FAIRMONT– The Fairmont City Council met on Monday evening and Administrator Matt Skaret was absent, though in approving the consent agenda, the council approved the minutes from the Nov. 7 meeting which was a six month performance evaluation for the administrator which was held in closed session. That meeting ran from 5 to 7:15 p.m. at which point the council passed a motion to continue the performance evaluation at a special meeting on Nov. 14.

Following the conclusion of the meeting on Monday, Mayor Lee Baarts confirmed that Skaret has been placed on administrative leave.

The consent agenda also included minutes from a special meeting on Nov. 8 when the council canvassed the Nov. 5 election results.

On Election Day Fairmont had 6,535 registered voters, including same-day registrants, 5,135 of which actually cast a vote which equals a 78.6 percent voter turnout. As for the results of the city question asking for a second Local Option Sales Tax, 4,990 votes were cast with 1,596 or 32 percent yes votes and 3,394 or 68 percent no votes.

Moving to some of Monday evening’s agenda items, the council was tasked with rejecting a quote from Wold Architect and Engineers on the Sylvania Park Band Shell project. The city had contracted with Wold on the project in April of 2023.

Public Works Director Matthew York explained that Wold had gone out to receive a quote for the work this fall. He said mostly the work entailed stripping the paint, painting, doing stucco work and replacing some doors and windows.

“The goal was that the project was going to be well under the $175,000 requirement of the purchase policy… but that did not happen. The only bid that came in was over $200,000 and we had only received the one quote from Brennan Construction,” York said.

Because of the aforementioned items, York said he requested that the council reject the quote and authorize staff to authorize bids for work to be done next spring

Council Member Randy Lubenow acknowledged that the project was a priority of the Fairmont Park Board as it wanted to get the work done ahead of the bandshell’s 125th anniversary in 2026.

“I would say that we go ahead and do what we can to make sure it’s done for the anniversary year,” Lubenow said.

The council unanimously rejected the bid and also passed a motion authorizing staff to once again authorize going out for bids for the project.

Next the council discussed another project– the Gomsrud Park north parking lot project. This project has been in the works since at least February of 2023 when the council hired Bolton and Menk as engineers on the project.

York reminded the council that it had passed a motion in July of 2024 rejecting bids for the project with the plan to re-bid again in the fall of 2024.

“Today we are here asking for approval again to put the bid out on the street. The goal is to get it out right around December 9th with an opening of January 21st,” York said.

He said that getting it out after January 1 will allow for actual pricing to be included, rather than estimates.

Council Member Britney Kawecki said that the designs don’t fit what the citizens want and that she could not support the project.

In a 4-1 vote with Kawecki opposed, the council authorized staff to advertise for bids for the project.

The council continued the conversation of projects with considering a street light installation request on Cadillac Avenue. The council had approved of a street light policy at the Sept. 23 meeting after a resident (Robert Millette) had requested an addition.

As per the policy, a petition to add a streetlight needs to be approved by 25 percent of homes. In this case, 67 percent or six out of nine homes signed the petition. City staff survey must meet 51 percent of homes requesting a street light and 56 percent, or five out of nine homes replied to the survey.

York said that as 56 percent of the homes responded in favor, the city did a survey of the area to select the proper location and per the policy the streetlight could be no less than 200 feet and no more than 300 feet from a current pole.

However, the location in mind on Cadillac Avenue is 332 feet in length and would not meet the standards set by the policy.

“With that in mind, we’re asking if the council wants to deviate from the policy and place the streetlight in a location that is outside of the policy and if the answer is yes, Mr. Millette asked for two streetlights as a verbal request… which would extremely deviate from the policy,” York said.

Millette spoke to the council to plead his case and said upon moving to Cadillac Avenue, discovered the street is very dark at night. He said he would like one light added in the middle and that other residents he has spoken with are in agreement.

“It’s a safety concern, a security concern for the residents in the area because it is really dark,” Millette said.

The council both referenced a map of the area and the new policy when discussing the matter.

“Anyone who’s driven Cadillac Avenue at night knows just how dark it is and I think that we can and should deviate enough from the policy to get a light in there,” said Council Member Jay Maynard.

However, York said he thought that this could become an ongoing issue throughout the city as more residents will request streetlights.

“There are a lot of areas in town that don’t have adequate streetlights because streetlights were placed on corners. There needs to be a thought process on why we want to have streetlights, what are streetlights there for… what decision we make tonight will go as a precedent,” York said, acknowledging that this is the first request since the policy’s been in place.

The council approved of installing a new streetlight in the “diamond” location (as indicated on a map) on Cadillac Avenue even though it did not meet all of the policy’s requirements.

In other action, the council:

— Approved an update to the Minnesota Middle 9 Mutual Aid Agreement for fire and emergency services.

— Approved the first consideration of an amendment to an ordinance in Fairmont city code chapter 26 regarding zoning.

— After much discussion, approved an update to the city’s special assessment policy in a 4-1 vote with Kawecki opposed.