The Vision West ND Consortium met last week, Thursday, March 6 in Williston to put the finishing touches on the Vision West ND Regional Plan. Over two years in the making, the Regional Plan is designed to provide an outline of the issues being dealt with in western North Dakota and detail strategic and actionable ways in which those issues should be addressed. The Regional Plan, enhanced through hard data and community-driven perspectives, will give those responsible for carrying out its action steps guidance on how to proceed with resolving issues like affordable housing shortages, lack of child care providers, proper emergency medical service coverage, and adequate infrastructure funding.   

Vision West ND Chairman Daryl Dukart, pictured standing second from left, begins discussion on the addition of a local public health district section to the Vision West ND Regional Plan.

In review of the Regional Plan, the Consortium added a section dealing with local public health districts. The added section recommends increasing state aid for disease outbreak prevention, funding a public education and service campaign, and establishing a statewide septic code. It also recommends that funds dedicated specifically to local public health districts be allocated to counties to be distributed to those public health districts.

Much of Lake Sakakawea is located within the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation. As such, it separates the five tribal segments that make up the reservation. A ferry system, the feasibility of which is now being studied, would connect the southern Twin Buttes Segment to the White Shield Segment, linking the ends of Highway 8 that were flooded by the Garrison Dam project. Reconnecting that link could increase the public's ability to traverse Lake Sakakawea for recreation, commercial, or business travel.

In addition to approving changes to Regional Plan sections that were recommended by section subcommittees at the February 6 Consortium meeting in Minot, the Consortium approved an application for $5,000 from the Consortium's Solutions Fund to be used toward a Marine Highway Study. The project will do a preliminary study on the feasibility with associated costs and usage of a ferry system crossing Lake Sakakawea. This proposed marine highway system would follow the path of ND Highway 8 as it was prior to the flooding of the lake at Highway 8 Bay (north of Twin Buttes, ND) to Elbow Woods Bay (south of Parshall, ND). Study experts for the project are Lunenburg Shipyards, Lunenburg, Nova Scotia and Ulteig Engineering in ND. Lunenburg Shipyards is an experienced company with engineering expertise in ferry refitting and placement. Such a ferry system should decrease car and small truck traffic along the overburdened highways in oil country. A ferry system could also increase tourism and support recreational opportunities in the area. Finally, having a better connection between the north and south shores of Lake Sakakawea would increase the connectivity of the tribal segments within the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara Nation. For more information on the ferry service study, check out this story by Forum News Service's Amy Dalrymple. Bismarck Tribune reporter Lauren Donovan featured a similar story on ferry systems crossing Lake Sakakawea. Her story is available here. 

Karalea Cox, planning facilitator for the Vision West ND project, thanked the Consortium and everyone who has been involved throughout the Vision West ND planning process. She commended the dedication of those individuals who had committed themselves to the project. Now that the Regional Plan has been approved by the Consortium, the task will be to market the Regional Plan to other key stakeholders. The Vision West ND Administrative Team will be meeting to develop a marketing strategy in the near future, with the objective of "selling" the Regional Plan to legislators, state government agencies/departments, non-profit organizations like the League of Cities, the NDACo, and the ND Petroleum Council, and the nineteen county commissions within the project area.

The Regional Plan, when edited to include the changes approved by the Consortium, will be released in late March. A future Vision West ND Consortium date has tentatively been set for April 24 in Mountrail County, though a specific time and location has not yet been determined.

Upcoming Events:

One-Stop Shop Provider Portal

North Dakota has experienced tremendous growth over the past few years, largely due to the energy boom. Though we've seen the economic benefits, we've also experienced an increased strain on our resources. One particular resource we'd like to address in the upcoming meetings is the availability of child care in our communities.

The Vision West ND Consortium has engaged The Strom Center to develop a solution to accessing the broad resources that are currently available to assist potential and existing child care providers. In the upcoming meetings, we will review a proposed website template, which can act as a one-stop portal for individuals looking to provide child care services. We will also review the types of printed outreach materials being developed. By providing these resources with easy to understand instructions, our hope is to streamline the application process and increase the number of providers in the 19 oil and gas producing counties.

Our goal is to have your input to the materials that we have developed. We hope that the resources we present at the upcoming meeting will support your local efforts and provide you with valuable tools as you work with potential or existing child care providers in your community.

Choose a Session

March 31 at 11 am - 2 pm MT

The Strom Center

Training Room

1679 6th Ave W

Dickinson, ND 58601

Friday, April 4 at 11 am - 2 pm CT

Minot State University

Westlie Room

500 University Ave W

Minot, ND 58701

Monday, April 7 at 11 am - 2 pm CT

Bear Paw Lodge

13589 57th street NW

Williston, ND 58801

Please RSVP, as lunch will be provided and an accurate count will be needed. Mileage will be reimbursed. Reimbursement forms will be available at the meeting.

RSVP

Renee Townsend

Dickinson SBDC

(701) 483-2470

renee.townsend@dickinsonstate.edu

Regional Shale Projection Update Webinars

These webinars, broken up by hub city region, will take place April 8-10 at 2:00pm MDT (3:00pm CDT). Updates will be shared by Dr. Dick Gardner, Center for Rural Entrepreneurship, on regional population, workforce, and housing projections. The sessions will be presented in webinar format, and each session will be recorded for later viewing at www.VisionWestND.com or www.ndwebinars.com. To participate in the webinars, visit http://energizingentrepreneurs.adobeconnect.com/vision-west/, enter as a "Guest", type in your name, and click "Enter Room".