Council votes to aid area towns
By JILL SCHRAMM, Staff Writer jschramm@minotdailynews.comFact Box
An ad hoc committee will meet Thursday at 10 a.m. in City Hall to discuss downtown parking issues.
Darwin Langseth, representing a potential buyer for the Minot Building, and members of the Minot Parking Authority will present information related to parking needs. Adequate parking is a factor in the sale of the Minot Building, which is the former Midwest Federal Building.
Alderman Dave Lehner chairs the committee. Other members are Alderman Hardy Lieberg; Bonnie Kemper, president of the Downtown Business and Professional Association; Michael Bosh, chairman of the Minot Parking Authority; and Langseth.
Drake will get a MAGIC Fund grant and Tioga's city waste will be coming to the Minot landfill as a result of action by the Minot City Council Monday.
The council approved a $10,000 MAGIC Fund grant to the City of Drake for D & M Family Market Grocery Store. A fire in April partially destroyed the town's grocery, forcing it to close. The grant money will assist in re-establishing the store with the addition of a smokehouse. Total construction financing is estimated at $369,000.
Plans are to have the building ready by the end of the year. The store will employ two full-time and three part-time workers.
The council voted 11-2 to allow Circle Sanitation to dispose of municipal solid waste from the City of Tioga in Minot City Landfill. Half of the new revenue generated from the disposal will go into a fund for future land purchases for landfill expansion.
Alderman Ron Boen spoke against the disposal because of the demand that the waste will place on landfill space.
"We are setting a precedent here in allowing these smaller cities to use our landfill," Boen said. "We are going to jeopardize our landfill."
Although Tioga's waste stream isn't considered significant, it is just one of several communities from which Circle Sanitation hauls waste to the Minot Landfill, Boen noted. Last year the council agreed to accept New Town waste, although that community decided to use a sanitation company that hauls to a different landfill.
In other business, the council postponed a decision on how much to pay Ward County for use of the state's attorney's office to prosecute offenses for the city.
The Ward County Commission had requested $60,000 from the city. The city has included $30,000 in its preliminary budget, but county commissioners indicated at a liaison meeting with city representatives on Aug. 21 that the amount is too low. The county is looking at adding an attorney to the office to handle the workload.
The liaison committee voted to recommend the county and the city accept a $40,000 contribution from the city in 2009.
The city council will take up the recommendation when it meets to discuss the budget Sept. 8.
