FAIRMONT– The Lakes Management Committee reconvened on Tuesday at Fairmont City Hall after not having met since November 2025.

Fairmont’s Water Resources Coordinator, Hannah Neusch, opened the meeting by giving an update on the contract with Premier Lake Harvesting for removal and treatment of aquatic invasive species, specifically Curly Leaf Pondweed (CLP) in the Fairmont Chain of Lakes.

Back in December 2025 the city council had approved working with the city’s legal team to draft a contract with staff’s recommended contractor, Premier Lake Harvesting following a Request for Proposal (RFP) process. At its most recent meeting, the council approved just a portion of the contract, phase one, but had some questions and caveats about phase two. Neusch noted that negotiations are currently happening between the city and the contractor.

“One of the things I want to talk to the contractor about is, is it even possible to do phase one and phase two at two different times because we have a very limited timeframe to get this done for permitting,” Neusch said.

She said the original cost for phase one was $20,000 per treatment for three treatments and phase two was $38,000 per treatment.

However, Neusch said that she recently heard from the contractor and was told that if the city only does phase one, there will be an increased cost as it is not guaranteed that there will be a phase two. Therefore, it would be $26,000 per treatment for three treatments.

“That of course is something we’ll be bringing to council because they wanted some more direction before signing the contract,” Neusch said.

Britney Kawecki, who is both a member of the city council and lakes management committee, said, “our main goal as the council making the decision is we want to make sure we’re getting a positive response for the money that we’re putting in.”

Some of the language in the contract was discussed, specifically language that says there will be at least two harvest treatments but no more than three.

Jon Omvig, a representative of the Fairmont Lakes Foundation (FLF), asked if there’s an anticipated start date for the contractor. Neusch said that it would be as soon as possible.

“He wants to do an on-site visit at the end of March, beginning of April,” Neusch said. “I’m guessing at that point he’ll get a feel for where they’re at in the growth cycle,” she said of the aquatic invasive species.

Also during the meeting, Neusch spoke about the Curly Leaf Pondweed extended study that has been approved by the city council. For the study, Minnesota State University-Mankato will assign a graduate student to the Chain of Lakes.

“There’s going to be an undergraduate team doing water testing all summer and they’ll also be doing turion testing to see what the turion bank looks like to see if our management efforts are improving,” Neusch said.

On the topic of CLP, it was shared that Waters Edge will again be partnering with the city for a CLP pick-up service that will be offered both by curbside and dock pick-up.

Omvig also provided some FLF updates. He said they will be doing carp removal with Hand’s Fish Seining with some funds from Martin Soil and Water Conservation District. He said it will cost about $20,000.

FLF will also be purchasing some new kayaks for the kiosks and also are looking at replacing some of the kiosks themselves.

A spring clean up of Hall Lake is tentatively planned for May 2 and FLF’s Spring fishing tournament is set for May 16.

“We also talked about the amount of trash that was on the ice as people pulled their fishing shacks off,” Omvig said.

He said FLF was previously a member of Keep It Clean, a non-profit out of northern Minnesota, where they provided bags for collecting trash and helped spread messaging about keeping the lakes clean. However, the state recently took over the program and FLF has since stepped out of the program.

“There’s probably going to be grants available this summer to apply for activities next winter. I believe last round they covered cost of trash collection, garbage trucks, bins, advertising, etc.,” Omvig said. “We support in going after it because it is an issue.”

There was a discussion about who is in charge of enforcing no littering on the lakes.

Mike Schultz, planning, zoning and code enforcement coordinator for the city, who is also a former police officer, said that the county oversees the water but noted they’re not on the water very much.

“It’s usually a college student looking to get into law enforcement but their effort is not really for litter control, but they have the availability to target that,” Schutz said.

He said it could be suggested to the Sheriff that little control be watched out for.

Neusch asked if the ice is still on, if the county is still responsible for enforcing litter laws on it and Schutz said the county is typically responsible for anything on the water.

“The reality is, if we’re having issues on the Fairmont chain, every other lake in the county that has ice fishing has the exact same issue,” Omvig said.

He said the grants available weren’t huge but still in the $10,000 to $20,000 range.

Schutz said, “you’d like to think that everyone would have the fortitude to pick up their garbage.”

Kawecki said she thought trying to monitor people on the lake for littering would be “an uphill battle” and “almost impossible.” She said she would like to look for grants that could provide geofencing to get the messaging out to remind people to clean up after themselves and to keep the lakes clean.

“I think that’s more beneficial at this point than trying to ask the sheriff’s department to get out on the lakes,” she said.

However, Neusch said she felt like they could look into both possibilities.

In other business:

— The Minnesota Department of Health Source Water Protection Implementation Grant was touched on. With the $14,000 grant, some BioHaven floating islands have been ordered which will be installed.

— Neusch shared that the compost bins and rain barrel sales are happening now. This is the first year compost bins are being offered by the city in this way though rain barrels have been offered in the past.

— Jesse Walters with Martin Soil and Water Conservation District spoke about a wetland restoration project, which he said will be a mid to late summer project on the west side of Hall Lake.