05-30-2017 - Laserfiche WebLink

METRO FLOOD DIVERSION AUTHORITY SPECIAL MEETING May 30, 2017 – 3:30 PM Fargo City Commission Room Fargo City Hall 200 3rd Street North A special meeting of the Metro Flood Diversion Authority was held Tuesday, May 30, 2017 at 3:30 PM in the Fargo City Commission Room with the following members present: Fargo City Mayor Tim Mahoney; Fargo City Commissioner Dave Piepkorn; Fargo City Commissioner Tony Grindberg; Cass County Commissioner Mary Scherling; Cass County Commissioner Chad M. Peterson; Cass County Commission representative Darrell Vanyo; Moorhead City Mayor Del Rae Williams; Moorhead City Council Member Chuck Hendrickson; Moorhead City Council Member Joel Paulsen; Clay County Commissioner Kevin Campbell; and Clay County Commissioner Grant Weyland. Absent: Cass County Joint Water Resource District Manager Rodger Olson and West Fargo City Commissioner Mike Thorstad. Others present: Major Gen. Donald E. Jackson Jr., Col. Sam Calkins, Aaron Snyder, Judy DesHarnais, Terry Williams and Jim Bodron, all with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers; and Let Mon Lee, Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works. Mayor Mahoney called the meeting to order and Terry Williams handed out copies of the USACE St. Paul District monthly update. Mayor Mahoney said the meeting would be a discussion about funding and progress. He said the Diversion Authority initially requested $70 million from the federal government for this year’s portion of the Diversion construction; however, the Diversion Authority received only $20 million and a portion of those funds will be used to continue planning and other important work. He said there was another discussion earlier today about the project which included an update on the Public Private Partnership (P3), how it works and where the Diversion Authority wants to see this go in the future. He stated the voters felt very strongly about protecting the community and he is pleased with the partnership and relationship with the Corps. Major Gen. Jackson said his responsibility is civil and emergency operations dealing with water, whether before or after an emergency. He said there are many opportunities as this project moves forward into construction including job creation. He said the P3 is the wave of the future and the Corps is looking to leverage more private capital financing to deliver big infrastructure projects such as the Diversion project. He said the current administration is looking hard right now on how more projects can be done like the Fargo-Moorhead Diversion project. He said he became aware of this project in October 2015 when the Corps started putting together the work plan for FY16. He said the Corps worked hard with the Office of Management and Budget to get money in the 2017 budget; however, that did not happen, yet they got it in the 2016 work plan. He said the Corps will continue to push this project to try to meet the federal funding commitments. He said this is a unique project and the Corps partners with communities on many projects, typically at a standard federal/non-federal 65/35 cost share. He said the Corps has not had a P3 project before and he has never seen a community that has stepped up like the Fargo-Moorhead area to meet the non-federal requirement. He said this is an extremely important project and very significant for the region. He had an opportunity to get in the air today to see just how huge this project is and it was helpful to understand the considerable commitment this region has made such as relocations and real estate acquisitions, and to get this done requires a tremendous amount of work. Col. Calkins said there was some disappointment with the budget that just came out. He said there is no money in the 2018 budget for the project and the FY17 work plan was not more than FY16. He said the Corps is going to advocate for this project, which is a poster child for a community that steps up in a federal process more efficiently than the federal model. He said Commanding