FAIRMONT– Several stakeholders met on Wednesday for the first official Minnesota Main Streets meeting in Fairmont. The group identified some key areas to focus on including public restrooms, parking and housing.

Back in October 2024, some members of Greater Plaza Area Council (GPAC), formerly Downtown Association, had asked the city council for its support in joining Minnesota Main Street, which the council was in favor of.

Minnesota Main Street is a program of Rethos and is affiliated with Main Street America, an organization dedicated to re-energizing and strengthening older and historic downtowns nationwide. Members of GPAC said they had learned of the organization through Steve Hawkins of Project 1590.

Hawkins on Wednesday acted as facilitator of the meeting and shared that the group had become an official member of Minnesota Main Street this past spring after Project 1590 submitted the application.

To start, the local group is a “network” member, which is the lowest level of the program. It’s free for the first three years and costs $250 after that. There are four levels of membership in total.

Hawkins gave a program handbook to those present which had more information about the Rethos Minnesota Main Street.

“What they want us to initially do is start organizing and set up what we’re looking to do,” Hawkins said.

He said that every community that is a member has a focus on different things. Some are focused on refurbishing buildings, some on flowers and some on events.

“1590’s belief on this, as a non-profit organization, is vitality for the community. It’s pretty much established that communities with a strong, healthy downtown are communities that thrive at a higher level,” Hawkins said.

The group began by establishing what “downtown” all includes and settled on a six block radius that starts around Ward Park and ends at the railroad tracks past the end of Downtown Plaza. It also includes properties like the Martin County Library, Red Rock Center for the Arts and Fairmont Area Chamber of Commerce office.

Hawkins acknowledged that there have recently been some great events put on downtown by both GPAC and Imagine Martin.

“This process has gone really smoothly so far and I think we started this process at a good time. There’s a lot of great things happening and hopefully this just helps coordinate that all together,” Hawkins said.

When talking about what kind of things need to be focused on, some GPAC members who are also downtown business owners immediately said public restrooms are needed.

While city hall has a public bathroom, they are unaccessible after city hall closes daily at 4:30 p.m.

Pat Oman, Fairmont’s Community Development Director, said the topic could be brought back to the city council.

“Nothing should keep us from constructing a public restroom of sorts, even connected to city hall. We have that grassy area that’s connected right where the bathrooms are,” Oman said. “I can appreciate why the business community doesn’t want an open door policy on their restrooms, especially when it’s busy.”

The group also talked about the city’s Blue Earth Avenue/Downtown improvement project that is currently in the works.

“There’s facade improvements, brick replacement, streetscape. Inserting a public restroom component is easy from a cost standpoint. I don’t think there should be an issue,” Oman said.

The only possible downfall, Oman said, is that the public parks are facing some problems with homelessness, which could hit the public restrooms, too.

“We’re trying to give them the services that are available to people that are homeless, the Salvation Army, Health and Human Services,” Oman said.

GPAC member Sara Cyphers said she isn’t aware of any major crime or vandalism problems specific to the downtown area.

“The good news about downtown is the more traffic you have, the less vandalism,” Hawkins said.

City Council Member Britney Kawecki spoke more about some of the downtown improvements that the city is pursuing, such as bollards, lighting and greenspace.

“For the sidewalk, we’ll either cover the pavers with something or do something with the sidewalks,” Kawecki said.

Oman added that staff is also going to be addressing the problem with weeds on the sidewalks downtown.

The group also talked about adding some signage downtown to point out where some specific shops are located. It also talked about housing.

Oman pointed out that the city council has approved of the rehab program through the local housing trust fund.

“Ned (Koppen) and I starting next week are going to knock on every downtown retailer’s door and let them know about the program for rehabilitating their upstairs if they have not already. It’s up to a $25,000 loan and 50 percent matched,” Oman said. “That $25,000 is in the form of a 0 interest deferred forgivable loan.”

Another thing that was touched on was parking downtown and the lack of enforcement. Chamber President Kandi Menne pointed out that there is parking behind many of the businesses, yet people often forget about it.

“There’s people that should know. It’s employees,” Cyphers said.

Parking on Downtown Plaza has a two hour limit but several noted that vehicles sit in the same spot for much longer.

“A couple years ago I had them (law enforcement) look into enforcement so they did come by and mark them, but then I had people complain that it was being enforced,” Kawecki said.

Hawkins said he felt like some education on the matter was needed, along with some signage to let people know not only about the time limit, but the local lots that are available for parking.

Another thing Hawkins touched on was the presence of a historic structure downtown.

“The Fairmont Opera House, that facility in this community is irreplaceable. Some downtowns wish they had that; we do. It’s an anchor. Other businesses and restaurants can benefit from it. I think it’s very important to our community,” Hawkins said.

The group talked about meeting every other month to start as it works to identify areas of focus.