It was a very quiet morning for Friday's Dickinson Parks and Recreation Park Board roundtable meeting.
The agenda gave members of the community an opportunity to attend the meeting and voice any concerns or comments on the park district's 2007 budget. No one, however, was present and the preliminary budget was approved with an amendment.
The amendment included an addition of $30,000 to both the expenses and the revenue of the West River Community Center for tennis addition utilities.
This brings the expenses and revenue for the community center to $1,330,500 each.
Parks and Recreation Director James Kramer said the $30,000 is also added to the revenue as a line amount for a city subsidy and is how the district balances the budget.
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Kramer wasn't surprised no one showed up to the public hearing, as in the 15 years he has been with the Dickinson park district, one person has shown up to a budget public hearing, he said.
"I think the park district has done a good job managing tax dollars," Kramer said. "I think there's a sense of trust that things are running well."
The preliminary budget is also published in the newspaper for everyone to read and "must be pretty self-explanatory", Kramer added.
Dickinson is the second lowest taxing park district of the 13 largest cities in North Dakota, Kramer said.
In an unrelated matter, the park board approved a temporary construction easement for a North Dakota Department of Transportation (NDDOT) project.
According to a letter from the NDDOT, the department is in the process of acquiring right-of-way for a project located at Interstate 94 and 10th Avenue East which would involve the addition of a sidewalk to the west side of the bridge and new bridge rail. A sidewalk on the west side on 10th Avenue East on both approaches to the bridge currently terminates near the interstate right-of-way lines.
According to Kramer, the sidewalk would go from Museum Drive and connect with the sidewalk near the St. Wenceslaus cemetery. The tentative completion date for the project is next fall, North Dakota Department of Transportation Dickinson District Engineer Larry Gangl said.
It is assumed the width of the sidewalk would be 10 feet. Adding the sidewalk would involve widening the substructure units, adding a girder line and replacing the bridge railing on the west side, the letter stated.
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Park district land on the southwest corner of the intersection of I-94 and 10th Avenue East would be affected by the project. The easement was requested to complete the required earthwork for the proposed sidewalk.
The letter added any land disturbed during the construction process will be re-seeded prior to the completion of the project.
In an unrelated matter, red-iron work is complete on the West River Community Center tennis addition and the installation of the roof and shell is slated to begin next week.
"We're starting to see some progress," Kramer said.
A construction meeting to re-evaluate the addition schedule is set for next week and the contractor is still holding firm on an end-of-November completion date, Kramer added.
