MFDA Board Meeting – February 26, 2026

See full minutes.

A regular meeting of the Metro Flood Diversion Authority Board of Authority was held on February 26, 2026. The following members were present: Bernie Dardis, Mayor, City of West Fargo; Dr. Tim Mahoney, Mayor, City of Fargo; Chuck Hendrickson, Moorhead City Council; David Ebinger, Clay County Commissioner; Rick Steen, Cass County Joint Water Resource District; Dave Piepkorn, Fargo City Commissioner; Lisa Borgen, Moorhead City Council; Denise Kolpack, Fargo City Commissioner; Jim Kapitan, Cass County Commissioner; Duane Breitling, Cass County Commissioner and Kevin Campbell, Clay County Commissioner.

Member(s) absent: Tony Grindberg, Cass County Commissioner and Shelly Carlson, Mayor, City of Moorhead.

 

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 THE MINUTES FROM THE JANUARY 2026, MFDA BOARD OF AUTHORITY MEETING

MOTION PASSED

Ms. Kolpack moved to approve the minutes from the January 2026, meeting and Mr. Campbell seconded the motion. On a voice vote, the motion carried.

 

3. APPROVE THE ORDER OF THE AGENDA

MOTION PASSED

Mr. Steen moved to approve the order of the agenda as presented and Mr. Breitling seconded the motion. On a voice vote, the motion carried.

 

4. APPROVE THE CONSENT AGENDA

MOTION PASSED

Mr. Steen moved to approve the consent agenda as presented and Ms. Borgen seconded the motion. On a roll call vote, the motion carried.

 

5. EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR UPDATE 

Mr. Benson reported that Mr. Nicholson, Mr. Shockley, Mayor Mahoney and himself made a visit to Washington, D.C., and had productive visits with Senator Hoeven and Representative Fedorchek as well as Senator Smith’s, Senator Klobuchar’s and Senator Cramer’s staff members.

They met with Assistant Secretary of the Army, Adam R. Telle, regarding the “Building Infrastructure, Not Paperwork” initiative. The goal of the initiative is to shorten permitting timelines and reduce or eliminate extraneous regulations and paperwork that slows USACE’s project and delivery programs.

They also had the opportunity to meet with Ryan A. Fisher, acting director of Civil Works, to discuss how Section 408 permitting and paperwork requirements could be minimized.

 

6. GENERAL COUNSEL UPDATE

Mr. Shockley reported that the first WIFIA draw was submitted on March 1, and the MFDA should receive payment on or about March 15^th. The total loan value is $569,000,000 and $47,500,000 was submitted for the first draw.

 

7. 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 99% complete. Completion date is 28 Oct 2025. Final inspections upcoming. Turnover to Sponsors for OMRRR delayed into 2026.

2 Wild Rice River Structure (WRRS) – Construction

Structure includes 2-40 ft. wide Tainter gates. Construction is 99% complete. Completion date is 28 November 2025. Final inspections upcoming. Turnover to Sponsors for OMRRR delayed into 2026.

3 Red River Structure (RRS) – Construction

Structure includes 3-50 ft. wide Tainter gates. Construction is 95% complete. Construction completion date is 30 April 2026. Embankment construction will resume in Spring 2026 and Red Zone meetings are being scheduled to prepare for construction completion.

4 Southern Embankment – Reach SE-2A – Construction

Construction is 76% complete but continues to be behind schedule. Scheduled completion date of 13

October 2024 was not met. Revised schedule and completion date pending.

5 Drain 27 Wetland Mitigation Project Plantings – Construction

Native plantings 5-year contract for wetland establishment. Completion date is 2 December 2027. Contractor replanted areas disturbed by adjacent producers.

6 FY2024 Contract Awards – Construction

OHB Ring Levee: 98% complete. Construction acceptance occurred on 4 December 2025.

Turnover to Sponsors for O&M occurred on 29 December 2025.

Reach SE-1B: 79% complete. CR16/17 area fully opened. Contract completion date will be

extended into July 2026.

Reach SE-2B: 90% complete. TRM and turf establishment remain. CR16 crossing complete. Contract

completion date is 23 October 2026.

Forest Mitigation #1: Planting/maintenance ongoing. Contract completion date is 31 Dec 2028.

Reach SE-4: 34% complete. Contract completion date is 15 October 2026.

7 FY2025 Contract Awards – Construction

SE-3: 40% complete. Contract completion date is 11 September 2026.

SE-5: 37% complete. 180th Ave S. is closed at the creek location through winter. Contract

completion date is 8 September 2026.

Forest Mitigation #2: Planting/maintenance ongoing. Contract completion date is 31 Dec 2029.

8 FY2026 Contract Awards – Pending

Forest Mitigation #3: Bids received 29 January. Service contract award anticipated late-February

2026. Completion date will be December 2028.

9 I-29 Raise – Operations and Maintenance (OMRRR)

Turnover to MFDA occurred on 20 December and preparation of O&M documents is ongoing.

