Minot Daily News SATURDAY, APRIL 29, 2017
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Underwood Area Economic Development Corp. strengthens the community
The former Ward County commissioners’ chambers now serves as a conference room in the State’s Attorney’s office. Jill Schramm/MDN
Underwood Area Economic Development Corporation
Historic Ward County Courthouse goes modern
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By JILL SCHRAMM • Senior Staff Writer • jschramm@minotdailynews.com
Jill Schramm/MDN
Staff in the state’s attorney’s office have handy access to case files in the larger quarters in the Ward County Courthouse.
Jill Schramm/MDN
The district court office has added new space and a new entrance in a portion of the Ward County Courthouse that once housed the Register of Deeds office.
Jill Schramm/MDN
The newly remodeled space for staff in the state’s attorney’s office allows for more room for employees.
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The communities of Washburn and Burlington expect to have some advice for each other when they get together later this year. The cities are participating in Community Impressions, an exchange program in which a team of residents visit each other’s town to evaluate the community’s vibe and identify its assets and opportunities. The concept of the program is to bring a fresh, outside perspective to a community as it looks to develop a vision for its future. Darla Jost, a director on Burlington’s economic development board, said her city is growing and wants to make sure it grows in the right way. “As a community grows, you never know for sure if you are making the right decisions, so it’s kind of nice to have a guide or another town that’s probably been through the growing pains so we don’t make the same mistakes. We have some guidance,” Jost said Offered through the North Dakota State University Extension Service, Community Impressions begins with an orientation, followed
Converting Ward County’s historic Courthouse into a modern justice center while preserving the beauty of the original structure has been the goal of a remodeling project that’s coming to a close.
With the completion of a new county office building at the end of 2015, construction began in 2016 to remodel the existing Courthouse for improved use by the legal and court systems. Adolfson & Peterson Construction has been in charge of the project. A juvenile courtroom and detention center were constructed on the lower level. The State’s Attorney’s office is spread out on the second floor, while its former first-floor offices are being remodeled for visiting attorneys. The second-floor Clerk of District Court office expanded into the former Ward County Recorder’s office and the entire office space was remodeled. “It was long past due,” State’s Attorney Rozanna Larson said of extra space for her office. Including her private office, nine individual offices are available for staff attorneys, of which seven are occupied. Formerly crowded into small offices shared with each other, attorneys now have their own spaces in what had been the auditor/treasurer’s area. The former county commission chambers has been refurbished as a conference room, providing a place for meetings. Larson said the new design adds to
productivity and creates a better situation for victims and witnesses who need to meet privately with attorneys. The main-floor Ex-Servicemen’s Room has been remodeled into a courtroom with jury room. It gives the courthouse three jury courtrooms and another, smaller courtroom. The remodeled areas have new LED lighting. The main floor will have two unisex, handicapped-accessible restrooms. Other floors will continue to have men’s and women’s restrooms. A metal stairway from the second floor to a main-floor storage room was removed, and the room was extended into the former Extension Service area to provide a large area for file storage for the Clerk of Court. The required installation of a firesuppression sprinkler system throughout the three-story courthouse added nearly $400,000 to the project cost, which now totals about $5 million. The fire-suppression system also required the replacement of interior doors. Some of those doors can be found hanging on walls. Larson said she is seeking historic pictures of Ward County scenes to display in the door panels and black-and-white photos of each of the cities to hang in a hallway.
