Another installment of the Human Relations Committee’s Community Conversations will be held on May 8 from 6 PM to 8 PM in the lower level of the City/County Building (221 North Fifth Street) in the Tom Baker Meeting Room.
This conversation will center on the funding for public transportation that was approved by a citizen vote this past November. That vote, which passed by a 60% approval rate, created an additional half-cent sales tax that was split between public safety like police and fire departments (three-tenths) and public transportation (two-tenths).
There will be two components to the May 8 Community Conversations forum: First a panel of five community members representing a diverse community population will answer a variety of predetermined questions. Second, time will be made available for attendees to ask panelists questions and provide input about their perceptions of barriers and innovative solutions. The five panelists include coordinators from Bismarck Public Schools and the City of Bismarck, as well as consumers of the fixed-route and paratransit services:
- Matthew Aricou, Fixed-Route Rider
- Susan Dingle, Paratransit Rider
- Heather May, City of Bismarck Community Integration Coordinator
- Sherrice Roness, Bismarck Public Schools Transitions Coordinator
- Trevor Vannett, Paratransit Rider
“This Community Conversation forum should be seen as a critical opportunity for the public to share input on this topic,” said Bismarck City Commissioner and Transportation Steering Committee member Michael Connelly. “We are also providing a mechanism for the public to share input leading up to this public forum and so it cannot be stressed enough that we want to hear from anyone who has thoughts on how we can make public transportation for the elderly, disabled and people of low socioeconomic status in our community better, more viable, more accessible, more cost effective and something that will truly be a resource for all our citizens, moving forward.”
You are welcome to share your thoughts through an online submission form. The form asks two questions:
- What challenges do you, or the individual(s) you serve, experience as it relates to accessible transportation in the city?
- What ideas or potential solutions do you have to address these barriers?
This online submission form will be available until 11:59 PM on Sunday, May 11. The submissions will be provided to the Human Relations Committee, the Transportation Steering Committee and the Bismarck City Commission. The Transportation Steering Committee is expected to identify funding priorities by the end of June 2025 and report to the Bismarck City Commission.
Dakota Media Access will be recording the Community Conversation and sharing it via Government Access (Channels 2 and 602 HD, FreeTV.org, ROKU, AppleTV and Fire TV).