FAIRMONT – With more numbers in, the Fairmont Housing and Redevelopment Authority (HRA) decided against their plans to acquire the Whitetail Ridge Project at their meeting on Monday.

Fairmont HRA Executive Director Gail Diede said the interest rate for Whitetail Ridge would be 5.34 percent and a monthly mortgage payment of $2,300, assuming no vacancies or delinquencies in a given year.

Given the costs, the report drawn up indicates that the rent would have to be $2,800 per unit per month for these two-bedroom units, and tenants would be responsible for all utilities.

HRA Commissioner Clare Mosloski said the whole thing had her conflicted on purchasing Whitetail Ridge.

“I think investment, I don’t know if $2,800 a month is doable,” she said. “I think it would be different if we could prove we had a list of renters. What if they’re vacant? For the vacant, we eat around $2,300 a month.”

HRA Board Member Jerry Edwards asked if there was anyone in town paying that kind of rent. Diede said it’s a house payment-sized amount, to which City Council Liaison Randy Lubenow added it’s a very expensive house payment.

“If we bond $1.1 million, that diminishes our bonding authority,” HRA Board Member Diana Bradley said.

With all of this in mind, Mosloski said there are other avenues they can pursue besides this project.

“I think there’s just too many conflicts right now,” she said. “In my opinion, it would be nice to see if we could go the cheaper route to build even those slab or modular [homes] like Albert Lea did, or we could get something like that to work and put our funds into that on the lots that we already own. Right now, I feel like that’s a better option for the HRA.”

The HRA currently has 10 lots on which they can build. Bradley said they already have utilities there, so while there may be some development costs, they are in better shape.

Bradley motioned to not move forward with acquiring Whitetail Ridge, which Edwards seconded. The motion was approved unanimously by the board.

In other news:

— The HRA approved making their own brine solution to use on their sidewalks and roads in the wintertime. HRA Maintenance Professional Terrance Park said right now they are paying $1,700 for a 250-gallon tote of solution. With a one-time investment of $9,730 for a Brine Buddy machine, they could make a 300-gallon tote of solution for only $107.55 using 17 bags of ice melt salt. Park said they generally go through two totes a year, which means their total money spent on de-icing materials would go down from $3,400 to around $215. There’s no manpower required to run the machine, but there are some electricity and water costs included. Edwards said the idea sounded like a no-brainer, and the board agreed, approving the measure unanimously.