City Council - Regular Meeting

All right, it is May 26th, 2026. It's 5.30 p.m. Good evening, everyone. I'm Mayor Shelly Carlson. The Moorhead City Council welcomes public input on issues listed on the agenda or of general community interest, time and council permitting. Speakers will be limited to three minutes each. If you'd like to address the council during the meeting, please fill out a form provided by the city clerk, and I will call you up during the Citizens to Address Council item on the agenda. You'll need to state your name and if you are a Moorhead resident. If comments were submitted to a clerk prior to the meeting via email or phone, those comments will be entered into record. For more information on participation, please visit the council meetings page on the City of Moorhead website at moorheadmn.gov. We, the Morad City Council, collectively with gratitude, acknowledge the sacred land the city of Morad is built upon. We acknowledge the people who have resided here for generations and recognize that the spirit of the Dakota, Ojibwe, Métis, and all indigenous communities permeates this land. With that, could I get a roll call, please?

Ryan Nelson?

Here.

Nicole Mattson? Here. Heather Niecemeyer? Here. Emily Moore? Here. Deb White? Here. Lisa Borgen? Here. Sebastian McDougal?

Here.

Chuck Hendrickson? Mayor Shelly Carlson.

Here. And for those who are able, please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance. All right. And City Manager Melle, do we have any agenda amendments?

There are no amendments to the agenda tonight, Mayor.

Okay, do I have a motion to approve the consent agenda? So moved, Niesemeyer.

Second.

Motion and second, any discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Any opposed? That motion carries. We're on to recognitions and presentations. Our first presentation is from the Historical Cultural Society of Clay County, and I will turn it over to the Executive Director, Laura Forty. Welcome.

Hi, thank you. um good evening mayor carlson members of the city council um as she said my name is laura 40 and i'm the new executive director for the historical and cultural society of clay county um thank you for the opportunity to speak to you this evening and all the support that you have provided throughout the years i'd like to say a special thank you to dev white and ryan nelson who both serve on our board And Dan, Molly and the parks department as they kind of helped me transition to this new position over the last year and very appreciative of the parks department willingness to work together on several of our programs. So what is HCSCC? In a nutshell, we help people who live in the community discover their stories. As a former social studies teacher, I understand and truly believe in the importance of history. With the help of some of our historians on staff, I've had the opportunity to learn more about the rich history of our organization, and I'd like to share a bit of that. For nearly 100 years, the Historical and Cultural Society of Clay County, through various different organizations, has changed to meet the needs of our community. What started as a relatively small historical society has grown to be a primary tourist and cultural destination for our city and county. We are the cultural and historical hub of the community, working to preserve and share the stories of all who call this place home. In 1932, the Clay County Historical Society was created. Throughout the early decades, it's operated in multiple locations throughout Moorhead and featured traveling exhibits across the county. After the Jomkomst sailed to Norway in 1982, momentum grew to house the ship here in Moorhead. It led to the creation of the Heritage Jomkomst Interpretive Center, celebrating both the ship's history and the cultural heritage of the region. The Historical Society and the Interpretive Center functioned as two separate entities, but were both housed within the Yemcumst Center when it opened in 1986. In the 90s, the City of Moorhead purchased the building and expanded it to support additional activities. In 2009, the Yemcumst Interpretive Center and the Clay County Historical Society merged to form the Historical and Cultural Society of Clay County, which serves as a regional destination for visitors and a community hub for Moorhead and Clay County. Overall, 2025 was a successful year. I came in in the middle of it and helped transition between Maureen Kelly-Jonason and myself. We saw just about 25,000 visitors to the museum and went out into the community to reach about 1,500 people and had over a million views on social media. The gift shop increased revenue. which means an increased support of our budget, but also sales tax revenue for the city. These numbers represent more than just visitors, however, they reflect community engagement, educational impact, public access, and a positive impression of both visitors and community members. One of the things that really sets HCSCC apart is that it's not your average county historical society. We have unique objects and exhibits from the ship and church to art and local history exhibits. Our staff and volunteers guide visitors on tours. We have changing exhibits every three to six months. And the quality of our research and in-house exhibits is exceptional. As a result, we are considered a must-see destination for visitors to the Fargo-Moorhead area, and we consistently receive strong reviews that encourage others to visit. Besides reaching visitors in the area, we also have a strong role in reaching out and serving our community. We provide tours to primary and secondary school students, offer internships to area college students, and employ members of the community. In May of 2026 alone, every elementary school in Moorhead brought students for tours. These tours give young learners the opportunity to engage in local history. I got the opportunity to be on some of the tours and it was fun to see one kid walk in and kind of look at an exhibit and realize that his dad was in the exhibit. And then the next day, another group came in and I heard a kid point to a picture and say, that's my uncle. So these kids get to see that history is not something that's just in the past. It's something that is with them today. Experiences like these help spark curiosity, deepen understanding and create lasting connections to our shared history and deepens their roots in the area. We also have popular programs like Pangea, which is a community favorite, celebrating many cultures and communities and collaborate with the city and other organizations for various events throughout the year. The staff also bring educational and cultural experiences out into the community in spaces such as nursing homes, churches, community businesses, civic organizations, and again, schools. One of the most popular community events is History on Tap at Junkyard, which starts in the fall and runs through the winter. If you haven't been there yet, I encourage you to do so, but come at least an hour and a half early if you want a seat. To help ensure that everyone gets a chance to come to the museum, we offer free admission on Tuesday evenings and often do programming on those same evenings. We've had record high admissions for Tuesdays this year. That we don't get funds directly from the city, the generous in-kind rent is essential to our ability to continue to provide our programming and remain economically viable. In exchange for the in-kind rent, HCSCC provides interpretation and stewardship of the city-owned cultural assets of the ship and church. this includes public access to those objects maintaining relationships with the stakeholders developing and installing exhibits and providing guided experiences as a result hcscc has a significant economic impact on the city and region The direct economic impact of out of town visitors is a little over $3 million. We support jobs and we generate about $450,000 in tax revenue, both direct and indirect at the city, county and state level. The city's investment helps us make this possible. Like many cultural organizations, we continue to navigate rising costs, changes in tourism trends, increasing competition for attention and funding. We're working diligently to find ways to cut costs without cutting the quality of the experiences that we offer. However, and more importantly, we are also focusing on new and innovative ways to increase revenue with things like improved marketing, paid programming when appropriate, sponsorships, and more. We are proud of the work that we are doing today, but we are also looking to the future. Our strategic plan helps provide a clear direction on what is most important, long-term sustainability, expanding community connections, and preserving the history and culture that continues to shape our community. You should have gotten an annual report that can give you specifics to that if you would like. And with that, thank you for your time and your support. And I'd be happy to answer any questions.

