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FAIRMONT-- Along with talking about ideas for an all-seasons rec center, the Fairmont City Council in a work session on Wednesday spent some time talking about how it wants to use some of the Local Option Sales Tax (LOST) funds on future lake projects.
With about $12.7 million available, the council at an earlier work session decided it would like to put about $10 million toward a building project and dedicate the other $2 million for the lakes.
"My thought process is, this is a major decision that this council will make. Probably bigger than a rec center because if we mess it up, it could have catastrophic consequences because it's our drinking water also," said Council Member Randy Lubenow.
He said he would like to hear from some various people and groups who have previously presented to the Lakes Management Committee and Fairmont Lakes Foundation, such as Dr. Ryan Wersal and his team from Minnesota State University-Mankato, that has been studying the Fairmont chain of lakes.
"I'd like to have a work session with those groups here and we hear what they have to offer and then we can take that information to an outside professional. To me, the DNR should have been through this already. Once we hear the presentations and say, 'hey, we'd like to explore going with this process to help our lakes,' DNR should be able to say, 'yes, we tried that here and it had some effects,' or 'no, it didn't work,'" Lubenow said.
He added that problems with lakes aren't a new thing for Minnesota as many communities struggle with problems such as runoff from farmland.
Council Member Jay Maynard said he thought it was good to get experts involved but said in the past when the city has tried to do something with the lakes, it's had run-ins with the DNR.
"Whatever we do about the lakes, the DNR pops up almost immediately so the very first thing we need to do is get them involved," Maynard said.
Council Member James Kotewa added that another thing the council needs to do first is get clarity on what the LOST funds can actually be used on pertaining to the lakes.
The language in the ballot measure that passed back in 2016 said that the money could be used on recreational amenities, trials and a community center.
"Whether it be buying our own harvester... we need to find out what we can actually utilize," Kotewa said.
Mayor Lee Baarts said that after renting a harvester this past summer to help remove some Curly Leaf Pondweed (CLP), which costed the city $170,000, he wondered whether the city could consider the possibility of having its own.
"Yeah we'd have to maintain it, buy it, hire someone to drive it, but I'm just saying, if we continue to pay $200,000 more a year, does it work out to own our own?" Baarts asked. "Then we'd have control over when it goes in, what it does."
Council Member Britney Kawecki said she thought they needed to remember that it would cost more than $2 million, which she called a drop in the bucket, to address the needs of the lakes.
"It's going to be working with all of the different agencies and applying for grants," Kawecki said.
She agreed that Fairmont is a farming community, but she said that grass clipping from mowing can get into the lakes, too.
"The phosphorous is in the lakes. We're all to blame. I'm not going to point my finger at anybody else. It's about figuring out how we stop it from getting into our lakes," she said.
City Administrator Jason Baker shared that a staff member in the finance department is being trained on grant writing and it will become part of their job duties to look for and apply to grants.
"The intention is to start with the LOST and lakes stuff because we know that's where council's main priories are at right now," Baker said.
The council also spent some time talking about who technically owns the lakes and is responsible for them.
Baarts said, "Let's say, we don't own them, but we profit from them. If we can maintain them, yes, tax payers pay for service on them, our parks are on them, we profit from the lakes. Everyone says that's our drawing point."
Kotewa pointed out that the city's drinking water is drawn from the lakes and that they're a resource everyone in the community uses in that respect.
At the end of the discussion, Baarts said he understood that council wanted to get some different groups together to talk about possible ideas the city can pursue to improve the lakes.
"Before we go spend the money, yes I believe we need to do like what Jay said and get together with the DNR," Baarts said.