City Commission - Regular Meeting

Heat. Heat. N. Heat. Heat. Heat. Hey, Heat.

Hey everybody. Heat. Heat. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Okay. Heat.

Heat. Hey hey down. call the meeting to order. I invite you to join us with a pledge of allegiance.

Pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Roll call, please. Col here. Pepcorn here. Strand here. Turnberg here. Mahoney

here. do a short video about the Fargo storm water management program. With spring upon us, we are encouraging residents to help keep pollution out of our storm water drains. There is like they say only rain down the drain. So now you can start it archa. I work for the city of Fargo storm water division and I um currently am working with erosion and sediment control. All of the water from storms or from rain events in Fargo goes down the storm drains that are in neighborhoods and then it flows directly to the Red River. Our storm water is not treated in any way. So it flows directly, like I said before, to the river. The only filter or treatment so to speak would be us. Like whatever we can do to stop other debris from entering the system is the best filter that we have. Spring melt is one of the times where we get the biggest rush of water running into the system and a lot of the snow melt has been sitting on a parking lot or on the side of the street or on the curb line and it's collected lots of sediment over that time. So, it gets to be pretty critical that we can try to manage that. I think one of the best actions that people can do in their neighborhood would be to know where their drain is, where they have it. Typically, they're on a corner. Sometimes they're in the middle of a block. And then maybe take some responsibility with your neighbors and work together to kind of take that drain and keep it clean. Make sure there's no leaves, garbage. Make sure that you're instructing people about the drain and what not to put down there. Commonly, most things that enter are going to be debris off the roads like salt, debris, other things that can wash from homeowners yards into the system, sediments. We don't want sediments in our system. And a lot of times also even to the point of trash. Cigarette butts are a huge problem. So we want to keep

as many of those out as we can. We want to keep the sediment from the river because the we don't want our river to be more shallow. We want our river to stay deep. So we want to keep as much sediments out. Plus there's a lot of times there's sediment and chemical, you know, off of yards or lawns or whatever. And that causes overgrowth in our river system. Once the storm water enters the Red River, Red River runs north. So, it goes to Canada and then all the way up to Lake Winnipeg and eventually to the ocean. It's important to understand where the water goes to because in Fargo, the Red River is where we get our drinking water from. So, we want to keep it as clean as we can. And remember, only rain down the drain. Nicely done. Thank you. Is there a motion to approve the order of the agenda moving items 3132 from the consent agenda to the regular agenda? And I'm going to put them in front of the leaison report. Is there a motion?

I move. Is there a second? Second. All those in favor say I. I. I. Those opposed say nay. Motion carried. Is there a motion to approve the minutes of the April 13, 2026 regular meeting? Move to approve. Is there a second? Second. All those in favor say I. Motion carried. Is there a motion to approve the consent agenda items 1 through 39 excluding items 31 and 32 which been moved to the regular agenda? I move. Is there a second? Second. Roll call vote please. Pep. I. Strand. Yes. Copek. I Turnberg. I Mahoney.

Hi. Regular agenda. Recommendation for the convention center committee Charlie Johnson to explain.

Good evening, commissioners, mayor, and commissioners. Thank you for uh taking time for us tonight. We've been working on this for a long time, and uh we're happy to be here to uh hand this off to the city commission uh and see what happens next. It's going to be an exciting time for the city of Fargo. I think um our committee has worked hard on this uh since January. The committee was named in January of 2025 after the vote in October or November of 2024. And before we move on to the uh the recommendation and the motion, I would like to recognize the committee because you were all on it. Thank you for that for participating. And then we had nine other members, myself included, uh, eight other members who did a really good job. And some of them are here tonight. I would like to ask them to stand up, please. Committee members who are here. They couldn't all be here, but they did a great job and we're very proud of them. Thank you. Uh uh one former committee member was my former co-orker Mallerie Arian who left uh left uh visit Fargo Morehead in January of this year, but she did a lot of work uh leading up to that point and she also did a great job preparing a lot of the the early meetings and the trip that we took to visit convention centers. So anyway, thank you all. We appreciate your hard work. I appreciate your hard work and I don't think you could find a better committee anywhere, right? And that's the way I feel about it. Anyway, so uh last week, uh our committee voted to advance to the city commission the rankings that we came up with for the final four projects. As you of course all know, we started with nine, all really viable projects. We narrowed that down to five uh some months ago and then we were working and then we had presentations and updated uh uh proposals from the four remaining ones and then we worked diligently to decide what to do about it. And last

