Jun. 24—The following stories from this week appeared on

www.jamestownsun.com

and in The Jamestown Sun.

In less than two years since breaking ground on its first facility, Applied Digital Corp. has constructed two data centers in North Dakota, but the future is even better for the company, according to CEO Wes Cummins.

"Before we hit the two-year mark of breaking ground on our first facility, we will have put almost 500 megawatts of data center capacity online in less than 24 months," he said. "I don't think you will find another startup or even maybe another company in the world that has done that amount of capacity in that amount of time and that's great."

Applied Digital, which is headquartered in Dallas, hosted a ribbon-cutting ceremony Friday, June 16, for its data center that is located about 1 mile west of Ellendale.

The 180-megawatt facility in Ellendale

is Applied Digital's second in North Dakota along with the facility in Jamestown that went online in 2022. Cummins said the Ellendale facility currently has around 160 megawatts online.

Applied Digital entered into a five-year energy service agreement with Montana-Dakota Utilities Co.

The Jamestown Finance and Legal Committee unanimously recommended approval on Monday, June 19, to allow the city of Jamestown to partner with Gate City Bank to offer a program that provides low-interest loans for improvements of owner-occupied single-family homes.

With Jamestown City Council approval in July,

the Gate City Bank Neighborhood Revitalization Program

would have no cost to the city. The city's zoning administrator would be authorized to adjust the parameters of the program if needed.

City Administrator Sarah Hellekson said the low-interest loans would be around 3% to 3.5%. The minimum loan would be $10,000 and the maximum is $100,000, according to an application for the program.

The city of Jamestown will set the parameters of the program, including a limit on the value of a home and what type of projects the loans can be used for, Hellekson said.

Many improvements have been made to make the Stutsman County Fair a successful event but

the success didn't come without any challenges

.

The Stutsman County Fair was formerly held in McElroy Park in Jamestown. At the time, the Park Plaza Mall did not exist and a quarter-mile racetrack with a grandstand was adjacent to Jack Brown Stadium. Tenth Street Southeast was not a four-lane commercial street at the time.

Improvements over the years to the Stutsman County Fairgrounds include building a park with shade, gazebo, stage, grandstand and new beer garden and creating more parking spaces, among others. Free live entertainment was also provided for fair attendees.

This year will mark 125 years of the Stutsman County Fair. The Stutsman County Fair will be held June 28 through July 1.

The University of Jamestown is

constructing an athletic bubble

on its campus and naming it after a former sportswriter of The Jamestown Sun.

The indoor athletic and wellness facility will be located next to Harold Newman Arena over the current turf field.

A gift from the estate of siblings Jim Nelson and Lynn Nelson-Paretta assisted in the development of the bubble on UJ's campus. The amount of the gift was not released.

Construction on the new facility has already begun. The Nelson Bubble is expected to open in November.

UJ Athletic Director Austin Hieb said the Nelson Bubble will be a "game-changer" for Jimmie athletics. The past winter impacted UJ's spring sports.

Nelson grew up in Streeter, North Dakota, and studied at then-Jamestown College for two years before transferring to the University of North Dakota where he graduated from in 1960. Nelson worked as a sportswriter for The Jamestown Sun from 1963 to 1983.

Nelson-Paretta earned a bachelor's degree from Jamestown College in 1969 and a master's degree from the University of Denver before joining the Immigration and Naturalization Service, where she had a distinguished 26-year career. She became the first female special agent in her division, as well as the officer in charge of the Immigration and Naturalization Service office in Rome.

The Stutsman County Commission unanimously approved on Tuesday, June 20,

an increase for each approved step increase

effective in January 2024.

The current 2% step increases will be 2.5% step increases starting next year. Any step increase approved by the county commission will increase an employee's pay by 2.5%.

Shannon Davis, human resources director, said Wednesday, June 21, the county's pay scale has 26 grades where employees are placed based on classification, which includes job description, duties, role and responsibilities. She said each grade has 15 steps.

"If we do that 2.5%, that increases that scale so then we are not off so much when we are looking at where are they at the bottom and where are they at the top (of each grade)," she said to the county commission on Tuesday.

A 96-inch stormwater

pipe has been ordered to address the failed stormwater pipe

near Applebee's in Jamestown, according to Travis Dillman, city engineer.

Dillman told the Jamestown Public Works Committee on Thursday, June 22, that there aren't many options for a 96-inch-diameter pipe.

"It's definitely not sitting on a shelf somewhere," he said.

Dillman said a Hobas pipe has been ordered. He said a Hobas pipe is a fiberglass reinforced polymer mortar pipe.

He said the pipe is expected to be in Jamestown by Sept. 1.

"Now that we know the pipe, the next steps are we are doing the design to do a plan and profile so that we can invite contractors to come in and get it, so we want to do that very soon," he said. "Then in turn we will have a contractor on board to get this pipe installed as soon as the pipe is here."

Stormwater runoff and flooding resulted in the failure of a 96-inch stormwater pipe located south of 25th Street Southwest and east of 8th Avenue Southwest. The sinkhole at the site was estimated to be 12 to 14 feet deep.

Playing a musical instrument while marching with a group takes a little practice. An eight-day band camp at Jamestown Middle School to teach those skills ended on Thursday, June 23, with the

students giving a brief performance

showing what they learned.

Sixty-three band students marched outside the middle school while playing "Louie, Louie" before parents and families and then performed five musical selections in the school gym.

Jennifer Redfearn, band director at Jamestown Middle School, said students rehearsed over the seven days of the camp, which was held in the morning. The students will be in the seventh and eighth grade in the fall.

Marching, music work and other lessons were included in the voluntary camp. Along with marching, the group worked on the musical selections, had individual sessions for the brass, woodwind and percussion sections and learned about music theory. Games and snacks were part of it too.