Minot City Council proposes strategic planning, community survey

Council proposes strategic planning, community survey

The Minot City Council plans to engage in strategic planning this summer and will be surveying community members this fall for their perceptions on city government.

The council on Monday selected The Novak Consulting Group to facilitate a two-day retreat in June. The consultant also will work individually with council members to identify discussion items.

The council approved a budget amendment for up to $40,000 for the strategic planning and up to $22,000 for the community survey. ETC Institute was selected to assist with the survey, with results expected by the end of the year.

"I am not one typically to be very supportive of spending significant amounts of money on these types of processes. However, I think, given some of the recent history and some of the challenges that I've observed here for our organization going forward, I do think that this is money well invested to help us all get on the same page, and help us to have some needed conversations," City Manager Harold Stewart said.

"These were two things that have been very important to me," council member Stephan Podrygula said. "It's absolutely critical that we have a process for bringing the council together with the city manager and giving us a better sense of direction in terms of how to go about our business. I think it's critical that the executive staff, the city manager's team have the same opportunity. I think it's very, very important that we start looking systematically and carefully and objectively at what the citizens of Minot think of the service."

A council workshop is planned for June 11 and 12, and a facilitated day would be held with the management team in mid-July.

Mayor Shaun Sipma said the workshop is open to the public and would be insightful for community leaders or prospective leaders.

The council also considered other spending items, including wayfinding signage.

Jonathan Rosenthal, the city's economic developer, said wayfinding signs bring areas of interest to the attention of visitors, who may not otherwise be aware to seek them out.

The electronic or static signage would be located in key areas, such as along major arterials, to alert people to the locations of attractions such as the State Fair, libraries, visitor center, museums or ice arenas. The construction cost has been estimated at $160,000, although Rosenthal said inflation may raise that cost somewhat before construction takes place, likely next year.

The engineering cost for design is just under $7,000. The city council voted to approve an engineering contract with Ackerman-Estvold.

Other items approved by the council included:

- Creation of a business systems analyst position to specialize in information technology in the finance office. A part-time employee would be moved to full-time at an additional cost of just over $32,000 in salary and benefits.

- Purchase of a fire department pumper truck for $585,000 from Fire Safety USA.

- Agreement with the Souris River Joint Board's acceptance of the bid of Bluestone Construction for $6.6 million for construction of Burlington levees.

- An amendment to an airport concessionaire agreement with Oakwells Commuter Rail for The Trestle Tap House to eliminate an automatic increase in annual payment to the city due to impact on business from the COVID-19 pandemic.

- Extension of the timeline for the Souris Heights development project to October 2022 due to the extra time that has been required for the developer, Beyond Shelter, to obtain low-income housing tax credits. The senior housing project is eligible for $5.5 million from the city's National Disaster Resilience program.

- An ordinance on first reading to prohibit right turns at red lights on West Burdick Expressway for northbound traffic at 16th Street Southwest and for northbound and southbound traffic on Sixth Street Southwest. Right turns on red also would be prohibited for traffic on Sixth Street Southwest that is turning west on West Burdick.