Economic development in Minot took a new turn Monday with the Minot City Council’s approval of the initial framework for implementing findings of a professional study.

The Technical Assistance Report authored by the international Economic Development Council offered a strategy for launching a comprehensive and sustainable development plan with a focus on downtown. A stakeholder task force has been informally meeting for several months to talk about how to precede.

The council voted Monday to organize an Interagency Steering Committee to lead and coordinate efforts related to implementing the IEDC report. The Stakeholders Task Force will be formally established to provide guidance.

Mayor Shaun Sipma appointed Tim Mihalick, business development officer at First Western Bank & Trust and a former mayoral candidate, to serve as project manager in heading up several technical teams overseen by the steering committee.

Council member Josh Wolsky stressed the need to maintain accountability and transparency within the new organization.

“We know that economic development is a contentious issue in this community,” he said. “To say we have the trust of the public in this arena, I think, would be an overstatement.”

Sipma said there will be times that technical teams need to meet out of the public eye to encourage frank conversations, but the information will become public as decisions are made.

Wolsky said it is important for the council to continue to have a role in economic development discussions.

“I am a little hesitant to simply cede decision-making authority as an elected official, as an official who is responsible for the budget process,” he said, adding that the community will ultimately lay accountability at the feet of the council.

“To me, the key question that should guide this is how can we do better in terms of economic development,” council member Stephan Podrygula said. “We have had some real successes. We have also had some failures. I think that’s one of the things that makes me a little bit hesitant when we talk about the city taking the leadership role is that the last time we did something big on the economic development front, it didn’t work real well. I think everybody knows what we are talking about here in terms of the structures downtown. On the other hand, I think the MAGIC Fund and those efforts have paid off very well for the city.”

Podrygula said the city needs to get aggressive in pursuing development for downtown and use its existing expertise to find local solutions.

“I am not satisfied with what we have done so far. I think we can do significantly better,” he said. “I think we need to coordinate. I think we need to look at new approaches, particularly in entrepreneurship and growing local businesses.”

–

Independence ambassadors urge accessibility this winter

Independence Inc. and its independent living ambassadors came to the Minot City Council Monday to kick off an awareness campaign designed to encourage residents and businesses to make Minot more accessible this winter.

Scott Burlingame, executive director for Independence Inc., said snow accumulation is a major issue in accessibility and walkability in the community.

“The number one thing we want to do is to remind the folks of the city that the law is that within 24 hours following a winter weather event that all alleys, curb cuts, ramps, intersections and parking spaces should be cleared of snow. Frankly, this hasn’t happened. Snow has been dumped in those places. Accessible walkways have been dumped on,” Burlingame said. “We don’t want to see that continue to happen, and we are going to do our best to raise the public awareness around this issue.”

Independence Inc. ambassadors will be encouraging businesses to keep their walkways cleared and visit with their snow removal companies to ensure they are aware of the ordinances.

– Jill Schramm

–

City approves dangerous animal ordinance

A city ordinance addressing dangerous animals received final passage at the Minot City Council meeting Monday.

Under the new language, owners would not be able to keep an animal in city limits that:

– when unprovoked, bites, claws or otherwise harms a human or domestic animal on public or private property.

– when unprovoked, chases or approaches a person, including a person on a bicycle, upon the streets, sidewalks or any public or private property other than the owner’s property, in an apparent attitude of attack, such as snarling or growling.

– when unprovoked, kills a domestic animal while off the owner’s property.

– has been designated as a dangerous animal by another jurisdiction.

The new ordinance gives the municipal judge more options for addressing problem animals. The judge can order an owner to remove or euthanize an animal, keep the animal in an enclosure, submit an animal to obedience training, post warning signs, not allow a pet outdoors during certain hours, implant a microchip, sterilize an animal, carry insurance, not sell an animal to another owner in the city or take other actions to keep the court informed.

The maximum penalty is a $1,500 fine and/or 30 days in jail.

Retained from the previous ordinance is a pit bull ban in city limits and prohibition against animals running at large on public property or private property without the owner’s permission.

– Jill Schramm