Oct. 17—JAMESTOWN — Stutsman County Commissioner Jerry Bergquist said $70,000 has been contributed toward the local share of $122,100 for a feasibility study on how to transport water from basins in western Stutsman County and Crystal Springs Lake.
The feasibility study will demonstrate the benefits of removing excess water, how much of the 250-square-mile watershed contributes to flooding, regulatory issues, alternative options to remove water and the cost to remove the excess water.
The research will also help determine the costs of moving water in different directions. The county wants to move water west to the Missouri River, north to Wells County where Pipestem Creek and the James River originate, or east from Crystal Lakes toward Pipestem Creek and James River.
The cost of the feasibility study is $222,000. The local cost share will be approximately $122,000 if the State Water Commission approves a grant of approximately $100,000.
Bergquist told the Stutsman County Commission on Tuesday, Oct. 15, that the contributions included $20,000 each from the Steele AMVETS and Crystal Springs Bible Camp and $5,000 from the All Vets Club in Jamestown. He added that Steele AMVETS’ contribution comes from gaming funds.
He said a $20,000 contribution from BNSF Railway Co. is pending approval of an agreement with Stutsman County. BNSF also has an in-kind contribution of $20,000, which is Houston Engineering’s estimate of the value of BNSF’s data that Houston will use for the feasibility study.
Bergquist said the $70,000 amount also includes a $5,000 contribution from another organization that still needs to be approved. He said three other organizations could also contribute money to the feasibility study.
He said the county commission should not proceed with the feasibility study until the county is notified it will be awarded the nearly $100,000 grant.
Bergquist said Mayor Dwaine Heinrich missed an opportunity last year when the county commission asked him to sit down to review or at least revise the memorandum of understanding between Stutsman County and the city of Jamestown to provide joint library services.
He said Heinrich wanted a group of people unaffiliated with the Jamestown City Council or the county commission to come together to review the memorandum of understanding and come up with ideas to improve it. He said the committee had not been constituted.
“Instead of doing what the agreement says, it says, ‘This agreement may be amended at any time by mutual written consent of the city and county governing authorities,’” he said. “Rather than do that, we’re now terminating the agreement. In the agreement itself, we’re terminating this relationship. There’s no merging. We’re taking it apart. If that’s what the city wants to do, then that’s what is going to happen.” to happen.”
Earlier this month, the Jamestown City Council agreed to provide the Stutsman County Commission with a two-year notice that the City of Jamestown will withdraw from the memorandum of understanding to provide joint library services.
The city would officially withdraw from the memorandum of understanding on February 28, 2027. The city of Jamestown and Stutsman County would have another two years to discuss the memorandum of understanding and procedures.
The city of Jamestown and Stutsman County offered joint library services under the agreement after voters approved a measure in 2008 to combine them.
Mark Klose, commission chairman, said the new Stutsman County Commission will have to make a decision on whether to continue library services.
Klose and Commissioner Joan Morris are not seeking re-election.
Morris said it is her responsibility as county commissioner to look at how tax dollars are spent.
She said Stutsman County pays $175,000 a year for joint library services. She said a four-mill contribution would mean the province would provide $375,000 a year, an increase of $200,000, for joint library services.
“I’ve done analysis after analysis to figure out why the library is spending so much money,” she said.
Heinrich said the major flaw in the memorandum of understanding is that it does not include language specifying the city and county’s financial contributions to the James River Valley Library System, The Jamestown Sun reported. He said the City Council passed a resolution to enter into a memorandum of understanding with Stutsman County to create the joint library board, after voters approved the measure in 2008 to combine the city and county libraries. The resolution determined that the funding would remain the same, namely 15 city mills and 4 provincial mills. The city and provincial mills are not of equal value.
Morris said she has also looked at alternatives for providing library services to county residents. She said she had spoken with the University of Jamestown about a possible partnership and the cost to the county would have been about $125,000 a year.
“So to be in this group with the Alfred Dickey Library, it would cost an additional $250,000 to work with them than it would with another vendor, and I don’t understand why and I can’t get an answer,” she said. “I don’t think this is a good taxpayer.”
She also questioned why the city is overfunding the James River Valley Library System. She said the library system’s funding is compared to state and national averages
The Stutsman County Veterans Service Office helps out-of-state veterans, said David Bratton, county Veterans Service Officer.
Bratton said the veterans he helped have referred other veterans to the Stutsman County Veterans Service Office. He said some veterans have been burned at other veterans service offices in the past.
Bratton said being a full-time Veterans Service Officer and being skilled at his job are some of the reasons why other veterans want to work with him. He said seeing out-of-state veterans doesn’t compromise his ability to help out-of-county veterans.
He also said the County Veterans Service Office operates by appointment only. He said his office is the busiest it’s ever been and he needs time to process veterans’ claims.
“We’re doing a good job there,” he said. “I’m proud of what we do.”
