One of the first people I met on a professional level in the Bakken oil fields was Dickinson city administrator Shawn Kessel. The meeting was brief, as I was filing some paperwork with the city and Kessel was passing by in the hallway. We chatted for no more than one minute, but that brief interaction become the start of many future conversations.
Since then, I have seen and spoken to Kessel all over the United States at Bakken themed events. His presence at these events did not go unnoticed while his presentations became a staple in my information gathering and Bakken due diliegence.
“Thanks for noticing, I have been around the United States, several different places talking about Dickinson and Western North Dakota,” Kessel said. “I was born in Dickinson, so I have had my heart here and have been back in Dickinson now as city administrator for seven years.”
Kessel’s return to Dickinson was more than a job. Like many families who move back to the area, the people, quality of life and community became the main attraction.
“There’s just great people here in our neck of the woods and I wanted to make sure I can do what I can to preserve and improve the quality of life in western North Dakota,” Kessel said.
Now, Kessel is expanding his role in the Bakken with an additional energy leadership position as the Vice Chairman for the N.D. Association of Oil and Gas Producing Counties (NDAOGPC). Currently, Kessel sits on the NDAOGPC executive committeee, but is excited to start his new role in the organization.
“Hopefully I will bring a long term perspective. I’ve been in Dickinson a long time, I was here before the boom hit the community so I’ve been able to watch and manage the growth that we’ve experienced. Now it’s just as important to manage the backside.”
Communication, collaboration and constituettes are some of the bullet points Kessel intends to bring to his vice chairmanship as they prepare for an upcoming legistlative session.
“I’ve been able to communicate and interact with many great leaders across our state. We are blessed to have the Senate Majority Leader Rich Wardner in our community,” Kessel said. “We have other tremendous leaders in our community too like Kelly Armstrong, Mike LeFlore, Vicky Steiner. I am just very excited about the prospects and working with other legislators from outside our community to try and maintain the North Dakota Association of Oil and Gas Producing Counties as the premiere lobbying and advocacy for western North Dakota.”
Just like the Bakken, the NDAOGPC is going through a state of change. Currently Daryl Dukart is the president of the NDAOGPC and serves another year, while the executive director is retiring at the end of the 2016 calendar year. Kessel sees the NDAOGPC’s near term future as active, transitional and chock-full of change.
“I’m pretty excited about this new role in the North Dakota Association of Oil and Gas Producing Counties. I think it will be a year of transition,” Kessel said. “Vicky Steiner has done a wonderful job representing us as our executive director for several decades now. She’s retiring in December, so we will be going through a process to hire a new executive director and we have the legislative process coming up too. So it will definitely be a busy year.”
Low oil prices have created a new environment in the Bakken, unlike anything the state has ever seen. Sure there has been boom bust cycles in the past, but this energy play is much different. Today, the oil companies know where the oil reserves are and how to get to them. A far cry from educated guesses where to punch holes with wildcat wells.
“We have a downturn in the price of oil, so we are all in a pause at the moment,” Kessel said. “I personally think that pause will be let up in 2017. I represent cities with my role sitting on the board for the North Dakota Oil and Gas Association, but we also have counties and schools on the board as well. And for all of us this pause has created an opportunity for us to catch up.”
Kessel added in Dickinson there is a middle school scheduled to open up in 2017 and a school just opened in Watford City.
“There’s a lot of construction going on from a school’s perspective to try and catch up with all the people who have come to our community,” Kessel said.
While many outside the region raise an eyebrow at new schools, roads and bridges in western North Dakota, Kessel points out the birth rates and how planning for the future is needed now.
“We are scheduled to have 100 births in the month of June,” Kessel said. “People from outside the region may think things have slowed down to a standstill, but that’s simply not the case. Yes things have slowed down down, but definitely not to a standstill. We are still busy and getting things done.”
Kessel continued explaining some of the major investments in Dickinson that current citizens will utilize while preparing the city for future growth.
“For instance, in terms of infrastructure, we have completed all of our lift stations, or will have them all completed by the end of this construction season. We have another one of our water towers being completed,” Kessel said. “A lot of road work too. In our community, specifically, we have an overpass that is scheduled to be completed by the end of the construction season.”
He added the city was caught off guard in the last energy cycle, but this pause in energy extraction will better prepare everyone for the return of higher oil prices and oil and gas development.
“So all of these things, when the oil industry comes back will be in place so it will be easier to make that transition,” Kessels said. “You mentioned the natural gas potential, I would point out all the underground pipes that have gone into the ground, which will alleviate truck traffic on a lot of our busier roads in western North Dakota. So if and when the oil industry does come back, we will be much better prepared than we were 6-8 years ago.”
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