The Bismarck City Commission on Tuesday will consider about $16.4 million in special assessment bonds and warrants, along with a design agreement and a construction manager pick for the remodel of the City/County Office Building, a project with a total budget of $28 million to $32 million in the architect's scoping plan. On Thursday, the Morton County Commission meets in Mandan, though its agenda had not been posted by Sunday, and the Burleigh County Planning and Zoning Commission holds hearings on six final plats, including a greenhouse rezoning it tabled last month.
Morton County
Morton County Commission
The commission meets Thursday, Nov. 12, at 5:30 p.m. in the Commission Room of the Morton County Courthouse, 210 Second Ave. NW, Mandan. The meeting can also be joined online through GoTo or by phone at 669-224-3412, access code 370-200-173, according to the county's meeting schedule and materials page. The agenda and packet had not been posted as of Sunday; the county says packets are typically posted on the Tuesday before a Thursday meeting, which would be Nov. 10, and they will appear on that page. The commission meets again Tuesday, Nov. 24.
City of Mandan
The Mandan City Commission does not meet this week; its next regular meeting is Tuesday, Nov. 17, at 5:30 p.m. at City Hall, 205 Second Ave. NW. The city's Architectural Review Commission is scheduled for Tuesday, Nov. 10, at 1 p.m. in the Veterans Conference Room at City Hall. No agenda had been posted on the city's CivicClerk portal as of Sunday.
The city's legal notices page lists a notice of filing deadline, posted starting Friday, Nov. 13, for a Feb. 16, 2027, special election to fill one city commission seat for an unexpired term ending June 30, 2028. According to the notice, candidates must turn in a petition/certificate of nomination and a statement of interests to the City Administrator by 4 p.m. Monday, Dec. 14.
Bismarck and Burleigh County
Bismarck City Commission
The commission meets Tuesday, Nov. 10, at 5:15 p.m. in the Tom Baker Meeting Room, City/County Office Building, 221 N. Fifth St. The meeting airs on Government Access Channels 2 and 602HD and Radio Access 102.5 FM and streams on DakotaMediaAccess.org and Facebook Live, according to the agenda and packet.
- Bonds (regular agenda, action): authorize and award bids for 2026 Refunding Improvement Bonds, Series V, for about $14.8 million for special assessment improvement districts, and sidewalk, curb and gutter warrants, Series SCG-2025, for about $1.59 million, a total of $16.39 million. Staff recommends accepting the lowest bid, to be presented at the meeting.
- City/County Office Building remodel (consent): a Phase II design agreement with Endeavor North Design PLLC, and an award of construction management at risk services to Northwest Contracting, Inc., which a selection committee chose after interviewing three firms. Staff asks for authority to negotiate with the next-ranked firm if a contract cannot be reached. The architect's scoping exhibit puts the total project budget at $28 million to $32 million, with design running through October 2027 and a guaranteed maximum price expected in December 2027.
- Tax abatements (regular agenda, action): applications from Belfield Access Terminal, LLC and Bismarck North Developers, LLC for eight parcels on Ridgeland Drive, Yukon Drive and 64th Avenue for the 2024 assessment year. The city assessor recommends denying four parcels, which the memo says met the state criteria for non-agricultural classification for 2024 once water and sewer lines were finished in 2023, and approving the other four.
- Public hearings: Ordinance 6690, annexing parts of Silver Ranch Fifth Addition and the adjoining Halverson Avenue right-of-way northeast of the city, requested by Wachter Red, LLC and recommended by the Planning and Zoning Commission on Sept. 23; Ordinance 6691, which would make clear that snow and ice from public sidewalks may not be pushed into streets outside posted street cleaning areas such as downtown; and four alcohol license requests.
- Fund balance policy (action): staff proposes lowering the minimum unassigned General Fund balance from 40% of all General Fund expenditures to 35% of operating expenditures.
- Road funding (action): whether to pursue North Dakota Department of Transportation Urban Road and Urban Regional projects. Staff recommends seeking Urban Road funds to reconstruct Main Avenue from 7th Street to 12th Street; the memo says about $5.3 million is available for fiscal 2031. Applications are due to the Bismarck-Mandan Metropolitan Planning Organization by Nov. 27.
- Electric trucks (action): a request to buy two electric work pickups for a side-by-side test. The memo lists $45,560 for an electric pickup and $44,770 for a comparable gas model, plus charger costs.
- Consent items also include the second and final five-year extension of the city's transit contract with Bis-Man Transit, running Jan. 1, 2027, through Dec. 31, 2031, and the introduction of Ordinance 6692 on boards and committees, with a call for a public hearing.
- Reports: an update on Bis-Man Transit paratransit service. The memo says the Bis-Man Transit board decided to stop accepting Medicaid reimbursement for paratransit medical trips effective Nov. 15, 2026, saying the staff time needed to administer the reimbursements after changes to state Medicaid provider requirements is no longer sustainable.
Public comment at the meeting is limited to consent and regular agenda items and items from the prior agenda, excluding public hearing items. Written comments on hearing items go to bismarckadmin@bismarcknd.gov by 3:30 p.m. on meeting day, with the item number, as the agenda states.
