Minot homeowners experiencing damage from a city-owned water or sewer line backup can end up paying for repairs out of pocket if the city is found not to be at fault. After hearing from a resident in April who found herself in that position, the City of Minot investigated an optional insurance rider to provide at least some coverage to help out residents in these incidents.

The North Dakota Insurance Reserve Fund (NDIRF) announced the offer of such a rider this spring, and the Minot City Council on Monday, July 6, voted unanimously to purchase an insurance endorsement that provides up to $25,000 in coverage.

The insurance endorsement would cover water and sewer backups regardless of city negligence if the homeowner doesn’t have adequate insurance. The NDIRF policy has three different levels of coverage at $10,000, $25,000 and $40,000, with premiums of 15%, 22.5% and 30%, respectively, of the general liability premium, according to information provided to the council.

Staff recommended the $25,000 policy, costing $50,290 or about 31 cents a month per account. For now, the cost will be covered using water/sewer reserve funds.

Council member Stephan Podrygula also encouraged homeowners to add coverage for water and sewer backups to their home insurance coverages because even a rider on the city’s policy may not cover all damages.

“I want to be a little bit careful that it’s not viewed quite as the slam dunk that it seems,” council member Mike Blessum added, noting the potential that certain incidents might not be covered.

To qualify for city insurance reimbursement, the backup must be related to a city utility.

“It’s a new product, so we’ll see what happens and how much demand there is and how expensive it might be in the future,” Finance Director David Lakefield told the council.

In other business, the council approved spending up to $85,000 on identifying and tracking lead and copper water service lines. A federal rule will begin requiring replacement of these lines in late 2027.

The council recently hired a contractor to physically identify about 2,200 service lines. The city also has been talking with a vendor, 120Water, about additional services, including tracking service lines, sending notifications to properties with lead or unknown service line material and assisting with lead and copper sampling.

Unknown materials are assumed to be lead, so when mandatory replacements begin, the city’s replacement pool will be quite large, with more than 8,000 unknowns, according to a staff memo to the council. The cost estimate for physically verifying all those unknowns is about $4.5 million. By spending $35,000 on 120Water’s predictive modeling, the city might be able to eliminate physical verification for 20-40% of unknown services lines, saving more than $2 million, staff reported.

The city has received a partially forgivable loan through the state for service line identification and replacement and also has funds available in its water/sewer reserves.

Other items approved by the council include:

– acceptance of a Highway Safety Improvement Program grant to replace the crosswalk flashing lights with new overhead rectangular rapid flashing beacons at 20th Street Southeast and near Souris Drive. The crosswalks are heavily used during the State Fair.

– adoption of a Transit Development Plan presented by the Central Dakota Metropolitan Planning Organization.