How to build up Williston

Williston seeks to drum up interest by developers

By JILL SCHRAMM, Staff Writer jschramm@minotdailynews.com
WILLISTON – Williston is asking developers, real estate agents and investors to come and learn how they can get in on the oil boom activity during the city’s Build Williston Day on Wednesday.


The request is both an invitation and a plea for help.


“We need help with developing our community,” said Mayor E. Ward Koeser. “It really comes down to that. We are working with the local builders and developers but we need more manpower, more investors.”


Build Williston Day is part of Koeser’s Build Williston Initiative, which includes developing a new master plan for the city and the hiring of a workforce development coordinator.


In the last few months, interest in Williston by developers has increased, Koeser said. Build Williston Day offers a chance to bring everyone together and get information out. Invitations went to interested developers, contacts made at a recent petroleum conference in Minot and to developers from around the state.


Williston’s biggest needs are for more housing and a light industrial park, Koeser said. The light industrial development would accommodate oil field companies that need office and storage space and a place to park vehicles.


More housing is critical, Koeser said. The city could add 200 housing units this year based on an apartment building and housing developments that are planned. A month ago, he would have considered that adequate but not any more, Koeser said.


“Things have gotten so much busier that now we probably need 340 or 400 units. That’s going to be a real challenge for us. That’s why we know we need outside people to come in and help us with this,” he said.


The agenda for Build Williston Day includes a panel of oil industry representatives who will talk about the oil activity. It includes a presentation by Williston city staff involved in planning, building permits and workforce. There will be an overview of Williston’s real estate market and financing as well as a bus tour of current developments.


Following the event, the city plans to follow up with participants to encourage any interest that is sparked.


Williston’s economic development fund, the STAR Fund, is financing the Build Williston Initiative. Money from the fund enabled the city to hire Shawn Wenko in March to serve as its workforce development coordinator. Wenko, a 1994 Williston High School graduate, has worked in tourism marketing and management in the Black Hills in South Dakota.


Wenko has been researching needed job skills and the pay scales required to attract workers. he has been attending job fairs to promote Williston as a place to work. One of the obvious needs is more workers in the construction industry to advance the development that Williston is promoting, Koeser said.


He added that Williston is keenly aware of the oil industry’s boom and bust cycles, having been through them before. However, the city doesn’t expect a future bust to be as severe as in the past. Rather, it anticipates sustaining a certain level of growth, he said.


“The oil that they are getting here is of such good quality and quantity that I really expect as long as there’s oil activity in the United States, it will be in this region,” he said. “The industry itself is very bullish on what’s going to happen.”