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FAIRMONT--The Fairmont City Council held a second workshop on Tuesday to discuss the 2027 budget. The meeting really served as a continuation of the review of Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) projects that are either scheduled or proposed to be done in 2027 and included in that budget.
During the first meeting on Aug. 12, the council spent its time discussing budgets for the fire, street and parks departments. It also heard a proposal for a parks master plan and facilities condition and staffing needs assessments.
The council began its meeting on Tuesday by talking about the yard waste site, which has been a contentious topic in the past. Currently there's $515,000 in the 2027 budget.
Public Works Director, Matthew York, said there are three different components in the budget at the yard waste site: a garage enclosure area, a burn box (equipment, training and set-up) and a used excavator.
Council Member Britney Kawecki said that an $85,000 garage enclosure that's staffed seems on the high side. She asked York to talk about it more.
York said that there are multiple options when it comes to the type of structure but that the council needs to decide whether or not the area is going to be staffed. In the past council and staff have discussed having a staff member at the site to make sure no one is misusing it.
Kawecki said again she thought it was on the high side. She also questioned whether the excavator was needed but said she was interested in the burn box but wanted to know the cost to operate it.
"What is the cost of operating it versus burning two to three times a year?" she asked.
York said that $70,000 was the cost for one burn with a past company the city used. He said the burn box will be $300,000 but burning can happen whenever desired and that it has a 15 to 20 year lifespan on it.
"It's obviously going to be cheaper to burn the burn box over the course of those 20 years," York said.
However York said council also needs to be cognizant of the fact that burning is the least renewable option. He said grinding provides mulch and thus another lifecycle for the trees.
"Yes, we could get rid of grinding altogether but we need to think about how material is utilized in this world as well instead of just how to get rid of it," York said.
Council Member James Kotewa asked whether most equipment is kept indoors and York said yes so Kotewa said the basic building would help protect the equipment then and ensure it lasts longer. He asked whether the site would be staffed full-time and whether that would help prevent debris coming in from out of town.
York said he didn't foresee it being staffed full-time but maybe one day a week. Mayor Lee Baarts said that if someone is only going to be out at the site one day a week, they won't be able to stop anyone from illegally coming in.
"We (council) could sit here and have a whole work session on this, and we have, it's been going on for years, but if you're only going to man it one day a week and burn, I just don't know if that's the answer either," Baarts said.
Kotewa asked what the recommendation was from staff. York said it was a tough call and said that there would be cost-savings over time with the burn box but that there would be some caveats.
"I think we have better ways to spend $500,000 this year...but I also see the long-term benefits of it," York said.
After half an hour of conversation, Kawecki suggested the topic, and its related amount, be pulled from the budget altogether and that the council have a future work session to talk about it more. Other council members were in agreement, though Council Member Randy Lubenow expressed frustration.
"We've talked about it all the time. Again, we're talking about something and we're not going to take any action... it's just going to continue to be a problem," he said.
Moving back to streets and parks, which were discussed at length at the first budget workshop, Kawecki had some more questions about the amount of vehicles across both departments. She said there are 12 dump trucks in the street department and one in the park department, which Public Works Superintendent, Nick Lardy, agreed with.
"I just can't understand the reason or the feasibility to have that many trucks," Kawecki said. "It doesn't make sense to me how you're running 13 trucks."
Lardy said they do not run them all at once. Kawecki asked why there needs to be so many backup vehicles.
"New Ulm has seven dump trucks and if you look at the amount of streets they have, compared to the amount of streets we have, and the number of streets and parks employees they have compared to the number of streets and parks employees we have, to me, it comes back to the needs analysis before we start replacing more equipment."
Lardy gave a play-by-play of how his crew operates in a snow event.
"If you want to take these trucks out and we quit plowing the rest of the town, I don't have a problem with that. We'll do whatever you guys want us to do," Lardy said.
After questioning why there are more trucks now that Lardy is in his role, Lardy said he's been working for the city for 22 years and in his current role for 12 years.
Kawecki asked again how to justify this many vehicles when the town is not growing.
Lardy invited her to ride with him in a snow event so that she can see how and why a route is plowed.
