The Fairmont City Council ,Monday approved a request from Avery Weight-Tronix to name the city parkland located at the intersection of Summit, Woodland and Shoreacres in honor of Richard S. Bradleyand grant agreements from MNDOT and the F A A for taxilane construction at the Fairmont Muncipal Airport. The MN DOT agreement is for $102,541 dollars of the $454,713 project. The F A A agreement is for $288,588 of the $454,713 project.
Councilors also approved a demolition assistance agreement with Linda Smith for 50% of the actual cost up to $10,000 and a power purchase agreement with S M M P A relating to contracts for cogeneration and small power production facilities. The agreement is an update to the existing agreement to bring it in line with state statutes, At the end of the meeting Fairmont City Administrator Cathy Reynolds shared some positive news with the council. “The number of building permits issued in July almost doubled the amount issued in 2019, following a pattern of continued growth. “We continue to see a forward trend,” she said. “Our July permit numbers once again exceeded where we were at in 2019. We had 13 in 2019, and we had 25 this year.” The value of the 2020 permits also exceeded the value of those issued in 2019. “So the trend continues. Things are looking good on the building permit side”.
Prior to the regular meeting the council held a budget workshop planning session. The council is looking at ways to trim the preliminary property tax levy which to start is at a $610,000 or 11.5 per cent increase. The council also started into a discussion about the CARES Act funding distribution ,The Covid -19 relief package of $776,532 the city is receiving but decided to continue that discussion in a work session scheduled for this coming Monday at 5:30 pm at the Council Chambers.