In its first action, the new Bismarck Park Board voted to make Paul Quist the next board president and Michael Gilbertson vice president. Quist replaces outgoing board president Mark Zimmerman, who lost by a narrow margin in last week's election.

The action came as the last part of what was essentially a three-part park board meeting Thursday night. The first was regular business by the outgoing park board, the second was a swearing-in ceremony for new board members Brian Beattie and Mike O'Brien, and the third was the above action by the new board.

The regular business portion was conducted with Zimmerman and outgoing board member John Sagsveen, who did not stand for re-election.

During that session, the board gave unanimous approval Thursday night for an archeological dig at Chief Looking's Village Site.

Requested by the North Dakota Historical Society, the project will take place between Aug. 8 and Aug. 16. It will include geophysical work, mapping and excavation.

Fern Swenson of the Historical Society told board members that the dig is necessary because the last excavation, during the 1930s, did not produce records that are up to today's research standards. This year's dig will also use techniques not available back then including carbon dating, to determine if the village is up to 200 years older than originally thought and geophysical mapping to try to obtain a complete picture of what the village looked like in its time without physically disturbing the site.

Swenson said it will also cover a larger area.

"We now know that the site is much larger, and was occupied much longer than we originally thought," she said.

Long after the original village, the Chief Looking's Village Site was the home to a replica American Indian village put up by New Deal program workers during the time of the last excavation. The replica village burned down during the 1960s.

In a separate item, board commissioners also unanimously approved the design and bidding for a biomass heating system in the soon-to-be built indoor aquatic and wellness center.

Parks and Recreation District Director Steve Neu said the heater is being designed to use woodchips, with natural gas as the backup energy source.

(Reach reporter Jonathan Rivoli at 250-8264 or jonathan.rivoli@bismarcktribune.com.)