President's Point: July 2018

The annual Life Savers in the Park event, the beginning of school and also the start of harvest are all things we associate with August here in the New Rockford and Sheyenne community. First we have the Life Savers in the Park event on August 9, which is sponsored by the Community Ambulance Service of New Rockford.

School starts on August 21, bringing the appearance of young children around the school. They may be walking safely to and from school or be darting between cars and busses. Please drive with care and diligence when near the school.

Work in the field is common in the fall, which means slow moving machinery and wide loads on the roadways. Please drive carefully when near machinery and ensure you have enough distance before passing. Many drivers have had mishaps because of the low hills in North Dakota can hide a small oncoming vehicle from the view of a passing driver.

I would like to mention the deep gratitude I and my fellow City Commissioners have towards our little community for the immense cleanup efforts after the July 8. Job well done by all! Special thanks to the New Rockford Volunteer Fire Department personnel who made the initial survey on that Sunday morning by going street by street and from home to home to ensure all were safe. Also included is the volunteer ambulance department who assisted with the delivery of donated water and assorted snacks to families without power and to the teams of workers outside in the heat doing the cleanup.

I want to mention our Public Works Department employees, who worked long hours and assisted numerous citizens by removing large trees from the roadways. Here is a neat detail, as of 9 p.m. on Sunday, July 8, the avenues and streets of New Rockford were passable to at least one lane of traffic. By 6 a.m. the following Monday all of our alleyways were traversable. By 6 p.m. that same day, all roadways were clear for two-way traffic.

I also want to throw a shout out to all the Otter Tail crews, the families that came to pitch in, and the individual volunteer who just wanted to help his or her neighbor. There is still work to be done, so please contact the Cemetery Auxiliary, the Golf Course Board or the New Rockford Park Board to see if they could use your help. I want to thank these individual boards for their efforts at cleaning up the areas they have accepted responsibility for. I have tried not to use names as I may list one and accidently omit another and I don’t want to anger or hurt anyone. Thanks to all who participated in the smallest way, to those who had the largest machines and cleaned out those stubborn stumps. I am very proud of how this small community handled itself.

In a final point, Eddy County Emergency Manager Jess Earle is requesting that residents contact George Ritzke at City Hall (701) 947- 2461 to report the cost of damage to your home and the volunteer time you put in during the cleanup. These numbers will be used to figure in the total cost of damages cause the storm, and the more accurate that number, is the greater chance there down the line to receive grant dollars or financial support for repairs to infrastructure.

Here is an example, the North Dakota Emergency Manager Head Honcho or Honchoette has a book, it states for each labor hour the value is say $20. In this scenario say all the volunteer time recorded shows 10,000 hours worked. Not including individual home damage costs, the total cost of storm damages is now at $200,000. This insignificant detail does affect New Rockford and could help us down the road, so please add up your time you helped in any way during the cleanup.

Please have a safe August and keep an eye out for the children of our community.