FAIRMONT– A desire to review and potentially negotiate contracts between the city of Fairmont, Martin County Ag Society and Fairmont Hockey Association was brought before the city council on Monday evening.

Council Member Britney Kawecki said that she wanted to fully understand what the city is currently contributing, as well as what it will contribute moving forward, which is why she asked for the discussion item to be added to Monday evening’s council agenda.

“There are a lot of things coming up and we need to have this information at our fingertips. I’m not saying what we’re dong is right or wrong, but with the half-cent sales tax coming up, our contracts haven’t been updated since 2004, the city has been contributing $30,00 per year since 1991… we’ve contributed greater than $1.5 million for the new compressors,” Kawecki said.

She expressed concern on whether or not the city actually owns the compressors and thought the council better discuss the matter to avoid further confusion.

Council Member Jay Maynard asked whether the new refrigeration compressors had arrived. Public Works Director Matthew York confirmed that they had. Maynard asked why they were waiting to install them.

“As of August of last year, the city council signed a contract with Kraus-Anderson for the installation of the refrigeration system. But the problem we’re running into right now is that that building is fed off of Federated Rural Electric’s electric lines and there was an issue with a transformer and we’re waiting for a solution for that issue,” York said.

He said that if not for the transformer issue, there would be no delays with installation.

“As of right now, the installation is not delayed until after the November 2024 election. It’s delayed because of this electrical issue,” York said.

Maynard said he understood that the council bought the equipment when it did so that it could be installed before the upcoming hockey season. York confirmed that that is still the plan.

Council Member Michele Miller pointed out that the $1.5 million for the compressors came from local option sales tax money, not property tax. She also said that she thought that city staff should be talking to the hockey association and ag society and then bringing it to the council.

Council Member Randy Lubenow agreed that some contracts need to be updated. He said he did not think the current compressors in the arena were owned by the city.

“Hopefully we can come up with a solution quickly. We do have the fair coming up so that will be another delay,” Lubenow said. “We do need to figure out if we’re going to put the new compressors in or if we’re going to see if the building is viable with the current compressors for the coming hockey season.”

York said he understood that the plan was to install the new compressors in the current building and that if/when a new arena is built, the compressors will be moved into that facility.

Kawecki said she thought the plan was to see if the ballot question (local option sales tax to fund the construction of a new ice arena) would pass before the new compressors were installed in the current arena.

York reiterated what he understood the plan to be and several other council members agreed with his assessment.

“One more comment on this… we all understand that contracts need to be updated… there’s a lot of time and effort between us, hockey and the fair board and legal review that need to happen for contracts to be viable. If we move to a new arena then those contracts don’t mean anything anymore. We need to think about if we want to spend the time, effort and money to put new contracts together prior to November 2024 until we know what the next step is,” York said.

Miller said she did not think new contracts were needed, but that they could make some updates to what they currently have in place. Lubenow agreed with Miller and said that they need to make it clear who owns the new compressors, which is the city.

Kawecki stressed that she thought it was important to update the contracts, regardless of thecost, because they have not been updated since 2004. She said the compressors were the most expensive thing the city owned and that there needs to be an updated contract in place.

“To me it’s absolutely insane that these haven’t been updated since 2004,” Kawecki said.

Maynard said he doubted it was the most expensive equipment that the city owned. He also said that the passage of time was not a reason to update the contracts.

“If the contract has been working and is working, why do we need to spend time and effort on updating it?” Maynard asked.

City Administrator Matt Skaret asked whether council wanted to direct staff to meet with members of the Fairmont Hockey Association and Martin County Ag Society to update the contracts. Lubenow said he would like to wait until after the November election. However, he said he would like to see a one-page document created saying that the city owns the new compressors.

Lubenow made a motion that staff work with the hockey association and the city attorneys to show that the city owns the compressors and that the issue will further be addressed after the November election. The motion passed 4-1 with Kawecki opposed.