Bismarck Renaissance Zone Authority
The authority meets Thursday, Nov. 12, at 4 p.m. in the Tom Baker Meeting Room, City/County Office Building, 221 N. Fifth St. It will consider project RZ2026-003, a new 6,500-square-foot office and warehouse for All Seasons Outdoor, a commercial lawn and snow removal service, at 1216 East Front Avenue. The applicant, JLK Properties, LLC, lists a proposed investment of $1,531,750. The staff report estimates a five-year property tax benefit of $100,000 and an income tax benefit of $12,500, and recommends approval with conditions. Written comments go to planning@bismarcknd.gov by 8 a.m. on meeting day, as the agenda states.
Burleigh County Planning and Zoning Commission
The commission meets Thursday, Nov. 12, at 5:15 p.m. in the Tom Baker Meeting Room, City/County Office Building, 221 N. Fifth St. It is an advisory board; final plats it approves go to the Burleigh County Commission with a recommendation. Items from the agenda packet:
- Baldwin Greenhouse Subdivision (public hearing): a final plat and a rezoning from agricultural to planned unit development for a 40.04-acre site at 1725 201st Ave. NE, requested by Strengthen ND and Stoll Holdings LLP, to allow limited retail and classroom space. The commission tabled the request at its Oct. 14 meeting for more information on fence material, tree types, road setbacks and a second access after residents spoke for and against it, according to the minutes in the packet. Staff recommends approval of the final plat.
- University of Mary 3rd Subdivision (public hearing): combining the university's lots into a single 198.73-acre lot at 7500 University Dr. and rezoning the site to R1 rural residential under county zoning.
- Missouri Valley Complex 2nd Replat (public hearing): a final plat for the 367-acre county complex at 3805 E. Bismarck Expressway, platted by Burleigh County under a joint powers agreement with the City of Bismarck. The plat would also need city commission approval.
- Three other final plats (public hearing): Grant, Haadem 2nd and Meadows End subdivisions.
- Article 33 (public hearing): revisions to the county's subdivision regulations, with a second public hearing to be called.
- Consent: six preliminary plats to be set for hearing, including a Tri-Energy Cooperative replat of a gas station and RV park at 31346 NE Highway 83.
Public comment is restricted to Burleigh County residents and landowners, as the agenda states. The meeting airs on Government Access Channels 2 and 602 and Radio Access 102.5 FM and streams on freetv.org.
Burleigh County Commission
The commission does not meet this week. Its next meeting is Monday, Nov. 16; the packet had not been posted on the county's agendas page as of Sunday.
State boards in Bismarck
Oil and Gas Research Council
The council, an advisory body to the North Dakota Industrial Commission, meets Monday, Nov. 9, at 9 a.m. The event page lists the Department of Mineral Resources Three Forks Conference Room, 1016 E. Calgary Ave., and a call-in option; the agenda letterhead lists the State Capitol, 14th floor. The agenda lists eight Grant Round 63 applications requesting about $20.9 million in all. The largest are $6.6 million toward a nearly $60 million Bakken infill drilling and completions project submitted by SOGC and $4.85 million toward a $24.6 million natural gas liquids enhanced oil recovery demonstration submitted by Energy Transformed. The Industrial Commission's next meeting is Monday, Nov. 23.
Legislative Management
The Legislature's interim governing committee meets Thursday, Nov. 12, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Friday, Nov. 13, from 9 to 11:15 a.m. in the House Chamber of the State Capitol, with a livestream at video.ndlegis.gov. The tentative agenda, revised Nov. 6, is a series of interim committee reports. Reports include the Energy Development and Transmission Committee at 9:55 a.m. Thursday, the Water Topics Overview Committee at 10:50 a.m., the Agriculture and Water Management Committee at 11:10 a.m., the Advanced Nuclear Energy Committee at 1:10 p.m. and the Artificial Intelligence and Data Center Committee at 10:20 a.m. Friday.
In the Bakken
Dunn County Planning and Zoning Commission
The commission meets Tuesday, Nov. 10, at 6 p.m. Mountain time at the Dunn County Courthouse, 205 Owens St., Manning. The notice of hearing lists three conditional use permit hearings: an 80-acre sand and gravel pit for Fisher Sand & Gravel Co. in Section 14-141-96, on land zoned industrial development; a compressor station for Dakota Midstream, LLC in Section 32-147-97, on land zoned rural preservation; and a 12-month renewal of a temporary light industrial permit for Medley Welding, LLC in Section 30-145-96, on land zoned rural residential.
Williston City Commission
The commission meets Tuesday, Nov. 10, at 6 p.m. Central at City Hall, with a Microsoft Teams option listed on the agenda. It will hold a public hearing on Menard, Inc.'s requests for 2024 property tax abatements on nine parcels; the city's commercial assessor recommends denial in a letter in the packet. Other hearings cover a zone change from agriculture to single and two-family residential for 26 lots on part of a 25-acre parcel in the National Guard Subdivision, and first readings of Ordinances 1189 and 1190. On consent is a federal Section 594 funding request for repairs to the raw water intake at the water treatment plant; the engineer's memo puts the city's obligation at about $2.1 million and says the program would cover 75%, leaving about $500,000 locally.
Further out
Mandan voters decide an initiated ordinance on Tuesday, Dec. 15, at a special city election at Spirit of Life Roman Catholic Church, 801 First St. SE, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., according to the city's notice of election. The petition language would prohibit data centers with an aggregate electrical capacity or demand of 25 megawatts or more within the city and certain territory under Mandan zoning authority. The Morton County Planning and Zoning Commission and the Bismarck Planning and Zoning Commission both meet Wednesday, Nov. 18.
Who sits on each board, when it meets and how to comment: Missouri Slope local government.
