Year in Review 2019

YEARINREVIEW #1 Still seeking space

TOP 10 STORIES OF 2019

MINOT DAILY NEWS

WEDNESDAY • JANUARY 1, 2020

WWW .MINOTDAILYNEWS.COM

Gathering place generates more passion than progress

By JILL SCHRAMM

Senior Staff Writer jschramm@minotdailynews.com Minot hadn’t settled on a location for a downtown gathering place at the end of 2019, but hope remained alive despite the frustrations surrounding the project.

Plans for a downtown park-like space are part of the city’s $74.3 million National Disaster Resilience Program, from which $6 million is allotted to the project. As of December, the city had moved away from the public’s initial site choice, received a rejection from the owner of a second site and was looking into a third and final option.

The city received a response from Gaylen Schmidt, the owner of Site 3, that he is interested in selling to the city, said John Zakian, Minot’s resilience program manager. The next step is to conduct an environmental review of the property, which could lead to an offer being made to Schmidt before the end of February, he said.

The city also had asked Trinity Health, the owner of a parking lot known as

Submitted Graphic

TOP RIGHT: A map shows the lots identified by the City of Minot in 2017 for a possible downtown gathering space. Trinity Health has declined at this time to sell the lot at far left. The city gave up on the center property and is moving forward with the property at farthest right.

File photo

MAIN: Selected by the public as the best choice for a gathering space, Site 2, shown in 2019, was abandoned by the Minot City Council in October after active purchase negotiations from February through September failed to lead to the necessary property acquisitions.

Site 1, to clarify its response that it is not interested in selling “at this time.” Zakian said if Trinity should indicate a willingness to sell in the near future, that option also would re-open.

Formal negotiations to acquire property at the preferred location known as Site 2, near the Parker Cen-

ter, began in February but made slow progress. In June, the council agreed to an Aug. 30 deadline for concluding negotiations with property owners. In August, the council extended the deadline to Sept. 30. The action came after a lengthy discussion about the options for advancing a project that

council members and many community members believed was moving too slowly.

The council looked at three options. One would have required seeking a substantial amendment to the grant agreement from the Department of Housing and Urban Development to change the gathering place

from a public facility project to an economic development activity. That would allow the city to enter agreements with one or more property owners and businesses to give them a direct participatory role in development.

Another option was to seek a substantial amendment to reduce the size of

the gathering place from 2 acres to 1.2 acres, making it easier to acquire the necessary land.

The third option, and the one selected, was to stay the course.

The gathering space was a topic of discussion at an August town hall meeting See SPACE — Page 2

Submitted Photso

ABOVE: This photo from Jonathan Calkins, published in The Minot Daily News on March 23, 2019, shows a fireball from exploding propane tanks at the construction site of Trinity Health’s new hospital complex on the evening of March 22.

LEFT: Despite a temporary interruption by a fire and other events earlier this year, construction on Trinity Health’s new healthcare campus and medical district in southwest Minot has made significant progress.

#2 Trinity Health’s new campus progressing

Accident, fire halts work for a time in 2019

By ELOISE OGDEN

Regional Editor eogden@minotdailynews.com

Exploding propane tanks at the construction site of Trinity Health’s medical campus in southwest Minot on an evening in mid-March shook houses and other buildings in the city, rattled windows and fireballs shot into the air.

That night of March 22, crews

from the Minot Fire Department immediately went to the scene to evacuate residents and bystanders from the area. Minot Police Department blocked the intersection of 16th Street and 37th Avenue Southwest.

The explosions at the construction site came from propane tanks located at the work site.

The fire raged for several hours and was allowed to burn out in-

stead of risking injury to firefighters entering the dangerous area.

No one was injured as a result of the explosions or fire, mainly because construction had been halted and the site closed the previous day after a worker fell while working on the steel structure of a building under construction.

Trinity released a statement on its website the following Monday saying the construction site was

closed and appropriate authorities and experts were investigating the incident. The statement said the process would take time and until they had sufficient information and recommendations to consider, Trinity Health would not speculate on the impact the event may have on the project timeline. They said they would evaluate the impact of See TRINITY — Page 2

2 Minot (N.D.) Daily News, Wednesday, January 1, 2020

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#3 Record rain in late 2019

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The amount of water entering the Missouri River below Garrison Dam remained well above average for several months in 2019. Total runoff into the basin was the second highest on record and led to high water levels on Lake Sakakawea.

By KIM FUNDINGSLAND

Staff Writer kfundingsland@minotdailynews.com

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Dry conditions, suggestive of a possible drought emerging, marked the first half of 2019. However, as the months passed any thought of drought gave way to concerns about too much moisture.

Record rain fell in September in many areas of the state. Minot set an all-time record for September precipitation with 7.85 inches of rain, surpassing the old mark of 6.11 inches set in 1971. Williston’s rainfall in September of 8.09 inches crushed their old record of 3.74 inches set in 1959.

