Mandan considers changing accessibility ordinance to help businesses during pandemic

Jun. 17--Mandan city commissioners have taken a step toward amending a voter-approved ordinance aimed at improving handicapped accessibility to enable the city to help businesses struggling due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Mandan voters nearly 12 years ago passed an initiated measure that "basically said that if a business received any tax incentives or money from the city, they were required to put in an electric door," said Susan Beehler, a co-organizer of the measure.

It was aimed at increasing accessibility for people with disabilities and providing some accountability for using public money, Beehler said. It passed with about 60% approval.

City commissioners on Tuesday heard a request to amend that measure. It seeks to exempt businesses that receive less than $5,000 in public funds from the requirement to install an electric door.

It costs about $2,000 to install an electric door on a building.

That cost has turned away some business owners who wanted to apply for existing business development grants over the years, according to Ellen Huber, city business development manager.

A retail incentive program aimed at expanding business development in the city has seen few applicants over the years, she said, in part because the amount of money a business could have received was less than the cost to install the electric door.

Informal discussions have taken place between city officials about how they can best help businesses that have seen reduced revenues due to COVID-19.

One proposal involves creating a relief fund that could provide small amounts of funding, "perhaps no more than $3,000 or $5,000" to help businesses "become more innovative and resilient in the face of crisis," according to a memo prepared by Huber for city commissioners.

The electric door ordinance has become viewed as an obstacle for the city to be able to provide struggling businesses with smaller amounts of financial assistance during the pandemic.

Beehler said she's "not necessarily" opposed to the amended ordinance but wants to see more accountability for businesses' use of public funds. She also said the public needs to have a voice in the process.

"Where I'm sounding the alarm is that we voted for this in 2008. COVID shouldn't be the thing to instigate the change. If they truly want to change how they do this, either put it back for a vote of the people or have a time where people can give more input," Beehler said.

City commissioners approved the first reading of the ordinance by a 4-1 vote at their meeting Tuesday. It will come back before the commission on July 7 for a second reading.

Amber Larson, who cast the lone dissenting vote, said she was concerned about waiving a requirement before seeing what a potential COVID-19 assistance plan will look like.

"It feels a heavy step to change our ordinance without those other pieces in place," Larson said.

Mayor Tim Helbling said that electric door requirement has been a success for the city, despite how much he "hated going through the process back in 2008" to implement the measure.

"I would actually like to see us enhance the program," Helbling said.

Fifty electric doors have been installed at Mandan businesses since the measure's passage, Huber said.

Reach Bilal Suleiman at 701-250-8261 or Bilal.Suleiman@bismarcktribune.com

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