Lianne Zeltinger

Minot

I want to commend the members of the City Council for the detailed discussion they had during the March 4th meeting. I think the majority of them are realizing the boondoggle that is being created when public money is given to a few select private entities. And now they are struggling with definitions of “public access” vs. “public buildings,” struggling with whether the building or the operation within the building would or should receive the funds or the tenants of the building or the building owners. There were questions about what public funds were, even though the North Dakota Century Code definition was included and it does NOT include TIFs (which is actually an abatement).

A question by Alderwoman Evans referenced a start date. The finance director suggested including the last five years, even though this was addressed under Public Use (f) Application. “This article shall apply to building projects or renovations that hae applied for and received public funds subsequent to March 18, 2024.” The attorney explained that date will change, depending upon the actual date of the second reading.

All of this and more about giving more public money ($5,000) for the installation of an automatic door opener to the building owners who have previously received public money through the Facade Program.

Now that they have taken the citizens down the road of giving free money to certain businesses to the tune of $100,000 to $180,000, they want to create an ordinance setting a precedent of giving another $5,000 to “buildings open to the public that have received public funds from the city to install at least one automatic door for at least one main entrance to the building.” Who should get the money? Under this ordinance, buildings in cities surrounding Minot could receive funds.

The $100,000 was/is quite a gift. I believe that if the owner of the building feels the need for an automatic door opener, the owner is financially responsible for that as well as any other improvements, maintenance and repairs.

The Council has already gone above and beyond their duty with the many weeks of discussions as well as reaching out to Kimberly Paarberg from the International Code Council. She spoke at length about the difference between what is federally required for ADA compliance in new construction and what is accepted or grandfathered regarding buildings already in existence.

This newly proposed ordinance was taken from a similar ordinance that was voted on by the citizens of Mandan. It is time to stop giving public money to private entities, whether it be in the form of abatements or forgivable loans to a few select building owners from the ever-expanding Renaissance Zone.

At the very LEAST, we should be given the same courtesy that the citizens of Mandan received – bring this to the vote of the people.