the bridge project will be bid as a separate bid package in uh we're estimating that to be bid in uh likely in December.

And all of the construction would be intended to take place in 26 uh with some uh punch list items and potentially some additional bridge finishing up uh in 27 on that project, uh but that's separate from this one.

Um with this project, it is intended uh to have special assessments, and these would be more of the regional uh type of special assessments.

I'll I'm happy to say that uh as I presented in the past, we've been very successful in gaining grant uh grants for this project uh with a total estimated cost of the uh 26,244,000 dollars.

Um we do have uh grant funding in the amount of eighteen million four hundred dollars, uh and then also the city of Fargo's estimated cost would be about three point nine million dollars for that.

So um by the time you get down and and take the the grant out of it and the Fargo share out of it.

Um we're estimating that it preliminarily that it is about 7.8 million dollars worth of local project costs and per the 2024 CIP for regional roadways, we assess 70 percent of those costs, and the city assumes 30 percent of those costs, and so where that breaks down eventually into uh would be uh preliminary at about 6.3 million dollars that would be split between assessments and city funds.

Again, today is to just create the district and authorize it uh the engineer to prepare an engineer's report.

So uh there's a chance that these numbers can change a little bit with that engineer's report, but I wanted to give you just a snapshot of of where we believe that we're at to date.

Um I'll just bring up the map just to give a a better interpretation of what we're planning to reconstruct.

So uh you can see 9th Street would be from Maine all the way up to 12th, and then again, as I mentioned, 7th Avenue from 9th Street east into Fargo to where it ties into their urbanized section.

And again, we would be skipping over the piece of 9th Street that is where the railroad is located right there.

So and then uh there would be two there is one assessment, I'm sorry, improvement district for this project uh where the costs for 9th street would be assessed to the east and to the west, and then the costs for 7th Avenue would be split to the north and the south because we don't want anybody west of 9th street paying for anything to do with 7th Avenue because they already got assessed when 7th Avenue west of 9th Street was constructed.

So uh to keep it uh fair, it's just people that are perpendicular to the project.

And uh so you can see the the dashed line is the overall improvement district, and within it, there's a couple different uh there's a green and more of a cyan type of uh other colors that are being shown.

Those are the two sub areas that would be 9th street and 7th Avenue assessments.

And with that, I would entertain any questions.

Questions from Mr.

Hanson?

More of a comment?

Please, Commissioner Rolson.

Under first paragraph, just to typo there.

I hope it doesn't take until 20,206 to to complete.

Well, that's just punch list stuff.

Oh, most of everything will be done in 26, but we're giving ourselves an extra thousand years or so or whatever that number works out to be just to finish it up because it is a DOT project.

We want to give them a little attitude.

Good.

Good catch.

With with that, I'll make the motion to approve the uh creation of this improvement district.

Commissioner Olson moves to create an improvement district number 2265.

Is there a second?

Second.

Commissioner Zundell seconds.

We have a motion and a second to create improvement district number 2265, which is 9th Street Northeast, Main Avenue to 12th Avenue Northeast.

Is there any discussion?

Hearing none.

All those in favor, please signify by saying yes.

Aye.

Opposed.

Motion approved.

Thank you.

Mr.

Hanson.

Item number seven is the appointment of a designated alternate to the Lawa Board, which is the Lake Agassiz Water Authority Board.

At the present time, the bylaws read that the reads that the mayor or commission president of the city of West Fargo is a board member.

That would took legislative action this year.

And the Lawa is the governing body along with Garrison Diversion that's bringing the water supply project, the Red River Water Supply Project from the McCluskey Canal over to uh Lake Castro Beola, and then the water is put in the Astrobula, and of course, then it's administered by the Corps of Engineers.

But we are uh because the City of West Fargo is the third largest user of that water.

Fargo is number one, Grand Forks is number two, and West Fargo is number three.

Uh Lisbon has a portion of existing TS water.

Uh so the purpose of this is by bylaw, the City of West Fargo has to have a designated alternate should the mayor of West Fargo uh not be in attendance at that meeting.

So we always have a vote.

So the purpose of this discussion this evening is to uh nominate one of our uh city commissioners to be the alternate delegate to the Lawa Board.

