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GRENORA, N.D. (AP) — On the northwest edge of the county, recently-elected Grenora Mayor Brett Wilkins plans to host the Raise the Roof fundraiser to help build a new town square.
The town has grown quietly, but its residents want to ready themselves for the possibility of a population rush, the Williston Herald (http://bit.ly/1kLSWz6 ) reported.
"All of us are still trying to figure out what the future is going to hold," said Wilkins, 50.
Originally from California, Wilkins had watched his state plummet into an economic depression more than 10 years ago and sought financial security elsewhere. Through a contact at eBay Inc., he got hold of long-time Grenora resident Ruby Johnson and asked about a house she had on the market. It took her 15 minutes to convince him to buy her house for $10,000.
"Ruby talked about raising her family here, how great the school, town and its people were. She told me I would join a business, join the government, not lock my doors," Wilkins said.
After years of traveling between California and North Dakota, he made the latter his permanent home three years ago, and almost immediately joined the Grenora City Council. After winning the mayoral election, he replaced former mayor Royce Crone, who served as a town judge and currently works for the Williams County Correction Center in Williston.
Wilkins now heads a four-member city council in a town where a sign off North Dakota Highway 50 reads, "Welcome to Grenora! Where Pride and Friendliness Go Hand in Hand." He also works full-time at Rueb's SuperValu in Plentywood, Montana.
"I can carry out your groceries by day, and be mayor by night," Wilkins said.
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In 1916, Grenora was founded 30 miles from the Canadian border and four miles from the North Dakota-Montana state line.
The town's name was derived from the Great Northern Railroad. Its surrounding area is home to hunting opportunities and the Writing Rock State Historical Site, where Assiniboine, Lakota and Plains Chippewa Indian returned to the Spirit Rock, or Hoi-waukon, located on a hilly prairie outside of town. The rock has served to mark a spot where Native Americans felt they could foretell the future.
In ironic fashion, the railroad abandoned Grenora in 2002.
It has since been avoided by oil drillers, while hosting several pipeline companies, its grain elevator, senior citizen's center, apartment buildings, new mobile home developments and a restaurant, which has statewide fame for its cheeseburgers. There are two churches: the St. Olaf Lutheran Church (ECLA) and St. Boniface Catholic Church, the latter is now constructing a shelter in its basement to protect the community from storms or tornadoes.
The town has a total area of 0.6 square miles. The population was 202 at the 2000 census and is now more than 500, attracting people wanting to live in an agricultural setting.
"We're going to use what the boom is giving us to improve our infrastructure," Wilkins said. "We have to look at what will make Grenora go into its next centennial. We have to walk it up smartly and don't overplay our budget."
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Grenora's population is expected to grow. The town and its surroundings have remained somewhat free of drilling activity, but perhaps it's only a matter of time.
Auditor Jane Schenstad said the town has seldom struggled with debt. It worked with a small $52,000 total budget, for example, in the 1980s.
"We were debt free, but we couldn't afford seal coating to pave the streets," said Schenstad, who has served as the auditor for more than three decades. "We had to save for a long time if we wanted a pay loader."
The town levied $30,100 from the county this fiscal year, and has $518,450 in expenditures based on local property tax and 1 percent sales tax, along with state oil revenue.
Most of the water and sewer infrastructure was built in the late 1930s. The town has started work on two infrastructure projects to accommodate residential housing. The residents' share is $550,000 and the town will borrow $800,000 from the state's revolving fund for the $2.7 million total cost. A 2.5 percent low-interest rate will be paid off in 20 years. The remainder of the total cost will be afforded through state oil impact grants and oil production tax revenue.
The projects will be finished in October, directing two paved, parallel streets north toward two residential sites. The town had bought one piece of property for town events; however, it transitioned the use of land to hold several trailers, which will soon be transported to a new RV park set to hold 81 units. The relocation of trailers will essentially reopen the town's property for future residential development.
The town rented lot space and utilities at $500 to "help people trying to transition into a home or that would be here temporarily for the summer," Wilkins said. The new trailer park will rent trailers for $2,000 a month.
"There is very little housing still up for sale, and the turnover is fast when there is," Wilkins said, adding the average house costs between $80,000 and $100,000. "The new developments are exactly what we're striving for here_single-family residential."
The town has a sewer trunk line directed southwest to its lagoon and pumps its own water from an underlying aquifer. Residents voted not to join the Western Area Water Supply Authority last winter, believing the organization would take control of its industrial sales.
"We're working very hard and very well for getting our city prepared when and if oil moves closer here," Schenstad said. "We're doing it the right way."
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Grenora's School District unofficially passed a bond referendum for $9.95 million July 15. Official status was available July 21.
The bond would help the district construct additional classrooms, locker rooms, a multipurpose room and bathrooms at its K-12 school. The district qualified for a state construction loan, but will not find out until next legislative session whether it would receive 70 percent of the total cost of construction, said Jennifer McNamara, business director for the district, in an email.
