3:43 p.m. - Members of the Mandan City Commission are questioning the Bismarck-Mandan Development Association's commitment to development of the community's commercial opportunities.

Commissioner Tim Helbling has been particularly concerned on whether the city is getting a return on its annual contribution to the BMDA. At Tuesday's commission meeting, BMDA Director Russ Staiger and associate Richard Mower provided a presentation which they hope will allay the fears of commissioners.

Mower showed how the Bismarck-Mandan area is growing. Statistics indicated more than 3,300 jobs had been created between 2002 and 2004 and that growth is accelerating. New construction and remodeling jumped from $17.8 million in 2000 to $31.4 million in 2004. The 2000 census placed 94,719 people in Bismarck-Mandan and by 2004 that number has grown to 97,924. BMDA calculations estimate the population at 103,388.

"The new retail cluster, somewhere between a million and 2 million square feet, is already in the pipeline coming to Bismarck. This is the reality," Mower said. "Niches are available and our role is working with Mandan on identifying those opportunities to locate on the Mandan side."

According to Mower, the city needs to provide leadership in the overall process. Creation of a retail redevelopment implementation plan is necessary.

"If a deal walked through the door today you need to be ready to deal with it. You need to address this in the short term," Mower said. "You don't achieve retail overnight, you have to look at the long term and remain consistent."

Mower provided several suggestions on steps the city should implement with the help of the BMDA, including: create a new position to deal with recruitment-redevelopment -- BMDA will help write the job description; hold a public forum on the issue; identify available sites; consider competition issues; survey residents; look for existing gaps in the market; identify and contact developers; identify and contact retailers; and work on a positive image for the community.

Mayor Ken LaMont admitted the city has a long way to go, but specific plans need to be developed for areas such as Memorial Highway and the business district.

"The central business district will likely end up a very nice area for residential, professionals and niche retail. It will be warm and fuzzy," LaMont said. "I feel BMDA has to take the lead and probably look at someone specifically dealing with Mandan."

"You say we have a long way to go, and we do," Staiger responded. "But the path never ends. There are always new challenges. I think the opportunities are there. One of the key things will be to develop an implementation strategy to get us down to the nitty gritty on what you want done. Control of land is a critical issue. Land values are rising quicker than what we've expected. You need to move and secure sites as quickly as you can."

Helbling noted the importance of a positive attitude in the city, but how hard it is to create when all the activity is taking place in Bismarck. He feels the city's loss of Verification Inc's expansion hurt the city after all the work that had been put into bringing the company to Mandan.

"We need to get results. We need to make sure whomever does this work gets results, it needs to be performance driven. I don't think a lot of this can be blamed on BMDA, but a lot can be blamed on us as the city commission," Helbling said. "I think we've been thinking too big. We have to start small and make sure we're taking care of our own people so they stay here."

Work on a job description for a person to work on development issues specific to Mandan already has been drawn up by BMDA and is being circulated among city department heads, according to Jim Neubauer, city administrator.

(Reach reporter Gordon Weixel at 250-8255 or gordon.weixel@bismarcktribune.com.)