Thank you, Miss 40. Are there any questions or comments from Council?

member borian well i just watched a video that i think oh what's his name marcus marcus about morehead it was one the first of many apparently yeah i really enjoyed it i it was a little bit long but i watched it all the way to the end And I've lived in Moorhead my entire life, and I learned a lot about it. I thought it was really well done, and I hope that they continue to make some of those videos. And I don't know if maybe our communications team in the city could do something to get those out there more, because it was really... really well done and amazing. And I think maybe you guys got a grant to help with doing these videos.

I not those. Nope. That was just something that he did with other organizations in town that reached out and said we should do a history of Morehead. So we said sure.

Yeah, it was very well done. So kudos to him and to you. Thank you. Thanks.

Councilmember White. thank you mayor i wanted to just mention one other thing uh you know lord great presentation and one of the things i want to highlight too is just that a lot of times when people hear about the museum they think about the ship they think about the nordic heritage and one of the things that we really appreciate is the extent to which the staff really works at creating a space that celebrates the history and culture of all of the people of Clay County. And just to think about two examples we got from two of our board members, Martha Castanon, I thought about one night when we were here for the global market and she was waiting for her granddaughter to come in so she could go down and take a picture because we had an exhibit on migrant farmers and her dad was part of that exhibit. And so that important part of our history. And Sihama Mehdi, who's also on the board, Her mom was part of the, when we did one on our Kurdish community. And so just having that where, as you said, kids can come in and they can see this and they can identify with it. They see parts of their family, parts of their story. I think that that's really important and just a real credit to the work that our staff is doing.

Yeah, it's very important to us to make sure we get everybody's story recorded. All right, anyone else?

I just had one, well, maybe kind of two questions, but, you know, when the FMCT moved in, we saw a significant increase in the number of people that were coming here, and I'm just curious if that also increased the number of visitors that you guys had to, particularly the ship area, that you are able to capture some of those visitors and those numbers to apply for grants and things like that, and people, you know, now are more aware,

a proximity coming here and seeing something else too sure um we don't have a way to track that um i don't know how many people come in to the museum when they're here for a you know an fmct event um i've been here once when there are people around and they do wander in there but i don't have any hard numbers and um

yeah i'm just not sure yeah i was i was just more curious because sometimes when two entities co-locate then you know there's kind of that cross uh pollination i guess sure with with the visitors and everything like that and and uh yeah and any possibilities on collaborating with them to do a play about the building of the ship I DON'T KNOW, MAYBE.

I HAVEN'T THOUGHT ABOUT THAT.

