Dunn County is a very large land mass area with 2080 square
miles of land in the southwestern part of North Dakota.
Our present population is an estimated 3800.
Farming and ranching has been the life style of many of our
county residents until 2008.
Bakken shale development has been in Dunn County since 2006
and the growth of energy development is steadily moving to the
south with most of the growth taking place since 2009.
 Killdeer population 750
 Dunn Center population 100
 Halliday population 75
 Manning (County Seat) population 60
 New Hradec population 40
 Dodge population 30
 Auditor’s Office
 Treasurer’s Office
 Tax Director’s Office
 Clerk of Court
 Sheriff’s Department
 Planning & Zoning
 Road Department
 EMS
 JDA
 Social Services
Chief Financial Officer
County Commissioners
Board
 Increase in (FTE’s) full time
 County board of commissioners
employees: 2007 county had 50
fte’s today we have 80 fte’s
 With this our payroll moved
from 1.1 million in 2007 to 2.3
million in 2010.
 E-mails in to the auditor’s office
have increased by about 300%
while telephone calls have
increased over 200% over the
last three years.
has moved from three
commissioners to five
commissioners.
 Commissioners have moved to
two regular meetings a month
with two or three special
meetings each month to handle
the work load.
 Budget expenditures were at
four million dollars in 2007 and
in 2011 we are at 35.7 million
dollars.
 Higher ratio of splitting of properties.
 Increase valuation of property.
 $50,000 homes in 2006 are now selling for $175,000 in 2011.
 The property valuations have increased by 19.4% since 2010.
 Increased recording because of sales & splits.
 Numerous requests for valuation of land use changes.
 Creations of subdivisions have increased work load.
 Higher request for determination of land ownership.
 Department has purchased a service agreement with GIS
tracking system.
 Huge demand for property for housing and industrial business.
2006 numbers
2010 numbers
 765 traffic violations
 2576 traffic violation
 213 criminal court cases
 377 criminal court cases
 205 civil cases
 298 civil cases
 3 staff employees
 Recorders office collected
$147,107
 Oil revenue starts to come
into the county
 6 staff employees
 Recorders office collected
$503,095
 Addition of a new Court
room
 Moved to digital- paperless
documents
Added full time position for code
administrator.
Hold 15-20 hearings per month for new
developments. (housing, truck parking,
industry/business development, temporary
housing, RV parks , crew camps and etc.)
Development of a new revised
comprehensive land use plan in 2011.
Crew camps applications are increasing
steadily.
2006
2010
 1200 miles of road with only 27
 1200 miles of roads with only 25
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paved miles
Very few highly impacted roads
from truck traffic
General road maintenance was
two to three operation per year
on all roads
General road surface materials
used are gravel or scoria
Annual cost to maintain was
about $1500 per mile
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paved miles
330 miles of heavily impacted
truck traffic routes
Weekly maintenance is required
on the 330 miles of impacted
roads
Cost to maintain impacted roads
is $24,000 per mile annually
Materials for road surfacing are
getting tighter in supply because
of competition from the energy
sector
2006
2010
 3 employees
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•
 4 vehicles
 Average calls per day 6
7 employees
8 vehicles
Average calls per day 26
Large amounts of overtime
causing stress to
employees and equipment
• Will be adding another
employee and vehicle on
January 1st 2012
• Budget has increased by
200% over three years

A volunteer organization with roughly twenty
volunteer members working with four
ambulances in the county.
 Today there are 34 oil rigs actively drilling within
Dunn County. General estimates are from 80-120
personnel on each rig or 4080 employees
working in Dunn County daily.
 Many of the 911 calls being placed on cell phones
are from out of state cell phones. The 911 fee does
not remain in our state. These are monies that
are funneling out of state.
 EMS responders are having issues with locating
individuals because of the lack of 911 addressing.
 We have people living in the middle of fields.
 Both Killdeer & Halliday squads cover 1140 square
miles inside the borders of Dunn County.
 Travel concerns right now
 Challenges with new types
are when we are
responding to a rural
address; the speed at which
we wish to be traveling is
impeded by road
conditions and traffic.
 Individuals are stressed by
the number of calls.
of accidents our volunteers
are not accustomed to.
 Cost of purchasing new
equipment to handle the
work load.
 County operates with a
total volunteer staff for
ambulance, fire and rescue
teams. They are risking
their lives for our
community.
 The States Attorney Office has seen a substantial increase in
child abuse and neglect, domestic violence, violent crime,
alcohol related offenses, and illegal drugs.
 Traffic and alcohol related offenses combined had a substantial
increase of 300%.
 Financial problems combined with alcohol and illegal drugs
appear to the be the gateway for an increase in domestic violence
and child abuse and neglect cases.
 Most of the increased case load involves individuals who have
recently relocated to western North Dakota to pursue
employment opportunities in the Bakken.
 A few years ago Dunn County economic development office tried
about anything and everything to attract new businesses. Today
new businesses are waiting at the door asking for help in getting
the proper loans and financials in order.
 Since the Bakken development started we have seen housing
issues steadily climb. Issues that the county is dealing with is
lack of housing, high rent values, and lack of contractors to build
housing.
 This department has been very busy working at the state level to
attract new monies to our community to address the needs of the
county and public so our quality of life is not reduced.
 Elderly and handicap are scared to travel and move around
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because of the influx of new people to the community.
Waiting lines for food, gas and personal items.
More applications coming in monthly from individuals
who come here looking for jobs and cannot find one right
away. They need assistance for a few days to weeks to find a
job and get a place to live. They arrive with little or no funds
to work with.
Fuel assistance requests are higher than normal.
Many local residents are scared and say let’s go back to
what it was like before oil development.
Positives:
 Created many new job
opportunities
 Increased salary levels in
western North Dakota
 Brought additional money to the
farm and ranch communities
 Creation of many new
businesses in the area
 Increase sales of trucks, cars,
and farm equipment
Negative:
 Estimated 2200 out side workers
who drive to Dunn County daily
to work
 Overload of patrons at
restaurants, gas stations, and
stores of all kinds
 Lack of employees
 Detrition of roads because of
heavy traffic loads
 Traffic everywhere
 Total stress on all county
departments is greater than we
expected
 Lack of funds to meet demands
 “Stress is definitely an issue.”
 “We’re experiencing frustration, overload, and burnout.”
 Retaining current employees and hiring new ones is a challenge because we
can’t compete with oilfield salaries.
 Communities are seeing a lack of contractors for housing needs and fixing
streets and roads.
 There is a shortage of city/county workers, teachers, and daycare
employees.
 “The skilled labor force is inadequate.”
 Demand for law enforcement, emergency response, public health, social
services, public works, and medical services is growing. Current employees
are working longer hours and feeling the stress of doing so.
Dunn County Trends
Western North Dakota
Trends
 Road use policies
 Load limits used
 Haul road agreements
 Speed limits reduced
 Weight restrictions for certain roads
 Haul road agreements
 Speed limits reduced
 New road designs
 New road designs
 Different approach to general road
 Changing the way general road
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maintenance
Road surfacing materials are
becoming depleted in the area
Dust control is becoming a major
issue
Planning and zoning policies and
changes
Greater focus on EMS service
repairs take place
 Looking for surface materials
 Dust control
 Planning and zoning
 EMS and social service impacts
Daryl Dukart
470 96th Ave SW
Dunn Center, North Dakota 58626
e-mail address:
[email protected]