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Williston commissioners create two improvement districts, move to accelerate $64M in projects
Summary
The Williston Board of City Commissioners on March 3 approved resolutions creating Improvement Districts 15‑10 and 15‑6 to advance water, sewer and street work and authorized staff to negotiate engineering services for a 66th Street utility project as the city readies roughly $64 million in 2015 construction funding.
The Williston Board of City Commissioners on March 3 approved resolutions to create two special‑assessment improvement districts and took steps to fast‑track multiple 2015 water, sewer and street projects after engineering staff presented a prioritized project list tied to approximately $64 million in construction funding.
Commissioner Brad Bekkedahl told the commission the city will receive roughly $64 million to accelerate 2015 construction projects and presented a packet of projects engineers recommended the city begin moving toward the bid process. City Engineer Bob Hanson walked commissioners through a spreadsheet of 2015 Special Assessment Projects that lists individual project estimates and a total shown in the packet as $64,328,000.
The commission voted 4–0 (Commissioner Chris Brostuen absent) to approve Resolutions 15‑023 through 15‑029, which create Water, Sewer and Street Improvement District 15‑10 and take the associated preliminary steps (direct engineer, approve engineer’s report, declare necessity, prepare plans and advertise for bids). By the same margin the board approved Resolutions 15‑031 through 15‑037 creating District 15‑6 and authorizing parallel preparatory work.
Hanson explained that because some arterial stretches border only a few properties, per‑property assessments on those streets can be large. He described a developer request related to 66th Street (developer Nick Lippert), which would require tearing up about half of the existing asphalt to install a water line. Hanson said the city could consider picking up the final roughly 500 feet of water‑main work while property owners would be assessed for sewer connections or charged site‑specific service connection fees.
On a separate motion, the commission authorized staff to proceed with contract discussions with AE2S (referenced in the packet; Mr. Hanson earlier identified proposals from Advanced Engineering) to prepare engineering services for the 66th Street work. That motion carried unanimously among commissioners present.
Hanson also outlined plans for township improvement areas (Wegley, Green Acres and Williston Park), advising the commission the city intends to seek assessments from property owners to install sewer systems while completing water work where rural water already exists; he estimated the district 15‑6 water work would be substantially less expensive than constructing a full sewer line in those areas.
Director of Public Works David Tuan told the board staff pulled several items from the 2016–17 list into 2015, including Bakken Street improvements, to take advantage of accelerated funding. Commissioners thanked engineering and public‑works staff for preparing the packet and project list.
The meeting ended after the commission approved an adjournment motion by unanimous voice vote. The commission indicated several of the projects will return for formal contract or authorization votes at the regular commission meeting on March 10.