Bismarck and Jamestown experienced their second wettest Septembers on record.

Ground throughout the state became saturated and soggy. Rivers usually well below their banks in late fall were suddenly on the rise. Potholes that had been receding under the summer sun were filling again. Standing water could be seen in fields and pastures where there was concern about dry conditions a few weeks earlier. Harvest season throughout much of the state came to a muddy halt.

In eastern North Dakota, where sugar beets and potatoes make up the

Space

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at Washington Elementary, where residents had mixed comments on whether to keep pursuing the project.

Unease in the community over the gathering place found its way to a city council meeting in September. Council member Josh Wolsky had presented suggestions that included potentially moving the gathering space out of the National Disaster Resilience Program and seeking other types of funds to complete it.

“In essence, I see a project that is in distress. What I’m offering here is the framework of what I think is a life raft,” he had said.

By October, the council was ready to move on from Site 2, following the recom-

Trinity

bulk of the harvest, farmers who made an effort to recover their crops often had their machinery become mired in mud. The state’s sugar beet harvest was particularly hard hit. The onset of freezing weather brought an end to the sugar beet harvest with much of the crop remaining in the field.

Elsewhere in the state there were numerous reports of grain sprouting in the field because the ground was too wet for farmers to use their harvesting equipment. Estimates in some areas were that as much as 30% of the crop was left in the field due to excess moisture.

With rivers running full in eastern North Dakota, the James, Sheyenne and Red River among them, Lake Sakakawea was seeing a near-record inflow too. In fact, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers at one point estimated runoff into the Missouri River basin would equal the record-setting flow during the historic flood year of 2011.

In response to the very high runoff, which was boosted by rainfall late in the year, the Corps increased the amount of water being released from Missouri River reservoirs. At Garrison Dam a few spillway gates were opened for only the second time since

mendation of its technical committee. Purchase negotiations had stalled with two owners in Site 2, and two others declined to sell.

The city made offers totaling around $890,000, and counter offers came to $1.78 million, which is beyond what the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development would accept as reasonable in comparison to the cost of other potential gathering sites.

The city council voted 5-2 to approach Trinity Health about purchasing its parking lot. When Trinity responded it is not interested, it forced the council to turn to its last site.

On Dec. 2, the council voted to get clarification from Trinity about its unwillingness to sell “at this time” while inquiring about a purchase from the

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the fire and take any actions necessary to ensure successful completion of the healthcare campus and medical district.

Fire Department Inspector Dean Lennertz, in his analysis of the fire scene announced in April, concluded that shifting of the ground underneath the 24 1,000-gallon propane tanks at the location was sufficient enough to cause a leak, or a break, in one of the connections between the tanks. All of the tanks, which were spaced about three feet apart, were connected by copper lines.

“As the weather warmed up the ground became unstable,” said Lenertz. “As the tanks moved it snapped a line or separated a line,

construction of the reservoir was completed in 1955. The previous time the spillway gates were used was in the record runoff spring of 2011.

The soggy conditions throughout the state led, quite understandably, to speculation about what effect the excess moisture conditions might play come spring runoff. Certainly ground with a high moisture content plays a significant role during the snowmelt season because soggy ground leaves little room for absorption. The amount of moisture in the ground is one of the factors considered by forecasters, along with the amount of snow and the speed of the melt, when determining the volume of spring runoff.

The final month of 2019 saw precipitation totals continue to climb the ladder of all-time data recorded by the National Weather Service. By midDecember yearly precipitation received in Minot approached 24 inches, the seventh most ever measured in 114 years of record keeping.

December precipitation, primarily derived from the melting of each measurable snowfall, was running well above average in what is normally one of the driest months of the year. By Dec. 13 the total was already 30th most on record..

owner of Site 3. The directive was to have answers

by Feb. 29.

The city faces a September 2022 deadline to spend the $6 million in resilience money.

Council President Mark Jantzer said at the December meeting that he would like to believe that the city will eventually get its gathering space.

“But I’m not terribly optimistic after what we’ve seen transpire here in the last attempts,” he said.

“We’re kidding ourselves if we don’t recognize that this may not pan out the way we’d hoped, and so we better have a different approach, whether that’s giving the money back or whether that’s diverting it to some other part of the proposal.”

However, Zakian said it is not uncommon to face

broke a valve in some way and released the propane. That’s what appears to have happened,” Lennertz said.

Trinity Health said on April 30 that construction on the new healthcare campus and medical district had resumed as of Friday, April 26.

“While a portion of the site that was directly impacted by the fire is still restricted, construction activities will involve other facets of the project,” the statement on Trinity’s website said. It also said the Minot fire marshal determined the fire resulted from propane tanks reportedly leaking and eventually igniting. Trinity officials expected extensive testing to be conducted on the steel structure in the coming weeks.

