DEVILS LAKE – The Devils Lake City Commission held their regular meeting on Monday, Aug. 3, at 5:30 p.m. in City Hall. Mayor Jim Moe, and City Commissioners Rob Hach, Joe Knowski, Jason Pierce and Lisa Uhlenkamp were in attendance.
After the meeting was called to order, the commission approved the minutes from the meetings held on July 20 and 28.
Public hearings were held for several items involving proposed zoning changes. The first involved the planned unit development at 14th St. NW of the Devils Lake Fire Department Training Area. “This is just a recommendation for approval to change the zoning for the area where the fire training tower is over there,” said Interim City Auditor / City Assessor Rob Johnson. “The reason for it is that they currently have some storage containers that are not permitted, and this would allow them to be utilized for fire training services. It’s just the first step in us working to try and get some of our storage container issues under control.”
Pierce moved to approve the change and Knowski seconded the motion, which was unanimously approved.
The second item concerned temporary greenhouses. “I had a request to change the ordinance for temporary greenhouses to allow full year use of them instead of 180 days every calendar year,” Johnson said. “The planning commission directed staff to take a look and see what they can come up with for alternatives or if there was a better way to go about this.”
With no further comments or discussion on the issue, it was determined that no action was necessary for now.
The third and final item was a proposed change of zoning from single family to highway commercial for Lots 1 and 1 of the Tips Subdivision. “This one comes with a recommendation to deny,” Johnson said, adding that the change would require spot zoning as the area in question is residential and that the proposed site would be used for an excavation business. Johnson added that several residents had previously spoken out against the business, and a consultant observed that spot zoning is illegal in the state of North Dakota. Knowski moved to deny the request, which was seconded by Uhlenkamp, and the motion carried unanimously.
With no bid openings or visitors or delegations present, commissioners reviewed their portfolios with Fire Chief Nate Bennett, Devils Lake Airport Director Dominic Eritano, City Engineer Mike Grafsgaard, and Police Chief Jason Toso.
Toso and Bennett reviewed the National Night Out which was combined with the annual Crazy Days Summer Block Party, in which local police, firefighters and emergency personnel were on hand to meet with the public. They also mentioned the upcoming annual Battle of the Badges Blood Drive taking place Aug. 12 – 14. Firearms training also took place Aug. 4 and 5.
Grafsgaard had a pre-construction meeting with the contractor who will be working on two mill and overlay projects.
Eritano reported another record month for the regional airport. “We haven’t gotten any official word from Sky West, but we believe it’s over 1,500 passengers for the first time in Devils Lake history,” Eritano said, adding that on Wednesday, Aug. 26, he and Moe will travel to Grand Forks to learn details of an economic survey done last year that will reveal the airport’s economic impact on Ramsey County and the City of Devils Lake. Eritano also mentioned that he and his staff are looking into the possibility of expanding parking at the airport as available spaces have become scarce.
Pierce took time to publicly congratulate Grafsgaard on his winning the 2026 Unsung Hero Award. Moe also mentioned Grafsgaard’s department winning a national award for their improvements made on College Drive. Pierce wryly joked that given Grafsgaard’s trademark humility, he will try to find to deflect such public praise. “People don’t see what he does outside here, for the VFW, and everything else he does for the veterans is above and beyond.”
Johnson then reviewed with commission members annual performance-based step increases for city employees which were unanimously approved effective July 1.
During the old business portion of the meeting, Tobacco Prevention Coordinator Cindy Schmidt of Lake Region District Health and DLPD School Resource Officer Christon Dallas were on hand to review details of the proposal on tobacco retailer training. “This proposal is not intended to create any burden on our local businesses,” Schmidt said. “It’s designed to equip the young employees with the knowledge and confidence they need to comply with state and mobile tobacco laws while helping businesses avoid cost and violations.”
Schmidt said that since she and Dallas have been consistently performing compliance checks in the four counties that she covers for Lake Region District Health, they have noticed a repeated need for the training of younger employees. “Many of the retail establishments rely on high school students to fill their positions,” she said. “The young employees are often expected to make age verification decisions involving tobacco products with little or no formal training.
Schmidt added that these employees often feel pressure to sell tobacco products their age or younger. “That’s the other reason that we are wanting to provide this extra training for them,” she said. “It isn’t a training that they need to repeat, but we want them to be able to go into that job with as much confidence as they can.”
“I have witnessed young people in tears when we do the compliance check,” she said. “We need to provide education instead of them just being in the hot seat.”
Based on the experiences that she and Dallas have had during their compliance checks, she composed a rough draft of the proposed training, which include possible scenarios that the employees could encounter and how to handle them and may also include interactive videos. Schmidt handed out copies of the proposed training outline to commission members. She also mentioned that she has talked with staff members at Tobacco Prevention and Control from the state’s Health and Human Services department who have expressed interest in providing funding for the proposed training. She also proposed an annual fee, possibly around $200, from tobacco retailers to help fund the training. “If they will provide the funding for us to do that, I think it would be a great thing for our city,” Schmidt said.
Schmidt added that currently the city doesn’t have effective vape disposal which she believes poses a problem. “When I went to do our check at the vape shop, they are throwing their defective vapes in the garbage and they’re going into the landfill,” she said, adding that the owner had told her that kids have been getting into the dumpster to salvage the discarded vapes for their own use. Schmidt confirmed with state authorities that vape shop owners are responsible for following the proper procedures of disposal of vapes, as they contain lithium batteries. Also, vape users often don’t feel that they’re in the same boat with users of more traditional tobacco products, and don’t feel a need to the same health protocols.
Dallas reported that school officials have confiscated vapes from students. “That’s the problem that I run into,” he said, adding as example that the middle school has approximately half a garbage bag full of vapes which is currently held in a locked drawer at the school. “That’s not sufficient enough for it, because obviously if one of those lithium batteries catch on fire, it blows everything up in there.”
After the presentation concluded, the commission moved on to review the latest with Sunnyside Childcare Center personal property bill of sale, and Brady Ash with Forward Devils Lake provided that the latest from RFP Selection Committee, then did first readings of two new ordinances on signs and accessory buildings, then moved to approve payment of the list of submitted bills before the meeting was adjourned.