President Carlsrud called the meeting to order at 4:00 PM.
Members present: President Carlsrud, Commissioner Erickson, Commissioner Bishop, Commissioner Magnuson, and Commissioner Gulmon
Others present: City Administrator Crawford, City Attorney Martineck, Finance Director Richter, and Administrative Assistant Johnson.
President Carlsrud introduced Major Steckler
Sue Lloyd-The county is sitting good but we are focusing on the southern part of the county. There are some townships that are keeping track of their damages. The main concern is with the Hi Soaring Eagle Ranch. If the river gets to 17.4 the first bridge will be closed off and just a little bit higher the second one will and then they will be landlocked. We’ll be notifying those households about what may be coming their way.
Rich- Levees are at 78% complete. The majority will be complete by around noon tomorrow. Strata will stop work around 8 p.m. The pool elevation is at 1266. We opened this afternoon because the elevation in Valley City was dropping. We’re releasing approximately 3800 cfs which should bring us up to about 16ft. We will hold at 16 ft until the temporary levees are surveyed and then we plan to increase to an elevation of 17ft. We hope to draw down the reservoir to try to get 1.5-2ft of additional storage. We sent a team member to do some recon in the upper basin. In the Warwick area there is 80% snow cover which is estimated to be about 1-1.25 inches of snow water equivalent in it. There is precipitation forecasted for this weekend and the Warwick water takes about 5-7 days to get here so that is why we are doing what we are.
Neil Skarloken questioned why we weren’t using the 5 foot of storage that is there.
Rich responding due to the snow cover in Warwick and the forecasted precipitation we will be going into the storage space. The City of Valley City has been doing and awesome job getting ready for this and preparing.
Gwen-The cold weather has helped slow some things so we’re grateful for that. Public Works will continue to monitor 24 hours. Communication has a chain of command. We have set up a call center to help with questions.
Carl – Stated the daily meetings are at 4 on CSI, BEK and Zoom. The recordings will be available the following day on our webpage. The hotline is ready to go and the number is 701-890-7848. Updates will continue to be posted on Facebook and Instagram.
Gwen – the stoplogs have been installed except for the half wall at the college which is protected at 20.5 ft. We are grateful that the three phases of flood protection had been completed which is the only way we could be as prepared as we are. While Fire Chief Magnuson was doing some rounds, he saw some erosion which was turned over to Rich and they will riprap the area. The garbage hook truck went down so there will be a collaboration with Jamestown. We really want to thank the surrounding communities for their help. Also, a reminder to conserve water when possible and sandbags are available to the city and county residents if needed.
Clint- We are catching up in a lot of the areas where we had standing water. The lift stations are keeping up but if you can conserve water it would be a great help. As the river raises and groundwater rises, we get some infiltration so to help alleviate pressure on the lift stations, conserving water would be appreciated. 10th St SW is down to one lane which is to be used for the schools.
Neil Skarloken requested road closed signs on 5th. Clint will have road closed to through traffic signs set there.
Josh Johnson-Brian Yanish of Dietrich’s has made some modifications for the students currently affected by the changes. Washington Elementary has moved the drop off and pick up locations for the safety of the students as well as to not create added congestion on 8th Ave. The high school and tech center routes have been changed to 12th and asked the students to ride the bus to and from the center. Softball practices have been moved up to Hi Line Park and will postpone or alternated our schedule for the next couple of weeks.
Al Lafave-There is only one way to access campus right now so we are running shuttles to help keep the traffic minimal in that area right now.
Gwen-VCSU’s food trucks will be coming down Soenboss Hill to deliver which trucks aren’t supposed to but they will be allowed.
Dave – The organization and operation of all of this, I’m proud to be part of this all.
Dick-Thanks to Rich and the Core for all the direction they are providing and Gwen and our team. Decisions are made strategically with planning and utilizing all the information to give us direction.
Dave-Meeting tomorrow at 4 p.m.
Adjourn
Meeting was adjourned at 4:38 PM.