FM Diversion Board Of Authority Meeting – June 22, 2023

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A regular meeting of the Metro Flood Diversion Authority Board of Authority was held on June 22, 2023. The following members were present: Dr. Tim Mahoney, Mayor, City of Fargo; Bernie Dardis, Mayor, City of West Fargo; Shelly Carlson, Mayor, City of Moorhead; Chad Peterson, Cass County Commissioner; Dave Piepkorn, Fargo City Commissioner; David Ebinger, Clay County Commissioner; John Strand, Fargo City Commissioner;

Kevin Campbell, Clay County Commissioner and Mary Scherling, Cass County Commissioner.

Member(s) absent: Chuck Hendrickson, Moorhead City Council; Tony Grindberg, Cass County Commissioner; Rodger Olson, Cass County Joint Water Resource District and Larry Seljevold, Moorhead City Council.

1. CALL TO ORDER

Mayor Mahoney called the meeting to order at 3:30 PM. Roll call was taken, and a quorum was present.

2. APPROVE MINUTES FROM THE MAY 2023 MEETING

MOTION PASSED

Mr. Campbell moved to approve the minutes from the May 2023 meeting and Mayor Dardis seconded the motion. On a voice vote, the motion carried.

3. APPROVE ORDER OF AGENDA

MOTION PASSED

Mayor Carlson moved to approve the order of the agenda and Mr. Ebinger seconded the motion. On a voice vote, the motion carried.

CONSENT AGENDA

MOTION PASSED

Mr. Peterson moved to approve the Consent Agenda and Mr. Ebinger seconded the motion. On a roll call vote, the motion carried.

4. EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR REPORT

Mr. Paulsen provided the following updates:

Happenings

• Team meeting with RRVA and reviewing plans
• Working with USACE on future designs
• Meeting with utility owners and local governments on MOUs
• Met with FEMA to provide best management practices that can be used at the national level for flood risk management
• FEMA Mitigation Course attendees toured project
• Met with City of Denver regarding best management practices for a P3 project in coordination with USACE

5. GENERAL COUNSEL UPDATE

Mayor Mahoney reported that Mr. Paulsen’s performance evaluation was completed, and he and other board members will dialogue to determine the amount of his increase.

6. CONSTRUCTION PROJECT UPDATES

a. USACE Project Update

Ms. Williams provided the following USACE update:

1 Diversion Inlet Structure (DIS) – Construction

Structure includes 3-50 ft. wide Tainter gates. Construction is 94% complete. Construction completion

date of 7 June 2023 being delayed into July due to PT bar fix modification. Installation of the 3 gates

complete. Bridge beams/deck being installed. Schedule for remaining primary features:

2023: Install bridge and mechanical platform deck, operating machinery, seeding.

2024: Turf established.

2 Wild Rice River Structure (WRRS) – Construction

Structure includes 2-40 ft. wide Tainter gates. Construction is 86% complete and remains on schedule.

The construction completion date is 3 December 2023. Preparations being made to construct earthen

dam across old Wild Rice River channel. Installation of mechanical platform/vehicle service bridge

ongoing. Remaining schedule:

2023: Control building, install gate operating machinery, dam embankment, seeding.

2024: Turf established.

3 I-29 Raise – Construction

Includes approximately 4 miles of interstate raise between County Roads 16 and 18. Construction is

74% complete. Constructing bridge deck, aprons and abutment walls. Paving of the mainline raise to

be complete Summer 2023.

4 Southern Embankment – Reach SE-1 (Western Tieback) – Construction

Construction was completed 10 November 2022. Partial turnover to the Diversion Authority for

Operations and Maintenance occurred on 29 December 2022. O&M Manual being completed.

5 Red River Structure (RRS) – Construction

Structure includes 3-50 ft. wide Tainter gates. Construction is 20% complete. Construction completion

date is 19 March 2026. Placement of foundation and stilling basin stabilization slabs ongoing. FMM

Project’s largest mass concrete placement occurred on 9 June at over 2600 cy.

