Jill Schramm/MDN Cole Krueger, front, and Dan Conn, back, with Minot State University, address the Minot Childcare Committee in Minot City Hall Thursday.

A Minot committee discussed space needs for childcare facilities and whether the local university can help meet those needs as it continued its look into the community’s childcare shortage Thursday.

Minot State University is planning to demolish this fall the campus building that hosts Magic City Daycare, impacting the families of about 60 to 70 children as well as the daycare owner and workers.

Cole Krueger, MSU marketing director, added that it is the goal of MSU President Steve Shirley to find another spot on campus for a daycare.

“Definitely, we are interested in collaboration and are thinking we have spaces that could potentially be daycare sites,” he said.

Dan Conn, the chair of Teacher Education and Kinesiology at MSU, said the goal is to build a daycare/preschool facility, but it requires capital.

The committee mentioned the city’s economic development fund, the MAGIC Fund, in discussing cost assistance for childcare space. Childcare hasn’t been a function of the fund in the past but is being considered as a possible eligible function.

Amy Jenkins, who works with the state childcare licensing, said the atmosphere for funding and support is better now than ever to be talking about these things.

“Normally, childcare was on the bottom of the bucket. It’s a good time to start looking at those things,” she said, “especially the university if that’s the avenue, the direction, that they’re going.”

Conn agreed that even in Washington, where he recently visited with the state’s congressional delegation, there is movement to address what is considered to be an emergency related to the lack of early childhood centers and teachers.

Regarding space across the city, John Van Dyke, principal planner for the City of Minot, said there is plenty of commercial property. There also has been interest in using rental houses for daycare, but the operations would be limited to 18 children under licensing rules. Changing the rules could be a detriment to the commercial market, he added.

“Rather, I would want to focus on buying down that cost to transition to that commercial space, so they can both expand and address those health and safety needs,” Van Dyke said.

Both MSU and Trinity have voiced interest to the committee in being part of discussion about making childcare space available. The committee will be focusing on employers at an upcoming meeting, with invitations issued to larger employers to attend.