FAIRMONT– The Fairmont City Council on Monday considered several permits for events to be held on Downtown Plaza at the end of the month

While event permits are typically on the consent agenda, City Administrator Cathy Reynolds said they pulled a few with new developments they hadn’t yet seen so she wanted to provide council the opportunity to discuss them.

“These two permits, in conjunction with one approved by the council last meeting, will provide for five days of activities in Downtown Fairmont during the week before and weekend of Memorial Day,” Reynolds said.

However, because they propose closing down portions of Downtown Plaza and the downtown business district for five days, Reynolds said she wanted to let council have conversation about them.

The first permit was for the Fairmont Opera House to hold a Star Wars event on May 25 in front of the Opera House. The Opera House was asking to block Downtown Plaza from the intersection of Blue Earth Ave. to the south end of its property.

“It’s a great opportunity. We have a lot of great things happening in the community but because this is three permits closing down for five days I did want to pull them out for council to discuss if it desires,” Reynolds said.

Mayor Deb Foster asked if the businesses that would be affected by it had been informed. Reynolds said that when permits are turned in that involve road closures, the applicants are advised to notify businesses that will be affected.

The council approved of the May 25 event.

The next permit request was for the Fairmont Opera House’s Memorial Weekend Street Fest, which is slated to take place May 27 and 28.

Reynolds explained that in the permit request, the proposal was to put a stage up between City Hall and the Blazer Bar for a band on Friday evening and the stage may stay up overnight. On Saturday morning a second stage around the Human Services building and Edie’s will be put up and a series of shows will take place between the two stages on that day.

“They planned some food trucks and games and different activities during the day,” Reynolds said.

The event would involve some road closures around different access points to Downtown Plaza.

Council Member Bruce Peters cited the various eating establishments in that vicinity of Downtown Plaza and said the idea concerned him as it involves road closures and would make it more difficult to get to the restaurants. He asked if city staff had heard from any of the restaurants and Reynolds said no.

Council Member Wayne Hasek pointed out that the event could lead to people going into the different downtown restaurants to eat and Council Member Britney Kawecki added that people could check out the retail shops as well.

“I don’t disagree, but if there’s 11 food trucks, the likelihood of increasing at Edie’s or El Agave is relatively scant,” Peters said.

Foster said she went to several businesses and asked if they had any concerns and was told they were unaware of it. She suggested that moving forward, anytime there’s an event where there will be a road closure, a public hearing should be held to allow any individuals or business owners to come and voice their thoughts or concerns.

Reynolds agreed that she’d like to encourage individuals, organizations and businesses to bring the city in at the planning stage when it involves an event that would require a road closure.

“When they’re in the parks it’s one thing but when we start closing down roads… we’re having a lot of events and it’s great and wonderful that people are planning all of these events… but trying to figure out the road closures, if we can get the communication started with city staff earlier in the process… so that everyone’s aware of it,” Reynolds said.

The council approved of the permit request for the May 27, 28 event.

Moving to other matters, the council reviewed some liquor license violations. Although a public hearing was held which allowed any member of the public of business associated with the violations to speak, no one spoke out at the pubic hearing.

The Fairmont City Council imposed a civil penalty of $750 upon both the Fairmont Municipal Liquor Store and El Agave. On Dec. 31, 2021, at both establishments, an employee sold an alcoholic beverage to an underage person who was authorized by the Fairmont Police Department to assist with compliance checks of liquor license holders.

“It’s king of embarrassing that this happened at our liquor store. Have we made changes to the training so that this doesn’t happen again?” asked Lubenow.

Reynolds said they addressed the issue and talked to the employee and have appropriately documented that it has occurred. She said they’ve used the incident as a training opportunity within the store.

Peters asked how they will fine themselves. Reynolds explained that they will cut a check from the liquor store funds and put it in the general fund.

Several local businesses, Walgreens, Hy-Vee Grocery and Hy-Vee Convenience Store, also had civil penalties imposed on them after failing tobacco compliance checks executed by the Fairmont Police Department on Dec. 11, 2021. Each business was fined $300.

The council also held a second public hearing on a rezoning request by Krueger Realty, Inc. for 1800 State Hwy. 15 S. This was the second public hearing that was held on the request. On Monday the council approved to rezone the property from R-1 single family residential to R-3 multiple family residential.

In other action, the council:

— Approved a purchase order for the purchase of residential water meters which will total $636,000. City Engineer Troy Nemmers shared that the current meters are 15 years old and upgrading them will provide better tracking of water usage across the city. The Public Utilities Commission had also approved of the purchase.

— Approved a phone system proposal from Midco to replace city staff’s existing phone system.There is no equipment purchase necessary and no installation fee and the monthly fee should be comparable to the exiting fee from Frontier.

— Approved an agreement with MSA Professional Services to complete a zoning ordinance and subdivision regulation update. The council had previously budgeted $40,000 and the cost of the service will be $44,000 plus approximately $1,200 in additional expenses.

— Approved seven event permits for upcoming community events to be held in the summer in the city of Fairmont.

In other news, three part-time police officers were recently hired at the Fairmont Police Department and two of them, Seth Reinke and Carolyn Jacobson, were sworn in at

Monday’s council meeting. Jon Auringer was unable to attend.