In a story published by the Minot

hurdles with projects that veer from the typical projects funded by HUD. “Maybe the degree of passion that was expressed over the past year, both pro and con, in terms of the space itself and which site to end up with may have been more intense, but that level of challenge is not unusual,” he said.

This coming year will be crucial to the resilience program, though, he added.

The gathering space and other resilience projects – including a new city hall, technical center, family homeless shelter, affordable housing and property buyouts – need to be clearly defined and on a path to move forward by the end of 2020.

“As long as we have everything in that position

by January of 2021, we are OK,” Zakian said.

Daily News in its November “Pulse” publication, Trinity Health officials reported significant progress has been made at the new Trinity Health campus, with roughly a third of the overall construction of the project complete.

“Although our momentum was temporarily interrupted by the fire and other events earlier this year, we are encouraged with the forward movement of construction and how the campus is taking shape. The developing structure is impressive and signals the promise of a state-of-the-art facility that the people of this region can be proud of,” said Randy Schwan, a Trinity Health vice president.

Despite events earlier in the year that delayed work around the project, officials are still targeting completion in 2021, Schwan said.

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Wednesday, January 1, 2020, Minot (N.D.) Daily News

Community engagement

Thank you for your patronage in 2019

1017 S. Bdwy • Minot

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Thank you for your patronage in 2019

resilience money to assist in creating affordable apartments for low-tomoderate income families. Lutheran Social Services of North Dakota has proposed affordable housing along with a family homeless shelter that would also receive resilience funds.

Other resilience projects, including the proposed downtown gathering space and a new city hall, have drawn naysayers, as has the slow progress of the projects. To address the city’s space needs, the council will inquire into purchasing the former Wells Fargo building downtown.

A longstanding subject of public discontent, the downtown parking ramps, became less a topic of discussion in 2019, although still costly. The city went ahead with installing a roof and drainage system on each of the two parking ramps, costing taxpayers $946,125. The work was necessary to preserve the structures.

Other actions stemming in part from resilience efforts also caught the public’s attention. They included MAGIC Fund expenses of $300,000 for a professional marketing consultant to create a one-brand strategy for the community and a diversion of MAGIC Fund dollars to hire an economic development specialist. The new position remains unfilled as the city searches to find the right candidate.

In a less controversial move, the council tapped the MAGIC Fund in 2019 for $1 million over two years for a Business Accelerator Fund, a revolving loan fund managed by Souris Basin Planning Council.

Decisions made by the council in 2019 included extending the bar closing time to 2 a.m., as allowed in state law. The decision took some by surprise because the time change was introduced and adopted on second reading of an ordinance originally approved to allow certain alcohol sales on Thanksgiving. The council voted 4-3 after hearing from three bar owners who supported the change.

Yet to be decided in the new year is whether to pursue curbside recycling, and if so, what the plan should look like. The council ended the year with interest in hearing from the public, either through a survey or public vote in June.

The council turned its attention to recycling various times in 2019. It reviewed the research and options offered by its Public Works Department and heard from residents. From the environmentally conscious to folks who feel the city has better uses for its money, residents spoke up at an Octo-

ber meeting to let the council know how their thoughts on recycling. Some residents supported exploring a partnership with the Kalix Recycling Center in Minot.

Another project likely to capture public attention in the new year is a signage plan to promote downtown and identify city destinations. The council reviewed a study that estimated the pricetag would begin at nearly $158,000.

The council had commissioned a signage study as part of the National Disaster Resilience Program, but actual funding for signs would need to come from other sources, possibly from groups outside city government. In October, the council discussed phased-in signage but took no action.

Also in 2020, building permit fees in Minot will be going up.

The council voted in August to adjust fees to better cover operational costs of the building inspection department. As a result of action by the North Dakota Legislature prohibiting cities, specifically Minot, from charging higher fees in their extra-territorial areas, Minot had to equalize its fees, which had been double for residents living in the two-mile extra-territorial area.

The city’s review of its building permit fees came from a need to recover that lost income and to address the current subsidizing of the building department with property taxes. The city hadn’t increased its fees since 1994.

In October, North Dakota Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem issued an opinion that the City of Minot violated the state’s open meetings law when it held an executive retreat in Washburn July 31 and Aug. 1. Stenehjem noted no options existed to access the meeting remotely or receive transportation aids. His ruling gave the city seven days to make minutes of the meeting available free of charge to anyone requesting them.

Sipma’s reply didn’t sit well with residents critical of the retreat, who perceived the response as too defensive.

“Today’s Attorney General opinion sets a precedent in the state because nowhere in state law does it say a municipality cannot have a meeting outside its jurisdiction,” Sipma wrote. “It was never our intention to hold a City meeting that was inaccessible to the public, and we believed we were operating in compliance with the open meeting laws. We have every intention of fully complying with the Attorney General’s corrective measures.”

