Sometimes a penny spent is as good as a penny saved.
During Tuesday's regularly scheduled Dickinson City Commission meeting, there was unanimous approval to pay upfront the city's full share of the Heart River Golf Course's new irrigation system.
By paying its full share up front, the city would help the park district save in interest costs and prevent future commissions from opting not to help pay for the irrigation system according to the resolution.
The city previously agreed to pay $480,000 of the projected cost, approximately half. The original idea was to pay $40,000 per year for 12 years.
City Administrator Greg Sund brought up the idea of paying the full share out the Sales Tax II fund during a previous commission meeting.
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The total budgeted amount for the new irrigation system is $950,000.
"I guess I don't see this really as so much an issue of whether you're a golfer or not a golfer," Commissioner Rhonda Dukart said. "I see it as something that contributes to the quality of life in Dickinson, so I guess I also can support using sales tax money to enhance the quality of life here."
Commissioner Carson Steiner agreed the golf course is an asset to the city.
"I think at this point in time with the drought we're in, it's necessary we take a good look at this (irrigation system)," Steiner said.
Steiner said he sat on the park board 15-20 years ago, as well.
"I remember when we first put the barge in and that was supposed to just be a Band-aid at that time," Steiner said. "To still see we're using the barge system, the Band-aid in there, that's one of the reasons that prompted this."
Director of Dickinson Parks and Recreation James Kramer came before the commission to speak in favor of the new irrigation system and the city's participation.
Kramer said the current biggest challenge with the irrigation system is that it is physically not able to handle watering the golf course's acreage.
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"The single biggest advantage of this new system will be to consolidate both pump stations into one centralized station," Kramer said. "This will allow us to be more efficient with our watering."
Kramer said the park board had four bids for the project, with the lowest coming from United Golf in Tulsa, Okla.
In an unrelated matter, the city also unanimously passed the first reading of the revised animal ordinance.
Megan Dollinger, formerly of the Bismarck Kennel Club and member of the Doberman Pinscher Club of America, spoke of some concerns with the present wording.
Dollinger said the American Kennel Club does not approve of targeting specific dogs as dangerous animals. The proposed revisions to the animal ordinance do not target specific breeds.
"No breed is inherently a bad breed of dog; just certain breeds tend to be more targeted by certain individuals that kind of cultivate those dogs to be bad," Dollinger said.
Dollinger also raised concerns about referencing rabies and distemper shots with regard to licensing. Although the ordinance states shots need to be current, their time frames are not referenced.
"We (kennel club members), as a body,...would like to be consulted whenever there are issues that do come up, that it would be nice to have us because we are kind of the local experts on dogs," Dollinger said.
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Mayor Dennis Johnson said Sund should get more information from Dollinger and revisit the ordinance before it is voted on for final approval. Sund said he would put a public hearing on the next commission agenda and make the ordinance, as it is currently written, available on the city's Web site.
In an unrelated matter, the city's Web address may soon be moving to www.dickinsonnd.gov . Sund said the city is applying to get the domain name after the U.S. government allowed local governments to use the .gov extension.
"I think that is a change that will last us for the foreseeable future and would also match up with the dickinsonnd.com, which is our portal page," Sund said. "That way if someone made a mistake and typed in one or the other, they would still come up with Dickinson."
