A Minnesota auto center was unanimously awarded the bid to provide five new vehicles for the Minot Police Department Monday but not without another discussion by the Minot City Council on buying local.

The $238,909 purchase was for 2025 Ford Interceptor Utility vehicles through the North Dakota state contract with Nelson Auto Center for law enforcement vehicles.

“One of the things that’s glaring to me in this one, we didn’t even give anybody in the local community a chance to bid. Didn’t ask them to bid. I know it went out for public bid, but nobody’s going to try and beat a state bid that Nelson’s has,” council member Rob Fuller said.

If the vehicles each cost $3,000 more from Westlie, that’s $15,000, Fuller said.

“We are willing to forego, as a community, making sure our local businesses get a chance at least to bid on this for $15,000, after they paid hundreds of thousands of dollars or maybe even millions of dollars in property tax over the years. They donate to our schools, to our kids, to our police and fire departments constantly. But for $15,000, let’s send our tax dollars over to Minnesota. You want to talk about economic development. Putting our money back into our local businesses is the best economic development we can ever do in our own city,” he said.

Finance Director David Lakefield mentioned the company that outfits the vehicles for police use also is in Minnesota, so for logistical reasons, working with a Minnesota company played into the bid decision. He also said the city discussed the vehicle purchase with Westlie Ford, which did not feel it could be competitive on price.

Council member Lisa Olson said she spoke with a business owner who opposed local preference, preferring Minot bidders compete on equal footing.

“It’s kind of being presented that somehow we are anti local business, which is absolutely not true,” she said. “We have to be frugal with taxpayer money.”

Blessum spoke again about his preference for giving local businesses a chance to match a low bid, which in this case he noted, didn’t appear to be possible.

In other business, the council:

– approved a development agreement with landowner Jared Lochthowe for a micro-hospital in north Minot. Exceptional Healthcare, based in Dallas, Texas, has proposed a hospital to provide emergency care on North Hill, just off the U.S. 83 Bypass. The development agreement outlines the expectations and responsible parties relating to public street and utility infrastructure improvements, storm water management, erosion control and maintenance of public right of way and easements.

– awarded a $195,969 bid to Industrial Builders for the Third Street Bridge repair. Recently, a state bridge inspection resulted in a critical finding, requiring immediate need for a concrete pier to be repaired and bridge bearing replaced, with a deck drainage system installed. The bid was 10.75% below the engineer’s estimate.

– granted a $269,231 MAGIC Fund community match for a Bank of North Dakota PACE loan to United Pulse Trading (AGT Foods). AGT Foods launched a new line of gluten-free pasta and continues to grow its production.

– agreed to apply for an Installation Readiness Grant of $500,000-$600,000. The Department of Defense’s Installation Readiness program helps states and communities work with local military installations to address civilian encroachment or threats to installation readiness that could impact the military’s operations and mission. Not associated with the coming Sentinel missile project, the local work will include conducting a compatible use study, table top disaster exercise and other planning exercises. The local match is expected to be in-kind services by staff.

– approved acquisition of four homes in the MI-8/9 phase of the flood protection project in southeast Minot but postponed a decision on approving the phase’s alignment, or engineering plans. The city continues to discuss alignment with an oilfield company that has a facility in the area.

– endorsed an estimated $900,000 project to install gas, water and sewer utilities on the south side of the airport for existing and future aircraft hangars. The airport secured $810,000 from the North Dakota Aeronautics Commission toward the project, which consists of design work this year and construction in 2026.