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File Photo

Members of the Minot City Council and city staff visited Kalix’s recycling center Oct. 15. From left are Public Works Director Dan Jonasson, council member Shannon Straight, City Manager Tom Barry and council member Lisa Olson.

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It was a year of challenges for Minot city government in 2019.

In some cases, it also was a year of public discontent with city government, whether over city actions or inactions. From an open meetings violation to lack of movement on curbside recycling, the Minot City Council and the public have each had their frustrations.

On a positive note, the city council, with the help of the city manager and staff, developed a budget for 2020 that won’t hike taxes after a couple of years of significant increases. The city’s proposed tax levy is dropping due to the transfer of the city recreation department to the park district.

The 2020 budget is a record, though, at $275 million in spending.

The large amount is due to inclusion of expenses for the flood protection project and Northwest Area Water Supply project.

The budget includes a council pay raise from $595 a month to $1,190 a month, which council members formalized in an ordinance in December.

The mayor’s pay would increase from $750 to $1,500 a month. Council members indicated the pay raises are necessary to keep up with pay in other cities and fairly compensate for the time involved.

The size of the pay raise and the five-year renewal of the city manager’s contract, which doesn’t expire until next August, raised eyebrows and added to the council’s struggle this past year with public perception.

Unsettled voters could affect next year’s elections. Council member Shannon Straight, who has said he will not run next June, has called for term limits. He has proposed the mayor or council members step down after two terms.

Straight has commented about his concern over loss of public trust and failings of the council.

“As it pertains to the gathering space, we have had huge missteps, and I’m going to own some of my own,” he said last September. “I’ve dropped the ball. I have to apologize to the public.”

Other council members whose terms are expiring in June are Josh Wolsky and Stephan Podrygula. Both say they haven’t made final decisions yet about whether to run.

Mayor Shawn Sipma has spoken out on various occasions against the negative attitudes and actions by some residents, including those who have taken their frustrations out on city employees. In a newspaper column in November, he wrote about the trouble with social media and “the negative know-it-alls who all-too-casually spew purposeful misinformation from the safe anonymity of their keyboard, without regard for the damage they do to individuals or to our community as a whole.

“We’re certainly not afraid of criticism. Discussion surrounding legitimate, rational, fact-based criticism is part of being involved in local government,” he wrote. “But those aren’t the critics we’re talking about.”

The council stepped up its community engagement efforts with two town hall meetings, at which city staff addressed issues in the public spotlight and heard from residents.

Among topics that garnered public discussion in 2019 were a couple of Broadway housing projects. A group of local developers proposing the mixeduse Blu on Broadway are seeking city

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Senior Staff Writer jschramm@minotdailynews.com

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By JILL SCHRAMM

Year brought challenges to Minot city government

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City Manager Tom Barry speaks at a townhall meeting in May at Perkett Elementary School. Behind him, from left, are Mayor Shaun Sipma and council members Shannon Straight and Stephan Podrygula.

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Culver’s is under construction at 3000 South Broadway and is scheduled to open in February.

Slim Chickens, Culver’s among new businesses in Minot

By ANDREA JOHNSON Staff Writer ajohnson@minotdailynews.com

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Some new businesses opened their doors in Minot in 2019.

Among the most eagerly awaited was Slim Chickens.

“We opened the store on November the 4th and currently have about 80 employees,” said Wendy Howe, director of marketing and brand compliance for the Preferred Restaurant Group. “This is the first location in North Dakota but we have purchased the rights for the rest of the state and plan to add five more locations in the next five years.”

Customers also seem to enjoy the items on the menu, said Howe.

“What we hear from our customers is how much they love the chicken,” Howe said. “They love that it is juicy and the light breading. The tenders are soaked in buttermilk and fried fresh for each order ensuring that each order is hot, fresh, and crispy. We have also heard the customers like the variety of sauce options that we offer. Slim Chickens offers a total of 17 dipping sauces for both the tenders and the wings so there is truly something for everyone. From as mild as honey mustard and ranch all the way to a mango habanero and inferno (if you really like it hot!). Lastly having the drive thru along with an app where the customer can order ahead of

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time and pick up are great options that make things really convenient. We have also received quite a few catering orders over the last couple weeks and I feel like that will only grow in 2020.”

Another restaurant that is highly anticipated that will be opening in the new year is Culver’s.

Patty Hageman, operating partner in the restaurant, said the Minot Culver’s is under construction at 3000 South Broadway.

She said the Minot restaurant is scheduled to be opened on Feb. 17 next year and will employ between 75 and 80 people, including management.

Culver’s is well-known for its large menu and includes fresh frozen custard, a premium ice cream. There will always be vanilla and chocolate flavors on sale and there will be one additional flavor offered on different days. Culver’s also is known for its butter burgers. The burgers are never frozen and everything is made to order, said Howe.