6 Drain 27 Wetland Mitigation Project – Construction

Construction was completed 2 December 2022. Native plantings 5-year service contract was

awarded 17 May 2023, with a completion date of 1 December 2027.

7 Drayton Dam Mitigation Project Design – Construction

Construction is 54% complete. Contractor notched existing dam to drawdown work area. Removal of

the existing dam planned will restart 19 June 2023. Construction completion is 30 September 2023.

8 Southern Embankment – Reach SE-2A – Construction

Construction is 27% complete. Contractor is back on site and is remobilizing equipment. Scheduled

completion date is 30 September 2024.

9 Southern Embankment Design – All remaining reaches are being designed.

SE-1B: BCOES review Aug 2023 ……………………………. Contract award: February 2024

SE-2B: BCOES review complete 9 June 2023 ………… Contract award: April 2024

SE-3: 65% review starts Aug 2023 …………………………. Contract award: January 2025

SE-4: 65% review starts Aug 2023 …………………………. Contract award: April 2024

SE-5: 65% review starts late-July 2023 …………………… Contract award: January 2025

OHB Reach 43B: 95% review starts July 2023 ………… Contract award: February 2024

b. SWDCAI Project Update

Mr. Bakkegard provided an update of the construction map that shows current work in progress, 30 and 60 day projected progress:

Design Submittal & Review Progress:

• Nearing 1,400 review cycles
• 87 approved designs
  • 61 utility
  • 26 other

Construction Look Ahead:

• Channel Excavation
  • Reach 3-5
  • Cultural Monitoring
• Bridges/Crossings
  • CR-81 – Bypass
  • CR-32 – Settlement
  • I-29 – Bypass
  • CR-22, 20, 10 – Upcoming
• Drain Inlets
  • Drain 30
  • Outlet & Drain 29
• Maple River Aqueduct
• Utilities
  • Between CR22 & 52nd Ave. S

c. Drone Footage

A drone video highlighting the progress that has been achieved since May was viewed.

7. COMMUNICATIONS UPDATE

Ms. Willson provided the following Communications update:

Videos:

• Faces of the Diversion: Mayors (leadership) released in May

Social Media:

• Strong performance first half of this year
• LinkedIn reposts up 35%, comments up 29.4%
• Facebook reach over past 90 days up 168.7%

Upcoming Media:

• Aqueducts story in The Forum
• Joel on Talk of the Town, WDAY-AM, July 12

8. LAND MANAGEMENT UPDATE

a. Property Acquisition Status Report

Ms. Smith provided the following property acquisition status report:

• 3% completion in the Construction Footprint
• 35% completion in the UMA Footprint
• 2% of the parcels in the Southern Embankment have been acquired
• 5% of the parcels in the Upstream Mitigation Area have been acquired
• 6% of the Environmental Easements have been signed
• 2% of the parcels in the Stormwater Diversion Channel have been acquired
• 4% of the Oxbow-Hickson-Bakke levee
• 100% MFDA constructed in-town levees and the Drayton Dam mitigation is completed

Key Activities

• Continue negotiating settlement agreements for existing eminent domain actions
• In the last month, successfully closed 23 parcels / 11 landowners
• Batch #8 next steps letters and eminent domain filing authorization requested from CCJWRD for 3 property owners
• Focused on coordinating completion of appraisals for remaining property needs in UMA and Southern Embankment
• Prepared the first plat of project land for the SWDCAI (for lands in Wiser Township)
• Initiated home removal/demo work under WP38A (5 properties (4 in ND, 1 in MN)

9. FINANCE UPDATE

Finance Report

Mayor Dardis reported that the bills payable as of June 14, 2023, total $2,940,522 and the current net position is $185,014,599. Mayor Dardis also reported that the Salem Cemetery and BNSF agreements were approved.

10. OTHER BUSINESS

There was no other business to report.

11. NEXT MEETING

The next meeting will be July 27, 2023.

12. ADJOURNMENT

The meeting adjourned at 4:06 PM.