Jill Schramm/MDN Minot Fire Chief Kelli Kronschnabel takes a question on her department’s staffing during the Minot City Council meeting Monday.

The Minot City Council scrapped plans to hire six more firefighters after learning a prospective grant would only cover a portion of the cost.

The council voted 4-2 to discontinue efforts to pursue a federal Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response Grant (SAFER). The city already spent about $4,000 on a grant writer to initiate the process, according to information provided to the council. The grant application period opens July 3.

The proposed new firefighters would have enabled the department to increase the number of personnel on the ladder trucks at Stations 4 and 5 from three to four per shift and comply with standards established by the National Fire Protection Association.

At the time the council hired the grant writer, the SAFER grant was expected to pick up the full cost for three years. When officially announced, the grant required a local cost share of 25% the first two years and 75% the third year.

That amounts to nearly $619,000 the city would pay over three years for about $1.5 million in salaries, council member Rob Fuller noted.

“We haven’t had this in the budget and now we have to add it to the budget. To me, that’s really tough. It doesn’t feel like we’re being fiscally responsible because we don’t even have a funding source for it yet,” he said.

“Squeezing this into the future budgets is not going to be easy,” City Manager Harold Stewart said. “Financially I don’t know how feasible it is at this point, and I would rather not take the SAFER grant and add these six positions than to start talking about elimination of already funded positions within our department.”

Steward said drafting the 2026 budget will be financially difficult.

“There’s some pruning that’s coming, and we have some tough decisions to make,” he said. “I’ll continue to advocate on behalf of public safety. I believe those are core services that we provide as a community. Police, fire, streets are core services, but we have to deal with budget reality as well.”

The council discussed going after three positions rather than six. However, Stewart said even three firefighters would be difficult to afford over the next three budget cycles.

Fire Chief Kelli Kronschnabel also responded to a question about her department’s priorities with another need for a new station in south Minot. The proposal has been to replace the current headquarters station on 10th Street Southwest with a new station farther south. Kronschnabel said the new station is a reorganization and shouldn’t require more staff.

Stewart said the new station and additional firefighters both are important. However, SAFER grants are offered annually so the city could pursue a grant at a future time if it becomes financially workable, he said.

“I, too, was kind of shocked and saddened that this was the situation,” council member Lisa Olson said of the new grant match requirement. “But, pulling it now, when we have not seen the budget and we have not had the opportunity to discuss the budget, seems a little premature.”

If the city were to submit an application, it would have the option to decline any grant award if the council determined associated costs at that time are too high.

Council member Mike Blessum said the Legislature’s decision to limit local subdivisions to no more than 3% levy increases comes to roughly $750,000 for Minot. The match for the first year of a SAFER grant is $125,000.

“That’s a pretty significant bite out of that increased pie, and that’s before we even consider what happens in year two, three, four and down the road,” he said. “If we head down this path, we are saying this is that priority, and we’re going to have to find somewhere else that gets by without.”

Council member Paul Pitner agreed that cutting into the ability to take care of existing employees to add more employees is not a good situation.

Voting to discontinue grant efforts were Fuller, Blessum, Pitner and Scott Samuelson. Voting to continue efforts for now were Olson and Mark Jantzer.

A 3-3 vote by the council also killed a grant that would have enabled the city to develop a Comprehensive Safety Action Plan, which is a first step in applying for other implementation grants for transportation projects. The city was successful in December 2023 in securing a $250,000 Safe Streets and Roads for All grant through the U.S. Department of Transportation to develop the plan. It had a $50,000 local cost share. The city’s Engineering Department worked with the Federal Highway North Dakota Division during 2024 to complete the grant agreement, with authorization to proceed from the USDOT coming on May 15 of this year.

Because of the time that has elapsed since the council approved pursuit of the grant in 2023, the Engineering Department brought the item back for discussion Monday.

Opposition to the next step, which would be hiring a consultant, led to Blessum, Fuller and Samuelson voting against signing the grant agreement. Pitner, Jantzer and Olson voted to proceed with the grant.

The vote was one of several 3-3 votes that have occurred on the council since a vacancy occurred on April 1 with the resignation of the mayor.

Bid accepted on Velva bridge replacement

The Souris River Joint Board opened bids for the replacement of the Velva Bridge on May 15 and approved the low bid of $9.9 million to Industrial Builders on June 5. The project consists of a new longer, raised bridge that ties into existing flood control features in Velva, according to information provided to the council.

The bid was 17.9% above the engineers’ estimate for construction. The state will fund 65% of the cost, with the reminder coming from Minot’s city sales tax for flood control. The Minot City Council agreed to the bid award Monday.

– Jill Schramm