In case you missed it in The Sun the week of Nov. 6, 2023
Nov. 11—The following stories from this week appeared on
and in The Jamestown Sun.
The Jamestown City Council in a 4-1 vote approved a request from the Jamestown/Stutsman Development Corp. for
a $1 million Bison World Inc. investment
.
Mayor Dwaine Heinrich and Councilmen David Steele, Brian Kamlitz and David Schloegel approved the request while Councilman Dan Buchanan was opposed at the City Council meeting on Monday, Nov. 6.
The Stutsman County Commission also approved the JSDC's request on Tuesday, Nov. 7.
The city of Jamestown's share will be $800,000 while Stutsman County's share would be $200,000.
On Monday, the governor's office and North Department of Commerce announced that Bison World will be receiving $3 million through the department's Destination Development Grant Program.
The $1 million will be disbursed in three installments of $250,000, $250,000 and $500,000 as matching dollars for a grant through the Destination Development Grant Program.
The James River Correctional Center has been providing resources to give inmates the skills needed
to join the workforce
once they are released.
JRCC Warden Chad Pringle said giving inmates the knowledge on how to keep a stable job makes a difference for them after they are released from the facility. If they don't have a job, they could easily fall back into their old unhealthy habits, he said.
The JRCC helps inmates get a GED if they don't have a high school diploma. To work any jobs in the correctional center, inmates need to have a GED or high school diploma.
Having the GED or high school diploma and compliant behavior opens up other opportunities for inmates to get jobs within Roughrider Industries, a self-funded industry for the North Dakota Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
"We actually have a sewing industry here, upholstery, garbage bags and the commissary or canteen," said Melissia Kleven, manager of Roughrider Industries, adding that parks, coveralls and underwear are also made at JRCC. "We teach them warehousing, computer skills. We kind of have a CAD (computer-aided design) program for fabric. It makes patterns and things like that so we're trying to bring some technical with it but most of it is just the soft skills of getting up, coming to work, reporting to work. RoughRider is self funded, so fortunately we still have to produce goods to get to the community or the customers."
The James River Correctional Center and Job Service North Dakota are also teaming up to implement programs that help inmates join the workforce.
Library board discusses Stutsman County's fair share to provide library services
Mayor Dwaine Heinrich asked the Stutsman County Commission on Tuesday, Nov. 7, if it would consider discussing a contract for joint library services for the city of Jamestown to operate the library for the city and county.
Heinrich told the commission that there could be a set mill rate for Stutsman County that would go to the city of Jamestown to provide joint library services. He also suggested the formation of a committee that consists of people within the community who are not directly involved with the James River Valley Library System and its board of directors.
The county commission took no action on any of Heinrich's suggestions.
Jamestown City Councilman David Schloegel told the library board on Wednesday, Nov. 8, that the
amount of funding provided by the city of Jamestown and Stutsman County for joint library services
should be determined by the population of each entity.
Stutsman County's financial share for joint library services has decreased since 2015, the first year there was a combination of funding between the county and the city of Jamestown, said Schloegel, an appointed nonvoting member of the James River Valley Library System Board of Directors.
His data showed the percentage of Stutsman County residents living in Jamestown was about 73% in 2022. He said he used U.S. Census Bureau data to find the population for 2022.
According to the population of the city compared to the county, he said Stutsman County's fair share should be 3.5 mills.
For 2024, that would mean the city would provide over $845,500 while the county's share would be almost $310,000.
For 2024, the James River Valley Library System is set to receive more than $845,200 from the city, or 15 mills, and over $173,500 from the county, or 1.92 mills.
