August 15, 2012 SPECIAL MEETING

Minutes of the Board of Ward county Commissioners

August 15, 2012

 

The special building space need meeting of the Ward County Commission was called to order by Chairman Fjeldahl at 9:00 am with Comms. Nybakken, Gruenberg, Christianson and Erickson present. Also present were States Attorney Roza Larson, Architect Don Davison, Highway Engineer Dana Larsen and Auditor/Treasurer Devra Smestad. Committee members present were Orlin Backes, Greg Hagen, Bruce Walker, Danny Deaver, Al Hanson and Chuck Leet.

 

Davison appeared.  Davison has plans to revisit each department remaining in the court house to identify space requirements and provide a new layout.  He is also having a 3-D module prepared to show the court house and jail expansion. Davison feels this is the best way to review space limitations and discuss alternative options. Late next week Davison is meeting with an architect from Minneapolis to consult on the jail expansion plans. He will also be setting up a meeting with the Sheriff’s Department to review expansion ideas. Davison is still working with MDU on the options to move the gas line and now has a contact name in Bismarck. Davison will also review the number of parking spaces and entrance impacts to the Jail and Court House with the Jail’s expansion plan. Davison has a plan to finalize all three phases of the project by the end of September. Total of all three projects are coming in at $35 million.  

 

Moved by Comm. Christianson, seconded by Comm. Fjeldahl to propose a change to the Ward County Ordinance 2012-1 to eliminate paragraphs 2, 3 and 4 under subsection Estimated Costs.  This would reduce the project to only the administration building and later, ask for funding for the remodel, jail expansion and county infrastructure. State Grants for jail expansion and remodel of the court house were discussed and Erickson stated if we don’t have a plan in place, we can’t apply for funds and waiting will only cause the cost to increase.  Chuck Leet feels the majority of the community, as a whole, is in favor of the sales tax for the complete project and wouldn’t like it if we came back later and asked for more money.  Chuck also believes that we must let the public know what our needs are and the impact it has to the services provided, and that we are not out to deceive the public.  Comm. Fjeldahl reminded everyone that if the amount we are seeking is reached early, we can suspend the sales tax by notifying Bismarck. Roll Call: Comm. Christianson voted yes; Comm. Fjeldahl, Erickson, Gruenberg and Nybakken voted no; motion failed.

 

Moved by Comm. Christianson, seconded by Comm. Gruenberg to approve the date change in the Ward County Ordinance 2012-1 from November 5, 2022 to December 31, 2022. Roll Call: all voted yes; motion carried.

 

Moved by Comm. Gruenberg, seconded by Comm. Nybakken to approve the State General Election ballot wording once the dates of November 7, 2012 and November 5, 2022 have been changed to January 1, 2013 and December 31, 2022 and to strike the following not to exceed from the ballot wording. Roll Call: Comm. Gruenberg, Nybakken, Erickson and Fjeldahl voted yes; Comm. Christianson voted no; motion carried. 

 

The next meeting was set for September 5^th at 9:00 a.m.

 

At 10:08 a.m., the meeting was adjourned.

 

ACCEPTED AND APPROVED THIS 18th DAY OF SEPTEMBER, 2012.             

s/ John Fjeldahl –Chairman, Ward County Board of Commissioners

ATTEST: s/ Devra Smestad - Auditor/Treasurer, Ward County