FAIRMONT– The Fairmont City Council on Monday heard from Troy Nemmers of Bolton and Menk regarding the proposed 2025 Lake Avenue improvements.

Nemmers said that the stretch of street covers 4,000 feet and goes from Bixby Road east to Fairlakes Avenue. He said the project was awarded a Local Road Improvement Program (LRIP) grant of $1.5 million from the state of Minnesota.

He said he wanted to present some cross section options to the council in order to get some feedback so that Bolton and Menk knows how to proceed with its plans.

The council was shown images of three different options for the project. Option one includes a 52 foot wide street (which is the current width) with a center two way turn lane and parking lanes on the outside. Option two also includes a 52 foot wide street with a turn lane but the parking lanes were replaced with bike lanes and option three keeps the center turn lane but reduces the street width to 44 feet with an off street bike lane that could run the length of the road.

After sharing the information Nemmers and asked if there were any questions and Public Works Director, Matthew York, told the council that the off street bike lane for option three was not included in the cost and he said if the council liked that plan it could be built without but have the bike lane added in the future with additional funding.

Council Member Britney Kawecki said she had heard remarks from citizens who were worried about the project being over-designed.

“That’s been a complaint and I think pretty much all council has heard that they (citizens) feel the design coming up North North with the roundabout and around Profinium Bank, that it was over-designed,” Kawecki said.

She shared that the road was originally built as a state highway and that she does not think a bike path would be needed.

“I understand that it would connect with the Day Farm but it will be a bike path connecting to county road 39 which ultimately goes to nowhere. Currently there’s not curb and gutter after the last businesses… or across from the Armory to the Marina (Lodge),” Kawecki said.

She asked whether curb and gutter were going to be included because it hasn’t been used in the area to this point and she felt like money could be saved.

“The question I’ve gotten and the concern is over design. The more money we put into the design, the more money it’s going to cost and the less money we have for more roads,” Kawecki said.

Council Member Randy Lubenow said he liked option three and was okay with the bike path as well as the option to add a path further down the road.

“People do bike out that way since they’ve redone the radio station road… it may some day get some use,” Lubenow said.

Council Member Michele Miller said she would also like to go ahead with option three.

York suggested they bid the project with the bike lane included just to see what the cost would be up front.

“Then we would have the design for that portion of the project,” York said.

A motion was made to go ahead with proposal number three. Kawecki asked whether there will be curb and gutter along the whole length and Nemmers said the proposal would be to put curb and gutter throughout to maintain uniformity and to do so knowing there’s potential for future development in the space to the west. However he said the topic was open for discussion.

“There hasn’t been any purpose for it now,” Kawecki said. “For me it’s important that we’re stretching the money as far as it can possibly go.”

Miller asked York and Nemmers how difficult it would be go out for quotes for the project both with curb and gutter and without.

“We can at least out an estimate together to show how much money you could save,” Nemmers said.

Ultimately the council voted to more froward with option three with curb and gutter ending where the businesses end, but to get an estimate of what curb and gutter, as well as a bike lane, would be throughout.

Moving to other matters, Pat Oman, the city’s new Community Development Director, gave an overview of the Community Development Division Strategic Objectives.

Oman said since starting in August, he’s been meeting weekly and then monthly with other city staff members to identify areas of focus.

Of the eight different items Oman spoke about, some include developing an online permitting process with procedures and frequently asked questions for citizen and business stakeholders and implementing exit surveys with customers after completion of a project.

In addition, Oman said when looking at the city’s 2040 plan that he identified a lake management plan as something that’s important to the city.

“I think the one thing that I’d like to explore is code enforcement from a lake standpoint. It’s easy to drive down a road and see a house and that it’s out of compliance, it’s not so easy to look at it from the lake side,” Oman said.

He said he has talked to the city administrator about some future investments for speciality equipment to be able to do that.

Oman also said he would like to do some cross training to ensure that processes can continue in the event that an employee is sick or on vacation.

“We’re looking at… a peer review process, so having multiple people involved so they can learn,” Oman said.

Finally, Oman shared that that he has recognized a need for appreciating and understanding the demographic in the community.

“In my short time here, we’ve had situations where citizens have come in (to city hall) and we have a language barrier. Finding ways to address that through application processes that are bilingual, having information on our website that’s bilingual and even having certain types of software that can help with communication… we think that very much is an approach that the entrepreneurs that come to our community will appreciate,” Oman said.

In other business, the council:

— Approved two event permits, one for Halloween on Woodland Avenue and one for Prowling the Plaza, both on Oct. 31.

— Approved a resolution to request a municipal state aid fund advancement of $2.26 million for the reconstruction of Lake Avenue between CSAH 39 and Fairlakes Avenue.

— Authorized the city to enter into an agreement with ISG for consulting services to complete stormwater modeling under an MPCA grant agreement.

— Approved the purchase of a new turf sweeper and for the old sweeper to be sold at auction.

— Approved a task order with Bolton and Menk for a topographic survey of Blue Earth Avenue.

— Approved a Conditional Use Permit (CUP) for St. Paul Lutheran Church for a childcare center.

— Set a special meeting for noon on Nov. 8 to canvass municipal election results.