week our rankings came forth and the rankings uh showed that uh the rankings in order were the Bruhala project, the downtown project, the Shields Arena project and then the Fargo project. uh you were all privy to the uh the uh recommendations and the scoring that happened. I have some of that in front of me if you want to know about it. Um so the committee decided last week, last Friday, we voted to bring a motion forward to you as the city commission. Now uh and you see it up on the uh screen before you. And our suggested motion is that it is moved that the city commission accept the recommended rankings of the convention center committee and direct city staff to begin timely due diligence and negotiations with the top ranked choice or choices. Sorry, I got ranked in there twice. My bad. Based on the highest you only have to do it once cumulative total scoring for the purpose of entering a public private partnership for construction of a convention center and supporting hotel or hotels. Uh this is uh we feel what was our job to do to bring this to you and there you have it. I'm happy to answer any questions.

So much for all your hard work and your committee's hard work on that. We very much appreciate it. I know this is your dream is to have convention center. So we're well on the way to do that. Uh Michael, do you want to stand up and work with us and Ian what our steps would be best now at this point? And Charlie, you can be excused. Thank you very much.

Okay. Thank you. Good evening uh mayor and commissioners. So thank you to Charlie and the committee as well. We very much appreciate their participation in this process from the beginning. And so what will occur after the commissions receive receiving of this information tonight is a due diligence period. And in that due diligence period, what we will do is work with various city resources both internally like the city attorney's office as well as external resources that may be necessary for us to fully vet uh the top proposals that are were presented to the city commission. So we look forward to getting that underway. We do understand that there was a good discussion that occurred at last Friday's meeting to just about the timeliness on that. appreciate Charlie's comment and really raising that uh to the top of the list today that we try to do that in a very timely way so that we get that information back to the commission as soon as possible. But really now this will shift to the city commission. This becomes your due diligence work. And so what we're asking for after you receive this tonight is that we begin work almost immediately with the city attorney's office, our finance team, the administration group, and other other resources that we have available to us uh to try to get uh the best the best determination of the facts put together and we get the business term issues put together. So just looking for any additional comments or questions that you might have tonight, but uh concur that this is the appropriate step and this is exactly where we thought we would be. We receiving this information and really authorizing staff to continue with its due diligence steps. So thank you.

I do have one person to speak, Ron Gilmore, if you are here, Ron, please. Ron Gilmore. If not, then I open it for commission discussion. What are your wishes? Mr. Pope.

Yeah. Um I I' I'd like to begin by acknowledging the incredible work to which already has been acknowledged tonight of the convention center committee and these were individuals who were selected for your expertise and you I think I think you and I saw that you approached this process with seriousness, diligence and integrity. So, thank you very much and the ultimate rankings matter and those rankings should inform our decision and they will. Um, from the very beginning, it was also clear as part of our meeting and acknowledged by the committee members, the final decision does rest with the city commission. And with that responsibility, we owe it to the public to ensure we are making the most informed, financially sound, and forward-looking decision possible. For me, and I shared this last week, it starts with two core questions. Is this financially feasible? And will it be sustainable for decades to come? And at this stage, I believe we do not yet have a true applestoapples financial comparison between the two proposals. And without that, I don't believe we are ready to put all of our efforts into one site for in-depth review. I also believe the visit everyone last week put all their cards on the table of their preferences as part of the conversation which took some um you know it was certainly taking a risk and and it and it you know was done with integrity. Um I I will share I do believe the visitor experience matters very much and in fact not just the building itself but what surrounds it. The immediiacy, accessibility and strength of nearby amenities are critical to long-term success. So when I look at the top rank proposal,

there are still open questions about how key elements will come together, particularly around redevelopment timelines, financial tools like a tiff and those are not disqualifiers, but they are uncertainties we need to fully understand as part of this decision. At the same time, the second ranked option offers a different set of strengths, particularly with existing amenities and prior public investment that are already in place today. And it also brings with it its own challenges. So as committee commissioners, this is our final step making this decision. And in this step, I believe my job is to not move quickly. It is to move correctly. So advancing the top two sites for full financial vetting allows us to do exactly that to rigorously compare feasibility, risk, hotel capacity, and long-term return. And this is not about second-guessing the committee. It's about finishing the work you started with the level of financial clarity and transparency this decision demands. So, I would propose that we move forward with the top two, get the answers we need, and make the best possible decision for Fargo with confidence. Is

there a second? Second. Further discussion, Mr. Pickborn.

