News

Bottineau’s council holds meeting

By Scott Wagar

10/14/2014

The Bottineau City Council members held its October meeting on Oct. 7 and discussed a number of items, some of which included the 2015 city budget, removing vehicles and debris from yards, city developments and property and the possibility of placing security cameras on different roadways in and around Bottineau.

2015 BUDGET
 
The final reading of the 2015 city budget was passed with the total budget at $6,518,296, which is an increase of $1,450,386, or 28 percent, from 2014’s total budget.

The increase is due to a large number of city’s projects that include the water line loop expansion, lagoon expansion, sealcoat and paving projects, along with purchases for a loader, roll-off truck and tool cat for the city.

The 2015 general fund will be $1,069,396, which is an increase of $96,121 or 10 percent of the 2014 general fund. The percentage increase is due to general inflation and the police contract through salary increases.

Nostdahl added that there will be no new levies in the 2015 budget, but stated the value of one mill levy went from $5,300 in 2014 to $6,200 for the 2015 proposed budget.

In a document given out by Nostdahl through the city of Mandan, a mill levy is determined each year by dividing the total amount of dollars needed by the political subdivisions (city, county, parks and schools) from the property tax by the total taxable value of the city, which grants the percentage of taxable value that is levied or assessed in property taxes.

When it comes to individuals’ annual property tax, it is determined by multiplying the taxable value of that year’s mill levy (move the decibel three places to the left on the mill levy).
To see the entire 2015 budget, individuals can go to the city auditor’s office and request to see a copy of the budget.

VEHICLES AND DEBRIS
 
Tyler Wolfe, deputy for the Bottineau County Sheriff’s Department, was present to answer any questions the council members had for the sheriff department.

The president of the council, Harley Getzlaff, handed over a number of letters from the city for Sheriff Steve Watson with the request they be handed over to the sheriff. The letters will be given to residents in the city with unsightly vehicles and debris in their yards with the request to clean the items up.

From there, the yards that are left with these items will be cared for by the city crew with the sheriff’s department accompanying the city’s employees for protection and to make sure no residents get out of hand while the yards are being cleaned.

ROAD CAMERAS

The council and Wolfe also discussed placing security cameras on certain roads in the area like Highway 5 to assist the police department in canvassing their areas for criminal activity. Further discussion will take place in the future.  

DEVELOPMENTS

Matt Johnson of Wold Engineering gave updates on the projects taking place in the city, which included:

● The 2013 Sewer Expansion project is completed with the exception of seeding grass for beautification purposes.

● The Lagoon Expansion project will be conducted in 2015. The city is currently in talks with the adjacent landowner to the lagoon about acquiring 15 acres of land for an additional cell.

● Phase Two of the Water Line Loop project, which is an extension of a water transmission line from Eighth Street and Park Street intersection north to the county road, is completed. To save the city money, some hydrants in the original plan were left out of the plans until the streets plans are more finalized with what future development will bring to the city.

● Phase Three of the Water Line Loop project will begin this winter with plans being developed for the project with the final phase of the project to take place next summer. The plan is to extend the water transmission line at the county road west to the north end of Main Street at the fairgrounds. The three phase project will grant increase water use with better ease.   

● The West Sewer Lift Upgrade project has been completed with the exception of some minor electric work on a generator. The project replaced the vacuum pump lift station at the Forestry Addition with a submerse pump system.

● The Preserve development is moving forward with Roger Riley, owner and developer of the Preserve, with items he needs to complete in Phase I before he can move forward with Phase II of the development.

● The 2015 Paving project will begin with the street committee discussing plans for which streets will be paved and what sidewalks will be replaced.

BANK BUILDING
 
In committee reports, the council discussed the ownership of the State Bank of Bottineau once the bank moves to its new location on Highway 5. The discussion in the past two months is whether the city offices and its employees should move out of the armory and into the bank building.

Councilwoman Cathy Claeys has requested from her fellow council members to conduct detail research, cost and plans for the edifice before moving into the building. The item on the bank building was transferred over to city property committee to look in to.