By Brian L. Gray

The members of the Mandan Tomorrow committee have laid out their plans for improving the community.

Last Monday, the committee held a public meeting to announce its short-term plans for Mandan to an audience of about 40 people at the Mandan Middle School.

The committee, which is broken into four separate groups – leadership, pride and image; economic opportunity and prosperity; quality places and destinations; and education and workforce – came up with its plans based on feedback from community members, and are now about to begin implementing those plans.

After a brief introduction, the committee broke into its four separate subcommittees and addressed concerns and questions from those who attended.

“Each committee has worked diligently to determine the action items that are achievable in 2010,” said Bismarck-Mandan Chamber of Commerce President Kelvin Hullet. “From developing future leaders and assisting entrepreneurs to adding another major event and exploring educational grants, next year’s priorities are going to prove very productive… This plan is structured in accountability, and that comes back to the elected officials. If we don’t implement it, then it’s just a plan.”

The plan maps out the upcoming 12 months for Mandan, and looks to enhance economic development, education and recreational opportunities to improve the city.

The quality, places and destinations subcommittee plans to add two major events in Mandan each year, in addition to enhancing the farmer’s market. It also plans to bring in more tournaments, and continue the conversation about the possibility in building an events center.

The events center appeared to be a top concern in helping to bring new events into the community, with the upcoming unavailability of the Community Center, which will be taken over by the school district in July.

“The timing is throwing things out of synch. How do we keep the events we already have, in addition to the new events? What do we replace the Community Center with?” asked Mandan resident Dan Ulmer.

Park board member Terry Kraft pointed out that creating an events center would require taxpayer dollars, akin to the Bismarck Civic Center, which was built in the ’60s and is still subsidized by taxpayers. “It would be good if we could create something self-supportive, something that could possibly be subsidized by private dollars. But if that wasn’t possible, the real question is, would the taxpayer be okay with that?” he said.

Kraft said in line with the committee’s short-term plans, the city, park and school boards should sit down and talk about this issue, to see if the entities would be willing to help out and offer their facilities during this time.

In education and workforce, plans are in place to create a school foundation. It also looks to provide advanced opportunities for students, including reaching out to businesses to give students hands-on experience.

The quality places and destinations committee intends to secure new businesses into Mandan, survey existing businesses to identify its needs and continue to promote business incentives.

It also plans to form an investment group to help bring in new businesses. Richard Mower said the committee wants to grow its ag base economy. Talks have also begun on possibly creating a co-op in the Iverson Building, in addition to a hardware store.

Mower said it wasn’t difficult to find parties interested in a hardware store, because the needs were specifically addressed, which is something the committee plans to do in the future. “All we had to do was have the investors look at the numbers – we have 17,000 people, no hardware store, and the numbers speak for themselves.”

Subcommittee Chair Jay Feil said economic progress is already visible in the business sector. “We went from people saying we were turning into a parking lot during the remediation, to now, where we’re doing a parking study,” he said.

With leadership, pride and image, the subcommittee plans to bolster the “Where the West Begins” slogan with complementary marketing themes. It will also work with real estate agents to promote Mandan’s strengths and explore a Fall Clean Up Week.

The Mandan Tomorrow committee will meet again on Wednesday, March 31, for a progress update. It will continue to meet at least every three months, and the public is invited to attend any of the meetings.

The project began early last year and included community polls, surveys and focus groups to determine the direction residents want their city to take. You can read the strategic plan online at mandanvisionplan.com.