ABOVE: The leaning gabion basket on the west side of the channel wall by Gomsrud Park in Fairmont. On Monday the Fairmont City Council approved a bid, entering into a contract to replace the wall later this fall.

FAIRMONT– The Fairmont City Council heard an update regarding work slated for the Gomsrud channel wall during its meeting on Monday. The council first authorized the public works department and city engineer, Bolton & Menk, to begin work on the project when the issue was brought forth at the June 26 council meeting.

On Monday Matthew York, the city’s public works director, said that while they originally thought it would be between $400,000 to $435,000, after conversations with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and Army Corp of Engineers (ACE), the engineer’s estimate was $723,720. However, bids were opened earlier this month and the low bid came in at $787,050 from ICON Construction, LLC.

York said they’re still working on some details with the DNR and ACE and while they have received approval from the latter, they’re still waiting on final approval from the DNR.

The project will be paid for using funds that the council had set aside for phase one projects at Gomsrud Park and York said they’re working with Finance Director, Paul Hoye, to add some money back into that fund for the original projects.

Council member Randy Lubenow asked what the project all entails. York said just the west side of the wall will be redone. On that side the gabion baskets in the middle of the channel wall are sagging toward the water, threatening to fall in.

“It seems like a pretty big chunk of change, going from $400,000 up to $787,000. How long are we expecting this to last?” asked Lubenow.

York explained that the sheet piling costs have gone up significantly. He also said that there were differences from the original design to what the DNR and ACE asked them to do.

Wes Brown with Bolton & Menk added that when they put the original estimate together, they didn’t know the depth of the sheet piling that they would need to go and that they’ve found a storm sewer pipe by the wall that needs to be reworked and that there are additional costs associated with that.

Lubenow asked whether the rock baskets are going away. Brown said it will be steel sheet pile, like that’s currently on the north end on the west side of the channel and on the south end of both sides.

Council Member Michele Miller said she’s excited about the project. While she said she wished work had started this past summer, she understands why it couldn’t.

“I realize it is a large cost, but this is a channel that is used a lot and driving by it, it worried me to see. If it broke and that rock went into the channel, it would close the channel. It’s unfortunate that it’s costing this much but to me, I think it needs to be done to preserve it,” Miller said.

She asked whether the boat launch at Gomsrud is part of this project. York said it’s not part of this project but noted that it was part of the phase one project at Gomsrud Park.

“We wanted to get in front of this one before we had to close down the channel,” York said.

He said that sometime after the Fourth of July they plan to start work on the boat launches at Gomsrud Park.

Brown added that when they were initially looking at the phase one project at Gomsrud Park, which includes improvements to the boat launch and parking lot, it was discovered how badly the channel wall was leaning.

“We decided it was best to hold off on the boat ramp and parking lot because they may need to use that area to stage construction equipment and materials to work on the channel,” Brown explained.

He also pointed out that the best time to work on the channel wall is in the fall and winter when there is no boat traffic or fish migration to consider.

Council Member Britney Kawecki brought up past run-off concerns that were coming from the west side. She asked whether that will be taken care of. York said the issue has been addressed and that the city has been in conversation with the property owner about where they’re putting their snow debris. He said it cannot be dumped into the lake channel and that has been communicated.

Council Member Jay Maynard noted that the last step needed is final approval from the DNR. He asked what the likelihood was that the DNR will say more changes need to be made to the design which drives the cost up higher.

“We’re over the first big hurdle which was the fisheries. Originally they were saying we couldn’t de-water the entire channel… so the fish could swim back and forth but we’ve jumped over that hurdle. Other than that, we should get approval,” York said.

Brown said from what they’re hearing, it should be approved and that they should learn for sure in the next few weeks. Materials take four to six weeks to get so he said by the time the steel is here they should have approval.

Kawecki asked whether the channel will be cleaned out while it’s de-watered. Brown said that any debris will be removed.

The council passed a motion to accept the bid and enter into a contract with ICON Construction LLC for the project.