FAIRMONT– On Monday evening the Fairmont City Council heard a presentation from members of Citizens 4 A Strong Fairmont, which proposed an alternative option for a community center.

Richard Bradley Jr., a member of the group, led the presentation. Bradley said the group’s idea is to repurpose the Southern Minnesota Educational Campus (SMEC) building near downtown Fairmont.

“Citizens 4 A Strong Fairmont is a group of 200 plus citizens from all economic and social sectors within the community,” Bradley said.

He said that while the group is in favor of a community center, they’d like it to be one that the city can reasonably afford. He said the reason for another proposal is because it’s one that many citizens want.

In reaching out to members of the community, Bradley said people have expressed disappointment in seeing empty buildings downtown or buildings that are being under-utilized.

“We’ve proposed a multi-facility approach. We want to repurpose the Southern Minnesota Educational Campus building as a non-athletic, recreation and education center and we want to reimagine the existing Fairmont fitness businesses as part of the city’s holistic health and wellness matrix… because we can do so much with what we already have in this town,” Bradley said.

He shared that the SMEC building is over 27,000 sq. ft. and that significant improvements were made to the building in 2014 by the city.

The presentation featured several options on what different rooms in the SMEC building could be used for, which included rooms for games like pickle ball, air hockey and billiards. Bradley said they could also utilize rooms to offer cooking classes and quilting or sewing classes.

Potential plans for the building also include remodeling the auditorium and adding a sound stage so bands can perform there and dance classes and dance nights could be held there.

As for cost, Bradley said the contractor estimate for remodeling the space is $1.25 million. Considering the other equipment they’d like to add on, the total cost could be somewhere between $1.65 to $1.68 million.

Bradley shared that when it comes to the construction schedule, they estimate that the project could be done fairly quickly with the facility up and running by next year. Potential hours of operation were also shared, as were projected annual costs.

“A repurposed SMEC facility, we believe is projected at $404,000 per year, is the operation and maintenance cost,” Bradley said.

Suggested costs for both day and weekend and quarter and annual passes were also shared.

As for reimagining, Bradley said the three existing fitness facilities in Fairmont have a lot to offer. He said between them they have nearly $4 million invested in assets and also offer personal training and classes.

“Why duplicate a successful system? Fairmont doesn’t need to use taxpayer money to build something that already exists,” Bradley said.

Bill Cieslinski, another member of the group, also shared about some of the different groups in the community they have spoken with to obtain feedback, which includes the Latino community, youth counselors, seniors and caregivers of those with limited physical and emotional capabilities.

“When I talked with them about a community center that is primarily an athletic complex of pool, ice and field house, they expressed feelings of doubt. I have heard over and over that they feel left out of the mix and under-represented by the proposition,” Cieslinski said.

Following the presentation, Council Member Randy Lubenow asked whether there was potential for the hours of operation to change, considering that a lot of the offerings would be for youth. Bradley said that there would be room to expand hours beyond 5 p.m. on weekdays.

Lubenow asked if Fairmont Community Education and Recreation, which is currently housed in the SMEC building, has been contacted and Bradley said that they have been and expressed confidence in being able to handle it.

Moving to other matters, during staff reports, City Administrator Cathy Reynolds shared that all ten proposed charter amendment ballot questions submitted by the Fairmont Charter Commission have been approved and submitted.

Reynolds also said that in regards to the emergency interim ordinance regarding the spreading of manure in city limits, which was approved at the previous council meeting, letters have been sent out to owners of farm land and that meetings will be held at the end of the month in order to get input on what should be included in the permanent ordinance.

Following the meeting, the council went into closed session to discuss pending litigation.