So, Mr. Chair, uh the committee did a great job and there's four finalists and they ranked them one to four. Uh to me now it starts all over again and the bottom line is the financial success uh of any of the four because uh there's a big difference between this and the Fargo. The Fargo has a $49 million reserve fund. This convention center has no reserve fund. So if something happened where we built something that it was not financially successful, that money would come out of the general fund from the city of Fargo every year. So it's critical uh and I believe we have to just start all over and from the and just look at finances because that's the critical part and it has to be successful and it has to make a lot of money or we shouldn't build it. So to me to just limit ourselves to two that's that's not necessary. There's four and so they ranked them from one to four and that's what their that's what their job was and so now it's up to us. Thank you Mr. Chair.

Commissioner Coac. Yeah, I'll just I'll just add that um that I that there still is a ranking of one to four. Um and if and I think for expediency and to keep this moving um that you really digging into the top two and then if something happens going to three and then four um that that still is an option for the commission's consideration. Mr. Chair, just one more thing. Mr. Pep,

uh the key thing is we are not going to rush. We are not in a rush. Uh we can have several examples of recent examples of we need to hurry up and vote and we do not need to hurry up and vote. We need to take our time. This committee did a great job and what did they do? They they worked methodically over a year. We learned a ton. We learned a lot. Everybody we had an excellent group and everybody added to it. Uh there is no rush and this is a huge decision and we need to take our time. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Any other discussion, Mr. Stan?

Thank you, uh, Mayor and Charlie and your team. Thank you for bringing this vision forward and not giving up on on this hope for our our region and community. The committee members who rolled up their sleeves and did the work. I you just you really did great public service. Thank you for that. Um, I think your role was fulfilled and now that it's at our desk and at our table, we have a different we wear a different hat, but we have a lot in common. Um, several months ago, you might remember, I I I and I didn't succeed at this, and I regret that I didn't succeed at it because I wanted to I advanced a motion that we we decide as a group that we're going to advance a downtown location for everybody to have opportunity to get at. That's because that's based on my view that it should be downtown. And my learning from other cities across the country when they have two two of them at the National League of Cities last year spoke highly, emotionally, passionately that they were having new convention centers. They fought hard to make sure they were in their struggling downtowns. And I'm that's where my head is at. I wish and hope that we could put it downtown, but I also uh respect that there were lots of options and they were given choices. If I had my magic wand, and people know that's what I do at city hall, if I had a magic wand, here's what I would do. I would go forward with exploring both sites, of course. Uh and I like the idea of Bruhala expanding the footprint of footprint of downtown. There's amazing value to that of pushing the footprint further out west because a 100 years from now we'll really appreciate that. I'm not sure how long it'll take to to get to that point, but you know that's that's there's a value in that. If I had

my magic wand, here's what I would do. I would I would explore both the motions called for both of these to be vetted with due diligence. But I would also seriously right now moment present approach the science museum people who want to put a science dinosaur museum in town and say is there any way we can firm up a a discussion to have that potentially over on the Mid America Steel site. So, if we had a science museum downtown and if we had a convention center downtown, we would transform our downtown in ways we can't even fathom. And they're both in the make in the in the works right now. So, I and I don't know where and I know they're looking at the Shields Arena, but I I think we should put the full court press to see how could what would it take to get you to come downtown. I think of Cocoa Beach and their science museum in the heart of their downtown. Okay. So that's where my head's at. I I I I there's value to every one of these. And if we ended up at Bruhala over there, boy, you know, I remember one time I was flying a plane a couple years ago and there's some guy on the plane wearing a Bruhala hat. How often do you see that around the country where somebody's wearing a hat from one of our local establishments out in in in the in the country we're in, you know? They've done a Mark Bernstead and and and uh Kevin Bartum and their vision and their leadership and their humble humility, you know. So, I really want us to be open to see if we can ask the science museum to come downtown if there's any hope at all right now, moment, present. If not, we've we've addressed that issue. Um I' I'd like to explore that and and vet that. Uh the last thing I'll say is this is I've gone to I've gone to a lot of conventions, countless conventions and conferences over the years. And when I go to a

