Community organizations in Minot are looking at potential ways to bring a winter warming shelter back to Minot.

First District Health Unit has taken a lead role, but identifying a suitable shelter location has been a challenge.

FDHU Executive Director Holly Brekhus said there have been community meetings since Project BEE closed to try to address the lack of a warming shelter. A warming shelter operated by the public health office in Dickinson was viewed as a potential model. During periods of extreme cold, the public health office opens a temporary shelter in its building that is available to anyone needing shelter, including travelers with car trouble or residents with heating issues who cannot afford hotel stays.

“So, it’s not just for homeless people,” Brekhus said. “It’s for anybody in the community who is not in a situation where they can be warm and safe during these 30 below incidents.”

Dickinson’s shelter opens during times of -30 windchill or colder.

Christy Miller, executive director at Souris Valley United Way, said those who work with street outreach and the Minot Police Department have identified individuals who are living outdoors in tents, and that is a concern.

“The fire department and the police department and everyone in town is involved, and we’re just trying to work toward some kind of solutions – that nobody freezes this winter,” Miller said. Location and staffing are the biggest hurdles, she added.

Brekhus said a shelter would need to be staffed by volunteers, and local organizations could be called upon to provide that oversight.

The First District Health Unit Board has met a couple of times to discuss the potential for a warming shelter in Minot. The board met most recently on Thursday, Dec. 11, ahead of a planned meeting Thursday, Dec. 18, with other community partners, but wasn’t able to identify any clear path forward.

The city currently utilizes Minot Municipal Auditorium as an emergency shelter for storm-related events, although it also was opened following the 2011 flood.

The auditorium is owned by the city and operated by Minot Park District. FDHU board member Ron Merritt, a former parks director, said the building is busy with recreational activities that could rule out having space available for a shelter.

“It seems like that might sound good right now, but I’m not sure if it works completely,” he said.

Kelly Haugan, Ward County Emergency Management director, said the initial idea to use the storm shelter portion of the auditorium as a shelter is problematic because that portion is merely a reinforced corridor between the main auditorium space and district court.

“There’s still a lot of logistics that would have to be worked out with using the auditorium before we would be able to move forward with that,” he said.

The board has discussed but has been hesitant to use a conference room in the FDHU building as a shelter or backup shelter. Concerned about whether FDHU’s conference room is equipped to handle the wear and tear associated with a shelter and uncertain how a shelter would operate at a worksite, the board determined it had too many unanswered questions to proceed. The board postponed further discussion to first see what might arise from the Dec. 18 meeting.

“I’m not against the idea of the mission,” Merritt said. “But we need to have a facility that’s designed for it.”

Inquiries were made into unused space owned by Trinity Health, including the former hospital building. However, Trinity officials indicated it didn’t have a space that would be a good fit, Brekhus said.

In the search for a location, the city auditorium came up as having the most potential. Although logistics would need to be addressed, the alternative of not having a shelter is not a good option, Brekhus said.

“Some place has to be used or you’re going to eventually have somebody succumb to the cold, winter temperatures,” she said.