ABOVE: A look at the sidewalk, bollards and light on Downtown Plaza in Fairmont. The city council on Monday approved going out for an RFP for an infrastructure improvement consult.

FAIRMONT– The Fairmont City Council considered a Request for Proposal (RFP) for downtown infrastructure improvement consultant during its meeting on Monday.

The major components of the project are Public Works matters and include, but are not limited to, pedestrian access/walkways, lighting, bollards, ADA accessibility, beautification and stormwater quality improvements.

Public Works Director Matthew York said, “as part of our downtown revitalization program, one aspect of it is the downtown infrastructure needs that we all are aware of.”

He said city staff was bringing forth a recommendation for an RFP and once they’re received, people can be assigned to a committee for future decisions. York said this is one part of the downtown plan, which several different city departments, and funding sources, are involved in.

“None of these things stand alone, they’re all part of how we’re going to get this accomplished and how we’re going to rejuvenate the downtown,” York said.

Council Member Britney Kawecki made a motion to go through with the RFP, which Council Member James Kotewa seconded. The motion unanimously passed.

The council on Monday also also considered the Minnesota capital bonding request for Fairlakes Avenue and Charles Street/ Kot Roadways.

York said that the project has been going on for about a year as the initial application was put through by representative Bjorn Olson. He said the state senate bonding committee has since requested the city participate in a Zoom tour next week on Sept. 16.

“We were just notified last Monday of the request,” York said. “We wanted to bring it to council tonight to make sure we’re still on board with the project.”

The Charles Street extension would go from the top of the hill, down behind the Kruger Realty property and lead into the north side of the soccer complex. York said it will also include modifications to the parking lot area to create a smaller roadway to reduce speed traffic.

“The project also includes a walking path along the Kot Soccer Complex,” York said. “The introduction of that roadway would open up 18.5 acres of R-1 zoned land that does not have current access.”

He added that Kruger Realty is still interested in moving forward with building homes as part of that project.

York said the second part of the project would include the extension of Fairlakes Avenue from Hengen Street up to Lake Avenue just south of the Armory.

“That would open up approximately 75 acres of city-owned property that could be utilized for either single family homes, multi-family homes, recreational sites along that roadway,” York said.

The request then, York said, was to see if city council wanted to move forward with the capital bonding effort to see if the city could get state dollars to assist with the project.

However, Kawecki said she had concerns with this request and pointed out that council has not considered new roads.

“I also think the council hasn’t had time to review the 2040 comp plan to see if this is even in-line with the 2040 comp plan,” Kawecki said.

She said she thought the item needed to be tabled.

York said, “If we want to move forward, Sept. 16 is the date that we have to move forward with. City staff did not pick it.”

Kawecki asked whether that meant the city had to be committed to the project and York said that it meant that the city was requesting to move forward with the process and will provide information on the project. That will then go to the committees to decide whether it wants to fund the project.

“We always have the ability to stop it at any time,” York said.

In response, Lubenow said, “well, do we want to take the opportunity to grow the city or not? I’m saying we do so I move to approve.”

The motion was seconded by Council Member Jay Maynard and ultimately passed.

In other business, the council held its second reading for an ordinance amending the Charter of the city of Fairmont. The amendment had been suggested by the charter review team, consisting of city council members, charter commission members and citizens, to bring the city charter up to date.

In a roll call vote, approval of the ordinance amendment ended in a 5-1 vote with Kawecki voting no. This change required a unanimous vote of the council, not just a majority, and city attorney Kara Brown said that it failed.

The council also held held its second reading of an ordinance amending Fairmont City Code, Chapter 22- solid wastes; an ordinance amending Fairmont City Code, Chapter 17- nuisances; an ordinance amending Fairmont City Code, Chapter 2, Article 1.5- administrative citations and civil penalties. All of the ordinance amendments passed unanimously by council.

Finally, the council considered an amendment to the city’s purchase policy to reduce department director purchase authority from $15,000 to $10,000.

However, Kawecki said that since the earlier ordinance amendment pertaining to the charter of the city of Fairmont failed, she did not think this could be voted on. Lubenow made a motion to lower the purchase amount to $5,000 but it received no second and failed. After some discussion, Baarts suggested removing the agenda item so that legal counsel could look at it.

In other business:

— The council approved a $500,000 grant application to the MN DNR ReLeaf program, which will assist the city with private property Ash tree removal for those in the Environmental Justice (EJ) area.

— Lubenow suggested the council create a policy on city employees using city vehicles to commute to and from work when they live outside of city limits.

— Baarts said he has received a request from a resident to revert Maple Street back to a two-way street.

— York shared that the south side boat ramp at Gomsrud Park is complete following a recent reconstruction project.