FAIRMONT– The Fairmont City Council on Monday heard a request for funding support for the annual Interlaken Heritage Days (IHD) festival, which will be held on June 13 and 14 this year.

IHD committee member, Marlys Brummond, who is one of just seven, gave a brief outline of the events planned.

“On the 13th at Heritage Acres we’ll have our free community meal. Last year we fed 950 people at that little community meal.”

She said there will be live music and bouncy houses donated by Olson Rentals.

On The 14th, there will be a variety of events indulging the D&S pedal pull at Gomsrud Park, as well as a mobile zoo, pontoon rides, food and craft vendors, balloon artists and caricatures.

“The grand parade will be at 6 p.m. that night. Last year we had 72 units for the parade,” Brummond said.

The city dance will be at the Sylvania Park Band Shell and the performer will be Fat City All-Stars and the beer garden host will be Fairmont Brewing Company.

Switching to the topic of funding, Brummond said, “just like eggs, our costs have gone up tremendously each year.”

Now in her 10th year, Brummond said she has consistently seen costs increase and that last year the committee spent just over $21,000 on the two day festival.

“Just the rental of Heritages Acres is $650. The community meal cost $1,400 plus we got wonderful discounts from the grocery stores,” she said.

To bring in a marching band costs anywhere from $800 to $1,500.

“As a committee we do fundraising, concession stands, vendor shows and we commit our time and energy to the community to provide a free, fun weekend for all,” Brummond said.

She said the committee is in need of manpower and volunteers and organizations to sponsor the events.

“This couldn’t be done without the wonderful sponsors, people from the community and the city,” Brummond said.

Since 2013 the city has contributed $6,000 but was asked to increase the amount this year.

Council Member Jay Maynard said he would like to approve an increase this year but asked if there was money in the budget to draw from. Finance Director Paul Hoye said that they could figure out a way to fund the extra $1,000 this year.

The council unanimously approved $7,000 in funding for Interlaken Heritage Days, which is an increase of $1,000.

“I think it brings an awful lot of people to town. It brings a lot of people that are from Fairmont back to Fairmont. I think the businesses and everyone in town reaps the benefits of that,” said Council Member Randy Lubenow.

Moving to other matters, the council heard from Community Development Director, Pat Oman, regarding the second and final consideration of a proposed ordinance to establish a Local Housing Trust Fund in the city of Fairmont.

Oman said the fund will allow both the city and HRA (Housing Redevelopment Authority) to have funds put into the account for housing purposes as outlined by state statute.

“It includes paying for administrative expenses up to 10 percent of a housing project… to match other funds and grants and programs out there. It also provides downpayment assistance, rental assistance and homebuyer counseling services,” Oman said.

The funding that goes into it is anything governed by state law. He said donations, bond proceeds, grants, appropriations and investment earnings can all go into it.

Oman said that a memorandum of understanding will be created which specifies that there are two funds in it, the HRA’s and the city’s.

“We’re hoping to find projects that we can collaborate together on,” Oman said.

The council approved of the second and final ordinance reading.

The council also heard from Public Works Director, Matthew York, regarding additional funds needed for work at the city’s yard waste recycling site. York said the council had previously approved up to $65,000 to burn the site and while it came in under that– at $58,000– there was an additional $11,000 in log removal which the city was unaware of until it got the final bill.

The council approved of spending the additional $7,000.

York said the project has been completed with burning getting done last Friday. However he said that logs continue to be hauled out and that material is still being brought out to the site.

“We had approximately 500 trees that we removed during January and February that had Emerald Ash Borer. The process of getting material cleared out there will be an ongoing process,” York said.

The council was set to have a work session to further discuss the matter on Monday but it was postponed due to absence of some council members.

In other business, the council:

— Did not hold a scheduled public hearing on the 2025 improvement program. It was moved to the March 10 council meeting due to absence of two council members.

— Approved a petition to the County of Martin for city ownership of County Ditch 56.

— Appointed three council members, Randy Lubenow, Jay Maynard and James Kotewa, to attend the April 9 local Board of Appeal meeting and authorize staff to continue the process to reinstate the City of Fairmont Local Board of Appeal and Equalization beginning in 2026. The local board lost its powers for two years on April 26, 2023 after holding a meeting without a quorum.

— Had preliminary discussions on establishing both a harassment policy and a communication policy.