conference and a convention, I walk out the door and I look around and go, okay, where am I going today? I think that experience is really an important part of our discussion. What is your experience? If you're visiting our city and you walk out the door of the convention center, where are you going to go and how are you going to get there? And and and that. And so there's pros and cons to all of these, but my hope is we'll stay close to both of these that will keep uh keep breathing life potentially into the downtown location. And you know, you how do you calculate the refurbishing of a building like the Civic Center that's sitting there right now? an albatross over our on our shoulders. So, thanks to all you developers, thanks to the people on the committee, thanks to Charlie and his team for advancing this, thanks to the people who rolled up the sleeves and and I I did not attend any of the committee meetings. People say we're all on that committee. I wasn't in my mind on that committee. I advanced the motion so that it would be open to all of the commissioners who wanted to participate because Commissioner Pepcorn at that time had raised the concern that we had a lot of activities going that we couldn't even participate in. So in my mind it needed to be open to our commissioners and to our members and and that was why I advanced that even though in my mind our job is now our job wasn't then. So now it's on our shoulders to take the work that's been given to us and informed us and and look at the bigger picture for the community. So part of what came out of the committee, John, students weren't there is we did talk about finances was 20% of the core scoring that we did for it. A couple committee members actually put forth that they, you know, did not really understand finances. So that's why it's very imperative that the group looks over the finances of this. The other thing that happens is one of the proposals has a tiff question in there

that has to be answered and tiffs and incentives are sometimes complicated and that has to be really looked at in full detail to see how that impacts the project and what will happen. When we do diligence, what we will do is look at both projects very diligently and to the long-term question about sustainability and what it would take in general funds. If it's in the downtown area, you could take TI money and help take care of some of the overruns if you had a difficulty. But as you recall in the funding there's going to be 500 500 500 and then 350 for the life of the bond that would help with any overdraws. And to many of us who saw the evaluation of the finances the difficulty was apple to oranges. And I almost wanted to say commissioner Kobach we can't put all apples in one basket but the difficulty was in the financial arrangement. it was hard to ascertain some of the what some of the the evaluations by each company meant. So this will give us an opportunity to do that and there is a sense of uh whe'd like this commission to make the decision of where this goes. So that's part of what is the issue of Ian can we look at this in timely fashion and report back to the commission in 30 days or will it take longer?

30 days would be the May 26th meeting. we can get our due diligence started right away with the if if it's for two, we'll do the two. If it's for four, we'll do the four. But I think the motion right now is for the two. Okay. Thank you. Any other discussion, mayor? And and just reminding us all we have an election coming up June 9th. So if we're that close to a June 9th election date, maybe we wait till we see who's seating seated up here. Four of the five commissioners had it on every meeting on the convention. John and the new question is you have a saying that we will have maybe very different we may there might be only two of us up here sometimes leaders have to make decisions that's my recommendation

we already have a motion on the floor second roll call vote please I turnberg I Pepcorn no Strand yes Mahoney

I recommendation by the human rights commissioner remain as is, pausing all meetings until after the June election and coordinating the newly seated city commission on a path forward. Brenda Derek to explain. Good evening, mayor and commissioners. Attached in your packet is a memo um from myself at the HRC meeting last Thursday or two weeks ago, sorry. Um the HRC did vote on a recommendation to forward to the city commission. We have been meeting every other week if not weekly um as a board and then also bringing in some of our um community partners and so working with the state um HRC also trying to figure out what that community path could look like. So, in front of you today, you see a recommended motion to remain as is, but pause all meetings until after the June election and to work directly with the newly seated city commission on a path forward.

We do have two speakers on this. Brenda on Zoom. Is Dalton Ericson on, please?

