City council should do right thing

On March 17 and again on March 18, 2026, two separate water main breaks occurred on the 1900 block of Third Street NW, leaving my mother, senior resident Judy Nelson, with extensive damage to her home, a massive cleanup, and a significant financial burden after the city ultimately denied responsibility for failures in its own infrastructure. Despite the fact that the damage clearly resulted from municipal water escaping from city property, both insurance providers, her homeowner’s insurer, American Family Insurance, and the city’s insurer, the North Dakota Insurance Reserve Fund (NDIRF), have denied coverage, each claiming they bear no responsibility for the incident.

The bottom line is simple: if the water main had not broken, my mother would not be facing a flooded basement, a devastated yard, and mounting debt to repair damage caused by someone else’s system. The city of Minot carries insurance for situations exactly like this, yet residents are left wondering what that coverage is actually being used for and how two insurers can simultaneously deny responsibility when their policies exist for precisely these kinds of emergencies.

A claims adjuster from NDIRF later informed my mother that the city may not be considered negligent and therefore may not be responsible for the damages. This conclusion is difficult to understand. Municipal water systems exist to safely deliver water to residents, and when those systems fail and cause damage to private property, residents reasonably expect accountability and support.

This situation raises broader concerns about how infrastructure failures are handled and how citizens are protected when such incidents occur. My mother has lived in her home for more than 62 years. She has faithfully paid property taxes and insurance premiums throughout that time, trusting that public systems would function properly and that assistance would be available if they did not.

A city alderman I have corresponded with acknowledged that Minot has been collecting taxes for the past 12 years specifically to address aging infrastructure, including water mains that city officials have long known are deteriorating and in need of replacement. There are miles of aging pipes beneath the streets of Minot. Yet instead of prioritizing those critical repairs, the city chose to add 117 new employees while the underground system continues to age. More water main breaks are not a hypothetical concern — they are inevitable if infrastructure is not properly maintained and replaced.

After a series of phone calls, emails, and letters exchanged over the course of a month and a half — and after sharing her story directly with city council members — it has become increasingly clear that officials appear more concerned about the precedent a payout might set than about doing what many residents believe is the right thing: accepting responsibility and compensating my mother for the damages caused to her home and yard.

This situation has left our family with the strong impression that protecting institutional interests has taken priority over helping an ordinary citizen who was harmed through no fault of her own. When government bodies focus more on limiting liability than on resolving harm, it can erode public trust and leave everyday residents, the so-called “little guy” feeling unheard, unsupported, and uncertain about whether their local government will stand behind them when problems arise.

My mother is not seeking special treatment. She is simply asking for reasonable accountability and financial remuneration for damages that resulted from repeated failures of infrastructure outside of her control.

No resident — especially an elderly homeowner on a fixed income – should be left to shoulder the financial burden of repairing damage caused by public systems. Communities function best when trust exists between citizens and the institutions that serve them. That trust depends on fairness, responsibility, and a willingness to make things right when things go wrong.

This issue affects not only one household, but potentially many others. Residents of Minot deserve confidence that their city will take responsibility when infrastructure fails and causes harm. Until that happens, many are left with little more than hope that the next break will not happen to them.