Trending
FAIRMONT-- The Fairmont City Council on Monday heard from Finance Director, Paul Hoye, regarding replacement of the city's website.
Hoye said the current website has been in place since 2013 and lacks functionality and design and does not meet ADA requirements. He said the council, wanting to address it, set aside money for the project in the 2026 budget and in July approved putting out a Request for Proposal (RFP).
After the city put out the RFP, Hoye said 80 proposals came in and a committee narrowed it down to 13 that met the minimum qualifications of the proposal. The list was then narrowed down to three and those three companies came in to do presentations.
"Ultimately the committee decided that CivicPlus was the top choice and offered the best services and functionality for our needs," Hoye said.
There is an implementation cost of $46,014.25 , which is within the budget for the project, and an annual service fee of $30,924.01 in both 2027 and 2028.
Council Member Britney Kawecki asked if the annual service fee will continue after 2028.
Ryan Anderson, account executive with CivicPlus, explained the investments for ongoing maintenance of the software.
"It includes service, security, all of the priorities in terms of service and ADA compliance," Anderson said.
Kawecki asked whether the $31,000 annual fee would continue every year and Anderson said yes. Kawecki asked Hoye whether other companies that submitted a RFP had an annual service fee and Hoye said that the others had a comparable annual maintenance cost.
Council Member Randy Lubenow asked if staff would be involved in updating the website at all and Hoye said that it would be a joint venture between city staff and CivicPlus staff.
Council Member Jay Maynard pointed out that there are multiple things involved in updating a website like the city's. He said the contract provides not only the software, but the complete maintenance of it, along with full hosting services.
"We're not just paying them to update the content on the site. We're paying them to to maintain the infrastructure, the software that runs everything, so we don't have to," Maynard said.
Lubenow acknowledged that Maynard has a background with computers and that Maynard was on the committee. He asked if Maynard felt this company was the best choice and Maynard said yes.
Lubenow made a motion to approve the CivicPlus statement of work and addendum to the master services agreement for the city of Fairmont website replacement project.The motion passed unanimously.
The council on Monday also considered an ordinance granting a cable franchise to midcontinet communications (Midco).
City Clerk Betsy Steuber said the city has been working on the renewal of the cabe franchise agreement with Midco and that there is an adjustment to the franchise fee.
"Currently the city receives a 1.5 percent franchise fee on cable television revenues and the proposed agreement in front of you would increase that to 4 percent," Steuber told the council.
She said that, according to Mido, customers currently pay about 75 cents to $3 per month in franchise fees, depending on the cable package they have. With the proposed 4 percent increase, those fees would change to $2 to $8 per month, depending on the package.
"The fee is for cable television services, not general internet services," Steuber stressed.
Lubenow asked what the franchise fee is used for and Hoye said there is not a specific source but the money just goes into the general fund revenue.
"It's about $40,000 a year that we currently collect at 1.5 percent so the increase to 4 percent will raise roughly $66,000 in revenue that would go into the general fund," Hoye said.
Lubenow said if they're doubling the fee, he wants to know what the money would go to and said he would like to see it offset some other costs.
"It seems like we're adding another user fee to the citizens of Fairmont and I understand it but if we don't have a specific reason to do it, I don't know how I feel about it," Lubenow said.
Kawecki agreed and asked why the jump is from 1.5 to 4 percent.
City Administrator Jason Baker said that the city did research on what other cities in the region are doing and that many had a capped 5 percent fee.
He said that while there is not a designated use for the funds, it helps offset the property taxes by going into the general fund. Hoye added that if the council wants to designate use of some of the funds, it can.
Council Member James Kotewa said he agreed with Lubenow and Kawecki and suggested some of the money could go toward the lakes or the parks.
"It needs to go to a specific area," Kotewa said.
After some more discussion, Lubenow said he would support keeping the 1.5 percent going to the general fund but putting the other 2.5 percent into the Lakes Restoration fund. That was made into a motion, which Kotewa seconded.
Kawecki questioned whether he wanted to go with the full 4 percent increase and whether he wanted the full 4 percent to go to the lakes.
"We have 1.5 percent already in the budget...since that's already there, I think if we're going to increase it, we should take the full increase and give it to the lakes," Lubenow said.
When asked if that would work Hoye said that it was doable.
Lubenow's motion to approve the first reading of the ordinance passed 4-1 with Kawecki opposed. A public hearing on the matter will take place at 5:30 p.m. during the city council meeting on Nov. 23.
In other business, a public hearing for the 2026 improvement program was held. No one spoke up during the public hearing regarding the overlay projects but Mayor Lee Baarts acknowledged a written objection from the Martin County Historical Society, which was affected by the Blue Earth Avenue overlay project.
The letter cited the benefits the museum, which is a non-profit, adds to the community and how it benefits the local economy.
"There are very limited situations where properties are excluded from assessments... non-profits are not one of them," said city civil engineer, Tyler Cowing.
A motion was made try Kawecki to pass on the objection and the motion passed unanimously. The council unanimously adopted the special assessments for the 2026 improvement program as presented.
In other news:
-- Police Chief Mike Beletti presented a lifesaving award to community member, Carter Simmering, who on Oct. 8 quickly reacted when he noticed another student at Fairmont High School choking during lunch and was able to successfully administer the Heimlich maneuver.
-- The council recognized several employees for their years of service including, Bryan Kastning, fire department, 20 years; Cade Hartwig, fire department, 15 years; Troy Barnes, public works department, 10 years.