10 Drayton Dam Mitigation Project Design – Operations and Maintenance (OMRRR)

Turnover to MFDA for O&M occurred on 28 Nov 2023. OMRRR manual coordination continues.

 

b. SWDCAI Project Update

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

Progress Map Updates

• Rush River Inlet
• CR-22 Crossing
• CR-10 Crossing

30- to 60-Day Outlook

• BNSF KO
• Maple River Aqueduct

Misc. Updates

• Channel Excavation

 

c. Project Safety Update

Mr. Bakkegard provided the safety update for the period January 1 to January 31, 2026. He reported that it was a good month with three recordable events that required minor first aid treatment and there were no other incidents to report.

 

d. P3 Monthly Update

Mr. Bakkegard highlighted the payments made to the developer in the February P3 monthly update.

Summary of all Payments made to the Developer through January 2026

Series A Advance Payment Invoices                    $78,105,148.40

Series A & B Interim Completions                        $63,658,546.00

SoP Section 22 Payments                                      $20,000,000, upon execution of the SoP

ACRs                                                                          $7,606,760.06

DCRs                                                                         $3,712,553.80

DRB Members (50% share)                                   $141,699.98, includes Polsinelli PC cost share

                           Grand Total                                  $173,224,708.24

 

Pay Units Currently in Series A – Additional Milestone Advance Payments

Diversion Channel Reach 1                                   $29,781,551.00

38th Street W Crossing & improvements              $5,205,660.00

CR 22 Crossing                                                        $4,789,423.00

Removal of the BNSF Hillsboro

Subdivision Line Crossing Shoofly              $1,358,017.60

Removal of the BNSF Prosper

Subdivision Line Crossing Shoofly              $1,020,732.00

Diversion Outlet                                                      $5,875,866.40

Diversion Channel Reach 5                                   $30,073,898.40

Total                                              $78,105,148.40

 

The tables can be viewed in their entirety on the website at www.fmdiversion.gov.

Please reach out to Mr. Barthel if you have any questions.

 

e. Monthly Drone Video

A video highlighting the progress that has been achieved in February 2026 was viewed.

 

8. COMMUNICATIONS TEAM UPDATE

Ms. Wieser Willson provided the following communications update:

PR/Media Relations:

• January construction update
• CR22 bridge opening
• Controlled burn
• KFGO on March 5

Newsletter:

• Technology focus
• 6% open rate
• 11% click rate
• Next issue: Engineering

Outreach/Legislative:

February D.C. trip 

 

9. LAND MANAGEMENT UPDATE

a. Property Acquisition Status Report

Mr. Fisher provided the following property acquisition status report:

Key Activities:

• Continued negotiating settlement agreements for existing eminent domain actions
  • Completed three (3) eminent domain trials in Cass County
  • Completed site inspections of Minnesota properties
  • Completed initial discovery hearing for the actions in Minnesota
  • Negotiated many settlements since completing the first trial
  • 9 pending settlement offers with property owners
• In the last month, successfully closed 5 parcels / 3 owners in the UMA
• Closings are pending for:
  • MN: 7 parcels / 2 owners
  • ND: 14 parcels / 8 owners
• 20,915 acres of flowage easements have been acquired, and 6,175 acres are outstanding
• The lands program team is continuing efforts to develop the MFDA’s post operation debris clean-up and restoration programs and crops loss programs
• All Farmland Leases for 2026 have been setup with Pifer’s Land Management

Property Acquisition Progress:

• 4% completion in the Construction Footprint
• 62% completion in the UMA Footprint
• 3% of the parcels in the Southern Embankment have been acquired
• 62% of the parcels in the Upstream Mitigation Area have been acquired
• 79.3% of the Environmental Easements have been signed
• 0% completed: Stormwater Diversion Channel; Oxbow-Hickson-Bakke levee; in-town levees and the Drayton Dam mitigation 

 

10. FINANCE UPDATE

a. Finance Meeting Update

Mayor Dardis reported that the bills payable through February 17, 2026, in the amount of $1,241,170, were approved and the current net cash position is $222,683,405. Mayor Dardis also reported that Mr. Barthel provided an update on the WIFIA draws and recommended that they be monitored in the P3 finance report. Mayor Dardis reported that $4,347,000, in sales tax revenue was received from the City of Fargo and $2,272,000, was received from Cass County November 30, 2025.

MOTION PASSED

Mr. Piepkorn moved to approve the finance report as presented and Ms. Kolpack seconded the motion. On a voice vote, the motion carried.

 

11. OTHER BUSINESS

There was no other business to report.

 

12. PUBLIC COMMENT

There were no public comments.

 

13. NEXT MEETING

The next meeting will be on March 26, 2026.

 

14. ADJOURNMENT

The meeting adjourned at 3:55 PM