THANK YOU SO MUCH AND KEEP UP THE GREAT WORK. THANKS. OUR NEXT PRESENTATION IS A LEGISLATIVE UPDATE FROM OUR GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS DIRECTOR.

Thank you, Mayor Carlson and members. This is more of a report than a presentation, but wanted to just come in. We're just over a week out from when the legislature adjourned on May 18th. The most significant result for Moorhead came in the form of the capital investment omnibus bill, which included in town, it included money for flood mitigation for Clay and Moorhead. and in-town flood mitigation is top on that list the amount was 10 million dollars which the fm diversion has indicated that they will match with another 10 million dollars one to one which means that moreheads in town flood mitigation can be completed after 17 years So for those of you and our staff who have been around for the floods of 1997, 2009, 2010, 2011, and others, this is cause for major celebration. for those who weren't we have lots of stories to share we're really grateful to our delegation senator kupec representatives keeler and joy and to the diversion for putting in a match that i believe resulted in a much larger legislative appropriation than we could have expected, than we did expect at the beginning of the session. I believe it really did make a difference. What doesn't get spent on the Moorhead projects? will be used for county and watershed projects that are next on the priority list that are necessary for the diversion permits and FEMA recertification. So that will be really helpful to all the people that pay mandatory flood insurance. They'll be able to still get flood insurance if they need it, but it will be optional and it will be at much lower rates than they're paying now. People are paying more for flood insurance in some instances than they are for their mortgages. So it's really been a burden on them for all these years. So it's really, really good. I will say an additional $30 to $32 million is needed to complete all of the projects. So that's a future effort that we'll regroup on as we regroup on so many things in the interim. The other major push for us was the border cities enterprise zone. And in the end, the omnibus tax bill did not include the language changes that we had requested. So we'll regroup with the other border cities during the interim to discuss future steps. Another significant legislative accomplishment that affects finances of our residents is the additional funds in the property tax rebate program. So that is helping to offset some of the increases in property taxes in Moorhead and around the state. We had two bonding requests and you didn't hear much about the wastewater request because the flood request took so much effort. So there was no hearings on that yet, but when the city council discusses legislative priorities for 2027, we will talk about that. We had requested $10 million in major wastewater capital needs. to offset the capital investments that we know are going to otherwise increase rates pretty significantly for Moorhead and for Dilworth. So there's more discussion. It's teed up, and then we'll discuss if there are other capital priorities that the council has. So next year's session begins on January 12th, so earlier than it was this year. The landscape will be different with a number of retirements that affect not only the governorship and our delegation, but also some really key committee leadership with the retirements of Senator Pappas and Senator Rest, who have been longtime legislators in key leadership positions. We'll begin working with the city council on 2027 legislative priorities in October or November of 2026. And in the meantime, if you have any questions or thoughts or ideas, Please let me know. Thank you to Mayor Carlson, Council Members Nelson and Borgen for making a few trips down to St. Paul this past year. And with that, if you have any questions or comments, I'd be happy to hear them. And that's all I have for tonight.

All right. Thank you, Ms. Bodie. I don't know what you're going to do without having to lead with a request for flood mitigation since you've been doing that for the last 17 years.

I don't know anything else.

It'll be very interesting and people won't know what to think of Moorhead anymore. Any questions or comments from council members? I don't know if you want to just briefly mention the lobbying efforts that we did in DC last week to just continue to request additional assistance.

Yeah, so actually when the legislature adjourned, we were, Mayor Carlson and I were in Washington D.C. doing some federal advocacy work for Morehead specifically and also as part of a delegation from the Chamber of Commerce. And so when I got the text at 1 a.m. on the bonding bill passing, I sent a text to Shelly and Dan and Bob Zimmerman, and Bob immediately backed out of the conversation. He was fine learning the news in the morning. So we did have wonderful meetings with our federal delegation with Morehead specifically, and Jason Benson from the diversion was with us on those meetings. And then meetings with the Minnesota, North Dakota delegations. and a number of executive departments on Moorhead needs. And in fact, Senator Klobuchar has put forth a flood mitigation request for congressionally directed spending. We don't have an answer yet, but she is advancing it along the path. that might lead to a grant. And if we do get that, then that would mean even more money to put toward other projects in Clay County and for the watershed district. We're launching our ship in every wave and we could receive as much as another $5.6 million, but it also could be reduced. And I will say,

Thank you.

We also made a request, a smaller request for I think two million or three million for a smaller element of the wastewater improvements. And that is being put forth in the House for a smaller amount yet of $850,000. But that has made its way past the Appropriations Committee so that when the federal budget passes, it's a pretty sure thing that we will get that resource. So that's another little bit that comes and we're patch working that together as best we can and looking for all the opportunities.