Brian, is that no?

He's not. Okay. Suku Sir Leaf is here. Saku is a chairperson of the human rights commission. Good evening, major uh commissioners. Thank you for the opportunity. Um, human rights concerns everybody who is human and sometimes we don't really fathom the importance of human rights until our own rights are violated or our civil rights are violated. Um we decided to vote on the uh motion to pause every activity of the HRC but also keep it under the city because um at with reduced activities because uh of the staffing burden on city and the financial burden on the city. So that way the HRC can meet within the community and just meet at city hall once every quarter uh to discuss and report on issues that have been gathered from the community and uh make quarterly report. The reason human rights in the city is important is because it helps us to um protect civil rights of every residents in Fargo. Also it helps uh to create accountability, local accountability and um it prevent a step backwards. I think we've made some stride. We've made some progress uh towards human and civil rights in this country and we don't want to take that step backward. Also it provides constructive uh feedback from the community. City hall can't be everywhere. That's why we need these agencies that are these commissions that

are bridged between city hall and the commission uh and and the people of the city. So we will be happy to see that the city commission can vote to um keep the HRC as it is within the city and also put a pause on it until after the election so that the new city commission uh can take a look into that and decide which way they want to go. But I think human rights is very important for the city and I'm grateful to the city commission for even chartering the HRC and they've been doing a very important work been doing a good work and thank you for your patience for giving first two months and then an extended 60 days but it's like we were just between a rock and a hard place. The best option was to just put a pause on all activities for now. Thank you.

Thank you. Do you want anything else? Uh, Dalton is online now. Okay, Dalton Ericson, you can speak now. Hello, my name is Dalton Ericson. I'm the executive director with the North Dakota Human Rights Coalition. And I just also wanted to affirm the decision of human rights being too important of an issue and this commission just being too important for how it is structured that I believe that we do need to let the people vote and sort of allow them to sort of decide a bit on this. So I hope that extension past the election and sort of let democracy do its thing uh would be allowed by this body. Thank you so much. Thank you Mr. Stan.

I would like to advance the mayor I'm sorry mayor. I would like to advance the motion that was put to us by the HRC since I'm their liaison. Is there a second? I'll second. Further discussion Mr. Chair Mr. call back.

Thank you. Um it it I have watched all the the meetings and the progress um of all of the efforts that moved boards and commissions to different um ultimate um formats and places. And I think one of the best examples was the work of the Fargo Youth Initiative and where they landed um at the next level of their solution. And it will in fact include more exposure for Fargo's youth to different political subdivisions um in a much more open and um freeing way I would say about the process. And so it as I watch these meetings it it really is unfortunate that in the end they couldn't agree on what that new look and how it should operate um where where they where they landed. Um because I do think there were some good options brought forward by members of the group that were viable. Um but having said that um and I agree given the proximity of this to the election um including the fact that the chair of this human rights commission is a candidate in that election I I support waiting until after the election but with real hope that they find their next their next version of them of their best selves with very clear scope and purpose defined.

Mr. Mr. Strand, the only question I have of you is our other commissions were able to come to a solution. Why does HRC have difficulty in coming to a solution? It's a really good question and I think there's a good answer. Um, this is this is where I come from as a citizen activist and people who sign up for and apply for get interviewed for to be on a human rights commission are citizen act activists. They're advocates for human rights, for civil rights. They apply for this position because they have a skill set to offer and to put into that process and and a contribution to make. Nobody asked them to show up and demolish your own entity to tear it apart and down and and and eliminate it. That's not what they signed up to do. I understand the discussion of boards and commissions and our bigger picture and I think we need to always remember our bigger picture which is efficiencies and use of staff time and budgeting and so on. But but these people who went for applied for asked to be got proved to be on the human rights commission are human rights civil rights activists and we're asking them to participate and and decide their demise. The the question they're putting back to us is own it. If you don't want a human rights board, own it. If you don't think that's a vi priority in our community, take ownership of that decision as a city commission. And I understand that view, too. You know, um I really really do. So, they're not going to make this decision to say we're going to self- emilate and and deconstruct and decompensate and break down in front of you. You do it to us. if that's what you want.