After some more discussion between the two about the need for vehicles, York pointed out that Fairmont is different than New Ulm and that the two cities have a different set up.
He said, "If you want the level of service to change, that's fine. Nobody is arguing that due to budgetary constraints, things may have to change, but what we need to think about is, if we're going to do a needs analysis for our vehicles, are they going to say we need to get rid of six dump trucks? I'm going to guess that the answer is probably no."
City Administrator Jason Baker said that based off of the fleet vehicle equipment rating worksheet, if there are vehicles that are not safe for staff to be in, he will not put them on the road.
"We'll pull them from service and they'll just sit there. If they're not safe, just because council decides not to replace a vehicle, I'm not going to risk their lives in an unsafe vehicle, either," Baker said.
Lubenow said that the city was in this position now because people didn't do their job 10 years ago to start replacing equipment. Council Member Jay Maynard agreed with Lubenow.
"In no confidently-run city do they ask employees to deal with 33-year-old rust buckets of trucks with holes in the floor. That's just not how things should be done," Maynard said.
He said he also he trusts what Lardy said about what was needed to do the job.
"We hire city staff to do their job and do them confidently and we trust city management to make sure it's done that way. If we're constantly telling our employees, 'no you're don't know what you're doing'... how are we going to have people wanting to become city employees to do the work that needs to be done?" Maynard asked.
Kotewa said he was interested in looking at leasing options, as Kawecki previously suggested, but that he didn't want companys to make money on the city's back.
After another half hour of discussion about the vehicles, Baarts asked the council whether it wanted to keep the $450,000 to replace a 1984 motor grader in the budget, as it had been specifically discussed.
Kotewa said he did because it comes back to public safety.
"It needs to be in there," he said and Maynard agreed.
Kawecki asked Lardy whether the current truck could make it another year. Lardy said it could but that it needs to have some work done to it first.
York pointed out that the truck wasn't going to be purchased until January of 2027 and would not likely be on site to use until the 2027-28 snowfall season.
After some more discussion Baarts said he felt they should remove the motor grader from the budget until staff can get some more information. However, after Hoye pointed out that the preliminary budget and levy can be lowed but not raised before it's officially approved in December, Baarts said they could leave it in for now.
The council then got back to the CIP plan and discussed projects at the Fairmont Aquatic Park. The three items in the budget for 2027 are $10,000 for replacement of ADA stairs, $170,000 for resurfacing the splash pool and $70,000 for new lily pads.
"All of these projects will be funded out of the liquor store funds," Hoye said.
Moving to the water and wastewater department, Water/Wastewater Superintendent, Brady Powers, spoke about the $185,000 and $5.7 million respectively in the 2027 budget.
On the water side, there's $60,000 for the replacement of the oldest service truck from 2001, $75,000 for the phase one replacement of the power plant tower and $50,000 for Lime Press equipment updates.
For wastewater in 2027, projects include the lift station rehab, slip lining/manhole rehab projects, digester cleaning and lid coating and $4.5 million for the UV/solids handling upgrade project, which is already in the works.
"This $4.5 is not above and beyond the original project scope of our wastewater project... I truly believe it won't be anywhere close to that...I think it will be close to $2 million or less," Powers explained.
The police department budget was also discussed. Chief Mike Beletti said there are two squad cars that need to enter into new three-year leases for a total of $25,000. Also included in the 2027 budget is replacement of some radars, intoximeters, stationary radar signs and body armor. There is also $30,000 in the budget for a new drone program.
"We're looking at potentially implementing a drone program. This is something that we've never had before but we've called in some outside agencies to assist with the use of drones," Beletti said.
He further said that the use of the drone is not just to respond to criminal activity, but that they could be used to help locate a lost child or older resident as they have thermal capabilities.
Maynard asked what $30,000 would get them and Beletti said it would provide the drone and related equipment and also certification for an officer to fly it. He explained it would be a process to get to the point to successfully and appropriately run the program.
The council has a third budget workshop scheduled for 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Sept. 1. It's anticipated that the council will approve the preliminary budget at its first meeting in September, which is Sept. 14, though it does not need to be approved until Sept. 30.