For clarification that 850,000 would go be put towards the sanitation, sanitary, sanitary lift stations, you know, that whole project is about $40 million. So that'll be the next one we'll have to continually be chipping away at still a ways to go. Thank you, Miss Bodie. All right. Moving on to the approval of the May 11th, 2026 meeting minutes. And I also just wanted to clarify for the record that at the last meeting, the last vote that we took, I did a double negative and I said, no, I do not want to. And it should have been a yes, I want to support the motion to not continue the discussion. So I just wanted to clarify that for the record with the meeting minutes. And with that, do I have a motion to approve the May 11th meeting minutes?

So moved.

Second. I have a motion and a second. Any discussion? Council Member Neesemeyer.

Thank you, Madam Mayor. I appreciate you mentioning your vote. I did get a number of inquiries from residents who were watching who were not present during the meeting and were confused by the double negative. So I appreciate you commenting and adding that to public record so people who are watching can watch tonight hopefully and better understand what they are reading in the minutes. I know that it's hard to keep track of all of the things that go on but even more so when you're at a distance and pausing and starting your a youtube video between parenting or eating dinner or all of those things so i just wanted to appreciate you um following up on my request and comment um that came from residents and so uh residents keep letting us know when you have questions about anything and everything so that is my only discussion point on our minutes

Thank you. There's a motion and a second. Any other discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor, signify by saying aye.

Aye.

Any opposed? That motion carries. We do have one individual who would like to address the council. Mr. Mark Oltenberg, if you want to come to the podium. Oh, okay. I'm sorry. All right. So do we have any citizens who wish to address the council at this time? an item that's not on the agenda all right see none um moving on to the public hearing um i will turn this over to uh tanya kunza and do i have a motion to open the public hearing on the community development block grant 2026 plan and amendments to the five-year plan and program year so move nisa meyer second motion and a second any discussion see none all those in favor signify by saying aye aye any opposed that motion carries and we are in public hearing and i will turn it over to miss kunza thank you thank you mayor carlson and members of city council this public hearing is related to goals and planning for expenditure of the federal community development block grant cdbg

The City of Moorhead has been awarded $351,337 in CDBG funds for the program year 2026 and has program income from its revolving loan program that can be reinvested in eligible activities. Future funding awards are subject to Congressional approval. I will summarize draft priorities and projects for the draft 2026 Annual Action Plan. And there's no action required at tonight's meeting. The mayor and council are asked to hear public testimony. And while the comment period extends to May 31st for the 2026 plan and five-year plan amendment, you may close the hearing tonight. Final consideration and action will be considered at the June 8th city council meeting. The comment period will end on June 7th for the amendment of the 2024 plan. And no comments have been received thus far. The priorities in the 2025 through 2029 consolidated plan include actions around affordable housing, homelessness, special needs populations in housing community development needs. And under the amendment that could excuse me, the amendment to the consolidated five year plan, the 2025 through 2029 is to include a goal which falls underneath this priority statement, the priority statement of non housing community development needs. It's a strategic goal of public facility rehabilitation and accessibility. This goal will allow rehabilitation work and or improvements to a publicly accessible facility and eligible activity under 24 CFR 570.201c, public facilities and improvements in a low to moderate income area benefit. The draft 26 annual action plan lays out the projects that align with these priorities. The 24 plan amendment, the 24 action plan that was approved by council on January 8th, 2024, it included an activity for a youth program to be administered by the Afro-American Development Association, which was not implemented and no funds were distributed. This proposed amendment would allow that the funds of $8,000 to be reallocated to an existing park and rec scholarship fund for low to moderate income youth. The scholarship fund assists eligible youth to obtain a pool pass and or enroll in recreational activities. These additional funds will expand access for families who may otherwise not be able to participate. Comments on the draft 26 plan and amendments to the five-year plan and program year 24 plan will be accepted through June 7th. Comments can be made over the phone, email, or submitting comments through the website. All of this information is available on the website, moreheadin.gov, and then just search for Community Development Block Grant. I'd be happy to answer any questions after members of the public have an opportunity to comment on the CDBG planning documents.

Thank you. And we do have one individual who would like to speak on that, and that's Mark Altenberg.

