Nov. 16 -- The following stories from this week appeared on
The new Central Sales Inc. building will be a symbol of the company's commitment to the future, according to Jeff Romsdal, owner and president.
"From the overhead cranes in the shop to the innovation garage ... where we'll showcase new machines, we're positioning ourselves to serve the next generation of customers and employees," said Romsdal, a third-generation owner of Central Sales. "The new vertical parts storage will help us be more organized. The power wash wands in each bay will keep us sufficient, and the inviting showroom and large customer training room and meeting rooms will create new opportunities for integration, interaction and growth."
Central Sales employees, the Jamestown Area Chamber of Commerce and local officials
broke ground on Monday, Nov. 11,
at the new Central Sales location, marking an expansion of the company.
The new Central Sales commercial implement dealership will be located at 1700 20th St. SW, east of the new Anne Carlsen Center location and just south of Interstate 94.
The estimated cost of the project is about $13.5 million, Romsdal said. He said the project is expected to be complete in about a year.
The Jamestown Regional Airport is
on pace to fall short of 10,000 paid passenger boardings
this year, which is due to the main runway being closed for over a month, according to Katie Hemmer, airport director.
The Jamestown Regional Airport has 7,499 paid passenger boardings through October, which is 2,501 short of the 10,000 mark.
"November and December are typically very good months for us, and there's a possibility, but it would really have to be outstanding to meet that 1,250 both in November and December or an average of the two (months) to meet that goal," Hemmer said.
In 2023, the airport had 869 paid passenger boardings in November and 945 in December.
Hemmer said the main reason the airport won't reach the 10,000 paid passenger mark is due to the runway rehabilitation project closing the main runway for commercial flights from May 7 through June 13.
Construction on an outdoor hockey rink
at McElroy Park might not happen until next year, according to Amy Walters, executive director of the Jamestown Parks and Recreation District.
"It would be more about getting things together, putting bids out this winter for work to be done in the spring and summer," Walters said, referring to the work that needs to be done for the project. "For this upcoming year, I would think that we're beyond that time frame (for construction of the outdoor hockey rink)."
The Jamestown Parks and Recreation Commission previously approved accepting a donation of an outdoor hockey rink from Hockey Day North Dakota organizers. Jeff Romsdal, organizer of Hockey Day North Dakota, wanted assurance that the Hockey Day North Dakota event could be held at the outdoor rink in McElroy Park once it is constructed.
Walters told the commission on Tuesday, Nov. 12, that Interstate Engineering has a preliminary engineering report prepared for construction of the outdoor hockey rink.
The report could be on the agenda for the commission's meeting in December for approval. If the commission approves the preliminary engineering report, Interstate Engineering would start work on the final design and plans of the outdoor hockey rink before the project goes out to bid.
The Jamestown/Stutsman Development Corp. Board of Directors unanimously approved on Tuesday, Nov. 12, a $125,000
request from Jamestown Tourism to help tourism sites
, events and recreational entities recruit visitors to the area.
If approved by the Jamestown City Council and Stutsman County Commission, the city of Jamestown's share will be $100,000 while the county's share will be $25,000.
Warren Abrahamson, marketing manager for Jamestown Tourism, told the JSDC board about the organization's marketing efforts and the impact of that work.
For this year, Abrahamson said Jamestown Tourism had four goals -- increase awareness about Jamestown as a destination, drive website traffic, engage targeted audiences and boost regional traffic.
He said traffic to Jamestown Tourism's website increased significantly this year.
"Between Jan. 1 and Aug. 7, we saw a 496% increase," he said. "Overall website traffic increased 809% between April and July specifically, which is when we get a lot of our campaigns."
Abrahamson said Jamestown Tourism's biggest campaign was with Noble Studios, which works with destination marketing organizations and specializes in visitor traffic. He said a social media marketing campaign with Noble Studios garnered more than 3.95 million impressions, reached over 948,000 users and had more than 35,800 link clicks from April 1 to July 31.
From April 1 to July 31, a Noble Studios campaign using Google display and discovery ads garnered over 8.07 million impressions and more than 143,300 clicks, Abrahamson said.
The
University of Jamestown is partnering with the Governor's Challenge
to help prevent veteran suicides.
The initiative is facilitated through the North Dakota Cares Program and is dedicated to preventing suicide among service members, veterans and their families.
North Dakota Cares and the Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve recognized the university's efforts with a declaration signing ceremony.
"I am so incredibly proud of this university and what is happening today in our support of North Dakota Cares and our support of veterans who have served our country and have given us an opportunity to do what we do here at the University of Jamestown," said Polly Peterson, UJ president.
The university's Master of Clinical Counseling Program began its partnership with North Dakota Cares in February. The partnership focused on delivering counseling on access to lethal means (CALM). CALM training reduces access to methods used in suicide. To date, this initiative has trained over 100 individuals, with UJ's Master of Clinical Counseling Program awarding more than 90 continuing education units to licensed professionals, including counselors, addiction specialists and social workers.