Kindergarten Registration begins February 4th
MOORHEAD – Kindergarten registration for Moorhead Area Public Schools for the 2020-21 school year begins at 8 a.m. Feb. 4 at www.moorheadschools.org/enroll. Children must be five years old on or before Sept. 1, 2020.
Enrollment requires proof of age (birth certificate or document indicating child’s full legal name and birthdate), proof of district residency, immunization records and the home language survey. The necessary documents can be uploaded during the online pre-enrollment process or they must be brought to the enrollment office at Probstfield Center for Education, 2410 14th St. S.
Additional information about completing the online pre-enrollment process is included in the kindergarten registration packet that was mailed Jan. 17 or in the kindergarten registration section at www.moorheadschools.org/enroll. For more information about kindergarten registration or to request a packet contact the district office at 218-284-3371 or email enroll@moorheadschools.org.
2019 Clay County Recycler of the Year Awarded to Dr. Ken Foster
MOORHEAD – Dr. Ken Foster is a Professor of Political Science and the Program Director of Global Studies at Concordia College. He connects his students with environmental issues in meaningful ways. Previous students have worked with Clay County Staff helping address current recycling challenges in Clay County. Dr. Foster ensures that his students have practical experiences studying solutions for challenging societal issues.
Dr. Foster serves as the chair of Concordia’s President’s Sustainability Council. The council works with the Concordia community on projects to integrate learning about sustainability into daily life, within the college curriculum and beyond.
Dr. Foster also serves as the project manager for the Bush Resiliency Grant awarded to Concordia College. This grant is taking steps to ensure Moorhead remains a resilient city in the face of potential climate change. As project manager Dr. Foster provides leadership and direction for resiliency projects.
M State, American Crystal named finalists for national Outstanding Partnership award
MOORHEAD – Minnesota State Community and Technical College is one of five finalists for the 2020 Outstanding College/Corporate Partnership Award of Excellence from the American Association of Community Colleges.
M State was chosen for its longstanding partnership with American Crystal Sugar Company, which has worked closely with the college’s Workforce Development Solutions division to meet the company’s training needs.
Since 2013, M State has taught maintenance skills to hundreds of American Crystal production employees at the company’s five plants, training production workers to fill the need for additional maintenance staff during the off-season. The college also has provided training to enhance the skills of American Crystal’s maintenance staff company-wide and safety training for employees.
“M State is honored to be a finalist for this award and to showcase our strong partnership with American Crystal,” said WDS Executive Director G.L. Tucker. “Our partnership has continued to grow and expand as we work together to find innovative solutions to meet American Crystal’s needs.”
“The partnership we have fostered with M State is extremely valuable for American Crystal Sugar Company,” said Lisa Borgen, the company’s vice president of administration. “We work together to develop programs that enhance our team members’ skills, talents and leadership. We are very fortunate to have M State in our community and look forward to continued collaboration for the benefit of both our company and the college.”
AACC’s Outstanding College/Corporate Partnership Award recognizes “local, regional and national collaboration between a college and corporate partner that has achieved demonstrable, multi-year success in advancing the mission of the institution, the economic prosperity of a community, region or the nation, and the learning excellence of students.”
“Collaborating with regional business and industry to advance the economic vitality of our Minnesota and North Dakota service area is a key component of M State’s mission,” said M State President Carrie Brimhall. “It’s a huge part of why our college exists.”
The AACC will announce Award of Excellence winners at its annual convention in National Harbor, Md., on March 28-30.
BRRWD reelects current officers to serve 2020 terms
BARNESVILLE – On January 13, the Board of Managers, Buffalo-Red River Watershed District (BRRWD), held their annual meeting in Barnesville. The Board cast a unanimous ballot to reelect the current officers to serve another term in 2020: Jay A. Leitch, President, Clay County; Peter V. Fjestad, Vice President, Otter Tail County; Mark T. Anderson, Treasurer, Clay County; John E. Hanson, Secretary, Becker County.
Vogel Law Firm was appointed as the 2020 BRRWD legal consultant, and Barnesville Midwest Bank was designated as the official 2020 BRRWD depository, subject to the use of any other depositories within the District as needed throughout the year, provided they are FDIC insured. BRRWD Lobbyist Joel Carlson’s existing two-year contract expires at the end of 2020. The BRRWD published Requests for Proposals for all services in area newspapers. Two engineering companies responded: Moore Engineering, Inc. and Houston Engineering, Inc. (HEI). Both proposals were forwarded to the Managers prior to the meeting for review. The Board appointed HEI as the BRRWD’s engineering consultant for a two-year contract (2020-2022), including the current Barnesville administrative office staff: Bruce Albright (Administrator), Kathy Fenger (Assistant Administrator), Julie Jerger (Senior Administrative Assistant), and RaeAnn Berg (Administrative Assistant).
The Board heard from two landowners associated with Project No. 80, Stony Creek Water Resources Management Plan, regarding the status of the project and the easement option acquisitions. Both felt that the project has been delayed long enough by studies for nearly 5 years, and they asked the Board to make a decision to either move forward with the project development or drop it. After an extended discussion regarding the various design alternatives and concerns about the project’s benefit/cost ratio, the Board approved a motion on a 5 to 2 vote to move forward with the development of the Alternative 1 project design, to work with the landowners to complete the easement option acquisitions, and to start the funding search.
A landowner expressed concerns about the 12/11/19 Minnesota-Clay County Joint Powers Agreement informational meeting pertaining to the Fargo-Moorhead (FM) Diversion. There was a miscommunication regarding who was invited to the meeting and what topics would be discussed. BRRWD President Jay Leitch explained that there are two separate groups of landowners with different issues. The recent meeting was held for those landowners affected by the environmental/biometric monitoring right-of-entry easement. The landowners involved with the soil boring right-of-entry eminent domain issue also attended the meeting expecting their issue to be discussed but were disappointed when their concerns were not addressed.
Fargo Residents Encouraged to Consider Purchasing Flood Insurance
FARGO – The City of Fargo is actively monitoring forecasts and conditions in anticipation of a potential 2020 spring flooding event. The first Spring Flood Outlook recently issued by the National Weather Service (NWS) serves as a good reminder for residents to utilize the City’s interactive flood stage map at http://www.FargoND.gov/floodmap to determine potential property impacts at various river stages.
As always, residents are encouraged to consider purchasing flood insurance and to be aware of the 30-day delay until the policy goes into effect after the purchase date. The North Dakota State Water Commission and Department of Emergency Services will be in Fargo on Monday, January 27 at 5:30 p.m. in the Oak Room at Fargo Cass Public Health (1240 25th Street South) to discuss spring awareness and answer questions related to flood insurance.
The City of Fargo and Cass County will be jointly collaborating this year in the event sandbagging operations become necessary. The City of Fargo’s administration, department heads, engineers and emergency managers are regularly meeting to plan for various contingencies to ensure Fargo is well-prepared to protect its citizens, infrastructure and community.