News

City discusses upcoming projects

By Scott Wagar

05/14/2013

Bottineau’s city council members spent their May meeting focusing on preparations for upcoming city projects and developments in the community, along with approving a Gateway loan for a new sports store in downtown Bottineau.  

Jeff and Echo Schriver were approved for a $11,900 Gateway loan at three percent interest with a 10 year loan payment on behalf for their new sporting goods store, 4J’s Sporting Goods, which will be located in the former Ace Hardware building on Main Street.

Matt Johnson of Wold Engineering, along with Gene Kersten, who is presently working with the city and Wolds to create a new development in the northwest section of town, spent time discussing the best and most financial way to place sewer lines and storm sewers in Kersten’s development.

Kersten, as the owner of the property, will be financial responsible for the sewer and storm lines. It was estimated that to lay line for just over two blocks of the development it would cost around three-quarters of a million dollars.

It was decided by the council that Johnson would bring estimates to the city for the project, while the financial committee studies ways of seeing if they can assist Kersten with his financial cost.

In other city news, the city was denied a CDBG grant for the city expansion sewer project this summer. The city also applied for an oil and gas impact grant, and is waiting to hear back on that application. To make matters worse, one of the three property easements that need to be acquired to move forward with the project might not take place. Mayor Ben Aufforth stated that he would speak with the property owner to see if a deal could be made for the easement. If all else fails, the city council stated that their final solution would be to use the eminent domain process.

Although finances are presently a concerning issue for the sewer line project, the council felt they could find the finances for the project somewhere in the budget, and made the decision to move forward with the project by announcing bids for sewer expansion development.

As for the city attempting to create developments where rural water has authority, this issue has not moved forward as the city is waiting for All Season’s Water Users to set a date for a meeting to see if the two entities can come to an agreement over water rights.

With developments taking place in Bottineau, Johnson placed together a specs book for developers, which will assist developers in answering their question when preparing a site. The council sent the specs book to the planning commission to study.

Cement bids were opened at the May meeting with only one bid coming to the city. The bid came from Onarhiem Construction, which was accepted by the councilmen. (To see all the financial bid prices for the cement bid, contact city auditor Penny Nostdahl at the city office.)

The city did meet with the local county veterans about a land lease where they are going to construct their new memorial hall on the north end of town. One problem came up in the meeting concerning the county and if they had to own the land the memorial building will be located on. The two entities made the decision to research the legal issue on this matter.