Jill Schramm/MDN Turtle Lake Auditor Darwin Saari, left, and Coleharbor council member Pete Pfeifer, follow the discussion during a League of Cities listening session in Minot City Hall Wednesday.

Employee recruitment and infrastructure funding were among items on the minds of area city officials who attended a League of Cities listening session in Minot Wednesday.

League Executive Director Matt Gardner and Deputy Director Stephanie Dassinger Engebretson outlined changes and funding decisions made during the 2023 legislative session that affect cities. They mentioned snow removal grants to offset this past winter’s high expenses, the $100 million from Legacy Fund earnings for road funding in the state and the earmark to spend federal dollars for lead pipe replacement if the money becomes available.

Minot city council member Stephan Podrygula said Minot cannot come up with the $630 million reported to be needed to update its infrastructure.

“Everybody seems to be running around trying to feel better on both sides about how much money the state is saving. Well, we have needs, too,” he said. “It seems to me, personally, that maybe there’s some more creative uses for money rather than just leaving it in a bank.”

Diane Affeldt, Garrison city auditor, said finding essential personnel is a top concern. Garrison had two law enforcement officers retire and was able to hire only one, depending on the retired officers to help periodically, she said.

The Legislature approved legislation that provides $3.5 million to help local agencies with law enforcement workforce recruitment and retention, but Affeldt said water treatment plant operators are an unaddressed concern.

She suggested shortening the time frame for water plant operator certification, which can take six years for full certification. In an attempt to find employees, she said, Garrison reached out to a Minnesota college that provides accelerated training and were told its class sizes have dropped from 30 to seven.

Among issues of city concern that legislative committees could be studying in the interim include the Public Employees Retirement System, including funding options and contributions by political subdivisions; municipal court practices in light of developing standards; recording requirements for law enforcement interrogations; and property-tax exemptions for agriculture facilities in cities, such as old grain elevators or warehouses that become privately owned by farmers for storage.