FAIRMONT– On Monday the Fairmont City Council went over the citizen engagement survey results for Blue Earth Avenue. While city staff was looking for design direction, the council ultimately chose to table any decision and discuss further in a work session next month.

The council first began talking about Blue Earth Avenue in February. The heavily used street is slated for a mill and overlay in 2026 and the city is looking to incorporate some improvements during the process. A community engagement open house was held on April 30 and soon after that a survey which included details about four concepts was put out for the community.

On Monday Public Works Director Matthew York said that he met with engineers with Bolton and Menk to go over the results, which included feedback on different areas including beautification of medians, traffic signals, roundabouts and modernization.

“The biggest thing that came out of it… People had strong opinions,” York said.

One of the biggest areas where feedback was given was concerning beautification of the medians.

York said out of 571 votes, 15 percent were in favor of it while 85 percent were not with many citing cost as a concern.

He said the next biggest area where feedback was given was concerning traffic lights and that 97 percent of people were in favor of replacing them.

Because a state study found that traffic lights were not warranted at the various intersections along Blue Earth Avenue, no state money could be used to pay for them. It was previously said that the cost to replace them to the city would be $350,000 but on Monday York said they’re not 100 percent what the cost will be.

“The estimate as of Tuesday last week was $750,000… now the city engineer groups are getting together to ask more questions and to get MnDOT to give a better explanation of where their costs are coming from,” York said.

He said right now the city needs to start to make some decisions on what to do so that a preliminary design process can be gone through.

York said they are currently on schedule with the project timeline. He said if the council wanted to sit down and talk more in depth about a plan, it could be worked into the timeline.

“The quicker we can get to a preliminary design decision allows Bolton and Menk to finish the design which gets approved by the council, which then gets sent to the state for their approval since there’s state money involved in it. That gets it back to us to bid out as early as we can in the late winter to start construction first thing in the spring,” York said.

Council Member Randy Lubenow asked about the stoplights and said that 90 percent is pretty high.

“I have some concerns myself about what people have told me about the Prairie Avenue and Blue Earth Avenue intersection. I think it would be pretty hard for me to vote for any package that didn’t include traffic signals at that intersection,” Lubenow said.

He also said going from four lanes to three lanes was something he thought could be a good option.

“I would ask to table this until we can have a work session and also get some clear information on why the traffic signals are double and triple the price,” Lubenow said.

Council Member Brittany Kaewcki said she would also like to have a work session. She said she thought the designs and maps could have been made better and said she thought the survey on the website could have been better.

“I also think we’re saying, ’93 percent of people clicked on this,’ but you also could have gone on and clicked multiple times,” Kawecki said. “I feel that this (survey) really wasn’t set up for success.”

As for the stoplights, and their cost, Kawecki said she thinks it has been proven that stop signs work. She pointed out that the stoplight at Prairie Avenue and Blue Earth Avenue was recently out for about a week and traffic she said was fine with a four-way stop.

She stressed her desire to have a work session to further discuss the project, which she and others have referred to as a ‘once in 30 years project.’

Mayor Lee Baarts said he wanted to table the discussion to a later date until the council can have a work session, but Lubenow asked whether a four-way stop at Prairie Avenue and Blue Earth Avenue has been considered.

“We talked about this at the meeting and during the presentation. It wasn’t warranted to have a stoplight so the option was a four-way stop or a roundabout. Those are the two options, and then a two-way stop came in and it was another thing,” York said.

Lubenow said he didn’t know if two sets of four-way stop signs would be desirable. He asked if there could be one or the other.

“We can have whatever we want but that’s why we need you guys to tell us what you want. The survey results that we got, whether you agree with the process or didn’t agree with the process, the information that we got from the residents was overwhelmingly for stoplights,” York said.

He also said the city had some concern about the usability of the survey website but that the city had posted on its website and social media page that people could reach out directly to York at the city with questions or concerns and that he didn’t receive any feedback directly.

“If you’re hearing resident issues, please direct them to myself and I can get it to Troy (Nemmers) or whoever… have them contact us and we will help them go through the process,” York said.

Nemmers said that four different concepts had been included in the presentation and survey. He asked the council to start reviewing the comments and narrow it down so that two concepts could be discussed at a future work session.

Lubenow said that if the survey results and comments from citizens are looked at, beautification in a median is not something most people feel is needed.

Kawecki said she disagreed and said she thinks people want to take pride in their community.

“There are people who don’t support the beautification but I think it’s the same people who don’t support any change,” Kawecki said.

After some more discussion, York asked that the council have a work session and come up with a design plan by August.

“We need to get it on the books because sometimes talking about council workshops, we say we’re going to do it but we don’t do it,” York said.

Lubenow said he thinks the council should shoot for late July to have a workshop.

In other business, the council considered an appointment to the Fairmont Economic Development Authority (FEDA) Board. Mayor Lee Baarts said he had three people in mind and one declined the offer. He recommended the appointment of former City Council Member, Michele Miller, who has been filling in on the FEDA board as there’s a vacancy

Council Member Britney Kawecki, who is a new member of the board, said that in the six meetings she has been to, Miller has only been at one. She said she would prefer to have the third person in mind appointed.

Council Member Wayne Hasek said he thinks Miller would do well in the position.

“So even though she doesn’t attend the meetings, one out of six, you think that’s a good attendance record?” Kawecki asked.

She made a motion to appoint the third candidate, who was named as Jeff Rouse. Lubenow seconded the motion and Hasek and Council Member James Kotewa voted no. With Council Member Jay Maynard’s absence, Baarts had to cast the tiebreaker vote and approved the appointment of Rouse to the FEDA board.

The council also discussed putting out a Request for Proposal (RFP) for the Southern Minnesota Educational Campus (SMEC) building in Fairmont. The council had first discussed the matter at its April 28 meeting.

Right now, Community Education and Recreation (CER) occupies some of the building and the city holds some meetings in the space as well. STEP and United Hospital District have also recently rented out space within the facility.

Interim City Administrator, Jeff O’Neill said he was seeking authorization to move forward with the RFP. He said that the plan was to find qualified brokers for the building and to get some proposals to evaluate.

“I would think that you want to look at those proposals yourself and make a selection,” O’Neill said.

Luebnow said he thinks the building has really good bones and that there are opportunities for people looking to rehab an older building. He said he was concerned that the city didn’t seem too concerned about the purchase price as much as what the use would be.

He said he thinks housing is needed, which Kawecki agreed with. She said some housing for 50-plus individuals was needed and that housing was her priority over price.

The council approved the request for proposal (RFP) for the SMEC building and to authorize staff to advertise accordingly with marketing and sales assistance to be provided by a commercial property representative, to be names at a later date.