The Ramsey County Commission met for a regular meeting on Tuesday, March 7 at 8:00 a.m.
After minutes of the previous meeting, this meeting’s agenda, bills to be paid, and financial reports were motioned, seconded, and unanimously approved, the Commission welcomed visitors from various county agencies. First up were Lindsay Overmyer and Sara Laite from the Ramsey County Extension Office to give updates on various projects and events happening for the region. Highlights include Spring Fever Garden Forums, to occur on Thursday evenings from 6:30-8:30 p.m. virtually or at the Memorial Building through May, and that fruit orders should hopefully be delivered on or around March 25, weather permitting.
Next, Steve Moe for Ramsey County IT GIS informed the commission that he had applied for and been awarded two grants for a new server and rewiring county offices to improve security, as well as new cameras and surveillance systems. The total of these two grants is over $65,000, and it was unanimously agreed to accept these grants. Other IT motions included annual maintenance on GIS software to maintain all the Ramsey County parcels for $3,300, and to approve out-of-state travel for Steve Moe to attend the GIS User Conference in San Diego this July. Both of these motions unanimously carried.
Suzie Kenner of the Devils Lake Chamber of Commerce was the next represented agency, and she gave a rundown on the last year of tourism. There are many exciting initiatives being made to bring tourists to the Lake Region, and a tourism economics study completed by North Dakota tourism in 2021 showed that Ramsey County spent a record $57.46 million on tourism-related activities. Other than a small dip in 2020 due to COVID, tourism has climbed a bit every year since 2014, and fish-netting numbers are also still going strong. A network series came to the region and filmed a documentary episode on ice fishing that was not included in the Netflix release, but was published on YouTube and has over 384,000 views. The Chamber of Commerce also launched their new website in November, and in 2022 there were over 85,000 website hits and over 369,000 Facebook page hits, many of which were in real-time, which means residents and tourists alike were using the Chamber resources to look up things to do, places to eat, and businesses to support in the Lake Region as they were out and about. The other exciting update has to do with the Chamber’s online calendar; soon, an RSS feed will be in place that will allow businesses to publish an event on the Chamber website that will also publish directly to the North Dakota Tourism calendar that is shared statewide. This will streamline our region’s ability to publicize our many exciting events at a statewide level. The staff at the Chamber of Commerce are always busy and always doing amazing things to promote Devils Lake.
Tax Director Elizabeth Black was next up, and she gave an update on agricultural land values for the next year. It looks like there will be an increase needed in the next year, though the official value is still undetermined. A 4% tax increase could be imposed, or 7% to bring Ramsey County closer to state compliance. No action was needed at this meeting.
Highway superintendent Kyle Fieldsend was next, and several motions were made, seconded, and unanimously passed for county highways. They include:
-Motion to raise the hourly rate of machine operation to $145/hour and $310/mile for government roads and $150/hour and $310/mile for private roads
-Motion to advertise for various summer projects
-Motion to hire KLJ to design future county paving projects
-Motion to pay Department of Transportation (DOT) invoices for a total of $10,225.60
-Motion for Chairperson and Auditor to sign applicable DOT letters
-Motion to put up weight limit restriction signs at the same time as the state
-Motion to have the Chairperson sign a letter asking for assistance in overseeing load restrictions
-Motion to order a culvert for the Ramsey-Cavalier county line for $6,500 or less
-Motion to complete spring maintenance on motor graters for just under $5,000
After the various county representatives and agencies had presented, the commissioners turned to unfinished business, which included the Computer Aid Dispatch (CAD) system for the Law Enforcement Center (LEC). The joint agreement between the City of Devils Lake and Ramsey County was presented at the past meeting, and a letter was sent by State’s Attorney Cummings to the LEC’s lawyer to clarify verbiage in the agreement. A motion to approve the CAD agreement with the recommended language changes was made, seconded, and passed unanimously. As long as the LEC Board makes these changes, they will have power to finalize the agreement that will incur an annual subscription for all entities that utilize the LEC. Ramsey County’s annual cost will be $17,021.15.
A delegation from the Ramsey County Water Resource District Board was present and answered questions about pending legislation that would affect water in Ramsey County. New business was addressed next, with the commission unanimously voting to pass a 50/50 raffle permit for the Devils Lake Speedway and a homestead credit. There are some pending projects to make a dangerous portion of Highway 2 safer that have received public opposition, and other potential changes that may impact the flow of traffic. More information can be found by contacting Chairperson Frith. Sheriff Bryan Lang was the only visitor to the meeting and stated that a new Sheriff’s Deputy has been hired on a part-time basis until she completes PO training in May, when she will be full-time, and that a jailor has also been offered a position.
After commissioner portfolios, the general meeting adjourned for an Executive Session, which was attended by Chairperson Frith, Commissioner Hodous, Commissioner Gessner, Commissioner Wilhelmi, County Auditor Kandy Christopherson, and State’s Attorney Beau Cummings.
Minutes of past Ramsey County Commission meetings and agendas for future meetings can be found at co.ramsey.nd.us.
