It was a "feeling-out" process as a special committee met for the first time to discuss proposals regarding the McDowell recreation area and all of Burleigh County's park facilities outside the Bismarck city limits.

Burleigh County Commissioner Marlan Haakenson, Bismarck Park Board President Mark Zimmerman, Burleigh County Park Board member Dave Bement and county water resource members Buck Maher and Gailen Narum met Wednesday.

There are two distinct offers on the table. The county's proposal to turn ownership of McDowell over to the Bismarck Park District and the park district's offer to take over all of the county recreation properties outside Bismarck. The water district's inclusion revolves around the fact it is the actual owner of McDowell, though it contracts with the Bismarck Park District for management.

All assembled agreed a concerted effort needs to be made to collect public input. In the future, public forums will be set up, and written comments will be collected by the county auditor's office. The next meeting of the committee has been set for noon Dec. 5 in the Tom Baker Room of the City/County Administration Building. The committee would like to see some first-impression comments from Burleigh residents.

"There are two ideas," Haakenson said. "The county's idea is to only transfer McDowell Dam. And then there's what the park district came back to us with."

Zimmerman said he still sees the proposals as one and doesn't want to separate them. He said he doesn't believe that the park district should take on the added responsibility of owning the McDowell property without funding somehow involved. The district's plan calls for the revenue derived from the sale of fairground land to be put used to develop the fairgrounds and the other facilities outside city limits.

The park board president also questioned whether the committee is ready to take public input without having a format for the discussions, costs or a timeline.

"Is this the proverbial cart before the horse?" Zimmerman asked. "But I do want to move ahead, wherever it goes."

"Regardless of what we do, we're going to get public input once this appears in the paper," Haakenson said. "There can never be too much public input. It's a foregone conclusion that we'll be getting some input."

Haakenson said it's only fair that the county's offer of the transfer of only McDowell be brought up first since it was made first. He said he believes that the park district would never have made a counter offer if the county hadn't made its proposal.

Maher said that should the park district just want McDowell, the water board probably wouldn't have a problem with that. He said that there is quite a bit of valuable property that goes along with the dam site.

"We (water board) don't think we should be taking care of parks; we're supposed to be taking care of water," Maher said.

Haakenson said the proposals need more fine-tuning before holding public forums. Costs for the various boat ramps and parks need to be determined before proper discussion takes place, he said.

The costs of the fairgrounds should be included, Zimmerman said. The Missouri Valley Com-Plex currently is being contracted for management with the park district.

If McDowell is to be transferred, it will have to clear a hurdle of paperwork, Haakenson said. But the county state's attorney and attorney for the water board have indicated it can be transferred.

The committee also discussed whether it should select an outside, independent individual to chair the committee meetings and subsequent public forums.

"I don't know if I'm nit-picking, but how should we choose who chairs these meetings, who has that responsibility?" Zimmerman asked. "Since we have three different entities represented here, and at some point we'll bring these discussions to the public."

Zimmerman said that a moderator or facilitator should be selected so the public doesn't get the perception the proposals coming from the committee are skewed one way or another. It was suggested that someone from the Reel & Rec club be asked to be a facilitator, though no action was taken.

"What should we call this committee?" Zimmerman asked.

"Let's call it the 'concessions committee,' since somebody is going to have to make some concessions," Haakenson said, joking.

No timeline was set for the committee to develop a recommendation for a proposal. The committee hopes to have its first public meetings sometime in February.

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