Fairfax Council moves forward with transformer replacement project

By Denise Bonsack, Publisher

The Fairfax City Council met on January 14 for their regular meeting.

Following the approval of the agenda and the consent agenda, the council heard a presentation from Nathan Blad from the Renville County Hospital & Clinics. Blad informed the board that the hospital board, the county commissioners and the Health Partners board have all agreed to sign a letter of intent, and that Renville County Hospital and Clinics will move forward with the process of becoming a Health Partners facility. 

This will allow RC Hospital to provide more and better services and have access to technology as it becomes more difficult to obtain. All of the existing employees will be offered positions in the new organization.

The board will contain community members, and members of the county board in order to keep the majority of the voices local.

The board asked a few questions about locations and services and thanked Blad for his time.

Moving on, Alex Martin, of CMPAS presented a proposal to the board regarding the new substation project. He noted that the city’s existing transformer is about 50 years old, and failure rates increase with age. In order to prevent a power outage, the transformer should be updated. 

The cost of a new transformer is approximately $350,000, and that includes delivery to the pad, assembly and a five year warranty. The transformer being proposed is the same size as the existing one. There is no reason to go larger, because the load never gets close to the maximum the existing transformer can handle.

The council approved Resolution 2020-3 which is a Resolution Approving Plans and Specifications and Ordering Advertisement for Bids. The bid opening is scheduled for February 6, and the final decision will be made at the February 11 board meeting.

Moving on, the council approved resolutions outlining the Official Depositories and Designations for 2020, including Acting Mayor, Emergency Management Director, Attorney and Official Newspaper. The resolution also outlines committee memberships and liaisons to outside boards.

The next topic for discussion was snow removal in alleys. Only alleys that have garages and are gravel or tar (not grass) would be plowed, and they would not be plowed in late fall or early spring when the ground is not frozen to avoid pushing all the gravel off the surface. A map of the proposed alleys to be plowed was reviewed. The alleys will be the last priority and will be done at the city’s discretion. The board directed the streets department to use their best judgement. The council approved plowing the alleys on a four to one vote (Schaefer voted against).

In Staff Reports, Streets Superintendent Joel Grejtak indicated that they have taken down all the Christmas decorations and are keeping busy plowing snow and cleaning out and organizing buildings. The new snow pusher is here and they have already used it.  

Police Chief Scott Froehlich reported that they responded to 179 events in December. He also noted that the new School Resource Officer has been hired. 

In Council Member Items, Mayor Augustin informed the board that he ask been asked to fill a vacancy on the Renville County EDA/HRA board. 

Also, he noted that, with the potential of the Fairfax school being closed, they will need to address the loss of the income generated from the utilities the school uses, and the potential resulting budget shortfall. The members of the Infrasturucture Committee will work with Nick to look at the potential impact and plan for the future.

The next meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, February 11, 2020 at 7:00 pm.