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Building North Dakota
State Director Jasper Schneider
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Greetings!
September 30th recently marked the end of our fiscal year and my three-year anniversary as State Director. During my time here, our staff at USDA has worked hard on many areas and I have put a strong emphasis on: 1. Building out the infrastructure in our communities to provide the capacity for future growth and; 2. growing partnerships that bring diverse groups together to shape a better North Dakota.
This past month we celebrated the grand openings of two very important projects in their respective parts of the state. Trinity Health opened a state-of-the-art clinic in Williston to help meet the growing demand for health care services. The second big project was the South Central Regional Water District providing quality, safe drinking water to three counties in the south-central part of the state. These investments have not only created jobs during the construction phase but, more importantly, have laid the framework for long-term economic growth by providing essential community services. Both projects were funded through the Recovery Act which provided the needed capital to move them forward.
Our team has also continued to build strong partnerships in the state. With shared challenges and generally less resources, the need to partner and strategize has never been more important. We have been proud to partner in strategic planning initiatives like North Dakota 2.0 and Vision West, in addition to issues such as housing, child care and economic development.
These are just a few examples of projects and issues that we've been proud to partner on over the last few years. I'm thankful for all that we've done together and look forward to the work left to do. Thank you for partnering with us.
- Jasper Schneider |
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TRINITY HEALTH OPENS CLINIC IN WILLISTON
Trinity Health had a grand opening ceremony for its new Williston clinic, Trinity Health-Western Dakota. The three-story, 60,000 square foot facility replaces two existing clinics in the area - Trinity Community Clinic - Western Dakota and Trinity Regional Eyecare - Western Dakota. Also housed in the facility are a retail vision center, outpatient surgery and, in the near future, an occupational medicine center.
Through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, USDA Rural Development financed a $5.5 million loan for the $10.5 million clinic. The service area for Trinity Health - Western Dakota includes a six-county region with a population of over 52,000 people. It is located at 16th Avenue West and 13th Street West in Williston. | |
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EMMONS COUNTY
New Water Treatment Plant
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Jasper spoke at the grand opening ceremony for the new Emmons County Water Treatment plant. |
For over ten years, the South Central Water Regional District worked to bring a water treatment facility to south central North Dakota as folks relied on individual wells. Recently there was a celebration as a new 2.5 million gallon per day water treatment plant was finished in Emmons County. This is just part of a four phase project that will bring reliable water service to residents in Emmons, Logan and McIntosh counties, State Line Water Cooperative and connect 600 new rural users when completed.
USDA Rural Development provided $7.3 million in loans to complete phase I and II of the $29 million project. The financing was used to build the tube intake alone the Missouri River into Lake Oahe, construct the water treatment plant, build a 500,00-gallon and 200,000-gallon storage reservoir, lay 295 miles of transmission line, build two booster stations, and the install meters and telemetry equipment.
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BISMARCK
Senior advisor to Secretary Vilsack visits North Dakota
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Janie Hipp talking with Standing Rock Sioux Tribal Chairman Charles Murphy. |
Janie Hipp, Senior Advisor to the Secretary of Agriculture on Tribal relations, visited the midwest recently. During this time she participated in several meetings and events including the Tribal Leaders Summit and the Secretarial Commission on Indian Trust Administration and Reform meeting.
Janie also announced that the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe was selected to receive a $1 million USDA Rural Development grant to improve a wastewater treatment system. Click here to read more about her visit. | |
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ANNOUNCEMENTS
USDA Supports business growth in south central North Dakota
The South Central Dakota Regional Council was awarded a $151,000 loan through the Intermediary Relending Program. The council will re-lend these funds with low-interest loans to promote business and community development. Read more.
Notice to Hispanic and/or women farmers and ranchers
If you believe USDA improperly denied you loan benefits, you may be eligible to apply for compensation. Learn more. | |
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PROGRAM UPDATES
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Home Loan Processing: In an effort to increase efficiencies in delivering USDA Rural Development programs, the Single Family Housing Guaranteed Loan program has standardize the application review and approval process. Effective Thursday, November 1, 2012, all single family housing guaranteed applications should be submitted to the following email address: GRH@ND.USDA.GOV.
By establishing this central intake location, our office will improve and prevent disparities in processing times. It will remain our goal to process complete, electronically submitted applications within two business days. You may still submit applications by mail or fax, but this will cause delays in processing. If you have any questions, please call Sandy at(701)250-4367 ext. 109. |
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USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer. To file a complaint of discrimination, write: USDA, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights, Office of Adjudication, 1400 Independence Ave., SW, Washington, DC 20250-9410 or call (866) 632-9992 (Toll-free Customer Service), (800) 877-8339 (Local or Federal relay), (866) 377-8642 (Relay voice users). |
Copyright © 2011 USDA Rural Development. All Rights Reserved.
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