City Growth Stretches Services

This week we've been looking into the growth of the Magic City........new areas that have been an...  More »

This week we've been looking into the growth of the Magic City........new areas that have been annexed into city limits and the construction boom. But with those additions come new challenges for city workers to maintain and service those new areas. Shaun Sipma has more. The city of Minot had covered roughly 14 and a half square miles for many years. Area patrolled by police, covered by the Fire Department, Serviced by sanitation and cleared by city street crews. In roughly the past six years though that number has grown to over 17 and a half square miles. (Rick Hair, Minot Street Superintendent) "We are responsible for those streets now." Minot Street SUperintendent Rick Hair says he's been with the department since 2005 and has been operating with the same number of personnel and equipment since then. (Rick Hair, Minot Street Superintendent) "It does make it difficult, you can drive around and see how we've expanded and we try to keep up and it's going to get difficult as we go but we know that ahead of time." And time for his department is an issue. As we saw last winter each new snow storm meant more time to get streets cleared. Hair's request in the last budget for two more people and another blade was denied but he plans to renew those requests in the next budget in 2011. (Dean Frantsvog, President of the Minot City Council) "With the the huge amount of growth we've experience over the past several years we have a additional strain on those services." Minot City Council President Representing Ward 3, Dean Frantsvog says therer have been growing pains in the past several years. He says the council is talking with city deparmtent heads about their growing needs and is already looking to expand some departments. (Dean Frantsvog, President of the Minot City Council) "Right now at next months city council agenda we're going to discuss adding three new firefighters to the city." He says though with needs from every department growing it's difficult to meet those needs right away. Frantsvog says it's a delicate ballance of services and needs, and taxes to pay for them. He says often times there's an up front cost to pay for expansion. (Dean Frantsvog, President of the Minot City Council) "You bring in new property and that increases and that adds to the tax roll but sometimes there is a little bit of a delay in that before we can actually receive the tax dollars that accompany those new properties." That delay means people in places like the street department have to do more - and ask for your patience - while they wait to grow to meet the new needs of a growing city. In Minot, Shaun Sipma KX News.  « Less