Good evening. I'm Mark Alberg, come from the Second Ward, here to speak on behalf of Hakun Debar, the former executive director of Afro-American Development Association. I gave him a call a couple weeks ago and let him know that this money was going to be reused, and he was happy to see that it was going for youth in the parks. He is over in Kenya. right now and has been for about the last year and a half. His grandmother, who raised him after his mom came here, died about a year and a half ago. And I'm not familiar with the ins and outs of probate in East Africa, but I think there's some things they're working through. He's over there. If you want to take a look at medium.com, he's got articles on there about Kenya and taking everything he's learned here and bringing it over there. I talked to him last week. He just got a contract to build a a stadium somewhere in Kenya. So that's his third business he started this last year. So he's looking forward to getting back, but he's going to take care of family first and then come on back. So what he wanted to say was, in the last 10 years, you guys have been fantastically supportive. of what he's done and of the community that's come here by the thousands. I think our last census, the only increase we saw in the city of Moorhead were from African-American folks, many of whom were Somali or East African. So just a wonderful example of the city coming together and supporting an individual who really exemplifies, I think, what it is that we want to see with our immigrant community. And he wanted to say thank you. to the City of Moorhead, to the staff of Moorhead, for all the great work he's done. And when he comes back, he'll come back here and address you guys right away. That's what I'm here to do, so thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Ratlinburg. Are there any other members of the community who would like to address this item on the agenda during the public hearing? All right, seeing none, I would entertain a motion to close the public hearing.

So moved, Niesa Meyer.

second second nelson motion on second any discussion see none all those in favor signify by saying aye aye any opposed all right that motion passes and the public hearing is now closed on the cdbg um the resolution will be on the next council agenda so thank you miss kunza for coming and presenting oh i'm sorry uh councilmember nice fire then councilmember matson sorry i didn't realize you had questions councilmember matson was first

IT WAS HALF A SECOND QUICKER TODAY. I HAD A LITTLE ICE CREAM BEFORE I CAME BECAUSE IT'S LIKE 95 DEGREES AND NOW I'M PEPPY. THANK YOU FOR THE PRESENTATION. QUESTION ON PROPOSED 2026 ACTIVITIES SECOND ITEM ON THE TABLE, HOME REHABILITATION LOAN PROGRAM. It says citywide rehabilitation loan program assisting owner occupants of single family homes whose income falls below 80% of area median income. Would that be household income, individual income?

That is household income, depending on the number of individuals living in the house.

Okay, and then I would assume that retirement income is part of the, you know, factors into what your household income is. money for a job, but it's still income. So correct. Okay. Thank you.

Yep. I did not have ice cream before I got here. My apologies. And you had mentioned the highlights and the amendment that we are looking to add to really just allow the use and approach to not only have facility public facility rehabilitation, and then the reusing of the $8,000 for the parks and rec. I'm gonna look for more information on the $8,000, so if people hear that and it gets approved and passed at June's meeting, what does that mean for them, how people will access that parks and rec scholarship i know that's not your real wheelhouse it's tangentially related and so i can see perhaps people getting more excitement because they may have applied for a grant previously and had been turned away because the pool wasn't very deep or uh that was not a great example there were not lots of funds to go around that's better we're going to talk about the pool later And then my first is that public facility rehabilitation ad. Can you give any examples or ideas of if people may not know what that means or it might concern? And so just a few, these would not necessarily be ones that we do, but maybe examples for people who don't get to hang out and look at our packets the whole time just and they're watching on YouTube. I would appreciate just those two things, just a few examples and more information.

Yep. I will speak to the $8,000 first that will be going towards, or that's proposed to go towards the Park and Rec Scholarship Fund. They have a certain amount of funds that they have available for youth and families to apply to be able to get youth recreational activities, whether it be baseball, swimming lessons, to assist with the cost of that. And again, they have to be fall under the low to moderate income guidelines. And then there's also the option to be able to use that fund for a pool pass. And since their scholarship funds are pretty much depleted for the year and with the opening of Romkee Park pool and the excitement around that. We want to make sure everybody that has applied that maybe didn't get the funds or that is wanting to apply now that they see the pool is opening, that they'll have that available to them. And then addressing regarding like an example of what a facility, a public facility improvement would be. Like the Roerich Art Museum, that is a public facility and it's located within a low to moderate income neighborhood. So it would benefit those low to moderate income area. And it would be if it's a need for any type of improvement that needs to be done, whether it be an elevator to make it more accessible for the public to use if there was something that might have maybe malfunctioned or needs to be fixed. That's one example off the top of my head. It would be a facility that's open to all and that is located within a low to moderate income area, and that would make the improvement more accessible for people to use.

Excellent. I sincerely appreciate both of those follow-up items. Sorry to give them to you all at once, but I really appreciate also you sharing how people can find that information. I know our website is shiny and new, but just being able to put Community Development Block Grant, which I can never say, C-D-B-G. Oh, look, I did just tonight. That acronym is, it gets buried oftentimes, but that Community Development Block Grant, if people did want to provide information, they could do so online just by searching in our website. You don't have to know what department you work in or where, C-G, mm-mm. CDBG funds are located and they can do that. And so I appreciate you bringing that information. I'm sad to hear that there are zero comments thus far, but I am hopeful that once it's out and in the open, you're able to get a bunch more insights and feedback from residents.