Since the restaurant will be opening close to Lent, Culver’s will add walleye to the menu for the season for those whose religion does not allow them to eat meat on Fridays.

There are a number of other popular items served on the menu to meet a variety of tastes and Hageman said the restaurant is very family friendly and offers a kids’ menu.

Other Culver’s are open in North

Dakota in Grand Forks, Williston, Mandan and two are in Fargo.

A variety of other businesses have also opened over the past year.

Total Beauty Supply opened in Dakota Square Mall on March 29.

Regency @ First & First Event Center, located at the corner of First Avenue and First Street Southeast, opened this fall and provides a modern, upscale event center, according to its owners.

Some of the other highlights include, according to the Minot Area Chamber of Commerce Newsletter: Herbology opened at 2301 16th Street SW and is one of four medical marijuana dispensaries in North Dakota.

Panini’s Plus opened in the food court at the Dakota Square Mall.

Preferred Partners Real Estate, a realty company, celebrated a grand opening this past summer. Primary Residential Mortgage Inc. opened up its first branch in the state this summer.

The 4R Home Thrift Store opened at 412 3rd Street NE this past summer.

Atypical Brewery & Barrelworks, a craft brewery, opened at 510 North Central Avenue East.

A ribbon cutting was held for Aces Lounge & Casino at 1524 South Broadway, Suite 8, last spring.

A ribbon cutting was also held last spring for the Red Lotus Boutique at 115 1st Avenue NE.

Society changes in 2019

Marijuana, Sunday shopping, addiction make news

By JILL SCHRAMM

Senior Staff Writer jschramm@minotdailynews.com

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Legal marijuana as medicine, the repeal of the Sunday closing law and the rising concern about youth vaping and addiction generally changed the landscape in North Dakota in 2019.

A bill repealing Sunday opening passed the House 56-35 and Senate 25-21, lifting restrictions on Aug. 1 that had kept many businesses closed on Sunday mornings. Dakota Square Mall responded by moving its opening hour from noon to 11 a.m. Walmart went to 24-hour operation on Sunday, and Target moved its opening to 7 a.m. A number of other businesses also bumped up their opening hours.

Herbology, Minot’s medical marijuana dispensary, opened at in the Dakota Square area in September.

“The momentum behind it has been really great, and how we’ve been received by the community has also been great,” Talley Wettlaufer, vice president and head of retail for Herbology, said last November.

“We are excited to build on that and continue to be an active member of the community.”

Herbology became a member of the Minot Area Chamber of Commerce and looks to play a role in Minot as it has in other communities.

Grassroots Cannabis (GR Companies, Inc.) won four dispensary licenses granted in North Dakota – Minot, Dickinson, Devils Lake and Jamestown. In addition to holding four of the state’s eight dispensaries licenses, it holds one of only two grow licenses.

To patronize a dispensary, North Dakotans must have an approved medical condition and a written certification from a physician, qualifying them to obtain a registration card. As of Dec. 9, there were 1,893 active patient cards.

On Dec. 5, Legalize ND submitted petitions to the North Dakota Secretary of State for a proposed statutory initiated measure to legalize recreational marijuana in the state. The petitions were approved for circulation in and need 13,452 signatures by Feb. 10 to get on the primary ballot or July 6 to get on the November ballot.

The measure removes criminal violations for the possesion of marijuana by individuals 21 and older, allowing for use, possesion and transport of up to two ounces of prepared marijuana. It creates a

File Photo

Herbology, a medical marijuana dispensary, opened in Minot in September.

marijuana control commission charged with licensing and regulating marijuana businesses. It also would impose a tax of 10% on all retail marijuana and marijuana products sold, which would be deposited in a fund to be used by the control commission, with excess money going to other state funds. Cities also could regulate the location and operation of retail marijuana establishments and would allow courts to seal criminal records of a person convicted of a misdeameanor marijuana offense if that person is not charged with another offense for one year.

Petitions also are circulating on a constitutional measure that would make marijuana possession and growing legal for a person 21 or older. The legalization would apply to no more than 12 cannabis plants, with six or fewer being mature, flowering plants, as long as the plants aren’t made available for sale. The Legislature would be asked to license and regulate any commercial operation.

The measure needs 26,904 signatures

by Feb. 10 or by July 6 to get on a ballot this year.

Meanwhile, the state continued in 2019 to deal with the problem of drug addiction, particularly opioid addiction.

The Minot Area Recovery Community Organization formed in January with the selection of a six-member board. The board hired Minot attorney A.J. Schultz as executive director to help in its efforts to pull together treatment providers, employers, medical professionals, counselors and others who can play a role in creating a coordinated approach to helping people in recovery.

The organization grew out of initial efforts by the Minot Mayor’s Committee on

Addiction to identify gaps in recovery services. Funding is coming from a $208,000 Bush Foundation grant.