John, I disagree with that because we've asked any of our commissions to reinvent themselves and many did. So, Native Rights Commission did, youth commission did. They could be a chapter of the human rights commission. They could be a coalition of human rights in the community. Morehead has one. We could have one combined with them at one time. That was a very popular idea. There's a variety of different ways. We're not asking them to spend. We're asking them to reinvent themselves. What's their purpose? What are their agendas? What are their meetings for? And there was a lot of talk about changing the size, changing doing different things. All I'm saying is that they're still going to have to struggle to try to come up with what what is our true purpose. And it's not that we're asking them to disband. We're asking them to figure out a new way and and make it productive for us. Commissioner Co.

Yeah. that you you summarized what I was going to reiterate after my opening comments there. So I'm good. Any any Commissioner Pep? So just real quick, Mr. Chair, that's why we gave them the extension. They claimed to say that they needed more time to find a different venue. That that's that's why I voted in favor of the the extension to give them more time. They had more time. Now they want more time and basically they don't they don't intend to do anything. They plan to keep on going. So I I think that's that was the intention all along. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Any other discussion? You two have your lights on, but you're okay. Roll

call vote, please. Strand, yes. Coac, I. Pepcorn, no. Turnberg, no. Mahoney, I. Item 31, may Minnesota mosquito control, city of Fargo and C County government. Ben Dow to explain.

Good evening, mayor commissioners. Uh tonight in front of you is our annual agreement with Cass County to uh do our uh vector control services throughout the entire summer, spring, fall. And so with it, I've included the contract. The contract has remained the same for approximately 10 years. We haven't seen any uptick or anything in the contract. And and uh Ben Prowler and his team over there at Cass County Vector Control do a very good job for us. If there's any questions, I'd be happy to take

Mr. Strand, you asked poll 31 and 32. Was there anything in particular you wanted to address? Well, uh, in in all of my years, we've really never much talked about vector control and who we contract with and who they are and how much it costs. And I remember one time 15 years ago, there was a discussion here at the city commission. And who was the hot dog commissioner? Um, that anyway, but but just on a moment's notice, they arbitrarily doubled it from 50 cents to a dollar if I remember right. It's been a dollar ever since Dennis won.

Ever since then, it's been a dollar, but just like that. So that that I thought that's interesting um that we that we just double it like that. But but here's my question more than anything and you know where I'm going with this. You know a few years ago on August 25th if I recall and then I'm I'm also wanting to know the relationship with Morehead and Klay County versus us because they're not doing it the same they used to either. I believe they've changed their mosquito management program but so and we're different than them. So, I don't know how we decide when we airspray or aerial spray. I don't know the the parameters of that. I don't know how we make sure that it's not going to kill millions of monarchs like it did that one year. And then Moreheads changed tone tones on that. So, that's what my one of my general areas is that bigger picture.

So, uh Morehead did change their protocols and you know that happened after the event and then as after this last year they did change their protocols again to more replicate exactly what we're doing based on what their citizen outcry was. So they are going into this season they changed it and they're more replicating what we are doing in Fargo. West Fargo matches exactly what we do and and they spray when we spray. Um there's a lot that goes into trap counts, mosquito counts, everything that goes along with it when it's decided to aerial spray and a lot of it plays in when we found positive signs of West Nile and positive cases and that's where it really starts triggering our aerial spraying. Typically we don't do a lot of aerial spraying. Last year we had a wet season. We did end up doing three seasons, but for the two summers before that, we didn't do any aerial spraying and that was because it never met the trap count, the protocols that have been set in place. Um, Cass County is the experts in this group. It used to be actually under Dennis Waller when he was the public works director. Um, we had our own vector control organization within public works. Um, what happened is public works had one and Cass County had one. And so based on that thought process made more sense to make it just one expert group rather than have our own individuals. And Morehead used to be the same way. They had their own group and then they've since then come to vector control and asked if they can join up with us. And so that's how it works. Now Commissioner Copac does sit on our vector control board. She is involved in all the decision-m when we do spray. And Ben provides all the data behind of the why, when, and what we do. Now, it's very difficult to aerial spray, too, because humidity plays into it, wind plays into it, which it always blows here in Fargo, North Dakota, and then if it's going to rain or not. So, it's usually a very tight window in which we can aerial spray. So, there's many, many factors go into it. Um, as you know, last year I did inform you that we did make a change in aerial spray and left out an area because we