"For a long time this small town looked like it was dying," said Carlyle Norby 67, who served 40 years as the Grenora principal, and is now a member of the district school board. "The permanence of the oil boom allows us to plan to long range. Because it's more stable, we know we're going to need that school space for a long period of time."
The student population has quadrupled in the past five years to 200, and the state has provided the district with grants for essential housing to attract teachers, Norby said. Good teachers and a strong education have steadily helped nearly 90 percent of students enroll in post-secondary education.
"The school is a center hub of a small community," said Norby, who once served the town as its volunteer fire chief, and now works as a farmer and president of the Community Club sponsoring the Raise the Roof fundraiser. "Our kids are our number one asset. It isn't oil. It isn't farming. It's our kids. That's who is going to continue to make our community in North Dakota strong."
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The influx of population and changes have resulted in an uptick in crime here, but unlike other small towns in the area, Grenora has preserved its safe appeal. The mayor leaves his vehicle doors unlocked and his windows rolled down when visiting friends at Centennial Bar, Grenora Cafe and Circle M Food Center on the town's main street.
The Williams County Sheriff's Office deputies, on average, take a minimum of one hour to travel here. Although crime isn't rampant, town officials have struggled with handling the occasional fight at the bar, and have sought ways to enforce already existing ordinances that prohibit driving off-road vehicles on town streets.
"The deputies are very helpful when they get here, but we are the lowest on the totem pole," Wilkins said.
The town has a volunteer fire department and one full-time EMT on staff, but residents must travel to Williston for medical services. Williston emergency services held a drill here last week, landing a helicopter on top of the football field.
To keep youth keep out of trouble, the school co-ops with Westby, Montana, offering six-man football, basketball, wrestling, volleyball, track and golf. During the summer, kids travel across the state border to participate in baseball, golf, swimming and soccer.
"You want kids to be as well rounded as possible. Every kid that likes to play sports, get a chance to play at some level," Norby said. The town's football and basketball teams competed and placed in the Montana Class C conference state last year.
For students not interested in athletics, the district offers the Future Farmers of America group, art courses and a drama club, said Kylah Lindell, 14.
Lindell, who will enter high school in the fall, works for her mother, Stachelle Willis at Grenora Cafe. Willis now owns the city hub and serves breakfast, lunch and supper here next to Circle M Food Center, which once held the town's bowling alley.
"Help is hard to find," Willis said of her four-person staff. "My main thing is to be here for the community."
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North Dakota Highway 50 is busy nowadays with moderate truck traffic. Not like Williston, but just enough.
Locals here take issue with several drivers not waving while traveling on the road. Such complaints are driven by nostalgia for a time when everyone knew each other.
"The waving is almost gone," Wilkins said.
Grenora prides itself on being a small town with many activities. New arrivals sometimes lack a sense of community, but locals are quick to invite them_mostly young families_to join the local groups, businesses and government.
"If someone told me they're bored in Grenora, North Dakota, they're living under a rock," said Wanda Rasmussen, 60, who is a member of the Community Club, president of the Today's Women club and leads Bible study for the pastor at St. Olaf Lutheran Church in his absence.
Today's Women, a nonprofit, has sponsored the Old Bag and Pie Auction for many years. The auction would garner $1,200 in the past to be spent on community events and school's needs. In the past three years, the club has collected between $27,000 and $35,000.
"We're like the United Way of Grenora," Rasmussen said. The money raised has helped the town purchase school reading material, invest in summer programs and celebrate annual Christmas dinners. "That's how you survive in a little town_everyone gets involved," Rasmussen added. "I love the people and the quiet of here. I love this community. Everybody gets along. This is home."
J.R. Johnson, an agent at Farmers Union Insurance, graduated from the local high school and moved away for college before returning home with his wife and children. He now serves on the volunteer fire department and is a member of the Grenora Regional Economic Development Corporation, which collects funds from pull-tab gambling tickets at the bar. The economic development corporation recently paid for the installment of a new town sign off the highway, said Johnson, 36.
"I was looking for anything so I could come back to this area," said Johnson, explaining how he and his wife, born in Grenora, had always planned to return.
Wilkins likes that the town draws people home, and has spent his time maintaining its sound reputation. The centennial celebration, where the town will host a rummage sale, barbecue, games and prizes, a car wash and a kid carnival, will be held between Aug. 2 and 3.
The town square will provide a gathering point for the closely knit community. It will have a railroad-theme clock tower and offer residents park benches and a grass area for barbecues and small concerts. Since the people of Grenora are of the practical sort, the square will have a gravel parking lot that will double as the drop-off site for snow removal during the winter.
Wilkins believes the town is on the right track and would like to see it remain a quiet, friendly setting on the peripheral of the boom.
"You can't go back to $10,000 homes, but you can keep the philosophy of what I loved about North Dakota in the first place," Wilkins said. "I've got Ruby talking in my ear all the time."
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Information from: Williston Herald, http://www.willistonherald.com
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