In September, the organization held a luncheon to invite groups ranging from law enforcement to public health to discuss recovery efforts and find out what the community believes still needs to be done.

In October, the organization participated in a trunk-or-treat event for children.

In November, members attended the statewide Recovery Reinvented in Bismarck. Early in 2020, the organization plans a community dinner with a guest speaker.

Meanwhile, an anti-vaping task force organized with representation from public health, education, healthcare and other groups to address the rise in e-cigarette use by youth. A recent statewide youth survey released by the North Dakota Department of Public Instruction showed 52.8% of high school students have tried vaping, up from 41% in 2017. A third say they have vaped at least once in the past 30 days, up from 20.6% in 2017, while 12% reported they vaped at least 20 of the last 30 days, up from 4%. The survey found 8.3% of students vaped every day, up from 2.8% in 2017.

The rise in vaping comes as traditional cigarette use continues to drop significantly. Students saying they tried smoking at least one day in the past month fell from 22.4% in 2009 to 8.3% in 2019. Daily smokers dropped from 6.7% of youth to 1.4%.

The anti-vaping task force held a public event on Dec. 10, featuring a sociologist and vaping expert. It also conducted an anti-vaping sticker contest for youth and has been working with school officials to provide an anti-vaping curriculum.

The new African lion habitat opened at Minot’s Roosevelt Park Zoo in September 2019. A new tiger habitat is still being constructed and scheduled to open in the spring of 2020.

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Year of records, activity

By ELOISE OGDEN

Oil & gas production sets records; numerous active wind projects power ND

Regional Editor eogden@minotdailynews.com

North Dakota’s oil and gas industry ended 2019 on a high note with new alltime high production numbers for both oil and natural gas.

Lynn Helms, director of the North Dakota Department of Mineral Resources, reported on Dec. 13 that for the first time in history the state had reached producing 1.5 million barrels of oil a day. It was a preliminary number but an outstanding one.

At the end of 2018, North Dakota had an average daily production of 1.404 million barrels of oil a day.

North Dakota has the honor of being the second largest oil-producing state next to Texas.

The North Dakota production numbers are about two months behind so the new number of 1.5 million barrels of oil a day was for the month of October. In September the state produced 1.444 million barrels of oil a day.

But that’s not all when it comes to alltime highs.

In October the state also reached an alltime high of producing 3.070 MCF a day of natural gas. An MCF is 1,000 cubic feet of gas. The month before the state produced 2.946 MCF a day.

As of Dec. 13, 53 rigs were actively drilling in North Dakota, according to Helms’ report. Of the 53 rigs, 17 were drilling on the Fort Berthold Reservation.

The reservation was producing 368,834 barrels of oil a day from 2,316 active wells. The total number of producing wells in North Dakota is 16,157 (preliminary number), according to Helms.

The reservation has the potential of 4,236 future wells.

Jobs in the oil country

There’s still plenty of jobs in oil country, and many of them pay well, according to Job Service North Dakota representatives.

The representatives, who spoke at the Western Dakota Energy Association meeting held in Minot Oct. 31, said, as of September data, there’s demand for workers in Divide, Williams and McKenzie counties, particularly in transportation-related jobs. Health care positions are also among high-demand positions in oil country and across North Dakota, Job Service officials

Jill Schramm/MDN

Maynard Novlesky, who has land encompassed by the Ruso wind project, looks over maps of the project area at a North Dakota Public Service Commission meeting in Minot in June.

said.

In northwest North Dakota, the average wage for open jobs posted with Job Service is $29.28 an hour, compared to the state average of $26.70, according to Job Service representatives. Average wage for online postings in the North Central Region (Burke, Mountrail, Renville, Ward, Bottineau, McHenry and Pierce) is $25.39 an hour, and 60% are $20 an hour or more.

High wages are offset by the high cost of living in some places in oil country.

McKenzie County has the state’s highest cost of living followed by Dunn, Billings, Ward and Williams, according to Job Service.

ND wind projects

North Dakota now has more than 3,000 megawatts of wind energy capacity and more than 1,700 wind turbines operating, according to North Dakota Public Service Commission information.

In the neighborhood of around 47 wind projects are active in state as of July 17, 2019, information from the PSC. In Minot and area those projects include: – Minot Wind Project, south of Minot, owned by Basin Electric Power Cooperative. Two turbines in service since January 2002.

– Fort Totten Wind Project, Fort Totten, owned by Spirit Lake Sioux Nation. One turbine in service.

– Belcourt Wind Project, Belcourt,

owned by Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Tribe. One turbine in service.

– Three Affiliated Tribes, New Town.

One turbine in service.

– Velva Wind Project, Velva, owned by Accional Xcel Energy. 18 turbines in service 2005.

– Turtle Mountain Community College, Belcourt. One turbine in service.

