Aberdeen council approves boundary-line highway agreement with Brown County, adopts parking ordinances and moves forward on airport, transit and development out

The Aberdeen City Council on May 19 approved an intergovernmental agreement with Brown County to assign responsibility and split maintenance costs for roads that form the municipal boundary, adopted two ordinances changing downtown parking oversight and public parking rules, and approved multiple airport, street and transit payments and contracts.

Council members voted to approve the boundary-line highway agreement after city staff explained that a 2024 state statute requires jurisdictions to assign charge of a shared road to one jurisdiction or have the state arbitrate responsibility and contributions. Ron (staff member) said the agreement uses the county's annual per‑mile maintenance and reconstruction cost as the formula for any required 50% contribution, and that the county’s project cost journal would be used to determine amounts. "If the Department of Transportation makes that determination, there would be no contribution from the other entity," Ron said, describing what happens absent an agreement.

The council discussed North Dakota Street as a near‑term example. Public Works Director Stu Nelson said crews performed patching there the week before the meeting and that the city plans a full reconstruction in a future construction season; Nelson said the city will do only minimal repairs this year to avoid duplicative expense ahead of the planned rebuild. On sidewalks and bike paths, Nelson said pedestrian and bicycle facilities will be built as part of the reconstruction.

On the downtown regulations, the council gave second and final reading to Ordinance 250503 to repeal the previously inactive parking board and expand the downtown Business Improvement District’s role, and to Ordinance 250504, which moves much day‑to‑day parking oversight to the police department and clarifies appeals and street‑closure procedures discussed at first reading. Both ordinances passed on roll calls.

Airport and transportation items cleared several contract and payment steps. The council approved four pay estimates to Helms & Associates covering runway rehab, apron reconstruction and terminal access road and parking lot design work; funding for these items was described by Transportation Director Rich Krogl as a mix of federal, state and local shares (examples cited in council discussion included 95% federal/2.5% state/2.5% city and a 90% federal/5% state/5% local split depending on the project). Krogl also reported that the terminal expansion design was about 80% complete and that a bid opening was…