ABOVE: The former public works building in Fairmont. The building and its condition was a topic of conversation during the Fairmont City Council meeting on Monday.

FAIRMONT–The Fairmont City Council discussed the usage and condition of the old public works building on East Margaret Street during its meeting on Monday.

Public Work Director Matthew York said the old public works building, at 425 E. Margaret Street, which houses the parks and streets and maintenance departments, was moved to the new public works building, just up the road at 801 E. Margaret Street, in the spring of 2023.

“Currently, what is in the old public works building, on the parks side… is a lot of materials that are parks-centric like our Sakrete, garbage cans, park benches, et. cetera,” York said.

On the streets side there is a brine making machine to make salt brine, along with barricades and a sweeper. York said there are a few other pieces of equipment that are used sometimes, but not all of the time.

York explained that the fire department’s boat trailer and some random steel and other raw materials are kept there for when repairs need to be done.

“The exterior of the building is kind of where the property is used a lot. We have chips, seal chips and riprap and steel posts… anything and everything. It’s kind of the center of our exterior storage,” York said.

Speaking more about the property, York said that the old public works building site is adjacent to the wastewater treatment plant and that there are materials buried in the rear of the property and that it would likely need to be unearthed and taken care of before the property could be sold.

He added that if the property were ever to be sold, it would be a loss of real estate that the city could use in the future, not to mention a loss of indoor and outdoor storage.

York instead suggested that the building could be rehabilitated or turned into cold storage. He also said the building could be demolished with outdoor storage remaining.

“The property itself is extremely important for the functionality of our public works department,” York said.

After York’s presentation, Council Member James Kotewa asked if the city was still utilizing the cold storage on the south side of Margaret Street and whether there was a way to eliminate that site and move the equipment to the old building and make a portion of it cold storage.

Street and Parks Superintendent Nick Lardy was present and said that about a quarter of the equipment could fit in the building because there was a lot already in it.

“We have a lot of equipment in there yet,” Lardy said. “We keep our garbage truck in there, because it stinks.”

He rattled off other pieces of equipment from various department that are in kept in the old public works building.

Council Member Britney Kawecki said, “three of us were here when you stood there and talked about the need for this new building and how the old building basically was inhabitable and there were OSHA violations and the heating and the cooling and everything.”

She said she does not remember addressing the OSHA violations or the heating and cooling issues. Lardy said nothing has been done concerning those issues and Kawecki said that that was concerning to her.

“I’m having a really hard time with this because this is a huge expense to the tax payers. We built a brand new $10 million building and now we’re being asked to keep this building, keep the cold storage building, we have all of this– it appears– all of this excess equipment that other communities don’t have and then the outdoor storage, 50 tons of seal coat chips,” Kawecki said.

She questioned a few of the other materials that are kept on the site of the old public works building.

“When is it going to be enough room for a city that hasn’t grown since the 70s?” Kawecki asked.

Lardy said he could explain each of the uses Kawecki just listed and proceeded to do so.

“It’s all used,” Larry said in summary.

Council Member Randy Lubenow said he had more concerns about the employees that work in the building and whether it was safe for them. He specifically brought up some electrical issues.

“I just think we really need to do something with the building… just leaving it sit there, we were told we needed the new building because of how terrible of shape the old building was in but yet we still have some people working in there and we’re still storing stuff so to me it continues to be a hazard,” Lubenow said.

Lardy pointed out that when the new building was designed, it was made known to council that there would not be enough room in it for all of the city’s vehicles.

“I wrote a winter use and a summer use and it was using the other two buildings. Just so everyone knows that,” he said.

Mayor Lee Baarts encouraged the council to stay focused on the old public works building, rather than talk about the new public works building.

Council Member Jay Maynard said there was some concern about the old building as it looks like it’s “about to fall over sideways.” He recommended making some of it cold storage while making necessary repairs on the other part to keep the building upright.

Lardy said that the lights and water could be cut and that the roof could be fixed up. He also said the building could be torn down if that’s what the council wanted.

“If we’re going to keep this as a functional building, I think we should try to make it look as such,” Lubenow said.

He said he would like to see some cost estimates for painting the building and repairing the roof so that the council can budget for the work in the future.

Lubenow also said he did not want diesel trucks to be running inside the building because it’s known that there’s not an internal system to get rid of the fumes.

“If you have the doors wide open, that means we’re heating the outside too so I don’t really like that option either,” Lubenow said.

Lardy addressed the concern and said that doors are open long enough to get the trucks out.

A motion was made to direct staff to continue utilizing a portion of the building at 425 E. Margaret Street for heated vehicle storage during the winter months with the remaining space used for cold storage and to include for future budgets, the cost for outdoor storage, screening and painting of the building, along with roof repairs, electrical repairs and door maintenance.

The motion passed 4-1 with Kawecki opposed.

On Monday York also spoke about vehicle purchasing standards. During budget workshops this past season, the council had requested a vehicle replacement schedule be made to help with future budget workshops.

As part of the program, the components that would make up the replacement criteria include months of service, mileage, mechanical condition, body condition, interior condition and equipment conditions.

“The purpose of doing this is to put vehicles on a replacement schedule so that we can… make sure that money is available when vehicles are up for replacement, and to also give staff the ability to track vehicles and look at their maintenance and how the vehicles are preforming within the department,” York said.

When asked what the cost of the program would be, York said, “All of this would be based on a spreadsheet… there is no cost for additional software or anything like that.”

Kawecki said she didn’t have issues with the policy, but with the sequence.

“We need to be doing a deep analysis of the existing equipment that we have currently. We need to identify what is needed, what can be shared, what can be rented and what can be sold,” Kawecki said.

She said that would be a starting point. York said that his department is currently looking at all vehicles and working to identify the purpose of each vehicle.

Maynard made a motion to approve the program as presented. The motion passed 4-1 with Kawecki opposed.

In other business:

— The council approved a request to continue conversations with Advantage Aviation Services to develop a land lease agreement and initiate a FAA review and approval process.

— The council awarded task order #3 to Bolton & Menk for lead service line construction management services. All potential costs will be reimbursable under the state program.

— York presented a power point on the maintenance status of unpaved roads within the city and discussed potential changes to the criteria for developing and evaluating future maintenance and/or pavement and dust control.

— The council approved a Cedar Creek Park wetland restoration project.

— The council approved of staff applying for the Minnesota Department of Health Source Water Protection Implementation grant worth $13,000.

— The council approved, on a 3-2 vote, a Request for Proposal (RFP) for aquatic invasive removal and treatment in the Fairmont Chain of Lakes.