Thank you.

Yep.

Any other council members have any questions for Ms. Kunze? If not, thank you. Thank you. ALL RIGHT. WE ARE DOWN TO MAYOR AND COUNCIL REPORTS. ANY COUNCIL MEMBERS HAVE REPORTS FROM BOARDS OR COMMISSION MEETINGS THEY'VE ATTENDED? COUNCIL MEMBER NIECE MEYER.

THANK YOU, MADAM MAYOR. I HAD JUST BEEN GROWING AROUND TOWN DOING LOTS OF THINGS. THE CAST CLAY FOOD COMMISSION MET ON WEDNESDAY, MAY 13th, AND WE HAD A GREAT PRESENTATION FROM THE CITY OF WEST FARGO FORESTRY DEPARTMENT IN COLLABORATION WITH WEST FARGO PARKS. I had no idea that the city of West Fargo had so many food orchards in their community. But it was nice to hear from their forestry director that their goal as a city has been to have a food forest or an orchard within walking distance of every neighborhood throughout West Fargo. You may or may not know West Fargo is similarly sized to Moorhead. And so I just think that that is a really great way to sort of look at. If you are interested in getting more information about the City of Moorhead's forestry things, you can, again, that shiny new website, look at tree planting. because that came up on what people could put on their boulevards. The city of West Fargo only allows one fruit tree, but lo and behold, the city of Moorhead includes lots more. They are not only in shade trees, but in small tree options. And so if you're in a new developing neighborhood or you are an older neighborhood like mine, that has some trees that are done being trees, and they are being replaced, make sure to check out the options that our city of Moorhead Forester and their department have put together in a beautiful list. We also had the Boulevard Garden blueprint updated, so kudos to our staff who have made some wonderful changes over the last few years, and they are now incorporated into the Cass Clay Food Commission Boulevard Blueprint. And so if you are interested in schnazzing up your boulevard, we do have rules and regulations about it, but you can find ideas as well as information in the updated Boulevard Garden Blueprint available through the Cascade Food Commission. my most favorite thing was an updated list of community gardens and orchards available metro wide i know typically there are one or two that people really know about and then they are so crushed when all of the apples or whatnot are gone but you can find the 2026 community garden and orchard list updated. It is currently housed in Cass Fargo Public Health's website. And if you see something that you know is a community garden or an orchard that is available, feel free to message Cheryl. She is a member of the steering committee for the Cass Clay Food Commission. And she will add it and make sure it's up to date in that printable PDF that is accessible to everybody in our metropolitan area. Today, I met with the Morehead Public Housing Agency, and we were able to pass an updated budget for this year, which is 2025 to 2026. We were also able to pass a 2026 and 2027 budget. Those include opportunities to show gaps in HUD funding. You may or may not know that the funding for public housing not only in support for those who are currently using public housing is not enough, but also in the number of units that we have available does not meet the need in our community. And so being able to reflect that in our budget, we are hopeful that it will mean more to those who make policies and choose where funds go. And a fantastic update from one of our Moorhead public housing units, Sharpview. They have had lots of chaos with plumbing. The plumbing project, which is throughout the entire building, is on track and is going very well. And what it involves is redoing the plumbing in each unit. So everybody who lives there has to move into another unit, get theirs all shiny and new, and then move back in. And so it's a long sort of process. Envision a Gantt chart that has lots and lots of pieces going on. The downside is that the project was hopeful to be done in October of 26, but December of 26 is the new updated conclusion of that project. And I think that is going to be a very fantastic thing, that all units are going to be more accessible and have plumbing that works, which I think is a minimum, really, for all humans. This Thursday, May 28, at 8 AM, we have the Solid Waste Advisory Committee. and it is at 8 a.m. at the Resource Recovery Center. You're welcome to join us. We will be getting stats on this week's favorite holiday, which we often refer to as cleanup weeks, and they are metro-wide, but really what I want to do is send my sincere congratulations Thanks to the City of Moorhead and the Cast Clay staff who make it possible. I'll come back in two weeks with really great stats on not only how much trash we were able to get off the streets, but also how many fires we had. That's always an exciting part of cleanup week. My last tidbit is opening day for Romke Park. Romke Park is in the center of Ward 2, and I am absolutely excited that the pool is opening June 4th. And so the ribbon cutting and stuff will happen weeks later. But I am really excited, especially after Ms. Kuzna mentioned that we are offering more scholarships for families and children who wish to get a pool pass all summer long. We're going to have a splash pad. We're going to have new slides and really great opportunities that are centrally located in the city of moorhead and so mark your calendar and get ready with your swimsuits like our skin might be nice and shiny and white from winter but uh the pool will be ready for us june 7th or june 4th my apologies thank you uh other council members council member moore thank you madam mayor you smile you stole my thunder