Washburn and Burlington partner to look at assets, opportunities By JILL SCHRAMM • Senior Staff Writer • jschramm@minotdailynews.com
The Willows, a townhouse project in Burlington, opened in 2016. Jill Schramm/MDN
by community tours. Washburn and Burlington plan to host tours this June, according to Tana Waldren Larsen, director of the Washburn Area Economic Development Association. The tours will result in a presentation of findings, which the communities can use to implement changes or incorporate into its longer term strategic plan. “It’s going to help me know what direction to go in planning a way forward for Washburn,” Larsen said. But before Burlington residents come to share who they think Washburn is, Washburn residents need to figure out who their community is, she said. To do that, Washburn is beginning a program through Marketing Hometown America, offered through NDSU Extension’s Center for Community Vitality. Marketing Hometown America is an educational program focused on recruiting and retaining new residents. It engages communities through small groups, called study circles, to get more people involved and more
voices heard. The city plans to use lodging tax revenue to support marketing efforts through Marketing Hometown America that encourage area workers and other potential new residents to choose Washburn as home. Meetings will be held to get residents talking about their vision for Washburn, with the goal of finding people who would be interested in spearheading different projects, Larsen said. Larsen also is coordinating a weekly roundtable discussion, giving residents a chance to share ideas, come together on community events and converse on a variety of topics. In an additional effort, Washburn has set aside $25,000 from its city sales tax for matching grants of up to $5,000 for businesses that spend up to $5,000 on improving their storefronts. With the help of sponsors, Washburn recently completed a project with the erection of a digital communication sign on school property
along U.S. Highway 83. The rotating message board will be used to announce community and school events and honor community achievers. Burlington erected its own digital message board near its school about two years ago. The DeSour Valley Economic Development Corp. also has been involved in land transactions with developers and worked with an affordable housing developer to erect a 40-unit townhouse complex that opened last year. The economic development group now is working on its Riverfront Project, which will feature more T-ball fields to accommodate that popular program as well as volleyball courts and a splashpad. Jost said initial underground work has been done on the splashpad and more work will be done this summer to have the splashpad in service in 2018. The economic development group is coordinating its recreational park efforts with an improved flood protection project in the city.
UNDERWOOD – The Underwood Area Economic Development Corporation had a busy past year. Wendy Spencer is economic development director.
Commercial Park UAEDC formed a committee made up of members of the UAEDC board and City Commission to discuss the Industrial Park Land. Before any strong develWendy opment marketing Spencer could move forward, the land needed to be annexed into the city and have zoning proposed for the land. The committee met several times to lay out zoning that would be appropriate for the land and use that Underwood would deem as desirable for the community. After much discussion, the committee decided to refrain from calling it an Industrial Park and use Commercial Park instead. The committee has handed off the zoning request and is waiting on a zoning board meeting to discuss the proposal. When the zoning board has approved the zoning, the request for annexation of the land into the city will be taken to the City Commission. UAEDC has been working on putting a sale sign up on the property. Unfortunately, the weather has played a role in not being able to get the signage up with the large amount of snowfall we have had so far this winter. As soon as the weather allows, a sign will be put up announcing the sale of commercial lots. Spencer is working with the Department of Commerce on packaging the property for development as well as marketing. In addition, she is working on a getting a rendering put together of the property as used in a commercial setting. Beautification Day UAEDC held its annual Beautification Day in May 2016. Community areas were raked and cleaned, weeds were pulled and flowers were planted. There were several people that volunteered along with UAEDC board members. Community Betterment Program Developed by the UAEDC board to encourage demolition of buildings that are dilapidated or unsightly through incentive grant programs. The grant program helps residents and commercial property defray a portion of the cost to tear down old, dilapidated buildings. Underwood Marketing Program A new grant program was implemented this year to encourage area businesses to market their business. Grants are available to businesses up to $250 to an area business wanting to create marketing materials or places ads. The money can also be used to create a website. UAEDC also offers to work with businesses to create a marketing strategy so they are able to leverage their marketing dollars and make them go farther. In addition, UAEDC launched radio ads, along with digital ads promoting Underwood. In April, an Underwood Business directory was inserted into the Xtra for regional distribution in Underwood and surrounding communities. Shop Local Saturday UAEDC promoted its own version of Small Business Saturday that is held each year after Black Friday. We had four businesses participate in the promotion which consisted of special sales and discounts given for that day only. The program was supported by a newspaper ad, Facebook ads and shared through UAEDC’s newsletter. Next year we plan on growing this promotion from four businesses to many more. Instead of competing with larger retail businesses on the Saturday after Black Friday, this promotion will be held in conjunction with Civic Club’s kids shopping and the Art, Craft and Bake Sale, which is typically held the following weekend. New initiatives in 2017 UAEDC is reviving the Underwood Business Alliance.
Underwood Area Economic Development Corporation – 4 Down Payment Assistance grants awarded totaling $16,000 – 3 Main Street Program Grants awarded totaling $13,250 – Soda’s and Things – Community Cupboard of Underwood – Underwood Public School – UAEDC added 10 businesses members this year