had the street fair going on. And so it's one of those things that we we kind of change as needed, but a lot of time it is something that we've reached the conditions are very poor and our residents can't enjoy their outside activities in the evenings and stuff like that. Mayor Mr. I'll I'll continue. And Ben,

just because I put this on the agenda, don't take it as criticism. All right. Or your department. It's just for a moment of of conversation. Absolutely. And discussion to have. And as am I seeing it? Is it a $400,000 allocation? So it's 315,000 up to 315,000 and a lot of that's for larvide and adult control. That's where they're treating the water and everything out in the in the areas. Then we go to um a split in the ET, a 50% split on that. So um typically anything in the ET because mosquitoes are migratory. They migrate just like birds. So we treat our ET areas with uh larvicide and try and keep those mosquito counts down. So in all typically we spend and stay under that 315,000. in the last 10 years, we haven't breached it. Last thing I'll say and and you all do a great job and and I know there was I think it was last year we're all out people are outside and there's some mosquitoes hitting we go this isn't typical because kids that do such a good job managing them but I have family out of out of Fargo and one time I was up at home and I had a family member talking to me about our program for I know we're talking mosquitoes but he was talking about our program for homeless people

and and and all that and what you do and how you do it and he's asking me how much we spend on it and I said I believe it's $600 and some thousand dollars for the deck. He says, "My god, you spend that much on mosquitoes." Thought that was an interesting observation. Not the same dollars, but values, you know, we really we take care of our people and and but an outsider just saying, you know, why do you quibble about taking care of people when you spend hundreds and hundreds of thousands of dollars on mosquitoes? I just share that. Leave it at that. So, Commissioner Strand, we did talk about vector control when they had the monarch issue at one time. He did give a complete report and maybe new commissioner would like to see that at some time, but that was the evaluation of that. Morehead did have the problem where they changed their parameters. They had more mosquitoes in the community complained about it. So, if you don't mind, item one and two are tied together. Can I take a motion for one and two? 31 and 32.

I move them both. Okay. Is there a second to both? 31 and 32. Second. Any further discussion?

Ben, I want to thank you for all your hard work you do on this because I know sometimes you're getting a when do we spray or not spray or what do we do or not do and uh sometimes that's complaint driven when I say a bunch of the neighbors are complaining because there's too many mosquitoes. But the reality is I think city of Fargo does a great job. And really what's more important is West Nile virus. I had a cousin die from it. So, it's very serious to me is that you got to pay attention to that and if it's in your community, you have to be very aggressive to get rid of the mosquito count. So, I do thank the team for all they do and I I think they do a very professional job and and uh when you see the areas, you know, where they have to spray, it's hard to access sometimes hard to get into there, but our team does a great job. So, thank you for all of that.

Yeah, we are very fortunate that we have Mr. Ben Prather with Cascone Vector Control. He is very soughta across the country and he is brilliant at mosquito control and he really understands this thing. Yes, he does. Roll call vote please. Strand. Yes. Copek. Hi. Pepcorn. Hi. Turnber. Hi. Mahoney. Hi. Mr. Peporn. We'll start with you. Lays on. Noate. Commissioner Turnberg. No update.

I have an update. There was a mayor's uh debate that was held last week. I think if any of you are thinking about who you want to vote for, it's great to listen to those and see those things. I was just talking to a couple of the candidates. There's going to be a lot more debates as this next month goes on. So, if you're unclear which candidate you might choice to vote on, please go to those and listen to what each candidate has to say. I'd have to say the event in the Fargo Theater was very well done, very professionally done. It was really a way way easy way to listen to the candidates and listen what they have to say. I would assume some of it will be somewhere on some media so people can watch it. Mr. Copac.

