FAIRMONT–The Fairmont City Council on Monday considered a few projects that it could spend a potential $5 million on from the state of Minnesota and ultimately chose to go with two street projects that were included in the city’s Capital Improvement Plan (CIP).

Interim City Administrator Jeff O’Neill prefaced the conversation by thanking representative Bjorn Olson for his effort in securing some funds for Fairmont.

“Right now there’s an opportunity for as much as $5 million to come to the city for needed transportation investments,” O’Neill said.

Public Works Director Matthew York provided some background and said that the city was approached by Olson in the summer of 2024 to talk about new projects in the city that were not part of fixing current road systems in town.

“We brought forward two projects to him that were approximately $10 million… and myself and Mayor (Lee) Baarts went to the Capitol in March to testify in front of a committee in order to move them forward,” York explained.

However, he said there have been quite a few changes since then, especially over the last few days, and the city learned that its projects could be included in the transportation bill, which would allow it to utilize existing roadways for funding sources.

“We have selected two projects that have been a part of our current five year plan. The one is the Park Street project that goes from Blue Earth to Fourth Street,” York said.

The have put in $2.4 million for that project, which was originally scheduled for 2026.

The other project is the Johnson Street project, from Trunk Highway 15 East to where the gravel road starts. For that project $2.6 million was requested and York said it included utility costs and will address stormwater problems.

The project was scheduled for 2028 but could be moved forward to be completed by December 2027.

Council Member Jay Maynard said, “I too would like to thank representative Olson. He’s operating in a difficult environment and has been working very hard to make sure that Fairmont gets its fair share of money that pours out of St. Paul every year.”

York stressed that neither are new projects, but both are full reconstruction projects with water and sewer.

The council unanimously approved of the alternative funding, if available, for the two projects.

York gave thanks to the council and city staff for all of its work over the past few days in puling all of the plans together.

“It showed that if we really want to work together we can come out with a good product in the end,” York said.

The council on Monday also heard from Sam Cress with Light, Noise and Smoke, which is the Fairmont fireworks committee.

“Last year the committee was here and we requested an increase in funds. Typically the city’s donated about $1,500 but last year we asked that to be increased to $10,000,” Cress said.

He said last year the committee also kicked off a fundraising campaign in an attempt to grow its investment account so that one day the fireworks can fund itself off of recurring interest.

O’Neill asked a question about details of the fireworks and Cress said that they have an annual budget of around $26,000. He said they get about 600 shells of various sizes anywhere from three inches to 12 inches.

Cress noted that next year is the 250th birthday of America so they’re looking to fund enough to ‘go bigger’

The council approved a $10,000 donation to Light, Noise and Smoke for this year’s 4th of July fireworks display.

In other business, the council considered several bids for the Lake Avenue reconstruction project. The bids included just the base bid but also the option of a shared use path. After some discussion, the council ultimately awarded the bid, in the amount of $6, 399,157, to ICON, LLC, without the alternate shared use path.

In other action:

— The council adopted the 2025 city of Fairmont departmental fee schedule for city services.

— The council held a public hearing to consider an ordinance to sell property located at 403 East 5th Street. A second hearing will be held at the June 9 meeting, at which point the council can approve of the ordinance.

— The council selected Novotx as the public works asset management software provider.

— The council learned that a planning and zoning code enforcer, Michael Schutz, had been hired.