JILL SCHRAMM/MDN Dr. Steve Shirley, Minot State University president, speaks to the Minot City Council Monday, July 6. Council members from left are Eric Locken, Mike Blessum and Stephan Podrygula.

A $500,000 MAGIC Fund investment to help launch a new innovation engineering program at Minot State University narrowly gained the approval of the Minot City Council Monday, July 6.

While there was interest in seeing the new program go forward, pouring local economic development dollars from sales tax into a state-owned institution didn’t sit well with some on the council.

“If the University System needs money, then they need to ask the Legislature for it, rather than the locals,” said council member Mike Blessum, who was on the dissenting side of the 4-3 vote.

However, he noted Minot residents want to see MAGIC Fund money put to use.

“I’ve got big questions on whether it should be going this way, but at the same time, given this versus leaving the money sit in a great big pile over in the corner forever, I don’t know that that’s a better solution,” he said.

Council member Stephan Podrygula praised MSU’s vision and the quality of the engineering program set to launch this fall but agreed with Blessum that the city is taking on a state expense in funding an academic program.

“This is Minot State University. It is not Minot City University,” he said. “To me, this is a fundamental basic in higher education, and that, to me, is a state responsibility, not a municipal one.”

The funds would serve as a match to help MSU obtain another $250,000 from a North Dakota Higher Education Challenge Grant. Some council members pointed out the Challenge Grant is meant to match private donations, not other public money.

“It’s not meant to be local subdivisions giving money that will be matched by the state. That wasn’t even contemplated in the law,” Blessum said.

“I don’t believe this is appropriate, and it’s borderline illegal,” council member Scott Samuelson said of the proposed forgivable loan to MSU, largely for equipment purchases. “We’re also, in this, including scholarships for students with local tax funds. I don’t think that’s appropriate.”

He added the innovation engineering program is simply a stepping stone into engineering and is not where MSU should be headed.

“How many engineering programs do we need in the state?” he said. “We should concentrate more on the things that we do best, and I just think engineering is out of our realm.”

MSU President Dr. Steve Shirley said the university clarified with the state that MAGIC Fund dollars are a legitimate match for a Challenge Grant.

The program was developed in response to needs of the energy and engineering industries, which require individuals with engineering mindsets and technical skills, he said.

“This truly is about workers. This is about MSU trying to be responsive, trying to be a good neighbor in this community and in this part of the state,” Shirley said.

In addition to the bachelor’s degree, the program offers a track for students who want to take their first two years at MSU and then move on to a specific engineering program at another school.

Support for the MAGIC Fund spending came from Mayor Mark Jantzer, Podrygula, Eric Locken and John MacMartin. Opposed were Blessum, Samuelson and Rob Fuller.

The council also voted 7-0 to support a $250,000 investment into Souris Basin Planning Council’s Business Accelerator Fund, which provides businesses with local interest buydown money to obtain state PACE and Flex PACE loans.

To fund both the SBPC and MSU requests, the council voted to transfer money from the primary sector bucket of the MAGIC Fund into a bucket for state matching fund programs, raising that bucket amount to the $1 million maximum allowed in the fund’s guidelines. The guidelines limit the annual transfer to the Business Accelerator Fund to 25% of the money in the bucket, so refilling the bucket to the maximum was necessary to provide the desired $250,000. It also left enough money to accommodate MSU’s request, although City Finance Director David Lakefield said the request also would fit into the primary sector bucket.

The council voted 6-1, with Samuelson dissenting, to approve the transfer.