– Prairie Winds Project, Ward County, owned by BEPC-PrairieWinds ND1, Inc. 77 turbines in service December 2009.

– Minot Wind 2, Ward County, owned

by Basin Electric Power Cooperative.

Three turbines in service 2009.

– Rugby Wind Farm, Rugby, owned by Iberdrola, Inc. f/k/a PPM Energy. 71 turbines in service 2009.

– Lake Region State College, Ramsey County. One turbine in service January 2013.

– Border Winds, Rolette and Towner Counties, owned by Xcel Energy. 75 turbines in service May 2016.

– Lindahl Wind Project, Williams County, owned by Lindahl Wind Project.

75 turbines in service March 2017.

– New Frontier Project, McHenry County, owned by Meadowlark Wind 1, LLC in service December 2018.

– Glen Ullin Energy Center, Mercer and Morton Counties, owned by Allete Clean Energy. Under construction.

A number of other projects across the state including in the Minot area are in various stages of plans.

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sign. The center will have 11 galleries and one 32-foot, iconic climbing exhibit in a threestory, 22,000-square-foot building. The space will include 12,000 square feet of exhibits.

The building will be located on Minot Park District land just south of the Sertoma softball fields on North Hill and overlooking Minot and the valley.

The center will be the only children’s museum in North Dakota.

In July, the Minot Park Board voted 4-1 to approve a $1.3 million purchase of 6.16 acres west of Maysa Arena to accommodate construction that could be coming someday to add another ice rink, an aquatics center and fieldhouse.

A new water slide, ice rink improvements at Polaris Park and paving projects around the park district are on the Minot Park District’s construction schedule for 2020.

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Roosevelt Park Zoo also was granted the Association of Zoos & Aquariums accreditation this year. The accreditation means the Minot zoo is achieving “the highest standards for modern zoological practices and animal welfare,” said Becky Dewitz, zoo director.

AZA requires zoos and aquariums to successfully complete a rigorous accreditation process every five years in order to be members of the association. Roosevelt Park Zoo has been an accredited AZA member since 1989.

Magic City Discovery Center is more than halfway to its $7 million capital campaign goal, said Mark Lyman, president of the center’s board of directors. He said a ground breaking is anticipated for 2020.

In August, AckermanEstvold, the project architects, unveiled the final building de-

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New African lion habitat opens and tiger habitat being completed, Magic City Discovery Center continues to move forward and Minot Park Board makes plans for 2020 – all happening in 2019.

Visitors to Roosevelt Park Zoo had the opportunity on Sept. 26 to see the Severson Ahart African Lion Savanna, the new home for Roosevelt Park Zoo’s two African lions, Kiota and Jassira, opening that day. Located on the east loop of the zoo where other African species are located, the African lion exhibit is part of a $58.8 million project for the zoo’s lions and tigers.

The lions’ new habitat is named for Clint Severson, a native of Minot, and his wife, Conni Ahart, who donated a

million dollars to the zoo’s centennial capital campaign and gave them naming rights to the lions’ exhibit.

The Amur Tiger River Valley exhibit, the new habitat for the tigers, is still under construction near the zoo’s visitor center. The exhibit is scheduled to open in the spring of 2020, said Jennifer Kleen, executive director of the Minot Zoo Crew.

The zoo’s centennial capital campaign is continuing fundraising to renovate the former big cat habitat for the zoo’s two leopard species. The project is anticipated to be complete in the zoo’s centennial year in 2021.

Ron Merritt, executive director of Minot Parks, said the upgrades to the zoo’s parking lot were also completed in 2019. He said paving pathways inside the zoo will be completed in 2020.

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Regional Editor eogden@minotdailynews.com

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Construction continued in December on the Broadway pump station that is part of the on-going flood control project in Minot.

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Staff Writer kfundingsland@minotdailynews.com The massive Souris River flood control project dominated the construction scene in Minot in 2019. Pump stations, flood walls and other necessary aspects of the multi-phase project were visible sites of activity throughout the year.

“We got a good jump on the first three phases of flood protection,” said Dan Jonasson, Minot public works director. “We made a lot of progress on the water treatment plant expansion. We’ll be wrapping that up in the spring. It’ll be good to have that done.”

Work continued in December at the Broadway pumping station located immediately west of the Broadway Bridge. The location is a focal point for on-going flood control work in the city that was highly visible in 2019.

“The flood control work is a huge part of what’s been going on,” said Jonasson.

“There’s about $80 million going on with the three

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Flood control construction highlights 2019 phases.”

While work will continue as much as possible this winter at the Broadway pumping station, work is also being done along Fourth Avenue, primarily east of Broadway.

Additional flood control work is scheduled for 2020.

“Burlington work will be let out for bids in the spring,” said Jonasson. “We’ll continue working a design for Tierrecita Vallejo, which will be for view in the spring and for bids in 2020. We are finishing up acquisition. It’s a rural project but it benefits the city with a tie-back on the western part of the river.”