And uh I'll leave it up to the two of uh three of you.

Uh uh Commissioner Jorgensen is online and Commissioner Zundell, and I haven't had any top opportunity to uh go into any detail with Mr.

Jorgensen or uh Mr.

Anderson with regard to this.

So, Commissioners, you know, I'm looking at Commissioner Olson, and he looks like he's the man for the job, and so I will move to volunteer to offer Commissioner Olson to be our alternate.

Thank you, Commissioner Zundell.

Is there a second?

I second all right, Commissioner Jorgensen seconds.

We have a motion and a second to appoint Brad Olson, Deputy Mayor, the City of West Fargo as a designated alternate to the Lawa Board.

Is there any discussion?

Hearing none.

All those in favor, please signify by saying aye.

Aye.

Opposed.

Motion carried.

Congratulations, Commissioner Olson.

Thank you.

Item number eight.

We call on Dustin Scott, City Administrator for the City of West Fargo.

Good evening.

Welcome.

Thank you.

Good evening, President Dirtis and Commissioners.

I'm going to start with the 2026 budget, not the 20,000 two oh six budget.

Although that would be impressive to start planning well in advance, right?

Um, first off, I just want to thank Willie for doing a fantastic job while I was gone presenting the preliminary budget.

And of course, uh thank the commission again for your continued guidance and support.

Uh but where we're at today, we are working on the final budget, uh, incorporating any of the feedback that we've received, as well as putting all of the other uh funds and information together uh so that we can uh uh bring forward a first draft of that final budget to the September 8th meeting.

Uh that would we would share that following our our hearing on the preliminary budget.

So uh with the preliminary budget approved, we are are still hard at work with all of the uh final budget components.

So our goal is to uh bring the final draft to the September 22nd meeting for review, and if we're ready, possibly approval.

So any questions on the budget before I move on.

Commissioners, questions?

Okay, uh our 2024 audit.

It's been a little while since I've updated you on that.

Uh my understanding is that is coming to an end.

I'd Bailey is wrapping up their work.

Uh we have yet to receive a draft, but once we do, we will uh get all of our comments and feedback back to them.

Our goal is to present the 2024 audit during one of our September Commission meetings.

I'm not gonna commit to September 8th or September 22nd, uh, but uh we are uh planning to have it uh brought forward to the commission in September.

So uh been a long extensive process as they usually are.

I'm excited to see the results.

Uh but again uh we are expecting a draft uh before the end of August.

Any questions on our 2024 audit?

Okay.

We have not forgotten about it.

Uh there's just been a lot going on with converting our utility building software, and we've had some time in attendance software updates, um, and of course the budget.

So uh things have been busy, but uh Willie has been hard at work in drafting an RFP.

He'll be working with Nick to finalize that uh in the next month or so.

We would hope to bring forward a draft for the commission to approve so that we can advertise and get working on this uh by the end of the year.

Um so be on the lookout for for that draft RFP for our new ERP system.

And then lastly, I just want to remind the commission that we are having our employee appreciation picnic on September 4th at the lights.

This again is replacing what uh was traditionally our holiday employee appreciation party.

So instead of having uh the recognition in December or January, we're gonna try a uh September picnic.

So we are excited to have uh an opportunity to use our space at the lights and are looking forward to a strong turnout, and we hope to see all of our commissioners there.

So, with that, any final questions for me?

Questions for Mr.

Scott?

Commissioner Olson.

Just to make sure we are meeting on the 8th, not uh we move that, right?

A couple weeks, a couple meetings ago.

Yes, that is correct.

Yep.

So we actually have three meetings planned in September.

September 8th is a regular meeting.

Now, September 15th will be a special commission meeting for uh the special assessment districts.

Yep.

And then September 22nd again back to a regular commission meeting.

Gotta update my calendar.

Yes.

Thank you.

Anything else?

Anything else for Mr.

Scott?

Thank you.

Thank you.

Correspondence, all correspondence has been distributed and word was placed in your mailboxes.

Does any commissioner have any non agenda item they'd like to bring forward at this time?

Is any department have anything they'd like to bring forward at this time?

With that, Commissioner Jorgensen.

Motion to adjourn.

Commissioner Zundal.

Thank you.

We are adjourned.

Thank you.