So we had Park Board on May 14th where we, thanks to Sean Brandenburg who put on a fantastic tour for us after our Park Board meeting, and gratitude to Matt Bus for providing us transportation. We were able to visit Mattson Field and the updated grandstands and see Romke Park. So yes, I can't wait for June 4th. I also wanted just to mention that if you go onto the city website and look up the youth scholarships, under parks and rec, there is also an option. So if you don't need a scholarship, but you think it's a fantastic idea, you can sponsor a child. So encourage folks that have the means to do that to consider doing that through our Morehead Community Fund. And that's all for me.

Thank you. Councilmember Nelson.

Thank you, Mayor. Earlier this afternoon, both the Mayor and I attended the Red River Regional Dispatch Board Authority meeting. Last week, I was also part of the finance subcommittee. With that authority board, we've been started our annual discussions on setting their budget. So we've had some preliminary information on What that looks like and some proposals from the executive director there? So there'll be more information sometime in the in the near future Just some of the little bit of the background there there There's been some proposals on adding a few staff members to that to the dispatch center over there and one of the proposals or ideas they want to hire some just a Specific call takers rather than full the dispatchers that does the radio and call taker thing So they would come in at a lower rate than the app and the dispatcher That does the radio and calls I'm getting way into the weeds here, but just know that there's a request we're looking at different proposals and We're on a different timeline than we are here with the council with we upset our budgets Well, we have preliminary by this fall and then by December for the final. But with the RRRDC, we have to set that budget here essentially before July. So we'll be setting that budget and moving forward. So all the entities are aware of all the, we're very cognizant of the budget constraints that all the entities, Fargo, WEST FARGO, MOORHEAD, CAST, AND CLAY COUNTIES HAVE, SO WE'LL BE COGNIZANT OF THAT. BUT MEANWHILE, ALSO RESPECTING THAT THERE'S JUST BEEN, I'LL SAY, A HEAVY INCREASE IN 911 CALLS IN THE PAST YEAR. THEY HAD THE NUMBERS AT THE FINANCE COMMITTEE MEETING, AND I DON'T HAVE THE NUMBERS HERE TO SHARE AT THE MEETING, BUT just mind-boggling the number of 911 calls that went up from 2024 to 2025. We don't know if that was just an anomaly or what happened. We'll need more years of data on that, but it's just something that we should be cognizant of as we budget going forward. So more to come on that in the future. So that's all I have to report on.

Thank you. And I'll just piggyback, kind of go out of turn a little bit because I want to add to what Ryan was saying about the RRRDC. One of the things that is somewhat mandatory is a software maintenance update. So that will be something that's required of all the entities that are part of the joint powers agreement. That costs, to Morehead specifically, is about $99,000. 289.74. To give you an idea, we're third in that list of five. Fargo, their portion is $19,258. The other thing that was discussed at the RRRDC was that there was an incident that was in Horace recently. One of the things that they heard, law enforcement and dispatch heard, was that The notifications in Casting Clay County that were being sent out to schools were not being sent out to private schools or daycares. And the requests that were coming in is that those would be included. So that information will be collected. So when there's different notifications going out to our school systems that It goes out to all schools and also all day cares. Additionally, the dispatch kind of gave a shout out to our Metro Fire Council, which is a cooperative working group with all of our fire departments within the Metro. And the response times have actually increased, meaning that I'm doing a double negative kind of thing here. They're responding faster. And it's because of the mutual aid and being able to work together so well. So I wanted to make sure that that information was disseminated out. So with that, Councilmember Wait.

