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N.D. (NewsDakota.com) – The Jamestown City Council met for their regularly scheduled monthly meeting on August 4th at the Jamestown City Hall.

Items on the consent agenda included the 2nd Annual Zombie Crawl in September, Re-Affirming pledges to Unison Bank and Wells Fargo Bank, and the JSDC Strategic Plan. All items on the agenda were approved. Council member Dan Buchanan moved to remove two items from the consent agenda to give them proper recognition. They included adopting a resolution to recognize and give condolence for both Randy Sarbaum and Deputy Fire Chief Gerald “Jerry” Kainz. Both men passed away this year.

A public hearing was held concerning the building of a new Fairfield Inn., by Marriott in Southwest Jamestown with construction to begin shortly. Paces Lodging Developer Darren Trudeau stated that the new hotel was looking to gain a five year, 100 percent property tax relief. Trudeau stated that the new hotel wouldn’t just benefit the city, but would bring in a whole different clientele to the community.

City Administrator Jeff Fuchs mentioned that both the Quality Inn and Gladstone Inn stated their disapproval of the tax relief. The City Council approved to table toe request pending negotiations between the hotel and the city with the percentage of the property tax to be debated.

Other business for the council included allowing the placement of a life size firefighter statue at the Main Fire Station in the City. Fire Chief Jim Ruether stated that the statue would be paid for by the Fire Department with no financial assistance from the city. Ruether also stated that a plaque would be put on the statue to dedicate it to the department.

The motion was made unanimously and the date of the dedication will be announced later in the year.

Before the meeting adjourned, Council Member Dan Buchanan brought up a new proposal concerning the city fireworks ordinance. The new proposal included fireworks sales and detonation to start July 1st and go through the 5th, with July 4th fireworks going off until 1 AM on the 5th of July. Mayor Andersen stated that she did not want to move forward with the proposal, as city residents that may want to add input were not immediately available and uninformed that the topic was going to be discussed.

Council Member Ramone Gumke stated that he believed the item should be put on the November 4th ballot for the city residence to decide. The Council denied the proposed amendment to the City Ordinance, but later voted unanimously to place it on an August 19th Special City Council meeting for further discussion. It will then be decided if it should be placed on the November ballot.