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FAIRMONT--Monday's Fairmont City Council agenda was short at just 33 pages and the council spent the majority of the meeting talking about discussion items. These included building code enforcement, pickleball and tennis courts and a city administrator evaluation.
The council talked about the possibility of adding pickleball and tennis courts at Jeffery Kot Fields, as it was added by Council Member Randy Lubenow.
Recently, both the council and the Fairmont Park Board have been talking about where to put new pickleball courts and the last location and amount being considered were Jeffery Kot Fields in the amount of about $880,000 for eight courts.
However, several years ago, both groups were also talking about redoing the current tennis/pickleball courts at Veterans Park.
Lubenow on Monday said that due to the urgency of the citizens to add pickleball courts, and the inability to put new ones at Veterans Park due to an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) investigation, he recommended using the money set aside to replace the pickleball courts and tennis courts at Veterans Park in the amount of $191,000 to build the same at the Jeffery Kot Soccer Complex.
"So in the next six to eight months, next spring, we can have two new pickleball courts and a tennis court," Lubenow said. "It's something we should do. We should get some results and get something done on the pickleball front, even if it's just two courts to start. Then if we move forward with the all seasons arena, we can definitely put more pickleball courts in there that will be used 365 days a year."
Public Works Director, Matthew York, said that a survey about the matter that council asked the city to put out had just closed on Monday so the information will be compiled and presented again to council.
However he pointed out that tennis courts were never formally part of the plan and that council will need to direct staff if it wants tennis courts to be included.
"We don't have direction from the council on a location. That item was pulled for ongoing discussion," York said.
Council Member James Kotewa said council and citizens seem to agree that the soccer fields are the best location.
"We just need to get this done. We've talked about it way too much," Kotewa said.
York said there is also information needed on the scope of the project that will affect the cost of the project.
Kotewa asked York to share a brief review of the survey results. York said most were saying between four to eight pickleball courts and that less than 50 percent wanted tennis courts included.
Council Member Britney Kawecki said she agreed that something needed to get done. She spoke about some outdoor pickleball courts in Okoboji, Iowa that she has recently visited, which she said were built in 2020 for $190,000.
"In my opinion, I think Jeff Kot fields on the north side of the parking lot, northeast corner, four courts," Kawecki said.
York said he thought the results of the survey should be brought back to the council, along with a recommendation from staff based on that information, along with some other questions, to the next city council meeting.
Lubenow agreed that the survey results should be considered.
"I really think four courts would be the max that I would support outdoors," Lubenow said.
Kawecki was in agreement and said that four courts was the feedback she had been getting from residents, too.
Kawecki had asked that discussion around the building code enforcement be added. This came following a large presence of residents at the last city council meeting, some of which spoke during public comment about issues with the city's building code and permitting barriers.
"Obviously we couldn't discuss it with them at open discussion, but I think we've all had people come and talk to us about these issues," Kawecki said.
She said she wanted the council to discuss whether or not it is a significant problem and if it is, she wanted the city to get some data and look at what other cities do.
Mayor Lee Baarts said he recently ran into some people who spoke about problems that they have had in that area as well.
City Administrator Jason Baker acknowledged that one individual with the city is doing code enforcement and that the budget has been looked at so that two part-time employees can be added in that department.
"As far as building, I met with a few different residents/business owners and talked to a few as well and worked through some problems, addressed them. It's one of those things where we want to make sure we're following the official building code for the state of Minnesota as well as our own codes," Baker said.
Lubenow said he has received one complaint about the Fairmont Police Department in seven years but that he's received 100 about the building department in the same amount of time.
"The state building codes are the same for every city in the state of Minnesota... our problem is that we interpret them differently," Lubenow said.
Kawecki said it was clear that council recognized that this was a problem and she asked what was going to be done about it.
"What are we asking? Are we going to compile data?... We can't keep saying 'we discussed it,' and move on. This has been going on and on and on for decades. I feel that there has to be some kind of formal plan or formal action to show us. There's got to be comparable data," Kawecki said.
Lubenow said he thought pre-project meetings would be helpful and that having more in writing would help prevent frustrations and delays.
Baker said that from the city side, he agrees that there are certain ways that things can be done. He said he is still getting used to the way things are done in Fairmont.
"There's multiple ways about it but my hope is that with this new software we're looking at, it is that all-inclusive where we're going to have that ability to see amongst different departments and everything that's going on so that will open up communication," Baker said.
Moving to the final discussion item, Kawecki had also asked that the city administrator evaluation be added for discussion, citing the need to complete the evaluations as outlined in the contract.
"The three month date was July 21. It's in the contract. Councilor (James) Kotewa brings it up frequently how many administrators we've been through and I had said before with Administrator (Matt) Skaret, we should have done an evaluation with him at the three month mark. He was never given that opportunity," Kawecki said.
She said that evaluations aren't all about negativity but that positive things can be pointed out, too.
Kotewa asked to confirm that it would be a review and not an evaluation. Kawecki said it was the same thing.
"No they're not," Kotewa said. "We're not evaluating him. We're going to review and have a discussion with him to help him... not to evaluate."
He said he didn't necessarily think a review needed to be done and that the council could wait to do one at the six month mark.
"I don't agree with that. We agreed as a council and it's in his contract and if we don't follow the contract we're in violation of the contract as well," Kawecki said.
Mayor Lee Baarts asked City Clerk Betsy Steuber to send an email out to the council to see what dates and time council members are free to meet.
Kotewa said he still wanted clarification from the city attorney on the difference between a review and evaluation. Human Resources Manager, Rachel Viesselman, when asked said she thought they were very similar in nature, too.
In other news:
-- The council authorized the advertisement for bids for the sand filter project at the Fairmont Aquatic Park.
-- The council approved waiving the unsigned bid form irregularity and awarded a contract to Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories INC. (SEL) for $91,749, including freight for the furnishing control panels at the WIP substation, and authorized execution of the contract documents.