Yes, I have I have it was it's been a busy couple of weeks and so I've got a couple of really poignant updates certainly to begin for sure. Um as deputy mayor, I attended the the press conference for the 10:15 project in West Fargo along with Mayor Dardis and Councilwoman Borggan. Um, and the project is a statewide relay that honors pregnancy and infant loss. There were some really powerful stories that were shared. It was a very emotional event. And beginning October 15th of 2026, a team of runners who were were selected among many candidates will cover more than 400 miles across North Dakota and it will end right here in Fargo on October 18th. So, I hope we all look forward to cheering on those runners as they cross the finish line. Um, the next event is as the liaison commissioner to solid waste on April 22nd, I took part of the Earth Day news conference at the Resource Recovery Center in Morehead along um having um solid waste in my portfolio. So, there's the team along with Mayor Dardis as well at that event. And the event highlighted the earth friendly activities that were happening throughout the community um and included the cities of Fargo, Morehead, West Fargo, and Dworth along with Klay County as well. Um I also had the opportunity to attend the annual Great Futures lunchon at the Boys and Girls Club. Um this nonprofit offers outstanding programs for young people in our community and at and through the schools. This includes coordination of the Fargo Youth Initiative, a student board that advises local government bodies on issues concerning our youth as well. And then the solid waste department, as you know, spring cleanup week is coming, but Fargo solid waste department works closely with the furniture mission of Red River Valley. And by reusing items like bed frames, dressers, and other furniture, we reduce waste, conserve valuable landfill space, and prevent

wear and tear on city equipment. It also reflects our collaboration with local nonprofits that are making meaningful impact. And tomorrow at 3:00, the furniture mission will have a ribbon cutting to celebrate their expanded warehouse at 3rd Avenue North in Fargo. And then lastly, I just wanted this morning we had a finance committee meeting, but for the public to know that the fi that the budgeting process is very much underway. um you know, as as a a commissioner with a portfolio of five departments, we're meeting right now on what that looks like for them for 2027. Um and this morning, the calendar was shared at the finance meeting with the public. And so, um let's just continue to keep that front and center for all residents. And those are my updates.

Mr. Strand, no update. Mayor,

have one public comment speaker, Olivia Fischer, and she's in person. Good afternoon, Olivia Fargo resident. Um, I'm here tonight because of the recent discussions in the community about the deck and the people who utilize it in relation to the convention center um and the potential Brew Hollow location as well. I'm going to get straight to the point and say it's alarming and honestly disgusting to hear some city leaders assert the idea that the downtown engagement center isn't needed while also claiming they care about our well-being. It is ignorant to think that a space that kept people alive this winter isn't vital to our community. Dozens of people, sometimes over 80 per night, were utilizing the deck's warming center this winter. In fact, extra emergency shelter space was needed to accommodate all the people who would have been stuck outside in the cold at night. And we still could have used more services. Many of these individuals had nowhere to go on the weekends until the warming centers opened at 5:00 p.m. In that time, people are forced to find shelter and warmth where they can, sometimes risking being stopped by police because of the camping ban. And some turned to couch surfing and wind up risking their safety, staying with abusers and harmful people just to avoid freezing. Others would be stuck waiting outside. Icicles hanging from beards. Shoes soaked from the snow and socks that have had to be reworn for days. Cracked skin, chapped lips, frostbite, hunger, and constant illness. Not to mention the mental distress that comes from being in constant survival mode. For all this talk about our town feeling unsafe, it's telling that these concerns are never brought up, especially when the majority of our unhoused neighbors are disabled people of color. Just last week, I spoke to a woman who had recently been followed around in downtown Fargo by a man she didn't know in broad daylight. She eventually had no choice but to confront him because she had nowhere to go to get away from him, and he was still unfortunately persistent. And that is the kind of behavior that makes downtown unsafe. And the lack of

affordable housing in this city makes it unsafe. Since there's a chance the deck's new building might not get a lease renewal, steps need to be taken in advance to ensure that the deck services are able to continue to operate in the downtown area after that 2-year lease. The commission voted to move it. So, it's on the commission to figure out what to do if it loses this space, especially with our growing homeless population and the everinccreasing cost to live in this country. This fantasy that shoppers downtown are in danger because of the proximity to a low barrier shelter like the deck is delusional and based entirely in white privilege. I speak for myself and all other community members with a conscience when I say we're so tired of hearing it. Please focus on providing low-income housing rather than bashing those who need it. Thank you. That concludes our meeting. Uh we are journal