FAIRMONT– The Fairmont City Council returned to the conversation of food trucks during its meeting on Monday evening. The council first had a discussion surrounding food trucks during its Jan. 24 meeting.
Council member Randy Lubenow said he heard a lot of feedback from people in the community after the last discussion so he asked to get the topic placed on the agenda for this meeting as well.
He asked whether the topic was something that should be brought to the Park Board.
“We have a park board for a reason. I’ve been on the park board committee, we talk about a lot of different topics,” Lubenow said.
Council member Michele Miller said that she had concerns about allowing a food truck to come into the park whenever it wants to.
“I don’t think we should rush into it. I think it will be a budget thing when you think about park staff coming in on weekends,” Miller said.
She said there’s a lot to be considered and she doesn’t think they should rush into it for the summer of 2022, but that’s not to say she doesn’t think it should be looked at.
Council member Wayne Hasek asked if they require anything for food trucks as far as insurance. City Administrator Cathy Reynolds said right now they issues permits for food trucks in conjunction with special events, like Interlaken Heritage Days.
She said they don’t currently have a business licensing structure for food trucks so when an event permit comes in they require a health department license and insurance.
“If they’re setting up right now in the community on private property, we have nothing on them and we don’t license or regulate that in any manner,” Reynolds said.
Council member Britney Kawecki said she would like to look into a yearly fee that food truck owners can pay, or a lottery system that would allow two spots for food trucks to set up at Gomsrud Park on a weekend.
“We need to come up with these ideas and say, ‘hey, can we trial this?'” Kawecki said.
She said like Lubenow, she received feedback from people in the community saying they would like to see something like this in the parks.
Hasek said what bothers him is that there’s restaurants in town that are paying property taxes and that food trucks wouldn’t be paying any. Miller said she heard several complaints from businesses about that.
Council member Bruce Peters agreed with Miller and said he thinks it’s an idea worthy of conversation, but that there’s more to be considered before the upcoming summer. He agreed the topic should be brought to the park board.
Lubenow made a motion to ask the park board to consider food trucks in city-owned parks.
Reynolds said she agrees it should be brought to the park board, but she stressed that putting together information to give to the park board will take some time.
“Unless you tell me you want me to re-prioritize the work we have slated for 2022, this isn’t going to fall high on that list as we have a lot going on right now that will take time,” Reynolds said.
She cited the rental registrations and vacant building registrations and the new community development software that is currently being implemented, as well as the zoning code update.
Mayor Deb Foster said the time for this discussion to happen is when the council does its strategic planning as it will be a long-term decision.
“I’m not hearing anyone say they want to slam the door on this, but it takes planning and some time,” Foster said.
The council approved Lubenow’s motion to bring the topic to the park board.
In other news, the council heard from Economic Development Coordinator, Linsey Preuss, ahead of a public hearing for Tax Increment Financing District 28. Advanced Drainage Systems is looking at an expansion of about 30,000 sq. ft., at $15.1 million, and had requested a nine year TIF.
Preuss said the FEDA board had previously recommended approval. No one spoke up against the TIF during the public hearing but members of the council voiced their support for the project.
The council also heard from Reynolds regarding a a new community development software to help with permitting process. She said it will also touch on engineering and tasks within the city clerk’s office.
“We started the reviews looking at different softwares that were out there and narrowed those down. We had some companies come in and do some demonstrations on the software. Following those demonstrations we got quotes from a couple of them,” said Reynolds.
She said they landed on SmartGov development software as their recommended solution. She said it goes hand-in-hand with Dude Solutions, which is the asset management software the city purchased last year for organization.
“It will provide for a portal for members of the community to file their permits with the city and then they’ll be able to watch the status of their permits as they progress through the system,” Reynolds said.
She said staff has recommended the council move forward with SmartGov. She said it’s a three year contract and that the budget contains $15,000 for the software and $25,000 for implementation and the product would come in at budget for 2022.
The council approved to move forward with the purchase of the software.
Moving to other matters, the council considered submitting names to the Chief Judge of the Fifth Judicial District for the consideration in making appointments to the Charter Commission.
The Charter Commission has five members with terms expiring on March 16. Three of them have re-applied and the city has also received four applications to be considered for appointment to the Charter Commission.
Current members with terms expiring who re-applied include Robynn Buhmann, Jon Davis and Jay Maynard, III. New applicants include Richard Bradley, Jr., William Cieslinski, Kacey Kasel and Jim Zarling.
Kawecki said she recently heard from a few people who were interested in applying and asked when the deadline was. Reynolds said that they had extended the original deadline because they hadn’t received any applications but that it closed again at the end of January.
A motion to submit the seven names passed 3-2 with council members Kawecki and Lubenow voting no.
In other news:
— The council heard from city engineer, Troy Nemmers, regarding SCADA/Server upgrades at the water treatment plant. Nemmers said a quote from a consultant came in at $105,000 to replace the server system and SCADA system and that $115,000 for it was in the budget. The council approved.
— The council approved agriculture leases with Tenhassen Farms, Inc., Mike Gerken, Timothy Maschoff, Kevin Thate for land around the airport and David Shumski for an acerage around Cedar Creek Park and Day Farm.
Council revisits topic of food trucks | News, Sports, Jobs - Fairmont Sentinel
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