East Grand Forks City Council members hear from local nonprofit on special assessment burden
Nov. 2—EAST GRAND FORKS — A member of a local nonprofit in East Grand Forks shared concerns about the toll special assessments for a street project will have on the organization during a public hearing at Tuesday's City Council meeting.
Teri Hammarback, co-president of the Heritage Village Foundation, said the nonprofit has just finished paying $27,000 in special assessments for another project on 20th Street Northeast. Hammarback said the special assessments for proposed work on Fifth Avenue Northeast will create additional burdens for the organization.
"I'm not sure where we're going to come up with this money," Hammarback said. "Little by little, we're trying to make things work out there."
The project will entail street and utility improvements on Fifth Avenue Northeast from 15th Street Northeast to 20th Street Northeast. Some of the improvements include replacing broken concrete panels on the street, replacing curb and gutters, and minor sidewalk work.
The total cost of the project is estimated to be $686,469.63 with benefiting property owners set to be assessed 30% for a total of $205,940.89 of the project cost. City Engineer Steve Emery said funding for the remaining portion of the project will come from Federal Subtarget funds.
On the side of the road where the Heritage Village is located, Hammarback believes there isn't that much damage that needs to be repaired. Additionally, Hammarback said the majority of traffic traveling on Fifth Avenue Northeast are farm trucks; she asked the council why the nearby beet processing plant isn't being assessed for the project.
"I realize we need new roads," Hammarback said. "I'm not going to stand in the way of having East Grand Forks have decent roads. However, please consider who you are assessing. We are nonprofit and we're trying to keep our heritage alive ."
Several council members questioned whether nonprofits can be assessed for street projects, but City Attorney Ron Galstad said there is nothing stated in city policy that exempts nonprofits.
Ultimately, council members voted 6-1 for Emery to move forward with preparation of the plans and specifications for the improvements on Fifth Avenue Northeast. Dale Helms, who is also co-president of the Heritage Village Foundation, was the lone council member who voted against moving forward with the project. While Helms said he's in favor of having the street fixed, he noted the burden the assessments will have on the nonprofit.
"I know what the Heritage [Village] is going through and I know how hard we work up there to keep that thing open," Helms said.
A final assessment hearing for the project will be held at a later date. Emery said the council can either decide to award bids before the final assessment hearing, or wait until the project is completed before holding the final assessment hearing.
Mayor Steve Gander, during Tuesday's meeting, encouraged people in the community to donate to the Heritage Village to help with the cost of the special assessments.
"I do ask our community to step up and take a look at an organization like this and give it all the support that you can to get through something like this," Gander said.
In other news Tuesday, council members:
* Approved the East Grand Forks Police Department to accept a federal Community Oriented Policing Services Grant in the amount of $50,398.30. The grant will cover the purchase of a training simulator from VirTra. The simulator will allow officers to train through more than 70 hours of interactive simulations on a variety of topics.
* Approved City Engineer Steve Emery to reject the one bid received for pedestrian improvements on Bygland Road and 13th Street Southeast for a high intensity activated crosswalk system. The one bid received for the project came from Strata Corporation in the amount of $376,831.40, which is 53% higher than the engineer's estimate of $245,807. According to Emery, the higher cost of the system is due to the availability and pricing of the needed materials as well as the timing of when bids were received. Emery is recommending to seek bids again in the early winter and to award the bid by late December or early January.
