ABOVE: News about the proposed Fairmont community center was at the top of the list for stories in 2022.

FAIRMONT– Looking back on 2022, community center progress and digress were among the top stories of the year. The proposed project saw some giant steps forward but eventually stalled toward the end of the year.

What follows are the Sentinel’s top 10 local stories for 2022.

No. 10

Over the course of the year, several new businesses were added to downtown Fairmont. At the end of March, Indulge & Co., the sister store to Indulge Salon and Spa, opened at 83 Downtown Plaza. In April, Fairmont Brewing Company opened at 414 Downtown Plaza. Over the summer months, Replay expanded when it swapped places with Gemini Studios at 205 Downtown Plaza and Lori Darlin’s also moved from Five Lakes Centre to 209 Downtown Plaza.

No. 9

While groundbreaking on Fairmont High Schools new vocational building took place in 2021, it was this past fall that students began taking classes in the new 13,200 square-foot facility. The new building has space to accommodate a new woodshop, manufacturing lab, two agriculture classrooms and an HVAC and plumbing facility, which is one of the first programs of its kind to be offered in the region.

No. 8

2022 saw continued work on the Martin County Courthouse’s roof. While work on the roof started in 2019, it continued through most of this year with the scaffolding just being taken down in November. The Martin County Commissioners received several updates over the course of the year from both ISG and Renaissance Roofing, two companies working on the project.

No. 7

A new face of the Fairmont Area Chamber of Commerce emerged in 2022. The Chamber’s past president of four years, Ned Koppen, took a new role with the city of Fairmont in September and in November, long-time Chamber employee Kandi Menne was named president. Menne had worked as an office manager at the Chamber for seven years.

No. 6

The prospect of a new campground on the north end of Fairmont quickly became a controversial topic over the summer. On June 7 the Fairmont Planning Commission had dozens of residents in attendance for a public hearing on a rezoning request from the Carlson Walters Group, LLC for 93 acres North of George Lake and West of Holland Street in Fairmont. In late June council chambers was again packed as many residents voiced support for an emergency interim ordinance–moratorium on the spreading of manure in city limits, which was approved. In August, the Fairmont Planning Commission again held a public hearing for a rezoning request for the 93 acres, which it recommended. However, at the Aug. 22 Fairmont City Council meeting, the council denied the request. The project remains in limbo.

No. 5

After being closed for two years, Fairmont’s movie theatre opened in May under a new operator. Fairmont 5 Theatres now has all five screens open and showing movies. The theatre’s new operator, Rob Mayer, has plans to add stadium seating with reclining seats in the new year.

No. 4

In 2022, two long-time Fairmont city employees exited their roles, leaving important gaps in the community. Fairmont’s former Economic Development Coordinator, Linsey Preuss, announced she was leaving in February. Preuss had held the role for seven years and said that misinformation in the community over the past few years, which created unnecessary barriers to economic development, was a reason for leaving. The city used interim economic development services for several months and in September, Ned Koppen took over as Economic Development Coordinator. In November, it was shared that Fairmont’s City Engineer, Troy Nemmers, would be leaving his role with the city after 14 years. The city has not yet found a replacement but is using Bolton & Menk for interim services.

No. 3

As 2022 was an election year, by the end of the summer campaign signs started popping up in yards around the county. In Fairmont, there were two especially heated races for the Ward 1 seat, which was between Jay Maynard and Jon Davis, and Ward 3, which was between incumbent Randy Lubenow and Mayor Deb Foster. Ultimately, Maynard and Foster received enough votes for the seats and will assume positions on the council in the new year.

No. 2

In October, it was announced that Bank Midwest had pledged half a million dollars to the proposed Fairmont Area Community Center. This was the largest donation to date since the anchor donors– the Rosen family, Krahmer family and Mayo Clinic Health System-Fairmont– collectively pledged $4.5 million in the summer of 2021. Bank Midwest’s donation brought the Foundation, which had been tasked by the city council with raising $6 million for the project, up to 80 percent of its goal.

No. 1

The Community Center Advisory Board met monthly in 2022 to discuss the design of the proposed community center and in February, it was suggested to the board by the city’s owner’s representative, Tegra, to put out a post-Covid survey in order to gather updated input from the community regarding what it would like to see in a community center.

In April, the board discussed the survey results which showed the top desired amenities were a pool, track and ice. By early summer, 292 Design Group had been selected as the architecture for the project and it began working on several concept designs for the proposed facility. By the fall, the board was considering an ice only facility, an all-in facility and a YMCA only facility.

The YMCA-only facility was favored but would cost roughly $24.4 million, which was $4 million more than previously expected. The YMCA facility would not include ice, though the advisory board was aware that a new ice compressor, costing $2 million, was badly needed.

In November, a joint work session was held between the Fairmont City Council, representatives of the Fairmont Area School District, Fairmont Area Community Center Foundation (FACC) and Fairmont Hockey Association. Representatives of the YMCA were involved as were members of the various design teams including Kraus-Anderson, JLG (merged with 292 Design Group) and Tegra.

The joint work session lasted two hours and arguably created more confusion for the community than it answered questions. At the next Fairmont City Council meeting on Nov. 28, the council, by a majority vote, passed a motion to authorize moving forward with design and purchase of a new ice compressor and mechanicals up to $2 million with the remainder of the sales tax proceeds to be placed in reserves for lakes, parks, trails, other recreational amenities and upon a contract with a community center operator, upgrades to the Southern Minnesota Educational Campus (SMEC) building for the purpose of a community center.

Following that meeting, many people wrote letters to the editor in support of a new community center facility. A group of young adults rallied others in the community to attend the next council meeting with the hopes of reversing the council’s decision and on Dec. 12, the public comment portion of the city council meeting ran for two hours while more than 30 people voiced support for a new facility.

At that meeting, the council passed a new motion to explore additional funding including a new market tax credit, state bonding and a half-cent sale tax to go toward a community center/ice built at the same time.

While the future of the project remains unknown, there is potential for the new city council to bring back the topic after the start of the new year.