1. Air National Guard fund request

Fargo-Moorhead Air National Guard Support Group c/o Chamber of Commerce of Fargo Moorhead P.O. Box '2443 Fargo, North Dakota 58108-2443 RECEIVED JUl 28 2005 July 27,2005 CASS COUNTY COMMISSION Commission Chair Darrell Vanyo Cass County Commission P.O. Box 2806 Fargo, North Dakota 58108-2806 Dear Commission Chair Vanyo: Thank you for providing funds to support our effort to prevent the North Dakota Air National Guard "Happy Hooligans" from being a closure victim during the current BRAC process. Our efforts were successful with the May announcement that the North Dakota Air Guard would be realigned, not closed. However, further study of the announcement revealed that we would remain open, but not have a flying mission. That action would substantially reduce the size of the Hooligans, and maybe eventually eliminate the unit. An effort has begun to change that decision, and obtain new airplanes to secure the future ofthe Happy Hooligans and their economic impact to our region. As part of that effort our committee made an impressive presentation to the BRAC Commissioners in Grand Forks on June 23. We feel that presentation and our ongoing efforts in Washington will bring new planes to the unit. When we set out to achieve our goal, we felt that a budget of $ 200,000 would carry us through the Mayannouncement. With your help, we raised $ 195,000 and were funded through May of2005. However, after the May announcement, the challenge of finding planes for the future still remains and we need about $ 55,000 to carry through the September conclusion ofBRAC process. Most of these funds will be used to retain our Washington consultants, The Spectrum Group. We need your help to complete this project. North Dakota Governor John Hoeven has committed $ 25,000, Fargo Mayor Bruce Furness has committed $10,000, and the Economic Development Corporation has committed $ 5,000, along with a pledge from the Municipal Airport Authority, to carry out the work we have to do. We would like to request that you contribute 20% of your original investment of $ 10,000, which would be $ 2,000. This will help allow us to complete our objective by the time the BRAC list is finalized in September. Enclosed is a copy of our financial report to date. If you have any question about this, or any thing else regarding BRAC, please call me at Cook Sign Company, 235-5323. fJ:~ qJ~ Dick Walstad, Chair Fargo-Moorhead Air National Guard Support Group SUGGESTED MOTION: Move to approve (or not approve) additional funds in the amount of $2,000 to support the North Dakota Air National Guard "Happy Hooligans" from being on the base closure list, the funds to be paid from the county contingency fund, leaving a balance of $4,500 in the contingency fund.