FAIRMONT– The Fairmont City Council on Monday faced a 217 page agenda with the absence of Councilors Britney Kawecki and Wayne Hasek. While much was on the agenda, many of the people gathered inside council chambers were present for the hearing on the 2025 Improvement Program, which entailed the Lake Avenue project.

Tyler Cowing, an engineer with the city, prefaced the hearing by acknowledging that the Lake Avenue project was the sole project for the 2025 Improvement Program.

It was a total reconstruction project from Bixby Road to Fairlakes Avenue that carried an expected project cost of $6.25 million. Original estimated assessments were $934,000 in total and it came out to $100.68 per assessable front foot.

Cowing gave a brief update on the project, which has not yet been completed though it was expected to be completed in November 2025. Cowing said that work is expected to start again in mid to late April for concrete work. He also answered a question regarding potential penalties that was asked during public comment.

“There is a penalty. I do believe it is $1,500 per day,” Cowing said.

He added that the assessments are based off of the averages of past projects.

Council Member Randy Lubenow said it seems like some people have been more inconvenienced than others with the project. He asked if the council can consider whether it can give adjustments to anyone’s assessments.

Cowing said he was unaware of any prior instances of that happening and that he didn’t know how they could judge inconvenience.

“Inconvenience is based on what type of utility work and how long it’s taking the contractor and that can vary from contractor to contractor. It’s something that could be looked at in the city’s assessment policy,” Cowing said.

One the hearing was opened, several people immediately spoke about a property at 1300 Lake Avenue which spans 74 acres. They objected the $395,237 assessment (with 5 percent interest) they were given, saying it was unlawful, unsupported by any special benefit to the farm and inconsistent with long-standing Minnesota law.

The representative of a business along Lake Avenue also spoke up and said that while the project has gone well, they wished there was some signage up saying that the businesses could still be accessed.

“I had a pretty significant loss in revenue, but I still paid my taxes that year,” they said.

Another person with property along Lake Avenue pointed out that the project was supposed to be done last November and said that while they haven’t complained, they felt like those affected should be compensated for the inconvenience.

At one point during the hearing Mayor Lee Baarts expressed thanks to those who live or work along Lake Avenue for their patience during the project and said that city hall did not receive that many complaints during the vast majority of it.

“I, too, would be here tonight if I lived or had a business out there and were getting my taxes raised on a job that’s not done,” Baarts said.

After several people had spoken, City Attorney David Assaf with Flahety and Hood encouraged the council to act on any written objections that were submitted or to table them before the public hearing was closed.

There was some confusion on whether a written or verbal objection was sufficient. City Clerk Betsy Steuber said that notices were sent out to all affected property owners which included information on how to properly submit objections and that the information was also printed in the paper.

Assaf confirmed and said, “my understanding is that written objection would be required during the public hearing if not before.”

While only two properties had initially sent in written objections, during the meeting four additional property owners, who were present, were able to quickly write out and submit their objection to Steuber, who was present.

Assaf made a recommendation to continue the hearing to address the six objections at the next regular meeting on April 13, 2026. A motion was made to do that by Council Member Jay Maynard. The motion passed.

A motion was then made by Lubenow to close the hearing except for those six properties. The motion passed.

The council then had to consider adopting resolution 2026-14, adopting special assessments for the 2025 Improvement Program, minus the six properties that objected.

“My only reservation is we’re passing this before the project is done. To me, I have a little bit of a problem with that because some people have the benefit of the new road but some people don’t have the benefit of the new road and everybody is being asked to pay the assessments starting when we approve this,” Lubenow said.

He asked whether that was normal or if the payments could wait until the project is done.

“I don’t know if I can say that this project is normal from all of our other projects,” Acting Administrator Paul Hoye admitted.

He said that usually most of a project is completed before the assessments are certified but that there have been times when a project isn’t completed before the property owners are assessed.

Council Member James Kotewa asked how much of the Lake Avenue project is done and Public Works Director, Matthew York, said that it’s about 85 percent done.

“All of the underground work is done… we’re probably about thee weeks off of getting it completed,” York said.

It was pointed out that the first payment wouldn’t be until 2027 though interest would start accruing once the resolution was passed.

After some research, Assaf said that the council could set the interest start date in the resolution. Lubenow said he would like it to be Aug. 1.

Lubenow made a motion to adopt resolution 2026-14, adopting special assessments for the 2025 Improvement Program with the modification that the accrual of interest start date be Aug. 1, 2026 and also subject to the modifications made of the six properties that have been objected. The motion passed.