Remarks by Nikkie Gullickson
19 remarks on the record, newest first · Page 1 of 1
“And to me, I am looking forward to this conversation to help our public as well better understand the use of these things rather than, I think there's a perception out there that, oh, there's a project, we'll just give them some money. And that really isn't how and why we do that, but I think that perception is there. So to understand all the work that goes into it, all the evaluating, all the data, and the purpose of using it really is important to me.”
“Thank you. Let's see. I attended the opening of the Skyway at the airport, so that was a good time. Saw several of you out there. MetroCog had a growth summit, which is kind of a state of the cities and how things have grown and just kind of getting their finger on the pulse of the needs and the wants of the community. And then I also attended the Community Housing Needs Forum out at the new Parks and Rec And Mayor Beauches was there as well. Nicole Crutchfield, our planning director, was there. And it was some good conversation discussing housing needs in our community. Thank you.”
“I too will support this. However, I am with Commissioner Peterson. We need to see that progress and we need to get moving. I would recommend you gather everybody that you can to put your home together. I don't want us to be in a position where we're taking away homes. Please, please, please work with our staff and make sure that you are following these steps. I want to help you if at all possible, but I too will have to vote against it if it does come back to us the next round.”
“I've been regularly attending several of the various meetings in my portfolio. Just a couple of things that I wanted to bring up. Last week, I spent a half a day riding with our chief and looking at our various fire stations as we're looking at New things, there were four that I hadn't been to, so I appreciated that opportunity. We were also lucky enough to be able to take in some trench training, things that I didn't think about the fire department doing, but structure, support when there's been damage, and trench training. If people were trapped in a trench, it would be their job to get…”
“I'll go to second for purposes of discussion.”
“I'd just like to chime in a little bit to what Commissioner Turnburg is saying. If they are meeting all of the requirements that we have set forth in those policies, we don't really have a good reason not to approve it. So if our question is about the policy, maybe we need to look at the policy if that's the question.”
“Thank you, Mayor. I've been working hard to keep up with all kinds of commissions and departments, Historic Preservation Commission, Planning. I've met with them on various topics, engineering as well. I had an opportunity to attend Grand Farm Elevate and TEDx through Emerging Prairie, both fantastic events. also visited and toured the Red River Dispatch Center, and Commissioner Peterson and I met with Chief Lorenz and a few of his captains, I believe, and so just keeping busy.”
“I would echo the same, Commissioner Peterson. I like the idea. I'd really like to see this get done. I'd also like to see just a little bit more creativity to put into it. The concerns that you brought forth certainly are legitimate. Would your company entertain reworking it a little bit or bringing us more ideas or sketches or...”
“Is it possible to table this for a little bit, to buy a little bit of time? Would that appease Commissioner Peterson?”
“Yeah, we're blank on who was there, but it was a 5-0 vote. Oh, Deb Mather.”
“That's a fair statement from Commissioner Strand, and I will follow that. We have established policy. So I will support it.”
“For the same reasons as the last one, I move that we accept this.”
“I'd just like to say thank you, Commissioner Turnberg, for sharing your thoughts. You answered several of the questions that were on my mind, and because of that, I would support this.”
“Thank you, Mayor. I'm having a tough time thinking that we need to put this sidewalk in. It seems like money spent we just don't need to be spending. And I've been in a handful of meetings over the last two weeks that say that the Planning Commission itself really loves to have sidewalks in. And I understand that. But this... just doesn't seem sensical to me. So I am just really struggling with this. It seems like it's creating a bunch of undue burdens for several parties involved. One of the things that was mentioned to me when I asked questions was, well, yeah, this is how the land's being…”
“Thank you, Mayor. Question for you, ma'am. Once this vehicle is running, is it possible to be moved to another location to continue the work?”
“Thank you. Could you speak to where the money comes from? It appears it's from a 2024 bond. Is that right? Is this a use it or lose it? Or the money is already simply allocated for this project?”
“And if we don't use it for this, then it goes unused, or we have something else?”
“Okay. Just a couple more quick questions, if I could follow up. Currently, do the police have a program where they can walk, say, female employees to their cars? The perspective on this is I used to work at Blue Cross Blue Shield and we had vast parking lots, no fences. So they would often offer that to female, but that was years back. And now you guys nationally are a bit of a target and I would be concerned for your safety. So I'd like to hear your perspective on that.”
“Thank you. Last Thursday, I had the privilege of spending the day with our fire department at Station 4. They were very kind, very welcoming. We went around to several different stations. I got several grand tours. and got to see several of the differences in the way that they function and the space availability in those various stations. A point of pride here I wanted to share with everybody is that our fire department is the only accredited fire department in North Dakota. And out of over 27,000, depending on where you reference, over 27 to 29,000 fire departments in the United States,…”