Almost lost in the shadow of flood control work has been a myriad of other projects engaged in by the city.

Those include “a lot of general maintenance projects and storm sewer rehab work,” said Jonasson. In addition was about $4 million spent on street rehabilitation that is part of yearly maintenance in the city.

Lance Meyer, city engineer, said the main take-away from 2019 construction in the city was that “a lot of infrastructure got done.” Several sections of concrete panels on Broadway that had become broken and rough due to heavy traffic flow were replaced, resulting in a much smoother roadway for motorists.

Unfortunately, said Meyer, the weather brought a

By ANDREA JOHNSON

halt to the Broadway project before it was completed. The good news is that only about three blocks of the project remain. Completion is expected by mid-June of 2020.

“It’s going to be a busy construction year ahead,” remarked Meyer. “One of the largest projects in 2020 will be reconstruction along 31st Avenue Southeast with a round-about put in at 13th Street. It’s a little over a mile from 13th to Broadway.”

Work on a trunk sewer line is part of the project as well.

“Add it all up and it will take all summer. It will be a heck of a project,” stated Meyer.

Two other major construction projects in the city are set to get underway in 2020. One of them will take place within the storm sewer assessment district south of Dakota Square Mall. Flooding has been an issue at the intersection of 10th Street and 31st Avenue.

“We’ll replace 10th Street, which is in very poor condition around 32nd and 34th avenue,” said Meyer. “It’ll be a nice improvement when all that work is done.”

As part of the project the traffic signal lights at 31st Avenue and 10th Street, immediately southeast of Dakota Square, will be removed. The outdated lights were installed more than 10 years ago as

temporary signals.

“The equipment is old and we can’t find replacement parts,” said Meyer.

“The volume of traffic is such that they are not really needed and modern traffic signals are a quarter of a million dollars apiece. 31st Avenue will be a through street and 10th will have stop signs.”

The last of three major projects to get underway in 2020, said Meyer, was the replacement of the aging retaining wall that is partially around City Hall. The sloped wall has outlived its lifespan and is no longer considered stable.

“It’s eroding underneath and really doesn’t have any strength to it. We’ll build a vertical wall. It’s sloped now,” explained Meyer. “It’ll go out for bids in January, maybe February, with a May through September construction time frame. It’s 1,300 feet of wall.”

A bonus for the city is that going from a sloped wall to a vertical one will add about 15 feet of space to the existing parking lot where the wall is today. That means the creation of more parking spots in an area where parking has been at a premium for many years.

“That’s the topping on the ice cream, not really why we are doing it,” remarked Meyer.

Pioneer Village museum now in Burlington

Staff Writer ajohnson@minotdailynews.com

After it lost a long legal battle against the North Dakota State Fair Association to keep its pioneer village on the state fairgrounds, the Ward County Historical Society board decided against an appeal.

Instead, they wanted a new start in a place where they could grow and expand the pioneer village.

The museum buildings were relocated in spring 2019 from the fairgrounds, where it had been located for more than half a century, to donated land along U.S. Highways 2 and 52 in Burlington. The historical society now holds title to the land and historical society board members were relieved that they would not be required to relocate again.

The historical society hopes to have the open for partial operation to visitors sometime by summer.

However, a lot more work will be needed to get it into shape.

All of the buildings had been relocated by June and volunteers and contractors repainted some of the buildings and did repair work on buildings that had been damaged during the move or had been damaged during the flood of 2011 and not repaired.

A lot of assistance came from businesses and individuals that donated money or time to re-establishing the museum.

Some funds for the move were to come from the state. The legislature appropriated a combined $250,000 toward the move, some $150,000 from the State

Harmon House at Pioneer Village in Burlington.

Treasury and $100,000 from the State Fair Association’s general fund.

The historical society is currently raising money to make its buildings handicapped accessible.

Donations to the historical society through the St. Joseph’s Community Health Foundation’s Twice Blessed Campaign were to be matched by the campaign up to $5,000 provided some grant funding and the State Fair Association also agreed to Other funding came from ind The historical society now holds title to the land and will not be required to move the museum again.

Dave Leite, president of the historical society, wrote earlier this fall that Burlington Electric has completed its work to provide power to all of the build-

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ings on the museum grounds. Much of the labor for that project was donated.

Beeter Brothers Construction completed water lines, including fire and yard hydrants, to the site and sewer lines to the two houses on the museum grounds.

Beeter Brothers Construction will also spread topsoil on the museum grounds next spring, Leite wrote.

Most of the exterior work on buildings has been completed and all of the building signs will be repainted over the winter.

Historical society members hope to have landscaping, such as grass seeding and tree and shrub planting, done next spring.

This fall’s bad weather delayed some of the landscaping they hoped to do earlier.