SHERBURN — Sherburn City Council met Monday evening, May 17, and began with presentations of information by two men. The first person was Tim Stahl, a county engineer with connections to the MN Highway Dept.

He brought information to the council about the bike trail and it’s possible funding. Sherburn has discussed adding to the trail north of town. Watonwan County has discussed a trail from St. James to Ormsby. Sherburn has discussed a trail extension from Sherburn to Ormsby/Odin. Mr. Stahl has been connected to the trail in Jackson and said it is used a lot. He also mentioned the trail from Fort Ridgely to Fairfax and the highway shoulders added to the highway to Estherville Iowa.

There will be construction on Highway 4 and there is a discussion to add five feet or more shoulders to that highway. There may be issues such as crossings and houses near the highway on a trail from Sherburn to Ormsby. He anticipated that a trail there would be used. It would cost approximately 1.2 million to add shoulders to Highway 4. 80 percent would be from federal funds and 20 percent would be from local funds. Communities under 5000 people must work with the State Department of Transportation for funding and plans. The City would need right-of-way and construction partnership with the county and federal funds. There are issues of safety with a bike path on the shoulder and a path off the highway would be better but perhaps too expensive. The rule of thumb is if the speed of traffic is 30 mph the shoulder should be 6 feet and if the speed is 45 mph the shoulder should be 10 feet. Discussions need to take place as soon as possible since it takes five years or more to get a path done. The City of Trimont should be in on the

discussions and the trail committee from Jackson has offered to come and discuss plans and funds, etc. with Sherburn City Council.

The second presentation of information was by George Madden from Federated Rural Electric Association (FREA) about the proposed substation for the Sherburn area. Right now the substation is in an alley behind the old church in downtown Sherburn and is rated at

2400 volts where as the other REA patrons are about 7200 volts.

They would like to rebuild to increase energy to the Sherburn area patrons. He talked to the school board about not having overhead lines and connecting to lines underground near the space by the school. Depending on the location, there may be a need for

driveways and landscaping besides chain link fence. They are looking at land north of Casey’s and also south of Temperance Lake Road and possibly north of that road. They would like to get a parcel of land committed this year and start construction next year. The REA may need a conditional use permit from the City due to zoning

ordinances. The council discussed the project and tabled discussion on the issuance of the permit until more information is gathered.

For the regular business meeting, the council approved the application for the Drinking Water Revolving Loan Fund and the donation to the fire department from Dick and Shirley Brolsma.

Discussion about the quotes for seal-coating ended with an approval for the Pearson Brothers quote of $1.39 per square yard. M&R Construction was awarded the street repair (patching) with a quote of $1.92-$2.06 per square yard. These companies have done work

in Sherburn in the past. Every street in town now will be done during the last three years.

The council also approved the donations from the Fox Lake Conservation Club of $1,000 and a donation from the City of $250 to the Sherburn Lions Club for the Sherburn Festival. The city administrator updated the information about the demolition at 112 S. Manyaska Street and reported that it would be around $13,000 instead of $8,000 because of the asbestos and that it must be taken to a special landfill.

The next meeting of the Sherburn City Council will be held 5 p.m. on

June 7 at the Sherburn City Hall.