FAIRMONT– The Fairmont Safety Council met for the third time this year on Monday evening and continued conversations from its September meeting.

Captain Eric Tonder with the Fairmont Police Department shared some updates from the previous meeting.

“The crosswalks did get painted on North Prairie. Second and Third Street on North Prairie do have crosswalks on them for people to safely travel back and fourth to Veterans Park,” Tonder said.

He said that additional lighting for the park has been included in the 2022 budget.

Tonder said that park pathways and signage haven’t been resolved from the previous meeting.

Council Member Paul Carlson, who had brought it up last meeting, asked if there could be some signage put up showing what the appropriate direction for walking and biking on a shared path is.

“I’ve been on ones in the cities that have an arrow for the bikes,” Carlson said.

He said he doesn’t think it’s been an issue, but was wondering about the rules and if the community is aware of them.

Tonder said they can recommend some rules that they would like the Fairmont City Council to accept. City Street/Parks Supervisor Nick Lardy said he can check into what sort of signage other cities have regarding biking and walking paths.

At the last meeting, lowering the speed limit to 30 mph along a portion of Albion Avenue, coming off of Highway 15 heading south on State Street to Hall Street was discussed.

Carlson had said he thought having the speed limit at 40 mph, especially by the Dairy Freeze, was too high considering there’s a curve and a lot of traffic there in the summer.

On Monday evening Council Member Ralph McMillan said after word of the suggested change came out following the previous meeting, he had several people tell him they don’t think the speed limit needs to be lowered along that stretch.

Britney Kawecki, who is the City Council liaison, said she has heard mix reviews from people.

“There’s been a few more for (it) and those have been from people who live on it and don’t just drive through it,” Kawecki said.

Moving to new business, the council briefly talked about bow hunting in city parks.

“When we talked about it as a city council, the concerns that were brought is the hunting in city parks and in neighborhoods,” Kawecki said.

Tonder said the city council approved bow hunting with permission on some private land. He said hunting can’t be done within 200 to 500 feet of an occupied structure.

“What we can’t control is if someone shoots a deer in a field and it runs into a park,” Tonder said.

The Safety Council will next meet on the third Monday in April unless something comes up that needs to be addressed sooner.