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Filing opens for next city and school board leaders

MARTIN COUNTY — In the city elections across Martin County, mayoral, city council and school board seats are up for election and will be open for filing starting today. For Fairmont, Lee Baarts' four-year mayoral seat was last open in 2022, when he beat Charles Pearson 2,303-1,333. Wards one and three are also up for election. After losing to Deb Foster in 2022, Randy Lubenow won the Ward three seat in 2024 after filling in for Foster when she left. Ward one was last up for election in 2022, when Jay Maynard beat Jon Davis 615-533. The current Ceylon Mayor is Judith Perkins, who beat ...

HRA gets good marks on properties

FAIRMONT – The Fairmont Housing and Redevelopment Authority (HRA) reviewed an inspection report from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development during its meeting on Monday. For this inspection, done through the National Standards for the Physical Inspection of Real Estate, units in Friendship Village and North Park were examined. There were only two units to inspect at North Park, and of the 123 units at Friendship Village, 26 units were inspected. North Park received a 100 out of 100 score with no notes. Friendship Village received a 98 out of 100, which HRA Director ...

Planning for downtown improvements begins

FAIRMONT— This week a committee kicked off planning meetings for improvements to Downtown Plaza in Fairmont. “We’re going to be focusing on the downtown area, which is Main Street to Park Avenue and Blue Earth Avenue to 4th Street. That’s the area we’re looking at,” said Public ...

Long-term lake health survey shows low scores for area lakes

FAIRMONT – The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) recently released its 10-year fish monitoring report rating the health of Minnesota’s lakes, looking at over 900 lakes across 47 watersheds. The test works by examining fish community composition through types and numbers of fish present compared to those expected under healthy conditions, in a type of monitoring called fish-based index of biological integrity (IBI). “This is really looking at the overall health of the lake,” DNR Lake Biological and Monitoring Program Supervisor Jacquelyn Bacigalupi said. “It's ...

Local family attends 2026 FIFA World Cup game

EAST CHAIN — The 2026 FIFA World Cup features more than 1,000 soccer athletes from 48 countries competing in arenas in 16 cities across the United States, Canada and Mexico. The games historically bring in millions of viewers from around the world. A local family, the Kochs, Laura, Zach, and ...

Welcome talks ball fields with MCW/FLASC

WELCOME — The Welcome City Council met on Tuesday evening and there were several representatives present from Martin County West (MCW) School District and Fox Lake Area Sports Complex (FLASC) to discuss the ball fields. The city presented concerns about ruts made in the grass parts when cars and other vehicles should be on the parking lot and gravel only. They were not advised early enough to ready the fields for some games, some of which were due to weather delays or rescheduling. Paul Henning, who is doing maintenance of the ball fields for the city, said that earlier communication ...