Thank you, Mayor. I attended the MAP bus meeting on the 20th, and two things I'll mention. One is we are in the budget process for next year, and it's going much more smoothly this year than it did last year, and I want to give credit where it's due and just thank our finance director, Jennica Flanagan, and one of our finance staff members, Megan Zaretka. They've just been... really helpful as we work through this process of how we do budgeting with our different partners and making sure that it goes smoothly. I also wanted to mention one of the exciting things that we'll have in the budget for next year is that we are planning for the city of Moorhead to have a micro transit pilot program. So this would be where we have micro transit that could help people within the city limits to get transportation to other places where we have our fixed routes. And so we have the opportunity that we've got some state funding that we can use for that. And so that will be part of it. So the only other place that has micro transit in the region is NDSU. We will be the first city in the region that is really doing for their citizens. I, on the 22nd, had the opportunity to attend the Metro Fire Academy graduation and swearing-in ceremony, and it was great to see and get a chance to meet our four new Moorhead firefighters. Thank you to all of them for selecting Moorhead as their place to serve. On the 12th, I attended the Habitat for Humanity Breakfast, and I wanted to thank Dan Molley for helping to get us, inviting us to be at a table, and to City Administrator Peyton Mestera, who was the host for that table. It's obviously a great partner organization trying to work on issues of are not a sufficient amount of affordable housing in our community and to really see the impact we were able to meet someone who had been a recipient of a habitat or purchase of habitat home quite a while ago and one that is getting ready to and she is a mom of three she's widowed and she and her three, I think they're all teenagers, currently were living in a one bedroom apartment. So this will be life changing for them. On the 12th, I attended the Age Friendly Moorhead presentation at the library, and I know that they gave a great presentation here, but wanted to mention that they are looking at the process of having Moorhead designated as an age-friendly community. There are about 22 other communities in the country that do this. I think Alexandria is the closest one to us, but I think that would be a great thing for us to, if we're able to achieve that, to show that we are a place that really supports folks at all stages in their life. And then just wanted to mention that this weekend is the Fargo Marathon and so good luck to all the runners. Thank you to all of the volunteers who make this happen and also thank you to all the community members for your patience in trying to get around on that day. It's an exciting event, a great thing that brings in so many people from all over the country and the world to our region and hope the weather is good, thank you.

Other council members have reports from boards or committees. All right, so for a mayor report, don't have anything else about the RRRDC, was going to also mention the Joint Fire Academy graduation. I was able to speak at that and welcome the four new firefighters, Dominic Bonici, Kyle Hunstead, two Matts, Matt McNeil and Matt Daniels. It's an exceptionally well-run, GRADUATION BECAUSE IT IS A METRO FIRE ACADEMY SO WEST FARGO, FARGO AND MOORHEAD ALL PARTICIPATE. THE TRAINERS COME FROM ALL THREE FIRE DEPARTMENTS. IT'S THE 14TH ACADEMY THAT THEY HAVE HELD AND I THINK THAT THE FACT THAT WE HAVE SUCH GREAT RELATIONSHIPS AND COLLABORATION WITH OUR FELLOW METRO PARTNERS HELPS WITH MUTUAL AID. VERY SIMILARLY WITH OUR LAW ENFORCEMENT AND MUTUAL AID, YOU KNOW, WITH THE SWAT TEAM, WE DON'T HAVE TO HAVE A FULL BLOWN SWAT TEAM WITHIN OUR POLICE DEPARTMENT BECAUSE WE CAN RELY ON OUR COMMUNITY PARTNERS. THAT'S ONE OF THE THINGS THAT WE'RE SEEING WITH THE MUTUAL between our three fire departments and we're seeing that with our metro fire council that response times are much quicker because we have so many more people when you look at it as a kind of a bigger metro-wide collective fire department just wanted to give a lot of gratitude and appreciation to the trainers who are from the three stations and for Fargo for continually hosting such a beautiful ceremony and their communications department puts together a wonderful video that's shared with the family and also it is live stream so family members who can't attend the graduation are still able to participate. And with that, that is all I have for my reports. City Manager Muller, do you have any reports?

yes thank you mayor uh so last week was public works week and so a huge thank you to the dedicated crews that you know work to keep morehead running smoothly from sanitation to streets to parks and forestry the team in public works show up every day often it's really early and in some of the toughest conditions around to make morehead clean and safe and so just looked into what was going on last week and for example for instance Mowing crews were in full swing. That's no surprise. Cleanup days were wrapping up. That was a big deal. Golf courses were bustling. Street crews cleaned and patched potholes and cracks. And then our forestry team was partnered with river keepers, local schools, and community members to plant all kinds of new trees across the community. That's quite a bit. And then now this week they're getting ready for the marathon. It just rolls from one week to the next and they keep going and we're grateful for all they do. We talked about the more heads municipal pool and romkey splash pad which is opening on June 4th There'll be more information coming out about soon about a fun grand opening that'll be happening later in June for everybody to join But also the neighborhood wading pools open for the season on June 1st, so that's that's next week, too The Moorhead Farmers Market next Tuesday, June 2nd is kicking off, 3.30 to 6.30 with live music from four to six. And a thank you to Trinity Church, who's hosting the Moorhead Market this year in the parking lot on A Street between Second and Third Avenues North. So that'll be a real neat neighborhood and community event. And that's it, Mayor.

All right. And I was just thinking the Parks Department should have opened on June 7th and it would have been 6-7. I think that everybody would have remembered and the kids would have loved that. But we'll go with June 4th. We do not have an executive session or a new business. So with that, we are adjourned. Good night, Moorhead.